Happy New Years Eve!!

Happy New Years Eve! This past weekend we celebrated Christmas after the fact with some friends. We did a traveling party where we started at the Bowling's came to our house then on to the Wang's and finished up at the Tabler's. The kids had a great time playing Guitar Hero World Tour from house to house.

Tonight Conner and I are back to the Wang's for a New Year celebration. Brian has gone to New York for a few days to visit with his family and Caitlin left this morning for Puerto Rico for her Christmas training trip.

So now that the year has come to and end....we hope that the new year brings lots of wonderful and exciting adventures and memories for everyone.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Merry Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas blog reader! We all had a very nice Christmas...mellow and uneventful. Just the way I like it. :) We went to Christmas Mass last night at 4:00 and afterwards met the Wangs for dinner at Texas Road House. I bought the kids each a movie for them to open last night and we spent the evening watching The Dark Knight and Hairspray.

We awoke this morning when Conner decided it was time to get up...around 7:30. The kid never wakes up at 7:30 unless he has too. We went down and opened presents, and I think the kids were pleased with their gifts. Conner and Caitlin played his new Xbox World Tour game then Caitlin took a nap. We had dinner around 5:00 and afterwards we watched The Women. Conner has been on the Xbox all day....Caitlin is in her usual position on the couch....and Brian's gone to bed since he has to go into work for a little tomorrow.

See...pretty mellow and uneventful! We hope that you and your loved ones had a fantastic day and that the new year will bring all kinds of great and wonderful opportunities. Merry Christmas!

Is my nose bleeding?

A few weeks ago, Diana asked me if my family would like to go to the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert with them on the 22nd. Of course we would love to go, I told her. TSO was coming to Indy and we thought it would be a great Christmas show. So Diana ordered the tickets on line and last night we headed up to Indy for the show. We (my family) arrived and parked in the huge parking garage with about 15,000 other people. We walked into Conseco Field House and headed up to the second level. I knew the seats were on the upper balcony since we were a little late in ordering them....and we all wanted to sit together. We walked out into the stadium and I was instantly dizzy from the height. We turn to find our row and seats. We start walking UP the stairs....and we walked....and we walked....and we walked. I could not bring myself to look behind me for fear that I would fall to my death. Finally, row 23. Just a note.....there was no row 24! We were seated at the VERY TOP of the stadium! Caitlin and I parked our butts down and refused to move. If someone was to get around us they would just have to climb over us....we WERE NOT standing up!

Other than the nose bleed I was worried would come at any minute, the show was quite spectacular. The music was phenomenal, the light show was amazing and the seats were....well, they were seats. We had a great time and truly enjoyed the show. I highly recommend to anyone that has the chance to see it....just order your tickets early!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

We have another happy birthday shout out..... this time it's going to Rachel! Happy Birthday Rachel, sorry I didn't get this posted on your birthday. Rachel is Caitlin's good friend that also swims for the Illini. I secretly think she could be my daughter....she scrapbooks, her favorite movie is "P.S. I Love You" and she makes up her own words. For instance, this weekend her "hip fell off" and they had to do the "rolly-polly" on her (hehe). Rachel we hope you had a wonderful birthday and we know that this next year will be full of wonderful and exciting adventures!! Happy Birthday kid!

Spell Check!!

Last week Brian and I painted the our bedroom and moved the furniture around. I framed some photos of the kids and thought it would be nice to have some of those new rub on "wall words" to add to the collage I made. I went on eBay and found "I love you Forever" and thought these words were appropriate since I tell my kids all the time that no one will ever love them more than me. So I got the words in the mail this week, and tonight while Caitlin was lying on my bed watching T.V. I thought I would put them up. Does anyone notice anything funny about these words?????
I Love You FORVEVER....FORVEVER??? I believe spell check would have been appropriate here!

P.S. The walls are not yellow they are a soft camel color. I had to take the photo with Caitlin's cell phone since I left my camera at the Wang's.

Thanksgiving Week......

Last Friday night Diana came over and we "crafted". It took Diana a little bit to warm up to it but once we got going it was fun. I find it very relaxing and she found it a bit stressful! She'll get the hang of it when we get to working on our high school scrapbooks for the boys!

