Where The Wild Things Are

2008-12-08T16:27:00.000-08:00

OK I know it has been a long time since I have blogged but these just had to be shared! Dad this is just a sneak preview of more to come! I have a really good friend who is a photographer and she is amazing! Enjoy the pictures. Happy holidays! Love, Amy

Ice Cream Monsters

2008-08-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

We took my mom to the airport this morning and that always makes me sad! So what better way to cheer up than have ice cream and shop. We stopped by an outside mall so the kids could see the big fountains and shopped until the kids were hungry. Ice cream was probably not the best choice for lunch but it seemed like fun at the time!

Swimming and Diving!!!

2008-08-10T16:51:00.000-07:00

Jeff took a week off and really worked with the kids on swimming and then they went to the pool with some older kids and the babysitter and the guy that taught Derk to do tricks on his skateboard taught him to dive off the diving board! The little guy got it the first try. I wonder what it must be like to have no fear!!! I didn't download the video of him going off the high dive but he jumps off the high dive too! He is growing up sooo fast. He starts 1st grade this week!

The Monsters R Still Playing!

2008-07-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys! Sorry I have been a bad blogger! Work is finally starting to get easier! I actually feel like I am starting to make since when I talk to Cardiologist! And I am starting to get in a routine. For those that don't know, Derek was biten by a brown recluse spider and ended up in the ER. He is fine now-just really freaked me out! He had a nasty bite on his stomach and a poisonous line came out of the bite and went all the way up to his heart. It turned black and blue and got real ugly. Now things are calm and the kids are up to their old tricks. Derek rigged this wagon pully up tonight and I wasn't sure if I should laugh and go get the camera or tell him to stop because it was dangerous. It only got a little scary when he tried to take her down a hill and the wagon caught up to the 4wheeler! They were having so much fun I didn't have the heart to make them stop. I hope you are all well.

Smore pictures!!

2008-04-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

We went to the lake today and I got some good pictures and even set the timer and got a family picture!!

Rock Climbing

2008-04-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

2008-04-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

OK so i have been very slack in April but I finally feel like I can breathe with the new job. I worked late last night on my computer so I decided to goof off this morning and take some new pictures of the kids! This may be the last blog until June. I leave for Vegas next week and NJ the following week. The good news is I plan to see my one of my best friend's new baby while I am in NJ. She lives outside of Philly in a beautiful town called Bren Mawr-anyway it should be a quick train ride to see her on the weekend. Her baby was born last Wed. and he was only 5+pounds. He was born early, so i'm hoping he will still be tiny when I get to see him!! Enjoy the pictures of the kids. They are growing so fast!

2008-04-02T15:10:00.001-07:00

My Brain Hurts

2008-04-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

So today I learned to much about the circulatory system and how blod clots!! It's not enough to have to learn that the blood leaves the heart & lungs and takes the oxygenated blood to the tissues, I have to know every artery on the way!!! And every vein on the way back and it's not enough to know that platelets cause clots but I have to know how platelets are formed and every protein and enzyme in the process! I am a little overwhelmed!! I guess its good that I get paid to learn all this! The kids had a friend over this morning and they chalked every brick along the sidewalk!!! I think it actually looks nice! Derek was standing beside the for sale sign this afternoon! I think sales is in his blood-he gets it naturally from me!!! It may work to have a cute kid standing beside the sign because a young girl drove by and wrote the number down!

Gone to Carolina in my Mind

2008-04-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, Natalie I will secretly be pulling for Carolina this weekend! I grew up there after all! And remember going to Franklin St. shopping with You and Julie!!! I love Franklin St! And I spent Halloween night there in College at my girlfriends sorority house! If only they wouldn't recognize I was in my mid 30s, I would still do it every halloween!! What a blast. Too many fun memories not to pull for the old rams head!! That is funny you mentioned Duke because Jeff and I had the same argument! I worked 2 jobs today! I started my new one and met with my new boss and then had to meet with my old boss and finish some paperwork with him! Too many bosses!!! And I even managed to cook a hot meal for the kids, I am wiped! Thanks for reminding me about the blog!! We put the house on the market today! Hopefully it will sell easy! If you look closely towards the street you can see the sign! And such a pretty picture of my sweet princess sticking her tounge out at me! This first picture made me laugh so hard! My girlfriend sent it this morning! Her son Harrison wouldn't clean his toys so her husband told him he would throw them away! Throw them daddy!! and even held the bag for him! If you know Michele, this will make you laugh too! Michele, with your head strong personality, if he is anything like you, you're are in TROUBLE!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk Go KU

