Happy Spring!

It is finally here! The first day of spring. And it is 31 degrees out. But who cares?? The sun is shining and I saw another robin!! My sweetie has the day off so we both walked the little prince down to the bus stop. I love the sun! Not sure I'll still be saying this when it is blistering hot this summer, but I'm saying it now. And I won't complain this summer, because I do not love to be cold. It seems each winter gets longer and longer and with each snow, the sidewalk grows making more for me to shovel. However.....I do appreciate the fact that I can get out and walk around. There is a fine line between complaining and just saying. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying....

The robins are back

I'm so excited! I saw my first robin today. Two, actually, flying across the road as I stood at the door and watched my not-so-little-anymore boy walk himself down to the corner bus stop.

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Speaking of the little prince, he lost his 4th tooth Thursday morning. And when I say morning, I mean 3:55 am. I was really, really sleeping when I heard "MOMMMMMY!!!!" I awoke with a start and staggered down the hall to his room. There he sat on his bed. In the dim light of the digital clock, I could see that he was covering this mouth with his hand. I asked him what was the matter. He said in a loud whisper, "I lost my tooth and I can't find it!" I really hate to turn the light on in the middle of the night, so we searched the bed in the semi-dark with our hands. I found the tooth under his pillow and put it in his hand. He brought it up close to his face so he could see it better and breathed, "Mommy, it's HUGE!" (it was the front tooth) He then asked for a tissue to make sure it wasn't bleeding because, "the last time it bled a dot". This time, however, there was no bleeding. How he could tell that the tissue was blood-free in the dark, I didn't question. We put the tooth on his dresser for safe keeping. The next morning, after telling Daddy the good news on the phone (see photo) he informed me of his plan. He was not going to tell any of his little friends at school that his tooth was missing, he was just going to "smile real big at everyone and see if they notice".

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Now the other front tooth, as well as one on the bottom, is loose. If this keeps up, he will be on a liquid diet. Or at least, yogurt, applesauce and ice cream. What a shame that would be. :-) He had a hard time eating his pizza tonight. He kept telling me he had to use his molars.

I'm still here

No posts in February?!? Well, it was a short month.
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Happy Birthday to my best friend and husband, Reese. May you have many, many more and may I always be able to share them with you. I love you.

Thank You for volunteers

That's me! Yesterday morning, the school had a little service of thanks for the volunteers. This was the first year I attended. It was nice. Grades K-2 sang a little song about Thank You. At the end, we clapped and the Kindergarten teacher said to the children, "One, two, three, 'thank you'". They said "Thank you" on the count of three and one or two of the little ones started singing the song again. It was cute! I wish I had taken pictures. Morgan was right in front of me and kept waving. The children went back to class and the volunteers (all 5 or 6 of that could make it) had cookies and pastries. I got a homemade card from the Third Grade, delivered by Emily.

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So, in return, I say 'thank you' to the students of SSRS. It is my pleasure to volunteer.

Is Christmas over?

I think it is. But I still have pictures from then that did not get posted. Morgan was the gold king for the Christmas Eve mass. So cute.

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Because of the icy weather, the school Christmas play was postponed until January. Since the First Graders were last, they got to wait downstairs until their turn. Here we see Brigid, Aiden, Morgan and Molly hanging out until their turn.

Happy New Year

Amazing that it is 2009 already! Morgan was excited to stay up past midnight again this year. This is his second year he was able to stay up. We had the parents over for dinner and didn't eat until after 6. After dinner, we watched the video of Morgan's All Saint's Parade from October 31st, which I wrote about on November 4th. Neither Reese nor his parents attended this mass, so they were seeing it for the first time. We also watched the program from the Christmas Eve mass. The first graders always dress as angels and kings and present the child in the manger on Christmas Eve. Morgan was the gold king. So cute! I'll post a pic when I get them downloaded. The weather was really bad at 4pm that evening, icy and foggy, but it was a sweet service and I'm glad we got to go.

