the best birthday present ever

Yesterday I was surprised with the best birthday present ever...

It is hard to believe that this summer will make 3 years that we have been together. Of course the first 6-8 months was just casual dating or whatever you would call that, but I knew from that moment that Gary and I were meant to be. He truely is the most amazing man. He did not want to give it to me today on my actual birthday because he said that he would never do it for a special occasion so last night he pulled it out of his pocket and got down on one knee. And Jamie, I was in my pajamas as well so we have that in common :)

So today I turn the big 3-0! This birthday has been a little more difficult than any other. I am not really worried about the getting older part but it feels so different to me to say that I am 30 then to say I am 29. Of course Gary loves it because now we are finally in the same decade. At least for the next 3.5 years until he turns 40!!!!

hot weather

It has been unusually hot around here for only being June. Normally we don't hit the 90's until mid-July, but for some reason summer has hit full force already. I personally would rather be in a winter coat then deal with this kind of weather, but the kids sure enjoy it. I finally set up the kiddie pool that I bought so they kids could play in it last night.

Brienna of course stayed inside because it is just too hot for her to be out there. She has been enjoying her discovery of different objects that she can try to fit in her mouth. I can't feel any bumps or see anything in her mouth but I swear she has to be teething.

I can't believe how much hair she has lost, and how light the new hair that is growing underneath is. In this picture you can kind of see how it has a reddish tint to it. She has gotten very good at using rolling on the floor to get to things she wants to explore. The other day she made it clear across the family room to look at the fish tank.

father's day

We had a great weekend. Saturday we took our HUGE family pictures with my brother and his family, my sister, us, and my parents. They were done by a professional photographer so it should be great to see them when the proofs are ready. I hope they turn out great. The last time we had these done, my niece who is now almost 7 was only about 18 months. I had no kids, and my ex husband is in them as well. Needless to say not to many of the family display's that picture anymore.

Sunday we went to Arlington Race Track to celebrate Father's Day and watch the horses. That was my first time ever going to the track, and I have to say it was a lot of fun. I would definitely like to go back again. It was a little warm, and it did rain just a bit but fun none the less. We won on only 2 of the 5 races that we bet on, but the last race we won on was a pretty good one so we ended up breaking even for the day.

dane cook

This past weekend was another busy one as those in the summer seem to always be. We went to a weekend on Saturday for old friends of mine and my ex's. For some reason he decided not to show up at the last minute. He told the groom that he did not have a babysitter for Zach (since it was his weekend), but he certainly could have called me and had my mom do it since she was watching Brienna anyway. I am sure he just did not want to go. It was nice to see a lot of people that I have not seen since Joey and I got divorced. It was good to catch up. I can't believe that it has been 3 years since I had seen some many of them.

Then Sunday we went to go see Dane Cook. I was SOOOOO excited for this show. Gary and I went to go see him in February of 2008, and I knew this show was going to be all new material. We picked up my sister and her ex-boyfriend (don't ask it is a loooong story, but I am sure that most of us have had a go-to person in their life). It was a fairly easy drive downtown, and the show was HILARIOUS. If you get a chance to catch his special on Comedy Central watch it!

I shot a little video of the beginning of the show as well!

oh so much to report

I am sorry that it has been a week since my last post. Weekends are always totally busy in the summer time, and yes it is summer in my opinion! Friday we took the kids to the pool here in the subdivision for the first time this season. I even put Brienna in her little suit even though I was not going to put her in the water...she looked cute none the less!

The older two had a great time playing around. I really like the pool here because they have this little kid section that allows them to play in the water and not have to know how to swim since it is only 2 feet deep. The slide is a nice perk too!

Saturday we had soccer, and then went and had the kids birthday pictures done at JcPenney. We got some really cute ones of all three and then some individuals for Rylee and Zach. We do this every year, and every year when I switch out the photos in the frame with the new ones I am amazed at how big they have gotten and how fast the time goes by.

Sunday we took Rylee to a birthday party for one of her friends from Day Care at Chuck E Cheese. That was an eye opening experience. Rylee was like a child that we have never seen before, super hyper and in a really good mood. Usually she is pretty withdrawn and moody more like a pre-teen then a 5 year old. Gary even noticed and said that he was shocked to see her that way. Zach and I played a bunch of games as well. He loves going there so he was running all over playing as many games as he could.

We stopped afterward to look at Big Boy beds for Zach. I want to get him a bunk bed set up sometime soon as he is quickly becoming too big for his race car toddler bed!

This week has been busy with errands. Zach started a mini-camp at Preschool about Dinosaurs. Which is a nice little opportunity for me to get some work done at home. This morning I actually made it to the gym for a little work out class. That was depressing!!! I can not believe how out of shape I am. I am going to be completely sore tomorrow. I am going to try to make it to this time slot class 3 days a week. We started talking wedding plans this weekend and it sounds like I have about 4 months to get back into some type of decent shape!

4 months already and a sneaky plan by Zach

Brienna went for her 4 month check today. She is still very long, but very thin. She only weighs 13lbs but is almost 25 inches long. Everything looked great. I was going to ask about her spitting up an hour after she eats, but I didn't have to because as he was examining her she spit up a ton of the curdled milk like she always does. He said that he thinks she is eating too much too fast. He suggested giving her rice cereal twice a day and feeding her more frequently with less ounces. She must be eating too quickly and not realizing when her stomach is full. I do have to use the tri-cut nipples for her bottle because the formula is SUPER thick but I am going to try just using the medium flow and making her work a little for it.

Since Gary had to be in Chicago at 6:00am this morning we kept Rylee home for the morning. His mom came over to watch the kids while I went to the doctor. Then we met Gary at McDonald's for lunch and he took her back to her mother.

Jamie, this next part will be extremely interesting for you. I have a post it on my desk with Madilyn's name on it. I wrote it down when you decided so that if I ordered her anything personalized I would have the right spelling. Zach saw it today and asked me whose name it was. I explained that it was the name of Jamie's new baby. He then informed me that Jamie did not need two babies and that we should go and steal Meredith so that she can come live with us. It was extremely funny the plot that he worked up. I tried to get him to repeat it with the camera rolling and it was not as funny but you get the point...



I thought you might be intersted in hearing that Zach has a master plan, and if you wake up one day and Meredith is gone rest assured he has carried it out!!

she finds him so funny

Everyday when Gary gets home from work, it is like I am chopped liver to Brienna. She finds him to be so extremely funny over nothing. It doesn't matter what he says to her she laughs so hysterically. This video is nothing compared to what she normally does and this is way more than she ever laughs at me!

It is actually pretty cute how much of Daddy's girl she is.

This was a picture that I took of her earlier that day when I got all of her new bows in the mail. I thought this little flower looked so perfect with her outfit.

another busy weekend

Saturday morning we went to Zach's soccer game. It was a little chilly, but the games don't usually last too long. How long can you really keep a bunch of 4 year old chasing a ball in a small pack all over a field?! His father showed up, late of course, and then Zach went with him for the weekend. Gary and I then went to Sam's Club for our monthly stock up trip. While we were there we were approached by the Directv rep who then sparked more conversation about switching our services from Comcast. Our cable/phone/internet bill is out of control and we have been looking into a way to save money for about a month now. Well as some already know, Gary never makes a decision without checking all the options. So I called Comcast while we walked around Sam's. He did not like the answer they gave us. So we went to have lunch and then he wanted me to call AT&T to price their services. They won the battle and so now we have new phone and TV going in this week. What a fiasco that was!

Saturday afternoon we hung around the house to catch up on some of our DVR since we are going to be losing all the shows on there pretty soon. Sunday, we went out for breakfast, came home and Gary finally finished painting our bedroom (which looks fantastic). Then he went out to cut the grass which hadn't been done since before we went camping. Then more watching DVR shows. Let's put it this way...after last night we finally made it into the beginning of May...that is how far behind we were. We don't get much TV watching time.

Of course Joey took Zach to Springfield, and did not drop him off until 11:oopm last night. I was SUPER thrilled about that. Luckily I was able to put him right into his pjs and right to bed. Now today he has been a nightmare. I hate when he goes to see Joey's mom in Springfield. They give him whatever he wants there and so when he comes back he has forgotten all of his manors!

This afternoon I finally began working on scrapbooks for Zachary and Brienna. I have been saying for a very long time that I wanted to do this for the kids, and recently started putting together all of the materials I would need. Holy cow...this can be very addicting once you get started. Here is what I have done with Zach's so far. I am going month by month for his first year, and then I would like to do one for every year or two of life.