ANOTHER TUESDAY

Not much to report in this blog. After a couple of day of rain, the sun made its reappearance this afternoon as the wind picked up. It actually felt cold today and I couldn't get myself warm for the most part of the day.
For a couple of weeks E has been preparing for the third grade WAX MUSEUM at school. His chosen historical figure is John Adams. He memorized a small script, put together a tri-fold with important facts (with a little help from your truly) and dressed up as his person for the dress rehearsal yesterday. It was really cute and all of the kids did a great job. I took S to the performance and she thought it was just one big party. She had too good of a time pushing everyone's buttons and trying to talk to them while the kids were in the middle of their speeches. She soon got bored and let the whole gym know that she wanted to go home. Cute as she is, she is a woman that knows what she wants and tries her darnest to get it. We went back to E's classroom to help the kids with their costumes and packing up for the end of the day. Tomorrow evening is the "real" performance and we plan on attending as a family. I will try to post some pictures on my next post.
I have been busily working on a slide show to try to raise awareness of Furniture Safety. That has been keeping me very busy during the night time hours. My hope is to eventually post it onto You Tube due to the large volume of people watching their videos. When I am finished with it I will post it here first to get some opinions.
I need to keep this post short for this evening as E is here trying to get my attention. I hope all is well with everyone.
J

Shaylyn Pictures

You need to scroll a bit to see the post and pictures. Sorry.








The first two pictures are of a beautiful butterfly angel plaque given to me by my dear friend, Leslie's sister, Sharon. The plaque is a precious reminder of my beautiful angel, Katie. Everytime I see a butterfly, memories of Katie flood my thoughts with gentle reminders of how lucky I am to have had the chance to know her. The angel pictured on the plaque is also wearing a blue dress which was Katie's favorite color. We all know that she just loved Thomas The Tank Engine Blue and the dress is perfect. Thank you Sharon for remembering my daughter, and for the gift of the plaque. It means so much to me that Katie's memory is still alive in so many people. Thank you again! To learn more about Katie, please visit http://katieeliselambert.org/.





The next pictures are of Shaylyn earlier this week prior to her getting sick. She gets more beautiful each and everyday. These were taken outside in our front yard just in front of our newly bloomed pink dogwood. Shay enjoyed having her pictures taken that day and it's evident in her "make-your-heart-melt smile.



Enjoy the pictures.

The Croup

After a very looong night of S coughing, I awakened about 7:30 this morning completely exhausted and feeling like I got the 3 hours of interrupted sleep. S still had a fever so I made and appointment for her at the pediatrician. At 11:15 I buckled her into her seat and began to back down our driveway when I noticed that the hatch on my NEW VAN was opened. HMMM>
So I pulled back up the driveway and got out to shut the hatch. I used the keyless remote and for some reason the hatch would not shut. I pressed the button on the back of the van and it beeped as if it wanted to close....but didn't. I then tried the handle to slam it shut and the &(%$ hatch closed but wouldn't latch. I must have pressed every button 100 times and tried to manually close the hatch as many...but it would not latch. Our appt was for 11:30 so I quickly took out the user's manual thinking I was doing something stupid and tried to find back hatch. It took me about 10 minutes just to find how to use the back hatch.
In the meantime, I called B and told him the the back hatch wasn't closing and he proceeded to tell me to to close it manually....smart man... Needless to say I had to reschedule our appt. Big B came home and he too couldn't close that *&%$ hatch. It's now 8:45 PM and you know where my NEW VAN IS? It's at the DEALERSHIP where they are trying to fix that *&^%$ latch! They didn't know why it was it wasn't latching.
Big B is now driving a pick up...courtesy of the dealership. Big B must look pretty snazzy driving up to his real estate clients in a pick up truck. Hopefully I'll get my NEW VAN, (that's already in the shop) back tomorrow with everything in perfect working order as it should be.
So, back to the pediatrician. My suspicion of S having croup were correct. Hopefully after 2 days of steroids it will clear it up. As I'm tying this, the poor little one has finally fallen asleep, hopefully for the night, although the pharmacist warned us that the steroid could make for a hyper child. Let's hope not.
Last night I spoke about the date and it being the end of April. Does anyone else agree it seems as if big projects and tests are norm for school age children? Little B had 4 tests this week and needs to continue working on the $1,000,000 project. (More discussion on this later.)
E has his wax museum to complete by this coming Monday and also had several tests this week.
My thoughts are filled with summer already. How about you?
Well, time to turn in as E is grumpy and needs to go to bed.
Until the next time,
J

