Outerbanks or Bust....

Tomorrow we leave for vacation.  We are leaving when Chuck gets off work at 10:30pm  Normally Chuck and Katie both work 3rd shirt but he wasn't able to get Wed. off so he had to switch to 2nd shift for the day.  I'm not really sure what to expect when it comes to the kids... I've learned though, that with kids, to expect the unexpected!!  Anytime we've travelled (Indiana, Virginia..) we have travelled during the day and I can't complain, they've done fairly well.  We plan on keeping the kids up on Wed. night, so they are *hopefully* nice and tired when we leave.  Anyone with kids knows that can backfire though.
I feel a little bit guilty because I'm actually the one that's probably best suited to do some of the driving, because Greg will be up at 5:30am on Wed. morning for work, Chuck works 3rd shift Tuesday night and 2nd shift Wed. afternoon and Katie works 3rd shift Tuesday night AND she's pregnant.  The problem is that I can't drive at night.  I have a terrible time with the lights and lines on the roads, especially when I'm unfamiliar with the area.  I guess we'll just play it by ear...
Just say a quick prayer for us if you think of it... It's a long drive with 2 kids, a prego and 2 sleep men! Ok, maybe just say a prayer for ME!!!!!!
We hope to arrive around 11:00 am on Thursday.  That's actually when we can check into the cottage anyways.  That should give us all day Thursday, all day Friday and all day Saturday to hang out at the beach, site see and shop!  We plan to leave early Sunday morning to head back home, because Katie has to work 3rd shift on Sunday night.. yeah, sucky, i know.  She's basically going to have to ride in a car all day and go straight to work all night.  And Greg has to be up at 5:30am on Monday to get to work too.
I'm really excited, Greg and i haven't been on a "real" vacation since our honeymoon.  We went to Niagara Falls with Chuck, Katie, Jon & Jen last year for a weekend.  That was really nice, because we didn't have kids, but this is like our first little family vacation.
As of right now the weather looks like 70's and partly cloudy Thurs/Fri and a chance of Iso T'storms on Saturday.  As long as its nice 2 of the 3 days, i'm ok with that. :)  Izzy talks about the beach multiple times a day...  its really cute, i can't wait for her to see it for the first time.   My mom says she's going to call every 15 minutes to make sure we know where the kids are.  She's a freak.  I'll admit, the whole ocean thing does make me a little nervous, but its going to be 4 adults to 2 kids, so i think we've got it handled.
Cooper is staying with my parents while were gone.  I had to bribe my dad into watching him.  He hates dogs... I bought him a Cavs snuggie and i actually bought it the day of the last game.  I guess its not of much value anymore... i wonder if i could have gotten it like 50% off if i had waited a day? Or they may have even paid me to take it.  My dad is a dedicated, tried and true Cavs fan though, so it will be put to good use next year.

Well, i better get back to cleaning and packing......

the enclosed porch

this is the cottage from the outside

 I envision my husband spending a lot of time here...

living room w/ big flat screen tv

 swings.. under the porch. 

the fully equipped kitchen.

http://hammockcottage.com

If the shoe fits....

My little 80's girl!!!  We got Izzy that shirt for Christmas from Children's Place.  It says "Totally Dramatic" and when I saw it, i knew i had to get it.  I understand that most kids, girls especially, are very dramatic, but i swear this girl could win an Oscar.    

She has only worn the shirt a handful of times because i could never find the right shoes to wear with it.  She has a pair of pink Chuck's that i normally put on her when she wears it.  Well last weekend at Kohl's they had these amazing high top sketchers on the clearance for $7.99 and the first thing i thought of was her shirt.  So we had to get them. 

She absolutely loves these shoes... she calls them her "rockstar shoes"  lol   She seriously cracks me up!! The shoes are really cute, but  in opinion they can only be worn with specific outfits or they just look silly.  So if its a day that she insists on wearing them, then we usually have to change her outfit.   Am i totally setting her up to be a Diva?!!    

