It's Official....

My surgery date is set for June 4th at 9:00 a.m. with a check in time at 7:30 a.m. I am so excited. We have been waiting for this for so long and I can't wait for my health to get better. I can't wait to take a walk with my husband, go for a hike in the summer, walk around Disney World without getting winded. Alot of people will say they change their birthdays because this is a beginning of a whole new life for them and I can see how that can happen! Keep your thoughts and prayers with me because I will need them during surgery but most of all I am so excited about my whole new world out there for me.

We are a pround new Aunt and Uncle again....

My brother and Sister in Law (Jeff and Melissa) had their second baby on Saturday May 17th at 7:54 a.m. He is a beautiful baby boy that they named Cole Michael Underwood. He has been added to their handsome brood along with his big brother Cru Riley. My Sister in law is a thoughtful one, she went into labour around midnight but didn't want to have to have the family wait around until the contractions were closer together and she was dilated further, (sorry for the pregnancy talk). They called us at 5:00 a.m. and we headed to the hospital. We arrived around 7:00 a.m. (we live a long way from the hospital o.k.) and only had to wait for a little while. When he was born he looked almost like his big brother but with a little less hair and Cole's hair was brown instead of black. They weighed almost the same except for a couple of ounces apart. The Underwood's are consistent.

Cole Michael Underwood

weighed in at 7.3 ounces

19 and 3/4 inches long

Born at 7:54 a.m. on May 17th 2008

Welcome to the world little one ... you will be spoiled to death by your Aunt Kim and Uncle DeDe

Congratulations Jeff, Melissa and Crubins.

We love you very much!

"Look out the window and what do you see..."

The other day while I was on the phone talking to Mom (this is a frequent occurance) Dennis looked out the window and said, "look the neighbor got a new dog". (Now remind you, my husband does not have the best eyesight.) So being a dog lover I got up to take a look. And above is the picture of the the most beautiful fox sunning herself. We have seen her frequently in our backyard and around the neighborhood but we haven't had the photo-op. She let us take about 4 pictures before she had enough of us.

The Greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated

Mahatma Gahdhi

That is one big dog

Today we went to the vet for "Jakie's" annual exam. To get his shots, check-up, etc. Like all other exams, he had to do the "dreaded weigh-in". Thank goodness he didn't need to de-robe :) And believe it or not he weighed 111 pounds. I think that is the weight of my sister and sister in law "pre baby weight". Holy toledo. Well I guess the "fat family" will start to have to loose weight or we all will be in trouble. Speaking of which my gastric bypass surgery is tentavely currently scheduled for May 19th. The reason I say tentavely is we are waiting for the funds to come through if not then it will be the following week. I am really looking forward to it. I am not scared at all. I am ready to start feeling better and get back to work. I haven't been working since I was laid off at Aurora Loan Services and Dennis and I decided together since I wanted to have this surgery, why not now! So we wait...

As you can probably figure out I love food so I wanted to share an easy, fast and delicious recipe from Paula herself: I read this out of her magazine and my family loves it:

Vegi Soup

A.K.A. Cold Night Soup

1 lb. ground chuck (hamburger)

1 small onion, chopped

2 (19 ounce) cans hearty vegtable soup (I like Campbell's)

2 (14.5 ounces) can diced tomatoes

1 (11 ounce) can whole kernal corn

1 small can diced green chiles

In a large skillet combine ground chuck and onion; cook over medium heat until beek is browned and crumbles. Drain well.

In a 6 quart electric slow cooker, combine beef mixture, coup, diced tomatoes, corn and green chilies. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours.

** Note if you would like you can add 1 (15 ounce) can lima beans, I am not a fan of lima beans so I omitted them :)