Scrapbooking photos and party photos

I went scrapbooking last night with Jodi and got some fishing pages done. They turned out pretty cute, but the pictures of the pages have something to be desired. Just ignore the flash and blurriness.



I also got some pictures from Holly from the housewarming party. Unfortunately, no real drunken or embarrassing ones, though.





Here is a kind of funny one of me, semi drunk, opening our gifts.

Discovery Health

I love that channel! We never had it before and I swear, there is always some freak show on there that I'm interested in. Mystery Diagnosis, Plastic Surgery before and after, Sextuplets, Skeleton Stories, Extreme Surgery.......you name it. Apparently, watching enough of these shows, plus working at the hospital and seeing gross pictures in books and charts, has made me numb to the gore of it all. Don't get me wrong, if I were to see any of that stuff up close and personal, I'd puke all over.....but on tv, it doesn't bother me at all. Even while eating. It's a sad day when I can watch craniofacial surgery while enjoying a bowl of ice cream. ;)

One month

Well, today marks our one month anniversary at our new house. Things are put away, everyone is settled, it's a good place to be. On a negative note though, Friday we got some crappy money information. Apparently Rob's job has changed the way they are going to do health insurance, so now we are going to have to pay 40% of our premiums instead of them paying for the entire thing. That equals about $200 more out of our pockets a month. Nice timing too what with the new bigger house payment. I am stressing about it right now. I'm going to try to line up some more cleaning jobs to bring in some extra cash, but that requires a babysitter....so it might be self defeating. We'll see.
My sister came this weekend and we went to see the movie "Click" with Adam Sandler. It was funny for the most part, but a little more emotional than I had anticipated. Then she left and Chris went with her to stay at her house for awhile. It seems weird almost, not having him here. Thankfully I got all the work out of him that I needed. ;)

Horses, yeah right.

This morning we went to Pairie Meadows to go on a tour and what we thought would be viewing the horses. Well after 30-45 minutes of hearing some lady blab about her job and how small the jockies feet are, we finally got to go to the stables. We had to wait for the 3rd shuttle though, because apparently everyone thought that a group of moms with small children should be the ones who stood on the sidewalk for 20 minutes waiting. ;) Then when we did get over there, Kyle was too afraid to touch the horses and Emma was alright. I had a hard time taking pictures because of the delay on my camera. It was a split second that I could get Kyle near a horse.....the same kid that rode a horse in Colorado last summer, and it was almost too late to even get a shot.
























On the crazy previous owner front, yesterday I got the Ankeny Press Citizen in the mail. I was scanning through it and noticed the Ankeny arrests. I thought "I gotta see if 'pepper jack'(as we've been fond of calling him)is in here". And sure enough I didn't even get a third of the way down the first column and there it was. Apparently arressted for domestic assault.

Nice.

13 hours, baby!

Emma slept last night from 8:00 to 9:00 this morning. Rock on! I love it when she sleeps that long.
Today is my brother's birthday. He's 29 and apprently never thought he'd ever be that old because he's bitching about it. ;) His big birthday plans are as follows:

Taco John's for taco Tuesday
Barnes and Noble

What a party animal! I will be purchasing whatever he wants though, so it's a win-win situation for him.
Here are some fence pictures as promised:



Looks pretty good, huh?











Here is one picture that I took from the party....of Holly taking a picture of me. We sure know how to party, don't we? ;)

Post Housewarming Party

Whew, what a night! It was so much fun having people over to my new place. Plus there was plenty of room to spread out. I have tons of food leftover and ugh...the kitchen was a mess this morning. We just kind of left everything and went to bed after everyone had left. I woke up this morning to a stiff neck from just sleeping on whatever pillow was available instead of my real pillow. We had some drunken mishaps with the carpet downstairs....no puke, just spilling, so even though I Bisselled it at 1:30 this morning, I needed to do it again today. I told the girls "it's a good thing I'm drunk, or that would have pissed me off". ;) Holly took a bunch of pictures with her new digital camera so I'll have to post some embarrassing ones when she sends them to me. I didn't trust myself to use my camera too late into the night as I was even having trouble holding myself up. I've always been the kind of drinker that even though I don't seem to be able to control my body at the time, I always remember whatever went on. So I've never uttered the phrase that I've heard so many times "I don't know how I got home", because no matter how embarrassing it may have been, I always remembered.

