Weekend Review

The weekend was long, and well Saturday was a little shaky. Micah went on a bikeride from 7:30-12:30pm (47miles) , and I was a little ticked off to say the least (only b/c we hadn't seen him all week). So when he got home I went to go and get a necklace repaired and shop at Hamburg, I had planned on going to Petsmart to pet the puppies, but I was feeling pretty good after a couple hours shopping so I didn't need to, but Sunday was awesome. We actually got to sleep in a bit! Micah woke up and made a stellar breakfast, he crumbled up sausage and put it inside the pancakes, then fried and egg over easy and put it on top of the pancake, pour on maple syrup and there you have it. Sounds a bit weird but tastes out of this world. Then we got ready to go to Rolex. The day was beautiful and the kids did great. The only bad part was the blisters I got from wearing the wrong shoes....stupid me! By the time we got home we put the kids down. I took a nap, Micah studied, then the good part. We went over to the neighbors for dinner. Now some of you have heard me talk about my neighbors. They are the world's greatest. Our kids love them like family and so do we. So anyway after dinner they gave us an anniversary present. It's a 4 course dinner at Chrisman Mill Winery. They only do it once a month in the summer, for twenty couples, by reservation only. How freakin' cool is that! And to top it off they are watching the kids for us while we go. We are soooooo excited. So rocky start, awesome finish....Thanks Neane and Casey! And for the grand finale, Gentry slept from 12-8am!

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Originally uploaded by AmiElizabeth.

Gentry riding on daddy's shoulders, he loves sucking on dad's hair (so gross and yet so cute).

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Grey wouldn't eat lunch, but he attacked this dove bar. He even ate the bits that fell on his pants.

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Gentry did so good, I was so proud of him.

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Originally uploaded by AmiElizabeth.

This horse is worth more than my house (by far)!!!

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Originally uploaded by AmiElizabeth.

The kids thought that the tractor was more exciting than the horses.

I'm not a zealot, no really, I'm not!

Yesterday I read Patch's blog and got a bit of a slap upside the head. Let me step back a bit and say that I got a phone call and two emails about Rosie being fired. That compiled with Patch's 21 commandments made me realize that people must think I'm some kind of zealot. Which honestly, about 1 issue I am, but on the broad spectrum I'm not. I think we all have that issue that hits so close to home for 1 reason or another that we refuse to compromise, but for the most part I'm willing to at least see the other side, even if I don't agree with it.

I stil hate Rosie and am SO glad she's gone. They said the ratings went up 16% while she was on the show, but I would rather watch another year of Star planning her wedding then suffer through one more day of Rosie. She's rude, loud, & obnoxious. I think ratings only went up because people like watching the train wreck. Seriously (this is a stereotype) the women who are at home to watch the view aren't really Rosie's bag, if you get my drift. I guess I've just become gun shy because after the '04 election you can't turn on the tv without some celeb spouting off their opinion, and I'm sick of it! I have younge kids who shouldn't hear half of the stuff they have to say, but in flipping through the channels you get bombarded. And they act like anyone who dosen't agree with them must be some uninformed, hillbilly, idiot. So let me just say I'm not an idiot, a hillbilly, or uninformed, I just wholeheartedly disagree.

I'm bound to have a heart attack

Oh Oprah today Dr. Oz quoted a new study about heart attack sufferers in Germany (I'm German). They said women are 50% more likely to suffer a heart attack if there homes are noisy all day because it raises the bodies anxiety level. Not only is my house NEVER quiet, but even when the day is over and I'm laying in bed, I often nudge Micah and say "did you hear that", "hear what?", "the baby crying", "honey the house is silent". I don't hear a ringing in my ears, I hear babies screaming!

Nobody puts Baby in the corner (swoon:-)

Now I've had the time of my liiiiiife and I owe (head nod) it all (head nod) to you (head nod). Oh Patrick, how you have made me swoon. I have no idea the first time I saw Dirty Dancing, but my sister and I watched it so much that we could actually act out the log scene on the staircase banister....Hey, hey baby, I wanna know ow ow will you be my girl (foot wiggle). Okay, Okay, the point is they are showing the movie at Hamburg May 1&2 @ 7:30pm ticket are $10 bucks. Let me know if you wanna go, and to which showing. I prefer the 1st....who's with me?

Buy Tickets

Coolest thing I've seen in a long time

This is so amazing
If I ever open a resturant this would be the kind I'd want to open. I love to cook for people! And you can usually tell how important someone is to me by how often I cook for them (or offer to cook for them).

I'm sorry dad!

