Amy Poehler Palin Rap!!

http://

Preparations for Thanksgiving...

I apologize for the layout of the photos, but still am not adept enough to place them exactly where I want them. As you can see, we were very busy around our house getting ready for Thanksgiving this week!

Olivia made her lovely turkey headress at Kindergarten - then they got to parade around the school making turkey noises - excellent educational value if I do say so myself.

We also took the chance to try to make these adorable cookies we saw in Parenting magazine! They turned out so well we were able to make enough for the two morning K classes "picnic" on Tuesday, AND to sell at the bake sale at my work... EVERYONE was most impressed if I do say so myself!

Today, of course a dress was in order for the day - even though we were not leaving the house, and our only guest was Nana. Deciding WHICH dress to wear however was quite the dilema. We had several to choose from as you can see here!







Also visible is a partial shot of the new Living room color, I know we promised pictures of the makeover earlier, but we are still doing some decorating and picture hanging. That post will come as soon as possible.

Pictures of the Princess

As Promised before, here are the pictures of the Princess in her Halloween costume....

As it was a beautiful night here in New Hampshire, we were able to go out in only a light sweater for covering! I never remember being that lucky when we used to go out, usually it was so cold no one could tell if you had a costume on or not...

Also, a picture from our last Halloween at Sutton Hill (THANKS WENDY) We were able to go back there this year and participate in the annual trick or treat with the residents, most of whom have known her since before she was born - literally. Next year I am afraid we wont be able to go due to full day school schedules....

Coming next: Painting the Living room....

Halloween

Just a quick posting to show you a couple of the pictures from Pumpkin Carving here....

We think they turned out really neat!

As for Miss Olivia's beautiful hair-do that is seen, all I can say is that she did it herself!

Coming tomorrow:

The Princess goes

TRICK-OR-TREATING!

The Princess Clock

Sooo, for quite some time now, Olivia has been enamored with the Princesses. Going to Disney this summer only added fuel to the fire. Now EVERYTHING we do is somehow related to princesses, or, at least tried to be related to the princesses by Olivia.

Last Sunday she and Sue were shopping at WalMart while I was at work. On a clearance rack there was a Princess alarm clock. Sue spotted it, and of course Olivia wanted to have it. Since it was the only one on the clearance shelf - Sue was worried that perhaps it really wasnt on sale, just a ploy for the child to get it in her hands, then the parents would have to play the bad guy and say no when it turned out NOT to be only clearance after all. After explaining to Liv that they needed to check the price before she would commit to the purchase, Sue headed for the price checker. Of course, in her mind, the clock was already hers. After all, it was in her hands wasnt it?? Lo and behold, the price checker listed it as $2.00!!! WHAT A BARGAIN!

So, the princess clock came home. As you can see by the photos above - it sure is special.

The second picture depicts the image shining on the ceiling when the illuminating light is turned on.

Now, the first night the alarm was set at Olivia's request. Sue was home Monday morning and in the kitchen when the alarm went off - she said it was SOOO cute, all of a sudden she saw this little hand reach out from the covers and shut off the alarm. A couple of minutes later, Olivia comes bounding out of her room to say good morning to us and start her day.

WOW - this actually was a good purchase, OR so I thought.

The next morning I made sure to be out in the kitchen to see the cuteness.

The alarm goes off, no shut off. The alarm gets quicker, no shut off. The alarm gets even quicker and higher pitched... All of a sudden I hear " Mama - MAKE IT STOP!!!"

That night, as we put her to bed she said "Can we please not set the alarm tonight??"

It has not been set since. So much for the good purchase. At least its decorative and shines a pretty light on the ceiling.

Kindergarten Pictures....

I have often told people that if I knew I could make such a cute child - I would have started earlier... Here is the proof of that. Have you ever seen a cuter picture of my peeps? I was all worried when they had picture day, as last year I got to help with photos at the pre-school, I wouldnt be able to help this year, was paying ALOT for a set of pictures, What if it was a horrible shot?? I remember seeing the horrible pictures from my school days ( and KK's) (Sorry Karen). But it's true... Maybe it had something to do with the Catholic schools not really caring how your pictures turned out. What if her picture was horrible and she would have to live with it forever?? So, picture day came and went. Then we had to sit around and wait forever until they came back...
Today it comes back and she is adorable. I know I am partially biased as she is my child, but seriously, have you seen a cuter picture?? So different from last years pre-school picture with bangs. No more baby.....

The LONGEST day...

