Christine's World

Awesome Giveaway!

2010-06-11T21:17:00.001-07:00

Love this! @beautyandbedlam is giving away 1 of a kind personalized art @modern_bird http://bit.ly/bbdrcat #dadsroc

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-11T14:28:00.001-07:00

Hi! @MrsMoneysaver is giving away a Sony Reader from @SonyElectronics. http://bit.ly/9iBkvw #dadsrock #sony4dad

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hi! @MrsMoneysaver is giving away a gourmet grilling basket from @BarSFoods. http://bit.ly/bnY3uf #dadsrock #meat4dad

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-11T12:16:00.001-07:00

Hey! @TheThriftyMama is giving away a Remington Shaver from @RemShaveGroom Enter to win http://bit.ly/ttmrem #remington4dad #dadsrock

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-11T12:12:00.001-07:00

Hey! @TheThriftyMama is giving away a $100 Home Depot GC from @lastmingifts Enter to win! http://bit.ly/ttmlmg #cash4dad #dadsrock

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-11T12:06:00.001-07:00

Hey! @TheThriftyMama is giving away a Zondervan Devotional Gift Set for Dad. Enter to win! http://bit.ly/ttmzon #books4dad #dadsrock

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

Whoa! @TheThriftyMama is giving away a Flip Slide HD from @flipvideobrand Enter to win! http://bit.ly/ttmflip #flip4dad #dadsrock

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

Hi! @MrsMoneysaver is giving away a 60-inch Mitsubishi TV! Enter here: http://bit.ly/92sKVV #dadsrock #mitsubishi4dad

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-10T17:34:00.000-07:00

Hi! @MrsMoneysaver is giving away a @Powermat wireless charging system bundle. http://bit.ly/btBGzd #dadsrock #power4dad

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

Hey! @TheThriftyMama is giving away Corel Digital Studio 2010 from @corelds Enter to win! http://bit.ly/ttmcorel #corel4dad #dadsrock

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-10T16:19:00.001-07:00

Hey! @FaithfulProv is giving away a @FlipVideoBrand Slide camera! Stop by to enter http://bit.ly/fp-flip . #DadsRock #flip4dad

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-10T15:49:00.001-07:00

WOW! @TheThriftyMama is giving away a $250 @powermat prize package! Enter to win! http://bit.ly/ttmpowermat #power4dad #dadsrock

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

Hey! @TheThriftyMama is giving away 5 free Buffet Meals from Buffet.com. Enter to win! http://bit.ly/ttmbuffet #buffet4dad #dadsrock

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-10T14:57:00.001-07:00

Faithful Provisions.com is giving away a Corel Digital Studio 2010! Stop by to enter http://bit.ly/fp-corel

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-10T14:27:00.001-07:00

Hey! @TheThriftyMama is giving away a Sony Pocket Reader from @SonyElectronics Enter to win! http://bit.ly/ttmsony #sony4dad #dadsrock

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hey! @TheThriftyMama is giving away $10 #Amazon GCs to 7 winners! Enter to win! http://bit.ly/ttmamazon #amazon4dad #dadsrock

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-09T19:28:00.001-07:00

Hey @TheThriftyMama is giving away a $50 GC to @tjmaxx. Stop by and enter to win http://bit.ly/ttmtjmaxx #tjmaxx4dad #dadsrock

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-09T18:30:00.001-07:00

Faithful Provisions.com is giving away a lunchbox system! Stop by to enter http://bit.ly/fp-lunch

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

Faithful Provisions.com is giving away a Book Pack! Stop by to enter http://bit.ly/fp-zonder

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

Sweet! @SheSaved is giving away a bottle of 9iX Fragrance by Rocawear! Stop by to enter http://bit.ly/ssdrcat #DadsRock #roca4dad

Great Giveaway!

2010-06-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hey! @PennyPinchinMom is giving away $60.00 in @GottaGetaGridit Products #dadsrock # #grid4dad http://bit.ly/dr-cocoon

Great Giveaway on She Saved!

2010-06-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

Sweet! @SheSaved is giving away an Easy Lunch Box System! Stop by to enter http://bit.ly/ssdrcat #DadsRock #lunchboxes4dad

Great Giveaway at Penny Pinchin Mom!

2010-06-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

Hey! @PennyPinchinMom is giving away a $100.00 Home Depot e-card #dadsrock #couponcraze4dad http://bit.ly/dr-couponcraze

Where have I been?

2010-06-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything in over a year! Man how time flies! We are still in Cedar Rapids..looks like we will be here for a few more years. Dave is keeping very busy at work and we thank God for that! SIL got married last weekend. Sarah was so good! She had a great time with her Uncle and Grandpa. Drove her Aunt crazy asking for a piece of wedding cake tho! She even got the first piece for all her trouble! lol I am taking a "mental health day" today. I just needed to be alone for a couple of hours and clean my house. Dave took Sarah to school and will get lunch after. As I said I need to clean house..yet here I am on the computer! lol Oh well I can still get everything done before they get home...I hope. :o) Sarah's best friend is gone most of the summer on a road trip. She is missing her bigtime. Mommy is trying to keep her busy with parks and splashpads till she gets back. I have her signed up for a daycamp in July. It goes M-F for one week and lasts 3 hours. She will love it I think..it's about what lives in the dirt. Lord knows the girl spends enough time digging in it! haha She loves finding worms and all sorts of creepy crawlies. Mom thinks YUCK! But she is in heaven. Such a tomboy! hehe Well off I go for now!

Kinda Bummed about Christmas

2008-12-30T11:41:00.000-08:00

Rant ahead! ;o) I thought this year would be better. No getting up early to open presents then hurry to pack and head to Illinois. We slept in..late. Took our time opening presents had a nice lunch. But I kept missing my family. All of us sitting around the table..laughing and playing games. I am glad that Sarah got to stay here and play with all of her stuff. She was so happy with everything she got. Everything she opened was "I always wanted ___ !" LOL We headed up to Peoria on Friday the 26th. Went through terrible fog. I was driving..the only way I could have handled that stuff. It was awful. You couldn't see more than two car lengths in front of us. When I had someone in front of me I was ok..but as soon as their lights disappeared I wanted to cry. I was so stressed by the time we reached Peoria..I was hurting. We met my family for brunch Saturday then headed to my sisters house to open presents. I love buying for everyone..seeing them open gifts but we decided to only by for the kiddos this year. Before we reached her house my BIL decided to go get soda's. Now why the heck didn't they already have stuff since they knew we were coming days ago? So he takes an hour to get soda...and we open presents without him. He gets back and spends two minutes with us then goes into the kitchen to load the dishwasher and who knows what else. Again..what the heck?? We drive 3 hours to spend time with all of them and he does that? We all thought it was really rude. Dave, E and I play Wii for a little while. My other BIL is soooo bored with all of us you could tell he wanted out of there. My Mom takes off after about 20 minutes, my sister and BIL leave after maybe an hour. He kept saying to her we can stay if you want. But she does whatever he want..hell with her family. What happened to the days of playing cards..sitting around the table laughing?? I want those back dangit! We head over to FIL that night and his ex g/f is there. I can't believe he invites her over. This is the same woman he told to see other people. She supposedly stole a dress that belonged to my deceased MIL. He is also seeing a lady that he really likes...so why the heck ask this woman over when it should be family only. I couldn't have cared less if she was fine with just being his friend...but she is totally going to think that him having her there means he still wants her in his life. She thought he was going to marry her even after he told her that she should date other people! Then to top it off SIL isn't there. She spent Thanksgiving with her new b/f and spent Christmas there too. She said she was going to come back that weekend with him if she could get him to come to spend time with all of us. I knew that wasn't going to happen. I can't believe she just blows off her family like that. She is always the one driving 3 hours to see him..but he can't make the drive back to meet her family..let her spend some time with her brother and niece that she hasn't seen in 9 months? Then she goes on and on at her myspace page how she missed us and how much she loves S. Well now S has no clue what her Aunt even looks like. The poor kid thought Grandpa's friend was her Aunt! That's bad. Dave also brought up the trip my FIL is taking next year to visit his two sisters in Arizona. He said he was going in Feb. So Dave said make sure you keep the 14th open for S's birthday party. FIL said "Oh I won't be there..I am leaving around the 10th". I told dh that it's not like S's birthday changes every year! Ok..now maybe I shouldn't be upset by this. But the man is retired and so are his sisters. So why does he have to pick that time frame? He never ever comes up here to visit his granddaughter. He only sees her when we go to his house. Then he doesn't have much to do with her. I think he is kinda afraid to do to much with her. When she was a baby more times than not she would cry if gpa held her. I guess I just had this vision of my daughters grandparents and aunts and uncles wanting to spend a little time with her. I lost my Dad before Sarah was born and Dave lost his Mom before Sarah was born. So I really wanted the closeness with my daughter and her immediate family. My side can't spend enough time with her. My Mom would love nothing more than to be able to drive up here whenever she wanted and spend time with S. But she can't drive alone and gets tired easy. I don't doubt that the inlaws love her. But I wanted better for her. I always felt like my gparents didn't care that much about me. I was just another grandchild out of many. Well S is the ONLY grandchild on my husbands side and might be the only one he ever has. I guess I just have to come to the conclusion that she may never be close to her Grandfather or Aunt. Now Dave's brother is a totally different story. She loves him to pieces and he really loves her too. She will go to him immediatly and they will play together. He wants children of his own so bad. She will never be without love and for that I am greatful. I tend to spend time thinking about the what if's. What if my Dad was still alive? Or what if my MIL was still alive? Things would be different I'm sure. I needed to vent this...get it off my chest and hopefully get over my anger/disappointment. I figure it is their loss! She is such a loving and funny little girl and they are missing out on it! Other than that it was a good Christmas visit! LOL

Winter is here!

2008-12-08T21:40:00.001-08:00

Long time again since my last post. I have been busy but who isn't with an active 2 1/2 year old? She is spending alot of time outside or wishing she was there. She made snow angels today. It was so cute! Sounds like tonight and tomorrow we are going to get more of the white stuff. We are full steam ahead in potty training. She is doing really well. I am very proud of her. I forgot all about bringing a change of clothes with us when we headed to Wal-Mart the other day. She did great. She told me on the way home that she needed to go, so I rushed us to the nearest fast food place. Took her inside and she didn't have to go. As soon as we got home she ran to the big potty and went. Not sure if she just didn't want to go or just didn't have to at that moment. She continues to amaze people who hear her talk. They can't believe she is only 2. She gets very chatty with the cashiers when we checkout. :o) We had our family Christmas pictures done last week. Sarah was a happy camper till they took us into the room. Oh my goodness did she become a pain when they started to take pics. They finally got her to laugh and smile so we got a few good ones. Afterwards while we were waiting she became the official greeter. LOL We got our Christmas tree up and it is huge. Poor thing needs more decorations but I can't reach the top. That and the dog chases the cat several times a day so they knock off all the lower ones. I just moved them up..so the bottom and top kinda match. LOL We are staying here for Christmas and heading to see our families on the 26th. I want Sarah to be able to enjoy her presents and not have to rush through opening them at 6am. I am sure it won't be too many years when 6am will be a norm on Christmas morning! If BIL had been out of the picture (long story if you don't know it) we would have gone to my sisters house Christmas Eve and spent the night there. It sounded so nice since she has a fireplace. My dream is to have a house big enough so that our family can stay with us and we all wake up on Christmas morning together. Seems like someone is always gone when we celebrate. Dh's sister is prob going to be spending Christmas with her new b/f. FIL talked about going to Arizona over the holiday's. I think if Dave had his way we would be heading to a warmer destination too! Anywho...I hope you have a wonderful Christmas spent with loved ones!!! I'll go ahead and wish you a Happy New Year too..cause I know it will be forever before I post again! LOL

In One Word..

2008-08-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

Got this in an e-mail today...

1. Where is your cell phone? In my purse dying
2. Where is your significant other? work
3. Your hair? light brown
4. Your mother? Joyce
5. Your father? John
6. Your favorite thing? Sleep
7. Your dream last night? Can't remember
8. Your dream/goal? to live long enough to be a great-grandma
9. The room you're in? computer room
10. Your hobby? scrapbooking
11. Your fear? spiders
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? in OUR new home
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? patient
15. One of your wish list items? be out of debt
16. Where you grew up? Illinois
17. The last thing you did? laundry
18. What are you wearing? PJ's
19. Your TV? Off
20. You're pet? dog/cat/fish
21. Your computer? Dell
22. Your mood? Little lonely
23. Missing someone? My Dad & S
24. Your car? SUV
25. Something you're not wearing? Socks
26. Favorite store? Archivers
27. Your summer? almost over..yeah!
28. Love someone? YES!
29. Your favorite color? Purple
30. When is the last time you laughed? a few minutes ago
31. Last time you cried? yesterday
32. Who will resend this? n/a
33. How many sisters? 2
34. How many brothers? 0
35. How many children? 1

Long time..

