10/1/11 - Bliss

Well, it's October! And, that my friends, is very unbelievable!

Today was a slightly more hectic day. Christian was off to help my mom move today, so it was just the girls and I..again. It was a pretty typical day for us. I did a few loads of laundry throughout the day, we hung out, watched some movies, ate some food. The girls were having a BLAST together today, and it just warmed my heart (and made life MUCH better for all involved). I gave them a bath and dressed them, and even managed to take a shower myself! SUCCESS! I did also notice that Amelia has a new tooth. She's been in a pretty good mood for teething my little drama queen must be developing a tougher skin!

Once the girls went down for their nap, I finished getting ready, and was out the door as soon as Christian arrived home. I was off to meet my BFF to look at bridesmaid dresses again. We had a lot more success this time, narrowing it down to 4 options. I never expect this to be so hard...I think I just hit the luck jackpot with my own wedding when it came to attire.

After spending a couple hours with her and her mom and sister (much fun and laughs, as always), I was back home to hang out with my little family for the night again. Christian and I actually managed to stay awake for a while tonight, and spend some time together, which was a nice change of pace. Another great day behind us, yes!

Here are a couple pictures of my babies, spending some quality time together today :)

9/30/11 - Thoughts...

Today was a pretty low key Friday at home. Olivia woke up VERY early this morning. So, she and I hung out in my bed, watching some cartoons and cuddling, while Amelia slept in. We gals hung out through the morning..making a mess, eating some snacks, playing with every toy in the house. The usual. It was finally time for naps, and they couldn't have come sooner. I was pretty tired after our early wake up call.

During nap time, I spent some quality time with the DVR, and, unfortunately, with my thoughts. I'm getting a little overwhelmed at our money situation again. I know we shouldn't complain, we are more fortunate than many, MANY people. I truly understand that. But all I want is to drag ourselves out of the debt we're in so badly. I just think of everything we need....the dog and the cats need to get to the vet, we need car seats for Amelia, winter gear for both girls, and warm clothes for Olivia, I'm going to have to buy a bridesmaid dress, flower girl dress and throw a bachelorette party for my best friend, both vehicles need oil changes and a cleaning. How we're going to afford that when our line of credit is maxed out, our credit card is so charged up that we can barely make the minimum payment and we literally live pay check to pay check. Ugh, SO FRUSTRATING.

Then, the jealous side of me comes out. When people around us get new, fun things, when people can live on one income. I think of the decisions we've made in the past, that have gotten us to where we are now, and I just hang my head in shame.

When I'm left alone with my thoughts long enough, it all starts to catch up to me. I know that we're going to be fine in the end. I know that we'll just keep cutting, and cutting for as long as it takes, and eventually our savings will not only exist, but go up and up. That someday just can't come soon enough though! Every time we get paid, I sit there, starring at our budget for what seems like hours figuring out what I need to move and shift to pay the bills and expenses that check. I've just had enough of the budget stress!

Eventually, the girls were up, and I was thoroughly distracted. Not to mention, reminded of the more important things in life! Christian arrived home, we ate some dinner and just spent the evening hanging out together. We were both pretty exhausted, and off to bed soon after the girls went down. Another fun filled day for the Durans!

Olivia is very into forts now...

9/29/11 - Day in the High Life

Today was such a great day!!!

Christian dropped the girls off this morning, so I spent a little time curled up in bed, bonding with the DVR. Then, it was time to get ready for my big day!

First up, I met my sister, Angela, for breakfast. Her treat for my winning the tickets to today's event. We ate a yummy breakfast at a new spot, and had plenty of time to catch up and chat, which was really nice. Incredibly rare, and nice.

Next up, we were off to the radio station for the event. There were two stations being represented, and we were the first to show up for KDWB. So, we were in the front of the line, on the first elevator up to the room, giving us FRONT ROW seats! Unbelievable. Andy Grammer performed first, and he was so great. He sang 3 songs, and they did a little interview between each song. He was so personable, funny and VERY handsome...it was a great view, for sure. We all had to leave the room so that Colbie Caillat could do sound check and set up. Then, we were back in. She sang 4 songs and answered a few questions as well. She was much more reserved, but gorgeous in person, and I think she sounded even better than she normally does...live, acoustic definitely does her justice. Needless to say, it was an amazing experience. Much better than I even expected!

After the show, I was able to get a couple hours home, by myself, to rest up for a while. We had a pretty fun, family night tonight. Laughing, playing, goofing around. Another perfect night in our house, that's or sure!

Here are a few pics from the show today. SO COOL!

9/28/11 - Friday Came REALLY Early

Yup, today is my Friday...work wise anyway. I have the Colbie Caillait performance tomorrow afternoon, so I just took the whole day off. And, my mom is out of town, so we swapped flex days at work so I can be home with the girls on Friday. So, YAHOO, 4 day weekend coming up!

Today was a much better day at work. Things were pretty quiet, so I got a lot of stuff done, which felt really good. I had my annual performance review (a few months late, thanks to the shutdown this summer). It went well, pretty much the same as every year. Although, I did move up to "exceptional" in a couple fields this year. I must be "growing up" because she says I deal with our customers much more "professionally" now, and am able to hide my frustrations with people well. She is always impressed with my exceptional organizational skills, and my big plus is my ability to handle a large work load with ease. If only she could hear my swearing and outbursts throughout the day! Ha.

I also received my 10 year gift today. They give you a catalogue on your "milestone" anniversaries, and I picked a weather radio this year. We've never had one, and say all the time that we need one. We have satellite, so if there is bad weather going on, we lose signal, and have no idea what's going on. So, I'm pretty excited to have that now.

I also had a wonderful lunch date with a great friend. My friend, Melissa, used to work with me, and luckily we kept in touch after she moved on. We meet up for lunch every so often, which is always a blast. We have so much in common, it's great getting together and catching up on life. She wasn't able to make it to Amelia's birthday party this summer, so she had a little gift for me to bring her (which, by the way, she LOVES).

The afternoon at work flew by, and I was on my way home, ready for a wonderful weekend! I started some laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, and we ate some random leftovers when the rest of the family arrived home. Just a nice, relaxing Wednesday night.

On my way home, I drive around the neighborhood and took a few pictures of the changing colors. Things are looking SO beautiful around the city right now. LOVE those changing fall colors!

9/27/11 - Bad Start; Entertaining End

Today was a pretty rough day at work. The work is piling up again. Sometimes I get so caught up in what I'm actually getting done, that I don't realize all of the new work that I'm getting. Then, BAM, it slaps me in the face as all of the "can you rush that one" requests start coming in. Seriously, it never ends! It was also one of those constant e-mails, phone ringing off the hook and impromptu meetings all day kind of days. Needless to say, I was VERY frustrated and overwhelmed by the end of the day. 4:30 could not have come sooner today!

Christian's friend from work was having a tough day too, and asked Christian to grab a beer with him after work. So, he picked up the girls and dropped them off. Lucky for me, they ate dinner already with his mom, so it was a pretty laid back evening for me. The girls were playing really well together, I was able to relax for a bit. Except, there were a couple of incidents.

1. I heard the "clinking" of their piggy banks, and yelled to Olivia, asking "what is that". She replied that they were "putting money away". Curious where she'd gotten money, I went to investigate. Turns out, they had found Christian's change jar, and were STEALING money from him, and putting in their piggy banks. LOL

2. The girls were playing in their room. Yelling, jumping, the usual chaos. Olivia came running out, asking for water. I gave her a little up, filled it up, and they drank it. She got some more water out of the fridge, ran back into the room, the girls laughed and laughed like crazy, Olivia came out again, got some more water, and this repeated a few times. I finally went into the room to see what they were doing, and see what was so hilarious. Turns out, Olivia was running into the room, throwing the water on the floor. Who knew soaking the carpet was so funny.

S0, that made the evening pretty interesting. Christian arrived home right around bedtime, so the girls were off to bed. I was right off to bed, time to end the rough day! My mom sent home a bunch of old toys I had when I was little, and Olivia had a blast with them. It was funny, remembering all of these little toys, and watching her play with them. Memories...

9/26/11 - Winner, Winner - Again/14 Months

Today started off amazingly! Well, after waking up late and having a very late ride into work, things changed for the better, quickly! Last week, my sister, Angela, texted me, asking me to try to win Colbie Callait tickets. She, and Andy Grammar, are coming into town for a concert, and a couple local radio stations are hosting an "intimate" performance ahead of time, and giving away tickets for that. It's basically a room, with maybe 100 guests, a small stage, and the performer. Never been to anything like that, but it sounds VERY cool. Well, apparently my sister thinks I just win anything and everything - which is very much not true.

Well, I didn't try winning them this weekend because I don't listen to the radio much on the weekend, and knew chances of getting through on my cell phone were slim to none. And, thanks to my running late this morning, I was not at work when they played the "cue to call in and win". But, I gave it a shot anyway, and tried to win. Low and behold, I got through, and after a few rings, they picked up, and I was caller 10! WINNER! So, we're very excited to see what this is all about. I can's say I'm their biggest fans, but I don't know much about them. It will be fun to check this out!

The rest of the day was not quite so exciting. Just regular old work, hang with the kids. I was actually not feeling well at all today, and still not feeling hot when I got home from work. So, Christian picked up some dinner on his way home, and we had a pretty low key night.

Amelia turned 14 months today! So crazy! She gets more amazing everyday. After being so tiny, for so long, she seems to be making up for it all of a sudden. She's starting to outgrow her 9-12 month clothes already, we're going to have to start moving her up again already! She still doesn't say a ton...mom, mama, occasional dad, bubbles, starting to say puppy. She waves hi and bye, but doesn't actually say it. She is already a much better walker/runner than Olivia is, LOL. She throws things away in the trash when asked, she is starting to follow other commands, finding things when we ask her to, bringing us various items. She is REALLY starting to stand up to Olivia nowadays. She doesn't take too much from her any more. I think that, as sweet and little as she may be, Amelia is going to end up being our little bruit.

She's sleeping pretty well these days...usually if she does get up, it's just because she's cold or uncomfortable and too lazy to fix it herself! She's still on one bottle a day, at bedtime, but isn't drinking her milk throughout the day too well, so we're a little nervous about that. She's starting to walk down the stairs pretty well now, which is quite scary. She is still my little love bug....loves to cuddle, give kisses and be wrapped up in our arms. She's just so sweet, I can't get enough of her!

Here is Amelia's 14 month photo.

9/25/11 - Party #2

Today was a wonderful Sunday. So many great things...family time, time to relax, a birthday party. Just a great way to spend a Sunday!

The morning started off like a typical weekend, hang out, yummy breakfast and playing with the girls. They didn't sleep the best last night, so they were tired pretty early. Which, worked out well because they got in a decent nap even though we had places to go, and people to see.

As they napped, we showered, got ready and watched the Vikings game (again, amazing start, and then they didn't show up for the 2nd half. Grrrrr). Then, we were on our way. First up, we stopped to drop off our computer printer to a buyer. YAY, another thing sold!!! Then, we were off to my cousin's house for another birthday party. Their little girl, Cianna, turned 2 this week! It was nice catching up with family again, twice in one month HAS to be a record! It started off being a gorgeous day, weather wise, but by the end of the party the sun was gone, the wind picked up and it was actually quite chilly! A big change for one day.

We left a party a little early, since it is Sunday. I had to get home, put some clothes away and do a little cleaning up from the weekend. Christian had to stop at his parents to help his dad out with the snow blower, so Amelia and I hung out at home, he and Christian went over to his parents' house. It was quite a shocking reminder of what life was like with only one child! LOL. Peaceful, no fighting, no yelling, no running around. Then, Olivia got home, and chaos, instantly. But, in the end, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Here are a few pictures from today's birthday party.

9/24/11 - Party (1) & Housework

Today was a pretty good day all around.

With no time to spare this morning, we ate a quick breakfast, and got ourselves ready for the day. We were off, nice an early, for a lunch time birthday party. My cousin Jeff's little girl turned 4 this week, and they threw one heck of a party for her today. There were tons of "carnival" games and prizes for the kids. It was a lot of fun, and gave me some really great ideas for Amelia's birthday next summer!

After the party, we were off on quite an adventure to get home. The highway we had to take home was completely closed. THANK GOD for GPS, because while I've lived in the area my entire life, we were at a complete loss on the best way to get home. But, the girls were passed out pretty much the whole ride, and we ended up on quite a scenic route, which is great this time of year with all of the changing leaves. So, it wasn't the end of the world.

The girls continued to nap for a bit once we got home, so I finished up the laundry while Christian mowed the lawn...possibly for the last time this year. Once the girls woke up, we ran to Home Depot to pick up a few "winterizing" items they had on sale, and stopped in to Applebee's for dinner. We had plenty to time to just hang out as a family, and it was a pretty good time. The waiter talked me into ordering a "Perfect Margarita", which is really FOUR margaritas, and I drank them all! LOL. It was a well deserved "pitcher" of margaritas though!

Finally, we settled into the house for the evening. The girls were thoroughly entertaining tonight, it was one of those nights that reminds you why you have those crazy little rugrats in the first place. We re-hung the monitor (which, PS, we thought was DEAD this morning when we couldn't get it to turn on...until YOURS TRULY figured out how to fix it), I cleaned up the house (which, PPS, an invisible tornado must have made its way through), we put the girls down, and it was time for some much needed R&R! Saturday Night Live, the laptop, some Apple Crisp and Ice Cream...PERFECTION!

Here are a few pictures from the party. Fun, fun! Tomorrow is birthday party #2 of the weekend! What better way to spend a weekend, than celebrating the amazing little lives we bring into this world?!

9/23/11 - Mom Down, Again

Today was a tad rough, for me anyway. It was my Friday home with the girls, which is great, except when I wake up with a pounding headache. But, we toughed it out, and survived. Olivia actually "took care" of me this morning...she could tell I was not feeling well. She had me lay down, covered me up, and kept asking me if I felt better yet. It was actually really cute, almost worth the pain. The girls actually got along AMAZINGLY today. In some ways, it was a bad thing though. First, they were playing in their room...I decided to just let them be since they weren't fighting...until Olivia came running out with the [once hanging] monitor camera in hand, and the room was in shambles. Next, I heard a loud crash, found them playing in our room, and realized they had broken a glass cup that was on my nightstand. Finally, I gave the girls a bath because Amelia's diaper rash has flared up again...I did not realize that while I was getting them out of the back, they had plugged the drain back up, and I found them both later, splashing away in the little bit of water left in the tub.

I swear, you can't win. They are either fighting with each other, driving you crazy, or they are getting along, conspiring to reek havoc on the house. I guess, in the end, it's always better to have them getting along.

Once nap time came around, I started on some laundry, and caught up with the DVR for a while. It was time to start dinner right about the time the girls woke up from their nap, then Christian arrived home. We had turkey, cheesy potatoes and broccoli for dinner...Olivia kept asking for "more trees"....who's kid is that?!

After dinner, we played and goofed around for a while, then, it was off to bed for those girls. Christian and I sat around the bonfire for a while and chatted. It was nice, relaxing evening. Just what we needed!

9/22/11 - 4 Years

Well, 4 years ago today, Christian and I were married. It was such an amazing day, it's so hard to believe it was 4 years ago already. It's even harder to believe how much life has changed in those 4 years. Good, bad, easy, hard, fights, love, arguments, laughter. So many amazing memories, already made. Buying our first home, having our girls, struggling (like most of America) to live paycheck by paycheck, yet provide the best for our girls. Friendships lost as priorities shift, yet amazing friendships formed because of those changes. I think with every bit of bad, we get double that in good, strange as that may sound.

In the end, while it seems like just yesterday I was walking down that aisle to my groom, that day, that couple, that life, seems like a lifetime ago. Sometimes I look back and wish that we would have enjoyed our married life, just the two of us, for a while. But, then I see our amazing creations, and I know that I would not have it any other way.

In reality, today was just another day really. Work is getting crazy again, but I'm doing the best that I can to stay ahead of things a little bit. A local radio station, KS95, sponsored a State Employee appreciation lunch today on the Capital grounds, so a bunch of us stopped to check it out. We got free lunch from Subway, and they had a few games to play. I ended up winning a $25.00 gift card to a local restaurant in one of those blowing money catching games, which was pretty cool.

After work, I washed some dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and made dinner. The rest of the house arrived home just in time to eat, hang out for a bit and head to bed. Some celebration!! LOL

Here are some pictures, celebrating the biggest accomplishments in our relationship. Our wedding, 9/22/07, buying our first house, 11/15/07, the birth of Olivia, 1/2/09, and the birth of Amelia, 7/26/11. With each step, we become that much more complete.