First Ride

We went for our first family bike ride last night and we loved it!  We had a lot of fun and found some really nice places to ride by our house.  Mariah loves her new bike and Ethan had so much fun in the burley that he cried when we got home.  He said no home mommy, no home daddy. :-)  He wanted to keep going.  We would have loved to ride longer, but the sun was going down and we wanted to keep the family safe.  We are looking forward to summer weather and longer daylight hours!

Taking Up Biking!

Not on a motorcycle of course!  We are taking up biking as a family on our new bikes!  Cory and I have had some great bikes for a couple years now and this past week we upgraded the kids rides!  Ethan got a 2 person Burley Encore trailer and Mariah got a Trek Skye.  We are looking forward to lots of bike riding this spring, summer and fall.  We will take our first family ride tonight!

A Big Change

We are making a big change... we are moving Ethan from a daycare facility to a private in-home daycare.  This is something that I have always been very curious about.  I have always wanted Ethan to have the direct attention from an in-home daycare, but never had the opportunity or had found the right place in the past.  Recently we were blessed with finding an in-home that seems to be a wonderful fit for Ethan.  I have to admit though... I am very nervous.  This is a huge change that will directly impact my precious little man!  He is at a wonderful daycare right now and has been there since he was 3 months old.  They have been so kind and loving and have kept him safe over the years.  We have learned so much from the teachers and Ethan has bonded with them all.  Ethan loves the other kids in daycare and even has a little girlfriend, Julianna.  So, why are we moving him to an in-home?  Well, Ethan recently reached the age where he no longer has a low student to teacher ratio in his classroom.  He is a big boy now and is in a room with more kids and less teachers.  I guess I am not ready for this change for him yet.  I want him to continue to have that direct care.  Ethan is so loving and so kind and thrives off of direct attention.  I think that by putting him in an in-home daycare he will get a lot of this direct attention.  I do feel bitter sweet about the move though... I feel like I am pulling Ethan from an environment that he knows and loves.  In a way I feel like I am taking a little piece of what he knows away from him.  I just pray that we are doing the right thing for Ethan.  I pray that we love the new change and that Ethan makes new friends and builds new relationships.  I pray that he is safe every day.

Not Enough Time For Exercise

I keep trying to lay out my days differently.  I would love to exercise every day but I just can't seem to find the time to exercise.  I was pretty good at getting up at 4:30am and going to the basement and working out for 45 minutes for about 3 weeks... Then I fell out of the habit and can't seem to get back on track. 

I have tried a couple different times to exercise.  I have tried working out at the end of the day.  This worked a couple times, but I am so exhausted by 9pm and lately the kids have been staying up until 9pm.  I can't bring myself to go downstairs and exercise when I am that exhausted. 

This week I decided to try exercising right after work.  On Monday it worked!  The weather was nice so Ethan and I went for a long walk.  Then on Tuesday Ethan and I went downstairs after work and I ran on my elliptical... well I tried to while Ethan played; however, that didn't work as planned.  I would run for about 5 minutes and then have to help Ethan with his train track.  After a couple tries at this I just decided to give up. 

I don't want to give up on exercise completely, but I am wondering if a couple extra hours could be added in to the day?  Maybe a 26 hour day?  That would be ideal!  :-)

Craigslist ROCKS!

This weekend we got some awesome deals on craigslist!  The first deal is the beautiful PBK table and bins.  I have been wanting this for months and came accross this one on craigslist.  It is normally $350 and I got it for $125! :-)  I love good deals! 

The second thing that we found this weekend is a brand new Burley Encore Bike Trailer for kids!  We went looking at these at our local bike store and they run about $440 - $550 for the model that we wanted.  We found this one on craigslist for $300 and it's brand new!  We pick it up on Tuesday night! 

Furbabies Room

I painted the dogs room...again.  I wish it could always look this nice.  Maybe my dogs will stop eating the walls! 

Horoscope 100% Correct

Taurus (April 20 - May 20) Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010

There could be a number of responsibilities or obligations you have to other people that may be holding you back a bit today. Your desire to have a good time might be tempered by other duties right now. It'll be up to you to figure out when it's a good time to think about yourself and when it's a good time to pay attention to the needs of others. Whatever happens, just try not to let things stress you out too much today.

Be sure that you pay careful attention to how you go about expressing yourself, particularly where your friends or loved ones are concerned. If you feel a little too much like doing your own thing right now, it could lead to some trouble for you before the day is through.

A Difficult Day

Today I am having a difficult time.  This weekend we stayed in a condo with two other couples.  One couple has two kids and plans to have more soon.  The other couple has one kid and is 19 weeks pregnant and plans to have a total of 5 kids eventually.  They are both SAHM's or will be after the second couples baby number two arrives.  As I sat there and watched them this weekend and realized how different our lives are and how badly I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom and have five kids... I began to feel unsettled.  I am thankful for what I have but wish that I had the ability to have a handful of kids close in age to one another.  A large family that would grow up together, get on each other's nerves, love one another, and be there for one another in every situation that life brings to each of us.

WI Dells 2010

We had a great time in the Dells this past weekend.  There were 8 families that went this year!  It was hard to meet up with everyone, but it was still tons of fun.  The kids had a great time playing in the water and the 4 story play park area.  Ethan kept us on our toes and he loved every minute of the vacation!  I posted lots of pictures on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ckbartlett/sets/72157623408440821/show/. Enjoy!

Dad gave us a scare!

This weekend I was in the Dells hanging out with family and friends. I was relaxing and having a great time... and then... we got a call from my sister saying that dad was in the hospital! On Saturday night dad and Kathy had some friends over and dad was eating a chip. He stood up to walk to the bathroom and was coughing and inhaled the chip. He started choking and within seconds he blacked out and fell to the floor face first. Kathy said that dad didn't even put his arms out to try to catch himself. Thankfully the hard fall to the floor caused the chip to come out of his throat and allowed him to breathe again. Kathy gave him a pound on the back and rolled him over. Dad opened his eyes but didn't have his memory or the ability to speak for a short while. Kathy had called 911 before dad even fell to the floor. Kathy started asking dad questions and at first dad just kept repeating "how long was I out for" Kathy would answer him with "about 30 seconds" then dad would say "how long was I out for"... this went on for a little while. Thankfully dad did get his full memory back. The ambulance took him to the ER and they did CT scans and x-rays and thankfully nothing is broken. He does have a black eye and some swelling on his cheek bone and eye, but he's recovering well. When they did the x-rays they found that dad has a terrible sinus infection. They believed that is what has been causing his cough along with some swelling in his bronchioles which caused him to choke easier.


We are all just very thankful that things turned out the way they did!!! We love you dad and you really need to stop giving us all of these scares!

Or not....?

I am so back and forth...!  I got this awesome shipment yesterday from Pampered Chef with pink and white dot martini glasses, a pink knife, pink and white chip clips and some reusable shopping bags.  Why you ask?  Because I closed two parties between Feb 1 - 15 so I got all of this as a bonus!  :-)  Okay, that was enough to snap me out of my funk and put me back on track with selling PC!  I will be doing a lot more catalog parties though and less in home parties.  Anyone want to have a catalog party?

End of Pampered Chef

Is this the end of my days with selling Pampered Chef?  I think it may be... I have been debating this for about two months now and I really need to make a decision.  I love the extra money and the great products.  I will always be a huge fan of the products... but I don't enjoy the prep work, the evenings away from my family, the weight on my shoulders of knowing I have one more thing to balance in life... I think it's just too much for me at this point in my life.  I had a blast with it the first couple months, but I think my "honeymoon stage" is over.  I have a couple more parties to close within the next month, but after that... I think I will be saying good-bye to my second job as a PC consultant.  Thanks to all of my wonderful family and friends that had parties for me!

Sports

Last night was a really good night for Mariah.  She had her second night of volleyball try-outs and she made the B-Team!  After try-outs we went to gymnastics.  At gymnastics, Mariah's teacher told her that she is ready to move up to the next level so starting next week she will be in Cheer Tumbling II.  Way to go Mariah!

Weekend Warriors

Cory and I had fun tackling a couple projects this weekend.  We are finally putting the finishing touches on our house!  YIPPY!!  This weekend we went to Lowes and picked up a couple more cabinets for our basement bar.  The kids had fun playing and sitting in the cart together.  This is one of my FAVORITE pictures! 

When we got home we cut the middle panel out of the cabinets, installed touch sensor lights, and hung the cabinets.  Cory will stain them and we will send the doors to a glass company to have glass panels installed. 

After the cabinet project... we tackled a kitchen project.  I bought black handles months ago and tried putting them on the cabinets but they weren't fitting well.  Well I guess try and try again really is true because I gave it a try last night and we got them to work!  They look really good.  We had silver handles before, but I am loving the black so much more! 

I blame my monster on Cory!

Often times I refer to Ethan as my little monster.  He is 1000000% boy and very active!  He has no fear, he's curious about everything, and he keeps us on our toes.  Well, this morning I took Ethan to daycare... when we got there we went into the room and Ethan climbed up on to the table and stood on top of it and looked at me with a smile from ear to ear.  I said Ethan, we don't climb on tables, you have to get down from there... and I helped him down.  We took off his coat and put his stuff away and then started walking to Miss Sarah's room.  Ethan put his little feet in full gear and ran around the corner and into the room.  I caught up with him and finished signing him in.  Then I kissed my little man good-bye and left for work.  Once I was at work Cory called me to ask how drop off went this morning.  When I told him about the standing on the table and running in the hallway Cory started laughing to the point where I think he may have been crying.  Then Cory told me that every morning he puts Ethan on top of the table so that he doesn't have to bend down to take his coat off...... then him and Ethan run to Miss Sarah's room together.  So... this is not Ethan's fault at all.  This is my dear sweat wonderful husband teaching our child to climb and stand on tables and run in the hallways.  OH BOY............. Love him dearly ;}

Lil Bit of Snow

We got about one foot of snow yesterday.  It was so pretty to watch from inside. 

Monkey Joes

Last Friday we went to Monkey Joes.  They just opened in Kenosha!  The kids had a really nice time... it made me wish I was little again. ;-)

Mariah in the SKY!

Well close to the sky... yup, she is the one in the back... way up in the air...! 

Linda's New Kitchen

Here is a sneak peak at Linda's new kitchen during the construction process.  :-)

Master Bathroom

We recently had the tile redone in our master bathroom shower.  We really like the new look and even have bump-ins now for our soaps and stuff!  We had to rip out one wall when redoing the shower, but we recently completed the construction and painted the bathroom.  Now all it needs is new trim!