tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68214995715533636752024-03-13T22:41:00.324-06:00Tattooed MommaMy day to day adventures as a working Mom.Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-4468477261867185932010-11-29T21:50:00.003-07:002010-11-29T22:25:58.447-07:00Holiday Wish List 2010<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>So I am going to start blogging again and what a better restart than to link this AWESOME giveaway from <a href="http://todaysmama.com/2010/11/mamas-holiday-wish-list-2010/">Todays Mama </a>. It is a HUGE GameStop prize (go to her site to check it out, there is just too much to try to copy it all) that is sure to make someone happy!</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>To participate you must include all of the text, including the links, in bold below:<br />Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme<br /></strong></span><a href="http://bit.ly/tmwishlist" modo="false"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>TodaysMama</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong> (link to: </strong></span><a href="http://bit.ly/tmwishlist" modo="false"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>http://bit.ly/tmwishlist</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>) and </strong></span><a href="http://bit.ly/gamestop10"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>GameStop</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong> (link to: </strong></span><a href="http://bit.ly/gamestop10" modo="false"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>http://bit.ly/gamestop10</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.<br /><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;"><strong>1. What is your holiday wish for your family?</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>I want my family to be together and have fun. </strong></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></strong><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">2. What is your Christmas morning / Hanukkah Nightly tradition?<br /></span>We actually get together with my family and exchange presents on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning Roy, myself and the kids get up and open presents from Santa and each other, then after breakfast while the kids are playing with all of the new toys I start cooking a big prime rib dinner and then everyone comes over to our house to eat, drink & be merry!</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?</span> </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>My idea of decadent would be an unlimited shopping trip to some home decorating stores. Or a house. Or a Jeep Liberty. Hmmm...that is a hard one. I think my first answer.<br /></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;"><strong>4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>I get together with friends and family for a cookie/ornament exchange.<br /></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">5. What games did you play with your family growing up?</span><br />We played Monopoly a lot. Sometimes we would play card games like War.</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;"><strong>6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>Well, we don't actually do a traditional Christmas with my husband's family so all of the traditions we do come from my family. We get together on the 24th, we turn A Christmas Story on at 6 pm Christmas Eve and yell at anyone who changes the channel for the next 24 hours.<br /></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;"><strong>7. Where would you go for a Christmas/Hanukkah-away-from-home trip?</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;"><strong><span style="color:#000000;">I have always wanted to go to New York for Christmas, or I would like to go see my family in Illinois that I rarely get to see.</span><br /><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;"><strong></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">8. Check out</span> </strong></span><a href="http://bit.ly/gamestop10"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>GameStop</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong> <span style="color:#ff0000;">(link to:</span> </strong></span><a href="http://bit.ly/gamestop10" modo="false"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>http://bit.ly/gamestop10</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;"><strong>) and tell us, what are the three top </strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;"><strong>items on your GameStop Wish List this year? </strong></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#000000;">This one is kind of easy for me, I really want Gran Turismo 5, I would love a DS for Morgan and I would love to have the MOVE Sports Champions Bundle for the PS3. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">So there it is. Go check it out and see the other ways to enter. It is pretty easy and fun to do.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I will be back soon.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></strong><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;"><strong><span style="color:#000000;"></span><br /><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;"><strong></strong></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong></strong></span>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-43485804025445925362009-07-23T00:03:00.003-06:002009-07-23T00:07:04.090-06:00I'm Still AliveI am not giving up this blog, things have been pretty sucky lately and I have been working my butt off, but I will write a post about all of the latest happenings (including what I couldn't do in over a year and Roy did in one day) and with pictures tomorrow when I get home from work. <br /><br />And tomorrow my Mom returns from her adventurous trip out east to pick up my niece and nephew. Summer can really start now!!! Except I work now. Boo Hoo Hoo!!!Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-39192659861968997392009-07-06T15:32:00.009-06:002009-07-06T16:16:41.599-06:00Dancin', Dancin', Dancin'<div align="center"><div><div><div align="left">Our Fourth of July was fun. We went to a party at one of our friends house. They always make the best food (and have a fully stocked bar) so parties at their house are always fun. We talked about going to one of the parks that has fireworks but it rained really hard in the evening so everything would be wet, plus the kids were having a blast so we decided against the park. But we could see some fireworks from the back yard so it was okay. Carter ate his weight in watermelon and Morgan played with the other girls that were there. We got home at about 11:30 and both of the kids stayed asleep while I changed diapers and put them to bed. Then they both slept until almost 10 yesterday morning. HooRay!!<br /></div><div><div align="left">Yesterday we went over to my parents house and Morgan's friends came over to play with her. They were running around all day and I took the girls to see the horse next door. After dinner and more watermelon (Morgan told me we had to go back to our friends house so she could eat her watermelon, I told her we were going to Grandma & TaTa's and she asked if we could get one to take over there with) the kids were cleaning up the toys and asked Matthew if he would put on some dancing music for them to clean and dance to. He put on some Elvis. Here are the pictures and some videos.</div><p><br /></p><p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwxtpKICkVc0eJ7EIRuWQ5GAq7J39Tou-ripS_sEGgB3MGklelsVADt_tV7_ccGL8JMqMmdMhQLtPouDv56wA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p><div><br /></div><p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyJangiE8nQNmgaM2f_-4DcrxgLUz3gIeSeYp1kU6qsRZBwpMGu4PpNQAwJNatnT8mguK9KgYwuIVDq9RRk2A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p><div><br /> </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355469524110294114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SlJzKF4GPGI/AAAAAAAAApM/j-DKN6qLUHY/s320/IMG_2865.jpg" border="0" />I made her put on shoes that went better with Red, White & Blue.<br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355469527167397794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SlJzKRQ976I/AAAAAAAAApU/ZT_wpaVgpIc/s320/IMG_2873.jpg" border="0" />YUMMMM!!! Watermelon.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355469531771869394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SlJzKiawmNI/AAAAAAAAApc/avnr6Ay1qT0/s320/IMG_2875.jpg" border="0" />If he was charging a quarter every time someone needed in the cooler he would have enough to buy 10 watermelon's.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355469536937667426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SlJzK1qYa2I/AAAAAAAAApk/ayxk_mutcqA/s320/IMG_2882.jpg" border="0" />Morgan loves all of her friends instantly.</p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355469541531081010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SlJzLGxiWTI/AAAAAAAAAps/Toe4stBy5vM/s320/IMG_2893.jpg" border="0" />Here TaTa, try this.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355472769883384626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SlJ2HBUtKzI/AAAAAAAAAqc/LOJBi2YLLxE/s320/IMG_2885.jpg" border="0" />David loves Carrots<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355472775851568978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SlJ2HXjob1I/AAAAAAAAAqk/l7rBPFueiAo/s320/IMG_2914.jpg" border="0" />Dance Party<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355472780904534578" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SlJ2HqYWkjI/AAAAAAAAAqs/jti8ebb5-3Y/s320/IMG_2927.jpg" border="0" />Carter loves to dance with Grandma and Morgan.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355472784497973026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SlJ2H3xGFyI/AAAAAAAAAq0/J57MPAVC7HY/s320/IMG_2936.jpg" border="0" />Carter dancing (spinning in circles) with Morgan's Wow Wow Wubbzy style glasses.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355472787237822738" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SlJ2IB-U4RI/AAAAAAAAAq8/NoLo9POayqM/s320/IMG_2942.jpg" border="0" />Morgan and TaTa dancing.</div><div> </div><div align="left">I hope everyone had a nice safe holiday weekend.</div></div></div><br /></div>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-14537810504504000932009-06-29T12:43:00.003-06:002009-06-29T13:17:13.062-06:00What's Up With MeI started this blog for a few reasons. It is a way to share pictures of the kids with my family that I don't (and do) get to see very often. It is a way to tell my family what I am up to with the kids without having to talk to them (not that I don't want to talk to them and I actually do talk to my Mom almost every day and work with my Dad now, yes I got a job). I needed something to do. It sounded fun. And it is fun. But lately things have been so hectic that even though I could blog everyday, I don't. I didn't blog about Father's day, I didn't tell my Mom happy Birthday, I didn't blog about getting a part time job and I haven't blogged about what is going on with Roy's job. Or his lack of a job. He hasn't actually lost his job, but there is no work for him right now.