Geez oh Petes!

Wow I am bad at this blogging thing! lol! I am not as tuned into this as Sabrina and Tracy!

Fast post for now.

Alex pitched his entire season! Every game, every inning! Yeah I need to add that up. No wonder his arm still hurts.

Aubrie: we went to her DARE banquet. It was fun! She has a call back with a modeling agency. Yikes! :)

Hallie: Did great in school and is ready for another year.

Maddie: Sweet as always. REady to lose her two front teeth!!!

Kaitlyn: 4 going on 15. Yeah. Fun. Ya know the Dell "Lollipop" commercial? She wants the Blue one! lol!

Isabelle: Too smart for her own good.

Rylee: Still innocent at four months. Not too long till Belle corrupts her...... ;)

Took our much awaited trip to FL. It was so fun. Great house, good times, it was really a dream trip.

Till next time... hopefuly sooner rather than later.....

A Sad Day

I am typing one handed this evening so bear with me if things seem cut short. (babies in arms do that to you. Rylee is a party animal tonight. Apparently she is a TGIF girl!)

One of Mike's grandmas passed away last night. She had advanced Alzheimer's, but was relatively young for the diagnosis. I guess we all knew the day would come, but it always shocks you. How do you prepare for death? I don't think you can.

He has been pretty upset all day. He couldn't even call me to tell me she passed he was crying so hard. This is the closest relative he has had pass. His Great Grandma Sachowski was the last relative he was close to and that was in 2002. It's made it hard on me because it is bringing back all the memories and pain from when my mom died. I guess I had started moving past those feelings and now they seem to be flaring up again.

At least it was a beautiful day. Had it been rainy and gloomy I think it would have been harder to deal with.

The kids seemed to be indifferent about it. Alex and Aubrie new her better than the rest and they seemed saddened by it. Hallie remembered going to see her in the nursing home when she was still pretty lucid.

"Grandma D", you will be so missed. Your art work, your laugh, your wittiness. You lit up a room with that megawatt smile. We know now you are whole. You are you again. You are free. We love you...............

It's Been A While

Well the blog is still here. How quickly I stopped posting my everyday thoughts. I found my way back after reading my cousin's blog on her recovery from being hit by a truck.

Maybe I will start again. Maybe not. I miss it, but not sure if I have the time. I was surprised to see that people still visit. I apologize to those of you who have "stopped by" looking for new posts.

So much has happened since my last post. Our new baby, Rylee Grace, was born on March 14th. She is such a beautiful baby. I am so in love with her as is everyone else. The kids are all doing well. Baseball season is about to start for Alex. Aubrie just won a county wide essay contest for the D.A.R.E. program and we will be attending a dinner and awards ceremony next month for her. Hallie is enjoying being a part of the Gifted and Talented Program. They did Mentos/Diet Coke Fountains last week. How fun is that? Madeline is getting over yet another bout of tonsillitus. Thank God we go to the ENT in two weeks. She needs those darn things OUT! She is enjoying school (as always.) Kaitlyn is getting so smart it just amazes me daily. She will be four in July and just seems so much older. Isabelle, ah, Isabelle. Our Isadevil on some days. She is a complete crack up. I get a good dose of laughter each day just because of Isabelle. She is such her own little person. She adores Rylee to pieces.

The two year anniversary of my Mom passing was on March 31st. It was a quiet day. I think I underestimated what my emotions would be like after just having a baby. It really sucks to be only 30 and have a new baby and your Mom is gone. I had a rough patch in the hospital just after we had Rylee and another one the 31st. I knew it would be hard, but never what it has been. I find myself saying again that she is supposed to be here. Ugh, gotta stop thinking about it.

We had snow this morning when we woke up! It is April 6th! It's not supposed to snow! Thank goodness the sun came out and has melted much of it. I am glad I cut my daffodils to arrange yesterday. The ones left outside are all wilted now.

Disappointed in the Vote

Well, I was really hoping McCain would pull it off, but sadly America didn't listen to all of the bad things swirling around Obama and the secrets he is hiding. This is going to be a long tough four years for the American people that's for sure. How can people elect someone who really has no experience? I don't understand this. No you demos, its not scare tactics from the republicans, ITS THE TRUTH! Why are simple documented truths of what he has done, who he has contact with, and who he is advised by okay with you people?! Why if the truth is spoken do democrats go bonkers on someone saying they are spewing lies and such? BECAUSE THE TRUTH HURTS. It scares me the level they have raised him up to, I have even heard the term Messiah. Sorry, I have a savior, I wanted a president!!

I hate to bring race into this, but I have seen it come into play first hand already since he was declared president elect. While at a local McDonald's I was waiting in line when a white woman was given the wrong order. She complained to the black cashier and the cashier proceeded to say very loudly "NOW THAT WE HAVE OUR BLACK PRESIDENT YOU WHITE PEOPLE BETTER START GIVEN US SOME RESPECT." Needless to say I was flabbergasted as were several others in the restaurant. Some even walked out, both black and white. Why did she feel that was necessary to say in the first place, let alone over a meal complaint? Is she that ignorant that she doesn't realize many of the white people in that McDonald's probably voted for Obama too? It is not the educated population I am worried about, it's the uneducated ones, obviously people like this cashier at McDonald's. This is 2008 people, who cares if he is black, white, orange or yellow. But it's the ones who are feeling there is some sense of entitlement that worry me.

