Today's Blog Challenge!

Sophia's blog challenge for today:

6. When do you put up your decorations? Whenever I have time! I would like to say that they go up the weekend after Thanksgiving but the truth be told here that I get them up whenever I have a spare minute. They go up little by little and if all goes well, they will all be up a couple of weeks before Christmas.

*The ornament is one that my sister, Alesia made for Allison. She makes her one every year. Didn't know she was that crafty, did you? She has her moments.

Have Fun!

My Birthday and A Blog Challenge!

Yippee! It's my day today! I know birthdays aren't as exciting as they used to be when you were a kid but I'm enjoying mine so far. Funny thing is that I really don't remember a whole lot about my birthdays as a kid. This I am sure is a shock to my sister, Alesia. I have this uncanny ability to remember many details from our childhood. She thinks they are in my head because she doesn't remember any of them. What I do remember about my birthdays growing up is that my Mom always had a cake for us and I remember her making Halupki (stuffed cabbage rolls) for me which are my absolute favorite food. Other than that, not much. One more thing is that I remember wishing for snow on my birthday and guess what! It's snowing today! That's right! I am enjoying a white birthday! It's so beautiful! I am a happy birthday girl!

Sophia posted on her blog a challenge for a Christmas countdown. She has listed one Christmas question a day until Christmas. I'm five days behind so I'm playing catch up. I'll try to keep up from here until Christmas with the rest.


1. Colored lights or white lights on your house or not at all? Colored. I always preferred white lights but since Allison was born, I switched to colored. I'm not sure why but it'll probably be that way for a long time. I'm big on tradition and it's a tradition Allison will remember. Oh! Pink lights on Allison's tree in her room. After all, what is a princess tree without pink lights?

2. Hot chocolate or Egg Nog? Hot chocolate! I remember as a kid my Mom would have a big saucepan on the stove ready for us when we came in from playing out in the snow. Yum! Curtis also makes a mean homemade hot chocolate!

3. What's your favorite holiday dish? I don't think I have one. My favorite cookie is my best friend's wedding cookies. It's not Christmas without them. My favorite is the lemon ones. Are you getting my hint, Susan? :)

4. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps them. We enjoy watching Allison's reaction to each and every one. He doesn't wrap the items in the stocking though. My "Santa" never did so Allison's "Santa" doesn't either.

5. Do you hang mistletoe? Absolutely! What is Christmas without it?

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Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful...

...and Allison has her first 2 hour delay!

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A Simple Task and ...

If you know me, you know I'm basically a simple person. I don't need designer clothes, handbags or shoes, big fancy cars or the latest of anything. Basic cable and my old VCR works just fine for me. However. When we moved into this house, it had and still has a self cleaning oven. OH MY! How did I ever live without one? I cleaned my oven yesterday afternoon. Except for the minor smoke smell from the stuff that was burning off, it pretty much is a painless, simple task. Oh, and it makes the house so toasty warm! So this morning, I started to wipe out any of the residue left from the cleaning. A very easy job. I went to rinse my towel out and when I turned around, I found THIS!!!! Well, I'm sure my Mother would say "ACK, CAT HAIR!" But I did what any true scrapbooker would do. I ran and grabbed my camera...the whole time praying "please don't let her jump down!" Now if you eat my cookies at Christmas, don't worry, I've wiped any and all cat hair from my oven. I'm just hoping she doesn't make this a habit or things could get "cat"astrophic!

Have Fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope you enjoy a wonderful day with family and friends!

Don't eat too much!

Have Fun!

No, I'm NOT having a Blog Strike!

Curtis asked me yesterday if I was having a blog strike? I know it's been a while but life is certainly busy these days. Tis the season! I have not forgotten about my blog. I know I need to continue and complete "An Unplanned Journey" but knowing about it and actually sitting down and getting to it is another thing. I had planned this last Wednesday to do an entry but then I remembered it was Parent Visitation Day at Allison's school. Sorry, but I would much rather be sitting in the classromm with Allison!


I don't have much time now. We have plans later on today and I am trying to get some of my house in some sort of order before we take off. That in of itself seems to be an overwhelming job these days! Before I go, here is our contribution to for The Turkey Protection Program for Allison's school. We had to disguise a turkey to save it from being cooked and eaten on Thanksgiving. I don't know about you but I wouldn't mess with a "Turkeetah", would you???


Have Fun!

My Chicken Pot Pie Recipe!

Wow! I've posted sporadically for the last two months and then BAM...two in one day!

