Gutters

You know those awefull things on the roof that get filled with gunk and when the rain pores they over flow...well ours are really bad and Brad has needed to clean them for the past 7 years. Yes, 7 years...I have never seen him clean them in 7 years...not to say that he hasn't but I highly doubt it. I am sure you are wondering why I don't just get out there and clean them myself...well the minute I see Brad cleaning a toilet I will get out there and clean the gutters...he doesn't clean toilets and I don't clean gutters :) Before we were married he put screens over them to keep the leave and stuff out...just incase you where wondering they don't work. They only make it harder to clean...well as I write this they are getting cleaned...but not by Brad....buy 2 guys who were walking the neighborhood looking for some extra cash...and apparenly $30 was worth it to Brad to not have to clean them himself...he got off pretty cheap if you ask me.

Forgot...

I totally forgot to give an update on butterfly's first sleepover. So when I left off I had come home from my lil' bro's house and left her there with her 2 older cousins (5 and 6 years old). They ended up watching 2 movies, started the first at 10pm and they didn't fall asleep until 1:30am. That is quit late for our little one who has always needed her sleep and doesn't sleep well if she is tired. She is almost 4 and still takes a nap each day. She was a mess the next day and won't be sleeping over again for a while...we can have sleepovers at our house but I just don't think she is ready for them yet. Of course unless she sleeps at grandma and grandpa's house, they go to be at 9am...my kind of sleepover.

Invasion

This weekend we were invaded by the Hardy's from New York. Brad's brother and his family came down for a visit. We had a great time hanging out, playing cards and spending a very hot day at Busch Gardens. We have season passes and butterfly loves all the kiddie rides. Ladybug hung out in her usual spot in the back seat of the stroller. The girls Hardy cousins are much older than they are, butterfly especially likes hanging out with her teenage girl cousins. As you can see she had someone to ride with. Of course we got dad on the big swings with her. We hadn't realized that they had double seat swings for younger kids...she loved being high up in the air...it made me sick just watching...too many times in a circle...ugh!
Thanks for visiting!!!

New Pictures & A Sleep Over

Check out some of the pictures of ladybug from Sunday's shoot at http://www.scotthaynephotography.com There will be more...

So tonight was a big milestone for butterfly...I left her at her cousin's house tonight for a sleepover...three cousins together at my little brothers house. It made me a little sad to know that she is getting older and more independent...I didn't think it would bother me that much but it did. There will be pictures of that soon too...

Photo Shoot

We realized today that ladybug is not a huge fan of the beach...she obviously takes after her father. She did great even thought it was hot and sandy...we will have some back from the photographer in the next couple of weeks for all to see. Here are some pictures I took of the shoot...thanks Scott and Adina for taking the time out of your busy schedule to take pictures of our little cutie. We love you guys!!!!

Shotgun

So Brad is going to need to buy a shotgun sooner than he thought. Last week when some friends of ours came over our 3 1/2 year olds where playing in butterfly's room and came out to show us that they kissed each other (they have a 3 1/2 year old boy)...I guess kids that age just get it from seeing their mom's and dad's kiss. They where just pecking each other on the lips when they were hugging, very innocent (I can actually remember doing that when I was her age) but today during Sunday school I came in their class and the 2 where playing under a table...I had already told butterfly no more kissing and I made them come out from under the table...she said that he asked her for a kiss but she said no...that's my girl. So Brad may be buying the boyfriend repelant sooner than he thought.

I so should be napping right now...the girls are asleep and Brad is golfing with the guys from our care group...he has golfed about 6 times in his entire life...that is one sport I am glad he hasn't taken up. I am already a football widow (you will hear all about that starting in Aug.) I am just glad I am not a golf widow too. I do love football, I grew up with 2 brothers, and I will watch the STEELERS play anyday of the week but watching every game on every channel all day long gets a little old...and then there is ESPN. I digress...so I should be napping but I was getting the girls clothes ready for pictures this afternoon...we are taking ladybugs mostly but butterfly always gets in on some of them too. We are taking these at the beach...should be interesting...well I was just thinking to myself how I used to be so organized with my life. If I was getting pictures taken I would have gone shopping weeks ago and had everything set. But that isn't so anymore...I just had to go digging in drawers and find something that would work...99% of ladybugs clothes were butterflys...but normally I still would have bought something new for pictures...oh how life changes with 2.

Ok so this sounds really weird to me but does playing beach volleyball in Chicago sound wierd to anyone else...I am watching the Olympic beach volleyball finals on TV and it is in Chicago...strange. Anyway those women are in the most amazing shape and I just don't know how they play like that in their underwear...not really but it sure looks like it...skimpy little things they wear. May and Walsh won and are going to the Olympics again...oh and it was their 100 career victory...just incase anyone was interested :-) I love the Olympics.

Butterfly is awake...signing off...

Commando

Not the naked kind the crawling kind...get your minds out of the gutter. Ladybug is now doing the commando crawl and her poor elbows and knees are so red...hopefully she will be up on her hands and knees soon. She is just so darn cute. She is getting her 9 month pictures taken on Sunday by our friends at Scott Hayne Photography...if you need a fantastic photographer check him out!!!! We should have some new pictures of the girls up after Sunday.

I have recently figured out after 7 years of marriage and 8 years together that if I put something in my husbands head and he thinks about it long enough and even remotely likes anything about the idea...he will get all wrapped up in it and be like a kid in a candy shop. This can be very dangerous and hard for me not to manipulate his brain to get what I want...here is a recent example. We are getting to the end of his schooling...one more semester and if all goes well he will have his bachelors finished by this December. He could potentially have a teaching job in January or at least be substitute teaching and have a full time job next September. And with Ada having one more year until she starts kindergarten...I suggested that we may want to think about moving into a city and school district that we would want the kids in for the long haul. I am not big on the school district we are in and I don't want to really move in the middle of everything. We can't afford private school for the girls so we want them in a good public school. I really thought that Brad would dismiss the idea and say we were staying where we are...but the opposite happened and tonight we went looking for houses...I have been looking online and he wanted to see the homes I saw. Not that we are going to put the house up for sale this week but we feel like we want to start researching and looking at neighborhoods. We want to get the right house because we aren't moving again for a long time. We love our home but we can see how we will quickly out grow it as the girls get bigger. And it is on a busy street and we don't have much of a backyard for the kids to play in. It is funny how you want the same for your kids that you had. I loved the house I grew up in...my parents still live in it and I even liked my schools so I really want that for the girls. And to be honest I want a big master bath with a jetted tub :-) And it would be great if Brad got a job at a school near where we moved. So all that said he is really getting into the idea and has even gone so far as to make it completely clear that he wants a house with a 2 car garage and no less than 1/2 an acre. And of course I want to put a pool in if there isn't one already...after having one all this time I can't go without it :-) Spoiled I know...I will of course keep you updated on this...lets just pray that the housing market gets better.

The 4th and 7th...

So this weekend we had 2 big things to celebrate...of course one was the 4th of July which we celebrated on the 5th. And our 7th Anniversary, today the 7th of July. I can't believe it has been 7 years already. We really didn't celebrate it much...Brad tried to get me to go away overnight or out to dinner and a movie...which I really would have liked to do but I just wanted to take it easy at home with the kids. Things have changes so much in 7 years. I would have jumped at the chance to go away before there were kids. Now it is just such an ordeal finding a place for the kids or getting someone to come and stay at the house. It is just easier to stay home. We will be on vacation in a month and we can do something nice in Florida. We did go out for breakfast to the Bakers Crust, with the girls of course! We had a good weekend, had our good friends the Fitch's over on Sat. and the Van Syckle's over on Sunday. It was good to have people over again...we hadn't done it in a while, really since ladybug was born. And that is something big that has changed in the last 7 years...we used to entertain all the time...and actually renovated our kitchen 2 years ago so that we could do it more...than another kiddo came along and it was just too much for us to deal with. It is good to know that it will all be easier again sometime in the not so distant future. Oh, I just remembered we did payperview a movie last night...so you could say that was for our anniversary...if you haven't seen National Treasure Book of Secrets it is worth seeing.

We planned more of our Disney vacation while the Van Syckles where here last night. One month from tomorrow we are leaving on a jet plane for the land of castles and princesses...atleast that is what butterfly thinks. I have booked two very special things for her while we are there...I can't wait to see her enjoyment of it all. On the Monday of our vacation I made an appointment for butterfly at the Bippidy Boppidy Boutique inside Cinderella's castle in Magic Kingdom. She is getting her hair, nails and makeup done and then we are off to Epcot to have dinner with all the Disney Princesses. She is gonna just love it. And of course she is going to wear a princess dress...she says she wants to be Belle from Beauty And The Beast...I have to find that dress before we leave so I don't have to pay a small fortune for it at Disney. So with all that said we are all looking forward to the trip.

Just some pictures from this weekend of the girls...ladybug is not crawling yet...she will be 9 months in a week. She is rolling everywhere and turns in circles on her belly to get the things she needs but can't quite figure out the crawling thing...however...she really seems to just want to stand up and hold on to things...I think she may just walk and never crawl. She is already starting to pull up on things. You can see from some of the pictures I took. She gets so mad when she can't do things...she is such a cutie!!!

Until next time...

Family Day

So on Sunday after a long morning at church/work I decided to take Monday off and spend the day with Brad and the kids. We don't get much time off to do that...the weekend always seem so booked with other stuff, like getting the laundry done and the toilets cleaned. So back to Monday...we took the kids to Busch Gardens. We got seasons passes this year and are enjoying taking butterfly there. She is just the perfect age for enjoying all the kiddie rides and there is a water feature that she loves playing in. It is nice to be able to go up for a couple of hours and not feel like we need to get everything done in one day. We had a nice time and the kids took a good nap that afternoon. So now my short work week is done and I have a 4 day weekend in which I have sworn to myself that I will not do any office/church work. But that is too late because I have already returned some emails...and of course Sunday is a work day:-)

Incase you all are wondering...we haven't caught anymore fox...time to return the trap to animal control. I am convinced we caught a family and that they are going to be so happy in their new home in the woods...where they belong! We are really glad that we never caught our dog :-)