What a trooper.

Not even the swine flu could keep my little Bugga from helping Pop stack the firewood.  With a little motrin he was good to go...at least for a little while. 

Please stand by...

...we're experiencing technical difficulties.
I've been trying for the last hour to get 1...that's right, I said ONE...photo to upload with no success.  I'm thinking husband and I may have to have a chat about increasing our speed here.  This just isn't going to work for me.
Rest assured, I'll keep trying.  Pics coming soon.  And they're really cute, too.  :(

I DID IT!!!!!!!

I DID IT!!!!!  I DID IT!!!!!!

I FIGURED IT OUT ALL BY MYSELF!!!!!!

See?  Do you see what I'm talking about?

It's the formatting.  I have been trying for the better part of a year to get the formatting right.  Every time I would create a post I spent A LOT of time getting the spacing just right and laying everything out the way I wanted it.  But then I would publish the post and it would all run together as if I had not spent any time at all.

It was INFURIATING!!!!!!  Just look back at some of my old posts and you can see how frustrated I was.  But not any more.  :)

Tonight I told my genius of a husband about the problem that I've been having for OVER A YEAR, and he says, "Oh yeah.  You just have to......"  (This is where he loses me.)

But somewhere in there I caught the words "page break" so I did a little hunting.  And I FOUND the right setting!!!  **clicking my heels**

So ok, maybe I didn't do it COMPLETELY by myself, but he was in the other room when it happened, so I'm taking all the credit.  :)

Zoe

If you know me at all, you know that I am ALL ABOUT being fair!! What I do for one, I do for the other, so here is your Zoe update.

Man, does that girl make me proud. She is so strong and she's so not afraid to do things. I envy her, and wish I could be more like her. At 7, she is already such an amazing person!!! She truly takes life by the horns and LIVES every minute!! I love her, and I want to be just like her when I grow up. Enjoy.....

Here we are, about to test for our brown belts. Doing a little pre-test clowning around!!

Mid test...not exactly sure what she's doing, but she sure looks sweet doing it!

Pull back press.

She looks completely enamored with her fingers here! LOL!!

She's got COLOR!!!!

The proud pair!

This is at the cabin near Penn State. We figured we'd try staying there before and after the game, and it worked out perfectly. I'm sure we'll be doing that again next season!

Gettin' some wiggles out before the game.

It was REALLY COLD that day!

Posing in front of her bunk. It was the first time either of the kids ever slept in a bunk bed, and they thought it was the coolest thing ever! Mommy thought the guard rails were the coolest thing ever. ;)

Zoe and Daddy...she is SUCH a Daddy's girl!!

We took Harry for a walk down the farm road, one of his favorite places! Don't they look so sweet here? It was picture day at school...the matching outfits were NOT planned!

Settling in to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" together.

Mommy and Zoe...I LOVE that girl!!

FH

So much has been going on with him, where do I even begin? My baby is no longer a baby...he's a big boy, and he's PROUD of it!!! This child enjoys life with such unabashed joy, we should all take a lesson from him. He's amazing, and proud doesn't begin to describe how I feel to be his mommy.

He recently started kindergarten, and with the beginning of school came the beginning of soccer. Words just can't describe the fun he's having, so I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Enjoy...I know I sure do!!!



Drawing a self-portrait at his kindergarten open house.

Signing his name on the question of the day.

Making a tornado.

Science with Daddy...how unusual! ;)

He read that whole book to Daddy!!

I should have know that eventually they'd make their way to the Lego table.

His first day of school. sniff, sniff

He was so excited he barely remembered to turn around and wave.

Just hangin' around.

I don't know what it is, but there's something about this picture that I just L-O-V-E, LOVE!! Look how long and lean he looks!!

I think you can really see his pride in this picture.

I love the look on his face in this one...he's completely into this game!!!

OK...

It would appear that the formatting issues I was having before are still there, so I may play around with the formats...please bear with me!!!

I'm baaaaaaaaack!!!

