ONLY IN NH

Jack's HOME! Just in time for my cousins wake and funeral. So so so sad.. way to young to die. Cancer SUCKS. I hope my kids are one day able to participate in the CURE FOR CANCER.. SOMEHOW.. Jack put together this AWESOME.. bitter sweet video. I couldn't stop crying after watching it last night. Hmmmm.. I wonder if it could be youtube material?


THEN...I guess Delaney couldn't "fix" her bathing suit yesterday, so she decided to wear it as it was... an then some..

Month to Month

I guess that I will try THAT as a goal. Post on a monthly basis? Seeing it HAS been just about 1 month since the last post.

Well, let me check my calendar to see what's happened over the last month.... one second please... ;-P

O.k. so we never had to have a Chicken Pox party... BUT just after Jack came down with shingles.. Delaney had these strange "circles" on her feet. When I first looked at them, I (for some reason) had "ringworm" pop in my head. That happened on a Thursday.. on Friday they were still there, so I called the dr. and they told me to bring her in. I brought her in .. and ... they tell me she has LYME DISEASE!!!!! Can you believe that??? so, from then until LAST Friday, she was on Amoxicillan! 21 days worth! Holy Cannoli!

The week after that, was school vacation. We had a very nice week. Monday, we all went biking! Well, actually, I roller-bladed with the double jogging stroller (w/Addy & Delaney), Keelyn, Ryley and Jack all rode bikes. The girls loved it! I'm bummed we live in a neighborhood where we have to DRIVE somewhere to ride our bikes safely! Tuesday we went to THE BEACH! YEAH! Wingearsheek in Gloucester. It was beautiful! I wish I had my camera. Jack had the video camera - maybe I can have him post a small clip on You Tube and I can post it on here. It was so fun climbing on the rocks and searching for starfish! We found at least a dozen!!! The day ended in Rockport where we sat outside and ate LOBSTER! It was fantastic! YUMMMMMY! The funny thing is... after the lobster, we stopped at the penny candy store... all the kids got a little bag.. well, we walked up the street to the end and were looking all over when Ryley laid her bag on a big rock.. all of a sudden a BIG OL' SEAGULL came and SNATCHED it up! Poor Ry.. she cried and cried! (we ended up getting her another SMALL bag). I did have my cell and took a few pictures... Keelyn's gal pal Kelsey and her mom Kristin joined us.











THEN Wednesday, we went on the Duck Tours in Boston. Check out our pictures and this AWESOME video!

We rode in ARBORWAY ALEX!




Here is the whole fam:





HOLY SH$&! THERE IS A HUGE MONSTROUS FLY BUZZING AROUND ME!!!!! UGH! I can hardly type!

I like this picture, the reflection of our DUCK on the Hancock building:



and here we are driving into the Charles River:




there were quite a few tours going on:



Lastly, here's my baby driving the DUCK!



The following week was fun for the girls.. Dad joined Keelyn and Ryley at the ME & MY GUY DANCE.. here are a few BEFORE shots:










That Saturday (5/9) - the older girls and I went to the Town Hall to a "Mother & Daughter Jewelery making class" We each made a super cute bracelet. I'll have to take a picture of all 3 bracelets and post. Very fun!

My bracelet is on top, then Ryley's and Keelyn's on the bottom:




Sat. night we had a sitter and went to dinner with Colleen, Vadim, Blanca, Glen, Jason and Gina...then to the Amherst Country Club to watch our friend Karl Zahn. IT WAS THUNDERING, LIGHTENING, AND POURING!!! Nice to get out for lots of laughs though!

Last week, I joined Delaney's class at Peabody Mill Environmental center for their class field trip. That was FUN! Catching FROGS.. right up my alley! Then we went on a nice hike. I love this picture.. I was trying to point out the FROG to Delaney... can you see it???? (you can click on the picture, and it should enlarge)






Here's Delaney and her gal pal ABBIE having lunch:





and here is the whole school picture:




and the last one... everyone hiking over the bridge..




That night (Thursday) was Ryley's school SPRING festival. It was PACKED. I only got 2 pictures with my camera then I had to film the rest so Jack could see it, since he was traveling last week.




To end my BLOG of the MONTH.. I have to leave you with this great picture.. tell me that doesn't say.... THANK GOD IT'S SPRING!!!! :-) Love it!





SHOOT! I forgot.. one IMPORTANT part of the month. Grammie sent Delaney a BUTTERFLY TREEHOUSE for her birthday... so you send away and get these caterpillars, once they are in their cocoons, you move them to the "Treehouse".. about a week later, they emerge as butterflies. Here is the process in pictures... the end is where we got together with Delaney's beloved teacher MS. KAREN and let them free.. ENJOY!!!

Well, I can't find a picture of the caterpillars in the container they came in.. I have a video... then the cocoon's and the butterflies and then the release!!!

(for the video, don't forget to click on the little "HQ" to get a better quality!)











then..... the release





Last, but not least....we got up one morning and when I looked out the kitchen window.. this is what I saw.. absolutely beautiful!

o.k., o.k., o.k....

Let's see...

