MOST--The Bridge

This has the most amazing message. Please take a minute to watch.

Very Cool Gift....

My brother in law sent this to me in an e-mail and I wanted to share it with everyone.

Something cool that Xerox is doing...

If you go to this web site, www.letssaythanks.com , you can pick out a thank you card that was created by a child, and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq .. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Splish, Splash...

Max loves to take a bath...if we ask him if he wants to take a bath he drops whatever he is doing and makes a mad dash for the bathroom. Here is a pic of Max just about a year ago getting ready to take a bath...

Here he is tonight, getting ready to take a bath....he almost couldn't wait! It just amazes me how tall he has gotten. His official height is 2'8"....not even 2 yet. :)

Cheap, Cheap, Cheap....

I got gas the other day for $1.46. I couldn't believe it. I was estactic...only cost me $26.00 to fill up my tank - haven't seen that for a very LONG time.

On the other hand, it kind of made me nervous....cheap gas means that manufacturing is down even more, which means the economy is sinking even more. These are scary times....

Wish that I had more exciting things to write about but I don't. I had to really push for this post....

Adventure Aquarium...

Yesterday Max and I went on a little adventure. We went to Adventure Aquarium up in Camden, New Jersey with a few other Mom's from our Play group. We had a great time! Max was enjoying all the fish, sharks, and other water animals (penguins & hippo's). But I think he would have had more fun it I would have just let him run around...

Being the dork that I am I forgot the camera in the car (yes I am a loser), but managed to snap

a few cute pics in the car on the way home...

Here is Max with his head up all straight and nice...BUT as you will see he starts to nod a bit...Going...

Going....

Gone...

It's hard to see because my aim was a little off, ya' know being that I am driving and all...but his whole little head was about sitting on his shoulder. It was soo cute!

Thanksgiving 2008....

I wish that I had more pictures but it was a whirlwhind weekend as I mentioned before, sorry. But we did have a great time and ate lots of food and just enjoyed hanging out with family. Here are a few pics that I did manage to get in...

Here is Max with Uncle Danny (a.k.a The Godfather), Max was trying on a new hat....

Here was Max trying on Mom-Mom's glasses...took him a few minutes to get used to them....

Once he figured them out he was loving them...

Whew....

I am spent! It was once again a whirl-wind weekend with the Rudolph's...we got back from New York last night and I am ready for a vacation. :)

We had a wonderful holiday and I do have a few pictures but have yet to find the camera in all of our luggage but in an effort to give Nana her Max "fix" here are some pictures of Max in his snow pants and boots!!

Here is before we actually got outside. It's such a lengthy ordeal to get him ready...it must take me like 20 minutes - at least....

Here is our usual shot...the back of his head as he runs off to the back yard....

And here he is rolling around on the ground...he thought it was really fun to fall down and start rolling...I am just thankful he didn't roll in any dog poo....! Oh and I would like to add we were outside for a whoppin' 10-12 minutes.....not even the length of time it took to get him ready to go outside. Go figure!

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Max made it through the entire service today at Church in the nursery.
We have been going to church for quite a while now and in the beginning Max would do really good, he would just be clingy to whomever was in there. Then he started going through this phase where he would cry the entire time. One of the great things I love about the nursery is that they will only let the child cry for 10 minutes and then they come and get the parent. Well they have come to get us a few times, then it ended up that Karl would be in the nursery the whole service trying to leave but not quite making it.

Karl does much better at leaving Max while he is crying then I do. But it was starting to get frustrating because Karl would miss the whole service but finally it has happened. He only cried for a few minutes and Karl got to sit with me through the whole service..:)

When I talked with the volunteer in the nursery she said that Max cried for a few minutes but he stopped, then he was a little clingy but then he got down and started playing. I have been really upset about this because I want Max to get used to be around other kids, especially ones of different ages. Sadly the playgroup that I was in has fallen to the wayside so I have been trying to find other things to do along with finding a new playgroup. So going to Church has been a great way for Max to interact with other kids. I feel so relieved to know that he is starting to enjoy his time in there. :)

FREEZING!

