Ava's Prayer

Tonight at dinner Ava decided to say the prayer. Usually the girls when they pray just say "Thank you God for this day and for this food. Please bless it to nourish our bodies. Amen". Tonight Ava said: "Thank you God...I want my family....oh, wait, first let me pray for the food. Thank you God for the food. I want a family of Daddy, Mommy, Isabella, Daisy and Molly. Amen".

Steve's Birthday and some Misc pics

Here is a note Isabella wrote for Steve for his birthday. It says Happy Happy Birthday Daddy. Love You I (heart) u. P.S. By by. What ever p.s. means. (I have no idea what P.S. is). Then she has a picture of her on the top left with a ? mark on top of her head and a sad face. This is sooo typical Isabella. She has a journal she keeps at home and Oh.My.Gosh, the things she writes in this journal are rolling on the floor funny!! (ROFL - rolling on the floor laughing). If you click on the picture you can see everything up close. It's worth clicking on I think. :)

Here is our little set up we left for him when we went to bed on the 22nd. He had to close so when he got home it was actually early morning of Jan. 23rd his birthday. Dave Ramsey did not allow for us to purchase a gift this year. But, the girls always "regive" gifts they already have. So, they gave him a teddy bear with a place for their picture and a couple animals from The Backyardigans and each a letter they wrote to him. The cards are from my aunt and my mom. Oh, and Isabella wrote Happy Birthday Dad on a place card for him and then cut out two hearts and taped them together and wrote I love you on it. She's such a sweetie pie!

Here is the birthday boy and his two girls with the wonderful cake I made. LOL

This day Ava had pushed the ottomons together, put one of the couch pillows on it and a small blanket, had her chap stick and was watching TV and playing with her baby dolls in front of the fire.

The girls playing out in the snow last week. Ava refused to look at me - big surpise there!

Isabella making a snow angel.

Finally Semi-Productive

I tell you what - this cold weather has caused me to have ZERO motivation around the house. It's no secret I'm not a fan of cooking since having 2 kids - I actually use to be a pretty decent cook when it was just me, Steve and Isabella - but throwing Ava into the mix has sent me over the edge. I despise cooking, despise going to the grocery store - just anything involved with the whole process and I'm not a fan! LOL Thank goodness I'm married to a chef right? We'd probably starve otherwise.

So, today I made a chocolate cake (ok, it was Betty Crocker) but I made buttercream icing from scratch - a first for me. Hopefully Steve likes his birthday cake - he's turning 38 years old tomorrow!!! Oh my goodness! My mom and my aunt sent him birthday cards that arrived today so I have them sitting in front of the cake stand. We will be eating cake for breakfast tomorrow because he has to work in the evening.

I also made black bean soup and I must say - it was quite tasty. No opening the cans for me. I did the whole thing from scratch - didn't even follow a recipe. LOL AND - I made the kids bbq drum sticks. They love these things. me - not so much because I don't like dark meat (chicken that is - LOL) but the girls will eat a couple at dinner.

Also, I'm doing great with my new years resolution - skin care 2009. I bought this Alpha Beta Daily Facial Peel when I got my last facial and it seems to be doing wonders. My face is looking pretty darn good skincare wise. And, I'm also using my $120 bottle of Vitamin C serum I bought over the summer and I guess the combination of the two expensive products are helping the anti-aging process. Or - I'm crazy. LOL

History!

Yesterday I spent the entire day after I got back from the gym on the couch watching the inauguration of President Obama. I had chills and goosebumps the entire time. I kept getting tears in my eyes seeing all the former Presidents walk out. I will be praying for President Obama to help get our country back on track. I think it was a good day yesterday. Plus, Isabella was super excited she got to watch it all at school yesterday - although it was during recess so she was a bit bummed about that. heehee

Keeping warm and a brag!

Well, trying to keep warm! It has gotten bitterly cold here - today I think the high got to 4. Both girls had a 2 hour school delay because of the cold weather and when I driving Isabella to school it was -2 below zero. They have already planned for a 2 hour delay tomorrow because it's suppose to get -10 below zero tonight. It will warm up to the 20's in a couple of days. Which hopefully will thaw out the pipes so I can do laundry and use my bathtub.

They sent someone out at the end of last week and they took the siding off and insulated the pipes (I think that's what they did). The building contractor saw Steve this afternoon and they talked about them still being frozen so they are going to have to figure something else out. Luckily the shower pipes aren't frozen or the girls tub and shower but I usually take a bubble bath every night and I'm missing that!!!

Ok, another brag...Isabella was asked to be on the Math Pentatholon team!! The team will start meeting every Monday an hour before school starts to practice. We are proud of our smart little girl. She definetly gets her smarts from her Daddy! Well, I'm pretty smart but school was a total social experiment for me vs learning. heehee

Here are a couple pictures of Ava from the other morning. She said her head hurt so she went and put a bandaid on her forehead. She was mad that I wanted to take a picture of her and was pouting, crying and refusing to look at me at first. She had just finished eating some toast and drank some chocolate milk so she has some food on her face an a choc milk mustache!

That's the latest happenings this week! I'm finally over my virus I got - I lost 3 pounds so feeling like crap was worth it. LOL

Extended Family

I know I post often how wonderful our neighbors are so back away if you don't want to hear it again.

Saturday, Ellen calls and asks to speak with Isabella. She invited her to go see a movie and then go out to eat afterwards. So, Steve walked Isabella next door yesterday at 1:00 and they told a little fib to Ava about where she was going. heehee I, on the otherhand was suffering from a 24 hour virus - ugh - but, I'm down 2 pounds. :)

Isabella comes home around 7:00 last night and she has the biggest smile on her face. Steve had given her some money and told her that if she wanted something at the movies to pay for it herself - Ellen apparently didn't let her spend her money because she was flashing the money along with her smile. She was so excited she got skittles, hi C and popcorn. Then, she flashes her hands out and they went and got their nails done too. And, to top it off - they went to On The Border and had dinner. She talked about how "fabulous" dinner was and how she had to save room for dessert because they got a brownie sundae. Jenny (JD & Ellens daughter went with them).

I had tears come to my eyes several times yesterday just thinking about how sweet, kinda and blessed we are with our neighbors. They are way more than neighbors to us - they really are extended family members.

Thanks Ellen and Jenny - Isabella had a ball!!!

Blue Friday

Well, our first Friday to wear Colts gear was a week too late. Oh, well - the girls still love their Colts attire and will wear it proudly.

And - Isabella lost her front top tooth this morning playing before school. She and Ava and Steve were messing around and Isabellla hit her mouth on the couch and it knocked the tooth out (this shows you how loose it was to begin with - Isabella isn't the bravest child when it comes to stuff like this).

Warning - Major Bragging in this post :)

If you don't want to hear me brag about Isabella - step away from this post. heehee

Report cards came home today and Isabella once again received all A's. As soon as she got off the bus she came running to the car (it was snowing/sleeting today so I drove down to the end of the street at the bus stop) all excited. She just kept saying "they said my name on Cub News, I was on Cub News". Finally, I read what she had in her hand - she received a Life Skill Award for Responsibility. She was nominated by her teacher and only 3 other students in the entire school were awarded Life Skill Awards. She received 2 gift certificates to a steak place for free dinners but truthfully, all she cared about was her name was announced on Cub News (the student led announcement show at the end of the day). And, if the first two things weren't enough bragging, I was going through her backpack and asked her what this 20 oz soda was doing in it. She received it for reading over 200 books so far this year. She has read 201 so far and is hoping to reach the goal of 400. When she reached the 100 book mark she got a homework pass to use whenever she wanted to get out of homework for a night, 200 you get a soft drink, 300 you get a movie pass and 400 you get a Webkinz.

She is such a sweet little girl and we are very proud of her! Yeah Isabella!!

~~~~ Happy New Year ~~~~

Happy New Year from the Garza Family!!! I feel 2009 is going to be a spectacular year for our family.

The girls and I welcomed the New Year in Knoxville, Tennessee with my aunts and uncles while Steve fed lots of hungry folks at Maggiano's. The girls and I had a blast in Knoxville. My moms brothers and their wives celebrate Christmas over New Years and we've been heading down since I was pregnant with Ava. Lots of eating and card playing takes place. I have gotten to know my aunts and uncles on a different level by spending New Years with them the past 4 years. I cherish New years and Memorial Day weekend with them. I love them all so much - and to see Isabella and Ava hugging and loving on them warms my heart. Mom and I had a mini-adventure while in Knoxville - I gave her the wrong exit and we spent about 30 minutes checking out the scenery all around the city! I told her I felt like Michelle did on our trip to Memphis in October. It ended up working out being lost because it allowed the girls an extra 30 minutes of sleep time. LOL

The day before we left to go to Tennesse I spent the day with my SIL and my niece. My SIL and I watched hours upon hours of marathon Millionaire Listings on Bravo, cooked, talked and packed. During this time I came to the realization that I am not cut out for the medical field. I changed her packing from her surgery a couple of weeks ago - lets just say I dry heaved the entire time I was doing it, broke out into cold sweats because I thought I was going to pass out but then also laughed so hard I almost peed on myself because she was laughing at how I was reacting to it all. The 2nd time I changed it I had a stronger stomach and didn't dry heave once! Yeah me!! heehee

Sunday we all went to the Childrens Museum in Indy and I met an awesome friend I've known online for about a year. They live in Illinois but had to drop her mom off at the Indy airport so we spent the day with Brandy and her family at the Museum. I love my on-line friends and little by little I'm meeting more of them. It's not like it was when the internet first came around - you can develop fabulous, geniune friendships online - and not worry about them stalking you and killing you. LOL Now, there are some nutter out there - don't get me wrong, I stay clear of the crazys!

Today Steve and I hit the gym doing some hard core cardio (1 hour on the elliptical machine for me. Steve did 30 minutes on the elliptical and 30 on the stairs). Tomorrow we will be back in there for some more cardio and weight training. I usually try and talk myself out of going to the gym but once I'm in there - it's like a drug. I just want more, more, more. I really love working out (once I get my butt in the gym that is LOL).

Once we got home from the gym we worked on organizing Christmas toys, putting old toys up and away to make room for the new. We only have a couple more bags to go through and we are good to go!!!

Steve's mom got Isabella this Pet Shop game - it is so much fun!! We play it over and over and over again. Thank you Grandma and Papi. The next couple of days will be spent sending out thank you cards for all the holiday goodies we received.

My New years resolutions are usually the same - focus on a healthy lifestyle by eating well, exercising and staying active. This year I added using up all of the anti-aging creams, serums and stuff I have to make me look younger and age more gracefully. LOL It better work darn it!

So, that's my update 5 days into 2009. Isabella went back to school today and Ava goes back tomorrow.

Steve finally got a Golden Retriever

Too bad it was just an ornament from my mom though! I forgot to add it to the Christmas post. My neighbor made me a scarf and she rang the door bell while I was writing the other post and I got sidetracked. It is such a cute scarf!!! Sally is a sweetheart!

Christmas 2008

Ok, first off - someone *please*please*please who is familiar with blogger and reads my blog explain to me (a very ignorant computer person) how to load pictures how I want them to appear or so the post is not the day in reverse. I cannot figure out how to type, add a picture I want, type some more, add the next picture I want - so on and on. So, you get Christmas day in reverse order....I'm an idiot.

Here is Isabella's favorite gift I think - a Colts outfit. Here in Indy they have "Blue Friday" and you are suppose to wear your colts gear but my kids have zero Colts stuff (that's a whole other post as to the reason why - short version: Steve expects Isabella (who is 6 by the way) to be loyal to and only to the Dallas Cowboys because she was born in Dallas. Cheering for or wearing any other team colors or clothes - regardless of where we live - is just about as close to taking the Lords name in vain) and this year Crapaw and Grandma Karen got them some stuff. Isabella *loves* this outfit along with her snowman Webkinz.
My brother busted out laughing as soon as he saw what I dressed the girls in. As soon as they walked in he said "I knew they would be matching". Ok, ok laugh all you want - I bought these sweaters last year on clearance at Gymboree for less than $9 each. LOL I like my kids to match or be color cordinated on Holidays. heehee

My niece got this go-kart for Christmas this year and the girls had a ball riding in it. He makes fun of my kids clothes but I say nothing about a few thousand dollar gift - I think we are even! Ok, well, maybe if my kids would have been kicking and screaming from fear I would tell him it was a waste of money and the worst gift ever. heehee My niece is a really good kid.

Family picture at Grammy's - have I mentioned how much my kids and Steve LOVE family photos?

Again - Christmas in reverse. This is a self portrait using the timer on our camera to snap a family picture before heading out to Grammy's. I'm too lazy to edit red eyes and crop out junk in the pictures for blog purposes. :)

Steve in hell. His gift from the girls - compliments of JD and Ellen. JD took the girls shopping to buy gifts for us from the girls and this is what they (um, I mean - JD picked out for Steve). I'm sure the only reason he put it on for pictures was because he was sporting a Cowboys sweatshirt - ironically bought by JD for Steve earlier this year. JD and Ellen did give Steve just about the best gift he could ever want - it is a framed print of every Cowboy jersey since the history of the Cowboys with the years the jersey was worn. Plus, a cowboys coffee mug and license plate thing.

Ava opening her My Little Pony from Uncle Lucas and Aunt Vicky.

Isabella with her iDog.

The only thing she wanted - her Nintendo DS

realizing what she was opening was her ds.

Oh, I love her so....

