Yummy!

AHHHH..Just one of the many joys to living in a big city..

Cold Stone Creamery....

Seriously this ice cream shop should be illegal or at least have some sort of warning posted on the door as to the crazy addiction it could cause. However the price is a bit on the steep end so that, I guess, is at least a bonus because honestly people, this store is just not right!!
Now let me just start out saying that I am NOT a big ice cream fan, so for this place to get me craving my not so favorite dessert you know it has got to be out of this world..hehe
Some friends of ours were in town this last weekend. They of course have been to this tasty- treat store a couple of times and convinced me to go and give it a whirl...That was my first mistake, and now I am hooked. It is just cruel how they give you so many yummy options to choose from and not to mention that the base ice cream is like totally the best that I have ever tasted! I mean Cake Batter Ice Cream?!?! That is just so unfair....Sigh.
The Peanut Butter Cup Perfection is my new best friend and then you slather it with Carmel... seriously, it makes me happy!:-)
However, my new little phase must come to a hault because even though this delicious snack is a killer on my taste buds it could do equal the damage on the ol' waistline, if ya know what I mean.
So I will try to be good and save the CSC runs for special occasions or when family and friends come to visit.
Sooooo, anybody up for a little road trip? LOL

Playing Catch Up

Okay Okay..I really have no excuses...I am not even gonna bore you with all the frivolous details of the past 3 months, that is how long it has been at least according to Trina's most recent sidebar display...hehe It was just too much for me to bare having that crazy time frame next to my name...what a motivator, eh? So, I am gonna hit a few high lights and be on my way.


Baseball season IS finally over..hehe just barely though. However only to start back up again in 2 very short weeks. According to all the men folk that presusded me into this Summer Season it should be alot less maintenance..Which is a good thing considering we had a game or practice every night Mon-Sat. Sigh...


Jake and Hailey both celebrated turning another year older...the Big 9 and the Big 3. They both seemed to have a great time, but cake, balloons, and presents who wouldn't right?..hehe Here are a few pics of their big day...

Unfortunately most of the pics from his birthday have a weird blur to them but here is a pic of his cake.


Here he is acting like his silly self and VERY happy about his new scooter.


Here is the birthday girl methodically demonstrating her new age..hehe


She is OFFICIALLY ready to roll....

In May we went to the Brewster camp-out which was so great to see all our friends and spend some time just relaxing and enjoying everyone...Not to mention the Great meeting we had. Then the next weekend we travelled 6 hrs back down there for our nephew's (Scott) graduation. That too was a busy weekend, but we are still glad we went and the kids really enjoyed their cousins!

Now it is the end of June and we are currently on the house hunt...Our renting lease is up at the end of Aug. and so we are looking to buy. Rusty, of course, wants to live out in the country and I would love that as well..However the that fact that the price of land and houses on land are CRAZY high that doesn't seem to be in our future. There are few hopeful prospects that I will keep under my hat just in case they don't work out..No use wasting typing time on things unless they look like a real possibility.

So all in all it has been a good 3 months with baseball, birthdays, travel, company, berry picking (love that freezer jam..yum!), house hunting and just hanging out.

Now I can't promise to be diligent about my posts but I will however try to stay on top of it a little better...I am feeling a little deja vous..aren't you? LOL

Baseball Fever

So Baseball season has officially started!! My boys are super pumped to be out there again. Since moving, I think they have felt a little out of the loop so to speak. Although we have stayed pretty busy, it has been a different busy. The boys were used to getting home from school and spending the rest of the afternoon until dark playing out side and enjoying the neighborhood kids (for the most part.hehe).
But here we live in a cul-de-sac of all girls and no park to play at. Now don't think that I pity them or anything because their life isn't bad at all, but I know they miss the pick-up games, hide and go seek, and such.
So with baseball season being here it will give them something to look forward to and a little physical activity that doesn't involve my couch or coffee table as the arena..hehe
Rusty is helping coach Jake's team and the other coach seems extremely nice so that is a plus. Jarred on the other hand had his first practice last night. Needless to say I was NOT impressed.
When Rusty went to the coaches meeting a couple of weeks ago, we had Jarred signed up for Tee-Ball. Well Rusty got to talking to some of the Dads/Coaches and they all acted like we should probably move him up. So we Did. Now I'm not so sure.
I think as far as playing he will be okay, but this little team he is on seems very "Cliquish." Which is fine, believe me I am not looking for a new best friend, but the fact that we are the new kid in town and my son happens to be the only Kindergartner on the team, well we already have 2 strikes against us. So again, last night my irritation level was on the rise....Sigh
But it will all work out, it always does.
So now between the two kids we are having practice about 3 or 4 times a week until the games start and then 3 or 4 games a week plus some practices squeezed in here and there. Can't wait for Hailey to get in on the mix...Good Times..LOL
It is a lot of work but it is worth it to see the kids having fun. If anybody knows us at all then they know we like our sports around here, so all the practices and games aren't really that hard to handle, for now. Ask me in about 2 months..LOL

