Girls Weekend

What a wild weekend. I'm sorry for all the pictures but I have to warn you, there will be more! :)

It all started Thursday when I drove to St Louis to pick up Dianna at the airport. We then headed to The Mills Mall to meet up with Amy, one of our bloggy buddies. She is an absolute doll and I just loved her. We ate lunch at Tony Roma's and then hit Archiver's. It was such a quick afternoon, I would have loved to have spent more time with her. Hopefully we can meet up again sometime soon. Thanks Amy for the adorable gift bag you made up for us, that was so thoughtful and I loved it!!! I'm so excited that we got to meet!


Friday morning, Dianna, Jen, Erica and me headed for the Windy City to meet up with Julie for our wonderful wild weekend. We did not act like 35 year old married mommies. We were just a bunch of girlfriends having the time of our lives. We got an awesome room on Priceline at the Hilton Chicago on Michigan Avenue. We had TWO bathrooms in our room which was awesome for 5 girls. Friday night we headed out to Rosemont for the New Kids on the Block concert. Now before I hear any groans, only a true New Kids fan can get the excitement and craziness of it. It was like being reunited with our first loves. They played the perfect mix of their old hits and their new music and put on a fantastic show--it was amazing. We had the best time ever. There were people there dressed in 80's clothes, people wearing old New Kids shirts, pins etc. It was hilarious. The excitement was overwhelming.

Notice the ticket says no cameras or recording. What a joke! There were millions of cell phones up in the air the whole concert not to mention all the camera flashes. We went crazy with our cameras especially since our seats were decent.

This is a picture of us just minutes before we went to our seats.

Jordan baby, I love ya!

Towards the middle of the concert, they came to a circular rotating stage in the back for 3 songs so we had an AWESOME view for that!!!

There's my baby at the piano.

The next day we headed to Millenium Park to take pictures and walk around. Then we walked around downtown and shopped. It was a beautiful sunny day and while it could have been warmer, it wasn't too bad.

Here we are at the bean. We had fun taking silly pictures here too.

Here's a picture of our reflection in the bean. I love the girl off to the side making fish lips. What's up with that??

I found this awesome knife block in a cute little store. I laughed so hard. Must have.

FAO Schwartz in Macy's. Lego Batman is hot.

It's very hard to see but this is the Hummer Limo we rode in to the nightclub Saturday night. What a blast and my first time ever in a limo. They were hanging outside the hotel and asked us if we wanted a ride instead of taking a cab. We said no thank you and he asked us to name a price. We $20 and he said he couldn't do it, then he came back and said ok. WOW!!! We were excited!

Me and Dianna in the limo.

All of us girls at Howl at the Moon, a dueling piano bar. We had so much freakin' fun there!

This is Roy, our waiter for the night. He was such a cool guy. He got a bouncer to stand by our table because we had a couple of old stalker guys bugging us. He then got us a round of shots later to make up for the creepy guys. He was awesome!

Video of "I'll Be Loving You Forever" The sound sucks because of all the screaming but it's good to watch. If you listen carefully, you can hear Erica and then Dianna say "Oh, my God!"

To say we were lustful schoolgirls is putting it mildly. We screamed and danced our butts off the whole concert!!

"Tonight" when they were at the back of the arena by us.

I got this video off of YouTube. There were a lot of clips posted from Friday's concert. This is a must see. They are doing "Grown Man" from their newest CD. Oh baby, is all I can say!! This song is hot. You'll have to turn off the music on the side to hear any of the videos.


And just to show how insanely awesome this concert was, Erica and I are going to see them again in St Louis on November 10th. Anyone want to come with us???? :)

What A Busy Day!!

I had a busy and fun day. To start off, I got to watch my nephew and niece, Ty and Ellie while Beth went to the dentist. After Blake got out of school he came over too and Beth took Matt out to eat for his birthday. (Happy Birthday little bro!) I had so much fun with them. They had me laughing so hard, even when I should have been correcting them.

Here's a cute picture of the 3 little ones playing together. This was when the boys were "cooking" for each other. Aiden asked for chocolate milk and Ty said "No, but you can have some chicken bones." They just kept me in stitches the whole time. I loved every minute of it.


After they left and my mom took Aiden, I headed over to school to drive Noah's class on their field trip to the pumpkin patch. Lucky for us the rain stopped but it was chilly and WINDY!!! They all still had so much fun though and were so cute.

Here they are right before their hayride.

This was when we first got there and tried a class picture.