<br /><br />That last sentence right there is why I haven't blogged. I am stressed out and scared. Roy is a finish carpenter who works mostly on high end custom homes. And he is damn good at it. You can give the guy a piece of wood and describe what you want him to do with it and he will build you the most beautiful-whatever-you-want you have ever seen. But right now, as everyone is aware, the economy is so bad people aren't having there houses remodeled. And we are screwed. He has worked about 40 hours in the last month and a half. I started working part time for my Dad, but it isn't enough to pay our bills. If Roy was working then the money I make would make it possible for us to go to dinner every once in a while or a movie or whatever. You get the idea, I am not making a lot of money.<br /><br />But the thing is, this isn't the first time we have gone through this. In 2007, when the economy started to get bad Roy lost his job. And we had to move in with my parents. and then everything was looking up for us and we moved into our town home that we live in right now. And I love my house. It is the perfect amount of room for us, we have a play room, the kids have their own rooms, we have a big (community) yard to play in, a pool and tennis courts. There is a trail close by we go for walks on. Everything is convenient to get to. And now I am scared we are going to have to leave it because we can't afford it.<br /><br />All of this is causing so much stress for both of us that I am freaking out. I am trying to keep a happy face for the kids (and I don't want Roy to feel worse than he does, since this is not his fault), but it is hard. I have been laughing and playing and doing crafts with the kids but all I really want to do is sit in a corner and cry. I keep asking myself "Is this going to happen to us every two years?" "Can I get a job full time and if I do would it pay enough to make it worth the cost of day care when Roy gets a job?" "How much would it cost for us to run away to Mexico?".<br />Sadly, the answers are Yes, this probably will happen to us every couple of years. No, me getting a full time job would not make enough money to make it worth missing out on watching my kids grow up once Roy gets another job (which is why I am a sahm) but would help right now so I really don't know the answer to that one. And we can't even afford to go to the Zoo for free let alone run away to Mexico.<br /><br />So I am going to keep looking for a job for Roy (or me) and smiling and playing with the kids and accept the idea of moving in to an apartment. I will write an update post about all of the happier stuff going on around here soon. Maybe tomorrow.Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-857462068888918062009-06-28T20:35:00.006-06:002009-06-28T20:58:31.429-06:00Winner Winner!!!<div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>Have you noticed that very awesome button on the sidebar? That one right there that says "I won a Fabulous Fun Finds Freebie"? It is there for a reason. I won!!! I won the Hasbro, Swimways Pool Toys Giveaway. What does that include you ask? Let me tell you. In my prize package was a 20th anniversary reproduction Super Soaker 50. Sweet. A Tony Hawk Sub Skate. Awesome. And a Toypedo. Rad. Here are some pictures.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352575431282777570" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Skgq_t8X3eI/AAAAAAAAAos/ZdJJfo8TVQw/s320/IMG_2723.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352575624269736626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SkgrK84DKrI/AAAAAAAAAo0/Z57quXUS12E/s320/IMG_2725.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352575628422605970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SkgrLMWK7JI/AAAAAAAAAo8/t82TzGF8Fuo/s320/IMG_2728.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352575424559195906" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Skgq_U5WJwI/AAAAAAAAAok/cKCYFN1KnYY/s320/IMG_2810.jpg" border="0" /></div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352575420430217762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Skgq_Fg68iI/AAAAAAAAAoc/XNB75JpeuM8/s320/IMG_2804.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352576300348223458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SkgryTduL-I/AAAAAAAAApE/n2KWvGLRlnM/s320/IMG_2802.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div>So on Friday Matthew & Krystal brought David over and we went swimming and got to play with the Sub Skate and the Toypedo. These are awesome toys. I know that when my niece and nephew come out next month they are going to have a lot of fun with these. So a big Thank You to Heather at <a href="http://fabulousfunfinds.blogspot.com/">Fabulous Fun Finds </a>for hosting the awesome giveaways (go check out her site, she has a least one new giveaway or discount every day) and a big than you to my friend <a href="http://karolienkie.blogspot.com/">Karolien</a> (who is getting ready to have a baby girl) for telling me about the site!!</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-80693782294310379832009-06-11T20:26:00.010-06:002009-06-16T09:21:08.976-06:00Birth StoriesI have noticed quite a few blogs about birth stories for the upcoming (starts Sunday June 14th)Baby Week on Discovery Health. So since I really have nothing exciting to write about I am going to tell mine.<br /><br />I would like to say first, that with both of my pregnancies I had <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestational_diabetes"><span style="color:#009900;">Gestational Diabetes</span></a>. This puts both of my children and myself at a higher risk for diabetes in our future.<br /><br />Morgan's Story<br /><br />Morgan's due date was January 24, 2006. I had/have a "clump" of vericose veins that took up residence right under my uterus (only noticable when I had a 7 pound child living inside of me) which caused me so much pain I could hardly move (I also had this pain from Carter but my Dr. during the first pregnancy was a lot nicer about it). My doctor decided to induce me on January 20th because of this pain.<br /><br />I can positively tell you that on January 19, 2006 it snowed. A lot. We went out to the outback for dinner, and then went home to go to bed. At about 3 am I started to feel some contractions and could not go back to sleep. I woke Roy up, not because I wanted to go to the hospital yet but because I was bored hanging out alone. He was not very entertaining so I didn't complain about him falling asleep on me.<br /><br />We left early to get to the hospital because of the snow. I wanted to stop and get a sausage Mc Muffin but we, and by we I mean Roy, were worried about being late, not that they could start without me, so we didn't stop. We got there about a half hour early (6:30 am) and they admitted me. I told my nurse that I had a couple of contractions so they had me walk the halls for awhile and then checked to find out I was barely dilated to 2. Hmph. My Mom and Sister (who was visiting from MA and staying until I had Morgan) arrived and walked the halls with us. Finally at 1 pm they started me on pitocin. The contractions came pretty heavily. However they were not productive. They were long and did nothing. Once I dilated to 3 my Dr. offered my epidural. I gladly accepted.<br /><br />Once my drugs kicked in I was great. I was actually sleeping, not a light nap, I am talking about the patient in the next room could hear me snoring kind of sleeping, while I dialated from 6 to 10. My Mom and sister, both of whom have never experienced the joy of the epidural, were pissed, to say the least. When I woke up the nurse checked me and told me it was almost time to start pushing and she would get my Dr. While I was waiting for my Dr my aunt <a href="http://tattoedmomma.blogspot.com/2009/03/aunt-marly.html">Marly</a> and my cousin's wife (Sam, who at the time was his 17 year old girlfriend) walked in. They had just seen Hostel at the movie theatre not too far away and wanted to see how I was doing. They asked if they could stay and I said "Sure, I don't see why not".<br /><br />My Dr. came in and I pushed for 15 minutes and at 11:31 pm Morgan was born. A beautiful 7 lb 2 oz 21 1/2" long little girl.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346309475615979282" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SjHoJGFlNxI/AAAAAAAAAn8/VDJBoNbJ-QQ/s320/101_0029.JPG" border="0" /> Carter's Story<br /><p>Carter was due on March 7, 2008. On March 9 at 2:30 in the morning I woke up having contractions. They were pretty far apart so I didn't wake Roy up (I learned he is not the best entertainment in this situation). When he woke up later in the morning I told him he was probably going to have to call in to work on Monday. I went about my day doing my normal Sunday stuff. Matthew called and my Mom told him I was in labor, which of course prompted him to ask what hospital I was at and freak out when he heard I hadn't left yet. Him and Krystal stopped by to see us at about 5:00 pm. My Mom and I left, not to go to the hospital, that would just be silly, to go to Wal Mart because I decided I must hav pj pants to wear after I gave birth and I had to get some stuff for Morgan to eat while I was gone. We went to the store and I had to stop a couple of times for a contraction. We got home and Roy told me I had better decide if I needed to go and I told him we could go after I ate a sandwich. We left at about 9 pm. When I got to the hospital I said "I think I am in labor, it is probably too early to admit me but I thought I should get checked out anyway". They took me up and checked. I was dilated to 5.</p><p>My Mom came right after they gave me my epidural and we hung out watching "Talledaga Nights. The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby" (best movie ever made). And then something happened. My epidural quit working. I called my nurse (they insisted I call them before pushing the button to administer more drugs) who told me the pain and pressure I was feeling were normal. This went on for about 4 hours. This woman would not call the anaesthesiologist to come and check my epidural. She would not call a Dr. (mine didn't arrive until 35 seconds before I pushed). She let me lay there hugging the rail to my bed screaming. </p><p>Now let me make myself clear on something. I understand some people in this world are against epidurals. I. Am. Not. One. Of. Them. I believe that a brilliant scientist worked in his lab to create the perfect drug for me to use. I always planned on using it. I never wanted natural childbirth. Never. Ever. </p><p>Finally at 3:15 am my Dr. arrived and said it was time to push, this was after I insisted he had fallen out of me and thought his head was at my knees. I pushed twice and at 3:31 am Carter was born. A beautiful 6 lb 13 oz 19 3/4" long little boy.</p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346315445897170930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SjHtknHij_I/AAAAAAAAAoE/OYadWxJ6DsI/s320/100_1723.jpg" border="0" /><br /><p>And the pajama pants I had to go get while I was in labor, I never even put them on. I was wearing jeans the morning Carter was born. Yes they were maternith jeans, but still.</p><p>Be sure to check out Baby Week on Discovery Health.