time stops for no one

Hey guys I've got a little time so I'm checking in with ya'll!

 

So much going on!

What's been going on?

 

My little girl is growing soooo fast, too fast.

She's now pulling herself up on the chair and walking back and forth between the chair and the couch! Seriously SLOW DOWN BABY!

 

 

 

Last week Monday my hubby and I celebrated  our 13 year wedding anniversday.

Yup, 13 years.

We can't belive it either.

 

We celebrated with dinner at Roy's Restaurant.

Thank you to the bestest neighbor and friend who watched the kids!

 

 

 It was such a special treat.

We realized that it was the first time we were alone togther since before the baby was born and she's now 7 months old.

It also made us realize that we really do need to make time for each other as husband and wife. We need to make the effort to connect.

 

But, of course I have to tell you about the food!

YUM-O!

The hubby had the Hawaiian Ranchers Rib Eye and he said it was excellent.

I went for something I normally never would pick and I had the duck and scallops.

Oh, man! The scallops were perfectly cooked and the duck was unbelievable!

 

 

 

 Of course we could not leave without their signature chocolate soufle.

Hubby wouldn't share so I had to get my own.

 

 

 We had a great time, big shout out to Roy's for doing an excellent job as always!

And can't forget a big thanks to Lanell for watching the kids, otherwise we would not have had the time to ourselves.

 

It really helped us to remember that we are still a married couple.

We often forget about that with the craziness of life.

Work, kids, home, it takes A LOT.

So does a marriage.

We made it through 13 year and we want to make it through another 13 years.

 

So Happy Anniversary Hunny, I love you.

 

 

 



anxiety strikes!!!

(I was supposed to post this last week, but it didn’t happen so it’s a few days late)

I went to my doctors appointment last Wednesday and I’m now on once a week check ups.

I go again this Friday, once a week check up makes me nervous or anxious or scared or excited, I haven’t figured it out yet. I think a little of everything.

What also makes me nervous is that the doctor seems to think this baby is coming early and since last Wednesday I’ve been having all sorts of crazy labor dreams.

I know you can’t be totally ready for labor and brining a new baby home, but I just have these strange feelings of I have to finish this or that first.

My shower is on Saturday and the hubby wants me to last till then. I have some things to do at work that I really want to get done with before I go on leave. Why I feel I have these priorities I have no idea.

I really do just want to make it through this weekend, get everything ready and spend some quality time with my son before we totally throw him off adding another one to the mix. I’ve been trying to talk to him and prepare him for what is coming. Of course he seems to understand but when we bring the baby home, I’m sure it’ll be another story.

God, please help me.

Here I am at about 35 weeks, I know I look small, everyone keeps telling me that but I do feel so big and so uncomfortable. 

Update… it’s Sunday night and I made it this far. I survived the shower and I want to share some pictures so bad! Of course I was having too much of a good time to take a single photo.

Thankfully my mother in law and my sister in law was taking pictures so I hope to share them soon!

 

fishing tales

The hubs entered a fishing tournament this past weekend and if you follow me on instagram you probably saw who took his spot in our bed while he was gone.

We had a nice time just the two of us this past weekend even though I was fighting off a cold.

Daddy came home on Sunday and cleaned up and took my lil guy with him to the weigh-ins which gave me some much needed down time alone in a quiet, peaceful house.

Perfect for getting my rest, except....

I had a long overdue project that I just couldn't ignore anymore so out came the sewing machine.

 

I'll share the details on what I made later (here's a hint) but when my boys came home from the weigh ins lookie lookie what they brought home with them.

 

Dinner AND cash!

Now thats what I'm taking about!

Apparently that fish won him 1st place in that category, yea baby.



hello april

March has definately proven to be a tough month.

I'm surprized ya'll are still around... thanks :-)

All I can say is Thank God its over.

The last week of the month, the hubby wasnt home not a single day (sad face)
I love being a mother but sometimes it gets to be so overwhelming when I have to do everything on my own.
This was pretty much how every day went:

I leave the house with my son by 6:30 am
Drop him at my dads by 7:05 ish
Be at work by 7:15
Work till 4:15 - 4:30
Pick up my son
Get home about 5:30
Start dinner, let my son out to play with the dog, 5 mins later run out to break up a fight with my son and the dog. Continue dinner.

10 mins later break up another fight between my son and the dog.
Swear the hubby under my breath for getting the darn dog.

Come back to cooking dinner, turn on the heater, but dishes away from the night before, wash home lunch dishes.
Go outside and break up the last fight between the dog and my son and demand he come back in the house now.

Give him a snack, continue with dinner.
Get him in the tub about 7
Dinner at 7:15 ish
Fight with my son that he needs to eat his food and he will NOT have saimen for dinner again.
Swear the hubby under my breath for being so damn picky and his son being the same way.

Finish my dinner clean up the dishes, son finishes his dinner and I clean up his dishes and its already about 8:00
Play time for a little while, swear the hubby under my breath a few more times for not being around.
8:45 (I know I know its late but I cant do it all) get ready for bed, my son starts to wind down and then the hubby gets home and he's up again wanting to play with daddy... and then my night ends once again at midnight...
I - NEED - A - VACAY!!!

My exhaustion from the last 2 weeks is bigger than calgone can ever take away.

Well, its a new day and a new month and I have plans to try my best to stay stress free.
I said TRY.

Also, have ya'll heard the news about Instagram being available for Android users?
Um, Yes! Hello!! It's about time!
So excited (squel)
I first found out about it from Kevin and Amanda over on her FB page.

Speaking of FB come on and follow me there and while you're at it you can follow me on twitter and Instagram too now.
(user name is RhiannonMariko)

So I'm even more excited to take part in.... Photo A Day April!

Come and join in the fun too!

Well, here's to hopefully getting back into the swing of things!

more backyard-agains....

While I'm on the subject of our backyard, I thought I'd let you know about all the other things I got knocked off the to do list as well.

First of all AGAIN back to the project list for this year.

It seems like all I've been talking about but I'm so glad to be getting these projects done, thats the purpose of goals right?

And it feels so good checking them off this list.

First off we have my pavers!

I got these pavers from a jobsite we worked on. They are really nice in person.

The hubs and I quickly put them out and within 5 - 10 mins we had them in just the spots we wanted.

Seriouslly only 5 - 10 mins. Made me wonder why it took me so long to do this.

And then it was time to level them out. I had to dig in some areas and fill in others and I was reminded why. Ugh..

Since we had extra lumber from our Pergola project, the hubs built a little bench sort of thing to raise up our potted plants from being on the ground.

It's actually been really nice not having to bend down to work on the plants.

Also keeps the puppy from chewing it up!

AND speaking of chewing things up....

Remember meeting my maple?

I almost threw that puppy over the fence!

She thought my precious maple was a chew toy, NOT GOOD.

We put up fencing around it to keep her out and hopefully let the maple heal it's self.

See not good!

We lost a good 3 feet on her :-(

Of course, just because I'm loving our new addition to the patio here it is again!

Hope you all had a great weekend... why do they always have to end so soon??

It's the Big V Day!

Happy Valentines Day lovies!!

I'm not a big fan of the V-day.

I never saw the purpose of one day a year telling someone how much you love them.

Why not tell them everyday.

Spend triple the amount on flowers that will die in a few days, for the same price you can fill up my car with gas for a month and it would make me happier.

Buy chocolates wrapped in pink or red that will make me bloated and complain about being fat for the next two weeks.

But I have to admit, I dont mind being taken out to dinner or pampered a bit either.

LOL

I sent my son off to daycare with some little goodies for his friends this moring.

Not sure what were doing for dinner, but I'm thinking I might make some chocolate mousse for dessert. One of the few dessert items my hubby will eat.

He is not a dessert or sweets person, how we ended up together and have stayed together is beyond me...

(maybe cause I get his dessert too)

Anyways... here's wishing all you a wonderful Valentine's!

I finally got all my supplies to finish another item off my project list of 2012 so be on the look out for that post coming up!

Meet sweet lil Vanilla

A little over a week ago we stopped by the Humane Society to pick up a cat trap to help my mom get rid of some of the stray cats by her house.

I had some paperwork to fill out so I asked the hubs to take the lil guy to check out the cats and dogs to keep him occupied while I finished up.

About 10-15 mins later I went looking for my family but couldn't find them. I went out by the courtyard and I heard this little familiar voice, "Daddy we need to take em home"

I immediately thought, oooohhh great! What is going on?!

I found my boys in a visiting cage with a puppy on my son's lap and he is happily holding and petting her.

It was actually totally adorable and it looked as if my son couldnt be happier than right then and there.

I am not a dog person. I've never had a dog.

I'm a cat person.

He was so gentle and caring and kept saying we have to bring him home.

We let him play with the puppy for a little while and it just touched my heart.

