Neil Baby

A few weeks ago I had the fun opportunity to take maternity pics of my cousin's cute wife. I have been wanting to post these for a while but you have all seen how great I've been with keeping up with my blog!

To keep from boring you with so many pictures all the time, here are just a few of my favorite ones.



She was not very far along, maybe about 23 weeks, and I think this next one would have been a bit cuter if her tummy were a bit rounder...oh well, maybe we can try it again in a few more weeks.





Thanks Brian and Sherrie for asking me to do these, I had way too much fun!

Wolves, Bears and the Zoo!

Last night we had the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. Since I am a first time mom of a scout, I have absolutely no idea what to expect or what I'm supposed to be doing with the whole scouting bit. I hate to admit that some days I often forget that he has scouts all together....that dang mommy brain!

Honestly, scouting is not my thing and even though Chet is an Eagle Scout, it's not really his favorite thing either. However, Talon has LOVED it and for that I am glad! (We'll see how much he loves it when he's doing those Klondike Derby's and camping out in the freezing cold!)

He's worked really hard and earned his Wolf rank. They advanced him the night of the Blue and Gold Banquet and he is so excited to join the ranks as a Bear. (Hunter is probably even more excited about it than Talon is...I think it's the whole "animal" thing.)

Getting the new colors!

We are so proud of him and hope he continues to work hard and most importantly to enjoy it!

This morning we decided to take advantage of the Zoo's last "free Wednesday". When we first got there it was cold but tolerable. Towards the end the snow began to fall and it really got very cold. That's when we decided it was time to leave! :)

Cash's first visit to the zoo and as you can see he was quite impressed....NOT!
(not that I expected him to be)

Friends and Cousins...love it! :)

The gang!

The babes...

and another baby!
SO CUTE!

The kids had lots of fun and I don't think the cold fazed them a bit! Can't wait for the spring when it will be a little bit more enjoyable for this mommy! Still, it was nice to get out of the house for a bit. Thanks for the invite Cami! :)

It's A Beautiful Day!

*WARNING*
The following post contains lots of pictures. Scroll at your own risk!

February 19th has got to be one of the best days of the year...for me anyway!

16 years ago on that morning I married my very best friend! As I look back on my life, it really was the best decision I have ever made in my life. NO REGRETS!!!

I am just grateful that he decided I was worth keeping! :)

One year ago we celebrated our wedding anniversary in a great way...with 24 hour room service and a two night stay at "The Hotel IMC!" The beds were not the comfiest and the rooms were quite pricey but such minor details when you are bringing home a new baby boy. (Beat that Hilton!) Overall, I give it a Five Star rating.

I can't believe that it has already been a year later. Our cute little baby Cash is now officially ONE year old. How did that happen?


When I brought him out in the morning he looked around at all of the decorations and would "gasp" and "OOOO"...TOO CUTE! At his one year appt last week he weighed 19 lbs 4 oz. He is officially off of the bottle and formula now and drinking whole milk through a sippy cup! That is one of the exciting things about the one year mark...more $$$ back in my pocket now that formula is no more!


Cash has four teeth now up top and two on the bottom. I do miss his gummy smile, but I have to admit this toothy smile is pretty darn cute too!

He is starting to stand for a few seconds on his own and is just a busy, busy boy. He won't sit still for nothing. I swear I burn off 5 lbs each time I try to get him dressed! He also LOVES music. Just like his dad, he knows how to get his groove on...the kid loves to dance. When I say, "wanna dance?" he will get excited and clap his hands. When the music comes on the boy gets DOWN!

I bought him this little birthday crown....

He wasn't loving it!

In fact he was just down right miserable in it!

There....much better!

After I mix the birthday cake I always let the birthday kid have the cake bowl all to themselves...it wouldn't be fair to let Cash miss out on that tradition!


I went to the party store to look at cake molds and ideas for his birthday cake. I found a cake mold that I liked but frugal me didn't want to spend the money to buy it when I felt like I could possible pull it off myself...so here is my attempt at his cake...
It was supposed to be black but good luck finding black frosting! The best I could do was find black "spray dye" for cakes...it didn't show up well with the chocolate frosting. Other than that, I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I am so grateful that I get to celebrate February 19th with two of my favorite boys every year!



We opened presents, which Cash had absolutely NO interest in!

But he loved playing with them once they were open.

"What the heck is that thing?"

"MMMM"

Oh, how I love this little guy SO very much! At first, I really did not want to have a baby on our Anniversary, BUT I really don't mind it now. We will celebrate it one way or another like we did this year. We ended up going out to dinner to Rodizio grill tonight (the 20th) and will call that good for now since we are having a "second honeymoon" cruising the Caribbean in May!

And just when I though the day couldn't get any better my hubby made me even happier when he was able purchase awesome tickets to see these guys!!!

It was most definitely "A Beautiful Day!..."

He Rocks!

On Saturday, February 13th my first little dude turned 9 years old! I can't believe how fast time has gone by...I swear we just baptized Talon yesterday and here we are another year later.

We started off the day bright and early with his breakfast choice of hear-shaped chocolate chip pancakes. Then he had to get ready for his basketball game. For the last two weeks he has been saying how he really wants to win their game on his birthday. Well, it was the last game of the season and his birthday wish came true..they won their game 18-6! He was pretty excited about the trophy he got afterward.

Then it was home for presents! The only thing he asked for was this Nerf gun that was not even out yet. All it said in the brochure he saw it in was, "release date of February 2010". So, I was online everyday for the last two weeks trying to find this gun that is not even in stores yet. I finally found it on the 9th which meant I had to pay up the nose for expedited shipping...but oh well! That was all he wanted anyway.

However, Mom and Dad had a little something else in mind for him. We gave him some guitar lessons, a guitar bag, pics, a strap...telling him the whole time that they were for his little, dinky acoustic guitar that he got a couple of years ago. When really, this is what they came with!

An electric guitar! (seriously??!!)

Talon's excitement was unimaginable. He immediately ran to Chet and hugged the life out of him...even wrapping a leg around him! I started to tear up and when Talon ran to hug me I noticed that he was blinking back tears...so of course, I lost it and my emotions got the better of me! I love seeing my kids so happy.

Dad trying to teach him a thing or two!

Then it was off to Grandma Viv's for some birthday lunch and birthday cake!

(I wish I could take credit for this cute cake, but that is not what Talon wanted from me so mine is just plain jane!)

We celebrated all three birthdays, Talon, my dad, and Cash's as well.



Talon is not the only one that got a new toy that day. Dad got himself a new guitar and amp as well! (This now makes 5 guitars and 3 amps for Chet that are all sitting in my family room downstairs!)

Here are my two little rocker's showing off their new guitars...and devil horns! Oh MY!

For his birthday dinner he wanted,....A hot dog! Of all the things he could have had the kid wanted a hot dog! It wouldn't be my first choice of birthday dinners but it's easy enough so, DONE!!! A hot dog it is!

Then it was the family party later that night and he got lots of fun things that he wanted! Thanks again to an awesome family! :)


Happy Birthday to my little dude...YOU ROCK!!! (literally!)

A Cultural Field Trip

Going to the Asian Market has proven to be quite a comical adventure with two little boys! If you have ever been inside an Asian Market then you will understand when I say they have a very "distinct smell".

I had to go to the market the other day to get a few Filipino items and Talon and Hunter wanted to come along. When entering the store, Hunter didn't hold back and said, "Oh, what is that SMELL...it stinks in here!" I got a few looks from a few of the customers but I just kept moving on.

They also had oriental music playing overhead. When we were in line checking out Hunter is in laughter and says, very loudly, "That girl sings funny, she doesn't know how to sing! Listen mom...LISTEN she sounds funny!" Well, that would be because she wasn't singing in English! Talon is also laughing very hard under his breath at this point. I am trying to "Shhhhh" them because again, I am getting more stares.

But wait, that's not the best part!

One of the items I needed was on the same aisle as the frozen meats. In the freezer was a big bag of squid tentacles. The boys immediately noticed these rather large, creepy and unappetizing "things". The conversation goes as follows...

Talon~ "Oh LOOK at that SQUID!!!"

Hunter~ "EEWWW, that's SICK!"

Talon~ "I know, it looks so GROSS!"

Hunter~ "Why would people put that in the freezer?"

Talon~ (matter of factly) "Because Hunter! Some people like to eat their TESTICLES!"

Me~ (in a lot of laughter) "I think you mean TENTACLES bud!"

I hurried and escaped to the next aisle leaving the other customers in close range chuckling. (at least I didn't get stares that time!)

NOTE TO SELF: Next time I go to the Asian market, leave TWO little boys at HOME!!!

Before and After...

Here are Kylee's before and after pictures of her teeth that I promised I would post. HUGE difference...like I said before, her ortho said that she was his worse case in YEARS!

You can see for yourself what an amazing job he did in only 2 years. Her bottom gums were really irritated and bleeding, so they aren't looking so great in these pics but WOW...overall results, FANTASTIC!!!

She also got a permanent top retainer, I never knew they even did those, but does anyone know how she is supposed to floss with that in?