One w/ Nature

Sorry for the vacation wrapup delay, but this week has been crazy busy and I've had little to no computer time. We had a great reunion with our dear friends the Gilbert's in Burlington, VT. We ate, chatted, swam, letterboxed, walked.... for two days straight and we all had a great time. Our time together is so short and it always flies by so quickly! Here are some of the best pics from the trip.

We only left for 2 days and look at all the luggage!Seth and Nin; one of my favorite pics from the trip!

Love during our letterboxing hike!

Group letterboxing shot!You can't go to VT w/o eating some Ben & Jerry's.Friends for life!

I have a ton more good pics, but there are the best of the best! Happy Thursday!

PS

PS- Happy Belated Birthday to Sheryl! Please come home and visit SOON!

Home Improvement Time

Let the season begin because we are in full home improvement 2008 mode! So far this year Roland has ripped off the front porch and steps and redecked it all. Now, our second project is complete and our fully completed fence is DONE! Now our entire yard is fenced in and matches.

The next phase of home improvement 2008 is to fill the yard back in with dirt and build it up, reseed it and we will have a brand new lawn. Following that madness we would like to buy and construct a playset for Seth. We hope to get all of this done before school gets out so we can enjoy it for the summer! Wish us luck!

PS- I will post pics from our weekend in VT tomorrow.

Top 5

This weeks favorite top 5 list consists of...

1. My belated Mother's Day massage last night was amazing. I went to a new girl and she was the best massage therapist I've ever gone to. Thank you Ro for a wonderful gift!

2. Seth's new saying for any and everything he sees is "My like _______!" All through the grocery store he liked everything and this morning while I was putting on my jewelery he says, "My like jewelery!" Priceless!

3. My two favorite shows were on last night (Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill) AND they were the season finale so they were extra juicy. Now I have to wait until September though to see what happens. Damn those finale cliffhangers!

4. My brother leaves for Italy tomorrow for three weeks so I'm having he and my mom for dinner tonight while the men golf. I'm making taco pie, it's delicious and I can't wait!

5. Saturday we leave for an adventure. We are meeting our close friends in Burlington, VT for the weekend. Pray that we make it there with no potty disasters and that we don't get completely lost! Thank you to everyone who is helping out with Rocky while we are gone. We appreciate it more then you know!

What is your top 5 list for the week?

Is it November?

If you came to Watertown today you'd think it was late fall. It is dark, cold, windy and rainy here today and not too spring like so I pulled out the fall-ish clothes to try and stay warm at work today when I really wanted to wear some bright springy clothes. Anyhow, the weekend was a success yet again. We had all sorts of plans and then some spontaneous events popped up too!

Saturday we went to Kidnastics, but left early because we wanted to go to the Arms Forces Day Parade. We met up with Jen and Sophia and Kristin and Jacob so we all watched and Seth was in love once again with all the fire trucks, ambulances and tractors. He was in awe! Then we walked downtown and listened to the Drum and Bugle Band. They put on quite a show!

Saturday night we headed to Nate and Beth's for our first shrimp boil. We did not know what to expect, but we were sure surprised. It was utterly delicious and there was enough food for about 50 people. We had 6 appetizers, fresh fruit of all kinds, salads, the actual shrimp boil and dessert. I went home a stuffed girl! Seth did well too, no potty accidents, but we did have to haul him into the bathroom kicking and screaming just to get him to go. He didn't want to stop playing long enough to go potty. We made him!

Sunday, we did the normal routine and then I actually napped while Seth napped. It was a great weekend, but too short as always. This weekend coming up is a 4 day weekend and I am pumped, PLUS we are headed to VT for the first time ever to meet up with our good friends The Gilbert's for our annual vacation extravaganza! We are counting down the days...

Decided

I have decided as of this morning that Seth has to stay young. He needs to stay young enough to need and want to be with us and to be protected from the crazy world we live in. I have decided this because I found out this morning that a former student of mine who is only in the 6th grade... is pregnant. She graduated from my building just about this time last year and is about to have a baby. What is going on in the world that something like this is happening. It is one thing to hear about young girls getting pregnant, but quite another to actually know one of them who is only 12 years old. What gets me even more is that there are tons of wonderful couples out there who can't have children and who are on waiting lists to adopt, but a kid can have a kid. I am frustrated and sick to my stomach today. So that is what is on my mind for today and I'm ready to be done with work and spend the afternoon with my son while he is young.

Video Time

We are just looking to go to the ER aren't we? They were just having so much fun we couldn't bear to make them stop! FYI- The mattress was only in the livingroom because we tried to sell it in the garage sale, but we were unsuccessful. Now Justin is going to take it back to school with him so we still get rid of it!

