Christmas Eve

I can't believe it's actually here already, but more shockingly I can't believe I'm actually ready and not stressed out this year! The house is all decorated, presents are all wrapped, cookies are baked and we're not hosting any meals at our house, so very little left to prepare.

Decorating this year has been interesting.

First, with our ladder and step stool at the lake, adding the tree topper proved to be a bit difficult. After a few failed attempts dangling Katelyn in mid-air, we opted to wait until we could get a ladder.

Lindsay is very much into pretend play. She's often playing with babies or little dolls having quite the conversations. It shouldn't have surprised me, but I did get quite the chuckle when she started arranging my ceramic Santas so they were knocking on the doors or peeking in the windows of the various houses on my coffee table.

I was able to go to both of the girls' class Christmas parties this year. Katelyn's was very fun with a tissue paper snowball fight! And Lindsay's class enjoyed a visit from Santa.

Katelyn and I love to go to the Children's Theater in downtown Charlotte. This year, she and I saw "Peter Pan" and "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". But on Sunday, we got to introduce Lindsay to the theater when all 4 of us went to see "The Velveteen Rabbit". She did great sitting still and being quiet - until she yelled "Wake up Bunny!" But I think she really liked it since when the show was over, she wanted to stay for another one.

Yesterday we had lots of fun baking Christmas cookies. Katelyn, Lindsay and their cousin, Ally, made sugar cookies in all sorts of colors and shapes - even bunnies. I made the old stand-by peanut-butter blossoms and then finished off my baking day with kolachky - walnut and raspberry!

So after sampling lots of cookies yesterday, I decided I better start my New Year's exercising resolution today...we'll see how long it lasts!

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Not too late to be Thankful!

So, I know I've been considerably absent from posting in quite awhile. I often think of great things to write about and foolishly tell myself that I'll post a little later when I have more time. I'm slowly but surely realizing that that time NEVER comes! Now I have the issue of what to write about....it's far too late to ramble on about how great Thanksgiving was, but I guess I will start there anyway :)

It really was a great holiday. We have so much to be thankful for after a year full of health issues. We started the weekend before celebrating with Mike's Dad and Ruth and the whole family. The cousins all had tons of fun playing all day!

Then we started our drive up to NY on Tuesday. Our travel plans changed about 10 times trying to figure out whether the kids would sleep in the car, could we drive through the night and still function the next day, was the weather going to cooperate or were we going to get stuck with everyone else who decided that flying was too expensive this year. Lindsay did ask about 10 miles after leaving our house if we were almost to Grandma and Grandpa's house, but all in all the kids were great travelers (Thank God for car DVD players and Katelyn starting to outgrow carsickness!)

For Thanksgiving day, we went to my Babci and Dziadzi's - this was particularly special since my grandfather is home now recovering from a stroke this summer. It was so good to see him up and around since when we last saw him he was in the hospital! There was still a little bit of snow left in the yard, so Katelyn and Lindsay (and me since Linds is connected to my hip these days) got to go sleigh-riding. It was the tiniest of hills, but my kids don't know any better so had a fabulous time! They even made a little snowman with Grandma.

Then back to Mom and Dad's to relax with my brothers and visit with Aunt Kathy. I was able to get in some of my "food fixes" like Tony's (well...Nick's now I guess), Nirchi's, Romas, and Cider Mill....so much for watching my figure ;) It was a bit colder than last year, but the cider press came out and the girls enjoyed making their own fresh apple cider.

Our trip wouldn't be complete without visit Jeff, Christine, Ryan and Emily. I can't believe how big all the kids are getting -- or that they could all fit on the slide to make our own little totem pole!

Before Thanksgiving, I remember feeling on top of things with our annual family pictures done and Christmas cards printed. Now I'm not sure where the last three weeks have gone and how Christmas is possibly going to be here next week when I'm not nearly done with my shopping and haven't baked a single cookie! So stay tuned to hear more of what's going on with us, but keep in mind that I cannot write or post anything while out shopping, at kids holiday parties, or up to my elbows in cookie dough :)

Free Country

Usually Lindsay is the one that comes out with the one liners, comments or stories that really make us laugh. But the other night Katelyn caught us both off guard. To set the stage we were all in my bed watching the Country Music Awards. Depending on the song, the girls were getting up and dancing and just in general bouncing around. After about the hundredth time of being bumped and kicked, Mike asked Katelyn if she could just sit still and watch. Her response: Dad - I need some freedom. This is a free country! I think it's just a side effect of all the political discussions lately, but I'm a little nervous now of what the teenage years will be like ;)

Here's a few of Lindsay's funny conversations:

Lindsay: Mom, I was tough today.
Me: Why, what happened?
Lindsay: I was wrestling at school and I got hurt and didn't cry. But my teacher made us stop.
She sounded genuinely disappointed that she and her friend had to stop wrestling, but very proud of herself that she was a tough girl and didn't cry. If only she could be that tough when I tell her "No"!

