Our Happy Weekend and An Apology

Here's the news from our Happy Weekend!

A little while ago I entered the Christmas Giveaway at 5 Minutes for Mom and I WON! And, not only did I win- but I won two different contests. Yay for me! Well, look what came in the mail on Saturday?
It's a cute DVD called My Bedbugs. I let Hailey watch it for a little while in the car on Saturday while we were out driving around do some shopping. She loved it! There was also a poster that came with the DVD.
When I put the poster on the floor so that Hailey could look at it- she laid right down on it. Hmmmm- maybe if I put it in her bed she'll lay down there too. Not likely.

Now, the other contest I won- there were two prizes, but I won't be sharing pictures of those because I am actually going to use those prizes as gifts. And, I don't want the recipients to know I am cheap thrifty and that I am giving them something I received for free.

In other exciting Happy Happenings weekend news..... On Saturday Rich put up the Christmas lights on our house. Hailey stood on the couch and watched Rich working on the lights for a long time. She was fascinated that she could see him right outside the window. (Please do not be offended that I did not clean my windows for you. But, if are feeling a bit put out- please refer back to this post- Excuse The House.)

I think we have quite a few lights on our house and when we were coming home from some shopping on Saturday night I said, "Oh my goodness, look at our house." Rich told me that I can not tell you how many lights he put up because he wants me to take pictures and then have everyone guess how many lights there are.

So, I will be sharing pictures, but not until next week. (Remember that BooMama is hosting the Christmas Tour of Homes, so I am saving my pictures for the 17th. Check out her post if you haven't already- it sounds like lots of fun to me.)

On Sunday we Rich put up our tree.

Hailey offers some assistance in getting the tree set up.

I put the ornaments on our tree last night after Hailey went to bed. And, I'll be sharing those pictures next Monday as well.

So, that was our fun filled weekend. How was yours?

Now, the second part of my post- I just want to say- I am glad you are still here.

Can I just tell you that right now my blog seems like one big advertisement and I really hate it?

I know I have been doing a bunch of paid posts lately and I am sorry for that. I don't want to do it, but we need some extra money right now, so I have to do it. I plan to do several paid posts on the weekends when I know bloggyville is usually pretty quiet and I don't have a lot of visitors anyways.

When I do my paid posts, one of the requirements is that I do not have more than one in a row. So, I have been putting up some comics in between my paid posts. So, I will probably have quite a few posts during the weekends.

During the week my plan is to only do one paid post each day. I will also do my regular posting that I normally do. I will keep my regular post at the top of my blog with the paid post under it. Please feel free to skip over the paid posts like they are not there and go right to the regular Happy Happenings posts.

When I started my blog I never even considered using it to make money, it was just supposed to be a fun hobby to keep my family and friends up to date with our lives. Now it just doesn't feel that way anymore and for that I am very sorry.

Okay, I'm glad I got that off my chest.

8 Random Things Meme

I have been tagged several times to do several different memes. For some reason I just haven't gotten around to doing them. So, this week I am going to catch up on some of the tags I've had. About 100 years ago I was tagged by Susan to do an 8 random things post. Then a little while later I was tagged by La Bellina Mammina to do 8 random things about me and my hubby. A bit more recently Melanie tagged me to do the 8 random things meme. I've decided to combine the two different memes and just do 8 random things about me and my hubby.

1. Rich and I met when I was 17 and he was 20.

2. I was a senior in high school. Rich worked part time at a nearby Subway. I went there for lunch one day. I went back the next day and the day after that too. I'm pretty sure I ate lunch there almost everyday after we met.

3. Rich wouldn't tell me his name and so I made one up for him. I called him Elwood. I'm quite sure that he loved the nickname I made up for him.

4. Several months later we starting dating (and he told me his real name).

5. We dated for 5 years before we finally got married.

6. We went to Disney World for our honeymoon. We've gone back three times since then.

7. We have been married for 7 wonderful years.

8. Every Saturday and Sunday morning Rich makes us a yummy breakfast that we eat together while we read the paper.

I'm not going to tag anyone, but play along if you'd like. Be sure to let me know if you decide to do it so that I can check out your post.

Happy Birthday Rich

Happy 33rd Birthday Rich! I love you!!

Where A Kid (Or A Dad) Can Be A Kid

Since I was on a bloggy break last week I have a little bit of updating to do!

One night last week we decided to take Hailey for her visit to Chuck-E-Cheese. Brooke was quite sure it would be babyish (her words) and that she was much too old for such a cheesy place (my words with the pun intended). I think she had fun in spite of herself.

Rich loves Chuck-E-Cheese and has been looking forward to the day that Hailey would be old enough to go. He was in quite a hurry to get there. As soon as we left our house he asked me which route of travel would be fastest given the time of day. Since Chuck-E-Cheese is in a commercial area, near some of my favorite shopping locations, I was able to tell him exactly which way to go. We got there pretty quickly. He waited impatiently at the last red light by Chuck-E-Cheese and as soon as the light turned green he took off "to get ahead of that other family." Once we reached the parking lot Rich quickly found a spot and told us to hurry and get out of the car because there were others getting inside ahead of us. We went at around 4pm on a Tuesday afternoon so I'm sure you can imagine the droves of people pushing in front of us because we did not run to the building fast enough.

Here are some pictures of the evening.

Hailey loved her dinner plate.

Hailey enjoys a ride with Chuck-E-Cheese.

Since there were not very many people there I let Hailey
crawl around explore in the toddler area.
She LOVED it! She seemed to really enjoy the school bus.
(I did not pose her for this picture.)
Brooke and Rich work on putting out a fire.

Brooke while racing against Rich.

Brooke and Rich played several rounds of basketball.
Brooke won every time! But, don't tell Rich I told you.

If you didn't see my post yesterday, please check it out and offer me some advice. Thanks!!

A Typical Day

A Typical Day at the Happy Happenings household (all times are approximate and subject to change at the request of "the boss.")

12:00am- I am sleeping or I am awake praying that Hailey will not wake up.

12:30am- Hailey calls to me from her crib. I go in and rock her back to sleep. I wait until she has been asleep for several minutes and then I gently lay her back down in her bed. Her eyes pop open and she stands up with her hands out for me to pick her back up. I pick her back up and we do the above over again. Again, she wakes up as soon as I lay her down. I bring her into my bedroom, lay her down on the bed next to me and nurse her back to sleep. I think about moving her back to her bed and decide I am much too tired to do that.

3:00am- Hailey is awake and wants to nurse again. I know she doesn't really need to, but if I also know that if I want to sleep I will have to nurse her again. I nurse her and we both fall back asleep.

4:30am- Rich's alarm clock goes off, he hits the snooze button. Hailey does not wake up. I lay awake worrying that the next time it goes off it will wake her up.

4:39am- Rich's alarm clock goes off, he hits the snooze button. Hailey is still asleep. I am still awake worrying she will wake up.

4:48am- Rich's alarm clock goes off and he gets up. Dottie gets up and scratches and shakes her head, causing the tags on her collar to jingle. Rich quickly ushers Dottie off to go outside. I pray that Hailey will not wake up.

5:15am- Rich comes in to tell me he's leaving for work and to give me a hug and kiss. I pray Hailey will not wake up.

6:00am- Hailey is awake and wants to nurse. I feed her and we both fall asleep.

7:30am- Hailey wakes up, sits up, looks around the room, claps her hands and starts babbling. We play for a few minutes and then get up.

7:45am- I change Hailey's diaper. I get on the computer and put up my post for the day (I write my posts the day before, so this takes only a few seconds to do). Then I get breakfast for myself, Hailey and Dottie. Hailey spits most of her fruit and cereal back into my face and feeds her toast to Dottie. She throws her cup onto the floor and giggles at Dottie who is waiting for more toast.

8:15am- After breakfast I clean up the mess while Hailey empties out the kitchen cabinets. Then I spend a few minutes checking my email.

8:30am- I change Hailey's diaper again (for some reason it is always soaked about an hour after she gets up), get her dressed and put on her sunscreen. Both of us hate the sunscreen part. We both brush our teeth and then I get dressed.

9:15am- We go on our daily 2 mile walk. I talk to Hailey about what we see on our walk and she babbles and yells "Da-Da" most of the time.

9:50am- We are home from our walk and go straight to the playroom. Hailey dumps all of her toys onto the floor and then plays with the door stopper (it makes a funny bonging noise that she just loves). We sing some songs, read some books, and play some toys.

10:30am- Hailey nurses and then I change her diaper.

10:45am- Time for a morning nap. I rock Hailey and she tries to keep her body completely stiff so that she does not fall asleep. Finally she gives in and goes to sleep.

