The Newest Members of Our Family

Meet......Nemo. And two fishes with undecided names. Nate is still thinking what he wants to name his and Ry isn't so much getting the concept of naming a fish. So far his is named Pishie. So....might stay Pishie. Anyway, Nate has been really really wanting fish lately so I finally gave in and got some. Of course they didn't have any goldfish so I had to spend as much on 3 fish as I could have on 12 goldfish but oh well. We will see how long they survive. The boys are really excited to take care of them though. For now. Nate even work up early this morning and fed them. Then I had to catch most the food since he piled in a ton. And got it all over the counter. And the floor. But hey at least he's trying. So anyway, Thats are our exciting news today....we got PISHIES! :P

Need Some Opinions

So I am getting extremely tired of the extra chub I've packed on over the last couple years and it's really starting to wear on my body too. I've tried a lot of stuff to get it off on my own, but I lose the motivation. So...I've heard that Dr. Brett Robbins actually does a great job at helping lose weight. I'm thinking about going to him. But I don't know much about him. Has anyone had any experiences with him either good or bad? Opinions would be great!

Fun Time Weekend *pic overload!*

I was soo excited to have the boys this weekend. It was perfect timing because the week before my friend Amanda invited us to her daughters birthday party and I was super excited to go but didn't know how I was going to get the boys. Well anyway, the weekend was super fun and we had a great time. Theres a place here called Funtime Inflatables which is pretty much a warehouse full of those huge bounce toys. You pay $5 for each person and you can play for 3 hours. The kids had a blast. Even Ryder got in on the game which surprised me. After we played there for a couple hours, we went back to Amandas house and had pizza and ice cream cake that was delicious and just hung out and chatted while the kids played. We ended up being there for 3 hours and the kids had a blast. After that we came back and had a huge water fight that was super fun as well. I was sooo happy for the warm weather Saturday. It made for a great day. Anyway, huge picture overload but it was way fun!

Congrats!

I just wanna say congrats to my brother and sis-in-law on the arrival of their new lil guy Jack. He had a hard time wanting to come but he got here and is super cute. He couldn't ask for a better set of parents! Congrats!

Its A New Day

This weekend was a bit rough for me. The boys were gone with their dad, and Ry was covered in a rash and miserable. So because of that we didn't plan anything for Easter. And I got to say...as much as I really don't like Danny right now I kinda miss the fun Easter trips we went on with his family. Nate and Tyler told me all about it and it makes me a little sad. I guess I'm going to have to start my own Easter tradition.
Then someone I trusted and cared about very much let me down in a big way. It was heartbreaking. Its a long story...and I'll tell it someday when I'm ready. But the aftershock of it is still kind of wearing me down. But...today is a new day. I've decided that I need to re-dedicate myself to my job and my family and that will be my focus now. I have lost sight of those things important to me I think, so its going to change now. So...I hope everyone has a great week and hopefully I will have something good to report soon. Much love you ya'll.

Denver

Now that I'm calmed down and feeling better, I've posted pics of my Denver trip :) I had a blast while I was there and am kind of sad to be home again, even though I missed the kiddos. We stayed at The Grand Hyatt, which was a pretty classy place, except that water was 4.50 a bottle and internet was 10.00/day. That part was bad. Oh and their cable had like 20 ESPN channels and 15 news channels, but hardly anything else. I didn't watch much TV anyway so its all good. Our trainings were rather boring but hanging out and networking after was a blast. We went out every night I was there. I gotta say, it was nice having the freedom to do so. We also went out as a kind of half training group to Maggianos and ate family style. It was super spendy, but soooo tasty and we were stuffed by the time dessert got there. Most the pics below are from that. The pic on the bottom is at the wing joint we went to one night. If anyones on my facebook....this is the venue and the night of the homeless guy ordeal. Ugh haha. Anyway, I loved the trip and I love the new friends that I've met while there. Hats off to all of them and I hope the next training is just as fun!
Because everytime I try to write below the pics it messes up my format...on to last night. The boys wanted to play at the park after dinner so we ran over there and not 10 minutes after we were playing, some people came around with trashbags and were cleaning up. The boys immediately stopped playing and ran home to grab trashbags to help. It was a proud momma moment for sure. We got to know some of our neighbors and they even invited us over for treats afterwards. I am proud of my boys and the good helpers they've grown up to be!

Calming Down

Ok I was having a minor freakout this morning but I'm calming down. I still am VERY frustrated with this job but I think the hiring of a part time girl is going to do the trick. She will take up the majority of the little stuff I do so I can focus on my housing counseling. I can't wait till she is hired. Until then...deep breaths.

Ready to Die...

Can I just say I'm ready to die? Like, literally ready? I came back and was looking forward to jumping into work and instead I come back to a desk FULL of papers and files, mail, faxes, and a hate letter saying all the stuff I had apparently been doing wrong...in the week I was gone. Didn't realize My stuff was going to be ransacked while I was away. This job is sooo flipping stressful. I just have to say. I like it. It's good on its good days, but it SUCKS on its bad days. Anyway...time to get back to work and see how much more trouble I can get into today. UGH.

Housing Counseling Article

So the Housing Authority was featured in The Daily News (The Spectrum) on Sunday and I was kind of proud of it I do got to say. But when I went online and read some of the readers comments I was blown away! I couldn't believe how rude people can be. I don't know. Maybe I'm just sensitive to my work. I'll let you see for yourself here...

http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20103140330

Anyway...we really do offer a great service to people and we really do try to help as much as we possibly can. It sucks that people are so down on the subject. Thats my bummer for the day.

Monumental Landmark!!

We have officially hit a monumental landmark for the Stubbs Family! As a background to the situation, Ryder absolutely HATES baths. He has never liked them at all since day one. Our bathtime routine usually goes like this:
-Boys get undressed and run around naked for about 15 minutes while I prey the clothes off of a screaming Ryder, cause he knows its bathtime and he hates it
-Boys get into the tub and start playing...if Ryder had the strength he would probably cling to the doorjam to avoid the tub. He comes close
-Boys play some more.....I finally get Ry in the tub and he screams as if the world was ending and refuses to sit down.
-Boys play some more.....I was a now freezing Ry as quick as I can so he doesn't get sick
-Boys play some more.....I do the most evil thing a mom could EVER do to a child, wash Ryders hair. Screaming gets worse but is kind of muffled by him putting his hands over his face to avoid water in the face.
-Boys play some more.....Ry practically leaps out of the tub cause he knows that he's done being washed and wants out....like now.
-Boys play some more.....Ry cuddles up in a towel and stops crying as if nothing ever happened
-I finally wash the boys' hair and make sure they wash themselves properly and Ry....well he sits content on the toilet or finds the froggy toys to play with and waits patiently till I am done.

Yeah. Its a pain. BUT.....

Last night he happily got undressed, happily waited till the water warmed up (Ty had turned the water on for me, it was freeeezing!) and got into the tub. Played with his duckies, helped wash his body, rubbed the shampoo in his hair (and tried to drink it, it smells yummy) and was content to sit there IN THE TUB and play while I got the other two taken care of. HOORAHHH!