K is for Kite

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This was a tough one for both of us, but we managed to pull it off! For more Team Up Thursday visit Melody, Megan and our Flickr Pool!

Family of Five

When we got all dressed up for the wedding on Saturday I made my dad snap some photos of us.

Naturally, I couldn't get everyone smiling at the same time, or looking in the same direction, but I was pretty happy with this one.

Mostly because I look good.

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My mom sings this song to Lucy that is a variation of the 'I Love Lucy' theme song. She modified the lyrics like so

I love Lucy and she loves me

We're as happy as two can be

That's Lucy and Me

At the end Lucy likes to add the names of everyone in the room, so sometimes the song runs a little long. On Monday we took the whole family into the south side of Pittsburgh to have dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. We went early to avoid any crowds, and so that the kids wouldn't be too tired at the end. Everyone was having a good time, and after dinner Lulu came over to sit on my lap. She started singing her song, at at the end, with a totally straight face, she sang That's Lucy and Mommy and Beer!

Prost!

Cookies and Brides and Prom Dresses, Oh My!

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of my grandmother's pizelle iron. She had it out to make cookies for my cousin Scott's wedding, which took place on Saturday. We all came out to celebrate and eat cookies. Here are the pizelles on the cookie table:

And here is the cookie table in its full, sugary glory:

Truth be told, that's only half of the cookie table. Needless to say, Sam and Lucy enjoyed the wedding immensely.

My mother enjoyed herself quite a bit as well. My cousin (the groom) was always close with her, so she was especially happy for them. She was also happy because this is what she wore:

You might remember the dress from this photo I posted back in November. Yes, my mother still fits into her prom dress from 1978, and she totally rocked it.

The bride Whitney was lovely, as we expected her to be.

I spent more time than usual weeping at this wedding. First of all, my cousin and his new bride are so happy together, just looking at them together makes me choke up a little. Plus Scotty was the first cousin of mine that I remember being a baby. When he was little we spent a lot of time together with his family, and me and my brother just adored him. We would push him around in this little plastic car called the Jolly Jalopy for hours on end, just to hear him laugh. Now he's all grown up and has a wife and is off somewhere in Mexico having a blast, and I couldn't be more pleased for him!

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I took so many photos at the wedding, it's hard to pick a best shot. I love the one of Whitney coming down the aisle with her grandmother, but I also love the cookie table. You pick! For more best shot Monday, visit Tracey at Mother May I.

J is for Jellybean

For those of you who have been asking, we are working on developing this into a book or some other solid media type thing. It's just that Chrissie just started a new job and we're in the throes of selling the house/buying the house/moving and all, so we're off to a slow start with the whole publishing thing. But rest assured, it's in the works. Thank you for all of the support! I love this community!

For more Team Up Thursday, visit Melody, Megan or our Flickr Pool.

The Exodus, The Big Kids and Other Things

This post is going to be a scattered mess, so inspired by Miss Zoot, I'm going to use bullet points!

*This morning Sam came downstairs fully dressed, all on his own accord. His clothes were seasonally appropriate, they matched and he had put his jammies away. I was so surprised when he came into to wake me at 7am pretty much ready to go. He couldn't wait to get to school to tell his teacher all about it. He is getting so big and responsible. Thank god he still wants me to get into bed with him to cuddle occasionally, though. Love that boy.

*Speaking of getting big, Lucy has been wearing underpants for over a week now. I haven't posted anything yet because she had been having lots of accidents, but yesterday and today have been better. For the few weeks leading up to last, she was taking off her diapers and being, in general, a pain in the ass when it came to any bodily function. After visiting with my parents, I simply told her we weren't doing diapers any more. She's very happy about the development, but still doesn't have full awareness of when she has to go, so it's been one step forward, two steps back. Wish us luck!

*Even though our house is under contract, we still have to keep scheduling showings. HATE.

*My baby is cute, but you knew that already, didn't you?

*In the past week, two of our neighbors have put their houses up for sale by owner. Let me just say, they are fucking lucky that we already had an offer in our our house, or I might have had to go on a midnight sign stealing expedition. I guess since the coolest people on the street are leaving (well, maybe the second coolest after these guys) they figured there was no reason to stick around!

Bordering on Spectacular

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For more Best Shot Monday, visit Tracey at Mother May I.

I is for Ice Cream

Since we sold the house today, I took the kids out for celebratory cones!

For more Team Up Thursday, visit Megan and Melody, and also visit our Flickr Pool. Thanks, as always, to my dear friend Chrissie!

No I

So I totally did not hold up my end of the deal for this week's Team Up Thursday, so to those of you here looking for our next alphabet diptych - SORRY! I may pull an eleventh hour posting, but don't hold your breath.

The reason for my delinquency? We bought a house. And are in the midst of negotiations to sell our house. It's been a busy week.

Back in January when SOB was interviewing in West Virginia we did a very small amount of house hunting. Basically, we were just looking around to see what the market there was like. However, I fell in love with the very first house I saw. My text message to SOB said "Sign the contract. I found our dream house." And he was only an hour into his interview.

