Did you see them?

OMG! I think I called everyone I knew last night! They were on TV! Brenden, Spencer and Richard were on screen all night long! They were right there everytime they showed the wrestlers with the crowd in the background. It was so freaking exciting! I called my Dad, he called Julie, I called my mom, my brother, Josh and Jenny and 2 of Brenden's closest friends to tell them he was on TV. That was one of the most exciting nights of my life. Such a proud mom moment watching your kids on tv. I know they weren't on there for something they were doing rather at an event, but still they were shown all night long! And today they have a 2 hour delay so they were able to get some sleep since they didn't get home until 12:05 and got to bed at 12:30. What a memorable night for them. And they'll have a dvd as proof they were there for the rest of their life, so when the memory fades in 20 years they'll have something to watch to remember. I showed them the beginning of the show before they went to bed and we are going to watch it today after school. Thanks to everyone who took my crazy sounding calls. I don't think my dad has ever heard that screachy pitch in my voice ever in his life. That high pitched screech stayed with me all night. I was flipping the dog out with all my cheering. And Cassidy stayed up with me to watch it all too. Richard said it was so cool to watch how excited the boys were and I told him it was so exciting for me to watch them all night from here. It would have sucked for me though if they hadn't been on tv. What great tickets I bought. Couldn't have been a better spot!

Edit: 4:30pm boys are home from school. Brenden said everyone in his class saw him on tv last night and so many kids are coming up to him at school saying they saw him on tv last night. Spencer said a lot of kids in his class said they saw him. They are like celebrities in their school right now. How cool for them!

The boys are at....

WWE's Monday Night Raw! They were so excited before they left. Spencer is wearing his wristbands, hat, chain and shirt and Brenden is wearing his hat, shirt and chain. They both made signs to hold up and Richard did too. The dvr is set to record the show so the boys can see if they are shown on tv. I can't wait to hear their stories when they get home.

Meanwhile, I'm watching the Bachelor for now, but I'll be changing it at 9 to watch wrestling so I can see if I see the boys. Cassidy and I cleaned her room, scratch that, I cleaned Cassidy's room, while wondering why in the world it is necessary for her to dump everything she owns and play with it all at one time and then just leave it. She tries to clean it up but really she just pushes her mess to the side of the room. And when she does pick it up she combines dress up with barbies and ponies with the food for the kitchen, etc. I mean really, how hard is it to put the things back, together with like items, in the container they came out of instead of mixing and matching! But I give her credit for trying. It was completely overwhelming sitting on the floor in her room (which I had to find first to make a spot to sit) amongst my little ponies, dress up clothes, baby dolls, doll house and doll house accessories, barbies and food from the play kitchen all over the place. And of course the typical mom statement came out of my mouth, you know the one, "If I ever see this room like this again I'm going to sell it all!" which of course I won't but I say it to make a point. So, we'll see how that works out. I think all mom's know how that works out.....we see it messy again, we clean it, threaten again, and the drama contines. All part of being a mom.

Oh my goodnes....

I'm taking a quick break between chapters of studying for my licensing test. I'm now learning about annuities, variable and taxes. Holy Crap! I'm already mathematically challenged and then you throw in annuities and equations. So you see why the break was needed. Got to clear my head and be ready to concentrate. I say I'm mathematically challenged but I do our taxes every year and have forever. So I guess math is just one of those things I get worked up over nothing about. But it is one of the subjects I must concentrate on to get it, you know. I never had to work hard at learning any other subjects except math. Kara, you know this because you tutored me in math in high school. So, stand by your phone Kara in case I need to call you with questions! Just kidding. Wish me luck. Gonna grab a snack and back to the books!

so how about an update

Ok, so the daily mile tracker isn't showing any miles. Wondering why? First the treadmill needed fixed because the tread went off track and was shredding on one side. I noticed it after getting off of it one day when I was folding it back up so Richard fixed it. And secondly, I've been super busy! So I mentioned the business and now I'm taking online classes from Hondros College for my Life and Health Insurance License. I'll be taking an exam at the college in a few weeks to pass the course followed by the state exam after that for my license. So, I've just finished Chapter 4 of 12 chapters and that one chapter has taken me 4-5 hours to complete. I'm going to finish for the day and then I have to work tonight from 8-10. So as you can see, I'm not lying when I say I haven't had time to run. However, I do know that it is important to make the time to run. So I think I'll make a schedule for myself and schedule in running.

