No One Ever Asked Me....

No one ever asked me....

1. if Kenny could take the summer off.

2. if my mom could pack up and move all her s**t to Florida.

3. if they could move their sons birthday to 5 instead of 1.

4. if we could take a year off from going to Disney.

5. if 24 could be cancelled.

6. if my dog could shed all her flippin fur all over the house.

7. if they could make ANOTHER vampire movie that we'll have to hear about over and over.

8. if I really wanted to go to the grocery store.

9. if I wanted to cook dinner tonight.

10. if I care.

Let It Begin

Yup I can't wait.

And yes I know I'll be going by myself,

I really don't care.

And yes I know I'll have to hear about how silly it is that he did this concert,

and again I really don't care

If you think for a minute who your favorite singer is...

if he/she/they did a concert at the theatre

you would go too!

Birthday at the Bracks

On our way home on Sunday we stopped over at Emily and Cole's house.

She had made him a cake for his birthday.

The kids were so excited to see each other.

My darling daughter, Sarah!
My itty bitty niece Natalie. She is so petite but full of spirit. Her and Jacob get along really well and usually end up hanging out together.


Naughtly Nathan. Haha not really, he is just a boy and so funny. He is starting to talk in full sentences and it's so cute to hear what he has to say. He loved the cake, actually licked the plate clean.

Per the birthday boys request they all sat down and played Smash Brothers, I think thats what its called. The girls got bored fast but Uncle Cole happily stepped in and played with Jake for awhile longer.

All in all it was a great day. A bit relaxing and a whole lot of fun.

I'm a very lucky mom and I sure know it.

Birthday weekend

We went to Surfari Joe's indoor water park/Ramada for the weekend for Jacobs birthday.

We stayed Fri and Sat nights. The kids spend most of the weekend in the water. They had two water slides. One to go down in the raft, as seen below, or one to go down without anything. I tried the second one, and I hated it. I love rides but for some reason I wanted it to be over 1 second after it started. I think it was because it was completely dark and I couldn't see where I was going. When I came flying out I almost drown. Needless to say I only went down once and never tried the raft. The kids loved both of them. Friday we just swam, and went to bed.

Saturday we had continental breakfast and then hit the pool again. We swam for a bit then went to the room for presents and cake. Once Jacob opened his lego gift he was useless. Thats all he wanted to do. So Sarah and I ate cake and tried to persuade them to go back to the pool (them cause Jeremy was now putting the lego thing together also). We ended up going to see Diary of a Wimpy kid, good movie. Very age appropriate for Jacob and we liked it too. Sunday we swam some more then went to Aunt Emily's for awhile. More about that in the next blog.

I can't believe this guy is 10. I still can see him as the chubby little guy that carried Carl around. He loved Thomas the Train, now he loves Legos.
He was a picky eater, he still is.
He had alot of black hair, he has super thick brown hair.
He loved to be hugged and cuddled....don't tell his friends but he still does.
He is a wonderful, thoughtful, smart kid and I'm lucky to be his mom.
Happy 10th Birthday Jacob!

How Cute is He!!

How wrong is it that I can't wait for Sarah to ask me to take her and her friends to a concert.

I wish she was concert going age now so we could go see this little cutie.

I've heard his songs on the radio just didn't know what he looked like.

So I googled him

and I asked Sarah

"Do you know who this is"

Her response

"Moooommmmmmm thats Justin"

Me "WHAT? How do you know who he is?

Sarah "I love to watch his videos on utube"

me "WHAT?" (note to self, monitor Sarah's use of the computer better)

I didn't even know who he was, let alone that Sarah loved him.

So hopefully when shes ready for her first concert there will be a cute little kid like Justin so I can pretend that its totally putting me out to have to take her but inside I will be so excited to see him too.

Until then I'll have to join Sarah for some utube watching mother/daughter bonding time.

The Leprechaun was here!

St Patrick's Day 2010

My kiddos in their green attire!

Reading their clues left from the leprechaun. Gotta love a good scavenger hunt. Although I think he needs to step it up a bit. Jacob thinks the clues are way tooooo easy.

Their treasure from the Leprechaun, gotta love some golden chocolates, (Rolos)

Mya would like to know where her St. Paddy's treat is????

