You call this SPRING?!

Brrrr....

The sun was shining and the kids were itching to get out, so we decided to walk to the park. I didn't realize how muddy and wet everything was. We had to go through a lot of sidewalk puddles to get there, but we made it!

The boys rode their bikes and I pushed Alina in her stroller for the mile walk there. Once we got there, Ty & Carson played tennis and we girls played on the playground and swings. I was so impressed with how well she could climb the stairs and go down the big slides with ease. What a difference already from last year. I can already tell this is going to be a really fun summer for her. She can do so much more now!

Notice the HUGE pools of water in front of the tennis courts. My boys decided to run through them and splash around in them when I wasn't looking. OMG! I was SOOO mad. I specifically told them not to get wet. So much for that. Then I was yelling for them to stop (as nicely as possible from far away and in front of other parents that were there), but they continued on knowing I wouldn't go through the water to physically stop them. I was fuming. The sweetest revenge lesson was that they had to freeze the whole walk home in their wet clingy clothes. I bet they won't do that again!


Funny how it seems warmer when the sun's out when you are in the house, than outside! Our walk back was quite chilly (and even colder for 2 boys!) as the sun was going away, but worth it. It felt so good to go for a walk. I can't wait for the warmer weather to begin!

Deal of the Week!

I just went to Tar-jay Target last night and found the cutest little dresses. The best part? They were on sale for ONLY $5 each. How can they even make any money when they sell them so cheap? (I don't even want to know. I am sure someone is getting way underpaid to make them. Sadness.)

Anyways, they are adorable and perfect for summer ~ if it should ever get here. I am so ready for sundresses, sandals, and capris!

Here is Alina sporting one of the little numbers:

Y'all SUCK!

Ok, if it wasn't for Tasha, no one would have guessed any of my movie quotes. Did they really stump you guys? Seriously, they are EASY and CLASSICS!!! I decided to end the game and tell everyone what movie the quotes belong to. So, here you go:


1. AMERICAN BEAUTY "It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself."

2. LIFE AS A HOUSE "You know the great thing, though, is that change can be so constant you don't even feel the difference until there is one. It can be so slow that you don't even notice that your life is better or worse, until it is. Or it can just blow you away, make you something different in an instant. It happened to me."

3. AMERICAN HISTORY X "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained we must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature."

4. PRETTY WOMAN - Yay Tasha for getting it!!!!"Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin' - this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'."

5. PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES "Six bucks and my right nut says we're not landing in Chicago."

6. STAND BY ME - YAY Tasha again!!!"What am I supposed to do, think of everything? I brought the comb!"

7. BETTER OFF DEAD " Buck up little camper, we'll beat that slope together."

8. THE NOTEBOOK"So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... everyday."

9. THE SHINING "Wendy, let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration. You're distracting me. And it will then take me time to get back to where I was. You understand?"

10. PULP FICTION "Three tomatoes are walking down the street- a poppa tomato, a momma tomato, and a little baby tomato. Baby tomato starts lagging behind. Poppa tomato gets angry, goes over to the baby tomato, and smooshes him... and says, Catch up."

THERE YOU GO! NOW, DON'T YOU FEEL SILLY FOR NOT KNOWING?!

Bachelorette PARTY!!

My face was feeling good finally (except for this ginormous zit, of course!) and we girls all went out to celebrate my little sister's last days as a single woman! It was so sweet. We had a two floor suite with a spiral staircase connecting the floors, drinks, and appetizers galore. We all got our game on at the hotel, then headed to the limo bus for some bar hopping fun! It was a great time and I was able to hang with the young girls w/out falling asleep. YAY! My sister looked B E A U T I F U L and we couldn't have been happier to celebrate this special time with her. Now, I can't wait until the wedding....party on!

The bachelorette!

The silly gifts.

The girls.

Me and my sista.

Three sisters, me being goofy!

Am I ever serious?

Some random chic gave us wine in the hall.

SCORE!

Our party LIMO!

The young ones passed out...

and the old ones rocked it all night long!!!!

Guess the movie quote!

OK, I stole this from ohamanda. It sounded fun and I can't wait to see if anyone can get these. I stink at this game, btw! Good luck.

Everyone loves movies and one thing we love from them are the great one liners! Let’s have some fun with them.

Here are the rules:

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. No Googling or IMDb-ing. That’s cheating and that’s no fun.

Ready? In random order, my quotes:

1. "It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself."

2. "You know the great thing, though, is that change can be so constant you don't even feel the difference until there is one. It can be so slow that you don't even notice that your life is better or worse, until it is. Or it can just blow you away, make you something different in an instant. It happened to me."

3. "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained we must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature."

4. PRETTY WOMAN - Yay Tasha for getting it!!!!"Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin' - this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'."

5. "Six bucks and my right nut says we're not landing in Chicago."

6. STAND BY ME - YAY Tasha again!!!"What am I supposed to do, think of everything? I brought the comb!"

7. " Buck up little camper, we'll beat that slope together."

