I feel like it has been forever...

But it really hasn't. Working nights really messes me up. So, I feel like I should have a ton to update you on, but I can't really think of anything. Tim is loving his new computer and Max is pretty excited about his as well. Two nights in a row now he fought going to bed because he was so into whatever game he was playing. I fear that boy will take after his daddy in one way, just not the way I was hoping!

For those of you that have been with me all along, you probably know I used to change my layout all the time. For some reason I've been in a rut lately. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do next. I'll probably work on it for the next few days and by the beginning of the week have something new.

Hmm, the weather. We had some really nice days last week, then this week it has snowed two nights. It is the end of March, right?? My poor kids just want to go outside to play. Its kinda hard to do that when you never know what the weather will be like, and when it's wet, I'm not taking them out. Alex screams when we get home in the evening because he wants out so bad. If I don't shut the garage door before I take him out of his car seat, he bolts for the road. Max is better, he just needs some friends to play with. Fortunately, Alli just started babysitting another 4 year old boy in the neighborhood and if possible, she's going to try to get them together tomorrow. I think that will help alot.

Ah, now I remember what I was going to talk about. This is going to make me sound really lame, but I'll tell the story anyway. Max is in gymnastics on Wednesday evenings. There is a little girl, Sofie, that is just so adorable. Anyway, the first week I said a few words to her mom because she also has a little brother a little younger than Alex and the babies were playing together that first time. So, this week comes along and they are there again. Babies start playing together and then next thing you know moms are talking. She was a very nice lady and as luck would have it, she was a labor and delivery nurse before she decided to stay home. Hmm, we have more than two kids the same age in common. Cool! As we were leaving she thanked me for talking to her?!?!?!? She has no idea how excited I was to have someone talking to me. I've been so lonely since moving here. I came home and told Tim about it. My theory is, there are 4 more weeks of class left. That gives me 4 more weeks to keep chatting her up and hope she asks for my phone number so we can be friends. Haha, how lame am I! I know I could just ask her for hers. I should probably get her name first since I don't even know that yet. I'm just too chicken. Most people know me as outgoing and somewhat obnoxious, but in situations that are new to me I totally clam up. Ah well, I'm sure I'll make friends here soon enough. Spring will help when I can get outside with the kids.

I guess that's about all I've got for now. I feel like I'm just rambling. I will leave you with a few pictures though! Got some great ones on Easter. See the picture and video link for the rest because there are a ton!!



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Yeah, definitely check out the link. I could have posted 20 more, but I didn't want to clog up the front page here. Some pretty cute videos too!

Geek Boy and his new toy!

Thought I would share a few pictures of Tim working on the new computer. It's all together and up and running this morning.

The stuff

Putting it all together

Trying to get it all inside so the cover will fit

He cracks me up. Had to have me listen to the sound system first thing when he woke up this morning. He is like a kid on Christmas morning, only worse because he's old.

I don't have much planned for today. Just finishing up the last of the cleanup so Robyn can come clean tomorrow. I also want to take a nap since I go back to work tonight, and I need to get some scrapping done. Otherwise, I'm just going to be a bum. Haha, there's something new!

Just call me the computer widow!

Tim's parts arrived today. He's upstairs now unpacking it and taking pictures. I'm sure any minute he'll be ripping open packages and beginning the journey of putting it all together. He's been going stir crazy this morning waiting for the doorbell to ring. He is off work today and tomorrow just for this purpose. I don't expect I'll see much of him tomorrow. He'll be too busy testing it out, and I'm sure tonight he'll be up quite late making sure it's working and all installed.

Ah, the life of a computer geek's wife. Haha!

So, I didn't post it here yet, but I did take a picture of my ring. I suppose I should share for those of you that won't see it in person for awhile.

Here is the solitaire


And here it is with the wrap. I still need to get the wrap sized before I can wear it.

We had an awesome day yesterday!! Bill invited us to Grand Rapids for Easter dinner at his friends Jason and Darcy's house. She is an amazing cook and had a little egg hunt and goodies for the kids. Crystal was there and it's always nice to see her too. I know mom and dad would be so proud that their 3 kids got together on a holiday with no help or prodding from them. GRR! I was going to post a picture of the family, but I can't get dropshots to work right now. The only good thing about that is that Rusty actually has a better picture so maybe I'll wait until I can get my hands on that. It turned out really good with everyone working.

