Emmit and Me

If any of you have read the book "Marley and Me" then you all know how heartwrenching the book is but there are also some hysterical moments in it as well. My dog, Emmit, is a black lab who is a clone of Marley! Everyone in my family who has read the book has commented on how Emmit and Marley are the exact same dog! Everything about him is the same...from eating poopy diapers to knocking down a Xmas tree. He even has health problems like Marley!

We just found out on Xmas eve that Emmit tore his ACL...once again! Last year in October, he tore his ACL on his left hind leg...now it's his right hind leg. He had to wear a cast and had trouble getting up and down our back porch steps to go to the bathroom. He loves to sleep where ever we are so when we would go upstairs to bed, he would start to cry because we were away from him. So I would camp out on the couch so he could lay on the floor right next to me. He's such a momma's boy!

So, anyway, please say a little prayer for my canine son, Emmit, as he has to have surgery on January 6. I know he'll be fine but I am a mother and worry!

I have a cute side note that Andrew had asked me over the summer. I told Andrew that Emmit was my first baby. He didn't seem to understand and he asked me, "Was Emmit in your belly too?" I had to explain that he had a mommy and a daddy that were dogs...explaining that was more difficult than I thought! Anyway, I thought it was cute!

"Oh, What a Night..."

So, we got together with some friends over the weekend for an adult only weekend of FUN! We headed to Atlantic City, had dinner at Buddakhan, and drank ourselves into a coma at a martini bar inside Balleys! Due to my recent paycheck downsizing, courtesy of the powers-to-be, I didn't spend much money on gambling. I wan't a bore either but just limited myself to a few dollars to at least give myself the chance to win BIG and quit work! Unfortunately, neither happened! We did, on the other hand, had an interesting night at the bar! We drank, danced, drank, sang, and drank... We even made a new friend named Robert! He was literally comparible to the Energizer Bunny! He danced nonstop from the time we got there around 9:30pm until we left which was around 3:30am. Last time I checked, he was still there offering pole dances on the step railings. I had the chance to talk to him and claimed that he was a professional dancer that has worked in over 40 states in the US. No matter what his resume, he was full of energy and very entertaining. Also, he was sober the entire time...just drank water!

Santa...I Can Explain...

So, my annual Christmas fundraiser, Letters From Santa, is over! I sent out the final touches tonight and hopefully everyone will be happy with their letters from the big guy! I had a good response, not as great as in past years but since all of the money raised goes towards Lebanon County's Relay for Life/American Cancer Society, EVERY dollar counts!!! I sell the letters for $2.50 each and each person gets a personalized letter with specifics about themselves in it. It is addressed to them and they get it in time for Xmas. Andrew LOVES it!!! In past years, I've sold an average of $200 worth...this year I brought in $120. It's less, but like I said, it's every dollar that counts! I keep thinking that it's penny pinching or that people just forget! Next year, I'll have to see about maybe coming up with a website or something. We always have it posted on our Relay website: www.lebcorelay4life.org so in the future, you can always check it on there!

This year I didn't have as many interesting letters as in past year. Usually I get some letters to go an elderly person in a nursing home wishing for a boyfriend and some knitting needles but this year I got a 35 year old wanting a beautiful wife and a license to sell beef?????

Anyway, just want to thank everyone who supported my fundraiser and look forward to doing it in the spring with letters from the Easter Bunny!!! It's all of you who support Relay for Life that allow us to put a stop to this terrible disease!!!

The Three Wisemen Were Neither Wise Nor Men...Discuss

Andrew's job his year was to set up our nativity scene. I told him that he could set it up where ever and how ever he wanted in our living or dining room. He found the perfect spot for it in our living room and set it up as seen in the picture.

Note: the wiseman that brought frankincense (or as Andrew seems to think...Frankenstein) is laying on his back.

I had asked Andrew if he fell and he said, "No, I put him on his back." When I asked him why he said, "Hello, because he is dead!"

Boy, did I ever walk into that one! I actually had nothing to say after that...nothing!