2008-07-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how long I let my blog go. We have been fairly busy around here. Had to take our dog Sweetie back to the shelter. It was really hard to do..but it all came down to Sarah's safety. We decided to go with a smaller more family friendly dog. So we got a Papillon. He is a sweetheart for sure! He can't get close enough to me at night or anytime for that matter. His little tail just goes crazy when he sees Sarah. She is still learning how to be nice. But for the most part she snuggles him and tells him she loves him. Haven't had much contact with A lately. Last I heard they moved again. I did get 6 month pics of Olivia and she looks so much like her adoptive parents it is unreal. I know in my heart that she is where she is suppose to be. It took a little while to get over not being asked to adopt her..but now I know there was a greater plan. She looks so happy and so do her parents and that is more important than anything. My back has been giving me problems again. I have good days and bad ones. I hate not being able to stand for long periods of time...heck I have trouble standing for more than 5 minutes. I haven't been to the grocery store in 2 weeks. My wonderful hubby went a couple of nights ago and got the basics. I really need to go tonight. I have to hang on to the cart for dear life. It really sucks. Sarah has missed the last 2 swim classes because of me. I hate that. I just don't know if I can take bending over in very shallow water to pick her up..so we have stayed home. :o( She doesn't even ask about going. I did get her pool filled up yesterday and wouldn't ya know it...it is kinda cool today. GRRRR (I actually love the cooler weather..but feel bad for S KWIM?) Cute quote from Sarah yesterday...She was playing with moonsand. Great stuff but can be really messy for a 2 y/o. "Thank you God for moonsand. Help me be good with the moonsand...amen" Oh my gosh! I was at the computer and overheard her. Sooo sweet! We had told her that she had to be good and not make a big mess with the moonsand or she couldn't play with it again till she was older. Such a cutie! LOL I'm sure I'm not the only one..there are days you just want to scream with them not listening to a thing you say...and other days where you could just eat them up they are so sweet. :o) I miss my one day a week that I use to have to myself. It was only 2 1/2 hours..but so heavenly. We tried another play date location and it stunk. They put the 3 year olds in with the 2 year olds..even tho I was told that they were kept in seperate rooms. I was not happy. Plus an older girl pushed Sarah down and she scraped her chin on the woodchips. I just didn't feel comfortable leaving her there. I am trying to talk Dave into letting me use a babysitting service to have someone come here for a couple of hours a week. Then we would possibly have a babysitter for an occasional weekend out. That would be sooo nice to actually have a date with my husband! :o) We shall see I guess. Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. I won't even start in about ours...just that some members of our family are on my poop list. LOL If you got through all my rambling and are still with me...Thank you!! Hopefully I won't be such a stranger here. ;o)

Flower girl

2008-04-24T15:19:00.001-07:00

I took this picture the other day. Sarah calls the flowers stars. At first I had no idea why she was saying there were stars in the yard...till she walked over and smelled a "star". I guess they do look like stars huh? :o)

Funny Girl

2008-04-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted last! Dave gave Sarah her bath tonight and told her she needed to get some creame in her hair (leave-in conditioner) to which she started singing "creamy in her hair...creamy everywhere..I love the creamy girl" LOL It was sung to the I love the flower girl song. I sang just a couple of lines to her when she was younger and sniffing the flowers outside. LOL She loves to sing this and insert her own lyrics. Most of the time she has us in stiches when she does it. She also has started singing her ABC's...she gets most of them..but towards the end she will change them...like X becomes S. So she is really close to saying it right. I want to record her saying them but as soon as she knows I'm listening she stops...or starts picking letters at random. We had a good day at the grocery store today. She didn't use the "I don't like him/her" at all. She actually said "I like that lady...she's nice" at the checkout. I praised her for saying that..told her that was nice thing to say. We dove full steam ahead into potty training today. I set up a posterboard with her name at the top and squares next to each day to put stickers in. She used the potty four times today...only had one accident (#2). I bought a few goodies at the Dollar Tree for her rewards. At first she said I don't want any rewards..I don't want to use the big potty. But when she got up this morning she was ready to wear big girl diapers. (pullups) Now she is running all over the house asking if it is bedtime! LOL I pray that means tonight will go smoothly as I am on duty. hehe Better get her tucked in!

