My How the Cat Has Grown!!

Now, I really don't think we feed the cats THAT much food...oh, wait, it's Cooper...Sorry, dude, you just will NOT fit thru there...

Allison turns 6!!

Today was a big day for Allison - she turned 6 years old!! She's been excited about her birthday, but it was very hard getting out of her exactly what she wanted for her birthday! Unlike her big sister, she's pretty vague about her desires when it comes to birthday's (and Christmas for that matter!) Harrison was insistant that the "big" gift was a truck. Luckily, for Allison, it was a Barbie. She got some video games for the Wii and for her Nintendo DS, an Eric Carle board game (she really loves his books), a Barbie that has red hair just like she does, and a cute little outfit (that's actually a bit big but she HAD to wear it today - anyway, I'm sure I'll shrink it, it's all cotton!!) She has the outfit on in the pictures. We had dinner at home per her request - chicken, fettucini alfredo, broccoli, and garlic bread. If that sounds familiar, it's the same thing Jacqueline requested for her birthday. Easy, comfort food - yes, they are my kids....For dessert she requested a brownie "cake" with chocolate frosting and chocolate brownie ice cream. Even I, a die hard chocolate addict, could not down all that chocolate!! Mom made the brownie and Allison decorated it when she got home from school. It was quite a masterpiece and she was very proud of it. Jacqueline wrote a very nice note to her sister in her card. It really proves to me that she is very grown up and does truly love her sister. As she put it "...even though we have some tough times, I still love you...." They never cease to amaze me. All in all, she had a very happy birthday and we are very happy our Allison is happy!!

I know I shouldn't say it but.........

I think I actually am starting to feel BETTER........I started taking antibiotics on Tuesday evening since my fever came back and I was feeling considerably worse at that point. Pretty sure I ended up with either bronchitis or pneumonia. I can still feel lots of stuff in my lungs when I take a deep breath!! And I'm still coughing alot. I have 2 more days of antibiotics so hopefully I'll feel much better by the weekend.

We went to Allison's open house last night and it was so nice! Allison was so excited to show us her classroom, introduce us to her teacher and help us find everything on the scavenger hunt list. We really had a fun time!! She starts her private dance lessons again in 2 weeks and will be going to NYC for a dance workshop with her teacher and some other dance team members in November. Should be exciting for her (and me too!!) We'll get some mom and Allison time which we really need!! Jacqueline is busy with cheerleading and has also joined 3rd/4th grade chorus this year - they meet at 7:30 AM on Thursdays - that's a real treat!! She loves it and is excited about being in their production of the Nutcracker this winter. I think that's the main reason she joined!! Harrison is still loving pre-school and still cries on occasion when I come to pick him up to go home!! So different than his sisters! He brings home paintings every time and he is quite proud of them - today he painted a rollercoaster.

My parents are moving to Horseheads, NY (about 45 minutes from us) within the next 6 weeks. They are excited as are we. It will be very nice to have them close again and be able to help them out. I really miss them as do the kids. Harrison cried when we dropped them off at the airport - "I want grandma and grandpa come to our house!!!!" It was quite heart-wrenching. Glad to have them moving closer again!!

That's all for today. Time to run Jacqueline to practice....again. It really amazes me how much better she is behaved when she stays very busy and active!!

Have a good day!!
Sam

The Never Ending Sickness and Other Tidbits from New York

Sorry it's been a while since I posted. I am STILL SICK and went back to the doctor yesterday pretty much begging him for help. The nice man couldn't find anything "dangerous" as he put it, but did give me some Tylenol with Codeine so I can sleep at night without coughing my brains out!! It helped until around 2:30 this morning when I woke up to go to the bathroom and couldn't get back to sleep. I contemplated taking another one, but didn't want to be a zombie at Harrison's usual wake-up time of 6 a.m. - this morning was actually 5:53 I believe!! At least I got about 5 hours cough free, passed out cold sleep. It's a start!! Now Jack has caught the "illness" which I pray is not as long and drawn out as mine. The only thing worse than sick kids is a sick workaholic husband who refuses to stay home when he's sick until he's so sick that he's ordered to stay out of work and rest or be put in the hospital by the doctor, not that that's ever happened in this house. (Snicker, snicker)

Some good news to report - my parents have been here the last week as well and have found a really nice Senior Living Complex in Horseheads to move to. For those of you not familiar with Central New York, yes, the town REALLY IS called Horseheads. They will be moving here in November. More on that to come!