8. "So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... everyday."

9. "Wendy, let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration. You're distracting me. And it will then take me time to get back to where I was. You understand?"

10. "Three tomatoes are walking down the street- a poppa tomato, a momma tomato, and a little baby tomato. Baby tomato starts lagging behind. Poppa tomato gets angry, goes over to the baby tomato, and smooshes him... and says, Catch up."

Day 2 & 3 - When will it END?!

Seriously, I have never EVER posted even a single picture of myself without make-up on, and here I am going ALL out! I need to be real though and give a true account of my experience, so I am taking one for the team and putting myself "out there".

Ok, so this picture is the next day after my "Lunch Time Peel". Not too bad right? Well, it's hard to tell, but it still doesn't feel normal and my skin is so tight that I can't make any facial expressions! It looks like someone poured glue over my face and it dried clear. It also felt like that. Then you see those two brown dots on my face? Well. those weren't there before I did this, so I am wondering what they are? Maybe the laser was in that spot too long? I sure hope it goes away!!!

Now on to day 3. Um, I knew he said I would peel, but I started questioning it because it wasn't happening. Well, then I looked into the mirror and forced some expressions on my face. It was so weird!

Then it started cracking. My whole face was peeling off. GROSS! It got really bad after these last pictures, so I decided not to take anymore pictures of it to spare you. It has been peeling now for 2 days and I am ready for it to be done already! My neck is super sore still, red and hasn't peeled yet. Not sure what that's all about, but I am sure it will start peeling when I am out or something. I had teacher conferences tonight and had to wear a turtleneck to hide it. So, just remember if you decide to do this too, just make sure you have nothing to do for at least a week. Unless, you don't mind peeling in public!

OUCH!!!!!

It's called the "Lunch Time Laser Peel":

• 5 times better than a chemical or skin peel
• Shining and tightening effects
• No down time, pain or discomfort
• Only 1 treatment every 4-6 months recommended

Um, who are you KIDDING???!!! No pain or discomfort? Let me put it this way...Have you ever had your face tattooed? That is about what it felt like. Well, I am not really sure since I have no tattoos, but I would guess it would feel like this. Actually it wasn't all horrible; I kinda got used to it after awhile, until he would stop and then go back at it. First, he lasered my whole face and neck, and then he took this sandpaper gauze pad and rubbed my face with it. Not very fun but it was over. Phew, I was done. I could actually manage this. Then he said, "Ok, we just need to do it once more." ONCE MORE?! Now this is where the pain started kicking in (and yes, he rubbed it AGAIN afterwards w/ the sandpaper). The skin was now raw and he started at it again. All I could smell was burnt skin. YUMMY ~ My burnt skin.

Can I just tell you how scared I was to look in the mirror after he was done? I really didn't know what to expect. I was thinking open wounds, lol! But, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Just REALLY red and sore. I was wondering if I could put anything on it to cool it down, so he gave me some aloe vera. OMG, I had no clue how much that stuff stings. It burned so bad. I stood up and started feeling sick. My face was on fire (like 10x worse than a sunburn) and my throat was feeling tight and it was hard to swallow. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. He said it was normal and I was fine. I didn't agree! I even asked the nurses and they all said it was normal. What did I get myself into? Too late now.

I left the office with my big sunglasses on trying to hide my face, running for the cold. I needed to cool off my "burn". The outside felt great, but it just wasn't enough. So, I blasted the A/C for the entire 45 minute car ride home. Now mind you it was 30 degrees outside, that's how hot my face was.

Good thing I have nothing to do all week so I can hide inside until it gets better. It's suppose to be red for a couple of days and then peel completely off. Should be interesting. I will keep you updated. For now, this is what I looked like when I got home:

(please remember I have no make-up on, so I look gross - but I had to show pictures!)

We just got a lot of snow!!!

Today was an awesome day. Lots of crisp white snow, not too cold and not a cloud in sight. This is my kind of winter day. So, I took Alina out to enjoy all that Buffalo has to offer in the winter. It was GREAT! She even insisted on going on the swing. Good idea (Alina's favorite phrase!). It was quite fun. Even Cayce (our 9 year old dog) had a blast!

This was in my backyard today!

I came home today, looked out into my backyard and was taken aback when I saw this guy on the tree right outside my window. It's hard to tell, but he is BIG! I was so excited, as I have never seen any bird this big perched on a branch right in front of me. So, I called Brian to tell him all about the "owl" that was in our yard. He precedes to tell me that he saw the same said owl not too long ago in the way back (wooded area) of our yard.

Well, I decided I had to look up what kind of owl it was but I only had this picture to go by:

Not the best picture, since it was snowing and I was taking the picture from my kitchen, so that is when I cropped it and realized what it REALLY looked like. No wonder none of the owls online looked like this fellow. Um, he's not an owl! He is a hawk. Doh!

