Maurice, Sarah and family

More pics from Florida

2008-08-13T18:21:00.003-05:00

At the beach in St. Pete........

John and Norm were fishing for baby sharks right from the beach.......and they were catching them! Rachel got a little freaked out because they had been out on the sandbar the day before which is where the boys were catching the baby sharks. And in Rachels' head, where there are babies there must be mommas!
The kids hanging out on the balcony waiting for an afternoon storm to pass. Timmy and Taylor (below) were practically twins. Taylor is older by 16 months, but they're the same size and are both tough guys!

Fishing with Grandpa

At the beach in Venice

I'm Baaaaack!

2008-08-13T17:21:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I know it's been forever AND a day since I last blogged....I doubt any of you even check it anymore! I promise to try to do better..........Here I will provide the highlights of the last 4 months.

In April I went to Phoenix to see Trudy for her birthday. The best part of the trip was the Bon Jovi/Daughtry concert. They were both amazing! It was my dream concert....Bon Jovi and my favorite short little bald man! Sorry, Rick....still too tall! (That's Trudy's fiancee, Rick, below with me and Trudy).

In May Ashley and I went to Georgetown University for a review course. Ashley and I work together and are working on our certification at the COT level (that's certified ophthalmic technician). The boss-man was kind enough to give us an all-expenses paid trip to Georgetown to make us S-M-R-T. Not only did we learn retinoscopy, but we learned that if you walk into a pub after shopping at Victoria's Secret (little pink bag in hand, of course!) you get lots of special attention from the bartenders.

The best part of my trip was that I got to see Carolyn, my best friend from college! She lives in D.C. along with her husband Adam and adorable chillins Sean and Cathleen. As you can see from the picture, Kathleen had just turned a month old. I say Carolyn has a rockin' bod for someone who just gave birth! It was so good to see Carolyn......she's one of those great friends that although we don't see each other very often, whenever we do see each other we just pick up right where we left off.

Our next adventure was in July, when we went home to Florida to see the fam. My mom turned 60 on July 5 and my sister Helen turned 40 on July 12. All my family got together the weekend of July 4 in St. Petersburg to celebrate. It was so fun to have all 19 of us together in one place for the weekend!

Another highlight of the the trip.....we took the boys to the UF football stadium. They loved visiting the home of the Florida Gators! Timmy insisted on wearing his Gator football t-shirt every day. We got to spend a few days in Gainesville, then headed down to Northport to see Maurice's folks. Grandpa took the boys fishing in the Gulf while I visited Grace and Rachel in Tampa. Maurice also got to see his good friend, Phil, in Venice while the boys and I chilled at Venice Beach. Makes me think it's about time to move! It will be interesting to see what the next year brings..........
Coming soon to a blog near you........Summer ain't over yet! Even though the weather has already started cooling off, I'm not ready for summer to be over. The kids don't start school until after Labor Day, so there will be more summer festivities. Maurice is going to Puerto Rico in September for his best friend Carlos' wedding, so stay tuned............

2008-03-18T22:07:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a while.....I know we've been busy but it all seems like routine stuff. Work is going well; however, the whole j-o-b thing really puts a crimp on my social schedule. I do like my job, though, and I've been handed some new responsibilities lately that keep me on my toes! It's nice to feel challenged.....I hate being bored (and those who know me know what a dangerous thing a bored Sarah brain is!).

Isaac is doing well in first grade. He just got his mid-year report card and he is performing at or above expectations in all areas. He's turned into quite the little reader, too. Maurice and I can no longer "spell" conversations. He's still a rule-follower and eager to please. A perfectionist, too, just like his dad. When ho got his report card the only thing he noticed was the "X" in one of the boxes. Didn't pay attention to all the positive marks, but was concerned that he had one bad mark. I had to explain to him that it wasn't a bad mark at all, just an area that was not being evaluated at this time. He is getting to be quite the LEGO Star Wars master on the Playstation. He is very proud of the fact that he has now gained invincibility.

Timmy is as much like me as Isaac is like Maurice. It's so funny to us to watch them. They're like little mirrors. Here's a classic moment: Last Saturday we took the boys to see the new Horton Hears a Who movie (great, by the way! the boys loved it!). On the way home the boys were having a good time "play fighting" in the back seat, hitting each other and laughing. It was starting to get on Maurice's nerves and he asked them a few times to stop but they weren't listening. I turned around and asked them "Now who's going to be obedient?". Isaac raised his hand, but Timmy smiled with those big dimples and shouted "not me!". Classic. Timmy recently got his first "big boy haircut". A few weeks ago he requested that he get his hair cut like Isaac's next time. He's so proud of his hair......we're not allowed to touch his hair because he's afraid we're going to "mess up his haircut". The first few days he asked me every morning if his haircut was still there. One more Timmy story.....He wanted to show me his boo-boo on his thumb the other day. He was having a hard time finding where it was and said to Isaac: "Isaac, we have a problem! My boo-boo got lost!". He's a funny kid......at that age where he's making all sort of developmental changes.

Maurice is super busy, especially this week. Things should calm down a little bit after Easter this weekend, but he's always busy. Between regular administrative things, rehearsals, and writing and arranging, he stays plenty busy. Then there's the whole pastor thing. It's been really cool to see how he's stepped into the role of pastor, not just music man. Takes up a lot of time, but it's neat to see the influence he has on people's lives.

I guess that's all for now. I'll try to get some pictures up of the boys. They've changed so much recently. Not babies any more!

Rachel's birthday/ Winter Retreat

2008-02-07T18:08:00.000-05:00

So what have we been up to.........? It's been a crazy month again (as you can see by my lack of blog) but I'm not quite sure where all the time goes. The first weekend of January I went home (by myself!!!!) to spend the weekend with my baby sis Rachel for her birthday. That's us with Gracie....what a weekend that was!

A few weeks ago I went on the Sr. High Winter Retreat with my kids from the youth group at BCC. It was kind of wierd to be at their last retreat ever! (sniff, sniff) I've been their youth leader since they were in 7th grade and it's strange that they're Seniors and all grown up now. I mean, they'll be able to vote for the President this fall! We had a great weekend of tubing, snow-man building and hanging out. And we must not forget the Senior girl dance party! Since it was their last retreat, we found an ipod dock and let them stay up until the wee hours getting jiggy with it.
These are some of my girls (and Jordan, who managed to be in every single picture that weekend)
L to R: Keeler, Rachel, Sarah, Me, Katie, Chelsea, Kristen and RileeThe boys (at least some of them!)
Me and Julia.....we have one of these pictures from every retreat.
Me and Chrissy. Everyone always thinks we're related.

Me with Julie, my co-hort in crime. She and her husband Sherwin are fellow leaders (he's the Jamaican in the picture of the boys.....otherwise known as "the brown guy").

Update

2008-01-08T23:08:00.000-05:00

It's been a while, so I'll give you the highlights of the past few weeks. Here goes!

On December 16th, Maurice and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. I surprised him and took him to Niagara Falls the following weekend. It's just a little over an hour from Rochester, and it was nice to get away for an overnight without the kids.

Here's a view of both the American falls on the left and the Canadian Falls on the right. It was difficult to see the Canadian Falls this time because of all the mist. It was so cool.....all the railings around the falls are covered in thick layers of ice from the mist.

For New Year's we went to Boston for an Overholt gathering at Maurice's brother Matt's place. It was great that everyone could be there: Fran and Elma, Matt, his wife Mary and their 3 kids Anne, Wesley and James; Shelli and Collin (her new husband!) and us. It was a full house but we had a blast! Here Timmy (in blue) and Wesley (in the red hat) are "shoveling" the walk.Isaac got his fill of sledding. The weather was nice, and we got a beautiful wet snow on New Year's day.

I made my first snowman ever! It was so much fun!!! Everyone got to play outside in the snow, and we had a whole village of snowpeople. Anne even made a "snow chair" to watch the festivities in.

Me and Reece New Year's Eve in Boston. We took the kids into Boston along with Matt, Mary, Anne, Collin and Shelli. We took the subway in and ate at Legal Seafood (yum!), watched the parade, looked at the ice sculptures, and caught the early fireworks. The boys had so much fun! I don't know which they enjoyed more, the fireworks or the "train ride". I know I enjoyed my garlic shrimp!
We also made gingerbread houses. Isaac and Maurice did a great job while Timmy and I "supervised" and sampled the candy.
Isaac and his finished product.

Maurice brought his Playstation which turned out to be a great attraction for kids of all ages during the heavy snow. All the kids took a turn. Here, from left to right, are: Jamie, Anne, Isaac, Collin, Maurice and Timmy. My favorite was watching Matt, though. He was so good! And it was nice to see him kick back an relax a little.

Here Timmy is listening to my new ipod that Maurice gave me for our anniversary. When I asked him what he wanted to listen to he shouted "Bon Jovi!" I gues I'm raising him right. Rock on!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T21:24:00.000-05:00

Office Holiday Party

2007-12-24T21:11:00.000-05:00

My office had its holiday party a few weeks ago. This is my friend Tracy (a.k.a. Jenna....don't ask). She's my work bud at the Rochester Eye & Laser Center. Everyone at work says the atmosphere is totally different since we started last year. I believe it! We're rather goofy (not to mention a little twisted) and not afraid to show it. Tracy and I used to work together at my last job. I didn't know she worked at RELC until I walked in to my interview. Was I suprised! Now we have a blast and keep everyone on their toes.
The other member of the Three Musketeers, Ashley. We like to call ourselves the Dream Team.
My honey and me. It was so nice to have a night out without the kids! I was the entertainment director for the evening. One of the docs did a "rap" (and I use the term loosely) describing our year. He did pretty good for a 65?-year-old Jewish guy. We had a white elephant gift exchange and a penny auction to benefit our coffee fund. It was a fun night! Next year......karaoke!

Timmy turns 3!

2007-12-23T16:14:00.000-05:00

I realize it's been a while since my last post. A lot going on, but no excuse! Timmy turned 3 on November 20. Hard to believe that my babyis 3 already! We had a little party for him at Chuck E. Cheese's with our good friends the Barber's. He was so excited to have a "real Chuck E. Cheese's party". He's the only kid I know that puts the "s" at the end of Cheese's. Everyone else says "Chuck E. Cheese".
He was so thrilled to get a "king hat".

My mom was here for two and a half weeks around Thanksgiving, so she was here for Timmy's birthday as well.
It was so funny to see the difference between the two boys. Isaac is Nana's boy, and every night he would give her a hug before he went to bed (sometimes he would even give her a kiss, but we can't tell anyone because Isaac is apparently too big to kiss anyone other than Mommy any more). Timmy, on the other hand, would tell Nana "good night! No kiss, no hug" every night on the way up the stairs to bed. One night my mom was trying to play the sympathy card and pretended to cry. When Timmy asked her why she was crying she said "because you won't give me a hug or a kiss". Timmy replied, "Yep! Goodnight!". Well, last week Timmy and I went to the post office to mail Nana's Christmas package. I let Timothy carry it into the post office, and I noticed he was talking to the package. I asked him what he was saying and he replied: "I say: To Nana, I love you, too. No hug, no kiss." I nearly died laughing!

Me and My Trudy

2007-11-12T19:28:00.000-05:00

I went to Phoenix last weekend to visit my bff Trudy. I was sick the whole time, and, being the great friend I am, gave the gift that keeps on giving. By the time I left Trudy and Brandon were sick, too! Fortunately, Trudy is the kind of friend that is fun to do anything with, even if it's just lying around on the couch and watching movies, which is what we did all weekend. Trudy and Brandon are the only ones I'll watch scary movies with, mostly because they laugh so hard when I jump at things that go "boo" that I forget to be scared.
Trudy's boyfriend Rick. He's a good guy, it seems. Great sense of humor, which is always important!

Me and Bran and my Sonic cheeseburger. One ritual that I must always do in Phoenix is go to Sonic. I love their cheeseburgers more than just about any other food. Of course, if we had one around here I probably wouldn't love it quite so much, but still............ I actually ate Sonic twice. On Sunday with Brandon and then again on Tuesday cuz it was 1/2 price burger day!

True Story

2007-11-12T19:23:00.000-05:00

A quick funny story about Isaac. Yesterday I gave him a pair of Power Ranger gloves that I picked up after Halloween on the clearance rack. They matched his costume perfectly. He immediately started crying, sying that it was too late, Halloween is over, etc. I told him he could wear them when he plays dress up with Timmy. Of course he responded, "Only girls play dress up." After a few minutes of trying to pursuade him that boys can play dress up, too, and that he used to play it quite frequently with his friends when they were superheroes, I grew quite frustrated with him. I finally told him that I would have to stop giving him suprises if he was just going to cry and make a fuss. To which he responded, "Actually, those were tears of joy!".

Trick or Treat!

2007-11-01T22:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had so much fun trick-or-treating! Isaac was the Red Power Ranger.......
and Timmy was Spiderman!

We went over to the Barber's to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood. Ours is a little hit and miss.......not too many people hang out on Halloween here. Our complex is pretty multi-cultural, and apparently not all cultures celebrate Halloween!
Here's the kids all rarin' to go! Maddie was a fairy and Chloe was a ballerina.
I love this picture! Hi-Ya!!
The tired treaters with their loot.
You know I had to do something for Halloween! This was the first year in a while that I haven't totally dressed up.

Letchworth Park

2007-10-25T20:40:00.000-05:00

Okay, so Sunday we decided to drive down to Letchworth Park after church to enjoy the fall foliage with our friends the Barbers. It was a beautiful day.....somewhere between 65 and 70 degrees and a gorgeous blue sky. The colors weren't quite as brilliant as other years because of the warmer weather, but it was still beautiful!

Me and Timmers enjoying the view. Letchworth is considered to be the Grand Canyon of the East. The Genesee River runs through the bottom of this huge gorge.
After driving through the park for quite some time, we decided to get out, enjoy the view, and let the kids play. We found this playground and the kids had a blast!
Isaac and Maddie. They had so much fun playing together.....since they're both in first grade now, they don't have as much time to play with each other.Chloe on the slide. She was a monster! in a good sense of the word. She loves to slide!
Tim and Chloe taking turns. Timmy doesn't like to actually go down the slide, he just climbs up the ladder.

All the kids running and playing.

Baby Hailey. She is such a doll! She is 4 months old now and I think she should be a model.

Timmy loves babies (especially Hailey) and Pam let him help her feed Hailey her bottle. The highlight of his day, I'm sure!

This area overlooks the Upper Falls. The boys loved the waterfalls!

I just love this picture of Isaac. He so very rarely lets me take his picture these days.

Our extended family.................

There is a train bridge that runs above the falls, and a train came across while we were there! I'd been up on the train track a few years ago (wow! now that I think about it , it was 9 years ago! Have we really ben here that long?) and actually stayed on while the train came across. That was scary! Timmy loves trains and was thrilled to see a train AND a waterfall all at the same time.

Timmy, Maurice, Mike and Chloe watching the train.

This is a good shot of the falls and the train track. The lower falls are more impressive.....much taller.

Maurice and Timmy admiring the falls.

Our cute little family.......
And a rare photo of just the two of us. Cue the music...................................
By the way, I think my eye is looking much better. Just a little red and irritated, but not bad!

Pumpkin Time!

2007-10-25T19:58:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday we carved Pumpkins with the boys. Isaac and Timmy had so much fun! We had gotten free pumpkins a few weeks ago, and the boys have been waiting oh so patiently to carve them. We've been trying to put it off as long as possible because it's been so warm and we don't want the punpkins to rot.
This is the first year we've actually let the boys help with the carving. They love knives!
The finished products.
Such a fun Fall day!
Here Timmy is washing the wall. He decided he would "decorate" the wall with a pencil he found. So I let him wash it off.

Isaac's birthday

2007-10-10T10:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Isaac's 6th birthday. I can't believe he's 6 already! We let him open one present before school yesterday....a skateboard from Aunt Trudy!
Maddie, Chloe, Hailey (and their parents Mike and Pam, of course!) and Craig came over for a pizza dinner. Is was so fun to see the kids at the table by themselves. It seems we've waited forever for this!
Isaac with his cake. I didn't wait for the cake to cool long enough before I iced it, so the lettering kind of melted off the side of the cake!

Superman costume from Craig.

Hot Wheels ramp and cars from Grandma and Grandpa.

Monster truck from the Barbers.

Marble Maze from Nana. He also got a Transformers puzzle and Gameboy from us. He's been wanting a Gameboy for about 2 years.......I finally got him one. Found an amzing deal on Craigslist. Love that site!
All the kids loved playing with the marbles! Even Maurice!
This would have been a cute picture of me and Chloe if it hadn't been for my diseased-looking eye (and Craig's big fat head in the background!).
Timmy adores Hailey. He's always asking to touch her and kiss her.

Chuck E. Cheese Party!

2007-10-08T18:12:00.000-05:00

Today Isaac had his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. It was so much fun! He invited a few friends and they had a great time. It's amazing how much easier it gets as they get older.

Here is Isaac, Chuck E. and his cake. Isaac had so much fun playing that he hardly ate a thing.
Isaac's buds....Peter, Isaac, Miles, Nate, and Aidan.
Playing pinball.

It's Pumpkin Time!

2007-10-08T14:03:00.000-05:00

Saturday we went to Grow-Moore Farm with the Barber family. There were all kinds of games and rides for the kids, and it was free! (sponsored by Preferred Care for healthcare providers, their employees and families) The kids even got a free pumpkin each. It was a gorgeous Fall day, even if it was rather warm for October. Not that I'm complaining or anything!
My very scary boys.
Timmy, Isaac, Maddie and Chloe at the pumpkin patch. Look at the devilish expression on Timmy's face!
Isaac and Maddie climbing on the bouncy obstacle course. The boys on the hayride.

Me and Pam on the hayride. Maddie took this picture.

Timmy on the tractor train ride. He was much happier than he looks!

It's hard work picking out a pumpkin.....................

But worth it when you fnd the perfect one!

Isaac and Maddie headed to weigh the pumpkins. We barely beat out a rainstorm, but made it to the car before it started raining!

Arrgghh, Matey!

2007-10-05T23:25:00.000-05:00

I had surgery on my left eye on Wednesday. I had a macular pucker that was causing my vision to be distorted. Fortunately, I work for an ophthalmology practice, and have been receiving great care! I've been seeing a retina specialist, and we decided to go ahead and have the surgery. Everything went well, but my eye is pretty ugly right now. My friend Tracy lovingly tells me I look like a junkie. Thanks, Trace! It's been pretty sore and ugly, but is getting better now. I think (hope) I'm past the most painful part. Now we just wait for it to heal. Should be about 6-8 weeks before my vision comes back totally. The hard part is that I'm on restricted activity for the first week. Can't pick up the boys or do house work. Tear!
My friend Craig decided the world (and he) did not need to see my ugly eye and brought me this lovely jewel-encrusted eye patch. I do love me some bling! Thanks, Craig!

Apple Weekend

2007-10-05T22:55:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we planned a very full weekend. Our plan was to have a Fall "Apple Party" at our friends Mike and Pam's house in Hilton (about 30 minutes from here), sleep over at their house, go to church with them on Sunday morning, then go to the Hilton Apple Festival Sunday afternoon. So much for making plans when children are involved!

We did go to Mike and Pam's house, but we were the only ones that showed up fro our Apple Party......the rest of our friends totally bailed. That's okay, we thought, we can have our own fun! So we decided to call it Thanksgiving instead. A very Italian, apple-y Thanksgiving. Pam made sauce with spare ribs, ziti, and salad, and I made a fresh apple pie with ice cream. Usually, we spend Thanksgiving together, but they are planning on going out of town this year (I know, I know.......you're thinking the same thing I did.........who am I going to go shopping with on Black Friday?) so we turned it into Thanksgiving!
The kids were so excited to sleep over. Aunt Shelli and Uncle Collin gave Isaac a new sleeping bag for doing such a great job as ringbearer in their wedding and Isaac was so looking forward to using it for the first time. Unfortunately, after dinner we noticed Isaac was feeling a little warm. Took his temp and realized he was running a fever. Since little Hailey (see below) is only 3 months old, we decided not to risk spreading disease and pestilence in their house, packed our bags and headed home.
There's Hailey! Isn't she a sweetie?
I think she is simply adorable. Normally I care if other peoples' kids spit up on me, but I barely notice with Hailey. She's family so it just doesn't matter!
The weekend wasn't an entire bust. Isaac woke up Sunday feeling much better, so we did join our friends at church and went out to Friendly's afterwards for brunch. We had to take a picture because this is the first time we've had a real "kids' table"!

At the Hilton Apple Festival the kids enjoyed this much more sanitary version of bobbing for apples. They got to fish out the apples with nets. Each apple had a popsicle stick stuck into it with a number on it that could be turned in for a prize.

Even Timmy and Chloe were able to go fishing for apples!

Pam found this cool vendor that she had been looking for. They take impressions of the kids' hands in clay, fire it off in a kiln and mail it to you. She had the girls' handprints done. So cute!

My handsome boys.....all three of them!
Every now and then Timmy still wants to be my baby.

Me and my big guy Isaac. So glad he was feeling better. Strep has been going around his class at school, so I was very relieved to see his fever pass by so quickly.

Shelli and Collin are married!!!!!

2007-09-24T20:28:00.000-05:00

Shelli and Collin got married this weekend in Cincinatti. It was a beautiful day and I've never seen a more radiant bride. Shelli has always been beautiful, but on Saturday she transformed into the most amazing, beautiful creature I've ever seen. I couldn't take my eyes off her.

The wedding party. And I do mean party!!!!!

Maurice and Shelli. I love this picture..................

Maurice with his parents.

My favorite picture of me and my Shell Bell.

You can probably expect to see this picture on a Christmas card this year!

My 3 favorite men. Aren't they handsome? Timmy loved wearing his tie and vest "just like Isaac".

Isaac did a great job as the ring bearer. Collin's 6-month-old niece was a flower girl. Obviously, she couldn't walk so Isaac pulled her down the aisle in a red Radio Flyer wagon. It was almost 90 degrees on Saturday and the church was not air-conditioned. At one point I thought Isaac was going to pass out, so I had him sit with Grandma for a few minutes. After that he stood back up with the guys for the rest of the ceremony. Timmy was a doll.......fell asleep sitting with Cousin Jordan and his fiancee Randy (they're getting married February 9!!!!).

Getting ready with Shelli.

Isaac and Timmy searching for ants.

Timmy playing with the leaves at the park while the grown-ups are getting pictures done.

Rehearsal photos

Fall retreat at Three Springs

2007-09-17T18:59:00.000-05:00

Timmy and Isaac love their new bunk beds. Here they are clowning around in Isaac's bed.
This past weekend was the BCC Sr. High Youth retreat. We go to a horse farm in PA every Fall. It is beautiful and we have a great time horseback riding, playing games and hanging out. This is the Senior class. Can't believe this is their last year! I've been one of their leaders since they were in 7th grade.
Senior girls. They are the best bunch of girls ever.
We take a photo in front of this tree every year. It's our little tradition.
Seniors playing some sort of murderous game where you try to get balls in the other teams' bucket. I played for exactly 3 minutes until someone took out my ankle.

First Day of School!

2007-09-05T21:03:00.000-05:00

Today was Isaac's first day of First Grade! We all saw him off on the bus this morning. The thing he was looking forward to the most was eating lunch at school. Kindergarten was only half day so the idea of being at school all day is exciting for him! He loves his teacher, which is a good thing because he'll have her for both first and second grade.
Me and my babies.
Off on the bus!

Shelli's Getting Married!

2007-09-05T20:38:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I went down to Florida for Shelli's bridal shower in Sarasota. I can't believe the wedding's almost here! This is Shelli and her fiancee, Collin. They both live in Cincinnatti now but flew in for the bridal shower. It was nice for Collin to get to meet some of Shelli's friends.
My second mother (NOT just a mother-in-law....although I hope I don't offend any mothers-in-law out there by saying that) a.k.a. Little Miss Elma Sue. Her little girl is all growed up!
The other man in my life........Mr. Fran. Maurice always says I just married him for his dad. I'm not denying it....who can blame me? The sweetest, most compassionate, wisest man on earth.
BONUS!!!!! I got to see some of my fam while I was there. I left Sarasota on Sunday (to let Shelli have some alone time with her parents) and stayed with my sisters Grace and Rachel in Tampa the rest of the weekend. We had a good time just hanging out and shooting the breeze. My favorite part of most trips to Florida is sitting around in Rachel's carport, watching the world go by and discussing all the important and not-so-important things in life with my girls. Oh, yeah, and drinking beer. I got to see Helen, John and my niece Katie who drove down for part of the weekend, and also got to spend some time with NormiRivs, my favoritest older broand his girlfriend, Ana. This is Rachel, Norm, me and Grace after we stuffed ourselves at brunch at Mimi's Cafe on Monday. So delicious! I had french toast stuffed with cream cheese and orange marmalade. Yum!!!!
I had a 3 hour layover in Baltimore on the way back to Rochester. Wound up seeing Shelli and Collin again on their layover! Not a very long visit.......they had gotten stuck on the runway waiting for a gate to open up, so we only had about 10 minutes, but it was nice to just recap the weekend and get a few more hugs. I love my sweet blondie sister!

Ain't she so purty? My Shell Belle.

2007-08-26T13:29:00.001-05:00

While we were eating our picnic I began entertaining the boys with my never-before-seen (by them) mad burping skills. They were quite thrilled and suprised to find out that boys are not the only ones that can burp! Now whenever I drink a soda they want a show. I save it for special occasions.