After school, all 3 boys had dentist appointments. Drew and Noah got the all clear. This was Aiden's first dentist appointment. I was so mad at myself because I had put the camera on its docking station after the field trip and didnt grab it for a picture of his first checkup. I had the cell phone with the camera but there was a huge sign that said No Cell Phones Beyond This Point. So when the dental assistant walked out, Todd snapped a photo and then snapped one more during his checkup. Now if we could only get a years worth of pictures off of our cell phone.
Turns out Aiden has a cross bite. The one side of his mouth his teeth line up but on the other side, the lower part sticks out further than the top ones. He said all we can do now is keep an eye on it. Is that code for "you will have many years of orthodontic bills?" Hope not. He also noted that he's a bit tongue tied. We already knew that since he had problems latching on when he was first breastfeeding after birth. His Dr. never seemed to concerned and the dentist doesn't think it's bad enough to be the reason he's in speech therapy but he did say that if he ever has a surgery for tonsils, tubes in his ears, etc, we should go ahead and get it clipped at the same time. Heck, the kid just had surgery, we could have called another Dr. in and had two procedures for one anesthesia.


Well, I'm outta here. Tomorrow I drive to St Louis to pick my best friend Dianna up at the airport and then we are headed to the Mills Mall where we will meet up with Amy of Caffinated Cropper. Dianna and I are so excited to meet her, have some lunch, and hang out. Then we'll head home, hit my parents house for my brother Matt's birthday dinner. Friday morning all of us girls head for the Windy City!! We have a room at a VERY nice fancy, schmancy hotel (thank you Priceline) and we'll be hitting the NKOTB concert Friday night and enjoying the rest of the weekend just us five girls with no hubbies and no kiddos. YAY!!!!!! I hope to come back with many wondeful stories and pictures. I hope and pray nothing goes wrong.....we tend to have little misadventures sometimes too. Woohooo!! Girls Weekend!

Ghostly Kids

Keeping with the theme............. Todd was playing around with settings on his camera and had fun making the boys look like ghosts. The one of Noah turned out the best and I think the one of Drew and Aiden is neat because it kind of looks like Aiden is inside of Drew. (and yes, Drew is standing in nothing but his blue underwear and a pair of socks, please don't hold that against him)

Woodland Cemetery

"People are just dying to get in there." (that's for you Dad)

Today we visited Woodland Cemetery. For you history buffs or cemetery lovers, here are some sites with info on this cemetary.
http://www.graveyards.com/IL/Adams/woodland/wood.html

http://www.gardnermuseumarchitecture.org/woodland.php

This is a HUGE, beautiful cemetery located on one of the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. I remember as a kid, our class would walk from St Mary's School over to Woodland Cemetary. We had a contest one year to see who would find the oldest gravesite. My friend Lisa and I found one from the 1600's and we won a dum-dum sucker. That was the big time back then!
It was such a beautiful day today so we thought it would be neat to walk through there with the boys. We looked for beautiful leaves to take home, bugs for our neverending supply in the bug boxes and we looked for the oldest gravestone also. We also looked for the newest as it is such an old cemetery and we weren't sure if people were still being buried there. Drew found the oldest which was 1672 and Todd found the most recent in 2002. Todd also challenged the kids to find a gravestone with a date 100 years before the year they were born and to find someone who lived to be exactly 100. It was a beautiful walk with beautiful sites. It may seem morbid to some but I think it's neat to looks at all of these headsstones and wonder about their history and their lives. I took a bunch of pictures, here are a few.

A view looking up one of the hills.

This place is so big, we didn't even begin to walk it all but we walked a lot. This place is rich in history and is so scenic.

Something about this leaf caught my eye. The way the sun was coming through the trees and the beautiful color in the leaf. I just had to take a picture of it.
My boys exploring and collecting.

This is the view of the Mississippi River and the bridges from the top of the bluff at the cemetary.

Drew's Soccer Game

I finally got some shots of Drew's soccer game. His games tend to fall during Aiden's naps so I rarely get to see a whole game. Since Todd coaches, obviously he has to be there so I get there when I can. I only got there in time for literally the last 5 minutes of the game last week. But I took about 8 pictures in that time!! I would have loved to have had the camera today because I actually got to see the whole game and Drew played awesome. This kid is amazing if I do say so myself!!

Drew is the red shirt in the middle. #9

He's the only red shirt in the other photos.