"I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends"

The past 2 weeks have been somber for me...let's admit it! Just because my career has been upheaved against my will doesn't mean that I need to have a negative outlook on my life and let things stand still. I can still have fun and have a life! This past weekend, I did a little bit of everything! I went to my work holiday party (which was surprisingly pleasant), we had our 4th annual Christmas party with my bestest friends, and I finished my Xmas shopping (which unfortunately was reduced against my will as well). ***Keep in mind, that I am TRYING to paint this negative picture not so negatively...still bitter!***

My friends and family have bent over backwards to make my life more sound. They try to tell me that this is all happening for a reason, that good things will come out this. I also appreciate their kind words of encouragement and giving me the whole "go get 'em"

speech but what I most appreciate it the funny moments of laughter that I get from a few special peeps who know who they are! Saturday night I laughed so hard that my stomach muscles hurt the next morning! That was what I needed and I am indebted to those people! I love you all so much for being my bestest friends in the whole wide world!!!

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

We made our trip to and from NYC without any weather problems. We were worried that it would be cold or snowing. On Sunday, it was raining the entire time but it didn't stop us from seeing the city! We were fortunate that it wasn't too cold...just wet! We ended up just walking around the Rockefeller Center vicinity and stopped at a few shops. We made our way down Fifth Avenue and stopped in a few shops such as FAO Schwartz, The Disney Store, NikeTown, and so on. We checked out the unlit Xmas tree in Rockefeller Center despite the wind and rain. We managed to destroy 3 umbrellas while we were there! We went back to our room for a quick nap time pick-me-up and then went to our favorite Italian restaurant in Little Italy...Da Nico's. It's the best!!!! We HIGHLY recommend it! Then, we walked around Times Square for a bit!

The next morning, the weather was much more cooperative with us! It was sunny and 48 degrees!!! We woke up and headed to Macy's Santa Land!!! It was so much fun! I had seen bits and pieces of it on youtube.com but you don't get a true sense of it until you are there! While we were there, we made a stop to visit Santa Claus himself! Andrew ended up waving to him in terror but avoided sitting on his lap or getting his picture taken with him. I ended up sitting on his lap and realized the anxiety one has when asked the ultimate million dollar question: "What do you want for Christmas?" Honestly, when Santa asked me, I responded "I don't know." Now, you may ask "What kind of answer is that?" In the heat of the moment, I had no idea but can now tell you about 30 things I would like at this very second! It is very stressful and puts a lot of pressure on you! I understand why kids get freaked out by it! Andrew much rather shoot Santa an email from our laptop! Quicker and stress-free! I see where he's coming from now!

We then went to check out the window displays for Saks, Macy's, and Lord and Taylor! By far, Saks was the most beautiful where Macy's was more towards kids! We also went to Bryant Park and went ice skating! It was a challenge but we did it! Andrew only lasted about 10 minutes. It literally took longer to get his ice skates on than the amount of time he spent on the ice. Oh well, at least he can say he ice skated in NYC!

A Funny Misunderstanding!

So, the other day I told Andrew that we were going to run some errands and that he needed to clean up his toys so we could leave. Andrew took his time cleaning up and finally put everything away. As I'm getting his shoes on, he says to me, "Are they home?" I didn't know who or what he was talking about so I asked him who he meant and he said, "Eryn, Pank, and Romy." I still had no idea what he was talking about because it was so random. He said, " You said that we were going to Eryn's...I thought they went to Spain!"

Translation: he thought when I said running "errands" that I really was saying "Eryn's". The sad thing is that he really thought we were going to their house and was REALLY excited b/c he thought he was going to play with Romy!

Eryn: if you're reading this, I'm sure you'll get a kick out it!!! I thought it was cute!

Big Ten Champs!!!

Yesterday I went to State College to see PSU take the win over Michigan State!!! They won the Big 10 Conference and are heading to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena!!! I'm not really a football fan but there is something about that place that gets you hooked! The players in their tidy-whitey uniforms, the fans screaming "we are Penn State," the presence of Joe Pa...it's intoxicating!

