Our little family

Update

Nevaeh with Tinkerbell (disney's latest character meet and greet)

Nevaeh and her amazing purchase from Dollar Tree... her pimp hat.

Luckily, nothing much has changed. Jacob continues to work as hard as he can to support his family, taking as much overtime as one person possibly can. Nevaeh has been LOVING school and being her awesome fun energetic self. I have been taking care of my family the best way I know how...

I also have been trying out new recipes at home! I am pretty much a one hit wonder when it comes to the kitchen but I have been trying my best to dabble into other recipes. I must admit it isn't as hard as I thought it would be and it is much more rewarding than I thought it would be. I think I will continue my new exploration in the kitchen until I get someone sick!!

The only bad thing that happened was that a water pipe started leaking over Nevaeh's room. Unfortunately no one in our immediate family knows anything about plumbing. We got a few quotes, the cheapest one was $300!! Fortunately, Jacob's brothers friends husband came to the rescue and fix our pipe practically for free!! We are blessed... simply blessed! It is pretty crazy, it took the guy about 30 minutes... I can't imagine the other guy working for 30 minutes and then we have to dish out 300 BUCKS!! We will have to re-pipe the entire house but we can handle that next year.... we just needed to get that little leak taken care of NOW.

***OH, My wonderful wonderful mother and father bought Jacob and I a brand new bed!! My mom knew we had a hand me down since we got married and decided to have one custom made for my birthday. Let me tell you we have never slept better!! Nevaeh says, "oh mom, it is so comfortable", too cute. My mom hopes it brings us luck in the baby making department... we will see, only time will tell*****

Another side note Nevaeh's current FAVORITE SONG is Single ladies, by Beyonce. She sounds so funny singing it!!

Happy Halloween!!

Nevaeh as Princess Jasmine

The school Director as a barrel of monkeys

Nevaeh's class and teachers

Nevaeh's Preschool celebrated Halloween today (since she only goes to school Tuesday/Thursday). There were so many different costumes but my baby looked the cutest!! She was so excited to show off her Jasmine costume!!

So I have volunteered to make about 48 cupcakes, a spiderweb cheesecake and a Mouse motel pumpkin for a birthday party tomorrow and it is currently 6:30 p.m. and I haven't started on a thing yet!! I don't even have all of the ingredients... therefore I am a little stressed out but determined not to let anyone down! So in other words I am probably not going to sleep tonight.

Why do I do that, volunteer to do many things before really thinking it through? Especially when I am not a Martha Stewart wannabe ... I don't even come close! Well I will let you know how these items turn out... I am off to the store!!

Pumpkin Carving

Nevaeh and I decided to purchase our pumpkins today (I know last minute but time flies!). We also decided to carve one... which ended up being a little more difficult and much messier than I anticipated. We picked a patterned and began on our task. An hour later we had a beautiful "glamorous kitty" pumpkin, Nevaeh is VERY proud and can't wait to see it tonight!

*daddy can work on the other two tonight, I am pumpkined out!!*

Mommy pumpkin and baby pumpkin

Focus

Cheese

Coloring and connecting the dots

Final Product

My Big Day

I had a wonderful birthday full of well wishes from every direction.

Thank you everyone.

Here are a couple of pics of us at my Birthday Dinner at Harney Sushi!!

3.1 Miles

I did it! This was my first real race and I DID IT! I am so proud of myself... of all of us. Honestly, the worst part was waiting for Vere to finish her leg so I can start on my run. My anxiety was so bad I needed to pee every three minutes. It was pretty exciting to see her get closer and then I cranked up my iShuffle and RAN. My time wasn't too bad either. My goal was to get it done in under 40 minutes and I finished in less then 32 (I don't know the exact time yet).

The best part about this was having Jacob and Nevaeh (my personal cheering section) there as I ran across the finish line!

I am officially hooked and I am now on a mission to find a Supersprint Triathlon to do all on my own!

My Pit Crew

Anxiously waiting for Josh to finish his swim

Me getting ready to cross the finish line!!

The swimmer, biker and runner!

Saturday Evening

I want to send a big THANK YOU to my dear husband for putting it all together! You are so thoughtful and I can't thank you enough... We had such a good time yesterday, retelling the same old stories but listening to them like it was the first time we've heard them.

Thanks for making the long drive over here. I can't imagine my life without my sisters, LOVE YOU!!

Melissa, Moni, Jen, Alex and Nikki

Moni, Jen and Alex

Joe's Chair and beer we set out in his honor

Thoughtful

The 10 year anniversary of my brother's death is coming up this Saturday. I mentioned it to Jacob last week and he has since arranged and put together a BBQ for my family! He has contacted my sister in law, Melissa, and found out Joe's favorite food, drink and music so he can have those things available for all of us to reminisce on Saturday.

To top it off he has purchased our nieces (my brother's girls) each a gift and even went as far as having them engraved for them. We weren't planning to do anything special but thanks to my unbelievable husband we will now get to celebrate my brother's life together...

Thanks babe, Joe would have been lucky to know you... and I am sure he is smiling from ear to ear to know you are caring for his family!

This is one of the last pictures taken of my brother about 5 days before his accident