Flashback Friday....Flashin' Waaaaay Back

Today we're flashing back to the 1800's with my Great-Great-Great-Great-ummm, ok that's not going to work. This picture was actually taken the summer of 1994 when Todd and I were in the Ozarks with a bunch of friends. We thought it would be fun to try an old time picture. We did it one other time also, when Drew was 3 months old and we went down there for a few days. I had every intention of doing it this summer with the boys when we were down there but we were so busy and they didn't seem into it, and I was not going to push it. I do love this photo of me and Todd because it reminds me of a time when we were young, in love, and it was just the two of us. We always have so much fun together and this is a perfect example of it. (and this is one of the very few photos of me where I actually look good) :)

Anatomy 101

I took Aiden to the Dr. today for his follow up appointment from his surgery and to get his bandages off. We had to wait for awhile in the room and I had forgotten to pack anything to entertain him with. So we looked through magazines trying to find foods, animals, anything remotely exciting. I then glanced up and saw a huge chart of the human anatomy. It showed all of the internal organs and such so I was pointing out the heart, the lungs, stomach etc and was explaining what each of their functions was. Aiden seemed pretty into it. In fact, he decided to teach me too. He points to the chart and says excitedly, "And look Mom, it's a penis!". Yep, it sure is. I'm glad he knows his anatomy.

Noah's Birthday

Noah's birthday was more like Noah's weekend. He woke up saturday morning excited to open his gifts. We made him work for them though. I hid them in various places throughout the house and he had to follow a trail of clues to find each gift. He loved that idea. Here he is finding a clue and then finding his first present.

Saturday afternoon Noah and Drew each had soccer games and it was pefect soccer weather. My mom and dad came over and ate tacos for supper (noah picked out dinner) and then we went to watch the fireworks. How did we score fireworks for our sons' birthday you ask??? Well for out of towners, on July 4th we were in the midst of Flood 2008 and our entire riverfront where the fireworks are usually located was under water. They had said as a thank you to everyone for all the help in the sandbagging effort and such that they would do them at a later date. Noah got lucky to have them on his birthday. Beth and kiddos and her parents and aunt and cousin met us down by the riverfront to watch a spectacular display. I have to say that it doesn't matter what time of year you watch them, you still feel patriotic. The finale was unlike any one I had seen down there. Honestly, I had goosebumps and tears in my eyes by the time it was over. Amazing. And it was another perfect fall night for watching them. Todd caught a ton of pictures of the fireworks, here are just a few.

I love this one because it reminds me of of dandelion fluff!

Think Pink!
Say it with me now, "Oooooh, Ahhhhhh."
Sunday, Matt and Beth and the kids took Noah out to eat for lunch at Kelly's for his birthday. He was so excited. He's been dying to go eat there (he loves their awesome salad bar) and it was a nice treat to get to go with his aunt, uncle and cousins. Sunday night we had his party at the house with the immediate family.

Here he is opening his gifts.

Here is his cake that he helped to decorate. He chose the them and even wrote his name and the '7' on his cake. I think he did pretty well!
Happy Birthday Noah!!

Who Are You??

I became a Twilight junkie like everyone else. I'm dying to get my hands on the latest book. I came across this quiz to see which character you are most like and I am Esme. (if you haven't read these books yet, you have to!)


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great
importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be
sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and
appreciate the kind way you always handle things.

Happy 7th Birthday Noah

Happy 7th Birthday my dear sweet Noah. I have had so much fun going back and looking at your baby pictures. Honestly, you are one of the cutest kids that ever lived. Those big ole eyes, chubby cheeks, and little ears that stick out just make me want to eat you all up. When you were 3 I used to say that I wanted to eat you up and you'd say "But Mom, I'm not on the menu". It used to crack me up. You know, it dawned on my the other day that even though Aiden is 3 now, you have still been my baby for the longest. You were the baby of the family for 4 years and I wasn't sure if you'd be the last or not so I tried so hard to savor every moment. You are such a lucky little boy, you get to be a big brother and a little brother--you are the only one in the family that can say that! You have such a kind heart and are so sensitive to what others need and want. On any given day, you can melt my heart with the things you say and do. You also make me laugh---you are such a ham. I think you take after your Grandpa John a bit!! Right now you are at that age where I can look at you and still see glimpses of my little Noah but also see a big boy that I am very proud of. You are still such a cuddler and a lover and I hope you never outgrow it. I love you sweet boy and I hope you have a wonderful birthday today!!

Big brother Drew and baby brother Noah. Brotherly Love--Valentine's Day 2002
3 month picture
Still one of my favorite costumes---Dumbo on Halloween 2002

2nd Birthday--Wavering Park

September 2004

January 2005

Christmas 2007
I saved the best find for last. This is the only copy of this picture I have. I found it a few weeks back. I was putting an 8x10 picture in a frame and pulled out all of the old 8x10's that were behind it and found this picture. The look on your face is priceless here. You always wonder why I called you Pork Chop when you were little. I'm hoping these cheeks tell you why! What a precious gift you are and I love you more every day.

