Today is going to be Wicked awesome!

Happy Anniversary to my awesome hubs who got us tickets to see Wicked today at the Opera House! When the tickets first arrived 3 months ago, it seemed like a lifetime away. I'm so excited.

It's our 18th anniversary. All year I had been thinking it was our 19th, and next year would be the big two oh. Wrong. 2013 will be 20 years. Basic math skills, I has them.

18 years and two great kids is nothing to sneeze at though! I may complain and whine from time to time, but my life is pretty blessed :)

On my iPhone: end of summer

I currently have 472 photos on my iPhone. That's far more than I've taken with my camera in a very long time. Here are a few favorites from the end of summer 2011.

LMDO: Laughing my diaper off. Awesome.

Lola enjoying a corn on the cob. Be careful...she will bite you and she will try to steal the cob.

All packed and ready to go to Temagami.

Home from soccer camp. Someone was a little tired. I can't imagine why she chose this as her resting spot.

On the road again...

Cool fungi on Temagami

Beautiful sunset view from my kitchen.

Plunging into the icy cold lake in Temagami.

Bates hamburgers: an after Ortho tradition. Every appointment is followed by a trip to Bates. 2 burgers, a large fry, and a large chocolate shake, which we share. Next month she gets her braces off and we'll have to make up excuses to go to Bates.

Em & I in Temagami.

Temagami, here we come!

In just a few short hours, after the young man has been transitioned into seventh grade, we are headed north, far north, to visit Temagami, Ontario Canada.

We're all so excited. There was a time this summer we weren't sure we'd find a weekend that would work, between soccer, summer school, & Bart's schedule. But this one works just fine. The last hurrah before school starts.

So until the first of September, I will have no internet access and won't be able to check on y'all. Don't do anything dumb while I'm gone. Stay safe from Hurricane Irene. I'm going to miss ya!

five good things : July 2011

It's time for another installment of five good things, where I name at least 5 things that happened in the last month that were pretty cool. On a day to day basis, sometimes this feels like an impossible task. It's been hot hot damn hot, and humid this month, making we want to crawl into a hole until October. So here goes!

1. Segwaying thru Chicago on the 4th of July. Chicago is awesome, and what could be more awesome than riding a Segway around the city for two hours? Nothing.Nothing is cooler. If you are ever visiting a city and they offer a Segway tour, take it. It's worth every penny. And it's fun. And your kids will love you.

2. Cousins that visit for 10 days.
3. Inappropriate pictures on your camera. Always good for a laugh.
4. Construction on the pergola is making progress! It's going slow, but some forward progress has been made. Hopefully by the end of summer it will be all done and we can enjoy some lovely shady afternoons in the back yard.
5 .Hello, lover. Completely out of the blue, Bart bought me a brand new MacBook Air. It is lovely. It took me a week to get all of my photos and files off my old one (which now belongs to Evan), and I am enjoying playing with this new beauty more each day. Bart Rocks!!
6. A ripe tomato in July! I haven't had one in a few years. It's small, but nothing beats a homegrown tomato for flavor.

Yeegads it's April already

Poor, neglected blog. It's not that I haven't meant to check in once in awhile with you, I just haven't had a lot to say. The weather has been crappy, the skies gloomy. It's hard to get excited about spring when it's dreary and gray everyday. Every day. I have had three massive headaches this week, rendering me about as interesting as buttered toast. But the sun is shining for 5 minutes and the weather report shows a day in our near future with the number 7 in the lead off position. Hells, yeah!

This week I started the couch to 5K program. I tried to find a link to iTunes but can't. Oh well. The gist of the program is that you can go from couch to running a 5K in 9 weeks. I intended to start Monday, but these damned headaches have gotten in the way of everything this week. I did my 30 minutes on Tuesday and fully intended to do workout #2 yesterday but... (insert headache here). So the good news is that I didn't die after the first workout. My calves burned like a mother, but I didn't die. And I didn't quit. I'm going to do workout #2 in just a little bit. Before you know it, I will be running. Shut the front door, I said RUNNING! Go me.

Aren't my new shoes full of the awesome?

Tomorrow I am driving Emma & 2 friends to Indianapolis for a soccer tournament. They are guest playing for the Canton Celtics, and since we don't have any tourneys lined up, we thought it would be a fun experience for them. Girls road trip! I should have my head examined :)

R&R

I have just spent the most relaxing, wonderful 7 days in recent memory.

Let me tell you, if you are unlucky enough to get cancer, you want to be married to a guy like Bart. Since my first mammography, he has been 100% supportive and generous. With tender, caring words and quiet actions, he has been my rock through and through. I don't think I would have handled the whole ordeal nearly as well without him by my side. He's been patient with my tiredness and constantly reminding me to take better care of myself.

Just when I thought he couldn't be any more wonderful, he sends me to Florida for 7 days of mandatory rest and relaxation. I didn't know that I needed to rest any more after taking it easy for 8 weeks, but I did! 7 days of only focusing on myself; of not thinking every minute about who needs what/needs to go where. Of not planning meals. Of not catering to the dogs. Of not tending the homestead. It's been heaven. Our last vacation with the kids was not relaxing: this was just the opposite. I didn't have to keep anyone entertained. I didn't have to keep track of their whereabouts. I didn't have to listen to "I'm bored" even once.

