I Have A Dream...

It is so fitting that Martin Luther King Day is the day before the inauguration of Barack Obama. As I was thinking of what to write about such an important moment in the history of our Nation. I realized the words have already been written in Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

I am a self proclaimed history geek and I have heard this speech dozens of times but reading it, actually reading it today gave me a new prospective and a renewed sense of Patriotism. I am so proud of the outcome of the election and so proud to be part of "The Change".

"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."And if America is to be a great nation this must become true.

So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

- Martin Luther King Jr.

Happy Game Day!

Fly, Eagles fly, on the road to victory
Fight, Eagles, fight! Score a touchdown one-two-three
Hit 'em low, hit 'em high,
And watch our Eagles fly
Fly, Eagles fly, on the road to victory
E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!

Humpty Dumpty...

Jude had his first trip to the ER last night. His molars are coming in and he has been waking up around midnight every night for the past week. (Keep reading.. we didn't go because of his molars) So last night he woke up at midnight, I brought him into my room with me. I was holding him and after 20 minutes or so I thought he had fallen back to sleep so I slid out of bed to go to the bathroom. As soon as my feet hit the bathroom floor I heard a loud thump, thump, thump. My back was to my bed, but I knew it wasn't good. Jude wasn't asleep and tried to follow me to the bathroom, but instead fell off my bed hitting the nightstand then the floor. I ran out of my bathroom, scooped him up and ran downstairs to get ice. Within the few seconds it took me to get downstairs, a golf ball sized bump popped out. It immediately started to turn purple, he was screaming and wouldn't let me put ice on the bump. So I threw on my shoes, grabbed his coat & hat and we were off to the ER. I called Rachel and asked her to come over and stay with Viv. She loves calls from me at midnight. They are never good! Her house is only a few miles away so she hopped in the car and came right over. Thanx Rach!

Thankfully my mini-van has a DVD player. His bump and pain were no match for Elmo. As soon as his favorite furry, red monster came on he stopped crying.

The ER was empty so we were taken right back to an exam room. The nurse took his temp and he was telling her no and giving her "the eye brow". Then she took his pulse rate and he FREAKED out! Screaming "no, no, no, baby, no, no, no, baby". Not crying.. he was yelling at the nurse. She said she had never been yelled at by such a little baby. It was usually the older patients that yelled like that. She said he was cute so she would let him slide.

The doctor came right in and sent him in for a CAT-scan within minutes of our arrival. Thankfully, Brad got to the hospital right as they were taking us back so I let him have the honors of staying with Jude during the CAT-scan. I was a nervous wreck in the hallway. Jude did fine. I think I have seen one too many episodes of Grey's Anatomy because I was looking over the x-ray techs shoulder looking for.. I don't even know what.

After the CAT-scan, Jude decided he felt well enough to wander the ER halls. All the nurses kept telling him how cute he was, he was loving it! He is such a flirt!
Brad managed to get him back in the exam room as I was "Jude proofing" the room. We moved chairs in front of the drawers so he couldn't open them and de-sterilize everything. Brad blew up a latex glove and that kept him busy for all of 2 minutes. We were more entertained by it. There was an empty cabinet that we let him play with. He opened it, closed, it, put his book in it, took his book out all about 100 times.

The doctor came in and told us everything was okay and that he will just have a bump for a few days. He said "it probably won't be the last time Jude visits the ER. Boys will be boys" To that I say.... Ha! Not my boy. Any notion of Jude ever having a football career was squashed last night. He will be a "mathlete" not an athlete. My nerves won't be able to handle concussions or broken bones. I am looking into buying a bubble.



The morning after pics

It's A Boy...

Samuel Paul

Wednesday, January 14th

11:35am
7 pounds, 5 ounces.

Congratulations, Dave, Marlo & Kennedy!

Our 4 legged family members...

Duke was outside with Brad and I as we were cleaning out the garage. It was a really cold and windy day so we made him wear his galsses. Since his second cornea surgery we are very careful about protecting his eyes. He HATES his glasses, and managed to get them off after an hour or so.

Lenny was out with too. He is new to the outdoors and has just learned to climb trees.

Happy New Year!

Viv and Amelia celebrated at noon instead of midnight. They banged on pots and pans and shouted Happy New Year!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Vivi opening her Christmas Eve gift from Santa after church. While she was at church Mrs. Claus stopped by and dropped off 1 present and a special note from Santa that reminded Viv that she needed to go to bed early and reminded her to leave cookies out for Santa. Jude went to sleep at 7PM- like a good boy. That is why he isn't in any of the Christmas Eve pictures.

Christmas Day

Jude got a Little Tikes truck that he LOVES! He is in and out of it all day long. He has the bed of the truck loaded up with his tool box and a few of his favorite things (golf balls, snack trap, sippy cup.) He also got a gas pump, more cars and trucks, building blocks (the big cardboard ones) and LOTS of clothes.

Vivi got lots of Barbie things, a vanity, make up, lots of lippy, clothes, Camp Rock DVD (that we have watched about 50 times so far. - she knows ALL the songs already and sings at the top of her lungs), a MP3 player - so she can listen to her Cheetah Girls, Hannah Montana, Camp Rock tunes when she wants and I can have my IPOD back.
We listen to music during breakfast and lunch and lately it has been all Viv's music and Jude and I are a little Hannah'd out. Now that she has her own she can listen to her music on her own, whenever she wants. It is great!
Santa also brought her clothes, a few new purses and My Little Pony and Tinkerbelle stuff galore.
I have no idea where I am going to put all of the new goods. Since the playroom is already bursting at the seams. I have been tying day by day to make room. I wish our basement was finished!... Santa do you read our blog? If so that was a not so subtle hint!

After all the presents were opened a few of us went to see a movie -Valkerie - a nice cheery holiday flick. (written with sarcasm). After the movie we came home and Brad took his annual Christmas Day nap on the couch. Viv and I thought it would be fun to put make up on him while he slept. Brad's sister Shelby grabbed my camera and filmed the "beautification of Brad". I tried to download the video, but kept coming up with error messages. I will try again later. It is hilarious and Brad looked so "pretty" that I have to post it.

Dinner at Grandma's House

We had a great Christmas and hope you did too!

Christmas in Hershey

We took our annual family day trip to Hershey Park yesterday. It was 50 degrees out so it was a perfect night to be out and about. Viv and Jude had so much fun. Viv rode every kidd-o ride that was open. Jude went on the ones that I could ride with him. Thankfully, there were not too many of those.. I can only take so much round and round and round. Jude really liked the rides and was really mad when he couldn't go on some of the ones Viv did. Next year, Buddy.. next year!






We didn't get to ride through the Sweet Light display last year due to an ice storm that hit Central Pennsylvania the day before we visited,but this year the weather was perfect and the lights were shining bright.



These pictures don't do the display justice. I took these in the beginning of the display.. this display was NOTHING compared to the displays in the "Enchanted Woods". The whole drive through took about 45 minutes. We were all "ooohh-ing & ahh-ing" so much that I forgot to take more pictures.

These pictures should explain why you haven't received a Christmas card from us yet...


Ever since Jude started walking he WILL NOT be held or sit in a stroller. He is on the move from the minute his feet hit the floor in the morning. So, I am hoping maybe by President's Day I will snap a good pic of both kids looking at the camera, hopefully smiling. President's Day cards.. maybe I will start a new trend. I am sure Hallmark wouldn't mind.

Jude's 1st haircut ( December 10, 2008)

Waiting to get called back to get his hair cut.

Not so sure about "the cape"....

I tried to take a picture of Jude post- hair cut but he wouldn't sit still..

So I took this one the next morning.

Amusing...

Martha's Way
Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice-cream drips.
The Real Woman's Way
Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for God's sake. You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it anyway.

Martha's Way
To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.
The Real Woman's Way
Buy Instant mash mix and keep it in the cupboard for up to a year.

Martha's Way
When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking tin, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.
The Real Woman's Way
Acme sells cakes. They even do decorated versions.

Martha's Way
If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a potato slice.
The Real Woman's Way
If you over salt a dish while you are cooking, that's tough. Please recite with me the Real Woman's motto: 'I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes.

Martha's Way
Wrap celery in aluminium foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks
The Real Woman's Way
It could keep forever. Who eats it?

Martha's Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead.. The throbbing will go away.
The Real Woman's Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and drop it in 8 ounces of vodka. Drink the vodka. You might still have the headache, but you wont feel it anymore.

Martha's Way
If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dish washing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.
The Real Woman's Way
Why do I have a man?
Finally the most important tip.....

Martha's Way
Freeze leftover wine into ice cubes for future use in casseroles
The Real Woman's Way
Left over wine???? Helllloooo!!

Congratulations....

Congratulations Shannon, Adam and Big Sister Amelia!
Baby Harper is just as cute as can be!

Harper Oliver, was born at 2:40am on November 22nd. He is a big boy and weighed in at 8pounds-8 ounces.

Viv's new do...

Jude is Walking....Yay!

Jude has been walking along the furniture for months, but this week he finally took his first steps not holding on to anything. Yay!
He also has started climbing up the stairs. Time to get the baby gates back out.

Laura is in this video with Jude (I was filming).

Credit Crunch Hits Car Sales; The Real Economy

5 Simple Rules For Happiness...

1. Free your heart of hatered.
2. Free your mind from worry.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

Taco Tuesday!

Not by the cheese on his chiny-chin, chin!

Vivi the Jungle Girl!

Visiting The Bird's of Australia (Where are Jude's shoes? He won't wear them!)

We love to go to the zoo and we are trying to get in a few last trips before it gets too cold. We went last Wednesday and it seemed like we had the whole zoo to ourselves. It was great!

Happy Halloween!

We were parading fools this Halloween. We had our annual neighborhood parade, Vivi's school parade and our playgroup parade.

Vivi's parade at school. Grandma, Jude and I went to cheer our little Hannah Montana on.

Our playgroup parade. Jude dressed as Elmo. He really enjoyed the bucket of candy. REALLY enjoyed it! He didn't eat any..maybe next year!

Trick or Treat Night... Viv walked around the neighborhood with Amelia, Josie and Josie's little sister Kelsey. Amelia was a beautiful princess, Josie was a pretty ballerina and Kelsey was a cute little flower.
Jude and I hung out at home and passed out candy. We went through 5 bags of candy and 42 bags of Herr's chips. Viv, Josie & Amelia trick or treated my house at least 4times. They were too cute! they love the whole ring the bell get candy run to the next house thing. As a kid that rarely gets candy, Vivi wishes it could be Halloween everyday.

I'm Baaaack!

Sorry it has taken so long for me to update this little blog of mine. I have been busy working on the Chester County blog and neglected this one.
So.. let me bring you up to speed. October has been a whirl wind of Mommy trips.Thanks to everyone who stayed with the kids so I could have some time off!