Quiz Time!

2008-03-01T08:14:00.000-08:00

Found this quiz on another bloggers site....

The Husband Quiz
The Husband Quiz

1. What is his name? Dave

2. How long have you been married? 7 years 5 months

3. How long did you date? Met in Feb, Married in September.

4. How old is he? 42

5. Who eats more? About the same..LOL

6. Who said "I love you" first? He did.

7. Who is taller? Same Height

8. Who sings better? I think we are pretty equal on this one. He sounds alot like Tom Petty..especially singing those songs. :o)

9. Who is smarter? Ohhh he is!

10. Whose temper is worse? Mine

11. Who does the laundry? Me...but he will help if I need him to.

12. Who does the dishes? The dishwasher..hehe..but again he helps me with it too.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you are standing at the end of the bed..he does

14. Who pays the bills? Me.

15. Who mows the lawn? Neither..we hire someone

16. Who cooks dinner? Me or we go out...he cooks about once every month or so...and it is yummy!

17. Who drives when you are together? In town..he does...long trips mainly me.

18. Who is more stubborn? Me

19. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Me.

20. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine..only because they tend to come here more often.

21. Who proposed? He did.

22. Who has more friends? He does

23. Who has more siblings? Same..2 each

24. Who wears the pants in the family? Me..LOL

2 years ago today...

2008-02-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

We were in St. Petersburg Florida staring into our newborn daughters eyes. I still can't believe it has been 2 years already! We had her party on Saturday. The weather cooperated thank goodness. Lots more toys were added to Sarah's collection. Tonight we are heading out to dinner to celebrate her birth and Valentine's Day. I hope they will sing Happy Birthday to her. She will be sooo happy if they do! We talked to her Birth Mom on the phone. Even Sarah's half sister talked to her. She is too cute. And her half brother said Hi too. We saved a couple of gifts for her when we get back from dinner. One is a kitchen set that she is going to love for sure. The other is a stroller for her doll. She will really like that too. Daddy won't care too much about all the small pieces! haha But it will be worth it to see her happy face when they are all put together. I'm trying to take more pictures...but it seems like a week or so goes by before I get any. I will take alot more tonight..but I need to try and do a better job of taking the everyday ones. Anywho...I sure do miss those days where the most she could do was roll over! haha She couldn't get into trouble for sure. :o) I am liking this stage alot tho too. We can talk to each other and she gets most of what I am telling her. That is so neat. To hear her put several words together is wonderful. We have so much to look forward too this year. Hopefully the big one being potty training. I have a feeling once we go full time with it she will train really easy. Oh joy to not changing any more diapers!! ;o) This entry took me forever to write. We had a good dinner and she loved her gifts. Daddy even brought us chocolates home. YUMMO!! He is sooo sweet. We are lucky to have him in our life. I got a really cute pic of him and her that I put at the top of the post. Happy Birthday my baby girl and Happy Valentine's Day!!

One month from today..

2008-01-14T11:19:00.000-08:00

My little baby turns 2! Before I started typing this, she was playing with her little potty that talks. She lifted the lid and it said "open" to which she said "closed" then it said "up" and she said "down". I am amazed at all she knows. We have people tell us all the time how smart she is..or they can't believe she can speak so well. Yup we are so proud of her! We got a scare at the pool this weekend. Well I did..Daddy was on the other side and couldn't see us. She is able to walk on the bottom of the baby pool. She decided to walk over to the edge and grab a toy out of the box. Her feel must have slipped cause she went under water. I swear it felt like an eternity before I got to her and got her back in my arms. I was only a little ways away. I thought she would lose it, but she was pretty calm. She wanted to go right back to standing on the bottom. Mommy on the other hand took a little longer to calm down. Dave made up a song when she was little that goes like this..Good morning Sarah..how are you my sarah..how are you doing today? Your hungry and thirsty and need a new diadie...that's how you are doing today. Well Daddy will change you and then he will feed you...and then we will be on our way. He went a couple of months without singing it..and just started it up again recently. Now Sarah will ask (ALOT) "How you doin today Mama?" I usually say "Great Sarah. How are you?" To which she says " I doin fine or I ok Mama". LOL Took me a little while to figure out that she got the question from her Poppa's song. So sweet! She always wants to kiss our pain away.."I make it betta". And it always does. I hope she never looses that caring and sweet side!