I have to say thanks also to my Dad & Carol, who have catered to my every whim and made this vacation possible. I am so grateful for the time you've given me to get back to me.

I am one lucky girl.

A week post radiation

It's been a busy few weeks around here. I've been meaning to post about life after radiation and just have been too tired to come up with words.

The first 2 days I didn't see any change. My skin was still scaly and red, tender and sensitive to the touch. When I woke up the third day, there was a big change. It looked like I had burned myself with a hot iron in the area where the boost was directed. Instantly everything made it hurt. I slathered lotions and ointments on it in an effort to stave off the irritation. Sleeping was difficult, as every time I flipped over, the skin under my arm pulled and stung.

By day 5 it was very scaly and hurt when I raised my arm. It just pulled the skin tight. I'd forget until I'd go to reach for something and feel the pull. But it passed within 2 days.

I started to peel, so I just keep moisturizing. The biggest spot of alligator skin has now turned into baby pink skin, tender and new.

I still have a lot of peeling to do, and fading of the brown pigment, but I think the worst of it has passed. All in all, it wasn't horrible...it was like a really bad sunburn. Uncomfortable and rough at first but tolerable.

And I got the best surprise from Bart. He booked me a flight to Florida for some mandatory R&R with my Dad & Stepmom at their condo on the beach. I leave Early Wednesday morning and I get to stay for a whole week. I am one lucky girl. Of course I'm going to have to keep my burned skin out of the sun, but there's plenty of me not burned that could use a little warm sunshine. It's going to be so awesome.

A Florida Christmas

I didn't mean to go this long without blogging about our trip to Florida pre-Christmas...time just got away from me! (And I hadn't gone through iPhoto and deleted the photos I didn't need so I had no idea really what I had in there.)

Travelling during the holidays was really great. It forced me to be organized and get everything done before we stepped foot into the airport. Good. It did feel weird to not have any last minute shopping to do, and it was annoying that everyone else did! No strolling thru our favorite malls just for fun...they were crowded!

At the terminal super early. Like 90 minutes early. We expected long security lines but were through in less than 10 minutes. Instead we shopped and ate at a Coney Island. Lots of good stores in the new terminal. They even have a pet store!

The entire family and their electronic devices. Ahhh, technology!

We arrived at the apartment a little after midnight. Dad & Carol had decorated for us with a small tree and our stockings! It was a really great surprise. Made it feel Christmasy.

Sunsets are hard to catch from the apartment...this was our first night. The whole day had been crummy; cold, breezy, no sun at all.

We went out to dinner for our 17th anniversary on Saturday night. This night also began Evan's reign of terror for the remainder of the vacation. 11 year olds are not fit human company.

Think it was a little windy? Check out the waves!

The kids & Bart also took turns riding in my dad's ocean kayak. Evan got flipped coming back over the surf and the kayak crashed into his head and back. Needless to say he didn't ride it again. He also didn't come out of the apartment for 24 hours.

Emma & I went down to the beach several times a day. The water was cold but we still went in. The third day at low tide the pools started to form. I love when it does that. The shelling is great and the water trickling past looks like spun gold. Very cool.

We spent one evening driving around looking at Christmas displays, mostly in Las Olas. It's really hard to photograph them at night, in a moving car without them being totally blurry. These were a few of my favorites.

Sharing a big bowl of mussels at Southport Raw Bar. Emma won't touch them, but Evan can eat an entire order by himself.

The very first year we took both kids, I got a shot of them at this railing. We try to re-create it. but both would have nothing to do with it. I just love this age.

Hello fattie!

All in all, it was a very nice vacation. We had more sun than clouds. We ate good food. We relaxed. We swam. We body surfed. We got sand in unmentionable places. And then we got to come home and celebrate Christmas!

Leaving on a jet plane...

...but I will return on December 23rd.

So excited to just relax now that all of the Christmas shopping, wrapping, gathering, carding, & baking are done. For the next five days I plan to just enjoy the plentiful sunshine.

It's gonna be awesome!

Happy Halloween! v.10

Happy Halloween!

Another fun year of trick or treating in the AP with Greg & Tracey...and little Max too!

Evan the bull rider. He dressed as a hippie at school on Friday, but I love this costume.

Angel and devil. Seriously, she ate 2 pairs of devil horns.

Max looking good in his skeleton suit :)

Max, Greg & Emma

Looking very angelic...

Max did not want to sit on the Great Pumpkin. Poor Binkster.

Bart came out of the house dressed to kill. Literally.

Time to re-fuel with a little True Blood!

Emma didn't trick or treat...she was all about walking around with Lola. They were going to dress the same, but Lola really did eat 2 pair of devil horns, so at the last minute Em pulled together the angel costume. They were very cute. I still can't believe she didn't get one piece of candy. I take that back...she ate from Aunt Tracey's bucket but didn't get any of her own. Brat. That means I don't get to raid her stash.

Good thing Evan had a large bag.