9/4/12

Well, back to work today. BUT, there's nothing like a Tuesday, that feels like a Monday, but is really "Wednesday". Hooray for 3 day work weeks!!

I'm a little bitter at work right now. Our office is being reconfigured a little bit, and the person I work with the most (who is also a good friend of mine), that currently sits right next to be, is being moved across the office. It's really frustrating, and really bothers me. We work together ALL DAY LONG, asking questions, helping each other out. It's such a convenience. And, just having somebody that close that you can  quick vent to when necessary (and, in our office/line of work, is often), is nice. It's going to take me a while to accept this! Between this, the drama and the business, I've definitely been a little hermit crab at work lately, just stuck in my cubicle working away. I don't like it, it's not me...

After work, I picked up the girls from school and had the task of keeping them inside, entertained and away from the windows. Christian and his friend Lorenzo were FINALLY finishing the swing set tonight. Really, all of the pieces just needed to be put together. It still took a while, but it's DONE and perfect. YAY! Unfortunately it was pretty late and starting to get dark by the time it was up and ready for play, so the girls will finally get to see it and go crazy tomorrow. I can't wait :)

Here are some pictures of the process, and the finished product. YAY, our own park!

9/3/12

Well, our long weekend of chaos has come to an end. Definitely wasn’t boring, that’s for sure. Still, not looking forward to heading back to work though. At least Friday is my flex day, so a 3-Day work week, I can handle that!

The girls were pretty exhausted this morning. I had Olivia sleep in our room last night to make sure they could both get their sleep. They just wake each other up too early, and it’s not good. Amelia did wake up around 7:00, left the room (slamming the door behind her), saw nobody was awake, went back into her room (slamming the door behind her) and went back to bed. I finally ended up opening her door so she could wake up around 10:15. Olivia did hear the door slamming, and woke up, but when I told her that Amelia went back to bed, she fell asleep again until a little after  9:00. We laid in bed and watched some cartoons until 10:00, then woke Christian up to start the day.

He quickly got dressed, and headed outside to get all of the tools and stuff together to get back to swing set building. I got the girls up, dressed and fed, then we went to join him outside. I was able to help Christian while the girls played…sandbox, bubbles, swinging…everything. We ended up filling the pool for them because it was pretty hot out, so that kept them busy for a while. Olivia keeps asking about her “park”, but I keep telling her “no, we’re building a house for Chuy”. I don’t think I can “trick” her for much longer though!

The girls started getting a little crabby, so I ordered some Davanni’s for lunch and I watched a movie with them until the food got there. Then, they went down for a nap – I wasn’t sure if they would take one, but they most definitely needed one by that point. Christian and I finished putting together the main “clubhouse” portion of the swing set, and with that, everything was TOGETHER, it just needs to be combined. We called it a day there because it’s Labor Day, and we were off to a BBQ at his parents’ house!

We showered and got ready, then the girls were up and we were off. My sister in law and her 3 girls were there, so we were all pretty excited to see them again and spend some time together. Can you imagine, 5 girls running around together…from 2-7…my, the screams could be heard from a mile away! They had a blast though, so hopefully we can get them together often!

On our way to their house, we noticed my car was making YET another noise – actually, the same as the last time we had issues…it sounded like an airplane taking off when I would stop or go. Sure enough, another brake was going out. Luckily, last time Christian only had to replace one of the back brakes, but they’re sold as a set of two, so he had all of the parts he needed. He’s a pro by now, so we whipped off the tire, replaced it and put it back together in no time. UGH, stupid car! Thank god he’s good with cars, and willing to work on them, or we’d be screwed! Hopefully we can catch a break for a while now!

We finally left (late) and headed home. Got the girls bathed and in bed, watched a little TV and passed out. Exhausted doesn’t explain it after this weekend!

Here are a few pictures of our day…the girls having a little fun in the backyard, and finally together with their cousins!

