Carlea is at it again.....

Last night we played a few board games with our neighbor, Ryan.  I chose the classic Candyland.  This game however, had the theme of Winnie the Pooh and all the pieces were the Winnie the Pooh characters.  As we were all choosing what we'd like to be, Carlea says:  "I don't want to be E-whore"  I told her that I didn't want her to be E-whore either!   As you might remember she also mistakenly called the core of an apple a whore too....I hope this is not a trend.  :-)  At least she's laid off the f-bomb for awhile.

Gymnastics

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The latest in Carlea and Maysie adventures....

Baby fever!

On Sunday, we had the honor of helping out with a friend who has triplets!  Dad and the three girls came over and everyone in the house was commissioned to help out.  We also tried to take several holiday photos, but it was a little trickier than expected.  It was a delight having babies in the house and we all enjoyed their cute little smiles all day.  Thanks Bo for an adventuresome afternoon!

I'm not bragging or anything....but it's kinda obvious!

I know, I know I've been slacking on my daily goal.  Well, after a crazy little few weeks, I'm ready to start blogging again.  I'll try to catch up on a few past things, but this one just caught my eye today.

Seriously, my kid's got talent!  I mean the other trees are nice and very colorful, but come on....Carlea's is awesome!

LOVE IT!

October 25 - Early Halloween

Today was a great day just for relaxing.  The weather was wonderful and it was a really nice Sunday.  While Carlea was at Sprouts (Sunday School) Maysie, daddy and i went to the local park.  It was so beautiful and Maysie really enjoyed our sole attention.











Then tonight we headed out to TC3 for a safe trick or treating event with our friends, joe and darese and their kids, Alex and Hannah.  They had a great time collecting candy and enjoyed showling off their costumes.  It was my first shot at clown makeup and Carlea thought it came out great.  whew!

October 24 - Storytime

Carlea and Maysie love storytime. Tonight it was Scott's turn to read the umpteen books that they picked out.  It's such anice time to share with the kids.

October 23 - Loving family

I guess one of the greatest things about having kids (not really, there are so many great things about having kids) is that we get to play with all their toys!  Here's one of my favorite toys that they have-- a dollhouse by Fisher Price called Loving Family.  We have four dollhouses and lots of accessories and people to fill them.  Here's our latest story (there's always a story) -- Pops and PopsyBoy are watching the babies while Mommy, Daddy and others watch tv downstairs.  Carlea and Maysie are playing checkers and Phoebe in on the couch next to me.  We have lots of babies, some on every floor and of course people taking a shower and going to that bathroom.  Mimi and her friends are in one room just talking and playing on the computer.  Sometimes there are conflicts, sometimes we just set up the houses.  There's a cowgirl who is afraid to ride her horse and of course the seasonal dining room table that changes its centerpiece with the season.    There's always the bride and groom and we are never really sure where to put them.  So much fun!  Oh, and Carlea nad Maysie like playing with them too.

October 22- The Bear Club

Carlea noticed the closet under the stairway today.  She wants it to be her clubhouse.  (And Harry Potter didn't like it!)  She's been making plans and imagining what her little club would do in there.  Read books, play games, etc... When I told her it was time to get ready for bed she had to line up all her bears (part of the club) to guard the door.  Then she spent 15 minutes giving each one specific directions.  Some can sleep, some can play, some can read, but there always has to be someone looking at the door and they are not allowed to move from their spots.  She almost wasn't going to allow the lobster in because he had claws, but then we had a talk about including them all-- they all need love and a group to play with and each one is special in their own way.....As I was watching her and Maysie play, it made me kind of sad to think they are growing up so fast.  I cherish these moments.

October 21 - Babies dancing

Hmm, no personal pics today, just cute babies dancing!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs

October 20 - sleep

Kids getting ready for the night....  so cute.

October 19 - Puppets

Being off my feet means the kiddos have to entertain me.  And they are.  Here's Carlea with a puppet show.  They have a flare for the dramatic.     I wonder where they get that.  Probably Scott....

October 18 - Someone took my camera

The first picture is the picture that Maysie took with my camera when I was not looking.  I forget how short she really is.  The rest are of the kids playing outside with Scott.  I'm so jealous, I'm still inside with my leg up. 

