So my new weight loss goal materialized today when the boys were asking me how old I was and what I was going to be when I "grow up." In all Ian's infinite wisdom he said "Kaleb, Mommy is going to grow up to be our chubby mommy!!" Now don't get me wrong I got a little bit of a chuckle but also felt a little stung. He does see me as "bigger" than him but he also sees me looking like I am still carrying a baby. That is where my goal begins. I don't want to wish I was pregnant so I don't have to worry about "sucking it in." I want to be able to search my closet and find something that makes me look like the "un"-pregnant mother I am!! I have 8 months until I am 30 and 8 months to lose 30 lbs. We will see how I do it and what I learn. I plan to blog about it to keep myself honest and accountable. I am excited to see what I can do...as I have talked non stop about losing weight I finally realize that I am going to be 30 in less than a year and I don't want to "grow up" and be Kaleb, Ian and Allison's chubby mommy!

This morning on Facebook...

One of my "friends" on facebook posted something that really made me think. She said "Love your neighbor...as you would yourself." I took a quick life assessment and realized that I need to work on that. I have encountered some situations that I could have been better at....offered to pay for the womans coffee when she forgot her wallet at home (someone else did while I thought about it) or put more money in the Salvation Army buckets.
I have also encountered a lot of people asking for money as if asking of the time. Last night I was at the grocery store and a woman approached Allison and I and told me this story about how her daughter needed a jacket and shoes and that she was on food stamps. She then said "So do you have cash you could give me?" I lied (Sorry God!!) and said that all I had was my check card. A couple rows over she asked me if I was sure that I didn't have any cash and got in between Allison and I. I politely wanted to shove her aside as my maternal instinct kicked in and I needed to protect my child. But I once again told her I had no cash. As I finished my shopping she had stopped 2 other people and asked them for money. I was in the checkout and to my dismay she was two people behind me and I WAS PAYING WITH CASH. I went as fast as I could and could feel my face getting redder as the cashier was taking her sweet time! Against my better judgement (usually I would just leave well enough alone) I went and "tattled" on them. I did not agree with their tactics and it made me uncomfortable. They called security and alerted them to the situation. I left and didn't turn back. (Out of sight...out of mind?)
I understand that we are living in hard times and money is tight for almost everyone, including my family. In hindsight, I should have offered to find her a jacket and some shoes for her daughter. I'll remember that next time!

Random dribblings.....The Calorie War...

I understand the scientifics of intake of calories and exercising but I will never understand why all I want to eat is a king size Milky Way smothered in peanut butter. I am breastfeeding so I am lucky enough to have an extra 500 calories to work with thus you think I could lose some weight. Nope!! I lost all the baby weight and am now working on the dreaded 25lbs I want to lose. In the past month I have lost 5 lbs dropping me into a weight range I haven't seen since after Kaleb was born...yippee...but so far all I have done is maintain it. I could say, "Good for you, Jody," but nope I am frustrated! I have this picture of Sarah Jessica Parker on my office wall. She has this to "die for hair" that I want to emulate when I lose the weight but so far it isn't enough motivation. I need something else to stimulate my fight in the calorie war. Usually a whole new wardrobe would make me kill myself working out but I already have so many clothes tucked away for when I lose the weight that there is no need to buy anything. So I sit here waiting for Allison to get up from her nap eating my lunch (a BBQ chicken flatbread from Subway) and ponder my battle. I am left with one final thought..."I wonder how many calories are in a chocolate chip cookie dough from Papa Murphy's".....I need help!!

Here is a cute pic of Allison for all to enjoy!!

Allison is here!