I finally got to meet Jacqueline's teacher at Open House on Wednesday and I really like her!! I get to go to Allison's Open House this Wednesday. Cheerleading and dance started this week and the girls are so excited!! They'll be busy!! (As will mom) Nothing else exciting to report here for now. Have a great weekend!

I am not old enough to have an eight year old.....am I?

My "baby" turned eight yesterday, September 12th. I really can't believe she's eight - seems like just yesterday she was in my arms 24/7 and crying constantly (well, that part hasn't changed too much!!) We celebrated her birthday with presents, of course, and a dinner chosen by the birthday girl. Her request was "shake and bake chicken, pasta alfredo, and garlic bread" - her exact words so that is exactly what mom made for her. She also wanted strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting and strawberry and caramel ice creams for dessert. Your wish is my command (at least on your birthday in this house) so that's what we had. She had also requested a red table cloth, candles on the table, fancy plates with leaves on them (we went for paper ones with leaves rather than a new set of china!!) and balloons. This girls knows exactly what she wants!!!! She had a great day and loved her presents which were all Hannah Montana themed - bedding, towels, wall decals, etc., etc. Her best present was that her grandparents came from Massachusetts. They arrived on her birthday and will be hanging with us for 10 days. I love seeing my children happy. Happy Birthday Jacqueline!!!

It's a 911 kind of morning, or, Where do I even start this one?????

For those of you with boys, you're gonna love this one. For those of you with just girls, you're gonna be very glad you don't have any boys. This morning actually was going pretty well. I was feeling somewhat better, had managed to get the girls off to school without too much trouble (read yelling), had eaten my breakfast without severe throat discomfort, taken a shower, got dressed (even put on makeup today!), and was talking to my mom on the phone while switching the laundry. For those of you unfamiliar with my house, the laundry room is right smack in the center of the second floor of our house across from Harrison's bedroom. There is an electrical outlet on the wall across from the door of the laundry room where we have an LED night light that I just leave plugged in all the time, as it shuts off in the daytime hours. So Harrison was "helping" me switch the laundry and then he walked out of the laundry room and literally a second later, he yells "look mommy, fire" and starts flipping out!! I start looking for fire and don't see anything. Then the smoke alarm starts beeping and I get panicked and pretty much hang up on my poor mom who was already worrying about my dad. Harrison is pointing at the night light which I then notice is tilted off the wall. So, I flick it out of the outlet and the whole outlet and back of the night light is BLACK. So I panic even more and call Jack who doesn't answer his cell phone (big shock there) so I quickly debate calling 911 and I do. The dispatcher was awesome and sent the fire trucks out to check out my wall. (I have visions of fire in the walls by now) Harrison is crying and holding his ears and when he sees the fire trucks, the first thing he says is "why isn't the fire truck red?" (Lansing has those nasty yellowy-green shade of fire trucks.) They come in the house and Cooper starts barking wildly and bouncing around adding to the chaos. (I should add here that one of the firemen is a Harrison's teacher's husband/Jacqueline's friend's dad - yes, we live in a very small town) I show the fireman the outlet and he wants to see the breaker box. I take him to the dungeon - ah, basement - and show him the box. He finds the breaker and lucky me (or Harrison should I say) it is a GFCI breaker so it tripped extra-fast thus not letting my house burn down from the inside out. (I highly recommend using a good electrician when wiring a new house - it obviously saved mine.) After inspecting everything including inside the wall behind the outlet, it's decided that there is no fire in the wall and the only damage done is to the outlet, night light, and breaker (and my nerves). While this is going on, Harrison tells my friend, who has arrived in the middle of all the "fun" with her 3 year old son to go apple picking, "I put a penny in there." So she tells me and we tell the firemen (there are now 3 and 2 trucks - Lansing spares no expense!) They take a good look at the night light and the pattern of blackness on it and figure the kid is telling the truth and that it would make sense. We can't however find the "penny" which he has told us he put on the dryer. Reminder - I was in this tiny laundry room thru all of this. When all is said and done I am told everything is ok but I need a new outlet, new breaker, and a new night light (and perhaps a stiff drink at this point - it's noon somewhere, right?) After they leave, I am still puzzled about the penny thing and think maybe Harrison means under the dryer - sometime he gets confused -he is 3 you know. So I leave him downstairs under close watch of my friend, and fish under the dryer and sure enough, there I find what use to be a nickel. It is scorched black and half melted where it hit the prongs of the night light!!!!!!! He was telling the truth!!!! I am just very happy that he did not get hurt and that my house did not really catch fire. We had a little 3 year old chat about coins and outlets and I am going to be replugging all my outlets with those safety plugs again - obviously my judgement about removing them was not really good. I think I have finally stopped shaking and having visions of raging fire in my walls. I'll be saving the nickel, the nightlight and the outlet in Harrison's baby book!!!

Survival of the (un)fittest.......

Well, by the grace of my husband, who may at times THINK he's a God, I survived the sleepover without passing out, falling over, or bursting in to tears. I really do have the greatest, most awesome, patient, brave husband in the whole entire world. How many other husbands would play musical chairs to Hannah Montana music with a bunch of 8 and 9 year olds? He ran the show. Not (of course I had to put it in this disclaimer) how I would have run it, but I was in NO position to criticize in my state of health! I did manage to paint the girls nails while sitting at the kitchen table and to help out setting up and cleaning up here and there. Jack tucked them all in and then got up and made them all breakfast this morning. (Have I mentioned how much I love my husband?) Now, don't think for a minute that I got to sleep in, I was up too, he just did everything. The thing I had to laugh about was last night while we were waiting for the kids to pass out, he was sitting at the computer whining about how tired he was and about how much his feet hurt - welcome to my world honey!! Jacqueline had an amazing time and was very happy. All the girls actually slept and I think they all had a good time, too. They danced, sang, ran around and watched the Hannah Montana concert on DVD. Part of the favors was a head-set microphone that they all put on and sang along to every song Hannah sang!! Harrison even got in on the fun (he passed out about 2 hours before the others did on the couch in the middle of all the action. I have NO idea how he actually fell asleep amidst all the girly noise!) This afternoon I resumed my position on the couch as I am pretty worn out - again. The girls are really tired, but of course would NOT nap - trust me we tried!! Now I need to try to get some of that "rest" the doctor prescribed before my parents arrive on Friday!!

Sick. As. A. Dog........

I finally made it to the computer - been working off my blackberry while dying on the couch......I had to have a change of scenery, although I know it won't be long until I need to return to the "flat out" position on the couch. Took myself to convenient care last night around 8pm. I couldn't take it any longer - my throat hurt so badly, my ears even hurt. I had a banana and it burned all the way down. So, off I went. Luckily there was almost no wait and I was in and out of there in under an hour. Thank God for that. I don't think I could have sat up much longer, let alone drive myself home afterwards. I had a throat culture and it was negative. I just have some miserable virus that could last up to 10 DAYS!!!! Then the doctor told me I really needed alot of rest and should stay in bed for 2-3 days!!!! You've got to be kidding.....I have 3 little kids!! So I am trying to rest as much as I can today. Jack went to Wegman's and got everything I needed for the big birthday party tonight, came home and cleaned the house up, got the house semi-ready for the party, and made lunch for the kids. He just took them to a fishing derby that his company is having today, so I am going to try to get some rest and then take a shower, which, I am predicting, will completely wipe me out!! Now back to the couch for a while........

And the thermometer says.......

Now, I swear I did this to myself. About 3 weeks ago I jinxed myself by saying to Jack "boy, I haven't been sick in a really long time" What an idiotic thing to say - out loud no less. Well the Gods of Sickness heard me and sent out the troops. The kids got it first - fever and cold symptoms - and now mom has it. I haven't felt this horrible in a really long time. I woke up yesterday not feeling well and got progressively more weak, achy, and feverish as the day went on. By the afternoon, I could barely move, and Jack had to bring home dinner for the kids and more motrin for me (I polished off the last of it by noon). Last night sleeping was virtually impossible because every part of my body ached - the worst was my fingers!!!! It still hurts to breathe!! I seem to have escaped the fever now (please God) and just feel a little bit like cooked spaghetti. Jacqueline's birthday party (a sleepover no less) is tomorrow, so I have to get off the couch every once in a while to try to do a few things, like make a cake, etc. Hopefully I'll feel better by tomorrow!! That's all for now......the couch is calling!!

Harrison's Big Day!!

