After a weekend has passed, the kids are usually at each others' throats and itching to get back into the routine of school as is demonstrated by their "loving words" towards one another. This weekend has been no different but tonight there was a pleasant surprise.

They were both in the kitchen trying to finish up their dinner and doing a good bit of messing around in the process. We warned them several times to calm down but the situation escalated and Avery was told to come into the living room and put his nose in the corner. He stood there, nose in corner, defiantly stomping his foot. Emily was then called in to explain why she shouldn't be in a corner as well. After a brief attempt to excuse herself, she finally admitted that she should be in the corner also. At this point Avery almost leaped out of the corner and started tearfully pleading on her behalf saying that he would stand in the corner for her. He finished with a tearful "I don't want her to be in the corner, I love her!" It was so tender and sweet and gave us a glimpse that perhaps all the hours of teaching have not been in vain. *Sigh*

Pizza for breakfast... Isn't that for adults?

So child #2 is turning 6 next week and this morning I wanted to take him to McDonalds for a special treat. He was hungry before we left and on the table was a pizza from last night (no, it didn't get put away, and yes, it was kind of dry - and you know you've left dinner out too so feel free to think the token "ew!" and then move on). He wanted to eat a piece in the car on the way to Mickey D's and I tell him that he can have the pizza or his special breakfast treat - not both. The most sincere pleading ensued of how hungry he was and couldn't wait until we got there to eat. I caved. We got in the car - piece of pizza and all.

We decided to go in so he could look at the menu. He chooses a Sausage Egg McMuffin with OJ. Promptly drank 3/4 of the OJ and wouldn't touch the sandwich. Next time I shall stick to my parental instincts and just treat myself! I'm not interested in becoming friends with angst - at least not too often.

It's snowing... again

Hello friends and Fam! I'm actually posting to my blog since it's a new year and time to start updating people in more than a one-sentence update on Facebook.

Andrew and I are up late and enjoying the wonderment that is falling outside for the second time in two weeks. We had a magical Christmas with snow on Christmas day and now snow tonight which means another snow day tomorrow! I fully plan to play with the kids, watch movies, make cookies... whatever strikes our fancy. I'm sure we'll be enjoying our Kinect as well. It's too late to post pics (too dark outside) but hopefully we'll get some tomorrow of us romping in all the white goodness that abounds. In Andrew's words, as we were looking out the back door to the back yard, he said, "Our yard doesn't look quite so crappy with all that snow." Hopefully by next year our grass will have decided to pro-create and get a move-on with filling in the yard with something that is actually green. :-)

I have intentions of getting another blog going to post some of my artwork that I have done recently and also some that I did awhile ago. I'll post when I get that show on the road but don't hold your breath.

An update.... finally

I was talking to my sister today and she informed me that it would be nice to see a new post. So after seeing that the last one was in September I am finally adding a new one. I keep trying to upload a new template from The Cutest Blog On The Block from my Mac and it won't work for some reason. Any suggestions??? Anyway, I have this thing in my head that I don't want to come on here and create new posts if my blog doesn't look cute. I know that's silly but it's one of the weird controlling quirks I have. Ok, now that I've made my disclaimer, on to "An Update."

Since September we have had Emily's birthday, Andrew's birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and in January I had the opportunity to go to CHA in Anaheim, CA. I also celebrated my 29th birthday.... again! CHA is short for the Craft and Hobby Association. For those of you who may not be aware, I work for Couture Cardstock which is a (you guessed it) cardstock company. Check us out at couturecardstock.com. We just launched on Nov 1, 2009.

CHA is a huge convention that occurs twice a year and it's an opportunity for businesses to showcase new products, make new contacts and connect with people in the industry. This was our first CHA and we were really excited about all the time and effort we put into building and designing our booth. I will include a few pics:-) Two of our unique papers that we launched at CHA are our One Sheet Wonder and our Detail Blending Paper. Both are designed to work with Copic Markers and other alcohol-based markers. We worked with Sally Lynn McDonald, who is on the Copic Design Team and is a Copic Educator, to develop this product and she actually endorses it now and uses it in her classes!

The week I went to CHA was the same week that CA was having all that rain and flooding so the weather was terrible and I was just happy that they didn't cancel the convention!

Another great plus about the trip is that I was able to see my cousin Ben and meet his sweet wife Mariella for the first time. It's been at least 15 years since I've seen him. He's now an attorney in LA and doing great.

It was a fun trip but we were so tired from standing in the booth for 8 hours a day and glad to get home to our families. More posts to come soon....


Our Booth at CHA. The dress is made from paper!


These shoes are made from paper by one of our designers, Heidi Kelley. Aren't they amazing?


This is the card that I designed.


Myself and Sally Lynn McDonald. She is so sweet.


Myself and Broni Holcombe who is on our design team. She is our Copic artist and a southern gal like me!


Alyssa McGrew, our Design Team Coordinator, CarrieAnne DeLoach, President of Couture Cardstock, and myself. They are so much fun!


Mariella, myself and my cousin Ben

Emily packed a lunch for me...

Wendy made grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and there was half of a sandwich left over. Just before Emily went to bed she said she had packed my lunch and was going to put it in the fridge for me. After the kids were in bed, I went to look at what she had done and this is what I found. The best is the note and the fact she signed it from Avery as well. Love the Life-Saver mint taped to it. This kid rocks.

Free at last...

The wait is finally over. Well it's been a few weeks now but after living in this country for just over 34 years all of the paperwork cleared and I was sworn in as a citizen of the United States of America. It was a very short ceremony but a great learning experience for the kids. Wendy's first question following the ceremony was "Where are we going to go now that we can leave the country?" Maybe a short trip to Canada. That seems safe.

Feeding the Spider Monkeys at the Adirondack Animal Land

The best thing about the wild animal park was feeding Fruit-loops to the spider monkeys. Emily can be heard in the video to say that the monkeys hands are "hard, not all lotiony." They were also quite good as using their prehensil tails to grab on to the food as well.

Northville 4th of July Parade

The kids had alot of fun at the parade in town. The parade route was a short walk from the house into town. They had a very nice parade and it looked like all the surrounding towns and villages participated. There were fire trucks and rescue vehicles (even a small hovercraft) and lots of classic cars. They had a drum and bagpipe regiment as well. Of course the kids loved all the candy they got. If you listen carefully to the video, that is what Avery is repeating to himself halfway through the video. CANDY!!!

Emily and Avery Fishing with Dad and Grandpa T

The fishing was great. Grandpa T bought a bunch of worms and the kids had a blast. As you can see it didn't matter how big those fish were, they were just so excited to be fishing. They are still too young to bait the hook and unhook the fish once it's caught but isn't that what Dads are for?

Fourth of July in New York

We were able to spend the Fourth of July in upstate New York with part of the Tartaglia clan. They have a small house on a lake in a small town, village really, called Northville. We all had a great time. We flew in to NYC on a Wednesday and stayed in the city that night. It was great to see Aunt Mary and Amy and Ivan and Alex. Emily and Avery were so excited to see their cousin Alex. He is 8 now and came with us on the drive up to the house the next day. Grannie Annie and Grandpa T were already there waiting for us. The kids had a great time fishing for the first time and riding on the paddle-boats. We tried to swim but the water is still very cold even though it was 75 degrees the entire time we were there.