March 20, 2013

Muffins with Mom

 

This morning was Muffins with Mom @ Hinsdale.  It was originally scheduled 2 weeks ago, the day after the big snow storm but school was cancelled & so was Muffins with Mom.  We all got up extra early this morning to be at school by 7:30.  The kids did really well, especially after going to bed so late last night.  Practice has started for soccer & baseball so early bed times will be obsolete for a few months.  Probably up until schools out for the year! 

 

We had Sammie last night, so Jeni met us at the school & Sam went off with her Mom.  The kids & I went through the line where some of the Dads were working.  Dennis (Evie's Dad) & Hayes (our neighbor).  They had pre-wrapped muffins & honey buns, fruit & juice.  We each got a muffin & found a table to sit and eat. 

 

 

 

After we were done eating, I walked the kids over to a pod where they had a movie playing until school started.  I had a few appointments at St. Elizabeth at 9:00 so I headed over there.  I have been having issues with my throat for years & finally saw an ENT who scheduled a Thyroid Ultrasound & a Barium Swallow.  The Ultrasound went well, but the tech said that she did see a few nodules, hopefully benign.  The swallow on the other hand was disgusting!  I had to drink several different liquids & they watched the liquid go down to my stomach to make sure there were no blockages.  At the end, all of the barium was in my stomach & they had me take a few drinks of water.  When the water went down, you could see the barium jump right back up into my esophagus.  I obviously have reflux, so now we just have to find a way to treat it.  I should be getting results back from my Dr. on both tests by Friday or early next week. 

Tonight Hank has his first baseball practice at the Batting Cages with his team & Sam has soccer practice.  Games start this weekend for soccer & we're pumped.  Let's home for warm enough weather!

 



March 19, 2013

COLUMBUS, OH & INDIANAPOLIS, IN

ALL IN ONE WEEKEND

NOVEMBER, 2010

 

I'm back again with another weekend road trip that we took back in 2010.  This was an event filled weekend that we had and we loved every second of it!  Creag's Birthday is October 29th, so for his birthday that year I had bought 2 tickets to see the Columbus Blue Jackets.  He had never been to a professional hockey game before, and neither had I so it was a first for us both.  When I bought these tickets, I didn't know that he had also bought 2 tickets to see Zac Brown in Indy the same weekend, different day! 

 

We drove up to Columbus on Saturday afternoon, checked into our hotel & then walked around a bit.  Columbus is a big college town & their Arena District is awesome!  We stopped in a few bars before we went to the game & the atmosphere was great.  Jam packed with tons of Blue Jackets fans, that's for sure.  I don't remember a ton of details about the game.  One of the things I do remember is walking around to find food & buying chocolate covered strawberries:)  Yum!  After the game, we went back to our hotel & spent some time in the lounge & ordered a slice of caramel cheesecake to take back to the room.  We got back to the room & our heat was not working in the room so they had someone come up to take a look.  I wanted to eat that cheesecake so bad & was a little tipsy so I remember asking Creag to please make him leave!  HA Don't mess w/ a woman & her dessert, I guess lol!  That piece of cheesecake was the best cheesecake I've EVER had...we even tried to get it again the next time we went back to Columbus!

 

 

The next morning, we checked out and headed straight to Indy for the Zac Brown Concert.  It was our second time seeing him.  The first time, he opened for Dave Matthews.  He put on an amazing show, of course!  We both absolutely love Zac Brown.  He is so humble & an amazing singer.  After the concert, I had my first Dueling Piano Bar experience & loved it!  It was so much fun, and I still love going to them to this day. 

With that busy of a weekend, I'm surprised we pulled it off without being completely exhausted at the end, but we did it.  I love, love, love road trips.  Getting away for the weekend is the best feeling and doing it with someone you love makes it even better!!

 



March 18, 2013

Weekend Recap/St. Patrick's Day & Creag did Yoga!

 

 

Friday night, we did our class at Silverlake as a family.  They alternate which class they're having every Friday & this week was Sit & Be Fit.  It said in the details to see regular class description for the type of class it was.  In the "regular" class description it stated core strength and the use of bands & weights.  Because of the bands & weights I talked Creag & Hank into doing the class.  I thought Hank would be excited for it, and he was!  Wyatt didn't want to do the class so we dropped him off in Kids Quest & the 5 of us went in the gym.  I could tell right away, that this class was going to be corny & immediately felt bad for dragging the boys along.  I basically dragged my husband & son along for YOGA!!  No bands or weights used in this class is what the instructor told Hank when he asked.  Whoops!  Creag was a trooper & followed along with everything, "swaying the trees" and all!  Sammie laid around basically the whole time, not enthused at all & Skylar participated about half of the class.  The rest of us did the entire class & thought it was corny the whole time.  The best part was the last 10 minutes of free time w/ the balls.

