Sour Pickles

I was looking for something to post, because nothing new has happened around here, and I came across this video I took last week. We splurged and got Rib Crib for dinner one night last week. All 3 of us got kids meals, they are actually pretty good and have a lot of food with them. Anyway, a pickle came in the meals and Adriana took her first taste of a pickle. She really made a sour face at first and then she started "putting on" because she knew she was getting a reaction from it. Anyway, enjoy!

Happier Post

I'm going to try to "perk" up my blog. Ryan tells me everyday how depressing our blog has been. It has been a rough week and we are thankful to you who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers.

Adriana has been acting more and more like a terrible two year old lately. She pushes me everyday with her boundaries, to see what she can and can't get by with. She has also been really bad about getting out of her bed at nap time and bedtime. Sometimes it can take up to 2 hours before she will finally go to sleep. I watch Super Nanny a lot and try to go by her advice when it comes to children getting out of bed constantly, but its hard. Its nothing for me to put her in her bed 20-30 times in one setting. Its very trying on me. Pray that she will snap out of this bad habit. She's also been getting up in the middle of the night and walking into the hallway. This is where me being an extremely light sleeper comes in handy. She's normally good about staying in bed once I put her back down.

Not much else has been going on with us. We had our garage sale last weekend and did pretty good on Friday. On Saturday though, I only made $3.20 for 4 hours of work. It was cold and rainy so not many people were out and about. I still have a dryer and a futon for sale...if anyone is interested. :)

I guess that's about all for now. They are calling for snow tomorrow! Gotta love good ol' Missouri weather!

I walked out of our bedroom one evening

and saw Ryan and Adriana sitting on the

couch alike. I thought it was so cute!

To explain Adriana's Pacifier. She has

chewed up all her other ones and the one

that takes her temp. is the only one she

uses. I need to brake her of it, but that

is why she has this massive passy in her

mouth.

Adriana playing dress up in my

shoes and necklace and a hat leftover

from her b-day party.

I realize that my last post was pretty depressing (this one won't be much better). I went to the visitation of our old boss last night and will go to the memorial service today. The police still aren't releasing much information on what happened, but Rufus was shot in the chest in the service center sometime Monday morning. They aren't saying much more than that. They are ruling it a homicide though. Its so hard, this is the second person I have known that has been murdered in the last year. I think that part is the hardest part to swallow. Rufus was a good boss and a very nice man. He will be greatly missed...
This whole experience has been very bittersweet. Last night at visitation I was able to see a lot of old co-workers and catch up with them, which was nice, but obviously not the best circumstances the meet under. Just keep the employees in your thoughts and prayers, for the future for them is very uncertain, a lot of them have families. Also keep Rufus' family in your prayers too, he had 3 kids and 2 grand kids.
I promise my next post will be more upbeat, sometimes its just good to get it off your chest....

A rough few days

We haven't had a great past few days. We got word on Saturday evening that Ryan's grandpa had passed away. We were praying for him and hoping he would recover, but we all know that he is in a better place. We really wanted to go down for the funeral, but it just didn't work out. His grandpa was a very kind and gentle man. I only knew him a short time and only was around him a few times, but you could tell he loved his family and was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and great-grandpa. We will miss him so much. I know Ryan is sadden by this loss. Knowing he is in Heaven with Jesus, helps us get through this time.
We also got bad news this morning. I can't really talk about it right now, but one of our old bosses was found dead this morning at the dealership that me and Ryan both worked at. Its a very sad situation and I just feel numb.
I think my mind is in shock. Between the passing of Ryan's grandpa and this horrible news we found out about this morning, I'm on auto pilot right now. I'll keep you posted....

A New Adventure

I'm starting a new job...well sort of. To help us get a couple extra bucks in our pockets each month, I'm going to start selling Premier Jewelry. I'm really excited, but very nervous at the same time. I guess I'm more worried about people not booking shows, therefore, not making any extra money. I think that it can be a lot of fun too! This company is Christian based and their main focus is to help stay at home moms make some money. Once I get going and get more comfortable at selling it, I think its going to be fun. This job will allow me to choose my own hours and is going to be really flexible. I'm going to "host" a show in mid-April and after that, I will be able to do shows on my own. Its a scary new thing, but I'm going to give it a try. Hey, let me know if you want to host a show...woman has jewelry, will travel. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here are some pictures I took today of me and Adriana. She always smiles so much better when we set the timer on the camera and since we were matching today, I thought we should take a few pics.

Random Thoughts:

Today I was driving around, running some errands and I was singing to the radio and I looked back at Adriana and she had her fingers in her ears. Maybe that's not a good sign.

Lately Adriana has been acting so bad around nap time. She is getting up constantly out of bed, when she should be laying there trying to go to sleep. She will get out of bed and go and lay by her door and look under the crack of the door. She is wearing me out!

We are getting ready to have a garage sale this weekend. I hope the weather is going to be nice. I hope to get rid of a lot of junk we have laying around.

Ryan's grandpa had another massive stroke this last weekend. He is currently in a coma. Please continue to pray for him and his family.

Well, my little child is up out of bed AGAIN, I hope everyone else is having a good day.

A Fun Day

I decided to take Adriana into Springfield today, just so we could go do something. We had us a girls day out. We went to Braums this morning for some yummy Biscuits and Gravy and then we went over to see Mimi and Pa at their new house (that they are still painting before they move in). Then we went to this place called Jump Mania, I have talked about it on here before, Adriana has a blast there. I figured it would be not as crowded in the middle of the work day, boy, was I wrong. I wanted to punch half the kids, because they would just push Adriana out of the way. Well, I guess I take that back, I wouldn't punch the kids I would punch the parents for not watching their kids any better than that. Anyway, then we went to Steak N' Shake for lunch. They are normally pretty high with their prices, but I have seen their ads lately and they have new "value" meals. Well, they didn't have those meals at the one I went to. So I got the cheapest thing on the menu and I got Adriana a Mac N Cheese w/ applesauce. They just gave her like one scoop of the instant mac n cheese and she ate it in no time, and was asking for more. Then she ate her little cup of applesauce and asked for more then I gave her some of my fries and she still wanted more to eat. Their portions were WAY too small, I was highly disappointed. I told the manager when I was checking out that my child was still hungry for more food, because their portions are lousy. To make an already long story a hair shorter, we got our lunch free. I was so irritated. My child isn't the best eater and if she is wanting more than that should tell you that they barely gave her anything.
Alright, I'll get off my soap box, all in all, it was a good day and we had fun. Adriana is super tired, but has yet to go to sleep. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Photo Gallery

I was going through some pictures on the computer and wanted to share some of my favorite pictures taken over the last year.

Adriana and Ryan walking down along

the river at Branson Landing, poor

lighting, but I still like the picture.

I love these close up pics I got of Adriana playing

last fall.

Flowers and Butterflies from our front garden

taken last summer

Random Picture of Adriana smelling flowers

Capri Pants Freakout

So yesterday day was a nice day. The wind had a bit of a chill in it, but all in all, it was a nice day. Today, its a different story. Its cold and only 30 degrees! We didn't have a big storm blow through, but a cold front pushed through nevertheless and today we can feel it!

Anyway, yesterday we were out running errands (alright going to wal-mart for a thing or two), but I had put Adriana in some capri pants. The outfit she had on is too stinkin' cute. They have these little capri pants and matching shirts at Wal-mart and my friend Susan had bought Adriana this outfit when they came to visit a few weeks ago. Anyway, it all of a sudden dawned on Adriana yesterday, while riding in the car, that her pants were too short. She freaked out. She kept trying to pull them down to make them long, so they would cover her legs, but wasn't having any success. She started balling! I tried to calm her down and show her that I had on "short pants" too and that's how it was suppose to be (mind you I'm trying to drive and lift my leg high enough for my child to understand what I'm trying to show her). She finally calmed down. I think it still bothered her, but somehow we made it through the day.

She has been acting so much like a terrible 2 these days. In fact, as I am writing this blog, she is in her bedroom crying/playing and its an hour and a half AFTER she should be asleep. She normally takes a good nap and will go down around 1 or 1:30pm and sleep till around 5pm (I know, with all that free time, I should have a clean house), however, all this week she has been fighting me on her naps. I NEED A BREAK! I love my baby, but I need some down time too. Hopefully, she will get back on her schedule SOON and go back to sleeping good.

Adriana playing on the man holes (or whatever

they are called). They look so good in our front

yard. (NOT!)

Hamming it up

Notice the capri pants that caused

the melt down of the day!

Coloring Daddy a pretty picture.

A Drinking Day

Now, before you call DFS on me, I'm talking about drinking soda. You see, I have tried to give up soda for about 6 weeks now, and actually have done really well. I use to drink at least one coke a day and now, I have only had about 4 sodas in the past month and a half. Well, today is a soda drinking day. My child is wearing me out, and when I get frazzled with her, I just crave a Coke. Don't ask me why. If I'm having a bad enough day, I will give into my temptation.
Yesterday Adriana didn't take a nap. By the time I got her home from school, she was so tired, but would not sleep. She has just been wearing me thin lately.
We are in the process of potty training her, and she has been doing really well. I haven't really pushed the subject, but she loves to just sit on the toilet. At first it was a game, but know she actually is going good. She still won't go number 2, she doesn't want anyone around when she's doing the dirty deed, but I'm sure we will get there soon.
I had more things to write, but my mind is like mush right now, and I can't think straight. We are suppose to get some pretty strong storms this afternoon, so we'll see what happens. Its in the 70's today and tomorrow the high is 42 degrees, good ol' Missouri weather.

I have always said that I feel so blessed to have such a great "in-law" family. Ryan's WHOLE family is such a loving and caring family. They have all accepted me for who I am and love me no matter what (even though I cut big slices of cake!). Anyway, Ryan's grandpa, better known as Papaw hasn't been in good health lately. After having a couple of strokes in the past few weeks, he is now in Pensacola,FL at a hospital. We have been praying for him and all his family as they deal with all of this. It is a hard thing to see someone you love go through such a tough health situation.

We just wanted to say that we love all of you guys and we are thinking and praying for everyone in this time. We wish we could be there closer to help.

This family is held together with love and their faith in God. Both of those things will carry them through this time.

Ryan's Grandparents--Thanksgiving Day 2008

I love this picture. You can just see how much

they love each other.

Ryan's grandparents and aunts on Thanksgiving

day 2008 (just missing Metz) Such a sweet family!

Discipline and Laughter

I have always thought of myself as kind of a hard nose when it comes to discipline, especially before I had my own child. I am still more of a disciplinarian than Ryan is, but he's getting better. It used to make me so mad when he would be trying to discipline Adriana and then laugh or when I was getting on to her and he would laugh. How are they suppose to take you seriously if you're laughing? Well last night I was asking/telling her to pick up her books. After a while it was more of the fact of the matter than actually cleaning them up. Ryan thinks I should just give in if she doesn't want to clean up. That idea doesn't fly with me. Anyway, last night me and Ryan were getting on to her and she just kept saying "no" and smiling in defiance. I just was stretched to my max and for some reason, I started to smile. I couldn't help it, the look she was giving me was cracking me up. Of course Ryan sees me starting to smile and busts up laughing and then it makes me start to laugh. We tried to conceal our laughing and still try to get on to her to clean up her books, but she shot me another look and we busted up again. Its like when you know you're not suppose to laugh it makes you want to laugh even more. We finally got the books cleaned up and all was right with the world. I just get frustrated when she makes me laugh when I'm trying to discipline because I just feel like she won't take me seriously if I'm laughing at her bad behavior.

Enjoying a beautiful day

Today it is absolutely gorgeous outside. Its kind of windy, but its in the mid 70's. I have the windows open right now, enjoying the fresh air, blowing through my house. I just laid Adriana down for her nap and am wondering what I want to do with my "free time". Adriana got up about 6:45am this morning, which use to be normal for her, but now she sleeps till at least 8am if not 9am. I think her teeth are bothering her. So since I've been up that long too, and am thinking about a nap for myself. :)

I went to my MOPS meeting today and had a good time. Today we talked about how important to always have your camera ready when you have kids, so you don't miss anything. For the most part, I always have my camera at the ready. Today when we got home, since it was so nice out, I let Adriana play outside a little bit before coming in and taking a nap. I know she would have loved to stay out longer, but she was getting tired. Anyway, I got my camera out while we were out playing. I love taking pictures outside, I just like the lighting better than indoors. Adriana had been standing along the brick like a model and I wanted to take a picture, but realized I had my memory card still in the computer, so by the time I ran in and got it and was ready to snap some good pictures, she was on to something new. And of course, she would never look at the camera, once I was ready. She is defiant right now when it comes to taking pictures. Anyway, here are some shots that I did get of her enjoying her gummy treats (or as Adriana calls them "teets").

Since its so nice today, I think I'll fire up the grill and do some BBQ-ing tonight. I'm LOVE to BBQ (or as my husband and father-in-law insist that it be called grilling), nevertheless, I love the taste of good ol' fashion charcoal BBQ meat, I just hope its not too windy.

I hope everyone is having a good day. Tomorrow is Friday, the weekend is right around the corner, although its suppose to rain all weekend, bummer!

What Time is it?

I keep looking at two different times around our house. We have a big clock that hangs pretty high up on the wall, and the battery went dead in it on Sunday, so Ryan got it down to change the battery and I just told him to go ahead and change the time because this coming Saturday is "Spring Forward" on our clocks. I keep looking at that clock and then looking at the other clocks, confused for a brief second every time, as to what time it is.

I'm a little behind on posting some of these pictures. These pics are from when Ryan's family came here for Adriana's birthday a couple of weeks ago. Adriana LOVES her cousins so much and had a blast playing with them. Here are some pictures of Jack and Riley and Adriana.


Adriana posing with PopPop and HeeHee, but
she's not willing to look at the camera.

The girls having a tea party and (although you

can't see it) they are wearing each others shoes.

Playing with each other

Watching something interesting.

We had a pretty laid back weekend. We really didn't do too much of anything. We woke up on Saturday morning to some snow, and it snowed pretty much all day on Saturday, but nothing more than a couple of inches, at the most. We didn't even go out an play in it.

Our church just started this program called "Angel Food Ministries", where ANYONE no matter income can buy food for about $30. The food is "restaurant grade" food and it looks pretty good. Its a nationwide program, and in this economy I know we are always looking for a way to save a few bucks. If you want more information and where you can pick it up in your neck of the woods go to, http://www.angelfoodministries.com/. I sound like I get commission or something for advertising it, but I just thought everyone needs a good deal from time to time.

Anyway, not much else if going on with us. Hope everyone is having a good Monday (if that's possible).

Oh, by the way, we got our sewage pump fixed so we don't smell as bad as we had been. :) The guy said it was clogged up (which was good, because we thought we were going to have to buy a new pump at around $600). He said he pulled out what looked like a diaper. We may be redneck here in Ozark, but we don't flush our diapers. Who knows what it was, I'm just glad its fixed!