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We had homemade chocolate peanut butter pie while watching the movies and it was after 9 by the time the parents left on New Years Eve, so we were not that hungry for our usual midnight snacking. Usually we have deviled eggs, ring bologna and sharp cheese, chips and dip, crackers and yogurt (for Morgan), shrimp cocktail, pretzels, olives and drinks for a Happy New Year toast while we watch the crazies in Time Square. Not this year. Just chips and deviled eggs. I'm still full! Unfortunately being full has not caused me to stop eating.....

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Anyway, wishing everyone a Happy and safe New Year!

Christmas Day

Morgan got ready for Santa on Christmas Eve. He was proud of himself that he made the carrots into the shape of a reindeer. Check out that lovely writing on the yellow note paper. Not too shabby for first grade, eh?

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We had fun opening gifts on Christmas Day. Here is the nerf gun he had asked for. Just what I need - something to shoot in the house and break things. LOL

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Hard to believe that was a week ago and it is New Years Eve already. Time sure flies when you are having fun. So they say.

Christmas preparations

I know. Christmas is past. But the memories are still here. Morgan and I made chocolate chip cookies the easy way on Christmas Eve. He had a great time! They tasted really good and were all gone by Christmas day. Along with other goodies. Couldn't let them go to waste, just to waist. LOL And they have. But next week is another year, so until then I will eat.

REALLY cold!

It was 7 degrees at 7:45am this morning. Since it was Reese's first day of Christmas vacation, I allowed him to walk Morgan to the bus stop. I'm so nice! Morgan took a poptart to the bus stop to eat, but only ate 1/4 of it because it got too hard. It was that cold! Wow! The sun came out and made everything sparkle and it looked beautiful, but it did not do much of anything towards warming the air. It was windy and cold. And cold and windy. I think it got up to 36 today but is back down to 16 now.

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When we were leaving the gstore tonight, in the really cold, Morgan started singing "B-R-R, B-R-R, B-R-R-R-R" (to the tune of Jingle Bells). He's really into spelling everything now. Every time I ask him a question he answers Y-E-S or N-O. And he continues to amaze me with his reading and writing skills. He was reading for the December BookIt paper (due tomorrow and we only had 1 of the 10 required books read) and he wanted to write the titles down. He does such a nice job!

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I hear that today is the shortest, coldest day of the year. Winter is here. Brrrrr!!! That means Spring is only 88 days away. But who is counting! Thankfully, it is warm inside, especially when you have a 6 1/2-year-old snuggled next to you reading a book. And I'm sure it is warm under the covers which is where I should be right this very minute instead of blogging. LOL

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One more thing, Morgan got his first Christmas present on Wednesday -- his very own snow shovel. He was so excited, he went out right away and shoveled with his Dad for 2 hrs. And I stayed inside and got the hot chocolate ready. For 2 hours. hahaha I keep forgetting how fast he is growing. We put his boots on from last year and they were so tight he couldn't move his toes. Oops! Had to make a trip to Payless the next day to get 12 1/2 to replace the size 10 from last year. 2 1/2 sizes in just one year!

Another day

Today we had a 2 hr delay. Enough time for me to shovel ice off the front sidewalk. Fun! I didn't have time to do the back walk from the house to the garage, but it melted by the time I got home from work. Too bad I couldn't have left the front walk to melt on its own. O well. I definately needed the exercise. Wonder how sore my arms will be tomorrow from shoveling ice. It was the kind of ice that I had to push down on the shovel with my foot to get under the ice. It was like digging for potatoes without the nice, warm weather.

The Iceman is on his way

Oooo, scary weather. About 45 minutes ago, it was 39. Now it is 34 degrees and raining. Not a good combination. I'm checking the website for school delays. Our first this year. Definately not the weather to be driving. And I had big plans on my day off today. Now, I do believe they may have to include the little prince. O well.

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I'm glad the weather was nicer on Sunday for our Christmas Caroling. We had a fun time. The kiddies started getting cold about half way through, but most of them were strong and stayed to the end. The hot chocolate and cookies were worth the walk.

