Kitchen Photos

The fridge and side panels

The stove and microwave

The pantry

Now we're cookin'

The oven and microwave have been installed and are in working order! WOO HOO! Steve worked hard on Saturday on the 'little things' like hooking up the water line to the fridge for the ice maker, venting the microwave oven and setting up the gas lines and shut off for the oven. He made himself a Jimmy Dean sausage sandwich in the microwave and it was great. He also set up the pantry - it's BIG, but it's beautiful! I need to take some pictures to post. I plan on picking up some hot dog rolls on my way home tonight so I can actually MAKE dinner instead of ordering it. My pots and pans are still buried and I do not want to put any dishes in the cabinets until the counter-top is in. So, hot dogs on the grill, tater tots in the oven and frozen veggies in the microwave will have to do. I bet we will have a lot more money floating around now that we can cook our food. Money that I can use to shop for a table and china cabinet (from Crate & Barrel)!

Hard at work

Sorry about the lull in my posting. We took a mini vacation and have been working very hard on the kitchen.

For our mini vacation, we went to PA to visit The Yoegel's and my in-laws on the 2nd. My In-Laws came up from FL for a few days and the 2nd was the only day we could get to see them. Tracey invited us over to celebrate Ally's 10th birthday and to spend time with Steve's parents. Tracey threw a nice get together and everyone enjoyed themselves. The next morning we drove to Hershey Park and spent the day with Laurie, Tom and Walt. We had a great time. We slept in a beautiful room at the Hershey Lodge that evening. On Tuesday the 7 of us took in the Hershey Gardens and they were beautiful. After, we got back on the PA turnpike and drove back to Tracey's. Steve was helping Rich draft his fantasy football team that night. David got to pick up Ty and Ally at the bus stop - that made his day. The kids played and enjoyed being together. The guys seem to have fun at the draft. Wednesday, we made our way home to NJ.

This weekend we really made some progress on the kitchen. We have 5 wall cabinets up and 5 base cabinets in. Steve has connected the pipes for the sink and the dishwasher is in place ready for install. Steve was able to get the floor put down in the entire 'working' kitchen area. Some of the walls have been painted. Our fridge comes tomorrow so we plan on putting up the panels and the fridge cabinet tomorrow evening. Here are some pictures:




Football started last week and the much anticipated Giants vs Cowboys game was Sunday night. Unfortunately, the G-Men lost, but the game was good.

Rocked!

My birthday was great. I received so many nice gifts and beautiful cards. Steve and I went out for dinner with Laurie and Walter to Bonefish WITHOUT THE KIDS!! Can you tell I was excited? The food was delicious and the company was great. We had a real nice time.

Saturday morning we took a family trip to Lowe's for the sheetrock. I helped Steve carry it into the house. I did not think sheetrock was so heavy! By the time he left for Joe's draft, he had finished the long wall. Sunday, Steve worked all day and finished putting up all the sheetrock. We have walls!! Today he'll tape and spackle. I am so thrilled. We might even get to start the floor this week ;)

59-27=32

Happy Birthday Dad & Me and BLOGGER? I just logged in to write a quick Birthday post and noticed that we share a birthday with this website. How funny is that? Love it.

Ok, now to my original rant...
Today I celebrate my 32nd birthday while Dad celebrates his 59th. As you can see from the equation above, he was 27 the day I was born. I was a very original birthday present, don't you think? My Mom could not have planned it if she tried. I too was given an awesome gift that day. Two fantastic parents that would stop the world for me.

32 years later I now have a wonderful husband and 2 beautiful children. Those same 2 parents are still taking very good care of me and now of their grandchildren. I sure am a lucky girl.

Catching up

Last I posted, we were in the demo phase. In the past week, we have progressed to the rebuilding phase. Steve has layed a new sub floor and moved some of the electrical outlets so they will not be in the wrong place when the cabinets are installed. Speaking of cabinets, 34 boxes of cabinets were delivered last week and are taking up my entire living room. Not fun. The addition is almost complete. We are waiting for the trim to be done and then the contractor is finished. Steve's next move is to insulate the exterior kitchen wall. Once that is complete, he can start to sheetrock. It will still be some time before the kitchen is in working order. Sigh...

