Happy Birthday Myron!

39 Years Ago

And now look at you with your 2 babies!

Happy birthday Daddy! We all love you very much!!

Compliments from Myron

My honey paid me a huge compliment this evening - he told me that I made a good dinner. Considering the way my week and dinner has gone this is a great thing to be told. Sunday I made a Winter Vegetable Chili. Myron's first complaint was "Were is the meat? You can't have chili without meat." Well he ate it. So Monday was leftovers of the "Chili" and even I had a hard time eating it. It didn't age well. So then Tuesday I made Lemon Chicken per Larissa's request (she loves Lemon Chicken at our local chinese restaurant.) It was absolutely disgusting! The lemon sauce was way to lemony and I even tried to rinse the sauce from the chicken but it was still not edible. So cereal and fruit for the kids and rice and egg rolls for Myron and I. So tonight I did not feel like having another evening of a family grossed out by yet another attempt at cooking from me, so I played it safe with a frozen pizza. Yes, a frozen pizza got huge compliments from my husband. So why do I actually try to cook, when a simple frozen pizza will keep him smiling. The big question now is, shall I make an attempt at the salmon recipe that I have?

Our Furry Family Members

I wanted to introduce everyone to our 4 legged furry family members -

ASHLEY - She is our almost 9 year old Black Lab. We have had Ashley since she was 8 weeks old. You know one day we were in the pet shop and I had this crazy idea that we must have this puppy. I still don't know what I was thinking! Ashley was so hyper as a pup that one of our obedience instructors said we should talk to her vet about medication. Now that Ashley is into her "senior" years she is slowing down a bit. She does have a bad hip, but that never stops her from her early morning walk with daddy. Ashley loves peanut butter, car rides and a good ear rub. She is deathly afraid of any loud beeping noise and the smell of smoke. We say she must have been trapped in a house fire in a previous life. (I don't really believe in previous lives, but it's the only thing that makes sense.)
AZALEA - She is our almost 5 year old Golden Retriever/German Shepherd mutt. Azalea came to us when she was just over a year old. She was underweight and covered in fleas. We got rid of those nasty fleas and put lots of extra meat on her bones. Azalea is extremely afraid of everything! We are pretty sure that she was mistreated at her previous home. However, she has warmed up to our family just fine. She is wonderful with the kids, loves to get pets, and always takes a toy to bed with her at night.

Our dogs drive me absolutely crazy at times with their loud barking, constant shedding, and Azalea's throwing up problem, but they are wonderful companions and a very big part of our family.

Larissa Cleaned Her Room

Larissa decided to clean her room all by herself the other day and here are the results -

She did a great job (yes, she even made her bed)

But then I asked her were she put everything . . . . . . . . .

And that is when she showed me her special hiding place.

Loads of Fun

Let's make that 9 loads of fun! Thursday is laundry day at our house and I do laundry from morning till night. I have tried to do a load each day but the laundry never seems to disappear. So recently I decided to have "Laundry Day." I only wash clothes on this day - towels, sheets, etc. are done on other days.

So here is the pile that I started out with. Dorian was a little upset at first that the laundry was on the floor and not in the laundry basket. He actually pulled up an empty basket and began to put the dirty laundry into it, but then he decided it would be more fun to play with Larissa's dirty socks and put them on his hand like a mitten. This went on for a good part of the day. When Larissa came home from school she was happy to see that there was still a pretty good size pile of laundry so she could dive into it. But then she decided she would wear Daddy's Steelers jersey and run around shouting "Go Steelers." So when I say "Loads of Fun" I really mean it, we really have fun on laundry day. And again I will ask, "Why do we buy toys for our children, when we can just give them a pile of dirty laundry to play with?"

Snow Much Fun!

Well my mom informed me today that it has snowed everyday for the past 11 days. I thought it had been snowing a lot. So I figured it would be appropriate to have a few pictures of all that snow and the kids of course!

Glad to see that the slide still works in the winter. That is unless you get a little snow jammed! After I put the camera away Larissa decided to be a penguin and slide down face first on her belly right into the snow pile. I am sure that made for one cold face!

Dorian playing with the snow inside.

So do you think he liked it?

Larissa's Economic Stimulus Plan

I don't know about you but I avoid driving behind a snow plow at all costs, especially if it is sprinkling salt on the road. Perhaps I might change my mind if Larissa's version of salt sprinkling were true.

Larissa set this display up on her dresser. The green car is her "snow plow" and all of the change laying behind it is "the salt." Maybe she could send this suggestion to our friends in Washington.

GO STEELERS!

Sleep

Are you a fan of co-sleeping? I have always been against it until . . . . . . . . .