Today was Harrison's first day of preschool!! He loved it. When we got there he said "hi" to his teacher and immediately spied the easels with paint and HUGE paint brushes. Off he went and never looked back :( No crying, no clingys, nada....... I stayed a while thinking that this would be short lived, but no, when I finally decided to say "bye" for the morning, he didn't even look at me - just said "ok, bye mommy" and that was that!!!!!! My girls had to be peeled off me their first day of preschool!!!! Now, don't get me wrong, I really don't like the "peel my child off me and run for the hills" drop off, but a little bit of sadness might have made me feel just a tad better!!! When I picked him up he was on the swings, saw me and said "one more minute mommy"!!!!! Didn't run over to me or anything. He actually CRIED WHEN WE LEFT THE SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!! He didn't want to come home!! Tell me that didn't make me feel sad. But he's home and after having a nice lunch together, he came over and gave me a huge hug and said "I missed you mommy". That made it all worth it!!!

The First Day of School

Well, the first day of school is here. The kids were so excited (so is mommy!!) They actually slept last night and got up all cheerful this morning, had a nice breakfast, got dressed and off they went. Fairly uneventful. The bus came earlier than usual and the route is changed a bit as well - good thing we were outside taking pictures!! We were all happy that the girls have the same awesome bus driver again, too! Mom is happy and sad. They really needed to go back to school and be challenged again but I have to say I really enjoyed spending time with my kids this summer and having a laid back pace to life. I really have amazing kids and I love them dearly. So, I was a bit sad too this morning seeing my little ladies get on that bus again. The house is incredibly quiet, even with Harrison still home. He is great at entertaining himself and is relatively quiet when he's the only one home!! Now it's back to the chaos of the school year and all the activities associated with it. Dance and cheer don't start up again until the 15th, so I have a little more time to actually have the whole family eating dinner together. Once that starts, Wednesday nights will be our only "free" night. Going to go buy myself some new running sneakers.....I'm going to need them soon!! Hope everyone else has a great first day. I'll let you know how the girls did and Harrison starts pre-school tomorrow - that should definitely provoke some tears from mom!! Have a great (quiet) day!
Sam

The dentist office

Well, my dislike for the dentist has just reached new heights. I really do not like going to the dentist. Never had a good experience as a kid, and no dentist since then has managed to change my mind about the "service" that they offer but I do still drag my anxiety ridden self there every 6 months to have my teeth cleaned. This morning I had an appointment for a cleaning at my dentist office, which shall remain anonymous. My appointment was at 11:00 am. I arranged for a friend to meet me at the playground and hang out with my kids during my appointment. I arrived at my dentist's office about 10 minutes early (which is a feat in itself for me) and checked in, the receptionist telling me that the hygienist would be "right with you". Well, I don't know in what language "right with you" translates to "you are going to have to wait at least 45 minutes" but I can assure you it is not English!! After my 45 minute torturous wait, I approached the desk only to be told that it would be at least a "few more minutes" - who knows what that really means so I told her that I would not be waiting any longer and needed to go. My kids were probably hungry and tormenting my friend at this point. So I stormed out the door and went to get my kids and my friend and her kids and we went to lunch because as predicted my kids were STARVING - after all it was 12:00 by the time I got back to the playground. Needless to say I will not be returning to this office as this is the 3rd time a situation like this has happened to my family there and I just don't have the time or patience to put up with this. In fact, maybe I'll tell the office they need to pay me for my time, since if the tables were turned and I was 45 minutes late for my appointment, I would have had to reschedule and pay for the appointment that I missed!!!

Embarrassing mommy moments 101

OK, I feel like the biggest loser mom in the state of NY. My dear middle child, Allison, has been taking private dance lessons ALL SUMMER, every Thursday at either 3:30 or 4:00. Well, about 1:30 today this brain-dead mother realized that YESTERDAY I forgot to take Allison to her dance lesson - DUH!! So, thank you technology, I texted her teacher and begged forgiveness. The best part is that last night I was at the dance studio for my boot camp exercise class and Jenna was there and didn't even say "so you blew me off today?" God bless her - she's way too nice!! With my humble apology today, I gave her permission to yell at me tomorrow at registration. She just laughed and said not to worry. I must have looked as bad as I felt last night for her to be so kind!! I know that had this been MY dance teacher I had as a kid, heads would be rolling right now and I would have been run out of the class last night! Jenna, however, is not only extremely talented and an awesome dancer, she's extremely nice and understanding. Even at that, I still really feel bad that I forgot!

Who Needs Chicken Soup When There's Watermelon?