Another long day

I should be in bed. I'm so tired after a long day beginning at 7:45. Basketball practice, trying to finish addressing Christmas cards while waiting for Reese to get home from work, shopping for a new phone (mine only works now if I hold my mouth the right way), lunch at Arby's, visiting the Laurel Mall in Hazleton, dinner at Mike's Seafood (absolutely wonderful Crab Au Gratin; we will be back) in Shenandoah and a drive around town to look at Christmas lights. Finally getting home to bathe Morgan and try to stay awake through "The Miser Brothers Christmas" or some such movie with Reese snoring at the other end of the sofa. What is it about someone else sleeping that makes me so sleepy? Like yawning, that steady, even breathing just drives me nuts and makes me want to join in and sleep, sleep, sleep. It's especially hard to stay awake when Morgan is sleeping in the back on the 2 1/2 hr drive home from Mom's. Ahhhhh... Yawn, listen to music, change position, open the window, call someone on the phone......

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So why am I still awake? Well, after turning off all the welcome lights and Christmas lights, refilling the humidifiers and turning out the tree, I had to check my e-mail. And my other e-mail. And see what comments had been made on my blog. And check out the Blogs of Note. I love that! So much to read about. I love reading! But now I've read everything for tonight. I must get some sleep. Tomorrow will come soon. And I have big plans......................

I have survived

Yes, I made it through the week. Well, mostly. It's Friday and the coffeehouse tonight is still undecided. It is 36 and raining. I'll know by 3pm if it is still on or if I am free. I don't mind if it's not cancelled. It will be fun.

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Our Christmas cards arrived the other day, but I've been too busy to get them sent out. This is the second time around. The first batch was off-centered and had part of the greeting cut off. These are better but not perfect. There is no time (because I waited so long to order them to begin with) to re-order, so they will have to do. Today is the day to send them out. The guy is coming to work on the furnace so I can't go anywhere. I will make myself get the cards ready instead of doing something else fun like wrapping presents or eating cookies or posting on my blog or reading other blogs. I have found some wonderful sites! Other people have such interesting lives: Africa, Antarctica, Cape Cod....The list goes on.

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I'm sure everyone in the family knows now so I can post it: I'm going to be a great Aunt again! Woo hoo! Congrats Paul (Morgan's godfather) and Vernella! I don't seem to be old enough to be a great aunt, but here I am - soon to be for the 3rd time. My neice, Paul's sister, has a girl and a boy.

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Speaking of being being old, I got a Christmas card from my friend, Karen. We worked together at the Bank when I was in high school and college. She sent me a picture of her daughter who was a flower girl in our wedding. Megan graduated high school this June and is a freshman at Penn State! I feel soooooo oooooold. I have to search out my wedding album and compare the pictures (but only after I get my Christmas cards done). Then and now. It will be more fun than comparing my wedding picture to my "now" picture. LOL But I'm doing better. I've lost 10 pounds since April. I can fit into some of my clothes again from a few years ago. Another 10 and I'll be good.

Brrrrr!!!!

It's cold out! I dread each time I have go out again. But there is no use in complaining. It would just be something else if I lived somewhere else. Like tornadoes or hurricanes. Or dust storms. Or blizzards. When I think it's cold here, I just look at these pictures -- http://frozen-cheese.blogspot.com/ Makes it seem like a heatwave here!

Well, my resting is over. I had the weekend off. Sort of. Tonight we sang, tomorrow is fundraiser night at the mall and the church covered dish dinner. Wednesday we sing and Morgan has basketball practice. Thursday we sing and Friday is the town Children's Christmas Party and I sing in Landingville. Saturday is the Port Carbon tree lighting ceremony. Sunday is Christmas Caroling around Port and then hot chocolate and cookies at the school. Then I think I'm done until the 21st. It will be weird not having something to do in the evening. But I can SOOOO handle it!!!!!

