And then she was ONE.

My baby is officially one. I can hardly believe it! She's walking, she's talking (as much as a one year old can) and she is, well...the pictures speak for themselves. Love you Gabriella!!

More party details later...gotta read my book before book club tomorrow morning at 8am...yikes!

Hope you are having the time of your life!

ST

SURPRISE!!!

What a great weekend!! Saturday Shawn and I took the kids to our favorite hang-out, Science City. Always a great day - even with our homemade lunch that we brought for the kids. Then we came home and mom and I ran to Walmart - yes, another exciting adventure. As I got home, I noticed that the house was "relatively" clean...living room was vacuumed, a candle was lit, the trash had been taken out. All very strange, but Shawn said he just had some time on his hands. Hmmmm weird, but I shook it off and just thought Shawn had a wild hair up his....
Anyway, then my friend Michelle and I went to get a pedicure and ran over to the mall. We came back to my place for some pizza with the guys and the kids and when I opened the front door, SURPRISE!! I was surrounded by friends and family for a birthday party! How fun!! We had such a great night. Thanks so much to Em and Michelle, I'm pretty sure you had a big hand in the night - you guys rock! (and don't forget, Em, YOU'RE next!!)
Gotta go now, way too tired to blog and want to go hang out with my hubby!
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST
ps - I promise I'll post some pics this week...

I figured you out!

The person I lease suspected...yes, Shawn is the culprit. He is the one that has been leaving me nice little messages about getting "old" all over the place. I can't believe it was him. You might think he should have been my first suspect, but in all actuality he's not one to spend that much time doing something like this. I'm very impressed. He said it all sprung from an old "hanger issue" we recently had. See, for a long time Shawn had been (wrongly) accusing me of "stealing" hangers out of his closet and using them in my own closet. (ok, maybe I did that a few times, but not ALL the time) When Shawn would complain about not having hangers I would tell him there were about 5 million hangers across the hall in Austin's closet, all he had to do was go get them. One day I had heard enough complaining and took as many hangers as I could find and hung them all in his closet (about 100 hangers). It may not sound all that funny, but seriously it was hilarious. He's been trying to figure out how to get me back for that for awhile now. That was probably way more info than you ever wanted....sorry, dad, for wrongly accusing you of making fun of my age. Although, I bet you are wishing you would have thought of it first!!
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST
and PS - to Susan in TX, you said I never post enough anymore...how's 4 posts in two days???

More about 30

So, last night I came home late from my moms meeting and Shawn was still up working on the computer. When i walked in, he turned on the song, "My Next 30 Years" and we two-stepped to it, right there in the office. Love him!! I had never really listened to the words, but it fit perfectly. Here it is...
My Next 30 Years
Sung by: Tim McGraw
I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age...The ending of an era, and the turning of a page...Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here...Lord have mercy on my next thirty years...Hey my next thirty years I’m gonna have some fun...Try to forget about all the crazy things I’ve done...Maybe now I’ve conquered all my adolescent fears...And I’ll do it better in my next thirty years...My next thirty years I’m gonna settle all the scores...Cry a little less, laugh a little more...Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear...Figure out just what I’m doing here...In my next thirty years...Oh my next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight...Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late...Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers...Maybe I’ll remember my next thirty years...My next thirty years will be the best years of my life...Raise a little family and hang out with my wife...Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear...Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years...In my next thirty years...

Now, I can't guarantee the part about "not so many beers", but the rest sounds pretty good!

As for today, something interesting has happened...I woke up this morning to find little notes all over the place, including on my windshield of my car. They say things like
30! I demand a recount!
Does vacuuming count as aerobic exercise?
Living riht doesn't relaly make you live longer, it just seems longer.
I'm not old, I'm youthfully challenged.
I'm at that awkward age between desirability and complete senility.
Old age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill.
Eat right, exercise regularly, die anyway.
I get enough excersize just pushing my luck.

