u10 Sandusky Tournament

Little Man was asked to be a part of an under 10 Tournament team for football, and Bee was asked to coach. So, we kept on practicing way after football ended, and finally the weekend was upon us! We loaded up the cars early Friday afternoon and headed out on the road. Two hours later, we arrived at our hotel and checked in. Then, we took the boys over to get weighed in, and then came back for pizza, swimming, and Trick Or Treating (Because of Hurricane Sandy, Wednesday trick or treating was canceled and moved to Sunday. However, there was a good chance we were still going to be out of town so we let them trick or treat up at the hotel)

Saturday, we were up and off to our first game. We ended up winning in overtime, which took us to the next bracket. Sadly, we lost, which put us in the race for 3rd place. We all went back to the hotel to warm up and swim some more before heading out to dinner. Then, it was home and to bed because we had a 9am game in Clyde which was 45 min away! With an hour needed to warm up, that put us at the field at 8am, so you can only guess what time we had to be up :/ We ended up winning our first game on Sunday and losing the final game on Sunday afternoon. We were all kind of sad, but VERY proud of how well we did. The Hurricane deprived us of several needed practices, and we still finished 4th place out of 8! Little man had a blast, and was super excited to make it home in time to still go trick or treating with his friends at home! It all made for very tired children (and parents ) today :) It was all worth it though to see these smiles ;)

Madness, Utter Madness

So, who says you can't put together a wedding in less than 6 months?

Sorry for lack of update my dear blog, but I have been a busy woman! When I do get a few moments, I really don't have the energy it takes to form complete sentences ha! :) So far, so good over in our house :) However, there are a few things to update!

- J no longer lives with us. Actually, J no longer speaks to us. Bee prefers it that way :( Although, if I was a betting monkee, I'd say he probably wishes she would call or write from time to time. I am sure from much coaching from her mom and their Jehovah Witnesses lackeys, J just...left...one day. We had had some discussions about her needing to be a part of the family more, less time holed up in her room, more time doing chores and earning her keep since she was now 19, and graduated from high school with no job, no car, no license, and no plan for school. She asked to spend the night at her mom's one weekend, then asked to stay for the whole weekend, then finally after a week, said she'd be home that next day. Instead, she called and asked if she could spend the night at her friend's house (a fellow J-dub). Bee told her no, because C's birthday was that day. So, she came home, but asked if she could go the next day. I told her she could, but only for a day. She had responsibilities at home. She agreed and happily skipped off to her friends house.   Yeah, she never came back. She told us, via text, she was done. Deleted us off facebook, and stopped responding to phone calls and text messages. We turned her phone off, packed her stuff, and put it out on the porch. Done.

-C played her first year of School sponsored football. She did great. The guys loved her. However, their team only won one game :( Little Man, did a wonderful job playing his first year! He LOVES football and he is sad to see it end. He was invited to play in a special all-star tournament in Sandusky this weekend and he is super pumped. So is his daddy ;)

- Little Man tried out for the travel basketball team and did really well. They said he would have made the team, and even could have made the 5th grade team, but he was too young for the latter and the fourth grade only had 3 people try out, so there was going to be no team this year, just Rec. :( In talking with Cassie's rec coach from last year, he is going to put together a 4th grade tournament team so they can at least have fun with that. C doesn't start Basketball until January, but she is going to play for a club team as well in November and December.

And now, for wedding updates :)

- Save the dates went out. They were ah-dor-able! :) Everyone liked them. Unfortunately, I had to give every one away. I was trying to save at least one for me and my scrap-book. I can always order more, but I'd have to order 20. I am going to look for someone who has one that I can have.

