Catching Up...

Life just seems to keep flying by. I am having a hard time keeping up in all areas. The kids have been busy with all their activities and school and I have been busy trying to keep a clean house, laundry caught up, and choreographing my recital dances!!! Our weekend consisted of basketball games, indoor soccer games, and church. I was doing great taking pictures but I have slacked off again. Hopefully, I can take some this weekend! :)

Show Us Your Life: Where do you Shop?

YES...this post is made for me! I LOVE to do some shopping!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! Ok...so if you know me, you also know that my very favorite store is Ann Taylor Loft. I.HEART.LOFT!!!! To me their clothes are so cute and fashionable, but also classy. I am in my late 30's so I can't be looking like a teeny bopper!!! Here are some tips for shopping at LOFT:

1. Get the Ann Taylor Loft Mastercard! I am not advocating debt. Keep it paid off. Every dollar you spend at Loft gives you 5 points. Every dollar you spend anywhere else gives you one point. Every 2000 points they send you a 20$ reward certificate. CHA CHING!!!!! I only use my Loft card at the Loft and I try to keep it paid off. :)

2. Resolve only to buy things on sale. If you love that sweater and have to have it, chances are it will be on sale in a few weeks.

3. Sign up online for their notices. They will have friends and family sales and 25% off the whole store. Plus you can keep checking to see when they have that "must have" on sale!!

4. Buy when they give out their 25$ bonus cards. LOVE THOSE!

5. Make friends with the manager. YES...it helps. I know the manager at our Loft and she is so nice. Just recently, I bought some tights and they ripped as I tried to get them out of the pkg. The cashier wouldn't let me return them, but I found my friend the manager and she let me! :)

The only thing I don't buy at Loft is jeans ( unless they are dressy trouser cut). My very favorite place to buy jeans is The Buckle. I probably have about 30 pairs of jeans and through trial and error realized that I might as well pay a little bit more to have 2-3 pair of well fitting jeans. The Buckle has so many great styles and brands and the associates are so helpful.

My favorite place for my 6 year old son is Childrens Place. I just love their clothes and he looks so cute in them. They have great sales too.

My favorite place for the twins USED to be Justice but unfortunately we have just about grown out of their stuff....:( ! I do like Aeropostle for some of their things and Old Navy. I fear we are coming up to the hard years where their stuff will cost more then mine!!! :(

Finally, my very favorite online place is Amazon. I have a prime membership and it is totally worth it. I pay it once a year and I get free two day shipping on all Prime items. I always check Amazon before anyplace else. They have great prices and I get what I want in two days!!! I buy all my DVD's, gifts, etc there! LOVE IT!!!

Weekend Recap:

Yes its Wednesday and I am just now doing a weekend recap. My week has just been busy and crazy....some not good!!! :( So since I don't want to dwell on the bad, I will instead remember my fun and fabulous weekend. First, Friday night the girls and I went with some friends to see 'Wizard of Oz' downtown.

Ready to leave:



We then went and ate dinner at a pizza place near the theater. Funny story....ran into some girls that I taught last year and their moms. These are very "upper class" mommies. Well one of my friends thought they called our name for a table and we all walked over and sat down. The hostess came and told us that she had in fact called my dancer girls and not us. We took their table!!!! I couldn't look at them the rest of dinner! :( Ha!

The show was good but it wasn't great. I have seen better. We still had a great time though!


Girls in front of the theater:



Kaylynne, Me and Beth :



Twins and me:



Girls being silly:



Notice Meredith wasn't too happy. She got strep the day before and by the time the show ended, she was ready for bed!



Girls Re-enacting..."were off to see the Wizard....." ha ha...across the street!



Saturday was Noah's first Basketball game. I brought my "big mama" camera..got it out ready to shoot pics and NO memory card!!! DUH!!! Next week! Noah didn't know what he was doing but he still had fun and he got the white star "most Christlike"!

Saturday night the twins went to a party. I tell you I was not prepared for all the parties. They LOVE them. The big thing now is to rent out the cheer studio and have a dance party. I figure it is a safe CONTAINED space for them to dance and have fun with their friends while chaperoned. They have 2 more this weekend....they are more social then me! ha!

Here they are with their friend Madison (Veronica's daughter):



After dropping them off the rest of us went to our neighbors for dinner and games. We ate tacos and played Balderdash! It was so much fun!

Katie, Me and Diane:



Gretchen, Katie, Me, and Diane...love these girls:



So much fun playing games:





Sunday we went to church and then out to eat Mexican with 3 other families! FUN! Sunday afternoon the girls got ready for another party....eek! They had to dress up as a character for a "murder mystery party". They went to Beth's house and got picked up by a limo and driven to her lake house for Ally's bday. They spent the night and had a BLAST! Sunday night, we got a sitter for little man and went and ate dinner to celebrate our 16th anniversary...WOW!!!! We went to 'Mint' and it was ok. The best part were the cheese fritters, the drinks, and the dessert. I am just not a fancy schmanzy girl. I like ordinary food! We did have a great time though just visiting and being together. I LOVE YOU Greg! <3



We were going to go to a movie but we didn't feel like rushing dinner so we ended up just going home and watching the rest of Season 2 of 'The Office'. I LOVE that show! It was such a great weekend! :)

Show Us Your Life: Diet, Exercise, Healthy Tips

Kelly at Kelly's Korner is asking for diet, exercise, and healthy tips. I have always been a "petite" girl. This is partly due to my genetics. My parents are both small. I grew up never having to worry about exercise because I was so involved in ballet. I danced daily through highschool and then professionally for five years. After finishing up my dancing career, it was hard to find some sort of exercise program that would work for me. I will just say it....I HATE WORKING OUT! It has taken years and I am still not there. What does work for me? I do try to make it to the gym a few days a week. I walk/run on the treadmill and I do weights. I also like the ellyptical and taking Body Pump classes. The Body Pump is a great class to take for toning. It is an hour of weights for every part of your body!!! You will be sore though! The best part of the workout for me is when it is OVER and I am leaving the gym...ha! Unfortunately, since I am in my late 30's it is not an option anymore...it is a must!! I also teach ballet classes twice a week, but I don't really count that as my workout. It does help in the area of flexibility since I stretch with my students. As far as diet, I have tried everything. When I was dancing, I struggled with an eating disorder. I wanted to be super skinny and it really affected my mindset. The ONLY thing that has ever worked for me is not denying myself anything. I do try to only eat when hungry and stop when full. There is something about telling yourself you can't have something and it makes you want it even more. I can't do that. I try not to eat late at night if at all possible. I also try to eat healthy. I buy as much organic as possible. I will NOT buy anything but organic milk. I have daughters and I just don't want them drinking all those added hormones. I also try to buy hormone-free meat whenever possible. I have a website that I love ....it is called www.mealmakeovermoms.com I have their cookbook and I like how they take ordinary kid friendly food and improve it and make it healthier. Most everything I have made from the book and website, my family has enjoyed. I have a long way to go in the road to improved health. I am HORRIBLE about taking supplements and drinking enough water. Hopefully in 2010, I can improve and take better care of the life God has blessed me with! :)

New Years Eve 2009

We had a great NYE. I was a little worried because a couple of people had to cancel and our good friends that we spend EVERY NYE with got sick so they couldn't come. However, we had a wonderful time. We had lots of great food, good conversation, and Noah got to run around with friends. The girls got invited to a sleepover, so they had a blast too! We all made it until midnight! it was lots of fun and I hope the start to a fabulous and blessed 2010! :)

Me and Hubs:



Me and Veronica:



Veronica and Her son Jake:



Noah and Jake:



Veronica, Shannon, and Me:



Noah and His Sparkler:

Girls Night Out!

I have one more post to do on New Years Eve and then I will be caught up. First, I have to recap my weekend. I love spending time with my husband, but there is something about going out with a good group of girlfriends. I always feel 100% better afterwards. It is great going out and talking about anything and everything and LAUGHING! Back in November, a bunch of us went and saw 'New Moon' and then went to dinner at Bonefish. It was SO much fun!



Saturday, a bunch of us went and saw 'Its Complicated'. I do not normally see alot of R rated movies. I think the majority of them are trash. A friend of mine had already seen this one and she gave me a good review. I am so glad I went. It was HILARIOUS! It is a perfect girl movie!!! ;) Afterwards, we went to our favorite place....Bonefish! It was CROWDED. We had to wait for a table but were able to find seven seats in the bar area.

Here is me and my good friend Veronica. We have recently become very good friends. I LOVE her. We have the best time. We both have 6th grade daughters and so we have alot in common. We have been out to eat many times, lunch dates, flea market, mistletoe market, shopping,etc. I can always count on her for girl time! Ha !



Beth, Kaylynne, and CC! Beth and KL have daughters that go to school with mine. We have made a pact to stay close and are trying to keep our girls good friends too. CC of course is my bestie! Love that girl! She has a 6th grade daughter too.



Missy and Tina: I just met Missy. Tina is another with a 6th grade daughter that is a friend of the twins. Love them!



I LOVE the fish tacos at Bonefish. They are fabulous. That plus fun conversation with girlfriends = a great night!

The Day after Christmas....

The day after Christmas we loaded up in the car ( Elvis too) and drove 2 1/2 hours to see my brother and his family. My mom and other brother were also there so we got to spend time with everyone. We ate lunch, opened presents, and then went and visited my sister at her workplace. It was great to be able to hang out and enjoy a nice day with the family.

Meredith and her cousin Audrey:



My brother Peter and Audrey:



Madeline:



Me and Greg



Nathan and Audrey:



Madeline and Meredith got clothes and Petsmart giftcards for Elvis:



Mere and I got some favorite DVD's:



I Heart my new Camera bag:



And books:



Noah's favorite gift was "empire Strikes Back" DVD from mom:



I love Miss Audrey:

She is soooo funny. Every picture she takes, after you take a good one she wants to do a silly face:



My mom and all her grandkids (and grand-dog):



Silly face:



Do you know how hard it is to get 3 kids,2 adults, and a dog in position for a picture?



Hard....but totally worth it!!! :)

Merry Christmas 2009!!!

Still catching up! Christmas was great this year. We spent Christmas Eve at Greg's brothers house. We just ate dinner and watched part of 'Christmas Vacation'. Sadly no pictures, but I always feel like people look at me like I am crazy when I haul my big ole camera out. We drove home and got the kids into bed by 11. Noah left a plate of cookies and some milk out for Santa. Greg and I then got to work getting everything set out. He also had to go next door and get the "BIG" gift. Christmas day was wonderful. The kids opened presents, we ate breakfast casserole, lazed around in our pj's, and then G's parents came over for a late lunch and more gifts. We finished the day by watching 'Its a Wonderful Life' in blu ray!!! Awesome!!!

The Loot:



More:



Noah and his "count Douku"



Girls and Makeup Bags ( with makeup inside...woop woop)



Paw-Paw and Noah



Me and Ga-Ga



Me and Hubs:



And Drumroll.....the big gift of the day...................

Our tiny toy poodle......

Elvis.....



Seriously can you resist that face??? ( I didn't want a pet and I couldn't say no to him):



We all ADORE him: