Elliott's Birthday Party

This past weekend my sister and brother-in-law hosted the best birthday party for my nephew, Elliott. Elliott loves all things Toy Story so Rachel chose everything around that theme. The party was held at a local bowling alley that had Glow-in-the-dark bowling. Here are the photos from the party. I am still in shock that my nephew is 4! We all had a wonderful morning celebrating Elliott!

Matt, Elliott, Aunt Rachel, and Baby Jerrytt. The birthday family!

Best friends and Cousins!

These little guys had the best time at glow-in-the-dark bowling. They were such a hoot to watch.
Here's E's Buzz Cake...it was YUMS!
Gabe, Zachary, Elliott, and Sam

Elliott standing by the gift table

Blowing out the candles...nothing like your cousin jumping in to help, right?

The guys with their party favors....my sister found the coolest things for the guys. Buzz Lightyear socks which Z will not remove from his feet. A Toy Story notepad which Z carrys around to take our orders. An ornament, Toy Story gummy snacks, and the awesome glow in the dark shirts that our Aunt Renee & Uncle Mike made.

Meet my personal trainer!

Because I am really trying to stay motivated to achieve my New Year's goals. One of my goals was to work out 3 days a week. So far so good, however I realize I am only on week two. This week I have been on the treadmill, ellipitcal, and I have incorporated a new activity...a personal trainer. The best part about this trainer is he is free and he gets to burn off extra energy with me. Its a win-win situation. My personal trainer is my 3 year old, Zachary.

The other day we popped in one of our old DVD's "The Biggest Loser". I highly recommend any of the TBL dvds. It sounds silly but they really do burn calories and offer a challenge. My friend, Misty recommended them to me....Thank you Misty!

Here are our photos from my training session. I will warn you they are not pretty. In fact they are downright scary but since I am all about being real on my blog this is it. After our session we were both pooped! I learned this was a great way to survive cabin fever with a three year old. Z was tired too!

Getting started with our DVD...Bob is motivating us to get off the couch

Now we are jumping our imaginary jump rope.
Please note my trainer was also my photographer. Again these are a little scary!
Strength training
We are doing football drills.

Cousins...Welcome to the bunch DUKE

I never really did a blog to welcome my cousin, Jen & Jack's baby boy. For those of you who live by me know that John Wayne "Duke" arrived on Dec 24th. He was the best Christmas present for our family for 2009. If you remember I did a blog about Jen & Jack when they were having their ultrasound. Check it out here.

I wanted to show you a picture or two of this special little man. Personally, in my opinion he looks a lot like his mommy, my Uncle, and his cousin Elliott. What do you think?


Duke (taken some time during his first week)

This next photo was taken almost 4 years ago of my nephew Elliott (3 days old)
Duke 2 weeks old...isn't he CUTE!
Elliott a week old...cheering on the Steele
I can totally see a family resemblence with Duke and Elliott. Just so Z does not feel left out. Heres a picture of him. Zachary no more looks like Elliott or Duke but he is just as cute :)

Zachary at 3 weeks!
I can't wait to get these little men together. My Pappy and Grandma Rachel would be so proud of their Great-Grandsons. As I get older I realize how much I miss my grandparents. I wish they were around to see all of us. They would be so happy. That's another post...

Come out, Come out, Wherever you are...

This week is blog delurking week. If you're out there reading and have never commented before, I would love to "meet" you! Feel free to delurk and wave hello - I was a lurker for a long time, too, so I totally understand where you are coming from. If you want you can share how long you have read this blog, how you found it, and where you are located.

Actually, I have a confession: I lurked/read two mommy blogs for about a year before I even started blogging. Now that I have my own blog I try to make comments on those blogs I read. I know I always love comments, suggestions, and advice on my blog so I like to reciprocate comments to other blogs. It's a lot more fun to get to know my readers and meet other bloggers. Hello and Welcome!

Perfume selection...Does anyone else do this?

For my birthday Kevin wanted to get me some new perfume. I ran out of perfume in June and have not had any since then. I know a lot of people do not use perfume or do not like it but I do. Even thought I am a stay-at-home-mom sometimes just spraying perfume on makes me feel better. Somedays I will not shower or put on makeup because we are staying in for the day but a little spray of perfume makes me feel clean. Am I crazy?

Kevin thought about getting me the same perfume that I have worn for years but I told him those smells were starting to "blend" in or get old. These are the two perfumes I have worn since I got married 6 years ago.