October 17 - Just playing

Not being mobile means we'll be doing a lot of  stuff inside.  Today was clay day.  Can you guess which ones Carlea did?  Which ones Maysie did? 

October 16 - SNOW in October

Snow in October, what can I say? For those of you who know that I count down until Spring Daylight Saving time, this has really put a damper on my mood. However, it is the first day of snow and that's always exciting. Too bad I can't get out there and enjoy with the kids. Scott will have to be the one to build snowmen and snow angels today. It actually is beautiful outside!

October 15 - Knee Surgery

Today I had Orthoscopic knee surgery on my right knee from an injury back in May. It went well for the most part however it was discovered that my ACL repair I had done in college is barely hanging in there. But the good news is that for now (well after this recovery period) I can resume a more active lifestyle. Yeah! Oh, and yeah, the pain medication is working well too...heeheehee

October 14 - Maysie's sick

Last night was really horrible. Maysie was so sick and she cried almost all night long. Nothing we did seemed to calm her...so this morning I took her to the doctor and she has some virus that's going around, nothing to worry about. Here she is this afternoon...What the heck? I'm sure that when the sun goes down and we want to sleep she'll cry and scream and want to be held. Can't she seem to reverse the timing of that? please.....

October 13 - We've got a nudie!!

I don't know why this is, but Maysie will not keep her clothes on in bed. She likes to be totally nude. Last night we put her clothes on about 5 times.- in her sleep. She still takes them off. She's winning....

October 12 - Holiday from School = Play Day

Today was a holiday off from school, so the kids got to play ALL day! I'm pooped.

October 11 - Dryden Fire Department Open House

What a busy day! Besides doing all the things you do to get ready for winter (we're expected to have frost tonight) we visited the Dryden Fire Department's Open House.

October 10 - Linda and Steve's Wedding

Scott and I went to Linda and Steve's Wedding. It was really beautiful and you could tell that they are very happy. Carlea and Maysie stayed with their friend Hannah and mom, Darese. Thanks Darese! Carlea even got to have her first sleep over at Hannah's. I'm sure it was a blast!

October 9 - It was suposed to be mine

We renovated our downstairs bathroom and installed an amazing whirlpool tub for me. At least I thought it was for me. Tonight when I went to get in, this is what I found....

I think Maysie and Carlea think it's just a little swimming pool for them.

October 8 - grandmother

Today as I was dropping Carlea off at Pre-k, a little girl was next to us telling us all about different things in the classroom. I engaged for awhile and then told her that I had to go and she turned to me and said, "Oh, are you Carlea's grandmother?" hmmm, nice, made my day.

October 7 - Happy Birthday, Dad!

Hey Hey it's my Dad's Birthday!!!

My Dad is 84 today. Wow! That's really amazing. What's even more amazing is that he's out and about and still gardening as much as possible.



So here's a tribute to, really, I think, the strongest man I know: (he's the one on the bottom of the pyramid)

Dear Dad,

Thanks for being such an amazing Dad over the years. Here's just a couple of things I remember from growing up with such a truly amazing person in my life.

My dad always believed in fairness and hard work. He believes that hard work will always pay off. When I was in 8th grade our class decided to go on a class trip. To finance this trip we had to fund-raise. We were all outfitted with a sales kit - I think it was called the Tom Wat Kit- literally a suitcase full of miscellaneous junk that you had to haul around and pander to the neighborhood. The person who sold the most stuff won a bike. I really wanted that bike. I had an old bike with a banana seat - I think it was a hand me down, but this new bike was a ten speed. So cool. Really really really wanted the bike. I hauled that suitcase around like there was no tomorrow. I strapped it on my back, I carried it like a purse. I dragged it everywhere. I rode that old bike with it under my arm. Every day for two weeks I spent hours and hours selling this stuff to people. One little trinket at a time. I think I put on 100 miles on that old bike in that time. I think I sold over $1600!!! That was amazing for selling crap that costs like $2! Anyway, there was a big celebration to present the winner with the bike. Our whole class was there and I really thought I had won. But, sadly, I did not. Some other kid - I won't mention names cause his wife is my friend on facebook - aww, what the hell-- DANNY FISHER - won!!! Apparently his mom worked at Koh-i-nor (a huge factory in our town) and left the kit in her break room for two weeks racking up over $2000 in sales. No offense Danny, but that sucked. Actually it wasn't so bad. Between Danny and I, we were able to fund the entire class to go to Hershey Park in June. Happily, we all signed a contract that stated that we would complete all of the eighth grade assignments by June 1st to enable us to go on the class trip. June rolled around and because I did not complete a math worksheet on time, ( it was one sheet that literally took me like 15 minutes to complete) I was told that they had to honor the contract and I was not allowed to go on the trip. I tried not to care, (I've never gone to that park) but apparently it really pissed off my dad. He had written letters to the teacher, principals, school board, etc. He met with people and really went to bat for me. I, of course, was oblivious to all of this, and I didn't find out until later when my dad wrote me a letter that listed all of the things he did. He also included a letter he wrote to the teacher/principal. He apologized for life not being fair and encouraged me to always have faith that hard work will pay off. I keep that letter in the drawer of my desk to remind me that he fought for me when he thought the system was unfair to me. Thanks Dad.

