Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas to all! We just got back from a short, quick visit to Tennessee. We never have enough time to see everybody we want to see, or do the things we want to do. It was a nice visit, and it was great to see everybody!

On Saturday, we went to Kring Family Christmas. That was a lot of fun! Chad's dad's side is a hoot, and we really enjoy our time there. After that, we went to Chad's Dad's house, aka. Papaw's. We had our Christmas there, and then Eli got to go out and see horses, and chickens and a turkey! He really loved that! He can't wait to go back when it's warm so he can ride a horse!

When we left there, we went to Nanny's (aka Vera's) and had some dinner and hung out. It was Beths' birthday, and we made a decision at the last minute to go see Twilight. FINALLY! Oh, it was so good, and I loved it, I just hated the teenagers there. They were so loud and obnoxious! They ruined the 'feeling' for me! But, I had fun with Chad's sisters and cousin, and I finally got to see the movie.

The next morning, (Sunday) we went to church with Nanny, and everyone. We filled a pew! I couldn't believe that! Eli was excellent in church, and so was Baby Carly! Emma wasn't bad, she just didn't like sitting so still for so long!
After church, we had our Christmas dinner, which was really good! Then it was time for more presents!! Eli got a lot of cute outfits and fun toys. He really enjoyed it! Chad and I both got some neat things, too. This year has been rough for us, in more ways than one, and we hate not being able do give everyone everything they want! Hopefully this year we'll get caught up on some things, and things will be better.

We're back in Indy now, and it's really cold here!! It's a big change from Fiday when we left! Eli and I went shopping yesterday (Monday) and we got most of our shopping done, which is good, because we are almost out of money! We had a good day, and we tried to go see Santa. Eli just couldn't do it. He tried, but when we got up there, he kinda freaked, and didn't want to have anything to do with the Jolly ol' Elf, himself. He got a Candy Cane flavored ring pop, and we took off out of there. I was sad, because I really wanted a Santa pic! No such luck for me, though.

One funny quote: as we were walking around the mall, every once in awhile, Eli would shout out to me "Momma, ou dribe me NUTS!" and I'd say "Eli, you drive ME nuts!" and he'd say "Ou dribe me CAZY!" and I'd say "No, you drive ME crazy!". Some people around would laugh, some looked at me like I was nuts, but you just have to see Eli when he says it. It's very funny, and oh so cute.

Here's hoping everyone has a Merry Christmas!!! I hope to have some great Holiday pics to attatch to the next blog!!

Love,
Sara, Chad and Eli

Unfinished Everything

I hope you all know that I really have the best of intentions. Really. It's just hard with a full time job, Chad, and Eli, to be able to keep up the way I want. I like to spend time with them when I'm off! And let me tell you....this past week at work did NOT allow updates!!...So, without further ado:

We have had a wonderful weekend!! Yesterday Eli and I went to see Bolt. He loved it! I probably would have liked it better if I hadn't fallen asleep, but I was running on very little sleep (ie. an hour). It was Eli's idea, so I looked at times, and took him. He really enjoyed it.

Today we've had a good day. We lounged for awhile, ran to Target and had lunch, and came home to wait for Daddy to come home. When Chad finally got off work, we started cleaning up the corner to get the tree in a new spot this year. We came across all our baby stuff. Eli loves this stuff. I think he enjoys old things now, way more than he did then! Check it out!!

He really enjoyed sitting in the swing! He never enjoyed the swing as a baby. It just wasn't his thing. But all nite tonite he has wanted me to "sing me, mommy!" And it hasn't broken yet!

So we started putting the tree up, and Eli is really into it. We weren't sure if he was still too young, but he has enjoyed us driving and looking at "Kiss-mas Lites!" Every tree, light and snowman, he says "Wook! Kiss-mas lite!" It has been very cute! So, he was really excited when we started putting the tree together and the lights starting coming on!

After lots of work, and no tears, thank goodness, here is our tree!

And, of course, we have the smug-cheese smile. Wouldn't expect anything else! It was so much fun, and it really made us hungry. We've not been grocery shopping for awhile, so he is some of what we had for dinner:

Mmmm, tater tots in the shape of the alphabet! Add a little bologna and you have a Kring dinner. After he got done, this is what it looked like:

He ate everything but his first name! That cracked me up. He's so funny. He really liked it though. We've really been enjoyin him. He hardly ever acts up, and he really does almost anything we ask. We have noticed he's starting to grow up, and it's kinda sad! Instead of say "E-yi" for everything, he's actually using "I" and "me" sometimes. He has to sleep with his closet light on, which is pretty new, and tonight he really stalled at bedtime. "Pease mom, 'nother kiss?" and he knows it'll work. Who can resist that? He has been making his Santa list. He says he's not going to visit Santa, but he knows what he wants Santa to bring. So far, he want's a Wow! Wow! Wubzy video, thomas the train, a carebear, and Bolt. We had to tell him Bolt isn't out yet, but he keeps looking.

Well, that's about all I have for now. I really do plan on writing more, and I hope to finish our vacation story, mostly so Eli can read about it later in life. He still talks about it, and wants to wear Mickey shirts everyday. We hope to spend a day at Disney World next year on our way to Naples with Gram.



Bye for now, check back soon.


Love,
Sara, Chad and Eli!

Happy Recoveries!!!!

Well, I have a job to do! See, my Mom had a little surgery a few days ago. When she gets home, I want her to have lots to do, so I'm going to work hard to get everything blogged from Halloween weekend and the rest of our vacation, so she can enjoy reading!! Good Luck to me!!! Shoo!



Ok. Let's see. I'll do Day 2 of vacation. That would have been Sunday, October 12. Since we had such a long drive the day before, the whole family slept in until 10-ish. I didn't want to waste the day, but it was such a long drive, that we just needed to get our sleep out. Once we got up, we had a leisurely breakfast, and we took our time getting ready to go to a pool. Our Condo was huge, and the grounds were even bigger. There were 15 pools that we could choose from. We chose the one closest to our condo, which was dubbed by Eli as "Gramma's House." It was really nice! There was a nice big pool, a kiddie pool, a hot tub, a restroom, and lots of places to sit and have lunch or lounge. We spent the rest of our morning, and most of our afternoon there. It was great! Then we went back, and had lunch and napped, and Chad and I went to buy our Disney Tickets!!

I was so excited to get our week planned out, so when we went to buy tickets, I had everything mapped out. Well, the ladies selling tickets messed me up, so we went with a different plan. We got tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween on Monday, the next day, and one other full day ticket. That set us back a pretty penny! Lucky for us, Eli is young enough so we didn't have to pay to get him in!

The rest of Sunday, we just hung out, and had a fun time around the Condo. We were keeping our eye out for our little "wizard" friend and watchin some Mickey TV.

I know I'm draggin this out. I'm sorry! I just don't have that many opportunities to write! Hopefully, I'll get the 'Vacation Series' done by the end of next week.
Until Next time...
Love,
Sara, Chad and Eli

Pardon the Interruption...

I realize I've left all of you dangling, waiting for more on our vacation. I promise I'll tell about the rest of the week. I wanted to tell about Halloween first, and cover my Birthday! I can do that. It's my blog!

We had a great Halloween! All of October, we had tried our darndest to get Eli to pick a costume. He wanted nothing to do with anything. Even his most favorite characters he didn't want to wear. After we got back from Disney, he decided that Mickey would be ok. He could be Mickey Mouse with no problems. So, Friday, Halloween Day, Eli and I went to get his costume. They had a Mickey Mouse costume, but it was WAY to big. It never would have fit him. I gently explained that Mickey was too big, and he would have to pick something else. He took that wonderfully. "Ok Mom, Mickey Mouse tooo big." It sounded like he was saying "Mickey Mouse stuu-pid." I just laughed and said yes, it was too big. So we kept looking and found a Mr. Incredible costume that was just his size. He got sooo excited about that one!

"Eii be Mr. 'credible, Mommy? Petty Pease?"
How can you say no to that? How cute is he?! I said sure! We also saw the Buzz Lightyear and Woody costumes. He held those out, as if comparing them, and said "Nope, Eii be Mr. 'credible."

'nuff said about that one. We ran a couple more errands, getting candy for the trick or treaters, looking for cheap last minute decorations, and looking for a pumpkin. That's right folks, we hadn't bought a pumpkin yet. Quite simply, we had SUCH a good time in Disney, we couldn't quite afford a pumpkin yet. No problem, right?

Wrong!!! Oh, so very wrong. There wasn't a pumpkin to be bought in Fishers. I say that because, we stopped at the very nice church on the corner, just down from I-69. They had pumpkins, and they said I could have one. However, they were what was being thrown out because they were all moldy or rotten. mmmm, nothing like moldy pumpkin to cover the dog smell in a house. So, the Kring's went Pumpkin-less.

Hope Eli isn't scarred for life!
He and Chad went trick-or-treating with a couple of the neighbors. After a few houses, Chad said Eli figured out he was getting "Candies!" and he decided to participate willingly. Whew! I was really wantin some good candy this year!

He loved his costume so much...He's still wearing it. Ahh, to be 2 again!
More later...
Love,
Sara, Chad and Mr. 'Credible

Well Hello!

Wow. What a vacation we had! I don't even know where to begin! We left Friday the 10th for a fun-filled week in Orlando, FL. It was a Looooong van ride down, that included a stop in Tennessee at 1 am to see everyone that we could wake up. It was nice to see everyone, including Emma and baby Carley, whom I hadn't met yet! Eli wanted to hold baby Carley. That was cute!!

Chad and I took turns driving, he doing the bulk, and we arrived near our destination. I say near. See, that story goes like this: Chad doesn't like Mapquest. So he 'referenced' our atlas, got us lost and we saw LOTS of scenery twice. :) No, really. It was fine. But we got there, finally, safe and sound. Our condo was very nice!! I'll include pics in a few days, as I am at a computer that doesn't hold my pics (aka work). We unloaded our stuff, took showers (20 hours in a car..yes we needed showers!), and went to dinner. We went to a Chinese Buffet. It was alright, nothing like our favorite place in Noblesville that shut down not too long ago. Then we went to Publix to fill our pantry with food. So did everyone else. Think I'm exaggerating? Oh no. EVERYBODY went. It was a mess! We hurried through with $130 dollars worth of mostly stuff to eat, and partied on to "Gramma's House" as Eli called the Condo.

Then something interesting happened. I still laugh about it. We walked in our condo, and Mom went to the room she and Eli were sharing. She flipped on the light, and started screaming. This little gecko scooted all over the farthest wall. He ran along and hid behind the empty suitcases. Mom flipped out, "oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Chad, come here!!!" Chad was laughing, I was laughing, heck, even Eli was laughing. "Eii see wizard?!" We then found him hiding under Mom's shoe, and he darted back behind the large armour that couldn't be moved. Mom wasn't so happy about all of this. She had no intention of sharing her room with a 2 year old and a lizard! But, there was nothing we could do, so she came out of her room, and we went to putting the groceries away.

As we were relaxing about an hour later, Mom started screaming again. "Sara, get Chad. Where is he. COME HERE NOW!" I told Chad that Mom needed him, that she found the lizard. Boy was I wrong. Nope, no lizard, just a huge ass cockroach. ewwww. I can't even stand to write that word!!!! It grossed me out, and I was stuttering, Telling Chad to get rid of it. At one point it was ON him, and I wanted to Barf. Gross. This is when Eli pulled out his new word. He copied Mom and said "oh my gooness!" and then he said "EWWWWW! Isgusting!" It was the funniest thing I have ever heard my boy say! You haven't lived until you can ask a 2 year old what the bug was, and he screams "EWWW! Is-Gust-Ing!", all the while jumping in his cute little uncoordinated way.

Chad was able to pin the bug, and Mom was so mad she caught it in a plastic bag. I made her put it in the freezer so we could show someone later. After all that...we were able to relax (sorta) and we went to bed pretty early. We were pooped! Who knew driving for so long could put you to sleep!

That's all I have the energy for tonight. "Sunday" and "Day 1 of Disney" will come soon! Check back often!

Love to all,
Sara, Chad and Eli

What a Week it will be!

Guess who left for Florida today? Everyone but us! All of Eli's babysitters are in another state! That doesn't do us any good! So, Mommy got to snooze while Eli had a movie day. I didn't feel too terrible about it, as it was cool outside, and not as beautiful as previous days.

I do feel a little bad, because I got a little cranky. But, really, who wouldn't after working a 12 hour shift, and then catching an elbow in the nose because "Lightening McQueen go fast!". So it was naptime after that! Eli gets another movie day next Tuesday, because, again, no babysitters! He enjoys it, but I sure am tired!

We have had a great couple of weeks! Weather is changing, and outside play isn't happening like it was, but we still get out a little here and there. We've been busy cleaning, and playing, and working! The payoff? We leave for Disney next Friday! Eli is very excited to go to "Mickey's House!". He's been talking about it for about 2 weeks! And we can't just mention one character! We go through the whole crew! Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Goofy and Pluto! We have to mention them all every time. I hope Eli doesn't get too scared of those huge characters!

Last week, Chad, Eli and myself, met our friends Lesley and her little one, Cooper, at the Children's museum. It was a great time! Eli loved it! He didn't pay too much attention to Cooper, but at just 8 months old, Cooper couldn't exactly run around crazy with Eli! We set up the play time because Lesley will be watching Eli two days next week while all my sitters are playing in the ocean!

Well, not much else to say right now. I hope this finds everyone doing wonderfully! Sorry, again, for no pictures. My camera and laptop do NOT get along, and I haven't figured out the problem. I think we are looking towards a digital camera upgrade for Christmas! Hope to hear from everyone soon!

Love to all,
Sara, Chad and Eli

These are a Few of my Favorite Things!

Hey all! I got this from another blog as well! Check it out!

Favorite Food: Mushrooms.
Favorite Month: October, or November! I love fall, and I love love love Halloween and my Birthday!
Favorite Movie: What a Girl Wants
Favorite Sport: driving to work. I would get a gold in that one! NO? not good enough? Ok ok...playing, Basketball, watching, Football
Favorite Season: Parsley...ahahaha. Ok ok. Sorry. UH, fall!!
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Ice Cream bad...Raspberry sorbet good!
Favorite Time of Day: early morning with Eli, or nighttime. I get lots of hugs then!
Last Cigarette: NEVER!!! yay me!
Last Drink: you mean a 'good' drink? One day last week I had a Cherry Bomb
Last Car Ride: Around 6 pm...on my way to work!
Last Movie Seen in a Theater: "Albin & Chickmunks"...free film festival!
Last Phone Call: I called Kasey aka "the joke hotline"
Last CD Played: Black eyed Peas
Have You Ever Been on TV: oh yes, and it was thrilling, let me tell you! I was like, 3, so I'm told, and I was interviewed at the track! And I wouldn't talk! whew, I'm surprised agents are bangin my door down!
Thing You're Wearing: New Scrub Pants!
Thing You've Done Today: Went to the Dr with Gram and had White Castle on my way home. mmmm. Now I remember why I don't eat those often!
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: the videos I picked to play on Yahoo! Music
Thing You Can't Live Without: albuterol!
Thing You Do When You're Bored: Well it's been awhile for that! Um, read!
Coke or Pepsi: Cherry Coke, please and thank you!
Hot or Cold: Cold!
What Do You Want To Do Before You Die? Live a Healthy full LIfe!!!

Well now that was fun! I like doing those because I don't have to think so hard about what I want to say!

Funny Eli today. I hadn't seen him since Thursday morning, and I had missed the lil guy! I asked him for a hug, and he said "No, mommy", and I pretended to pout and cry and he said to me "oh mommy, Top it! (stop it!)". I can't believe the funny stuff that comes out of his mouth! He cracks me up, though! I think Chad and I might be in trouble in a few years!

Not much more to report! Working and trying to get to Disney is about all I've been up to! Hope you all are doing well!

Love,
Sara, Chad and Eli

7 Things about Me

While reading the other Blogs that I read, I saw this on one of them. It sounded like a good idea. Sooooo, Here are 7 things you may not have know about me!
In no particular order....

1. I am catholic, and I observe Lent. Ever since I was in a Catholic school (all two years!) I have done this. I don't always give something up, sometimes I work on improving myself. Sometimes I try not to swear, and a couple years I tried to not use the Lord's name in vain. I did ok with those things!

2. I have always wanted a big family. When I was a kid, I wanted 6 kids. I wanted 3 sets of twins, all boy/girl. My girls' names were Cory, Toni, and Bobbie. I thought it was cute. I no longer think that. :) I do want lots of kids, but I don't think that is in the cards for us. I am hoping for 1 or 2 more, but secretly, I'd like 3 more. I love kids, and the one I have is super!!!

3. I can no longer hold more than 1 job. I tried it. It stressed me out. I can't handle it. I ended my week and a half of job #2 crying, in a corner, eating my hair....well, ok. I didn't eat my hair...

4. I have lived my life in 7's. I lived in Indianapolis til I was 7, lived in Brownsburg til I was almost 14, moved back from Wisconsin when I was almost 21, and have been with Chad for a total of 7 years. Now that says something! ..hmm...maybe my favorite number shouldn't be 2!

5. I am scared of Wind. Yes. I know. I am a dork.

6. I am a geek, too. Band geek that is. That is part of my life that I miss a lot! Music is great, whether listening to it, or making it. I really do miss that....hmm. Idea!

7. I miss my family. All of them. From Chad and Eli, who I see almost every day, to my Kansas family that I haven't seen in years! Most of all, I can't WAIT for my Mom and Dad to move back. I miss them!

Hmm...there is 7! Wow! I didn't think I would get all of them! I don't usually talk about ME so much. Ok, so TAG! You are it! Now go do it! And, let me know when you have, cause I wanna know 7 things about you! Shoo!

What a Long week!!!

Hey! Check it out! I am updating!

What a hellacious week! HOLY COW!
I started job #2 this week. It was a killer! I had to sit, for all 5 days, from 8am (you know, my bedtime?!) until they released us around 330 (or i begged out for a Root Canal!). It was not pretty. I am NOT a dayshift girl! Stay awake I could not! I really felt kind of bad for the speakers, because if they looked in my direction, they could see that I was not there!

And yes, you read that write. Our wonderful dental insurance at the Riley's doesn't cover much in the way of Root Canals, so I'll be taking donations to cover that one! Whew! But the pain is better, so that's great! I met a wonderful dentist that I'm happy with, so at least I'll have someone great to take all my concerns too when I return in, oh, I don't know, another 2 years. What?! Not good enough? I know. But I do brush twice a day....

The boys did well this week, what with me working 2 full time jobs, we actually had a good week! I got to spend lots of time outdoors with Eli and the neighbors, and I really enjoyed that! I think Eli appriciates having me home more! We had a few nice family dinners, and I really enjoyed that! On Thursday, we even got a visit from the Ice Cream Man! I wish I had gotten pictures of all the neighbors and kids eating their Ice Cream! But, then I would have had to put my Huge Bomb Pop down to get the camera, and I wasn't really down with that! Eli had a Bomb pop, as well, and he had a red and blue beard, and his shirt was dyed all pretty colors! (don't worry Mom, I've already put stain remover on it, and it's being washed as I type!)

In bigger news....The Kring's are going to Disney! After much hemming and hawing, scraping of funds, and whining to my mom...My wonderful Aunt Debbie found us a week at one of the RCI condos for a really good price! Chad, Eli and I will be driving down in a rented Van and meeting my Mom in Orlando! We will get to spend a week swimming and getting to know our ol' pal Mickey Mouse!

I can't tell you how excited I am about this vacation! I have been trying to plan this for quite some time! However, we are traveling on a budget. If anyone has any money savings ideas for us, please let us know!!! We will be leaving the 10th of October.

I think that's it for now. I'll try to load some pics up for the next update!
Feel free to leave comments or email me anytime! We'd love to hear from anyone!

Love,
Sara, Chad and Eli!

New Look

Hello all those readers out there! All two of you have missed me, I'm sure!

My Mom Pointed out that it was really hard to read the other blog, so I switched it up. This is nice, you think? I like it!
The Kring's have been busy! I have been working a lot to get to Disney, we hope.
Chad has been working his regular 40 and keeping busy with softball.

Eli....he is such a handsome, funloving kid! We are having a great summer, and enjoying everything with him! We've been to a couple of festivals, we spent a day at the State Fair, and we have been swimmin at the Y. He loves it all! I'm hoping to post some pics soon, I just haven't had the time to make sure my camera is working right!

We are starting to think about Halloween, one of the funnest times of years. Any ideas on what the Kring's should be this year? We'd love ideas!

Love to all!
Sara, Chad and Eli