Here I am laying in bed on a Saturday morning watching "Motherhood" on Starz, browsing the Internet and listening to my hubby and kiddies playing in the basement below me. Only two things would turn this into absolute bliss, a steaming hot cup of coffee and not being bed ridden with the absolute worst case of the flu!
This is my fourth day of having the flu, it has been no fun at all. A few days ago I blogged about never getting any privacy well be careful what you wish for folks because you just might get it. I am basically banished to my room and only allowed to come out to pee. I miss my kids so much it is actually hurting me even though they are in the same house as me. I think it is worse that I have been getting little peaks at there sweets face and hearing snippets of their tiny voices all the while knowing I can't scoop them up and kiss their cheeks. I love them.
My husband and mom have been tag teaming taking care of the kids and keeping the house from blowing up. I don't know why I am always surprised I know he is awesome but Corey is doing such a great job at taking care of the kids and everything. Like not just keeping the kids alive good, like giving baths, cooking dinner instead of going to the drive-thru, doing dishes, straightening up and laundry. I love him. I love him. I love him.
Showing posts with label Corey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corey. Show all posts
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Saturday, August 21, 2010
daddy plays soccer?
yesterday, gracie and i went to watch corey play in his high school alumni game.
my little brother came over to sit with noey, since he goes to bed at 7pm and the game started at 7pm. so it was, "just the girls," as gracie says.
gracie, was super excited to watch daddy play.
her only complaint was that she couldn't go sit with him on the bench.
corey, did however bring her out for a minuet so she could give him a good luck hug and i could snap some pics.:)
love these two.
happy saturday!
my little brother came over to sit with noey, since he goes to bed at 7pm and the game started at 7pm. so it was, "just the girls," as gracie says.
gracie, was super excited to watch daddy play.
her only complaint was that she couldn't go sit with him on the bench.
corey, did however bring her out for a minuet so she could give him a good luck hug and i could snap some pics.:)
love these two.
happy saturday!
Monday, August 9, 2010
25
today is corey's 25th birthday.
he is the cutest, smartest, best 25yr old i know.
i asked gracie what we should do for daddy's special day she said, "lets go pet puppies!"
happy birthday daddy i hope all your wishes come true.
i hope your wishes include petting puppies and eating chicken nuggets because that is what today holds for you!
love you baby.
he is the cutest, smartest, best 25yr old i know.
i asked gracie what we should do for daddy's special day she said, "lets go pet puppies!"
happy birthday daddy i hope all your wishes come true.
i hope your wishes include petting puppies and eating chicken nuggets because that is what today holds for you!
love you baby.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
fireworks and fun stuff
i do not like fire works. they are loud and dangerous and seriously they aren't even that cool looking. plus, people shot them off at all hours of the day around july 4th and wake my kids up from their naps or during the night!!! no, i do not like fireworks!
its girls night tonight woot woot!!! i can't wait to have a beer.
look at me cutie hubby as a little boy.
more importantly look at his awesome sweater. that's good stuff.
we are getting our family pictures done on saturday. my friend andrea is taking the pics. we are going to try and do an urban shoot. wish us luck!
my baby will be one on tuesday. it is a little bit sad. i am excited though. excited for him to walk, talk and stop with the bottles.
i am reading this book, the politician.
have you read it? its a tad bit wordy but interesting. to tell you the truth it is mostly just sad. i am sad for everyone involved in the story.
its girls night tonight woot woot!!! i can't wait to have a beer.
look at me cutie hubby as a little boy.
more importantly look at his awesome sweater. that's good stuff.
we are getting our family pictures done on saturday. my friend andrea is taking the pics. we are going to try and do an urban shoot. wish us luck!
my baby will be one on tuesday. it is a little bit sad. i am excited though. excited for him to walk, talk and stop with the bottles.
i am reading this book, the politician.
have you read it? its a tad bit wordy but interesting. to tell you the truth it is mostly just sad. i am sad for everyone involved in the story.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
fathers day
dear corey,
can you believe this is your third fathers day? it seems like just yesterday we became parents for the first time early that july morning.
i knew when i married you that you would be an amazing father.
but never in my wildest dreams could i have ever imagined this amazing.
the way you love our babies brings tears to my eyes.
and the way they love you is so very sweet. you are the smartest, strongest, bravest person in the whole world to them.
thank you for making these beautiful babies with me and for being such a great daddy to them.
no one loves you like we do.
can you believe this is your third fathers day? it seems like just yesterday we became parents for the first time early that july morning.
i knew when i married you that you would be an amazing father.
but never in my wildest dreams could i have ever imagined this amazing.
the way you love our babies brings tears to my eyes.
and the way they love you is so very sweet. you are the smartest, strongest, bravest person in the whole world to them.
thank you for making these beautiful babies with me and for being such a great daddy to them.
no one loves you like we do.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Mini Me
Noah is growing up fast. He is starting to really take on a personality and it makes him that much sweeter.
He definitely has some resemblance of his father, and that alone makes him so handsome and sweet : D.
He is starting to know what he wants and while moving around on the ground like a seal, he gets to where he needs to go. And recently, it has been on to my lap.
If I sit down on the floor, he will drag himself over and try pulling himself onto my lap, like a little doggy would, and then I help him up and turn him around so he can sit. Within a second he has his thumb in his mouth and is as relaxed as a man on a couch during Football Sundays.
He is quite a talker now, yet the only words we can understand are mama and the occasional da-da. His smile can melt anyone, even a complete stranger.
I love this boy more than I ever thought I could. I remember thinking to myself when we just had Grace, "How could I ever like someone as much as my little girl." Well, I have found out that it is pretty easy.
He definitely has some resemblance of his father, and that alone makes him so handsome and sweet : D.
He is starting to know what he wants and while moving around on the ground like a seal, he gets to where he needs to go. And recently, it has been on to my lap.
If I sit down on the floor, he will drag himself over and try pulling himself onto my lap, like a little doggy would, and then I help him up and turn him around so he can sit. Within a second he has his thumb in his mouth and is as relaxed as a man on a couch during Football Sundays.
He is quite a talker now, yet the only words we can understand are mama and the occasional da-da. His smile can melt anyone, even a complete stranger.
I love this boy more than I ever thought I could. I remember thinking to myself when we just had Grace, "How could I ever like someone as much as my little girl." Well, I have found out that it is pretty easy.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday
Corey and I leave for our trip to Chicago in t-minus 4 days. I am so excited I am vibrating. I have a few things to get before we go and about a million things to do, to get the kids and the house situated for the time we are gone. It's going to be a busy week. Hopefully, that will make the time pass quickly.
On another note, Grace has decided she would like to be a figure skater.
Here she is in her "skating dress," that she wore all day even to Kroger.
So I have been researching classes and such in the Cincinnati area, and Holy Moley is it expensive! The skates alone are $150 a popnot to mention classes!
So I am making an executive decision and she is going to do gymnastics instead.
She took a class at Western Hills Sports Mall last spring and LOVED it.
I think we are going to try Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy this time. It is pretty reasonable and the only place in the city that offers a 2yr old class that is NOT mommy and me, but a real gymnastics class.
Now all I have to do is convince Gracie that gymnastics is more fun the Ice Skating. Wish me luck!
On another note, Grace has decided she would like to be a figure skater.
Here she is in her "skating dress," that she wore all day even to Kroger.
So I have been researching classes and such in the Cincinnati area, and Holy Moley is it expensive! The skates alone are $150 a popnot to mention classes!
So I am making an executive decision and she is going to do gymnastics instead.
She took a class at Western Hills Sports Mall last spring and LOVED it.
I think we are going to try Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy this time. It is pretty reasonable and the only place in the city that offers a 2yr old class that is NOT mommy and me, but a real gymnastics class.
Now all I have to do is convince Gracie that gymnastics is more fun the Ice Skating. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Priceline Negotiator
I think Priceline was invented for people like me. It is sort of addicting, name your OWN price?! Amazing ... I am one of those people that will research something to death before purchasing it, and that is what I did for my hotel in Chicago.
If you don't know by now, Joanna and I are going on a little trip to Chicago for two days. We have never went on a vacation alone together and never went on a honeymoon. So we are looking forward to it to say the least.
But back to Priceline, if you don't know it at all, you go on and you can either take one of their offered good deals, or take your chances on bidding on a specific area and hoping you get a good hotel. We could have taken some good hotels in our area for about $90/night, but instead I decided to just risk it. I put in 4 star hotels in the area we wanted to be in (right near the Magnificent Mile). I started off by looking what others were bidding and started to just type in really know numbers. I put in $40 and it said I had a small chance of getting something so then I kept putting in a little more until I got to $52/night, then that little saying went away. So I figured that meant I had a pretty good shot. So I put that in yesterday, but got rejected. It was a little rough, but I pushed through :D .... So then today I went back (since you have to wait 24 hours or change your date, location or star value) and this time I put in $60. And I got it! I booked our reservation for two nights at the Sheraton which is a pretty good one I hear. The same hotel is $87/night right now on Priceline and the average hotel price is $150/night, so I think we made out like bandits.
As you can tell I am very excited, not only did we get an amazing deal, but Joanna and I get to spend a whole two days just the two of us. I don't even care if we get to go out and do anything, at least we will be able to sleep in and not wake up to an alarm or a baby. We will definitely miss our beautiful babies, we don't leave them for very long periods at a time, so that will definitely be hard, but they will be in good hands.
Ten days and counting ....
If you don't know by now, Joanna and I are going on a little trip to Chicago for two days. We have never went on a vacation alone together and never went on a honeymoon. So we are looking forward to it to say the least.
But back to Priceline, if you don't know it at all, you go on and you can either take one of their offered good deals, or take your chances on bidding on a specific area and hoping you get a good hotel. We could have taken some good hotels in our area for about $90/night, but instead I decided to just risk it. I put in 4 star hotels in the area we wanted to be in (right near the Magnificent Mile). I started off by looking what others were bidding and started to just type in really know numbers. I put in $40 and it said I had a small chance of getting something so then I kept putting in a little more until I got to $52/night, then that little saying went away. So I figured that meant I had a pretty good shot. So I put that in yesterday, but got rejected. It was a little rough, but I pushed through :D .... So then today I went back (since you have to wait 24 hours or change your date, location or star value) and this time I put in $60. And I got it! I booked our reservation for two nights at the Sheraton which is a pretty good one I hear. The same hotel is $87/night right now on Priceline and the average hotel price is $150/night, so I think we made out like bandits.
As you can tell I am very excited, not only did we get an amazing deal, but Joanna and I get to spend a whole two days just the two of us. I don't even care if we get to go out and do anything, at least we will be able to sleep in and not wake up to an alarm or a baby. We will definitely miss our beautiful babies, we don't leave them for very long periods at a time, so that will definitely be hard, but they will be in good hands.
Ten days and counting ....
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Chuck E Cheese's
We had a very fun weekend. It started off with Joanna getting to finally go out with her friend Andrea. I will let her tell you how much fun she had and what they did. I stayed home with the kids that night and we had a pretty quiet night.
The fun started on Saturday. We started the day by heading to my childhood fantasy world, Chuck E Cheese's. We went to the same one I use to go to as a child, the one out on Colerain. Even though it is the same location, they have definitely change the layout since I use to go. It is now completely open and all one room, you can see from wall to wall. Grace's eyes lit up when walked in the door and she kept saying, "I am at Chuck E Cheese, I am at Chuck E Cheese!" I was sad that for some reason the "show" that supposedly runs all day now, was not running at all. I remember having to wait till it came on at certain times when I was young, but I was told that it runs all day now. The hostess thought someone forgot to turn it on, but it was off the entire time we were there, which could have been a good or bad thing. I could see Grace being terrified of those machines.
We had a coupon that I got form signing up for their online newsletters. It was a $20 coupon for a large pizza, 4 drinks and 40 tokens, perfect for our family. We spend a similar amount when we eat at Chipotle and we don't even get to play any games! I think it is a great deal and will look to go back there more often.
One thing that I was very disappointed in was the lack of games that Grace could really play on her own. There was a TINY area with 2 or 3 games for her age and a small slide, but the majority of the games were for much older kids. There were a lot of driving games which she has no chance at playing, guitar hero, ski ball which she can't get the ball up the ramp or throws it 3 lanes over when trying to throw it like a baseball and of course there were games just to win tickets without any skill, just putting a coin in and watching it roll down the machine. We did find one game she liked, it was a bowling game. It was pretty fun and you could bowl 10 frames for 2 coins, so it was a lot of fun for not a lot of money. Luckily they have the tubes they can crawl in on the ceiling with the slide that she could do all day. It did give Joanna a little of an anxiety attack when she was up there since it is hard to see what is going on in those things.
The pizza was pretty much exactly how I remember it. Nothing great, but I think it is good, but I have never turned any pizza down. Joanna didn't seem to like it and Grace just wanted to get done eating so she could play some more.
The Dunaway's did meet up with us for the last half hour we were there. They gave us the idea of going as a reward for potty training. When Grace got home and pooped on the potty again, she said, "I guess we get to go to Chuck E Cheese's again!"
All-in-all it was a very successful trip and it was good to have a Grace day since most of the attention goes to Noah now-a-days. We will definitely be going back, even if it is just Grace and me going. I am sure Jeff would love to come with us :D
The fun started on Saturday. We started the day by heading to my childhood fantasy world, Chuck E Cheese's. We went to the same one I use to go to as a child, the one out on Colerain. Even though it is the same location, they have definitely change the layout since I use to go. It is now completely open and all one room, you can see from wall to wall. Grace's eyes lit up when walked in the door and she kept saying, "I am at Chuck E Cheese, I am at Chuck E Cheese!" I was sad that for some reason the "show" that supposedly runs all day now, was not running at all. I remember having to wait till it came on at certain times when I was young, but I was told that it runs all day now. The hostess thought someone forgot to turn it on, but it was off the entire time we were there, which could have been a good or bad thing. I could see Grace being terrified of those machines.
We had a coupon that I got form signing up for their online newsletters. It was a $20 coupon for a large pizza, 4 drinks and 40 tokens, perfect for our family. We spend a similar amount when we eat at Chipotle and we don't even get to play any games! I think it is a great deal and will look to go back there more often.
One thing that I was very disappointed in was the lack of games that Grace could really play on her own. There was a TINY area with 2 or 3 games for her age and a small slide, but the majority of the games were for much older kids. There were a lot of driving games which she has no chance at playing, guitar hero, ski ball which she can't get the ball up the ramp or throws it 3 lanes over when trying to throw it like a baseball and of course there were games just to win tickets without any skill, just putting a coin in and watching it roll down the machine. We did find one game she liked, it was a bowling game. It was pretty fun and you could bowl 10 frames for 2 coins, so it was a lot of fun for not a lot of money. Luckily they have the tubes they can crawl in on the ceiling with the slide that she could do all day. It did give Joanna a little of an anxiety attack when she was up there since it is hard to see what is going on in those things.
The pizza was pretty much exactly how I remember it. Nothing great, but I think it is good, but I have never turned any pizza down. Joanna didn't seem to like it and Grace just wanted to get done eating so she could play some more.
The Dunaway's did meet up with us for the last half hour we were there. They gave us the idea of going as a reward for potty training. When Grace got home and pooped on the potty again, she said, "I guess we get to go to Chuck E Cheese's again!"
All-in-all it was a very successful trip and it was good to have a Grace day since most of the attention goes to Noah now-a-days. We will definitely be going back, even if it is just Grace and me going. I am sure Jeff would love to come with us :D
Friday, January 15, 2010
Growing Up Fast
I am not sure why, but in the past week I have found myself in at least two conversations about how fast my life changed and how fast I had to learn a lot of new things. Most of my friends are still not married and do not have kids. So when they look at what I accomplished at such a young age and in such little time, they are sort of impressed and curious. Most ask how I knew what to do or how I am affording it all. I am somewhat shocked myself. But when you are put in a situation and you don't know something, you do whatever it takes to figure it out. I have always been good with money and to me, budgeting it a game. I have never had credit card debt and I always tried living in my means.
I have a spreadsheet that a lot of people that are close to me have heard me talk a lot about. It is a simple spreadsheet that just shows how much money I am making broken up into my two jobs, joanna's job and miscellaneous. Then it shows how much I spend each month broken up into a lot of categories like DirecTV, Visa, Student loans, Car payments, etc... Then at the bottom it shows the total for each month, a profit or loss section and then at the end it shows the year. That is pretty much it, but it is addicting to me and I would be lost without it. I would go crazy not knowing how much I was making or losing each month. It also helps me stay on track and doesn't let us get carried away. If anyone would like the spreadsheet, I can send you over a template of it.
But anyway, I have had this spreadsheet going since I moved out with Jeff Kramer in 2005. It is quite comical looking back to the first year versus now to see how much more I spend per month. I think I use to spend about $400-$700/month and now I spend on average $4000-$4500/month! Rabbit (Steve Toerner) was blown away by this since he is at about $400/month. And he was one of the people that asked how I learned everything. Well thank God for the internet and family. I learned a lot from just researching credit cards and loans, but I also learned a lot from my parents and my uncles. It really isn't a hard concept, but it is a lot of hard work. Obviously in order to spend that much to survive, I need to work overtime to make that much per month. It has been a struggle and it has eaten away all of my saving from when I was only spending $500/month. But it has definitely been worth it. And I am glad to say that we are finally, yet slowly, getting out of some of our debt and starting to turn some profit. It was a scary two or three years, but I now feel like I know 100 times more than I did in 06.
I don't consider myself an expert by any means, but if you do ever feel lost or scared moving into the real world, don't be afraid to ask me anything. If nothing else, we can at least brainstorm or talk things out, sometimes that is all someone needs. Most people our age don't think it is a normal conversation to have or people get upset talking about it (Jeff). Once someone wants to talk about it, it is hard to get me stop :D. So you have been warned.
Since my friend Ryan told me to do a "7" blog, I figured I would leave you with 7 quick tips about money, debt, whatever:
1. Do not have credit card debt! It is pretty obvious, yet a lot of people still do this. Only use a credit card if you plan on paying it off each month OR if it has a low balance transfer for the life of the loan or if you get a 0% for 12 month card that you PAY by the end of the 12 months.
2. When you go to buy a house, no matter what, you will feel like the bank is trying to screw you. Be prepared to put more up front than you initially thought.
3. Houses are expensive. In the first year of living in my house, I spent around $5,000 on additional things inside the house not counting the mortgage, taxes and insurance.
4. Pay down debt first before you save. If you have a credit card with 20% interest on it and you only have $1,000 to pay on it, don't save the $1,000 you have in a savings account. Odds are that savings account is only earning at most 2% or 3% right now. Your money is much better spent paying off that debt.
5. Don't just pay the minimum of what you owe. I always just set a price and even though my minimum due goes down, I keep my monthly payment at the same rate or even pay additional payments instead of going out and buying something I don't need.
6. Student loans, house loans, college funds, etc.. are "better" loans to have. you will get to write them off on your taxes. Credit cards and personal loans, you do not. So pay those off first.
7. This is my favorite. You will always find something to spend your money on. Not sure how to explain this but basically, if you have the money sitting around instead of using that money to pay off other debt each month, you will find a way to spend that money. If you don't have the money, you won't spend it. So if you put $50 more per month into paying off your debt, you will see that you don't have $50 extra and therefore can't spend that on something you may or may not even need.
Hope this helps!
**UPDATE**
I thought this was comical. I remembered while writing this that I had started a blog back in 2007 that I was going to write and be "anonymous". I called it the Blue Brick Warehouse and I couldn't even tell you why. I haven't check the email address since I stopped writing on it. I think it was another one of my ideas that I thought was great for a week and then abondoned it. I found it on our test server at work, so I figured I would let you all take a laugh at it. Click here to view it. If it doesn't work for you, it is probably because your internet service is blocking our test server, so tough luck for you!
I have a spreadsheet that a lot of people that are close to me have heard me talk a lot about. It is a simple spreadsheet that just shows how much money I am making broken up into my two jobs, joanna's job and miscellaneous. Then it shows how much I spend each month broken up into a lot of categories like DirecTV, Visa, Student loans, Car payments, etc... Then at the bottom it shows the total for each month, a profit or loss section and then at the end it shows the year. That is pretty much it, but it is addicting to me and I would be lost without it. I would go crazy not knowing how much I was making or losing each month. It also helps me stay on track and doesn't let us get carried away. If anyone would like the spreadsheet, I can send you over a template of it.
But anyway, I have had this spreadsheet going since I moved out with Jeff Kramer in 2005. It is quite comical looking back to the first year versus now to see how much more I spend per month. I think I use to spend about $400-$700/month and now I spend on average $4000-$4500/month! Rabbit (Steve Toerner) was blown away by this since he is at about $400/month. And he was one of the people that asked how I learned everything. Well thank God for the internet and family. I learned a lot from just researching credit cards and loans, but I also learned a lot from my parents and my uncles. It really isn't a hard concept, but it is a lot of hard work. Obviously in order to spend that much to survive, I need to work overtime to make that much per month. It has been a struggle and it has eaten away all of my saving from when I was only spending $500/month. But it has definitely been worth it. And I am glad to say that we are finally, yet slowly, getting out of some of our debt and starting to turn some profit. It was a scary two or three years, but I now feel like I know 100 times more than I did in 06.
I don't consider myself an expert by any means, but if you do ever feel lost or scared moving into the real world, don't be afraid to ask me anything. If nothing else, we can at least brainstorm or talk things out, sometimes that is all someone needs. Most people our age don't think it is a normal conversation to have or people get upset talking about it (Jeff). Once someone wants to talk about it, it is hard to get me stop :D. So you have been warned.
Since my friend Ryan told me to do a "7" blog, I figured I would leave you with 7 quick tips about money, debt, whatever:
1. Do not have credit card debt! It is pretty obvious, yet a lot of people still do this. Only use a credit card if you plan on paying it off each month OR if it has a low balance transfer for the life of the loan or if you get a 0% for 12 month card that you PAY by the end of the 12 months.
2. When you go to buy a house, no matter what, you will feel like the bank is trying to screw you. Be prepared to put more up front than you initially thought.
3. Houses are expensive. In the first year of living in my house, I spent around $5,000 on additional things inside the house not counting the mortgage, taxes and insurance.
4. Pay down debt first before you save. If you have a credit card with 20% interest on it and you only have $1,000 to pay on it, don't save the $1,000 you have in a savings account. Odds are that savings account is only earning at most 2% or 3% right now. Your money is much better spent paying off that debt.
5. Don't just pay the minimum of what you owe. I always just set a price and even though my minimum due goes down, I keep my monthly payment at the same rate or even pay additional payments instead of going out and buying something I don't need.
6. Student loans, house loans, college funds, etc.. are "better" loans to have. you will get to write them off on your taxes. Credit cards and personal loans, you do not. So pay those off first.
7. This is my favorite. You will always find something to spend your money on. Not sure how to explain this but basically, if you have the money sitting around instead of using that money to pay off other debt each month, you will find a way to spend that money. If you don't have the money, you won't spend it. So if you put $50 more per month into paying off your debt, you will see that you don't have $50 extra and therefore can't spend that on something you may or may not even need.
Hope this helps!
**UPDATE**
I thought this was comical. I remembered while writing this that I had started a blog back in 2007 that I was going to write and be "anonymous". I called it the Blue Brick Warehouse and I couldn't even tell you why. I haven't check the email address since I stopped writing on it. I think it was another one of my ideas that I thought was great for a week and then abondoned it. I found it on our test server at work, so I figured I would let you all take a laugh at it. Click here to view it. If it doesn't work for you, it is probably because your internet service is blocking our test server, so tough luck for you!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Saturday Night Fever
This is what Saturday night looks like when you have two babies...
We are pretty cool.
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