Woke up to a dusting of snow this morning. It was all gone by lunch time but I am stilllll soooo coooolllldddd.....Wishing for summer already... :)

Have to go later and find Max some snow pants and boots...will try to get pictures asap!

The New Star Trek...

I found this trailer on Yahoo and thought it looked cool. I totally grew up watching Star Trek with my dad and Karl loves it too...I just know that when this comes out we will be seeing it. It actually looks pretty good....

Max playing with blocks

Here is Max playing with his blocks....his auntie jennie was having almost as much fun as he was. You can clearly see that Nana and I were laughing almost as hard as he was!!!

High Chair Conversations

It's hard to believe that this was Max a year ago! He is soooo little in this video. Now he is all over the place and really talking like a fool!!

Not A Happy Camper...

Max is usually pretty happy when he gets up from his naps. Apparantly yesterday he was not...

I kept trying to get a picture of his shirt. It says "that's it, I'm calling nana". But every time I picked up the camera this is what he did...

The last time that I did it he came over and sat in my lap, hence the reason you can see me....I am realizing this probably make me a really bad mom but I was laughing so hard. It was hystarical! Pick up the camera - cry. Put it down - stop crying....so funny!

He seemed to be better once I stopped clicking away. I guess he was just not feeling photogenic. Go figure!

Not Just Another Day....

Thanksgiving. As I get older this Holiday mean more and more to me. It used to just mean alot of food and then sleep but now I really think about the things that I am grateful for. Plus of course I can't wait for the food! LOVE Turkey!! We will be spending Thanksgiving this year in New York with Karl's family which will be cool because we haven't spent a THanksgiving with them. The plan was to flip flop the holidays but somehow it just hasn't worked out that way.


I am so thankful that I have such a loving husband! Karl is such a great guy I sometimes wonder how I got so lucky, but then I realize that God has a plan and it was supposed to be that way. It's a good thing too because I was really starting to wonder about my choices in men for a little while. LOL! But thankfully there was someone else watching over me and knew what I needed....


I am also thankful for my son. He has taught me so many things in such a short period of time and to be quite honest he is still teaching me things. The biggest lesson of all is patience. Something I have needed to be better at anyway...thanks Max!


I am very thankful for my wonderful family...mine and Karl's. They are amazing people and I am just blessed that I have them, even though we don't always see eye to eye on things I know that they are there for me.


I am thankful for the wonderful, amazing friends that I have. Many of which are back in Michigan. You all have been so supportive since we have moved away and I miss each and every one of you dearly!


I am thankful that we were able to lease our house back in Michigan, although I miss it every day. Having a brand new house makes you kind of spoiled.

Leading me into the next thing that I am thankful for. The house we are living in. Although it's not my home and we are just staying here for a short time I am thankful that we have a roof over our head and don't have to pay two mortgages. Especially with the economy the way it is.

There are so many things that I could put down that I am thankful for but I don't want to bore everyone, so these are just a few that really were on my brain. I hope and pray that everyone of you has a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving Day and that you think about the things you are truly thankful for! Happy Turkey Day!

Yippieeeeeee!

I am sooo very excited today. My mom and my sister are coming out for a long weekend visit. :)

They will be here today around 4'ish and are staying through till Tuesday. Can't wait! I don't have a recent picture of the three of us together so here is one from my Mom and Jim's wedding. My sister is standing to the left of me with her two boys, Camerin and Brady. Who by the way are about a foot taller now! :)

I was just looking at my hair and realizing that it looks pretty darn cute blonde.....:) May have to make the switch back. Won't Karl be thrilled!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

This morning Karl, Max and I went out and voted. Until the moment I stepped into the booth I was undecided. I have been going back and forth with a lot of the issues and was sooo 50/50 on each candidate. I am not going to share my pick just because I don't want to get into a huge political debate on my blog but I think that I made the right choice.

This has been the first election that I have really got into. This is my 3rd election and to be honest I don't even think I voted in the last one. I kept telling myself that I didn't like either candidate so why bother but now that I have a son and have a home (in Michigan, LOL!) I feel like I have a responsibility to vote. Why call myself an American if I choose to give up that right. My pastor made a comment in church this past weekend that really rung true...many countries don't have the freedom of choice and many countries never will. So I am using my freedom and voting...which I hope everyone I know did as well!!!

On a side note my voting location was in a church. I find it very ironic that the Government is all about separation of Church and State but I was voting for the next President (can you get more government than that?) in a Church. Interesting.

The Great Pumpkin...

Max was a pumpkin for Halloween. We didn't really do any trick-or-treating being that he doesn't really understand what that means yet but we did go visit Karl at work for lunch and since it was warmer out today we played outside with his costume on. Nana these are for you...)she bought him the outfit for Halloween.:)

Here's Max and Magoo watching Sesame Street. :)

Here is Max after he got up from his nap...we then proceeded to walk all over the back yard, the side yard, the house next to us' yard.... pretty much all over.

We played for a little bit with the jeep but Max quickly learned it's a rough and tumble kind of world....

Here is my absolute favorite!

Remembering When...

I have recently decided to take the plunge onto Facebook. Over the last year I have received numerous invitations to join as someones "friend" and have always just skimmed over the invites, but I FINALLY took the plunge and signed up, more or less our of curiosity.
I instantly had a handful of friends, some from here in New Jersey and some from Michigan. I also connected with two very special friends that I have known for a very long time. Nicole and Alexa. These two lovely ladies are two girls that I have known since I was 11 years old. Sadly I have not seen them since my wedding, but I am so blessed that they were able to come!

Nicole, Alexa, and I were truly the Three Musketeers growing up. We did everything together. Nicole and I lived right across the street from each other and Alexa lived about a mile or so down so as you can imagine we were constantly on our bikes riding all over the place, most of the time we would meet at Nicole's house because she had this great finished basement where we could pretty much do anything without being disturbed - because you know at age 11 you know it all and want nothing to do with parents. :)

If I only had the time and energy to tell you all about the stories that the three of us have been through together I would but that is not the reason for my post. As I was on Facebook a few minutes ago I realized, with a slight tug on my heart, that I miss those girls. I miss those innocents times that we used to spend with each other and I really regret not being a better friend to each of them as life drew us farther apart. We have been in contact with each other sporadically and as I said I was blessed that they were able to come to my wedding but I sometimes I wish for the time back when your best friend was just across the street and you always knew where to go when you were down in the dumps and needed to smile, or if you just wanted to be silly and play barbies, or go swimming, or just anything. :)

I just found out that Nicole got a new advertising account exec. position, and Alexa eloped in San Francisco! I wish that I could rewind time and been there for both of those exciting times but I can't so I am just hoping from this point on we can all re-connect and build those ties strong again!

My Little Weed...

And I mean that in the sweetest of terms! Max had his 15 month check up last night. It went great. I have to remind myself often about what a great kid he is. He is very laid back like his daddy - well most of the time. LOL!

Our appt was for 3:30 pm, and HOTY was going to meet us there, which is always nice. Karl has been to every single Doctor's appt except for one. Love that about him!

Anyway Max is growing nicely. He weighs 24 1/2 lbs., and is 31 1/2 inches tall. Can't believe it. I about fell over when she said he was that tall already. He is in the 60th percentile for his weight and I believe the said 70-75th for his height. He only had to get one shot and let me tell you that kid is a champ - he didn't even whimper. I mean nothing, no frown, no tears, nada, nothing. That makes me sooo happy. Especially when in the room next to us there was a girl of about 5-6 who was screaming like a banshee. I feel for her mother, I do but I am really glad that wasn't my child. I hope that doesn't sound too horrible! :)

Energized & Refreshed!

Ahhh...I feel like I am walking on air! This past weekend, well really Friday & Saturday I went on a Mary Kay Fall Retreat and I feel like a new woman!