Talked to mom today and she informed me that my father has sworn off my blog after reading my cigarette blog. He had no idea that I started smoking so younge. Sorry dad for the shockers, I will try to tame down the truth :-)

I'm more granola than you know

Some of you know what my mother does for a living but most don't. She is a Naturopathic Doctor. No, she wasn't a hippie, she was married to a Baptist minister during the 70's-80's. Most of her (and my) beliefs about health come from the fact that God designed our bodies to be perfect and when it faulters he has designed something just as perfect to correct it.

Now, I grew up with this stuff, so I don't think it's cooky or weird. I have done it all, iridology, reflexology, herbs, homeopathy, tinctures, muscle testing, infared saunas, acupuncture, essential oils, healing prayer, natural birth...etc. Ya, this white bread girl is pretty granola. That's not to say that I don't take tylenol or antibiotics if needed, I just don't think they should be first on the list of things to try. So where am I going with this...the FDA is now wanting to regulate all areas of Complimentary and Alternative Medicines (CAM). Most people think this is a long time in coming, but the document is written in such a way that it would put all practioners like my mother out of business. Not only that but in it there is actually a provision for "mind-body medicine", which includes spirituality...that means prayer. Read the excerpt below

D. What Is "Mind-Body Medicine?"
NCCAM describes mind-body medicine as focusing on "the interactions among the brain, mind, body, and behavior, and the powerful ways in which emotional, mental,social, spiritual, and behavioral factors can directly affect health."13 It states that mindbodymedicine "typically focuses on intervention strategies that are thought to promotehealth, such as relaxation, hypnosis, visual imagery, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, taichi, qi gong, cognitive-behavioral therapies, group support, autogenic training, and spirituality."14

I just think this is uncalled for. Why in the world should a government agency try to regulate things that have been around longer than government itself. Asian contries have been using these methods for centuries and none fear their safety. I just can't imagine gyms advertising that their new yoga program is FDA certified. The vote for this bill is on April 30th. Think about it, pray about it, and if you feel like I do write a letter to your representatives. Here's the link for the full document.

6 day's 20 hrs. 22 min.....

Anyone who knows us, knows that Micah went back to school for his post hole digger degree two years ago. We are now less than a week away from him being finished with his classes!!!!!!!! You can't imagine what a sacrifice this has been for our family. We sometimes goes days without seeing him for anything other than a quick meal, and when he is here I want him to spend time with the boys so it's usually just a quick kiss goodbye for me. I am SO excited to have my husband back, to spend evenings together, to watch a movie...and other stuff. Any words of encouragement for either of us over these next six days would be really nice, the kids and I won't really see him until Friday afternoon.

Unfortunately we still have 4 years of research to make our way through...God Help Us!

I really wish I had a cigarette

Every now and then a song will come on the radio and I will have a Pavlovian response of needing a cigarette, but I gave up smoking years ago. Matter of fact 5&1/2 yrs. I hated that I was a smoker, it's gross and stinky and most people don't like it. I started smoking regularly at the age of 14 and by the time I could drive it was up to about a pack a day.(my mother is fainting at this information) And not just those little ole regular ones I smoked the big dirty 100's, menthol. Why, you might ask, whith my 14yr old logic I was convinced that the menthol ones didn't make your breath stink, and well the shiny silver case I bought fit the 100's. Either way, it was so stupid! I used to be a decent singer, now I sound like a cat coughing up a furball :-) Anyway, just a thought while I was driving the other day. The hot sun beaming, window down, sunglasses on, no kids, loud music...I really wish I had a cigarette.

Instead I will continue to bite my nails to the point of having tender bleeding fingers, because that is far less disgusting.

after a long day at Keeneland

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celebratory ice cream

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winning race

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getting ready to place a bet

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Dad & Grey leaving for Keeneland

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In the Needham tradition...

In true Needham fashion Grey was introduced to the track yesterday. Some friends of our have seats, and originally Micah and I were going to go until we realized that it was a friday and we don't know anyone that we can leave the boys with on a weekday. So we decided to divide and conquer, Micah took Grey and I stayed home with the ever fussy Gentry. They had fun but Grey really didn't understand the twenty min. between races, so there was lots of hide 'n go seek and snacking. But they did win $90 on a race and celebrated with ice cream.

