She's a Perfect 10 :)

Yep, time for another birthday in the OH YOUNGER household!

Miss Boo hit double digits on March 10th!! (yeah...took me awhile to post about it!)

She chose Outside the Lines for her party - a pottery painting place.

 She had her friends Addison, Samantha, Ashlee, Abby, Jaden and Reyann all attended.

 AND Silas :)  We had an extra spot and he chose to come - though I think there were some times that he regretted that decision!

 Then, all the girls came over to our house and spoiled Ella with many gifts.

 

And a Dairy Queen ice cream cake.

 

 And then she had all the girls sleep over.  It was a looooonnggg night!  I think it was 1:30am before they even started to settle down.

Very hard to believe she is TEN now!

I wish I could go back in time and have this little girl back...just for a bit...because I remember how insanely crazy she drove me at this age!!

I hope that 10 is a wonderful, fun-filled year for you Miss Ella Boo!! Love you so, so much!

Lordy Lordy...That Whole 40 Thing

We are gathered here today...to celebrate...another birthday.  Seems that birthdays and holidays are all we get now on this here blog.  Boo.  Life sucks when you have to work and take care of kids all day and cook, do laundry and clean, then more work and don't have time to blog...(kidding...ish)

We had the pleasure of ringing in a new decade for my wonderful husband this past week! 

The BIG 4.0. !!

He picked one of his favorite things...hanging out in Hocking Hills.  And it was a perfectly wonderful weekend.  A HUGE thanks for mom, dad and Margie for taking care of my kids, especially since Silas had the flu and was sick.  Probably made him easier to handle though.

And a HUGE thanks to a few friends that made time in their crazy schedules, got sitters for their own kids and battled their own sicknesses to make it for the weekend!

 This cabin was a first for us and we were greeted by a lovely, long driveway that would be hell to get up an ice/snow storm.

And a gorgeous front porch with all these rocking chairs on it.  It was WAY too cold to sit  in them but they looked lovely!

 Had I been sitting in the rocking chairs, I would have enjoyed all of this very nice sunset.  Since it was 20 degrees, I took a step out the front door, snapped this picture and ran back inside.

A hike on Saturday for some (I may have been napping)...Rock Stull, our favorite hiking spot, with some frozen falls.

Followed by a healthy fire, with snow falling all around.  Cold but fun! (and Lee learning to whistle with an acorn :)

and some hot tubbing with Bloody Mary's.

And then MORE fun when we decorated the cabin while Justin was out by the fire after dinner.

And sang the Happy Birthday song...and ate some DELISH carrot cake (thanks to Beth!!)

 Carrot cake is Justin's absolute favorite cake on the planet.  He was a very happy camper!

 

And then, suddenly, it was Sunday and time to pack up and come  home.

The time with friends and celebrating goes WAY too fast. 

So happy that we had the time to share it with my husband and our friends.

(And thanks again to YOU who watched the kids and held down the forts while we were gone!)

Legos and Bowling and Boys...

This whole birthday at Christmas thing is a real pain in the arse! This year we has Si's party on January 26th...a full month after his birthday. But it worked out pretty well because it didn't feel like it was still the holidays, all his friends were able to make it and he was already over the excitement of his Christmas gifts.

He asked for a Lego cake...and I, being "frugal" decided to make it instead of paying a cake making professional.


And we made quite the mess making it!!
But the end result wasn't too bad, at least to the 7 year old.


I know now that I could have done a few things differently to make the icing smoother but 1. I'm not a baker and 2. I'm not much into perfection.


Boys will be boys- and stick their faces in the cake. I wasn't so happy.



But they were and all had a good time. And I'm glad I get another year before doing that again!!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy 2013!!

2013 seems....impossible!!


Ella looks so much older in this picture!


We've been very busy around the house the last few weeks...more cleaning and organizing. I am very excited about the progress that we've made decluttering. Feels good!!

I've picked up with my running again too. I took a couple months off because of hip and hamstring pain but I'm finding it actually feels better if I keep it moving. I've signed up for two 15k (9 mile) runs in March and April. I've got some training to do!
I love running in the winter!





We took Silas' birthday snack in after school started back up. That way it didn't get lost with all the class holiday celebrations. We made snowman cookies that I had seen on Pinterest. I love that site!


This coming weekend we will have the birthday party...better late than never, right?!?

Last weekend I ran and it was 64, in Ohio...in January!! By Monday it was back to 28 and by this weekend I think it's going down to the teens and single digits. Ouch.

Tonight we had a spectacular colored sky...I felt like I should be drinking a Mai tai with it.


I started 2013 of by sitting down and making a list of goals and things that I want to change and focus on. I had about 13 things. Some big, some small. I felt last year was too rushed and harried. This year I plan to slow it down and focus more. Concentrate on the things that mean the most in life.
#1 on my list was to have my parents over for dinner at least monthly. They live just a few miles away and yet I/we felt like we only saw them on holidays. Our first dinner was tacos. Nothing fancy but it was fun and we all enjoyed it!

There are many things on my list for this year that will take time and require that I actually focus a little bit...that might be tough. It's another YOSP for me/us!!
It's a big year in that Mason will graduate in May and start college somewhere (he's leaning towards staying close to home). We will have a big Younger family reunion here in July and then we will be looking at Fall and Christmas again!

We miss Zoe girl. All of us miss her. Silas told me it was too quiet without the nails clicking around on the wood floors. I agree, I notice that too. I also miss her when I come downstairs in the morning. I still look for her in her spot by the front window.

I feel like 2013 is going to be a great year. A couple friends have started the year with some very tough health news and I pray for them that this year turns out happy and healthy for them too.


- Posted using BlogPress (so hopefully all the pictures post okay...)

Where Did 2012 Go???

There are only 2 days left in 2012.  Honestly, I don't much care for how the year went.  Seems like all of 2012 was a blur, I spent it playing catch up at work and at home, and I lacked a lot of motivation...

But anywho, here is what we've been up to:

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year at our house after taking a two-year hiatus. I enjoy having it at our house.

My FB post: This morning I'm thankful that the children who were driving me nuts yesterday, are quietly playing together with a cardboard box (turning it into a spaceship). I'm thankful for a hardworking husband that is just as good at kissing boo-boos and caregiving as he is at building rooms and fixing just about anything. I'm particularly thankful today to feel healthy again. I'll be standing by in a Hazmat suit as Justin prepares the turkey. 
For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.
 ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


Mason had his Senior pictures taken by on of our extremely talented photography neighbors. I procrastinated to the point where we finally HAD to get the year book picture in and she very kindly squeezed him in! I thought they turned out awesome - very "him".

Here is what Lori said about Mason:
Mason - Hilliard Bradley Class of 2013
What a great way to end my Fall senior sessions tonight with this equally handsome and charismatic senior. I was very impressed how comfortable Mason was not just having his photos taken, but how well he kept up a conversation with me. I don't remember being able to talk this well to adults when I was in High School. 

I know the next 5 months are going to go crazy fast as we try to prepare for Mason's May graduation, figuring out college and his 18th birthday in July...phew...scary!!

Sadly, 3 days before Christmas:
FB - We were very blessed to have Zoe as our family companion for 15 years. Today we said good-bye. We will miss our sweet Zoe girl. She'll always be with us though...there's not a chance in hell we'll ever get rid of all the dog hair in this house.

Fifteen years with a pet in your house is a long time.  My kids don't remember a time when she was not with us.  I was looking back at old blog posts and pictures of Zoe and saw this post from 2009.  We will miss her so much :(

With that all going on, I was feeling very unprepared and not much in the mood for Christmas and birthdays.  Christmas Eve morning I was still out finishing up my shopping and hadn't wrapped a thing.
It managed to get all pulled together (by 3am)...

And we had a very nice Christmas morning

The only bummer was that Mason had to work at noon, so he missed the Christmas dinner and festivities at Mom and Dad's. He was less than happy about that...