We are so excited that Allison Stella is finally here! She definitely made me think she was never coming out but decided to make her grand entrance on May 7th at 1:32pm. She weighed 8lbs 15oz and was 20 inches long. My labor started at 8:45am that morning and was the worst labor I have ever been in. It was beyond excruciating but I am proud to say that I didn't use any medication (I used para-cervical blocks with the boys which didn't help) and successfully pushed 3 times and out she came. I joked with the Dr. and asked for a confirmation of her sex. To my relief she was a she. Everyone already has been asking us if we are having anymore and all I can say is if we were guaranteed a boy I would do it in a heartbeat but since nothing is that certain we are done!! Its bittersweet but I am excited to finally lose this weight I have been carrying around since before Kaleb. I am on my way as having Miss Allison I have lost 20lbs.....yippee!
We haven't been home long enough to really experience all that comes with having 3 kids but we have gotten a couple of "whiffs" of it in the past couple of days. For one it seems much noisier (which doesn't seem to bother Allison), its harder to get things done when you have 2 boys fawning constantly over their "Baby Allison" or wanting to hold her whenever the boppy is free and Jake went back to work on Sunday the day after we got home. Fortunately I have a best friend (who also is an awesome sister) who came over and took the boys off my hands so our new baby and I could take a much needed nap.
I forgot how little they are when they are born and didn't realize how big my boys would seem when she came home. I pick up Ian now and wonder why he ever seemed so light. His hands used to be so little and now he seems the size of a 5th grader!! I think keeping them occupied and our life not so hectic will take come creativity on our part and I am up to the challenge.
I am taking everything in at this point...staring at her as often as I can. We have the perfect family now and are ready for the next phase of our life. I can't wait to experience all the things that having a daughter has to offer and being able to dress her in pink is one of them. She definitely will wear some of her brothers hand-me-downs but I have already gotten so many clothes from fam members that she almost doesn't have to. Although as annoying as I used to think putting on tights would be I am looking forward to her wearing them as well as the ruffly diaper covers! What girl doesn't love accessories....I know her mom does!! I also can't wait for girls weekends with my sister as well as weekends away with my best friend, Anne and her daughter, Cadence. There are so many things I want to share with her that only a mother can and I am looking forward to our special bond!

Happy Birthday Garek!

I remember like it was yesterday when we got the call that Garek had arrived. The first thing I did was call Jake at work and tell him that we were going down there on my day off to see him. Jake ended up switching around the schedule so we could go! Garek was one of the youngest babies I had held since my brother was born in 1984. He has had many birthdays since then and we are so proud of the little man he is becoming. We predict that someday he will be a zoologist or house will be full of reptiles!!

Garek and his uncle Jakey!

Garek and his Auntie Jody!

I love this picture of Garek as it reminds me of one of my little men!

We love you so much and we hope that you had an amazing 6th birthday.

My week off!!

Well I have a week off this week for a winter break and I have decided to scrap all week. I set up a table in my living room facing the TV and borrowed movies from various people and started last night. I am 15 pages into it now and hope to complete many more! The boys were great this morning and tonight not touching anything on the table so we will see how they will do later on this week.

I get to go to the Dr tomorrow which I just love. It is my 28 glucola appointment and I am going to ask her to check on the sex again...just to make sure. I am having some severe anxiety about Allison coming out an Alex and have been having a hard time NOT thinking about it. It shouldn't hurt to peek....to make sure. I have all her clothes and car seat washed. We are getting pretty excited and we only have 11+ weeks left...time flies.

Well I am off to scrap...wish me luck!

My Scrapbook Room/Area

I posted awhile ago a transformation of my scrapbook space. I took pics of a not so organized space and then pictures when I was done! Well the scrap monster has struck again!! My whole office has apparently been in a hurricane or some other natural disaster. I am not posting pics as this time is much more embarrassing! I guess with Christmas and other events in our life this room has been the dumping ground for too long now.
So it now my goal to get it clean. I am scrapping on the 8th of Feb and need to find some of my supplies. The other issue I am facing is that I am moving my scrapbook area to another part of the house. In order for that to happen we need to get rid of our downstairs couch so that our upstairs couch can come downstairs and then my scrapbook area can come to fruition.
I have been staring at the mess for awhile now and have no energy to start the process. I feel that all my "extra" energy should be used for the boys and housework. Hopefully I can kick it into gear and get it done or at least find some of my supplies by Sunday! I'll keep you posted. Just another day in the life....

You'd think with 2 kids and one on the way I'd be a wealth of funny stories! Well I'm sorry to say for right now our life is pretty boring. We've all been sick this past holiday season with one form of sickness or another and I am praying now that we are starting to get better.
So back to cleaning my messy house (which I never quite finish) and laundry that never gets folded. I think the true American Family lives out of baskets anyway!!!

My 101 list

So I took a look at my 101 list and thought I would list some things that I would like to get done this year.....I have so many left and need to get around 40 things done this year. I realize that my original list is full of some things I may never do but what is a "to-do" list without some things to dream about!

