If life were only as simple as a database.....

Leaving on a jet plane

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:27:00 +0000

Wish us luck, one 3 year old and one 18 month old on a plane....to California.... tonight. I hope to post a summer recap when we get back. It's been one crazy summer:-) But I will no longer neglect this blog!

July....and it's still cold

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:23:00 +0000

I've been meaning to post, but just don't have a concrete post in my head. Plus with kids, the job, and home projects. it's just hard to find the time. I have been trying to get up earlier to get things done and have time to myself. That has helped. I have also been sick off and on. I keep catching the bugs that go around Chad's office...oddly enough Chad does not always get these bugs. Right now I have a sore throat that just sounds worse than it is.
So far we only went swimming once this summer. It just hasn't been warm enough consistently. The past few days have been nice, and almost swim weather. But this morning it's raining and there is a slight chill in the air again. We have a nice beach just minutes from our house too!
Oh well we are enjoying evenings outside when we can at least.
Hopefully more later!

Why am I cold in June?

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:14:00 +0000

OK, so I have lived in Michigan all my life. So why does it surprise me that last week it was unbearably hot
"no kids we can't go outside...wow look how burned I got for standing on the front porch for a minute" HOT.

BUT

This week....the past few days especially I have contemplated wearing sweatshirts. Go figure.

When it's not raining we have been riding bikes and organizing the garage. One day we found this in the garage:It is a Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) or at least that is what I could figure from this butterfly website.

Last Saturday we took the boys to see a fireworks show in Port Huron. They both did so well and we all enjoyed the show very much. Manu didn't even flinch at the "booms" (he cries at loud noises normally) he just was contently sitting on my lap. We hope to catch another show sometime this weekend.

Happy Birthday Denise!!

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:22:00 +0000

I just wanted to steal Denise’s blog for just a moment. On this day the love of my life came into this world. We grew up about a mile apart and probably crossed paths many times when we were kids. We’ve been a couple for over 14 years now (married for 10) and I haven’t been happier in my life. I can’t begin to imagine what my life would be like without Denise in it. If it wasn’t for you I’d be standing for hours in front of the bananas at a supermarket somewhere trying to figure out which bunch to pick.

Thank you for being a wonderful mom to two crazy little boys. I know it’s not easy being a Working stay at home mom trying to stay at your computer to get your work done, getting the boys dressed and fed, keeping them from beating each other up, then worrying about making a sensible low calorie dinner. But it could be worse; we could be trying to sell the house. You give more of yourself every day to your work and your family than most people do in a year. You are a fun, thoughtful and loving person and the boys and I are lucky to have you in our lives.

Happy Birthday Denise! I know I’m not that great at making good decisions for events like today, but I hope you have a wonderful day!

I love you!

Chad

Is that Chad or is it Smokey???

Yippeee Summer!

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Happy belated Father's day to my wonderful husband Chad! How wonderful is he you ask? Well Saturday he (with assistance from Daniel) took Belle to the vet...when he left the house was realtively peaceful. When he came home I was standing in the living room knee deep in loveseat and couch cushions and pillow "insides", with my mom's steam cleaner in hand. I turned to him and said "WE HAVE to get these in the washer! I can't take the smell anymore!" Well instead of turning around and running from the crazy lady he helped. After we got the covers in the washer, he steam cleaned the back of the couch and helped pick up more and THEN proceeded to vacuum all on his own.

OH I guess I should explain about the "smell". It goes back to our dear kitty Tess, whom we still miss terribly. Well at the end she was kind of peeing on lots of things....one of those things being the couch. It was only certain areas and I think we have treat those to an acceptable point. But I could still smell a small funk. I realized that she may not have peed on the cushions themselves....but she did lay on them. The last time we put the covers in the washer it was kind of a hassle. This time not so bad, and the smell seems to be gone for now. At any rate we are in the market for new living room furniture.

We had an awesome day together yesterday, it was so nice that it also happened on the first day of summer. Our church has been having fundraisers for a teen mission trip so I "hired a teen" to mow the lawn. So Chad got a break from that, and we got to spend a quiet Sunday together. He even got to go to Home Depot all by himself.....no child to take along. We also spent some time with Chad's dad on Saturday. We took him out to dinner and they watched a ballgame together while I took the kids for a walk. For not planning much or having any kind of agenda, it was a great weekend!