Through all this, we did host our yearly Fantast Football draft. With the loving support of my cousin Laurie (she took the kids), it went well. The weather was beautiful so we could be out on the deck. I feel my team came out well. I hope I can win some money this year.

Ava had been sick all week. She had bronchitis and a double ear infection. She took her antibiotic and nebulizer treatments like a little princess and is doing much better.

Friday night it took me 3 hours to get home from work due to the rain. They closed Rt. 18 at Commercial Ave and I was in the same spot on Rt. 18 for over an hour. That was NOT how I wanted to spend my evening. My parents had the kids and ended up keeping them. Which meant their plans had to be changed. All because of some stupid weather. Horrible.

This coming Friday is my birthday. I will be 32! I am hoping Steve gets me some nice gifts and takes me to Bonefish. I'll let you know!

Down to the studs

Saturday was demolition day at the Boettger house. With the cabinets being delivered tomorrow (Tuesday), we had to get a jump on the kitchen renovation. With Steve working all week at the Fair, Saturday was do or die day. We started ripping things apart about noon time. Steve smashed the cabinets off the wall and took off the countertop. David wanted to 'help' so Steve gave him a mallet and he started knocking through the sheetrock. I took care of the tile on the floor. After a while, there was SO much dust that Steve made David and I stop working and he finished up. By the time the Giants game started, we were down to the studs on the walls and a pile of sheetrock/trim/plaster was in the middle of the kitchen floor. There was A LOT accomplished in 8 hours. It was back to the fair for Steve on Sunday, so nothing more was done. Maybe today he'll get to do some more. Not so sure though, Steve is sick as a dog. Poor guy. He got the bug that has been running rampid in our house. However, knowing him, he'll do more work. Check out the pix...

Pierced Princess

I said I was not going to be the one that brought Ava to get her ears pierced due to the fact that I can not tolerate pain. Steve was going to take her. That changed yesterday afternoon when David and I went to the mall to make a WebKinz purchase. I saw the Piercing Pagoda and thought to myself "Ava is tougher than her Mom, she can handle it". Plus, Steve was working hard and I knew it would make his day. Sure enough, David and I picked out a cute pair of CZ's and on the count of 3, she was pierced! She let out a big cry that lasted for about 45 seconds and it was over. She is a tough little princess - thank God. Not the drama queen her mother is. She looks real cute, but they do not make her look any less like David. So, now we have a beautiful girl with pierced ears that still looks exactly like her brother - minus the piercings. Oh well!

Time flies with the second child

Guilt ridden. Yup that is how I have been feeling this week. I look at Ava and can not believe how fast she is growing. She'll be 9 months in 11 days and I feel like I missed them all. Obviously, I have not and I have pictures (many) to prove it. BUT, I can not seem to convince myself that I'm not missing out - because I am. I can remember sitting in the den watching David for hours on end and enjoying every 'new' thing he did or place he went. With Ava, I feel that I have not seen everything 'new' and that I miss a lot of her. My schedule was more flexible when I returned to work after David was born which entitled me to be with him more. I have not had that with Ava. When I do get time with Ava, David is there and requires attention too. I am worried that I do not divide my attention between them well. I do not want one of them to regret the other because of the time I spend or do not spend with each of them. I always knew being a working Mom would be rough. I lived through it with David and thought I came out unscathed. I was wrong. Being a working Mom with more than 1 child is ROUGH and I am not unscathed. I am bruised, battered and my heart is aching. It is up to me to change the way I feel. I just wish I knew a better way.

Fallen for Craig

Craig's List that is. A friend of mine had mentioned a few times that she uses Craig's List. I had heard of it, but never used it. In case you are not aware of it, Craig's List is a website people can buy or sell items on or even find an apartment, vacation rental or roommate. I emailed another friend of mine that uses the site to ask her advice/opinion and she told me about her positive experience so I dove right in. With our kitchen renovation underway, I thought I would use it to sell our appliances and furniture. Last Thursday night I took photos of our items and found the manuals (so I had the facts for the blurp) and posted 9 items on the central NJ Craig's List. By the time I was finished, I had about 50 emails in my inbox from people wanting to purchase our stuff! I could not believe it. I was hysterical. Steve - not so much. He thought I was insane for selling our stuff this soon (we will not have appliances till Sept.) and this cheap. I defended myself, of course, by explaining that I could have given the stuff away for free and admitted I was just as surprised at how fast the items were moving. Here is the breakdown:

While I was at work on Friday, a woman came to pick up the Island. Friday evening, a couple came for the sideboard and another for the stove. They came back Saturday morning for the table. Sunday morning a woman and her son came for the pantry. Last night some guys came for the fridge. Tonight a couple is coming to see the china cabinet. UPDATE: China Cabinet has been sold! Dishwasher too!

Moral of this post: USE CRAIG'S LIST. Advice - accept only cash (advice given to us, we have not had a bad experience).

Appliances and Kitchen Furniture For Sale - nothing over $100

• SOLD GE Stove top Range - White, $100 SOLD
  
  


• SOLD Roper Refridgerator - White, $100 (65 H x 29.5 W x 29 D) SOLD
  
  


• SOLD Admiral Dishwasher - White and Black, $75
SOLD



• Hotpoint Over the Stove Microwave - White, $75




• SOLD Huffman Koos Kitchen table, 4 chairs and bench - White and Wood, $100 (66 W x 48 D x 30H) SOLD




• SOLD Huffman Koos Kitchen Island with 2 Drawers and Wine Rack - White and Wood, $75 (42 W x 34 H x 21D) SOLD




• SOLD Jc Penney China Cabinet - Green, $100 (70 H x 48 W x 13 D) SOLD




• SOLD Double Door Pantry - White and Wood, $75 (70 H x 34 W x 16D) SOLD



• SOLD 3 Door, 2 Drawer Side Board - White and Wood, $50 (42.5 W x 31 H x 16 D) SOLD

The 4th and more

At the Milltown Parade


To celebrate our independence, we took in the Milltown 4th of July parade with Laurie, Walter and Thomas. The parade was great. The kids had so much fun catching and picking up the candy that the parade walkers were tossing their way. The weather turned out to be crappy, so after the parade we went to Laurie's instead of Brookside. The men went on a quick job and ran some errands while we went for a walk. For dinner we ordered from Carrabba's - delicious. Laurie and I did a little scrapping before we left so I could get our laundry done for our vacation.

Thursday we left NJ and headed south to MD. We vacationed in Ocean City for the next 3 nights and 4 days. Our hotel was The Castle in the Sand on the beach. It was pretty good. Older, but clean. The first night we hit up the rides on the boardwalk and ate dinner at SeaCrets on the bay. It was a real cool place - huge too. I had a great Crab Toast and Steve enjoyed the fired shrimp. David loved the fact that the floor of the restaurant was sand.

After breakfast at Dough Roller on Friday Jackie, Michelle and Michelle met up with us. We hung poolside most of the day and spent about 1 hour at the beach. After we showered up, we took a ride to Crab Alley. The kids fell asleep in the car and slept until our table was ready. David was great, Ava on the other hand - not so much. Steve accidentally left her formula in our hotel room and she had a bad diaper rash. Poor baby girl. The girls and I took turns trying to keep her happy. Thank God for them. Steve and Jackie got the all you can eat blue crabs, the rest of us got the crab cakes and David got a hot dog with applesauce. He ate the applesauce and I ate the hot dog. The crab cake was to crunchy for my taste. When we finally got back to our room, I fed Ava and fixed her rash and right to sleep she went.

Saturday we hit the beach, but not before another trip to Dough Roller. This time we went to the one on the Breaker's Hotel. I wanted to see the hotel, but Ava fell asleep so we went right to the beach instead. David had a great time running in and out of the waves. It was sweltering hot, so Steve spent most of the day in the ocean. Ava was a good girl, but we tried to keep her under the umbrella. We starting our evening a little earlier than the night before and went to dinner at Phillip's. Again the girls were my saviors. One rocked while the other made the bottle. Then another fed her and got her to sleep. LOVE THEM! I got to eat my crab legs and drink my banana colada. After we went to the boardwalk and put David on some more rides. We made a stop at Candy Kitchen and then went back to the hotel for the night.