When it was time to leave he carefully put her back in her cage with the rest of her sisters but couldnt stop asking us to bring 'his' puppy home.

We talked about it all weekend long and went back and forth on weather or not to adopt her.

I was NOT going to take care of a pet on top of my two boys and I was definately NOT going to be cleaning up poop!

The following Tuesday we went by just to see if she was still there and she was.

My son lit up with joy and they played together again.

I caved

I knew we had a hectic schedule the next few days so I asked if we could adopt her and come back to get her on Friday and they said yes.

On Friday guess who we brought home.

Somehow this puppy made her way into this cat lovers heart.

And you know what?

I adore her.

It's sooo cute to see her follow my son where ever he goes.

The minute we get up in the morning or come home from work he wants to play with his dog.

We told him he could name her.

He kept saying she's my pet, and we tell him yes she's your pet but she needs a name so he says dog.

After suggesting every name we could come up with out of the blue my son says her name is Vanilla.

How my 2 yr old came up with that one is beyond me!

Of course I said I would NOT pick up poop but for some reason I was the one cleaning the crap up for the first couple of days, and I still do! But atleast the hubby helps.

Her first night with us, we put her in her bed and told her good night.

Then my son tells me to go inside and go to bed and he would stay with her outside.

How can I not just love this?

Viva La Mexico!

I am so not done talking about Christmas, nope, I'm not.

I didn't forget about the Birthday Party pictures either, it's just taking me forever to go through all 633 pictures. Yes, I said 633!

As I promised I would share our best Christmas gift ever!!!

Did you guess what it was with the title of this post??

If not here's another hint....

Our family is going on a 7 day Mexican cruise!!!

Can you hear me screaming with excitement through your computer screen?!

I'll be sipping on these

source

And the hubby will be sipping on these

source

 

and my lil guy will be sipping on these

 

source

Just kidding... but not really.

We are so very excited and lucky to be able to do this.

Infact the whole family is going.

My mom & dad in law, my sister in law, her hubby & their 3 kids, my brother in law his girlfriend and their daughter and we'll be meeting my mil's two sisters and mother as well.

My mil's family is from New York and well, my hubby and I havent seen them since our wedding 11 years ago.

I still can't belive were going on this vacay of a life time... we'll my lifetime since we cant afford anything else!

YAY!

Our Christmas

I am a Grinch.

There I said it.

I dont like Christmas.

Correction, I didnt like Christmas, now it's growing on me.

I guess things change when you have a child and see the joy in their face that Christmas brings.

After putting up our tree, he layed under it looking at the lights for the longest time!

He got to visit with his cousin Emily who visited from Oahu.

He was so happy and they played so well.

(so was mommy & daddy cause we got to visit with lil Em's mommy & daddy too)



After Emily went back home, Talon asked for her for almost a week!

The hubs and the lil guy got to go fishing with Emily and her family too while mommy stayed home to finish her baking and gift wrapping and delivering.

We got a Christmas countdown calendar from our friends, but the boy is not even 3 so he still cant get the concept of count down.

On Christmas morning he woke up to this and was so patient and waited till we said he could open his gifts to rip into them.

He played with his train from his grandma (my mother in law) and it totally kept him entertained and out of the kitchen.

Mommy quickly made some fried potatoes, baccon, eggs (boiled is both my boys favs) and mini pancakes just as grandma arrived. (my mom)

The lil guy loved his breakfast, probably more than anyone of us.

Then we spent the next hour letting him open his gifts.

It was so enjoyable seeing all the excitement and his eyes light up.

(my mom)

Around lunch we went to my in law's house for lunch/dinner there and gifts as well.

My friend who gave me the Christmas countdown also made these ornaments for us. There was three in all. This one, a snowflake and an angel.

They are gorgeous and if anyone wants any hit me up.

She makes cards, albums and all kinds of other items.

I'm trying to get her to open an etsy shop.

Finally I got around to giving you our Christmas wrap up.

Hope you all had a good one.

Stay tunned for the best Christmas gift ever that I mentioned before.

Picture this...

So my friend's daugher's first birthday party was a success, as far as I can tell. 

It's over and done with and everyone survived.

It was beautiful and as promised I will be sharing pictures soon, I only took about 500!

The party is over but life sure isn't slowing down any time soon.

Can you belive it's only 6 days till Christmas?!

image source google

I have to spend tonight wrapping my gifts and figuring out who I still need to get for, which isn't a lot. Thank goodness I shopped early in the year.

