Veggie Run

Came home from work tonight, got my usual attack from my offspring, both 2 legged and 4 legged ;)
Took over making dinner for Tim to find out the fresh green beans i had bought at the store just last week had grown mold on them - BLAH! We do not live within walking distance of a store..too bad because it was a very nice evening tonight. So it's the trip to the country store a few miles away. So annoying when its just  veggies, milke or something so small that you need. Plus they have some crazy hours. Ok so then i get there, starving I might add and they have a delish fresh potato wedge smell all thoughout the store - give me them all NOW!! Ha!...i wish. Instead of some yummy fresh veggies, we had to settle for creamed corn in a can (which i love) because they don't have much freshness to their market. I asked who wanted to come to the store with mommy and the only one to answer was... (actually Ayden ended up coming along to)

She's always down for a car ride with the window down, snout out the window, slobber flying against the back window and sooo mad that she cant come in the store with me. I love our car rides!
You know what i also love about our car rides...sometimes Chloe likes to hop on my lap when we go away and im driving. This was perfectly fine about 6 years ago. She doesnt realize she is twice her size and weight these days. But thats not my point. My point is that when shes sitting on my lap if im driving and i yell "Cop Chloe"! she instantly jumps down off my lap and sits on a different seat.
I miss my time with Chloe. It used to me just me and her ALLLL the time. Every where i went, she went. I'm sure she's pretty bitter about the new additions that have come in the past 5 years but she never lets it show. She loves Riley and Ayden so much and has since the day they came home. She also loves our adopted dog Smokey..im not sure she has ever picked one fight ever with him.
I'm so glad she doesnt love them enough to dis me at bedtime. Every night she sleeps in the same spot using my leg as her pillow, snoring away. Shes my original princess and I couldnt imagine my life without her. Even if she does have the worst breathe in town! ;)

Famous First....

Yes i know...a looong pause in writing yet AGAIN. I might of as well face it, that posting every day just isn't in my schedule. I will also yet again tell myself that you have to do this Mandy, you will want these posts later in life. To be honest, well why would i lie anyhow? I always seem to find that to be a funny statement - "to be honest" or "honestly?" - Ummm...no, i want you to lie to me. LOL

So I have in my head that I don't want to post pics on my blog until I have completely learned my photo shop and can post professional looking pictures. Since that has not happened yet, i need to not worry about it. Just post on my blog and know that someday, the kids will not be judging if the pics aren't in focus or if the red eye is still there. Maybe someday as we go through the days the pics will start to look better.
I have the expensive camera - that should be good enough, right?

Since I have last posted we have had 2 mentionable first time events. One for each child come to think of it.
Let's talk about Rileys first. Her first preschool birthday invite!! March 26, 2011 at the Universal Fitness Center for her friend Chloe. It also was a surprise. I was so excited to tell Riley about the party that Friday before the actual surprise, when I knew that she would not see Chloe again before the party. Little did I know, so was Tim. He gets to pick her up from preschool. By the time I got home, walked in and said "guess what we're doing tomorrow Riley?", her reponse wasn't the "what mommy, what are we doing?" that i was hoping for. Instead, my excitedness crashed smack dab to the floor when gher response was "We're going to Chloe's surprise birthday party and I'm going tonite to get her a gift"
I was pretty bummed. Tim however, was not. He had the biggest grin on his face that just said "hahahahaha, i got to tell her" Anyone say "Competition?" It's on now!!
Riley is a super shy girl. She is getting alpot better, but there are still some things that she just won't budge on. Random things. One happened to be at this birthday party. They had a huge bounce house type thing (see pics) that had a rope wall to climb to get to the slide and in turn, get out. She would just barely get in, let alone go anywhere near the climbing part. There were even females helping. We still aren't sure exactly what her fear was because she doesn't tell. She just refuses to get in. Ayden loved it however. The rest of the party she enjoyed..YAY!!! Here are some pics.