Sunday we all wanted to get a head start on the drive home so we were on the road by 9 am. Steve and I had a 3:30 pm appointment at Lowe's to order our cabinets and counter top, so we wanted to make sure we were home early. We made it home by 1pm. I started some laundry and cleaned up a bit. Laurie was kind enough to offer to take the kids to Crystal Springs for us. We dropped off the kids and our car and went to Lowe's. After about an hour, we were all ordered and met Laurie, Walt and the kids at the swim club. Everyone was hungry, so we grabbed dinner at Stefano's. After an interesting dinner, we went back home and off to sleep I went. I was SO tired.

In fact, I am still tired. So - off to bed I go. Stay cool!

Adding on

Once again (third time is the charm, so they say) we are adding on to our house. This addition, while not physically big, is huge for entertaining purposes. Our contractor (Brown & Glynn) have built a 8x6 area that opens the living room into the kitchen. I have always wanted that open and airy feeling of the newer homes and I think we have achieved that. They started the job last week and already the entire area is framed. Next they will put on the siding and then Steve and Walt need to run some electric. I am VERY excited about this and will post some pictures so you can see the progess.

We are also remodeling our kitchen. When we bought the house, the kitchen was not how we wanted it. Steve did a touch up job on it to update the floors, walls and countertop, but we still knew we'd want a total re-do. With this addition, it's the perfect opportunity. We spent about 3 hours at Lowe's yesterday picking everything out and we did not argue at all! I was very proud of us. After Steve measures the kitchen tonight, we'll go place the order. They are even running a promotion if you buy cabinets...depending how much you spend, you get a Lowe's gift card. YEAH! I LOVE GIFT CARDS!!

Here are the specs:
Countertop :Corian - Moss
Cabinets: Schuler - Monterey - Chesnut
Floor: Pergo - Global Passage - Dolce Mahogany
Paint: Vaspar - Montana Moss & Twilight Jungle

New Wheels

Friday I got a letter from the car dealer that I purchsed my Rendesvouz from claiming I could "Trade Keys" with them and no money would exchange hands. It peaked my interest, so Monday I called the dealer to get some background information and decided it sounded good enough for me to make a personal appearance. My Dad & David met me there after work and after a little back and forth, I bought a new GMC Envoy! It was the one right on the showroom floor. It is Red Jewel in color, has a DVD player with remote control and wireless headsets, nice BOSE stereo and leather seats. I love it and David does too! Here is a photo or two of our new family truckster...

Dad's Day

A Happy Daddy...

Happy Father's Day to all those father's out there. We celebrated the day very low key. The day started in PA at the Yoegel's with donuts and coffee (2 of Steve's favorite things). Once we got home, Steve opened his cards and gifts. David was VERY excited to give Steve the Darth Vader card. When you open it it says "I am your father". It was opened about 100 times :) Steve enjoyed the photo card I made him although Ava tried to eat it! His gifts were a Dunkin Donuts gift card, black golf shirt, outfit from Old Navy, Linkin Park CD and Beer League on DVD. A little while later, my parents and Grandparents came over. They opened their cards and gifts. Dad got 2 shirts from Old Navy and a book on Sandy Koulfax. Grandpop got lottery tickets. My poor Dad ended up returning everything I got him. He already had the book and the shirts he did not need. I treated everyone to dinner at the Grove. It was great. There was no one there and the food was good. Steve had buffalo wings, a jersey cheesesteak and onion rings, Dad had chicken parm and Grandpop had a grilled cheese with tomato. After dinner we went back to my house for dessert. Steve go to take a nap & Grandpop had to finish scratching off his tickets. I am not sure how much he won in the end. A great day was had by all the Dad's!

Born to be my Baby

Four years old! Can you believe David was born 4 years ago? I truly can not. It seems like just yesterday I was holding him all swaddled up in the hospital. He has grown up SO much. Sometimes when he talks to me I get chills thinking about how fast the past 4 years have gone. No matter how old he gets or how big he grows, he will ALWAYS be my baby boy.

We celebrated his birthday on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Saturday was his kid party at Jenkinson's in Pt. Pleasant. Sunday was his family party at our house. Monday (his actual birthday) we took him to Great Adventure. He loved every minute of each celebration.

Happy Birthday Buddy Boy! We LOVE you.

