Stitch's New Home

This is my beta fish Stitch, yup he's named after the Disney character Stitch. Stitch lives in my office @ work. Stitch is a scraggly looking fella (note the pitiful fin condition) but is happy to see me in the morning because Sarah = breakfast. When I was cleaning out his bowl a few days ago I barely bumped it on the side of the sink & it broke! Stitch lived in his "cleaning cup" for a day or so until I went to PetSmart and got him a new home.

Stitch seems to be liking his new home, although he's not too sure about those plants in there. Stitch pretty much likes to lay on the bottom of the bowl & "sleep" he's not very energetic.

Thought I'd throw this picture in here just for kicks & to make Miss Angela laugh. I was playing with the color accent deal on my camera again, one of the crazy people across the street had some kind of drama & the fire department and ambulance came.

The Boil

This is the boil that raised it's ugly head (literally) on Emma-Rae's leg last weekend. It got MUCH worse than this but is now MUCH better. She's being a bull right now & won't let me take another picture of how much better it looks. In all fairness she's really sick with a nasty cold & just doesn't feel like being bothered. We went to see Dr. Charles, got some antibiotics & it's been getting better ever since.

Emma-Rae & her BFF Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn's giving her moral support- Emma-Rae was stuck in the bed with a heating pad on that boil. John made them some chocolate chip cookies, we popped in a movie for them, and they were good to go!

Chillin'

John-Rob chillin' with K-Dawg last Sunday, watchin' some Scooby Doo!

Playing with my NEW BFF (my camera)

Well... the first pic is of my REAL BFF, I was buggin' him last weekend while he was trying to work. :)
Then I started playing with the color accent feature of the camera, in this pic I chose the blue in John-Rob's coat, it also picked up the blue in the postcard of Cinderella sitting on the piano

Then I chose the red panes of glass in my lamp...

AND the brown color of my Diet Coke...

You can also adjust the setting to pick up colors similar to the main color you've chosen, I opted not to do that in most of these pics.

Baby Panda

Eleanor sent me this email with all of these baby pandas in it... I'm sure everyone has seen the email before but I think this particular panda has to be one of the cutest things ever. Regardless... it sure cheered me up today! Have a good one!

Motley Crue Saints of Los Angeles 2009 Tour

Yeah baby! Motley Crue SOLA tour kicks off in February. It's going to be really tricky but John & I are going to try and see the show in Nashville on 2/21. The tricky part will be that we're supposed to leave the following day for the Cayman Islands to celebrate Stacy's big 40 b-day & Dave & John happen to have a February b-day as well. The Lemas can't join us this time around but I was telling John tonight that I've never seen Motley play an arena show- they usually play a longer setlist & have extra awesome pyro & theming than they do in a festival setting, so... I asked John if he'd be up for going to see the show & driving home afterwards so we could catch a plane the next day. He said he was up for it, have I told anyone lately how MUCH I love this man... he works his butt off & is still up for my crazy ideas. Now... if only I could take advantage of the pre-sale that's going on now... I'm having a hard time getting a passcode & have emailed the appropriate folks for assistance but as for right this minute, no tickets yet... I'm afraid the close seats, the ones with the good view of Nikki Sixx, are going to be gone before we get ours.... ugh!!!

Happy B-day to ME!!!

Happy B-day to me!! Early, b-day present. John & the kids asked me what I wanted for my b-day a few weeks ago. I told them I wanted a new- smaller/better/newer camera to take to Disney, we'll be getting back late the night before my b-day. I finally picked one out night before last, it was hard to decide- it's a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS & the color is Bohemian Brown! I went on & picked it up from Costco yesterday so I could make friends with it before we left for Disney. It has this REALLY cool feature where you can take a picture in black & white & choose colors from the environment that you want to accent & those colors show up. As soon as I get the software loaded & some pictures taken on it I'll show you an example. It came with two free memory cards & a case. Wish I'd have known it was going to come with a free case seeing as how I'd just ordered a new case. But... the case I ordered is a pelican & it's pretty good quality, waterproof, etc...

I also ordered this bag from ebags to carry while at Disney. Last year I borrowed one similar to this from Lauren, I like the kind that go across your chest, backpacks can be a problem on rides & a big purse tends to slide off my shoulder.

Our vacation is just around the corner, I'm trying to get my ducks in a row. I've been throwing things in a Rubbermaid tote that's in my office as I come across them. Things like... flip flops, goggles, glow sticks (found those in the dollar bins @ Target woo hoo!!) travel size toothpaste, etc... FYI I'm bringing the glow sticks so the kids can be lit up during the parades & fireworks at night- going to be much cheaper than buying $20 light up toys every night! :)

My Fall Wreath

I've been really looking hard for a pretty fall wreath that doesn't have some sort of bird in a nest sticking out of it or cost $39.99. I wasn't having any luck so after Emma-Rae's eye appt. last week I thought I'd stop by Michaels & see about making one myself. I got a grapevine wreath for $3.99 and since all of the fall picks & greenery were 70% off Emma-Rae & I picked a bunch of stuff out. I think I ended up spending around $20 bucks. This is the end result, I'm pretty satisfied, the colors of course look better in person BUT seeing as how this thing took me less than 15 minutes to put together I'm okay that it's not perfect, AND I'm really okay that I have something I like for less than $39.99. Come on by and check it out in person if you get a chance!