Another one sick

It's 10:38 and I'm sitting here with SL barking like a seal. She's running a fever and I'm afraid the cough sounds like croup. We just got done sitting in the bathroom with a hot shower running. The warm mist did soothe the cough momentarily but it seems to have come back as soon as I got her back into my bed. I was able to get some Tylenol in her about 9 so I'm eagerly awaiting it to kick in and start bringing the fever down.
She did seem out of sorts today, and a little moodier and more sensitive than usual. I guess I knew something was coming.
On the other hand, E has fully recovered, and Big B went to the docs and received a prescription for his sinus infection. OK, I'm a little confused now. It's April 23, and we are still battling illnesses. Isn't this suppose to be the time of year when we kiss sickness goodbye until next season?
I have heard that the flu season hit later than usual and the flu shot only provided about 44% protection against the strain which was prominent this season. Even if it didn't provide the full immunity, I'm glad we all were vaccinated. I'm still convinced that a little help is better than no help.
I do have more pictures to post but will attempt those tomorrow. SL is now falling asleep and once again it's time for me to turn in as well.
Until the next time...

NOW by Dave Carroll

I'm trying to learn how to post videos from You Tube and wanted to give this one a try. Our SIL, S sent this to me from Kentucky. It's a beautiful, very moving song that I would like to share. Thank you S for this amazing video.
Enjoy.

Photos from baseball and Fox Chase Farm

Another Day

Hi Everyone,



Just a short post for today. I posted some pics of our new van. It's really comfortable and has lots of things that I will probably never understand how to work. One good thing about it is that the kids are able to watch DVDs or play their playstation games. Pretty cool. It also has a built in navigation system, and blue tooth so I can talk hands free while I'm driving. I just need to learn how to work it.....

We went to the Elmwood Park Zoo today and literally had to dodge the raindrops. We drove there in warm sunlight, parked and were getting out of the van when all of a sudden it downpoured. We couldn't get back into the car fast enough and ended up getting pretty wet, with me getting soaked. My hair can prove it.

I was only able to take a few pictures because of the showers but we still had a good time.
I wanted to post a short video of SL dancing but am having trouble doing so. I'll keep working on it so check back to see it.

Our New Van

A Beautiful Weekend

What a beautiful Saturday we all experienced yesterday. The weather was just perfect! SL and I sat out front on our bench and just enjoyed nature in the morning. We filled the birdfeeder, she chased a couple of birds and a white butterfly danced playfully nearby while encouraging SL to follow it. We then decided to drag out the small plastic kiddie pool from winter storage, clean it and fill it to warm in the sun. So off with shoes, out with the soap and the hose. We cleaned, filled it and left the water in the sun. The boys had a baseball game in the afternoon, so I packed the NEW van with our chairs, cooler, some toys an headed over to the game. On the way I decided to stop and treat myself to my favorite French vanilla Coffee Coolatta from DD. Ite was a nightmare attempting to get into the DD from the main street. Some idiot decided to put a NO LEFT TURN sign from Huntingdon Pike into the parking lot. Now we must go out of our way to go back the opposite direction to get into our favorite place. NO easy feat in Rockledge. Traffic has been crazy there since a new traffic light was installed on the Pike. UGH. But, alls well that ends well. We got our coffee coolatta and a box of munchkins and headed to the field. BB was pitching and pictched 3 scoreless innings. WOW! The boys did great as did the whole team. They won 3 to 2 and everyone left happy.
After the game, SL was all too happy to put her new bathing suit on and lounge in the kiddie pool. She played for about an hour while mama soaked in some more rays.
Now it is early Sunday morning and the boys are still asleep. SL is watching TV while I"m typing this . B isn't feeling all too well as E may have shared a part of his illness with him from earlier in the week. Today will be a hopefully relaxing day again, perhaps I'll take the kids somehwere...Elmwood Park Zoo?
I hope everyone enjoys the weather. It's another beautiful day! Happy weekend.

JUDY

Cabin Fever

E is beginning to feel better today, thank God. He's been under the weather since this weekend, and home from school with mom waiting on him hand and foot. Even through his illness though, he was still able to make me laugh. He made sure to take his temperature every 15 minutes and proceeded to keep updated me on how high it was. I even caught him taking the ear thermometer and measuring the heat from his forehead, belly, and cheek along with his ears. I think he must have been delusional from the 103 fever.
Hopefully tomorrow he will be off to school and I might be able to head outside for a bit.
SL has been quite the "no" child recently. I think she may be hanging around BB a little too much. Her favorite word seems to be "no" and she enjoys saying it all of the time.
Sometimes I find it difficult trying to disicpline her. Because she's only been with us for 8 months, I tend to be a little more lenient on her. I don't want to do anything wrong and handling attachment issues may be a little tricky. Not even sure if it's about attachment, could just be a preschool/toddler age thing. Anybody have any ideas?

American Idol is on as I'm typing this and I'm eager to learn who will be kicked off this week. Yes, it's my favorite show right nowand I look forward to it each week. I was pretty disappointed when Michael Johns were booted last week.....why? He is a very talented singer and has the looks to go with it.
So, I've already picked my winner for the Idol this year. Go David Cook!
Until the next time,
JUDY

Meet The Family

I thought that I would use this post to introduce the people that I spend the majority of my life with. These wonderful people are my family.
To begin, there is my hubby, B. B and I have been together for almost 17 years. During our time together, we have experienced some of life's greatest joys, and life's worst nightmare. Even though our lives together have been filled with ups and downs, I wouldn't want to spend my life with anyone else.
Then there is our first son, B. B is 10 years old going on 30. He's at the age where attitude rules and he thinks he knows the world. I'm hoping that it is just a phase he's going through and that one day he learns that mom knows best. B is an avid baseball fan, loves the Ps, and plays almost like a pro. He enjoys meteorology and tracks the storms as they work their way across the county. His favorite thing in the world would be the NWS posting a severe thunderstorm warning for our area. He always keeps a watchful eye to the sky and can give the 7 day forecast when asked.
E is our second son. He's 9. He has the beautiful ability to makes friends wherever he goes and I can always find him at the playground with kids around him. He's educated himself of various kinds of insects and can give info on them whether you want to hear it or not. He loves nature and can often be found digging under rocks looking for salamanders, snakes etc.
K is our first daughter, our beautiful ANGEL. K would have been 6. Our ANGEL was killed at the tender age of 3 in an accident which changed our lives forever. To learn more and to learn how to prevent this type of tragedy from taking another innocent life, please visit http://www.katieeliselambert.org/.
SL our our second daughter. SL is 4 years old and a treasure to behold. I feel so blessed that SL was sent into our lives. I know that one beautiful ANGEL helped to bring our paths together. Somehow, someway, from 7000 miles away, our paths met and SL is now our daughter. I feel so lucky to have been given the chance to parent again. She brings much joy, laughter, and so much more activity into our home. Thank you God for blessing us.
So there is my family in a nutshell. I hope you will enjoy reading about the day in the life of this 40 something mom. I will try to keep the posts interesting......
Time to turn in as E still is battling the flu. Thanks for reading,

I tried to post a few pictures, not sure if it's working for me yet. Pics may be out of order....but you will get the idea.

JUDY
JUDY

April 14 2008

Okay, so here I am attempting to give this blogging thing a chance. I've been debating for some time now as to whether or not to open up a little bit of my life to others and finally decided to jump in and take the chance. My ultimate decision to begin a blog was the fact that there are many times that I would like to talk but don't want to bore my friends and family with the trials and tribulations of my everyday life. So, therefore, I will blog. Now, people will have the chance to read or not to read instead of putting up with my endless phone conversations.

So, this is my first post and I'm excited to see how it turns out. My blog is still a work in progress and probably will be for quite some time. I will keep this post short as it has been a long day. Evan has been hit with what I think is the flu and right now he's fast asleep. The mom in me is telling me to get off the computer and get some rest because I may need it later.
Until the next time,
JUDY