A friend asked for my chicken pot pie recipe so I thought I would share it with all of you too. In fact, it got my brain thinking and I said to myself: "Self, you should post recipes more often and use pictures to help as visual aids." I have to admit, it wasn't my original idea to do it with pictures. I've been addicted to a blog called "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman" written by Ree. She also has another blog called "The Pioneer Woman Cooks!" that I love. In that blog she shares her amazing recipes with pictures. You HAVE to check out her blogs. They both are very addicting. She's also writing the story of how she, a self-proclaimed city girl, met, fell in love and married her cowboy, Marlboro Man. Her story is better than a Danielle Steel novel! I find myself checking all the time to see if she's posted the next part of "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story." My friend, Kim, and I decided that as soon as she starts holding get-a-ways for overworked Moms on their ranch, we will be the first ones to relax and watch the cowboys! Anyone want to come along???

Onto the recipe already! Enough about country living and hot cowboys! Okay, first let me say that I do not claim to be a chef or any kind of professional cook. I do have some cooking skills which allow me to take a recipe and make it my own. Most of the recipes I make are either my own or from friends and family. If they are from friends and family, I've usually put my own spin on them. Not because I didn't like them, but because I've changed them around for my family's likes and dislikes. Feel free to do the same with any of these recipes. I promise to give credit to whoever has passed on the recipe to me ... that's if I remember or have it in my files. I also have collected a good amount of recipes that are yummy and easy to make. I, like most of you, am too busy to cook elaborate recipes. I love to cook for my family but I hate to decide what's for dinner. One more thing I want to share is that some of the pictures are a little blurry. I'll work on that but I am no Ree. I'm sure her camera is much better than mine anyway. I hope you enjoy my recipes!

Chicken Pot Pie

The basis of this recipe came from Adrian who I "met" on a scrapbooking message board.

The Participants: 1 box of Pillsbury Pie Crusts (I told you I like easy recipes), 1 lb. of Chicken, 1 bag of Frozen Mixed Vegetables (we like the ones with lima beans in the mix), 1 can of Diced Potatoes, 1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup, Salt and Pepper.

Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees F.

First cut the chicken up in to bite size pieces and put it in a big bowl...like the vintage Pyrex one I bought at Goodwill to resell on eBay but fell in love with it and now I don't want to part with it! I boiled white chicken breasts from Market Day this time. It doesn't look too good in that white bowl, does it? You can use whatever you like. I also like those rotisserie chickens you can buy at Sam's Club or your local grocery store. I like to buy one and pick all the chicken off of it. I cut or tear it up and use my "suck and seal" to portion it out and then I throw it in the freezer. I use it for pot pie, soup or casseroles. It's a huge time saver!

Drain and rinse the diced potatoes and add those to the bowl. Add in about 1 1/2 cups of the frozen mixed veggies. Add pepper and a little salt. Be careful with the salt because you can't take it out if you over do it. I add a little more when I use boiled white chicken breasts but when I use those already done chickens I omit the salt.

Mix it well in that pretty Pyrex bowl!

Take out one of the crusts and press it into the bottom of your pie plate. I use a cranberry Pyrex one...hmm, I see a pattern here. Next dump all of your mixture into the pie crust.

Put the top pie crust on and fold the edges under the bottom crust. Pinch the two together. Using a sharp knife, cut air holes in the top so it doesn't explode and make your oven a mess! Hey be careful with that knife! I don't do first aid!

Next I put it on a pizza pan because I HATE cleaning the oven...and I have a self cleaning one! Now go find your foil and tear thin strips off the roll but be careful of the teeth on that box. Do you have any ideas how many workers' comp incidents I've seen over the years due to foil box teeth? Trust me, it's not pretty! Okay, now go and cover your crust with the foil. It doesn't like to be naked the whole time or it gets too brown. You don't have to squeeze it tightly. Just press it on so it doesn't fall off.

Now place the whole kitten caboodle in the oven that you should have preheated to 425 degrees. Set your timer and bake it for 20 minutes. When you timer goes off, go and get yourself some tongs and pull the foil off the pie. This is why you don't squeeze it on tight. It should just fall off with a little tug. Next close the oven door before you let too much heat out and reset your timer for another 20 minutes.

Watch it closely at the end because if your oven is like mine, it'll be too dark in 20 minutes. My oven is a liar and is hotter than what I set it for. I know, I know. I can fix that but although I can read a recipe, I'm a little not so good at the manual for the stove. So I'll just take mine out when it's nice and golden and bubbly.

YUM! Doesn't it look good? Ya, this piece is huge. It takes up most of the dinner plate. It's for my man and he loves it so it'll be gone in just a few minutes.

