Shawna's 30th Birthday PARTY!

Cousin Stacy, Aunt Carol, Grandpa, Aiden and my mom.
Me and Shawna

Emma
Aiden in his "Chick Magnet" shirt...


Mariah

Riley
Shawna and Shari

Shari, Shawna, and Shannon
Aiden and Emma

Writer's Strike My Ass.

I guess one good thing to come of this writers strike is that people are learning to live without their TV... unless, or course, you have season 1 of "House" on DVD to get you through. I can't complain too much, Ugly Betty is coming back next week and so is AMERICAN IDOL!!!! yeah, like I FORGOT or something, you wish. On that note, Taylor Hicks' label booted him right out the door last week. Poor guy, I thought he had potential. Whatyagonnado?
Ellen is still on which make me happy but this is the last season of Scrubs. *tear*

Geez, you can tell I don't have much of a life. Kevin leaves for San Diago next week, and Aiden and I are left to fend for ourselves. I hope we make it, its a whole WEEK!

I'm on a 90s kick after watching VH1's countdown of the greatest songs from the 90s. Its not a new thing, they've played it a couple times, but I love it everytime.

I'm already worn out of all this political nonsence. I know I know... its important and I should know more about it and the people and blah blah blah. But I just can't do it, and I've tried to pay attention and learn all the political mumbo jumbo terminology... I'll have to have Karissa dumb it down for me so I can vote. Karissa's a CNN junkie.

I hate when its 11pm and I'm not tired.

I suppose I should go read or something to make myself tired. HAPPY THURSDAY everyone!

Aiden's Thumb

Aiden learned something new last week. Mommy's hair straightner is hot. and hot hurts damnit. I thought Aiden was in the hallway playing, I didn't know he was behind me until I saw my hair straightner start to fall off the counter. I spun around and made a quick dash for the stupid thing, well Aiden picked it up first. He didn't realize that it hurt until I ripped it out of his hand. He looked at his hand and then SCREEEEEAMED like a fire siren for an hour. All the way to the doctor's office. Luckily, we were heading there any way for Aiden's 1st year appointment, so it was good timing, I guess. 2nd degree burns on his thumb, with a huge blister. Poor baby, I feel like a horrible mommy for not even noticing him grabbing for it, but I guess the eyes on the back of my head aren't fully developed yet, they're still new. But one week later, it looks ok. I think he'll keep his thumb :)

We had a great weekend last weekend, we went to DL and hung out with the crew. My mom and Dad kept Aiden for a couple of days while we went back to GF to ring in the New Year. Us, Amber, Ben, Tab and Derek played ROCK BAND until 11:50 when we turned on the TV and watched the ball drop (delayed for time change, that is). I had Tuesday off, and it was amazing, we didn't have any responsibilities for a whole day! no job, no baby... very nice.

This weekend we're thinking about going to Fargo to meet up with Amy and hang out with her. SHe still hasn't met Aiden :)!

I gave up on my peice of shit camera. Something just not right with it. So I guess this is all you get today :)

Christmas

I didn't actually get many pics at Christmas. Too busy rangling Aiden and opening my gifts and his gifts. But Grandma got plenty of photos... www.pennysbs.blogspot.com.

Kevin gave me the most beautiful journey necklace, with a moment just like the ones in the commercial for it, and a very very sweet note that made me cry. Pics on my moms blog... thanks mom for the "no, you don't look like you've been crying" liar.

Hope everyone had a very merry christmas.! The past few days has been crazy for us. Sunday B-day party, Monday Christmas with my parents, Tuesday Christmas with Kevin's parents. Plus I worked both Monday and Tuesday from 7-3. But it was SOOOO slow at the hotel... I read my entire "A Lifetime of Secrets: A postsecret book" (so there isn't much to actually READ, you just look at a lot of art) that Aiden got me for Christmas.

I gave Kevin RockBand... it is adicting. I didn't think I'd like it, but its a blast! hard as hell to get the drums down, but well worth the money.

I can't believe Aiden is 1! He has his 1 year doc. appointment tomorrow. YAY!

We went to "I am Legend" on Sat. night. We went to the new theatre in East Grand Forks. Very nice. Reclining seats, cheap popcorn, cheap tickets and stadium seating (which is a first for Grand Forks) The place still smelled like new paint. The movie was good. Not as amazing as everyone has said it was supposed to be, but I'm glad I went, it was a good Will Smith movie.
We're goin' to DL this weekend. My mom asked to take Aiden for a couple of days (she misses him A LOT!) and who can argue with a few free days? Aiden knows a couple of signs now too. He understands Apple, Banana, Ball, Puppy, and Book. Hopefully, he'll start USING them himself soon. We got money for a vid. camera for Christmas, so soon, we'll have video to post!