In the beginning of October Jenn, Shannon, Kelly and I road tripped to Boston to attend Blog Her, a blogger conference. We had a great weekend! GM provided our transportation to the event. We drove a brand new, fully loaded Saturn Outlook. I really liked it. Shhh.. don't tell Brad, the loyal Dodge employee.
We met and mingled with over 200 other bloggers. We made great connections with reps from Leap Frog, Seventh Generation, Hooked on Phonics... look forward to some great give aways on the CCM blog.
We left on Friday 10/10 at 9:00am and didn't pull into Boston until almost 7PM. It was the longest 5 hour car ride EVER.. or at least it was supposed to be 5 hour car ride. We hit crazy traffic in NY & CT. Once we got settled into the hotel we met our hosts for GM and went to dinner with them at Legal Sea Food. Not being a Sea Food eater, I was a little nervous I would be eating a salad.. a really big one, for dinner and stopping at Micky D's after for second dinner, but Legal Sea Food had a steak menu and dinner was great.
Saturday night after the conference the four of us headed into Boston. I love Boston! It is SO clean and beautiful! We ate at a cute little pub on Newbury Street. We sat and talked into the wee hours. Good times! Good times!
Sunday morning we headed back into town in hopes of catching a sigh seeing tour on the famous Boston Ducks but the tour was booked so we packed up and headed home. No traffic on the way home. It only took 5 hours, Yay!

On October 28th,I went with a group of girl friends to a live taping of the Martha Stewart show in New York. 10 of us went. We had to leave at 4:45am in order to arrive at the studio in time. Everyone met at my house jumped into Kelly & Shannon's mini-vans and drove to Trenton, NJ so we could take the train into the city. We got stuck in traffic on the turnpike. It was a miserable rainy day and there was an over turned tractor trailer. We sat and waited for 45 minutes. I made friends with the trucker parked next to us. He has a CB so I rolled down the window and asked him if he knew what was going on up head. He said "we should start moving soon but you never know because truckers are sons-a-bitches (his words NOT mine) and lie to give the other drivers false hope" We also got schooled on how truckers call one another on the CB. I now know WAY more than I ever thought I would about the ways of the road. Thank You Mr. Hassenger Trucking Company driver.

I always drive into the city but the train was so much easier!

On the train!

The Warm-up Room

The Studio before the show began.

L.L Cool J was on the show and we each got a $50 gift card to Sears where he sells his clothing line. He was so personable and I really think he thought it was just as funny as we did that LL Cool J the rapper was crafting with Martha Stewart.

Jenn,Nancy,Lauren,Kelly,Jenn,Amy,Shannon,Shannon and Laura

After the show Martha answered a few questions. She was taping another show after ours so she only answered a few then headed off the stage.

Close to home...

My friend, K.C was recently diagnosed with Stage 2A Invasive Ductal Breast Cancer. She had a double mastectomy and will under go chemotherapy for 4 months, Herceptin IV infusion treatment for 12 months and hormone therapy for 5 years. All while chasing around her young daughter and running her Mommy business, The Diaper Bag Wrangler. To read more about her diagnosis and treatment plan, click here to vist her blog.

In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, 10% of The Diaper Bag Wrangler sales from 10/1- 10/31 are going to be donated to The Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition.

Click here to start shopping!

Farewell Big Blue

The time has come, and such is the car business that our days with Big Blue have come to an end. So for all of you that looked for us in Big Blue we are now incognito in our new 2009 Dodge Journey that Viv has named Black Turtle. It is a really cool cross-over SUV and makes me feel hip and sporty. I just have to get used to opening car doors again.

Life with Viv and daily Viv-isms

Me: (after picking Viv up from school.. a Christian pre-school) Vivi we need to stop at the grocery store should we drive all the way to Wegman's or go to Giant?
Vivi: Let's go to Giant. Giant is great and so is God. (God is Great, God is good.. get it)
I guess she is paying attention in school.

Viv and I usually go to 5 Below on Sunday afternoon for her weekly "lippy" fix.
This week I had some errands to run so I took her to Ulta, lippy and make-up heaven.
We walked in and she stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me and says "Whoa, I love this store" "Why come you never brought me here before".
I guess lippy day just got a little more pricey.

Brad was giving Duke his medicine and Viv pulled up a chair and stood next to them and pet Duke gently on the back and told him " I know you don't feel good little buddy, hang in there and be a good patient"

Jude LOVES to open and close the doors on our entertainment center and play with the TV. While Viv and I were dancing to Ellen, Jude turned the TV off. Before I could say anything, Viv said" Oh Jude, we don't turn off Ellen, you silly baby"
Words to live by!

I'm back

Hi All.. sorry I have MIA for awhile. I am cursed and didn't want to share my bad fortune with you.

My dog Duke had to have ANOTHER cornea surgery at VHUP. He had his left eye operated on in 2006 when he was 10 months old. This time it was his right eye that was cloudy, inflamed and ulcerated. He was yelping in pain and couldn't open his eye so at 11PM, Brad and hopped in the car ( Rachel babysat) and took him to VHUP - The hospital has a critical care pet ER. We waited for 4 hours and he was admitted and was transferred to the doggy ICU. The following morning he had surgery to repair his cornea. Then he was sent back to the ICU due to surgery complications... I will spare you the gory details.
There are only 2 Vet Ophthalmologist in the tri-state area so as I was sitting in the waiting room at 3am, I decided that since Vivi is such an animal lover she should be a doggy Ophthalmologist. She is only 3, so I have a few years to talk her into it.
A few thousand dollars later and my little buddy is home and resting comfortably. He lost half of his eye and lets just say with 1 eye sown shut, 1 eye cataract, buck teeth, and bowed legs he could win The Ugliest Dog contest. I love him to pieces but he is totally a contender.

I will save you the rest of my misery but, it has been a really rough month. I feel as if everytime I think the worst has passed I get another healthy heapin' of bad news. If my life was a book it would be a best seller. Hopefully we are at the part where everyone lives happily ever after....

Blog Day - August 31st!

Are you a blogger? Are you ready to be part of something big? Do you want to leave a mark on the face of the earth?

CELEBRATE THE 4th Annual Blog Day ON AUGUST 31st

What is Blog Day?
BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors. With the goal in mind, on this day every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs.

What will happen on Blog Day?
one long moment on August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post recommendations of 5 new Blogs, preferably Blogs that are different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.

BlogDay posting instructions:
Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting
Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2008
Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs
Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and
Add the BlogDay tag using this link: http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2008and a link to the BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org/

Blog On!

My Guilty Pleasure - CMT

Guilty Pleasure Reality TV show alert...

"Gone Country" on CMT (Comcast channel 146). It is a show about 7 washed up singers competing for a chance to "Go Country" and restart their singing careers in Nashville, Tennessee. Tune into to see if they have what it takes to go country. Can Sean Young, Mikalah Gordon, Lorenzo Lamas, Jermaine Jackson, Chris Kirkpatrick, Irene Cara and Sebastian Bach get into the Nashville lifestyle and write their very own country songs? All while under the wing of John Rich of Big & Rich. They live in his HUGE log mansion and play by his rules.

Last season Bobby Brown was on with Carnie Wilson and Dee Snider form Twisted Sister. It was a trainwreck but, I loved it! Season 2 looks better than Season 1

It is TOTALLY DVR worthy.. Friday night at 8PM on County Music TV. I like the theme song. I don't know all of the words I just know the Calling all you cowboys" part and sing it over and over. Totally addicting!

I am not a country fan but I am drawn to the CMT programming. I especially love "Outsiders Inn" with Maureen McCormick (television's "Marcia Brady") She leases a bed and breakfast in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and enlists the help of her celebrity friends Bobby Brown and Carnie Wilson. However, when their first guests check in, the amateur innkeepers try to kill them with kindness -- without killing each other. Meanwhile, Bobby Brown goes on a hunt for moonshine, but discovers something even better.

And there is always.. My Big Fat Redneck Wedding and Mobil Home Diaster -- and Extreme Trailer Make over show! Yes, it is really a show. Gotta love it!

How Embarassing!

Jenn and I have been having "work out" meetings at the local gym we belong to.
We sit in the cyber cafe, make phone calls, post blog entries and email, email, email. All while our children are happily playing in the child care facility. We are working but, totally guilt free.

Our mid morning work out usually coinsists of walking laps around the track but the gym was empty yesterday and no-one was on the machines. I have NEVER attempted to get on a machine in fear of falling off or really doing something stupid that everyone would stare and laugh at.
That being said...
Jenn and Iwere feeling brave in the empty gym and jumped on 2 really cool stationary bikes. They are all by themselves tucked in a corner. Perfect for us non-machiners!
We loved the bikes. Great workout, we worked up a nice sweat and we were right next to each other so we could still talk bloggy business.

Today we are sitting in the cyber cafe emailing and blogging and look over at our beloved machines and saw people in wheel chairs using them. They are for disabled people. We were riding the bikes for disabled people....How embarassing.
For the record there was no sign saying they were "special machines". We just thought they were comfy ones with arm rests and wider seats.

I may never machine again!

Happy Birthday Jude!!!

There must be an angel with a smile on her face,

When she thought up that I should be with you.

Today is Jude's Birthday. He woke up this morning around 8:30.. around the time he was born.
Brad surprised us and took the day off so we could do something fun with him today. Brad went in and got him out of bed this morning. He was very happy & giggly... he must know we have a fun day planned or maybe it was just he is a happy kid. Jude isn't a crier, he just goes with the flow. I like to joke and say he is "false advertising" because he is such an easy baby.
At one year old Jude is crawling, he says "mama", "dada", "baba" "na" which is Jude speak for "no" "Ka" which is Jude speak for cat, and he calls Viv "a ba you"..kinda sounds like "I love you".
Jude walks along the furniture and will walk when you hold his hands. Selfishly, i am totally okay with the fact he isn't walking on his own yet. I like that he still needs me. Once Viv started walking there was no stopping her. "Little Miss Independant". I am perfectly okay with holding Jude until he is 16 or so. After that I may have to draw the line. It may get a little wierd.

Jude's favorite toys are the door on the entertainment center, the house phone & the remote control. He has a dozen or so play phones & remotes. I have even gone so far as to give him an old house phone but he knows the difference and wants the real one. Jude also loves to play with the little drum set we have. Viv watches the Hannah Montana movie over and over and over and sings and dances while Jude drums along to the beat. My own little Donnie & Marie.
Like Viv, Jude loves animals and loves to snuggle up with Duke. Duke loves the fact that Jude is eating real food now and at meal time he is always right under his highchair.

I can't believe that a year has passed. Time flies by so quickly.

Viv is sitting here with me as I write this post and wanted me to write that she loves Jude very much and is so happy he is her brother and that "he has to eat cake on his birthday not Lenny's cat food." Sounds like good advice to me. Hopefully this will be the only year it is revevant.

Happy Day Ju-Ju Beaner!

Musings From A Housewife Give Away

Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife has an awesome give away going on for a beautiful handcrafted piece of jewelry from Swede at Heart.
She is picking a winner on Thursday so head on over to her blog and enter today.

SCORE!

A HUGE Thank you to NBC 10's All That & More for AWESOME seats to The Wiggles show on Friday night. Shannon, Amelia, Viv & I went to the concert. Viv & Amelia made signs.. you know because that is what you do when you go to a concert.

