Here a Quote there a Quote everywhere a........

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends"

"I have no trouble with my enemies. But my g*dd**m friends,...they are the ones that keep me walking the floor nights."

"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new."

"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend"

“We always thought we'd look back on our tears and laugh, but we never thought we'd look back on our laughter and cry.”

Ive found that you can find quotes out there for any situation. Here are some of the ones I like best right now.

It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults. So to love a man that you cannot bear to see a stain upon him, and to speak painful truth through loving words, that is friendship.

Where's Mason???

Where's Mason??
There he is.

These were taken a little while ago. Most of you know that he hasn't been coming to day care lately due to daddy being able to stay with him during the day. I miss him soooo much. I loved that he was right in the room next door and I could go see him. I also loved that Kelli actually liked being at work cause she could see him all the time.
We all know that he is a lucky boy to be spending so much time with daddy but I sure look forward to the days when we get to chit chat everyday again. Don't forget about me little guy, remember me, I'm the one that gave you Continental Cake Frosting for the first time, sshhh don't tell Daddy!

Walmart shopping

Who buys their child this barbie? Come on Mattel what is this world coming to, I know barbie has big boobs but really....this dress....on a doll for children. I could see if it was a collectors doll but it was right in with all the other little girl toys. Crazy!


Haha
Yes these are mens underwear. And don't worry about running right out to buy them they had several, and in several different styles. A whole clothing rack full of Super Hero underwear for men.

thinking

I have found myself thinking lately about people saying "God has a plan for me". When I think back to when I have heard people say it, including myself, it seems as if we say it when our life is going to pot. It's like our own little pep talk. Life is sucking but hey "God has a plan for me". I just did something really stupid and I'm paying the consequences for it but its ok because "God has a plan for me" I have no job, no car, no money, but "God has a plan for me" So I find myself wondering do people really believe that or is it them making an excuse. It's almost like you can do anything you want and then stand up and say "Hey God has a plan for me so this must be supposed to happen" Its almost like I think our lives are those books that they used to make with different endings, you choose a or b and then the story goes on for a little while and then you get to one of those places where you choose a or b again. So did He have a plan for us but many many many times we get off the track he meant for us and he has to reroute us to the right plan? Cause some of the things that I see people do or say or certain things that happen in this world...did He really mean for THAT to happen. Sometimes I wonder if He had a sense of humor. Suck it up, take responsibility for your actions and quit blaming it on the big Guy.

Disney's calling my name

Oh Yeah!

24 more days and I'll be having some yummy dinner with Cinderella. Lucky you Mesha that means you get to read more Disney blogs!! Wishes do come true, I knew I couldn't make it taking a year off from my favorite place on earth.

Puppy love

Jeremy has been gone a lot lately. Working out of town, just working late, and other social commitments and we have all missed him. Saturday morning I thought maybe Mya was getting sick. She was moopy (is that a word) just kinda hanging out not really her hyper crazy self. But when Jeremy came home on Sat night she was soooo excited. She was able to sit on his lap and he paid some attention to her. She was happy again. Sunday around noon Jeremy went out to get the paper and some groceries and this is where I found Mya. Sitting by the front door looking really sad. She never lays by the front door. So sad! She was sitting there waiting for Jeremy!! I think she thought he was gone again for awhile, she was happy when he returned home a short time later. She is very much his dog.

Colt Boy

Proudly sporting his Colts attire. This boy is one large Colts fan, and he loves the Manning family, lol.

The Sarahs

They kept themselves busy while the adults watched the game! Two little ladies with very large personalities!!

Dear Husbands

Dear Husbands,
When you are on the way home from spending a great afternoon with friends and your wife asks you how much gas is in the trail blazer and you say its almost empty and she then says can we stop and get some so I don't have to get some in the morning when its colder and I am running late but then she sees you don't really want to do that and she says stop and I'll pump the gas myself so you don't have to since I can see that you don't want to.....(whew take a breath). That DOES NOT mean stop at the gas station and sit in the trail blazer while she pumps the gas. Yes I know thats what I said but that IS NOT what I meant. What happened to chivalry? Really did you not see that I was HOPING that you would help me out and put gas in the dang blazer for me. What kind of message are you sending your son and daughter? Geesh! I don't like asking for help, I was hoping that you would just help out of the goodness of your heart.
Signed,
Your frustrated wife

