What have we been up to you ask?

Not a whole heck of a lot. I went and worked at the school for an hour this morning. Basically it is one on one work, taking kids into the hall and doing extra work to help with reading. Then I was supposed to go back after school with both kids for the parent teacher conference but since I was there she went ahead and did it with me. Mykenzie is doing really well. She got an E in Math and the rest are S's. This is on a scale of S is satisfactory (right where they should be), G for good (slightly above) and E for excellent. She is now in the D level for reading, she ended Kindergarten at the end of the A level and now she is in D. They are supposed to be in I by the end of 1st grade. We shall see, though she is getting better.

We bought a garage door opener yesterday. We had one but it was struck by lightning. Our estimate to get it fixed (over the phone without them looking at it) was $175 so we opted to just buy a new one. We cleaned the garage all out on Saturday and made it somehow so that both of us can park in there and still have all of our crap. I am still scratching my head trying to figure out how we did that but it is done, they both fit. So because we only had one remote, that played into the decision to buy a new one too. They were supposed to be here by now to install it though and guess what, they aren't . I was shocked that they called and planned to do it today to begin with. Hopefully they get here and it doesn't take long cause I have to pick Mykenzie up in 2 hours. Hmm, that will be interesting.

This week is going to be busy, but not with anything fun. That just seems wrong. Tomorrow I have to get my oil changed and my diagnostic run (I tried on Friday but they only take appointments!!!) And on Wednesday I have to go to the dealership to get my recall taken care of. I will be in need of a playdate after two days of car crap! Let's just HOPE that the diagnostic doesn't come up with anything major. Travis said if we have to dump any more money into it, I have to keep it till it is paid off (2 years) if not I can trade it in for my van in the spring!! That would make me VERY happy, though I must say I am starting to feel pretty old now that the van is within my reach. I don't want to be old, but alas that is who I am, an old lady with 2 kids, who's life is to be at their beck and call, it will only get worse hauling friends and such as they get older so I will jump on board now. My main reason for wanting it is so when we have people visit we can drive in one car. I HATE having to take separate cars. Plus it will be nice for road trips :) When I went to my mom's house she had a table for me, that I really want and I couldn't fit it in my car. Who knows when I will get it cause it is way to heavy to mail. I guess I will hold my breath for when she comes to visit me. Wait if I do that I will be dead. LOL Hope everyone else has a more exciting week than I will!

BURRRRRR

It is COLD here today!!! Right now it is 49 degrees. I didn't know it was that cold a minute ago, I just checked. HOLY CRAP! Here I am like an ass running around in a 3/4 sleeve shirt and no coat, no freaking wonder I was so damn cold! Of course I kept putting off grocery shopping for the past 2 weeks so I had to go out today, I ended up at Target and Toys R Us and then I drove out to Publix. So I didn't really grocery shop which means I will be back out again tomorrow to BiLo, Kroger and Food Lion. I also have the pleasure of getting my oil changed tomorrow. I hate doing that kind of stuff. I have to talk to Travis about having then run a diagnostic for the check engine light too (no I still haven't gotten it looked at) and next week I have to go get the steering recall taken care of. This is the second time something in the steering column was recalled. Lovely, huh. I am going to go put on a SWEATER and get out Kaylee's WINTER coat and go back out in the cold to get Mykenzie. Then I will definitely be calling to get my garage door opener fixed so that I can park out of the cold in my garage. Aaah that will be nice. Geeze, it is going to be a LONG winter if I am already freezing. I suppose that I will apologize ahead of time for all of the complaining I am going to be doing about it. Sorry. I hate being cold. What the heck happened to the weather in the 70's for fall???? Today is Thursday though, so I will be tucking my kids in bed, sitting in my sweats under a blanket, curled up with a cup of coffee and watching Grey's. That will end my very cold day well :) Hope everyone out there is staying warm!

