The night I met my Husband.

This is our very first picture together. I had officially known my future Husband for about 2 hours.

Why he didn't run screaming, I'll never know.

 

I did just finish the Twilight books right around this time. Maybe I thought I was part vampire? Photogenic I am NOT.

Let me back it up for ya.

It was two days after Christmas, the year was 2008. 

My good friend Carolyn called me to go out out for the night. It was going to be her, me, Jake (her bf) and 2 of his college buddies. I had never met either one of these boys. This was no hook up by any means (not intentionally at first anyways). Justin happened to live 1 block away, so they called him on the way to pick me up to see if he wanted to join us. He had just thrown in a movie and decided 'why not' and they picked him right before me. 

I remember getting in the car. Britney blaring, Carolyn singing and bobbing in her seat. I then introduced myself to my future Husband.

We went to a place called Gasthof Zur Gemutlichkeit or Gasthof's for short. A German bar nestled in Northeast Minneapolis.

At the German Bar, you can drink out of a large boot. Das boot:

That was one of my favorite nights. Pretty sure that German beer is way stronger.

It makes for interesting photo shoots with your friend. Pretty sure we me "the coolest girl ever" in the bathroom that night. After she had tossed her cookies. 

We also found balloons....

and did a photo shoot.

Love the nights you will never forget with people you will never forget!

Start them early.

I often ask my kids, well the two that can talk and understand what I am saying, what they want to be when they grow up. Keep them focused. Keep in their heads. They will know that we have expectations of the sort.

One wants to be a runway model, VS Model to be exact, the other wants to stay living at home forever. LOL. (I did tell Ella she could buy a house across the street from us, that would be best!)

We do our best to get them involved in every extra curricular activity under the dang sun.

I've paid thousands and thousands of dollars for dance lessons. Went out of state for National Dance Competitions (which they won).

Spent hours in the gym watching gymnastics lessons. (Those are old school photos that need to be scanned!)

Hours at the park watching soccer practice and games. Oh and treat duty. The "best" part of the game. Can't leave out treat duty.

Hours at the rink watching hockey practice. Hours in the consession stand at the hockey arena fufilling our volunteer obligations.

Spent hours at the softball field and hours at home planning our next practice or next game as a Coach.

Oh and Girl Scouts, who can forget the hours slanging cookies?

All that is just with the two girls. Whew. I'm exhausted just looking at all that. And the money, oh so much money! But you know what? I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Now that we have a boy? We start training that little guy to be the best he can be. Starting with sit ups. Yep, he's almost 14 months old now. Gotta start him young. He'll thank us for that later. He'll be the only kid in preschool with a six pack. (I kid, I kid!)

So watch this, with your sound off.

Now I'm trying to get someone at work to record over my stupid high pitch voice and instead have "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor playing. Anyone know how to do that?? 

Tootles!

It's been a while.

Yeah, not that. Ha, ha!

I feel like I've been in blogger's rut. Why? I don't know. I log on every weekday. I read my favorite blogs. I die laughing at stories that you all tell. Makes my day. I need to figure it out.

Of course we went to the Lake this weekend. Let's be real. I live in MN and the warmth and sunny days are definitely numbered. (No joke, someone just walked by my work cube and said "this weekend we are skipping fall and going straight to winter." NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.) We were however down 2 kids. The girls stayed back to participate in a 5k. So it was the Hubs, Jack and I.

We really debated staying home. When your gone every weekend in the Summer, your house really takes it for the team. I feel like I could call in sick all week long and still not get it to where I want it to be.

However, my Husband's Grandma had plans to cook us steak dinner. They literally were staying in MN longer just to see us one last time and then they were heading back to Florida for the year. They were so excited for us to come so we couldn't bail on Grandma. Cabin bound we were.

We drank wine. We laughed. We boated. We ate.

I only took photos with my iPhone which works when in a pinch, but not quite the same.

Heaven is a little closer at the lake.

Loves his boat rides.

 Does not love his life jacket.

Love the sunset.

Never gets old.

Ultimate Charades = Best Game Ever

Has anyone played Ultimate Charades? Best. Game. Ever.

Saturday night we played with the In-Laws and extended family.

Wanna know how to play?

Everyone gets 4 blank pieces of paper. Write down 1 word/phrase on each piece of paper. It can be anything. Throw them all into a hat or bowl.

Form 2 Teams. We did Boys VS Girls. Girls start (duh) and get their allotted time per the rules of the round, Boys, Girls, Boys etc until all the paper is gone. Once your team guesses it,  throw the paper on the ground to allow yourself to grab the next piece that much quicker...obviously.

