Blizzard 2010

11:25

A little over 24 hours later and the men of the neighborhood have emerged from their homes with shovels in hand. I walked Ashley then shoveled the walk, but forgot to take a picture, so back out to take a photo. Very large drifts, lost Ashley at one point luckily she was on the leash.

*** (7:05 a.m.) I can't believe the wind last night. It is a miracle that we have power this morning. I was waiting for the sound of a tree to fall last night. Will post a photo as soon as I get the nerve to open the door.
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5:00 (This will be my last photo for the evening. Have a good night!)

4:00

3:00 (Couldn't seem to get off the couch at 2:00)

1:00

12:00

11:00 The first photo of the day. I'm going to try and take a photo every hour.

Family Band

For Nora...We Love You!

Christmas Morning

Sorry about the first video, but I didn't have time to focus. I think it is funny because that was taken before my first cup of coffee and that's how I felt, blurry.

Merry Christmas!

Abigail and Big Daddy

Transformer

Last week while Aunt Kee-Kee and I were busy in the kitchen, Uncle Jim was taking excellent care of the kids and they were all watching the movie Transformers. Well, Donny has taking a liking to a character named Optimus. Since I have not seen this movie I do not know what Optimus looks like, but this is Donny's take on the character. Please notice his "gun" or my extra laptop battery, headphones to listen to instructions from the soldiers if needed, the reindeer cup is for any thing he might need to hold in an emergency and the wonderful belt holding all these items was borrowed from the dog.

The Night Before

There is a little boy that is beyond "kickcited" about the arrival of the big guy. He came down the stairs this morning like Paul Revere, "Santa's coming tomorrow!" We spent the day yesterday making salt dough Christmas ornaments for the tree. I regret not taking photos of the kids, cousin Molly included, as they shaped the dough and later painted their ornaments. I did take this photo of the tree once all the ornaments were hung.

Happy Girl

Abigail was very shy for the first half of the Breakfast with Santa and then a good song started playing on the jukebox.

Breakfast With Santa

Today we spent the morning with the firemen at their annual Breakfast with Santa. Donny didn't care to see Santa, he was more interested in Santa's reindeer. I told him the reindeer probably wouldn't be with Santa because they needed their rest for the big night. Well, the questions that followed! He wanted to know every detail of Santa's travel itinerary. I told him he probably flew to the airport. I was informed there is no airport on the North Pole. I suggested he speak to Santa about his travel plans and that is what he is attempting to do in the first photo.

Sassy Girl

Oh Mommy!

Yesterday I was helping Abigail and my slipper fell off. She looked at my slipper and said, "Oh Mommy, your glass slipper fell off!"

Birthday Boy

Donny turned five on Monday and wanted to take ice cream cone cupcakes to school. Over the weekend while attending a birthday party for his classmate, he found out there was a boy in his class who has a gluten allergy. His class is divided in two groups, the alligators and the puppies. Donny is an alligator and the boy with the gluten allergy is a puppy. Donny came up with the idea to make two different types of cupcakes so the other boy could eat the same thing as his classmates. I was so proud of him for being so thoughtful. When he got home from school, he said the best part of his day was the kids singing happy birthday and telling his friend he could have the same cupcakes everyone else was having. Happy Birthday my beautiful boy!!!

Tis' The Season

I had big plans for the day. First I was going to dress the kids and take the photo for the Christmas cards, which were in the mail by this time last year. I started with Abigail. I wanted to put her laundry away before I dressed her, big mistake! She caught a glimpse of her favorite shirt and skirt and it was over. I decided I didn't really care what she wore as long as I got the shot. Meanwhile, Donny was on to me and decided to lock himself in his room. He returned wearing a shirt that was featured in a Christmas card three years ago and his new pants, which are the favorite at the moment. He added his fathers baseball hat for an accessory. His collar was stuffed in his shirt and he wanted it to remain inside.

I pulled Abigail aside and tried to fix her hair, but the commotion in the hallway had her attention. Donny was preparing an area for the photo shoot, complete with a plant, umbrella and a glass of water in case we were thirsty. When Abigail stood up, I realized she had one pigtail shooting out the side of her head. I still was not discouraged, all I needed was one good shot. This is the first shot Donny insisted I take, he loved it. I put the kids in a chair and tried to take a few more shots.
This is the best shot of the two of them, notice Abigail's hair. Needless to say Christmas cards are still on my to do list.

The second project on my list was to bake cookies with Donny. That went about as well as the photo shoot. He couldn't keep his hands out of the flour. At one point, I turned my back and heard him say, "It's snowing!" Well, there was flour everywhere. I had done my duty as a parent and baked cookies with my son, the remainder will be made after 7 p.m.

Yellow

Bid Daddy and I attended Donny's Taekwondo class today knowing he was to receive his yellow belt. We didn't tell him and he was the only student from today's class to move up a belt. When the instructor asked who the class thought was getting a new belt, Donny noticed that we had relocated to the photo area, raised his hand and shouted, "I think it's me!"

Party 5

Donny had his first real birthday party on Friday. He had such a great time with his new friends. I couldn't believe that 13 children could sit at a table for an hour and work on crafts. They spent about 10 minutes in a circle playing a game and stood at the window making sand art necklaces. Everything was quite and calm, so the opposite of Donny.

Radio City

Yesterday Big Daddy, Nanny, Donny and I took the 9:25 train to the city to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of our day. Yesterday had to be one of the ugliest days I have ever spent in the city. The rain was unbelievable. We couldn't get a cab so ended up walking to Radio City and with only one umbrella for four people, we were pretty wet. We were able to see Kathy Gifford during the Today Show broadcast and run past the Rockefeller Tree which was lit the night before.

When we arrived at Radio City, I realized we were lucky. We were dry compared to the other ticket holders. Once we were inside, we all forgot we were wet. Donny enjoyed the show and was able to sit still for most of the 90 minutes. He loved the Rockettes and sashayed across the dining room later that night as a tribute.

After the show, we made our way to Broadway and had lunch at a very touristy diner. I picked the spot because I figured by the time we arrived Donny would have plenty of ants in his pants. I was sure he would be entertained long enough for us to eat our meal. The Stardust is a retro 1950's diner with a singing waitstaff . The waitstaff is made up of aspiring Broadway actors and actresses. We were seated right away and the food was pretty good, so all went well. By the time we sat down on the train, we were all ready for a nap! All in all, a very good day despite the rain.
http://www.ellensstardustdiner.com/