So hilarious and somewhat true....

I came across this today on a few blogs:

Ten Good Reasons You May not Want to Have Kids and 20 Reasons Not to Have Children, 10 Reasons to Have Children

Or my life the way it really is might be what some parents want to title it. It is hilarious !

My favorite "You will be a bad parent if you don't listen to them. You are obligated to listen to all kinds of nonsensical irrelevant crap, all kinds of worthless interests and recaps of the Hannah Montana marathon they had on TV last weekend. You are obligated to tell them about life, sex, how to spend money, hygiene, calculus etc. "

Of course, I don't think they put in that you are exhausted pretty much 24/7. And if you are a single parent, there are not enough close to enough hours in the day to get it all done.

With that being said they are also wonderfully rewarding, give you boundless love and if you are lucky they will bless you a thousand times over. Now, that does not necessarily mean that I want another one. The three I have keep me quite busy enough. Plus, I get to be a new aunt soon and lots of friends my age are now having babies so plenty of babies to play with -- then return back to the parents. :)

Exciting News !!!

Looks like I am about to be an Aunt Jennifer again !! My brother Philip and his wife Michelle are expecting !! Yea !! Our whole family is so excited we can't stand it. She is due around April 20th. Of course my Mom hopes it is twins ;) LOL !

Must Write Thank You Notes, Must Write Thank You Notes

Ok...if you see me, talk to me or email me please remind me that I must finish writing thank you notes. I need to be the Thank You note bot. I just got our very cool thank you notes back last Saturday and they are already addressed. So, now I just need to find 6 spare hours to finish these...correct ? Easy, peasy....it will be just like writing a college term paper in 5 hours.

Now don't get me wrong....it is not that I am not grateful for all the wonderful things we have been given. And I do, really do, want to thank every person in special way. Now, I just need to leave all the other house chores, and the last of the unpacking and get this done. :)

Must Write Thank You Notes, Must Write Thank You Notes,Must Write Thank You Notes, Must Write Thank You Notes,Must Write Thank You Notes, Must Write Thank You Notes :)

Hot, Hot, Hot

After five straight days of temperatures mainly in the 60s and 70s, are going to hit 90 today and 100, maybe in 105 tomorrow. To make matters worse, the humidity will be brutal. So, we are planning on cooling down by the pool on Saturday and maybe even Sunday. Now that Katy has become such a good swimmer she wants to go more. Our pool near the house is very nice -- it has diving boards and water slides...of course I bet the water will be very cold because of all the rain and cool temps but after n 100 temps it will feel nice. we have friends coming over Saturday evening for a BBQ and celebrate the last of summer. :)

Photo is not of our neighborhood pool --i wish -- but though it might cool us down to look at it. :)

New Style Van ???

Hmmmm.......this morning coming into work I pulled up beside this......not sure what inspires someone to paint a van purple and then glue dinosaurs all over it....but it is an interesting artists concept.

Finally....something good about getting older....

Elderly Staying Sexually Active reports the Washington Post today:

"Many people maintain rich, active sex lives well into their 80s, according to the first detailed examination of sexuality among older Americans.

The nationally representative survey of more than 3,000 U.S. adults ages 57 to 85 found that more than half to three-quarters of those questioned remain sexually active, with a significant proportion engaging in frequent and varied sexual behavior."

Good to know there is something to look forward to in the later years. I hope that I still wear my hair long, have a camera in my hand and Mike and I get to travel....along with lots of other elderly fun. ;)

Adam's First Day of College

WOW !! I have a freshman in COLLEGE !! Way to go ADAM ! We went to his freshman ordination on Tuesday. And starts classes today.

Man, it did not seem like that long ago that I was standing in line to get my college ID. Of course ,I did point out to Adam that he was born at the end of my sophomore year. The great thing is because I was married I got it get a grant for school...lol. Of course I told Adam that I was him I would not try to to repeat that route. Much harder to study when you have an infant at home. :)

But, I would not trade him for the world. He has made me, his Dad and the rest of my family so very proud.

TGIF !!!

Whee ! Thank god it is Friday ! And thank goodness no really events going on this weekend so we can unpack more boxes, Craigs list stuff we don't want or need and maybe even take the kids to see Harry Potter on Sunday. Weather is suppose to be great so we are grilling tomorrow night !

Christina has our cool Thank You notes done so we can start getting those out too next week. I love to be able to cross things off the list.

Have a good weekend ya'll !

Two months married today ...whee !

Well...Mike and I have made it through two months of marriage. Talk about a making use of those vows right away...what a ride the last two months have been. :)

But, we are finally settling into life. This weekend we are unpacking the last of the boxes. Yea ! The house will be nice and organized for the most part.

So...even though it sounds silly we are going to celebrate tonight with a bit of champagne. And a nice candlelight meal on our wonderful back porch. We will give thanks for our great life together, the support of my kids and our families and the blessing of the house we bought.

I am not sure if we will celebrate again until maybe 6 months ...or even a year. But, celebrating tonight seems quite right to do !

New Photos added

I just added Adam's graduation photos to Shutterfly. And more family photos from the spring to my Smugmug account. I also added a few photos of took at Rochelle and John's wedding this past weekend.

And what a wonderful wedding. It was right on the water in Maryland and the weather was perfect. And when Rochelle walked in with her dad and did the father/daughter dance there was not a dry eye in the place. Rochelle's dad has been quite ill so it was a wonderful sight to see him there.

Jalynna Singing in PopStar Kids

Here is Dad and Minda's granddaughter and my niece Jalynna singing in the Philippines on the TV show PopStar Kids. She came in 2nd place and she should have won first ! She has an amazing singing voice for 11-years-old !! The first video is her sining Miracle which you can view on the blog and the second one is from the finale which you have to it this link to see - Jalynna singing.

I am sure we will here much more from here in the coming years ....

Unpacking....and angels

I look around the house and there are still boxes of mine that need to be unpacked. I know Mike must think I am a lazy bum because he has manged to unpack most of his. Of course, he did move into the house in April so he has had a few month of leeway time on me.

I know this sounds nutty but it is a very emotional process for me to unpack. Every time I open a box I find some reminder of Emily just waiting to be looked at. A photograph, a set of earrings she gave me, a pair of shorts that we went shopping together for. Even though Emily did not live near me I am shocked as to how much she intertwined with my adult life. Of course we are sisters and siblings so she has been part of my life since I was 2 1/2. I don't know why it surprises me to find so much of her inside those boxes but it does.

Just last night I pulled out a box I had full of perfume. Emily loved perfume. When I went home at Christmas she would come into my room everyday and ask to borrow some of mine. At the time it drove me a little batty because she had her own but she said she loved wearing something different. And it just made me so damn sad to realize when I go home in October for my class reunion that Emily will not be there to steal my perfume.

Of course in the mist of all this unpacking I have my ipod playing in the background -- when I hear the song In the Arms of the Angel by Sarah McLaughlin. It was so poignant and maybe it was Emily's way of letting me know she does has comfort now. And that she is a little redhead angel now. :)

In the Arms of the Angel by Sarah McLaughlin

Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay
there's always some reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memories seep from my veins
let me be empty
oh and weightless then maybe
I'll find some peace tonight

In the arms of the angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you feel
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here

So tired of the straight line
and everywhere you turn
there's vultures and thieves at your back
the storm keeps on twisting
you keep on building the lies
that you make up for all that you lack
it don't make no difference
escaping one last time
it's easier to believe
in this sweet madness oh
this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

In the arms of the angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you feel
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here

Photos, Photos and More Photos :)

OK ! I finally have uploaded the photos from the Wedding, Honeymoon, and other pre-wedding events. The photos are on Shutterfly. You will be able to order prints, frames, calenders and hey ....don't you want a luggage tag of us ? ;)

I still need to add more edits from the wedding and put them in order. And I still need to load Adam's graduation photos from another camera. Along with many other photos from the past two months. But, this is a start.

And, if you have photos from the wedding please create a gallery on Shutterfly (with your name on it) and post them so we can see them. :)

These are going to be on a password protected site. Here is the link - Our Wedding Photos. If you have not gotten an email from me with the password please email or call me for it.

I am sorry all the photos are not going to be available to all my blog readers. There are many people at these events who might not want to be on the open web. But, I did upload around 25 pictures from the wedding to my Smugmug account that you are welcome to view and comment on. Mike and Jenn's Winery Wedding Photos is the link. I will also add some honeymoon photos later so you can check out those too. :)