Dear Son,
When you grow up and have a girlfriend/wife please make sure that her vehicle has gas in it. Don't ask her if her vehicle needs it, don't ask her if she would like you to fill er up. Just very quietly do it. This is your job.
On a side note...if you're in one of those "I am woman hear me roar" relationships (God help you) you probably should make it known that you noticed her vehicle needs gas and say something like "I know your capable of getting your own gas, but I thought it might be nice if I filled up your car for you. Is that ok"
On second thought you should probably just ask me if the girl you are with needs to be asked or if she is a just fill it up kinda girl. That would be best!
Signed,
Your loving mother

Dear Daughter,
If you are dating a man that never notices that your car needs gas and NEVER surprises you with a full tank of gas...dump his ass, there are other fish in the sea.
Signed,
Your loving mother

skool sk8

Riverside's school skate was tonight. This is the first one that I have gone to. Jeremy usually takes the kids and I usually get a quiet night at home. Tonight he had to work so I went with them. It was CRAZYYYY! There were so many kids there. Jacob and Sarah were sooo sweaty when we left.

Sarah hung on the wall for the first hour or so but once I pushed her a little bit she decided it was time to go go go. Once she felt brave enough to go out on the floor there was no stopping her.
It was fun. I think that I might have to go to the next one. Both kids were exhausted when we got home. I think it was a successful school skate.

I'm a couponer!

I have to thank my sister in law Allison for introducing me to this. She was talking about couponing and saving money and I asked her about it and she gave me some awesome web sites. So yes I have been clipping coupons. I love shopping and then coming home to tell Jeremy that I spent $24.00 and saved $12.00. The other fun thing about the coupon web sites is the freebies. So far I have received free samples from several different companies...dog food, deoderent, lip gloss, perfume, etc.

Today when I got home there was a few fun things in the mail.

1. A free slim fast bar with some coupons from Sam's club.

2. An issue of Self magazine (yup I scored a years subscription for FREE).

3. A little while later the doorbell rang. When I answered it there was a fed ex box on the step. In it was my free sample of dream drops hair serum. It's supposed to tame frizzy hair. It smells great.

Side note...another big box for such a small product!! I don't get it!

All of these fun things for FREE!!

So thank you Allison for introducing me to this new hobby. It came at a great time to help keep my mind of the high school shananagins going on with the bffs. Plus I'm saving a bunch of money and getting stuff for FREE!

hmmmm

I didn't sleep too well last night. Not sure where this all went wrong. Looking back on when this started I hope I learned my lesson. I'm outspoken I always have been but this wasn't the time to do what "Ive always done" I shouldve kept my mouth shut. I'm told I wasn't asked for my opinion although I do disagree with that. I'm pretty sure at the time she wanted to know what I thought. I shouldve lied. Then none of this wouldve happened. Its out of control and I just want it all to stop. I don't care anymore....can someone tag me out?

Yup it's Dead!

The tree is dead. The ornaments are off of it, the lights are off of it. It needs to be taken out of the house. Jeremy and I are afraid to move it...I think the needles are all going to be off of it by the time it gets out of the house.
As we were taking the lights and ornaments off the needles were just falling off. Most of the branches are bare.
So sad!

Happy Hour in the Manger

This isn't the best picture of our manger but there are two things to notice in it. First Sarah added some of her own animals, one of which is wearing a Santa hat. Everytime I would go over to it to arrange the pieces Sarah would go back and move them all in close. She said they had to be able to see baby Jesus. I put some greens from our tree around it just to add a little bit, but she moved it out. She said that they didn't have Christmas trees in the manger....but yet the deer wore Santa hats????

The second thing is baby Jesus' cocktail. Sarah said baby Jesus was thirsty.

Tidbits

1) 96% of people put the peanut butter on first when making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
2) Your brain is 80% water.
3) Long Acre Square was the original name of New York's Times Square.
4) The human heart can create enough pressure that it could squirt blood at a distance of thirty feet.
5) On average, it is estimated that females injure themselves ten times more than males do while playing sports.

Why, I'm not sure why, I just felt like it...

WHY

Why if it's OUR house and OUR holiday and OUR Christmas crap am I the only one that has to deal with putting it away....??