The show started at 6:30PM. We arrived at 6:15, went to will call to pick up the tickets. I looked at them quickly and read 1st row. Shannon & I "high-5'd". First row? How cool!
We found an usher and ask them to direct us to our fab floor seats. The usher says..."Your not on the floor, your in the luxury box". Luxury box? Too cool!
We make our way into our luxury box. It was luxurious! We had our own bathroom. A big plus for a very pregnant Shannon. The girls had so much room to run around and dance. It was great!

I have to admit Viv isn't a Wiggles fan or a fan of typical kids music for that matter. She listens to what I listen to. Kid music gives me a headache so we just don't listen to it. She still loved the live music and dancing of the concert.

The Wiggles did a Beatles tribute and Viv got so excited and started to jump up and down and telling all of the kids around her.. "Beatles. Beatles. They are singing Beatles." Then Murray the guitar playing Wiggle played "Stairway to Heaven", Viv started singing. She might not know all of the words to "Pop Goes the Weasel" but, she can rock out a classic. And anyway is it really important to know the weasel went pop? or that "You Get By With a Little Help From Your Friends"

Viv & Amelia had such a great night... the only down side to the luxury box is that next time we take the girls to a concert they will have really high expectations... I can hear Viv now... "What no private bathroom? I have to sit with.. the public?"

So with that.. I say.. buy a Dodge! My daughter has high standards of living.

Thank You, All That & More!


Holding up their signs during the "opening act"


The Wiggles...The toddler version of the "Fab 4"

Click here to enter the All That & More Kidz Sweepstakes. There are lots of REALLY cool prizes now through August 26th.

BlogHer 09'

BlogHer has a poll right now asking bloggers to vote on the city that they would like the annual conference to be held in. Philly is on the list. Woo-hoo!... but, so is Denver.. I am torn... I love, love, love Denver.
To cast your own vote click here

Blog On!

Now Read this...

My new Mommy venture made the local newspaper. Jenn, Margie and I were interviewed last week and the story hit the papers today. Front page of the Family section. Woo-hoo!

Click here to read the article.

A thousand thanks and a HOLLA go out to Shannon, Dawn, and Jaime (the non-blogger of the posse' but, we still el amor her) for all of their help stuffing 250 swag bags for the launch party on Thursday night. You have no idea how much I appriciate your support & friendship.

Jenn.... You get me...and have not gone running for the hills, for that, you deserve a special.. hmm...title. You keep me focused and have a "delicate" way of reigning in my crazy. You are the yin to my yang.

Margie.. I have no idea how you are doing it with a newborn and being sick but.. you are doing it. Thank you for EVERYTHING! You rocked the give aways! Hurry up and feel better. We gots a party to throw!

Thursday Thirteen

My favorite online boutiques in no particular order. I listed them as I found them on my favorites tab.

1. www.tuttibella.com
2. www.poshtots.com
3. www.fuzzyme.com
4. www.preciouspersonalities.com
5. www.kidbodies.com
6. www.diaperbagwrangler.com
7. www.darlingdroolers.com
8. www.lildarlins.org
9. www.nestbabysling.com
10. www.pinktaffydesigns.com
11. www.magicdogstudio.com
12. www.polkadotwhale.com
13. www.totallyoutofhand.com

Nothing "Blogworthy" to report

Life is kinda crazy around here with the upcoming launch of my new mommy venture.
Viv isn't really into me working from home. She doesn't like not being the focus of attention. For the past 3 years she has been the one calling the shots and for the past few weeks i have been working to get the new site up and running and she is bored silly.
Jude could really care less. He is just a happy little guy. Working Mommy and all.

Lenny is bopping around the house, Duke is still a food mooch and Penny is barking as always... Same old, same old....

and finally a picture of....

Lenny..our new furry friend. He is 3 months old and just as sweet as can be. He purrs...ALL DAY. He is the happiest cat I have ever known. Duke is afraid of him and Penny just barks at him.. but she barks all of the time anyway so who is to say it is directed at him?...

It took me a little over a year to bring a new cat home after my beloved but, mildly psychotic buddy (of 12 years) Alex died. After spending the week cat-sitting for my friend. I knew it was time.
Bringing Lenny home reminded me just how much I missed Alex as on the first night he snuggled behind my back just like Alex used to.


Viv & Jude love Lenny. They really LOVE Lenny. Thankfully Lenny is faster than Jude and well, can jump higher than Viv can reach although..he hasn't scratched her yet so I guess he doesn't mind being carried like a baby, smothered in kisses and riding in her dolly stroller. He has picked Viv's room as "his room". She has a little bed for him at the foot of her bed and that is where he likes to sleep during the day. Conveniently right in front of her fish tank..

Since he kept in a cage at the rescue for so long (2 months before we brought him home) he never jumped or ran up stairs. The first time he did it he kept going up and down and up and down. He was so happy and proud of himself. I must have watched him for an hour. It was adorable!

Every night when Brad gets home Lenny follows him around and jumps up to sit with him for nightly lovin'. Much better greeting than Alex gave him when they first met. Alex used to poop in Brad's shoes. After a few months Alex decided Brad wasn't so bad and that he could stay and eventually stopped pooping in his shoes. I am sure it had "nothing" to do with the extra food and treats Brad gave him.

Remembering Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon(my mom is a Carnegie Mellon Alum) professor who became a "You Tube" phenomenon with his "Last Lecture," died today of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 47. He died at his home in southern Virginia.
He was a truly inspirational man, father, teacher, and author. I watched a Dateline NBC special a few weeks ago and have been in awe of him ever since. His last lecture was made into a book. You can purchase it by clicking on this link. I just bought it and looking forward to reading all that he had to say.

Below are a few statements from RANDY PAUSCH'S 'LAST LECTURE'

-Never underestimate the importance of having fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day because there's no other way to play it.

-Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.

-No one is pure evil. Find the best in everybody. Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.

-Brick walls are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop people who don't want it badly enough.

-It is not about achieving your dreams but living your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.

-We can't change the cards we're dealt, just how we play the hand. If I'm not as depressed as you think I should be, I'm sorry to disappoint you.


Below is his now famous "You Tube" lecture...it is a long video but SO worth it to watch.

Thursday Thirteen - Favorite Things Edition

In conjunction with Coookie Magazine's Word of Mom contest going on right now... This Thursday Thirteen it all about your favorites. Baby stuff, toddler gear, mommy must haves, vacation destinations, shampoos, cleaning products, vehicles, clothing designer, cameras, make-up brands..What are your favorite thirteen things?

What is the Word of Mom contest? Cookie magazine wants to know what you're obsessed with, whether it's a miracle eye cream, a kid-friendly hotel, or a new double stroller that allows you to push and sip coffee at the same time. Each week Cookie will list the top products, so check back and see what other moms love. In September, the finalists will be announced and readers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorites. The winning products will receive the Cookie Word of Mom Readers' Choice Award, courtesy of moms everywhere.



Click here to order your RISK - FREE trial issue of Cookie and receive a FREE tote bag.

New additions to the fam...

Saturday night we went to the local carnival. For the record let me just say that "carny's" scare me. Why do they all look like convicts?

Anywho... We won a "FREE" fish. Viv instantly fell in love with it and Brad and couldn't say no. Oh, are we in for it as she gets older and her wants become bigger and more expensive... "Daddy, I WANT the BMW, please." Can you say SUCKER?!?

Before I knew what hit me the carny was handing me a fish. Viv named the fish right away so at that point I was totally sucked in. How could I say no to an animal with a name?


"Nemo's" first night at our house

Sunday morning we went to the pet store to get a tank and lots of other fishy goodies. Viv picked out the plants and rocks. Blue of course.. her signature color (said in a Southern accent for the Steel Magnolia fans) and ended up getting "Nemo" a friend so he wasn't lonely. Viv named the new fish "Teeny-Tiny". How cute is that?

Vivi LOVES her fish and wanted me to post these pictures so everyone could see her fishy friends in their new digs.





I took lots of pics of Viv's fish.. you know just in case one of them needs to be "replaced" due to unforseen circumstances.

A Kiss just isn't a Kiss...

Saturday morning. Jude is playing in his exersaucer. Happy as can be. Perfect time for me to sneek in a quick shower. Viv decides she wants to jump in too. Normally we take separate showers but, I had to run errands and just wanted to get going. So, in she came.
( Jude's exersaucer is right in my bathroom/bedroom doorway. I can see him from the shower. )

Wash hair, scrub down body, run razor over stubbly legs, jump out. All of that in 5 minutes. Viv likes to take a long shower so she stays in to wash her hair for the um-teeth time.

I have to mention that I am blind as a bat without my glasses or contacts. Okay.. with that said...
I am drying off and look at Jude. He is so really happy about something, Is it because he can see me? Aw, how cute?! Wait! He is saying "MMM" and chewing... I didn't give him anything to eat while I was showering. Standing there drying off I see something dark coming out of his mouth. I freak. Drop my towel (probably scar my son for life) and run towards him. Is it blood? Is he bleeding? What is going on? I yell to Viv -did she give him something? She says no and since she was in the shower with me . I knew she didn't have anything to do with the dark stuff coming out of his mouth. Viv jumps out and starts to freak and runs to Jude.

Since I am blind without my glasses I have to get right up to him. Nose to nose. As I get closer I realize he has something chocolate. I swept his mouth only to sweep out a Hershey Kiss wrapper. He didn't swallow it, Thank God! He was too busy gumming the chocolate. As I took the gummy glob of chocolate out of his mouth he was grabbing and stretching for it. He is a chocoholic! He was licking the chocolate off of his shirt just to get a fix.

All is well.. Happy to say Jude had no reaction to the chocolate. I am still trying to find out where the Hershey Kiss came from. We had a bag in the pantry but, they are long gone. Maybe one was left in a pants pocket in the laundry basket next to his exersaucer. That is the only way I can figure he would have got his hands on one. Crafty little guy!

Looks like the exersaucer is moving into the bathroom now.

Who needs sleep?

Insomnia is a symptom of a sleeping disorder characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. It is typically followed by functional impairment while awake. Insomniacs have been known to complain about being unable to close their eyes or "rest their mind" for more than a few minutes at a time.

I am going on day... I lost track awhile ago of not being able to sleep at night. I fall asleep then wake up and can't go back to sleep. So I write, read, blog, sometimes even clean....KA-RAZY, I know! All of that non-sense totally wakes me up and before you know it... it is almost 2:30am and I am type type typing away.

I have become a living breathing BNL song.... Hala, Hala, Hala!

Wordless Wednesday

This is NOT Jude... This picture amused..thought I would share. Happy WW!

The Perfect Gift!

I was looking for a birthday gift for one of my daughters closest friends and stumbled across this totally cool Toddler Apron and Potholder Set from The Diaper Bag Wrangler. The Toddler Apron is reversible AND machine washable. The front side features 4 pockets - perfect to hold spoons and spatulas! The back is finished with the same fabric as the front, making the apron reversible. There are fabric ties for the waist and an adjustable velcro neck.

