Babysitting Christmas pics through the years

Ever since I started babysitting 4 years ago, every Christmas we do a group shot, then decorate picture frames and put the pictures in them to go home. It's so fun! And since this is the first time I'm posting about this, I figured I would go ahead and include all of the pictures from previous years as well.

Here is this year's: 2009. In the back from L to R is Ethan, Joey, and Carlie. In the front is Maggie and Savanna.

Here is 2006, my first year babysitting. In the back is Joey and Ethan, in the front is Aiden and Dyllan. I know it's a crappy picture, but YOU try to make 3 - 1 year olds and 1 - 8 month-old cooperate!

Here is 2007. In the back is Dyllan and Joey, in the middle is Ethan and Jack, and in front is Landynne.

And here is 2008. I had dropped most of my babysitting clients when the girls were born, and since they were still little, I was still only babysitting Ethan and Maggie. So on the L is Joey holding Savanna and on the R is Ethan holding his sister, Maggie.

I must say I really do enjoy babysitting. When I first started, Joey was a little baby, and I struggled. I don't think it was the babysitting I didn't enjoy, but it was the stress of being a new mom plus babysitting that was difficult. But, over the past 4 years, I have grown to LOVE it! Really, mostly in the past year I have really truly come to enjoy it. I think it may be since Joey is older now and the older kids play so well together, I don't know. But I did get brave, and come the new year I will be getting 2 more clients. Meaning I will have 7, yes SEVEN, kids in my home almost every day. My own 2, Ethan, Maggie, Carlie, and the 2 that I will be getting, Jonah and Nichole. Jonah is Joey and Ethan's age, and is actually in Joey's class even, and Nichole is just a little older than Savanna and Maggie. I have lots of organizing to do before I have that many kids here, but I know it will be great!

Merry Christmas everyone - I love this time of the year!

Because I'm a Good Mommy!

The other day, I was making some super yummy Chili, but to do so I had to dig out our big crockpot out of the corner cabinet in the kitchen, leaving that cabinet almost empty. The phone rang and the cordless was in the front room, so I ran in to get it, was chatting away on the other side of the kitchen, vaugely aware my kids were playing nicely with all the stuff I had taken out of the cabinet. So I look over and see this.....


I get closer and see this.....

Got them out, then this comes walking out. Ha ha! I'm glad she came out before I put the stuff back in there, because I really didn't know she was in there too!

In other news, we have had my other cat, Xerox, for 6 years now. She was our first 'baby'. We got her about 4 months after we got married. She is a beautiful long haired kitty. BUT with the long hair comes some serious mats. She is also all kinds of crazy. Ha ha! She keeps to herself pretty much, so it's easy to let things go with her a bit. Feed her, clean her litter box, and just not worry about her. But, recently I noticed that she was getting SUPER matted - like really bad. I tried to hold her down and cut them out myself, but I'm no match for a 10 pound pissed off kitty. Soooo I found a groomer that would shave her. View their website here - they are really good!! And reasonably priced!! I didn't think they would have any luck, but they did! And they did a good job!! I think she lost 6 pounds of hair. Here is her before...

And here is her after....

Here is after above her (I'm on the basement stairs). She's my little grey lion. Kris says she looks like a rat.

So, because I'm a good mommy, I lock my kids in cabinets and turn my cats into mini-lions! Ha ha!!

Thanksgiving 2009

I just love Thanksgiving!! We've had it at our house for the past 5 thanksgiving and I think it's so fun! We have both Kris' immediate family and my immediate family so we get to spend the holiday with our entire family. We have a large table that we can stretch out into the living room and fit everyone around it! Here are some pictures from this year... I got pictures of the table and place settings, but forgot to actually get it out while everyone was here!! Oh well, the stuff is just as fun to look at as the people!! This year we had me, Kris, Savanna, Joey, my Mom and Dad, my sister Julie, my brother Randy and his wife Melissa and their 2 girls, Kristen and Kaylee, my Grandpa Ryan, Kris' Grandma, Kris' Mom, Kris' Uncle Steven, Kris' brothers Kraig and Garrett, and sister, Kara, as well as Kraig's girlfriend Amanda. It was a total of 19 people! It was crazy but it was FUN!! I always look forward to Thanksgiving!

