MY POOR BABY!!!

well, this morning/afternoon mike had his reconstructive knee surgery.

what a loooong day.

me and mike arrived at the hospital at 7:35. my mom came up to keep me company for a few hours.

a few hours???? more like all day.

here's how it went.

8:00-ish: mike got called back. he had to go alone to get all doodied up in his hot hospital gown and cap.

8:30-ish: me and mom get called back to give him a kiss for luck before he gets wheeled back. we are told it should take about an hour and eight minutes. an hour and eight minutes? what the heck is that? the nurse says that she doesn't know why they say that amount of time. it either goes under or over that amount.

9:00-ish: mike gets wheeled back to get all drugged up and wait to go in the operating room. this is also around the time that me and mom start a marathon of rummy 500.

10:40: we're told that mike is finally in the operating room...hold on. me and mom have been playing cards for an hour and a half. time for a snack.

12:00: i'm wondering when they are going to let me know that mike is done. the rummy marathon continues.

1:30-ish: i'm started to get worried. they said an hour and eight minutes give or take, its been three hours. the rummy marathon still continues.

1:55-ish: okay, that's it, i wanna know whats going on. i'm panicing. did they find more problems? will he now have to stay overnight? WHAT THE HELL IS TAKING SO LONG. finally, the receptionist comes over to me and lets me know that everything is going wonderfully and they are beginning the scope. i asked her if anything was wrong, that the nurses told me that it only takes an hour. with exasperation, she tells me that she doesn't know why they tell people that. that surgery is at least a 3 hr. one. okay, i feel better. she tells me i have about 30 minutes left. more rummy.

2:30-ish: he's out and the doctor wants to talk to me. "medical talk, medical talk, everything is great, medical talk". good. i worried for nothing. now me and mom skip to the cafeteria (okay, we really didn't skip) for something to eat. oy! the cafeteria is done serving lunch at 1:30 but thank goodness they have a sub/pizza shop open.

2:50-ish: me and mom decide to take a break from rummy (after about a gazillion games) and turn the tv to some good tv....judge joe brown and judge judy.

3:30-ish: he's outta recovery we can go back. he looks better then i thought (a lil pale but good) and now its time for the fun part...getting dressed and getting him home. sounds easy enough, but he's all doped up, has a knee brace on practically his whole leg, his leg hurts, and his using crutches.

5:30-ish: we're finally home. we manage to get him up the steps to get inside and i get him to bed.

thank goodness that mom is keeping the kiddos tonight so i can tend to michael. he is doing really good (esp. since he just took a loratab ;) i don't know how long he is going to be outta commission, but he doesn't expect to even be able to go back to work light duty for another 3+ weeks. guess we'll find out next week at his appointment.

so that was mike's surgery day. big hugs go out to my mom for hanging with me today. i don't know what i would have down without those 6 hours of rummy. i'm so glad that i threw a deck of cards in my purse (and i think i'm going to leave them there). if i would have had to spend 9 1/2 hours listening to other people talk, try and listen to the tv, read farm magazines and the aarp magazines, i would have lost my marbles.

APRON/COOKING MEME!!

oh, i am so friggin' behind on posting this. if my secret partner is out there, i truly appologize!

1. first apron (that you can remember) I DON'T THINK I BECAME INTERESTED IN APRONS UNTIL I WAS AN ADULT. THE FIRST ONE I PURCHASED A FEW SUMMERS BACK WHILE ON VACATION IN WISCONSIN AT A VINTAGE STORE. I LOVE THAT APRON!! IT HAS THE BEST PINK FLOWERS ON IT.

2. last (most recent) apron THE MOST RECENT ONE I BOUGHT AT A VINTAGE STORE AROUND IN WONDERFUL SHADES OF PINK/BROWN (HMM...I NOTICE A TREND HAPPENING).

3. dream/favorite apron MY DREAM APRON WOULD HAVE THE CARD SUITS (HEARTS, DIAMONDS, CLUBS, SPADES) ON THEM IN SOME SORT OF WAY. I HAVE A LOT OF PLAYING CARD STUFF FOR THE KITCHEN AND AN APRON WOULD COMPLETE THE SET. ACTUALLY, ANY BOARD GAME/PLAYING CARD RELATED APRON WOULD BE DREAMY!

4. dream sewing machine ONE THAT WORKS MAGIC WITHOUT ME HAVING TO BE A SUPER-DOOPER SEWER

5. what do you put in your pockets? or what strange thing have you ever found in them? THE ONLY THING I CAN THINK OF IS IF I AM WEARING IT AND I SEE SOMETHING OUTTA PLACE AND I STICK IT IN THERE UNTIL I CAN PUT IT BACK.

