Trip to the Zoo on Good Friday

Last week I saw an advertisement on Facebook that the zoo was having an Easter Egg Hunt for the animals on Good Friday. I thought it sounded like fun and earlier this week invited a few friends to meet up and have a fun day at the zoo. So, early Friday morning, we headed to the zoo. Mandie and her kids met us at our house and she followed us over. We ran into our friend Erin who was there with her two girls and in-laws and we headed over to the gorillas. Eventually, we met up with the McQueary family and later after lunch the Williams family joined us. It was a fun day! There were a few negatives in the day, Abigail was really whiney and the zoo was REALLY crowded, but I think we all had a good time! Actually, the crowds really didn't bother us. Somehow, we were able to stay ahead of them for most of the day. Here are some pictures of our great day!

Jeromy and Abigail watching the gorillas look for Easter eggs.


Trent in his wagon. He was such a good boy! He stayed in this thing ALL day!


Abigail and Bekah looking at the chimpanzees


Bekah and Nadine skipping along!


One of the few times Abigail sat still in the wagon. (Probably because animal crackers were involved)


Trent, Bekah, Abigail, Nadine, Rowan, and Jourdyn in the hippoaquarium. (This is before we met up with the Williams family)


We're watching the elephants!


The whole group together getting ready to head out after eating our picnic lunches! This picture does not do the chaos justice. :)


Abigail (actually sitting in her stroller) and Corban


This picture says it all about Abigail's feelings about the day. I think Camden's face shows how we all felt about Abigail's screaming fits. :)


Abigail, Camden, and Bekah crashing inside the Great Ape Exhibit

300th Post!!!

I just noticed that this was my 300th post! That's exciting! I can't believe I have had that much to talk about. I really don't have anything to say today except that we enjoyed the great weather and were able to buy Abs some outside toys (check out her blog for details and pictures). Oh yeah, I also gained a pound. Maybe I can counteract that by losing almost four pounds again next week! See you later for post 301!

Toby Mac and Skillet!!!

Last night I went to the Skillet and Toby Mac concert at the Lucas County Arena! It was great!!! I would have to say one of the best concerts I have ever been to! I went with Sharon and her daughter Jourdyn, Larry, Dawn, Nichole, Katie, and Adam Pioterek. Before the concert we went to Pizza Piapilis (that is probably spelled completely wrong). It was delicious! I told Jeromy we definitely have to go some time. He would love it! Our friend Tammy and her son Nick joined us at dinner. It was Nick's first concert ever! I bet he enjoyed it! My one mistake is I didn't take my camera so all my pictures were taken by my cell phone which made it look like we were miles from the stage. Actually, we had pretty good seats.

Even though I do not know Skillet's music very well, I still enjoyed their show. They had great pyrotechnics and their energy was awesome!

The stage set-up for Skillet. I just took this one to help show how far we were from the stage.


Skillet performing. It was hard to take a picture with my phone. With the lights, fireworks, and even fire the stage was usually too bright and all I could see was a ball of light on my phone. The cool thing is that they used a violin and cello for many of their songs. I'm sure there were kids in the audience who were thinking those instruments were cool for the very first time.


I have to admit that Toby Mac was my favorite part of the night. That is simply because I LOVE Toby Mac's music! I love the fact that besides singing he can take time out from his concert and share the word of the Lord with turning the kids off. I would not be surprised if there were some who came to the Lord last night. He is very gifted. The best picture that I took during the concert was one of those moments. I can't remember what passage he was reading, but he was talking about walking in the light of Jesus.



As you may be able to tell from the picture, there was a little stage out in the audience that he came out to a couple times. I was impressed by how many times he came out into the audience. You don't see that at many concerts.

All in all, it was a GREAT concert!!! I would highly recommend it to anyone!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Today has been a lovely day! It started off with me losing 3.8 pounds this week! YAY!!! That makes me really excited! Even better is that I went to pick up my bridesmaid dress for Michelle's wedding at David's Bridal because they had finished altering it and it needs altered more because of my weight loss. They told me to take the dress home and try it on the weekend of April 10th and if I think it needs it to bring it in to be realtered.

After that excitement, Abs and I went to Lifeway and the mall to return a few things. We were able to eat lunch and then we headed home. After Abs' nap we went outside to enjoy the weather. Abs played while I began cleaning windows. I was able to get almost all the windows on the back of the house cleaned (at least on the outside). Then, we made some turkey brats to eat with Jeromy and my Mom! Yummy! It is starting to feel like summer! Now, we are just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. I Love days like this!!!

I Gained...

I think that says enough. It is time to stop messing around and start getting serious.

First Trip to the Zoo for 2010!!!

I was lazy and stole this post from Abs' blog. I didn't want to have to write something twice. :)

The weather today is beautiful! According to the temperature gauge in my car it is almost 60 degrees! The sun is shining and it is just wonderful!!! To celebrate this beautiful spring weather Jeromy, Abs, and I went to the Toledo Zoo to meet Laura and Landon. Here are some pictures from our fun-filled day:



They were watching the polar bear in this picture.