Play the 3 Rounds. At the end of each round, add up each teams points which really means, add up how many pieces of paper/words your team guessed correctly. The team with the most points at the end, WINS.

SIDEBAR: In case your wondering what my words were...
Thome is my Homie
Jack Attack
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
You've Lost that Love and Feeling

Sometimes, people pick the same words, unknowingly. We had "Fart" in there twice this weekend. Ha, ha! OK, back to details.

Round 1:  Catch Phrase. 30 seconds to get as many right as you can. You can say anything BUT the word to help with clues.

Round 2: Charades. 60 seconds. Cannot use any words to help.

Round 3:  Use only ONE word clue. 60 seconds. (If you say "ok" or "um" your screwed, that's your word). For example if I picked "Jack Attack" my one word clue would be "Grandson". So everyone would know, Jack, then hopefully remember "Jack Attack".

After Round 1, you've heard all the words, so as long as your paying attention, it's pretty easy to figure out. Although the more alcohol that is consumed, the more interesting this gets.

I cannot wait to play again. Hopefully next weekend. Us girls need some redemption because the boys beat us by 5 or so.

Please go play this at your next get together. It's hilarious! 

Just in case your were wondering what my Son looks like driving the boat....

Captain Jack.

Fist pumping.

Last night was the big Katy Perry concert. This dealio was originally booked for early July but KP had to cancel on us because she "was placed in a bathtub with it coming out both ends" as she so kindly told us. Moving on....

The concert was sold out. Packed. My Girls and the Non Tax Deductible Child were pretty pumped. We got there with an hour to spare before the opening act Natalia Kills. She had 1 song that was decent other than that it was the "hate your boyfriend" type songs. Justin thought she had "boy issues". She was pretty much man bashing the whole time, which don't get me wrong, I've been there. There are definitely days where a person may want to blare that in their car but overall, she wasn't that impressive. Her dancers were terrible too. She had 2 of them and they were often out of sync. She is just starting out so I'm sure she'll improve. KP she is not though.

We then sat through DJ Skeet Skeet. I actually enjoyed this. He just played the hits. The fist pumping hits. I even taught my 7 year old to fist pump. She did so well too! It was actually pretty fun to hang out with my Girls singing at the top of our lungs and dancing in our nose bleed seats.

Finally, KP came on around 9pm. Ella was worried we should head home because it was getting late and it was probably "night time" out. So cute. KP did not disappoint. Her concert had a Alice in Wonderland/Candyland vibe. (She took a bite of a "homemade brownie" and things started to get hazy for her. The kids didn't let on that they knew what was going on so that's good!)

The only part I didn't like was during the Katy Karaoke, she sang that dang "Friday" song by Rebecca Black. Yuck. Why do people like that dreadful thing? She did redeem herself by doing "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" by Whitney. Love that one.

Oh and the "Peacock" song, I had totally forgot about. It was kinda funny to see all the little girls jamming to that and the looks on their Mom's face. Some got it. Some didn't. At least I wasn't alone. That whole "crap, this may not be the best thing my child has ever heard..."

There were tons of lasers, fireworks and bright lights. KP's dancers were awesome. I even thought that if I could go back and do1 thing over in life...it would be to become a kick ass backup dancer. They make that look like so much fun. Overall, it was a pretty sweet concert!

So without further a do...(is that how it's spelled?!?)

{E loved the lights and lasers}

{Dancing}

{She was supposed to make a "sassy" face.}

 {All of the Lights.}

{Dark but we like to call this one "Soul mates".}

Pictures, Babies & Face Masks - Oh my!

So. This weekend flew by like they all do.

Saturday we had family pictures, which I'm sure I'll hate any photo that involves me but that's stating the obvious. I went to GAP and found us all coordinating outfits and such. We met our lovely photographer at the Sculpture Garden's in Minneapolis and it was a perfect Saturday morning. We won't see many pics of Jack in his super cute hat however. He hates hats. Despises them apparently. Face all red and all sorts of thrashing to get that thing off. You would have thought it had bees in there. Ahhh, takes after his Mother ;) Here are a few of the photo's from our sneak preview. I love these!!! Jack was an absolute cheese ball (as long as there wasn't any hats involved.) My girls were beautiful as always.

Poly Mendes was the bomb. She is a Brazilian sweet heart! Love, love, LOVED her! If you go to that link, you'll see our family photo, which I like. I admit it. I actually like a photo which includes myself. This is rare. This also should showcase the talent of our photographer! (Just wish I would have had my hair down on the side but oh well!!)

And look at this one! Melt. My. Heart! Jack the little heart breaker.

My lovely Taylor...

And of course, my sweet Ella...I love this one too!! I love them all.