How silly did I feel? Well, it was hard to make out the picture and I am going with that. Plus, Brian thought it was an owl too. Then, Tyler comes home, looks at the picture and says, "Oh, dad and I saw that same owl in the woods not too long ago." Phew, it wasn't just me. Really, it was hard to tell! I guess (after some extensive research) he's a Rough-legged hawk.

Well, at least I know NOW! And so do you, if you should ever have one in your backyard. Hey, you never know!

Photo Shoot Update:

Miss Alina Bina Boo did a wonderful job at her Fisher-Price photo shoot! She was in a great mood and super personable. Never the shy girl, she had all the ladies wanting to take her home by the end of the whole ordeal.

At the shoot, she had to sit in this cute cozy coupe type car and strike this very specific pose they were looking for. It was awkward because they needed her to lean out slightly (with her head) but still have her hands on the wheel. I had to hide behind a wall and play peek-a-boo to get her to look at me at a certain angle and smile. It was interesting!

There were a couple good shots, but after a bit she became very curious of her surroundings and kept looking around at everything that was going on and no longer playing our game. So, we knew she had enough. The photographer did, however, bring me around and showed me a bunch of shots and then stopped at one and said it was a really good one. So, you never know.

There were about 10 other 2 year olds getting their picture taken that day for the same thing, so it all depends on the look they were going for. In my book, she already beat them all - hands down!!

What is YOUR Motivation?

Why is it so hard for me to get my butt in gear to go and run on the treadmill? I swear, I have never been so tired, for so long as I have been this winter. I am not sick, I am just really really beat for no good reason. I have no energy. Yet, I force myself to run in hopes of increasing my energy level and to get in shape. So far, neither has happened and it's been a solid month of actually being consistent. What gives? Maybe I have that SAD thing from living in Buffalo. Anyways, I hope a change is coming soon.

So, what actually motivates you to exercise? I'll tell you what my motivation is right now. The obvious answer is to look good and be healthy, etc. But the real reason is that I am addicted to Big Brother on CBS. Um yeah, seriously. I won't watch it on TV or even DVR it. I only allow myself to watch it online, on my laptop, while running on the treadmill. AND it's on 3 nights a week!!! So, that means I workout a minimum of 3 days a week. Pretty good stuff, right?! It makes my running go so much faster and once I get my tired butt on the treadmill, I forget how tired I was just 5 minutes before. Simply amazing. I just don't know what I am going to do once the season is over?!!!

ps...I wrote this while walking on the treadmill and feel better already! Now I need to watch my show and pick up the pace. Oh, and I am still behind 2 episodes, so shhh!!!

FISHER-PRICE Photo Shoot

So, Alina was called (again) for another photo shoot. I am of course excited, but at the same time I am not holding my breath. So far, she has had 3 photo shoots and I don't believe they have used her picture thus far.

The 1st one was for a clothing line that never came about, and then there was the Little People Train (that finally came out). I saw the pictures online for that and she is not in any of the shots. I am still holding out hope that she could be in one of the pictures on the box. You never know, right? Maybe they use different pictures for the box. I will definitely be going to the toy store and checking it out. The last photo shoot she had was for this bowling game that still hasn't come out, so I have no clue what is going on with that one. She kinda broke the toy while doing the pictures, so maybe they never made it for sale after that or needed to make adjustments!

Tomorrow's pictures are for a Musical Coupe (I am thinking ride-on toy?), so it should be really cute. The only problem is, the time slot she has is at her nap time. So, she may fall asleep on the way there or be really crabby and uncooperative. I really hope not. It would be fun to finally get on something after all of our time spent going there (it's like 30 minutes away) all these times. At least we get a gift card to buy stuff. That is always good!

Oh, and notice Alina's picture (minus the mac n' cheese on her face). Don't you love her "red marks" on her face?! One is from falling like a month ago and the other is this tiny little rash that won't go away. Of course, the doc said it was nothing but yet it is THERE - UGH! Well, all I can say is "Thank goodness for Photoshop!"

Wish us luck!

What was he thinking?

OK, so I told Brian to feed Alina, give her a bath, get her dressed and then put her down for a nap while I was on the treadmill (this is a rare moment for him to do all of this, lol). So, I come upstairs and ask him how everything went and he said he did it all. What a guy! It was so nice to have a break run on the treadmill and not have to worry about doing all of that.

As I hear Alina on the monitor, I am excited to go get her. While I go to take a peek at the monitor, I notice that she is wearing short sleeves. I ask Brian what's up. He's like "yeah, I put a onesie on her". Um, that is her outfit?! Jeans and a short sleeved undershirt. Really? Hasn't he even seen what she wears on a daily basis? Have I ever put an undershirt on her as an outfit? No, no. no!

So, I go upstairs to get her and she is pulling down her short sleeves saying to me "mom, it won't come down!". Ha, even she was wondering why she was wearing that! Poor girl, it's 25 degrees outside and her room is FREEZING! Sometimes I wonder about him. Not to mention she has a fever. Poor baby girl. I took pictures anyways to show you her lovely outfit and the way outside looks right now.

Now, I just hope she starts to feel better.