To Serve and Protect

October is Fire Safety month in case any of you out there don't know it. So basically in Seth's life right now it is his dream month! Saturday was also Home Depot Kids Day so Seth was in his glory; fire tucks and tools! When we pulled up not only was there a fire truck, but also a police car for the kids to explore.

Firefighter Charlton reporting for duty!

...or should I say Officer Charlton!

It seriously took us some bribes to actually leave Home Depot. Seth was in his own personal heaven!

It was also Leah's first time in a firetruck, but she wasn't as excited!

Life

I can't remember what life was like before this little bundle of JOY came into our lives just 7 months ago. How easily we forget the old and just start new with this little person. I feel so blessed to have 2 wonderful children, but on the 5th of every month I say a little thank you to someone up above for the gift of our Leah. She is 7 months old today and such an amazing little girl. She is happy and smiley and just plain wonderful! She is also mobile now so that makes her independent in her eyes and we just sit back and watch her observe and test herself. It is a wonderful time in all of our lives!

We love you Leah, BUT time can slow down because it is so hard to believe that you are 7 months old! We don't want you to grow so fast!

Fall Flashback!

I came across a bunch of old pictures on the desktop of my work computer and they brought back so many wonderful fall memories from the past that I had to share them with you. Just look at how much Seth has grown...

2nd Halloween!3rd Halloween!
Be on the lookout for a Pittsburgh Steeler football player coming to your house this Halloween. That is what Seth decided he wanted to be.

Growing Up

Seth is officially in a booster seat in all vehicles! This is going to make our lives soooo much easier!

My Little Helper

The last of the 31 Party boxes arrived yesterday and Seth was very eager to help his Mom out!

Do You Ever Feel Like This?

I felt this way more so last night at about 6:30pm, but all the same...

September Couples Night

We wanted to fit one last couples night in before Baby Lindsey makes her debut this upcoming month. Poor Kristen was so uncomfortable because there just isn't much room left for food in her belly as Lindsey continues to grow. Once again the pregnant ladies out numbered the non-pregnant ladies at dinner, but not for much longer! We went to Karen and Jasper's in the plaza and had a delicious meal! You can also tell that we are all getting old. In the old days we would go out after dinner to Joe's or The Paddock Club, but by 10pm on Friday night we were all exhausted and headed home!

Hopefully we can fit another Couples Night in before Lee deploys in January. :(

Old Forge '09

On Saturday Roland came up with the GREAT idea to take the kids to Old Forge for the day. Seth has a new found love for trains and they just happen to have a fall foliage train ride on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad. So we loaded up the kids, packed a picnic lunch and headed out of town for the day.
We decided not to tell Seth where we were going, just that it would be an adventure. He had no idea where we were going until we pulled in the parking lot and he saw a huge train sitting there. His eyes just about bugged out of his head.

Leah took a super long nap in the truck on the way so she was ready to go!

It was really neat because all of the volunteers were dressed in full on train clothing and they made the actual announcements to board on track 1 and such. Seth got a kick out of it all.

We looked for bears and moose along the tracks, unfortunately we didn't see any!

Smiley boy!

The beautiful Moose River.

After the train ride we took a walk through the village of Old Forge and stopped in some shops.

Check Me Out!

We can just sit and watch her for hours!

Spaceship Landing

Our Home Depot delivery man made a joke the other evening upon delivering our new washer/dryer that they looked like mini spaceships. We thought it was rather funny because it is oh so true. They light up, play music and have all sorts of settings. We are just happy that they wash, dry and don't smell like they are burning like our old dryer did. So we welcome them to the family!

Employee Apprciation Week

If you happen to drive down Bradley St. this week you will see this sign out in front of the Pepsi Plant. It is Employee Appreciation week and boy do they go big. Every single day of this work week the employees are rewarded for their outstanding service. Monday they were given hot breakfast to start their day, Tuesday gift bags, Wednesday homemade lunch delivered to them, Thursday freshly washed vehicles and I am not quite sure what tomorrow will bring. Basically they are all spoiled for the week. How fun!

Fall is HERE

...and Seth made the crown in school to prove it!

How many days until summer so we can use our boat?? HA!

Prepping for Miss Lindsey

Yesterday was a special day for many reasons. It was a beautiful fall day, our good friend Beth was in town and we planned a special breakfast for our special friend Kristen as she is only one month away from the arrival of her daughter Lindsey! It couldn't have been a more beautiful day and we were able to sit in the garden at Tin Pan and enjoy good food, good weather and GREAT friends. I am truly lucky to have such wonderful ladies in my life!

The guest of honor (in the middle) was beaming! Amibeth (to Kristen's right is also pregnant)
Mackenzie and Jen are also pregnant!

Sarah and I did the pregnancy thing last year so we are now done and can help our fellow girls when they need an extra hand!
We will all busy busy. Amibeth is due in December, Jen is due in March and Mackenzie in April!

1st Trip SUCCESS

We took the boat out on Lake Ontario for the first time since we bought it and had an amazing afternoon on the water. I can now see how people get hooked on boats. The feeling of being away from the daily stresses of life, out on the open water under the sun was the BEST! The kids loved it and Roland is getting used to driving on land with it, unloading it, driving it on water and loading it back up. Next season we will only need to walk down a dock and go. It will be much much simpler!

Our excited little first mate!
I can't move my neck in this Mom...
...but I can fall asleep in it!
A successful trip!

31 Reasons to Celebrate!

On Saturday night I hosted a 31 party. Right after Leah was born my friend Beth hosted the 1st 31 party at her home in Sackets Harbor and we all fell in love with the products. It is a company from down south with a great motto and it has turned out to be very beneficial to many people that I know. Since the 1st party three of my close friends have become consultants. Beth became a consultant first so I immediately booked a party with her. I wanted to do it in the fall for something different. When I booked the party in the late spring little did we all know that Beth and her family would move back home to Pennsylvania. We have all missed The Irwins a great deal in the past two months, but my 31 party was the best excuse for them to come back up north for a fall visit. So I invited all the women in my life for a little appetizer and wine party. It proved to be highly successful!

The products took over what I thought was a large dining room table.

Beth did a great job explaining all of the different products.

About half of the people at the party had previously been to a 31 party, but many hadn't so they were very excited to see it all.

Thank you to Beth for travelling many hours for the party, it was GREAT to see you! Thank you to my friends and family for coming, hanging out, eating, drinking and having some girl fun! Someone else has to host in the spring when the new catalog comes out!

Back to the Grind

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. It has been a combination of being back to work, thus nothing exciting has been really happening and being so busy at work that I barely have time to breathe. Things are starting to settle down and my routine is starting to get into place.

Seth is in love with going to school. On school mornings he pops out of bed, gets dressed, eats his breakfast and watches the clock in anticipation of leaving for school. I am so happy that he enjoys it and that he has something different to look forward to. He would go everyday if he could.

Leah is crawling all over the place. She is funny though, she has only mastered carpeted surfaces so when she crawls all the way to the dining room she stops, looks and makes funny noises as to say, "What do I do now?" I just sit and watch her trying to learn new things. It is amazing what she can do at only 6 and a half months. Still no teeth or hair, but in time.

We are still on the hunt for boat storage for the winter, but we have found where we will dock it for next season. We just need to leave a deposit and fill out the paperwork. We need to start the countdown until next summer. We can't wait!

This weekend is very fun filled...we hope to get out on the boat one of the days, I am having a 31 party on Saturday evening with all the girls, Moms and my Grandma and Sunday I am hosting a small Baby Breakfast for my close friend Kristen at Tin Pan.

So that is our life in a nutshell for this week!

HONORED

I have to say that I have had many different feelings and emotions throughout my life; when Roland and I got married, bought our house, loved ones have come and gone, our children were born, etc, but last night Roland and I were asked a very important question and it took my breathe away because we felt so honored and blessed to have been asked to look over someone else's child. As soon as Miss Lindsey Castana graces us with her presence Roland and I will step in and be her godparents. We are thrilled, excited and blessed to have been asked to take on this role in her life. We can't wait to meet you Lindsey and hopefully if it all works out I can even manage to be in the delivery room when you arrive. I'm getting my Emergency Lindsey Sub Plans ready! 4 weeks to go...

Calling all Bowlers!

Yesterday was Sophia's 6th birthday party and she invited all the kids to a bowling party. They all looked so stinking cute in their bowling shoes!

Of course our son who isn't even the oldest, has the largest feet!

Leah and Lee bonded. We are helping Lee prep for the arrival of his little girl in only 5 short weeks! Leah's new BFF will be born soon and we are anxiously awaiting her arrival!

Pre- Waxing Pics

Roland is in the process of waxing the boat and cleaning it to his standards, but here are some pics for now. He has all sorts of plans to repaint the trailer and shine everything up to tip top shape!

We weren't sure it would fit down the driveway. I was so nervous that I took the kids and went to my Mom's for an hour while Roland and his Dad backed it down. I am told that it only took Roland one try.

I actually think that Roland is more excited about this purchase then he was when he bought his 4 wheeler. He had a smile from ear to ear! I would like to say and extra big THANK YOU to Big Ro for his help in the negotiations of this boat and for helping Roland go and pick it up. We truly appreciate all of your help! I will take more pics after Roland it finished waxing and polishing it!

WWNY

Tune in the "The Morning Show" tomorrow morning (channel 4) between 6am and 7am for a picture of Seth to be shown. I submitted his "back to school" pic and they emailed me today to say that it would be on TV sometime between 6am-7am!