Girls Night Out

A few weeks ago, Emma and I went out for a little "Date Night" - just the girls, even tho she desperately wanted her brother to tag along. We went to a yummy dinner at Wendy's (her choice), followed by a local Children's Theater production of Aladdin. It seemed only fitting that she wear her Princess Jasmine costume to the show, right? She had a blast and it was the perfect length of time to hold her attention. I can't wait until we can do more fun things like that! Next year my hope is to take her to NYC for the Christmas Show and to the American Girl Store!

2 Weddings!!!

That's just another way of saying.... It's A GIRL!!!! Byron had alot going on at work and was unable to make the U/S yesterday, so like the good wife, I asked them to seal the baby's gender in an envelope so we could open it together. You may pat me on the back and congratulate my superior will now... I'll wait... Thank you!

Back to the u/s... I thought girl for sure up until the actual scan and then I switched over to boy. That 4D u/s is pretty cool and I just thought it "looked" like a boy. Plus I swear I saw the boy parts but guess it's good I am not a u/s tech because clearly I have no idea what I was looking at! So I came home with a slew of pictures and an envelope that was padded more than a pre-teens bra. You know, so I couldn't peek. After many hours, Byron came home and we opened the envelope all together. He immediately started laughing and announced it's a girl. Ryan threw himself to the floor, fists pounding, and screamed Noooooooo! over and over. Emma, jumped up and down, shrieking It's a Girl! I have a Girl! over and over and man, I wish I had the camera because it was the funniest thing we have seen in a while.

So that being said, we will have 2 divas and 2 weddings and a whole lot of hormones in the next 10-15 years! Baby Girl got a fab report and looks great... see for yourself!

here she is lounging, arms up by her head

A new Cousin to love!

Ryan and Emma are so excited to meet their newest cousin, Caroline Elizabeth! Caroline was welcomed into the world on November 5th, weighing in at 8lbs, 4 oz and stretching out to 20"! I can't wait to meet her and hold her and post lots of great pictures! Emma put the kabash in our visiting plans that day by coming down with another stomach virus, so we have been staying away but I'm crossing my fingers for some snuggling time tomorrow. And pictures, of course - lots of pictures! So stay tuned.... Congratulations Pam, Jeff and BIG SISTER Natalie!!

UPDATE... a few pics from the hospital!

World Champions!!!

Congratulations to the WORLD CHAMPION Philadelphia Phillies!!! I knew they were the good luck charm...

Thriller!

Halloween was a little hectic this year! Byron was at the Phillies Championship Parade, I was nursing a wounded ankle and the kids were, well, their typical hyper selves... times twelve! Thankfully we had excellent weather once again and this year we had lots of visitors come to ToT with us... Grandmom, Pop, Uncle Adam, Aunt Janet, Uncle Jay, Aunt Jen and cousins Tyler and Baby Kylie. Oh, and at some point, Uncle Eric and Daddy stumbled in from the parade. And as mentioned in a later post, my camera was at the parade!

Aunt Janet and Mrs. Callan were kind enough to paint Ryan's face for the big night. We figured it was easier for him to see that way (a.k.a safer without the mask). Here is a picture of them sitting in front of their carving masterpieces, with the lone "never to be carved because the World Series got in the way" pumpkin in the back. The bottom pumpkin is Emma's. Ryan carved that also. The gaping holes on the sides are the ears, requested by Emma. Secretly tho, Ryan just got a little carving happy. Scary.

Posing with the lawn decor - we opted for the skeleton rather than the fly-infested, rotting pumpkins back by the tree. BLEEP BLEEP Squirrels!

Baby Kylie making her 1st Halloween appearance as Tinkerbell. A year earlier and she and Emma would have been twins!

And Tyler as Peter Pan!

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Here's the Gruesome Twosome posing with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop and getting ready for Safe Trick-or-Treat. It's a program our health center has every year where they decorate the inside of the building and all of the Dr's offices, and the kids are invited in to ToT in a warm, safe place. They all do a great job - some even have haunted offices - and the kids look forward to it every year. I love that it's one more step towards getting my money's worth from their costumes!

He truly is a bag of bones!

Ghouls in School

Well, I really only captured the Princess at school seeing as how the Phillies Parade was a higher priority for some parent, ahem, and I didn't have a camera on Halloween. The Ghoul in School had a parade too but until Stacey sends me her pictures (hint, hint), you'll just have to picture a skeleton walking in a line of other costumed kids. Fascinating, I know.

Princess Jasmine posing with her teacher, Mrs. Wright...


...and with Mrs. K...
...and with the class

It's the Great Pumpkin!

The kids were begging to carve pumpkins and I was jonesing for some roasted pumpkin seeds so we gave it the ole' college try. Emma was fresh from a nap & not digging the pumpkin guts. Ryan couldn't get enough so he gutted hers as well. But what he really wanted was to possess a sharp instrument and slash away like Freddy Kruger. I kept warning Emma to back up... her face was dangerously close to his little carving saw. That would have left a mark for sure!

Here she is posing and looking like she was actually going to put her hand IN the pumpkin - as if!

He was a sticky mess up to his ears by the time he was done. Need to re-think the white shirt next time around.
He has the concentration down pat but if he's going to be a surgeon, we need to practice our technique a bit.

