Thursday, June 26, 2008

Tired

Went to yoga and then took the girls to the pool for 2 hours. It was hot outside and I was in the water with them the entire time because the summer camp kids were there and it was crowded. So, I'm tired - hoping to go to bed early tonight. We've been at this gym for 1 1/2 years and today was the 1st time I took the girls into the family dressing/locker room. OMGosh - they have 6 individual shower rooms that have a huge changing area and then a HUGE shower with a hand held sprayer. I knew Steve always gave the girls showers after swimming but I just thought he had them stand under a regular shower head. They splashed and played in the shower and it was so easy to wash and rinse their hair. Plus, it's nice to know the shower is already out of the way for the day. Yeah!!!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Green grass

Yesterday the girls and I were taking a walk (well, they were riding their bikes and I was walking) and as I walked I was looking at the neighbors yards. Only 3 yards in the neighborhood had truly green grass - ours, JD and Ellens and one other yard. I wondered on the walk home why these people didn't water their yards? They mow them and keep the lawn manicured and landscaped but they don't turn the sprinklers on. Our water bill goes up at the most $30 a month when we water - and we water a lot. At least twice a week we soak the front and back yards leaving the sprinklers on at least 2 hours but usually close to 3 hours. So, I just pondered this thought on the way home - I just wonder why. I LOVE pulling up to our house and seeing the vibrant green grass, beautiful flowers and shrubs and people comment on how nice our yards look. Maybe we love our yard too much. LOL

I never posted this milestone for Isabella. But in the spring, she finally was brave enough to ride her bike without training wheels. She zips around the neighborhood now and comments on wishing she would have tried it last summer. Oh,well...that's just how Isabella operates - she doesn't do ANYTHING until she knows she will be successful at it.

Steve and the girls went to the gym last night when he got home and I did laundry and then took a shower. I checked my cell phone after I got out and saw Ellen had called and left me a message. She wanted to know if I wanted to come over and have a glass of wine with Pam and her and talk about our 4th of July block party we are organizing. She did mention if I didn't call her back she would be knocking on my door in 10 minutes. So, I change into some clothes, put my wet hair in a ponytail and grab a glass of wine and head over. Only, they aren't next door or at Pams. As I'm walking back into my house I look down the street and see them talking about 5 houses down to a neighbor. I head down there and we end up talking with some neighbors for about 2 hours. Poor Steve came home and didn't know where I was. Note to self: leave note on counter next time. LOL

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Oh, I forgot....

Ava is totally potty trained. It was painless and easy and I'm glad its done! We just got a pay raise not having to buy diapers!

Back home

Back home from a trip home to my moms. We spent most of my time at my brother and sister in laws house swimming at the pool. We all are nice and tan because of it - yeah. The kids had a blast! I mentioned to my mom one night how much it meant to me to see Trent and Dialevash with Isabella and Ava. They both love my girls and my girls love them in return soooo much.

They loved playing with Dialycia and Dialycia was so good with them. She made them lunch most days, heck - some days she made them breakfast lunch and dinner. She played with them, encouraged them while swimming (she worked with Isabella and by the end of the trip Isabella was swimming the entire length of the pool without stopping or taking a break and it's a big pool!). She watched TV with them, played with them and was just an awesome cousin. She and I raced several times swimming to which she beat me everytime but once - she probably let me win if the truth be told. When we got home I just missed them so much. I can't wait for Dialycia's ball games (she plays fast pitch softball) to finish so she can come spend some time with us here.

Picked up some kick butt fireworks from Mom for our 4th of July party here, had lunch with Brandy and Cindi (discussed and agreed we all feel like failures as parents because our children are way too priviledge and spoiled - decided we would implement a cleaning boot camp this summer for our children to get them in shape and helping out in the home), took Molly to be spay and declawed and rabies shot (it was $250 cheaper to use my moms vet than vets up here in Indy) and slept in a couple days.

Now, back to the daily grind here. Multiplied by listening to the girls fuss and complain because they are having to play on their own.

Friday, June 20, 2008

6 year old Wisdom

Last night while changing into my pajamas I mentioned to my niece and Isabella - one advantage to gaining weight is your boobs get bigger. (I'm sure they were thrilled with this tidbit of info I gave them.). I then proceeded to say, I'd rather be skinnier though with smaller boobs - boobs aren't all they are cracked up to be.

Silence.....

Followed by the best wisdom around - my 6 year old. She chimed in and told me "well, you are just going to have to wait for God to come back and get us and then you can ask for that".

Out of the mouths of babes.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Glorious!!!!!!!!!!

That is the only way to describe the weather today. It's sunny, light breeze and only going to be 74 today. I have the windows open and am enjoying listening to the birds singing (as well as the neighbor dog barking) - but it's just beautiful.

Funny Isabella comment: a few minutes ago she came in to the office and said "Ava should own her own business. She likes to yell alot". Then she said, "or she could be in a movie since she cries all the time". No joke! I can't make this stuff up folks. LOL Sad part - Isabella is 100% correct.

Off to water the plants and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Some pictures

This picture is of Ava and Isabella with her cousins - Grace is the one in the back and Sophia is next to Isabella. They all get along soooo good together. Grace (10 years old) is my cousin Vicky's daughter and Sophia (4 years old) is my cousin Sheryl's daughter. They both were adopted from China and are absolutely beautiful! (Isabella thinks it is "totally awesome" (her words) that she has not one, but TWO cousins who are from China). We were over at Vicky and Barbs house yesterday for a cookout and swim fest!


I had trouble loading pictures of the flowers (big surprise! LOL - I always have trouble with pictures) but here are a few. These were taken a couple weeks ago and everything has filled out and grown so much since these were taken. The first picture is the result of JD and Steve. We went to a nursery with JD and Ellen one Sunday and what started out as me saying ONE particular plant would look good in front of these electrical boxes turned into Steve and JD totally landscaping it. They had fun and so did Ellen and I as we sat on the front porch and watched our men working hard in the yard! We have "joint custody" of the flowers at this time. LOL Ellen tried t sneak her cilantro plant in there but JD removed it. There is some sage as well as some other flowers that aren't shown in the picture.

This is the fence row next to the "Barkers" (the dog who barks constantly when she doesn't have her bark collar on) - this side has really filled out since this picture.

This is our fence row along JD and Ellens house. JD has done a great job with his back yard this year.
This is the back side of our house - we have an herb garden scattered in the flowers - rosemary, basil, cilantro, CHIVES!! (this is for Jecku - :)) and some other things but I forget. Eventually we will be building patio off of this area but probably won't happen this year - hopefully next Spring though. The area sticking out of the house is our gas fireplace in the downstairs family room.



Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Fathers Day

Hope all the fathers had a great fathers day. We bought Steve Guitar Hero for the Wii last night. I had planned to get him an iPod docking station but when we went to check them out of course, we only liked the Bose system which was a little out of my price range. He'll probably get more use out of the Guitar Hero anyway. He's a kid at heart.

This afternoon we went over to my cousins house. They have a beautiful home and just put a new pool in a couple months ago. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins Grace and Sophia. My aunt and uncle (dads brother) was there as well as my other cousin and her boyfriend. We had a great time and it's been so fun reconnecting with this side of the family. I took some pictures that I'll upload later this week.

Well, Steve's waiting for me to come watch some Anthony Bourdain show with him (chef show) - so off I go!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Day 2

Ava is doing awesome with her potty training. We are having wonderful success. 2nd day with a nap and no diaper and waking up dry too! The advantage to waiting so long is she really doesn't need my help - but we have been chained to the house. Tomorrow we are getting out because we have to go pick up a fathers day present for Steve.

Steve is at the zoo tonight for a VIP event. I don't really understand exactly what it is, I just know it's black tie and people pay quite a bit to attend. It's raining cats and dogs, muggy and steamy - I sure wouldn't be happy to be in a tux if I were a guy or wearing a long formal gown if I were attending. I will gladly sit in the comfort of my home in the nice, cool air conditioning.

Sunday we are going over to my cousins house for a cookout and pool party. I haven't told the girls yet they are going to be able to see their cousin Sophia. They would drive me batty constantly talking about it asking if we were going today. Next week I think we'll head down to my moms for a visit and to pick up some fireworks. Although, I did hear the weather was suppose to turn cool - so if that's the case, we may wait a week because I want to swim at my brothers new pool -and I'm a sissy with water and cold air. LOL

Ok, the kids are quiet so that means trouble. There is no way they are asleep - it's too early. Off to investigate.....

