Happy New Year (Eve!)

Since I'm feeling overly giddy today/tonight I decided I will share our secret with everyone! :)







.............................





............................







............................









...........................

Christmas!!!

Christmas was definately downsized this year...we went WAY overboard last year and I didn't want to make that mistake twice, lol. Livi was begging for Barbie and Diamond Castle, castle and horse and carriage, so of course Santa had to follow through! Steve and Sami came over on Christmas Eve for dinner and presents (Andi worked) and the girls had a blast! We made meatloaf and homemade mac and cheese and it was a hit! Emily even got to stop by for some grub!

After Steve and Sami left it was time to get out the special reindeer food!

And staying up for Santa is hard work!

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!

Oh look! It's Lianna from Barbie and the Diamond Castle!

Then off to Nana and Pap's for more present time!

I use to like wrapping Christmas gifts...

...that is until this year when nothing is a normal 'wrapping' size. Argh! I spent a good 3 hours in the room wrapping today and I'm still not done. I decided to not wrap the stocking gifts this year, so it was getting to the point that every.single.thing was going to be a stocking stuffer, lol.

We went to Natalie's Christmas party last night and it was so fun! Of course I couldn't drink, but it was still tons of fun! Livi and Gaby got along so great, and they basically played upstairs out of sight the entire night. :) And reminder to self....Moonsand and unsupervised 4 year olds never mix! Natalie's poor carpet.....

Mike has started in on my cold poor guy. He's been miserable today and I know it's only going to get worse. I'm really hoping when Livi was sick that she was the one that started it going around so she's not sick for Christmas!

Sick.

Yeah, I'll admit it...I'm such a baby when I'm sick.
I started feeling awful yesterday morning, and by last night it was complete misery. Today is no better. I'm hot, I'm cold, I'm hungry, I'm nauseous....I just wish it would go away! I stayed home from work today...there was no way I would be able to function properly there. I did make it (barely) to my Dr's appt...and got some great news so that helps the day a bit. ;)
So it's a chicken-noodle-soup-lay-on-the-couch-day and I couldn't be more excited!

So.freakin.cold

Is it possible that maybe I stepped outside into the artic circle??? BRRR! It's not even really windy, just freakin' cold! The kind of cold that goes right into your bones and chills you to the core. I walked across our parking lot at work today to grab something to eat and OMG! It took me about an hour to get the chill out when I got back. I love winter and all, but really. When the roads freeze and become ice out of nothing, you know it's cold....

Last night we had one of our "Fireside Chats" for work...but they got clever and labeled it the "End of the year Celebration"...probably to get more people to come, lol. It wasn't too bad...and I even won a 50$ giftcard, yay! But I was at work from before 8am, and didn't get home until after 8pm...I don't like not seeing my family for that long. Boo.

Well....Candyland is waiting for me....

Darn you Ebay!

Oh Ebay.
Why must you tempt me with your merchandise?
You make me buy things because they're cheap and ending soon....that I feel that I *must* sit here and keep hitting refresh so I can swoop on in in the last seconds and outbid someone. HA! ::insert evil laugh:: I'll bid on something cheap, that I don't really need, but heaven forbid someone outbids me....then I HAVE to have the item, no matter the cost.
I've won over half a dozen things as of last night, and there's another half a dozen that I'm watching in the next few hours...that I *will* win! :)

SANTA!

We went to see Santa at the mall, and Livi did awesome! We actually had the opposite problem this year...she didn't want to leave, lol. It was great, and Livi got to tell him all about Barbie and the Diamond Castle that she wants :)

And for comparison sakes...

Ok so I suck

I suck at keeping surprises.

I ordered Mike a XBox 360 and 4 games online on Black Friday and I thought I was doing good at not saying anything. The games were delivered last week, and the XBox itself came yesterday by my fav people to see - UPS. :) So I wrapped them up last night so there would be no peaking, but guess who cracked this morning....::sigh:: Yeah, he's playing it now. Argh! Now if I can only keep Livi's gifts a surprise.....

Livi the Ballerina!

So Livi started Ballet/Tap classes yesterday at Margueritte's. She was SO.EXCITED! She had on her little black leotard and pink tights and walked into a room full of 3 year old girls wearing the same thing! She did SO well standing in line, and walking into the classroom without us. She said she had a wonderful time and I'm hoping that it continues. :) Here's our little Princess....

In other news, we're doing a serious countdown to vaca time! We're leaving on the 20th so we have one more weekend to get through before we leave! WOW! I went and got my hair done this past week (now a RED head!) and I started tanning. I only went twice so far, and I'm fried. Like beat red thighs and belly, throbbing constantly. ::sigh:: oh well it's for the greater good right? I know I can't lose 60 pounds in the next two weeks, but maybe I can get some color on my skin!

Bohdi got into the garbage last night. All.over.the.kitchen. ARGH! Then, just to make his point known, he threw up several times throughout the garbage mess as well. Niiccceee.

