10 things on new year's eve

me carrying my lil sis; swim meet

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!!

1. the boys finally left for their 1pm game time of paint balling for ham's birthday. it will be interesting to see who wins and who comes home with the most bruises.

2. really haven't been up to much this week except taking advantage of sleeping in. everyday till at least 9am if not a little later.

3. i finally did it- i got myself an iPHONE!!! its pretty sweet though i still don't know how to send a text message.

4. tonight we are going over to some friends house to ring in the new year. i cant wait- its going to be FUN FUN FUN!

5. while i hate the new year because it just reminds me that my kids are getting older, i love the new year. it means fresh new beginnings. old things are forgotten and new memories are to be made.

6. i didn't keep all of my new years resolutions from last year but i never sweat it. i know i'm not perfect! the one i do want to improve on is being a nicer person- to everyone!

7. we did take kaylee to go and see alvin and the "chickmunks"{kayleeism} one night this week. it was cute but i think the first one was better.

8. we also hit olive garden for the 3rd time in a week. its just so yummy! i even broke down and got a glass of wine and bought a bottle of it!

9. still no birthday gifts for ham. i am going to get him a few gift cards to taco bell and mcdonald's and maybe a gas card. we did go and look at some cars yesterday. just need to sell the caddy.

10. i'm thinking i could use some starbucks peppermint hot chocolate right now. {just came inside from getting the mail}

a message to my kids {word!}

how sweet is this? {via it's mary ruffle}

10 things on a sunday night while waiting for a tv show

1. kaylee with our new puppy! just kidding! thats granny's new puppy and she's adorable but i still dont want one.

2.ham thought it was cool that santa had a printer in his sleigh. (i typed up a thank-you note and signed santa's name to it. please add sarcasm)

3. mike surprised me with a pair of boots that i had tried on a few nights before christmas. i decided to wait to get them on clearance and to make sure they were "me". i don't think they're "me" but i wear them anyway.

4. we met up with mike's parents today to drop off kaylee so she could spend the night with them. by 5-6pm they were calling us because the little nugget was crying. she wanted to come home and she wanted her mama.

5. i think its been over a year that we last tried this. maybe next year. {she really loves her mama!}

6. i am starving. we have no food in the house. ok. we have food just nothing i want to take the time to prepare.

7. going backwards in my car down the driveway is pretty adventurous. even though i'm turning one way, the car goes the other way and its totally sliding. ham's car, we couldn't even get it up the driveway without flooring it. we do kinda have a steep driveway.

8. i was going to organize and purge kaylee's toys again tonight. {its been a mess since her birthday party}

9. i'm really considering an iphone now that i've looked at ham's itouch. still debating...

10. mike and i got into a fight today over what to get ham for his birthday. we both don't know what to get him.

10 things while waiting for my son to get home on a saturday night

our christmas tree 2009

1. it seemed time just flew by on christmas eve. i was cleaning, then baking a 7up pound cake and getting a relish/cheese and cracker tray ready and then it was time to go to laporte. (its about 50 minute drive from us)

2. christmas eve has been at uncle steve's house for the past few years or so but this year it went back to nana's mama's house. uncle steve's driveway is super steep and it was covered in ice.

3. the main roads weren't bad though, lucky for us.

4. ham got cash from the aunt's and uncle's while kaylee got a jacket + santa night light, a crafty kit and cash.

5. christmas morning i made sausage, biscuits and gravy- first time ever!, scrambled eggs and bacon while waiting for the kids to wake up. by 9:45am i became impatient and woke kaylee up first.

6. kaylee loved all of her gifts of course. ham, mmmm,he said it could of been better if he would have gotten a new ipod or computer. something he really "needs". so i quickly wrapped up his itouch and gave it to him. he was a happy boy.

7. then we went over my parents house for lunch and more presents. it was pretty funny because me, ham and mike would throw wrapping paper at someone and they wouldn't even know where it came from! hilarious!!

