2/28/11: We all need some color in our lives

When we first bought our house everything was cream. Cream carpet, cream walls, you get the point.  Paul has wanted to paint just about every room since the day we walked through the doors.  I kept telling him no because frankly it sounds like a pain in the ass.  It sounds like a PITA in general but factor in that every single room in our house has high ceilings, PLUS the kitchen, dining room, and living room all have vaulted ceilings, no way! I always envisioned tons of arguing between Paul and I just like any other home project.

As the years went by, I gave in here and there.  I first agreed to a red accent wall in our dining room.  It seemed easy, it was one wall, and it spiced up the room.  When I got pregnant with Morgan and started decorating her room, I knew we needed paint for sure.  This was the first room that was actually going to be decorated in full, with new furniture, and everything would match.  We weren't college kids anymore, we were going to be parents and our kids room had to look suitable even if the rest of the house didn't.  Next, when I got pregnant with Rylee we moved Morgan to a big girl room.  Maybe I was just nesting with both of them but I had so much fun with Morgan's big girl room!

Last week I got the itch to do the girls bathroom.  Something has just never felt right in there to me. I had redone the decor a few times and it just didn't feel finished. So I decided it's just the bathroom let's do it!  Here are the finished shots.  Paul did a pretty good job AND he even did it without me asking! Score!

Don't mind the little butterflies, I haven't put them all back on the wall yet.

Now I'm contemplating painting the living room. Lord, help us!

2/27/11: 9 months old, Say Wha....!?!?

This is where Rylee spent most of her afternoon.  SE wrestlers, FTW!  No really, 2 of them made it to State so that = exciting day in our world.

Back to business though - my baby is 9 months old!  Where has the time gone? (I probably said the same thing on her 8 month post I do realize)  She is such a big girl these days.  I'll find out exactly how big tomorrow.  We are completely off baby food and on to the real stuff.  Score for mom and dad!

Couldn't you just squeeze her little cheeks!??!

I never get to be in any of these blog pictures so I took one myself.  Rylee loves to take pictures so who better with then her Mama?!  Speaking of, she says mama all the time.  It's so cute.  I'm not used to it though because Morgan took forever to say mama and was a total daddy's girl.

This also becomes the stage in monthly picture taking where we aren't exactly sitting still.

Morgan, never one to be left out, has to jump in on the action.  Technically, she is 32 months today but that just seems silly.

I forsee a lot of trouble in my future...Double Trouble.

2/26/11: ADM Sunshine Committee

I'm incredibly fortunate to be a part of a great group of women. ADM as it is known is a group of moms, mothers to be, etc in the NEO area.  I joined when I was pregnant with Morgan and I cannot even begin to tell you how helpful these girls have been.  I have developed some great friendships over the past few years and gotten tons of great advice. Individually and collectively we've had some ups and downs over the years.  During one of the downs - the ADM Sunshine Committee was born.  If one of our own is having a rough time or maybe needs a pick me up, we try to do what we can to be there for one another. It's amazing how generous these women are and how we can band together for each other.

One of our members Paige is stuck on bed rest with her twin boys. What was incredibly scary for her at first has turned into what I have to imagine is pretty boring. You can only Facebook and watch TV so much people!  I had the pleasure of delivering her a gift basket of things to pass the time and make her more comfortable.  There are a few larger items I left out of the picture but if any of you ADM-ers wanted to a snapshot view, here it is!

If you have a moment please send Paige any good healthy baby thoughts and prayers!

2/25/11: Organization? Check!

I love making lists. I love organization. Highlighters, sticky notes, lablels, folders, etc. they really make me happy.  I decide the toy situation in our house needed a bit more organization.  We have them all downstairs but sometimes it's nice to have some upstairs for the girls to play with. Our book situation is also out of control. I just have nowhere to put them, until now!  I bought 2 of the shelves on the left (one for each of the girls room) and the one on the right (that is for the basement)  We bought a bunch of fabric drawers to hold toys in each girls room and it will also hold some of their favorite books.  Those have been put together and are in the girls rooms now. I just need to bring some toys up for them to keep in their rooms.  I still need to put the one for the basement together but that seemed like a bigger project so I figured I could tackle it at nap time next week.  