</p><p>Sunday through Friday, June 14-19th, at 8pm each night on Discovery Health. Some of the shows airing are</p><p><a href="http://health.discovery.com/tv/baby-week/twins-by-surprise.html" target="_blank" modo="false"><span style="color:#009900;">Twins By Surprise</span></a> - Sunday, June 14, 8pm<br /><a href="http://health.discovery.com/tv/baby-week/little-parents.html" target="_blank" modo="false"><span style="color:#009900;">Little Parents, Big Pregnancy</span></a> - Monday, June 15, 8pm<br /><a href="http://health.discovery.com/tv/baby-week/births-beyond-belief.html" target="_blank"><span style="color:#009900;">Births Beyond Belief</span></a> -Tuesday, June 16, 8pm<br /><a href="http://health.discovery.com/tv/baby-week/obese-and-pregnant.html" target="_blank"><span style="color:#009900;">Obese & Pregnant</span></a> - Wednesday, June 17, 8pm </p>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-14855666508370623752009-06-04T09:00:00.001-06:002009-06-04T09:00:01.581-06:0030 (It's My Birthday, My B-B-B-Birthday)I never feared turning 30. It never seemed old to me. Until today.<br /><br />I'm not saying it's the end of my world, but it does sound a little older in reality than it did in the big lead up to it. However, I am still excited about my birthday (I am a birthday nutcase). Morgan told me she would get me balloons, we'll see if it happens. Tonight we are going to cook a nice dinner (shrimp alfredo and garlic bread), and on Saturday Chris & Kelley are coming over for <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricespics/3492571393/"><span style="color:#009900;">grilled pizza</span> </a>and drinks, then on Sunday we are going to a great Mexican food restraunt with my family. I wanted to have a huge party but the planning never happened and my budget isn't really big party material right now.<br /><br />So here I go. Over 30 years I have done the following...<br /><br />Made friends that will be a part of my life until one of us dies. My longest friendship is 27 years now and the second longest is 15 years now. I still talk to them regularly.<br /><br />Snuck out of my parents house in high school (more than once, hee-hee) and gone to explore the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rocks"><span style="color:#009900;">caves at Red Rocks</span></a><br /><br />Learned how to play pool<br /><br />Crowd surfed at a concert<br /><br />Pierced my nose<br /><br />Pierced my tongue<br /><br />Gotten (8) tattoos (and will get a few more. Of this I am sure)<br /><br />Skipped school (with permission) to stalk <a href="http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS325US326&q=David+Justice+picture&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=CicnSreZGKDYswOphqFC&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title"><span style="color:#009900;">David Justice</span></a><br /><br />Skipped school without permission. I used to pay Matthew to wait for the school to call. He usually forgot and left. I always said I was late and my parents never believed me.<br /><br />Learned about sex way before I should have. One of the older kids told us what they were learning in school when I was in first grade<br /><br />Gone to too many funerals<br /><br />Become a certified <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_first_responder"><span style="color:#009900;">First Responder</span></a><br /><br />Become a certified dog groomer<br /><br />Learned to drink for reasons beyond getting drunk<br /><br />Learned that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_dog_20/20"><span style="color:#009900;">Mad Dog 20/20</span> </a>is <em>never</em> good<br /><br />Learned how to cook<br /><br />Fell in love and had my heart broken<br /><br />Felt the loss of a pregnancy<br /><br />Become best friends with my sister and brother<br /><br />Realized my parents are cool to hang out with<br /><br />Birthed two totally awesome children (once in front of 4 of my family members and once with out drugs, although not by choice) and become an awesome mother<br /><br />Married a wonderful man that I enjoy spending time with and talking too, and I am an awesome wife as well<br /><br />Quit many jobs<br /><br />Learned that the noises that drive me crazy every day are the ones I miss when they are not going on<br /><br />Figured out how to feed a family for 60 dollars a week when necessary<br /><br />Had a party when my parents were out of town. And got caught.<br /><br />Lied to my parents about where I was staying for the night<br /><br />Gone on a mission involving the adult stores (maybe I will write that story one day)<br /><br />Spied on many boys while playing the Mission Impossible theme song<br /><br />Learned that I really hate camping<br /><br />Learned to play tennis<br /><br />Driven everybody I know crazy reminding them my birthday was coming up.<br /><br />Happy Birthday To Me!!Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-75359876238585045882009-06-02T10:38:00.004-06:002009-06-02T11:01:21.655-06:00Well It's A, Major Award!!!<div><div>I won something!! Recently Lindsay at <a href="http://www.suburbanturmoil.blogspot.com/">Suburban Turmoil </a> wrote a <a href="http://www.suburbanturmoilreviews.blogspot.com/">review</a> for the new Macaroni Grill pre-packaged meals and had a giveaway to win a Macaroni Grill prize package. The prize was a colander, a hand held cheeses grater, a serving spoon and four (yes four) of the new packaged meals that you only have to add one or two ingredients to. Now, I don't really use the pre-made meals (Hamburger Helper type stuff) but I had tried one of these before and it was pretty good, which is why I entered.<br /></div><div>And I won!!! I was so excited when I found out I was one of the winners, you would have thought I won money or something, but really four dinners is just as exciting to me. On Friday the doorbell rang and out mail man put a big box on the porch. here is what was in it.</div><div> </div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342772368712626546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SiVXKYDjcXI/AAAAAAAAAn0/DQMd9U6TpZk/s320/IMG_2678.jpg" border="0" /></div></div><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342772363261295682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SiVXKDv2vEI/AAAAAAAAAns/FBsLqtoXs4U/s320/IMG_2677.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>Most of these say to add chicken to them, but on the side they have other ideas. So last night I made the Garlic and Herb one with Johnsonville Sweet Italian Sausage (if you have not tried this sausage run out right now and get it, it is the best). And I must say it was De. Lici. Ous. And, there was enough to feed all of us and have leftovers (which I ate for breakfast today). Another thing is that these really aren't very expensive, I checked at the store last night. They are under four dollars for a box. So with the price of the meat you can eat dinner for under ten dollars. That is pretty good.</p>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-60274755416593173172009-05-28T20:20:00.007-06:002009-05-28T20:50:27.019-06:00You Mean I Can Leave My House To Get Away From My Husband And Kids And Get Paid For It???<div align="center">In other words I went to work today. Don't confuse this with me getting a job, but Roy hasn't been working this week and I mentioned this to Andrea and she said that she needed some help in the office. Which coincidentally is my old job, so I already knew the job and most of the people.<br /><br />So this morning I got up and got ready to go to work for the first time in a year and a half. The kids cried when I left, but I knew they would get over it. It was after all only one (tomorrow will be two) day. And they were with their Dad.<br /><br /><br />I really haven't had any desire to work since Carter was born, (mostly because I don't know what I want to do. I don't want to go to work every day but I want to make some money. I am looking at home party businesses right now, but you need money to invest in those and we are currently broke) but I had fun. It was nice to be someone other than a Mom for 7 hours today.<br /><br /><br />And then I came home. And the house was a mess (which it wasn't when I left), and the kids started whining and everybody was hungry so I had to get something out of the freezer and defrost it and put it in the oven, both the kids needed diapers and seemed to need to go to bed (at this time only one of them is in bed) and I had to pee. And you know what? I was irritated by all of this.<br /><br /><br />I am not saying that one day of working means all of this is not my real job, but I guess I just expected that someone who has been watching me clean the house up all week while I take care of the kids could have picked up everything before I got home. I called when I was on my way. That will teach me to have high expectations.<br /><br /><br />My friend said she could use me anytime so I might consider working a day or two a week to make some extra money (and get out of the house) if I can find someone to come over and watch the kids for me. My Mom volunteered Matthew and Krystal (probably to get them out of her house for awhile) and I might have to talk to them about it.<br /><br /><br />On a totally different note here are some pictures of poor Carter's eye taken yesterday and today.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341069415580268882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sh9KVdRdeVI/AAAAAAAAAnM/m_i3ADUX3V8/s320/IMG_2662.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /></div><p align="center">He still thinks he is a <a href="http://tattoedmomma.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-read-this-post-by-saj-and-couldnt.html"><span style="color:#33ccff;">puppy</span></a></p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341069413098664770" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sh9KVUBzM0I/AAAAAAAAAnU/HdFyK5p1IYE/s320/IMG_2656.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">He really likes to yell at me</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341069420302378130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sh9KVu3TJJI/AAAAAAAAAnc/bl9a1e6hrSo/s320/IMG_2675.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">He was really ready for bed when I took this one</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341069422916071874" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sh9KV4mc8cI/AAAAAAAAAnk/WMIpwo9h11A/s320/IMG_2676.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Look at that shiner!!</p><p align="center">I am going to hang out and watch One Life To Live (shut up) and Two And A Half Men on dvr and then go to bed. I have to work tomorrow!!!</p>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-31694643713836882652009-05-26T22:00:00.004-06:002009-05-26T22:15:10.286-06:00Poor Baby Carter<div align="center">I knew it would happen. I knew that one day we would have to go to the ER for something more serious than constipation. And tonight it did. Carter was mad because he was hungry and tired and I told him to leave the kitchen (he likes to stand in between me and the cabinet while I am at the counter cutting food for dinner) just like every night when I am getting dinner ready. He left the kitchen and was yelling (I swear he was cussing me out) and when he went around the corner to the living room he stumbled (he may have had his eyes closed) and fell. His head hit the corner of the bricks that go in front of the fireplace. And there was blood. Not an extreme amount, but enough for me to turn off the stove and for us to pile in to the car and drive to the hospital. </div><div align="center"><br /> </div><div align="center">Once there we were seen right away. The Doctor told me they could stitch it or glue it. I told him to glue it. Out of curiosity I asked how many stitches it would have taken. 4 or 5 was the answer.<br /><br />My little boy is a tough one. Here is the proof.