I was fortunate enough to have both of my children born on the 11th on the month. So, Monday was also a birthday of sorts for Ava. She turned 7 months old! Our beautiful girl can do so much already! She turns over, eats fruits & veggies, waves bye-bye, says Baba and so much more. David loves his baby sister and plays so nice with her. Steve and I get so much joy watching them together.

We are so very blessed to have both of our babies. We love them so very much.

Party Time

Today is my Mom's birthday - Happy Birthday Mom! I left her gift and cards on the kitchen table so she would have them when she arrived this morning. She decided to wait until David woke up to open them. Well, she had to end up waking David up for school and he told her "We'll celebrate your birthday later, MomMom." What a riot! He comes out with some funny lines. So, sure enough, after he came home from school, they opened her gift. We gave her a gift card to Ann Taylor Loft. She loved it.
During my lunch break, I ran over to Target to pick up some other gifts that I need for my Big Birthday Month. I have 7 people that I buy birthday presents for this month - all born before the 18th of the month. I also grabbed gifts for a few other occasions. On my way home, I need to hit up Best Buy due to Target being out of stock on an item I needed.
My big plans for tonight are CLEANING! I will be hosting 3 parties this weekend - 2 of them at our house. Friday we are throwing a cocktail party for Mike & Laura-Ann to celebrate their move to AZ. Saturday David is having a kid party at Jenk's in Pt. Pleasant and Sunday we are having the family over for David's birthday. So, clean, clean, clean is what I'll be doing later.
Hope you have a good weekend. I'll let you know how our parties go!

Summer has arrived!

Last weekend my family welcomed in Summer with the Spring Lake 5 and an after party at my parents place in Spring Lake Heights. David was the first to ring in the season. Friday night he took 1st place in his heat of the Kids Race. Unfortunately, Steve and I missed it by about 3 minutes, but my Dad (Gramps) was there to be his coach. It turns out, David did not need much coaching. He took off like a bat out of heck - that is after the girl next to him bit the dust! Yeah, that's right...the little girl next to David was being pushed along by her Dad, when all of a sudden she was face down on the concrete with Dad on top. Why do people feel the need to 'push' their children? All the kids earn the same medal no matter how they do. People need to chill. Back to David. He was so cute when he got back to my parents to tell us the news. He was wearing his Spring Lake 5 Kids Race shirt and medal. The smile on his face said it all. We are very proud of him.

Saturday it was the adults turn. We all met at my parents and walked up to Ocean Ave for the race. By all, I mean: Mom, Mrs. Pfennig, Aunt Carol, Uncle Tom, John, Mark, Jen, Kate, Josh, Aunt Judy, Uncle Jack, Jill, Joe, Mike, Laura-Ann, Tony & myself. There were also some non-participants: Dad, Steve, David, Ava, Birthe, Ed and Anna. My Dad, Anna, Birthe and Ed drove up to watch us from the Breakers porch and later on one of the streets. The guys, Kate & Jill ran the 5 miles, the rest of us walked. It was a very warm morning. After the 1st mile, my heels were bleeding. By the 3rd mile I separated from my Mom and Mrs. Pfennig and picked up my speed. At the end, I was exhausted. I finished in 1 hr. 18 min. Not bad for my first try.

Unfortunately, my cousin Mike ended up having a heat stroke and did not finish the race. We could not even find him, until the ambulance he was in called my Dad's cell phone. I could not believe it when I saw him. He looked awful (Sorry Mike). It took him all day to recover and I do not think he really felt better for a few days. I am so glad that he is ok. It was scary.

Aside from that, it was a good day. The after party went well and as always the crowd was a lot of fun. We kicked off the summer!

My plan is to walk 3 times a week so that next year I can finish with a better time. I just have to let my heels heal first ;)

Happy, Happy, Happy

Happy belated Mother's Day. Happy Birthday Walter & Uncle Bob. Happy Graduation LeAnne. Happy Anniversary Grandmom and Grandpop.

