Happy Halloweenie!

I hope you all have a safe and happy halloweenie! Try not to eat too much candy! I'm not looking forward to all the candy being in the house or what our personal trainer Tony will do to us on Sunday if he finds out that we got into our kids stash! I must say, I've had some pretty good will power so far - last Friday I purchased our Halloween candy. I stood in the store for several minutes trying to decide do I buy the crap candy that no one likes so I won't be tempted, but possible get egged, or do I go for the good stuff and risk eating it all before Halloween actually rolls around? Well, I went for 2 bags of Kit-Kat's, 2 bags of 3 musketeers and 2 bags of Reese's peanut butter cups. I am proud to say I have not opened one bag of candy! In fact, I've actually added to it! Olivia had a Halloween party this week at school and there were a couple of things that she didn't want and instead of her throwing them away I had her put them in the bag. I have no idea where this will power has come from, but I'm expecting it to run out in about 12 more hours when Olivia comes walking in with her stash!

Last Saturday we went to the pumpkin parade in our neighborhood. Olivia was dressed up like Barbie Mariposa. Here she is with her BFF Abbey AKA Cinderella.

Here's the girls holding up the parade sign.

At the end of the parade there were lots of games and activities for the kids to do. Here's Olivia playing bozo buckets.

Leenie and I dressed up as well! I was Miss Hannigan from Annie and Leenie was Annie (no she was not a clown!)

In case you are from another world and don't know who Annie or Miss Hannigan are, here's a clip of Miss Hannigan and the orphan girls




Here's Jack as a Jack-O-Lantern! Olivia likes to tell everyone, "my brother isn't a pumpkin, he's a Jack-O-Lantern and that just cracks my mom up!" I must say I was amused with the JACK-O-Lantern costume, but she thinks that it "cracks me up!" She's so funny!

Olivia had a Halloween party at school this week - she dressed up as Barbie Mariposa again. Here she is decorating her pumpkin cookie.

Then we moved on to the "scary room" that was lit with black lights. The walls were decorated with black table clothes that all the kids had put their hand prints on with glow in the dark paint. Here's Olivia playing bozo buckets.

Then they had carpet time where they sang their 5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate song - it was so adorable! After singing the song they made a 5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate craft.

They also made the cutest Halloween card. They painted their foot white and made their print into a ghost. Then on the inside, they could write whatever they wanted. There were ideas printed on the table that they could copy or the moms could help them write something. I figured I would be helping Olivia write something so I was VERY impressed when she wanted to do it all by herself and this is how it turned out

I'll post more pictures later of Olivia trick-or treating tonight.

Have a very safe Halloween and don't eat too much candy!

Happy Anniversary

Seven years ago today I walked down the isle to marry Brian - boy was that a mistake! Just kidding honey :-) It hasn't been an easy 7 years, we've had our share of ups and downs, there were times where I could have thrown you through a window or times when I didn't think we'd make it another day, but we've always made it through it and we've always grown from it. Honestly I don't know of anyone else on the face of the earth who I would have picked to travel this road with. You have been such an incredible husband!
So, Seven years! Does that mean the 7 year itch is coming? What exactly is the 7 year itch? I don't feel itchy at all! Does it have to do with the traditional seven-year anniversary gift being wool? Pretty itchy stuff? It's a good thing we aren't getting each other gifts! Or is it like the old movie and this is the point in your marriage where infidelity can occur - is the itch caused by the clap or some other STD? My God, I couldn't imagine! How in the world do you try to make another man or woman happy when it seems to be a chore just to make your spouse happy. I don't have the energy for that! Never mind the fact that I would never do that to my husband, my children or even myself. Are we just past this point in our marriage? Do people really go through this? Brian and I have actually been together for 14 years so is it possible that we're past that? Have we already done the 7 years and we just didn't see it? Maybe all those sleepless nights thinking about money, babies and lack of babies left us too muddled to notice. Or maybe it's the fact that my husband has never stopped woo-ing me! He's awesome!! He is always so quick to compliment me. He still finds me attractive and let's me know it! Even on days when I feel like a frumpy house wife, he still finds a way to make me feel like I am the princess he feel in love with several years ago.
I can't say the same for me! The experiences we've had over the last 2 1/2 years have left my focus elsewhere! I have been consumed with the loss of 3 children, months of infertility, pregnancy and post-partum. My focus has turned to all of this stuff and I feel like I have let my husband down. That's my goal for the 7th year of our marriage - focus on our marriage! I want to put my husband before all other things (except God of course). I want to get back to "dating" him. I want to have a marriage that is satisfying to both of us. Lately I just feel like a nagging wife and mother. I feel stretched so thin. I feel like I am always on the go but getting absolutely nothing accomplished and pissing my family off at the same time. So what are your suggestions? I know I'm not the only one feeling this way. What do you do to focus on your marriage? Do you plan monthly date nights? Do you plan sex nights? I've heard that you should actually put sex on your calendar - seriously? How do you spice things up? Don't give me details!! I just want some ideas of what I can do. I know a lot of you have been down the same road I am on right now. Things are great, I love my husband, he loves me, we have a wonderful family, we don't fight a lot....but I want things to be AMAZING!!!

