Happy Birthday Tony!!

Today is Tony's 35th Birthday!!! Wow - 35! YIKES, we're getting old!!!

Anyway, I did an easy dinner for him. We picked up ribs from Gepetto's and I made cole slaw, baked potatoes and rolls. We had a nice dinner and then some cake & ice cream.

I made him a special birthday cake that he really enjoyed!

Then he opened his gifts. I got him guitar hero for his X-box and my sister bought him a game. He loved it!

Happy Birthday, Tony! I hope you had a special day! I Love You!

Spring Break 2009

We had a great vacation...so sad it's over!

We left last Friday night, 3/20 around 6:30 and got to Fancy Gap, VA (our stopping point) around midnight. We made really good time. We rested for the night and got up the next morning to finish the drive. We met up with Mom & Randy in Statesville, NC for breakfast and we rolled into Hilton Head around 3:00 or so. We got all unpacked and headed for the beach. Here's Hannah getting reacquainted with the ocean. It was really windy so the water was pretty rough. She liked it after a short while.

Susan got in around 5 or so and after she unpacked, we all headed for dinner at the Salty Dog. We got back and Hannah had a ton of gifts to open for a belated birthday from Aunt Susan. We didn't stay up too late since we were all pretty tired from the drive.

Sunday morning, we all went to breakfast at Harbor Town.

The weather was real nice so we went to the beach after breakfast. It was still windy down by the water, but we hung out there anyway. Hannah enjoyed playing in the sand and mom, Susan and I all loved laying in the sun on the beach - despite the wind!

We all went to Kingfishers for dinner that night and then back to the condo. Tony opened his birthday gift from Mom & Randy. He got a new Browns Golf Hat and a round of golf at Harbor Town!!! Here he is when he realized that's where they were playing:

FYI - for anyone who may not know that golfing at Harbor Town is sort of a big deal!! That's a PGA course that the pros will be at in a few weeks.

We got up on Monday morning and headed to the beach again. It was warmer today, but still a little windy. Hannah had a great time playing by the edge of the ocean! She loved kicking at the waves. The tide was really low, so we found all sorts of cool stuff....sandollars, crabs and a starfish. She was pretty freaked out by the crabs and also when she realized the starfish was alive (we did throw it back into the ocean)

I did my annual stupid thing of not putting on any sunscreen and the results were the same as every other time - sunburn!! It wasn't the worst I've had, but I got it pretty good! Aunt Nadine, Uncle Dick, my cousin Bo and his fiancee Courtney all came down later that afternoon. After Hannah's nap, I took her down to the beach to fly a kite. She thought it was pretty fun, but after a while, she wanted to play in the ocean again.

We just ordered pizza for dinner at the condo and then we headed to the Salty Dog for a few drinks. We had a fun night!

Tuesday was another really nice day, but I didn't want to burn anymore, so I kept covered up. I took Hannah to the pool. The water was really cold, but she had fun. Susan, Hannah and I hung out there for most of the afternoon. The guys golfed and Mom & Courtney hung out at the beach. Nadine hung out with her friend that lives down there.

Then we all went to dinner at the Land's End Cafe over by the Salty Dog. It's got a pirate decor, so it was fun! A bunch of us had all-you-can-eat crab legs...we all ate way too much!!

Wednesday, the guys golfed at Harbor Town. Tony got a par on the last hole - that's sort of a big deal being that it's the signature hole. Uncle Dick almost started a new game of Gator Skiing!!! There was a really big gator by one of the holes with an elevated green. He didn't see it at first and then looked down over it off of the green and then realized that it was directly under him!!! It gave everyone including their caddy a good laugh! The weather wasn't the greatest so Hannah and I hung out at the condo most of the day. Mom, Nadine and Susan went shopping for some stuff and then we just ate in that night. Mom had one of her teacher friends over and we at burgers and hot dogs and played games in the condo. It was a fun night! Here are a few pictures from the evening. I have to throw one of Bo & Courtney because there aren't a lot of Courtney. She was busy studying a lot of the week, so I didn't get her in too many pictures. For the record, Hannah LOVES her! She was always asking where Courtney was and still does now that we're home!!!

Thursday, the weather wasn't that great again. It was warm, just cloudy. We went to breakfast and then Susan, Hannah and I took a walk on the beach. Then Tony and I took Hannah to the horse farm on the island. We got to pet all sorts of animals - goats, sheep, donkeys, pigs and horses. Then she took a pony ride. It was fun!

After that, Hannah took a nap and Tony and I headed out for a ride. We went to the outlet mall and he spent almost an hour with me in the Coach store while I made up my mind - now that's love!!! Anyway, I got a new purse so that was fun! We went back to the condo and showered and changed and then Tony and I went out to dinner - just the two of us. Mom, Randy and Susan stayed home with Hannah and the Ross' went out together. We had a nice dinner...here's a bad picture of us at the Japanese restaurant we went to.

Then we just hung out and played a game for the evening.

Friday was our last full day. I gathered every up for some pictures. Courtney was missing from the pictures because she got up early to go to Panera to study. Sorry she wasn't there for these!! Here are a few:

After pictures, the guys went golfing and Mom, Nadine and Susan went shopping. I took Hannah for a date for the day! We went to Harbor Town to play at the playground. Then we went for a walk aroun Harbor Town and out on pier. Then we ate lunch and played a little longer at the playground.

She was crying when it was time to leave and I got her to stop because I told her we'd look for aligators on the way home. Well, I was driving along and thought I saw one. We got out of the car and waked over and sure enough, it was pretty big one sunning himself by the water. There was another one in the water. Remarkably, she wasn't afraid of it!

We ended the vacation with a dinner out at the Osyster Factory.

It was such a great week! It was a really nice retreat for our family too. It was great seeing Susan for a whole week and spending time with everyone together. The condo was nice and the entire trip was just wonderful!!! Thanks for everything Mom & Randy! We love you guys!

All the photos from the week are on the slideshow of the blog.

Vacation has been great

Just a quick post.....vacation has been great! I will surely post a lot more when we come home with lots of pictures. Today is our last day....that makes me so sad! We've had good weather. Really nice Sunday through Tuesday, cloudy Wednesday and really windy yesterday, but overall, still really nice. We've been really busy doing lots of stuff. Hannah has LOVED it down here. She loves the beach and the ocean and even the REALLY COLD pool. The condo is great and we've all had a really nice time down here. I have taken a lot of pictures. I'm trying to get everyone excited about heading out for some family group pictures today.....no one is moving very quickly!!! I'll be rounding them up soon since there is a chance of rain today. Don't want to miss the opportunity to take these outside.
I am so sad to have to leave tomorrow and not really looking forward to the drive home. Although, I have to say, the trip in the minivan was quite comfortable!
Anyway, it has been a really terrific week and it's so great to spend a whole week with Hannah - all day, every day. Don't get that opportunity very often, so it's really special!
I'll be posting more later soon.....hope everyone is well!

Serious lack of bloggage

Well, the good news is that I've been behind at updating the blog mostly due to being too busy. I've hardly turned on the computer at home other than to pay bills. Tonight is the first night I've opened my email in almost 2 weeks. Thank goodness it's mostly all junk mail and no one was patiently waiting for me on a reply of any sort! The busy factor has also put a damper on the picture taking this month. It's terrible! I've hardly even touched my camera (taboo, Erin, I know!) I did get this one picture a week or so ago. I went in to check on Hannah before I went to bed and found her like this (under the covers). I had to laugh as this is how I often see Tony sitting on the couch! Like father, like child, I guess!

Her head is sort of cut off because I took it in the dark and really couldn't see what I was taking a picture of and I was afraid to re-take it because I didn't want the flash to wake her up.

Let's see.....some updates - Roman is hanging in there. The medicine they gave him has seemed to help him a bit, but he's still pretty low-key and doesn't get off his bed that often. It's much better than it was a few weeks ago that he now eats and goes outside on his own without me making him go. Cody on the other hand does not get my sympathy vote. He just cost us another $200 to cut his nails. Totally ridiculous that you have to put the dog to sleep to cut his nails and then it turns into almost $200! I bought one of those pedi-paw file things. I am determined to recondition him into allowing us to cut them at home again. I REALLY hope that is the last time we have to have the mucho-dollar nail cutting (it's like the 5th time and enough is enough especially since every time the bill goes up).

Tony's stomach scope didn't turn up anything. Not sure what is going on with him, but so far, nothing seems to be medically wrong, however, he says he feels bad. I'm hoping the nicer weather will help him and eating better as well. I'm no doctor or a perfect picture of health, but diet and exercise do seem to do a body good....we'll see! Hannah finally got over her 5 week long cold and now Tony has it full blown...he thinks he's dying - I try to remind him he just has a cold! I got a little touch of it, but zicam came through for me so far again....just mostly a little runny nose.

I got really good news at work the other day. I finally got my raise I've been waiting for. It was so long overdue, but finally, I'm being paid for what I'm doing - at least much more reasonably! It should help us out too quite a bit! Tony's tossing around the idea of going back into the mortgage world so we'll see where things take us. This helped my attitude at work and I finally feel like they appreciate me there.

Really, other than that, we're just getting ready for vacation. We couldn't be more (mentally) ready to go....physically ready is a different story. I've got some things ready, but I think I'll have a pretty full day Friday getting everything packed and ready. I hope to get on the road between 6:15 and 6:30 and we've got a 6-1/2 hour drive to our stopping point for the night. Then we have another 6 hours or so on Saturday. Then we have 7 full days of South Carolina relaxation here - our "vacation house" as Hannah has called it for 3 years. I can't wait! I'll try to post from there, unless I'm too busy sunning on the beach or by the pool!!!

Ok, I'm off to watch who gets booted from Idol tonight. Anoup did surprisingly well last night...I can do without that girl with the tatoo arm. By the way...LOVE our new DVR!!! I was able to watch biggest loser last night and then watch the only parts I wanted of Idol in about 30 minutes!!! Best thing we did in a long time!

The pros and cons of spring

OK, so I'm totally excited for spring to be around the corner, but I'm realizing there are just about as many positive things as there are negative that spring brings.

#1: The Positive: The most obvious - the weather breaking! Warmer temps are on the way!! And Snow will be gone for about 6 months!! That's all very, very good stuff! I can't wait to feel the warm sun and be able to do stuff outside. This weekend, Hannah got to go outside to ride her new bike for a little bit. She's doing pretty good with it, only fell over twice. She needs to get the hang of steering and watching where she's going. Both time she fell, she was busy watching other stuff and went off the sidewalk.
The Negative: Rain - lots of rain! As much as I'm excited that it's not snow falling from the sky, the rain is such a drag! It's such a pain to go out in it and get soaked! I got drenched Sunday out getting groceries. You can't even bother with an umbrella becuase that creates way more of a hassle than just dealing with getting wet. I hate how groceries get all wet getting them into the car and then the inside of the car smells wet - yuck! And wet sqeaky shoes - I hate that sound!

#2: The Positive: The longer days - Daylight Savings Time. I love that it's light out until so much later. It makes the day feel so much more productive and you seem to have a couple of extra hours added to the same 24-hour day! So cool.
The Negative: Switching to Daylight Savings Time. I hate losing an hour of sleep!!! It seems to be harder to adjust to because you're just not tired at 10:00 pm yet and getting up at 6:30 am is hard because you know it really is 5:30am (at least it used to be). So this is the first time I totally forgot to switch the clocks!!! We got up on Sunday around 8-8:30 and were just doing our thing. Tony ran to get a paper and came home to say it really was 9:30!!! I was so mad that I lost an hour of my day without even trying!!! I can't believe I forgot to switch the clocks!!!