Keith Olbermann once said that the longest day of the year is the day after the World Series ends.
I have now discovered he was wrong, today is the longest day of the year, as MY CUBBIES year is over after a heart-breaking sweep by the Los Angeles Dodgers. What the Hell happened?? HOW could this happen???
I HAD PLAYOFF TICKETS DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I must be honest and explain that after the second loss at home, the pitiful 10-3 debacle that was game 2, we started discussing our options to sell the tickets. E-Bay turned out to be our best bet, so while I was at work Friday afternoon Sue listed them with E-Bay. Within a couple of hours we recieved an e-mail asking if we would be willing to sell them in a "Buy it now" sale for $400.00. HELL YES! So, after a few back and forth e-mails, Sue and Tom worked out a deal that he bought our tickets, made an immediate payment to Paypal, and we made a $113 profit from my annual heartbreak.
Somehow this year it is worse, probably since I did have the opportunity to go to a game that never was. Tom asked Sue if I was out on a bridge somewhere waing to jump... I will assure you all I am not jumping, instead we are going to spend next weekend on the Cape, far away from Baseball, far away from Philadelphia - where we were supposed to be instead, and enjoy the company of good friends at Womens week.
: (

Lets Get the party started!!

So, tomorrow is the first day of the playoffs. Lucky girl that Olivia is, BOTH of her favorite teams have made it to the playoffs!
But, it gets even better than that - Yesterday I checked my e-mail to find something from the Phialdelphia Phillies. CONGRATULATIONS it started - You have won the opportunity to purchase tickets for the National League Championship Series at Bank one BallPark!!!! WHAT??? I never get chosen! So I quickly called Sue at work, GUESS WHAT?? I have won the opportunity to buy tickets for the playoffs!!! Now- the only game we could go to with our schedule would be the first game at Philadelphia, which, if the stars align correctly - would be Sunday October 12th. The stars have to align with the CUBBIES winning their first series and Phillie winning theirs too.
So, holding my breath slightly I went on through the e-mail and answered all of the questions regarding payment, then hit the button to try to get tickets. Of course, as anyone who has ever tried this is aware, you are told that it is first come first served, that you may be directed to a virtual waiting room, blah blah blah.
As I am completing all of this Sue and I are discussing if I should leave the waiting room up on the computer until she gets home from work, as I was just home for lunch and had to go back to work.
WAIT A MINUTE.... Its asking me how many tickets I want.... WHAT??? I quickly put in three - the max allowed - What price range do I want? WHAT??? Just as quickly I put in best available.
WHAT?????? ITS GIVING ME A CONFIRMATION NUMBER??????
ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am instantly nauseated and elated! I have tickets for a PLAYOFF game, that under most reasonable conditions will be between MY BOYS and Phillie!!!
Yes, it is a 6 1/2 hour drive, yes- we will have to pay for a hotel too...
BUT I HAVE TICKETS!!!!!
Olivia is way excited too - not quite as excited as me, but she'll get there.
Just for the record I want it known that I called my sister and offered her the third ticket, but she turned me down, so we decided to go ahead and take Olivia as she may never have the chance to get playoff tickets for the CUBS again in her lifetime - at cost no less - and this is something she'll remember forever....

With the first official day of fall, we are now a house of CUBS fans! As we live in New Hampshire this may not be obvious to some of our neighbors, so my young assistant and I decided we needed to show this to all PROUDLY!!
You cant tell by the angle of my top - but I am wearing my CUBS Scrubs for the first time, and Olivia is wearing her CUBS jersey too!!
As the winning continues, we will have to display more and more items til the neighbors have no question as to where our loyalty's are!
Please - connect to the following link to enjoy the show...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqHTScDBsDU

Sauce Anyone?????

This past weekend, we picked about 30 lbs. of tomatoes from our neighbors farm - with his blessing - and made some Spaghetti sauce. This may sound like alot to some, but when I tell you that three weeks ago we picked around 120 lbs, this one was really nothing. But, since we had cheap laborers last time, and it was just Livie and I to do the cooking this time, 30 more pounds was plenty!
Olivia LOVES spaghetti and would eat it on a daily basis if I were to let her, so stocking the freezer with enough bags of sauce to last an average of one meal per week over the winter is a major bonus to our family! Our neighbor Steve and his wife Elizabeth have been so kind... last year they had a little farmstand to sell veggies, but they never opened up this year. One day he just came over and told us to help ourselves to whatever we might want. OK, we thought, a few free tomatoes might come in handy. Little did we realize the depth of the tomatoes they have growing there! When I say we barely made a dent in the ripe ones while picking our 100+ pounds I am not kidding! His wife almost seemed to the point of tears of gratitude when we came over to get more, and when we offered her some homemade sauce she was greatful, but emphatic in her quick refusal!
Livie wanted to help make the sauce, but didnt really want to be touching the tomatoes too much, hence the photo of her with the tongs. I would boil the tomatoes to loosen the skin, then quick ice bath them to stop the cooking and cool them, after that I cut off the tops of them, she would get the skin off without a problem, but then did not want to touch the "meat" - or 'slimey part' as she called it, so she would pick them up and put them in the pan with the tongs.
Oh yeah, the photo above reflects only the last of the batch of the Italian tomatoes, I had already done the beefsteak and heirlooms before she decided to help.