Check out the video and picture link when you are bored. There are tons from the last few days, and far too many to share here.

Other that Easter, not much has been going on. Max had his last evaluation appointment the other day and we should know in about a week how it all turned out. I am severely behind on scrapbooking again so my plan was to get the house in order today so I can spend tomorrow doing that. We shall see. I clean a little and then I get bored ;)

I don't have long

Because I let them guilt me into coming into work tonight, but I realized I had some big news that I forgot to tell you.

I picked up my ring on Wednesday and immediately put it on my finger. I was quite under the assumption that I was lucky Tim wanted to buy it, but he probably would never propose in the proper way. I was ok with that too. As long as we've been together it just didn't seem necessary, although I would have loved to have it happen.

Anyway, when he got home from work he saw it on my hand and commented that he didn't know I had gone to get it. Well, duh?? Like I was going to leave it at the store any longer? He played with it and asked me a bit about how it worked with the wrap. Him being a guy and all he didn't have a clue. I showed him how they fit together. Then he put it on my finger and asked me to marry him......and his computer. Cuz, you know, we had just been talking about and looking at pictures of the parts he ordered to build a new one. How sweet was that?? Totally unexpected, totally Tim, and it just made my night! I even said "sure." Haha! How lame are we?

I think I might have also talked him into wearing a wedding band some day. We shall see. I'd really like to get matching bands and have them engraved for each other. He is sooooo not into stuff like that, but all I have to do is promise bigger and cooler computer parts and he'll usually agree to anything.

Rusty is here tonight which is pretty exciting. He hasn't been down since Thanksgiving. Max has loved having his uncle around so he can show off. Tim likes having another tech geek to talk computers with. If things go as planned we are heading up to Grand Rapids on Sunday to have Easter with Bill at his friend's house. Hopefully it'll work out. I know we'll get together, I'm just not sure if all 3 of us will be there. Won't mom be surprised to see the pictures of her 3 children together with zero planning on her part. We can be good kids sometimes ;).

Ok, I have to run and get ready for work. They were desperate and I can't say NO. I've always been that way and it makes me crazy. I did call back and say I could only work 4 hours though because of having company here and Max having gymnastics in the morning. Hopefully they found someone for the second 4 hours.

Have a happy Easter weekend!

Shh, It's a secret!

I just amended Tim's tax returns. Marriott messed up and put something on his original W-2s about moving expenses that shouldn't have been there. Yay!! It means he's getting even more money back, and it'll go into "our" account that I keep track of. Hmm, now how to get him to sign the returns without seeing it. Haha! I'm totally kidding about that. It's money that is going to go towards paying off a credit card anyway, but I was excited to see that more is coming. It also means he'll get a little more back from the Federal bonus thing than we originally thought since he's such a big bread winner!

I'm home all by myself today with plenty of cleaning to do. I don't much feel like it though so I've spent the better part of my day on the computer. Even that is pretty boring today, though. Hmm, I should do more scrapbooking, but I am super duper LAZY!! Kids will probably be home in a few hours so I at least need to fold the two loads of clothes that I washed and put them away. I could also pick up a few toys, but they made the mess, shouldn't they have to clean it? I loaded the dishwasher already so at least there is one thing I can cross of my list.

Max has really had a good couple of weeks. Tim and I are getting a lot better about talking him down when it's obvious a meltdown is coming. We've diverted quite a few lately. However, that kid has more energy than the energizer bunny. He just goes and goes and goes. And he talks non-stop. I asked him why he talked so much this morning and his response was, "Because I like to talk a lot, mommy!" Like I should have known. Hehe, he cracks me up, but takes away any and all energy that I have. Alex is just a beast and continues to get worse. I remember hating it when Max was this age too. They are so cute sometimes, but mostly they just have something to say and no language to say it with. Meltdowns, screaming, tantrums, you name it take the place of just simply telling me, or taking me where they want to go. As I list off the things I "think" Alex wants, I get a whole bunch of Nos with head shakes. Usually I end up picking him up and asking him to point or show me. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. 9 times out of 10 it involves him wanting more food. I swear that he is going to eat us out of house and home.