Kristy: 1 Clutter: 0

2/24/11: Rylee's 1st Spaghetti

Rylee got her first taste of spaghetti this night.  I'm not sure if she's unsure of the spaghetti or the fact that I interrupted her.  Notice the double fisting of sippy cups.  She meant business people.

Wow mom this is so so good, screw that baby food I used to have, spaghetti, FTW!

Oh man, I'm starting to get full.  I won't stop but I might need to unbutton my pants.

What you guys don't save some down your shirt for later?  Well then, you just don't know what you are missing!

2/23/11: Guest Blogger Alert!

That's right. The Buckeyes. That is a representation of who is writing this post. I took a picture of my hat, which, as you can see, is an Ohio State hat. I got this hat last March at the Ohio High School State Wrestling Tournament.
I was never really into high school wrestling until I met Kristy and her family. I don't even think I went to a match when I was in high school. I was too busy with either football or track practice. But roughly 8-9 years ago I attended my first wrestling match and began to develop somewhat of a passion for it. Then my "Brother from another Mother," Corey, wrestled his sophomore year after taking a year off during the 9th grade. This is when I really began to follow it. I wanted to know what was going out on the mats when Corey was wrestling.
Then we went to the State Tournament. A tradition that has been in the Graham family for probably over 30 years, I was now apart of. What tradition? Well since my Father-in-Law Ralph Graham is a Hall of Fame coach (in Ohio), they have attended the tournament each and every year, getting a hotel room and staying in Columbus (or Dayton for a short time) for the entire weekend (Thur-Sat). Three days of non-stop wrestling and eating out at the various Columbus restaurants.
I began attending the State Tourney in 2003. This year will be my 7th visit (we missed one year due to Kelly being prego with Mackenzie). With the help of Corey, I began to read up on the Brakeman Report, a ranking and analysis of each weight class for all three divisions with predictions, so that we could have a game to play while watching these wrestlers. We each take a bracket and pick who we think will be the winner of that weight class, then use a point system we make up to see who, at the end, had the most picks.
We also eat a large amount of Dippin' Dots, averaging 3 bowls of them per day.
We used to go to the Hooter's in Columbus, but they closed one of their locations 2 years ago, so we switched to going to the Olive Garden. However, we have found that the Hooter's has a new local in C-Bus closer to campus.
The hotel is also a fun thing to look forward too. There is usually other people we know there, so we can play card games or spoons while putting back a few beers late at night.

I kinda went on a rave about the wrestling tourney from a pic of my Ohio State hat, which I forgot why now. Looking back, I see that I mentioned I bought it at the tourney last year. That is also one thing I do year after year, make a purchase at the OSU team shop located in the arena.
This year we are taking Morgan and Rylee. This will be Rylee's first and Morgan's second, while Mackenzie (my niece) will also accompany us for her first time. I am excited for Morgan to go there because over the past year, after teaching her of course, she seems to be a big Ohio State fan, recognizing Brutus or the OSU decal whenever she sees it.

Well, being yelled at to "wrap it up chatty Kathy," so I will close out by sayin, "Go Bucks!"

2/22/11: National Margarita Day

That's what today was, National Margarita Day.  Apparently according to my nightstand in the background I celebrated with beer. Don't worry I don't booze while I watch my children, I just apparently don't housekeep very well. 

Not much goes with this picture. Random Day. I just love my girls!

2/21/11: College Training

I'm clearly training my children to be awesome college students when they are older.

Phase One: Rylee scarfing pizza like she's never seen food

Phase Two: Morgan dancing by the window to Aerosmith with no pants on

Phase Three: Rylee spits up on Morgan's head.

I mean really? What are the chances? Never a dull moment here folks!