I hope you try it. It's so easy and gets great reviews. No one will ever know that you didn't make the crust yourself!

Have Fun!

A Halloween Recap...in Pictures!

Allison changed her mind two weeks before Halloween and wanted to be a gorilla. As always, I made her costume but I keep finding fur everywhere! Curtis even found it in his lunch the next day!

Doesn't she look scary?

Ever see a dancing gorilla? This was at the Family Fun Night at her school. It was a Halloween Dance.
I got to help out with the Halloween party. I supplied little treat bags filled with candy.
This was Allison's treat for all her classmates. I used the same concept as I did Easter treats last year and started with a cup. I filled it with a mini Hershey bar, M & M's, Skittles and four coupons from McDonald's.
Allison wanted me to take a picture of her stuff she got from the school party. The Beanie Baby gorilla was the model for the costume and the purple bowl was the treats I bought to give out to the kids but everything else on the table came from the school party.
My expert pumpkin carvers. I'm in charge of roasting the seeds.
"I'm not afraid of the pumpkin guts!"

"Mom, take a picture of my hands in the guts!"
Allison wanted us to surprise her with the design so Daddy is hard at work!
The finished product!
This was the third year we went back over to where my Mom lives to go Trick or Treating. We go with my Goddaughter. She's the mummified cheerleader. This year some of her friends came along. Allison had a blast and I get to visit with my friend. We always start at their Mom's...just like when we were kids.

Have Fun!

An Unplanned Journey, Chapter 4

The first step was to have Allison meet with the school guidance counselor. I sent a note in stating that I wanted to talk with him before he spoke with Allison. He called me and asked me what I thought was going on with Allison. I told him that I felt she was testing Mrs. B.. I shared with him that we were not very happy about the way she approached us and that she sounded as if she was talking about someone else's child. We didn't understand how the assumptions could be made after the first day of school. I asked if she had told him about the inappropriate response about the snakes. He said yes. I explained to him that is wasn't out of the ordinary for Allison. I explained that Curtis has a business client who is known at the "Snake Man" here in town. He is an engineer by day to support his love of snakes. We have had a private tour when Allison was 3. We walked into his front door, through his living room and into his garage where he has about 400 snakes. After we were done there, we walked back into his home, down the hall past his bedrooms and through another door which lead into another garage. This garage was home to about 300 more snakes. So as you see, it is possible in Allison's mind to live with snakes.


I continued to tell him our feelings on everything. One other thing that struck me was the Thursday before school started. It was registration night and we had a meeting with Mrs. B. after it. Usually they come to your home for a home visit but she was having problems with her car and didn't want to travel to our home. We met with her in her classroom and one thing I noticed was that Allison's desk was by itself. It was right next to hers. The other student desks were in groups of two. There was one other desk by itself on the other side of the room. That student was the student of the "homeroom mom" (I don't know how she got that title. I don't remember voting on that or even being consulted...but that's another story) who helps out in the classroom. I thought it was odd that Allison was placed by herself. It was as if she had preconceived notions about her...before school even started. I told him all about this and if she felt Allison was "anti-social" then why did she put her off by herself? He agreed.

I asked him how often he does a report so I know how his sessions go. He said that he would let us know in January and then at the end of school. I told him that this was not acceptable and asked him for his number because I would be calling him. He agreed and gave me his number.

The following week was his first meeting with Allison. Afterward he called me because he knew that I would be calling. He said that we have a very nice and outgoing young lady. He said that he doesn't think he will be having many sessions with her. He also said that he doesn't see the need to push any panic buttons yet. Hmmm. Interesting!

...to be continued...

Have Fun!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope all of you have a SPOOKTACULAR day!

I'll be back later with Chapter 4 of "An Unplanned Journey."

Have Fun!

An Unplanned Journey, Chapter 3...a.k.a...The Story

I've changed the name of the "The Story" to "An Unplanned Journey." I think it fits better. It's what I feel we've been on since the first day of school. Now onto Chapter 3!