Now that I have that off my chest......

I go to the doctor today for my 20 week appointment. I am sure it will be uneventful. It should be interesting if she can find the heartbeat this time. We shall see.

My Creative Ideas for Halloween (Food Ideas At Least)

Last year I started doing fun things for the kids on Halloween before Trick or Treating. Basically just fun "Halloween" food, but it makes the day more special. Last year I made Goblin Pudding Cups, Mummy Dogs, and Snake Fries. I made out a spooky looking menu on Word and hung it up in the kitchen. We used our Halloween table cloth and I had bought Halloween paper plates and napkins. Everyone got a kick out of it.

This year I am making Mummy Dogs again (they are just too cute), Snake Fries, Pumpkin Pizza, Ghost Cookies, and Ghoul Punch. I have several "spooky" music tracks I have downloaded from itunes for background music and today I will print out the menu to hang tomorrow. I also have Halloween plates and napkins again and of course our table cloth.

Snake fries are just curly fries with a fun name. Here are the recipes I use.

MUMMY DOGS

*8-10 Hot Dogs

* One tube crescent rolls

*mustard

*Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 375*. Unroll crescent dough and separate at perforations making 4 rectangles. With a knife cut each rectangle into 10 strips lengthwise. Use about 4 strips of dough for each hot dog, wrapping the hot dog to look like bandages, stretching the dough a bit. Near the top of the hot dog separate the bandages so you can make a face after baking.

Place each hot dog on ungreased cookie sheet and spray lightly with cooking spray. Bake 13-17 minutes until dough is golden. After baking use mustard to make a face for your mummy!

GOBLIN PUDDING CUPS (Makes 4, I double the recipe)

*1 square baking chocolate

*2 Cups Cold Milk

*5-6 drops green food coloring

*1 package (4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding

*8 Oreo cookies crushed

*4 clear 5oz plastic cups

Melt chocolate in microwave as directed. Using a small paintbrush, paint a spooky face with the chocolate on the inside of the cup. Refrigerate until hardened and ready to use.

Add milk and food coloring to pudding mix. Beat until well blended and pour into each cup. Top each evenly with the crushed cookies. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

PUMPKIN PIZZA

*Frozen cheese pizza, any brand

*Shredded Cheddar cheese or Parmesan cheese.

*If using parm, a drop or two of food coloring to tint the cheese orange.

*Halloween cookie cutters or cut out shapes for a jack o'lantern out of cardboard for a template.

Bake pizza according to directions.

When pizza comes out of the oven, place open topped cookie cutters or use your jack o'lantern template on the pizza. Sprinkle your cheese and remove the cutter carefully to reveal your design.

I have also seen this done with cheese singles. Cut the singles into triangles and a pumpkin mouth to create a pumpkin pizza.

GHOUL PUNCH (Makes about 10 servings)

*2 cups boiling water

*1 package (8 serving size) lime jello

*2 Cups orange juice

*1 litre of seltzer

*ice cubes

*1 pint orange sherbet, softened

Pour boiling water into jello mix, stir until dissolved. Stir in oj and let cool until close to room temperature.

Pour into punch bowl just before serving. Add seltzer and ice, stir.

Add scoops of the sherbet and serve!

GHOST COOKIES

*6oz white baking chocolate

*18 Nutter Butter Cookies

*Black decorating gel

Melt chocolate in microwave according to directions.

Spread melted chocolate on one side of each cookie. Cool slightly.

Using decorating gel draw faces on your ghosts.

It's Another Girl!

We had our mid pregnancy ultrasound yesterday and got the news I should have expected I guess! We are having another daughter! I was a bit sad about it, but it's growing on me. As another LF mom said to me, I am sad for the loss of my hope for a boy, not sad about the fact it is a healthy baby girl. I guess it is a good thing I kept that receipt for that 100% Baby Boy shirt I bought.

Baby looks healthy as far as we were told. She is weighing in at 11oz, which average weight for 19 weeks is 8.5oz. Combine that with her length and measurements, they decided my due date should change to March 20th, nearly a week sooner than before. Hey, that's okay by me! This is the second time it has been bumped up. At my 16 week U/S they changed it from March 25th to March 23rd. Now its gone from March 23rd to March 20th. So yeah, almost a week from the original edd.

The kids were all a bit disappointed it was a girl, but by afternoon seemed to have moved past it. Alex as always wasn't surprised it was a girl, though he was holding onto that sliver of hope that he would finally get his long awaited brother. And they are all aware this is the last, so no hopes of a brother in the future.

Now for the name game. We have exhausted all of our favorite girl names so this one will be tough.