As time goes by...

I just got the kids school pictures back and they hardly ever turn out cute. But for some reason the kids must have taken cute pills that particular photo day b/c when I got the pictures back yesterday I almost wanted to cry! Wow...they were SO good and I wanted to buy all of them.


How handsome my little 2 guys are growing up to be. I can't believe how big they are getting and turning in to such little men. Carson has made some huge milestones on going potty and so we're on the path to diaper free days! Mason has such a fun temperment about him that he pretty much goes along with anything and is becoming quite the handy helper around the house. I really can't believe how fast time goes by when you have children. I often think about it and get really freaked out, but then I just have to remind myself to take one day at a time. I may get frustrated at times (don't laugh Mike), but I will never have those 'precious' moments again since the boys are growing up. So here are a few of the boys great pictures from school that I like the best! :)

Mason at age 5.5 years old and looking so handsome!

Carson at 3 years old and looking like a little man!

The 'angel's together! :) Oh if they were only this cute ALL the time!

My brave hubby! ;)

Ok...so my husband is terrified of snakes...and I mean terrified...he thinks they are from the devil. So as I was running to get behind our car while playing water guns with the kids last night, I stopped dead in my tracks and screamed 'SNAKE!' So here comes Mike around the corner and yells obscenities and runs to get a weapon of some sort to kill this thing. I thought maybe this was a garter snake or as I like to call them 'garden' snakes, but as we waited a few more minutes the snake began to slither along the driveway and reveal its true size. And then, more obscenities came flying from Mike's mouth! Realizing that his first choice of weapon (a metal stud) was not going to do justice, I ran inside the house, closed the garage door (snake was right by it) and grabbed a heavy shovel making sure my kids and fur babies were inside the house.

By this time, a little commotion had erupted and a few of the neighbors and kids were gathered outside wondering what was going on. I'm sure it was a sight to see since I was standing on the back of Mike's car and Mike was cautiously using his shovel to try to get the snake to come out of the bush it had raveled itself up in. So this business of Mike trying to use a shovel or a hoe to try to get the snake out was not working so he tried rocks once it finally came back on the ground. Rocks weren't proving to work either as the snake was just getting pissed off. Since I know Mike is so terrified of snakes I knew this would go on for awhile until he could get a clear shot of the snake in open air. But like heck I was going to kill this thing, but I knew our neighbor Kevin would do the trick if he could just hurry up and get home! Probably about an hour later, Kevin finally pulled into his driveway and I quickly yelled 'Kevin we need you to kill a snake'! So Kevin goes and gets his bat and just simply lifts the snake out of the bush while the screams of me, Mike and the neighbors fill the air! So Kevin just wanted to dump it back in the field behind us, but Mike wasn't going to let that happen not after his battle with conquering it. So Kevin took the snake back a little ways on the side of the house and you just see Mike going to town with his shovel. UGH! It was so nasty since the snake sort of bounced as it was getting hit....the poor kids were screaming 'This is so gross' while I had to leave the scene of the snake murder b/c it was churning my stomach. Ha! So needless to say we had a fun evening of Mike becoming Indiana Brigger! :) I posted a few pictures below of our lovely yard guest from last night-RIP!

The face of the devil according to Mike

I couldn't get the whole snake in the picture...it turns out to be a black rat snake which can get up to 6 ft long...this one was a little over 3 we think.

Something fun I got to do Saturday!

So here is something fun I got to do on Saturday-take my friend's engagement pictures...I had such a good time and I think the pictures turned out well. If only I could devote schooling, money and time to make this a real job! What fun!! :)

Syndi and Jeremiah walking

The look of Love!

Her gorgeous ring

I just love these two!

Snuggle time!

Philadelphia Trip

Last saturday, March 21, we packed the family truckster and headed to Philadelphia for a visit with LoLo and PopPop and a work trip for me. I was a bit bummed out b/c I really didn't get to spend a lot of time with the kids and fam doing fun things, but the whole point of the trip I guess was for my work conference...boo!! But nonetheless, the kids had a BLAST visiting LoLo and PopPop (Mike's parents) and their aunt Lauren (uncle Geoff was in LA). Even though they were afraid of the dogs and really never got over being afraid, they had jammed packed days of fun filled kid activities. Sunday was a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo, Monday was a trip to the Please Touch Museum, Tuesday was a train ride and a stop at a toy store, and Wednesday was another visit back to the Please Touch Museum (pretty much for my sake). :) I have to say that Mike was super daddy Sunday-Wednesday since I was being a conference droid and also was my chauffeur. Poor Mike really hates Philadelphia drivers b/c if you're not aggressive you get honked at and get some not so nice gestures...seems like Mike started to fit in towards the end...ha!
On Wednesday, we celebrated Carson's 3rd Birthday with the fam since they won't be with us on his actual birthday...he enjoyed it SO much!!

