Wednesday, April 30, 2008

WW


Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Heads or Tails

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This weeks Heads or Tails is to share a special memory. The best memory of my life (so far) is Natalie's Birth. I won't go into all the gory details, but she was finally born at 3:31 am. They handed her to me and I finally realize how much my life would change. After they cleaned her all up and gave her back to me, I looked out the hospital window and noticed how it was snowing ever so lightly outside. I held her and watched the snow fall until the sun finally came up in the wee hours of the morn. That morning I will never forget!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

EMS

Well Anthony is finally home, after a loooong weekend at EMS Expo. Wow, the story's you hear when you get 500 EMS people together. I'd like to go next year, just to see what these people really do at the Expo...(wink wink)

Tomorrow is Monday again, a brand new week. We have 27 more days of school. Both Natalie and I are so ready to be done. It's been a more difficult year for Natalie, it seems 2nd grade has more girl drama I suppose. One of my goals this summer is to find some different girls for playmates, then these girls that have caused so many "issues." Life is just too short to have all this drama all the time!

Once May arrives, I need to start preparing our family for the annual trip up north to Ford Lake. I've already have checked into some tanning packages, we can't go on vacation being pasty white! Finding the time to tan is going to be an obstacle to overcome as well. Hopefully I will be able to fit everything in. This weekend I bought my first bikini! It was on the clearance rack for $10. I didn't have time to try it on, but I figured a bathing suit for $10, who could go wrong. Well, it fits and looks ok, but I'm self conscious about the top end. I think its too small. I've now learned, when purchasing bikinis, you have to buy "separates." So much for my "deal" at TJ Maxx.

On another note, spring is here, and everything is starting to bloom. Hence the sneezing has begun. All 3 of us, all weekend have been sneezing non stop. Spring is here!

Weekend Snapshot

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Our beautiful Lake Michigan

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Photo Hunt

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I thought this was pretty funny since I google all the time!

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Friday, April 25, 2008

Natalie's New Do

Sometimes I think she will be a journalist!


Press pause on the playlist below to hear the message!




Friday's Feast

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Appetizer:

Name something you would categorize as weird

Blouses with shoulder pads



Soup:

What was the color of the last pieces of food you ate?

red, a piece of licorice



Salad:
On a scale from 1-10, 10 being the highest, how much do you enjoy being alone?
About an 8, I love being alone most of the time, but eventually I do get lonely.

Main Course:
Fill in the blank: I will ______ vote for ______ in ______.
I will never vote for Homer Simpson in an election.
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Dessert:
Describe your sleeping habits.
Let's just say a bomb could drop in the middle of the house and I would sleep right through. Anthony has left in the middle of the night for fire calls and I never knew it!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

WW- Peek a Boo


Tuesday, April 22, 2008

10 things on Tuesday

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This week's theme is 10 things you love about your life.
1. My sweet honey bunny- I don't remember what life was like before you??
2. My wonderful hubby. You are one of the hardest working man I know. Thanks for all you do to provide for "your girls."
3. Yoga- I look forward to this every week. It is such a release for me.
4. My family-- you keep me focused.
5. My home-- It's not always the tidiest, but it's where we love.
6. Where we live--3 minutes from Lake Michigan. The lake changes everyday, and provides us with entertainment during the summer, and lake effect snow in the winter(snow days)
7. My friends--who would I be without them?
8. My health-- Thank God I'm healthy to be a mother to Natalie, and a wife to my husband.
9. My digital Camera- The pictures I take with it (mostly of Natalie) make my heart warm
10. My hobbies -- I'm addicted to blogging and I love scrapbooking.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Heads or Tails ----Directions

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Menu Plan Monday

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I hope I've done better than last week, so here it is:
Monday: Chicken wraps
Tuesday: Taco Salad
Wednesday: Cheese tortalinis
Thursday: Grilled Cheese sandwiches
Friday: Pizza
Anthony works a lot of evenings, so basically Natalie and I are on our own. So I pretty much to "dinners" on the weekend. Natalie and I are at the Y almost every evening, so dinners have to be quick. I think I did better this week!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Pancake Breakfast

Today was the fireman's annual pancake breakfast. It was quite a busy morning. The fireman made pancakes, eggs, & sausage. We had about 300 people show up to eat breakfast. We ran out of sausage and eggs 3 times! They went to 2 different grocery stores and cleaned out their sausage supply, and after that was done, we had to go to McDonald's and buy more sausage and eggs. People really ate today.
Meanwhile, the ladies of the Fireman, known as "The Fire Angels" sold raffle tickets for the cute little red fire engine pedal car. I think it was so cute!

