happy birthday!

to my big brother,

one of the coolest people i know,

i hope your day was the best!

happy birthday!

We love you!

tonight, at dinner

welcome sweet baby!

a big congratulations to matt & beth

and big brother & sister zach & ali

on the addition of precious baby 

lily!

we can't wait to meet her!

but wait, there's more!

alright, it's been awhile since i've shared any secrets with you guys, so today i'm going to tattle on corey.  heh.  

corey has a problem.  it involves informercials.  and the fact that he believes every word they are telling him.  see, corey is cursed with insomnia.  anyone who has spent a night up knows that there is nothing good on tv during the early morning hours, and more often than not, most channels are showing infomercials.  and corey just drinks them in.  during those god-forsaken hours, it makes sense that one should have a knife that can cut through a shoe, a concrete block, and then a tomato.  remember epil-stop, the hair remover?  gave him chemical burn.  the ab-zapper?  did not zap away those unwanted pounds (surprise, surprise!).  the bow-flex that took three years of "easy payments"?  i think it was used once and now sits in our garage providing a home to many a spider.  metabolife, the pill that was supposed to melt away the pounds?  well, they were taken for a week, and then forgotten.  it got so bad, i had to forbid him from making any phone calls without consulting me first.  not that i can blame him.  they can be convincing, with their "old way" shown in black and white, with people in pain and struggling, and then the "new way," with everything so bright and shiny and good.  who doesn't want that little improvement in their lives? :) 

but we've come up with a compromise.  now when corey wants something he's seen in an infomercial, we head to the store and check out the as-seen-on-tv displays.  some good stuff can be found there.  mighty putty?  check.  miracle blades?  check.  the handy switch?  check.  next on his list: the shamwow! (i mean, it sells itself!) and the clapper plus.   i still have to reel him in sometimes, but at least now we don't have to pay shipping & handling! :)

corey admiring the glorious mighty putty

happy inauguration day!

here are some pics from today.

lately i've been getting a lot of junk mail that includes stickers in it.

jagger loves them :)
cash and slade don't quite get the sticker idea, and think maybe stickers are for eatin'
and cash had some steamed broccoli today, but i'm not sure how much actually made it into his mouth :)

monster

apparently, when you add gloves that are too big, earmuffs, and mama's galoshes to a mr. jagger, he turns into a monster and WILL ATTACK!

baking w/jagger

first, i forgot to share this story with you guys yesterday.

when i went to check the boys in for their doctor's appointment yesterday, the receptionist said to me, "you know, we have another slade blair here."  this surprised me and i said, "really?!  you have another patient named slade blair?"  and the receptionist said, "yes, and he's here right now."  she said it was so unusual, they were worried they had made a mistake and perhaps had mislabeled a chart.   so while we were waiting to see our doctor we met the other slade blair and his mom.  This other slade was about 5 yrs old, and actually, he kind of looked like how i would picture our slade to look at that age.  similar build, same hair color, round face.  his mom said the name slade was suggested by her mother, who heard the name on a folk radio station.  how crazy is that?!  that our doctor has another patient with the same name and we happened to be scheduled for appointments at the same time!  

today jagger and i made blueberry mini muffins together.

1.  since he has such a love of all things that spray, i decided to put it to good use and have him grease up the muffin tin for me.
2.  then we added water to the mix 
3. we had to mix it up really good.
4.  mama handled the putting in and taking out of the oven part, then it was time to 

5.  eat and enjoy!
Yum!

1 yr checkup

alright, they are growing well.  here are the stats.

cash

weight: 20 lbs 4 oz

height: 29 in

slade

weight: 22 lbs 9 oz

height:  291/2 in
as expected, slade weighs a bit more than cash, though i was expecting more of a difference.  slade just feels so solid.  i was surprised to see that cash was shorter than slade (i know it was only a 1/2 inch, but still).  i guess cash just gives off the illusion of being taller with his lean body and long legs.  he needs to start eating more though, so he can reach his full height potential!  cash and jagger seem to be eating like birds these days.  cash and slade also got 4 shots each.  that was a little rough, but they got over it pretty fast.  cash was the only one that was cranky the rest of the day.  now they are all caught up on their immunizations and back on the normal shot schedule.  yay! 

after their appointment, we grabbed a quick lunch at bob evans, swung by grandma d's to pick up jagger, and we were off to the grocery store.  we desperately needed to go shopping and it feels so nice to load up the fridge and pantry again. :)  it was after 5:00pm by the time we got home (cash & slade's appt was at 11:30am), so we had dinner, the kids watched sesame street & played, and then it was bedtime.  

looking forward to having our tuesday night ichat with jared & charla, and watching some american idol.  

back to the grind tomorrow. 

and the bad blogger award goes to....

i know i have been so bad at blogging lately.  it just seems like there is nothing happening to talk about.  i think i have the winter blahs.  we got so much snow on saturday.  bleh.  i hate it.  

he had to shovel the driveway again later that day!

today:

-  we danced to some music.  jagger taught me some pretty sweet moves.  they involve kicking and punching the air, and then squatting down real low :)  pretty funny to watch. 

