The Big Surprise

The day has finally come! YAY!!! Please keep your fingers crossed for good weather in the greater St. Louis area. Since we have...

Planned a surprise for the girls this weekend - its been in the works for 3+ weeks now. We are whisking them away this morning. The bags are going to be packed, and we will just load them up in the car & drive! We will be going to the "big" zoo as Olivia calls it, staying in a hotel, & capping it off with a trip to Grant's Farm. Olivia has been begging & pleading & crying for us to take her to a hotel waiting patiently for all of us to stay in a hotel for the past 2 years. Our hotel even has an indoor pool. She is going to blow a gasket! I can almost hear the squeals of joy & see the huge smiles on both of their faces!

I can't remember the last time I was this excited about something. And I have successfully kept this a secret from Olivia, for the most part. This is very hard for me to do...very hard! Did I say very? I am not known for my great secret-keeping abilities. I like to talk, who can blame me?

In fact, Jarrett almost spilled the beans this past weekend. So in turn, I made Olivia a countdown calendar for her to pull off a day until the big surprise. Because you & I both know, if I hadn't done that, every morning I would be asked at least 10 times "is today the big surprise?" I find myself becoming down-right giddy imagining the smiles on both Olivia & Rachel's faces when we arrive at our destination. This will be our first official family trip over-night as a family of 4. (Rachel was in-utero our last trip over-night, technically speaking & possibly TMI. Sorry)

After a whopper of a fit some inconsolable sobbing from Olivia Thursday morning, I did divulge a little piece of information to her. It all started with Olivia complaining of a stomach ache. She said she couldn't go to Mona's or school & that I should stay home with her from work. I explained if we did that, she would have to be laying on the couch or in bed all day & would not be allowed to go outside. And what do you know, her stomach didn't hurt that bad after all.

But she then started sobbing uncontrollably...I couldn't figure out what was wrong. She cried, "I wish you could just stay home with me!" This brought on some major WORKING MOMMY GUILT! So, we managed to have the following conversation amidst her sobs:

Olivia - "I would feel better & not be sad if you would tell me the surprise."
Me - (I had to try my hardest not to laugh. I mulled it over) "my hint is that we will need to pack a suitcase"
Olivia - (very excitedly) "YAY we are going to Grammie's house"
Me - (panicked & feeling guilty) "No honey, not Grammie's this time. But it will be fun"

I decided we should leave it at that. I gave her a cookie & turned on some cartoons for her. (*side-note Grammie is Jarrett's grandmother who lives in New Jersey. We don't see her very often at all & it broke my heart that Olivia was so excited thinking that is where we were going. At the same time, I was happy that Olivia will be just as excited when we do in fact go to visit her in September.)

Anywho, I better sign off because we have a busy weekend ahead of us! Can I get a WOOP WOOP for weekend get-aways!

The Game of Tag

Nobody tagged me on this, but I found this on Kelly's Blog.

The Game of Tag about your MAN:

1. Who is your man? Jarrett (aka: the J-Man or Jar)

2. How long have you been together? 8 years 2 months 3 weeks & 1 day (I'm a nerd...this is based off of our first date)

3. How long did you date? 9 1/2 months (Who can blame him for not waiting too long to propose to me??? hahaha)

4. How old is your man? 28

5. Who eats more? I think Jar does...but somedays I am really hungry :)

6. Who said "I love you" first? Jarrett did. I was worried I would scare him off if I said it too soon.

7. Who is taller? Jar is just a smidge 10 inches taller than me

8. Who sings better? I think I enjoy singing more, but based on quality - Jar is better

9. Who is smarter? depends on the subject, but we are both pretty smart

10. Whose temper is worse? Ummm.......probably Jar

11. Who does the laundry? Jar does his own laundry, most of the time. And I do everything else

12. Who takes out the garbage? Jar is supposed too, I am world-renowned for my garbage stacking ability :)

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me. Let me explain why, Jar has a thing about not sleeping closest to the door to our room. I think he is afraid :)

14. Who pays the bills? I think we are equal here, or as equal as can be.

15. Who is better with the computer? Me by a long shot

16. Who mows the lawn? Jarrett, for the simple fact that I am not allowed to mow the lawn. Something about the direction it needs to be cut & he didn't like my method of just breaking it down in squares. hahaha! See ladies, if you do it wrong intentionally, they don't ask you to do it again!

17. Who cooks dinner? probably me, but Jar does all the grilling & I am so thankful we are in the grilling season!

18. Who drives when you are together? Jarrett, with good reason :)

19. Who pays when you go out? Whoever pulls out their wallet first, but it is usually Jar

20. Who is most stubborn? we are both pretty darn stubborn. I would say him & he would say me :)

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? see the stubborness comes into play here...usually we just end up deciding we were both wrong. Him more than me obviously! hahaha

22. Whose parents do you see the most? It is pretty equal

23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me, but I kissed him back ;)

24. Who asked who out? He asked me out

25. Who proposed? Of course he did!

26. Who is more sensitive? Definitely ME!

27. Who has more friends? Me - but don't girls usually have more friends?

28. Who has more siblings? its a tie, we are both 1 of 3

29. Who wears the pants in the family? I like to think that maybe I do

Now I tag Laura, Sarah, Ashley, & Jessica!

Thankful Thursday

Just listing some of the things I am thankful for this week (in no particular order)

• The sun finally deciding to shine again. WooHoo! I will take that over the torrential downpours from last week any day!
• My moody, pink-eye-having, sassy, 4 going on 14 Olivia. Because I would rather have a major fit thrower than a little girl who is sick.
• My fussy-pants, table-climbing, picky-eater, outside-playing Rachel. Again because I would rather have a toddler who fights bedtime than a little girl who is unable to do any of the before mentioned acts.
• Being able to laugh at myself - and I do that quite frequently :) Laughing makes the day go faster.
• My wonderful husband - because he makes me laugh when I feel like crying. Because he helps me a lot around the house (even if I don't give him the credit he deserves). And because he gave me the two most beautiful daughters in the entire world.
• My house, even though I complain that it is too small & has horrendous carpet. The fact that I have all of these things to dislike about my house means, I in fact do have a house. A place to lay my head, argue with Jarrett, raise our 2 little girls, & call HOME.
• My hilariously funny friends at work. They make my day go much easier, faster, & take the sting out of being away from my kiddos!
• My entire family. I love them so very much & I don't think I say that nearly often enough.