Saturday, January 31, 2009

Best Day EVER!

So the excitement has not waned since this morning. I am still just as excited now as I was when I posted this morning, and still a little bit in disbelief that I was standing in the same ballroom today as Buddy Holly did nearly 50 years ago. You may be asking yourself why I am so excited or how I even know anything about Buddy Holly, well it all began on a school night many many years ago....
The year was 1991 and my mother (the awesome gal she is) let me watch The Buddy Holly story, starring Gary Busey. I remember vividly watching it and realizing that it was way past my bedtime but mom let me stay up anyway, so I could watch the end. As she tucked me into bed that night she told me that she has one of Buddy Holly's albums and that I could listen to it sometime. I am pretty sure that I started listening to them the very next day after school. So after listening to the record for a while, skips and all, my mother transferred the record from the record player onto a blank tape so I could take it with me in a new Walkman anywhere. I remember listening to them all the time, memorizing the music word for word, skips and all. I would go roller skating around our Texas subdivision all the time, my sisters and I would choreograph dance shows to the songs. My personal favorite was jumping off, probably an antique, table or buffet right when Buddy Holly starts singing at the beginning of "Oh Boy", still one of my favorite songs to this day. Fast forward to years later, we live in Iowa now and I was in Carrol for some reason, in a CD shop, and I found two CDs of Buddy Holly's. I bought them with my own money, and was oblivious to the incredulous look the clerk probably had on his/her face at the surprise of a 13 year old buying a Buddy Holly CD. I now vividly remember having to relearn all of the words to the Buddy Holly songs, without the skips. My sisters and I had a whole new set of songs to choreograph. Only at this point in our life, we were hooked on figure skating from the 1994 winter Olympics, so instead of dancing we would figure skate (with socks) around our large living room, moving furniture when necessary. Our favorite song to skate to then-"Raining in my Heart". You can rest assured that our kids have already learned how to carpet skate to this song!



Even with all of these great memories, today has definitely been the highlight of years and years of devotion to a man that died when my mother was 4. It was so amazing being around people that also love Buddy Holly and his legend and it was cool to listen to the stories they had to tell about his life and what they knew about him. Also, to stand in such a historic place was truly awe inspiring. The highlight of my day had to be shaking the hands of the original Crickets, after standing in line for like an hour, it was finally my turn to get something signed, and talk to them and I was completely speechless! Finally I just said, "You guys are awesome and I love you guys!" It was pretty neat! Another cool thing was getting my picture taken with a Buddy Holly look alike.

It was really neat to get to pass this down to my own children. So many people came up to us and talked to us because of our children, but one especially stood out; he said thank you to us for bringing them and told us to make sure they grow up with this music in their lives. Don't worry, sir, I will do my best to pass down the awesome gift that my mom passed down to me, thanks again Mom. You Rock!

I'm So Excited

And I just can't hide it! (no I am not cleaning my house, that was yesterday) Today we are driving two hours in a car with three children 4 and under. Why is that exciting? Because we are going to Clear Lake, Iowa to see the Surf Ballroom commemorate Buddy Holly!!! I have loved this guy since my mom let me stay up past my bedtime in the fourth grade to watch the movie made about him! More to come later! I am so excited!!!!!!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A Sad Day

No it isn't really a sad day, in fact, it is a special day-today is my father's 54th birthday! The kids called him this morning, and it just amazes me how fast Peyton is growing, he practically led the song. It was super cute, at least I thought so. Hopefully dad enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday Dad/Papa

On a sad note, my sister Kaela just called me, Ronnie Cedeno is no longer a Cub. I told Ronni and Peyton and all they could say was why? I don't know, kids, probably because the Cubs are intent on breaking our hearts! Now I know how my mom felt when they traded Mark DeRosa.
(a funny note about above picture, after taking this picture mom made a comment how she wanted another one because she didn't really want to be holding a drink- "we need to have a picture of us we can display," so we took about a dozen more, I could post them but a few of them are pretty embarrasing... In anycase, I was going to publish one of those till I noticed the hat Dad was wearing- Mom, I don't think you should be worried about whether or not you guys are holding drinks!)

Monday, January 26, 2009

One more thing

I forgot to mention that Tim won a medal while he was down in Kansas City. bet you didn't know there was FuToN olympics... what will they think of next?! 

We survived

The weekend is over and we all survived. Honestly, I wasn't sure how Tim was going to, I didn't know it was possible to play that many video games and drink that much beer in one weekend and still live to tell the tale. Enough about that, I am over it, really...

As for the rest of us, we had a pretty good weekend. We went over to my parents house and had a movie marathon with my sister Kaela. I also didn't know it was possible to watch that many movies in one weekend. My sister and I were upstairs and the kids downstairs, it was crazy watching that many movies, if not a bit boring, but you do what you gotta do to pass the time. The kids loved it! Although, all the junk food may have sabatoged my chances at winning the biggest loser this week. Tim and I are in a weight loss competition with my sister, Kelly and her husband. Tim and I's chances are pretty much shot for the weekly prize this week, but I guess we already know who was the biggest loser this weekend...