The little girl was turning 3 and her mom is a wonderful baker so this gift was PERFECT! To top off the perfect gift I added a box of brownie,cake & pancake mix for Mommy & daughter to make together. The gift was a HUGE hit with all of the moms at the party and every time I see my friend she tells me how much mommy & daughter are having together whipping up desserts and how happy she is to have her little helper in the kitchen.

I ordered a Toddler Apron from The Diaper Bag Wrangler for my little chef... ......and it came today. Yay!

(Viv & Duke)

I can't wait to bake it in... that was my attempt at cooking humor...get it? bake it in..break it in...

Just slide to the left...

Viv (my future rock star) has been singing and trying to learn the "Cha Cha Slide" for the past few days. I don't know how she learned the moves. I can only remember her watching it on Oprah with me months ago.(No, we usually don't watch Oprah together..Just that episode and the one when Jon & Kate were on).
I knew she liked the song from the McDonald's commercial so I downloaded it from Itunes (I LOVE Itunes!) and it is in our daily Ipod playlist. She is cha-cha-ing everything for the past few days. Cha-Cha potty, Cha-Cha getting dressed, Cha-Cha playing..etc. It is very funny! She is such a little performer. She met a new mom from playgroup last week and immediately burst out into song ("The Best of Both Worlds") when someone mentioned Hannah Montana. Viv never met the woman before she just knew she had a live audience to perform for.

So the Vivster's buds can stay in the loop I thought I would post the YouTube version for the moms to practice & learn.... I think a Cha-Cha Playgroup is in order.

(Before you play the video...scroll down to the bottom of the page and pause the playlist..otherwise you will just have cha-cha noise)

I am sitting in my office returning emails, reading blogs, trying to leave somewhat witty comments and I am starting to get tired. I have had a VERY busy that past few days and have so much to post before my head hits the keyboard.

Friday..
Viv went with me to run errands and to the State Store to pick up wine for my moms night out later in the evening. (Jude was with the sitter.)
We pull into the parking lot and she says what is this store? I say it is the wine store. She says..."but, I am not whining. I didn't say anything"
I just turned around a said. "I know honey,this is the mommy juice store."
Fast forward to 6:30PM...Viv was so excited for my friends to arrive. She was sitting at the front door waiting for them and asking when they were coming. I was getting ready and ten-minuting her.. ten minutes, ten minutes...It was finally 7PM and she said.. "Mommy. It has been a lot of ten minutes I don't think anyone is coming." A few minutes after 7PM, Kelly pulls up and Viv says.. "Yay, Mommy someone is here!" I think she was starting to feel bad for me and starting to think no-one was coming.

Let the Idol begin... For our big Moms Night Out (MNO) we played American Idol Karaoke for Wii. It was so much fun! I am not shy at all. I will talk to ANYONE but, sing in public. Oh, no! I much prefer the comfort of my family room and silly girl friends. We started the evening singing duets. Jenn and I ROCKED duets! Kelly is a closet Celine Dion fan, Jaime was first class singing G-L-A-M-O-U-S,Jenn was in the zone singing an endless version of Tiny Dancer and Denise sang Ozzy proud.
Brad got home from work around 11 and we egged him.. who am I kidding? There was no egging.. He would have sung regardless. Brad is a HAM!


He thinks he is the 6th member of In-Sync. He belted out a few tunes then shuffled off to bed. We continued to party like Rock Stars until 2am. Good times, ladies. Good Times!

Saturday afternoon... spent with the horses as usual.

Saturday night... Brad, Viv, Jude and I played mini-golf at a local golf center and got an extra treat of community night fire works. I won!


Sunday.. bruch at the club, errands and we are going to attempt to fix our garbage disposal. That should result in a post or two.... Stay tuned!

Finishing Touches....

My Uppercase Living order arrived today. Yay! Uppercase Living is lettering, designs, phrases, and quotes made from vinyl that appear hand-painted. They go directly on walls, glass, mirrors, tile,canvas, car windows, mail boxes, front doors, boats etc.... the options are endless and they are EASY to apply. No paint, no stencils and no mess! They are also easily removed.

Above my front door....



It was really easy to "put-up". My friend Dawn came over to help... This is her standing on a chair, holding her daughter and putting up the impression with 1 hand. It is THAT easy!



I put the one in Jude's room up ALL BY MYSELF!



Don't carry the world upon your shoulders???....lyrics to "Hey Jude".

Mamanista Cyber Shower - Best Nest Contest

Please visit Mamanista for information on how you can participate in this Cyber Shower sponsored by Happy Panda.


Welcome to Jude's Jungle Nursery. All of the murals were hand painted. His dresser was my dresser growing up that I repainted to top off the jungle motif.

Amusing!

This is an actual letter from an Austin woman sent to American company Proctor and Gamble regarding their feminine products. She really gets rolling after the first paragraph. It's PC Magazine's 2007 editors' choice for best webmail-award-winning letter.


Dear Mr. Thatcher,

I have been a loyal user of your 'Always' maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants.

Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my time of the month is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call 'an inbred hillbilly with knife skills.' Isn't the human body amazing?

As Brand Manager in the Feminine-Hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customer's monthly visits from 'Aunt Flo'. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women.

The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants... Which brings me to the reason for my letter. Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: 'Have a Happy Period.'

Are you freakin' kidding me? What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness, is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory.

For the love of God, pull your head out, man! If you have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like 'Put down the Hammer' or 'Vehicular Manslaughter is Wrong',

Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 d rop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bullshit. And that's a promise I will keep. Always. . .

Best,

Wendi
Austin , TX

Not So Great Adventure

Today was a rainy 4th of July. Jude and I are sick. I talked to Jenn, this afternoon and she told me I sounded like I had smokers cough.. I don't smoke. That just tells you how awful I sound. Poor Jude is BACK on his nebulizer just to sleep through the night. I swear all someone has to do is sneeze around us and we are down for the count...

ANYWAY.... B-Rad was off today (woo-hoo!) and since the rain & germs ruined our 4th of July plans with our friends we decided to pack up the kids and head to Great Adventure - Wild Safari. The animals wouldn't mind if we were sick. The safari is is a drive-thru safari only 1 HOUR away from our house, a straight shot up the Turnpike. The animals are behind electric fences and low to the ground barb wire in designated open air, free range enclosures and some behind moats but from the car it looks as if they are only a few feet away. The lions & tigers are caged. They both have really big enclosures. Much like the zoo. The first time we went we were told that the monkeys jump on your car and fling poo.. NOT TRUE! They are no where near your car. I think that is a Philly urban legend... unless someone has a monkey poo story.. do share.

I drove and during the drive there everyone was napping (Including Brad) and as I was totally enjoying the silence, I missed the exit on the NJ Turnpike and didn't realize it until I started to see signs for Perth Amboy...Oops!

Anyone that knows me knows I boast about my EXCELLENT sense of direction. Where ever we go I can get us back to where we need to be, I am like Magellan. I rarely use my navigation system 1. due to the fact that I usually only travel 20 miles a week and 2. I grew up in the Philly burbs, I know my way around. Today was like no other. I had been there before I knew where I was going. Had "Matilda" (that is what we named our GPS voice)been guiding us the rest of this post would be much different, I am sure.

So... I realized I missed the exit. Shit! Shit! Brad wakes up, looks around and starts to smile. He knows I missed the exit. SHIT! If he only slept a few minutes more I could have gotten off at the next exit and jumped back on with no-one the wiser. No.. he wakes up just then and for the next 20 minutes I have to hear about how my "EXCELLENT" sense of direction failed and failed BIG. What was I going to tell Viv when she woke up and there were no tigers. Ugh!

With my co-pilot finally awake I turned around and arrived at Great Adventure at 4:07PM. The gates to the Safari close at 4PM on the dot! Not 4:01 or 4:03 and definitely not at 4:07. I begged and pleaded with the gate keeper. I told him it was Viv's birthday, I got lost, I admitted that I was an idiot for not planning the trip on my navigation. (To the gate keeper, that is certainly NOT to Brad.) Nope. He didn't budge. 4PM is 4PM! I did argue that the recording on the Great Adventure main # says the safari & water park closed at 5PM but he still wouldn't budge. Once I got home and looked online for the hours the website does say the safari closed at 4PM but, come on.. 4:07...? The recording said 5!

Rob the gate keeper is a big JACK ASS and I bet that being the gate keeper at Great Adventure is the highlight of his life. Stupid Rob, the gate keeper! See.. I come through with my I WILL BLOG ABOUT YOU threats... Rue the day Rob.. Rue the day!

Now, I am not poo-pooing the wild safari. We love to go there! I am just poo-pooing Rob the JACK ASS. I wish I took his picture. I would totally post it! If anyone goes and Rob is at the gate, roll your eyes and give him a dirty look for me... if you are feeling really bold flip him the bird or say.. hey your Rob the JACK ASS... say it quietly though.. don't want the little ones to repeat anything about Rob the JACK ASS..which depending on how old they were or how well they spoke might come out something about Jack's ass and leave people wondering why you were talking about "Jack's ass" and who was "Jack"? that WOULDN'T be good... That would be a whole new post...

The only good thing to come out of our miserable day is that we moved Viv's car seat to the rear row of my van so she could watch Nickelodeon & Disney Channel on Sirius Satellite TV. This worked out GREAT! Maybe it was the fact that she was watching TV in the car that made the blow of missing the safari easy to take. Thank You Chrysler!

Stupid is as Stupid does...

While searching Thursday Thirteen bloggers. I came across Kim's blog...Mikrro.com She was asking her readers to post a summertime memory and I decided to post my sunburn horror story to sympathize with my friend Jenn,who is currently a walking lobster.

Memorial Day 1993, Ocean City, NJ. I was 15 and my Best Friend at the time (Sandy)and I decided we needed a quick tan...We were staying at her grandparents beach house. I can only remember them sleeping.. maybe that is why we liked to go there. They slept and we ran wild through the streets of OCNJ. Good times! Okay, getting back to my story. A teenage girl can't go to the shore and come home without color right? We didn't have sun tan oil (What would the Grandparents need that for) so we thought baby oil would work but they didn't have that either so we decided Crisco was the next best thing. It was oil and they had that, just not enough for both of us. My other Best Friend Chris, was along on this trip with us and happily jumped in his car and ran to the 7-11 to get us Crisco. He thought we were crazy for using Crisco but, at no time did he mention that to us. He wanted to see how stupid we were and have a good story to tell to our friends once we got home. While Chris was at the 7-11 Sandy,(The BF) and I thought if we covered our chairs in tin foil to attract the sun we would get tanner faster... I didn't say we were very smart.. we just wanted a tan. Chris gets back and sees that we now have added tin foil into the mix and can barely get out of the car let alone walk up the driveway he was laughing so hard.
He helped lather us up and we sat and baked. Literally! After laughing and making fun of us he fell asleep. He didn't Crisco up he just layed on the grass next to us.

30 minutes into our baking session Chris woke up and looked at us. We were bright red, lobster red. This can't be good. The Grandparents were sleeping through our whole sit & bake ordeal and only woke up when we were running through the house looking for aloe.We ran into the bathroom and for some dumb reason (as if we could be any dumber, at this point)we thought taking a shower would help the burn. Nope. It just made everything hurt even more. Water beating on blisters... OUCH! At this point we were both covered in sun blisters. We probably should have gone to the hospital for sun poisoning but for some reason we didn't. My whole body from forehead to the tip of my toes was just one big blister.