(sorry for some of the coloring--most of these were older pictures that I scanned in)

Fall Cookout

Sunday night we headed out to my dad's cabin for a cookout and some fun. Our cousins, Rob,Beata, Jill, Kayla, and Hunter were in town from opposite ends of the country so it was fun to hang out and visit with everyone. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and the kids had a blast.

Aiden searching for bugs. (the kids will spend hours out there looking for bugs to put in their bug boxes)

Ty and Aiden with Bailey. (sorry Beth for borrowing these two pics from your blog, they just turned out so cute!!)
Blake and the jungle animals. These animals have been Aiden's addiction lately.Aunt Jane giving Hunter a little TLC to remove his splinter. Ouch!

Drew toasting the perfect marshmellow for s'mores. Noah with his chocolate and graham crackers, waiting patiently for that marshmellow!!
Kayla driving the Gator. You could tell she loved every minute of it.
Kayla in the little kids' Gator. She had no problem looking for bugs either!

Rob and Beata---they are just too cute for words!
Jill--you didn't make any of my pictures! I want some of you and your kiddos tomorrow at our playdate. I can't wait to get the little cousins together to play. It stinks that Drew and Noah will be at school.

Yesterday

Aiden's surgery went great. We got there at 6am and filled out paperwork and did preliminary stuff. Mostly Aiden and I cuddled in the hospital bed. About 15 minutes before they took him back, they gave him Persed (sp?) and Tylenol. You could definitely tell when it kicked in, he was so funny. Now, you may think it's mean of me to laugh at my child on drugs but he was really quite entertaining, especially once he was taken back to the holding area. Todd and I got to go back there with him untill they took him back. He was a hoot---they had put one of those surgical caps on him that resembles a bag of Jiffy pop and he wore a big goofy grin. One of the nurses came over and introduced herself to us and said she's be with him the whole time he's in surgery. When she walked away, Aiden, wearing his big goofy grin, waves his hand and says "Hey, hey wait for me!" A little while later out of the blue he says "Trick or Treat!". When he'd try to sit up, he'd fall over to the side. He was just too cute and the comedic relief was needed. They took him back and we headed to the waiting room. About 15 minutes later, the nurse called to say they had started and then 30 minutes after that, she called to say they were done!! The Dr. came to talk to us, told us it all went well and we could see him in a half an hour. About 10 minutes later, we were told to head back to the room to see him. It didn't take much to figure out why we were seeing him sooner than we thought. He did NOT come out of anesthesia well, we could hear him screaming down the hall. He was thrashing around like a wild man. We got him in bed and he screamed and thrashed for about 45 minutes. When his eye did open, they had a glazed wild look in them like a druggie going through withdrawal or something, it was creepy. He was even trying to rip his IV out of his hand so they finally took it out. Poor kiddo, once we finally got him calmed down, he cuddled with me and slept a bit. We left the hospital around 10am to head home. Aiden and I went to sleep and slept until 1pm when he woke him up. He was like a new man and was acting like himself again, as if he'd never had surgery. It was amazing the difference in him. By the end of the night, he was getting a little sore, so we used the ice pack the Dr. gave us and some Tylenol. He slept great during the night and came in with us around 5am and said he was sore. I let him sleep with us and he slept until about 7am. He's sore this morning but not too bad. I gave him Tylenol and we are taking it easy, watching some movies and cuddling. He's doing great and I'm glad that's behind us. That was the wierdest thing, that hernia just came out of nowhere, he wasn't even doing anything when it happened, poor kid.

Aiden's Surgery

Aiden is having his hernia surgery tomorrow morning. To say I'm sick to my stomach is an understatement. Noah had his surgery when he was 5 so at least I know the drill now but I think it might be harder on me this time. Noah at least was old enough to explain what was going to happen. I explained it in very simple terms and he wasn't scared at all. He was so good and brave. How do I explain to a newly 3 year old about tomorrow?? How do I tell him that some strangers will come wheel him away from mommy and daddy and that it's ok? How do I explain that he needs to let them put a mask over his face and go to sleep? And every time I think of him waking up in the recovery room scared and in pain and not a familiar face anywhere, I start to cry. With Noah we got to come in the recovery room with him after a short time, I'm hoping the same will be true tomorrow. I pray he comes out of the anesthesia feeling fine and bounces back to his old self quickly. Between Aiden and my Dad's surgeries all in the past 2 weeks, I'm through with hospitals for awhile. I pray my family stays healthy.