The biggest present ever! Taller than he is!
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the BAG O' GIFTS


SHHHHH! SNEAK ATTACK!

Rub-a-dub-dub a birthday boy in the tub

Getting clean and smellin' good for his big day.

First gift of the day.

like this?
(That's Tabs orange jammy pants in the background :)
LIKE THIIIIS!
I LOVE PAPER!

What the....?! CLOTHES! MOOOOOOMMMMM!

This is a pretty big box

COOL! Its the exact same chair that Mommy got on HER first Birthday and the one Grandpa got for HIS birthday... Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! (To see before and after pic of re-apolstered chair...www.pennysbs.blogspot.com)

Aiden's mini cake.
Fire?
Hmm.. I don't like sticky.
ICKY!
GET IT OFF MEEEEE!

Duckie cake compliments of Tab

Yeah, I know, she's amazing.

SWIMMING!

Whats going on?

This ain't half bad... *splash* *splash*

Daddy! Daddy! You GOTTA Try This!

OOOOOOHHHH That was FUN!

Our Online Christmas Letter. Written by The Husband

http://www.obrienfamily2007.blogspot.com/

A Personal visit from Santa Himself.

Yup, Aiden was such a good boy this year, that Santa came to see him in person. He knew we were much too busy to see him in the mall :)

Santa is actually our realitor, Jerry. What a guy! He helped us look for and buy our house. He really is a great guy, and during Christmas he goes to all his houses dressed up as Santa. I'm sure its a great way for him to keep in touch with all of his clients and to get referrals. Eitherway, he made a great Santa and even though Aiden was scared out of his mind at first, it didn't take long for him to warm up to Santa. I think he liked the bells that Jerry had on his belt. it was fun, and after making him cry, Jerry had him smiling by the time he left. Too cute!

I must ad, the christmas outfit that Marie gave Aiden looks really cute on him, I had my doubts, but its adorable!

I'm still ruffled and bunched.

How does a person snap out of a horrible, no good, very bad mood? You watch a musical.

So I rented Hairspray and for 2 and a half hours I was very entertained. (the behind the scenes peek was a bonus) but then I remembered that I have no clean clothes to wear to work tomorrow, so I'm waiting for the washing machine to beep at 11pm. Then I was ironing a shirt, and because the pad on the ironing board is to thin, and apparently the iron was too hot after 5 seconds of being on, I burned a metal criss cross pattern on my new top.

The Trans Siberian Orchestra is in GF tomorrow. I can't believe it came up so fast, I wanted to go and was planning on asking Kevin if he would want to go... but now its too late. Blake is going with A GROUP OF FRIENDS (because its not a date) so now I'm jealous. Kevin's work christmas party is on Saturday. Anyone wanna entertain a little man for a couple of hours?

Enough of this Woe is Me bull.... On a good note, I got some Christmas shopping done today. I can check Kevin's gifts off my list and I got some shopping done for Aiden't Birthday party. Which brings me to...

Tab. She is the QUEEN of cake decorating. She is awesome at it, if you question me go to her blog and scroll down to see the lego cakes she made for Farnum http://tabs-tidbits.blogspot.com/ . And wouldn't it just be the Bees Knees if she could make a beautiful Duckie cake for Aiden's Birthday? hint hint.

Anyway, happy Friday everyone. Have a fantabulous weekend.

my feathers are ruffled, my panties are bunched and I have a stick up my

We had scheduled family xmas pics tonight, but cancelled because I was in a horrible no good very bad mood plus, we were running too late, and I hate being late and feeling rushed and it adds unneeded stress, so why bother. I know we've procrastinated the xmas pics for cards thing, but Aiden was sick then he had a huge bruize on his forehead so he wasn't lookin' too hot for the past couple of weeks. We tried to take some pics last night at home.. I just set up my lights and Amber came over to take the pics, but Aiden was crabby, I couldn't find my camera/flash trigger and the pics in front of the tree just weren't looking like I wanted so in a huff, I gave up. Sorry Amber, that I was being a grump, I still appreciate you coming over to help. Bailey was very patient too.

So anyway, thats the story of how the O'Brien family did NOT get their picture successfully taken in the past 24 hours. But Since no studio can get us our pics back by christmas anyway (today was the last day) I'm going to just sit Aiden down tomorrow snap some cute pics with him in his sweater vest and slap them on a generic "merry frickin' christmas' card, and send them on their way to people who will hang them up on their fridge for a week then tuck them away in a box in the basement.

I wish I wasn't a photographer, so I wouldn't care so much about a stupid christmas picture.

**Here is where I deleted a big paragraph explaining why I am in a horrible, no good, very bad mood, but before hitting publish post, I rethought my actions and realized that here is not a place to bitch about work...but if I could, man would you have gotten an ear full***

and done.

Aiden's first hair cut.

Just look at that smile! I love it!
Kevin gave him his first hair cut last night. Looks pretty good!

Abby,Aiden,Jessica and Breanna
Jessica and Breanna are my cousin Troy's daughters and Abby is his girlfriend's daughter.
They really enjoyed playing with Aiden
(and Guitar Hero after he went to bed)

Aiden sees the doc tomorrow for a checkup on the ear infection and a booster for his flu shot.

Tomorrow is the Comfort Inn's Christmas party.

It's too frickin' cold

why do we live in North Dakota again? Oh yeah, the low crime rate and good public school system and the people are so nice.... ppff..

Like my slideshow?

I get to see my Cousin Troy on Saturday and watch his kids. I haven't seen them in forever and we get to hang out for a couple of hours.

Everyone must email me their addresses if they want a christmas card.
aj_obrien1@hotmail.com

I get interviewed on Friday for the Assistant Manager position at the hotel.

Fuzzybutt decided the other day that he is too good to use his litter box. I think he's acting out because Aiden is getting all his attention.

Anyone want to come to a birthday party on the 23rd? I promise cake.

Had to fix the drivers side window on the Jeep, the window froze close and I attempted the drive up window at McDonalds and I broke it... I refused to drive it for too long with duct tape holding the window up.

Thats pretty much my week so far.

Tab, this one's for you!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1135121778

Rashes and Turkey.

Hope you all had a terrific Thanksgiving! Here's our past week in Cliff's notes.

on Monday we Aiden to the doctor because of an ear infection. Monday night Aiden cried and screamed for like 4 hours straight. On Tuesday Karissa called to tell me Aiden has a bright red rash with bumps all over him. Brough him back to the doctor where we are told that he is allergic to Amoxacillin. Fantastic. That day and night and the next day sucked. As the amoxacillin took a couple of days to get out of his system, Aiden was uncomfortable and irritated and crabby. Wednesday we left town and to go to Devils Lake to be with the fam for Thanksgiving. Mom made a fantastic feast and we all stuffed ourselves full of the traditional dinner of turkey and all the trimmings. Aiden didn't like mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, not even cranberries, so he had gerbers mixed veggies for his thanksgiving dinner. silly boy, he doesn't know what he missed.

After dinner, we met up with Ben and Amber and Bailey at the DL Airport to Welcome home Butto... A.K.A. Jason who is on leave from Iraq. We met up with Jason's parents and went over to their house to sip some disgusting (very good I'm sure) whisky and look at a slideshow video of him and his unit over in Iraq.

On Friday morning my aunt patty and cousin Sidney came over and talked me into buying raffle tickets to win a small decorated Christmas Tree. It was to raise money for the two of them to go to Australia for World Youth Day 2008. So I bought 15 tickets and bid on two different trees, a UND themed tree and a "Gift Tree" The drawing was Friday night at their Indian Taco feed. Well, I'm glad I bought the tickets because I WON!! and I never win anything so I was excited. I won the Gift Tree, which came with over $100 in gift certificates for different places around DL. LIke wlamart, Kmart,Liquid Bean, Coffee Connection, Cenex Gas Stations, Felix's restraunt, the Movie Gallery and more.

Friday night, we all met up and went out for a WELCOME HOME BUTTO party. It was a blast as usual, with the usual people. See pics below.

Saturday night, my mom, dad, sister, kevin, Aiden and I went out to Felix's to use our gift certificates. I have never eaten there, which is odd beings that I grew up in DL and that place is like a well known "fancy" restaraunt. I didn't miss much I guess. We had a good time hanging out, but the service was EXTREMELY slow (we were there for 2 and a half hours most of the time waiting for our food that was nothing special and not very pleasing. I'll never go there again. We got there at 6:30pm. They were not by any means busy. (that should have been a sign... saturday night at 6:30pm and only 15 cars in the lot) and I left early to bring Aiden home because his bed time is 8:30 and he was very well behaved for most of the meal but it was just too long of a time for a 11 month old to sit still in a high chair. We did find out that he LOVES Prime Rib.

We also saw my grandpa and grandma yesterday.

This morning we went to church and saw Kevin's dad be the commander for the Knights of Columbus because today was their Patriotic Thanksgiving Mass. We got to see Noah, he was Aiden't neighbor while he was in the NICU. Noah was doing well too, it was nice to see them again, and we talked about the time the babies were in the NICU and how well they are doing now.

PHEW.... now you are updated. We had a pretty busy weekend. Now we are at home and ready to prepare for our LONG week ahead.

A very happy Aiden.


Aiden sitting in a chair that my sister and I had when we were little. He liked it. Gramma was right there ready to catch him if he started to fall :)

Aiden eatin' a cookie... YUMMY!

Tab and I looking adorable. (in 50% saturation)

Butto. a.k.a. Jason.

Butto and I

Kevin, Alicia and me

Kevin and Tab. They look like they could be siblings.

Butto with Derek's glasses on.

Tab with Derek's glasses on.

ho hum.

The lead singer of In This Moment can scream... I mean listen to her, man can she freakin' scream. Don't you wish you could freakin' scream like that sometimes, sounds like it would feel very theraputic, well I'll just let her scream for me I guess.

What a long week. Aiden was in DL this week because Isabella was sick so Karissa couldn't watch him. I missed him so much! By Thursday I was pretty sure I was going to have to drive to DL in the middle of the night to pick him up. Tab and Derek was coming to Grand Forks anyway so they brought him back to us. He came back with the most terrible cold ever. Plus, he's teething like crazy! Poor thing doesn't know what to do with himself, so he just fusses a lot. And cries and "MA MA MA MA MA MA" all over the house. Last night was the worst night we've had with him in a LONG while. He didn't sleep for longer than 2 hours at a time and when he woke up, he had no intentions of going back to bed. But Kevin woke up with him more than I did so when 6:00 rolled around and he started crying again, I just decided it was a good time to be up for the day. He continued to fuss most of the day. I feel very bad for him, he can't breath very well and I'm sure his mouth is killin' him. On the good side, I think the experience made Tab and Derek, who were trying to sleep across the hall from Aiden's room last night, rethink having a baby any time soon :) anytime guys.

Then I went into work to bring them tilex. One of the door locks for a guest room wasn't working, so after Kyle and I fiddled around with it for a while, we had to call in the maintanence guy, Dave. Well Dave couldn't fix it.. and after like 2 hours, it finally seemed like it worked... then I get home and get a call. Its Kyle... and God bless him for being so calm about it... "April, I'm sorry to bother you but we kind of have a catastrophe here, none of the guest doors will open with their keys and we can't make new keys that work"

pretty much one of the worst problem a hotel can have I'd say.

I went in... after an hour, we finally got a hold of tech support, and the problem was an easy fix... the date reset itself when dave was done re programming the lock for that one door... the key system thought it was June 1st, 1993. Obvious problem when the keys to the rooms say its 2007. PHEW! imagine our relief, that could have sucked big time.

I know this story is boring to most people, but considering I know 4 other people who work or have worked in a hotel that read my blog, they'll get a kick out of.

Last weekend Karissa, Tab and I went to Fargo for our girls weekend away. We had a blast! Did a little shopping, saw a movie (for 1.75 at the discount theater... awesome!) Hung out in the hotel room and got... well... silly off our asses. The pictures are hilarious, but I haven't decided whether or not I want to post them :)

Anyway, I'm rambling. But Tab gave me a hard time for not posting for a while. Here ya go bitch.

Are you F*#&in' kidding me!?

The title says it all really. Yesterday Karl, a co-worker of mine, came into the hotel "April, that isn't your Altima with the big dent in the fender... is it?"

"Are you kidding me right now, cuz that is not something to tease me about, thats not funny"
"I wish I was kidding you, is that your car right there"
My eyes hesitantly follow his point...

of course it was my car.

I go out there, and sure enough, some asshat rear ended me and didn't have the freakin' balls to leave a note or anything like that. Oh no, they just rammed into my brand new 2008 model car and drove the hell away. This person, whoever you are, you are on the top of my shitlist, Mr.

The driver's side fender, right above the bumper and between the trunk and the tail light is pushed in so far that my trunk has a big crack in it, you can see into my trunk.... the trunk of my brand new... still smells new... 2008 Altima.

It still smells new.

So ask me how mad I am.

So VERY VERY mad.

I dont' know when this happened exactly. It was noticed at 8:30am yesterday morning. I go to work at 6:45am... I don't think it happened in the Hotel parking lot honestly. It didn't happen in our driveway over night. Jan said she had kind of seen it on Monday and forgot to mention anything because i left before she saw me so it could have happen this weekend... who knows how both Kevin and I missed it. But I guess both of us walk up to the car from the front usually and we haven't had Aiden in the car for over a week, so we haven't had any reason to be in the back of the car.

Anyway, I called the police station to get a report for insurance reasons. Of course I got Mr. "I got a gun and i know how to use it, don't look at me wrong or I'll arrest you" He said and I quote "I usually work the midnight shift, so I don't get many accidents, I get more drunks, so I want to make sure I don't forget anything"

Thank you, Mr. "I'm not very professional so I'll just write my name and badge number on a piece of scratch paper"

Either way, I got it reported and now we have to pay the $500.00 deductable on our insurance to get our car estamated and fixed.

I have driven 2 cars before this one. Kevin has had several. Neither of us has ever been in an accident (nevermind the time Kevin was pushed off the road) Never! Then we get our new car, and BAM! I mean COME ON!! Grrrrr. my luck.

So there you have it folks, now pity me.