Swimming pools, fences, sushi and a flower girl

Let's see....what's been going on? We went to the pool for the first time this season yesterday. I really thought I'd have gotten sunburned, but I didn't. The kids had fun, and we got free lunch so that is a bonus.

The guys....Rob and Chris....got our fence completed tonight. I'll have to take some daylight pictures tomorrow. It really looks good and for the most part, you'd never know it's not professionally done. I love the idea that Emma is mostly trapped now when she's out there. I guess if I want to completely trap her, I'll have to electrify the fence. How many volts can a three year old take. ;)

Tonight was a birthday party for my friend Deb....she's 40! Can you imagine being that old?!!! ;) We went to a Japanese restaurant called Taki. It was yummy. I actually was talked into trying sushi. The thought of it is repulsive, but it really wasn't that bad. The kind I had didn't have any raw fish in it though, so I don't know if that really qualifies as "trying sushi", but I'm claiming it.

Here is a cute picture of the girl at Reiman Gardens. I love it when I catch a real smile instead of a posed, fake one.

Never shop with a 3 or 8 year old

So today Rob and Chris were working hard putting up the fence. I really needed to run some errands, Target, grocery store, ect. With the guys being busy, I had to take the kids with me. I knew it wasn't going to be good, but I had no idea I would have murder on my mind the entire time. Our first stop was Kyle's new school. I had told him that we could go there and check out the building and the playground, but when we got there, they had the orange construction fence around it as if they were working on it. Disappointment #1. Our next stop was McDonald's in Johnston. I had never been to this particular one, but it was the closest one to the Target we were going to, so I chose it. When we got there we realized it didn't have a play area. Disappointment #2. The kids were annoying while we ate....fighting over who got what toy, who was eating more of the caramel dip, who was sitting next to me, ect. When we left, Emma was running on the sidewalk on the way to the car with her drink in one hand and her toy in the other. She tripped and fell on what would have been her hands and knees, but since her hands were full, she fell on her knees and then ricocheted off the sidewalk with her chin. She was screaming bloody murder after that. I, on the other hand was laughing my ass off because it was the funniest shit I had seen in a long time. Smack....boing.
Then we went to Target. We got one of those carts that has the seating for 2 kids in the back. They sat in there for awhile but then kept unbuckling and getting out. I had to tell them to settle down, or get over here aout 200 times. The funniest part....again at Emma's expense....was that Emma didn't want to buckle, so when she was sitting down and I started moving, she fell out. This time Kyle laughed.
After that we headed over to Aldi's. This was really the test of motherhood for me.
I realized, a little too late, that I'd forgotten to give Kyle his pill this morning. So it was a contant battle for me to keep my cool and not strangle them. They were fighting, getting in and out of the cart, taking stuff of shelves...you name it. And Kyle thinks he is Emma's keeper, so he is always trying to discipline her. Ugh.....I had had enough.
I didn't even get everything that I wanted to get, but it was time to come home. Disappointment #3.

Naked party!

I forgot to mention this the other day when it happened, but here goes.
So Emma likes to sing a little song when she's naked, called "Naked Party". She pretty much goes around just singing naked party, naked party. So anyway, last Saturday my friend Sharon was here with her daughter, Emily that is Emma's age. The girls were upstairs playing in Emma's room and I heard Emma start singing the naked party song. I rushed up there to make sure they weren't naked, and they were both sitting on Emma's bed, reading her baby Bible. Apparently Adam and Eve only wearing fig leaves was enough for Emma to declare it a "naked Party".
Here is a picture of the girls at Reiman Gardens from the week before:

Metro, my ass

Today we went to the "Metro Waste Authority" landfill. You know, the Des Moines dump. It was waaaaaaaaay out in the middle of nowhere. It was crazy to think that it is the only landfill for Des Moines. It was the cleanest, most organized dump I've ever been to, though......because I frequent dumps so regularly. ;) I was expecting something a lot more nasty, so I guess it was worth the trip. We got our money from selling the house today. Too bad that money is already spoken for because I was feeling really rich there for a moment. ;)
Now that all the crap is out of the garage we can start the process of organization out there. Things are really starting to take shape. I don't know what I'll do with myself when everything is done. There will always be something else to improve on right?

More pics

Here are a couple more.
New bedroom and old bedroom:












Emma's old room and Emma's new room:


















Now that I'm looking at them, they don't look all that different. Probably because we are using the same furnishings. But they are much different...bigger, newer, carpet....trust me. ;)

Pictures

My brother hooked my camera up to my computer for me so I have a few pictures to share:
Here is my old dining room and my new dining room:



















Here is my old living room and my new living room:

I'm back.....miss me?

What a crazy week it's been. And I'm so accustomed to using the internet that I was so whacked out being in a new place without it. I even had trouble finding a Chinese restaurant that delivers because I couldn't just go look it up and I'm so not used to finding Ankeny stuff in the Des Moines phone book. Anyway let's see:
The guy who was living here was an even bigger knob than first anticipated. He still had shit here including his cat, the day we took possession. Then he told our realtor that the fridge that was sold with the house was broken and that he replaced it. Yeah, right. So we are now waiting to get a repairman out here to fix the leaking problem on it. Then, the night we moved in, we went to Walmart and came back to find that someone had run over our mailbox. What the fuck?! So on our first day as Ankeny residents, we called the cops. At first I was thinking "our neighbors are going to think we are such losers", but when the cop showed up he made some comments about being here before on "domestic" calls and being glad that someone else moved in. So needless to say, I'm sure the neighbors are used to seeing cops around here. ;) Other than that everything has been going along fine. We've had tons of help and we've been working ourselves and our family to the bone. I'm so tired of cleaning!!!!!! It's so nice to feel like I'm in the midst of everything though....like my friends can just stop over instead of planning ahead two weeks before. The house even feels like a better fit...we're outside more, we're eating dinner as a family at the table every night, Rob and I have our own private space, we've got enough room for everyone to cohabit without tripping over one another....it's just really nice.
I haven't yet hooked up my camera to the computer, so I don't have any pictures to share yet, but here is an old one that just makes me laugh because it reminds me of a picture that I took of a girl that we used to call "ketchup pants" and she used that picture of herself in a shopping cart as her sign in picture in every online group she belonged to.

Where do I start?

I wish I could say "I'm back", but I can't because I'm at the library using their computer. Apparently Qwest long our info, or screwed up our sign on date or something, so we won't get our DSL hooked up until Friday. Annoying. I've got lots to post about the new house, but I don't have time right now as I've got tons of emails and junk mail to sort through. I've been a cleaning feind lately with the new house, old house and my regular jobs. As I've said before, I'll probably have Popeye arms by the time I'm through.;) Anyway, that's all for now, but hopefully I can post more on Friday.

It's finally here!

Jesus, you'd think I was about to give birth or something with as excited as I am to get this over with. Much less painful than birth.....I hope. ;) So my brother and I spent today moving the boxes from the dining room out to the garage and all the boxes from downstairs out to the garage. Plus, I packed up the kitchen and dining room. The cupboards are empty.....I wonder what's for dinner? ;) I have to pack up the bathroom later. It is supposed to be hot...like really hot all weekend so what a joy that will be.
Emma had her last day of preschool today and she was completely oblivious to it. Next week I know she'll be asking to go. The funniest part was saying goodbye to her teachers. I've never heard the term "spitfire" used so much in all my life. That's a nice way of saying turdish little brat. ;)
I don't know when the computer is going to be dismantled, so this could be my last post for a little while. I'll talk to you next time from my new office!

Only 3 days to go!