When I was very little, one of my earliest memories of my dad is taking naps with him. On Sunday afternoons he would lie on the couch with his knees bent and I would snuggle up in the crook of his knee and we would both fall asleep. I also remember him reading the Sunday comics to me every Sunday and clipping my nails with a nailclipper that I am sure he still carries around in his pocket today. Seriously, if you ever need a clipper, my dad's got one in his pocket. Don't ask me why, I guess with seven kids there was always someone's nails that needed to be clipped.

I enjoyed spending time with my dad, even if it was to collect rocks from the garden which seemed to be his favorite job to give to me when we were outside. My dad loves to garden. I can't even list all the stuff he's grown. If you can grow it, my dad probably tried to. Sometimes, I guess if his back was hurting or something, he would let me plant, but that didn't happen much, I was usually the rock girl. When I got a little bigger he let me stand on the back of the plow to weigh it down a bit and to collect any worms that might by plowed up, but that was as close as he let me come to his garden.








I could go on forever about how cool my dad is. He was a soldier in WWII, he's got medals and memorbillias from that time galore. He'd sit back at dinner and tell us all kinds of stories about hunting, fishing, when he was a boy and when he was in Germany. I vaguely remember a train story and I will never forget how he was a prisoner and escaped while saving two of his buddies from brush fire. Or how he met my mother at a park in her hometown. He was so full of life and still is. One day he was hunting for alligators .... that's always how he started his stories.

My dad worked in NYC as a VP for Hearst Enterprises. I'm sure he had other jobs, but for my lifetime that's where he worked. Sometimes he would take me to work with him, I guess to experience city life. I remember him telling me not to stare at people on the subway, but that was hard not to do. As a publishing house - Hearst - He would let me pick up first-run books (flare were my favorite) and I could pick out as many as I wanted. He worked in the same building as Helen Gurley Brown, the editor of cosmopolitan, and one day on the elevator (the kind with a an elevator guy and you tell him what floor you're going to and he pushes the lever forward) he pointed her out to me. At the time, I had no idea who she was, but now, I think what a majorly cool thing for him to do. We always got all the magazines before they were published. Sometimes he would bring home magazines without the cover, just the insides before it was edited. So so so neat! And we would always go to a different place to eat for lunch.

Anyway, on January 30, 1981, he took me to work with him to watch the ticker tape parade celebrating the release of American Hostages from Iran. The name comes from the ticker tape originally thrown onto the parade when it passed stockbrokers' offices in lower Manhattan, before stock tickers became obsolete. As the parade was reaching our corner, my dad lifted me up on his shoulders so I could see the convertible cars pass by. I saw the hostages and remember thinking that they looked really really small. What an amazing thing to be in that moment. I looked up and people were literally emptying out trash cans of shredded paper into the streets from windows 50 or 60 stories high, maybe higher. And so much cheering. It was a magic moment, one celebrating a moment in American history that I will never forget. Thank you, dad.

My dad still reads probably 5 different newspapers a day. He's an avid stamp collector and coin collector. He enjoys spending time with his family-- 18 grandkids, seven kids and many many friends. He's active in our historical society, was the secretary of the Stewartsville Zoning Board for over 50 years, and has a full social calendar.


Thanks Dad and Happy Birthday! Here's to many more!