I have to say the highlight of my weekend was definitely church. Kaela and I decided to go to church at my church this weekend because the Bishop was there celebrating Mass for the installment of our new priest. It was awesome, he gave all the children in his Communion line an individual blessing and gave a special shout out to young parents who make the sacrifice to make it to church every week with their little ones. He insisted that the yelling and screaming and talking was music to his ears. I am not going to accuse our Bishop of lying so I will appreciate his comments and remind myself of them every sunday, they are making music, right? I have to admit, though, the best part of the whole weekend was when the Bishop was sitting down with his hat and his staff and Peyton looked at me and said and I kid you not, "Mom, I want to be a Bishop when I get big!" I was speechless.

My future successor to the Apostles

Friday, January 23, 2009

Mother of Four

No I am not announcing that I am pregnant... Just thought I would throw that out there, now commencing with my post...

So one of my children has left me. After I packed his lunch, a 12 pack of diet pepsi a bag of doritos, gave him his favorite blankey and pillow and made sure he had all of his favorite games, as well as church clothes, I sent him down the road to Kansas City for FuToN Weekend; Crappy Beer Edition. Yep that's right, my oldest child has left me for a weekend of XBOX, Booze and Magic the Gathering. Honestly, I don't think my husband will ever out grow his college days... Oh well, I guess Old Milwaukee is cheaper than Scotch...
A picture of my oldest
This picture is from FuToN Christmas 2006
In other news, the rest of us are doing great! I just made my very first batch ever of peanut butter cookies and we will spend the weekend eating junk food and playing some games of our own probably. Ronni and Peyton do a pretty good job playing with one another now. It is amazing the difference just a couple of months make. They used to be unable to play well together at all, it always ended in yelling and screaming (me yelling, them screaming) now it only ends in screaming about half of the time! : ) Below is a picture of Ronni and Peyton playing Ants in the Pants. They are playing it on a car mat we received from my mom and dad for Christmas, the most popular toy in our house right now. Thanks again mom and dad!

And a picture of the littlest because she is just becoming so darn cute! I just want to share her with everyone. I hope everyone has a great weekend. I am sure Tim will and the other three children and I should be just fine.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

They Grow So Fast

So it has been kind of crazy around here, what with being holed up in what seems like a little box, for the majority of the past three weeks. It is no wonder I dream of warmer climates (and a bigger house) at night.
We had a special guest over last night. My aunt Ann (my dad's sister) came over so we could teach her a little bit about her new iPod Touch. Sometimes it is nice to have someone new over to your house to give you a little perspective. Maybe the crazy is mostly in my head... I thought that bedtime last night was nuts, and the kids were naughty coming out three or four times and I was secretly worried that our guest would get annoyed with the kids. After the iPod lesson was over, Ann commented on how easy the kids went to bed, REALLY!?!?! It is probably pretty amazing the difference between what you see when it is your kids and what is actually actual. Okay, Genny, Step back and realize, they are 3 and 4 and they grow so fast, no need to stress about a silly bedtime routine...
Speaking of they grow so fast, Felicity, is growing so fast. We just went to visit our friends little baby, she was two weeks old, and so tiny, to us that is, she had already gained a pound, so she seemed big to her parents... talk about perspective. Well this is our little girl, she isn't so little anymore and it is amazing the change (to us) in three months.
Felicity at two days



Felicity at three months

(with Bethany, speaking of growing fast)




Saturday, January 17, 2009

Ronnie Cedeno

So we are big Cub fans, as well as being big Buffalo Bills fans. I am not sure what part of our genetic makeup calls us to be attracted to teams that will ultimately break our heart, but I guess that is the pain we live with... as well as pass down to our children.

So Tim calls me on his way home from work the other day and told me that Ronnie Cedeno, our children's favorite Cub player, signed a one year extension. So I proceed to tell Ronni and Peyton the good news and Peyton shouts, "Ronni, your going to play for the cubbies this year!" Later that night as Peyton was brushing his teeth he was singing "Go Cubs Go", they are well on their way to a lifetime of disappointment.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

There is a first time for everything

So I am blogging. I think it will be a lot of fun. Like I said, there is a first time for everything. We will know how successful my blogging campain is if there is a 2nd or 3rd or 4th time. I really want to keep it up, I think it will be nice for granparents to read silly stories and see pictures as well as an easier way for me to write down stuff for my kids to read. I think once a year I will print my posts (if I can) and put it in a binder so the kids can look at the pictures and stuff. Much easier than writing in their journals!! Anyway, I hope you have fun reading my blog, I am not sure how much will be all that interesting, then again it is a blog about a four year old a three year old and a 3 month old, life doesn't get more interesting than this!