Friday, April 30, 2010

Alexis' Birthday Score

This is what Alexis is getting from her grandparents:
And this is what we are giving her:
I think she'll be pretty pleased! =)

Jeff Foxworthy On St. Louis

I received this in an email from my father-in-law and I just have to share it with any of my readers who are from the Greater St. Louis area. You'll totally get each and everyone of these. Those of you not from St. Louis, here's a clue to what it's like here!

What Jeff Foxworthy has to say about St.  Louis…

If someone mentions "The Landing" and it has nothing to do with the space shuttle,
you might live in St. Louis ...
 
If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time,
you  might live  in St. Louis ...

If you've seen a tornado touchdown and ONLY thought "Darn it, I  just waxed the car",
you might live in St. Louis ...

 If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number,
you might live in St. Louis ...

If you measure distance in hours instead of miles,
you might live in St. Louis ...

 If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again,
you might live in St. Louis ...

If you drive 75 miles through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard for some White Castles,
you might live in St. Louis ...

If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them,
you might live in St. Louis ...

If you take I-Farty-Far to Six Flags, 
you might live in St. Louis ...

 If someone says concrete and you think of Ted Drewes instead of  pavement,
you might live in St. Louis ...

 If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, 
you might live in St. Louis ...

 If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody is passing you,
you might live in St. Louis ...

 If you've ever skipped school, work, or even a court-date
because you had tickets to an afternoon Cards game, you might live in St. Louis ...

 If you can say the words "Cahokia Mounds" and not think of a candy bar or boobs,
you might live in St. Louis ...

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow,
you might live in St. Louis ...  

Friday Business

I'm still anxious about the weather this weekend, but the latest forecast I saw this morning said we may get a break from the rain on Saturday. I just hope it's long enough to get the birthday party in!

Friday Follow and Follow Me Friday!! Just so you know, I love finding new blogs and getting new readers, but I won't follow any giveaway or review blogs, just not my thing....

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by! Make sure you leave me a comment so I can come and check out your blog too!



FollowMeFridays


Friday Follow

5QF 4/30/10


It's Friday! I'm happy, but at the same point very unhappy because I'm not looking forward to the soggy weekend and my baby girls birthday party possibly getting canceled. But, you probably already read my post about that, so let's just get on with the questions. Make sure you check out Mama M. for her answers and the linky to hook up with all of us! Hope somewhere it's not raining this weekend...

1. If you could, would you go back to high school?


Yes, a part of me wishes I could do high school over again. I was home schooled and it was my desire to finish school when I was 16 so I could start working full time. (This was not my Mom's desire at all.) Hindsight being what it is, I now wish I would have studied a little bit longer and not been so eager to get out into the world.

I'm the type of person that always says that I don't want to change my past, because good, bad or ugly, it's what made me who I am today. But a little more education never hurt anyone I'm sure. I did pass the GED with flying colors so it's not like I'm dumb or anything like that, I just had no desire for higher education.


2. If a genie appeared and granted you two wishes, what would they be? (And, no saying "more wishes".)

1. Give me enough money to pay off all of our debts, even our house, so that I can become a stay at home mom.
2. A minivan!


3. What kids show do you secretly like?

The only kids show I watch are My Friends Tigger and Pooh and Sesame Street and I enjoy watching both of them with the girls. Alexis really likes it when I sit with her to watch as well.


4. What is your beverage of choice?

Mostly water, but a good glass of sweet tea is the best when you really need to be refreshed.

Adult beverage of choice would have to be a margarita or blackberry wine.


5. What is something that you would change about yourself (or are working to change in yourself)?

I could give a million answers to this question today, several of my shortcomings have been thrown up in my face lately (and not by someone else, I've seen them all for myself and it's ugly).

The number one thing I would like to change and I'm working on changing, is not being so quick to respond when my family pushes my buttons. I have a tendency to snap back pretty quickly when my hackles get raised and it's not always the nicest things that are said. I'm better about controlling myself with Alexis, but there are some days when even she gets me so worked up with her behavior that I get snippy and hateful. I can't stand it about myself. And poor Ross bears the brunt of it, especially if it's been a rough day with Alexis. He comes home totally unsuspecting and I nearly bite his head off over something stupid and he looks totally dumbfounded. And it's only because it's been bottling up and then I blow a gasket. Please pray for me to find the meek and gentle tongue I need.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Upset

I'm am so upset right now, I'm about to cry...

I just finished watching the weather forecast for the weekend and it's not looking good.

