~ Wendy's Blog ~

Proud Mama of a 4 year old Boy

2009-05-13T09:03:00.006-05:00

It's Evan's birthday today! Wow - 4 years has just flown by. Actually, he doesn't officially turn 4 until 9:26 pm tonight. But hey, let him enjoy his day.

He woke up this morning in a very good mood. He said, "I'm FOUR" - today is my birthday. It was so cute. I reminded him that now that he's four, he's even a bigger boy and four-year olds don't suck on their thumbs. Yeah, way to go me -- tactfully using child psychology on him. ;) He agreed and went on his merry way.

I made cupcakes (rainbow ones) for him to take to Ms. Lynn's house. When we arrived, there was a "Happy Birthday" sign and then another sign that said Happy Birthday Evan. So cute. She also decorates the house when its some one's birthday.

We head off to Chuckee Cheeses tonight for a dinner birthday. We're also meeting Evan's "twin" Greer and her family. Greer is four hours older then Evan. When they are together, its like having twins! In the past, we have had joined birthday parties for Greer and Evan. But this year, we scheduled it separately. Greer had her party at Monkey Business last Sat., and this Sat., Evan will have his at our house. We're pretty excited....I'm still contemplating on making a cake or buying a cake. I planned on making a custom snake cake, but then Evan decided he wants a Hippo cake. He's into hippos now. Anyway -- what to do? You'll have to see....I'll post pics up after his party.

On another note...we are still looking for a van. Preferable a Toyota Sienna (yr. 2000 & up). Anybody know of anyone selling one locally? We'd travel maybe 2 hours radius from our house to find a good deal. Let me know.

New SpringWidget

2009-04-23T10:30:00.001-05:00

Get this widget!

Something Funny

Random Thoughts

2009-04-08T09:47:00.009-05:00

Happy that my friend April had her baby. Welcome baby girl Piper Louise. I'm thankful that she had a great delivery.

Stayed up late last night and watched "The Dark Knight" - it was rather long & dark.

Oh, I'm happy that Cy shaved his head. Yes - for 48 hours he had blond hair. It was rather amusing. I couldn't believe he did that - but he did. Must be a "mid-life" crisis or something.

I find that Evan is growing and growing and getting bigger and bigger everyday. He's starting to answer back and well, gives some attitude too. I'm sure this is normal for a almost four year old.

I can't believe it'll be Easter already. Time is just flying by....

Our little garden is doing well, and the tomatoe plants and sweet banana pepper plant are also growing and doing well. We water them almost everyday.

That's all for random thoughts.

Pictures above are Cy bleaching his hair, Evan's reaction, the end results and "Garfield" shaved.

Below: Evan and Gigi - he put my pink pearl necklace around her head...poor girl!

Should I ignore it or say something?

2009-03-17T14:10:00.003-05:00

Didn’t think anything about it until I got to work. I’m wearing green today. Frankly, I don’t care about St. Patrick’s Day. I definitely don’t have Irish in me at all. To me, it’s just another day. Note to self – don’t go to the Vista when St. Patty’s Day is celebrated. Over the weekend, we decided to get a bite to eat at Monterrey’s near my office. Uh – yeah – bad decision. Little did we know that the Five Points crowd were making their way to the Vista and already arrived. The waiter directed us to the back corner booth. We thought, hey, that’s cool. It’s in the corner – no sweat. WRONG! First next to us were a bunch of girls just gaggling over random stuff. Of course all dressed in green. Evan kept staring at the one girl who had a green headband on her head. Guess he was trying to figure out the bonging green clovers on her headband. Whatever.

The trouble became clear as soon as we reached our table. A group of six were sitting diagonally from us, and clearly they were all drunk. Cursing and foul language permeated from that table. I as a parent thought, hummm this isn’t good. My 3 year old is in his “repeat after me” stage, and it would be horrible, just horrible if he started repeating, WTF and what a B** all the time. Ah, yeah – no way. Did I mention we were super hungry? So, what’s a parent to do, but to say something. I told the waiter, um, I think we’re not going to stay. He asked why, I told him we hear some inappropriate language and its just not something I want my child to be hearing. He said, do you mean the table behind me. Yes, I said. He then said, I will talk to the manager and do something. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it. I thought to myself, man – I remember when I was single and this stuff didn’t bother me. I just let it roll of my shoulders. Totally different when you have a kid. TOTALLY!

