THE rumble

I have to explain these pictures.

My co-worker and I have been talkin' trash about a supposed "rumble" that we were going to have in the parking lot. This has been going for about a year now. Don't ask me how we even got into this, maybe Sarah herself can finally comment on here and tell us, because I know she will read this. ;)

It was so funny because we have been taking a poll as to who would win, who was tougher etc.

I was the favored to win, naturally. Well, when Sarah came over to babysit for the concert, I told her that as payback, I could tell everyone in the office that she had won the rumble. She agreed so I set out to embellish this as much as possible, of course. So I went to work and wrote a dramatic email to all of my co-workers telling them about how the underdog had won. I even made her a royal crown that said "Rumble Winner" on the front. She wore it all day, it was awesome.

Here are some pictures of the "re-inactment" in the parking lot. As you can see, we got a lot done at work that day.

These are pictures we took at this great kid activity at the mall.

But I have to say that the highlight of the day was watching Darth Vader get up and sing Karaoke! He sang "Hit me with your best shot" to the audience with a the funniest accent. It puts a smile on my face everytime I watch it. Shayden was behind the camera, so sorry about the shaking. He was probably laughing.

Celine Dion Date for Valentine's!

What's could be better than going to see Celine Dion in concert (for me at least)? I mean I have wanted to go see her for FOREVER!!! The only thing that could possibly make it any better is winning floor seats!!! Jonas entered into a contest to win tickets for me where he had to tell why he loved me in a 50 word essay, and they played it on t.v.! He had me thinking that we were just going to call in when they said to, but instead I watched myself on t.v. They played a video that Jonas made for me a few years ago for Valentine's Day. The part they played is of me acting crazy. About 7 years ago, right after Shayden was born, I was being silly (imagine that?) in my kitchen pretending to win Ms. America. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

Seriously, I started crying when I watched this and realized that I was really going. How often does that happen? This is just like my awesome husband though, I mean he is always thinking about me, over himself. He is the perfect man for me, and I can't thank him enough, and believe me, I have thanked him a lot!

The date was perfect, my awesome friend Sarah came over to babysit, more on that later, Thanks Sarah! The kids did great and it was wonderful to not have to worry about them.

We didn't get to go have a romantic dinner before or anything because it was on a Sunday (total bummer) but it was still soooo nice to have some alone time. I was ecstatic, the whole entire time, as you can imagine! We got there and the tickets expressly said NO CAMARAS OR VIDEO and so I wasn't going to bring it until Jonas was adamant that it didn't matter and that we needed to sneak it in. So I listened and we snuck it in in his coat pocket! Rebels! Then once inside they let us down to the floor and even gave us these special little blue bracelets, I felt very VIPish. I literally just took this bracelet off today. It made me smile everytime I looked at it! I probably would have kept it on except that I am wearing a short sleave shirt to church :)

Anyway, we found our seats and they were perfect because we were on the last row so I could stand on my chair (which I did) and no one was behind me and I was dead smack in the center!

I was freaking out when she came out, it was funny because I am not like this drool over celebrities type of person but I really love her music, plus I think people do silly things at concerts that they probably wouldn't dare do otherwise. I later found out that my sweet Jonas had been trying all week to get me backstage meet and greet passes, but there weren't any. I thought that was so sweet of him for trying though! At some point in the concert I did try to stop screaming, because I realized I had to talk on the phone for like 8 hours the next day for work. I didn't want to be hoarse. I couldn't believe it but Jonas was absolutely right, when the concert started everyone started taking pictures and no one cared!! I was so thankful that I had listened as I would have been kicking myself if I had left the camera in the car! Then Jonas saw people toward the back like us, go up to the front in the aisle, and he suggested I do the same. So we both went up there and no one stopped us! It was so amazing to be that close, her dancers, props and everything were spectacular! I had never been that close at a concert before. In the middle of the concert I got this great text from Sarah "everyone is asleep, enjoy the concert". That update was such a relief and I knew that my kiddos were okay.

Needless to say this was pretty much the best Valentine's Date ever!!! Thank you again Jonas for even thinking to doing this. You are truly amazing and wonderful and I love you!!!

Valentine's Day 2009

Finally here is Valentine's Day for the kids, nothing major this year, I gave them their little pillows with a little toy and this "beary" special Valentine's lunch. It was a bear face, can ya tell? Not really but they liked it.

Along with the lunch was a matching card that I found and printed off of Sugardoodle. I think I will do this every year. Jonas and I each filled one out for both Shay and Jazzie. It had things that we love about them. It was fun to think about what I love about them, and we can keep them to remember.

And I forgot to take a picture of this but Shay and DH were very thoughtful and brought home a pretty pink carnation for each of us girls.

A Day in the LIFE of Taye

What does a 3 month old have to say about being in our household? hmm...

"I'm a very serious kind of guy and I love my binky...




I don't like to be left alone...it makes me scared...

The older kid likes to take good care of me. He rocks me and plays with me and he even reads me books...

The girl also likes to take care of me. She sings and dances for me too. Lately she has started to tote me around in her baby stroller, and while I do enjoy seeing the sites...

sometimes it scares me!!

she can't help it though, since I am so darn cute...

And don't worry because soon I am going to chase them both!"

A Day at the Beach!

Earlier this month we decided to escape this cold weather and head to the beach. It was a Tuesday and we surprized the kids that morning "surprise! you are not going to school today". We figure everyone needs a break sometimes, I know I do!

It was such fun and we practically had the entire beach to ourselves.

Pretty much the only thing we did was have lunch, go buy sand toys at the local Walmart, and head to the sand. The kids were in heaven and it was in the mid 80's!

Jonas' creative juices were flowing

And I discovered that playing with sand was very cathartic. I haven't gotten down in the sand and played at the beach since I was a kid and it totally reminded me of going to all the fun beaches back east as a kid, Virginia Beach, Atlantic City, etc. (btw, the baby was sleeping in the stroller the whole time!)

We decided that we would make going to Pinkberry our new tradition since we went there last time and it is sooo good. And so will going to this huge mountain of sand:

which is the same one from last year:

Year of the Yoga!

I read somewhere that 90% of people break their New Year's Resolutions before Valentine's Day....

so does it increase my chances if I don't start my resolution until after Valentine's Day?

I decided I wasn't going to do a huge list this year like last year (not that it wasn't right for last year). This year I am taking a more simplified approach.

My word for 2009 is going to be ~Balance~ and I am going to work on this in the literal and figurative sense.

This is going to be the year of the Yoga! I have wanted to experiment with this for some time now, since it goes hand in hand with the meditation/relaxation exersizes I love to do. My goal is to set aside a few minutes each day to meditate and breathe. I need this! I am going to involve the kids in this goal, we used to do this together and they loved it. But we stopped taking the time.

As has been the case before, I was procrastinating writing this post so that I would not be accountable, but not anymore. I need to balance things things that occupy my time better.
Burning in my mind is something that I heard at education week last year. I don't know the speakers name because she wouldn't let us take notes, but she was talking about the kinds of evil that enters our lives. She said that most of us will never really be tempted to starting drinking alcohol, take drugs, or murder someone etc. But the evil that does enter our lives is being too busy. Sounds pretty harmless right? Yeah it did to me too, but she talked about running around being "too busy" all the time and doing too much (including not saying no) to really focus on what is most important. That really stuck with me and is the basis for this year's goal. Balance.