Lines by Lynn

1/2 marathon

2010-09-16T19:47:00.010-04:00

My first 1/2 marathon was in Presque Isle State Park in Erie PA on September 12. I picked up my packet on Saturday and a big surprise, I had a $500 giftcard from Red Star sunglasses!

I got there around 5:45, and it was pouring and windy but the rain finally cleared up and was in the high 50's. The marathon group (26.2 miles) started at 7 am, a 5K (3.1 miles) at 7:15 and finally the ½ marathon (13.1 miles) group at 7:30. Once I was at the starting line, I really started to have doubts. Thank goodness for Bob and the girls, and Lee & Mary Frances and their kids. I knew I had prepared well, but I was really beginning to wonder if I was just totally out of my league. The waiting in line was horrible for my confidence level, once we got moving, I was doing just fine. I loved having my family & friends there cheering me on at the start.

My first mile was about 10:35, a little faster than I really wanted to be. Around mile 1.5, I ended up running near a few people without iPods, and I only had 1 ear bud in anyway, so I decided to join them. They seemed like a good group, and 3 of us began running together, none of us knowing each other or what our usual pace was. Diane had done a marathon and a few 1/2s, and Megan had done 1/2 marathons. So when I told them this was my first, they said I was doing great and we could stick together (this was only mile 2). Eventually we lost Megan who went on a little faster.

I had my fanny pack, but also took water at stations. I ended up sticking with Diane as she was really good at setting a pace. Her goal was to run overall under a 12 min mile. I told her I would stick with her as long as I could, but that I wasn't sure if I could. I ended sticking with her for almost 11 miles! Around Mile 5.8, there was another viewing area for family, and there was my family & friends, cheering me on... shocked that I was still smiling.

At the mile 8 water station, I grabbed some water, and one of the younger guys there handing out water, said your doing a great job and gave me a high five! All I said to him was “Thank you… you have no idea how much I needed to hear that!”

I got to 10 miles in under 2 hours! I believe I was at 10 miles around 1 hr 50. And then around mile 11.5, I fell off pace with Diane... she tried to encourage me to keep going, but I had to slow down, I was pushing a little too hard.. I wasn't quitting, I just knew that if I didn't slow down a little, I was going to be in rough shape... then... it happened... Alexis & Mia’s favorite song came on my iPod, Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. I teared a little, and pushed harder, thinking of them. At mile 12.5, the professional photographer was there to take pictures of runners along the beach. Around 13 miles, a sea of people, clapping and cheering on a runner they didn't know, telling me, I was doing a great job. I was able to find a little more energy and really pick it up and finish strong.. .I finished in 2 hours, 31 min, 34 seconds!!!!!!!!!

Overall, it was an awesome experience! The scenery was nice, the wind coming off of Lake Erie at times was pretty strong. It was a pretty flat course, changing about 300 feet in elevation.. so it also made it a little boring at times, but that's totally ok. the one little hill they had, I feel like I flew up. I cannot believe I did it! It's such a great feeling!

Happy 3rd Birthday Mia!!!

2010-09-12T19:18:00.006-04:00

Hard to believe that Mia turned 3 on Friday. She celebrated with cupcakes at school, then us when we got home. Mia loves to play dress up. Most days, as soon as she gets home from school, she puts on a princess dress. She wants to do anything her big sister does, from playing softball, to pretending they are fighting bad guys.

While she loves to do things her big sister does, she also has her own personality. Mia loves to wake up early. She has a laugh that is contagious. But, she also has an attitude if she doesn't want to do something. She is a strong independent 3 year old!

Mia knows her colors, can count to 20, then begins to skip all over above that. She recognizes her name when she sees it and most letters of the alphabet with a little help, and her best friends are Max and Asa from school and Bella (our friends' daughter). She can walk good in heels, whether they are mommy's for work, or her dress up shoes. And tonight, she even showed us how good she can run in them! (before we told her to take them off).

For her birthday, Bob and I decided to get her some other dress up items. Alexis picked out a princess Tiana Dress from the Princess & the Frog, and Bob and I went with a doctor, police officer and a fireman dress up costumes. She loved them, and eventually became Dr. Princess Tiana to take care of daddy because she said he was sick. Eventually, we also had the princess dress with the police officer and the fireman! They were even using the fire extinguisher and ax because they pretended there was a fire in the living room!

We finished out her birthday weekend by going to Erie, PA for my 1/2 marathon Race (more about that in another post). But Saturday was still about Mia. We went apple picking, and stayed in a hotel with an indoor pool and they had a blast swimming in the pool, then they relaxed in the hot tub :)

Happy Birthday Mia! We love you very much!

Goals

2010-08-02T21:02:00.005-04:00

Sunday, August 1, 2010

The alarm clock wakes me up at 6:05. If I’m going to get my long run in, it has to be before Bob goes to work at 10 am. I wanted to give myself plenty of time. I head down stairs to get changed, thinking.. can I really do this? I have a small breakfast, grab my new “fanny pack” and my Hammer Gel (carbohydrate gel), and my iPod. I start at the top of our driveway, and click the button on my watch to start timing and calculating calories burned.

Out of my driveway, I take a left, usually it’s a right, but today, I’m going a longer distance. I hit the first mile around 11 minutes and 30 seconds. I know the big hill (Fritz Rd) is coming, but it will be good to get it out of the way before I have a lot of miles logged. About ¾ of the way up the hill, I decided I can probably walk faster than I was trying to jog. So, I speed walk to the top. Then begin running again. Running without music is becoming very relaxing to me. It allows me to clear my mind, to think about work, the girls, or life in general. I listen to the birds sing and occasionally watch then fly by me. I turn onto BeechTree Rd again, this is familiar, I run this route about 3 times a week. As I run, I catch a glimpse of my cardinal. He joins me every so often, adn I get choked up. After my grandfather died, my grandma swears he became a cardinal that watches over us. And when times are tough, we always seem to find a cardinal. My cardinal has come on the days I need it the most.

Before I know it, I’ve reached the end of my road. I’m headed onto a main road, route 240, headed into West Valley. I stop to take the chocolate flavored hammer gel. The kid I spoke to in the store told me to take it around the 1 hour mark. I don’t even remember running for 1 hour, but I look at my watch and it says 1 hour 11 minutes. I’ve had other friends tell me the gel is kinda gross, but honestly, I didn’t mind it. It was chocolate flavored (what could be bad!) and I washed it down with water. I decided not to look at my watch anymore and turn on my iPod and get lost in the music. I didn’t want to see my time, I just wanted to enjoy the run. A few cars passed me, and I get a sense of pride, knowing that I’ve run 5 or 6 miles so far and the people are probably looking at me like your crazy.

I begin running down a hill, knowing I’m at the home stretch. I know when I reach the next road (Gooseneck) that I’ve hit 10 miles, and I’ll be running further than I ever have. I decided to look at my watch, 10 miles in 2 hours and 2 minutes! WOW.. 2 weeks ago, I did 10 miles in 2 hours and 24 minutes. I have no idea how I did it, but a combination of being better hydrated, having the hammer gel and lower temperatures, really helped my run today. I got a new energy in me and a big smile and gave a little yell. Who cares if its 8:45 am, it’s the country and most people are up anyway! I finish off my last mile and a half feeling really good. I come charging up my driveway and decide.. Bob had better take my picture. I want to remember the look on my face. I get to the top of the hill, and look at my watch… 2 hours and 21 minutes, even faster than my time 2 weeks ago. I come walking in the door and Bob says, “You did it?” And I was able to say.. “YES I did it… I just completed 11.4 miles.”

The ½ marathon is a little over a month away, September 12. After today’s run, I’m feeling like I can do it. I’m going to keep training hard and stay focused. The more I run, the more I learn about myself and the more I learn about reaching goals. There is a confidence there that hasn’t been around for years, I seriously feel like I can do anything. It’s not about losing the weight anymore… it’s about reaching a goal. The scale hasn’t moved in a very long time, but I’m healthier than I was a year ago, possibly healthier than I have ever been.. and it feels good.

Monday, August 2, 2010

The best part, is now Alexis wants to start running with me. Alexis went for her first official run with mommy :) I'm so proud of her, she ran a whole 10 minutes, even up hills.. and was even out running me, forcing me to go faster. It was great! To top off my night, she wanted to play basketball and hockey with me. So we had a little basketball game of 1 on 1. She got to shoot at her basket, and I shot at mine. Then for hockey, we took turns shooting and being the goalie. I just want my girls to be healthy. They both realize how much I like to exercise and how to make it fun. If its one thing I hope to pass onto them, is how important being healthy is for all aspects of life.

The picture to the right is Alexis before our run.. in her new little running shorts.. she looks so darn cute!

July- summer is flying by

2010-07-16T21:04:00.003-04:00

I can't believe that it's already July 16. I have lots to update. Alexis had a successful friend birthday party and she graduated from kindergarten. I'll have to post those together.

But, as an easy post for tonight.. I need to share a new video. A new Graduate Assistant in our office, who has his bachelor's degree in Media Production, created this video for the Job Luau that I host every fall semester. Thought you might like it! Enjoy!

SUNYCDO video

2010-06-07T08:26:00.002-04:00

This video took me about 18 hours to put together. I'll be presenting this video at the conference Thursday night.

Happy 6th Birthday Alexis!

2010-06-01T20:10:00.010-04:00

I found this post that was written on June 1st.. but saved as a draft.. and I guess I never got back to it. So rather than edit it.. I'm just going to let it be.. and hopefully you won't consider me a bad mother, that my daughter's 6th birthday post is over a month late!

It's hard to believe Alexis is 6 years old and kindergarten is almost over as well. All she wanted this year was to have a birthday party for friends. She began talking about having a friend birthday party back in January. We finally told her she couldn't talk about it until April. She tossed ideas around and finally decided on a pirate party, specifically.. a pink pirate party. Thank goodness for Oriental Trading because they had what we needed.

We had 8 of her classmates at our house on Saturday, May 29th, Alexis' 6th birthday. What a day! We started the party off with letting them play a little. Then we began a treasure hunt (notice treasure map to the right, I created that!). Along the treasure hunt, there were games they had to play. The first game was pirate bowling, where kids had to bowl over little pirates. The wind really didn't help us too much, so that game got cut short. Then the treasure map let us to our weeping willow tree, where they had to race like Peg Leg Pete, which was basically a 1 legged hop to the finish line.

After that, they had to go find the cannon balls (water balloons) and throw them at the pirate ship. All the kids lined up.. and had a blast throwing the cannon balls at the pirate ship. the first direct hit was by Caleb, one of my T-ball players.. boy can he throw! (Notice Alexis is soaked!).

They finally ended up back at Camp Rogers', where they found their little treasure chests, which had pirate money, eye patch, treasure activity sheet, and whistles.

We ended the day with a treasure chest pinata, which Bob and I found it is very dangerous with a group of 6 year olds! Luckily we managed to get away with no injuries! Overall, Alexis had a blast, but it might be a little while before we have another party.. it was a lot of work! Happy Birthday Captain Alexis. :)

Take me out to the ball game

2010-05-22T19:44:00.009-04:00

I vaguely remember playing t-ball as a kid. I don't remember too much, except that the coach always put the girls in the outfield because many balls were not hit out there. I think I must have been right around 5 years old because my coach was Coach Warner. It was only myself and his daughter on the team. It was the first, and only year I played T-ball. I remember very clearly being in center field, and having a ball come right to me. It landed in my glove... then rolled out. That was the end of any organized baseball or softball for me until I entered 5th grade at St. Aloysius Catholic School. I played a lot of baseball in the backyard with my cousins, but I think that 1 incident in t-ball really traumatized me.

My softball career began then, and I loved every minute of it. I played from 5th to 8th grade with St. Al's (see picture to the left, I'm standing next to the coach). Then in high school, I began playing JV for Mr. Haven's, probably the best coach I ever had. A coach who I thought hated me because he pushed me harder than any other coach I had. I later realized, he was pushing me to be a better player. I played 3rd base because we needed a strong arm to be able to make that throw to first. In 10th grade, after a few games, I was moved up to Varsity. Wow, I remember that first game. The first time, since T-ball that I sat the bench and didn't start. I was pulled up, so that I could fill in as catcher. Again, Springville needed someone who could catch and throw, and Mr. Havens knew I was ready (although I didn't). After that game, I proved myself and started every game in high school as the Varsity Catcher. My parents found the money to send me to softball camp a few summers. And to play even more, I even signed up to play town baseball in the Summer of 1993. And as many people know, that's the summer I met my wonderful husband (but didn't start dating until Summer of '94). The picture on the right was taken in Spring of 1995, my junior year and the year I was selected as MVP.

My softball career ended my last year of high school. I still kick myself for not having at least tried out for the Cortland Softball Team. I was very intimidated those first few weeks of college. And that first practice, scared me to death.

I'm so happy now to be able to share my love of softball/baseball with 9 great kids, but most importantly Alexis. She's the reason I'm doing this (and I will do it again if Mia wants to play too), but it has brought out my absolute love for being on the field again. I was scared to coach, but after today's game I'm so happy I did. We've been having practices every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday since May 1st. In that period of time, they know where 1st, 2nd, and 3rd bases are, as well as home. They know where each position stands. They know that they have to throw the ball to 1st base when it is hit to them. They are still working on throwing and batting, but there's always room for improvement there. In playing the other West Valley team, I really was able to reflect today on how far my team has come. They have not had as many practices, and it showed. While t-ball isn't supposed to be competitive, I think my team was more confident because they had practiced more and had learned more.

I remember last year, how easy it is for this age group to get bored. My team was bored at times, but they stayed on their feet (mostly) and when the ball did come to them, they went right after it, and usually only 1 or 2 players (not the entire team) went for the ball. After the first inning, my pitching to them got better.. and many of them hit the ball on the 1st or 2nd ball. I'm so proud of them, and made sure they knew it. One little boy even asked if I would be their coach next year, but I told him probably not because Alexis would be playing softball, and he said "oh man, I want you to be my coach." Definitely made me feel good.

I'm so happy to be Coach Lynn to this great team. I know I'm making an impact on each and everyone of them. My goal is to continue to show them how much fun baseball can be and to encourage them to be confident and work as a team.

A Star is born.... maybe

2010-05-16T18:57:00.013-04:00

Since September, Alexis has been taking a beginner dance combination class which included ballet, tap and jazz. Saturday night, all of her hard work paid off and she (and all the other kids) got to showcase their talents on stage.

I wish I could give you an idea of what dance classes are like, however, parents are not allowed to watch the dancers while they are in class. The teacher is VERY strict about this and has even yelled at mothers who were trying to catch a peak through the glass window on the door. Thankfully, I was sneaky enough when I caught a few glances, that I didn't get yelled at.

Alexis was a little nervous, but so excited too. She was afraid to dance in front of all those people. The evening started off with going to my mom's to get her hair done. Then, it was off to the high school auditorium and the band room (where I spent 4 years). I even needed a special "backstage pass" to be admitted to the dancer area to help Alexis get dressed and do her make up. Bob and I were not crazy about putting make up on, but luckily I was able to do it. Since I don't wear much, it was pretty easy.

I got lots of pictures of her and her little dancing friends, most are from Early Bird. To the left is Alexis & Victoria (her best friend from Early Bird). to the right is Alexis, Arianna, and Shelby (all from Early Bird, but a year younger).

Then is was time for me to say good-bye and join the rest of the family and watch the other performances.

Her first performance is to "Puttin' on the Ritz". Sorry for the shaky hand, but I had Mia on my lap too. She enters from the left and does a spin, then is the 4th girl from the right.

We were SO proud of Alexis and she was so proud of herself too. Immediately after the dance, I had to go back to help her change into her clothes for the next dance. As soon as I got in the room, I gave Alexis a great big hug and kiss, told her how proud I was of her, and she says "Mommy, I even concentrated!" Very cute. Here is a picture of the "Puttin' on the Ritz" gang... notice Alexis... she's always ready to pose.

We still had another dance to get ready for. The Jackson Jazz. I'm sorry to stay that my camera died, apparently I had sucked up too much memory with taping the first dance.

During the finale all the dancers come back out on stage and finally.. 3 hours later.. it was over. After that, most (if not all) of the dancers were given flowers. We gave Alexis pink roses, and my parents gave her peach roses... but then she had another rose, given to her by Daniel. He is a little boy in her class, and his 3 year old sister was dancing Saturday night too. So he bought Alexis a rose. So incredibly adorable. This is a picture of Daniel & Alexis.

For a while, Alexis said she didn't want to do dance next year, instead, she wanted to do karate. So, this could be our first and last recital for her, but seeing how much fun she was having, I think we may have many more years of dancing to come.

SAPS 10K Run

2010-04-25T11:21:00.011-04:00

After the Bengal 5K, I had been debating doing another race. Some friends had asked me to run in the Buffalo half-marathon, but I really didn't know if I was ready for that. For me to even attempt a 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles), I felt like I needed to get some additional races under my belt first. The running program that I'm on, suggested a 10K. The only 10K that I wouldn't have to drive hours to get to, was yesterday in Franklinville, at the Maple Festival. Franklinville is a very small town, not much bigger than West Valley. The registration paperwork said "The original 10K is back, hills and all" I had no idea how many hills there would be, but I knew that with all the hills I've been running around my house, I thought I had prepared well.

I had run about 6 miles last Sunday, so the 10K would be a little longer at 6.2 miles. I had been nervous all week, hoping I could do it. If Bob hadn't switched his shift, so he and the girls could go, then I probably would have chickened out. As we left our house for the race, I began to cry. At the 5K, I had a whole group I was running with, any sports team I was on, it was always a team sport and those support systems meant a lot. This time though, I was alone and only 1 of 24 runners, not 700 like the Bengal 5K. I was really questioning whether or not this was such a good idea. I started out strong and completed my 1st mile in 9 min. 22 seconds, a pretty good pace for me. The hills began around the 2nd mile, running past Case Lake. I completed 3.1 miles in 30 min and 50 seconds, which was slightly slower than my 5K a month ago, but only by 28 seconds. I was EXTREMELY happy with the pace I was keeping. I kept up with what I thought might be more experienced runners, but slower like myself. I ended up passing quite a few at the beginning, and they slowly passed me as the race went on. There was 1 woman in particular, that I stayed with pretty much the whole time, the 2 of us constantly switching places, but it was fun. While running next to each other for a while, I found out it was her 2nd 10K, and she was impressed that it was my first and told me I was going a great job.

I thought I heard a car, so I turned around, and jumped because I was startled! It was a NYS Trooper! haha.. Since we were so far behind the others, they were bringing up the last part of the pack. I felt bad for this poor police officer that had to follow me to the end! Later I told Bob.. the officer probably wished he was following a hot 22 yr old! and.. he thinks he knows the guy. What's even worse, there were still 2 runners out there, because they thought I was the back of the pack.

I began to cry as I approached and crossed the finish line, partially because I knew Bob, Alexis & Mia would be there cheering me on, but also because I could not believe I did it. The only thing I can even possibly describe it like.. is that point when the contestants on the Biggest Loser are at that breaking point and they realize that they can do anything and they realize how far they’ve come in a short period of time. Even typing this now, I get tears.. I can’t describe it, the feeling is just overwhelming.

I finished the race in 1 hour and 5 minutes! Personally, I'm so happy with that, even though I was 22 out of 24 runners. There were 4 women all within 30 seconds of each other, and I was one of them. Two of the runners finished after about an hour and a half. The best part of the whole race was finishing, and the next would be seeing Alexis & Mia cheering me on! Having their support (and Bob's) means so much, because if I didn't have it, I wouldn't have the time to train and come as far as I have so quickly.

Some of the runners were preparing for the Buffalo Marathon at the end of May. This was the longest race before that event, then there are lots of 5K's between now and then. The woman I ran with for a while told me I did a great job and asked how old Alexis & Mia were, and she had kids of similar age. One woman asked what running club I was associated with, and invited me to another race. On a side note, this woman also said, "you must me similar to my kids ages, you must be what early to mid-twenties." With a big grin on my face, I said, "no, I'm actually in my early 30's, I'm 32" haha.. so that felt great!

The run was hard, much harder than the 5K, but it's supposed to be! And I can say that I've done something that a lot of runners have never done. Many stick to 5K's and never complete a 10K, even Bob, who ran a lot of 5K's years ago, has never done a 10K. I'm so proud of myself and I needed to do this race alone. It helped me progress into a better person. I really pushed myself, beyond my known limits and it feels great! I told my boss (the director) that I was doing a 10K, she said to me, "Lynn, that's really far!" and she's been running for years. So now, I will be able to go into work on Monday and say, "YES, I did it!" and here are the results!

You never know what you can do, until you believe in yourself and actually try. I'm not sure what my next step might be, but for now, I'm feeling good knowing that I did my best.

Bengal 5K

2010-03-20T18:42:00.007-04:00

As many of you know, I've been pushing myself lately in the exercise category. My hard work is paying off, as I've lost 20 pounds since August.. and about 35 since having Mia. After Christmas, I began thinking about the Bengal 5K at Buffalo State. I didn't know how long a 5K even was.. I now know its 3.1 miles. I ran my first 5K on the treadmill back on December 27th, in a time of 37 minutes and 59 seconds. I've come a long way since then!!!

On 3/20/10, I completed my first real 5K. I feel great. I got my 15 yr old cousin Chelsea (and her friend Brittany) to run with me. Then we found out some of Bob's training got canceled, so he would be running too. The 4 of us set out at 8am to head up to Buffalo State. Bob was the only one who has ever competed a 5K, so I can say I was a little nervous. I had a hard time sleeping the night before. I haven't done anything competitive like this since high school and now I was attempting something I used to hate.... running! Now there is something special about it and I feel a sense of accomplishment.

I DID IT!!! I DID IT!!!!!... Are you ready... I did it in 30:22!!! I have NEVER run that fast :) so that was a personal best for me. The fastest I had one the 5K on a treadmill was 30:50 (and almost threw up afterwards).