9/2/12

FAIR DAY! Finally, State Fair Day! I’ve been waiting for this day all year! LOL

First up though, swing set building. We woke up (the girls, TOO bright and early – then sent back to”bed” per our new rules), had some breakfast and started our day. Christian had to run to his parents’ house to get some power tools, then started unpacking the boxes and getting everything set up. I got the girls dressed, then we all made our way outside. I went between helping him and playing with the girls. I ended up putting them down for a fairly early nap because we were off to the fair tonight, so we wanted to make sure they got a decent nap in. We usually go to the fair around breakfast time, but I decided I wanted the girls to see all of the lights and everything as it started getting dark. And, the crowds dwindle significantly as the evening approaches, so we decided to switch things up this year.

We stopped working on the swing set shortly after the girls went down so we could clean up, shower and get ready. We arrived at the fair around 3:30 and began our adventures. First up, of course, the Battered Australian Potatoes. SO GOOD, and the girls loved them too. Next up, we made our way to the Kidway to meet up with our friends Kelly & Jack and their kids, so Olivia could go on rides with Annabelle. They had so much fun together, that was definitely a good plan. I didn’t want her to have to go on rides by herself, so that worked out well. We split up after a few rides, Amelia and Olivia went on a couple together, and then we were off again. Next up I got my Pronto Pup and the girls had their Cheeseburger Sticks. Amelia loved them, Olivia, not so much. So, she got herself a Pronto Pup as well. We made our way through the International Bazaar and I got the girls their Christmas Ornaments. We stopped to get some fresh fruit and lemonade to share, which was also a big hit (VERY yummy, especially on a hot day!). We stopped in Adventure Park and Olivia did the extreme trampoline. She loved it, but it definitely wore on her after a bit. She looked exhausted (and kind of sick) by the end. Poor thing. I grabbed my Deep Fried Pickles, Mini Donuts for the girls, and we went off wandering some more. Christian and Olivia went down the giant slide, of course a HUGE hit with her. She was definitely having the time of her life! We stopped to get Christian his Cheese Curds, then made our way to the Miracle of Birth Barn. PERFECT timing, it was getting late, and NO CROWDS! So much better than the usual chaos we’ve had to deal with the past few years! Finally, I stopped to get my Malt at the Dairy Barn, Christian grabbed a beer, we sat and hung out for a few minutes, then decided to call it a night. We got back to the car around 9:15. The girls were so excite and full of stories from their exciting trip to the fair. Amelia was COVERED in sugar from the Mini Donuts, so she was immediately nicknamed our little Sugar Mama, which she enjoyed immensely. Such amazing memories, like usual.

Olivia passed out pretty quickly once we were on our way home. Amelia stayed awake the entire ride (thanks to said sugar, I’m sure). They went straight to bed once we got home, and we weren’t far behind. Great, exhausting, wonderful day!

9/1/12

Well, chaotic day #2.

Christian was up around 7:00 this morning getting ready to head over to his parents’ house for day 2 of car work. They were able to get the last 2 bolts out, but had to give in and break them off. The rust was just too bad and it wasn’t working. The replacement bolts were only about $15, but he had to go to two different dealerships to find them. Poor guy.

So, the girls and I spent the day hanging out around the house. We colored, watched some TV, chased each other around. Olivia played with the animals a lot for some reason. They were actually SUPER well-behaved for me today. I was actually shocked, last night, now today…good kids, it was amazing! I was able to get a lot of cleaning done around the house and get picked up. I took a nap while the girls did. They ended up napping for over 4 hours!!! I don’t know what that was all about, but it was welcomed. My ears have been plugged up for a few days, and this morning I actually wasn’t able to hear from my left ear at all. It was horrible. I spent the day trying to drain it, which worked, and was gross.

Christian finally arrived home at 6:00 – with the car in working condition. Hallelujah! He was extremely exhausted, I was pretty tired from kid/cleaning duty and not feeling well, so we took it pretty easy tonight. We still have a couple of busy days ahead of us, so rest was a must!