I tell you what - Isabella can melt my heart!!! Tonight she was saying the prayer at dinner and she said "Jesus, only one more day until we celebrate your birthday. Thank you for dying on the cross for us. I love you the same and would die on the cross for you".

You know, most days I feel like I am the crappiest, worst mother on the earth and wonder what my kids did to get the short end of the deal to have me as their Mommy - but when small glimpses of greatness comes out of their mouth like this I don't second guess myself as a loser parent near as much!

Great Neighbors & SIL update

First news - My sister-in-law (SIL)was released from the hospital today. Thank you God!! I appreciate everyones prayers more than you know. I love my SIL very much and I was very anxious and worried about her the entire past week. It is a wonderful blessing to have her resting in her own home tonight! She will probably be off work for at least a month so her recovery is going to take a while so please keep her in your prayers if you can.

Second - have I mentioned about what great neighbors I have. LOL JD called around 2:30 actually asking to see if Steve wanted to come over and watch some football tonight. Since Steve had to work I guess the girls and I were 2nd best and he invited us to come over as well. While we were over there I was complaining about our pipes being frozen in the laundry room and not being able to do any laundry (and I had a mound of it!). They offered for me to use their washer and dryer and I took them up on it. JD came over and got the laundry baskets as well as all the wet clothes from the washer and took it over to their house. Obviously when our builder "fixed" the problem we had with the pipes freezing in the laundry room wasn't a good fix! And, an even better reason they are great friends - he gave me a pain pill for my back. I won't go into the entire story as to how I once again hurt my back - first part was rear ending the truck last Wednesday on the way to the hospital and the second part was slipping on some ice and busting my behind Friday evening. LOL But, needless to say, when I bend over at the waist - I cannot stand back up without assistance.

The weather here in Indy is FREEZING. This morning when I woke up - it was one degree! Wind chill was 17 below zero. And, if that wasn't bad enough - due to strong winds yesterday afternoon - the electricity went out for over 8 hours!!! We were headed to another neighbors house for a Christmas party and the electricity went out at 4:00 and finally stayed on around midnight. We enjoyed the Christmas party via candle light and then came home to the house temperature registering 55 degrees. It was cold, cold,cold!!!! And, to make matters worse with the freezing pipes, the washing machine was mid-cycle when the electricty went out and still has water sitting in the basin. Hopefully tomorrow it will warm up enough to allow the water to drain - that or the plumber or whomever is suppose to come and fix it will be able to insulate the pipes properly (which is what they should have done in the first place) - but I digress.....

JD was kind enough to take the clean and folded laundry upstairs and the other basket in the laundry room. I'm going to go and put it all away and get the kids ready for bed. To say they are excited for Christmas would be a major understatement! Steve has to work at noon tomorrow so I'm going to get up and head to Target and finish up shopping for their Christmas stocking, mail out Steve's parents gift that just was delivered Saturday and then we are good to go! Steve is off on Christmas eve - and I am just as giddy as the kids with excitement.

Continued prayers please

Pathology results finally came in today for my sister in law and the infection is infact MRSA. The antibiotic she had been on for the last few days is not the proper meds and MRSA is resistant to it. The infection has spread further down her leg. She is now an new medicine that is making her very sick. She will be in the hospital until at least Monday if the new meds are actually working. Please continue to pray for her she is not out of the woods yet.

Todays update

Pathology still not in to determine MRSA or Cellulitis. Wound was re-packed today. Oh.My.Gosh. not for the weak stomach. Fever is gone, she looks much better but will be in the hospital for atleast 3 more days.

The latest on my sister in law

She is out of surgery and high on morphine. heehee The initial fear was MRSA on the fascia (this will mean something to the medical folk - but only made a little sense once my sister in laws mother explained it to me better). She is on some heavy antibiotics and at this time believe it is cellulitis that was under her muscle. Her leg looked unbelievable and the infection was literally spreading by the hour.

They will know more tomorrow and know if they are using the proper antibiotic to treat it.

And a side note - I was so scattered in thoughts and rushing to make it to the hospital that I hit a patch of black ice and rear ended a truck. Thank God, no damage to his truck but his trailer hitch left a nice hole in Steve's bumper. I was also super thankful to be driving Steves car instead of my BMW. Trivial I know. The most important thing right now is we believe my sister in law will be fine.

Thanks for the prayers.

Prayer request!!!!!!!!!!! ***UPDATED****

***Please pray. Heading out the door right now to drive down to my moms. My sister in law is having surgery tonight at 8:00 pm.. I'm scared.****

My sister in law is in the hospital (my brothers wife). At this point in time they do not know what is wrong with her. She has a huge, inflamed red area on her leg (my mom said it is the size of a dinner plate), running a high fever and couldn't walk because of the pain in her leg. We are waiting on test results. Please pray.

Christmas Vacation

I'm sure most have saw the movie Christmas Vacation - well Clark Griswald lives next door to us - his name is JD! JD goes all out for Christmas - he has so many things plugged in we are always scared he's going to blow the power for the entire neighborhood. The girls LOVE his house decorated and beg and plead with us to do more than garland around the front door and lights on the shrubs. This year he had to use part of Pams yard to put out all of his display. He has the lights set to a music so they are continually flashing at all different speeds - hence the reason our drapes are always pulled closed during the month of December - it reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with Kramer and the Kenny Rogers Chicken sign. LOL - I watch too much TV.

The next pictures are of Ava this morning before school. She was so excited to take her presents for her teachers so she sat for about 30 minutes watching cartoons with her backpack on and the presents in front of her. She's such a sweetheart (sometimes - LOL).

