Woolty Mantis

When I was a little girl, my family didn't have cable. I'm pretty sure I can attribute my awesome childhood, of playing outside, to this. Anyway, we had rabbit ears on top of our t.v. set, and channels 3, 5, and 8 were about all that came in. We also only owned about two or three movies on VHS. One of those movies was The Secret Garden. I remember this movie so well, because it was my favorite, and I had probably watched it about thirty-five times. Well, in that movie,there was a little girl named Mary Lennox. In the beginning of the movie, Mary is throwing a tantrum in her mother's bedroom. She ends up throwing her mother's ivory elephant on the ground, breaking the trunk. Suddenly, she hears her mother returning to her bedroom for her purse, so Mary hides underneath the bed. At this moment, an earthquake strikes, and her mother passes away. Later in the movie, Mary learns that her mother had a twin sister, who owned a matching ivory elephant. Okay, so there are many other important parts to this movie, but I am mentioning the importance of the ivory elephant, because it goes with my story. Please bear with me ;)

Fast foward several years... When I was about fifteen or so, my mom, who bought and sold antiques,ended up with an ivory elephant. It looked exactly like the one in the movie. I asked her if I could have it, and though she probably thought that was an odd thing to ask for, she gave it to me.

The little girl in me has always loved that little elephant, and when I moved into the house that we are currently living in, I placed it on top of my dresser next to my jewelry box. That is where it has remained for the past six years... that is, until a few days ago when I decided to put it on top of the box, instead of next to it. Well, Evan sleeps in our room now, and while he was in bed a few nights ago, I decided to sneak in the room to put my earrings away. in doing so, I forgot that the elephant was on top of my jewelry box, and when I opened up the lid to the box, my elephant slid off of it, and ended up smashing against the wall. The entire trunk broke off. :/

After it happened, I brought the elephant downstairs to show Jason, and told him about it with a sad voice. Ally was around, and she came running over, very concerned, when she heard the news. She knows how important the elephant is to me, because I always tell her not to play with it. So after she heard it had broke, she said, "Mama, it's okay. I'll make a new one out of clay for you."

A few days had passed, and I pretty much fogot about my broken elephant. Last night I took Evan with me to go get an oil change, and Ally stayed home with Jason. I came home from that oil change to a beautiful surprise! Ally remembred her promise, and decided (all on her own) that she wanted to make me a new elephant. So, she did, and she did it without any help from anyone. She was so proud to give that elephant to me, and I was even more proud...

For some reason, she says it's not an elephant, but a wooly mammoth. Even better, she forgets how to say wooly mammoth, so she says, "Woolty Mantis" And I just love my "Woolty Mantis." I'm pretty sure it's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I love her sweet little soul.

Birthday Boy

My big boy is ONE!! Here are some pictures from his party, which was yesterday..


We did an Elmo theme for the party, because he's pretty into Elmo at the moment. Although, it seems to be fading. I guess he's too busy to watch TV these days.

This pic is of Evan with his Godmother, Michelle. Michelle is Jason's cousin. She's got four kids of her own, is super nice, and a perfectionist. I clean my house extra before she comes over, because I'm afraid she'll think we're gross if I don't.

Ally and Evan with their four cousins. (Michelle's kids)

Here Daddy and Evan are checking out Evan's party hat in the mirror. He loves his reflection... as he should, because he's pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself! ;)

Catching Up

It's been a LONG time since I've updated... or shared any pictures. Sometimes, I'm not quite sure why I even have this blog. I wanted to use it as a way to document my life, and share my pictures (even though I haven't shared my blog address with anyone). But I just feel like I don't have time to write eloquently or to keep up with all the pictures I take. I usually am too tired or lazy to care about my spelling, or how I've worded my sentences. It's funny, because I used to be such a grammar nazi. Now, I think I'm the queen of grammatical errors and first grade sentences. Maybe that's really a good thing though, because maybe it means I have much more important stuff going on in my life.

Which brings me back to my update! Before I share my photos from the past few weeks, I would like to share my most exciting and scary news. We found renters!! After almost three years of trying to sell, we found loopholes in our association's rules, and we decided to put the condo up for rent. Within hours of listing it on renting websites, we had dozens of interested people. We ended up finding a man and his wife who want to stay for 18 months to be closer to their son and his wife who are about to have a baby. It's great for us, but scary too... what happens if they aren't good tentants?! What happens after the 18 months are up?! Meanwhile, we are going to hopefully be building a brand new place of our own!! But while we're waiting for winter to end, so the builders can break ground on our house, we will be renting from one of Jason's cousins. I am not happy about it for several reasons. 1) It's in a semi unsafe neighborhood. 2) Jason's great aunt and great uncle both died INSIDE the home! Eeek. I'm a bit creeped out about the whole experience actually. But, it's practically free for us to rent, which means we can save the money we need for a solid down payment.