Still in shock and a few days later, I went to get my hair cut. Renee does both mine and Allison's hair. We were there just the week before getting Allison's done before school started. It was my turn now without the little one tagging along. I hadn't planned on discussing what was going on with us with anyone until I had time to process it in my own mind. However, when Renee asked how school was going for Allison, it just spilled out about our meeting. She was shocked too. Actually, everyone we have talked to about this is shocked when we tell them about the parent teacher conference after only one day of school. She was also surprised when she said Allison was anti-social. Anti-social is not how people perceive her...at all. She offered her advice. Her son is A.D.H.D. so she has been through it all. She suggested we get our own doctor and professionals and not use the one Mrs. B. had suggested. She shared with me that she had called her pediatrician and went from there. He referred her to a child counselor who specializes in A.D.H.D. and A.D.D. kids. She said the woman is wonderful and her son has shown great progress with her help. As luck would have it, we have the same pediatrician. I love our pediatrician so I felt good that if he directed her in the right direction for his son, we would be on the right path too. Funny how I hadn't planned on talking about it with Renee but I'm so glad that it just popped out of my mouth when she asked me how school was going. She's just one of the angels that was leading us in the right direction.

...to be continued...

Have Fun!

Fall Decor and a Reason for a Second Child!

My Fall outside decor has been in my header for a few days now and I thought I would share the full pics with you. By the way, thanks Grandma Sandy for the compliment on my header!

I'm calling this first one my pumpkin topiary. It's my interpretation of some of the Fall decor I've seen on some other blogs. I pulled my geranium out of my pot and layered some Fall silk leaves I had in my silk flower bin in the basement on top of the dirt. Next I plopped a real pumpkin on top. I've received so many compliments from the neighbors and it was SO easy!

This next pic is of my front flower bed. I love the bright scarecrow I bought this year. He adds just the right punch of color.
I had to enlarge the mums. Take a good look at them in all their glory. They will be dead soon. I don't know why but I can't keep mums to save my life!
This next pic is one of the reasons you should have a second child. So the older one has someone to read to!

Poor Princess!

Have Fun!

The Story, Chapter 2

That night continued to be tear filled. I cried when I called my Mom and I cried when I called Curtis' Mom. We were all in total shock. After we put Allison to bed, I collapsed on the couch and put the television on to take my mind off of things. My Mom called and told me that she didn't know what network it was on television, but she wanted me to find the one with the upside down "v" over a diamond. I soon found out that it was Cornerstone Television. The program or documentary that was on was about highly intelligent people. Most of whom that were labeled A.D.H.D. or A.D.D. to make it easier for the educators. It talked about Albert Einstein and others. It also talked about the controversial term of "Indigo Children." The quote below best describes it in a nutshell and this website lists the ten attributes that best describes an Indigo Child.

("The Indigo Child is a boy or girl who displays a new and unusual set of psychological attributes, revealing a pattern of behavior generally undocumented before. This pattern has singularly unique factors that call for parents and teachers to change their treatment and upbringing of these kids to assist them in achieving balance and harmony in their lives, and to help them avoid frustration." -- Lee Carroll & Jan Tober)

Curtis had come up from the basement and sat down in the living room and was listening to the television. He said "Why is this on now?" Apparently I wasn't the only one that was thinking this related to our situation. Allison possesses several of the attributes they were talking about. So, why WAS this on right then? That night of all nights? I don't know but I took it as a sign. A sign that there may be more to this whole thing than what Mrs. B. thinks. I think there was someone up there leading us into another direction. Forcing us to think for ourselves and against a teacher who had been teaching for 20 years. It was our responsibility to find the answers and the solutions for Allison. She was counting on us to fight this fight for her... but how? Where do we start?

...to be continued...

The Story, Chapter 1.

I know I've promised all of you the story of what lead us to move Allison to a new school. At first I didn't write about it because I wasn't ready to talk about it. And now, when I have sat down to write about it, it's so long, I can't find the time to do it. So here's my answer. I'll write about it in installments. Here's chapter 1.

Allison was so excited for the first day of school. At first she didn't want to go back but then she got caught up in everything and was ready when the day came. The first day was only 3 hours. They had Chapel for an hour, put their supplies away, drew a picture, played on the playground and then came home on the bus. She had a good day. So we thought.

The second day seemed to have gone good also. However, we soon found out that it was Allison's perception that they day went good. That early evening we got a phone call from her teacher who I will refer to as Mrs. B. from here on out. She said that there were some things that happened in school that day and wanted to meet with me to discuss them. She wanted to start the year off on the right foot. I told her that she would have to meet with both of us and Curtis didn't get off of work until 4 pm. She agreed to stay a little after school because she felt it was important. After I hung up, we asked Allison what she did that day and she said nothing. Unfortunately, we didn't believe her and took her new television that she received for her birthday in July out of her room and sent her to bed early.

