Thursday, January 31, 2008

Lots of "firsts"



Mmmmmm....yummy goey rice cereal!


Look at me mom! What fun!


This post is a week late, but I wanted to share Rhylah's news! She has now tried "solid" food (meaning Gerber rice cereal) and is using her exersaucer! This is big news for our little lady, who is growing up much too fast! She did a good job with the food ... spitting out most of it as she tried to figure out what to do with it. I can't say that it made her sleep any better, as it did for the boys ... because she already sleeps so well! She usually lasts each night until 5 a.m. before waking up for a feeding. She really enjoys the exersaucer too ... so does Asher, who seems to have fond memories of his old toy and keeps trying to climb inside.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Matching Cousins


Here's a cute shot of Rhylah and her cousin Abbie wearing matching sweaters. Too cute! I took this photo at Gabriel's birthday party last week ... more birthday photos to come soon!

Monday, January 28, 2008

Yet another reason to love the ice rink



Okay, so those of you who aren't into the mushy love stuff might want to skip this entry. But I have to blog about it, because it's just too sweet not to.
Yesterday I was having one of those days where the kids are going nuts and my head was starting to spin ... yeah, kinda like that girl on the Exorcist. Sometimes, as I'm sure even the best of mothers can verify, three kids (heck, even one kid) can be enough to make you want to jump out a window.
So what did my darling hubby do? He arranged for a sitter, kidnapped me for an hour and took me ice skating.
Now some might say -- One hour: That's hardly any time ... or ... Ice skating: Not especially romantic... but I would have to disagree.
One hour feels like a week-long vacation when you've had a rough day. And ice skating? Well, that's how my grandmother snared my grandpa, so it's romantic enough for me. Also, Nate and I had never gone skating together before.
We drove to Cleveland Park, and it was so late that we were the only people there ... the warming shack was closed and the lights over the "rink" were off, so it was quite dark. But you got used to it after a minute and the stars just seemed that much brighter. We had a blast, skating around, racing, throwing snowballs, tossing each other into the snow banks and just having some good old fashioned fun. I don't think I've had that much fun in one hour all winter. Thanks so much sweetheart!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Brush with an Old World tradition


Gabe and I head out to go ice skating.


Gabe stands in the warming cabin .... nice and toasty!


Gabriel on ice!



Gabe and I did something tonight that I think they've been doing in Sheboygan for possibly 100 years.
We went ice skating!
Apparently, every winter, they flood two parks in our town -- one on the north side and one on the south, and turn them into huge ice skating rinks. They just opened them up yesterday.
Today, Nathan found used ice skates for us at Play It Again Sports, only $15 for mine and $20 for Gabe's! So at dusk, Gabe and I trekked out to Cleveland Park.
How delightful! After a day of being stuck inside, it was so good to be out! And of course the "rink" comes complete with a little warming cabin with a wood-burning stove ... a huge tree stump with an axe stuck in it sits in one corner, along with a gigantic pile of firewood. An older gentleman, probably a member of the parks department, sat there reading and supervising things.
What a charming way to spend an evening! We're going back again tomorrow!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

A little bit of white stuff


A good old fashioned Wisconsin snow! The most we've gotten in one batch all winter!


Gabe wades through the snow to get to the car on his way to school.


Asher gets ready to go sledding with daddy -- some quality time for daddy and son!

So we got a little bit of the white stuff last night. What I think is amazing is that in Missouri, 1-2 inches would be enough to shut down half the city -- heck, even the prediction of 1-2 inches would cause a minor uproar ... but here in good old Wisconsin, 10 inches isn't even enough to call off, or even DELAY, school! But the good news is that Gabriel is at an age where this doesn't really matter. Our conversation this morning went something like this:
Gabe: "Do I have school today?"
Mom: "Yeah ... sorry buddy."
Gabe: "That's okay mom! I LOVE school!"

Wow. How many years do you think I have left before that response changes?

Quite a puzzler!

A new super cute photo of Rhylah looking charming in her carseat ... In puzzle form! Put it together and see if you can beat my time of 40 seconds!!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Hello Miss Rhylah

I took this footage today. Rhy has a very unique way of saying hello and goodbye -- she sticks her tongue out at us. Take a peek!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Go Pack Go!

My family in their Green and Gold


"Look daddy! I'm a cheerleader!"



Today is the big game, and we're all glad that it's finally here! Here is my family, all dressed up for the big event. Even Asher has on Packer overalls! Gabriel is SUPER excited. And even Rhylah got dressed up in her new little cheerleader outfit, (Thanks, Uncle Keith!) which fits PERFECTLY, even though it's size 6-9 months and she's barely 4 months old. She sure is growing fast!!!

Friday, January 18, 2008

A little bit nuts

I like the Packers. A lot. I hope they win the Super Bowl ... I hope they go all the way. In fact, I would venture to say that I've never been so supportive of a football team, ever. Even the Rams, when I lived in St. Louis. It's easy to get caught up in the fan hype here in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, because it's very simply ... what people DO here.
But dear Lord in heaven, I hope the media hype stops soon.
WOW.
You wouldn't believe the stories that are pouring out over the media wires lately! Not to mention the fact that everyday, our own front page is devoted to Packer-mania. EVERY DAY. And we're not even in Green Bay.
But let me tell you a little bit about some of this quality journalism ... pulitzer prize winning stuff really...
Let's see, yesterday there was the father who was arrested for forcibly duct-taping his 7-year-old son into a chair for refusing to wear a Packers' jersey during last weekend's game. WOW.
And today I had to laugh at various crazy stories analyzing the turf of Lambeau field, and how it really was from Jersey, closer to the Giants home. Ummmmm....who cares! News alert! IT'S JUST GRASS!
Oh, and the best one yet ... A Green Bay television station found out that Eli Manning's favorite TV show is "Seinfeld." So, this weekend ... when Mr. Manning comes to town, the station has decided to yank the episode off the air. So the Giant's quarterback will have to suffer without Seinfeld. Oh the horrors! How on earth will he win a football game without a daily dose of Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and George!
Well, that's it. I don't think they even have to play the game. It's all decided. The Packers' will win, thanks to WLUK-TV Green Bay. Whew! I'm glad too, because otherwise things might have really gotten crazy!!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Just a quick photo


Just a quick photo of Rhylah-roo today. I was busy helping Gabe with his blog post and ran out of time! But if you get a chance, check out his blog ... he LOVES getting comments. It makes his day! :)
This is Miss Rhy with her tongue sticking out. This has become her most favorite game of all. She giggles whenever we stick our tongues out at her, and she loves trying to do it herself. I think it's her way of communicating at this point! What a doll!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Sweet little Gracie


This is me and my most adorable, sweetheart of a niece, Sydney. In my head, for some reason or another, I seem to refer to her as Gracie -- her middle name is Grace -- which is one of my most favorite names ever! But of course, her whole name is quite beautiful!
This past weekend, we got the chance to take a quick drive to St. Louis and visit my sister and her hubby and their beautiful new daughter. She's lovely of course, and sooooo tiny! After holding Rhy for so long, and being used to her 14 plus pounds now, Sydney's tiny 6 pounds was like holding thin air!
But my sister and her hubby, Leon, are doing wonderfully well as brand new parents! Sydney Grace couldn't ask for better, more loving parents ... and grandparents too! We miss them already!

Friday, January 11, 2008

My son, the blogger



If you look on the left-hand side of the screen, under my blog links, you will now see a link to my son Gabriel's blog, "Life at 6." Gabe asked me for a blog, because A) apparently the little dude has a lot to say and B) He got a digital camera from papa Bruce for Christmas ... a "real" one, not a "kid" one, and he plans to take lots of pictures and post them on his blog.
My 6-year-old has a blog.
What was I doing when I was six?
I'm not sure I remember ... probably playing My Litty Pony and Barbies and dress-up. I have to say that the most technological of all the gadgets in my own 6-year-old world was probably our old Commodore 64 -- an ANCIENT, and HUGE mythical beast of yore with a computer screen and monitor that would kill a small child if it happened to land on them. There was no internet, no cell phones, no IM-ing, no text-messaging ... heck, there were barely VCRs and certainly no CD players yet!
In fact, the big excitement in my life was when my folks would let me tinker around with one of the typewriters (that's right, we had MORE than one in our household) and I would spend hours writing stories and entertaining myself, despite the fact that I had to use white out on my mistakes afterwards. White out, for crying out loud!!! Do they even SELL that stuff anymore?
So, to my techno-advanced son, I wish him all the best with his new blog. I guess we'll see how much he ends up posting! But regardless ... I figure this is his way of "tinkering with the typewriter" the way his mommy used to do!

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Christmas 2007

Here is the end montage from my 20 minute long Christmas DVD for this year. Don't worry, it's only 2 minutes long! But it hits all the major highlights! Enjoy!

Friday, January 04, 2008

I'm an auntie!




My sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl last night at about 5:15 p.m. Sydney Grace Jameson is just lovely, at 7 lbs 2 oz and 20.5 inches long. What a darling! Here are a few photos! I can't wait to meet her!

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Buddies


Just a quick post with a cute picture of my boys and their cousins, snuggled up watching "Shrek the Third" at our house during a Xmas party. Mason, Ash, Seth and Gabriel are great friends and are all growing up MUCH too quickly! I'll have more Xmas posts soon! We had a fabulous time in St. Louis over the holidays!