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340350888766803426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Shy81sTjDeI/AAAAAAAAAms/ezmKPgFk6q8/s320/IMG_2651.jpg" border="0" /><br /></div><p align="center">Right after we got home</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340350892997436498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Shy818ENZFI/AAAAAAAAAm8/_eQN3uxu5tE/s320/IMG_2653.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Being tickled</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340350891469686034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Shy812X9xRI/AAAAAAAAAm0/dGfTGnuVs2I/s320/IMG_2652.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">He looks like a boxer in this one. This also freaked Morgan out a little when I took the Band Aid off. She keeps asking if he is okay. What a nice sister.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340350897163191858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Shy82LlZxjI/AAAAAAAAAnE/I9uEBxyArRg/s320/IMG_2654.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Yelling at me.</p><p align="center">He is going to be fine in 5-10 days. He will also have a black eye for about the same amount of time. I have to wake him up tonight in a couple of hours to make sure there is no concussion. He is already back to normal. </p><p align="center">Poor baby Carter.</p>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-15533406796726874232009-05-13T23:50:00.007-06:002009-05-14T00:13:32.820-06:00Painted Pots And Pictures<div align="center">Yesterday I took Morgan to the store to pick out some flower seeds and get some pots. I told her she could paint the pots before planting the seeds. First thing this morning she was ready to paint. She got three packs of seeds and three pots. I got three packs of herb seeds and three pots. So while Carter was taking his morning nap we painted and planted. Here is the result.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335554451484556034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SguygTB9uwI/AAAAAAAAAl0/33HlLU5z5kA/s320/IMG_2557.jpg" border="0" /> <div align="center">Morgan's seeds she picked out. Zinnia's, Petunia's and Marigold's.<br /><br /><br /></div><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335554452399383058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SguygWcE4hI/AAAAAAAAAls/UDgso-6P8mE/s320/IMG_2554.jpg" border="0" /></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Morgan's painted pots.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335554455294972722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SguyghOcEzI/AAAAAAAAAl8/wLDsl5UUXeE/s320/IMG_2553.jpg" border="0" /><br /></div><p align="center">My painted pots.<br /></p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335555463807940498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SguzbOOqt5I/AAAAAAAAAmE/2YR_z45C-Hk/s320/IMG_2555.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">I also bought this cool thing for 5 dollars. Hopefully Roy will have my garden box built by the time these are ready for the ground (or I will put them at Marly's house).<br /></p><p align="center">Other than that I have been hanging out in Awesome Town (Animal Crossing City Folk. Yes I am so un-creative that I named my town Awesome. I am lame, I know). I got it for Mothers day and am addicted. So is Roy, even though he almost didn't get it for me because he said it looked lame. And in a way it is. But we are hooked. Here are some more pictures to look at. I will try to write a real post tomorrow.</p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335557088132879922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sgu05xT6VjI/AAAAAAAAAmk/1Ec94Zwyc4E/s320/IMG_2505.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center">Living Room Picnic.<br /><br /><br /></p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335557079832812418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sgu05SZBW4I/AAAAAAAAAmM/doicUjf_aE4/s320/IMG_2542.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center">Tea Party with Claude and Penguin, Morgan and I.<br /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335557087534213074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sgu05vFLZ9I/AAAAAAAAAmU/6gzzyY6JGnw/s320/IMG_2490.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Sharing a Tootsie Pop.</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335557087635732466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sgu05vdYd_I/AAAAAAAAAmc/XyhFroZySmk/s320/IMG_2491.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Carter watching Roy finish the deck. Waiting to be big enough to help.</p>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-10695591326292229682009-05-10T22:47:00.006-06:002009-05-11T11:42:24.279-06:00My Momma<div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SgezAzOMl-I/AAAAAAAAAlk/dbuwBWOnTuA/s1600-h/IMG_0627.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334429109974767586" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SgezAzOMl-I/AAAAAAAAAlk/dbuwBWOnTuA/s320/IMG_0627.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I am not really the sappy kind of person. I buy the funny cards instead of the sappy tearful ones. I don't really do sentimental. It just isn't me. If I suddenly started doing that my family would probably freak out.<br /><br /><br />But Mother's Day is kind of different. Not only because I am a Mom, but because mine is so darn special. She is the smartest, open hearted, open minded, giving person I know. She has always been there for us when we needed her. She has talked me through many tough times. She always give good advice (and maybe some day I will learn to take it more often).<br /><br /><br />She was there for the birth of both of my children (and her three other grandchildren). When I had a miscarriage four and a half years ago (that is another story I probably will never tell on this blog) my Mom was the first person I wanted to see. When Roy lost his job when Morgan was only a year old and I was pregnant with Carter she offered us a place to stay when we were about to be evicted (and recently did the same for Matthew and Krystal).<br /><br /><br />She is also the only person I could ride in a car with for five days with a five month old baby and not drive me absolutely crazy. Whenever we are together we have a great time. Some of the best laughs I have ever had were in a car (or more recently a hotel room at 3 am while Morgan was puking in an ice bucket, not at Morgan but at our "vacation") with my Mom.<br /><br /><br />When I let my friend pierce my nose she told me I would hate it. When she was right and I took it out a week later she told me she was starting to like it. The only time she said anything when I colored my hair was when I colored it blue/black, but she was still cool with it. When I pierced my tongue she told me it was gross but eventually quit noticing. When I came home with my first tattoo she thought it was cool. When I came home with the next six she admired them (as a Mother would, not like the creepy people in Sam's Club that walk up and lift the sleeve of my shirt to see my sleeve) even if she didn't really like them all.<br /><br /><br />So Mom, I hope you know how much I truly appreciate you and everything you do for me. I can truly say I have the coolest Mom in the world.<br /><br />I love you. Happy Mother's Day!!! </div>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-36272552280097203662009-05-08T11:37:00.006-06:002009-05-08T11:58:07.938-06:00One Small Step (very very small)Something I don't talk about much is potty training. That is because I have never done it. Morgan is allergic to dairy and we have had a lot of issues with her pooing. We have had trips to the ER, nights with no sleep and we have gone through more A&D ointment than a tattoo shop uses in a year. I really think the "issues" are the main reason potty training hasn't happened yet. There is also a small control thing going on too, but I don't really like to bring up the fact that I am being played by a three year old.<br /><br />I have brought up her using the potty daily for the last year and a half. I have tried two different types of training seats, the traditional one that is a mini toilet with the "tray" you empty and a mini toilet seat that you place over the big one (this is the one I let her pick out herself trying to make it her deal), She told me it scared her.<br /><br />I bought her panties (again, that she picked out), which she insisted I put over her diaper. I wouldn't, but she figured out how to do it herself.<br /><br />I have tried every bribe I could. She wants to take ballet classes, go to preschool, stay the night at her Grandma and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">TaTa's</span> house. I told her she could do all three of those things when she was potty trained. When we are at the store and she sees a toy she wants I tell her I will buy it for her when she is potty trained. To all of these she replied "Maybe Later" or "I'm scared to go on the potty".<br /><br />Last night we were going up the stairs for bath time and I had a diaper in my hand. She told me she didn't want a diaper. I knew she meant that she wanted to take a bath and doesn't want one on in the tub, but I took this as a great opportunity to try the potty. I put her panties on her after the bath and we went downstairs with the promise of rainbow sherbet. This was not as pleasant as one might think it would be. The whole time (including in the bath) she was screaming so loud about wanting a diaper that I though the ringing in my head would never stop.<br /><br />After a couple of bites of sherbet she started crying and screaming that she wanted a diaper. I told her she had to sit on the potty and pee and then she could have her <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">diaper</span> for bedtime. We went in to the bathroom and sat for 5-10 minutes (she screamed for about 3 of those minutes until I got out the hair clips and let her pick out which ones I should put in my hair) and then she <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">finally</span> went pee. I was so excited and gave her big praise, she started yelling at me for her diaper.<br /><br />It was the first step in what I think will be a long long battle.Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-53385766632257679952009-04-22T10:01:00.006-06:002009-04-22T10:16:53.067-06:00Why I Am Going Green (Kind Of)<div align="center">I never jumped at the whole "Go Green" movement or way of life. I have two small children and recycling is not the easiest or most convenient thing to do in Colorado. In most cities you have to hire trash companies that offer recycling for a cost that I always thought was a bit high. I mean, when you have two small kids and are living on one income that sort of thing is not at the top of the list. But when we moved into our town home we are lucky enough to have city trash service. Along with the trash service they offer free recycling. So I signed up for our dumpster. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">But I will admit, I was doing it for a kind of selfish reason. I am too cheap to buy a bigger trash can for my kitchen (come on, have you seen the price of these? I have diapers to buy people!! I'm not green enough to use cloth diapers) and I was sick of having to empty my small one every day. I started looking at our trash and realized that between the bottles and cans and boxes I could recycle my tiny trash can would only need emptied every third day. So we started recycling. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">And now I am the proud owner of reusable grocery bags. Again this was kind of a selfish reason. All of the grocery stores around here have big boxes in the entry for recycling plastic bags. But I always out them under my sink and forgot about taking them with me until they were jumping out at me when I opened the cabinet door, and at that point I would have to carry the bags along with Carter while I was holding Morgan's hand. It was not easy. The other day I was looking for something under the sink and this is what I pulled out.</div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327549534662226658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se9CE0DW8uI/AAAAAAAAAlc/_eAXIw1Uhss/s320/IMG_2336.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"> Yes, I took them to the big box in the store.</p><div align="center">And these are my (selfish) reasons for going what I would call light green. Happy Earth Day!!</div>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-58711176098133276052009-04-21T10:11:00.011-06:002009-04-21T11:01:07.884-06:00Easter And A Bridal Shower<div align="center"> I haven't written in what seems like forever. I was so busy planning Easter and then Samantha's bridal shower, I just didn't have time. I had plenty to write about, just not the time. So here is a re cap of everything.<br /><br /></div><div align="center"><div align="center"><div align="center"><div><div><div><div>Easter was nice. Morgan was sick on Saturday night so I was up with her all night, but I managed (with some help) to get everything done. My plan was to have everyone arrive at 2 and hang out for a while then we would do the outside (plastic) egg hunt, and then we would come inside and eat. But I was so tired and the weather was rainy and cold so that didn't happen. What did happen was that everyone was her by 2:15 and sat around talking and watching tv until 5:30 when the food was finally ready. Had I not been up all night with Morgan I would have been more on top of everything and my timing would have been adjusted for no egg hunt and dinner would have been ready earlier. But it was what it was. Everyone had a lot of fun and the food was delicious. Here are a few pictures.<br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327188635354877474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se351tXTTiI/AAAAAAAAAlU/FlV1Vfp7MGk/s320/IMG_2342_edited.jpg" border="0" />My Easter Tulips<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327180098821425362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se3yE0TICNI/AAAAAAAAAik/tlZTs-HWyfQ/s320/IMG_2338.jpg" border="0" /> <div>Coloring eggs. She wasn't feeling good but pretended to have a good time.</div></div></div></div><br /></div><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327180102076564338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se3yFAbNg3I/AAAAAAAAAis/9-xhef0bYM0/s320/IMG_2344.jpg" border="0" /></p>Carter tried to make her feel better. But it didn't seem to work.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327180790952587506" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se3ytGsDcPI/AAAAAAAAAjs/8gyqVOmeYvg/s320/IMG_2364.jpg" border="0" /><br />This was actually the day after Easter. She refused to take her outfit off until Tuesday.<br /><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327180113113835346" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se3yFpis51I/AAAAAAAAAjE/DCVT1ulclEw/s320/IMG_2355.jpg" border="0" /></p>Carter decided to rest in David's car seat.<br /><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327180407165633234" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se3yWw-HQtI/AAAAAAAAAjU/fpTIh9zMTs0/s320/IMG_2356.jpg" border="0" /></p>Morgan making him comfy.<br /><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327180405567257506" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se3yWrBB-6I/AAAAAAAAAjM/-VCx014fcFI/s320/IMG_2358.jpg" border="0" /></p>David took his seat back.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327180109358884018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se3yFbjc5LI/AAAAAAAAAi8/LFwKwNcZrJw/s320/IMG_2349.jpg" border="0" /><br />Dessert table.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327180105248927682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se3yFMPj78I/AAAAAAAAAi0/Ip488nLeDNg/s320/IMG_2348.jpg" border="0" /><br />The best appetizer in the world. Jalapenos with cream cheese wrapped in bacon. I put them back in the oven on broil for a few minutes to get the bacon crisp, after I took this picture.<br /><br /><p align="center">And then on Monday after Easter was over I started assembling the favor bags for the shower. I made 25 bags and each one had a scrubbie soap, two candles, citrus slice soap, rootbeer float bath salt and raspberry lemonade bath salt (which I don't have a picture of). I made all of this.</p><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327183872877667378" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se31gfwQJDI/AAAAAAAAAj0/76SRkafIpKM/s320/IMG_2384.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327183883576199250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se31hHm-yFI/AAAAAAAAAj8/yE20S6r7ryY/s320/IMG_2386.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327183892835331426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se31hqGh7WI/AAAAAAAAAkM/439r54K-Zhk/s320/IMG_2369.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327183889213571666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se31hcnCQlI/AAAAAAAAAkE/IXJk82Inymg/s320/IMG_2389.jpg" border="0" /> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327183893566054130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se31hs0v3vI/AAAAAAAAAkU/mHHyVpd3yN8/s320/IMG_2406.jpg" border="0" /></div><br />And my Mom made the food except the cake which was made by my friend Hillori.<br /><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327186014471117250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se33dJz62cI/AAAAAAAAAkc/VqzvX4nqxxw/s320/IMG_2403.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327187334181685826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se34p-HcCkI/AAAAAAAAAkk/57NATU4zSzg/s320/Food+2.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327187335197600530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se34qB5pqxI/AAAAAAAAAks/_qFNXytUt38/s320/Food+3.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327187338547826850" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se34qOYaEKI/AAAAAAAAAk0/sPTIqbIoUtI/s320/Food+4.jpg" border="0" /> And some beautiful ladies showed up for our tea party.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327188627872425186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se351RfWJOI/AAAAAAAAAk8/JJyptncNU9k/s320/Tea+Ladies1.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327188630647717682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se351b1BvzI/AAAAAAAAAlE/Ppfx998qJL8/s320/Tea+Ladies+2.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327188634908478706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Se351rs3zPI/AAAAAAAAAlM/L3QEzf6mJUw/s320/IMG_2409.jpg" border="0" /></div>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-22642734715389125132009-04-07T21:36:00.005-06:002009-04-07T22:02:15.408-06:00My Weekend. With Pictures.<div align="center"><div><div><div>I was sick all weekend. I had a kidney infection. In both kidney's. I really thought at one point that I was going to die. I made Roy promise to take care of the kids as well as I do. When he asked if I wanted him to take me to the hospital I replied "I am NOT going to wake the kids up just so I can go die at the hospital". He started laughing at me and assured me I was not dying. He of course was right. I just needed some antibiotics and some pain medicine and two days on the couch. I am all better now.<br /></div><div> </div><div> </div><div>I took the kids down to see my parents on Sunday. The plan was the kids would hang out with TaTa and my Mom and Marly and I would make invitations for Sam's (my cousin Ben's (Marly's son) fiance) bridal shower.<br /></div><div> </div><div>I was in so much pain that I wanted to stay home but I had promised Morgan we were going to see them (that'll teach me to make promises in order to get her to go to sleep) so I went, and since I was driving I couldn't take any (real) pain medicine. By the time we got there Mom & Marly had already designed the invitation and had decided to cut everything out and Marly would take them home and assemble them. I literally just sat there watching them do all of this. I told them I would be busy next week making candles and soap for party favors. I think they knew I was in a lot of pain and said it was fine for me to sit.<br /></div><div> </div><div>I am going to spend the rest of this week getting ready to have everyone over for Easter and then next week I am going to turn my kitchen into a candle/soap making lab. And I even have a surprise that involves pulling out my sewing machine ;~). So be sure to check that out next week. For now, I am going to get back to making my lists of things I need for all of my upcoming events.</div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322164416414464610" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SdwgVrSbumI/AAAAAAAAAh8/66lrxTvP-UM/s320/IMG_2321.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322164418820914466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SdwgV0QLPSI/AAAAAAAAAiE/ZuGODtOtcck/s320/IMG_2323.jpg" border="0" />An Avon box makes a great ride!!<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322164419637854082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SdwgV3S8v4I/AAAAAAAAAiM/btS7_twwYZY/s320/IMG_2329.jpg" border="0" />This is the hat and purse that go with Morgan's Easter outfit. She didn't want to wear the hat but Carter did.<br /><div></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322164420027242242" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SdwgV4vyVwI/AAAAAAAAAiU/iORvRk3Q5cE/s320/IMG_2332.jpg" border="0" />Then he ditched them for a tape measure. Such a boy.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322164426250992354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SdwgWP7pOuI/AAAAAAAAAic/LMkSsxJhzUU/s320/IMG_2334.jpg" border="0" />Why would she want to wear this cute hat with her pretty Easter outfit Grandma made her when it goes so well with a Harley shirt and diaper? <div></div></div></div><br /></div>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-54359544095011669122009-04-02T10:47:00.003-06:002009-04-02T11:06:38.553-06:00Well Hello Again<div align="center"><div><div><div>Do you ever feel like you have been really busy but when you actually try to figure out what you have been doing you can't think of anything that would make you busy? That is how I feel right now. Since we got back from our trip it has seemed like I am constantly going, going, going. But when I decided to post here I don't really know what to write about. So here is a post about nothing.</div><div></div><br /><div>I got my Wii Fit. I have had it for 38 days. I haven't used it every day, I couldn't exactly take it to Illinois with me, but I have lost ten pounds since I started using it and dieting. Yes I am on an official diet. For the first time in my life. Well, one that I have stuck with longer than it takes to get to the closest Taco Bell. I will post an update every few weeks with my progress Yay Me!!