{Behind the Camera}

I know it's too early...

2011-11-14T20:31:00.001-05:00

...but I can't help myself! I've been dreaming up a new Christmas Tree theme for this year.

Typically I'm happy with my mini trees all over the house, "MY" tree which is only decorated in white & silver on a tall skinny clear pre-lite tree (think snowflakes, icicles, stars, birds, etc...) and Bobby and the girls have their multi-colored pre-lite tree with all their misc ornaments.

Sadly, the flooding that got mixed in with our unplugged upright freezer with thawed out frozen food/meats ruined my tree... [cue the sad "awww" soundbite] ...Bobby tells me I can't have a new tree this year.

So, what's a girl to do? Dream up a new themed tree! I want a multi-colored (think the hip pink/aqua/purple/lime colors) candy Sweet Shoppe Tree. I envision a sweet display of thick color ribbon, sprays of glittery balls spring out from the tree, ornaments of lollipops, cakes, ice cream, popsicles, frosted cookies, gingerbread girls & boys, gingerbread houses and the like.

However, when I popped into the Dollar Tree today, the color scheme I was going to go with went out the window (unless, I do get another tree).

I brought home goodies in bright red and green. I am still going to do the candy theme, but it will be more of the peppermint candy theme.

Let me show you what I got....for $45...

I love these signs, they will add some "bulk" to the tree that is so stylish right now. I bought 2 each of the Joy and HoHoHo but only one Peace, mainly because the coloring was different.

This curling ribbon was so cute with the matte & shiny and the skinny & fat paper ribbon. There are 2 each so I'm going to alternate them and make them part of my tree topper.

What's a candy tree without large candycanes? These will be fun sticking from the tree too!

I'm not a fan of bulky garland on trees, but the shimmering of this would certainly add some glam to my tree with a hip look to it, keeping it on the trendy side.

Finally, the candy! Bring on the candy! :) LOL Here are some "wrapped candies", they have a hole drilled in the bottom of each one, so I guess you could create a garland or hang something from the end. I bought several of these, to have them sprinkled throughout the tree.

Here are some CANDY ornaments made from a resin material. I had planned on making some from Sculpy clay but this is cheaper and hey, it's faster! There are other projects that I can make to get the satisfaction of creating something. So, I bought several packs to fill out the tree.

I also found ribbon candy made from translucent red and white plastic. I'll still make ribbon candy from ribbon and ribbon spirals. I'll add more details on that later when I get ready to make them.

Here's, what I got to work on and I'm probably most excited about this.

The label on the flat round Styrofoam circles (2 in each package) reads 4 7/8 x 3/4". I plan to make two different things from these.

I will print out a peppermint candy pattern and glue to the front and back. then use that handy dandy transparent clear gift wrap (you know, the stuff you wrapped your gift baskets in) twisting the ends to make them look like over-sized peppermints! Much like this :

The others, will be turned into lollipops once I pick up some thin dowel rods and cut them down to size. I will insert the stick in and secure it with a little glue to make lollipops! I have several options for the lollipop design but I think I'll go with a glue & glitter option. I do glove my glitter! Again, I'll share pictures when I make them.
Here is an inspiration piece, you know with Styrofoam, I can carve the design in it easily.

The little round balls you see...well, I have two ideas for these, and will have to pick up another pack. These are just white with a little glitter on them (they had gold and silver...but not the look i wanted for this tree) they are made of Styrofoam, I will insert them onto floral wire, add red glitter then I have my glittery sprays to spring from the top of the tree.

But when I got home I realized they would make awesome little lollipops. I can pick up normal lollipop sticks, but I'll insert the stick slightly off center to add the more whimsical look. I'll add glitter to them of course!

I nearly forgot to share this cute little guy. He'll be cute on the tree too! :)

It's only a car

2011-11-02T21:39:00.000-05:00

Last week, I woke up at 2am from Cookie (our puppy) wanting to go downstairs....turns out Bichon's are good little watchdogs. I get up, go downstairs with her, and notice a car parked just in front of mine. I heard a loud grinding noise as if gravel was inside her engine. I thought about going out to see if she needed help, but she was getting in and out of her car (revving the engine, but it wouldn't go), she unloaded the contents of her trunk and tried to take off, again her car wouldn't move (I wondered if her emergency brake was on), when it wouldn't move, she loaded it back up again. I saw the glow of her cell phone, so I figured she was waiting on a ride. I went back upstairs told Bobby that someone was having car trouble outside.

At 6am I had just gotten up to get ready for an Open House at my office but there was a knock on the door. I went downstairs, and it was the police. Never a good sign, you instantly start to worry about who's hurt or what's wrong. Two officers were there and they inform me that my car had been sideswiped. I look outside, and there's a car (what I thought had been pulled in just in front of my car (parked on the street, because I didn't want to park Bobby in) with it's lights still on, but left abandoned. The police officers quickly informed me, that my car wasn't struck on the traffic side, but rather from the sidewalk side.

My Car: was struck from the sidewalk, pushing it further out onto the street,

and swiped the entire way down causing damage from bumper to bumper.

Her car:

The officers said that it looked as if she turned onto our street to fast, lost control went into the median, bounced off a sign, flung her car across the road onto the sidewalk, struck my car until she came to a stop. You can see that her tire rod dislocated from her car, it actually gouged the road.

The police impounded the car, they had the information of who the car was registered to, but it was a male, so they were going to find out who the blonde woman was that I saw at 2am. They would let us know as soon as they could.

Now, we're waiting for the insurance companies to work it out & for the body shop to complete the repairs. Here are a few pictures (with daylight!) of my car. Bobby moved it out of the street and into our driveway, waiting for it to be towed (flat bed) away.

So, for the month of November, I'll be sporting around in our rental car. It's funny, my parents have always owned Fords, but this is the first Ford I've driven since being an adult!

I am so thankful that nobody was hurt. It is a little unsettling to think that if this had happened just a few hours later, Abby would have been standing on that sidewalk waiting for the school bus. It's only a car, it was a stressful morning, it's a little aggravating, but it's just a car, it could have been so much worse.

Bobby had flowers delivered to me at work today, which was so sweet. I love him!

On a side note: Today would be Teresa's birthday. I love and miss my sister so much. She was truley one of my very best friends. I think about her all the time.

Trick-Or-Treat

2011-10-31T21:52:00.000-05:00

Abby in the school parade:

Abby 4th Grade Halloween Parade

Catherine & Bobby just before Catherine's first school dance:

These girls have been friends since kindergarten, here they are ready to leave for their first middle school dance:

We normally have trick-or-treat night on the Thursday before Halloween, but our area postponed it until Monday.

Catherine & Abby Trick-or-Treat Night

October 31, 2011

Abby is a {punk} Pixie (there are two rods with wing like things behind her)

Catherine is a bag of Skittles

Even Cookie dressed up for Halloween. She stayed home with me to hand out candy. At first she barked seeing so many strange looking kids approaching...then she realized this was fun, and would just give me a little alert that I needed to go to the door to let her play with some new friends. ((Hey, I never said she was a good guard dog!))

This was the first year that I stayed home to pass out candy and Bobby took the girls around the neighborhood. Normally we get a whole gang pulled together and go around the neighborhood as a group, but it just didn't work out this year. I just wasn't excited for it this year and didn't put a lot of effort into it. [Abby's school carnival is this weekend, so a lot of work is going into it to get ready.]

Abby is eyeing up her loot!

Catherine's stash of candy.

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween this year. Sadly in our area, we were all affected in one way or another by an unfortunate accident. Two boys were struck by a car, one sustained a lot of injuries and one boy didn't survive. Our hearts go out to Skyler Wenger and his family.

Kitchen Inspiration

2011-10-24T22:05:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of improvements that I want to do in our kitchen.

I have painted my kitchen countertops a bombay black granite. Which I will share in details on another post. The next project is to paint my cabinets.

I painted the kitchen cabinets in our townhouse (not the best picture, but you can see the white base cabinets. I plan to upload pictures of our townhouse when we had it ready to put on the market in 2009). They were white, which showed every speck of dirt. Bobby requested that I not paint these white. With my love for grey, that is the next best choice.

I want to paint the base cabinets a dark charcoal grey. Then I want to paint the top cabinets either white or a light shade of grey. I love the look of a two-toned kitchen. Grey's are a tough color to get right, so I'm struggling to find the "perfect" grey for the upper cabinets. The backsplash we currently have is cream/off white 4x4 ceramic tiles. I don't want to replace the backsplash until we replace the countertops. I want soapstone or black granite counters that fit flush to the wall, then have the backsplash reach from the countertop up to the base of the cabinets.

Here are some kitchen eye candy photos that give me lots of great inspiration!

This grey color is gorgeous, the glaze is perfect and the moldings are to die fore. I also love the 12x12 mirror set on the diagonal (so Candice Olsen).

Grey & White Kitchen w/dark floor =love

For me, this grey is off. It's to muddy & blue. It would have "sung" if it had a glaze over it. But, I like it because it shows the med grey with a black counter. I want a darker grey with my black counters. I also want the uppers to be white. However, I love how they just placed beefy moldings on the soffit to make them just blend in and look custom.

My base cabinets may be this dark....these appear to be more of a matte black (not quiet jet black) but it's close to what I want. I just don't want black on black. Again, I love the chandeliers in the kitchen! I want two mini pendants above my island.

Above Photos found here

I love checkerboard floors (especially when they're painted on old hardwoods - so charming)

What I love about this photo:

1) grey floor paired with white cabinetry (lots of molding too)

2) open shelves are nice too

3) you don't notice it right away, but that gorgeous counter to ceiling subway tile on the stove wall is gorgeous!

Here you can see the next corner of the room and I love that little surprise pop of color on the inside of the hutch-like cabinetry. Gorgeous!!!! It's my color too! The island looks brown in the photo above, which I didn't like, but I do like how it looks like it's black in the photo below. I know it's just the lighting on the dark wood grain, but I would paint that baby black!

Above photos found here

Again, the two-toned kitchen is haawt!!!! I love glass front cabinets & open shelves, this is a new little twist that I haven't seen before. I like the color on the base cabinet (& oven wall) but I don't know if I could commit that long to a color on the cabinets...it's more work than just repainting a wall!

Photo

Now, you know I love the Robins Egg color. It's the accent for my kitchen since my living room and dining room have this color. The main floor has to flow! I love the chairs below. I'm thinking I'm going to paint the island saddle stools the robins egg blue/green. This color will also be painted on the inside of my cabinets, especially the ones that we change to be glass fronts, or remove the doors on entirely.

I'm a sucker for a shabby chic...and boy does this have it!

Above photos found here

Okay, that was still pretty wordy with it just being an inspiration post! :) What can I say, I love looking at other beautiful interiors! I look until I can find things that are close to what I envision, that way I can show others, what I "see".

College Football

2011-10-23T12:31:00.000-05:00

I never thought I'd say this, but I LOVE watching College Football. A few years ago I started watching the Bama games with Bobby, and I'd watch some Penn State games with Catherine (most of her teachers are HUGE fans). Last year I started really learning about it, which makes watching the game so much more interesting.

This year, has been a real exciting season for Alabama. At this point they've won every game they've played. I'm nervous for the LSU game on Nov 5th. For now, I'm enjoying watching my favorite players: McCarron (10), Richardson (3), Maze (4), Lacy (42) & Hightower (30).

We haven't had a real direction for Bobby's man cave in the basement. So I now have inspiration of painting the walls crimson red, he can build his bar in a nice dark wood, I want to get some prints framed and I want to accent with some touches of houndstooth print (made famous by Bear Bryant). Which I love the classic print anyways.

Here is a little inspiration that I've found online:

I like how in this room they used the houndstooth as a border.

Everybody loves a barstool with a back on it, so I'll be searching for ones like theses. If I can't find them, I can certainly ulphoster some to make them look chic like these guys;

Of course our littke Cookie would look adorable sporting a cute little houndstooth jacket to help cheer on the team!

Spooktacular decorations

2011-10-22T13:13:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I didn't go all out this fall for decorations. I still don't think I'm over the Radio Flyer incident. Here is what I did do this year:

I took a simple wooden decoration from Joanne's and painted the tree black, then I hung cute little Halloween charms from it (not the ones that came with the tree)

I added the crow...well, because they make everything look spooky.

I love white pumpkins. I love mini pumpkins. When I came across mini white pumpkins I knew I had to get them. So I got 3 of them. I pulled out my black paint and added some chic charm to them. I plopped them onto my mini cake stand and added the cloche dome (okay, it was a Salvation Army find - an ugly wooden cheese board & dome for $3...so I tossed the wooden board and kept the dome).

Abby gets credit for finding this little gem. It's a metalic hand (which is a pretty handy back scratcher). We found it at Target and it didn't have a tag on it, so I'm not sure how much it was...it was mixed in with the purchases for the rest of our costumes for this year.

I've had this cute little wire frame pumpkin, which I have my fall beaded candle wreath, but I need to pick up a new candle.

Years ago, my Mom got me this cute little fall village. I've never seen more, so I can't add to it, so it makes a cute little set up on a small round table in the corner of the dining room.

Years ago Bobby & I found these hurricane glasses, but the stems were too tall to actually use, so they found a new home as candle holders. These candles smell amazing. Wish you could smell them. I've added faux fall leaves & stringy black yarn.

And our favorite Mrs. Bones! Years ago I found her at Michael's. I used my black Zig pen and added "stitch" marks around each bone, added frosted glass beads for her eyes, added a platinum colored gem for her nose and drew on her lips. I found a cute fuzzy for her hair accessory and a little pink glittery heart! She is adorable!

Bath & Body Works pumpkin jar resting on a candlestick holder.

Our Fall Wreath on our front door.

New this year...our house landed on the wicked witch! $5 black & white long socks & $6 Salvation Army glittery hot pink shoes. Yeah, she's a hip witch, with so much style, it's a shame we flattened her!

The girls are sporting their "haunted trail" outfits.= (aka. not their costume for the year, since they may get snagged on branches out in the woods). Abby is a little witch and Catherine was scared half to death at a slumber party.

Okay....this isn't Halloween stuff....but these cute hats are so freakn' adorable!

Bathroom remodel

2011-10-17T22:44:00.000-05:00

January 2011 ~ Powder Room
So during the New Years weekend this January (yes, we redid the half bath in our townhouse during a New Years weekend once before) we decided to rip out the outdated bathroom that's on the main floor of our house. It had 80's particle-board sink and carpet...need I say more? We decided to lay a slate colored ceramic tile in the bathroom. We didn't just stop there, we pulled up the existing grey 6x6 tile that was the walkway from the kitchen to the garage door, that runs in front of the bathroom.

This was our first tiling project but we felt confident that we could do it. Bobby researched the tile saws and made the purchase to make the job easier (we figure that with the other 2 bathrooms and the tile from the front door running towards the kitchen that needs to be upgraded at some point - we will more than get our $'s worth out of the purchase. At this point we've even loaned it out to different 2 friends to complete a kitchen & bathroom project).

Here is what we started with, the bathroom as it was when we bought the house.

Here's a shot of the walkway from kitchen, step down into family room. The garage door straight ahead, the first door on left is the bathroom and the next door is the laundry room. It had a 6x6 commercial grade (at least it looked it) tile floor in the walkway, the bathroom had blue carpet. [yuck]

So the demo begins:

Next we scraped the floor clear of any debris, then we sealed it with an incredibly stinky pink primer sealer. Then started laying the tile down.

We laid 12x12 tiles down, so I used a sheet of 12x12 scrapbook cardstock and cut even thin strips of 1/4" thick all the way up the paper stopping about an inch from the top to use as a template to figure out cuts. I would just lay it down like the tile would be, then bent the little strips back until it would fit perfectly. I'd then trace the template shape onto the tile. Bobby would then cut the tile out in the garage.

I don't have pictures of us back buttering the tiles with mortar because as we started that step, I got smacked with a horrible case of the stomach flu and was incapacitated. Bobby had to complete that part of the process by himself, so he was up until the wee hours of the morning. So it was my job to grout the tile the next morning. It was a grey color, which it doesn't look it in this picture here.

Bobby repaired the walls (evidence of drywall dust in the photo below) and painted them Anonymous (780F-5) by Behr.

We lost the medicine cabinet going with a traditional mirror, so I asked Bobby to create a cabinet that would fit between the studs & be hidden behind the door. This provides extra storage while keeping the bathroom nice and sleek. First he cut the opening between the studs.

He actually created the cabinet like a little box in the garage, brought it in and slid it into it's designated spot and nailed it into place. He used his router to create the door for my new cabinet. Talk about custom cabinetry! You can see it to the left of the (primed) door.

The bathroom is 90% complete at this point. We installed all new fixtures. The pedestal sink visually opens the room. The sink top extends out the same amount of the previous sink, but you would never know it! We had planned on keeping the existing toilet, but decided to replace it with a Kohler that has great flushing capabilities but still not a water hog. We picked up a simple light fixture that has 3 sconces in the matching oil rubbed bronze (ORB) finish.

I love my new large framed mirror with beveled edges. The ORB finish on the towel ring, faucet, paper holder, light switch, electric face looks so sharp, we even upgraded the handle on toilet.

I love the ease of this holder. Now there is no excuses for any family member to not replace the toilet paper! :)

We have to add the crown molding, touch up wall paint and trim out the edge of the wall cabinet, but this looks so much better than what we started out with! Oh, we have installed a curtain, but it's not pictured here.

2010 Pictures

2010-09-04T22:28:00.000-05:00

May 2009 we put our house on the market and in under a month we sold our townhouse. We found a house that kept the girls in the same school. We gained a nice front & back yard. We still have 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. We gained lots of space with having a family room, garage and basement too. I will share pictures later, but first I wanted to do a photo burst to recap the year.

We flew our parents up to see us in 2010, so we didn't go on vacation per say....but we had a lot to do all year! When Bobby's parents came up, we relaxed around the house and got in a nice visit with each other. When my Mom came up, we went shopping and went out on a few adventures. ;)

Please enjoy these pictures (they are not in perfect order)

Abby learned to ride her bike w/out training wheels..she didn't think she could do it, but learned within 5 minutes! She was so proud of herself when she realized that she was riding her bike and Dad wasn't holding on!

A little shopping at target after getting hair cuts.

The Summer of BUNCO (we started up a group in Dec '09 and played once a month for the whole year!)

Bobby installed the hammock for me (he ended up replacing that 4x4 pole with a 6x6 though.

Yes, I still like to bake! Neapolitan cupcakes anyone?

(okay, so Easter pics should have been right after the St. Patrick pictures....oops)

Easter Morning 2010 (after Easter Baskets and before Easter Egg Hunt)
Catherine is 10 and Abby is 8.

Scott, Afton and Adalyn came to see us in July 2010! :)

We went to Gettysburg, PA

We went to Baltimore, MD

We visited the aquarium

We saw the Dolphin Show:

We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, Afton and I bought matching hats.7

We went to Washington, DC

and we went to Hershey:

This summer Bobby and I took the girls to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire for the first time. It was the Queens Birthday, so it was a special weekend where they had lots of special activities for children.

The Queen pronounced each girl a Princess of her Court. She called each one by name.

Abby played her first season of Baseball!

In September Bobby and I went to the Gettysburg Wine & Music Festival. We saw lots of our friends there, we bought tons of wine too! :) My friend Heather watched the girls and I think they wore her out!

2010 School Year:

Catherine 5th Grade, Abby 3rd Grade

Halloween

As annual tradition we went to Jenn & Tony's for their Haunted Trail that they set up every year. The live on a mountain in Dillsburg and they have a whole Scream Team that scares that boogy out of you! :) They get me every year and I love it!

For Trick-or-Treating and for their classroom parties they have their main costumes. Abby was a princess complete with blonde hair. Catherine was a chocolate chip cookie. She named a few of the chocolate chips too. That girl is so crazy! :) Catherine jokes that she will have me make her a costume every other year. :) So...here this was, it was pretty easy to make with just cutting out the fabric, wiring it to a round shape, adding the chips and cutting out the arm/face cut outs.

Puppy Adoption!

We researched and searched for the right puppy and we finally found her. We traveled and picked her up the week before Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving

{I will insert pictures once I locate them}

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. We had our good friends Dave & Penny over with their boys. Alex came home from the Navy & brought his girlfriend too.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning

2009-12-31T23:00:00.000-05:00

I didn't blog much in 2009. I kind of lost interest, it was a tough year for my family. I've taken the time now to (Oct 2011) to add in some photos.

Feb 2009 ~ I flew into Michigan for a quick weekend visit:

Adalyn, Afton, Heather [me] & Aaron

Rebecca, Amber, Heather

These are hard for me to look at since Teresa was so sick with cancer. But, it's the last picture I have of us 3.

Easter 2009: I drove in with the girls so that they could visit with Teresa & family. Teresa insisted that we colored Easter eggs and let them hunt.

My heart broke into a million pieces in May of 2009 when I had to say goodbye to Teresa. She was not only my sister, but my role model, my hero and one of my best friends. I will always love and miss her.
Here are two of my favorite pictures of her when I went to visit her in August 2007 (shortly after being diagnosed with cancer and right after one of her first surgeries). Teresa had the best smile and the greatest laugh, it just made you want to laugh right along with her. She was a fantastic woman, mother, wife, sister and friend. She was one of the best conversationalist I've ever meet. I think she could have made a monk who took a vow of silence talk! I always enjoyed my visits with her during our sisters weekends. They were spent playing board games, shopping, talking and making great memories.

July 2009: Later that summer, I was so happy when Scott, Afton and Adalyn came to visit us for the first time: We did so much and had such a great time. Even if I did have a little breakdown when it donned on me that I would never get to have another trip with Teresa.

Hershey Gardens:

Yes, we think this is how Swine Flu was started:

Adalyn got the biggest kick out of watchint the whistling kisses! :)

August: Girls first day of School Catherine 4th Grade, Abby 2nd Grade:

October 2009| ~ Fall Pictures:

Halloween Pictures:

Trick-or-Treat Night: Abby is a snow princess and Catherine is a punk rocker

Yes, an actual post from me!

2009-02-14T22:40:00.011-05:00

It's February...I've been busy which is what I always say. But here goes....

November - We drove down to Bobby's parent's house in lower Alabama. We had a great time visiting both of his sisters, his brother and all of their families. It was a little rough for me, I really missed Dad as it would have been his 80th birthday, it our first Thanksgiving without him...so I knew Mom was missing him - it was just rough. It was a 16 hour drive down and 21 hour drive back of course split with a stay overnight at the Marriott to let the girls swim and get a break from the long drive. Coming back was so long with traffic being backed up for miles and bad weather didn't help matters any. Still taking the kids skating every weekend.

December - I went for training to get my 24 credit hours of Life, Health & Accident training so I could take the test and get my Insurance License. (Which as of to date, I haven't had much time to study...so I'm not ready). I had to search for a cute outfit to wear to a White Party. Christmas Eve the girls got to open a present with new pajamas and a webkinz. Christmas Morning we woke up, I baked the cinnamon rolls while we opened our stockings, Bobby and the girls had a silly string fun, we ate the breakfast then opened presents. Abby got her own pair of professional roller skates for Christmas. Catherine has her guitar and received other presents. Still skating every weekend. It was on to Christmas decorations, cookies and parties. Christmas parties a the girls school. The girls had a Pink Christmas tree decked with cute little candy canes, Hello Kitty ornaments, pink snowflakes and glittery balls. A week of Christmas break then straight into New Years celebration. We brought the new year in with friends playing games so that was fun.

January - Catherine turned 9, we had her birthday party at the Roller Skating rink...several kids didn't know how to skate when they first got there and left skating like pros! :) It was a lot of fun. Catherine wanted a chocolate chip cookie cake..so I made that (love my pampered chef stone). Yep, still taking the girls skating every weekend (great exercise and fun family thing to do.) oh, and Catherine got her own pair of skates for her birthday.The girls had try-outs for the talent show in February...so they're practicing their routines. I took a weekend trip to Atlantic City with by BF Jenn (her daughter had a Dance Expo) and we hit the casino's I won some $ :) although I was only willing to risk $20! :) For PTO, I had a big 2 week reading challenge at the school that included 2 family nights, a Dr. Seuss Theme and tons of planning and work. Bobby made Green Eggs & Ham for the event too. :) 2 events during the day as well for a Pep Rally (where every student got a free book) and a guest reader day where I had community members come in and read a story room to a classroom (Every classroom had a reader).

Oh, and we bought a wii...so we've all had fun playing that. Catherine kicks butt though!

February - I'm tallying the points from the reading challenge (each student had an individual goal, then there is a school wide goal) so I'll be ordering prizes once I'm ready. I'm working on getting pictures gathered for the school yearbook...which will be due in March (tons of work there!). I'm doing our taxes, refund is looking good - which is good because we have debt sitting on a credit card that needs to disappear! I'm trying to study every free second I can. We just had the Valentine's party at their school, kids had a great time. Bobby and I went out on a hot date :D We ate my favorite restaurant 2201 in the Boro - it's fine dining and they treat us so nice. It's such a pleasure going there to eat.

Parent Teacher conferences today at school

2008-11-10T19:36:00.003-05:00

First off was Abby's 1st grade conference. Abby is struggling with her reading. She gets really frustrated because she wants to learn (at least that's what her teacher says) but it's not connecting well for her. Her writing skills are not that good either, which is connected with reading. Otherwise she's doing good. She follows instructions well, she gets along well with the students and is really good at math.

Next was Catherine's 3rd grade conference. Completely opposite where her teacher said that if all her students were like Catherine then her job would be so easy. Catherine is reading at least a 4th grade reading level. She comprehends what she's reading. She's very creative with her writing, she edits herself well, etc... She's doing good in math, social studies, science, etc... She had all A's & outstanding marks with the exception of 1 B in Social Studies, which Catherine was extremely bummed out about because she wanted all A's.

After that, I meet with the reading specialist for Abby. She says that Abby doesn't have a learning disability but she's not sure what the problem is yet. Abby is getting a lot of attention when it's time to work on reading/writing, she's in the smaller reading groups. They push her really hard and she comes home so tired so I only have about 5 minutes of good reading time with her before she's checked out. When the teacher told me that Abby doesn't cry anymore (frustration levels reach that high apparently) it made me feel so sad for my little girl. I've felt the frustration of her not reading, but I didn't think about how frustrated she is about it too. :(

I'm exhausted after the conferences. :) The PTO prepares lunch and dinner for the staff during the conferences...so last night I made 2-3 dozen of each cookie variety, White Chocolate Macadamia, Toffee Crunch, Ghiradelli Coconut Pecan Cookies with chocolate drizzled over top. We also have our Book Fair running during this time. I helped set up Sunday night and will help with sales Wednesday night and to pack it all up. I'm still working on the fundraiser, collecting the donations for the Race for Education. Otherwise, I think we're pretty good on PTO stuff this month.

Trick or Treat

2008-11-02T19:49:00.003-05:00

The girls had a great Halloween. Catherine counted 124 pieces of candy. :) We went with friends as usual and had a great time walking through the neighborhood.

Abby wanted to be a Mommy, so she's sporting a dress, apron, (rain boots, because I wouldn't allow her to use the high heels that she used for her classroom party - it's cold trick or treating in PA, and she didn't want to wear her sneakers. She pushed the baby in the stroller for 2 blocks then we dumped it off at our friend, Jenn's house (her two girls are pictured with my two). She carried the baby for awhile and I carried her trick or treat bag then she'd trade off for the other. So I teased saying that I was a grandmother. I said I should have worn a tiara because it is the one day of the year that I can get away with it! :) Jaime said I could get away with wearing it any day. :)
Catherine wanted to be a crayon after reading Amber Brown is not a crayon. We couldn't find a costume so I made her one. Catherine was cute, she was so proud of me for making it, she told all her teachers that I made it for her. :) While trick or treating she said that she was "Original Pink"...I giggled when I heard that! We were going to write princess pink but the letters I bought didn't allow for that. The hat is even slanted like the crayon tip had been used a little. :) I was so proud of myself too actually for making it, it looked so professional, especially done without a pattern! :)

October!!!! Turn Leaves, Turn!

2008-10-01T23:41:00.005-05:00

I love changing out my background desktop all the time...I just finished adding photos to the one for my work computer. This desktop was created by Shabby Princess. Pictures are vintage! :) The blue eyed blonde curly headed cutie was me...there's my adorable twin sister beside me with the brown eyes and straight brown hair! Also pictured is our sister Angelia (almost a year older than us), Rebecca's in 3 of them, and Tammy is one. There's a few of us girls when we were younger. :)

I also downloaded the one from Shabby Miss Jenn which I've got to prepare for my laptop here at home.

I need to get some pumpkins and pics of my kids...none yet for this year! :O

Long time no see...

2008-09-27T09:42:00.005-05:00

Sorry... it's been busy, learning how to make time for family, work, pto, etc... Blogging has fallen to the bottom of the priority list. Sorry! Well, at least I didn't miss the entire month of September!

Fall is here, although it's been a very soggy weekend so far. We were supposed to go to an Apple Festival...but we're not taking the kids out in this muddy mess. The girls have yet another birthday party to go to today which we'll do at 2 today.

Catherine and Abby both are Brownies this year with the Girl Scouts. They had their first troop meeting this week. The girls scouts are going to paint the US map on the school playground. We were supposed to do this Sunday but with all the rain it won't be happening this weekend!

Here are pics from Abby's birthday...I told you I'd eventually get them posted! :)

New Job & another {new} Car

2008-08-01T17:24:00.004-05:00

So, I just completed my first week of work. It's been great, I really enjoy it and I can't wait until Monday so I can go back! .....That is just wrong, I know it!......I know it will wear off, but for now :D I'm loving it!

I've had to get the girls up at 6:30 for the last two days to get Bobby to work while his Blazer was in the garage for the State Inspection, but as he knew it needed some work...almost $1000 worth though!!!!! So, instead of dumping more money into it...we went last night to look at used cars. Tonight we settled on one, shook hands, and will do all the paperwork tomorrow (already pre-approved with a lender so we're good to go). Wanna know what we bought? I'm so proud of it I can hardly stand it! :) We're the owners of a BMW 325i!!!! Granted, it's pre-owned but I still love it! We're already fighting over who drives the 2008 Mazda 3 vs. the 2002 BMW!

I stayed up last night to submit the pages I got together to take advantage of the Shutterfly 8x8 book. I used a "piece of cake" digital kit because I was in a time crunch to get it submitted by Aug 1st. I did get some great pictures of the girls though. I'll upload pictures...sounds like I have homework! :)

Have a great weekend!

Working

2008-07-29T20:05:00.003-05:00

Well, so far (all two days) work has been great. I'm really enjoying it. It was funny, yesterday I came home and said to Bobby "I think it's wrong to be so happy to be working again, but I can't stop smiling from ear to ear". I can tell you however, that I'm glad I don't go in until 9:30 (which for me, means that I try to be there 10 to 15 minutes early) because it gives me time in the morning to get ready and spend some time with the girls. I'm still not sleeping well at night, so I'm glad that I get to sleep in until 7 or 7:30.

My goal is to keep the downstairs nice and clean and keep laundry up to date and not get behind (which I'm starting at being behind...but I have goals to be better). Both girls rooms are nice and clean because I helped them get them nice and clean. Abby's room is gorgeous right now (minus the carpet which we didn't get replaced yet) with her new additions of furniture. Catherine's room has always looked cute, but she'll get a redecorated bedroom for her birthday too.

I'd like for us to sell this townhouse or keep it and rent it out, while we buy a new larger house next spring but I'm not sure that that will happen. It may be more like next fall or the following year. I'm hoping that we won't come dependant on my salary and that we can pay off bills, and create a bit of savings. Then my salary could be used to pay this mortgage while we do the house transition if it doesn't sell right away.

Abby's birthday was great! I'll post pictures later when I have more time (they're still on the CF card).

It's been busy

2008-07-22T14:08:00.005-05:00

Friday - Bought a new suit, Texas Hold'em Game at friends
Saturday - Abby went to her best friends birthday party, Went swimming
Sunday - Relax
Monday - New Haircut, Job Interview
Tuesday - (TODAY) Library Event; Received Job Offer/Accepted
Wednesday - School Library Event, Prepare for PTO Planning/Budget Meeting, Watch Batman movie at the IMAX theater
Thursday - PTO Planning/Budget Meeting
Friday - Prepare for Abby's birthday
Saturday - Abby's birthday party, Cousins house to watch boxing
Sunday - Relax hopefully - clothes shopping
Monday - First day at my new job!

Yes, a new job! I had an interview yesterday, and today I got the call that they would like to hire me. I'm an office professional again! Yeah! :) So now I need to go buy some new clothes.
Of course with me being the PTO President I'll be busy trying to juggle everything. The great thing about this job is that it's part-time, so I'll be able to put the girls on and get them off the bus everyday. Having to work only 5 hours each day will free me up so hopefully the house won't get burried in laundry! :) I'm really excited about this, I'm so happy it came together so well. This was our plan, once both girls were in school I'd go back to work. The job can turn into full time whenever I'd like for it to go that way too. So that's really a bonus! It's a small office, almost everyone has young kids so they understand snow delays, sick kids etc...

Abby's birthday is Angelinia Ballerina. I wanted to do a party somewhere else and just pay for it, but she wanted a home party....so that just means more planning/work for me. Which normally I go all out planning elaborate games and such, but I just haven't done it this time. I wanted to hire someone to teach the kids a small ballet performance but that never came together. I'll figure something out before Saturday!

PTO meeting - I could cop out and just purchase refreshments but I feel like baking something....so I'll go and pick stuff up. It's been awhile since I've made appetizers and desserts.

I ordered these prints from shutterfly (14 page mini album of 5x7 prints using a premade kit by dani http://www.designbydani.com/ which I altered a little), which would entitle me to get a free 8x8 bound book that I have to redem by Aug 1st...so I've got to make some good pictures and get some scrapbook pages created. I was impressed with their prints, so looks like that's what I'll do from now on. I just never make it into stores to print off pictures, and goodness knows I'd kill my printer! Anyways...I don't see a code for the 8x8 so I'm hoping they have it in their system or something.

I'm happy! :)

July...

2008-07-09T11:57:00.002-05:00

Well, we took the girls roller skating one afternoon. Catherine tried the roller blades but couldn't handle them, so we had them changed to the quads. Abby is our rough and tumble girl that jumps in her skates (princess over the shoe skates) at home and skates around. So with the "fast" skates and the slippery floor the skating was more challenging. I was really proud of the girls though, they skated for a long time. Abby would skate awhile then go "rest" on the bench. Catherine, bless her heart, never gave up...she skated, she fell, she got back up and skated some more. Bobby skated till his feet hurt. I had a blast. I used to love going to the roller skating rink when I was younger and I had my very own pair of skates...white with hot pink wheels! Our parents would let us skate in the house, we had wood floors, and it we skated around the stairs and fireplace, around the island in the kitchen and in the basement...it was great! Once the crowd thinned out (once 2 large groups left) I was in my prime. I skated my heart out. I skated that oval rink like it was only yesterday that I skated. I had forgotten that you could turn the 'corner' several different ways. It was great! The best part was that I didn't fall down and my muscles didn't hurt afterwards. :)

We went to Hershey Park. It was fun. We hit every roller coaster (oops, no we didn't, we missed the comet) including the new Fahrenheit. Catherine was brave and rode 3 roller coasters...the SOOPERDOOPERLOOPER, Trailblazer and the LIGHTNING RACER . She attempted to ride the Wildcat but had to have them unlatch her seat and let her off (Bobby was sitting by her and got off with her...he doesn't like that one much anyways because it jerks you around a lot). It was a lot of fun, we were there from 11am to 10:30 pm we saw fireworks too, because it was July 5th. I tried to scan in the photos we purchased...but I can't get it to work right, I'll have Mr. Computer Wiz look into it for me. :)

Now I'm just working on house stuff and PTO stuff...getting ready for the upcoming school year. I've picked up stuff for Abby's 6th Birthday party. It's an Angelina Ballerina theme, I'm looking into getting someone to teach the girls a few ballerina moves at the party. It should be fun.

