COME ON GIANTS!!!!!!!!

WOOOHOOO!!!! My boys made it to the second round of the playoffs wiping out the Bucs last week!!!! I am SUPER excited. Although HATING that it's Dallas that we face today. I HATE DALLAS!!! (LOL- on a very, mild, not ugly way - LOL)

Anyway, our good friends are Dallas fans and we are going to their house for dinner and football this afternoon. I love a good rivalry but do NOT like to lose!!! LOL!!! So we'll see. It's actually just me (the Giants fan) and Dane (the Dallas fan) that like it. Rex and Ilse could care less!!! :) Rex is going to be cooking while we watch the game. Tell me THAT'S not a strange turn!!!! :)

Anyway, GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!!! (I have EVERYTHING crossed!)

Bits and Pieces

No real "theme" today - just some bits and pieces...

Ok, so I realize that I may get some grief from some of these pictures because everyone doesn't agree with everything. But keep in mind that we live in a small town in PA and both Rex and I are hunters and so is just about everyone we know around us. So that's all I have to say about that...

I came in the room the other day to find Sydney "hunting". She had on Mason's snow pants and his toy rifle and was shooting at the fox across the room and said it was a deer! It was so funny. She was so concentrated and serious!! And then was very proud of what she "got"!!! :) It was so cute.





Mason is already a hunter of sorts. He hasn't gotten anything yet but he and his daddy have been out a few times for Squirrels. Here he is on New Year's morning getting ready to go out with Dad. Look out Squirrels!!! :)



So on the new camera issue. I hate to say that I'm not really sure I'm all that jazzed about it yet. I don't know - maybe I was expecting too much or I just don't know enough about it but all of these pictures are from the new camera and well, they don't blow me out of the water. Now of course my subjects are still wonderful, so I still love the pictures. Like these...







Maybe I was expecting too much - they aren't horrible, but some aren't real clear and some are blurry. Guess I need to work on the features.

So I will continue to work with it and maybe the great pictures I expected will come. Stay tuned! :)

Happy New Year!!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's celebration. Rex and I actually got to celebrate for the first time since Mason was born. Wow!!! Although, we're not big on going out on New Year's, so it hasn't been a big deal. But since my parents are here this year, they offered to keep the kids overnight.

So they took them to see Alvin and The Chipmunks and back to their house for a sleepover. So I guess you could say the kids got to celebrate too!!! :)

Rex and I went out to dinner to a very nice restaraunt we hadn't been to before. It was a bit overpriced and a little "hoity toity" for us - but the food was delicious and I had a Guavatini that was WONDERFUL!!! (Ok, so I had two - heehee) When we were finished, we were too late for the early movies and way to early for the late movies, so we rented one instead. We rented Knocked Up (thought it would be fun to watch a comedy)! It was HORRIBLE! Rex fell asleep and I gave up halfway through. So we were in bed by 11pm!! See...BIG party animals!!!! LOL!!! Still, it was fun to have some alone time!! Thanks Mom and Dad!!! :)

So yesterday was just a quiet day at home. We took the tree down and got all the Christmas decorations put away. I'm SO happy to have my living room back!! :) Rex worked on the hallway between the kids room (it's been tiled and repainted and is almost done)!!! We had a nice dinner last night and the kids were in bed early. Rex and I watched the other movie we rented (Shooter), which was AWESOME!!!

And today it's back to life as usual! It's a new year and a fresh, clean slate. We have a lot to look forward to in the next month. Sydney is having a princess party with her friends at the end of January (since we'll be away for her actual birthday). And we're very excited because Haley and Avery are coming for the party - which of course means Caren and Steve are coming too!!! YAAAAYYYY!!!) Then we leave for Florida and Disney World in the beginning of February. Mike and Shannon get married on 2-9 and it will be a family reunion of sorts. We'll get to see my grandparents who we haven't seen in - gosh, I'm not sure - maybe 4 years!!! :( I can't wait - the whole trip will be wonderful!!!

So I will be stressed out and busy as usual, but I'll try to keep you updated on the goings on in our crazy lives!!! Thanks for checking in!!!

And Happy 2008!!!!

WHAT? Another change?!?!?!

What can I say?!?!?! I love change - I get tired of the same thing all the time.

So it's been a while since I've posted. The last few weeks have been nothing short of ridiculous. I have been so stressed out, I honestly I thought I was having breakdown. It was crazy...uh...I mean, I was crazy (am I right Care? Thank you for talking me down - what would I do without you?????) xoxoxo

After I finally got my head on straight (it's amazing what leaving work at noon and having 3-4 hours to yourself can do), I managed to get on track for Christmas and birthdays and well, just life in general!