</div><div></div><br /><div>Remember all of those posts I wrote about how warm it has been here? Well, I knew it would end at some point, and it did. Last week. The week after it was close to 80 degrees all week, we had a blizzard. We only got about a foot of snow at my house but we are kind of blocked from the snow where we live. It snowed all day Thursday and in the morning on Friday. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320139675945284802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SdTu2RQuNMI/AAAAAAAAAhU/0BDGfeLDwDk/s320/IMG_2283.jpg" border="0" /></div></div></div><br /></div><p align="center">My Deck</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320139685676481074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SdTu21g0ejI/AAAAAAAAAhc/xCLEI31rPS8/s320/IMG_2292.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Morgan couldn't wait to play in the snow</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320139686959804210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SdTu26SybzI/AAAAAAAAAhk/hQbBX7_Mvtw/s320/IMG_2296.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">She made a little snow man (which I thought I had a picture of but I guess not)</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320139685696450994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SdTu21llMbI/AAAAAAAAAhs/dSWF_SG2PVs/s320/IMG_2301.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">And then on Sunday it was pretty warm out. Yes, warm enough for a baby to play with snow (for the first time) in a diaper and t shirt.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320139689142202818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SdTu3CbHMcI/AAAAAAAAAh0/AvM-Awo72S4/s320/IMG_2302.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">He thought it was great.</p><p align="center">And now this week it had been cold and warm. It snowed a little last night and we are supposed to get a big storm Saturday. I am just ready for summer.</p><p align="center">Well I guess that's about all I have for today. I am going shopping with my Mom for stuff to make invitation for my cousin's fiance's wedding shower. That will be fun.</p><p align="center"> </p>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-55788430296453466622009-03-23T12:35:00.008-06:002009-03-23T13:14:01.226-06:00Really, I Don't Get What The Big Deal Is.<div><div><div><div><div>Everyday when Morgan helps me clean up her stuff that has been scattered about the house I give her a quarter. She gets another quarter for brushing her teeth. She puts her money in a jar and then wants to count it every night. Her jar was full and I told her we could go cash it in and she could pick out a new toy. She very excitedly told me she knew what she wanted and said it was the new "Totally Styling Tattoo Barbie". Now if you are a regular reader of my blog (or even if this is your first time here) you know I have a few tattoos. And you might know that I have a drawer in my kitchen that has temporary tattoos in it for Morgan. If you have visited my Flickr page you have seen this picture, which has been viewed 112 times, where you can see a couple of her tattoos.</div><br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316459833286371410" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/ScfcDPGqqFI/AAAAAAAAAhE/9u0NHRvAxCU/s320/100_2110.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><div>So on Saturday we went to the store and cashed in her change. She had about 21.00. Just enough to buy her Barbie (before tax). We came home and started playing with it. It comes with a sheet of stickers for Barbie's tattoos, four shirts, a skirt and a pair of jeans you can tattoo, two sheets of temporary tattoos and a tattoo gun, which is basically a water gun with a sponge on the end. You place the tattoo on the end of the sponge and put it on whatever you are tattooing and push down. It makes a noise like a tattoo gun. We were laughing so hard at this. Morgan tattooed everything she could. </div></div><br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316459458423855314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/ScfbtaoemNI/AAAAAAAAAg0/XKzJg1onDGI/s320/IMG_2276.jpg" border="0" /></p></div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316459468240192306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Scfbt_M4AzI/AAAAAAAAAg8/I0AIdpEVHMY/s320/IMG_2279.jpg" border="0" /></div><br /><p>Here is my issue. This is the second Barbie to come out with tattoos. The first one was removed from stores because so many parents were outraged about the doll. And now this one is drawing a lot of attention from parents who don't want their daughters (or sons) playing with this doll that has tattoos. Why? I have read a lot on this issue and the big argument is that Barbie represents an age that a lot of people get tattoos they later regret. It is a doll. If you don't like it, don't buy it. I do not feel like I am a bad parent because I let Morgan buy a doll that comes with tattoos. I feel like it is my job as a parent to teach my kids how to make the best decisions about life including tattoos. If they get a tattoo they later regret I will not blame Mattel or the Barbie doll Morgan had when she was three. And no, I also will not blame myself. Our kids are going to do stuff that they regret and we don't agree with. It is life. For now, I am going to have to buy more Barbie tattoos, since the ones that came with the doll were gone by Sunday afternoon.</p><p>Here is a picture of the Barbie I bought my niece for her birthday. Call me crazy but to me the cup she is holding looks an awful lot like a glass that I use to drink alcohol out of. And she looks like she is going out to the club.</p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316462912623583266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Scfe2eh3oCI/AAAAAAAAAhM/DpiTdVfchQE/s320/IMG_2281.jpg" border="0" />Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-23727291750655910222009-03-19T09:30:00.007-06:002009-03-19T10:13:47.910-06:00We Took A Vacation?????<div align="center"><div><div><div><div><div>So my Mom hadn't seen her parents in about three years (I hadn't either) and has been wanting to go see them in Illinois. We would make a plan but something would come up and we couldn't go. I called her a few weeks ago and asked when she wanted to go out there. We decided to go and surprise my Grandma for her birthday (which is also Carter's birthday). Since it was a surprise I didn't write anything about it in case my Grandma stopped by to see what I've been up to (and for pictures of the kids). </div><div></div><br /><div>I had Carter's party on the 7th and we left on the 8th (Sunday). To drive to Illinois in a Ford Focus with two kids. On Monday before we left the hotel to continue our drive Carter threw up all over me. Twice. We thought it was because we fed him a bunch of junky food that he is not used to and the confusion of being away from home that caused it. By mid afternoon he wasn't throwing up any more but seemed like he was still sick.</div><div></div><br /><div>We arrived at my Grandparents house Monday afternoon. They were so surprised. They hadn't seen Morgan since she was five months old and this was the first time they met Carter. The look on their faces made it worth the trip. We hung out for a little while and went to our hotel room for the night. On Tuesday we went to see my gp's, then Morgan and I went to the hotel pool while my Mom got Carter to take a nap. We went back to gp's for the birthday dinner. After dinner, Morgan threw up. Everywhere. In my Grandma's very clean house. It was bad. I'm so smart I again started blaming food and juice (not wanting to admit what it was). She threw up all night until about 3am.<br /></div><div>On Wednesday I stayed in the hotel room with the kids since they were still not feeling too great. My mom went to gp's house. My Grandpa called right after she left and told me that my Grandma was sick now. When my Mom came back we ordered a <a href="http://www.monicalspizza.com/navbar/index.shtml">pizza</a>. We were planning on leaving Thursday but were worried one of us would get sick on our drive home. We got up Thursday and everyone seemed a little better and Mom and I were fine so we left. We stopped by to tell my gp's goodbye and found out my Aunt was sick now too. We got the hell out of there before anyone else got it and came after us. This was so quickly spread I don't know how my Mom or I didn't get it. But thank god we didn't.</div><div></div><br /><div>On the plus side, my kids are the best traveler's in the world. They rode 2000 miles in a car and didn't complain once. Well Morgan complained a little when I told her that the patch of grass on the side of the highway wasn't a rest stop and she had to wait to get home to play outside. She responded with "I want to play in <em>this</em> outside". I can truly take these kids anywhere.<br /></div><br /><div>And we got to witness the beginning of the <a href="http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/wildlife/guides/migration/sandhill.asp">Sandhill Crane Migration </a>in Nebraska (quite an event amongst bird watcher's I guess considering there is a live <a href="http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/cranecam/">"Crane Cam"</a>). I am scared of birds and kept thinking of the movie. I swear it was like a bunch of bird tornadoes. One of the groups we saw was at least a half mile long and two blocks upward coming off the ground.<br /></div><br /><div>Since we basically stayed in the hotel room the whole time these are the only pictures I took. I will get more this summer when we go back.</div><div> </div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314930791308422946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/ScJtZR25byI/AAAAAAAAAgU/58OM07aWcdU/s320/IMG_2263.jpg" border="0" /></div></div></div></div></div><br /></div><p align="center">This was our first night. The calm before the puking.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314930574549514674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/ScJtMqXi-bI/AAAAAAAAAf8/XPwsYqDbBBk/s320/IMG_2266.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Carter wanted to see what Grandma brought.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314930792789069650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/ScJtZXX6T1I/AAAAAAAAAgc/F7bQ3fTwbx0/s320/IMG_2264.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">The first morning. Right after Carter got sick. Morgan was fine still.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314930582438678786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/ScJtNHweEQI/AAAAAAAAAgM/ayqkIvQG138/s320/IMG_2269.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Going swimming.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314930563327315906" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/ScJtMAj9z8I/AAAAAAAAAf0/3iAtOou9jno/s320/IMG_2270.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">I put Carter on the bed with us and he crawled over and put his head on Morgan's tushy and fell asleep. </p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314930796562249858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/ScJtZlbgeII/AAAAAAAAAgk/TYcv9VtQwJs/s320/IMG_2274.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Feeling better.