My Birthday

On the weekend before my birthday we decided to try to do something since the next weekend was St. Patrick's Day.  We called Trisha and Josh at the last minute to see if they wanted to join us for dinner at Martini's in Burlington.....and they could, yay!!   We also tried to get to see the Great and Powerful OZ but, it was WAY too packed and sold out when we got there.  We went to Target instead.  Lol!  We got right in to Martini's which was awesome.  It got the Caribbean pork chops and they were yummy!  I got a free piece of Big Ass Mud Pie and it had a big ass sparkler in it to boot!  Trisha tried over and over again to get a good pic of me but, I kept busting out laughing!  I'm such a doof.  It was a really good time though.  And here I am another year older.  It's true what they say about time going faster as you get older.  I'm gonna make my 34th year the best one yet! 

Jeremy and Chris

 Jeremy's best friend, Chris came to Grandma's funeral.  Jeremy and Chris have been friends FOREVER.  He was our best man at our wedding as well.  He's just a great guy.  When Jeremy saw that Chris had came to the funeral it really touched him.  They don't get to visit or hang out enough....hardly at all really.  So it was great that they got to catch up a bit.  The dinner after the funeral was really rushed so he didn't get to visit as long as he would have liked. 

Here is my soul mate.  I quite honestly can't believe that I lived half of my life on this earth without him.  How in the heck did I function?  I cannot fathom my life without him now.  There is nothing that I would rather be doing than just hanging out with my Jeremy.

Grandma Lucille

Jeremy's Grandma Lucille passed away on March 18th.  We knew the time was near.  She lived a long and good life.  What a special lady too!  She had been through much in her life and in the time that I knew her, I was always met with a smile and kind words.  Lucille had a heart of gold in the truest sense.  Jeremy had many fond memories of spending time at his Grandmother's home when he was a small boy.  I feel happiness inside that she is no longer in pain.  Her body was tired and worn out.  She has returned home to heaven and I know she will always be watching over her family.

Playing at Grandma Lucille's

 We went to Grandma Lucille's house on the day she passed away.  The kids got the boxes of toys out and started to play very nice together.  Cullen even tolerated Grandma's cat better than he tolerates out own cat.  The picture below is perfect in my mind.  I think it captured the mood and the hominess of it all.    I wish we had lived in Nauvoo during all this so we could be closer to family and just "drop in" a lot easier. 

Pelicans

 Lately we have been traveling to Nauvoo even more often than usual.  We have started taking the Hamilton/River Road route because we hate Connable and Ferris Blacktop....they are just to unsafe.  Anyway, one day we were driving down River Road and came upon a huge flock of pelicans!!  I made Jeremy pull the car over so I could click some pics real quick.  I got some good ones....I took couple and edited them but it seems I never have enough time to mess around with the pics like I want to.  But, I'm glad I got these shots!1 

Sizes

So, Cullen and Eden wear the same size clothes right now....both in 4T.  Wow.  Although I think this summer when I buy new summer clothes I will get him 5T.  Eden is a tall little lady.  I wonder if she will be taller than all her brothers?

Veggin' Out

 These are just some random pics from days of school or whatever.  We have been watching a lot of Rise of the Guardians and Wreck-It Ralph.  Cullen calls Rise of the Guardians, Jack Frost!  He's a silly kid!

 I have been having an emotional last month or so and today was one of those days where I just felt like a complete failure as a mother.  I have no flipping clue what I am doing.  I don't know if anyone else does either though.  Anyway, looking through these pics makes me smile.  I will always love my babies.

It's ME!!!!!!

So I have been loading a crap ton of pictures into a private album on facebook for all the family to see.  I very rarely find any baby pictures of myself.  Like ever.  But, look at what I stumbled across!!!!  That cute little lady in the middle with the little blue and white dress is ME!!!!  It's flipping me!!!!!  I think this is scanned from Vicki....she doesn't have Mike, Clay or herself on the page.  But the rest are there.  Mom and Dad, David, Ginny, Russ, Sam, Mark and Matt (the twins), Susan, and.....ME!!!!!!!!

Urgh

My day didn't go as planned at all.  Not one bit of it.  Now, I'm gonna finish my peppermint tea and go to bed.  I will pretend that tomorrow is my birthday all over again.  With the random kindness and everything else. 