I'd like to take a class at UWS, research more of my genealogy and start my heritage scrapbook, plan our 5th anniversary getaway, order my shutterfly wedding book, finish my Princess Diana scrapbook, make my permanant scrap corner, start our wedding and baby scrapbook for friends, scrap 4 pages a day for a month, rewrite all my recipes, get caught up on the boys scrapbooks before I throw another one into the mix, clean out garage, finish upstairs bath, paint the exterior of the house and make our backyard patio.

I have noticed that I have a ton of scrapping to do...good thing I like it so much!

The start of another year

If the rest of this year is anything like the last 2 days...we are screwed!! The boys are getting over an obnoxious cold and are severely crabby. I think I was called a "stinkin' mom" 45 times just today. Now with most full-time jobs (although motherhood is more than full-time) I would be considered to have a ton of on the job experience by now. I have been in this position going on over 3.5 years and am able to proficiently handle all of the positions in this "company." I most likely would have been given a promotion by now and in some careers a company car! But I am just a "stinkin' mom" who doesn't fulfill my job duties correctly. Yesterday I wasn't good at anything...breakfast wasn't what the "bosses" wanted and my make-believe and story time were awful but when snack came I probably lost all my acquired 15 min breaks. Secretly I was waiting for my pink slip this morning but I was off the hook. Kaleb came to my bedside at 7:30 am and told me that he turned on the TV and Sponge Bob was on. (He knows he isn't allowed to watch that.) So I thanked him for telling me and went and changed the channel. He then proceeded to tell me that I was his favorite mommy and that he loved me (even though I don't let him watch that show.) That made doing this job (without paid benefits) totally worthwhile! Hearing them tell me they love me and that I am their favorite mommy erases all the "stinkin' moms" forever! I can't wait to see what my job holds for me tomorrow.

Here is a cute pic of the 2 of them one of the times they weren't upset with eachother!

Happy New Year

I don't make New Years resolutions but I do have ideas of things I want to finish in 2009. I will also post some pics of my boys and maybe one of the little girl I am growing.

I plan on making a permanent scrapbook area in our upstairs family room. First we need to move a couch from our living room (to a new home in someone elses house) and then move our newer couch downstairs to its new spot. When all that is complete I will have an area to leave all my scrapbooking stuff up...an area that I will want to go and create. In addition to completing my scrapbook corner I intend to spend more time getting caught up with the boys' scrapbooks. I also want to finish my Princess Diana scrapbook that I started when I was 16. I recently found 300 articles of her from that start when her and Charles were "dating." How spectacular!!

Jake and I are in the planning mode of our 5th anniversary celebration. We never get eachother gifts but instead go to dinner and a movie. This year I wanted to go somewhere before the baby is born and life becomes a ton more chaotic. We have some very exciting options and I can't wait until we get to get away. One idea is going away to a floating bed and breakfast in the Twin Cities the weekend of our actual anniversary. This place looks amazing as well as reasonably priced. The other idea was to go down to the cities the first weekend of May to attend the Festival of Nations. Jake has never been and I attended in high school. The only issue with that is we are due on the 10th of May. We'll have to see what happens.

This year I would also like to finish some home improvements, have another baby, celebrate many birthdays, go fishing, go scrapbooking and find some more time this year to spend with friends.

Merry Christmas

I guess this is how underwear is supposed to be worn. Good thing it is new and clean!

This is how Ian's hair looked after a new haircut, bath and nap.

Happy 2nd Birthday Ian!

Hello Batman!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Dobosenski Boys!

This is a picture of our baby girl sucking her thumb. My favorite one!

Update

I survived my first week of school; although I didn't have any doubts I wouldn't. I enjoyed every chaotic minute and can't wait for Monday!

We went and visited the crazy people in WI doing the 10 hour triathlon (my sister Amanda and sis-in-law Gigi and Cathy (an advisor at our school.)) They did great! They ended up finishing 6 full triathlons. Something I will never accomplish and I am ok with that! It rained and poured and then was sunny with a fall breeze. I love fall breezes. They are just enough to make you want some hot cocoa but not so cold that you run for the indoors. I love sweaters and sweatshirts so I definitely am a fall and winter gal!

Ian took a great nap as did I (on the couch) as Kaleb (who didn't take a nap and fell asleep at 7:30pm and hasn't woke up yet) watched movies and "rested" on the living room floor. These are my kind of Saturdays where I make mac 'n cheese and fruit for lunch (and chocolate milk) and we rest for awhile and wait for Daddy to come home from a crazy day of making glasses. I also love "sheets weekend." This is when I launder all the sheets in the house. My one rule is that you must be clean for the first night of clean sheets. I just love hopping into a freshly made bed after a hot shower and reading a great book until I am too tired to stand it any longer.

Enough gabbing...I must go and enjoy my sheets!!

It's fitting....

So I am a blog slacker! I know it and it has been graciously pointed out to me. I feel though I may have lost some readers but hope to regain my original fan base by blogging more. I will be busier now with the school job as well as being asked spear head another facet of my Prodigy job but will try to update everyone about my life a little more often.
Life is a little boring lately. I say this with the exception of my children whom have puked in my hand or dumped the full potty chair onto the floor recently. I have decided that on my 101 list I should have included "Make life exciting (excluding any form of bodily function)." Is it possible to transport all the fun I had before a husband and children and channel it into excitement in our day to day life? To spread all of it to last us awhile? Maybe it is sadness over lost friends or terror in my newest career endeavor that has me all wound up. Although nothing beats my boys' smiling faces when we wake them up. Kaleb usually tells us that he loves us and Ian (being more mute than not) screams with delight and beckons us to pick him up. I do love the husband and child part of my day but the rest I could do without sometimes. I think it is time to do something about it and when I get some ideas of what I will do to fix it....I will blog about it. (It is 11:57pm and I am about to turn into a pumpkin...does any of this make sense??)

Here are some pictures of the little humans that make it worth it to get out of bed in the morning.....puke, pee and all!

Blog Day!

Today was going to be "Blog Day" and of course I left all the pics at home I wanted to upload. So I will just tell you of our past 2 months and add pics later.

June

We had a wedding the first weekend of Jody's really good friend Makayla...oh and Eric too! It was one of the most beautiful and classy weddings we have seen. We had lots of fun and it was nice to spend some adult time without boys.

Jake ran Grandmas Half marathon on the 21st (Garry Bjorklund 1/2) and did very well for his first one and hardly training. His only complaint was that his legs were a little stiff on Sunday but that was to be expected. I was extremely proud of him and hope that he does more races!

On the 28th we celebrated Jake's Golden 28th bday on the North Shore Scenic Railroad. I rented 2 cars (who knew they were so reasonable) and we went on an excursion up the shore. We had a great turnout and he was very surprised. I was sure he was figuring it out as we walked farther and farther into the rear of the train. The boys really liked it and we were all able to catch up with people we haven't seen in awhile!

July

We had a wedding on the 11th (Dianne's Birthday) that we were hired to shoot. It went very well. The next day we had Jenny Fabeck and Jacob Hairell's wedding at Holy Family (I was the soloist). The reception was at the Decc and was yet another very classy wedding. All the boys (Gavin, Garek, Kaleb & Ian) had tons of fun dancing to Dr. Kielbasa.

On the 17th of July I was hired as a Resource/Special Ed Paraprofessional for Edvisions Off Campus High School that Gigi is one of the directors for. I am very excited for this opportunity and can't wait to start working with the kids! This also means that when we are a little more stable Jake can finally (after 5 years) quit the paper route. He still plans to sub for extra money (for fam vacations and other fun stuff.) I like that he will be home in the morning and won't be so tired anymore. Although it will not extinguish the all night X-Box playing.

On the weekend of the 18th and 19th we rented a huge 15 passanger van and traveled to Mankato to participate in Relay for Life in honor of Mr. Gavin! We had loads of fun selling watermelon and glow bracelets. We (as an event) raised more than $100,000. My parents, sister and 3 of my cousins joined us (2 of them were from AZ) and have already made plans for next year. We are staring to fundraise now so we can be better at our goal for next year. (I raised half of my goal!)

On the 22nd and 23rd we went to visit the St. Peter Dobos and I attended the Summer Institute with Gigi for my new job! It was fun and I learned a lot about Project Based Learning as well as getting to hang with Matt, Gigi, and the boys. Jake and the boys went fishing with Matt, Gavin and Garek and just hung out for a couple of days. I was fortunate to meet the newest Advisor named Megan and Gigi, Megan and I went to "Mama Mia" on Tuesday night. It was fantastic!

So I will post some pics later (when I remember!) Hopefully everyones summer is going great and that everyone is enjoying the sunshine. I am counting the days until fall and winter. There is nothing like sitting inside watching the snow fall and sipping some "Jody Cocoa" to make you all warm and fuzzy! (Hopefully Jake will let me decorate earlier this year.)

We are celebrities!

A couple of weeks ago I saw that our local newspaper was asking for people to submit stories on why they started a blog. I saw this as an opportunity to share this great idea (which I learned from Katie Mathews and Jenny Balow) with readers every where. I emailed Linda Hanson at the News Tribune and she contacted me for the rest of the story. Our story ran today and our picture yesterday as an ad for today! It was a great write up and I am so proud to be a blogger and probably should keep up with it!
Here is a link to the story!
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=69717§ion=US

I'll add some recent pics of the boys to keep all ya'll happy!

As promised!

Here are the pictures of my new frames that I bought for the pictures of my boys. Enjoy!

Almost a month....

It has been almost a month since my last post and I am officially a blog slacker!! Well here are some updates....

Jake is running the 1/2 marathon this Saturday and for some reason is looking forward to it. I am not a runner (who grew up with a runner father) and never understood the excitement....I would rather scrapbook!

We had Kaleb's preschool screening and went there with pretty low expectations. I wasn't sure that he would actually cooperate and to our surprise he did amazing. He had to score a 1,1,2 and ended up doing a 6,10,15....so no preschool for him until 2009. I am more excited that he cooperated and listened than with the actual scores. Who doesn't think their kid is a genius! I knew it all along......LOL!

Ian surprised us late last month by wanting to go potty on the potty chair. He is sits there to pee in his diaper and when we get the diaper off he has gone about 6 times on it. I am not so sure I am ready for another round of training but he is showing so much interest at 18 months that maybe we should!?

Me.....work is busy and life is crazy! I feel like all I do is run around until we have to go to bed. I am happy it is summer but can't wait for the leaves to start changing so the winter season can begin! I have been trying to work on my 101 list which at this point isn't going so well. To stay on top of it I figured out I need to get at least one done weekly.....yikes! (F.Y.I I marked off #44. Get matching 8x10's & 11x14 frames for the boys pics~ I will take a picture and post it later of my new wall display!)

We have tons planned for the rest of the year. Weddings, a family trip (or two), birthdays, Relay for Life, rummage sales (as well as having one) and hopefully some time together having fun!

#27

Well # 27 on my list was to find a swimsuit that I would feel comfortable enough to wear and now I get to cross that off my list! I went down to the cities and helped chaperone Gigi's school field trip and she brought along a swim suit that she just bought for herself to wear while she swam. It wasn't what she had expected so I tried it on to wear in the pool at the hotel. It actually fit. I have been struggling to find a suit that fits and now I have one thanks to Gigi. My original goal centered not on the actual suit but in fact on me losing weight to fit comfortably in a suit. I didn't think I would be able to find one unless I had lost a significant amount of weight but I guess not. So I am crossing it off! Thanks Gigi!

I am not including a picture.....baby steps people, baby steps!

Kaleb's Birthday Party

We had a great time on Sunday at Kaleb's 3rd birthday party. Many of our family and friends were there helping us celebrate his birth. My favorite part was the look on his face when we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He wasn't quite sure what to do. So here are some pictures from his party and some cute ones of him last night!


Kaleb not sure what to do as we are singing to him!



All the kids digging for buried treasure.


Ian also enjoyed his pirate cookie.


Yesterday on his actual birthday we went to Cold Stone in Canal Park and got some ice cream. Kaleb fell asleep on the way down there so we went and parked by the water to go throw rocks and to eat. Well he wouldn't wake up to see "the big water" so we just ate in the car. Ian wasn't one to be left out so we gave him a little cup and let him go to town. As you can see by the pics he thoroughly enjoyed his dessert.

Happy Birthday Kaleb!

Well exactly 3 years ago at 4:07pm my little man Kaleb was born. It is such a happy and sad feeling all rolled into one when I think of him getting so old. In one vein I want him to get older and experience all kinds of new things and in the other vein I want to keep him within arms reach forever. I never want him to experience a broken heart or sadness of any kind but I want him (and Ian) to have all the joy in the world. Everyone tells me that each age is special and that it only gets better although watching him engrossed in Curious George on the floor in front of me; I'm not sure how it could!

I always like to celebrate a little on each of my children's birthday because honestly without me there would be no them! So here's to me...it's my "birth"day too!




He still needs his mommy!

Our Weekend Celebration!

We had a great weekend (although lots of travelling.) We went to St. Peter to celebrate Gavin's 1st Communion yesterday.
I am in awe at how old he seems and yet still so little. I think I will always see him as the little boy I met a little over 6 years ago and got a little teary watching him partake in something so sacred to our family and religion. He was so grown-up and confident and we are all so proud of him. I know that my boys will look up to him and I can't wait for them to be the best of friends!


Gavin reading one of the petitions!


Gavin sitting with Mom and Dad


Kaleb running back from giving some money to the church!


Gavin and his Godfather Uncle Jakey!


The Dobosenski Clan



Garek








There were other family here to support Gavin but I didn't have pics of them! Sorry about the weird configuration of the pictures. Blogger is so confusing sometimes!

I am still alive!

We have been rotating sickness in our family and after this last round of antibiotics (Kaleb) we hopefully will be done. (Although Jake did inform me this morning that he has a sore throat but he bounces back quicker than anyone I know.) It all started with stuffy noses around the beginning if April and both boys were leaking like crazy. We brought Ian in for his 15 month Dr appointment and was told that he had a "crazy bad" ear infection. My Dr. said that he hardly gives out antibiotics anymore (Ian is the first child of mine to have them so far) so I knew it must be pretty bad if he was prescribing them. So he was to take the awesome pink antibiotics for 10 days. When we reached the 9th day Kaleb started coughing and vomiting snot quite profusely. My sister and I noticed that is lymph nodes in his neck were super huge and so I made an appointment for the next day. After some kicking and screaming and promises of suckers we were told that Kaleb has pneumonia in his left lung and bronchitis. He was prescribed a higher dose of the wonderful pink antibiotics. So 2 times in a 2 week span our family practitioner has prescribed antibiotics to our family. I have no sick pictures to share with you although you'd never guess that either of them are sick because they are both running around like crazy little banshees!

A funny thing.....

When I made my 101 in 1,001 list near the last couple I struggled with finding things to add to my list. It was pretty difficult (as most of us who have made them found out.) After was all said and posted I find myself coming up with tons more that I could have added to my original list. So now I write them on my paper copy of the list (so I have it to look at and remind myself.) So I now have started my "In addition to my 101 list..." It will be on the bottom of my original list. So lets see how I do!

Loving my new table.....

On the 22nd of March our new table was delivered.(#60 on my 101 list!) We were so excited because we had a huge Easter dinner at our house the next day. We have been looking (and saving little bits of money) for awhile for the perfect table. The one we liked was at JC Penney's but shipping was the same price as one of the chairs and I am cheap. Well Slumberland came out with an ad and this was one of the tables that was on sale. Also if you spent a certain amount $200 was taken off (which was the cost of a couple of our chairs.) We were able to get the table and 6 chairs with delivery and set-up for cheaper than we expected! My favorite part is that the seat cushions are memory foam and very comfortable. As you can see by the picture it fills up the room very nicely. I am very pleased with our purchase and can't wait to have people over for another dinner!
Yippee!!

My boys

A couple of weeks ago we went to help my sister Amanda find some glasses at our mall. My cousin Taryn was on Ian duty and she wanted to try some glasses on him and Kaleb. So here are the pictures of my sweet (studious!!??) boys! I just can't get over how cute they are!

Devils vs Wild

Well as most of you know I was the fortunate recipient of Devils hockey tickets for my birthday on March 3rd. I was pretty excited and the game was better than I imagined! To top it all off we tied and went into overtime (BONUS!!) and then to a shoot-out (DOUBLE BONUS!!) I could not have asked for a better game. The very best part it being able to see my favorite player Martin Brodeur start and beat the Minnesota Wild. My husband was pretty chapped that his team didn't win but I was pretty sure we were there to celebrate my birthday and it wouldn't be complete without a Devils win! Well I am going to post some pictures for all to see and enjoy! I would also like to thank my husband for the gift as well as Andee and Bryan for helping as well!!