Coming tomorrow: MORE CUBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HERE WE GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Olivia informed us that for Spring/Summer she is a RED SOX fan, but, for Fall/Winter she will be a CUBS FAN! I quickly informed her that Monday is the first day of Fall - She said "I Know."
Fall, the fall classic, the WORLD SERIES.... What better time to be a CUBS FAN??? It is now official. MY BOYS are the National League Central Division Champs!!! Playoffs here we come.
I feel slightly nauseaus and it isnt just from the cold medicine I have been taking all day.
By the way, the WHITE SOX still lead their division and could very well be in the playoffs too. Armageddon????

SHHHHHH.....

THE MAGIC NUMBER IS ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What to do today?

A Beautiful Late Summer Day....

So what does miss Olivia decide she wants to do???

Play in the car of course.

I had to clean the car out as I was voted to be the "designated Driver" on Thursday as a group of the nurse managers were going to a dinner seminar up in Ogunquit Maine. Why the good Doctor decided the dinner had to be all the way up there is another story, but as I had to drive my new co-workers back and forth in my car, I figured they wouldnt want a ton of dog hair, cheerios or petrified french fries to sit on.

So, being the good mama I am, I got my free child (slave) labor to help clean out the car - after all, alot of the mess was hers. After I finished, instead of playing outside while I made dinner, she decided that she would play in the car.

So, there she sits, with the baby doll (who's name is Ella - this week) playing, as we made dinner.

Yup. Once it is far too cold out to play on the swingset, she will whine and cry, but when she had the perfect opportunity, she wants to play in the car.

Cubbies Part two

THE MAGIC NUMBER IS NOW FOUR !!!!!!!!

Thats all... 4.
Any combo, Cubs wins & Miwaukee losses, and the number goes down. Did I mention we are playing Milwaukee right now?? At Wrigley??? We could clinch the division at Wrigley as early as Thursday????
More later.....

MY BOYS

GO CUBS GO!!!!!

The Magic number is 6!

For those of you who are not baseball fans, this means that any combination of CUBS wins and the team closest to them in the standings (Milwaukee) loses, decreases the magic number. Once the number is '0' the CUBS win their division!

To put this in a bit more prospective, the Angels of Anaheim are the only team that has clinched so far. The other teams magic numbers are 16, 12, 11 etc.

THE CUBS NUMBER IS 6 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It makes me a bit nauseus to tell you the truth. I mean they always let me ( and countless others) down in the end somehow. 2003 - Blew it at Wrigley in the 8th inning with only 5 outs to go to make it to the World Series. 2007 - Made it to the playoffs and lost in three straight.

We were down on the Cape for Womens week (which we have plans for again this year) and saw the third loss. Livie asked what was wrong and I said my heart was broken. All winter long she would keep asking - "is your heart all better yet mama?" How do you explain to a 4 year old the highs and lows, joys and pains, constant hope of being a CUBS fan??????

Perhaps it is better she is being raised in New England and she professes her first love to the Red Sox......

I DIDN"T JUST SAY THAT DID I??????

I want so badly to have to change my plans for the Cape, to hand Livie to Jo Jo and Carrie and Drive to Phillie or NY to see my boys in the playoffs..... It is the hundred year anniversary of their last WS win for Goodness sake! Isnt it time! Havent the CUBS fans suffered enough???

And if things werent scary enough, BOTH Chicago teams are in position to win their divisions and go to the playoffs... A sign off Arrmegedeon???? It could be.

