The Barnes Family

Christmas Video Montage

2011-12-26T18:26:00.005-05:00

Yard Work

2011-07-11T18:35:00.005-04:00

So we finally put some more time and money into the yard. Slowly we are de-weeding and making some progress. A reminder of the before pictures of the front of the house.

And after pulling shrubs and weeds and getting super frustrated with tree roots everywhere, the after pictures. I would still like to fix the porch steps, path and put a fresh coat of white paint on all the trim among other things, but that is a project we don't have time to tackle this summer.

Liv helped to pick out all the flowers and plant them all.

And the before picture of our back porch:

Our ghetto fabulous version of a rock garden. No more overgrown ground cover creeping EVERYWHERE. We also needed a way to contain the dirt from making a muddy mess every time it rained, which is several times a week, it makes life with a Shepherd really dirty. This is the dogs space so we needed something that could resist pouncing and fetching and pacing! Liv planted her very own garden, it is the space on the far right of the picture. And, of course, we have already put good use to the fire pit... we do love s'mores!

A close up of Liv's garden. She is such a creative kid, after much thought and discussion she decided to plant a flower garden and a few beans which are in front of the white flowers. She made her own stepping stone and has been watering the flowers diligently.

I also decided that the "screened in" porch should be opened up because the only thing it was screening in was the spiders! This has made it a much better place to sit without the spider webs all over the screens! When we get around to painting the trim white I would also like to paint the interior of this white as well, baby steps.

4th of July weekend

2011-07-06T10:18:00.008-04:00

Nate and I had the opportunity to go to one of my friends weddings' this weekend. It was a gorgeous ceremony and a really nice dinner reception just up the street from our house. Ain't we cute! Don't worry that I had several wardrobe problems, number one being we nearly had to cut me out of my dress due to those few extra pounds I am holding on to since wearing it last and the zipper getting stuck!

We decided to spend a few hours up at Niagara Falls, it is always such a pretty little walk with views that never get old.

One of the resorts in our area, Holiday Valley, has a sky high adventure park. It is a series of obstacle courses from "easy" to challenging up in the trees. There were 8 courses that consisted of various ladders, tight ropes and zip lines from tree to tree. We had so much fun. Both of the girls were fearless and we all came home with super tired muscles! And several days later my legs are still a little sore!

I am back in Erie this month, required to put in 60 hours of "on campus" study time for my board exam. Of course this means I am commuting from Buffalo and will probably be lucky to put in 40 hours a week... cross your fingers that I survive! In other school news for me, because I am an idiot I had to retake one of my subject exams last month and as a consequence to this academic failure they took away my vacation month. So I have been pouting for the past month about this but there is nothing else I can do but suck it up and get done with this year so I can be rid of this horrifying experience they call medical school. Looking forward to my test in Philadelphia in a few weeks to sneak in some time with Jen, Mom and Rick!!!

Is it summer yet?

2011-06-24T14:45:00.010-04:00

Well like the rest of you we get a sick tease of delicious summer weather only to go back to rain and cooler temps. Regardless of the weather, the kids are finally finished with school for the year and summer break is happening whether Nate and I are ready for it or not! I snuck a picture of this sweet sister moment on one of our sunny days last week... I am sure Lexi will kill me for posting but oh well!

Lexi has been finished with class for a few weeks but has been busy studying for her final exams. She finished her last exam this past Tuesday and then was off to the Taylor Swift concert! Two words: spoiled rotten. Check out her FB for all her pics, she had floor seats and was almost close enough to touch her. For the next month she will be busy with friends, travel soccer and a recreational basketball league, oh and whatever boy is cute enough to interest her for the month!

I was lucky enough to get to spend the day with Liv at school on Monday for their 4th grade graduation party as well as an end of year award ceremony, she won 3rd place this year in a continental math league and was among one of the students honored... top 4 students were all girls!

Today was Liv's last day of Elementary School, next stop 5th grade at Mill Middle School! Nate and Lex went to her graduation this morning. She has been busy with party's and friends this past month and is excited for her weekend getaway at a friends cottage across the border and basketball camp next week.

The girls broke me down and talked me into more ear piercing. Liv is hoping that the 3rd time is the charm for her dang left ear to stay pierced. Cross your fingers for that to work out for us! And Lex.... oh Lex.... she has been hounding me for years to get her ears double pierced, I kept saying no and finally I caved to her UNRELENTING pressure. She did really well on her final exams and I guess she caught me in one of those weak mommy moments of wanting to reward her for all her hard work! I have to admit, she looks adorable.

I have been busy with my own exams and have level 2 of my board exams coming up next month. Looking forward to it being done and over with and coasting through my 4th year! In LESS than one year I will be finished, mark it on the calendar people: June 3, 2012!!!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T15:47:00.008-04:00

Here in the Barnes house we celebrate Easter because we believe a giant rabbit brings us sweet treats in exchange for colored eggs and we get to gorge on hammies... a day devoted to chocolate and ham, what could be better?

Yesterday the girls colored there eggs. Here are Liv's creations:

Lexi refused to pose for a picture but here are her lovely eggs:

Liv woke up this morning and led the hunt for baskets, she couldn't get Lex to wake up so she went solo. She found her basket, mine, Nate's and the animals.

A couple hours later I went in to wake Lex... the teen queen was pissed off that we didn't wake her up! After a few minutes of apologies she came to join us and made Liv go search for her basket. And NOT happy about a picture.

We wrapped up the day with a yummy dinner... hope you all ate your hammies! We missed the family so much, wish you were all here to celebrate with us, love you all!

Oh, and just because this is the sweetest most snuggly animal on the planet, I had to post this picture!

One more season comes to an end

2011-03-13T09:18:00.010-04:00

Liv played in her championship basketball game yesterday, it was a nail-biter! They had to play this man's team:

Yes my friends this guy is scary!! I think he eats puppies for breakfast and he only has two volume levels: loud and louder. When he is not yelling he is jumping up and down, grabbing his head, kicking the air, throwing back a red bull to stay hydrated and so on and so forth. I don't know how they let this guy coach RECREATION girls basketball!

Unfortunately Liv's team lost in overtime and took 2nd place. Not a bad way to end a really fun season. For a girl that has been terrified to play sports I cannot believe how much Liv improved, she could barely dribble the ball when the season started! She has the most beautiful shot now and is a beast on defense... you should see this girl go after the ball, it is just surprising every time to me because she has always been such a gentle and timid girl all these years! As we were driving home after the final game we heard some words out of Liv's mouth that we never thought we would hear..."what sport am I going to play this spring?" I guess we will see about softball?! Here is a little video of some playoff highlights.

Lexi had her basketball banquet last Sunday, it is always so much fun to see the girls all dressed up, sharing memories and honoring each other for their strengths over the season. Her coach had some awards and wonderful comments for each of them as well as sharing some great words of encouragement. Of course I didn't take the camera! True to form this busy girl took one week off to rest her sprained ankle and then decided to try out for a soccer travel team... so much for thinking we would have a relaxing spring, this girl never gives us a reprieve!!!

In other news, apparently Shepherds don't have any respect for windows... I don't know what she saw out the window but when she jumped up on the arm chair to get a better look it slid with such force that we will now be buying a new window....grrrr!!!

We are certainly looking forward to spring, we are finally warming up a little this week here in Buffalo but it is so rainy and muddy that being outside is still pretty miserable!

Lexi and the Lady Billies

2011-02-20T09:57:00.001-05:00

Happy 15th Birthday Lexi!

2011-02-13T21:00:00.006-05:00

Another year of Lexi getting older means mine and Nate's youth is dwindling and hanging by a thread! Lexi wanted to have a late lunch with us so she could move on to more important things... hanging out with her boyfriend and friends. Of course as parents of a teen we will take what we can get and were happy to oblige her birthday wishes.

We lunched her at Cheesecake Factory.

After she came back from her hang out session we let her open her presents from us...

... she was well overdue for some new snowboard gear.

And to end the night we had a little cupcake.

Next week she is inviting her girlfriends over for a sleep over so the party will continue.

Our MVP

2011-02-12T12:39:00.006-05:00

Liv had a phenomenal game today... 10 pts and she played some fierce "D"!!! Today was the last game of the regular season and they finished in second place. In two weeks they will go to the playoffs and hopefully end up number one! The team they will play is a little over the top, we are pretty sure the coach is trying to take recreation bball to the next level... he screams the entire time. We joke that he comes to each game after chasing 3 redbulls with a protein shake!!! The guy is a piece of work.

Winter concert and Basketball

2011-02-10T15:15:00.002-05:00

Well I thought I had video for these past few events but it turns out that I do not know how to transfer the video from the camcorder to the computer and I have no patience to sit down and learn so all you get is narrative and no pictures because I am tired of monkeying with it!

Liv had her first concert in the school band... and when the opening performance is 'Hot cross buns' you realize that it is time to quit being cheap and get back into private lessons! Hopefully next year when she is in Middle school there will be more opportunities for her to grow and challenge herself.

Nate and I got a real kick out of the little boy sitting next to Liv (wish I could provide you with video footage... grrr). I asked her after the concert what the heck he was doing the whole time and she chuckled and rolled her eyes.... we are pretty sure he can't play a single note but he just seems so happy to be there!

I was also thinking to myself how thankful I am that Liv chose to play the flute over one of the reed instruments... I would have lost my mind if I had to listen to the squeaks for too much longer. God bless the parents that endure the hours of clarinet or saxophone practice for I am much to weak!

The concert ended with some lovely singing... not sure if any sound was coming out of Liv's mouth or not (now I might have two kids that just mouth the words)! And unfortunately there will be no musical snack of her program for your uh.... enjoyment!

All in all it was a lovely concert and tons of fun to watch Liv play and sing with her friends.

For the past month Lex has had a game every Friday night and then Liv plays her games Saturday morning. Me and Liv got volunteered to sell pizza and snacks at one of Lexi's games by a certain someone that will remain nameless who then conveniently had a work party to go to... we had a grand time though and Liv did a great job handling the money.

Lex just hasn't had much playing time so I decided to video their entrance and warm up at their home game. Of course they made about 10% of their shots on this one and Lexi's comment to me was that she wanted me to redo it so we will see if I can learn how to operate the damn camera for her last home game tomorrow... fingers crossed.

I also had footage of Liv in her game last Saturday so I will try again this Saturday :)

Nate is busy with work as usual, always taking on new challenges and making me feel like a total slacker!! He has found an indoor golf dome that he has been frequenting weekly, we have to find something to do during these long, cold winters or we may just go nuts.

I continue to despise rotations. I am done with my surgery rotation today and will be happy to move on. I feel like surgeons are from another planet and one that I would never want to live on! I start a family practice rotation next and am really looking forward to it, hopefully I will be more comfortable.

As for the weather... it sucks! I hope that large rat is right for once and we really do get an early spring!!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T12:02:00.002-05:00

I got sick to death monkeying with this video... for some reason when I uploaded the audio and video became miss-matched and it started smearing and skipping so this is as good as it gets!

Love to you all!!

Watch out Lexi

2010-12-18T18:13:00.003-05:00

7 steals... 6 rebounds.... 2 points and 1 dad that keeps track of her stats... for the win 15 to 13 today!!! Liv is catching up with her big sis fast!

Lexi and the Billies played in a tournament this weekend and took second place, way to go babe!!

I cannot believe Christmas is in less than a week, I would like to hit the rewind button please. I will be starting my 3rd month of internal medicine on Monday. Not a big fan of working 10-12 hour days and feeling like a complete idiot for 9-11 of those hours... thank god for lunch!!

Here are some of the highlights from my last rotation:

Attending: "How did you do in organic chemistry?"
Me: "Oh I was an average student, organic chemistry is a tough course."
Attending: "If you didn't do well in organic chemistry you should have gone into interior design."
Me: Jaw drops, quickly close my mouth, nervously smile and say, "Oh, uh huh" meanwhile, think to myself, "If I close my eyes will I just disappear???"

Attending asking one of his patient's: "Do you hunt squirrel?"
Me: with scared look on my face.
Attending: "My wife has a great squirrel stew recipe. Saute the squirrel in some olive oil and garlic and then add some sausage and chicken.... some veggies, it's great. The stew isn't any good if you don't add the squirrel. But you don't want to eat the red squirrels... they are a little tough and chewy. You know when a red squirrel moves into a territory all the other squirrels leave, they're terrible."

Attending: "Do you know what's wrong with medical student's these days?"
Me: "No."
Attending: "They don't know anything. The quality of education is horrible, you need more exposure to the basic sciences... in my day.... blah blah blah.... and did I mention that both my sons have PhD's in organic chemistry... blah blah blah.... etc."
Me: thinking to myself, "I would rather die than spend one more day with this redneck asshole who clearly hates me and every other medical student that walks the earth!"