You know what happened next, right? The manager goes over to the table (thankfully, they were finished eating and just killing time to head to the next destination to get even more drunk), starts talking and then leaves. Next thing you know, the guy who is like totally wasted already gets even louder. Is making a scene, making comments such as asking which table is it, rude comments about Mexicans, etc. Ah – yeah, I’m not Mexican dude. One of girls chimes in and starts going at it. In the end - the left (thankfully). But then more drunk patrons started coming in for dinner. We finished our dinner and left. We exposed our son to such vulgar bad language. AAHHHHH!!

I DID SAY SOMETHING and felt better about it too!

Random Blog for February

2009-02-26T12:51:00.007-05:00

Because its been FOREVER since I posted a blog - here's a little something to catch you up:

I can't believe its already the end of February. Do you know what that means? I only have 2 1/2 months to prepare for Evan's 4th birthday party. Now is it necessary to have a party? Of course - why not! I remember my childhood days, and honestly, I can't remember having very many birthday parties. I don't know why. Must not been too memorable for me. I'm sure my mother would say otherwise. I do remember one particular birthday I had when were stationed in Virginia. Had a Wonder Woman cake and I also remember donuts hanging on a string. I actually have a picture somewhere of this particular birthday. I'm unsure about Cy's childhood birthday's. I better make a mental note to ask him. In any case - I think its important to celebrate your child's birthday. It's a special day and it should be celebrated!

We've got a few things reserved so far...the hard part is inviting kids. Do I invite kids that Evan hangs out with all the time? Do I exclude those kids who are two years younger than him or six years older than him? What to do -decisions, decisions. I don't want to hurt any one's feelings, but hey - a party cost's money! Well, it's not May yet - so I still have time to ponder over this.

WINTER JAM - went and had a blast. See clip below of Brandon Heath singing "Give Me Your Eyes". The place was packed! Girls went wild over Hawk Nelson. TobyMac was the bombdiggity!

TAXES - Gosh - its seems like I just blogged about taxes. But it was about last years taxes. This year - I didn't complain too much about doing our company taxes. I think last years preparation helped me. So, now I'm struggling to get our own personal taxes together before we get someone to file them for us. Thankfully, a very, very good friend recommended her tax guy. I called him up and he said he would be available. That's that.

PICKLES - Don't think I mentioned Pickles who is our newest addition to our family. He is a pure breed Siamese kitten from Stow, MA. He is the cutest kitten ever! We have to take him to the vet tomorrow to get his rabies shot and also make an appointment to get him neutered. Certain indications (like grabbing the nape of Gigi's neck, who by the way is our old virgin female Siamese - she's 13 yrs. old) has lead us to believe the time is now to get him neutered. Plus, we hate to see him mature and then start spraying his territory. No way!

GO TO BED WITH A GLADIATOR (that's your husband - the gladiator) - This past Sunday I heard some good and helpful preaching about learning to respect your husband. A word was mentioned during the sermon and it was "emasculate". You don't ever want to emasculate your husband. What does this mean? The word means “to socially render a male less of a man" or “to make a male feel himself to be less of a man by subjecting him to humiliation”. Guess what chica's - we as wives need to encourage our husbands - DAILY! The bible says to in Ephesians 5:22. Go google it. We must be submissive to our spouse. Taken from the pastor's blog, you can do the following to help your spouse feel like a gladiator - not a wimp.

Go towards him and initiate a sexual encounter with him, and do it often, when he is not expecting it. This is number one, not just because he loves sex (though he does), but this is the ultimate way to communicate to him at the deepest level that you really desire him. And since he is a guy, you don't even need to take him out to dinner or put a bunch of time and energy in romance beforehand. Is that bad - it is true. Just spontaneously initiate with him, guys need this initiation from their wives.
Verbally affirm your respect for him by complementing him in ways he would want to hear it, not ways you would say it to another lady. (e.g. I really appreciate your hard work to provide for us, I really appreciate your care for me, etc.)
Resist the temptation to give him instructions on things he already knows how to do, this feels like mothering to him.
Brag on your husband in the presence of others, including your kids.
Offer and show interest in their interests and do some of those things with them. Men like to play so go and play with them, whether it is golf, fishing, biking, etc.

On a personal note, #3 is a little hard for me since we are still in the process of renovating our house.

FACEBOOK - Yeah - I'm on FB and have limited myself from this addicting website. I can't help but check on every one's status. It's such a waste of my time -but I like it.

DISNEY LIVE - I'm excited to see Evan's face when we take him to see Disney Live at the Colonial Center. He'll be seeing Mickey and his friends, Handy Manny and also Little Einsteins. An expensive event, I'm sure. It'll be fun for him and bonding time for all of us.