Thursday, June 12, 2008

So far so good!!!

I'm so proud of Ava!!!!!!!!!!!! She is doing awesome with the potty training. She has gone to the potty by herself all day long. AND she went down for a nap without a diaper and stayed dry! Yippee Skippeeeeee!!!!!!!!! I'm not crazy enough to put her to bed tonight without a diaper - I'll give her a week before i attempt that. I guess this is one advantage to waiting so long to start this process - she can sense it on her own!

Please Lord, let tomorrow go as smooth as today!

They are at the pool with Steve right now - we were at home inside the entire day. Isabella was pretty bored - but we read a lot of books, watched Barbie Mariposa and Charlottes Web 2 and Isabella and I played countless hands of Uno (she won every time!). Tomorrow it's suppose to rain so it will make staying inside easier.

A little brag on Steve - he is going to be promoted to basically a regional Chef for his company. He will work in development with the other Chefs in his region. This is a HUGE, HUGE step towards becoming the corporate chef. Especially, since he has only been with the company 4 years and there are Executive Chefs who have been with the company for 15 years in his region. He is an awesome Chef, fantastic manager and super talented so he will do fabulous!!! Yeah Steve!!!

Day 1

Day 1 of potty training Ava has begun. Why do I dread it so? Oh yeah, I'm chained to the house and also being in the same room with the kids all day long. LOL (tongue in cheek everyone, I love my kids to pieces!!!!)

Ava will be 3 next month and I figure I've put it off long enough. Isabella was trained so super easily in one day - Ava, I don't think it will be that easy - but I have to start being more positive!!!! Of course she can do it!!! (note to self: repeat this over and over all day long). I already feel like a big loser of a parent for waiting this long to start the process. Isabella was trained at 2 years 5 months - Ava is now 2 years 11 months. I try to tell myself I waited until the summer months - but really, I just wasn't looking forward to it.

Ava kept telling me this morning - I'm a baby, I need to wear diapers. I am a baby, babies don't wear panties. LOL I'll spare everyone the play by play and just report i we have success at the end of the day.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Invisalign

I got my trays today for Invisalign. Invisalign is basically removable braces. It's all computer generated and you have "trays" that you wear 22 hours of the day (removed only to drink or eat). I call them - an expensive diet! LOL We upgraded our dental insurance to cover Adult Orthodontics so it's nice to finally be on the road to perfect teeth. I didn't have bad teeth to begin with, just a little crowding on the bottom - but still, I'm such a teeth person I wanted to get them fixed while it was covered. When Steve came home from work today he couldn't even tell I had them in, they literally are like a clear 2nd "skin" on your teeth.

After I got back from the dentist (of course, the trays couldn't have come in while Steve was on vacation last week - so I called Christine to come down to watch the girls for an hour) I took the kids to the pool. It was only 80 degrees here today so I knew the pool was going to be chilly - especially after getting out! So, I warned them before hand if we went they had to play on their own because Mama more than likely wasn't getting in the water today. They did awesome! Isabella is a little fish and swam all over the place. Thankfully, she can touch in almost the entire pool - just a little section where she can't touch. Ava stays in the shallow end and jumps off the side non stop. But, Ava basically went to the pool to sit on the lounge chair next to me eating snacks I brought. LOL

It's suppose to be nice (no rain) the next 2 days so I plan to work out and then hit the pool for a couple hours. It's awesome putting the kids to bed at night after a day in the sun and pool.

I do have a prayer request for the prayer warriors out there. My sister in law Angie (she is married to Steve's oldest brother - the "Favorite One" Danny (Danny's self proclaimed title) - well, her mother entered hospice care last week. Please pray for peace, comfort and acceptance of what they are experiencing. Thanks!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Sex and the City

I saw the movie last night and LOVED it. I laughed, I cried - I totally enjoyed it. I went with 4 of my neighbors and we went and had a cocktail (Cosmo's of course!) before the movie and had a good time. We already decided Mamma Mia is our next group movie to see.

