Quick Week!

Wow, this week flew by!!

We (by "we" I really mean Justin) got our veggies in the ground - 8 tomato plants, a tomatillo, cucumbers, radishes, snap peas and herbs (cilantro, rosemary, dill).

Ella talking to the Miss Kim lilac bush

Mason's turtle that he caught at the river after the wedding. I want to name him Yertle. Mason says no way...

Miss Boo is ready to go - I love the ensembles she puts together on her own :)

What a cool dude (except for the hat!!)

Friday was Mason's last day of school!! Now he's an 8th grader!

Hey batter, batter!

Silas is obsessed with playing baseball these days...and watching it too. I laid him down for a nap on Monday and when I went up to check on him, he was no longer in his crib - he was in my room watching baseball on TV.

Here are a couple videos of him "pitching" with Uncle Tim on Memorial Day

A Perfect Day

Even if Sarah had given God a million dollars for the perfect day yesterday - it couldn't have been any better. The perfect sunny, balmy, crystal clear day - the perfect setting along the river - and amazing friends and family to help celebrate. Here are a few pictures from the day:

The backdrop for the ceremony

Silas asked me "how I get those balls??"

Sipping beverages overlooking the scenic view on a perfect 70 degree day

The new husband and wife (Sarah and Brian)

Not only did I marry a funky white boy, but I gave birth to one too



Uncle Tim gave Mason $6 to do "the worm"

A very, VERY big thanks to my dear girls - Beth, Donna and Jodi for taking care of my kids on Friday/Saturday/Sunday - I owe you ;)

Cancer Prevention Study - ACS

I am on pretty much every cancer email list that exists these days - I received this info from the American Cancer Society yesterday - please check it out.

Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3)
Research today for a cancer-free tomorrow.


The American Cancer Society’s Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research is inviting men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 years who have no personal history of cancer to join a historic research study. The ultimate goal is to enroll 500,000 adults from various racial/ethnic backgrounds from across the U.S. The purpose of CPS-3 is to better understand the lifestyle, behavioral, environmental and genetic factors that cause or prevent cancer and to ultimately eliminate cancer as a major health problem for this and future generations.

Study enrollment will take place at Relay For Life events in your community.

CPS-3 is a grassroots effort where local communities from across the country can support cancer research not just through fundraising efforts like Relay For Life, but also by participating actively in this historic research study.

For more information about CPS-3 and the Relay For Life events where enrollment will take place, read the documents below or email cps3@cancer.org or call toll-free 1-888-604-5888.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/RES/RES_6_6.asp?

I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
-Edward Everett Hale

(from the American Cancer Society website)

Damn, and I LOVE firemen!!

So while I was out lolly gagging with the girls on Saturday night, I missed the party of the neighborhood and it was loaded with firemen!! (Hint, hint...for my next birthday....)

Here is Ella and Silas with Allysa in the fire truck. Looks like fun!

Caution: Don't Try This at Home

Saturday day/night was Sarah's bachelorette party down in Hocking Hills - oh the fun :)

This interesting thing pictured below is called a Suck&Blow and apparently it is a MUST HAVE at any bachelorette party - it's like a jello shot only nastier!! Both end caps screw off and one person sucks while the other one blows

Watch the video (slightly R rated) and you'll see just how graceful it is!

Did you notice how Sarah about lost her tonsils?

Here are all the girls in our princess tiaras

A Tooty-Ta video

This looks like a great wedding reception dance!

Last day of (pre)school!

Yesterday was Ella's last day of preschool! Wow...

On Monday they had Friend's Day. The kids sang their songs, made a craft and we had refreshments.


I'm trying to upload the video of them singing but it's giving me fits - here's a picture for now.


So now, the next time Ella goes to school, it will be kindergarten!!

Tortoise video and drive home

This is one video of the tortoises being fed - still amazes me to be around all the turtles/tortoises!




We drove from 11:30am until 9pm. Very tired of fast food, we stopped and bought bread, peanut butter and jelly and made sandwiches at the next rest area.

7 hours into the trip...Silas FINALLY falls asleep!!

With his sis holding his hand

NY Day 4 - Youngers Galore!

We had a fun filled day of Youngers, nothing but Youngers. We started the day off with a nice swim in the hotel pool after breakfast (of course we waited an hour after eating!)



Then headed to Mountainville (where Grandpa Jim grew up) to visit Uncle Jeff, Aunt Wendy and cousin Kirstie.

This is Lil'Will and Si at Jeff and Wendy's - everyone says how much they look alike!

Then dinner at the Japanese restaurant - so fun!

And then back to Uncle Bill's to see more turtles and tortoises

and to celebrate Aunt Abby's and Uncle Jeff's birthdays



And we ended the evening with a big group picture!

Wow, how awesome that we had all of us in the same place (but we missed our AZ Youngers!!).

Sunday - we are on the road back to OH-IO -
Happy Mother's Day to all!!