Well, until next time I get motivated to blog again...have a good one!

The start of 2009

2009-01-03T21:12:00.010-05:00

Let's see...it's the new year already? I can't believe it! The month of December has just flown by and I didn't even get a chance to enjoy it! Well, I take that back. I did enjoy the visit from my sister and her family. They were here in SC for all but two days, but it felt longer than that to me. Then Cy's good friend Aleks came last Monday and left yesterday (Friday). That visit felt short to me. Probably b/c I was keeping busy and Cy did most of the entertaining and I kept watch over Evan.

For New Year's eve we jumped in the car at 8:50 pm and high-tailed to Finley Park. At 9 pm there was a fireworks display and we made it just in time. The fireworks hit our faces and it felt like they were falling right over us. It was a pretty scene and we enjoyed all 10 minutes of it. Yep - just 10 minutes. We quickly jumped back in our van (didn't want to get caught up in the jammed up cars heading out of the parking lots) and headed to Wally World. Needed to buy some ice cream to go with the brownies I made. Hardly anyone in there....typical crowd.

We decided to put Evan down and not let him stay up with us to watch the ball drop. He stayed up last year and was a great trooper. We knew it would be best to put him down early since he had an exciting day the next day at Ms. Lynn's (in-house daycare). I'll get to that after I talk about us bringing in the new year. So, it was me, Cy and Aleks at our house. They ate ice cream and brownies, while I enjoyed fresh popped popcorn. I love popping my own corn on the stove. It's the best! We flipped channels between Dick Clark and the other station who was celebrating in Vegas. I feel bad for Dick Clark. It was hard to concentrate on what he was saying due to his health condition. He just looks like he's going down hill. He just needs to retire. Then you got Kelley Pickler in her southern accent and I have no clue what was up with her eyes..she had some weird looking makeup on. It was either watching that or Miley Sirus' New Year's Eve show. I made it and stayed up to watch the ball drop! Cy busted out the bottles of champagne we had received as a gift from someone oh, say three years ago ( it was Brut dry and Extra Dry). I'm not a drinker and toasted in the new year with a glass of water. About 12:15 am - I told the boys I'm off to bed. When I woke up, I found out Cy and Aleks finished off BOTH BOTTLES and didn't get to bed until 3 am. Bummer for them. They were hurtin', but I was more thankful that those bottles were gone. Got really tired of seeing them way in the back of the cabinet. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to get rid of those bottles long time ago. But see, I'm married to Cy. Cy - the one who throws NOTHING AWAY! Nothing. I won't go there...onto Evan's excited day!

As a Christmas gift to us and some other parents, Lynn decided to have a sleep over at her house. YES! A break from kids. And boy, we took full advantage. Dropped Evan off at 4:30 pm and were told to pick him up the next day by noon. Cy and I went out to dinner, hung out at Barnes and Noble, shared a cup of coffee at Starbucks then headed to Blockbuster to rent a movie. We agreed to watch Indiana Jones. It wasn't a bad movie. Afterwards, we got a second wind and started cleaning up. Cy's other friend Andrew was due the next morning. Had to cleanup the guest room again. Aleks was just in there, so I had strip the bedsheets off, clean the bathroom, etc.You know how that goes...

Andrew drove from Virginia and was stopping for a day/night before heading off to Texas. As I type this - he and Cy are watching football. Andrew leaves tomorrow. Then in another two weeks, Cy's aunt is driving from MA to visit us for a week.

So, as you can see - I've been busy. I didn't even set any new year resolutions either. Well, I did in my head, but it helps to physically write them down - that way I can follow through with them. Maybe I'll do them tomorrow after church. I'll at least have some time then. I'm hoping to have a nice relaxing Sunday. It's been a while since I've had a nice relaxing Sunday.

For a change, this blog is super long. I better cut it off now so that readers like you can get on with your life. I've let you in my little life for this long....stay tuned for more! Happy New Year!

Pictured Cy, Evan & Aleks @ Wild Wings

November 4th, 2008 - Election Day

2008-11-04T08:45:00.007-05:00

This morning, it took me 4 minutes from my house to Lynn's house (Evan's sitter), then 10 minutes from Lynn's to downtown Columbia. What's happening? The only action I saw from the road was the long line of voters in front of Eau Clare HS. God Bless them!

On the morning news, they showed pictures of the long lines at the polls. I'm thankful that I'm NOT in those lines today. Cy and I voted earlier two weeks ago. It was a "spur-of-the-moment" kinda thing and I'm thankful we decided to do that. Now, we can sit and relax and just wait for the outcome. Boy, I'm ready for this election to be over. All the hoopla talk about Obama and McCain has just been a whirlwind. I thought I left "politics" when I moved from the DC Metro area to South Carolina - NOT!

Now I'm at work and out of 18 employees - we only have six here in the office. Everyone else must be standing in those long lines I saw on TV this morning. The benefit of voting today? You get a "I VOTED" sticker once you're done. Then you can take advantage and go to Starbucks - they'll give you a free cup of coffee if you show them your sticker. WOW! And I hear that Krispie Kreme is handing out free donuts too! I think its a privilege and honor to vote. If you are still undecided -- then you've got issues. Again - with all the hoopla and talk about the running candidates -- HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW WHO TO VOTE FOR??

If you have stumbled on this blog and voted already - GOOD FOR YOU! THAT'S AWESOME!
If you have stumbled on this blog and haven't voted yet - MAKE SURE YOU GO AND VOTE! The SC polls close at 7 pm tonight. Don't forget your valid ID - they will be checking.

Peace!

Ready for the Fall Season

2008-09-17T08:27:00.010-05:00

Looked at our indoor thermostat and it said 67 degrees outside temp. Right then and there, I wanted to put on jeans, a sweater, and my dansko mules. It's coming people! Are you ready for the fall? I AM!

I did put on my jeans, walked around the house w/my pajama shirt on (still), running around finding a shirt (not a sweater), trying to get Evan up, listening to Cy talk about the news = all at the same time. Yes, I'm a talented mom. Hee...hee..

This past weekend we went apple picking with some friends (The Bennett's) and we had a blast. The apple orchard is located just north of Spartanburg, SC (about a 2 hr. drive). Because the gas prices are horrendous, we piled up in our van and headed to the mountains for the day. And let me tell you, it was beautiful. A perfect day to picking apples and making family memories. I think Cy and Evan had their bellies full of apples. I for one is not a fan of apples, so my consumption was very little. I did however favor the Asian Pears. They were the bomb-diggety! We picked $14 bucks worth of apples and 3 lbs. of Asian pears. I plan to make some apple desserts.

Before this apple picking trip, we had been reading about apple picking and we got this awesome book from the library called, "Apple Farmer Annie". Being the well-prepared mom, Cy and I read this book to Evan and introduced him to apple picking through this book two weeks prior to our mini trip. We knew we were going to go apple picking and we wanted to get Evan to realize the concept of apple picking. On the morning of, I woke Evan up and said, "Good morning Apple Farmer Evan. Are you ready to go pick some delicious apples?" HE SPRUNG UP and said, "YES!" We bought the book w/us to read on the car. It was an experience we won't forget. The orchard was just beautiful. There were rows and rows of all different kinds of apples to choose and it catered so much to families. They had a playground, a barn of animals, a bamboo forest path, a bee hive, and of course tons of apple desserts. The donuts were awesome and the apple cider slushy cooled us off.

Like I said, it was a great day to form family memories and we are sure to keep this a tradition.

Click here to see pictures of "APPLE FARMER EARLY'S".

Misconception

2008-07-25T10:11:00.007-05:00

* Evan feeding Christie @ the Riverbank Zoo.

For the record - We are not (by far) expecting a new addition to our family. I have had several friends assuming that I am. I may look it - since the recent pictures taken show a "puffy stomach" -- but really -- the answer is no.

Not that we wouldn't want to have a baby, but for now we are waiting.

So - just to ease everyone. Sorry!

What a laugh! I needed that!

It's FRIDAY and I have big plans for the weekend. Big plans you ask? Yep - cleaning and organizing. That's my big plans. That, and spending some time with my little man Evan! He's a hoot and so much fun to be around. Especially when he's well-rested. Cy will conquer the kitchen again. Attempting to pull up the subfloors he put down last week. We had a little buckle and expansion with the wood. Ah - you live and learn, right?

My parents are due in next month and there is much need for reorganizing stuff. I say organizing, but really mean GET RID OF STUFF! Cy, I'm sure will have his radar on. He hardly throws anything away. And to my dismay, I try to get rid of stuff that we don't need or don't ever use. His way of getting rid of stuff is putting it to the side and/or craigslist it.

Evan Milestones: Offically potty trained, wants to do everything himself (literally), is talking back (with some attitude), STILL likes Thomas and is persistant about fixing his train tracks in his room, and loves going to the Riverbank Zoo. There's more -- but I don't have time to type it all!

Have a productive and happy weekend!

Edisto Beach

2008-07-24T15:19:00.000-05:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Blueberry Picking on the 4th of July

2008-07-16T11:29:00.002-05:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Taxes are done!

2008-04-15T09:18:00.005-05:00

Woo hoo! We did it! We finished our taxes last night. I won't go into details, but I will just say that it's all good. After we were done, Cy said, "well, guess we can go back home now". Which translates to, "we can afford to visit Hawaii." After sitting there at the accountants office for an hour and a half, we ate a quick bite at San Jose's. I asked Cy if he was serious about going "back home" - and he said he was joking. And my response was, umm...it would be nice to go back home for Christmas.

Rhojon -- don't start getting excited now. I highly doubt we're going back home. I much rather spend $$ on renovating the Marley house. Our kitchen is a disaster! I can't wait until we get a new kitchen. It's gonna be awesome!

I've been super busy lately. When am I not busy? This Sat., Cy and I will be driving up to Greer, SC to see Jon & Kate from the hit reality TLC show Jon & Kate plus 8. Evan will be spending time at the Bennett's. Then the following weekend we're attending a wedding. Then it'll be May.

May - this will be a busy month for us! We're celebrating Evan's 3rd birthday - kicking it off to visit Cy's aunt who lives in Atlanta. Then driving to Chattanooga, TN for A Day Out With Thomas the Tank Engine. That is going to be fun! Then the following weekend we're having Evan's birthday party. I'm really nervous about the cake because I'm making a Thomas the Train cake for him. It's going to be very, very, challenging! Then we're going camping on another weekend....it just goes on and on and on.....

Anyway - back to work for me!

It's the WEEKEND!! WOO HOO!

2008-04-04T14:56:00.003-05:00

Seems as if this weekend started out fast for me, but then today -- its been slowing down. I feel like this day is just dragging on. Maybe because I'm not as busy. For the past few days I have been super busy here at work. From editing a report, producing it, printing, binding, packing it for shipping - making sure it gets to Jeddah - and in between, tracking a visa. I've been busy!

This weekend, I'm ready for some relaxation. I have my Saturday planned out for me - scrapbooking. Yep, I said it - scrapbooking. I am going to make Sat. a day to start on Evan's scrapbook. I got the first five pages done - by someone else. LOL... I need to "catch-up" on the last two years of his life. The hardest part is picking and choosing which photos I want to use. That's the hard part!

The weather here has been crazy. One minute I've got Evan wrapped up in sweaters and wearing his winter hat. The next minute I have him wearing short sleeves. YIKES!

My heart is warm....

2008-03-26T10:01:00.003-05:00

Nothing warms my heart when I hear the words I love you.

Last night, I wasn't feeling good. My throat was sore and I just wasn't feeling good at all. Thankfully, I survived the night and put Evan down to bed at 8:10 pm - this is after reading Dr. Suess' "Fox and Sox" book. A nice tongue-twister book that Evan is obessed with. I tend to read it more, since I like tongue-twisters.

Try saying this five times in a row - "red leather, yellow leather". My mother taught me this.

After we prayed, I told Evan mommy didn't feel well and he asked if I was sick. I told him yes. His response, "I'm sick too". LOL....I told him he wasn't and kissed him goodnight.

This morning when I woke him up, took him to the potty and all of sudden in a clear sentence, he asks - "Mommy, are you all better? Are you better?". I actually wasn't feeling better, but after hearing him ask me that....my heart just warmed up. How could I not feel any better when your little boy is concern too?

I got to work at 8:30 today, but now I'm heading back home. I still don't feel better. I think I have sinus issues. My nose just keeps running and my throat is still sore. Anyway, I wanted to share about my special moment. I'll cherish that moment always.

My little helpers...

2008-02-18T13:53:00.003-05:00

This month is going by so fast and March is fast approaching. Definitely ready for the spring and summer months. Just yesterday we spent about 2 hours trimming trees and bushes, cutting trees down, and clearing leaves in our front yard. It looks a lot better, but we still have lots more to do. Yard work is very, very time consuming. Evan did his part in helping. He helped rake leaves, but just not into piles. Of course, we're always going to have work inside of the house. Cy installed a door to our bedroom. Can't close it yet because we don't have a door handle. That's another step...drilling a hole for the handle. OH - but we'll have to go to Lowes to buy a handle first. That trip itself takes about half a day. LOL.

