What to do with those leftover boxes from Christmas

Make a new home complete with a mailbox! AJ and Eliana played with this for 2 hours straight the other day. After our architect/builder (Daddy) constructed it, they decorated the inside with markers and then went to work making "letters" and dropping them in the mailbox. We were thinking if we can get more we could make a whole cardboard city!

What I learned from Disney on Ice

Men do not pee as much as women. Why at intermission are the lines for the ladies room out the door and the men don't have a line? Anyway, thanks to Auntie Lou for the fun Christmas gift. We had a great time!

From our family to yours...Merry Christmas!

Christmas breakfast Christmas Eve at Grandma's
Someone's getting tired!
The Crew
Spencer was not impressed.
AJ and Eliana

Isaiah 9:6

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."

Happy Birthday Uncle Chris!

We love you!

Sleigh Ride

Are they cute or what?!?!? Especially the biggest one. ;)

Homemade Granola...my favorite Christmas treat

No School Again!

School was cancelled today because of the impending snow storm. I realize we are supposed to get 12 inches but come on people, where is your hearty New England winter spirit? It hasn't even started snowing yet! We could have got in a half day in order to prevent having to make it up in June. And seriously AJ's preschool gets out at noon so I think we would have been just fine driving to and from considering it's NOT SNOWING yet. I remember as a kid how bad it had to be for school to be cancelled. They act like we live in Florida where there are no snowplows and 2 inches sends them into a state of panic. What a bunch of wimps we've become!!!

A continuation of my obsession for fresh food....

Remember on Thanksgiving when I mentioned how I want to try and make everything from scratch? And I'm tired of the cans and boxes? I think the country needs a shift in the way we think about food and how we grow and prepare it. Thus I give you...Michael Pollan! Here's a link to a petition for him to be the new Secretary of Agriculture.
http://www.petitiononline.com/MPoll4Ag/

And if you want to find out more about him before you sign here's his site.

http://www.michaelpollan.com/

I know, not very Christmasy but necessary nonetheless.

HELP!

Where ARE the green Andes mint chips????????????

Heat Update

It's on as of this morning except now it's 65 degrees out and we don't need it today. Go figure! It took them 4 days to get to us and 140 dollars to come out for 30 minutes (really they should have given us a discount what with the economy and letting us and our 2 SMALL CHILDREN freeze while they took there sweet time getting to us but I'm not angry or bitter, not at all). Thanks Becky and Derek for letting us borrow your space heater in the meantime!

Christmas Project

Here's a picture of our craft for the day...all for under 5 dollars. (Gotta love those JoAnn's 50% off coupons!) It was really simple and fun and the only setback was Eliana touching the glue gun after being told repeatedly not to. We're also having a movie night tonight....."Frosty the Snowman" plus hot chocolate and popcorn and cuddling by the fireplace. The kids are so excited because they get to stay up "late". I guess when you're 2 and 4 going to bed at 8:30 instead of 8 is a big deal. Anyway I can't wait cause Frosty is my all time favorite Christmas cartoon!

No School Today and...No heat in our House!

We had a pretty bad wind and rain storm last night and many people don't have power. I got the call this morning that AJ's school was cancelled for that very reason. Also as of last night we have NO HEAT in our house. Jonathan is going to come home a little early today to see if he can figure our what's going on. We're hoping it's just that the pilot light is out and nothing more. If it is it looks like we 'll have to break out the space heaters for the rest of the winter which makes me nervous since 2 of them would have to go in the kid's rooms during the night. So pray we can fix it on our own!!!!!!!!!!

Rainy Day Recipe

I love soup and I love making it when it's raining outside, like today! Well usually I like it to be rainy and cold for soup and it was 60 today but hey that's New England for you (see previous post with snowman from Sunday) so I will take what I can get. Anyway I thought I'd share this recipe with you. It's simple, especially if you do all the cutting ahead of time and ridiculously healthy for you. Oh and I swear it tastes just like the Olive Garden's.

