About 4 times a year...

We get a date night. These are from our last date in the fall and we went to a spur of the moment Wings game. We had a beach date last summer and last night was our winter date. I had no idea that our dates were so few and far between until I started thinking about it. That's so sad! But I am NOT willing to pay a teenager $6 an hour to pay $50 for dinner and another $20 to watch a movie. That leaves us with the grandparents as our only option. But it seem our parents forgot about us and went and got lives of their own! What the heck! Hopefully as the kiddos get older, things get easier.
Anyway we did have a lot of fun last night. Dinner at the new Mexican place by the mall. My total favorite now. I had a margarita big enough to swim in. Amazing. Quite possibly one of my top 10 favorite things. When I stood up, I was just silly. It didn't help that I had heeled boots on. Good thing Jason takes such good care of me. Then we went to the movies(I know, I was surprised too!) and played in the arcade. Jason won a 1943 Lady Liberty silver half-dollar! He's a bit of a coin nerd and they had some game where you can win DVDs, coins, crappy jewelery,etc. got it on his 2nd try! Then we watched "Cloverfield". the ticket taker says, "if you start to feel sick, just close your eyes." I'm rethinking the whole margarita thing now. In the theater, after the previews, a girl comes out and tells us," We DO NOT sell Dramamine. Close your eyes if you feel sick. But really I don't care because I'm not the one cleaning up the mess. enjoy the movie." Now I'm freakin' out. Oh man, I don't wanna puke. If you haven't seen a trailer for the movie, its basically (fake)home video taken by a civilian during an attack on Manhattan. I admit to closing my eyes for a minute. But mostly it was so exciting I didn't notice. Kind of a weird movie, but interesting. Once we got home and check in with the little people, we ended up staying up talking until like 1 AM. I love good date nights. It reminds us why we got together and started this family in the 1st place. It reminds us that there will still be something there 20 yrs from now once all the kids are (hopefully) on their own. It reminds us that although "Mom & Dad" are a big part of who we are, that we are actually a lot more than that. And you never know, we may get out again before Spring!

My Twin

She is. Our baby pics are almost interchangeable. My eyes have heavier lids but they are the same blue. My hair was a bit lighter as a little one, so that is part she got from Jay. My little Tee-Tee. She'll be 3 in a month. Wow. We have been so lazy about potty training and then the holidays and all the traveling we did just made it impossible to start. Well, over the weekend we got serious and she is totally not having ANY accidents. Even at nap. We trained her in 2 days. Amazing. That was so much easier than starting Summer at 2 yrs old and it taking 6 months! Rachael's kids used to go to a doctor that i hated but she did give Rachael ONE good piece of advice..."you can start at 18 months or at 30 months. either way almost all kids are potty trained by their 3rd birthday." I am so done with sweating my kids' progress. I am lucky that they are so bright but Teagen didn't walk until she was almost 17 months old! Grady was 15 months. I was sick over Teagen not walking. The Dr. sent a therapist to my house to watch her and everything. I was like 7 month pregnant and still carrying her around everywhere. But the thing is that SHE IS FINE. Teagen is stubborn. I am learning to love this aspect of her personality. She's tough and not a follower. I hope it stays with her.

Today I had that lovely ANNUAL doctors appointment.good stuff. Not how I prefer to spend an afternoon, but whatever. Its a good feeling to get that little postcard in the mail with a clean bill of health. As I entered my 30s, its impossible not to think of cancer occasionally. My guess is that everyone does. We all know someone who has been ill or lost someone. It takes on a different meaning when you have a family.

On a happier note, I have a hot date with my hunky hubby friday night! MIL is in town and is sending us out. Who knows what we will do.We have like $50 to spent at the cinema, but we never want to go because we just wanna talk all night and that doesn't go over too well in a theater. Who knows...who cares! Its gonna be fun!

Woot! Woot!

I figured it out! I have no idea where it went but I found "My Pictures" and we are back in business! Now I think I may be some kind of computer genius.( Ok, not likely.)
Now check out my little brown-eyed guy. Looks just like his Daddy. So I was looking at this photo, complaining to myself that I could see his ear sticking out of his hat. Thinking, " dang, his head IS really big, that new hat already doesn't fit!" (his head circumference is WAY off the charts) Today while I was getting him ready to go out, I put the same hat on him and realized I have been putting it on backwards. Sorry dude, you head is all good. Mine is the one with issues!

We are experiencing tecnical difficulties...

So I always post with a photo but for some reason I cant find"My Pictures" on the little dropdown thingy when I try to download. I screwed up something when I tried to download some free music last week. uggh! So here is a post with no photos. Sorry out-of-towners. Maybe someone has some advice for me how to figure this out.
Since my last post...not too exciting. My buddy Leighton hung out with us a bunch last week, but now his Dad will be home for a couple weeks and he wont be around. I VOTED. All the seniors down at the Poll were lovin' me being the youngest by about 30 years ( a bit of an exaggeration) to vote in the MI primary. Jason and I are trying to get into the gym at a more regular rate. And the 1st fast-food I've eaten in ages gave the kids and I all food poisoning. That was fun...at least it really only lasted about 12 hours. And we had Jason to take care of us since he decided to eat almost an entire bag of pizza rolls instead of Burger king that night. Who knew that eating a bag of pizza rolls would be a better decision? Saturday I went to an ALL DAY crop with Mya. Very fun and I won a gorgeous Turquoise and sterling silver bracelet. Got some really good pages done too. Summer's home for MLK Day and I think we are all going to the gym today. Hopefully I'll figure out this blog/photo thing soon!

A day off..

It snowed like crazy here last night. So, when I got up I turned on the TV to check school closings. Not that Muskegon EVER closes school, but the one time they did close last year, I took her to school. Anyway, Channel 13 says something about Bluffton so I get on the website. Sure enough, they say closed. Now at 10am I get an automated message from the principal saying there was a mistake and there IS school today. So I feel like a bad person because I am not sending her. I would have to walk her into the office which means I would have to bring the little ones inside which means we would ALL have to get out of our PJs. ITS NOT GONNA HAPPEN. Grady's almost ready for his 1st nap. We are packing for the girls overnight with Grandma & Grandpa. I may even get Summer to clean her room. Oops..she just read that and is not too happy! Too bad! That's what you get for skipping school!

Greetings from the FUTURE

The furture looks kinda scary but fun!

poor babies

Yesterday, Summer was supposed to go back to school.On New Years day she got pretty sick and then Teagen followed. Still just the fever thing and stuffy noses. a little coughing too. The one thing that is so different for this family is what ever kind of virus this was it knocks you OUT. The kids (and Jason) slept all day. With such a hyperactive bunch you know something isn't right when they want to sleep all day. Everyone is better today. Summer is in school and we are going to try to re-establish our routine around here. All the sickies around here have kept me from getting all the Xmas stuff down and I am done looking at it all! I am ready for the fresh start promised by the new year and plan to get moving