The next day (Wednesday) we met with Mrs. B. that afternoon. She started the conversation by saying that she has been teaching for 20 years. Let me say here that her credentials were not in question. If they had been, we would not have been paying for Allison to attend that school. She also said she watched Allison on the playground and in the halls last year...I guess this was her way of justifying what she was about to say. She said that Allison was anti-social, opposition defiant, easily distracted, doesn't follow instructions, has inappropriate responses and has signs of A.D.D. and that she should be tested and that they can have people come in and do it. She showed us a school paper where she doodled a couple of faces in the right hand margin. She asked Allison what is was and she said Allison's response was that it was the confused Allison. I asked her later about this and she said it was Mommy and Daddy because she missed us. Allison is smart. Last year she was reprimanded for doodling on her work paper. She knew she shouldn't have done it so she said to each of us what she thought she should to keep herself out of trouble. This is my opinion of the faces. Mrs. B. felt that there were a lot of things going on in her little head and that she needs all the professional help that we could give her. That we needed to peel back the layers and help her. She suggested the school guidance counselor, school psychologist and also an outside child psychologist that she could refer us to that she has worked with in the past. She also said that she suggested that we put her back into Kindergarten. She said that she was the one that held Curtis' niece back in Kindergarten thirteen years ago. What does that have to do with Allison? They are two different kids. Raised differently by two very different set of parents. So we refused to hold her back. We didn't feel it was a good idea because academically, she never had a bad mark on her weekly progress reports or her quarterly report cards. We felt that she would be bored and then act out even more. She also told us that if things continued that Allison would have a bad year, she (Mrs. B.) would have a bad year and we would have a bad year. She said if something didn't change, then she would be retained. She also told us that we were wrong to reward her with a kitten last year. If you don't know what I am talking about, read here. She asked us if we "paid" her often for doing what we wanted her to do. She asked us what was next..."a diamond bracelet or a new car?" Excuse me, but WHAT THE HECK? She doesn't even know us! How dare she give us parenting advice. If she took the time to know us, she would know that Allison has what she needs but does not get everything that she wants. If we are guilty of anything, it's giving Allison more love and attention than most kids get. Their theme for the school year this year is Family. Some of the suggestions were to eat dinner as a family at the dinner table together, worship together, bake cookies together and basically do things together as a family. We already do all those things but she doesn't know that because she never took the time to find out what kind of a family we are. She just immediately passed judgement on us and assumed that we "pay" Allison for everything. The ironic thing is that she just told us 6 days before this meeting that her and her husband had told their two sons that they would pay for their college education if they help out. They wanted to send them off into the world without a college debt. Excuse me but what would you call that? A bribe, a reward or an incentive? They put a condition out there for their sons (if they helped pay for it) and then the reward was to be debt free. Hmm, I don't know but it looks like the pot calling the kettle black! Ha...and the kitten was FREE! Anyway, let me explain the inappropriate response. She said that on the first day of school that they were asked to draw their favorite place. Allison drew a rectangle with a stick figure (herself) in it and two snakes. She said she wanted to live with snakes. Well Mrs. B. said that was an inappropriate response. That it is not normal for her to want to live with snakes. Hmm, for watching Allison and thinking she knows her and what her problems are, she really doesn't know her at all! All of our family and friends said "That's Allison!" when we told them about the picture. Did I mention the stick figure had a smiley face on it? The only reason she doesn't have one as a pet (she has asked) is that I told I would have to move out. So far, I'm winning over the snake. I only pray that she feels the same way when she's 16 and I'm a drag! Here's the pic....
So we agreed to get her the help that she felt Allison needed. We also asked her to let us know how each day was going. She hesitated by saying that she had 17 other students but Curtis insisted and asked for a little post-it note with either a smiley or a frown face so we knew where to take the conversation with Allison at dinner. She finally gave in and agreed.

Curtis asked her if she had had many of these conversations with other parents and what the outcomes were. She said that she had it with another set of parents. She implied it was in a previous year. She said they got mad at her and withdrew their son from the school. She asked us to please not be mad at her. She just wanted "to help" Allison.

As you can imagine, we were shocked at everything that had been said. I started to cry for my baby early into the meeting and just couldn't get my composure back. I was so mad at myself that all of the things that she observed about Allison had slipped by me. How could I not have known any of these things about my daughter? I have good people skills and read people really well. It's one of those things that I've been complimented on. Where did I go wrong? Or did I go wrong? Was there more to this whole thing? It was all so strange. How does a teacher make these assumptions about a student after just one day of school? It all seemed pretty odd to us. I'm so glad that I didn't meet with her alone. I am not sure that anyone would have believed me when I told them what she said. I'm glad Curtis and I had each other to witness this.