Minestrone Soup

In a soup pot:

Saute for 5 minutes

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 small diced onion

1/2 c. zucchini

1/2 c. cut green beans

1/4 c. celery

4 chopped garlic cloves

then add:

32 oz. vegetable broth

1-2 cans drained kidney beans

1-2 cans white beans

diced tomatoes

1 c. sliced carrots

2 tbsp. fresh parsley

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. basil

1/4 tsp. thyme

2 bay leaves

3 c. hot water

Boil, simmer for 20 minutes and then add:

4 c. fresh spinach

1 c. shell or any small pasta

Simmer 20 minutes and you're done!

First Snowfall

AJ, Eliana and "Mr. Snowman"

AJ Ate a Carrot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know some of you maybe thinking this is strange but this is a HUGE step in the right direction for Mr. I-only-eat-10-things-and-leave-me-alone-about-it-please! Now it was a very, very small piece but it actually went from the spoon, into his mouth, down his throat and into his stomach. A small miracle for my little bear. Great job AJ!

Recent Performance Photos

Fusionworks Dance Company

Let's bring Christmas back!

Quotes from my Kids

Eliana: (she had a cold this week): "My nose is running out!"
AJ: "Something smells in here."
Eliana: "Maybe my bum?"
Eliana: (while looking in her Bible) "Mom, I want to be Jesus."
Eliana's version of the Barney song: "I love me, you love me".....yes, little Jelly Bean everyone loves you!

Happy Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving! The family, the friends, the parade, and oh did I mention the food? Since eating is always high on my priority list (gotta feed that tapeworm!) here's a run down of all the food we served today:
Turkey
Homemade Stuffing and Gravy
Potatoes
Butternut Squash
Green Bean Casserole
Corn
Applesauce
Salad
Homemade Bread

And for dessert....all homemade.....
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Cheesecake

Do you get the feeling that I don't like things from a can or box? More and more I feel we should be making things from scratch, minus preservatives and all that other unnecessary foolishness!
But more about that in another post soon!

I Beg You Mothers out There...Please,Please Breastfeed!!!!!!!!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081126/ap_on_he_me/infant_formula

I Won!!! I Won!!!!!!

Check out the new pair of earrings I won from my friend Sandy's giveaway on her blog. She made them herself, aren't they gorgeous? A little birdie named Tanya left me a message to make a visit to the blog and I was pretty clueless as to why until I saw them again and realized I must have won. Being the ultra competitive, hate to lose, love winning type of person I am, I was overjoyed!!!
http://www.sandstone-sandstone.blogspot.com/

Sigh...Jack is Back!

Was anyone else glued to the television for the 2 hour "24" movie that was on tonight? Feeling much safer now that Jack Bauer has once again come out of the woodwork, saving the lives of the helpless and defending our freedom!

The much requested loose tooth story....

During the summer AJ's mouth and Eliana's head collided, resulting in a loose top tooth for AJ and a headache for Eliana. We called the dentist and they said there wasn't much we could do, if it was going to fall out it would. So it didn't and everything seemed fine until a couple of weeks ago. AJ informed me there was a bump on his gums above the loose tooth and sure enough there it was all gooey and infected. This time we actually go to our dentist (no longer our dentist any more, you'll see why in a minute) and they suggest antibiotics for 7 days and then do a polpotomy,where they go in their and clean it out and seal it so there will be no more infections. This requires local anesthesia. Fast forward a week picture Jonathan and AJ sitting in the chair while the big needle comes toward AJ's mouth. Yeah like that was ever going to happen! So they leave and it doesn't get done and we're supposed to have another round of antibiotics. Fast forward 1 more week and we are at a pediatric dentist who actually has a clue and AJ does much better there. However she takes an x-ray and says "I'm surprised they suggested the polpotomy, that would be an effort to save the tooth and the root is 2/3 gone so it would not have helped. Oh and he doesn't need the antibiotics for another 7 days,that would be too long!" Can you say malpractice? I was so upset at those other dentists! All that aggravation for nothing. Our new dentist suggested instead that the tooth be pulled but it didn't have to be done immediately but that we should keep an eye on it and if the abscess came back and made his mouth swell we should be more aggressive about removing it. So Dawn and Gail (AJ's Sunday school teachers) now you know what he's been talking about for the last 2 weeks!