Ralph by Ralph Lauren (inspired by my old roomate, Rozzie)

Ellen Tracy perfume (Kevin picked this out for me when we were dating)

I really did not know what perfumes were out there and I told Kevin I wanted to pick it out. So he gave me money instead. Have any of you tried to pick out perfume lately? Man, it was hard. I wanted to avoid the overbearing sales people at the perfume counters so I waited until after Christmas. Zachary and I headed to a big name department store and started smelling all the options. Everyone of them started to smell the same. I even did the trick of smelling coffee beans between perfumes. I like clean, crisp perfumes. Nothing over the top or musty. I want something light and clean. Almost like you can barely tell I have put on perfume. A heard a lady suggest going to Sephora because they have a lot more options. So I went there next. I am glad I did. First, at Sephora they have A LOT of options. The sales person was not pushy and she was very helpful. She showed me about six perfumes that were in the crisp, clean genre and that were popular. I really did not care if it was popular. I have never been popular. Nor do I care if someone else likes what perfume I pick. I just wanted my husband to like it and myself to like it. Another bonus to Sephora is they will pour out some of the perfume into a spray sample for you to take them home and try them. Seriously I got three samples of my top three perfumes(I think she would have given me 6-10 samples if I wanted) to take home. I had so much perfume I really did not need to buy one. I took them home and used them for a week. Eventually I decided on these two. Having two of them gives me a little variety.

Escada Marine Groove...this one is really fruity and clean.

DKNY: Be Delicious This one is crisp and clean.

So there you have it my big adventure in perfume selection. I am set for at least a year or two. I am pleased with my selections. I highly recommend Sephora for your perfume. Even if you just want a sample of one for a special night or event you can get one for free. :)

**All the perfume photos were from Yahoo Images!

Trying to get organized!

Today I woke up on a mission. You know those days where you feel like you really want to get something done? Well that is how I felt. It does not happen often but when it does watch out. I was like a tornado through our home. Get outta my way...mama's comin' through and don't mess with me. We have a hall closet that has been leaking out into the hallway for weeks. The doors do not shut like they should and I have not been able to find what I have needed. It's been driving me crazy. So today was the day that the closet was getting an overhaul.

Here's the before photos....mind you I am embarrassed to show you how we have been living.





See the floor....all of that "stuff" was in the way of the door actually closing. AHHHHHH!
Here is the glorious after photos. I hated to walk past this closet the past couple weeks. Now I love to. I walk by, open the doors, and it puts an instant smile on my face to see an organized, clean closet. Lets see how many days it stays like this. Any guesses?


You can actually see the floor. I could put my vaccuum back into its original spot...its been living in our guest room since Christmas because this closet was so full.
Here are our "extras"...you know the extra soap, bathroom products, etc. When I see them on sale or have a major coupon I try to stock up. We don't have a pantry or a lot of cabinet space in our bathrooms so it goes in our hall closets. How come builders do not build enough storage space in houses?
Zachary's playdough toys are in those containers with the blue lids.

I know those boxes look like a mess...however the white boxes are empty gift boxes. I use them often. The other boxes are for items with a 2-3 warranty (phone, cable box, etc) so I can't throw them away, the cow is Zachary humidifier, and then we have his tractor puzzle.
Doesn't it look better?
I feel much better. Now time for some relaxation before I meet my sis, brother-in-law, and Elliott for some shopping and dinner at the mall. What a great day!

Building Frosty

Zachary's preschool was cancelled today. Not because of the weather but because the preschool wing did not have heat. Ever since we woke up Zachary has been begging to build a frosty. So we got bundled up and went out side. Unfortunately, the snow is powdery and not really good snowman weather. Instead we poured some water onto the snow and packed it as much as we could. Here's our 2010 Frosty the Snowman!

Z had to hold his best friend, Frosty's hand
If you look at this close up you will see all the frozen snot coming out of Z's nose.

Now we are in from the cold drinking hot chocolate and cuddling together. Happy Snow Day!

Reunited and it feels so good!

For the past two months, Melody and I have been trying to get our kiddos together. Everytime we would plan a play date or arrange lunch something would come up. Be it either doctors appts, preschool events, nap time, etc we have not gotten Zachary and Charley together for at least 2 months. Zachary talks about Charley all the time and says that he misses her. FINALLY, yesterday we met up for lunch and then we joined Rachel & Elliott at the movies to see the Chipmunks sequal.