I have more videos of Seth running around butt naked, but I don't think they are appropriate to post online. In one he goes running through the livingroom to the kitchen and we asked him where he was going so fast, his reply was "gotta go poopy!" He will hate the videos in about 10 to 15 years and we will just sit back and laugh.

Mother's Day and Home Improvement Time

Roland finally finished our new front porch and here it is. He truly did an amazing job and I love it! We only need to do touch ups on the paint on the front of the house and we will be all set.

This looks lifetimes better then that old painted porch! YAH!
Our new fence to line the backyard is going in this week so our neighbors took down their old rotting fence and last night Rod was nice enough (sorry for asking him to come over on Mother's Day night Jen) to help Ro get a dead branch down.
Once the fence is up, we will get a truck load of fill in the build up the backyard and then put in a playground for Seth.

In other news, the weekend was great. The garage sale was a medium success. We got rid of a ton of little stuff but not so much of the large items. We went to dinner at Ryan's Lookout and it was amazing as always. Mother's Day was great too. Ro made me homemade raspberry muffins, grocery shopped, booked me a massage for this weekend and cooked dinner for me. It was a great day! Seth continues to be a successful potty trainer too. He is amazing us!

LIFE IS GOOD!

Looking Forward to....

This weekend I am looking forward to...

* Ordering pizza from Bernardos tonight and watching the kiddos play for a bit.
* Selling all our old junk and making a little summer money.
* Going out to dinner at a fab restaurant with great friends.
* Spending Mother's Day with the ones I love!
* Relaxing a little bit in between all the busy-ness!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Top 5

I was thinking about my life today and thinking how very lucky I am so I thought I'd list my top 5 favorite things for this week.

1. The look and smile on Seth's face when he goes on the potty and sees how proud we are of him. He smiles and giggles and jumps up and down saying, " I pee peed on the potty!" It is truly PRICELESS and such a major accomplishment in his eyes!

2. Gutting the house and ridding myself of all unneeded clutter and junk. Our annual garage sale is this Saturday and so I'm in high gear to look in very cupboard, drawer, closet and cranny to rid our house of items that just collect dust.

3. My Dad's fish fry last night was amazing as usual and I ate myself silly, BUT I also have more for my lunch in about 10 minutes so I can't wait.

4. Our 90% done new front porch is looking so great. I'm super proud of the hubs for doing such a great job on the floor and steps and I can't wait for him to finish with the railings and then touch up paint this weekend. I'll take some pics when the project is complete. YIPPPEEE!

5. My anticipation for our dinner out on Saturday. My favorite restaurant is Ryan's Lookout and I am super excited to be going this Saturday! Crab Bisque and Chicken of the Harbor here I come!

So that is my top 5 fav list for this week! What is yours???

Weekly Catch Up

I can hardly believe that it is Wednesday already. We have been busy busy each and every night. Monday night we worked on the garage sale. We have it organized and just about ready and boy do we have a ton of items to get rid of. I spared nothing this year and I cleaned us out. Yesterday I went to a conference in SYR with a fellow teacher regarding new children's literature. The speaker kept my attention all day and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her as well as getting some new ideas for next year. The only draw back was that it was flipping freezing in that room and I was cold all day long. Tonight we are headed to my dad's house for a fish fry and I'm counting down the hours. I even wrangled a way for him to make me his homemade cole slaw. It should be world famous, it is that GOOD! Needless to say I can't wait to eat myself silly this evening and go to bed a happy woman.

Poker Run

We successfully completed our first poker run and we had a blast! I had no idea what the day would bring weather wise or other wise, but it was great! Here are some of the best pics...It was great to be outdoors for a full day and take in all the beautiful scenery. We even got super close to the windmills. I was in awe!

We ended the weekend with more house work and lots of time spent with Seth. Ro is still working on the front porch. He now has the floor completed and the steps completed. The only thing left is the railings. It looks like a brand new porch and he did an amazing job! I also got the garage set up for the annual sale this weekend. I can't wait to get rid of all our junk and clean out the attic!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Finally the weekend is here. I just finished my last class, graded my last quiz and I'm ready to head out for a night filled with... shopping, pizza, kids playing, four wheeler loading and finally blissful sleep!

Tomorrow brings our first official poker run as a couple and we are all looking forward to it. I think we have 5 wheelers in our crew. We will ride from Snow Ridge to Brantingham and back. Our rainsuits and boots are ready to go! I will hopefully have pics for you all on Monday!

Have a great weekend and thanks again to Taylor, Tom and Bonnie who helped make our day of wheeling possible! Seth is super excited to see you all!

Last of the Disney Videos

My brother later told me that this was totally illegal, but it was such an amazing show that I had to share it with people. If you ever get the chance to go to Animal Kingdom, check out The Lion King show. It was amazing!

Come on you know you want to sing along!

T.G.I.TH! (Thank god it's Thursday!)