My Baby is Nine Today!

Sarah took this picture of Bailey and I about a week and a half ago, and despite me criticizing myself in the picture, I actually like it. I love the way Bailey is looking at me. I was going through pictures tonight and thought I would use this picture to post to the blog in honor of her birthday.

It is so hard for me to believe that nine years have passed by so quickly. Bailey is really my miracle baby, and I often times reflect on that as each birthday passes by. Todd and I really shouldn't have her in our lives. Twelve years ago, Todd and I started trying for our second child. We had a lot of heartaches along the way. I had an ectopic pregnancy which was a very tough thing to go through. I had a tough time after that just even thinking about getting pregnant again...just fearful I guess that I didn't want to have another heartache. We tried month after month only to keep being disappointed. Todd and I both underwent scores of tests only to find out that I wasn't producing any progestrone, which basically meant I wasn't gonna get pregnant without help from modern medicine. I remember the intense conversations Todd and I had regarding whether we should just let things be and accept we were going to be parents to an only child, Sarah, or go with the fertility drugs. It was a big struggle for us. We decided to try the fertility route only because we really wanted Sarah to have a sibling. I remember the day I got the medicine from my doctor, and him telling me "I know this is silly for me to tell you, but legally I have to.....take a pregnancy test before you take this medicne....it seems like a waste of money for you to buy one, but do it just because I am telling you too." I remember thinking how right he was cuz there was no way I could get pregnant in the condition my body was in. But boy oh boy, did we learn how much bigger God is than us. I took the pregnancy test home and just went through the motions of taking it, and what to my wondering eyes should appear....a plus sign stating I was pregnant....on my own without the use of modern medicine!!! My miracle that I had prayed for was granted to me in an moments notice. Needless to say we were VERY excited and my doctor was speechless. It was so great.

And now here we are 9 years later, with my baby sitting on my lap talking to me. I can't tell you the feelings of emotion that pour over me when I think of the pride I have in both of my children. A mother's love is like no other, and I thank God every day for this miracle he gave to me. Despite the days when I am ready to run away, cry, or just want to bury my head in the sand, motherhood is the biggest reward anyone could ever experience. And this child of mine that is growing so quickly continues to make my heart fuller and fuller. She continues to make me a better person, and she continues to amaze me on a daily basis. She is the sunshine to my day. I couldn't be more blessed.

So to my baby girl......I love you so much .....to the moon and back....alpha null......and I loved you first.....I win!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Weekend Highlights

Well, we have survived the weekend. We are extremely exhausted, but we had a fun time.

Saturday was full of fun for Bailey, as her daddy and her went to the hunting land. They left at 7:30 am, and had breakfast on the way. They got to the hunting land around 10:00 and spent the day riding on the four wheeler, shooting at targets, and just having a wonderful daddy-daughter date time. She told him that it was the "best birthday present ever"! She was all a chatter this morning telling me all about it.

Sarah and I were up at 4:30 getting ready for our long day ahead. We got to Atlanta for the competition and the kids did fantastic! Sarah played her solo absolutely flawless. She was so cute cuz she was so nervous, her little leg was just a bouncing on stage. When it was all over, we headed to Six Flags over Georgia. The kids were all excited, but unfortunately they only got to ride one ride.....the skies opened up and it rained on and off all day. Everytime it would stop, we would get in line for another ride, and then just as we were about to get on the ride, they would close it down and it would start to rain again. It was so disappointing for the kids. I was also SHOCKED at how expensive the food was!!! Sarah and I had a burger and fries with a drink and it was $41. No lie! The cokes were $5 each, and a slice of pizza was $12. I almost had a heart attack. Then, they don't have those cute little cubbies to stick your bags in while you ride the rides....instead they now have lockers at each ride where you have to pay $1 for each ride to store your stuff. You are not allowed in line if you have any kind of bag, hat, sunglasses etc. You have to put it in a locker.....what a money making scam that was. I could have mortgaged my house for what we spent in food and locker fees.......and the part that stunk was even if you got knocked off the ride due to rain, you still lost your locker fee. So that added a bit of frustration to the day. But at the end of the day, although we were soaked to the bone, tired and frustrated, the kids got great news. At the awards ceremony in the park where all the schools gathered to hear the results, we found out that there were schools from as far as New York and Kentucky. The kids found out they took 1st place in the Middle School Concert Band and then took 1st place in Overall standings!!!! They got Superior ratings which is the highest you can make in both catagories. They got a big trophy for each catagory and also the experience alone was worth the trip! They were so proud of themselves! We finally arrived back in Tifton around 10:30 last night.

Today we had Bailey's webkinz birthday party! She had a great time and all her friends showed up! They made collars, crowns, and visors for their animals. They got to take their animal to the vets, Dr. Quack (alias Sarah), for a check-up, and then pamper their animals at the Webkinz salon. They had a 'gem hunt' in the gym to finish up the fun before cake and ice cream and presents! The kids all had fun, I think. I personally am exhausted after it all! It is hard for me to believe she is 9 tomorrow. She has grown up so quick! I just can't believe both of my girls are growing before my eyes. Bailey has always been my drama queen, and from the day she was born to today, she makes me laugh and just shake my head! She is the most unique child, and I love her love of life and her caring heart! She makes my heart happy, and I am so glad God blessed us with her.

We finished up our day, by getting Todd home to pack, only to head to Jacksonville to catch his flight to Miami for the GM Conference for the next 3 days. He will be home on Wednesday night. We will of course miss him while he is gone.

Well, I think that is all the updates for now! I hope you have a great week!

Drumroll please....

Todd had his final weigh in today for the Biggest Loser Contest. He lost another 2 pounds so his grand total for this program is 23.5 pounds. He has lost 3 1/2 inches off his waist, and 2 1/2 inches from his hips!!!!! He went from weighing 201 down to 177.5. This is smaller than he was when we met! I am so proud of him......and his only request is that we go for pizza tonight for dinner to celebrate. He has held off for 3 months to do this! So we are headed out to dinner to fulfill his wish! He won't let me post a before and after picture of him, but let me just say, he has lost his man boobs and his belly. We actually threw out the tshirt I bought him for his 40th birthday that said Man Boobs are Sexy. We figured he doesn't need it anymore!!! He actually had to weigh in 2 days early because he is leaving for Miami on Monday morning which is actually the official end of the contest, but since he won't be here, he had to do it today!

Tomorrow Sarah and I are headed to Atlanta with the band from her school for a regional competition. I am chaperoning the trip. Pray for me!!! LOL The kids compete in the morning, and then we are headed to Six Flags for about 5 hours. Then they have the awards ceremony in the park. We have to be at the school at 5:45 in the morning and won't get in until about 11 pm tomorrow night.

Bailey is having her birthday party on Sunday after church....at 2:00. We are having a Webkinz party, so she is very excited. We have 16 children coming total. So say another prayer for me....LOL

I will post pictures of the weekend's events once I get a minute to sit down on Sunday evening or Monday afternoon. I hope you all have a very nice relaxing weekend, cuz God knows I am not!
Hugs to everyone!

Happy Easter

HAPPY EASTER!!! We hope you all had a very blessed day. We actually had a great day together! Todd for the first time since we have been together had off on Easter. Ever since we have met, he has had to work on this day because it is typically a very busy day in the restaurant business. But since we have moved to Tifton, Easter has been dead at the restaurant. In this small town, people go to their families homes to celebrate....not out to brunch or dinner. For the first few years, Todd kept thinking it was just an off year that the restaurant was dead, but he finally has conceded that it is just how it is on Easter in this town. And for the record, the restaurant was dead this year too, so it was a good thing he took off.
The girls dyed their eggs yesterday morning, which is a tradition in our family. Then we make egg salad right afterward to eat for lunch. It is my girls' favorite! This morning, we had fun watching the girls hunt for 87 plastic eggs all hidden around the house, and of course finding their baskets. They had a good time. We then headed to church for a wonderful service. They had the whole sanctuary darkened from the Tenabrae service they had on Thursday evening. The stained glass windows are all covered in black fabric, the Altar is covered in black fabric as well as all the Easter lillies. Then the choir starts singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today....Alleluia" and the youth all came in and lifted the black curtains and removed the fabric, so the whole sanctuary is lit up!!! It is such a moving experience. We really enjoyed it. We then headed to eat with friends who also don't have family around, so it was nice to have someone else to share the day with.
We headed home to sit on the deck and relax in the sun for a while. Todd then attempted to mow the grass, but after three go rounds of the mower, the mower's engine seized.....nice....the mower is only 4 years old......so needless to say, we were not too excited about that. But we ended up having a nice day after all. We ended the evening by having a nighttime egg hunt like we had at Jay and Susan's the other day. We did it for our girls and Moses, our neighbor. They had the best time. It was hysterical seeing how Mo and Sarah were so competitive with each other.
Well, I guess that pretty much sums up our day! I hope you all had a relaxing day as well. Also, I hope you all stop and say a quick thank you to our Savior for the sacrifice that was made for us.
Have a wonderful week!

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! May the Luck of the Irish be with everyone!!! 'Tis a wonderful day to be Irish....even for those that are German! Today is one of my favorite days of the year!!!! This holiday ranks right up there with Christmas in my eyes! You have to know I am extremely proud of my Irish heritage! Someday I will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Ireland, and when that happens my Irish eyes will be smiling BIG TIME!!!! We had a very fun day at the preschool and at my house celebrating the wearing o' the green! My day started off with me making pancakes for my girls in the shape of shamrocks with Irish music blarring in the background. Bing Crosby singing "When Irish Eyes are Smilin' " and "Oh Danny Boy" and then on to Ceili Rain and then Celtic Women!!! We got all dressed up in our Irish garb.....complete with green hair clips for the girls and flashing shamrock necklaces! I got to embarass my daughters by having Irish music blarring from the car stereo when I dropped them off at carpool.....just a funny thing I like to do each year. At the preschool, we danced the irish jig, made Irish Potato Candy, went on a leprechaun gold hunt, put on Irish shamrock tattoos, and drank green juice! One of my children even pinched his mommy cuz she didn't have any green on.....I told the kids that is why we have to wear green....so we don't get pinched....well he took me seriously. His mom laughed and she said "Nadine, what are you teaching my child?" To which I replied, "I am teaching him to be sure you wear green on St. Patrick's Day!!!" We both laughed so hard.

I really had fun with the kids today. Then tonight, we went to get my traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage meal at Cracker Barrel, which happens to be the only place in Georgia, I think, that makes it. Well, I was a bit disappointed because it was WAY, WAY overcooked....it was more like Corned Beef Jerky. Oh well......

Todd just left for Dublin.....Georgia that is. He is going to help another store out with their food cost, so he will be gone for 2 days. He was all excited cuz he weighed in again today and he lost another 4 pounds. He is down to 179.5. He hasn't been in the 170's since high school. He is actually 3 lbs. lighter than he was when we got married! He has 2 weeks left until the end of the competition. I am so proud of him! Who knows how much he will lose in the next two weeks! He never ceases to amaze me.

Well, I guess that is all now. I hope you all have a wonderful evening! Irish Hugs!

Easter Egg Hunt

Last night we went to our friend's, Jay and Susan, house for an after dark Easter Egg Hunt. The kids had the best time. Jay and Susan hid 144 eggs in their yard, all of which had a strip of reflective tape on them. The kids(there were 6 kids total) had to use their flashlights to find the eggs by finding the reflective tape. They did a great job doing it as well. The picture above is not the greatest cuz I set my camera on night portrait, but it some how picked up all the weird light worms in them.

We also celebrated my birthday there as well. David and Beth joined us. They got me one of my favorite cakes from a local woman who makes them. It was a 10 layer key lime cake. YUMMY! I have the dearest friends and we appreciate them so much! We had a great time and love making those memories together!

Well, that is all I will share today. I gotta run Bailey to a sleepover now and then run to Wally World. Talk to you all later.

More Wedding Pictures

Well, here are a few more pictures from the wedding. Top picture is when Aubrey kissed Krystal in the ceremony. He lifted her up cuz she was so little. It was cute. Next is my Dad, Sharon and the girls with my niece Jocelyn and her husband Ben. Then you see my sister Renee and her husband Wynn....mother and father of the groom! Bailey is dancing up a storm and then finally is a picture of me and my baby girl all grown up. I actually really like this picture of us together. I do feel old when I look at it though. It is hard to believe she is growing up so fast!

Also, just to update you on some good news....Sarah made Jackson State University's Honor Band. She is very excited about it. She had to try out for it a while back and just found out yesterday.

Everyone is better today and back to school. Talk to you all this weekend.

Saturday Highlights

Well, Saturday was pretty much consumed with wedding pictures. I was gonna put a picture of Todd on here snowblowing, but decided not to. As you can see, the first picture is of Aubrey and Krystal.....yes Aubrey really is that tall, and Krystal is a little thing. Then of course we have our family picture. The last are of Todd and the girls during their dances with their daddy. Sarah looks so grown up, and I love the way Bailey is standing on her daddy's shoes with those toes curled around him. Too precious.
Sarah and Bailey are both home with the stomach virus.......fun.
Hugs to all.

Friday Pictures of our Trip

Okay, here are a few pictures from our first day in NY. The top picture is of Todd and his cousin Jay. We met Jay at a restaurant in downtown Rochester for lunch. We had a good time, and as you can see from the second picture, Todd enjoyed his chicken wings and Labatts beer immensely! He has been so good on his diet, but let's just say we blew it this past weekend. He had wings and a fish fry at the restaurant, so his level of grease intake was probably off the charts....but oh it was so good. The smudge of sauce on his cheek was put there intentionally by him because we were all teasing him as to how he was all "stained" from the sauce. We had a great time at lunch and seeing Jay. We then headed to the museum afterward. I already posted some of the Sesame Street photos, which to me, were the highlight of the visit to the museum, but here are a few more. Sarah was in a room where they were explaining visual illusion and the floor was slanted, but she was actually standing straight up in down, but she looks like she is leaning. It was the coolest room....we were laughing so hard in it. You actually felt drunk in the room because your mind and your eyes were playing against each other. The picture of Bailey is in the butterfly garden. She got to hold a butterfly, which she thought was so cool. There were over 800 butterflies in there, and they were beautiful. I took lots of pictures in there of all of the butterflies, but I won't bore you with them here. The last picture is the girls in front of the museum. This was actually when we walked out at the end of the day, and the girls were sooooo excited to see it was snowing. This was the beginning of the snow coming in to the city. All the way back to my sisters house we had to keep fussing at them to stop opening the car windows and eating the snow that was building up along the edge of the window seals....never thought I would ever have to fuss at my children for that......
We did make a quick stop on the way to Melissa's at Tim Horton Doughnuts to get 2 dozen peanut donuts. That is a must when we go home to NY. When we got back to Melissa's house, she and Steve were home and then my dad and Sharon arrived. We celebrated my birthday together. Sharon had brought Beef on Weck, another must have to eat, and a cake for me. We had a good time, even though we were all tired. Melissa and Steve had to leave for the memorial service for Steve's nephew after we ate, due to the bad weather coming in, they needed to beat the storm.
Well that pretty much sums up our day on Friday. I will post Saturday pictures tomorrow.
Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

Back from the Great White North

Well, we arrived safely back from our trip to NY. It was a very nice trip with lots of stories to share. We had a great time at my nephew's wedding. And we got to see lots of snow!!!! The girls were very excited to be able to build a snowman. I will post pictures throughout the week, but for now I just posted the picture of the girls snowman, and a picture of Sarah at her first track meet that she did very well at on Thursday night. I also am posting the picture of me at the Rochester Children's Museum where I got to go and sit on the steps of 123 Sesame Street!!!! I was so excited. I felt like I was 5 years old again, living out a dream. I absolutely love Sesame Street, and I felt like I was there...where it all happens. I know it is weird for a 41 year old to act the way I did, but I couldn't help it.

Well, I am trying to catch up on all kinds of things so I will make this short, and I will share more throughout the week of the rest of our trip.

