A Christmas party!

Taylor with her face painted from her party at school.

Tuesday was a wonderful, busy day. I got to take a half day off at work and go to Taylor's Christmas party at school. It was nice to see what she does at school and be able to enjoy her and her friends. I got to help with her art project, which was a Santa hat with her name on it spelled out in glue and glitter and then we also made a paper chain, which is on our Christmas tree. I got to see how she learns and how much she has learned since starting there in September. Taylor is a very private child. When I get home from work on Tuesdays and Thursdays (her school days), I make dinner and when we sit down to eat I ask her how school was. She usually (95% of the time) answers good. Then I ask her what she did and she says nothing. I know she isn't doing nothing because she says things that I know she wouldn't normally know and sings songs I have never sang to her before, but she won't let me in her secret world of preschool. Going to her school really let me in and she was excited for me to be there.

Two of her little friends sat next to me during circle time and when it was time for her to sit down, she came over, sat on my lap and told the one little boy "She's my mom!" I thought it was too funny, but I explained to her that his mom wasn't there so he just wanted to sit next to me and she was okay with that, but she did have to sit on my lap the rest of the time. I am really impressed with how far she has come. We put Taylor in preschool because she doesn't play well with kids her own age. She plays well with younger kids and kids that are older than her, but not kids her own age. She interacts very well with the kids in her class and is very polite to them even when they are not very nice to her. Case in point, there is a child in her class that likes to push, hit and take toys off the other kids. The teacher does make the child sit in time out, but she continues to do it. This particular child pushed Taylor and the mother in me wanted to grab the girl and tell her not to touch my child again, but I didn't and Taylor just let it go. A little while later the girl pushed her again and she looked back at me like she wanted me to say something to her. I just gave Taylor a look like "you handle it."

She went over to the girl and said "Abby, you just pushed me."

Abby's response, "I know. You were in my way."

Taylor calmly told her "If you would have said excuse me, I would have moved out of your way and the next time you push me I'll have to tell the teacher because that is not how we behave."

It never happened again and I couldn't have been prouder.

After I got off work Tuesday night, the girls got their hair cut. They both got it cut much shorter than the last time, but I think they both look absolutely adorable! Taylor wanted her hair short is what she told the lady, but after last time's melt down, I wasn't so sure. When she was done, she looked in the mirror and said, "Julie did it absolutely perfect!" It was so sweet.

Last night my mom, me, my sister, CJ, Casia, Taylor, and Callee all ventured out to see the light display and Santa at Kraynak's. It was wonderful, but I left my digital camera in the car and didn't realize it until we were leaving so I have no pictures.

I am so excited for this weekend. It is going to be jam packed which I'm not looking forward to but I love seeing family and watching my kids open gifts and tell people why we have Christmas. This is the first year I am actually excited about Christmas in a long time, but it was well worth the wait. I hope everyone else has a great Christmas too. I probably won't post until Tuesday because I will be that busy tomorrow and through the weekend!

Blah Blah Blogging

I hope every one's Thanksgiving was good. We watched the Macy's parade and then headed out to family's houses. We started at my mother in law's which was fun and the food was yummy. We drew names for our Secret Santa exchange and then let the kids play for a while. We all had a good time, but then it was time to head to my mother's. We ate more there (wonderful food) and then played games. Unfortunately the boys (Mike, Josh and CJ) won, but my mom and I don't care we know we're better anyway. We played Scene It Friends edition, they got lucky! A better post on Monday!

WW-CJ and Callee

What a night

First of all, let me address the whole couch thing. Taylor and I think it is more of a green color and Mike and my mom swear it's blue. My brother said to me last night, in the picture it looks green, but at your house it's blue. So I guess I won in pictures, but at home...who knows! I still think it's green.

Last night I was sitting there watching TV at 10:30 when I got a call from a blocked number. I only have two people who call from a blocked number and neither of them usually call that late. I answered and it sounded like my friend Jenn. I said, "Hey what are you doing?" and the voice on the other end said, "This is you sister!" Oops!

"I need you to come pick me up."

"Where are you?"

"Home, but the air is no longer in my tires and I have no way out."

"I'm on my way."

I called my little sister so I didn't have to drag my kids out of bed and I hurried over there not knowing what to expect. Just my sister, niece, and nephew were there and they were packed and ready to go. I brought them back to my house where they will stay for a while. I confess to being torn about this. I love the idea of living with my sister again. I lived with her until my nephew was 2 and I loved being around them all the time. The only problem is, I now have a husband and add 2 more kids to that mix! My house is going to be crazy for a little while and I will embrace every minute of it.