I don't know what was worse the pain of the sun burn or the humiliation of telling people how dumb we were.

Chris reads this blog... Check the comments.. I am sure he will have something to add. Be nice Chris!

All in a days post..

I have a friend ( I told you I was going to blog about this..) that I talk to almost every day. She usually calls me to tell me when one of her kids does something funny or naughty.. she always ends the story with if I had a blog I would blog about it.... I usually end up coming up with a witty title for her to post the story on her not yet created blog, we laugh and go about our conversation.

Since I began blogging I find myself thinking of daily occurrences as Blog Titles... like....
flying a kite at the park the other day" Gone with the Wind", a Saturday night out with friends "Saturday Night Live" a day with the ponies "Horsin' Around" and so on and so on.... I also write my post in my head over and over then hope to remember it when it comes time to actually post.
I have even threaten a few times to post my friends silliness on the blog for all to read by saying this would make a great blog post.

Please tell me I am not the only one...

Somebody stop me...

I am hosting a "Jungle Walk" playgroup in 2 weeks and I can't stop myself from purchasing goodies for the kids from Oriental Trading Company. I LOVE that catalog/website. It is a Mommy playgroup, party, crafty must have!

We have woods that surround our house and there is a really fun trail through the woods that Viv calls "The Jungle" so I thought it would be fun to invite our friends over to walk through the jungle. So far the kids will have a visit from Dora, bug boxes, stickers, tatoos, bugs to collect in said bug boxes and jungle snacks.

I bought inflatable animals to hang in the trees and I am working on a map for the kids.. Dora style. Rock, Tree... Vivi's house....

I am having so much fun planning this event.... I hope it doesn't rain!

Wordless Wednesday

One of my playgroup friends (Thanx Laura!) took these photos of Jude last Saturday. She has an awesome camera and really captured the moment... I loved them all so much I had to post them all.





Jude's "Whatchu' talkin'bout Willis?" face

525,600 minutes

Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Moments so dear. Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes, How Do You Measure... Measure a year..?

How about...? New baby, pre-school, Madagascar replaced by Dora & Diego, Disney World(ugh!), new friends, reconnecting with old friends (Fuhrman..Holla!), lippy, ballet classes, Hannah Montana, somer-saults, countless trips to 5-Below, 2 wheel bicycles, lots of firsts, business ventures, swim lessons, good health and love..... It has been a great year!


Brad,Viv,and Jude surprised me with a very yummy cookie cake. My favorite. Can you tell who picked it out?

Saturday night my mom, Rachel and I went for an overnight ghost tour at
Ft. Mifflin A.K.A Mosquito Island. I forgot to bring bug spray and have bites ALL over. Some in rather delicate places...

Ft. Mifflin is located at the end of the run way of the Philly airport. Planes were flying over us all night. I have lived in Philly for 18 years and never knew it was there. It is really off the beaten path. We lugged all of our stuff from the car to the main house then had an all access guided tour of the fort. Didn't see any ghosts...but from a history geek aspect is was a really cool experience... a ghost would have been an added bonus. There was one casement (casement 11) that was accidently found 2years ago by a groundskeeper mowing the lawn. It just opened to the public this month. We got to spend a lot of time in the room looking at the writing on the wall (signatures of soldiers, war stories, poems..etc) from 1777. Pretty cool stuff! If you have never been to Ft. Mifflin it is definitly worth a trip.

And the winners are...

So happy to announce the winners of my very first Thursday Thirteen give away....

Shannon from You Ott 2 Know and
Amy W.

Thanx for entering... keep reading. There will be another fun give next Thursday Thirteen too.

Thursday Thirteen

This is my 1st Thursday Thirteen (Yay!) and I thought it would be fun to have everyone list their 13 favorite things about the summer.

Are you new to the Thursday Thirteen too? The purpose of this post is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun!


2 lucky participants of this Thursday Thirteen will win this Patriotic 4th of July bow courtesy of
Fancy Schmancy Stuff.Enter to win by posting your Thursday Thirteen on your blog and emailing fancyschmancystuff@gmail.com. Please enter TT Bow Contest in the subject line. If you are just a reader not a blogger you can enter the contest too. Just send your 13 favorite things about summer to the email address listed. Your email address will not be shared. Good Luck!


My 13 favorite things about summer are:

1. Going barefoot
2. Playing with the kids in the sand
3. Pedicures..who am I kidding? I get them year round but, people notice in the summer.
4. Summer hair..Who cares if your hair is a mess. You can say you were at the pool.
5. Cherries
6. It doesn't get dark until 8:30PM
7. Cook-outs
8. Going for Ice Cream
9. Sandals
10. Corn on the cob
11. Air conditioning
12. Flowers
13. Lazy days

Happy Birthday Amy!

Total Diva Day

A new kids salon opened in our town this week and they were offering free "up-do's" and limo rides in their hot pink decked out limo this weekend.
My friend Dawn took her daughter on Saturday and told me we had to take Viv. If ever there were girls that needed to ride around town in a hot pink limo it is my little diva in training and her friends Lilly & Katie.

10 days and counting...

My birthday is in 10 days. I am a little bit of a freak when it comes to my birthday. Some people don't like all of the birthday fuss. NOT ME! I love it! Flowers, birthday emails, cake, cards, presents.. I LOVE it all!

Poor Brad, begins to panic on or around June 20th. He knows the Birthday madness is about to begin. Last year he sent me to the Borgata in Atlantic City via a limo with two of my best girl friends for a girls only spa weekend. He also filled our front yard with 30 cows and a sign that read "Holy Cow, Sarah is 30"

The year before he surprised me with Dave Matthews concert tickets and a kid free day at Hershey Park. Dave & Chocolate. That works for me!

The year before that I got a watch. A lovely Techno-Marine with a hot pink alligator band and a diamond bezel. I love it!

The year before that... a new Louie.. can't go wrong with a new bag.

The year before that...well.. not so good...He bought me a leather and pearl bracelet.

It was (and still is) awful and I have never let him live it down hense the good gifts the past 4 years. Leather and pearls... how did he think that would work? He was thinking June- pearls, okay I get that.. but.. leather? I don't think I want to go there.

This year. I don't know what I would like. My want of "things" has fizzled away now that I am in sweats & a t-shirt every day. I am not ready to leave Viv & Jude for another weekend away anytime soon.. so this year dinner & a movie. There it is Brad.. all typed out in black and white. I made it easy for you!
Oh.. and a mini-spa day would be nice too.... Love ya!

CCP Blog Roll

My few of my playgroup friends have their new blogs up and running. Please stop by and give them some comment love...
Shannon
Jenn
Jenn

DON'T leave a message at the beep

I am really bad at checking my cell phone voice mail(or any voice mail for that matter). I usually check the caller ID and just call back. My mailbox is full so I finally had to delete all of my old messages and figured I would take this opportunity to respond to some of my voicemails... It has been so long I actually forgot the code to dial to get my voicemail. Note to self...for future reference it is *86

Lenny (AKA..the L-train).. Yes, Rachel is very nice. Just like me.. Right?

Shannon.. Art smocks?

Kathy.. Are you still looking for the Wii game for Shelby?

Saige.. Honey, you are just as bad as me. I left you a message a month ago. I don't even think Justice is open anymore. I love you too!

Warren.. Hang in there buddy! Eat a blue M&M

Lori.. I gave your Chesapeake Ribbon stuff to Andrea. Happy Easter, to you too!

Shannon.. Thank you for chasing Penny around the neighborhood. Don't worry she will come back. Stupid, stupid dog! Head shake, eye roll, sigh.

Marlo.. Yes, we had a great time at the party. Thank You for having us! Hope she liked her presents. Are you Hannah Montana'd out yet?

Michael.. Microwave shopping on Wednesday never happened and I think I will save this message for awhile. We miss you!

Dawn.. Yep, they are my sunglasses and we call it a "NU-NU". Silly, I know. If you can drop them off later that would be great. Thanx!

Me.. I didn't anwser because my stupid battery is dead again.. That does it. I am getting a crackberry!

Well.. that about covers it, I think I got back to just about everybody.. well everybody except for Mom.. didn't get your message about not being able to babysit so I'll see you at 6... sharp! Don't be late!

Messages dated back to March checked in June. I love being "retired"!

Six Word Memoir

Mel, a fellow Philly Mom Blogger, posted this meme and I'm going to give it a shot.

The meme originated over an idea that was prompted by the book written by Larry Smith & Rachel Fershleiser, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure. It’s a compilation based on the story that Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his life in six words. His words were, “For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn.”


1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it to your blog including a visual illustration if you would like.
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogsphere. Mel's link is: http://tuttlefamilyadventures.blogspot.com/2008/06/memoirs-of-mom.html
4. Tag 5 more blogs with links
5. Don’t forget to leave a comment in the tagged blogs with an invitation to play

So, here it is....drum roll please,
Can you babysit for me tonight?
my six word memoir...

Now, then, to tag five people.

Jenn

Heidi

Shannon

Margie

Jenn


Let me know if you play along by leaving me a comment so I can come read your six word memoir.

Blogging 101

Tonight a few of the moms in my playgroup came for a blogging lesson. I am so excited that 10 other moms will be entering the blogging world....Stay tuned they will be added to the blog roll soon.

Proud... Proud.. Day!

Saturday was our neighborhood yard sale. Every year I always put stuff aside for the sale and wind up forgetting about it. This year I got it together and lugged all of our stuff out of the basement. Viv was going through boxes pulling stuff out and didn't quite get the... it has been in the basement for a year.. let it go, theory of the yard sale. I explained to her that, we will sell the old stuff in the boxes and make room for new stuff. After a few reminders she got it and had no problem helping gather stuff to sell. I told her she could keep all of the money she got for selling her old toys. This struck a nerve. Viv LOVES money! At age 3 she totally gets it...Have money, buy stuff... buy lippy. The wheels in her head were in motion.

Saturday morning. 6am. My alarm goes off. I hear Viv getting dressed in her room. I go in and ask what she was doing and told her to get back in bed just then she said "Mommy, we have to go sell our stuff, I am going to help you because if I sell my toys I will get money for new lippy" I knew it! I saw the plan hatching on Friday. Brad and I are both salespeople so it warmed my heart that Viv has inherited our love of the sale. I guess I should tell you that Viv is NEVER awake before 9am. It is a big joke among our friends. They all know not to expect us anywhere before 10am because Viv sleeps in. So the fact that she got up so early and was ready and raring to go was unbelievable.

We lug all of our stuff out of the garage and set it up in the driveway. 7am. The "Early Birds' arrive. They are a strange bunch. The first set of women had walkie-talkies.. and were talking to people down the street comparing our stuff & prices. They were serious "yard sailors". Never seen anything like it.

