Friday, July 26, 2013

Random happenings

Not too much new has been going on this week, but I've been trying to get better and take a few more pictures.  Here's a few....

Amelia with her first driving lesson!

Olivia's pony tail

Happy Amelia :)

Holy sour cream! (it was EVERYWHERE!)

Saying bye bye to daddy going to work...

Amelia and her favorite panda named LaLa

Olivia taking a ride

Little Tony whipping up something in the kitchen

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Welcome back Melanie!

Tony went into work today and had Melanie come over to watch the kids.  She went on vacation last week and we certainly all missed her!  She brought them each a gift of pajamas and coloring books!  These are some of the pictures that I took last week of them to send to her while she was away.



Tonight was also a hug-fest!  As part of our bed time routine I have them give each other hugs and they shared a hug - all three of them.  Normally it's just two so it was the cutest thing in the entire world to see them all hugging each other.  They also gave a big trio hug to Melanie which she absolutely loved! 


Friday, July 19, 2013

Waiting for the other shoe to drop...

I'm not quite sure why, but throughout my adult years I've noticed that I can never quite seem to get it all together - meaning that I've never been able to balance my work life and home life.  I find that when things are going well at home, my work life doesn't seem to be going too well or if I'm doing well at work, my home life tends to be in turmoil.  Right now, it seems that both home and work life seem to be coinciding harmoniously and not that I want one of the two to suffer, but I just feel something's about to happen and the other shoe is about to drop.

So far here's what has happened...I got recognized at work within the last two weeks by my supervisor and other superiors for a job well done with some trainings that I conducted.  It was really nice to be acknowledged!  Then at the beginning of this week I got a ticket for having my phone in my hand and I wasn't able to produce proof of insurance so I got another ticket for that.  Now, I definitely have insurance, I just didn't have my current card on me.  I wasn't going to tell Tony because he tends to get mad about things - and blow things out of proportion and with him starting this new job, I didn't want to bother/burden him with something that he couldn't do anything about.  I'm not the best secret keeper, but I was able to keep my mouth shut from Monday until today (thursday).  I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those pesky lawyers! and for the fact that my check to cover the fine for the cell phone ticket got returned and sent back to him!  I couldn't believe it.  The only thing that I thought that could clue him in would be the insurance cards that will show up because I requested them so I'd actually have one in the car...  The best part of the whole situation is that he didn't go crazy about it - which was really nice and appreciated.

So maybe I will be able to make everything work!  So far so good, but I'll stay on guard just in case.

I went into work late today because Tony had to attend some training for the job so I was with the babies for the morning.  It was actually a really nice time and I got alot done - we spent most our morning upstairs and I got some laundry folded and sorted through their drawers - removing anything that doesn't fit or things that they won't be wearing - like all the long sleeve shirts or long pants.  I know it doesn't sound like much, but that along with keeping them all out of trouble.  I actually was able to get a decent picture of the three of them.  They all grabbed one of the hand/face wipes and were wiping their mouths off and I was able to get them all looking at the same time!

 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Love Chef Returns

I've always been a believer in fate and believe where one door closes, another door opens.  Not too long ago, I posted that Tony didn't get that job with the town, but since then he's gotten a different job.  There is a new restaurant opening up in our town and they've had signs posted all over for open positions.  I had said something to him about it a while ago, but the response I got back from seemed less than appreciative.  Just over a week or so ago, he went for an interview and got hired on the spot!  We're not quite sure what exactly he'll be doing but probably a little bit of everything - including waiting tables, cooking and the place is actually applying to the state to start a brewery, so he could be helping with that.  It's part time - but it will get him out of the house every now and again and making some extra money.  He's planning on working evenings or some lunch times and weekends- times when Melanie or I would be home.  The name of the place is Hearth Stone Grill and from what Tony said, they're pizza was really good (and he's not one to throw out compliments very easily!)  I think he's really looking forward to getting out on a somewhat regular basis just from the way he talks about it.  Normally it's like pulling teeth to get him to tell me about his day, but he just tends to talk!  I get the feeling I'm going to be learning alot more about the restaurant business than I ever wanted to!

The title of this post might take some explaining... I'll simply say that Tony and I met online through the now defunct Yahoo Personals! and his screen name was the Love Chef :)

I haven't taken any new pictures in the past few days, but I finally transferred all the pictures from my phone to my computer (with Tony's help of course) and wanted to share because they're just so cute!  The first four are from early May.





 This next picture of Olivia is my current favorite.  All three are pretty obsessed with wearing hats these days and it doesn't matter what type of hat.  I think the one that Olivia is wearing was knitted by my friend Karen's mother.  She looks so cute and innocent and trendy!

Finally, a short video of pool time last weekend.  Can you tell how much they like juice?

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

23 months!