Sarah

This is probably only funny to me but oh well.
Last year for Christmas we went to Bay City for the whole holiday. So we packed everything...presents, stockings, yummy baked goods etc. But one thing we couldn't pack was the fish tank that Sarah was getting. So we left it all set up on the counter so it would be the first thing she saw when we got home. So when we opened the door when we got home she was super excited and so happy that she had one more present. She kept asking why she got it and I just said "I guess you just got one last present."
Sooooo now that you know that story...
Tonight Sarah says to me as we're curled up on the couch watching SpongeBob. "Mom remember last year when I got my fish tank and it was my one last present." And I say "yes Sarah I remember, why?" and she says "So when am I gonna get my one last present this year?"

OH HAPPY DAY!!!

YES THAT IS RIVERSIDE DRIVE!

and yes there are NO blockades that block the road.

and this is me on the otherside of the bridge....I GOT THROUGH!!!
This is too good to be true. Are they actually done? Does that mean we are done driving ALL THE WAY AROUND? I'm afraid to hope....

A girls day

These pictures are all from my phone so they're not that good.

Sarah and I had a girls day today. We dropped Quinn off at home and headed to the movies.

We went to see the Princess and the Frog. I thought it was really good. There was quite a bit of voodoo in it so I think there will probably be some parents that make comments about that. For all the hype about Disney making a movie with an African American princess for the first time, she was only in it for about 15 minutes total, the rest of the time she was a frog.

Next time I get a phone I'll get one that takes better pictures. There have been several times I have wanted to use it and it has taken crappy pictures like the one below. This one is of Sarah in the theatre before the lights even went out.

Ha! Sarah in the dressing room at Children's Place. She is big on trying things on in the dressing rooms lately. She like to pose and check herself out in front of the big mirror.

Of course we had to stop at the toy store in the mall for some play time.

And to finish it off...dinner at Applebee's. Big surprise, she didn't order mac and cheese, today it was grilled cheese.

When we left here we went to Meijer's which is where it all went downhill....I guess I pushed my luck. We did have a wonderful day but we will be spending the rest of the weekend at home.

A good FYI or a bad FYI

I went to Starbucks for a drink this afternoon. When I pulled up to the drivetru window I asked if they still had peppermint mochas. Much to my delight she said of course so I ordered a large cause I was so happy!

So when I got to the window she handed it to me and said "Just so you know we have these year round not just at Christmas time!! WHAT????? Oh she shouldn't have told me that. On one hand I am so super excited to know that but on the other hand its kinda like one of those special things I thought was for a special time of year. Right now Im kinda sad that I found it out but I can guarantee that come July I will be super excited when I am craving a Venti Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks!!

I love Mail

So when I got home today I found a box on the porch. It had HSN on it so I assumed it was the scrap booking stuff I bought last week from the Home Shopping Network (another reason why its a good thing I don't stay home during the day). But the box was huge so I couldn't figure out what the heck it was. So I opened it .......

and found a whole bunch of the packing bubble things they use now. So I dug down in the box and found two skinny boxes.

Sure enough it was the scrap booking stuff I bought. Seriously they needed a box that big for these two small things. HAHA

I'm so super excited to use these products. They are rub ons from a company called 3 birds. Apparently they are an awesome new company.

Look at the cute storage they come with. The big sheets come with a stand up file folder and the small ones come in this cute envelope.

And if you look close they come with a rub on applicator shaped like a bird!! SOLD!! I guess I love big boxes from HSN move over QVC ...HSN has bigger boxes. HAHA

I miss Glee

Hey there Mr. Shuster(shoot how the heck do you spell his name)!

Just for you Mesha

More bad News

Apparently Kenny is still dating Miss Tennessee AND he bought her two adorable puppies for Christmas!

When Kenny Chesney flew into Bardstown-Nelson County Airport in Kentucky with his girlfriend on Dec.18 to buy a couple of MaltiPoo puppies, breeder Cathy Adamson at Puppies Plus didn't realize she was picking up a country superstar at the airport."I didn't have any idea who he was to start with," Cathy tells the Kentucky Standard. Apparently Cathy had only been speaking with Kenny's girlfriend -- Miss Tennessee 2008, Amy Colley -- and the contract was in her name.Giving Kenny and Amy the celebrity treatment by picking them up from the airport, the breeder says the singer was wearing a beanie hat, and introduced himself simply as 'Kenny.' Cathy recalls the new dog owner as being very down to earth and sweet, as he sat on the couch laughing, letting the puppy crawl up his chest to lick his face.After spending about a half hour picking out puppies, Kenny and Amy settled on two female teacup MaltiPoos, who only weighed about 23 ounces each. When they're fully grown, the pups will be about four pounds. Kenny and Amy named them Molly and Dolly.On the drive back to the airport, the breeder says Kenny e-mailed pictures of the puppies from his iPhone. After Kenny and Amy boarded their jet, the breeder was told upon leaving by a crew member that she'd just sold puppies to Kenny Chesney. Stunned, she went back onboard and said, "Don't tell me you're Kenny Chesney." Kenny's response? Simply, "Yeah, I am."