Tada! And other things:-)

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:00:00 +0000

So we have been a little busy around here the past few weeks. Mostly with house projects. I already blogged about the garage sale. I am proud to say that all of that got moved back into the basement and is actually organized for the next one......whoo hoo yay us!

Oh......the week before we had our garage sale, it was our anniversary. The Friday evening before we had a picnic and then went for a hike in a beautiful state recreation area by our house. We LOVED it, Belle loved it. We had a nice family hike, we SWORE we were going to be back again and again.....heck we even noted that it would be a great place to take Chad's dad fishing. Then we came home.....and found ticks! Lots of ticks! The poor dog never got such a bath and inspection. So.....we won't go back. Even with a repellent, it is just not worth the risk to any member of our family. OH well. We have great pictures to remember it at least.

The next night we went out for the night, and left the kids at Papa and Grandma's house. It was weird to be home without the kids, dog, or cat (sniff), for a whole night and morning. But it was needed. We went to pick up the boys and from there headed to Greenfield Village with some friends. We got to ride a train....but I think Daniel was a little disappointed. Because now when he says he wants to go on a train, he clarifies it with "I want to go on an inside train". Manu kept asking to get down about halfway into the ride......and well that was a little scary since it was an open air train.

This past week we finally finished up the front flower bed. We need to add some mulch. I choose cedar. I like the bright color, but mostly I hope they will keep the bugs around our house at bay. We have a lot of open lots around our house with standing water which can attrack bugs. We keep bugging (lol pun) the village and association about it hopefully it will be cleared in the summer.

I am really happy with how it turned out. I have some roses planted that won't bloom until maybe next year so more color is on the way. But it is so much better than what it was.
I still want to brick in the space to the right of the house. We just put mulch down so it looked finished until we can get to that project. Oh now our porch is "fixed", but we'll see how long it lasts. There is more drama to that, but....I will just move on.
Next we need to work on organizing the garage so we can get the van in:-)

And as promised, my finished (ahmm sorta) vegetable garden. We still need to put up a trellis, but I have a makeshift one for the snap peas in the meantime. I am just so happy it's pretty much done. Chad did a great job!

Now there are a bunch of projects that need to be done in the house. Ones that involve me to be organized and neat and clean.......things I am not lol!

Garage Sale update

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:17:00 +0000

Well the sale didn't go that bad. At first we were kind of disappointed with the slow pace. But then we started to find out from neighbors that they made less and had the same traffic problem. Today at church I mentioned to the pastor's wife that we had a garage sale this weekend and she said they had one too. She only did slightly better than us, and she has older kids and had more items out. We figured that we were both in sub sales....and there were so many going on all over, people were just driving by and thinking "oh maybe I will go back to that one" but never coming back for whatever reason (spent to much already lol). So while participating in a sub sale we help get more traffic, it must also overwhelm buyers...plus the people who shop at them...may have been holding there own.
At any rate....we kind of caught the garage sale bug. The "good" stuff that didn't sell....we are just going to put back in the basement (we have enough room) and try again next time. We feel kind of challenged and want to figure out what to do different. I know there is still a lot of things we can put out there.
Having cold drinks, chips, and cookies seemed to help. It especially helps to have a cute little boy trying to sell them. We bought things that we could eat or drink after so the cost isn't really additional.
We did get a lot of yard work and other things accomplished while holding the sale. We did so much yard work on Saturday we never noticed the lulls to much.
I am so happy that we finally tackled the front flower bed. It is almost done it just needs some more annuals and mulch. Of course while doing that I decided on another project so the front isn't quite done. But it feels so much better to look at flowers instead of nasty hard ugly dry clay. I will post pictures soon (ok I won't say promise...but I am honestly so happy with how it turned out I can't imagine I would forget.
Hope everyone had a good weekend. Today is the last day of our vacation, and I know it is going to be a long day tomorrow.....if you know where I work and watch the news you should know....a really really really long day.....what a way to time a return from a vacation.