8. then us adult kids played catch phase. once again i proved my intelligence by giving out a clue of "its a popular tool" (wrench) and "its a communist country" (japan)???? i am an asian blonde and i'm ok with it. my sister in law did one too "its a big monkey...he's godzilla" (gorilla)

9. today we headed back up to laporte to celebrate christmas with mike's parents since mike's mom had to work on christmas eve. ham got 200 bucks, half of that is for his birthday though. total- he made about 400 bucks in the past 2-3 days. we ate lunch at the olive garden. it was yummy.

10. came back home and watched the hangover. it was kinda funny, i love bradley cooper though not in the wedding crashers- he was an ass in that movie.

10 things on christmas eve

photo taken last year; kaylee made the gingerbread house and blue tree

1. i was asked what are buckeyes. buckeyes are a delicious ball of peanut butter dipped in chocolate. they are called buckeyes because they look like buckeyes when finished. here's the recipe i used -super easy and kid help friendly. (you can also add some rice krispies to the peanut butter if you like an extra crunch)

2. ah christmas eve. i still have lots to do before we head over to mike's side of the family celebrations. still cleaning the house, cake baking, laundry, finishing christmas gift from last year...

3. kaylee asked me if it was christmas eve already this morning. i told her yes. she asked if it was time to open presents. i told her not till later and those are from aunts and uncles. santa's presents are tomorrow. she went back to sleep.

4. she's been wishing me a "feliz navadah" or something close to that. i seriously need to get her on video.

5. all presents, even the ones from santa, have been wrapped so when we get home tonight i can put up my feet and just rest.

6. mike brought home some fillet wrapped in bacon and grilled them while i made roasted potatoes and homemade mac-n-cheese. during dinner mike and kaylee kept saying "mmm" to everything. guess this is what happens when you haven't cooked a homemade meal in awhile.

7. mike's taking vacation after today so he will be home with the rest of his loving family for 10 days. heaven help me!! {he already got on my nerves last night}

8. one day next week he's taking a few of his buddies and a few of ham's paint balling for ham's birthday. it will be the old guys vs the young guys. the old guys have an advantage, 2 out of the 3 have gun experience.

9. i wanted to make it into a big party afterwards but ham nixed that idea. he hates being center of attention like that.

10. HOPE EVERYONE HAS A MERRY CHRISTMAS! THANKS SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ MY BLOG!!!!!

10 things on the eve of christmas eve

1. kaylee actually sitting on santa's lap and happy. funny thing, we went to bdubs earlier that day for lunch and she would not look nor would she talk to the guy under the suit. {santa came to my parents house for their party}

2. today ran and did some errands. finally got all the presents bought. just need to go out tonight for the stocking stuffers.

3. my car is back and it was about $250.00 less than what i had imagined. it no longer sounds like a monster truck.

4. made buckeyes last night and finally finished them. not, finished them, as in ate them all, but its still early in the day...

5. jenna from sweet fine day can make some wicked cool snowflakes. you must check them out! mine looks like her daughters. i seriously think i missed out on the asian genes. {my sister's good at that sort of shit}

6. smelled something a little funny in ham's car this morning. i called him out on it and supposedly its someone else. {which could be legit, this kid has been a trouble maker. ham doesn't hang out with him much} but i had to remind him to be smart about things.

7. since i was an "saint" as a teenager *ahem*sarcasm* just never thought teenagers caused this much stress.

8. kaylee told me the other day that santa wont be coming to our house because we don't have a chimney. i had to tell her he has santa dust that allows him to come inside, kinda like tinker bell fairy dust. she believed me.

9. i usually log on to my gmail account to send emails, well lately i've been sending them from my imac which is connected to my gmail account but this is much cooler. i have stationary to make them pretty and when i push send, it makes a flying airplane sound. its so cool!

10. i hope all this snow melts after christmas.

misc. things on a tuesday

1. mike throwing a snowball at me- see it? he totally missed by the way.