Lindsay (after pealing a banana and dropping it): Mom, I dropped my banana wrapper!
(Do you think maybe there is a bit too much packaged food these days?)

After several requests for candy, fruit snacks and any other junk food in the cupboard and me offering crackers, fruit, anything remotely healthy:
Lindsay: Mom, can I have sweet things?
Me(annoyed): No, Lindsay I told you no more sugar or junk food.
Lindsay(protesting): But Mom, you said I could have sweet things.
Me(protesting): NO, I said no more sweet things.
Lindsay(crying): But you said I could have sweet things, like at school.
After looking in the cupboard again, I had a lightbulb moment and realized she wanted "Wheat Thins"!!!

P.S. Hope you like my new blog background...so many fun ones to choose from!

Happy Halloween

With each year Halloween is becoming more and more fun. The girls are getting into it earlier and earlier - planning their costumes and designing their pumpkin faces. Each year they go to Nana and PopPops to paint pumpkins. Mike and I were not prepared for what they brought home. Nana definitely outdid herself this year. I wish I knew of a pumpkin decorating contest nearby because these certainly would have won a prize!

Pumpkin carving is one of my favorite things to do with Katelyn and Lindsay. I remember growing up and choosing the shape of my pumpkin top and all the features as my Dad was carving pumpkins for me and my brothers. I remember year after year choosing more challenging features - especially eyes. Well, technology is giving my girls an advantage I didn't have. This year Katelyn found a pumpkin designing wizard on starfall.com. She and Lindsay each designed their pumpkins and gave me a printout to work from! I'm also glad to see that my girlie girls are finally able to enjoy scooping out pumpkin guts without being grossed out :)

Trick-or-Treating with their cousins, Ally and CJ, couldn't have been better. No more wagons to pull the little ones. Lindsay made it the whole way without needing to be carried -- although her pumpkin full of treats was too heavy for her after awhile :) Does that give a hint as to how much candy we now have??? (At the 10:15 am - the time I'm writing this I've already been asked at least 5 times for candy...I don't suppose that will slow now until sometime after Easter! Who decided we needed candy at every holiday anyway?)

We saw a lot of very cute costumes this year, but I must say we definitely have the cutest witch and princess fairy by far!

Catching up

Ok, so I know it's been way too long since I've posted, but we really have been busy - busier than usual I promise. I seem to recall mid-August as the wear-and-tear of shuffling Katelyn from one camp to the next week after week was reaching its peak wishing that we could get back to the routine of the school year. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?! Don't get me wrong it's nice to know that the kids have pretty much the same schedule every week, but how could I have forgotten how busy the evenings would become? To top things off I signed up to teach Katelyn's religion class this year - which is great - but I'm really missing my Monday evenings where I had time to read a magazine or talk on the phone (Stef, now you know why I haven't made my Monday night call in awhile!)

With Katelyn in Brownies and tennis lessons I don't feel like she's overscheduled in comparison to what some kids are in, but when you add in Mike's golf night and a few scrapbooking nights for me we very quickly don't have a single night off. Tuesday is usually our free night. Somebody must've clued in Katelyn's school, because they've decided to have "Chick-fil-a" night and "On the Border" nights on Tuesdays now so we can have yet another event to attend.

So even with the weeks being so hectic and football games on many weekends we've still managed to fit in some other fun stuff.

We had a great time with Nana and Pop-Pop, Kelly and Keith, and Ally and CJ at the Cabarrus County fair this year. The tea-cups have become a favorite ride. Katelyn has gotten the hang of spinning it really fast and Lindsay just LOVES it!

Pony rides are a must and the new bumper boats were definitely a hit!

Katelyn and I went to the Children's Theater with Kelly and Ally to see a live performance of Peter Pan. I don't know that Katelyn really knew much of the story before seeing the play, but both she and Ally thought the play was fantastic. Unfortunately no pictures to share, but the highlight by far was watching Peter Pan and the other children flying across stage.