Natalie helped her daddy sell T-shirts/sweatshirts and also helped hand out fire helmets and coloring books to the kids. awwwh, so cute!

The fireman recently ordered new helmets, and went with a total new helmet style. Anthony's is unique, so I thought I'd take a picture of it. I think it looks neat.


Front side

top side


Guess Who?


We had the local "Queens" come to help, I snapped a cute one of them! You go girls!


And last, we have the future fire fighter herself, Natalie!


It all wrapped up around noon today, and the men made a pretty good profit. Again it was a success.

Weekend Photo

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I'm so ready for summer!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Photo Hunt -- 13

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This weeks photo hunt is 13. The only thing I could think of for 13 was the fireman's helmet. Tomorrow is the annual fireman's pancake breakfast. So I had Anthony run down and take the picture for me. This is not his helmet though!
Tomorrow at the breakfast, I hope to get some neat pictures of the truck and the guys!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Friday Feast

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Appetizer
Name a color you find soothing:
It would have to be blue, like the color of the lake when the sun is on it

Soup
Using 20 words or less, describe your 1st driving experience:
I was in drivers ed and we went to get into the car and the tire was flat, so I had to change the tire!

Salad
What material is your favorite clothing made out of:
That would be cotton, very comfy

Main course
Who is the great singer or musician, who if they were to come to your town for a concert, you would spend the night outside for a ticket to see:
Probably, Keith Urban

Dessert
What is the most frequent letters of the alphabet in your whole name(first,middle,maiden,last, etc.)
5 e's, 4 n's 3 a's 2 t's & 2 r's

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Thursday 13

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13 things I'm looking forward to doing this summer in SW Michigan

1. Go to Lake Michigan

2. Ride my bike in the neighborhood

3. Take the dog for walks

4. Camping

5. Get the yard looking pretty again

6. Walk on the Bluff in St. Joe

7. Get ice cream from Kilwins (yummy,nummy)

8. Catch a movie

9. Go to summer festivals

10. Watch the sunsets on the lake.

11. Watch Natalie play in the sand on the beach.

12. Catch fire flys

13. Take a swim.


Speaking of summer, I found a good sign in my yard that it is coming!



Yeah, I'm so happy!

WW

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I think this picture is neat!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Heads or Tails

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This weeks Heads or Tails is "Tip" I'm going to go with a rhyme of tip.
One of my favorite "Dips" to serve is Mexican Bean Dip

1 lb. ground beef(browned)
1 lb. can refried beans
1 pkg. taco seasoning
8 oz carton sour cream
1/2 8 oz bottle taco sauce
grated cheddar cheese

Mix together beef, beans, seasoning, and press into a 9 inch pie pan. Mix sour cream and taco sauce. Pour on top of beef mixture. Top with cheese. Bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Dip Doritos into warm mixture, enjoy!

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For Tackle it Tuesday, I thought of a great idea of a project Natalie and I could do together. We decided to start tackling the project right away. Natalie and I are going to put together a Mother/Daughter cookbook. We are each going to pick out some favorite dishes and recipes and make a book of them. Hopefully, this won't be too much of a project!

Meal Planning

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This is where I could use alot of help. I struggle with planning meals. I work part time and after work I help care for my Nana (she recently had a stroke), and then Natalie has swimming, and I have my workout classes at the Y. Anthony works almost every evening. I need help, someone help me please! I would love to be able to get off work and know exactly what we are having that's nutritious, simple and quick!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Weekend Snapshot

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This is my first weekend Snapshot. During the month of April, at Frederick Meijer Gardens they have a butterfly exhibit. Then outside,there is a children's garden. The picture I chose was from last year at the garden. I asked Natalie to give it a kiss and she did! I caught it at just the right moment.

