Tidbits

Here are a few things that have been keeping us a little entertained.  First, Wayne made this awesome cardboard stroller for a gal at our work who was expecting.  Some of us had pitched in to get her a double but I had to order it.  So Wayne built this so we could have something to give her.  Very handy, that husband of mine!

And I was able to join Willa for her snow day at school.  The snow was very wet but the kids didn't seem to care one lick.  God bless her teachers, Lord knows I could not do what they do every day.

Even the cat is finding ways to ease the Winter doldrums.  This is our neighbors cat who actually does get along quite nicely with everyone but Possum.  Dave, the cat on the car, is more of a dog-cat.  He frequently tries to get in our house and will jump into the car if you leave the doors open too long.  But he's good-natured and funny and evidently was missing Sneakers.

And this was this morning.  Wayne was at work when I had to get Denver on the bus.  The bus does not stop at our house so instead of dragging all 3 to the bus stop I try to minimize any possible dangers and try to time it so I'm not out of the house for very long.  Clearly I should have just put Ady in her crib since this is what I got back to after the bus had come.  She was completely zonked, poor thing.  She's been picking up every little sniffle the girls bring home.  But in her it's not a little sniffle, it's full blown disgusting colds. I fully blame the older two for breathing at school and then continuing to breathe here after they get home. This more than anything makes me want Summer here now. 

Cabin Fever, a Little Early

Usually this boredom and restlessness comes more towards March. But what can I say, I'm impatient by nature so I guess I decided to hurry it along.

Ugh.

This is the kind of feeling that usually gets me into trouble. This aimless restlessness that makes me want to do something, anything different.

Last time I was this bored, I bought 33 vending machines. Not kidding. I got sold, I'll admit. It was a bright idea(possibly my brightest). Start my own business, be my own boss, get these machines in awesome locations and service them on my schedule. Grandpa was getting older and I could tell he would need more of my presence at home. A perfect fit. And being that I am a 100% kind of gal, I could not go small. So yes, please, send me 33 of these lovely darlings. I had a frantic change of heart and tried very hard to get out of any, but ended up with 5. 4 sit unused in my basement. I still think it's a great idea, just I never seem to have the time to try and place them. On the off chance that you'd like to buy one or would like one at your business, just let me know;)

Boredom to me, can have significant consequences.


So I will try to focus my itchy entrepreneurial self into my other business. (I sell Lia Sophia for those of you who don't know) It is fun and nothing I could have ever predicted for myself. It helps fill in the cracks of our pocketbook and also helps keep me part-time instead of full-time at work. Plus, I get A LOT of jewelry. And it's tax-deductible. I still, after 2 1/2 years now doing this, have trouble with self-promotion. But if any of you are dying to have a party, let me not deter you and encourage you to check out what we have to offer at my website. There, I typed it. That wasn't so hard, was it?

Ugh.

I hate self-promotion.

But I do love the bling.

It is cold here in Upstate New York. Similar to last January, the temperatures here are brutal. And the SNOW! We need more snow like a hole in the head. You can see how much we've gotten from the pile that's on the girls' playhouse in our backyard.

Oh Spring, if only you weren't so far away.

To keep us warm we've begun planning this summers' vacation. This year we will again be renting a house, this time in Virginia Beach. The house is huge but since we have about 20 people going, it needs to be. Not that I want to wish time away but I wouldn't mind a little fast forward button just now.

So to occupy our time, we play with the VCR,

read the newspaper,

and spin in circles.

And in general, try to enjoy each others company.

Spring seems a lifetime away. If we are lucky, February will give us snow with some milder temperatures so we can possibly introduce skiing or snowboarding to the girls. Maybe.

National Museum of Play

One of the coolest places in Rochester is the Strong National Museum of Play. Even if you were over the age of 12, it would still be cool. Over the Christmas break, we had a chance to meet up with some very old friends(like back in the day when Wayne and I weren't even dating) and check out the Lego exhibit they have right now. Going over a school break was crazy. The museum was PACKED. And while it's completely cool, I am always afraid I will lose a child or two because it is really set up to inspire children, with little nooks and crannies and places that are kid-sized and not really adult sized and in the blink of an eye, they are gone. Fine if it's not too busy but when everyone else in Rochester is there too, it gets a little hairy.

I may get carried away here with the pics but this artist is amazing! Nathan Sawaya, to give credit where credit is due, is his name. And everything is made out of Legos. It was really cool to see.

The kids LOVE the museum since EVERYTHING is hands on here. And they continually update and change some of the exhibits. There a super-hero section and the cute little boy we were with informed me quite seriously, that he was indeed a super hero and his super-hero talent was to run super fast. It is always educational to see how boys play. My kids really could have cared less for the super hero part but little Noah was enchanted and talked at length about each part of that section. When I told him my kids wanted to check out the Berenstein Bears section he replied, "Well, ok, but I can actually tell you, it's pretty boring." I love 4 yr. olds.

