I don't like to eat potatoes!

All of a sudden Evan refuses to eat potatoes no matter what way you cook them. It seems like every day we try to give him a different form of potatoes and he refuses to eat them. So this morning we wake up to Evan singing "I don't like to eat potatoes" over and over. It was pretty cute!

Christmas 2010

Although it seems like Christmas goes on forever with us- literally a week of Christmas by the time we get done with both of our families! But it was very good. The kids both seemed very happy with everything they got- in fact Evan was so spoiled that he quit opening presents! Evan got a big-boy bed(twin) from my parents and a leapster explorer which he does not put down; Travis got a PSP and an Ipod touch (from his mom); I got Bill a new phone and a few little things and he got me a new coach purse and a sirius radio for my car! Pretty pumped about the radio because I loved it when I was driving his jeep. We also got a Wii for all of us which Bill and I have already put to good use. Pretty surprised at how good Evan is at the Wii, but he seems to be good at anything and everything electronic! ...Pictures to come of all the Christmas festivities and insane amount of toys Evan and Travis received.

Where to begin?

I have been so insanely busy in the past month! School is finally over, until January at least! And my grades are back up- which makes me so incredibly happy. It feels so good to be doing well again!! I ended up with an A- in epidemiology, and A- in health assessment, and a B+ in nursing.

Last weekend we had an employee christmas party. It was in the banquet room at work- open bar. Since we were all there it was pretty much serve yourself. I'm kind of surprised it was as calm as it was because when all of us girls get together we're usually out of control! I made out pretty well too... we did a gift exchange and I ended up with a basket filled with mini wine and liquor bottles and then Tag and Patty got stockings for everyone that we picked at random. Each had gift cards for random amounts and to random places. Mine was the top prize of $100 American Express Gift card!! So they pretty much handed me $100, which is always handy especially around christmas.

Evan is getting so big and so incredibly smart! He boggles my mind daily with the new words and things he knows how to do. He now controls my phone and computer and knows how to work them and get to the disney website for games! He told me the other day that he wants a Blackberry! And he wants to know how everything works.. including our body. He asked Bill where pee comes from lol. This year is also the first year that he really understands christmas and knows who Santa is. So when he was at a Christmas party with his Nana and Santa walked in he whispered "Nana, I'm supposed to be sleeping when he comes!"

Bust a Move!

Evan has so much energy that sometimes when he's watching tv he gets bored and just walks in circles- while keeping his eyes glued to the tv. Its quite interesting! This day he was obviously sick of watching football and just started dancing... with no music. Somehow Bill managed to videotape him, normally he stops whatever he's doing when we grab the camera.

Halloween

Halloween this year was a lot of fun. It was the first time Evan was really excited about it. Saturday night Bill and I went out in Corning and then my sister and I did the whole trick-or-treating thing with the boys Sunday. We usually just go to family and a couple friends since most of our family is pretty much on the same road and the boys really don't need a ton of candy. Of course, Evan was Buzz Lightyear and Cameron was Woody! I was a flapper from the 20s and Bill didn't dress up! (maybe next year..)

Evan and Cameron

Brandy, Sherrie, and I

The lovely ladies from Tags :)

Midterms :)

Who posts a heading like "midterms" with a smiley face?? ME! Only because I am so incredibly proud of myself for doing so well. 86 on my nursing midterm and 93 on epidemiology! Go me!

Elmira College

I love Elmira College! I think it suits me much better than Corning did. Elmira reminds me a lot of Lycoming which gives me a sense of comfort. It also makes me miss Lycoming- mostly the people and living in the dorms. As far as school, the teachers at Elmira are very nice. They are so much more willing to help than those at Corning. Also the curriculum at Elmira is slowed down a bit since the nursing classes are spread out over three years rather than two. My grades so far have been better as well, I did have a midterm today though so we'll see how that goes...

