What a wonderful day!

Dino

I hooked up a webcam yesterday. It is for a laptop, so it's not mounted, but it stills serves it's purpose. The kids were fascinated by it this morning. Here's the first product from the new toy.

Yummy!

I bought a 12-pack of this soda, Diet Sunkist Sparkling Lemonade, today at Wal-Mart. I had never heard of it before, and it caught my eye. All I can tell you people is....It is freaking amazing! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!! It only has 5 calories and no grams of fat, and yet I'm sure it is bad for me, but OH MY! it is tasty!

It took me forever to find a picture of the can on-line. According to random comments on random websites, this soda is really hard to find. Lucky me!

It's very crisp and, (if possible), sassy!

Where's the snow?

January is almost over. Spring is only a few months away. Most of you are super excited about this, but I am not.

I want some freakin' snow! I want to be able to go outside with my kids and play. I want to build a snowman. I want to throw snowballs at the dog. I want to see the kids go down the slide and plop into a pile of pretty, white, fluffy snow!

I bought all the essential winter items in early November - snow boots, snow pants, hats that Velcro under the chin, and I even searched all over the area until I found the coats I wanted - they had to have elastic on the inside with snaps so that the snow wouldn't creep up under the coat.

The kids have worn their boots two times, and the snow pants are still hanging in the closet collecting dust.

Grayson has never played in snow. Ella looks at pictures of winters past and asks when she can go outside and play.


The few times that we've had enough snow for them to play in, the weather wouldn't cooperate. I couldn't send them outside in 18 degree-below temperatures, and then there was the time that it all melted in 24 hours. Yesterday was the first day that I would have considered going outside and playing. But what happened? All the freakin' snow melted!

Two days after Grayson was born, we got about 8 inches of snow. I can only hope that happens again this year. And that the temperature is high enough to allow us some play time outside, yet low enough for the snow not to melt.

*Yes, all these photos are from last year!

Damn you, VZW!

We moved to St. Joseph over 4 years ago. In the beginning, I did not know anyone. All my friends were back home (okay...I had, like, four). Ella was a baby, and it was winter. The fact that Brady was "on-call" every 6 weeks didn't bother me so much. I had no social calendar, and we worked trips back home around his work schedule.

Over these last 4 years, his company has had employees come and go. It's great when they get a new employee - it takes some of the work off of Brady, and he actually makes it home for dinner at a decent time. What isn't so great, is how much this change in employees alters his "on-call" schedule.

He went from being on-call every 6 weeks (one week as a back-up, one week as a primary) to being on call every 4 weeks. Then it went back to every 5 weeks, but he was the primary person for two-week periods. I don't even know how many times things have changed. If one of the guys wants to go on vacation, they can trade on-call with someone, which means that he could be on-call for 3 weeks in a row. Right now, I think, he is on call every 2 weeks. One week as primary, and one week as backup. But I could be wrong.

I am trying to have a social life. I want to do things with my new-found friends down here. I want to schedule meetups and go for moms' nights out. However, my husband's crazy work schedule is ruining my chances of doing these things. I've stopped asking him what the new on-call schedule is....his answer is always the same, "I don't fucking know."

Why don't I just get a baby-sitter, you ask? Let me tell you. Just because he's on-call doesn't mean he'll be called out. So why would I pay a baby-sitter to come to my home to watch my kids, when their dad is right there. So what if I leave the kids at home with him while he is on call? If he gets called out, he needs to leave ASAP. The chances of getting a sitter over here in 20 minutes is impossible - teens these days have crazy, busy lives.

I have ventured out of the house by myself while he was on call a few times. Each time, I am only 15 minutes away, and my cell phone is always in my pocket on vibrate. I am the one "on-call," and I'm not getting paid for it.

Verizon Wireless is killing my attempt to be social.

Christmas photos

I have not blogged in so long....I really am at a loss trying to think of a topic. I have decided to share some pictures from our family Christmas a few weeks ago. It was a full house, but we had a good time.

Grayson giving Lucian a friendly pat. The not-so-friendly ones came a little later.

Ella wonders what present to open next.

Lucian and Aubry play with the race track.

Ella loves her new guitar.

Grayson takes a well-deserved break.

Lucian is bright-eyed!

Aunt Caroline reads to Grayson.

Papa naps while Ella plays her new Leapster 2.

Out of all the toys, his favorite came with a tube of candy.

Oops, I did it again.

Every time I try to keep a journal, I fall behind. I don't know why, I just do.
This time, I've fallen behind on this blog. I curse myself everyday for it, yet I can't seem to bring myself to write anything.
I am not a fan of New Year resolutions, but I actually have one for this year. I will try my hardest to keep up the blog. I will not be such a slacker. If I miss more than 5 days without an entry, will someone please send me messages howling at me? I'd allow you a kick in the butt, however, I know some of you wear big boots and I'm not all about that pain that leaves marks!