2. started wrapping presents last night. i love wrapping presents!

3. kaylee's apron and scribble kit from fawn & forest {super cute shop!} arrived yesterday. i was worried because their ship date was dec. 23. kinda worried about the apron, it looks tiny.

4. i also got my hooray shop goodies. i've had my eye on these tiny cloth bags, then i changed my mind and decided to make my own then i changed my mind again and ordered them. {for that dang advent calendar}

5. then the day after i placed my order, i won some goodies from her blog. i cant wait to see what she sends! it will definitely be cute!

6. if you get an occasional zit, this burts bee product is the da bomb! i had one in between my eye brows yesterday and today its gone.

7. also loving their foot creme. i put some on right after my shower and wore socks all day. my feet this morning were 50% softer. (my heels could sand down a whole forest)

8. wish i could find something for this cold sore that popped up over night. so far i've tried ice, green tea bags, rubbing alcohol, neosporin and its currently covered in toothpaste. its only 1 blister and its not so bad but it feels huge!

9. bought ham a few button down shirts so he could pick one to wear on christmas. yes! i got him to agree to wearing one on christmas (and my birthday) he has no idea what a photo op this will be for me. making up for these past 2 years of no school photos.

10. now if only santa would bring me my new camera lens!

snowy sunday

1. so saturday was not cleaning day. we headed over to our big mall and did a little bit of shopping. we headed to olive garden first for some lunch and to pick up a gift card for mike's brother + girlfriend. ended up eating lunch with mike's bff erron and wife.

2. found out she's pregnant with her 3rd child. kinda jealous. its such a big decision in getting pregnant again especially since kaylee's 5 and my overall health is an issue.

3. today was a nice day spent at home doing laundry and some light house cleaning. tomorrow i plan on grocery shopping and some heavy cleaning after my chiro appointment. yep, still going two days a week.

4. after ham's birthday in january, i plan on doing a 10 day cleanse and then my food sensitivity elimination diet. its not to lose weight but to get rid of the toxins that's in my body that's causing my allergies. for example: sugar. i could tell that my allergies were worse this week because of all the goodies i've been eating.

5. our neighbor brought over a plateful of christmas cookies and i'm the only one whose been snarfing them down.

6. my bookcase + prints look awesome. mike finally got them up tonight.

7. i plan on sleeping in for the next two weeks while ham is on break.

8. the image above is from my front porch. thats my view and its so awesome. i feel blessed whenever i see it.

9. on the way home from the big mall yesterday kaylee was playing a game with us where she gives us clues on who she's talking about like frosty the snowman, santa etc...i gave out the wrong answers on purpose letting mike win. on the the 3rd question, she whispered to me the answer. it was so cute. she just wanted me to win one.

10. kaylee and i tend to gang up on mike and its so funny. we even do the knuckle touch. i hope this continues when she becomes a teenager.

10 things on a snowy saturday

1. ham and my dad at last saturdays mom side of the family christmas party. {that's my dad's famous grandpa face, he's been making it for years!}

2. found out what was wrong with my blogger. it was operator error-silly me.

3. thursday mom took me +kaylee out shopping to find my (mike's and mine) christmas present. this was a HUGE deal because i have not done any type of shopping with my mom for years. and i mean YEARS! and it was a good experience. definitely fun. i got a new bookcase and 3 prints to go with it. photos later once mike hangs them up.

4. we got snow! kaylee + mike are over at our local park going sledding. i have no snow gear or else i would of gone. aw shucks!

5. ham texted me last night wanting to spend the night over at a friends house. i finally put my foot down and said no because its a friend i don't know very well. told ham he needs to have them come over for longer than 5 minutes.

6. winter break as its called now instead of christmas, has officially started. yeah!