I haven't been sleeping good. I'm not sure what's going on, but I seem to dream all night long. I toss and turn and I haven't gotten a good nights sleep in over 2 weeks. I'm exhausted. What's kinda weird is that I dream about my Dad almost every night. I miss knowing that he's not at home holding the table down (he always sat at the head of the dining room table, with his arms propped up). He was never big on talking on the phone a lot. We'd do the same little chit chat, "how are you? what's the weather like? what's going on that's new?" etc... speaking of which I need to give my Mom a call and see how she is doing.

The world goes on...

2008-07-02T01:09:00.005-05:00

I've been really strong....but sometimes I catch my breath and I'm shocked that the world is just going on as normal. Nobody really knows what you're going through, do they? Like when you're out and about doing the every day tasks that you have to do because you have a family that depends on you. The people that you run into...correction, the strangers that you meet every day, never know what you are going through.

I have to say that I am truly amazed at my daughter Abby. She was so thoughtful and kind (beyond what I ever thought she could have been) while we were in Kentucky. It was as if she sensed that my Mom, her Nana needed some extra love. Abby continually told her that she loved her, thought that she was so kind/nice/pretty/sweet. It was so endearing to witness that. As it turns out, Abby was the only one that told the gentleman that spoke at my dad's funeral that she appreciated what he said she saw him at the Wake (for lake of the southern term...I'm not sure what we call it....where you go to the church that the person attended and had a wonderful meal and had time to socialize with the people that knew/loved/missed your loved one) Abby in her sweet little 5 year old way said "Thank you for the nice things you said about my Papa". It touched me, and it touched him as well (he was my Dad's best friend growing up as a boy).

(Here are our little nieces and nephews from us 4 younger girls)

It was nice seeing so many people when I went back to Kentucky. Besides seeing my sisters and Mom, I had the chance to catch up with several cousins and different people that I respect from "the meeting" (church) that I went to when I was younger. We spent the last day at the park where we spent so much time when I was younger, Columbus Belmont State Park. It's a Civil War battlefield, filled with many self guided trails, over looking the Mississippi River.

So, this week, I've just emmearsed myself into working on our family tree. When I went home a few months ago I asked my Dad to list the names of all his family that he could remember. From that, I have entered this information into the family tree program with http://www.myfamily.com/ where we have a family site. As I entered information, I found links to where others have already done some research. One family strand goes as far back as 1530! It's amazing! On the otherhand, there are several strands where I've reached brick walls. I need to really learn how to research things..using all the free information available first. I found some information on my own and that was so thrilling!!! I just hope that I find the work that some family members have already created because that would save me so much time and effort.

My Dad passed away today.

2008-06-16T23:45:00.002-05:00

My Dad slipped into a comma Monday morning and finally stopped breathing Monday night. I'm a numb, I'm in shock even though I knew this was coming, I didn't know how I would react. I've been very strong, but I know I'll break down.

Sunday night we packed our bags getting ready for this, I did this while in the emotional state of knowing that he didn't have much longer.

Tuesday morning we will be driving down towards Mayfield Kentucky for the funeral and family support.

Love to all,
Heather

Beloved Husband and Father
Charles Barry Robert
11/25/1928 - 6/16/2008

Am I ready?

2008-06-12T23:11:00.002-05:00

Am I ready for my Dad to die? No
Am I ready for the 830 mile drive? No
Am I ready for Bobby to come back home? Yes
Am I ready for our cool air to be repaired? Yes
Am I ready for the payment? No

This is where I am tonight. Visiting Sadtown with a pit stop at SmartEllickville.

So today, I bought the girls a slip and slide which they'll play with tomorrow when it's nice and hot outside. I'm sure it will destroy our yard, hopefully we won't have any injuries though! Catherine went swimming at a friends house, and is spending the night at another friends house. Abby kept me company tonight (she got an ice-cream cone). ;)

Sweltering

2008-06-11T01:32:00.003-05:00

Who said spring should be over 100 degrees?

Why am I complaining? Oh, that's right, our cool air unit isn't working, and 5 service repair companies can't come out until next Thursday/Friday!!!!!!!!!

It's been so hot!!!!

I've got a short reprieve though, as thunderstorms were supposed to come rolling in tonight (they didn't appear, but high winds and showers came...just perfect enough to cool things down). The temperature dropped over 20 degrees! (-: I opened every window and cooled the house out. Tonight I actually ran the dishwasher and now I'm quickly doing some laundry.

Bobby's in Florida for the Tech Expo, he said it's cooler there than it is here. He's having a great time. I've been keeping the girls busy with going places with air conditioning :) They played in the Kid Zone while I worked out at the gym, Abby played in the Tree House while Catherine and I did the grocery shopping (they only had room for one child when we got there, at first C was upset that she couldn't play, but I let her do all the scanning and pressing the buttons on the produce scales so she had a great time). Catherine helped select meals and snacks, she said it was fun.

Today we went to the mall where the girls got a new webkinz. I made dinner while the kids played outside (this was when it finally started to cool off....the kids played kickball with other friends). Later we set up their webkinz rooms. Another good day for the girls....to top it off, Abby called Daddy so both girls talked to Bobby before they went to bed tonight.

It's 3 AM, time to put the wash into the dryer...okay as soon as this Will & Grace episode ends. I enjoy watching reruns while Bobby's away....Friends, Will & Grace, Sex & the City, Seinfeld etc...

Long Update

2008-06-07T18:57:00.014-05:00

Abby woke up Friday morning and announced that by the end of the day she would be a first grader (heart pains for realizing that my baby is growing up).

I went to the local bakery to pick up some cupcakes to give the girls when they got off the bus on the last day of school. I also picked up a couple extra for their teachers, principal and secretary. When I was carrying the pink box (gotta love that) down the hallway to hand one to Catherine's teacher it felt so empty. All the kids artwork and projects were down from the hallways so that they could take them home. It just looked so empty and sad. Both teachers appreciated the cupcake...I told them that they were sweet teachers and deserved a sweet treat and that I hoped they had a great summer. Shh....don't tell the girls, the teachers picked the pink ones!

I also got Abby a basketball (she's been asking for one) and Catherine a new box of Crayola 64 crayons (only the best... I love coloring with fresh new Crayola's). Both girls also got a big sketch pad (so hopefully they'll quit asking to use up all the printer paper!). They had a great year. They both loved their teachers and they had such good teachers too. I just really love their school! They'll miss it, but they're ready for some unstructured days.

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Bobby had his 32nd Birthday - Happy Birthday Hun! He went out with the guys after work, something he rarely does but should do more often. The next morning the girls and I gave him his gifts. Catherine and Abby got him the game "Apples to Apples" a game that we love playing, and he's mentioned more than once that he wanted...so he was pleased. I got him a stainless steel flask. I had it engraved with "Life's journey is long, you better take snacks!" he loved it. Again, something else he wanted for a long time. :) I like it when we do good! :)

(one kid from the team is missing...he missed the last two weeks...Catherine had two of her really good friends Samantha and Shannon on her team, and two other kids from their school which they new and were friends with)

The spring tennis season is over (Rallyball) for Catherine and her team. They placed in the top, and were really excited that they won third place. So now she has a 2nd and a 3rd place ribbon for tennis. Next year since Abby will be a 1st grader she'll get to play. She'll be playing level 1 and Catherine will move up to level 2. Both girls want Bobby and me to coach..so we'll see how that goes when the time comes. :)

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I got a sunburn over three days...Sunday slight burn on my arms and neck during the last tennis game. Monday my nose and forehead got a slight burn while we were outside with our last book distribution. Tuesday is burned my shoulders and back of my neck during field day. The last day was the worst....I ended up blistering...tiney tiny little blisters clustered all over the tops of my shoulders. Ouch! Yes, I had sunblock on....it was only 35 SPF and I forgot to reapply during field day...that was my mistake, I know. :O It still hurts none the less.

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Catherine is off on her Girl Scout Camporee camping trip for the weekend. It feels really odd here without her. I'm sure she's having a great time, I can't wait to hear all about it when she gets back Sunday afternoon.

Abby pulled out all her gear and was roller skating today...this girl has no fear, and is a natural.

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Last week week we took the girls to Build-A-Bear to spend their money. Catherine had a gift certificate from her birthday, and they had extra money from us and their Ky Nana sent them each $10 as a thinking of you gift which was so sweet. This was Catherine's first adoption. She choose a really cute bunny with pink ears, it was a hard choice between "Hunny Bunny" and the elephant (we know how much she loves elephants). She picked out cute jammies, bunny slippers, panties, a cap and a glamorous pink dress with a matching purse. She'll have to save up for the shoes to go with the dress...as it is she borrowed against her allowance (not that she really gets allowance, it's more like when she is really good and goes above and beyond around the house or with Abby she gets a cash reward).

The day after she got her bunny she came down and exclaimed "Mom, I'm actually playing with my toys!". "Really?" I said. Then she proceeded to tell me about the "drama" (her favorite word I do believe) that was going on upstairs. Something about her elephant loves Hunny Bunny, but she doesn't like him, she likes Phunt, but Phunt likes Ellie...I don't know I'm sure I have that love triangle all confused. I promise I don't let that child watch soap operas!

Abby went into Build-A-Bear with the intentions of getting her first build-a-bear (white and pink bear that she got last year with her birthday money) some more clothes but picked up the white and blue bear and shouted "I found Raspberry Creams brother!". So in the end Raspberry Cream didn't get any new clothes but she has her long lost brother Blueberry Cream. What a happy reunion we had at home....since he's "nekkid" he's borrowing a bathrobe from his sister. Needless to say Abby's been playing with them nonstop (along with her webkinz).

...Let's see what else have we been up to.....

Last night, Jen and I went and watched the Sex and the City: The Movie...it was so great! I loved it! I laughed. I cried. It was a good movie. I laughed so hard I couldn't breath at one point! Grab a girlfriend (or several) and go watch it! Jen's preggo right now, so we couldn't get a cosmo before/after the movie..but that would have been fun. Even if you didn't watch the series you can still enjoy the movie. I was so excited to go watch this, I've been watching the reruns for the last month! :)

Oh for sad news....because life isn't always peaches n' cream....prayers are welcome!

:( My Dad is still hanging in there, but he's having a really hard time breathing. He's really struggling and having some really tough days.

:( Teresa is still fighting her battle with cancer. She's on her second round of chemo since it spread to her abdominal wall.

:( Our friends Ben & Jeannie moved to Kansas (Military Family) before he has to go Iraq (please keep them in your prayers). We're going to miss them, they were really great friends. Our girls are missing their kids already, they were best of friends. There was a last minute going away party for them, so we got to say goodbye before they left. During memorial day weekend we all got together, so all the kids could see each other one last time too.

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Okay, how's that for catching you back up? :) LOL It's going to be a busy summer, but I'll keep you updated with pictures as we go along! :) Stay in touch! Facebook anyone?

School is almost out for the summer

2008-05-27T22:07:00.002-05:00

Wow, less than two weeks to go. Next week, I've got the book distribution on Monday, where every kid gets to pick out a book to keep for free...they'll also be getting their prize from the reading challenge. Tuesday is the Field Day, where the kids have fun games all day. Each grade wears a certain color, Kindergarten has to wear orange, and Second Grade is wearing light blue. Thursday Second grade has their picnic at the park, so Abby and I will go to that, then I'll take Abby to school.

I've got to figure out what to give them for the last day of school. For the last two years I've meet Catherine at the bus stop with a gift. Kindergarten, I think it was flowers and I had a plate of cupcakes for all the kids that got off at her stop. First grade, I gave her a helium balloon and a diary..and I had a plate of cookies for all the kids.

Last week I chaperoned Catherine's Field trip to the American Life Museum at Hershey. I also got the yearbooks distributed. Now I've got to figure out what's going on with a few issues that have come up... *sigh*

Memorial Day Weekend went pretty good. Friday afternoon we went over to a friends house for pizza, the girls jumped on their trampoline and had fun. Saturday afternoon we went to other friends house for a grill out. Saturday night I went out with a girl friend while Bobby watched the kids. Sunday I recovered. Monday kids came over to play with the girls and had an entire day of fun. Catherine started exploring the "forest" behind our house...she thinks she's big stuff now! :)

Is that your natural color?

2008-05-20T22:48:00.006-05:00

I can not even begin to tell you how often I hear that! I swear, complete strangers stop me and ask me all the time. Just last weekend we were in the mall, I was walking along and got stopped by a man at a kiosk (Crap, please, I'm not interested in a resort retreat to Hershey...I begin to think as he puts his hand out to stop me from walking away) and says "Excuse me, is that your natural color?"

Why do people ask..do they really want to know? Do they want me to say yes, do they want me to lie to them....I mean really?! I told Bobby that the next person that asks me, I'm going to say "If I said No will that ruin your fantasy?" :) LOL I've got the complexion for red hair, I'm very fair skinned, freckled, light eyebrows, etc... I've defiantly got Irish blood, and several cousins with red hair.

I'll also get comments like "Now, that's what a natural red head looks like" and "Wow, your kids didn't get your red hair?" So I guess all in all...it's a complement that it looks natural. It doesn't bother me, it's just funny. It's just amazes me how people are daring enough to ask. I would never think of asking a complete stranger if their hair color was natural. :)

Updates

2008-05-17T10:16:00.006-05:00

Somebody has a new bike, and I think she likes it! :)

Now it's just time before those training wheels come off! :) With Abby being so brave and fearless I don't think it will be a long time.

Catherine's bike got a face lift with a fresh new basket, bell, and streamers. The tires will be pressure washed by Bobby and it will look fresh again.

Speaking of Catherine....here's a picture of her from the AV show. There were two group projects from her school, and then there was about 6 other individual projects from her school.

She got a School District Drawstring bag, Medal and certificate. At our school's open house, we got to get a copy of her work on a CD. :)

It's hard to believe that the school year is almost over! We had our last PTO meeting...I'll be the President again next year. My best friend Jenn will be the Treasurer. We've lost 4 really good parents as they're kids are moving on to middle school....so we need to find some new volunteers to chair committees.

The girls have a birthday party to go to...so I'm off of here!

Here's the scoop from last week

2008-04-29T20:40:00.006-05:00

But first.....today Catherine brings home a paper that tells us that her Betsy Ross Biography has been chosen to be presented in our school districts 6th annual Audio Visual Expo! :) There were 4 kids in her class that had their work selected to be submitted and Catherine's was chosen!!! :) That's just really cool...we live in a very large school district (we have 8 elementary schools in our district) and it will be neat to see her work among all of the others. Work from kindergarten up the the twelfth grade will be on display from each school, there will be over 200 pieces.

Last week was such a busy one!

Two mornings, I had to have the girls and I up and out of the house by 6:30 to go pick up coffee for our Mom's & Muffins (We had Bagels with Dad on the 15th earlier this month).

It was also the national turn off your TV week. Being the PTO president I thought it would be fun for our school to embrace it, and hold a couple fun events to help pass the time. Monday night we had a Game Night for the kids and the school Counselor held a Care & Share for the parents.

Thursday was our "Get Movin' Night" where we set up several fun stations for the kids to get active. The hit of the night was the obstacle course. We set up two identical lanes where friends could race each other. Even the parents would race their kids...too fun! I ran through it about 5 times. ;)

Thursday, the girls went with Bobby to work for the annual "Kids to Work Day". They had a great time. I meet them for lunch at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant. The girls got a kick out of seeing the Chef preform while he cooked lunch. I think the chef had an even better time picking on Catherine. :)
This week, I'm catching up on laundry and changing out the seasons...although the last couple days have been chilly! Work in progress though! :) I always hate it...it's such a big job because the 4 of us seem to have a lot of clothes, even though we all complain about not having any! :) I wonder if any of you can relate.

Spring Stuff

2008-04-13T18:29:00.007-05:00

So, I never shared pictures about all the spring stuff ...St. Patricks, Easter, Anniversary so here's a link to shutterfly Spring Pictures.

We took the girls to DC today....it rained off and on so it was a little rough. I'll upload pictures later.

But for now...here is some spring flowers (from trees & bushes) on our lane...

Family....give them a hug and tell them you love them!

2008-04-09T23:01:00.008-05:00

Last week I knew Thursday was going to be a tough day, and was it ever! I got a phone call from my sister Rebecca at 4 am in the morning that sent me into a frenzy of packing a bag and booking the first flight out of here while trying to remember all the important day to day stuff for Bobby to deal with the girls.

My Dad went into the hospital...and if you knew my Dad, he NEVER and I really mean never goes to the hospital. The Dr. told him he has congestive heart failure, he had fluid on his lungs and everywhere else for that matter (22 lbs worth). He was low on sodium and potassium, possibly had pneumonia as well. They wanted to do a heart catheterization but he wouldn't let them, because he wasn't willing to do any surgery that would be suggested. He went in the hospital Wednesday and was released Friday night with Hospice. We have a cousin that works with Hospice and came out to the house Saturday morning to get all the paperwork and everything started and set up. The same morning, 6 of my moms 7 brothers came out to build them a ramp off of their back porch to make things easier.

(Not a great picture of any of us....as you can see the stress we're all under.) It took a lot of strength for Dad to sit up for pictures...and patience, because we each wanted a picture alone and a group shot (which didn't turn out well...and we retook them 5 minutes before I had to head out to the airport...I'm waiting for someone to email me the pictures...I didn't take my camera with me so it was up to the 3 sisters with cameras!)

He's old, he's tired, he's lived a long good life and is just ready to go. Do you know how hard that is? It's rough. I'm glad I had a whirlwind of a visit down in KY to see my Dad (Mom and sisters too) but it just wasn't long enough. You don't know how hard it was to hug and kiss him goodbye knowing that that will be the last time I see him alive. So, I'm sad.

Here's 4 of my sisters...Sherri (my twin), me Heather, Angelia, Rebecca, and then Tammy.
Teresa isn't pictured here...she was in the hospital at the same time, having her gall bladder removed. She's been really sick, [I hope you don't mind that I say that Cancer really sucks!] - please pray for her.

I had a 3 hr drive to the Nahsville airport, then my flight home with a layover in Charolotte. Bobby and the girls had fresh flowers and my favorite chocolates waiting for me when I got home from the airport Sunday night (so sweet).

I slept all day Monday and most of the day on Tuesday. I tried to get back to normal today, but it's hard. I just feel lost, empty and alone. I just wish I could be cradled and everything bad would just go away.

I called Rebecca today and she was visiting our sister Teresa. I called Sherri, Tammy and Angelia were over at her house. Here I am in PA with no sister to lean on and it just really makes me miss my sisters so much. I have great friends that would hang out with me in a heartbeat if I would just ask them too....but I won't ask, I'll just sit here...missing my family.

Happy Spring!

2008-04-02T10:25:00.003-05:00

Spring is officially here....the weather is only half sure about it though! :) I've got lots of pictures to share...St. Patricks Day, Our Anniversary, Easter, etc...

I don't have time to post them now...but just wanted to give out a hello!

Almost the middle of March already

2008-03-10T19:35:00.004-05:00

Wow, this month is flying by...so much is going on so I haven't updated in awhile.

My Mom had a bit of a heart scare, but it turns out everything is fine (after a pointless surgery after all - Thanks Doctors!) thank goodness!
Family Fun Day (School Carnival) was a successful event - the kids had a blast! See pictures below.
I updated my desktop, and since I have Shabby Princess and Shabby Miss Jenn's there's one for my desktop and one for the girls profile. :)
Bobby and I celebrate our 12th anniversary this weekend. It was 12 years ago today that he proposed to me.
It's time to turn in the Van and get a new vehicle...so working on that.
Abby's is getting a little extra help in school to strengthen her verbal and written communication and she's now getting speech therapy.
Catherine is doing great in school as usual - she's in her 2nd week of swimming classes at school. She dove into 12 ft off the high dive and was very proud of herself.
I'm working on the school yearbook trying to make my deadline - very stressed out as other things are going on at the same time.
We bought Abby a dresser for her room - it's white and shabby chic (love it)
Spring needs to arrive!

I'm getting a server error and can't upload pictures (third time I've tried today....so maybe someday I'll get some pictures up!)

My Camera is here...

2008-02-25T19:36:00.006-05:00

...and I'm in love

I had more pictures to share...but more than half way through the upload it had an error.....so here are a few pics.

You can check out my Shutterfly photo album for some other pics....

Going into the weekend

2008-02-21T13:16:00.003-05:00

The school Talent Show is lined up for Friday - Catherine is in three acts this year. The Brownie Troup is singing "My Country Tis Of Thee" and reciting the pledge of allegiance. She's doing her hula hoop routine - she has 1 large and 2 small hoops. Where she works all three in a really fun act to Aly & Aj's "Do you believe in Magic". Thirdly, she's in an act with her friend and her sister in a singing/dancing routine to Corbin Bleu's "Push it to the limit".

Weather is threatening and the Talent Show may be pushed back till Saturday evening...which I hope doesn't happen because Bobby and I had plans to go out to dinner and then go to a party with lots of our friends...and I'll really be bummed out if we miss it. Saturday afternoon Catherine has the Girl Scouts Thinking Day event to attend.

Catherine has the stomach bug and has thrown up several times now (so gross - I can't deal with it) - I picked her up yesterday afternoon from school and she's home today....I hope she's better in time for the talent show! Abby's a tough cookie, she wasn't feeling good for a few days but she has persevered.

I ordered my camera and I'm waiting for it to arrive! I can't wait for it to get here! Last weekend was a long one and we went down to Maryland to visit some really good friends and we had a great time! This year is going by too fast already I can't believe it's going to be March soon. Sometimes I just wish I could slow time down.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2008-02-14T17:35:00.005-05:00

Bobby was very traditional with his gift of Red Roses and my favorite Chocolates (Rocher's) - Such a sweetheart!

I got the girls little mailboxes from Target and filled them with candy, cards & even a $1 bill. They filled my mailbox (yes I bought one for myself - it's white and not pink though - because I've got a crafty idea up my sleeve (I'm planning on putting cute scrapbook paper & ribbons/flowers etc. on it....perhaps by next year) with tons of cute little notes and sweet sentiments.

The girls and I made cupcakes (for Catherine's classroom party) and cookies (Abby's classroom party - I'm her room mom this year) for Valentines - they're sporting their cute Valentine Heart Tee's from Target too.

Catherine has girls scouts tonight, I picked personal pan pizza's for the girls to eat...Bobby and I will go out to eat (Abby's tagging along - guess she'll just eat dessert!) :)

Happy Heart Day!

Canon Rebel XTi

2008-02-12T15:48:00.000-05:00

Yeah Baby, That's what I'm talking about! :)

As soon as our tax refund comes in this baby will be mine! The Canon Rebel XTi - with 28-105mm and the 70-300mm lense.

I can't wait to get this so I can start taking some really great photos! :)

I went to upload a new blog banner - made a mistake in the template so surprise, I have a bit of a new look on here! :) LOL I'll have to find my slideshow info and put it back on later.

Getting ready for Valentine's Day

2008-02-10T16:08:00.000-05:00

Valentine Preparations!

Today we were out at Target and we picked up a bag of the Valentines M&M's (these are my favorites....two shades of pink, red & white). The last time we were in Target we picked up the girls some Valentine Shirts to wear to school for their party. Catherine has signed all her cards and has enough candy to pass out to all her classmates. Abby and I still need to work on hers, we were waiting for her class list, and so we're ready...perhaps this afternoon!

I've had two coke bottles (Coca-Cola Blak it's a coffee infused coke - so yummy!) that have been cleaned and sterilized waiting for a fun gift/project. :) This is it, we filled them up with the yummy M&M's attached a fun heart ribbon around the center, then another ribbon up top with a metal tag with a flower & brad combo and a pink paperclip holding a mini valentine card. Perfect Teacher gift, yes?!

A picture of the girls for Nana!

My Mom sent the girls a cute gift - beautiful silky gowns & matching delicate robe. The girls felt very elegant in these and grabbed their pretty dolls to pose for a quick picture. They've been prancing around like little princesses in them - very cute!

I can't wait for my new camera once the tax refund comes back in....then hopefully I'll blow you all away with some great pictures! :) The teacher gifts came out great because I used the natural light from a window in my room....otherwise our digital has much to desire.

Bobby snapped a quick picture of me this afternoon....I've got to say I LOVE my Pink Dell laptop!!!!

...Yes, Abby needs to clean her room back up...that didn't last long! The girls tend to only play in Abby's room at the moment. When we were in Target today we looked at some fun stuff to decorate rooms with. I've got a whole plan to make both of the girls rooms fun...just have to pace it out so we can afford it! :)

We watched Transformers today - it was alright - Bobby and Catherine really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to watching Ocean's Thirteen (3 very yummy men in it: George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Daman...mmmm.....).

Pretty Woman

2008-02-08T22:49:00.000-05:00

Here I am watching Pretty Woman with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts tonight, and it dons on me as I see the large cell phone (LOL those were huge!) in one of the early scenes that this movie was aired 18 years ago. Doesn't that seem imposible...that it was 18 years ago? I went and saw this with my best friend Peggy at the movie theater...we were way to young, we must have been 12! I remember the pimple-faced ticket seller giving us a hard timeIt's one of those classic movies (classic in my lifetime sorta way) that you just can't resist watching over again...much like Overboard (with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell), Breakfast Club, or Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Peggy, wow, we had some great times together. She lived in Paris Tennessee, originally she was from California, and moved to TN with her family. Since I lived in KY, we meet through Mike & Becky hosting our church Teen/Youth Groups. Peggy and I instantly clicked and became the best of friends. We spent so much time on the phone and once we got together there was no splitting us apart. I could go on and on with fun memories. We've lost touch over the years though. Once I left home, we emailed a lot, she came out and saw me once after Bobby and I got married and while we were still at Ft. Lee, VA. She transferred from Murray State out to Texas and interned with the Dallas Cowboys Press Department. She lived her dream because she was the Cowboys #1 fan and had a thing for Troy Aikman. :) I'm in the process of trying to track her down again! I hate loosing touch with friends, and I have done it over and over in my life. Even with my family....I'm trying to get better at it and I'm trying to get back in touch with a few cousins that I grew up with and have lost touch with over the years.

I know, several posts now without pictures....please don't hate me! :) I'll try and take some fun ones soon and post.

Books, Germs, Storms & Politics

2008-02-06T15:33:00.000-05:00

Books: Okay our reading challenge is in full swing at the school this week. We've had the Pep-Rally and book distribution, we've had the book fair, we've had our Guest Readers come in to read....the kids have their passports filled with activities that they are working on (at home and some even in the classrooms thanks to the teachers incorporating them into their day). I've worked so hard on this...it's wrapping up - but there will still be the tallying of the passports and ordering the prizes and all.

Germs: Bobby's got the flu - yuck! I'm getting over my cold (headaches still loom though). Abby's fighting a cold...her temp is up - I'm hoping she doesn't get sick. Catherine is healthy!

Storms: Oh My! I always hate seeing so much devestation with tornadoes and I always worry about our family since most of them are there.

Politics: You know, this has been an exciting year for politics. This is the first year that I've really taken an interest in watching the primaries, the debates and Super Tuesday. It is an exciting year no matter whether you're a Republican or a Democrat because of the progress our country has made and that there is a black man and a woman running for president. It's exciting!

Anyways - hoping you're all doing great. Hugs!

February 2's

2008-02-04T22:29:00.000-05:00

These should all be very quick answers (but it never goes that way for me!)

2 names you go by: Heather; Vixen

2 parts of your heritage: French; Irish

2 treasured possessions: My Dads miniature leather chest filled with foreign coins; Scrapbooks & pictures

2 of your everyday essentials: Cell Phone; lip gloss

2 things you are wearing right now: Jeans; Faux layered shirt

2 of your favorite bands or musical artists: Breaking Benjamin; Fergie

2 things you want in a relationship: Happiness; Respect

2 truths: I am a good PTO President; I can't sing

2 physical things that appeal to you in the opposite sex: Smile; Muscles

2 of your favorite hobbies: LOL - I haven't scrapbooked in forever so let's go with collecting pretty paper; Kissing

2 things you want really badly: Larger House (w/garage);

2 places you want to go on vacation: Romantic vacation to a Bed & Breakfast on the northern east coast; Family Vacation to Disney World

2 things you want to do before you die: Travel all over Britain & to go see the Eiffel Tower in Paris; See a broadway show in NYC (I know that was more than 2)

2 ways that you are stereotypically a dude/chick: I love pretty things like pink sparkly things; I take a long time getting ready for a night out

2 things you are thinking about now: My house needs cleaning; I should get to bed

2 stores you shop at: New York & Company; Arepostale

2 drinks you like: Starbucks mocha latte; Cosmopolitan

2 movies: The Wedding Planner; and uh all three of the Bourne movies (Matt Daman - need I say more?)

2 scents: Armani Mania; Bath & Body Works Sensual Amber

2 childhood memories: Seeing the ocean for the first time when I was 3 in the swimsuit that was too big for me because I refused to wear the matching swimsuit that my twin sister & I was supposed to wear (I remember arguing with my mom in the basement of our old house before we packed for the trip to wear any swimsuit but that matching one - it had bright colors and it had rows and rows of kids on it - I ended up wearing a pastel swimsuit that was way too big but I was happy!); Riding bikes and walking through the woods for hours and hours with my sisters and cousins playing all sorts of imaginary games and stories.

A miserable cold

2008-02-04T00:44:00.000-05:00

I've been sick with a miserable cold all weekend long. I started to feel it's effects Thursday and it hit me hard Friday. I've had the weight of an elephant on my chest - my brain sloshing around my skull from coughing, and more mucus than I can deal with! I don't have tissues and my nose is sore because TP just isn't quite as nice....and I was just in the store Thursday morning!

This happened to be the same weekend that my lovely husband was away and I had plans on hanging out with my friends, and doing fun stuff with the girls. Instead...I plopped my butt on the sofa and vegged watching movies. I spent the weekend with my hottie Matt Daman (the Bourne trilogy), Bruce Willis (12 Monkeys), Mel Gibson (What Women Want) and kid movies (Garfield, Ella Enchanted, Perfect Man, etc...) with my girls.

All the while I'm still trying to wrap up the last final details of my big PTO reading challenge & monthly meeting. Hard to do with the effects of cold medicine.

On the good side, I spent some fun time with the girls reading to them and watching tv/movies. On the bad side, I didn't get the house spotless and laundry folded like I had planned. Also, I had to cancel plans with 2 sets of friends because I felt so miserable. :(

Yes - I'm whining slightly. I haven't had a cold in a few years I think....I had forgotten how miserable they are (could I say miserable one more time?).

Bright side....my hubby is coming home late tomorrow night and I can't wait to get to see him!

Hey this will brighten anyones day..... Don't forget to check out Shabby Pincess' page and grab your free February desktop wallpaper (I used to create my own, and change them periodically, but now I download hers every month and simply add a couple photos).

Hey Heather........Smile!

2008-01-28T19:41:00.000-05:00

^ That is a quote from a friend....do you know who you are?! ;)

What a crazy month this has been. I've been away on a trip, I've had my daughter's 8th birthday party, I've been working hard on the reading challenge for our elementary school...so much prep work, and the pep-rally was last Friday, this weekend was a nice family weekend, I've taken down Christmas decorations (yes they were up until last week - that's how busy it's been here in my life!), lots of dinners, laundry, homework, etc...

We also had a big move this weekend.....we cleaned out the front room and moved Abby's bed and toys downstairs. Yes, the girls have been seperated into their own rooms. They are getting along so much better already too! Abby's been keeping it so nice and clean, her toys are all organized, and she's even been making her bed. Our 5 year old is making her bed without me even asking her! Can you tell how proud she is of having her own room?

I've got to help Catherine clean up her room and then I think she'll be excited (right now, she's just jealous - even though it was her choice first for which room). She wants a vanity really badly, so we'll create that for her, oh and we need to get a dresser for Abby. So there's more work to do...but for now, Abby's really excited and I'm excited because the girls are playing so well together! :)

Oh, so we picked up 3 hula hoops for Catherine.....she's working on a routine for the talent show for late February! :) She'll also be doing a routine with her two friends again this year...a High School Musical 2 number.

Just a fun pic of us to share! :)

Catherine's 8th Birthday

2008-01-14T18:41:00.000-05:00

She did it....she turned 8! I can't believe it's been 8 years since I had this sweet little girl and I finally became a Mommy! :) She has enriched my life with such fun, her enthusiasm for life is just contagious...she's such a happy girl - sweet beyond belief and a true friend to those lucky enough to be around her.

She couldn't make up her mind for her birthday and finally ended up with Chuck E. Cheese (I always swore we'd never have a party here...but at 10 - 11:30am Saturday it wasn't bad) party. All the kids had a great time - she got lots of great gifts and had a fabulous birthday. Friday, her actual birthday, we ate at Red Lobster (one of her favorite restaurants) then went to the mall (I finally got an MP3 player....Pink Zen V Plus) then meet up with our friends to pick up one of Catherine's friends to spend the night...before her birthday party Saturday morning.

Sunday, we went to a gymnastics party for our friends (Ben & Jeannie) daughter Olivia (one of Abby's best friends)...the kids had an absolute blast! Jeannie had face painting done as well....isn't that amazing?!? The kids loved it...complete with glitter and jewels.
Sadly I had to wash it off of them before going to bed...much to the kids dismay!

It was a great weekend!

Happy New Years my Friends!

2008-01-01T14:13:00.000-05:00

Happy New Years!!!!!!

We brought in the new year with lots of friends...the kids were all running around playing, watching movies - they even got their own sparkling cider to bring in the New Year!

We all toasted the New Year with Champagne and a kiss!

We danced, sang karaoke, we played games, we watched fireworks over the valley, we heard gunfire (this is PA), the kids popped their New Years Poppers receiving small prizes, there was cheering and laughter with everyone having an absolutely great night. Bringing in the New Year with family and friends is a wonderful thing!

This will be a great year...I hope everyone has a great 2008!

Last Sunday of 2007

2007-12-30T13:39:00.000-05:00

I just finished taking my last Sunday afternoon nap of 2007...........awe that was refreshing!

Tomorrow we will be going over to a friends house, lots of our friends will be there, bringing in the new year together....the kids will be running around having fun getting to stay up late too! I've got to figure out what snack I want to bring to help contribute to the food.

Yesterday we had some friends over...they brought their wii (that is so much fun to play...I wouldn't mind getting one for us...it's so much fun, and it gets your butt up off the couch!)
They also brought over this cool 10MPH mini coop that's meant for kids...this is powerful and freaked the kids out...but Bobby and I had fun riding it! ;)

Today we have friends coming over to play some board games/watching movies and stuff. Oh...Santa gave us the Disney (2nd Edition) Scene It game...that's fun...and I love it...it's a trivia game that I'm actually good at! :)

Gotta love the week between Christmas and New Years....it's a great time to hang out with friends!

We've been elfed!

2007-12-27T23:47:00.000-05:00

I sent this to a few...but just incase you missed it check us out as elves!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!!!

2007-12-25T21:01:00.001-05:00

The kids were so excited yesterday. One of our traditions is that the kids get to open one gift on Christmas eve (the lovely jammies their sporting in the pictures) and Abby asked all day if it was time to open a gift. The girls showed so much excitement and happiness over the jammies. I was really impressed with their gratitude, it actually overwhelmed me. Catherine was funny, this year she realized that for the last 3 or 4 years she's received PJ's of some type on Christmas Eve....LOL :) They were really cute. They laid out the sugar cookies that we baked on Christmas Eve, and the pictures they colored for Santa and went to bed.