Here’s a little video of Cy fixing a window screen, Evan of course is "helping". I love it when they work together as a team. It’s so cute! Sorry it’s a little bit dark – not too much light in the hallway.

A Great Weekend in Charleston, SC

2008-01-28T10:15:00.000-05:00

We had a great weekend in Charleston, SC. A 1.5 hour drive down to the coast. We drove down on Sat., spent the night and then on Sunday went to the SC Aquarium. FOR FREE!! It was appreciation day for all residents of SC - thus instead of paying $16 per adult and $8 per child for tickets -- WE SAVED $40 BUCKS! What a savings and well worth it too! We all enjoyed seeing the marine life and just being together as a family. We decided to go early, since we knew it was going to be packed. What a wonderful trip we had!

After the aquarium, we drove around downtown historic Charleston and found the neatest playground. We had fun there too! Just enough time to burn some energy! I've got a few pictures from our trip, but more on myspace page. Check it out:

http://www.myspace.com/kuuleimaui

Sickness be gone!

2008-01-22T14:07:00.000-05:00

Here in SC, the weather has been up and down, up and down, cold one day, hot the next day - to the point where people can get sick. My two guys got sick. At first, Cy thought he just had sinus problems - nose running, nasel drip to the throat, etc. Gradually, it got worse. Four days into it - he realizes he has the many symptoms of the flu. Just yesterday (Monday) is was 85% better and today -- he's about 98% better. Still has the annoying cough. Evan on the other hand - he too was sick last week. I personally think it was the weather. I'm so proud of him though. He's a trooper. The last time Evan was sick like this, was -- get this --LAST MARCH 07'. Yeah! Not bad for a toddler who is exposed to practically everything! He takes his daily vitamin JP+ gummies for kids (http://www.juiceplus.com/) and that I believe has made a major impact on his health. I highly recommend it! So, Evan had a little cold, stayed home for two days and then headed back to Lynn's house (his sitter). While Evan stayed home with his daddy -- they made the best of it! I came home one day and saw in my living room a homemade slide built by Cy. Yeah -- my sickly hubby built a slide for our not-feeling-good little boy. It's awesome.

It's another week and everyone is feeling great!

This past Sunday, I took Evan to see "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" movie. He loved it! What a great Veggie Tales movie! The Bennett's joined us too! I think Evan has seen more movies (in the theater) than Cy and I in the last two years. WOW!

Another busy month

2008-01-11T11:02:00.000-05:00

Who would've thought that January would be busy for me? I totally forgot about tax season! Not only am I responsible for gathering all the tax docs for our personal accounts, but I also have to gather tax stuff for the shop and I'm also in charge of W2's for the company I work for. YIKES! Okay - next month should be a lot calmer. :)

We're already at the end of the 2nd week of the year and things are just going, going, going. We are ssssllllllooooowwwwlllyyyy (slowly) unpacking boxes that's in our spare bedroom. I think every time we're looking for something we need, we head off to the spare bedroom to look in one of the boxes. Last night, we invited our friends over for dinner - pizza, salad and dessert. Well, Cy was looking all over the house for our Pampered Chef pizza cutter. To our dismay -- he couldn't find it. We used our cutting knife to cut the pizza's - but it would've been a lot easier with the pizza cutter.

Oh - while I was looking for something else a few days ago, I found Evan's Christmas present that was sent to us two months ago from my sister who is in Germany. Evan opened it and loved it! He got a talking dustbuster toy! Thanks Auntie Rhojon!

Note to self -- we need to unpack and put things where they belong so we could find it!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-04T12:16:00.000-05:00

It's a NEW YEAR! Woo hoo! Time to wipe my slate clean and start all over. :)

We had a nice relaxing Christmas day morning at home. The sequence went as follows:

Woke up - made coffee - woke Evan up - read the birth of Jesus - prayed - opened gifts (revealing Evan's big gift - his TRAIN TALBE AND TRAIN SET) - relaxed a bit - ate breakfast - got ready - went over to the Lewes Circle house to finish packing up the rest of the stuff from the garage - a few hours later - headed over to the Worley's house for Christmas dinner - got home after 8 pm.