There was probably about 200'ish women there from our National Area and it was chock full of specific training, fellowship, and of course lots of fun girl time. :)

I feel so refreshed, energized, motivated, and ready to knock some socks off. I have some big goals ahead of me and I am so ready to make them come true. That Pink Cadillac is screaming my name and I am soooo determined to get it! This picture is from Seminar this past July but get used to seeing it because it IS going to be mine!

I feel like my head is just busting with ambition, and I am so blessed that I have found this company. In the short amount of time that I have been working with the other consultants, or "sisters" as we called ourselves this weekend, I have just felt like I can conquer anything, and I owe so much of that to them. It's so refreshing to be around women that are positive, uplifting, full of belief if YOU, and just happy at what they are doing. I strive everyday to be better and better and I know that's God is right by my side making it happen!

We got home late Saturday night so I wasn't able to do much but I didn't waste any time Sunday after Church. I have 7 appts. in the next two weeks, and already have two appts. in the first week of November....watch out world I am on fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Secret Past...

Since Mel to very blatantly "outed" me on her blog I have divulge my secret.

I am extremely clumsy. And I mean EXTREMELY CLUMSY. I cannot stress that enough. It was a long standing joke in high school and that every other week I was going to be hurt in some way or another. Let me just give you a couple examples....

#1: I can't remember if this was my freshman or sophomore year but regardless I did a doozy on my hand. We had one of those new fangled stoves that were flat, the burner was built right in. When it was hot it was red, the bad thing about it was once it was turned off the color went away very quickly even when it was still hot. Here I am helping my mom brings in the groceries and I have 2-3 bags in each hand, well I set my first set on the counter and for whatever reason put my hand on the stove to balance myself out as I pulled up the other set of bags (they were heavy), and yes you guessed it the stove was hot and I ended up with 3rd degree burns on my right palm. All of my fingers, and the inside of my whole palm - immediately it blistered up and I was crying like a baby! Long story short I had to go to emergency and basically wear a big mitten of bandages for about a week as the new skin grew in....let me tell you that was not fun and boy did it hurt!

#2: Again can't remember which year this was but we had an old wood burner so part of our chores during the summer were to help stack and split wood. Hated that btw....but one particular week my sister and I were out there chugging along and I was carrying two big round pieces that hadn't been cut yet, imagine the scene in Dirty Dancing where the guy is carrying two watermelons - that was me. But anyway I am walking along and apparently trip over air because to this day I have no idea what it was I tripped over and bam. Flat on my face, with a nice skid mark of wood up the left side of my face. That was pretty. I can remember going into school, and one of my teachers saying to me "oh that is going to scar", nice. Thanks Mrs. Faust. Luckily she was wrong....:)

There are countless other stories that I could share but really, is it necessary. I don't think so. I think that I pretty much had an injury for every year of high school and they really haven't stopped. I am constantly running into things, tripping over nothing, and basically just being as clumsy as possible.

And I will have you know that I also did the exact thing that Mel did at work about a year ago and ripped a HUGE whole in a new pair of pants. Love those pants too! But now you know my dirty little secret....LOL!

A New Point Of View....

I have been toting our camera around with me everywhere trying to get just the perfect shot of Max walking & running around. Since we have a video option I am constantly trying to catch him in action. But I have not really accomplished that....here is what I always get....

I am getting so irritated of only getting pictures of the back of Max's head. I mean it's a cute little perfectly round "charlie brown" head but really....I was lucky enough to capture a few cute pics though. Max must have not been paying attention or I am sure they would have fallen into the "rearview" category...

Motivated And Ready To Work....

Every Sunday night I get to plug in with my director (who lives in Virginia btw...) to do conference calls. Typically these calls are all training related, one week we did training on team building, some weeks it's about how to get better and booking & selling, last night was by far my favorite!

We did a full hour on balancing Motherhood and Working...and I am so ready to work! My director is my mentor, she is such an amazing woman and I strive to be like her. She is a such a Godly woman, fantastic mother, an amazing wife, and she is very successful with her business. Where she is at is what I am working for. She has been working the business for 15 years, is on her 3rd Pink Cadillac and is a Million Dollar Director.