...to be continued...

A Thank You and A Big Smile!

Hi Everyone!

Obviously I haven't posted in a while. I haven't felt like it. I've had a heavy load on my mind. It's been consuming my thoughts, actions and mood. It's been very stressful. I didn't want to post and be a downer so I didn't post.

Several posts ago, I asked for prayers for us. I said I wasn't ready to talk about it here but Curtis, Allison and I needed your prayers. THANK YOU! Curtis and I have had some big decisions to make and I feel we are on the right path. I feel through your prayers, God has guided us in the right direction for Allison. He gave us the strength to see this through and the support of everyone around us. It's amazing how things fell into place. How we met the right people with the right advice at the right time. I believe it was all through the work of God that Allison's sweet smile is intact. We owe all of you a lot. Thank you!

I will talk about this here but I don't have time right now. We have moved Allison to a new school and today is her second day. I think this is a good move. No, I KNOW this is a good move. Allison has made the change beautifully and we have had no regrets. I know this is only the second day at this new school but we are hopeful. When our pediatrician released her from the hospital, he told me to always go with my gut feeling. It has been the best advice I have received and used since Allison was born. My gut feeling is this is right. The new school is exactly where Allison needs to be. Of course, a little more prayers from all of you won't hurt either.

I'll try to clue you all in this weekend some time.

Love you all!

Have Fun!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday my honey turned thirty-something. I would post his age but I'm sure he wouldn't be too thrilled with me. I don't know why because I think he looks good for his age! I tease him that I would leave him for George Clooney but in all honesty, George doesn't come close my guy!

I tried to make his birthday special but I think I failed. First, his gift that I ordered didn't come in time. I did make him a nice dinner of pork roast with baby portabella mushroom gravy in the crock pot, mashed redskin potatoes and green & yellow beans with baby carrots.
However, he couldn't enjoy it because we had to eat it in a hurry so we could go pick up Allison's school work from one of her classmates. She's been out sick for two days so I had the teacher send it home. I don't want her to get behind. After picking up her school work, we went to the vet's office to pick up Princess from being declawed and spayed. We then rushed home and he sat at the kitchen table for the next 2 1/2 hours with Allison doing about 30 school papers! We then sang a quick happy birthday and presented him with his cake that Allison and I baked for him and she sprinkled and sprinkled and sprinkled!
He then read her a story and tucked her into bed. He came downstairs and had a piece of birthday cake. Since Allison has been sick, I had not been able to do my normal Wednesday errands which included picking up a birthday gift for a birthday party that Allison was invited to tonight. So off he went to Wal-Mart to get a gift for the little boy. What a guy! George wouldn't have done all that!

I love you honey! I'm sorry your birthday wasn't all that you deserve. I hope we share many more of your birthdays together. I promise you they will be better!

Have Fun!

An Opportunity of a Lifetime!

My niece, Stephanie (actually my best friend's daughter) is in Oxford, England for the first 3 months of her college sophomore year on an exchange program. How WONDERFUL is that? I just finished a blog header for her from her pictures and they are simply gorgeous. Here she is in front of her favorite building so far. It's the Radcliffe Camera. She is having an amazing time! I just talked to her on the phone and she sounds great! She is loving every minute of it! She is picking up the lingo and I'm afraid by the time she comes back home, we'll all be talking that way too. She is keeping us all updated on her blog which is over there to the right. ---> Feel free to stop by and visit her on her journey. Make sure you click on the archive posts starting with September and you'll get to see her whole trip so far. Don't forget to say hello to her from the states too!

I was looking at the pictures the other day with Allison and she said that when she goes to college she is going to study in England too! LOL! I told her that we had to get her through 1st grade first! I love how they think!

Have Fun!

A "Fun" Find!