If anyone knows my husband, you know that he has a mild.... wait, no, its SEVERE,  shoe problem.   And if he finds a pair he likes, he will get them in multiple color combos.   He swears its not any worse than me having a pair of flip flops in every color, but i beg to differ.  Flip Flops at Old Navy are 2/$5.00   So i can get 8 pairs for $20 and thats still less than one pair of his shoes.  :)  I really do love my husband and i'm glad that he cares what he looks like... even if he is borderline Metro!   It is nice knowing that i don't have to pick out his clothes every morning for work or for Church or Weddings.  I remember growing up, my mom had to do that for my dad and my brother.   I wondered if I would have to do that for my husband someday.  Whelp, the answer is NO.   If anything, i ask him to help me pick out outfits. :)  The good thing is, i don't ever have to worry about my husband wearing black shoes with a a brown belt. ;)

Oh and here is one more pic of our little 80's DIVA!!

I just LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!!

Not enough thoughts....

Everyday for the past week, i've wanted to update my blog, but i feel like i don't have anything to write about.  For a person with so much to say... why can't i find the words??   

I guess i will just tell you about our weekend.  Greg's mom came up from Indiana for the weekend.  Friday night we met her for dinner at Beef O'Brady's.  It's a really nice little Irish Bar/Grill here in Wadsworth.  Greg and I had only eaten there once before but we really enjoyed it and had been waiting for an opportunity to go back.  When we left the restaurant, his mom suggested we go shopping somewhere so she could get me some things for my birthday.  I obviously wasn't going to refuse that offer, so we headed over to Kohl's.  I got a new pair of capri's a new shirt and a necklace.  She told me we could go back out on Saturday and get a few more things.  I didn't really know what i wanted for my birthday... i think the older you get, the harder it is to come up with things.  Sadly, what i came up with was a new blender.   I know, so sad.  Well, my mom got me some new clothes and she is going to take me out shopping again in a couple weeks to get me a new bathing suit for vacation.  So, i was trying to think of something that wasn't clothes and well, i need a new blender and haven't had the extra money to go out and get myself one.  The kids and I have been making smoothies alot lately, but we've been using my little Hamilton Beach, piece of junk.  I have to put the ice into it one at a time or it gets jammed up.   Its pathetic and annoying!  So, Saturday we went to Walmart and I got my new blender AND she got us a new Foreman grill.  We loved our George Foreman and we had gotten it as a wedding gift 5 years ago, well it finally bit it and we had to throw it out.   We are grilling people and when the weather isnt nice enough to grill outside, its nice to have an alternative.   I was super pumped because its even one that has the removable plates that you can stick in the dish washer--- that's just genius!!!   Needless to say, i left Walmart a happy camper on Saturday-- i don't care if its sad that i got a blender and Foreman for my birthday AND i'm really excited about it.    

Well after our Walmart trip we went and ate at Bob Evans... talk about a PIG!! They have these new Biscuit Bowls, and i think they are just a little touch of heaven on earth.  I'm a sucker for any kind of bread bowl... i love them with soup, i love them with dips and now i can love them with breakfast in them.  AH-MAY-ZING!!  I ate all my biscuit bowl and Greg and I also got a stuffed-cinnamon pancake to share.  Yeah, that was a bad idea.  I almost had to unbutton my pants when we were done.   After Bob Evans, we headed to Fairlawn to look for a lawn mower.  His mom had told him a while ago that she would buy him a new one (are you catching on-- SPOILED!!) So we went to Sears and he found one he really liked, it was like $75 more than she told him she would pay for one-- yeah, he's an only child, can you tell??   But we left Sears with a brand new mower and that's all that matters because our grass was like embarrassingly high.  We got home and he got it all put together and low and behold it started to rain, so he didnt get to use his new toy... i think he was bummed, but whatcha gonna do.   

Now its nap time, so we relaxed at home for a while and then his mom offered to stay with the kids at home while we went to get groceries.... on her, of course.  Well, who is gonna pass up FREE groceries, not I.  We decided to go get everything but the meat at Walmart and then from there we went to Beuhlers to get their 5 for 19.99 meat.   Its a really good deal.  We added it up and we ended up saving $10 on meat... that's awesome!!  Normally we have the kids with us, so grocery shopping needs to be as quick as possible to keep it painless, adding another stop to the trip would not be a good idea.   

We got home, put the groceries away and then it was time for dinner.... well who wants to cook, when you have a mother-in-law ready and willing to take you out??  (i know, i probably gained 50 pounds this weekend)  For dinner we headed back to Fairlawn for dinner at Longhorn... mmm, that's some good stuff!!!  I got French Onion Soup and Shrimp.  Perfect meal for the chilly rainy day that it was.   Greg and i had a $25 Barnes & Nobles giftcard so we went there next and each picked out a new book, then headed home for the evening.  

Sunday was Church.... my bro and Shannon met us there.  That was a nice surprise.  We were able to sit with our new friends that we met at Church and we really enjoyed the service.  I love this series they are doing about being stressed out.  I'm definitely getting a lot out of the services and i've missed that so much!  After Church was, you guessed it, time to go out to eat again.  We met his mom at my grandma's house (where she stays when she comes up) and visited for a few minutes.  Then we went to eat at Five Guys.  If you are a sucker for extremely huge, greasy hamburgers and fries.... THIS is the place for you. Don't get me wrong, its really, super delicious but MAN, i felt like crap after that.   

Greg's mom headed back to Indiana from there and we headed to my parents house in Canal Fulton.  I helped my mom make invitations for my baby cousins graduation party coming up next month.  So hard to believe, the baby is graduating.  Time sure does fly! 

I'm really looking forward to May! I think its going to be a great month.  Well, of course, we have Mother's day and then MY Birthday and VACATION!! Plus I have a full schedule of Tastefully Simple parties and other family things to look forward to.  It will be busy, but a great way to bring in the warm summer months!! (hopefully they are warm, does anyone remember last June, it was a cold one)!  

I'm hoping to have a more interesting post next time, maybe some pictures involved but this will have to do for now!!! :)

MIKE TYSON WAS IN TOWN?????