We kept the kids up a little later than normal so they'd sleep in a bit (8am isn't too bad for Christmas Morning!). They woke up with so much excitement. They woke us up, and we pulled ourselves out of bed...and we all came downstairs (I left all the Christmas lights on downstairs so it was all aglow this morning). The kids sorted out the gifts into everybody's pile. Abby knows her name, but if it was for someone else she'd place it in a pile, we'd catch her and she'd say "Oh, I can't read that" or "Oh, I didn't know" it was cute. Catherine of course did a great job...however mentally counting each gift as she placed them in the piles (that girl reminds me so much of how I was growing up)

The girls got lots of games, fun toys and tons of stocking stuffers. They didn't complain, they enjoyed every gift they asked for...they never mentioned the other things that they may have wanted that they didn't get. They were really good, I'm very pleased at how grateful and sweet they are.

Special gifts include:

Abby getting her Baby Emma that she wanted, baby bottles, cute blankie, Barbie Hair-do, Make up (first time) and shiny pink bag, lite-brite, etc...

Catherine getting her easy bake oven (Disney Princess Cool Air Bake), Nintendo DS Catz game, Bratz make-over doll, High School Musical 2 DVD, make up, etc...

Girls Big Gift: Personal DVD player (the girls got 2 DVD's each) & Pink Carrying case, 2 sets of sparkly pink ear phones (band less loop over the ear), princess autocolaunts to decorate the DVD player and case.

Bobby did a great job giving me wonderful gifts. He is so sweet and thoughtful.

Christmas Eve while I was preparing the cinnamon rolls he gave me a gift - it was white slippers - perfect! Today I received Bath & Body works Sensual Amber gift set, Starbucks teacup and saucer, and my favorite chocolates in the world...Ferrero Rocher. Plus a stocking filled with goodies. Oh, and the jewelry....

He got some goodies in his stocking, plus a few gifts that he'd been wanting....he got several gifts before Christmas though...like XBox 360 game Call of Duty 4...and other stuff.

Honestly...the kids posing for a couple pictures...and Bobby taking some of me and the kids was one of my best gifts....if they only knew how much that means to me!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. I gave a lot of thought to all my friends today, and I hope that everyone had a great day with their family, and that everyone knows how much I love them. I know I didn't call and talk to anyone today (we seem to keep to our immediate family on Christmas day...but know that you were thought of!).

Love you all!

Merry Christmas Eve

2007-12-25T01:40:00.001-05:00

Okay, technically it's Christmas...but I haven't gone to bed...so, I'm going with that! :) But anyways.....Santa has arrived!!!!

I've made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast tomorrow...using the cinnabon recipe in the morning I'll make the frosting for them and reheat them.

Here are a couple fun gifts I did this year....this went to Bobby's cousins that live here in PA....it's a "Warm Wishes" for a Merry Christmas (everything inside is to help you stay warm) Starbucks coffee beans, peppermint mocha frappachino's, hot cocoa's, cozy socks, home made fudge, lap blanket, gloves, etc....)

Home made fudge for teacher gifts... I wrapped them up in clear bags and tied with Holiday Treats ribbon :)

The eve of Christmas Eve

2007-12-23T21:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a bit of a family day...we got the kids back from a sleepover. They caught up on some of the Christmas Cartoons while Bobby and I got ready. We went out and ate lunch at Applebee's then went to the Movie theater to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was sooo cute!!! We put the girls in between us and we hoped to catch a nap....no chance - the movie was way to cute! I would almost be willing to buy a couple of their songs.........uh almost! :) Very cute though...fun little updated songs though. At the end, during the credits, they played music, Catherine jumped up and danced...she's so cute.

Then we went over to a friends house until late. The kids all played together...us adults played trivial pursuit. Let me say that I hate playing that game - at least the adult version. I'm much better at the jr versions! :) It was especially hard playing the genus version...I completely stunk! Bobby is much better at the game..that stinker knew almost every answer...it's not fair! :) LOL

Today was a nice lazy day...trying to catch up on sleep and all. I've got to finish wrapping the gifts so that I can relax tomorrow. So I'm off to make me some diet hot cocoa (I'm 131 lbs right now...and very happy about that!...just a few pounds from 120 something!) and pulling out the last of the gifts to be wrapped.

Love and Happiness to you all with much love of the season!

Secret Santa Cami!

2007-12-20T21:13:00.000-05:00

This post is all for Cami - may she always have love and joy in her life!

Cami - you are truley one of the best people I've had the pleasure of getting to know in the world...even though we've never meet IRL! You are spunky, funny, filled with love, generous, beutiful inside and out, insightful, observant, intelligent, fun to be around and all around completely awesome!

Thank you for sending me such a sweet gift! I came home one day to a package on my front porch. I wasn't expecting it, the packages I was anticipating had already arrived. The package had my name on it. I opened the shipping box, and inside was a familiar packaging of the fabulous San Fancisco Music Box Company.

I opened it up..hehehe...perhaps I should have waited for Christmas morning....but I'm as bad as a kid! I'll admit it! I'm glad I did open it, it was a gorgeous mini waterglobe ornament with an angel and it has a silver star that hangs from it! :) It works so well on the tree...it's gorgeous...and the girls love pushing the button to hear it play music, especially Abby. I had no idea who this was from and I kept asking all my local friends! :) Turns out it was my dear friend Cami! Which by the way I got her card with her kids picture (they're so gorgeous!!!) So again, Thank you Cami!!!!! You are so sweet!!!

Christmas Stuff

2007-12-13T16:22:00.000-05:00

Christmas Shopping
Catherine (Check)
Abby (Check)
Bobby (Check)
Catherine's Stocking (Check)
Abby's Stocking (Check)
Bobby's Stocking (1/2 a Check)

Just a few more items then I'm completely done! :) Yeah!!!!

I'm not hard to buy for....I'll take a gift card to Starbucks! ;P ......Did I just say that?!
Anytips for the hard to buy person...please let me know...besides a gift card...what would be a fun gift to open on Christmas Day????? There's someone I need to buy for (I can't give it away - they may be reading this) and I'm fresh out of ideas!

I've got to pick up a couple items for a few friends up here and them I'm completely done! I love how in just one or two shopping days, I get a lot accomplished! One more run and I'll be done. I enjoy this time of year, and I don't stress over the shopping...it's a thrill to pick out things for others.

I've got lots of gifts wrapped and under the tree already...all in coordinating paper from Target...it looks pretty cool! :)

I've got over 50 Christmas Cards filled out and addressed....most went into the mailbox today (I've got to pick up some more stamps, and some will be hand delivered). I didn't make them this year...I used three designs...I found some really cute ones. I kept thinking of more and more people I wanted to spread some Christmas Cheer to! :)

What do my girls love on a cold winter day? Hot Chocolate!
...and it's even better with a peppermint candy cane! The girls were home today because of the very icy weather....so we had a fun day of watching some great Christmas movies and drinking hot cocoa...then they left me for the afternoon playing at a friends house down the street.

This little guy here is holding a belly full of mini candy canes instead of cookies. :) I wonder how long they'll last....

Enjoy all your Christmas preparations and traditions!

Christmas Movies

2007-12-06T15:37:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm going to try and update more often....which means you're going to see a lot more random stuff! :)

Christmas Movies
There are many movies going on during the month of December....lots of old classic animations (Rudolph, Grinch, Frosty, Santa Claus, Charlie Brown Christmas, etc...) classic movies (Miracle on 31st St, Winter Wonderland, etc...) and fun newer ones (Santa Baby, Hallmark movies, Polar Express, etc...). Hopefully everyone will get the chance to watch at least one during the season...whatever floats your boat...if it's Lampoons Christmas, The Christmas Story, The Santa Claus....I hope you get the chance to watch one with a hot cup of cocoa! :)

Baby it's cold outside!

2007-12-03T20:35:00.000-05:00

I love that song BTW! :) Besides the classics, two of my all time favorite Christmas songs is Baby it's cold outside, and Santa Baby! Sexy little Christmas songs! :)

Well, it's snowing already, Christmas lights are up and shining. All the Christmas decorations are up, boxes put away.....candles from my PartyLite candle party came in.....it's a happy household in PA!

I had our PTO meeting tonight, I've got a book committee meeting here at the house tomorrow night. We have our Holiday Shop at school at the end of the week which I'll be helping with. The girls will do their shopping for each other and for a few friends. So lots of stuff going on.

I had the family out and about on Sunday morning...first we went to Target to look for a star or snowflake to hang outside between the two windows upstairs. Then we were off to take pictures of the girls in front of cool buildings downtown. I didn't take any with my digital camera, all with my Rebel....they were cold and wimped out before I was done, so the roll isn't complete yet. I'll take more pictures of them this weekend then have them developed.

Here's one quick one I took with my crappy digital camera inside...which makes for a horrible shot....

I've wimped out this year and bought Christmas cards. I just don't know where I'd find the time or energy to create them this year. They're cute though so I'm happy with them. There was one more design that I completely fell in love with, but didn't buy them....I may have to go back and pick them up....every time I hear one of my two favorite songs I think of those cards. I may just have to find an excuse to go out shopping tomorrow and get them.....or Wednesday for sure, since I'll be close to that particular store after I drop the kids off at their Awana Clubs.

Oh, I picked up a cute star at Target to go on the top of the tree....the only problem is, that it's really heavy and doesn't want to stay up there! Grmppfhhhhhh..............If anyone knows of any suggestions please fill me in!!!! The cord isn't long enough to plug into the light plugs (pre-lit tree), so we've got to get another extension cord to make it light up.

The girls wanted new stockings so I picked up theirs....but didn't get Bobby and I a new one yet...because otherwise that alone would have been $50! ARggghhhhh why must everything be so expensive?!? After Christmas I'll look for a new tree skirt that's white/silver...that way the next time I decorate the tree in all silver/white/clear it will look a little more polished! :)

Happy Holidays!

2007-11-30T11:20:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was very nice, I prepared all 5 pies and sweet potatoes the day before. I only had to make the caramel sauce and whipped cream (adding a little sour cream into heavy whipping cream and powder sugar makes a huge difference - very yummy!). We spent the day with Jake & Becky and their family. The girls had a great time playing with Jake and Abby - they said it was the best Thanksgiving ever! :)

Friday I pulled everything out of the storage closet, so that when Bobby got home from work we could set up the tree. Yeah I didn't do the Black Friday shopping. I got the white/pink tree set up in the girls room (so adorable).

By the end of the weekend I had everything decorated and cleaned back up. All that's left is for Bobby to add the lights outside. I've already put up the garland around the front window on the porch...so not much left to do......we just have to wait for the weekend because it's dark by the time he gets home from work...it gets dark so early!

I'll take some pictures this weekend hopefully and upload them. I can't wait to see see how everyone else is decorating this year. Oh big news in our household.....I got to decorate the tree in my choice this year - First time I've had my way in my entire life!!!!!!!!!!!! Wo-hoo! :)
Using our tall skinny pre-lite (clear lights) tree, all I have on is white/silver ornaments - mainly all snowflakes, icicles, silver shiny balls, and starts........it's gorgeous! :) I love it (Thank you Bobby for giving in this year!) Bobby and the girls miss the colored lights, but they can have them back next year! :)

Have a great weekend!!!! Ours is jammed pack hanging out with friends and doing lots of great family stuff.

Thanksgiving Preperations

2007-11-20T10:51:00.000-05:00

I've got to run to the store soon and pick up my baking supplies for all the pies that I'll be making, plus my "famous" sweet potatoes with caramel sauce. My recipe was requested my 3 more people this year. I decided to finally make it a pretty recipe card.

I've been wanting to make a mini Thanksgiving album. I want to include my family recipes, pictures, and little blessings that we have every year. One of these days I'll make it!

This year we are celebrating the day with the only family that we have in the state, our dear cousins Jake & Becky and their two kids Jake & Abby. We're looking forward to it, it will be fun, with lots of great food, games, and just visiting with them. The girls enjoy having family here, and they love Jake and Abby so much it's unreal! Around the holidays especially I wish that our girls were closer to their cousins - they have so many.

Enjoy getting ready for the holiday meal - remember to not stress over it and enjoy the whole process. Love to all!

And with Thanksgiving in thought, I did a fun layout using some shabby princess papers to participate in the CALL TO ACT challenge by the Digi Chick. It was fun to create something and share my love for volunteering at the girls' school.

Here's what I said when I uploaded my page...

"When I'm asked what hobbies I enjoy I always reply "Scrapbooking" but my husband is quick to correct me saying "She likes to scrapbook, but she's to busy helping others to scrapbook. Volunteering is her hobby!" I guess he's right. I'm always quick to sign up and help out wherever needed. I'm the PTO President, and I'm on the committee that makes sure every student receives free books throughout the year. I help organize lots of fun activities as well as going into the classroom/library to help out. I volunteer an average of 20 hours a week, more when special events are happening. I have given food & monetary donations throughout the school years. - Way to many to scan and upload! :) Shabby Princess Festival Kit, as well as a few elements from other designers, Tape:Christina Renee

Mid-November

2007-11-14T07:21:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's mid-November already! I can't believe how fast this year is going.

We had Parent/Teacher conferences last week....
-Catherine is such a good student through and through. I love going to her conferences because she just gets glowing reviews because she excels academically and she's such a good girl in class that the teachers love having her. Her report card was beautiful! :)
-Abby is doing better. She's making friends, following all the rules and loves school. Academically speaking, she struggles a little. Her teacher said that she just has to find a way to reach Abby because she's a stubborn learner (for example, if she thinks she doesn't know something, she'll say "I don't know that" and shuts off her brain from actually trying to learn it). She's struggling with her alphabet/sounds but on one test about math concepts she completely excelled where the rest of class didn't grasp the content or the way the test was to be filled out (filling in the circles...it was a new concept for the kids). Hopefully, things will click and by next semester she'll be smooth sailing.

Our PTO provides a luncheon and dinner for the teachers during the conferences, so I made some coffee cake and a big thing of potato salad, then I helped set up Thursday morning.

The girls had a LONG weekend (Abby had Wed - Mon off, Cat had Thur- Mon off) The weekend was so busy, we were going and doing things full throttle. We went out to eat, visited with friends, shopped, etc.... Oh, I'm extremely excited that I now wear a size 6 in pants! :) I had to go get new jeans (again) at Old Navy, I found a pair of "skinny" pants on clearance at the Gap - love that! I need new tops though....all my winter clothes are like tents...we got rid of most of them, but I need something to wear! :) I've got to pick up a few at a time though....going from size 14/16 down to 6 in a little over a year costs a lot of money in clothes by the way!

I spent yesterday cleaning up their bedroom - it was a major disaster area. I got interrupted and the job was put on hold, so today I plan to finish it. There is so much laundry to do now, because over half their closet was found on the floor and under their beds . Board games were found all over the place too....this is very unlike me, but I think I'll be throwing them all out and just starting over from scratch (sounds like good Christmas presents to me!).

Ever hear of PartyLite? They make wonderful candles. I went to a party years ago, and fell in love....the candles burn so clean - no soot at all! I went to a party just a few weeks ago, and booked a party off of it. So that's Thursday night.

Friday night I'll be going over to a friends house for a Silpada party. I've heard lots of good things about their jewelry, so I can't wait to see it in person.

Who knows what this weekend will hold, but I'm sure it will be busy, we seem to find ourselves very busy these days.

Coffee!!!!!!!!

2007-10-25T07:58:00.000-05:00

I love coffee! I love all things coffee too! Like cool mugs, vintage coffee adds, coffee stores, mocha's, lattes, cappucino's, etc...

I just don't drink it everyday, so that's the reason I have such a low score *sob*, *sniff, sniff*

I am 56% Addicted to Coffee

Photo Sharing

2007-10-22T16:49:00.000-05:00

FALL............

Candied Apples....... don't they look so pretty. This is the first time I've ever made them, and actually the first time I've ever taken a bite from one (didn't want the calories from an entire one)

Dressed up for a Halloween Party, I was a sassy witch, Bobby was a warlock, Catherine was a Gothic Vampire turned deamon, and Abby was Tigger (she looked a little out of place with the rest of us, but cute none the less!)

The Halloween party that we went to was lots of fun with a hayride and haunted forest!

Here's Abby, very cute and innocent right? HA! We woke up Sunday morning to the fact that she cut her hair - all over the place, there are short spots, especially around her face (She gave herself a layer of 1/2" - 1"bangs). So I had to give her a hair cut....she now sports bangs! At first I didn't cut the back of her hair off entirely...there were a few short strands in the back....and it drove me nuts so by the end of the day I chopped off the rest to even out the back.

What a stinker! :) Today she had a fall walk and explored nature with the rest of the kindergarten class. Her first little field trip, she had lots of fun!

Catherine had her last game of cheering this last weekend. (Bobby snapped this picture while I was recovering last month - the pom-poms were on a pole directly infront of her) Tomorrow night she'll be in the parade with the rest of her squad. :) She enjoyed practices but not cheering for the actual games. She also loved doing the half time dance routine.

Abby's dance class has finished up, she learned a lot and had a great time. She really enjoyed herself so we'll put her into another class now that we know that she really has a passion for it.

Halloween stuff

2007-10-12T11:22:00.000-05:00

See Miss Bones? Isn't she cute? Did you ever think skeletons could be so adorable? Neither did I until I saw one on Holly's blog, I had to get one at Michael's and spruce her up! :) I'd like to link you to her, but she's changed blogs and that particular link no longer exists...sorry!

Anyways...the girls have their costumes. This is the first year that Catherine wants to dress up as something scary. -sigh-

This weekend we have a Halloween party to go to, there will be lots of kids, a hayride and lots of fun. I'm going to attempt to make candy apples to bring along. I've got to get the craft sticks for them, and make them tonight, so that if I fail miserably, I'll still have time to make something else! :)

Yesterday I worked on the games for Abby's school party, I've attached paperclips to lots of little treats, that the kids will "fish" for with a pole/string/magnet. There's the pumpkin bean bag toss, and we'll do a craft. I also have a little song thing that I'd like to teach them. They'll sit and clap their hands on their legs, then clap their hands together saying "Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Round and Fat. Turns into a Jack-o-lantern just like that!" and on the word "that" they'll snap their fingers.....it's cute! :)

Hope everyone is having a hauntingly good time preparing for all the trick or treating fun!

Fun and Frivolous post

2007-10-04T07:55:00.000-05:00

Not so frivolous, but really neat....Select a Candidate Quiz it's neat to see if they predict who they think lines up with who you think your leaning towards for the Presidental Running.

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Now this is completely Frivolous! :)

What Alcoholic Drink Are You?

You Are Rum

You're the life of the party, and a total flirt
You are also pretty picky about what you drink
Only the finest labels and best mixed cocktails will do
Except if you're dieting - then it's Diet Coke and Bicardi all the way

What's on your Must Watch TV list?

This may seem like a lot...but with a DVR, it's not (plus the bonus of never having to watch comercials anymore).

ABC:

LOST which comes back in February.

Desperate Housewives, always fun

Big Shots - A male version of Desperate Housewives they say

Women's Murder Club aires on Friday

Carpoolers looks funny -

Pushing Daisies I didn't watch last night...I'll have to watch it online

NBC:

Hero's - one of my favorites!!!

Journeyman - I'm enjoying this one so far.

Bionic Woman - I enjoyed it, Bobby thought they could do better

Medium again, waiting for it's return

CBS:

Survivor - I can't help myself

Kid Nation - finally a reality show that we can watch with Catherine and not worry

CSI: NY and Without a trace...when the mood strikes

Of course during the day the tv runs in the background to Regis & Kelly, The View, and

my dirty little secret...Days of our Lives...shhhh!

One more thing.....here's a link for downloading some digital scrapbooking freebies from scrapbooks etc. I love DS freebies...and I'm always on the lookout for them! :)

I don't have lymphoma!

2007-10-01T17:35:00.000-05:00

Yeah! :)

I made it back to my ENT today for another post-op check. The pathology results came back, and I don't have lymphoma. There are more results coming that we're waiting on which could take up to 4 weeks. So for now, we don't know what caused them to go crazy.

He had to stick me with another needle to drain it yet again, it's looking better though. I'll go back next Monday for him to check it again.

I'll leave with an Irish Proverb that I enjoy "May your home always be to small to hold all your friends"

It's October!

2007-10-01T08:02:00.000-05:00

Saturday Bobby and I were invited to a Bon-Fire party, they had a large fire pit and it was a lot of fun.

I love the fall; the crisp air, the turning leaves, the pumpkins, fall activities, and the clothes! :)

The pumpkinfest and apple harvest festival is coming up in the next two weeks, so there are lots of fun things for the kids to do.

I've got to get my fall decorations out. I normally have them up at the begining of September, but I was so busy planning the PTO picnic, then with my surgery. Hopefully I'll get them out this week! :)

I'm starting to feel a lot better. I can turn my neck more, I can pull my shirt off easier (Bobby's had to help me - think hockey shirting without the punches to the ribs!) :) and the pain is down to 10%. The major thing that bothers me is actually my shoulder, it feels like a cross between rub burn and a sun burn. I'm really getting sick of that! LOL

Catherine had another game to cheer for on Sunday, they did their big routine for the half time show for the first time. I missed it, since I was home (I didn't feel good yesterday) with Abby. I'll take my camera to the next game and get some pictures. I also want to get some pictures of Abby in her dance class this week. Bobby has taken her the last two times, and I forgot my camera the first week.

I have a coffee table again!

2007-09-25T08:49:00.000-05:00

It's been years since we've had a coffee table. We gave away our oval cherry coffee table away to Salvation Army years ago when Catherine was learning to walk.

I saw this Broyhill table at a store a few weeks ago and felt like I just had to have it. Yesterday Bobby and I were out for a little bit (I was getting cabin fever and had to get out of the house) and I showed it to him. He liked it, and the price was great, so we had them put a hold tag on it, we went to Salvation Army to get rid of the 7 bags of clothes in the back of the van so that we could fold the back seat down and take it home. I'm so excited! I can't wait to put some fall decorations on the bottom shelf (as to not to obstruct the view of the TV - only request from Bobby) ;)

We went out to lunch, then we ran over the my ENT's office - there's a swollen spot at the base of the scar and it has me concerned. I've taken all my antibiotics that he prescribed, and I haven't had any fever symptoms so it doesn't seem like an infection. He said the skin looked really healthy, but he took a sample to of the fluid under the skin. My pathology reports weren't back (my appt. was supposed to be today - but I went in a day early because of the bump) but he did go ahead and remove the stitches. I'll go back next Monday for another Post-Op appt.

I'm tired, and going to take a nap - I'll catch you up on other happenings later!

Edited to add...

I just added a slide show (located on the side bar to the right) with the album I created for my sister Teresa. I wanted to create something to cheer her up while she's going through chemo. I sent this out before my surgery, but I didn't want to share it here, until I knew that she received it. When I talked to her today, she said she got it (and loved it!) Yeah. I just felt the need to create something beautiful for her - she is so beautiful inside and out and I wanted her to really know how much I love her. It's a 6x6 mini tabbed album from K&Co. When you look at it closed, you see 4 tabs "Love, Family, Friends, Faith" then when you flip it over and look at it from the back you see 4 more tabs "Joy, Simple Pleasures, Shopping & Treats" it's truly a "girlfriend" album full of yummy colors/papers and lots of fun techniques. Almost every page has a tag hidden away in a pocket sleeve. There are spaces for journaling, photos and anything else she'd like to add to the album.

I'm okay

2007-09-20T17:09:00.000-05:00

I had my surgery late Wednesday morning. Everything went fine, both lumps have been removed (no damage to the nerves down my arm - I can shrug my left shoulder) and have been sent off to pathology.

I'm just really tired, and sore. It hurts to move my neck around too much, so I've been trying to keep still. Of course my throat hurts from being tubed during the surgery. The anesthesiologist did a great job of adding medicine to the IV before I woke up so I wasn't nauseous this time - which is great. Last time I had surgery I threw up for hours afterwards.

I think one of the worst things about going into surgery is not putting on make up or being allowed to wear contacts. :) I looked pretty pale after the surgery - no color in my lips even.

Warning: Hideous picture to follow!

I have a follow up appointment with my ENT next Tuesday to have the stitches removed. Today I was able to remove the large bandage, apply ointment and get my first glimpse at my scar. It runs along the crease in my neck, which is a good thing, it will hide pretty easily as it ages. :) Yeah!

Can you see how swollen it is...yucky!

I was looking for a larger band-aid and I couldn't find any. Abby said "That's okay Mommy, you can use my Care Bear band-aids!" That girl is so sweet! I told her that it would take two to cover it up, and she says "That's okay, I don't mind sharing them with you!" :) Love that girl!!!

Okay, I have to confess...looks like I didn't throw out all my huge clothes...these jammies are huge (I wore them when I was a huge pregger!). I've got to get some new jammies! At least these were nice and comfy - with the button up top I was able to get it on/off without bothering the sore area.

Bobby's taking Abby to her dance lesson tonight, Jenn has taken Catherine to her Cheer practice...so I'm off to take a nap. Love you all - thanks for all your prayers!

Clean that closet

2007-09-18T19:50:00.000-05:00

Sounds like a game show doesn't it?! :) LOL

Bobby and I worked on laundry together this past weekend (it was fun working together with him - he's such a riot!) and he brought up the box of trash bags. We weeded through the closet and threw out everything that was a L, XL or XXL as we are both now a S or a M :D What a great feeling that was. Now we have 6 bags of clothes to send off to charity. It actually kind of breaks my heart a little, because most of it is really, really nice clothes. It's hard to give away practically brand new articles.

Keep it case we chunk back up again? No way! Why give ourselves the excuse to put the pounds back on? It took a lot of work to loose the weight, and it's not coming back on! It shouldn't be easy to get fat again. Trust me, I can't afford to buy another wardrobe anytime soon - there's motivation right there! :) LOL psst.....besides, the styles change so often that there's just no need.

Did I ever tell you that my laundry closet (they're hidden in a closet behind two folding doors) is located upstairs in the hallway between the two bedrooms? The day we settled on the house, we came in and painted the living room, upstairs hallway and this laundry closet (a Martha Stewart type of soft linen blue). Since then, I've added a strand of white lights. It really cheers up the space and makes laundry just a little more cheerful (so does the photos and cheery little tins to hold all the little things that are found hiding in pockets - the green one holds my favorite.....money, the other two hold lots of little gems from the girls)

---Minus 12 hours until surgery to get rid of these two lumps---I wanted to get a good picture of my neck before my scar makes it's appearance.... LOL

Wake me up when September ends...

2007-09-17T19:45:00.000-05:00

:) Gotta love Green Day! -The freaks!

While we were out and about this weekend, Catherine sitting in her booster seat in the van and out of no-where says "Wake Me Up When September Ends". We laughed because it was funny, with it being mid-September. I thought it would be a cool blog title and made a mental note.

Now, anybody that knows me well, knows that I stink at knowing who sings what, what the title of a song is and so forth. Needless to say, I am not a huge music video fan but with blogging the title I thought I needed to see the video. I think I'm the last person in the world to know what this song is really about. I had no idea that that's what was going on...I guess I figured it was something else.

---
Catherine just amazes me with how many songs she knows. She has such a wide taste of music (much to Bobby's credit for exposing her to all types - age appropriate of course). Her little digital music player (why aren't they called DMP's since actually most aren't really MP3 players?) has a few songs on there, we need to load it up with more because she's constantly singing to the radio and saying "Oh, I love this song!". She's so cute toting her pink I-Dog and MP3 player in the little pink bag - it has been the best purchase! She's always listening to music, singing and dancing. She's too cute!

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Abby - what a mess she is! She's been playing in the dress up box today. She pulled out a TIGER costume, dressed up and started quoting the TIGGER Movie (it was on Disney over the weekend so it was fresh in her memory) she had me laughing so hard! Later she was in a cheer leading outfit with mis-matched pom-poms creating her own cheers jumping around.

Before I forget I've got to tell the first Abby/Kindergarten story that her teacher told me during the PTO picnic.
-Her teacher walks up to me saying "Oh, I've got a story for you!".
Instant panic sets in...you know the feeling! I said something like "Uh-oh, I told you I was worried about her!" Thinking "Just what has Abby done now - school had only been a week....!" :)
-She laughs, and says "No, No - nothing bad, something that was just funny" continuing she says that they were cutting something...
I knew where this was going - Abby holds scissors upside down pointing towards her - completely backwards...with many attempts to teach her to hold it the correct way I fail each time because she's so darn stubborn!
-She said that she showed Abby the correct way to hold the scissors and Abby says "I know, but I like to hold them my way!". The teacher patiently explained that it wasn't safe, and that she needed to hold them the correct way, the teacher started to walk away and heard Abby saying to the other kids at the table "Fine, but when I'm home, I'm going to hold them MY way"
The teacher tells me that the "5-year old" switch turned on, and before she knew it, she turned and said "Well, when you're in MY classroom you'll hold them MY way" She laughed saying she couldn't believe she reverted to a 5-year old's level at retorting. :) LOL I'm just glad that I'm not the only one that has ever done that! :)

Oh....this is funny....tonight was a booster night for the cheerleaders. Jenn's hubby took the 3 cheer leading girls out for this tonight, Catherine came home and was telling us all about her evening on how they raised lots of money. She said how one family would give money if they did a cheer for them; one mom said she didn't have any money, but her two kids ran up one with $1, and one with a $5 Catherine said thank you, but she couldn't take the little boy's $5 bill because that was too much for him to give! LOL She also told of how one older lady had a walker and a tube to help her breath and she didn't have any money to give. Catherine said "That's okay, because I think she couldn't afford it because she had to many hardships"
She's so sweet and thoughtful but defiantly not a good fundraiser! :) LOL

Okay I'll stop now...I know I wrote too much tonight....guess I'm just getting nervous. Goodnight!

PTO Stuff

2007-09-12T08:27:00.000-05:00

As PTO President, I've already given a presentation to the school during the back-to-school night. Monday night we had our annual PTO - All School Family Picnic. It was a large event to pull off, but with a great team it wasn't too much work on anyone. The rain held off, we had a large turn out with over 350 people. This is when we hold our first PTO meeting too - so I had to speak in front of another large crowd (not my favorite thing). Did you know that more people are afraid of speaking in large groups than dying? True fact! :) - Anyways, that's over!

Last night was the first SPARC (Superintendent/Parent Education Committee) meeting for the school year. This is held at the school district building with the superintendent and other staff members, representatives from all the schools in the district, etc... We worked on creating the agenda for upcoming meetings.

School stuff is keeping me really busy. The girls are in so many things this year - which is keeping them extremely busy too! There's cheer practice for Catherine twice a week (games on Sundays - sometimes Saturdays), AWANA (church program) for both girls once a week, Dance for Abby once a week. Plus the thrown in play dates, homework, etc...

I've got carpool duty tonight, Catherine and her friend has to be at Cheer practice for the re-take of the team photo, then we're off to their first Brownie troop meeting at Girl Scouts of the year, then I've got to drive Abby over to her first dance class. Then I'll make the rounds of picking up all 4 girls and getting everyone home. :) Thank goodness for carpooling - otherwise I think Jenn and I would go insane! :)

I'm off to make sure that Catherine's cheerleader outfit and Girl Scout Sash are all clean and ready for tonight.....and to make dinner!

Abby has glasses now

2007-09-09T09:53:00.001-05:00

We took Abby to the optometrist and found out that she has an astigmatism in her right eye. Her left eye is just a little weak, but her right eye is very weak, if we didn't get her glasses this year she would have developed a lazy eye because her brain would have just shut off trying to read from her right eye because it was so weak.

Abby was extremeley stubborn and barely cooperated while trying to pick out her glasses. She kept saying "It's not fair, I don't want glasses". No other kids in her class have them, and she knows this.
Right now her favorite color is blue, and that's all she cared about, was getting blue glasses. A few weeks ago her favorite color was pink....so I hope that she'll be okay with blue glasses for the whole year....because she's stuck with them! :)

They finally came in, we went to pick them up. She was bummed, didn't cooperate for the lady to adjust them to fit her well, but we got them. We walked through the mall, her mood improved (much to our delight).

Abby had some birthday money to spend, so we went down to Build-a-Bear workshop. She picked her bear, chose a heart, did the heart ceremony, the bear got filled with all his fluff, Abby made her wish, inserted her new heart. The bear got stitched up, got a "bath" and make up. Abby choose clothes for her bear (Pajamas, Robe, Slippers, 3 piece outfit with jean skirt and pink/white top, panties, socks and pink cowgirl boots). Abby named her Raspberry Cream, got her birth certificate. We now have a very happy little girl.

Catherine spent her money to pick up a new Marie pillow from Disney's Aristocats. She was a dollar short, so I helped her out....she felt so proud to stand at the cashier and pay for her purchase. She handed over all her ones then counted out her coins for the tax - very grown up! ;)

We had other errands to run last night, and ended up at another shopping plaza. We ate dinner, the girls had cotton candy ice-cream from Maggie Moo's. Then we hit a few shops. At Bath & Body I picked up some foaming soap, and Abby got her Pink Rubber Duckie that she's been wanting ever since she saw it, over a year ago....I finally gave in.

It was a long day yesterday!

Today we have Catherine's game...it looks like the rain will hold off. :) - Have a great weekend!!!!

Surprise Birthday Party

2007-09-03T09:18:00.000-05:00

My best friend Jenn planned a really nice surprise birthday party for me on Saturday. I show up at the restaurant to meet her for dinner, and as we're walking to our table we actually enter the private dining room. There were pink and brown balloons, gifts and lots of my friends. What's going on? Oh, it's for me!! :) LOL We enjoyed a great meal, Cosmo's, conversation, laughter and birthday cake. It was a smaller gathering than planned due to the holiday weekend - it was wonderful none-the-less.
Thank you Jenny!!!

It was nice having my own party, I felt very special! :) The last time I had a birthday party was when I was growing up, I'm thinking it was our 13th, which I shared with my twin sister.

First Day of School

2007-08-27T19:51:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a long day today has been.

First, I got up with the girls (Bobby was off today, and made breakfast for the girls) and helped them get ready for the day. Catherine wanted a ponytail and curls, so I plugged in the curling iron, moused her hair and we got busy! We got cute 1st day of school outfits, so both the girls looked super cute. Of course I got some really cute picture of the girls... I won't even mention that I'll have to walk to the bus stop 3 times a day for nearly 200 days.

Look at my big 2nd grader!!!! Catherine's bus is about a qtr after 8. I don't think you can see it, but her skirt has brown/pink plaid, and so does her shoes! :)

Abby is afternoon Kindergarten (transportation was all messed up this year - we waited over 30 minutes for her bus after lunch). She was sooo ready for school, she could hardly wait.

She cracks me up! She said to me "You know Mom, now I have to be cool, since I'm in school now." well....I think she looks pretty cool in this picture! :) LOL

This girl was so ready, she practically ran to the damn bus and never looked back. She was ready for her adventure on her first day of school. I was surprised at my emotions to tell you the truth. I thought I was ready and prepared, shoot, Bobby and I have joked around about how we were going to celebrate when both girls were in school (You know, he does have every other Monday off). I'll confess though, I was pretty bummed out...my little girl was leaving me for the first time, I had no control, I couldn't pop in and see how she was doing - this was her thing. I had no control over anything for the next 3 hours. It was torturous - and my darling husband knows me better than I know myself. He called it, he knew that I was tearing up behind my sunglasses. He knew that I needed some space to myself to deal with my emotions. I didn't out and out cry or anything...but indeed I was sad. I've been so proud of Abby, for how much she has grown up over the summer - it's unbelievable how much she has grown up. I'm very proud of her and I just hope for the best for her.

Anyways.....Bobby made spaghetti for dinner, I had carpool duty and took all the girls to cheer practice (I worked on PTO stuff), after practice the girls played on the playground for a few minutes and Catherine managed to fall off the slide, nearly breaking her arm. Frozen Lima Beans to the rescue (the only thing their good for!).