Conner had his first high school swim meet Tuesday. I think he may have been a bit nervous but he did a great job. It's the first time since we've lived here that the boys team is larger than the girls team. They used to have to scrimp and scrape to get one relay for each relay race and now they had three teams for each relay race. I'm excited for him and hope that he has a great season and lots of fun.

Caitlin came home on Sunday afternoon. She was able to watch Conner's meet which was nice. And today after practice they have "fun relays" with all the kids. It's always fun for the kids to swim and very fun for the parents to watch. They swim crazy things like freestyle with one foot out of the water or flippers on your hands while swimming feet first.

Later one we will be going to the Wang's for Thanksgiving Dinner. Dining with us will be the Jarrard's and the Freudenthaler's along with Diana's sister and her children. We are thankful that we have such wonderful friends to share the holiday with. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, have a wonderful day!!

Mangy Dog

For the past two weeks we've notice that Waffle's eyes have been changing. We thought because she was a rescue pup, her mom must have mated with a raccoon. That's what her eyes were looking like. This past week we notice that she had a red spot. At first we thought she head-butted Barcleigh (she is a bull in a china shop). Then Wednesday both her eyes looked a little red. I thought maybe she was trying to get out of her kennel when I was at work. By Friday we realized that she was scratching the snot out of her eyes. So today we went to the Vet. Ole' Waffle has Mange! OMG what the heck is that???? Hello....she sleeps on my bed, is it contagious? Will our other dog get it?? Well, the good news is that the type she has is NOT contagious and it is curable. The bad news is that they have to take a skin sample from the area and now she really looks bad. Poor baby, she just breaks my heart. So we now have 8-12 weeks of treatments and bi-weekly trips back to the vet for continued testing to be sure she's getting better.

FYI....The Mange is a mite that lives on all dogs in their hair follicle's. In dogs with low immune systems or dogs that have stress, the mites go wild and their bodies can't control them like a normal dog. They start to lose their hair and scratch around their eyes, mouth and legs. So we figured that since Waffle is a rescue dog that was dropped off with her brothers and sister the day she was born (with the umbilical cord still attached) she didn't get a lot of the antibodies her mom would have given to her. Top that off with the fact that she is a skittish dog and is afraid of noises....we now have a mangy dog!

P.S.....they may say it's not contagious, but I sure am itchy now!

Happy Birthday Elaine!

Here is a little BIRTHDAY shout out to our friend Elaine! Elaine swims with Caitlin, but more importantly she is Caitlin's good friend....therefore, she's one of my "girls". When Elaine is 40 I'll be 61! Happy Birthday Elaine, we hope you had a fantastic day and hope that this year will be full of wonderful adventures and experiences for you.

In a good place

This past Friday I drove to Illinois to watch my girl swim. I stayed the night and spent Saturday with her shopping for a winter coat and a few other things. When I said goodbye to Caitlin I got a little emotional. (this is only the second time I've cried since she's left...the first time was the day after I dropped her off) I was shocked that I got emotional; we had a good weekend and she will be home in two weeks for Thanksgiving. But I realized that my emotions were not of sadness, but of complete happiness and joy. I am so happy and grateful that Caitlin is in a good place. By good place I don't mean the school she attends or her dorm room (though, they are also very good...however, she and April need to clean that joint up!) I mean her attitude, her mental well being. She is happier than I've ever known her to be. She has wonderful encouraging coaches that want to see her succeed, a team that is so positive, encouraging, fun and goofy and friends that share her same values. She said to me "I'm so happy that I GET to spend the next 3.5 years with this team". This positive environment has been long deserved! I love you kid. xoxo














(who put that chin under my face?)

Weekend update

This past weekend was busy for everyone except ME! And I was happy for it. Conner had a Halloween party to go to on Saturday for the swim team. He had a great time and it was fun to see all the kids in their crazy costumes. (Conner is the one in the way back with a mask on, he was Iron Man)

Brian went to Illinois on Saturday for "Dad's day". He and Caitlin tailgated with her swim team and their dads and then went to the Illinois vs. Iowa game. I had to buy the tickets off eBay because I waited too long and they were sold out. Brian thought the seats were pretty darn good. (it would have been even better if he got Caitlin in the photo....just like a man, doesn't think about blogs or scrapbooks!)