Garage Sale

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:47:00 +0000

We had decided a while back to take this week off. Mostly to officially "move in"....there were still some odd boxes laying in various places and just some general disorganization that was driving us nuts. After making that decision some people in our neighborhood message group had decided to have a garage sale this weekend. So we decided to join in, and just make that our motivation to get some other stuff done. Some things I have learned

Yes we do have enough "stuff" to hold a garage sale
Yes people actually do show up on Thursday at 8 am
The people who show up on Thursday at 8 am, can be a little quirky
The thing you figure won't sell....will be one of the first things to go
I have the urge to explain why I am selling everything. But I am sure the lady buying the "our cat" brag book doesn't need to know that I bought that years ago and the cat just died and I feel awful for never using it...she was such a good cat....blah blah blah....hey at least I didn't tell her just silently told myself in my head....I'm not crazy.
Daniel is a good salesman, he got 3 ladies to buy the snacks and cold drinks we bought.....he promptly turned around and tried to buy some himself with his earnings.

It is muggy and raining right now (whoo hoo the air is being installed as I type)......it is supposed to be nice the rest of the week. So hopefully we will sell out.

Maybe I should do a live blog on Saturday lol.

Adventures with a new home

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:12:00 +0000

So, I am very very VERY grateful to be out of the old house and here in the new house. You can't imagine the number of times I stop and thank God for my home. Especially considering where we live and the economic times, we are well aware of how lucky we are. However.....that doesn't mean we still have our own aggravations.
I mentioned a couple of posts ago about getting our porch fixed. Well after telling us nothing can be done until July, some guys just showed up and started to tear it up. While there was no warning and not any time to discuss it, I was happy. My porch was getting fixed.
Of course while they were taking out cement, digging, and pouring....the boys eagerly watched. Imagine the excitement when the loader pulled up into the driveway to take away the debris. Well as they watched, I also watched. I thought it was kind of funny that they didn't really prepare the ground as I expected. I watch my share of home improvement shows and well don't you put gravel down? I thought it was different that they just piled more dirt up in a mound.....but heck what do I know right....when they pour they will do all that....right? Well um no.
So last night while out walking we started chatting with another neighbor who has the same style house with the same issue. He wasn't to happy either. All of the things that bothered me bothered him as well. At that point he had already started to make calls and complain.
So this afternoon when they cam to finish the job. I was all ready to fight and ask my questions. "Why isn't there gravel down" "How do I know this isn't going to happen again".....Well the first question he couldn't answer, the second question he said "well you get it fixed again" (gee thanks)...and then he proceeded to tell me "my boss told me to do this house, that house...so I got to put these down"
....(ok and trying to remain PC....but English was not this man's first language, while I don't have a problem with that.....it kind of stalled my smack down)......
So after a few minutes of back and forth (lol I think at one point I said something like "yes you say it's dry, I agree it's dry, God and the whole heaven agrees it's dry....but is it fixed?") he finally said "ok well I can call my boss, you don't want me to put these in"
and I said "No, sorry you got stuck in the middle of this"

After that I watched him go to the neighbor. That conversation looked more interesting. Bonus, he got on the guy's cellphone at some point (probably to speak to the "boss")...he was sent away from there....and the same thing happened at the third house. I laughed to myself thinking "ha, yes, I stood up to THE man....strength in numbers.....who hoo aren't I a toughie"

That is when I remembered my arm..........

Hey it may be temporary.....but it sure makes mommy a bad @ss;-)

Mommy Day

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:06:00 +0000

Weird....I thought I posted this yesterday, guess I never did.

Happy Mothers' day to all the ladies out there. Especially to my mom Chet and My Mother-in-Law Joni.
Right now I am enjoying the end of a nice weekend at my mom's house. Daniel had left on Thursday with my sister to have a mini vacation at Grandma's. He was a good boy and charmed everyone he met.
Yesterday it rained all morning, we had planned on going on a hike as soon as possible. We were really hoping to try out the !phone$ with Geocaching....but it was looking like we were going to be out of luck. BUT after dinner it cleared up enough that we were able to make it to the state park and go on a hike. There was a ranger there and she gave the boys junior ranger badges and had Daniel take an oath to protect the animals, it was really cute.