Cassidy is entered in a contest!

This is the picture I used to enter Cassidy in the Beautiful Baby contest on Live with Regis and Kelly. Yes, I'm aware that she's no longer a baby but the contest is open to kids up to 48 months old and since she doesn't turn 4 until March, she is eligible. I entered her this morning and will update you all when her picture shows on their site. And then if she's one of the 10 finalists I'll need everyone's help voting for her. The voting begins on March 1 and her birthday is March 8 so wouldn't that be the greatest birthday present for her to win the week of her birthday! The grand prize is her appearing on the cover of Parents magazine and 125K scholorship. Isn't that great! So wish her luck!

And I made $35 yesterday working only 2 1/2 hours at my new job. Isn't that awesome!

My Home Business!

No, I'm not soliciting any of you for anything, don't worry. I am an independent contractor for a virtual call center. Just finished certifying myself today. There are several clients I have opted to take calls for and can't wait to get started. I don't know if I'm allowed to say names of clients on my blog or the name of the company for privacy reasons so I won't. Some of the calls could be from customers calling in after seeing a commercial, others are just order taking and also for donation calls. I get paid per talk time and the amount varies per client. And there is also a client who needs licensed insurance agents and I'm going to get my license for Life and Health. Anyone who knows me personally knows that insurance was my only job before having Brenden and leaving the workforce so that would be wonderful to get back into. If I can't do my first choice job as an attorney (too many more years of college needed for that...not gonna happen!) then why not go with the second that is second nature to me, selling insurance. I'm going to wait until after taxes come back and see if I can get licensed then. I could make more money with my license and working for that company. This is exciting! With all the stress we've gone through over the past 7 months, it sure is nice to have some good news!

Ready for some Christmas Pictures?

For the 1st picture we have Cassidy opening her life size baby doll.

Picture 2 is the boys just after they've opened their tickets to the WWE match.
Picture 3 is Spencer playing Big Buck Hunter. Picture 4 is Cassidy playing with some of her new toys.
Picture 5 is Brenden texting his friends on his new phone.
This is our kids and Haley, Hannah and Hope. They are Josh and Jenny's kids, cousins to ours.
This is Melinda's first child. Her name is Viola (named after Richard's mom, Melinda's grandma). She was born in November.
And our kids with Viola. She was just watching everything Brenden was saying. He has always been so good with babies. And no, we won't be adding another baby to our house so get that thought out of your heads! Even though they all look so natural with a baby, Viola is as close as they are getting. Spencer later held her too, that's why he has he pillows there ready beside him.

The ear infection that won't go away!

Spencer had a re-check doctor appt yesterday to make sure the pneumonia had cleared out. He has a little residual coughing left but his lungs are clear so he's all good. Cassidy had been running a low grade fever since Monday and saying her ear hurt so I had her checked again too and low and behold she has an ear infection in the other ear now. She's feeling awful. She slept from 9:30 last night until 9 this morning and then took a 4 hour nap from 1:30 to 5:30. She's been sitting on my lap all day. And to top it off, her tummy is very upset. Side effect of the medicine. Christmas Eve is was in the right ear now it's in the left. So it left one to go to the other instead of clearing up. The Dr put her on a different medicine this time to see if it works better for her. Something the Dr did tell me is that people who had H1N1 have been getting a plethera of other illnesses this season.

How about this snow? Richard has shoveled 4 inches off the driveway today and that is on top of the snow we already had. And it's still coming down. The kids were dismissed at 3pm today, a whopping 30 minutes early. But that was to allow plenty of time for them to get the high schoolers and middle schoolers home safely and come back for the grade school kids. So I understand that completely. I'm guessing there will be no school tomorrow but you never can tell the way the School Board will see things in the morning. Everyone stay safe over the next few days driving in the snow.

And you may notice on my mile tracker I haven't run in the last 2 days. Hard to do with a 3 year old attached to you. Kids come first. I'll run tomorrow.