On the other hand, I was frozen solid. It was cold, snowing, and windy but it was so much fun and was quite the experience. I can honestly say I don't know if I need to do it again but probably would if given the chance. We stayed until the
team accepted the conference trophy which was fun because it was history in the making!

On our way there, we got stuck in massive traffic and decided we would go off the beaten path and ended up in the middle of nowhere but managed to find our way to Beaver Stadium. For those who know me best, know I love photography and taking pics of random things. I took a few pics in the mountains after their first snowfall. They actually turned out very nice, if I do say so myself!

A Nagging Co-Worker!!!

This update is for you, Kaileigh!!! I really don't have anything to post about but I know that you needed something to look at and wanted to make you happy!!! :) Hope you are out of your hangover mode soon!!! Love you!!!

Why kids watch too much TV...

This morning Andrew said the funniest thing! We were watching a movie that we DVR'd around Halloween and a presidential advertisement came on. It was a John McCain ad talking smack about Obama. Before it was over, I ended up forwarding past it. As we were waiting for the movie to return, Andrew just spurted out, "I'm John McCain and I approve this message." It was at that moment that I realized a few things: 1. I think he paid more attention to those ads than I did and 2. we definitely watch too much T.V.

We are going to have more T.V. Free Nights from now on!

Wigs for Kids

So some of you may have noticed that my hair has been longer than I usually wear it! For the past 8 months I have been letting my hair grow so that I can donate it to Wigs for Kids. It is an organization that accepts donated hair that will be processed into wigs for children who suffer from medical conditions, health conditions, burn accidents, etc. I need to reach 12 inches and that includes having my hair in a ponytail at a length that also makes me feel comfortable to have it cut at! I was hoping I could grow it out by Xmas but I am thinking it will be longer than that!

There are days that I want to cut it off myself because I get so frustrated with it! This day it has tons of static, that day it has no body! I keep pushing myself each day because I think of those kids who need a wig to help make them feel better about themselves! I have the Wigs for Kids website bookmarked on my home computer to give myself some inspiration! Please check out this website and perhaps you'll be inspired too!!! www.wigsforkids.org

What a week...

We have had quite the week! Andrew lost his first tooth on Thursday night! It had been loose for about 3 weeks and he was determined that if he ate an apple, it would help him to knock it out! I kept making the prediction that it would fall out on Halloween so he would look like a Jack-o-lantern. The funny thing is that his cousin, Avery, who is the same age as him, lost her first tooth on Halloween in the exact same place as his! Talk about ironic!

He ended up loosing it Thursday after school while he was eating a cookie! My mom was there when it happened and she said that he had a bit of a panicked look on his face because of the blood.

You may ask, "what does the tooth fairy bring these days?" Well, the tooth fairy brought him a $5.00 bill. When I was his age, I think I got 50 cents so considering the time difference and the way the economy is going right now, I guess he made out pretty well. He plans on buying something with it this weekend!


The other thing we were super excited for was the election of our 44th President: Barack Obama! Since he had made it official that he was running for president, Andrew has shown a curiosity of him. Everytime we would see an ad on TV (by the way, I'm glad they are over), he would say, "Bawak Obama"...his words exactly since he has trouble with his "r's" sometimes.

We took this picture right when Pennsylvania was announced as winning the Dems electoral votes!!! He even has a pin that he is donning in both pics!

I am just so happy that we were able to be a part of history in the making! I kept the newspaper for Andrew from Wednesday morning that showed Obama as our president-elect so that maybe one day he can show his children and say, "I remember that" or "I have a picture of myself from when that happened!" We look forward to having some positive change in the days to come!

Halloweens of Past...

I was watching a show last night about a mother reminicsing about her 4 children and all of the costumes they have worn over a span of 20 years. It got me to thinking about all of the costumes that Andrew has worn in the past 5 years. I thought it would be fun to post them and take a stroll down Halloween lane. Some of them were store bought but most of them were homemade (yes, I take credit for them!!!). Happy Fall!

Halloween 2003: Sweet Pea

Halloween 2004: Cow

Halloween 2005: Train Conductor

Halloween 2006: Pumpkin

Halloween 2007: Pirate and Darth Vader

Halloween 2008: Joe Paterno and Batman

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet...

Well, Halloween is over for the season! Wednesday night , Andrew, Emmit, and myself carved our pumpkin we got from the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. We had so much fun carving it because Andrew was determined that he was going to carve it himself with a knife. I, on the other hand, thought he was delusional! Uh, yeah, I'm going to let you have a sharp bladed knife when I don't even allow you to have a dinner knife? Hello?!?! Needless to say, he helped me design it and scooped the guts out of the pumpkin. For those of you who don't know the secret to scooping the guts out yet? An ice cream scooper is the way to do it! Emmit on the other hand was right by our side because he enjoys licking the rim of the pumpkin and eating the raw pumpkin seeds! Andrew seemed pleased with the final product!!!

As far as Trick or Treat, we had it tonight on actual Halloween! For those who live in the city, it was an actual surprise that we had it on a Friday night, not to mention on the actual Halloween holiday. That's a rarity because the locals are all about Football Friday, especially since LHS is going to district playoffs, which has not happened in some time (I think)!!!

Andrew decided after many different options that he was going to be Batman! Originally it was an astronaut, then it was going to be The Hulk, then Spiderman, then it went back to an astronaut. Last week we were literally in Walmart with items to make his astronaut costume in my cart when we walked past the costumes. He saw Batman and said to me, "I changed my mind. I wanna be Batman!" I literally wanted to pull my hair out of my head! As you can see, he went with Batman and tonight we got a ton of candy. Some woman even gave out a dollar bill!

For those who know me the best, I am a very nostalgic person. We had the opportunity to trick or treat in my old neighborhood on the Southeast side of town. We went to doors of homes that I went to at Andrew's age. For me, that was very special. It was nice to see those same people who live there handing out candy just as they did 32 years ago. A few people even remembered me, which was nice!

Andrew has crashed for the night as another Halloween is under our belt! I am sure tomorrow when he wakes up, he'll be talking about what he wants to be for Halloween next year!

New York State of Mind...

So, yesterday I booked our hotel room in NYC for the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Since I was a kid, I have been fascinated by the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. My Pa Pa Klahr and I used to watch it when he was still alive and I have always dreamed of going. When I had Andrew, I decided that at least once we will go. While this is not the year we'll be making the trek to the parade, we will be going up on Sunday after Thanksgiving and staying overnight until Monday. Since he's off school, I figured it would be a great chance to maybe see the Radio City Christmas Spectatular or just see the traditional NYC Xmas deco! I've been obsessively looking online for things to do. I saw where they turn Bryant Park into an old town shopping area with a makeshift skating rink! Andrew keeps asking me if we can do that...I think we can work that into our day! I was a little disappointed when I saw that the Rockefeller Center Xmas tree isn't being lit until December 3rd, which is after we leave.

I went to NYC a few years ago at Xmas time with some co-workers (Megan and Christine) and had a blast but it was PACKED!!! I think it would be a nightmare trying to keep hold of a 5 year old in a fast paced city during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. We are hoping that we can actually see the window displays at Saks, Macy's, and Bloomies!!! The last time I went, you were lucky if you could see the windows without either being pick-pocketed or getting pushed around by those who are impatient.

I'll be sure to post pics from our little mini vay-cay when we return next month!!! Can't wait!

Halloween Party

Saturday night we had a Halloween party with my parents and grandparents. My brother's family and mine got together to celebrate Brandi's birthday and to see the kids in their Halloween costumes. Since trick or treat night is so crazy and hectic, this seems to make it more time efficient for everyone! As a joke, we dressed Andrew up as Joe Paterno (we are...Penn State)!!! His real costume is top secret...to be revealed on Halloween night! Reghan was a rock star diva, Avery was Princess Leia from Star Wars, and Mason was Tigger (even providing bounces)!!! The kids got their traditional pumpkin buckets from Grandma Ruby and a bag of goodies from Mom Mom and Pa Pa. We had cupcakes and snacks which are always a big hit! I know they are all anxious for trick or treat night on October 31st!!!