I guess I last left off.. Delaney's 4th birthday was coming up. Well, it came and passed. We had a "pet show", the woman brought a (eh..hemm... 3-LEGGED) BLUE TONGUE SKINK (lizard), A hairless guinea pig, a chinchilla, a bearded dragon (lizard), a ferret, a tortoise, and a RAT! Every kid in the house was completely engaged for the whole hour! Here are some of my favorite pictures:


Here is the BALLOON BOUQUET I "tried" making




All the girls before the party:








one of my favorites.. Delaney and her GAL PAL Abbie (with the hairless guinea pig):






Keelyn and the chinchilla




So... after the birthday celebration.. came EASTER... the Easter Bunny was quite LAZY this year.. no egg hunt.. just small baskets with chocolates. I guess going out to a breast cancer benefit the night before .. wasn't such a good idea. Grampi and Jean came up here and cooked up a fantastic meal. YUMMMMMY lamb! Here is a sweet pic of Delaney and Grampi






and a great one of Keelyn and Addy






Lastly, the girls all getting their Easter treat from Grampi and Jean... White CHOCOLATE truffle bunnies!!!!




After a little too much SUGAR!!!







Love this one of Ry and Addy







Last weekend we once again enjoyed ANOTHER weekend NIGHT OUT.. and joined our great friends for a fun night at YOU YOU's in Nashua for Vadim's annual b-day dinner:

Here's some of the "innocent" photos!









GOOD TIMES .... GOOD FRIENDS... LOTS OF LAUGHS!!!

here are 2 more pictures that I really love... RY






and this sweet sweet picture Delaney painted in school.. makes me smile every time I look at it... she's so proud she put a "frame" around it :-)





that brings us up to .. this week! Keelyn just got her costume for her HIP HOP recital this coming June... check her out: (she LOVE LOVE LOVES it!!!)





Lastly... Keelyn is working very hard on her recital.. once the video up uploaded on YouTube, I'll post it... a portion of her dance.. MAKE SURE YOU CLICK ON THE LITTLE "HQ" button below the word YOU TUBE IN the video.. it will make it MUCH clearer!!





Oh did I MENTION JACK CAME DOWN WITH SHINGLES???????????????????????????????? so I took Addy for her 18 month physical.. the dr. said she and Delaney can't get it, because they have been vaccinated against it.. BUT, Keelyn and Ryley could get chicken pox since they had only one vaccine and there have been cases of kids in the 6-10 year old range getting chicken pox even with the vaccine they received at age 1 (They just recently came out with a 2nd vaccine at age 4)!!! ugh.. we'll have to wait 2 weeks to see if they get it!!?!?!? Can you imagine?? I'll be posting a Chicken Pox party on Craigslist if that's the case :-)

Finding time to blog.......

Just like your mom used to say... "If there were only enough hours in the day"

I guess I'll start back in Feb. one of the highlights of the month was I coordinated a "pre-reunion" get together with all my old high school friends. BOY OH BOY! I had a blast! It was as if we were in school yesterday. My friend Liza.. I haven't seen her in 23 years! It was WONDERFUL to catch up and share stories of what we used to do at her house after school.. and what everyone else did at her house after school. Tara (& Jim), Susan, Alida, Lianne, Suzanne, Kim, Jason, Amy(s), Frank, Patricia, Paul A., Colin, Patrick, Peter P., Peter C., Jen, Paul W., Marc, Derek & Darren, Sophia, Rick, Johnny S.... I think I covered everyone. I wish the place was a little bigger and that we had a "room" just for ourselves. I can't wait to do it again.. this SUMMER!!! Here are a few pictures ..


This was taken IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET when we got there.. a car was WAITING for us to move to get by.. but we had to wait for the flash to go off!!!
























those are some of my favorites :-)

So.. let's see... the week after the reunion.. Jack was away in CA all week.... I enjoyed another little girls night here.. nice, low key... fun.

The first weekend in March I went to see the Vagina Monologues at the Wilton Town Hall it was pretty intense. My friend Susie was one of the readers, it was a great performance. Sadly, many people aren't aware of the violence plaguing women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was one of the aspects covered in these monologues.


As Addy continues to GROW like a WEED, I HAPPILY CONTINUE to "sell" my baby items!!! I enjoy the pocket money I've been collecting :-)

Other than that.. I hurt my back last month. Was in SEVERE pain.. was on steroids for a week, they didn't work. Ended up taking a muscle relaxer along with an anti-inflammatory medication which when taken together.. WORKED WONDERS!!! ALTHOUGH, I had severe stomach pains from the HOLE the was being made in my GUT from the anti-inflammatory medication. Thank GOD, I only needed to take it for a week - then I felt "good as GOLD"... I had an MRI this past Tuesday.. UGH! Clasutrophobia + MRI = DISASTER... EVEN WITH VALIUM! :-(... It was TOUGH.. but after the 3rd time I freaked out and had them pull me out... I FINALLY was able to sit in that DAMN machine for 30 minutes...WHEW.. The results... 1) I have a "mass or cyst" on my left side that needs to be followed up with my gynecologist by way of ultrasound. 2) I have 2 bulging discs that aren't "bad" enough to warrant surgery. So, I'll just have to do my exercises and stretches I've learned in my months of PT to keep a somewhat healthy back. TODAY, compared to 3 weeks ago.. I'd consider my back significantly HEALED. I just have to TAKE IT EASY. Poor Jack.. I'd just cry on and off because the pain was SOOOOO unbearable.

There is a new bread store in town.. THE GOOD LOAF.. and BOY .. IT IS GOOD. I stop there weekly. Here is a picture of Addy enjoying their "famous" baguette:






Other than that, it's been typical week to week stuff... school, dance, school, play dates, school, dance, library, school, shopping... etc.. YOU GET THE IDEA .

I'd like to get to watching my 5th Season of Curb Your Enthusiasm .. so.. PEACE

HYSTERICAL!!!!

Addy's such a HAM these days....

She'll grab my camera and point it at herself and say "CHEESE"..

so I grabbed the camera from her and had her say "cheese".. here's what I got:



















SHE'S NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW