Look at this cute photo of brandon that i did up. He looks like a little model!

Here is my 39th self portrait. Eeks.

Here are my lovely bday presents. I LOVE them! The bath stuff is from my baby. The purse is from Steve. Yes, it's a fake Coach. I walked him through the process of where to go to buy a fake one....the Mall of America of course. I love it. It's really cute! I told him for my 40th he can buy me a real one. He said he'll start saving!

Here's the child with the purse. Man is she crabby apples right now. whew....very crabby. On my birthday too....that shouldn't be.

Kylee's Graduation

Well, we went to Kylee's graduation last night. It was a nice, but obnoxious ceremony. Which means that it was fun:)! Here's some pics from last night.

Nice looking bunch, eh? Oh, that reminds me that I nominated my sister Barb for the TLC show, "What NOT to wear". Awesome huh? If she got picked she'd get 5000 bucks to spend on a new wardrobe. Hell, I should of nominated myself!

Oh...hey, it my birthday today. Well, happy birthday to me. whoo hoo. 39. Eeks. That's all I'm going to say about this special occasion.

Yesterday Madison had her very first playdate with Indio (kari thompson's son). It was so fun to watch her play with someone in our backyard. They got along really good minus a few screams and cries (from Madison only...not me!). Plus Kari and I never see each other, which is really wierd considering we are both home and live so close to each other. So, it was good to catch up with her, once again considering she is my best friend! We are going to try to get together every other Tuesday. Hopefully this next time we get together it will be warm enough to go to the beach.

Here's a cute picture of Indio I took yesterday. It's so wierd to see our two kids together. It's cool. They've seen each before so I am not sure why I am amazed that we both have kids but Kari and I have been friends since fourth grade and I just can't believe that we now have kids. Since we are almost 40 years old *OMG* I shouldn't be amazed that we both have kids now. Okay, I will quit babbling on about the kiddies!

Speaking of almost being 40....tomorrow is mine and Kim's bday! Whoo hoo. Actually I am abit bothered by turning 39. Obiviously because I am abit bothered by being almost 40. The other day Steve did a little freakout himself saying that he's going to be 50 in 7 years (I'll stand to correct him..it's more like 6 1/2 years now!). He is almost middle aged. Oh...did I tell you that he is trying to buy a dirt bike? HE'S GOING THROUGH A MIDDLE AGED CRISIS NOW!!! Wow, I just figured that out...he is not buying the convertable or divorcing his wife for a younger woman, he is buying a dirtbike. eeks. He's going though a middle age crisis. Wow! That's all I can say is wow. I am not happy with the decision to buy the bike either on many different levels. BUT, I told him I never want to tell him that he can't do something so I have agreed to it...still not really happy with it. He's going to kill himself. This is the guy that went dirtbiking when he went to vacation with his guy friends and ended up with a hematoma seroma on his leg. Which is STILL there if you can believe it. Oh, what is he getting himself into. He is really going to hurt himself. I can just feel it. But this is what going through a middle aged crisis does to a guy. Jeepers.

Wow, is Madison good at going potties now in her potty chair. Now THAT is amazing because she hasn't once gone in her pullups or diaper in a few days now. Not even during the night last night and we made sure to put a night time pullup on. God, are those expensive...either daytime or nighttime pullups cost alot. Much more than diapers I think. I did buy her some princess underware though. Maybe we can just do those at home and then if we go somewhere we'll put on the pullups. Like how I plan out my child's diaper/pull up delima for the whole world to see? Poor Madison. Her mother is already embarssing her.

Well, I had best get going and finish doing the laundry and cleaning a tad. You know what I figured out? If I spray off the kitchen counter with Pinesol cleaner, he thinks the house is really clean. And if the window are open, the wind carries the smell and he can smell it when he walks in the door. Then he thinks that I am really cleaning. Little trick for any of you newlyweds....hee hee.