I also went on a date with myself last night. I went to go see "In the land of women" with Adam Brody & Meg Ryan. It was a pretty good movie, but I think the most incredible thing was that I haven't been to a movie theater in at least two yrs. The last two movies I saw in theater were Van Helsig and Spiderman. Can you believe that, it's so pathetic. I love movies, we owned video stores growing up, I'm a total movie buff, I even love the stupid B movies like "Earth Girls are Easy". It's just so expensive to go to the movies when you throw $30-$40 bucks for babysitting on top of the normal cost. It was really nice to be alone, not worrying if anyone else was having a good time. Of course a couple times when the movie would get loud I wanted to say "shhhh the baby is sleeping", until of course I realized that he couldn't hear it from our house. The girl at the counter even asked me if I was a student, I thanked her, I actually felt kinda younge. And to all of you screaming that I am younge, I know this, I just never FEEL it. Most people doing what we are doing in life are almost a decade older than us, the people our age are....being younge.

House of Pain

The insanity in my house was a little more than normal last night. It started off with me laying in the floor playing with the boys. First Grey stepped on my breast and when I yelled he jumped and kneed me in the chin.

Gentry was playing in the floor and Grey shoved a baby spoon down his throat and gagged him, he later threw up a little blood.

Grey slipped getting out of the tub and busted his eye open. It scared the crap out of me.

Now, do you understand why I need a girl. I need to have a frilly little girl who wants to play with my hair and have tea parties. Instead during the day I am head butted, shoved, hit with bats, bitten, body slammed, etc. and that's all before the kids wake up :-) Jusk kidding honey!

So So So FUNNY!

Who knew kermit had so many emotional levels. I guess he went through the same sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll phase as every other child star :-)

http://sadkermit.com/audio.html

Small step forward

This has been a big week for politics, today the Supreme Court upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. If you read the actual document you have to wonder why this was ever considered an option by anyone. No matter how pro-choice you are there is nothing more despicable than the way this procedure is preformed. It makes me wonder how future societies will view us. If you have ever read "A Modest Proposal" by Johnathan Swift, to me this rings of the same absurdity. The only difference is that this was a satire and unfortunately we have actually commited these murders.

I understand that there are always going to be gray areas when it comes to this issue. What to we do to a ten yr. old girl who gets pregnant by rape or incest? I think only God really knows what the right answer is in this situation. But can't we at least be humane in these instances? Do we really think that this could somehow endanger womens' rights to ban this kind of thing. I just don't see the connection. If for some reason you do make it to the 2nd or 3rd trimester of your pregnancy and just decide you don't want the child, isn't there a better way than this. I mean really what's the opposite of life, I don't think the word "choice" would be the first to come to anyone's mind.

1st & 2nd ammendments under attack

Okay let's start off with Don Imus....not the brightest guy, he should have never even uttered the words "nappy headed hos" stupid stupid stupid. But since he did it seems to have opened a Pandora's box of sorts. And because he is old and white it is a huge deal, the younge white Eminem has been saying stuff far worse than this for a decade and most of us can recite verbatim a few of his songs. He didn't get fired, he got rich! I don't know if Imus should have been aloud to keep his job, I'm not smart enough to figure all of that out. He's a jerk, but is he the victum of a witch hunt?

To put it in perspective let's talk about the good ole Al Sharpton, who has publicly in his speeches described whites as "diamond merchants" "white interlopers", he's called the mayor of New York a whore, and used the phrase "Greek homos". Now I guarentee that 99% of engagment rings, no matter the color finger it is on, is a diamond. I can also bet that a black person or two would claim to be gay. So why oh why is this alloud???? And why is it that on Oprah yesterday Jesse Jackson was talking about the scurge of the rap industry, but he has publicly used the word "nigger" on many occasions. Not only that but Barack Obama has said that if anyone on his team used this word that he would fire them, oh, but his number one finacial contributor is David Geffen, who owns Interscope records (Timbaland, Eminem). Doesn't this all seem a little backwards?

So what's the real problem, racism, sexism, libralism, conservatism, where do you fall? Because I guarentee that someone will find fault with you. To be politically correct is to just be fake. Politicians are politically correct because they want your money and they will LIE to get it. Politically correct=LIE. Unfortunate but true. So why can't we tell the truth, durrogatory words are bad, don't used them, if you are trying to hurt someones feeling, you will. The problem isn't a bunch of old men, the problem is that two white girls will great each other with terms of endearment such as slut and ho. Or that two white boys will say "what up my nigga" and no one slaps them, not only do they sound stupid but it's just not okay. What's going to happen when a generation that says these things out of habit not hate is running the country?

Okay problem nuber two...2nd amendment. After yesterday's shooting at Virginia Tech the gun debate is brought to the forefront again. Now, I'm all for the right to bear arms. Always have been always will be, but what are we to do when it is now normal to have children dragging guns into school 3,4,5 times a year. When did this become a trend, there is some kind of cultural undercurrent that has yet to be found, we are at a loss.

I will admit a deep dark secret, I sometimes watch the view, mainly because I'm waiting for the day when Elisabeth stands up and slaps the crap out of Rosie, but until then I will listen to the drivel that spills from Rosies mouth. Now to me, personally, Rosie is far worse than Imus. She spews conspiracy theories and libralism into concious thoughts of millions of people a day. She is actually trying to take away our first amendment rights while abusing it herself...but I digress. She actually thinks that the university staff should have pulled the fire alarms when the shootings started. Okay, every woman has been taught that when you are approached by a stranger to yell "fire" because everyone wants to watch a fire. So by pulling the alarms the students would have run into the hallway and been put in the direct path of the gunman. So again her stupidity is overwhelming.

So how do you stop a comakazi gunman, how did he get a gun into the dorm, metal detector? I have no idea how we are going to stop these shootings or how we make this okay for the hundreds of children and heroic adults who have died at the hands of these people. It seems like this is just an unfortunate new sector of our society. It definately makes me want to homeschool my children. It makes me fear people who in anyway look dastardly or depressed. It does not however make me fear men in camo or big shiny buckles, or even the ones that have the bumper stickers that say "John Wayne is my president".

Anniversary weekend

Well we had a wonderful time this weekend. It was a bit of a clusterf**k, but still great. Both kids slept on the way to Louisville so they were ready and rarin' to go. Gentry was in a good mood until we needed to get dressed and then he promptly had a meltdown, so we dosed him with teething tablets, tylenol, benadryl, oragel and the like. I know it sounds a bit much but the kid has exzema, a rash, an ingrown toenail, and is teething, on top of all that we were in a new place. So we left the house to the screaming of our child, knowing how bad it was going to suck for Micah's aunt and uncle. We took out our anger on one another, almost turned the car around and called it quits and then decided to just not speak to each other until we got to the resturant. This may sound bad, but it really wasn't.



We got to the resturant, Micah got his first look at my dress ;-), we had a celebratory toast and about fifteen text messages, and one phone call later, we were feeling a little better about Gentry and the evening ahead.

We had a wonderful meal: Cheese board, lamb pops, ahi tuna, duck breast, raspberry chocolate cake for dessert, and lots of wine! It was better than I remember and just a perfect. We left by 7:15 to get to the Palace on time, we forgot how beautiful it was in there.



The show was so wonderful, the women had an ethereal quality to there voices, at times you felt you were in the middle of a Lord of the Rings elfish dream, until the drums started going and then it felt a little like a Braveheart battle scene.



So all in all it was a great weekend, and our best anniversary yet! 4 down 46 to go.

Busy Weekend Ahead

We went this morning to go play at the Gilmore's. Grey and Keaton definately have a love-hate relationship. They are always so excited to see one another and cry when we have to go, but the inbetween is full of hitting, kicking, wrestling and the sort. We also drove some meals over to Sally who just had her second baby, his name is Harrison, so cute!

Tonight we have a small group cookout, everyone's kids should be there so it will be a big crew, but should be fun.

Now for the great part...we are going to Louisville tomorrow to celebrate our 4th anniversary. We're jumping the gun a bit, it's not really until May 2nd, but who can afford to do anything in the ville Derby weekend? So we are going to eat at one of our fav. places L & N and then going to the Palace to see Celtic Woman, it's kinda like an Irish poprah. I know we're a little on the artsy fartsy side. But we are excited non the less. Micah's aunt and uncle will have the kids so we are actually getting a free night of babysitting!!! I can't wait, I even bought a new dress, now lets just all pray I don't leak all over it :-)

Sunday we are having brunch with some friends we haven't seen in almost a year, they just found out they are pregnant and I'm sooooo excited. I've never seen anyone who loves kids so much, they are going to be exceptional parents. We're driving up two boxes of maternity clothes, so that's another bonus. We don't have to put all that crap in the attic..

Eucerin Disaster!

Yesterday, during my sons "rest time" he got into a tub of eucerin cream (like vasoline only thicker). He wiped it all over his paintings, his dresser, lightswitch, floor, changing pad, blankie, and himself! Not only that but he took all the wipes from the box and took a big poop while he was at it, so I couldn't just strip him and stick him in the tub. So I had the neighbor stick him in the bathroom while I cleaned up the mess. He thought it would be a good finish to the disaster to dump out all of his bubble bath in the tub and play with it until I could get to him. Even though I washed his hair with adult shampoo it still looks like a greasy old mans hair. It was an all around bad moment for me.

Married Sex

I actually posted this a long time ago on my myspace blog, but I got so many views that I thought I would post it here too.

Okay, so now that I've got your attention. I have come to the realization, after four years of marriage, that there are 4 different kinds of married sex. And yes, non-married people can expeirence some of them but not to the same degree. Sorry, in some ways that sucks for you, but trust me in other ways you have the upper hand. (Not that I promote pre-marital sex)

1.) Sweet (romantic) Sex
Sweet sex is the kind you have on your wedding night, or after watching a romantic movie. It's slow, and candlelit, it's the kind where when it's over you finish with a hundred tiny kisses place anywhere and everywhere. Sweet sex is wonderful, it's the kind that they always show in movies.

2.) Dirty Sex
This is pretty much self-explanitory. It's Dirty! The great thing about married dirty sex is there is NO guilt afterwards. You can go have breakfast with your parents afterwards or take the kids to the park. This is the kind of sex that you have first thing in the morning after a "great" dream or in the car during a traffic jam. At some point everyone should have the dirty sex, it's not for the everyday but it makes the everyday so much better.

3.) Obligatory Sex
I really only think women expierence this. Men are always game. Unfortunately, for us married women we do know when sex is required of us. This includes anniversary's, birthdays, holidays, basically anytime your husband puts time, energy, and money into an occasion. The trick I have learned is to just have it at the begining of the evening, then you can just relax and enjoy the night without every comment they make being a sexual inuendo to how the date should finish. They go around with a goofy grin, you both have the after sex glow (great for pictures), and you are both totally relaxed. The only problem with this is the dinner bill, you will have worked up an appetite, so you're gonna order more.

4.) Procreational Sex
This is pretty much the only kind of sex that is just for married people. It's awesome! I say that because it is sweet and dirty all at the same time. Sweet because you are both deciding to bring another life into the world, dirty because you are finally totally "unencumbered" (if you know what I mean). To quote my fav. preacher this is when you become a "co-creator" with God. There is no other activity on earth where you are taken in partnership with God and it is so cool!

Okay, so there is it, married sex in all it's glory. The best thing is it never gets boring. It's alway changing and always wonderful. Even the obligational sex become fun because you know that the evening ahead will be totally worth it. So to all the marriage nay sayers out there who fear the stagnant life of wedded bliss, never fear, marriage life is good! And married sex is even better!

Why men envy babies

Babies are living the life men secretly wish they could have. (At least from my husbands point of view)
1. Everyone smiles and laughs when you pass gas.
2. We make a huge deal out of every bowel movement and describe it to anyone who will listen.
3.When you whine our boobs get bigger.
4. Six to ten times a day we put a boob in your mouth and let you fall asleep that way if you want.

I hate allergy season...I can't breath.

I got to go see Colston last night, he's super cute! You know how people think most babies are cute....not me, I think most are pretty squishy and ugly. This guy is ligitimatly cute though. He was so alert and precious. It almost makes me want to be pregnant again (I said ALMOST). If I could have a baby without being pregnant I would. I hate it, you feel like shit for 9 mo. and any woman will tell you that you feel better the second you push the baby out. I got totally high off natural labor though, our bodies are amazing! Even though I was a little dissapointed that I didn't feel the "birth orgasm", and yes that's a real thing, look it up.

Colston is here!!!

Lot's of cool things have happened today! Some friends of ours had their baby, Colston Matthew, 7 lbs. 9 oz., 20 in. born at 12:35pm. I'm so glad he's here. When I told Grey that Addison was getting a baby brother today he said "Ya! a present!" and I totally agree. I hope to go and see him tonight. I will show pictures later.

I also went to my uber cool church to meet with XSM director Tim about volunteering, I'm really excited about this, it seems like a good fit for me. I would get to send our birthday cards, make encouragment phonecalls, and send new baby gifts. It's basically what I already do just for a different group of people.

And ya, I almost threw up this morning when I found lamb blood in the sink left over from Passover. No we didn't slaughter a lamb, but I did clean a leg of lamb in the sink, yuk! I had to open the windows to get the smell out.

Micah had a test today in one of his extremely hard classes. He read me some of the stuff he was studying last night and all I understood was "enzyme, covalent, protien, prion", everything else sounded like yiddish....God! he is so smart!

Grey has completely stopped taking naps since daylight savings time. I HATE THIS!!! So I've had to start just locking him in his room for a couple of hours a day. To anyone who thinks this is cruel.......I don't care! Can you imagine your boss waking you up in the morning requesting you make him breakfast and change his diaper, having no lunch break because your lunch consists of making his lunch, your dinner his dinner, sometimes your shower his shower, so forth and so on until you pass out around midnight. I need a couple hours a day alone, and by alone I mean with just my 6 mo. old to boss me around instead of the both of them. :-)