Help Me Rhonda!

This morning I decided to work my abs to a dvd I have (I used to do this all the time...now not so much, but I am determined to do better!). A couple of months ago we got a new plasma tv, now things aren't quite as simple as they once were. I sat there for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to play my dvd. Finally I called Dave at work and he walked me through it. When I finished my workout and went to turn off the equipment, I couldn't even turn it off. I called Dave again and he tried to walk me through it, but I still couldn't turn it off. Technology is so frustrating! I liked things when they were much simpler.

I think I'm getting old

On Friday Dave, Steven, and I were in the car driving to an appointment, and Steven looks at me and tells me that my teeth are yellow. Today someone tells me I have sun damaged skin on my face...OUCH! I need to tell my boss what Steven said so that she gives me a free power whitening, after all I am a Dental Hygienist and I shouldn't be modeling yellow teeth to our patients. There's really nothing I can do about all those years that I abused my skin by tanning....wahhhhh, I'm getting old! Okay, I'm done now, thanks for listening. By the way, I know that my eyebrows need plucking in a really bad way in this picture so NO ONE better comment about that, and the nose hairs either...okay?!

A New Do

Recently I decided that I really need to change my hairdo, so I found a website where I can try different hairstyles on to see what looks best.



Dave likes the longer hairstyle. I think the shorter ones look surprisingly good. How about dreadlocks? (jk) What do you think looks best? I am definitely going to grow my bangs much longer so that I can push them to one side.

Cookies!

My taste buds are very happy right now. After reading Martha's blog today, I decided to try making cake cookies too. I put mini chocolate chips and some chopped walnuts in mine. Mmmm yummy!

Durand Eastman

Today it was so beautiful that I decided to take Koty for a walk along the bike path at Durand Eastman Park.
The bike path goes along Lake Ontario for quite a ways. Of course there was plenty of sand, which Koty had never seen before. He was very curious about it at first...sniffing it, tasting a little, sniffing some more, and then sneezing. It was very cute to watch him. I thought he would love to get his feet wet, but the waves were splashing so he was a little nervous to get too close.


Part of the path crosses a marshy area and goes off into the woods. It's very pretty, but I was nervous to go into the woods with just my little doggie by my side, so we turned around.

Happy Mother's Day

Today was a beautiful day to celebrate the day with our moms. We had another wonderful and treasured family picnic. I think our moms really enjoyed the day, and there was PLENTY of food to be eaten. I am very blessed to have a wonderful mom and a wonderful mother in law. Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!
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A baby in a bucket

Since my niece, Bethany, is posting babies in buckets, I will post this picture of Mikey in a bucket. He fell into this bucket at my mother in laws and couldn't get out. She quickly snapped this photo before helping him.

My dog eats everything he can get his little mouth on! 13 things my dog eats for Thursday 13...
1. sticks
2. leaves
3. dried worms off the driveway
4. cement pieces off of our unfinished fireplace
5. blankets (he will actually chew it like it's gum and swallow it if I'm not paying attention)
6. dirt balls
7. grass
8. money (Dave took a penny out of his mouth yesterday)
9. plant material that has blown off trees in the yard
10. paper
11. strings off his tug toy (there are none left on it)
12. stuffing out of his cushie pillow that goes in his crate (he can't have this anymore)
13. more sticks

This dog acts like he's starving, but we feed him plenty...honest!

Baptism

Yesterday I was very happy to get to witness the baptisms of Dave , Michael, and Steven!! It was so awesome to see not only my husband make this public statement that he has given his life to Christ (23 yrs ago, but never baptized after) and is committed to follow him, but also my children. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures because they wouldn't have turned out good due to the distance I would've had to take them from.

Are these MY kids...wiiieeerd!

Tonight Steven and Michael wanted to show us something they learned at Wyldlife. Wyldlife is a group of Middle School kids that get together at someones house to sing crazy songs, do silly skits, listen to a life application Bible lesson...and of course eat. Dave's mother just happened to have a box of rubber gloves she uses for cleaning. The boys saw the gloves, each brought one home, and just had to do this. They put a glove on their head and blow through their nose until the glove pops. It's quite a sight, don't ya think?

"Hello, I'm Home!"

Today when I got home from work (around 4:30pm) this is what our dinette table looked like. It looked nothing like this when I left this morning. The table was clear and the boys were eating their hot bran muffins here when I left. Lets see if I can count 13 things there, after all it IS Thursday thirteen...
1. The newspaper
2. Michael's homework
3. A box of popsicle sticks for crafts
4. Some plastic bags from Petco that have been emptied.
5. Koty's frizbee
6. A box of colored pencils
7. Another container of colored pencils
8. The packaging to a dog toy
9. A design book
10. Steven's mechanical pencil
11. A package of Teddy Grahams
12. A choke collar
13. Michael's package of ortho bands
14. The lap top
15. and a heel sander from Dave to me. He says that he got an abrasion on his leg last night while he was sleeping next to me. He's such a funny guy, isn't he?
The table got unburied right after I took this photo, and it was set for dinner. I wish that I had my kids (and husband) trained to pick up really quick when they hear the garage door go up when I get home (jk), although Dave was busy cleaning the garage. (which I'm sure looks great by now!)