7. got my dad, mike's dad their christmas presents yesterday. about 6 more people to go. i ended up spending more on kaylee's teacher's presents than i would have liked too. spent about 40 bucks for both teachers. ($10 gift cards + mugs from starbucks)

8. my car is going back into the shop monday night. its been really loud (muffler, exhaust pipe perhaps?) and needs an oil change. fingers crossed it doesn't cost us big bucks!

9. got two interests in ham's car. need to talk some reality into ham. he's looking at cars up in the chicago area etc... seriously, i know i've said it before but his wife is really going to hate me. he thought that since its "his" car we are selling and if we got a range rover he would be the one driving it, not me. *note: we are not getting a range rover, he was just looking at them

10. cleaning day today. yuck!

if i had a christmas list: part 5

somethings wrong with my blog. i hope to "catch up" later with a family post but for now please settle for these pretty things via jules. i love these modern version of the stamped necklaces thats going around.

kaylee's 5, kofro's and christmas

1. monday kaylee officially turned 5. we hosted monday night dinner with beef brisket, potatoes and carrots. bread and butter. and ended it with the famous krispy kreme donut "cake". (love this photo!)

2. yesterday kaylee and i spent the WHOLE afternoon at a friends house. just what i needed to feel "normal" again.

3. 2 more days and both kids will be on winter break for two weeks- can. not. wait!

4. monday morning made an early run to target and a mom from preschool remembered kaylee. she LOVED kaylee's outfit and feathered headband and wants it for her own daughter. (boy did i feel like a fashionista!)

5. though i personally feel like frump girl, again. yep, it must be winter.

6. jenna from sweet fine day posts that one daughter is probably the whitest half korean she has ever seen. she has not seen me yet {mike's informed me that i need to hit the tanning beds} and i'm supposedly all korean! she also posts how her mom is sporting a kofro. i had one in 6th grade and 8th grade while living in california. think it was mom's way of making sure i never got a boyfriend.

7. 9 more days till christmas and a little sad that we (kaylee and i) haven't made anything this year for christmas. last year we made a gingerbread house, ornaments and christmas trees. we still have a little time left.

8. kaylee got a gift card to get her ears pierced from her cousins. wonder if she will actually go through with it?! she's kinda wimpy when it comes to any type of pain. a little scratch brings tears.

9. been slacking and am totally behind with the thank-you cards from kaylee's party. need to get them out today!

10. sending out but a few christmas cards this year. only to those we don't see on a regular basis so if you don't get one, please don't be offended.

kaylee's 1st christmas program & other stuff

1. last night was kaylee's christmas program and it went great! she said her lines very loud and clear. i'm so proud of her!

2. that's us trying to wrestle ham into a picture; i have a pic of ham and i front of the christmas tree when he had his first christmas program; buddies who got to stand next to each other during the program. (if i look tall its because i'm wearing 3" boots)

3. mike brought home a dozen red roses and a sweet card. it was our 10 year -first time we met- anniversary. life has never been the same since.

4. we met at a bar/dance club of all places. interesting story i will have to share sometime.

5. got a semi-busy weekend. getting stuff ready for kaylee's 2nd birthday party for monday, christmas party at my mom's for her side of the family, shopping with ham on sunday.

6. kaylee and mike vetoed my mexican dinner for beef brisket (w/potatoes + carrots, bread) for her party. it just doesn't sound like party food to me.

7. happy that i have one surprise gift for ham for christmas.

8. definitely bugged mike for a new camera lens last night.

9. last night at dinner kaylee informed us she will not be playing soccer in the summer. mike's disappointed and wants to have another kid, one that will play sports. any volunteers to be surrogate?

10. while i was not feeling well yesterday it did lift my mood when the sun was shining. oh sunshine how do i love you!

guilty pleasure

can't help myself but i've been listening to her music. its been making me want to go and dance. something us (me) old people don't do anymore. she's going to be in west lafayette january 14th. seriously considering going. too spice up my ho hum life a little.

10 things right now: thursday

1. 7 of us mom's got out last night for a much deserved mom's night out. no worrying about drinks being spilled, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and whining!