 

 

Creag, of course got too carried away & busted a ball at the end of class!  Can't take him anywhere:)  After we were done at the gym, we got BW3's to go & ate at home and watched the first UK tournament game.  Unfortunately, they lost but I missed most of it because I was sleeping off another headache.  Which is weird because I had the same problem last Friday!!

 

Saturday morning, we got up early and headed downtown for the second year in a row to check out the festivities downtown for St. Patricks Day.  We got there in time to catch the 12:00 parade, which is what we were shooting for!  It was a pretty warm day, just a tad bit windy.  The parade was fun, but the kids didn't get too much candy like they were hoping for.  They got a few tootsie rolls & a few gold coins that they used for their Leprechaun traps that evening.  After the parade which lasted a pretty long time, close to an hr at least, we headed to McDonald's for lunch & Shamrock Milkshakes!

 

 

After lunch we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner & had Creag's parents over for fish & chips.  Hank helped me make Irish Dirt Cake for dessert & we served the kids Leprechaun Punch.  Both recipes came from Pinterest.  Bruce & Alicia came over w/ their kiddos & our neighbor Mike came by w/ his daughter Larkin.  The kids had fun putting together Leprechaun Traps & Creag even offered the kids $100.00 each if they caught one.  Those things are too sneaky though, so maybe next year!

 

 

Sunday, we headed North up to Dayton for Amy's boyfriend, Scott's Surprise 40th Birthday Party  where Amy served my kids cupcakes with BLACK ICING!

 

 

We went to my parents for dinner after the party.  My brother was there with Travis and my Mom made a roast.  While we were there, my Dad was talking to my Uncle Steve on the phone & got some pretty bad news.  He's been having lots of health problems lately, and he just found out that he may have Lung Cancer.  They have to schedule a biopsy to determine it for sure.  I will definitely be keeping him in my prayers!  Cancer is such a scary, scary thing and I know he's terrified.  I just pray that they caught it soon enough and he will be OK.

 

 



 



 

March 15, 2013

National Pi Day

3-14-2013

 

Yesterday, 3/14 was National Pi Day. What a great reason to splurge & have Pie for dessert on a Thursday night. Knowing that I had to stop at the grocery after store for the Pie, I had to figure out what to make for dinner. I knew we had sausage & a pack of gravy in the fridge left over from our Breakfast Pizza last weekend and we also had eggs so I decided on Breakfast for dinner. I picked up bacon, potatoes, biscuits & a Hershey's Chocolate Pie and headed home to cook. It was a pretty nice night, so we let the kids play outside while we prepared dinner. Skylar & Hank rode their bikes to a friends and Sammie & Wyatt just played in our yard. Wyatt finally got to ride his big wheel that Mamaw & Papaw got him for Christmas and loved it.

 

 

After dinner was ready we called the kids inside to wash up and sat down to eat. I had peppered some of the eggs with pepper & left some w/out. Sammie ended up w/ a peppered one & Skylar w/out so they wanted to switch. I tried to just pick one up with a fork & carry it to the other plate and yolk dripped out all over the table. Creag said, "are you yolking me?" and that ended up being the joke of the night. That and "what the fudge". I don't usually like them saying that. Hank said it, and I corrected him, but since we were having Hershey Fudge Pie, Creag said it was appropriate. LOL. All the kids said it after that, I guess they felt like they needed to get it in since they were allowed this one time! Anyway, after the egg situation got resolved, the kids ate everything and did not complain about one single thing on their plate. Wyatt went for seconds on his biscuits & gravy and I think Hank went for thirds. 

 

 

 

After dinner.  Hank & I cut the pie and served it.  It was soooo good.  Hank must've had a sugar rush, because he put his whole face into a piece of pie.  Creag was teasing that he was going to do it to him, so I guess Hank was like I'll show you...I'll just do it to myself.  I died laughing.  The whole piece, including the crust stuck to his face.  He stood up and was cracking up laughing and jumping up and down like a crazy boy.  I could not believe he did that!

 

 

 

 

The kids didn't have school the next day, (today) so everyone got cleaned up and got pajamas on then we cuddled on the couch & watched the movie Wayne's World.  There were parts that the kids thought were pretty funny.  We all ended up laughing a lot.
 

 

  

 

 

Tonight, we're doing a family class at the gym, Resist a Ball & UK plays at 7:30.  Saturday we're doing a festive dinner at our house for St. Patricks Day & then Sunday driving to Dayton for a friends 40th Birthday Party!  Updates on that to come.  Happy Friday!!

 

March 14, 2013

 CLEVELAND, OH

October, 2010

 

We have another family trip today.  Going up to Cleveland for the Bengals/Browns game with my family has become a little tradition since I left the terrible world of being a Browns fan & jumped on the Bengals Bandwagon in '05!!  Side note, it feels a lot better being a Bengals fan:)

 

Creag & I were living apart at the time, so he drove to Dayton to pick me up at my apartment & we headed up to Cleveland on Saturday to meet my parents, my Brother & Jenn.  When we got into town, we stopped at a little bar called Panini's that Creag had recommended for dinner.

 

 

 

Dinner was definitely good.  Creag bought us all a round of very large beers so that started the night off great.  I was brave enough to wear my Bengals gear out that night & got messed with quite a bit but it was all in fun.  After dinner, we headed over to the Winking Lizard. 

 

 

 

The next day, we got up early for breakfast & walked over to the Stadium.  My parents & brother stopped at every souvenir stand on the way and Creag and I just tagged along, wishing they'd hurry up:) 

 

 

 

The game was a lot of fun. I can't really remember for sure who won the game, but I think it was the Browns which is ok.  You win some & you lose some!  

 

 



 

 





March 13, 2013

Randoms

Well today's Grandparents Day for Sammie @ Hinsdale and I just got a text from Creag that he and Jeni both went and that he accidentaly knocked an old ladies wig off, then Sammie did the same thing so it sounds like that's going pretty well....

3/15/2013 UPDATE:
****FOUND OUT THAT THE WIG THING WAS A JOKE*** I GUESS I'M GULLIBLE

In other random news, we sprung forward last weekend which is awesome.  More evening daylight hours make me very happy, but it's freezing out & the weather has been pretty awful besides last Sunday when we had about 60 degree weather & we were able to grill out.  Because of that nice day, the snow from the storm last week mostly melted off which is good.  I hope to not see that kind of snow again until next year!  Yesterday morning, is another story about this awful weather.  We got a little surprise snow shower.  Because it happened so quick, the roads were not treated.  The way to school & work was a nightmare.  Richardson Road was a sheet of ice!  Luckily, I had no trouble driving it, but other cars had major issues.  There were sevral accidents and a lot of cars in ditches.  It took an hr & a half for me to work when it usually takes about 15 minutes.  The kids were stuck right there with me on the school bus which was scary.  A 2 hr. delay would've been nice, Hinsdale!

Hank, Creag & Wyatt went to the batting cages last night after Sammie's Soccer Meeting.  Hank's getting really excited for baseball to start & will not let Creag miss a week of taking him to the batting cages.  Last week, I took dinner up to the office & watched him hit for awhile.  He hasn't clicked completely with the bat yet, but he's almost there.  His arm on the other hand is awesome.  He's throwing & catching great, and his fielding skills have really picked up.  I think we have a second baseman in the future!

Wyatt did not want his picture taken, but I took it anyway.  HA!

 



After Hank & Wyatt hit, Creag said it was his turn...

  Hank was dropping the balls in quicker than Creag could hit them & it was hilarious!

 



While they were at the batting cages last night, I took Skylar to get her hair cut.  She wanted a bob style cut because she wanted something easier to take care of.  It turned out really, really cute & she loves it!  She was cracking me up talking to the stylist.  Saying, "this looks great on me".  "I think I was made for short hair".  She also told Kat, "you're the best hair-cutter here", which was cute & greatly appreciated by her.  That girl is not shy at all.  She's best friends with everyone she meets!

 

 

We got home pretty late last night and after his bath, Wyatt had some crazy hair his self!  The boys are due for hair cuts soon.  Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get them in for one.