Sometimes some good ole' fashion watermelon is all it takes to get kids to feel better and stop whining. Since Jacqueline and Harrison have not felt well the last few days all they have wanted to eat is canned chicken soup. Not my cup of tea, but if they're sick and that's what they want, poof, that's what they get. Anything to make my kids better. Unfortunately, the chicken soup magic just hasn't been there this time. They eat it and everything......but what kid wouldn't eat Cars soup, or Princess soup, or Dora soup - if you have kids, you get the idea. But these little ones just got more grumpy - no one seemed happier after their bowl of chicken soup. So, yesterday there was no way I was dragging my runny-nosed sweethearts food shopping at Wegman's so my beloved husband spent his lunch time food shopping (his office is across the street from Wegman's anyway!) He brought home everything on my list (except what I was planning on having for dinner tonight!!) and, of course, a "few" things that weren't on the list - One of the reasons I don't send him alone too often! But, he did bring home a small, whole watermelon. Now, my kids go crazy over that particular fruit. And yesterday was no exception. Once Harrison spied it on the counter, there was no mercy. I had to cut it "NOW" and they ate that thing faster than I could cut it. So here is a picture of all that was left after the watermelon was voraciously attacked by my children and a picture of Harrison, with the first smile of the day, sitting on the counter, eating his watermelon with juice dripping all over him and my counter. You may also notice the shnoogies (as we call them) dripping from his nose. Kids. Colds. Watermelon. Who needs chicken soup?

The weather changes and.......ACHOOO!!!!!!

Well, here we are at the end of August and the weather has been very cool, especially at night. Certainly doesn't feel like your typical August hot, humid weather. I think I can count on one hand the number of days this month where it has been hot. So, last week I commented to Jack that I had not been sick in a really long time and how nice that was. JINX!!!!!!! Although I am not sick (yet) Jacqueline and Harrison are miserable. Jacqueline is a bear when she is sick - grumpy, whiny, and clingy. Harrison is just cranky. He was awake with a horrible sounding cough last night at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 2:30, 4:30, and awake for good at 5:45 this morning. Jacqueline had a terrible time falling asleep last night and then started coming in to my room at 3:30 this morning and was in every 30 minutes for about and hour and a half then must have gone back to sleep. She just came downstairs already (6:20am) all whiny and looking pretty miserable. Harrison is lying on the couch coughing and sneezing. I fully expect Allison to wake up sick this morning, too. Welcome cold season!! So my plans for going to Wegman's and getting some food in the house are foiled as well as anything else I might have hoped to get done today!! In my eyes, it way, way, way too early for the "season of sickness" to begin - going to be a long winter!! Hope you are all healthy out there!! Have good day - I feel a sneeze coming on.........
Sam

Walmart and the Birthday Party

For those of you who don't know this little fact, I loathe the Walmart here in Ithaca. For different reasons than you might think, however. It's huge - not a Super Walmart (yet - thank you God) but huge in it's own right. And, it's not set up in a pattern that makes any sense to me. I can never find anything in it and get lost, frustrated, and on the verge of a panic attack EVERY time I go in there. It also smells - now I can't tell you what it smells like, but it just smells......badly. For those that don't know this other little fact about me....I don't do smells, nor does Jacqueline. So here I am with 3 kids in tow (kids who desperately need to go back to school) in my huge, smelly, disorganized, anxiety-producing Walmart to get Camp Rock birthday party supplies for my dear oldest, Jacqueline. We finally find the &$@* party section and she sees the Hannah Montana party stuff and the PINATA that goes with it and bing.......we're doing Hannah Montana now. Ok, so you might not think this is such a big deal HOWEVER last week we were at our decent sized, non-smelly, well organized, usually non-anxiety producing Target (we're regulars there - Jack says we make a "daily deposit" there and that they might go bankrupt if we ever move away :) !) At this lovely establishment was the SAME EXACT HANNAH MONTANA PARTY WARE THAT WE JUST BOUGHT AT WALMART!!!!!!!!! Now I had tried desperately to convince her to get this at Target last week but NOOOOOO she had to have Camp Rock. So I have put off going to Walmart (which I might also add is on the OTHER side of Ithaca!!) to get the Camp Rock party crap for a week because I really, really dislike going there and when I do finally muster up the courage to drag my sorry butt there, we end up getting the same stuff they had at Target (Actually I put it off longer than that - the girls also wanted 3-D glasses that they only had at Walmart for the Hannah Montana 3D movie and I never went to get oh, about 3 weeks ago!! Also suckered in to buying the bluray disc of the movie complete with 4 pairs of 3D glasses this morning at Walmart.....) I love my kids, I love my kids, I love my kids...............But I STILL don't like Walmart!!