I just had to include this one. There are many things I love about living in North Carolina, but it being warm enough for the kids to run through the sprinkler in October definitely ranks right up there! Here are Katelyn and Lindsay with one of Katelyn's best buddies from school after an afternoon in sprinkler:

Ally's birthday party at the gymnastics center only cemented the desire of both girls to sign up for classes. I've been feeling guilty for awhile about not having Lindsay in some type of class like we did with Katelyn at her age. It's looking like it may be gymnastics later this fall :) She's definitely a bit of a daredevil and loves trying to flip. She hasn't tried the bars yet, but after watching Katelyn I'm sure she won't be far behind.

My Uncle Joe and Aunt Shufen came to visit all the way from Buffalo. The girls loved having a new audience and Uncle Joe was certainly a good sport while playing school with Katelyn, especially when being tested on his spelling and reading comprehension all before his first cup of coffee Saturday morning!

And finally, I can't leave out our trip last weekend to the pumpkin farm with Nana and Grandpa. Besides the standard picking of pumpkins, the girls got to feed goats, sheep, peacocks and chickens, paint pumpkins, get their faces painted, play in a giant sandbox filled with corn kernels, ride a wagon pulled by a tractor and launch green tomatoes into a field with a giant slingshot!

Phew! I'm tired just from reliving the last 5-6 weeks let alone from writing about it all! No promises, but I'll to not take so long to post next time :)

On wheels again....

...only this time it's good news!!

Katelyn had her last leg x-ray at the end of August and was cleared for all physical activity again. This prompted a renewed interest in her bike. She decided that she was ready to learn to ride without training wheels. We had a pretty wobbly start -- she was not a huge fan of feeling like she was going to fall over. After a few trips back and forth with me holding her steady, my neighbor saved us! She gave us the wonderful tip that they learned from a local bike shop -- take off the pedals!! I thought the idea sounded a little odd at first, but it worked. She was able to sit on the seat, push with her feet and learn to balance while coasting and not worrying about pedaling -- plus her feet were all ready for when she lost her balance. By day two, she could coast pretty well and wanted her pedals back. She needed a little help getting started while getting used to pedaling and balancing at the same time, but by day three she was off and riding. Absolutely amazing!!!!

First Day of School

Today began a new school year. I can't believe that Katelyn is in SECOND GRADE!!! She has grown up so much since her first day of Kindergarten, yet it seems like it could've been last week. Long gone is the anxiety about riding the bus. Now it's replaced with "which of my friends will be in my class" and "how cool - I heard my teacher EXPLODES something in science class!"

Here she is in the "front-step" pose:

And a shot of her boarding the bus (notice, she didn't even look back to wave this year, sniff, sniff):

Of course, I can't leave out Lindsay's first day of preschool. Her daycare is switching to a school calendar schedule, so she started out in a new room today. When I asked her new teachers how this room differed from the last, I was told that their focus on early reading and math skills was more intense in this room - I should've asked for more clarification -- maybe they are going to practice counting louder now :) Needless to say, Lindsay loves any chance to act "big". So, here she is with her big red backpack ... filled with the very heavy purple bear which causing her to double-over!

Go Panthers!

Saturday night was Lindsay's first Panthers game. Mike and I go to every home game and last year she started asking when she would get to go. So we decided pre-season would be the perfect time to take the girls with us. It turns out that pre-season games are very popular with families. Friends of ours took their kids too. Here are some tailgating pics:

Both girls were very interested in what was going on and asked LOTS of questions. We had our fill of popcorn, peanuts, soda and even milkshakes! I'm sure the sugar helped, but we stayed until the end of the third quarter - longer than I anticipated with Linds!

Lindsay's favorite was "Mini Meow" a miniature version of the Panthers mascot Sir Purr. So much so that she was sad when we got home that she didn't get to say goodbye to Mini Meow and that she wanted him to come to her house! I'd say Katelyn likes the song they play when the Panthers score the best - and lucky for us they did plenty of scoring! She was up on her feet cheering and dancing every time.

What a fun way to spend some family time!

Spotty

Nearly a year ago, Spotty and Goldie joined our family after several successful winning at the "throw the ping pong ball into the fish bowl" game at the Cabarrus County fair.

Knowing that fish won at these types of fairs typically don't last too long we spent lots of time preparing the kids that the fish probably wouldn't live more than a few days, weeks if they were lucky. Well we almost made it to the 1 year mark--- until Tuesday night when we had to say goodbye to Spotty. Spotty has had several close calls over this past year. It was not unusual to find him floating upside down in the tank, struggling to right himself again. Or other times finding him swimming on his side. Google to the rescue and we were able to learn that peas are the magical food for fancy goldfish. After a few days he would be back to normal. Not so this week. I felt like I had stepped into a Cosby show episode as we had our goodbye ceremony before sending Spotty on to fish heaven.