Dorian ended up with a cough that lingered for about 6 weeks and for some reason the only way he would sleep was in bed with us. And that is were he has been ever since. I am not sure how many months this has been going on, all I know is it has been too long! I would like our bed to be Myron and Natalie's bed not Myron, Natalie, and Dorian's bed. I love my baby and I would do anything for him but it is time for him to sleep in his crib. It will be best for all of us. So last night I made up my mind that we needed to start working on this. Well we made some progress, he cried in his crib for 1 hour and then I gave in and took him to bed with me. So today for naptime (which used to consist of sleeping on my lap in the glider rocker) I let him cry for an hour and a half and then I had to go get him. Of course he had a messy diaper. I guess I would have been screaming too. I changed him, rocked him to sleep and he slept for about and hour and a half. So tonight, bath, bottle, stories, cry for 45 minutes and we now have a soundly sleeping little boy.

Now the question is how long will he remain sleeping in his crib before he wakes up screaming?

Picnic Time!

I don't know about you but it is extremely cold in our neck of the woods. But we are not going to let that stop us from having a little bit of fun indoors. Larissa suggested that we take our dinner into the basement and have a picnic by the fireplace.

Larissa and Dorian ready to eat!

Larissa roasting marshmallows by the fire.
(since it is an electrice fireplace she had to roast her marshmallows by the vent instead of the fire)

Keepsakes

I am not one to hang onto "stuff." I do not like clutter and most of the time if I have not used it or worn it in the last year then I donate it or toss it. If I have saved something then chances are that it is something very sentimental to me. And all in one weekend I have been able to pass on and share with Larissa 2 of the most sentimental things to me!

Here is Larissa with her "new" musical doll. I received this doll as a Christmas gift from my maternal grandparents when I was 4 years old. (and yes that would have been 28 years ago!) I had been keeping this doll in Larissa's bedroom closet, not knowing when I would give it to her, and that moment was decided for itself this weekend. Larissa came to me with the doll and asked me, "Mommy, where did this doll come from?" It was so fun to share with her the story of that doll.

HERE COMES THE BRIDE. . . . . .

(in oh maybe 25 years or more)

So that same evening we are driving home from dinner and Larissa begins to ask me about my wedding dress.

"Mommy, do you have your wedding dress?"

"Yes."

"Mommy, can I see your wedding dress?"

"Of course."

"Mommy, does it have a lot of sparkles?"
"No."

"Mommy, does if have flowers?"

"No."

"Mommy, are you sure it doesn't have any sparkles?"

"Yes honey I'm sure. Mommy's dress was very plain."

I am so glad she wasn't disappointed that it didn't have any sparkles! She has asked if she could keep my wedding dress with her other dress up clothes and I had to explain to her that this will only come out for dress up on "VERY" special occasions. She has had a hard time understanding that!

Myron and I

September 16, 2000

(and happy to report that we are still smiling!)

Exercise

I do not like to exercise, but I have come to the realization that after 2 kids and for the obvious health benefits this is something I need to do. Not to mention the positive effects that it can also have on my mental health, which is a very troublesome area in my life. So how can I do this if I am not comfortable going to a gym and I make myself believe that I have little to no time to get in a workout. Let me share with you something I have discovered.

Workout Videos - ExerciseTV

They have 108 absolutely free workout videos. The videos range in length from 10 minutes to around 30 minutes. The 10 minute video is about all I have the patience and coordination for right now. I say coordination because I prefer to do the aerobic and cardio workouts and it must be quite a sight to watch me tripping over my own 2 feet for that 10 minutes. But who cares no one else can see me!

I must be going now, Myron is on his way home with a sicilian style pizza from a local pizza shop. I guess it's a good thing I got my workout in tonight. And Julie thanks for introducing us to the sicilian style pizza just about one year ago!

Walking Feet!

Here comes trouble with a capital "T"!

I do apologize for the sideways viewing, but I could not figure out how to rotate the video. (So if you know how to rotate video would you be so kind to let me in on the secret!)

Back In The Swing!

Now that the holidays are over and all the fun has been had, we can finally get back on a "schedule." (and of course there is always more fun to be had) I like to live by a schedule or at least make myself believe that I do.

Larissa went back to school today and believe it or not she was so excited last night that she had a hard time sleeping. She woke up at 4 am and wanted to know if it was time to go to school yet. That was answered with an abrupt "NO" and we then kindly asked her to go back to bed.

Larissa also started her gymnastics class at our local Y today. This session she is in Tumblebugs 2 and she is just so thrilled. She has come a long way from her days at The Little Gym when she pretty much refused to do anything but run around in circles. Now she walks on the balance beam, hangs on the high bar, and will even do a forward and backward roll.

Dorian started swimming lessons today, well I don't know if I would actually call it a lesson, maybe just "play time in the pool." He really enjoyed splashing and watching mommy blow bubbles, he hasn't quite got the hang of the bubble blowing he just prefers to drink the water for now.

I love to watch our children grow and experience new things and to discover themselves. To me it is so important to have them involved in different activities and to help them find what it is that they enjoy. I love to see them get excited about what they are accomplishing. I love being mommy to Larissa and Dorian, for me it is the absolutely best job in the world!