Are we at this point already?

Today I had to sign Preston up for kindergarten and pick up a packet of info to fill out and return along with a ton of things they need to make sure we are residence. Im surprised they didnt ask for blood and urine samples, seriously they asked for everything else. I cant believe its time for this moment. He has a kindergarten test in March and then come fall he will be in the "big school". Aww my baby is growing up, aww Im about to cry just thinking about it. The other day he and I were talking about kindergarten and I informed Preston that he would go to school a little more than he currently goes to prek, he turned to me and said well then I guess I will see you before I go to bed. I told him that I would see him way before bed time but he didnt believe me and said I will be there all day like a big kid mom and eat dinner there so I will be home late at night in time to kiss you goodnight. When I told him that I would see him at lunch he just shook his head and said I will be gone all day but it will be ok. Such a big boy! It seems like just the other day we were at this point, in the hospital delivering him.

This weekend we just took an easy, it was the first weekend that new snow did not fall...YEAH! We took the kids to the frosty flicks movies ($3 tickets plus free popcorn, cant beat that) and we watched Cloudy with a chance of meatballs. Trinity and I baked banana bread and made bracelets. Last weekend we did crafts all weekend so this weekend she wanted to bake but the only thing I had all the ingredients to was banana bread. It was fun and she loved it. Each weekend we try to either bake or do crafts and Im running out o craft ideas. I can always find something to bake but crafts that are easy for her is something else. I think its time to hit up the clearance fabric at walmart and make some new aprons for us. I have also seen some cute ones made from dollar store kitchen towels. Thats another idea. Other than that we havent done too much this weekend and I have been nursing a sore knee, guess thats what I get for running 10 1/2 miles last week, granted it was stretched across 3 days but still hurts. As we speak I have a heating pad on the back of my knee and boy does it feel good, heat plus injury=ahhh.
I have also decided to tile the master bathroom countertop next weekend. We have let over from our kitchen which would work perfectly in our bathroom so thats on my list as well. I think the only thing I have to purchase is more grout. Lowel will have to undo the sinks and pull them up but other than that I can do the rest. Im looking forward to seeing the end results. I will take before and after pics and show them on a later post.

Running, running, running

My friends from the gym are trying to talk me into running a half marathon, I keep saying no but my head and body keep telling me I could do it. I can run pretty far nonstop but not sure I could do just a bit over 13 miles. On Tuesday I ran 3.1 miles , Wednesday I ran 3.2 miles and today we ran 4.5 miles. Next week we are working up to 5 miles. Who knows maybe I will do it!

Preston had a playdate today so after the gym, errands and then playdate its time to clean the house, get dinner going in a bit, off to take Preston to swimlessons, watch swimlessons, then I have my Canal Winchester Charter meeting tonight at 7:30. Its going to be a long evening. Usually I try to look younger than my age of 36; however tonight being the youngest that will be at the charter meeting Im trying to not look the youngest. Im not sure which one is harder to look younger or older. Both take some time trying on different types of clothes, since not working for an actual company the past 4 years my closet now consist of blue jeans, cute Old Navy t-shirts, workout clothes and lots of sleevless shirts, none of which are appropriate for my meeting . Oh and lets not forget that I usually wear my hair in a ponytail since Im usually working at the gym. I just hope that I can keep up with the meeting and somewhat understand what is taking place. Please dont let me look like a young idiot or an old idiot for that matter. Im cool with the mayor but I gotta tell you some of the older gents who have lived here forever kind of scare me. They are very tunnel vision and dont like change. Boy are they in for a shock when this southern gal walks up in there. Gotta get started on stuff here soon so see ya later.

Another blog entry about snow cause thats all I got

Of all the years to invest in a snow blower this would of been the year. Our news just said that this February alone we have received over 25 inches of snow and its still coming down. I just went out and measured the snow on our backporch and it is 10 inches and thats with us shoveling it off every couple of days. We are under a level 2 snow emergency. If it hits level 3 then only emergency personnel can be on the road and if you are caught on the road you will be ticketed. Im sure they will cancel Prestons swim lessons again tonight, maybe we should of signed him up for bobsledding instead. If you will excuse me Im going to look for a new screen saver that has a picture of the sun on it since I forgot what it looked like.
Here are some pics, the first 2 are of our back deck which sits 3 feet off the ground and the snow is level with it so you can walk right off without even using steps, the next one is eye level of our driveway and our poor poor mailbox which is about to be swallowed up by all the snow. The next picture is the view from our 2nd story bedroom and why we cant see it out of it because of the snow drifts on the roof,

Kissy Day

Its Valentines Day, kissy kissy! I actually feel that this has been the best year of our marriage so far, not sure why, but it feels different. The past 5 years of marriage have been good but this year has been sweet. I have woken up with many sweet notes left from my hubby, we talk on the phone a few times, we email each other throughout the day. Its been a sweet year! A girl could get used to this. I love that we eat dinner all together at the table each night, that Preston showers and lays down for night around 8ish and Lowel and I have alone time together. That we still kiss each other goodnight and that he is the first person I want to talk to in the morning. I gave my heart to this man 7 years ago and so far I dont want it back. Hehe.
HappyValentines Hubby now give me my chocolate and you wont get hurt. Actually he did get me chocolate, my favorite dark chocolate and a new cricut cartridge that I get to pick out. Love him!
Here is a pic of some cookies I made this past week some had raspberry and others had blackberry inside them, delicious.