2008-03-31T07:48:00.000-07:00

Last night was a fun night to be in Lawrence KS. KU beat Davidson to make it to the final four and the town went wild! Check out the video. Students and families alike all came out to show their support for KU. People flooded Mass St. and horns were going off. The crowd was shouting the KU chant and it was a huge street party! I have only lived in kansas for 3 years and I grew up in NC so there was a little cinderella cheer for Davidson. Davidson is the prettiest little community on Lake Norman and I spent a lot of time there-this should really put that town on the map! They almost beat KU. If the last 3pointer they through up at the last second would have gone in, they would have won!!! The kids were really into the game, or maybe it was the brownies at the party that they were so excited about! But once we got downtown to the street festivities, they were chanting rock chalk jayhawk go KU! They have a song they sing, "Derek is a jayhawk red and blue with a beak and yellow shoes!" I think they had more fun than Jeff! Jeff had to breathe before he could enjoy the celebration! He was really concerned that Davidson might pull it out!

Monster Love

2008-03-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

Savannah came over again today! Yes they are cuddled up watching a movie! Savannah found out that Madeline came over and I don't think she was very happy about that!!! Should we be worried yet??? I had fun too! We painted our nails and Noelle was totally into Savannah painting hers!! Savannah is the girl from the first blog in the spiderman costume!! The spiderman family reunited today.

Are Dinosaurs Monsters?

2008-03-28T06:12:00.001-07:00

We found huge dinosaurs last night! We have this awesome restaurant called T-Rex Cafe in KC! I don't know maybe it is a chain now but I have only seen the one in KC. Nat, Jax would absolutely love it! They have life size dinosaurs throughout that move, meteor showers, underwater creatures, frozen tundra creatures- all his imagination could handle!! You can tell by the pictures that the kids had fun! My mom had fun too! Noelle is still afraid of the dinosaurs because they are so big! I told her that they don't eat litle girls that wear pink hats so she kept her hat on all night until her mean big brother took it from her and she shrieked in fear!!! I couldn't help but laugh!

More Pictures

2008-03-26T05:48:00.000-07:00

Noelle had her nails done yesterday! She looks so glamorous! This is how I entertained her while Derek got his hair cut! She wants her hair cut every time he gets his done but I want hers to grow long so it is just a matter of distracting her until she forgets she wanted her hair cut too! She is learning to sit so still and wait for them to dry! The ladies at the nail salon just love her and they usually add flowers to her thumb nails and yesterday they put rhinestones on her nails! She thinks that is so great!

Mama Monster

2008-03-22T15:07:00.000-07:00

My mom flew in today! We picked her up at the airport this morning and she is here for a week! She is doing a great job keeping up with us! It has been a busy day. We went to Quinton's for lunch and to lids to buy the new hats the kids are wearing! She brought Derek a new wallet and was nice enough to put some money in it! So of course he wanted to buy something! The nice thing is he bought Noelle a hat at Lids too! From there we went to the big easter egg hunt on Mass St. The kids found a ton of eggs, its not hard because they dump them by colors in the middle of a huge park! They were happy with the eggs and the candy and Derek jumped in a big air filled cage! Noelle even went down a big blow up slide. Jeff was still smiling in this picture because it was before he waited in line for an hour to get a spiderman handmade balloon. Noelle got a princess wand and it popped before we even gt back to the car!!! We are making chicken casserole now for dinner and Mom has offered to babysit while Jeff and I go out tonight! They will all probably crash by 8. It has been a long day! Just like when my parents came to visit when I was in college, I don't feel guilty leaving to go out after they fall asleep!! All of you friends out there that have gandparents local, count your blessings! Free babysitter, you gotta take advantage of that!!

Spring Break Means More Monster

2008-03-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

Seriously, they are coming out of the woods and there are so many off them! Yesterday the normal neighborhood gang was at my house and I had pinky sweared with Derek that he could have a play date, too! Luckily he wanted one of his girlfriends Madeline to come over. She is sweet and shy so we sent the neighborhood monsters home when she came over! Today calvin, the biggest moster of all, stopped by with his dad. I think his dad knew we would invite him to stay if they stopped! I bet he was ready to have a break! He is in Derek's kindergarden class and he is all little boy! I looked out in the back yard and he had a pot in his hand aimed and ready to throw!!!! Little red-headed Eddie Haskell (remember from Leave it to Beaver?)! Enjoy the pics dad! My mom is coming tomorrow and I know it is hard on my dad to stay back in NC so we will keep you posted with lots of new pictures this weekend! I finally figured out why my phone is recording video in blue. Hopefully this will be the last blue video!

Monster Hair

2008-03-20T05:24:00.000-07:00

So sorry I haven't blogged this week! I mentioned I was interviewing and I drove to and from St. Louis on Monday-that was a long day in the car!! I think I needed all day Tuesday to recoop!! The good news is I got a nice offer. I am waiting to see what happens with Wyeth before I give my notice. My boss was let go this week! :( The crazy thing is I am still getting calls from other companies that I may be more interested in. Maybe things will work out even better than I planned! Mimi if your reading this, the book Who Moved My Cheese is really helping me through the lay-offs with Wyeth! I'm not hemming and hawing!!! Definately looking for new cheese!

OK by now you are probably wondering why I have posted these pictures of my gorgeous husband taking pictures of himself! Don't worry he has good reasons! The first reson is I was too tired last night to get off the couch and take his picture!!! The real reason is for sweet Jackson, my nephew! Jackson was very young when I started dating Jeff. He came to NC to visit and I have to admit I was a little freaked out because he looked like he could be Jeff's son! He is following right in Jeff's footprints, cubs fan, drummer and now he wants his hair to look like Jeff's!!!! I think we should be worried!

Jack, there are so many hairstyles, are you sure you want this one!! How bout Brad Pitts! Thats a cool do! Good luck on your quest, the good news is you have good genes on your side. I checked out your great grand dad McCarragher's hair and your Papa has great hair too so you should be able to grow some good dreads and keep them for a long time!!

And They Were Swinging

2008-03-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

Jeff is getting brownie points for being a great dad today! He decided to hang a real swing for the kids! I tried to make one last year and it has served its purpose but this one is definately better! The swing I made was just a piece of lumber and yellow string! It never swang straight and it knocked a few people out that came into its path!! Just kidding-but it could have! I am getting Jeff out tonight! He is kicking and screaming but he is going to the county bar!! His buddy Kevin who is the sports anchor here in Lawrence and his girlfriend Rebecca have teamed up with me to get the stick-in-the-mud out for fun!!! Rebecca and I have really become close lately because we have so much in common! She is a scientist who developed drugs and now she is a sales rep that sells to Pharma cos! And he is a sports journalist-crazy coincidence! It's fun though because she knows a lot about the inside pharma stuff and can carry on an intelligent conversation with me while the boys watch sports!! We'll see how tonight goes at the country bar! It at least should be a good laugh! I have my final interview with Sanofi Monday in St. Louis! Wish me luck!

2008-03-14T04:51:00.000-07:00

By the way, the time is off on the blog. It is 6:50 not 4 something. Don't worry we are not up that early!!!

2008-03-14T04:34:00.000-07:00

I told you Derek was a budding photographer! He was so proud of this picture he wanted to send it to my parents last night! I told him if we waited I would put it on the blog so Mimi, Laura and Jeannie and Dan, etc could see it! This is his new tooth coming in! I guess that is obvious!!! He took this picture with his phone in the car last night! I went for a run. Heather I am taking your advice and getting back into running has not been as hard this time. I guess because the weather has been so nice and I am just happy to be outside. I will tell you running on the beach is way better!!! There are a lot of hills around here. Derek rode with me to clock the distance that I had been running and I could have sworn it had to be 5 miles-it was only 3!!! But considering part of the way is straight up hill, I'm going to give myself credit for 5!! Jeff reminded me that 3.2 or something like that is a 5k! The last 5k I ran was for the firefighters in Norfolk, VA and that was a loong time ago!! Well Derek is enjoying running to school. Noelle has gotten smart and she asks to take the stroller when we go to school! But Derek runs the whole way to school with Mack! We have all become couch potatoes this winter so I think Derek needs the exercise too!! He seems to enjoy it. OK, I've got to go referee. The kids are arguing who woke up first! Seriously, does it really matter. I am starting to think my parents had the right idea just to have one child!! I never argued with anyone this early in the morning!!! Well, I take that back, maybe I did argue with you mom!