We found to caches and even found a travel bug. Daniel was a little upset, because he didn't see any "animals" he swore to protect. It was a really nice hike, and on the drive back we saw a beautiful sunset.
This mother's day so far is just right, no crazy running around, no worrying about if the house is clean enough for a showing. I am just thankful for everything and everyone I have in my life. I am also grateful for all the wonderful woman in my life who continue to show me how to be a mom.

Schedules are filling up

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:55:00 +0000

My oh my, is it getting busy lately. But a good kind of busy. It's weird how your schedule fills up between may and September, then again between November and January. I prefer the spring/summer busy to the winter one. There is just more daylight to fill the hours. Plus I can spend a lot of time outdoors.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a garden design I saw at S@m's club that I wanted. Well, I happen to marry a very handy guy who loves a good challenge. The garden is almost complete. Mostly we just need to finish filling it with soil and Chad needs to put up a trellis (which I have a redesign for;-) I am doing a square foot garden since we don't have as much room, and it just seems more efficient for us. My in-laws have been doing it for a few years now and have great success. The hard part is finding all the soil components. When it's all planted I will post pictures.

The other thing we have been working on is getting our porch fixed. The steps are just dangerous and not to code. I also want to just redesign it so it's more useful. Because we are still under a builders warranty, the builder should have to fix it (we would pay for the extra cost of the redesign). BUT the warranty company doesn't want to fix it until our 11th month. That way they can do all fixes at once. It's all starting to become a big hassle, and we may have to wait until July.

Also, we want to put up a fence in the backyard. There is already a fence in the back of the yard and on one side. So we just need to finish it off. The problem is we need to get approval from our association. You think that would be easy,
"hey how do I go about getting this approved"
"here fill out this from"
oh no no no.....it took about 6 e-mails back and forth to get that. Although now that we have the from, it should be easier from here on out....should.

We had meeting to go to last night so my sister came down and watched the kids. This morning, she is going to take Daniel with her back to my mom's house. We are heading up there on Friday to spend the weekend. So Daniel gets to spend extra time with Grandma G:-) I don't know what Manu is going to do when he realizes his buddy is gone. I don't know what I am going to do with Manu while I work lol. I somehow used to do this with Daniel, so I should be fine. I think we will all be missing our crazy little guy until Friday.

Well I plan on posting a "Mother's Day" post...but if not, happy Mother's Day to all the ladies!

One preschooler rounded up!

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:35:00 +0000

Well it's official....we have a preschooler! We had an appointment to have Daniel "evaluated" for local preschool program. To be honest it was nerve wracking to see my 3 year old go through an evaluation. Don't get me wrong the teachers were as nice as can be, and they didn't give the impression "boy your kid sucks!" in fact they just giggled along with him. But it's just hard to not jump in and translate for your baby:-)

The bad news.....Daniel seems to have a slight speech delay. The speech pathologist said he score was actually quite high, but he just needs a little help in some areas. He says lots of words, but his sentences are harder to understand to someone unfamiliar with him.

The good news....he qualifies for a special program that meets for 2.5 hours per day M-F, where he will get to do normal preschool things. In addition to that he will meet with the speech pathologist 20-40 minutes at a time 4-8 times a month. So he will get both normal class time, and one and one time.

The great news.....it's all F-R-E-E...... We went in bracing ourselves for a tuition based program, but walked out with an opportunity for free preschool.

The AWESOME news.....Daniel gets to take a BUS to school. It will even pick up and drop off at the house! We are refraining from saying the "B" word around Daniel because Bus just ranks just after train and boat for things he wants to go on. Although he has been on a bus, he just doesn't remember....but If we mention it now, he won't let up until he gets on one.

Well.....I honestly think the awesome news is the free part, but I am sure the whole Bus thing is going to be Daniel's number 1. I am not to sure how easy it will be to let him get on by himself and watch him go......I have some months to get used to it.