I was really nervous when we arrived. We all got huddled at the starting line and we were around midway or so. I felt like cattle! The air horn went off and we started to run. I had opted to keep my iPod off for this first race, next time, I'll bring it. I think it would have helped me do an even better job.. but I'm so proud of myself! When we got to Mile 1, I had no idea they would be calling out your time. My first mile was in 9:35.. and I said to my husband, I've never run a mile that fast. I was definitely winded, but kept going. I did slow my pace down a little. We got to the 1/2 way mark.. and there is definitely an art in trying to drink water while running.. HA! I had a little, then tossed the cup and choked a little on the water. Got to Mile 2 and I was still holding a great pace.. around mile 2, I heard them call out time and thinking.. I'm running faster than a 10 min mile. Chelsea needed to slow a bit, so Bob stayed back with her and I kept going.

I was in really good spirits and it was nice at the finish line to have so many runners there cheering people on.

Out of my office group that ran, I was the old lady! But, I was the fastest, so I felt it was my duty to then cheer them on as they finished. That was a cool feeling! I had a blast and feel so good and accomplished. I ended up being 11th in my age group out of 22 and I was 393 out of over 720 people.

What a blast.... I think I might be signing up for another 5K very soon :)

Christmas 2009

2010-01-17T13:15:00.010-05:00

Considering Christmas is almost a month past..I figured I should probably do a Christmas post! (I know..so bad). We decided to have 2 Christmas Trees this year, 1 artificial tree (that we bought last year) and 1 real tree. We put the artificial tree in the den, and decided to put the gifts from us under that tree. Bob and I got the girls new bikes. It was so funny because Alexis ran past them 2 times to check and see if Santa ate his cookies, and never saw them.

We started celebrating Christmas with the Rogers' side of the family on Christmas Eve. We all trucked over to Eden to Bev and Jim's house (Bob's sister). On the way back, Alexis was eagerly looking for Santa in the sky. And she swears she saw his sleigh because it was blinking through the sky.

We woke up early on Christmas day... ok.. we being me and Bob; the girls slept in. I was playing on facebook and wondering how is it, MY girls are sleeping in until 7:30 am on CHRISTMAS? as I child, I would have never let that happen. We had a great day and a relaxing time at our house before heading over to my parents to celebrate with them and then my mom's side of the family.

Alexis knew what to expect. Mia was just amazed and didn't exactly know what happened. with each present she opened, she had to inspect it and figure out what it was and what it did. Her older sister however, ripped into each present very quickly and we had to slow her down a little bit.

Alexis only asked for 3 things, an umbrella, a Barbie Musketeers movie, and a carriage that turns into a hot-air balloon. I think she was most excited about the umbrella!

Mia loves to play with necklaces. So Santa brought her some beads and sunglasses, doesn't she look cool?

And finally.. the bikes they got from Mommy & Daddy. They rode these around the kitchen and den for about 2 weeks before we decided they needed to go into the basement until Spring time.

We had a great Christmas, and we are looking forward to 2010 being a great year!

Holiday Show 2009

2009-12-22T19:33:00.002-05:00

Today was Alexis' first Holiday Show with West Valley Central. With technology, I was able to get a username and password and people from as far away as Ohio & Cortland were able to watch her do her little performance. Originally, I was going to have to watch it at work, and Lisa (my boss) had the bright idea to put it on the projector and let the staff watch it together. But then, Mia got sick, so I had to leave work today. Luckily my dad got out of his doctor appointment early, and he was able to watch Mia, so Bob and I could go to the Holiday show together.

Of course, I was a proud mommy and got right up front when they got on stage! :) Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. In case you can't tell, Alexis is the 3rd student from the left, with a nice dress on borrowed from her cousin Madison.

Home Renovations

2009-11-08T09:13:00.014-05:00

Bob and I love doing home renovations. We spent a majority of our time before Alexis was born, fixing up our house in McGraw. So when we moved into our current home, we have been hoping to do some renovations to this house. And with us being close to family, we were able to get some help from some family members who actually do these things for a living. So this post is about some of the home renovations we've done starting Summer 2009.

As you may recall from last winter, we had a major roof leak. So this past summer, my uncle and Bob put a new roof over our living room. The roof was fairly flat, so they had to repitch the roof (picture to the left). Then lay the new metal roof over top. It was a long drawn out process, but finally got done before summer was over. It looks great! The finished product is the picture the right

Since the roof was finished, we could finally work on the living room. My cousin hangs drywall for a living, so he came up and put up new drywall (no more stained ceiling!). And Bob and I were able to paint. According to Bob, I have no originality when it comes to color. I really like the maroon reddish color we had at our old house. I also wanted to match the marble tile that the wood pellet stove sits on. You may not be able to tell from the pictures, but there are lines of red/maroon in the marble tile. So, I took a tile to Lowe's with me and matched up with a color called "Apple a day". I LOVE IT. I think the living room came out awesome. In case you don't remember what it looked like before, check out the picture to the left, that is from our first walk through when we bought the house. Then the picture to the right is our new living room!

Probably the biggest renovation we did, was hire a black topping company to blacktop our driveway. We needed to do something with it because anytime it rains, we were losing stone and big ruts were being created in the driveway. So, we were inconvenienced for only 3 days by parking in our neighbors driveway, but the result is awesome. I never thought that blacktopping the driveway would create so much fun for the girls. They love coloring on the driveway, riding their bikes (on the top only, they're not allowed to go down the hill yet) and next summer, we will have a basketball hoop.

Happy Halloween (a little late!)

2009-11-08T08:43:00.007-05:00

A few days before halloween, Alexis came home from school wiht a fever of 102.5. She's now doing better, but the next day was the big West Valley Halloween Parade. Unfortunately, Alexis would have to miss it. When I told her she wouldn't be able to go to school, her response was, "Mom, don't you even care about me?" And of course, my heart was broken... I almost began to tear up and said "Alexis, of course I care about you, why would you even say something like that?" Her response, "Well.. you don't care if I go to school and I like school, and you don't care that I want to go to my Halloween Parade." ugh... eventually we got that all worked out and she knew she didn't want to get the other kids sick, so even though I had already made the decision that she wasn't going to school, she finally agreed that staying home was the best decision. When she said that, I felt my life fast forward about 10 years, to probably what she'll be saying to me at 15!

Mia had a great time at her Halloween party, she was 1 of 2 Minnie Mouses, but I think she was the cutest! (ok.. I'm biased). She got all sorts of goodies and happily it wasn't all chocolate! There were other things in there like packages of gold fish and teddy grahams.

Alexis' teacher was so nice and brought all of Alexis' goodies from school to our house. she lives around the corner from us. When I mentioned that to someone at work her response was.. Only in West Valley. And you know, I'm ok with that!

SO... here are my girls... I mean.. Spidergirl (after 3 years of being a princess.. she's now Spidergirl!) and Minnie Mouse. (Incase your wondering what Spidergirl is doing in the alone picture.. she's "shootin' the web")

Darling Daughter Ramblings

2009-09-27T19:48:00.009-04:00

Alexis is getting to have quite the little personality. At 5 years old, she's getting to do lots of new things. She tried t-ball this past summer, and she's now trying out dance classes. Tomorrow will be week 3. So far, she's loving it! It's a combination class where they do ballet, tap, jazz and mat work (things like cartwheels, pencil rolls and somersaults).

She looks very cute in her little leotard, ballet slippers and tap shoes. She likes the mat work most, so I thought about seeing how long this lasts and possibly putting her in gymnastics instead of dance. But the college students I work with are telling me that I should keep her in dance because then she won't have to do the balance beam and rings. So, I'm not even bringing up gymnastics, I'm just letting her enjoy being in dance and having fun. All the girls in her class are new like her. She did have a very good friend, Victoria, from her day care that was in her class the first night, but this would be her 3rd year, so they switched her out to another class with more advanced students. Victoria goes to Springville, so Alexis was a little bummed that she got switched out. We now see Victoria at football games if we go watch my cousin's son.

A few months ago, Madison (my niece) got her ears pierced. So I figured Alexis would be wanting to get her ears pierced sometime soon. I was actually surprised it took about 3 months for her to bring it up. She brought it up about a week or so ago. She wanted it done the next day off we had, which was last weekend. We didn't have a chance, so I told her to ask me again, thinking she might forget. I was wrong. She brought it up again, so Saturday night, we took her to get her ears pierced. To describe Madison's experience, I will just say it was awful, she cried a lot and my sister said it was a horrible experience and she wished she would have done it when Madison was much younger.

I wasn't sure what to expect. Sometimes, Alexis does great at these things, but her last set of shots at the doctors, didn't go so well. I showed her the "gun" and showed her what they would do. She asked Bob one morning while waiting for the bus if it would hurt, Bob said "Yes honey, it's going to hurt a lot." So when we got to Piercings Pagoda, she picked out her piercing studs, princess crowns (I put a close up to the left). Then while we waited for another associate to join the one that was there, the girl cleaned Alexis' lobes, and marked them with dots. When the next girl got there, they each stood on one side. Alexis held my hand, while I held Mia in the other arm. The girls began to count "1, 2, 3" (the anticipation was growing!) and click - you heard the piercing gun. Alexis just looked, she didn't cry, she didn't scream. She had a look of shock on her face, and one of the associates says "Alexis, are you ok?" Alexis just kept looking straight ahead. Then the other associate said, "Alexis, it's all done" and she like snapped out of it. They showed her a mirror, and she was all smiles. Bob and I were so proud of her! She got a nice sticker that said she was great while getting her ears pierced. So now we are into cleaning her pierced ears 2 times a day. She's so proud of her ears, and keeps saying "I didn't even cry!" What a tough little girl.. she must get that from her momma! :)

Another "new" thing that began last week for Alexis was the desire to take showers each and every morning before school. I wasn't expecting this to hit at 5, I was thinking maybe 8 or 9. Now I have to get up earlier, so that 3 of us can get in the shower in the morning. I hold the shower head for her and wash her hair still, but this daily shower thing really threw me for a loop! We have to be extra efficient in the mornings, so that we don't miss the bus.

And finally the latest new task of her showing her independence is she wants to make her own sandwiches for lunch. She wants to get her own drinks. For a long time, she had been getting her own drink (from our water spout on the fridge). But then she began asking to make her own Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich, and Bologna & ketsup sandwich. She has some issues with the peanut butter and knife, but she's definitely showing her independence.

Alexis sure is growing up, they both are. WAY TOO FAST! My next post will be on ramblings about Mia, Mia.. Mia... at times my little troublemaker. But its so nice when they actually get along and play well together.

Job Luau 2009

2009-09-16T21:00:00.012-04:00

Tuesday, September 15 was the 8th annual Part-time job Luau. We had a blast. I am always nervous about the event because its held outside and you never know what the weather is going to bring. We had a beautiful day at Sunny and mid 70's. A lot of time and effort went into planning the event. We ended up with 36 employers and lots of volunteers. Bob even came up to volunteer (not that he had much of a choice!) We put a call out to faculty and staff to volunteer, along with students to come and help out. The event is very labor intensive.

We served up 1200 hot dogs (until our volunteers couldn't take it anymore), about 450 snocones, and lots of popcorn (35 bags into the popcorn popper, so I have no idea how many personal bagas were given to students. Lots of students played games including Kan Jam, pineapple bowling, a ring toss and a limbo contest!

This year, a few new features included adding beach umbrella's to the employer tables, and a rock climbing wall was added. The Army Reserves asked if they could bring it, so getting all the proper documentation, it was added. I had been building up the courage to actually climb it since they first asked back in July! Jessie climbed the wall first thing, and every time I got over there to do it, I got pulled away to do something else. So finally at teh end of the Luau, as we were cleaning up.. I asked the Sargent if he had time for 1 more. He said absolutely (as he had been trying to get me to climb since the beginning of the day).

As I began climbing, I got about half way, and then Bob decides taht he is going to race me to the top. Never having done this before, I got stuck, eventuallky found my way and made it to the top.

I uploaded a video to youtube, click here to see it or see below. It is sideways as Jessie didn't know how to run my camera and recorded instead of actually taking pictures. Enjoy!

Mia's 2nd Birthday!

2009-09-15T19:54:00.004-04:00

So. I am pretty behind. A lot has happened this past week and in an effort to get back into blogging.. I'm going to post a series of posts over the next few days.

Happy 2nd Birthday to Mia. She turned 2 on Thursday, Sept 10th. What a day. I was able to take cupcakes into her birthday for her to celebrate with her friends. When we got home that night, we had dinner, then cake and gave Mia the birthday present from us. A jeep! They love riding it at my parents house and we definitely have the room for it. Alexis has to drive her around, but Mia will sit and play for hours with the real working radio, or just trying to make it work herself. Her legs are just a little too short.

I took Friday off to spend the day with her. Mia, Bob & I just hung out, we played outside, and took her out to lunch. We had a little party for her Saturday night with my family, and they played in a bounce house (my dad gets free from work). Lots of fun. Sunday was definitely a day of rest.

More to come later. Have a great night!

First day of Kindergarten!

2009-09-09T21:46:00.007-04:00

For those of you not on Facebook, I've added some pictures of Alexis' first day of school. She had a great day! She's so social that she can talk to most kids pretty quickly. After day 2, she still doesn't know their names, so I told her she can ask the kids their names if she doesn't remember.

I don't even know where to start. There is so much to tell!

Tuesday- We took her to school and dropped her off. All the parents got to stay for the teacher to give us the run down on a few things, then she read a story to the kids before the parents were dismissed. She rode the bus home and my mom picked her up.

She brought her lunch to school, all packed.. ready to go with her new princess lunch bag, a princess thermos. She had to bring money for milk to have during snack time, so we prepaid for the week.

Alexis was so excited. She said they had gym, and you had to raise your hand to talk, and on the bus, she did what mommy said and sat toward the front of the bus away from the big kids.

Today, Alexis formally rode the bus to school. So Bob and I got her on the bus. Mia was SO mad that she couldn't get on the bus too. And cried almost our whole ride to day care, saying "me bus, me bus". She did tell us that another little girl on the bus, an older girl, not in her class helped her find her room today. I have no idea who this other little girl is.. but I would love to thank her (and even give her a present)! Alexis can't remember her name either.

As for lunch, today she wanted to be a buyer :) So today, she was so excited to buy her lunch, she had PB & J, chocolate milk, noodles, and pudding.

They went to the library today and they had gym class. I would say so far, kindergarten is a success! And it feels very weird to only drop Mia off at day care now.

tomorrow is another big day for us. Mia's second birthday! Almost Happy Birthday to Mia!

Camping in Alleghany

2009-08-02T19:53:00.016-04:00

Our trip began on Wednesday (July 22) evening after I got out of work. The forecast had predicted rain, but we were hoping for the best. The night before we went out and bought the girls little hiking boots and water proofed them just in case. We got down to the park to find the Snyder Family already at their site. Unfortunately, we had a HUGE gorge between our 2 campsites. Not exactly what we pictured when we reserved 2 campsites next to each other. Our plan had been to put the kids in bed and let the 4 adults sit around the camp fire at night.

From that night on, we decided that we'd just hang out at their site all weekend. Then at night, we put all the kids in the Snyder tent, and when Bob and I headed back to our tent, we carried the girls back to our tent again. Essentially we only slept on our site. They had the better site when it came to space. One thing their campsite also had was a 9 year old little girl name Casey, who was camping across the road. Casey was there with her Aunt & Uncle. She wanted to play with the kids. We soon had to figure out how to drawn boundaries around when Casey was allowed at our campsite and when she wasn't allow. If we had allowed it, she probably would have slept at our site. She was a nice enough little girl, sharing her wisdom with Alexis and Anthony. I think our largest problem was that we never heard from her aunt and uncle. They didn't know what kind of people we were.

We woke up Thursday morning to puddles in our tent! :( Throughout the night, rain had gotten in.. our tent failed us! We gathered for breakfast, making pancakes in the rain and eating under a canopy we had borrowed from my parents. Lee began digging trenches to get the water out of our campsite! So I included a picture of one of the trenches to the right! We had a brainstorm to head to Erie, PA, only about an hour away. We ended up at Walmart, to find a tarp to keep our tent dry the rest of the night, the Snyders ended up with rain boots. We headed off to lunch, then to a Children's museum. The kids had a blast!! It rained most of the day, so it was nice to do something inside.

On Friday, Lee had to work (he had to go golfing with work that day!), so Mary Frances and I decided to take the kids for a hike and leave Bob at the campsite. We had fun. Bob brought enough camelbaks so Anthony, Mary Frances and I had one, and of course if you remember from a previous post, Alexis has her own. The kids had a blast hiking through the forest. I was their fearless leader. Mary Frances had never been on a "hike" before. I'm not very good at readings maps, but I figured as long as we followed the trail.. we'd be ok :) The hike was pretty much all uphill. We definitely got a work out! We ended up going to a playground, eating lunch there then heading back to the campsite. While the kids slept, it began to rain more, then the hail hit along with thunder and lightening! We sat under the canopy just waiting for the kids to wake up and for one of us to have to go rushing inside. After that, the weather cleared up a bit.

Saturday, we headed to a recreational area and spent the day at the beach. The weather stayed nice until the late evening, when the rain started up again. We had the kids around the campfire singing songs and eating roasted marshmallows and camp fire pies!

Our last day, we packed up camp and decided to go to a place called the bear caves. We didn't exactly know what we were looking for, but knew that from one end the hike would be 4 miles, but from the other it was only 1/4 mile. With 4 littles ones, we decided to go in from the short end (as did most other people I think!). Anyway, the hike was pretty much straight UP!!! Mia was a little champ, she wanted to do most of it herself. I took Mia most of the time up because Bob was watching Alexis & Anthony hike up the hill like little pros. Right after this picture (to the left) was taken, Bob sprinted up to Alexis & Anthony because they were entering some pretty steep rocks and he was afraid they'd fall.

Overall, we had a good time despite the rain and mud. We're even considering going camping again in the fall. All the kids get along so well, so its nice to be able to go with another family

Summer Vacation Take 2

2009-07-19T19:51:00.006-04:00

We've have been using our fire pit in the back yard a lot more lately, aka Camp Rogers. I think when we lived in McGraw, it was on a hill, so it was always a hassle to take things over there etc. The girls love hanging out back, probably because we let them have marshmallows and chocolate. I just wanted to add a few snapshots of our latest campfire.

We're getting ready for our next vacation, tent camping down in Allegany State Park. We heading out with our friends Lee, Mary Frances and their kids, Anthony & Isabella We are very excited, as last year the 8 of us went on a weekend camping trip and this year we decided to extend it a little. We're heading out on Wednesday (after I get home from work) and coming home on Sunday. this will be the longest camping trip I have ever done. About 10 years ago, Bob took me camping for memorial day weekend, but that was only 3 days and 2 nights.

We began taking an inventory of all the camping gear that we have. And decided we should probably stock up a little bit on some other camping necessities (a hot shower with no bugs is a request of mine, but I'm sure will not be granted!). Anyway, as we were heading through Dick's Sporting Goods, Alexis came across a camelbak that was bright pink and said "Mommy, i love it, it's pink can I get it?" I said, "oh probably not you wouldn't be able to carry it, go ask your dad." Of course thinking he'd agree with me and also thinking he's cheaper than I am, and I didn't think he'd want to spend the $35 on it. I don't know what I was thinking, Alexis is showing interest in hiking.. OF COURSE HE'S GOING TO SAY YES! So, he took a look at it and it was actually a Camelbak made for ages 5+. So now, Bob is proud to say Alexis has her very own Camelbak, and she says she's going to use it (Bob said he will not carry any water bottles for her).

Alexis promptly informed us that Mia didn't have a sleeping bag. We weren't too sure we wanted to get her one (afraid she'll get lost in it). But we thought we'd give it a try and don't' have to use it as a sleeping bag, and we figure we'll bring other blankets too. The girls had to have a camp out in the living room.

They are very excited (and so are Bob & I). I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures posted next week after we get back.

Alexis

2009-07-10T20:36:00.009-04:00

It's hard to believe that Alexis has gotten so big, so quick! Five years has flown by too quickly. September 8, she'll be starting kindergarten! In early June, we found out she would be missing her pre-k graduation. At first Alexis was bummed, but we told her we would celebrate in Disney. Its held in the high school auditorium (where her musical review was last summer and all musicals, and concerts are held). Since she was out of town, they held her hat and diploma for her and gave it to her when she was back.

Alexis has had a lot of career aspirations in her little 5 years. She's wanted to be everything from a princess, ballerina, a forest ranger, cake maker, a worker at Disney, a fire-fighter like daddy, work on a college campus like mommy, and now SPIDERGIRL! She practices her moves quite regularly with a little boy at school named Brody, who wants to be Spiderman. She says that her and Brody are going to fight the bad guys, and she is going to kick them in the face with her black high heal boots! Then after her and Brody are done fighting bad guys for the day, she'll make dinner!

Tonight was the last night of T-ball, and she had quite the crowd come to see her. Nana & Papa were there, along with Grandma and Grandpa Belscher, and even Miss Emily (her swim teacher). She got to play left field and catcher. We played on a real diamond tonight, so the dirt was very distracting. Alexis and Jacob decided it would be more fun to play in the dirt, then actually watch the game. As catcher, she still was playing in the dirt. All other games, except opening day, have been on all grass fields. And who would want to play t-ball when there is dirt to be played with! She went 2 for 3 tonight at the plate.... meaning.. she hit the ball 2 times without using the tee. I think if she had put a little more effort into playing, the balls would have gone a little farther, but at least she's making contact.

At the end of the game, coach asked if everyone had a good year, most said yes, one kid said he wouldn't be in this league next year! Then coach got out a brown bag, and pulled out a trophy.. all the kids lit up! Alexis is so proud of her trophy! She said tonight she doesn't want to play next year, but then before bed, she said she does want to play. Not sure what she'll decide for next year, but we'll leave it up to her. If she does play, she'll probably be playing with the West Valley team.

