Thanksgiving passed for us with very little comotion. Jeramy had to work all day, Ryleigh went to school and I made spaghetti that night. (Canadian Thanksgiving was on October 13th)

The biggest priority for us here lately has been preparing for winter. The girls both have their complete snow suites and boots. I bought my boots on Friday and yesterday we had my Land Rover outfitted with studded snow tires. There is a bag of salt in our garage along with two snow shovels. Bring on the snow! Jeramy is still greatly lacking in snow gear, but we'll get to it.

This morning we set out for downtown to go watch the annual Christmas parade. We met some friends at the Fairmont for brunch first then set out in the about 35 degree weather to watch the parade. Despite the cold, it was a nice and clear day. Last night was raining so bad that the street next to our house flooded, so we felt pretty lucky that things had cleared up. The parade was about an hour and a half long, making it the longest parade I have ever sat through. The girls did very well, but after about an hour Ryleigh starting complaining about the cold. But once Santa started heading our way, the cold was the last thing from her mind. All in all, it was a good time. Both of the girls crashed in the car on the way home and were still exhausted tonight when it was time to go to bed.

Of course, I forgot the camera this morning, I was more concerned with warm clothes. We'll go see Santa soon and I'll make sure and get some new shots of the girls then.

Showing Some Love For My Little Bro

For those who live in the Metroplex area: If you are looking for something to do that will lift your spirits and make you want to go home and scrapbook, consider attending the battle of the bands that Curtis' band, Arabyss, will be playing in on Nov. 30th. It's sure to be a swell time.

That's Curtis, second from the left! To think, I used to show him how to wipe his ass and cut up his steak into little edible pieces!

To Know Jeramy is to Love Him

Last weekend we had a family over for some afternoon football watching and chili eating. I met the wife through a mutual friend and was excited to learn that they too were from Texas. I asked Jeramy if he minded me having over my new found friend and family to watch football and he reluctantly said yes. He was not really in the social kind of mood, but whatever makes me happy! (He clearly wanted some canoodling later on) Once Jeramy was finished getting dressed for the ocasion, he placed atop his head his new, free, beer hat...the beer hat that had come free in his recently purchased box of beer. Dude, it's like a happy meal, you can get a different toy, er, I mean hat, with every box! So, okay, whatever.

When the family arrived I introduced everybody to everybody and Jeramy quickly took note of the husband's t-shirt which stated "Brewed in Newfoundland". He asked the husband where he got such a cool shirt to which the husband replied something like "Dude, it came in a box of beer"!

Me thinks to me self, well good, they'll have some common ground to get them started.

Milestone

Other than mastering the latest dance moves, here is what the girls are up to:

Ryleigh. Oh where to begin. Well, she loves her school. She has several little friends in school that she sees outside school as well. She has been learning new things like crazy. The amount of things that she brings home every day is just amazing. I don't know how they have time to do all the things that they do. This last week she learned how to write her entire name. Go Girl! She is starting to memorize her "little" words and she can sound out a few things. But forget all that, it palls in comparison to this....she will now wipe her own ass. We have achieved complete potty training!! Congrats to my very big girl!! We make a weekly trip to the library, which she just loves. She still will not go to sleep at night without reading her two books, which I will gladly do until she won't let me anymore. She seems to have gone through a growth spurt here lately because overnight all of her jeans and dresses got too short. She has become quite focused here lately on her hair. It must be fixed like a princess every day, her words, not mine. She has also noticed that her hair is not as long as the other girls' hair in her class. This has begun to concern her. So, two days ago she was talking about how when she's older her hair will be longer, right mom? I said yes, it will be long when she's big. Then she proceeded to let me know that she saw something on TV that you can put in your hair that will make it grow longer. And, everytime she has seen that Pantene commercial since then, she comes running through the house to let me know. Bless her little heart. It's just a piece of the goodness and genuineness that is, Ryleigh.