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After pictures I went to a Baby shower for one of my good friends Kerri. We've know each other since we were 9. We don't get together as much as we used to but its one of those "you pick up where you left off" like you never skipped a beat. The type of friend that will always be there. No matter what. Here is Kerri and I circa 2006. Ha, ha! We liked to go dancing whenever we got together. At her shower we even told "funny" stories to introduce ourselves.  We were wild when we got together. So many stories.

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Taylor headed to her very first JOB INTERVIEW after our photo shoot. Yes, she wants to get a job. She's 14 so she can get a job now. I tried talking her out of it. She only has like 2 free days a week and she apparently wants to spend them working. Good for her right? Well, she went to the interview at the restaurant down the street and actually got it. And started working right then. Yep, put in her first couple of hours on Saturday. She loves it. She was so excited "Mom, I even get free lunch or dinner whenever I work!!" When I asked her how much they were paying her an hour she goes "oh, I don't know!!" Ha, ha! Details - who cares! (She is getting minimum wage but I thought it was funny that was not even on her list of concerns. I think she is just envisioning all the clothes she will be able to buy with those huge paychecks! Hollister here she comes!)

Of course we had two of Taylor's friends over for sleepover's. They are always over. I feel like I have 5 kids that I feed, bathe (well they shower but at our house) and drive around. Minus the tax deduction. Justin was at a Bachelor party so it was a girls night. We chatted about the upcoming Homecoming Dance and who was going to ask who and what their dresses look like etc. I swear I was flung right back to 1994 and was reliving the glory days. The girls wanted to do "facials" and started looking online for recipes. They found one that included honey, oatmeal and yogurt. They rocked those oatmeal faces. Even as it slid down their chin and on to the carpeting.

Ha, ha! Cuties!

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I also had one of my high school besties Stacy, stop over Saturday night. It was so nice to see her and catch up on life. I don't see her very often either. Tear. She's another one I can just pick up with where we left off. Love those girls! You know, the ones that will always answer your phone call. Always text you back. No matter what. Irreplaceable. I was even her birthing coach when she had her son. Those classes were interesting. Just us 2 ladies. Me rubbing her back. Ha, ha!!! Priceless. This is the only photo I can find with her and I right now. I have a zillion at home but here it is!

Abby (who I will tell you about more later), Me & Stacy. Like 3 years ago. Dang I need to hang out more. Ha, ha!

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In other news. We are going to see this lady tonight! The Husband, girls + one of my non tax deductible children. Whoop Whoop! Should be a good time! I have had all her song's in my head for weeks now.

Too many kids in the cabin guys.

So. I just realized I never recapped our weekend at the lake with Taylor's friends. Gasp! I'm sure you were all waiting on the edge of your seat. Tossing and turning every night just wondering how it went?! No? Ok. Well, here is the recap of a weekend of a lot of estrogen.

We had to take 2 cars to fit all of the teenagers in. My Husband has the bigger car so by default he was the lucky winner of a 2 hour car ride with 5 teenage girls. There was a lot of bass involved in his vehicle. He is not a heavy bass type, I can be if its the right song but him? Ah nope. At one point I was looking around at one of the stoplights for the Caddy, pimped out with some gold rims bumping hydraulics. Nope it was just their car. I love that man. I told him I would take a (1) dog, (1) baby and (1) 7 year old. My ride was heaven. Both my kids fell asleep instantly and it was just me, my music and the highway. Sweet tranquility. Love you honey!

We make it up to the lake and within minutes, the girls are all down in their bikini's ready to go tubing. Yep, bikini's & tubing.  What's the worst thing that can happen? Yep, lost bottoms. A couple of times. Now, they only came off to about their knees so they didn't lose them lose them but still. Pretty sure many o'people got plenty o' butt shots. I even got a few with my camera looking back at the photos. You can literally see a butt cheek from one of the girls. They had a blast though so its a winner!

They pretty much  were either on the lake or in their cabin "getting ready". We took the pontoon out for pizza one night and they all came out decked out in their little mini skirts. You never know who your going to run into on the lake, 2 hours from home right? Ah, to be young again.

The weekend was a hit and the girls had an absolute blast. There was only 1 time when I was told "you ruin everything!" in that nails on a chalkboard screech that I love! She was bossing around her sister and I was not having it so I told them we weren't going to the store to buy t-shirts. I held my ground and then took them in the morning, just had to prove a little point with my sweet child o'mine. What am I a Leprechaun  all of a sudden?  Not sure why I'm going down that road so I'll stop. Ha, ha! Sorry!

Here are some photo's to show you all the fun we had.

To prove that my girls do get along some times... Here is a video of them making up a dance at the cabin earlier this summer. I love these videos!

Have a great weekend Ladies!!