This past week she started swim lessons again. They are held right at school and we pay for her to swim 5 days a week at 9am. She LOVES swimming, it also gives her a lot of exercise to take some of her energy away! She's quite tired by the time she gets home these days! I'm not sure if she'll get involved in other activities or not, but she's mentioned dance and gymnastics... we'll have to see about those!

Job Luau time again

2009-07-06T13:00:00.003-04:00

I got this cartoon from a friend and thought I would share it. (double click to enlarge it). It's summer time.. and planning for the Part-time Job Luau will consume my work life (and potentially some time at home). Our date has been moved around several times due to contruction at Buffalo State. We are now having the 8th Annual Part-time Job Luau on Tuesday, September 15 with lots of jobs, games and prizes! More to come!

Disney

2009-06-28T19:27:00.006-04:00

We had a great trip! Of course we flew down last Saturday. Mia is under 2, so we didn't buy her a ticket and she was going to sit on our laps. We will never do that again! haha. She was good for part of it, but she didn't understand why you can't play with the tray table all the time, and more imporantly, she wanted her own seat. I can't blame her. We utilized the Magic Express, our luggage got to us at 12:45am. Bob had been keeping watch until midnight, and then tried to go to sleep, and 45 min later, we had luggage. While it got in late, I think I would use that service again.

Each day we pretty much had the same schedule. Get to a park around 9am, leave by 1pm for naps and/or pool time. Then back into another park for the evening. We hit up all the main Disney parks, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM), Animal Kingdom and Epcot. It's hard to put it everthing that happened into 1 blog entry. So here is an overview, with some pictures.

Rides

First day, we headed to Magic Kingdom. All the excitement of seeing Cinderella's castle. Alexis was amazed. Mia liked to watch all the people. We had nothing special planned for Sunday, just going to the parks and enjoying rides. Both girls LOVED the rides. So many colors, both just stared in wonder, watching the story take place before them. The favorite rides ended up being Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger, the Toy Story ride, Winnie the Pooh and Star Wars. Alexis and Bob could only go on the Star Wars ride, and she said Daddy had to go on it with her both times because he likes Star Wars. I had the privilage though of taking her on the big rollercoaster, Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Shows

Alexis liked the shows, and Mia liked the shows for about the first 15 minutes, then she was done. She just got a little antsy. Their favorite show by far was the Playhouse Disney show at Hollywood Studios. I'm not sure how much parents liked it. It was a cute 22-minute show. The problem for parents is that there are no seats. You sit on the floor, which would be fine, except they cram you into this space and tell you to keep moving closer to the person in front of you. I was ok, but Bob was very stiff (knee surgery and all) and it was hard for him to get up. We also hit up the Festival of the Lion King, Beauty & the Beast, the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Muppet 3 D Vision.

Characters

Alexis loved all of the characters. We started off by meeting Daisy (she was right inside the gate). We didn't get to meet a ton and missed some of her favorites, but she was happy with the ones she did get to meet. Mia liked the characters from a distance. They would get close and she would be ok as long as I was holding her and they weren't touching her. Or in a few of the cases, they tried to take her autograph book! She did NOT like that. Mia probably liked Ariel the best. This was the ONLY character that Mia would sit next to, without mom or dad there. Alexis liked meeting Cinderella the best. I have a darling picture from Cinderella's Royal Table, but have to wait for my photo CD to come in before I can post it. Speaking of Characters. We did several Character Dining Experiences. Most of them were for lunch, which worked out well because then we would head back to the hotel. On Monday, we went to The Crystal Palace to meet Pooh and Friends at Magic Kingdom. Monday evening, we had dinner at the Garden Grill with Chip, Dale, Pluto and Mickey at Epcot. Tuesday we had lunch with the playhouse disney characters, Jo-Jo, Goliath from Jo-Jo's Circus, June and Leo from Little Einsteins. Each of these were buffet style with usually some sort of entertainment. Wednesday was the big day at Cinderella's Royal Table. It was beautiful. I couldn't believe that I was actually in Cinderella's Castle. Cinderella greeted us at the beginning. Once we got upstairs, then Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Snow White, and Belle came around to our tables.

Fireworks

We caught fireworks at Magic Kingdom two times and Epcot once. But Fantasmic at Hollywood studios is more than a fireworks show. Alexis says Fantasmic was her favorite. Many kids are scared of that show, but both girls loved it. I was able to explain to Alexis that it was only pretend and that seemed to work.

This is only VERY few of the pictures. Send me an email and once they are all uploaded to Snapfish, I'll send them. We took about 250 pictures and had another 100 or so taken by Disney Photographers and I don't have those pictures yet.

I hope we'll be able to go there again soon. This was our first big family vacation and while we had some challenging times with the girls, we would have had those whether we were home or on vacation. Bob was actually sad to leave too. The thought of going back to work tomorrow just sucks. I'll be looking at lots of pictures and be thinking of happy memories from this adventure. And looking forward to planning the next one!

Leaving for Disney

2009-06-20T11:16:00.005-04:00

So today is the big day! I've been waiting a long time for this. I've always wanted to take my family to Disney and now 6 months after convincing Bob that we should go.. we are leaving! We are also going stir crazy because our flight doesn't leave until 4:55 today, and we arrive in Orlando at 7:45 p.m.

The girls spent 15 minutes running around our dining room table. I'm guessing they must be excited too! This video was taken about 10 minutes after they had already started.. but they were both full speed before I broke out my phone to capture this (because of course, our camera is packed in the car already).

They are napping now, an early nap for them since it will be a late night.

We decided at the last minute to take full advantage of the Magic Express. That means that once we check our luggage in Buffalo, it will arrive in our room hopefully in less than 3 hours of check-in at the hotel. It will be late, but this way we can concentrate on 2 kids and not worry about 1 large suitcase, 1 large hiking backpack (Bob's idea so he can roll one suitcase and have a pack on his back), and an umbrella stroller. Our carry on bags are 3 backpacks. Poor Bob, his backpack is filled with night time blankets and dolls (oh and the portable DVD player). He said this is definitely a first for him to have carry on like that! Alexis has all toys, coloring books etc. And mine has books for Bob and I, the itinerary and all the vacation paperwork.

I'm sure I'll have lots to write about in a week! We'll be home Saturday, June 27th. See you then!

Happy 5th Birthday Alexis!!

2009-05-30T05:44:00.017-04:00

Of course, her birthday was Friday, May 29, but we had a busy day, so I couldn't update last night. How can it be 5 years already? I'm having a tough time with this birthday, I held back tears as I could barely speak the words "Happy 5th Birthday Alexis" to the Wal-mart baker as I was ordering her cake. (what is wrong with me! I felt like such an idiot!) Time sure does seem to fly and somehow, it sees like just yesterday I was at the hospital visiting with friends and family after having Alexis. This new responsibility was now upon us... and it wasn't just Bob and I anymore. I wouldn't trade becoming a mom for anything, but it sure can be challenging at times!

Because 5 years is a huge deal, I really wanted to do something special on her actual birthday. I had to work a 1/2 day, so Bob and the girls came to work with me.. saw the office staff and interacted with them. Then Bob and the girls went off while I worked. After work, we went to lunch and then went up to Niagara Falls, Canada. Our goal was to possibly ride the Maid of the Mist and just do a few other activities while there. Alexis seemed to think NF was an amusement park and wanted to go on lots of rides!

Our first stop of course was over-looking the falls. Alexis and Mia both gazed in amazement. Mia had a happy grin on her face and Alexis couldn't understand why we were getting wet from the mist off of the falls. It was very hard to pull Mia away from that first stop of viewing the falls. Bob and I have been up there a few times, but to now share in the astonishment with our girls was very nice. At first, Alexis did not want to ride the Maid of the Mist, but as we got closer and she began watching the boats, she thought she would really like to do that. So, we made our way, got the very fashionable ponchos. As we were putting on the ponchos, both girls faces lit up. Putting on this poncho was now the happiest part of their day! As we made out way down to the dock and onto the boat, Alexis decided she wanted to go to the top floor of the boat. I was very weary, knowing how wet and the type of wind that you get up top. thankfully, there were already a lot of people up there, so there was no place to stand on the edge. So we made our ways back down to the bottom floor. Again, both girls were just ecstatic to be on the boat. As we got closer to the falls, fear or hesitation began to sink into Alexis. Bob had to hold her, and she did not like how wet we were getting. On the other hand, the grin on Mia's face never faded. We backed off the edge of the boat, which made Alexis much happier. As we began to slowly turn around and head back to the dock, we moved back up to the edge and Alexis liked this part. Of course, as you exit the Maid of the Mist, they send you right through the gift shop.

Our next stop was walking up Clifton Hill. Alexis had been eyeing up the SkyWheel, since we had crossed the Rainbow Bridge. As we walk up the hill, she spots it again. We head over to that and found out there is no height requirement, as long as parents are going with their children. I will admit the SkyWheel was pretty cool, and you get to overlook all of Niagara Falls. The girls were pretty good, we were able to stress the importance of following safety instructions on rides. After exiting the ride, it was time for some ice cream and off to our next (and final adventure).

We found the Build-a-Bear store. Mia picked out a cute little frog and Alexis picked out a Hello Kitty to be stuffed. We had never been to this store before, so we had no idea the process one had to go through to make a stuffed animal. you had to stuff it, give it a heart (which is a whole process of making a wish, rubbing it, so the heart is nice and warm, rub it on Daddy's bicep, to make it strong), take the animal to the bath, then go to a "dressing room" and try on different outfits. They had a blast, but were very tired. So we began the long walk back to the car.

As soon as Mia saw the falls again her face lit up! She was very mad that we didn't stay to look at the falls a little more. We did see the most beautiful rainbow. Alexis was concentrating on dinner. It was already 5:30 p.m. and its usually dinner time, but we had a late afternoon snack to hold them off for a bit. Alexis had requested to go to her favorite summertime restaurant, George's, just a hot dog/burger stand with a playground for kids. A great place for milkshakes too! So we had a long ride off to George's and both girls were so exhausted, they fell asleep.

Dinner was good as always, and we still had to do cake and presents at our house. Bob and I got her a couple new dress up princess dresses, along with giving her a certificate that stated, she was invited to have lunch at Cinderella's Castle. She thought that was very cool, then I told her, we would even let her wear her new Cinderella dress to lunch only (she would NOT be able to wear it through the parks all day). She loved that!

It was an exhausting day, but so much to remember from Alexis' 5th birthday! I still can't believe we have a 5 year old. To think about all the wonderful things that have happened in the last 5 years continues to amaze me. I know there is so much more ahead, and I definitely do not want it to go as fast as the last 5 years have gone. Happy 5th Birthday Alexis Joli!

Busy Week

2009-05-17T20:27:00.008-04:00

This past week was pretty busy. Between Mother's Day, T-Ball and other activities, we stayed busy. Wednesday night we had our 1st meeting with the WV school district. It was for parents and their children who will be entering kindergarten. We got a tour of the school, to give those of you who don't know WV an idea... Pre-K- 12th grade all reside in one building. The tour ended at the kindergarten class, where kids could explore the classroom, and meet their future classmates. There will be a total of 16 kids in Alexis' kindergarten class... yes.. 16 kids. Last year, they had 2 kindergarten classes, but this year only 1. Unfortunately, 14 of those 16 kids are all part of the Pre-K program, 1/2 in the morning, the other 1/2 in the afternoon. We had wanted to get her enrolled in that program, but at only 2 1/2 hours a day, it was tough for 2 working parents. Alexis was SO excited that night. She met a couple girls (Bailey and Emma) and a couple boys (didn't catch their names). I was able to talk with a few moms, and Bob talked to a dad from the fire department. Then we went into a meeting that basically told us to have a consistent bed time, read every day to them, and a couple other common sense things. Most of the people in the district have lived in WV their entire lives, even the kindergarten teacher grew up in WV. They just wanted to show all of us what a tight knit family they are. We ended the night by signing up for the Kindergarten screening, which will be this Thursday. I thought it was very nice, Bob thought they could have done it all through a newsletter. :)

Beginning on Wednesday night, Mia started have some allergy like symptoms (watery eyes, runny nose). By Saturday, it was just awful.. and Bob and I were thinking... ugh, is this another ear infection or sinus infection. I called the doctors, gave them the "history" and oddly enough, the nurse didn't fight and we had a 10:30 appt. We got into the office.. and doc took 1 look at Mia's nose and said.. .let's take a look at those ears, I'm thinking this isn't a good sign. She took a look and said there is a little fluid in her left ear. Not enough for an infection.. yet; but said with her history, she's sure it is going to turn into an infection. So, she's on meds again and the doctor referred us to a specialist. So on Monday, I'm calling for an appointment. It happens to be the same doctor that did my dad's ear reconstruction surgery. The doctor said she may or may not needs tubes in her ears, but we'll let the ear, nose and throat specialist decide that. I'll keep you posted.

A short t-ball update. They had practice on Saturday. Alexis got to bat 2 times. Coach pitched 5 pitches, then the tee went up if needed. First time up 1 foul ball, then a hit to the 3rd baseman. Second time up, they had to bring the tee out, and she had a strong hit. Her attention span is very low and difficult. She says she's bored, so she doesn't pay attention. I'm trying to get her to start cheering on her teammates instead of sitting on the bases when she's suppose to be running. Somehow, I have to show her that baseball doesn't have to be boring. :(

While Mother's Day was last weekend, I officially got my present today. On Mother's dDy I got a Lowe's gift card. To most women, that would probably be a disappointment.. but my man knows me well. I used it to pick out some flowers and some decorative block at the entrance of our driveway. We first went up to get flowers. Then Bob started to put them where I wanted them (I was inside with the girls because it was pretty windy and cold). Then I went to look at them... and decided it needed something... anything. So back up to Lowe's, and we got the decorative block. You can see the result to the left Happy Mother's Day to me!

Have a great night!

Great Weekend!

2009-05-03T20:14:00.007-04:00

What a great weekend, the weather was just fantastic! Friday night we played in the park, then Saturday we had T-ball practice, a last minute BBQ with friends and today we headed to a Buffalo Bisons game.

Let's start with T-ball. We got to practice a little early and the new coach (Keton's dad) was there, so Alexis and Keton played catch. Then 2 more kids came, so the kids were playing catch 4 ways because we were the only ones with a ball! Next time, we'll bring more. Alexis got very bored with playing catch. Trying to keep her interest is tough (also didn't help that practice was right around her usual nap time). We found out, the kids don't actually hit off the T right away. The coach pitches 5 times to them. If the kid doesn't hit the ball, then they bring out the T. This sounds vaguely familiar, but I have no idea why (I'm wondering if Nan's son, Matthew, might have played this way?). Anyway, the coach took 2 kids off to the side to get them swinging at pitches. The rest of the team worked with the other 2 coaches. Alexis was the first to bat off the T. She did pretty well. The hardest part is that the bat (even though it's the lightest one we've found) is still a little heavy, we're trying to get her to choke up on it. The next hard part is getting her to realize that when she's playing with her team, she doesn't need to field her own ball! She likes that part. She got to play a variety of positions. We had a successful practice in that, she didn't lay on the ground, pick up grass, only picked up 2 dandelions (until I told her that was like grass and she couldn't pick those up either).

Then she was playing as the pitcher. The coach is talking to her, so she's slightly turned, just as the batter hits it... WHAM.. right into her shin! She sorta said ouch, then the coach goes, good stop, throw it to first, so she eventually did. I thought for sure we were going to have a meltdown, but she didn't. Bob and I told her how proud of her we were.

Then she got a chance to go out and practice hitting live pitches. I followed her out there (I am one of those helicopter parents I didn't want to be!) and I'm so happy I did. The coach was trying to show Nathan how to stand where homepate was (Nathan's response was, but home plate is all the way over there"). Coach Dave has spray-painted spots for the kids to put their feet. Nathan had a VERY difficult time figuring that out. He finally did and the coach got him all set with his batting stance... then Coach Dave went to pitch. Of course as that happened, Nathan totally lost the stance, as well as lost where to put his feet. Coach Dave tried to explain it to him.. but Nathan wasn't getting it, so I finally jumped in and said "Do you mind if I help him?" I had so much fun. I helped Nathan get his stance back together, and he did hit or tick 2 of the 9 balls thrown to him. Then it was Alexis' turn. She had a tough time and gets easily discouraged when she doesn't make contact. She had some good swings though and we made sure to tell her that. All the helmets are so big, she can barely see out of them. We practiced with her more last night and she was able to hit about 9 out of probably 30 pitches I threw. We are very proud of her. Being part of Tball is so new for her, and I think it's challenging her more than being in class.

Mia loves going to t-ball practices. She can already throw a ball pretty good and is always looking to play with the bat and T.

Onto today's Buffalo Bison's baseball. We went with friends and had a blast. It was a family fun day, so at the end of the game, the kids can run the bases..... just like the real Buffalo Bisons! Alexis and Anthony were so excited! As you pass 2nd, you give a high-5 to Chip, and as you pass 3rd base, you high-5 Buster Bison, then onto home! Mia and Bella are a little too young. I added in some pictures. Just check out the one of Alexis running to home... poor thing looks exhausted!

Mia & the Big Girl Bed

2009-04-24T19:04:00.006-04:00

Anytime the girls spend the night at my parents house, Mia sleeps in a twin size bed. And each time she does, she sleeps in to at least 7 am. At our house, everyday she is up between 5 and 5:30 am. Bob and I are quite exhausted lately. After Mia sleeping in until 7:30 this past weekend, we decided, maybe we should buy a twin size bed and give it a shot at our house. Of course, we still have the crib, but have replaced it with a twin size bed.

So Tuesday, I got out of work a little early because it was Teacher Recruitment Days and Bob and I went looking at beds at a local furniture store. Trying to support local business, we typically try them first. They had a sale on mattresses (I think they always do). Got home and Bob put the bed together Wednesday morning.

I made sure to tell Alexis that Mia got a new bed, making sure that she understood that she did not get anything new. Often times, she thinks if one gets something new, so should the other! (can't say as though I blame her) :) We got home from work/school and after dinner took Mia upstairs to see her new big girl bed. SHE WAS SOOOOO EXCITED!!!! I thought she would cry that her crib wasn't in there anymore, but she instantly ran over to the bed.. tried to climb up in it. Once bob put her on the bed, she crawled form one end to the other end, pretending to lay down and just giggling with delight!

I think she's a little young for a twin size bed, but we really didn't want to go with a toddler bed, and really wondered if the crib was part of her sleeping problem. Now Bob is having the sleeping problem because he's afraid she's going to fall out and we won't hear her. I'm not sleeping well because I'm on teh search for some nice bedding for her. Right now, we only have a sheet on the bed, and she's using her crib blankets to cover up. I'm geting closer to my search for the perfect blankets. I don't want hanna montana or princesses... just something that will last her for a little while

Day 1, Mia laid down and cried for a few minutes. Eventually I ended up laying with her and patting her back until she was sleeping. I did find out, that Alexis gets out of bed EVERY night to check on Mia. Bob always thought he was going crazy because he thought he heard little feet running upstairs, but we never caught Alexis. Well, Wednesday night, i caught her, and she confessed that she has been doing this for a long time. She hears Mia crying and just goes to check on her. Mia has always been a crier, usually 5 minutes and she's sleeping. She just doesn't like to go to bed because she's afraid she's going to miss something. From what I could tell, she slept good, but was still up at 5:15 am. ugh..

Day 2, Mia didn't cry as much, and didn't need me to stay in her room while she fell asleep. She slept until 6 am. (Hmm... maybe this will work). It's still an experiment and she appears to be adjusting well.

We knew we'd eventually have to buy her a new bed. If it doesn't work, we'll go back to the crib. At least for now it will help us out when we are in Disney World. Disney offers a pack and play for your room, unfortunately, Mia doesn't like them and sleeps even worse in them. So her and Alexis should be able to share a bed (with pillows on both sides of her).

Know anyone who wants to buys a crib, dress & changing table? We may have one for sale very soon :)

Alexis is a Dodger

2009-04-21T20:01:00.008-04:00

Alexis' first T-Ball practice was tonight. I had TRD most of the day, but was able to leave at 3:30 to make it to T-ball practice on time. I am a little disappointed as I'm not coaching, but there will be other years. And honestly, after seeing the coach tonight, I wouldn't have thought of half the things he did with them. Last night, we got out clothes for t-ball and made sure the pink baseball glove was in the car. I got home, we ate dinner and put her hair in a ponytail with a hat and we were off. Bob and Mia came too, but they were sorta in and out of the car. Kind of a rainy dreary night. The pictures aren't that great, as I accidentially left my camera at work, so I had to use the camera on my phone.

Its nice to have kids in the same place you grew up. I guess my uncle Don (who coached baseball for years) knows Alexis' coach. Then, we go up to the coach and give him her name, I look up... and there is a girl I played softball with... actually.. I was her catcher. She pitched for the Griffins, and I was her loyal catcher :) Her daughter is playing as well. Our girls are the only 2 on the team. Alexis knows one other boy on the team, Ashton, who is in her class.

They first started out by giving us pants, shirts, hat & socks, and of course the practice schedule. The coach brings the kids together and begins by saying their names. Then he asked them if the kids knew where 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base and home was. Then he had them play a game call "Coach says" (imagine Simon says) telling them to run to different bases. Alexis couldn't seem to quite get it right.. actually, she was too busy following some of the other kids. When they didn't listen, then they were out. After the first time, she goes.. "Mom.. I'm out".

The next activity was grounding balls then throwing them back to the coach. Alexis was first in line, and I thought (Oh boy... let's see if she listens). She was a little champ! She threw with the wrong foot forward a few times.. but is just so darn cute and she was having so much fun. They went round and round with that for a while.

Then it was time to hit. Everyone got a turn. Of course, putting on this HUGE oversized helmet. The coach scattered them around the field, and they when a kid hit the ball.. they would ALL run to get it. Alexis would fall down, she usually didn't get it, but she was right there fighting the other kids for the ball.