Our 10th

Rusty and I officially celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary on Friday, March 14th. I know what you are thinking, that I just made this big post about Hawaii and it being our anniversary and such and you are right, we did celebrate that trip in honor of our 10th, but Friday was the actual DATE that we got married....we just jumped the gun a little on the celebration..hehe



So I was flipping through my wedding album yesterday (we had some company over and they were checking out my pictures) and so I decided to scan a few and share a few memories of that special day.



Rusty and I met in high school as Seniors, we actually met as Juniors but we were both dating other people. I instantly thought he was a cutie, but I'm not quite sure what his REAL impression of me was. Of course, now he would feed me full of all kinds of nice things, but you never really know, right..LOL



Anyhoo, we finally started dating in January of 1995 and have been together ever since. At first our relationship was quite feisty, we both are strong willed people and it was lot like fire and ice. Just ask our friends and family, I bet they never thought we would make it more than a couple of months. However, thank the good Lord that we both grew up and starting acting like reasonable, responsible adults and the rest, as they say, is history. Now I'm not leading you on to believe that we live in some fairy tale romance with butterflies and flowers all the time, but we both know each others place in our life and we both have a main desire to serve the Lord and so the rest mostly takes care of itself.



So in honor of our wonderful day here are a few pics...

Here we are saying our cherished vows..Rusty's Step-Dad married us which has been so special for us.


Walking down the aisle for the first time as Husband and Wife! He was really happy ..I promise!


One of the many, many pictures taken...I have never smiled (fake and real) so much in my life..LOL


Us cutting the cake.. A friend of ours made it for us as our wedding gift and as you can see she used fresh flowers which I was a little nervous about, but I thought it turned out GORGEOUS!


A picture of our Wedding Party..



Here we are loaded up and ready to take off for our Honeymoon...It took quite awhile for us to break through the saran wrap barrier that covered his truck, not to mention the shaving cream, shoe polish, and all sorts of fun obstacles. As you might have guessed Rusty had a little payback coming his way..hehe

It was an amazing Day and I often look back and wish I could go back to that time where everything was new and fresh, but I then look at my children and the trials that we have been through and I am thankful for where we are at today and that the Lord is still with us each day and our marriage is as strong as ever.

Happy Anniversary Honey..I Love You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jarred's 6th Birthday!

Another bad mommy moment...Jarred's 6th B-day was over two weeks ago and I am just NOW getting around to blogging about...


Anyhoo, my little guy is now officially 6 yrs. old!!! I can not tell you how long I have heard this count down from my little man...I think since like maybe Dec. No Joke!


Unfortunately I was sick on his actual B-Day day so we had to have just a small party of just our own family. That is a big change on how we normally throw party bashes around our house. We normally do a big themed party with pinatas and goodie bags and all the hoopla, but since we don't live around family any more we toned it down a bit. We were going to combine parties with Tisha's little boy because the 2 boys birthdays are only 3 days apart and we would be inviting the same people anyway. Then I got sick and so did she so it got even more scaled back. But all was not a complete loss...Jarred's "big" cousin, Scott had came down for his special day and we ordered pizza, had cake and ice cream, and then went to a nickel arcade. I was feeling better so I decided to join the family and we had a great time. Tisha's Hubby showed up at the arcade with Christian and Ruby and hung out with us too. So that was great that Jarred still got to spend sometime with a few of his friends.


All in all I think Jarred had a pretty good time. After all he still got tons of presents from family and friends and let me just tell the Nerf Wars have not stopped yet.


Here are a few shots of Jarred on his big Day...

The Birthday Boy and his Transformer Cake



Here is a close up of the Cake...I found these letter candles at Party City and it worked out perfect because Jarred has 6 letters in his name..


This was his big gift from Rusty and me. Everyone meet "Boomer." The newest edition to our family. This little hamster has brought all 3 kids tons of joy.


This is a look of determination..He WILL get that gift open!!



This was just the beginning of his Nerf Gun stash..



Of course every war isn't complete without the classic bow and arrow attack..hehe


He has had his eye on this baby since right after Christmas.. He was super pumped!


