Boo!

Happy Halloween from our family to yours! Here's our little princess and my bff's little pink flower girl! Can you tell by the way Nora is looking at Ellie that she can't wait to grow up and be a princess too!

A local home that carves tons of pumpkins each year... it looks way cool after dark. There was everything from Abe Lincoln to Sponge Bob. So cool.

The right side of the house...

The left side of the house...

My favorite pumpkin... Go Obama!

guess what came in the mail today!

Pics of the New Kids concert from the awesome girl sitting next to me! I'll post some as soon as I pick my chin up off the floor...



(not sure why a part of a pic of Ellie is attached here...)

****edited to add****
Greg just called and asked what I was doing... told him I was wiping the drool off my chin :)

Following Uppercase Woman's lead... here's what I'm NOT focusing on today...

1) I'm not focusing on the fact that I work 40 hours a week, then pick up a 2 year old and then come home and succumb to her demands: I want milk, I wanna eat, read dis to me momma, color with me momma, toons please momma, etc, etc... all the while having a slight nagging headache and thinking about what to make for dinner, the laundry that needs to be washed and wondering, while walking thru the kitchen, what the heck is sticking to my foot... cause my floors are spotless ya know.

2) I'm not focusing on the fact that it looks like a tornado blew threw Ellie's toys and they are scattered throughout the entire main floor of our house.

3) I'm not focusing on the fact that for dinner I wrapped crescent rolls around a little bit of cheese and lunch meat... nutritious for sure.

4) I'm not focusing on what a bad vegetarian I am... I had one of the above mentioned crescent rolls.

5) I'm not focusing on the fact that I should be filling out 2009 insurance and flex account paperwork... but instead I'm enjoying Gossip Girl and then plan to watch Baby Mama.

6) I'm not focusing on the fact that Thursday is payday and it's always spent before we even get it.

7) I'm not focusing on the fact that Greg and I are contemplating trying Oprah's 21 day cleanse... while I sit here and drink a mellow yellow.

8) I'm not focusing on the fact that I sent my boss an email today asking her if she would consider changing my position to a part-time job and allow me to job share. We want another child and think it is pointless to spend my entire paycheck on daycare ($60 a day for 2 kids) and gas. If I could work 5 days every 2 weeks that would dramatically cut down on daycare and gas costs. I'm SO NERVOUS to hear her response.

9) I'm not focusing on the fact that I've applied for at least a dozen jobs in the past year and have had only a handful of interviews and have been turned down for every. single. one.

10) I'm not focusing on the fact that sometimes I want to get away from it all and travel the world on the NKOTB tour bus!

What are you not focusing on??

the loves of my life...

And you thought I was going to say Ellie and Greg. Pft.

















I mean these hotties...

Went to the NKOTB concert last night and it friggin ROCKED! They are more beautiful 15 years later. Sang awesome. Love the music. Danced my ass off. Screamed my heart out. Didn't sit down once. NOT ONCE! Donnie was hilarious. Joey was HOT! Jon was HOT! They sang and sang and sang and danced... just when I thought it was over they would come back out... They must have sang for 3 hours... I had a BLAST. Pretended Joey was singing to me all night long... cuz he was, so there.

We sat in the 5th row on the right side... this is literally how close we were. (This pic is not from my camera - this is how the show ended)


Natasha Bedingfield opened the show... she sings the theme song for The Hills... Pocket Full of Sunshine ring a bell?? Well she was awesome too.

My camera story. Batteries died after taking one picture of the boys. ONE! Here are the pics I got.

Me on the drive to pick up the crew... rockin the buttons, you like? :) such a serious face...

so I let out a few shrilling screams to let the NKOTB fairies know I was on my way to my boys...

The one picture I got before my camera died.

Then a brilliant idea popped into my head... the girl next to me (who I didn't know, Sarah) had a camera and she was just as excited to be there as I was... so we asked her if she'd email us the pics she took... Sarah had an even better idea... she'd put them all on a cd and mail them to me! My cousin gave her $5 for the cd and the shipping and she promised to do it for us!! How nice, huh! So I emailed her today with my address and it'll be here in a few days!!!! Will for sure post pics when I get them. Sarah put it best when she said, "I think I'm still in shock today." I couldn't agree more! :)

I literally fell into bed at 1:30 a.m. more exhausted than I'd felt in years! Woke up at 6:30... felt hungover. Ish. Took the first hour off from work so I didn't have to be in until 9. I should've taken off the entire morning! I can't believe I'm even still awake now!

I seriously want to be a groupie and follow them around the country, no the world... oh! and I bought one of their ridiculously priced tee-shirts (thanks mom and dad!).

Dear Sarah (click)

A very powerful message from the young girls of America.

a week in the life of me...