If you have read my blog before, you probably already know that I LOVE Family Fun magazine. If you look over there ------> you'll see I have a link to their website. In fact, it is the only magazine I am renewing each year. I just don't have the time to sit and look at a magazine anymore...but I find the time for Family Fun. It is filled with good idea after good idea to do with your child, children or your family. I just received October's issue yesterday and I already have 6 articles dog eared! The one I want to share with all of you is the one on page 125. It's "The Ultimate Family Cookbook" article. This is something I have always wanted to do. I want to compile all of my favorite recipes along with family recipes in a cookbook. I want to do this for Allison. I think I have mentioned before that my Ba Ba made awesome rolls. I still remember them and it will be 30 years next Spring since she's been gone. Her recipe was never written down or taught to anyone. I think my Mom tried to get it from her once and her measurements were "a handful of this or a handful of that." Okay, WHOSE handful are we talking here? Anyway, my plan was to scrapbook all the recipes I wanted to pass down. Ya right! Let's face it here. I am behind in my scrapbooking and I just can't take on another project. Thank you Family Fun magazine for the answer. This isn't my ideal option for a cookbook for Allison but it is a GREAT alternative. They have joined forces with Smilebox.com to offer three recipe templates...each with three backgrounds. This gives us lots of options! There are even two page options for those long recipes. You also can add pictures and there is a little space in the bottom for a little journaling on anything you want to share about the recipe. I did one and it took me 10 minutes! I can't do a scrapbook page in 10 minutes!!! The one I did is below and I printed it out and it came out awesome! My plan is to take pictures when I make the recipe and then do the page that night. Hopefully by the end of the year, I'll have all of my recipes completed and I'll just need to add new ones as I find them. If you are interested, the site is www.smilebox.com/familyfun .

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Have Fun!

Thanks & a Mini Weekend Vacation!

Thank you to everyone that has prayed for us. It has really meant the world to me to know that we have such wonderful family and friends. Not a whole lot has changed regarding the issue so please keep sending up prayers and good thoughts. We are taking it one day at a time.

Just under a month ago and before school started, we decided to take a mini weekend vacation. Allison wanted to pick up sea shells on the beach. I looked into Ocean City, Maryland but the 7 1/2 hour drive one way would be spending too much time in the van and also make Curtis and I tired with all the driving. So we opted for Lake Erie on the Ohio side. I found an adorable 2 bedroom cottage in Port Clinton. It was the perfect central location for everything we wanted to do! We had a wonderful time. So relaxing and fun! Who would of thought when we planned this mini get-a-way that we would need it so much with all the school stuff going on. It turned out to be the perfect time away.

Here is our weekend in pictures. Remember, you can click on any of them to enlarge them and click on the links to see more about the places. Since there are so many, I'll try to keep my narration to a minimum.

We kept Allison busy with her VTech Nitro Notebook on the way to Port Clinton, Ohio. We picked her up from school on Friday and left from there.

We are getting close! That's Sandusky Bay out the window!
Wooo Hooo! 1 more mile!
Sheryl & Bob (the owners of the cottage where we stayed) suggested Dock's Beach House for dinner. It was awesome! I had Blackened Seafood Cakes which were crab, shrimp and grouper. They were amazing! Here's Allison enjoying her Shirley Temple on the patio deck. It was so dark out you really couldn't see the lake but you could hear the waves.
Allison was a Daddy's girl most of the weekend. Mommy didn't like it!
After dinner we went down to the beach so she could see the lake. This is the first pic when she looked at the lake. She was so happy!
She didn't hesitate at all! She started kicking the water around!
Oh to be six!
Still smiling when we went back to the cottage. She was excited that she got a double bed and had room for all of her friends!
Here's the cottage. It's called Ginger's Cottage and was perfect! Click on the link for pictures of the inside. Sheryl and Bob had everything we needed. It is so nice to have a washer and dryer on vacation. I brought everything home clean! Thanks Nancy for the idea!
Cuddle time with Daddy! Mommy didn't like it!
Saturday morning we got up early so we could tour Marblehead Lighthouse. They give tours the second Saturday of the months through October so this was one of the reasons we picked this weekend. YES! We climbed all 77 spiral metal steps. VERY scary for Mommy! You could see through the steps to the bottom!
This pic is of us on top of the lighthouse. It was very windy up there and they told us to hang on to Allison. Can you see we wouldn't let go of her? The volunteer took the picture and besides cutting off the top of Curtis' head, it's a good pic.
Next we went to Mystery Hill and Prehistoric Forest in Marblehead. The table in this pic is level but you can not stand on it standing straight up. The house is on a hill but the table isn't. Odd isn't it?
This is one pic of Prehistoric Forest. Allison was obsessed! She made me take a picture of every dinosaur!
Digging for fossils in Prehistoric Forest.

We had a quick lunch at Diana's Deli between Marblehead and Port Clinton. The food was excellent. Curtis and I both had the BLT and it was probably the best one I have ever had. The service was a little lacking. They were busy and our waitress kind of threw our drinks and food at us. She dropped Curtis' coffee off as she was passing by. He didn't even notice she had set it down! A little friendliness and less rushing would have gone a long way with us.

After our lunch, we went and rode the Jet Express to Put-in-Bay. It goes about 40 MPH and we were passing little boats on the lake. So fun!