Our house is finally becoming a home!

We finally painted the last room in our house that was not to our liking! Andrew has been between two rooms for the past 2 months and we finally painted and moved everything into his room. I was having a hard time getting him to sleep in his own bed and stay there but now he's doing well! Our "middle room" was a floral background and Andrew refused to sleep in a "girl's room" so we had to paint it. I suggested doing a themed room and he loved the idea. First he wanted a sports themed room. Then it was a pirate themed room. Then it was a Penn State themed room. Now, it is a basketball themed room. He can't make up his mind! I told him that I would paint a mural on a wall but now that I see how much he changes him mind, I'm kicking myself for promising that! There is no way I'm going to repaint a wall with a new mural every 4 months! Not happening!!! So, we bought him a new comforter and sheets with sports balls on them. He has a ton of sports memorabilia so it just seems natural for him to have that type of room. We have decided that I will paint a basketball back board on his wall and we'll drill in a real basketball rim so that he can actually shoot basketball in his room. Once I told him that, he loved it and hasn't changed his mind since!

We ended up painting his room a light blue with white trim. Simple and easy! Andrew even helped paint. He really loves helping around the house, "fixing" things...even cleaning! I'm figuring it will only be a matter of a few years before that will change so I'm milking it for all that it's worth for the time being! If he keeps it up, he will make a great husband some day! I'll take credit for that one!

We had our living room and dining room painted over the summer too so it finally feels like things are coming together. It definitely feels more like a home now!

Bend It Like Beckham!

Andrew successfully completed his 6 week soccer clinic tonight. He ended up doing a hands-on clinic where he learned the basics of soccer. Considering that neither myself or his dad have played soccer, we thought he better know the basics from the start! He really seemed to enjoy it. You could catch him practicing his warm-up drills in the backyard, kicking the ball around the yard, and trying to bounce the soccer ball off of his knee! At the end of his game, each player was given a soccer medal and they posed for a team picture. The next thing Andrew is signed up for is basketball! We'll keep you posted!

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Andrew decided last week that we should go to a pumpkin patch and wanted to invite some of his little friends. So, we invited Gage, Grace, and Carter...and their parentsm which ended up being 3 mommies and a daddy! We ended up going to Teenie's Pumpkin Patch in Myerstown. We had a blast...we went on a very SHORT hayride around the pumpkin patch and then went on a mission to find the perfect pumpkin! Gage found a GINORMOUS pumpkin that he had to roll through the entire pumpkin patch! Andrew found one that was HUGE as well and tried to mimick Gage by pushing it but got tired of it and made me carry it. He then decided right as we were leaving that he found a new "perfect" pumpkin. Needless to say, I was not happy! I ended up carrying around that great pumpkin through the whole patch but as it turned out...wasn't all that great to Andrew! Grace, on the other hand, found the perfect pumpkin that was just right! It was almost like we were re-enacting the fable, Goldilocks and the Three Bears!

What do i say?

So, since I became a mom 5 years ago to a sweet little boy, Andrew, I have been wanting to do a journal but as most of you who are mommys have come to realize, in the world of reality, that there doesn't appear to be anytime in the day for that type of thing! So, my goal is to take a few minutes at the end of the night at least one time a week to type up any little "Andrew-isms" that happen.

What I have come to understand as a mommy are the little quirks and comments that I hear on a daily basis, that truly keep me going. For example, just yesterday we went with my parents to a fall craft show at Knoeble's Grove in Elysburg, PA. As we were getting in the car, my parents' car door made a creaking sound and I said to my dad, "You know that your door is creaking." My dad said, "Everything in this car creaks!" Andrew's response was "I don't creak...I pass gas!" We all rolled over laughing! The best thing is that he totally gets what he is saying and finds himself humorous! He may have a future in stand up comedy!

So, as this being my first blog entry, the only thing I can say is: I hope it lasts!!!