Christmas was WONDERFUL!!!! It was peaceful and relaxing and enjoyable!!! I FINALLY got the hint and didn't go overboard on gifts and noone was overwhelmed....wow, what a difference!!!

The kids had a great Christmas!! Mason got a VFlash learning video game system from Santa and some games to go with it. The thing is pretty cool. We're anti-video game for the most part (except for the Wii - which I'd LOVE to have) - because of the violence and the whole "couch potato" thing - but this one is cool because he has to answer questions in order to move through the game. So he's actually learning as he goes - or at least practicing what he knows. It's a lot of fun. I really enjoyed playing it too!! :)

Sydney received her "Kid Ipod" (as we call it) - it's the Fisher Price FP3 player and it's cute. I need to find time to download some songs for her. She keeps saying "Did you put my HSM cd on there yet?" She also received a microphone (WHAT was I thinking - but it was the ONE thing she kept asking for) and she looks so darn cute performing!!! They were both very happy with their "loot" and I think all in all it was a great Christmas!! :)

The most exciting thing for me was my present. My wonderful hubby gave me money on my birthday to start saving for the camera I wanted. Well you know how hard it is to save (especially this time of year), so I hadn't gotten very far. Well he surprised me for Christmas with the balance and I GOT MY CAMERA!!!!! YAY!!!! I'm like a kid in a candy store. It came last night and I played with it for hours!!!! It's AMAZING and I love it!!! Here it is:

(Only mine is silver.)

The best part is it's the exact same camera I have in the film version, so I have 2 lenses that will fit this camera!! :) So you can guess how much playing I'll be doing this weekend. I still have to get a card reader, so who knows when I'll download any pics! LOL!!!

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!! I will do my best to update more often in the New Year (HA - I've heard that before!!!!)

If I don't get to post before the new year (wow doesn't that sound weird), I wish you all a VERY Happy New Year!!!! 2008 - WOW!!!!! :)

Squish 'Em...

You'll notice my new "Squish 'Em" photo to the left. It's small so maybe you can't read the "In Memory of Kim" at the bottom. I posted about Kim a few weeks ago. She lost her battle to breast cancer. I put the picture there so we all remember how such a small act can save your life. I can honestly admit that I did a self exam this weekend and it was the first time I've done one in...well...I don't know when (a VERY long time)!!! :(

Thanks to Heather for making such a good reminder!!

Kim was only a year older than me and I have been very moved by her story. So please, if you are reading this - for you and for your family - don't forget to "Squish 'Em"!!! I'm sure Kim would be very happy to know the lives she's touched in this way.

Thanks!

PRAYING this is the last step...

So Miss Sydney gets her splint off today. I'm praying they say that's it - she doesn't have to wear anything else. But I'm also nervous. She's really nervous about not having anything on it anymore. She realizes that she'll have to bend it again and that scares her. She said this morning "What happens if we go outside to play and someone bumps into it?" So she's worried.

I'm just fearful that she's not going to regain full mobility in that finger - or at least that first knuckle. I really hope she'll be able to bend it and she won't even remember. I hope that it doesn't look any different and that as she grows, it will continue to grow normally.

Ok, yes, I tend to worry about the worst things, but that's just me. So think good thoughts for her that it's all healed and she can move on.

I know in the grand scheme of things this is very small and I realize that. But to her, it's a scary thing.

(PS ~ For those of you who were reading on Sunday - WOOOOHOOO GIANTS!!!! It was not a well earned win or even a good win - but a win is a win is a win and I'll take it. Heather, tell Jake he can't blackball me just b/c of my taste in football teams!!!! ;) I won't have it!!! LOL!!!)

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Edited to add: Sydney and Rex just called me on the way home from the doctor. The doctor said it looks perfectly healed and she doesn't need anything else. He bent the finger this morning while she was there (ugh, that goes right through me thinking about that) and Rex said it hurt her but she didn't cry. Now we are to bend it twice a day and continue to do that and he will see her again in 4 weeks. I think I'm going to leave that bending part to Rex!!! But it looks like thankfully, she is on the mend!!! YAY!!!!

Heather, this one's for you!!!

GO GIANTS!!!!!!

(Tee, hee...hopefully they'll show up this week. Cause last week - I think they forgot they had a game!! :( COME ON GIANTS!!!!)