2. there was no discussions about placenta's this time around but on how our husbands could be a little more helpful around the house and little boys who find their boy parts. little boys are funny.

3. we ate lots of pastas, pizza, salad and bread. i ate way too much but had to make room for my $6.00 dessert!

4. kaylee and i are suppose to be over at a friends house making ornaments right now but once again i had to cancel. this is twice now i've had to cancel our get together and it sucks.

5. woke up this morning with a killer headache and went back to bed after ham left for school. we slept till 10:30. i feel a little better.

6. i just want to be able to breath in and out of my nose, is that too much to ask for????!!!

7. kaylee's christmas program is tonight. this will be interesting to see if she will say her lines in front of everyone or if she will shy out.

8. i think i've said this before but i SO want to be adopted into this family. while its fun to sit and talk with family, this family has so much more fun with friendly football at thanksgiving, christmas tree hunting etc..

9. i'm not feeling the christmas spirit that i usually do this year. i think it has to do with no gifts for ham. i have nothing to wrap for him and feel he will be disappointed.

10. anyone want to share their christmas traditions with me? ours has been that i make a big breakfast on christmas morning, carried on by my parents but feel its a little *yawn* boring.

10 ordinary things: wednesday

1. while kaylee's party was going on, i snuck upstairs to see if ham needed help getting ready for his winter formal.

2. perfect timing. they were still in ham's room so i had them trapped into taking a few pics. don't they look fantastically handsome/beautiful?? and look at those killer shoes the girls are sporting!

3. i'm hoping ham will get me some more pics from other mom's especially one of just ham and his friend date and one of just the guys.

4. i'm not so sure ham would of told me he was leaving so i'm glad i got upstairs when i did. {he would of been in BIG trouble if he had left without telling me}

5. i have a pile of clothes that needs to be returned ala ham. he ordered 4 t-shirts, a winter cap + a backpack. all but one t-shirt is being returned. {he's been ordering his christmas presents}

6. so i feel lucky to have found him a gray zippered hoodie yesterday at the big mall. its the right shade of gray, the fit is perfect and the logo is not too big and yes, his future wife is going to hate me.

7. while shopping for ham, found me a few tops too. surprise surprise. ok, not really.

8. i told mike that i wanted to move to europe. i really dont care where. i want a foreign accent. i feel so ordinary.

9. i've also been having a bad case of the brain farts this week.

10. needing some non toy stocking stuffer ideas? go here and read the comments. fantastic ideas!

kaylee's 5th birthday party part 1

1. this year i let go of my control freakishness and let kaylee make her birthday invitations. i wrote every ones name down for her and she did the rest. i think she did an awesome job. on the back i printed up all the info on large address labels since i hate my own handwriting.

2. i did make her birthday banner 3 years ago and its held up very nicely. (the black letters has glitter all over them but its hard to tell from the pic)

3. we played games- stomp the balloons even though the balloons wouldn't pop, hot potato and kristi says (kaylee won that game every time!)

4. ate hot pizza dip with flower shaped bread, spirals (tortilla wraps), mini quiches, chili with corn bread and cheese pizza for the kids.

5. her birthday cake was her favorite- krispy kreme donuts! 2 dozen regular size and 1 box of the mini size for the kids.

6. she ended up getting a bunch of crafty items which will be great for when we hibernate, have i ever mentioned how much i hate the cold?, an american girl doll from nana and pop pop, a snuggie from nana's mama (that's what we call her) and a gold heart necklace from me, mike and ham. {she did get some toys too!}

7. no 5 year old's birthday is ever complete without a little football wager by daddy and his buddy brent. losers team gets to go swimming in the pond. fortunately the pond was a little frozen. unfortunately for loser daddy, the river was not.

8. two girls got to spend the night. by 11:30, i told them it was time to go to sleep. no one argued and they were asleep 5 minutes flat. they were all partied out.

9. even though nothing i had originally planned for the party turned out, it was still a fun time.