Christmas PJ's

I started doing this for Ava's first Christmas. My kids LOVE it (insert deep sarcasm here). Well, they love torturing me. Everytime I want to get a *decent* photo of a planned event (Thanksgiving, easter, Christmas, etc) I have to remind the kids (and Steve) - every.single.time. - that they enjoy looking at these pictures once I have them in the albums so STOP FUSSING and cooperate with me. LOL Can you tell, we've had these discussions often?

So, here is a trip down memory lane. I have the photo I chose to frame first, then the best outtake second - oh and I could post all night long on their outtakes.

2008
Trying to be all "gangster" with the peace signs. Don't sign up for a gang anytime soon girls - don't think you have the hand signals down just yet.

2007

Common theme from 2007, 2006 and 2005 = Ava's unwillingness to cooperate.

2006 - you cannot even begin to imagine how many trys of bribing the kids it took to get a smile.

Repeat theme - Ava crying. Her nickname her first 18 months of life was affectionly a/k/a - The Screamer.

2005 - Ava's 1st Christmas

Isabella - oh sweet baby girl, what a foreshadowing this image is. Ava was born to torture you.

She cracks me up!

Isabella is more and more like me each day. The other day I was at the gym and Steve calls me and starts laughing and saying she is such a young version of me it's not funny (poor kid!). You see, I have a minor little flaw - I make up words - often. Sometimes, on purpose - and sometimes I have to admit - because I'm a little dingy. Well, Isabella was talking to Steve the other day and saying how she wished Daisy was less shy and she wished Molly was less atackitive - I guess she was combining being too active and being too aggressive (attacking).

The weather here has been wacky. Freezing cold one minute, cold and snowy another, rainy and in the 40's the next day and now we are back to cold. I don't know when the last time I saw the sun.

Sunday some of my friends in the neighborhood are meeting up and having a "wrapping" party. It worked out to be perfect timing because I still have the girls gifts from santa that need wrapped but I haven't been looking forward to locking myself in the closet to wrap them. Now, I'll drag them over to Pams and wrap and then I'm storing them at JD and Ellens until Christmas Eve. So, win, win, win!

Men - Do me a favor, please!

Please, do NOT tuck your shirts into your gym shorts at the gym. Especially if you are wearing short shorts or biker shorts. You look ridiculous and it's a health hazard for me because I giggle on the stairmaster as I watch you and I'm afraid I'm going to fall off.

First off - NO ONE, especially men should be wearing biker shorts. If you are Lance Armstrong or riding the Tour de France, ok - I'll give you a pass. But, other than that- it's just plain gross and nobody wants to see it. Second - short shorts??? Leave that to the college girls please. And thirdly - tucking??? It doesn't look good.

Ok, fashion advice is finished.

Just finished watching The Amazing Race - the team I liked from the start won - the brother/sister team. I have loved this show from the first season and have wanted to do it more than anything. The problem is - what type of job is going to allow you 45 days off to run the race? When I first looked into signing up it was going to be filmed during Isabellas 1st birthday. 2nd time I was pregnant. Now, the people I want to do it with - my brother or Steve would never be able to get a month -45 days off. Oh, well!

Off to put Isabella to bed. Ava is already crashed.

Like Mommy Like Daughter

Isabella has inherited a love of reading from me. She bought a book at the book fair on Wednesday night - it was a pretty decent size book - I think around 200 pages. She has finished it already. She would go to sleep reading, wake up in the morning and turn her light on and read - any free minute she had, she would read this book. Last night she finished and said "good, I'm finished. Now, I can re-read it like you re-read Twilight". heehee

It has been cold, cold cold here. Too cold! The last couple of days it's been in the teens for most of the day. There are snow flurries right now and it's suppose to snow tomorrow some as well - so I can take the cold as long as their is snow.

Tonight the Grinch is on TV so after dinner and baths the girls and I will settle in and watch it. Steve is working tonight so it's just us girls.

Getting ready!

Day by day we are getting ready for Christmas. We are pretty close to being finished shopping, Christmas cards are 90% addressed and ready to go, a lot of presents have already been wrapped - so it seems we are on top of things this year. I'll probably mail out the presents for the out of town family early next week to allow plenty of time for delivery. Hopefully, there isn't a big kink thrown into the remaining planning.

The girls and I headed down south to visit family last weekend. We spent most of our time over at my brothers and sis-in-laws house. We had a great time and the girls were happy to play with their cousin.

Steve and I have been hitting the gym pretty hard. I have achieved one small goal of mine - to do the dreaded torture machine - the moving stairmaster for 45 minutes. I did 40 minutes Monday and 45 Tuesday and I survived. The total exhaustion from doing it has subsided so I guess my body is over the shock of hard core cardio. LOL

Today has been spent washing bedspreads, sheets and clothes. Also, filling bags for goodwill while Isabella was at school and Ava was napping. They have way too much stuff - well, JUNK! Tonight is Family night for the school bookfair so the girls will go and pick out some new books.

I'm in the process of re-reading the Twilight series. The first go around I was in such a rush to find out what was happening I wanted to re-read at a slower pace - I actually picked up on several things missed the first time. And, it is even better the 2nd time around! Saw the movie and UGH, horrible and yuck was all I can say. I knew who was cast for the characters before I read the books so I already had the "Hollywood" image of the characters in my head. I know books made into movies are never the same but this was such a huge disappointment. So low budget and cheesey and horrible character development. I watched it with low, low expectations but it was just horrid to me. Such a let down. I still love me some Edward Cullen though! It helps that I do feel like Steve loves me like this character loves Bella in the book and I, in return, love the same way. Corny - I know!

My kids