She had so many great tips last night that I don't think I could possibly fit them all in but one of the things she said was that if you need to get some things done and your kids are just not letting you, get up a 1/2 hour early each day and you will be amazed at what you can get done in just 30 minutes. Boy was she right! Now Max usually is up by 6:30 to 7:00 am every day - like clockwork - and the idea of getting up earlier than that does not really bode well with me but I am determined to be successful so I thought I should just try it. Last night I set my alarm for 6 am sharp, wincing a bit as I hit the save button....

But this morning when my alarm went off I jumped right out of bed, turned on the coffee and got to it. First and foremost I spent a few minutes reading my bible. This has been a goal of mine since I have never read it all the way through and I am so proud of myself for sticking to it. I also threw a load of laundry in, did the dishes, and balanced my checkbook. These are all things that virtually seem impossible to do when Max the Monster is running around.

I was also able to sit down and plan out my day....what errands I need to make, what calls need to be done, and so on. I am so glad that I listened to my director and at least tried it...I am ready to tackle the day!! On my way to my Pink Cadillac!

Which I would like to say by the way that I have had a couple of amazing weeks...in the last two weeks I have sold $456.27. I am working the business very, very, very part time, usually only 1 or 2 classes a week. Last week I had one class and one facial - after I did my 60/40 split I made $182.50 for doing 6 hours of work. Woo-Hoo! I love this job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Karl was thrilled too because I was able to pay extra on the credit card - which always makes him happy. LOL! I am so excited because this coming weekend I am going on a Fall Retreat for Mary Kay and I just cannot wait to soak in as much information as I can!!!

My Little Punkin'...

Yesterday Max and I went out with some of the girls from the playgroup and picked some pumpkins. It was so much fun, plus it was gorgeous out so that made it even better!


We went for a little hayride, then got to walk through the pumpkin patch and finally got some lunch and ate outside....here are a few pics of my cute little punkin'!

Here was Max on one of the tables with the Big Pumpkins...doesn't he look so cute!

Here we are on the hayride...although it doesn't look like he was having to much fun there does it...LOL!

Here we are after the ride and some lunch out playing on the cute little John Deer Tractor! Max loves to hang up side down...if only you could have heard him squeeling!!!

Mad...Mad...Mad...

About 6-8 months ago New Jersey implemented a new law - you cannot talk on a cell phone while you are driving. I remember thinking that it was going to be so difficult for the police to catch people doing this...well just last week I found out how easy it is for them to catch you.

Last Wednesday I was on my way home from a skin care class, about 10 pm, (totally lost track of time and was chatting with my hostess) so I was calling Karl to let him know why I was running late. Here I am puttzing along, go through a light, hang up from him and I see the lights flashing. My first thought was that I ran a red light so I was panicking.

The officer comes up to the car and ask for my license and registration and then asks me why I was on my cell phone so I remember Val's previous post about being honest so I tell him.

"I teach skin care with Mary Kay, just left a class and was late and wanted to let my husband know I would be home soon". In the back of my mind I was really hoping he might say, "Mary Kay - my wife loves Mary Kay, let me order her something...". But what he said, "that's nice I'll be right back".

Whatever! Anyway he comes back and gives me a ticket- jerk! And tells me to have a nice night. And without even thinking I say, "Thank You" and "you too"....what the hell is wrong with me. I am thanking him for giving me a ticket - I think that I have completely lost my mind.

Of course the first thing I do when I see him turn the corner is get right back on the phone....LOL! But now I am stuck with an $85, yes you read that right, ticket. And the kicker is I see cops on their phones all the time....

I have contemplated fighting this but Karl said a guy at work told him his wife tried to fight one and since it's such a new law they are not letting anyone slide by.....WHATEVER!

Too Tall...