6. condiment(s) you can't live without VANILLA EXTRACT (IS THAT A CONDIMENT??)

7. do you wear more showy aprons or dutiful ones? PROLLY SHOWY

8. favorite cooking gadget MY KITCHEN AID MIXER!!!! LOVE THIS THING.

9. cooking gagdet that promised the world but didn't deliver HMMM....I BUY A LOT OF KITCHEN GADGETS...PROLLY A CHEAPO GADGET I PICKED UP.

10. a recipe that you know by heart and any stories behind it I HAVE A RECIPE FOR "THE BEST" CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES EVER. I LOVE THAT RECIPE. THE COOKIES ARE SO GOOD AND IT MAKES A LOT. THERE ARE QUITE A FEW COOKIE RECIPES THAT I LOVE AND HAVE ALMOST COMPLETELY MEMORIZED.

AND WITH MEAL RECIPES, I USUALLY JUST GO WITH THE FLOW..MEANING I DON'T NECESSARILY FOLLOW ONE.

hope this helps and again, i apologize for taking so long :)

GOING BANANAS!!!

well, saturday was bella's lil birthday party and we all had so much fun. for those of you that stop by greta's blog also, you know that melana was in the hospital all weekend for a staph infection. we missed her so much at the party but were glad that mason was able to stop by for a swim.

like i mentioned before, bella's party was really just family (i.e. my mom and b.c.) we kept it small due to the fact that my mom was supposed to have surgery that week. her surgery got rescheduled but i still kept it small. this really worked out for the best. i was able to enjoy the kiddos and everything else without runnin' around like a woman with my head cut off. lol...i told mike all birthday parties should be that small.

bella racked up on a ton of presents and had so much fun jumping off the ladder into the pool.

i can see that we will be spending many days over at mom's this summer.























okay, off to finish a buncha cleaning (i.e. organizing scrapbooking/crafty supplies, cleaning computer area, packing, laundry, unload the dishwasher).

mike has knee surgery tomorrow, so everyone say a silent wish that it goes well and recovery is a breeze :)

hope ya'll that are off today are having a wonderful memorial day!!

MIKEY'S LAST T-BALL GAME!!!

well tonight was the last game (we still have closing ceremonies next friday though) and since it was an early game (6pm) i thought that i would bring the camera to get some good light shots.

these are some of my favorite (the one of him and the coach fivin' is probably my favorite).

we were sitting on the home side behind third base. thanks goodness for my big lense (yeah i'm sure there's a nice technical name for it, but until the i read the manual and figure everything out, its big lense and little lense :)

OH SCRAP!!!

the one thing about being home sick (and not being able to talk) is that i can sit down and scrap in between naps (which are really few and far between).

i love the way these lo's turned out (if i do say so myself) and have become hooked on 12x12.

whatcha think?

MIKEY'S KINDERGARTEN AWARD CEREMONY!!

i know, i know.

you guys are prolly thinking that this should be the weekend recap post (not that there is too much to report) but i wanted to post this before time got the best of me.

i'm home sick today so i figured i might as well get it done (along with the new banner...whatcha think? that is actually a street in our town...well biloxi anyway. i'm glad i got a shot of it when i did b/c katrina blew it down and they have replaced the street sign with one of those that hang up by the traffic lights and it shares a sign with the street on the other side of the road...grr!)

so anyway, yesterday was mikey's kindergarten award ceremony. it was cute. they sang songs, got certificates, and ate cake.

an exciting part was that mikey won the perfect attendance award. that's right folks. i've learned from the best (my mom)....unless you're dying, you don't stay home from school. i was quite proud when mikey won that award.

and now for your viewing pleasure:


mikey and mrs. upton


his kindergarten certificate


perfect attendance award

one of the best things about the lil ceremony is when they gave us these scrapbooks show casing some of the work they have done the past year. there was also a picture of them on the first day of schoool, a b&w of their school picture, and a handwriting sample from the first day of school and a day this month (what progress!).

this is something i will cherish forever!


"my family likes to play on the computer"--ain't that the truth!


"i'm thankful for my daddy"--how cute is that!!


"i will build a police station"--i bet you could baby!


look at how much he has improved in less then a year. AMAZING!



hard to believe that my baby is not going to be a kindergartener anymore. as of 2:25 p.m. today, he will be a first grader.

bug, i've enjoyed so much watching you grow and become smarter and smarter with each passing day. i hope you enjoy 1st grade as much as you did kindergarten.

i love you!