Daily Laugh

Practice Random Kindness

My birthday is tomorrow.  I want to do something a little different this year.  I want to practice random kindness.  I actually want to do this all the time but, my birthday is the perfect time to kinda jump start it!  I am hoping to take this evening and tomorrow to get out and about and do some fun stuff for other people!!  In a perfect world I would do 34 random acts of kindness for my 34th birthday but, I don't know if I can actually have enough time to come up with and execute all those things, lol!  So, I am going to set a modest goal of 5 random acts of kindness.  I hope I am able to accomplish more but we shall see!! 

Blue & Gold Banquet

This last week on Wednesday we went to the Blue and Gold Banquet at the church.  Cedric and Liam both got a bunch of new patches, pins, and belt loop thingies.  I got the mother's  pin from Liam!  We accidentally lost the back piece to it but, we will survive, lol.  They served lasagna, salad, and garlic bread for dinner.  All the families brought a cake and all of those were for dessert.  I forgot my camera.  Darn it.

Likey

What Am I Doing Wrong?

I have been seeing pins on Pinterest about this, and people talking on facebook about it, etc.  Apparently for some people it is hard for them to wash a sweater. Like they never wash their sweaters. I am honestly confused.  Am I doing something wrong?????  Is there something I should know??  Why can't a person wash a sweater?  I always wash my sweaters.  I love sweaters. I wear the heck out of them.  They don't seem ruined when they come out of the dryer?  Are they?  I wash them on delicate (whether or not they say hand wash or dry clean or whatever) and then dry them on low heat or no heat depending on the sweater thickness.  Usually on the dry clean only I will go the extra mile and lay it out to dry after it has been washed.  hehe!  I don't understand....hhmmmmmm...

Does Eden Look Like Justine?

These are pictures of my sister, Ginny's, kids.  They were taken before Sidney was born but, it's Lauren, Justine, and Joseph.  This brings back so many memories!  I used to babysit them all the time.  I would make up dances for them to perform and make them play school with me. LOL!  Anyway, I was looking at Justine thinking that Eden looked a lot like her!  Same color of hair and eyes.  Cute!!!!

The Flier

Can't Wait!

Guess what?  We are going to see Teresa Caputo on April 20th in Peoria!! I am so stinking excited!  I have always wanted to do something like this.  Something else I can mark off my Bucket List.  (Which I plan on posting on her sometime so I can keep track of everything I have marked off).  Sarah told me about it and Matt just got the tickets this morning!! 

Snow Day #962

School is cancelled again.  Which probably means that Scouts is cancelled again.  They were both cancelled last week too.  We have missed two weeks of skating and scouts (and at scouts it has been the Blue and Gold Banquet getting cancelled).  When school was cancelled yesterday, Cedric was so bummed because he had a field trip planned that day to go to WIU to watch a play.  Will the snow ever end?!?!?  (That is a rhetorical question, I know it will end sometime and Spring will come, lol)  Maybe for my birthday????

Cullen and Eden

 42 times a day I find Eden right here.  On top of the bathroom counter, stealing Jeremy's contact case out of the cabinet.  She also likes to grab my head wraps and wear them.  Which I totally don't mind at all!

 It hasn't gotten to the point though that I have had to start locking the bathroom door. Then we have to "break" in every time we have to go to the bathroom.  And in this house that is like every 10-15 minutes with all these people.

Eden had kind of claimed this chair as her throne.  She yells at anyone who tries to sit there.  And she is always surrounded by her little posse of toys too.  She loves her Woody and Jessie dolls so much!

 I had to "cheese" Cullen with his Thomas lantern.

 This is how I found Eden a little bit later.  All curled up in a ball and sleeping. 

 Head buried of course. 

 Jeremy found Cullen laying on his tummy on the couch, head propped ever so cute in his hands.....and sleeping. I wanted a picture SO bad.  As soon as I went to take the picture he woke up.  Ugh.  I was really bummed.  Oh well, he looks cute like this too!

Eden's Pizza

We had frozen pizza the other night for supper.  I know, it's awful, I should have cooked.  I don't like the kids eating this type of food but, I was tired and busy so frozen pizza it was.  This is Eden's plate.  She ate some off of each piece.  She likes to eat all the toppings and then carry the sauce covered crust around the house with her.  She's such a little weirdo....just like her mom!  I love it!!