Viv was sitting in a chair eating her breakfast and watching them pick through our stuff. She watched for a few minutes then jumped off her chair and ran over to the box of toys and started showing them the toys. She said " How about this one? Do you like Elmo? How about this bear?" They ended up buying one or two of the toys and that set Viv in motion for the rest of the morning. Anytime anyone stopped she immediately greeted them with a polite "Hello" or "Good Morning" then asked them if they needed any toys. Forget the rest of the stuff she was peddling her toys.

I was telling people all morning as soon as they were in ear shot that we were selling all DVD's for $5. Viv picks up on everything so after she would sell them a toy she went in for the bump... with "and all DVD's are only $5" and point them in the direction of the movie box. That's my girl! She did me proud!

Happy Graduation Day Laura!

Philly Mommy Blogger - Meme

Thanks to Colleen at Classy Mommy for tagging me for my very first meme! And thanks to Mel from Life is a Box of Chocolates for originating this meme among us Philly Mommybloggers.

And I'll go ahead and also tag more Philly Moms!... Amy, Val, Beth, and the very preggers Margie....

24 things about me....( sounds simple so here we go...the tough part will be picking only 24 things but I guess I'll just write whatever is top of mind and throw in a few bonus entries if need be! )

4 places I go over and over
1. 5 Below... Viv LOVES 5 Below! She could wander the isles for hours but, always ends up with the same stuff... lippy & art supplies.
2. Babies R Us... I am there so often I have become one of those annoying people that give advise to new moms registering for gifts.
3. Chic-fil-A or just "chic" as we call it. We go so often we are on a first name basis.
4. Target.... I LOVE Target! It is my happy place!

4 people that email me:
1. Jenn, almost daily with new fun playgroup stuff to do.
2. Saks Fifth Ave..... daily emails on all the new fabulous stuff I am missing out on now that I wear Mommy duds every day. I never removed myself from the email list because someday I hope to return to my former fashionista self.
3. Storypeople.. Daily emails.... fun little pick me ups
4. Heidi, almost daily with funny forwards or pictures


4 of my favorite foods:
1. Corn on the cob
2. chocolate cake
3. anything that is remotely unhealthy, cheesy, fried, buttered or salted... It calls to me..I can't seem to get enough.
4. lasagna
* Bonus.. Pizza.. I love a good thin crust pizza! Does that fall under #3?


4 places I would rather be right now:
1. At the shore (Delaware) watching Viv play in the sand.
2. Somewhere where it isn't blistering hot. i don't like to go outside if it is over 80 degrees.
I am a BIG baby!
3. Having a mini-spa day...facial, mani, pedi
4. I am pretty happy being at home in the AC, so my answers are kinda boring...sorry!


4 movies I could watch over and over:
1. My Best Friends Wedding
2. Enchanted... I don't have much choice these days... Viv watches it over & over but, I like it so I don't mind.
3. Sex and The City
4. National Treasure


4 people I want to learn more about, you are tagged...
Margie
Val
Amy
Beth

Filling Up Big Blue!

$4.11 a gallon... KA-RAZY!

I filled up my gas tank on Wednesday. $75.. ugh! Can someone please explain to me why gas is so expensive? I am happy to say Big Blue gets EXCELLENT gas mileage. I don't really go that far (I have had my Dodge Grand Caravan for 3 months and only have 1500 miles on it) so I only fill up every 2 weeks but, on average I get 23 miles per gallon. Gotta love that.. especially now that gas prices are so out of hand!

Type in your zip, and this website lists the cheapest gas in your area. The site claims to be updated every day. http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx

The way they were...

Hannah, Brianne, Kaitlyn & Viv

June 2008 - Age 3

Viv, Hannah, Brianne 1st trip to the zoo together

in June 2006
(Kaitlyn was asleep in her stroller)

Hannah, Brianne & Viv - June 2006

Viv, Brianne, Katie & Hannah

Age 3 - June 2008

Girls Weekend Recap

I honestly don't know where to begin... going to sleep on it and try to put it all into words... The title, I got...

Midgets, Magda & Mayhem....

Stay Tuned...

Girls Weekend

In less than a half an hour I am leaving for my first weekend away from my kids.. Kinda nervous but, they will have so much fun while I am gone. My mom & sister are staying with them while Brad is at work then Brad has lots of fun stuff planned to do with them on Sunday.

We are staying at a house on the Chesapeake in MD...

Stay tuned....

Let's see what this baby can do....

Viv & Jude out for an afternoon drive

Jude works the radio

It worked for me...

After seeing an episode of Jon & Kate plus 8 where the sextuplets stated to do simple household chores. I figured it was a good time to have Viv start to help out around the house too. I DVR'd the episode and we watched it over and over until she got the hang out of chores. Thanx Gosselin's!

I searched E-bay for a chore chrat and this single little creation has changed my life and made everyday arguments with Viv disappear.

Everyday when Viv completes her chores she gets a flower magnet for whatever task she completed. This past week she had a great week and got all flowers! Yay, Vivi!

To go along with her chore chart we made 3 special boxes with reward/activity cards.

After Viv brushes her hair in the morning she gets to pick from the first box. There are 10 cards in this box full of our favorite things to eat for dinner. Viv loves this because she gets to pick what we are having for dinner every night.

She gets to pick from the 2nd box after dinner only if she sits in her chair during dinner without wandering off to the bathroom 10 times, to check on the dogs, or to do some other ridicoulas non-sense that keeps her from sitting at the table. The second box has special fun stuff for her & I to do after dinner together. Like blow bubbles, ride bikes, go for a walk in the woods, paint our nails, play board games...etc.

The 3rd box is full of fun family activites to do on Sunday. She only gets to pick a card from this box if she has been good all week(or so she thinks...we would do some kind of family activity regardless she just thinks she is in control of if we do something. It is working so.. shhh!). Activites include...visit the ponies, go to the zoo, ride bikes, go swimming...etc.

Before the chore chart I would chase Viv around the house trying to brush and style her hair. It was really frustrating. The whole routine that should have taken 5 minutes would take 15 minutes. Now with the chore chart we are down to a happy 5 minute style and go.... I sound like an infomercial but, it really has made life so much easier.
To purchase you very own Chore Chart or personalized calendar click here
FYI...Viv's chores are: brush hair every morning, put toys away, sit in chair when eating, no whining, and be a nice friend. Not too much to ask of a 3 year old.

Sex and The City Opening Day

The movie was GREAT! I loved it!
16 of us went. Everyone got glammed up and looked beautiful. We weren't the only ones though. We saw a lady in the reproduction of the tutu dress SJP wore in the opening credits of the HBO series. Others wore funky hats.. lots of girls in cocktail dresses. It was fun to see everyone all decked out in thier hippest SATC duds.
The theatre was packed with lots of applause when the movie started and ended.

We all really loved the movie. If you are a fan it is a MUST see.

Readers Digest version of this past week.....

Tuesday was Brad's birthday. My parents got him American Idol for Wii. This game is the best! It is a karaoke game and you get judged by Paula, Simon & Randy at the end of your performance. We love the Idol and swear we are good singers so this was the perfect gift. We played it pretty much all night long. Viv, too. There are a few songs she knows. Well knows the chorus of at least and she belts them out at the top of her lungs. She is too funny.

Wednesday night- David Cook wins Idol. Yay, love him!

Thursday night was the long awaited debut of the new Indiana Jones movie. Brad was so excited and left work in time to get to the 10PM show. I don't really like "man movies" but figured after the week he had he needed a break so Rachel came to babysit and we went to see the movie. I won't ruin it for anyone.. but, I will say 20minutes into it I was crackberry-ing and checking my email.

Friday night was Mike's memorial service. The night started off really sad but ended with lots of funny Mike stories and a group dance to "It's Raining Men". It was his song.... and I felt it was a happy note to end the evening on. Everyone danced. Even Brad. I danced at first then kinda watched everyone else as almost immediatly the mood of the room changed. Tears were gone and everyone was smiling and laughing.
Funny how music heals...

Tomorrow - taking Viv on a picnic and to visit the ponies.... Stay tuned....

Viv & Jude Rock Out!

Keef.. this ones for you!

The video is dark.. sorry. It was a spur of the minute jam session and I grabbed my camera and started recording before I realized the room was too dark.

If you can make out the video. It is very cute.

Cheap Gas is becoming an Urban Legend...

Type in your zip, and this website lists the cheapest gas in your area. The site claims to be updated every day. http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx

Happy Graduation Day!

Today was Viv's Graduation ceremony from Pre-School. The kids all got a diploma and gifts from the teachers. It was very cute. She is very proud of her "diplomba" (as she says) and wants me to hang it up in her playroom so everyone can see it.


After lunch I showed Viv my pictures from the day I graduated pre school. She told me I should "put it on the blog" How funny is that? I show her the blog when I post pictures and read to her what I write (edited version).I didn't think she knew what it was called that I was reading from but, I guess she did. She is a smart cookie.

My Pre School Graduation pic... 1982
(I am the kid that looks just like Viv with the ribbon in my hair)

Someone find me a pony!

Viv's friend Natalie had a pony riding birthday party and ever since that day pony riding is the only thing that Viv wants to do. Viv has always loved animals but ponies & horses are by far her favorite. Pony bribary is now my weapon of choice. When I want Viv to be nice I tell her we will go visit the ponies. Great plan right?

Well... on Sunday we packed up to go to the park to visit the ponies only to find out they were closed for Mother's Day. Ugh! This didn't sit well with Viv and since I told her all week that if she was good she could go see the ponies I had to find a pony for her to ride or I would NEVER hear the end of it. We drove ALL over looking for pony rides. This park, that park, then I remembered that one of my friends bought his daughter a pony for her 6th birthday (For my 6th birthday I got a Strawberry Shortcake Doll...my, how times have changed) I called him like a crazy person until he anwsered his cell phone and begged him to meet us at his barn so Viv could ride. How was I going to make it through the day let alone rest of the week if I couldn't find her a freaking pony?
Understanding my desperation he met us at the barn. Viv got to help groom & feed the pony and then take him out for a nice long ride. She had the best time!




Daddy & Jude watching Viv ride

Lesson of the day....

How To: Post Blog Comments
I keep hearing people say "hey I was just on your blog the other day..." but I had never gotten a comment from that person. I think most bloggers (I know I do) enjoy getting feedback. Especially in the form of comments. There seem to be alot of people who do not realize that you do NOT have to be a blogger or have a blog account or anything like that in order to leave a comment on my blog - ANYONE can do it! It is EASY!
So... today's lesson is: "How to Leave Blog Comments".
At the end of each post there is a line that reads the date & time of the post and comments....Example
Posted by Sarah at 9:50 AM 6 comments
If you were leaving a comment on the example above you would click on 6 comments. You would then be directed to a page that looks like....


As you can see in the above picture there is an area in which you type your message. Then below that is a spot where you are able to choose your identity. This is actually an outdated picture so it probably won't say "other". Instead it should have a choice marked Name/URL. If you are not signed in as a blogger then you simply choose Name/URL and then you type in your name or nickname and/or your website (if you have one). Another option is to choose the Anonymous option. I ask that if you do that you sign your name on the comment itself so that I know who is leaving the message (Gino!) Then just click on the button that says Publish Comment... and Wa-lah you're done! See, wasn't that easy!?!
The reason I am posting about this is because I have a deep love of the comment and I love that I've been getting regular visitors but I would like it if the people stopping by would let me know they were here. So, please take a moment to say "Hi" and let me know what you think.