10. sometime during the party i asked kaylee if she was having fun. she said yes, that her necklace was the best gift ever and that she loves me. she even gave me a kiss on the cheek. i swear i have the best kids in the world! *biased? me? NOOO!*

* just a note: she did wear her new dress for like 5 minutes then the girls started to play dress up and she ended up wearing her famous flower girl dress from a year ago(?) we definitely got our moneys worth out of that dress!

at this moment: friday

1. i love these enamel house and name plaques from ramsign.

2. got a busy busy day today. chiro, grocery store, clean the house, decorate ... all in the name of kaylee's birthday party.

3. super cute- kaylee asked if the whole family was "ajun". i told her daddy is the only one not "ajun." {i left out the part that he's just a mutt in case she decides to repeat it back to him}

4. she even asked if the cats and our old dog was "ajun". (one cat and dog both died while she was toddling around. i think she remembers them from pictures)

5. remembered last night that i have 3 more kids to buy for. mike's cousin/goddaughter and her two step brothers.

6. ham tried on his suit for me last night. he looks like a handsome little man in it.

7. i have yet to go and see blindside but considering waiting till it comes out on dvd because every time i see the trailer i get a little misty eyed.

8. i cleaned and organized my side of the closet yesterday. i swear it wasn't as bad as mike's side. did find that i have a lot more clothes that are too small than what fits me. need to seriously work on that.

9. just stepped outside for a moment, its COLD out there! i'm seriously a wimp when it comes to cold weather!

10. the other night, mike said that i might have been right about the curtains. *smug smile on my face*. they do look 100 times better than the fake, bulky, generic wood-like blinds.

i LOVE!

these paper suitcases! think they would look great in my craft room so i can hide some of my crafting junk, i mean stuff. {1. simplesong, 2. paper source, 3. land of nod and 4. pink loves brown}

on my loser mind: thursday

1. love this advent idea from herz-allerliebst - little gifts beautifully wrapped and placed in a paper suitcase. {been loving these paper suitcases too!}

2. yep, while procrastinating last night found myself another blog that i absolutely ADORE! {see #1} i want her to come to my house and redecorate for me.

3. received an email from abercrombie and fitch, if i spend at least $175.00 they will cover my shipping. granted with their prices its not hard to do but come on a+f, give me a better deal!

4. i hope little kaylee isn't getting sick. she had a slight runny nose last night and feel asleep on the couch before 8:30 and she woke up early saying she had a sore throat. {she's back asleep on the couch}

5. christmas shopping is about done. my parents and mike's dad is all that's left aka the hardest people in the world to shop for. oh and ham.

6. ham and his buddy went and rented suits for the winter formal saturday evening. for those that will be here for kaylee's birthday party will get to see him all handsome and i'm super giddy about it! {but don't make it a big deal ok? he doesn't like the attention- tee hee}

7. i told him he HAS to bring his date here for photos and not to deny me of my moment. {this is what mom's live for}

8. ever have those days when you feel like a big LOSER?? yeah, me too except mine's out there in the web world floating around for all to see.

9. but then again i am only human.

10. i love hearing kaylee sleep. she makes some weird sounds.

10 things right now: tuesday

1. my baby. he's almost 17. and its killing me. killing me i tell ya!

2. he takes joy in calling me midget.

3. funny-his dad {my ex} use to call his mom beagle. {he wanted a beagle dog}

4. i'm taking a break from hemming my curtains though i'm cheating by using heat and bond. i love heat and bond.

5. though an engineer i am not. i'm taking a break because i just heated and bonded the hem on the wrong side. can we say I-D-I-O-T??

6. and i'm starvin marvin. still hoping for a personal chef someday. {not really holding my breath}

7. i feel like i've gotten nothing done today even though i've been going non-stop.

8. just found out, like seconds ago, ham is taking a girl to the winter formal this saturday!

9. my baby is really killing me!

10. ok. back to work.