It's been a while...I think i just needed a little break. I was WAY over committed last year, and I needed some time to decompress.
See, I was under the impression that I could do it all. That I could literally do everything. That I could be the good mom, the good wife, the good student, the good volunteer...and on, and on, and on some more.
But that just isn't possible. No single person can do it all. And now I see that.
So now I'm back, and I am more sure of what is important to me. I'll be taking more time to check in with some of my favorite blogs, my crafting, and maybe I'll even spend a little time in the kitchen. (Oh! The horror!!)
Just kidding...when it's on my terms, I actually enjoy being in the kitchen. Especially in the winter time when I've got a fire going and a nice hot pot of tea close by. :)
Look for pics tomorrow!!

Please, please, please.

Someone tell me what I'm doing wrong.


I'm going to pull my hair out if I don't figure this out.


I can't imagine what I am doing differently that everyone else.


I've even tried changing my template to templated that other people are successfully using.

Obviously that hasn't worked.


**BIG SIGH**

OK...the last try didn't work, so I'm giving it another shot.

What's that they always say..."If at first you don't succeed try, try again."

Patience and persistence.

I'm thinking maybe I had the wrong screen.

Let's give this one a whirl. Wish me luck.

I'm playing.

I should be doing stuff for tonight's girl scout meeting, but I'm playing with my blog instead.


I'm still struggling with the layout of each blog. I spend a great deal of time arranging pictures and making sure that the spacing is just so.

And a soon as I click on "publish post" it all goes to hell in a handbasket. And it's starting to make me really nuts.

It's driving me crazy to read everyone else's blog and have them look normal, while mine looks like a mashed up mess.


So please bear with me while I try to figure it out. I just changed some setting...no idea which one...so we'll see if that works. If not, I'll try again.

And if you're reading this and you have ANY idea of how to help me, please let me know. It's going to make me crazy until I figure it out.

My boy

Well, since I posted the other day about how much FH was driving me crazy, I feel compelled to post today about how amazing that kid is. I had some MAJOR running around to do today, and ended up having to be in the car for about 4 hours. And unfortunately for FH, today was not a preschool day. Well, that boy was just such a trooper! He never complained, not even once! He chilled with the DVD player and watched a couple of movies and was an absolute prince! At one point he was watching a movie and I heard him say, "Oh no. Not AGAIN!" When I inquired his response was, "I'm hungry, AGAIN!"
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!



I said to him, "Lucky for you, you have a smart mommy who had a feeling that this was going to happen! I packed pretzles, goldfish and a sweet and salty bar...which would you like?" (He chose pretzles AND a sweet and salty bar!)


Seriously, he was incredible, and I wanted to balance the "less managable day" post with a post about how wonderful he is. I love that boy!

PROUD MOMMY MOMENT!!!!

OK, I really need to share this with all of you. Zoe just participated in her school project fair with her friend, Diana...they did a project on the Chinese Zodiac. (Zoe wants to study China, and Diana was adopted from China, so it seemed a good fit!) Being the crafty little girls that they are, we came up with a couple of activities that would put those talents to good use. When I tell you that they worked hard, I mean they worked HARD! We had 3 "playdates" where they did nothing but work on these activities! First, they used clay to make a mold of each of the "cast of characters." (There are 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac.) While they dried, they painted a mask for each animal. Then they painted the clay animals, and then they decorated the masks.

For the mask decorations they used ALL KINDS of goodies! They used A LOT of glitter, plain pipe cleaners, striped pipe cleaners, pom poms and colorful feathers. They had a BALL!!!

We mounted the masks on a tri-fold posterboard. Next to each mask we put a printout of each animal. We listed the animal name, the chinese symbol for that animal, and some of the characteristics associated with that particular animal. We also listed animal compatibility. Way cool.

The girls also put together a Chinese Zodiac word search for people to take with them. They didn't need any guidance from me on how to do this! I did the actual entering of info into the computer, but they are the ones who told me what to enter.

The girls put in roughly about 15 hours working on this project. I am beyond proud of the 2 of them. They worked hard, and they produced amazing results. What a wonderful life lesson. While the pictures hardly do the real thing justice, I hope that you enjoy them anyway. Here are some of my favorites.

Oh, FH wanted to get in on the action, too.....

Here is the posterboard that sat on the card table.