Zachary and Charley reunited! These kids are so funny to watch together.

Elliott, Charley, and Z at the theater


The kiddos in the movie. They were SO good during the movie.

My Father-In-Law (aka our handyman)

I love my husband to pieces. He does a lot of things. A lot of things for me. He has many talents. However he is not a handyman. When I lived in the sorority house in college we had a handyman named Scott. If you needed Scott to change a light bulb in your bedroom or if your window had a draft all you had to do is sign up on a clipboard and Scott would magically appear. Within a day or two everything was fixed. I often joke to my husband I wish we had a magic clipboard or a direct line to call handyman Scott. Unfortunately, Scott is 3 hours away. So I have been accumulating a list of odds and end jobs around our house. When my list gets too long I call my father-in-law (FIL). My FIL Marvin always comes to the rescue and for that I am thankful.

This time I had some MAJOR tasks for Marvin. So 'major' that I thought he might turn me down when I asked him. I purchased some cluster canvas' from our family portraits. I have to give a shout out to our photographer, Kara at Owens Photography. She is the best! Check her out here. I knew where I wanted them and I knew how they were supposed to be hung. I also knew it was going to be a challenge. Take a look for yourself.

Getting Started...my in-laws with their tripod for the laser level. They brought the big guns for this project.

Getting Started

The first picture is up...doesn't look like a very big deal but wait...

Here's Kevin supporting the board that my father-in-law is standing on

Can you see how difficult this project truly is? I am having them hang a cluster of photos over my staircase.

The Final Product! Thank you Marvin, Karen, and Kevin for getting this project done. I love it!

ANTICIPATING

Happy New Year everyone! I love this time of year. I love looking back at the past year and celebrating all of our many blessing and short comings.

Ten years ago today I was in my junior year of college getting ready to head on a Concert Choir trip to Europe. I had my future in my hands. Since the start of 2000, I have graduated with two college degrees, met my husband, lived in a big city, got engaged, became an Aunt to Karsen, got married to my best friend, moved to a freezing cold city, lived in Iowa for a year, moved to our current city, lived in a duplex, got involved at our church, helped husband open a practice, purchased our first home, worked as a dental hygienist full time for 3 years, became an Aunt to Elliott, became pregnant, gave birth to a healthy little boy, worked 8 months part-time, retired to stay at home with Zachary, taken on some leadership positions at our church, watched a friend fight a battle with breast cancer (she WON!!), lost two of my uncles, and made a ton of memories with my family and friends. I have cried happy and sad tears and experienced a lot of joy!
I am blessed and I am ANTICPATING what God has in store for the next 10 years.

I like to look forward and make 3-4 goals for the year. This year I have chosen to chose a main word for our family. A word to focus on. I have chosen the word ANTICPATE. This year we have a lot of exciting things in store.

First, I am ANTICPATING a new nephew coming April/May 2010. I am ANTICPATING the building of a new office for my husband. This is a dream in the making. There is a lot still to do for it but we are ANTICPATING the final product. I am also ANTICPATING getting fit. Lastly I am ANTICIPATING a deeper relationship with my husband, son, parents, in-laws, the rest of the family, and most importantly my savior, Jesus.

My personal goals for this year are....

1. To spend more time in prayer and more time in The Bible. I started this book, "The Power of a Praying Parent" by Stormie Omartian. IT IS EXCELLENT! The author Stomie Omartian has a gift of using God's Holy scripture to help me see what my role is as Zachary's mom. There is a workbook too that I have found very helpful. I highly recommend this book! 2. To actually use our workout treadmill and elipitical. My goal is to use it at least 3 times a week. We'll see...
Another goal is to drink more water. I am a huge fan of Diet Coke so this one is hard for me.

My last goal is to take better car of my car. This photo is of a car going through a car wash. I could careless if my car is actually washed what I am going to strive to do is keep the interior of the car cleaner. As a mom that is always on the go, I feel that I am in and out of my car several times a day. I load a lot of things in and out of my car daily. By the time I pull in the garage I don't like to get everything out of it. It drives my husband nuts. I leave gum wrappers, coffee cups, Zachary's toys, the drycleaning, receipts, magazines, etc lying in my car for days before I decide I need to get them out. My goal is to be more aware of the "stuff" in my car and remove it when I get home. Again...we'll see if this happens.

I ANTICIPATE all that is in store for our family in the next ten years. I pray that God is at the center of it. Happy 2010!