Mom got back her results from her cat scan. If you don't know what's going on, when she had pneuomia a few weeks ago they saw something on her lung from her pneuomia xrays. So she went in to get a cat scan. Anyways, the results show that she has an 8 mm spot of tissue that is non-calcified. They are going to redo another cat scan in 3 months to see if the spot has grown any. We are taking this as good news. What we are thinking is that years ago the doctors had accidently punctured her lung while she was in the hospital for another procedure and we are thinking that it might be scar tissue. We hope that's what it is. Please say a little prayer for graco. I'll keep you update via the blog.

I am going to Kylee's graduation tonight. It's raining out like crazy so it is NOT going to be outside. Bummer. Here I go again talking about the weather.

Cool, one of my layouts got picked for being featured in a online magazine. You can go here and click on my layout (it's with Madison and Steve...you'll see it..the first one): http://scrapbooking.com/article/41349
Hey...guess who's almost potty trained at record speed? Of course Madison. It's not speedy as in age wise, but today she has gone potty 4 times in her pullups and not once in her diaper. Guess she hasn't had any diapers on today...she had pullups on and then graduated to her underware. Excuse me..her DORA underware. It's that great? Thank GOD because this has taken FOREVER. Now we are going to have to figure out how to get her off the suckers that she gets each time she goes potty. We can't keep that up forever. But it works. We'll just have to phase that out of her life pretty soon.
We went to the Mall of America today. It was pretty fun. She went on alot of rides, had her ice cream cone, played at LegoLand and then we went home.
Steve is out at Hooters right now with a bunch of guys that he has to somewhat entertain from work. When I worked there we would go out with these guys too. They are the people who are entwined with the ELS machines at the DNR. Those are the machines you buy your fishing license with. When we use to go out with these guys it was so much fun (and very wild). Times have changed though....I think they got in some type of unprofessional ethic code of conduct trouble. But man, did we use to all have fun! Lots of fun. It was kinda like the good ole' college days. Fun stuff.
Right now Madison is watching Peter Pan for the 100th time. Yes, her latest of obessional behavior. That's about it for now!

So, Look at the 2 videos underneath this blog entry and see me and Steve in action. Steve is making me put mine on too even though I don't want it to be seen. Oh well...what the hell, right people?
Nana, thank you so much for getting this for Madison. It's PERFECT! Thanks!!!!!
Well, we are having fun playing with this so I gotta go!

Fashion Show with Kelly...

Fashion Show with Steve...

Madison watching the parade at Grand Ole' Day...

Her eating one of her suckers that she caught while they were throwing out candy. Man, are they ever getting chinsy with throwing out candy. Can't tell if they are just cheap and don't want to throw anything out OR if they are trying to avoid a lawsuit if they accidently hit a child. Something is up with the amount that they throw. We are talking about ONE piece per child. Remember the good ole' days were kids were almost hogpiling to get to the candy? Well, those days are GONE.

Aren't these the cutest little toes you have ever seen? I think her feet are so cute. Of course I do! Well, we are burnt to a crisp from fishing yesterday. I took a picture of how bad Steve's back was and I can't find where I put it on my computer. He looks like the coppertone kid. Remember that ad? Boy, does sunblock work good though. The stuff we put on little maddie is spf 50. Nothing gets through that.
Well, I RE-hurt my leg *calf* again. Guess how? I was sleeping on the couch again last night and about 3 in the morning I heard all this ruckus outside the window and I FREAKED and jumped out of the couch and literally ran into the bedroom. In the process of my freaking out, I repulled my calf muscle. It really sucks and it really hurts. I figured out the ruckus was the newspaper guys delivering papers. It's kinda funny when you think of the ways I have injured myself.
Well, today for fun we may go to GRAND OLE' DAY(s). I use to always go to that in my younger years (aka party years) and it was so much fun. I think they use to have it Saturday and Sunday but now it's only on Sunday, hence grand ole day vs. grand old days. See?

Kim is running her triatholon today. I feel guilty for not going to see her today. I should of waken up early *yeah right..., and gone to see her. Hopefully she'll beat her record for herself. I sure don't have the energy to train. Hell, I don't have the dislipline to train for a triatholon. I did my team tri back in the 90's and that was good enough for me. I DID want to do my first 5k ever though and I put the caboosh on that with my calf. One of these years I'll get my act together and actually do something cool like that. I envy anyone that runs and does triatholons and stuff. It's just sooo hard to do and I don't know if I could ever do it. We'll see. Maybe. But that's later down the road so why bother with it now, eh? lol

Which variation of her toes do you like the best? I kinda like the high contrast black and white. God, I really want a good, good camera. But we couldn't afford it right now. Guess I will have to try and save up! jeepers. I'll pay like 500 something for the one I want. It'll take me a year or 2 two to save up.

maaaaaaaaaaaaaaabdison michaels. Madison wanted to spell her name out. A little bit too many a's.

Well, gotta go and get ready for the day now!

Oh my goodness, look at all the fishies we caught! We each caught our limit! Talk about awesome fishing! That was today...one after another. How fun!

Cute pics of Steve and Maddie and Maddie with her little sunglasses on. Those glasses are funny. She actually looks like she has bifocals on. ha! Oh...if you haven't guessed, we went out on the boat today. What PERFECT weather. Oh fishing was so much fun. I also caught about 5 bass that we just threw back in. I also caught a MONSTER carp that got off my line. I caught the big one and it got away! Steve is cleaning the fish *remember alive?. Ick.

This was Madison last night posing for the camera. I love it when she *wants* her picture taken. She did that over at Grandma Gracies also. It's so awesome when she does it!
This is about the boring-ist day we have had in a long time. My child has watched movie after movie and me...well, just lying there on the couch 1/2 dozing most of the time. I finally had to get up and make a pot of coffee so I could try to get some energy into me. That is seriously all we have done today. Can you say boring?

Not much to blog about today. Nothing has happened. I am really bored. Madison is in daycare. I don't feel like cleaning. So I made this layout. That's all. Nothing more to say. Bye.

Well, we are back from Grandma Gracie's house. We had a good ole' time! It was fun. Both days we went to McDonalds and played in their playland.

Oh...me and Kim are having our bday party at the big chutes and ladders park in Bloomington. Anyone who wants to come, please do so! We will have a picinic table and just hang out at the park all day! Here are the specifics. I'm sending out the email maybe tomorrow. If you get a email and see someone who's name isn't on the list, please forward it to them. I don't have everyone's emails in my address book *still!

I am a little worried people won't be able to find it because it's in a "wildlife" type of area in Bloomington. I guess maybe I am a bit worried people won't find us in the park. We'll be in the picinc area right outside of the playarea *to the right of the playarea*. Anyways, if people want to come, cool. If not, well then that's fine too! It's not a big deal or anything! I decided that's what I wanted to do for my bday this year and then Kim said she did too with the kiddies and then we decided to have a little party for anyone who cares to join!

Well, we are heading off to Grandma Gracies for a sleepover. Not sure what we are going to do up there cuz it's not looking too good weather wise! That means no going to the park if it's too horrible outside. We always have the McDonalds play area. That's probley what we'll do. It's been quite awhile since we did a sleep over at Grandma Gracies house. I'll have to bring my camera!
Oh, did you watch the Denise Richardson show and the Living Lohan show last night on the E channel? I have been waiting and waiting for these stupid shows to start! I was so excited for them to premire last night! It's so dumb....how many reality shows can one person like? I am such a reality show junkie. I am not too sure how I like the Denise Richardson show yet but I do like the Living Lohan one. That Dina Lohan mom is such a spaz (I think). Also for Lindsay NOT being on the show they sure talk about her alot. It's kinda sickening. I am sure they are cashing in on her name so it attracts people to the show. Anyway, I do give a thumbs up to both of the shows so far.
I almost have us packed to go up to Grandma Gracies but should probley get going up there now! I'll blog when I get back. I am sure we'll be back tomorrow at sometime. Depends on the weather again. I sure talk about the weather alot.

Just some more photos of this weekend....

Interview with Madison

What is up with this stupid weather? It's suppose to be nice out today! We were suppose to take the boat out and go fishing again, but instead we ending up going to the Como Zoo. It was pretty fun. Everyone else under the sun had the same idea.

Here are some pictures of us there.... This is Madison climbing the ropes in the kids play thingie...