I have realized through all of this how lucky I am. Mike never asked, "Can't they go somewhere else?" or "We really don't have the room." I apologized to him and his response was, "Don't be. She is your sister and we will do what we have to for however long. Our house won't be clean for quite a while though." I think I just fell in love all over.

A post of pictures

My mother's house was raided by grand kids last night. My sister and I have always met at my mom's to take the kids trick or treating together and last night was no different. My poor mom though, her house was trashed in the first 10 minutes, but what a trooper she is. She never complains of the messes they make she just says, "Don't take pictures, I don't want people to think this is what my house looks like all the time!" So, here is the disclaimer, anywhere my kids go there will be a mess. No body's houses are usually messy, we just happen to be there.

Taylor in her Care Bear costume. She didn't like the hood on so she's trying to take it off. Callee in her monkey costume. What else was she supposed to be? She is a monkey! Callee and daddy. He was trying to get her to stand so I could get the whole costume. I wanted to get the back too cuz she had the cutest tail, but that wasn't happening.

My niece as a cheerleader. Taylor in the background trying to get her hood back on cuz I told her she better leave it on.

My nephew. There are actual pictures of him below, but he just loved this picture. Something about mysterious?

And here the agony begins. I could not get a good picture of them. My nephew does think he is a rock star though. Taylor, again, doesn't have her hood up and where is Callee?

Callee is trying to make a break for it and I think my niece was the only one ready for that picture. Oops.

Taylor eating pizza after trick or treat. Her and CJ quit early so they ate and got bathed while we waited for Casia and Callee to come back.

He is a goofy child, but I love him.

He thinks he's sexy or something. I don't think he realizes he's only 7. He was talking about his girlfriend at school. When did he grow up?




Overall it was a good night. Now I can't wait for the weekend!

The weekend...finally

Callee is ready to go.

Okay so I finally get to blog about my weekend. My friend Ashley who was in the accident with me came into town to visit. I love when Ashley comes to town and so do my kids, especially Taylor. One thing you need to know is Ashley didn't always live in Pittsburgh. We met our Freshman year of college and have been friends ever since. I spent a lot of time with Ashley even after having Taylor because the girl loves kids. It was never an inconvenience that I had Taylor. She majored in early childhood education and now works as a nanny for a wonderful family, so Taylor was and still is always included in our outings. Very rarely do I leave my kids with Mike when Ashley is around because it isn't an issue with her. I love that about her. I never feel like I have to sacrifice my time with them to hang out with a friend. Also, Ashley is content hanging around my house so I never feel as if I am ignoring Mike either. She really is a great friend.

Taylor just chillin'!!!

Taylor became extremely close to Ashley in the months following the accident. As I have said before, Callee screamed for 9 1/2 months. Well, the first 4 or so months, Mike was on midnights and the child didn't care that nobody was there to walk with her, she still screamed at 12, 2, 4, and 6 a.m. It was really rough to know that she would quiet down if you would walk with her, but I could hardly walk myself and wouldn't walk with her because I fell all the time. That is where Ashley came in. I don't know if it was out of guilt (she was driving) or that she was just that good of a friend, I like to think the latter because she didn't do anything wrong and did everything to avoid the accident, but if she wasn't at school or work, she was at our house helping out. I had people who helped out beside her, but most of them were family. She is the only friend who would spend hours on end at my house helping with the baby or helping with dishes, baths, stories, playing, anything I needed. I appreciated all of that and mostly the company that she kept me. It is really hard after having a baby to feel like yourself again and when your husband is doing everything he can to support his family, he can't always be there. She helped me to not fall in too big of a funk. She would tell me to go to bed about 10 and she would either be there all night or at least until 3 or so. I would sleep that entire time. It was the greatest 5 hours of sleep ever! I knew my baby would be taken care of and yes I felt guilty letting her stay up all night with her, but I knew if I didn't get those few hours of sleep Taylor and Callee would have an irritated, crabby mother all the time and Callee would sense that and cry that much more.

She loves cookies!!!

Okay, that is not where this post was supposed to go, but apparently I needed to get it out or something. Anyways, Ashley picked up dinner on her way into town and we all had great food. My sister-in-law, who has also became friends with Ashley was there too. My sister came later. If you can't tell, Ashley is like having another sister. My mother even invited her to all our family things when she lived an hour and a half from her family. Ashley has just kinda been adopted and her mother has kinda adopted me too. Okay I digressed again. We had a great night sitting around talking and laughing. We got up Saturday morning and took Taylor to dance class. When we got home from there, it was time for Callee to take a nap. Ashley and I sat outside and watched Taylor ride her bike for a couple hours while Callee slept.