Here is one place setting - I think it look so pretty!!

Here's the table - seats 14!

This year my friend Brandy from church let me use her Cricut machine to make these little name cards! SO CUTE!!! Thank you Brandy!!

Here's one close up. I did the programming of the Cricut to cut them out, Kris' sister Kara did all the gluing (not an easy job!!) and my sister Julie did the writing (she has such pretty hand writing!)

Christmas pictures, 2009

So this year our christmas pictures and cards were FREE!! My mother took the pictures (thank you mom!!! You did a great job!!) and we got a promo through a website for 50 free photo christmas cards! soooo much cheaper than we've spent at Sears in the past couple years! And I think they will be so good!!

Anyway - here are the pictures I chose for the cards - the one of all of us is the main one and the one of Kris walking w/ the kids is a smaller one off to the side. It may be strange, but I just had to include it because I loved that picture sooo much!

Can't wait for Christmas this year!! :) It's such a magical time of the year!!

My little speckled baby

Guess who is 15 months old?? My cute little baby!! I can't believe it's gone by so fast!! I guess I can't really call her a baby any more, but she will forever be my baby!

Today was her 15 month appointment and it went great! We just started at a new pediatrician, which I was super nervous about, but the appointment today went really well and he was so easy to talk to, I think he'll be a great pediatrician for us. As for Savanna, here's her stats:

34 inches tall (well above the 95%!)
25 lbs 3 oz (80%)
head circ. 18 inches (45%)

She sure is tall!! She jabbers all the time now, but her most consistent words are doggy and book. She says da da on occasion, too, but that's just when she's in the mood to melt daddy's heart! :) She's yet to say mama. :( She is such a joy though and such a happy baby, but is quite independant and demanding! She cracks me up.

But, I had to put pictures in here of my little speckled baby. A couple weeks ago she had a high fever (103+!) for a few days and then broke into a rash. Roseola!! Joey had this as a baby and was just miserable - He couldn't eat or drink and just cried all the time. Savanna, all she had was a fever! She was still super pleasant and ate well. I am glad it wasn't as miserable for her as it was for Joey. Joey always seems to be a bit sicker of a child - poor kid! I hope that means Savanna will always be able to deal with being sick so well!

The pictures didn't turn out real great, but you can see here her speckled belly.

And her speckled neck!

The rash only lasted a couple days and then she was back to her normal self! Glad to have that illness out of the way.

100 for 100

I have heard that for your monumentous 100th post, you are supposed to write 100 facts about yourself. Because I know everyone out there is soooo interested in my life, I figured I would go ahead and do it! (More, I think my kids may enjoy reading this later... if you feel like reading it, go for it!)


1. I LOVE horses (duh)


2. I started riding horses when I was 13. I had been bugging my parents for a horse since I could talk, and finally my parents thought if they at least got me lessons, I might grow out of the horse craze. I am SO grateful now that my parents got me those lessons!


3. I got my first horse when I was 24 years old and I am glad now that I didn't have a horse as a child - they take ALOT of care and ALOT of money to be properly taken care of!


4. I went to BYU for 3 semesters and am proud of it!


5. I went to BYU to be a Special Education teacher, but I am very happy I didn't finish because when I came back to Ohio and got married I worked in a Special Ed class as an Aide and learned very quickly that I LOVE the kids, but could never be a teacher.


6. Now I am intrested in someday becoming either a speech therapist or American Sign Language interpreter.


7. I will probably start back to school in a year or two when Savanna is a bit older and we have a little more $.


8. I was in the color guard of my high school's marching band for 4 years, the last 2 of which I was captain. I was also in BYU's color guard my freshman year.


9. I kick myself often for not being in BYU's color guard my sophomore year.


10. I secretly want to be a color guard instructor at a high school.


11. I really don't like teen age girls, so I'm not sure how well #10 would work out. ;)


12. I have been married nearly 7 years now.


13. I was Kris' high school sweetheart, but I couldn't stand him in high school. I don't think I can tell you how many times I turned him down and made fun of him in hs. And now we're married - how did that happen?