Man this post is long!
So our 2nd famous first is brought to you by Ayden. My sweet little Ayden...where did you go??
He has that boy factor starting to come out. I have to say, it is cute and yes at times even funny. Buuuut - we do gotta stop some things from happening. One of them is hitting Riley (well anyone for that matter).
One night, right after dinner he walked right up and hit her for no reason. What did this lead to - his first time to stand in the corner. Come to think of it, i dont think he has done it since. At least that I found out about.

                                         
The second one here is daddy making sure Ayden knew why he was standing there. :(

Too much to headline

 Hello blog! How i have missed you. I do think about you often and store things in my head to write, they just rarely make it to ya.

 Lately we have been working pretty much 10 hours a day. It's draining. That's the best way to describe it. I am lucky enough to be able to use an hour of vacation here and there as i wish. Today I used one of those hours. It's amazing to me how much smoother my life can be when I get out of work at 4pm. Tonight I was able to run to Old Navy after work, go get the kids, come home to dinner being ready, eat dinner, pack the kids up for a drive to Lowe's (where i purchased my new toy, a Dyson), stopped for slushies, come home, give baths, brush teeth, read a book and enjoy getting the kids to bed. No rush thru this, no saying no to some of the goofy moments the kids like to have. I would LOVE to be able to have this life everyday. Maybe someday, maybe?

Speaking of that drive to Lowe's..let me share a little "secret'" i heard this evening.
While pulling into our driveway, Riley says to me "Mom, I wanna tell you something but you cannot tell anybody. Just me" So of course my ears are ready and i say "ok honey, tell me"
"Brayden and Chloe are boyfriend and girlfriend! Isn't that amazing??" (these are 2 kids in Rileys high school preschool class) You know what i did..what any mom would do of course. Slowly got out of the car, ran to the side of the house and called my mom and good friend Becki to tell!! LOL The way she told me and just the fact that in PRESCHOOL, we're already talking about boyfriends and girlfriends. I am just very greatful that the secret didnt end with Brayden being Rileys boyfriend.

I dont have any new pics to post today because I recently had my hard drive crash on me, losing all of my pictures. I did get them retrieved, but I have not loaded them back on.

I will say goodnight for now, tomorrow brings another 10 hour day. Yipppeeee!!!

To Infinity and Beyond...or Bed??

Sunday thru Thursday this is to be MY bed. However, this is what i wake up to beside me pretty much every morning. Ayden, Buzz Lightyear English, and Buzz Lightyear German. He starts in his own bed, but usually by 3am he and his crew trail over, asked to be helped into bed and while half, maybe more than half still in dreamland we tuck Buzz English and Buzz German in between us and then i tuck ayden in and we all happily dream together. ;)

My first

February 22, 2006. Ohhhh wow! I remember that day so much. Even nitty gritty details and for those that know me, you know that is totally out of the norm for me. I always tell my friends that i will be the first with alzeimers because i have the WORST memory. Anyhow, back to what this post is about. Riley. The girl that has stole my heart from the day that we found out she was coming. I won't go into ALL of the details from that day, since it is already written all over books and journals I have from then. What I will get into though is how we just passed February 22, 2011. Really?? For Real? Did anyone see that happen?
Where did this go??

I have a very hard time some days gripping the fact that the kids are growing so fast. I sit in bed at the end of the day and wonder "Did I do everything that I possibly could with the kids today?" Most days, I feel like the answer is no. Then the next day comes, we scramble to get out the door so i can get to work on time, I rush home with butterflies in my stomach because I know they will be yelling "MOMMY!!" and waiting for me at the top of the stairs, and then it begins....

Riley is mad about this, she doesn't want this that way or even want it period, she does want something and she wants it NOW as if the world was ending. And then...dinner, clean up dinner, baths, teeth brushing, story time, and OMG its 9:30 you have got to get to bed. And then the whole saga about the next day before this one has even ended..."NO Mom! I am NOT going to preschool tomorrow". Lights are out and guess what...we do it all again the next day.
Next thing i know, she will be 16 years old.

