Christmas Pics

Enjoy our December and Christmas pictures here:

Jackie's Webshots Page

Too cute!

The girls have a boy in their class who's just moved here from Germany. They're fascinated. Every once in a while they'll ask how to say something in German. Well, today I remembered that 'elf' is eleven. They were tickled! Something they could actually pronounce. We laughed so hard, and I got it on video. Enjoy!

FIVE MORE DAYS!

Remember how much fun we had last year with Elf Yourself? Well hold onto your elf hat. It's baa-aack!

Fall Pics

Halloween Parade


J ready to trick or treat


B the Princess ... with lots of missing teeth



Superman helping with the yardwork


LEAF FIGHT! (Seriously. They screamed it over and over and over.)



Ladybug had a blast. She LOVED throwing the leaves at me while I was taking pictures.

Playdate

Superman and Ladybug are over visiting for the afternoon. A HUGE thank you to Lisa, for not feeling well, and letting me borrow her kids for a while. And yes, you are correct; that makes four kids. And they get along SO MUCH better than when it's just my two. When all four of them are together, there's no pushing, poking, shoving, screaming, and so on. It's nice. Right now J is getting water for everyone. I think it's her third trip. And earlier, we were out in the backyard and B told me that I should go inside and she would watch the kids. We compromised. I went and picked up leaves on the side of the house so it just seemed like they were alone. They're having a little snack break, allowing me time to blog my little heart out. I wonder what they'll want to do next?

Neighbors

Do you have one of THOSE neighbors? The kind, who, no matter what, just are always nasty and bring out the worst in you? I do. He's just......nasty. I can honestly say that I have tried my very hardest to forgive and forget and act nicely toward him even when he's not acting nicely, and it JUST DOESN'T WORK. He would actually make me consider moving to a different house just to get away from him. But the rest of the neighbors are so WONDERFUL that the fleeing instinct only lasts a few minutes (or days). Is it awful of me to wish he would have a heart attack or something?

One of my very best wonderful neighbors let the girls come over to rake up her leaves just to jump in them, since we didn't have enough down yet for a ginormous pile. We had to spread the leaves back out again when we were done, since her yard is huge and she has a gazillion trees, so I wasn't able to actually help her, but still....she's wonderful like that. I love having her nearby; she reminds me of my grandma, and takes away a bit of the heartache that I can't see her as often as I'd like to.

Gotta run....need to call Grandma for a bit of a pick-me-up.

What a weekend!

Enjoying the first leaf pile of the season
J's cast -- there's not much room left to autograph!

J's adapted well to her cast....finally!
B had a loose tooth on top that made her look like a hillbilly the way it was hanging there all by itself
She pulled it out the next day at soccer. Thank goodness we didn't have to scour the field for it!
Me and the girls

A fun afternoon ?!

Yesterday afternoon was so beautiful....sunny, 82°...so the girls and I went to the park. We were there about 10 minutes when J decided to try the monkey bars. She was hanging and swinging, trying to get enough momentum to reach for the next bar, when she dropped, and landed on her arms instead of her legs. She now has two compression fractures in her left arm. Curt took her to Med Express last night and they splinted it, and I'm still waiting for the orthopedic doctor's office to open so I can get her scheduled there.

She is all worked up; she DID NOT want to go to school until she was healed up (3 weeks). "B can bring home all my work," she sobbed last night. This morning, though, she had a new plan. "I'm starting half days. You pick me up at lunchtime." B is all excited to be her helper, so I'm hoping that all goes well today. I'll keep you posted.

SOSDD

There hasn't been anything too exciting to blog about recently. Which I guess can be construed as a good thing. No major catastrophes, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. Just your everyday girls going to school, me heat-pressing like crazy, and Curt working long hours. Except that he was working long hours in Florida this past week. Bauer Hockey does this dealer spiel at a posh resort each year, and shows off their new product and schmoozes the guys.