Scroll down to the "About Me" post... This post is an example of me being obsessive.
Just a little bit.. Ya think?

Happy 3rd Birthday Duke & Lulu

Not by the hair on my chinny chin,chin

So...The other day I had an itch on my chin. Not a normal spot for an itch, I know but, it was there so I scratched. While deep in scratch I felt a wirey stubble of a hair. I immediately ran to the mirror. Yep, there it was front and center. A chin hair. Ugh! You think chin hair,Grandma. I am only 29(and holding) how is this happening? I got the tweezers and since it was so small I had to break out the magnifier mirror. After nicking away skin I finally clamped onto it and pulled it out. I am glad to report that I am chin hair free now. I know because I am totally obsessed now and look for it every day.
Please tell me I am not the only one with chin hair. Do you think chin hair is like grey hair. Once you pluck it 2 will grow back? Am I going to be a bearded lady? Should I just sign up for the carny now?

Life with Viv

Viv, is always asking me to go and get her things (toys, dolls, shoes..etc.) when she is perfectly able to go and get them herself. Time and time again my response is "Viv you can get it. You are a big girl and don't need my help for that" Sidenote- If I felt it was something important, something she couldn't reach or could get hurt doing I would totally help her. Come on, I am not that lazy.

So... I was folding laundry. Knee deep in towels. The phone rang. Viv was sitting on the couch looking through her Hi-5 magazine. (Viv's equivalent to my Us Magazine.) I asked her to hand me the phone that was next to her on the coffee table. She put her magazine down, looked me dead in the eye and said with all seriousness "Mommy. You can get it. You are a big girl and you don't need my help with that" and went back to looking at her magazine.

All I could do is smile and laugh.

"We don't have much time, she said, so I'll just tell you about me."

I will talk to anyone. I hate sitting in traffic. I will drive miles out of my way to avoid traffic jams. I NEED six hours of sleep at night, but would prefer ten. I like to ride my bike. I love containers and putting things in them. I am not a good painter. I like to make things. I carry my camera with me everyday. I love celebrity gossip and US Magazine. Daisies and tulips are my favorite flowers. I love pizza. I like funny movies. I like art. Story People make me happy, you would know that if you ever came to my house. The prints are everywhere. I love that Kravitz, knows I am the smartest person alive. I believe in karma. I have a great memory. I don't like the heat. I don't come out of the house if it is over 80 degrees. I love Hershey's chocolate. I am good with names. Please and Thank You go a long way. I love staying at home with Viv & Jude. I love 90's indie rock. I watch Ellen everyday. I like to wear earrings & bracelets. Heinz Ketchup makes just about anything taste better. I don’t like spicy food or pickles. I like my name. I enjoy rainy days. My daughter is named after my Grandmother. I want to do a cross country trip in an RV. I remember phone numbers. Shoes are a weakness of mine. Oh, how I love a good shoe! I never went to college. I am a picky eater. I am generous. I can be high-maintenance. I HATE Wal-Mart, but I love their prices – so I go. On the other hand, Target feels like home. Makes me happy just to be there. Everything I save at Wal-mart gets spent at Target! Moochers make me INSANE!!! I have never mowed a lawn. I HATE tax time! I have seen DMB in concert 9 times. I am full of useless knowledge. I can be obsessive, I am definitely impulsive – but I am not compulsive. I am a TV junkie. My dogs drive me nuts sometimes. Things I want to learn: patience, to cook, and to use power tools. ABC's & 123's are my favorite comfort food. I love that Vivian has a sense of humor. I like to go out with friends. I love surprising people.I love to laugh. I strongly prefer to wear matching bra and undies. You know, in case I’m ever in an accident. I was a rebellious teen. Red is my favorite color. I hate voice mail. I never check it. I love to shop. I’m a rule bender. I kick-ass at trivia. I love my son’s laugh. I love the smell just after it rains. Knowing my daughter is kind makes me feel like a good mom. I like to be on the go. I don't like waiting in long lines. I want to swim with dolphins. I love catalogs. I hate putting laundry away. I don't "get" British humor. I love a good facial. Someone cleans my house every week and for that I am so, so grateful. I rarely cook. Thank God for take out, toaster ovens & mac & cheese! Yes, Jude was named after the Beatles song. My favorite car was my Mercedes SLK. I miss it everyday but, you can't fit car seats in a 2 seater! Denver is my favorite city. I like children. I almost always wear something black. I like to be comfortable. I am the worst pregnant person ever. The most adventurous thing I’ve ever done: Hot Air balloon ride through the Rockies. I HATE camping and would rather set my hair on fire than subject myself to sleeping outside. I love my daughters smile. I’ve never broken a bone. Sprained a few. Spelling errors irritate me. Use spell check! I love accents! Anything said by someone with an accent is worth listening to. I use the "F" word too much. California is my favorite state. I am protective of "my people". I can handle the truth. I like myself!

Who ya' gonna call? Part 2

We had our field trip for "Ghost Hunting" class this week. We were "investigating" the mansion at Hibernia Park in Coatesville. I have never been to Hibernia Park before so I didn't know what to expect of the mansion. We were excited and got there a little before the rest of our class and the teacher let us in early to use the bathroom and take a look around before the rest of the group arrived. The mansion is currently owned by the county parks department and only the east side of the property is open to the public. A park ranger lives in the west wing. The east wing is fully furnished as if it were still the early 1900's. There are some original artifacts from the original families that lived in the house (art work, furniture, rugs) but there were also lots of reproduction pieces and "purchased at auction" pieces so it was hard to get a feel for if the "entity" was there because they were attached to the property or to the items that once decorated the house. In class the teacher said that we should admire and comment on the decor of a property to entice the "ghost" to communicate with us. We did this and in a few rooms and got a response.

6:15PM - I took this picture in the dining room. It was still light outside so I didn't have my flash on. There are 2 "orbs" on the ceiling above the fireplace.

Around 7PM We were broken up into 3 groups. Our group started on the 3rd floor and worked our way down to the main floor and finally to the basement .

3rd Floor (Servants Quarters) - Back Bedroom - We were using a digital recorder for Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) and recorded a harmonica playing. There were 18 other people in the house and no living being was playing a harmonica. 5 people in our group were in this room, No-one had a harmonica.

2nd Floor- Master Bedroom - One of the women in the group and I opened the closet on the right and heard scratching & floor boards in the closet creaking as if someone were standing on them. It was just us in the room and we were standing at least 3 feet from where we BOTH heard the noises.

I took this picture in the Foyer/ Main Staircase - There are 4 "orbs" in this picture. There is a big one on the ceiling above the door, a smaller 1 to the right of that one then 2 on the window casing trim.

The basement-Both my mom and I (and a few others in our group of 7 people) got a strange feeling on the far back corner of the basement. This was the only spot in the house where both of us felt and eerie presence. Was it because we were in the dark basement of an old house? Who knows... but when my mom was talking out loud and asking questions of whoever/whatever was there. The rest of us were recording, video taping and taking pictures of her while she was asking questions. I took this picture. I count 5 "orbs" in this picture. There is a big "orb" near where she is standing, 1 on the window pane, 1 on the green pole, and 2 on the floor one is to the left of the green pole the other to the right. When I got home I Googled the history of Hibernia Mansion to see if anything happened there to justify the eerie feeling in the basement and found a site stating that there were 2 people that died in the basement.

Throughout the night the recorder picked up other EVP. The were a few "yes" answers to questions and lots of heavy breathing. I don't think it was us breathing on the recording because we were holding the recorder at our side near our pocket, out with our arm completely extended or left it on a table when we went into a room.

This coming week in class we will meet with the 2 other groups and compare "investigation notes" and pictures to see if they had any of the same experiences as we did.

Stay tuned for part 3 of my story....I will let you know if anyone else had anything good to share.

For more info on the Hibernia Mansion click here

Who ya' gonna call?

My mom and I are taking a "ghost hunting" class. Don't laugh... just read.

We both believe that we (people) are not alone and that there spirits lingering and we wanted to see if we could scientifically document their presence through photos and Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). We are curious and thought the class would be fun.

The night of the first class we didn't know what to expect. Would we be walking into a room filled with people wearing proton packs or would we be the only 2 in the class? Well, I am happy to say that there are 18 other people in the class with us and all seem to be pretty normal. There are 2 college students, 1 Aero-Space engineer that isn't a "believer" and the rest all pretty much think they live in houses that are haunted and are there to try and make sense of it all.

We have a few local field trips planned to "haunted" properties.... I will post pics if we see anything.

Birthday Party Weekend

Viv has been quite the party girl the past weekend. She went to 2 Birthday parties. The first was on Saturday for her friend Amelia. It was a great party. The kids dressed up like princesses, did a craft, got thier faces painted, sang songs and had a very yummy cake.

Princess Amelia the Birthday Girl & Princess Viv

On Sunday, Viv went to Natalie's party. Natalie loves horses and had a pony riding party. All of the kids got to ride the ponies, do crafts, get thier faces painted.. very popular with the 3 year old crowd. Viv had lots of fun and has been talking about Kalypso the pony all week so much so that we are going back to visit him on Saturday.

Vivi, riding Kalypso the pony (I think that was his name).

Viv, Kennedy & Natalie the Birthday Girl

Vacation to Florida

http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/Kc3xS7kW
(warning: It is a long one!)

Above is the link to the photo show of our trip to Florida.

Our flight was at 7am which meant we had to leave our house at 4am. Early, I know. Why so early? 2 kids, big bulky double stroller, lots of bags, yadda, yadda, yadda. We are not morning people by any means. You are lucky to catch a glimpse of us before 9am. So getting up at 4am was not easy for us.
We get to the airport and get through security with only 40 minutes until our plane leaves. 40 minutes isn't a long time when you are not traveling with a 3 year old or BRAD. 40 minutes with a 3 year old & BRAD is 3 trips to the bathroom, 2 trips to the snack bar, 10 trips to the window to look at the plane and about a 100.. when do we leaves... Ugh!
Jump ahead.... 8am, everyone is asleep on the plane but me. Finally peace but I notice Viv has a rash on her lip. She kinda looks like Hitler (see photoshow). Oh well, she isn't complaining so I hope for the best and crack open my Us magazine.

We land, the Chrysler transportation service whisked us off to the hotel.
My parents were visiting my Aunt in Sarasota, spent 2 days at Universal then met us at Disney to wrap up their vacation.

Sea World. Great day! Vivian, loves animals so she was happy. She fed a sting ray shrimp. She didn't think twice about picking up the smelly shrimp and touching the slimy 70 pound ray. During the Shamu show she sat a row or two behind the "splash zone" and Shamu got her wet. She loved it! This is all she will tell you about if you ask her about her trip. No mention of a princess or a mouse in clothes.