Quotes from my Kids

AJ: (while getting parts out of the back of Mrs. Potato Head) "Mrs. Potato Head just pooped out a flower."
Eliana: (after Daddy snapped her with a dish towel) "Daddy slammed me!"

Question of the Day

Why is a local radio station playing Christmas music 24 hours a day and it's only the beginning of November?!?!?!?!!?

All Hallow's Eve

Today we had a costume parade in our neighborhood and a pumpkin carving contest. We won for spookiest pumpkin. Here are some pictures of our pirate and our princess after getting their candy.

Vote Yes on Question 1 in MA

http://www.smallgovernmentact.org/joomla/

Look at the Technique!

Can you see how AJ carries the football correctly? If that's not natural talent I don't know what is!

And here's one of Eliana in her cute little Dora outfit. She took a break from the game to pose for a picture. Notice the beautiful mums behind her that since this picture has been taken, have gotten pummeled by some strong winds and are now falling apart!

Yay!!!...the Thorpes finally made it up here!

After several attempts earlier this year Brandon, Jen and Amelia finally got here for a visit from Jersey. Here's some pictures of the kids hanging out together. Great to see you guys!

Freakin' Squirrels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last one I promise!

Representing the Constitution Party and endorsed by Ron Paul. http://www.baldwin08.com/

As an alternative......

....to all the insanity and media surrounding the two major party candidates I give you........http://www.bobbarr2008.com/. It's definitely worth checking out!!

Potty Update #2 (and hopefully the last)!

Eliana hasn't worn diapers for 2 weeks now unless she's sleeping! So I would call that potty trained. Occasionally there will be poop in her diaper when she wakes up in the morning but usually it's just wet and she'll go poop in the potty. She says "I heard it drop Mommy." And there have been no accidents at all, even if we are going out for the morning or whenever. Go Jelly Bean!!!!!!!

Tuesday Outings

AJ loved climbing these cargo nets.
Eliana wasn't so sure about them!

Steel drums in the Boston Black exhibit.

Construction is always their favorite area!

Pilot and Co-Pilot!

Since Tuesday is the only day during the week we have the whole day to ourselves, we've been trying to do some field trips. Here's some pictures from last week at the Boston Children's Museum.

Quotes from My Kids

Eliana: "I have a toenail on my finger."
AJ: (in a crowd of people,while pulling her pants down) "Do you want to see Eliana's new undies?"
Grandma: (putting Eliana to bed and trying to convince her to stay in the room) "Well I guess I'll just have to read books all by myself."
Eliana: (choosing a book) "You can read this one by yourself."

Potty Update

Eliana has made the move into wearing undies all day, except nap and overnight. We started on Friday and have had only 3 accidents in 3 days. Not bad! Unfortunately one of them was at church this morning. The couple in the nursery was kind enough to change her and clean it up. She was so close too......got to the potty but couldn't get her pants down in time. Anyway we have Tinkerbelle and Minnie Mouse undies and she absolutely loves them. I'm hoping this week she just keeps getting the hang of it and has more success. Little Jelly Bean is growing up!!!!

I've Decided

After Friday's pathetic debate I have decided to write in a name for President come November. After all that the country s going through, they have NO new ideas or changes to make? Give me a freakin break!!! Normally with a race this close I would choose between one of the two major party candidates but I just can't do it this time. So I may go with my original choice from the primaries or I may just have to vote for the Amy/Jonathan Burns ticket. I would be the President of course. ;)

End of Summer...Wah!!!!!

Summer is my favorite season, closely followed by Fall so I am only slightly saddened by the cooler temperatures. I will miss those fun days at the beach and all the BBQs though. Anyway we celebrated all of this on Sunday afternoon at Crescent Park with our 2nd annual end of summer family picnic. This park is really beautiful and has a carousel that the kids love. I was proud of AJ for going on it this year! Last year he just chose to observe. Funny how he is so daring with some things and cautious with others. This was followed by,pizza, green salads, pasta salad, brownies and apple pie. Oh and plenty of soccer, football, hide and seek and tackling (nicely of course). And a nice walk along the shore with Grandma where they picked up some shells to bring home. This year we managed to avoid the dreaded poison ivy which was an added bonus!!!!!!

Quotes from my Kids

Eliana: (in a museum looking at the astronomy/space area...there's a painting of Galileo above us) "Is that Jesus?"
AJ: (already in bed) "I'm cold Mommy."
Me: "Do you want an extra blanket?"
AJ: "No, i just need you to lay next to me cause your skin makes me the most warm." (Little heartbreaker!)

Apple Picking and AJ's 1st Day of School

Happy Anniversary to Us!

That's right....six years ago today Jonny and I tied the knot and became one forever!!!!! Well I guess it was actually yesterday since we got married on a Sunday. I loved our wedding and wish we could do it (just the ceremony part) again and again. Time goes by really quickly when you're married. And although we've had good and bad times, ups and downs and all of that I still wouldn't want to be married to anyone else. I love you Papi!

Fall Frenzy

So starts September and along with it comes 2 nights a week and every Saturday rehearsing, school starting for AJ this week, parent meetings, field trips, school fundraisers, Jonathan teaching the financial workshop at church and my favorite......the home stretch of the race for the White House!!!!!!!!!!!! I love these conventions and debates and so on. It's all so fascinating and I love it when I can argue and make my case to anyone willing to talk about it. Since my original choice did not make it past the primaries I am having trouble choosing someone who reflects my views. Hopefully it will become clear to me before November.

Sorry I'm a Slacker

Where have I been???? I promise to try and post more often. I'm not doing as well as I did when I first started all this in March. New, interesting and thought provoking topics to come!!!!

Volunteer Potty Training

Eliana peed twice on the potty yesterday.....all of her own volition! She doesn't even tell us. She walks right in, takes off her shorts and diaper and hoists herself onto the toilet seat. If someone goes in with her she says, " I need pri-see" (privacy). This is much easier than when it was time to potty train AJ. He had no interest whatsoever and he was a year older than she is now. I must say, I'm pretty impressed with my just-turned 2 year old. We'll have to go shopping for some cute undies together.

This is Exhausting!

What on earth could I mean by that, you're asking yourself. Is is running after two energetic children all day? Late night rehearsals? NOOOOOOOO..........it's the Olympics! All the events I like are broadcast after 11:00 at night!!! And I manage to hold my eyes open till 1 AM and pay for it in the morning and basically all day long. As much as I am enjoying them I will be happy when Sunday comes and they are done until 2010. Don't worry, I keep telling myself, 8-9 hours of sleep will come again soon.

NYSSSA/ADLI in Saratoga

Here are some pictures from my great week in New York. I had so much fun dancing with everyone! I wish I could do this every week except be able to come home at night!!

Blueberries anyone?

You know what that means...it's time for pie! Jonathan made a really good one this past weekend with our fresh blueberries. Tomorrow I leave for NY for rehearsals all week and performance on Saturday. I hope everything's ok at home while I'm gone...actually I hope I'm ok while I'm gone and don't miss everyone too much!

Mystic Aquarium

Here we are, at one with the creatures of the sea. This is a great day trip, so much better than the New England Aquarium in Boston. The kids got to touch crabs, starfish and manta rays and the picture at the top with just me and Eliana was at the sea lion show. She was pretty much done by two o'clock and was very quiet and cuddly during the show. AJ got to pet the skink, or lizard, whatever it's called. All in all the day was a success. When we were leaving AJ asked "Can we come back tomorrow?"

A Well Rested Family

Today a miracle occurred at our house.....everyone slept until 9AM! Usually AJ comes strolling in to get us at 7:30 the latest and the sound of him walking by her room wakes Eliana up (she's a light sleeper). Anyway since I am not a morning person I hope this trend continues! But wait...AJ starts school again in September so maybe just for the month of August and then we'll do the switch back.

Want to see me drive like a crazy woman?

Issue a freakin TORNADO warning in my area and watch me fly down the road praying like mad!!!!!!! Do we live in Kansas or Oklahoma? This is New England for heavens' sake! What if Mem doesn't bring them in the basement fast enough? What if the windows are open? What if my car gets sucked into a funnel cloud never to be seen again? What if Jonathan gets hurt? The list of my wild imagination goes on and on...... Oh it got cancelled 15 minutes later.

Quotes from my Kids

Me: "What's your name?"
Eliana: "Princess."
AJ: "Eliana, I can't understand you when you're whining."
Me: Eliana, who loves you the most?"
Eliana: "Bob and Sue" (our neighbors).

The People's Court

What could this post possibly be about you might say? This morning I went to the municipal court to contest a 100 dollar parking ticket. I managed to get it reduced to 30 dollars. On the annoying side the judge didn't arrive till 20 minutes after everyone was already there and we were interrupted by a cop and 2 guys in handcuffs who for some reason got to cut the line so to speak and go ahead of everyone! What the heck is up with that? Shouldn't the people like me who had very minor violations get to go 1st while the people in handcuffs wait? I certainly didn't appreciate all of that. We weren't being filmed today......too bad, I could have flexed my acting skills for public access television.

Big Night Out

Last night Grandma called and said she would love to see the kids and would we like to go out for awhile? Of course we would...come on over! So what did we do? Went out for ice cream and to Benny's to buy a new sprinkler. Then we ran to Target to get boring stuff like undershirts and deodorant. I did get a cute little sundress on clearance but gosh, are we getting old or what? We were home and asleep by 10:00. Well Jonathan was anyway...I seem to have insomnia lately!

Here they are ...the beach bums!

We all finally got to go to the beach together and it was a beautiful day! Never mind the fact that everyone and their grandma was trying to get there too (it took us about an hour and a half when it's usually a 45 minute ride). It was also nice not having to ask a stranger to put sunscreen on my back like I have to when it's just me and the kids. The other cool thing that was going on were preparations for a triathlon happening tomorrow. Jonathan is now inspired to do that one day and I will cheer from the sidelines! Our friends Sean and Dianne and their kids were there too so we hung out with them for awhile. Here are some snapshots from our day!

I'm a Proud Momma

On Sunday at church all the kids were upstairs in the sanctuary instead of downstairs for Sunday school. It was a fun and interactive service for them and AJ enjoyed it. After talking about the gifts God gives us to use, Pastor Sean asked us all to write down 5 gifts we think we have and to have the children write theirs down as well. When I asked AJ what he thought he was good at the first thing he said was, "Taking care of Eliana." Followed by sharing, puzzles,reading and dancing. What a cutie huh? It's things like that that make me feel like the values we are trying to instill in our children might actually be seeping in.

What I've been thinking about/doing lately

-Why do we play the 1812 overture at fireworks displays? It was written by a Russian composer celebrating a victory against Napoleon and has nothing to do with American history.
-The Olympics! Anyone else watching the trials? My favorites are track and field (gotta love those male runners bodies ;) gymnastics and swimming. I remember being a little girl thinking I would be an Olympic gymnast someday!
-How much I love dancing in the summer! There's nothing like sweat dripping from your arms and legs during rehearsals. Aaahhh, warm muscles feel so good.
-"So you think you can Dance." My favorites are WILL, Mark, Katee and Joshua! But especially WILL...be still my heart I think I have a crush. Anyone else watching this show?

As promised.....Party pictures!!!!!!

Ok so I can't arrange pictures very well but you must admit, they are darn CUTE! Nuncle Chris got her the bike and we had lots of fun in the bouncy house, courtesy of our neighbor "Little Jack." (There are 3 Jacks in our neighborhood, 2 of which made it to the party.) And of course I had to go with ice cream cake from Carvel. A birthday party at the Burns' house just wouldn't be complete without it! Eliana certainly has that big "cheeeese" smile down, doesn't she? :)