Here she is on the cars....I went on the Tea Cups with her....made me sick to my stomach...

I still feel sick and this is after a couple of hours! Steve is going to make ribs tonight and that ends our memorial day weekend. Guess I never went to Daddy's grave. Poor Dad. Or Jake and Hunter's. Poor little guys. I haven't been there (the cemetary) in years actually. Cemetarys give me to creeps and I am kinda afraid to go by myself. I am sure Steve would go with. Next time I am in the area I will stop. Now that Mom doesn't live over there anymore I never really get in the area.

We finally got our garden planted today. That was a lot of hard work! Here is a picture of Steve with his owl that he got to scare away the bunnies...

What a dork! hee hee. But he's cute. Anyways, we are waiting to see what the weather is going to do. Some big storms it appears on the doppler (we have the weather channel on). I called my mom to tell her they are in a tornado warning. We have about an hour until it hits us so we are deciding what to do! It's actually hot out there today. Okay, I am the dork for talking about the weather. It's polite talk. I don't need to polite talk on my own blog now, do I? Maybe we'll go outside and play boche ball. Oh, speaking of boche ball....yesterday we were playing and I hurt my wrist. People, I got a boche ball injury. Just like my kite injury. Unreal. How embarssing. It feels abit better today:)

You know....I think we should always get 3 day weekends. Not that it really matters to me because I am not working right now, but 3 days is what is needed. That gives you one whole day to just kinda do what ever (kinda like blogging, hee hee). Knowing that Steve is home tomorrow again makes such a huge difference. We had a nice breakfast this morning....steve read the paper.....I made a layout (the one on top).....madison got to watch her MaryKate and Ashley movie on the big screen tv....it's been fun! I'll blog later on cuz Madison wants a braid in her hair now. She must of seen one of those girls on her movie have a braid cuz she only wants one braid instead of two.

Isn't she just beautiful? I know I am prejudice cuz she's mine...but I think she's beautiful!

Well, we got back from our Memorial Day 2008 fishing trip for the day! It was really fun. Madison did soooo good on the boat. If you can believe it, we were on the boat for a full 5 hours or so and Madison held her own! She did awesome. A few times she wanted to go back in to the car or go home but she gave up without a fight when we told her no. We were very pleased about today. We did bring her DVD player and some toys and her dollie and lots of snacks. Kinda brived her with the little chocolate chip cookies. We also caught alot of fish. I caught the first fish of the day, thank you, thank you! Don't you win some prize for that? Typcially this is something that Steve and I would bet on but I already owe him sooo many bets from all of our golfing outings. I don't know why I even bet with him because I always lose. Anyways, fishing was pretty fun. We caught some bass and some sunnies and also croppies. Steve is cleaning them as I blog! You know, I just found out the you filet fish while they are alive. How gross is that? Don't ask me why but I never knew that. I always thought they were dead when you cut them up. Does everyone know they are alive except for me? Gross. That is just gross. But it sure is hell fun catching them! I caught a couple of fish that were really fighting. I love fishing. Here are some more pictures of us (notice there are no pictures of me fishing...I already deleted them!)...
Now we don't know what we are going to do the rest of the night. It didn't turn out that Jim and Alexis came out (or we go down there). I think we should still have our bonfire that we were going to have if they came out. I bought some smores and stuff for the fire. I bought some chocolate marshmellows. Bet cha didn't know that they have those, do ya? They do! I got them at Target. I had to have a little tasty of one last night to see what they taste like. They were very good. A nice little treat for the calorie consious! I think they are 25 calories a piece for one. That's a pretty good alternative if you don't want to eat the whole smore. I am sure you really don't care about that piece of tid bit. I have alot of tid bits that I could share with you, but I think I'll let them leak out little by little through out my blogs:)

As I am typing I can feel myself sway from side to side just like you do on a boat. I think that happens to most people, doesn't it? Almost makes me a little nausous. Have you ever been on a cruise? Oh my God, for a whole week after you get home you sway from side to side, except they aren't little waves...they are huge waves...hence, big swaying! The one time I went on a cruise I got sea sick and had to go to the ship's doctor to get a pill to help with the sea sickness. When I took it, it knocked me out for the whole night and cut into my partying. I was in my early 20's. Now days the pill would just give me a full 8 hours of nice rest.