I love my kids to pieces, but they are going to send me to an early grave.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is a family picture of us after lunch today at Maggiano's. The girls and I invited JD, Ellen, Jenni and her boyfriend Drew to eat with us. We had a fabulous lunch and enjoyed each others company.


The girls during lunch.

In front of our tree before leaving this morning.

Tottally side note here - but I found Ava's little hiding place for her snacks the other day. I've found cherrios, goldfish, crackers, candy corn, m&m's and numerous other items before but this day I got her to fess up she was the one hiding the food. I told her this had to stop! Oh, you can't really tell where it is, but its our lamp in the family room.

She didn't tell on me.....

haha!!! When she got home from school today I asked Ava is she told her teacher on me and she said no, she told her a joke instead!

This girl keeps us on our toes minute by minute!

I'm Telling My Teacher!

That is what Ava is threatening me with. LOL She and Isabella have been arguing constantly since Isabella came home from school. Actually, Ava has been a grouch all day long.

Anyway, they were arguing when I hear - Ava SPITTING at Isabella. We've had issues with this in the past - almost a year ago she got mad at me and spit at ME. So, I washed her mouth out with soap. Really, all I did was touch the toothbrush to the bar of soap and put it on her tongue - then I let her wash her mouth out with water. Send the hate mail and nasty comments about how horrible I am - I don't care! Knock yourselves out!

So, I tell Ava to head to the bathroom because she knew what she had in store for her. She wasn't happy but she did it. Again, I literally just touch the toothbrush to the soap and put it on her tongue. Well, of course she was mad at me but I just kept reminding her we do not spit in this house. That's when she told me she was telling her teacher on me!

Fast forward 30 minutes. I'm reading email and she wants to sit on my lap so I let her. She asks if I will tickle her back. I said I thought you were mad and me and going to tell your teacher on me. She said, I am tomorrow morning at school. LOL Then, a light when off in her brain and she said I'm just going to tell her I love you and you tickle my back!

Chocolate Cherries

That's what color my hair is! I haven't had it colored for way too long and there are far, far too many gray hairs streaking my head so something had to be done! An $80 color job just isn't in the budget right now (more on that later) so Steve said he'd help me out. I spent forever at Target deciding the "right" color and decided on this - Chocolate Cherries. It's more chocolate than anything but maybe there are some cherries on the inside. LOL I really like it and if I must say - Steve is quite the colorist! He had a nice methodical method to covering all those gray hairs - so I think I'll be back for a visit to Salon Steve in 6 weeks.

So, now to the reason for the home job. When we bought the house we were told the first year here we only pay taxes on the land, then by the 2nd year all exemptions are filed and you are good to go. Well, we never had the first year of land tax only and we were told by the county tax office that the homestead exemption and mortgage exemptions were filed in time for this year so all would be fine. Well, low and behold a new "law" was enacted that your closing on your house needed to happen before March 1. Guess when we closed??? 7 days later - March 8. So.....we were expecting a tax bill of around $1200-$1500 for the year but we get a close to $5K tax bill. We are now having to pay for the next 4-5 months (we've already paid one) a $700 more a MONTH mortgage payment. Not, a hundred dollars or even two hundred dollars more - nope, $700.

Thank the Lord, we have the money for it. Thank the Lord, we even have a house to have a mortgage on. We know we are blessed. But, gosh darn! That's a lot of money for a single income family. Needless to say, Christmas will be scaled back huge this year. Steve and I won't buy for each other and we've already told the kids they won't be getting as many presents this year. At first Isabella took it hard, but she's been so sweet and understanding ever since.

Luckily, Steve called the tax office and the mortgage office to figure something out. So, once we get the escrow back to a positive and have the cushion they require then it will be adjusted based on a tax estimate for next year. In the end, it will all work out fine. And thank goodness gas has gone down $2 a gallon - that's a nice pay raise right there!

Ok, whining session over.

Over Involved Parents

Is that what we are?

Here is a story from earlier today.

Driving to the gym and listening to radio Disney - (we try to say its' for the kids, but truthfully, I kinda like the songs they play) they mentioned the Jonas Brothers. I started talking to Steve about Taylor Swift (I'm really digging her music - pathetic, I know) and the fact she was dumped by one of the Jonas Brothers. The original point of my discussing it was to say that just because she's a celebrity - she's still a 19 year old girl who got her heart broke. I said I can remember heart break at 18-19 but I sure as heck didn't have to go through it in the public eye.

Well, after getting Steve up to date on Taylor Swift and her ex Jonas Brother Boyfriend, Isabella said one of them had broke up with Miley Cyrus before (um, another sad fact - I knew that already). LOL I tried to remember who was dating one of the boys and asked if it was Demi Lavato or Selena "somebody" - I couldn't come up with her last name. Well, low and behold Steve chimes in and says "Gomez". Her last name is Gomez. Then....for the good part....he went on to say, "I was watching OPRAH and saw her and her mom on there". I just looked at him and said - that is just wrong. You knew the girls last name and you learned it on Oprah! LOL

I still get that little Lavato and Gomez girl confused - I guess I should just ask Steve!

My crazy kids

The girls have been playing together so nicely all day today. They were upstairs in the loft and I was downstairs on the couch reading. They started arguing and it was so funny I couldn't do anything but laugh - and then quickly grab a piece of paper to write it all down.

Here is a play by play...

Small bickering starting between the two of them.

Ava: Isabella - you making me angy (instead of angry).

Isabella: I don't want to play with you anymore.

***toys being shuffled around***

Ava: Stop laughing at me!

SMACK! (I already know who was on the receiving end).

Isabella : Mom! Ava hit me.

Ava: You were laughing at me.

Me: Isabella, you were antagonizing your sister.

Isabella: Ava, you are a meanie.

Ava: Mom, Isabella said I'm a meanie.

Me: Well, you did smack her.