More Pictures

2008-03-13T05:41:00.000-07:00

Derek wanted me to take a picture of him with Mack! The camera battery is dead so this is as good as it gets with the phone! If you look behind Derek, you can see all the toys! My house is always a mess with toys! I pick them up, they pull them down!! Oh well, they are having fun!! You can see what a great dog Mack is-he lets the kids just love on him, lay on him what ever makes them happy!!

Sleepy Monsters

2008-03-13T05:09:00.000-07:00

Mack woke us all up barking this morning at 6! I took a quick picture of the kids, sorry it's not very good! I didn't blog yesterday and I'm sure my dad needs his blog fix for the day! A bad picture is better than no picture, right? Jeff brought Derek a Cardinals Jersey home from Arizona and I had to pry it off of him-finally today he is back to his Royals gear. He is really starting to get into sports. He likes watching it on TV now! His favorite is Nascar!!! He takes his matchbox cars and races them. It would be cute if he didn't constantly ask me who I was cheering for. It's usually Jimmy Johnson or Jeff Gordon! The only problem is his races last 20 seconds so I am asked every 30 seconds who I am cheering for! And I get a constant play-by-play of how the cars are doing!!! He gets that naturally from his dad being a play-by-play guy for so long!!! Noelle dressed herself this morning and of course she has on her flip flops that jeff brought her from Arizona! To bad the weather will be back in the 40s this weekend, she has actually been able to wear the flip flops here lately. It has been in the 60s the last few days and I have noticed some of my bulbs are trying to come up-but its suppose to snow again this weekend!!!! Just a small chance but definately rain and low 40s! Have a great day!!!

Monster Mash

2008-03-11T06:17:00.000-07:00

I don't have any picture yet this morning but I will paint a picture for you! I was laying on the couch this morning tying to wake up and Derek came down and snuggled in beside me, then Noelle came down and snuggled in at our feet. Then Mack came over and jumped on us and layed across all of us!! The kids thought it was so funny. He has to be 50lbs now. I'm sure it would have been a funny picture but there was no one else here to take it. My mom comes to Kansas in 2 weeks! I am so excited because I have been homesick lately! One of my best friends Kelly has a beach house in NC and we are planning a trip home and then to see Kelly in July!

Too Many Monsters

2008-03-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

OK my house was a revolving door yesterday! The weather was nice and all the neighborhood kids migrated to my house! Maybe because all the other moms kick them out or maybe because they know I'm a sucker and I'll give in to their persistant pleas for food! Smoothies are the big hit at my house! I always have frozen berries in the freezer and then I don't feel so bad about the other junk I give them!! Oh well I like having them-I think it gives me an excuse to be a kid without looking rediculous! Yes, I still love to ride a skateboard!!! Avery, the little girl on the drums reminds me so much of myself! My neighbor was a boy and I always had to do the boy things just to hang out with him! It was more likely for me to ride a skateboard or play basketball than to get him to play dolls!! Derek is getting really good at the skateboard. We set up a small ramp yesterday and he is attempting it! Noelle can run over it with the best of them!!

More Pictures from the Zoo

2008-03-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

We Found the Wild Things

2008-03-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

We went to the Zoo in Topeka yesterday and had so much fun. I hear the Zoo in Kansas City is spread out so I'm glad we went to Topeka. It is a very small zoo but just perfect for the kids. It's hard to beat the zoo we had in Virginia but this was nice. Derek is a budding photographer he took some of these pics. The ones that are very blurry were taking with his Phone-not a good camera! I think the giraffe was trying to kiss me! We were very close!! Derek just thought that was the funniest thing! My favorite part of the whole day was when I told Noelle we were going! She started jumping up and down singing "we're going to the zoo zoo zoo and you can come too too too!!!" The scariest moment was at the lions! It's kinda freaky as a mom watching the huge cats watching your children! Especially with the attacks recently in the news! We basically had the whole zoo to our selves! Outside the zoo there is a big park with lots of things for the kids to play on. By then I was bored and cold but I still let them play for a few minutes! At the petting zoo the big sheep baaaad at derek! It scared him! I laughed so hard! Then he thought it was funny so they baaaad back and forth! So we saw Lions, bears snakes fish hippos, apes-I loved by the way! They looked so in love and she was picking at his ears! That's true love!