There are still good people in this world

Yesterday I had to run into Wal-mart to get a gift-card real quick before picking Olivia up at preschool. I get out of my car and grab Jack and then I heard yelling coming from the Strack's parking lot which is right next to Wal-mart. I look up just in time to see a man being tackled by another man. I couldn't believe it! At first I thought that maybe someone had been caught shoplifting and they were being apprehended by loss prevention - this immediately pops into my head because that's what I used to do when I was in college - not shoplift, but loss prevention! But then the guy who tackled started yelling out "call 911, call911!" I look further back in the parking lot and see a group of people gathering around this poor little old lady laying on the ground in the middle of the parking lot. Turns out the man that got tackled had snatched the little old lady's purse, knocking her to the ground. Luckily this other man saw what happened and took it upon himself to go after the purse snatcher. Another man in the parking lot went over to help hold down the purse snatcher until police got there.
There's more to the story though! My friend Leenie happened to be in Stracks with her two youngest kids and felt like she was being followed - you know how you just have a feeling someone is following you or watching you. She turned around to see who was following her and the man ducked down another isle. When I was telling her the story she asked me what the man looked like and our descriptions matched! Thank God this wasn't her! It just reminds me to be more aware of my surroundings. Purse snatchers always seem to target moms who have their hands full with kids and usually have their purse laying in a stroller or cart or they target old women who are pretty defenseless. As the holiday season approaches there WILL be a rise in purse snatching all over the place. Please be aware of your surroundings at all times. When you are walking through a parking lot look around a lot. Don't carry your purse in an area that can be snatched easily - I know I'm guilty of this! I often put it in the back of the shopping cart at Meijer (I do strap it in with the seat belt though).
Thanks to the man who went out of his way to stop the purse snatcher!

DDS update

Olivia did incredible at the dentist on Monday! They didn't have to use the papoose and she didn't cry until she saw me after everything was finished. She thought she was so special that she got to go back on her own...she said it's because she's 4 now and she doesn't need her mom to go back with her - little did she know that mom wasn't ALLOWED to go because I probably would have ripped her off the chair and taken her away if she showed any sign of pain. But she did great. The cavity was pretty big and DID require a crown, but she DID NOT have to have a root canal! Thank you all so much for your prayers!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA

Today is Olivia's 4th birthday. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter.

Olivia,
Four years ago today you entered this world and changed my life forever. I couldn't imagine life without you. You are such a blessing to me and I thank God for you every day. Of course there are those days that mommy wants to pull her hair out, but that's just because my patience is running very thin! There have been many struggles in our family over the last few years, but the second I saw your smile or heard your wonderful voice I immediately felt overwhelmed with joy. You are an amazing little girl and I am so thankful to be able to call you daughter.
I love you forever, I love you for-always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be!

Four years ago today I had a horrible experience as I gave birth to Olivia, but I'd do it all over again...1000+ times just to have the joy that I have experience over the last 4 years.

Look how I've grown.

Birthday Cake

Olivia had her 4th Birthday party today. The theme was Barbie Mariposa.

Here is the cake I made - It's my favorite cake so far.

The many hairdos of Jack

And I just had to add this one because I LOVE the swirls on the back of baby's heads

Happy Belated Birthday

I meant to post this yesterday!
Happy Belated Birthday (30th) to my love!
Yesterday Brian took the day off work and went with Olivia on her first field trip with preschool. They went to the apple orchard which is one of Brian's favorite places. They had a great time together.
Brian and I will be going to see One Republic later this month for his birthday.

Brian, you are are an amazing husband and father. Thank you so much for all that you do as a husband and father - we are so grateful to have such a wonderful man in our lives. I am so thankful for the faith you have in God and love to see how this has grown in the last couple of years - I am just so amazed! We have been through so much together in the last couple of years and it's only by the grace of God that we made it through it together and came out on the other side stronger. I look forward to celebrating many more birthday with you as we grow old together! I love you with all my heart!!

Okay, sorry I got mushy on ya everyone ;-)

2nd opinion

I took Olivia to another dentist yesterday for a 2nd opinion and unfortunately he said the same thing as the first dentist. If you have no idea what I'm talking about you can read this. He said there is a possibility that once they get in there that they will have to do a root canal on all 4 teeth that have the really bad cavities. He couldn't say that it is definitely going to be necessary but he can't rule it out either. He said that the pediatric dentist we took her to is a good dentist and she would be best cared for by them.
So, if you read my blog and pray, I'm begging you to please add little miss O to your prayers this week. She has her first appointment on October 13th to start getting some of this work done. Please pray really hard for her this week that she will not have to go through with a root canal. Pray that the cavities will be easily taken care of with just a normal filling. Pray that everything will go smoothly and that she will not have to be strapped down or in any pain.
My heart just aches for her. I can't stand the fact that she will have to go through all of this. I absolutely hate the dentist and I don't want her to start feeling the same way towards dentist. Right now she loves going to the dentist! I honestly thought I was going to cry in the dentist office yesterday when the dentist told me the same thing as the first. I just feel like I could have prevented her from having to go through all of this if I would have taken her sooner or flossed her teeth or helped her brush every time she brushed..... I just feel awful! If you are a parent I am sure you can relate to how I feel, so please just lift her up in your prayers this week.

Ben & Jerry's new flavor

The breast is best, but where does it stop?

PETA (people for the ethical treatment of animals) is asking Ben & Jerry to substitute the cows milk in their ice cream for breast milk. No, I'm not joking! You can read the article for yourself.

So, what kind of flavor names can you come up with?