Mom To Jacob And Allison

The Zoo Goes To The Zoo!

2008-11-07T22:09:00.000-05:00

Taking advantage of the kids being off of school and Abby visiting, we all headed to the zoo! It was me, Jacob, Allison, Abby, and my parents! It was supposed to be a sunny day however, the sun never came out but it was quite warm for November. This was Abby's first trip to the zoo and my kids had a great time showing her the ropes and pointing EVERYTHING out to her! Today's highlights were the treehouse playground and of course... the Naked Mole Rats! I think that Abby's favorites were the Elephants (a more normal choice in my opinion).

Aunt Kay

2008-11-06T21:54:00.001-05:00

The kids are off for a couple of days so today we made a road trip to visit Aunt Kay. It has been several years since we've seen her. We have attempted to visit her a few times but someone has always seemed to get sick and prevented the visit. She lives about 1 1/2 hours away so it takes a bit of coordinating.

Since Abby was visiting, we took advantage of the opportunity and hit the road. We took her out to lunch and then visited with her back at her apartment! We had a really good visit with her and so thankful for the opportunity to see her again! Aunt Kay is so faithful about sending the kids cards and mailing them little notes so I'm glad that we had the chance to take them to see her. We miss her tons and can't wait to see her again!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T21:06:00.001-04:00

Today's activities started out at school with the school parade. The kids love parading around the school grounds waving to everyone!

We also had a neighborhood parade that kicked off the Halloween fesitivities! The parade was lead by the local fire department who had a couple of their trucks come to lead the way.
Everyone made their way down to "the patio" where lots of goodies awaited us. Thanks to donations of all the residents, there was pizza, soft pretzels, brownies, cookies, popcorn, water, juice boxes and more! After a quick dinner and some sugar.... the moment had arrived. We worked our way back to our house trick or treating at each and every house along the way! We finally made it home with WAY too much candy!

I was really glad that Halloween was on a Friday this year, no worries of rushing home and not getting ALL the candy we could possibly get! :o)

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-29T22:54:00.002-04:00

The Phillies won the
World Series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pumpkin Decorating

2008-10-27T20:41:00.002-04:00

This year the kids' school had a pumpkin decorating contest. There were 2 rules... 1) you had to use the "artificial" pumpkins; and 2) all pumpkins had to be themed around a local author of children's books.

Jacob's book was "They Came From Centerfield". This book was about aliens that landed while some kids were playing baseball. The aliens wanted to learn how to play the game so the group of kids taught them.

Allison's book was "Miss Daisy Is Crazy". Her book was about a silly teacher named Miss Daisy who actually taught the kids that they really enjoyed learning more than they admitted. Miss Daisy had very red and very curly hair!

The pumpkins will be on display for the week and the teachers will judge them and announce the winners. Each grade will have several winners so I think they have a good chance of winning something! :o) If nothing else, we had a good time creating them!

Trunked Treats!

2008-10-26T20:23:00.001-04:00

Tonight we spent the night tailgating at our church's annual Trunked Treats! Trunked Treats is where people from our church congregation come and park in the lot for a giant tailgating party and all the kids get to go trick or treating from one trunk to the next. We brought pizza and lots of snacks to munch on before the festivities and shared with all of our friends. Before the annual gathering of the candy, the kids were invited inside for a show. This year was a magic show that the kids thought was pretty cool!

This was a fun way to kick off our Halloween activities!

Out of the mouth of babes......

2008-10-23T18:10:00.004-04:00

Over the weekend, my parents took Allison out to dinner. While they were waiting for their food, she was busy coloring and drawing. My dad inquired if she always wrote with the same hand. Here is her answer....

"Yes. Even when I turn around, I still use the same hand!".

Hmmm..... :o)

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2008-10-19T21:10:00.005-04:00

While I was exploring NYC, Eric, Jacob, & Allison were definately not bored! Saturday was spent with a morning trip to a local playground with all the husbands and kids of the moms who were in NYC! After hoping all the kids were tired and worn out...they all went to lunch.

Later in the day, Eric and Jacob had a birthday party to attend that was actually a campout in the birthday boy's backyard! It was a very chilly night with temps in the low 40s but they survived and had lots of fun - good food, movies, flashlight tag, and of course smores! Allison had the opportunity to have a private sleepover at Grandmom and Grandpop's complete with dinner and dessert at Friendly's (her favorite place). So, I came home for the first time EVER, to an empty house - a bit weird and a bit nice all at the same time!

Sunday was no exception to the busy schedule. After church Allison and I had a field trip with her Brownie Troop to the Police Expo. What a fun day! It far exceeded all of my expecations and we had a great time. We were disappointed that Eric and Jacob couldn't have joined us for all the fun. There were representative and interactive displays from all branches of Community Emergency Management, police, fire, EMT, Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Game and Wildlife and more! Allison got to go inside all the differnt vehicles and boats, sit on a motorcycle and even wore some riot gear! For anyone who is local.... definately put the Police Expo on your calendars for next year!

While we were at the Expo, Jacob had yet another birthday party! Alot of the same boys were there that the had just seen a few hours earlier but they again had lots of fun!

From there, we all met up as a family at Jacob's soccer game which ended the busy weekend with lots of stress and nail biting!

Whew! A fun weekend, but glad that we are on the other side of it!

Girls Day in NYC

2008-10-18T23:35:00.000-04:00

Today I had the chance to spend the day roaming around NYC with 8 of my closest girlfriends! We've been planning this for a few months and were all so excited to get away for the day!

We left in 2 cars and drove 1 1/2 hours to Staten Island to take the Staten Island Ferry over to NYC. It cost only 5.50/car to park and the ferry was free - great deal! The ferry passed by The Statue of Liberty providing some great photos! Once on land, we wondered around Battery Park. There was a monument there that had been in the lobby of one of the World Trade Towers on the day of 9/11. Although in one piece, it had evidence of the terrorism.

We walked a few blocks to the subway and bought all day passes and started out to view ground zero. I personally had wanted to see it since I had not yet been to the site since 9/11. It was a hard place to visit knowing the destruction and it sent memories flooding back to that day - where I was and what I was doing. Unfortunately, there were many on the streets just trying to capitalize and exploit this horrific day. We weren't able to see much as there were tons of high solid fences around - a bit disappointing but understandable.

From Ground Zero, back to the subway for our next stop as hunger was setting in. We stopped at a small sandwich shop called The Peanut Butter Company. Everything on the menu was made from peanut butter. Only a few of us actually bought something there but tastes were had by all! The sandwiches of the day were "the cookie dough" which was peanut butter, cream cheese, and chocolate chips on white bread and "the elvis" which was peanut butter, bananas, and bacon on white bread. From there we spotted a flea market to explore. Found some great bargains and even got a bit of Christmas shopping done! From the flea market we went back to the subway to find some landmark stores of interest. First stop, The Stand Bookstore - known for having 18 miles of books! From there we hit a few others in the area and then found a fun Farmers Market to roam with all kinds of beautiful fruits and veggies!

Again, back to the subway, this time towards the Brooklyn Bridge for what we thought were going to be just a few photos but turned out to be quite the adventure. Before long, we found ourselves walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. The more we thought about our situation, the more we freaked ourselves out! The walkway was over the roadway and was a boardwalk in which we could see (and feel) the passing cars below! We walked only about 1/3 of the way way to the first observation deck. Although a little scary, I was glad that I did it! While on the observation deck, I called Eric to tell him where I was, after all, how often can I call my husband and tell him I'm standing in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge!

After the Brooklyn Bridge, we were on the home stretch and all feeling a bit tired! We walked to South Street Seaport for dinner. We had just enough time to explore some shops along the pier before dinner and work up our appetite. We had a good Mexican dinner at restaurant called Red. Good food and lots of laughs with great friends!

A quick look at the Brooklyn Bridge lit up in lights, and a quick cab ride and we were back at the ferry terminal for our trip home! Despite tired bodies and feet, the ferry ride home was anything but solemn or boring! Lots of laughs and memories!

Since most of the girls who went on the trip read this... Thank you to all of you for your friendship and a great day! It always good to take time for you guys! Looking forward to our next girl's event!

2008-10-13T21:31:00.003-04:00

Today we took the kids to the zoo. It was a beautiful day with temperatures around 80 - a perfect day for an outside activity. We packed a cooler full of drinks and food and hopped in the car for our trip! We spent the day just leisurely walking around and looking at everything. Since it was just the 4 of us we had no agenda and just spent our day doing and seeing whatever the kids led us to. Since we bought a family membership, I'm certain we'll be back there frequently and they are open year round.

The favorite animal that seemed to be on both kids list was (warning you... this is strange...) the Naked Mole Rat. Who knew?! I'm not sure if they really liked the animal or just the name of it! Other favorites was the Lemur for Jacob and Kangaroo for Allison. Allison only liked one particular kangaroo - the one that looked like it was 1000 years old "because it walked funny". You never know just what will spark their interest!

Columbus Day Soccer Tournament

2008-10-13T20:08:00.004-04:00

This weekend was the infamous Ft. Dix soccer tournament. I'm beginning to think that this family will never experience the full tournament. Last year, Jacob was very sick and missed the entire tournament. Thursday afternoon, I thought we were headed down a similar road as Jacob got off the bus with a 102 temperature and feeling just awful. Since Friday was a day off of school, we opted to put family plans on hold and just have a quiet day and rest in hopes of making the tournament on Saturday morning. Our efforts paid off and no fever all day and felt great!

Saturday morning we packed the car for the day and headed out to the tournament. It was a beautiful day - perfect fall soccer weather! We sailed right through security (unlike last year - 1 1/2 wait through security) and set up camp - and I do mean camp! The team had 2 tents and everyone came decked out with food, activities and chairs since we would be there until dinner! After some hair paint for good luck, we hit the field for the first game! It was a really tough game but the boys hung in there and fought till the end despite the loss! The second game was probably the most intense game so far of the season. In the end though we ended the game in a tie. It was a great day and we all had alot of fun!

Sunday, though, was a different story. We all literally rolled out of bed since we had to leave at 6:30. Only one game though, we figured we'd be home by 10 and just shower then and still have our day ahead of us! The day played out much differently though! Just shortly after we got our chairs set up and the boys were warming up, Jacob became sick - fortunately there was an empty trash can right there! So we packed up and left with a very green little boy! We were home by 8:15 am! After a couple of hours, he seemed much better but still stayed low for the day.

So last year we missed the whole tournament, this year just half, so maybe next year we have a shot of making the full 2 days!

Caught Up!

2008-10-10T23:34:00.002-04:00

I've had most of the below posts in draft mode and just haven't been able to get a minute to work on my blog. So.... happy "catching up" with our comings and goings!

A Budding Artist

2008-10-10T20:45:00.003-04:00

We found out this week that Allison has a piece of her artwork on display at our town's Post Office. She was 1 of 3 1st graders to be choosen! We went over today to see it ~ she is so excited and proud of her work!
The photo is not the best as it was displayed up near the ceiling and in a glass frame.

My Dad's New Toy!

2008-10-06T20:54:00.000-04:00

Today was a big day for my dad! For the first time in about 30 years, he was actually without a boat for a few weeks. He sold his boat and didn't have one on the back burner to replace it. So... today he took his "new" boat for one last test ride and then had it pulled from the water to check it out completely. I drove over to photograph the event and see it! We are looking forward to warmer weather to come so we can all get a ride on it!

18 Years And Counting

2008-10-05T21:06:00.000-04:00

Tonight I met up with 2 of my very good college friends... Melissa and Angie. We met 18 years ago and have been great friends ever since. The amazing thing about our friendship is that we only spent 1 year together at the same college! We never have a problem picking up right where we left off! Angie is an event planner and happened to be in Newark organizing a conference so Melissa and I met up with her to visit and have dinner! We are already planning our next visit for next September!

You Know Its Fall....

2008-10-03T21:20:00.001-04:00

... when you go on a hayride with some of your closest friends!

Tonight we resurrected our yearly hayride and had a great time! Years ago before anyone had kids, we made a yearly tradition of going on a fall hayride. The kids were all so excited and everyone had a great time! We rode in a hay filled wagon out and around the farm property making a stop in the pumpkin field to pick pumpkins. Picking pumpkins in the dark added a new perspective to pumpkin picking! :o) After completing our hayride, we had full use of a decorated barn for snacks! It was a beautiful night - just cool enough to appreciate fall!

Brownie Investure Ceremony

2008-10-03T19:38:00.001-04:00

Tonight was Allison's Investure Ceremony for Brownies. She was pinned and officially became a Brownie! She has lots of friends in her troop and has great leaders! Her troop has 21 girls - all in 1st grade! The ceremony was in the backyard of one of her troop leaders. The girls sang 2 songs, and each came to the "pond" and received their official pin and a beautiful rose!

A Local Resident

2008-10-03T15:00:00.002-04:00

Today while picking something up at my parents house I found this guy sitting on their dock. It's the local Blue Heron. I've seen it from a distance before but never this close. I kept getting closer and closer and it wasn't moving. I was anticipating being freightened when it flew away but it never did! Pretty amazing!

Township Day

2008-09-27T22:32:00.001-04:00

We spent the afternoon at our Township Day! We had never participated in the past and really did not have any idea what it was. Turns out it was lots of fun with lots of free activities for the kids. There were giant inflatables, old fashioned carnival games and pony rides just to mention a few. Both kids had a friend with them and had a great time!

Ice Cream & Bingo

2008-09-26T23:09:00.000-04:00

We ventured out to a school social tonight. Usually this one social is 2 seperate events but this year... it was crazy! If you didn't have a headache before you got there, you definately left with one! I suppose I'm only speaking of the adults because the kids all seemed as though they were enjoying themselves!

According To My Kids.....

2008-09-26T19:00:00.000-04:00

.... this is their favorite meal! Oh well.... I guess it could be worse!

Our Crazy Life

2008-09-24T08:46:00.006-04:00

I've gotten several comments about my lack of blogging posts recently. We are attempting to adjust to our new schedules. Between everyone's different activities, things tend to be a bit crazy. We have busy days, busier days, and then below is a picture of our busiest days when we do homework and have dinner in the car!

We have managed a couple of trips to OC the last two weekends in between soccer on Saturday and Sunday. I'm pretty certain we are done with OC until next year.

My days haven't been boring at all....I have been spending my days keeping the house in order (something that hasn't really happened for 8 years) and you know I discovered that my desk actually has a glass top! I've also discovered that I haven't eaten lunch alone in 8 years! All my paperwork is officially submitted for substitute teaching and we are just waiting approval from the state - something that may take a bit of time. So I'm using this time to get caught up on things around the house. We are working toward a yard sale later in October so we've got our work cut out for us!

A New School Year!

2008-09-04T09:23:00.004-04:00

Today I have 2 children in school full time! I have definitely entered a new phase in my motherhood journey! For 8 years, I've always had someone home with me at least part of the day! Now Jacob is in 3rd grade and Allison is in 1st grade! I'm not so sure where the time has gone but I'm afraid if I blink again, we will be at someone's graduation!

Both kids were very excited about a new school year! They both were ready to get back to their friends too! I think that Allison was a bit nervous to venture into 1st grade. She never verbalized her nervousness but did give me some glimpses of being a bit apprehensive!

3rd Annual Back To School Breakfast at the Bus Stop Bash!

2008-09-04T09:07:00.002-04:00

Today is the first day of school here and so that means we kick off school with our Back to School Breakfast at the Bus Stop Bash! I got the idea a few years ago in a magazine and so the tradition continues this year. I send out invitations to all the houses at our stop and everyone brings a breakfast item to share. I provided juice boxes and everyone else filled the wagon with lots of food! Here are some pictures from our morning!

Summer's Finale

2008-09-03T20:59:00.011-04:00

We just returned from being in Ocean City for the last 2 weeks. We had great weather and made some great memories! We did all of our favorites activities and tried some new ones too! It's hard to believe summer is coming to an end! We stayed until the very last second - school starts tomorrow morning and we got home tonight! :o) Although it's sad that rest and relaxation is coming to and end, we are all needing some sort of a routine other than sitting by the pool during the week and sitting on the beach on weekends! Did I mention that I LOVE summer!

Tennis has become one of the kids new favorite activities. They are both enjoying learning the basics and since we have courts less than 1 block from our house - we played tennis often.

Two friends of mine came to visit one bay - here are ALL the kids! What a fun day!

Jacob tried to dig to china one day! This was by far the deepest hole he's done 100% on his own!

Allison discovered that the beach is a great place to catch some zzz's!

What vacation in OC would be complete without some rides! Abby got to join in on the fun, too!

We also had the opportunity to perfect our mini-golf game on the boardwalk one day!

The kids learned how to play Bocce Ball. This became an daily favorite activity!

We tried Crabbing for the first time. We first went to this very secluded spot on the island. We waited, and waited and waited some more, but not even a bite!

So... we changed our location and went to my dad's dock... and presto... a crab! We caught 3 "keeper" Blue Claw crabs and cooked them for dinner! I'm happy to say that both kids tried them and "think" they like crabs!

It became very clear to me this weekend that I now have 3 kids to watch in the water! They all had a blast boogie boarding this week - the waves were HUGE! Allison did her best to keep up with the "boys" and took quite a beating out there but never gave up!

One last shot of the life gaurd boat! Till next year........!