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/

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!! I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Donny and Abigail are so excited because their Nanny arrives from Ohio today and will be with us for two weeks. Donny has told me he would like to rearrange the sleeping assignments so he and Nanny can share a room allowing them to play whenever they want. I think Nanny is going to need a vacation when she returns to Ohio.

Evening Walk

The other night at dinner, Donny could not sit still. He was so full of energy I decided we should take a walk and look at the decorated store fronts. Big Daddy and Abigail stayed behind while Donny and I left for our walk. When we reached the shoe store, he grabbed one of the balloons tied to a bench. While he was playing with the balloon, it popped. He looked at me and yelled, "Run!" I laughed so hard, I told him we probably wouldn't get in trouble, but maybe next time we shouldn't touch.

Children's Choir

Donny sang with the children's choir this morning in church.

New Rules

Note found in Donny's lunchbox today after school:

THERE IS A CHILD ATTENDING OUR SCHOOL WITH A SEVERE ALLERGY TO PEANUTS AND PEANUT BUTTER SO IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE HAVE A PEANUT AND PEANUT BUTTER FREE ENVIRONMENT TO ENSURE HIS/HER HEALTH. PLEASE UNDERSTAND OUR POSITION ON THIS AND REFRAIN FROM SENDING PEANUTS, PEANUT BUTTER OR ANY FOODS CONTAINING EITHER. WE ALL MUST WORK TOGETHER TO KEEP ALL OF OUR CHILDREN HEALTHY AND SAFE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF THIS MATTER.

I'm so glad that Donny has been in school for three months and this note is finally making it to the other parents. Also, did the note have to talk about one child? I find it hard to believe my son is the first child to enter their school who has a nut allergy. Maybe we are just the first to say something. At least we know nuts are no longer welcome.

Skippy

Today at pickup, I was standing at the door of Donny's school speaking to another mother when I noticed something inside the classroom. An open jar of peanut butter was sitting on top of the kiddie table. I interrupted my conversation and said to the mother, "Is that a jar of peanut butter." "Yes it is! Is your child allergic?" I explained that Donny was allergic to peanut butter and milk.

We started to discuss the first day of school. I remember walking in the door and seeing her give her child a cheese stick from the refrigerator. I remember looking at her in horror because I thought the school allowed all the little crumb snatchers to roam around with dairy products. I was frightened for Donny. Well, this poor woman told me she thought that she had accidentally taken Donny's snack and that I was angry with her. She has been worried about this for months. She mentioned a conversation we had about Halloween costumes and thought that I must have gotten over the missing cheese stick.

Cheese stick lady and I were discussing the open jar of peanut butter and what course of action I should take when the teacher brought Donny out to me. When Donny and I returned home, I informed Big Daddy and Aunt Kee-Kee what I had witnessed. Next thing I know Big Daddy and I are in the car on the way to school. I was relived to see cheese stick lady was still there. Donny's teacher saw us and asked what was wrong. We told here we needed to talk about the open jar of peanut butter. She replied, "Oh Miss C's. She was eating that for lunch." Now you will be shocked to find out that Miss C is the owner and director of the school. In my head I was screaming, "REALLY! REALLY! THE DIRECTOR IS EATING PEANUT BUTTER IN HER SCHOOL??? SHE KNOWS MY SON IS ALLERGIC! WHAT IS SHE THINKING? SHE CAN'T BE THAT STUPID!"

Big Daddy and I explained the dangers of having an open jar of peanut butter in the room and went over his other allergies with them again. Donny's teacher seemed shocked when we mentioned he was also allergic to beef, ON HIS MEDICAL FORM....DOES ANYONE READ THE MEDICAL FORM??? We knew another Miss C last year who would never let any of this happen in her school. I miss that Miss C!

24 lbs, 35 inches

Abigail had her two year check up today. The ride to the doctor is over an hour, so I started a movie as we left. Abigail said, "Mama, is this appropriate?" I told her it was and she was happy. The doctor questioned me when I told him the story. He wanted to know if she understood what she was asking. I'm not sure but I do like the vocabulary.

Abigail look so cute today, but I couldn't get her to leave the John Deere hat at home. I don't know what it is about that hat, but both kids love it and want to wear the hat all the time. I have many photos of the two of them wearing the hat.

Abigail Turns Two

Happy Birthday Abigail!!

Trick-or-Treat

Last night was a bit chilly, but the kids had a great time. Abigail figured out was she was doing by the second house, but ate candy the entire time or she would cry. She had more chocolate last night than Donny has had in five years. I realized at the third house, Donny was asking if there was milk in the candy he was receiving. We took care of that and at four in the morning, I realized Abigail wasn't wearing necklace. Oh well! (The photos are in random order because I have a little helper at the moment.)