We had a "block party" on Friday evening and most of the neighbors came out. We played cornhole, ate, socialized and had a good time. I did have a major "alishaism" and asked one of the neighbors if this one particular woman was his mother in law (um, it was his wife). In my defense - first off, he looked super young (he was around 50 he said) and he is sooo quiet where his wife is very outgoing and funny. Thankfully, Latonya has a great sense of humor and when she was getting ready to leave (of course, JD ran straight inside to tell her what I said to her husband) she walked outside to where we all were and said "come on Son, it's time to go home". LOL Oh, well - at least I'm good for the entertainment.

It's hot here so Steve and I are going to take the girls to the pool for a couple hours. Other than that, not much happening.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Chicago

We had a great time in Chicago but are happy to be back home. Here is a summary of our trip (more for my memory keeping than anything). We left the house around 9:00 am to make the 3 hour or so trip. Isabella and Ava were pretty sad with us leaving, so I left my cell phone with Isabella so she could call anytime she wanted (um, which she did call about every hour - LOL). We make it downtown and find the theater without much trouble. We pull into the parking garage and see the price to park for 3 hours or so - $27!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We would have backed out and went looking someplace else, but the other lot we pulled into was for about $22-$25 and it was an open lot and I just didn't like the looks of it. We suck it up and take the "we're on vacation attitude and are willing to pay it. Head to the theater thinking we have about 30 minutes or so before the show and remember - oh yeah, Chicago is an hour behind Indianapolis.

We walk around and do a little shopping (Steve fell in love with Nordstrom Rack) and headed back to the theater. Wicked was fantastic, fabulous, worth every penny, want to go back and see it again!!!! (can you tell I really liked it?). Didn't hurt that we had seats in the 3rd row center stage - so we could literally see the actors sweat and spit. LOL Here is a little info about Wicked: http://www.wickedthemusical.com/#AboutWicked

Find our way to the hotel and check in. The hotel is soooo nice!!! (Thank you priceline.com for allowing us to afford it). We didn't have reservations until 9:00 pm (10:00 Indy time) so we decided to go get a little bite to eat in the hotel bar to tide us over. Oh, I forgot - we valet parked our car at the hotel - if I thought $27 was expensive I was prepared to be shocked for this - $45 for parking at the hotel. At this point, I was really sick of handing out money!!!! LOL

The being tired of handing out money didn't end when we went into the bar and ordered an $8 beer - for one - not both. I decided to go ahead and get an imported beer since it was only a whopping $.50 more - LOL. So, I savored my $8 Amstel lite like it was my last beer on Earth. I don't know why the money thing was bothering me so much. Maybe I was so surprised it was as expensive as it was or Steve has just stopped all of my spending almost totally that I just hadn't spent money in a while. I just kept making mental notes of how much everything was costing.

We headed out to dinner at Charlie Trotters and were excited to see what the night would hold. We knew the dinner would cost a small fortune and had prepared for it in advance. They had two options - a Vegetable Menu or what they call the Grand Menu. Both were tasting menus and we cose the Grand Menu at the discount price of $155 per person (YES, you read that correctly). I told Steve I really didn't feel like drinking so I was going to order ice tea. Of course, we could have opted to have a wine pairing with the meal (to the tune of $100 more per person) - gosh this money thing was really on my mind wasn't it. LOL I'm sick of hearing myself talk about it. Steve ended up getting a local beer instead of the wine (I promise I told him to go for it) but he said he really wanted to taste the food "purely" (that must be Chef talk). Well, I'm not a real big seafood eater since having Isabella - previously I pretty much lived off of fish. First course - fish, second course - fish, third course - you guessed it - FISH. (You can view the menu at http://www.charlietrotters.com/restaurant/) Backtracking a minute, the Captain did say if we wanted ANYTHING to ask for it. So, we did. Steve asked if he could swap out the 3rd course for the 3rd course on the Vegetarian menu as well as adding a cheese course. The Captain said "we will take care of you". If I am being truthful, I have to admit I kept thinking I wonder how much this "taking care of us" was going to cost. (hey, I can make fun of myself!!)

In the end, we had TEN (10) courses with our meal. I truthfully wasn't digging the food until about the 6th course (the veal and it was DIVINE) but the experience was phenomenal. Towards the end of our meal, our captain realized Steve was a chef and asked if we wanted to go and see the kitchen. Uh - heck yeah we want to see the kitchen of one of the top rated restaurants and chefs in the WORLD!!! He took us into the kitchen, Charlie Trotter had already left for the day but we did get to meet and talk with the Chef de Cuisine (I think that's his title), see their herb garden outside, tour the wine cellar (the massive 2000 bottle wine cellar), see a bottle of wine prices at $19,000 (from 1923) and one priced at $21,000 (from 1903) shhh, I even touched them! LOL And then, when we left the Captian gave us his personal Charlie Trotter wine tool, a Charlie Trotter book, Charlie Trotter cook book, Organic salad dressing all in a nice little bag. Oh, and he printed off menus for us with what we had for dinner. At this point, I had forgotten about all the darn fish/seafood courses I had just consumed. LOL

We got up the next morning and went and ate at Lou Mitchells - a famous little diner close to Union Station. http://www.loumitchellsrestaurant.com/ At this point, I was missing my little munchkins and tired of giving our money away so we decided to go back and check out of the hotel and head home. Plus, I was tired and worn out. LOL

I would never want to live in Chicago with little kids, but I definetly want to take the girls there when they are a little older and can go to American Girl store, The Shedd Aquarium, maybe a Cubs game and to see Wicked again. But, it was a great way to celebrate our 9 years of marriage!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Am I the only one?

I am the first to make fun of myself when I say something goofy -this happens often - just ask Steve. I make up words all the time!

So, I love the show Top Chef on Bravo. I had noticed in the last couple of episodes a couple of the chefs had made "Sweet bread". One chef even mentioned it's like a "crispy chicken nugget". Odd comparison I thought.

Well, the other day while driving I told Steve I hope they have sweet bread on the menu at Charlie Trotters when we go because I really wanted to try it. (The judges RAVED about how delicious sweet bread was, how great it tasted and on and on).

Ok....when I think of sweet bread - I think of banana nut bread, zucchini bread and so on. So, he and I were watching an episode the other day together and it was talked about again. I asked him, "how do you make the sweet bread they are talking about" . (Thinking to myself, because it sure doesn't look like banana nut bread.) Being my naive (stupid?) self, I said - what do they do, just batter it and fry it? He looked at me crazy and said "it's a thymus gland" . Apparently, it's not ANYTHING like what I had been thinking. Well, I said then - why don't they just call it what it is, they had me all confused???? He asked - would you rather eat fois gras or "goose liver"? Point taken. Fois gras sounds much better (until I learned how they got that goose liver so fat and juicy). :(

So, the moral of the story - I really, really hope there are not any sweet breads on the menu at Charlie Trotters unless it's going to be Banana Nut bread! LOL

What a Weekend!

The weekend is over and we missed a tornado by less than a mile! It stormed here Friday evening and it was wicked! It looked like something out of a horror film. The electricity went out around 10:30 pm and didn't come back on until around 5:00 am.. It was pretty hot during the day so we had turned the a/c on - it got hot quickly after the ceiling fan went off especially. I tossed and turned (and was also a tad fearful a tree was going to come flying through the bedroom window) so I went to Ava's bed (she was in bed with Isabella). Steve said he ended up going downstairs to sleep because our bedroom was just too hot. Thankfully, we were spared from a tornado and didn't have any damage.

Sunday we didn't go to church because the girls still sounded horrible with their coughs and I still can't see the best (things are still pretty blurry). It was a beautiful morning and Ava and I took a little walk while Steve and Isabella were asleep. There were tons of neighbors outside and we stopped and chatted with them. When we got back home, Steve was outside and we sat out back and drank coffee with JD and Ellen and their neighbor Pam. We all sat and talked for a couple hours - it really was a great time. Steve and JD went and got some flowers (those two are funny together) and Ellen, Pam and I sat on the front porch rocking while we watched the two guys work.

My in-laws arrive in about an hour and the girls have been excited all day long. Steve and I head to Chicago Wednesday morning and we are super excited to celebate our 9 year wedding anniversary!