All Sung Out

That's me. I'm exhausted. My voice is getting hoarse again. When I was helping the little kiddies pick their "Santa presents" today, I was afraid I was scaring them. My voice is scratchy and low and could be frightening to a little pre-schooler. hah Wish Morgan scared that easily. I still manage to yell at him (just did again) which is probably why my voice is so bad. I do believe singing is complicating matters. We sang at 12:30 today at the Country Club and 7 tonight at the highrise in Pottsville. We sang on Monday night at another highrise and will be singing Friday night for a dinner of some sort. I don't know. They just tell me where and when to meet and I show up and try to sing. I do believe I will drink some more tea with honey. Maybe that will help.

Thanksgiving Memories

Happy Thanksgiving, belated. I hope everyone had a wonderful day of giving thanks.

We went down to Hagerstown on Thursday as planned. It was such a beautiful day for driving. Sunny and clear. Maybe cold, but we didn't know as long as we stayed in the truck. :) We stopped at Mom's and took her to Darese's for lunch. I actually made the mashed potatoes. Well, to be truthful, I just mixed them and added butter, milk, salt and pepper. I didn't peel them and cook them. Does that still count as making them?? So much wonderful food: turkey, smoked turkey, ham, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes ('cuz of me), corn, applesauce, sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, homemade rolls....Then a whole table just for the desserts: peanut butter truffle brownies and gook cake ('cuz of me again), chocolate pecan pie, rice pudding, some sort of rich chocolate cheesecake, some sort of grape salad. All some sort of wonderful!!! We all ate too much and sat around afterwards talking and trying not to fall asleep. Some of us didn't win that battle. I saw a couple of people, who shall remain nameless, nodding off.

Castang tradition has it that everyone signs a strip of material saying what they are thankful for that year. I believe they are being made into a quilt? Darese can verify that. Anyway, Morgan wrote he was thankful for the world. Reese and I were thankful for Reese's new hip. I'm trying to remember some of the other notes, but not having much luck. There are so many things to be thankful for during the year, it is difficult to pick just one. I am also thankful that I could be with my family at yet another Thanksgiving. Not everyone was there, but we could talk to them on the phone and say "Happy Thanksgiving" and we knew they were there in spirit.

I got to spend some time singing and playing the piano with Rebecca. We shared some new songs and played some old favorites. Even took a couple of requests. I didn't see much of Morgan because he spent most of his time out in the backyard with his cousins. They all had a wonderful time and it took quite a while to get him to leave with us.

We took Mom and Rebecca back to Mom's, by way of WalMart, Best Buy and Circuit City. I had no plans to go out on Black Friday, but was interested to see how many people were camping out, literally, in front of the stores. We saw a couple of tents with crazy people inside. I told Reese he was welcome to join them at 3 in the morning, but he was NOT to wake me. He did go out to the stores around 8:30 and said they were lined up all the way through the store to get checked out. Amazing!

We spent the night at Esther's. It was nice. Just like being at a bed and breakfast. :) We let Morgan feed the fish and check out the pantry and fridge for snacks Esther had left for us. Then he investigated the bedrooms to pick which one (Nathan's) he'd like to sleep in. I'm glad he picked Nathan's room because David's has a bigger bed and Reese and I are used to sleeping in a king size bed. The house has two bathrooms, so Morgan had to check them out as well to see which one he wanted to use. I was afraid we would not sleep, being in a different bed, but all was well. The batteries had been changed so there was no 2am beeping to drive us crazy. The chime for the grandmother clock was turned off. There was plenty of toilet paper. She thought of everything. Thanks so much, Martins! We had a great sleepover. I left a plate of dessert in the fridge for you!

Friday, we woke up bright and early and went over to visit Mom. She is working on a puzzle, so we helped with that. We had plans to eat lunch at Boston Market at 11am, but the puzzle got in the way. haha We got there around 12:30, but didn't need to worry about a line. There were only about 3 tables filled. The food was great. Morgan even ate some chicken. Usually he will only eat chicken nuggets. But he was brave. He had to be: that's pretty much all they had on the menu. LOL After lunch, we went for a drive around Hagerstown. So much has changed. It has really expanded. They are building, building everywhere. On the way home, we stopped by the cemetery and then drove by the newly expanded airport. Wow. You drive UNDER the runway!! Crazy! But we had a great time.

Back to Mom's to work on the puzzle some more. Mom and I talked and just hung out together while Reese and Morgan played basketball. It was nice. I feel so bad sometimes when I come to visit because I get caught up in visiting all the other girls. I never seem to make time to visit Mom. This time, everyone thought we were leaving after lunch to go home, so they stayed away and we had Mom all to ourselves. LOL

We left for home about 5:30. It was a really nice visit, but nice to get home. My own bed was very welcoming. There certainly is no place like home!!!!

A strangely quiet day today. I got Morgan on the bus and then did a few things at home: ate his pop tart, burned some CDs, did some laundry, paid some bills...Then I went to the school for certificates, dropped something off at work and visited WalMart. Spent too much money there, but when I looked in the cart, there was really nothing I could take back. I needed it all. Even the Tastykakes. They, of course, were for Morgan and Reese. Then I came home (not stopping at McDonalds even tho I wanted to; pat me on the back) and did a few other things before Morgan got home at 3:05. I can hardly believe I was in for the night. No running here for a meeting or there for practice. Just stayed home and watched a little of the news (did you know the word of the year is "bailout"?) and WordGirl with Morgan and Reese. Nice.

Next up is Thanksgiving at Mom's! Yea! I can almost taste the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry salad, etc. already. We are staying the night this year (thanks, Esther, for letting us use your house). We can relax and spend time with Mom instead of driving the 2 hrs there and back in one day. Especially when the turkey poison would be kicking in on the ride home.

Actually, lunch (or dinner as they call it down there) will be at Darese's. Or "Aunt Darese's new house", as Morgan insists on calling it. It should be a full house: Mom, Rosemary and her 3, Darese and her 3, Charlie and her 3, me and my 2. And maybe a few more. Who knows? The more the merrier. We will miss Esther and her 3, but will definately be thinking of them when we eat the snacks they left for us at their house. And Rebecca and Barry will stop by later in the day for a visit. Darese has the piano at her house now, so hopefully we will get to sing a little. It's been such a long time!

It's snowing today. Flurries where coming down when Morgan ran for the bus. We were running late and he almost missed it. she was just turning the corner when he ran out of the house. I thought we had a couple more minutes. At least this is only the 2nd time this year we were late.

I just looked out and it is really snowing. The roof is covered. Not much on the roads yet. Guess winter really is coming this year. I was hoping we'd maybe get a break. :) But then we'd be worried that something was wrong.

I found a new recipe to try for Thanksgiving: Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies. It is brownies topped with a peanut butter/butter/powdered sugar mix and then topped with chocolate chips. Absolutely wonderful sounding. Can't wait to try it.

Is there any way possible for me to cram more into one day than I did today? We were at the mall from 11-1:30: I was singing and Reese was standing in line with Morgan for the activities. Quickly pick up a sub at Subway for lunch, then over to the school by 2 to help set up for their event tomorrow. Inhale the sub before anyone else got there to start cooking hamburgers and setting up tables and chairs. Finish up there around 5:30 and run to Pizza Hut for dinner, using Morgan's BookIt coupon for a free personal pizza. Drive to Lowe's for plastic for the windows to keep out the really cold. Home for baths and a little TV (Backyardigans) before bed. One problem -- Morgan slept in the car after we left Pizza Hut so he's still awake (at 10:08pm). In bed, but awake. Not good.

After writing it all down, it doesn't seem like such a crazy day as it did at the time. I guess standing made it seem long and my feet were so very sore!! One good note -- Reese was in considerable less pain than this time last year. Hurray for the new titanium hip! It's working very well. Amazing that he doesn't feel a thing. Wouldn't you think you would know if you had a large hunk of titanium in your leg, especially at the joint?

Well, another sign that my little boy is growing up. Wednesday I was talking to Harold and I said, "Reese is working until 5:30 then he's going to R-E-A-D-I-N-G." From across the room, supposedly minding his own business rolling the football across the floor, came a little voice saying, "He's going to Reading." Can you believe that! So much for secrets. I'm just glad I didn't spell the reason he was going to Reading.....