There, that is enough well wishing for 1 week. Although, the Anniversary wish is a very special one. My Grandparents will be married 60 years! Can you imagine? We're celebrating with them on Sunday with a brunch for about 45 people. It will be a great time. My sister and I have hired a photographer to cover the party and the vows ceremony that will take place Saturday evening. I love pictures - as you all know :)

I am thrilled to report that I weighed myself this morning and lost another 2 lbs!! I can really feel it in my clothes. My pants are loose and my shirts actually fit. I need to step it up a notch though. Summer is closer than ever. With Steve's baseball coming to an end, I will be able to fit exercise back in my routine. The weather is also nice enough for me to take the kids for a walk when I get home from work. I'd like to lose 12 more lbs, but at the rate I am losing, it will take 6 weeks. That is too long.

My Mother's Day was very nice. Steve bought me beautiful flowers and a sweet balloon as well as 2 very touching cards. He did a great job. He is also paying for the kids portraits to be taken in June on the beach. SO looking forward to that. We met my Dad's side for breakfast at The Breaker's and had a BBQ at our house for my Mom's side.

This week my sister and her husband are here from FL to attend my Grandparents events. They are staying with my cousin Mar and her family. They brought the kids a bunch of gifts - which David thinks is great. Amy is going to babysit for Lizzie so Mar can attend a bridal shower. She'll love that.

Ava was 6 months old last Friday. I took her for her check up on Monday. She is 27" long and 17 lb 5 oz. They gave her the green light to eat veggies and fruit. I started her on sweet potatoes. So far so good. She has been sitting up by herself for about 2 weeks now. It's so cute to see her be independent. I love her to pieces!

That's enough info for now. Enjoy your week!

Scrapping, Golfing & Drinking

WHEW! What a week...

Wednesday we met up with our friends Corey & Jean for dinner at The Grove. It was great to catch up with them and hang out. The kids were pretty well behaved - which always makes dinner better. The food took a while to come out, but it gave us time to chat. They are doing well and we'll see them next weekend for Corey's 30th birthday dinner.

Thursday I met Steve at the Doubletree in Somerset for the Somerset County Scholar Athlete Awards banquet. However, I had about 2 hours between work and the banquet - so my friend (recently turned scrapper) Therese and I went over her house and worked on our albums. I started David's album - FINALLY! She worked on her wedding/honeymoon album. Before we knew it, it was time to freshen up and go. I headed to the banquet and she was meeting friends for dinner. The banquet went well. The food was not great, but it was nice to spend time with Steve out of the house.

Friday during lunch, Therese and I scrapped! We had planned on going back over to her house, but they were paving her road. So, we scapped in her office. Did not get as much done as we liked. If we do a lunch thing again, we're going to have to get out of the office. David attended the Vo-Tech nursery school from 8:30 am to 11:00 am. Steve took him in with him in the morning and my parents took Ava in to pick him up. While he was there, he got a real nice haircut in the cosmetology shop. He had a good day. When Steve got home from practice, I ran over to a 'design your own purse' party at my friend Jennifer's house. Cute stuff - a tad pricey. I bought the Reagan bag in a pink paisley. Good for the summer.

Saturday was jam packed. My friend Jenn and her son Drew picked up David and I for a birthday party for Morgan - the daughter of our friend Jennifer. The party was at Sandy Deck's Parties in Manalapan. The theme was Princess and Pirate. David was in his glory. He loved riding in Jenn's SUV and watching Cars with Drew. Then at the party he had so much fun with all the kids. They had bagels and ice cream. Steve, John and Ava picked us up after it was over and we went to my parents. Steve, John and I golfed on their course. The kids and my parents went to the beach. Golf was fun. I have not golfed a real game since 1994, but I did not do that bad. The guys were giving me pointers and trying to cheer me on. I can't wait to go again. When we got home, I went food shopping for our Cinco de Mayo fiesta. I got mini tacos, mini quesadillas, tequitos, jalepeno poppers, chips, salsa, hamburgers and sausage. Then I got beer and Margarita's. Mark, Jen, Jill, Joe and John were our guests. We ate A LOT of appetizers and drank a lot of beer and ritas. The guys played cards and the girls chatted. A happy Cinco de Mayo was had by all.

Sunday we ate breakfast at IHOP. YUM! David got the Funny Face pancake and hot chocolate. He LOVES whip cream. After we went home and hung around. Then Ava and I took a ride to Flemington for a Framing party at my upline Melissa's house. Creative Memories will be offering custom framing as part of their services. Leaders are already offering it. It's pretty cool. I framed 2 5x7 of David in Disney from November of 2005. I can't wait to get them back. We had dinner when I got home and I was asleep by 9:30 pm.

