Party of 4 - NY sports and beach loving family!

Monday, February 27, 2006

Short N Sweet

I was owed some comp time at work, so I decided to take 3 Fridays off. Last Friday, 2/24 was my first one. I decided to take a trip with David to Chester Springs, PA to visit my sister-in-law Tracey, my niece Ally and my Godson Tyler. We were on the road by 9 am with a stop for gas(while I was at the gas station, I noticed that someone had left me a voicemail on my cell. It was my cousin Laura-Ann telling me that my cousin, Kelly was at the hospital in LABOR!) and the car wash. David fell asleep shortly after we left. I sang along with my Sirius satellite radio to Hair Nation and Totally '80s and I was there before I knew it. Tyler and Tracey were awaiting our arrival. It was great to see them, we had not seen them in almost 1 month! Tracey and I got caught up while the kids played in the basement. Tracey's girlfriend Maria was coming over with her 2 kids and picking Ally up early from school on her way. When they arrived we all had lunch. Tracey made the kids chicken nuggets and she made us the best chicken salad I ever had. After lunch we talked and laughed and the kids ran around like crazy kids. Unfortunately, the afternoon was over quicker than it began and it was time to leave. David slept like a baby the whole way home and I sang. On my way home, I talked to my cousins Mike and Laura-Ann and they reported that Kelly had her baby girl! She was 6 lbs 14 oz and beautiful. It was really a great day. I wish I could get more of them.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

What's your chalkboard sentence?

I would have to write:

I will not drink milk through my nose.

How about you?

Thanks for the idea Laney!

Monday, February 20, 2006

A clean slate

Aside from a bad night's sleep (David has growing pains), I feel refreshed. Yesterday Steve and I started cleaning out our basement. And it needed a good cleaning out. While we were cleaning, Steve was also building. We had finished our basement in the summer of 2002, but after a few floods (our fault) and 3+ years of throwing stuff we do not use in the basement (instead of the garbage) it was a disaster. So, Steve put in 2 new doors, took down a few walls, put up a wall and fixed some ceiling tiles. It is actually starting to look like a place I can make a playroom for David. Some of the big stuff we threw out, we put on our street and it was gone by morning. I am glad someone could use it. Most of the other items are from when David was a baby and I plan on donating them to a place my cousin Laura-Ann's mom volunteers at. It won't be long now until I can put David & his toys in the basement for playtime. Then I want to build myself a nice office. The work never ends!

Saturday, February 18, 2006

A family that races together, stays together


Today I walked in the Mid Winter Beach Run in Manasquan with 15 or so of my other family members. Most of my family has been doing these races together for a few years. After walking in Oct. with my Mom for Alzheimer's and enjoying myself, I decided to do another one. This one benefited the Manasquan First Aid Squad. If you live in NJ, you know that today was the coldest day yet of 2006 and you'd know that Manasquan is down the shore. So, it was at least 5 degrees colder down there and much more windy - oh and did I mention that is was flurrying? I bundled up and power walked. The race was 2 miles long, with the last 1/4 mi ON the beach. That's right - walking in the sand. Now that is a task without shoes and in the summer, so forget about it when you are wearing sneakers and it's winter. I really gave my hind quarter a workout! I walked with my Aunt Judy and her brother Mike (who are also my cousins - that story at another time). We finished in 28 + minutes. I could not wait to get a drink of water and while I was drinking it, I ate a snowflake. It felt good, because it was so cold. After the race, we all went to Legget's bar for some food and drinks. I had a margarita and Steve fed me ziti, meatballs, pierogies and bread because David fell asleep on my shoulder. When he woke up, I took him to the beach to replace his seashell that he dropped and broke. We were freezing but had fun looking for the shells. I could not wait to get home and take a nap. It was a great afternoon and I can not wait to do the next race.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Sorry Laurie!

Last night went well. The girls and I scrapped and Steve and David went out. However, they did not go to Chuck E Cheese. Instead, they went to Steve's cousin Walter's house. Steve called Walter's dear wife Laurie and invited himself and David over. Even after Walter called to tell Steve that their little guy Tom was sleeping, they still went. I felt bad, but was not going to tell him he couldn't go to his cousins house. So, here is my public apology to Laurie - SORRY! I was really hoping that when Steve and David got to their house, that she would pack up her scrapbooking stuff and come over, but she just wanted to relax and I can't blame her. I do want to thank them, Steve and David had a great time and I was able to host my workshop without interruption. Next month we should do the same, but this time, Laurie can plan ahead so she can have a girls night scrapping with us.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Boys night out/Girls night in