Avery. Hmmm, how to start describing the most adorable, loveable, mild mannered, loving, happy, baby in the world. She really is amzaing. She is, of course, walking, no running,...no dancing! everywhere. Her jibber jabber is starting to organize itself into meaning. She can say (or something like say) thank you, uh-oh, Ryleigh, Mommy, Daddy and Duck. Why duck? Why not duck I suppose. She tries to do EVERYTHING that her big sister does. Something that has not gone unnoticed by Ryleigh who is starting to learn how to get Avery to follow her around. It's so wonderful to watch them play together! Avery is still not sleeping real well at night, but it doesn't really bother me. We are still nursing and will until she is ready to give it up. That being said, I don't offer it to her and when it's time for mama to be gone for a day or two, I think that she will be just fine. She eats just about anything that I put in front of her. Her favorite foods are strawberries and spaghetti. She is drinking whole milk and is really good at feeding herself. She is the light of my world and caring for her is my honor and privledge every day.

Both of my girls are my inspiration and my happiness. Ryleigh has become so independent and her ability to understand the world around her causes me to get caught off guard when she dares act like a four year old. Avery is totally happy all the time and teaches me to just enjoy life and take it as it comes. Which is what I'm doing as much as possible, with my partner by my side, every day.

You've just got to see this

Rocking Out

Gotta teach them young how great Tom Petty is:



This was after baths last night. It is also the essence of my life right now. I live to watch them loving life.

A Nice Visit

My parents came to visit last week. Their plane landed around midnight on a Wednesday and by 1am I had them at the house. There is only one flight into St. John's from the US every day and it is scheduled to be here at 10:30pm, but it is almost always very late due to heavy traffic in Newark. Blah.

The next morning we all got dressed and we went to do a little exploring. We went down to Middle Cove beach and drove through Torbay before having lunch at Jungle Jim's, Ryleigh's most favorite place in the whole wide world! After lunch we took a drive through down town St. John's and up to Cabot Tower on Signal Hill. My dad wrote his and my mom's name in the sign-in book at Cabot Tower and took great pride in declaring that they had to be the only names in there from Monahans, Texas. Cabot Tower is about as far away from Monahans as you could possibly get and still be on the same continent.

On Friday we took them to By Da Beach, our favorite little fish 'n chips dive which just happens to overlook Conception Bay. Friday night we got the sitter to come over (o praise our most excellent sitter) and we all went downtown for dinner and drinks. Dinner was at The Cellar and drinks were on George Street. We had a fantastic time and I think that my parents were pleasantly surprised that the end of the earth does have night life.

Saturday was Avery's First birthday party. I made "The Elmo Cake", the same cake that I made for Ryleigh's first birthday. We had a few friends over and it was a lot of fun. Kids everywhere!

Sunday was a bit of a rest day, though mom and I did manage to sneak off to the mall for a bit. Monday was lunch at Casbah followed by a trip out to Cape Spear.

Tuesday was a bit of a dreary day weather wise, but it was Rememberence Day which is sort of like Verterns Day in the States, so we went hiking up Signal Hill! Signal Hill is where Cabot Tower is located. Cabot Tower being the small castle like structure that was built in 1897 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Newfoundland. Signal Hill is at the mouth of St. John's harbor so when you're on top of the hill on a clear day, you can see out across the Atlantic Ocean for miles.

We parked at the bottom of the hill around 11am. It was me, Jeramy and my dad and there were a few little rain drops coming down on this not so warm day. After a little debating as to whether we really wanted to attempt this, we headed up. Where we started you could look out over the harbor and see the ships coming in. On Rememberence Day you can also see the firing of the canons. I just hope someone expalined to the cargo ship entering the harbor what that was all about. As we climbed Signal Hill we came around the ocean side and the higher we got, the better the view. It was a pretty easy hike, though the last stretch is a bunch of steps that go pretty much straight up. Ouch on the thighs! An hour later we were at the top and then the rain came. The cold, cold rain. We had agreeed to take the scenic way down so that Jeramy and my dad could look at 201,356 different old cannons and read all the historical stuff where things were learned such as a man named Henry Shrapnel invented the "shrapnal" spreading explosive. My quest for knowledge was just not as strong as my quest for dry pants so we did make it down fairly quickly and headed home. It was a lot of fun hiking with my dad and my husband. It was nice to be in decent enough shape to be able to make the hike.

