Hallmark...Schmallmark

Happy Birthday to you! (chachacha)

Happy Birthday to you! (chachacha)

Happy Birthday, dear Aunt Amy!

Happy Birthday to you!! (chachacha)

(Kat felt the chachacha was necessary in the song!!!) The kids (as well as many of the neighbors driving by) got a big kick out of doing a "driveway-sized" card!! They are now COVERED in chalkdust so I'll be sending them out in the sprinklers shortly! :)

I hope you are having a peaceful, relaxing, perfect birthday!!!! It's a beautiful day to do absolutely NOTHING!!!! Sit back, put your feet up, and enjoy your family, life and loves!!!

I'm sending you a bigger than "driveway-sized" birthday hug and kiss!!! Love you!!!!!!!

********* muuuuaaaahhhhh!!!! ********

Two words: I ROCK!!

Ok - the nursery is DONE!!! For all you visitors who have no idea what I am talking about, I'll do a quick recap: My brother (T) and sister-in-law (Chris) had their 3rd child, Tyler, about 4 months ago. They are moving the 2 girls into a room together and giving Tyler the other room. Obviously it was decorated very pretty...for a girl. Not so good for a boy. I decided, thanks to a very vivid dream I had a while back, to redo the room as a surprise. Thankfully Chris spends long stretches down the shore, so I knew I would have about 2 weeks to get it all done. I got the OK from my brother, who was oh-so-grateful not to have to do it himself. The rest was up to me, my husband (who graciously came over one afternoon and helped me by rolling the walls - that's usually his job at our house - I cut in, he rolls - it's a system that works well for us), and my children (who were bored out of their minds for 2-3 hours everyday for 2 weeks!!!) T and Chris already had the bedding - Penn State. Honestly, I didn't even know they made college bedding for babies, but since T and Chris are both PSU grads, if anyone could find it - they could! :) Anyway - since I knew the theme, I just had to go from there. I went with collegiate strips, and then decided to take the Nittany Lion on a "walk" around the whole room. Then I scavenged through their house for final touches. The results: FANTASTIC!!! She should be home in less than an hour and I CAN'T wait!! Hopefully she likes it, because I'm off the clock!! :)

Gone Fishin'

Well, it's my first blog post!! Bear with me as I try and figure out the whole text/photo layout thing - I'm a newbie here!! :)

Since I'm posting for the first time, I thought it would only be appropriate to share with you another first for the day: We took the kids fishing!! Really, honestly - they are 7 and 5 and they have NEVER been fishing! Much of that might have to do with the fact that I hate to get wet (always a risk factor when fishing), I'm terrified of fish (remind me to tell you stories of me water skiing on the Delaware River back when I was as blind as a bat), and I'm not a huge fan of bugs or worms (both of which are pretty unavoidable). Anyhoo - I suppose the children were pretty tired of casting their Spongebob Fishing Rods in the middle of the backyard, so we figured we might as well give it a try. (Not to mention the fact that trying to entertain the kids for the day at the movies or bowling or miniature golf costs no less than $40.00, but a tub of worms is $2.50 at the 7-11!! :)

On our way we tried to warn the kids that there was a pretty good chance that we would not see any fish. I didn't want to discourage them, but I also didn't want them to be too disappointed if the day was a bust. Oh, how terribly wrong I was!!! My little anglers caught 9 fish!!! Their favorite part, however, was not catching them, but throwing them back in the water and watching them swim away! Actually, I think Ethan's favorite part was digging through the tub of dirt and pulling out the "perfect" worm whenever bait was needed. :)

With the exception of the time that I tried to cast Kathryn's rod and I accidentally let go of it and threw it about 15 feet up river into a mess of weeds and whatnot (sorry Brett!), it was a perfect day. Not only that, but I actually touched both worms and fish today!!! We did, however, have to call it quits when the number of ticks we found outnumbered us. I mean, really, I had already dealt with my dislike of water, fish and worms - it was a bit excessive to ask me to handle bugs as well! :)