Mommy's Night Out pics

Here are some pics of Mommy's Night Out at my house for Melissa's going away party. Here is me telling Patty not to take a picture of my boobs. She is obsessed, I tell ya ;)
We had five babies there. Here is Amber with Perry.

And James' girlfriend, Miss Eva.
and Patty with Eva
All the girls, Robyn, that is a super hot pose.
Neely feeding Hippo.
Sarah with Vaughn and Phylissa

Thanks for a great time girls!

Meetings, appts, and Mommy's Night Out

Last night was our monthly Angels/Divas SP meeting. We usually meet on the first Monday of every month, but this Monday was Labor Day, so we had it on Tuesday. Alishia and I conduct this monthly meeting. This month's meeting was poker night themed. We played Blackjack at he door, and our committee did a fabulous job with prizes, food, and fun. Alishia talked about attitude and I talked about goal setting. The girls had a great time!

I had a dr. appt this morning. I had a culposcopy done last week and I met with my dr. to get my results. I have severe dysplasia in my cervical canal, and because of some other complications, I am having a hysterctomy, October 1st. I have mixed emotions about this. The plus side, no more periods! Woohoo! Plus, it means two more months of staying home with my kiddos. I will go back to work on Dec. 1st instead of Oct. 6th. The negatives are of course it is major surgery. I will be in the hospital for 2-3 days. Since I am exclusively nursing baby James, I am going to have to diligently pump for the next month to build up a supply for him. St. Marks is letting me have the baby stay overnight with me so I can still nurse him. I am glad I do not have to be seperated from him :)

Tonight was our monthly Mommy's Night Out, which I always look forward to. This month's was mixed emotions as it was also Melissa's going away party :( I am really going to miss her. We had such a great day together today, shopping for flowers for my wedding, and she took me to my Dr's appt and we went to Cafe Rio for lunch. MNO was at my house again this month. We had a potato bar and all sat and talked and enjoyed each other's company. We had five nursing babies here tonight :) It was awesome! Oh, and James has been asleep for 4.5 hours so far (this is the longest he has slept ever without waking to eat )

James is 3 mo old today!

James is 3 months old today! I can't believe how fast the time goes by. It seems like he was just born. He is becoming very aware of his surroundings. He grabs at things, holds toys, and smiles and laughs all the time. Here he is sucking on his hands.


Alexis stayed home from school today, because she was up all night being sick. We spent the day cleaning out our storage and cleaning off our porch. This was a huge undertaking as we havent touched our storage in the over four years we have lived here except to stuff more crap in there. And, our porch was clean but when Tim came home we unloaded all of the extra stuff there. Plus, we had to make room for our new grill. Here are some after pics.


While I finished the porch, Alexis and Payton went fishing with their dad for a few hours at Settlement.

They caught lots of fish but did not keep any of them. They seemed to have a good time. Payton caught the most fish of any of them.

Alexis just likes fishing because she can relax and enjoy being outside.

The best part of today was this: When Payton potty trained many years ago, I put his cloth diapers away. When I got pregnant with James, I looked all over for that bag of diapers to no avail. So, I bought all new diapers, but still missed that bag of diapers from Payton since it had a lot of my fav dipes in there in very cute prints, and the mama that made them is no longer in business. I have been able to snag some used, but not in cute prints. Today at the very bottom back of the storage, I found the big bag of diapers. I am ecstatic. I will have to post pics tomorrow since they are in the wash. Tons and tons of diapers! Woohoo!

Why I LOVE Freecycle!

Today was a good freecycle day for me. I use it mostly to get rid of my extra stuff. Rarely, do I find something worth bringin into my home as I strive towards simplification. Today I picked up 23 sewing patterns for clothing for me. I also picked up some brand new hardback cookbooks, and a book I have wanted for a long time on Going Green, and green cleaners. But, the best deal of the day is this. Tim has been wanting a propane bbq for a very long time, but we havent been able to justify the expense while out on paternity/maternity leave. I brought it home, cleaned it up. It's in beautiful condition! I LOVE free stuff when it looks like this.

Baby James is all smiles and Some Pics from Last Weekend

I wanted to share some other pics with everyone. Last weekend, we went to a BBQ with a bunch of friends from the Mommies group. Here is James with his friend, Baby Eva. Eva is 3 weeks older than James. He is twice her size and not at all happy to be getting his picture taken. He was very good the rest of the time at the BBQ. We also went to the train muesem last weekend. They are getting ready to clsoe for the year so they had the trains out last weekend. Here are the kids on the train. They had a great time!

James is all smiles these days. He loves to laugh and smile. Every time he does, I wish his daddy was here to enjoy this milestone with me. And, this is one of my favorite recent baby pics. He got his Daddy's eyebrows, not mine LOL. Such a cutie!

A Great Day With Great Friends!

Our dear friends, Justin, Melissa, Millie, and Maddie are moving to Atlanta, GA on Sept. 15th. We are sad but are excited for them as they start their lives there. We went swimming at the Pratt Aquatic Center. We saw lots of our friends there. My camera batteries were dead, but I managed to get some pics on my phone. It was James' second time in a pool, but the first where he was old enough to really play in the water. Alexis and Payton had a good time on the tubes we rented. James and I spent most of the time in the baby pool with our friends. He ended up falling asleep in the water.

We also went to Melissa and Justin's for a BBQ today. We did a potluck and it was great to see everyone. Before we left, Melissa let us pick a bunch of yummy grapes off her vines. Payton LOVES them.

Melissa also gave me some great canning stuff. I am so excited because I have been wanting to start canning for quite awhile. I think I am going to start with peaches so be watching for an update on my canning adventures. Also, today Tim and I decided to scratch my idea to make little jars of apple butter for wedding favors at our reception. I think we are going to go with little loaves of mini banana bread wrapped in saran wrap, tulle, and ribbon, with little tags with our names and date. I will start those soon and freeze them in my grandma's freezer.

On the job front, Tim is still in Chicago. He starts his new job tomorrow and we are very excited about it. It is such a great opportunity for him and for our family and we feel so blessed to have it.

What the Heck is in that?

We have had my sister Callie out with us this weekend. It's been a great weekend. I did a Slumber Party for my dear friend Stephie on Friday. We had a blast :) Saturday, we went to breakfast with Callie and spent the day shopping and running errands. This included a stop at the local produce stand. Here is what we picked up. My best friend Natalie came out and we hung out. We also went shopping at Sweet Pea, our local consignment shop. I got this adorable outfit for James for FREE! and Callie bought him these super cute pants. Yesterday was spent cleaning, cooking, decluttering, and family time. I made chicken enchiladas. Callie made the nastiest looking salad. Payton said, "ewww What the heck is in that?" But, it was sooo yummy. Here's the recipe:

A bag of salad lettuce
1 cup of Mexican blend cheese
a handful of slice almonds
1 cup of Craisins
3 avacados, cut up into small pieces

Dump it all in a bowl and cover with Poppyseed dressing

Easy and oh so yummy. We are heading off to the pool to swim with friends and BBQ after. Will post pics tonight.