The score board.



A common hockey fight on the big screen!



My favorite Goalie!



Here he is again!



Oh...I think he is looking for me!



Rolston shoots and scores.




The Devils celebrating victory!



Me and my wonderful husband, Jake



Andee and I

Another one....

I marked another thing off my 101 list this morning. We painted our fireplace last night and it looks awesome. Kaleb was pretty mad that when he got home from Papa's it was already done. His exact words were "I can paint because I am a big boy and big boys can paint." Oh well, I am sure when he is older (teens) he will rather die than help us paint. Maybe I should take advantage of it now!
We went from a terra cotta color to a red called "blaze." We still have to paint one of the dining room walls the same color but wanted it dry before Easter and honestly at midnight I was not in the mood to start the priming process all over again!

Here are the before and after!

This is when my sister owned the house


I love this color!

My 101 in 1,001

Well Gigi and I posted our lists this morning and according to our calculations we should have it completed by December 3rd, 2010. It seems like a ways away but I'm sure we will be pretty busy completing our tasks!

Enjoy reading and I strongly encourage everyone to make a list. I feel it will keep me focused on what I need to do that I keep saying I am going to do but still haven't done! Make sense?

All my thanks to Jenny Balow for bringing this to our attention!

www.jodys101.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday to me......!

Well this morning started off great! I was awakened by the laughter of two boys in their room playing in Ian's crib. Kaleb had climbed in there and they were wrestling in the blankets. Jake came home (from his 2nd job~the paper route) and we all went downstairs to watch "Handy Manny", "The Doodlebops" and other great morning cartoons while we ate bananas for breakfast! Next I opened my card from the boys and my present-a weekly magazine that keeps me updated on all the celebrity gossip. Next was Jake's present. He is a great gift-giver. He always knows what I want (as I am a great hint dropper) so I always know that I am going to be happy. First I opened my card and inside was a piece of paper that had a picture of a New Jersey Devil's jersey. Something I have always wanted was a PINK New Jersey Devils jersey so I could wear it proudly when I watch them play in person or on TV. Well next he said "Well I thought you might want a jersey so that you could wear it while using these....." and pulled out 2 tickets to the game. AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Just had to put that in there because that is how I felt. I wanted to scream and do the "dupa dance" (the dance that Kaleb does when he is happy...which involves shaking his booty!) But instead I started to cry. I love my husband and he made me cry even more telling me all that went into the surprise. We are meeting Andee, Bryan, Dave and Jenny for dinner and then we are all going to the game. He talked to my parents and they have the boys overnight. His mom and sister are doing the paper route and he talked to my employers who gave me that next day off. On top of all that my favorite Richfield, MN in-laws (Andee and Bryan) are planning to have Friday off so that we can spend some time with them! Man I am the luckiest gal in the world. I could not ask for more. Well it's off to bed now with sweet dreams of my devils!

As I predicted...

As I predicted in my blog about cleaning my office I would become more efficient scrapping and such. Well I have been scrapbooking every night for a couple of hours turning out 4-5 pages a night. My goal is to be caught up by the end of the summer so I can start on the pictures I still need to print. (Halloween until now) Don't get me wrong I love my digital cameras but with film I always had pictures to hold and look at. With the digital I tend to "dump" them on the computer and only print them when I want to scrapbook. So my goal is to be better at that and print more pictures to keep up to date. Wish me luck...at this point it is a huge undertaking!

Well I did it...sort of!

I finally cleaned my office/craft room. I spent one night cleaning (2 am) and today after my long nap (my little ones infected me with a sore throat) I organized. My main purpose was to clean the entire room and have a well-functioning office but after much thought I really only need to get to the computer and be able to efficiently scrap! So here are the pictures to prove a job well done.
I would like to add that my corner has a little inspiration from my favorite "Outsider" Gigi! I added a TV and a IPod dock/DVD player so that I can watch movies while I scrap! It was a phenomenal idea and I can't scrap without it now! Hopefully I'll get more motivated and organize the toy corner....and maybe not!
The before picture!
The after picture!