I was so excited about having a big birthday party for Alexis here are our house. We've got the menu all worked out and all kinds of our family are supposed to be coming. We were up to 24 adults and about 12 kids at last count. Now, I'm afraid we might have to cancel it.

That totally bums be out....big time. Ross suggested moving locations, I'm not a fan of that idea, I really wanted people to come to our home for a change instead of having to go to somewhere else because they have a bigger home than we do.

It really isn't feasible for everyone to fit into our house, that would be no fun for anyone. My thought was that if it's raining, the men could hang out in the garage and the kids could play inside between the playroom downstairs and the girls room upstairs and the ladies could hang out either outside or inside. But, the forecast is calling for storms and I'm pretty sure no one will want to be hanging around outside even in the garage if it's storming bad. Most people with sense know that they need to be at home when it's storming bad.

My aunt's and uncle's and a whole bunch of my cousins with their kids were all going to be coming from over an hour away and I was really looking forward to all of them seeing our house after all the work we've done to it. And I'm just afraid that we're going to have to cancel and that's the last thing I want to do, but I know it's probably the smartest thing to do. And it's one of those things that probably won't get rescheduled either. Our summer is booking so fast as it is and I know that's how it is for most other people too.

I think I'm going to make a call in the morning and see if by some wild chance the community center in Steelville is available and hopefully it won't cost an arm and a leg to rent it out. It will be a hassle to haul everything there and it will mean buying more stuff that I wasn't planning for, but it will be worth it if it means we'll still get to have a party.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

My sweet, adorable first born daughter is 3 today! It doesn't seem possible that it's been 3 years since I held her for the very first time.

This was very shortly after Alexis entered this world, I was still shaking uncontrollably and I was afraid to hold her just yet. Go here to 
read all about her birth story.

My beautiful girl!





This has got to be one of the happiest looks I've ever seen on Ross' face! He couldn't have been prouder.


Our first family photo!







Being a mother has been one of the most challenging, yet rewarding things I've ever experienced in my life. If you've been following long, you know that I've had some struggles with Alexis, but she truly is the most precious and beautiful thing that I've ever seen. I'm going to share a few of my favorite pictures from her first 3 years.
One of my favorite pictures of her as a newborn

I'm really frustrated right now. For some reason, blogger changed a perfectly good photo uploader to a new system and it's giving me fits. It's not letting me upload my photos the way I used to. So, you're going to be getting only the photos that I've previously published on this blog, sorry. If I figure it out, I'll do what I originally intended.
                                                                        
Her debut photos on my blog from June 2009













Enjoying some really juicy watermelon on her 2nd birthday!
 Mommy and Alexis at her first Cardinals game!
She's a wonderful big sister!
December 2009
January 2010
Easter 2010

We are off to the zoo today and we are having the big party here at our house on Saturday afternoon. Hope I can figure out this new uploader thing because I'll have lots of pictures to share!
Happy Birthday Baby! I love you, Mommy

Friday, April 23, 2010

5QF 4/23/10



Yay! It's Friday, I'm ready for it! Later this morning, I'm headed up to my Mom's with a truck load of stuff for the garage sale on Saturday, actually it will be a truck full of baby clothes. I think I'll end up with 6 totes of clothes and that's only from birth to 2T sizes. That is absolutely ridiculous that we've accumulated that many clothes already. Goodness! Anyway, I'll try and write another post about stuff, let's just get on with the questions this week. Make sure you check out our hostess Mama M. for her answers and the linky with everyone else's answers as well! (Why is else's getting dinged by my spell checker? What is wrong with it? I tried it with the apostrophe and without and it still says it's wrong, but the suggested correction is not what I'm looking for. Grammar experts, help me out please?!) 


1. What was the first car you owned?


A silver/gray 1992 Ford Tempo, I loved my first car! It was perfect as a starter car and let me tell you it drove just fine! That little machine hugged curves like no other car I've had since. It was also the car that I got 5 speeding tickets in. =) Yes, I said 5, I got a few others in different cars too. Have no fear, I've reformed my lead foot ways in my older and wiser years ('cause you know us 29 year olds are so wise). 

I believe we bought it for $1250.00 and my wonderful dad had to do some work to it to get it running, but then it was good to go! I sold it for $500.00 when I got rid of it, so I was pretty pleased.


2. What song are you embarrassed to know the lyrics to?


Well, if I was really embarrassed about it I certainly wouldn't be telling you now would I?