2/20/11: Roman AKA Conrad

This is our cat Roman.  He's a little shit.  Sometimes he goes by the name Conrad.  One of my brother's friends Eric dubbed him Conrad one night and it kind of just stuck.  Perhaps it's a bit of a Jekyll/Hyde thing. There he is making himself at home in my bed, under the covers. Don't mind the rest of us, this house is your castle. I cut him some slack because of all 3 of our cats he is tortured by Morgan the most. He deserves some pampering every once in a while.

As a side note there are many days I come to the end of the day and realize I have yet to take a picture.  This was one of those days. As I was going to get in bed I said, shit I didn't take a picture yet.  Paul says no I took one, here take a look.  Let's just say you're lucky I didn't post it.  He was posing a la Grady Sizemore.  For those of you not familiar, behold:

It did however give me a good laugh for a solid 10 minutes after I looked at my camera.

2/19/11: The Social Network

Paul and I finally got around to watching The Social Network today.  Good movie.  Although I thought ending was kind of abrupt.  Plus, the guy who played Zuckerberg talked really fast in the beginning.  I almost couldn't keep up with him.  Plus he was talking all techie and I think only Paul understood at that point.  Anyway, Justin Timberlake is in this movie so really, you can't go wrong. By the way JT, time to put out a new album.

It's hard to believe the great world of Facebook only started circa 2004. I mean really, what did I do before that time? Shit I didn't even have the internet until Junior year of HS and I thought simple dial up to use AOL IM was awesome.  I totally sound like my mom right now, when I begged for a TV in my room and she was all, I didn't get a TV in my room until I was 13 and it was black and white. Whatever mom, that was like a bajillion years ago, EVERYONE has a TV in their room now! I just know my kids are going to "NEED" cell phones, laptops, and some other crazy random thing that hasn't been invented.  I can just hear Morgan and/or Rylee now...CMON MOM all the cool kids play Angry Birds while Facebooking and watching their 3D TVs! GOD YOU"RE SO LAME, WHEN I'M 18 I'M SOOOOO OUT OF HERE. 

Thank you Mark Zuckerberg for providing me with the opportunity to waste an excessive amount of time!

2/18/11: Family Fun Fest

A few days ago, Rachel called and asked if we wanted to meet her and the girls at the Tallmadge Rec Center for Family Fun Fest. Aunt Mindy was in town and Morgan was dying to see Julia so we decided to go.  They had lots of things to do and they seemed to have fun doing it.  It was something different and let them burn off some energy before bed.

Here are the girls waiting in line for the bounce house:

Girls in the bounce house:

How cute are they!?!

One of the basketball courts had a petting zoo. There were turtles and a rabbit in this area.  They also had a huge bird, cockroaches (EW!), skunk (which coincidently it reeked of skunk outside in the parking lot), and a chinchilla.

Oh yah and a snake that Rachel got her picture with to freak Ed out..LOL.  Sick.

On another court they had face painting.  Morgan and Julia got pink and purple cats.  You can't see but Katelyn has a pink heart that was quickly smeared.

To cap off the night they got princess hats made out of balloons!

2/17/11: Running at the Dam

There are two stories that go with this photo.  The first is fairly simple.  I had to pick up the kids from my mom's that afternoon and since it was soooo freakin nice out I made her go with me to the dam.  For those of you who aren't familiar, my parents live about a half a mile from West Branch Marina. The dam used to be open to cars when I was younger but has since been closed off.  You find a lot of runners, bikers, dog-walkers, and in the winters on snow days - sledding kids!

Since I started running last summer I've done a lot of running at the dam.  It's flat (which is nice for my non-running self) and it's pretty and it's right by my parents so I can either make them go with me or leave the kids at their house so I can go by myself.  I had a pretty good run and Morgan and Rylee enjoyed their first ride together in the jogging stroller.

Story #2 happened the next day. Morgan loves to play with our phones.  Somehow she managed to find this picture, post it to Facebook AND give it a caption with punctuation nonetheless. Sometimes it's frightening how much she can do.  If you're friends with me on FB, check it out.  It's quite humorous! 

2/16/11: Now Mommy is sick!

I always say how I would love to spend a day in bed..like literally all day long.  Then I get one and it's for all the wrong reasons and I can't even enjoy it because I'm hacking up my lung.  I got sick on Tuesday and it carried in to Wednesday.  Paul stayed home to watch the kids Tuesday and my mom came over on Wednesday. 

People..I was getting no sleep in that stretch. I have 2 stupid crazy dogs, and 2 loud children. I couldn't actually fall asleep and when I did I would have a coughing fit. You want to know my biggest pet peeve about being sick though?  My night stand.  It always looks like a tornado ripped through and picked up items from the house and just dropped them all on my night stand.  In this particular instance you see the following:

Diet Dr. Pepper - The drink of champions

Random Pills

Empty Cell Phone Case

Books 

Comtrex

Mint Halls

Hair Ties

Cash Explosion Ticket - Because what would make you healthier than winning $1.00!?

I also think I spot electrical tape - perhaps Paul was tired of my coughing fits too.

So next time you're sick, try that combination of supplies.  I can guarantee you, it will not cure you, but makes for an interesting blog.

2/15/11: Paul has a problem

It really boggles my mind how this man-child only weighs like 165.  He shoves his face with ice cream, candy, brownies, cookies, and any other junk he can get his hands on. It's like it's constantly his time of the month.  I was an enabler on V-Day when I made us all chocolate fondue with lots of dippers. Of course we had left overs and Paul couldn't stand it. What a skinny jerk.

2/14/11: Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! From my silly girls to you!

2/13/11: Valentine's Eve!

We decided to give the girls their V-Day treats the night before so we could read them the books we got them. They each got a book, a card, and Morgan got some Dora chocolates.  Here are the happy sisters posing with their gifts.

Happy Valentine's Day girls! Mommy and Daddy love you!

2/12/11: Formerly known as the PCL

There's my dad in the right corner. Still doesn't sit in his chair. No wonder your knees are bad!

I have very many fond memories of wrestling. In particular the PCL tournament.  The league has since expanded and is now know as the PTC.  I've been going to wrestling matches since before I was born.  My dad was a coach before I was born and still is to this day. I spent many Thursday and Saturday nights sleeping in the bleachers as an infant.  My mom trotted all 3 of us to all these matches.  Now that I'm older and take my own kids, I think she was nuts. Also?  I see why she had my brother and sister on leashes. Once I hit Junior High I started keeping stats with my friend Sarah. We kept stats together for 5 or 6 years. We weren't ALWAYS on top of the actual stat keeping though. Like that one time we let a JV match go into a 4th period until Mr. Sigworth brought it to the attention of the ref.  Oops! (In case you don't know there is no "4th" period unless you are in overtime and this match was not.)

I can't tell you the last time I missed an entire weekend of the PCL/PTC tournament.  I've at least made it to the finals every year. Actually I get told the story every year of how when I was 2 I ran into the middle of the mats right before finals by myself.  I was pretty impressed with myself apparently and starting clapping.  This in turn caused every one in attendance to cheer.  What can I say? I was pretty cute:

My mom, however, was embarrassed and made the Athletic Director (Dick Young for you SE-ers) go grab me. He was booed. Serves them right, I rule!

 Some of the best times I had at this tournament were when I was in HS myself. During the era of the PCL, Southeast (my former stomping grounds) won 15 league titles in a row.  I think we were up to around 10 by my senior year and it was pretty much a no brainer at that point. By the time finals rolled around the stands were packed with SE fans. There would be TONS of students there and the environment was awesome.  Plus, winning and watching your friends win titles is always a bonus! I miss those days but every year I get to reminisce when I walk into that gym.

In 2006 we watched my brother win the 119 lb PTC title in that gym:

These days I'm exposing my own children to the world of wrestling.  Morgan is learning to yell "2!" (and sometimes "9!") and "stalling!" Here she is during the parade of champions.  She likes to clap and always wants to know where Grandpa is.

Rylee is super pumped for her first league wrestling tournament!

She later became victim to the hot gym:

I hope they grow up to enjoy it as much as I did!  Who knows? Maybe they will be wrestlers themselves!