Surgery Update

Surgery went well; I was in and out pretty quickly. Went to the doctors today and he said that everything was fine. The lump was a fibroadenoma- which is benign and not even a precursor to cancer. So good news there!

A little worried

A while back I found a lump in my breast and decided to wait to see if it went away or got bigger or just stayed the same since it wasn't bothering me. So when I went to the doctors for a physical I had her check it out. I ended up getting an ultrasound done which was totally scary because I had to go to the breast cancer center to do it- so the specialists could see it. It ended up being a fibroadenoma which is benign and probably not going to bother me at any point. My doctor said they are very common in people my age but since I have a history of breast cancer in my family she wanted me to go talk to surgeon to see what he has to say.
The surgeon said that I have 3 choices: 1. leave it alone and watch it, 2. have a biopsy to make sure there is nothing wrong with it, or 3. have it removed. If I were to leave it alone it could bother me later or get bigger. If I have them do a biopsy and something is wrong then I'll have to have it removed. If I take it out then I no longer have to worry about it and they will send it for testing to be sure nothing is wrong. So what to do?
I'm having it removed! I don't really like the idea of surgery but I think it is the most conclusive option. Also, I won't have to watch it constantly and if another lump occurs I will know that it is something different because the existing one will be gone. So surgery tomorrow morning, only day surgery so I'll be home tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck!

Evan's 3rd Birthday

This year Evan is obsessed with Toy Story, so of course we had a Toy Story birthday party. The kids had a lot of fun- especially since Woody and Jesse were there.... Danielle (Evan's sitter) had her friends dress up as characters from the movie. Evan was shocked and had no clue what to think when he saw them! The best part was that he called them Woody and Jesse all day even though he knew who they were.

Random summer pics

NY state fair and Lady Antebellum

September 1st Bill and I went to the State Fair in Syracuse to see Lady Antebellum, which was a FREE show! Neither of us had been there before so we went up early to check it out. It was huge!! They had all sorts of entertainment and good food. So we pretty much just walked around for most of the day looking at different exhibits and eating until the show that night- which by the way people were already sitting out for when we got there at 2:30 (the show wasn't until 8). Finally about 6:30 we decided if we wanted to be able to see whatsoever we needed to go find a spot now. They were amazing! I would definitely go to see them again. They played all their big hits and also Free falling (Tom Petty), Rockin in the USA, and Do I (Luke Bryan), and ended with Hey Jude (The Beatles). Bill even enjoyed it not being a country music fan.

Lady Antebellum

Sand sculpture of the Beatles

Farm made of butter!

Potty training continued..

We are making progress! Evan is officially out of pull-ups, except for at night! We usually have about 1 accident a day but I can live with that if he goes the rest of the time. Yay! I'm so excited that changing diapers is finally coming to an end! :)

Potty training

Potty training is NOT fun! In fact, it is down right frustrating. Evan knows when he needs to go he just doesn't do it. At least not at home. At his babysitters he goes on the potty all day long. That's the part that makes it sooooo frustrating. Why does he use the bathroom at his sitters but not at home?!?!?

Back to school, back to school

Summer class is over. I discovered that I am a math nerd after acing the class with no difficulty whatsoever. If only I enjoyed math maybe I could use it for a career. I also passed the nursing entrance exam with flying colors. I needed 110 out of 160 and got 135! So things seem to be back in order for school to start in September. Becoming a nurse is taking me a little longer than I had originally planned, but it will be worth it when I am finally done. :)

Museum of Play

Evan and I went with my friend Kristen and her daughter Abrielle to Rochester to the Museum of Play. I don't even know how to explain it, except that it was very cool and the kids LOVED it! They had everything from Sesame St. where you were able to be on tv with Elmo, to shopping at a mini Wegmans. Thank you Kristen for inviting us, we had a great time!

OMG! I have a Saturday off!