I feel as though someone is making fun of my age...haven't figured out who is doing it, although I KNOW my dad is in on it, which means so is my mom. I also had to go to the doctor this morning for my knee and I dropped the kids off at Emily's. After my appointment I came out to my car to find yet another little note...who did that?? I'm not convinced Emily's not in on it... and I haven't accounted for my other friend Kim or Michelle...If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

That's it for now....
I get to go on a date tonight with my hubby!!!!! yipee!!!!!!!
Hope you are haivng the time of your life!!
ST

I'm in my prime

or so they say...
I've read some articles recently about turning 30. And according to "they" this is suppose to be the best time of your life. Don't get me wrong, your 20's are full of fun - and trust me i had plenty of fun - especially in those early 20's...that's a whole other post though! By the time you're 30 you really "know who you are". Like a friend of mine recently said..."people will finally take me seriously now that I'm 30". Well, I highly doubt that - but we'll give it a shot! I do agree that this is a pretty cool time of my life. I have 3 beautiful children (obviously), an amazing, hard working, bought-me-diamonds-for-my-birthday husband and tons of great friends and family around me. I know where I am at in life, although i don't always know where my children are (Gabriella is constantly sneaking off to the bathroom now to rip up rolls of toilet paper - gross). I know that being a mom to my children is not only where I WANT to be, it is where I SHOULD be. I'm teaching them everything I can, although manners isn't Ahslyn's best subject, Austin however can name all the dinosaurs that ever roamed the earth and Gabriella is currently conquering walking. I love staying at home with my kiddos - except on the days when they don't nap. So, i suppose turning 30 isn't so bad, except that I can no longer tease my "old" friends who are already in their 30's because I have now joined them. What am I going to do now that I'm 30 you ask? Well, I think I'm going to potty train Ashlyn...after all, I'm 30 now - she'll take me seriously, right?
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

bye bye 20's...

Yes, as of 6 minutes ago, I am now 30. Oh my...
more reflection on this later - there very well could be an oatmeal fight going on in my kitchen between Austin and Ashlyn - they musn't be unsupervised this early in the morning...or ever really.

Hope you are having the time of your life! Go 30!
st

My Favorite People

Well, not mine, my list is too long - but Austin had an interesting list. We were playing on his chalkboard the other day and he wanted me to write down all of his favorite people.



It may be hard to read the names above. It reads (and I quote)

1. Josh Freeman (K-State's quarterback)
2. Jordy Nelson (Another K-State football player, and one that was one of my former students)
3. Gabriella (his sister?!?!?)
4. Mommy (and NO, I did not bribe him)
5. Papa (this includes both papa's)
6. Ashlyn
7. Daddy


So, to those of you who didn't make the list (my mom), sorry - I don't think it was intentional. Please don't take it too personally, keep in mind when we said prayers last night he wanted to pray for ceilings. Ceilings???


I also have been doing a bit of scrapbooking...I did a page of Austin (his 3 year page) and Ashlyn (her 2 year page) - nope, haven't gotten to Gabriella yet, but I promise I will get a page done for her soon! Last week was devoted to doing a page for a great friend of mine, Michelle, her in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary is next weekend and I did a page that they are framing and giving to them. I think it turned out pretty cool - I love the old wedding photos -



Gabriella is now walking - and it is hilarious. I know this is my third kid, but it never gets old when you see a kid that is just learning to walk. They think they are about the coolest thing ever. She gets so excited after 5-6 steps that she frantically starts clapping for herself and cheering which then makes her fall flat on her face. Very funny. I don't know what it is like to have all my kids walking at the same time, but I think it is going to be pretty nice. (except in parking lots of course, and restaurants, and really all public places, and at home, and well...hmmmm - maybe it's not so great to have 3 kids that know how to walk)

Here's what happens when your husband goes up to put the kids to bed. Yes, they are ALL THREE sacked out. Just one question, where's GABRIELLA??

I am now looking VERY forward to our little Texas trip coming up in March! Shawn and I are taking a 4 day getaway just the two of us to head down south to wear we started out. I can't wait! It is going to be so much fun. I have plans to hang out with old friends, go see the people I use to coach and teach with, go out for some beers, and just relax and hang out with my hubby. Can't wait! I better go ahead and thank our wonderful babysitters. How would we survive without you?!?!

It's now time for me to enjoy my glass of wine and watch the KU game with shawn and my dad.
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

Here's a pic from the wedding...finally...more to come sometime in the near future! Isn't my sister a lovely bride? The flowers were amazing - love the dark red. (I'm the one to the right of the bride, most of you don't see me dressed up with curled hair and makeup - oh and I don't have 3 kids attached to my right leg)