Two pieces of a puzzle

It may sound really cheesy but I’m just gonna say it. 

You know how when you’re doing a puzzle and the two pieces fit together just perfectly, because that’s where they are supposed to go?  As I was lying in Josh’s arms last night trying to fall asleep, I was thinking to myself: “his arms fit perfectly around me just like two pieces of a puzzle fit together.” 

And I think that this is true with our relationship.  We have had our ups and downs, there is no doubt.  But in the end, I feel like we just fit together.  He is my best friend; we know each other in and out.  Us and our two girls just make perfect sense together and I couldn’t imagine it any other way.  More than 9 years later, we still genuinely enjoy each other’s company, whether it’s watching a movie together, eating at the dinner table together,  going out on dates, going on walks with our girls, family vacations, or just letting loose on the weekend after a long week at work.  He is who I always want to spend my time with and dream big with – And I look forward to pointing our rocking chairs towards the west when we are old and gray together.

With the Blink of an Eye

It is amazing to me how much one person's life can change in the matter of 9 years.  With the blink of an eye, I have been married to my best friend for nearly 7 years and together, we are raising two of the most beautiful little girls. 

Nine years ago today, I was a 22 year old party animal who worked full-time at a shop and had just recently moved back into my parents house.  That summer, Memorial Day weekend to be exact, is when our lives together started.  In September of that year, my very first nephew was born.  A few months later, I went on my first cruise with Josh and his family, came back and found out I was pregnant.  In the meantime, my brother in the military got deployed to Iraq.  In July 2003, our precious bundle of joy was born 6 weeks early.  June 19, 2004, Josh and I tied the knot.  Thanksgiving Day of 2006, we found out we were pregnant with our 2nd child.  In March of 2007, we found out we were having another girl, the sister Lexi always wanted.  That summer of 2007, I graduated with my Bachelors Degree. The purchase of our very first home was made in February of 2008 and I started a new job just days later, and Josh got laid off permanently from his job just days later.

So much has happened over the last nine years.  It's amazing to me how different lives can change in just the matter of years. 

Nine years ago today, the world lost an incredible man, my Grandpa Jack.  I never got the chance to share with him these important milestones and happenings in my life.  After thinking about all of these things, it makes me sad that I didn't get a chance to share these aspects of my life with him.

85 More Days.... AWESOME!!!!

So… my girls may be just a little spoiled. 

Okay, so they are spoiled rotten.

On Christmas morning, after we divided out all the girls’ Christmas presents and watched them open each one of them with excitement, we had one last surprise in store for them.

Disney World was always just a dream vacation, or so we made it seem to the girls.  We would sit at the dinner table and tell Lexi that maybe when she was 18, we would take a trip to Disney World.  Sometimes, we would even tell her we would take her maybe when she had kids of her own.  Thinking back on it, we may have been a little not-so-nice when we watched with the girls the DVD that Disney sent to us on how to plan a Disney vacation (they enjoyed watching it anyways, even though they knew that it wasn’t anything that would happen anytime soon).  That’s how awesome our girls are.  To sit with their mom and dad and watch a DVD about a vacation that isn’t going to happen and they enjoyed every minute of it.

This was going to be one special Christmas for them.  We wanted to tell them in a unique way that would not only surprise them, but in a way that they would have something to remember this Christmas for the rest of their lives.  We decided to purchase for each of them a Minnie Mouse roll-away suitcase, personalized with their names on the outside.  Then inside, we put a Christmas ornament that said “We’re going to Disney World” on it. 

So, they unwrapped their presents from us and Santa and thought they were done.  They were sooo happy to get so much stuff.  Honestly, my girls are the type of kids who would have been happy with all dollar store stuff.   Josh went and got the last special gift that they were not expecting.  We turned the music off, sat them in their new Disney comfy chairs, and got the video camera rolling.  They were ecstatic about the suitcases but I don’t think it crossed either one of their minds why in the world we would get them such a gift.  Then, I encouraged them to look inside of the suitcase.  After Lexi opened up her suitcase and pulled out the ornament, she read, “We’re going to Disney World”.  “AWESOME!”, she screamed.  Josh asked her if she knew what that meant.  “We’re going to Disney World???” she asked.  Then it hit her.  WE WERE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD.  “AWESOME!!!!!!!!!”

Since Christmas, it has been non-stop excitement for all four of us.  It seems like our whole lives are centered on May 2011.  We count down with the girls each day with our Disney Princess calendar that is on the fridge.  Every Disney movie we watch, the beginning shows the Cinderella Castle – we all talk about how we will be there soon eating in that very castle with the princesses (The picture above is Kaitlyn with her Cinderella outfit she will wear when we eat dinner with the princesses). 

It also helps that I am married to my own personal travel agent who rocks at doing research on all of the wonderful places and restaurants we’ll be hitting up while at Disney.

To say that we are all soooo excited, well, that would be one BIG understatement.  Only 85 more days!!! J

P.S. Check out http://memories.disneyparks.disney.go.com/#/detail/18655 to catch a peek of the girls opening up their unforgettable Christmas surprise!!!

A Letter to Grandma

Dear “Grape” Grandma,

Yesterday, you ran through my mind off and on, as you often do, but it was your birthday, and I couldn’t help but think about how much I would have loved to take you out to lunch with Josh and the girls.  Your choice – and I knew you too well – you would’ve chose Bob Evans.  It was your favorite.  And I can’t help but feel sadness when I think about how we were supposed to take you to lunch last year on your birthday, but you ended up getting a cold and didn’t feel up to it.  I was supposed to make it up to you, but we never got around to it.  If I had known it was going to be your last birthday with us, I would’ve definitely tried a little harder.  I know you understand though.  You knew how busy we were all the time.  And I know you never held that against me.  I miss just coming to spend time with you in your cozy apartment as you sat on your couch and watched the girls play and you would have that sweet little smile on your face.  You adored my girls so much.  They thought the world of you and they still talk about you.  At Christmas-time, at my mom's, Aunt Jennie was there and I think it confused Kaitlyn at first.  She might have thought it was you until we told her who it was.  But you know Kaitlyn, she is very shy and doesn't care much for strangers - she ended up hanging out with her all night.  And yesterday, I told Lexi it was your birthday.  She got SO excited and looked up and exclaimed, “Happy Birthday great Grandma, have fun with Jesus today in heaven!”   I will forever be grateful that they got that chance to spend time with you and got to know you since there are so many children who never get the chance to meet a great-grandparent.  Well, I hope you had a great birthday with Grandpa yesterday and we all love you and miss you Grandma!

Love,

                      
One of your Favorites ;)

Happy Birthday Grandpa Jack!

Happy “would have been” 92^nd Birthday to my very special Grandpa Jack.

When I think of him, I think of him sitting at the kitchen table, drinking his coffee and watching the birds outside of his window.  I also think of the rubber band guns and the beautiful rocks he worked with inside of his garage. 

I was never too close to my Grandpa Jack, as he had 26 other grandchildren to share his love with, but I’m sure I was just as special as the others.  However, when I was about 20 years old, I took the time every now and then to just go over to their house on Mulberry Street and visit him and my Grandma Fran with  my cousin Liz.  We loved the conversation and just hanging out with them.  This is where my relationship with my Grandma got much stronger as well.

My Grandpa passed away on March 20, 2002 of lung cancer.  We all knew it was going to happen but we of course were not prepared at all for it.  He was the first person in my life that I was close to that had passed away.  It was a very hard time for my mom too, as she was SO close to her dad.  We all still miss him tons – and my Grandma too.  It’s unbelievable to me that it has been nearly 9 years since the last time that I saw his face or spoke to him – I remember that his last words to me were “I love you”.

From time to time, I think about how much he would genuinely love my two sweet little girls.  I just know he would get such a kick out of them, and would have just adored him.  It really makes me sad that they never got a chance to meet him.  And Josh too, Josh never got that chance to meet him, but I no doubt know that they would have been buddies – they shared a lot of the same interests and Josh would have sat and listened to his stories for hours, I just know it.  I am grateful for the time that my family got to spend with my Grandma Fran though, my girls still talk about her, and she was very special to each of them.

RIP Grandpa Jack – I love you, and I am happy you get to spend your birthday with Grandma this year for the first time in 8 years.

There Goes My Life...

Ever heard the song by Kenny Chesney "There goes my life"?  It's a great song and worth listening to if you've never heard it. 

The song begins, "All he could think about was, 'I'm too young for this, got my whole life ahead, hell I'm just a kid myself, how am I gonna raise one?'" 

After witnessing Kenny sing this song live in concert almost 5 years ago, I literally bawled my eyes out.  It is almost like it was written for Josh and I.

In the summer of 2002, I met Josh and we were party animals - although anyone that knew us then may agree with me when I say that 'party animals' just might be an under-statement.  Around Christmas that year, just after getting back from a cruise with him and his family, we found out I was pregnant.  Both of our lives did a complete 360.  We quit smoking and drinking and began preparing for a baby... it was definitely not normal at all for us.  I'm sure we really shocked alot of people back then.  It's crazy how much this one little girl changed our lives - for the good - forever.

"A couple years of up all night and a few thousand diapers later... that mistake he thought he made, covered up the refridgerator, oh yeah, he loved that little girl.  Mama's waitin' to tuck her in, as she fumbles up those stairs, she smiles back at him, draggin' that teddy bear, sleep tight, blue eyes and bouncin curls, he smiles, there goes my life, there goes my future, my everything, I love you, Daddy goodnight".  This is the second verse of the song.... now can you see why this song hits so close to home for me?  The pictures covering up the refridgerator, the blue eyes, bouncin' curls, obviously a Daddy's girl.... 

I Heart Food

Motivation to lose weight is something that I have been lacking lately. 

Since last week, I have been attempting to walk on the treadmill over my lunch hour.  When I say “walk”, I am speed-walking at 3.8 miles per hour, usually on an incline to increase the calories burnt.  I am so proud of myself that I am keeping up on this for close to two weeks now.  Goals have been set in my mind to burn 300 calories a day from exercise in an attempt to lose these ugly 10 lbs that I have gained over the last few months. 

But I don’t think exercise alone will cut it like I thought maybe it would.  It’s as if my weight is at a standstill.  Perhaps it’s time to step it up a notch, but I love food so much that I am not sure if it is possible for me to diet for more than a day.  I am the type of person to really, really appreciate how good food can taste.  I suppose I have some sort of self-control when it comes to food, because if I ate as much food as I really wanted to, I would probably weigh 300 pounds.  No lie.

Anyways, after talking to my sister-in-law about the 10 lbs that needs to be lost, she said she did some research on it and found that one tip was to switch up the exercise, don’t always do the same thing.  This is something that I don’t really do.  Walking on the treadmill is my easy way out and I like it because the amount of calories I am burning is right in my face.  Then, I got on the Internet and did a little bit of research of my own and found a great website: http://www.nowloss.com/weight-loss-plan-to-lose-your-last-10-pounds.htm.  It’s a free website that initially asks for your weight, height, age, gender, and activity level.  After all of these fields are entered, it calculates how many calories per meal and how many meals you should be eating per day.  Also, it gives tons of tips on how to lose 10 pounds quickly…. Some interesting things I learned….

·         Ice cold water burns more calories

·         The more water you drink, the less fat is stored

·         Rather than doing one long workout, you should do a few little workouts throughout the day

·         Drink a glass of water before each meal to fell full quicker

SO…. I am going to increase my cold water intake and also take advantage of the website’s short workout videos a couple times a day that can be done at home with no equipment.  A couple examples… jumping jacks and also setting up two chairs and running from one to the other as fast as you can. 

I’m hoping these tips will help me lose this weight before our big family vacation to Disney World in May!!  We shall see….

"You the BEST Big Sissy Evah"

March 8^th, 2007 – a day that forever changed my family’s lives. 

I know what you’re thinking.  One of my daughter’s birthdays? Our Anniversary? 

Nope.  March 8^th, 2007 was the day Josh and I found out that our second child was going to be another girl. 

Naturally, when we found out that we were expecting again, we didn’t care what we were having just as long as he or she was healthy, but we really wanted it to be a boy since we already had our girl.  I had no idea how much those six words “You guys are having another girl” would change our lives.  The most exciting part was seeing how excited Big Sister was that it was a girl.  She wanted a little sister SO badly and that is exactly what she got. 

I had never had a sister.  Growing up, I was the youngest child with two older brothers and I always wished for a sister.  After finding out what we were having, friends warned me about the sister thing… “Me and my sister always fought, we never got along!”, and ”Good luck having two girls!”, they would say.  I never let their talks scare me though.  All I could think about was how much fun it was going to be to dress them in the same outfits for family functions and pictures, and how Lexi was going to have the little sister that she wanted so badly.  (By the way, at the ages of 7 and 3, you can still catch my girls sportin’ the same outfits from time to time.)

My girls may argue and get on each other’s nerves at times – actually on a daily basis - but they are also the best of friends. On the weekends, they spend all of their time together playing Barbies, coloring, playing in the snow, having sleepovers, dress-up, the list goes on… and I wouldn’t want it any other way. 

And Kaitlyn is so right when she tells Lexi everyday, ”You the BEST big sissy evah”.  I have no doubt the feeling is mutual.

Wrapped around her finger

At this point in my life, I can honestly say that another baby is definitely not in my future...as much as it breaks my heart. This could be the reason I am trying so hard to hold onto my baby that I have now.  Sadly, she is 3 1/2 and gets smarter by the day and less and less dependant on Momma - she is probably too old to be called a baby.  I'm afraid that since she is my baby though, that she has me wrapped around her little finger and possibly will... forever.


This age my Katie Sue is at, it is my favorite.  I remember when Lexi was 3 and we just could not get over, neither could anyone else for that matter, how absolutely adorable she was.  Honestly, we couldn't walk into a public place without at least one compliment on Lexi - she had the most beautiful blonde curls, those big blue eyes, and a smile that could light up a room.  She was (and still is) an absolute beauty.   Anyways,  Kaitlyn is 3 years old  and I find myself really appreciating her baby-ish voice, the way she learns daily, the cute little laugh, and the constant loving that she gives me.  She has such a big heart, and she may just be the sweetest thing ever.  Somethings that I will never get sick of hearing her say are: I wuv you Momma and You're the BEST Momma ever.  This girl on average tells  me she loves me about 5-10 times per hour.  Randomly. Out of the blue she will walk up to me and give me a big hug and grab my hand and just kiss it.  Her love is so genuine, it's unreal to me how big of a heart this 3 year old of mine has. If you ask any of her favorite people, they will tell you too.  She makes sure that daddy, big sister, her grandmas, and her papa know just how much they are loved too.


Yup, she's got me wrapped around her finger BIG-time.