Anyway, enough about all that. Let's get to the fun stuff! PICTURES! These are going to be pretty self explanatory, but I will explain anyway (in random order) Halloween 2011, Evan is (almost) ONE!!, playing in the leaves... Are ya ready? Well, here you go:

Fixing the Problem

So... after my last blog... I started eating differently. It's only been four days, but I already feel so much better about myself. I've been eating fewer calories, and practically (and this is the hardest part) no sugar!! I only add sugar to my coffee... otherewise I've been eating food in it's natural form. And no cupcakes, muffins, cookies, cake... you get the idea. I also hit the gym on Monday. That has been much more challenging for me than watching what I eat. It just seems so hard to get out of this house without the kids. Jason put Ally and Evan to bed on Monday so I could go. I really appreciated it, and it made a huge difference in how I feel about myself!!! It's crazy. Obviously, I haven't really lost any weight yet, or gained much muscle, but just dieting and working out for a few days makes me feel SO much better!

It is getting hard though, I must admit. I just have to keep telling myself that this is not a diet. I don't want this to be temporary. I need to watch what I eat for months just go get to my goal weight, and then from there I still have to watch so I don't gain. I still wish I could eat whatever I want and look fantastic. But don't we all?!

The kids are doing great, except Ally has a cough. It makes me so angry, because on Tuesday when I picked her up there was a boy with a nasty cough, and I just looked at his mom like WTF are you thinking?! That night, when Jason and I were talking, he told me that he saw a boy there with a bad cough when he dropped her off. So, I doubt that it's just a coincidence that a boy was sick on Tuesday, and now Ally has, not a cold, but a barky cough. I want to kick the mother of that little boy. Like, seriously... it's PRESCHOOL!! Do you NEED to take your kid to school when he's sick? Thanks for sharing this virus you bitch. Okay, sorry... i get really irritated by this. It ruins our entire week, because usually it doesn't end with Ally. We also have a little baby in the house, and a mom who has to take care of them, and a dad who has to go to work to provide for them. So, it's not like any of us can afford to get sick. I would never take my kids to school if I knew they were sick. Especially preschool. Jerks.

Otherwise, everyone is well. And I am thankful for that! Ally is going to be Dorothy for Halloween. I kind of wish we would have done Little Red Riding Hood. Ally won't pick anything herself, so it was our job to do it this year. We ended up picking Dorothy per a few others' suggestions, because Evan is going to be a lion. His costume was easy to pick out. We were just walking through Target, and I saw this adorable little lion outfit, and thought it would be perfect for Ev.

He is as sweet as ever, by the way. He started saying "baby" yesterday. Clear as day. baby I love hearing his little voice say a real word, other than mama, dada babble. He rarely ever talks (how could he with his sister and me around all the time?) so it's super sweet when we hear his voice. He's not really showing an interest in walking yet, but I think that's just because he's so super effecient at crawling. Oh, he weighs 21 1/4 pounds, and he's got six teeth... four up top, and two on the bottom.

Ally, other than being sick right now, is doing great in preschool. I think she likes it, even though she doesn't talk about it much. She told me that she's learning about fire safety, so I thought that was cool. We didn't end up putting her in gymnastics or dance like we had planned. But she's taking a class at Gymboree with Evan. She likes it, but she seems a lot older than the other kids, even though it's a family class for up to five years old. We are planning on enrolling her in gymnastics in January, and she seems excited about it.

I guess that's all our news... I'm sure there's more, but I don't get much free time, so I think I'm going to go watch some TV and relax.

Much Love :)

Mad at Myself

I am so upset with my weight right now, and it's not even about the number on the scale. It's very much about how I feel about myself, and I'm not feeling good. I know it's my own fault, because I rarely work out, and I eat like a fat cow. It really is hard though, and I get upset with Jason a little. He can work out after work whenever he wants to, but he acts like I'm making him lick a toilet when I ask him to watch the kids for an hour so I can go to the gym. He doesn't understand how much I NEED to go the gym. It doesn't just help me look better, it really is a stress relief. It would be the only time I would be able to have "me" time.

I'm 26 years old. I'm supposed to look awesome.... I HATE THIS!!! I HATE MY BODY!!! I want to cry.

I know I could look worse, and that I am whining about something quite trivial. But it makes me sad to think about it. I went on a website today that gives you a formula to calculate your ideal weight for your height and frame. Well, I weigh ten pounds more than I should... and I weighedmy ideal weight before I got pregnant the first time.

I wish I could run into the kitchen and throw away everything except the salad and the fruit. But I think that would be neglect, since my children would no longer have anything to eat.

UGH!!!!

Okay, Enough of my pity party. I think it's time to take action. Starting RIGHT NOW...

I need to DO SOMETHING about it, or it won't get better.

I am going to work out at least three times a week if it kills me. I am going to cut out my Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts Lattes. Let's say, I can have two a month.

No more cake unless it's a family birthday. No more muffins, or cookies, or Ally's junk food. As a matter of fact, I am going to buy her much healthier snacks. She doesn't need to learn how to eat junk like I do.

I don't want to fail again. I want to do this. I want to LOOK and FEEL great!!!!!!!! No... I don't want to I NEED to!!

You & Me

Dave Matthews
You And Me

want to pack your bags something small
take what you need & we disappear
without a trace, we'll be gone, gone
The moon & the stars follow the car
& then when we get to the ocean,
we're going to take a boat to the end of the world...
all the way to the end of the world
oh and when the kids are old enough
we gonna teach them to flyyyyyyy

you & me together we can do anything, baby
you & me together yes, yes
you & me together we can do anything, baby
You & me together yes, yes

You & I we're not tied to the ground,
not falling but rising like, rolling around
eyes closed above the roof tops
eyes closed we're gonna spin through the stars
our arms wide as the sky, we gonna ride the blue
all the way to the end of the world,
to the end of the world

oh and when the kids are old enough
we gonna teach them to flyyyyyyy

(chorus)
you & me together could do anything, baby
you & me together yes, yes
you & me together we can do anything baby
You & me toghter yes, yes

we can always look back at what we did
always remembering you & me baby
But right now it's you and me forever girl
you know we could do better than anything that we did
you know that you and me we could do anything

you & me together c' do anything, baby
you & me together yeah, yeah

two of us together we c' do anything, baby
you and me together, yeah yeah
the two of us together yeah, yeah
the two of us together, we can do anything baby


something small, told her at least, the end of the world,

Happy Eleven to Evan! :)

My little man is eleven months old today! I have no idea what we're going to do for his party. Jason wants to do an Elmo theme, because Evan LOVES to watch Elmo. I want to do a "boy" theme... like trucks or dinosaurs or something of that sort... but we shall see!

We're having his party at our house. The party will be on November 6th, which is the day before his birthday. I still have to work on the invitations, but I don't know which ones to order without knowing the theme. I guess we do have to decide that soon! I really want to get him a special cake. There is a place by us that does awesome three tier cakes, and the top tier is the smash cake. I just feel like he deserves a special cake since we aren't having a big party for him.

Anyway, here are the pics from my beautiful boy's latest photo shoot...

Evan's First (Official) Haircut

Evan got his first haircut a few days ago... I say it's his first "official" haircut, because we've trimmed it ourselves before, but this time we actually took him into the salon to get it done. He did not like it at all, but he was a good boy, and didn't even cry. As you can probably tell by the picture that I posted recently, of him in the Superman shirt, he really needed it! You better believe I got photos of him getting his cut, and you better believe I'm sharing! ;)

You can tell by his face, that he wasn't thrilled!


*I checked this morning for news on baby Lisa, and noticed that she is still missing... :( I'm still praying that she comes home safely, right now!!*

Missing Baby In Missouri

A Facebook friend of mine just posted this link...

Amber Alert: Kansas City Infant Believed to Have Been Abducted from Crib - ABC News

The article is about a little 10 month old girl who police believe was abducted from her crib last night. Having a baby of the same age, I feel for those poor parents who are missing/desperately searching for their baby girl. My heart breaks when I read things like this. Who would be so sick as to take a sweet baby away from her mommy and daddy?!! I am praying that God returns this baby safely to her parents AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!

No More Toxic Waste

I can honestly say that I feel better now that my selfish family has been cut out of my life. I don't have that negative aura hanging over me. But what does make me sad, is dealing with the loss of what I wanted. I wanted a sister that I could share my biggest secrets with. I wanted a brother that I could hang out with, and joke around with. I wanted a mother that I could call every day, to share details about my life.

But that's not the family I was born into.

On a happier note, here is the most beautiful baby boy in the world.

I love him, and I think it really sucks for them, that they won't even have the chance to get to know him.

I Miss My Body

I am so thankful for both of my kids, but I HATE what having children has done to my body.

I want to feel attractive again.

I'm almot 20 lbs. more than I was before I got pregnant with Ally. I have stretch marks EVERYWHERE!

This picture was taken a month before I got pregnant. I remember thinking that I needed to lose a few pounds, and tone up a lot. I would pay A LOT of money to look like this again!!!

I need to hit the gym and tan ASAP!! If only there was enough time in the day...

Wedding Pics

Here are a few of the wedding pictures I promised....