Antiques and a Treehouse

Good morning! The sun is out and it's suppose to be a beautiful day here today - actually like summer is suppose to be!!! Yahoo! Well, I made it thru the weekend. Saturday was a complete bust - I had the migraine to end all migraines and never even got out of my jammies!! Luckily I felt better by Sunday and I went to the Madison-Bouckville Antiques Show with my friend Beth. I've wanted to go to this huge antiques show since we moved here to NY and finally got the chance. Well, it was HUGE and we had great weather, and I was armed with cash, checkbook and credit card just to cover all bases. And guess what I bought? NOTHING!!!!!!!! Everything was so overpriced it was depressing!! For me to not go crazy buying antiques spread over 90 acres of fields, you know it had to be way too pricey. Don't get me wrong, there was some nice stuff - beautiful furniture, crocks of any size, and on and on, but $375+ for a little bitty crock - I don't think so. Not from this bank account!! So we left early and went shopping at various little shops on the way home. I got a great little plate shelf at an adorable antique shop in Cazenovia, which was a quaint little town, reminiscent of those in Vermont or New Hampshire - 2 of my favorite places to go. We also stopped at an amazing furniture store which I will be dragging my poor hubby back to sometime in the near future!! We had a great lunch in this whole in the wall tavern which was really cute!! And the food was amazing. Then back home after a stop at Marshall's - a luxury we don't have here in Ithaca!! I came home to a quiet house and a new tree house in the backyard - guess my family was quite busy while I wasn't home! When they all came home from a nice dinner out, they gave me the grand tour of the treehouse which they were quite proud of and I have to say, it is quite the work of art! I bet if you took out a level, it would be perfect - leave it to Jack to build the "perfect" tree house. Anyway, Monday morning is here and we have dance and cheerleading placements this week. The busy season is upon us!! Hope you all have a great week!
Sam

Missing......Blog entries............

OK, so I have been really bad about updating my blog. No excuse, just haven't done it. I have been hanging out on Facebook these days and update photos, status, dogs' status and any other part of everyday life regularly there. So, if you aren't on Facebook yet, get an account (yes, it's free!!!) and look me up by email and ask me to be your "friend" then you can get regular updates on what Cooper is chewing and my moods.....kind of scary! I am REALLY going to try to update this blog monthly - that's my goal. So, what's been going on here......I decided not to put the kids in camp this summer (no, I am not on drugs!!) except for one week when Jacqueline had Cheerleading camp. She loved it and got her back handspring- yay!! Although I am too chicken to let her practice it at home. She practices everything else though and has really improved! Allison has been taking private dance lessons this summer. She is just so cute. I cry every time I watch her. She is going to be on the dance team at The Next Jennaration this year where she has been dancing. This fall, Jacqueline is only going to cheer and Allison is only going to dance. Their decision not mine. I'm happy that they each have their "own" interests and are pursing them. They are quite supportive of each other and it's so nice to see! Jacqueline is going in to 3rd grade and Allison in to 1st. Harrison is finally potty trained - daytime and nightime - and is out of his crib sleeping in a big boy racecar bed! My baby is growing up!! He will be starting preschool 2 days a week at a Cooperative Preschool right down the road. He's been going to playgroups there Thursday mornings and he's pretty excited about it. I'll probably be going to help Jack out in his office one of the 2 days Harrison is at school. Jack's business is going well. He's been really busy, which in this economy is very good! He broke some ribs 4th of July weekend while trying to body surf so it's been a slow moving summer for him!! Luckily he is feeling better. Jack and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary back in June. We took the kids and went to NYC for the weekend. We had a blast - the girls got to go to American Girl Place. Summer's been relaxing, even though having the kids home 24/7 has been a bit challenging (I'm being nice here) I have really enjoyed spending time with them and not running around. I know it'll all start up again way too soon!! Well, off to check my email, Facebook, and take some more Advil for this headache!! Hope to see you on Facebook soon......Sam

Baxter and Cooper

Here are some updated pictures of our puppy - Cooper (on the left). He is almost 8 months old and weighs in at 70 pounds!! His big brother, Baxter weighs 100!! (He has gained a bit of weight since Cooper came along as he has been eating puppy food.) Needless to say they are off the puppy food!! Cooper will most likely be bigger than Baxter. They are really great dogs and both think they are lap dogs and sit on anyone who dares rest on the couch!!
Sam

NY State Champions!!!!!!!!