Scut Farkus?

Have any of you seen the movie, "A Christmas Story"? Doesn't Michael resemble Scut Farkus here? I think we should beat him up! Lol!

Raining Cats and Dogs

We just had a big thunderstorm. The rain came off the roof so hard that it washed the dirt from our front garden, right onto our sidewalk.

Dare I show you this?

Wouldn't it give you a headache if you opened your refrigerator and it looked like the one on the left below? Today I have tackled one of my least favorite jobs. I don't know why I let this happen to my refrigerator in the first place. I think the one on the right looks much better, don't you?
Now I am going to go out in the 83 degree weather and ride bikes with my kids!!
By the way, that's not ketchup on the top shelf. That is Dave's famous homemade BBQ sauce. It's his very own recipe, and it's delicious!

Home from Amish Country

This weekend we went to visit Dave's brother and his wife, and their 2 kids in Lancaster County, PA. It was a beautiful weekend. We went to see the movie, "Expelled" with them on Friday night. It was a very good movie, and I would highly recommend it! Shopping in Amish Country is always very fun for me too. I could spend days touring the pottery shops, quilting shops, and looking at the country furniture and accessories. My sister in law is wonderful and patient to take me shopping, especially since that kind of stuff isn't her taste. Just hanging out with the family is nice and relaxing. Koty enjoyed playing with their new rescue dog, Emi. Here he is playfully biting her ear. It didn't hurt her...really! Look at her smile! They really did very well together which was nice for both of them. Now he's walking around the house trying to figure out what to do. Poor Koty. Maybe Emi will come for a visit soon!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's 76th birthday, I can hardly believe it! Tonight we brought an ice cream cake and visited for a while. Here are a few things about my dad:
1. He has done volunteer work in several different nursing homes for about 28 yrs or so.
2. He is very practical. He and my mom never even owned a microwave until just the last year or two ago, and still don't own a dishwasher.
3. He is very kind.
4. He never spanked me, but I still feared him. (a healthy fear)
5. I loved the way he read to us when we were kids...he used lots of expression.
6. I can remember hearing him pray before his devotions. I always felt very secure.
7. I always knew he loved us.
8. He had polio when he was 6 yrs. old so he has one leg that's quite a bit shorter then the other.
9. He wears a lift on one shoe.
10. He loves to tell (and I love to hear) some of the funny stories from his childhood years.
11. He only had one sibling, and he died of cancer in his 30's.
12. His favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla.
13. He loves my mom!

I love you dad!

Happy Birthday Mikey!

Today my littlest boy is 13 years old. I can hardly believe it. Here are 13 things about Mikey...

1. He has always been a little on the shy side.
2. He was always hugging my leg or tugging on my pants pockets when he was little.
3. He can be pretty noisy at times now, but he used to be so quiet.
4. He loves to be waited on.
5. His best friends are Steven and Kaleb.
6. He's does a beautiful job on all of his school projects. I'm always so impressed.
7. He LOVES NASCAR, and his favorite driver is Jeff Gordon
8. He is sometimes a procrastinator.
9. He likes to play games, and he likes to win.
10. He loves corn muffins.
11. He's not a big lunch eater...sometimes he'll just take some sliced peppers and a cheese stick.
12. He LOVES junk food.
13. He constantly tells us how blessed he is to have us as parents, which makes me feel very loved.

Finished

Steven finished his afghan tonight, and I must say, he did a beautiful job! It is nice and big. I keep thanking him for making me such a nice blanket (he didn't really make it for me).

Spring

I think Koty is just as happy as we are that the temperature is warming up. It means more time outside off the leash, being played with. He is definitely part Golden Retriever...even though he looks more similar to a Cocker Spaniel. He always has to have a stick in his mouth, it's so cute!

An April Fool

Poor Koty, he was neutered yesterday and he wasn't a happy camper last night. He was hungry (we could only feed him small amounts at a time because of the anesthesia he had), he was sore, and he couldn't lick his incision because he had a collar on to prevent that. On top of that he was running into everything with it. I feel like such a meanie.

Game Night

Tonight we had family game night at our house. Koty even got to meet Sophie for the first time. He really wanted to play with her so badly, but Sophie was a little bit nervous of his size and his bounciness. She barked at him a few times, but I'm not quite sure what she meant by it. He jumped back when she barked, like he understood quite clearly.
The games were fun. The guys played Eucher, and the kids and ladies played Scattergories (Aunt Marty's homemade version), Boggle, and Dutch Blitz. You think we'd all be happy after such a fun night, but one of my children is quite sad and I'm not sure why.