#3: The Positive: I saw the beginning of my spring flowers popping through the ground yesterday!!! I was so thrilled to see a little bit of green coming through the mulch from my daffodils! I think the moles or rabbits (or whoever ruins my stuff outside) have pretty much eaten all of my tulips, but I think I have plenty of daffodils and crocus's left. It's so fun to see that sign of spring!
The Negative: Bugs - I don't normally mind bugs OUTSIDE, but I do NOT like them in the house! I have come to learn to deal with those little brown spiders. I can even kill them myself now - with a shoe or something. But I draw the line with those creepy-crawly cenipedes things!!! Tony found one on the steps the other day. Then last night, Hannah and I were standing in the kitchen and I saw one come booking out from under the stove. I tried shoving her away so she couldn't see it, but she saw it and TOTALLY FREAKED!!!!! I had just given her a marshmallow bunny for snack and she saw the bug, screamed and took off running, dropping her marshmallow bunny on the floor. She screamed and was crying and ran upstairs to Tony and was seriously shaking and freaking out!!! I managed to grab a paper towel to step on it, but Tony had to finish it off. Those things have no business being in my house!!! I can't help but feel lke the house is dirty, when I know it really isn't. Last year we had black ants kinda bad for a while. Wonder if they'll be back or not. Bugs- GO AWAY! or at least, stay outside!

#4: The Positive: Wearing different clothes! I have no problem saying goodbye to sweaters, sweatshirts and winter coats! I love goinng out in much lighter wear so much better! It's so much more comfortable than having to get all bundled up!
The Negative: These last 5-10 pounds to lose! I can't understand why I have such a hard time dropping these last few pounds. I'm actually right around what I weighed before I got pregnant, and I'm in a size smaller, but I feel fatter! So these lighter clothes require a slimmer look since you don't have the bulk to cover up that tummy roll....guess I have to actually move my body again to tone back up....maybe I can achieve that when the weather warms up and we can go outside.

#5: The Positive: Vacation! I can't wait for vacation! It's such a great way to kick-start spring adn I love going and relaxing. I love the beach and the ocean - there's no better place to be! I love counting down the days until we go....only one more Monday of work left!!! And one more Friday for me too!
The Negative: Packing, driving and unpacking from vacation....those parts are no fun! But really, I'd take those pain points all the time if it meant I can fit in one week of relaxation and the beach! So really, there's not that much negative to say about vacation, unless we have really crappy weather - that wouldn't make me very happy!

That's it on the spring stuff.

In other news, Roman went to the doctor Saturday. She said he's pretty full of arthritis and could tell he's having a lot of trouble getting around. She saw a little bit of infection in his mouth which could have been part of the reason he's not eating much -I tend to think it's because he had to move to eat. But anyway, she gave him an antibiotic and a pain pill and I got some joint supplements for him to take. He is really doing much, much better already. He gets up on his own now and does it more freely and without a huge struggle. He's been eating twice a day the past couple days. I think this made him more comfortable for sure. I'm not sure how much longer we have with him, but at least while he is still here, he's not miserable!

Hannah went to the doctor Saturday too. She's had this cold for over 3 weeks, so I thought I'd better run her in. I did think that it was actually a second cold with different symptoms, but since this one had a nasty cough, I figured I'd better have it checked out. We haven't been to the doctor since her 2 year old checkup (except for that weird thing with her eyes that she did last summer) so it's not like I run her in for every little sniffle! Anyway, she's fine - just another cold. She's 31 pound and did really well this time- no crying! We go for her 3-year old check up the end of April. I scheduled that in January! Kinda crazy they were so booked up that it took over 3 months to get an appt! OH, well!

Right now I'm sitting at the hospital waiting room while Tony is having a stomach scope. He's been complainng about a pain in his side forever now, so I'm hoping they find out what's wrong. I hope it is something for his sake and mine! I know he's tired of hearing me tell him that it's what he eats! And I'm tired of hearing him complain that he never feels good. Also, if they don't find something today, then he gets the joy of having a colonoscopy! So let's just hope they find something today!

