Goodbye House

Goodbye sunroom where coffees were drunk under blankets watching snow fall.

Goodbye basement laundry. Thanks for all the calories you helped me burn.

Goodbye tile floors where our girls cooled off on hot summer days. 

Goodbye black bath tub that I despised for years.

Goodbye kitchen where Drew learned to love to sweep.

Goodbye finished basement where my firstborn learned to walk.

Goodbye bedroom where I spent many nights with my young infant.

Goodbye tiny yard where any amount of dog poo would make it hard to play.

Goodbye front porch where Drew and I would sit and wait for firetrucks.

  

Goodbye gorgeously worn, old hardwoods that we didn't care about the girls scratching.

Goodbye living room where I spent hours nursing my child.

Goodbye detached garage. You will not be missed.

Goodbye huge, bay windows.

Goodbye teeny tiny shower that you could barely turn in. 

And goodbye old basement couch that wouldn't fit up our stairs. We don't know how you made it down, but by now you've made your way to a dumpsite to hang out for eternity. It's a shame you wouldn't work with us as we were hoping to donate you. Hope the circular saw didn't hurt too much. 

Goodbye house.

Friday Funnies

I have absolutely zero brain cells left after this week so no quality post from me today. The in-laws are in town for a while so I'll have some pics up soon from those shenanigans. For now, I'll leave you with some great ecards to make you smile...

Oh, and have you seen this site? For all my dancer friends, it's a good one!

Enjoy your weekend! 

5 Year Blogiversary

It's crazy to think that 5 years ago I decided to enter this unfamiliar world people put their lives out in the open. I knew nothing about having my own website, but loved keeping our distant friends and family aware of what we were up to. Little did I know it would become such a passion of mine and lead me to make so many wonderful friendships. I feel as though I've grown so much in these 5 years and lot of it is due to this blog. From taking better pictures, to improving my writing skills, to simply finding good recipes, I've loved every step.

Want To Know Some Interesting Facts?

Number of posts written: 919 (including this one)

First Post: Europe Trip Recap!

Most written about topic: Drew (shocker!)

Hours spent writing posts and arranging/editing pictures: 89,455,357

Number of snarky comments received: only 2 (thank goodness!)

Interesting search terms used to find Our Journey:

     - "Pinch Collar"

     - "Naked toddler bum" (..umm... creepy??!)

     - "Michael Buble"

Posts with the most views:

     - Baby Malayan Tapir (sooooo random)

     - Apple Cake

     - Google Reader Change

     - Letter to My 17 Year Old Self

Lacy's page up top has been viewed more than Bailey. 

The main reason I blog has never changed. I'll continue doing it as an online journal writing posts of things I care about and being as real as possible. I once vowed to never make a penny from my blog and to this day I have kept that promise. I don't judge anyone that does, it's just not the purpose of my blog! 

Lastly, I have to give a big shout out to all my blog friends and readers out there. Your words of encouragement, advice, support and downright hilarious comments are what fuel my fire. If I could make a full time job of reading your posts and writing my own, I would! 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing in Our Journey!

And yes, in celebration, I have a giveaway coming within the next few weeks. It just involves Drew's new room and therefore I can't take pictures until it's done! Stay tuned for that.


And lastly, you know a post of mine just isn't complete without a picture. This picture from the FBI Fun Day finally came in and I'm obsessed! This better be the only mugshot this kid EVER poses for. 

In case you can't read it, the crime is "being too cute" and his build is "stud".  :)

Moving, Moving, Moving

While all of you are making me jealous with your pumpkin patch posts, or beautiful fall decor pictures, or shots of relaxing in sweatpants, I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Here's been my life for the past two weeks....

I'm seriously losing my mind and feel like I genuinely don't have an extra brain cell to spare right now. Thankfully, my in-laws arrive in a couple of days and we've had some help from awesome friends, but I can't WAIT until another week from now when things slow done.

More pictures to come of the house, but for now, it's back to packing!

DIYer Wannabe

I've always admired my friends who can take an old dresser from a garage sale and make it look new, adorable and fancy. Me? I consider it a success when I correctly put up a wall decal. When I see cute 'DIY' projects, generally I prefer to think of those letters as standing for 'Don't Involve Yourself' and avoid them at all costs. It's ok though, I've learned to fake it. Thanks to etsy, at least some of our decor looks like I slaved in my garage over them for hours. Hey, I slaved to find that piece online... even my hand hurts for the multitude of mouse clicking.

Back to my point; Rustoleum. YOU GUYS! Have you heard of this? Ever since my dad introduced me to it earlier this year, I've been craving another project with it.

And then I saw it.

I'm not a gold person. Ok, maybe with jewelry and the Starbucks rewards level, but not with decor. This one loves herself some good old rubbed bronze. And that's where my new BFF Rustoleum came in to play. With the excitement of a giddy schoolgirl and with the realization that it's probably a 1 on your DIY scale from 1-100, the mirror was taped up, sent to the DIY room garage and ready for a facelift.

What do you think? It's hard to see, but there actually is a tiny bit of gold still peaking through making it appear to be rubbed bronze.

Oh, this would have taken you 5 minutes? Well, hey, look here (Si anyone?), it's a start. You don't just become a DIY-er over night. It takes time people.

Flash Forward Fun

Remember when I wrote a letter to my 17 year old self? Well, I had the idea of doing a post on our children in the future and what they will be like and decided to co-host with Holly! Feel free to join us as one day this will definitely be a post to look back upon!

<a href="http://www.sarahandderek.blogspot.com/"><img src=" http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z468/suit1/suit1016/LETTERLINKUPBUTTON_zpsccb4b663.jpg" alt="button" width="350" height="300" /></a>

Dear Drew - Everyone knows that you are our light. As a 2.5 year old toddler, you definitely aren't a 'trying' baby and your demeanor and personality is one that I hope you keep forever. Your sweet, sensitive side can find a way to the core of our hearts and cheer up the dullest of moments and I hope you keep those traits to woo the ladies later in life. Your perfectly round face and your beautiful blue eyes can hold my attention forever and the sound of your giggle melts my heart. I know your innocence won't be around forever as the world will taint you in general, but the glass is half full baby. Mostly though, I hope we're still close and that you call me often and visit as much as you can when I'm old.

Just like every other parent, I only want the best for you in the future and will work my rear off to do what I can to get you there. Your daddy and I talk all the time about how everything we do revolves around you. Career choices, housing choices, schooling choices, etc,... but someday the world will be your oyster and you'll have to make decisions on your own. Just know turkey, that when that day comes, I will always be here for you. For now, though, mommy has a few guesses on what you'll be like in the future...

Food Preferences: I think you'll be just like your daddy. A bit picky, but someday a woman will come along and open his eyes to so many foods that he now loves. Ketchup will remain your best friend, however, for years to come. 

Studying/Profession: This is a completely crapshoot considering you are only 3, but I have two guesses. Your pure love for animals could lead you toward a veterinarian-ish profession. My other guess would be working with your hands on a macro level. Like building computers, or being a surgeon, or something similar. You've always like to work with tiny pieces as well as disassemble things. 

Children: My guess is that you have two as well, just like we plan to do. 

Sports: For your youth, we'll put you in everything you want to do. But for high school, I bet you'll be a baseball or tennis player (only cause your mommy and daddy were and I'm not allowing football!)

Settle Down: We hope you love being around us when we're older as much as we love being around you so my hope/wish would be that you don't stray too far! 

Tattoos/Piercings: None

Personality: I don't think you'll be a big risk taker both physically or socially as you never really have been. Your friends will jump off a table 3 feet off the ground, but your idea of fun is jumping off a 4 inch curb. And you've always been quite the shy one. I bet you'll be an introvert that everyone loves to be friends with, just like your daddy. 

