Pride and Joy

Here are my pride and joy. Simone and I had a mom/daughter day at the zoo the other day and had a really good time. Here River is helping Simone do the dishes....he more splashes in the water but it's good practice.

Outside Day of Play

With the weather so nice, we spent most of the afternoon outside today...the kids played (it's nice that they are both of an age where they can play together) and I did some work in our garden. It was a wonderful afternoon. Then after Michael came home and we had dinner, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Oh, to be out of the house! :D

Windy City Outing

Michael and I took a mini vacation to Chicago for a late b-day present/anniversary of our engagement day celebration.
We started at the Art Institute and spent a good 3 hours perusing the paintings and such. Michael was disappointed that the modern wing was closed for renovation.
We then walked over to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Never understood the name of this restaurant although I love it. We had a gift certificate from Michael's mom so we enjoyed an almost free meal. How wonderful it was. We then headed to see a one man show "Chazz Palmentarri's a Bronx Tale" It was excellent and fun. If you have ever seen the movie, it's the same thing....just on stage with Chazz doing it all by himself. We then drove North for the evening. Master Jerry Devlin, a very good friend of the family, who works at La Quinta and got us a suite for $35. So we had a lovely day/evening out and saved a lot of money thanks to family and friends. Thanks to my mom for watching the kids so we could have some alone time.

Things are good

Things are good right now.

I'm so happy that the flu/colds have left our house and that we are enjoying some good health.

I've been subbing quite a bit and with my tutoring, we have been able to take care of some extra bills. My tutoring students are doing well, which is so exciting for me. I'm so proud of them.

River is starting to utter sounds that are close to words and I'm loving it.

Spring is in the air...it's coming and I'm so excited.

We've been having some extra fun evenings as of late. The kids love "The Wiggles" music and we put it on the stereo and we dance and dance. We used to have a family dance night, but we'd gotten out of the habit, and now we are back in the groove. It's great to see the kids doing their own dance impressions and Michael and I get quite the workout...for those of you who can't imagine Michael dancing to "The Wiggles" ,well, he does! :D

I had a great b-day yesterday. I love facebook, I got so many happy b-day wishes, it was wonderful. Michael took us all out to eat.

To actually celebrate my b-day (this is also the day Michael proposed to me....2/24/01) and our engagement day, we are going to Chicago in 2 weeks for a nice weekend. My mom is going to watch the kids for us, so we can have a nice romantic weekend.

So, things are really good right now. God is good in the good and the down times. It is nice to have some good times, may I always remember to be grateful.

25 random things about me

I've been seeing this around facebook and new I'd get tagged eventually, so I thought I'd put this on my blog as it's easier than sending it out to 25 people and I don't know who's already done this and who hasn't....so here's mine: (these are in no particular order)

1: I was saved at age 7....baptized not long after by Rev. Dan Gelatt
2: I've never broken a bone, I've never had a bloody nose
3: I don't wear makeup much, I hate mascara, lipstick gets eaten off...blush, maybe I'll wear it, if I can find my blush brush....but normally, I don't wear any.
4: I love chinese food and yes I can eat with chopsticks....my mom taught me how when I was little. I also love good ribs and pulled pork....Famous Dave's is the best.
5: I'm terribly afraid of heights and can get claustrophobic at times......even with the acrophobia, I love love love rollarcoasters..go figure.
6: I've never drunk a whole glass of milk...I can't stand the stuff...even as a baby my mom said I didn't drink it. No, I'm not lactose int.....I do fine with ice cream and cheese. I also don't eat salad dressing...I love salad, just no dressing. I also don't eat mayonnaise, sour cream, dips, salsa, pinto/ kidney/ lima/yellow/refried or wax beans.....Yes, I'm a picky eater. I also don't drink coffee or tea.
7: I had a cathode ablasion (sp?) when I was 22. It's a form of heart surgery that doesn't involve opening the chest. I was told I was the second youngest person in our city to have it done. I still struggle with heart problems, but not nearly as much as I did in college.
8: I'm not a patient person when it comes to slow drivers. I try to take in account for people who are elderly or young kids who are just learning....it's something I need to work on. I've only ever used my horn twice. (I don't like to use it)
9: I'm learning to juggle
10: I have been working on sign language for about 13 years. I can interpret almost anything, but I can't read it, which means if you were to sign something more complicated than, My name is...I would have problems
11: I love animals and don't want to hear any deer hunting stories or any other tortuous things people may have done to their pets/animals in the frivolity of childhood, I will cry and be haunted by it.
12: I love to read children's literature.....I read the popular, the silly and the newberry or other award winning books. If I was ever to return to college for a master's degree, I'd get it in children's literature.
13: I am a swing voter. I don't believe one side is always right and one side is always wrong. I can't, in my own good conscious, vote on just 1 issue.
14: I used to play the flute....always wished I could play the piano...and play it WELL!
15: I wish I could natually harmonize while singing. I can memorize that alto/harmony, but can't naturally pick it out. My voice has dropped some over the years and I can almost sing tenor in almost everything.
16: (I have to steal some ideas I saw for others and just fit me) Disneyworld is my favorite place to travel to. I've been there about 10 times and still get goosebumps when I travel there. I love it.
17: I love to road travel. In one year, Michael and I travelled coast to coast by car. We went to the San Juan Islands off the coast of WA for our anniversary one year and then, the same year, we went to Hilton Head VA.
18: I need/must have a straightened house. I can't stand clutter. (I'm stealing this from my friend Jen Boice) If I know someone is coming over, I'll clean/straighten until they visit, even if they are just stopping by to pick something up. My husband is a pack rat, which makes life intersting for us both. :D
19: I'm not a fan of jewelry. I LOVE my wedding ring/engagement ring, but I don't wear earings, necklaces or bracelets. I went through a short period of my life when I wore anklets, but that didn't last long.
20: I enjoy public speaking....this doesn't mean that I speak up in Sunday School.
21: I love acting and would love to someday be in a theater group.
22: I order the same item at each restaurant I go to. This doesn't mean I order chicken at each restaurant, this means that at Olive Garden I always get the Fett. Alfredo, at Famous Dave's I always get the rib tips.....I HARDLY ever order something different. I've seen too many family members disappointed and hungry because they were adventurous.
23: I've seen the following people live..either in theater productions or as speakers.
Ian Mckellen, John Malkovich, Helen Mirran, Gabriel Byrne, Patrick Stewart, Tim Robbins, Art Spegalman (author), Sherman Alexai, (Screenwriter), Patty Lepone, Michael Cevaris, John Heard, Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry and we are to see Chazz Palmanterri in a play in about 2 months.
24: My daughter's b-day is exactly 6 months after mine.......meaning...that mine is Feb. 24 and hers is Aug. 24. My son's due date was June 24th, but he came 2 weeks early.
25: My husband and I didn't have a very good first date, and I remember telling my roommate at the time that I didn't really want to go out with him again, but here we are 7 1/2 years into our marriage and going strong....to this day, I don't remember what he said or did to get me to go out with him again, but good thing, 'cause I'm so lucky to have him.

Cabin Fever

The temperatures have been so cold outside recently that it's been to cold to go outside. My kids are boucing off the walls.....almost literally. If it is even a little bit warm, we'd go out to play, shovel, walk or something. I long for the days of spring where we can play in the little wading pool, go for long walks without spending 20 minutes bundling up. I long for days where we can go to my parents and let the kids run all over their large backyard. The spring opens the zoos, and the parks. Our backyard also blooms beautifully with flowers that the former house owner planted. She did a marvelous job.

Michael's grandparents also go to GA for the winter, so spring also brings them back home too. It will be nice to see them again.

For those of you who love winter.....may you have lots of snow, but as for me and my family, I'm awaiting spring with a ravenous hunger.

New Years Trip to Indy

We had a really nice New Years. We left early, (Mom/Nanny watch River) we drove to Indy and spent the whole day (about 6 hours) at the Children's Museum. Simone always wants to go to the dinosaur exhibit first. We usually spend quite a bit of time there. Then we were off to the Planetarium to catch "The sky above Mr. Roger's Neighborhood". Simone was a little unsure of this as it would be a little dark, but she loved the whole experience. Then we went to the carousel and she got a horse that went up and down (not all horses do on the carousel). She waved to daddy each time we went by. We went to the Artic showcase, where there is (pretend) ice fishing, an ice castle with slide and a station where you can make reindeer ears.

Now clad in "Comet" ears, we head to lunch for pizza and burgers. After lunch we try the lilly theater which was playing "Lion the witch and the wardrobe". Simone didn't like it too much as it really did have too much dialogue so we slipped out early....she also didn't like the white witch (who didn't seem that scary to me....but I'm not a 5 year old). The adventure continued to the science works where you can build dams and float your boat and build/dig and explore.

Those were the highlights, the children's museum has so much. We then went to the cheesecake factory for dinner and finished off the evening in the hotel swimming pool, which brought much joy to our 5 year old girl.

New years day we had a wonderful visit with Jen Jackson....and then we were able to slip up to Layfayette and visit my good friend Mary who just had a baby. A mom can sometimes forget that they were really that small once. It was wonderful to see Mary and visit awhile.

The trip ended up being less expensive as my parents gave us some gas cards for Christmas so we didn't have to pay to fill up the tank.

It was a really nice time away!