The loves of my life!

Took Preston to school for his Valentine exchange day, went to grocery store to get items to make for Lowels boss b-day on Monday, met up with friends at the gym and ran 4 miles nonstop on treadmill, worked, limped out of gym, picked up Preston at school who came out with a large bag of candy and cards, fought in the car with Preston about how much candy he was allowed to consume in the car on the way home, came home and electricity was out for a few minutes, back on-done panicking, ate something, sat down to relax with a hot cup of coffee for the day, hold that thought cause hubby just asked if I could go to Lancaster to pick up Trinity here in a bit. Gulping coffee, getting ready to head back out, still limping, craving chocolate and hubby owes me big time.

Worked 3 days this week=hobby lobby $ for me.

10 inches of snow and wind chill of -4 today. If my sister and brother in law lived in the tropics like they hope to someday I would so be there right now.

Fun craft projects

Since getting my new cricut I have been very busy doing crafts around the house. Here are some of the projects that I have done in the past few weeks. I thought my dining room could use some color so I moved some stuff around and used my cricut to bring some color in that room. I also made a sign that says Bolin, and when we moved into the house there was leftover tile so I spraypainted them and did some cricut cutouts and the word PLAY now hangs above the steps going into playroom that is in basement. Having so much fun with my cricut.

This snow is going to be the death of me. They just said on the local news that central OH has received 30 inches of snow this winter so far, last year it was 19. We got snow Friday about 8 inches and now they are calling for another 6 -8 inches tonight-Wednesday. Goodness gracious I have never wished snow away this bad. I miss planting, digging, spring projects outside, flowers oh my flowers how I miss you but most of all I miss the SUN......its been so lonely without you. I cant wait to feel the warmth of you upon my skin, shining through the windows of the house and melting all of this darn snow. Come back Sun, I beg of you!!!

Cakestand love

I love cakestands....there I said it. I love everything about them. I keep mine on the island all the time and it usually has baked goodies inside but sometimes it has decor depending upon what season it is. I have a few cake stands and Im always on the lookout for more at thrift stores. I have even made my own cakestands by glueing large glass candeholders to the bottom of decorative glass plates that I have found at thrift stores. I then stack them on top of other cake stands to make them really tall. I think they are simple and pretty and I love them. Most of you are wondering just how many cakestands can you use at one time but in our house you would be surprised. Ive been known to use 4 at a time. Cakestands=happiness for me.

Brrrr power out

After getting about 8 inches of snow we lost electricity yesterday about 10am. The electric pole behind out house snapped in two, laid across wires and one of the wires was in our back yard ( it was behind the fence but still in the back yard). No electricity, no computer, no tv, no Wii, no heat, whats a girl to do.....go to McDonalds right down the road where they have hot food for the kiddo, coffee screaming my name and wifi for the hubby who has been working the past 3 weekends and had to have Internet connection to work. It finally came back on after about 4 hours but they were only able to get on half of the subdivision, the other half were without electricity for 10 hours. We made sure our neighbors who didnt have electricity knew that they were more than welcome to come over to keep warm but they were on their way to Walmart to waste time where everyone else in the subdivision seemed to be. There was a lot of commotion and activity in the backyard with firetrucks cause the pole caught on fire, police to shut down the road behind our house and a lot of electric trucks. They worked all day and all night to get it back on and thankfully they did. I love electricity. Its a good thing.

Go away snow

More snow, ugghhh I thought we were done with this white stuff. I guess thats what I get for living in the North. Another 8-14 inches of snow by tomorrow and we are on a level 1 snow emergency.

My hubby was able to have a friend get copies of P90X for me. I started them tonight by doing the arms and shoulders and whew. Luckily at the gym this morning I did cardio cause my arms are burning. Im glad that Ive been doing extreme bootcamp at the gym twice a week otherwise these dvd's would be a lot harder on me but since I do this stuff in class it isnt nearly as bad. So far I love the dvd's and I still have many to go through. P90X bring it on, kick my ass, give me all you got and I hope in return to be in a bikini by summer...ok maybe not a bikini but definitely not a skirted bottom bathing suit.

Canal Winchester Charter Review Commission Board http://www.canalwinchesterohio.gov/Committee/charter.aspx

Bolin household update

We have been taking Preston to the gym in the evenings and playing basketball and running around the track, he has a bit of a peepaw belly but apparently he hit a growth spurt this weekend cause Lowel and I both noticed a change in him. His belly isnt what it was 2 weeks ago and he seems taller. He is now 43 inches so basically his head hits me way above my bellybutton. He is taller that some of the other boys in prek who are already 5. The boy doesnt turn 5 till June. That means at this rate that he will soon tower over me.