The house wasn't on the market at the time, but was going to be listed in the spring. On Easter Saturday we got a call from our agent out there that if we didn't make them an offer now that it was going on the market ASAP. After a few days of soul searching and number crunching, we decided to make an offer, and they accepted it! Last weekend we went out for the home inspection and things went well. We did a little more negotiating earlier this week for some repairs, but everything is on track and we should be moving in at the end of June!

Then yesterday we had a showing here that lasted for two hours! The interested party was back for a fourth time, and they brought an architect with them. It was crazy. We got an offer this morning and are doing the back-and-forth thing with them, so today has been nuts as well. We have a date night scheduled for Saturday, and I sure hope we'll be celebrating!

Or maybe I'll take the kids out for ice cream this afternoon and kill two birds with one stone!

Unrequited

This morning as we pulled out of the driveway I told the kids how each flower on the apple tree will become an apple. Sam actually rolled his eyes at me because apparently I've told them that a time or two already. While I'm glad that we got to be around for one more blossom season, I'm a little sad that we'll miss out on the harvest in October. I'll always think of Maggie when the apples are in season now, since she was just a wee little bundle when we harvested last year. I hope that whoever ends up here cares for and enjoys the trees as much as we have. The end is worth the means.

Wedding Cookies

It's tradition in western Pennsylvania to make dozens upon dozens of cookies for anyone that is related to you when they get married. At each reception you will find a well stocked cookie table in addition to cake after your meal is over. Since this has been going on for some time, most people have certain types of cookies that are their speciality. For as long as I can remember, my grammy has been making pizelles.

She always makes them as thin as possible, so that they are like lace and they melt in your mouth. This iron has been in the family for god knows how long, and no matter how hard she scrubs it the patina never comes off. I think that's why they taste so freaking good!

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For more Best Shot Monday, visit Tracy at Mother May I.

H is for Horse

We're still going! Chrissie got the H, and the horse is my sister-in-law's! For more Team Up Thursday, visit Megan and Melody, and visit our Flickr Pool!

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

We totally bought a house.

Oh, and we never actually, um, sold the house we're currently living in.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

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Also, Lucy wore underpants today! Which is a good thing. However, the impetus for said underpants was a situation which involved my daughter rubbing her own feces all over herself and her bed. Seriously. I took pictures. Email me if you want to see them. I figure that every single time she gives me shit (pun intended) as a teenager, I'll whip them out. I doubt any boy (or girl) will want to kiss her after seeing a photo of her with poop on her lips. Maybe I'll even print out some wallets and distribute them to potential prom dates. Because I'm evil like that.

And...............scene!

Happy Easter

Somebunny out there loves you...

#@!&$

Ah, my children...

Somehow these lovely little angels have turned into foul-mouthed little beasts.

That 'somehow' is 100% bull shit. I know exactly how it happened. Care to hear all about my poor parenting? Read along!

The house selling has been more than a little stressful for me, which you probably already know. Unfortunately for me (and my kids), one of the first things out of the window during times of stress is my ability to censor myself. Until one month and one day ago, I was thinking that I had gotten really, really good at curtailing my profanities around the kiddies. I was using some delightful expressions, like Mother Hen and Holy Macaroni in place of my usual swear words, and honestly, I found it amusing.

And then the house went on the market, and I had to use all of my extra brain power to remember to blow out the cinnamon candles and turn on all of the lights. That's when my ability to come up with new and creative non-offensive expletives died. All of a sudden, I found myself uttering full on swear words in front of my children. Occasionally even at my children. So the other day, when Lucy asked me to zip her fucking coat, I wasn't too surprised. I was mortified and totally ashamed of myself, but not surprised.

And then Sam uttered 'god damn' during a heated game of Thomas Uno with our lovely and incredibly Catholic baby sitter.

And then two days later he appropriately and subtlety dropped a 'mother fucker' into conversation during a game of Mario Brothers. Again while our sweet and totally pure baby sitter was here.

At first I contemplated sealing up my mouth with duct tape, but then how would I consume all of the wine I would need to make me feel better about this whole mess? I spoke with the kids about how what I said was wrong and bad, and I apologized. Then I explained that they should never use those bad words mommy said.

Now I just have to hope that they listened. The last thing I need is to have my kids taking the lord's name in vain on Easter Sunday. At least this little darling isn't old enough to talk yet.

G is for Giraffe

Oh, G. You gave me and my partner a great deal of anxiety. So far, this was the only letter we were stressing over. I had a few sketchy approximations of Gs, but none that were really clear. Then last Thursday we went together to the zoo to try and shoot some animals, and as we walked through the huge iron gate, I started freaking out. All over the gate were these spiraling letter Gs! I don't know if it was intentional, since the zoo is on Girard Avenue, but we were delighted none the less!

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For more Team Up Thursday, visit Melody, Megan and visit our Flickr Pool.