After a tiring and exhausting few days, it was time to come home on Thursday! The conference was great and the family visit was well worth it!

Carson being SO excited about HIS little party!

Mason splashing around at the Please Touch Museum

The boys said the museum was so much fun with LoLo and Pop Pop!

Two cuties in a piece of cheese at the zoo

All set and ready to go

Wright State students

I meant to write this on Thursday, but got side tracked with work...who would have thought work would get in the way of my blogging!
Anyways, I was walking to get my lunch through the fabulous tunnels at Wright State. If you don't know about the tunnels at WSU, they are pretty much just tunnels in the basements of each building at WSU that connect to each other so you don't have to go outside to get anywhere on campus. It's the coolest thing...Miami needs tunnels!
So as I was saying, I was walking through the tunnels to get my lunch when I got behind a blind girl with her seeing eye dog. I walk super fast and I could have gone around her, but I decided to stay back and observe. As I'm watching from behind I just began to realize how awesome these dogs are and the students. WSU is one of the universities in Ohio with the most disabled students....it's pretty cool that they offer so many services to those students in need. So I'm thinking as I'm walking...how does the dog know where to go...how does he know she wants to go to the Student Union and get lunch? He turned corners on cue, went up stairs on cue, turned more corners, went up more stairs and took her right to the cafeteria...amazing!! I really don't get it. And as we walked up one of those sets of stairs, when we got to the top, out of the elevator came a blind girl in a motorized wheel chair with those long sticks to guide her direction. Again...I was amazed how she knew where she was going. It's cool to see other students just walk right past them and make no big deal about them...you do have to watch out for the sticks since you're able to get hit with one, but most everyone just steps aside and waits for them to walk by.
Being at WSU for over 6 years, I have seen several disabled students going to class, lunch, home, etc. time and time again, but it never fails that I'm more amazed and inspired at what they accomplish and achieve each day.

We've got rhythm...

So Mike and I decided not to get each other Christmas presents this year b/c honestly we just didn't have time to run around and buy some silly presents. But it was kind of a bad idea, but I always look forward to our little exchange and what creative gifts he has come up with.
So with Christmas over and no gifts, I was just dying to buy something for him that he wasn't expecting. If any of you reading this know Mike and I well, you know when we sit around bored we come up with crazy things to buy/do. So this past weekend, we were working on our budget and our first crazy (dumb) idea was to get a truck. So that idea quickly and thankfully got out of his head and it was on to the next one. I'm not sure why we do this, but its like everytime we have some major down time we feel the urge to buy. So then we moved on to the idea of finishing our basement. Well that idea is still in progress, but only thanks to his uncle who has volunteered his skills to help us. So we were still having the sense of ok..now what??! We started talking about Rock Band 2 for the Wii. We asked Mason what he thought about playing guitar and the drums and said, "nah, that's stupid". Ok then. So we looked it up on the web, read all the songs that were included and just kind of tossed the idea back and forth. Will we really play this just like all the other games we have sitting around?!? So after thinking about for about 45 minutes the idea was gone too. Blah...it was a boring weekend. Until I saw the ad in Toys R Us for Rock Band 2 being on sale. Mmmm I thought....Mike seemed pretty into this Rock Band thing...maybe I should get it for him. So on lunch yesterday, I ran out and got one and had it waiting for him when he got home last night. Sure enough he was shocked and surprised and told me to take it back. He tells me that whenever I buy him anything. :)
So after the boys fought over who got a guitar and the drums and after finally figuring out how to set it all up, the rock out began. For some reason I was thinking I wouldn't like it and neither would Mike since we both don't have the best rhythm (well I have dancing rhythm, just not musical instruments). I went to put Carson to bed and since you can hear everything in the house, I started hearing this singing noise downstairs and figured out that it was Mike singing "My Own Worst Enemy" by Lit. I just started laughing b/c I was guessing he was having fun. After Carson was asleep I watched Mike learn the guitar with "Eye of the Tiger" and then actually play along (basic, easy play). He didn't do too bad and as I looked on, I thought this doesn't look hard. Ha! I always make fun of Mike for not having rhythm, but boy I should look in the mirror. I felt SO stupid trying to play this guitar...what happened to me! Then I attempted the drums...even worse! It's like all my years of piano lessons, singing in choirs had gone out the door...I couldn't catch the beat. Mike actually did better than me on everything..and what's even worse...Mason did better than me on the drums. My 5 year old! ha!
So apparently...I have lost my rhythm! Guess I better practice a lot more!