Fun at Darien Lake

2007-08-26T13:04:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago our friend, Bob, gave us tickets to Darien Lake (used to be Six Flags Darien Lake but Six Flags sold it last year so now it is just plain ol' Darien Lake) during Kingdom Bound (a 4-day festival that features tons of "Christian" recording artists). We weren't quite sure if we were brave enough to take the boys, but we did and we had so much fun! It rained part of the time, but we still had a blast. Isaac turns out to be quite the thrillseeker! He not only went on every "kiddie" ride, but went on several "grown-up" rides as well. Timmy stuck to the slower kiddie rides. At one point it downpoured, so we went back to the car and ate our picnic dinner. We went to a couple of concerts during which the boys kept themselves busy "fixing" our stroller and ended the evening with a fireworks and laser show.

Timmy and Mommy in the teacups.

Timmy loved these little trains that they power themselves by turning the wheel.

One of Isaac's favorite rides....the motorcycles. We had to stop this one to get Timmy off. He wasn't nearly as thrilled as Isaac was.
Timmy did love the Merry-Go-Round. I almost had to beat up a little girl because she wanted this black horse that he had already picked out (and was trying to get on). Crisis was averted when I was able to convince her to pick out a different horse because the black ones were really slow. It could've gotten pretty ugly!

We're starting to see how much fun it is to take the boys out to different events. My company's summer outing was a Rochester Redwings game. It was the boys' first real baseball game. It was perfect, because the ball field is right beside the main train tracks running through downtown. So just about the time the boys would get a little bored, a train would go by. "Train!!" We've had such a fun summer. It's been rather cool and rainy this week, and the leaves are beginning to turn. I'm not ready for summer to be over yet! Hopefully we will get one more hot spell. At least I get to go to Florida next weekend for Shelli's bridal shower. I know I'll have a warm weekend then!

2007-08-25T16:27:00.000-05:00

We stopeed in our way back from the reunion to visit our friends Tadd, Erica and their daughter Emma Kate in Virginia. Tadd is a Professor of Music at Virginia Tech. We hadn't seen them since before Emma and Timmy were born, so it was fun for them to meet. Emma is 2 years old and such a cutie!
Tadd is a very "hands on" dad. Here he is putting pig-tails in Emma's hair. We had so much fun with them! On our last leg of the trip, we stopped overnight in West Virginia. The boys thought it was a very special treat to stay in a hotel. They cuddled right up with their teddy bears, dog , and "baby jaguar". They were great the whole trip....we're starting to see how much fun we can have as a family!

2007-08-24T15:31:00.000-05:00

Timmyand Grandpa at the reunion

Reunion Photos

2007-08-24T15:11:00.000-05:00

Here we are at the very beginning of our journey. Thanks, Mom, for the portable DVD player! I had no idea when you gave it to us how much we would use it. The boys watched a DVD until bedtime, then slept while we drove through the night.

We were the first to arrive at the reunion, so the boys had time to set up their "special corner" before anyone else got there. It turned out to be a popular place amongst the kids. Isaac and Timmy had brought crayons, coloring books, toys and books. Since it rained all weekend, they had plenty of things to keep them entertained.

It was great getting caught up with the cousins! This is Shelli and Loleeta. It was the first time we got to meet Gavin (in Shelli's lap). Such a cutie! I'm glad we will see them again next month at Shelli's wedding. Loleeta and I are bridesmaids. :)

A nice photo of all the aunts and uncles.
Timmy absolutely adores Grandpa! They had quite a time goofin around.

Isaac loves Grandpa, too, but is much more reserved in showing his affection. He is now a "big boy" and doesn't understand yet that it's perfectly okay to hug and kiss and still be a man.

Grandma and Jamie, Mat and Mary's little boy. He is the cutest thing! He's got such a wonderful little personality already, and you can't help but cheer up when he smiles.
We threw Shelli and Collin a suprise wedding shower. I thought they might have known about it, but they were completely suprised! They got a lot of practical household gifts.
Isaac and Timmy waited patiently for their night for Grandma to read to them at bedtime. Grandma is very popular and sometimes there's not quite enough of her to go around! But everyone gets their tunr eventually.

No More Pacifier!!!!!

2007-08-06T22:08:00.000-05:00

In Timmy news.....we have successfully weaned him of his pacifier! I am so thrilled. Isaac was 3 1/2 before he gave it up entirely. He only used it at bedtime, though. Timmy wouldn't give it up and would start biting if we took it away. I decided that it would have to seem to be his idea if we were to be successful. So a couple of weeks ago, I took the bowl of pacifiers down from the cupboard and told him to pick one out and throw the rest away. I then informed him that it was his last pacifier and if he lost it he was done. He did lose it a few times but always managed to find it. One day I noticed that the plastic part was starting to tear, so every day I ripped it a little more when he wasn't looking. After a week, the whole tip fell off. He realized it was "broken" and threw it away. He only asks for it every now and then, and when he does we just ask him "What happened to it?" He replies"It broke". Then we ask "Where is it?" and he replies "In the trash" and that is the end of it. It's been 3 weeks now, so it is definitely final. Yay!

2007-08-06T21:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I know I haven't blogged in a while. I love summer, and since it's so short here in Rochester, I tend to spend every free minute playing. We've also been spending quite a lot of time with our friends Mike and Pam and their girls. They just had a beautiful little girl on June 25. Her name is Haylie Noel and I love her! Ain't she cute? I just adore her. It's as close as I will ever get to having my own daughter, and I'm just fine with that! hee hee
Pam and I took the kids to the zoo the other day. It was our first outing with all 5 kids. They love to climb on this tree outside the tiger exhibit.

The tiger cubs have gotten so big! They're practically full grown now. Some days we get to watch them run around and play with each other, but they were feeling a bit lazy this day.
Maddie and Chloe posed for me. Since the boys don't really like having their picture taken, I just took one of the girls instead.

Timmy loves the Orangutans. He will sit and watch them for as long as I let him.

2007-08-06T21:49:00.000-05:00

Maurice and Timmy asleep in the recliner. I came up from the basement and found them asleep. So cute!

Here Timmy and Chloe are investigating our neighbor's little girl Evalyn. This was right before Pam had her baby so we were both thrilled that Chloe was so great with Eva.

"Quiet time" at Pam's house. We've been going out to Mike and Pam's at least once a week to help out with the baby and the other kids. The boys love playing with Maddie and Chloe, and it gives them plenty of space to run around in. They have a huge back yard, so they're always having fun!
The kids decided to eat their popcorn snack under the table. Timmy started it and the rest soon followed.

2007-06-18T21:30:00.000-05:00

This is Timmy's new favorite snacking spot......on the mat inside the front door. He goes and sits on the mat when he eats his snack!

Last weekend I went to Chrissy's dance recital. The last one I went to was 3 years ago, and I swore I'd never go to another one. The last one was 3 1/2 hours long! This one was much better. It was only 2 hours long, and the little kids were so cute. One of the few times that I thought having a girl might actually be fun! It's ok, it wore off fast. Chrissy was amazing! I can't believe how good she is.

2007-06-18T21:13:00.000-05:00

We took the boys to see Shrek the Third a few weeks ago. It was Timmy's first real movie! He did great....sat through the whole movie. The boys loved it. They laughed through the whole thing.
After the movie we took the boys to the Taste of Penfield. The Penfield High School Jazz ensembles played and a number of local restaurants gave free samples of their food. We just hung out and listened to the bands. Who can resist free food?Isaac and Maurice chillin'.

Timmy was having a good time "attacking" me.

Last Wednesday Timmy told me he was going outside to play. When I went out to check on him he had put on the helmet and was ready to take off on Isaac's scooter! I have to keep an eye on that boy. He's very adventurous!

Gracie's birthday

2007-05-30T22:21:00.000-05:00

I went home to surprise Grace for her birthday. She had no clue that I was coming. Rachel and I finally kept a secret! It was so good just to hang out with my girls. I flew into Tampa Friday night and we met Norm out for drinks. He and Anna are so cute together! We spent the night at Anna's place and then just hung out at Rachel's on Saturday until we left for St. Pete Beach late in the afternoon. We stayed at the cutest little hotel just a block from the beach.
Grace, Rachel, and I getting ready to go out on Saturday night. We went to Crabby Bill's for dinner (yum!). I got some good shrimp and oysters. We just don't get good seafood here. Then we went out to a little beach bar and watch Rachel spank all the guys playing pool.
On Sunday Rachel and I went up to Gainesville to visit Mom. Mom had fallen the previous Wednesday and broken her left kneecap. She had to have surgery to put a metal plate in her knee. She's starting to do better, but the recovery is going to be a long one. She isn't supposed to put any weight on that leg for 3 months! We girls are now very sure to get our calcium every day!
I had quite and adventure getting home. I had to be back by Monday night to play in the year-end concert for the elementary school chorus that I accompany. When I left Tampa, my plane got sent back to the gate because of brake failure, which resulted in me missing my flight in Philly. I was so upset! They were supposed to hold the plane for me and I missed it by 2 minutes. Anyway, the next available flight would have gotten me into Rochester at 8:05, an hour after the concert was supposed to start. They said there was nothing else they could do. Well I started walking the airport looking for a flight to Buffalo or Syracus, anything to get me to the concert in time. I found a flight that got into Syracuse at 6:00, so I called Maurice and asked him to drive to Syracuse. He brought my concert clothes and I changed in the car as he sped back to Rochester. We drove up to the school at 7:20, just as the band was finishing, and I walked onstage and played the concert. I was a little nervous because I hadn't touched a piano in a week, but everything went fine. Whew!
One last note........Maurice's sister Shelli got engaged on May 19! We are so happy for her and Collin. The wedding will take place this Fall, probably in Cincinnatti. And that is what the Overholt have been up to.

2007-05-30T22:12:00.000-05:00

Mother's Day weekend started the Lilac Festival here in Rochester. Highland Park has over 1200 lilac bushes, and over 500,000 people visit Rochester during the Lilac Festival. We went to the parade that kicked it all off. Unfortunately, we got stuck in traffic and missed the float that my friend Lindsay, the Lilac Festival Queen, rode on.
Here's Isaac at the parade. His favorite entry was the Federation Club, which had Star Wars characters. They looked like they stepped right out of the movie. Isaac's favorite character was Darth Vader, and Timmy kept saying "Chew Bacca" the rest of the day.
Speaking of Timmy, here he is enjoying his first parade!
The lilacs were in bloom, which is always a plus during the festival. It's kind of a bummer when they're not. The whole area smelled delicious! This is a rare picture with Timmy without his pacifier.
The boys love taking turns riding on Maurice's shoulders. It's a good thing he's strong! Timmy weighs about 40 pounds and Isaac weighs over 50.

2007-05-30T22:02:00.000-05:00

Here the boys are wearing Maurice's shoes. They think it's funny to wear our shoes.
A few weeks ago I threw a baby shower for my friend Pam, who is expecting a baby girl on June 27. I think this picture is funny, because both Pam (on the left) and her friend Bekah were trying to get out of the picture.
I was so proud of this cake that I made that I had to take a picture.
Pam and I had 4 garage sales last year getting rid of all of our baby gear, so when she found out last October that she was pregnant it was quite a shock. I'm glad she got to get some new baby stuff. Her oldest is turning 6 on June 28, and it's amazing how all the baby stuff has changed since she had Maddie!

Overholt Update, Part Deux

2007-05-30T21:31:00.000-05:00

Now for more from the Overholt family....... We went to Ohio the first weekend in May for Maurice's cousin's wedding. We stayed with Maurice's Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ed. WE had such a good time! The wedding happened to coincide with Fran's (Maurice's dad) birthday. The boys were so happy to hang out with Grandpa! Kathy and Ed live in the middle of farm land, so the boys hung out quite a bit in their back yard with Grandpa, watching the tractors.
Isaac and Timmy made sure to wear their Gator gear all weekend, as Maurice's family is full of Ohio State fans (they live right outside of Columbus). Isaac made sure to proclaim loud and clear that Florida had beat OSU, not once but twice. The uncles and cousins were having a good time picking on him, but he finally shut them up by saying, "That's okay, we still beat you in basketball AND football". That's my boy!
Timmy had fun playing on the slide with Grandpa. I was suprised that he played outside barefoot. I love to run barefoot, but the boys are wierd about wearing their shoes. I guess they have to be like their dad in some ways!
A rare picture of me and hubby by ourselves. Usually I'm the one behind the camera, so we don't get our picture together. We went to brunch before the wedding with Maurice's parents, his sister Shelli and her boyfriend (now fiancee) Collin, and his Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ed and cousin Amber.
Here's the boys playing at the end of the wedding reception. They were pretending that they were so tired they were sleeping. Maurice and I should have been the ones tired! Timmy lasted only 5 minutes into the ceremony, and they kept getting up and running around outside during the reception. The funniest part of the reception was one time that Zach and Aliyah kissed. Isaac stood up on his chair to watch, then yelled for everyone to hear : "Yuck! That is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen!". He's kind of anti-girl/kissing/marriage right now. He tells me that he's never getting married, he's going to live with me until he dies and then they can put his bones next to mind. Sweet and creepy all at the same time!

