25 Random Things

1. I had lasik eye surgery. Prior to that I was pretty close to being considered legally blind (I wore contacts)

2. I am a obsessed with coupons!

3. I currently read about 80 blogs, most of which are moms I "met" on DownSyn (which unfortunately, because I spend so much time reading blogs, I don't have time to go on anymore)

4. I was a cheerleader in Middle School

5. My celebrity crush is Wentworth Miller


6. In my younger, bar-hopping days I won runner up in the hot legs contest and bikini top contest.

7. I would like to have another baby (maybe a girl?)

8. I used to be a PartyLite consultant and earned a free trip to Hawaii

9. I occasionally shop at Goodwill.

10. I drink at LEAST a gallon of water a day (I also pee a lot).

11. I grew up very poor in the heart of the ghetto, thought I wanted to be a gang member, and have dated a few.

12. I have two older brothers, we are all five years apart.


13. I can’t resist baked goods (especially homemade).

14. I enjoy cooking and entertaining.

15. I take care of my elderly father.


16. In a fight or flight situation, I tend to fly.

17. I am a thrill seeker, I love roller coasters, have bungee jumped and want to skydive.

18. I eloped to Mexico and got married on the beach at sunset.

19. I haven't printed pictures from my camera in at least a year (the pics of the boys on my desk at work are VERY old).

20. I am easily overwhelmed.

21. I have had the windows on my car broken 7 times that I can remember.

22. I was previously engaged. Had the wedding planned, dress bought, hall/church booked, etc., we broke up less than 6 months before the wedding (it took me years to get completely over him - what a waste of time!)

23. I work full-time as a legal secretary (which is what I went to college to do) and have done it for 16 years. I do enjoy working. I would love to be able to spend more time at home with my boys, but I am NOT meant to be a stay at home mom (working part-time would be ideal for me).

24. Our house is currently for sale

and we have an offer in on this one

because we are hoping to move to an area with a better school district (not to mention we outgrew it awhile ago - it was supposed to be a starter home but we've lived their for 9 years).

25. I am easily influenced by others and tend to be a follower rather than a leader.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday Merissa!

My niece, Merissa Christine is 10 years old today. Merissa is the youngest of three, she has two teenage sisters who are occassionally annoyed by her look out for her.

Merissa is caring, sensitive and a little shy. As most girls, she is a little dramatic at times, and is definitely daddy's little girl. She is Cameron & Mitchell's favorite cousin, and is always more than willing to play with them. I am sure she will make a wonderful mother someday.



[This picture is from 7 years ago, but it's still my favorite]



Happy 10th Birthday Merissa. I love you.

Happy Birthday Tristen!

My niece, Tristen Renee is 14 today!

Tristen is the middle child and loves golf and drawing. She is competitive, outgoing, has a great sense of humor, her own sense of style, and is very much a typical teenager (way too into boys, make-up, clothes & gossip!).

She asked for clothes & make-up as birthday gifts.

Me: "Didn't I just buy you make-up for Christmas?"
Her: "Yes, but a girl can never have enough make-up!"
Me: "I think the saying is a girl can never have enough shoes."
Her: "I know, but I have a lot of shoes already."

(I bought her shoes/boots for Christmas too!) What can I say, I have two boys, I love spoiling my nieces.)



[Here's a picture of Tristen from about 7 years ago, but it's still my favorite.]



Happy 14th Birthday Tristen. I love you.

I have a dream...

My DownSyn, online, bloggy friend, Renee's daughter had to write an "I have a dream" speech for school in honor of Martin Luther King Day. Below is Kassidy's speech and it really touched me(her little sister, Kennedy, just happens to have an extra chromosome like Cameron).

"I have a dream that one day kids with Down syndrome will be treated equally. They wouldn't be teased. Also they would be able to go to college and get jobs. I have a dream that these special kids could do everything they can and be our friends and we'd never turn them down just because they're different. We should all try to be their friends too. That is my dream."

What a wonderful dream! Kassidy is a great big sister and advocate for Kennedy.

I have a dream that Mitchell will one day look after his big brother the same way.

15 months 3 days

Today Mitchell is 15 months & 3 days old which is the exact age Cameron was on the day Mitchell was born.

Wordless Wednesday

Seemingly simple, yet quite profound.















We complain about the cross we bear but don't realize it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we cannot.

Whatever your cross,
Whatever your pain,
There will always be sunshine, after the rain....
Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall;
But God's always ready, to answer your call....
He knows every heartache, sees every tear,
A word from His lips, can calm every fear...
Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night,
But suddenly vanish, by dawn's early light...
The Savior is waiting, somewhere above,
To give you His grace, and send you His love.
May God fill your day with blessings!!

PRICELESS

Jack wakes up with a huge hangover after attending his company's party.

He didn't even remember how he got home from the party.

As bad as he was feeling, he wondered if he did something wrong.

Jack had to force himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees is a
couple of aspirins next to a glass of water on the side table. And, next to
them, a single red rose!!

Jack sits up and sees his clothing in front of him, all clean and pressed.

He looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order, spotlessly
clean. So is the rest of the house.

He takes the aspirins, cringes when he sees a huge black eye staring back at
him in the bathroom mirror.

Then he notices a note hanging on the corner of the mirror written in red
with little hearts on it and a kiss mark from his wife in lipstick: "Honey,
breakfast is on the stove, I left early to get groceries to make you your
favorite dinner tonight. I love you, darling! Love, Jillian"

He stumbles to the kitchen and sure enough, there is hot breakfast, steaming
hot coffee and the morning newspaper.

His 16 year old son is also at the table, eating. Jack asks, "Son, what
happened last night?"

"Well, you came home after 3 A.M., drunk and out of your mind you fell over
the coffee table and broke it, and then you puked in the hallway, and got
that black eye when you ran into the door."

Confused, he asked his son, "So, why is everything in such perfect order and
so clean? And I have a rose, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me,"

His son replies, "Oh THAT... Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she
tried to take your pants off, you screamed, 'Leave me alone I'm married!!' "

Broken Coffee Table $239.99 Hot Breakfast $4.20 Two Aspirins $.38 Saying the right thing, at the right time: PRICELESS

Friday Funny

Wisconsin

Jeff Foxworthy on Wisconsin

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 38 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Wisconsin.

If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Park Falls is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Wisconsin.
If you have ever refused to buy something because it's 'too pricey,' you might live in Wisconsin.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Wisconsin.

If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Wisconsin...

If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Wisconsin.

If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Wisconsin.

If you may not have actually eaten it, but you have heard of Head Cheese, you might live in Wisconsin.

If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Wisconsin.

If you have either a pet or a child named 'Brett,' you might live in Wisconsin.

If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Wisconsin.

If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Wisconsin.

If you know how to say Oconomowoc, Lac Courte Oreilles, Waukesha, Menomonie, Manitowoc, Shawano, Gillett, Lac Vieux Desert, and DePere you might live in Wisconsin.

If every time you see moonlight on a lake, you think of a dancing bear, and you sing gently, '…from the land of sky-blue waters,'....you might live in Wisconsin.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE WISCONSINITE WHEN:

1. 'Vacation' means going up north past Hwy 8 for the weekend.

2. You measure distance in hours.

3. You know several people who have hit deer more than once.

4. You often switch from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again.

5. Your whole family wears Packer Green to church on Sunday.

6. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.

7. You see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings and funerals).

8. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
9. You think of the major food groups as beer, fish, and venison.

10. You carry jumper cables in your car and your wife or girlfriend knows how to use them.

11. There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Mill's Fleet Farm at any given time.

12. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.

13. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

14. You refer to the Packers as 'we.'

15. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.

16. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.

17. You have no problem pronouncing Lac Du Flambeau.

18. You consider Minneapolis exotic.

19. You know how to polka.

20. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.

21. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.

22. Down South to you means Illinois.

23. A brat is something you eat.

24. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed.

25. Your answer to every neighbors’ crisis is a casserole.

26. You go out to fish fry every Friday.

27. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.

28. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.

29. You find minus twenty degrees 'a little chilly.'

30. You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Wisconsin friends.

Ice Cream Anyone?

So I have been a bad mommy when it comes to teaching Cameron to self-feed. He will do finger foods but I haven't worked much with spoon feedings.

When he was little we were always going somewhere and I didn't want him to get messy (yeah, I know better now - who really cares, right?). He quickly learned that he doesn't have to feed himself because someone else will do it.

So I had an idea, on a night the boys were to get a bath I would put them at their table in their diapers and give them something they would REALLY want to eat - ice cream!



Although it looks good in the picture, Cameron wasn't having it. He didn't care what was in that bowl, he just wanted to take a bath.

Mitchell however was happy to explore, get messy and eat some ice cream (even if it was with his hands).



Maybe next time!

Look what I did

I put this race track together (all by myself). Such a big girl I am!



Too bad we don't have batteries for the cars. Oh well, luckily the boys are too young to care and will still love it now and even more when the batteries are in!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my niece Hailey! We celebrated at the roller rink. I forgot how much fun roller skating was. I did biff (only once though)!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year at our friend's house. Here's a pic of the boys and Cameron's future wife, Taylor. Do you like Cameron's cheesey smile? Me too!