Ashley and Taylor at dinner. Gotta love the beer sign right over their heads in the background.

After Callee got up it was time to go get something to eat and say goodbye to Ashley. She had to go watch the kids she used to watch when she lived around here so her visit was short lived. We had dinner, talked, laughed, and took pictures. It was a really good visit with her, but as usual, it didn't last long enough. When you are used to having somebody around at least 5 days a week, 16 hours just seems to fly by.

Callee being rotten and getting everything out from under the sink:After Ashley left, Mike, me, Josh, CJ, Casia, Taylor, Callee, and Emma decided to go for a walk. First of all, it was like 105 degrees. We decided to take a two mile walk with 4 kids and a dog, and along the way, we picked up Kara and Makayla. Can you even imagine how much fun this walk was not? Everybody made it back alive, but only after much bickering and complaining. I was in bed by 10:00 p.m. on Saturday night and it felt great. I have been so exhausted lately, so the early bedtime was welcomed with open arms.

We went to church Sunday, as always, and I went to my Grandma's for dinner. My aunt had brought her new puppy with her. He is so cute. His name is Gizmo and here he is:

I hope everyone elses weekend and now week have been good. This post is a lot longer than I expected it to be. Sorry about that.

I almost forgot....Go Tribe....they eliminated the Yankees in game 4 last night. I hope this is their year! Maybe I'll post about my love for the Indians tomorrow, complete with pics from the game I went to last year about a month before I had Callee. Let me tell you how comfortable I was, but I still loved every minute of it.

This and That

Yesterday my sister and I took all the kids to McDonald's to play. I know, huge germ pit and really, what lives in there anyway? This McDonald's doesn't have a ball pit, only the tubes and slides and such, so in my eyes it's not quite as disgusting. The kids had a ball, except for Callee who had to sit on time out. She has such an attitude; it really is amazing how young these girls get them. I thought I had at least a few more years before this started, you know at least until puberty and hormones. Not a chance with this child. I was holding her milk for her so she wouldn't spill it, but she didn't want to take a drink that way, she wanted to hold it herself. Not a chance Callee Rose. She started throwing a fit and crying, you had to be there to really appreciate the attitude that comes out in these times. So we put her on time out. I thought she was screaming before that. She was wailing so hard and so loud it was borderline embarrassing. When her minute was up, she was all blotchy and red from screaming so I offered her the milk again (this was mean I know, but I wanted to see if what they say is true. They say if you use time out before they are 2 you are wasting your time because they don't get the concept and will keep repeating the behavior.) Well, she drank the milk nicely without having to hold it herself. Moral of the story: Callee is either a genius or these "experts" aren't so smart. I think I will keep doing things my way.

Here is another issue I have been thinking about lately: potty training. Not that I expect her to be potty trained in the next 6 months or anything, but we started sitting Taylor on the potty to get her comfortable with it when she was only 9 months. Callee is 14 months and has only sat on a potty one time. Taylor was completely potty trained one month after she turned 2 and at this rate Callee will be going to kindergarten with diapers. Ok, probably not, but I should probably start her sitting on the potty and trying to teach her the way I was teaching Taylor way before this age. The problem is I stayed home until Taylor was almost 3. I wish I could take a year off and get Callee potty trained and then go back to work. Am I doing a disservice to Callee by working? Is Taylor the one better off because I stayed home with her? I hate these guilty feelings, am I spending too much time with one and not enough with the other? Is this one going to get mad because that one got to do (fill in the blank)? I think I'm going to go scream now.

The Parade

Callee hanging out in her stroller waiting for the parade to begin.

Like I said yesterday, I took the girls to a parade on Sunday. My mom, me, my brother, CJ, Casia, Taylor, and Callee all ventured out to Lordstown for their Apple Cider Festival Parade. My nephew hates fire truck sirens, fireworks, and really any loud noises, so when the fire trucks came by, my mom had to hold his ears and he really was uninterested in the candy until they passed. We saw all kinds of cool tractors and four wheelers. There was a fire truck that had a dog mascot riding on the front which the girls really liked. They were so busy picking up the candy that they really didn't see too much of the parade. CJ saw the dog, but wasn't too impressed because of the fire truck with the loud sirens that accompanied it. I just wanted to show a few of the pictures that were a result of the day. We had a really good time and the parade lasted over an hour!

The marching band starting things off!

Casia and Taylor picking up candy and still trying to watch what's going on.

The dog on the fire truck!