Well, i wanted to get more pictures to put with this post, but haven't gotten around to it yet.   We had a very eventful end to last week.  I feel pretty guilty because I was bored and wanted to get out of the house (and it was 80 degrees) so badly on Thursday, I tried calling my mom at work to see if she wanted to meet the kids and I for some lunch, but she was in training so she never answered the phone.   I finally got a hold of Katie to see if she wanted to hang out and she was off work, so we headed over there.  I took the kids to Taco Bell for lunch and then we went over to Chuck and Katie's, we played in the backyard and then Katie decided she wanted to go to Lowe's to get more flowers for her garden (which looks amazing, by the way).  So, we all piled in the van and headed to Lowe's, she got everything she needed and I even picked up some 1/2 price Tulips (i love Tulips) to put on my porch.  We went back to their house and Katie and I were digging up some dirt and planting flowers, with the help of gardener extraordinare, Izzy!! Carter was playing in the front yard, climbing steps, throwing dirt, typical boy stuff.  Izzy decided to dig a hole all by herself and when i went over to help her, i saw a snake.  I freaked! I grabbed Izzy and Katie yelled for Chuck.  He came out and verified that it was a snake, so he took the shovel and started stabbing it.  When he went inside to grab some gloves to pick the snake up, Katie, Izzy and I decided we would take a look at this snake, we walked over and saw the snakes neck snapped backwards and sighed relief that it wad dead!  Chuck came back out and picked up the snake and it was FAKE!! lol  We were dying, it was so hysterical, who the heck thought they were so stinkin funny and put a rubber snake in a flower garden.  HA HA HA! So that was the first event of the day.  So, we continued to plant the rest of our flowers, then Carter started to get fussy, so we went inside to watch some tv.   After about a half hour, both kids wanted to go back outside, so i headed out there with an Avon catalog to look through while the kids played.  Katie and I were sitting on the porch and the kids were doing their kid thing, running in the yard, climbing up and down the stairs.   Izzy came over to help me pick out some nail polish and then katie and I were discussing eyeshadow colors... all of the sudden Carter walks up the stairs and starts walking towards us, when he fell off the front edge of the porch.  His body was wedged between the porch and a wagon wheel.  He was screaming.  I didn't realized how badly he was hurt, because the kid falls all the time.   I got up and picked him up and that's when i saw all the blood, pouring from the side of his head.  I started screaming ( i know, not a good way to keep the kids calm) and Katie and I ran into the house to get a towel.  I started shaking really badly and i knew immediately that we needed to go the hospital.  Katie was my Godsend... she stayed calm and was helping me clean it up so we could see how much damage there really was.  She then agreed we needed to go the the ER.  We yelled for Chuck, Carter was still crying, Izzy was freaking out and we headed for the van.   Chuck came around front (he was in the backyard when all of this was going on) he saw what was going on and immediately grabbed my keys and said, "I'm driving, get in the van!" Well, i still had Izzy to worry about, so i tried to get her into the van, but she refused to go AND she was worried about me taking my Avon catalog. LOL  We decided that she would stay at the house with Chuck's dad and then Chuck would come back and get her after he dropped me, Katie and Carter off at the hospital.   We decided to just go to Wadsworth-Rittman, because its literally 5 minutes from our house.   So, Chuck's driving, I'm sitting in the passenger seat, Katie is sitting in Izzy's carseat (we didn't have the back bench in the van so she squished her butt in a carseat, I love her!!) Carter wouldn't sit in his carseat, plus Katie wanted to be able to keep pressure applied to his ear (she's such a good nurse)!  So she held Carter in the back (yeah yeah, all Laws go out the window in an emergency).  I called Greg, of course i started the conversation with "We are headed to the hospital"  so he was like "WHAT HAPPENED??" I tried to explain, through panic and tears, he got the basic idea of what happened and he said he would meet us there (he was already on his way home from work).   Carter was starting to calm down and actually was starting to fall asleep, so now we are trying to keep him awake, because we don't know if he has some sort of head injury.
We arrived at the hospital, we jumped out of the van, i grabbed Carter and we ran inside... i tried to explain what happened and give the lady my info, but i was having trouble... i couldn't remember my address, Carter's birthday... lol, yeah i was a mess!!   So, they send out a nurse and take us back and obviously we play 50 questions, all of which, i made Katie answer for me.  When the Dr. came in, he actually asked if Katie was the mom!! Lol, wow, i'm ridiculous, apparently!!  They decide that he needs stitches and they aren't going to sedate him, they are just going to basically "mummify" him and then just numb the ear to do the stitches.  By this time, Greg had showed up, my mom showed up and Chuck had showed back up with Izzy.  The hospital staff had to think we were loony toons!  We had 5 adults and a child there for poor Carter's first ER visit.  What the heck is wrong with us??? ds
  Well it was time for the stitches, only 1 parent was allowed in there, so i stayed in there with him as they wrapped him up to restrain him.  The DR. came in and numbed up his ear... Carter screamed, but once his ear was numb, he got really quiet.  He actually fell asleep through the whole stitching experience.  It was really hard to watch my baby all wrapped up like that and then to know that his poor little body was just exhausted and he fell asleep, my heart really couldn't handle any more.  He did so great.  They cleaned him up, gave us instructions and let all of our troops come back in to see him.  He was still asleep when they came in, then when i handed him over to Greg, he woke up, started smiling and waving to everyone.  It was as if nothing ever happened.  The nurse came back in and gave us our discharge papers and we headed on our way.  Carter waved and said "bye-bye" to the nurses and the Dr. and then it was off to the pharmacy to get the anti-biotic filled.
Greg and Chuck went back to our house with the kids and Katie left for adventure to find the prescription.  We first stopped at Beuhlers, because we don't technically have a "pharmacy" yet in Wadsworth, but I had gotten a prescription filled at Beuhlers a few weeks ago.  When i hand them the prescription, she says "oh sorry, we dont have that strength, maybe try Discount Drug Mart"  So Katie and I venture over to DrugMart.  Well imagine that, they don't have that strength either, so i explain to the girl that its for my almost 2 year old son that fell and got stitches and Beuhlers didnt have that strength either, blah blah blah!!  She nicely volunteers to call around for us.  She comes back and tells us that there aren't any pharmacies in the area with that strength.  The Pharmacist then comes over and tells us that he can give us double the strength and he will just take a 1/2 tsp. 3x a day instead of 1 tsp.  We agree that's the best idea so Katie and I walk around the store, i get some tylenol and pick out a toy for Carter and when we walk back to the pharmacy, the girl waves us over and says they haven't filled it yet because it's going to be $45 and she wanted to make sure we still want it.  I call Greg, he says that its our only option so go ahead and get it.  So as we are waiting, the Pharmacist then waves me over again and says that its actually going to be $56.  I'm like ok whatever, just fill it so i can go home.   They finally fill it and when i go to pay, she says "ok, well the $56 was actually for generic and we don't have generic so its actually supposed to be $84 but we will just go ahead and give you the generic price, because of all the confusion and we already filled it"  Well, gee, thanks!  Seriously, $84 for a damn prescription AND that was WITH insurance.   GRR!! Oh well, atleast they were nice and gave us the "generic price".
So we finally head home with our extremely expensive anti-biotic, tylenol and squirt guns.  When we get back to the house, Izzy is sleepin on the couch, Carter is playing with blocks and the guys are grilling some steaks. MMMM.  Just what the Dr prescribed.. good food with our amazing friends!!
We eat our steaks, salad and baked beans and follow it up with some icecream (you can't spend the evening in the ER and not have some icecream).  We sat outside, ate icecream and  the kids squirt us with their new guns.  What a great way to end our extremely eventful and stressful day!!  This made me realize how much i appreciate my beautiful babies, my hardworking husband, my overly dedicated and protective mother and our awesome friends!!  Every single one of them is SOO important to me and I feel so grateful to have them all in my life!!
And i bet you're wondering about the name of this post.... my dad's response to all of this. "hey i didn't know Mike Tyson was in town?  Now we can call him Cart-Ear"   Nice dad! Nice!!!

Oh sweet Hump day....

Ahhh, the week is half way over! Its been a busy couple of days around here...
Monday night we had a meeting with one of the Pastors at Northside about membership. It was nice to get to know him and fill him in on the past year that we've had (we gave him the abbreviated version). We are really excited to transfer our membership to this church and he made us feel certain that this was what we needed to do for our family. So, next Sunday during the 10:00 service we will be going forward and making it official. It will be nice to know that we have a church home again. After the service, we are going to attend, what they call, Connection Points. It's a way to get to know people and get information on Small Groups that are available. They have a new one starting here in Wadsworth, we are really hoping that it will be a good fit for us, because we really miss that intimate small group atmosphere... building relationships and growing spiritually. We are just really ready to meet some new people here in Wadsworth and finally have some "friends". When we left Highpoint, we didn't realize that some people we considered "friends", weren't really. We have had such a roller coaster year and drifting apart from friends was one of the hardest things that happened to us, because we didn't have anyone to turn to anymore, but each other. It's just a really bittersweet time right now. I HATE change and we have had NOTHING but change in the past year, on the other hand, i'm learning that change can be good and it's actually kind of exciting. I've learned to "fly by the seat of my pants" more, which has been hard, because i'm a planner and where that can be good a good thing, it wasn't always in my case because i let it get the best of me. I'm just ready to move on... put it in the past, leave the bitterness behind and really truly know and believe in my heart that God has something amazing in store for the Sage family. I think we are finally coming out of this slump we've been in taking charge of the important things in our lives. And just to know that we have such an amazing God that allows us to be so imperfect and make such stupid mistakes, but He knows what He is doing and I can't believe that even for a second i doubted that. Pastor Robin at Northside said on Sunday when people are going through a hard time, you will often hear others tell them "God won't give you more than you can handle" but, is that necessarily true? He said that he believes God Does give us more than we think we can handle because He wants us to reach out to him in those times and lean on Him. If God didn't give us more than we could handle, then why would we ever need him. That really hit home for me, because I've also believed that statement to be true, but Pastor Robin was so right, and for us specifically we have had a lot handed to us and at times we were completely overwhelmed with doubt and fear and when we tried to proceed on the path we wanted to go down, it was all wrong. When we finally put our hands up and said "God, this is all yours, I can't handle this on my own!" Then things finally started to make sense. Does this mean that we have nothing but good times ahead, NO, absolutely not, but atleast I know that I'm in the right hands.
I honestly don't know how this post turned into this, but it feels good to get it off my chest!
Happy Hump Day!

church, cuddling and shopping....