Sewing gifts this year is out of the question at this point.

Oh and I have to find time to bake family gifts too.

Of course at the very last minute we took family pictures this past Sunday.

I think I got two good pictures of the boys and not a single one of me.

It rained about 10 minutes after we got there and rain and my freshly ironed hair does not do well. So me and my frizz ball of a head didnt make any of the cuts. We'll have to retake soon!

Looks like we're sending out "Holiday" cards instead of Christmas cards.

Here are my boys...



For a while getting a picture of my almost 3 year old was like pulling teeth, now he seems to be warming up to the camera again. Now I just have to deal with the fake smile.

I'm also a week behind on my 2011 recap, so I'll have 6 months worth of recap by the end of the week.

How are you guys doing with Christmas just days away?

a long weekend and into cyber monday

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

I know I sure did... I thought I'd be lazy and just take the weekend to relax (it was much needed!) but instead we were super productive!

Friday I actually ventured out and did a little of shopping. My son wanted to hang out with his papa and my dad told me to go do my errands so I ran around and got some pretty good deals and checked some things off my Christmas list.

I DID NOT go out for the crazy Black Friday, no way!

Saturday we got the usual chores done and my little helper is getting more and more helpful every week! He vacuumed the livingroom with a smile on his face.

I finished the rest of the house and did laundry and cleaned the bathrooms while he went outside with his daddy and mowed the lawn.

I dont know who I was more proud of, the hubs or the lil man.

They even cleaned out my garden, took out the weeds and replanted my green onions!

Yesterday we planted a TON of grass plugs, uggh my arms are killing me today.

And speaking of today, it's Cyber Monday.

You guys picking up any good deals?

I stocked up on PJ for the next 2 years!

Check out this super cute list of Gifts for your Frenemy from Babble.com
Totally made me giggle at the ideas! You have to check it out, atleast get a good laugh.

Cheers to Monday!



M4 on a Tuesday...

I know its Tuesday but just because I'm still on my anniversary high from last Friday, I wanted to share these two songs.

The first one I've shared before, it's our wedding song, Rest Of Your Life by Na Leo Pilimehana

This one we had on our wedding video

This one is for my dear, dear friend and his family.
He and I were friends since the 4th grade.
I just heard that his grandfather is on life support and they will be letting him go today.
My prayers go out to his family.

Only my hubby...

Friday was our 11 year wedding anniversary.

My hubby usually doesnt do anything on special occasions.

So when he showed up at my office with a bunch of white giners and some other flowers that he put together for me I was shocked!

Shocked doesnt even describe it but for lack of a better word, thats what I'm going with.

They smelled so good, but that didn't even matter.

What mattered was he went out of his way to put a smile on my face.

What made me laugh... was this:

Only my husband, would hold them all together with a plastic tie strap and then use electrical tape, all stuff I'm guessing he found in his toolbox.

That was super sweet and he gained huge bonus points.

That night we went to Keokis for dinner.

It was very nice and we came home and me, the hubs and the lil guy fell asleep on the livingroom floor.

I'm linking to:

V is for Victory

Victory.... just a little one, but its still a victory or a small step in the right direction.

After a call from our sitter that our son had been acting out and wasnt himself, I sat down and talked with her. We talked about how things have been stressful around the house and a bit tense and maybe he had picked up on something going on. Out of the blue he started asking, "Mom are you happy?" which is completely strange for a 2 yr old to be asking.

I sat down with my hubby and we had a talk. I told him how I was feeling.

Things have just gone too far and if its affecting my son, we have to do what it takes to change.

And much to my surprized, he was listening.

On our way home yesterday evening, he turns to me and says, "Hun, when we get home, go take a bath with the boy and I'll cook dinner"

(granted it was just taco meat that needed to be cooked, I was more than thrilled with his offer)

Small steps.

As long as they are steps in the right direction.

Good job hun.

Oh and just to end the week... I got two great news....

1. I was featured over at A Glimpse Inside Alison has a great blog go check it out.

AND

2. I won a beautiful painting done by a fellow local gal Lindsay over at from the aisle to aloha!

Her blog is super cute and fun and so is her etsy shop!

Here's to a fresh start with a positive attitude.

till death do us part? thats a long time

Today I'm joining Shell and pouring my heart out..



In 9 days my hubby and I will celebrate out 11 yr wedding anniversary.

I think saying we hit a rut would be an understatement, I would say more like we hit a dang wall.

Our 'love life' is as stale as a can of soda left open in the fridge for a week.