So the girls and I were on our own. And they behaved FABULOUSLY. No tantrums, no outbursts, they helped without being nagged. It was generally a very nice week, except at bedtime, when they'd cry for Daddy. That part was heartbreaking. They even took to calling him at 7:30 am. Which I considered a very good thing, since Curt is generally not a morning person, and what better way to wake up than to hear a perky little girl's voice in your ear?

So, today's agenda: Girls to school? Check. Heat press warming up? Check. Curt lollygagging in bed? Check. Time for a Great Big Belly Boom.

As overheard this evening....

B's on the phone with my dad, and he's telling her about why Grandma's not home. She's working the election. Dad's going on and on about how Grandma's counting votes and how the people are choosing new people to help run the government, and B says, "Do you think Grandma will get enough votes?" I didn't know Mom was interested in a political career.

About 30 minutes later....
B's sitting in the big blue chair pretending to be the librarian reading a book to the class. "This is Little Cats by John McCain." She had the title right, but I can't tell you where the John McCain came from. That little girl hears and remembers EVERYTHING.

Home again!

First Day of School

They're gone.




More pics: http://family.webshots.com/album/565643272DrDJtf?vhost=family

Remember when?

Remember when you were a little kid and you played Pretend? And you didn't actually DO anything, you just kept saying to those playing with you, "Pretend I'm a seal in the circus." And they'd respond, "Pretend I just knocked you off the balance beam." And so on, and on, and on, ad infinitum.

Or when you were a little kid and performed Shows which you made your parents and others sit through? (Lisa and I actually charged admission to ours!)

Let me tell you, being on the receiving end is a whole new ballgame. Watching the girls play Pretend and do Shows is exhausting. The way a bad movie just seems to never end.

But it'll all be okay....school starts tomorrow! I'm so excited by this, but just today I've been feeling a bit melancholy about it. I'm sure I'll miss them....maybe sometime in October. No, seriously. To have been with them every single day for the last (almost) six years and now they'll be going away. I'm going to miss them terribly.

Avoidance

I will be the first to admit that I avoid doing certain things with the girls. Like cooking. The massive clean-up at the end is (to my mind) way too much work to justify the means. But today I relented. We made chocolate chip cookies. With my new oven (okay, well, it's almost a year old) and my new mega mixer that DOES NOT dance across the countertop. (Yay!) (And, btw, this new mixer ROCKS!)

And why today, boys and girls? Because I've been having a craving for chocolate chip cookie dough without the chocolate chips. I know it sounds odd, but it's been an ongoing thing since college. My roommates and I would occasionally (daily) whip up a batch to eat while watching "Santa Barbara".

The girls were all about helping me. And really, they were quite helpful. Just overlook the cracked egg that landed on the counter and floor instead of the bowl, the sugar that landed in the egg, and the crisco that got smeared around. The cookies are AWESOME. (Yes, I actually baked most of the dough.) The girls took some over to Grammy Gay's a while ago. They went over by themselves, and I told them they could stay for a few minutes. They've been there a half hour. It's kinda nice. I'm watching HGTV and baking cookies.

So, to Amy, Jen, Sara, Susan, and Laura....hope all is well with youse guys. I'm having some cookie dough for you.

Home Again

After a whirlwind tour of southern Wisconsin, we are back in PA and trying to recover. Although, if yesterday is any indication, the marathon will be continuing: Kindercamp, playdate at the park with Emma, grocery store, piano lessons, swimming, pick up jerseys at KoSports, stop by Pap Pap's to drop off beer, bedtime for the girls, heat press the jerseys picked up earlier. I slept like a rock.

Pictures of our WI trip will be coming shortly. Stay tuned.

Erie Beach

We took a much needed mini-vacation to Erie this week. We met Amy and Lisa and their families, and much fun was had by all at Waldameer Park and Presque Isle. 'Nuf said. I'll let the pics tell the rest of the story.