Our renters arrived the day after Christmas and we had to make sure everything was ready. It wasn't of course. Cy still had some lingering clutter in the garage, plus we still need to go over and get our swing set. Now that the Lewes Circle house is rented, we can put our focus back on the Marley house. We're making a continual effort to get a few things done here and there everyday. This morning we woke up at realized our pipes froze over night. Umm... NOT GOOD. So, that's something Cy is fixing TODAY! It's a 50 year old house -- its expected, since the plumbing in this house is pretty crappy. Oh - and our new years eve -- we spent watching, well - Cy spent watching (while I was upstairs) the septic guys pumping out our septic tank. It became "full" and thank goodness -- we saw it in time before it became a mess. Literally! Again, its an old house.

For new years eve, we went over to a friends house, and Evan had a chance to play with his buddy Colt. Pictures coming soon...I'm having trouble posting it.

2007-12-27T14:45:00.000-05:00

We spent Christmas at home - but it was a very busy day for us! Christmas morning was exciting this year because Evan is getting more into, unlike the last two years where we opened the gifts for him. He was much more interested this year. He did reallly well sitting on my lap as Daddy read the Christmas story from the Bible and then we prayed before opening our gifts. It's all about the birth of Christ -- and that's our main focus.

We waited till the very end to reveal Evan's "big" present which was a train table with the wooden train track set and Thomas and Percy trains. He absolutely LOVES IT!

A few hours after that, we headed over to the Lewes Circle house to clear more stuff from the garage. YES - PRAISE GOD - we have renters! They arrived yesterday (Wednesday) and everything went smoothly. Very nice family! Today - Cy and his buddy are going back to finish clearing out the garage. I have to say, most of it IS CY'S!! After today -- we are done with the Lewes Circle house. There's a few things here and there, but our next focus is the Marley house (again). There's still lots more stuff that needs to get done.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. For Christmas dinner we went over to the Worley's house. That was fun and relaxing. We also had fun going to the River Bank Zoo! It was a great night to go -- not too crowded, not too cold and no tigers got loose.

Happy New Year to all....

WE FINALLY MOVED!

2007-12-11T14:59:00.000-05:00

Yep - this past Sat., we spent the night at the Marley house. Woo hoo! We're so happy to be in a bigger home. Now, we're just waiting to get our old house rented. Tons of things to do as Christmas is fast approaching. I've mailed one box to my sister who is in Germany. I have two more boxes to send to Hawaii - but first have to wrap the gifts. This is very time consuming. Evan has already opened one of the gifts, and I had to rewrap it. We plan to put our Christmas tree up within the week. We're kinda behind on that since we had to move.

Seems like everyone is so busy! busy! busy! Our company Christmas party is this weekend, and I'm preparing for that. I have a lot on my plate this week. Anyway, enjoy some pictures we took last week at the state capitol grounds near my office.

OH - also my little sister Torie drove from Texas. It was a very short visit. Evan and her had lots of fun!

Christmas Season is HERE!!

2007-11-27T09:27:00.001-05:00

To those who wake up for those big sales on Black Friday -- YOU ARE NUTS!

I have to admit, I'm one of those nuts this year. It was 3:30 am, Friday. I was standing in line at Kohl's waiting for the doors to open at 4 am. Thank goodness my mom was up, so I had a conversation with her while waiting for the time to pass. I only bought two things from Kohl's. A gift for myself - A KITCHEN AID and then something for Evan. Fifteen minutes in Kohl's - I was off to Toys R' Us. They opened at 5 am. So, another 3o minutes wait in line. There were at least 100 people in front of me, and who knows how many behind me. It was wild! There were a few shoppers who were standing in line specifically for a ZUNE. I on the other hand, was standing in line to get some deals on some games for my nieces and nephews. Once in, got my items - I stood in the check-out line for 30 minutes. Nothing like standing in a long line with a store full of grumpy people who want to cut in line. Then behind me was a woman. She was nice, but boy reeked of cigarette smoke. UGH! I managed then headed off to one more store before heading home.

I got home about 6:30 am. The boys were still asleep. I've done most of my shopping online this year. Placed my orders last week, and received them yesterday! All with FREE SHIPPING!

We still haven't moved into the Marley house. It's coming so close though! The HVAC system is being installed, so that should take a few days. We now have hot water. Woo hoo! Cy fixed the water heater and also fixed the plumbing too! If you have seen the before pictures, and the after pictures -- you'll see we've come a long way!

I have at least three parties to attend in Dec. Including a Longaberger Party held on Dec. 3rd at Tamara's house. Then I have my church small group party, my office party, the Kidscoast party. Whoa - that's four parties. Then celebrate our 5th anniversary! Gosh, I can't believe its been that long. We've made it to five years! WOW! Still going strong too! For those who are married, I receive a really neat daily email from http://www.marriagevine.com/. Sign up - its just a few paragraphs on the subject of being married - basically food for thought from a biblical standpoint.

