Toilet Soup

I think Isabella has perfected her own recipe...thank goodness she takes after me in the kitchen. Here it is for all of you who are wondering what you could make for dinner tonight:

1. 1 semi-clean toilet bowl with water
2. 1 William Henn Longberger basket
3. 50 cotton balls
4. 50 q-tips
5. 1 sippy cup of milk
6. 2 little hands

Take 2-5 and dump them all into 1. Take 6. and use them to mix all ingredients. Do this until Mommy, who thinks the owner to 6. is reading quietly, comes in and finds the cooking taking place.

No pictures were taken, sorry - I was laughing too hard!

Perfect Weekend

On Saturday, while Todd was at the PSU football game, the girls and I went to lunch and to a park with our friends. It was cold but beautiful! On Sunday, the 4 of us went to a small amusement park about 30 minutes away. We thought it would be a great time....until I got sick on one-too-many spinny rides. I am too old to ride rides. Elisabeth was too tall to ride the kiddie rides with Isabella and we couldn't trust Isabella to sit still on the little ones. We did end up taking her on some adult rides. WARNING....even if it says "48 inches and under must be with an adult" DO NOT TAKE 1 YEAR OLDS ON THEM!!!!! I thought for sure she was going to have a stroke. Remember the James Bond movie with Roger Moore when he is in that spinning device and his face starts to pull back with the force of the gravity?? That was Isabella on these rides! And while her face is being pulled back and she is crying, she is still trying to eat her fried dough!!! It seemed the harder we tried to stop spinning, the more we spun. Needless to say, I did NOT eat dinner last night (my father suggests I put one of these rides in my backyard to help me lose weight) but am back in the swing of things today :)

I have been tagged!!!

I've been tagged - no clue what it means but I was told I had to do this!

I have been tagged by the Nally's at http://nallys.blogspot.com/

The details are:

You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged & to read your blog!

E - Energetic (after 9 am and before 9 pm)
L - Loves all reality TV and ABC soaps
I - Isabella (my favorite 1 year old)
Z - Zealous about family
A - Adoption - did it once
B - Birth - did it once
E - Elisabeth (my favorite 10 year old AND my favorite mother)
T - Todd (my sometimes favorite husband)
H - Horrible at losing weight and exercising

Because I don't know too many people who blog and the ones I do know have already been tagged, it will all end here :)

Happy "OURS" Day, Isabella

One year ago, Isabella officially became part of OUR family ;) For her birth family it was a very sad day but for us, it was the start of a new chapter in our lives. I am sure that they would be so proud of the little girl she has become.

To celebrate this very wonderful day, Isabella got a brand new red wagon. She sits like a little princess as Elisabeth pulls her around the neighborhood. Tonight we are going to a Vietnamese restaurant here in State College (though I may end up eating at McDonald's later on in the evening :).

More of Liam and Lucy

I heard from my sister-in-law Jen that she and Liam check my blog daily and were quite happy to see pictures of their family....so here are some more of my favorite little nephew and his new baby sister :) We LOVE you Liam and Lucy!!!

Back in the swing of things....

I am back at work and the kids are back at school/childcare. Everyone is doing great - except for the horrible heat wave we are having. It is 90 degrees here today and I have NO window and NO air conditioning in my box-of-an-office. Even my school ID tag hanging on my neck is making me hot! In 1 short hour I will be home, basking in the AC :)

On a much happier note, I am an aunt again :) My brother and his wife Jen are now the proud parents of Lucy Rose and Liam is now a big brother!! She is my new hero-she was induced and gave birth after 6 hours of labor and was LAUGHING as she was pushing!!! (I know that because I was on the phone listening!!!) One amazing woman :) And she now has 2 kids under the age of 2....I'll never bitch again!



PS The picture of Isabella is of her eating her OREOs for the first time. I handed her one, she pried the 2 cookies apart, and ATE THE MIDDLE!!!! How did she know how to do that?? We laughed so hard Elisabeth was ready to disown us!

To the lake and back

As a last horrah, we drove to Canada to spend one last summer night on the lake. Even though the weather was not cooperating, we still had a wonderful time.

What will I be doing 1 week from tomorrow???

Remember how I was whining about being a 'summer stay-at-home-mom'??? That job is almost done...I return to work a week from tomorrow :( So very very sad. We are having our last 'horrah' in Syracuse this week and will hopefully make a trip to Canada sometime in the next few days. Elisabeth is excited (ha, ha, ha) about starting 5th grade. Isabella has no clue what is going on. I will most likely drop her off at Bonnie's (the sitters) and she won't even look back. I guess that is a good sign :)

Pictures (from top to bottom): Isabella with swimming goggles on and a pacifier in (which she has never used); Elisabeth with Corrie (adopted from Vietnam) and Lola (Corrie's niece); Isabella with Anna-Faye (adopted from China) dressed in the same outfit which was NOT planned; Isabella eating sand at the lake - YUMMY!

Our Trip to Florida

We arrived home on Monday after a great trip to Florida to see Todd's parents and grandfather. We spent most of our time at swimming and eating out. Isabella LOVED being in the water and would only get out if she was about to fall asleep. Elisabeth learned how to make dumplings and spent time with her 97 year old great-grandfather.

The Apple....

doesn't fall from the tree. I swear I gave birth to that baby of mine. Not only does she have my incredibly funny sense of humor, she has my unbelievable ability to clean!! Those who know me, know that I LOVE a clean house. Nothing, including 'you- know- what', makes me happier :) Tonight, while we were watching TV, we look over at Isabella only to find clumps of baby wipes all over the floor (she had emptied the box). And then we see that she is wiping down the walls and furniture!!! I have passed on one of the most important skills in life. YEAH!!!!!!

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN

We arrived back home Sunday night and are quite happy to be back in our own beds. We had a terrific time in Colorado with my brothers, nephew, and sister-in-law. Canada would have been much better if we had had more sunny days-only 1 out of 4 :( Isabella did get a chance to swim in the lake, though. She LOVES the water-fish and all :) She even tried skinny dipping and her favorite thing to eat was sand-dead bugs and all!

We are home until next Thursday when we fly out of State College to Jacksonville to visit Todd's family. In order to get a good price, we have to change planes twice...I think it would have been quicker to drive! On top of getting ready for that trip, I am trying to unpack from the last trip, get the house cleaned, pay the bills, attend the Autistic Conference next week and look after 2 kids-one of which has a fever AGAIN (guess who???)!

Sorry there are no pictures...I forgot all my cords in Syracuse!!

Our Trip to Colorado

We flew from Syracuse to JFK to Denver, CO last Friday. Luckily my mom was traveling with her dog Putter so we got to sit in the first row on Jet Blue. That airline is awesome!! Huge pleather (plastic/leather) seats WITH televisions. Both Shane and Aaron (my brothers) picked us up. We stayed 4 days in a suite at Aaron's apartment complext and the last 3 days with my brother Shane, his wife Jen, and their little boy Liam. We had a terrific time with TONS of shopping, getting Isabella's haircut, swimming, and most importantly - eating out!!

Have you missed me?????

Hello EVERYONE!!! I have been without a computer for an entire week and thought I would go crazy!!!! Here are a few photos of us in Syracuse before the girls and I left for Colorado :)

Nanny Camp

Wonder where Elisabeth is?? She is still at Nanny Camp with her Nanny-my mom. They spent a week in Syracuse, a week in Canada, and now they are back in Syracuse waiting for our arrival. She is a very fortunate little girl to have both a grandmother AND a great grandmother! Luckily, the great grandmother owns a beautiful house on the lake where all of us got to spend our summers. Talk about making memories:)