Our lives have just gotten so busy that we forget the little things.
I very often feel overwhelmed and feel like I've become a single parent because he's not home almost 5 nights a week. I come home and have to put the dishes away from the day before, do the dishes from that day, cook dinner, give my son a bath, feed him dinner and after working ALL day I'm exhaused and become short with him and angry towards him when he's not there to pitch in. And on top of it all dealing with the terrible twos... uggghhh!

I feel like I've lost myself in the cycle of just doing everything day in day out and never having time to do what I like to do or just even having time alone to myself.

Now, lets add the pressure of making ends meet and stressing about our financial situation.

I'm sure these are just normal things that every couple goes through and like always we work through it and it all works out but for the time being I am just having a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Dont get me wrong, I love my hubby dearly and couldnt imagine life without him.

Interestingly enough Helen over at I'm living proof that God has a sense of humor shared with everyone a new book called Make Love Not Scrapbooks, By Jen who has a blog called Jen's Love Lessons.

Sounds like a good investment.

Good Reading...

Today I had the pleasure of reading two really great blog posts.

Both about relationships and both completely different as well and completely amazing at the same time.



I just had to share.

First one I have to share with my TV adicted husband who complains when after I've been lying in bed sleeping for an hour while he watched tv gets offended and upset when well... lets just say I dont give him the attention he wants.

(buddy, shoudda tried and hour ago)

Check it out over at The Idea Room

It's about keeping the sparks flying in your marriage.

It's got great advise about making time for your spouse, talking again, having date nite and turning off the tv.

The other article you'll find {here}

I cant even explain it

You just have to see for your self

Trust me... hysterical!

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Sunday Morning

It's mid Sunday morning and I am amazed that I actually found some free quiet time to blog. Of course I have a million other things I should be doing, but I have to take advantage of this quiet time.

We got up early this morning, and my son who didnt nap yesterday didnt get enough rest. He was winney and grouchy and the hubs, well he did what he normally does every weekend morning. He gets up goes straight to the couch and watches tv.

I thought great, if this is the start of my day, its just all going to hell.

Well, I gathered up my energy and grabbed my nagging child and went into the livingroom thinking I'd just get disgusted looking at the hubs sitting there watching tv.

Instead I was greeted with a wonderful aroma of seasoned potatoes and coffee... what was going on? And then I remembered, yes... it's Sunday, the saving grace of the weekend... my dad's breakfasts. He always does it up on Sunday mornings.

It's now almost 11 and my son has already been sleeping for atleast a half hour, my hubby actually did a load of his work clothes and then cleaned the washer. On top of that he went in the attic and made a platform to bring more of our storage boxes up there AND... is now going through his old boxes from high school and getting rid of the junk.

I jumped on the computer to balance my checkbook, check my ebay and pay some bills and I found myself here instead. haha

This is the first time I'm using my little nook here. I got this desk on craigslist for $25. Its nice and long so I figured it would be great for using my cricut.

I peak outside and I see that it's a gorgeous day.

Maybe we'll go to the beach and get some sun.

I hope you're all having a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

Happy Birthday to my hubby!!

Today is the hubs 34th bday... going on 3!

We started a little celebration last night with dinner at Brick Oven Pizza.

They are a small family owned restaurant but you can find them on yelp or facebook.

I grew up with this pizza place and just love, love, love it!!

We would have lunch there after church on special occassions and on birthdays we would go too. Since then they have expanded their menu and have great sandwiches and salads too.

Hopefully if this weather clears up we'll go to the Port Allen Bar & Grill down the road from our house for dinner tonight.

Ya'll have a great weekend!

Got Pachi?

When my lil man was a baby my hubby used to call him his little pachi.

Pachi, which is short for Menpachi a red squirl fish.

They make sort of a grunting squeeky sound when you catch them... and oh are they ono on the grill... menpachi, not ono, just delicious.

(i appologize if thats too much local slang and you dont get the joke)

This past weekend the hubs went to a fishing tournament.

When he came home on Sunday, my son was so happy... not to see daddy who had been gone all weekend long but to see the fish that daddy brought home.

He grabbed his cooler and thought he was going fishing with daddy.

He was disapointed that he didnt get to go but he totally forgot about it when he saw the menpachi that daddy brought home for mommy.

Thats all he talks about is fishing and fish and fishing pole!

Even when he's on the potty he pretends to fish for sharks in the bowl.

Hmmmm which one to eat?

This one's going on the girll.

I'm linking to: