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

Jacqueline's orthodontics - already!!

Yes, we have entered in to the world of orthodontics. Jacqueline is barely 7 and just last Monday, got a retainer to start fixing her mouth. The purpose of this phase is to open up her jaw a bit so that all of her teeth can come in without being crowded - it's called the orthopedic phase of braces. All new to us!! Her retainer is bright pink with butterflies on it and it glows in the dark!! Her friends are jealous and want one, too. Quite a change from 30 years ago!! Anyway, she is doing great with it. I am very surprised by how responsible she is about taking care of it. She wears it 24/7 except when swimming - don't want to fish it out of the pool - and after meals/snacks she has to rinse it off. The first 2 days eating was tricky but now she's a pro. We have already noticed a change in how her mouth looks - amazing!! Keep you posted and will put pictures up as we see more progress!

Sam's July Workshop projects

I held a Stampin' Up! workshop this past Sunday and these are some of the projects that we did.

Our Hike At Buttermilk Falls in June

Here is a picture we took about halfway up our hike of Buttermilk Falls here in Ithaca. The kids all did great! Even Harrison made it most of the way up and down. Buttermilk Falls is a State Park here in Ithaca. For those of you who don't know alot about Ithaca, we have a lot of State Parks and Waterfalls here. This is the first time since we moved here that we have hiked this trail. We had a great time!

April break update

Hello everyone! As most of you know, the kids had break this past week. The weather has been cold, rainy and snowy pretty much everyday, so it has been a looooong week!! Jacqueline started off the week with a nasty cold, but has recovered quickly and is full of energy as usual!! I held my first kids workshop on Tuesday. It was so much fun. The kids made 3 projects - a bookmark, a card, and a tote bag. They all seemed to enjoy it! I had 11 kids here - including my girls. My friend Tif watched Harrison for me during the workshop. I hope to do more kids stuff and even do birthday parties in the future! I also will be making some gift tags for Jacqueline's teacher's daughter who is getting married this summer. That was pretty exciting as it is my first "big" order!! Allison is enjoying her time off. She had a playdate with one of the girls in her preschool class yesterday and had such a good time she didn't want to leave!! Harrison started with a runny nose today - oh, joy, just in time for the weekend!! We are supposed to get a big storm this weekend. I hope it avoids us so that the kids can go back to school on Monday!! I need to upload Easter pictures and I will try to post them soon. Still trying to figure the picture thing out on the blog!! Hope you're all well.
Sam