Me.....I watched all the shows I DVR'ed and ate cereal for dinner. It was pure heaven to have a quite house all to myself for a few hours.

New Do

Today I went to get my hair cut at lunch. I've been wanting a change since I turned 40. On my birthday I went to my old hair dresser and had her color and cut my hair. But she (and I) were afraid to do too much different than what I had. Which.....what I had was nothing but hair hanging on my head. So my friend Diana went to a new hair dresser and really liked her and thought she would be good to cut my hair since she has curly hair like mine. So I did!

This is the before photo I took at work before I left....

This is the after photo that I took when I returned. Jeannie, one of the ladies at work had to do a double take, she thought I was a member in the vault.

When I picked Conner up from school he didn't recognize me either until he realized the green sweater I was wearing was mine.

Brian was a little flabbergasted that I didn't tell him I was cutting my hair short. He'll get over it. :) I like it, I feel like I have a style now.

Weekend Visit

This weekend Caitlin came home for a visit. It was an off weekend for swimming so most of the girls went home for a visit. I left work early on Friday to go pick her up and (luckily) one of the girls lives in Kentucky and picked her up in Indianapolis this evening to take her back.

It was a nice relaxing weekend. I took her to get her hair trimmed and for a pedicure. But beyond that we pretty much relaxed at home. I think she was happy to sleep in her own bed and nap on her own couch. It was nice to hear the squabbling again. :)
Oh...and we watched a cute movie....."What happens in Vegas". It was quite entertaining if you are looking for a good movie to rent.

Blue and Orange Weekend!

This weekend was Caitlin's Blue and Orange meet. We headed up to Illinois on Friday night and spent the weekend with her....and we had a wonderful time! Saturday morning was their Blue and Orange meet where the team competes against each other. Caitlin was on the Blue team...which is fitting since it's her favorite color. After the meet the parents put a breakfast together on the lawn. It was nice to meet all the parents, they look to be a fun group.
We got to meet some of Caitlin's new found friends......and we just think they are GREAT! I took Caitlin and her friends Rachel and Elaine to the mall on Saturday night for something different to do. I couldn't be happier for Caitlin...she is so happy.

Sunday we went out to breakfast at a very nice restaurant and the food was very good. Afterwards we dropped Caitlin off and got a quick tour of the dorm facilities and then we were off for home. I'll be going to pick Caitlin up next weekend for a visit home since it's an off weekend for them.

Happy Birthday Weekend to ME!

Monday will be my 40th birthday (I'm sure it is shocking to most of you!). My husband invited our best friends, the Wangs, to go to dinner to celebrate. Diana, being Diana, said she could have us over for dinner. Brian said...well I will order something out and bring it over... (Hello, insult to Diana, party planner extraordinaire) It's a good thing he let her take over because he ended up having to work all weekend since the plant was without power for 3 days.

First let me say that Diana is the BEST cook

in the world. Some of you may have seen some of her recipes around....like Diana's famous apple pie, Diana's famous ribs, Diana's famous green beans, so on and so forth.... (all of which were served tonight) I can't tell you how enjoyable it was to share my birthday celebration with them. The food was great and the company was excellent. (I even got a hug from Tyler....twice!)

So Happy Birthday to me! Thank you to my best friend for taking such good care of me! Thank you to the Wang family for celebrating with me! Thanks Brian for the kind suggestion of going to dinner and then letting Diana make us dinner, it was much better than any restaurant meal. And thanks to Conner for being so darn cute! The only thing missing tonight was Caitlin. You missed a good dinner girl!

Dog Blog

Here is a little update on the dogs. Waffle is now 21 weeks old and is gaining on Barcleigh. She won't have the girth that Barcleigh has, but she will be taller. Brian and I have started to walk in the evenings. The first night we took both dogs....BIG mistake. I have been walking them together by myself, but only to the corner and back. I'm sure we were quite entertaining if someone stopped to watch us. Barcleigh pulls and pulls and pulls and Waffle goes in and out and up and down and around and behind and back again....all the while tangling herself up with Barc and us. So we've decided to take one at a time until Waffle is a little better trained at walking and Barcleigh stops pulling like she's a sled dog.