Monday was a holidy for me... thank you Christopher Columbus... so I watched Hunter while Tanya had a dr appt. Can you tell these two are bff's... I hope to god they make it thru middle school and still like each other!!!!!!!



Before we left last weekend for Hayward I pulled out my down vest. When Ellie saw it she said, "momma bring her life jacket?" (hahahahahahaha)
Yesterday (puke day)... During one of her puking episodes I ran over to her to try and catch as much as I could in a blanket and then started cleaning her up when she was finished... I forgot that I had started filling the sink for dishes... I caught it just in time... that could have been a major mess. Ugh.
This is all Ellie wanted to do yesterday. Lay around. Max kept an eye on everything from the basket.
In one of the few moments of the day that Ellie wanted to be up and moving... she found a scissors that I had left on the coffee table... and cut her hair. Doesn't look like much there, but there was much more ALL OVER THE PLACE... (it was a grand day yesterday)
Oh yeah, (clearing thoat) here's proof of the broken (right) hand.
What a week. On top of that I had to deal with work. Nuff said there. Now to all my wonderful readers... if you feel sorry enough for me I'd be really happy and feel oh so much better if someone sent me this... :)

Hey anonymous commenter(s)... I'm going to turn off anonymous comments (even though non have been bad) I just hate getting them and not know who it is... it takes just a few steps to make an account name... sorry.

I just can't watch this damn show The Locator without a box of Kleenex! Wow. It is so good. I can never watch an episode without crying like a baby. Full on sobbing almost! I'm pathetic. Must be PMS'ing.

Today has pretty much sucked. I've washed about 8 loads of laundry. Ellie has been puking all day. We've gone thru 5 outfits, I've washed clothes, blankets, pillowcases and toys. Yuck. Tonight she ate a piece of toast, a banana, a small bowl of applesauce and an itty bitty glass of water over a span of 2 hours and has kept it all down. About 10 after 7 she told me she was tired. Love that about her, she just knows when she is tired and wants to go to bed. Things are picked up and I'm FINALLY relaxing. Why does it seem like kids are always sick?!

So I'm a week behind. We went to Hayward (Greg's hometown) last weekend. Spent the weekend with his mom and sister and had a really fun time. I was feeling a bit exhausted and a little under the weather... got off work early Friday and we headed up. Got there just in time for dinner... had a nice dinner put Ellie to bed and then played a game of cards... I never win, ever.

Saturday morning we woke up and planned to go to Copper Falls and hike one of the trails. It is an awesome place and if you are ever in northern WI head to the little town of Mellon and visit Copper Falls. You won't be disappointed. Ellie slept during the ride there... I fully intended that she would walk during the hike... but no. She was half asleep when we got started and wanted to ride in the stroller. I don't recommend a stroller. There are to many steps and tree roots to climb up, down and over. Here are a few pics.

Ellie and Grandma Melly

Auntie Becca... told you this place was beautiful, huh!
Miss Ellie... she keeps calling the forest the "jungle"... cracks me up.
Beautiful waterfall
the stairs sucked arse... going up and down... lifting the stroller... usually with Ellie in it... I biffed it while going down one set... while carrying the back of the stroller (they were stone steps and they were wet)... good thing Greg had his footing or I would have pushed them both down the stairs... see how happy Greg and Grandma are to be carrying it up these steps!
Grandma and Ellie. I think Ellie's face looks SO FUNNY here! :)
awwww... aren't we cute :) and yes, my eyes are open... the sun was just bright
I thought this tree was SO WEIRD!
After the day at the park I was wiped. I crashed as soon as we got home. Greg woke me up when our Vietnamese take out dinner arrived. It was SO GOOD. After dinner I read a bit, Greg enjoyed a few of these... and Ellie carved a pumpkin with Grandma.
Sunday we woke up... Greg helped his sister move a few things from her old house... then we went to our usual lunch spot, Coop's, for pizza. They never disappoint. I am craving their garlic bread right now!

Going up to Hayward is like a little mini vacation. I love it. Greg and I get an extra couple hands with Ellie and can take a little bit of time to ourselves. Which we rarely get. I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed, feeling sorry for myself (lame, get over it, I know), crying, sometimes angry, usually frustrated... I'm either at work (which is highly stressful lately) or I'm at home with the demands there of Ellie and Greg... I just don't get a ton of "me" time or "us" time with Greg... which we also really need. I'm hoping in the next month or two we'll get a night or two to ourselves... I'm attempting to get those in the works.

BTW... read Greg's blog lately? Yup, my bright hubby got PO'd at work and punched a cement wall... BROKE HIS HAND. (big eye roll) I figure at least he didn't punch the guy who pissed him off, huh! And to all you over-reactors out there... I've never seen him display this form of anger or aggression EVER. NEVER EVER. So don't think he does stuff like that at home.