wow its been so long since i posted i actually forgot my username and password! shame on me! i haven't been getting up at 6am anymore lately - i've been going to bed later and waking up later - i have no idea how this new routine happened! maybe it's american idol, maybe it was Top Chef - but Top Chef is now over so i shouldnt be getting to bed so late :) anyhow.. its still cold here... but we're looking like some nice temps in the 50s this weekend - warm warm stuff for us!! don't forget to spring forward (sunday i think??)

kids are good, ava getting taller and more mature all the time, vann is kind of like a little tornado around here - he is always getting into something, and keeping us in stitches all the time. he is a natural at being persuasive - he gets that from his dad. he is a sweet talker! we could just eat him up. I think they are getting restless at being indoors so much this winter - its most definitely our coldest winter (that i remember) up here - and keeping Vann indoors is hard to do! he loves to be outside - so i cant wait for spring to be sprung so we can get out more. the new playground at our park up the street is finished so we'll be spending lots of time there i'm sure.

we are all busy with work, with fixing up the house still (does it ever end?) and i'm not looking forward to Ava's Kindergarten year to end. i've heard the homework and academics start getting serious in first grade! yikes! she loves to read and has been practicing songs on a little keyboard we have at home. music is definitely her favorite class at school.

more later :) maybe i'll even get my schedule changed so i will be up earlier again! with our clocks turning forward i'm doubting that will happen real soon though...

happy birthday Jayme! we are all healthy here though Vann has a cold. Looks like low 20s for a high today and windy! but i am thrilled to see a 50 degree day coming on Sunday -- we've never had a winter like this - almost constant snow since November and so cold! Our lake down the street has had ice skaters practically the entire month of January. Ava really wants to try out ice skating - we don't have skates so we may head to a local indoor rink where she can rent a pair. Right now she's not interested in taking any after-school classes or sports, so no need in buying skates this year! She's doing great in school, reading everything that is put in front of her -- she has a school read-a-thon starting Friday that lasts for 3 weeks - the kids set goals in minutes of reading time and if they meet their goals, they win a prize. I am sponsoring her at 10cents a minute! its amazing with our property taxes so high here, we still have lots of fundraising activities throughout the year to help support the school. the parents have to buy cups, napkins, snacks, etc. for the classroom! and with budget problems this year, it will be even more up to volunteers and parents to pitch in.

This weekend will be Vann's 2nd birthday party. We're just having a few friends over for dinner and cake and ice cream afterwards -- he picked out Elmo for his theme (Melmo as he calls him). And i'll be making one of his favorite dinners - meatloaf, peas and applesauce ... a true culinary delight :) Ava will help me make his cake/cupcakes.

time to get kids ready to go out in the cold to get Ava to school! hope everyone is healthy and happy!

10 minutes later....
vann was supposedly watching Sesame Street as i was typing this this morning... that is a whole box of cereal all over the kitchen floor.... does he look bothered in the least?? of course not! i have just put up childproof gates around the kitchen!

more cold

in the 20s and lower for the next few days so we will be holed up at home as much as possible! well at least me and the kids will be... Jayme is going ice fishing this weekend and he is beside himself with excitement. not even in a hut apparently - just out in the open in freeeeezing weather. (!!!) we got an inch or so of snow this morning looks like - on top of the solid ice that was already there.. oi...

on another note, we have a lot of celebrations coming up, Vann will be turning 2 in a few weeks, Jayme's birthday, our 10th wedding anniversary and Valentines Day are right around the corner.

freezing day out but vann and i managed to get our errands done -- very icy in the driveway but roads are clear and fine. Looks like a week of weather in the 20s .... oi... All i want is one day on the beach - just one!!! work has leveled out a bit so i'm able to get some home projects worked on so that's good... vann and everybody are healthy so that's a big factor too - it is amazing what a difference having a healthy family makes! We are hoping to plan our trip down south very soon. Jayme's mom is coming up for a weekend in February since it is Jayme's and my 10th year anniversary Feb.12th. Thank you !!!! It's so nice to have adult time every once in awhile :) we're thinking of heading into the city for dinner and a show. i can't remember the last time i saw a show! I'm thinking it may have been Hugh Jackman's Boy From Oz quite a few years back... it was an amazing musical.

its that time of year - time to sift through all of the pictures from the year and get them printed in a book to celebrate 2008. It's a tough job, there are so many memories to sort through, (and i take a ton of pics!!) its hard to decide which ones to print and which ones to leave out - but ultimately it's fun to go through and remember everything that happened this past year - well everything i remembered to take pictures of! I'm guessing i don't have quite as many this year as i did last year because i've got 2 kids now! And not just 2 kids, 1 kid plus a TODDLER.... enough said.