They have become my dogs. Well, Barcleigh already was and Waffle has decided that where ever I am she must be. So I am constantly tripping over the two of them, but I wouldn't have it any other way....they are my "girls".

Happy Birthday Conner!!!!

Today is Conner's 14th birthday....... 14 years ago I was in the hospital with my oldest sister, Cindy, rubbing a raw spot on my head. She was trying to make me more comfortable and thought it would help to rub my head. Shortly after I had to tell her that it wasn't working, ole' 9 lb. 9 oz. Conner popped out letting everyone know he had arrived.

Conner got a new "Dare" phone for his birthday. It is quite the phone....it has a touch screen and has a MP3 player for music and videos and has a very nice camera. The phone will even read your text messages out loud to you. It's impressive.

Conner, you are a wonderful young man and I hope that this year holds many, many wonderful experiences and adventures for you. I love you!

Caitlin sighting

Today we got to see Caitlin for all of 4.5 minutes! She and some of her team mates went to Kentucky for the weekend. On the way back to campus they stopped by for a few minutes....and I mean a few. They were in and out. But it was nice to see her and the girls she was driving with. She got to have a good look at her room which I've spent two days cleaning. She looks so happy and I'm so happy for her. :)

Cross Town Rivalry

Tonight is the annual cross town rivalry football game between Columbus North and Columbus East high schools. Conner went with some swim kids and they decided to paint their bodies in support of North. I see an itchy evening ahead for them. :)

Caitlin update

Well, tomorrow will be one week since we dropped the girl off. She has called a few times and sounds EXTREMELY happy. She just loves it and is so happy to be there. She loves all the girls on the team and has made fast friends with most of them. The weekend was packed full of stuff for her to do...Quad Day, Fall Fest, physical, dorm meetings, and she even went to church on Sunday with some of the other girls. When she called the other day she said it was so fun "like a great big slumber party". UH.....Okay.....one with homework that is getting done...right? Speaking of homework, classes started on Monday. She said her math class has 400 people in it. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I'm sure not by much. She's had a few practices to ease them into the season which officially starts on Tuesday. She said they are hard and killing her but I think she's happy to be in the pool. I had a little "cry" day on Friday. But since then I don't feel sad at all, I can't be sad when I hear how happy she is. It just makes me so happy and thrilled for her. When she calls I just walk around like a fool with a huge smile on my face, and I want to tell everyone that she called and how happy she is. I just hope she's looking both ways when she crosses the street and puts sunscreen on when she's out in the sun. :-)

Happy Birthday Hank!

Friday was our good friend Hank's 50th birthday (wow, that's 10 years and one month to the day older than ME!). Yesterday his wife, Diana (who is OBVIOUSLY much YOUNGER than Hank), had a little surprise birthday party for him. And boy was he was surprised! Brian, Daniel and Bart went golfing with Hank...a normal occurrence....then when he got home there were about 40 of his closest friends there to greet him. :)
Happy 50th Birthday Hank.....we just love ya!!

I'll call this one ... Wow, the day finally came.

It seems like we've been talking about Caitlin going to college forever and most recently what day she was leaving. Everyone would ask me "so, when does she leave". I kept thinking we have time, we have time....TIME IS UP! Here is how our day went....

Loaded Car.....
Thankfully it all fit! Left town....

Got to University of Illinois

This is where I have to say that they have moved 10,000 students in before! This was the most organized chaos I've ever seen. Traffic patterns were changed and there were more orange cones in this town today as there are in the whole state of Indiana. After waiting in a car line for your child's dorm room parking lot, you got a piece of paper that they wrote down the dorm room number, your cell phone number and the time you got into the parking lot. You had exactly 20 minutes from that time to park, unload your car and get out of the parking lot. They meant business because we saw several cars getting towed because those folks thought it didn't really mean them. They had tons of upperclassmen there with carts to help move things up to rooms. Then there were people going around from room to room to help set up computers, printers, Internets etc.

I won't lie...the room is small. But I think by bunking the beds they will have plenty of room.

It didn't take Caitlin long to want to take a nap!

Her roommate is also a swimmer and I think they will become fast friends.

These will be some wonderful years for Caitlin. I will miss her dearly, but I'm so happy for her to experience all of this. Good luck, study hard, swim fast, and HAVE FUN!!!! I love you with all my heart. xoxo