Manic Monday is here and back to work I went. Steve has a game tonight - he needs to win. My Aunt Mary is coming over to work on the scrapbook with my Mom and I. I am looking forward to that.

Enjoy your week!

May Day

I can't believe it's May already. This year is flying by. May is a good month. The weather is usually pretty nice and the days are bright. I like the sunshine when I get up in the morning a lot better than the pitch dark of the winter.

Anywho...It's been a while since I wrote and we've done a bunch of stuff, but something I must report first is....AVA IS SITTING UP!! She is too cute. Sometimes she forgets and falls back, but overall, she is a SITTER!

Okay, now to what we've been up to. The weekend of 4/21 was beautiful. I took the kids, picked up my cousins and headed to my parents down the shore. On the way, I learned that Mike and Laura-Ann will be moving in June to AZ! I am very happy and excited for them. I know this is something they've always wanted to do. I'll miss them lots, but wish them a lot of luck. At my parents, we hung on the deck and took a trip into town to browse. In town, I found a great little shop with gorgeous portrait pictures. The pictures were taken by the owners sister and I took her info. **SIDE NOTE: I gave it to Steve and told him I want the kids pictures as my Mother's Day gift. So I have an appt on 6/20 at 6 pm for photos on the beach. I am SO very excited.** That night we had dinner at Edgar's. Steve never made it down, his game went long and he was not in a good mood. Sunday was a lazy day and I loved it.

During the week Steve had a game every night. I took the kids to the Monday game and we hit Houlihan's on the way home. Tuesday I attended Ethic's Day at work. I was not loooking forward to it, however, I ended up enjoying it. They had a speaker by the name of Randy Cohen who writes for the NY Times. He did a great job. Very funny and full of info. Thursday I went into NY for a conference for work. It was ok. A tad on the boring side. That evening the kids and I met Laurie and Tom at the Mall. We let the kids play and go on the rides. They had fun. Friday Steve's game was rained out. For dinner we met the Danley's at Jensen's, but the wait was too long. So, we ordered and brought it back to their house.

This past weekend I held a Honeymoon Album party. My friend Therese came and started her first scrapbook. She went home with 3 beautiful pages. Aunt Carol started an album and using a Snap Pack got quite a few pages done. Laurie worked on Tom's album and finished 3 pages she was struggling with. My Mom got a bunch of pages done for my Grandparents album. Overall, it was a productive day. So productive in fact, I finished a Disney album I had been working on Sunday. Steve powerwashed the house and the deck and they look brand new. We ate dinner on the deck and watched some TV. Again, a nice lazy Sunday.

Yesterday I met my Mom at the pediatrician's office because Ava was not feeling too good. The doctor thinks she might have allergies or the start of an ear infection so my Mom is bringing her back Friday with David. They'll both have their ears checked.

That's all for now. Hopefully I can post again this week. Take care.

We weathered the storm

I have never seen so much rain! My Mom and I ran out to Pathmark on Sunday and came home drenched. Then at about 4:30 pm, Steve and I went out to dinner in Old Bridge and were caught in a downpour as we left our house. From the time we got to the restaurant until we got home, the rain stopped. All night it rained, thunder roared and lightening flashed - too weird.

I was shocked Monday morning to get a call from Steve that I should stay home due to the flooding. There was no way for me to get to my office. Rt. 18, Easton Ave and River Road were closed. I spent the day working in the kitchen on my laptop. I got SO much done and the kids were happy Steve and I were home. I had an appointment with the Dermatologist that I ran to and our architect came to review the plans for our kitchen. It was an ugly day.

Tuesday I had planned a work at home day so that I could attend David's Spring Concert. Steve decided to attend too as well as my parents. The show was adorable. David did a great job. He sang loud and did all the moves. We are all so proud of him. After we picked him up from class, we had a conference with his teacher because I missed Parent/Teacher conferences last month. His teachers said he is doing great. I knew he was a smart cookie. We got home a little before noon and I worked the rest of the day from the kitchen on my laptop. Steve headed off to baseball practice around 2:15 pm. David played and Ava slept. Once Steve got home, we cooked dinner, ate, cleaned up and watched the Yanks. I was shocked they were not rained out. Steve and I placed a bet on the game. If the Yanks won, I got a massage and if the Indians won - he did. Guess who's back will be feeling better soon? Yup, ME!