I forgot how much is going on around town on the weekends because I normally work 11-8 both Friday and Saturday, and if I do have off it's because I requested it and had something that I needed to do that day. But not today! I got it off, and didn't request it so there were no set plans for the day.
Started out the day by going to "mommy's work" for chicken and french fries because that's what Evan wanted for lunch, which ended up being a good thing because we saw Kristen who "pimped out" her hubby to me for the day. Jason and Abrielle (Kristen's husband and daughter) were going to the Street Painting Festival in Elmira so Evan and I went with them. It was pretty cool, they had two streets closed off and people using sidewalk chalk to make really cool pictures (which I didn't take pictures of because I'm a dummy), and there was live music and vendors. So we walked around for a bit and then the kids got their faces painted (which I do have pics of just not on the comp yet, lol).
After the Street Painting Festival we went to my Aunt Barb's to do some relaxing in the pool with her and the girls. I was very impressed with Evan's swimming while we were there. He takes swim lessons on Saturday mornings but his Nana takes him so I haven't really gotten to see him in action, she just tells me how well he does! And she wasn't kidding, he swims awesome! Still has to wear a life jacket but he was all over the pool- and he puts his face in the water without plugging his nose which I think is really good for him being not even three yet!
All in all it was a great day with the little guy. I wonder where our next adventure will be?!

End of school, beginning of summer

Well, school didn't end so well. I ended up with 74.7% and I needed 75%... no rounding up. I think I would have been less upset if I wasn't so close. But everything happens for a reason and I'm not going to give up when I truly enjoy doing it. Maybe I'm just trying to do too much, by working, going to school, and have a family. So again, where do I go from here? My clinical instructor suggested that I check out the program at Elmira College. It's a bachelors degree instead of an associates and the curriculum is broken down a lot more and spread out over 3 years instead of two. So after talking to the head of the nursing department at Elmira, I have decided to give it a shot... I feel like Van Wilder because I've been in college forever, but eventually it WILL pay off! Because I have a good amount of credits from both Corning and Lycoming I only have to do 3 years at part-time status for my bachelors. The reason for this is because the nursing classes have to be taken in 3 yrs and no less, but at least I can go part time. Elmira is a very expensive college but going only part time my financial aid should cover all or most of it.
The advisor that I met with suggested that this summer I take a college algebra class this summer even though I have already taken statistics because the nursing program there has an entrance exam that I have to take in August. The test is a 3 part, 3 hour test that consists of math, english, and basic chemistry. So the math class is pretty much a refresher class since the last math I took was freshman year at Lycoming.
That about sums up my life as far as school goes, now the important stuff. Family and friends..


Nicole and her boyfriend, Ron moved to Orlando the end of May. I'm pretty sad that she's gone but so happy for her at the same time! Hopefully, Evan, Bill, Travis, and I can go visit them sometime soon; and go to Disney while we are there!

Evan is getting so big, it blows my mind! He's such a smart and happy little boy. He's taking swimming lessons on Saturday mornings and loves it. He comes home and tells me that he "jumped in n went all the way under!" He also talks like crazy. It seems like just yesterday he was babbling and now he can carry on an actual conversation.

End of the semester!... FINALLY!!

It's finally the end of the semester, and as always I'm super stressed! Papers and all homework is done; I'm just now studying and waiting for the final exam tomorrow afternoon. 75% (or 405 points) is needed overall to pass the class, which doesn't sound bad but let's just say last year I went from Dean's List to failing so it's not as easy as it sounds! I need 90points out of a possible 120 tomorrow. 90 points is passing the test with a 75% which again sounds much easier than it , is. So study, study, study for me... we'll see how it goes!

