Hey, it's ME!

So, I sincerely apologize for my lack of blogginess lately. Work has been crazy, life has been crazy...it's just been crazy. By the time I realize I may have a few spare minutes to pen some deep thoughts (and by deep thoughts, I mean random thoughts)...I then realize that my bed sounds much better and thus, the bed wins and no bloggies appear.

With that...let me just give you a few updates.

1. The fabulous Hubs and I just celebrated our 2 year anniversary on November 3. Best 2 years (really 3 years since we dated 1 year prior) of my life. Love that boy more and more everyday! He is so GOOD to me!

2. I can not believe that Thanksgiving is just a mere 2 weeks away. My office Christmas party is 3 weeks away...I'm in charge of it...I need to get on that like ASAP. Time is flying way too fast.

3. I can't for the life of me remember anything these days so there is a very good chance some info I give you...you've already heard. Please forgive my incompetence.

4. My bro and sis-in-law are having another little one...twill be a girl! Aunt Terri is thrilled and can't wait to meet the little Pecenka come January sometime.

5. Would you believe that I have actually started my Christmas shopping already???? That NEVER happens. I'm even done with my sis-in-law (that would be you, miss Keri...and no, I'm not telling you what it is!!). Partly done with my nephew and mother-in-law. I'm so proud of myself. Good job, Terri.

6. I know I have mentioned the playhouse my fabulous Hubs was building for the kiddos. It's done (except for the fact that it needs more paint on the outside but it's too cold to do it now so that will wait until the spring). The girls painted the inside and it looks so cute! They have "officially" moved in...and continue to do so. They have recently made the announcement that everytime they come to our house, they must run out to the playhouse and have a "meeting" before they do anything else. A typical arrival from the girls goes something like this:

• Backpacks left at door.
• Shoes sometimes stay on.
• Coats/jackets sometimes stay on.
• Rushing.
• Quick hellos of "Hi Dad! Hi Terri!"
• Loud announcing "Meeting!! Meeting!! Meeting!!"
• More rushing.
• Out the back door.
• To the playhouse they go.

Oh, and they even have a special hand signal...pounding on chest, hand in the air thing. Oh, AND no boys allowed...except for the dad, of course.

And there you have it.

7. Chloe: Is in the Wichita Children's Choir and had her first concert a couple of weeks ago. The choir has like 88 kids in it...they sounded wonderful. It was very cute and Chloe looked so cute up there singing songs that were so sophisticated and all. She is also taking a cheerleading class at the Y right now and will soon get to cheer at a basketball game. She loves 4th grade and is doing well. The girls stay overnight with us on Wednesdays and just about every Thursday morning, Chloe will hang out in the bathroom with me while I get ready. We just chat about LOTS of things and I love every minute of it.

9. Suzie: Is in the 2nd grade and reading up a storm. I recently went to her class and was a "Mystery Reader". I sent clues to the teacher ahead of time and she read them to the class to see if they could guess who it was. My clues were pretty obvious and Suzie figured it out. It was fun. I read the class a story and then I got to take Suzie out to lunch...McDonald's, of course! She is also taking ballet at the Y right now and loves it. I can't wait to see her first ballet recital. She still LOVES the computer and spends a lot of time on it.

10. Audrey: Ball. Of. Energy. She is currently taking gymnastics and is VERY good. That child has no fear when it comes to the bars. Her favorite activities are the trampoline and the "pit" that is full of chunky foam thingies. They get to jump into it. She is in Kindergarten now and is learning to read already. She brings home these little reader things and will read them to whoever will listen and then she has us all sign it so her teacher knows how many times she read the story. It's cute. She's a funny girl and many times will say "Terri, you're my bestest StepMom!" I. Love. It.

11. Casey: LOVES her new cousin/sister/whatever pooch, Daisy. They play and play and play and play. It's precious.

Okay, I should stop. See, this is what happens when I don't post for like every. But, there you go...a sufficient update. Someday, I may actually even add some pictures or something exciting. We'll see.

In the meantime...toodles!!

Purse Contest...

First off...thanks to my old college buddy, Shelly, for showing me this link...yer swell, girl! Okay, go to this link...

http://www.handbagplanet.com/

and you can register to win a new purse. Don't know bout you but I LOVE me a new purse now and then. So, go for it! Whatcha got to lose?? There gonna give away a new purse every hour for 24 hours. Seriously, how fun is that???????

So...go. GO NOW.

New Addition

I thought I would introduce you to the newest member of the "Pecenka" family. My parents finally caved and got another dog. They just got her today so I haven't even met her yet...nor has our own little Casey met her. I'm hoping they will be fast friends. Although, I'm not sure how Casey will do over at Grandma and Grandpa's now that she'll have some competition. Don't worry, though, both little furballs will be super spoiled.

Anyhoo...this is "Daisy". She is about 1 year old and is a Cairn Terrier and about 15 pounds. Seriously, could she be any cuter???? Except for Casey, of course.

I'll let you know how the first "meeting" of the cute furballs goes...

High Musical...the UPDATE...

Well, I must admit that I rather enjoyed myself quite immensely at the High School Musical on Ice show. And, can I just say...that if you EVER get the chance to do front row of anything...you MUST do it. It was FANTASTIC! We could reach out and touch them (we didn't...but we coulda).

The first half covered High School Musical One and the second half was High School Musical Two. The girls were mesmerized. There were little girls all over the arena dancing, clapping and singing along. It was pretty cute.

HOWEVER, let me just say that we were not impressed with the cost of "stuff". Let me just throw a couple of things at ya...

1 bag of cotton candy (which also came with a plastic hat, yippee) = $12
1 box of popcorn = $7
1 slushee cup thing that lit up = $15

What is that all about??? $12 for cotton candy that probably cost them like 50 cents to make??? Needless to say, our kiddos didn't get any of that stuff. We opted for Braum's after. We probably spent $15 there and got ice cream for 5.

But all of the annoying price pushers aside...the actual ice show itself was a lot of fun. During the break, we took the girls to the restroom and Audrey was "skating" around and saying "I wish this floor was all ice!"

Little cutey.

High School Musical on Ice

Yes, it's true. We are taking the girls and my niece to the grand viewing of High School Musical: The Ice Tour. I'm guessing you all are incredibly jealous. Wait, there's more. We have FRONT row tickets. These kiddos have a grandpa (who just happens to be MY daddy) that has a connection and we were able to get the tickets the day before they went on sale. Way to go, daddy and Poppy Larry!!

I'll try and let you know how this evening goes. Here's what I'm thinking it will be like:

1. Cold
2. Loud
3. Very energetic
4. Lots of children screaming
5. Possible ice chips flown in our general dye-rection
6. Lots of giggles and ohs and ahhs from the girlies

Twill be fun and I am quite excited about it. The girls are gonna have a ball! My dad and hubs are even more excited...they can hardly wait!!

Happy Friday!

Crickets continued...

Shortly after I posted the previous post of those creepy hoppers, my little fam and I made a trip to Oklahoma City. Those who attended were the following:

Me
The Hubs
The 3 Kiddos
My Parentals (this was to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary)
My Bro
Bro's Wife
Bro & His Wife's 2 Kiddos

We stayed at a hotel. For 2 nights.

This hotel had about 7 billion crickets...EVERYWHERE. They were swarming and hopping outside. And yes, there were even on the inside. Some were dead, some were barely alive but they were there.

On Sunday morning, I was in my parent's motel room and lo and behold as I got ready to exit their room, to what did my wandering eyes appear? Oh, yes. A big, fat, very alive cricket on the wall by. the. door. I called for some help. My brother says "it's just a cricket." My nephew wanted to play with it. My mother wanted it murdered. I wanted to leave!!

I think my dad took care of it. I don't really remember. I was on the other side of the room most likely standing on the bed.

Anyhoo...I survived the cricket hotel without any major traumatizations. Can someone please tell me why we even have crickets? What was God thinking when he created those little boogers??

On a lighter note...please stay tuned...I hope to have some cutey pictures of our little vacay in OKC up here soon. All 5 kiddos were WAY cute and we had a ball!!

Toodles.

Paralyzing fear...

Those people that are closet to me are very aware of a little (okay, so it might be "big") fear I have of a certain type of insect. I have such a nasty and literally paralyzing fear of these creatures that I couldn't even post a picture of them here on the blog (believe me, I tried looking for a good picture but all the pictures I was seeing made my heart race and feel as though the walls were closing in me...seriously. I know. I have issues.) So, no picture for you.

CRICKETS.

Big, black, ugly, hopping crickets.

Why the sudden blog about these vile, disgusting...things? Recently, there happened to be one crawling on my desk in front of my keyboard as I was typing away. I nearly had a heart attack. (Our office is in the middle of a mass remodel and thus, the buggies keep appearing.) I scooted away and called for back up.

Here is what happens when I see a cricket. I freeze. Let's say I'm walking along in the hallway and suddenly appears a cricket. Do I ignore it? Heck no. Do I do anything about it? Another Heck no. Instead, I merely back away slowly and then freeze. It's like a stare down with the creature...a quest to see who will go away first. If the little sucker hops, I completely freak...because, of course, I know that it is purposely hopping towards me in hopes to land on me! I know how their creepy little minds work.

It's happened before, you know.

The scene: I'm like 5. It's late at night. My bro and I go to our bedroom to go to bed. I move the little tiny baby bed away from my bed for a bit (to put Baby to sleep), and wa lah...big, ugly, cricket creature appears. I say to parentals..."there's a cricket." Parentals response..."step on it." Ok. No problem. I stomp. Cricket hops. I stomp again. Cricket hops again. I stomp again. Cricket disappears. Poof. Like that. Parentals are now in doorway wondering about the stomping and the status of the cricket. I say to parentals..."where'd it go?"

Pause.

I feel something hop up my pant leg.

That's right, my friends. The cricket attacked me! Up the pant legs it went...off the pants went (very quickly, I might add). The scene was chaos from there and to this day, I have no recollection as to what happened to the cricket after that. The trauma had already set in.

Since then...I'm convinced that all generations of cricket are breeding to torment me...FOREVER.

I need help.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Okay, so it's not really that BIG of an announcement but...

I just wanted to let all 2 of you that read this blog to know that I am really going to make a BIG effort to update this blog more often. I love talking and posting about the kiddos and sharing fun stories about them, the hubs, and my pup...they are all just so dang cute!

And there you have it...the BIG announcement.

I know. I know. Totally exciting. You just peed your pants.

Cutey Pic

We have our girls every other weekend. On those weekends, my niece, Jadyn (who is Suzie's age of 7) usually comes over and spends the weekend with us as well. She loves the girls and our girls love her. Though we have tried many times to get Jadyn to spend the night at our house...she doesn't as she gets homesick (I was totally that way as a kid so I can't be upset at her for it). Anyhoo...she has no problem staying at my parent's house (next door) as she has been staying over there since she was about 4 months old. That is like her second home.

Soooo...there have been several occasions where our girls will all go next door and stay with Jadyn at my parent's house. It's pretty cute. Mema and Poppy Larry will read them stories and they girls have much fun. One time, the girls all got their PJ's on...which happened to be K-state t-shirts of mine (except for one). My dad thought it was great since he is the big KSU fan. So, here they are...at Mema and Poppy Larry's...in Jadyn's room...in KSU shirts.

Thank you Andrea...

for the fun link to pyzam. com...

I have now officially changed my look and even added a few little diddies at the side. I feel so technical.

Stay tuned. I have some new pics to share.

So, I was thinking...

...about changing the look of my blog.

Does anyone have any recommendations for places to get a new and FREE blog design thingy?? I'd kinda like to do it soon.

Um, so at work right now, they are doing a massive amount of construction/remodeling to our office and so for today and tomorrow, I don't have access to my desk cuz it's all covered in plastic since they are working on/in the ceiling above my desk. My work computer houses like everything I do for work so therefore, I am a bit bored today since I can't use my computer. I'm at someone else's right now and so I have some free internet time to do some blogging.

That's my story.

So, I figure since I have some time I'd change my blog look. How fun is that? So, any advice would be much appreciated. I might just go crazy and add a whole "links" section so I can link to the blogs I frequent and love.

That's all I got. Please send me your cool links to blog design stuff. :)

I'm outey.

Some updates...

My deepest apologies for not posting in for-like-ever, however, you all know how bad I am at posting so I guess you are used to it. Here are some updates in my world:

1. One time I won a contest on Lisa's blog and I got a really cool and colorful box in the mail that had a lovely Starbucks gift card as well as a fun little pen and tiny notepad thing. It was a fun day for Terri!! I originally planned on doing a special post just for Lisa, but as you can tell, I never got around to that. I stink. But, here is a special shout out just for you Lisa..."YOU ROCK and Sphinx moths are cools. And Starbucks is WAY cool as well!! Thanks for the contest!!!"

2. Summer is busy. Chloe (9) and Suzie (7) are both playing softball and thus, we spend a lot of time at ball fields in the baking sun. It's pretty cute to watch them play. Suzie is playing machine pitch and Chloe is playing fast pitch. It's some good times.

3. It has rained more here in the last few months than I have EVER experienced. The good: our grass is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The bad: gotta mow it twice as often. The good: my veggie garden is growing like crazy. The bad: so are the annoying weeds and grass in the garden.

4. I get to see some fun and wonderful friends this summer...First, I get to see miss Jordanne over the 4th of July. Then, I get to go to a Bed and Breakfast in Winfield and meet up with Michelle and Tonya. Then, I get to see Ashlee in August! It's soooo exciting. I might pee my pants!

5. I did not, in fact, pee my pants.

6. My hubs is building a really cool playhouse for the girls in our backyard. It's 2-story and it is going to be so massively cool. I'll post some pics once it is finished. He's awesome. Seriously, AWESOME.

7. Casey, our pup, recently had a visitor. We dog sat for our friend's...little Noel (who is a very cute 15 lb cockapoo) came and stayed with us for about 9 days. Casey and Noel LOVE each other and they LOVE to play and run and wrestle and chase...over and over again. By the end of the last week, if we left, Casey would get into the kennel with Noel. All together now...AWWWW. Noel left on Saturday. Sunday, Casey was depressed. No joke. She moped around the house all day. Little cutie. She's starting to re-adjust to being the only pup around now.

8. Last night at the ball game, Audrey was eating applesauce. Only we were told that it was poisonous soup and she was the queen. She then proceeded to ask all of us if we wanted some of the poisonous soup. Most of us said "no thank you." Chloe, however, said "yes" and then...well, she died. (Not really!! It was pretend, people!) Oh, and just in case you were wondering why Audrey could eat the poisonous soup and not die..."Because I AM the QUEEN. I CAN NOT DIE." And there you have it.

9. Kyle and I have a fun little outing planned for the kiddos sometime soon. More on that for another post...it will be soooo cool, though.

All righty then...until next time...

TYDTWD

Yesterday was the official "Take Your Son/Daughter to Work Day".

Some background...
As you most probably all know or have figured out...when I got married (almost a year and half ago...I can't believe it already!) I also got the privilege of becoming a step-momma to 3 very adorable little girls. The girls spend the night with us on Wednesday evenings and then Kyle takes them to school on Thursday mornings. Audrey (5) doesn't have pre-school until 12:30 so she goes to her babysitter's home for the morning. This worked out perfect for me because then I was able to bring her to work with me for the morning instead.

Okay. Deciding to bring Audrey was difficult as I did not want to offend the girl's mother. But upon discussing it with her (Stephanie, the mom), she was completely okay with it. Phew. (By the way, Kyle and I's relationship with Stephanie and her new husband, Steve, are really really good which helps tremendously in the communication process). I struggle a lot with over-stepping and offending Stephanie in the whole parenting issue...they are her girls but I also love them and want what's best and so you can see how it can be tricky. (If anyone has any advice in this area....feel free to throw em at me!) I also didn't want to upset the other two girls since they weren't able to come...they had school (they are 7 and 9). But, after discussing this also with Stephanie, we decided it was okay for only Audrey to come and for us to have a special day together.

Okay. (Again.) So, Audrey was super excited about coming to work with me. Two other ladies in my office brought their girls for the morning as well. Ammeriahya will be 6 next week and Emma is 7. The girls were soooo cute together. Audrey was shy at first but once she warmed up, she did great and wanted to do everything they were doing. I had them help deliver some papers to some people in my office...they thought that was pretty cool. Then they did made a person out of a paper plate, some cereal and yarn. I work at an architecture firm and we have an interiors department and they have a TON of laminate and tile samples. So, they girls went to town in that area and picked out lots of samples. Audrey glued all of hers on paper. They also colored A LOT. And to top off the morning, we had McDonald's for lunch! All in all, I think they had a great time. Here are some pictures of the morning:

That would be a cookie coming out of Audrey's mouth. Ammeriayha is in the middle and Emma is the one who's head is peaking out. The girl's were looking at Emma's webkinz stuff.

Audrey and Ammeriayha making plate people.

Audrey gluing her laminate samples onto paper. Isn't my desk oh so clean and organized?? At one point it looked like a daycare had blown up on my desk. (Not because of small body parts but because of craft stuff...just wanted to clarify...)

This is Emma playing on the computer.


So, that was my morning yesterday. It was a lot of fun and by the time I got back to work from taking Audrey to her school, I was exhausted. I decided I could never ever work in a daycare. For those of you that work with small children on a regular basis...you are my HEROES. It's A LOT of work. At least at my home with the girls, it's totally different...it's a relaxed do whatever this is your home kinda thing. At work...wow. Different story. So...MASSIVE KUDOS to all children's workers out there (miss Ashlee!!!). You are AWESOME!

And to end...as Audrey and I were walking out to the car afterward she asks me...

"Tewwi, is toomowo Take yowr dawter to wook day too??" (Yes, I was beaming inside. Loved it!)

Did anyone else take their child to work with them yesterday???

This one's for Miss Ashlee...

ahem.......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY.........DEAR ASSSSSHHHHHLLLLLEEEEEEE!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY.........TOOOOOOOO.......YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!

Here's to wishing you the best bday ever. I think you are amazing and wonderful and fabulous! AND I miss you much!

Huge HUGS and LOVES to you!!

Some Updates and Pictures

Greetings.

I thought I would post some pics for you all to see as well as send out a little update in the life and times of me. Nothing too exciting but hey, I'm posting something and that in itself is pretty darned exciting.

First, I have a funny quote from Audrey who will be soon turning 5 on April 1. Yesterday, I was taking the girls to school and from the back of the van Audrey says..."Terri, I need a kleenex to blow my nose cuz my boogers smell like cinnamon!" I'm pretty sure that is one thing I didn't think I would ever hear out of anyone. And she was so serious about it.

Second, I thought I'd shoot you a recent picture of our pup, Casey, who will be turning 1 in March. She is so stinking cute that I can hardly stand it sometimes. She is a bouncer...she looks like a bunny rabbit when she is running around in the backyard. I do have some concerns, though, as apparently she is somewhat suicidal. We live on the corner of a very busy street and she has run out into this busy street with oncoming cars on more than one occasion. Each time, I have a mini-heart attack. Therefore, she no longer gets to go out the front door on her own...she is now carried. We'll be seeking counseling for her suicidal thoughts. In the meantime, check out how cute she is while she is still alive...


Third, I also thought I'd post the picture we used for our Christmas card this year cuz it's so very cute, too. It's got the whole fam...

Fourth, a little update on our girls who are growing like crazy! Chloe will be turning 9 on March 13 and is in the 3rd grade. As I mentioned in the last post, she is taking piano and she loves it. Her Christmas recital went perfectly and we were all very proud. Kyle and I have gone with her a couple of times to her lesson and her teacher is very pleased with her progress. She is also a big fan of Hannah Montana and she loves to sing and dance around the house.

Suzie is 7 and in 1st grade. She has recently started taking an art class in which she is learning drawing, painting, clay sculpting and lots of other stuff. She really enjoys that. Ballet is another interest she has so once her art classes are done, she may try out ballet for a while. Webkinz is quite a passion for her as she now owns like 8 or 9 of them. She LOVES to be on the computer and play with her Webkinz on there!

Audrey will be 5 on April 1 and she is in Preschool. She is really enjoying it now and I think she will be very excited to go to Kindergarten next year. She will be starting some gymnastics class here in the next month and can hardly wait...it will be great for her as she is a ball of energy. As noted above in the stated quote of hers...she says so many funny things. She absolutely adores Casey and many times will call me just so she can talk to Casey on the phone.

We love spending time with the girls. They are pretty great. Since Chloe and Audrey have bdays so close to one another, they are having a combined party at this place called "Pump It Up" which has a bunch of indoor blow up things they can play on. They are both super excited!

Fifth, Kyle and I recently went on a cruise! He actually won the cruise through work so we couldn't pass up a free vacation. We left from Galveston and the plan was to go to Progresso and Cozumel but we ended up not leaving Galveston in time to get to Progresso cuz of fog but well still got to go to Cozumel which was tons of fun for us since that is where we went on our honeymoon. So, here are a few pictures of our trip...

Here is our room. Each night, we had a different towel animal and this particular night it was a snake and I thought it was so cute. We also had an elephant and a stingray. Those steward people are amazing at keeping our rooms clean and making these animal thingys. We spent a lot of time in our room taking naps and watching TV cuz it was kinda chilly on deck (at least I thought so but I am admittedly a cold wuss).

The next picture is of our bathroom. I was just so intrigued by the bathroom cuz it was so small and odd...and that button above the toilet...that's what you pushed to flush it. It got to be a joke



with me and Kyle cuz everytime we flushed, we announced it so we could both cover our ears...it was soooo loud! Deafening loud! Check out the nice bubbled vinyl blue floor but it dried amazingly fast.

Allrighty then...moving on...here is Kyle and I in Cozumel. That is our massive ship in the background.






We had a lot of fun in Cozumel. We went to a beach and just layed out and I played in the ocean some. Here's is our view from our chairs...




I know...I know...it's not very pretty or anything. It was so hard to be there...that's just the kind of sacrifice that we were willing to make : ) Oh, just in case you're confused...my feet are the ones with the pink toenail polish.

And here is a lovely iguana who is missing half of his tail. He was not far from us on the beach...



Poor little guy. Hopefully that tail will grow back. And the final picture is of me sitting oh so lovely like in a lounge right before dinner.







Check out the beautiful decor surrounding me. Gold and shiny! What is with cruise ships and their decorating????

Anyhoo...we had a great time!

That's all I got fer now...Loves to all!