Looking at the birds in the aviary








Abigail enjoyed her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich




As usual, she found something to push around.


There were ducks everywhere! Landon and Abigail were just as impressed by them then any of the animals at the zoo!

Woo Hoo!!! Down 3.4 Pounds!!!

This week was a very good week! I was pleasantly surprised to see my weight loss this week. Just imagine how well I would have done if I would have actually watched my points. This week, I exercised five days and watched what I ate. Now, I wasn't good all week. Actually over a two day span I ate a box of Girl Scout cookies (Tagalongs...My favorite!). Not to mention our dinner out at the Texas Roadhouse Friday night. I guess I am really lucky I lost any weight at all. Maybe I should start counting my points again and see what really happens.

Diet Journal #2 :)

This week was not the best diet week. We were in Dayton at the end of last week to visit the fam and for some reason I took that as a "Get out of Jail Free" card and ate whatever I wanted. When we arrived home on Saturday it did not get much better. We went to Aubrey's first birthday party where I ate a taco and had cake. Then, on Sunday evening we had a party at church because Clyde and Norma were no longer going to lead our small group. It was a goodbye party, not a glad to see you go party. :) Anyways, I ate pasta, meatballs, cake, and smores thingys.

Oh, wait, I'm not done. Then, Monday night was book club. I ate chips and salsa (not bad), but then I had two smore cookies. Of course, this doesn't even include all the little cheats I did all week. All I know is that everything tasted DELICIOUS!!! Therein lies my problem.

But, there is good news in all this! I actually lost weight! I lost 1.2 pounds! Not much, but at least it was something. This week I have to be very good and actually count my points. Let's see what next week brings.

Girls' Night Out

Okay, I'm a little late on this since it actually took place on February 12th. We were celebrating Tracy's graduation from nursing school. I'm beginning to feel a bit left out on the nursing occupation...wait, never mind, the whole blood, vomit, and poo thing kind of makes me realize I'm happy not being a nurse.:)

Anyways, Tracy wanted a simple night in, eating pizza and playing games. Since Jeromy was working I volunteered my house. We made it into a pj party so that everyone could be comfortable. We had a great time hanging out! We actually think we are going to do pj parties for all of our Girls' Nights Out!

Losing the Baby Weight...Finally!

As you probably can see, I added a new ticker to the top of the page. Four weeks ago I began a weight loss game to kick start my dieting. I have been trying to diet and it was just hard to get started. So we started "The Game On Diet" with four other teams. We didn't win, but I did start exercising 6 days a week, drinking 3 liters a day, and watching what I eat. Now, I feel like I am making progress. I am still 20 pounds from where I was when I got pregnant for Abigail and then I have about 40 more to lose.

Beginning next Wednesday we are beginning a "Biggest Loser" type of competition. It has less rules then the previous game and will last longer. I don't know if I will win, but at least it will motivate me to keep going on my diet.

In regards to the ticker, I thought it would be a nice way to keep track of what I was losing in a visual manner.

Super Bowl - Saints vs. Colts

This story begins last Sunday night when the guys met up for their weekly wing fest at BW3s. They decided that they were going to throw a Super Bowl party and create a hamburger that they had seen on "Man vs. Food." So after weighing the pros and cons of each of the houses they finally settled on using the Rugg home for the celebration. (Jeromy told me they chose their house because they have the biggest tv and they have five recliners. Since there were five of them making these plans it sounded perfect to them.)

Jump to tonight. Jeromy and I joined the Tim and Holly Rugg, Matt and Mandie Casey, Brandon and Bethany Williams, Rob and Sharon McQueary, Brandon and Brandy Roberts, Brian Hansen, and a new couple at our church Larry and Mary (I can't remember their last name). The guys spent a big chunk of the time in the garage preparing the food.

The menu (which the guys decided on last Sunday at BW3s) consisted of: deep-fried french fries, macaroni and cheese, and cheesecake and grilled hamburgers. Now, the hamburgers were something to behold. They were a hamburger patty (or two) between two grilled cheese sandwiches (made with texas toast and 2 pieces of cheese), and topped with tomato, onion, egg, bacon, mushrooms, jalapenos, and whatever else they can find. Here are some pictures from the evening:

Borderline grease fire. :)


The "Deep Freezer"


A close-up of the sandwich. I think this one is Matt's.


Jeromy showing off his sandwich.


Tim and Rob showing off their sandwiches. I think Tim's is a double burger.


By the way, the Saints won the Super Bowl....Yes, we watched the game! (At least the guys did when they came in from cooking.)

Haiti Earthquake Relief

On Tuesday, January 12th, a earthquake of 7.0 magnitude hit the small Caribbean country of Haiti. The country is devastated. They still do not know how many people have died. The news continues to show families in turmoil and more orphans than can be counted.

But, around the world, people have been coming together to send aid to the small island. Our church teamed with a group called ISOH/Impact. They gave us a list of things they were collecting to send to Haiti as aid. We began a church-wide event to collect the items.