</p>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-27059617930746115042009-03-17T12:54:00.005-06:002009-03-17T13:15:16.325-06:00Carter's Birthday Party<div align="center"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>I have so many posts to write but I will start with this one. I am keeping it simple with a picture post, that will make my Dad happy since he only stops by to see new pictures of the kids ;~). And then tomorrow I will post about our "vacation" with sick kids and what the heck I've been up to.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /></div><p align="center">I decided to keep things simple for Carter's party this year (and caught a lot of slack for it since I have always been a big birthday party planner) and had just a small party. A few people I invited didn't come but we still had a lot of fun. I bought 4 premade sub sandwiches (and only needed 2) and had chips and dip, olives and pickles and a premade bakery cake.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314233568012502626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sb_zRirXhmI/AAAAAAAAAfM/xQLbO0cg2pQ/s320/IMG_2223.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">This cake had nothing on it. I had the store write on it and I added the Hot Wheels cars to "boy it up".</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314233256586851746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sb_y_ahtNaI/AAAAAAAAAek/fyJIOgna5cA/s320/IMG_2222.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Carter waiting patiently for his cake.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314233261511734258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sb_y_s348_I/AAAAAAAAAe0/rGYQ5_8wt3w/s320/IMG_2240.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Which he obviously liked.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314233264332849506" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sb_y_3YfwWI/AAAAAAAAAe8/YVX4CF_pXs8/s320/IMG_2250.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">A Lot.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314233260615798370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sb_y_piSDmI/AAAAAAAAAes/BZOHvZf03IA/s320/IMG_2257.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Uncle Matthew loves to help open presents.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314233572606484658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sb_zRzyqILI/AAAAAAAAAfc/Ce52ExgyUgc/s320/IMG_2258.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">"I think I'll try this"</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314233263646915202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sb_y_009OoI/AAAAAAAAAfE/lUN_m3cR_Ow/s320/IMG_2259.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">Carter wouldn't keep the cute hat Andrea made him (which I thought I had a picture of but guess I don't) on his head but liked this one enough to keep it on for a few minutes.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314233568417983442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sb_zRkMCq9I/AAAAAAAAAfU/Nt_RAa2CEYM/s320/IMG_2252.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">I've heard stories that David is a grumpy baby, but I don't see it. Maybe that's because every time I see him he is in his TaTa's lap.</p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314233720536556866" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sb_zaa375UI/AAAAAAAAAfk/TgOFg4m_3A8/s320/IMG_2226.jpg" border="0" /></p><p align="center">I love Ab's hair in this one. I remember fixing Morgan's like this and everyone laughing at me. (don't kill me Kelly, this picture is too cute not to put on here).</p><p align="center">So there are the pictures from the party. It was a lot of fun and I can't thank everyone enough for coming and for all of the cute clothes and the very cool Lightning McQueen back pack (which of course Carter is "sharing" with Morgan).</p>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-79342022289157625522009-03-10T06:55:00.006-06:002009-03-10T07:31:05.669-06:00Today You Are 1Snakes and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of. But you Mr. Carter have just the right <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">amount</span> of sweetness mixed in. I have had some of my best laughs since you were born. I hope you keep that silliness forever.<br />Happy Birthday Grandma too.<br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311545150390085506" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbZmLClzJ4I/AAAAAAAAAcs/sz9qFqu1n3g/s320/Carter%27s+Birthday+3-10-08+009.jpg" border="0" /></p><p> </p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311545163039361314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 95px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 89px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbZmLxtnySI/AAAAAAAAAdE/Ax3NxxEYKy4/s320/c+day+1.jpg" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311545170946568226" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbZmMPK2MCI/AAAAAAAAAdM/Qfl6Zex576Q/s320/carter5.jpg" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311545899880156258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbZm2qqKDGI/AAAAAAAAAdc/NZ2zQNSKyJE/s320/c+and+m+1.jpg" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311546635653599538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 88px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbZnhfoN0TI/AAAAAAAAAec/Q0S6_vY_9gs/s320/c+lion.jpg" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311545903112355458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbZm22sxfoI/AAAAAAAAAds/2eYXaW5bSxU/s320/c7.jpg" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311545903201804434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbZm23CGYJI/AAAAAAAAAd0/FIL1heTo4G8/s320/c8.jpg" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311546618554793074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbZngf7ivHI/AAAAAAAAAd8/ezLEGTASOmM/s320/c6.jpg" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311546621842852434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbZngsLeilI/AAAAAAAAAeE/L-s9vzrFFko/s320/c9.jpg" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311546623867123394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 96px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 72px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbZngzuGdsI/AAAAAAAAAeM/PU1IKuR3FKc/s320/carter4.jpg" border="0" /></p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311546624814495234" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbZng3P-NgI/AAAAAAAAAeU/YGeD7A8bQfU/s320/c+and+m.jpg" border="0" /></p><p> </p><p>I am sorry about these pictures being so small. I am in Illinois and had to snag them off of another site for this post. When I get home I will redo them and add birthday party pictures. His party was on Saturday and we left on Sunday with my Mom to come out and surprise my Grandma for her birthday which is also today.</p>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-73098467088781301222009-03-05T10:02:00.008-07:002009-03-05T12:53:56.479-07:00Aunt Marly<div><div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309762098550795906" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbAQfw3z7oI/AAAAAAAAAcM/EARSMf7ECdY/s320/IMG_2078-1.jpg" border="0" />I don't really know the timing of all of this but when I was born my aunt Marly was in the Army. I am not sure when she got out but I know when she did, she went to school in Fort Collins, so I am not sure if I am remembering her visiting while she was on leave or just coming down from school. But I remember a lot about her visits. She would take Matthew & I to the Children's Museum and play with us there for hours (which seemed like a couple of minutes to us. I remember we (Matthew & I) went up to FC to see her one weekend and we saw a big hairy spider, we were calling it a tarantula but I don't think that was right. Marly caught it in a jar and Matthew probably still has it in a box somewhere, we were so proud of that thing and showed it to everyone that came over to the house and every time Marly came over for a visit we would get the jar out and tell the story again. When I got older I would stop by Marly's house and talk to her for hours. She is a great friend to me who I can talk to about anything. She is great at listening and knows when to give advice. She is a great gardener and jumped at the mention of planting a community garden in her yard since my Mom's house is on a mountain and not great for gardening.</div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309793834191128626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbAtXBWFiDI/AAAAAAAAAcU/b5Euos0AKuE/s320/IMG_0823.jpg" border="0" /> <div></div><div>She raised my cousin Ben to be one of the most responsible, hard working, funniest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I often say that I hope my kids turn out as well as he did. And now she is doing stuff with Morgan, and that is so special to me. Morgan loves it too but it means so much more than she realizes yet. </div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309793842609918226" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbAtXgtSERI/AAAAAAAAAcc/u2yDyGX8mRk/s320/IMG_0841.jpg" border="0" /> <div></div><div>On Sunday Marly took Morgan to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's. One of Marly's friends little boy turned four. It was a big deal for Morgan. Marly picked her up and they went shopping to pick out the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Toystate-33617-Snake-Monster-Truck/dp/B000H7KXSA">perfect present</a> (this is what a google search turned up, Morgan says it is the correct one), and then they went to the party. After the party they went to see Great Grandma Ruth. Marly told Morgan "maybe we will go see Grandma another day" to which Morgan said "I want to go see her". So they did. Morgan had such a good time she is still talking about it. On Monday I took her to the store and on the way there she told me she got to hear Marly's music (<a href="http://www.riseagainst.com/">Rise Against</a>), I guess Marly had turned the speaker's off in the back so it wouldn't be so loud and at one point Morgan asked her to turn it up (I told Marly "I am not sure she has ever heard Mary Had A Little Lamb (which she has on Max & Ruby), but she sure knows a Social D song when it comes on, and she knows she was in my belly at one of their concerts"). Then we were walking in to the store and she told me she wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese again and she would miss me. I told her I would take her again if she wanted and she said "No Momma, Marly has to take me, but I will miss you." I couldn't help but start laughing. </div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309793849603147010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SbAtX6wmRQI/AAAAAAAAAck/p9VIiprO_lA/s320/IMG_0842.jpg" border="0" /></div></div>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-89304505381060591412009-03-03T20:49:00.006-07:002009-03-10T07:34:55.693-06:00Is It Really March 3rd?I complain about living in Colorado a lot. But days like we have been having for the past month or so make it hard. The weather has been absolutely beautiful. The high yesterday and today was hovering around 75 degrees. That's warmer than parts of Florida. Everyday the weather reporter tells us to get our shorts out, and then reminds us that March is usually our snowiest month. I have been grilling every night, leaving the doors and windows open all day, Morgan and Carter want to be outside all day playing in the sandbox (or carrying a shovel around as Carter does). And then today Morgan told me to come see what she found. I had to dig a little, and keep in mind it is technically winter so everything needs cleaned up before spring, but these are my tulips and lillies. Growing. On March 3rd. I am really having spring/summer fever now. I want to start planting my flowers and a little container garden, and our big garden at Marly's house (who by the way will be my topic tomorrow, it's good, I promise). But I know. The snow will come. It was only five years ago that we had a blizzard in March, so it happens. 