Merry Cheers!

Wendy

Fall Season - one of my favorite seasons!

2007-10-04T09:11:00.000-05:00

I can't believe its October already! The month of Sept. has just flown right by. Last week I went on a three day road trip to Newark, Ohio to visit the Longerberger Homestead. What an experience! Traveling with 6 other ladies (most were Southern - mind you) we headed up to Newark, OH. It was a fun trip! I had the opportunity to make my own basket while there. That was a very neat and special experience. One of the many highlights was getting my basket signed by a Longerberger family member. Her name was Wendy too! It was good to get away for a few days from my hussle and bussle busy life.

Our little house on Marley Drive is coming along. Just thinking back, we bought the house on Aug. 1st, instantly had the grass cut, painted the mailbox and access the damage. A week later, we went on vacation to Japan - returned 2 weeks later and vigourously started to work on this house. We have owned this house a little over a month and have literally turned it upside down fixing it. The roof was fixed within a four day time frame, dry wall was put up in a weeks time, subfloors measured, cut and laid, and all new electric completed by Cy.It's down to finishing the bathroom, painting, install new carpet and refinishing the hardwood floors. You ask when we will move in? That's a question I'm asking myself too!

Pictured below is the living room - bare wall/dry wall

Another year gone by...

2007-09-24T10:05:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning feeling old. Actually, one more year older. Today is my birthday! It really doesn't feel like a birthday for me. In a few minutes I'll have to make a call to my mother telling her THANK YOU for giving birth. It's her birthday too! I've had several ecards sent - and really enjoyed all of them! THANK YOU!!

So, the infamous question is what do I want for my birthday? Cy asked me that question a few times over the weekend and I just said "World Peace". How dumb is that? My actual translation of "world peace" for me is -- a massage, a pedicure, a birthday cake, dinner, seeing a movie, flowers, new clothes, house renovations to be completed, new shoes, a facial, etc. I know men can't read minds, but I guess I'll have to see what I get for my birthday.

Peace

Back from Japan

2007-08-26T23:16:00.001-05:00

The Early's - behind is a view of Tokyo from Sky Gardens.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
After 2 delayed flights, then 2 cancelled flights, an evening spent at the Hilton Dulles Airport Hotel with food vouchers valued at $75.00(courtesy of United Airlines), another night spent at our friend Aleks' house in Falls Church, VA and 5 hours wait at Dulles for a flight home to Columbia -- WE MADE IT HOME.

We left Japan on Friday, Aug. 24th at 4 pm and arrived at IAD (aka Dulles International Airport) on Friday - the same day at 3:30 pm. Our 12 hour trip went by fast and Evan slept most of the way. I'll tell ya to you this way -- he didn't "eat" the plane food that was served. He was always asleep when the attendant came around. This was a good thing for us, b/c NOW -- he's over his jet lag and back on his normal sleeping schedule. I must say that Evan is an awesome traveler. He didn't fuss at all (well, only the normal fussing), but we had several people tell us how surprised that we even had a 2 yr. old traveling with us. One lady on the bus told me that she would have to prepare herself every time she saw a child get on the bus. She said that most, if not all children would cry during that three hour bus ride and it was very unpleasant for her. So, she said Evan was such a good boy. It was very uplifting to hear.

According to plan, we were to board our final destination flight at 5:01 pm. We spent at least 8 hours on Friday waiting, walking, double checking our flights for any time changes, standing in the long customer service lines to make flight changes, watching the many, many people walk up and down to each gate to catch their "ON TIME" flights. Oh and - watching Veggie Tales - "The Rumor Weed." OH well for that plan! Since our flight got cancelled (twice), we decided to just stay in VA for the weekend to visit our friends. We rented a car (PT Cruiser - which by the way, was very weird to drive considering that we hadn't driven in two weeks, plus we just came from a country that drove on the left side of the road) and had dinner with our friends Tino, Lisa and their daughter Olivia. We ate at the Silver Diner. Afterwards, Evan had lots of energy to burn, so we went to Tyson's Corner Mall (suggested by our friends). BOY - was that cool! They had a neat play area for kids and Evan had a blast.

I will have pictures posted soon on our website. We forgot our digital camera at Aleks' house and will have to wait for Aleks to mail our camera to us.

Thanks to those who prayed for our trip to Japan.