French Lick and Father's Day

Have I told you how much I LOVE weekends!!! Well I do:) Friday we went out to my mom & dad's to get my eyebrows waxed before they came the UNIBROW and we visited with them for awhile before heading home to get the grass spread before the storm came in. And let me tell ya, I was up at 3:45 checking to make sure that storm wasn't going to be more than just a storm...ugh. I thought we were going to end up in the basement.

Anyway, we got up and got ready to head to the wonderful town of French Lick to meet up with some friends (Georgina and her grandson Kody). It was just a day to do about anything, so that is what we did. We meant at West Baden and looked around the hotel and Georgina gave us a tour and told us a couple of interesting facts about the hotel. We tour the gardens, which were very pretty & took some pictures of the kids running around.

Then is was off to lunch at a WONDERFUL resturant, Diary Queen. Have you ate there? You must go, it was very good;) We sat, eat, and talked until everyone was done and ready to go. So, we headed to French Lick Resort & Casino...We were hoping the kids would bring us some luck in the slots, BUT we thought we better wait to teach them the trick until the were older enough to count money, so we opted to tour the hotel, the pool (wish we brought our bathing suits), and the gardens. Took some more pictures and after a time stopping afternoon it was time to call it quits. But I thought I would say that I thought I probably wouldn't see anyone there that I knew, but after walking out of a store, I saw someone very familiar, but thought "Do I know her". Then I hear Matt say "hey"...Yep I did know her, it was a fellow blogger and friend doing the samething we were doing touring the hotel.

After telling our friends bye, we headed to the new hotel to take a quick peak of the waterpark they built. It was neat and Grace can't wait to go there someday. Once we arrived home we headed to the pool to relax and splash around a bit. After supper we headed out for a bicycle ride. We didn't have anything to put Izabelle in except for a toddler backpack, so we are looking for one of those carts that you can hook up to the bike. You wouldn't know of anyone getting rid of theirs do ya???

The day seemed to be a day that the minutes were slowly ticking away and it just lasted as long as we wanted to. By time bed rolled around we were exhausted:)

Today, we missed church (sorry Shawn), we had ALL the intentions of going, but just didn't make it. We headed to Matt's parents to enjoy Father's Day with his dad and have lunch then it was off to my parent's house. My mom bought a kiddie pool last summer to send to Grant in Iraq, but somehow she didn't get it sent, so we opened that baby up, blowed it up, and put water in it (well Grant did all the work...Thanks bubby). The kids LOVED it...Amanda and I sat by the pool and got some sun, it was HOT, but I did get somewhat of a tan. When dad got home from work it was time for some PIZZA and to get cooled off. We had such a wonderful day and weekend...I can't believe the weekend is gone and the work week will be beginning.

Here are some pictures of our weekend:

We HAD to take a picture of this couch in all places the ladies' room @ West Baden. Grace couldn't believe the bathroom was so big and had a couch in it.

My girls Kody & Grace
You can see that Izabelle was pulling them along

Grace pretending to be a princess walking down the stairs...Leaving Prince Charming behind.
Me and kids cooling our feet in the spring...The water was COLD.
I think Daddy took this picture of Grace posing...Watch out Vogue Family picture at French Lick Resort

What I found after leaving the parking garage.

Daddy & his girls. Happy Father's Day:)

Kids playing at my parent's house

Until Next Time...

God Bless

Jess

Potty Training & Big Girl Bed

We have been having some BIG milestones getting accomplished over the past couple of days. We have been potty training Izabelle for the past couple of weeks, and I am proud to announce that Izabelle has been wearing panties, yes you read it right, panties for the last couple of days. She has only had a few accidents during the day. She does wear protective gear at night time, but I do have to say she has been keeping dry on some of the nights. Grace has been such a big help, she congratulates Izabelle and gives her such good reinforcement after she goes. My little girls are getting so big.




Another milestone we accomplished was taking Izabelle's crib apart and making it into a day bed on Saturday night, so she is now in a BIG GIRL BED. I laid her down said our prayers, covered her up, and gave her bunch of kisses, oh I told her to stay in bed until morning and she said "k". I was thinking as soon as I left that she would get up, but nope she wriggled and jiggled around until she was just right and went of to dream land. Last night we had a different story and didn't want to sleep in her bed and she roped daddy into laying with her for a bit. Soon after she was asleep.





Here is a picture of my big girl in her big girl bed:

Until Next Time...

Jess

P.S. Moms I need some cooking advice. I am thinking about freezing meals and I was wondering what are the best meals to freeze and the best containers to freeze them in. If you could email me at jessgingerich@hotmail.com that would great. Thank you:)

Update and Some Exciting News

Well, I started week 2 of dance lessons and let me tell you, these girls are wonderful. They were asked to perform for the vacation bible school program on Sunday, so Tuesday we worked on the song that they were given (Indescribable) and we were able to get a little over a minute routine. They worked hard; I might have to stop by there on Sunday to watch. Great Job Girls!!!!