Wonderful Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend in Savannah. The Celtic Women concert was fantastic! See picture above. What a performance! They are such a talented group of women, and I recommend it to anyone, young or old! We arrived in Savannah on Saturday night at around 8 o'clock. Once we got checked in at the hotel, we headed to River St which is the main tourist area to find somewhere to eat. We ate at a very nice place called the River House. We had a great meal, and enjoyed not being interrupted by our children every two seconds! LOL We decided to walk down River St. to see if we could find a bar to go listen to some music. As we were walking the two of us were pitiful....we were both yawning nonstop, and each time we would stop in front of a place we would both come up with some excuse as to why we shouldn't go in....bad music, too crowded, too loud, too smoky.....we were such old farts it was ridiculous. We ended up just walking back to our hotel and then sitting in the piano bar there and having a drink and listening to the piano music....so low key and old personish....we just laughed at ourselves. We went to bed around 11:30....so much for our wild night in Savannah.
Then on Sunday, we both slept in, ate a casual breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then checked out. We parked the car near the civic center where the concert was going to be in the evening, and then just meandered around Savannah for the day. We did get to eat at a pub, see picture of Todd above. We had all the traditional foods.....shepherd's pie and fish and chips, and it was so yummy! We visited some of the squares as well, see me in picture above. It was a beautiful day and all the flowers were blooming, so it made it extra special. The concert was in the evening and then we headed home right after it ended. We got in around 1:30 this morning. We were exhausted. I got the kids off to school so Todd could sleep before he had to go to work at 10:00. I came back home to crash. I ended up sleeping until 12:00 today....what a bum, but I really was tired.
Bailey and Sarah both had fun at their friends houses while we were gone and I thank them very much for keeping the kids overnight! Bailey had Read Across America Day at school today, which coincides with Dr. Seuss' birthday, so she was suppose to dress up as a character from one of her favorite books. Her friend Melissa and her decided to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the Cat in the Hat. So as you can see from the picture, she looked cute. She was being "mischievious" in her pose....that is what she called it.....
Well, I guess that is all for now. I hope you all had a good weekend. I have to go get Bailey from school in a few minutes, so I will close here.

Blessings....

We have had a great week, and I find myself wanting to celebrate a few blessings we have had happen this week.

First off, Todd's Uncle Al came through his surgery great yesterday. The doctors were able to remove all of the tumor from his brain. We still don't know if it was benign or malignant, but he made it through this part just fine. They didn't even have to make an incision since they went through his nostril. Isn't modern medicine amazing? So thanks for your prayers, but let's keep praying the tumor is benign.

Second, Todd and I found out that we are getting a tax refund.....we thought we were going to owe big time. Todd's company's buyout meant that we had received a bunch of money back in the buyout of our stocks which we were gonna have to pay taxes on. Well, our CPA called this week and said we were getting money back. But here is the amazing part...Todd and I have fought feverishly for the past year to get out of the debt. We have had one credit card left and the amount of our tax refund is for the EXACT amount of that credit card balance!!! So we are officially debt free as of this week!!! We owe nothing except our house which we are actually ahead of the game on our mortgage too. We should have the mortgage paid off in the next 8 years! I am so excited! It has been a long road trying to get ourselves to this point. I feel like the weight of the world is off of my shoulders when it comes to finances. We took a class last year at our chuch called Financial Peace University, and it was probably the best class we could have ever taken. It came in our lives at the right time. It was a wonderful experience not only for our financial situation, but a great experience for our marriage as well. Todd and I communicate better than we ever have about finances which has always been a gray area for us. We recommend the class to anyone, and if you knew where we were, you wouldn't use the excuse "they don't know our situation". Anyone can do it! So needless to say, we are happy, happy, happy!

Finally, Todd and I are blessed to be able to go to Savannah together today and tomorrow. We are gonna just spend the evening and day together tomorrow wandering around Savannah, relaxing! Tomorrow night, we are going to see Celtic Women in concert. It is gonna be a fantastic concert. I love them. You may have seen them on PBS, as they had a special on which aired quite a bit. As many of you, I am extremely PROUD of my Irish heritage, and I love anything relating to it. We are actually gonna hang out at an irish pub tonight to listen to some music and just enjoy each others company. Something we don't get to do to often with the craziness of our lives. I keep wanting to go to Savannah for St. Patrick's Day as it is the second largest celebration in the country, but it just ends up not working each year, so this is gonna be my Irish outing. I will post pictures on Monday.

So as I am counting my blessings, I hope you will take a moment to count yours! I often times find myself complaining, and in all reality, I have nothing to complain about. I am so lucky.....so lucky!

Hugs to all!