The school itself is cool. It is housed in an old high school, so old looking on the outside you just don't know what to expect. However it has a very nostalgic feel to it....good "bones" as they say. They are still renovating another floor for administration. It will be neat to see when everything is done. They redid/added on to the building for the preschool wing and it has a very modern bright feel. It really seems to encourage a learning environment.

I admit I am still hung up on the whole speech "delay" thing. I get it, and I agree with it. I am happy to have such a nice program that will help him....and did I mention the FREEness of it all? I tell Chad I know I am crazy for wondering "why" he is delayed. It's just who I am, I obsess:-)

Now for some more fun........I moved the washable paints to a bookshelf in the living room....where Daniel was able to reach them.....and where he pulled them down....and where I must have not realized that one was left within reach of a certain one year old.......

It took me a while to realize that Manu had gotten a hold of one....and why...WHY did it have to be the blue one? It's washable, and the carpet already looks better...his faced washed up nice.....but still. I guess every 1 year old needs a picture like this right?

Happy Birthday Chad

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:25:00 +0000

So yesterday I did the most horrible awful thing EVER! I forgot to wish my wonderful husband a happy birthday on this blog! I know.....throw me into jail.....where there will be no work, and meals cooked for me...wait that doesn't sound so bad lol! So yesterday was his birthday.....here is what I should have written:

As many (well ok 3 who read this blog) know Chad is a super husband he helps out around the house. He will do dishes, laundry, and vacuum plus any number of normal "wifely" things I slack off on. Not only is he handy, he is always excited to take on new house projects like making me a raised square foot garden:-)

As a daddy he is super attentive and patient. I wouldn't have survived Daniel's terrible 2's
without him. He is never afraid to show the boys affection or just sit and talk with them about anything (lately it trucks;-). His "girl" Belle can still expect him to play with her.....but most of all he has taken charge of making sure she is fed.

He strives to do the best possible job at work. He makes these awesome videos. Recently one was about Autism, and before that there was a homeless student video. When he works on them he really gets into the subject. Not only am I more educated from watching them, he just brings home a wealth of information. How awesome is it to be so passionate about your work.

I really couldn't have asked for a better husband. I don't know what I would do without his support. I could not ask for a better man for my boys to look up to!

The long goodbye

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:26:00 +0000

Before our move last summer, in the midst of packing, we noticed something was wrong with our cat Tess. Well it wasn't that we noticed all of a sudden. It just seemed that all of a sudden she got really bad. Although she was always kid of small, she really seemed to have lost about half of her weight. I pretty much prepared myself for her not making the move with us.
After starting her on thyroid meds she got a little bit better.

Since the move it has been one month of "getting better" and one month of getting worse. In the fall our new vet noticed she had a lump in her bladder. It was kind of pointless to figure out what it was. Even if we did want to pay for an x-ray, there was no way she could have an operation at her advanced age.

So we just kept up what we were doing. Medication mixed into wet food (which we swore we would NEVER give her on a daily basis) twice a day.

She continued to be her normal self. Just a little more bossy when it came to food. She still cuddled. She was still good with the kids. She never really went upstairs in the new house. Which was fine with us, because she picked up this habit of peeing on things....something she never had done before.

The peeing got worse and worse. We had been giving her antibiotics and it would help some. However this last month or so, it no longer really worked. It finally got to the point where she could no longer groom herself either.

Yesterday, after a reassuring talk with our vet, Chad had taken her in to put her down. In some ways I am happy to have at least had a goodbye. It's odd despite having children, and buying a house...we feel like this is a first "grown up" decision.

We were straight with Daniel. We told him kitty was going to the vet and she won't come home with daddy. That it was time to say bye bye to the kitty. He cried.....because he wanted to go to.....I don't think it has really sunk in, he is 3 afterall:-) He does say "I want kitty back"...and after I tell him that she isn't coming back. He says "daddy get new one".....again he is 3 lol!

I could not have asked for a better cat, Tess was a best friend to me. Whenever I was sick she cuddled with me. She had an uncanny ability to understand what we said. She lived previously with Chad's parents. When we brought her home to our apartment. I told her
"You can't go under our bed until I see you use the litter box"
She looked at me turned around and used her litter box. Rarely did she do typical bratty cat behavior like scratching, or (until the last year) peeing. She never tried to bite, swat, or even hiss at me, Chad or even the boys! She did give Belle a few (well deserved) swats as a puppy. But she and Belle were friends in the end.

I will miss our Princess Tess....but it was nice to have such a good friend.

Updates

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:13:00 +0000

I can't believe how fast time has been flying lately. I keep meaning to update, and I have things I want to say but then bam, it's already Monday of a new week!

Please keep Taye in your prayers. His parents have kept their blog pretty well updated. Actually amazingly updated despite the situation. Prayers for his continued progress, as well as strength for Joanna and Ben are needed. I know God is working miracles!
I was talking to Chad last Thursday about Taye, and we both admitted to thinking of him every 5 to 10 minutes. Needless to say hugs to my boys have become a little tighter and a little longer. I don't know how Ben and Joanna can keep strength up, they are amazing.
We had a rare occurrence this weekend....we spent Saturday and Sunday near home. Well Saturday we spent the morning cleaning up, and then went to an earth fair, out to lunch, and S@m's club......then home for the evening. Daniel and I even got to spend some quality time just the two of us. We shared an ice cream at S@m's, went for a walk, and sat on the porch in the twilight and talked.
Daniel seems to have hit a patch of the troublesome 3's (and I don't feel I have made that up lol). Not as bad as the terrible 2's....less fits, but just more whiny. We don't give in when he whines for something or turns on tears. We try to do the opposite. But still....sometimes he just isn't any fun;-)
Except for his whining jags, Daniel has become quite the conversationalist. With us he just jabbers on. In the car, he tells us all the trucks he sees. He tells us when we have crossed railroad tracks. He also likes to point out places where you can get nuggets. The other night he was telling me how he would drive a boat.
Oh and I think it is safe to say potty training is over. He can do #1 and #2 (which he calls "nuggets" not to be confused with the nuggets above)....he can stay dry all night. The only thing he has yet to do it #2 somewhere other than home. But there are woman I know who don't do that....so all is good!
Manu is on the move. I think we jinxed him back in November. That is when he was first pulling himself up to stand. We kept saying "wow he is going to be walking by Christmas"...nope....then it was "oh he is going to be walking by his birthday"....nope..."Daniel's birthday"....nope......well now....maybe Earth day. He is walking somewhat...He can take steps. But he still prefers crawling and being carried. When he does walk he gets so excited he falls.
Despite a slow start in the tooth department Manu is well on his way of having a good set. the first few were so painful we kind of wished they sold baby pain medicine at by the quart...at least. But now is a small bit of fussiness when they come in.
Belle and Manu have become the buddies I always expected from Daniel and Belle. Daniel never quite took a shine to her...although he loves to have her do tricks, and tell her what to do. Manu on the other hand just adores her, and she him. Although with Belle it has more to do with Manu's policy of "one piece for me, one for the Belle". Manu definitely loves to throw stuff of his high chair more than Daniel ever did.
With the help of my mother in law (Thank's Joni!) Chad and I each got !-phone$.....and they are as fun as they look. We have yet to find anything there isn't an "app" for yet (ok except (a free) blogger ahm....hint hint wink wink). I am still trying to get work stuff setup on it. It will be nice in the summer to take a break but still be reachable.
Before last week, I never used my cell phone for anything but making calls and pictures. I dislike texting (and so far still do)....but well this phone is a toy.....an expensive toy, but there is just so much to do on it......but we have still not mastered how to solve...we are in a strange location and need something to eat...quick find me something now! There are apps, but it's still tricky to do while driving.
Chad has been working on 'designs' for my new garden. But between that, installing a privacy fence, and improving our front porch......I don't think there are enough weekends in the summer....heck not enough weekends in the year considering how we are never home for them. But we at least have some containers for my garden, so I can at least start soon. But I can't wait our projects to be finished....I love having a handy husband!
OH I recently read Twilight...and OMG....OMG ....I HATED it! Could there be a more annoying main character in Bella? Really.....is this the kind of girl we want tween girls to look up to? Really?