FOREVVVVVVER!!!

what a busy weekend, but more about that later in another post.

friday night however, i did manage to sit down and scrap a page. me and greta attempted to stop at the lss (local scrapbooking store for you non-scrappers) friday afternoon, but due to an assload of traffic and needing to pick up our kiddos by a certain time, we were unsuccessful. so we stopped by hobby lobby instead.

now i really don't need anything else, but i did pick up a couple of things. scratch that, the 12x12 paper i picked up i kinda needed. all my 12x12 paper is girly and i was itching to do some pages of my bug.

so what do ya think?



journaling reads:

mommy: "who's my bug?"
mikey: "mikey."
mommy: "for how long?"
mommy and mikey: "FOREVER"

its a thing we do. we usually follow it up with an "awww" and a hug. i now do the same thing with bella. i hope this is something that i do with the kids well into their adulthood.

guess we'll see :)

hope ya'll have a happy monday and look for the weekend recap later today along with pictures of the progress of our new house.

YOU HAD A BAD DAY!!!

yesterday, i think that song was written for me.

i had the worst day. full of drama, tears, and aggrevation.

but when you come home to this





it makes everything all better.

so here's hoping that friday will be a helluva lot better!

hope its the same for ya'll too :)

sorry for the blurry photos...forgot my camera was on manual focus...oops!

GO BANANAS!!!

well, here is bella's birthday invites. i *love* the way they turned out if i do say so myself.

this year her party is going to be very, very small (like i only made four invitations and one of them is for me to keep). just family. but that's okay. makes it easier that way.

if you haven't guessed, she is having a monkey themed birthday and i can't wait to get started on the cupcakes.

more later. gotta go meet with our builders...yay!

THE BEGINNING OF FAMILY ALBUM!!!

i am soooo behind on my scrapbooks its not even funny. bella is three and i think i only have about half a dozen of pages done for her.

well, that is about to change...lol.

now that things have settled down a bit, i have all sorts of ideas running through my head. thank goodness the mojo is here.

i've also decided to start a family album. all the things we do as a family will be scrapped in this album. i've also decided that this album will be 12x12. this is the first time i have ever worked with 12x12 (i'm a 8.5x11 kinda gal).

here's my first page for the family album. i'm pretty pleased with the results. this page was inspired by the dvd packaging on that jennifer aniston/kevin costner movie...sorry, its a lil early and i can't think right now :)

HAPPY MOMMY'S DAY!!!!

i hope ya'll had a wonderful mommy's day and got to spend a lot of time with your kiddos.

the only thing that i wanted for mother's day was breakfast in bed (and of course the opportunity to sleep in past 7 a.m.).

and i got both!!!

check out my breakfast (that i ate while watching murder she wrote....who could ask for anything more).



can you say yum!!!! here's the menu:

*mike's famous pancakes (he makes the BEST pancakes)
*toast
*egg white/cheese omelet
*veggie sausage patties
*cafe au lait
*water

it was sooooo good and better then anything that could have been bought at the store.

here' i am with the fam. now here is where i get really, really brave. i mean i'm posting slight-hangover pictures minutes after i wake up. i am bold ;)







after breakfast, i got busy on making my mom's mother's day presents. yes, i know i waited till the last minute, but i've been uber busy and quite frankly, it was also a lil present to myself by getting the opportunity to scrap.


a scrapped and framed picture of the kids. this is the best picture i have of the kiddos that was taken the night of bella's bday. i can't wait to scrap it for myself.


a magnet of mikey using a cd for the base. love this idea and will be doing more of these.


a magnet of bella

after we were all ready, we hopped in the car and drove to my mom's for pizza.


i had a wonderful mommy's day and i hope that ya'll did too!

see ya tomorrow :)

A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR A WEDDING!!!

since i am *EXHAUSTED* (and a lil buzzed ;) i won't be filling you in on all the details of amy's wedding except for the following:

*it was beautiful outside today
*i didn't trip and fall
*the bride was a vision
*bella behaved (despite getting her dress filthy before the ceremony and once she walked down the aisle plopped down on the ground for a comfy seat)
*i drank more then i thought (don't i always)
*saw some people from high school and had a wonderful time and wonderful conversations with them
*i had a really, really, really good time

BIG CONGRATS AMY AND BRYAN. MANY, MANY YEARS OF LOVE AND HAPPINESS TO YOU BOTH.

MUAH!


now for some pics