We came home, did the bedtime routine, and I got a phone call. A previous PTO president called to tell me how wonderful all the PTO forms looked this year, all fresh and new - revamped and exciting. I can't even begin to tell you how happy that made me! =) =) =)

So.....what did Bobby and I do while both girls were in school? Don't worry, no need to blush....we played our delux version of Monopoly!!!!! Do you remember one of the very few times he commented on my blog.....Well....in the last week, we've played twice....the first time I thoroughly stomped him...and today, he completely dominated. :( At least he'll play Monopoly with me now......after 11+ years!!! :) It helped to pass the time away.

Abby came home with lots of information (it wasn't like when I had to 'pull teeth' from Cat for info from her first day), it was a fun day. She had a great time at recess, she made new friends, she can't remember their names. She enjoyed the day, and is ready for tomorrow when she can go back again.

My Cheerleader!

2007-08-26T16:21:00.000-05:00

Catherine cheered her first game the Saints losts to the Buffalo's (it was a 1-0 game) our football players had some really great plays and tried real hard. Catherine enjoyed it, but it was long about an hour and a half standing out there cheering. She did well...she needs to work harder for some cheers to be in sync better - she'll get there.

Afterwards we went to Cold Stone Creamery, the girls turned in their summer reading vouchers for a free kids creation ice cream. They both chose cotton candy with white chocolate chips mixed in. Bobby choose the "Peanut Butter Cup Perfection", I of course choose the "Coffee Lovers Only" - can you say DELICIOUS?!?! :) It was worth every calorie!

-By the way I'm officially a size 8 now. This morning when I woke up, I was laying in bed on my back and I touched my tummy and realized that my stomach is completely flat when I lay down...in fact, my hip bones and my ribs stick out. I don't recall ever being that "skinny" in my life! :) No more ice-cream.....that was it until I steal one of the mini-chocolate bars out of the kids trick-or-treat baskets later in October! :) LOL

We also took the girls to Barnes and Nobles were Catherine got to choose her free book for reading 8 books and filling out their form. She got Ivy & Bean, and then we bought the second installment to her Tiara Club series that she's reading. She's already on the fourth chapter in her Ivy & Bean book - she's such a good reader.

Abby's playing with modeling clay creating Sponge Bob and Patrick, and other critters requiring her personal stash of hair clips.

I'm off to spend some time with the family...take care...Happy Sunday!

Summer's over

2007-08-25T17:16:00.000-05:00

Summer is officially over with school starting on Monday. It has been a long and very busy summer. We've had many trips, lots of fun outings, and thoroughly enjoyed our summer with the girls.

I can't believe that Abby will be starting kindergarten. She's grown up so much over the summer. At the end of June I wasn't sure if she would be ready - my little baby girl, but now, I know she is ready. She's had lots of growing pains in her legs and is now taller. She shares things easier, she is helpful around the house (just don't ask her to pick up Daddy's socks because "eww, they're so gross!"), she's very loving towards her big sister (finally).

We had an open house where she got to visit her classroom, meet with her teacher (again) and ride the school bus to learn all the safety rules. That was on Tuesday, and she has asked everyday since then if today was the day to go to school. She is soooo anxious and excited about going.

Catherine is ready as well. She didn't get the teacher that she was hoping for but took it well. She held back some tears that were trying their best to pop out. I think she'll do well. At back to school night I took home the 2nd grade Anchor word list...which has something like 100 words that 2nd graders are expected to know how to read/spell at the end of the year. The first time she saw them she was able to read all but 3 without stumbling.

Catherine's first game to cheer at tomorrow - she's excited and can't wait. I'm so proud of her, she's learned all the cheers really well and is so cute!

---

Well for my news...the small spot that is coming back were the tumor used to be is okay for now. We won't do anything with it. The two lumps on my neck need to come out to determine if they're lymphoma. My surgery is scheduled for September 19th. Wish me well!

My sister Teresa needs all your prayers you can give her, she's still healing from her surgery. She's started chemo therapy last Wednesday - it will be a long road over the next few months. Thank God her ovarian cancer was only Stage 1-C so she has a really good chance of full cure.

Yes I'm blogging at 1am

2007-08-14T00:03:00.000-05:00

:) I can't sleep.

My neck is hurting me from my biopsy. I don't remember it hurting me this long last time.

My MRI is scheduled tomorrow morning at 10:30. I don't think I'm nervous...been there, done that several times over now. I guess I'm a little anxious. I won't know the results until the 23rd, that's when I see my Dr again. -sigh- I hate waiting!

I have a ton of stuff to do, and I can't turn my thoughts off and go to sleep - don't you hate that?

I got out of bed, worked on some more PTO stuff. I've been looking for some pictures to update the PTO PowerPoint slide show that I'll be presenting on Back to School Night. Which of course you know that means I de-railed train of thought big time and took a trip down memory lane looking at lots of pictures from the last couple year. Take a step back with me....look at how tiny Abby was just 2 years ago. She will start Kindergarten in less than 2 weeks. Abby still has a baby voice when she speaks it is so adorable you just want to hug and kiss on her all day. She is a feisty one though, I don't worry about her as so much as I worry about her getting into trouble!

-sigh- remind me why kids have to grow up?!

My have the kids gotten so much older... Bobby and I have lost so much weight... We've bought a lot more stuff for the house... We have so many wonderful friends... We have been so busy... - Pictures really capture time and memories.......what a trip!

My contacts are out, glasses upstairs on my nightstand.....I can't see anything beyond this screen.... okay, I see a house that needs some cleaning. I'll do that tomorrow afternoon. After my Dr's appt., and after I get some groceries. I'm tired now so I'm off to bed. Love you all!

It's my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

2007-08-10T13:08:00.000-05:00

Look what my fabulous friend Jenn brought me this morning!!!! She brought me some very yummy coffee and donuts! :) I can't remember the last time I ate a donut! That was so sweet, because she knew that I always let the girls have a donut for their b-day breakfast. She says "Did anyone get you a birthday donut?" And handed me a box of donuts!!! :)

Yesterday I came home from the Dr's office (my biopsy and my general Dr - I've had a migraine headache since Monday with nausea,etc... so she gave me some migraine medicine which has really helped) to these balloons on our front porch. :) I looked at Bobby and said "I told you I didn't want black balloons!" he tried not to laugh and said "I didn't do it, I can't help if your friends did it"......well there was a black balloon caper that was pulled on me! Bobby and friends of ours emailed back and forth working it all out. Turns out, they couldn't have come on a better day - a day where i really needed some cheering up. They did the trick! Their card was hilarious too so it was just perfect!

What a dull place this world would be without friends!

My second Mom called (MIL) me first thing, then my Mom called. My terrific sister Teresa called me too. The day isn't over yet, I'm sure others will call. I called my twin sister Sherri and wished her a happy birthday. I sang part of a song on her answering machine/voice mail, "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby". When we were little, Mom had signed us up for Pizza Hut's birthday club, so every year we'd eat our little free personal pan pizza in the tiny corner booth, and we'd play the oldie song "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby" on the jukebox. It was our little tradition for a long time. :)

I'll update later with other birthday happenings! :) Cheers!

UPDATE:

Look what my marvelous husband brought home when he got off work early today...He said he was lucky in finding the one hydrangea (apperantly there's a wedding going on, and they've all been taken!) :)

I had to rush off to a meeting at the school for PTO stuff then came home grabbed the family, I jumped in the passenger seat and Bobby took us all out to eat. We went to Red Lobster which made the girls extremely happy.

Afterwards we went to the Mall.....can you say Starbucks Cafe Mocha? We stopped into the Children's Place, we got Catherine a really cute cheetah print backpack, a couple cool printed Tee's, Abby got a really cute cheetah print skirt and pink top. I love getting the girls really cute stuff!!!! We went into a bunch of other stores, we found the perfect housewarming gift for friends of ours that just bought a new gorgeous house. I can't wait to see their reaction. :D

We came home....Bobby just fixed me a drink.....took a couple quick pictures (it's the end of a very long day and my hair is horrible but I guess I have to have a "Birthday" picture...so here I am 30 years later.....

August 1st!

2007-08-01T11:32:00.000-05:00

Happy August! Enjoying your summer?

9 more days of being 29... :)

I went to my ENT's doctor's office for a check up. There are two more lumps on my neck (one I knew of last year, and I had an MRI, which didn't show anything), one just popped up last week. So next week I have a biopsy scheduled. Then we'll go from there. There is a small lump reforming where the tumor was removed back in March 2004. We knew there would be a chance of it coming back, because he didn't completely sever the nerve (the tumor was on the vagus nerve) because it would damage my vocal chords. So, we'll see about that later too. Just pray for me please! This is all put into perspective though, by our friends Dave and Ruth calling from their vacation. Their 8 year old daughter Selena had a seizure and lost her eye sight for a bit. They took her to the ER and they've found lesions on her brain. She's already had MRI's, EKG's and other tests - a spinal tap is being preformed today to find out more details. Please, please, please pray for her!!!

On to good news.....

Jenn and I signed our girls up for cheering this fall (they are sooooo cute!). Catherine has already had two cheerleading practices. She's really enjoying it. In her honor, I took a page from the girls Bratz coloring book, scanned the image, cleaned it up and digitally colored it and put it over a background photo. :) Yes it was purely a waste of time - but it was fun! :) Now I've got to go do laundry which I was putting off! :)

Happy Birthday Abby!

2007-07-26T09:14:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday my beautiful, darling daughter! You're 5 years old now - I can hardly believe it! You've gotten so big and you're still so sweet, loving, caring and funny! You're always playing, running, getting into things, staying so busy! You don't ever stop - you have so much energy!

It's been our tradition that the girls get an overly sweet donut for their birthday breakfast. We'll, here we are in the DC area and I haven't found a donut shop or grocery store anywhere near our hotel. So, while we were out for our evening walk after we ate dinner we stopped in to several bakeries and none of the had donuts. Our last stop was Starbucks, I knew I wouldn't find a donut there, but we did find Abby's favorite dessert in the entire world - M&M Rainbow cookie - and this one is about as big as her head!!!! So, here she is with her Birthday Breakfast!!!

Right now the girls are lounging in the comfy king-sized bed watching some cartoons. Once we get showered and dressed we'll walk down to the playground, I'll surprise them by letting them get some ice-cream at Maggie Moo's.

We were going to go to the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner tonight, but they're not in Tyson's Corner anymore :( so I found another place that's sure to make the kids happy. It's Bugaboo Creek Steak House- it's a Canadian Rockies themed restaurant complete with talking Mountie, trees, Moose head and other animals. It's supposed to be really kid-friendly so hopefully it's good!

It's funny, on Abby's first birthday we were traveling up to the Adirondack mountains in New York. Her second and third birthdays were low key. Last year she had a big polka-dot birthday with lots and lots of friends over. Here we are on her fifth birthday on vacation in Maryland. She's been excited because it's been a "hotel birthday" were we've had a breakfast buffet every morning, played all day, eaten out every night, then swimming and staying up late.

Vacations

2007-07-25T10:49:00.000-05:00

Wow, have we ever been busy!!!!

We had a fabulous vacation at the ocean (Rehoboth, Delaware). It was a little cold when we went the last week of June. The water was very cool. Bobby and Catherine really enjoyed jumping the waves. Abby and i weren't so thrilled! :) Abby had a blast on the beach. If you know this girl, you know that she finds the sandbox or dirt pile first at any playground! Don't let the pictures deceive you, Abby and I built the majority of the sand castle! Of course when I grabbed the camera, that's when Bobby and Catherine came up from the water to help build it. Then Bobby dug out a hole and buried the girls!

I didn't get my good camera (yet!) so hopefully these pictures give you an idea of our fun...anyways get ready for a lot of "butt shots" LOL :) -thankfully none of mine!

--------------

This week, we've been in the DC area. Chilling out and relaxing here in the Marriott - enjoying our time, swimming, walking, eating, etc...

We celebrate Abby's birthday this week too! She turns 5!!!! We were planning on taking her to the Rain Forest Cafe down in Tysons Corner, but they're longer there. So I've been researching alternate fun restaurants. I'll share pictures of her birthday once we have them.

-Enjoy your summer!

Today is Bobby's brother, Troy's Birthday and my parent's 35th Anniversary!

New York City!!!

2007-06-29T10:17:00.000-05:00

New York City Day Trip! Saturday June 23rd 2007

Manhattan...Time Square, Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, Park Ave, Broadway, NBC Studio...what a wonderful day!

Jenn and I hit the streets of NYC and had such a fabulous day!!! We arrived with tons of energy, we walked everywhere and saw so much! Tons of shopping, lots of stores, lots of sites!

Highlights include Sax on Fifth Ave, American Girl Store, Couture, Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, Prada, Bloomingdale's, New York & Company...and so much more!

We viewed the city by going into the Rockefeller Plaza "Top of the Rock" what an amazing view!!! I highly recommend this it was well worth the $16. GORGEOUS VIEW!!!

We ended the day with a cocktail at the Crown Royal Plaza before heading back to PA. Thanks to our wonderful husbands for staying back home watching the kids, we got to enjoy our day in the city!

Tidbits

2007-06-20T20:24:00.000-05:00

A couple photos from today...

Well, Abby had her last lesson today. She really enjoyed her swimming lessons, she was the only girl in the group but that didn't phase her a bit!

Catherine working on a Sudoku puzzle (she's kidnapped my book!).

--Well we've had a busy few days, lots of trips to different libraries and parks, lots of fun, fun, fun! We've got an extra kid in tow this week so we've been busy!!! Selena has been here for the week, while her parents are with their parents at the hospital.

Look that these cute shoes!!! I love them! I got a pair for Abby, and Catherine loved them so we got her a pair too! :) What's funny is there's a story behind these shoes. While working at one of our book distributions a kindergartner had on a pair of really cute striped shoes. I tried to figure out who made them by the label, but not being a huge shoe expert I couldn't figure it out. The teacher asked the girl to take her shoe off so I could see inside it for the label (much to my dismay it didn't say) Oh well I thought, tough luck! Well....last week when we were at Toys R' Us I found them! :) LOL I was looking for a pair of shoes that Abby could wear because at the playground she trips in sandals so I wanted a pair of canvas shoes or something of the kind and ou'la! There they were!!! A ton of them hanging up, so I grabbed her a pair! When we meet up with Bobby and Catherine she instantly wanted a pair too! :) Turns out they were on sale, so they were only $6! Not to shabby!!!!

Happy Father's Day!

2007-06-17T21:26:00.000-05:00

We all got up, got showered and got ready for church this morning. Bobby made pancakes for everyone (I was planning on making breakfast, but he did it anyways....he enjoys spoiling the girls with his yummy pancakes too!) then off we went for church. We went out for lunch, he invited one of his friends from church along. The kids had their own booth, (BTW we've got an extra kid in tow this week - her parents are away due to a family illness) which they thoroughly enjoyed. We went shopping and we both got new swimwear at Target, and did some bulk shopping at Costco's. Then we headed home where he got to nap, the kids played outside on their bikes/scooters.....all in all it was a great day!

--~--

My new toy is on it's way! I'm getting the Canon Digital Rebel XT (silver), I've got my 2GB memory card already....I'm on the search for the best 300mm lens, then I'll get it...for now I'll use my lens from my EOS Rebel. YEAH - I'm so excited!!!!! This is something that the whole family will benefit from. I feel kinda bad spending so much money on something for myself but I rationalized it since Bobby's gotten to choose a lot of big ticket items (Big Screen TV, Leather Sofa (any man's dream, since it also reclines on the two ends) X-Box 360, Weight Bench & Pulley system, etc...) Granted most of these items benefit the family...but so will the camera - right?! :)

I'm slightly bummed because I don't think it will arrive in time for our vacation to the ocean. Bobby didn't want me to take it down on the beach because of all the sand, but still there are many other great photo opps. So let's hope that my crummy digital Kodak will take some decent pictures (I'll take that one down on the sand!) :) LOL

MP3 Update. ^-^
We ordered the Hydra for Catherine, and the Pocket Candy for me...both have been returned and I'm waiting for refunds. The Hydra came with a virus (thankfully we have a great anti-virus program) and mine wouldn't even turn on (with multiple tries from various batteries).

So, we went to the stores around here (again) but Catherine didn't like any that she saw (well, the ones that we'd let her get, I didn't want her spending over $50 since she's only 7). We tried Toys R Us and we found something for her. It's a pink one (you can choose between 6 or 7 colors for the back light of the lcd screen), by Curtis. So far so good.

I think I'll just order the pink Zen Stone from Target when it's available in 4-6 weeks.

Pink MP3 player & D-SLR Camera

2007-06-09T17:50:00.000-05:00

I'm on the search for two electronics at the moment. A good digital camera...I want the Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR Camera , I trust Canon, it can share my flash, filters, and lens that I have for my EOS. I defiantly want to get the 300mm lens though! :)

I'm also searching out different Pink MP3 Players. One for myself (I wasn't thrilled with the Samsung MP3 player I had before) and one for Catherine. She actually knows more songs than I do I believe! :)

I've looked at several...there are so many options...here are a few that I'm looking at...then I need to decide which one for Cat, and which one for me! :)

Sandisk - Bobby has a blue one...we could just buy the pink skin, and he could get a new one...

This is the one that Cat really wants, but I don't want to spend that much....Zen Video,

Sony draw back is no screen - but it's sleek and small

Hydra it's water resistant.

Zen Stone it's tiny and cute....but again no screen -isn't it cute?

Xtatix Pocket Candy Zest This looks like a nice one

I looked at the Disney Mix Stick but we won't get it...I think a standard MP3 would be better.

If anyone has any comments about them, I'd appreciate it! ;) - Thanks! Anything besides going with the ipod...I'd love one, but Bobby won't hear of it! :)

Today was an expensive day at Target! We got a toaster oven our toaster was old and not working that great - and I've always wanted a TO because it can do so much more. The girls made their own pizza's in it tonight, we broiled chicken breast for our salads, and we made caramelized cinnamon sugar toast already! :) It's a good purchase!

We also bought other things like new clothes (Catherine has been wanting a bra - yes at 7 years old this girl is still infatuated with breasts! So I obliged her, and we picked up two "flat" bras! -She's growing up too fast!), both of the girls picked out new purses in the dollar spot, etc.... I need to get Abby some new shoes soon....she's growing!