This is one of my favorites!

Well its time to start thinking about getting ready for the week to come. It just seems like the weeks go faster and faster. Just not enough time in the day to get what you need to get done....

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Photo Hunt

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This weeks photo hunt is twisted. The only thing I could come up with was our shih tzu (Taggie) her twisted curly hair....

Taggie is the family dog. I wanted a small dog, Anthony wanted a lab. We have a small home, with small rooms. Where would I put an 80lb dog in a small house? So I got my way and we got crazy Tag. What else can I say about Tag? She sleeps on top of the couch or between us in bed. She belches after she eats. Her favorite past time is chasing the cat. Her favorite toy is lemon lime man or Mr. froggie, followed by miss lady. She's a pampered pooch!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Thursday 13

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This weeks heads or Tails is expression. This is a typical expression of my husband when I have the camera out



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Its also Thursday 13. So here is my list, I hope I'm playing right. 13 things to be thankful for today:
1. My Husband of 14 years, who still loves me and puts up with me
2. A healthy child
3. My job
4. My faith
5. My health
6. Being a Mommy
7. Being a Wife
8. Living where we do
9. My friends
10. My Co-workers
11. My improving body
12. My warm house
13. My new purse! lol

Being married to Volunteer Fireman, you know that at any given moment during the day or night, he could be called for duty. Pager blares off and into his truck he goes. Sometimes for 5 minutes, sometimes for 5 hours. It is so unpredictable, and usually happens at the least opportune times. Today was no exception. Natalie's Girl Scout troop went to the Fire Station for some "safety" instruction. We weren't there for 5minutes, when the pager went off, and all the firemen came, got there gear on and off to save the world.....I guess it left some impressions for these girls! Just another fire call for me!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Tackle it Tuesday

Tackle It Tuesday Meme

I just joined the Tackle it Tuesday assignment. The only thing I tackled today was finishing the laundry. Next week, I will do the right assignment!

Tuesday Toot

They finally arrived today! The thing I've been hearing about ALL weekend. When can I have them Mom? When will they be here Mom? Can you call and see if they have arrived yet Mom? I really need them, Mom! Well the agony is finally over, because the call came today and THEY are here. We went and picked them up this afternoon. Natalie can't wait to show all her friends and her teacher tomorrow. What am I talking about? Natalie's new glasses!


It's Tuesday Toot, so I need to post an accomplishment that I made today. The accomplishment I came up with for this Tuesday is a simple one. I'm all caught up on the laundry. I worked all weekend to catch it up and finally I'm done! Yeah!

My excitement for the evening is that I was invited to a purse party. These party's have purses on display that are knock offs of Prada, Kate Spade, Coach etc. It's no secret I love purses, so there was no doubt I would be there! After an hour of going back and forth between the Kate Spade and the Prada, I finally settled on the Prada purse. I think it should be fine to get me through the summer. I love it!

Well, I've already cleaned out the old purse, organized the new and tomorrow I will be the envy of all with my new Prada Purse!

Monday, April 7, 2008

Double Trouble

I took Natalie to her swim team practice tonight at the Y and I have to say it was very entertaining. Her little friend Nadia and her just couldn't behave tonight. They were goofing off every chance they got. For example, they were practicing their starts off the block and when the girls were on their blocks they had to do a dance to some music in their heads I guess. By this time the coach was saying "girls, knock it off!" We heard that alot tonight.

The next thing they started to do, again while waiting for their turn on the starting block, they sat on the floor, crossed legged and acted like they were meditating. OWWWUMMMM OWWUMMMM. I think those two a quite a pair. What about swimming tonight girls?? I guess we will have nights like this. :)

We will have to see what happens on Thursday night practice. Let's hope we practice and not goof around!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

ABC TAG

A - Attached or Single--Attached
B- Best Friend -- Anthony
C- Cake or Pie? -- Cake
D- Day of Choice -- Saturday
E- Essential Item -- My planner
F- Favorite Color -- Purple
G- Gummy Bears or Worms -- Gummy Bears
H- Hometown -- Stevensville, Michigan
I- Indulgences -- Mani/pedies
J- January or July? -- July, no snow
K- Kids-- 1 little girl
L- Life is imcomplete without? -- Natalie
M- Marriage date -- April 9, 1994
N- Number of siblings -- 1 brother
O- Oranges or apples? -- Apples
P- Phobia or fear -- drowning in Lake Michigan
Q- Quotes -- Be who you are and say what you mean, because those that mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind -- Dr. Seuss
R- Reason to Smile -- when I think of my family
S- Something new -- clothes
T- Tag-- if this is your first time reading my blog you're it!
U- Unknown fact about me -- my belly button is pierced
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor Animal?-- I eat meat
W- Worst habit -- tearing off my nails
X- Xray or Ultrasound -- I soppose between the 2 choices, ultrasound
Y- Your favorite food -- Ice Cream of course
Z- Zodiac -- Leo

Sunshine makes me happy!

At last, I believe my evil cold is gone. I still have a little cough, but I'm feeling so much better.

On Friday, Natalie had an eye appointment and we discovered she needs glasses. She was so hoping for this. So after her exam, we had to pick out new glasses. We finally settled on a plastic pair thats kind of a purpleish blueish color. They fit her perfectly, and she looks cute in them. When we got home from the appointment, she started calling all her friends to tell the the good news. I wonder how long she will willingly wear them?

Natalie and I took the dog to St. Joseph to walk on the bluff this weekend. It was a bit chilly with the wind coming off the lake. The dog certainly enjoyed the fresh air, and I was happy that she behaved herself.

Blueberry made it another week and seems to be going strong. If you are wondering who Blueberry is, its Natalie's beta fish. Natalie and Anthony changed his water this week and he seems alot happier. The cat still hasn't found him!

Today, the weather was perfect. We had sun all day long and it got up to 66 degrees. It felt so nice to have sunshine, and to go outside in just a tshirt and hoodie. No winter coat, no boots, no hat. AHHH, at last. I hope its hear to stay. Anthony actually got the grill out and grilled out dinner. He caught a salmon from Lake Michigan and grilled it. It was so yummy.

Bring on the Spring! I want flowers, and bike rides and walks on the beach!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

My Lists

I thought I would be different and post something fun. So I've come up with a list of things to tell.

5 Facts about me that probably aren't known.
1. I have a new love for Yoga.
2. I want to have a collection of butterflies (not dead ones) lol
3. I'm afraid of drowning in Lake Michigan.
4. I secretly watch Spongebob even when Natalie is gone.
5. My belly button is pierced.

5 Reasons why I Love being a Mommy.
1. Hugs and Kisses whenever I want.
2. Dressing her in all the latest fashions, while secretly wanting the clothes myself.
3. Taking her to school every morning and practicing her spelling words all the way there.
4. Enjoy watching her swim in the competitions.
5. Lazy Saturday morning snuggles in bed.

5 Memorable Moments in my life (in no particular order)
1. My Wedding Day
2. Discovering I was Pregnant.
3. Natalie's Birth
4. Anthony getting his Paramedic License.
5. Moving into our First Home.

Thats all for now, when I can think of more categories, I do another post. Hope you enjoyed!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Tootsies

I have spent my last couple of days fighting this evil cold. It started out as a sore throat, and then just exploded into head congestion and cough. I'm so tired of being sick. Just when the weather is starting to get somewhat better, I have to get this stupid cold! Misery loves company I suppose because everyone in my department at work is sick as well. Mostly with the same evil cold, but one person has the awful flu like stuff. Yuck!

To help me feel better, Natalie and I decided to go and get a pedicure. I wanted my tootsies to look nice when we go to the Y. Natalie enjoyed the whole experience of getting her tootsies done. We both picked a french style on our toes. So at yoga tonight, my toes looked so pretty. We are such girly girls!
I could hardly do my yoga moves tonight because of this cold I have. I get tired very easily and it made it more difficult to hold my poses. I ended up leaving a few minutes early because I just got too tired.

Well this spring break has started off not so good, lets hope the next part will be better. I hope that the weather starts to cooperate more, (less rain) more sunshine. Cross your fingers for Sunshine!!