Went to Walmart today cause hubby told me that Hanes sweat pants were on sale for $5. Which is a good deal since I go to the gym and I can wear these or cut them to make shorts. What was even better is that when I went to check out they were actually $3 a piece. You bet I ran back and picked up a few more pairs. I also found boys transformer t-shirts for $3 a piece. Gotta love Walmart...yeah you heard me mother in law-LOVE WALMART (she is anti walmart).

Got a busy next 2 weeks in store for us, playdate Tuesday, parent teacher conference on Wednesday and Im babysitting this week for a few days. Prestons swim lessons start back up next Tuesday and Thursday night for the next month as well.


In other news: Got email today from mayor who liked my answers and I am now on the Charter Review Commission Board for our town.

Over snow

When I lived in TN I thought it was awesome to see snow, everyone would run out to the grocery stores, everything would close down from schools, to roads,to business's. Now that I live in Ohio where it seems to snow all the time and throughout the winter I barely get to see my grass.... Im no longer excited about snow. After reading comments from all of my facebook friends in TN I now laugh at how excited everyone gets about snow. I used to be like that but the excitement is gone its just another day in paradise here in Ohio with snow on the ground almost everyday of winter. No one rushes to the grocery store here because it snows all the time so more than likely you've already been. Roads and business's rarely close unless we are under a level 3 which is a blizzard. Ahh to be excited about snow once again would be nice but this gal is over it. Im ready for spring dammit

Mayor request. City domination a go I think I will change our city name to Bolinville.

Our town is developing a Charter Review Commission Board and the mayor is chosing the board members as well as alternates from the community to fill the seat in case of a vacancy. I received an email from the mayor as an alternate appointment and then he asked me to answer 3 questions for him. Really,are you kidding me. How many other residents did you ask to answer these questions. With much thought, all day and input from Dad and Lowel, thanks Dad, Lowel I will thank you later here are my answers. If chosen I will be on one more board for the city, Im already on the parks and recreation board so my plan to take over the town is coming together, haha. If you happen to see a misspelled word, fragment sentence or something that doesnt make sense please keep it to yourself cause its already gone bye bye into email world and at this point I dont want to know about it. Hopefully he likes my answers more than my grammer.

How do you feel the Villages current form of government is being run now, strong mayor vs. administrator? I feel that our Village government is more administrator than strong mayor. With that being said I believe that a Mayor at times may be required to force laws, however, we have a city council form of government. Our city council develops an overall vision for Canal Winchester. Our Village Government takes an idea and allows or appoints someone else to accomplish the idea. As an administrator government it is allowing the opportunity for residents and council to use their talents and accomplish the needs or goals of our Village vs. a strong mayor who sets the rules without input.

Would you make any changes? I would not make any changes to our current government. I believe that our community is made up of some amazing, talented persons who should be allowed to express that through our government and it allows for a diverse culture.

Do you have any concerns with the Village becoming a City as early as the Fall of 2010?
I personally do not have any concerns with our Village becoming a City, however I’m sure that with every change comes new challenges. An opportunity for new grants but more competition for those grants, new exciting changes but also new rules and regulations. There are some in the community who are afraid of losing the look and feel of our Village. I feel that you only lose that feeling when you lose your sense of community and our community is getting stronger and better each year. We have added more community activities such as the Ribfest and our Labor Day Festivities, Christmas in the Village and Art in the Park have had opportunities to grow such as our Village has but for the better.

Oh so true

Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater, give her sperm she will make a baby, give her a house she will give you a home, give her groceries she will give you a meal, give her a smile she will give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what she is given. So if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit...

Happy Birthday to me

Today is my Birthday and Im 36, Id like to say that I feel 26 but that would just be a lie. I dont however feel my age I do feel younger which is nice. Now if I could just stop waking up to this deep wrinkle that has attached itself underneath my right eye. For the first time ever I have purchased eye wrinkle cream, trust me Ive been wearing all over face wrinkle cream for months now but never just for the eye...that was until the crater decided to set up camp under the eye. Its been a hell of a year but its been a great year. Not sure if you can have hell and great in the same sentence but I think its working for me.
To kick off my birthday Im having breakfast with 2 neighbors after I drop Preston off at Pre-k cause lets face it its much more fun to have breakfast every once and a while with just ladies, no kids, no one saying I gotta go poop, no cutting up pancakes for anyone else, no sticky hands and faces and spilled chocolate milk.
After that and picking up Preston from pre-k we have a playdate at a friends house. Again if your going to have kids with you then the next best thing is 2 other women with kids so that we can do our girl thing while the kids play. Much to gossip, talk about, compliments to be thrown out and all 3 of us ladies have b-days in the same week so we will definitely be telling each other we dont look our ages and much much younger.
Later after Lowel comes home we will celebrate my birthday with the pie that I picked out and picked up because God love him the hubby can cook but cant bake.

P.S -Every year my mom calls me to tell me the story of the morning that I was born and I do mean every year and my sister calls to sing Happy Birthday to me every year. I hear from everyone in my family but I love the the yearly story and song and its the highlight of my b-day.

Thoughts

Cleaning, cooking, baking, snotty noses, Pre -K, gym, playdates, grocery store, bills, dog, sewing, scrapbooking, errands, snacks, playdough, laundry, restless nights, neighbors, naked 4 yr old boys, cartoons, scrubbing, driving, running, fixing, bathing, planning, crying, headaches, boo boo's, crafts, thinking, sleeping, caffeine, weight, rain, sunless....just needed to get a few things off my chest from today. I will be better tomorrow, I hope.

Staying busy

Lowel has been working 24/7 lately so Ive been trying to keep myself and Preston busy. Today I got up cleaned a bit in the house, Preston and I went to the grocery, came home put up groceries and ate lunch then went back out to the AT&T store which was closed, and then to Joann Fabrics. We have been trying to find a dog pillow that was large so that Jazz could lay on it instead of the hardwood floors and it would keep us from having to bring the one from upstairs that he sleeps on at night down each day. Every one we looked at was $40-60 for the nice fluffy ones that are like fake sheepskin. I decided that I could make one for a lot less than that so I did today and the final cost of the material and stuffing and all was only $13.00 and its the same material as the expensive ones. Now if we could just keep him from wanting to chew the corners.

Naked boy

I cant figure out why my son cant keep his clothes on. I walk into the family room and there are his pants, his shirt is on the ground in the kitchen, socks in bathroom and these are all clothes that he had on today, within the past hour, that he has now shedded. Its below 30 degrees outside and we keep our heat on 67 in the house so its not like its so hot that he needs to remove layers of clothes, if anything he needs to be adding them on. For some reason he must be in his underwear as soon as we enter the house. All of our neighbors have seen Preston at one time or another in just his underwear because he goes to the door that way when someone knocks and yet they still come back so I guess thats a good thing. Id say he gets this from his dad but he only does that when I beg for something to drink in the middle of the night. I guess at some point he will cover up and until then sorry for all of those that may see a bit more than they asked for.

Desire for a village

My husband was explaining to another husband that women need a village. It was Lowels answer to the question as to why women need or want girls night out or to see each other all the time. At first I didnt think much about his answer but it does make sense to me. I have this amazing group of girls from the gym that I have met over the past 6 months and I enjoy seeing them each day. We work out together, push each other, encourage one another and just plain have fun together. We are all stay at home moms or we work from home so right there we already have a lot in common. Ive never been one of those stay at home moms to stay. As my husband would say I have a need for a village. My village are the friends that I have made or already have and that village continues to grow and grow and the village gets stronger. Men dont have villages they have friends but I dont think they have the desire to build on as women do. I hope that if I can teach Trinity anything its to build a village. Branch out there, build on, remodel everynow and then but just keep building. Friends come and go and some stay in your lives forever but never lose the desire to build your village. Its important as a women, friend, and mother. I have enjoyed the fact that in the meantime of my desire to have a village that Preston is reaping the benefits of it as well because he has more playdates as ever and talks about his friends from the gym all the time. Its fun to watch both of lives getting better and better and I know that I couldnt of done this without my husband who wants me to be with Preston and not work right now and enjoy our lives. I guess that makes my husband the investor of my village. By the way I think my village needs a Starbucks. Thanks honey!

Tickle Bear

I love the fact that Preston sleeps with my old teddy bear -Tickle Bear. He plays with it and sleeps with it at night and its so cute to watch him. Lowel on the other hand isnt a fan of Preston sleeping with a teddy bear and wasnt all that happy that I slept with Tickle Bear up until the day we had Preston. When we moved from TN to OH I think Lowel was secretly hoping that Tickle Bear would get lost and not find his way but that bear is a tropper. Im sure that if I put an Ohio State t-shirt on Tickle Bear that Lowel would feel better about the whole thing but in the meantime Im going to enjoy watching my young son play and sleep with something that brought me comfort.

Ran a 5k on the treadmill today and I just about died during it however I felt so good afterwards. Im working up to running a 10k. Since its Tuesday and Preston didnt have school he went into the gym daycare, which he loves. We always talk about who he played with that day because the kids that are in there are friends of mine and do bootcamp with me. Today he looked at me and said "who's mommy did you play with today".

Happy B-day

Lordy, Lordy my husband is 40 today. Happy Birthday to you , Happy Birthday to you, your as sexier as ever and cute to boot too!