We're so close to two and I can't believe how the time has flown by.  Every monthaversary I set out to get a nice group picture and for the past few months I end up saying the same thing.  Trying to get a picture with all three and all three of them looking is getting more and more difficult.  They used to just sit where we put them - and it was hard to get them to look and smile, but now as soon as they know you want them to all sit together, they purposely won't.  It's like herding cats or bagging cats.  Ok I'll have to explain that one and please don't call PETA on me, but when I was younger and living with my parents we could have as many as 10-12 cats.  I'm sure my dad started it, but on occasion he would grab a paper grocery bag and put one of the cats in it and then we'd see how many of the cats we could get in the bag.  Ok, I know how this sounds, but we weren't hurting any of them and there were never more than two cats in the bag because by the time you got the second one in, the first one was getting back out or the bag would rip.  So, basically, believe me when I say that it's pretty darn tough to get them to all for a decent picture.

July 4th was earlier in the week.  We enjoyed a picnic in the backyard with Tony's side of the family.  It was fine, but the party basically broke up because our one nephews had yet another bout of constipation.  They seem to be always leaving early because of the same problem (insert eye roll here).  We decided that we'd take the kids down to see the fireworks - looking back, we didn't go last year because it was past their bedtime.  It was past their bedtime this time too, but we got them all bathed and dressed and then loaded them up in the stroller and walked to the elementary school down the road.  It's a pretty good spot to see the fireworks. We arrived just before it was getting dark and within about 10 minutes the sky was lit up nice and bright!  Olivia and Tony did really well with the noise and seemed to like the lights although Olivia kept getting distracted by airplanes going by - which is something they all seem to do every time we're outside.  I swear that they think it's their job to let the entire neighborhood know that there's an airplane going by.
Here's a few pictures of them watching the fireworks.
I know it looks like she's covering her ears, but it'll make more sense if you watch the video...
Little Tony loving the lights!

Amelia watching the dark sky.  I love her hair... such pretty curls!  



We also had a little pool time this weekend.  We have the same purple elephant pool and we've coupled that with the kangaroo climber which makes a water slide!  It's pretty cool, but I've noticed that their attention spans seem shorter as they continuously get in and out of the pool, but it probably just seems that way because last year they couldn't get in and out on their own so they really had no choice but to continue
playing while they were in there.  Here's a few pictures of our recent pool party!


















If it's not obvious, I took a ton of pictures of them - trying to get them all together which didn't really happen, but I there were so many cute ones I had to include alot!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

I want that COW!!!

Since the arrival of our trio and thanks to the tv show about extreme couponing, I've started to coupon - more than I did in the past.  I've sought out companies that we use and contact them for coupons.  My favorite, by far is Turkey Hill.  Turkey Hill is a dairy out in Lancaster, PA and they sell ice cream and other bottled drinks like iced tea.  I can contact them every 90 days and request more coupons and they send a bunch.  On occasion, combined with the right sale, I get ice cream for .88 cents or iced tea for free!  I love it!

One evening, I was searching around their website and found a contest that is titled "Cow Birthday Visit".  Turkey Hill has these giant two ton, 13 foot cows that they take to promotional events and such and apparently to a few birthday parties every year.  Naturally, I entered the contest.  Then entered it again.  Then I called and left a crazy person message on someone in marketing's voicemail and followed up again with an email.  Yes, I'm officially insane because I want that cow!  I've told several people about this to the point of people asking me if I've heard anything.  I was originally planning a certain theme for the birthday party, but now I'm totally obsessed with having this cow come to the party.  I can see it now... a whole barnyard theme, possibly a petting zoo (OMG, can you even imagine!) It would be SO MUCH FUN! 
It's getting pretty close to the point of where they would need to let me know sooner than later and I'm getty pretty anxious about it.  I'll likely plan to call again tomorrow and see what they say.  Their website says that they would let you know at least one month in advance and one month before their birthday would be this upcoming weekend.  So I'm starting to let the disappointment sink in slowly.  I want this so much!  You have no idea!
My obsession with the idea of this initially started because my MIL made a comment to Tony about not having a 'big' birthday party this year.  So obviously, she thought that too many people came last year according to her.  Last year's guest list included his parents, his brothers and their families (minus the one that lives in KC I'll ), my parents, my sisters and their families, my aunt and uncle that live about an hour away, my cousin and her family, Tony's two aunt's and uncle's, Melanie and her family plus Tony's friend/old co-worker and her family plus a few others that I'm likely forgetting.  So in total about 30 adults and about 8 kids.  It may see like alot, and I know my MIL would have been happier if my family hadn't attended, the guest list mainly contained family...so I'm not sure who I'd cut out to make it a smaller party.  Ok I know exactly who I wouldn't invite, but that wouldn't be very nice of me!  What I don't understand is why she feels the right to dictate what size party we should have.  My thought process is this:  I have three kids - each with the same birthday.  Not everyone can say that and I feel it's a pretty darn fantastic thing that we've made it this far (without killing each other, or one of them, or anyone else!).  So it's as much their celebration as it is for me/us.   So again, my initial plan was to have Turkey Hill bring their cow and I'd invite the whole town!  I'll show her small party!  The worst part right now is that she'll likely end up getting her way because it doesn't appear that I'll get my wish.  Oh well, there's always their third birthday to look forward to.

Turkey Hill Giant Cows Schedule of Appearances