2007-05-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

Ok, so here is the long awaited Overholt Family update (part 1). Drumroll, please. Well, on April 14, I wrecked our family car. Stupid accident, totally my fault. But I hurt my back and put the car in the shop for 5 weeks. Fortunately, our friends Sherwin and Julie loaned us their car for the whole 5 weeks! Talk about generous. And my back is doing much better. During the time I had off (I took 2 weeks off from work while my back started its recovery process) I visited my bestest friend Trudy in Phoenix. I haven't seen her since New Year's ( I know, it's only 4 months, but that's forever when you're separated from your other half) and we had such a good time!

We hung out with the robin at Red Robin, searched for the perfect Coach purse (Trudy's only wish for her birthday, besides me!) and went to an ophthalmology conference. Okay, so the conference wasn't great fun, but we got to make fun of people. And we went out afterwards with some of Trudy's co-workers to celebrate Trudy's birthday. I was also made to watch Sean of the Dead. I'm not usually into zombie movies, but it was funny. And then we went to see Hot Fuzz, a recent movie that has basically the same lead cast.
Jared (Trudy's son and my godson) was out in AZ visiting, too, while I was there. It was so good to see him. Even though we both live in Rochester, we see each other more in Phoenix. Here he is getting some batting practice in. He's working on getting into shape for baseball tryouts next year.
April 28 was Katie's prom. I got to go over and help her get ready. She and Jacob were so cute together! For those of you that don't know Katie, she's one of the boys' regular babysitters and a very special young woman in our lives.
Speaking of the boys.......no blog would be complete without a picture of my cutie pies! They love wearing their Gator gear, and proudly tell anyone who will listen about the Gators being Champions!

2007-05-14T19:07:00.000-05:00

oh, and by the way.......did I mention that I'd rather be independently wealthy and not have to work?

2007-05-14T19:06:00.001-05:00

Sorry, guys, that I'm such a loser. Life is too crazy to do much blogging, but I'll try to get some new pics up soon. Take care!

Videos

2007-04-12T21:09:00.000-05:00

By the way, I've been trying to upload some videos of the boys. Unfortunately, whenever I upload to Youtube, the audio and video get out of synch, which really annoys me. So if you want to see videos of Isaac and Timmy, check them out on my Myspace. www.myspace.com/saririvs

Happy Easter!

2007-04-12T19:23:00.000-05:00

We had a lot of fun on Easter. Maurice had FOUR services at church (three on Sunday and one on Saturday night. oh, yeah, and a Good Friday service, too.) so it's nice to finally see him again. Easter and Christmas are his busiest times of year. The boys and I only went to one service (slackers!) and enjoyed it a lot. I should say Isaac and I went, because Timmy stayed in Sunday School. Isaac is getting to be very good about sitting through a service. No fussing or whining at all! It helps that he can read and write a little, so he just writes on his note pad if he gets bored.

The boys looked so handsome in their Easter outfits. I don't always buy them an Easter outfit, but we have a wedding to go to in May so I figured they'd wear them again. Isaac wanted them to wear identical outfits, but my friend Sherwin (who is a twin) gives me a hard time when I dress them like twins. Plus, I figured Timmy is not a big fan of ties, so why torture the kid?!! Isaac, on the other hand, loves to wear ties. He says he "looks like a grown-up....just like Daddy!". So cute!

Last Saturday we invited our neighbors over for an Easter egg hunt. Here is Isaac, Timmy and Alex with their "booty". Yes, it was only in the very low 30's so they had to wear their winter gear. It actually snowed on Easter day! This year we had a green Christmas and a white Easter. Go figure!
I made mashed potatoes last week and Timmy asked to lick the beater. That kid is getting to be so much fun! It's kind of hard for me that he's growing up so fast, but at the same time, he's just so funny! He's got a great sense of humor. Where Isaac has got a great intellectual sense of humor, always saying funny things that seem so way beyond his years, Timmy has just got a devilish charm about him. The difference between an Overholt and a Rivers, I guess!

Here the boys are sticking balls in their shirts. I asked them what they were doing, expecting a more obvious (to me, at least) answer such as "we're girls". But not my manly men! The answer was " We're making muscles!".

2007-04-09T17:17:00.000-05:00

Just to let everyone know.......we're still alive! I've been horrible about blogging lately. Sorry 'bout that! I see that it's been about 2 months since my last post. Let's see......what's been going on? Well, we've been to Florida to see the family what great fun that was! Isaac actually gave up a day at Disney in order to spend more time with his cousins. His choice!

This is what Rochester looked like when we left.......................

And here's what it looked like in Venice. Oh, what a difference a few days and a lot of miles can make! The boys had so much fun at the beach. Isaac loves the waves now, so different from our last trip home. They had so much fun building sand castles and splashing in the water.

Isaac and Timmy loved playing with the cousins. We stayed with Nana while we were in Gainesville, and spent a lot of time at my sister Helen's house. She's very popular with the kids because she has all kinds of animals: chickens, goats, a horse, dogs, cats, and some very disgusting pet rodents. Isaac was thrilled! He just couldn't wait to see Aunt Helen's rats. My brother John even taught the boys how to shoot BB guns.

We also got to see Grandma and Grandpa in Northport. We love staying with them....it's so peaceful! The boys had great fun playing Legos that used to be their Daddy's when he was little. They love playing with Grandma! We had such a great trip; it was hard to come back to gloomy Rochester!

2007-02-10T22:33:00.000-05:00

Tonight Maurice and I went out to dinner with our neighbors. We had such a great time! They have a daughter that is Isaac's age, so she came over and played with the boys while we went out. No, we didn't leave them here alone (just in case you were wondering); they had a babysitter. Isaac was so excited........he said " I haven't had a babysitter in weeks!". I guess he likes it when we go out! It was a fun evening, although we stayed out a little bit later than we had intended. Who can blame us? Our neighbors said they hadn't been out by themselves in over 2 years! I can't imagine that. Anyway, I think we both had a bit of a hard time putting the kids down tonight. My boys are used to going to bed no later than 8:00, and they were up past 10:00. Doesn't hurt them every now and then! Our neighbors are both musically inclined and like many different genres of music. It's the first conversation we've had with another couple about classical music in a long time! It was sort of wierd to be discussing Stravinsky over dinner. Used to be a very common occurrence, so it was nice. Yay for nights out!

Let it snow!

2007-02-10T16:35:00.000-05:00

The boys are enjoying our winter. Today it was finally warm enough to let them go outside and play in the snow. It's been too cold for them to play outdoors lately.......for a stretch there the high didn't get out of the single digits!

Update

2007-01-31T21:16:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been weeks since I last updated. What a bad blogger I am. We've all been sick, so I'll blame it on that. All, that is, except Isaac. Apparently, he used up all his sick days last fall when he was sooooo sick. Thankful for that. Life here is the usual. Maurice spent a week in Seattle hanging out with his friend/mentor. He had a great time....they went to all sorts of rehearsals and recording sessions. I love it when Maurice hangs out with his professional musician friends....it reminds him that he is a wonderful and respected musician. I tell him that all the time, but that doesn't count. I'm supposed to think he's wonderful, I'm his wife! But it's so cool for me to see how these world-class musicians think Maurice is the shiz.

Timmy is full of attitude these days. He alternates between super-adorable cuddly man and raging smart-aleck (that's for you, mom) 2-year old Rivers kid. I have given up counting to 3 to get him to do things, because as soon as I say "one...." he cocks his head to the side and finishes "two....three!" So hard not to laugh some times. Isaac is learning to read. He's learned almost all of his sight words, and loves to help read their bedtime story every night. Their 2 favorite books right now are How Does a Dinosaur Clean His Room and How Does a Dinosaur Get Well Soon. The love anything with a dinosaur on it/ in it/ around it. Timmy went to bed tonight in his dinosaur jammies, hugging a dinosaur. They love to chase me around the house roaring and clawing at the air. My neighbor who has only one girl (and another on the way) does not understand the way we play in our house. Way too loud and crazy for her!

Go Gators!!!

2007-01-09T00:38:00.000-05:00

2007 National Champions!!!!!! I'm glad because I sure was talking a lot of smack at work!

Dimples!

2007-01-07T22:00:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday, I took the boys to the playground at church before Isaac went to Music Makers (the children's choir) rehearsal. I was so toast after getting back from Phoenix that morning I just needed them to play and leave me alone! Sounds like a bad mom, but we all have our days. Timmy kept taking my sparkling cherry lemonade, but I didn't really care as long as he was happy. He is turning into such a cutie-pie! Okay, he's always been a cutie-pie, but it's so fun to see him as his personality really shines through. I'm afraid I'm starting to spoil him a bit. He's just so darn cute! And for those of you that think that Isaac is getting the shaft these days because you don't see many pictures of him, it's not my fault. He refuses to let me take his picture most days.

On a different note, Isaac is so excited about the big Florida/Ohio State game tomorrow night. He insisted on wearing his orange and blue polo to church today, and kept telling anybody that would listen about "the big game in Arizona". He's a little disappointed that I'm not going to let him stay up for the game (it starts at 8:15, past his bedtime) but I'm sure he'll get over it. I just hope they win because he has such faith in his Gators. He was telling everybody today, "they're the champions because they always win". Go Gators!

Happy New Year!

2007-01-05T20:23:00.000-05:00

I went to Phoenix, AZ to visit my Trudy for New Year's. We had so much fun! We haven't seen each other for 5 months, which is such a long time when you consider that we pretty much spent all our spare time together when she lived here in Rochester. Look how happy we are in this picture. Ok, so some people say we look like we're on drugs. And that could be true if there's a drug called HAPPINESS. This picture was taken by a complete stranger at the airport. And don't we look good!
Speaking of looking good, that seems to have been the theme of the weekend. Here we are getting ready to go out on New Year's Eve. We went to the block party in Tempe, which was the 3rd largest party in the NATION! What a party! There were a ton of bands playing on different stages. We started off watching a magician, but then he got pretty lame. Then we danced for a while over at the stage where a radio station was broadcasting live and playing current hits. But we hung out most of the night at the dueling pianists' stage. They were awesome! They played a great mix of music.....everything from current hits to 70's and 80's music to Broadway. We had a great time dancing the night away! We finally went to sleep around 6:30 a.m. We've been pretty much toast the rest of the week, but it was worth it! It's not every day you get to party like it's 1999!!
Here we are my last day in Phoenix (pronounced pee-hoe-nicks). I was pretty torn about coming home. That's why I never take my babies with me. Most people think it's because I want a break (which is nice, by the way). But really it's because it gives me a reason to come home. Otherwise I could have stayed forever!

The last thing we had to do was make nachos. It was a Sunday night tradition here in Rochester. Trudy and I would watch the Sopranos and Big Love and eat nachos in her living room. So Tuesday night we ate nachos and played Apples to Apples with Brandon and Michael before I headed off to the airport. I had a great trip and can't wait to go back again!

2007-01-04T23:44:00.000-05:00

It's that time again.....time to get caught up on what's been going on around the Overholt household. The holidays were so much fun, and very busy! Here Isaac is getting ready for his first school concert. He insisted on wearing a tie. His kindergarten class performed a "Festival of Lights" program, which is the politically correct term for a holiday concert. Don't even try to call it a Christmas concert! His school is very diverse, so they sang songs about Vali (an Indian celebration. As in India, not cowboys and Indians. As you can see, I'm not very PC), Las Posadas (Mexican), St. Lucia Day (Sweden), Kwanzaa (African), Hanukah (Jewish) and finally, Christmas! He was so cute, and Timmy did very well sitting for the whole concert. 30 whole minutes without making a rukus! I can't believe I have a kid in school.
Here are the boys on Christmas Eve getting ready to go to church at Browncroft in the afternoon. Notice again the tie on Isaac. Timmy has one on, too, you just can't see it. Isaac has been obsessed with his tie lately. He loves to dress up for church and look "just like Daddy". The ties for the boys were actually Trudy's sons' when they were little. They're 23 and 20 now! So it makes it extra special when the boys wear them. So funny.....Isaac is actually a lot like Brandon, and Timmy is like Jared. Scary!

Christmas Eve morning we went to church at Pam's church. Isaac had fun going to "Maddie's church". I thought this was a cute picture of all the kids and their hot mamas. Isaac and Maddie posed for so many pictures!

Timmy decided to play us a tune on Christmas morning. He loves to play the piano. The funny thing is, he pretends like he's reading the music and even stops to turn the page! He loves to sing "Jingle Bells".

We went over to the Everett's house on Christmas day for dinner. Becca (pictured here with me) and her husband Matt were home from California. It was so good to see them! Kitty made a prime rib and a ham, along with Yorkshire pudding, homemade yeast rolls, and a salad. I made mashed potatoes, sweet potato pudding, green beans, and a pumpkin pie. Becca made apple pie, oh yeah, and Kitty made some scrumptious chocolate mousse! We let the kids stay up til 10:00, which NEVER happens. They thought it was such a treat. It's amazing how Christmas gets more fun every year, especially as the boys get old enough to really appreciate it. Isaac doesn't believe in Santa any more (never really bought into it anyway), and was very focused on it being Jesus' birthday. Even insisted we sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus before he opened his presents. Strange kid! Timothy didn't want to open his presents because he found M&M's in his stocking and was content to eat those for a while. We finally convinced him to open his presents ater he finished eating them. Everyone keeps telling me it just gets better as they get older, and I do believe they're telling the truth.

2006-12-10T22:31:00.000-05:00

These are some photos of Timmy this morning at breakfast. I was able to capture some of his signature facial expressions. Such a cutie!

Last week we put up the Christmas tree. We let the boys help us decorate (then "fixed" some of the decorations after they went to bed). Every year we get each of the boys their own ornament, and Isaac enjoyed pulling his out and figuring which year they were from. They both had a great time blowing on the horns and trying to make a noise with them.

In other news, we had Isaac's first parent/teacher conference on Tuesday. He's not failing kindergarten! Yay! His teacher, Mrs. Tisa, told us this funny story. Last week they were practicing writing words and her told her, "At home, my parents spell-talk, and as soon as I learn to read I'm gonna know what they're talking about!"

Yesterday, Timmy fell down and dislocated his elbow. I had to take him to the Emergency Department because the doctor thought he might have broken his clavicle. Thank God he didn't! He's fine now, but I was pretty scared for a little while there. I have the feeling that was the first of many ER visits for Timmy. He's tough! He only cried when the doctor moved his arm around. Much better today.

Maurice had his Christmas concert at church this weekend. It went very well, as usual! Now he just has to prepare for the Christmas Eve services, then he can take a bit of a break.

Timmy is 2!

2006-11-21T21:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Timmy's 2nd birthday. My, how the time does fly! We had a little party Sunday with a few friends. Here he is blowing out his candles. He knew just what to do!

Hugging his best friend Chloe goodbye. They're so cute together!
Timmy, Isaac, and Nana (who's here for the week....yay!)
The birthday boy in his elmo shirt....notice a theme here?

Nana and Isaac. The boys have been stoked (am I old enough to be using that word?) about my mom being here. Timmy is starting to understand that Nana is a person, not a banana. Tonight he even told her goodnight. He does this whole "Bye, Love you!" thing that is so adorable.

2006-11-08T23:41:00.000-05:00

Isaac and Timmy love playing on the slide in the basement. Here they are hanging out one morning last week. Isaac looks like he has a cool-aid mouth, but he licks his lips so much the skin around them is all chapped.

This is the only picture I took of the boys on Halloween. Timmy dressed up as Buzz Lightyear and Isaac dressed up as Spiderman. I totally forgot to take pictures when we went out trick-or-treating. Not the only thing I forgot that day........I forgot to send Isaac's bus pass to school with him, so we couldn't find him for about 45 minutes. I don't usually work Tuesdays, so I forgot that I would need to send a bus pass so the day care could pick him up from school. The school put him on the bus, and the bus driver let him off at home, even though nobody was here (they're not supposed to do that with kindergarteners). He went over to a neighbor's house like the smart kid that he is. Unfortunately, I did not know that and was pretty freaked out for a while. The neighbors just moved here from Montreal and the only phone number the bus company had was their Candian cell phone number (which they weren't answering). So I couldn't call the neighbor to see if he was there. Meanwhile, the director of the day care mapquested my house and came over personally to look for Isaac. Thank God for an awesome day care! They found him playing quite nicely with our neighbor....not upset at all. He takes most everything in stride. Crisis averted. But taking pictures of costumes was the last thing on my mind that night. Just glad my baby was safe and sound.

Speaking of my baby.........Here's my Rivers baby. Already drinking out of the bottle! Sorry, Mom, it's Pepsi, not Coke.

Last night we had some quality cuddle time. I've been working so much lately, I just don't feel like I've been able to spend much down time with my boys. Maurice had a meeting, so last night the boys and I cuddled up under a blanket on the couch, ate popcorn and watched Aladdin. We had a great time! I even let the boys go to bed a little later than usual (8:15, so not too late!) so that we could watch the entire movie. Such a treat........they're usually only allowed to watch half a movie on weeknights. We reaped the benefits today, though; everyone was in a much better mood after our cuddle time last night.

Today I had to buy a lock for the refrigerator door. Timmy can now open the door by himself. This morning he got out a gallon of milk and a jug of apple cider. He's so funny......he just stands in front of the refrigerator with the door open and says "Hmmmm......" like he's trying to decide what to eat. Cute, but annoying.

2006-11-06T23:43:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so life's crazy once again. I've been working a bit more than usual lately, so sorry I haven't updated the blog in a while. Maurice is in the middle of crazy holiday season, preparing for our church's annual Christmas concert in December. He's all busy picking out and arranging music for his choir, orchestra and bands. Isaac is just about ready for college (I now know it's your abdomen, not your belly, silly!) and Timmy is just as charming and challenging as always. That's us in a nutshell!

Fun Weekend!

2006-10-22T20:31:00.000-05:00

This weekend we went pumpkin "picking". Which means we picked one out. I had great ideals of actually going out to a farm, but we wound up going to a garden center instead. Here are my pumpkins!
Timmy picked out his punkin all by himself. We thought it was about the size of his big punkin head. Look at those gorgeous heads! Grace and Rachel came to visit this weekend. We had so much fun! We hung out, picked pumpkins, went shopping and then hung out some more. Just what I needed!
Isaac had so much fun, too! Rachel played chess with him....one of his favorite games. Here's me and my sistahs! I was sad to see them go, but we sure had fun!

Camping pictures!

2006-10-11T19:11:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post some more pictures from our camping trip a few weeks back. These are some that Kris took.Here's all the men 'round the campfire. We had a rather wet weekend, but I was impressed they still managed to keep a campfire going.
And here are the ladies, minus Kari. She was off walking Katie, their adorable little daughter. She's only 4 months old (Katie, not Kari!). Pictured here are me, Tricia, and Pam. Like I said, it was rather wet that weekend, so don't be too jealous of our great hairstyles!
Timmy had a great time playing on the beach. Who cares about a little rain when you've got some sand to dig in?The kids had a blast on the playground. They pulled a slide over to this mud puddle and took turns sliding down into the mud. Isaac jumps off just in time..............
but gives up staying clean next go 'round. We had a bunch of muddy, wet, happy kids! At least they slept well that night!

Isaac is 5!

2006-10-10T18:08:00.000-05:00

Saturday we went to the Strong National Museum of Play, one of Isaac and Timmy's favorite spots. Grandma and Grandpa Overholt came for the weekend to help celebrate Isaac's 5th birthday! Here Maurice, Isaac and Timmy got to ride the train at the museum.Isaac and Grandpa at the Pirates Cove. What a treasure!
Isaac, Timmy and Grandma digging for treasure in the sand pit. It was hard to tell who had more fun!
Sunday night we had a family party for Isaac before Grandma and Grandpa left Monday morning. We had such a great weekend..........the kids really enjoyed seeing their grandparents. (as did we!)
Isaac got to have his first party at Chuck E. Cheese's! He wanted to have an "all boy" party....no girls allowed! Poor thing was still sick, but he did have a good time.

2006-10-04T15:37:00.000-05:00

The boys fell asleep on our way to Jellystone a couple of weeks ago when we went camping. I love to see them sleeping! (both for cuteness and sanity reasons).
Last week I taught Timmy how to dunk an Oreo in milk. Not surprisingly, he caught on quickly!
Does he look happy, or what?Yesterday, Timmy insisted on putting his shirt on himself. He got it on........inside out and backwards! But he was so proud of himself. He is turning into one of the most independent and stubborn little creatures I've ever known. I've had to start with the time-outs. I'm amazed that he does pay attention when I put him in time-out.

Isaac has been very sick the past week. He started with some kind of stomach virus last Thursday and hasn't been able to kick it yet. He just sits around all day on the couch and sleeps a LOT. He's finally drinking, but he hasn't really eaten anything since Friday. I did get him to eat a few bites of soup and half a popsicle yesterday, but he's just not wanting food. I had to take him to the doctor on Monday because he was getting so dehydrated. His eyes were all sunken in and he just looked awful. I feel like such a mean mom.........the only way I could get him to drink was to tell him that if he didn't drink I would have to take him to the hospital and they'd put a needle in his arm to give him fluids. He started drinking more after that. He's already missed two days of school (Monday was a holiday--Yom Kippur. A large number of families in our district are Jewish, so we get extra school holidays!) and he'll probably miss at least tomorrow as well.

On a nicer note, Maurice's parents are coming for the weekend. Monday is Isaac's 5th birthday, and they're coming to help celebrate. I'm so excited, I love having family around!

2006-09-25T19:51:00.000-05:00

So here is Isaac's first day on the bus. He's been so excited about riding the bus, he never waves goodbye! Until last Wednesday, that is. He finally waved out the window as the bus left.
Timothy really wanted to go to school, too! He insisted on wearing his backpack to the bus stop. He's doing better about Isaac leaving for school. At first he was upset at losting his play buddy, but now he's realizing he gets Mommy to himself for the afternoon. We're having a great time, too! Some days we run errands, or play outside, or sometimes just nap.
Last weekend was the Sr. High Fall retreat for our youth at church. We had a great time at Three Springs (in PA). Above is a picture of my Junior girls. I can't believe they're Juniors already! We had a great weekend of games, horseback riding, hay rides and hanging out.
This is me and Laura. She's a Senior this year. Can't believe it.........I hope she goes to college nearby or Isaac and Timmy will be heartbroken. They love her to death!

We had fun this weekend.....we went camping! Okay, so it wasn't real sleep-in-a-tent, pee-in-the-woods camping. It was sleep-in-a-cabin-with-electricity-and-warm-shower camping. Even better! We went to Jellystone Park (yes, the Yogi Bear thing) with 3 other families and had a blast, even if it did rain all weekend. I'll post pictures soon. The kids had a great time...........we threw them out in the mud and let them get as dirty as they wanted on Saturday afternoon. Isaac and Timmy were soaked to their armpits! They slept good that night, which was a good thing 'cuz the "grown-ups" stayed up til 2:30 playing Mafia. Everyone had a great time.

2006-09-18T20:42:00.000-05:00

I"ve been trying to load more pics, but my computer is trying to show me who's boss again. Any way......I started my new job last week. I really like the place. The doctors are super nice, and most of the people I work with are, too! I used to work with one of the girls, Tracy, when I was at P&S. So it's fun assigning new titles to the old names. For example, Linda is the new "Marie". I'm getting the hang of the new system, and everyone is so grateful they don't have to train me that they're being super nice. I'm sure the honeymoon period will be over soon, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts. The boys are getting used to daycare. Isaac loves it, but Timmy isn't too keen on the idea. At least it's only 2 days a week. It's good for him to be around other kids his age. Both the boys are hitting a developmental growth spurt. It's cool to see the way they play and think change, seemingly overnight.

2006-09-08T21:48:00.000-05:00

Thursday was Isaac's first day of Kindergarten!!!!!! He's is absolutely loving it. Here he is all dressed up and ready to go. He picked out his own clothes and insisted I spike his hair so he would look like a "dude".
Me and my baby.
Here he is with his backpack on ready to head out the door. No, Helen, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. My son, my own flesh and blood, is actually wearing a camouflage backpack. I knew he had Rivers genes in there somewhere, but did they have to come out when we were shopping for a backpack?
Maurice came home to see us off. Since it was Isaac's first day, his teacher asked the parents to drive the kids to school and help acclimate them to the clasroom.
And here is Isaac lined up ready to go into his classroom. He acted like such a pro!

Peek-a-Boo!

2006-08-29T22:33:00.000-05:00

On Sunday Isaac and Timothy got to go to Anna's birthday party. It was a princess theme, complete with a castle! They had a blast. I love this picture Maurice took of them sticking their head out of the "castle" window.

A lot of the girls dressed up as princesses. Here is Isaac and Maddie. Maurice said they were basically connected at the hip (except when Isaac decided to play football and Maddie played dress-up). Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling well and had to miss out on the festivities.

Timmy has started this thing where he loves to wear pants on his head. He cracks me up! And of course, once you laugh at him there's no way to make him stop doing it.

Isaac and Timmy's new way to make my heart stop. Isaac stands up on the rail while Timmy climbs under and goes down the slide. I made them stop because Timmy kept trying to stand up on the rails, too. His legs aren't long enough! I like the way I managed to get Maurice's foot in the picture, too.And here is Tim this morning wearing my shorts around his waist. He wouldn't take them off! He took them out of my room and wore them while he played with his train. He's so silly.

Today we ate lunch with my friend Cher at the Ronald McDonald House. It was so good to get caught up with her! Then we took a tour of the boys' new day care. I like it a lot, and am confident they'll like it, too. Isaac will go for the morning, then after school, and Timmy will be there all day Tuesday and Thursday. The environment seems to be structured, yet flexible, which is what my boys thrive on. And the best part is, I don't have to pack lunches! They feed them breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack. That will make the mornings a little less hectic.

2006-08-25T16:07:00.000-05:00

Timmy was having fun today posing for the camera. He loves to show off those dimples!
Maurice finished up early today and was able to come home and play with the boys this afternoon. I was amazed....today is a masonry day and he was expecting to be gone all day and part of tomorrow. But I guess everything fell into place today and he was home by 3:30! The boys really appreciated him being home.....they love to play with their daddy!
Timmy was trying to scare Isaac and Maurice. He thinks he's a big ferocious dinosaur at times.
Isaac is very proud of his marble collection that he inherited from Brandon and Jared. He got to play marbles with Daddy this afternoon, which is a special treat. I don't like stepping on all the stray marbles that don't quite make it back into the bucket, so I only let them play in the living room on special occassions. Today Isaac was quite good at his dentist appointment. His teeth looked good and he got an A+ from Dr. Winslow!

On the job front, I decided today to take a different job. I interviewed with another office this morning and was offered the job on the spot. It's a much better fit.....more flexible and pays better! I'm excited about it.

2006-08-18T14:32:00.000-05:00

Well, I had my surgery yesterday and everything went well. I'm doing pretty good today, but sore. Now comes the hard part....I can't pick Timmy up for two weeks! He's having a little bit of a hard time with that. He woke up at 1:30 last night crying "I want Momma". I knew he was really upset because usually he calls me "Daddy" and laughs except for when he's upset or being really sweet. THEN I'm "Momma". Anyway, Maurice couldn't calm him down, so I went in and held him for a while so he would go back to sleep. Maurice had to lift him onto my lap. I don't know what I'm going to do next week when Maurice goes back to work.

Other news is that I got a job. We had figured that I'd go back to work part-time this fall when Isaac starts kindergarten. I sent out resumes on Monday, got a call on Tuesday for an interview, went in that afternoon for the interview and got offered the job today. I got another call for an interview next week, but I think I'm going to take this job. I'll be working for an ophthalmologist who seems really nice and laid back. His schedule looks a little intense, but I can handle it. It's 3 1/2 days a week, which is a little more than I was looking for, but it will work nicely. Now I have to arrange childcare. I think Timmy will really like the structure and fun things he'll get to do in a daycare. So we'll see how it all plays out. That's all for now!

2006-08-15T17:30:00.000-05:00

We went to the park yesterday. The boys had so much fun! They're getting to where they're good about playing nicely with other kids. The biggest problem is reminding them to go "up the stairs, down the slide". If I had a nickle for every time I said that, I'd be rich! They always want to climb up the slide, but I'm trying to teach them not to.

Isaac and Timmy loved climbing through this one tunnel. Timmy didn't want to get out of it. That is, until some other little kid hit him in the face. Then he wanted out!
Timmy and Isaac like ice cream sandwich sundaes. Timmy mostly just eats the sprinkles.

Isaac, on the other hand, loves whipped cream. So I take the top off his sandwich and make another one with whipped cream and sprinkles. I think you could add sprinkles to just about anything and my kids would eat it. Yummmm......liver and sprinkles!
This is Timmy conked out on the couch. I don't realize how much he's growing until I see him all laid out. He has taken a nap now for 5 days in a row! I hope he keeps it up.

Last Phoenix pictures

2006-08-12T10:34:00.000-05:00

My last night in Phoenix....boo-hoo! I really like it out there. The weather was just my style. Over 100 degrees every day, nice and sunny. Brandon didn't want to get up off the couch to take this picture, so I look like an Amazon woman. I said my last goodbyes to everyone and then Trudy an dI went out to dinner. Another thing I miss from Florida that they have in Arizona....Carrabba's. Great Italian food!
Here's me and Spunky. Now I have no one to bark at me.
This is Brandon, Trudy's oldest son. I'm going to miss him. He always knows the best games to play, whether it's Playstation, card games or board games. He is so much like Isaac, it's freaky.
Speaking of freaky, this is my godson (and Trudy's other son) Jared. I'm gonna miss that punk. He's just like Timmy. Scary, I know. But he's off-the-wall entertaining. I'm gonna go cry now.

More Arizona pictures

2006-08-12T09:45:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay....my computer is only letting me upload pictures a few times day. So here is Trudy and Spunky as they get a first look at their new home!
And here Spunky is checking out his new yard.

It didn't take long for Jared and Brandon to get a TV hooked up.....fortunately they brought a portable TV in the car with them. All the furniture didn't get there until Wednesday, 2 days after we got there.

So we got to sit/sleep on the floor for a couple of nights. Did I mention all the floors were either tile or hardwood? Fortunately, we went to Target and got an air mattress to sleep on. Although Jared and Mike (shown here with Spunk) still had to sleep on the floor.

And of course this is me and my Trudy. We got a fair amount of unpacking done before I left, and from what I hear she's just about done with the rest. Moving is not fun, no matter which way you look at it!

2006-08-11T15:37:00.000-05:00

So I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from my trip to Arizona. My best friend, Trudy, just moved there, and Iwas helping her move. It took us 4 days to drive out there. It was us in her car, her sons Brandon and Jared in Brandon's car, and Brandon's friend Michael in his car. Day 1 took us throuh New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and landed us in Indiana. On Day 2 we started out in Indiana and passed thru St. Louis in Missouri. It was cool to see the big arch. Then we got into Oklahoma and ended Day 2 in Oklahoma City.
Day 3 was probably the most boring drive. We left Oklahoma City and drove through Oklahoma and Texas and ended in Albequerque, New Mexico. We got a lot of smiles from other drivers when they saw Brad Pitt peeking out the back window. It was actually a little bit creepy (sorry, Brad!). Brandon has an obsession with Long John Silver's so we ate there at least once a day. That's where Brad got his pirate hat, courtesy of me.
Here's Trudy and I crashing at the end of Day 3. We did have a lot of fun with some poor middle-aged guy wearing a baseball cap and driving an old mini-van with a car seat in the back. I can't reveal exactly what happened, but I will say he will never forget that drive!

And finally, on Day 4........Monday, July 31st we reached Arizona! We were so happy to see that sign.
Here is our first stop inside Arizona. It seemed like we stopped a lot, because we had Trudy's dog Spunky with us, but we only stopped about every 3 hours. Spunk did amazingly well on the trip...I was very impressed!

Bedtime for Bonzo

2006-08-10T19:05:00.000-05:00

Tonight Maurice put the boys to bed. They were so cute reading books and playing with cars. They have such a great routine....first they read a book, then they sing 2 songs (We Are the Boys of Old Florida for Isaac and Twinkle, Twinkle for Timmy) and say their prayers. Then it's hugs and kisses, tuck them in and they're down for the count (most nights!). I love it. No matter what little devils they are during the day, they always make up for it at bedtime.

Speaking of, Timmy's latest little game is diving headfirst from the coffee table onto the couch. I'm going to have to move the table....one time today I caught him just as he was about to hit the floor. I guess he misjudged the distance. He's such a daredevil. We often walk down to the playground at the elementary school near us in the afternoon. I'm going to have to start taking them to another playground....Timmy is just too dangerous. This playground is designed for older kids, but Timmy doesn't pay attention to that. He thinks he should be able to do anything Isaac does. Today he tried to climb down the rock climbing wall. I always stay within arms reach so I can stop him from jumping off the top of the playset (which is about 10 feet off the ground).

I'm amazed at the growth spurt both the boys have had. I took Isaac shopping yesterday for new jeans for school...I could only find 2 pair of size 5 jeans that were long enough. His problem is that he's tall and slim, so I have to find 5 slim jeans. He'll be moving up to a size 6 soon and I have no idea how I'll find a waist that fits him! I'd better just invest in a belt. And Timmy's new love is Blue's Clues. He finds the clues before the kids on the show yell them out, and loves to yell "clue!" and "notebook!". He hopefully will be going to daycare 2 days a week this fall (I'm looking for a part-time job right now) and he is so ready for that semi-classroom environment. I just remember Isaac loving circle time and finger painting, and Timmy is showing much the same interest these days.

2006-08-09T17:51:00.000-05:00

Monday Maurice and I went to Six Flags for Kingdom Bound, a Christian music festival. While we were there I met Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. Above is my friend Liz with her daughter Lexi, who went gaga over Bob. Liz thinks it's because he reminded her of Elmo. I think she's right, cuz when I showed Timmy the video I took of Lexi and Bob he shouted, "Elmo!".
Isaac and Timmy think I'm pretty important now that I got my picture taken with Bob and Larry.

Here's Maurice and I at the Audio Adrenaline concert. We left halfway through, because I needed to go on the Scrambler one more time before the park closed. It's one of the few rides I enjoy (I quit breathing on roller coasters for some reason). The highliht of the day, though, was seeing Parachute Band again. They're a band from New Zealand that have become friends with Maurice. He got to hang with them again yesterday, courtesy of Bob (our friend, not the tomato).

On the home front, I've decided to never again take the boys out in public. We shall remain in recluse until they turn 25. Today I took them to the mall. Timmy was way too tired and went back and forth from being giddy and adorable to being just a hellion. I had to carry him screaming from more than one store. He fell asleep on the way home and I haven't been able to wake him since. I've decided to just let him sleep through the night, if he will. I hope I don't pay for that decision later on tonight, but I've tried to wake him a few times and he just won't budge! We'll see.

2006-07-27T23:38:00.000-05:00

I'm leaving in the morning to help my friend Trudy move to Phoenix. So I won't be posting for a little while. We're driving out--should take us about 3 1/2 days--then I'm staying for a few days to help her get settled. So I'll be back next weekend. Maurice is on his own with the boys while I'm gone (although he does have the help of several of our friends who will be watching the boys during the day while he's at work). I still haven't packed, but I'll just get up early in the morning to do that. I am such a procrastinator!

Happy Birthday, Craig!

2006-07-22T09:06:00.000-05:00

Thursday was Craig's 31st birthday. Unfortunately, that means he will have to stop telling people he "just turned 30".
Me and Trudy. I can't believe it's less than a week until she leaves me and moves to Phoenix! What am I going to do?
This is Trudy and Craig's favorite pose.

Yesterday I turned around and Timmy was standing there in my nightgown. I had to take a picture! He loves to try and dress himself these days....he should just stick to his own clothes.

2006-07-20T07:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Pam and I took the kids to Brown's Berry patch to pick blueberries. Maddie and Isaac had a lot of fun "helping" us pick blueberries and Timmy and Chloe sat (for the most part) contentedly in their strollers eating blueberries. We then had a picnic lunch and let the kids play on the playground for a bit.

They had this awesome pirate ship playground. Isaac loved it---he's very much into pirates these days and had a ton of fun being captain of the ship. Timmy loves slides, and goes down by himself sometimes now!

They also had this awesome wooden train to play on. Timmy was all over it...he loves trains! Now I just have to decide what to do with the blueberries. I think I'm going to make a blueberry crumble today, or maybe a blueberry cobbler. The possibilities are endless!

2006-07-18T13:45:00.000-05:00

So..........Timmy is sleeping peacefully, Isaac is playing quietly with some educational toys, my house is spic-and-span and I'm just settling down on the couch with a bowl of ice cream to watch my favorite show on TLC. Oh, wait, that's my dream life in some parallell universe. Really, today's not that bad. The boys are watching TV and eating cookies right now, which means I have precisely 17 minutes to get down on my hands and knees and scrub the layer of goo off the floor under the dining room table where Timmy likes to throw his dinner. I've already done the kitchen floor (yeehaw!) so I'm actually ahead of the game today.
I've been collecting newspapers and boxes from friends lately to help with Trudy's packing. Today we picked some stuff up from Liz, so the boys got to talk with Lexi a little while we moms chatted. Lexi crawled up between the seats of the car and shared a snack with Timmy and Isaac. It was so cute......they were just talking away and entertaining themselves for quite a while.

Last night Maurice had a softball game. He plays for a church league. The boys love getting out to the games and playing ball with all the other kids. Last night's favorite game was jumping off the bleachers, which gave some of us moms a little heart attack. We made them stop after a while. Now that Timmy and some of the other kids his age are hanging with the bigger boys, we don't want to give them any ideas!
Timmy was content to sit on the bleachers and eat his raisins. I'm so glad he's starting to like fruit more these days. I was getting concerned there for a little while. His diet is rounding out quite well. He still loves meat but is adding more vegetables and fruits. He's starting to play more by himself, which is nice for both me and Isaac! It's amazing how all of a sudden he's a toddler, not a baby. He loves to color and do puzzles, and is learning to put together Isaac's train track. My, how the time do fly.