Feel yucky, am yucky, just plain yucky

Preston and I are finally feeling better after an episode of food poisoning. It snuck up on us Wednesday around 3am and it was not pretty. Poor Preston had to change clothes 4 times because of accidents. We spent the day laying around, Preston had a sick day from school, not eating and hating McDonalds (ok I was hating McDonalds, Preston will probably be asking for it this weekend). The good news is that I lost 2 pounds, the bad news is that I couldn't go to the gym yesterday or today cause I felt too weak. Preston is feeling much better and has his appetite back, I don't have my back yet which makes for a very sluggish day without food for 2 days. I made a yogurt and fruit smoothie but wasn't able to get it all down. I have lysol'ed the house down just in case so every door knob and handle has been disinfected and all clothes and towels washed in hot water. Its been a rough couple weeks here in the Bolin house with Preston getting a cold around Christmas for about 2 weeks, then I had it for a week, then food poisoning and now Lowel is feeling cold'ish. I'm tired of being sick this needs to end and quick please. Gotta get back to lysol'ing the house so hope everyone is healthy and if you are please share it with us.

This morning I got up and ran a 5k. Never actually done that without stopping for a breather but this morning I was able to do it in 28:44 minutes. Not to bad for this old gal. My girlfriends from the gym got me through it while running right along next to me on the treadmill. I have made such amazing friends from the gym since joining bootcamp. We really have fun together, push one another and encourage each other. Its been great.

Today Preston and I are watching Chip. He is a neighbors dog who lost his companion the other day and has never been without another dog. Our neighbors came home early from work the other day so that Chip wouldnt be alone all day but it wasnt feasible for them to do that each day so Preston and I went to their house packed up Chip and brought him to our house. He is sad and lonely for now but Im sure that he wont be alone soon since they are already talking about getting another playmate for him. Jazz is fascinated by this little wiener dog but Chip is just annoyed at Jazz. Its not a friendship but they tolerate one another with Jazz laying on the ground in front of the couch and Chip curled up on my lap. I think Jazz may be a tad bit jealous but its good for him to get along with other dogs as well.
I know I have spoken about all of our great neighbors in the past but I cant say enough about them. When Grandaddy died we got cards from our neighbors, we go in and out of each others homes and we all watch each others animals, kids, homes you name it. Its been a blessing to live on this court so God was definitely watching over us as we were house hunting.
Taz a new dog came to play with you her name is Pom Pom and she is a cutie so enjoy!!!

After 3 weeks of having things not so right, not in order, out of routine , today we are back to normal. YEAH!!! For a person that thrives on order and routine this is a big relief for me. Dont get me wrong it was nice having hubby working from home the past few weeks and the kids home from school cause of holidays then snow days but I was ready to have things back, back to normal, well as normal as we can be. We still have snow on the ground but its tolerable. Im pretty used to it by now but every once in a while enough is enough and I long for sunny days.

This week, in fact on Friday the hubster turns 40, you heard me correct the big 40. I think its bothering him just a bit. He wont admit it but since I just wrote it then I guess the cats out of the bag. I dont want to even thin about how I will react when I turn 40 so we will just cross that bridge when it gets here.

I have a new part time job, Im going to be keeping a friends kids each Tuesday which is nice cause I can still be home with Preston, Preston has a playdate and I will have extra $ for scrapbooking, Target, Starbucks, the necessities of life. Of course my husband doesnt see scrapbooking, Target and Starbucks, as necessities and instead of hobbies or treats but since Im the one writing this entry its a necessity darn it.
Ta Ta for now!

Go away snow

Today's snow fall as of 5pm. Bring on Spring please, snow is over rated unless your a kid.

cricut crazy

My inlaws gave me a cricut for Christmas and to say that I have broken it in would be an understatement. I am coo coo for cricut. Not only have I finished atleast 20 pages of scrapbooking in the past week I have also found other projects around the house to do. At one time we had an old free tv stand that was on its last leg so we took it apart and I have been slowly using its pieces here and there. I finished using the last 2 pieces (a small door and glass door) to create an art project with the help of my cricut. See pics. I also made a new sign for the back of our front door so you would see it as you were leaving.

New Year

Happy New Year to ya! We had a great time at the hockey game last night with Lowels co-workers in the box seats. The Blue Jackets played the Predators and Nashville won in overtime. Today is the Rose Bowl so Im sure that it will be football time in our house tonight to watch the Buckeyes. I however am not a buckeye fan yet so I will busy myself with scrapbooking or something. I have already broke one of my new years resolutions by not eating better and instead ringing in the new year with a chocolate doughnut. It was so worth it. This past year has brought us happiness, tears, more family, sickness, health, work, house remodeling, death, and love. I am sad that we lost Grandaddy this past year, we gained a new 2nd cousin, my brother and cousin are both expecting babies, Mammy is going to an assisted living place at the age of 96 (its been a good run for her at home by herself) and the kids seem to amaze me, make me laugh and make me want to pull out my hair all at once. Im excited to see what 2010 will bring us. Its hard to believe that this year Preston will be going to kindergarten and Trinity will be in the 3rd grade. Hope everyone enjoys their day and may 2010 be good to you.

