what we have been up to

Hmmm... let's see. where to begin with our updates. Bullet style maybe?

• Home search officially on hold. We have narrowed down the city we want and now will wait to do anything. We would like to get more equity in our home and also save a little more towards a down payment and by waiting a tad longer, won't have to make Hunter transfer schools. He is towards the end of his freshman year and I believe that as long as he starts his senior year there, if we moved part way through, he could continue going there as long as he had his own transportation. Unless we get really antsy. He has said he'd be open to switching schools but we'd like to not have to have him do that if possible.
• We did get blown away by the other builder that we saw a few weeks back. And, funny coincidence is that he lives at the far end of our current street. Crazy coincidence, right? We have since emailed back and forth a few floor plans, so the hope is that we pick out the house, know the price point and in time, just need to find the lot.
• My Brother in Law and his family are moving to the city we want to move in. Will be so nice to have our kids grow up so close to each other. I love the development they are looking at too. (I wonder if Sean would be opposed to living THAT close to each other? haha- I doubt it)
• Quinlin has been adorably sweet the last few weeks...and then all of a sudden today- diva bitch mode. I'm hoping she maybe just doesn't feel well.
• The weather here has been amazing the past few days. 80* and sunny. I'll take it. We have been outside every night playing with the kids and not coming in until dark. It's been amazing. No tv- just family time.
• Hunter is struggling with his grades. I cannot wait until this grading period ends so he can have a fresh start. I feel like I am so mean because I am so completely on him about his grades. I can't help it- I know he can do better.
• On Tuesday night, he shaved his "mustache" for the first time. OMG- did I just say he had a mustache???? tee hee hee... just the little hairs growing at the corners of his mouth. Sean and Hunter's buddies started calling him Sanchez, so he knew it was time to finally do it. He was so excited- it was adorable.

and- what's a post without pictures???

 we went to a local park the other day. Sean and Owen decided to fish... Owen kept saying he thought he caught something. Poor little guy only had a bobber- no hook or bait. Oops.

Matching shirts. Love them!

Looking forward to the weekend! Girls night tonight and date night tomorrow. Yay!

Recap of the end of 2011

I have been meaning to do a recap of everything we have been up to but keep forgetting to grab my camera to load the pics. I guess those really just have pictures from the holidays but still fun to be able to share. It's been so long since I have posted, I wont remember everything, but here's a shot.

We went to the rainforest

 And watched a little TV....

 We played at the McDonald's kids land

 And opened some early Christmas presents

 We went to my parents for an early Hanukkah dinner and the kids got more presents

 Including a Dora backpack..

 That Quinlin needed to carry everywhere...

 We also started to wear underwear...but she didn't want the girlie ones, just Owen's.

 Christmas morning we woke up and opened presents galore

 and even slept with our new truck

 We got a new sled for Christmas, but there was no snow, so we used it to sit on while we watched tv

 We went to school after Christmas and wore one of our new sweaters that Grandma gave us... and proceeded to vomit on it as soon as we got to school. Needless to say, we were pretty sick during the holidays. 

 So instead of school, we hung out in our jammies...in our sled.

 I got new boots. Now the search is on for skinny jeans that I actually like.

 We finally got snow and built a snowman

 Well, we played while Sean built

 "I can't put my arms down!"

 We stayed in for New Years and Sean made a fabulous dinner.

 This picture doesn't quite go with the recaps, but it was too funny to not include. Mrs. Potato Quinlin!

We've had a really nice last few weeks. Hopefully back to blogging more regularly. It's hard to remember everything we have done when I let it go for so long! Had a great dinner last night- will post recipe and pics tomorrow. Hopefully will post pictures from my camera as well from the holidays. And then this week, my baby turns two!

Friday already?

Where did the week go? I didn't even have a chance to write about our weekend last weekend and it's already approaching the weekend today. So- quick Labor Day weekend update. Friday I went to my friend Vedrana's wedding. I believe there were about 500 people. It was Croatian- a ton of family and friends who all belonged to the same Church/ hall and it wasn't assigned seating. Yikes! We walked in and found a table by the bar and plopped ourselves down. We instantly made friends with the two couples who sat with us and had a fabulous time. I also ran into an old co-worker there and it was so nice to catch up with her.

Saturday Sean took the babies to the farm to spend time with his mom and help her pack for the big move. My sister came into town from Indiana so we ventured out for the day. We brought Hunter with us who was bored to death. Shopping not totally his cup of tea. My sister was looking for interview attire, so most of our day was spent at Limited, Express and Ann Taylor trying on suiting. At about hour 2, I gave him money and he went to the movies and saw Shark Night. At about hour 5, we were done. But- I got some really cute clothes as well- a few tops, 2 pairs of pants and some jewelery.

Sunday was a day of food shopping in the morning and then an engagement party for our friends Pat and Lisa. They live in Arizona and the wedding will be there next spring and Sean is the Best Man. It was so nice for me to finally meet Lisa. We are so happy for them. The party was a lot of fun, despite the weather.

Monday morning Sean went golfing and I got caught up around the house. We went to my parents that afternoon for a cookout and Owen was a holy terror. Not listening, pushing Quinlin, throwing things, etc. It was awful. It was a nice time but we couldn't get out of there fast enough. It always comes back to bite me when I mess with nap time.

The week went pretty fast at work. Lots to do and I did get a ton done. I'm hoping to finish a few projects today and organize my office and then be done for the weekend. Tonight- Owen starts soccer. We cannot wait. I stopped at the store yesterday to buy him soccer socks, shin guards and a ball. Bummer of it all? Sean left the video camera at his mom's. I am going to have to use our regular camera and hope we can get some decent videos.

The rest of the weekend looks to be low key. We were supposed to go out Saturday night but our sitter cancelled and then we have the football game on Sunday. Go Browns!

Staycation

I apologize for my absence. I didn't realize it had been so long since I did a post! Sean and I took our first vacation together (in almost four years) and had it planned for mid May thinking the weather would be nice and we could really get to hang out together doing fun things. Little did I know, the weather would suck. Like really suck. It was cold and rainy almost all week.

Half the reason we wanted to take time off together was to clean and organize and purge. And we purged. We brought a bunch of items to Goodwill, gave a basket of things to my niece and nephew, gave Quinlin's old clothes to our friend's little girl, put the "name brand clothes" in piles and started listing those on ebay, etc. You can see how exciting my week was. But- the good thing is, we cleaned and organized and then started with a cleaning lady. We'll have her come twice a month- and honestly, I think this money will be so well spent. To not have to worry about cleaning on a weekend and to enjoy time with my children is priceless.

We did go shopping a few times and I did buy a cute pair of sunglasses at Saks, but other than that we went out to lunches and enjoyed being together. Not a bad staycation...just gives us more reason to take time off together again in July or so. I'll be sure to check the weather forecast prior.

Friday!

In honor of Rebecca Black- hahaha

I am so happy it's Friday (not enough to sing about it but the song is so annoying you end up catching yourself- ick).

Anyway- it was a good week. Work was very busy and some extra playtime with Hunter, so no complaints here. Owen also worked on potty training (kind of) this week. Sean's mom bought him underwear, so every night since Sunday, he has worn his big boy underpants for at least an hour just to get used to them. Last night was the longest he was in them- about 2 hours. No accidents, but he also wont go on the potty either. Sean made the mistake of telling him that the potty ate poo poo and pee pee so I think the poor kid is afraid he's going to get sucked in and eaten as well. I have the 3 Day Potty Training Method that I need to try as soon as I get three days off in a row.

He looks like such a big boy!!!

Ok- I haven't done my TV Talk in a while- we were so consumed with selling things on ebay (7 items and $165 later) and looking for new homes, that I neglected my dvr. Now that we have decided we are not moving for at least a few more years, I was finally able to watch a few of my shows:

• Teen Mom 2- the only highlight of this week's finale was the wedding between Corey and Leah.
• Grey's Anatomy- OMG- a musical? It's not Glee. I'm thinking they jumped the shark. It was a good episode in terms of the story line- and Callie can sing, but the singing just seemed to cheesy and corny to me. Wasn't a fan- though I have the song Story in my head from it.
• American Idol- Loved Elton John week. Need to get into it more- I love Steven Tyler as a judge, but find myself watching Survivor instead of Idol if they are on at the same time.
• Survivor- loving it this season so far. Glad Russell is gone. I have my episode from this week dvr'd and hope to watch it today with Hunter.

Speaking of today- half day at work and then he and I are going to another movie. Off to see Source Code- will let you know my thoughts of it on Monday during my weekend recap. Other than that, usual errands tomorrow followed by a night out of drinks and bowling with a group of friends and finally meeting my nephew on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

A video from Christmas

ok- so I cant seem to post the one video of Owen not enjoying the beginning of Christmas... Though- I can post the video of him enjoying one of his new toys. Lets just say that I hope, for everyone's sake, that he chooses to follow a different path than a pilot...

Not much is going on with us. I am enjoying my vacation time, and sad to think it's already more than halfway over. I have a lot that I would like to get done today while the kids are at daycare and I think Hunter and I are going to do a little shopping/bonding time. Tonight- dinner with some girlfriends- and so excited because the location chosen is literally 5 minutes from my house!

On a sad note, my heart hurts for a mommy friend. Please keep Jen and her family in your prayers. I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through. :(

Halloween (Picture Heavy)

We had such a great time this year for Halloween! It started for us on Saturday night as we had a party to go to. Costume ideas were hard to decide this year. We didn't want to spend a lot of money, but wanted to have a decent costume too. We went through our costume bin and Sean found his costume

then he found what should be my costume...

I didnt really want to be a mini Darth (scary that I actually fit into one of Hunter's old costumes). I had planned to go with Jennifer and Kelli as Chilean Miners. So- for the first time since Sean and I have been a couple, we were not a couple costume.

Before the party- we posed for a group shot. Darth, Jennifer, me, Owen and Kelli.

At the party- complete with shovel and birds on our shoulders.... I didnt realize then that Kelli and Jennifer didnt turn their headlamps on...I wonder if I blinded people with my light? We had a great time. Jennifer, Kelli and I tied for 3rd place. 2nd place were Chilean Minors- they wore head lamps and had a chili on their shirts with the number 17 on them since they were minors (haha- underage). 1st place was Dick in a Box... the Sat Night Live Skit with the boxes around the waist. What made the costumes funny was that in the box was a picture of LeBron... classic! We also played LCR twice and Sean won both games... money tree of winnings below:

On actual Halloween, we had such a nice day. I made Tara's chili recipe and added a beer to it- an IPA but I dont remember what we used, just to give it some extra flavor. It was fabulous. Sean's siblings came over with my niece, so that was fun. Hunter left us about 5pm to go trick or treating with his buddy. Quick pic of costume:

and then we tried to pose the babies for pictures...

This was going to have to do- a 26 month old, a 16 month old and a 9 1/2 month old dont do well for group shots. Off we went:

Owen was in heaven staring at all the suckers...

Of course...Sean had to dig out his costume and walk around... "Hung Like a Horse".

Happy Halloween!