Happy 2nd Birthday Lulu

Today was Lulu's 2nd birthday. We are having their official birthday party while we are in Cleveland with friends and family but we did have our neighbors over for pizza and cake tonight. Lulu had a great day with gifts, cards and well wishes from many loved ones. And she blessed us with a full night sleep and a wake-up time of 7am. We went to the Y in the morning and then had a playdate for lunch and a playdate after naps so hopefully she will have a great night tonight.

Some recent funny stories about Lulu.....She is going through a phase right now that the past week she has been waking up at 3:30am exactly and singing and entertaining the house! I mean on the top of her lungs...."DADDY I NEED CHOCOLATE MILK, MICKEY MOUSE, AND I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE, NOOOOWWWW!" Lulu is the girl that goes to sleep at 8 sleeps till 7 never a peep takes a 3 hour nap so we were a little worried about this new habit sticking. It takes her a good 2 hours to calm down in the middle of the night and go back to sleep. So things are pretty exhausting around here.

She has also been trying to master the scooter. Simon is upset because they "are not safe for kids" but it is not like she really gets going very fast. I hope that I am able to upload the video I took

Some wonderful things about Lulu.

1. She loves Elephants and sleeps with a stuffed elephant every night. She also loves to do elephant impressions.

2. Her favorite color is purple.

3. She has been doing great in her music class and sings her scales and wakes us up with songs from class every morning.

4. When asked who she loves her response always is.... "My Gammy, My favorite" or "My Gammy my best friend".

5. She loves her daddy so much that she is moved to tears most days when he comes home through the door.

6. Loves play-doh.

7. She knows alot of colors

8. She knows alot of her letters and loves to sing the ABC song.

9. She successfully kicked the pacifier habit. It was touch and go. You have never seen a plastic addiction like that.

10. She worships her big sister

11. She gives the best hugs.

12. She loves, loves, loves, to cuddle

13. She has a smile that can melt your heart.


Happy Birthday Lulu. We love you.

Happy 3rd Birthday Ruthie

Yesterday was Ruthie's 3rd birthday. She had a great birthday. She received so many cards and well wishes along with gifts form many loved ones. We are actually waiting to have the girls birthday party with family when we are in Cleveland next week so more pics to come. Her birthday dinner request was of course meatloaf, mashed potatoes and birthday brownies. We also went to see Bakyardigans live! I don't know if you remember but Ruthie was Uniqua for Halloween.

In honor of Ruthie's Birthday here are a couple good stories from the past few days. She has been hot on the topic of school and we keep telling her that she will go to school when she is 3 and she goes pee on the potty. Both items that are now officially checked off the list. So she was under the impression that yesterday being her 3rd Birthday the school bus was going to pull up and take her off to school. And she couldn't have been more excited. When I told her that was not the case she was absolutely devastated. Not only that she would not be going to school today but that she was not in fact going to ride a school bus for a while if ever. The Catholic School is nearby and bussing is not really an option. She was crying even harder! She says to me. .... "It's ok mommy, I don't need you to drive me. I will be fine on the bus. Can I go NOW?!" I think at that moment my heart was ripped from my chest and thrown in front of a bus. I know that she goes to the beat of a different drummer and she does not need her mommy for anything but really? really? at the age of 3 she can verbalize that? I guess this is the life of girls. I knew this day would be here but not at the age of 3.

The other story is that she is into babies. All kinds of babies. And yes, she has already asked us for a little brother. Simon's reply to her was a laugh and he informed her that he only knew how to make girls. So, she could have tons of babies but they all would be girls. My response was, a 4 beer night and alot more baby dolls! I think that the count of baby dolls is about 9-10 right now. She also considers her froggy which she sleeps with every night and 2 other stuffed animals babies to so she takes them everywhere with her. And you can only imagine the meltdowns that ensue when she drops them. You know, it is awfully hard to balance 9 babies at a time with 4 blankies and some favorite stuffed animals. Anyhoo, she insisted on having them all upstairs with her at bedtime and when we could hear her on the radio she was reading them all bedtime stories. As we go to check on her before we go to bed Simon says... "Come on let's go check on the Swiss Family Robinson upstairs" we get to her room and there is Ruthie but no babies in sight. We peel back the covers and there they all are in a row! The picture does not do it justice. There were 9 babies 4 blankies and 4 stuffed animals. It is amazing there was room for her.

But in true list form I am going to highlight some of Ruthie's 2nd year highlights.

1. She had her first haircut.

2. She learned how to ride a bike with training wheels. last summer when she was only 2.

3. She has been an amazing big sister, caring, kind, and thoughtful

4. She loves going to church.

5. She loves to jump in puddles. Her mommy taught her that

6. She is great at her music class and can already sing scales.

7. She has been sent to time out about 100+ times over the course of the year!

8. She learned to pee on the potty and has not looked back since.

9. She calls the garage a Gar-Age. Just like the brits.

10. Bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and her big girl bike = the best day ever.

11. She can sing the entire Ohio State Fight song.

12. She knows all her letters and the sounds they make

13. Knows all her colors.

14. LOVES, loves, loves, chocolate.

15. Favorite lunch PB and Jelly sandwiches. she wants this every day. flash backs from camp.

16. She has graduated out of her class for gymnastics and is on the waiting list of the next class. She can almost do a cartwheel by herself.

