Go Cubs!!

Well, we just got the call we were hoping for. Steven was drafted into the Majors and will be playing on the Cubs. He is happy with the news. So... GO CUBS!!!!

Welcome...

This little guy welcomes us home as we go to our front door. He is there most of the year and I think he is so cute. I guess I need to sweep my stoop -I see that there is debris on the ground behind him.

I am not saying much in these posts -I guess because I had to do so many at a time. Plus Jack has been home sick all week. High temps, sore throat.. dr. says its viral and to take it easy....so he and I have been home, home, home. I think I may need to get out.

Home Sweet Home

I wanted to get an updated shot of the front of our house ... after the tree trimming. I am amazed at how open the front of the house seems now, those pine tree's created quite a barrier against the walkway. I am glad we had them trimmed.

Family Dinner

On Sunday we had a wonderful lasagna dinner to celebrate my dad's 61st birthday. The gang was all here and I got this picture after he opened his gifts but before dessert. We had blueberry pie and banana cream pie! Yummy.

Clean up...

This is the trailer full of trim trimmings taken away from our house this week. We had 1 tree taken out and the other 6 were trimmed way back. I was confused at first... when I said to trim the tree away from the house -he hacked off the whole branch! I was not expecting that at all. I have now been reassured that this is normal and ok. Our other house was too new to have mature tree's and this house has tons. This was the first time we had them trimmed back and now we know we should do it a bit more often....

Tryouts...

Both boys attended try outs last week. This picture is from Steven's try out day. The weather was cooperative and it was our first sunny day in a long time. This is the first time we have had outdoor tryouts for baseball --usually the kids try out at an indoor arena -but outside they were this year~!

We are currently waiting to hear what happened at the draft.... pins and needles here.

2-7-08 ..Tree Sitting

I've been having computer troubles -blogger didn't want to let me post and after many days of frustration - I am in and so I have to go back to these pictures that are missing....

Today the guy came to cut back our tree's. Afterwards the kids were playing out front and Steven came in. I looked out the window -which I can see out now that the tree's are gone.. and there was Jack. I went and asked what he was doing and he said
"tree sitting" and "it's fun and a nice way to relax."

My Centro

This is my phone. It is the Sprint Centro by Palm. It has a palm pilot in it -so I can keep my calendar, address book, notes, pictures, music, calculator and game all in one place. I have never been so on top of my calendar or had scheduling so easy. The phone alarm beeps reminders for my to-do list, my appointments and whatever else it feels like.

I wasn't sure I would like having the calendar in the phone -but I do! 1 less thing to carry with me and I always have my calendar available. Also, I use so few sticky notes now -when I get info it goes right into the phone -so I don't lose it or have to look it up again!

I am sorry to post 3 in a row... I have been taking the pictures, but I came down with Strep throat and have been out of it and off the computer for the last few days. I am on meds now and hope to be back to normal by tomorrow.

Tea...

I admit it. I am a tea-a-holic. I love it! I drink 4-5 cups of hot tea every day in the winter and iced tea in the summer. I like plain old Lipton, but have always (since I was about 10) loved Constant Comment as my "treat" tea. Well, then I read the book Eat, Pray, Love...
which if you haven't read it -you should! It is a great book about a woman's journey to find herself. Anyway I finished the book and then caught the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, on Oprah. They showed her at her home, getting ready to write and she made a cup of tea. Celestial Seasonings bengal spice to be exact. She said it reminded her of the chai teas she drank in India and Bali. I like Chai .. so I picked some up at the store on my next outing (on sale of course!). It is sooooo yummy! I feel like I am addicted to it. I shared it with a few girlfriends, they all liked it too! In fact, I think I'll go make a cup now.

Valentines Day...is right around the corner!

Here are Jackson's valentines. We covered full size Hershey bars with some fun
patterned paper. It was super easy & fun to do together. He just needs to put the
label sticker on and write each kid's name... A fun project for sure!

SuperBowl Sunday

tO

Today was the Super Bowl. My brother and my parents came over to watch. Now, I don't watch football, but I do check in on the score periodically. So mom & I spent the game time chatting and getting the food ready. After a dinner of home made meatball subs.. the mood in the living room got more somber. Then that ending... wow, what an ending.. and I captured this photo right at the 1 second left to go mark....

Brian, Jon, Steven and my dad were all rooting for the Giants. My dad is a Giants fan and since the Raiders & Titans were out the others were rooting that way too. Except Jackson and Logan -who kept popping in to say they were hoping the Patriots would win. They were playing, not watching the game, and not really interested, but wanted to pick a side....

It was a fun afternoon/evening, I enjoyed it.

A close one...

Steven's team played last night. They played a hard and fast game. It came down to them being behind by 3 in the last minute of the game and one of his teammates hit a 3 point shot to tie the game!! It was so exciting! They played a minute of overtime and the other team came out ahead -but wow -it was an exciting couple of minutes.

Can Cheese

For several days Jackson asked if I could bring home some canned cheese. I finally remembered and he loved it. I remember liking cheez-whiz when I was a kid -but this stuff is not good. He really liked it with wheat thins -the cheese was cheddar flavored. Several snacks in a row this is what he had. Thankfully it is all gone now.