NY Day 3 - Crazy Uncle Turtle Bill

Today we left the Bronx and headed to Fishkill - where Justin's Uncle Bill has 2000+ turtles. We have talked about Uncle Bill for years to the kids and this is the first trip where they could see all the turtles. Both Mason and Ella LOVED the turtles. I, personally, know that I will have turtle nightmares tonight...some of them, like this guy below, are really spooky!

I cannot even begin to tell you the names/types/country of origin for these guys...Uncle Bill has discovered and named many species of turtles all over the world.

These ones are just some ol' box turtles from here in the U.S. - my kind of turtles!

Ella LOVES feeding the tortoises - I have a video of it that I will upload when we get back

Here is Uncle Bri holding a very nasty turtle dude. he'll snap your fingers off - and his dad can take off at least 1/2 your arm. Ella looks a bit concerned.

This is Mason holding a turtle that is only found in Okinawa, Japan. Very rare little turtle-man

We won! Day 2 of our NY trip

And I would have said that even if the Indians had won (I just couldn't really, truly cheer for the Yankees, even while I wore a hat). It was the Yanks 6-3 and a very good game. The kids really behaved for the most part (sorry to the lady in front of us that had Si's shoe lodged in the back of her head most of the game...).

Our hotel was close enough to walk (that tells you a lot about the quality of our digs - though it's really not bad at all). Here are a few pictures from the day:

This is on the way to the stadium. Mason has a Yankees hat and Indians pullover. Silas reminds me of a David Letterman meets Mariano Rivera mix (he closed today by the way) - something about the ears.

Silas does the Star Spangled Banner

Pretty self explanatory!

Me, a sleeping Si, Mason, Ella and Uncle Brian after the game.

Daddy carrying his sleepy Si

I have a ton more pictures of the old stadium and the new one going up right across the street. We may have to come back next year for the opening of the new stadium!

We hooked up with the NV Youngers (Uncle Will, Auntie Em, 'Lil Will and Baby James) and the NY Youngers (Uncle Brian, Grandpa and Aunt Amanda) after the game and then went to dinner. Tomorrow we'll head to Fishkill and extend the family gathering to the RI Youngers (Uncle Shawn, Aunt Abby, Molly, Myles and Hudson). Can't wait!

New York CITY!

You have to say it like the Old El Paso salsa commercial...

We are here in NYC/Bronx to see the Ankees (as Silas calls them) play tomorrow!
The trip was pretty smooth - I had no idea NYC was so easy to find...the signs start before you even leave Ohio!

Here are the kids all settled in the van with their Yankees hats on (which feels like blasphemy as an Indians fan!)


And here is Ella all snug as a bug with her blanket and pillow watching a DVD

We just about turned around and came back....it costs $8.00 to cross the George Washington Bridge! I found that absolutely incredible...Justin said that I am in for a rough few days if I think THAT is expensive...

Jaws...

Well, it looks like with kid#3 we have a biter - Si really wanted a toy that his sister was playing with yesterday and decided to go after her and take a bite out of her arm. He knew immediately that he was in major trouble. He hid his face and then went straight into timeout without any argument at all.

Even with any injury, Ella had a good soccer game yesterday and even scored 2 goals :)

And look at this - Mason got a haircut! I was so impressed when the boys came home this evening and Mason had decided to go shorter - it's a bad quality picture but he looks so handsome!

We leave for our Yankees stadium trip Wednesday morning - I'm so excited! All of Justin's siblings will be there!! Two of the cousins (Hudson and James) the kids haven't even met yet so we are so, so excited to hang out and play together for a couple days!! There will be plenty to blog about when we get back!!

Long time, no blog....

It's been a pitiful 2 weeks for blogging...I will start with just a few pictures

Okay - here is what I found under the seat - the shame, the shame....I don't know if you can see that fuzzy little black thing...I think it was a grape at one time.

Siley and Zoe sit and look out the window a lot together...they love to bark at the people walking by :)

Justin says Ella has my horizontal surface disorder (HSD)...give me a counter top or a desk or any horizontal surface... and I can pile it up. Apparently it doesn't skip a generation. Is there a little purple pill for HSD?

Breakfast this morning - Silas had some hot cocoa and wore most of it on his face

Mason has been busy this week working after school - shredding papers for me, mowing the neighbor's lawn, etc. He owes us a bit of money for a VERY excessive phone bill. IF he's good, he'll get the phone back next week. I am SO not looking forward to the teenage years!! I wish I could just zap him back to being 6 or 8 or even 10 years old again!!

Poor Kelly (Ethan and Kelly - Kelly) has been out with the shingles this week - ouch!! We will be glad to have her back and healthy!

And the main reason for the lack of blogging lately is because when my sister, Margie, had her surgery 2 weeks ago, they discovered it is colon cancer. It's been a very emotional 2 weeks and very chaotic mentally and time-wise. She is recovering well from the surgery and now will gear up for chemo and whatever additional treatment necessary. Please keep her and the family in your prayers!!!