What's been happening here

The boys went back to school today. Everyone is feeling better now. It's snowing and we are expecting 2 inches today and it is freezing outside! Brenden has safety patrol duty this week so I made him wear a hoodie under his coat so he'd be extra warm standing outside for 20 minutes. And like a typical boy he tried to get away with wearing just his hood and I made him wear a tobogan. I've got lots of cleaning to do today. I seem to have taken Christmas break off too. My bedroom moved to tornado alley for about 2 weeks. I've still got wrapping paper and boxes to get out of there and stuff to put away. Oh, and laundry to do. And then I have to run 2 miles. You'll notice the mile tracker I added to my page to keep track of my mileage. The goal is 2 miles a day for now, I'll up it to 3 probably next month if I can. I have to be doing 3 for the 5k.

My dad and his girlfriend Julie came up yesterday with Julie's 2 grandkids Dane and Kiley. They are the same ages as Spencer and Cassidy. Dane is 6, Kiley is 3. They all got along so well, it was very nice. Kiley walked in the door asking where Cassidy is. That was so cute. Then the girls went upstairs and played. And Dane is very much like Spencer. He's quiet, polite and seems a little reserved like Spencer too. With 5 kids in here is was remarkably tame. They were all quiet and calm. It was awesome. Nothing like when Brenden's friends come over and they are all over the place and loud. Julie was great. They look great together and looked very happy too. I think they like seeing the kids all get along so well too. And Julie likes taking pictures and showed me some of the kids she took and she's so like me....takes several shots to get the perfect shot. We got along great. Ok, well, I have to go run now. I've procrastinated enough. I'll put the miles on my mile tracker later after I've actually ran them. I'm going to be honest about it and not put them on there til they are done.

Top Ten Memories from 2009

I thought I'd share the top ten memories of 2009, the good and the bad.

1. Cassidy's stitches. That was the scariest day I've ever had as a parent so far. And I hope it will be the last (knock on wood). One little scuff of the foot on flat carpet at mom's place made her just fall right over and hit her head on the windowsill beside the elevator, splitting it wide open and covering her in blood.

2. Vacation. Once again we returned to OuterBanks for our vacation. Love that place.
3. Not so happy memory, right after returning from above said vacation Richard lost his job.

4. Spencer started 1st grade, Brenden started 5th grade. Brenden is in his last year of
elementary school in our school system. Next year is junior high. He also started the
year with a girlfriend, the prettiest girl in 5th grade I might add!

5. H1N1. Yep, we got it. 4 out of 5 of us did. Brenden got it first (his teacher had it, so that's where it started from), then Spencer, Cassidy and finally me. I trained for my job with a 102 fever. Now that's dedication.

6. I got a seasonal job for 1800Flowers.com which started in November and ended Dec. 21.
Was a neat experience having an honest to goodness work at home job.

7. Every kid sick at Christmas. That's never happened before. Actually, it usually ends up being me that is sick at Christmas. 2 years ago Cassidy was sick at Christmas but no one else has ever been sick at Christmas before. This year we were greeted with pneumonia, croup and an ear infection for Christmas.

8. A memorable Christmas. Despite the year we've had, we were still able to pull off an awesome Christmas for the kids. Thanks to some early bird Black Friday shopping and also getting things a few at a time since the layoff. The kids couldn't get a new game system that they wanted but I think the WWE tickets more than made up for that. And their reaction when they opened them will never be forgotten. It was just one of those moments that you end up talking about for years to come.

9. No list would be complete without mentioning my running. I plan on running a 5K in May. I've come to really love running. I did get a running shirt for Christmas that says "Running won't kill you, you'll pass out first" which is becoming my motto for myself when I'm running to keep me pushing myself.

10. And finally the addition of Dakoda. She is our 1 year old Belgian Shepherd. When we got her she was a hyper nutcase. Now she's just a part of the family. She loves the kids to death and plays with them like she is a kid. She is 55 pounds and yet manages to climb up on our laps like she is a 10 pound lap dog. But if we say the word she will attack any threat to her family. Also on the dog note, Bob, our other dog, was diagnosed with a tumor in May. He's still doing well, but the tumor is still growing. (Dakoda is on the left, Bob on right)



So there you have it. I hope 2010 treats us better than 2009 did.