Dogs or Cats?: Dogs, duh! 

Republican/Democrat: Only because you are your father's twin, I'll predict Republican here.

Grades: You might not be a national merit finalist like your aunt, but I bet you'll be a solid A/B+ student.

Height and Weight at 18: My prediction is that you'll be 6'1" and 170 pounds. 


Just remember, whatever you're like, I will support you no matter what. But if how you are now is any indication of the future, I would only guess you'll have one good life! ... oh, and you better still be a diehard Jayhawk fan.  

Love you!
-Mommy

Now it's your turn...

Link up your thoughts below for your kiddos!

Bad Things Come in 3's

Remember when I told you on Friday that I had burned my arm last week in the oven?

Sorry for the not-so-purdy pic again!

Well what I didn't tell you is that the next day I was rear-ended at Drew's daycare. I was backing out, almost identical to what happened last year at a different daycare, and another mom behind me threw her car in reverse and backed out quickly, only to bump me. Thankfully the impact was at only a few mph and no one was even remotely hurt, but I just can't seem to win with daycare parking lots.

What frustrates me the most is that I back out and drive in daycare lots SUPER slow. I have this huge fear of children around my SUV and refuse to even go normal speed. Apparently, however, people must think I'm not even moving with how slow I am going and back out themselves. It's a lose/lose I tell ya.

And then I remembered that all bad things come in 3s. All weekend I was super careful when I was carrying Drew, or cooking, or driving, or doing anything where I could fall or worse.

But I failed to realize that sometimes the worst things can happen silently and without your knowledge.

Around 2pm yesterday, I jumped on the computer to send a quick work email and happened to check my aol spam folder where I saw that I had a purchase from etsy. Curious, as I hadn't remembered ordering anything the day before, but had a couple things I was planning to order this week, I clicked on the link.

It was an order confirmation for an etsy charge of $1,460.

My eyes teared up, my gut wrenched and I ran outside to get Derek. We quickly called my credit card company which, thankfully, with fraud protection coverage is handling the situation and not holding me responsible for any of it. Whew, right?

Nope. It didn't stop there. The person(s) actually hacked my etsy account entirely meaning they now had my credit card number (it was shut down before any other charges could be made), my address, my full name and my aol address. And stupidly, I use the same password for both of those so they now had access to my aol account entirely.

I quickly changed the aol password, but logged on this morning to see that I was wiped clean. Nothing, I mean nothing is left. No saved emails, no outgoing emails, no contacts. It's all gone. So guess what aol? I'm done with you. It's been a long ride, but I'm moving on and using my gmail account moving forward.

Still with me? Good because I want to help you! One thing that aol doesn't have, that gmail does, is a two-step verification. Essentially, to log on into your account, you have to have a code texted to your phone. So my password is now changed and I have been logged out of everything everywhere. When logging back in, I have a code texted to me which is then used once and destroyed. I'd strongly suggest that you go turn it on with your accounts as well!

Here's to hoping for a much better week! 

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Also don't forget about the awesome link party coming on Wednesday. For anyone who has kids, having a kid, or even wants kids in the future, this is for you! Someday we'll all be able to look back upon our thoughts and see how close we were to reality! 

You can write you thoughts on anything you want, but here are some suggestions to help you get started...
     - What will your kid(s) personality be like? 

     - What will their likes/dislikes in food, entertainment, books, etc be? 

     - What will they do for a living or be studying to be? 

     - How many kids, if any, do you think they'll have?

     - Will they choose to plant their roots near their hometown or branch out?

     - Tattoo's? Piercings?

     - Risk taker or go-with-the-flow type?

     - Go ahead and predict their height and weight of their 18th birthday!

     - What do you want for them in general?

Simply include this button by copying and pasting the code below it and join us for the fun! 

