Much needed pics!

Finally! Some b-day pics for you!! Austin and Ashlyn had a little birthday bash in the backyard with some friends back in September. the kids had a blast. As most of you know, I would never dream of actually purchasing a cake... I will always be the home with homemade birthday cakes - I get this trait from my mother. Anyway, this years cake was the ice cream cone cake. My kids are HUGE ice cream fans so I felt it was appropriate to make an ice cream cone cake. You make cupcakes with ice cream cones on top, so they look like ice cream, but it's really a cup cake in a cone. Pretty clever, huh? It was a huge hit with the kids and we didn't even have one left over. So much fun!

And here's the pumpkin patch! Gabriella just cracks us up. She is always smiling and thinks everything is hilarious. Love it!

Yes, this photo has ME in it! ME! Reading to my kiddos!! Can you believe it? I really do exist!!

hmmmm. this one might need some explanation. Austin is obsessed with eating noodles with Parmesan cheese on them. Here, we had noodles for dinner and being the good puppy, I mean son that Austin is, he is actually eating all the noodles off of the floor. And apparently he was really tired too...

We had a family photo shoot with my favorite photographer - Kim!! I can't wait to see the pics she got. I am sure she got some awesome ones, as usual. We are going to peel the ceiling off in our dining room to get ready to do the remodel today!! The table is FINISHED!! YIPEE!! I'll take some pics and show you all this weekend. It's beautiful! Have a great weekend!

Hope you are having the time of your life!

ST

no list for me!

-get out of bed *check!
-change 2 diapers *check!
-get three kids dressed *check!
-get myself presentable to go in public *check!
-get Gabriella a bottle *check!
-get 3 kids breakfast *check!
-get kitchen cleaned up *check!
-get out the door by 8:45am *check!

I am a huge list maker. Everything I do comes from one of my famous lists. And yes, I am one of those that would actually add an item to the list that I already did, just so I can mark it off. You laugh, but many of you do the same! There's a blog I read almost every day because it cracks me up http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com and she recently wrote about your "life's list". It was interesting because Shawn and I had a conversation about this only a week ago. You life's list is a list you are suppose to write about all the things you want to do before you die...such as visit the grand canyon, go overseas, sky dive...you get the point. Well, as much of a list person as I am you would think I would be on top of that one, but I'm not! I have absolutely no desire to write a list of this nature. And Shawn put it best...he said, "it's pretty amazing when all your dreams are your future." Hold on to your seats because that was a pretty profound statement from my hubby. It made me melt and fall in love all over again. What he meant was that he didn't need a list because everything that would be on his list is where we are at now. Watching our kids grow up, seeing what they become, what they are going to do and being there to cheer them on. (or scold them). And doing all this together. Both sets of our parents have been together for many many years - their relationships have gone through more than I can imagine and they have grown as a couple. I can't wait to see where our lives take us...no wait, I can wait - I love where we are at and what we are doing and I love that I get to do it with the man I love! Boy is that sappy or what?! hmmmm that's enough for one day.

-write a post for my blog *check!
Hope you are having thing time of your life!
ST

UGH

Alright, so my goal of writing every day was just a big joke - sorry if I got your hopes up! I really thought it could be doable, but just can't seem to get to my blog everyday and still get three kids to bed, laundry done, house cleaned, shows watched, maybe a shower every couple days, and of course get a glass of wine. So, you'll have to settle for my random updates every few days/weeks/months...

So, here's some updates -
My throat...I have eosiniphilic esophagitis which I think I posted about awhile back. Well, since the diagnosis I have been seeing an allergist which I am starting to think is pointless. First, they did the 50 pricks in my back and tested 50 foods to find allergies. I already know that I am allergic to dairy and eggs and some other random things. After the prick test, we found out that I am not allergic to anything except shellfish (not a problem there) and CHOCOLATE. Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of sick joke? You can not tell a mother of three children that she is allergic to chocolate! The only thing worse would be if I was allergic to wine and beer! Ha! Anyway, they said that a lot of times this prick test doesn't always work so they wanted to do some more tests. So, I went back for a prick test with fresh food that I had to prepare and bring in on Monday - they pricked them all into my arm (weird). Egg came bag as an allergy. They they had to do another test on my back where they literally smash some food on there and cover it with a patch. They put wheat, milk, egg, mites, grass, oak, ragweed, cat, and soy on my back. I can't get it wet at all for 4 days - ugh. Today I went in for them to check it and they said the only allergy was to mites! WHAT??? I am starting to think that they are just stealing my money and laughing all the way to the bank. Who knows - I'm ready to give up. It's not easy to have three kids and go to the doctor every day - (thanks for you help with this dad!!)
All in all we really don't know anything and I will be heading back to the doctor yet again tomorrow - annoying!

Ashlyn - my little 2 year old!! Yes, we had a big birthday weekend...
Austin - my little 3 year old!!
We had a party for the kids Friday night - so fun!! Had a great time, spent the whole time in the backyard with good food yummy cake and adult beverages for the adults. The kids had such a great time - can't believe my babies are growing up so fast!!
Ashlyn has decided her crib is not necessary as she likes to come downstairs when she is suppose to be napping. She just jumps right out of her crib - no problem...guess it's time for a big girl bed.

Got to go see my girl, Callie this week!! It made me sad though - made me miss her ten million times more after I saw her again. Emily and I road tripped to Manhattan for the day on Tuesday to see her. We loaded up all five kids in my van and drove there. I felt like I was driving a school bus - that's a lot of car seats in one car!!

We are going to be starting our kitchen renovation soon!!!! YIPEE!!
Can't wait to get started!
Had a ton of work from HRW so as a reward I get my kitchen!

That's it for now - gotta go to bed.
Hope you are havin' the time of your life!
ST

Finally some pics!!

I'm finally showing you some pics! Yeah!! Here's one of the kids and their friend, Addison having a little snack. The kids love their bench!

And here's my big baby girl! Already 6 months old and crawling!!

A few posts ago I told you we did some fishing at my brothers - here's the kids and daddy!

More later -

Hope you are having the time of your life!

ST

quick tidbit

I don't have too long to write tonight, as I am exhausted after doing a "boot camp" workout a little while ago and Shawn is outside cleaning the garage...and anyone that knows Shawn knows that he can lose focus very quickly. In fact, I would be willing to put money on it that he is out in the garage trying to figure out how to hook up a TV so that he can watch college football which will take him so long that by the time he gets it hooked up he will be too tired to clean the garage and he will go to bed. That's my main man! Love him!!

Today was an interesting day...it all started out with Austin asking me why he has to change his underwear every day. Seems like an easy enough question to answer, but let me tell you - explaining that to a two year old is harder than you might think. And yes, the conversation ended with, "because I am your mother and I said so." He didn't quite understand why he had to change them when he didn't pee or poop in them. I just love his quirky little questions - just wish I could come up with some better answers for him!

I am definitely looking forward to the weekend. Shawn and I already decided that Saturday will be devoted to our kiddos and we are going to go to Science City for the day. Can't wait!!
My parents left for a week long road trip tonight - I am so sad. Happy for them, but we have gotten so use to having them around that it is going to be so weird to not have them here. I can't wait until the day when Shawn and I can pack up the car and just drive away for a week with no worries. That has to be so much fun!! Probably equivalent to how it feels when I take off for the grocery store with no kids! What a feeling of true happiness!

Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

oops

Hey, I tried...my goal of posting everyday has already been broken. But, I have a good excuse...I was still suffering the effects of anesthesia so if I had tried blogging I probably would have said things that were inappropriate - on second thought, maybe it would have been a pretty interesting post!
The procedure went alright - not quite as planned. I thought this was going to fix everything and come to find out the doctor thinks there are some other problems too. He did a biopsy and now we are awaiting the results. My esophagus is a lot more sore than I thought it would be - just feels really bruised and it's a bit painful to swallow still - nothing major though. I guess I was pretty funny under anesthesia. Shawn said I had about a 15 second memory - I'd ask him something and 15 seconds later I'd ask him again. Right after the surgery I looked at Shawn and said, "well, we're not going home with a baby this time." hmmmmm
I also told shawn we could go buy a big screen tv - I'm not convinced that I really said that nor am I convinced that there's not one hiding down in the basement - ha!
Anyway, I hear Gabriella waking up so I better go get her.
Hope you are havin' the time of your life!
ST

New goal

I have a new goal - don't get too excited, I have these fancy ideas all the time and rarely can I actually pull through. Anyway, just this week I have had several people tell me that they check my blog everyday and are disappointed when there's no update. Now, of course, these people could very well be lying to me and only check it when they are totally bored at work and sick of playing solitaire, but I choose to believe I have some true fans out there that can't survive without hearing a bit about my crazy life. With that being said, I am going to try and give you a tidbit of my life each and every day. It may be short some days, maybe even pointless, but it's something that might just be fun. We'll see how it goes.

You may have noticed on my sidebar that I am feeling a bit anxious (this is after feeling a bit sweaty the last several weeks). This is because tomorrow morning I am going in to have an ESOPHAGOGASTRODUODENOSCOPY. Seriously, can you believe someone came up with that name??? How many points would that be in scrabble?? wow. I like to call it an EGD with dilation - I think that's right. Basically, I'm having my esophagus widened. If you remember an earlier post back in February, I choked on a hot dog and after spending several hours choking in the emergency room we learned I have a narrow esophagus and I am finally getting it fixed - yeah! So, I am excited and nervous. Should be a pretty easy procedure, but like most people I'm not too fond of anesthesia. I will say I am looking forward to getting to stay in bed the rest of the day - yipee! And you better believe I will be milking that for all it's worth. I tried to pay my doctor to write me a note that said I would need bed rest for a week, but she wouldn't do it. Oh well. Shawn says he's making hot dogs for dinner - ha ha

Well, I have to fast after midnight so I am going to have Shawn fix me a huge bowl of ice cream before I hit the sack. I'll let you know how my esophagus is doing tomorrow!

Hope you are all having the time of your life!
ST