Uncle Fudd's Farm- 2nd Time Around

Field trips with a bunch of 4 & 5 year olds are interesting to say the least. John-Robert & I rode with Mary's Mom (Miss Twinkle is what John-Rob calls her) it's really Miss Tina. Miss Tina & I were responsible for the 5 kiddos below. The three boys are pretty much the clowns of the class, we really had our hands full! :) Like John always says- keeping them together & "in line" was like herding cats.
Out at Uncle Fudd's farm we got right to business & played a version of hot potato (with a pumpkin) and tug of war. John-Rob was the anchor for Miss Sellers class, they didn't win BUT Mrs. Fudd told them that they would be the first ones to get off the hayride, guess that's some kind of a consolation prize.




We took off on our hayride, let me tell you about this hayride. Uncle Fudd talks to the kids and tells them he needs them to look for some things they have lost- a yellow fish, a red can, a lazy worker of his named Punkin head, a bull's horn (yes, I really am remembering all of this) AND last but not least a little red headed girl named Lisa. Lisa got lost a day or so ago & her parents really need us to find her. Are you kidding me??? You should have seen those kids faces, they ranged from complete shock to terrified. The little boy sitting across from me says- Oh My God!! So... all of us parents & teachers have to start explaining this is just a game, etc.... way to go Uncle Fudd. We find all of the lost items & hop off to go through the corn maze- but WAIT Uncle Fudd has to tell us another story before we go through the maze- at the end of the maze the kids get to pick a pumpkin so this story can't be too bad, right?? Wrong!! Uncle Fudd starts off by telling the kids to stay on the path because there are spiders & rats hiding in the corn- kids IMMEDIATELY go into panic mode- John-Rob included because he doesn't like bugs at all! In addition to that Uncle Fudd tells us that last weekend his granddaughter had her end of the year softball party & they went in the corn maze after dark. All of a sudden her Coach, Coach Ron supposedly comes runing out screaming- someone cut his arm off!! Uncle Fudd says he needs us to help Coach Ron out & find his arm! John-Rob tells me- you're gonna have to get that one! Kids are asking parents- didn't he die if his arm was cut off, why did someone cut his arm off! These stories would have been better if they were told to an older group of kids- at the end of the maze someone had an arm stuffed with straw, kids were still kind of nervous. John-Rob is still talkin' about that arm.

After picking a pumpkin we went back to the farm, kids rode the train, fed the critters, & played on the playground.

Miss Sellers & Mrs. Sexton roasted some hot dogs for everyone & we had a great lunch. We luckily have awesome room mothers- we had a great lunch AND Miss Tina brought coffee!

Sleepovers

Last weekend, the weekend before, even this weekend we've had sleepovers like CRAZY! The kids love them & the more the merrier- I'm getting pretty used to having 5 kids running around my house during the weekend- kind of weird now I've only got two sleeping here tonight.

Last Saturday my neice, Taryn had a cheerleading competition @ the U of M field house. This was a pretty big deal because usually her competitions are out of town so we were actually able to go cheer her on for this one. Well... John & the kids got to go cheer her on, I had to go to work and do a major software upgrade :(. Taryn's team got 3rd place, yay!! I'd say she looks pretty happy here, thanks for sending me this one Dave!

Although I don't have any pictures of the actual evening... we had Kaitlyn, Zachary, & Taryn spend the night with us. The kids had a blast, they ran around our backyard with flashlights for hours scaring themselves... can't remember what we fed them that night, oh yeah- pizza & then John drug two twin mattresses out into our front room, we got the kids situated, & put on the new TinkerBell movie. That movie is great, the kids were all quiet for once (with the exception of John-Robert- of course) and they enjoyed the movie. When they woke up in the morning I cooked them breakfast while John ran up to work. I made a dozen eggs & 16 biscuits- what you see below is the aftermath of that breakfast. John had a little scoop of eggs & one biscuit to eat by the time he got home, the kiddos devoured everything!

The kids played outside forever, we even got some yard work done- cut the bushes, cleaned out the flowerbeds, cut the grass, took down the Halloween lights & decorations - apparently we had been going for the Welcome to the Jungle look... it looked really good last weekend, now a bunch more leaves have fallen & it doesn't look quite as nice or neat. John-Robert had a field trip planned for Monday & Taryn was out of school, so... I let Emma-Rae go spend the night with Taryn & take a day off of school. BAD Mama, I know, but she has only missed one day so far this year so... I thought I'd break the rules a bit. I told her teacher she spent the day with her cousin so I didn't tell a story or anything. Dave sent me this picture of Katherine, Rae, & Taryn - cuties aren't they!