Day 2. We made the mistake of waking Viv up at 7am to take advantage of the extra park hours at Magic Kingdom. BIG mistake! By 11am she was in full blown melt down mode and eventually fell asleep in her stroller. Jude, much to my enjoyment was pulling her hair and kicking her chair as she slept. (We have a double stroller-he sits behind her) I love that kid!
The rest of the day was more of me trying to maintain control and keep Viv happy. Totally exhausting!
Viv, was kinda bored at magic Kingdom and not into the Disney Princess thing. Don't get me wrong she loves a princess and likes to play "Princess Vivian". She just isn't into Disney princess'. She liked the rides, liked Mickey and friends but, not into waiting in the long lines. Couldn't blame her there. Neither was I. We spent a lot of time at Disney's Boardwalk and at the hotel beach & pool. I think Viv, would have been happy just hanging out there for the week.

Day 2. Animal Kingdom. Viv and Jude both LOVED Animal Kingdom. She loved the safari ride and if the line wasn't so long we would have ridden it a dozen times. This was a good day for all.

Day 3. Hollywood Studios. Not a good day for the Vivster. One disaster after another. She couldn't find her shoes, couldn't find her "lippy" (chapstick she carries- EVERYWHERE! She thinks it is lipstick), sunblock in her eye, she wanted quarters to throw in the fountain not pennies... You know, your typical reasons to throw yourself on the ground and scream.

The rest of the trip just all blurs together topped off with lots and lots of whining. Needless to say, I don't see a Disney vacation in our future for a long, long time. It will be islands and sand for us from here on out. My hat goes off to those that have pulled off Disney so that everyone had a good time. I don't know what came over Viv, she isn't a whiner, and typically not a complainer but, something got into her during this vacation. She was back to herself today on our first day at home....happy and lovey. Maybe she was over stimulated, tired, not feeling well... could have been a combo of all 3....who knows but, I am glad to have "Happy Viv" back.

Jude, he was a trooper the whole week. I would travel to Australia and back with him. He was so good on the plane and just an all around happy little guy. He loved the shows and really liked the nice weather.

Me, I am happy to be home. I missed my goofy dogs(actually just, Duke. Penny.. not so much) and the comfort of my own bed.

Happy Easter!!!

St. Patrick's Day Parade

The Kelleher's sponsored the Philadelphia St. Patty's Day Parade and invited all of the dealership employees to ride on the David Auto Group float in the parade. It was a windy, cold day but we had lots of fun.

Viv, waved to the crowd lining the street to watch the parade. Jude slept. Yep, he slept through the parade. We had an Irish trio singing & playing music on our float and we were stocked with green David Auto Group t-shirts & green beads to hand out to the crowd.

On the float, in front of The Capital Grille (yum!)

Jude, decked out in his St. Patty's Day green

Viv and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. She was helping Brad hand out T-shirts after the parade and gave one to the Mayor and he stopped for a picture with her and

The David Auto Group leprechaun.

(You can see the t-shirt in his hand if you look real close.)

To view the photo show of the parade click on this link....

http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/IH5zU6RK

Philadelphia Flower Show

My Mom, Rachel, Viv, Jude and I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show Saturday night. The theme this year was "Jazz It Up" a tribute to New Orleans. We have gone for the past 5 years or so and this year was my favorite so far. Lots of artsy exhibits & live jazz musicians.

This is a picture of my favorite exhibit. The fountain was made with old brass instruments.

Vivi's Birthday Photo Show

http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/Ie7hC6rw

Click on the link above to watch the photo show I made of Vivi's, 3rd Birthday.
She had 3 parties so I gotta warn you it is a long one...

Enjoy!

Vivi's 1st Dance Class

Today was Vivi's first dance class. She loved it! She has been so excited to go do dance class. We went to the park today with Kaitlyn & Hannah and Viv, was really tired but, didn't want to take a "rest" and miss dance class. She ended up falling asleep in the car but, when I told her we were at dance class she perked right up.

We were early (for a change) and Viv was the only kid in the dance studio so she walked in and introduced herself to the teacher and told her that she could dance like Hannah Montana. The teacher asked her if she liked Hannah Montana. Vivi, said yes then told the teacher as proud as could be that she had on Hannah Montana undies.

Vivi is the youngest kid in the class so there was a lot of twirling and jumping in front of the mirror. She was so happy and excited after class and didn't want to leave. The teacher stamped the girls hands after class with an "Awesome" stamp and Viv told me the whole ride home that her teacher thinks she is awesome. How cute!

I really like the Alecia Keys song "No-one". I sing it all day long. We were sitting in the car waiting for Brad and it came on the radio. I turned up the radio and started to sing. I looked back at Viv and this is what I saw. Apparently she is not a fan of my singing.

Doggy Olympics at CCC

This is Ken holding Jude . He works at CCC. We love him! He takes great care of Lulu & Penny while they are at school.

We took Duke & Penny to The Doggy Olympics at CCC today. Brad, Viv & Jude were all dressed in thier "Duke" t-shirts and I had on my Boston Terrier T-shirt. We were dressed to win. Last year we only took Lulu and she came in 4th place in the "Best Kisser" contest. Our other Boston Terrier freinds came in 1st, 2nd & 3rd. 2008 was our year to win. We were coming home with the gold....

This year we took Penny & Duke. Penny is freakishly fast. Once she takes off it is impossible to catch her so we entered her in The Fastest Dog -25 yard Dash. We get her to the start line, Viv and I run to the finish line to call her. On your mark, get set..... Penny runs through the crowd looking for people to pet her and dogs to play with. Viv and I are calling her "Penny, Penny" she just kept running through the crowd. At one point she was rolling on her back for people to scratch her belly. Needless to say Penny didn't win.

2nd competition of the day. Best Treat Catching. This contest had Duke's name all over it. He never misses a treat, cookie or scrap. He eats like it is his job. Viv, is holding him at the line. I take my place to throw him treats. I took Animal Crackers his favorite. I throw the first one. He looked at me like I was nuts. The dog next to us was getting hot dogs. He didn't understand why he was getting just Animal Crackers. Duke wanted the hot dogs so he went over to the dog next to us and started to eat the treats that dog missed. Needless to say, Duke wasn't a winner either.

2 competitions and no gold ribbons for us. There is always next year.

Namaste!

Viv teaching her friend Kaitlyn, her favorite yoga pose.

Rachael Ray Day

My neighbor, Tara and I had tickets to see a taping of The Rachael Ray show on Wednesday. We had to be at the studio at 10:15am so we left at 6am. I had a sitter and Tara's husband was working at home for the day so we could go. It only takes 2 hours to get to NY from our house but, we left early to allow enough time for traffic and window shopping before the show.
We were so excited. We had our Rachael Ray outfits & shoes on. Audience members have to wear solid colors, no prints but still remain trendy. Hmmm, easier said than done. All of my Non-Mommy sweats are fun prints or black.
We got to the Lincoln tunnel in less than 2 hours. No traffic issues at all then we hit a major back up. The tunnel is 3.7 miles. It took us 80 minutes to get through the tunnel. Poor Tara, is 5 months pregnant and had to pee so bad. I felt so bad for her.
We get through the tunnel and find the studio with no problems. It is now 9:45am. We park and walk across the street to the studio. There is a line but, we think we are okay because we have tickets and we got there before our ticket said to check in, Not the case! The tickets are first come. We were not the first in line so we got bumped so did about 30 people in line behind us. Big bummer for us. Especially since we got up at 5am and sat in really bad traffic. The producer that told us that all of the seats were filled gave us 4 VIP tickets to next season and we are guaranteed a seat at the taping.
We walked around the city for awhile. Neither one of us had NY shoes on. We had on boots & heels. We thought we were going to be on TV and had to have cute shoes on. We didn't know we were going to get bumped. After an hour or so we headed back to the car. We would have stayed for lunch but, since it was so early nothing was open yet.
Moral to the story.... Always carry a back up pair of shoes in the car.

Happy 3rd Birthday Viv!

Viv, had a great Birthday this year. We had her party at a kids beauty salon. The girls played dress-up, each got a cute "up-do", they played with make up and got their nails done. At the end of the party the girls had a fashion show and walked the red carpet. It was too cute! I would like to have my birthday party there.

I am working on a photo show... stay tuned

Saturday at The Pet Expo

We went to the Pet Expo today. Vivian, loves reptiles. Frogs, snakes, lizzards, they make her so happy. There was a "snake-mobile" at the expo where you could have your picture taken with a python. Well, the Python was too big for Viv to hold on her own and there was absolutly no way I was touching it to help her hold it. The "snake man" got her a smaller snake to hold. I think she thought it was hers to keep because she held on to it for while after we were done taking pictures.
Viv got to meet Elwood - The World's Ugliest Dog and his owner Karen. Elwood was actually very cute and really liked Viv. It was hard for me to get a good picture of his face because he was kissing her up and wouldn't look my way. For more info on Elwood visit www.loveelwood.com

If you ever want to see Jesus again...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUJ4es4cYIU
(copy and paste if need be)

I can't even begin to describe how funny this is... Thank You Amy, for the link.
I am at a loss for words.
Picture my mom as the woman in this story and it gets even funnier.

What Comes Around Goes Around....

Okay.. this is a long one.
I first have to start with a back story to make the present day more relevant.
Picture me 4 years old, spending the day with my Grandmother Vivian (my Viv's namesake). My Grandmother was perfect and always dressed to the 9's. The woman wouldn't anwser the phone unless her hair was perfect, make up done and heels were on.

She had gone to the same salon weekly, had a standing appointment same day, same time for 20 odd years. I loved going with her. Her hairdresser "Elaine" would do my hair and I always came home with a new nail polish. I was 4, it was a big deal!
Not able to talk my Grandfather off the golf course to sit with me for the afternoon Grandma Viv packed me up to go to the "beauty parlor" and went over the usual rules in the car before we went in... don't touch anything, don't break anything, don't do anything to embarrass me. (My cousin, Paul and I got the rules basically everywhere we went with her.)
Long story short... A woman comes into the salon. A large woman with a "unique" nose I scream across the room 'hey Grandma, that lady (pointing) looks like Miss Piggy!"
My Granmother, hair now in rollers is mortified gives me "the eye", purses her lips and escorts me to the back of the salon to sit in the lounge until she is done. I didn't know why she was so mad. I was just innocently calling it as I saw it. Needless to say I never got to go back to the salon after that.

Present Day... In efforts to bring back my fabulousness, I have joined Weight Watchers. So far I have lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks. Yay! Before the meeting this week I was at the gym with Viv (Jude, still sick was at home with Brad, )and I didn't have time to take Viv home before the meeting started.

At the meeting, Viv and I sit down. Without giving it any thought I tell her .... be quiet, don't touch anything, don't break anything and if she understood what embarrass meant I would have thrown that one out too.
We are waiting for the meeting to start. Viv stands on her chair looks around the room, points to the woman next to us and innocently says.. "Hey, Mom that lady is soooo big". I could have died right then and there. Viv. Well, she was just calling it as she saw it. Thankfully the lady had a big bottle of water and I covered up Viv's outburst by saying "Yes, Viv, she does have a big bottle of water" Don't know if the lady bought it or not. Needless to say Viv, won't be going back anytime soon.
The moral of my story is.... What comes around goes around.