For now though she is my 5 year old. I love this girl sooo much. Everything about her (again, minus that tude she can surely let loose). She is so Smart. Beautiful. Helpful. Caring. Funny. Loving. and she is one of the shyest girls i know. Getting better though. Some things that she asks at this age and things she says just makes me laugh most of the time.
The other day driving she asked me "Mom, when babies get pulled out of their mommies, how do the mommies get their skin back together again?"  So we had a loong discussion on "the real" scenarios of child birth. Then just today i heard this conversation between Riley and Ayden. Mind you, I was not listening to the beginning unfortunately so I have no idea what started this.
Riley "no you didn't Ayden, you came out of mommies belly and I came out of her vagina" WOW. So my little parrot Ayden, repeats her. "Oh yeah, I came out of her belly and your head came out of her vagina." When i said earlier that I had a talk about "real" birth. It did not come up in discussion about how either of them entered into this world, so she got me there.
Her favorite shows are on the Discovery Channel. Her and Tim will sit for hours and watch those programs. She loves to learn and she does listen to fine detail.
To celebrate Rileys 5th birthday, we had 15 of her close friends and also new friends from preschool at a local bowling alley for a party. It was a great time and she had a blast.
I look forward to watching her grow and learn more. I look forward to seeing her learn life lessons and just seeing where life takes her in general. For now...I am going to enjoy every moment of my first born. Riley Elizabeth Hilgert <3

                                            

Was i excited to get it, yes!

With weekdays like this though, time energy just isn't on my side. Work = 10 hours. Dinner = Bratwurst, buttered noodles, & peas (thanks Tim). Had the kids get undressed for shower time, 1/2 hour later they were still running around the house naked. Shower time, little bit of play time, bed time routine. Now - Teen Mom for me (pathetic??) and then finally I opened it.. My Photo Shop Box. I want more time for me but i NEVER want the kids to ever grow up. I love them right where they are (minus a few eensy weensy details).
So i must go now because to use and learn my photo shop, i gotta do more than just take it out of the box.


Oh really quick - Valentines Day!  The kids LOVED getting all of their cool Valentines (so i heard, i wasnt actually present). Riley had "Special friend Day" at school. Aunt Jae got to attend. We had mom over for a delicious spaghetti dinner (thanks again, Tim)


I got Tim a Wii game that he has wanted and he got me, well us (BONUS) a weekend at the Hershey Spa. OMG! Is it may 14th yet? With me working saturdays every other month - May is the soonest he could get us in. Works out - its our 8 year wedding anniversary weekend. I can feel the peace now!

A day late, but not forgotten

We had a busy Saturday that involved me being at work for 8 hours and ended with Riley having her friend Kaydence over for a sleepover. You can view the picture later for an "enough said" on that one!


February 12th is also a special day for us around here. Mr. Hilgert's Birthday!! I think this year I personally didn't make it as special as i should have because i am still overcoming all of the "first" without my dad. I promise to never let that happen again. Mr. H was a great man. I loved him from the moment I met him. (he loved me to)  He had a smile that i just loved and was just the sweetest. He was also one of the strongest men i have met in my life. He was diabetic and had alot of issues because of it. It started with him having a toe amputated. After the 2nd or 3rd on the same foot, the dr's told him he wouldnt be able to walk without a cane/walker or probably use that foot for driving. WRONG. He did it all. Eventually he ended up having to be amputated up to his knee, which then ended his driving. But he fought with all he had until it came to that.


I have alot of special memories with him in the 8 years of knowing him. Too many special ones to mention in detail - but a few are him telling Tim that "that girl likes u" the first time he saw me, him coming over to our apartment for hours, just to hang out, us going to the hospital to tell him we were engaged, our wedding and the speech he gave to me, telling him we were pregnant, my favorite one was taking Riley to meet her grandpa at LGH immediately after we were discharged from the hospital. That was a great moment!
He loved spending every minute he could with Riley and she loved him right back. Unfortunately he didnt personally get to meet our little man Ayden whose middle name Christopher, is after Mr H. We show him pics often so hopefully thru us, Ayden will know him.
I think of you often Mr. H! Thank you for raising such a great son. I hope that Ayden turns out just as great as Tim has!