Well that is all for now. Kind of scattered, but someday my blog project will get started!

Please Pray

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:44:00 +0000

I have put this up on Facebook, but just to spread the word here as well.

Please keep, the McKinney's and their son Taye in your prayers. Taye was injured yesterday and he is in the hospital. I haven't been able to stop thinking and praying for them all day.

For my Garden

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:17:00 +0000

I want

A Beautiful Ethiopian Adventure!

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:48:00 +0000

Hey, I have lots to catch up on, been super busy with work, life and whatnot. BUT I have to stop for a moment to tell everyone who reads this to stop over at Ben and Joanna's blog and catch up on their exciting news if you haven't done so already.
I can't wait to meet their newest family member. They have some awesome stories to share now and a lot more to come. I honestly can't remember being so happy for another family, there is nothing but pure joy in their adoption stories!

Trying to find the beauty in a long winter

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:13:00 +0000

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:35:00 +0000

See flying dogs

Long week

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:51:00 +0000

It has been a really long week. As much as I do enjoy the work at home thing; doing 2 jobs (mom and "work" work) at once is exhausting. Most days everything goes smoothly, and on other days I am just wiped out by the time Chad comes home. This past week I just seemed wiped out each evening. Last night when Chad got home, I had dinner ready, but I just went up to bed almost as soon as he walked in the door. After dinner the boys went to Target while I just kept sleeping. I had to get up shortly after he put them all to bed.....so I could finish up more "work" work. Then after some TV, I went back to bed.
Today I am not as tired and I feel like I am slowly coming out of my funk. I kind of feel bad for basically checking out of being a mommy for like 12 hours. We decided to try and get out of the house and do something. There is an outdoor show by our old house. But it is becoming a chore just to get Daniel to behave. Lately he has become possessive of toys and other things. Manu on the other hand has been crying about something every 10 minutes or so (I think he is teething) and Daniel doesn't help when he starts to yell at him for one thing or another. When you tell Daniel not to be mean to his brother, he gets all mad and starts to throw a fit.....which gets Manu going even more. So we really aren't that keen on taking them out, in public of all places lol. But we (especially me) can't stay couped up in the house all day long. Also lately they have been really good when strangers are watching......isn't it usually the other way around?
Other than not being so nice to his little brother Daniel has been great lately. He has stayed dry for 2 days straight (keeping my fingers crossed for day 3:-), and been great when we take him places. It just seems like he finally hit a stumbling block when it comes to having a baby brother. He loved it when Manu was a baby baby. He used to love to help, and bring him things, and give him kisses and stuff. Now that he can get around and play well a baby brother is a bother!

So wish us luck on going out. We have called in the grandparents for backup. I just keep reminding myself we are fortunate to have jobs, a new house, and loved ones to help. Not only that we have the opprotunity to see flying dogs!

He did it!

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:47:00 +0000

So I hate to follow up a food related post with a well...waste related post. But after many months of trying to capture #2 in the potty....we have success!

Finally poop in the potty!!

We danced, we sang, we hi-fived, we called grandparents....and well now a blog post. Let it be known on 02.24.09 my son went poo poo in the potty! We of course are unbelievably proud.....and yes there is real picture of his accomplishment. But since that is kind of gross to post, you can have this picture.

Laissez les bon temp rouler

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:21:00 +0000

Well we had a fun and adventurous day. I had to take Daniel to his 3 year old checkup (again 3 years...wow!), and well Manu had to come along for the ride. Since it was scheduled for 1:30, I decided to just take the afternoon off and use some vacation time for something fun like.....errands. Well first we went to lunch. That is always fun to figure out how to get kids and a tray of food to a table. But it was fun to spend time with my little guys out of the house, and they were both really good.