14. Before we had kids, I wanted a large family. Then, after we had Joey, I found that I'm more suited to be a mother to only a couple children. I am quite content and feel our family is pretty much complete with just Joey and Savanna.


15. Kris and I have talked about becoming foster parents in a couple years, which I am excited about!


16. Although I don't act as such, I am actually fairly shy and very insecure.


17. I am OCD when it comes to reading books, which is why I don't read all that often. Once I start a book I HAVE TO finish it and usually finish it within a couple days - but nothing else gets done. This even happens if I don't particularly like the book.


18. I have been babysitting in my home for 4 years now - and I love it! Best job ever.


19. I have always known that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mother and wouldn't change it for the world.


20. Because I have been babysitting in my home for so long, I really don't play with children well - I am so used to the kids entertaining each other that when it's just Joey and I, he gets bored pretty fast and asks for a 'friend'. This has actually surpised me.


21. Sometimes being a stay-at-home-mom and babysitter requires a referee shirt. LOL


22. We tried to cancel our TV service once and it only lasted 48 hours. Yup - we're addicted to the boob tube.


23. One of my favorite smells is the early morning air.


24. As much as I love the early morning air, I am NOT a morning person - I would much prefer to stay up late and sleep most of the morning.


25. Now that I have been getting up at 6 a.m. for 4 years now, I automatically wake up at that time even if I don't have to. Thankfully I can usually go back to sleep on the days I don't have to get up.


26. I seriously stress when I'm running late, even if it's something that doesn't matter if I'm late to or not.


27. My dream car is a dark green ford mustang convertable - SOMEDAY I'll have one.


28. My dream horse is a large gray gelding with black mane and tail.


29. My dream house has a horse barn and pastures with it. :)


30. My favorite holiday is Christmas.


31. I have a thing for the color green - to say it is my favorite color is to put it lightly. I have dreamed of having an all green bathroom - seriously.


32. I wish my eyes were greener and have considered getting green contacts just for that reason.


33. I hate grocery shopping.


34. I'm not a very good housekeeper, but know that I have certainly improved in the past 7 years.


35. I would love to move out west (Utah, Colorado, Wyoming) but know I could never leave my family!


36. I never realized what a blessing it would be to live so close to my parents, siblings, and in-laws until I had children.


37. I mentioned earlier that I didn't like Kris in hs. The first thing about him that impressed me was our senior year he had a nice shiny Chevy Blazer. I thought maybe he wasn't so bad if he had a car like that. LOL


38. I have since learned that my husband has a thing for big shiny cars and likes to spend $ on them. Doesn't really impress me any more!


39. Since we have been married (7 years!), we have owned (I'm sad to admit it) 9 cars. I have vowed that Kris will have his current suburban until it is a hunk of metal on the side of the road!!


40. If I had it to do over again, I would have bought an existing home unstead of having one built. I love our house but I don't enjoy being in a 'cookie cutter' neighborhood and know that w/ the same amount of $ we could have gotten an existing house already with a back deck and fenced in back yard and finished basement without having to pay extra.


41. My favorite subject in school was Math.


42. I LOVED Physics in hs.


43. I am a realist and am proud of it.


44. I am a liberal republican - if that's possible! I view on the side of republicans, but I am much more liberal in those views.


45. We have a flat screen TV that I hate.


46. I would LOVE to learn to play the piano and violin.


47. I love to sing, but am NOT good at it.


48. I love music - which I attribute to my dad who always had music playing as I was growing up.


49. My favorite number is 5.


50. I have tried to become a runner many times, but have learned that I just am not and never will be a runner.


51. I have discovered I love rollerblading!


52. I feel like time goes faster with every passing day.


53. I am a chocoholic.


54. I have a temper which I am learning to control.


55. I have a loose tounge and often say what I am thinking, and then regret it later.


56. I have a hard time 'minding my own business'. LOL (aka I tend to be kinda nosy)


57. When I was a child, I was playing with my brother and a big wooden sign fell on my head and cracked my skull. It was his fault because we were playing 'follow the leader' and he went under the sign and shook the pole it was hanging on and since he was the 'leader' I followed him and did it too - and down it came! Guess I was a strong kid..


