Snow Day

Its been long overdue - this mild winter we were having was bound to deliver a snowstorm worth talking about. I think we accumulated as much snow over the last 24 hours as we have since December.

I do not snowmobile, I do not ski, I do not enjoy the cold snowy commute to work and then the inevitable need to brush off the car and scrape the windshield before heading home. I normally do not care for snow. Today was different. the white blanket that fell from the sky over night and well into the day was beautiful, soft, quiet and abundant. we received a good foot of the white beauty - and it was thick, heavy, and PERFECT for snow fun.

Our snow business:

First looks of the morning revealed this....

Then late in the day, we frolicked with a sea monster and danced with our snowman.

Today I enjoyed the snow.

Later we topped off the evening with a warm bowl of homemade chili, and a craft project that hatched this beautiful "curly bird" we learned to do from this month's Family Fun magazine.

Good night snow day.

Winter break recap

As many of you know, this week was Winter break for the kids. A whole week off .... a whole week of finding something for them to do. I think we did a pretty good job of entertaining. everyone survived it, and I have a lot of pictures with smiles to prove they had a good time

Monday I was able to have a day with all three kids too. Since I am pretty reluctant to do anything by myself with all three kids alone for fear that one of them (or me) could have a melt down at any moment in public - I was glad that Meme came with us to the BONKERS FUN CENTER to enjoy day with us as well, although we got through it incident free.

While we were at Bonkers, Kyle wanted to get a snow cone. I was a little reluctant because we had already eaten a pizza and a pitcher of soda, and the girls had already returned to bouncing. I said "go find out how much they are". Kyle came back with "$2" - I only had a 10.....I handed it to him and said" bring me the change". (I like to give him the Independence to put his money skills he learns at school to some use). He came back with the change alright! - $4......I didn't specify that the girls were not interested in a snow cone. Apparently he chose then, to start thinking of his sisters. Aawww.....but look who ended up with all three

Plenty of Tickets were won in the arcade to later change in for lots of "junk"

Did I mention all the jumping, and Bouncing and (tiring the kids out) laughter?

And togetherness

the kids had a great time - as so did I. It was nice to get out and do something with the kids on my day off as well, instead of the usual laundry detail.

Wednesday was Daddy's turn for a fun day. Mommy was glad the camera was brought along for this event. Meme did a great job of capturing the fun and I am very happy to get to see it from the comfort of my WARM living room. The kids have no problem withstanding the cold - Gary said they had a fantastic time tubing at Tubby Tubes. Vivian had so much fun, she didn't even want to take a hot dog break.

Kerrigan thought it was fun AFTER Daddy bought a ticket to be her tubing buddy.......The first trip up the hill, Kyle was told to make sure he went down with his sister.....again, it wasn't specified WHICH sister he was supposed to go with. Pretty soon Gary sees Kyle and Vivian sliding down the hill and Kerrigan was now where to be seen. The next kids down, asked if the little girl at the top of the hill that was Crying was ours.....So gary got a ticket and joined in the fun.

YAHOOOO!!! DADDY!

It seems the kids aren't the only Winter Games lovers in the family - On Saturday, Our family gathered at the farm for a little Winter Olympics Party to build up to the suspense of watching our man Apalo Ohno break the world record for most Olympic medals won in speed skating.

What is a party without fun food? - to get into the spirit,

we had marshmallow skiers and snowboarders, "half pipe" chicken salad sandwiches, Olympic bread rings topped with cream cheese and corresponding colored toppings, a coconut cake that looked like snow, some American flag carrying shrimp cocktails, and quartered iceberg lettuce mountains topped with ranch dressing, And finally some Gold medal baked corn casserole.

Decorations were ice skate centerpieces, Gold medals for all to wear, and various pictures and newspaper clippings adorned the tables.

then it was off to the living room to cheer for Apolo. You may think that our family finds the littlest reason to get together for great food, fun and laughter - you are right!- remember this party? Don't worry, there will be plenty more.

Kyle also did a little ice fishing over Vacation. A passion he seems to share with his Dad.

he gave a good effort on Saturday with his poppy on at the Lake Luzerne annual ice fishing tournament, but came up empty. not even a bite.

Him and Gary gave it another try on Sunday morning. A different lake.

BINGO - caught a couple of bass and them put them back. Gary captures this proud picture with his cell phone. The rest of the night, Kyle was asking if they could mount their next trophy fish.....cute - and a nice ending to a nice vacation.
now Back to the grindstone.

Valentines down Memory Lane

Valentines day has never been one of my favorite holdays...Not for any particular reason. I have never been scorned badley and wished the day of love never existed - I guess I just never thought it was any big deal. Gary doesn't ever go out of his way to be romantic on February 14th, but nor do I .....I guess we just know we love eachother all year round - we don't need to pick out just one day to say it. So anyway, today is Valentines day - Gary worked last night, so had to sleep all day today, and.....we got eachother....nothing....for Valentines day. Actually, I didn't really think about it until my sister, who does as little as possible to be "mushy" to her husband, even got him a Valentine Card.....I still did nothing. This morning at coffee and Donuts at the farm, my mother told me that her and my father had come across our wedding video (on VHS). We talked about how cute my niece and nephew had been that day, and of some of the amusing moments captured on tape.....Got me thinking.....Awwww, it's Valentines day, Gary and I are approaching our 10th Wedding anniversary this summer,.....our life story together really began on Valentines day.....in 1992.

I had actually called up a friend of Gary's and invited him to come to a Valentines dance at my school. I was interested in him...I don't even remember if I knew who Gary was at that time...I think I just knew of him. If you knew who the friend was, you know that even entertaining the idea of a relationship with him makes me cringe and thank goodness for unfulfilled wishes....

That Friend showed up at the dance, and brought Gary with him. They were from the rival school, and it was always wise to come in pairs. The friend was the real outgoing one - too outgoing - So outgoing that he danced with just about every girl at the dance EXCEPT me.... but it was all good - Gary came to my rescue - he asked me to dance. he listened to me complain about the inconsiderate friend, and he became the guy I was glad came to the dance. After a week and a few phone calls later, Gary asked me to "Go out" ( go steady, be his girlfriend, - however you called it when you were 15) ......That was February 23rd.

Really long story short - Gary and I have been together ever since. It will be 18 years next week. At about 3:00 this afternoon, my Mom showed up with a DVD copy of our wedding for us. Our Valentine's Gift. I seriously thought the kids would just be so interested in watching it with us. NOPE. they really could have cared less. So we watched it from start to finish, remarking on how different we - and everyone else looks. It was hard to see the loved ones who have passed away since then, but in some respects it is great to be able to see them again. My sister's kids were just the cutest and I am aspiring to be back to that "pre-children" size again by the time we walk down the isle at Gary's sister's wedding (august).

And now it is 6:30 at night, Gary is back at work for another 12 hour shift........Happy Valentine's Day Hun.

Crazy for you

Crazy hat day at school for Kyle.

We had to improvize. - Kyle only owns 2 hats and they are NOT crazy.

So here is our version of a crazy hat. Iguess you could call it WILD and Crazy.

*No animals were perminently sewn on in the making of this hat*

Catch Up Time

Have you all given up on me? Have you stopped following me all together? I hope not, but wouldn't blame you if you did. It's not that I didn't think about blogging over the past month and 1/2... - I thought about it all the time. Just couldn't bring my tired butt out to the computer room to fight with our annoying dial-up connection long enough to get the stories out. checking facebook, and pushing the "like" button was about all I could muster.
So we have a lot to catch up on. I have great news - I am a born again blogger - I have the tools and equipment again to get caught up to speed and continue telling the stories of our chaotic life. I hope you are all thrilled........kidding
I am just going to list what has happened since my last blog. I won't try to cram all the details.

*Christmas of course came and went - My sister-in-law became engaged, and all 5 of us are now in the midst of wedding plans - I will be the Matron of Honor, Gary will be a groomsman, the girls will be flower girls and Kyle will be the handsome ring bearer....needless to say we are all very excited, and My diet is BACK ON! - six months to lose 30 more pounds.

*Shorty after new years, We had an accident in the van...not my fault...Stupid woman turned in front of me at a green light. She got the ticket, Van was totalled, it has been in the shop ever since......still waiting to hear when we can pick it up. (this would have been a major blog post) It has been 4 weeks......rental only covered 5 days. I want my van back......Does this always happen 2 months after you make the final payment?

* Vivian turned 5 in January.....5! I can't believe it. She is quite the little lady. Soon she will be off to kindergarten....then college.

* I have been battling with Kyles teachers ever since his conference. His progress just never seems to be good enough or fast enough for them. he increased his reading from 24 words per minute to 56 WPM - but the note that came home, says he should be at 85!....They want him to finish a math test of 100 math facts in 5 minutes and get 85 of them right. Kyle can only get through 53 of them in 5 minutes. He gets a 43% for a grade, even if all 53 of them are correct......Stop me if this is normal for second grade, but I am thinking they are off their rockers. Now I am worrying that come June, they are going to want him to repeat the grade - I don't feel he needs to ..........this should be it's own post I'm sure.

* we Filed and received income taxes already, and of course had umpteen things we had in mind to spend it on.....things we needed. The first thing we did, was order new - "urine free" couch and love seat....Our old furniture had seen better days - stuffing peeking out from the top, springs poking up through the base, the need to lay on it just right and careful so you didn't fell the wooden board right across your lower back......yeah - it was time. we found LEATHER! and I am in love.

*we also had to get a new vacuum cleaner. It seems like we go through a vacuum cleaner each year. we have tried all different kinds. let me count......yup I do believe that in the 9 1/2 years we have been married, we have owned 5 vacuum cleaners. I don't think that is normal. Well folks, we have bought our LAST vacuum cleaner! - we splurged on one called the GARRY. yup - we came across this infomercial one night about a vacuum cleaner with a lifetime - no questions asked- warranty, lifetime supply of bags, and a free steam mop......it also helped that we were giggling about the vacuum and my husband having the same name....and women raving about their garrys. "I just Love my Garry". (me too)
- other refund money is "earmarked" for Gary's Jeep repaires

* Kerrigan is officially the boss of the house.

ok - that is the last month in a nutshell. not my ideal way of easing back into blogging - but I just felt like we needed to catch up first.

I'll be back soon.....stay tuned - thanks