My Apologies...

to the "Snowpacalypse." 

Whoops.  It seems we got more than 4 inches... ;)

To my credit though... yesterday morning upon waking, I looked on mLive and it said our area got 4-6 inches over night... I really think the bulk of our snow came yesterday morning...

Anywho, you win snowpacalypse.


&&&&&.... I'm joining in Angel's photography contest... the theme?  YELLOW!

ohhhhh how I miss the summer sun.... come back to me! :)







Also.... a self portrait.... for one of my favvvvvvvvve blogs... "The Paper Mama" :)

Its.... ME!

12 Weeks & The "Snow Storm"

Yay!  Today marks the official end of my first trimester.  Unfortunately, my morning sickness doesn't understand that :/... BUT, I was put on Zofran last week and its helped tremendously!  I've taken my "real" prenatal vitamins (versus Flinstone chewables) for about 5 days now, and I've definitely had more of an appetite.  The sicky feeling still creeps up on me now and then, which is annoying, because it seems to happen during meal times (maybe because the smell of certain foods?) for the most part though, I feel like I've turned a corner.  YAY for that!

On top of my 12 week mark, today was also the uh, "Snowpacalypse."   All week, we (Jacksonians/Michiganders) have been warned about this insane snow storm.  People were nuts at Meijers- stocking up on water and canned foods- like we were going to be stuck inside for a week or something.  I am SO glad I didn't really give the storm much of a thought... because we got a whopping 4 inches.  Ha :)  I will admit that the winds last night freaked me out- and I was a tad concerned we were going to lose power, but all was good.  Ryan took work off and feels like a complete idiot.. but that's okay :)  I'm excited to have him home for the day.   To give the weathermen out there some credit, I believe there were certain areas of Michigan that got a good amount of snow... so they were semi-accurate I guess.

This morning, we (okay, Ryan) made a huge breakfast.  There is absolutely NOTHING on the agenda for today and I'm good with that.  I do wish that my kids owned some snow gear... it would be fun to get some pictures of them in the snow.  For now, we're watching it from inside...

Tell me there are not some scary similarities!

And me.... at 12 weeks :)

 

And for good measure, lets look at how the lobster is growing :)

We're Over the Weather.

It's about a whopping 8 degrees out today.  And yeah, I'm going to complain about it.

It's too cold to go anywhere or do anything.  This cold makes your cheeks hurt, and your lips dry out like prunes. 

Unfortunately, we had some errands to run today and it was impossible for us to hibernate (for the day) in our house.

I ended up going to the East side McDonalds- it was my first time there, and I was a little sad that the ONLY play place we have in Jackson, is that one.  Maeve had an okay time, but it had ZERO for Henry.  However, it was warm, and it was a large area, so I took advantage.  We all ate a healthy lunch of chicken nuggets and fries.  I followed up said healthy lunch with a decaf... and I let the kids run wild.  I am pretty sure Maeve was chucking chicken nuggets down the slide and we had a major sprite spill, thanks to Henry's obsession with straws and lids.  All in all, it got some much needed energy out. 

The rest of our day has consisted of eating, movie watching, cleaning, ya know, all that good stuff.

Here are some pictures from this ridiculously cold day.


One of the highlights of the day, was hearing Maeve go "HOOOO HOOOO!"  I asked her what she was doing (perched on the back of her high chair, making weird noises)... she said "I'm an owl."  :)

LOOK HOW LONG THIS CHICKS HAIR IS GETTING!!!! :) :) :)

She also likes to play "Little Mermaid" on our ottoman.  She crosses her feet into "flippers" and brushes her hair with a fork...

HAAA the story of my life in this picture :)  Cheez-its & toys.

Henry and his fascniation with water...

And... I think that's about all for today.  I am craving Finley's like no other, but I'm not stepping foot out of this house.  It's pretty pathetic, that on a regular basis, the weather up here controls simple things like going to the store or out for dinner...


***Oh yeah- can any of you awesome photog bloggers out there help me with my resolution problem????  On photoshop, my pics are clear as day- as soon as I load them on blogger, they get grainy... what's the deal??? help?? 

Sunday Nights Lead to Monday Mornings...

That's why I'm not a huge fan of Sundays. Its like a teaser or something... a day to do absolutely nothing, but if you're anything like me, there are a million and one things that are floating through your head about things that need to be done... this week pretty much marks the beginning of judging season for me. I have a meet tomorrow, Wed. and Saturday... and it pretty much goes like that for 2 months straight. Judging is such a double edged sword for me- I love it, I love the money and more importantly, I like being a part of the high school gymnastics "scene." Its fun staying involved with the sport and I LOVE my judging friends, everyone from Suzie (who is my age) to Doris and Brenda (who are not so close in age to me :). But the driving makes me super nervous- especially when its bad out- but even when its not snowing here (WAIT- when is it NOT snowing here????) I don't see great at night time... so its always a relief to arrive home safe and sound. And then of course, there are the late hours- I tried to take most of my meets here in Jackson, so MOST judging nights I should be home around 8:30 or so. But tomorrow for instance, I believe I'm in Saline and that means I won't be home until 9:30 :( I totally miss out on Maeve's bath, bedtime routine and my FAVORITE time of the day, dinner with Ryan and Maeve.