I wonder where Steve is right now. I haven't heard him for about an hour. Should I check? Na. Madison is sleeping. She's out big time. I had called my neighbor to see if she wanted to come and babysit for us, but she wasn't home. I wanted to go golfing really bad. Maybe we'll just have to play some boche ball. Ever play that game? It's pretty addicting. Got it on sale at Target for 12 bucks. Fun stuff I'm telling ya.

Well, as usual, I am babbling on about nothing really and if you actually read through the post, I give you credit. I would of just scanned for any information or something interesting or funny. Oh, here comes Steve. I told him I was blogging about me swaying from side to side and he said that people are going to think that I'm nuts. So, on that note, I'll let you go and get on with your day. I should go spend some quality time with my hunny!

Good night everyone!

So, what's the scoop for everyone for Memorial Day weekend? We still aren't exactly sure what we are going to do or where we are going to go. However, we do know on Saturday we are going to take out the boat. It will be Madison's first time ever. Kinda scary. Of course she'll be wearing a life jacket and stuff, but still if ya know what I mean! Have a great long weekend everyone! It'll be nice to have 3 days with Steve!
Oh, today I had to put back on "the boot"....of course I couldn't handle following the directions and have been without it for the last 2 weeks for sure. I have gone walking once or twice and although it was a little sore, I could still handle it. But then yesterday I was running and chasing Madison and hurt it again. Today I went walking and 1/2 way through the walk I regreted going and was limping for the most part. Hence me wearing the boot again. Not sure how long I'll keep it on this time. I am just so impatient and it's such a pain in the ass to have this huge big clunky thing on my leg.

Hope you enjoy today's layouts.
I spent the entire day working out in the yard. Steve will be so suprised and happy. I trimmed the bushes, weedwacked the edging and mowed the lawn. I even bagged the twigs and branches and stuff. Whew. Talk about over exgertting myself. I am not sure how to spell exghert...just spell it out and you'll know the word I am talking about:). I am just kidding...I am not THAT tired. However I am kinda burnt out of doing lawn work for the moment. It's so nice out today. There isn't too much more to blog about....I came in after doing the lawn work to make a layout or 2. That is how I relax. I tried really hard to sit outside in the chair and read so I was in the sun BUT I got really bored very quick. I wanted to get tan. I actually am pretty tan right now. I am such an 80's child. My shoulders are peeling so I'll have to actually start wearing some sunblock. Well, I had best get going and start the "quick, before he gets home" cleaning that I do. Sometimes when you put your mind to it you can really get stuff clean pretty fast. Later dudes.

Oh...Tyler just called and guess what? He tried out for the play "Jesus Christ SuperStar" and got the role of Jesus. He is so awesome. He just keeps getting all these great parts. We are so proud of him. Not sure when the play is but he said we need to get tickets fast because it will sell out fast. So, if you are reading this blog and you would like to go see him in this play, call or email me and we'll get the tickets. Oh, I am just so excited for him. Yeah TyTy. I wonder if Madison will be able to handle this one. Who knows. Maybe we'll try to find a sitter and drive up there and back down in one night (yuck). The little munchkin can create problems at times like these.

Oh, I lost at the casino. I think Nikki and Kylee also lost. At least no one was excited when it when time to go so I am just going to assume there was no major cash at any given point entitled upon them gracefully. Oh well....it was really fun. I played alot of the games that I normally wouldn't play. Also played alot of the 1 and 2 cents ones. It was a fun night.

Well, I best be getting to bed. Steve had on one of those freaky ghost hunter shows and I watched it a little bit with him and got majorally freaked out and now I am kinda scared to be sitting here in this computer room. Don't ask me why. Don't ask me why I'd watch the 5 mintues I did because all it does is stay in my mind and I'll be thinking about it for the next few days now.