They proceed to go back and forth with each other - you did this, you said this. More laughing, teasing coming from Isabella. I even think Ava might have slapped her again during all of this but Isabella didn't tell on her for the 2nd one.

Ava: Be quiet. It's my turn to talk.

Isabella: I'm done with you Ava. BOOM - Isabella bedroom door shuts.

Ava: FINE! Go take a bath you stinky butt. BOOM -Ava's bedroom door shuts.

Me: Laughing so hard I'm shaking and have tears streaming down my face and realize yet again, why I will never win Mother of the Year.

Flu Shots

The girls got their flu shots today. Steve and I got ours a couple weeks ago and I had put off taking the girls until today. They both did great. Isabella didn't even cry! That is a shocker. She's a sweetie but she's a wimp. LOL I figured Isabella would be kicking and screaming and it would be horrible but she got up on the table and didn't say a word. She was so proud of herself. You could see it in her eyes and on her face! Ava did awesome as well. She was on the table and silent and then her eyes got big and she said to me "ouch! That hurts". She let a few tears out but was fine in a few seconds.

Now, fingers crossed they don't get the flu. Isabella got the flu the 2nd week we lived here. It was super scary seeing her that sick and for so long.

Getting healthy

I'm feeling much better today - thanks to some meds I got yesterday. Sleep still isn't coming easy when not feeling well. Hopefully, tonight will be better. Steve took Nyquil to knock him out but I am always sooooo tired and groggy if I take that I decided to suffer without it.

Operation: Get Steve healthy is in full force. Some meals have been good - others, well, I can just say they were less memorable. The other night he made chicken "hamburgers". Those were hard to get down. Isabella and I split one and chewed quickly. It's just going to take time to retrain our palette. He is only allowed 5 oz of lean meat ALL DAY long -so essentially, he eats like a vegetarian. But, man - you can only eat so many beans and lentils and whole wheat pasta. We never were poor snackers or had junk food around the house. The kids snacks have always been fresh fruit, yogurt or string cheese - it's the meals we are having a hard time with. Well, I guess because he wants to try different things out vs just having a small portion of turkey or grilled/baked chicken nightly. I LOVE Paula Deen and all her recipes. When I would use a Paula Deen recipe I would substitute whenever possible to *try* and make it healthier. Well, even a healthy version of Paula Deen is deadly to Steve's diet.

We've switched up our exercising as well. Tons and tons and tons of cardio. We've been doing the stair machine. It's not like the old fashioned stair master where your legs just went up and down - this is literally about 5 stairs that continually goes kinda like you are walking up an escalator. Well, it looks easy. But, how deceiving that is. It is horribly hard! We had to start out with 10 minutes and then build up and up and up. I'm up to 35 minutes now and hope within a week to be up to 45 minutes. When the 30-35 minutes is up - it looks like I just walked through a sprinkler - hair wet, shirt wet - a sweaty mess. But, I LOVE it. It's addicting. I'm also lifting weights with Steve. I love yoga still but am just changing things up for a little while.

Ava just woke up from a nap so off to read a book to her.

Hit by a train

That's what it feels like has happened to us. We are all suffering from allergies/sinus problems. Isabella is doing the best because she is on meds year round for her asthma so she doesn't usually get the runny noses and congestion like the rest of us. Today Ava and I have layed around all day long. Then, to top it off, yesterday while cleaning - I hurt my knee pretty bad. So, it's all nice and cut and banged up and swollen.

Sunday we had our first snowflakes fall of the season! They were pretty random and of course didn't accumulate - pretty much melted the instant they hit the ground - but it was still nice. I'll be sick of it come January - but for now it gets you in the mood for the holiday season.

Yesterday while I was cleaning (and gouging my knee cap) - Steve asked Ava what she wanted to do. They went to the gym and then afterwords she wanted to go to Meijer - kinda a small Wal-Mart like store. Well, he took the girls with him on Sunday to get groceries and the carts there had TV screens to watch TV while grocery shopping. For some reason, he wouldn't let them pay the $1 it cost to watch the TV but he ended up buying them $6 worth of stuffed animals (like we need more stuffed animals in this house). Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. So, Ava's wish for the day was to go back to Meijer and ride in the cart and watch TV. Being a great Daddy - he took her, paid the $1 and she watched Dora and Bob the Builder. He walked around the store for an hour for her to watch the same TV she could at home. LOL

Steve, Steve, Steve...........

What does it appear Ava is wearing in the next two pictures??????

Could it be, oh - let's see PAJAMA'S???????????? Yes, it would! This is what he had Ava wear to the gym today.

I was at the school all morning - I came home and they were gone. A bit later in walks Steve in his gym clothes carrying a sleeping Ava. When he came back downstairs I asked him if he realized she was wearing pajama's. He said he only realized it after he picked Ava up from childwatch and she asked him why she was still in her pajama's.

I need to add - she even slept in them last night. In his defense, he did close at work last night so, he didn't see what she was wearing - and I guess the 3 times she got up during the middle of the night he didn't notice - but - to me, they are clearly PJ's. LOL

Men!!!!!!

Politicians Lie

I was reading Isabellas journal when she got home from school today (she brings home a daily journal from school with info in it) and she had written that she voted. I asked her who she voted for and she said Barack Obama. I asked who won and she said they'd find out on Wednesday.

A bit later she said someone in class said Barack Obama was a liar. I told her, all politicians lie. To which she replied "so, John McCain lies, too". Yes, I told her. "Take that Rylea!" was her response. LOL

I honestly was impressed she knew both candidates names, although she hears us talk about them both almost daily. I'm excited for the election tomorrow and wish I was throwing an election night party! The last election night party was back in 2000 - we stayed at that party until around 2:00 in the morning. Little did we know it would be weeks before a winner was declared! Hoping that isn't the case tomorrow night.

Halloween 2008