Daniel got to pee in a cup, and it was cool, and while I did not get a picture of this proud parenting moment, it will be talked about for ages......grandchildren will speak of it. During his checkup Daniel continued his charming ways, the doctor said "well I see he can talk well" I had to laugh, because yes Daniel lately can talk your ear off. He was given a clean bill of health. When she went to go she said you're all set. Daniel kept asking "we can go?" and kind of looked at her in disbelief. I had prepared him for the possibility of "shots" since its been a year since he went to the doctor and I couldn't remember what he might need. She said that he was up to date, so it was a quick visit. This office gives out books at each checkup and they have free books all over the office. Daniel became attached to one truck book in particular so the receptionist gave it to him after she played peekaboo Manu.

So after that we weren't done yet! There was a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up some items for dinner. The boys were being especially good there too. I have never heard so many compliments about my guys in one trip. People kept stopping us and telling me how cute either Daniel or Manu is.

So after that, we had to make a quick stop at a local doughnut shop to pick up some Packzi. For those of you that don't know, in the Detroit area (and some other places) it is a tradition to eat.. Packzi....I say pounchkey.....but, well, I never got the pronunciation right. They are basically doughnuts with more butter, sugar, and eggs....with different fillings. The owner of the local doughnut shop is a cute older lady of some Eastern European background. So we had a feeling they would be good. She talked me into trying prune one, which is the traditional filling.

So then it was back home. Well the afternoon probably doesn't sound as tiring to some of you out there. But we rarely leave the house so that many trips and in winter especially is a task. By the time we got home I had two tired little boys who easily took naps. I thought I would be more beat, but I was ok. So I proceeded to make gumbo. And.....well it turned out good. I have made gumbo before, but I never darkened the roux as much as I did today. It made it so much better.

Oh and the prune Packzi......it was great.....I think that is the only kind I want from now on:-)

Happy Birthday Daniel!

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Wow, Daniel is 3 years old. So this post is a few days late....but I never bothered to send in my entry as mother of the year so its all good.
Its been an amazing year with my little daddy's boy. He started straight into the terrible twos....they actually seemed to start before his last birthday. By summertime we wondered how much more terrible he was going to get......then magically our sweet, silly, smart little boy came back. We had a lot of stress early on last year and I am sure that didn't help matters. However once we finally moved, and finally got somewhat settled we realized we had this little boy living with us. One of the results of our move was the decision to let the kids stay home with me while I worked. This arrangement has been better than I expected. I think Daniel has enjoined it too, he even seems to like me now;-)
Potty training got started in the fall, and well its still going. Yesterday it was going well, today...so-so....but we see a light at the end of the tunnel! Each day Daniel just does or says something that cracks us up. Weather its saying in an oh so serious tone "Mommy that's a digger, its not a backhoe" or if its handing me imaginary tools to help repair one of his trucks. You just never know what to expect, but its fun to play along.
He still loves to clean things, and play with bubbles in the sink. He still loves to color, and can even draw a decent circle. He has started to learn numbers but still refuses to learn the alphabet or any letter. Singing, is still sometimes a no no around him. But he still loves to help me bake, as long as I don't sing as I do it. Bath time is not so horrible now that he and Manu can play together in the tub. There are some nights he begs for a bath.....instead of begging not to take one.
Life has been amazing with a 2 year old around, I look forward to the hijinks of a 3 year old. I cherish every kiss, every hug, and every giggle. These kids do grow fast!

Church search

swapgirl23@gmail.com (DDK23) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 02:34:00 +0000

Well we may have found a church. We still want to meet with the pastor to kind of go over some questions (not major ones), but it feels like the right one.
After the first dud we kind of gave up until after the new year. So the middle of January we started up again. We had found 3 churches that sounded like they were a good fit. The first one we liked right away. I kept thinking "ok what is the catch, what aren't we going to like". By the time we left we kind of figured what it was. It was already kind of a drive (but not bad, 20 minutes at the most), BUT they are planning on moving. Now this move won't happen for a while, they have no idea where the move will really be, and well the area they are thinking of isn't to much further. So really its wasn't that big of a deal. The other 2 churches were ok. Well the 3rd was very similar to the 1st.....but we really just feel right so far at church #1. Daniel seems to be in agreement. When we pulled up this morning his eyes lit up and he said "Fire Engine church"....he apparently likes the selection of toys at this churches nursery better than the others. You always have to think about important things like toys, when it comes to serious matters like God.