This can't end soon enough... give me the strength to keep my mouth shut, put a smile on and the ability to get back up the next morning and do it all over again!

Hope you are all finished with your holiday shopping and get a chance to relax and enjoy the next couple of weeks!

For those who may have needed an update on our super boring lives

2010-12-13T17:44:00.001-05:00

This is basically a post about nothing, I have been in Clarion, PA for the month so we haven't really been doing anything to interesting these days.

The girls got their school pictures back awhile ago, like any good mom I buy the cheapest package and scan them in. Awesome, I know. Now I have two kids that smile with their mouths closed... I can't win.

During Thanksgiving weekend we threw up all the Christmas decorations. I have been so sad that I am not home every evening to turn on all the lights and enjoy my Christmas trees. Baby of course being the naughty little elf below... no respect and no class.

Bella is just the sweetest little thing, aside from the fact that she wants to kill and eat all other animals.

Me and Liv getting cozy in front of the fireplace, I can't wait to be home for good this Friday. I miss the girls and Nate so much, it has been a lot harder than I thought being away.... probably much harder on Nate than me.

This weekend we (I) cleaned Georgie boys cage out. Liv played with him and tried luring him around with some broccoli, she gave him a bath and then of course tortured him by holding him... reptiles are such fun pets :-D

The best part of any weekend is waking up with two cute furry animals and snuggling all morning. Both the girls had basketball games this weekend. I raced home Friday night so we could go to Lexi's and then Liv had one Saturday morning. Lexi is learning that being the only Freshman on the varsity team isn't as glamorous as she would like, we are hoping for huge wins or huge losses so she can get more playing time!! Liv is improving by leaps and bounds, the girl was in there gunning for the ball and playing some great defense. It is so much fun to have them both play the same sport for once!!

We finally finished our Christmas shopping this past weekend so it will be nice to spend this coming weekend relaxing when I get home! Happy Holiday's!!!

Gobble, Gobble

2010-11-25T17:47:00.003-05:00

The pre-show:

The main event:

Family photo time with thankful hearts and full bellies:

The Aftermath:

We are going to devour some pie and then we are off to catch the new Harry Potter flick... hopefully I didn't miss much since I only saw the first two and that was ages ago! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, we love and miss you all!

Scrimmage Saturday

2010-11-20T13:02:00.008-05:00

Today both girls had their first scrimmage of the basketball season. Lexi made the varsity team... wooo hooo and Liv made her basketball debut on the recreational league. Unbeknown to the girls they both got assigned the number 20 jersey.

Liv's game was first, they played 3 mini games of 16 minutes each. They won their first game and lost the next two... better luck next time! It was so much fun to see her play.

Lexi's scrimmage was rough, they played a team that is in a higher division so they won't play this team during their regular season. She is the only freshman that made varsity, she did a great job... made a couple of baskets and played some great defense.

Soccer Banquet

2010-11-14T19:54:00.004-05:00

The soccer season has ended and this afternoon I took Lexi to her Banquet. It was a delicious 5 course meal at a local restaurant, Falleta's.

Following dinner the team captain's handed out awards and t-shirts to all the girls, and thanked their amazing coach. They did such a great job, what a fun afternoon! She has been invited to the Varsity team's banquet so Nate will take her to that next week.

Lexi, with her friends Katherine and Tori... so cute!

Halloween

2010-10-31T21:00:00.003-04:00

Despite buying Lex a pumpkin to carve, she just never found the time to carve one. Liv was only willing to wait for so long and finally decided to go it alone.

She did a great job, this is the first year Nate and I let her use all the sharp objects all by herself. Super spooky!

Nate was able to make it to the Halloween parade at school, unfortunately this is the best picture he got of Liv. She is the blue crayon hiding behind her hat, what the? This child of ours is so strange sometimes!

Her and her friend, also named Olivia, dressed as blue crayons together (sitting next to her in the picture above) and went trick or treating tonight with a big group of friends.

Best part of the night, the sorting of the candy!

Nate and I stayed in with the animals to pass out candy, here you see the varying degree's of Baby's bitch-i-ness. Baby also did a ridiculous amount of barking, and Bella had a near escape when she was almost quicker than my cat like reflexes that snatched her by her tail and hauled her back in the house!

Lexi was off with her friends for trick or treating as a nerd and sadly I didn't get a picture of her (I am sure she will post some of FB)... I am losing my finesse, maybe I never had any!

In other news:

I still hate rotations. I can't think of anything nice to say so I won't say anything at all... still hoping that things will eventually get easier.

And.... Lexi was invited to play with the varsity soccer team during their playoffs (the only player they pulled up). She has been able to practice with them after school every day and during the first game got to play the last 20 minutes. This has been a really good opportunity for her, it is amazing the difference in skill and the level of play between JV to varsity.

And, also... Liv will be starting recreation basketball this coming week, so we are looking forward to that. Lexi will also be trying out for the school team in a few weeks so between the two they will keep us plenty busy.

Hope you all had a Spooktacular Halloween!

A party with new friends

2010-10-09T17:56:00.013-04:00

Today we invited Liv's classmates over for her 10th birthday party.

Every year I say, "this is the LAST time we are having the party at our house, it is too much work" and every year we do it anyways!

Liv decided she wanted to do makeovers. So I let them loose with some makeup and I recruited Lex and her friend Anna to help me paint nails.

Here Liv is puckering up those beautiful pouty lips she was born with!

Every body's fingernails turned out beautiful.

Liv was showered with some fabulous gifts... clothes, jewelry, books, stuffed animals, crafts, makeup, even a lava lamp... I guess we can't be cheap when she gets an invite :)

Here we are with one of Liv's friends mom. Her name is Kimberly Thompson and she is the author of the book 'Toulouse on the Loose' among others. She gave Liv a signed copy so we snagged a photo with her before she left.

Then it was time for ice cream sundaes... the kids were slightly out of control, especially when it came to the whip cream.

Then with a nice sugar high they turned up the music and boogied down and struck a few poses. It was a pretty fun party!

A few other things that have been going on:

The tortoise formerly known as Gary is doing great, he has been renamed George.

The furry animals are doing good too. Bella doing her best to fit on the love seat with me.

Baby has started to curl up in one of the baskets I keep some throw blankets in... filthy animal!

The Homecoming Dance was a couple of weekends ago so here are a few pictures of Lex and her friends. She went with a group of her girlfriends... of course they met up with some boys later on.

They all met at one of her girlfriends' home for some before pictures.

Lexi and ONE of the cute boys she has been hanging out with lately... this gives me stomach ulcers!

Liv has been helping me take care of my friends cat this weekend. We had to lure him out of hiding with some treats to get him to come close to us the first day. Sorry for the crappy picture quality, all I had was my phone.

But we all became fast friends!

He loves Liv... belly rubs and being craddled like a baby, I am going to have to ask my friend to take regular vacations so we can spend more time with him.

I am thinking we NEED a cat.... he is sooooo cute and cuddly! Nate and his damn allergies, I am sure I will eventually come up with a plan to have one of these.

Double Digits

2010-10-03T09:09:00.010-04:00

Livi turned ten yesterday... Happy Birthday!!!! We had her family party and next weekend we will have her friends party. She opened presents in the afternoon.

Lexi got her a beautiful Sister's necklace that is engraved with the saying, "Chance made us sisters, hearts made us friends." AHHH, melts my mommy heart!

Nate and I bought her a desert kit aquarium, with the promise of a trip to the pet store for a tortoise. Yes, a tortoise. We had been planning on getting her a fish aquarium, I had Jen feeding me info on various fish and maintenance. A few days before I went to purchase the dang fish stuff Liv mentions that what she really wants is a Russian tortoise, she asked for fish because she didn't think we would let her have a turtle. Of course, we are softies and now we are proud owners of a reptile!

We made a quick trip to the pet store where she snatched up her tortoise. Here he is... Gary Cornelius. Lovingly referred to as Gar Bear, like on Spongebob.

And as soon as she put him in his cage he buried his head in a corner, here is a great picture of his backside.

She had cleared this spot on her desk several weeks ago in hopes of an aquarium of some sorts for her birthday... the perfect spot.

Then it was off to Cheesecake Factory for dinner.

Liv decided she wanted the ultimate brownie with peanut butter cup ice cream for dessert. It was delicious! What a fun day... HAPPY BIRTHDAY Liv!

Peach Festival, School and our Anniversary

2010-09-12T18:00:00.002-04:00

Today we drove up to Lewiston, one of the towns near Niagara Falls, to the peach festival. It is a darling town across the river from Niagara on the Lake, on the Canadian side that we visited with mom and Jen earlier this summer. We met up with one of my friends, Heidi, who is in the area on one of her rotations.

We bought some local fruit from one of the stands and listened to some awesome music!

Lex got an airbrushed tattoo.

Liv picked up an alligator marionette.

And we all enjoyed some yummy peach shortcake!

School has started and as happy as I am about it there is always the inevitable irritation at homework and projects that they need help with. When I rule the world school will just be extended another hour or two so that the teachers that assign the blasted homework can be the ones to help do the blasted homework!

Liv was tickled to find out that as a 4th grader this will be her LAST year in elementary! Next stop middle school for 5th through 8th grade. She was also excited to find out that she has a locker this year so of course this required some decorating.

Our social butterfly (aka Lexi) is busy with friends, soccer and (of course) a new cute boy. So far she is loving high school and likes all of her classes, especially her Latin class.

Nate and I spent some time outside last weekend. This ground cover is going to be a never ending process. We made some head way in the front yard. Here is the before picture, this was actually taken 2 months before we moved in so the hedges were a little bigger, unruly and weed ridden by the time we decided to tackle it.

Here is a better look of those "cute" boat planter boxes!

I honestly don't know what to do with the hedges/bushes. We took out the two bushes closest to the driveway and thinned the others out but honestly we are considering taking everything out and starting from scratch. The ground cover is so ridiculous and I don't know how we kill it without killing everything else with it. Trimming up the tree's helped open up the house a lot. I think we will eventually get rid of the small one in front of the door all together and we would like to take a few more of those branches covering the window off of the bigger one but our saw thingy broke making it difficult to get to them.

The grass is a little dry, weedy and long... we haven't watered or mowed it once! This house truly is a work in progress.

Nate and I also celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary this weekend. We found a lovely restaurant where we spent 3 hours eating and enjoying each others company. Cocktails, stuffed clams, mac and cheese, sweet potato dumplings, crab, ribeye with gorgonzola cheese sauce and key lime pie.... yum!!!!

And I just love these two animals, they are so sweet when they snuggle so I had to add this pic.

Good enough for now

2010-08-31T18:56:00.001-04:00

The past month we have been busy de-nautical-izing this house. As with all home projects everything takes at least twice, some times three, times longer than you anticipated. I am so sick of painting I don't know that we will do anything else to the place for another year!

Shepherd was real tired of painting... her little ear was not the only area that "helped", one day she decided to take a nap at the bottom of the stairs after I finished painting them and her back was slightly white washed when she got up. Another day she decided to bring her fetching ball in and dropped it in the paint tray... blasted dog!

The before pictures:

As you come in the front door, here is the living room. Previously it was just all white washed.

Next you walk into the dining room, still just a white washed room.

From the dining room there is a staircase up to the girls bathroom and bedrooms, from there you can continue up another small staircase to our master's sitting room. Note the "beautiful" sail ship gate!

The dining room also leads into the kitchen.

Here is a closer look of the "darling" sea creature backsplash.... a dastardly design.

From the kitchen there is a staircase up to our master bedroom, or down to the family room and also a side staircase down to the laundry and garage. Here the lovely family room is in all her glory. Don't you just LOVE the blueish gray trim, it highlights the wood paneling so well!

Oh yes, a wood paneling nightmare! Around that column on the left of the picture below is a door to the spare bedroom and half bath.

The after pictures:

While mom was here she helped me pick out paint, I wanted to be daring but chickened out and went with a version of light beige as our main color throughout the house.

Initially as the paint went up I was wishing I would have gone a little darker but now I am really pleased with it. I already have so much color in my living room that I think it balances the room out nicely. This is not a permanent bench by the window, I just needed to see what an extra piece of furniture would look like in that space so eventually I will find something to go there!

In the dining room I decided to add some more color on the walls, pumpkin butter, I really love this color! I think it adds some richness to the room and is also a nice contrast as you come in from the living room and see the kitchen/family room beyond.

We tore up the carpet off the stairs and said goodbye to that cute little gate, with some putty and a fresh coat of high gloss white paint they look much better.

In the kitchen we covered up the backsplash with some of those facade panels and changed out the blue cabinet knobs with bronzed copper knobs.

