Friday, August 24, 2007

Ahhh... a little time off and not much to do...

Yeah, right... that's what happened. I have had so much free time with the 3 kids at home this summer and work just ratcheting up to maximum capacity that I took a little vacation from the Blog Scene.

Or was it the 28 day stint I did in Blog Rehab for techno-addiction. At least my dorm complex was next to Lindsay Lohan's so it kept the media away from me.

Anyway, I return with a little update on the whole famn damily and a new 'kitchy' layout.. tell me what you think.

How time flies... the end of summer is rapidly approaching and everyone seems to be gearing up for something. Susan heads back to school... albeit not very willingly this year for multiple reasons... she enjoyed her summer off with Olivia, Kira, and our young prince Cooper. And of course there are other reasons; those who know them probably also know that things are slightly better... not great, but more palatable.

Anyway, Olivia will be heading to first grade this year. Of course, here we are 2 weeks before the new school year and have yet to get a school schedule or bus schedule; thanks Stafford for allowing us to make our personal schedules with plenty of time to spare (HINT: should be read with sarcasm :-)~.

Kira??? Well, the plan is still to send her to preschool 2 half days per week to get her more involved with others, and Miss Barbara the other times so she can help Cooper's transition. However, there may be a few monkey wrenches with that plan. She is excited, but we will have to see how it goes.

And yes, there is Cooper... he will be spending his days like his big sisters did at Miss Barbara's house. We are sending him a few days before the end of summer to get him 'prepared'. Keep your fingers crossed that he adapts as well as he has with his new family.

As for me... well, I am pretty much doing the same thing day in and day out. Of course, I do have to prepare for Fantasy Football season... with my new look 'Ladanian Tomlinsons', I plan on destroying the competition and bringing the Silver Chalice back home, much as it was 3 years ago. And also on that note... E-A-G-L-E-S... EAGLES!!!!! Some of you may remember my hand painted mural/ homage that adorned the entrance to the basement in the old house... and hopefully will be put back up in the new house in a short amount of time. Anyway, yet again I digress...

How I spent my summer vacation....

Much to the chagrin of family, softball was first and foremost each Sunday morning this summer. The 'summer ball' season ended with our team taking second in the regular season with a 20-4 record and trip to the semifinals of the playoffs. Alas, it ended as it always does with a heart-wrenching loss in a best of 3 series in the semifinals. Always a bridesmaid, but never a bride. Anyway, this season culminated in our entry into Trentonian softball tournament several weekends ago; of course this is only the second largest softball tournament in the world (true fact). With over 420 teams from the entire midatlantic region separated into multiple flights, we were in a 39-team bracket and finished 9th. The pictures don't do it justice, but we played on 3 different fields over 2 days in the Mercer County area. For those who know Eddie, this is pretty typical. The whole crew during one of our between game layoffs... Some action photos from Sunday. Big Sal looking to take a cut at the ball while we all watch. Anyway, it was fun, but remind me about this weekend the next time I want to go to Hooters for 'a quick bite', OK?

Anyway, we ended up taking the kiddies to Story Book Land this year as one of our fun things to do... I think all in all everyone had a great time. Olivia seems to finally appreciate the merry-go round, while Kira is just crazy about it and Cooper has yet to figure it out, but did seem to have some enjoyment. Kira and Cooper like checking out some of the animals. And it was nice to see the sisters getting along so well. The whole picture does not do it justice, but they were caught in the depths of a whale's mouth.. Yeah for Big Monster trucks... kind of like 'fat guy in a little coat', but they had fun. Probably the slowest slide in the world.... I don't even think Cooper was afraid because we basically inched our way down. A fun day was had by all and we thank Grammy for taking the photos... she has more on her camera and maybe we'll get them someday.

Another beach day was in order as well.... of course, the same result had Cooper wiped out after just a little while. But while he was up, he enjoyed time with mom and Kira. OK, so maybe he was not quite awake then either, but can you blame him, I had him in the waves for about half an hour. The girls always love to spend time with their 'aunts'... Liv in the waves with her middle namesake, Aunt Cathi. And the girls with Aunt Cathi and Aunt Debbie (who made a special trip down from Connecticut for this 'ladies' weekend. And again we come to Kira... sometimes you just have to shake your head and wonder... I am not sure what is happening here, but this pose is fairly obvious... hmmm any influence from mom here?

Question... do you think he likes the bath? OK... so little creative cropping here so they don't handcuff me and confiscate my computer, but this is a fairly typical day in the bathtub...stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, etc... And he loves the squishy fish.. Do you think he knows how cute he is? Always a look of wonder in his eyes.

Well, of course, Cooper is definitely becoming more mobile... just to update on my latest posting about his standing at the furniture. He loves his walking toy... and to think we almost got rid of it when the girls grew up because they hated the darn thing. Anyway, it's a lot shorter to walk down the hall than crawl. Of course, sometimes it's fun to push it.. But he always looks up to make sure you see what he is up to and if you are watching. And lest he have fun without Kira getting into the action (yeah, that's right.. it was an underwear kind of day. But she does get points for the hat... go A's. It's scary to think that she looks adorable in that funky getup, you know?

Anyway, that's about all I have for now... ....

well, one more thing.... and I would certainly be remiss if I didn't bring this little diddy up.. Here was see the King of AudioVisual technology, owned a business in the industry for many, many years taking in a show on his wonderful entertainment system. Notice the 60+ inch HD projection TV in the background for scale, which has been out of order for weeks now. Sorry Tanny, this was too precious to pass up on.

Finally, Cooper was just wondering when we will get some new visitors.. or is he waiting for dad to come home from work?

If you would like to see this whole collection of pictures, just click here and it will give you the whole 50-60 slide show.... Just bypass what you don't care about. When finished, don't hit the back button because it will take you back 1 slide at a time. And I think if you wanted, you can order photos off of Photobucket.com where our collections reside.

Thank you, good night... 'I'll be here until Thursday, try the veal'.

Scott, et al.

No comments: