HOW ED IS THE BEST.....

Am sitting in bed in my master suite with pjs still on, fever of 102 degrees, achy-knees and headcold on top of flu, no appetitie, headache, very tired and ....still bored. I actually almost fainted while in the bathroom today and Ed caught me and hauled me to bed. BUMMER. Though I do have my laptop, the NY Times, my new eBook (Nook) from Barnes&Noble and tons of mags....and my beloved NPR is on, of course, but still...I am bored. Ugh.
Now, here's how AWESOME Ed is:
1) he is taking care of me and the wild house-bound (and oh so not sick) little ones with nary a complaint and a rather good attitude. He keeps reminding me "remember, Cindy, when you took care of me when I had pneumonia for a couple of weeks and we had brand new little babies...?". (what a typically thoughtful Ed thing to say....)
2) They are going around the house collecting old toys still in good condition the children no long use for donation
3) He is taking them out at some point today for their daily outdoors play....even though still all that snow out there.
4) He is serving me hot drinks and meds.
5) He ROCKS and it humbles me and i am just crazy about him.

I hope you have that kind of ROCK in your life, too....! :)

Sniffly, Feverish Hugs,
Cin

White Christmas Weekend

47 years. That is the last time our town had a White Christmas and a lovely white snowy event it has turned out to be. We packed in more than 8 inches of the perfect-sledding snowman snowball flakes you could dream of and we sure did take full advantage of all-things-snowy today. It was a packed (pun intended) day of snowy-events that I eagerly planned throughout last evening and through the night as I kept my fingers crossed the snow would really fall like our forecasters predicted. I’m kinda goofy about watching snow accumulate….I like to watch all the weather news, hear the potential accumulation figures, then run outside to vet it for myself. It’s exciting in our house anticipating the white-stuff and hey, I grew up in Miami so snow is a Big.Fun.Event for me!! (got milk, bread, and eggs??)

Early this morning after devouring a quick breakfast, we hauled down our ski gear from the attic, padded-up the children and ourselves and ran outside with the dogs in tow to make tracks all over our yard (did I mention 8 inches!!!) and up and down our street.  (of course we were the first ones up). Then, we headed for the hills to sled for a good long time. It was great fun as Sammi and Nicki love sledding and they peal with giggles when they take a spill off the tube. No tears and whines as we have tough little girls!! Then, back in the house for hot chocolate and then back outside to make a groovy snowman.

Now to some pics. Throughout the morning, it continued snowing quite a bit so I pulled together some makeshift camera-protection gear and gamely headed outdoors to shoot. I felt….for a sec here and there…very Art Wolf-y…though I know Mr. Wolfe’s rain/snow-protection gear isn’t made of a plastic bread wrapper….(must buy more camera equipment!!)

First to the dogs….the Aussie is Buddy (our dog) and Piper is the little one we are dog-watching.

It was so easy to lose Piper in the snow as she sure does blend-in. She loved it…barking and running and yipping and…trying her very best to keep up with Buddy. Good show, Pips!

Heading up the drive to the hill…..

Look at the joy on Sammi’s face….

Here’s Sammi at the bottom of the hill jumping up as fast as she can to run to the top to do it all again. They LOVED it and it was our joy seeing their joy….ahh…so good so very good….

Back to top…we start off at the stop sign and ride all the way down….Just look at that snow pouring down!

Our snowy-house…

Cute hats, aren’t they…this one is Nicki in the pink hat

Happy-happy…..

The trio is Making Mischief here as I got pelted with snowballs a nano-second later. I knew they were up to something…

I would like to introduce you to Spike-a-roni….

Happy Snowy-Day!!

Scarves and Smiles….Merry Merry Day!!

The girls twirled and swirled in their new scarves this afternoon as a prelude to our traditional Christmas Day hike. The woods were lovely today, the air was quite cool…in the 30s…and we all enjoyed a hearty hike. Sammi took the lead…as usual…and gave us an active pace!

Thanks to Leslie and Jason for the new scarves and excellent books. Merry Christmas!

P.S. Yes, it is make-up….but just princess make-up and only allowed for play occasions…!

NIcki in the pink hat; Sammi in the other….

 

Hugs,

Cin

Merry Christmas From Our Family to Yours!

 

Hello Hello and Happy Holidays

Hello Out There!

Hard to believe that 2011 is just mere weeks away. I remember being much younger and just not thinking I’d ever really understand when older people (and i did NOT say “old”….just “older”….key distinction!!) always said, “Sometimes I don’t even know time of the month I’m in much less the day I’m in…”. I think that is me now, too. And, for us, all is fine and everyone is healthy and happy and thriving….it’s just that time goes by so quickly. It’s almost Christmas, for goodness sake!! Ah well, good problem to have, huh…

So yep, all pretty well. The girls are simply loving (just loving) kindergarten. You may remember that we (okay, me…) were worried about whether they’d be distressed due to being in separate classrooms…..Nope, not one little bit. Not an iota….They now each have individual friends, individual parties and events to go to…individual (sigh) homework and individual (sigh again) teacher expectations…. :) Ah well, again, good ‘problem’ to have.

Been quite busy too. Ice skating, parties, visitors, my 50th birthday party celebration and awesome huge and total surprise party Ed threw me and the subsequent surprise weekend trip (sans enfants….yes, without children…) to New York City to the Metropolitan Opera House (best tickets in the House) to see La Traviota, then more school projects, Thanksgiving Party, more holiday parties to host…..Oh, wait….did you say “What!! You are 50 now and you went to NYC for the best and most extravagant weekend at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel ever……? Did you say that…?” Why, yes, I certainly did….Please do come back to see my later post..!! I promise to post in the next 2 days.

But…for now….here are some pictures…including some beautiful pictures from our dear friends, J & K and family…This first lovely picture is of J….just lovely-lovely, isn’t she? :) Her eyes are absolutely gorgeous—I’m so pleased I got some great shots…

And next to her is her sister, K…..Lovely, too, isn’t she? It is fun having them model for me….

Here’s J again with those fantastic eyes…!

And here come my two little imps….pure imps is really what they are. Are you familiar with Thing One and Thing Two? Yep, figured you would be….well, that is who they are…it is CRAZY…but such a fun crazy…!! (Sammi on left; Nicki on right)

NIcki left; Sammi right

 

Nicki Princess Butterfly….

Sammi below is Princess Doggie Girl…(?, her words not mine)

Halloween buddies…

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ed is building a shed….solid “would withstand a Cat III storm” shed…..because that is the way he does everything…(all good)

 

Lovely J once again…..

And her sissy….

  

Col and K:

             

Ok….it for now…next big post (better be tomorrow, huh…) is my trip to NYC. Internet, wait ‘til you see it….

Hugs to All. Hope you and your families are safe and sound during this Holiday Season.

-Cindy     

Dog Days Summer

Summer heat….summer time-off…..summer schedule….We’ve been non-stop since last post and all good except the 101 degree actual temperature with 109 heat index. Good grief, I’m from South Florida but i never ever-I-assure-you experienced this kind of oppressive heat before.  Ed and I are convinced it’s due to the take-over of concrete in our state  on top of what our dear Mr. Gore has to say…..

Ah well, what do you do but stay cool. We’ve been trying to do that with our annual vacation retreat to the PA mountains (pictures to be posted at some point) and water-water-water stuff…..Remember the days of running through the sprinklers and playing on slippy-slides…..? :)

    

Serious Sammi…..

Thanks for stopping by……PA friends and family, posting to come this week from our vacation…

Hugs,

cin