She had a blast tonight! I only hope, she continues to enjoy it and have a good time. If it's anything like tonight, I think she'll have a great time all season. Bob and I are left wondering.. how could she be old enough to be playing sports!?!

18 Month Check up & New year's resolutions?

2009-03-24T20:31:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was Mia's 18 month check up. She's doing well, and is right where she should be in most aspects. Developmentally, she knows a few more words than most 18 month olds.. I can't imagine where she might get that from. Poor Bob, he figures he's doomed in a house full of women who like to talk! (HA). Mia is still a little peanut, she falls in the 10th percentile for both her height (30 inches) and her weight (21.5 lbs). She was an excellent little girl for the doctor.

She's been battling a runny nose the last couple weeks, but I figured if I called the doctors it would be the usual "let it run it's course, its viral". Well, as soon as Doc came in, she goes, "oh no, not her nose, I better check those ears". UGH (was the first thing that went through my head). Sure enough, poor Mia had an ear infection. The doctor still doesn't want to send her to a specialist. Wants to wait and see if the spring weather helps clear this up because she's gone 2 months without one. On Thursday, we got a call that Mia had a 102 fever. My mom went and got her for me and then my dad had off on Friday, so he watched her for me. (Thank goodness, as I'm prepping for the 1st Annual Student Employment Week at work.) Her fever was gone on Friday and she was in good spirits most of the day. Then on Saturday we noticed her playing with her ears a lot...I guess we should trust our instincts when it comes to these ear infections. The doctor has suggested that anytime Mia now gets a runny nose, we may want to call and have her ears checked. So, I guess that's what we'll do.

It's been a long time since I've done an update on Bob. We got some bad news that he will have to have surgery again. Basically, most people have enough "foot fat" that they cannot feel the screw in the heel bone. Bob unfortunately doesn't have enough... or any and can feel it all the time. He's in constant pain and says he's learning to live with it. The doctor put in the request from the worker's comp board about 2 weeks ago for approval to have the surgery to remove the screw. The recovery time on this surgery is 6-8 weeks. The doctor said he should be in a sneaker a week after surgery. At this point, we are just hoping for the surgery to take place before April 25th because that would be 8 weeks before our Disney trip in June.

Now onto the "New Year's Resolutions" section. I don't really believe in New Year's Resolutions. I don't know I have actually ever made one, and I didn't make one this year either. After getting pneneumonia in December and being down and out for so long, I decided I had to take better care of myself. I'm not totally unhealthy, but I figured it was time for at least a little change. That change came with the Wii Fit. It allowed me to do different exercises and start to get into a routine. Then I started doing some of the Biggest Loser workouts and realized that the Wii Fit definitely is not working me hard enough. It's fun, but isn't really giving me the extra push I need. Those videos kick my butt some days. But I have to say, I'm so happy becuase I have begun exercising and actually sticking with it. Its so much more than just losing weight, but about trying to feel and get healthier. I actually have taken a little bit to running again. I remember in high school, Bob meeting me at 5:30 am to go for our morning run. Once I got to college, it just wasn't the same and I didn't have the desire to run. I often tried running and kept with it for a couple months, but had a hard time keeping up because I just didn't like running. I'm actually beginning to enjoy it. There is something about being able to put my iPod on and just run and not have a care in the world. I can tune things out and just focus on the music. Bob thinks my iPod collection is strange.. maybe it is, but it keeps me moving and some nights I don't want to stop. Maybe sometime I'll share my playlist.

Overall, since January I've taken 1-2 days off per week (sometimes more depending what's going on), and I have lost about 15 lbs and dropped a couple of clothes sizes. :) It's pretty tough for me to put this out there, but I feel that it is necessary to help me keep on moving and know that I'm progressing well.

So, if its a while since I've blogged, chances are.. I've either been rockin' out running on the treadmill or I'm letting a Biggest Loser DVD kick my butt... Oh.. or I could be just having fun with the kids :) I really will try to be better.

T-Ball & Mommy Mia

2009-02-23T19:30:00.010-05:00

Don't fall off your chair... yes I know this is my 2nd blog in less than a day! haha. But I had to share! I had been looking for T-Ball and soccer sign ups, and for fun I went to the website for Springville Youth Inc. who runs the recreational programs for both Springville and West Valley. I emailed to find out if Alexis could play and found out she just had to turn 5 before Nov 1st.

I had asked Alexis if she wanted to play T-Ball, her first response was "Mommy, what's t-ball?" So I explained to her that it is like baseball, but she would hit the ball off of a tee.. rather than someone throwing to her. She then says "like I was doing with daddy in a picture?" (YEAH! she remembered, the pic to the left is when she was about 2 yrs old) (Compliments of Grandma & Grandpa Rogers) . I said "yes" and she goes, "Yes I want to play". You can imagine how excited Bob and I were. I think I might even try to volunteer coach (depends as to whether or not work is going to get in the way.. or should I say the commute will get in the way). I have to find out more about it though. Bob has no interest in coaching at this age, he had a rough time helping coach with Tom back in Cortland. Bob's much better when the teams can be more competitive.

Tonight, she asked if we could play! We were again ecstatic! Of course we don't want to discourage this type of play, so Bob went out into the snow and found her baseball gloves (she has 1 pink and 1 purple) and a soft ball (not like softball) that we could play catch with. And we played catch for about 30 minutes. It was GREAT! I'm very excited that's she's taking an interest in something other than princesses. She's still learning to put her left hand in the glove, but by the time t-ball starts (in May), hopefully she'll have that down. She throws pretty good, sometimes with the wrong foot, but she's still going. She learned what a grounder is tonight and she likes those. A few times she closed her eyes and the ball hit her, but she said, "I won't give up just like the princesses" (In a princess movie the entire theme is to keep trying and don't give up). And then I had her stand there while I tossed the ball and had it hit her in the leg :) (I'm such a good mom! ok some of you might debate that, I'm not sure how many of you would intentionally throw a ball at your kid) and asked her if it hurt, "No mommy it didn't hurt". Well, mommy is a little nicer, but she can't be afraid of the ball hitting her.. so as time goes on, she'll find out it does hurt a little more, but for now, she's doing just fine.

Mia was also enjoying playing catch, but she prefers to let the ball hit her off the belly and then pick it up and walk it back over to you.... then do it all over again! Mia also likes to kick the soccer ball and by the time I got the camera moving again, she was sick of doing that. Our camera is on the fritz and we're in the market for a new one, but I'm making this one last as long as I can. I ended up actually catching a video clip of her playing with her doll (that talks and moves its arms). It figures the one time I try to get her on camera, she doesn't get all frustrated and throw the doll on the floor. I can't seem to get teh video posted through blogger or youtube... so I'll try to upload it another time. In the mean time.. I'll just add a picture of Mia :)

Pre-K Pal

2009-02-22T19:45:00.005-05:00

Alexis has been the pre-k pal the last 2 weeks and she said that I should tell everyone :) She had to complete sheets that were then hung on the bulletin board for all to see. Bob and I had her choose everything on her own and then we helped her organize her pictures and other personal information.

She had to write her phone number, address (including town, state, zip). She also had to say her age and how tall she was (38 inches). I'm proud to say she did very well on all (and we have a tough address.. it's 5 numbers long!). Her printing has come a long way and she's doing great. Below are her answers to a couple questions she had to answer.

Favorite foods: Peanut Butter, Fluff, Ice cream, pizza (all the good stuff!)

Favorite things: princesses, mickey mouse, baking (with moma of course), the color pink, playing soccer and hockey.

She had to list her friends and she listed Anthony & Isabella (Lee & Mary Frances kids), Ryan (Beth & Ron's son), and Madison & Sidney (my sister's kids). And then we had to find pictures of all her friends.

We had a great time putting this together. There was so much more information, but I can't even remember what was on those sheets now! (I'm terrible).

On another good note... Bob is back to full duty as to tomorrow. The ironic part is that a few weeks ago he volunteered to help the division redo soem forms from word perfect into MS Word. He was selected adn they are to beign that with in the next couple of weeks! So he may not be out in the field all that much the next couple of weeks. But at least he has the option!

Long time....

2009-02-02T19:44:00.011-05:00

Ok, so I just realized that I haven't blogged since December 14. I knew I had been slacking (big-time), but life has been busy. We had a great Christmas and Christmas celebrations with friends and family. It was a very eventful time, as our roof over our living room began leaking on Christmas eve. I ended up on the roof trying to get some snow and ice off of the roof before heading to Bob's family celebration. Then we got home that night, to find even more drips... so I was back out on the roof and called my favorite Uncle (Chelsea & Brittney's dad) and he came to help me hammer the ice that was about 3-4 inches thick.

Christmas day was wonderful (can't believe it's already been more than a month ago). Alexis and Mia made out pretty well from Santa (as well as aunts, uncles and grandparents!). Alexis did get her horse and carriage for Cinderella and that was the only thing she really wanted (and Santa made her open it last, he hid it all the way under the tree! She said "Santa played a joke on me) The picture on the right is of Alexis opening that. We are into the Polly Pocket stage, and she loves playing with those (she got a cruise ship and a jumbo jet). Mia loves to play with all of Alexis' toys, but does occassionally play with some of the things Santa got her. She loves her books and we constantly read Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear or Eric Carle's "From Head to Toe" and loves the part when the seal claps or the gorilla thumps on his chest. She also likes to play with her Mickey mouse clubhouse she got from Santa. Mia loves the tricycle that mommy & daddy got her. She probably would have climbed on it all day if we had been home.

A few days later, we bought some stuff to try to fix the roof... it worked for about a month... then about a week ago, started leaking again. Unfortunately, we'll be dealing with this until the weather breaks. Then we'll have to repitch that part of the roof (it was an addition, and they put a REALLY flat roof on it and now we're paying for it). My only hope is that we don't lose the ceiling before we can actually take it down.

Bob is doing great (aside from the fact that an office desk job is killing him)! The doctor is very happy with his progress. The crutches have been gone for couple weeks, but still has the walking cast. Next Monday, Feb 9, he gets to take the walking cast off and put on a light hiking boot. He's very excited about that. Just in time for us to go to a Sabres game on Feb 11th, then down to visit our college friends Beth & Ron the 13th-16th.

As for me.. I've been trying to be healthier. Part of it was the motivation of the Wii Fit... then I realize it really wasn't getting my heart-rate up like it should. But I still like it and have lots of fun with it. It definitely keeps me on my toes and yells at me if I miss a day, so I make sure to log my other activities (like jogging or aerobics). As long as I log those activities, it doesn't yell at me. I've also been grooving to my Ipod while snowblowing the driveway. It's SO MUCH EASIER when you have some tunes to listen to. In case your wondering, my playlist has a little Aerosmith, Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, New Kids on the Block (old school).. and some nice fun in the summer music. And yes, you can see me dancing up the hill. :)

I thought I would add a couple more pictures of the girls. I took Alexis X-Country skiing... it was a pretty long 50 feet! She kept falling, and it was my first time as well, but she stayed in good spirits (and surprisingly so did mommy) and didn't want to give up. That's the picture at the top (for some reason I couldn't move the picture). And Mia is just getting so big. She has an electric smile, that just makes me love her even more.

I'm going to do my best to keep up with the blog a little more. Between facebook and the blog..it's tough keeping up with everything! Happy Groundhogs day... another 6 weeks of winter.. another 6 weeks of snowblowing the driveway!!!!!!

Feeling better & visit from Santa

2008-12-14T19:46:00.005-05:00

I'm happy to report that I'm feeling better. I can say I never want pneumonia EVER again. It started a couple weeks ago (probably because of I was over doing it at home). I decided to add a picture of our driveway. I haven't snowblowed it out since I got sick, and tomorrow is supposed to be in the 50's, so I'm off the hook for a while. A couple weeks ago, I went to work feeling pretty ill, we just lost our secretary and I knew taking time off would be tough. So instead, I ended up with a week and a few days off to get healthy. I've been obeying doctors orders and trying to take it easy. We ended up staying at my mom's house, per doctor's orders. My mom was with me at the ER, and I heard them talking outside my curtain, the doctor told her that "Her husband can wait on her hand and foot, she needs lots of rest." My mom says, "Umm, that's going to be kinda hard, her husband just had foot surgery and is on crutches." Doctor says, "then she's staying here" and thankfully my mom says "How about she stays at my house?" the doctor thought that was ok, as long as I was getting rest. He then made the mistake and said to my mother, "Mom, you have to take charge in this situation." Trust me, my mom has NO ISSUES taking charge of a situation. But seriously, they were wonderful. My dad took the kids to daycare every morning and mom picked them up each night, made dinner and helped Bob get the kids ready for bed. This is one time for sure, I'm happy we were here. But I know my friends in Cortland would have helped us out as well.

Now, onto the fun stuff! Santa and Mrs. Claus visited my parents house this weekend. Last year, you may recall, Alexis got stage fright and it was a scene straight out of the Christmas Story movie. Last year, she told Santa, she wanted a race car. This year, she was watching my cousin Chelsea, and she whispered to me "I'm going to tell Santa I want a coach for my Barbies." All she wants is a horse drawn carriage (like Cinderella).

So it was her turn, and she gets up there and immediately tells Santa that she wants a carriage for her Barbies. Then he asks her what else she would like... then stage freight set in again... and she blurted out "the baby that pees" (which is what my neice had already told Santa). Alexis did pretty good until we went up to Santa after everyone had a turn. I wanted Santa to have a little talk with Alexis about her behavior at school (she keeps getting in trouble for saying Sponge Bob poopy pants... try having a serious conversation over her saying that). So Santa tells her that she has to be a good girl at school and home, and then Alexis says "And Santa, I will be mad at you if you don't bring me what's on my list." You can imagine the steam coming out of my ears when I heard her say that. So I politely said, "Alexis, Santa doesn't have to bring you anything, so you should be thankful for anything he or anyone else gets you." She knew she had said something wrong and put her head down.

Mia was a big girl! She didn't cry when she sat on Santa's lap, but didn't really say much either. She does lots of babbling these days, and we have no idea what she says sometimes, but then she has a great big belly laugh! I think all Mia wants for Christmas are her sister's toys. She loves to bother Alexis and play with Alexis' toys. Of course, Alexis gets very frustrated with Mia, and I tell her that's just what little sisters do. :) Mia is getting into everything, the other day we thought she ate a polly pocket shoe. Thankfully, we found it under the couch. I could just imagine telling her teachers to keep an eye out for a shoe!

I'm not quite sure holiday cards are getting sent out this year. They haven't even been ordered yet! I'm going to see how it goes, but if any of you do not get cards, please don't be offended. As you know, I've had a rough few weeks!

Life....

2008-12-01T19:56:00.004-05:00

Sometimes, life has a way of throwing curve balls at you, just to see how your going to react. I must be in that phase. I think life is trying to tell me I'm not super woman.. even if I want to be or am trying to be.

This weekend I managed to snow blow the driveway 3 times. The second time was much better than the first. Then, since Bob had suggested that we get an artificial tree, I decided to cave in and get one. It's funny, I grew up with a fake tree, and was upset when Bob initially wanted to get a real tree. But then he used the argument, "what kind of Forest Ranger would I be, if I had a fake tree?"... So I said ok, then 7 years later, I've gotten used to the real tree and was the one that said I'd go chop one down and put it up. Then I guess realism got to me, and I decided an artificial one would be just fine. We went to Wal-Mart to look at trees, and Bob was feeling up to it, so all 4 of us went. On the way home, apparently we were getting a lake snow warning that we missed. As I pulled up into the driveway, I couldn't make it up the hill... so I backed down and tried it again... nothing. So.. there I was... completely stuck in my driveway.. I couldn't even get out of the driver's side door b/c the snow and bushes were packed in so good. Poor Bob... had to crutch to the top of the hill, Alexis walked and I carried Mia. We got inside and Bob rested (of course after falling from a slippery crutch and landing on his left foot (the one he's not supposed to be putting any weight on). I got him taken care of, then had to make the dreaded phone call to my dad to pull me out of my driveway.

Unfortunately for my dad, he was already on his way to pull my uncle Jim out of a ditch, so he said he'd be over after he helped Uncle Jim. While I was waiting for my dad, Alexis and I decide to venture out to the car to get the Christmas tree so we can set it up. As we are setting it up, all of the emotions that had been building up over the last 3 days came pouring out... and all I could see was a terrible looking tree (I called it a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree). Poor Bob, he didn't know what to say or do, but told me it looked nice and would look even nicer once we got all of the decorations on it.

Eventually, Dad came over and pulled me out, but what I didn't know was that... when someone is pulling you out of a ditch, you should turn your radio down, and open up all your windows, so you know when to stop. Oops... I almost hit my dad's demo Silverado because I didn't hear him beeping the horn and yelling for me to stop. You can imagine, I got yelled at, but at least I didn't hit him or the truck. Then my dad snow blowed the driveway for me. I can count on my dad for anything, I hate to ask him because I know the hours he's working and when he gets home from work he has to go take care of their apartments and his own house.

Then Sunday came and exhaustion set in. I locked us all in the living room (so Mia couldn't climb up the stairs), and Bob watched the girls and let me take a little nap on the couch. It was just what I needed. The rest of Sunday was good and went to my parents for dinner. Unfortunately, Bob woke up in the middle of the night with flu like symptoms and was crutching his way to the bathroom. He still feels horrible. I tried to get him to cancel his follow up appointment today, but he insisted that we go. Sometimes, I just have to stand up and say "no, we're not going". He got called into the office, got in on the exam table and just about passed out. The nurses were right there and laid the exam table down... getting him cold towels because he was burning up. He was just totally out of it and kept asking me what was happening. One of the scariest times in my life was right there. After about 40 minutes, we got him up and into a wheelchair to head home. He's been on the couch ever since. His primary doctor wants to see him tomorrow for possible pneumonia (from the anaesthesia they say?).

Mia was sent home from school today with a fever. They tried calling me while I was at the doctor's appointment with Bob. Turns out, she has an ear infection and is now on antibiotics after taking her to the doctor's this evening.

All of this sounds like a lot.. it is. But somehow I'm still smiling or at least trying to. I get one more day off, and I think I'll be going back on Wednesday. I have to see how the family is doing before I can figure that out. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers... it's not often that I ask for that, but I'm really feeling run down. My mom has offered to take Bob to some of his upcoming appointments or help out wherever she can.

On a lighter note, Bob had said to me that he owes me big time for this past week. I told him no it was part of the "I do's", then when he said it again.. I told him he owed me a trip to Disney World. haha.. after today, he said I've definitely earned that, so possibly in June 2009, we're headed to Disney. We'll see, right now, I just want my family healthy again.

Bob's surgery

2008-11-25T18:56:00.009-05:00

This week started off not too good.

We went outside Sunday night to go sledding. We had gotten this new inner tube that we figured we'd try out before Bob's surgery. Well... as a result, I ended up in the ER because Alexis & I hit a tree while tubing down our front hill. It sounds much worse than it was. According to Bob, we sling-shotted around the tree and all I heard from Bob was "Oh No!" As I laid there, I knew I hurt my leg, but my initial worry was about Alexis. She says she was fine and was just shaken up. I finally got up and could walk ok, but it was sorta hard breathing and my left side ribs hurt a little. Bob initially checked me out, but didn't like the fact that my ribs were hurting and was wondering if I did any internal damage (like to my spleen or kidney). I have a few bruised ribs...but the doctor ordered up x-rays & ct scan because they too were worried about my internal organs...but everything came back fine...I'm just sore. VERY lucky because somehow I was able to turn the tube so that Alexis didn't take the hit, but not so lucky because I couldn't turn or flip the tube.

Then this morning was Bob's surgery. My parents took the kids because had to be in West Seneca by 6 am. So, we got there bright and early and they took bob pretty quickly. I was called in about 7:15ish, and stayed with him until 7:28. Bob almost passed out because of the IV, but was fine after (he did that for his knee surgery too, so I was expecting that). The doctor came out at 9:20 or so and said Bob did well, and they only had to do "Step 1" of the procedure. He was only going to go to Steps 2 & 3 if he needed it. To give you an idea, Step 1 was cutting off his heel bone, and rotating it about 4 degrees, then placing a screw in his foot. Steps 2 and 3 would have been tightening a tendon and sawing off some more of the bone. The picture to the right is the X-ray that the Doc gave me to show how big the screw is. Bob is to stay in his recliner for 12 hours a day, only can get up if he has to use the bathroom or for meals. He has to keep his ankle and knee iced for those 12 hours. He is not allowed to put any weight on his foot at all and is on crutches.

Bob's doing well, seems to be feeling pretty good (probably a result of the pain pills they have him on). I'm happy to note that I don't go back to work until Tuesday. If I need more time, I will take it. The girls are doing well. Alexis had a lot of questions, and seems to understand what Bob was telling her. Smokey on the other hand is giving me a run for my money. He hates me.... every time I let him outside today... he got wrapped around something, either the swing set (see left) or the clothesline. So I've been keeping my boots and winter coat near the door where we let him outside.

I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be challenging... especially when I go back to work. I think more challenging in regards to making dinner and making sure Bob obeys doctors orders. I thinking lots of slow cooker recipes are in order for next week. We also weren't really planning ahead and didn't get anyone to plow our driveway... so tonight when we get our lake effect snow, I'll be out tomorrow trying to figure out how to run the snow blower. for those of you who haven't seen our driveway... I'll post a picture when I go out to do it. I'm pretty mechanically inclined... heck, I've run chainsaws, lawnmowers, drills, weed wackers, so why not add a walk behind snow blower to the list!

Happy Thanksgiving! We have lots of things to be thankful for this year and I know I'll be counting my blessings.