17. She loves to cuddle in bed.

18. Her daddy is her superhero.

She is such an amazing little girl, and looking at that list she has big things ahead of her for her 3rd year.

GO RUTHIE!

Where everybody knows your name......

Simon had to head to New Jersey for business..... It was meant to be a day trip but he couldn't resist being that close to our old house, work and camp without making a visit. (Debi, you were on your honeymoon, otherwise he would have scheduled a visit) He was also unable to get together with our wonderful friends Vicki and Tony who became more like family to us over the years in Jersey. I believe they were in Florida visiting family as our many calls were unanswered and hope that all is OK.

He was able to meet up with our good friend and my old roommate Ken, and they went to dinner with our old boss at one of our favorite places of all times in Jersey The Brew Pub. We spent many of nights there while we lived in Jersey. They have nachos that rank in my top 3 of all times.

The next day, they did not have anything planned and decided a trip up to camp was in order. Since camp is only a 2 hour drive from where we lived in Jersey it was a no brainer. They first stopped at the Trackside Grill which is a breakfast, lunch place on main street owned and operator by the one and only Jeff and Sue. Jeff and Sue are dear, friends of ours. They both spent their entire lives at The Fireside with Sue in the kitchen and Jeff as the best bartender ever. We have manged to stay in close contact with them over the years since we have been at camp and they have now started their own place right in the middle of Honesdale. Simon got to surprise Jeff and visit with Sue and even had the opportunity to visit with an old bartender "cupcake" who just happened to stop in for lunch.

On to camp, Simon said he was overtaken by nostalgia as soon as he drove up the camp road. The last summer that Simon was there was the summer of 2001. While I went back for the last 2 weeks of the summer of 2002. In Simon's words "Camp looks amazing, there have been many, many, improvements and the place looks awesome." He said while all has been updated and looking great, that time stands still and that if you asked him to go to the maintenance garage and get a screwdriver, it would be in the esact same place. Ken was completely sick of Simon crying like a baby all day remembering all the many wonderful memories of his 7 summers there.

Of course, camp is the beginning of our story as we spent 6 summers there together and 4 of those years working full time in New Jersey. We met, fell in love, had a fake wedding with campers as our attendees (debi's blog of pictures). For me, it was the best job I ever had, while it was the most demanding and exhausting, it was by far, the most amazing one. I found so much joy, and a sense of accomplishment with every successful summer it will be hard to ever find a job that can compare to it. Camp will always hold the most special place in both of our hearts and I look forward to getting to walk down memory lane with Simon and visit camp. It is hard to believe that we met on the fateful night 12 years ago while playing the evening activity scrabble scramble. Simon and I were both vowels and in true evening activity style you could make an activity last an hour and a half or 20 minutes so they made all the vowels. (What were needed for the cabins to spell their assigned words) hide in the woods for the first 20 minutes. There were a whole bunch of us hanging out in the woods behind the office getting to know each other. That and we had the same day off. Key to all your friends at camp.

.....Total freaky thing happening right now, as I am typing this blog, Cheryl and her partner from dancing with the stars are dancing to one of the songs from our camp video. As if I didn't have goosebumps to begin with. ...............

Well, last but certainly not least, to end the trip down memory lane Simon went to the Fireside for dinner and a drink. Simon has not walked through those doors in 7 years and upon walking into the place everyone starts hooting and hollering and it is like a time warp as if it were just yesterday at 10:30 pm after a long days work at camp and snuck out to get some food, he walked in and ordered: mozzerella sticks, a Club with no tomato, and a beer in a frosted mug.

Simon always wanted to be Norm from Cheers and I think he realized that he has achieved that goal in Honesale, PA.

Happy Easter

I know you may think that this picture was taken in January but you are wrong.... oh so wrong! This picture was taken on Good Friday. We had a foot and a half of snow fall in less than 12 hours and it kinda made the Easter Weekend feel like Christmas.

We had a fabulous weekend. Gammy came on Thursday with Dan and the girls were so excited. We had some fabulous meals, played alot and Simon and I had a date night. We went out for dinner on Friday night in the middle of the blizzard. Seriuolsy the cardinal rule of parenting.....YOU NEVER REFUSE FREE CHILD CARE..... Simon called the club to see if they were still open and we went for it and had a fabulous meal and were welcomed when we came home with the news that Ruthie had a stomach bug. The only glitch of the weekend, it took her down for about 24 hours, and she was a trooper. I put the air mattress in her room and we had a sick girl sleep over. So fun right?

