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

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!