<a href="http://www.sarahandderek.blogspot.com/"><img src=" http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z468/suit1/suit1016/LETTERLINKUPBUTTON_zpsccb4b663.jpg" alt="button" width="350" height="300" /></a>

5 on Friday (& an upcoming link party!)

1. Link Party News! The awesome Holly and and I are hosting a unique link party next Wednesday, the 18th so start working on your posts now! It will be a great one to look back upon in the future so don't miss out!

Here's the skinny:

Have you ever thought about how your children will be in the future? This link party is for you! Even if you don't currently have children yet, feel free to still predict what they'll be like in the future! You can pick how far out you'd like to predict, but we want to know everything! 

     - What will your kid(s) personality be like? 

     - What will their likes/dislikes in food, entertainment, books, etc be? 

     - What will they do for a living or be studying to be? 

     - How many kids, if any, do you think they'll have?

     - Will they choose to plant their roots near their hometown or branch out?

     - Tattoo's? Piercings?

     - Risk taker or go-with-the-flow type?

     - Go ahead and predict their height and weight of their 18th birthday!

     - What do you want for them? 

Go ahead and grab the button and get ready! (You'll be able to link up at either of our blogs)

<a href="http://www.sarahandderek.blogspot.com/"><img src=" http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z468/suit1/suit1016/LETTERLINKUPBUTTON_zpsccb4b663.jpg" alt="button" width="350" height="300" /></a>

2. PB & Chocolate. Did you know today is International Chocolate Day as well as National Peanut Butter Day? Well it is, and I just downed two Reese's peanut butter cups. Your turn.

3. I hate the oven. Or at least, I hate that burn myself every few years when cooking with them. Thank goodness for '2nd skin'. That stuff leaves me with absolutely no scaring! 

4. New house. We get the keys next Friday and will have two weeks to move! I'm ubber excited, yet already dreading the 86 million phone calls that comes with changing all your utilities. Anyone want to invent a service with me that handles everything for our clients? I think we could make a killing.

5. Blessed. I just have to say that the number of people who have offered to watch Drew or help us move or even paint/help around the new house has been amazing. I feel so blessed to have such quality friends up here!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Why I Love Weddings

Our good friends got married last weekend and it was such a fun night. Who doesn't love a good wedding? From girls with really short dresses, to awkward dancing by the older guests, they always make for a fun night in my books.

Here is why I heart weddings so much:

1. Puttin On The Glam: Derek and I rarely get to get all fancied up together and it's always fun dress shopping!

2. Food: Good reception locations always have the best food. And then there's the cake.... yum.

3. Drink: There's nothing better than open bars A) when you're not pregnant and B) when you're with a group of friends and C) when the wedding is an Irish Catholic one. Let's just say there was a lot of shots and I drank one of Drew's pedialytes the next morning.

4. Dancing: Some of our friends are a bit crazy and there might or might not have been push-ups and semi-twerking going on at the wedding. And no mom, I didn't participate in any of that type. It's more fun to stand in a circle around our entertaining friends and cheer them on. Pretty sure the hubs and I haven't slow danced in forever and we especially enjoyed dancing to our wedding song: At Last by Etta James.

5. Uniqueness: Everyone wedding has their own personal touch. This wedding including the most amazing cathedral and a bag piper!

Can I just make attending weddings my professional hobby?

Happy Monday!

Feet dangling swinging back and forth. 

Stretching to see the bottom of the bowl. 

Pinchable thighs at the edge of the chair. 

Sunshine on his face.

Piggies wiggling in delight with each bite.

Cute undies adorning his soft cheeks.

Bed hair.

I love breakfast with my toddler.

The Four F's (& a giveaway winner)

If you've followed this blog for a while, you know that we get back to Kansas City 2 or 3 times a year to visit our friends and family. We've been trying to drive in more seeing as how A) it would cost around $1400, including boarding the dogs and 3 tickets, to fly back and B) Drew and the girls are great travelers!