Okay, this song is from my early 20's years and I'm only going to give you the title, that's embarrassing enough, now keep in mind, I don't know all the lyrics, just a few. "My Neck My Back". Aahhhhhh, can't believe I just admitted that!


3. Have you ever had stitches?


Nope, no stitches.
 

Scratch that, I forgot about those delightful daughters I have that came out my lady parts. Yes, I've had stitches! Lots with the first, and I mean lots, so many they didn't count them. So many, they had to re-numb me before they could finish stitching. Isabel was much nicer to Mommy's who-ha! 


4. What was your first job?


Off the books job would have been babysitting and then occasionally working as a waitress for a small catering company.

On the books, Town & Country Grocery Store, started there when I was 14 in January of 1996 and worked part time until I was 16 and then full time until I was 19. Have lots of good memories from that place. I was actually at 3 different stores over my years of service, and worked in every single department at one time or another.


5. Who is your favorite Sesame Street character?


Elmo, hands down. He's just so stinking cute and fuzzy and funny! And the girls just love him! Thanks to Elmo, I'm able to distract my children long enough for me to sit down and pay the bills, mop the floor, etc., etc., you get the picture. I really like Big Bird too, what's not to like about a gigantic talking bird?!
 

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Tongue Tied Thursday....

...since it's too late for Wordless Wednesday. Here are some pictures of my sweet girls!
Isabel is having so much fun playing with stuff now, it's so cute, she gets bored in the living room and she takes off crawling and heads straight for the playroom. 


Hi Mom!
 
Here I come!
 
 Alexis loves to cook at her restaurant! 
 And she has learned how to snap!
 I'm not real good with the self portraits, but I got all three of us in this one!
 She is pulling up on everything, I can't believe how fast she is growing!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Hallelujah

My leave was extended until June 15th! More time at home with my girls! Thank you Jesus, prayers were answered!

100

Wow! I have 100 followers now! I know that doesn't really mean that 100 people read my blog every day, but that's still cool!

It's nice to know that people find what I write about interesting or relevant in some way to what is going on in their life. Blogging has been such a wonderful thing for me to discover because I've found so many people that I have things in common with and you can always count on support from your bloggy friends!

I know there have been several days whenever I've been down and out and a simple comment left by a friend/reader has been enough to brighten my day and make me smile.

So here's to the 100 people that are looking in on my life! I love you all! Please keep reading, I promise I'm going to come up with better stuff than I've had this week. I'm still feeling kind of blah in the brain and writing department. I think it must be adjusting to a new daily routine now that we can spend some much needed time outside.

I think I've decided blogging is definitely a seasonal thing. Lots in the winter, not so much in the summer when life is busier.

I promise that if I have nothing interesting to write about this summer, I'll at least keep you posted on our adventures and post pictures of the girls too! Hope you all are having a wonderful Spring so far!

It's A Social Parade!

Smart and Trendy Moms


I'm participating in another blow following link up. I haven't had much going on with my blog lately because I've been so busy with other things, but I'm going to try and come up with some good stuff soon!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Mack Truck Coming Through

I was sitting in the living room last night watching the ACM Awards and I glanced at the calendar.

That's when it hit me...

Like a ton of bricks it hit me...

Like a Mack truck at full speed it hit me....

There is a very good chance that I might be going back to work two weeks from tomorrow.

WOW, I'm not ready for this. The time at home with my girls has been like a dream come true for me. Now my daily nightmare is getting ready to begin again.

When I had Alexis and had to leave her for the first time, it was awful. I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest when I pulled away from my house that day. The only thing that made that day bearable was knowing that Alexis was in the comfort of her own home with her Grandma (Mom). I cried the whole way to work and teared up all throughout the night when I thought about it.

I won't say that it got any easier, but I did get used to it after awhile. I accepted my reality and tried to make the best of it instead of being miserable all the time. I do enjoy working, but I'd much rather be at home. I do miss my friends from work, but I'd much rather talk to Alexis and Isabel all day.

When Isabel was born, I knew there was a very good chance that I'd have the opportunity to get some lay off time because my maternity leave would be ending around the time we get really slow at the DC and they start laying people off. The nice thing about our lay off is that it's voluntary at this point. And while laid off, you draw unemployment.

I did work for three weeks after my maternity leave, before my lay off began. That almost feels like it wasn't even real though. I didn't go through the same anxiety about leaving because I knew it would be for such a short time. I missed the girls every day and was so glad when my leave began!

Now, my perfect little fantasy world is getting ready to end. I'll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday if I can extend my leave through the month of May. If not, I go back to work at 4:30pm on May 4th.