I love this pic of Allison!
Here's my baby rock climbing! It scares me that this little girl has no fear! Notice Curtis down below ready to catch her!A close up!
This is Perry's Cave. The stalactites aren't very big from the ceiling of the cave. They take hundreds of years to form and in the 1950's, they let tourists break them off and take them for souveniers. What were they thinking?

Also with Perry's Cave is the Butterfly House. There were over 700 butterflies in the house! There were so many beautiful ones but I'll share only one pic with you.
At Perry's Cave, you can mine for gems. We ended up buying a second large bag of dirt because we had so much fun mining with the first one.
Allison and Daddy enjoying a smoothie and latte from the Chocolate Cafe. We rented a golf cart on Put-in-Bay to get around and Allison loved sitting on the back watching everything.
We took the main street all the way to the end of the island to see what was there. The white shoreline you see in the pic is zillions of broken teenie tiny shells.

Curtis wasn't happy until he found a snake under a rock for Allison. This is a Lake Erie Watersnake.
Allison wasn't happy until she got to touch the snake! Of course prior to taking these photos I was running away from them screaming "OH MY GOODNESS!" over and over again!
Allison riding Kimberly's Carousel on Put-in-Bay.
A fun sign on Put-in-Bay.
This is my new favorite pic of my two favorite people. Doesn't she look so happy and pretty here? Doesn't he look handsome? This was taken at The Boardwalk restaurant. Awesome food and service!
They are known for their lobster bisque and boy was it awesome! I just got a cup to try it and Miss Allison loved it! Maybe I should have gotten the bowl!

Another family pic at The Boardwalk.
Allison picked out this pink snake at a gift shop so it can remind her of touching a snake with her Dad on the beach. Weird kid! She had to pose for a picture on the Jet Express back to Port Clinton with her new friend. We got to ride the upper deck on the way back. It was so much fun!
Sunday morning we got up and headed to East Harbor State Park so Allison could hunt for shells. She had a blast running in the water. I didn't expect her to get so wet. I didn't have any extra clothes for her in the van. I ended up stripping her and wrapping her in a beach towel and buckled her into her booster seat. When Curtis took her out of the van back at the cottage, she told him to make sure the towel covered her. She didn't want anyone seeing her "cute baby butt!" Oye! The things kids say!
Searching for shells!
She would have stayed there all day if we let her but it started to rain so we went back to the cottage to load the van and go to lunch. We had lunch at Jolly Roger's Seafood House in Port Clinton. It was voted by Costal Living Magazine as the Best Seafood Dive. I can see why. It was a great lunch.

After packing the van and having lunch, we had one more attraction that we wanted to go to before we hit the road home. It was raining a little and we almost skipped it but decided to go ahead and see if we could do it in the rain. Thankfully the rain stopped after a little and it ended up being one of my favorite things to do of the whole weekend! We went to the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton. I don't think I ever laughed so hard in my life! I almost tinkled! I drove because I wanted to take the pics. Allison sat in Curtis' lap and the both of them fed the animals pellets and carrots. Let me tell you the animals are NOT shy! They see a vehicle coming and they come running. They are a little overwhelming at first. I guess I didn't expect them to put their heads right in the van! The elks are VERY aggressive and grabbed the whole cup of food right out of Curtis' hand. Curtis tried to not let him have it but even the strong body building Curtis was no match for the elk!
Move animal friends!
This alpaca wanted me to open my window but I wasn't budging! I think he needs a haircut!
This was the little buffalo/bison that had his head in the window! The other bigger one decided he would come on my side and then stick out his very long huge tongue and try to get food from Allison!
The giraffe was behind a fence and his markings were just beautiful!

Mr. Zebra was a little agressive when Curtis tried to feed him from the cup so he put the window up a little so Allison could feed him a carrot.
I'll be cleaning pellets out of my van for weeks. When they grab the food they really GRAB it!
This is an African wild cat. Kind of looks like Princess, doesn't it? It even makes the same rolling sound down in it's throat like Princess does!
Allison got to ride a camel!
We also got to sit in on an animal show. They had several animal friends from around the world to share with us. The last one came from Burma...and YES, it was a Burmese Python! Allison was thrilled! I wasn't! After the presentation, they asked if anyone wanted to touch or hold it and my very brave little daughter jumped to her feet with her hand in the air and shouted "I DO!" She was the first in line! UGH! You'll probably be surprised to hear this but I even touched it! It had just shed it's skin so they said it was very soft. It feels like the texture and smoothness of a basketball. And NO, I will not be holding one anytime soon!

Have Fun!