Times have changed

Today was a normal day just like any other day in the life of us. We worked, went to school and had some dinner. After dinner we went for a walk. Now thats not normal for us. We're not the most outdoor exercise friendly family, but two nights in a row for us thats pretty good. Hopefully it will become more of a "normal" thing for us to do. We took Mya with us....she needs some walking etiquette but thats just something else for us to work on. It's St. Patrick's Day and while many of our aquaintences are out on the town painting it green, we went for a family walk. I'm pretty happy about that.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Quote from TMZ "Happy St. Patricks Day from Keifer Sutherland and a bottle of whiskey"

I'll take it, Happy St Pattys day to you to Keifer, wish I could share your whiskey with ya!!

I heard a nasty rumor from a "friend" that 24 is cancelled. I have not read that anywhere, I am avoiding all articles about 24 because my heart will be broken without Jack on Monday nights!

I am Special

Last week was Sarah's week at school to be "special"
She is special everyday to me.
She has the biggest heart
She is so honest
She wants everyone around her to be happy
She always roots for the underdog
I hope she always has the spirit she has right now!

Biggest Loser

Bring it on girls!!
Ok really I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. I know I've teased you about saying this to me but it really made me think.
"I know your track record"
I fail at this everytime I try.
Why can't I do this?
Why is it soooo hard for me to not quit?
If you want something bad enough why can't you stick with it?
The doc said "I truely believe if you visualize something you can have it" WHAT??? Is he smoking crack, if that was true we would all be millionares, I'm sure!
Kidding aside I think I see what he is saying. He was trying to be motivational but honestly there has not been a single day in my life that I haven't thought about what it would be like to not be fat. I have been overweight all my life. I wasn't as fat as I thought I was in high school but I think thats cause people told me I was fat and I was teased about being fat so I pictured myself so fat. I was FAR from normal weight but I wouldn't say I was fat. Now I'm fat.
SOOOO what to do, I don't know. I was going the surgery route but due to insurance issues and mostly me chickening out thats not gonna happen. I think even with surgery I was afraid I couldn't do it and then WOW what a failure that is, can't even lose weight after they modify your body so you can lose weight.
That brings me to the biggest loser. I already want to quit. I'm a big talker haha and I say I'm gonna win, I joke about beating everyone but I would rather just quit now so I don't have to be the real loser.
I'm real tired of the "I'll start again on Monday"
I think I need to end the love affair with food, how do you do that?
Why am I blogging about this? Probably cause I know its time to make my blog private so why not go all out and tell ya how I really feel.
Someday I hope to have a better track record, then my family, kids and bestest bffs can be proud of me!

being defriended

Ok so this happened a week or so ago but I have been thinking about it since. Of the three of us that were defriended I believe the other two have said their piece and are over it. Me, I've been thinking about it and trying to decide if I care or not. At first I felt happy, thankful that it was done. I had been thinking about doing it but didn't have the heart or guts to do it. I think its mean, plain and simple. Its a silly thing but to me its like saying I'm writing you off, I'm done with you. I had been thinking about doing it because I was tired of reading all of the "oh poor me" status updates and then all of the "oh you are wonderful, how dare they not be your friend and judge you the way they did" replies. It was like just when I thought we had gotten past what had happened all of a sudden a new status would pop up, and yes you are correct in saying that I don't know they were about me and the situation but just like she made the assumptions that mine were about her, then I was assuming that hers were about me and us. The difference with that is I wouldn't have let others bad mouth her/them, I wouldn't have let others write on my page what a horrible person she was or let them judge her for something she said or did. To me a true friend would have each others back, I wouldn't let another friend or relative bad mouth them. Besides the fact that this was between her and I, only her and I and then all of a sudden Ive got a mom and dad, then aunts and cousins and friends and peeps calling me a bad person cause I spoke my mind. I know im rambling but bear with me.....
Back when this all started I gave my opinion, right, whether she spoke the words "Nicole what do you think about this situation" or not, it was a given she wanted to know what I thought. So I told her. I thought she was having an affair, he was still married, he may have been unhappy but it was still a marriage. She contributed to the failure of the marriage. He was miserable, he slept on the couch, he didn't love her....thats what they make divorce for. He wasn't divorced and back when he developed the feelings for her he was still married. End of it! Thats my opinion, I didn't say I am right, I didn't say I hate you for doing this and I'll never be your friend again, I didn't say your an awful horrible person. At that moment I knew we would get past this. Yes I may have trouble accepting him but I wouldve gotten over it. We wouldn't have ever been the 6 of us again because things had changed to much. My feelings were so hurt at first because everyone I talked to (meaning the bffers and husbands)felt the same way but yet it was me that was the bad person. ok I'm getting off track here...what I'm trying to say is that I don't know where it all went wrong. And now reading some of the things that lovely facebook has published I realized that even though they can make me feel bad about how I felt maybe they weren't the friends that I thought they were. Their whole family and all their friends know the situation I can guarantee that and they've all formed these horrible opinions of me because of what I "did" to her how could we ever be friends again. It keeps coming up that friends don't judge and they don't walk away and they are loyal. Well where the hell is that loyalty to me, why is it ok for everyone and their neighbor to get on their facebook page and tell them that they were right and I am horrible for doing what I did. What the fuck did I do besides tell you what I thought. If I was stepping out on my marriage or doing something incredibly dumb I would expect to be told, and I would hope that I would be a loyal friend and learn from the situation. SO thank you facebook thank you for being there for her to complain to and thank you for allowing everyone she knows to build her back up and make her feel ok about her decisions because eventually I thought thats what I would be doing for her, thank God she has you. I'm honestly happy to not be able to read their status updates anymore, I can move on. I wish her, her family, her new friends, and especially her children a wonderful life.