He really doesn't like the sirens from the fire trucks. Doesn't he look happy?

There were so many four wheelers being driven around. This one was just so little and cute, I had to take a picture.
There were several tractors there too including one with a very pretty girl on it. My brother thought her tractor was sexy, but this was my favorite. If you click on it, you can read what it says under "Rita's Hope". I really enjoyed this tractor!

The day the world changed!

Okay so everyone knows what today is. It is the day (well 6 years ago) that the world changed. Everyone from my generation will be saying, I remember exactly where I was when I got the news, much like my mom does about the JFK assassination. Well, I remember where I was, begging my nephew who had just turned one to go back to sleep! My nephews first birthday was exactly two weeks prior and I watched him for my sister while she worked. Unfortunately, I worked afternoons and he had gotten up particularly early that morning so I was begging him to please take a nap. I had him almost all the way asleep and my cell phone rang, it was my sister from work, I wanted to kill her. She asked what we were doing and I told her, she asked me to get up and turn on the tv. I did like she wanted me to and there was the second plane hitting! I couldn't believe it. I remember holding my nephew rocking him and crying. I couldn't believe it. That is when I started hating Bush and I haven't quit yet. But, oh well I voted so I can be upset he is still in office. Well, before I make any enemies, let me stop there.

Callee is feeling much better today and her fever finally broke as she was up screaming at 2:30 this morning. I got no sleep, I hate my job, and I can't find a way to give my two weeks notice. I am actually afraid to do it. What am I going to do and why can't I stand up to this man? Ahhhhh....I want to scream!

Taylor started preschool

Taylor started preschool on Tuesday. She goes every Tuesday and Thursday and so far, she seems to like it. On Tuesday when we dropped her off, she broke my heart. There are about 14 kids in her class (3 teachers), but 10 of them go to the same church. Taylor doesn't happen to be in that group. She looked so sad and lonely standing there by herself. She is so shy that she won't introduce herself to anyone, but she said she did meet a little boy named Connor. Hopefully this will help her and she will become used to her new routine. She didn't cry at all though which really impressed me. On the first day she got to paint a big apple and she loves to paint so she was thrilled. She can also tell you apple starts with "a" and she knows how to spell her name. Before when you asked her to spell her name, she would say T-a-y and then a bunch of other letters that are not in her name. Now she can tell you T-a-y-l-o-r. I was pretty impressed. I'm not sure what she got to do today, one of the downfalls of working full time, but I'm sure I'll hear all about it if she'll talk to me on my lunch and if not at 5:30. I miss my girls so much when I'm at work, especially when I have really bad days like today, but I know I'm doing this for them to have a better life and we are doing the best we can. I just hope someday they understand that too.

We had a really busy weekend and like always every place we went I forgot my camera. I get so mad at myself about that. Saturday was my nephews birthday party. Nothing special just cake and ice cream and presents. It was nice because the kids all got to play together and then apparently Casia and Taylor didn't get enough of each other because Tay stayed at my sister's house. They had a really good time and she came home Sunday afternoon.

When Taylor got home, we went to Mike's grandma's for a picnic and some games. We played lasso golf and corn holes, which I suck at both but it was still fun. All the kids were running around and we ate way too much food. It was all so good you had to try a little of everything. Time went so fast while we were there and by the time I checked the time it was 8:30. That is Callee's normal bed time so no wonder why she was so fussy. We headed home to put two exhausted little girls to bed and an exhausted mommy followed not long after. It was overall a great day, but I was beat and I knew Monday was going to be just as bad.

Monday my sister and I took her two kids and Taylor to the Canfield fair. Mike had to help his sister move so he couldn't go and we knew Callee wouldn't get a nap if we took her so Mike's mom watched her for a couple hours. CJ, Casia, and Taylor rode every ride they could and ate a lot of food. They got to play this game and no matter what you won, so it was nice for them. They all had a really good time, but again after walking in the sun for hours I was completely exhausted and sun burned. It was a great end to a great summer and I can't wait until next time, except my baby will be 2 next summer...SCARY!!!

I hope everyone else had a great weekend and a wonderful week!

Taylor loves to pose, but at this point probably wished I would have put the camera down!

SEVEN!!!

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear CJ. Happy birthday to you.

Today is my nephew CJ's birthday and he is now 7 years old. I can remember when he was the cutest little chubby baby. Although he is still very cute, he is so far from chubby. I just wanted to say happy birthday CJ, B loves you!

I wanted to get a picture of Mr. Handsome this weekend but I of course forgot my camera at work. So here is one from this past halloween.