I don't think things would be so hard if Ross and I worked normal schedules. It's a challenge to find babysitters at night and even more challenging to find babysitters that are willing to come to our home. It pretty much limits our options. But, Ross and I don't feel like it's fair to take the girls somewhere else only to disturb them at midnight when he gets off. And staying somewhere until the morning is just not an option either.

I don't think I'd be feeling so miserable about it if I thought there was a chance for Ross or I to get a day shift job. That would be the ideal situation, then we'd barely need any outside help to keep the girls and we'd actually get to raise them ourselves. But, it doesn't look like Ross has any chance of getting to days anytime soon. Typically, when someone needs to be hired at his job, they offer the evening shifters positions on day shift and then hire for evenings. When Ross was off for two weeks when we had Isabel, they hired someone for his same job, but he never got the offer for day shift, the new guy got it. And the new guy is young, single, and has no children. He even said he wouldn't mind working evenings. But for whatever reason it's not happening for Ross.

There is a possibility that I could get to day shift, but that will be a challenge as well. The DC posts jobs and you have to bid on it. It's based on seniority, which I'm getting up there with. But, the posting are far and few between for day shift and there haven't been any for the last 5 months.

That's what's been on my mind today, not a very uplifting topic, but that's life I suppose. Pray that I get good news this week and I get an extension on my leave. I know eventually I have to go back, but a little bit more time at home would be so wonderful!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Gardening

We are making our first attempt at a garden this year!

Ross has been busy tilling and tilling and tilling up the ground getting it ready for planting. He picked up a few seeds from the Feed Store this week and we're going to Walmart and Lowe's this weekend to get the rest and some plants as well.

Wish us green thumbs and good growing weather. I want to try and can as much as I can this summer to help save on our grocery bills. That and home grown food tastes so much better. I'll try and remember to take some pictures along the way and let you all see how we're doing!

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend, enjoy the beautiful sunshine!

Friday, April 16, 2010

5QF 4/16/10

Friday FollowThe Trendy Treehouse







Happy Friday to you! Oh boy, it's been a busy day so far. This week I'm joining in with Mama M. for Five Question Friday, Follow Me Friday & Friday Follow! Click any of the above links to see what the heck I'm talking about.


*New followers: I welcome you all, but I will not follow back if you do a lot of reviews and giveaways, I'm a read about life kind of blogger!*
 

 So, let's get this train rolling out of the station and answer our 5 questions!



1. What words do you use on your blog/online that you don't use in real life?

I don't think I have any words I use on my blog that I don't use in real life.

I take that back.


I'm kind of a freak about using the correct word on my blog even though in real life I'll use the slang version. For instance, going to vs. gonna, in real life I'll say gonna all the time, but on my blog it must be typed out the proper way. I know, anal right? I'm the same on Facebook too. The only time I freely use gonna, ya, whatcha and words like that are in text messages.


And LOL? Who really uses that in real life? I mean come on, are you really going to say Laughing Out Loud instead of just laughing out loud? So, that would be the word I use online, but never in real life.


2. Do you still write checks?

Yes, but it's getting to be fewer and fewer all the time. I only use them for bills or small local businesses that may not have debit machines or they prefer if you write checks since they get charged for every debit transaction. And the number of checks I write for bills is dwindling as well. I pay most of our bills online.


3. Who was your favorite President and why?

I'm going to say, George Washington.

He played such a huge role in the fight for our independence and he was an all around great man.




4. Are you a yeller?

Ummmmm, that's kind of a personal question there Mama...

Oh, my bad, let me just pick myself up out of the gutter, so sorry!


Yes and no, I have a tendency to be vocal and loud if necessary. 


A few weeks ago, I was the only sober chick on a bachelorette party bus with about 25 girls. The two guys who were DJing were trying to get everyone's attention and no one was shutting up. *Insert my loud mouth* "HEY, LISTEN UP LADIES!"  Yes, I'm a yeller.

When I worked for Sam's Club and we were having our associate dinner before the big grand opening, they were handing out some cheesy little awards. Out of the 200 or so associates, I received the award for being the one with the loudest mouth and being the most vocal and outspoken one.

So, yes I guess that classifies me as a yeller!

5. Have you ever dumpster dived? 


Good heavens no! Why on earth would I want to sift through rotten, stinky trash. Grossing me out over here. I think I even have a little throw up in my mouth at the thought of something so revolting. **gag**




That's all for this week. See you later alligator!! =)

Thursday, April 15, 2010

New Discovery

Yesterday, Ross and I had a conversation that led me to think about a lot of different things. Without divulging too many details about our talk, I discovered that I've not been living up to his or my own expectations for that matter of being a housewife. I should be putting a lot more effort into meals and housework than I have.