Oh- Maeve's "stomach flu" I don't think is really the "flu." I am pretty sure she ate too many blueberries- something I didn't disclose to you this morning, was that her puke was purple- I mean neon purple- I was thinking and racking my brain all day trying to come up with what the heck she ate that could've made her vomit that color. Then tonight, we had dinner at my parents and we were talking about the puking incident and my mom told me that the purple color was probably from the blueberries- I was like "AHA! YES!" It has to be that- yesterday morning when we went over to say good bye to Aunt Meg, my mom was eating blueberries and Maeve was eating them like it was her job. One after the other- I even said to STOP feeding her them because they were going to give her the runs. Well, no on the runs, but they did make an appearance out the other end. :( So yup, I think its safe to say we found the culprit to both the color and cause of her episode.

Ohhhh want to hear something AWESOME?????? We were planning on another trip to Disney World in September '09, but we found this amaaaaaaazing deal to Sanibel Island, FL. It's the week of my birthday (in September) and it includes hotel, airfare and car rental (6 days, 7 nights). The best part??? TOTAL cost of the trip is $785 bucks!!!!!!! And if you book with NWA.com vacay packages you only have to put a deposit down on the trip- so for those of you who aren't like super rich like us (JOKE JOKE JOKE) you don't have to come up with 800 bucks on the spot for a vacation! You just have to put a deposit down, and then make payments... pretty cool! :) So we're planning on doing that... CAN'T WAIT!

Oh and I know I'm irritating people by saying this in every blog post, but since its my blog I will continue to say it :) I HATE the snow and its driving me mad. God bless the sunshine and warmth that will soon greet me in Florida. I've been finding some sweeeeeet deals on adorable summer things for Maeve- but I bought up a few things for our upcoming trip to FL that I cannot WAIT to put her in :) The poor babe hates it here- I know it, I can feel it- she hates wearing socks, shoes, hats, coats and layers... who DOES like to wear that stuff??? I think its liberating for her in Florida to be "allowed" to be barefoot and free. :) ohhhhhhhh counting down the days....

Well here's to a good, safe week!

God Bless The Snow!

I have been a total and complete "Scrooge" lately when it comes to Christmas, the holidays, the winter, etc. The only person I've really enjoyed shopping for is Maeve- everyone else I either did a gift card or some other completely uncreative gift. And when I heard we were getting a huge snowstorm last night I really didn't think twice about it... I don't teach in the mornings, so I wouldn't get class off and I've got a sick kiddo- that means Maeve and I would be snowed in ALL DAY LONG. BUT, this morning Maeve woke up feeling a lot better- she was running all over the house, playing with her toys and she even took 8 oz. of milk. (YEA!) I still had a few last minute Christmas things to get (along with ALL the baking supplies needed for cookies next week) so I decided to brave the 4 feet of snow we got. My trusty jeep did awesome in it- no sliding, skidding or spinning what-so-ever! And Maeve and I had a VERY productive day. First up was Target- I had a rain check for the "Little People Racin' Garage" (normally 40 bucks, on sale for 20.) AND I SWEAR- THAT WAS MAEVE'S LAST CHRISTMAS PRESENT!!!!!!! I also picked up tape, wrapping supplies, gift bags, cards, that sort of stuff. Then I was on the hunt for some moderately priced picture frames- I needed FOUR 5x7's and those things aren't cheap- or at least I wasn't finding any for cheap at Target... so we headed down to T.J. Max. Again, nothing- although I did find a Christmas dress for me :). Kohls was next on the list: They had a million picture frames, but again, I was looking for something in the 5 dollar range and these were all 7.99-10 bucks. But I found a really cute pair of white pants for Maeve (to go with her Christmas Eve DAY outfit) and I found an AWESOME present for one of my sisters- even though I had already purchased presents for both of them, this particular item was TOO good to pass up! (can't say who it was for or what it was :) BUT because I found this one thing for one of my sisters, I had to even it out and get something for the other- thankfully, I pulled through and found a perfect item.

Around 12:30 we left the mall and I got the most wonderful, blessing of a phonecall- the snow was still falling in Jackson and because of the winter storm warnings, Culligan (Ryan's place of employment) was closing early!!!!!! I thought I had heard wrong- I was SO completely and utterly THRILLED. You really have no idea- the whole way home I sang to Maeve "Daddy's commin' home!" so, GOD BLESS THAT SNOW! Because now, I have my husband sitting next to me at HOME. :) SUCH a rarity!!!!!

Also, in all my driving and running around, I thought of a perfect Jack Johnson lyric to sum up today: "The world has its way to quiet us down." (Losing Keys) Its really true- the whole town has stopped, kids are home, families are together and it truly looks peaceful outside.

Hope you all have a blessed weekend and remember to "quiet down" :)

Snow

It is so pretty outside today!!! I am too lazy to try and get Maeve all geared up to go and roll in it, plus the last time we tried that she hated it. So instead, I just opened up the back door and let her stand inside and watch the snow fall. She was in awe! :) It was really cute! And I got a couple of good pics. So I thought I'd share :)

Also sales are fantastic right now for summer clothes- we are officially DONE with summer 2009- Maeve is set and ready! We even have spring break clothes picked out. Who can resist 99 cent dresses from old navy??? Not me! So I included a pic of her summer wardrobe as well. I am proud- the whole slew of clothes probably cost around 150??? Give or take a few bucks...