This weekend we went to the Family Fun Fest, where Macy and Vince entered and completed their first running events (one mile races each). Vince was entered though he is only three and you had to be a minimum of four years old, but oh well.




Here is the take-off of the Girl's Race!

Macy in her last 50 yards!






Macy entering the finish, with a personal record of 10:40/mile! I actually got teary eyed when the race started, thinking "Wow, her first running race!".













After race refreshments of water and
orange slices.








Here is Vince in his last 25 yards to the finish.....



.....and he enters the finish box, with a personal record of 18:30/mile (let's give him a break, he is three years old, and has short legs!). I'm just happy he did the whole mile!
















I'm so proud of my little runners!!!

Hiking at York River State Park

Vince is getting the hint of "family hikes"

Fossil Beach at York River State Park (15 min from our house!)

Happy Birthday Dad (and Grandpa!)

Just wanted to wish my Dad and Grandpa a Happy Birthday (61 & 91 respectively). My Dad had a really hard weekend and has been in the hospital since Saturday with a seizure, heart attack and kidney failure. Good news is that he has been taken out of intensive care, bad news is that he has to spend his birthday still in the hospital eating their food and we won't be able to spend Christmas with him and my mom this year. We wish you the best and are sending out lots of hugs to you!!

TGIF!!!

It was a bit chilly that night (as Macy's face tells us!)


I have had a long week. Not any different than any other week, in fact, a pretty easy one. It just seems long. I also am not complaining. It reminds of when we were kids and summer vacations lasted foooorrrever! Then when you are an adult, you make all these summer plans, and realize that 10-12 weeks is just not enough time to fit all your plans in and it flies by!
Anyways, I am so beat, because we have had so much family in the past few weeks here. Jason's mom is in the last stages of her fight against cancer and everyone wants to be here with her. My BIL and SIL (Peter and Jordan) were here last week (yeah!) which was nice because they live in California and we just don't get to see them as much as we would like to. We all went out to a family dinner last Saturday night, and here are some of the photos of it.






Aunt Jordan and
the girls. (Vince walked in on the photo!)

Strange....

Well this feels really strange. It is Wednesday (day before Turkey Day). Macy was supposed to have a half day at school today, but I let her stay home (I had talked to her teacher last night and she said that they weren't doing any learning activities today). I told her we could put up the Christmas Tree today, as we usually do it Thanksgiving weekend, but we will be at my in-laws all weekend (seems I keep pushing it earlier and earlier each year....I LOVE XMAS!). The strange part is that it is completely sunny and in the 70's! It is supposed to be about 77 degrees today. I just opened all the windows. So instead our old Michigan tradition of playing Bing Crosby Christmas music while decorating the tree, we are here with a wonderful little breeze blowing in, the sun shining through the windows, and the sound of lawn mowers and the guy across the street washing his car!! Strange.

November 15th, 2007

Okay, I really have been slacking at the blog. I keep telling myself as soon as I get a new camera, I will do it, but in reality, I think I am only a "once a month" blogger.

I promised I would comment on scary skeleton costumes (well Vince ended up not wearing his skeleton mask, which I thought was too scary for a two year old), so that was a relief. We went the traditional halloween costume way this year, with Vince being a skeleton and Macy being a non scary witch. Tons of candy, though it is suprising how fast all the chocolate can disappear from the candy bowl, when I am home all day! Yum!

Macy has been invited by the school district to test for their Gifted and Talented program. Is she excited? NO! She thinks it will mean more work for her to do, and as intelligent as she is, she also hates homework! Oh well, I was proud, though I doubt the Gifted and Talented for second graders is filled with MENSA students.

Vincent's birthday is today. He is three years old. I just emailed Kelly and was commenting on how I feel melancholy today as I realize I am the mother of a seven and three year old and no longer have any "babies". I thought I would be geeked the day I no longer had to buy diapers and when my kids learned how to buckle themselves in their car seats, alas, I am not jumping with joy today. Vince is still my little baby and always will be (though I feel I need to keep that more to myself or else I will be babying him). I am very proud of how both of my kiddos have grown, and I will continue to enjoy their growth and how much more they will learn....I guess I will just miss the craddling them in my arms a little bit.

Anyways we celebrated Vincey's birthday this past weekend when my parents came into town to visit. Vince had a few of his friends over for cake and he received some awesome gifts. The best gift we gave him was a micro mini scooter which I was stokked about, and had tried to justify to myself that the $90 model was so much better than the typical $25 ones, only to find that Vince just isn't into it. Oh well. I will make him go outside and try it everyday until he loves it!!! (Nothing like forcing something on a kid, eh?).

Christmas shopping is 98% done!!

Sorry, I haven't kept up the blog as promised, but I can't get any photos off of my camera, and I love seeing new photos on blogs. So this is for you, and you know who are (the one who keeps bugging me to update, lol!).

My xmas shopping is 98% done!! Yee-haw!! Since in our families, we only buy for kids, it is pretty easy. Here is the list so far:

Macy..age 7...LOTS of books (like 25). She is at the age in which she is starting to get into the good chapter books such as Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume; a great coloring book, that I wish I had, called Scribbles, it is almost 400 pages and it gives you a jumpstart on your creativity. Check it out. Lincoln Logs and a large Lego set (she builds awesome stuff), 4 movies for rainy days, Polly Pockets, cds, games for her Leapster (which is the closest thing to a videogame she will probably ever see in this house, and it keeps her busy during long car rides), an awesome painted wood disc to hang from the swingset and ride on (she is to share this with Vince), earrings (I told her she had to wait until Christmas to take her starters out, even though she got her ears pierced for her bday in August!), necklace, leg warmers, a long sweater, a dartboard (her new hobby) and Bratz clothes (yes, I know, I swore my daughter would never own a Bratz doll, but when she had her sleepover bday party this year, every single girl brought her a Bratz. Was I supposed to take away ALL of her bday presents? Anyways, it is hard to find outfits for these things without buying a whole other doll, so I scored some on Ebay, because who wants their dolls wearing the same hooker outfits day in and day out? Besides she plays very innocently with them, they go on picnics and horseback riding (though I think I bug her with my remarks of "It must be hard to ride a horse in 4 inch heels!")). I still have a few things to get her...she wants me to teach her how to knit, so supplies for that and a 14 ft. jump rope (or 2) so that I can teach her how to doubledutch.

Vince is the hard one since all he likes to play are superhero figures. So he has gotten various Superhero, Pirates of the Carribean, and his new love Star Wars figures. Lots of craft supplies for him, such a paints, papers, new Playdoh, etc., some hockey sticks, lots of dress-up clothes (you got it Star Wars characters), Legos, and I am still thinking of a doctor's kit and I need ideas for a "big gift" (I was thinking a pirate ship or something).

A week ago, I was at a yard sale, and a guy was selling one of those huge Powerwheels Monster trucks, you know the one where two kids can fit in it and they run down the battery after one weekend use? Well he said he bought it last year after xmas on clearance for $259, and it still was in excellent condition. He was asking $25 because he really wanted to get it out of his garage and he said his kids barely use it (well duh, they were seven and nine), so I offered him $10. Since I doubted I could hide it for another 2.5 months, I gave it to the kids already and hence have already won this year's "Best Mom Award". I also explained that this was an early xmas present, so don't expect alot at Christmas time (that was the sentence that got me off the hook from having to buy out every store). Oh and went I went to Toys R'Us to see how much they were retailing for...$399! Score!

Next blog...Halloween and not so cute costumes, Macy and Gifted and Talented (otherwise know as G/T), and trying to rationalize the fact that I bought my 2.5 yr. old son a $90 scooter for his birthday next month.