Cookie Monster

2008-03-07T13:21:00.001-08:00

Does she look quilty or what? It is snowing again today and it is suppose to 18degrees by 4:00! My girlfriend Natalie emailed me some motivation this morning! Nat, it's too cold to even walk here!!!! Mom says they have daffodils already in NC! Noelle wanted to make cookies today and I wasn't really in the mood to make a mess of the kitchen so I went on-line to find an easy recipe and this one is a keeper because it's sooo easy! I want to share it because it is so easy even the dads can do this! 1cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar and one egg. Mix together and put by the spoonful onto baking sheet. You can press little fork marks into them, Noelle enjoyed that! Bake at 350 for 10min. They are thin and chewy but so easy and the kids loved them! I know I haven't put many pictures of Derek lately but he is not standing still long enough! If the weather is nice this weekend, it's suppose to be at least 40, I am going to take them to the zoo. He needs to burn off some energy!

We Did It

2008-03-06T10:04:00.001-08:00

Well that wasn't so bad-Noelle decided to run too! Derek stayed in the lead and won the race! The run to school went well but the run home was a little much for Noelle! Michele, she cried like you use to when we first started running! Just kidding she did great! That was a long run for her-she's gonna look hot in her bikini this summer! You can see her rosie cheeks when we got home! She asked for waffles right away when we got back!!! I broke a litle sweat! Jeff is on his way home and Noelle is on her way to bed, so I'll try again! This time a little faster!! I don't know if your still checking the blog Rosie, but if you are, do you remember when we decided to start running before work?

Trying to Motivate the Monsters

2008-03-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

OK I need some help from my friends and family! The weather is getting better-and we are going to spring training this weekend so hopefully when we get back, spring will be here. It has been a long winter and I have enjoyed baking and eating cookies!! So now it is time to lose the winter blas and pounds I have packed on! Why is it so hard to motivate when u get older??? I have tried the gym-boring! So I use to run so maybe I'll try that again! Heather, if your reading this give me some tips! My friend heather ran the rock-and-roll 1/2 marathon for the first time a few years ago!! And Michele and Kelly use to drag me running! I need you guys!! So today I am starting. Derek and I are jogging to his school and Noelle is taking her bike! It was so much easier to go for a jog before I had kids!! Wish me luck! I'll take my phone and maybe we'll get some funny pictures of getting mom back into shape for summer!!!!

Most Important Monster

2008-03-05T04:24:00.000-08:00

Our kids talk non-stop! Jeff says that is a sign of intelligence! Well it's making me crazy and I'm loosing my mind! This morning Mack is squeaking his toy and the kids are loud so I am going to make this quick so I can retreat to the peace of a shower! For those of you that know teddy, you can see his is still around and buckled in safely! That is my new car they are squeezed into! When Jeff got his new radio show in KC he had to give his company car back to the drug co. He wanted a small commuter car so I twisted his arm into the Acura because they had a great deal on it and it was so cute! He hated it so that worked out for me! I got the new car and stuck him with the Jeep! I know, the Jeep is not a small commuter car!! I think after driving a small car he changed his mind about wanting one!