I haven’t updated about our family in the last couple of days. Friday, we went out to my parent’s to see their new puppy. Someone, I guess, dropped it off in the country and this little puppy wondered into their yard. Of course my brother was the first one to see it, so I guess he has claim on it now. Although my girls LOVE this little puppy, we were not able to persuade Uncle Grant to let us keep him. That is okay, it will give us an excuse to come and see him, especially when he gets into his house. Izabelle kept holding the puppy, then putting him down, and then picking him up again, over and over again. She was out on the porch most of the night just sitting with him…It was too cute!!! Saturday we went back out to their house, since Matt went to a tractor pull 2 ½ hours away, so we went to a local greenhouse and found a beautiful planter full of flowers, and then we headed to Jasper for some shopping and came back to visit with my parents, brother and Amanda. It was fun to watch Grant playing with the girls. Him and Grace had races and had a water fight. It was HILAROUS!!! I can’t wait until he gets married (hopefully to Amanda) and have babies.

Speaking of babies…I have some exciting NEWS…Oops, wait before you go there, I am NOT preggers. Although I would LOVE to be on the preggers wagon, I don’t think it’s the right time for us, well me. The girls and Matt do LOVE to have a baby. But this will help the urge…I am staying home 3 days a week now and going to babysit for a 4 month old baby. I can’t wait…We will be meeting the family on Saturday, so they can get to know us and see our home. I have wanted to do this since Izabelle was born and now I am making it a reality after 2 years. I will still be working at my current job, but I will be working on Tuesday and Thursdays, so that I can keep a good relationship with this company and keep Treva (our current babysitter). My girls are excited, especially Grace she has wanted mommy to stay home for awhile now. I can’t wait. This morning when we were getting ready for vacation bible school she said “Mommy, we can’t go to bible school, what about the baby”.

So, if any of you have any money saving tips, please let me know. I know I talked to someone last night about this and she gave me some advice about our Dish. I wanted to get rid of it, but she said that I would be able to contact them and get just the local channels, which are basically the channels we watch now. But any other tips would be greatly appreciated.

Until Next Time…

God Bless

Jess

FOR SALE

I am going to take advantage of this wonderful world called the Internet to do my biddng for me, so with me saying that I will continue to say I would LOVE to have a yard sale but right now I really don't have time and somehow I don't make much at them or I don't sell much, (I might do one at the end of the summer for fall stuff, maybe) its whatever. So, I figured I would pass the word that I am selling all, well most, of my girls 0-18 months clothes, shoes, etc. I am also selling my carseat and stroller combo that I used with both of my girls, so if anyone know of anyone that needs one please let me know. It can be for either gender and I will try to get a picture up.

You can email me at jessgingerich@hotmail.com and we can set up a time for you to shop til you drop (I have a lot to get rid of).

Jess

5 6 7 8...

This is something that has been churning in my mind for several months now. Well since I was first introduced to it last summer. After doing two Worship dances over Christmas, there has been interest in doing more and alot of ladies have mentioned that their daughters would love to do this. So, as of last Tuesday I have been giving dance lessons to a couple of girls at my house. We are having practice once a week for the months of June and July and then in August we will have a show for thier family and friends and a performance at a nursing home. I am very excited and nervous at the same time...I really have never gave "official" dance lessons before. I am hoping and praying that I am able to accomplish what I am indeeding and that the girls will be able to learn and be proud of what they have accomplished.

I will keep you all updated

Until Next Time...

God Bless

Jess

Bad Habits

Nothing like teaching the girls bad habits at an early age.

Here they are cramming everyone in a small vehicle...I can see them piling all their friends in one little car when they get their license. Watch OUT!!!!

And here is Izabelle doing two bad habits at once. What can I say we are teaching her to multitask at an early age...Isn't this what employers look for?

God Bless

Jess

My Izabelle

It was May 31st, 2007 almost exactly two weeks since we moved into our new house that I started to have irregular contractions. They would start getting regular then they would stop, then a couple of hours later they would start back again. So that afternoon my sister came over and I told her what I was feeling. Pretty much I felt that everything was going to hit the floor, so she called the hospital for me and they told me to come in. That was at 2 in the afternoon, so I called Matt who was out on a job, so I decided I could wait until he got home at 5, so once he came home he took a shower and off we went to the hospital. I was 2 cm dilated and they started me on potossin (sp??). Grace was staying at my sister's house and once we hit the 8 cm mark we called them to tell them to head down to the hospital (actually I think they were already there). That night after hours of hard painful labor pains and failed epideral Izabelle came into this world at 10:59 pm weighing 8lbs and 21 inches. Grace was the first one in the room after we had Izabelle and she was soo excited to see her and Izabelle had a little gift to give Grace. She was excited & amazed that Izabelle knew she liked Polly Pockets. Grace had packed Izabelle a princess crown in the diaper bag, so that Izabelle could be a princess like her.

I can't believe Izabelle is 2!!! Here are her newborn picture, 1 year old and her now. And a video of Grace getting Izabelle to say "Izabelle".

Until Next Time...

God Bless

Jess