I have no excuses to offer....but I'm going to offer one anyway! Who am I kidding, I can always come up with a good excuse right? Well, not an excuse as much as a shortcoming in myself that I'm trying to overcome.

I'm really guilty of blaming situations and circumstances in my life as to why I can't keep it together. My current excuse would be last weeks activities. Tuesday - drive to Bonne Terre for visitation and then home again. Wednesday - drive to French Village for funeral and then back home again. Thursday - drive to St. Louis with the girls and run around and then go to rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Friday - a day filled with wedding activities, wedding and then driving back home and getting here around Midnight. Long week no doubt, but I didn't do anything on Saturday or Sunday, so by Monday I should have had my act together and gotten back into the groove.

Here is where I fall short. I let myself have a pity party about how tired I am and what a long week it was, blah...blah........blah, sometimes I get so tired of listening to myself belly ache. I mean, come on Jessica, get over yourself already, it's not like your working outside the home these days, what's the deal? Seriously, what is my problem sometimes?

And then there is the whole money thing, or lack thereof I should say. We are flat broke, it's been super duper tight around here lately. We've had a lot of extra expenses that aren't the norm. I love being a part of a wedding, but it's a clincher on the old checkbook now let me tell ya!

Our cuisine the past few weeks has been seriously lacking in flavor and variety. We've been living on ramen noodles and PB & J's. Thank goodness Alexis loves both! I let myself get lazy and complacent about trying to prepare meals when we are limited with our grocery supply, so eventually I just stop cooking altogether because I get tired of trying to be creative with stuff I don't even have. I mean we were getting so bare in our cupboards that I didn't even have potatoes or carrots that I could have fixed with a roast or something. No fish or chicken in the freezer. We have pork and beef, but nothing to fix to go with them.

All this led up to our conversation yesterday about my housewifing ( I know that's not a word Firefox speller checker, but I'm making it one today!) skills and how I should be working harder to have meals on the table and so forth. So, I decided this morning to do something about it. I went grocery shopping and spent $175.00 on stuff we needed. Now, I have no excuse for not having a meal on the table. Having spent that much will probably make things tight for the next week or two, but at least I won't have to worry about us not having things to eat.

This morning, Ross got up early to go mow at Mill Springs and I got up and fed the girls breakfast, got us all dressed and we headed to the store and I had my well written list that I checked over multiple time to make sure I had everything on it and made sure that everything on the list made it into my basket. I have a meal plan for the next few days and I was going to have a hot lunch laid out on the table when my man got home. Until I got the call, "Hey hon, I'm gonna go have lunch in town with my dad, see ya in a bit." Okay, nothing like bursting my happy housewife bubble. I was a little hacked off to say the least. First off, did you think maybe your wife and kids would've liked to have had lunch in town too? And second off, you had just been {please excuse my language} bitching at me yesterday for not planning and having meals on the table for you?

I quickly got over myself though and carried on with my plan for the day. I haven't been spending nearly enough time just playing with my kids. I spent time feeding, clothing, bathing, putting to bed, disciplining, and on and on and on, but I've been kind of lax here lately in just sitting down and playing with the girls. So, that's what we did. I didn't have the TV on at all this morning or afternoon. The computer didn't get turned on until after Ross left for work and Isabel was down for her nap and Alexis was laying on the couch watching Sesame Street until she fell asleep for her nap. And we had a really good day!

So, from here on out that's my plan. Get up each morning and work on my chores, take care of getting breakfast and making meal plans for that day or the next, playing with my kids, enjoying the weather, talking with my husband if he's not out working. And then in the afternoon when all is quiet, I'll turn on my computer and get my Facebook and blogging time in until the girls wake up and then I'll go back to my mommy and wifey duties and I think I'll go to bed each night feeling satisfied with what I've accomplished.

My computer time has been a struggle lately and I think I've finally found a good balance that lets me get my craving for "Internet socializing" and yet still preform all my Mommy and Wife responsibilities. The girls are on a good schedule for now. Isabel usually has a 3 hour nap in the afternoon and Alexis either naps for about 2 hours or has some down time with Sesame Street and Tigger and Pooh and that will be my down time with my computer as well. So, having said all this rambling, mumbo jumbo, nap time is almost over and we're going to go see a brand new baby!