Last day of school!

2007-06-08T15:35:00.001-05:00

Wow, it's the last day of school already! This year has flown by! It's amazing how much Catherine has grown this past year. I'm so proud of her - in her class they received a color card every day (Green = "I'm Good", Blue= "Uh-oh, I'm being a little bad", Yellow = "Uh-oh, I'm being very bad" Red = "I've been so bad") for their behaviour - she never had to change her green card - not once!!! She also behaved very well on the bus, and never got in trouble by their grumpy bus driver! :D

With it being the last day I meet Catherine at the bus stop with a "Congrats" helium balloon and a gift (pink & blue monogrammed flowered journal), and a fruit roll up snack (a treat she rarely gets)!

I went to the school to help out with the Pizza Party lunch...that the teachers provided. I brought 2 boxes of Capri Suns (100% juice) it was so HOT outside!!!! The kids were wild...I'm sure they couldn't concentrate on anything all day with it being the last day, even her teacher said he had a hard time...everyone has summer fever! :) LOL The classroom looked so bare, he's already taken things down for the summer. He had the most decorated room it was a visual delight very warm, friendly environment for sure.

Catherine - Last Day of School Interview:

Mom: What was your favorite thing about first grade?
Catherine: Being with (Teacher's Name)
Mom: What was your favorite thing about school in the last two weeks?
Catherine: Going on our first grade picnic at the park. Eating Ice-Cream!
Mom:What was your favorite subject?
Catherine: Math - the game "math-buster"
Mom: What was your favorite activities?
Catherine: Gym, playground time, playing with my friends.

Okay, I really couldn't get much information out of her.

We're going to the Harrisburg Senator's Baseball game tonight, and we're taking our neighbor/friend Ellen with us...so I've gotta run!

The school year is almost complete!

2007-06-07T06:18:00.000-05:00

The kids are getting ready for summer. There are many summer programs that we'll be doing - so the summer will be filled with activities and lazy days at the pool! In the meantime, there are a few more days of school.

The last two weeks have been a lot of fun for the kids...I'm not sure how much learning they've been getting though! :) They've had their fieldtrip to Hershey's Zoo America, First Grade Picnic at a park nearby, Field Day, Ice-Cream rewards (Rita's Italian Ice) and they'll have a pizza party provided by their teachers on the last day of school.

You're not a chef!

2007-05-25T11:38:00.000-05:00

" You're not a Chef"

by Heather Scott

Stay out of the kitchen,

you are four!

You're not a chef,

you're not a cook,

you are four!

Stay out of the kitchen!

If Abby isn't playing in her room, or digging in the dirt outside, you can find her climbing up on the stool searching for a snack in the pantry! This kid has gotten addicted to eating raw pasta (yuck!), mixing her own concoctions of different cereals, etc... I find myself saying all the time "get out of the kitchen".

Today, I found her rooting around again for a snack, and in a sing song way I came up with the "stay out of the kitchen".... :)

Dress like me

2007-05-25T08:03:00.000-05:00

77 days until I'm 30 - which is neat since I was born in 77! :)

At Catherine's school, the student council gets to come up with several "Fun Fridays", they've gotten to wear slippers to school, bring in board games, dress like a hippie, etc... Today was dress like an adult. Catherine wanted to dress like me, and told me that she planned on wearing pajamas to school! What?! No Way! I don't wear pajamas all day! I'm very busy while she's at school! Okay, there have been a few days during the cold winter months were if I didn't go anywhere I did stay in my PJ's all day (they were marvelous days too!) :) LOL

After a little convincing, she did wear an outfit that looks like something I'd wear. I told her that she's have to wear her sunshades as a headband, because that's how my shades end up throughout the day! :) She looked so cute, I snapped a few pictures and did a quick digi page of her. :)

Busy time

2007-05-21T07:42:00.000-05:00

Isn't he so cute?! I'm married to him! :)

The school year is almost over. Catherine has her field trip to Zoo America this week, both Bobby and I will go along as chaperone's. Last week we had the Kindergarten curriculum meeting. When C was in K last year they had 31 anchor words they had to learn, Abby will have to learn 62 words. It's amazing how much they learn. They go to school knowing their ABC's but complete the year knowing how to write sentences and reading books - just amazing!

Well, I voted in to be the President of our PTO. I'm excited, I know it's a lot of work, but there is a great team in place where a lot of parents are committed to help make the school a fun and safe place.

I begged Bobby to take some pictures of me. I don't have any good ones of me since I've lost some weight. LOL So here are a couple...(these are my favorite two pictures.....out of 10 if you must know Sherri!) :)

I'm sporting a pair of Old Navy slacks...size 10 (the size I was when I got married). I can wear 8's in skirts...but in pants they're a bit snug on my thighs....so I have more work to go! :) I did get a pair of 9/10 in Express Jeans last week.

Not my favorite but here's another one...

Our friends girls were over for the weekend. They were so good - they were so polite, well mannered, they got a long well and frankly the put up with Catherine better than they should have. Catherine had some issues this weekend, she was overly sensitive which made her whiny, and unpleasant to be around. I don't think she likes to share her parents!

It was a busy weekend...Friday was a movie & pizza night. Saturday morning we went out for breakfast, had Catherine's tennis game, we went out to lunch, then we came home and the girls played outside (hula hoops, jump ropes, tennis, bike riding, etc...). Bobby made his famous stove popped, popcorn that the girls ate up in there room while watching another movie (big treat for the girls....I also pushed both their twin beds together, so they had a king size bed to lounge on!).
Sunday morning Bobby made chocolate chip pancakes with redi-whip cream, I made a fresh fruit salad, two of the girls had a birthday party to go to at the bowling alley. (Brandon's birthday, the little boy who came over to play with Catherine a few weeks ago...they were BF/GF in kindergarten ;0). Afterwards Jake & Becky came over then we all walked over to the Greek Food Festival (Youssou! Oppa!). We had to rush off to church - for the Awana awards ceremony. Catherine and Abby both got rewards for all the work they did all year with the program - memorizing verses and all. Abby fell asleep, but popped up once clapping - instead of sleep-walking, she was a sleep-clapper! :)

It's another week, and it will be a busy one!

Happy Mother's Day

2007-05-14T07:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a really nice Mother's Day. I woke up to Catherine bringing me coffee (Starbucks Breakfast blend - one of my favorites), shortly after that she and Abby brought me breakfast in bed. Bobby and the girls made pecan pancakes from scratch. Catherine gave me the gifts that she made for me at school and girl scouts.

I came downstairs and the girls gave me the gifts they picked out by themselves while they were shopping for me. Abby got me a purple butterfly pillow (yes, she's 4 - LOL) and Catherine got me some metallic pink nail polish. Then they gave me the gift that Dad helped them pick out for me; Estee Lauder's skin essentials to go. It was all so sweet and thoughtful. Oh, and they gave me the remote so that I could choose what we watched on tv! :)

It was so beautiful outside yesterday too. Bobby fixed the tires on Catherine's bike and took her training wheels off. He held it steady for her and ran with her a few steps, let go, and she was off riding on her own. She first rode around in the grass, then we went to the smooth blacktop (it had a hill, so we didn't try long there - it was a little scary for her), next we went out in the cul-de-sac and she rode around. She did great for her first time riding a bike. She really needs to learn to consistently use her brakes instead of just jumping off the bike. She kept dumping the bike which drove me crazy, she'd try to just give up which drove Bobby crazy. In the end, she got the hang of it and had fun.

Later in the evening, Catherine and Abby went outside to play, we asked her if she wanted to ride her bike and she said "No, that's okay, I'm done riding my bike for the day", not 5 minutes later she came running back inside asking permission to ride her bike because her neighborhood friend Ellen came up on her bike. :) HA-HA Peer pressure at it's finest! :) She rode around in the cul-de-sac with Ellen and Abby all on their bikes - it was great.

-Tennis is going great, right now the Deuces are winning 9-3 (well, I don't know what 1 other teams score's are, it could be close, last week they were 7-2 if they won all three sets then they'd be in the lead). The kids are improving so much each week and they're having so much fun which is what matters the most.

-Tonight is our last PTO meeting of the year. I'm glad it will be the last minutes that I'll need to type up! :) Our President is stepping down, she and her husband are having a new baby so she'll be busy with a newborn next year. I was nominated to be President. At first I was apprehensive and wasn't sure if I wanted the position but after thinking about it I accepted. I'm looking forward to it and the positive role I can play. The RIF committee I've been on this year is in a transition period as we're losing our RIF funding so I've been busy doing lots of research trying to figure things out, so I can share options tonight.

----------Survivor Talk Ahead....if it's sitting in your DVR then skip over--------

I had to laugh at myself as we watched the last episode last night. I was practically yelling at the tv. I had no real problems with Boo and thought he played a pretty decent game (Wow, that man cleans up nice too!), but what drove me crazy was that Cassandra was there at the end - she just completely coasted and didn't deserve to sit at the final 3 (I knew that would happen too, I called it early on in the show). Dreamz....huh, do I even need to say anything?! It made me so angry that he went back on his word. I realize it's a game, and people go back on their word all the time....but not at the cost of a brand new loaded truck!!! How in the world can you take something like that from someone and not go through with your promise. How can he drive that with a free conscious? I feel really bad for YouMan - I would have hoped that Dreamz would have said, look I want this immunity necklace but you can have the truck back. *Sigh*
I wanted to see YouMan and Earl as the final two because they played the game really well. I was glad to see that Earl won, he seems like a really nice guy. It was a shame that the 4 Horsemen got broken down It would have been fun to have seen them in the finals (with the exception of Dreamz - he could have been voted off a long time ago).

100, 99,...

2007-05-03T21:15:00.000-05:00

So, I've been using the countdown on my google homepage,
and the yesterday when I realized that I only had 100 days left in my twenties, I decided to change my attitude. I'm going to see how much I can acomplish in the next 100 days! :) LOL At the very least, enjoy and soak in the next 99 days! :)

I've still been going to the gym a lot and watching what I eat. Since last September I've lost over 30 pounds and have kept it off. In the last couple days I've gotten a lot of compliments from people about it which really makes me feel good! When I don't feel like working out I just think about how nice it is to have all this extra energy and loose fitting clothes. I've dropped a few dress sizes which is a nice plus....shopping is fun - but expensive! Swim suit season is upon us...and I'm not completely happy about my tummy and thighs. So, these are my target areas to work on. Having goals is a good thing - right?! :)

My hair was a nasty dark red - which I changed tonight ....so basically now I've got lighter red hair. Which looks better. I tried to take some pictures so please ignore my HUGE nose! :) LOL Anyways, it looks something like this (different light, different shade - you know the drill):

Other news: I took Abby for a visit to her Kindergarten classroom, to meet her teacher & principal(although, she's already meet them and knows them well, since she goes with me to the school all the time for PTO stuff.) and to see some other new kindergartners.

We had a meeting with our home owner association, and we get to replace all the roofs of our town houses out of the reserves with no additional cost to us! (Huge Who-hooo for that) Now the neighborhood will look great with all new roofs and no lacing of shingles. Which means our property value will go up. :)

Catherine got to go to work with her dad for the "Bring your son & daughter to work" day. It was a long day, with them getting up at 5:30 am. I sent them each off with a travel mug, hot cocoa for Catherine and Starbucks Breakfast Blend Coffee for Dad. She wanted to wear her dress from Limited Too that she wore for the first day of school, she had her nails done, hair all fixed and she was feeling pretty! Dad reported later that she was full of energy and having a great time. They went to eat at TGI Fridays, she got to have a tour, she got a monkey and other little goodies. She had to write a report about her day and turn it in for school.

I'm still very busy volunteering at Catherine's school. Today I went in and hung art from two different classrooms out in the hallways preparing for their open house next week. Speaking of next week, we have a book distribution which will keep me at the school for 2 days. I'm so glad that I'm able to go and help out a lot at her school. It's great getting to know all the kids in her class.

Yesterday, Catherine had one of her good friends over to play, which was a boy. They played so well together. He had the best manners too, his mom would have been so proud! They wanted to have a sleep over - luckily it was a play date in the middle of the weeks, so a simple answer of "no, it won't work you have school tomorrow - it's a school night" worked (for now). :)

This weekend, we have Catherine's tennis game and then a party to go to. Catherine's friend and our neighbor is having her Holy Communion party. :)

Tennis - Game On!

2007-04-22T23:54:00.000-05:00

Saturday Catherine had her first tennis match (Ralleyball to be exact). :) She had a lot of fun, which is what it's all about at this age. She's all set with a cute little tennis skirt/short outfit, her Ash colored team T-Shirt and pink Barbie Tennis racket (Oh and her pink tennis balls for when we practice before the games).

Did I tell you that I'm one of the coaches for her team? Along with another Dad, which coached last year (that takes a lot of pressure off of me!). It's a lot of fun. Last Tuesday we had our coaches meeting where I learned lots of great tips and got my coaches packet.

There are 8 girls on her team, which keeps them rotating pretty frequently. It was a lot of fun!!! I'm not sure if we won or not, I didn't think to ask! :) LOL I'll ask next week. (How sad is that?!) :) They play 3 sets each game - 1 game each Saturday. At the end of the season, they'll earn ribbons for playing.

Catherine had fun playing, but needs a lot of work! I'm so sad to say that our poor girl has little athletic ability! I know it's terrible to say, but it's true. She rocked at the talent show, and is already reading at a 2nd grade end of the year reading level, she's very creative in telling/writing stories, and she's great at math - so she certainly has her talents. She just struggles a bit when it comes to sports. She's got a great attitude about it so far (which is what is important to Bobby and me both) and since we've practiced more this weekend, she's already improving her skills a bit. So we'll see how far she can go. I certainly hope she does well, so that I can have a tennis partner! :)

Easter pictures

2007-04-18T09:52:00.000-05:00

Here are the girls at church...

This year, we didn't have plans to eat with friends so we didn't have a traditional Easter Dinner, instead we went out to Red Lobster! ;) Mmmm, Coconut Shrimp, lobster, etc... LOL It was kind of funny because Catherine loves RL it's her favorite place to eat (trust me, those girls clean their plate too - they eat every bite of their crab legs!), and she just tossed out the idea for us to eat there and to her suprise, we said "Sure, that sounds great!". :)

Easter Sunday was soooo cold this year! The girls had to hunt their eggs in their heavy coats and gloves! Three of us friends & neighbors hid eggs in our yards, and the kids got to hunt with their friends in 3 different yards. it was a lot of fun!

Easter Basket goodies: Both girls got a little bit of candy, books, hula hoop, large pink ball, new spring outfit, new beach towell, and other little goodies. For their big items; Catherine got a new pink tennis racket (she starts playing this Saturday), and Abby got new skates (elbow & knee pads included).

Scrapbooking again

2007-04-18T09:15:00.000-05:00

Well, I've dusted off my scrapbooking supplies! :) It started with me creating a pregnancy album for my niece. I still need to scan in the pictures and upload them.

Bobby kept saying how nice it was and I should make some and sell them. Well, I'm doing just that! :) I sold one already to a friend, and two others on ebay. I've been comissioned to create a couple ABC albums from my friend that bought the first one. ;) It's really exciting and fun! I created a new blog just to upload pictures for my scrapbooks.

Spring is almost here...

2007-03-20T11:40:00.000-05:00

I hope you all had a great St. Patricks Day! Catherine had an early dismissal at school due to the snow we had. Beforehand they had some shamrock cookies that their teacher got for them. :)

We ended up canceling our sitter and reservations at the restaurant on Friday. We let ourselves stay snowed in. It was nice and relaxing. We'll go out sometime to the nice restaurant just for the fun of it. Bobby and I normally meet for dinner on Wednesdays. I drop the kids off at church for their Awana groups then I meet him at whatever restaurant we've chosen (lately it has been Thai - I love their coconut & red curry chicken! - Yummy!). It's nice having a scheduled date night mid-week. It has done wonders for us. I really look forward to it. I love my husband, it's been a great 11 years!

Sunday after church we went to our friends Tim & Lisa's house, Dave & Ruth were there with their kids, and Steve & Neva and their older sons. It was our potluck dinner that we have every other month. I took brought very traditional American food! :) My meatloaf recipe that's made with stove-top stuffing (every time I've ever made it for someone, they're surprised how good it is and they always want the recipe), home made baked macaroni, pink lemonade (in my new juice decanter from Target) and a German chocolate cake. I made the Lava Cake - using Pampered Chef's quick rice cooker - it takes 10 minutes in the microwave. I mixed the cake mix up according to the package (I replaced the oil with apple sauce...something I always do to make it just little better for us) the night before, and placed 3 scoops (I used my medium pampered chef cookie scoop) of the coconut/pecan frosting in the middle of the cake mix. At their house, while we were eating, I put the cake in, and 10 minutes later, it was done. The icing was all gooey and melted - the cake was cooked just fine and very yummy. Everyone loved the novelty of it. There happened to be 3 cakes though...mine, a yellow/chocolate birthday Cake and Tiramisu Cake (Lisa turns 40 on Thursday).

Spring is tomorrow!!!! Rita's Italian Ice gives away a free small ice, and Duncan Donuts gives out free iced coffee. I think I just may have to go out and get some spring stuff done tomorrow and pick some up! ;)

Paris

2007-03-16T17:22:00.000-05:00

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a fascination with Paris.

What you might not know, is I keep a live stream of the Eifel Tower on my google homepage, and I listen to music in french! Weird huh? If you're interested....here's my links.

Music - now, there are songs in english - but it's so cool to hear them singing in french!
Web Cam I can't figure out how to give the cool little window of just the eifel tower...but at least you can see it. It looks so gorgeous at nighttime. Love it!

I'll have to update on our anniversary plans later...as of now, we're snowed in!!!!! There's tons of snow!!!!!!!!! Right now there's a foot of snow outside. :0 Hello, it's March....let's bring in the spring weather, like we had earlier in the week! From 75 degrees to 30 in just two days (yesteray was a transitional day - lots of rain!)

Anyways..........have fun wherever you are - hug your loved ones and enjoy the weekend!