And, I'll end this random post with this.  A homework sheet that I found in Hank's bookbag.  He signed my initials not once, but FOUR times!  I'll give him props, because the teacher only caught it the last day, but dang, he's forging my signature in the 1st Grade!!  I'll need to nip this in the bud right now or I'm in for it!!

 

March 12, 2013

ATLANTA, GA
August, 2012

 

Let's see, we're on trip #4 and we'd only been dating about 8 months by this point.  That's a lot right?  We were just talking about this trip the other night with Michael while he was over the night we made Fried Chicken for dinner.  Brian Veneman & Michael both went with us and we were discussing how long we were actually there.  Michael thought it was just over the weekend, but Creag and I think it was more like 4 days.  With everything that we did, I'm going to go with 4 days.

 

We drove the Navigator straight through to Atlanta, and the reason for the road trip was to see Jack Johnson in concert.  The first night that we were there, we checked into our hotel & just hung out close by and had dinner at an Irish Pub Restaurant (I think).  The second day, we hung out by the pool for most of the day where Creag did his awesome/retarded run into the pool and jump multiple times which was pretty entertaining.  Michael followed along a few times and I just sat there, in my lounge chair, shook my head and laughed.  That night, we went to the Vortex for dinner.  It was featured on Man Vs. Food so before we left this was on our To Do list, for sure.  It did not disappoint.

 

Triple-Bypass Burger

2 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (as buns)

2 Burgers

Cheese

Mayo

Bacon

Lettuce

Tomato

Onion

 

 

Elvis Burger

Burger

Peanut Butter

Bacon

Fried bananas

Lettuce

Tomato

Onion

 

 

The Vortex had a great atmosphere and the food was phenomenal!  Creag looks pretty happy about this sandwich.  I'm pretty sure his mouth was watering.....

 



 

I think that night, we hopped on the subway and went downtown to the "Underground" which was very interesting/scary.  We ended up at an all black bar, where outside this nice black girl warned us that we should probably go somewhere else.  We went in anyways, and didn't end up in any confrontations but definitely felt out of place.  On the ride back we stopped to get our tickets at the subway, and Creag had gas like you wouldn't believe!!  We had to have help from one of the workers & she looked right at Creag and said, "You ain't got no mannas (manners)".  OMG I still die every time I think about this.  It was hysterical & she was right.  He didn't, but I guess the Buy Pass Burger got the best of him.  Sorry babe, had to include this story!!  The next day was the day of the concert.  It had rained on & off all morning, so we decided to do a Brewery Tour of Sweet Water, which is a beer that's only available in the South & Creag & Michael both really liked.  We got there and they gave us a glass that we got to keep with about 4 beer tickets each. 

 

 

After we left the Brewery, we took a cab to the concert.  The beer had gotten to us all, especially Creag so he napped the whole cab ride.  When we were dropped off at the concert, we were amazed at the tail-gating area & how young the crowd was!  There were teenagers that filled up the entire parking lot drinking w/ beer cans & bottles on the ground, everywhere.  A cop actually came through and it was funny to watch them all scatter.  G-Love opened for Jack, and we only caught about half of his show.  Like I said before, it had been raining on & off all day but when Jack came on it started pouring!!  It was probably the coolest concert I've ever been to because of the rain.  A lot of his songs talk about rain & the rain seemed to sync with his lyrics in a weird way.  If he sang about rain, the rain came down harder & it was amazing.  Everyone was soaked & having an amazing time.  That night, Michael was trashed & kept coming in and out of our room so we did not sleep at all!  The next day, which was our last in Atlanta, we walked around town & a few parks & ended up at Taco Mac for lunch. Atlanta was definitely a cool trip & Jack Johnson put on an amazing show. We can't wait for him to go back on tour!

Setlist

1.  You and Your Heart

2.  If I Had Eyes

3.  Taylor

4.  Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

5.  The Horizon Has Been Defeated

6.  Inaudible Melodies

7.  To the Sea

8.  Go On

9.  Upside Down

10.  Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology

11.  Bubble Toes

12.  Wasting Time

13.  Breakdown

14.  My Little Girl

15.  Banana Pancakes

16.  MudFootball

17.  Turn Your Love

18.  Country Road

19.  Give Voice

20.  Flake

21.  The Joker

22.  Good People

23.  Rodeo Clowns (w/ G. Love)

24.  Staple it Together

25.  At or With Me

 

Encore

1.  Do You Remember

2.  Angel

3.  Fall Line

4.  Better Together