- I got my shoes!! They are cute :) Yes, Yes, I know. Flip Flops in winter? But it's inside! And anyone who knows me, knows I live in my flops! Plus, they are Steelers.....and glittery! ;)

- I ordered my veil too! It is super pretty, and I can't stop looking at it :) I'm pretty proud of myself for finding things, like my veil and my dress, that are normally SUPER expensive, for really cheap :) I'm sorry, I want to look pretty and have the whole fair-tale thing, but I'm not stupid enough to pay thousands of dollars on a veil and dress I'll wear once. Pshh. With shipping, from Texas, my veil was $30. :)

- My Bridal shower was 10/6. I wish I had taken some pictures, and I really meant too, but I was too busy enjoying my party ;) It was a lot of fun, with most of the people I love and care about in attendance! I had about 25 people show! We got a lot of really nice stuff and had a blast with my girls :) 

- My Invites are half done, with the other half ordered and actually in shipping to me. This was other thing I struggled with. I didn't want something ghetto, but I wasn't interested in spending $200 just on invitations and RSVP cards alone. I scoured and scoured the Internet. Asked people I knew. Finally found that Walmart had some nice looking invites for .64 cents a piece and that included envelopes! Also, you weren't locked into a certain number. So, I could order 53 or 150, or even just 1! I typed up a few other points I wanted my guest to know about (such as hotel info, how to dress, the fact that kids were welcome, also my cell if they rather phone in their RSVP because I did not include return postage on my RSVP card envelopes) and printed that out on some nice colored paper (150 sheets for $2.50) All together, the invites cost $65.00. Add in the $2.50 for paper, and I thought I did well :) 

Then, there was the RSVP cards. I didn't really want to spend a lot on them. Again, they were expensive and most I saw came in sets of 10, with envelopes, for about $20. I needed 100, so that was out of my price range. So, I started to play around with a few things and came up with this idea. I went to vistprint.com and ordered a plain (their simplest design) business card. You get 250 FREE! All you pay is shipping! I paid $7.00 in shipping and bought a box of small envelopes and a pack of clear return address labels ($9.00 for 600) . All together, it pulled together nicely, my envelopes were still light enough to require one stamp, and I got all of my invites done for less than $75. I will say though, that AFTER I ordered my invites online, I went INTO Walmart and in their wedding aisle, they had boxes of 50 complete sets (Invite, RSVP, and two envelopes) for $14.00. I would have went this route had I known about them, but I still think my invites are nice and I'm not really put out that I ended up with the ones I did. :)

- Dress! This was the other thing that has had me a little stressed. I knew this was going to be my dress the moment I saw it...two years ago ;) So, when we decided to do this, it was a VERY easy decision. This dress is about $1500.00, but I found it at a wholesale place for $225. Now, $225 is at the very TOP..ok...TIPPY TOP of my budget, but it's still within it ;). However, I wasn't going to just outright buy it when so many other things needed to be done. So, it's been pushed off, and pushed off, and here we are. Exactly 2 months before the wedding and I don't have any cash to buy it :( I was waiting on my clarinet to sell so that I could use that money to buy it, but no one is in a hurry to buy it from me :( I had all but resigned myself to getting married in a regular plain dress I could buy at DEB for like, $30.00, when my mom and dad offered, as of last night, to buy it for me for my birthday (that's in 15 days!) I'll have the check next week! The best part? They are located in Dayton, which is only 4 hours from here so the shipping shouldn't take long! I'm so happy, because it really is beautiful ;) 

- Engagement photos. Now, I REALLY wanted to get some taken, because, um, Hello? How FUN! But, I didn't want to spend lots of money on something we didn't need. A friend had offered to take some for us as a wedding present, if we wanted them, but that was after I had hired my awesome photographer and he told me that his price (which, made me stroke out slightly even though it was a really good price..but I have never paid that much for anything in my life that didn't let me live in it,) included free engagement pictures. (My friend is going to take family pictures of us instead)  At any rate, we went on Oct 21 to Chapin Forest Reserve and had our pictures taken. It was a lot of fun, and they turned out beautiful!! I can't wait for the wedding pictures! :D

That's pretty much it thus far! I mean, as soon as the RSVP's come back and I know how many people are coming, I will get the centerpieces made, the tablecloths bought, and the favors made. Bee is working with the DJ, my friend's son is making the cake, and all that is left is to buy the food and alcohol! (Ok, and the boys have to get their tuxes, and we have to finish paying the hall off and the photographer :P ) Now that my dress is going to be taken care of, I am super excited for these last two months to go by! Next week we can file for our Marriage license! Woo hoo! Then, the next big thing will be my Bachalorette party on 12/22! :)

Well, that's about it for now :) I'll try to update more often so I don't have to do such a long post. Haha! :)

It's my party, I'll change my mind if I want to!

So, after talking to my Bee and asking him a few questions, I have come to realize he wants a "bigger" wedding than he had originally thought he did. ;) His guest list for the ceremony, which was supposed to be just family, was already at 25. Add to that my side and well, 50 people are coming. That's not even inviting the people who might not be close enough to be family, but are people we want at least at the Reception.

We calculated the tab if we did it ceremony, dinner out, limo bus, party at a bar, reception/luncheon the next day versus rent a hall, ceremony and reception with dinner and alcohol, but do it all one night and in one place. It's about the same. Plus, I'll get my first dance AND my daddy-daughter dance :) Woot!

- I am foregoing the traditional "here comes the bride" for an acoustic version of Mike's and my Song, which is "Free" by Zach Brown Band (just typing that, makes me misty eyed!). Hopefully, his brother will be playing it on his acoustic guitar...

- My colors are Black and yellow. For several reasons...but mainly because we are HUGE Steelers fans ;) However, I am not going to make my girls buy a specific dress. They can buy their own dress from anywhere they like. It just has to be black, or yellow. Or both.

-He is going to ask Little Man to be his best man (!!!!) and they are going to have matching tux's.

- I am catering it myself. We will have burgers, hot dogs, brats, Wings from our favorite wing place, potato salad ect. We are fancy.

- I got a great deal on alcohol. A friend of ours owns a little store in town. He is giving us 20% off on beer, 10% off on wine, for every $100 in beer we buy, we will get a free bag of ice. Also, any wine left over, he will buy back!

-My Cake Topper!!!










- Our friend's son is making the cake (he does great work!) He is giving us a deal too!

- A friend DJ's too. He said he'd hook us up on the 1's and 2's ;)

That's about it for now!

Not even 24 hours...

So, I haven't been a bride to be even 24 hours and I already am having my first bout with drama.

Sigh....

Here's the thing, My sister's boyfriend is a good guy. I mean, I don't know him that well, and quite frankly, he is not the type of person I would find myself befriending if it weren't for my sister dating him and all. Then again, I love my sister to death, but if she weren't my sister, we probably wouldn't run in the same circles either. Nothing negative in that, just different personalities. Different likes. Etc.

Anyway, SHE likes the occasional adult beverage from time to time. However, she is on a lot of medication that doesn't mix with alcohol, so drinking needs to be a planned affair and when she does drink, she is a real light weight and like one drink does her in. If she has two, she is down for the night. HE on the other hand, is a recovering alcoholic with 10 years sobriety. It pretty much works out for them because she doesn't drink very often. However, as of late, he has pretty much forbid her to drink. At all. He doesn't like the taste of it on her or the smell of it. Nor does he like to watch her drink. Personally, I get it. I don't hold that against him. He needs to be concerned with his sobriety. He used to be ok with her coming to my house, by herself, having a drink or two, and then spending the night so he doesn't see it/smell it/taste it. Now, that's not even good enough. He has a right to feel the way he does. However, forbidding people from doing stuff when in a relationship with them, in my book, is the first step in a downward spiral.

The big contention here is that the current plan for 12/31/2012 is for me to get married at around 6pm. Then, everyone at the wedding ceremony is then invited out to dinner with us somewhere. Then, after dinner, Bee and I are going to have a party bus. On this party bus there will be partying. Hence, the term party bus. It is also New Years Eve. My friends and family don't need much of an excuse to party, but I am giving them two huge ones. Then, we are taking said party bus out to a bar...or three...on New Years Eve...needless to say, he is not comfortable with being around all that. I understand. I get it. And if he wants to leave and go home, I would not be offended in the slightest. However, the problem lies in the fact he does not want my sister to be involved in it either. He wants her to go home with him after the dinner.



Now, here is where I DO have a problem. This is my  wedding. My  day. My family has waited a very long time for this. They are ecstatic. They want to be a part of every bit of it. This is going to be my only wedding, and it will only happen this one time. My sister is always wanting to hang out with me and my friends, and this is the one time that I actually truly want her there. I don't think she should be denied the opportunity to hang out and celebrate with me. She's upset and he goes back and forth between trying to make her feel guilty for choosing "alcohol" over him, and being all martyr like and saying "Fine! I'll GO! But I don't feel comfortable being around all that!" 


She is torn. She doesn't want to upset him, make him feel uncomfortable, test his sobriety, but she also wants to be a part of things with me. That is what it boils down to, really. She would love to drink with everyone, but it's not about that. She just wants to be a part of it. Hell, she doesn't have to drink. I probably won't be (I am still planning on trying to get pregnant starting in September, so I could be pregnant and not able to drink either).

I told her this. She needs to be there for my ceremony. I also want her there at the following day's reception. The in between? Well, I'd be nice if she was there, but I wouldn't hold it against her if she decided to go with him.

Well, if that's the worst of it, we should be good. However, we still have 5 more months to go. Hahaha!

I like to bunch all of my life events into one 6 month period!

Ya'll, I've been on Hiatus.

I know, what else is new, right?

Well, it's Summer. And We're busy. And, I could blog every day but I think ya'll would get sick of hearing "So, we had football for Bee today. Then, Football for C....oh, and Little Man had football today, too!" So, I decided to take a little unplanned break.

There has been some noteworthy things, though...

J graduated. Yes, she made it! I spent 3 hours in a gymnasium where the temperature inside was roughly that of the sub-artic (and my hoodie was in the car :(  ). Then, I planned, bought for, prepared, cleaned and carried out a graduation party for her as well. It just so happened to fall on the only day of the year thus far where we reached temperatures that were damn near the surface of the sun (it made it to 104 that day....oh, and did I mention my house is 109 years old...and they didn't have central air back then. Nor, did they made a house that could have central air installed down the road.)

C broke her arm. Yeah. That's what I said. Want to know how? Well, I'll tell you. She spent a week with her grandparents. That really should be all I have to say, but I'll go on. Anyway, they thought it was hilarious to watch my kid, who is smack dab in the middle of football training camp for her 7th grade middle school team, which is filled with coaches and players who have never seen her play and are skeptical about a girl playing, climb a tree. Better yet, climb 15ft into a tree. Then, she fell out of it. They told her she was fine, and after a day or two of her complaining, they put a brace on it (that was for the wrong arm) that they had laying around and told her she'd be fine. Didn't call us. Didn't tell us. In fact, she was home from their house for like 3 hours before we even noticed it (we had people over and she came in and asked to go ride her bike and play and we said sure...) Yeah. Broken arm. I was PISSED. Needless to say, she is fine now and her football team loves her...but still. My kids always seem to come home injured from there....

Bee's team is in the top 5! :) So, yay for that!

Oh, and I have some news.....

Because I think it's super awesome and fun to try and shove all my live events into one six month period of time...

Bee and I are going to start trying to have a baby in September!!

and if that isn't enough...

We are getting married on 12/31/2012 !!!!!!!

The current plan is a small ceremony with just immediate family and best friends (BFF Rose's lovey is going to be doing the ceremony) then, go out to dinner after. Then, get a party bus and go out on the town to celebrate for New Years Eve (and to celebrate our marriage, of course) and then New Years Day, have a Family Friendly Reception.

Yeah...I'm going to be a busy girl... but then again...what else  is new?! ;)

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

So we have had a looong and busy weekend :) Friday night we had soccer practice, and Saturday we had our soccer game for little man. Saturday night we hung out with friends, and then Sunday we got up and drove to PA to see Bee's family for their annual Pig roast. WHAT A GREAT TIME! My kids never ran so hard for so long. We are already being begged to be able to come back next year. The kids are begging us too ;) Then, today we had another cookout/birthday party/candle party when we got home. I had a blast. The kids and Bee did too! So glad I took Tuesday off! :)

Bridge in PA



Same bridge

View from what used to be the backyard to the home Bee grew up in (He moved when he was 15 because his house was distroyed by a flood)

C about to go jet skiing for the first time

J's first time going too!

View from Bee's cousin's second floor deck (They live next door to where Bee grew up)

View from the same deck, but up into town

Dock

Bee's house used to sit here...

Bee's cousin Marcie, and I

Me and my favorite guy!

C's award ceremony

C was reconized and awarded tonight for getting a 3.6 + (She had all 3.8's) all 4 quarters! Way to go, C!!!