Trick or Treating.. and school pictures

2008-11-04T20:19:00.010-05:00

I promised some other pictures of trick or treating. We had some additional company including Harley (see left), a puggle dressed as a skeleton. To the right is Sidney (a bunny), Brittney (a baby), Alexis (princess), Madison (a zoo keeper), Chelsea (a mish mash costume that many thought was Elton John, she didn't know who he was), and finally Mia (our little love bug). Mia made it to a few houses with us before we decided she might like to go back with Nana and Papa and help them hand out candy. While we were walking around, she walked with us, but mainly rode in her wagon. She liked playing with the Tinkerbell pail we got her. At one point, she was done walking and just sat down in the middle of the sidewalk. We had a fun evening, obtaining way too much candy and Alexis told me it was too heavy. Mia got just a few little things that she could eat.

I dropped them off yesterday and had a great surprise... SCHOOL PICTURES were in :) I think both girls pictures came out very well. I was very smart and instead of buying a huge school package, I spent $20 to get the photo on CD and the copyright release, and got a ton of pictures off of snapfish for only $39.

I have a hysterical Alexis story to tell. Driving home one night, I ask, "How was your day?" She replies, "Good mommy, I played with Brian and Brody", so I ask, "Is Brody a new friend?" She says, "Yes mommy, he's my new friend". I say, "Is he a nice boy?" She says "Yes he's a nice boy" Alexis gives a GREAT BIG sigh and mumbles, "I don't know" and I say, "What don't you know?" Alexis replies, "Who I'm going to marry!" at this point, I start laughing, but not too hard so she knows I'm taking her seriously and say "Why don't you know who your going to marry?" And Alexis says, "Mommy.. there are just so many boys!" I cannot tell you how hard it was not to pull the car over and just laugh. I said, "Alexis, you'll meet a lot more boys before you have to decide who to marry, you have plenty of time."

Mia is just a cutie pie and her little bare feet are always hanging out, so this picture is so accurate. I think she gets it from Grandma Rogers, who also prefers to go shoeless. Mia will kick off her shoes on every car ride, every meal, and pretty much any chance she can get. Then she looks at me or Bob and said "goo grl" I have to get it on video one of these days. Her vocabulary is coming along quite well. I've been trying to sign with her like we did with Alexis, but its not working out too well. They do not sign at school, so its only something I try to do at home. Alexis never caught onto sign either. Johanna (from her old school) said its because she was already pretty verbal. So we've been working on lots of things with Mia, and she's slowly working on little words. She is off to full runs and constantly chases Smokey and Alexis around.

The relationship between Alexis and Mia is very special. Alexis has become a HUGE help around the house, especially when Bob is working late. Most nights, she sets the table and helps take drinks to the table for dinner. Last night, she made sure Mia got taken care of first, as I was finishing up cooking dinner and Bob was working late. Tonight I sat Mia down to drop everything I was carrying, and Alexis was right there helping Mia take her coat off. She has been sharing her toys better and you can tell Mia just loves her big sister. And Alexis wants to be a good big sister. I just can't believe how grown up they both seem at times and can't wait to watch this sisterhood grow.. and hopefully end up actually getting along as time goes on. (I know.. some of you are laughing at me, thinking... keep dreaming!)

Trick or Treat!

2008-10-30T21:19:00.009-04:00

Happy Halloween! Alexis had her Halloween party today, and while Mia didn't formally have a party, they did move her up to the toddler room for a short time to see the other kids costumes. Of course, when there is a school party, parents are asked to bring something.... anything. So why didn't I decide to bring juice or napkins? I have no idea, I guess I wanted the opportunity to be creative. So, the girls helped me make monster face cupcakes. Alexis decorated all of them. Mia helped eat the batter :)

We carved our pumpkins over the weekend. Alexis drew faces on both of the pumpkins, then we all cleaned them out, letting Mia play with the pumpkin guts. Bob and I carved them, even though Alexis thought she should have a knife to help out .

The day of the party came (Thursday instead of Friday), so they had to wear their costumes to school. Bob had to be in Cortland for a couple hours today to try on a new gas mask, so he couldn't help get them ready. Alexis of course is a princess (just a general princess she will tell you). Mia didn't really have much of a say, so she was going to be a princess at school, and then a little love bug Halloween night (because it is nice and warm). Well, the morning started out ok, but then when I went to get Mia a tissue, Smokey decided to eat cupcakes off of the oven that I had made for a baby shower. GREAT!!!!!! He got into major trouble for that.

Then I get Mia dressed in her Princess costume, go to take a picture, and she stood up and somehow ripped the costume. I didn't notice it at first, got the girls downstairs, then had to take Mia back upstairs to change her outfit. I could just imagine another baby ripping the costume even more or eating a string.. then I'd really feel bad. She seemed to be happy in the bug costume, a hand me down from big cousin Madison.

We are headed out to Aunt Amy's house to go trick or treating with Madison along with Chelsea, Brittney and my uncle. It should be lots of fun in a nice quiet safe neighborhood. Last year, there were not a lot of cars and at one point the fire department came through handing out candy. Hopefully tomorrow night won't be too cold.

Happy Halloween! I'll have more pictures tomorrow night!

Mia's walking and Mommy got a new ride

2008-10-26T20:02:00.006-04:00

I have been pretty busy lately, as you could probably tell based on my lack of writing lately. I feel horrible that I have not written to say that Mia hit a new milestone back on Oct 17. It started out as an awful day as Alexis was quite sick. She had a pretty high fever (102.5) and medicine was bringing it down, but she still felt very sick. She laid on the couch all day and watched TV or was sleeping. For once I'm happy Alexis wasn't feeling well, if it weren't for that, I would not have been able to watch Mia take her first steps alone.

Mia has been cruising around the furniture or walking with her hippo a lot. But that Friday the 17th she took the next big step, and let go of the coffee table to walk to me. She had been doing awesome moving along the couch and other furniture, but she finally got brave enough to let go. As you can imagine, she is now a little walking machine! :) She is all over the house, and you never know when or where she's going to be. The other day, I found her putting Smokey's dog food into his water dish. Well.. at least she didn't eat any (that time). She is also quite good at crawling up and down the stairs in living room. She has to becareful of Smokey because he is so big he just wags his tail and she'll fall over. Sometimes, she's becoming even more balanced and when he runs into her, she can maintain her footing. I got her on film walking right after she took her steps alone, but please forgive my shaky hands, Smokey was right on the other side of me and I was having a hard time keeping still. Bob said it looks like a version of the Blair Witch project.

In other exciting news, I got rid of the mini-van and am now driving a slick new Chevy Impala. :) Its a dark navy blue color. GM came out with an awesome deal, they were buying out leases and I was eligible, so I traded in the minivan on Thursday. It's been a long time since I've been driving a car. I really like it. I guess the only thing I don't like is that I might break my back getting the girls in and out of their car seats :) I got very used to the uplander and tracker and not having to bend over to get kids in and out of car seats.

I also made a special purchase yesterday.... cross county skis! I'm very excited, we went to a ski swap at the local fairgrounds and I got a $300 pair of skis for only $99, and a pretty nice pair of boots for free (yes, I said free). My mom and dad also got skis (Bob already has some thanks to NYS), and since we all bought ours from the same guy he cut us a deal. I can't wait to be able to try them out. My dad has made trails behind their house, and Bob is supposed to be working on some behind ours. We also have lots of local places to go. We have to get Alexis some skis, she really liked some pink downhill skis, but we told her they were not the right kind. Mia will have the luxury of being pulled in a sled behind me. Bob won't be able to go this year, but hopefully I'll be able to practice enough this winter so next winter I'll be able to keep up with him.

Have a good week.. I'll be writing again soon about Halloween!

Fall Clean up

2008-10-14T19:56:00.012-04:00

It was a beautiful weekend to be outside doing yard work. Bob worked early shifts both Saturday and Sunday and was done by 1:30 in the afternoon. He had a youth hunting event early, so he had to work the early shift. Then on Monday, we both had the day off. I can't remember a time when we both had Columbus day off... ever. I will admit, I like having these holidays off, gives me a much needed break and an extra day to spend with my family.

No fall can be complete without raking up some leaves for the girls to jump in! We also went and picked out some pumpkins to carve for Halloween. At the pumpkin place, they were offering hay rides for $1. So I convinced Bob to go... and boy are we happy we did. Little did we know, there would be so much excitement! We were some of the last people on the ride, so we were seated on the end, by the opening that had just a chain to keep people "in" the ride. The driver took a turn and hit a bump at the same time, and a woman fell off the hay bail she was sitting on and somehow fell under the chain... Bob (holding Mia between his legs mind you!) grabbed onto the woman, as everyone was yelling to the drive to stop. Bob had one arm and leg, and the worker had the woman's other arm and leg... and I was holding onto Mia! The woman was probably quite sore the next day, and she and her family thanked Bob for helping her. She was very lucky!

As for Columbus Day, we spend the day with a major project! We cut down a HUGE (and when I say HUGE... think Billy Fuccillo HUGE!) tree. Bob cut it down, and then hacked all the limbs off it. In the picture to the left, it appears to be falling, that was just the natural shape of the tree. Then Alexis, Bob and I began loading up the trailers that go to our truck and lawn mower, and moved everything out back. He took the huge stem of the tree and cut them into 6 ft long pieces. Then we rolled (YES ROLLED) them through the back lawn to the campfire pit. I'll have another post soon of Camp Rogers. Alexis & Mia were EXCELLENT girls all day and helping mom and dad (and giving us much needed breaks), that we took them out for dinner, then to their favorite playground at the Springville Elementary School.

Alexis had been telling us she wanted to be a ballerina. So to encourage her, I began looking into dance classes. The price was reasonable (less than I thought) and found out the times for classes would be Monday from 5:45-6:45. It would make Mondays tough, racing from Buffalo to pick up the girls from daycare, then immediately to dance class. But I figured, if Alexis liked it, it would be worth it. So, I break the big news to Alexis that mommy and daddy found out about some dance classes and if she would like to take the classes, she can. I explained what dance classes were and that it would be after school. She got really shy and said she didn't want to take dance classes. To be honest, Bob and I were shocked. All she wants to do around the house is dance, play her dancing DVD and say she wants to be a ballerina when she grows up. So we thought she would jump at the chance to do this. We didn't push, but Bob didn't think she really understood what we were talking about. So I showed her some things at the store, and talked to her about some of her friends that dance. Still said no. So for now, no dance classes for Alexis. Maybe she'll want to try them someday, but not now. I got a little worried on the ride home tonight, she says "Victoria has dance class tonight." So I said, "oh really, so were you and Victoria talking about dance class" Alexis says, "yes, I still don't want to do it, I just like to watch other people, or just dance by myself to my DVD". I thought ok, she must understand. Then she says, "but Mommy, I still want to play soccer next year".

Mia is 13 months and getting quite brave these days. She is going up and down stairs by herself. When I say stairs, I'm referring to 4 stairs down into our living room from the hallway. She is ending up in places, and we have no idea how she's gotten there! She has taken 7-10 steps at a time, but only if she's in the mood! She is very stubborn, and if she doesn't want to walk, then she will sit right down and not move. Sometimes we are able to trick her into letting go of our hand to do it, but she'll be walking around here in no time! That's of course when things really get crazy! She walked from me to one of her teachers today, and she hadn't been walking at school at all. They were so pleased! Mia is also giving hi-5's, giving hugs 'n kisses, saying "hi", a version of "doggie," "all-done" and "Aya" (for Alexis). We have to keep an eye on her and Smokey as she tries to feed him almost any chance she gets! She also loves taking her big sisters toys, or just playing in her big sister's room (doesn't matter if Alexis is in there or not). She's getting so big, I just can't believe how times flies! (And you think I'd know because of how fast Alexis has grown). Both girls are doing so well!

Bob Survived....

2008-10-08T19:57:00.008-04:00

Today was the big day that Smokey Bear, Ranger Bob and Ranger Wayne visited Early Bird Child Care Center. Bob was quite nervous since the last child care center visit he did in Cortland, didn't go over so well. Many of the kids cried, and they eventually ended up taking the head off of Smokey, showing the kids that it really was their director Johanna that they saw every day.

So you can understand why he was a little nervous. They also asked him to do a little talk about fire safety and he really hadn't done that with this age group before. Last night at dinner, Alexis was telling daddy what he needed to do with "the kids". About half-way through dinner, he finally said, "Alexis, you might be my toughest critic!" We were a little worried that she might monopolize the conversation, but Bob said she was as good as gold. He was actually wondering where his daughter was! He was very please with the visit. A few students were afraid of Bob and Wayne, so they took those kids into another room. Bob said some kids wanted to shake Smokey's hand, others were perfectly fine with him staying at a distance. Smokey Bear was played by Miss Becky, one of the infant room teachers. She is one of my favorite teachers there!

Alexis was very proud of the fact that her daddy was there with Smokey today. She told me everyone knew that Ranger Bob was her daddy and both he and Ranger Wayne were friends with Smokey.

Mia was able to come out and have a little visit with Smokey for a picture. The other infants did not join the group, but it was nice for Mia to see her daddy... and this big furry thing!

Bob eventually had to go onto 2 other schools after visiting Alexis'. He is quite tired this evening! Here is a picture that was taken with the Early Bird group!

Smokey

2008-10-05T20:07:00.014-04:00

Wow... I realize it has been a long time since I've blogged. I've been very busy! Since my last blog, we've had pirate day, school picture day, a law school fair, 2 birthday parties (our nieces Sam & Madison), apple picking, and Bob just went back to work officially on Thursday. And lets not forget, me actually working every day! haha To the right and left are the outfits they wore for their school pictures.

I can honestly say that since we added Smokey to our family, life has been very crazy. He joined our family on September 24, after a very nice visit with him on September 21st. Mary (the woman who we adopted him from), told us initially that we couldn't have him until after he had been neutered (on the 30th). She must have really loved us! She called us on Tuesday, and said, if you want him earlier, you can take him for a trial run and then he can be neutered and you can let me know if you still want him. He was a pretty good dog, except that we needed to have him neutered. As my friend Jessie said at work.. we could rename him Humphrey. :) He has been wonderful with the girls. All Alexis wants is to play with him outside. She wants to play chase, but she forgets, chase turns into tackle with him. He only weighs about 2.5 times her size! With Mia, she will go up to her and sniff her if she has a dirty diaper... sorta looking at us like.. "Hey.. you wanna take care of this" or he'll give her a few licks and walk away. We're having some minor problems with him, he likes to watch us come and go from the front window... which means he's climbing up on the love seat. And one time, he ran off.. Bob had to chase him down the road. Alexis, Mia and I thought we'd be helpful by trying to go help catch Smokey, but we weren't quick enough. Smokey had slipped his collar which is how he got away. He generally seems to be a happy dog! And we are very happy to have him!

Oh.. your probably wondering about Bob going back to work. On Monday, he went to his foot doc and asked to be released to full-duty. A week ago, he had been released to full-duty from his back doctor, so physically, things are looking up for him. Granted, he feels like he's a little out of shape, but it won't take him too long to get back into shape. The foot doc told him that he needs to take it easy and only wear his fire boots because they have the most support in them. He will be getting foot surgery on the left foot within the next few months. But until the insurance companies (worker's comp or our regular insurance) battle it out who is going to pay for the surgery, we won't know when the surgery will take place. Since Bob was going crazy, he was able to be released with the following stipulation: This is not a no pain no gain situation, If you have pain, use your brain, come and see me. He was very excited to get back to work. The picture to the left, he's playing the video game "Rock Band" at Madison's birthday party last night.

Today we took the whole family out hiking to a local county forest. We loaded Mia up in the backpack and strapped on our hiking boots. And tried to attach Smokey to his harness, but had to change and use his choke collar. He was such a good dog! We all had so much fun! It was a chilly day, so we had to put hats & gloves on the girls. We stopped after a little walk to eat lunch. We were out for about 2 hours, and Alexis was exhausted when we got back to the car. Mia fell asleep for about the last 1/2 hour or so in the backpack. Mia preferred moving rather than just looking at water or trees. I think it really made daddy happy to have both out hiking. And when we got home, Alexis immediately took off her muddy boots and pants and went up stairs to put on a jean skirt and sparkling shoes! Bob's response was, "well, at least I got half a day!"

Alexis stories

2008-09-17T21:49:00.009-04:00

The life of a 4 year old is very interesting... and below are 3 stories I've been meaning to share.

1. Forgive me if I've told this story. The teachers at school have been trying to get Alexis to wear more pants and shorts because she doesn't exactly know how to keep her skirts/dresses down like a little girl should. Alexis always wants to wear dresses because that's what the princesses do.

So Miss Emily told Alexis, "Jasmine is a princess and she wears pants."

Alexis looked at her teacher and said with her hand in the air (picture.. talk to the hand), "Miss Emily, I have way too much Jasmine in my life." As many of you know, she does have a lot of Jasmine because Jasmine used to be her favorite princess.. but where did she even learn to say that!

2. This past Sunday night, when Alexis woke up and we didn't have power, Bob told her to go back to sleep. She was having a hard time sleeping, so he told her to dream about "puppy dogs and parade" because that's what his mom used to tell him to dream about when he had nightmares. The next morning I went into wake her up, the first words out of her mouth were, "Mommy, I didn't dream about what you and daddy told me to." So I said, "well, that's ok, did you dream last night?" She says, "Yes, I dreamt that Bryan and I got married, and we had a coach!" and then began to give me details about their "wedding." And then she ends with "I know, I know, I can't get married for a long long time, until after college." wow... I just don't know what we are going to do with her! I think Bob and I are in trouble and we may want to start saving not only for the college fund, but the wedding fund! Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get her to stop obsessing over weddings? Bob and I are open to any suggestions!

3. Final Alexis story for the night.... we are visiting a family this weekend that needs to find a new home for a 2 year old chocolate lab (I'll write more after the visit). We have been getting to the point where we wanted another dog, but the timing just didn't seem right. We told Alexis this morning about going to see a doggie, her first words

"Is it a boy dog, or girl dog"

I say, "its a boy dog"

Alexis, "ugh.. Mom I want a GIRRL Dog because I'm a girl."

I say, "Alexis, but daddy is a boy and don't you think he'd like another boy in the house"

Alexis, "but I'm a girl and we already had a boy dog"

I say, "Well, we already had you and we got another girl when we had Mia, so its ok to have 2 of the same" (by the way.. Bob goes, Oh good one Lynn after that comment)

I continue on with, "and honey, this doggie needs a home with a good family and right now the option is a boy dog or no dog, which would you like?"

Alexis says, "Hmm... last week I wanted a girl dog, I think maybe this week, I want a boy dog"

I can't wait to hear what she's going to come out with next!

Power back on...

2008-09-17T21:49:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Ike, Sunday night, we lost power (as did many others) around 9:30 p.m. Around that time, Alexis woke up, so I gave her the princess camping flashlight in case she needed it. Mia has been battling a cold for a few weeks.. and then at 1:30.. I realized something was wrong with me... I had come down with the stomach bug! ugh.... thanks Mia, but mom's aren't supposed to get sick! I took Monday off, and took Tuesday for good measure (now Bob has the flu). I wanted to be sure I was extra healthy when heading back to work today. We went almost 36 hours without power. A major line had been hit (in Franklinville, for those of you who know the area) and crews were working around the clock to get it back up and running.

While it was a major inconvenience for us (especially because I was sick!), I know it was nothing compared to what others have felt. My cousin lives in Houston, as do a few former students, and they were definitely hit hard. I wish them luck with clean up efforts.

On happier note, I was feeling good enough last night to go for a bike ride. I tow Mia in a trailer hooked up to my bike, and this year, we bought Alexis the "hitchhiker" and she gets hooked up to Bob's bike. She's a little to short for it, but does very well. This is the 2nd time we have taken her out on it. After the first time, the pedal kept coming off (I assembled it and I guess didn't get the pedals as tight as I should have). She really enjoyed biking this time. In the life of princesses and dancing, daddy loves it when Alexis enjoys something other than those things.

Today was take something in that starts with a "B" sound... she picked a baseball glove. You can imagine the smile on daddy's face when it wasn't a barbie.

Happy Birthday Mia!

2008-09-10T06:35:00.005-04:00

Happy Birthday Mia! Today is quite a special day, I cannot believe that she is 1 year old already! So much has happened in this last year its hard to recap everything.

Mia has quite a little personality. Hasn't started walking yet, but will be soon. She takes steps between Bob and I as many as 4 or 5, but isn't quite brave enough to go anywhere else yet. She loves her big sister and watches Alexis anytime she's around. She likes to play with Alexis' toys and if we're upstairs, has to be in Alexis' room. She likes daycare too and has her little friends Max and Cole that she plays with (or near I guess at that age).

She is on whole milk, and the switch was VERY easy for us. Has been off bottles for almost 3 weeks and uses only sippy cups. She eats all grown up food, and when she's done eating, instead of saying "all done" like we're trying to teach her, she will just begin throwing food on the floor, but does it in a very sly way.

We had a birthday party for her, and when people sang happy birthday, she just put her arm up to her face. She didn't' cry, but I think she was pleasantly surprised. We sang happy birthday to her over breakfast this morning, and she just smiled. The picture to the left is her eating her birthday cake. Walmart gives out very small cakes when you order a 1st birthday cake. So we let her go to town on that one. She just loves the frosting! Don't we all? Tonight we will celebrate with just our family and have more cake :)

She had begun dancing in her booster seat a few weeks ago, and last night while she was eating her snack, I finally got it on tape.

A Successful Job Luau!

2008-09-04T20:27:00.010-04:00

600 leis
35 organizations
62 employer representatives
40+ faculty, staff & student volunteers
14 cases of hot dogs (plus 3 packages of veggie dogs)
Popcorn
Slushy machine.. working a 1/4 of the time
Pineapple bowling
Frozen Fruit bars

Over 600 students... priceless :)

This is my general tally of the Luau today. It was threatening rain first thing, but cleared up and was a gorgeous day.. possibly a little too warm. Bob was awesome and came to help out before and after his physical therapy appointment.

Volunteers began arriving at 8:30 and we got to work quick. This picture is how tables were originally set up, but the game plan changed a little. But I wanted to post the pictures so you could see the openness of the quad.

This is a typical part-time job fair (that they stole from Cortland) and added a Luau theme to it. We had games (tic tac toe, pineapple bowling, and ring toss) that students could play to win prizes (sumo wrestler stress toys, frisbees, mini-beach balls).

We had an excellent turn out of faculty and staff volunteers (about 20) and the Women's rugby team (about 23) was awesome! The rugby team sure isn't afraid to work, they were willing to do any task I needed them to do. They are a great group of girls, and I think I'm going to take Alexis & Mia to a rugby game against Cortland!

The fair was awesome and employers were very happy with the student turn out. The US Army reserves even dressed down for the occasion. Over 1/2 of the employers were new to the event and all said they would like to come back next year.

I was quite pleased. Stephanie and Lisa told me that I did a phenomenal job. To get that compliment from Stephanie is quite remarkable, so I'm more than thrilled at the outcome. Many volunteers were saying it was the best Luau ever.. and Stephanie agreed. Nothing like making the bosses happy with your work! I think Bob was even a little surprised, he did say he was proud of me. I'm sure deep down, he's thinking I didn't follow proper ICS training... but I did good!

now onto thank you notes, per a learned custom from Nan when working with volunteers! Send thank you notes and CC their supervisor! Thanks Nan :)

Labor Day Fun

2008-09-04T02:41:00.010-04:00

What a weekend! For the most part, Labor Day weekend was work free. I had to do a little work for the upcoming Job Luau (btw.. it's 2:45am and I can't sleep, the day of the Luau, so I thought I'd blog!)

We had a great time visiting with family, but it seems long weekends are always too short! Saturday was Bob's mom's birthday. We spent Saturday morning watching Sam (Bob's niece) cheerlead for a football game. She's almost 7 years old, and I can say it was a new experience. I used to go watch little league games, but that was probably 15 years ago! Alexis had told me a few days before that she wanted to be a cheerleader because her friend Victoria wanted to be a cheerleader. I think after this experience, she has decided not to be a cheerleader. She spent the game playing in the sand/gravel at the baseball diamond behind us! (that's our girl... baseball over cheerleading! haha) We'll see what a few years bring. She isn't allow to cheerlead for another few years in the district we live in.

Another important birthday to mention is Lisa's Birthday was Saturday too! She's now the big 3-0.. so be sure to mention to her that's she's really the "old Lisa" now! (side note... Alexis couldn't believe I worked with a new Lisa now, so when I mentioned Cortland Lisa, Alexis says "That's your old Lisa")

We spend Saturday evening out by the campfire with Grandma & Grandpa Rogers. It was a very relaxing evening of roasting marshmellows and making campfire pies.

Sunday & Monday were spent relaxing by my mom & dad's pool. Alexis & Mia both love the water and I finally remembered to bring my camera to takes some pictures of them in the water. Alexis' swimming lessons are over for this year and she does so well in the water, we will definitely sign her up again next year. Mia does great too. She will just float in the current around and

around while kicking her little legs! She does really well, until someone decides to make some waves, then we have to watch she doesn't get a face full of water. She'll even let us hold her above the water and drop her in, so she goes under. She just laughs when she come back up!

It was a MUCH needed holiday weekend and I'm happy the weather turned out to be so wonderful. I needed to relax because I had been spending a lot of extra time at work. Even though I did a little work over the weekend, it was still wonderful!Fall will be here very shortly and I think we're trying to soak up as much sun as we can get!

A couple last things to mention is Happy Birthday Neeca (on the 3rd, I missed you by 3 hours). And Happy Birthday Nan (today!) Hopefully I'm the first to wish you happy birthday in the early morning hours!

Luau Land

2008-08-29T22:02:00.003-04:00

The semester has started and is in FULL SWING! I'm currently in Luau Land. This year is the 7th annual Part-time Job Luau at Buffalo State on September 4th (Nan's birthday). This is the biggest event the Career office puts on at the college. Not only do we have 34 employers, 60 representatives and over 500 students anticipated, but we add a luau theme and go all out. It has become a tradition and quite a few faculty and staff members are willing to come out and help serve hot dogs, slushies, frozen fruit bars, popcorn and more.

I'll admit, I'm freaking out a little as this is the largest event I've planned alone. Lisa (my boss) is helping me when I ask for her help, but I'm trying to figure most of it out on my own. I asked her for some help by going shopping, boy is she a bargain shopper! Found lots of luau themed items for 25 cents and a dollar. I'm not exactly sure what I will do with it all, but its nice to know we have it if we need it. The best find, was Hula Girl Greeter cut out for only $5. The Hula girl has a detachable arm that you hang leis from, and she has a sign that says "Aloha, Have a lei". Lisa wasn't sure that Stephanie would approve. Stephanie's worry was that the hula girl was too sexist due to her grass skirt and coconut bra top. Stephanie allowed those of us in the office to take a vote, and we voted the hula girls stays. Hopefully it won't offend anyone. I'm thinking people might even get their picture taken next to our hula girl. I'll post pictures :)

I hope to enjoy the long weekend and not work too much on the luau. I will have to do some work at home because we have Monday off. Just finalizing staffing etc. We have company that should be arriving shortly, Bob's parents. They are staying with us for the weekend and will most likely be on the Rogers whirlwind tour around WNY. Tomorrow we are going to watch our niece, Sam (Bob's sisters little girl) cheerlead, then heading out to lunch to celebrate Bob's mom's birthday, as well as his brother-in-law's birthday. It should be an eventful fun long weekend.

I'll get some pictures posted soon of the girls. Alexis officially starts pre-k on Tuesday, at her current day care center. Mia turns 1 in about 2 weeks! I just can't believe how quickly they are growing.

How to make a S'more

2008-08-17T19:23:00.005-04:00

Last night, Madison was going to spend the night with us. We were out by the campfire and I overheard Alexis telling Madison how you make a s'more. it was too cute! Bob jokingly says to me and says, "She must be an expert now!" I wasn't quick enough to get it on camera, so I made her do it again. I got a different response, but I thought I'd share it with you.

We made a try at having a sleep over. Unfortunately, at 10:30 p.m. Madison was crying and quite a bit homesick. She's only ever slept at her house or my parents. They've never really stayed anywhere else, so the whole experience was very new to her (and she is only 3 1/2 years old). We called my dad and he came to get her. She was upset that she was leaving, but I told her that when she is older, she can spend the night. While we were waiting for my dad to pick her up, Bob was very cute. He told her that when he was a little boy, he was supposed to stay over at his cousin Johnny's house. But, he didn't end up staying and his mom & dad had to come pick him up. I think that made Madison feel better, and we kept telling her what a big girl she was for trying something new.

This morning she told my mom that she "had fun at Aunt Lynnie's house, and when I'm older, I will spend the night at her house." I am very proud of her for giving it a shot even if we did have to call my parents at 10:30, at least it wasn't 2 am.

Welcome Sidney!

2008-08-16T20:42:00.006-04:00

Welcome to the world little Sidney Rose! My new niece was born this morning at 3:13 am at Childrens in Buffalo. She weighed in at 7 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long. She is adorable! All are doing well and I'm not sure it has really sunk in with Madison that she's a big sister. She wanted to hold Sidney, but for the most part was just like Alexis at this stage, somewhat uninterested. haha.

They will hopefully be coming home from the hospital on Monday. I've included some pictures from our visit today.

Tonight, we are having our first sleep over at Aunt Lynnie's house. Madison asked if she could spend the night so she and Alexis could play more. She was going to stay at my parents, but we thought we'd give it a shot. Who knows, I could be making a 2 am run with Madison to my parents house. Hopefully she'll do ok.

Solutions

2008-08-16T06:42:00.005-04:00

We have a solution. After a lot of thought and talking things out, Bob and I decided to keep Alexis and Mia right where they are. No place is perfect and overall I have been happy with Early Bird and the types of activities they offer. One of my worries was that Alexis would have a rough transition into kindergarten.... unless her personality changes quite a bit between now and next year, I really don't think she'll have a problem. I watch her on playgrounds and how easily she talks to other kids, sometimes she'll be shy at first, then once they introduce themselves, she's good. Other times, she doesn't even need that introduction.

With Alexis & Mia staying at Early Bird, it means Alexis can do swimming lessons again next summer, something she would not be able to do if we had switched her. Mia can't start that until she is 3 and potty trained, but regardless I want her to have that experience when she's ready.

When it comes to kindergarten, things will be a little easier. My mom has said that she'll be able to get Alexis off of the bus for us on days when we need her and if that was everyday, then that was ok. The bus comes through I think around 3:30 or 4, and by that time my mom is definitely out of work and has caught up on her sleep from going in at 2am. I'm also getting to know some parents of high schoolers through Bob being in the fire department who have said their girls are 16 and 17 and would love to babysit. So I may be able to have them help with getting Alexis off the bus a couple days if needed. WV has an interesting bus system, they bus all the kids together K-12, but they all have assigned seating, high schoolers in the back 3 rows and kindergartners in the first row and other grades assigned in between. Alexis is very excited to know she'll be riding a bus and can't wait to begin kindergarten (I'm not quite sure mom & dad are ready!)

Life is still complicated like my last post said, but I think things feel like they just got a little easier!

Its so complicated

2008-08-11T21:31:00.002-04:00

A song I keep singing over and over is titled "Complicated" by Carolyn Dawn Johnson. I feel that's my life these days (although not about love like the song implies). Healthwise, Bob's not getting any better and is still not working. Although, hopefully he may have a "light duty" assignment coming soon. He'll get to play data entry clerk for a while. Hopefully that will improve his mood (which will have a direct effect on mine as well).

The bigger reason that life is so complicated happened today. I cannot believe that in Fall 2009 (1 year away) Alexis will be going to kindergarten. We tried to get her into a Universal Pre-K program (UPK) in S-ville, but she was denied because we actually live in WV School District. Then.. I open up the paper on Saturday and see the flier "There are still openings for the WV UPK program.. sign up now". So it gets me thinking, maybe the best thing for Alexis would be to start doing things in the district she'll actually be attending. She'll meet new friends that she'll be in kindergarten and beyond with next year. It could be a great opportunity. So I give the principal a call. She returned my call and is willing to do whatever it takes to get Alexis into the UPK program (she's evening having her secretary call some local daycare to see if they have openings for Alexis & Mia). My biggest concern is child care after the UPK program. The program is only 1/2 day, so we still need daycare for the other half of the day. According to the principal, the WV has been in place for several years, and has been in place longer than the Sville one. Since it is only a 1/2 day program, they will bus the students home or to elsewhere in the district. Here's where the problem comes in. There are no day care centers in WV (because we live in Podunk), there are in home providers (some are registered with NYS, some are not). The principal sounded FANTASTIC on the phone and regardless, I'm happy Alexis will have her when she is in kindergarten. The principal seemed almost too good to be true, so I decided to call an old friend of my mom's, Michele that I've known since I was about 5 years old. I've gotten some good recommendations her, but it increases my commute to B-state.

In my conversation with Michele, she said she would be honest with me, but that she was the teacher aid to the pre-k room. And she said, the principal really is that wonderful! Many teachers take their kids to a particular place, but she is unsure if the woman has any openings. I'm also weary about the whole in home aspect. I don't know these people, and I'm sure I'll get to know them, but I guess I just wanted a center. The more I talk to Michele, I find out that WV does not offer before or after school programming (thinking to grade school years). So life just got more complicated. What will we do with Alexis after school until I get out of work? My parents can help out a little bit, but they are not retired and they have their own lives to live as well. My mom will also be helping Amy & Jeff out in the next couple years because daycare in where they live is so expensive that if my mom watches Madison and the baby for 1 day, Amy & Jeff can save over $100 a week!

So right now, I have Alexis almost guaranteed a spot in a UPK program (free by the way) and a WONDERFUL teacher, teacher's aid (that I know) and principal. Plus the opportunity to get to know kids who she'll be in grade school with. BUT, she's already changed schools when we moved. I'm sure she'll adjust well, we just are not sure what the best thing for Alexis is. If she switched now, she would have to change again for a long time. Then again, she'll be going to a new school in Fall 09 anyway.

To complicate things even more, I have Bob saying we should have never left Cortland. The child care center was better there and had their act together and job wise we were both better off. I can't tell if that's his frustration with his injuries and him not working, or if that's how he really feels (probably a combination of both I guess). I honestly believe that everything will work out the way for the best, life it just complicated. No matter where we are living, life would be complicated. Gone are the days of life being simple anymore. At least the way you hear people talk about it.

I absolutely love being closer to family. And I think he does too. I think he forgets how complicated it was to find someone to watch Alexis if we both had to work late. or the running around I had to do to get Alexis to a baby-sitter, then run back into work or run Alexis home to meet the babysitter, then run back to work. Either way, I was always running and I feel like I'm never going to stop. I think this is the part they forget to tell you about parenting. As the kids get older, things get more complicated (and I'm sure it will only get worse).

Oh I wish, I wish I were 5 and didn't have a care in the world, or the biggest worry I had was making sure Amy didn't play with my toys!

Camping weekend

2008-08-02T13:18:00.010-04:00

Yes, I've been taking a brief hiatus from blogging. Things have been pretty busy. I've been doing lots of reading for work and trying to prepare for the class I'm teaching.... the problem is, if all 3 sections do not fill up.. then I just planned a class for nothing, so I'm having a motivation problem.

As for our camping weekend, we had a blast. It did rain on Saturday in the morning, and then at night we really got hit! But we made the best of it. Friday, our family got there around 3:30 and began setting up the campsite. The Snyder's got there around 6. We had 2 tents, 1 for the dads and 1 for the rest of us (2-moms, 2- 4 year olds, and 2- babies, with 2 pack and plays.) We made dinner and took the kids to play on the playground. When it was getting closer to bedtime, we decided it would be time for s'mores and roasting marshmallows. Alexis is not new to this, so she had a pretty good idea as to how to roast the marshmallow. Unfortunately, 1 of her marshmallows caught on fire. Lee told her to blow it out, when she brought the marshmallow back to do that.. she got it too close to her face and she burned her face. I couldn't help her because I had Mia in my arms, but she came right over to me and Bob. Alexis didn't complain, but didn't want any marshmallows after that. I was looking for a mark or scar, but nothing was there. So I thought, maybe her face didn't get burned after all. Later that night, there was a mark, right next to her nose (according to Alexis, it sorta looked like a music note). I was really afraid that this might turn her off to camping, but thankfully it didn't. I'm just thankful that she didn't get hurt worse than a little "music note" shaped burn. She was ready to roast marshmallows on Saturday night. So I guess it traumatized me more than her.

Friday night was a challenge to get all 4 kids to bed at the same time! Everything was new and exciting, so they didn't want to lay down, and while the adults were out relaxing by the fire, we are watching Alexis' flashlight go back and forth in the tent. Mary Frances went back to check on them, and found Alexis scolding the babies, telling them it was bedtime and they had to go to sleep. Both babies were in pack and plays, so they could easily stand up and talk/babble to each other. They all finally went to bed around 10 p.m. Then at 12:30am, when Mary Frances and I headed to the tent, I made the BIG mistake and covered Mia up with her blanket. It woke her up, which woke up Isabella (13 months old). Bob climbed out of their tent and got Mia a bottle ready, she took a little then I laid her down. But poor Bella was already up and in a strange place. Mary Frances and Lee tried for about an hour to get her to sleep. Mary Frances was sure that if Bella cried for just a couple minutes, she would be asleep for the rest of the night, but didn't want to do that because of the other 3 kids in the tent. She and I made the executive decision to let her cry and finally got to bed around 2 a.m. The other kids never woke up. Then my lovely early morning riser, Mia was up at 5:30, ready to start a new day.

Saturday was full of activities, as well as some scattered rain. Bob and Lee took Alexis & Anthony fishing while the babies napped. Then we went for a picnic to another area in the park (and other playground). Came back for naps. After nap time we took them down to the creek to wade in the water and play. After dinner, Madison, Nana & Papa came for a little while. Alexis, Anthony & Madison seem to get along pretty good and played on the playground. Then we all went for a nature walk, and finally let Madison roast some marshmallows with us. I think she liked that part best! Even with Alexis' mishap from the night before, she was ready to roast some marshmallows again. Just before Alexis & Anthony went to bed, the sky opened up and it just started to downpour and thunder. They were very brave and knew they would be ok in the tent.

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day! We were only there until lunch time. Next year, Mary Frances said she would like to go for a longer period of time. I couldn't agree more. I'm hoping this will become a little Rogers-Snyder tradition and each summer we'll make time for a camping trip. This was Mary Frances' first time tent camping, I'm so excited that she wants to go again, but next time, she said they'll have their own tent so maybe the kids will actually sleep!

Happy Anniversary

2008-07-28T19:46:00.004-04:00

It doesn't seem possible, but today is mine and Bob's 7th wedding anniversary (tomorrow is our 14 year anniversary of when we started dating). Alexis is so obsessed with weddings, that I decided to pull out our wedding video and show it to her tonight. I sat there sobbing, and just can't believe it's been 7 years. Alexis thought daddy looked handsome, and mommy was beautiful. She liked my crown. :) And didn't understand why my dress was so long and dragging on the ground. She said that after she goes to college, she wants to get married outside too. She's too funny. I just tell her she can do whatever she wants for her wedding.

We had our friend Chris Mansfield (now Rosado) sing a song she wrote as we lit the unity candle. I can't upload the video (it's on VHS), but I thought I would include the words.

As we Say I do
Written By: Chris Mansfield
I was waiting for you to come to me

Now I see,

Our time is meant to be

Loving you forever and for all eternity

Now I know our love is true as we say I do
When I look at you, I hardly can believe

This treasure you are

Straight from Heaven sent to me

When I see you smile, my heart stops to skip a beat

And I know our love is true

As we say I do

Bridge:

As we say I do

Always to be true

You know you are the one God's blessing from above

And in His hands we'll be

And His guidance we'll seek With every step we take

As we grow in our faith-in love

we've been placed together

As we say I do. . .

I got my anniversary card from Bob, it says

Happy Anniversary from the one who wears the pants in the family...to the one who tells him which pants to wear in the first place.

Typical Bob humor. :)

Summer Fun

2008-07-22T20:11:00.012-04:00

Ok.. so I've been really really bad, but very busy!! It's been a few weeks and the last time I blogged about my career path! Who really wants to hear about that when I have 2 beautiful girls to talk about. This is a warning... this could be a long post to catch up with lots of pictures.

July 4th weekend, my mom and I took Alexis, Mia & Madison to Fantasy Island. We had a great day, very relaxing. There are lots of shady spots, so my mom took Mia to play under the trees when she couldn't ride any rides and I was in charge of getting Alexis & Madison on and off rides. They had so much fun. A couple of the rides they needed an adult to go with them, which I didn't mind at all. I love riding rides. They went on a ride called the beanstalk. It takes you up into the sky and then drops you 3 or 4 times.. takes you back up, and drops you again and again. I started out sitting between the girls, holding onto both of their legs and they said "no", they didn't want me to hold them. Once we dropped the first time, Madison looked at me and said "Aunt Lynnie, hold my hand!" So I told her instead I would hold her leg, so she could hold onto the over the shoulder part. Then Alexis said the same thing. Eventually they were both giggling, but they were scared for a little bit.

Less than a week later, July 10th - 13th we headed to Ohio for a visit with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kelly and Uncle Bird. Before we headed to Cincinnati, we set off for Cedar Poin t. This was a childhood vacation of my family. We loved going here and I think we went there nearly every summer for about 10+ years. Bob and I get there when we can, which isn't nearly as often as we'd like. It was very hard for us this time not to be riding some of the major roller coasters, but with Bob's injuries, it made it a little easier to overcome. Alexis had a blast! Because Disney & Nickelodean have monopolies on other amusement parks, Cedar Point has the Peanuts gang. We were either in Planet Snoopy or Camp Snoopy most of the time. It was pretty rough for Bob, as I think he forgot how large the park is and since he was still on crutches, his arms felt like rubber after a while. We wanted to stay for a laser light show, but it got rained out. Alexis was WAY excited because she slept in a hotel for the first time, and what a big bed she got to sleep in (and she even slept in until 8:15am!!!!!!). Mia got to sleep in her pack and play. Boy did we have to take a lot on this trip between formula, bottles, booster seat, the stroller and lots of other things. We just aren't used to traveling this way anymore!

Bob and are I quite happy, Alexis LOVED the roller coasters. There were 2, the Jr. G emini and the Woodstock Express. The Woodstock Express was her favorite, which if you look at the stats, it is a level 4, High Thrill, out of 5. It gets up to 25+ mph and takes you 38 ft in the air! We got a great picture (that I have to try to scan) of Alexis and me riding it. Alexis' hands way up in the air, just giggling! We rode that 2 or 3 times. Mommy loved it just as much as Alexis.

We definitely needed more time there and decided next year we will be sure to have a full day or 2. We had Thursday evening (5-9) and then Friday morning (10-1:30) before hitting the road for Cincinnati.

We had a good trip to Cincy and ended up at the Newport Aquarium. Mia loved riding in a backpack and Alexis seemed to enjoy looking at some of the animals, but others she was uninterested in. First she didn't want to see sharks, then she did. I think the highlight for her was being able to play in the Frog Bog.

We had a great visit with Bob's parents and sister. Alexis really had Grandma moving, "Grandma, let's play hide and seek", Grandma lets do this. I don't think she let Grandma rest at all that weekend (except after Alexis went to bed!) Before we knew it, it was Sunday and we had to come home because I had work on Monday (interviews for a search I'm on or I would have rescheduled those appointments). It was a short visit and I think next time we'll try to take a Wednesday to Monday and spend all day Thursday and Friday at Cedar Point, and in the evening head off to Cincy. That's the plan for now, that could definitely change by next year!

This weekend, we are going camping with our good friends, Lee (best man from our wedding), Mary Frances, Anthony (4 yrs) and Isabella (13 months). We are all pretty excited. I can't wait to post pictures after the weekend. Alexis loves the tent and can't wait to have a campfire. I thought I'd post one of my favorite pictures from our Judicial Affairs Bonfire held in 2006. Alexis loved roasting marshmallows!

There were quite a few pictures of Alexis in this post, so I'm adding one of Mia from tonight when we went apple picking in the backyard. Just look at those eyes! She's going to be a heartbreaker :)

Shaping your Career Path

2008-07-14T12:53:00.006-04:00

The office is having a contest for orientation students (as well as faculty and staff). We are asking students who or what has helped them shape their career path. Its not about the end result necessarily, but more about the journey and who influenced them. When the contest is over, we will randomly select winners.

To encourage participation, the staff is letting everyone know who influenced their career path. I have so many people to think of that it was a very difficult path. My parents have most definitely influenced who I am as a person, my work ethic and passion for helping people. I have my dad's personality for the most part and every day I find myself becoming more and more like him.

But, when it came to my decision to go into higher education, that was different. My parents (along with many others) said, "So you want to do what? You'll be in college forever?" For those of us that work in higher education, we know its something more than that. Many people think we are crazy doing what we do sometimes.

I have had lots of mentors since I began in this field and have taken quite a bit away from them. Donna helped me realize that I could actually do this for a career, then Louie helped me solidify that this was the right choice.

So I decided to go back to my first work study job with Pat :) For the exercise, I had to complete the following:

Who/What: SUNY Cortland Career Services (John, Louie, Nan, Pat, Bonnie, Peter & Rich )

Why/How: As a work study student each of these staff members played a role in shaping my career path. They took me into their office family and became my home away from home. They helped me define my strengths and helped me put my passion for helping people into helping college students find and discover their own career paths. They gave me the opportunity to work and intern in different aspects of the office. They supported me throughout my graduate work and into new professional roles. They are always there for guidance when I need them.

Unfortunately, I ran out of space! I could have gone on and on! As I approach 1 year of being back in WNY, I miss you all SO MUCH!!!

out of work

2008-07-08T15:00:00.003-04:00

I have the day off today. Mia's 9 month well child check up... 17 lbs 2 oz and 27 1/4 inches long!!! She's right on track with where she should be and is doing really well. The doctor is quite happy and we'll go back in September for her 1 year old visit.

Now for the update on Bob... I guess I lost the driving battle. Everyone thinks that Bob can drive, and last night coming home from a trip to walmart, he drove just to spite me.

Anyway, I guess I'm getting the last laugh (in a very cruel sorta way), in that unfortunately he is out of work until at least August 6 because of his back. the next few weeks are filled with doctors appointments (that he doesn't think I need to be at)... a foot doctor, back doctor and back to both. He's starting to get grumpy, I can't blame him, I know how grumpy I was when we first moved back and I wasn't working.

On a high note, we are headed on Thursday for Cincinnati for a visit with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kel and Uncle Bird. We'll be staying Thursday night at Cedar Point and Soak City. It will be the girls first stay in a hotel and first water park. Then we'll head to Cincinnati and stay at Grandma & Grandpas house until Sunday. We'll only stay until then because I have to work on Monday (I'm part of a search committee that's interviewing 2 candidates that day, so I really couldn't take the day off).

I can't believe how this summer is flying by! enjoy the sunshine and hot weather.

And the Diagnosis is....

2008-07-06T10:57:00.007-04:00

"Daddy, you're gunna be alright!" says Dr. Alexis.

This picture was just taken a few minutes ago. After Bob was able to clean up a bit, he was keeping his foot elevated and he became a very captive audience for Alexis. She loves playing doctor.. and having a real patient that was sick is just great!

As much as she might frustrate us sometimes (mostly by not listening or doing what she is told)... she does have a great big heart. She just wants to help daddy and is bringing him things to do while he is "laid up", like coloring books, a hand held chalk board, and books he can read to her. I'll hit up Walmart later, and pick him up a book so that he has something to do while I'm working this week.

We're having a battle over whether or not he should be driving... you can imagine who is taking what side. Somehow, I WILL win this battle.... I may have to take all the car keys in the house with me to work every day... but I will win. :) Does anyone out there in blog land have an opinion?? Since he hurt his left foot, do you think he should be able to drive the car with his right foot?

The next few weeks could be very interesting.

30 and falling apart...

2008-07-05T22:06:00.003-04:00

I'd like to say Happy 4th of july (a day late) and happy birthday to Beth, Chris, and tomorrow Anthony.

That's the happy part of my post. When I turned 30... I absolutely dreaded it, Bob on the other hand was embracing his 30's. Somehow, I think I'm doing better in my 30's than he is. He is in by far better shape than me (and always has been), so I haven't quite figured out how I'm doing so much better (knocking on wood as I type). I haven't really mentioned Bob's health problems as of lately. About 5 months ago, his back really started bothering him. He let it go for about a month before going to the Chiropractor and massage therapist (probably because his wife was nagging him so much). We of course were thinking that he was lifting the girls and twisting and turning too much. Then we had the cruise and figured a week off from picking up kids would do him some good. Still no luck, and it appeared to be getting worse. The chiropractor ordered and x-ray about 4 weeks ago, and it showed that the curve in his spine was gone... it was perfectly straight. So the chiropractor had him laying on a rolled up towel with a heating pad, hoping to help put that curve back in, along with weekly adjustments. One night, he couldn't even get off the floor... that's when I realized it was bad. I guess before that point, I thought it was more of a dull ache. After that point, I told him we needed to be more aggressive with the doctor and he was going to see his regular doctor too (granted, I really believe in the work of the chiropractor because he had saved my dad from back surgery about 25 years ago).

After Bob telling the chiropractor there was no change, he ordered and MRI. Bob saw Doc Ed (his general practice doc) because he was also beginning to have problems with his right foot and hand. He got a cortisone shot in his hand and that seems to be better. but his foot is another issue.... it appears as though 2 bones that shouldn't be growing together... are doing exactly that. So, there is a chance that because these 2 bones are growing together in a manner they shouldn't be, that it is affecting his back. So he's going to see a foot doctor on Tuesday. The MRI came back to show there is a mass behind his spine. Doc doesn't seem to be too concerned, my initial response was what kind of mass. Turns out its a bulged disk.

On top of a bulged disk, he was also supposed to be listed as a "crew boss trainee" pretty much all summer long for out of state fires. Because of the bulged disk, he pulled himself for the summer. he was pretty upset by it, but knows its for the best.

Which brings me up to today.. July 5. I had a wonderful day at an amusement park (I'll post more about that later) and on the way home we decided to order some food and go swimming at my parents house. So I called Bob at 7:15 ish because he was due to get off work at 8pm and I thought he'd like to join us. He picked up the phone and said "I can't talk now" and hung up. I assumed he must have been with people, so no biggie... then he didn't call back for a while. The next time he calls, he says "I need you to meet me at the house and go upstairs and get my crutches, I'm leaving the Gowanda hospital now" My response "is everything ok? what happened? how are you going to get home" His response, "I'm driving with my right foot and I'm fine"... He slipped and fell while hiking through the creek in Zoar Valley (see previous post). Proceeded to make his own splint and then had to hike about 1/2 to 3/4 mile back to the truck and a nice family helped him out with his bags, then he drove to the hospital. He's on crutches for 5-7 days, out of work for about a week... wearing an aircast for the next 2 weeks. The doctor said his hiking boots are what saved him from actually breaking it. Good thing we don't buy him cheap hiking boots!

Basically, my husband appears to be falling apart. Bob of course is asking, why me, he was doing things he was supposed to be doing and gets hurt. He's starting to get his sense of humor about the situation back.. but I did have to tell him that THIS time when we go to Cincinnati, I will not be pushing his wheelchair around the Cincinnati zoo :) For those of you who don't know, the last time bob broke his ankle, we (with his parents) visited his sister in Cincinnati our senior year of high school and I pushed him around the Zoo all day long. If you've never been to that zoo.. it is ALL hills. Some things you just have to chuckle about.. I guess this is one of them.

I'll post more as we are updated. Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!

The New Lynn

2008-07-01T21:15:00.008-04:00

I say the new Lynn... at least in hair style. Well.. most of you who have known me for a while know that I don't stick with a hair cut for too long. If you look at our family picture (or any recent pics I've had posted), I had long hair, just past my shoulders. I was getting sick of it, like I often do, so I took the plunge and went short. Not so sure Bob likes it, but its not his hair. :) I'm still getting used to styling it, but I really like it. Instead of putting my hair up in a ponytail every day, I can just slap on a ball cap (which Bob does like! haha.. takes him back to our teen years.. hehe)

anyway, I thought I'd post a pic of the front and back... (don't mind the bags under my eyes.... I'm not sure if its from turning 30 or being a mom to 2 active girls... or maybe worrying about my hubby too much! (probably combo)

And of course, no blog post would be complete without an adorable picture of the girls. Tonight we played outside on the home playground (we have 2 swing sets and 2 slides out back... we call it a playground). The picture of Alexis holding onto Mia is them getting ready to go down the slide! Just look at Mia's blue eyes... just beautiful! I think her eyes say "Please don't drop me!"

9 Rescued from Zoar Valley

2008-06-30T09:52:00.004-04:00

At 8:30 last night, while Bob was on the phone with his parents, he got a call that there were people stranded in Zoar Valley. He got home around 2:30 am.. and asked me to set my alarm for 4 to make sure he didn't oversleep. So I found it kinda ironic that when my boss called me this morning she said "did you get much sleep last night?" My response, "nope.. it was a long night".. She said, "I know, was Bob there, was he at the Zoar Valley Search?" I had no idea it was on the news, although something like that is usually pretty big, it didn't dawn on me that it would actually be on the radio. So below is text of the article from WBEN. Forest Rangers are never mentioned, but that's typical.... we know they were there.

Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - Erie County Sheriffs and Gowanda area emergency crews have successfully rescued 9 people and two dogs, that were stranded overnight Sunday inside the Zoar Valley Gorge.

The hikers, ranging in age from 17 to 20, were stranded on a ledge approximately 60 feet from the bottom of the gorge overnight. Names of the hikers - a group of friends from Williamsville and Kenmore- were not immediately available.

The Erie County Sheriff's Dept. helicopter was able to lift them to safety Monday morning near 7 am. Injuries, if any, were minor.

The group was stranded Sunday evening, when rising waters cut off their access to a trail across the creek and to safety. They were in cell phone contact with police through the night, and were able to retrieve food supplies dropped after an unsucessful rescue attempt Sunday.

" The first victim we took out was definitely hypothermic and had swallowed some water through the night, he had some trouble breathing.. and he was one of our priorities," Gowanda Fire Chief Steven Raiport said.

The hikers, clad in shorts and T-Shirts, spent the night on a ledge about 60 feet from the bottom of the gorge, with a fire for warmth.

Late Sunday, workers were able to drop supplies to them by helicopter, and a medical crew was on scene through the night. Thunderstorms prevented a helicopter rescue at that time.
Stretching from Springville to Gowanda and through parts of the Seneca Nation of Indians' Cattaraugus reservation, the Zoar Valley is a series of canyons and gorges that are popular with hikers each summer. It includes steep cliffs that often times trigger summertime rescues. Carved by Cattaraugus Creek, the gorge includes several nature trails, waterfalls and sheer rock cliffs almost 400 feet tall in some places.

Fun Evening at the Park

2008-06-25T21:40:00.008-04:00

We had a chance after work the other night to go to Sprague Brook Park. So we grabbed some subs from a local pizza place and headed out. Bob has fond memories camping here with his family when he was little. We were really there to check out some camp sites for a possible camping weekend in July with our friends Lee and Mary Frances (of course including Anthony and Bella). I think he's excited about the possibility of taking the girls camping (with no princesses in sight). But while we there there scoping out the sites, we were able to play on the play ground and even get an updated family photo for the blog. (I know, it's been 9 months since I posted a new family photo). I thought I'd include just a few pictures.

Mia LOVES the swing! Alexis ran all over the playground, and even jumped from a pretty high up platform. Made me very nervous! We also went down the slides... even Mommy went down the slide!

Below is a video of Alexis & Mia from a few days ago. Alexis is singing and Mia is standing by the rocking chair and dancing and making a little noise. Do not turn the volume up too much, as we are still trying to get Alexis to understand that she sounds better when she doesn't "eat" the microphone.

Let's go for a picnic...

2008-06-22T20:43:00.008-04:00

One tradition Alexis and I used to have when we lived in McGraw was that during the summer, we'd pack up our lunch, grab the picnic blanket and go for a picnic. We wouldn't go far, usually the shade of a tree on our own land. Just trying to change it up a bit from always sitting at the table. Last summer, we did it a little bit in my parents back yard, but not as much. So this summer, we have begun our tradition again... this time with a new member (Mia) and a wagon. Mia loves the wagon, and it is a perfect spot for her to sit so that I can feed her a little more effectively. Since we are loving the picnics already this summer, I thought I would add a picture of the back yard. At this point, we have had a picnic in all shaded areas of the back yard.

I also decided to include some landscaping pictures. We (with the help of my parents) landscaped when we got back from our vacation. All of the work is new, there was no landscaping around the house. My dad and Bob were rototilling machines that day. And my mom and I (with help from the girls) decided where plants were going and then began planting.

Today was also Isabella's 1st birthday (our friends Lee & Mary Frances' little girl). We spent the day in the park for her birthday party and had lots of fun (and only a little rain). Happy Birthday Bella!!!

2008 Conference pictures

2008-06-19T13:02:00.012-04:00

I'm adding a post with a few picture from our conference in Lake George. Most of these pictures are from Judd's, a local establishment.

Of course, me & Lisa.. Roomies! I think we had a blast! Hard to believe we haven't killed each other yet because we've seen so much of each other lately!

She's one of the 2009 Conference co-chairs... Watkins Glen.. here we come!

The CNY & WNY party group... we had a blast, playing pool and hanging out. Trying to get away from a Seton Hall law graduate that wanted to dance with everyone. Colleges represented include: Buffalo State, Cortland, Oneonta, UB, and Binghamton.

This is me and Jessie... 2 mommy's have an excellent night away from our kids. Jessie is a counselor in the office and is awesome, I love working with her every day! She has a little 1 year old name Lia. And in the red, Chris is another new WNY colleague from Fredonia. We'll be working on a committee together this upcoming year.

The true night owls are pictured here... we had a late night.. getting home around 3 am.

Father's Day

2008-06-15T21:25:00.006-04:00

Happy Father's Day!!! I had to do 2 posts tonight because I had planned on doing 1 post on the conference and another about the weekend. We had a great day. We began by going to Sprague Brook Park, not too far from our house. We played on the playground, and then went walking in a creek. Mia loved getting her little feet wet. Alexis was a little shy at first, but then was much more into it. We ended the day with a picnic.. and then headed over to a birthday party for my cousin's little boy.

For Father's day, the girls got Bob a picture frame with their pictures in it. I took the pictures, but Alexis chose which pictures should go in the frame. You'll notice in the picture with both girls, they are in little Cinderella dresses. This was Alexis' idea, she thought daddy should have a picture of them dressed as princesses.

Conference

2008-06-15T21:13:00.003-04:00

Well.. finally home and recouping from the conference in Lake George. I didn't take a camera, but the sites were beautiful. We stayed at Fort William Henry. It was a great conference, connecting with some old colleagues. I helped out with the raffle and even won the Cortland basket (how appropriate)... it contained 2 t-shirts, 1 bag, 1 small cooler that I may use for my lunch, and the best part.... M & M's that say "Cortland Rocks". I was able to connect with some CNY former colleagues and also hang out socially with some WNY folks. We may have pictures up on facebook, but that's only if colleagues from Binghamton post them. Some we may not want posted. :) But I can say we had a blast, probably the best part about the conference is the social aspect.

We left on Tuesday and by Wednesday, my new boss was telling a co-worker that "Lynn really misses her Cortland family". I can say I really do, but that's what 11 years will do to a person. The night of the awards banquet, my boss came up to me and said "you can sit with your Cortland family, you don't have to sit with us unless you want to." Of course I wanted to sit with my new staff. I think its important for a staff to sit together on nights like that. Its the last night of the conference and most of us have not hung out together, so I think dinner is important.

Quite a few colleagues asked if it was weird being at the conference with a new staff. I told them it was strange last year being in Judicial and "hoping" to make some connections, and this year at least I was lucky enough to find a job in Career Development and be able to go to the conference with a new staff, even if it wasn't Cortland.

Ah.. next year, Watkin's Glen, I may have the family join me out there on Friday, so we can make a weekend of it. Then in 2010, we are back in WNY. I can't wait for that conference, I'll be on the site selection committee and hopefully follow the conference through to the end.

Crawling, Crawling Everywhere

2008-06-03T20:09:00.005-04:00

I've been pretty bad lately about updating you on Mia's milestones. She has been scootching for a while now and we thought for sure she would start crawling (with belly off the floor) while we were on vacation. For a while we knew she was crawling, but she would only do it when people weren't watching. You'd leave the room.. and next think you know, she's be in a completely different spot! Thankfully, she didn't start to crawl while we were gone. She waited until the Monday we got back to really get her belly off the floor (or maybe she was doing it before and no one caught her!). I attached a video... she's doing pretty well at that.. but what really worries me is that she is pulling herself up and cruising across furniture. The teachers at daycare say she's going to be walking soon.. I told them to push her over!!! I'm not ready for that yet. We are finding it is tough to baby proof a house with a 4 year old around. We are trying to instill in Alexis that it is very important to pick up her little toys.. sometimes she listens, sometimes not. so we are constantly following Mia around. As I was cooking dinner tonight, I set Mia down to play by her blocks... I went back to check on her 3 minutes later.. and she has magazines all over the floor (she's just around the corner from where I was cooking dinner). She's fast.

Those teeth are slowly coming in. She has 2 bottom ones but those 2 top teeth are giving her some issues. Her poor little gums are so swollen.. but we can see the whites of the teeth. So we are getting there.

Well.. I attached this video so you could see how good she is doing crawling. Enjoy!

Happy 4th Birthday Alexis

2008-05-29T20:18:00.005-04:00

I can't believe Alexis is already 4 years old. Its hard to believe that the last 4 years have flown by, so much in our life has changed. Everything from what we used to do for fun (going out to eat and movies) to jobs, houses, locations. I wouldn't trade it for the world, everyone used to say kids grow up so fast and I can honestly say I never believed them. Boy was I wrong!

Alexis is very smart and loves to ask questions. She's a great big sister and loves Mia very much, trying to help out when she can (most of the time). But she seems to be getting more challenging every day. Some days she listens great, other days.. not so much. Maybe I should say, she listens, just doesn't follow through with what mom and dad are saying.

She loves Disney princesses (see left with new Disney Princess vanity), the color pink and dresses. She loves to read books and has memorized many of her favorites. She loves to play in her sandbox and outside, whether it is running, swinging, or playing in the dirt. She is very obsessed with weddings right now. She constantly wants to look at wedding pictures, know who is married and always says "when I get married I want a coach like Cinderella" You can imagine that is had Bob very worried.

Lately, she has wanted to throw a baseball around. She is getting some good practice at throwing (with the wrong foot forward, but we can work on that). She has told me that next year when she's old enough, she wants to play baseball and soccer. Right now I just told her to concentrate on her upcoming swimming lessons and next year she can decide what sports she wants to play. While I would love for her to play baseball, I also want to give her the freedom to either play or not play. We have a big year ahead of us!!

Happy 4th Birthday Alexis!!!

Home Sweet Home...

2008-05-26T20:27:00.016-04:00

What a week!!! We had a fantastic time in the Caribbean. I have a ton of pictures, but will only share a few on the blog. If you're interested in seeing more, let me know, I have them up on snapfish and I can send you the link. On the trip with us were Lisa and John, and Lisa's parents, Tom & Denise.

SUNDAY MAY 18- Depart Miami, FL

Sunday started out pretty early. Had to be to the airport by 6:30 am to catch out flight down to Miami. This was the first sunset we saw from the boat. Isn't it beautiful!!!

Tonight was also the first night we came back to our room with a towel creature on our bed. Isn't he cute? Every night we had a new towel creation. Made from typically 2-3 towels.. then added props (sunglasses, ripped pieces of paper for eyes, etc).

MONDAY, MAY 19- NASSAU, BAHAMAS

So beautiful! We had spent a day in Nassau on our honeymoon. This time, we did something different. We had this great idea to rent scooters! (it's much more difficult than it looks!) the highlight of the scooter trip, was when Bob and I were following John and Lisa after we first got going.. and went down a one way street the wrong way.. and Bob.. almost seriously injured us by almost running into a Hummer! Wow.. that was a close one. Bob is not used to doing poorly at something, so this was really upsetting him that he couldn't figure this scooter out. Soon enough, we were riding with no issues (except that sometimes they drive on the wrong side of the road). We say that scooter ride took our relationship to a whole new level!!

We rode the scooters around most of the island, stopping off at a couple places to get pictures. The Atlantis hotel and casino was one spot, and here we have a picture of the 4 of us at one of our other stops.

We departed Nassau a little after 2 p.m and spent the 2nd night on the boat, ready for a fun day at sea. Even though I wore sunscreen, I still got burned to a crisp (Nan... we applied sun screen every hour!!!) I probably got burned b/c I had a blonde moment (sorry to any blondes out there). You can't see by this pictures, but my hair is in a ponytail and I wasn't thinking that I had a tank top on, so my back got burned pretty bad.... it's peeling now... it's gross. Eventually did put on sunscreen, it was too late, the damage had been done.

TUESDAY, MAY 20- FUN DAY AT SEA

Most of you who know Bob well, know he cannot sit around. He has major issues sitting and doing nothing (ie.. hanging out by the pool). So we hung out by the pool... again applying sunscreen every hour, and we decided to go on the waterslide and play putt-putt and made our 1st stop by the casino (the first of many.... in a good way). Many of you know, sometimes I can be quite lucky, but it only seems to work on the slot machines at a casino. This trip was no exception.. I was pretty lucky winning about $350 or so.. and even Bob (who never wins) cashed in a $120... so we were pretty lucky.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21- ST. THOMAS

Bob and I thought this was the most beautiful island! We shopped and got a chance to see some higher up views of the island. Then we had the opportunities to go on a kayak, hike and snorkel excursion. I've never actually been kayaking before, but it's a lot like canoeing. We started out by kayaking about a mile or so, then had hermit crap races, then we hiked a little ways out and got to see a part of the island, where the red mangroves grow, where they put all of the boats if there is going to be a tropical storm or a hurricane coming through because they have realized that the red mangrove trees act as a good shelter.