Here are a couple pictures of Olivia with the animals. Cute!

8/31/12

Oh my was it a bad day!

I guess it started off on a good note. Weigh in day, and I was down 2.6lbs this week. I was actually hoping for a little more after two bad weeks, but I will take that. So far, down a total of 34.6lbs, and that's still very exciting to me!

Then, the badness set in. I was running late this morning, like usual. The construction around our neighborhood is HORRIBLE, so that made it even worse - it's impossible to get out of town in a timely manner right now, and it's so frustrating. I finally hit the highway and it was smooth sailing...until I got to work. As I pulled into our parking lot I heard a loud THUD, and it sounded like something was dragging underneath the car when I moved. Then, the sterring wheel started getting really hard to turn. I called Christian, panicked, and he told me to look under the car (duh). Nope, nothing was there, so it was just a noise coming from some mystery place. I went into work, and he had to talk to his supervisor to find out when he could leave to check it out. Originally 2:30, but after a lot of nagging from me, that changed to noon. He and a coworker stopped in the parking lot and immediately relized one of the ball joints, the passenger front tire, was a goner. Christian and his dad decided it was something they could fix themselves, so we just had to figure out how to get the car back to the house (20+ miles away). I searched around for a tow and got quots of $275 and $180. Ummm, nope. Christian's friend found somebody to do it for $90. By the time the tow came, I had already left work (in the truck) to go to the girls' school for parent day.

The girls were really excited to see me and loved the big ice cream social. It's always so fun to spend some time with them in school and see a little glimpse of how they interact with their teachers and friends. We enjoyed some ice cream, then made our way home.

Christian, his dad and his friend worked on the car ALL night. Which included two trips to the auto parts store...and $170 (which, is way better than a mechanic, so I can suck it up). By 10:00PM they called it quits for the day...they still had two bolts to remove from the part...everything was so rusted they were having a really hard time. Ugh, stupid car. So, instead of building the swing set tomorrow, looks like Christian will be continuing his work on the car. Boo.

The girls and I had a good night together though, thankfully. They built some tents, we colored some pictures, played with the babies. Just the usual! I eventually got them into the bath, into bed and tucked myself into bed. Stressful day, man I hate cars!

I got this cute picture of the girls at school. Love it.

8/30/12

Today was not quite as hectic of a day. Just a pretty typical Thursday. Work all day, school for the girls. They had to cancel "Track and Field" day tomorrow because they laid some new sod down on the playground. So, they are doing an "End of the Summer Ice Cream Social" instead. I can handle that...

I picked up the girls from school and we all spent the night relaxing at home. We played outside for a bit, Christian started checking out the swing set pieces and reading through the instructions, we had some dinner, did baths and it was bedtime before we knew it. Nothing too exciting to share today.

Olivia has developed some pretty fun artistic skills all of a sudden. She always has a STACK of "drawings" in her cubby when I pick her up from school. They started out as just a few random scribbles on the page...morphed into thicker colored "section" all over the page...then she started drawing shapes, like squares and circles, and filling them in - working on staying in the lines I think...now, she suddenly DRAWS. Here are two of her pictures from today...a little grass/sun/sky scene, and a "family portrait". It's crazy how much she's developed over the year so far.



8/29/12

Well, the day started off pretty normal, but ended pretty exciting.

Work was pretty standard. The afternoon got a little chaotic when we were hit with a big surprise from one of our district offices. Spent a good portion of the afternoon fighting a losing battle over a Contract that we had no desire to take over, but have apparently been nominated to do just that. I get so frustrated with our office sometimes…we used to write ALL of the Contracts for the state, but that was disseminated to the districts and some of the offices throughout the state years ago. We still write a majority of the Contracts in our office, but we are supposed to provide “support” to the other folks. One of the offices that I do write Contracts for has decided to take over a Contract from another office, which means I have to take it over and it’s a huge mess. I tried my hardest to say no, but our office doesn’t really stand behind “no”, and ends up doing everything anyway, so it was pointless. That is how my day will be spent tomorrow, and I’m not looking forward to it at all.