All in all, it was the most excellent visit I've ever had with my parents. It was such a stress-free week and I couldn't help be be reminded over and over how lucky I am to have such a wonderful and loving family around me. It's been a long journey for my parents and I and I'm very pleased that we've arrived at this very happy place.

Mom and Dad, thanks for coming, you are welcome back any time! But next time, you will be kissing the cod!

Massage Time

After Ryleigh's bath tonight I commenced to perform the nightly ritual of slathering her with lotion. After I was done covering her, she offered to give me a back massage. I gave her the lotion and gladly accepted her offer of a free back massage, who wouldn't? Even from a four year old. She put some lotion on my back and started rubbing it in when all of a sudden, something didn't feel quite right. I turned my head and craned my neck only to see my 4 yaer old daughter sitting on my back with her bare ass, giving me a butt massage I suppose. She started laughing and my mom, who was sitting across the room, and I started laughing like crazy. Just one of the many, many crazy things that goofy chick has done. And she shall be called, She Who Massages With Her Ass.

Mom and I got to get away today and do a little shopping at the wonderful St. John's Avalon Mall. After spending more time in Sears than I've spent in Sears during the last 10 years combined we ventured into the the rest of the mall. My mission was to get a new pair of jeans. I found the most wonderful pair of jeans at the Gap...size 8. Oh happy, happy day...a size 8! I've been working out now for about 10 weeks and I've lost 2 dress sizes and boy do my biceps look cool! I'm so proud of my self and of my husband who has also lost inches and pounds over the past few months. We're doing more than work out, we've committed to changing how we eat and how we live. We've got two adorable girls to be here and present for!

Time for some sleep. Mom and I are going to head downtown tomorrow and attempt to find some black boots. It is our mission and we shall not fail.

Mom, It's Prounounced New-Fun-Laaannnd

My parents have been here since late Wednesday night for a week-long visit. It's been a great visit and a busy one so far. Thursday we took a tour of the area which included a trip to the beach and sight-seeing on top of Signal Hill. On Friday we did some hanging out around the house and then headed out for a grown-up dinner (Ryleigh's favorite babysitter ever came over to watch the girls) in downtown St. John's. After dinner we went for a stroll down historic George Street and stopped for a few drinks and some live music entertainment. The parentals seemed to have a great time and it was a much needed break from the kiddos. Today we had Avery's first birthday party here at the house. A few of my new mommy friends came over with their kiddos and we had a great time. I made the same Elmo cake that I made for Ryleigh's first birthday party but managed to get it right on the first try this time! We got Avery the new Elmo Live which is a totally awesome toy! Ryleigh, Avery and I sat on the floor and watched him all evening. I highly recommend!

Right now we're watching some football and just hanging out on the couch. The girls are sleeping away which is amazing considering the amount of sugar they put into their bodies today. Tomorrow is supposed to be more rain, but mom and I are hoping to sneak away at some point for a little shopping.

Website Fave!

Another cool website to add to your favorites!

http://www.supercook.com/

Enjoy!

Remember When

Remember when cartoons only came on Saturday mornings and you couldn't just sleep the morning away and expect to catch them because by 10am the grown up shows were back on? You couldn't just stay in bed and tell yourself that cartoons will be on when you decide to roll out because there is that 24 hour cartoon channel where the cartoons are always on. Actually there are 4 channels that broadcast cartoons 24 hours a day. And you couldn't say to yourself on Friday night, "Self, my favorite show is on at 9am tomorrow, but since I don't want to get up until noon, I'll just set the DVR so that I can watch my favorite cartoon at my total leisure". Well, you could set the VCR to record your favorite show, but I never knew anyone who knew how to set the VCR to record in advance even though it was rumored that it could indeed record in such a way. But you couldn't whine to your mom that you wanted to watch cartoons at any moment of the entire day because she would have just said, silly child, cartoons aren't on right now, and she wouldn't have been totally telling the truth.