Sweet Monster

2008-03-04T04:23:00.000-08:00

Derek is the sweetest thing! Last night he asked for something from Jeff and I just caught the tail end of their conversation but Jeff told him we didn't have the money for it and then he joked with him that we may need to borrow some money out of his piggy bank. He does a great job saving his money but last night he was willing to share! Jeff and I were going to the KU game and Derek gave us a card before we left, it was really just a piece of paper folded with staples around it. He told us not to open it until we got to the game. He had put a dollar in the paper so we could have fun at the game! The gme was a lot of fun. It was packed because it was senior night. Before 1/2 time a ku player trough the ball straight in the air and it looked like it was just thrown up in desparation or frustration but another KU player came out of nowhere and dunked it. The croud went wild and they played a clip from Tommy Boy "That...was...AWESOME" http://youtube.com/watch?v=9mEOOGmCDbA

They had a unicyclist for half time. She through one bowl on top of her head, then 2 bowls, then 3 then 4, then finally 5! So she had 15 bowls stacked on her head by the end. She balanced the bowls on her leg until she kicked her leg and tossed the bowls on top of her head. We had seen her years ago at a basketball game but it was still amazing!

Baby Mack

2008-03-03T04:53:00.000-08:00

Just a side note, look how cute he was when we got him!

Baby #3

2008-03-03T04:40:00.000-08:00

Well, Mack survived the wekend and Jeff didin't put an ad in the paper for him! He really is getting better everday! Look how sweet he is lying her under Noelle's chair just hoping she will drop something! And when I tld him to get out of the dining room, this is the look I got! "Who me?" He is close to 7 months old now. Does anyone know how old he will be when he reaches his full size. His mom is a beautiful brown lab that weighed 60 lbs but his dad is a horse! A very sweet yellow lab that weighed 100 lbs! He definately got his personality an his brains from his dad-so I 'm hopin he got his size from his mom! He is a smart dog. When we went to the breeders house, they were raising him inside and already crate training him and working on sit. Derek told him to sit and he plopped his little butt down-it was the cutest thing ever. Quickly after we brought him home he learned shake and lay down! Not so good at roll over or stay but he is trying!

Monsters Can Go Fly a Kite

2008-03-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

The cold front is literally blowing in! We are trying to soak up as much warm weather as we can! I woke up at 6 this morning and cleaned the house because I did not want to miss a minute of this beautiful day! It was warm when I let mack oout first thing today! We had to go fly kites in our neighbors yard because we have 13 trees in our yard and it was impossible to dodge them all! For those of you that have never seen our house, you can see our behind Noelle. And for those that know the story of the biggest monster getting sidewalks, you can see those beind Noelle, too! They came in very handy today-especially when a car came tearing down the road, I was glad the kids were on the sidewalk! (I fought the city pretty hard to get sidewalks put in, I think they gave them to me to get me to go away! I showed up at all of their meetings untill the city commissioners said uncle!) OK, I'm going back outside to finish enjoying this great day! I hope you guys are having a great weekend whereever you are from Florida to Minnesota.

Spring Dreaming

2008-03-01T08:22:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday and the sun is out and I can see blue skies! Noelle finished her bath and wanted to put her new easter dress on today! I know the bonnet is over the top, definately litttle house on the prarie! But she picked out the dress by herself and I think it was the bonnet that made the sell! They had much cuter dresses with matching litle baby doll dresses instead of bonnets and I really tried to talk her into that but she wanted the hat!! You can see Mack definately has the life! Isn't he a beautiful dog! Gotta go enjoy this beautiful day before the snow comes back tomorow night! We are headed to the dog park! And next week we go to Pheonix and hopefully when we get home, it will be spring! Oh, Laura before I forget, can you put a link to our blog on yours because Jeannie mentioned that would be nice so she could toggle back and forth. I bet Mimi and her sisters would like that too! I don't know how to, do you?

Mack Attack

2008-02-29T14:41:00.000-08:00

Today started a little crazy. I had to be in KC by 9 for my second interview with Sanofi Aventis. It went really well but I was glad to get hojme this afternoon and play with the kids outside because it is 55 degrees! 2moro it is suppose to be 65! And then it is suppose to snow on Monday! The weather in Kansas is bizzare to say the least! Oh well, at least its not tornado season! Is that looking on the bright side?? Well you can see from the pics I tok this afternoon, we have more monsters at the house. Our house is the neighborhood hangout but considering my kids are the youngest, I'm happy with that! I need to keep the older boys in ear shot! Can you believe the oldest in these pics is 11 and he has already been through sex ed at school! My babysitter calls mack, mack attack because he attacks with big slobbery kisses!!