11:00am- I take shower, start some laundry and do other quiet cleaning (clean bathrooms, dust, etc). If I finish my chores before Hailey wakes up I do my blog visiting.

12:00pm- Hailey is up from her nap and is playing with the toys I left at the end of her crib. She plays by herself, giggling contentedly so I do a bit more blogging.

12:15pm- We have lunch. Remember breakfast? Same thing- Hailey spits her food out or throws it on the floor.

12:45pm- I clean up from lunch while Hailey empties the kitchen cupboards. Once she finishes that she chases Dottie around trying to touch her paws. If she is able to get a paw or better yet, Dottie's tail- she screeches and giggles. Dottie has recently learned to hid behind the couch and although Hailey tries to follow her back there she gets distracted by the door on the end table and works on opening that up.

1:00pm- I change Hailey's diaper. If we have errands to run this is when we do it. Otherwise, we play for a while in the living room. I also vacuum the house and mop the kitchen at this time of day.

1:45pm- Time to go to the totally baby proofed playroom where I can sit down for a few minutes. If it's not rainy or too hot outside, we play outside for a while- otherwise we spend the next 45 minutes in the playroom.

2:30pm- Hailey wants to nurse. I fed her and change her diaper.

2:40pm- We read books.

3:00pm- Time for an afternoon nap. I rock Hailey and she tries to keep her body completely stiff so that she does not fall asleep. Finally she gives in and goes to sleep.

3:10pm- I blog! I write my post for the next day and comment back to everyone who has left me a comment. I try to visit all of the blogs I have listed on my sidebar.

4:15pm- Hailey is up from her nap and is playing with the toys I left at the end of her crib. She plays by herself, giggling contentedly so I do a bit more blogging.

4:30pm- Hailey plays in the living room (usually in her cage) while I start thinking about what to make for dinner.

5:00pm- Hailey wants to nurse, so I feed her and change her diaper.

5:30pm- Rich is usually home now and he entertains Hailey while I actually make dinner.

6:00pm- We eat dinner. Remember breakfast and lunch? Dinner is the same- food spit out at me or thrown onto the floor for Dottie.

6:30pm- Rich plays with Hailey while I clean the kitchen and sneak in a bit more blogging.

7:15pm- Back to the safety of the playroom.

8:00pm- I give Hailey her bath, get her ready for bed, nurse her, and brush her teeth. She spends a few minutes saying goodnight to Rich.

8:30pm- I read Hailey her Bible story, say her prayers with her, and sing her to sleep.

8:45pm- I straighten up the house and prepare to do the same things all over again tomorrow. I make Rich's lunch for the next day. Sometimes I sneak in a bit more blogging, although I really try to follow my "no blogging after 9pm" rule.

9:30pm- Rich and I watch some TV. Or if Rich is watching the boring old history channel, I read while he watches TV.

10:30pm- I get ready for bed.

10:35pm- I go into Hailey's room and watch her sleeping. She has usually rolled over onto her tummy with her little bottom sticking up in the air. I listen to make sure she is breathing. I look at her angelic face in the soft glow of her Winnie the Pooh nightlight. I am overwhelmed with emotions as I think about how much I love this little tiny person. My heart is so full of love for her and I wonder how a parent who loses a child is ever able to go on with their life. I thank God for this treasure He has given us to raise and I pray that she will grow up to serve Him and be healthy and happy. Hailey sighs in her sleep and I whisper "I love you more than you'll ever know" as I tiptoe out of her room.

Jon and Leah's Wedding

Last weekend we traveled to go to Jon and Leah's wedding. We left on Friday afternoon. Hailey did really well in the car and we only had to stop a couple of times. Friday night Hailey got to stay in a hotel for the first time. She slept okay but was a bit tired when it was time for the wedding. I thought this would be a good thing and hoped she would sleep right through the wedding. She had other plans. When the preacher asked if anyone objected to the marriage of Jon and Leah, Hailey blew some raspberries, screeched and giggled. We tried to quiet her, but it was not going to happen. So, I took her to the nursery. The nursery was in the back of the church and had a two-way mirror so I could actually still see the ceremony. It was cool and dark in the nursery and Hailey promptly went to sleep. She continued to sleep after the ceremony had ended so I stayed in there with her. Rich had our camera and I had asked him to take pictures for me. So, imagine my surprise when later on I went to look at our pictures and found these:

A lovely close-up of my cousin Beka
A wonderful shot of cousin Bill's ear

A nice picture of cousin Vicki taking a picture of Rich.

