Happy New Year!

Here are a couple of new videos of Shayna on her Skuut, as she's getting very good and very brave:




Enjoy and Happy New Year!

You're Digging to China???

Thanks to Geology Joe for finding a cool site that allows you to see where you'd end up if you were digging straight down through the earth at your particular location. The site is, "If you dig straight down..." It's really neat that I'd end up somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean... and NOT China, like we all had been told as kids!

Christmas Miracle... & a Skuut...

Shayna is asleep for a nap right now as I type this post. Lately, she has been very reluctant to nap. Therefore, today's nap could be classed as a "Christmas Miracle!" We are having a wonderful time with Mark's parents (Grammie and Grandad) and the rest of the family. Last night everyone came over for some yummy cioppino and presents. It was a really fun time!

This morning, Shayna woke up to find that Santa had brought her a new bike. This bike or Skuut as it's called, is from the Netherlands, and has no pedals. The kids learn their balance first, then everything else is a piece of cake. Shayna has had trouble learning how to pedal with the bike her grandparents got her last year. She gets very frustrated with the pedaling! So, Mark found this bike on the internet and VIOLA! SHE LOVES IT! After about 10 minutes of Skuuting along, she finally got the hang of it and picked her feet up and balanced while riding... what an accomplishment! She was so pleased with hereself!

Here she is ready for the motocross circuit!

My 201st Post

For my 201st post, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to send us a holiday card! Behind all of these well wishes is our large brass tall ship (it makes a wonderful card display!). Happy holidays, everyone!

200th Post Celebratory Drink!

In honor of my 200th post (I guess I'm not a newbie anymore) here is a little something for the holiday spirit...

Candy Cane Cocktail

1 shot vanilla rum
1 shot white chocolate liqueur (recommended: Godiva)
1 shot peppermint schnapps
Candy cane, garnish

Add all liquid ingredients to cocktail shaker filled with ice.
Shake well and strain into martini glass.
Garnish with candy cane.

Happy Holidays...Enjoy!!!!

Post-Op

Well, Mark is doing so much better after his thyroid lobectomy surgery. Although he would not allow me to take a picture for the Blog, here's a nice one our good friend, MaryLee, took in Baja. If you are that morbid, you can actually google "thyroid surgery" images to see what it looks like. I did this before Mark had this procedure done and I wish I hadn't!


So, I'll leave you with another picture that my friend, MaryLee, took of all 3 of us in Baja... enjoy!

THIS PHOTO HAS BEEN REMOVED DUE TO PERVERTED CANADIANS, WHICH I HAVE REPORTED TO THE FBI BECAUSE I HAVE IP ADDRESS TRACKERS!

3 Year Checkup today

Shayna had her 3 year checkup today with the doctor. Everything is great and the doctor was very nice. I was surprised that Shayna did not receive any immunizations today. Next year is the big year, I guess, when she'll receive 4 booster immunizations... yikes... maybe I'll make Mark take her!
Here are some stats... looks like she's pretty average for height and she's slowly catching up with everyone on weight.
At 3 years and 1 months: your child is 30.5 pounds, and that is at the 44th percentile for weight. your child is 37.5 inches, and that is at the 54th percentile for height.

Supper Thyme!

Tonight was a Mom's night out get together at a place called, "Supper Thyme." You order your dishes ahead of time and then you go to this place and prepare them. It's a blast, especially when someone brings wine for everyone to enjoy! I chose 4 dishes: Stuffed Rosemary Pork Loin with Port Wine Sauce, veggie lasagna, apple stuffed chicken breasts, and some sort of chicken divan... It was all pretty much laid out for us to prepare. We put all of the ingredients together and into a container they go for easy storage in the freezer.









It was a blast and our group of girls ROCK!

So, here are the instructions for my pork dish

...and here is what I started with

Here are more pictures from the evening:

Hanukkah Fun!

The first night of Hanukkah was great. We lit the candles, ate potato pancakes (latkes) and homemade falafel with pita and hummus. Shayna opened her presents after patiently waiting hours for Mark to come home. We gave her a Bob the Builder Lego set (which I rec'd from Pampers Gift to Grow Program). I knew collecting all of those points would someday pay off!


I even received a gift for Hanukkah! I found Shayna going to the bathroom all by herself. She just walks in and does her business without my help! She even washes her own hands! I am truly blessed!

My First XMAS Tree... Really!

This year will be the first time in my life that there will be a real live XMAS tree in my house! On November 1st, Pa's Pumpkin Patch becomes "Snowy Pines." I have never walked through a XMAS tree lot, nor have I ever looked at their prices before. HOLY CRAP!





They had their pumpkin patch train in attendance!













We picked out a reasonably priced tree and the man took it over to a "shaking" machine. Kinda neat...















Then he wrapped it up in some plastic, tied it to the roof of the car, and we were off!












After some ax work by Mark, the tree was ready for decorating!















Yippeeeee.... our first tree! Oy vey, this was hard work!

Santa 2007

Sorry, I've been so bad at updating the Blog... I am sick, AGAIN! Time to go back to the doctor. Anyhoo, I've manged to get out of the house to get Shayna's picture with Santa at the mall. I can't believe how much she's grown, as the jeans she's wearing were too long 2 weeks ago! It's time for 4T pants with an adjustable waist!