The Grinch that Stole Christmas!

That is the musical that I bought tickets for!  It will be a girl's night/day out. The lucky girls- me, my mom, my grandma and Livie. I am so excited. I remember going to the Fox when I was a little girl and I have been dieing to take Olivia ever since I found out I was having a girl. This is going to be a memory for the books. Four generations of our family women and we are going to put on our fancy dresses and see us some Dr Suess's musical.
This Christmas season is already turing into a special one. Two of our friends have given birth to their beautiful baby boys and they are all doing well, thank god. Everyone in my family is doing well this year and there is so much to be thankful for. Austin is turning into a wonderful little man and Olivia....well she is a girl so what can I say?  She is definetly her own person and has a very destinctive personality. She has decided that she wants to marry me and asks me almost every single night. Once I say I will, she goes into her bedroom and grabs one ring, one necklace and one hair barrette. Once she puts all of them on me she takes my hand and walks me into her bedroom and then says we are married. Kenny, Austin and I crack up every time. It never gets old! Olivia has also offered up her potty chair to everyone in the family. Any time any of us goes to use the bathroom she makes sure to tell us that we can use her potty chair if we want to. What a sweet little girl :)
I have been full force with my Christmas shopping and I am a little worried that I might be out of control. I am having so much fun buying gifts for everyone this year, I cant seem to put a limit. I guess my checking account will do that for me when I get a big fat insufficient funds letter in the mail. Oh well, no one can accuse me of being a grinch.
Oh and by the way... I love my Christmas tree this year.  It is still the same one as last year, but I spiced it up this year and I am very happy with it. Kenny set it up on Sunday and after 15 minutes he came into the kitchen and told me the tree was up and fluffed and ready for the ornaments. I knew that there was no way he fluffed the tree in 15 minutes. Sure enough, I walked into the living room and there was our Charlie Brown Christmas tree! I told Kenny that you arent supposed to see the rod going through the middle of the tree!  30 minutes later and I successfully fluffed the tree and then the kids and I proceeded to decorate it. I did make one change that did not go over well with Austin.  I replaced the Santa tree topper with a big golden bow. I think it looks better but I know this is going to be a fight I probably wont win.

Talk to you all later!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Once Turkey Day is over, it is game on for the Christmas season! Every year I stress about my  Christamas shopping, but if I am being honest with myself I have to admit I actually thrive on the challenge and intensity of it.  Trying to find the best deal on a gift or finding the perfect gift for someone can be so stressful, but it is a challenge I rise to every Christmas season. I start every year making a list of things that I see in ads that might make good gifts for someone, then I start getting a little more serious as the weeks pass and C-day gets closer. My list starts to get smaller and the names of the stores I need to make trips to gets larger. How can one list get smaller and the other one get bigger? Well that is because I am obsessive about making sure each person gets the "perfect" gift for them. I have also been known to buy something for someone and then see something else that I think is better somewhere else and then I have to turn around and return the other gift!  I understand that I am making it harder on myself, but it makes me feel better.

The other thing I love about Christmas is the decorations and the Christmas tree. Well last year Kenny got the Christamas tree out of storage and brought it into the house. Well guess what?  He plugged it in and half the lights were out!  We messed with it and tried to get them to work but there was no hope. I yelled at Kenny for awhile because I KNOW it was his fault. He never stores the Christmas decorations the right way. He is always in a big hurry to get them put up and he does a half ass job at it. I'm sure that was the reason the Christmas lights werent working. So he heads to the store to get a new tree. Once he got home he took it out of the box and plugged it in and to my horrible dissapointment he had brought home a pre-lit colored tree! Ugh!  How could he do that?!  He knows I love the white Christmas lights!  I was sooo upset and just couldnt believe that he would ruin my  Christmas tree that way! Well I had to suck it up and deal with it, but I think I pouted almost every day. Even with the ornaments it wasnt the same as my old tree.  So this year I am trying to be optimistic about the Christmas tree. I decided that maybe all it needs is some new ornaments that might enhance the colored lights. Maybe make them more appealing to me. I went to the store tonight and started picking out different arrangements of ornaments. I decided on purple and silver. I had about 6 boxes loaded in my cart and a big smile on my face. My tree would look beautiful this year, but then I took a glance at some of the prelit trees they had on display and realized that my purple and silver would look amazing if my lights were white but on a colored tree, not so much :(  Back to the drawing board. By this time the kids were running through the store as if it was their own personal playground and Kenny was staring daggers at me to indicate his impatience.  I finally decided that green, red, gold ornamenrts with gold ribbon on the tree might work with colored lights.  After putting them in my cart and taking them back out 3 times, I decided "WTH, it cant make it any worse!" 

I guess when I out the tree up this weekend I will find out if the ornaments make a difference or not or if I just need to donate the tree and get myself a new one!  Bring on the Christmas spirit!

Austin Dale Schmidt

On November 26, it will 8 years since the day I gave birth to the most incredible kid. Even though it has been eight years, I can remember everything perfectly from the time I found out i was pregnant to the time I gave birth to Austin.  So finding out I was pregnant was a bit of a shock. It definitely was not planned. Kenny and I weren't even living together much less married.  The day I took the test, I remember feeling like I was going to throw up and then pass out, not just because I was pregnant, but because I was in totally shock. I remember crying hysterically and all Kenny could tell me was that it was ok and we would make it through it together. He was always so supportive and optimistic. Never once did he ever seem scared or concerned.  He really helped me accept what was happening and eventually see the happy future that was ahead of us. We both told out mothers and that went over sort of well. My real concern was telling my dad and grandparents. I decided it would be best to tell my dad by myself and in a public place. That way he had to control his reaction somewhat. Surprisingly he took it really well and was actually excited about becoming a grandpa. Then it was time to tell my grandparents. Kenny came with me and we took a walk outside with my grandma and grandpa. I broke the news to them that I was pregnant and that Kenny had asked me to marry him. I remember my grandpa telling us congratulations and giving us his blessing and all my grandma said was, "look at those flowers over there. They sure are pretty!"  I was like. "grandma, did you hear anything I just said?"  She said "yeah" and then she went on to talk about her flowers.  LOL! 

So fast forward to November 26,2003 and I was lying in the hospital bed having mild contractions. Everyone was there. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, close friends.  I was going to attempt to do it without an epidural and told the nurse no thanks when she came in and offered it.Within 2 minutes, I had two major contractions back to back and was barely able to catch my breath. I yelled for Kenny to run and get the nurse and tell her I changed my mind!  Finally at 12:34, I gave birth to this incredibly slimy. bloody looking baby boy!  Once he was cleaned up, the dr placed him in my arms and I lost my breath. I was in totally awe at the miracle I was holding. I couldn't even talk and then the tears began to flow. I had never cried such tears of joy in my whole life like I did that day. It is something I will remember for the rest of my life. This little boy was a gift to me and I believe saved my life. Austin gave me a whole new prospective on my life and a new purpose. I wanted to be better and give him everything I could. I new within minutes of holding him that I would lay down my life for him without hesitation. That day changed my life forever.

Eight years later and Austin still amazes me. For any of you that know Austin, you have an idea of what kind of kid he his and how loving he is to everyone. He has even stepped into the role of being a big brother without much effort and even though Austin and his sister bicker at times, he is always there to help her and take care of her when she needs him.

Happy Birthday Austin. You will always be my peanut and no matter how old you are, you will be my baby boy!

Bittersweet

I think I might have mentioned it a time or two, but work has been more of a bitch than usual for about 9 months now! For those that don't know, I am the trainer for my department at Scottrade brokerage firm. Anything that affects the Stock Market impacts my job.There has been three major projects this year along with a continuous flow of new reps that has kept me so busy, my head has been spinning since March!  Well finally on Monday the last and biggest project rolled. This was the biggest and most important project I have been responsible for and basically the biggest point of my career. I have felt like everything in my life has revolved around this. My moods have all been centered on what was going on at work and so has my personal well being. Working at a high level of stress every day for months takes a toll on you both physically and mentally. yesterday I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulder! the aftermath will still linger and I still have a lot to do, but the biggest weight has been lifted! Hallelujah!

On a lighter note, I heard the funniest and weirdest thing I think I have ever heard last week. This girl that sits across from me, who has only been in the department for about 2 months, starting speaking a different language while talking on the phone. Me and another co-worker we emailing each other trying to figure out what she was saying, but nothing even sounded familiar to another language.  Finally another co-worker asked her what language she was talking and she said it was a home-made gibberish!  WTF is that??!!  She said that it was a language that her mom made for her family and close friends when she was younger and they still speak it to each other. It is a whole separate language that only they know!  Is that not the craziest thing you have ever heard of? Some might say it is creative, but a different word comes to my mind... cult!  Seriously, who has the time to create their own language and then teach it to their children. Don't you think teaching them an actual language would me more beneficial?  Not to mention the fact that I didn't like not knowing what she was saying.  I have to say it made me a little nervous!

The last thing I have to talk about is something I need every one's opinion on. I am getting the kids pictures taken with Santa at Trish Cato's house on the 26th.  I thought it would be really cute to dress them in Christmas pjs for their pictures!  That way it looked like they had just woke up on Christmas morning.  Well Kenny said it was really stupid and I should dress them in their Christmas outfits.  I think he has no imagination. What are your opinions?

I'm back!

I know, I know. It's been forever, but I swear I have good reasons. Life has just been a little bit crazier than usual and I have been just trying to get everything done a day at a time just to keep up. When you get rushed and run downed, it's hard to spark any creativity, but I promised a friend or two that I would try and get back into the swing of it.  So my first blog is going to start by me asking you a question.....The Rock or Vin Diesel? That has been my question all day for anyone who would listen.  I have been a fan of both for awhile now. So, maybe their acting isn't that great, but they are easy eye candy and that makes up for the poor acting. I love the Rock in all of his Disney movies and loved him in Walking Tall. He does a good job playing a good guy who has a bad/rough edge to him. I have to say I never saw him when he was wrestling, but I can only imagine!  Then there is Vin Diesel!  All I can say is The Fast and the Furious! Holy crap! Hot! Hot! Hot! There is just something about the way he can look at someone and only say a few words for you to know he means what he says.  Well if you are wondering why I am asking this question, it is because I watched the Fast Five last night. If you don't know already, Vin Diesel returns in this movie as the car thief who is on the run with his sister and his partner. The Rock is the Federal agent that is tracking them.  They face off quite a few times and engage in an kick ass fight at one point during the movie.  Of course Vin Diesel gets the best of the Rock and I enjoyed watching the whole thing.  After seeing both of these men in the same movie, fighting against each other, I have made my decision.  To answer my own question....it would have to be Vin Diesel!  What about you?