Eventually we would like to put a counter unit in by the stove. The one thing this house really lacks is counter space in the kitchen, but for now it's GOOD ENOUGH!

We toyed with the idea of a breakfast bar and stools or a small little bistro set for this area of the kitchen, but in the end our leather wing chairs inherited from dad and a little pedestal table I had worked out just fine... and with no added expense!

The family room turned out really nice, it actually looks bright and clean now!

This room was an absolute nightmare to paint... some of the trim required 4 coats of paint and still looks like it could use one more.

I cleaned up the fireplace, spray painted the vents and removed the screen. I wanted to make it more of a focal point but even though this room is really good sized with the cabinets, the staircase and sliding door I have had a hard time coming up with a good arrangement. Eventually we would love to sheetrock the room and get rid of the paneling and cabinets... for now it's just a dream!

I still HATE this carpet but I am trying my best not to look at it. The room still needs some more furniture... coffee table, side table and maybe a love seat???

Who knows when we will decide to tackle our master bedroom area and the spare bedroom, like I said... good enough for now!

Nate was also able to get our gates in the backyard secured so it is finally Baby proofed! It is such a relief to be able to let her out and not watch her like a hawk. Speaking of the Baby, she woke us up a couple of mornings ago having a seizure. I can not even describe to you how scared I was, I didn't know if she was dying or what. Nate called the vet while I stayed with her and they said to just watch her and wait and if she has another one to document everything about it and come in. So hopefully it was a freak thing, I can't stand the thought of watching her go through that again.

Hope you all had a wonderful summer, I am back on rotations and the kids will FINALLY be going to back to school the day after Labor day!

Summer is winding down

2010-08-24T07:39:00.005-04:00

I can't believe that summer is ending! This past month has gone by so fast I feel as if we haven't even been able to catch our breath. Last week Lexi was lucky enough to have one of her friends come stay the week with us. We decided to go check out the county fair (aka: total money pit). Here Lex and her friend Ali on the first row of some spin and puke ride.

Liv on yet another spin and puke ride....

And Liv again on some sort of human hamster land.

I was lucky enough not to have to go on any rides!

Ali and Liv gave Lexi a beautiful makeover... it could be a great new look for the first day of school!

When I took Lexi's friend Ali back home to Erie, Liv was able to spend the day boating with one of her friends. The girls are really missing their friends but they have both been adjusting pretty well.

Lex is in the middle of soccer tryouts for the high school team. I think today they might find out which team they made, I'm sure she will post on FB when she finds out. Lex also got her schedule for school yesterday and we spent some time wandering the halls of her new school. This is her school below, it is a beautiful old building.

I have less than a week left of my vacation and I am still painting. I don't know if I am going to get all of it done, the baseboards and trim have proved to be incredibly time consuming. We also started cleaning up some of the over growth in the front yard so I should have some more pictures of our projects this weekend if we hustle! I start my psychiatry rotation next and I will keep you all posted on how much "fun" I have.

3 Rooms Transformed

2010-08-14T21:10:00.002-04:00

This week I got to work on a few of our projects. I had mentioned before that I somehow found myself with a chisel and hammer in the girls bathroom one day.... mom helped me putty the damage when she was here!

Here is the before pic of the bathroom... I was not diggin' the nautical theme. The tiles had sea shells, anchors and ship wheels on them, HIDEOUS!!

Here are a few after pictures! So glad the tile is gone!

When the girls first started telling me some of their color ideas I was a little hesitant... but oh how I was wrong! They did such a great job picking colors and accessories. Here is a before picture of Liv's Room... ugly boyish blue with some sort of home made "art" on the wall.

Her new room in underwater blue, chocolate brown and red! Liv wanted a canopy bed so I did my best to accomodate... I think it turned out pretty cute.

Liv is pretty pleased with this space behind her clothes in her closet... she has pillows and a flashlight so she can hang out back there!

I thought I had a couple of pictures of Lexi's room but I guess I didn't. Her room was just really plain, here is a before picture of the wall in front of her closets... it's all I had!

Lexi decided on some shades of purple. We also repainted one of the sweet chandeliers from another room in the house and somehow I managed to hook it up without electrocuting myself... of course I did a crap job of it and Nate had to help me when he got home from work with some rewiring.

Spoiled... they are spoiled rotten! Today Nate is going to help me tackle the family room/kitchen area. We will see how much we get done. My hand is totally cramped up from doing the girls rooms this week. Have I mentioned how much I HATE painting, it really is awful!

Picture overkill

2010-08-08T21:52:00.007-04:00

Together Steph and I would make the perfect blogging team. I am in love with her new digital SLR camera! She took over 300 pictures while she was here and you know that I love to blog so we would be a dangerous duo to say the least!

Here is a sampling of our weekend together! Our first excursion was to the U.S. side of Niagara Falls. Having been to both now I will say that Canada has a beautiful street to walk down and the best view of the Falls. The U.S. has an amazing park with a lovely path that weaves through creeks, rivers and trees, and it still has a pretty good view of the Falls.

We had a lovely picnic before we explored.

This time we decided to take the journey on the Maid of the Mist. Here she is when viewed from the top of the Falls.

Here we all are in our awesome blue poncho's!

It was definitely well worth the boat ride to get to see the Falls from below. A totally different view... pretty awesome! Here are a few pictures of the American Falls.

The mist was so extreme under the Horseshoe Falls that we didn't get a picture of it from below.

Our second excursion took us on my lame architectural tour... again... same outcome! Shocking, I know! So we ended up at the Canal and took a look at the naval ships, while we had some ice cream.

Ava and Liv loved to play on our swing set.

And if our swing set wasn't enough, they found one to play around on at our third excursion to a Taste of Williamsville which was taking place in one of our village parks, Island Park. A bunch of tents were set up where you could sample several tasty treats from local restaurants. And of course there were a few fun games set up for the kids.

Ava mastered the ring toss.

Liv rocked the fish flip.

And we all had fun teetering and tottering

A quick walk across the street from the festival took us over to Glen park which is home to our pretty little waterfall. Liv and Ava had a great time crossing the rocks and floating Ava's prize duck, from the ring toss, down the creek.

We feel so fortunate to have had family here all week to share our new home with! We loved it and NEEDED it so badly! The house seems so empty tonight... who's up next?

Mom and Jen in Buffalo!

2010-08-04T21:15:00.003-04:00

Our first visitors in Buffalo, yay! The week started with a "fabulous" architectural tour by yours truly. Slightly scary because I was driving and, let's be honest, I am a horrible driver. Of course I did not take my camera anywhere so the only pictures I took were with my phone... Jen will hopefully post a few on the blog or FB. The tour was a pretty big flop, what can I say, I suck!

The second day we decided to cross the border and check out Niagara-on-the-lake. It was a beautiful little town with gorgeous homes, shops and scenery.

We walked down this little path along the shore line and followed it down to some really nice homes with lake front property... I would love to live their, maybe some day?

On our way home from Niagara-on-the-lake we stopped by the American side of Niagara Falls just to take a peek. The girls climbed up for a photo shoot on this statue of some dude that I can't remember what he did or what his name was!

Of course we did plenty of lounging!

Mother couldn't keep her hands out of my unruly "flower beds" that need so much work and major amounts of weed killer.

These are a few of the "treasure" mom found lurking beneath the ground cover. My only wish is that we would have found the statue before Jen left so I could have hidden it in her suitcase!

Me and mom also tackled the girls bathroom. I had chiseled the lovely sailor tile chair rail a few days ago and she helped me putty the holes. This morning I sanded, then puttied, then sanded again... paint will have to wait... pictures soon!

Miss you two already but I am excited for Steph, Brian and Ava to get here tomorrow!!!

2 more days until vacation!

2010-07-27T18:10:00.002-04:00

I finally received my score from my first board exam.... and I passed!! It is such a relief to put that whole thing to rest. I am so sick of being anxious and stressed out that my vacation could not be coming at a better time. I just finished my last day of my pediatric rotation today and on Thursday I will take my last exam before my gloriously awaited month long vacation!

My pediatric rotation was okay, the attending physician reminded me of Bill Cosby minus the sweater. A really nice guy, he gave me a great big hug at the end of my day today, and his staff was great too. The site was Planned Parenthood so most of the patients were low income and on medicaid. It was an interesting population but honestly I found it to be really boring, I just couldn't wait to be done and out of there every day.

We have finally finished unpacking and cleaning the new house. I am absolutely IN LOVE with the area. We live in the Village of Williamsville, it is about 1 square mile within the Town of Amherst. It is one of the many suburbs of Buffalo. We are so excited to explore the surrounding area and cannot wait for Jen, Mom, Steph, Brian and Ava to get here... it will definitely be a fun filled week starting on Saturday!

The house needs some major cosmetic work... but just having it cleaned has done wonders. I just do not understand the filth that people are accustomed to living in. As we get some rooms painted I will do some before and after pictures.

My Going Away Party

2010-07-11T13:05:00.006-04:00

Well yesterday was my going away party with my four BFF's. I was going to wait for my mom to blog this but we just had discussion that I couldn't have a Facebook until I was 12. She said that a Facebook was like a blog. And I don't really do anything with the blog. So I'm thinking if I can do a bunch of stuff with the blog, she might let me get a face book six months earlier. (but that's just my guess.)

So anyways, at my party we had fun with...

The Swing

Badminton

Croquette

The Presents

And last but not least the chocolate fountain!!!!!!!!

One down and... (sigh)... just one down!

2010-07-02T07:58:00.003-04:00

I finally took step one of my boards, it was ugly to say the least. 400 questions in 8 hours... I really hate standardized tests. I left the exam feeling awful and was positive that I failed it but I won't know for another 5 weeks so I just keep moving forward and hope for the best at this point!

Meanwhile, I have just finished up my first rotation in ob/gyn. I couldn't have asked for a better first rotation, the physician was easy going, fun and I really learned a lot. I feel pretty comfortable performing pap smears and taking cultures now... I just don't think it is something I see myself wanting to do on a daily basis. The prenatal exams were fun, measuring uterine height, feeling for the position of the fetus and listening to the heartbeat. I only got to see one vaginal delivery and the rest were all cesarean sections... this physician really liked to stick to a schedule and if we were there past 1pm he was just beside himself!

I found out that I can in fact handle surgeries and I actually enjoyed them. The couple of abdominal hysterectomy's that he did were interesting because we also got to see some pathology. Scrubbing in for the surgeries is quite the process and again not something I can really imagine wanting to do every day so maybe not for me. It was really cool to see the anatomy in a live person. For the most part we just observed but he did let us assist him with some basic things like cutting, suctioning and stapling.

The worst part about this rotation was the commute, both Nate and I were commuting in separate cars to the Buffalo area. The kids did great though, Lex really stepped up and took great care of her little sis and the dogs.

I start my pediatric rotation next Tuesday which will consist of a week and a half of lectures and then I am up in Buffalo at a Planned Parenthood Clinic for the remainder of it. I think it will be a really interesting rotation because of the location and the type of patients.

Nate just started in a new position yesterday, he is excited to see another side of the company. They have kind of eluded that this position will be short lived so who knows what the future holds... we are just along for the ride!

We are only 2 weeks away from moving into our new home!!!! I drove past it the other day on my way home from the hospital and can not wait to get settled in and make it our own! The kids seem to be handling the situation okay for now so I am hopeful that we all survive the transition.

Summer begins... for some of us!

2010-06-15T07:00:00.003-04:00

Well nothing says it's summer like Baby running away from home... have I mentioned that this dog drives me nuts! Luckily this time she decided to come home after an hour and a half on her own. Nate and I combed the neighborhoods from 1am to 2:30am before we decided that we needed to wait for some daylight. I pulled up to the house and the idiot was barking on the back porch to be let in.... SERENITY NOW!

Things are starting to wind down for the girls. Lexi had another soccer tournament 2 weekends ago in Buffalo where they took 1st place, she got a chance to scout out some teams she might want to play on next year. She has one more 3 day tournament this coming weekend and then soccer is DONE!

And, finally, the end of the school year has come for the girls. Both of them came home with Honor Roll certificates for the year. Liv also won Artist of the Year! Way to go Liv... hoping this kid needs to eventually go to Paris for some education and takes her mom with her, right!

Lexi's middle school put on a graduation ceremony, they handed out various awards at the start before the graduation procession started... and like the good mom that I am was kind of tuning things out until I heard my kids name called! She was one of the recipient's of the Gold President's Education Award... way to go Lex and she didn't even know it!

Here is a little bit of the procession below on video.

I can't believe my Lexi is going to High school next year... I am pretty freaked out about it! Both girls have been on non stop sleepovers since school let out on Thursday, isn't summer wonderful.

Nate turned 35 this past week. He was lucky enough to get to stay in Buffalo and go out with some work friends since his wife is totally worthless for good company these days. Happy Birthday Honey! We... and by we, I mean HE, cooked a fabulous dinner for us on the weekend... I bought some coldstone ice cream and made a box of brownies (loser!) and he opened his presents from us. I was pretty excited about giving him this men's valet!

He is in the process of training someone to take over his job and will be starting a new position in the company at the start of July... they haven't told him exactly what he will be doing but that he will be working in the consumer business component of the company. I am sure he will excel, he always does!

I am still studying for my step 1 board exam. I have pushed the exam back twice now and hopefully if I don't get cold feet again will take it in a week and a half. My confidence was really shattered when I took a practice exam and got a really horrific score so I panicked I decided I wasn't ready. At this point I need to just get it out of the way... I am just exhausted with all the studying and am a complete and total bitch most of the time, so this has GOT to end! I will start my ob/gyn rotation in a week so things will be changing soon for me.

And thank heavens our house finally sold, and no problems on the inspection!

We decided to buy this charming cape cod in the heart of Williamsville Village, a suburb of Buffalo. It needs quite a bit of updating inside but in the end we had to have it because the location was just ideal... this is a place we can stay until the kids finish school... and beyond, if we want! 2500 sq/ft with 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths.... and a FENCE! More pictures to come as we move in... July 16th!!! I can't wait for my August visitors!

The Dance

2010-06-05T07:49:00.003-04:00

Lexi's 8th grade formal dance was tonight. We had so much fun shopping and getting her ready! We turned the bathroom into a sweat shop... literally, Liv had back sweat we were working so hard!

Liv worked on her toes.....

.......while I worked on her hair.

And in the end the girl looked amazing!

Her "date" brought her these very lovely roses. But I was not allowed to come to the door with her and then was warned that I better not say or do anything embarrassing. I don't think I did anything too unsightly!

One of the moms hosted a dinner at her house and we all helped out bringing different dishes, but first we took pictures! Here is Lexi and her boyfriend Kory... they are quite the cute couple.... BUT we are not allowed to date yet and I might be buying a padlock to install on the outside of her bedroom door, in hopes that she remain there until she is 30!

Lexi and her best girl friends, don't they all look stunning?

Here is one of the boys, trying their best to look uninterested and cool!

And a group shot!

They had a yummy dinner together of Stromboli's, salad, fruit, chips, soda and cookies! And then we dropped the little darling's off to the dance.

Lexi said she had a great time and that the dance was a lot of fun. I can't believe how grown up she is, the teenage years definitely scare the Hell out of me because there is so much to worry about, BUT we are having so much fun! I love you Lexi!!!

Ceremony's and Such

2010-05-27T15:37:00.001-04:00

Liv had her Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony last night, making her transition from Brownie to Junior. It was quite the production. First the troops came up and performed a skit. Here is Liv's troop skit.

Then, they are called one by one to cross a bridge and receive their certificate of achievement. Here I am snapping a picture too late, so all you see is the two people sitting in front of me with Liv's arm barely even noticeable as she crosses the bridge... mother of the year!

The next part of the evening requires some background info.

A few days ago.....

Me: Lex when were you going to tell me about this honor roll award ceremony?
Lex: What are you talking about, I am not in any ceremony.
Me: I thought I saw a flyer in your folder inviting us to the award ceremony for honor roll.
Lex: I don't know what you are talking about, but I will ask a friend.

Last night....
Lex: Mom, you had to receive an invitation in the mail to go to the ceremony and I didn't get one.
Me: I know I saw an invitation, look through your stuff.
Lex: I can't find anything and that would be embarrassing if we showed up and weren't invited.
Me: Okay but I am going to slap you silly if you get an award and we aren't there to see it!

Later, last night in the middle of the Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony.....
Lex: Mom, Rachel just text me and I am on the program to receive an award for honor roll... she said that if we hurry we might make it in time.
Me: Look of total indecision on my face because Nate wasn't able to make it to girl scouts and so now I was going to leave my Girl Scout alone at her ceremony while I ran Lex down the street to her school.... I said, "okay, hurry, let's go!"

So, Nate was able to get to the Girl Scout Ceremony and pick Liv up, meanwhile me and Lex get to her school about 5 minutes before they start calling the 8th grade names, hers being first alphabetically! Clearly or house is not running as a well oiled machine these days!!!! So here is a really grainy video and picture from the VERY back of the auditorium of Lex.... again, mother of the year... NOT!

Uh, she is the one on the far right!

May

2010-05-22T08:22:00.001-04:00

Nate and the girls birthdayed me earlier this month, it was really nice! Presents and coldstone cake... what can be better?

I wished that I could go to Mexico with them.... but that didn't come true, I am learning that most wishes don't when you are in medical school!

Here are a bunch of pictures (I am sure in random order) of the trip to Mexico. I loved looking through them, everybody has lost so much weight and looks soooo gorgeous!

Livi learned to scuba in the pool.

Lexi sporting some sort of midget sombrero... I don't know the story here?

I LOVED to see the three of these kids together again... uh, when did Colton turn into a man? Still freaking out about it!

Ahhhh... my heart just melts to see them hanging out.... sharing an ipod.

Mexico isn't complete until you drop a load of money on painting your own ceramic souvenir! I think Liv was definitely behind this!

A bunch of HOTTIES... and one cool dude!!!

Jen obviously enjoying the resort.

Daddy - daughter pics.... how cute!

D and Diddy with a strawberry daq... mmmmm!

Denise and Brian... ain't they cute!

A good looking group.... seriously all I am focusing on here is Colton... again, I can't get over how tall he is!

Jo (aka blond bombshell) and Sean.... so cute.

And gal, where was your bikini? You look so good!

Hanging out by the pool, oh how lovely.

Hoping this wasn't Liv's beer!

I heard that the activity dude was Lexi's creeper.

The resort looks gorgeous... I am thinking probably looks wise the best one we've (minus me) all been to?

Happy Earth Day... yesterday!

2010-04-23T05:39:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Liv made a hat for Earth day, it turned out great! Her school is participating in an Earth day parade today... not sure why they didn't do it on Earth day but what do I know.

Liv also entered a project in the science fair this year. Her and a friend did it together. They did a great job... it was interesting to watch them put it together. I sure wish most parents wouldn't do their kids projects for them... definitely saw more parents than kids explaining the projects... they seriously need to get a life!

According to their results the peanut butter flavored dog bubbles lasted the longest... I am just glad someone found a use for those blasted bubbles since my doggies don't seem to like them!

Spring activities

2010-04-16T14:03:00.004-04:00

Now that spring is here soccer has started back up and Lex is as busy as ever. She is still on the competition team, LESC, and also made the school soccer team again this year. Nate took her to her 2 day opening tournament in Ohio last weekend where they took second place, and she had her first two soccer games this week for school. Yes, I am... is the answer to the question, "Are you exhausted just driving Lex around to her activities?"

Here are a couple of pictures from one of her school soccer games this week. She is number 15 in the blue.

A couple of weeks ago Lex and I went shopping for her end of the year formal... it was so much fun, she looked amazing in everything she tried on... and she tried on a ton. The dance will be the end of May so I will definitely post pictures!

Liv did not think it was fair that Lex got to go dress shopping so when she got invited to a pop star party she thought she needed a new outfit, of course yours truly is a sucker so... here she is all sequined out and ready to party!

Nate is still working half the week in Erie and half the week in Buffalo, we can't wait... by we I mean me and Nate... to move to Buffalo. We have only been looking on line for homes because we still haven't received an offer on ours yet. Hopefully that changes this weekend during our open house, cross your fingers!

School ends May 13th for me and then I start a summer board review to get ready for my first board exam, which I scheduled for June 4th. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by, I am getting really anxious to get out in the hospitals and start getting some hands on experience, so cross your fingers that I pass that test! My first rotation is in Ob/Gyn and my second one is pediatrics and then VACATION month!!!!

New Roof

2010-04-06T16:20:00.003-04:00

Our new, pretty green roof went on today. Wishing we would have done it sooner so we could have enjoyed it but better late than never! I guess the area that it had been leaking from was totally jacked up, the roofer said that it looked like it had several "repairs" over the years... just glad it is fixed!

We still haven't had an offer on the house yet. A couple people are interested but have to sell their homes first, which is nice to know. I just want it to be done with already, keeping the house clean has been a nightmare! I am also really sad to report that the cute gray cape cod house in Buffalo that we loved has a contract on it... I am secretly hoping it falls through just in time for us to snatch it up. I guess that is why we shouldn't be too serious about looking right now, it is really hard not to get attached!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T09:44:00.006-04:00

Remind me that the beaded colored eggs are slightly more mess than I want to deal with next year! Here we are displaying our best colored eggs.

Liv was in charge of finding all the Easter baskets this year.

Bella and Baby got some soft squeaky toys, Bella went right to work and of course Baby is not impressed.

It is always a production to get Lex up and participating, I am not sure that she is entirely awake in this photo. And then me, her and Baby quickly hunkered back into the couch while Nate and Liv continued to search for her elusive basket!

Hopefully it was worth the wait! She spent all morning creating some formal gowns on her Harumika model.

This was her favorite creation, she now wants to sew it for one of her Liv doll's... I am not that creative, HELP!

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter, can't wait to eat some Hammies!

House Hunting

2010-03-21T20:23:00.004-04:00

After getting the house cleaned and ready to be shown today we dropped the animals off at the "Critter Sitters". It was a little dramatic. Our big, dominating German Shepherd is quite the pussy cat. I introduced her to the other dog being doggy sat, a chocolate lab her same age, and she was terrified. He tried to bring a rope over to play with her and if she could have jumped up into my arms to safety she would have.... totally ridiculous!

We got up to Buffalo and looked at 7 houses and have three that we are considering. Of course we need an offer on our home before we can move forward so if we don't get one in the next couple of weeks these homes may not even be available.

House #1:

This home is our top pick right now. At 2600 sq ft it is the biggest... and most expensive. It has 2 and a half baths, 4 bedrooms (a true master bedroom), family room, living room, formal dining room, huge kitchen and loads of closet and storage space. The yard is fenced and as you can see from the picture just oozing with charm, I LOVE the exterior. The neighborhood is so quaint... not a cookie cutter neighborhood, every home is different. The cons to this one, obviously the price tag, it may be over our budget, no central air, the kitchen is slightly outdated with ugly vinyl floors. What I like about this house is that it is somewhere we could stay and make updates over the years and be happy staying there even when I am rolling in the cash!

House #2

This home is part of an association... which is both good and bad... someone telling you what you can and can't do BUT 5 swimming pools, rec center, tennis courts, etc all available. The neighborhood, again, is just charming. This picture does not do the home justice. The yard is immaculate and the stamped concrete driveway is beautiful, the backyard has a two tiered deck... super cute. The association does not allow fences... so we would have to do the electric fence but Bella is already trained on it so that isn't the issue, it is just are dumb little Baby that would be the problem! This one has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, family room, living room, formal dining. The kitchen is slightly outdated and the bathrooms are horrifically outdated.

House #3

This is the smaller of the three homes. It has a really interesting layout which also causes you to lose a lot of living space. 4 beds, 2 1/2 baths, living room and formal dining room. The yard is only partially fenced so we would need to finish one side and the backyard is quite small because it is a corner lot. The other down side to this home is that the street that you enter the front door on is a darling neighborhood but the garage side street is pretty busy and not as cute of homes. It also has only a 1 car garage and with these winters we would really appreciate being able to put both cars in.

Vote for your favorite!!!!

The dog sitter dropped off the dogs and apparently they had a great time despite being a little scared and confused at first. I am so relieved that Bella is friendly with other dogs.... Jen do you and Shady need to drive out and spend the summer with us???? Bella NEEDS a big friend. The greatest is that the note the dog sitter left said that they were very well behaved but that Baby often snapped at Bella... 10lb dog that dominates 70lb dog = totally ridiculous!

Aladdin Jr.

2010-03-20T14:19:00.001-04:00

Last night was the J.S. Wilson Middle School performance of Aladdin Jr. It was a darling play, all the kids did such a great job. Lex had a small part as one of the Prince's attendants and as a villager in the chorus.... and as a cute little camel! Instead of watching the play through the camera we decided to enjoy it. Here are a few pictures of her and her friends afterwards.

Know anyone that wants to live in Erie, PA?

2010-03-11T09:08:00.001-05:00

We finally finished up a few of the last little projects that needed to be done around the house like touching up some paint and met with our realtor last night and.... the house is officially for sale! Cross your fingers and toes that it is a fairly painless process for us.