Our Last Day

Our last day in FL.

Mom, Terry, and I in front of their house.

The temp had dropped a bit and it was probably only 65 so I wasn't feeling to bad about leaving.

Little did I know my tb was covered in 2 feet of snow in Detroit.

This isn't the blog to get into it, but Terry is a changed man. He isn't drinking but not only that but he seems content. It doesn't feel like he's being tough with something to prove.

I loved watching him and my mom together, how they have their ways of taking care of each other without the other one thinking thats what they're doing. Does that make sense? hmmm not sure. It did my heart good to spend time with him. Thank you God for that opportunity, I'm starting to think thats why I went.
Proudly standing in front of their house. I have a feeling it wasn't much when they bought it but it is so cozy. It has all of their personnal touches throughout. My mom has crap everywhere, it looks like she's been living there for 20 yrs not less than 1 year. Regardless of what my Aunt Kathy says thats the window to MY bedroom that they're standing in front of.

The beach, there really is a Hudson BEACH!! Even though it was chilly it still felt awesome to put our toes in the sand.

Our last pictures. We both just wanted to stay one or two more days.

And this is what we came back to. Yuck...I had my flip flops on, not a very smart idea.

Wordless Wednesday

a lil more Day 5

Now you know I couldn't go to Disney and not buy anything. This is my bestest purchase (other than my pin lanyard, and new Mickey pencil, a sweatshirt, and blue Mickey slipper socks). I bought it as a tote, cause who doesn't need a new tote right! But the more I prepare myself for using it, I might use it as my spring purse. So many purses so many decisions. Don'tcha love it!! I'm betting Kelli would love to borrow it for her trip, only if she promises to buy pink crocs to match!

Day 5

So here we are, Day 5. Who wouldve guessed my favorite day of the trip. This is us 9 am riding the tram into Animal Kingdom to meet up with Sharon (oh man I forgot her name). Anyhow it was this awesome girl whose sister works with April at the hospital. She works at Disney and gets so many passes every year. She got ALL THREE OF US in for FREE with hopper passes. Which means you can go to as many parks as you want in one day. OHHHHH little did my mom and April know what was in store for them.

She got us in at Animal Kingdom cause its the smallest park and the easiest to get into. I suggested trying to ride Expedition Everest since we were already there, and she decided to come with us. This is April waiting for the ride to take off.
She loved it.
We didn't stay very long. Basically just in and out. April has the basic idea what its like so when she goes back with her family she knows what to expect.

Of course we did stop for some pictures in front of the Tree of Life.

Then off to Magic Kingdom.

This is where I want to say thank you to April. I know she wanted to go but I also know she had some reservations. This is definitely somewhere that you want to take your children. I know that when we stepped onto Main Street she wished that her family was standing next to her but she never let it affect our day. Many of you tease me about Disney. I really don't care, I love it there. April was a trooper. Whether she loved it or not she sure acted like she did. She was wonderful friend to share my favorite place with. And thank you to Michael because even though I know you didn't want her to go I can guarantee that you'll be happy she went when she knows all the little secrets to make your first trip there as a family wonderful.


The judges tent, time to introduce April to my friends Mickey and Minnie.

Hats....oh how I love the Disney hats. I could do a scrapbook just on the hats.

We ate dinner at the castle. It was soooo yummy. When we first walked in we had our picture taken with Cinderella.