I love Sundays!  We have been to Church (Northside Christian in Wadsworth) for 3 weeks in a row now.   We really like it there, its not anywhere near what we are used to but we have grown to like it and the kids love it, plus its where Izzy is attending Preschool in the fall.  The sermon was written specifically for me yesterday.... i hate when that happens. lol  I've been having a hard time dealing with stress lately (ok, well my whole life) but more recently i've had a harder time overcoming some things and moving on.  Its effecting my relationship with my husband, my parenting capabilities, friendships and just my overall outlook on life and myself.  Greg and I have had some ups and downs in our marriage lately, we have been through some pretty big  changes and neither of us have actually dealt with them personally, so its putting a strain on our marriage.  Over the past couple of days, we were dealt some bad cards and we had no way to overcome this, except to sit down together and say "ok, are we going to let this be our breaking point or are we going to take this, move on and have a stronger relationship because of it"  Well, we chose the latter.  Greg is doing much better than i am... i have seen so many changes in him over the past few days and i'm falling in love with him all over again.  He has been so patient and calm with me and the kids and i cant help but get choked up just thinking about how much he really loves us.  He reached a point where he knew something had to change in order for us to be happy and move on and HE stepped up to the plate and is taking control of our household.  I'm so proud and I love him so much!!!  Some of you may be confused about what's going on.... its really a long story, it would take 12 posts to fully explain everything and quite frankly, i'm not really ready to put all our dirty laundry out for everyone to see right now.  
 Moving on though, yesterday was just a really good day for us as a family.... like i said, we went to Church in the morning, we went out to Marie's for Pizza afterwards with my parents and Chuck and his dad.  We came home and did some stuff around the house, Greg got the yard mowed and the kids played on their swingset (we finally got it all put together).  It was just really nice family time! We came inside to relax for a little bit before our "big shopping adventure" to come.  The kids were watching a movie and Greg and I were just able to sit on the couch and "cuddle" (that word makes me feel like we're 17).  It felt so nice, i've missed it alot, i love my kids and everything i do is for my kids, but i realize how much i've let my relationship with my husband slip away because i'm more focused on my children.  I know that its obviously a good thing to be focused on my children, but we haven't made enough time for US as a couple.  We don't even get to sleep next to each other at night, because we have an adorable, bed-hogging, 3 year old, little sleepmate, named Izzy.  She sleeps in between us EVERY night.  I think this is going to have to be our next step.... get Izzy in her own bed at night-pronto!  But anyway, the cuddling was fabulous and very much needed. 
So after super-cuddle time, Greg grilled up some pork chops outside (marinated with TS-Smoky Bacon Grill Sauce) and they were DELISH!!!  We had to eat quickly though because we had a "big shopping adventure" at 5:30 in Canal Fulton and we didn't want to be late.  We got the kids ready and headed out the door at 5:05 and we were on our way....
My mom texted me at 5:25 and said "there is a line outside the store".  Great!  ha ha   So we finally reached our destination and we had to park across the street in an abandoned parking lot and race over to get in the store..... LOL  I'm making myself laugh, we were just going to Goodwill.  ha ha.  They were having a Family & Friends Discount Sale, it wasn't open to everyone, only to those that had donated something in the past month and you had to have a special ticket to get in.  Things were anywhere from 75% to 10% off.   I love a good bargain.   We ended up getting quite a bit of stuff... Greg got 3 shirts and  a brand new Blue-Ray disk ( i would tell you the name, but i dont remember).  Izzy got 2 tank tops, 2 dresses, a shirt, a bathing suit (it was brand new w/ tags) and a pair of shoes.  Carter got a sports decoration for his room (ok that was really for me, but its for his room) and 2 pairs of shorts.  i got a pair of shorts and a Food Network cookbook.  My mom ended up paying for a few of things for the kids, but even with my stuff, Greg's stuff and a few of the kids things, we only spent $26.   I LOVE IT!!! 
So, now you see why I love Sundays.... church, cuddling and shopping- all with my favorite people on this earth!  It doesn't get much better than that. 

Easter and stuff....