Christmas Eve

2007-12-24T21:33:00.000-08:00

I sit here realizing how much I am blessed. In 25 minutes it will be Christmas..I still need to vacuum and bring up presents from the basement, help set up Santa's gifts...and for some reason it took till now to really hit me how lucky I am...I mean I always knew it...just certain times really make it stand out. I have a beautiful family...Husband who loves me to pieces and a precious baby girl who tells me she loves me all the time. We have so much to be thankful for. I can't wait till the morning when Sarah wakes up and opens all of her gifts. It's the best feeling to see her so happy and excited. Sure we went overboard with gifts. But it is so much fun to buy for her. We went to Christmas Eve service tonight. I got teary eyed when we sang certain songs. I really miss going to church on a regular basis. Sarah was really good. She swayed to the music and even tried to sing a couple of songs. It was really cute. She would clap after each song. There is a guy in the choir that looks alot like Santa. Dave and I wondered if she would see him. Well the last few songs had the choir spread out all over the church..and Santa was a couple of rows down from us. Sure enough, when the choir finished and started to leave..she shouts..."there's santa!" LOL I told her Jesus' birthday was tomorrow. She smiled at that. I want her to know our Lord. She likes to pray. Randomly she will say things like "Thank you Jesus for this box, and for cookies and for Poppa and Mama". (she was sitting in an empty storage container) My heart just swells and I am so proud of her! Isn't childhood innocence the best?! Well better rap this up. I hope that everyone can know the love of our Lord..especially this time of year. Merry Christmas!!!

Another new addition!

2007-12-10T20:07:00.000-08:00

Well we decided to take Minnie (guinea pig) back to the pet store. She just wasn't warming up to us...too jumpy and waaaay to messy! I really wanted a dog...for years actually. I talked Dave into going to the local animal shelter and a no kill shelter about 45 minutes from here. The local shelter had a couple of cuties..so we kept them in mind as we headed to the open house at the other shelter. I had done a little searching on their website and really wanted to meet a dog named Sweetie. We got there about an hour after they opened and the place was packed. They had so many cats it was unreal. Alot of the dogs were either gone or spoken for. But Sweetie was the "greeter". The first dog you saw when you walked through the door on the dog side. We looked at her...thought she was cute..but had several patches on skin with little hair. So we kind of went on. I just wasn't drawn to any of the other dogs in the 2nd room. We came back out and I asked to see Sweetie again. The lady got her out of the cage and let me walk her outside a little. Good night that dog is strong! If I had ski's on she would have pulled me all over the place. lol I could see why people were passing her by...the way she looked..but I looked past that and saw a gentle dog. She wasnt jumping all over us like the first shelter dogs did. She wasn't barking like crazy..and all the ladies that worked at the shelter loved her. I asked Dave if we could adopt her and he said yeah. I was so suprised they let us take her home that day. We had to bring home meds for her for her skin. We took her to the vet today and found out she isn't as "well" as they made her out to be. We got her more meds and special shampoo. Hopefully with that and lots of love we can get her coat back to what it use to be. She is really a lovebug. If we leave the room she follows us..or if she doesn't she is always waiting with a big kiss..or at least a paw to the chest. Sarah really gets along well with her too. She has tried to ride her a couple of times and Sweetie just lays there. If they ride together in the back of the SUV..Sweetie is usually right next to Sarah. It is sooo cute! I hope they can be best buddies as they grow up together.

