day 1

DAY 1

Monday...but not a typical Monday....it was Presidents Day, so the kids were home. This morning Braden had a dr. appt to do a well being and weight check for the medication he takes. I was going to work at Cooks and Company for awhile, like ive been doing every Monday, so the kids were gonna hang at Nana Margies. So we went to McDonalds...yes im a good mom, i feed my kids McDs on the run, dropped Fin off at Nanas, and flew to the Dr. We were there an hour to learn Brady hadn't gained any weight since August......good times. So he got the go ahead to eat whatever he wants whenever...calories, calories, calories. I wish someone would tell me that!! We ran back to Nanas to drop off Braden then I flew back downtown to Cooks. There I cleared Valentines displays, condensed the new Valentine sale stuff, did a few flower arrangements, took down the upside down Christmas tree and did a St. Pattys display. Then home I flew. Mom was at my house by now so Fin could nap......which she didnt....."im not tired". Mom left and the kids and I watched some tv for awhile. I then decided what to cook for dinner.....hadnt many options, so the grocery store is on the agenda today (tuesday) and headed up to the playroom to START to go through the pile that is Christmas, Fin Bday and Braden Bday gifts....made some progress. Made kids dinner, started Sean and I's, and then took the kids upstairs for a bath. Sean got home about this point (745 ish) and we headed back down to chill for the rest of the evening.....
Whew.....
On to Tuesday....

The picture above is of our back hallway where we hang coats/hats/scarves/bags.....shoes go here too. There are lidded cubbies in the bench and flip open cubbies above. We were going to do lockers, but felt they were too confining so this is a lockerless locker area.

success

have you been looking for us? we've been here. just hunkered down at the house like most people.
i am 99.9 % percent certain that our internet problems have been fixed. a big shout out to office specialists here in galesburg for figuring it out. long story short....the router that was installed, NOT BY ME, was assigned a static IP address and as most peoples internet service is...it has a dynamic IP address. so when the internet provider would change the IP address, as it does every 3 hours, the router would lose the connection because it didnt recognize the new IP address. the people who installed the router came out here multiple times and reset the router...it would work for 3 hours, but they would be long gone by then. they are out of davenport so they would have to schedule sometime to come back. it was a weekly thing. they blamed the internet provider, the internet signal was strong to the house, it was frustrating. i finally called in a third party, kinda "non-partisan"....and here we are today...4 days and no interruption of service!!
needless to say i have lots of backlogged pictures.....thanksgiving, nana's birthday, grandads birthday, christmas, new years, the move, fin's birthday, braden's birthday, lots of snow, etc. maybe i will just start new.

Most recently...Valentines Day. Did you all have a nice one? Ours was quiet, but nice. We enjoyed dinner out on Saturday and a lazy day on Sunday. Sean took Braden to 'Percy Jackson........The Lightening Thief' and finley napped, so i enjoyed 2 hours of quiet yesterday afternoon.

Today is Monday, the kids are off from school...they are still in bed. Why am i up you ask, who knows.

Thus, today will begin my 'a day in the life' of this stay at home (kinda) mom.....hold on to your hats!!

Here is one picture I can get to fast......this is our day to day dining room...right off the kitchen.

dont give up

so we are STILL having internet problems. lovely new house with crappy internet problems. the internet provider says they are good....the installers who did a whole house system thingy say they are good....REGARDLESS it still doesn't work. tomorrow a third party is coming in to do some investigating and hopefully will fix the problem. KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED.



TODAY is Braden's 7th birthday...Lucky Number 7. He has been lucky all his life, starting with his first breath. Feel free to revisit his beginning HERE.

So Happy Birthday Braden!! Have a great day at school. He took 24 FRESH long johns (his favorite) as his treat...I hope they dont send any back home.

So please check back....I so hope that my internet gets fixed. DONT give up on me. ;)

an experiement

due to technical difficulties, we have no internet access at our house currently. i do, however, have a netbook (wireless) and can "surf the net" or more importantly, pay bills. i cant, or wont, upload my pictures to it, would rather to my base computer. therefore, i haven't updated the blog. who wants to read my blog without pictures. i read COUNTLESS blogs that do or dont have images and continue to read them daily. i dont know how some of those people do that...blog daily. they must blog like a weeks worth of blogs on monday to post all week. too much work for me.

a lot has happened recently....nana's birthday, thanksgiving, grandad's birthday, christmas, new years, moving, my dads birthday, finleys birthday...and countless other kodak moments. in all honesty, this blog has become kinda blah for me. i guess i think no one is reading it, and those who are--are family and see it in real time. i love my family. i think my kids are cute. i am,like most moms, biased. you all probably dont feel the need to see a picture of finley blowing bubbles or bradens lost tooth. maybe i use this blog to chronicle events instead of a scrapbook....because I dont scrapbook...but some days i think...really, does anyone care?

IF, and its a big IF, our internet is stable and working, i might do an experiment next week.

"a week in the life of this stay at home mom". nothing out of the ordinary special is happening next week, so you all will get a first hand experience at what my days consist of....its a forewarning. if you could care less...dont check back next week at all. i am going to TRY to update daily....hold on to your hats...im sure it will be riviting!! (can you sense the sarcasm?)

We're In, We're In!!

So on Christmas Eve we "moved in"....technically we "slept in". We had been moving all our stuff with the help of our families the whole month of December with the hopes of being "in" by Christmas. Needless to say we have worked our tails off and I am sick to death of cardboard. EVERYTHING except for a few carloads (random toys, my crafting inventory and some odds and ends) is in the house. In the house, not where it is supposed to be, but in the house. The kids rooms are basically put together as well as the toy room and guest rooms. Sean office, our closet, basement and garage NEED SOME WORK. But that is ok!!! We are in and that is all that counts. There is still some odds and end indoor work to be done....the guys are here today installing our blinds and plantation shutters. The security people are coming tommorrow to finish that up as well as show us how to use our entertainment stuff...Outside still needs tons of COSMETIC stuff, but that will wait till spring. Due to all of this....we don't have internet so I cant upload any pictures, although I havent taken any of interest....too busy.
My thoughts are to show you the house via pictures soon. I also have lofty goals to get a "happy new years, happy new house" card out...as well as plan Finleys 4th birthday party with Bradens 7th right around that corner...as well as still unpack, shovel the drive, laundry, remember where I put things, organize my craft room, get the kids to school on time, remember to eat, try to exercise (my best stress reliever since I dont drink), more laundry, finish my closet (thanks em!!), etc. etc. etc.

We had a wonderful Christmas in our new home!! The kids were excited, Braden gets it, Fin is still on the fence. She has lived on Prairie Street since she was 6 months old, so it is the only home she has known. We spent the entire Holiday season with family....Sean's brother and sister and their families were here a bunch because Gran (Seans grandmother) and Sean's Uncle Ron and Aunt Joyce were here. My sister and brother and their significant others were around as well!! So it was a busy holiday season to boot!!
I hope you all had a wonderful, happy holiday season!!

Girls vs Boys

SNOWBALL FIGHT

not lost

yes im still here, no were not in the house, yes we are uber close, no im not stressing ;), yes we have grand plans to be "in" by christmas, no "Santa wont miss us", yes the kids are excited, no I am not finished with christmas shopping, yes we arent sending out christmas cards (new house, new year), no im not stressing ;), yes I am finding it hard to buckle down, no im not stressing ;), yes everyone is helping with what they can, no im not stressing ;).

Check back in 10 days, I may be singing a different tune!!