Super Boys!

2006-07-17T09:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday when we got home from church the boys decided to play dress-up with Isaac's old Halloween costumes. Isaac loved his Spiderman costume last year, but wouldn't wear the mask. Now he loves the mask, although it scares Timmy. Isaac was a good big brother....he kept going up to Timmy and taking off the mask to tell him, "See, it's just Isaac".
And Timmy got to be Buzz Lightyear. I was suprised that it fit him. Craig had given this costume to Isaac for his third birthday. But Timmy is starting to wear 3T stuff, especially anything one-piece.
Here I am with my super-heroes! You can hardly tell in this picture, but I have a bruise and a cut on y left cheek. Timmy got angry the other day and chucked the baby monitor at me and hit me in the face. He's been getting mean lately when he gets tired. He just throws whatever is at hand. I just wish he weren't quite so strong! If you have any suggestions for anger management in babies, let me know.

Goodbye, Crib!

2006-07-12T23:05:00.000-05:00

Well, my baby is growing up (again). Monday night Timmy kept asking to sleep in Isaac's toddler bed, so we decided to let him. Isaac got to sleep in his sleeping bag on the floor, so he was totally cool with it. Timmy slept through the night in the bed, and loved it! He did the same thing last night, so we decided it was probably time to let him have a bed. This is the last picture of the crib in the boys' room.I tried putting him in the crib this morning, and he hated it! He so wants to be a big boy. So, we packed up the crib this morning before Maurice went to work. I cried! It's just the realization that we will most probably never use it again. I can't believe my baby days are over.

Here are the boys in their "big boy beds". My mom had given us a beautiful antique twin bed in May. It was my grandmother's bed and had been made by her grandfather. My mom slept in that bed as a kid, so it means a lot to me for Isaac to have it now. He loves it! We've been trying to impress upon him the importance of being a "big boy". It's hard for him because Timmy is at that "everything is new and adorable" stage and Isaac is at that "I'm four and a half and I want to talk to you" stage which is less charming than annoying at times. So we've been trying to think of benefits of being a "big boy" and having a cool new bed definitely tops the list!
Timmy has been playing in his bed all day, showing it off to his friends. And once again tonight he's sleeping in it. I was worried that the novelty might wear off and he'd have trouble going to sleep, but so far so good!

And Isaac just adores his new bed. I'm having a little bit of a problem keeping him from bouncing on it, and I know boys will be boys. But the boys in our family used to regularly split their heads open from bouncing on beds and running around coffee tables, and I'm trying to avoid any trips to the emergency room. (Not that my parents actually took the boys to the emergency room......my dad figured if they quit crying before they reached the hospital, they didn't need stitches!)

2006-07-10T18:12:00.000-05:00

Today we got a visit from one of my good friends from college, Cherise. Cherise and her boyfriend, Jeff, were on their way back from visiting family in Syracuse and stopped in for dinner. Here she is with Isaac, who was born on her birthday!
It was so good to see Cherise, although I should have gotten some Yoohoo for old time's sake.
Here is Cherise with Jeff. Cute, cuz Jeff is like 2 feet taller than Cherise.
Here is Cherise with Timmy and Maurice. This was Cherise's first time meeting Timmy.

I was glad Cherise took this picture of us. We rarely get a family photo.

2006-07-09T16:35:00.000-05:00

Pam and I took the kids to Friendly's for luch on Thursday. We've gotten to like Friendly's, especially when they have great specials. Last month they had a deal going where you could buy for $1 a booklet of 5 coupons good for either a free kid's meal or sundae. So I have a feeling we'll be eating at Friedly's a few times this month. Maddie and Isaac both had a rite of passage on Thursday. They both went to the restroom by themselves. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but after a few years of taking a kid to the bathroom every time he has to go it's wierd to stay outside. (And yes, I did stand right outside the door.)
Timmy handed me one of those wonderful moments to work on my humility on Thursday. While we were eating lunch he started banging his fork on his plate, and I could tell some of the people dining around us were getting annoyed. Silly me, I decided to take the fork away from Timmy instead of just ignoring the people around me. What came next made a little "fork music" seem like your favorite concert. He started screaming, throwing his food on the floor all while demanding more food (at the top of his voice). When I thought he was done, I gave him some more food, which he promptly chewed first this time before throwing it on the floor. When will I learn? I wanted to just melt into the floor, especially when the manager came over and started cleaning everything up. But what are you to do? I never experienced anything like this with Isaac. Timmy is adorable, but definitely more challenging to parent.

Thursday night we decided to (finally) hang pictures at the townhouse. The boys had so much fun telling me where to hang the pictures. Isaac was a big help, handing me nails and the hammer. He got a little bossy by the end, though, telling me, "It's too high. And crooked." Timothy like telling me where to hang the pictures, usually pointing to a spot at his eye level and saying, "Here. Here." He's starting to talk a lot more these days, even stringing 2 and 3 word sentences. Mostly "Mama, I want Food!"

Friday night I went to see the Pirates of the Carribbean movie with Trudy and her boys, Brandon and Jared. Pretty good, but much too long. Made longer by the fact that the projector was broken and the movie started 45 minutes late. This is a picture of Brandon and Jared waiting for the movie to start. Brandon wanted to delete the picture so I decided to put it on my blog instead.

Florida!

2006-07-08T19:21:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I went to Florida for the 4th of July and my mom's birthday. We had so much fun! Norm, Grace, Rachel and I treated Mom to a weekend on St. Pete Beach. Our hotel room opened right up to the beach. We were on the ground floor and had our own little patio with lounge chairs. It was so nice just to lay around and soak up the sun.

Me and Rachel On sunday night we took Mom to Crabby Bill's for dinner. They had great seafood. I love seafood! We had grouper, shrimp, scallops, conch fritters, gator tail....you name it, we ate it!
It was so good to see Norm again....I hadn't seen him since November. It was just good to be with family and soak up some sun. I can't wait to move back to Florida someday!

On Wednesday, Mom and I got to meet up with Joe and Katie Smith for lunch at Sonny's. Joe and Katie are old friends of my family....I love them so much and was very glad to see them! Joe is the one who married Maurice and I. I hadn't seen them in years, probably not since my dad's funeral. It was great to see them again and catch up a bit.

2006-06-29T22:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Maddie's birthday. She's 5 now! (For those of you that don't know Maddie, she's Isaac's best friend, Chloe's big sister and Mike and Pam's daughter. I think that covers it.) It's almost as if a button clicked yesterday....Isaac and Maddie were so cooperative, it was like living in a parallel universe. No arguing or fighting, just sharing and taking turns all on their own. I can't wait til Isaac turns 5! They're really cute together. It almost is like they're dating at times. Yesterday they looked like an old married couple reading their books and talking together.Chloe and Timmy are also quite chummy. They're only 2 months apart in age, and are really starting to play together. Here they're quite proud to be sitting on bar stools at the counter. Pam is actually out of the picture holding on to Chloe, but Tim is sitting by himself on the stool!
This is Timmy at breakfast a few days ago. He suddenly loves to have his picture taken. He says "cheese" when you take his picture, then says "let me see" so he can see the picture on the digital camera. Then he usually kisses the "baby" in the picture. His personallity is really starting to shine through. So funny!
Last Saturday the boys were taking turns wearing my Gator hat, although I think Timmy had more turns than Isaac. He loves hats right now. I love that toasty look that the kids get in summer. I know they should probably wear sunscreen more often, but I rarely put it on them unless we go to the pool.

2006-06-15T20:20:00.000-05:00

I am so tired! Maurice has been in Chicago all week, and the boys are running me ragged. I swear they talk in their room at night about how to tag-team me the next day. Last night I thought I was getting to bed at a relatively decent time (12:30) but Timmy woke up at 12:45 and wouldn't go back to sleep. I finally got him to lay down in my bed with me, but he just tossed and turned until 4:00. The only way he would sleep was if he was touching me at all times. That gets uncomfortable after a while! Anyhoo, he finally got back into a deep sleep at 4, but was up at 7. Maurice gets back Saturday.....I can't wait!

2006-06-14T19:51:00.000-05:00

So I just have to write down Isaac's bedtime prayer before I forget. He's getting to the age where he likes to make up his own prayers instead of the old "Now I lay me down to sleep" thing. So tonight's prayer goes something like this: "Dear God, thank you for this day, and thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Timothy and Me. God, I really love you, and I know you're big. And God, You can come to my birthday party. Amen". Some days I don't know whether to laugh or cry, these boys are so sweet! In Timmy news, today he climbed up the ladder to the slide at the Barbers' house all by himself, and he made his first two-word combination: "No more". All but one of his eye teeth have poked through, and the other one is almost through! So the end of teething is in sight, at least until the 2-year molars!

More pictures

2006-06-12T22:35:00.000-05:00

This is my friend Jim, Mr. DJ Extraordinaire, and his wife Cher. Jim provided the tunes for the partay as my brithday gift. He's the coolest! Cher was the only smart one of the bunch that wore comfy shoes.
Me and my honey.
Me, George, and Trudy. Check out the glittery platform boots that George has on.
Meand my girls. I had so much fun with Grace and Rachel this weekend. Just wait til I get the pictures of the after-party!
Last but not least, me and my best friend in the whole wide world, Trudy. This certainly was a night to remember!

Party!

2006-06-12T21:49:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are some pictures from my birthday party Saturday night. My friends threw me a 70's disco/funk dance party. It was such a blast! I love to dance, and I love disco music. So this was a little slice of heaven for me! Here is Trudy, Rachel (with the 'fro), me, and Grace getting ready for the party at Trudy's house.
Me and Craig. Love his funky shirt!
Me and Pam Barber. She really was the mastermind of the whole thing, along with Craig.
Me and Jess. I was so happy she was in town for the weekend and was able to come to my party!Grace, Rachel and Mike the Pimp. He really scared me!

It's My Birthday!

2006-06-09T21:36:00.000-05:00

Today is my 30th Birthday! So wish me happy thoughts. My little sisters Grace and Rachel flew in tonight from Tampa to spend the weekend with me. My friends are throwing me a disco dance party tomorrow night. Should be tons of fun! I promise to post pictures.

2006-06-06T21:30:00.000-05:00

Hallelujah! I am back online, now with road-runner and it takes an amazing 30 seconds to upload pictures! Amazing compare to the 25 minutes it took with dial-up. Now all I have to do is wait for the new USB cord for my camera that I lost during the move to arrive so I can retrieve my pictures. You will all be amazed at the way my boys have grown! This picture is actually from February (notice the Valentine's day themed clothes). they're so huge now and acting so grown up. Isaac spends his days keeping me in line and making sure I use no bad words (like "stupid" or "butt"). He loves to bust me! And Timothy spends his days beating up on Isaac (and me). Thank God I have an appointment with the pediatrician on Thursday so I can get some advice on how to deal with my little bruiser (literally. he pinched me today on my upper arm and left quite a mark). He's os cute, though, and loves to flash his dimples at anyone that will ooh and ahh over him. Such a ham....I wonder where he gets that from?? Probably his father...

2006-05-11T21:04:00.000-05:00

A quick word from the presumed missing Overholt family........

Well, this weekend is the big move! I've been packing like a maniac this week because, of course, I waited until this week to do the majority of the packing. Serves me right! Today we signed the papers for the closing (which is Monday). Thank goodness we don't have to be at the closing. Unfortunately, I've been much more emotional about this whole thing than I had ever anticipated. So feel bad for Maurice who has to live with me. We should have a ton of help on Saturday for the move. Thank God for friends!

I was going to try to put up some pictures of the boys, but I don't have the patience tonight. Maybe soon.....................

2006-04-29T09:18:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to let you all know we're still here. It's just been so busy with moving that I haven't had time to blog. And it's so boring without pictures, but I definitely don't have the hours it takes to get pictures up. Soon we will have a better internet connection and life will be back to some semblence of order. Til then, help!!!!

2006-04-17T01:12:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long in between posts. The great news is....our house is sold! It's been a quick, crazy ride. We just decided a little over a month ago to sell our house, and it's already sold. It was only on the market for 2 weeks. We close on May 15. This week will be busy getting ready for a HUGE garage sale on Friday and Saturday. I'm getting rid of all of the baby stuff (sniff, sniff!) It's been a hard decision, but I think 2 kids is really enough for us. My mom keeps telling me that I can still have more children because I can just buy more stuff if I change my mind. I think it's hard for her to imagine anyone wanting to have less than 3 or 4 children. And it's not that I don't WANT any more children, I'm just not sure of my capability of RAISING any more children. I really do have my hands full with my two precious (and precocious) boys. And I do love them dearly.