Madison has daycare tomorrow. I have no clue what I am going to do. I told Steve that I want her home one more day with me now and he said no because she's in a good routine. That's true. But I just don't know what to do on the days that she has daycare. I don't need the extra time like I did at one time. Hell, I don't even go on my walk if she isn't with me anymore. I am too use to her being around me all the time. I feel naked going walking without her. Not sure when or how that started but I just want her with me at all times now. Not that I didn't before but this is just different. I think we are in a good routine for the most part and when she's not with me it disrupts my routine. Maybe once the beaches open up I will go there and layout or something. Then again, I don't want to go to the beach by myself. Oh...speaking of walking...I went on my first walk since I had the kite accident and was wearing the boot. I did okay. I kinda quit wearing the boot about a week ago. I shouldn't of done that, but who am I to ever really follow the rules? Anyways, the walk went pretty good and I wasn't sore this morning *walk was last night. But I do favor my good leg walking quite abit so hopefully that won't cause any problems. I am sure that you all really care about this. Another babbling post. Okay, now I am going to go to bed and try to get a good nights sleep. I hear Steve snoring in the other room. We spend most of the night with him snoring and me ever so slightly kicking him to shut him up. We finally are back into sleeping into the same bed again. Is this too much info? hee hee. But for the last few weeks we got into the habit of him or I sleeping on the couch because of his snoring and then with Madison sleeping in our bed *which has GOT to STOP. But it was just too much to have the 3 of us in bed together and then nobody but Madison gets a good night sleep.

I'll leave you with another picture of Madison on today's picnic (read in the blog entry below)...

Oh what an absolute beautiful day outside! Today has been one of those perfect mommy days. We spent the day down at the park. We even saw a deer prance through the fields, which is really rare during the day. It was like some fairy tale with bambi prancing around..lol. We had a little picnic today...

Then we met another 3 year old girl. Here they are suntanning on the slides..hee hee......

The little girl's mom and I totally hit it off. That sounds funny but we talked and talked and had alot in common. She's even an identical twin. It was really fun. I rarely meet other mom's. And if I do, it's always abit awkard. But today it wasn't awkard at all. We just got along really good. I feel like a kindergartner making friends at school. Even when we were leaving I showed her where we lived and told her they should come over so the girls can play. Don't mean to make a big deal about it but I guess I have never invited another mom over to have a playdate with Madison. Guess it's not really a playdate since we never planned it yet, but still. Anyways, it was fun meeting someone new besides the stay-at-home Dad that is down at the park sometimes that Steve feels the need to ask about all the time. ha! That is so funny. I told Steve that he has nothing to worry about. Kinda funny.

I am going to go to the casino tonight and meet nikki and kylee. Kylee is finally 18 so she can legally gamble now. Reminds me when we took Ty to the casino for the first time. He lost his money and found out that gambling isn't a good idea. Guess I haven't figured that one out yet. Except I usually come out even so that's my excuse. Guess I should try to clean the house before Steve gets home. I have to pay if I am going to play, I guess! I think Madison is sleeping on the couch because she hasn't made a little peep at all. There is no way that I'd get to make a blog entry without her interrupting. Oh...guess not...she just let out a big ya-hoo! Totally NOT sleeping. Best get going now and tend to my child and the house. hee hee I'll leave you with another picture...

Did you get to see Madison riding her little trycicle? It's still a little to big for her, but she can kinda go for abit if she gets a bit of momentum.
There hasn't been much to blog about these last few days. I thought it was suppose to rain outside today but didn't so I was pretty happy. We spent most of the day out in the sun. My face got pretty sunburned. Thank God I put stuff on Madison. I didn't for awhile while we were playing and then mommy guilt hit and we had to leave the park to run back and get it. Doesn't even look like she was outside at all.
Tonight we went to go watch Loggie play baseball. He did pretty good. It was fun. Nice to go sit and watch.
That's about all I have........enjoy the little video!

I love my sissies, but they need to get a bit more into the "modeling" for their model photoshoot...

The little ones have it down pat!....see?.............

Hee hee, look at this cute photo of Madison this morning. I walked by the door and this is what I saw...
Okay, I have had enough of adding photos to my blog tonight. I am tired.