It's coming down to the wire now. I've got the closets packed up and there are boxes everywhere. We did our walk through of the house last night and it was crazy. The owner, who was not living there when we looked at it, has moved back in. So now there is furniture and stuff in there, where as before it was empty. Who has ever heard of someone moving out before they sell and then moving back in after they sell? What a wack job! And the best part is that the guy was gone, but shows up right as we are getting there and my realtor has to ask him what he was doing. On top of it, he left his bank card, credit card and drivers license on the counter in the kitchen. Right out in the open. Shouldn't that be in your wallet since you are out driving right now, Buddy?!
I did think it was nice, though, that if I ordered something with his credit card that it would show up at the correct address. ;)

Good Times

I got home at 2 a.m. this morning from a night out with the girls. We went to Prairie Meadows and had so much fun, drinking, laughing and gambling amongst ourselves. I won the last race of the night and it was a "double or nothing" kind of race, so that was a nice ending. They had an old man, blues band and ugh....it sucked, but it was still fun to make fun of the mullet-sporting drummer. Please tell me these are not coming back in style!
Rob had Emma and Kyle out at the inlaws house yesterday and apparently they got pretty tired out. They kept Kyle overnight and Emma slept in until 10:00 this morning. That rules! I only slept until 9:30, but it was so nice to wake up on my own and not because Emma was making a ton of racket.

Gorgeous day!

We spent the day outside at the park and it was fantastic. The perfect day to sit outside and soak up the sun. After being cooped up inside for the past week, we needed it. I was so worried about keeping sunblock on Emma, I forgot about myself, so guess who has a bright red nose? ;)
So there is a house down the street from me that has been on the market for months.....since at least January, maybe earlier. I drive by it everyday to take Kyle to school and yesterday I noticed they had an open house sign up for Sunday. Guess what time they had listed......3:30-4:00. A half an hour?! Oh yeah they are really going to get tons of business in a half hour. Not to mention, going to all the trouble of getting it cleaned up for a half hour open house. Craziness!

Back to the norm

Everyone is healthy again today. Or at least healthy enough to return to the normal routine. Kyle went to school, Rob went to work, Emma went to preschool and I cleaned today. I am also currently eating my Amish friendship bread that I made with cheesecake flavored pudding mix. YUM!!!!

My crazy daughter has decided that riding her bike inside the house is a good idea. We've only got one more week here, so I'm letting her. She won't be doing that at the new house, that's for sure! Her bike needs to have the wheels greased, so all I can hear is "squeeeeeek, jibba jabba.....squeeeeeeek, jibba jabba".

Here are a couple of pictures of how I found Emma asleep yesterday:




She likes to sit on the table in front of the window and finger it all up, but she must have gotten too tired. ;)

Speaking of Emma, last week I caught her outside "watering" the grass with the gas can. I guess she thought since it has a spout, that it must be a watering can. I just about had a heart attack. Kyle would have never thought to do something like that. Can you imagine what her teenage years are going to be like?! So here is a picture of what gasoline does to grass:

Still sickies

The thing that sucks the most about being sick while your kids are sick is that you can't just lay down and peacefully relax. Kyle is home today with a fever. Emma is better and so am I, but still not at 100% and trying to remember who had which medicine at what time, is a pain in the ass. Especially because one of the medicine receivers is me. Although it is easier, I suppose to take care of sluggish kids while I'm sluggish than rambunctious ones. I remember one time before I got pregnant with Emma.....I had just quit my job and Kyle was 4. I was sick and throwing up and he was fine, so the whole day he was in the living room watching tv and playing and I was in between the bedroom and bathroom. My MIL came over after work to check on me and the look on her face when she saw the house was priceless. Hurricane Kyle had been through and he had even ripped down the living room curtains somehow. So she took him with her. I still had to clean it all the next day, but at least he wasn't there. ;)
So today I've been labeling and moving the rubbermaid boxes into the main room in the basement. That way they all say what room they belong in and they are easy to move when the time comes. You know, only 9 days from now.....Holy Shit!