-  jagger decorated corey and i with stickers all over our faces.

-  cash decided to wear a piece of foam puzzle around his neck like a necklace.  very becoming :)
-  i started sifting through paperwork to gather what i need for tax time.  i did horrible at keeping things together this past year.  it's gonna be a lot of work to get organized.

-  slade was obsessed with my nose.   every time he was near me, he would try to stick his finger up it.  what's with that?!

-  we found jagger hiding under the kitchen table with a box of chocolates he very slyly snuck away without us noticing.

-  jagger skipped his nap.

tomorrow, cash and slade go for their 1yr well-baby checkups.  they are also getting completely caught up on their shots (since we had missed their 6 month vaccinations).  i'm taking the day off to help deal with the crankiness that is sure to ensue.  i'm interested to see how much they weigh now.  look for their stats tomorrow.  :)

andy + tek

first an update:

still no ring.  i have made peace with the fact that it is gone forever.  still very sad.  we took your suggestions and pulled up the toilet (which led to a slew of other problems & leaks), but it was not there.  we got on our hands and knees with a flashlight and checked every nook and cranny.  it's not covered under our homeowner's insurance 'cause i opted out of that coverage for i truly believed there was no chance of me ever losing it and honestly, it was not the most expensive ring.  the ring can be replaced easily enough, it's just the sentimental value that is irreplaceable.

checking for the ring

on to happier things:

we were able to spend some time with andy and tek before they headed back to savannah.  they came to warren and it was a great time.  i forget how much i miss andy until he is around, and then it hits me full force.  and tek is just the greatest kid.  so sweet.  we were sad to see them go.  pray that they have a safe drive for they are planning on driving all the way back to savannah tonight.

here are some pics from their time with us.  we were lucky enough to have kaitlyn visit for a little while today.  she's a blast!

poor tek was so tired before they left, he kept drifting off at the dinner table :)

a very bad day, indeed

today has been a very sad day for me.  and this is chiefly due to the fact that i lost my wedding ring.  down the toilet.  i am so upset and i just can't believe this happened.

the facts are these:

late last night, i decided i wanted to use satin hands from mary kay that my mother-in-law gave me for christmas (and which i love).  i usually never take off my ring, no matter how dirty or messy my hands get, but for whatever reason, i decided i needed to last night.  and since corey hasn't yet hooked the hot water up on our bathroom sink, i just sat on the edge of the tub to use the warm water from there.  i then took my ring off and placed it on the toilet seat cover.  why did i place it there?  i have no good answer for you.  maybe because i was already seated on the edge of the tub and it was the closest in height and proximity to me?  i truly can not give you a logical answer.  but anyways, i used the products, lotioned my hands and then went to bed, completely forgetting i had taken my ring off. 

so this morning, i do my usual morning routine and while i'm putting lotion on, realize i don't have my ring on.  panic!  remember i had placed it on the seat cover.  check the floor, look in the bowl, the back of the tank, everywhere, but it is no where to be seen.  so i panic some more.  then i wake up corey.  relay the story to him.  and he says..."i heard it."  and proceeds to tell me that sometime last night, he got up to use the bathroom.  he didn't turn on the light and when he lifted the lid, he heard it fall, and thought to himself in his sleepy stupor "what was that?," but did not turn on the light to check, just flushed the toilet.  and it was gone.  

i am quite devastated.  i had a good cry this morning.  that ring has been on my finger for the past eight years, and i feel naked without it.  i just can't believe that 1.  i took it off, 2.  that i placed it on the toilet seat, and 3. that it is truly gone.  sigh.  

christmas again!

yesterday we were able to celebrate christmas with the savannah blairs.  it was so good to see andy, kate, and tek.  here's how the night went down.

-  arrive in mansfield @ 4:30pm

-  andy is making a mess in the kitchen.  his christmas present to tom is installing some new lighting (under the cabinets and over the sink).  corey helps after some prodding on andy's part.  all the little boys are enthralled by the tools and the noise.
-  after we've been there for a bit, kelly shows up.  yay!  and she's brought the wii.  i was wii-united and it felt so good!  

-  while the guys are working, the girls watch the kids and chat it up.  
-  grandpa is good at consoling little boys whose feelings are hurt because their parents told them "no!".
-  after some discussion, it is decided that the kitchen work can be put on hold so dinner can be made, the ohio state game can be watched (andy is an extremely devoted fan), and the wii can be played.  

-  while dinner is cooking, we open presents.  jagger struggles with the idea that not all presents are his, and ends up helping almost everyone open theirs.
-  then we eat, and i, who have absolutely no interest in football at all, get the wii going.  terry kicks my butt at tennis. tek is introduced to the tradition of a bag of chocolate donuts for christmas.  he likes.  kate gets her hair done.

look how nicely the glow of the wii illuminates their faces :)

-  alas, it is time to leave.  i have to work in the morning and we have a two hour drive ahead of us.  thank goodness it went smoothly this time.  we arrive home about 11:45 pm, switch the kids from their car seats to their beds, and then land in bed ourselves.  

i hate that it was such a short visit, but i am so glad that we did get to see everyone, and that we were all together.  it was highly enjoyable.