Ok, sorry for the lack of pictures again. I know posts are more fun with pictures. But I have to admit, I've hardly picked up my camera lately. I even remembered that I forgot to take Hannah's picture at the end of the month -which I do every month and I have every picture posted on my bulletin board at work....guess I'd better get that done this weekend!

Not much blog-worthy

Or just not enough time to sit in front of the computer at home to actually tell all of my "oh-so interested" blog readers what's going on with us.

So it's been over 2 weeks since my last post - oops!!

Hannah had a cold the past two weeks. She's still just getting over it with a bit of a runny nose left. I feel like I'm getting a bit of a scratchy throat today, but I used Zicam tonight - swear by the stuff! So I expect not to really get too much of a cold, if one at all since I took it early.

We had our last poker tournament last weekend. I've done so terrible this year. I can't figure out exactly what I'm doing different, but whatever it is, I need to stop!!! I just cannot catch any decent cards to play. Oh, well. We still have our final tournament in which the top 9 players are in and then there's a 10th spot that is filled from the play-in tournament earlier that day. If we get a sitter, we'll both play in the play-in, but if I don't play, no big deal. Since the final tournament is a winner take all, my theory of winning twice in one day is pretty unlikely, so to win the 10th spot is good, but how can that 10th person be the winner at the end too?? I'd love to be the first to do it, so heck, maybe I will just go for it!

Work is going pretty good. I'm finally getting to a point that I'm unloading stuff off my plate on to my admin staff. I'm a terrible delagator - need to always do all things myself - so this is a challenge for me, but I'm working on it and it does feel good to have time to focus on other stuff. I am SO SO ready for vacation though. I even did a really big thing and requested two additional days off - the Friday we leave and the Monday after we go home, so for me to take SEVEN work days off - miracle!!! I'm sure I'll be checking in throughout vacation week and the Monday after, but I am taking a big break!!!

I pretty much have vacation all over the brain. I've already started making lists of stuff to take. I've started packing Hannah's bag. This weekend and next week, I'm going to start getting stuff ready. I've got all day the Friday we leave to prepare our stuff and get the car packed. We'll be ready to roll by 6:15!!!

We're a little worried about Roman. He's not doing too good lately. His hip or back leg really bothers him, so he doesn't move much. He eats usually only once a day - sometimes not at all. He only goes outside to go potty 2-3 times a day. I feel bad for him because I don't want him to be sad or in pain, but he's a sweet dog and is pretty normal, just not real motivated. We plan to take him to the vet this weekend to see what she thinks. We don't want to have to make a hard decision, but we also don't want to keep him for selfish reasons.

Hannah is on this huge Mommy kick. She is all things mommy. She sort of cries every morning when we leave and she wants only me to give her a bath and put her to bed. I like it on one hand, but then sometimes it makes me feel a little too needed - which, don't get me wrong, is fine, but it's a little tiring too. She's such a home body too....she always just wants to stay home - except for gymnastics night. She loves going to gymnastics!!! She does a really good job too. I can see her progressing each week and getting even more coordinated. This week, she finally was able to hop on her left leg! Up to now, she could only hop on the right. I'm glad we have her in the program - it's really good for her.

And lastly, I have to say, the whole Bachelor season was ridiculous!!! I totally watched it every week. Not really sure why, because I lost interest in that sort of show a couple years ago, but I guess since nothing else is on Monday's, I watched. For the record, I'm not wrapped up in the "feelings" that the people seemingly have - it is pretty much still just a soap opera with real people. But I have to say, Jason is a wacko!!! I thought he seemed like a good guy that just had a run of bad luck, but after last night, it's clear that HE is the issue! I wish we knew how scripted the "after the final rose" show was. And Molly is sort of an idiot for going back to a guy that dumped her - especially after watching how the whole thing played out. Oh, well, they all got their 15 minutes of fame...good for them! Maybe they'll be happy for real - who knows?

So I guess so much for not having anything blog-worthy to say....looks like I said a lot! Sorry for the lack of pictures. I'm doing this on my laptop and my camera and pictures aren't on this computer. I'll get some posted later in the week or the weekend - or at least I'll try!!!