Speaking of.......it's time for the Isaac and Timmy report! First off is Isaac........I completed the first part of his Kindergarten registration this week. Can't believe my baby's off to school in the fall. He was quite excited and wanted to go next week. I told him he'd have to wait until after the summer. He's ok with that now. Isaac has been having fun playing a lot outdoors finally! The weather has been much better so we're outdoors more now. Isaac's big accomplishment has been that he can now cross the road by himself (with Mom watching very carefully) to go to his friend Alex's house. He's very grown up now! Timmy is not feeling well today, but looked quite smashing in a green argyle sweater vest and matching socks (with pants and shoes, of course, you perverts!) at church this morning. He's started really understanding what's going on and will bring his shoes and socks to me if he wants to go outside. He also puts his shoes away (on the correct shelf, even!) and goes to his room on his own when it's time to get dressed. When it's time to leave he runs to the door shouting "Go, go, go!". And tonight we were sitting on the couch cuddling when I told him it was time to go night-night. He hopped down off the couch and waddled into his room and waited fro me to put him into his crib. His latest words are "book", "nana" (for banana) and "Maddie" and "Chloe" (my friend Pam's 2 girls). He's growing so fast it's hard to keep up! It's such a fun time with both the boys as they're both learning all sorts of new things every day. I'll try to get pictures up sometime soon, but I'm not making any promises. Things will be a little easier now that Easter is over and Maurice will have more time at home, but now we have to start the whole moving thing. Hopefully we should get our townhouse by the end of this week and we can start painting and moving the small stuff over. I'm sad to leave our house and neighbors, but I also am excited to start this new part of our lives. It's going to be a good thing!

2006-04-05T12:24:00.000-05:00

Here's a glimpse into today..........I am on the computer procrastinating so I don't have to clean the bathroom just yet. We're showing the house again today, and it really is killing me to clean the house every day. Timmy is screaming ast the top of his lungs because he doesn't want to take a nap but he REALLY needs one! Isaac has a buddy over and they're upstairs being "quiet". Which for 2 four-year-olds sounds like a herd of elephants. No wonder Timmy can't sleep. And I, being the fanstastic mother that I am, am ignoring it all for a few minutes while I try to find my sanity. I wonder if they sell it on e-bay?

2006-03-15T16:56:00.000-05:00

I forgot to update you on the boys' size. We went 2 weeks ago (that long already?) to the doctor for their check-ups. Isaac is 4 1/2 years old, is 42 1/2 inches tall and weighs 46 pounds. That puts him at 75% for height and 90% for wight. Timmy is 15 months, is 32 1/2 inches tall and weighs 33 pounds. That puts him above 95% for both height and weight. No surprise! Timmy is wearing 2T for pants and 2T or 3T for shirts. Crazy!

2006-03-15T16:44:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been gone for so long. I haven't been online in a while. The big news is........no, I'm not pregnant, thank God!, but we're selling our house. I've been so busy finding a new place for us to live (in Rochester, sorry, Mom). Our realtor came out yesterday to look at the house and it should be on the market within 1-2 weeks. We found a place to rent for the next year. It's great! It's a 2-story townhouse with a finished basement, in a good school district. So we've been going bonkers trying to get the house ready to sell and going through stuff. It's amazing how much stuff we've accumulated! Anyhoo, life goes on. I'll try to keep you all posted. The boys are doing great. Timmy's favorite word is "cookie" and Isaac is ready for college (so he thinks). Maurice just finished a tile project and I'm doing the same old thing! That's our lives in a nutshell. I have started working out more, which I love. I've found an exercise class that lets you bring your kids and they play in one end of the gym while we work out in the other. Timmy's doing better with it..........he plays for pretty much the first 30 minutes and then wants to be with me. By that time we're doing mostly floor and ab work, so it works out. I'll leave you with a quote from Elle from Legally Blonde: "Excercise is good. It releases endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. And happy people don't kill their husbands."

It's official

2006-02-24T11:12:00.000-05:00

Timmy is now officially a toddler. He has left his baby days behind (sniff, sniff). He is walking all over the place! He now likes to play cars with Isaac. He even makes all the noises. So cute! And Isaac reached a milestone today. Today he figured out he could hurt Timmy back. I knew this day would come eventually, but I was hoping it would last a little longer. This morning Isaac bent Timmy's arm back behind his back because Timmy hit him in the head. Life was so peaceful when Isaac was an only child! Timmy has brought much joy and many bruises into all of our lives. Yesterday he pick up a videocassette and hit Isaac right between the eyes. That truly left a mark. I feel sorry for Isaac, but it is making him a little tougher. And I feel bad for Timmy because I'm not quite as affectionate with him as I was with Isaac. But in my defense, I never know when he comes towards me if he is going to hug me or head-butt me. You get a little shaky after you've been head-butted a few times.

2006-02-22T14:30:00.000-05:00

Timmy is walking so much now! He's figured out that he can get places pretty quickly by walking. He still likes to hold onto a hand if he wants to "chase" Isaac. He can go pretty fast! Isaac has the week of school as it is Winter break here in the north pole. They give the kids a week off to escape the dreary weather. A lot of my piano students are going on cruises. Lucky jerks. We had fun yesterday.......they had a drop-in at the church for all the teens to come by and hang out, play games, eat pizza, etc. Well, since I haven't totally convinced myself that I'm not a teen any more (even though I'm getting dangerously close to 30) I took the boys and spent most of the day there. (I am a youth leader so I was invited, by the way.) We had a great time. Timmy got passed around, which he loved! A lot of the girls still ooh and ahh over his dimples and just all around cuteness. And Isaac charmed everyone with his great wit and people skills. I was afraid that he might get annoying (after all, what high schooler wants to hang out with a 4-year-old?), but he fit right in with the gang. He played foosball with Kathy, Uno with Gabe and a bunch of the girls (and won, I might add!), dodgeball with Jeremy and some of the other guys, and carpetball with Katherine. Gabe even taught him some "signals". He had a great time, but now he has to go back to hangin' with Timmy. Timmy also got his hair cut yesterday for the second time. He looks so grown up! Now I know why I put it off as long as possible. He's definitely getting that toddler look. No longer a baby. Today we're just hanging out at home. We did go out this morning to get Isaac new shoes. Poor thing, his tennis shoes were so small! He went up a full size. It's been almost a year since I bought him shoes. I feel bad, because I remember my shoes always being too small growing up. I don't realize sometimes how fast kids grow! He's very excited because these new shoes are 1) Power Rangers, 2) light up when he walks, and 3) are velcro so he can put them on himself. Yeah! That makes us all happy!

2006-02-16T14:24:00.000-05:00

This is me and my friend Trudy at the Bon Jovi concert in January. We had a rockin' good time. They always put on such a great show!
Here is Trudy and her son Jared (my godson). This is pretty much what he looked like the entire time, until they played "Bad Medicine". Thank God they played it or he would have whined all night!
And of course here is the man himself. Need I say more?

We have pictures!

2006-02-16T14:02:00.000-05:00

These are some pictures Maurice took after church on Sunday. we didn't mean to match (well, I obviosly dressed the boys to match) but it was cute. I finally got some pictures up. It only took 15 minutes. Seriously. At least they finally came through. Usually after 15 minutes I get that cute little screen that tells you "unable to find this page". So I am grateful.

These are some pictures of the boys yesterday. Timothy has just discovered Oreos and loves them! I was suprised that Isaac let me take his picture....he's been very anti-camera lately. Aren't my boys getting big?

2006-02-15T14:09:00.000-05:00

Timmy has started walking a lot more the past few days. I think it's because I've been telling everyone how lazy he is. He wants to prove me wrong. Yesterday he walked all the way across the living room! He's building up his endurance. It's hard to carry that much weight around! Isaac has been studying about people around the world. He loves playing with the globe I bought him. He knows where New York and Florida are, along with Madagascar, India, Italy (we've been talking about the Olypmics), Russia, China, Mexico and a few other countries. I'm amazed at his memory! Today he got to take egg rolls to preschool. All the kids brought food from different countries. We didn't get to do cool stuff like that when I was in preschool! Uh, yeah, I didn't go to preschool.

We're Still Alive!

2006-02-13T14:04:00.000-05:00

Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted. I'll try to get everyone up to date. I've been sick like crazy this year, which is really wierd as I hardly ever get sick. But I've had strep twice in the past 3 weeks, and my allergies and asthma have been driving me crazy! I never really had too much of a problem until I got pregnant with Timmy....it's been downhill since then. So what's been going on? Timmy is a beast (not really new news). Unfortunately, he's just started biting. Unfortunate mostly for Isaac. Tim bit him through his shirt the other day and drew blood! When Timmy is not beeing a brute he really is quite cute. He has quite the Rivers personality. He can do stuff, but will only do it when he feels like it. Like walking. He officially took his first steps like a month ago, but will he actually walk to get around? Oh no! Why walk when he can just sit there until someone carries him? Lazy boy. And he always calls me "daddy". He knows that I'm "Mommy" but only calls me that every once in a while. He usually says "daddy" and then looks at me like "I know what your name is but you can't make me say it." He has a horrible temper. Usually when he throws a tantrum he flings himself on the floor and hits his head down on the floor. But we have hard wood floors so he usually hits his head pretty hard. Eventually he'll learn. Speaking of the beautiful boy, I think he just woke up from his nap. I hear crying, so I must go for now. Hopefully I'll get pictures up later.

2006-01-27T10:06:00.000-05:00

It is a bright, beautiful, sunshiny (cold) day! Much contrast to the past two miserably windy snowy days. The weather this winter has been so extreme and unpredictable. Better than last year, I guess, which was just plain cold. The boys and I went yesterday to a friend's house for a playdate. Isaac likes playing with Daniel because they can play rough and tough like boys do. And Elizabeth loves all things having to do with babies (she's 5) so she helps a lot with Timmy. It was nice to get out of the house. I think we've gone out every day this week.......Monday was the zoo, Tuesday was the library (a horrible mess-Timmy kept throwing temper tantrums), Wednesday we met Pam and Maddie and Chloe at the indoor playground, and yesterday was Faith's house. I have to get out of the house or I go insane. This weekend I'm going with our youth group from church on their Sr. High winter retreat. It's always a lot of fun (translate....not much sleep!). I'm not sure it's snowed enough to go sledding, though. The boys have lots of stuff planned while I'm away. Isaac has a birthday party to go to and the boys will be spending the night at the Jenkins' house again. Susie is so great--she always keeps the boys overnight while I'm gone on the retreats. That way Maurice doesn't have to deal with them Sunday morning. He has to be at work so early, it's hard to get the boys ready for church and still be there by 7:00. I know I have a hard time with it and we don't have to be there til 9:45!

2006-01-24T13:33:00.000-05:00

Well, I had other pictures to post, but I'm tired of fighting my computer. For some reason, it's having a problem uploading pictures. I'll try again tonight, because I have some great pictures of a Bon Jovi concert I went to Friday night. Everything here is about the same.......Isaac is doing well in preschool and Timmy continues to grow. He took his first steps on January13! He can walk when he wants to, but he's much rather be carried around. We're trying to encourage him to walk as much as possible as he's rather heavy. I can hear him now crying. He woke up from his nap a little bit ago and he's been extremely grumpy ever since. I think he's hungry again, but I just gave him a snack. He's just started the temper tantrums when things don't go his own way. He's very stubborn, so it's hard to wait him out. He can cry a long time! But I don't dare give in. Timmy is very strong willed. (That's a nice way of saying stubborn.) I think we're going to go to the library this afternoon. It was so nice yesterday, we went to the zoo for a little bit. I was amazed to see how much the tiger cubs had grown. Isaac said "Just like Timmy!". I had better go for now........Timmy is trying all his different cries. He does the pitiful one, then the angry one, then the sad one, etc. It would be amusing if it didn't get on my nerves so much!

2006-01-24T13:00:00.000-05:00

For New Year's we went to Boston to see Maurice's family. His brother Matt lives with his family in Upton, right outside of Boston. We had such a great time. It was good to see his dad, Fran, as he was unable to come toTimmy's birthday/baby dedication in November.
New Year's Eve we went into Boston for dinner and saw the parade and fireworks. It was the first time Isaac (and Timmy, for that matter) had seen fireworks or a parade. It was also the first time they rode the subway, which was a huge deal for Isaac. He loves trains. It was a beautiful evening. It started snowing during the parade, and everything was white and beautiful. Just magical. We were quite cold, though. We celebrated Christmas (a week late) with Maurice's family while we were there. The kids loved being with Grandma and Grandpa. They just couldn't get enough. It was so great to see Grandpa playing on the floor with all the grandkids. Those are the times I live for. It's what I miss most about living in Florida (yes, even more than the warm weather). I just wish we could be closer to family.....for the boys to be able to see their grandparents and aunts and uncles more.
All the children enjoyed storytime with Grandma. One evening Matt got out his guitar and we all sang songs with the kids. It was a riot! Matt introduced us to "The Popcorn Song" and Isaac hasn't stopped singing it yet. He's even taught it to his friends so they can sing it together. And Shelli brought Madagascar for us to all watch together. Hilarious! We're already looking forward to the next time we all get together.