I did it!!!

I usually brag about my kids on this blog but not today, today Im taking the spotlight. Ive been taking a bootcamp class for women at my local gym and the instructor is ex military who combines his style with PX90 and Insanity to basically kick our butts. I can tell a huge difference in my body since these classes but what I was able to do a move yesterday that blew my mind. Our instructor is all about strengthening our core so he always makes us do planks, which is balancing yourself on your toes and forearms only with nothing else touching the floor so you basically use your own strength to keep yourself up off the floors. He makes us do this for 2 minutes which doesnt seem like a long time but it feels like a lifetime. Everynow and then he challenges us and see's and if we can do the plank with weights vertical so each hand is holding onto the end of the weight and the other end of the weight is on the ground. You then lower yourself into a half pushup position so that your elbows are straight with your shoulders. I have never been able to do this more than about 45 seconds because my body would shake and give out. Yesterday however something came over me and I did it for 2 minutes. My instructor told me that I am the first girl in 4 years to be able to do this. I know it might not be exciting to most people, but to me its huge. Ive been struggling to do that move for 6 months. I love challenging my body to see what it can do and to be able to do this just challenges me more. Whats next? Huh maybe body building.. NAH just kidding!!!

Bring on 2010

Christmas is over and the tree came down the day after because lets face it, having the tree up for the past 6 weeks and rearranging all of the furniture and removing toys from the living room was just chaos. I needed normalcy in my home, I needed my house back in order. I needed to put up the stuff while I had the energy and hubby could distract the kid and dog so I could get work done. Now I'm wishing I had taken down the items from outside because we got blasted with a bunch of snow and cold weather all of the sudden.
It was a great Christmas but now on to 2010. I got the best present this year the day after Christmas, my brother and sister in law are having a baby!!!! I couldn't be more excited if I were pregnant myself.
I have already made my resolutions for the year and usually I only make one if I make any at all but this year I need to stay motivated and focused so I made several that way if I fail at accomplishing one then no biggie cause I have backup resolutions. Think of it as the cheaters resolution guide.
My resolutions:

• Get more organized
• Eat better
• Make more time for those in need
• Read more books
• I asked Lowel if he would like for me to change anything about myself that involved him for a resolution and he said No,I like you just the way you are so I guess my idea of giving him more (yep Im talking about you know what) isnt needed. I bet after reading this he will change his mind.

Christmas day 2009

Its Christmas day and Santa came to our house and Im not sure what he was thinking but he left more transformers for Preston, as if he needs more and doesnt have 100 already, Littlest pet shop stuff for Trinity that is so small that many have already been stuck to the bottom of my feet and loud squeeky toys for Jazz. I also got my own toy, I got a cricut for scrapbooking. We also got a new tv that we put into our bedroom but Lowel has already claimed it as his own. All in all its been a great Christmas and the kids have made it really fun this year. I hope the spirit of Christmas is with them forever.

Christmas Eve 2009

Today my inlaws came to our house for Christmas Eve for presents, food, family and fun. I dont believe that Santa could of left any more presents at Grandmas house if he wanted to for her to bring to our house today for the kids.
Everyone had a great time and it was nice spending the day with family. Here are pics from today and pics of tonight, after bathtime, waiting to go to bed before Santa arrives at our house.

Pre Christmas countdown

Both kids are out of school and Lowel is working from home so schedules are a bit off, tempers are bit off and kids are a bit off and if I hear one more kid ask me if tomorrow is Christmas I just might scream. In the meantime, of countdown till we can use the better be good or Santa will find out little white lie, we are trying to keep the kids busy. Today we went to World of Bounce which is basically 2 large rooms with tons of inflatable bouncy stuff for the kids to bounce their energy out. It was fun for us too because we also got to bounce. The family that bounces together stays together. Tomorrow we are going to the movies to see Alvin and the chipmunks the squeakquel and my sister in law and niece may come spend the night. Thursday is Christmas Eve and Lowels family is coming up for the day. This year however Im not going to spend my entire day in the kitchen and instead we are ordering food from our neighbors Italian restaurant so bring on the lasagna. I still have lots of presents to wrap so gotta go.

Christmas break

Today is Prestons last day of preschool for 2009. He is patiently awaiting Santa. He got a call from Santa the other day and he informed him that he wanted lots of lots of Transformers. Big shocker there. Our local gym also has a senior center attached to it so they were making the calls as Santa and you could inform them of what toys your child likes, what his pets name is, etc so when the big man called he knew all about Preston. Preston hung up the phone and said I must be a very good boy to get a call like that.
Since its Prestons last day of school they are going to walk around downtown Canal Winchester and sing Christmas songs and then have a party. Im going to go watch and walk with kids as they go caroling. Preston has been practicing his songs for 2 weeks now and its so cute to hear him sing. We are going to try and do lots of things while the kids are out for break and keep them busy and mostly keep their mind off Christmas so they wont ask us every 15 minutes if its time for Santa to come and bring them presents. Have a great day I know we will.