Here they are....The 3 little ones that help make my world go round..however, just a little faster than I would like at times..LOL

So there you have it my second son is now 6 yrs. old and all I gotta say is..

Where Did the Time Go?!?!..Sigh

Happy Birthday Jarred!!!
We Love You!!!

What a Deal

Over the weekend when we were on the mad dash to find Indian paraphernalia we went to a couple of thrift stores to assist in our findings. I did find a couple of things that worked but I also found a couple more things that I couldn't resist...


How cute are these dresses?!?!

This one looks like Hailey should bust out in her toddler version of "Tomorrow, Tommorow I love you, tomorrow, your only a day away...." Don't ya think, especially with her red hair..hehe


I thought this one was just way to cute to resist as well....



Here is a look at the back cuz I think it totally adds to the overall look....

Can you believe that I only paid 4.99 each for these dresses?...I thought that was an amazing deal! I looked and looked for flaws, rips, stains, missing buttons, but nope it was all good and not to mention they can be washed and dried in the washer...I have already tested that theory, of course. So now I am just waiting on the sunshine to hang around long enough so we can get some use out of these babies. Hailey is such a clothes horse that I know she agrees with me. She keeps saying, "Awe, momma these are so 'tute'!"..LOL

Night of the Notables

So last night Jake had a school function. He had this project to research a famous person and gather all the info he wanted on this such person. He then had to prepare a speech and even dress as the person for this big event that took place last night, thus.."The Night of the Notables."

Most of the research and the speech writing was done at school so really our only project at home was to find and bring to life the physical part of his character, aka the costume....

Jake picked the famous Sitting Bull. So last Sat. we as a family scoured the county-side looking for a Indian costume and the accessories that go along with any great Sitting Bull costume. Much to our disappointment, but not surprise we really couldn't find a great Indian outfit in March..huh that's weird..LOL

We did however find the accessories, but no costume so, my hubby and I came up with the "brilliant" idea of me making it. Now this is quite funny in itself because I have never made clothing for my children nor anyone else for that matter..Actually I take that back I think once my sister-in-law talked my into making a dress about 10 yrs ago, but she basically did EVERYTHING and I was just along for the ride.

So cut to Sat. evening and Rusty and I are in Jo-Ann's and wading through the pattern books looking for something resembling and Indian outfit. I found an actual costume, but it looked so complicated that I couldn't even understand the instructions on the back on how much material and what kind of material to get.....I was in BIG trouble.

But alas we found a pattern (Pajamas) that would work and figured we were good to go.

Sunday afternoon we spread the pattern and material all out and I pinned the pattern while my trusty assistant (Rusty ) cut it out. Thanks Honey!!

I then set to sewing this mess together. The top went together pretty quickly, until I got to the sleeves. It looked WAY to complicated for this novice seamstress so I vetoed the them and he was now going be a sleeveless Indian....hehe

Then came the pants...I started feeling over confident in my abilities and thought I could "fancy" this baby up a bit...I decided to put some fringe along the side. Well, after I finally figured out how to get the two legs sewn together, I put the fringe in ..no problem. I then was tackling the elastic and I was just about done when my eye drew back for a moment and I noticed a different texture on the pant leg. I looked closer and realized that had I had sewn one pant leg inside out. It was fleece material so obviously it looked a different shade not to mention the texture!!! NO NO NO!!

GGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had to rip out every thing on one pant leg, even the fringe, and start from the very beginning.....

DOUBLE GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is why I don't sew!!

Anyway, I finished it, but then I went back to the elastic I was so burnt out that after I sewed it in the hem thingy I just tied it in a knot and called it a day..LOL Not very pretty, but the shirt was long enough to cover, thank goodness!!

So, last night came and we got Jake all dressed up and ready for his big night. Here are few shots of the occasion......

Here is my Hunk of a man...I needed to braid the wig and Jake wouldn't hold still enough so Rusty volunteered for the job...What a guy!!



The kids decided to get in on the photo session with their beautiful Daddy..LOL



Sitting Bull in the flesh!!


Silly Kids!!


Me with my masterpiece..LOL


Jake was so nervous when we pulled up to the school. I do believe his words were.."I think I'm gonna hurl." I of course told him it was gonna be Okay, but what do I know I am just a silly mommy who never has been through anything like this..hehe I practically had to drag him out of the suburban, but as you can see once we got inside he was all smiles and the stress melted away.


Here he is giving his speech..He did a great job and all in all the night was a great success!!

Good Job, Jake..I mean Sitting Bull!!!!!