Sarah's 1st Christmas Tree

2007-11-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

We went to a Christmas tree farm not far from our house on Saturday. This was after driving 3 hours from Illinois. The ad said cut your own or we will cut it for you. The guy running the place handed Dave the saw and a carpet square and pointed us in the direction of the 6 footers. Poor Dave! haha I took a couple of pics of Sarah and Daddy in front of the tree before he started to cut it. We were not dressed for this at all. It was on a bluff so the wind was really blowing and none of us had any gloves. We didn't know we would be cutting it ourself..thought we would just pick it out and sit back. haha Dumb! Got the tree decorated yesterday with help from Dave and Sarah. She has done really well with the tree. Such a good girl. She only looks at the ornaments or just puts one finger on them. Praying that keeps up! She is such a sweetheart (most of the time..but alot lately!) If we hurt ourselves, she is right there to say "I kiss and make better?" I have said that to her a few times..and usually get a stern NO! LOL The only real "problem" with her is at the dinner table. She loves to throw food when she is done eating. Drives us nutso. That and saying NO to everything. Other than that she is a wonderful little girl. While at Wal-Mart yesterday, we went by the toy cars. She immediatly wanted a car. I said "ask Daddy". I know..so nice of me! So she said "Daddy I want car". LOL Of course she got one. Well two..the cheaper ones came in a two pack. He said she was practicing now for when she wanted the real thing. LOL She loves her Daddy so much. He has a set of drums..she wants to play them, he loves cars...she has to have one too even if it is a toy, he loves to play on his pinball machines..she has to "play pinballs with Poppa". So cute. I love this stage..but then I love every stage she goes through!

Where has time gone?

2007-11-18T15:43:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it is almost Thanksgiving again! This year has flown by. One another note..my sister is doing great. Her shock treatment worked! PTL! Sarah and I ended up leaving way early on Friday to come home. She woke up with a nasty cold..which she still has today. She didn't want to go back to sleep and I just wanted my own bed. She is doing some better today. Hopefully she will be back to her old self by Wens. She is so looking forward to swimming with her cousin next weekend. We found a tricylcle at Wal-Mart that she had fun on. She didn't want to get off tho. We didn't buy it. I wanted to..but we already bought a ton of stuff for her Christmas and birthday. Found out that A had the baby Friday. The couple named her Olivia. Dave and I thought that was a great name..one we hadn't thought of when we were coming up with names for Sarah. The baby weighs a pound more than Sarah did and is an inch longer. Part of me is sad that we weren't the ones to adopt her...but it is for the best. Sarah is more than enough for us. Growing up I always thought I would have two children. A boy and a girl. But things work out for a reason. We are so blessed with Sarah. She is such a joy. I now believe the saying "how did we live before she came along?" I am also trying a recipe I got off my favorite adoption forum. It smells wonderful. I hope to take some with us for Thanksgiving dinner. There goes the buzzer...better run!

It's so quiet..

2007-11-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

Little one is down for her much needed nap. After being awake till almost 1am. I got her to bed around 11 last night and she entertained herself till falling asleep. She was having a conversation with her bear bobo I think. I have a feeling she was showing him her Biscuit book. ;o) I don't know how she has any room to sleep in her new bed. She has bobo, a musical aquarium (taken from her crib) and a ladybug that shines stars on the ceiling, plus a book. I decided to hold off on full blown potty training for now. She askes to go to the potty but then has already gone in diaper (just a few minutes before asking) or she just wants to sit on the potty. Plus we are going out of town on Wens for a couple of days...plus going out of town for Thanksgiving..so not the best time to start. Hopefully all will go well with my sister on Thurs. Praying that the shock to her heart will kick it back into regular rhythm. She and her husband and our niece are going to Florida for a few days in Dec. I know she will go no matter what. So better her being healthy so she can enjoy the trip!

Intro

2007-11-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

Where do I start? I am a 40 y/o SAHM. Love my job!! I am Momma to Sarah and wife to Dave. We live in Iowa. We have lived here a little over 3 years. We adopted Sarah in Florida in 2006. We were at the hospital when she was born and have been with her ever since. She is a Valentine's Day baby. I have two sisters..twins, 1 niece who is 17 y/o and was also adopted. I worked in the Accounting field before getting married. I do not miss it one bit! I hope to keep my blog up-t0-date as much as possible. But don't hold me to that ok? ;o) This will prob turn into more of a brag blog..so be warned! I love my little girl with all my heart and we think she is one of the smartest 20 month olds out there!