New for us was the arcade room where every guest gets 4 tokens and they have all the old school arcade games. This was an introduction for me since, like most girls, I did not grow up playing arcade games. I think Wayne could have stayed in there all day.

It is interesting to see how the girls respond to video games. Our house, being more into pink things and dolls, we do not own a game system of any kind and Wayne and I often wonder if it would benefit the girls to at least have a working knowledge of the game systems out there. Denver has to be cajoled into trying a game. She really hates to fail, so trying something new and unfamiliar, without knowing how to be successful at it, really stretches her as a person. Willa, being 180 degrees the other way, wanted to play everything and did not mind losing a game within the first 10 seconds. Ady had no opinion.

There is also a kid sized Wegmans. For those of you not from the area, Wegmans is the very best grocery store ever! The kids get to shop for stuff, scan and check out their own purchases, and then reshop their items so everything stays organized and ready for the onslaught of more children. They also had a little pretend set where the kids can make-believe they are running their own cooking show.

We had such a fun time there. And it was fun to get together with old friends.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

OOhhh, goody, goody, goody, I'm back in business. I avoided the external hard drive issue by cleaning up some of my photo files. Eliminating duplicate files and getting rid of shots that were so blurry, I couldn't tell who was in the picture. I love to postpone spending money on not fun things whenever I can.

I almost don't know where to start. There are these gems from Christmas I simply must post. Again, I might add that I LOVE my new flash.








And this one is from right before we left my Aunts house to call it a night. I really feel like it sums up the feelings of 3 overtired girls after a long day of over stimulation.

A few days after Christmas we gathered again at the Hilton Spindlers b/c their daughter, Rebecca, who lives in NYC, was in town. She was not able to make it in time for Christmas so we did a family rewind so that she could enjoy the Holiday with everyone.There was even a token offering to the potato launcher(promise I'll get a pic up asap). My wonderful nephew Tyler is holding Spudnik. Destined to be the first potato fired from the launcher.Next post will have some great shots from one of the coolest places in Rochester.

So Long 2009-Come on in 2010

Not sure what photos I'll use in this post since I still am unable to download new ones:( But I will take only a few moments to say farewell to 2009. It was a year. Not a great one. Almost not even average. But I will always love this year since it brought our 3rd little gem. And she is delightful. Crawling now and showing some of her own personality. And I thank Heaven that they are all healthy, that the worst 09 brought us was a case of croup and a few bouts of Pink Eye.

But in other ways this year was hard. With things I will not blog about, sad hard things that happened around us. Where we were called on to be the support for others' hard times. It is not the same as having the hard things happen to us directly, but it is challenging to have those around you in pain, physical or emotional. So for that part of 09 I can say,(in a whisper voice so the kids don't hear and repeat)-suck it!

I want these hard times of our friends and family to be gone. To be wiped clean. I want 2010 to come in like the first Spring wind, when you can tell the Winter chill is gone, when you can't stop going outside because everything around you knows what's coming and they are all so excited, from the birds, to the bulbs. Everything fairly radiates with the energy of Spring. That's what I want from 2010.

Does that sound too demanding? Too much pressure for a mere year? Ahh, but it is a double-digits celebration this year. From 9 to 10. So it is ok to have high expectations.

There are some goals I did not meet.

I have not volunteered at any Nursing Homes. Sad b/c there is one right down the street.
I cringe when I write this, but I STILL have not made a formal Will.
I did not once make it back on the ballroom floor.

But I think we did maintain a spirit of Thankfulness in our household. The economy slowed our work down considerably, but of any year when we could have appreciated more time at home and less at work, it would have been this year. #3, delightful as she is, makes everything harder to do. Not so much her personally, just the actual amount of children. It complicates things. In a good way, but complicates it none-the-less.
And this year we became homeowners. And with the bad economy, we still were able to reduce our debt(as long as you don't count the mortgage).

So for 2010- I will have a Will drawn up.
I will continue to have a Spirit of Thankfulness.
I will eat 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day(rather hard to do if you've ever tried to count and keep track).
I will give more, more of my time and more of my resources.
I will try to connect sincerely with those around me, resisting the urge to make everything about me.
I will try very hard to dance.
I will be at least a little more organized than last year(that can't be too hard to do since last year wasn't exactly orderly in this house).
I will try 2 new recipes out of the Food Network magazine every month.
I will clean more.
I will find a Dr. I like.

I better stop there. It's starting to get long and that can sometimes mean unrealistic. There are other things I'd like to focus on. And maybe I'll write about them later. Maybe I will make January a month of self reflection and future planning.