Elisabeth's Trip to Seattle, WA and Longmont, CO

The traveler and her Nanny are back from their trip around the world :) They flew to Seattle and met my sister (who lives in Alaska) for a fun 4 days of shopping. Check out those legs and shoes!!! They then flew from Seattle to Longmont to see my 2 brothers, sister-in-law, and nephew and niece. It was Elisabeth's first time meeting Lucy and from what I hear, she was a huge help. Liam woke up the morning they left and couldn't understand where 'Bits' was....we will see you in 2 months, Liam!!! We love you and Lucy :)

They are now back in State College with us...but Elisabeth came with a sinus infection :( Right off the plane to the doctor's office. Luckily, Nanny was able to spend another day to look after the little monster and the sick one. Isabella, aka 'the little monster', LOVES kitty cats (we have 3 dogs) so Nanny took her to the pet store where she could 'meow' away!!

Isabella on the stairs....

We knew Isabella could go up the stairs but hadn't really taught her how to come down so last night I thought I would give her a little lesson and this is what she did!!! Little did we know, babysitter had been working on it :)

Surprise Party for Todd

My family is always surprising me with visits-even from as far away as Colorado!! Seeing that Todd just had his 40th birthday, I thought I would surprise HIM!!! His parents arrived from Florida in time for dinner on Thursday night, his brother (from Minnesota) showed up for breakfast on Friday morning, and his sister surprised him Friday afternoon from Chicago - all a complete surprise to him! And then, the reason they all came, he was completely shocked when he showed up at his own surprise party on Friday night!! We had a wonderful time :) Thankfully, though, it is over and I don't have to keep anymore secrets! Elisabeth is off traveling with my mom this week to Seattle, WA to spend time with my sister and then Longmont, CO to see my 2 brothers, sister-in-law, nephew, and new niece. This means that Princess Isabella is all mine - which equals NO mid-afternoon napping :( I miss you, Elisabeth!!

Apple Picking

We took time out of our very busy schedule to go to Syracuse for our yearly apple picking outing. Exactly 2 years ago, we were at the apple orchard when my parents lovingly offered to lend us the money to adopt Isabella. If you know me, I am a big one for celebrating almost anything in life :) And it usually includes food!! So...we celebrated with fresh apples, apple fritters, french fires, and a hot dog-oh, and a few glasses of apple cider.....all for breakfast:)

4 Generations

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile!! We have been so busy during the week and then last weekend, my mom and grandmother came for a visit. My grandmother is 91 years old, Mom is 60 (and seeing that she doesn't keep up with this blog, she won't even know I told the whole world!), I am 38, and the kids are 10 and 1. Pretty amazing to have 4 generations all together. Oh, and by the way, those are NOT my fingers sticking out of my grandmother's head...they belong to the 60 year old!

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.