Big Nick, Little Lucy

I can't help but share this picture with the world. That is my big brother...and that his his little doggie. Manly, huh?

Lazy Sunday

Yesterday, I enjoyed a wonderful lazy Sunday. In the morning, I went to church and then came home around the same time that Zac got home from his band show overnighter. He was feeling a little under the weather, so we spent most of the day on the couch. After a brisk walk with Aster after lunch, I stopped by the library to check my email and grab a few books. My afternoon was spent reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. I love his books because they are so entertaining and I got sucked in right away. The rest of the day was spent on the couch with Aster sleeping on my lap just reading. With the snow falling outside, it was the perfect thing to do on a cold winter Sunday.

My Boys

Lake, rivers and a whole lot of digging.

Due to the recent melt-down, we now have a lake in our back yard which extends over to the side of our house. In addition to a bunch of other back yard issues, our dear neighbor (not his fault, he just moved in) has bricks stacked up on his side of the fence to keep the water from running through his yard to the drain. Great. And because said lake is putting so much pressure on our foundation, we also have a million little rivers running all over our basement floor. Awesome.

Last week Zac called the city of Stow and the engineer came out to access our situation. From just poking around, he doesn't think that we have the required 2-acres of fall to have the city fix our drain problem on their dime. But he said that a survey team would come back out in the spring to verify, and then he would work with us to set up a plan to fix our problem. Not the answer we were looking for, but its progress. So all you friends and family out there, bring you shovels because this very well may be the summer of dig. ; )

To combat the basement rivers, Zac and I are having a handful of basement waterproofing companies come out to give estimates and advice on what to do. We've got everybody from Ohio Waterproofing to an independent contractor who might be able to work with Zac to do it. We'll see what our best options are to get a dry basement and not break the bank.

Oh the joys of home ownership! It may be expensive and stressful, but we wouldn't trade it for the world.

Chasing Chariots Show

"I'll be up in the gym just workin' on my fitness..."

I'm not really sure how the rest of that annoying Fergie song goes, but I've got that part stuck in my head because I joined a gym. (For real!) I've been wanting to start a workout routine for some time, but I just couldn't find the motivation to work out at home and the weather has made it fairly impossible to do much on the road. So last Saturday, I signed up for an 18-month membership at FitWorks in Stow-Kent. Of course I didn't go in looking to lock myself into a contract, but they make it so expensive to do a month-to-month membership that it was my best option to sign up and pre-pay for the entire time.

Its my goal to work out three days a week and participate in the yoga/pilates classes in addition to that. Zac is not convinced that I'll stick to it, but I'm going to show him! Right now, my arms/back/chest hurt so bad that I can barely brush my hair, but it feels great to actually do something again!

Baby Girl Whitmire ... Katelyn Elizabeth

I have a niece! Stats 7lbs 13oz 21 inches long, arrived on 2/9/09 at 5:16pm.
Zac and I can't wait until March for our trip to Tulsa to see our niece and nephew (and Sarah & Noah, too.)

(p.s. Sarah made me delete the picture of her! haha...)

My dog, the genius

What are we supposed to do on a cold winter night in Ohio?
Make home movies of course.


Aster's vocabulary also includes "popcicles", "Where's Zac", and a number of other treats and commands. : )