Another Day with the Monsters

2008-02-28T05:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a long day. Finally around dinner, Jeff could tell I was exhausted from the kids and he said do you wanna get a babysitter and go out! He knows me well. We called a young girl from 2 doors down and she came right over. He took me to a great restaurant called Ten in Lawrence. It is nice over priced italian but they have a great wine deal on Wedesdays. $15 bottle of italian wine and it was one of the beter wines I've tried in a while. It was very smooth. This restaurant has window seating and sits up high on Mass St. for those of you that don't know Lawrence but know UNCC, Mass St. is like Franklin St. It is so fun to watch the people walking by. When the college students started gathering at the bar, we knew it was time for the old people to go home! After a bottle of wine and a nice meal the kids were in bed and I didn't have to do dinner dishes!

Noelle got dressed all by herself this morning in her pretty easter dress from last year! I'm not sure what she is planing for the day, but she is ready with her shoes on to go somewhere! Maybe I should follow her lead and get dressed up and see where the day takes us! Maybe we can start a new trend of housewives dressing up to do laundry and vacuum! Lucy use to put on her best dresses and clean the apartment for Ricky! And it is a lot more fun than sweat pants! There is a new perfume that I have been wanting. Maybe we can get dressed up and go have lunch in Kansas City at the mall! Every girl on this site shoud try this perfume it is my new favorite. It is called Be Delicious by DKNY and it comes in a green bottle that is shaped like an apple. Dan, I don't think it would smell good on you but maybe you can get it for Jeannie!

Wild Ones Day 7 Take Two

2008-02-27T06:49:00.000-08:00

OK this was so cute I couldn't wait till tomorrow to put it on my blog! I banned the kids to my room so that I could talk on the phone to manager of Sanofi-Aventis Pharmaceuticals (I'm interviewing!) anyway they came down wearing jeff's Ts and his socks!!! They really keep me laughing! I won't mention what the room looked like!

Monster for Sale

2008-02-27T04:39:00.000-08:00

Does anybody need a 6 month old lab? I think he finally did it yesterday! He was outside and got into our neighbors trash and through it all over their front yard and our back yard! Jeff was nice enough to help me clean it up but after we were done he said can I place an ad in the paper now! I probably shouldn't put monster for sale in the paper! "Sweet lab puppy free to loving home." That he will destroy! Oh yea, I should probably leave that out too! I think cleaning up our neighbors trash was more information than I wanted to know about them!! All in a day of fun around our house!

Wild Ones Day 6

2008-02-26T04:40:00.000-08:00

Well I didn't take any new pictures yesterday but I don't want to skip a day on my blog so I am going to post some oldies but goodies.

This is a typical morning in our house. Derek is on the phone, Mack is on the couch and Noelle is being a complete angel! Yes that is a cast she has on her leg. Mack broke her leg accidently of course! She was such a trooper. She had the cast on for 5 weeks. At first she could not decide between pink and purple so they gave her both! She was so upset when they had to take it off! Now they have washable cast that you can put them right in the bathtub. It wasn't that bad having her in the cast. It didn't slow her down at all! She was still dancing to fergie the whole time!

I just think the other picture should be on a McDonald's ad somewhere!

Derek is learning how to read and write in kindergarten and I had such a proud and upset moment all wrapped into one this past weekend. We were out to eat with my in-laws and Derek is writing on a to-go menu. He wrote his first sentence "My mom is fat." I was so proud and so mad all in the same breathe. Jeff recovered for him quickly saving he spelt it wrong he meant PHAT! But Derek later told me he meant when I was pregnant with Noelle. Smooth recovery! Parenting is so fun!

Wild Things Day 5

2008-02-25T04:16:00.000-08:00

Noelle loves Fergie! She knows every word and she even has the dance moves down! She loves to watch the videos on youtube. This is her singing Big Girls Don't Cry. But my favorite is when she sings Fergalicious and she sings "make the boys go loco!" Grandma Mimi could not believe she knew the words to a Maroon 5 song too! Our kids listen to our music. It is either that or us listening to Barney! Obvious choice!

You can see why the kids love their uncle Dan! Jeannie and Dan don't have kids yet-baby on the way, but none yet! They are practicing with ours! I think Dan and Jeannie were happy to get back to their quiet lives yesterday!

