Nothin' new...

Sorry I haven't "blogged" in a while, but it's hard to "blog" about "blah." Not a whole lot new here. I did have a wonderful weekend away, solo, at a place called the Cherry Valley Lodge. It's not far away, but it allowed me to have a little respite, and I have to admit, after lying in a tub watching trash tv and hearing other people's children having fits or screaming "mommy" and knowing that I didn't have to do anything, I came back feeling ready to start fresh.

The weather has been horrible -- very cold and grey. Makes me want to move south all the more.

Eamon has been doing a terrific job at school -- happily hops out of the car in the mornings and runs into the preschool to meet his teachers.

Lucy just got her second quarter report card and she did just as well or better in every category as last quarter. To celebrate, we made a single layer chocolate peanut butter cake, the leftovers of which are now, unfortunately, sitting on the counter staring me in the hips. She still has a hard time letting me leave in the mornings when I drop her off, but I gave her an old pinky ring of mine to help her. She talks a lot about being a "model," so the ring helps her be a "model" student. Her behavior throughout the day has improved since she started wearing it.

Lucy joined Daisy scouts this past week. She loved it, and Eamon made a great mascot for the first meeting -- her friends thought he was adorable and he was happily included in all their activities. I think it will be difficult for him to understand why he's not actually a daisy scout.

Getting more snow and ice tomorrow, but probably not enough to cancel school. I actually would enjoy a snow day with them, but this weather is the pits.

Oh, and we won the lottery!!!! A whole $7! Well, it's a start...

And as I'm typing this, I have the television on -- can someone please explain to me why they hire 18-year-olds to advertise wrinkle cream?

Hope you're all doing well! And you Floridians, stay warm!

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful start to 2008! On New Year's Day we flew to Florida to spend five days with Grandmommy and Nanu. The kids did a wonderful job on the airplane -- we couldn't have asked for any better, truly. They loved being in Florida, although they got a little tired on the drive to Melbourne Beach. (Guess how many bottles of beer fall off the wall from Eau Gallie to Mom and Dad's house... "Are we there yet?" *breathe* "Are we there yet?" *breathe* "Are we...")

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very cooperative while we were there. As we crossed over the causeway, it started to rain and pretty much didn't stop until we packed the car for the airport back. It was warmer than in Ohio by far (we were very thankful to be away) but it was COLD for Florida. In fact, Ohio was warmer the first two days back than it was while we were in Melbourne Beach.

Despite the weather, we still visited the beach and Uncle Sam and Aunt Ann Marie. We had a great time with Alexis, Nicolas, and Sammy, but unfortunately, Dane had to have emergency surgery. Luckily, he knows a pretty good surgeon.

Here are some pictures of our trip. If you're interested, let me know and I can give you the link to all the pictures at clark photo.

The sea was angry that day...




A tiny bit of sunshine peeping through.
Not too cold.












Daddy and Eamon


















Nicolas, Sammy, Alexis and Lucy playing checkers (with me to the side)












Daddy, Lucy and Eamon walking on the beach













Lucy













Eamon (pouting in his pouting spot)













He ain't heavy, he's my Eamon...


















Surprise!













Uncle Sam's so funny!













Windy, isn't it, Nanu! (we found the shells from turtle eggs in the dunes behind Nanu that day)





Lucy and Alexis were great cheerleaders. Aunt Ann Marie gave Lucy a pair of these competition pompons to keep!


Look what Uncle Sam taught Superman...