We colored eggs on Saturday night and even fit in a game of trivial pursuit. Easter was great, the girls were as good as they could be for an hour and 40 minutes in a packed church. They loved their easter baskets (candy free - they got puzzles and Ruthie got sidewalk chalk her favorite and Lulu got new princess slippers) and we even had an easter egg (eggs with candy in them)hunt in the basement. After Church we had a huge brunch at our house and invited our neighbors over.

The weekend was so awesome it felt like I was on vacation but didn't have to pack or leave my house and get adjusted to a hotel bed. No, don't get me wrong I would love a cabana boy and a nice beach but what does it say when I say that this past weekend was a very close second. I love my family so much and truly had a wonderful time.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I love St. Patty's Day. I love the parade's and the green beer. It seems though that the older I get the more no one wants to party with me. Although, St. Patty's Day was on a Monday this year, I guess I will let it slide. Aunt Katie sent the girls some festive green shirts and they proudly wore them all day. I thought about dying all their food green that day but, I figured the trauma that it would cause for Ruthie was totally not worth it.



We had a co-worker of Simon's over for dinner at the last minute and I really hadn't planned on anything for dinner so ordered out Don Pablo's. I mean what better way to celebrate the day than with Mexican food. Although there were no takers on the green beer (Simon's co-worker is pregnant so she had a good enough reason, and Simon being british (I know who knew) thinks that why would you mess up beer with green food dye, passed as well. Whatever...... I will admit I had a frozen green margarita at Don's while waiting for the take out. Delish! And maybe some beer's when I got home. Molly Margaret McGann..... Irish? just a little bit.

Easter Bunny

We had a family outing on Saturday and had a great time. We all went to Ruthie's favorite mall about an hour away. She loves this mall because it has a huge treehouse/play area in the middle of the mall for all the kiddos. Of course I was all for a morning of shopping. We rode the carousel, had lunch out and of course saw the Easter Bunny. Ruthie loved the Easter Bunny, Lulu, not so much. She hid behind Simon's legs. The Bunny got on the gorund to try and coax Lulu closer but it just backfired when Ruthie practically rugby tackled him on the ground. Later on while eating lunch we were discussing the upcoming birthday's and Ruthie was very concerned that she forgot to invite the Easter Bunny to her party and she really wanted to make sure he comes. I guess we will see about that.

On Sunday for lack of anything better to do and the cold weather came back with a bit of a vengence..... We had a pool party in the bathtub. Ruthie was so excited about her new bathing suits that came in the mail for her birthday pool party we decided to have an indoor pool party!

Bring on Spring!

It was in the high 50's today and we could hardly wait to get outside and play. Of course there were still piles of snow all around but we still enjoyed ourselves. The girls were so happy to play that Ruthie could not stop running up and down the street. Lulu was so funny. She kept trying to keep up with the girls but her little baby trike from last year was not as fast as the girls, so she kept picking it up and running down the street with it to keep up. We certainly will have to get her a trike for her birthday.

Bounce House.

The girls love to bounce. They would jump on the beds all day long, if I let them, which I don't. I knew that Ruthie's friend who she was having a play date with had this jump and slide and I asked the mom to bring it. She of course thought I was crazy and she took some convincing.

Well, let me tell you, the best activity ever. Now, if we had one of these we would use it indoors, when Simon wasn't home and outdoors too! He too thinks I am crazy that I would even think about doing this indoors. And if the fort didn't freak him out from previous posts, these pictures sure will. Well, this Michigan weather gets the best of everybody and what are you supposed to do with the kids all day when you can't go outside and they have all this energy.

They had so much fun! Just check out the pics.

Go on, Play with your food.

You know you are a mom when you make meatloaf for dinner. MEATLOAF! I mean who still makes meatlof? My family loves meatloaf. Now that could mean 2 things..... I am either a really bad cook and meatloaf is a safe dinner or I don't have very picky eaters. I mean Lulu was chanting for a third helping last night!

I like to write fun things on the top of the meatloaf before I cook it. There has been, "I love Daddy", "I (heart) you" "Rock on" and I honestly can't remember what else. But I felt that this was rather fitting to be posted on the blog.

Guilty Pleasure

I hate to even admit this but we are addicted to BigBrother at our house. We have been for several years. And the fact that it is on for 3 nights during the week especially in the summer when there is nothing to watch and nothing to do makes it easy to get hooked.

So when I was sick and stuck in bed for 2 weeks, (Oh yeah, just when I started to get better I got a sinus infection and with that comes the worst migraines ever) I had tons of time to surf the internet. And sorry for no posts during that time because there really wasn't alot to say and take my word for it, nobody needed to see a picture of me in that state. I didn't even want to be in the same room with myself!

Anyhoo, went online to look up my fave show and checked out some of the bio's and I am starting to second guess my interests.......Really tanning is listed as a hobby for SEVERAL of the contestants. TANNING. How in the heck is that a hobby? Come on people!

Just thought I would throw that out there.

Gotta go....My show is on.