The guides really knew what they were talking about.. and some (while we didn't ask) were probably some tree huggers from ESF. :)

THURSDAY, MAY 22- ST. MAARTEN

We went on a 4X4 Jeep Excursion. John got to be called "Island Man" by our tour guide, as we were the last jeep in line and she relied on John to make sure everyone was in line (with no "invaders" in between our convoy). Eventually after touring the island a bit, we got to the beach. Just look at the color! We have other pictures, but they are on the water camera, so only 1 picture of the ocean will have to do for now.

FRIDAY, MAY 23, SATURDAY, MAY 24- FUN DAYS AT SEA

Lots of lounging by the pool, reading books, people watching and listening to some good music. The food was good... Bob loved the 24 hour pizza place, as well as the grill place that apparently had a really good turkey sub. The staff was from around the world and were all very nice. We would love to do it again, but probably with more island stops (Bob gets too bored and feels confined on the ship)... but ultimately we missed Alexis and Mia so much, it will be a long time before we take another long trip like that without them. We got excellent reports from Nana & Papa while we were gone and they were very good girls all week.

Tomorrow is back to the usual routine (today was spend landscaping the house). I'm headed back to work, Bob has 2 more days off and goes back on Thursday.

Cruisin'

2008-05-17T13:33:00.002-04:00

It's Saturday afternoon, and we are all packed. Girls are taking naps, and we are doing one final cleaning of the house. The rest of the night is heading to my parents house to drop off all the girls stuff for the week, then going to dinner at George's, a local hot dog stand that serves more than hot dogs, but its a local favorite. Then we are headed back to my parents and play with the girls until it's bedtime. Once they go to bed, we'll come back home.

I probably won't be able to sleep tonight because I"m so excited! I'm not sure I'll be able to blog or show any pictures, but if I can I'll add a picture or 2. If not, I'll share when we get back.

Have a good week!

On The Road Again.....

2008-05-15T20:37:00.003-04:00

The last 2 days have been pretty eventful. Wednesday we took a trip to Cortland to honor a very special friend, Nan. She is so modest that she won't tell you that she is receiving the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Professional Service at my former institution. She is so deserving of this award. She is always professional, whether it is with nasty (and I mean really really nasty) parents, or rude students. She has been a mentor and most importantly a friend. She helped out with Alexis when we needed it and always made sure that I put my family first before work. I think we really surprised her yesterday when we showed up at her surprise party!

Alexis & Mia were very well behaved. Alexis found some nice boys to play with... Nan's husband Tom and John, my boss from Career Services. They were playing catch with her. She had a little net and they were throwing crumbled up nutrasweet packets into the net. Alexis said on the way home that she wishes the boys she was playing with could come to her house and play! And I said "what boys?" and she said "the ones that were playing the game with me by the cake", so I said "OH.. Tom and John" she said "yep, I really like them!"

It was so nice to see everyone. I can't name names because I would be afraid I might miss someone. But you all know who you are, and we miss you all very much. We drove back home after the party and everyone went straight to bed... except Mia, she wanted to play more. Eventually, she went to sleep too.

Then Bob had to drive to Saratoga to get his new work truck. Below is a picture of the new Ranger "Rocket" Rogers Rig. The old red truck is officially retired. At least we all hope it is... as it began making more funny noises going into Syracuse, all Bob could hope for was that it would make it the next 2 1/2 hours to Saratoga. It did :) All Forest Rangers are getting switched over to green trucks.

Just 2 days left before our vacation! :)

Gone Fishin'

2008-05-10T20:40:00.010-04:00

Last night Bev (Bob's sister) called and invited us to go fishing at a little pond near our house. I had never been to this location before, but it's a little fishing access point that she's been going to with her family for years. I debated going because Bob was working 3-11 tonight. I mostly debated because I like the idea of fishing... relaxing, the peace and quiet, just sitting around a pond enjoying the company. but I've never been fishing with both girls... heck, I haven't been fishing in probably 15 years! My dad used to take my sister and I to a private pond of a guy he knew. We would put a lure on the pole and walk around the pond. If we caught a fish, my dad would come over and take it off the line for us. So I was a little scared to go with my sister-in-law and her family.

I decided to go anyway and we had a great time! Alexis sorta knows how to cast a line, she's done it many times with her princess fishing pole just in the yard, but being in a pond is a little different. I helped her, but when she insisted she do it by herself I let her.. and into the pond she went. At least I caught her so only 1 foot/ankle got wet. She began to play more with Sam and Eli, so i took her pole for a little while...and lookie what I caught! It was the biggest fish of the day (at least while we were there). I want to give Alexis credit for though... we did cast the line together, she just walked away. Thank goodness for Uncle Jim, who was able to put worms on our hooks and take the 1 fish off our line. :)

Since this was a fishing access point, there were not restrooms.. poor Alexis. Many of you women will relate to this story. The squat and hover in the woods is very tough to conquer. We didn't quite make it in time back into the woods (or even off the path to get her pants down), so she had an accident. We came home and changed her clothes and went back (only about 10 min from our house). She was having such a good time following her older cousins around. When we did get back, I look over.. and she has her pants around her ankles (she had just went again at the house).. and is peeing again!!! I say "Alexis, what are you doing" her response "mommy, I had to go potty! So I just pulled my pants down and went". Well, she didn't do too bad, except she got her one bottom of her pant leg wet. Ugh... we definitely came back home for a bath night!

You might ask about Mia.. she was perfectly content.. wanting to grab the fishing pole or just sit on Eli's lap or having Aunt B hold her. She even tried a little chicken tonight. They had brought some fried chicken, so I brought some cookies and a macaroni salad. She kept reaching for the chicken, so I finally gave in and let her have some chicken (no crispy skin though). She loved it and of course wanted more! I had to be careful to make sure the pieces were small enough and that she wasn't going to choke, but she did really well. I can't believe she's 8 months old today!

Happy Mother's Day to all!!!

Healthy again....

2008-05-05T08:33:00.003-04:00

This will be a pretty short post. Well.. it seems as though everyone is almost back to being healthy again! Thank goodness. Mia is still on her antibiotics, but feeling much better. Bob on the other hand, well.. he's been seeing a chiropractor lately because his back has been bothering him quite a bit. Personally, I think it's his work truck. He got a pillow yesterday so he can have a little more support while he's driving it. It's a pretty rough ride and he's been due up for a new work truck since last fall! He thinks he'll finally get a new one this week. He has to drive out to Saratoga to get it, but hopefully it will be making him feel a little better. After all....

Only 13 days until we leave for the cruise!!!!!!!!!!

Earth day and sick days

2008-05-02T21:00:00.003-04:00

So i realize I have been slacking off on the blogging. I guess you can say I have writers block and just do not feel like writing. while I may not have as much fun at my new job as I did at my 2 previous positions, this is something kinda creative we did for Earth day. I tried posting this actually on earth day... but an error message popped up, I tried to fix it. It didn't work, so basically I just gave up and didn't feel like fighting. 2 days later.. tried again, same problem, so I gave up. The nice thing is that Blogger got it fixed while I was nicely ignoring the situation!

In case you can't tell what is in the picture. It is actually a blue recycling bin, made into an Orca Whale (again, ORCA is sorta of trademark in the office.. see a previous post). The project began with Jessie's idea to actually participate in the Earth Day contest. She and I came up with some creative idea.. and went to work. then we began to get some back-seat drivers telling us we should "do this, or do that", but no one was willing to help. The whole point was sorta lost. We wanted everyone to participate in creating our recycling orca, but instead it turned out to be a nice teamwork between Jessie and I. After people kept offering their ideas, we finally decided we were done and if people wanted to add things, they could, but we incorporated all of our ideas.

Orca had pictures of how to recycle and how to save the environment. Then the "water" piece of Orca had environmental careers that students could consider. We didn't win a prize.. but we were up against an "oscar the grouch" made out of mop heads in a tall recycling bin. I'm not sure we could beat that!

With the family we've been taking some sick time. Alexis was sent home Monday with a fever of 101.9, Bob stayed home with her. I picked Mia up that night and she had a temp of 100.1. We both took Tuesday off and kept the girls home to rest up. Turns out, poor Mia had a sinus infection, so she's on some antibiotics to get rid of that. Every time the girls get sick, seems Bob's catching it too. He called in sick today with a fever and a massive headache. I honestly can't remember the last time he stayed in bed, all day! He still has his sense of humor, claiming that the girls are plotting against him. :)

Our count down has started.. only 15 days until we leave for the cruise. Let's hope we are all feeling better!

Catching up...

2008-04-20T20:27:00.010-04:00

It's been a while since my last blog. Some good things have happened...

April 10-11- Teacher Recruitment Days in Buffalo... I loved this event at Cortland and helped coordinate it on the Cortland end. So being in Buffalo now was a little weird. We always heard about how they ran their TRD, but actually experiencing one was a different story. Leading up to the event, I was told, "this is so different than Cortland's event". In all honesty, it wasn't THAT different. Same basic concept, same types of forms, lots of volunteers, lots of students and lots of recruiters (some of which I remembered from my Cortland TRD days).

While at TRD, I got some wonderful news. The vice president granted me 3 years toward permanent appointment instead of just 1. For those who don't know, in the state system you can be granted permanent appointment after 7 years. When you switch institutions, the new institution can either give you nothing, or allow for some of your time to count toward permanent appointment. The rumor was that the VP here only grants 1 year, regardless of how long you've been in the state system. I wrote a memo and gave it to the associate VP requesting that 3 years (the max) be granted. I also include the contact information for my former supervisors and he called Nan. Thank you Nan for saying some wonderful things about me!

April 12- My friend Peach got married to a wonderful guy, Patrick. Peach and I have been friends since the 9th grade. i was one of the bridesmaids and since Bob knew the family so well, he became the "assistant to the mother of the bride". The weather wasn't exactly what we would have liked (considering the weather was 70 2 days before). We unfortunately had 50's and rain. The church didn't have the best lighting, so my pictures didn't come out too well. Hence, no alone picture of Peach & Patrick. We were able to stay dry, but we a little chilly, especially when we went up to Niagara Falls between the wedding and reception. We had a great time and got to see some old friends from high school too.

April 13- my recoup day from a VERY LONG WEEK... I didn't do much.

This past week, every day after work we were able to get the girls outside and playing. Mia just loves to be outside and gets quite excited in her swing. Alexis loves to play outside too. She wasn't too excited when i suggested we "explore the backyard". We have some woods/brush behind the house, and we really hadn't gotten a chance to go back there yet. Once we got back there though, she loved it.. and it was hard to keep up with her as she went under low trees saying "mommy follow me". I could only follow for so long and then told her I was short, but not as short as her!

April 18- Happy 30th Birthday Bob... we are both officially in our 30's! :) Also, Mia' first tooth finally popped through her little gums! She seems so much happier! And is also trying to figure out what is in her mouth.

We also had an excellent visit from our college friends Beth and Ron, and their little boy Ryan (14 months old). We went to the Buffalo Zoo yesterday. Mia & Ryan had their first carousel ride. Alexis and Mia rode together so I could hold onto them, and Ryan rode his own horse with Beth helping him. It was an excellent visit and sad when they left. They live about 6 hours away (downstate), so it's hard to see them. It's always nice that when you get together with old friends and you feel like you never missed a thing. We're hoping to plan a trip down there this summer. The kids really couldn't play too much together yet, but give them a couple years and I'm sure they'll play well together. Trying to get 3 kids to look at the camera and actually smile at the same time is nearly impossible!

A book meme

2008-04-09T08:28:00.002-04:00

OK, so Nan tagged me again :) this time, a book meme, here are the rules:

Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to Mickey once you have posted it.

The nearest book (as I'm sitting at work) is "Career Counseling: A Holistic Approach" by Vernon G. Sunker. It states:

"The point here seems to be that clients who are more collective oriented, that is, placing family before self, might be more concerned about how a career benefits the family. Also, clients might need immediate placement in a job to support their needs and plan to consider long-term goals in the future. Even though circumstances may determine goal direction, counselors and clients who confer on outcome goals within a relationship that has established trust and respect for each other have the better chance of agreeing on appropriate goals."

I wish I could say my reading was more exciting than that, but I'm doing some guided readings to begin formally "counseling" students (because apparently I haven't done that in any of my other jobs-- haha!)

Happy Spring!

2008-04-07T20:37:00.006-04:00

Spring is finally here... so it seems! We had an absolutely beautiful weekend and were able to spend lots of time outside. We're lucky both girls like to play outside. Mia can only play on a blanket or in her swing. Alexis runs all over the yard, but mostly likes to play in her sandbox. And this weekend Alexis got to fly her kite with daddy.

Mia had her 6 month check up. She's growing well and is in the 25 percentile for both her height and weight. She weighs 15 lbs 6 oz and 25 3/4 inches long.

I've been tagged by Nan to play along with this meme:
Write your own six word memoir. Post it on your blog, including an illustration if you’d like. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so that it can be tracked as it travels across the blogosphere. Tag at least five more blogs with links. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

Lynn's meme is: loving, stubborn, smile, dedicated, family, short

Bob's meme is: My family is driving me crazy!

I have no one left to tag because Donna has already been tagged (and played along), and Fred.... how about Meg?

My pictures are not cooperating this evening.. and I'm sick of fighting with them. So just enjoy :)

Look mommy, I'm feeding myself!

2008-04-01T20:19:00.004-04:00

About two weeks ago, Mia began grabbing into the spoon as we were feeding her. Sometimes we let her take spoon herself, other times we just tried to make sure she didn't grab it. When I was in Baltimore last week, Bob let her help with the spoon. Tonight I gave up the fight and let her feed herself.... I helped a little bit with a 2nd spoon. It worked very well, but she was very messy! Of course once she got on camera, she didn't want to scoop teh spoon, so I had to help her. But she is so proud of herself! And so are mommy & daddy!

Mia finally rolled over tonight. Was I there to see it? Nope, I had gotten up to throw a tissue in the garbage and I came back and she was on her back. I barely walked 5 feet away!!!! Oh well, she'll do it again soon. There have already been so many firsts and there are many more to come. They are just so fast at this age, you turn your head and their doing something new! Would she do it again (but on camera) so that daddy could see tonight when he got home from work... nope, she's just stubborn!

In honor of April Fools day, Alexis has begun telling jokes. Today, her school had dress silly day. When you see this clip, you know that I would never put this outfit together. The colors alone don't work, but you can't quite tell her pants and shirt are on backwards too. To school she even wore 1 hiking boot and 1 sneaker, she thought she was quite silly today and she said she was "being an April Fool". Below is a clip of her favorite joke. She told this one to my parents this weekend.. they got quite a little chuckle!

My New toy :)

2008-03-25T10:15:00.002-04:00

After lots of debating, I finally got a new toy. At my previous institution, I was lucky enough to have a director who supported me by providing me with a new PDA (actually 2 new PDA's, since I somehow broke the first one!) Anyway, here at Buffalo State, since we just moved to using the outlook calendar this semester, PDA's are not going to be supported unless we buy them ourselves.

After having a PDA, I never realized how much I would miss it when it was gone. While I don't go to a lot of meetings yet, I will hopefully get pretty involved. Bob and I began looking at PDA's and they were all pretty expensive. And I didn't like having to carry a PDA and my cell phone (can't go anywhere without it). So, the logical thing to do was to get either a blackberry or something similar.

Boy am I spoiled!!!! I ended up with a Samsung SCH- i760. I love it!!!! I will be able to sync my outlook calendar, check my email and use it as a phone.. create MS word documents! It is fantastic! I'm a really tech geek now!

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T20:34:00.003-04:00

Happy Easter. I don't have time for a long post, so thought I would just add a picture of the girls with the Easter Bunny. We had a good Easter. The Easter Bunny "tricked Alexis" (her words) and hid her basket in the oven and hid Mia's under an end table. The Easter bunny also hid some eggs with more candy and even some money in them (pennies, nickles, quarters)! We celebrated Easter with my family last night with a combined 13th birthday party for my cousin Chelsea. I honestly can't believe she is that old! Boy does time fly! I'll write more soon about our "girls day out" on Good Friday a little later.

Happy Birthday to me...

2008-03-16T11:52:00.004-04:00

Well, it's official, I'm 30 :) Bob told me I could still say I was 29 if I wanted! I won't be doing that. I guess it's not as bad as I thought it would be. My birthday was full of arguments with Alexis, and screams from Mia because her little teeth just will not come through. What more can a mom ask? My day nicely ended with getting the girls pictures taken, more so because Mia is 6 months old and I had to get her pictures taken.

My real birthday present will be sitting on the Carnival Valor in the Caribbean with John and Lisa, only 2 months away! Hitting up Nassau, Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Maarten! A little fun in the sun is exactly what we need after the last year of transitions. We leave on May 18 and return May 25. We cannot wait and know we are going to have tons of fun. The girls are staying with my parents and my cousin is going to be helping out. They'll still be going to daycare every day. This will be the longest time I've ever been away from them. Bob has been away before because of western fires. I'm a little nervous being away from them for so long. We'll be able to talk on the phone and send emails too.

ORCA

2008-03-05T21:09:00.004-05:00

I titled this "ORCA" which stands for Online Resource for Career Advancement, an online job posting system. The office has used the orca whale to market the job posting service and other events. I usually don't talk too much about work on here (but sometimes I talk about it too much). Anyway, we have a VERY talented student named John that works in our office. Next week is our spring job fair and John has created the following video for marketing to students. He had some help from Lisa (Associate Director) who is pretty creative as well. Thought you might enjoy this video... I know I did.

Then this fall, I will be planning the Part time Job Luau... Hawaiian themed with lots of fun games and of course employers looking to hire students. John did this video as well. I think he's pretty talented and we even have him for 1 more year! I can't wait to begin planning this event.

Amy's Slumber Party

2008-03-02T19:45:00.013-05:00

This year was the 5th annual Amy's Slumber Party sponsored by 93Q, a radio station in Syracuse. We have been trying to get a room for the last 4 years, and finally this year we were able to join in the party. It wouldn't have been possible if it hadn't been for Lisa calling for 3 hours straight! You have to stay at the hotel, 4 women to a room and you get admission into the party, along with matching night shirts, food and lots of coupons. Here, we are all modelign our night shirts! We had no idea what to expect, but knew the website mentioned things like manicures, pedicures, massages and lots of booths selling various products.

I went with Lisa, Erin and Jeannine, friends of John & Lisa's that I knew from their wedding. We check in and start the evening off with some drinks! Then went down to sign up for our pedicures and massages. There were just a ton of women! I didn't think I would run into anyone I knew, but then Tracy showed up. Many of you know Tracy because she used to work in Alumni Affairs, she was there with Jackie, who used to work in Advisement. It was their first time going to the Slumber Party too. They plan to go next year too!

After a few drinks in the room we headed down to the main ballroom where Letizia and the Z Band were playing all night long. They were awesome. I had always heard good things about them, but had never actually seen them play. Letizia came onto the main floor and while singing and never missing a beat got her picture taken with a ton of fans... including me! :) Then as I was walking away, she tapped me on the shoulder and got this great picture of the 4 of us (see below)

You can imagine thtat when you get that many women together, the night can be pretty crazy! We dance the night away... had a great time... not like some women, and we are looking forward to next year. I can't reveal too much more about the night because just like Vegas...

What happens at Amy's Slumber party... Stays at Amy's Slumber Party!

Ranger Bob lives on...

2008-02-27T12:23:00.004-05:00

When we first were living in CNY, many of the local fire departments only knew bob as Ranger Bob, mention his last name and they had no clue who you were talking about. Even Alexis' teachers called him Ranger Bob. Among other rangers, he is known as Rocket Rogers because when he's hiking, he leaves everyone in the dust.

Bob decided to join the local volunteer fire department now that we are settled. He went out on his first call about a week ago, older woman with chest pains not too far from our houses. Anyway, he gets there and sure enough there is another Bob in the department. Sorta happens when you have a common name. He made the "mistake" of telling a few fire department members, "Oh, just call me Ranger Bob, that's what they used to call me at the old department I was with." Well, if he didn't want to be known as Ranger Bob, then he shouldn't have told anyone because a couple nights ago he went to a meeting and to get more gear. This department has A LOT more money than the previous department he was with. He has an official coat that says "West Valley EMS" as a bag with a bunch of first aid stuff in it that he keeps right in his truck and they are getting him a name badge. They asked him what he wanted on it "Robert or Bob" and a lady said "No, it has to say Ranger Bob" So it's official, I don't think he'll ever get rid of the Ranger Bob nickname.

He's only been on a couple calls so far, but he really likes what he is doing with this department. He has been the first to respond 2 or 3 times now and really feels he's making a difference, not only because he is the first one on the scene but also because he can put names, faces or relatives with some of the victims. In CNY, they always had TLC ambulance service responding as well. Here, the department has its own transport service. Because we live good distance from the fire station, Bob typically goes right to the scene and the WV ambulance soon follows. At least that's what's happened the last few times.

The department also likes him because he has his interior fire fighting certificate and only about 7-8 guys in the department actually have that. He went out to a house fire the other night (turned out to be just a chimney) and the chief said "I don't have to tell you what to do, if you see something, just go ahead and do what needs to be done" Then Bob found out that there were only a few actually qualified to go inside a burning building. The other nice thing is that this FD has a ladder truck! In the previous department, if there was a chimney fire, they had to get an extension ladder and have someone hold the ladder while someone else got up on it to take care of the fire.

Alexis cannot wait to go see this fire station! She keeps telling Bob that she needs to go there because "I never been there daddy."