On Thursday, Sharon (who is leading our church in this outreach), delivered many of the items that had been collected. She saw a HUGE need for help within their warehouse. So, today she organized a group to go and help. We met at the church at 10 to head to Waterville where the warehouse was located.

At the warehouse, we sorted canned food, cleaning supplies, paper products, hygiene products, baby items, and medical supplies. As we sorted, more supplies were being unloaded from trucks and vans. It was amazing to watch as people from all over Lucas county came together and worked side by side as if they had known each other for years. It was heartwarming to see all the supplies arrive to be sent to people in a little country that most of will never see.

I know it wasn't much, but I can't think of a better way to spend four hours on a Saturday.

Welcome 2010!!!

I know, once again I am very late on this post. There are also no pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking pictures all New Years Eve. Jeromy had to work until 9, so Abigail and I went to Mom's house to ring in the New Year with Grandma, Alex, and Elena.

We had an exciting night of crafts (we did a few foam crafts) and watching the old favorite "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." Alex and Elena LOVED the movie!

When Jeromy got off work, I went to spend the rest of the evening with him. We watched the movie Star Trek they we had recently bought and then watched as the New Year came in and then went to bed.

I guess I'm just getting too old. Just kidding. We wanted to have a party but couldn't because of Jeromy's work schedule. Hopefully next year will be different. :)

Christmas Festivities

Okay, I know this is starting to feel delayed, but at least it is not New Years yet. Also, this is the second time I have written this post. I finished with it the first time and blogger lost more than half of it...so, here I go again. :)

This year we had a lot of changes in our Christmas celebration. Usually we spend Christmas Eve with Mom, my sisters and their families and Christmas with the Sanderson extended family. Neither of those happened this year (at least, not on Christmas Eve or Christmas). Also, our original plan was to go down to Dayton on the day after Christmas for the Lewis family Christmas. However, this did not happen because of Jeromy's work schedule. So, here is what really happened.

We ended up celebrating the Lewis Family Christmas on Sunday, December 13th. Garnetta and Jamie came to Toledo and stayed until Tuesday. It was nice to see them and we had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of this celebration.

The Sanderson Family Christmas was held on Sunday, December 20th. As usual, we had a wonderful time with all the family. There was a $10 gift exchange for the kids (we drew names on Thanksgiving) and a white elephant exchange for the adults. It was a lot of fun! However, once again, I did not get any pictures of this event.

We spent Christmas Eve with my Mom. After Abigail's (and Jeromy's) nap we went out to lunch (no where special, just McDonald's) and then to the Children's Wonderland at the Erie Street Market. It is usually held at the Lucas County Rec Center, but due to "wonderful" decisions made by the Lucas County Commissioners we almost didn't have it this year. Luckily, a group of people got together and put up a smaller version of it. It wasn't nice as previous years and not nearly as large. It would have made it worth it though if Abigail would have been into it. Instead she just pushed her stroller around the whole time. There were a few things she liked and I did get some pictures of her looking at them.




This clown thing was Abigail's favorite thing at Children's Wonderland. She kept coming back to it.




After Children's Wonderland we went home to rest and I began preparing the little dinner we would have after church. This year our church service was at 5:00. Usually it is at 10:00 p.m. which is too close to my bedtime and I am usually very sleeping. It was a very nice service. Afterwards, we returned to our house where we ate dinner (sloppy joes and other such stuff) and played Phase 10 (even Mom played!)

Christmas morning was very exciting! Abigail really got into it!

Here is our tree before the opening of presents began (notice how there are no ornaments below a certain point):


Abigail amazed by the tree:


Abigail even helped open her presents. She opened every single one (with a little help from Mommy and Daddy, of course)


All present opening stopped for a moment when she saw the Lego table hiding behind some other presents. She loved this thing! It is my Craigslist find (I got it and two tubs of legos for $15!).


She thinks she should be able to climb into her doll's stroller.


Later that evening, Mom, Julie, and Lee joined us for Christmas dinner. This was the first Christmas dinner that I made totally by myself (well, almost by myself). Afterwards, Julie and Abigail had a screaming/yelling match (one of Abigail's favorite things to do).




Then, Julie and Lee played with Abs and her new lego table.




After Abigail went to bed, Jeromy, Julie, Lee and I played some games. We accidently woke her up with a rousing game of Jenga (who knew?).

On the day after Christmas we finally got together with my mom, my sisters, and their families at Kelly's house. We had a brunch which was very tasty and, as usual, we had WAY too much food. Here are some pictures of the fun that day.

Abigail is wondering when she gets to open all the wonderful presents...or why there is a bow on her head. :)


I don't know what they are doing, but I think it is a cute picture. Abigail loves her big cousin Elena! (and Alex and Landon)


Abigail decided she would enjoy the buffet in Lucky's dog dish. We did not know she was in there until she showed up with her mouth and hand full of dog food. Yum!


Landon playing with Diesel's toy.


Elena playing with the Barbie pool that we gave her. I fear there is revenge coming my way in the future.


Alex playing with his lego set that Grandma gave him. Jeromy helped him to put it together on Sunday night.


All in all, it was a great Christmas holiday!