It's a sad sad day....

I am devastated! It's a sad day for the members of the Red Sox and the Nation. Manny, our dear sweet dreadlocked boy, is going to Hollywood to play for the Dodgers. What?! How could he? Could he get any further away from us? Now, Manny is temperamental and such, but he is a class~act ballplayer and we are going to be very sorry we did not pay him more to stay. I guess that all good things must come to an end~but this is one end I really did not see coming. And judging from the amount of press and other blogs I have read today, neither did a lot of other people. Every year for the past 5, he has talked and talked but never walked. To quote an infamous Boston phrase...it was "Manny being Manny". It appears however, that he meant it this time, and now. He cleaned out his locker today, and will not play anymore this season. Was it the money, Manny? The management? You had all the glory you could handle. Guess it wasn't enough. We didn't even have a chance to see jersey #24 retired. Godspeed Manny. We will miss you.

Words to Live By

Remember What is Most Important

Don't put off living until tomorrow.
Don't be afraid to dream some time away.
Don't look too far ahead,
don't look back with regret;
just look with hope
to the horizon of today.
Don't be afraid to reach for your goal,
no matter how distant it might seem.
And don't be surprised if you succeed.
The truly special people in this world,
the ones who reach their dreams,
are the ones who do the things
they really want to do.
Don't be one of the many...
be one of the few.


~~~Collin McCarty

Little Pink Riding Hood

We found this is a bag of clothes the other day. Not entirely sure what it is...at first we thought it was a bath robe, but it has some kind of swimming pool on the label. Regardless, I had just given Savannah a bath. She loves to "be nakey" for a bit afterwards, and crawl around with a diaper on. No, I am not that stupid. She who goes fully naked pees on the carpet.
When it was time to get dressed in PJ's, she did not want to take it off. Below is the picture where Mommy hurt Savannah's feelings because it was time to put on PJ's. Thinking about crying...yes sirree! This kid has a mind of her own already. Do you think she has worn this cute little multipurpose robe since then? Nope!

Kids say the darnedest things!

Language has been emerging lately. Savannah is starting to mimic, and the results are hilarious. She is even starting to say a few things unprompted. Right now, a duck says "cack cack". She knows "no" and "da-da" and "na-na" for Wanda. Mostly it's just gibberish. However, we just taught her "uh-oh" and today it bit me in the butt. More and more, she is responding to things as we say them. This morning, for example, I had stopped to get gas. I left my wallet open on the center console in the van, and as I pulled off, my wallet started to fall on the floor. Now, anyone who knows me knows my wallet is full of crap, and all that started to go everywhere. I, of course,with the mouth of a sailor, yelled ! And my little sweet angel says...you guessed it..."uh-oh"! Right on cue. I nearly ran the van off the road it was such perfect timing! You know what they say...out of the mouths of babes.

Told you I was going backwards

I warned you that I was going to go backwards sometimes.
I wanted to show you our 4th of July pics. Now, how amazing
are these two? We had to have them matching, which we do

quite a bit. All American Princesses, these two. We went to Mom's for a cookout on the actual 4th before we got rained out. I know we tried a good ten minutes to get the girls to smile and look at the camera. Oh well. Enjoy them anyway!

Savannah: "Audrey, I really don't like this grass stuff!"
Audrey: "It's not so bad, Savannah."
Savannah: I can't believe you are just sitting there! You are so perfect!"
Audrey: " I just want them to take our picture so I can eat!"

Look at our tats, man! How cool! We flex our muscles and the tattoos move!







And one more for your viewing pleasure...this was actually taken on the 5th. We met some friends at Target and sat in the parking lot to watch the fireworks. (earlier post) These were all the kids who were certainly not ready to go home and go to bed after that kind of show!

Back Row: Samuel, Samantha and Big Girl Savannah
Front Row: Olivia, Matt holding Audrey, Paige, Brie, and Jordan holding Baby Savannah
Hope you had a night full of stars, stripes, and sparkles!

I like them, I like them!

Here is a little lighter post today than the past two. Savannah is finally trying new things. This is also important because Mommy discovered a website that leads me to think Mommy is starving the kid! This site says that when kids transition from formula to milk...they need about 1000 cals a day. Or....dum dum dum...they might wake up at night. WELL, I WONDER! Is this why Savannah won't sleep? Is she not getting enough food? Perhaps. So, I am on a mission to do six small meals a day and we will see. My goal is to try a new food at least every other day. Today we gave her blueberries. Halved, of course, for all of you who are thinking "gasp!" My first thought was, maybe I shouldn't have halved them, and the next thought was, when did she turn into a Hoover? She inhaled them...so it really didn't matter if they were whole or not. Then I had to of course warn my husband that "what goes in, must come out" and that blueberries...they...well...I think you get the picture. He was not amused. So, new food #1 and I think I will start keeping a food journal for her. Tracking calories for a one-year-old? Am I nuts? Don't answer that!

Intervention

To continue in the same vein as my post yesterday, has everyone seen this Intervention show on TV? It is some powerful stuff! The show follows families through the heart-breaking process of trying to intervene in their loved ones' lives to save them from drugs and/or alcohol. As I watch the show, I am reminded how much I hate drugs. They serve no purpose except to screw up people's lives. I have watched two people close to me fight addiction over and over. I am so scared that the drugs will eventually win. If you haven't seen this show, watch it. You will not come away unchanged.

To the fullest...

So I am feeling a little..hmmm..unsettled today. Yesterday John's boss' fiancee (get that) was in a really bad accident. As in broken ribs, punctured lung, vehicle on it's side accident. She is such a sweet person and was on her way home from work when she got t-boned by another car and a tractor-trailer. Yes, it could have been much worse, but it was bad enough. I keep thinking did she tell her fiancee and kids I love you that day? We never know when each moment will be our last. Following this line of thinking, one of my friends is making a major decision in her life...she has decided that life is too short for her to spend it unhappy. She is trying new things and exploring life as she hasn't in a long time. Let her be an inspiration to us all. Life is only lived once, and we should make the most of it. Try something new and be happy. Stand up for yourself and make yourself happy. Live life to it's fullest...it's the only one you got!

Numero Uno for Savannah

Savannah kinda got shunted on this first birthday thing. Samantha had at least 40 people at hers. Savannah had, well, maybe 10? That's ok...it was fun. We had a Wonder Pets party. Yes, my child is addicted to TV. Blah blah all you American Academy of Pediatrics lovers. Sometimes you need your child to be distracted. Anyways, she loves Linny, Tuck and Ming-Ming too. Lemme tell you. So we decided to do the party for her and just have family. Check these out!

This is the Flyboat cake! Yes, Mommy is ambitious! If we were having a Wonder Pets party, there must be a Flyboat cake.
Every baby needs her own cake. The left is the one Mommy made, and big Sissy Samantha made the one on the right.
My child loves cake! No hesitation on her part. If it's food you got, it's what she wants!
Mema had a fit about the cake being chocolate, so we switched and gave her some of her actual birthday Flyboat cake.
Does she look like she enjoyed it? Her first birthday was memorable, and this is the reason why! And afterwards, Aunt Wanda gave her the mandatory bath! Lucky Mommy! Hope these made you smile!

I did it! I did it!

I have never been able to figure out how to add a picture, but thanks to my dear friend Jessi, (a.k.a. LoveLladro) I did it! I took this picture yesterday at work...thought it was pretty cool. I am most certainly not a photog...leave that to the professionals (like Jessi), but now...you will be subject to all sorts of posts with pictures. That's kinda cool actually...I know people follow these things to keep up on news. This will be for those people who will NOT join MySpace...you knwo who you are! Anyways, have fun and please forgive for going back in time...got a lot to accomplish!

What the hell?

If you could have seen Savannah's face as we watched the fireworks last night, you would understand that question. A group of us got together in the Target parking lot with our kids to watch the fireworks that had been postponed due to the storm on the 4th. They were pretty spectacular even for our little town, lemme tell ya. Savannah didn't pay attention to the first few "quiet ones", but that first big boom and she was definitely a little rattled. She looked at me with such an expression on her face (see post title) that I just had to laugh even as she started to cry. However, as long as Mommy held her, she was ok. The kids had a great time waving flags, eating fruit rollups and being loud enough to exceed the town noise ordinances, but watching them, I was a little nostalgic for my own childhood. With everything happening now...gas prices, grocery prices, the day-to-day drudgery of paying bills and doing laundry...for a fleeting moment I wished I was a kid again. The times we had...running around screaming with popsicle juice rolling down our chins, oohing and aahing at the fireworks...were those the good 'ole days? Nah, maybe not. We still had to go to school and take tests!