Finally, the Link

It took me awhile to get these all uploaded. This is the link to the girls trip to Portrait Innovations. I ordered the first 9 poses!!! Yikes, I know. They have all been cropped and what not for the actual pictures that I have here. The one of Mykenzie looking over her shoulder is just her face and part of her back and arm and it is in black and white and is super cute. Now she just got her fall school proofs back. Last year they were AWFUL but this year they turned out pretty cute so I will be ordering a few of those too. I am a bit addicted to pictures I think :) I wonder if there is a 12 step program I can join? Here is the link: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcuWTNo2bNGhQ

Girl Scout Camp

Mykenzie got to have her first camping experience. Well if you call sleeping in a heated cabin, with showers, and a microwave a camping experience. LOL She LOVED it. Mommy had fun too but not as much as she did. The girls all behaved alot better than I expected. We took a night time hike to the lake, made pizzas for dinner (set off the smoke alarm twice), attempted a fire for smores (lets just say they got to roast marshmellows but that was it) got the girls to bed. In the morning we got up got packed, made muffins for breakfast, played games outside, cleaned the cabin then we headed back home. I managed to come home with a HORRIBLE migrain. I couldnt think straight, I am assuming that the lack of food and sleep had something to do with that, I am glad it waited till I got home though. I woke up today feeling fine, just sleepy. Apparently Travis lived through his 24 hours alone with Kaylee. He even washed the dishes and the living room was picked up. He said she asked for us but was fine. He couldn't figure out what she wanted to eat though so he gave up and took her to McDonalds. She was happy to see us but she had a good time with her daddy. For more pics try this link: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcuWTNo2bNGhB

Hit the Road Jack

We FINALLY sold the Grand Am!!!! If you know me, you know we have been dealing with Grand Am crap for a year now! We transferred the loan last October so we could get the title to sell it, 6 months later no title. A LOT of calling and yelling later we finally had it in May and put the car up on AutoTrader.com for sale. Ended up putting it in 2 papers too and after 4 months we only had 4 people call and 1 person test drive the thing. It is a nice car. We just don't need it. I would have driven it instead of the Jeep but it only has 2 doors. Anyhow, the people who test drove it a month ago showed up at our door (which I thought was a bit rude, btw) on Saturday morning, test drove it again and handed over the cash!!! Yeah baby!!! I am sooo excited that it is GONE!! Of course our garage door opener got blown in the same storm that took out our 2 tv's, cable box and modem, so I wont be parking in there till it is fixed but, the savings we will be having every month from no car payment and no insurance on it will pay to fix that in no time :)

What cuties

Here are a couple of pictures from Portrait Innovations, I will add a link later with more :)

Our week so far...

We have actually had a pretty good week. It is time for Fall Break here, so Mykenzie is home from school all week. On Sunday we went to Candy and Martel's to help them unpack some stuff in their new house. The girls got to play with their girls so that makes them all very happy.
On Monday we headed out to the zoo with Chandra and Ryan and Jenna's girls, the kids were all very well behaved and had a really good time, and they were very excited that they got to ride the merry go round! Afterwards we took them all out for ice cream. Kaylee managed to turn herself into an ice cream cone. She was such a mess, but she definitely enjoyed her ice cream!! After that it was home to change Kaylee and throw Kenzie in the shower and then I took her to get her hair cut. I told her to cut it chin length, well it is a bit shorter than that, it doesn't look bad, just not what I wanted. She is happy with it though.
Tuesday we had an early appointment for the girls to get their pictures at Portrait Innovations. We got there with some time to spare, which surprised me. We started at 9am and didn't walk out of there until almost 11. Kaylee wasn't very cooperative, but I was just really happy that she didn't scream everytime they talked to her as she typically does with strangers. I bought WAY to many pictures so watch out I will be sending them out. I ended up with 3 poses of them together and then 3 of each of them separate. Which is about 4 poses more than I planned on getting, it is just too hard to decide sometimes. They turned out pretty good. Afterwards we met Chandra, Ryan and Jenna's girls at McDonalds and we ate lunch and let the kids play for a while. We went over to the mall to check out the costume prices at the Disney store (way cheaper online btw) and we walked around for a little bit and headed home. Now I have to cut and sort all the pictures to see who gets what! On the way home I got a call from one very happy Jenna telling me that her bone marrow test results were back and it was CLEAR! That is such wonderful news, and definitely got a little car dancing from Mykenzie, Kaylee and I!
Today was Chandra's birthday so I went to Kroger and picked up a cake for her from our playgroup. We had a playdate at Heathers and sang happy birthday. The kids were thrilled they were getting cake! We stayed there and enjoyed our friends company for a few hours and then headed home where Chandra, Ryan and Jenna's girls joined us. They ran around and played for a bit and hopefully got themselves so worn out that we will all get a break when they fall asleep early tonight! Now my girls are watching Curious George (they love it) and I am messing around online with email and such. So it has been a busy and fun filled week so far. We are going to a movie tomorrow and Friday is still a question but I am sure we will do something fun. I get to have some mommy time at Bunco Friday night and then on Saturday Mykenzie and I are off to Girl Scout Camp. Wish Travis luck, it will be the longest he has ever had Kaylee by himself, lets just say she is a mommy's girl and temper tantrum thrower! I hope she is good for him and he hasn't lost his mind by the time I get home! Hope everyone else is having a good week too :)
Oh and by the way Grey's Anatomy was sooo good on Thursday, so much better than the premier which was good too but this, oh so much better! I can't wait for this week! You can watch it free on abc.com if you missed it :)

Hi Pig, I Kaylee!

This is the start of the conversation Kaylee had with a pig at the pumpkin patch on Tuesday! She is too funny! The beginning of fall is finally here so to celebrate we went to the pumpkin patch with our playgroup. It was the first time I have been to that one, last year we went to the middle of no where and got lost for 2 hours, this one was a nice half hour drive away. It was much more fun so I am glad I finally made it out there. They have a ton of stuff for the kids to do and it is all free, which is fun for me :) Mykenzie loved it, I guess it could have been because she got to see her friends that she hasn't got to see since school started. I know she loved playing with them. Kaylee loved the animals the most. They both fed them, a 1st for Kaylee. We have fed animals but she just would drop it on the ground, this time she let the sheep eat out of her hand. We will definatley be going back to play. I already got our pumpkins too, I am not sure how smart it was to buy them already, I am hoping they can make it through Halloween but I have a feeling we will be buying more later (at walmart though) Here is a link to the pictures
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcuWTNo2bNGgn

How can I be mad when I am so happy?

I have had one crappy morning, well weekend. A lightning storm blew out our TV, cable box and modem on Saturday. The modem is fixed now, and the cable works, just don't have the features of the box for now. We had to go buy a new TV, Travis finally got his big screen plasma he has been dying for! Today we had a ton of freaking issues with the bank saying we didn't make our loan payment, but we did and I have the copy of the cashed check to prove it. Just sucks I have to deal with it, not to mention the fact that they called Travis at work and left a message with his secretary, so it will be all over the district I'm sure, which really sucks cause it isn't even true! They cashed the damn thing a week before it was due and it was mailed almost 2 weeks before it was due! I hate people sometimes! So all of that made me mad, but with the bad comes the good. I got to see Jenna today. Not visit her in the hospital unfortunately but she sent me a video email and I chatted with her on messenger and I got to see her video feed that way too. It was great to see her! She looks better than I do and she is in the hospital! Her blasts are now at 0!!! Which is wonderful news! Today is her last day of chemo for a week, so now she has to do another bone marrow draw and wait. Keep praying for her guys. She is missing her kids so much, we sent her some pictures of them and she got them today and has them hanging up in her room. She looked so happy that she had them. I am glad that I could do something to bring a smile to her face. I miss her, I hate that she has to go through this. Next week when the kids are all out of school will be really weird cause we would usually do something several times to get the kids out of the house. Christmas break will be coming up fast though and she will be home and in remission by then so we will have a lot of playdate catch up to play :) Looking forward to things that we took for granted to be back to normal! Here's to remission as quickly as possible so she can get out of the hospital and home to her babies! I am more convinced now than ever that she is going to beat this crap and be home soon! We Love you Jenna! Can't wait to have you home where you belong!

How to Save a Life - The Fray

SOOOO GOOD!

Tonight is the night

Check out this video, if your not a fan already you will be!

Tonight is the night!

I am a total Grey's Anatomy freak and tonight it is the season premier! I am so excited that the day is finally here!!! Who will Meridith choose? Will Izzy be back? Will Burke ever operate again? Whew! I am on pins and needles!! I LOVED Denny though, I miss him already. I am sad they killed him off. Travis thinks I am a lunatic. I can't help it, when a show is good it is good! I am not the only Grey's nut out there :) Click here and get your tissues ready...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6BmR6AwWLs

Disney on Ice

We went to see Princess Wishes (Disney on Ice) on Saturday. I took Mykenzie and we had a nice little girls day. It was a wonderful distraction for me with everything going on, just sit back and feel like a kid again for a couple of hours. It was such a good show! Wonderful performances, excellent skating, I wasn't expecting the skating like that, they were very good. The other DOI think I have seen is Finding Nemo, so they were in big costumes and not doing big tricks and pair skating. This was wonderful. The guy who played Aladdin, looked JUST like him! Oh my goodness, it was a little freaky how much he looked like the cartoon version, almost like they drew him to look like this guy! I was regretting leaving Kaylee at home because she would have enjoyed it too. That changed though when Prince Philip had to fight the large mechanical fire breathing dragon! She would have freaked. A little girl behind us was scared to death! It was way cool though! Then a guy that was playing thorns, that Prince Philip (from Sleeping Beauty) had to fight through crashed in front of us! Philip hit him with his shield and this guy lost his balance and slammed into the foot high wall about 2 feet in front of us. Thank God it was built strong cause he would have been in our laps. Of course the dads that were behind us were dying laughing at the poor guy! I felt so bad for him. I figure that people who weren't right there would probably think it supposed to happen. Those of us who heard the crash knew better though. Of course we get home and that is the only detail that Mykenzie can remember to tell her dad, someone crashed right in front of us! LOL

If you have a little girl and this comes to your area, I would definitely recommend going. It is a little pricey but we had a great time! This critic gives this show two thumbs way up!!
Here is the link to see the rest of our pictures from the show :) share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcuWTNo2bNGgF

Fridays suck

It was last friday that Jenna first went into the hospital and this nightmare began. Now here it is Friday again and she got more awful news. It is indeed leukemia.
I hate this. I hate that she has to go through this. It seems so unfair to her, to her kids, to Mark, to her mom and the rest of her family. I orignally was only thinking of her,the kids and Mark untill I saw her mom with her in the hospital. I will never forget the image of them embracing for the first time since she got the news of what was more than likely to be (it was confirmed today). It broke my heart. It must be so hard for her to watch her child have to go through dealing with cancer a second time. I just can't imagine how hard it was on her when Jenna was young and had it and beat it just to have to see her baby in a hospital bed again 20 years later. Unimaginable. Just strange that I hadn't really given that a thought until then. You think about Jenna and her own kids but you forget for a while that she is someones kid too. Prayers for her family that they are strong for her to help her get through this, Prayers for her kids that they can come to some understanding to why they can't see mommy for so long, Prayers for Mark that he is able to find the strength to juggle everything from work, to the kids, the house, to Jenna and his own emotions. And of course the most prayers going to Jenna, that she will stay positive and kick this leukemia's ass. She will beat it. I am sure of it. She has been through this before and now she has 4 BIG motivators. I just hate that she has to go down such a rough road.
This probably makes no sence. I am just thinking outloud. My heart is broken. I hate that this is happening. I wish there was something I could do. She knows that if she needs me for anything I will be there, I suppose that and prayers are all any of us can really do. Pray for her. Have I mentioned that I hate this? Love ya Jenna!!

Chicks in the HIZZ-ouse!

Or so that is what Mykenzie told me in the car today after school. I swear they pick up the funniest things. I don't know where she learned it but I was dying laughing. When I explained to her what it meant, she wasn't so sure that she should say it. I am thinking it wouldn't look too good if that was something she said. I guess if she were older and going to a party with her girl friends and she said it as she entered the door it would at least make sence. Let's just say she may be a handful when she hits those teenage years! Lord help me!

An update on Kaylee's sleeping situation. The past 2 nights have been WONDERFUL!!! I let her stay up a little later, so after Mykenzie is already in bed. I tell her she has to be quite cause sissy is sleeping and then I say no crying and she repeats me. Then I tuck her in and give her a kiss and hug and tell her "I'll see you in the morning" which she has always loved and loves to say it back, and I remind her no crying and she hasn't!!! For 2 nights that worked!! I am hoping we are done with the fit throwing now. Mind you that didn't work for her nap, but I will take what I can get for now.

Keep Jenna in your prayers, we get the final test results tomorrow afternoon. Pray Pray Pray for her.

Sleep deprived

So last night was Kaylee's first night in her toddler bed. Lets just say, it did not go well. She was up every freaking hour. She would cry, I would go in till she fell back asleep, I would go back to my bed fall asleep and she was crying again. It was an absolute nightmare. So on top of the fact that I had been up since 4am I got next to no sleep last night. I dont know how she is not dragging after the past 2 nights we've had but she isn't. I just put her down for a nap and literally had to lock her in her room and let her scream so she would get some sleep. It has been an hour since she fell asleep and guess what she just freaking woke up! This sucks really badly. I had no problems with Mykenzie crawing out of her crib or staying in her bed when we switched her. I certainly did not have the complete opposition to sleep! She starts screaming as we start walking up the steps to go to bed. I have no clue what I am supposed to do. Anyone have any advice for me. Lord knows I could use it cause I am flipping tired!!!! She wont even sleep in bed with us, I am going to go insane. Now the weekend is over so I cant just sit in my pjs all day like I have today becuase I have stuff to do. How do people function with no sleep? She is quite again, I am going to go jump in the shower before she escapes. Seriously, advice is definatley welcome here!

Making the change

Going from a crib to a toddler bed. Definitely not my choice, if I had my way Kaylee would be in a crib until after Christmas at least. Well the problem is that she will not stay in her crib. She started last night by climbing out when Travis put her to bed. He got her to lay down and go to sleep but she woke up at about 4 am screaming and I went in and she was climbing out. I calmed her down and changed her diaper and brought her in bed with us. Well she kept tossing and turning and wouldn't go back to sleep so I put her back in her crib, she climbed out and stood at her door screaming on the top of her lungs. So we were pretty much up today since 4 am. She did go back to sleep for about 45 minutes so I got to sleep then too. She would also not stay in her crib for a nap today and she opened the door and came right on out of her room screaming. So we set up the toddler bed. I let her stay up till 8:30 thinking surely she would be tired since she was up at 4 this morning and then only took a 2 hour nap, but NOOOO, she screamed and cried, "I wanna play" over and over. I read her a book 5 times, I tried to get her to let me lay with her, FINALLY she decided she would stay in bed if I laid with her. So after about 5 minutes of me laying down with her she was out. Now lets just see if it lasts all night. I am REALLY dreading nap time tomorrow. About the time I put Mykenzie in her toddler bed was also about the time she gave up naps, Kaylee NEEDS a nap. Wish me luck with that. I suppose I should just hope she sleeps all night, needless to say that I have been up since 4am I am awfully tired.

I have to pat Travis on the back though and say he did make me breakfast this morning, and he made the girls lunch while I was visiting a friend in the hospital, and he made them dinner. And to top it off he put Kaylee's bed together and read Mykenzie a story all during the Ohio State, Texas game that he has been dying to watch.

On a side note, alot of you reading this don't know my friends here, but Jenna is in the hospital and they are unsure of what is wrong with her. Her white blood cell count is pretty low along with some other things. They are saying it could be viral or it could be leukemia (her smear came back abnormal). If you could all say a prayer for her or send some good thoughts out I am sure she would appreciate it. She is a good friend and we need her healthy again :)

Toys and Clothes for sale!

I decided to make a for sale blogger for family and friends to check out before I start listing stuff on Ebay. Right now I have newborn all the way to 12-18months girls clothes listed. Also alot of toys that are pretty much in new condition. Check out the site if you are interested. Still to come Girls 18-24 month clothes, lots of them...
The site is http://wedontfit.blogspot.com

Clean, Clean, Clean

I have gotten so much done the past 2 days! Kaylee took a long nap yesterday so I got a bunch of stuff done, I have been working on laundry today and when she naps I will clean our bedroom and bathroom. But so far I have cleaned the living room, dusted all downstairs and the loft, swept and moped downstairs floors, cleaned loft, scrubbed downstairs bathroom, cleaned the kitchen, did 2 loads of dishes (1 yesterday, 1 today), cut and filed coupons, printed online coupons, picked up Mykenzie's room, cleaned Kaylee's room, read a scrapbook magazine, organized all of my pictures and got my different scrapbook stuff organized as best I can with shoe boxes( I need to buy some stuff to help out with that), Looked online for organization things for scrapbooking, took the girls outside to play, talked to Rachel on the phone to get caught up, Talked to my SIL on the phone, watched a movie (Just My Luck, I don't recommend it) last night, and today I watched Beauty and the Beast with Kaylee (she wasn't too interested though) Plus my normal daily things got done too. I am so excited now I will be very happy to get out of the house tomorrow when I have a playdate at the zoo :) I still have a bunch of stuff I want to get done today so I am off to finish up. Travis comes home tonight, wont he be surprised to see a clean house :) Sad I know it should always be clean, it isn't though! lol It is amazing what you can get done when you force yourself to do it. I just get sick of the same thing every day, I need a break.

Today's project

Here is what I did today. I have been wanting to do this in Kaylee's room since before she was born. I bought them while we were in Virginia and today finally got around to painting them. I still need to attach ribbon to hang them up, I may sit them on a shelf in her room too. I will have to try it out. I am excited that they are done and not awful looking. Well the "A" was awful looking but I painting over it and added the spots instead :) Travis thinks it is too many stripes but I didn't have a clue what else to put on them. I would have been really screwed if I would have tried to do Mykenzie's name, that is way too many letters :)