Today I weighed my self to find that I lost another 2 lbs!! I am VERY excited. Only 14 more to go - woo hoo! I am back in the office today. The kids are with my parents. Steve is at work, then has practice and then a meeting. He'll be home pretty late. I plan on eating my left overs from Sunday and scrapping a little bit. That is all dependant on the kids behaving :)

One more thing...here are the kids being kids....

Sleeping

Devilish Smile

Where is spring?

I am FREEZING and sick. Does not sound like Spring does it? Well, it does not feel or look like it either. The weather made for a very somber Easter. Aside from David getting the gifts he wanted from the Easter Bunny and the kids getting dressed up, the day was pretty blah.

We did go to my Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob's beautiful new shore house for breakfast and that was great. I love the house - very big and airy. Perfect for the beach. Lots of bathrooms and bedrooms. They are going to have a great summer. As always, the food was delicious and the company was fun. We did not stay too long, because I felt like my head was going to explode! I slept in the car on the way home. Something I NEVER do.

Once we got home, I rested on the couch (something else I never do) to try and get rid of my throbbing headache. At about 4:30 pm my parents showed up and we went over to the diner for our 5 pm reservation. I got my usual egg white omelete and David got his 'million dollar pancakes' (otherwise known as silver dollar). Steve got a chicken sandwich that he sent back because it came with a cream sauce on it and my Mom was served the wrong thing. Not such a fantastic Easter dinner.

I had cancelled dessert at our house with my Mom's side because I just was not up to it. So, Steve, David and I cuddled up and watched Star Wars IV. That made my night. Now I have a Bunny ice cream cake in my freezer. Anyone want to celebrate Easter when it gets warmer?

I hope the bunny is good to you!

The eggs are hidden, the baskets are stuffed and I am tired. Off to bed I go, but not before I wish you a Happy Easter!

May the Force be with You

I see it's been a while since my last post. Everyday I have been meaning to write, but I get distracted.

Steve and I celebrated our 8th wedding Anniversary last Tuesday March 27. After attending his scrimmage in New Brunswick verse St. Peter's HS, my Mom watched the kids and we went out to dinner. We were planning on going to the restaurant where our reception was held, but we stayed close and went to Ria Mar in South River. We both had paella. It was very good, but not as good as The Armory (where we wanted to go). It was nice to spend some time together and be 'kid free'.


Thursday, David had an Easter party at school. He came home with a bunch of candy and prizes. He loved it. He does not have school this week (spring break) so they had to celebrate a tad early.


This weekend was uneventful. We took it easy Saturday. Ran over to Lowe's, had lunch at Chili's and saw the Easter Bunny at the mall. Sunday Steve went up to North Jersey for a memorial service for the father of a friend of his. Laurie came over to scrap for a little and then I took the kids to the A&P. It was real nice not to have any big plans.

I saw in the Target circular on Sunday that they had Star Wars egg dying kits. David is really into Star Wars, so I was VERY excited to get this for him. I went to Target on my way home Monday and they had NONE. I was SO upset. I called my Mom, who in turn called my Dad and after a little drama, they found it. I had them buy 2, just in case. My Mom boiled 2 dozen eggs yesterday and let them cool so that Steve, David and I could decorate them last night. It was a lot of fun. David had a blast and Steve came out the hero for figuring out how to 'shrink wrap' the eggs. David was very excited to show MomMom this morning.



Steve's baseball team is off to a good start. They beat St. Peter's on Monday in their first game of the season. He seems pleased with the team. I helped him pick out their new uniforms earlier in the school year and Steve came home in his. He looked very handsome. The unis are real sweet.


Although I had a rough night with Ava being up due to her teeth, I had a great morning. I weighed myself and lost 4 lbs! Even without losing anything the past 4 weeks, I am 12 lbs lighter since starting the diet 7 weeks ago. Tonight I will be sweating it out at Jazzercise to give myself that extra boost.

Ok, I think we are all caught up. I am off Friday - YEAH - so if I do not get a post in before hand, have a very Happy Easter!