Our amazing TNJ Twister All Star Cheerleading teams won NY State Champions this past weekend in Utica, NY!!!!!!! Our Mini (Allison and Jacqueline), Youth (Jacqueline), Senior, and Hip Hop teams won 1st Place and State Champions and our Junior Team won 2nd place and the best stunts award!! We are all very proud! The girls have worked very hard this season and it helps that they have an absolutely amazing coach, Jenna. We all love her! She is so great with the kids - she makes them works hard but really loves and respects them, too. Obviously a winning combination.

Other than that, everyone is recovering from the flu (except Mom - shouldn't say that too loud!!). Jacqueline was sick the entire school vacation, Harrison started the end of vacation, and Allison the Monday that school restarted :-( I had a bit of a cold and felt horrible, but kept going as usual. Jack now has a bad sinus infection and his lungs "didn't sound good" when he finally went to the doctor yesterday. But, of course, he went to the doctor and then went back to work!! That's my Jack!! He started his new job the beginning of February and is "having so much fun" as he puts it. He works about 12 hours a day. Occasionally we get to see each other for a few minutes on Sunday!! That's all for now!!
Sam

Just a quick note!

Not too much new to report this week. Allison has bronchitis. I thought she just had a cold until the nurse from school called me to come get her. Took her to the doctor and whoops! bad mommy moment - was a bit more than a cold!! She is on medication and doing alot better. Even went to cheer practice today. Jacqueline and Harrison are great. Harrison is a cranky 2 1/2 year old but we love him just the same!! 'Til next week!!
Sam

Twister All Stars.............

The girls have now had their 1st and 2nd Cheerleading competitions of the season. The first one was small but all our teams were amazing!! The mini, junior, and senior teams took 1st place in their levels and the mini and seniors got the Grand Champion Awards for their respective levels. Way to go girls!!! At the competition today, our girls got majorly cheated out by the judging. Not sure what happened but they performed above and beyond some of the other teams and the awards DID NOT show that. Something was definitely not right. The whole team was pretty upset, including their coaches. The coach talked to the girls and told them they had done a great job. One of life's important lessons I guess - not all in life is fair. Anyway, they looked great and the parents and coaches thought so too!! 'Til next time!!
Sam

Been WAYYYYYYYY to long.....

OK, so I didn't say I was good at this blogging thing, so I apologize that I have not updated it since July :( but, that's life with 3 little ones!! Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone! Hope you had a great Christmas and are off to a good 2008. We stayed here for the holidays and although we missed our families and friends it was very nice to just relax at home and the kids had a great time playing with their new Santa goodies. Harrison got and excavator, a concrete mixer (his favorite) and other assorted cars and trucks. Allison got her first American Girl doll - a just like me doll with red hair and hazel eyes. She is soooooo excited!! We had told her that she couldn't have one until she was 6 (that would be Oct. 2008) but I guess Santa missed that conversation!! Jacqueline also made out from Santa having a bit of a hearing problem - she got an iPod, yes a brand new RED nano engraved by Santa!!!! Gotta love that Santa Claus!! Jack got a kegerator (for those of you who were as naive as I was, that is a refridgerator for a keg of beer complete with tap!!) Needless to say he is a pretty happy guy!! I can't complain either. Jack surprised me and bought me a new diamond. It is a past, present, future ring with the 3 stones (one for each kiddo he says). It is beautiful and I was speechless (those of you who know me know that that is a feat in itself!!) So, we really had a great Christmas here. For New Year's Eve, we had a party at our house - an 80's theme party. Boy, it was a blast. Everyone had to dress a la 80's and bring a picture of themselves from the 80's for our "wall of shame". Jack downloaded 80's music as well. It was a lot of fun. Now the kids are back to school (Jacqueline 2nd grade, Allison Kindergarten) and tomorrow starts the cheerleading season!! Both girls are cheering this year and taking dance classes. They are very cute!! I am posting some pictures and will try to remember to update a bit more often, especially since cheer season is here!! Happy New Year!!
Sam