Last Tuesday (closed Monday for Labor Day) was Livis' first official day of Preschool! YAY! Of course really nothing changed since she was in the program from January through June of this year, but this time it was "official". I can't believe how fast she's growing up! She's such a smart little girl too, it's amazing :heart:

Waldameer

So we went to the banks Waldameer picnic yesterday. Myself, Mom, Livi and Mason. I was hoping for a nice, cool, breezy, day, but nope....it had to be a billion degrees and muggy. Great. Mike and Dad were out golfing so it was just us to fend for ourselves. They had it in the Rainbow Gardens building like last year, which just condenses the heat more. BUT they had beer so it was ok ;)
Livi and Mason absolutely LOVED it! They went on so many rides, and the plus side was the kid rides didn't have a mile long line attatched to them...in many cases they would get off, and get right back on again, yay! So we stayed for several hours...well, until most of us were a puddle of sweaty goo, lol. Being out in the sun walking around just sucks they life out of you! All in all, it was fun!

Relay for Life Walk

This morning was the Relay for Life walk up at the McDowell track....at 6am! I woke Calley up when I called her at 5:40 and grabbed us each a coffee for our early morning rise and shine. And it honestly was pretty fun! Amy joined us at 7, and the three of us ended up leaving at 8 once our 'tagoffs' came in to relieve us. It rained last night so we brought umbrellas, but never did need them. They had several tents set up around the track offering refreshments for donations, and even had a DJ there to keep the spirit up! And even though it really was not fun waking up so early on a Sunday, it was nice to get out in the morning air and before it got too hot. Plus it made the day seem much longer! Next year we decided to go as a family...Livi will love it!

Surprise!

We finally built the swingset we've been talking about getting for a year now, yay!!! AND we did it almost primarily by ourselves ( a little help from Mike S at the end ) ...it only took us 8 hours, lol! Livi went over to Nana and Paps while we built it and then brought her home to surprise her with it :) SHE LOVED IT!!! I still have to upload the pics though...it looks so nice!

Blech.

I have found that blech is the most overused word in my written vocabulary lately. Hmmmm. Really no reason why, it just is. Whatever I suppose ;)

It's so hot and miserable out. Extremely hot and miserable actually. I hate this weather. Blech. Mike and Livi went over to Steve and Andi's to swim. No way this whale is getting in, lol. But it's been a stressful week for me and I just feel blah and not too well so I decided to stay in and relax tonight. I might actually even go to bed early. Yes, I will try.

We got our subs and pretzel sandwiches today from daycare. I had kind of high expectations, and they were pretty, well, blech. I hope I'm the only one who feels that way though. I don't want people to be unhappy with them!

Boring day, boring blog. I'm getting into the fall shopping mood and it's not going to be good on my wallet! Time to push for that raise I suppose....

Life as we know it.

I wish I was one of those people who has OCD about cleaning. I wish I was one of those people that did a bit of cleaning every day. I wish I was one of those people who did cleaning once a week. ::sigh:: It's just not in me to clean. I loathe it. And with 4 dogs at the moment, 2 cats (new addition!!!) and 2 guinea pigs (oh, and a Livi and Mike, lol) cleaning is kind of a necessity. Blech. We have actually looked into hiring a maid once a week to come in and do the deeper cleaning and then maybe we'll just do the lighter, picking up during the week. Eh who am I kidding....we will just have a clean house that one day a week! We're awaiting the price quote, which I don't think will be too nice. But it's worth. Completely, completely worth it. :)

GBR time is here again! And for the first time in an extremely long time, there is actually two lines out right now that I'm loving. Wow I know. But now the hard decision of actually choosing which pieces I want. ;) THAT's the hard part! And with the new Gap lines coming out as well I'm at a tossup on what exactly to buy! I went into the summer buying absolutely every single item I loved, and more then half of it still has tags on it. So....I'm trying to limit myself, and only buy a few complete outfits from each line, then items to mix and match with. I figure I can 'fill in the gaps' with stuff from Childrens Place and Target. I love Target! I think Old Navy quality has gone down the crapper and haven't bought anything from there (besides a bathing suit) in quite a long time. It's more expensive and less quality. Blah blah. I think I'm quite obsessed....

We adopted a new cat yesterday!!! I was looking on the Humane Society website and came across a cat that needed adopting. Well to adopt a cat from there is 125.00! Insane huh? So we drove up to Petsmart and looked there. I didn't want a kitten, but moreso an older cat that needed a good home. And we found her! She's an adult (but still a young one) that's been there for a bit, and was just spayed recently (still has stitches actually!) and her name is Apple. Adorable! She's a light calico color and so loving! Such an opposite from our Gaia! ;) She's fit in perfectly here, even though she still doesn't quite know what to make of the dogs, lol. I will be posting pics shortly!

Toodles!!

New patio!

Mike and I (and Livi!) worked outside all day to complete our new little patio outside the back door. We're so proud! It was alot of fun though to complete together, and time just kind of flew away from us. It was several trips to Lowes to get the patio stones, and we still need to go back and get 3 more bricks for the back by the house side, but here it is in all it's glory!

Retail therapy

Who doesn't love shopping and spending money?? Mike went to breakfast and golfing with Steve today so Livi and I decided to go up to Kohls and see what they had there. Livi was an Angel and we got a bunch of new stuff! She picked out (yet another!) pair of shoes and 2 "spinning dresses" and she has yet to take the shoes off, lol. I got a new pair of pants for work, a shirt and a new dress. And of course some new shoes! Then we hit the jewelry section and who can resist some new jewelry? :) We even ended up going back up this evening and getting Mike a couple pairs of shorts and tried to get him new shoes but of course they never have his size in stock. ::insert shock:: It was such a great relaxing day!

Bad bad blogger!

Ok so it's been awhile. Ooops. :(
Alot has been going on here! Roxy had puppies this past Wednesday, which means they are now 3 days old. Ahhhh!!!!! And any guess on how many she had???

TEN!

Insane huh?? But they are all just too cute! Of course we want them all, and are seriously considering keeping one. But we'll see :)

Livi is growing up faster then ever! She's just adorable in everything that she says and everything that she does! We're going shopping for a swingset for her today...hoping we have some luck!

Happy Easter!!

Easter 2008! Wow!

We went over to Mom and Dad's for an early 'dinner' with Aunt Roe, Uncle Bob, Marc, and Grandma coming down as well. It was a very nice time and dinner was yummy! Emily and Mason had a blast together and GG certainly enjoyed spending time with them. :) I will have to upload my pics online tomorrow and def. post some for everyone to see!

Erie Blizzard 2008

Wow we got alot of snow! Well over a foot and it's still snowing!! I had to work yesterday (Sat) and the roads weren't even plowed! No joke!! I was bottoming out most of the way there...well until I hit Pittsburgh Ave (read: Millcreek) then it was atleast plowed a bit. But people were stuck everywhere, and they eventually put out a 'do not drive unless absolutely necessary' warning across Erie. Nice. Here's our back walkway when I got home at 1...

Gap Addiction

Ok, so I admit it. 100%. I have a serious problem with shopping at Gap! I have bought more clothes from there for Livi in the past 2 months, then I've ever purchased from there in my life! It seems like every day there's a new package or two in my mailbox, lol. Here's a nice sampling of Livi's new summer wardrobe...

Mike is 3-0!

Wow I can't believe it!
We went out Saturday night with Steve, Andi, Geo, Deb, Mike, Emily, Jaime, Paul, Mark, Deb, Corey, Lisa and had a blast! We started at Fox and Hound, then traveled up to Docs, then back on down to Rack & Roll. Pictures to follow once I get them from Jaime ;)

Babysitting

Why is it so insanely hard to get my parents to watch Livi for an evening so Mike and I can go out and have a nice date together? I can count on one hand the number of times that they have in the past 3 years, and those were only when there were certain specifications set, i.e amount of time we're gone, etc. Argh.

Fish

Livi has been in love with fish forever now. Whether it's playing in the tubbie with her tubbie toys, looking at fish tanks at people's homes, or running over to them at the petstore, they are her favorite things. So we decided to get one. We went to Petsmart with one very excited little girl. We decided on a betta fish, and Livi was intent on picking out a rainbow one. She looked through several of them before settling on a pick/red rainbow colored one that she promptly named Anaka. We then let her pick out the rocks, plants, etc for her new friend and went home. Livi would not let this fish leave her sight at all...she even carried him home on her lap. We set up the tank, and went to bed. Yesterday morning Livi was so excited to feed Anaka before preschool, talking about her new fishy. It was so wonderful to see her so incredibly excited about it! Well, we get home....and the fish is dead. :(

Paint

Boy do I love having paint on the walls! We've been talking the past few days about what renovations we would like to get done on the house this upcoming year...and boy was it a long list! But we decided that we would start off with painting a few rooms, and then work from there. First off - the kitchen. When we first moved in we really loved having everything all white and neutral. Well that time has past and now we're looking for something new and different. We found this pic... and were thinking of going in that direction. Any opinions? I'm beyond excited about it and hope it turns out nicely! After painting, we're going to work on getting new cabinets and ceramic tile for the floor. We can't wait!

Happy New Year!

Wow it's 2008! We had a pretty low key New Years Eve and it was nice. We went out to Jaime and Paul's for a small gtg they were having out there. It was us and a few other couples, but we knew them all so it was nice and comfortable being there. We had food and ended up playing BuzzWord. Pretty fun game, even though our team kept losing drastically, ha! Livi wouldn't (couldn't) sleep there so we ended up leaving there at around 11pm to make it home before midnight. We got home, got her to bed, and had like 5 minutes to spare before the ball dropped. It was so nice being in our house when the New Year hit! We were so tired, we were asleep by 12:14 though! Thank goodness that Livi decided to sleep in today so I didn't have to get up until 8am. Yay Livi! Then we ended up cleaning up a little, went to Borders and Old Navy, then Mom and Dad's for pork and saurkraut. :) YUM! We left there a little after 5:30pm because the weather was getting bad, but ended up stopping at Walmart for a few things on the way home. It was a really nice, relaxing day. :)