Here are a couple of pictures from Halloween 2008. Isabella was a spiderwick vampire or something like that and Ava was a Butterfly/Fairy. We had a great time trick or treating - my mom, sister in law and niece all came up to go trick or treating with us. Amy and Jack, Chris and her girls and mom, Dee, Dialycia and my girls all went door to door. It was a fun time. Steve and Mark stayed back at the house with the fire pit going and drank a couple of beers. After ToTing everyone just sat around the campfire and a few other neighbors came over and hung out. Steve dug through my make up cases and did Isabella's make up - 2 days later she still has some remnants of it around her eyes. We've used eye make up remover, vaseline, cleansing cream and lots of scrubbing with a wash cloth and some still lingers. Another indication kids don't need to wear make up when they are young. LOL

And are heat stroked pumpkins. The kids crack me up - they only wanted to carve the ones they got on their field trips instead of buying a bigger one to carve. Next year I'll remember to take pictures the first day they are carved before they start withering away.

Musings of a 6 1/2 Year Old

Isabella arrived home from school today while I was watching Oprah. Out of the blue she asked me "Do you know police officers help even bad people". Yes, I do I told her. Seconds later, "Do they help them even if they don't believe in God?". Of course, I replied. "Wow" was all she said in return.

I love these random conversations with the girls - thank goodness for the blog so I have a record of it. If I waited to write them in their baby books - well, that would require me to remember where I put their baby books. Bad, bad Mommy.

Reality Check

Steve went for a physical a week or so ago. The other day they called - high cholestoral as well as borderline high sugar levels. The Dr gave him strict instructions regarding his diet - he'll follow for 3 months and retest. If still no good - meds start. He's too young to start that mess.

Catching Up

Ok, first - a funny Ava comment. I'm sitting in the office and Ava walks in and says "when I get big I'm going to be a cheerleader. And then, the tall boys can lift me up".

It's been a while since I've posted. The girls and I took a road trip and headed to Memphis, Tennessee and met up with my sister and her girlfriend/partner (what's the proper term?) LOL Deb.

Wednesday night before we left, the girls and I were at my moms when I decided to have "the talk". Not the birds and bees talk per sey but still a delicate talk. But, I felt like I needed to give thema heads up regarding my sisters relationship. My sister just about gave birth to a cow when she heard what I told them. ROFLMBO!!!!!!!!!!!! I asked Isabella if she knew what it meant to be gay and she said "you marry another girl" and "you kiss other girls". Ok, it was easier than I thought (thanks to my almost 11 year old niece giving Isabella the simplified lesson beforehand). hahaha!!!! Ava - would more than likely not notice anything so I kinda glossed over it with her. A couple hours later Isabella came to me and said "mom, we all are gay then". What??? She said, yeah - I kiss you, you kiss Ava so are we gay also? OMG - just gave her another abbreviated lesson and crossed my fingers she didn't ask me anything further. (she didn't).

Get up and head out on Thursday morning around 8:30 - stop 1/2 way and eat at a Cracker Barrel. I need to back up a minute. After being on the road for about 50 miles, Michelle calls me and asks if she should take 30 or 35. (Mapquest said 35, GPS said 30). Ok, I haven't lived in Dallas for about 5 years and she must have forgot I SUCK big time in Geography - she called the wrong sibling. Trent is the smart one. I told her to go one way but decided to call Steve to double check. He pulled up the map and informed me I told her wrong and what she should do. Fine, called her back - she was headed the right direction. No harm, no foul......until.......

At least an hour passes and she calls again - "how do I get to 30?". Again, Geography guru I am - I say, let me give you Steve's number and you give him a call. I quickly call Steve and give him the heads up. About 10 minutes later I get a call from him - his first words were "OH. MY. GOD." They were headed to Oklahoma!!!!!!!! (They drove an hour longer going north than needed so they then had to backtrack the same hour to get on the correct course). I did later ask her if her mapquest directions were going via I-35, why didn't she follow them? (she uttered some not so nice words for that question). Fast forward a couple hours later Michelle calls me and says "I Give Up". What the heck? I thought Steve set you straight. Well, they left their debit card at the gas station - THIRTY MILES back. ROFLMBO!!!!!!!! My mom and I were crying we were laughing so hard.

Eventually - they made it. I think it took them close to 11 hours to make the 7-8 hour trip. I still am shaking from laughing just thinking about it. Luckily, they were good sports about it.

I have to go fix supper, so the update is getting cut short - but we went to Graceland - and I LOVED it. I want to go back with Steve. My step dad worked with Elvis for many years when he was in the music industry and visited Graceland many times while Elvis lived there. The girls had a blast even though they didn't know who he was. They enjoyed the planes the most.

The next day we went to The Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis to watch the ducks parade from the elevator (from their rooftop penthouse) to the indoor water fountain. Google it for info - it was pretty neat and the girls loved this as well.

Those were our only outings really. It's been about 4 years since we last saw Michelle so we just played games/cards, talked and caught up.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Deb, Michelle and my Mom in front of the Lisa Marie plane...



Ava hanging out
Isabella

The girls and I in front of the plane - don't ya love Ava's Graceland Camo hat? heehee

Mom and Isabella on the shuttle bus (they shuttle you over to Graceland).

The girls and i after we toured the meditation garden where Elvis is buried.

My sister and the girls on Friday.

A few pictures

Here are a few pictures from last week.


Isabella on her field trip (they had to wear their walk-a-thon tee's).

Friday night - my niece Dialycia, Isabella and Ava. Ava was pretending she was a patient with a broken leg and the baby stroller was her wheel chair. Ava 99% of the time REFUSES to look at the camera. Makes for great pics. :(

The girls before we headed out to the IMAX theater.

Isabella and Ava standing on a rock (of course) in front of the Indiana State Museum.

Tomorrow I'll post some pictures from Boo at the Zoo - we went yesterday afternoon (after the Cowboys defeat and while the Colts were being defeated. I took the Colts loss MUCH better than Steve took the Cowboys loss).