August 1st!

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!

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

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!

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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!!!

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

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!

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!

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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

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!