Gift ideas

I saw this great gift idea on another blog and just had to share it. This one is for neighbors but it could be for friends as well.

Purchase refrigerated roll of cookie dough
1 to 2 cookie cutters from the dollar store
Maybe even cookie gel to write on the cookies or anything else you can think of.

"Sugar and Spice and everything Nice!! That's what GREAT Neighbors are made of!" is what you are going to attach to the roll of cookie dough along with any accesories with cute ribbon. You could write that saying on a christmas card, christmas paper, scrapbook paper, anything would work.

You could put thats what great friends are made of, great families are made of, great babysitters are made of, the skies the limit on this one.

The day after

The neighborhood party at our house went very well. I made about 10 homemade desserts and even though we had leftovers it was so much fun to make them. It was worth the 3 days of cleaning and baking. Right before the party started I said that I didnt think I would do this again next year but after the party I changed my mind. One party down one more event to go.

My inlaws are coming up Christmas Eve to our house so thats the one event to go. I will be cooking all day for that as well but lucky for me I enjoy it, except for the cleaning up afterwards part. I could do without that.

Meltdown, bribes and drama

Preston had the biggest meltdown in karate last night that I just sat there watching not sure what to even do or say. I felt bad for him but at the same time wanted him to get tough. He was in formation and all of the sudden burst into tears. When I finally went to get him out of formation, mind you with everyone in the entire gym watching, and his instructor asking whats wrong and neither one of us answering him just walking out, I took him outside where he was screaming I want to go home. After talking to him a bit trying to figure out what is going on he said the boy beside him was being mean to him but didnt tell us what he said. Lowels approach was to tell Preston to punch the boy out, my approach was to ignore the boy so since we couldnt agree on what to do next I simply said "Bolins dont quit". He finally stopped crying went back in and had a great time. He still hasnt told us what the boy said but Im very proud of him for going back in, sucking it up and not quitting. Ok so he didnt really have a choice because I reminded him that if he quit that Santa was watching. I wonder what Im going to bribe him with after Christmas is gone and I cant use the Santa excuse. Have to think about that one. In the meantime this morning Preston woke up and said "Mom Im sorry about last night, Im just having a rough time right now but its almost over". Thank goodness cause there can only be one drama queen in this house and its me.

Someone please tag in and clean for me

In preparation for our annual neighbor Christmas party I have been cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. I keep waiting for someone else to tag in but no such luck. All carpets have been cleaned, some rooms have been straightened up, a lot of dusting, a lot of touching up paint, a lot of sorting through stuff to figure out where I can hide it. 25 homes have been invited so I'm not sure how many will show up but last year we had about 25-30 people and that was with 20 homes being invited. I have 9 desserts on the menu that I will be making from scratch, that's the fun part of it is the baking I get to do and just in case someone doesn't turn out the way its supposed to Walmart is 5 miles away. I would write more but its almost time to start dinner and get ready to take Preston to karate. Have a great evening.

Santa sighting in Canal Winchester

I love this town, especially during Christmas. I think its so great that Santa comes into town each year on the firetruck and drives through our subdivision and then you can follow him into town for hayrides, carriage driven horse rides, train rides, and many more activities. Here is Preston, Trinity and Prestons best buddy Riley waiting in the back of the car for Santa to arrive.

Waiting on the train ride. Brrr it sure is cold in this caboose!!!

More decor

The outside of the house, front and back

All in a days work

Today Preston and I had lunch with a neighbor who also just happens to the be wife of the Vice President of HR at Lowels work. It was a nice lunch up until the point that Preston asks her to pull his finger. Luckily she laughed out loud and said that was the funnies thing she had heard all day. She wouldnt survive in our house.


This is the conversation I had with Preston during his bathtime:

Me-Preston if your going to put your face under the water hold your breath so you dont swallow the bubbles.

Preston-why

Me- Because they could make your tummy ache and you might get sick

Preston-So I might throw up

Me- Yes

Preston- So I might throw up on myself, you, dad, or Trinity

Me-Yes

Preston- So if I throw up on the floor and if Jazz (our dog) eats it will he throw up

Me-Im not sure but maybe

Preston-So if I throw up how long will it last

Me-Not sure

Preston- So if I throw up. (At this time I interrupt the sentence.)

Me-Dude I dont know if you will or wont throw up, I dont know how much, I dont know who you will throw up on, I dont know if the dog will eat it and if he does will he get sick so either finish your bath or take your chances and eat the bubbles so we can move on from these questions.


Minutes later:

Me-Preston put the dog brush down so you dont get dog hair all over you.

Preston-But I want to brush my hair with it.

Me- No because you will get dog hair on your hair

Preston-So I will turn into a dog

Me-No

Preston-So if I do get dog hair on my hair and turn into a dog then a tail will grow from my butt right?

Me-No

Preston- So if I have dog hair, have a tail grow from my butt and then eat dog food will I be a dog?