Dance Ballerina, Dance

Em's dance school held their annual observation day where the parents got to be in the room to observe and take a crap load of pictures. Video taping was forbidden and we were reprimanded more than once. Really, try telling a room full of camera-wielding mom's that they can't take 20 second clips of their Prima Ballerinas... it's just not possible!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

... Fall, people, and do you know why? Because it IS fall! It's not winter. It's not Christmas. Which means there is no reason I should have been subject to Christmas Carols on the radio tonight. For cripes sake, I still have a Halloween Hangover! It was 60 degrees this weekend. So we had some cold weather - and a fluke snow shower due North. It is still fall. I have trees full of leaves which will eventually fall down to the yard and need to be raked. You know, for FALL! There is no Winter Wonderland and there are no Snow Bells. I don't mean to be Scrooge, because I love me some good Christmas Carols. But.not.when.it's.fall. Got me?

Ryan & Emma Say...

LET'S GO PHILLIES!!

Fabulous Fall!

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year (second to Back to School, of course) - FALL! It's my favorite season and encompasses my favorite holiday - Thanksgiving! I love everything about fall - the cool air (well, it's a bit warm this year), jeans and sweaters, the smell of fire places and burning leaves, and most of all, the smell of my yummy fall candles - apple pie, pumpkin and spice! I even love raking the gabillion leaves that blanket our yard. There's something peaceful about being outside in the crisp air, chilling with my Ipod and raking line after line of leaves. That is, of course, until I hit the hill in the front yard or the blisters start forming. But I digress...

I've finished my Halloween decorating and this year, I tried spraying my pumpkins with lacquer. They have quite a shine to them now, but more importantly, I am hoping it will keep the squirrels at bay for a while. There's nothing worse than buying lots of pumpkins only to have them rotting with decay after the squirrels have feasted on them a few days later.

Enjoy the changing leaves and the smells and (hopefully soon) cool weather and fresh air!

Field Day!

Ryan had his first experience with Field Day recently, and as a volunteer mom, I got to witness the excitement. Typically this event is held in the Spring, but because of the new school being built, they have had to switch it up to the Fall. I got a few shots of Ryan at the different stations in between manning my own - the SPOOKY SPIDERS (it must be karma). Poor kid wasn't feeling well (unbeknownst to me) and when I went to gather him after, he was burning up with a fever, a headache, and chills, OH MY! But my trooper toughed it out long enough to down a few tylenol, take a quick nap and and bring his A game to show his Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop how flag football is played later that night. What a boy!

May the Force Be With You

We were thrilled to be able to help Thing 3 celebrate his 4th Birthday a few weeks ago, and the kids were very excited about the prospect of dressing up and running amuck with light sabers in, *gasp*, the house!!! Probably not as excited as Aunt Kim was...

We all had a great time and while it was pretty great to have Darth Vader attend the party, the highlight of the day was Yoda. You almost had to see it to believe it but man, he was impressive! Kudos to Geoff... I think a tryout for Ace of Cakes is in order!

My mini Darth and Princess Leia

There's one in every crowd...

Learning to become a Jedi

Here comes the cake, practically walking in on it's own! A masterpiece that took many hours, lotsa fondant and a boatload of patience (I'm guessing). But made with 100% love!

The Birthday Boy and the best birthday cake ever! I can't wait to see what Things 1 and 2 ask for!

Darth's in the house!

RANSOM

I hAve YOuR YodA.

LeaVe ME 1 BiLlion dOlLaRs BY tHe BiG TrEE, ANd a cAse Of diET CokE, aNd ThE FuNnY gReEN MaN wILL bE RELEASEd... wItH hIS eArs.

DonT TrY aNytHinG CraZy oR We WiLl eAt hIs RiCE KrISpie pArtS aND FoRCe FeEd YoU 18 POunDs oF fONdAnt.

Here Today... Gone Tomorrow

It's been a long time coming, but we finally had the tree in our yard cut down. The tree that, every time there was a storm or strong wind, would send me running to the kids windows at 3AM to make sure it was still firmly in the ground and not coming through their bedrooms. The same tree, that, many moons ago, we tried to save by "treating" with a special foam, only to add to the damage. The very tree, that, when it finally came down, spilled out what looked like soil (but was actually decay) and the biggest grubs I have ever seen in my life. Think Vienna Sausages.

Along with tree removal, we also had a full day of tree pruning, which provided much excitement for the kids in the neighborhood. Ok, and me, seeing as I nearly had a panic attack when I saw how much they were trimming. Guess I wasn't used to actually seeing my house, since I really haven't in the last 7 years. It was well needed and overdue but wow, next summer our house will be HOT! Enjoy the madness!

BEFORE:
This is THE tree before. It's been turning colors and losing it's leaves since Spring. Also note the crazy Ivy eating the pointing out of the side of my house, and the thriving green shrubbery that accompanies it. Make a mental note... you won't be seeing that later either.



This is the tree, mid removal.

And here is the trunk that was hacked off at the top, then brought to the ground. I nearly captured it on video and when I say nearly, I mean I was able to record the second it hit the ground. Stunning footage, of which I will spare you. Blame my dying camera battery, not my keen eye.

It's not everyday you look up and see some random man scaling your tree like he was Spiderman.

Weeee, doesn't this look like fun? Playing with chainsaws at high altitudes.

AFTER:

So this is the aftermath. Tree is gone, replaced by a pile of wood chips. Notice there is no plush greenery. If you are taking trees down, why not rip out some bushes as well? But now Byron has a clean slate for the Spring, so I can't complain. I can, however, put in my request for Black Eyed Susan's and Sunflowers! Also notice the invasive Ivy is halfway gone from the brick and hard to see, but no longer a vibrant green as it's drying up and dying! Sure, he killed himself in the process but how great will it look when the rest of it comes down! Oh honey....