I decided to try videos today. We will see if it works! I took thje videos with my cell, so not the best quality and there is too much light coming through the big windows but you get the idea! I'm glad you cant see all the fingerprints on the windows! I love the comments! Yes Havah I get up at 5!! Jeff is doing a new talk radio show and he leaves at 4:45Am and the kids usually wake up soon there after! I can't remember the last time I slept in. I am headed to Arizona for spring training and I am so excited I want to soak up the warm weather and sleep in! Have a great day and keep the comments coming!

Wild Things Day 4

2008-02-24T05:42:00.000-08:00

Well the kids definately love there Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Dan! It is so exciting to have Grandma Mimi and Papa in town, too. Derek asked me this morning if Grandma Mimi had to take her containers home-referring to the cookies she brought with her. I reassured him she would take the containers but leave the cookies! Both kids stayed up as late as they could last night but ended up falling asleep on the couch-Noelle by 7:30 and Derek by 8:30. They are not late nite monsters that is for sure!

Jeannie is prego with their first monster and Noelle is so intrigued that there is a baby in her belly. Noelle is trying to convince us that there is a baby in her belly, too!

Wild Ones Day 3

2008-02-23T05:41:00.000-08:00

Well Derek finally lost his first tooth! It was hanging by a thread and I would not pull it because I don't do well with blood, especially my baby's! His Papa from Iowa came last night and pulled it-no blood, no crying!! The tooth fairy brought him 4 quarters!

One of my best girlfriends, Natalie, is a year younger than me and still modeling! After 2 kids! It was so funny, she sent an email to me with a novel written and a picture that was title lily plays poker,or something like that! Anyway, I open the picture and it is a gorgeous picture of Natalie, not her baby Lily. So I sent her a reply, saying dumb as_ you sent a picture of yourself! She replyed back, dumb as_did you read the f---n email!! She so busted me for not reading the email because if I would have read the entire novel it said she was copying a picture from her latest modeling shoot with Wrangler! Sorry Nat! So thank you for actually reading my blog! Nat and I have been friends since 10th grade! I have a picture of us in Myrtle Beach laying out after her high school graduation and I swear she is prettier now at 33 than she was at 18! Me, I was way cuter at 19! I am so proud of her for continuing to follow her dreams!!

Wild Ones Day 2

2008-02-22T03:14:00.000-08:00

Well who knows how long I can actually keep this blog going but it is day two-day one for you guys because I am sending the site address out to day. I had to make sure I could figure out how to do it every day! Derek had a buddy spend the night last night. We had snow again yesterday! A girl from the south should not move to the midwest the snow is starting to get to me. I don't like to go out in it. I finally ventured out last night to go to the gym and the Jeep slid all over the road! Now I understand the importance of 4 wheel drive-too bad I don't have it on the Jeep! So with the snow yesterday and Derek didn't have school because of parent-teacher conferences, he was bouncing off the walls! By the way he Derek got rave reviews from his teacher! We called Zimmer to come over and they built forts and entertained each other. Noelle felt left out but she snuggled on the couch with her daddy to watch American Idol! The boys slept in until 4:45AM! They were quickly sent to the basement to play! They are standing here now watching my every move because I have promised them chocolate chip pancakes when I am done! I hope you like the new blog. I know two people that will check it daily and that is my parents!

Wild Ones Day 1

2008-02-21T04:21:00.000-08:00

I decided to start a blog because I have so much time on my hands and I love being online talking to my friends. This should make it easier than sending so many different pictures out to so many different people. I named the blog where the wild things are because what else do you name a blog? That is also Derek's favorite book and with 2 kids and a puppy lab I feel like I live with the wild ones! I will start with these pictures because they are some of my favorites! Derek had Savannah over for a play date and we had the whole spiderman family-I guess it was a good thing to save all the spiderman costumes he had outgrown! When we were in North Carolina over the holidays Derek went into a jewelry boutique with me and found a beautiful red headband and brought it over to me. I thought it was for his sister but he quickly told me Madison, a girl in his class, had a headband like it and he wanted to buy Savannah one! He had some Christmas money and he was willing to spend his own money on it! So sweet! Where were the boys like that when I was in Kindergarten, or college for that matter? Anyway, you can see how cute Savannah is, no wonder he is so into her! But seriously kindergarten?