Happy New Year!

Sarah's New Years resolution, to lose her other front tooth.

Lucky girl that happened today, didn't take long for her to do her resolution!

(is that how you word it...do your resolution????)

WHO BOUGHT THE HORNS???

I missed having Jacob at home for the New Year, but it was a wonderful night anyways.

Let's try this again....

So far this year hasn't been so grand.

I believe I'll try again on the 4th. I said that the New Year didn't start till Monday for my diet so I think I'll let the "NEW YEAR" start on the 4th for everything!!

My Year in Review

Here's to 2009! I'm thinking this will be a long blog. I was thinking back over the year and decided to try and post some pictures that might not have been included earlier. Once I started I decided to document the whole year. So enjoy!

January

We rang in the New Year at the Couch house. Spending time with friends was a great way to start the year.

I put this picture up on facebook and one of my friends from high school said no wonder the kids were so crazy...since we're giving them Busch light to wash down the cupcakes. HAHA I didn't even see the can of beer sitting on the table!


February

I say this is Feb but it might have been March but oh well.
Emily and I like to take the girls to do a "girls day" every year. This year we went to Disney on Ice and to the Grand Rapids mall. The girls brought one of their Build a Bears and got to pick out a new outfit for them. They loved riding the carousel.

Living in Michigan, Feb is usually cold and snowy and my kids love to play out in the snow!!

We also were preparing for the wedding of the year in Feb. Aunt Allisons wedding shower was at her church and it was very nice.

More preparations for the wedding, getting mom drunk!! lol This is the night she broke the chair at the Wil lew. Good times!

March

My baby turned 9, oh where have the years gone. He is a wonderful son, kind, caring, and handsome.
He had a sleep over party with these boys!! What a crazy night!

April

Welcome to the world Mason James Morales. He surprised us all on April Fools day. Needless to say I didn't believe Kelli when she called me at 11 at night to tell me she was going to the hospital cause her water broke. I felt sure that I would call her in the morning and she would say it was a false alarm. NOPE!! I woke up in the morning to text telling me that this little guy was born. OHHHH how I love him. He is so cuddly and happy. Dave and Kelli are doing an amazing job with him, he's a great little guy.

MY LITTLE BROTHER GOT MARRIED!!

What a fun and amazing weekend. Our whole family was in the wedding party. The kids looked sooooo cute all dressed up and they were so excited to be such a big part of Josh and Allisons day. I'm so happy for Josh, he is so happy. I really think that these two complete each other. I wish them MANY MANY happy years together.

Spending time with my brothers, something I rarely get to do. So much fun.

Jeremy celebrated his 36th birthday

The kids continued their tradition of coloring eggs with Nana. Something that Jacob has done every year since he's been born.

May

We usually go camping for Memorial day weekend and this year we went just the four of us to South Haven state park. The Bracks visited us for the day. Some of us went for a walk down by the water. This is one of my favorite pictures. I'm not very happy with my image being that I have a large amount of weight to lose but someday we'll retake this picture and I'll look the way Ive always wanted to.

Jeremy tried to give Jacob lessons on chopping wood. We had a nice relaxing weekend.

One of my favorite weekends away. I'm realizing this year, that things don't stay the same, whether you want them to or not. But I do know that God has a plan for us and we have to believe in our hearts that things will work out the way they are supposed to. We all have to make our own decisions but that doesn't change the fact that I love these girls even if I don't agree with the choices we've made. Who am I to judge right? And on that note, this could be it's own blog by itself so I'll leave it at that.

Both of the kids played soccer in the spring. Jacob seemed more interested in it than before but Sarah still really didn't seem to care if she played or not.

I had to do two parts to this post cause of fabulous year we had, so read on to see the rest of 2009!