Turns out we met up with them at the mall the next day. Dave took the girls shopping, Emma-Rae had a gift card to spend @ Justice from her b-day then they went to Build-A-Bear. John-Rob & I had coincidentally stopped by the mall after his field trip to get his haircut and pick up another book in the series I was reading. Awesome series by Charlaine Harris- Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series. This is the series the new HBO show True Blood was based on! I have the entire set (8 of them so far) & after Mr. David & Esha borrow them I'd be happy to loan them to you too.

Summer

Just wanted to share a few pics of my neice Christy's daughter Summer. Lots of us don't get a chance to see her very often because she doesn't live close by but Angela sent these to me & said it was okay for me to post them. Isn't she a doll, she's 6 and smart as a whip, she also has a sassy attitude like her Mama- gotta love that girl! Angela- next time you have Summer for the weekend make sure to show her that Aunt Sarah put her pretty pics up on our blog!

Halloween in Alton

Isn't this a good lookin' bunch! Left to right- Bobby, John-Rob, Zach, Rae, & Alyssa. We had a quick dinner at the KC's (Knights of Columbus - for the non Catholic readers :) and then walked down the hill to watch the big parade. It was really nice, everyone had staked out a place along the road, lots of families having a good time!
This was a funny "float" a huge Schnucks basket, sure got a kick out of that!

After the parade we all climbed back up the hill/mountain- wish I would have taken a picture of that. The next day we girls got up early & ran over to Target. ALL of their Halloween goodies were on clearance so... just to give my cousin Cindy a hard time (she's scared of spiders) we bought this little spider costume & stuffed Katy's puppy Ringo into it. Poor Ringo, we had a hard time squishin' his head, not to mention his ears into that thing...he was a good sport!

My Aunt June, cousins Cindy, Katy, Alyssa, Emma-Rae & I took off to Grafton to spend the afternoon shopping, enjoy the weather, & the beautiful fall foliage- suprisingly enough I didn't take any pics of that trip, I'm battin' zero here- I know. Apparently the ONE thing we were NOT destined to do in Grafton was eat. It was the weirdest thing ever, we waited like 40 minutes at a restaurant & didn't even get drinks, the service was sooo... bad & it was that way in every restaurant in town. Moral of the story- DON'T g0 to Grafton when you're hungry, stop by Burger King FIRST, or if you're from out of town & you are Jack in the Box deprived stop there.

Uncle John decided he would bust open some geodes, Emma-Rae is such a rockhound that she was in heaven! They are going to go hunting for them when we go visit next time. See that cool hockey stick John-Robert is holding? Bobby & Zach MADE it for him so they could all 3 play hockey that afternoon. My cousins' kids are the BEST, my kids adore them... me too!!

Uncle John managed to get these things cracked without banging his thumb- I would have hit my thumb. Zachary has a good grip on Ringo because Ringo REALLY wanted to help John out.

Emma-Rae was soooo... excited about the geodes & what was inside them. We had to leave shortly after this. John had to work the next day (really early) and we had a long drive home. Thanks for having us up Alton crew... we'll see you New Years Eve!!

Camoflauge Kaygen

If I remember correctly John snapped this pic of Kaygen on his way to work one morning. Without the flash he looked a lot more camoflauged- he's almost the same color as the couch, John thought the way Kaygen had the pillows arranged so he was comfy was pretty funny too.

Halloween Happenings

We had our annual pumpkin carving, bonfire, s'mores eatin' party across the street with the Thorne family. The kids had sooo much fun removing the guts from the pumpkins

Ha! Well... some of them did- although it looks like John-Rob enjoyed it the MOSTEST. I think Miss Angela & I did the majority of the gut removal, hey- at least they tried.

Here are the expert s'more chefs, they were VERY proud of their s'mores, John-Robert just really likes to cook them NOT eat them.

Here are three of the cutest girlies EVAH- Taryn, Kaitlyn, & Miss Emma-Rae...Emma-Rae still has her war paint on from her soccer game earlier in the day

AND two of the cutest boys EVAH... John-Rob & Zachary

Our gorgeous pumpkins...left to right... John-Rob's, Taryn, mine, Zachary, Kaitlyn, & Rae

Next Halloween installment... a trip to Alton for the Halloween parade!

Hello Again!

Hello Again!

Well...I've been called on the carpet. My cousin Katy said I was being lame again by not posting & today PawPaw Frank asked what's the deal with the blog. So...tonight I'm playing catch up. I've got plenty to post so read them @ your leisure. When I was downloading my pics a few minutes ago I noticed that there were A LOT of pics on this memory card... apparently John-Robert found it necessary to take about oh... 70 plus pictures of a single SpongeBob episode!!

This is me when I realized I had to delete all of them...

What I would LIKE to do to John-Rob when I was deleting... (j/k- sort of)

AND of course what poor little John-Rob would look like IF I drug him out of his comfy bed to do the above