And on the 26th, we celebrated Silas' 7th birthday!
This boy is growing up way faster than I can keep up with.  My Smiley Siley isn't a baby anymore.

And now it's time to try to recover, clean up, get organized and prepare for a 2013 that doesn't get away from me quite like 2012 did.  It will be a challenge!!

Who Needs Weight Watchers??

I've decided to create my own Infomercial on how to lose 9 pounds in 9 days!  Results guaranteed!  Just lick some raw chicken and the rest will take care of itself...

The Sunday evening before Halloween, I started to feel icky.  My stomach was unsettled and I felt blah. By Monday morning, I was in bed and miserable. Fever, chills, stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting...it was bad.  I figured I had a nasty GI bug and I'd be better in (hopefully) 24 hours.  And then I was hoping I'd be better in 48 hours.  And then by Wednesday, I was so bad that Justin took  me to the ER for IV fluids and medicine.  I could not keep anything at all in my body.  Water and Gatorade went right through me and any form of food at all got thrown up.  It was all I could do to lay in bed and make it to the bathroom when I needed to (which was about every 15 minutes). On Friday night (day 5 of being sick), the ER called me at 9:30pm to tell me the labs had come back and it was salmonella.  I was shocked but that REALLY explained why I felt so terribly horrible for so long.  I went in the next morning and they gave me antibiotics.  The entire next week I was still having symptoms and pain so I got to go in for a CT scan to make sure my appendix and other innards weren't infected.  Luckily, all looked good.  After 2 full weeks and 9 or 10 days with no solid food...I was beginning to feel better.
When I was really sick the first week, Ella made this sign to go on the bedroom door:

One of the best decisions made was to go ahead and go on my Hocking Hills trip with book group towards the end of week 2.  Donna offered to drive me there and back, and I could lay around there just as easily as at home.  It was GREAT to get out of the house and away from the sick bed.  The change of scenery did me good, as did all the food that everyone brought.  It really jump started my appetite again and I was able to eat again and get some calories in me.
I sat on the wonderful porch at our cabin/house and soaked in the sun and read magazines.  I took a couple small walks and dozed off when I felt nappy. I got to stare off at the cows...

and watch the pretty grasses blow in the wind....

and breath a little deeper on my walks around the property...

 

It was exactly what I needed for a healing weekend.

and I'm sure that Justin was ready to get me out of the house too...

While I was sick, Justin took total care of the house and kids, while trying to work too.  It really kicked his ass.  Together, we really do a great job of dividing and conquering.  That one of us was totally down for the count made both of us realize how lucky we are to work so well together.  It really made to think about my health and being more proactive in keeping BOTH of us healthy.  

Unfortunately, while I was sick, Ella was also not feeling so hot.  She must have had some kind of stomach bug (she did not have salmonella symptoms).  She got sick an hour before Trick or Treat and did not get to go :(

Silas was sad that we didn't go with our neighbor friends like we usually do.  Mason took him around the neighborhood but it was a bummer of a Halloween for all.

Silas did look good in his costume though - which luckily Aunt Amanda was able to help him figure out how to get it on!

Ella's very cute costume will have to wait until next year now...

In the week leading up to my Salmonellaism (which I still have no idea where I got it), we finished up soccer for both Ella and Silas.

We have a couple months off before they both start indoor soccer in January.

I ran my 3rd Half Marathon the Sunday before the sick Sunday.  It was not my best time of the 3 (2nd best time) but it was mentally the easiest of the 3 and the most fun.  I ran with a few friends and it really seemed to make the miles fly by. 

   

Heather and I crossed the finish together.  So fun 

running with her!

We also managed to squeeze in our annual pumpkin patching - and Mason's girlfriend, Yamine, came with us.  

 And for Halloween, Justin and I dressed up as Flo and Mayhem (the insurance commercial characters).

(sorry about the blurry pics)

So that is the last month...I hope to never repeat that salmonella (or anything resembling it) ever again!!