Basically, our trip can be summed up with four words:

Fun * Family * Friends * Food.

We spent a ton of time with both sets of grandparents, in various pools and sprinklers and hot spots as well added on some major lb's by eating so much. As always, it was a blast.

I'm not going to go into detail on each place we went, rather leave you with just a bunch of pictures. We visited Deanna Rose Farmstead, Kaleidoscope, Wonderscope, Powell Gardens, A Curious George Exhibit, the Arboretum and rode a Steam Engine from 1937! We ate at our faves including Jack Stack, Stroud's and Fritz's and even squeezed in seeing some friends and meeting some new babies as well. It was exhausting, yet so nice to be back for a week!

Get ready. Here comes a photo dump....

Below are two of my favorite pictures from our trip. The left is Drew and his 2nd cousin trying to sneak a peak at the cake my mom made and the right is his plumber's crack which was spotted often on our vacay. Cute, right?

Nothing makes for a better trip than the four F's!

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And congrats to 

Brittin Olson

for winning the Dog DNA kit!!

Dog DNA Giveaway Reminder!

Don't forget to enter for a chance to win a Dog DNA kit through Wisdom Panel! 

The giveaway ends tonight at midnight!

Deets:

- Takes about 3-4 weeks total.

- Simply swab the inside of your pups mouth and mail it in!

- The DNA goes back to the dogs great-grandparents of your dog!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Potty Champ

Big news around these parts! After 9 days in Kansas City with toilets all around and encouragement from grandparents on top of candy enticements, we officially have a potty trained boy!

More on our visit to Kansas City later this week, but this proud momma had to get a post up about my little man and how well he did this past week and a half on the potty. We wore big boy undies all day, every day, except for naps and overnight and we only had 3 accidents!

Let me rewind just a bit. We had been casually working on potty training with Drew over the past few months wearing undies on the weekends and some evenings. We didn't want to rush him and knew it would 'click' sometime in the near future. Actually, we had even planned to do the 3-day method in October when Derek had a Monday off and we had no plans!

The day we arrived he was switched to big boy undies and told there was a lot of candy if he would show his grandparents how he went on the potty. We had a shockingly successful day followed by two more awesome days before we had an accident. The 3 accidents that occurred half way through our trip were when he was very involved in activity and didn't want to stop. We realized we would need to pull him away from play moving forward if we didn't want another accident.

After that it was 2 more accident-free days, and then it was time to start the 13 hour drive back to Cleveland. We threw a potty in the car, placed a towel under his bum in his car seat and headed out. He made the entire 24 hour trip (we drive 6-7 hours over two days each) in big boy underwear except for the nighttime diaper in the hotel. He told us when he had to go and we would stop at the next exit and he even took an hour and a half nap and woke up dry as well.

Thanks to all of the supportive mothers out there who said to not worry about it, and that it would just 'click'. It definitely did and I'm excited to be in this next phase with him! I do think having him out of school for a week and constantly asking him if he needs to go helped, but candy was the ultimate reward for my little guy. He knew he got 3 jelly beans or skittles after a #1 and five after a #2 and he proudly would announce how much he was to receive after each bathroom break.

Now I just have to cross my fingers that he doesn't revert back at daycare and actually communicates to the teachers when he has to go!

Another milestone in the books for this one. 

Grandparent's Day Gift Idea

This year, we were in Kansas City spending time with both sets of grandparents just a week before the official "Grandparent's Day" on September 8th. I wanted to make something for them with Drew but couldn't really figure out what until I saw some pots and paint at our local craft store. I knew that they would all love looking at some fall flowers in a pot painted by their only grandchild and was excited!

Here's all you need:

Once you have your materials, there's really no rules. Let them go to town and watch their artistic expression come out. Drew absolutely loved painting the pots and we had to pry him away when we were done.

Needless to say, the Grandparents absolutely loved them!