58. Also when I was a child, my mom forgot me at church! She got half way home before she realized I wasn't in the car! Poor mom still hears it for that one.


59. I feel that I'm a very forgiving person - I really don't hold grudges for long and get over being mad fairly quickly.


60. I'm WAY too trusting and I know that it is a bad thing.


61. I'm seriously addicted to Diet Dr. Pepper. It's not the caffiene because a different kind of pop really doesn't suffice, and I'm just as happy with caffiene free diet dr pepper. If I go too long without it I go a little nutso. :) I don't understand what it is about it, but I LOOOVE it.


62. I am a believer in liquid diets (slimfast, optifast, newlifestyle diet).


63. I LOVED being pregnant - I HATED labor/delivery/recovery. It didn't go well with either of my children, even though I didn't have to have c-sections, which is one of the reasons we are done having kids.


64. I don't like beans, cooked tomatoes, or soup, but I LOVE chili. Doesn't make sense does it?


65. You couldn't even pay me to eat seafood.


66. I once entered a local one day 'survivor' competition in town and took 5th place out of 200. I probably could have gone farther, but the last leg of the competition was eating nasty things and sardines and pig brains is where I draw the line.


67. I love red hair! I always hoped I would have a red head child but I guess Kris and I don't have enough red head genes. I love my little blonde kids just the same! ;)


68. There is an actress/dancer who's name is also Sara Haley and her website is http://www.sarahaley.com/ I find it funny personally. Although, I do get jealous - she's everything I want to be - pretty, red head, dancer, singer, etc. LOL oh well. I found her website once just messing around and googling people - her site came up when I googled myself.


69. I LOVE the TV shows: So You Think You Can Dance, 24, Law and Order SVU, Biggest Loser, and The Big Bang Theory.


70. I dream of being a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance LOL but I know that if I was ever on that show, it would be to make fun of me.


71. I once considered auditioning for a spot on the Biggest Loser, but then I lost 85 lbs on my own. Of course then I got pregnant and gained some of it back, but I've lost 26 lbs of that - still have about 15 to go. I am currently 72 lbs lighter than my highest weight.


72. I do take pride in the fact I would no longer be eligable for the Biggest Loser show.


73. I'm a hard core country music fan.


74. I love accents - especially Indian and Austrailian! However, British ones get on my nerves.


75. I find it ironic that as children, we never want to eat or take naps, but when we're adults, we ALWAYS want to eat and take naps. doesn't make sense I tell you!


76. I get cold sores from hades - they are awful! But I take valtrex whenever I get one and I swear it's a miracle drug! (although I was once embarrassed at the dr's office because he mistakingly assumed that I took valtrex for genital herpes and not oral...)


77. I am a hopeless romantic

78. I love marching band music

79. My kids are my world! I am always amazed at how much I love them! I am surprised at how much of a 'mother bear' I have turned out to be.

80. Some of my best friends are my sisters, although we didn't get along at all as teenagers!

81. My sister Julie and I got in a fight once as kids and she threw my teddy bear out the 2nd story window so I was determined to throw HER out the window... my dad intercepted.

82. I still have that teddy bear - it's a 'Bingo' bear. I got him for christmas when I was 3 or 4. I really wanted a teddy ruxbin, but I fell in love with Bingo bear as soon as I saw him under the tree! I even bought another bingo bear on ebay when I was in college - yes - I still keep and cherish both.

83. We had a yellow lab named Mac when I was growing up - he was the best dog ever!

84. My cats were my babies before I had children - now I just find them extremely annoying and keep them only because I would feel awful giving them up since I've had them both since they were kittens.

85. I firmly believe it is important to raise children around animals - it's a great way to teach empathy and responsiblity I think.

86. I like watching to 'today' show in the morning, but never actually sit and 'watch' it - it's usually just on for noise or if something intrests me.

87. I have been a fan of the show 'the price is right' since I was a young child, but rarely watch it any more.

88. I don't like boats or being on the water.

89. I am not a fan of the beach at all. I don't like to eat fish, I don't like to swim with fish. I find the beach disgusting on so many levels.

90. I would, however, love to ride a horse along the beach.

91. My dream vacation is an equestrian vacation in Ireland - 8 days riding across the Irish country side. I've looked into it many times - it costs about $1200 (not including air fare). I am planning on doing it SOMEDAY though I'm sure it won't be for another 10 years! If I wait long enough, Joey and Savanna can go with me - I think kids have to be at least 12. I know for sure Kris would NEVER want to go with me!

92. I am more of a spur-of-the-moment kind of person and am not good at making plans.

93. I like to teach at church

94. I am sooo not good at interior design - I am often embarrassed that my house is so blah, but don't know where to start to change that! Also, I'm un willing to spend the $ it requires!

95. I am NOT a germ-a-phobe at all. I am a believer in the mantra 'if it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger'. I have, however, become more germ-conscience since having kids, but still think it's silly how far some parents go to be 'germ free'. Don't worry - we do practice good cleaning and hand washing techniques, I just don't tote hand sanitizer and neo-to-go in my bag!

96. If I had a million dollars, I would gladly hire a maid!

97. I find it funny I LOVE cleaning horse stalls, but dislike cleaning my own house.

98. I am a huge online stalker - facebook, blogs, I love 'stalking' people! LOL It's definately a guilty pleasure

99. There's nothing sweeter in the world than baby snuggles.

100. I'm shocked that I have been blogging for exactly a year now and have made 100 posts! I am excited to print this blog into a book and keep it for my children! This is the most sucessful I have ever been at journalling! Love it!

And there you have it - 100 facts about me! And if you actually read all 100, you get a cookie! Seriously! :)

Halloween 2009

Hello! I apologize for being off the blogging scene for a little while! I've actually been trying to make this halloween post for a few days but neither of my computers were cooperating. (Yes, I'm married to a computer genius, and we have more than a few computers in the house, but I rarely have a computer that works right!) Anyway - here are the halloween pics! It gets more fun every year! I love watching Joey's enthusaism! Although he did get WAY too much candy!! I also apologize for these pictures not being in order... I've had enough of fighting with computers!

Here is Joey on Saturday night at Boo-at-the-Zoo! It was fun! There were so many activities to do. Here he is sword fighting with a pirate - it really was the highlight of his night!

Here is Joey and Ethan at Boo-at-the-Zoo. Ethan's dad made his costume in 2 days! It is Plex from the show Yo Gabba Gabba. As much as I dislike the show, I was very impressed with the outfit!!

Here is Savanna ready for our church's Trunk-or-Treat Friday night. She was a penguin for trick-ot-treat on Thursday, but destroyed the outfit w/ suckers and Juice so she got to be an OSU cheerleader on Friday! Sooooo cute!

Here is Joey Friday at school - they got to have a halloween party! They got to wear thier costumes through school and trick-or-treat through the halls.

Here is Ethan and Carlie, 2 of the kids I babysit, waiting for Joey to trick-or-treat at his school.

Savanna - such a cutie! And Maggie is in the far L of the picture - another little one I babysit.

Here is Joey, Savanna, and their Aunt Kara ready for trick-or-treat. Joey is Lightning Mcqueen, Savanna is a chubby little penguin, and Kara is supposed to be a mail-person zombie, but I think she could have used a little more make up to pull off the zombie part.

My little Penguin

My little race car

It was a very fun holiday!! :)

Cutting Up Spaghetti and Thoughts on Motherhood

Am I the only one that hates to come home from grocery shopping just to have to cook? I find it ironic that I go spend all that $ on groceries, then have no desire to cook any of it, so we often eat out or order in on days that I've grocery shopped. I think I get so exhuasted just shopping and keeping control of 2 kids while there that I just can't face the exhaustion of cooking. I don't really like cooking to begin with anyway.

Anyway, it is Friday today and Kris has been gone alot recently because he works like at least 60 hour weeks every week, plus for the past 2 weeks he has been taking dispatcher classes because he wants to become a part time/on call 911 dispatcher. The classes run for like 6 weeks. I swear the past 2 weeks I've really only seen him as he drags himself in at around midnight and then leaves for work again by 8 the next day. I feel bad for him - I know he's exhasuted.

Well tonight I went grocery shopping and finished around 7. Not wanting to come home and cook my kids another crappy dinner, and since I had some cool coupons to TGI Fridays, I decided me and the kids would go out for dinner. It felt odd for me to go into a restaurant like that with just me and my 2 kids, but hey - I'm a paying customer so it doesn't matter, right? We ended up having a blast!!! My kids were angels and it was really good quality bonding time for us. And I had a 'mom moment' that I really don't want to forget so I figured I would record it here.

As I cut up Savanna's spaghetti, a memory from my childhood hit me hard. I could suddenly CLEARLY remember (though I have no clue what age I was, but I think I was around Joey's age) my mother cutting spagetti up for me, and then I wanted to try, but couldn't even begin to do it right, so she finished cutting it up for me. I remember how I marveled at how easily she could cut it when I couldn't do it at all and how just from that, I thought she could do anything. I remember wanting to be able to cut up spaghetti as well as she could. I know it sounds stupid, but the memory was so clear in my head. And I could see Savanna and Joey watching me cut it up and I realized I had become like my mother. I remembered so clearly how I wanted to be just like my mom when I grew up - and now I am. It hit me how my life is exactly like I've always wanted it to be. It's definately not a perfect life by any stretch of the imagination - I would like to be debt free, I would like to be 40 lbs lighter, I would like to have more patience, I would like to have more horses - no, it's not a perfect life. BUT I relized beyond a shadow of a doubt tonight that it IS the perfect life for me. I am so beyond blessed and I know that the Lord has given me what I wanted, as well as what I need. I'm definately a mother now because I can't even get through cutting up my child's spaghetti without crying with joy. :) I do so love my kids and even though I get stressed about being a mom, it's times like this that I know I want nothing more than to be a good mom to my two perfect little ones.

I Made a People!

The pictures didn't show as well as I was hoping, but these are pictures of Joey's "people" that he drew today. I know this will sound lame, but Joey has always been a little behind on his drawing skills. He just has never shown much intrest in putting pen to paper. Don't get me wrong. I don't think he's 'slow' by any means, he's just a little behind what most kids his age are in this department, but still well within 'normal' parameters. Well today, for the first time, he brought me some paper and said "Mom, I made a people!" He was SO proud of himself! And they really looked like people! I love this little guy.

I find it interesting that in all 3 pictures, the people have a head, eyes, mouths, stomachs, and legs, and of all things - a heart. He put a heart in the center of each stomach. Not all of them had arms. Apparently he sees a heart as more important than arms! How neat this little guy is. One of them had another circle next to the heart in the stomach and I asked him what it was - he said it's me with a baby in my belly!! LOL - I most certainly hope he's not right! I am so proud of my little guy. Here are the pictures of his pictures. YOu have to turn your head to the right and maybe if you can make them bigger then you can see them.

Oh the Joys of Having a Girl!!

Hello. My name is Sara and I have a problem. I LOVE braiding hair - I love feeling the hair as I braid it, I love the look of braids, I love to have my own hair braided. And so, when I found out I was having a girl, I was sooooo excited for the day that I could braid her hair!!! :) Well, obviously baby girls don't typically come out with braid-able hair but just about a week ago I decided to give it a whirl. I love it!!!

Here is a back view of it. I know I know they aren't even and they don't look great, but hey - her hair is only about 3 inches long and is still really thin and wispy. The braids stayed in all day!! Is she cute or what??

Spraypaint Pictures

About 5 years ago I taught seminary for church. I only had 1 student - we were studying the new testament. I LOVED it - it was lots of fun to teach seminary. But that was the year I got pregnant for Joey, so I decided not to do it the following year since I was going to have a new baby and didn't really know what to expect. I think someday I would like to teach a larger seminary class - I think it would be fun. Probably shouldn't say that too loud tho... ha ha!

Anyway, the girl that I taught was Tiffany Smith. Recently I've caught up with her on Facebook and I started seeing the AMAZING artwork she was doing! She is soooo talented!! I saw in her spraypaint pictures that she did a horse one, so I asked if she could do one for me. She said she could!!! I even got to go watch - and yes - she uses real spraypaint! The kind you would buy at the store. This is the horse one she made - it's unbelievable!! It only took her like 10 minutes max. I even watched it and it's hard for me to believe she did it.

And she also did this one for me too... turn your head to the L to get the full effect. SO cool!!

Thanks Tiffany!!! I can't wait to frame them and find a place to hang them!!

Another year older! Another year wiser?

The above picture is just a random one I found on the net... thought it was cool! Not sure if I'm breaking copyright though... he he! So last Tuesday, October 13, I turned 27!!! Even after all these years, I still find something magical in my birthday. Of course my kids birthdays are much more fun for me now, but it's still exciting when Oct 13 rolls around every year. It amazes me I'm 27 already.... I swear just yesterday I was turning 16. I can't believe how fast time goes!! And you know what? I like being 27. It still sounds 'old' to me, but that's ok. It's just odd to me that I really am an 'adult' LOL - even though I have been for the past 9 years it still gets me because so often I still feel like a teenager.

But you know, I am very happy with where I am in my life right now. To repeat something my sister Amanda said in her blog on her birthday, I am more comfortable in my skin now than I have ever been. I am coming to know who I really am and am learning how to improve myself every day. I am learning to take things as they come. I think motherhood has taught me soooo much more about who I am than anything else. Anyway - here is a sampling of what I recieved on my birthday. I must say I was feeling very loved this year!!

My sister Amanda got me the flowers on the L and she bought me lunch at Subway (my fav!!) and came to my house and kept me company on my birthday since I had to babysit. My friend from church, Diana, showed up at my door with the flowers on the R and a card and a happy birthday wish. It made me feel so special!! Really put a smile on my face. My friend Laurie got me the book Evermore (which I finished in 2 days), pre-ordered the New Moon soundtrack for me AND took me out to dinner at TGI Fridays. My sister Julie got me a target gift card which will certainly be used on clothes!! My parents gave me money, which is ALWAYS appreciated and I got many cards and happy birthday wishes. :) Kris, as I posted about a couple posts ago, took me to see the So You Think You Can Dance performance and dinner at the beginning of the month.

So what does it feel like to be 27? No different than it did to feel 26. I don't feel older. And really, when I think about it, it feels like the last 27 years has been a long time!! And to think in another 27 years I'll only be 54, which is a strange thought. I wonder what the next 27 years will bring me... :)

Happy birthday to me!

Joey Chatter

At the barn, upon seeing a new pile of fresh sawdust (which he LOVES to play in)

"Look, Mommy!! There's a HUGE mountain dew of sawdust!! I'm gonna climb that mountain dew all the way to the top!!"

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Today while driving:

"When I grow up I'm gonna be a race car driver! And you will be a horse back rider, and Daddy will be a golfer, and Savanna will be a dancer. Ok Mom?"

LOL - I'm glad he has that all figured out! What's funny is Kris enjoys to golf, but I think he's only gone all of two times in the 6 years we've been married!! And I would love to be a horse back rider when I 'grow up'!

What a cute boy.

So You Think You Can Dance

Last night Kris and I went to the 'So You Think You Can Dance' Season 5 tour at Nationwide Arena! Let me tell you what - it was soooooo AWESOME!!! What fun! We both watched season 5 together and so when the tickets went on sale and saw they were coming to Columbus around my birthday, I figured it was worth the ticket $ to get a rare night out together and enjoy some amazing dancing in person!

I didn't know what to expect - I didn't know if they would do new dances, or the ones from the show, or what. I was pleased that they did have a couple of new dances, but over all, it was some of the best dances from season 5. And they were SO good! Over all, the narration, which was also done by the dancers, was a little cheesy and over-rehersed - I mean hey - they're dancers -not actors! But the dancing more than made up for it! It was awesome! And it was so fun to have a night out to relax and enjoy something other than diapers and temper tantrums! A huge thank you to my sister Amanda for watching my kids!!! You rock!

Her are my top 3 dances from Season 5. I took these from You Tube, so not sure if it's legal, but enjoy! They are great! I love a dance that has a story - and all 3 of these have awesome stories behind them!

This first one is about addiction - the woman is an addict and the man is the addiction keeping her 'trapped'. It brings me to tears.




This next one is about breast cancer and the struggle. It speaks for itself.



And this one is just cute - it's about a couple that are mad at eachother and can't sleep because of it - but they make up by the end. :) This one also is done by my 2 favorite dancers and season 5's winner - Jeanine.

New Albany Classic and Family Fun Day

Horses like this are why I would LOVE to be a mounted police officer.

Last Sunday I went to the "New Albany Classic Grand Prix and Family Fun Day". This was the 12th annual classic. I've heard of it in years past, and have considered going, but never got around to buying the tickets because they have to be bought in advance from ticket master. Thanks to my bestest friend Amy, she asked if I would like to go with her. So, Amy, Alyssa, Micahel (her 2 youngest kids) and Me, and Joey, and Kara (Joey's aunt) went to the classic Sunday!

OH MY GOSH it was amazing!! I was shocked at how awesome it was! The tickets were only $15 for 12 y/o and above, and children were free. There were tons of stuff to do! There was lots of carnival rides, and 'all day' rides was only $5, huge bounce houses that were free, face painting, hair painting, fake tattoos, sheep herding competition, and a ton of other stuff just to say a few. Then, we got to watch a concert put on by 'tween brands' - I was shocked at the line up! The performers were the OSU traveling band and cheerleaders and brutis, Mitchel Musso, and Jordin Sparks!! Then on to the grand prix jumping - what a good climax to the day!!!

My camera crapped out, so the following pictures are stolen from a friend's facebook page, but hey - I saw the same stuff!! :) here's a little taste of the New Albany Classic - and every reason why I'll be back EVERY year from here on out!!!

Look carefully at this horse's butt... the owner has shaved a perfect 'check board' pattern into it! LOL!

There's just something amazing about watching 1200 lbs of pure muscle flying over 5 1/2 foot jumps like they're nothing!

The gray horse was my fav, but not the winner! She did get 5th place out of 25 though!

A porche I think... they had about 5 super cool cars there like this that you were free to get into and look at and drool over and stuff.

A reindeer - what do reindeer do the other 364 days of the year? Why go to places like the New Albany classic to be petted by adoring kids. Their antlers were HUGE!

The 'Tween brands' jump - the whole even was sponsored by the Wexners... who have more money than should be legal! All the proceeds went towards the 'coalition against family violence' although w/ the line up and all the stuff they had there and how cheap the tickets were, I'm surprised there was any proceeds!!

The winner of the New Albany Classic Grand Prix - Armani! Yes - the horse's name is 'Armani'. I can't remember the rider's name - but who cares about the rider? It's the horses that are awesome! And what did the rider get for winning?? A $24,000 check and a 2 year lease on a Mercedes!! There was once a saying I heard that said "If you have made a small fortune riding horses, you started out with a large fortune!" soooo true - horses are so expensive!

All in all it was an amazing but exhausting day! And what a deal!!! I told Kris I'm gonna make him go with us next year!

Dehydrated apples

Last Saturday, I went with Joey and picked about 10 pounds of these...

Since I technically can't eat them right now, and Kris isn't a huge apple fan, and Joey can only eat so many apples, I was kind of wondering what to do with them? But some lovely ladies at my church had been jarring apple pie filling and dehydrating apples and making applesauce, so I asked one of them to help me learn how to do one of those things. She said dehydrating them is the easiest and a good place to start. So she came over yesterday, brought her dehydrator, and taught me how to use it. This is how it looks all loaded and ready to go! (I started just doing half rings because it fits more!)

And by the time they're done, they look like this:
And are absolutely delicious!!!! I made 2 batches yesterday, each one having about 5-6 apples each and realized as I was putting the 3rd batch in last night, that the first 2 batches were already gone!!! Where did they go? Well, Joey had a few and Kris had a few, and I gave a few away, and I guess some gremlin came in and ate the rest because I certainly did not eat THAT many!!! LOL anyway - I have fallen in love with dehydrating stuff! The apples and bananas are great and I can just imagine the possibilities. Kris really wants me to try to make him beef jerky some time. SO if anyone out there is wondering about birthday/christmas gift ideas.... I want one of these!!! ;)
Thank you soooo much Tanya for helping me and letting me borrow your dehydrator!!! You may or may not get it back!!! he he!