The Monkey

The Rabbit

The Dragon

The Snake

The Tiger

The Rooster

Here they are, the cast of characters!

The Monkey (I think this might be my personal favorite. Maybe...it's so hard to decide!)

The Tiger

The Rat (Look at the arms, and the tail! How clever are these girls?! This one is also in the running for my favorite!)

Look at me!

Here I am posting for the 3rd consecutive day!! I'm sure Dodi's heart has stopped, so someone may need to check in on her.
=========================================
I think FH may have a bit of "cage rage." He's driving me absolutely nuts today. He won't let me out of his sight, he has something to say about EVERYTHING, he's being very whiny, and he's also jumping all over the place!!!! I keep trying to convince him to go play outside, but there's no one home for him to play with, and he doesn't want to go. This boy is so ready for kindergarten. And so am I. I'm going to take him to the gym so we can both go burn off some steam. Better feed him first. He's been eating me out of house and home lately! I'm hoping he's about to grow. Because if this is the norm for him, I'm going to have to go get a job just to pay for his groceries!!

Well....

I may not get to the pictures today. I've been wrapped up in trying to find Dodi's favorite flower so I can win her contest. See her blog here. You should try it. It's such a cute idea! And the competitive side of me is coming out in full force! I know I could convince her to make me one of the prizes, even if I don't win the contest. But I would really like to win. Just sayin'.
So I had a Girl Scout planning meeting with my co-leaders this morning, and now I'm off for a kid-free trip to the grocery store.
Then I'll be back here working my fingers to the bone to try to finish a baby gift that I've been working on for about 2 months now. Unfortunately I didn't start the blanket until the day before the baby was born. (Bad Amy!) Time is just such a precious commodity to me these days. Can't wait until June. Just can't wait until June when all of my commitments will be finished.
But I digress...I'm going to work really hard to finish this blanket quickly so this poor little baby can have his blanket before he goes off to college!!! Wish me luck!
Lots of love!!!!

Oops!

Can't believe it's really been 2 months since my last post! No wonder Dodi is giving me such a hard time about not posting!
OK, I'll get to it. I promise. Tomorrow I am going to download pictures and post and I'll update you then. Today I just don't have enough time. :(
Unfortunately that seems to be the norm these days. June. I just have to wait to June. That's when several of my commitments will end, and I'll have a little bit more time on my hands.
I do happen to have a mile-long list of things that I want to do, but I'll be better able to get to more of it in June.
Until tomorrow........lots of love!

SNOW DAY!!!!

Today, for the first time since Zoe entered the public school system, school has been canceled due to weather. Last night we got a couple of inches of snow, but the icy wintry mix has been falling on top of it for a few hours now. I suppose it's not going to get any better, and that's why they closed the schools...which means that I have both kids home with me today. What fun we're going to have! I'm of the mindset that EVERY kid should have a few snow days! I have great memories of that moment...you know the one. When you realize that you get to stay home on a day you should be going to school? I wish you could have seen Zoe's face when that moment hit her...it was precious!
As soon as/IF it stops raining we'll go outside and sled and play in the snow. But for now the kids are "rockin' the party" (to quote Zoe) in Zoe's room with the Camp Rock CD. So I thought I'd take a minute to post some recent pics.
You'll have to forgive me. I haven't really figured out the formatting of the blog, and I'm not sure I ever will. So just ignore how boring my blog looks, and enjoy the pictures!

Skating with the kids.

More skating.

She didn't go down!

Some backyard fun!

Kids sledding, neighbors ice skating...all kinds of fun!

What good is snow if you can't catch it on your tongue?

The sled gives Harry something good to chase.

Harry loves the snow, too!

My angel baby.

More backyard fun.

I love this dog!!

I love these kids, too!!

Zoe

FH

Doing science experiments with Daddy...yes, this really happens ALL THE TIME in my house!!

Listening to Daddy.

I'm not sure what they were doing here.

I swear I didn't pose her...she was really looking at something through the magnifying glass.

Looking at what they could make.

Picking out the right stuff to use.

Observation begins.

He's gotta have his turn, too!

Zoe tells me all the time that she wants to be a scientist...I think she's on the right path!