The story of puppy

Some of you may be wondering about the header photo on the blog... Puppy is ever present in Livies life, and, therefore, ours. Puppy came to live with us in May of 2004, about 6 weeks before Livie's first birthday. He was sort of a no special reason for this present, present from her grandpa. We had met up in Pittsburgh, for a long weekend and some CUBS games, and he brought puppy to Livie there.
By Thanksgiving we had noticed a small hole in one of the paws. So, being the wise first time parents that we are, we went right out to the closest Hallmark store to find a replacement. Fortunately, we found them right away, and got two. Soon after we took the advice of my brother and his wife to get back ups if available in the event of future issues and the possibility of not being able to find one when desperate for a replacement. So, we got two more.
If we were thinking even more at that point we would have made sure all of the replacements were used fequently to distribute the love, ( & wear and tear)but we did not think this far ahead.
Therefore you can really tell the difference in the puppies. In fact they all have different names.
In order of appearance across the top: Scratchy, Softy, Holey (the Original) Mel and Puppy.
Mel just recently joined the family via ebay. Olivia thinks HE found HER as puppy is his cousin, and he came here to join his best cousin and live with him. Its amazing what a 5 year old will believe! For those of you doing the math, yes that means there is one missing, somewhere, somehow we did lose one. We have no idea when or where, and this is precisely why we had gotten the extra's. Now that we have discovered the infinate numbers of Puppy available on Ebay, who knows how many will join Livie and her family! In fact there is already one waiting in the wings (or my closet) for Christmas, or maybe a Neighbor to throw in her Halloween bag.....

.School sure has changed....

So, today I almost caused a "lock down" at Ellis Elementary school.
I suppose I should have realized the new way of things when Livie came home from her second day of school and told us she learned what to do when there was a fire and a "lock" at the school. But, since she was much more concerned about the possibility of a fire occuring at home when no one was here to help Gracie or Lucy, we talked more about this then the "lock" thing she mentioned.
Today, I learned ALL about the lock as I almost caused one. See, as I explained before I get to walk Livie from my work to her school. Last week we would pass by three other doors to go around to the front entrance, where we were told walkers should go. Well, on Friday, Mrs. Almon, Livie's teacher, saw us walking by and told us she was perfectly fine to go into one of those other doors that we were passing by as it is the bus entrance, and right by her classroom anyway.
Did I pay attention as to which door it was?? NO, of course not. So, today, when we were running just a little bit behind schedule, only one person was standing by one of the three doors, and, when we got to it, she was gone. The first set I had tried was locked. The next set was open - so I just opened it and walked in with her. BIG MISTAKE! This was the gym, and the gym teacher was quick to come up to me to tell me that if I continued walking in the building without a badge - pointing to her chest to show me where a badge would be as my work badge on my lower pocket did not qualify I guess - I would cause a lock down. I explained I was just trying to find the bus entrance for my kindergartener, and she looked at me as though I had three heads, so I spoke slower, and looked straight at her as I said again, I was only attempting to get my child to class. At this point she seemed to have caught on and said "Well, perhaps I could walk her there, would that be okay??" Since I have never been allowed passed the hallowed doors to any of the classrooms and would not know where to go if I were allowed in, lock down or not, it seemed like the perfect answer. And they say gym teachers have no brain!

An Introduction...

So, This is the story of a girl and her two mom's. Hence the name: Livie and her Mommies. There is also Gracie, our boxer and Lucy our kitty. Livie is a wonderful, caring and outgoing girl, who is loved by all who know her. You may see her first blog posts by checking out http://2girls2dogs2cats.blogspot.com/ (let me clarify those posts by saying it is quite evident from those videos that we do NOT have the next Britney in the making, and we are glad.) Since the original posts were so well received by our extended family and friends out in Indiana, we have decided to join the informational highway and try our hands at this. I cannot gaurantee we will update on a daily basis, but hopefully at least weekly.
So, as Livie is our only child, and shall remain our only child, the milestones are somewhat bittersweet. This weeks new milestone was Kindergarten. Yes, my baby has started her formal education. I say it this way as it seems she is always learning something new, always asking questions...sometimes appropriate to the situation, but mostly not. I'll give you a few examples of the not so appropriate questions: Setting the public library, sees a man with an eyepatch - "Mama - how come he can be a pirate, but you never let me when we arent home?" Yes, he heard her, no he was not amused.
Or, driving down the highway at a legal 65mph - "Mama, just how did I get out of your belly??" How do you logically answer this as you are attempting to drive and she is in the back seat?
So, now she has started school - her first day was slightly traumatic for her, and just a little bit less so for me. As I work right next door to her school, she comes to work with me in the morning and has breakfast there, then I walk her over to school, so watching her walk down the hallway with the other kids, with her little backpack on, just about did me in...


I'll leave you with a picture of her on the first day....

Welcome

Welcome to our adventures!!