I decided a couple of weeks ago that I needed a new mattress, my back has been killing me and after 14 years on the same mattress it was time. The first couple of nights were a little rough on the new set but I am loving it now and I am happy to say that I no longer wake up with a sore lower back... it is only causing me problems after I am sitting for long periods of time studying, only 2 1/2 months left of that nonsense and at least my butt will get to stand and walk around more!

I also thought we needed a real guest bed so I went ahead and bought a queen set as well. So to all my guests... no more blow up mattress! With a little rearranging it fit nicely in the corner of the downstairs family room.

We are spending this weekend house hunting in Buffalo so I will post our adventures when I get a chance! Happy Spring!!

Presents and Cake

2010-02-13T20:32:00.003-05:00

We took Lex to lunch for her birthday because she didn't want to commit her evening to dinner with the family. I will now lovingly refer to her as Grandpa Tilley because she is always looking for something better to do, so nothing is EVER a firm commitment with this kid, she will throw her plans away as soon as something better comes along! I can't even get her to plan her own birthday party with friends this year because she wants to make sure nothing else exciting is happening!

We came home and let her open her presents from us. All she wants these days is clothes, clothes and more clothes... sometimes jewelry and perfume... truly a girl after my own heart.

She even gave us a little fashion show! Here she is rocking some light wash flare jeans and a western inspired red flannel shirt....

and now looking beautiful in some navy blue knit "skinny jeans" and an over sized wrap cardigan with an embroidered gray camisole... damn, I love a good fashion show!

Then we were off to her basketball game on the recreation league, of which I took no pictures, but she did have a beautiful little lay up towards the end of the game that I wish I would have videoed... dang it! I think they won by 7 or 8 points and so far are undefeated.

It will be interesting to see what she decides to do tonight because last night she was so busy making plans and waiting around for something fabulous to come along that she ended up watching a movie with me and Nate! We are also considering eating her ice cream cake from Coldstone without her... is that so wrong?

She decided to invite her boyfriend over and Liv went down to give her one more present and tried to get a picture but as you can see they evaded this attempt! I told her if she wouldn't let me take a picture that I might have a spy cam installed... she is not impressed. She did give her little sis a hug though after the picture didn't turn out!

Fourteen

2010-02-13T08:38:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday Alexis

I can't believe my little Lexi, who is only 1 inch shorter than me... so not so little anymore, is fourteen! I feel like I was fourteen just yesterday, where does the time go?

Alexis Elizabeth Barnes, now a lovely lady at 5'4", came into the world at 6 lbs 5 oz and measuring 19 inches long. Dang near perfect... even though I guess I hit her with my genetic short stick!

She was such a good baby, except for the whole sleeping thing!

She used to be quite the poser... a face only a mother could love. I remember the Easter she got the weird little fuzzy animal that we waited hours for it to give "birth" to its baby. She was obsessed with mommy's and their baby's.

A wonderful big sister from day one, Lex has always looked after Olivia, I used to call her Livi's little momma. One day she wanted to go play when Liv was around 1 yr and when I told her that she could she asked me who would be able to watch Liv, I told her that I would be watching Liv. And it was in that moment that I realized that she was unaware that mom's were able to multi task... watching their kids while cleaning, cooking, laundry and the rest! Up to that point she was convinced that she was the only one in charge of the baby!!!

Very stylish in her Harley leather jacket, 5 yrs old and almost ready for kindergarten.

I swear they start school and then somehow time speeds up, so inquisitive and innocent is replaced with a "know it all" attitude and a style all their own.

Her years at the barn are some of my fondest memories... hard work though (don't know how you do it D) her and Olivia had so much fun with Charlie and Mary Legs!

All grown up and on her way to High School... I need to some how freeze time! I don't know if I am ready for this! Basketball this year was an absolute blast to watch her play, I am so excited to see what opportunities she will seize over the next couple of years.

We love you Alexis!

January Happenings

2010-01-31T16:00:00.000-05:00

Oh how winter just keeps dragging on...

Even though the days are short, snowy and miserably cold somehow this month has flown by. The girls are busy as usual... Lex with basketball, soccer and snowboarding .... and Liv with tennis, flute and girl scouts. Lex got voted cutest girl in class for the yearbook last week and also decided to try out for the school play... she will be playing the part of Prince Ali Baba's attendant in their production of "Aladdin" so we will be looking forward to that.

Bella is learning to "sit and wait" at the door before she is allowed out and she is making some really good progress... we still have more work to do but she is working really hard. And, Baby just got fat this winter. The pint sized animal managed to gain 2 pounds! Here is a picture of Liv's favorite thing to do with her back fat... put it in a pony tail!

Nate and I may also have gotten slightly more round (let's just say medical school and a new job have not been kind to our waistlines) BUT we have gotten ourselves under control and are shedding the weight even as we speak as we have been rocking the special K challenge. I am 3 lbs away from my goal weight and victory will be mine!

Nate is still working half the week here and half the week in Buffalo and it looks like they want him to learn as much as he can before we relocate so it will probably continue for another month, maybe two.

Here is one of my study buddies that found a comfy spot around my neck to help me cram for an exam the other night. School is coming along for me, I am becoming more and more anxious for my first board exam and the start of clinical rotations so I will continue to whine and bitch through it. Not much to say about it... hate it, it sucks, I am miserable but it is self inflicted misery so I will keep trying to suck it up!

I anxiously await the oversized rats prediction on Tuesday, and cross my fingers for an early spring for all of us!

Peek n' Peak

2010-01-13T17:00:00.001-05:00

Nate took the girls up snowboarding last Sunday. Liv has been bugging us for the last year to learn to snowboard and Lex said she wouldn't mind taking her up so we figured we would let her try it.

We were originally going to have Liv take a introductory lesson but she just wanted Lex to show her how so that is what they did. Nate found a spot in the lodge to watch them as they came down the hills and off they went!

Alexis was so sweet and so patient with Liv, I get teary just thinking of what a cute relationship they have. The last couple of years they haven't spent as much time together because of the huge space in years between them so it is fun to see them get to relate with each other and find common ground again. I really think the two of them had a really great time together!

Liv says she LOVES snowboarding and can't wait to do it again but her booty was mighty sore from all the falling that she did!

January in the Northeast

2010-01-09T16:42:00.004-05:00

Last weekend Nate and I decided to paint our upstairs den, hall and bathroom, these were the last rooms that needed it so I am glad to finally have it done. I chose a neutral cinnamon color, which I think turned out quite nice.

Of course the bathroom still has the ugly 1970's yellow tile but I think this wall color tones it down a bit and makes it more tolerable.... okay it is still quite hideous... but I only have to look at it for a few more months and then it is somebody else's to hate!

The den is pretty plane but there is nothing quite like a fresh coat of paint and I am the only one that really uses it so, for now, it works for my needs.

Me and the kids are back to school and none of us are too happy about that but it is what it is! My semester ends May 14th and then I am scheduled to take my first board exam June 4th... which I am thinking of switching to May 28th so I can have Memorial weekend off and a week break before I start my first rotation June 7th.

Nate was given the opportunity to do some training in the Erie office for the next couple of months, which is really nice and couldn't have happened at a better time with this WONDERFUL winter weather we have been having. The roads in PA are absolutely atrocious, you cross the state line into NY and they are unequivocally 10 times better... I guess in PA they haven't heard of salting the roads... or getting up before 8am to plow. Now Nate is working two days a week up in Buffalo and three days here in drerie. We are really anxious to see what this will mean for his career and can't wait to relocate to Buffalo this summer... hoping we can sell this house in this crap hole economy!

Now that winter is here to stay I've been shoveling, and shoveling, and shoveling... and I am totally sick of it!

I think the only one that loves this weather is Bella. After our morning walk I usually shovel and she sits at the door and whines so the last couple of days I have let her come out with me while I shovel the driveway and she has been pretty good to stay close. This morning was a good test for her because I had her out while Liv and the neighbor kids walked to the bus stop and she was such a good girl to sit and watch her. She did whine a little while she looked at me, and then at Liv, and then back at me, but she knew she wasn't allowed to go with.

She is so pretty to watch when she is running around in the snow outside (of course I am her momma and a little biased). She was frantic this morning because the birds were up in the neighbors trees and she loves to chase them when they swoop into our feeder.

As a side note:

......I think I saw a Pileated Woodpecker today... I am 95% sure of it... and really excited! They are about the size of a crow and very shy so I am hoping it comes back so I can make a correct I.D. and enter it in my birding notebook!

Even Baby ventured out today for a second on one of Bella's well worn paths... she is such a ninny muggin... I do love her!

Prison Break

2010-01-01T19:18:00.005-05:00

Nate and I came home from a movie tonight to find that Bella had busted Baby out of her kennel. Baby is not a trained animal and, therefore, cannot be trusted when left alone.

I find it extremely comical because Baby doesn't really like Bella... this is what they were doing moments after we arrived home. Bella chases Baby around and Baby snarls and bites Bella's nose. I do wonder if Baby was grateful to Bella, at least for a second!

Thank goodness there were no surprises for us to clean up!

Hope you all had a fabulous New Year's Eve and that you will all have a wonderful New Year!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T11:30:00.003-05:00

Christmas Eve Dinner turned out quite nice. On the menu this year was our traditional roast but I decided to try three new dishes (scared... and I may have freaked out once): roasted garlic and Gorgonzola mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash and croissants. The roast was very good.... the potatoes were decent... the squash was heavenly and the croissants were good but I think I need to cook them 2 or 3 minutes longer because they weren't as fluffy as I would have liked.

After dinner we donned our gay apparel... more commonly known as our Christmas eve jammie's!

This year we played Sequence, it was a really fun game and I would definitely recommend it. We played on teams, me and Liv against Nate and Lex. First game went to me and Liv and the second game Nate and Lex won. Liv was bored of it by then because it was taking to long to get to her turn!

The girls got busy making some cookies for Santa... this year they went with peanut butter cookies.... maybe we will dip the extras in some melted milk chocolate tomorrow... yum!

This year the Christmas book I chose for our reading was "Matchless" by Gregory Maguire. It is an adaptation of "The little match girl" by Hans Christian Andersen but slightly more heartwarming and not as grim!

Christmas morning started at quarter past 5 this year. Santa brought Liv some sleigh bells from his sleigh and Barbie's all doll'd up nails. Lex got the new ipod nano and an ihome.

I think everyone made out pretty good this year and hopefully nobody was disappointed! Here are some pictures from our Christmas morning.

Everyone needed to meet the orangutan... some of us think it is a little bit creepy!

I made our traditional breakfast of scones, buttermilk biscuits, sausage gravy, hash brown casserole and scrambled eggs... we are on our way to gaining 10 lbs this Christmas!

The kitchen is barely surviving the onslaught... really dreading cleaning up this morning!

While we ate we watched the Christmas Story and at some point we will break out the one and only Christmas classic, Elf! Liv is also dying to watch season one of The Muppet Show (me too!) which was a present picked out by yours truly.

Liv gave us a private Christmas concert... she is getting pretty good. We begged Lex to play her guitar but she isn't interested in showing off her talent and we aren't interested in pissing off the teen!

We are thinking maybe later we will go see Alvin and the Chipmunks the squeakuel. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, we sure do miss everyone and love you all tons!!!

Getting ready for the Holidays and stuff

2009-12-20T12:49:00.003-05:00

I can't believe how fast the time has gone since Thanksgiving. I just finished up my semester on Thursday, it is such a relief! Next semester is going to be brutal, I need to start studying for our first Board Exam, so I guess that means I need to quit screwing around and do a better job with my time management! I have been making a mad dash to get my Christmas shopping started and finished... I think I am about done.

Nate got stuck in Buffalo for a couple of days during one of our last big storms, they closed down the thruway... I think 100 people got stuck overnight on the road so at least he was in the city and not on the road! He is still enjoying work and is looking forward to some new opportunities this coming year. I got the chance to meet some of his coworkers a couple of weeks ago at a hockey game, his company owns one of the suites and invited us. It was a fun date night so hopefully we'll get invited again!

The girls are keeping us busy as usual with their activities. They are both looking forward to their winter break, I can't wait to find out what they have in store for me!

Day 3 - Black Friday

2009-11-27T16:21:00.013-05:00

After having a cup of the "world's best coffee" at Starbucks (sweet nectar of life) we made our way to Gimble's... I mean Macy's.

The window displays started with a touch screen computer that let you write a letter to Santa. After sending your letter to Santa the rest of the window displays tell the story of how your letter gets to the North Pole... very cute.

With all the colors and moving parts it was hard to get a good photo amongst the crowd. We were just amazed at how intricate these windows were... just darling!

The display ended with Santa and we couldn't help but hear Buddy the Elf's voice.... "You're not the real Santa, you sit on a throne of lies, you stink, you smell like beef and cheese!"

We walked inside the 10 story Macy's for a peek. Santa was on the 8th floor with a line a couple of hours long. He was well sequestered behind a beautiful toy train display of which none of us had the patience to wait through, so on we went.

We did some more shopping, Liv had a huge dilemma... to get an American Girl doll at the American Girl doll store (I can't believe we didn't get any pictures of it!) or go back to FAO Scwhartz to build her own muppet. In the end the doll of the year, Chrissa, won her over. Lex of course is all about the clothes!

Then we made our way to Times Square, Liv nearly died when she caught a glimpse of the Naked Cowboy... her reaction was hilarious. When we got back to the hotel later that day, she said she would have been devastated if she didn't get to see the Naked Cowboy... the girl kills me!!

It was Liv's lucky day because she also got to meet a "celebrity" (as she put it)... good old Spongebob.

Exhausted, we headed back to the hotel to take a break from the crowds and drop off our bags.

After resting our feet for a little bit we decided to check out Grand Central Station. None of the pictures turned out... I was tired of carrying around our bigger camera and there just wasn't enough light for our little one to take a quality shot.

We grabbed some dinner there and walked through some cute holiday shops that were set up and called it a night.

I don't think any of us wants to go home to reality but we miss our furry family members soooo much and can't wait to see them tomorrow!

Day 2 NYC - Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T20:26:00.010-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! We decided to relive the first Thanksgiving... awkward if you end up having to sit next to the guy that is half naked at dinner!

We checked out the start of the Macy's parade route last night to watch them blow up the balloons and due to the ridiculous amount of people we just couldn't make ourselves go back for the real deal... maybe next time?

Instead we decided to head downtown to take the Staten Island ferry to get a good view of the city and the Statue of Liberty.

Of course our lady Liberty was by far the prettiest view!

We traveled back uptown to Rockefeller Plaza, we were really happy that we decided to skate the night before in Central Park... it was half the price, twice the size, half as crowded and much more scenic.

Liv couldn't resist another Elf moment on the escalator!

We took a ride 69 floors up to the Top of the Rock to get a birds eye view of the city...

BREATHTAKING!

Then we were off to the Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.

It was a darling show, perfect for putting you in a holiday mood.

I end up getting stuck carrying everything everywhere we go so at this point I ended up looking like a complete jackass.

Then it was dinner time! It was quite lovely to sit and enjoy a dinner that I didn't have to prepare or clean up, between the wine and the cappuccino we sailed through dinner with ease and I am sure widened our waistlines while we were at it.

Me and Lex are getting ready to go out and hit some door buster sales, our first stop is midnight at the apple store... feeling like this could be an insane idea but we are doing it anyways!

Day 1 NYC

2009-11-25T21:27:00.012-05:00

No we are not in a third world country this is the Buffalo airport with some tough guys with machine guns... are you kidding me... this can't be necessary!

First we traveled through the seven levels of the candy cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops and then through the Lincoln tunnel! NEW YORK CITY!!

After checking into the hotel it was off to the Museum of Natural History. It was amazing! We had no idea what to expect and it was beyond anything we could have imagined.

You've got to love an okapi!

Another Elf moment...Liv just couldn't resist the revolving door on our way out of the museum, thank goodness she didn't puke!

Before we made our decent into the subway system we all reminded each other that the gum stuck to the railing was not free candy!

Then we headed over to central park, it was gorgeous.

At dinner we realized that our taste buds were alive for the first time in years! Erie is not known for it's culinary diversity... or anything else for that matter!

We went to check out the Apple store and FAO Schwartz and then it was back to Central Park to Wollman's Rink for some ice skating. I thought we took more pictures, but we didn't. The setting was just beautiful, surrounded by tree's (this really pretty weeping willow) and then all the buildings beyond. It was all misty and magical!

I wanted to say so much more but we have been up since 4:45 this morning and we are exhausted and need some sleep so we can do this all again tomorrow!

Concert, Talent Show and Reflections

2009-11-19T21:20:00.005-05:00

Last Saturday I took Lex and a friend to Cleveland for Fall Ball, a concert with some up and coming bands that they really like. It was a really fun venue at the House of Blues, small enough that I could keep an eye on them but crowded enough to make them feel like I wasn't!

The tickets were all general admission so the girls were able to wiggle and push their way right up front during their favorite bands and they even went crowd surfing... thank God nobody was trampled or hurt!!

This week Lexi participated in the school talent show with a group of students from her homeroom. They performed the dance to Thriller. It was really cute she is the one on the far left corner.

Liv decided again, at the very last minute, to enter a picture in the reflections contest. We learned nothing from last year I guess. Here she is with her entry.

She took 4th place, way to go Liv! Maybe, just maybe, next year she will remember to start on it a little earlier... like when her mom reminds her!

A dog's day

2009-11-10T15:40:00.002-05:00

Last week both the animal's had a birthday! Baby turned 6 and Bella turned 1. Both doggies got a rawhide chew and a mini cake! Bella devoured her cake and Baby wanted nothing to do with it.

They both loved the rawhide but Baby had to run and hide hers in her kennel so Bella wouldn't bother her.

I also got them a bubble blowing machine that blows cheese and beef bubbles, I was so excited!!!

Unfortunately the dogs were NOT... I was disappointed to say the least, they really are so unappreciative!

Basketball Banquet

2009-11-04T16:20:00.006-05:00

Last night we celebrated the end of the Lady Ram's Basketball season with a banquet. A bunch of us mom's got together and planned a fun night to honor our hard working girls! They all got dressed up... and wouldn't you know it my girl who REFUSES to wear a dress or a skirt picked out the most adorable "girly" dress.... and peek-a-boo toe HIGH HEELS.... and rocked it!!

It was so much fun to get to go shopping with her, she even let me do her hair and paint her nails... I was in mommy heaven!

The evening started off with dinner and a video of the season's highlights. One of the mom's worked tirelessly to get all the food donated for the event... pizza, pasta, wings, salad, drinks and lot's of yummy desserts. The video was amazing, I can't even imagine how many hours were put in to accumulate all of our photos and video clips... it was a wonderful reminder of how hard they worked as a team to win the metro championship.

The Principal gave a wonderful speech, him and his two adorable son's came to nearly every game and cheered them on. He was such a great support to the girls. At the expense of embarrassing his son's he told the girls that towards the end of the season when his boys would go out and play basketball they would imitate the girls and re-create some of the plays from their games!

We had asked the girls to write a favorite memory about each member of the team and then had them read them to each other... it was fun to hear what they all had to say. They were all so complimentary to each other, there were both funny and tender moments. They also did the same for their coach, who came up in tears because she was so touched. She had some wonderful thoughts and advice for the girls and it was very clear how much they mean to her and how special this team has been. We then presented her with few gifts to show her our appreciation.

From the donations we received we were able to put together gift bags for the girls... we were given ski lift passes, water park passes, basketball tickets, gift certificates to a variety of shops and restaurants, a signed picture from T.O. of the Bills and a signed shirt from Lebron of the Cavaliers... it was an awesome response. Lexi ended up with the ski lift passes, woo hoo! Their coach also surprised them with the news that The Rams had been invited to play in a "pre-game" at the season opener of the Erie Bayhawk's (our local minor league basketball team)... a little something to look forward to!

Aren't they just so cute! We ended the night with a basketball pinata that we hung up in the basketball hoop which they had to break with a shootout.... I was to late to get a picture of the frenzy... but even all dressed up these lady's can kick their heels off and bust out their moves on the court!

The Soccer Tournament

2009-10-28T08:04:00.004-04:00

Last weekend Lexi, aka #21, had her end of season soccer tournament in Ohio. Mom made the trek from Arizona to join us and we headed out! Nate has taken Lex to most of the games all season because they are always on Saturdays so him and Liv stayed home on dog duty.

The normal 2 hour drive turned out to be a little longer because me and the GPS were having communication issues! ONE of my detours (there may have been 3) was through a lovely, picturesque little town.

Her team has been playing in the "premier" league all season, which is an older (more advanced skills) age group, these teams are practicing 2-3 times more each week then our team. Lexi's team probably won only half of their games all season, so going into the tournament I wasn't expecting them to do very well. Their coach had them play in the harder league all season and then entered them in this tournament which was against teams of their same age level.

There were eight teams split up into two groups, the winner of each group would play for the championship. They played two of their games Saturday and won! Lexi had one goal, a couple of attempts, one of which she got tackled so she got a goal kick... but since she had already scored a goal the coach let one of the other girls kick it. She had two other "goals" that they called off sides on... I only believe she was off sides on one, because she was dribbling the ball down herself on one of them (nobody passed the ball to her) so it would have been impossible for her to be off sides.... so she was robbed! Afterwards we went and checked into our hotel and had dinner with a some of girls from her team and their moms.

Sunday morning they played the last team in their group annihilating them so it was off to the championship game that afternoon for Erie United!!!

The team they were playing against did the same thing as them this season, playing in the harder league and dropping down into their own age group for the tournament, we played them a couple of weeks ago winning them with ease. I think the girls really underestimated them because the first half of the championship game the girls seemed to be more interested in watching the game then playing the game and the other team was able to score one goal. The second half of the game the girls came out and played hard, they kept the ball on their half of the field the entire time.... had a dozen goal attempts... two goals that the refs called off sides on.... one bloody nose... one bloody lip... but in the end zero goals... it just didn't go their way with the final score 0-1. Erie United came in second place.... pretty dang good, and a lot of fun to watch!

What a week for my cute sporty girl, way to go Lex! Arriving home on Sunday, Nate had a wonderful dinner prepared for us and afterwards we relaxed and played a couple of games of Apples to Apples... of which mother couldn't catch a break! What a fun weekend!

Basketball Season Highlights

2009-10-21T23:00:00.002-04:00

The Rams ended the regular season in third place and this week it was the playoffs.

Monday it was Lexi and The Rams playing Roosevelt Middle School. They had to win this game to advance on in the tournament and they did not disappoint. Lexi had the first 4 points in the first 30 seconds! She got the tip off and made a beautiful lay up and then turned around and made an incredible steal making another lay up! The girls played such a clean game, with very few fouls or turnovers, they just looked amazing out there... towards the end of the game the other team started getting more physical (one girl even got a technical foul) and it got pretty heated... but our girls did not sink to their level. The Rams won with the final score 32-20.

Tuesday they played the number 1 team, Joanne O'Connell... this game determined whether or not they would play for 3rd or 1st place on Wednesday. My stomach was full of butterflies! This team won us by 2 baskets in the regular season, we knew it was going to be intense! They had a great turnout of fans, the football team and a bunch of their friends were there cheering them on. It was a nail biter from the start... me, Nate and Liv screaming our lungs out.... THE RAMS PULL OFF A MAJOR UPSET.... winning 33 -29! I wish I would have thought to capture the end of the game on video but we were all so caught up in the moment jumping up and down... I have never seen the girls more excited and proud of themselves... priceless!

Wednesday: The Rams vs. Walnut Creek playing for first place in the championship game!
This team won the tournament last year. It was an incredibly fast paced game, I don't know who was more nervous the parents or the girls, most of the parents were barely even able to breath! The crowd was pumped up, cheering nonstop for our Lady Rams... Walnut Creek was undefeated in the regular season so we knew our girls were going to have to play their hearts out. The stars aligned tonight... our girls never gave up, every time they got down they picked themselves up and came back even stronger... winning the Johnny Harris Tournament by 1 point.... final score 30 - 29!!! Congrats Rams on your championship win!!!!
And this time I was ready with the camera!

Receiving their first place trophy.

Lexi amazes me, she is both fierce and flawless. I have had so much fun watching her play and can't wait until next year! I love you Lex!

We ended the night by taking the girls out for pizza after the game for a little celebration.

Volume up and enjoy the video highlights from the season!

Feeling a little bit screwed... but it could have been worse

2009-10-07T21:09:00.001-04:00

We picked our rotation sites tonight and it was quite the process. I only got a little bit screwed, other people got more screwed. Our school requires so many people to fill "mandatory" rotation spots first before you can "choose" where you want to go. These mandatory spots are hospitals and clinics with "special relationships" with our school so we basically have to volunteer for these or draw straws for who gets stuck with them. I will spare you all the intricate and crazy details of what was mandatory and what was available and what was restricted and cut to the chase. All of my rotations but two are in Buffalo. I wanted ONE in Erie this June but alas there were none available so that will be fun to coordinate with both me and Nate possibly commuting to Buffalo and the kids being raised by wolves until they are out of school. I say possibly commuting because I am eligible for free student housing and being that it is my surgery rotation I will probably just stay there. The two sites I was NOT able to get in Buffalo are...... a 4 week internal medicine rotation in Clarion, PA (middle of nowhere) and a 4 week surgical rotation in..... SCRANTON, PA baby! The rotation in Clarion does have free student housing but don't worry that Scranton doesn't offer ANY! Both of them are mandatory rotation sites and the Scranton one was the last one we had to draw out of a hat... and I WON that prize.

Anyways I am trying not to worry to much right now how this is going to all work out and just take it in steps. We still have 4 more sites we have to arrange... our electives and a family practice but these we set up on our own and, although there are some rules with them, we can choose any area or physician or clinic or hospital we would like as long as they will take us.

....And Then She Was NINE

2009-10-03T17:47:00.007-04:00

On October 2, 2009, our beautiful daughter turned 9 years old. If there was ever a girl that deserved a great birthday; it would be this girl. She starts looking forward to her birthday, MONTHS before it happens and she can't sleep for several days before it arrives. We thought we had made it clear to the girls that they get a birthday party with friends every OTHER year, but how can you resist a face like this:

We decided to celebrate Liv's birthday, as a family, on Thursday night. She wanted to go to Aoyoma, which is a Japanese restaurant, for dinner. After dinner we gave Liv her presents. Lex got her the "Liv" doll, and Ang and I got her a PSP and a stuffed animal. Sheryl, you will be interested to know, that the PSP has WiFi and comes pre-installed with Skype. This means that she can make calls with you from any room in the house.

The "family" birthday was really peaceful, but that all changed on Friday night when the "friends" birthday came along. They all look like such nice girls in the pictures below, but when you get all of them together; it is anything BUT peaceful. The party only lasted for 3 hours (no sleep over this year), but it may have been the LONGEST three hours of our lives. When Liv and I went to the "party" store, she decided she wanted a Mexican theme. Ang was in charge of decorations and she did not disappoint. The basement had streamers, chili peppers, and sombrero's everywhere. The kids started off with "Dance Dance Revolution", then came LIMBO, after that we opened up presents and had cupcakes, and last, but not least; we played musical chairs with the music turned up full blast and 9 kids screaming. It couldn't have been more fun.

When the night was over we only had one girl sleep over and the rest of them went home. I'm pretty sure that everyone had a good time and I am POSITIVE that we won't forget this night for awhile.

Baller

2009-09-30T17:37:00.001-04:00

I love this picture of 4 of the Rams starting players waiting to be announced... 21 is our girl.

We are having so much fun watching Lex play this year! She has a really wonderful team, they are all such good friends always encouraging and supporting eachother, I am just so proud of her!

Yesterday's game was like stealing candy from a baby... the final score was something like 38 - 8. Here is Lex shooting one of her foul shots. I love watching all of the players different styles for setting up their shot, no two seem to be alike.

GO RAMS!

Fashionista Extraordinaire!

2009-09-29T09:21:00.000-04:00

You've got to love a kid with her own style! Work it Liv!

One course down!

2009-09-18T22:24:00.001-04:00

Second year is coming along slowly but surely. We just finished our course over the cardiovascular system, 15 credit hours, and the largest single class we take over the first two years of medical school. I am so relieved to be done with it! Our focus for the next month will be the respiratory system, right now I am knee deep in the physiology of the lungs.... have I mentioned that I HATE physiology? Well I do, I appreciate it, but hate learning it...just when I thought I would never have to look at gas laws and partial pressures from physics...they're back...why do they torture me!

We just finished putting in our requests for our schedules for 3rd and 4th year clinical rotations. They do this in baby steps and do not give us very much information at a time. In our 3rd year we are required to do 4 weeks each of family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry and ob/gyn, 8 weeks of surgery, 12 weeks of internal medicine and 12 weeks of electives. My sequence of rotations starts with 4 weeks of surgery (SCARED!) in June and my 4 week vacation will be in August for both years. I requested Buffalo as the area I would like to do my rotations in but they have not given us a full list of rotation sites yet. So what I do know is that whatever rotations are offered in Buffalo I should be able to get BUT I will not be able to do ALL my rotations there. They should have a list for us in a couple of weeks and then we go through a couple week process of bidding for those sites, then our school rotation committee finalizes them for us and it's done...or is it? I have heard that students occasionally get bumped from sites and that you have to scramble to find something on your own, but I have several months and several classes to keep my mind from worrying to much about it right now.

Cedar Point

2009-09-12T08:15:00.004-04:00

We had originally planned on going to New York City over the Labor Day weekend, but that was before we realized Lex had her opening basketball tournament for the year. Liv was pretty disappointed because she had done a lot of research and she is definitely a girl that enjoys a vacation. After trying to come up with several ideas, we settled on Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. Liv, Lex, and I packed up the car and left early on Monday morning. It's about a two hour drive from our house, and the weather looked a little "iffy", but it turned out to be a PERFECT day.

As the kids get older and our lives get busier, Ang and I are definitely realizing that the "quality" time spent with our girls is getting less and less. This was one of those trips that regardless of the cost or the damage to my stomach (15 roller coasters), it was PRICELESS. Lex and Liv were in rare form. They were great friends all day and Lex was even good about posing for pictures.

Cedar Point is located on a small island on Lake Erie. Every ride you go on you get a great view of the water. It is billed as the roller coaster capital of the world and it has three of the top ten, fastest and tallest roller coasters in the world. We ended up going on 14 roller coaster of every type and kind you could imagine, but there was one that we had to go on several times. The pictures below don't do it justice.

The ride is called "Top THRILL Dragster" and it is the second tallest and 2nd fastest roller coaster in the world. The ride begins at a start line and accelerates to 120 mph and then climbs 425 ft straight up in the air, before coming STRAIGHT down at a 120 mph. The entire ride takes 20 seconds. Liv at first refused to go on it, but me and Lex put a lot of pressure on her. As we stood in line I could see the fear on her face. When we sat down at the starting line, she told me she was TERRIFIED and wanted to get off. I wish I could have got a picture of her face. After the ride was over, she was so PROUD of herself she could not stop talking about it. She said she now dares to go on ANY ride.

If anyone likes fast roller coasters, this is by far the best amusement park I have ever been to. We had a great time and I think we will be going back there at least once a year. It is going to take that long for my stomach to settle down.

A Relaxing Weekend

2009-09-06T19:28:00.008-04:00

Last weekend we had the start of competition soccer and this weekend we had the start of Middle School basketball. Lex wasn't sure whether she was going to be a starter, but her parents were pretty confident. It turns out that her parents were right, again, and she is the starting off-guard for the JS Wilson Rams. The season kicked off with a tournament held on Friday and Saturday. We lost our first game, because I think most of the girls were a little nervous. The 2nd game was against a team that beat/annihilated us several times last year . It was a pretty close game most of the way and kept us on the edge of our seats. It was one of the most entertaining basketball games I have EVER watched. Our star guard had 7 points, 3 steals and a couple of assists. We ended up taking 3rd place in the tournament and got a really nice plaque.

Since Liv had to spend Friday and Saturday watching basketball, I told her I would take her to play some miniature golf. If you have ever played mini-golf or anything else with Liv, you realize pretty quickly that she is very competitive just like her MOTHER. After beating her dad by 2 strokes in mini-golf, she came home and snuggled her sister, until they both fell asleep.

The dogs were feeling a little neglected, so today we decided to have a barbecue outside and play with them in the yard. Liv decided she wanted to play some croquet and as you can tell from the pictures, Bella and Baby had a fun time playing as well.

Tomorrow we are going to Cedar Point Amusement park in Ohio. It currently holds the world record for the most roller coasters (17), one of which, Top Thrill Dragster, is the world's second tallest and second fastest roller coaster. IF I survive, I will document that in another post.

School, Work, Lessons, Games, etc.

2009-08-31T22:02:00.001-04:00

It has been awhile since I have posted but only because I have been really struggling to juggle my classes and life at the same time so I decided it wasn't wise to "waste" time blogging. But, I have turned things around by FINALLY doing well on my last exam. This past month has been really challenging with Nate not here as much and I am well aware now how much I relied on him last year. Second year of medical school really doesn't feel much different than the first year. With the kids in school now I am hoping things are a little less stressful for me.

In other school news for me, we are currently putting in our requests for clinical rotations for the following year and we should know by mid October what our schedule for third year will be. It is really exciting/scary! My school is really good at keeping everything under a cloak of secrecy.... annoying to say the least, so I don't quite understand how it is all going to work yet. We focus mainly on primary care medicine and surgery for third year but we will have more flexibility to try out a few specialties in our fourth year. I am trying to get some rotations in Buffalo but it looks like there will be a few I will be required to do in Erie. As the cloak is lifted I will let you all know!

Liv is loving the flute, I can't believe how fast she has picked up on the fingering. Her teacher is the cutest and kindest little old man, just perfect for Liv. She has only had 4 lessons and she is really coming along!

Lex has been busy with her sports. She will be a starter on the school basketball team this year, yay! They practice everyday for two hours and it looks like they have 2-3 games a week this season. She also had her first soccer game this past Saturday, they won the first and lost the second. All there games are in Ohio about 2 hours from here (I don't know why) and they play two games every other Saturday. It is pretty exciting for Lex (and us) to have her involved with this competition team, the level of playing is really impressive.

Nate hasn't had enough time to do much besides work lately with his 3 hour commute each day but somehow we manage to find a FEW things for him to do when he gets home! We are looking forward to next weekend because he took off a few days in addition to labor day so it will be a nice extended weekend.

The fur faces have been being trained on the electric fence... Baby needed a refresher course and we figured it was time for Bella to learn because she busted out of the zip line we had set up. Baby got shocked right away and has been terrified to go outside so in order for her to use the toilet outside I can't put the collar on her anymore... this is fine I just have to be vigilant watching her as she occasionally would like to sneak off. Bella has done really well with it and it is so nice for her to be able to use the entire yard instead of being confined to a tie out, this makes fetching much more fun. We haven't had her out when the neighbor dog is also out or any bunny's running around so we are a bit anxious about how she will deal with these distractions.

Me and the girls, and one of Lexi's friends went for manicures yesterday to get ready for their first day of school, it is one of our favorite annual traditions. We had a really good time even though Lex looks totally annoyed in the picture!

Today was the first day of school for the girls! Here is Lex on her way to the bus stop for her first day of eighth grade.

Liv is so excited for her first day of third grade. She was lucky enough to get the teacher she wanted and two of her best friends in her class. Her teacher happens to be the gifted teacher she went to all last year, they have changed the gifted program in our school district for this coming year and this teacher decided she would rather teach third grade full time instead!

And as an aside, if anyone is interested in joining us in NYC for Thanksgiving we would love it... I got a wild hair last night and booked our trip for Nov 25-28.

Back to school for this fool

2009-08-04T12:58:00.005-04:00

Last week Liv and I had a week full of fun, of which I took no pictures. Lex was in basketball camp all day every day so we had to entertain ourselves with the amusement park, indoor water park, Chuck E. Cheese and the beach.... it was exhausting (and expensive) to say the least!

I went back to school yesterday and it feels like I never left. We are starting off with the cardiovascular system this semester and I am going to TRY and remain positive this year! I can tell this month will be quite a challenge with the kids still on summer vacation, but things should settle down when they go back to school, at least somewhat.

Lots of love to you all!

The BLEEPING Basement

2009-07-27T14:00:00.004-04:00

After the 3rd worst winter in Erie history and the coldest and rainiest July EVER we are lucky to be alive!!!! Unfortunately the basement just didn't survive.

Below are a couple of pictures of the basement pre-flood (the only pictures I had on my computer were from Lexi's B-day). All we had done was throw the kids gaming machines, TV and some couches down there. The carpet was pretty ugly but super soft and functional.

On July 1st as we got into bed we had a thunderstorm roll in and all night it just poured... the thunder and lightening were so spectacular that neither me or the dogs slept but a wink. When I rolled out of bed only about half the backyard was under water. It started pouring down rain an hour later and the water level began rising.

Lexi had basketball practice that morning and without thinking we hopped in the car to take her. As we pulled out of the driveway a friend of hers called last minute asking for a ride. I said yes, she lives about 15 minutes away across town, and we started out passing one stretch of road that was nearly flooded all the way across 4 lanes. I started thinking it wasn't such a good idea to be driving. I reached the zoo, which is about 4 miles from our house, and found the road shut down with water levels reaching the windows of cars parked in the zoo parking lot. We turned around and came right back home! Later that day Lexi told me the reason her friend needed a ride was because her grandpa's car got bogged down on the way to pick her up for basketball in the flood waters and he actually had to be rescued by the fire department!

Water levels just kept rising and soon the backyard was completely covered and the front lawn and street were also under water, about up to knee level. Like a good blogger I started taking pictures not thinking anything could be flooding... like my basement!
Below is a picture of the front yard and street, you can see the water level creeping up to the neighbor across the streets front lawn and you can't even tell there is a street between us.

This next picture is of water running from the street towards our house, we had a mini river that ran all the from here to the backyard, still I wasn't even thinking of the basement.

I exchanged some comments with my neighbor from the safety of our porches and as I was turning to come back in just happened to glance at the window well on the side of the house... which of course was full of water!! I ran down stairs to find water pouring in, the carpet was just saturated. I had to hurry and go to Sears (which was the closest store, just a couple of blocks away) to grab a sump pump (not the only one there, fortunately got one of the last reasonably priced sump pumps) and came back and threw it in the window well. I then proceeded to try and suck up the water with my carpet cleaner. After an hour and a half of doing that I was exhausted... the carpet didn't feel any drier so I brought a couple of fans in and took a break. After a few days, the carpet was still soaked, even the stairs, and the smell was horrific. I decided to tear the carpet up! So, all by my lonesome, I ripped up and carried out the soaking wet, stinky carpet. I do have to thank Nate for cutting the pile of carpet I threw onto the driveway up into strips and rolling it up nicely for the garbage man to pick up!

After tearing the carpet out I really didn't know what the heck to do so after letting the basement dry out I decided to paint the floor thinking that would be a good short term, relatively cheap, fix to the problem. Mind you after about a week of the kids hanging out in our living room we were ready to boot them back down stairs!

The girls picked out this lovely pepper grass green and I found some coordinating colors (briquette, bridal rose and chamois cloth) and we made over the basement. The girls did help me with 1 coat of paint on the walls, but the rest was all my sweat, tears and a plethora of cuss words. I will NEVER again be tricked into thinking painters tape is worth a damn... biggest scam ever in my opinion! The stairs nearly beat me.

I still need to do a little bit of touch up on the stairs where the paint peeled off with the tape (I am looking at probably two more coats). I think with this humidity here it just takes way to long for things to dry and I may have been a little to impatient... still blaming it on that scam they call painters tape though!

Liv has allowed her love sac to hang out downstairs for a little bit so she could put her train back up in her room... it might only be here temporarily. I would really like to put a bed down here for the girls to use for sleepovers and guests some day!

I am really pleased with how things turned out, I was a little worried about the color palette at first. The only thing that needs to be done now is installing baseboards. I am not adventurous enough to tackle that kind of project on my own and I have run out of time this summer anyways, who knows when we will get to it. But at least the girls have a place to hang out again.

A day at the beach

2009-07-22T18:31:00.004-04:00

Well me and Liv decided that if we waited for some sun we might never get to the beach again before I go back to school. We grabbed a friend and headed out, it was perfect! I actually got to read an entire magazine full of nonsense while they played... heaven. It started sprinkling as we left, they are forecasting more rain tonight and, well, probably for the rest of summer!

What's a been happen'n hot stuff...

2009-07-20T08:23:00.004-04:00

Liv has taken Ice T's motto to a whole knew level ever since Jen came to visit, "never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down"... the kid barely gets out of bed before 9 or 10 these days (HEAVEN)! She is definitely lounging this summer, which is easy to do here since it has been cooler and rainy on and off so far. We are hoping to get at least one good day at the beach this week. After bugging me for the past couple of years to learn an instrument I finally caved (because these kids need one more lesson, right) she will be starting to learn the flute as of tomorrow.

The sporty girl has been busy with camps, tryouts and tournaments.... and now on the injured list (she wouldn't let me take a picture with her head in it, blasted teenager). She did make the traveling competition soccer team, 10 girls tried out for 3 open spots and she got it, way to go Lex! This weekend she played in a basketball tournament put on by one of the local colleges with her middle school team. They won 2 of the 3 games they played on Saturday, but Sunday was really rough. After losing their first two games they played in a mini tournament, 2 minute games single elimination. In the first game Lex rolled her ankle and was out, her team went on to win and made it to the final game only to lose in a foul shot shoot out. We have been icing and resting it ever since, this afternoon she tried putting some pressure on it and we are happy to report it isn't hurting as bad. Hopefully she heals quickly because she has another basketball camp 9-4 every day next week and then her soccer team starts practicing the following week!

I took the plunge and decided to lop off my long locks! Liv took this picture with the cell phone right after I got done, sorry about the quality I will have to get a better picture up later. I really like it but am thinking of going a little bit shorter, the girl that cut it was mortified that I wanted it cut and convinced me to keep it longer than I originally wanted. So I will be going back to take off another inch or so off at some point. I only have two more weeks of freedom and then it is back to school for me and LECOM owns me again. I AM NOT READY!

Nate is loving his job, he is even playing a little basketball with a group during their lunch hour... just living the dream! We are still adjusting to his schedule, it is really hard not having him home until 7pm, there is just not enough time in the evening to get everything done. I am sure we will get used to it eventually though.

I have been busy updating our basement so I will post that project shortly... it is killing me but it should be done soon.

The Erie Zoo

2009-07-16T20:30:00.009-04:00

Liv and I finally made it to the zoo here in Erie, it's about 4 miles away from our house so it was a real struggle to get there! The 2 year old orangutan was very cute, he lives with his mom and dad that were doing their very best to ignore him, like all good parents. There was also a strange man that was sitting on the outside of the window talking to the dad orangutan and playing peek-a-boo with him.... freaky.

Every zoo needs a sleazy kangaroo... sick and wrong. It was neat that we got to just walk in the pen with the kangaroo's and wallaby's.

Me and Liv walking across one of the cute little bridges.

I love a two toed sloth, everybody should have one... me and Liv want a baby one!

The giraffe's were cute but I really miss handi-giraffe at Hogle Zoo.

My favorites were the Wild African Dogs.

Liv's favorite was the tamarin monkey.

Of course no Zoo trip is complete until you make a stop at the gift shop, Liv got a stuffed version of her favorite. All in all it was a pretty cute zoo, always a little bit sad to look at caged animals, but cute.

The Institution

2009-07-07T07:41:00.003-04:00

The only day I took the camera with me while Jen was here was to this gated community called the Chautauqua Institution about 45 minutes away on Lake Chautauqua in New York. It is a beautiful place but it kind of freaked us out a little too.

I guess it was founded a couple of hundred years ago by a Methodist Bishop for the purpose of education, art and enlightenment. They really emphasize adult education and offer a pretty interesting lecture series every year on various topics ranging from politics to arts or social issues. They open the community to the general population for a price... yes it is a profit thing... but we lucked out because it was free the day we went!

We weren't quite sure what to do there but had a good time walking around. People were playing at the beach but it wasn't exactly beach weather in my opinion.

The streets were immaculate and I am sure the rules and regulations to live in the community are incredibly rigid, all in all though it was a nice little place to visit and enjoy an ice cream cone!

Baby is a Survivor... and now part Feral Cat

2009-07-04T10:37:00.005-04:00

Last night I let the dogs out for a potty break and Baby ran off, she usually comes right back or goes next door where she can easily be found, but not this time. I think she may have been scared off by our neighbors illegal (but beautiful) firework display. Me, Nate, Jen and Lex stayed out combing the neighborhood until midnight looking for her, I can't even describe the feeling of dread I had all night long, checking the porch at every little sound hoping she had returned. Luckily Liv had fallen asleep before she ran off but it was heartbreaking to see Lex go to bed in tears.

We were back out searching at 4am, Nate in the car and me and Jen on foot. I came back at 7 to find Liv awake and delivered the news. Initially she took it in stride but a few minutes later was in tears and sick to her stomach with worry. I don't know what felt worse, seeing my kids so upset or feeling so scared that I would never see that sweet little furry face again. Liv insisted on going out with Nate when he got back to look again and I decided I was going to hit all the gas stations, grocery stores and Vets in the area and post flyer's of our lost Baby. As Jen and I got ready to leave, we were both just sure she was gone for good, Nate called to say that he and Liv had found her!

She was about 3 miles away in a neighborhood that I have never walked her through, I don't know if she would have ever found her way home. She was muddy, wet and shaking in the front yard of a house. Nate said he had to open and close his eyes a few times because he couldn't believe he was really seeing her. Liv must have been the good luck charm we needed! I have never been so relieved. She immediately got a bath and wrapped in a blanket to get warm.

Who knows what she did all night... chasing squirrels, birds and bunny's, or maybe running from groundhogs,coons and foxes.... we are just glad she is home!

Change of Plans

2009-06-30T09:55:00.001-04:00

Nate is now working for National Fuel Gas Company at their corporate headquarters in Williamsville, NY (near Buffalo) and I can't remember the entire title I only remember the last part of .... Financial Analyst... sorry honey, I really do listen I promise! The timing couldn't have been better with me now on summer break to run the kids around. And he's got 2 and a half weeks of vacation that he HAS to use before January..... Jamaica for Christmas anyone?????

This has been his first week at the new job and it has been so much fun to see him excited about what he is doing. It is an hour and a half away, so far he said it hasn't been to bad but I haven't talked to him since he went this morning in the pouring rain, standing water and flood warnings from Cleveland to Buffalo! This is my dog Stupid in the back half of the yard under 5 inches of standing water as opposed to the front half that is only mildly wet. We have had thunderstorms on and off since 3 am... both dogs got scared and ended up in bed with us, they are worse than babies!

I will TRY to force him into blogging about it when he gets a chance but don't hold your breath.... I don't even know the last time he posted... he might be the blogs weakest link! Oh, wait, that title is held exclusively by JOLYN!!!!

Our New Ride

2009-06-26T15:49:00.006-04:00

We have a new car!!!! I now understand the frustration with not getting your pictures to go where you want them on blogger, I wanted these first two pictures to be the last two pictures but whatever!

Here is a picture from the back seat looking forward... the kids love that they have control of their own A/C and heat as well as a couple of power plugs for their toys.

A view of the seats from the front, I can't believe how spacious it is!

It has been one year and one month since we sold Nate's little Toyota truck and have been a one car family.... again. This is a shout out to the crappy little Protege that has been through the ups and downs of this family like a trooper! Out of the nearly 14 years we have been married we have only had two cars for 5 of them and have NEVER owned a brand new car of our choosing, so we felt like it was time to step up to the plate!

We have been struggling with what type of vehicle to buy for the last several months, going back and forth between a midsize car, compact SUV or something bigger.

Something bigger won... this is the new Ford Flex, you either like it or you don't.... we happen to really like it! It seats 6 and has some really cool features like the voice activated media/phone sync.... I am a kid in a candy store when I am in it. It is a crossover so it drives like a dream and we are definitely having fun figuring out how to use everything!

Of course I had to give up chrome wheels and leather seats for more room, but I felt like it was good compromise and I hope Nate did too!

WHERE IS THE SUN!!!!

2009-06-20T09:39:00.005-04:00

This is what it looks like after raining for 1 1/2 hours this morning, there was a creek running down the street, and we now have a pond so if the sun comes out we can go swimming!

And remember how our roof was leaking during the winter thaw and we had it fixed? Surprise! I guess not.

I don't think these flowers are going to survive at this point and it really makes me mad, anyone have a good fix? I tried building up the mulch around them yesterday and they did straighten up but after this morning they are pretty much laying flat on the ground.

The dogs definitely have the right idea for another rainy day... I am sure it won't last long, Bella is sure to want to go out and romp around at some point and the house will smell terrifically like wet dog all day!

Loving the lazy pace of summer

2009-06-19T15:40:00.004-04:00

I haven't blogged anything for awhile and really don't have anything to blog! I have been waiting for one of two people that went to Mexico to post some more pictures and give me a complete run down!!

We had two days of good summer weather and took Liv and her friend to the beach on one... didn't take the camera though. It has been raining for 3 or 4 days now so we have been video gaming and watching movies to entertain ourselves.... not complaining about that at all! I am getting reacquainted with all the smut I have missed watching on TV.

Lex is doing a soccer day camp all of next week which she is excited for and then has a couple of basketball camps set up in July so of course she will stay entertained and busy as usual.

Liv is taking a tennis/swim class a couple times a week right now with a friend but as usual would have no problem hanging out with me or Nate all day. She is so, so, so excited for Mom, Rick and Jen to get here in a couple of weeks as am I!

I am thinking of cutting of my hair so any ideas are welcome. I decided I can't keep the length during the school year it just takes to much time to get ready in the morning with it long and I end up not doing it and throwing it in a ponytail and feeling really sloppy. It just seems like every time I cut my hair I like it for two weeks and am ready to grow it out.... hair, what is it good for!

Hoping you are all enjoying your summer too, love and miss you all!