The dinner was great. We had a choice between 4 things for the main dish and we all choose prime rib.

While we were eating Belle, Jasmin, Aurora and Snow White all walked around to each table. I won't put up all those pictures but rest assured we got up and got our pics taken with each one of them. After dinner it was time to hit all the rides we missed.

My favorite this trip was Space Mountain. We rode it twice, much to my moms dismay. haha This is the ride that she screamed through the whole thing "oh my God, oh my God" and then towards to end "I think I just peed a little" Yup thats my mom.

So happy, what a great mom. She made me sad when she said she wished she was able to do this with me and Josh when we were little. I told her she could make up for it with Jacob and Sarah, haha. Deep down I think she loves it like I do.

I love this picture of us.

I truely hope she had a good time.

Right before we left for Epcot we were heading out and there was Chip and Dale and Pluto.

I must say that as beautiful of a day we had there was hardly any lines. The park seemed pretty full but we didn't wait more than 10 minutes for anything. I did notice that the crowd was mostly older retired folks and families with little children. I think that they just weren't riding all the rides that we were. Maybe doing more of the shows which seat alot of people at once. It was the best day weatherwise that I have had at the parks. Even though we started off fogging and misting it ended up sunny and low 70's.

While we were enjoying dinner I mentioned that the best ride in all of Disney (to me) is Soarin at Epcot. Then I said in my most convincing voice "Ya know we do have a hopper pass and we could go try to ride it" After my mom moaned and gave me a look of you've got to be kidding me, she agreed to my idea. April was up for anything. So after we did everything that April wanted to do at Disney (there were a few things that we saved for her first time with Michael and the kids) we got on the monorail and headed to Epcot.

WELLLLLLL the wait for Soarin was 50 minutes. I didn't really feel like waiting we were so tired but how could we miss it. So we stayed, the wait was long probably not 50 minutes but it was after 8 at night and we had been walking and riding and eating and shopping since 9 that morning. BUT LET ME TELL YOU it was so worth it.

My mom and April agreed, its awesome. I hope those of you going soon (Kelli and Kayla) truely appreciate this ride and love love love it (if you don't will you just tell me that you did please, thank you). So that ends Day 5. We got in the car shortly after 9 and it was a long ride home...still no stops at chick-fil-a.

My mom after 3 parks. April still ready to go. Next time we'll hit all 4 parks!!

I forgot to mention that I started my own pin lanyard so again those of you that are visiting soon feel free to pick out a pin for me while your there!!

Day 4

So this was our Webster flea market day. We were up fairly early and out the door by 8. April and I had one main goal, purses. Mom was looking for some produce and plants. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and 70. It was funny to see people walking around in pants and sweatshirts and we had on capri's, tank tops, and sandals. We had to take the sun where we could get it, mom wasn't stopping at no stinkin beaches.

This is the yummy lunch we had. Very authentic Mexican food. It was really good and really cheap.

Arriving at the flea market.....bring on the purses!! I have never seen so many. And much better quality then the ones Ive been seeing at the "purse parties"

April got hers for $25.00.... its the one on her arm.

and so did I.

Yup bright green, love it.

I also bought a Coach clutch for 2 for $5 WHAT 2 for $5 yup you heard right!! My mom bought a Chanel clutch but then ended up giving them to me and April, same price....I know nuts right!

The wallet below is the snap wallets that everyone is using right now. It's the wider one and I got it for $10.00 yea.

Mom paid a little more for Allisons but not for lack of trying to talk the guy into a cheaper price, boy I bet they were glad we walked away.

Hers is actually purple, by the time we were finished dickering with the dude someone had bought this one so we had to settle for purple. I still love it, I sure hope Allison does. I didn't realize picking out a purse for someone else was so hard.

Mom, contemplating which plant to bring home to Terry. I encouraged the large one with the cool pink puffs on it, named appropriately the powder puff. Little did I know that it would be me carrying it back to the truck.

Sorry bout the sideways pic, this is the plant that I carried.

Some orange trees. Florida has had some really bad frosts this year so most of the fruit wasn't any good. I would love a orange grove in my backyard, and so would my kids.

This is how we ended the evening. A fish fry at Tim's house. Not a very good picture but that is Ed and Leonard and Terrys mom Lorraine. The fish was awesome. April and I were craving some red meat at this point but as soon as I tasted the fish I knew we were in the right place.

It was an early night but I knew we needed our sleep....tomorrow was Disney!!

I know you can't wait for that blog.