Just want to say...

I LOVE So You Think You Can Dance!!!!!!

Trash picking finds!!

I've never been a trash picker, but as I was roller blading today I passed a house that had these things out in their pile of trash. Can you believe the things people throw away? I stopped and asked if I could have them and the woman said she didn't care, but acted as if I was nuts for wanting them! LOL

Joey has wanted a kitchen FOREVER and I was thinking of getting one for him and Savanna this coming Christmas. But now I just have to get the accessories for it - probably for Joey's birthday that's in a month. This is one of the double sided kitchens that has a regular kitchen on the one side and a grill on the other. It even makes sounds and stuff! Joey was stoked!

And this one I just couldn't believe! These things are like $200+ brand new. It doesn't make noises any more, and it is missing a tail, but who cares?! Kris can fiddle with the wiring to get it to work, and neither of my kids know it's even supposed to make sounds or have a tail. Joey loves sitting on it! It just needs a little cleaning.

I'm just surprised the people didn't have a yard sale! They had all kinds of cabinents and a weight bench and patio chairs and everything just in the trash pile! Must be nice to be able to throw things away and not worry about the $ they're missing out on.... One kids trash is another kids treasure I guess! :)

Yanni Voices concert - my review

Kris got free tickets to the 'Yanni Voices' concert through an associate at his work. I was hesitant to go because it is not music I would typically listen to and any of you out there with children understand how hard it is to get a babysitter on a Sunday night when everyone has to work Monday - and you're not going to be back until midnight - and one of your kids is a nursing baby. Not only is it tough to find a babysitter, it's tough to get everything ready to be gone. I told Kris I didn't want to go, but then I felt guilty because I knew how much he wanted to go, and because the guy went through the trouble to get the tickets, he was going to go with or without me and I felt bad him going and sitting by himself. Plus I had scheduled Laurie to keep my kids (THANK YOU!) and I had already told Joey about it, and he was stoked about going and 'staying the night' at Ethan's house. So I went.

It really wasn't bad. I actually enjoyed it! The talent that he had was amazing - he had some truly amazing musicians in his orchestra. And the 4 singers he had were really very good. He had one guy who sang all in Italian, one who sang all in spanish, and 2 girls who sang in english. I am glad that I went - it was nice to spend the time away with my husband, though I got in trouble for texting too much on our date - oops! LOL

Unfortunately my kids were difficult for Laurie. I was hoping Savanna would go to sleep and she wouldn't hear another peep from her like she does at home, but I guess she kept waking up fussing, which was also keeping Maggie up (Laurie's baby girl). And I figured Joey would pass out early since he didn't have a nap, but he was too wound up and wanted to come home so he didn't go to sleep easily, either. So poor Laurie ended up being up till 11:30 till we got there - and she had to get up at 5 this morning to go to work! I feel so bad, but I am soooo appreciative that she took them for us so we could get a much needed night out.

One thing that I thought was funny in the concert, though, were his female singers. The first half of the show was a good and entertaining desplay of talents. The second half, however, started with a bang to say the least! It started off witha screen down and images of fire was being projected on it and he started playing a firey-kind of song. Then, the screen raised and Chloe - his dark haired female singer, came out. I thought she was going to start singing. Then she ripped off the dress she was wearing revealing a VERY small 'costume' then she started dancing. I was like 'umm...k'. As the song went on her dancing got more and more provocative - she even got up on the piano and was dancing. In Kris' words 'The only thing missing is the pole!' Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Lindsay, the blonde haired singer, came out and did actually start singing with the song and Chloe went off stage. I was like 'thank goodness!' Then Lindsay got on the piano, too, dancing and Chloe came back out and ALSO got up on the piano and they were dancing together. Um - don't know if dancing is what to call it. I was shocked!! Honestly, they did probably 20 or 30 songs and that one almost ruined the whole thing for me! I mean, I was shocked that 2 girls with such amazing singing talent would reduce themselves to dance on stage like that. hm. Oh well - they're obviously happy with it. I did find humor in it though... I told Kris "Yanni may be a very tallented man, but he's obviously still a man!" Ha ha.

Over all, though, I did enjoy the night and the experience. I still probably won't listen to Yanni on a regular basis, but I had a nice night out.

The Haley Holder

A couple weeks ago I decided that I wanted a new sling because mine was getting on my nerves with all the tons of padding it had in it. I swear the Nojo people went nuts with padding. So I began researching different slings, and happened upon a few sites that explained how to make slings. I thought... hmmm... can't be that hard? So I called up my mom and she helped me ALOT and I made a sling. I kept thinking of things I would do differently if I made another one. Then Laurie's sister, Lisa saw my sling and told Laurie she wanted one, and gave her some $ to give to me to make her one. She called it a 'haley holder'. She said 'I want a haley holder!!' How cute is that? I was super nervous taking her money for one, because I wasn't sure if I could do it again. But... I did! And then I made one for a friend of mine at church who has a baby shower coming up, then I figured while I was at it I would make one for Laurie, too. So just a warning... I've really figured this stuff out, and it's fun and pretty easy, so if you have a baby, or are going to have a baby you might just get your own personal 'haley holder'!!!

Here is me and Savanna, Laurie and Maggie, and Lisa and Morgan with our haley holders - didn't they turn out cute??

Another shot of me and Savanna with our haley holder. I have the fabric to make myself another one now that I've figured it out - it's a super cute brown.

Here are the 4 that I've made so far... Lauries on the left, then Kriste's (the baby shower I'm going to), then Lisa's, then mine

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I also had a friend of mine (Brandy) teach me how to make baby hats. She helped me alot with Savanna's but I did Maggie's all on my own. I'm so proud - they turned out so cute! Maggie's I accidently made WAY too big.... (it fit on Joey!!) but I figured out how to tack in one pannel without it being noticable, and next year (or the next!) we can let that pannel back out and it will still fit her! Here are the cuties

Neither of them were excited about their hats, but they sure look cute, don't they??

Mags is such a cutie, don't you think?? :)

Easter Pictures

K, so it's only 2 months late, but better late than never, right? I finally got these easter pictures scanned in. They are so cute! I had them done at Argyle Photography in Newark - I have had Easter pictures done there every year for the past 3 years because they have live bunnies, and Liz does a super good job so they always turn out so cute! Anyway - here they are! :)

Such a china doll, huh?

Are these kids anything but perfect?? I love these kids!

Joey Chatter

Tonight before bed, Joey and I were reading 'Love You Forever' - one of our regulars, and by far my very favorite children's book. It's hard for me to read it to Joey without crying. But after the book we were talking about how someday Joey will grow up and be a daddy and he'll have babies, too and it turned into a fun conversation - I just had to record it. It went like this:

S: So when you become a daddy, how many babies do you think you'll have?

J: um..... 4!

S: Yea? And who is the mommy going to be?

J: You!

S: Well I can't be the mommy - I'll be the grammy. Just like your grammy is daddy's mommy, I'll be the grammy to your babies. So who will be your babie's mommy?

J: Umm... How about Kaili? (Tiffany's little girl that just came to play here yesterday)

S: You like Kaili?

J: Yea, I do... and she'll go into Ethan's room (our guest bedroom, where Ethan naps), and there will be 4 babies!

S: Yea? Will you pick up the babies and hold them and rock them and love them like mommy and daddy do with you?

J: Yea - but just one at a time. Oh - and I need to have babies that don't cry.

Ha ha - I thought that last bit was funny- he must get annoyed when Savanna cries!

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This one was the other day Joey was over at my dad's house and my dad was taking down their old deck to make way for their new one. Joey was out side with my dad and my brother as they started taking down the railing. Upon seeing what they were doing Joey said:

J: Grandpa, Grandma's gonna be maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!

LOL - how dare grandpa break grandma's deck?

I love this kid - he's soooooo much fun!

A little bit of everything!

So if you have a few hours and would like to read this whole blog post - yay!! But if not, I understand!! Last week was super busy for us and I want to post everything that happened and I'm too lazy to make it 4 different posts, so here you go - a novel!

First of all, last Tuesday was a surprise retirement get-together for my high school color guard instructor. She had been the instructor for 26 years!!! It started when her daughter, Jennie was a freshman in high school and they needed a majorette instructor. Joyce was a private majorette teacher so they asked her, and she figured she'd do it for 4 years, while Jennie was in high school, and then move on. But those 4 years came and went and then they asked her to not only be the majorette instructor, but the flag corp instructor too! In her words she said 'why not?' Ha ha! How was she to know it would last 26 years??? So Tuesday was the high school band banquet and we got as many of Joyce's alumni together as we could find - which unfortunately wasn't near as many as we should have been able to get - and surprised her by showing up and had a slide show of old pictures for her and stuff. It was fun to see everyone again and send Joyce out in style. Here are a couple pics from the night:

This is Lisa, Joyce, and Jennie. Lisa and Jennie were in Joyce's first majorette line 26 years ago.

This is Joyce with the group of alumni we were able to get together - we had about 20 all together, but not all of them stuck around long enough for pictures. She was happy there were 20 there, but in my opion we should have had more! She was instructor to - I would bet - at least 500 girls - if not more!

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Next is Thursday. Cami, a friend of mine from my freshman year at BYU - she was on the same floor of my dorm with me - came to Ohio to visit! It's actually kind of funny, I think. I grew up within 20 miles from her husband here in Ohio, but I never knew him. She is from Texas and went to Utah for BYU. Then, after she served a mission to California, she moved back home in Texas for a while. Meanwhile, her husband, Martin also went to Texas for work - and that's where they met! Also, Martin's mother worked at Keytel with Kris for a while before he bought into the company. When we made all these connections with Cami, it made me want to sing 'it's a small world after all'! I mean - you've heard of the 6 degrees of separation? Well we know each other through 3 of those degrees! Odd, huh? And another tid bit fact - we share a birthday! I know, lame, but it's something that I always remember every year on my birthday 'o - it's Cami's birthday too!'

So, yes, she came to Ohio to visit. Unfortunately, they had to come to Ohio because Martin's father passed away unexpectedly - which is very sad - but I was very happy that they took time to come have dinner and visit with us! Here are some pics from the visit:

This is Sydney (Cami and Martin's baby girl - she is almost 1!) and Savanna - friends already!

This is Savanna, me, Cami, and Sydney.

It was soooo great to see you again Cami! I am so happy things are working out so well for you and Martin. :)

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On Friday we went to the drive-ins with Amy's family - so fun! I didn't even know that drive-ins still existed! There is a really nice one still in Lancaster - and it's super busy! They played 'night at the museum 2' and 'star trek'. Both were awesome movies! I don't have any pictures cause I forgot my camera - boo! But both kids were extremely cooperative for being out till 2 in the morning! Savanna took a bottle at the beginning of the first movie, then I put her in her car seat and she fell asleep and I didn't hear from her again till we got home. Joey was great cause I took our portable DVD player and he sat in the car eating snacks and watching a Tom and Jerry DVD. LOL - he loved it! Then he finally fell asleep at about 12:30. Can't wait to do it again soon - so fun!

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Then Saturday we went to Portsmouth for the Slack family reunion. This is the first reunion since my grandfather passed away. My dad and sister took my grandmother and they went the reunion and to visit the graves of her family and decorate them for Memorial day. We were planning on going down for the reunion, spending some time at the Ohio river, going to dinner, then driving back that night. But Kris decided on a whim to check at the Ramada to see if any rooms were availabe and yay! There was! We got a super nice room and the hotel had an indoor pool and spa and stuff and a Damon's right down stairs. It was a nice little family vacation! Unfortunately I hadn't packed for the kids over night - or for swimming - so we made a quick trip to wal-mart and got cheap swimming stuff for all of us and the necessities we would need for the night. It ended up being an expensive weekend between Kris' speeding ticket (cops were out in force....), the hotel, the extra stuff we had to buy, dinner, and stuff, but it was soooo worth it to have a weekend away with the family and to spend some extra time with my extended family!

Here is my grandmother, my dad, and my sister, Amanda

Joey and kris enjoying the reunion

A shot of some of the people at the reunion - unfortunately it was MUCH smaller this year than it has been in years past. There were quite a few deaths in the family this year and alot of people didn't want to come with the losses.... But it was still a decent turn out.

4 generations! Me, Savanna, Grandma, and my Dad. It is this grandma whose maiden name is Austin, where Savanna got her middle name.

Our hotel room - I was so excited! The couch was a fold-out bed, too, so with that and the pack-and-play, Kris and I didn't have to share the bed with kids. Savanna is playing witht he groceries... and Kris is sleeping - keep in mind this was only 10 mins after walking in and Kris passed out! LOL!

My cuties

Such a happy baby!!

Savanna promptly found the mirror on the bathroom door and that was where she was whenever we were in the room - she had a BLAST playing with the 'baby in the mirror!'

And here is a short video I got of Joey and Savanna playing - it is soooo cute! Savanna was CRACKING UP at Joey's antics. I haven't found anything to make Savanna laugh the way Joey does - she sure does love her big brother!! Unfortunately, my camera died :( So I only got a 12 second video, but it's still cute! Enjoy!