After work, I picked up the girls, met Christian at home and we were off on tonight’s adventure…finally buying the girls’ swing set!!! YAY! We’ve wanted one forever…but, we wanted to make sure to wait until they were both old enough to use and enjoy it, safely, together. I don’t want to have to watch their every move when we send them outside to play, or hover over them, so we skipped getting one last year. Since the girls have SO MUCH stuff, we suggested to our parents, and Christian’s good friend Lorenzo, that they could just contribute to the swing set fund if they would rather do that. So, we waited for that. Then, we decided to just wait a tad longer and see if the stores starting putting their sets on sale for “end of the season”. Sure enough, Toys R Us is having a big sale right now, and we have a coupon on top of that, so we felt the time was finally right! I debated the swings the set style with Christian for a while…he wanted wood; I didn’t want to waste the extra money and wanted to just go with metal. Another losing battle, he wanted wood. So, I’m extra happy they’re having this sale right now!

It took us FOREVER at the store. They didn’t have the prices listed on the display stand, and they didn’t even have all of them in stock. We ended up writing down the sets they had on the display, and sat with one of the cashiers for a while so she could pull each one up in their system, find out what the total discounted price would be and if they had them in stock. We got it narrowed down to three sets, and after staring at them for a good while and debating the price, we finally made a decision, made our purchase, loaded it up and were on our way. So exciting! We’re hoping to find some time to get it up this weekend, fingers crossed!

By the time we left there, it was already bed time for the girls, so we picked them up a couple happy meals, ate quick at home, then sent them off to bed. They were both exhausted, and passed out right away. YAY! It was too late, and I had just eaten, so I wasn’t able to work-out tonight. BUT, my new workout did come in the mail today, so I’m really excited about that! I just watched a couple shows instead, and then made my way to bed.

I took a picture of Chuy tonight while I had him outside on a bathroom break. What puppy eyes!

8/28/12

Today was a much more standard day. I was back into the groove at work. I got a TON done today, and it always feels good to feel productive. Christian’s work has been going well too. I guess he has a week of vacation and some sick time that he needs to use pretty soon, before he loses it. I have a little time too, so we might take some time off coming up. Maybe get some stuff done around the house. We’d like to do some sheetrocking and painting in the laundry room and make it more “homey” than so “basementy”. We’ll have to think about cleaning up the yard pretty soon, getting ready for fall/winter. I’d like to get some stuff together to post on Craigslist – get some pictures and posting done. So, maybe we’ll take some “staycation” time together.

My mom had the girls today – Friday is “Track and Field” day at school, so we’re sending the girls. Today, they got to go to the fair with my mom and her friend. Lucky girls. They had stories galore for me all night long about their day. Going on rides, visiting the animals, seeing the “monsters” (haunted house I’m guessing), eating LOTS of food. They had a blast, and according to my mom, they got along ALL DAY LONG, no issues. So, yay for that! They were pretty tired all night, but not as crabby as I was expecting. We played outside a while, I made some dinner, Christian did some yard work. Just another typical night. After dinner, the girls took their baths and we started winding down for the day. Amelia was off to bed, Olivia watched a little TV. I did my workout and watched some TV myself. Tonight was the “Pretty Little Liars” finale, and OMG, it was so good! Yes, I’m like a teenage girl. But, it’s good, and I don’t care!

Here are some pictures of our playtime tonight. Including some of Olivia showing off her new skills...drawing a picture of me, and writing her own name. Growing TOO fast!

8/27/12

I can’t believe this is the last week of August. I feel like life, time, everything is just flying by. It’s going to be FALL in a couple of weeks…it’s just unbelievable.

Today was a pretty typical Monday. The girls were off to my in-laws for the day. Work was work. I ended up leaving early today. I wasn’t really in a “work” mood today – I just couldn’t get motivated. But, on top of that, we are in dire need of groceries in the house. I planned on going yesterday, but my headache kind of derailed those plans, so I took some time off this afternoon. Ran to Target (and, took my time for a change), packed everything away, spent a little time on the computer and made dinner before the rest of the house got home.

Christian was a little later than usual tonight. His sister and nieces moved back from Mexico on Friday, and they were supposed to stop over to his parents’ house tonight, so he waited for a bit to see if she showed up. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get a ride over, so she didn’t make it. Olivia can’t wait to see her cousins, so hopefully we can get them together soon! I had dinner ready for them when they got home. We got them right into their pajamas after they ate, and let them play for a while.

Tonight, we did become aware of one of their new little tricks though. Christian came in from the garage and asked where the dog was. We couldn’t find him anywhere, so I thought the girls had him downstairs with them. Christian peeked outside, only to see Chuy running around back by the fence. We couldn’t figure out how it got outside…but he opened the door to yell for him to come in, only to hear little toddler girl giggles coming from the downstairs patio. Turns out, they’ve learned how to unlock the patio doors and let themselves out. On top of that fun, they had pushed their little picnic table over by the swing, Amelia had climbed up into the swing, and Olivia was pushing her, like it was no big deal. Ugh – these kids, too smart for their own good! Our “deadbolt” lock on the doors is pretty tough to open, and it has a floor latch on top of it – I couldn’t believe they could get all THREE locks undone. Tricky girls. Thank god we’re fenced in!

We finally brought them inside and sent them off to bed. I got my workout in, caught up on some shows and was off to bed myself.

Here is a picture of the troublesome duo in action…

8/26/12

Well, it was another headache day for me today. I woke up with a slight, annoying headache. It progressed into a full blown pounding migraine by the end of the night. Seriously, so sick of them!

The girls were up bright and early today, at 6:15AM. I again sent them back into their room until a reasonable time. Of course, once they are up, and wake me up, I can’t fall back asleep. But at least it gives me a chance to just rest and wake up before the toddle chaos consumes me. Once we were all up and about, we just spent the morning playing and watching some cartoons. The morning was pretty gloomy, weather wise, so we just had a relaxing morning. Ate some breakfast, did some coloring, chased each other around the house. I was REALLY craving a trip to the fair, but we’re not going until next weekend. Things have been so chaotic and busy for us for so long, I’ve decided to try to lessen that burden – when possible – and only schedule one event per weekend. So, since we had the reunion yesterday (which, thanks to the rain, wasn’t as stimulating as I was anticipating), I planned our fair trip for next weekend. So, of course, all I could think about all day was fair, fair, fair.

While the girls napped, Christian and I hung out, watched some TV, and did a little bit of napping ourselves.  Olivia woke up about an hour into her nap, and was sent back to bed. This mama don’t play that! Amelia woke up about an hour after that, and she and I spent some time together while Christian cut the grass. The gloomy weather had passed, and it was sunny and hot again. Once Olivia was actually up, we all got dressed, grabbed Christian and went on a walk/bike to the park for a while. I can’t believe how good Amelia is with her bike already. This was her first time really trying it out, and she did so well. They let out some energy at the park and we made our way home for dinner.

Christian’s mom called on our way home and invited us over. I was tired and my headache was getting worse, so I stayed home. I also wanted the girls to have some time apart, and don’t like the way they act together when we’re all over there, so I kept Amelia home with me. It’s amazing the difference between 1 and 2 kids in the house! Amelia was perfectly content playing on her own, doing her own thing, and getting some random cuddles in with me. We had some dinner, and I started to feel really sick. I ended up texting Christian and having him come home a little earlier than planned. We got the girls ready for bed and tucked in for the night shortly after that, and the weekend came to a close.

Here are some bike riding pics…