.lazy blogger.

So it's been a wild few months! Obviously, I haven't written in forever....but It's not because I'm lazy, tho some people would say that I am. It's because I have been crazy busy. The last blog was one of the saddest days of my life. But since that day alot has happened. What have you missed, you say?? Well, for starters, we got a puppy named Maysie.... Isn't she cute??!! However, that was 3 months ago....and now she looks like this!

She's a monster too. I swear she wants to drive me crazy but I'm hoping it's just a puppy thing...she just loves to play wayyyyyy too much. :)

Next: we moved into our new home! it is beautiful and has way more room than we have ever had. Elle, Ollie and I fit in quite nicely with the humble abode, can't ya tell?
Here's Elle making cupcakes

Here's Elle brushing her teeth in her new bathroom

Here's daddy and Elle playing in our bedroom, sportin the Cubbies gear

Here's Elle playing Hide n Seek with me

Here's Elle playing at the new park....she was terrified!Is it bad that I find this VERY funny??


Next: We had a great 4th of July....Let me explain how it went down. We went to my Aunt's to swim and then after the fun there we left and drove back to Surprise to watch the fireworks. We made it just in time to park and see the fireworks shoot off right in front of us. Elle was a little freaked out but she calmed down. We realized like 13 minutes into the show that we couldn't hear the music from the stadium which made it kind of boring....so what did me and Ollie come up with?? We turned the car on and put our Disneyland soundtrack CD in the CD player. We blasted the last 3 minutes of the FANTASMIC show as the fireworks finale came. It went perfectly and it was the best 4th ever! Only our family could figure out how to mix Disney into everything we do.
Here's a random picture of Elle....There are wayyy too many cute pictures to not put them on here!


I digress.....NEXT: Elle and I, along with my sister in law Missy and her little boy Alex went to the circus. Elle was a little worried at first but as soon as she saw the "eleman" (that's Elle language for Elephant) she calmed right down.

NEXT: I started a new job! yay! I work at Massage Envy with my hubby. He's a therapist there and I am his Sales Associate. Doesn't sound very fancy I know but it makes good money. :) And, not to mention I'm pretty stinkin good at it. Here I am celebrating the launching of our Susan G. Komen day. We had a pink party to kick off the pre-bookings. It was so much fun.
Here's another random cute pic of Elle...How can I not show these??


NEXT: Leo turned 2! I know, it's craziness...he's turning 2 and my sis is about to pop out another one....sheesh...It was so much fun having his Remi party. I mean just check out how much he loved his cake for cryin out loud!

And Lastly but, most importantly....Elle started PRESCHOOL! I know, I know! She just cannot be that big...but she is. I needed to help out financially and Elle really needed to get out and make friends so this was the solution that fit. She absolutely loves going and I am so happy that she is happy. Everyday she sees me she just lights up and I'm so greatful that we have been given the opportunity to do this for her at no expense.
Here she is on her first day of school!
We are so proud of her and everything she is accomplishing at such a young age.

So all in all, we have had a pretty amazing, yet hectic summer and we cannot wait until it cools down. We will be welcoming 2 precious baby girls into the family in October and we are all so blessed. Amy's little girl will be named Sophia Grace and Missy's baby girl is going to be named Katy Elizabeth. We cannot wait for them to be here. So as tired as we are now, it will get more exhausting I'm sure as October rolls around. They are due 1 day apart! yikes! :)

In the midst of the craziness that has been our lives, we had 2 relaxing and fun events. First, Ollie and I went to the midnite showing of Harry Potter...YES, we are Harry Potter fanatics! Ollie is on book 4 now after seeing the latest film. He is loving every minute of them and I am so proud of him for reading a book! haha. The movie was great and we just cannot get enough of them!
Here we are waiting for our awesome movie to start


The other fun event was having some of our co-workers over. We played games and just had a good ole time. Eventually Jess wound up on the floor...it was inevitable. It was so much fun and we cannot wait to do it again!



Randomness at its finest!


So that's our summer in a really long blog. Sorry but I had ALOT to cover.

NEXT UP: Amy's baby shower and Alicia's visit....stay tuned! hee hee.

.the hardest month.

Well, I have not updated in awhile. The month of May has had some of the biggest accomplishments of my life, but also some of the saddest moments. I finished school. I graduated from ASU with a bachelor of arts degree in Psychology. I should be ecstatic about this; don't get me wrong. I am. But it is overshadowed by the clouds that came upon my life on May 5th.

My very beautiful and wonderful friend Melissa had a baby boy 3 weeks before Elle was born. His name was Aiden. He was an amazing little boy and him and Elle were such amazing friends. I took care of him and loved him since the day his mom and I became friends when he was only 5 weeks in her belly. We went to the same doctor, we delivered at the same hospital and we spent every minute together while we were pregnant and, of course, afterwards we made the kids fall in love with each other. I held him in my arms The day he was born and he was beautiful. On that Tuesday, after I completed my finals, my world came tumbling down. I received a call from Melissa's sister-in-law that said Aiden had passed away on May 2nd. He had tragically drowned in the backyard pool.



Needless to say, I didn't believe that she would tell me such a cruel joke. It wasn't until she said it 3 more times that I truly grasped what was happening. It was not a joke. It was the worst imaginable thing. My beautiful friends' 2 year old boy was gone. I part of me died at that moment. I didn't want to freak out on the phone...I'm sure Julie had had enough of that the last couple days of making those horrible phone calls. So I took down the information she gave me, told her to tell Melissa I loved her, and said goodbye. The moment I hung up the phone, I will never forget my reaction. Even right now, it's hard to describe it. The pain is still so unbearable.





I started shaking and I yelled out. The tears came and they didn't stop. Ollie ran in and asked what was going on and through the sobbing I told him what happened to the boy who was like a nephew to us. He couldn't believe it. We sat on the floor for an hour crying. It was pain that I had never felt before.




After calling my family and explaining the situation, we prepared ourselves for the funeral the next day. When I arrived, I saw Melissa. Looking sick and pale...much like I expected her to look. I walked up to her and she just sobbed in my arms. I remember her saying, "Annie...my boy...my baby boy...he's gone". I wanted to be there, strong, for her...but I couldn't. I was weak. I lost control and sobbed with her.

The funeral was worse then I could ever imagine it would be for me. I cannot even imagine how Melissa felt. They had his casket opened and his little body lay there motionless. It was surreal. Too much for me to bear. But then I saw his mother go to him and lay over him and just wept. As I watched this, I realized that no amount of pain that I'm feeling at this moment could match one ounce of what she was feeling at that point in time. I watched Melissa through the whole service. It was so sad and pathetic. Every time she started shaking and crying, I would follow. Her pain was my pain. I wanted to help her somehow so I got up and said some words to her in front of everyone. I needed to tell her what she and Aiden meant to me. I started shaking and couldn't stop. It was so bad but I got through it. After a long embrace...the service started again and then it was over. I said goodbye.






They had one more service for him in Massachusettes and then he was to be cremated. I cannot even begin to imagine what she is going through. What that whole family is going through. All I know for sure is that Aiden is safe and in my Saviour's loving arms right now. He is watching over his mother and is helping her be strong. It's hard having a mind that likes to play tricks on you. I've dreamt about Aiden....about still being alive and running and playing. These dreams turn into nightmares when I wask up and realize that it is all untrue. My mind wanders and then I picture that happening to Elle and those are the moments that I cannot handle this emotion.

I will love that little boy forever and always. Elle will always remember her best friend. Melissa will always be in my heart and I will pray for her strength everyday. This will be the hardest time of her life. I don't know how she will move on from this. BUT she will. I know it in my soul.





For those of you who think this type of tragedy couldn't happen to you....I want you to know that it can. Put a lock and gate around your pool. Supervise your children at all times. No person deserves to go through the pain that she is going through. He was her world and now her world has fallen to pieces. Make sure this does not happen to you, because it only takes an instant...one moment, and your whole world is gone.





My life is going on...we have some happy times with family and friends and school being finished. My accomplishments are great. A 3.67 GPA in school and a bright future ahead. A future that I will most definately not take for granted. I will never take Elle and my husband for granted. They are my life, my world. As a mom, this has affected me deeply. As a person, this has touched my heart in more ways than I can explain. Children are a blessing to us all and we need to cherish every waking moment we have...because it can all be gone, in a blink of an eye.

We love you Melissa, my friend.

Aiden...I will see you again. But for my short time here on Earth, I will miss you terribly. I love you.

.dadda and elle.

So I'm going to be typical and talk about my two favorite people: Elle and Ollie. They had fun this week and I thought I'd post a little bit of what they did. Well first, Elle has crazy hair...it needs to be tamed. So I had to try and figure out the best way to sit her down so I could put braids in her hair, that way it wouldn't get knotty in the morning. This is what I was able to do.

Not bad huh??! Especially when your daughter doesn't want you to EVER touch her hair. :) The second picture is classic cuz it looks like she's completely out of it!













Well their night on Thursday started with just playin around. She loves how much energy Ollie has. Mommy doesn't have that much so when Ollie can play, it's a GOOD day for her. She likes to pretend she's like him too. :) I think she knows her daddy is a cool guy.




He is also obsessed with close-ups! ha!










Ollie found her sunglasses and she just wanted to wear them all night long. Kind of looks like Stevie Wonder. haha.


Well then Ollie got this "GREAT" idea to play dress up. He went and grabbed her dress up clothes and tried to put them on her. This is what ended up happening....
Yea, she is screaming mad. She did NOT want that dress on but Ollie insisted so here is the demon child coming out. Thanks alot Ollie. That was tons of fun. :P



The night ended with Ollie calming her down, he's such a good daddy, by playing some Wii. ANYTHING can be fixed by turning on the Wii.


Here Ollie is trying to teach Elle how to golf. I think she's got it! BTW, that's what her hair looks like when she decides to take the braids out. Lovely huh? Well at least the tangles aren't there. :)



It's been a rough week. Me and Elle have both been sick. Usually I have the energy and stamina to take care of her but when I am not feeling good it is really hard to accomplish that task. Thank goodness Ollie didn't have to work today because I was able to sleep in while he took care of her. I feel bad. He works so much and hard and I know he just wants to rest, but here he is taking ccare of his girls. It's nice to have that devotion. Hopefully this next week is a little better. Easter is right around the corner and I want to feel TEN TIMES better by then, so I'm determined to make it happen. I guess that will be my next post! For the time being, hope you enjoyed the collection of my hubby and baby on their days together. :)