70's for 3 weeks and then bam, 3 feet of snow. So if you are sick of the snow where you live, come to Colorado. We really aren't buried in snow all year.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309177733959027554" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 352px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sa39BRIKi2I/AAAAAAAAAbE/xSbRGn0MaN4/s320/IMG_2194.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309178244700835122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 350px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sa39e_ygDTI/AAAAAAAAAbU/AW58j5e6wNg/s320/IMG_2195.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309177741820760098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 347px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/Sa39BuajECI/AAAAAAAAAbM/zKY2gJ_eQGI/s320/IMG_2196.jpg" border="0" />Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-57306991618056528972009-03-02T09:00:00.002-07:002009-03-02T09:00:01.135-07:005 Questions From Lost In SplendorAngela from <a href="http://lostinsplendor.com/">Lost In Splendor </a>had an <a href="http://bethanyactually.com/questions-and-answers-about-me" target="_blank">interview project</a> posted on her site recently. I signed up and she sent me five questions to answer. She came up with some pretty good ones and I am going to try to answer these with as much thought as she put in to asking them.<br /><br /><br />1. I met you through the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/swaparooni/">CMHS</a> Group. What do you enjoy about swapping most? Any disappointments?<br /><br />I found swapping through <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohmystinkinheck/">OMSH</a>'s old blog. I thought it sounded interesting and since I love to shop and give and receive presents, I signed up. I think the idea that someone can take a list of someone else's likes and dislikes and find the perfect thing to go along with whatever the theme is, is fantastic. The First swap I participated in was called Creature Comforts, meaning pillow cases, books, magazines. I was so spoiled by my <a href="http://www.karolienkie.blogspot.com/">swap partner</a>. We actually created a friendship and exchange emails every so often and sent Christmas cards to each other. I haven't had any disappointments with CMHS so far and I hope not to.<br /><br /><br />The only down side is that swapping is addictive. I joined another <a href="http://swap-bot.com/">swapping site </a>and haven't been too happy with it.<br /><br /><br />2. You do something called "Flashback Friday". What do you like most about remaining past experiences. How did that begin.<br /><br />I have been reading <a href="http://www.mytinykingdom.com/">Anne's</a> blog for about a year now and I love it. She is a wonderful writer and the stories she tells about her boys have had me in tears and running to the bathroom to avoid peeing all over my desk chair so many times. When she announced FBF I had just started my blog and I thought it would be a fun way to fill in when I really didn't have much to write about. Plus it is a fun way to spend Friday, reading other stories and seeing the pictures bloggers pick to represent their stories. I have been having fun with it because I don't really go back and look at old pictures too often, so it is fun to see pictures from when I was little and also the pictures of my kids, I have taken close to 4000 pictures of Morgan (in three years) and about 1500 of Carter (not even one year yet) (it really is a joke in my family how many pictures I take), who can remember what pictures were taken with numbers like that.<br /><br />3. You're the tattooed mama! Do you have any tattoos that you regret? What is your favorite tattoo?<br /><br />Ahhh, another addiction. Although I don't regret any of them now, I am sure the day will come when I say WTF was I thinking getting a sleeve on my arm but for now I love them. My Mom is always surprised when we are out at how many people stop me and compliment my arm.<br /><br />I actually have two favorites. I have Morgan's name inside of butterflies on the top of my left foot and Carter's name inside of start on top of my right foot. I wanted to do something that was special to me and that is what I came up with.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308152436671383442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SapYhHFsB5I/AAAAAAAAAa0/BbA57CoTBoI/s320/IMG_1212.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308152437950613538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yiM82OgtN-U/SapYhL2riCI/AAAAAAAAAas/LLyw4Y8l78k/s320/IMG_0569.jpg" border="0" /><br />4. You have two beautiful children. What are the most challenging and rewarding parts of being a parent?<br /><div></div><br /><div>Thank you. Before I start to answer this question I would like to say (not trying to sound arrogant) that if there is one thing I don't question it is if I am a good mother. Mother's are people too and have good day's and bad ones, whether you stay at home with your kids or go to work, it is one of the hardest jobs out there. Not only because you are responsible for molding the brain and heart of a living, breathing human, but because it is one of the most judged jobs there is.</div><br /><div>Parenting is something I wanted no part of until I found out I was about to be one. I thought (still think?) babies were disgusting little creatures who puked on you and peed and pooped their pants. They are needy and once you have one there is no going back. I remember watching other people's kids and freaking out if I had to change a poopy diaper. Now it is nothing. I do it at least twice a day (no, Morgan is still not potty trained at 3 years old, that is a whole week's worth of posts in itself). </div><br /><div>The most challenging part of being a parent are the days when you have no patience. Even though I do not doubt if I am a good mother, I still have days when I feel like I could be better. There are plenty of days that I think to myself silently, while I am picking up toys/food/clothes, what in the world was I thinking? There are also days that I scream. Both inside and out. But at the end of the day I would not trade jobs with the richest person in the world if it meant I could not hang out and read stories to my kids.</div><br /><div>The most rewarding parts of being a parent are the small things. Right now Morgan is into this thing where you tell her you love her and she says "no, I love you more". This could go on for quite awhile before she finally says "I love you too". She also says "You are my best friend in the whooole world". And Carter is so fun. Everyday is an adventure with him. He is not quite one yet (March 10th) and already walks and talks. The way his face lights up when I walk into the room he is in makes all the delivery pain (natural, not by choice) worth it. He is so adventurous, he will crawl up the stairs (14 steps) but won't get too close when it comes to getting down. He wants to do everything Morgan does but knows the limits. And (although this is fading quicker than I expected) he likes to cuddle in the morning when it is just him & I. I have so much fun watching these two babies grow up and it makes me so proud to see what kind and wonderful kids they are it breaks my heart to see that it really does fly by.<br /><br />5. How did you and your husband meet? I always love to know that.<br /></div><div>I am a professional dog groomer (not as glamorous as it sounds), which is not something I mention because I am not working at this time. I was working at a shop and one of the girls (who is now one of my good friends) told me about her husband's best friend who I would probably like to meet and hang out with. (I copied this from one of my Flashback Friday Posts) She told us both "It wouldn't have to be anything serious, but you might get a new friend out of meeting". The first time we went out was with a group of about 15 people, and we went to see "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Now if you don't know me you wouldn't know that I hate scary movies. I hate being scared. So this was a pretty big deal. A few of the other girls went to see a girly movie but I wanted to go to the same movie as the guy I was meeting. I hated the movie, but played it off pretty cool. When the night ended we said "nice to meet you" and went our own ways. We saw each other again on Thanksgiving. We talked a little bit of small talk and again said goodnight at the end of the night. Kim (the mutual friend) told me that Roy wanted to take me out to dinner so I told her to tell him to call me. I found out later that her husband was telling Roy I wanted to go out to dinner with him and he should call me. He called me and we decided to go to dinner and a movie. Kim and Jeremy wanted to go with us. It was the worst date of my life. I paid for my own dinner and movie and movie snacks. We barely said four words to each other. At the end of the night I was convinced that I had not found my new boyfriend or friend.<br />Then he called me and asked if I wanted to go get dinner. Just us. I reluctantly agreed. We went out to a sports bar (fine with me) and had the best time. We couldn't quit talking. By the end of the night I knew Roy was a pretty cool guy (and double dating on the first few dates is not a good idea).<br />We officially moved in together in February of 2004 (I say officially because I pretty much never left after our first date) and on November 7, 2004 we went to Las Vegas (with my parents, brother and about 14 of our friends, those who couldn't make it watched on line) and got married at <a href="http://www.littlewhitechapel.com/html/opening_page.html">A Little White Wedding Chapel</a>.</div><div></div><div>This was such fun for me. I hope these answers are enough for the thought Angela put into the questions. If you would like to participate (even if you don't have a blog you can answer in the comments and I may pick your to be the blog of the day) leave a comment letting me know. Don't forget to leave your email address.</div>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6821499571553363675.post-24318994677170490072009-02-28T20:58:00.006-07:002009-02-28T21:13:06.693-07:00Carter Steals Shoes And Blows KissesHere are some funny videos of Carter walking in my shoe. I guess he is a little like Morgan.<br /><p><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwnOD-DF5hMujF2GQkT9usou_0o4dlGWxUdP2f2GSouskjG_GKZL3An0-H8zWoa4nFpviyxXT5jPxMGL1iECw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p><p>I was making kissy noises at Carter today and this is how he made kissy faces back.</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw1Mrd8xnGT1ygbRIuTbIIjU3P0ud1S_KROsoDpG4paUiuCGQFMopm34mF_KgZbfzzRQKDlKfmVlNKRETXb' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p><p> </p>Marissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955015882310147557noreply@blogger.com1