My job is good. I finally worked out a solution with my boss. Getting me back to 12s was going to take a lot of work on her part, and after thinking it over, I really didn't want that anyway, so as of next week I'm down to 56 hours per pay period instead of 72. Less money, but that's about what I've been working lately anyway due to calling off sick, volunteering off when we are slow, or getting mandated off for the same reason. If I sit and home and don't go spend money, it won't be an issue!! It will give me more nights at home with my family though, and more time to do things around the house that I'm always putting off.

Other than that, not much else to tell. We can go get my ring tomorrow and I can't wait to wear it!!!!! I'll take a picture, I promise!

Ooops! I've been keeping you in suspense!

Sorry about that. I kinda forgot I blogged about the whole possibility of getting a ring until Tim's mom called looking for an answer.

So, Friday night Tim and I went out, sans kids, and had a very nice time. We went to a little Irish pub, ate traditional food and had some good drinks. At some point before we left an Irish band started to play, but since it was pub crawl night it was really hard to hear them over the million people crammed into the place.

Saturday morning we headed to Sam's club hoping to find some fly paper because we are being invaded by Asian beetles. They didn't have any, so we picked up a few other things. I also had to stop by the jewelery counter to look at rings. Tim asked Max if they should buy mommy some sparkles and Max thought it was a good idea. I didn't have to pay him off, bribe him, or anything. Tim told me to go ahead and order the one I liked. But when the lady mentioned it takes 8 weeks to get it in my size, I told her I'd be back after we shopped. The second we walked away Tim said to me, you want to go somewhere where it's quicker, huh! Haha! He knows me so well. Later that afternoon, when the kids were well napped we headed out to Helzberg Diamonds. I found a few on their website I really liked. I tried some on while Tim dropped the kids off in their little toy area. When he got back there were two that I couldn't decide between and I asked for his input. He's so not into stuff like that so he enlisted in Max's help.

I was deciding between a round cut with 8 small side sapphires, or a princess cut (my first love) with one small sapphire on each side. He picked the second because it was square, "and you've always wanted a square one, mommy." Who can argue with that! He was so cute. He kept wanting to hold them and look at them close. I actually ended up with a solitaire and wrap that together look exactly like the one I wanted. But going with two parts I now have an engagement ring and a wedding band, for the same price, and the diamond is bigger this way. It's being sized now so I'll have it officially on Wednesday. I wanted Tim to pick out a wedding band as well, but he's pretty sure he'll never wear one. I guess we'll have to talk about that

As for when we are getting married, well, he still hasn't officially asked, and I'm not sure he will, but it took 10 years for him to buy a ring so I'm guessing a wedding will be another 10 years. I hope not, but only time will tell. I've been pressuring long enough so I figure I should give him a short break before moving on to the next step. Part of me still wishes for the bigger wedding (NOT huge) with a white dress and our family and friends, but then part of me thinks Vegas would be alot of fun too. At this point I want to get our debt paid off before we start trying to pay for a wedding, so I'm guessing unless someone else is paying, it'll definitely be awhile and it'll be small!

So, there you have it! For those of you that know Tim well, try not to have a heart attack. I was shocked too, but he's so awesome!!! I knew it would happen eventually!

Kids are driving me absolutely insane tonight so I'm out for now. I need to get working on bedtime!! It can't come soon enough!

ETA: Tim ordered the parts for his computer last night. It should be here in 5ish days so don't expect to hear from him for a long time again. He'll have to build it and then tweak it for months. Not to mention play games on it since it's going to be SOOOOO Cool in his words!

Yay! It's Friday!

So, Max's 3rd appointment got rescheduled. They called and said there was some emergency or something and he goes next Friday instead. I don't remember the details because I was asleep when they called and actually had to check the caller ID to make sure I didn't dream it.

Other than that, he is having an amazing week. His teacher has been raving about him and it's spring like weather so they keep getting to go outside. I'm sure that helps a ton.

Alex is still clingy as all heck and everything is "MINE." Tim has asked several times when this phase ends. Hmm, not sure. It was so long ago for Max, I really don't remember anything. How sad is that?

I've decided to go back to 12 hour shifts. Tim was nervous about that because of weekends, but I found at least two people at work who would prefer to work them and are willing to switch with me. Woohoo!! I talked to my boss yesterday and just have to wait til next week to see what she can work out. I've also decided in this process that I don't much like my boss and I'm not so sure I like my job. I like what I do, and I love most of the girls I work with, but I just don't have a settled feeling about the whole place. Maybe it's working nights and the fact that I dislike most of the dayshift. Even if a position opened I'm not so sure I would want it. Know what I mean? Or if it is something else. Either way, I don't want to look for a new job right now, but I will probably be keeping my eyes open just in case. I wish it wasn't such a paycut to go work at a doctor's office. Then I'd have holidays and most weekends off. It would be easier work too, but I feel like I'd also be missing something. Oh well, I'll figure it all out eventually.

The plan for tonight, if Alli isn't still sick, is for Tim and I to go to the pub crawl in South Bend. We haven't been out since we went with Debbie and Dawn, and I think after the last 2 weeks we both really need it. I don't think I mentioned it, but he got his first ever bonus check a few weeks ago. There is plenty that we could pay off with it, but I decided we should do something fun. He told me to go buy myself a ring. How romantic, right? Anyway, not sure if he meant it or not, but I took him seriously and I've been looking. He wants to go the e-bay route, but I'd rather buy from a store where I can get it sized, cleaned, and kept safe. Don't want to be losing any stones!! I found several I like so I'm hoping he'll take me to look at them this weekend. Again, he might have just been teasing and that would make me mad, but I wouldn't put it past him ;) Love you, honey!! I told him I'd even keep it on the less expensive side so he could put half of the bonus towards the new computer he wants to build. As soon as a ring is on my finger and he's asked me to marry him, I'll hand over the money for the computer. Hehe, I'm so slick in getting his money deposited into "our" account.

I have tons to do today, but not much desire to do any of it. I've been playing on the internet but even that is boring. Laundry is started though so I really should go fold some clothes. I also need to load the dishwasher and run some errands. Can't I do that from the couch??

Have a super weekend!!

Long time, no post!

I have been exhausted lately. I worked 4 in a row had one night off and now I'm in the middle of 5 in a row and not sleeping nearly enough.

Max's second evaluation appointment went very well. She said he is extremely intelligent and that she'd need the third appointment because he was losing focus fast the other day. So, his last one is tomorrow. I'm excited to get back there with Tim to see what her findings are. For some reason he has had an amazing two weeks. A few meltdowns here and there, but overall decent days as opposed to the week before when it was one bad day after another.

He LOVES gymnastics. He did much better the second day, but it was totally different on a Saturday morning. They had colored blocks at each station, and each child was assigned a color. They had to stand on their color until it was their turn. He still wandered off a bit, but watching the other kids, they all did. He was doing summersaults down a ramp, forward and backward, cartwheels and got to jump in the big pit again. I think that was his favorite part. I didn't get to watch as much as I would have liked because Tim had to work and Alex was a wild man. There were other kids there for him to play with, but it wasn't a kid friendly area so I had to watch him very closely. I can see him becoming a bob sledder when he grows up as much as he loves sliding down slides at fast speeds, head first on his belly.

I've decided I'm completely not cut out for working nights. I have been miserable lately. I'm tired all the time and when I'm not, I'm cranky. I yell more than I'd like and I cry more than Tim would like. I feel like I'm never home at night with my family...because I'm not, and then I don't do anything but sleep all day. I wake just in time to go get the kids and by the time they go to bed, I'm beat and just want to veg on the couch with the computer. I don't get anything done and laundry piles up until it takes me 3 days to get it done. I feel like I have no life and no friends to call to try to have one. I find myself getting homesick for VA quite a bit lately. Max has asked randomly a few times "mommy, when are we going home?" and I know he doesn't mean anything by it, but it makes me miss "HOME" or what felt like home for almost 10 years.

I digress, it's unlikely that we are going back so I just need to move on. I know Tim has days where he doesn't much like his job either so maybe a quick move is in order. As much as the housing market sucks, that's a scary thought, but this doesn't feel like home to me, so moving again wouldn't be a big deal. I guess we'll have to see what happens.

Kids are looking for mommy time right now so I have to run, but I have 2 days off when I'm done with my run of 5 so I'll be back then!

Is winter over yet??

Cuz I'm ready for the sickies to end!! Alex and I appear to have a stomach bug. In his case I thought it was just left over reaction from the antibiotics he was on, but his doctor doesn't think so. I ended up taking him back in today because he still has runny diapers and the last two nights has acted like his ears are still infected. The left definitely is, and the right would be back to crap in the next 48 hours if we hadn't have caught it. He's back on meds, and hopefully this time won't have any problems with them. As for me, I called in sick to work last night and am hoping I feel good enough to go tonight. I'm going either way, but I hate working when I feel like crap!

Max had his first assessment appointment yesterday. The doctor said he will need all 3 appointments because its taking longer than she expected to do the IQ test. He's testing at the 7 year old level in some areas and more testing takes more time. I'm so proud of him for being so smart, but at the same time I wonder if that's part of his problem. Is he too bored? She also said it was hard to hold his attention and he got pretty distracted towards the end. Well duh! Isn't that the main reason we are having him tested? Haha! It just cracked me up that she said that.

After that appointment he had his first gymnastics class. What a disaster. He had fun, and he did great, but we were able to stay and watch. He needed to be redirected several times because there was so much going on in the gymnasium that he wanted to watch everything else rather than pay attention to his group. He wandered off a few times, but there was another little girl who did too so I felt better. He goes again Saturday morning and I'm hoping they'll let me take some pictures.

Tim pointed out that Max no longer runs "dorky" like I do and that maybe he still has a prayer in professional football. I hope so because after his childhood years, he's going to have to be responsible for taking care of us. Our mental wellbeing is going to be shot. ;)

That's about all I have for now but I'm sure I'll think of something else soon. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Back again!

Tomorrow is Max's first appointment with the psychologist. I'm excited to see how it goes, but slightly concerned because he is having a pretty good week. He was awesome at preschool today and got a great report.

He also starts gymnastics tomorrow evening. He is so excited he can barely stand it. I am allowed to stay and watch the first week so that's what we'll be doing. Hopefully they'll let me take some pictures. I'm not sure if I can or not, but it will make for some great scrapbooking!

Speaking of scrapbooking, I just realized that I didn't post a picture of my new haircut. It's not the cut that's all that different, but I got some highlights that are so different for me. I love it though!! And Max keeps telling me the red in my hair is SOOO COOL!!







And one of Max and I because he got his hair cut as well! He is such a handsome boy!!





That's about all I've got for now. I'm needing a nap before I head back to work, but I'll try to update again tomorrow night with stories from the weekend!!

Tag! I'm It!

10 years ago-- Tim and I had just started dating and he was talking about moving to Washington DC. I had just finished going to school at Northwood University and was in my partying prime. Fortunately that didn't last long. I was happy for the first time in several years and had no idea I was about to begin the ride of my life ;)

5 Things on my to do list today were:
1. Sleep
2. get the boys from school
3. Make dinner
4. enjoy bedtime with the boys
5. Take a nap before I go back to work

Things I would do if I were suddenly a Billionaire:
Pay off all of our debt, buy us new cars, let both of us retire and pick someplace to live where we can have fun with the kids all the time!! I'd also help my family in whatever way they needed.

3 of my bad habits:
1. Smoking
2. drinking out of the apple juice bottle
3. biting my nails

Jobs I've had:
1. McDonalds when I was 16
2. dishwasher at a summer camp
3. every position imaginable with Marriott
4. Waitress at the Silver Diner
5. Now I'm a nurse

5 Things people don't know about me:
1. I am very insecure
2. I love dill pickles wrapped in a slice of cheese with a side of potato chips.
3. I don't have many friends and am very lonely in real life
4. I've been watching Days Of Our Lives for 26 years
5. Even though I'm a slob there are certain things I'm anal about. It drives me crazy when my bedspread isn't on straight.

And now that I've told my story, I'm off to Tag someone else!! I had fun with it and hope you will too.