Still terrified.

Is the lion coming???
I am pretty sure the lion is coming!!
GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!

No matter how many times we attempt a friendship between Isabella and the Little Lion (the mascot for the State High sports teams), she just freaks. I mean, she climbs up over Todd's head and screams bloody murder. I thought it might help that I know who the mascot actually is (a teacher/friend whom I work with) and I have brought her into the classroom to meet her and see her with the lion head. Anytime we even go near a parade or a game, she states the she does not want to see the lion. I am not quite sure how she will do this Halloween. She'll probably want to trick-or-treat in the house-going from bedroom to bedroom-just so she doesn't take the chance of running into the lion.

One of my brilliant ideas....

Next time I even consider climbing Mt. Nittany, I'll think twice, get myself a big bowl of ice cream and then have a nap. I don't know what got into me-I think it was the nice day and the fact that I forgot how frickin' steep the damn mountain was. I honestly thought I was going to die of exhaustion 1/10th of the way up. I hugged every tree I could find and couldn't stop myself from asking the people who were coming down how much further we had. I thought I would cry when someone said we weren't even half way. I believe I sat down on a log and refused to move. Isabella, on the other hand, walked the entire way with a backpack, which she refused to take off. Elisabeth ran up the hill and Todd didn't even break a sweat.

And just to let you know, going down wasn't any easier. Isabella jumped down the mountain, Elisabeth ran, and Todd complained about his arches hurting. (I tried to convince him to say it was his ankles for the blog post but he wanted it to be correct....). I have never been so happy to see flat land in my whole life. I remember asking Todd to go get the car when we reached the summit/top. He thought I was kidding.

Picture Day at Preschool

What preschool do you know that charges a MINIMUM of $40.00 for school pictures??? I am hoping they turn out for that price!!

Full day of school + homework + a soccer game + dinner =

Yearly Reports

When we adopted Isabella 3 years ago, we promised the Vietnamese government that we would send reports about her development every 6 months. Once she turned 3, we would start sending them every year. We sent our last bi-annual one yesterday. WHOOO HOOOO!!! Here are the pictures I included:)
I guess all the different places in Vietnam want to make sure that 'their' children are being cared for. I think Isabella is pretty darn happy, don't you?? :)

Snow and wedding bells...

How is it possible that we could have a snow day in OCTOBER???!!!! We hardly EVER get snow and we were one of the very few cities to get it this time....a record breaker. We even made it on Good Morning America and in the USA Today!!! It didn't slow anyone down, though, from going to the Penn State football game. Idiots. You would have to pay ME to go and even then, I doubt I would sit there for the whole time.

The girls and I had a very successful week on our own. No major calamities, besides the snow, while Todd was gone. Mom surprised us and came for a visit on Thursday evening. We had a great day off on Friday:) Todd returned late Saturday night... Bella was beyond excited to see him. Elisabeth and I, on the other hand, had fun cuddling at night and watching tv in the bed. It could have stayed away a bit longer!

Isabella, who is always questioning everything, saw a picture of Todd and I on our wedding day. She wanted to know about the dress and why we were on posing on a carousel (he asked me to marry him while we were riding a carousel so we had our wedding pictures taken on one). She then informed me that she would wear my wedding gown when she married Elisabeth....that sounds wrong in so many ways but what do you expect from a 3 year old?! She loves her sister:)

The Squirts.....

Yeah, you read it right. The squirts are going through the house. And it isn't the humans...it is the damn dog!! It started with little piles of puke and just continued with a nice, hot, pile of diarrhea on the CARPET! I heard a bubbly, squirty noise (I know...yum) and looked over to see Thomas squatting on our living room rug. Let's hope Resolve gets out big, brown spots....

First day without THE MAN

Todd made it to GA and more importantly, the girls and I made it to all of our places today. I won't mention that I was 30 minutes late to MY place but we were all dressed, fed, and ready for the day. I thought Elisabeth was going to die getting up earlier than normal this morning but she didn't have time to die because she only had 20 minutes to get ready and eat her breakfast. Apparently she didn't hear me when I told her to wake up at 6:55. On the way out to the bus, she yelled, "This is all daddy's fault for leaving!". At least she wasn't blaming me!

This afternoon, we went to a friend's house who fosters cats. She had 7 two week old kittens that Isabella almost loved/killed with attention.

Our trip to the apple farm...

The trees on the way to Syracuse....


At the apple farm:)








Making her own peanut butter sandwich....

Almost back to normal:)

I promise to be a better blogger now that everyone is on the mend. Although I don't know if I will be blogging alot this week when I am both the mother and father in the house. Todd is off to GA again for a golf convention and will be gone from Sunday to Saturday. I am sure we will have fun with just the girls but running the morning routine all by myself is NOT something I am looking forward to. Elisabeth is extremely depressed about it and already started whining that she doesn't want to go to school. Instead of being driven in at 8 am, she has to get her little butt on the bus at 7:30 am. Poor baby.

I promise to post pictures soon...I have a few laying around!

and goes on and on and on.....

The flu has not yet left the Connors-Kos household :( Why it couldn't have skipped me, I have no clue. I got sick last Wednesday and am still sick! I have sinus-bronchitis. Fun...that is all I can say. I have missed 5 days from school and had Isabella with me all of those days as she is sick as well. UGH. If this is any indication of what winter is going to be like, I am moving to space until it is all over.