Is That A Hernia In Your Pocket................

Ok, kind of sick humor I know, but I need some humor after last night. Around 4:30 Aiden started complaining of a tummy ache. I had gone shopping at Kohl's so Todd had him try and potty and it still hurt so they decided to try a warm bubble bath. It was still hurting and he tried to potty again. When he stood up, Todd said it was very obvious he had a hernia and he was crying hysterically. Todd called me and I rushed home and my aunt that is a nurse practitioner rushed over. She agreed that's what it was and we headed to the ER. Luckily they took him right back to examine him. They ended up giving him an IV and a dose of morphine. Once that kicked in, the Dr. came and pushed the hernia back in. (Yes, I know, I'm cringing too--not fun) He was doing so much better after that. His cries of pain before that were almost too much for me to bear, I was crying right along with him. I probably looked like a dork cuddled in his hospital bed with him but if the only thing that would calm him down was for me to cuddle him and let him hold my hair, then that was what he was going to get. We'll have to follow up with the surgeon this week and schedule surgery. I was NOT happy about that but understand why it has to be done. The good thing is we can have it done here in town and it's an outpatient procedure. My big fear now is worrying about the hernia popping out again between now and then!! We don't have to restrict his activity at all but I'm still hovering over him like a hawk. I can't stand the thought of him going through all of that pain again and I'd hate for him to have to have emergency surgery. So we are keeping our fingers crossed that he is ok and that we can get this all over with soon so we can stop worrying.
And what amazing, caring family we have. Todd's parents rushed right over to sit with the other boys when we took Aiden to the hospital. My aunt stayed with us the whole time and called my parents...they came right over. My Aunt Cindy and Uncle Joe were supposed to meet my parents at the football game so they stopped on the way too. Aiden is one lucky little boy.
And bless Aiden's little heart, he won't let me take off his hospital band or his two band aids from the IV.....he thinks they are keeping his owie away and he doesn't want to hurt like that again. Me neither Aiden, me neither. He was such a brave little trooper last night, I was never more proud of him and just wanted to love him all up.

Why I Love October

Ok, so I know I just finished typing a post only minutes ago but it inspired me to write one more. This one won't be as depressing though. :)

Why I Love October!
---Fall colors and beautiful fall weather
---Noah's Birthday
---Halloween
---Fall decorations
---Walking in and playing in the leaves
---Soup weather!!
---Cooler nights meaning Fleece and snuggling with my honey
---Open Windows
---My yearly girls weekend away! Woohoo! Chicago here we come!
---Rob,Beata, Jill, Kayla, and Hunter are coming to visit
---Candy Corn/Peanuts
---Pumpkin Pie Spice coffee creamer
---Going to the apple orchard for apples, cider, and other goodies
---Going to the pumpkin patch and going on hay rides, even a good bonfire with s'mores

Feel free to add your own.

I Just May Be Doing Something Right......

It seems as if I've been questioning my parenting skills so much lately. And it's not that my kids have been acting any worse either, it's just how I react to them. I've never been a patient person, but lately it seems as if I have no patience for anything. I get mad over the littlest things, I lose my patience and snap at them for no good reason, and when they are acting up, I tend to yell a lot which I HATE to do. I don't feel like a fun mommy most days. I'm tired of being tired all the time, being grouchy, and unmotivated. It needs to change, my boys deserve better than what they are getting.

But in spite of all of that, my boys will do something to make me feel like I'm doing something right, to make me hug them and tell them how much they mean to me. (and I feel the mommy guilt because I am so very lucky to have these wonderful boys). This Saturday night, my boys and Todd were supposed to go camping with the rest of the Scouts at school. Drew always loves camping out and this was to be Noah's first big camp out since he joined Tiger Cubs. It turns out that we have family coming in town that we haven't seen in ages. Two of them happen to be cousins their ages. My aunt decided to have a get together at her house that same night. I was unsure of what to do because while I feel family comes first, they had already been looking forward to this camp out before we knew of the get together. And knowing what a busy week we had ahead, I didn't know if they'd get many other chances to see them. Todd sat down with them and explained the situation and that we were trying to decide what to do. He asked them what they thought. They both said they should be with the family. Not a complaint was made, not a tear shed. They got it, family comes first. I was very impressed with their very grown up decision. Now we are looking forward to a fun weekend with family, hopefully with much laughter and many pictures and silliness, like we always have. And for the millionith time, I'm going to try hard to be paitent and fun and get out of this funk and just enjoy the fun times. October is my favorite month for a TON of reasons, I need to enjoy it before it passes by.