Here's a pic of the kids boogeying to some music on Christmas Eve.

its been really quiet here for the past few days. everyone but Jayme is well now, he's apparently got Strep throat and is headed to doc today. the snow has all melted but for a small hill and a pile of decorations that used to be our snowman! well it was 65 degrees yesterday - a strange fluke of a day, and i opened all of the windows in the house. it felt like a spring day and it was wonderful. We've been playing some of Ava's new games, which has been so much fun - I have always loved to play board games, card games, any kind of games! and she is now old enough to enjoy many of them with me.

Smokey had her first night sleeping upstairs with all of us and she settled on various spots on our bed, usually right between Jayme and I where she was nice and cozy. It has been really nice having a pet in the house. Ava is in love with her, and Vann is a little jealous i think, but overall he's very tolerant of all the attention we give her. i cant believe the new year is right around the corner. Time to start thinking about those resolutions!

here i am! i havent forgotten to blog, just still buried under the plague of sicknesses STILL running through our house. We had to cancel our trip to Georgia because of the UGLY bug that keeps coming back - we're pretty sure it's the norovirus or 'cruise ship' virus, which has been going around here lately. Poor Vann just gets over being sick only to be hit with something else a couple days later. So we are quarantining ourselves at home over the holidays to try and eradicate the thing and get on with our lives!!! Jody and Scott came up over last weekend and we had a great time running around the city with them, but then they both got very ill at the airport on the way home!! I'm not sure they will ever come back!! We are really bummed not being able to travel to see family, especially since we stayed home for Thanksgiving as well!

We did had our first winter storm of the season come through and dump lots and lots of beautiful snow on us. Ava and I built a 'special' snowman. He looks a little like Jabba the Hut to me... Jayme and Vann watched from the window.

Here's a couple recent pics....

the saga continues with most of the house still sick - we've been giving Vann breathing treatments with the nebulizer for his terrible cold and wheeze in his lungs, he is making great improvement, and both kids have had the stomach bug again over the past few days (again!! ugh!!) It seems to be running thru the community as well, we know of lots of people getting it. But we will be getting better this week since Jody and Scott delayed their plans to come and visit us, we have to! i just found out one of the girls in her class has head lice, so now i'm praying she does not get that - i don't do well with small bugs eww!!!

monday news

well i finally did it - i gave Vann's 30 days notice at his nursery school and i will be taking care of him at home starting after Christmas holiday - and juggling work too. It will be an adventure! Jayme will be watching him one full day from home so i will be able to also work a full day in the office. I think it will work out fine, though it will be a little crazier around here that's for sure! I'm glad our situation is so unique that this is an option for us. We are definitely feeling the slowdown in the economy lately. I know it's short term though and we'll see it through just fine.

In other news, here's a shot of one of our 2 trees coming down in the back yard. They created nice big stumps for the kids to play on (when the weather warms up again)-- it's freezing out there now!! It was amazing to watch the guy get hauled up into the trees by the crane, then jump on the branches and start cutting! 2 hours later, and they were done. You can see all of the power lines in the yard they had to work through - it was very cool.

Oh and we all seem to be healthy again, thank goodness!

Good Morning

was planning on heading back to work today but Vann still sick, so i'll be here today. Lots of excitement for the next 2 days - a tree company is coming to take our (only!) 3 trees off of our property. our Japanese Maple in the front contracted some sort of bacteria and is almost all dead. And our 2 Silver Maples (huge) in the back yard are looking so dead that I am they would fall on the house soon. So they are all going away, it will be tricky work since we have many power/phone lines converging in our backyard. I will try and get some pics, it should be interesting! Then tomorrow our final work will be done so we can get our HVAC installation inspected. Jayme and I spent lots of time painting last weekend, and more this coming weekend. We are all looking forward to Thanksgiving for a nice break (hopefully no more sick kids around here!) - at our pastor's house this year, and then Jody and Scott will be coming the next weekend for a visit. Oh and it's so cold here, we had snow flurries yesterday and it's only November! It's gonna be a cold winter, i can feel it!