Tonight I am holding my monthly Creative Memories workshop at my home from 7 pm until midnight. This gives my customers time to work on their albums without interruption and to see the new products. I really enjoy having the girls over, it gives me that girl time and let's the creativity flow. I have been having these for a few months now and Steve has always taken care of entertaining David while we scrap and giggle in the kitchen. They have the whole rest of the house to play in, but last month, the only place David wanted to be, was IN THE KITCHEN. So, I decided this month to make workshop night, boys night out as well. I checked the web and Chuck E Cheese is open until 10 pm - PERFECT. Not that I expect them to stay there until 10 pm, but they can hang out until 8/8:30 and hopefully David will fall asleep on the ride home - exhausted from all the playing. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you all spent your special day with the ones you love. Steve and I took David to Bennegin's for dinner. Aside from some 2 1/2 year old boy antics, we had a nice time. I am not sure the couple sitting behind us can say the same, but that is why we chose a family restaurant and not a fancy one. After stopping off at Aunt Carol and Uncle Tom's, we headed home. David had his night cap (strawberry milk) and he was off to dream land. He is the best Valentine's Day present ever.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Winter Wonderland!


I guess I spoke too soon. Last week I mentioned that this was a mild winter. All in all, I was right - I mean this was only the second time it snowed all season. It just happened to be a BLIZZARD! I am just glad that it did not ruin our plans for Saturday night. My Dad babysat so Steve and I could meet Matt & Kerry for dinner at Mad City Grill in North Brunswick. We had a great dinner. I had Hell's Kitchen (sesame calamari, veggies, noodles in a Thai peanut sauce), Steve had South Street Seaport (seafood and noodles), Matt had the special (seafood and pasta) and Kerry had chicken and pasta (I forgot the cute name for it). I really enjoyed my dinner - it was HUGE and delicious. The restaurant is bring your own and we did. We talked and laughed a lot. We decided it was too early to call it a night, so we drove in the storm to Cramer's Corner. It is a small bar in New Brunswick that I used to work at when it was called Shea's Place. My girlfriend Michelle still works there and we were hoping she was there, but she wasn't. In fact, we did not know anyone there, BUT we had an awesome time. We all drank WAY too much but had SO MUCH FUN. When we finally decided to leave, the snow was pretty bad. To my surprise, we made it home safe. When we got home David and my Dad were sitting on the couch waiting for us. David was very cranky because he had been sleeping so I took him up to bed. I could not WAIT to hit the pillow. When we woke up there was SO much snow and it was STILL snowing! David was SO excited and I had the worst hang over. Steve was in worse shape than me and he got called into WORK! I made everyone breakfast and we headed outside to dig my car out so Steve could leave. After he left, David and I dug a little more and then we went inside for Hot Chocolate. The rest of the day we spent with my Dad in the den, playing. I did some laundry and tried to straighten up. I had dinner ready for when Steve got home - he was starving. We ate, I cleaned up and now I am ready for bed. It was a great snow day and it still looks beautiful outside. Let's see how easy it is for me to get into work tomorrow!

Friday, February 10, 2006

High-Tech House

If you do not know what I do as my full time job, I am an Analyst. That means I work with computers all day. I do not 'fix' them like a computer tech would, instead I implement computer programs and tailor them to our customers needs. Having said all that, you'd think I would have the latest technology at home. Yes, I have cable internet service, I was not that bad off, but I was lacking wireless connectivity. I was, until last night. I installed (with the help of a co-worker over the phone) a wireless router! Now, I can use my laptop anywhere in the house & probably on the deck, even while Steve and/or David is on our desktop. This will really benefit me when I am working from home or when I am running my Creative Memories business. I will get a lot more done and be more organized. I also bought a print server so I can print wirelessly and a new all-in-one printer. I will be hooking those up this weekend. We will no longer be living in the stone ages when it comes to technology in our house!

Friday, February 03, 2006

As Dorothy said, "There's no place like home."


She was not kidding! I arrived back in Jersey at 10:30 pm last night and was never so happy to be in NEWARK! Like I posted while I was gone, Kansas was good. The training was great, I met some nice people and the state is very pretty (in a plain way) but it's nothin' like JERSEY. After grabbing my bags from baggage claim, I walked out to find Steve and David waiting in the car. Steve gave me a big kiss, helped me with my bags and told me how glad he was that I was home. David was SLEEPING! I was so upset, but he looked SO cute. Steve picked me up Dunkin Donuts hot chocolate and a Mommy donut, but I was not ready to eat it, so we just walked about my trip and how his week went without me. David woke up when we arrived home. When I got him out of the car, he clung to me for life and I was SO happy! We went in the house and shared my Mommy donut and I drank my hot chocolate as he told me about his week. I could tell he REALLY missed me. After, I gave him his presents: boxing gloves, candy hearts, play-do, water color books and a Kansas State sweatshirt. I gave Steve his gifts: Kansas State long sleeve T-shirt & hat, steak rub & BBQ sauce. Then we were all so tired, we went up to bed. It felt so good to crawl into my own bed and I slept like a log (after giving my men a kiss good-night). Not that I had any doubts, but being away really made me realize how much I love my family and New Jersey.