The love and marriage gameshow and the quest

After spending the day at Atlantis we headed back to the ship and watched a gameshow with people from the ship called the Newly wed game. It was set up like the newly wed game but instead of three honeymoon couples there was one couple that had been married for at least 50 yrs, one crazy couple, and one couple that had been married one year or less. The host sent the girls away and asked the guys a couple questions- things like "you're at the mall and your girl calls and tells you to buy her a bra but doesn't tell you size or color, what do you buy?" The girls then come back and answer the questions and if the answers match they get a point. Then they reverse- it was pretty interesting. Especially when an old man was telling people about his wife's bra being 34DD and see through! lol. Hilarious!!

Next stop was the adult scavenger hunt called "the quest." We were set up in groups of 7 or 8 with Bill and I being the captains for our team. The host would say "send captain down with a piece of fruit" and you'd have to try to be the first team with fruit. Later we needed things like bras, mens pants, and my face covered in lipstick! When we needed mens pants it was pretty funny because Bill gave me his (he had boxers on of course) and then we needed another pair. The other guy on our team said "I can't give you mine- I don't have anything on underneath!" When we couldn't get anyone else's he said screw it and took one for the team by going commando so that we could have 2 pairs of pants! Now I know why it's adult only scavenger hunt! Let's just say it was interesting- and one of my favorite parts of the trip!

Day 3- Bahamas

Day 3 started out with a drunken Bill being scared of a towel animal wearing his sunglasses when we arrived to our room about 3am! We were scheduled to go parasailing at 11 but soon after waking heard that this was cancelled because winds were still pretty bad so instead we took a ferry to Paradise Island and spent the day at Atlantis- and I'm pretty glad we did! It was amazing. Bill said that it was nicer than any of the hotels that he saw when in Las Vegas. After walking through the aquarium we went outside and walked on the beach which was so pretty with its white sand and beautiful blue water. We even drank a pina colada out of a coconut! Best pina colada I've ever had lol! Then it was on to the water park... Definitely recommend spending time at Atlantis if you ever travel to the bahamas. A little pricey but definitely worth it!

Day 2- Bahamas

The second day we woke up refreshed. Soon we found out we were not going to be able to go to Coco Cay because it was too windy and the small tender boats wouldn't be able to make it with the winds and waves. Instead, we ended up going to Nassau a day early. We pretty much just walked around and went back to the boat early because it was formal night. Formal night was nice, we pretty much just went to dinner and then hung out at the circuit lounge for the rest of the night..

Day 1- Bahamas

The first day was pretty much just getting to the ship. We left the house at 2am and headed to the Rochester airport. We were apparently so excited that we left waaay too early and had to sit at the airport for 2 hours before boarding our plane. I had never been on an airplane so I was pretty nervous, but Bill assured me I'd be fine! lol. Finally, at 5:30am we boarded the plane and our flight to Cleveland began. Of course, since I had never been on a plane and was super nervous the plane had to be a tiny one- which only made me more nervous!
Our next stop was Cleveland, Ohio. We got there about 7:15am and had to hang out until about 9 when our flight to Orlando was ready to head out. This plane was bigger and by this time I was a little more comfortable with being in the air. However, this time the pressure on descent got the best of my ears. They hurt pretty bad, thought I was going to cry but managed to survive! 11:30am we landed in Orlando where we prayed our luggage would arrive (especially since Bill had extremely bad luck with losing his luggage). All of our luggage arrived okay and now it was time to find our shuttle. The driver found us before we were able to find him.
After a 45min ride we were finally to Port Canaveral! We got our boarding passes, got in line and then were able to board the ship. We really didn't do a whole lot our first night since we were extremely exhausted from our long day of traveling. Both of us felt like such losers because all we really wanted to do was sleep! So we took a short nap which made us miss leaving the port lol. We then woke up and checked out the ship and went to dinner.
At dinner, we happened to be sitting in the worst spot ever! Our table must have been right above the motor or something because it was vibrating really bad- and made me sick. Yes, the first night we not only slept through the ship leaving but I was sick so we went to bed early! Bill however, was nice enough to get me some motion sickness pills in hopes that this would not continue through the rest of the trip (which it didn't thank GOD)!

Sesame Street Live

Last week a couple girls from work and I all took our kids to watch sesame street live at the clemens center. It was a lot of fun, but very tiring! The kids had a blast dancing and singing wtih all the sesame street characters.

Snowmobiling 2010

Last Sunday we FINALLY had enough snow to ride the snowmobiles! Bill and I went with my dad and some of his friends. We had a lot of fun until mine decided it didn't want to start..

V-day present from the little guy

Evan made Bill and I a brownie cake with his babysitter. Can't see it too well in the picture but it says "I Love You".

Life is good :)

Bill and I are getting along much better, and have been for a couple months now. Which is absolutely wonderful! It's nice to want to go home after work instead of going out, which is how I used to feel. So we decided to plan a vacation for just the two of us. We had been talking about going on vacation for about a year but just never set anything up. We ended up booking a cruise to the bahamas for April! So I'm pretty excited about that. I've never really gone on vacation, and Bill and I have never gone on vacation together so it should be a good time.

Other than that, Bill is gone this week in Colorado. His boss knows a guy that owns a catering business there, so he wanted to send Bill down to get some more experience. He says that he really likes it there, and that it's really pretty. He then comes home for a week- but won't be around much because it's opening week for the season at the restaurant he works at. (Which really sucks because that's the week I'm off school). Then he goes to Las Vegas with some people from work for a food conference! So, Evan and I really won't be seeing much of Bill over the next couple weeks. Sucks for us, but happy that he's getting new experiences that he would have never gotten at his old job!

Also, I'm back in school. It's going good so far! The test that I failed last year that ultimately kicked me out of the program is at the end of March so we'll see how that goes!

Condoms

The other day Evan and I went to Walmart to pick up some things and as I'm looking at hand soap I have my back turned to Evan. Bad idea, because when I turn around he's grabbing condoms and pregnancy tests by the handful and throwing them in the cart. I bust up laughing trying to put this stuff back on the shelf and then we're off. Of all the things he could have grabbed.. condoms and pregnancy tests?? It was pretty funny!

Eagles vs Broncos (12-27-09)

Travis is just as big an Eagles fan as his dad so this year for his big present we bought three tickets to an Eagles game and took Travis along. Bill wrapped Trav's ticket in an envelope and then in two other boxes, wrapping each part. So Christmas night Travis starts opening presents and gets stupid little things like long underwear, handwarmers, gloves, etc. The whole time he's looking at us like what is going on?? Then he sees a big gift sitting behind the tree with his name on it. He unwraps the first box, second box, and then pulls out an envelope still wondering what is going on...

When he opened the envelope I'm not really sure that he knew exactly what it was. I don't know if he's ever seen a ticket to an NFL game. So he stands there looking at it and Bill asks "what's today's date?... Dec 25... what's the date on that ticket?... dec 27.... so does that mean we're going to the Eagles vs Broncos game this Sunday??? ...OMG!" He was soo excited!

The game was awesome! Although the car ride (approx 5 hrs) wasn't so much fun. Nothing exciting happened... car didn't break down, although we thought it might not start after the game, just really long drive!

The game was being advertised as Brian Dawkins return to Philly, which was really cool because Dawkins played for the Eagles for the past 13 yrs and a lot of people were pretty upset when he was traded. Eagles fans are known for being a pretty rough crowd so we really didn't know what to expect when Dawkins came out onto the field. Come to find out, there were more Dawkins jerseys (both eagles and broncos) than any other jersey that day. Start of the game, the entire first string Broncos defense gets booed as they're announced then last person to come out is Dawkins and he gets standing ovation- it was really nice to see that the city that often boos their own quarterback gave him standing O because he was an awesome player and he didn't want to be traded.

Eagles started out winning 27-6 then played awful after the half. Broncos ended up tieing the game at 27 and somehow the Eagles managed to pull one out by kicking a field goal in the last few secs of the game.