A close-up of my dad.

A flattering picture of my sister-in-law Ellie.

At every event we go to where there is a cake,

Rich "leaves his mark" on the cake and takes

a picture of it. So, apparently this is a photo

of his handy work.

A bug on my brother Mike.

A lovely profile picture of my brother Matt.

A close-up of cousin Aimee's ear.

A nice shot of Uncle Bob trying to take a picture.

Rich also took a few other pictures and after Hailey's nap I took over the camera. So, come back tomorrow to see the few good pictures I did get.

A Day At The Park

Last weekend we had some great weather and

we were able to spend a day at the park.

We started out by having a picnic lunch.

Then we relaxed next to the water.

Rich explained to Hailey why he must

convince me that we need a boat.

We watched the boats coming in. Hailey pointed out the boat she liked best. We finished up the day at the swings while
Hailey enjoyed wearing Rich's hat to keep
the sun out of her eyes.

He Said #2

The other day I said to Rich, "Did you notice that the neighbors across the street are having new siding put up?"

Rich replied, "Hmmm."

So I said, "There's people over there ripping off the old siding. I wonder if they are going to get new insulation too."

Rich replied, "MmmmHmmm."

Later on, the very same day, Rich said to me, "Hey, did you see that the neighbors across the street are having new siding put on?"

The Story of Us

I met Rich my senior year in high school. We started dating a couple of months after we met and our first "official" date was to my senior prom.

Aren't we cute?

After 5 short years of dating, Rich finally proposed to me in December of 1999. (Actually, Rich waited, very wisely, until I was done with college before he proposed.) Since I wasn't in a big hurry or anything I immediately started planning a July 2000 wedding. Rich wanted to wait until the summer of 2001, but I explained to him that it would be easier for him to remember how many years we had been married if we were married in the year 2000. Finally Rich my mom and I decided that July 15th 2000 would be the wedding date.

We (my mom and I) planned a wonderful outdoor ceremony that would take place in the midst of some very beautiful gardens at the Owego Treadway Inn. We only had 7 months to get everything planned so we were two very busy ladies trying to get everything done. Each Saturday during the months of May, June, and July the weather was spectacular- sunny and beautiful. Then the week of our wedding it started pouring on Tuesday and did not stop. We were sure that it would stop in time for the wedding, but alas it did not. The morning of the wedding several people scurried around to move the ceremony to an outdoor covered patio. Everything turned out perfectly and the ceremony was beautiful even with the rain. And, as the pastor told us that, "A wet knot is harder to untie."

Exchanging rings

Lighting the Unity Candle

The kiss

Married!

Our cake

First dance

Us

Later that day the rain stopped, so we

were able to get a few pictures outside.

Me, Rich & Brooke

Us with the ring bearer and flower girl

The wedding party

7 wonderful years later.

Happy 7th Anniversary Hun! I love you!

Honor Your Husband 30 Day Challenge- Week #3

This week Christine is challenging us to make sure we are focusing on interdependence as opposed to independence in our marriages. She included this great quote on her post today:

Godliness is selflessness, and when a man and a woman marry, they are pledging to stop viewing themselves as individuals and start viewing themselves as a unit, as a couple. In marriage, I am no longer free to pursue whatever I want; I am no longer a single man [or woman]. I am part of a team, and my ambitions, dreams, and energies need to take that into account.
Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage

I will continue to work on my goals that I set before. You can view them here and here.
I will also be adding some new goals this week.

• As Christine challenged, I will focus on us as a couple instead of myself.
• I really need to work on my attitude towards Rich. I am going to try to act lovingly and positively in the way that I speak and in my body language.
• I am going to spend more time with Rich. In order to do that I am going to have to cut back on my blogging. (I can hear you gasping in disbelief.) As a blogaholic this will be difficult for me. One rule that I am making is- no more blogging on the weekends. Weekends will be for family time only. If you are looking for my Sunday Seven you will not find it anymore. Instead I am going to join the Thankful Thursday group. It's basically the same type of meme but I will be able to do it on Thursdays instead of Sundays. I will also cut back on my evening blogging. Usually once Hailey goes to bed I blog until I go to bed. From now on, no more blogging after 9pm. I will do my blogging during Hailey's nap times, after my chores are done. So, if it seems like you are seeing little less of me around here- it's because I'm busy focusing on my hubby!