Max has suddenly become Mr. Grabby Hands. The other night we had some teriyaki steaks on grill and after we were done there was a paper plate on the counter with one lone little piece of steak left...while I was cleaning up Max was running around like his usual Tasmanian Devil self that he is and the next thing I know Karl is laughing and swearing at the same time I turn around and see this....

Max was reaching up to the counter and just clipped the edge of the paper plate ~ well the plate, the steak and all the sauce went flying. When I had turned around Max had the steak stuck to his bib and the plate was on the floor. Max even had sauce in his ear. Much to the delight of Trigger and Magoo who I might add did not waste any time cleaning up the floor. I was laughing so hard and Max was just kind of standing there like "what the heck happened"....I had to get the camera for it was definitely a Kodak Moment!

Max's First Haircut...

Last week my mom, my aunt & uncle came all the way out from Michigan for a visit. We had a blast. We went to the new racetrack our town has and watched a really cool car & airplane show. It was about 900' but still fun. Max was enthralled in watching everything.

We also went to Cape May, which I always love to do. It's right on the water, has all kinds of really cute shops, and a ton of great little restaurants. The best thing of all is that you can walk right to the ocean....it's great. Here are a few pics....

During their visit I asked my Aunt Nancy to give Max his very first haircut. I have been thinking about it for the last month or so but was a little nervous to do it myself. She is a stylist at home so I figured it would be perfect. Max did amazingly well. We snagged him when he woke up from his nap and he just sat there as cute as can be.

The dogs also had a great time visit. My mom brought Izzaboo with them, Magoo's sister from the same litter.

As you can clearly see Izzaboo is just as much a ham as Magoo is....she just had to have her picture taken!

Here are the two of them acting like fools while Max was trying to watch Sesame Street with Nana. And here are the boys, they pretty much just tuned out us ladies for the entire trip....probably safer for them that way anyhow! LOL!

Here is my favorite picture of Max....I was trying to take a picture of the two of us while we were on the beach but he kept reaching for the camera so this is the shot that I got...

Anyway, it was a great trip and I was sad to see them go but was so glad they were able to come out for a few days!

Fundamental Difference....

If I never hear these two words again it will be all too soon in my book. Karl and I, being the good Americans we are, decided to watch the debate tonight. Both of us were immediately frustrated that neither McCain nor Obama really answered any of the questions presented to them....we both agreed on that fact.

Sadly that is where our agreeing ended. We both have very differing views on many of the topics of the debate. I would say that I am much more liberal than he is. We were on the brink of actually arguing with each other - and I mean raised voices, on the edge of our seat, veins pulsing "discussing" when we both realized that we were acting like idiots and decided that there was a 'FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE' in our political views!

We also decided that we weren't going to watch any more of the debate because it was just stressing us out, and we figured that we had time to cool down since there are a few more debates down the road. :)

Oh, before my mother has a conniption, the camera's batteries died so that is why there are no pictures of Max. I will get them on tomorrow! :)

Mr. Adorable....

As I mentioned yesterday Max has taken a liking to his blankey & his Nuk (a.k.a pacifier). He likes to take them out of his crib and walk around with them....I found a cute picture of Linus but it was only the cartoon...here is a real live picture of Linus.

You can see just a hint of a smile under the Nuk in this one...such a little stinker.

A Miracle On Main St....

Main St. being the road that we live on.

A truly miraculous things happened yesterday. Max and I were playing in the living room and he was about due for his afternoon nap, which I might add his schedule is all out of whack since his 1st swim class, but I digress....

We were playing in the living room and Max was walking around with his blanket from his crib, looking scarily similar to Linus, (he was able to pull it through the rails), plus he was able to reach his Nuk a.k.a pacifier.....I could tell he was becoming a bit fussy so I casually mentioned that it might be about time for his nap. Here is where the miracle occurred...

Max looked at me, turned on a dime, like he was attending West Point, and high-tailed it to his room....here I am following behind him in absolute awe as he reaches his room, walks right up to his crib, grabs a rail, turns and looks at me like "what is taking you so long".

I change his diaper, plop him down in bed and out he goes. A true miracle my friends!