Naughtyness

Someone was naughty today. While I was out with Steven for a while this evening, Dave was playing with Koty. Koty decided to chew his bone...and then the couch skirt. Dave said he was sitting right there, and it happened so fast. I am not very happy about it, but luckily it isn't worse. I still think he's a cutie. (Dave AND Koty)

A Warm Blanket

When we went to Florida in February, my mother in law taught Steven how to crochet. She was making a baby blanket at the time, and Steven was very interested in what she was doing. He said that he wanted to make his own blanket, so we took him to Wal Mart and bought him some yarn. This is how far along he is now. He's doing a great job!

Feeling Very Sleepy

For the past 3 days I have had some extremely sleepy moments and was starting to get a little nervous about it when I thought of something. Dave bought me some over the counter Zyrtec (allergy medicine). He told me it was "non drowsy", but when I read the box (after sleeping on the couch for an hour and a half after dinner) there was no mention of it being non drowsy. In fact one of the side effects is that I may feel drowsy after taking it and there are instructions to "be careful when operating a motor vehicle". I will only take it before going to bed from now on. Thank goodness I didn't take one this morning before going to work, I never would've made it through the morning. I'm so relieved to know that I'm not dying. Lol!

Eyebrow Plucking

So how many husbands are kind enough to pluck their wives eyebrows for them? Yesterday Dave was doing just that when Michael took this picture. This is one thing that Dave does not like me to pay for, so he says he'll do it. Lol! Dave quickly made it appear that he was plucking my nose hairs. I am very thankful to say that I don't have any of those that are visible yet.

Graduation Day

Tonight was Koty's last day of puppy Kindergarten.He got to dress up in a lizard outfit (which he loved...NOT), and he got to run around lots with his friends.He even got to pick out a new prize ball and got a diploma!

New Neighbors!

This was the scene directly across the street from us when I came home from work today. Hmm... I wonder who our new neighbors will be.

Making the Best of the Snow

Today Martha and I decided to make the best of all the snow and take the kids sledding. They had a good time, and we had fun taking pictures. Afterwards we all came back to our house for some yummy hot chocolate!

Visitors

Today Bethany, Adam, and Josh ventured out into the cold and came to visit us....well, not just to visit us, but they stopped in for a bit. It was good to see them. I hadn't seen Josh since Thanksgiving, and boy has he grown. He had lots of nice smiles for me, and even showed me his two teeth. Koty was very excited to see a little baby, he's never seen one that small before. He just HAD to see what he tasted like so he licked his face a little, and nibbled his foot a bit. He was a little too interested in Josh so we had to restrain him somewhat. This is Josh, all ready to venture back out into our winter wonderland out there. Be careful driving, Adam!

This is our spring right now, gmj

Brace yourself for a foot of snow or more

This is the one of the titles in out local newspaper today, and what we are expecting tonight and tomorrow...brrr! Maybe we can go cross country skiing this season after all, or how about tubing with the kids!

The search is on...

Lately I have started to search for a pair of new flip flops since mine that I've had for several years started to break in Florida. I must look now because, believe it or not, in a month or so I may have a hard time finding what I'm looking for. I'm amazed that a pair of simple flip flops commonly runs around $50 or more!

Iceberg

This picture stinks, but it shows the "iceberg" that I took the boys to play on at the Aquatic Center here in town yesterday. They played on this thing for 2 hours. There's a big slide on one side. It's pretty neat!

Eeeew!

This evening I learned that I can not allow Koty to finish a whole rawhide chewy in a matter of a few hours...he puked up his whole dinner because of it. Next time I will take it away when it's half eaten.

We're so confused!

Tonight on our way home from small group, Dave tried to call the boys on his cell phone to let them know we were on our way home and to be ready for bed. When he dialed our home number he didn't get anyone here, he got another residence, so he decided to try again....same thing. The third time he very carefully punched our home number into his keypad...same thing! The man on the other end was a little impatient, and I guess rightfully so. Dave told him what number he was dialing and asked what the number of the residence was. Very strangely it turned out to be an OLD cell phone number of Dave's. ??? It was a slow ride home due to a lot of snowfall and slippery roads, but we finally made it. Later, after the kids were in bed I realized that our internet connection didn't work on either computer, so Dave went to the basement to reset the modem and the router. I was then able to connect to the internet, and almost immediately got a phone call from our telephone company. Dave's sister had evidently tried to call us 5 times and had gotten this other residence instead, so she called our telephone company to report that some lines must be crossed.
This is the reason that we kept getting the other residence...A LONG time ago, Dave gave the phone company his cell number as a number that a phone call would be forwarded to if our telephone was out of order. Evidently he never gave his new cell number, therefore this poor family has been getting a bunch of phone calls intended for us. (I called a couple of times a few weeks ago on my way to work and got this other family too)

Kayaking

One of the neighbors here has a couple of kayaks that he said we could borrow if we wanted, so Dave and his sister, Liesl, went kayaking this morning. They got into the canal right behind our place and off they went into the Bay (or whatever it's called). It was a beautiful day and I think they had a nice time. Later we all went to the beach. Tomorrow we will start for home...I'm ready. It was a nice, relaxing vacation, but I love my home in NY. Besides, Koty needs us and our fish are very hungry!