Katelyn was pretty upset about losing her fish, so we decided to take her to the pet store to get a new fish. As we were getting ready to go Lindsay asks if she can flush Goldie too? Katelyn was mortified that Lindsay was so willing to get rid of Goldie -- Lindsay just wanted the opportunity to pick out a new fish. At the pet store Lindsay looks at me with a little gleam in her eye and says, "Mommy, I don't think my fish is swimming anymore we better get a new one." Two very different children I have!

Somehow we managed to come home from the pet store with 2 new fish. Meet the Goldie's new roommates....Sunkist and Elmo :)

8472

Give or take one or two and that's the number of times I heard "Mom, are we almost there?" on our recent road trip home from New York!

We just got back from our annual August trip to Endicott. We had a great time visiting family. Mike and Jeff finished first in their flight at the Binghamton Country Club member guest. I was able to work in a visit to my corporate office and I survived driving all the way home with the girls. I'd say the trip was a success!

Blueberry picking has definitely become a favorite tradition. I think Lindsay may have eaten her weight in berries!

We spent a day at the cottage, where the girls had fun fishing in the row boat, swimming, hunting for berries, and making "fern flowers". We managed to catch just a few fish and had to call it quits after Lindsay ate most of the bait. Yes, she ate the bait...luckily we were using canned corn!

We made several trips to Syracuse to visit Dziadzi (my grandfather) who is recovering from a stroke in early July. Seeing his face light up when he saw Katelyn and Lindsay was so special. I'm so glad we were able to see him and help brighten his day.

While I was away at work, the girls kept my parents and aunts busy with a trip to the midway at Sylvan Beach, countless trips to the park - in fact they completed the Broome County Carousel circuit, school shopping, visits to the book store, the zoo, the Discovery Center, and more.

Unfortunately, Nick's/Tony's was closed, but we managed to get our fill of Nirchi's and Roma's pizza, Consol's, Joey's Italian ice, Lupo's and even squeezed in a trip to the Cider Mill Saturday morning before we left. (I had no idea how many memories of childhood were centered around food until I moved away!)

Since Mike was already back home, the girls and I set out on our 2 day trek home on Saturday. With the benefits of modern technology - namely the dual-screen dvd player that strapped to the car headrests - we set off around 12:30. Before we could make it to PA, we made our first stop at Wendy's. 2 more stops followed in the next 2 hours and I began to wonder if we were going to make it to our hotel stopping point in daylight. We managed to make it to the hotel where Lindsay enjoyed yet another playground and tried to convince Katelyn and I that the pool was really warm enough to swim in --- it wasn't. Either VA has been getting some REALLY cold nights lately or we're truly becoming southerners! We set out the next morning, managed to find a McDonald's playland along the way and finally made it home around 3:00. Long gone are the days where Mike and I could make the trip in 10 hours with a single stop!

Beach Vacation

4 families, 8 kids between the ages of 3 and 7, 7 days, 1 huge beach house ....priceless


Well, I wish it was priceless, because I think we could actually live at the beach. I always get a little nervous that it's going to be too chaotic with so many people, that it won't be a relaxing vacation, but it works out wonderfully every time. Thanks to beautiful weather we were at the beach everyday. The house we rented was fantastic. Super easy access to the beach (which was important due to the number of potty trips back to house) plus we had our own pool and hot tub. Talk about spoiled!

Katelyn learned to ride the waves on a body board.




Lindsay had a blast playing in the "little waves", but by the end of the week was out with us in the deeper water.


Making sandcastles and digging giant holes that would fill with water as the tide came in occupied them for hours!







Being on vacation with such great friends makes it fun not just for the kids, but for the grownups too. The guys did some golfing, the ladies hit the outlets and we managed to have 2 HUGE seafood nights. Who would've thought that 8 adults could eat 16 lbs of shrimp, 400 clams, 10 lbs of crab legs and scallops?? (Sorry no pictures...too busy eating :))

Here are a few pictures highlighting some of fun memories of the trip:
Alligator Adventure

Ok, so she caved in and took a nap one day this week!

The teacups at Broadway at the Beach

Our little daredevil, who barely met the minimum weight requirement! She even managed to do 3 backflips --- She's been asking to take gymnastics classes for awhile now...I think it might be time to sign her up!