Me- Yes

Preston-Im not ready for that so can you get me my brush.

Me-Gladly if we never have to have this conversation again.

I give up

In the past 2 weeks I have managed to destroy 2 expensive electrical devices. The first being our wireless dog collar. I didn't so much destroy as the dog did. I accidentally left it on him while he was in his crate and he some how managed to get it off his neck and eat it. Yes eat it. Not cheap to replace, in fact the collar itself cost more than the entire wireless unit.

The second is my carpet cleaner that I LOVE. I just replaced the water tank on it that was leaking and causing problems which was about $50 dollars to replace. I used it for the first time yesterday in about 3 months with new water tank and the motor went out. Im sick to my stomach with the thought that I dont have a carpet cleaner in the house. Im pretty sure that now someone will spill koolaid or something worse on the carpet or the dog will suddenly decide to revert back to his puppy days and tinkle. Ok now Im really sick to my stomach.

I am not touching anything that needs to be plugged in, programmed, or is expensive.
Other than my laptop which I need to look on craigslist for a new carpet cleaner and wireless dog collar and my car of course, ok those 2 things dont count they are a necessity in life.

Indoor 2009 Christmas decor

Just a few indoor Christmas decorations, its raining outside right now so outdoor pics will have to be later.

Dining Room

Family end table and kitchen

Family room tree and small foyer snowman tree

The "B" wreath that I made

Fun things to do while visiting family in TN:

• Eat at Loveless cafe http://www.lovelesscafe.com/
• Eat at Catfish Kitchen
• Say "down in the hallar" and everyone know exactly what you mean.
• Drink spiced tea and any type of tea
• Eat sausage balls, pumpkin bread, banana bread for breakfast
• Ride a carousel inside a mall
• Hug everyone including strangers you just met because thats how you greet someone down south
• Hold my new cousin
• Watch my family spend time with Preston and see how happy he is.
• Roast hotdogs and smores on the fire outside the day before Thanksgiving because its still warm in TN
• Wake up by the sound of roosters crowing

Funny things my son says:
One of Prestons teachers was out last Friday and again today, when I picked him up from school he told me that one of teachers hasn't been there for 2 days and then he informed me that she was on a date. When I said "a date are you sure". He said yes mommy its a really long date at a really long restaurant.


Sometimes to get Jazz the dog into the house we offer him a treat so that he will just walk in, because sometimes its like pulling teeth to get the dog to come inside when we need him to. Prestons job sometimes is to open the door and yell for the dog. Today he asked me if were going to give him a treat. When I said no Preston yelled out the door "Jazz come in but your not getting a treat this time but come in anyways".

Full view of kitchen

I must admit something....Im a closet Christmas decorator. Im only in the closet about it because I started putting up stuff on November 8th. I havent put out anything outside. I dont want my neighbors to think Im strange. Here is sneak peak of the whole kitchen and just a little bit of the decor so far. This way you can see the whole kitchen with the new countertops and backsplash with warning that I have some Christmas stuff out already...you have been warned.

This is what Preston told me today on our way home from his school "Mommy I got into trouble today from my teacher but I dont know why, she didnt tell me but Im sure its because I was playing quietly and doing what I was supposed to do".

Learn to tile=done

For the past 3 days my sister and I have been tiling my kitchen backsplash. What a job!!! I learned to tile and to run a wet saw which was actually fun. I love the end results and I love that I can now say yes I can tile and look what I did then it gives me an excuse to showcase with my hands like the lovely ladies of Price is Right or Vanna White. Everything looks better when you showcase it with your hands. The girls on Price is Right make aspercreme look lovely.

Move over HGTV here is a girl that can lay down hardwood floor and tile. They could call my show Heather Helps, Handy Heather or this could go on and on so I will end it right here and now.

If I could....

Here is a great short story that I found from another blog that was so good I had to share it.

If I Could Live My Life Over
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the “good” living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television-and more while watching life.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I ‘d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, “Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.”
There would have been more “I love you’s”…
more “I’m sorry’s”…
but mostly,
given another shot at life,
I would seize every minute…
look at it, and really see it…
live it…and never give it back.

Written by Erma Bombeck,

Rules of the dog

The rules of the house goes that whoever (me or Preston) says let the dog in or out first ,then the other person has to be the one to let the dog in our out to do his business. The kid is fast...he has me beat each time!

Health discoveries from the mind of a 4yr old

Preston has been learning about germs at school probably from all of the h1N1 stuff going around. Anyways, they have been taught that if you sneeze or cough without covering your mouth that you could get someone else sick because your germs would land on them. I had really bad hiccups while in the grocery store and Preston turned to me and said that I should hiccup on someone in the store so that my hiccups will go to them instead. Not really the message I think his teachers were going for but he has the concept down to a science. And if it would of worked I probably would of tried it...those hiccups were rough.

We are a lot like pumpkins:
God scoops out the yucky stuff from within us and replaces it with a light to shine through.