December heat

i think i've figured out that there is only one season down here, summer! it's been pushing 80 all week. i'm loving it but really having a hard time getting in the xmas spirit. send some snow. just for xmas eve and morning : ) then you can have it back. your photos of the snowdays in NY do look beautiful though : )

NC Sunset

my hometown in NY is known for its beautiful sunsets. there you can watch the sun go down over lake ontario. there's no lakes here but sophia and i often watch the sunset from her bedroom window. lately the sun has been a really brilliant pink, not sure why? sophia wanted me to capture a picture of the pink sky. i never thought it would come out through the window with my wimpy little camera, but suprisingly it looked pretty neat.

Sophia time

lately john and i are trying to spend some one on one time with the girls. logann especially seems to enjoy it and we're hoping it'll help her recent bad behavior. spending time alone with sophia makes for an easy day. this past sat i took her to a christmas breakfast event. it was actually at the garden supply co. (my friend kelly always finds out about these things). sophia loved the visit with mrs. claus, the incredibly decorated trees and her christmas craft. mommy enjoyed the chocolate donuts : ) and the ease of one child. i seriously understand why people stop after one.

Sucker

So apparently the dentist told Logann the other day that she had to stop sucking her thumb! Her front teeth are already starting to buck, poor kid. Or actually maybe poor us when we are paying for her dental work! Anyway she came home and told Sophia and I what the dentist said and Sophia being a typical 4 yr old of course asked "why?" I told them that if she kept sucking her thumb that all her teeth would fall out. That really freaked her out (well for about 5 mins). Yesterday on the way to school I caught her sucking her thumb and teased her and she pretty much told me to kiss off : ) Oh well thats ok I may regret it in 10 yrs but right now she looks so stinkin cute as a thumb sucker. Tips gladly accepted though!

Cooperation

I haven't taken many pictures of the girls lately. Before their "professional" photo session I begged them(literally) to let me take a few. It was challenging getting them to cooperate but worth it as I was able to capture some cute ones. Next shoot I'm hoping for some more natural light, the first cloudy day in months go figure!

Logann's Birthday

finally getting around to posting Logann's birthday party. i lucked out this year! Logann was content just having a few friends over to celebrate, no McDonalds/Chuck e Cheese madness! Everyone had a great time eating pizza, doing crafts, decorating cupcakes, dressing up, playing old school games like musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey, etc.

Thanksgiving in North Carolina

We decided to stay home in NC for Thanksgiving. I have to admit it was pretty nice this year not watching the snow fall while eating the meal. It was in the 70s here today a little strange for Thanksgiving but I loved it. My dad and his family came down to visit. Believe it or not today was the first time I've ever made a turkey! Usually we are at my mom's and I get to sit back and relax on Thanksgiving. I have to admit, today was a whole lot of work way too much time spent cooking and cleaning! I'm still trying to decide if the whole thing makes any sense. Maybe next year we will go out : ) One thing is for sure, I have a greater appreciation for my mom and grandmothers who have prepared that meal for so many years!


I do have to brag though that we cooked up a damn good feast! I've been gradually trying to teach John how to cook, so I did have a helping hand which was nice.

my dad loves to play the wine tasting game every time we are together. today it was Kendall Jackson vs. 3 cheapo Chardonnays. let me tell you we all had a really hard time telling them apart. especially as we kept drinking! it was a lot of fun!

john insisted on taking a picture of me and my first bird. here john is showing off his first green bean casserole, he wanted me to mention that he also assisted with warming the rolls : ) baby steps!

I found this craft idea for the girls, making turkey place cards with ink prints. this one is sophia's, she went well above and beyond the basic turkey. the image i had her copy just had the turkey but she decided to add in the background sky, grass, sun. her creativity and detail amazes me! she definitely did not get that from me. up top she was suppose to write her name but instead she wrote "super" like her teacher does on all her artwork. i guess she knows she's talented!

the big begger
guess turkey makes dogs tired too. jackson fell asleep at the table begging. he did finally win over some scraps today, lucky dog

the thanksgiving day game. yes the grass is really brown like that here in NC! at least in the winter.

We Survived Xmas Pictures!

For Sale: One Bad Little Girl

as my dad would say my child is a "diablo" (devil in italian). must be all the Hook blood in her, she is nothing but trouble lately. here's an example... yesterday i put her down for a nap. of course she didn't want to go to bed but she went. i could hear her chatting away, typical. after about 30 mins. she was still chatty so i decided i would let her skip the nap. when i opened the door she was once again painting her walls and her bed with poop. and as if that wasn't enough, she had ripped up her new My Little Pony Thanksgiving book(the book her and her sister had a full out battle and crying fit over hours earlier). After lots of yelling at her, cleaning up the mess, long timeout, etc. She proceeded to tell me she ripped up the book because she "just didn't want it anymore" She was silent about the poop smearing! But she did decide it was a good time to point out some art work she had created on the wall with crayons she must have found in Sophia's room.

About an hour later as I was upstairs getting dressed she found a pencil sharpener in the junk drawer, i think. Luckily not the electric kind : ) I guess she thought it would be fun to put her finger in and turn. Lots of blood and screaming to end the day!

the xmas shopping........

is over! so excited that i finished up the kids yesterday! it feels really good not having that hanging over my head. funny because i always made fun of people who were done before thanksgiving, or better yet those that would buy gifts periodically through the year. won't mention any names :) but i get it now, it makes so much more sense as you aren't fighting for parking spaces, and bombarded with annoying xmas jingles in early Nov! so this xmas the girls will have way too many My Little Ponies, Bratz dolls, and arts and crafts stuff under the tree. A couple games too, I bought them Twister, bet that will cause a few cat fights when they get all tangled up though. i'll post the videos : )
Sophia really wanted that Talking Parrot ($54 for another thing squaking at me all day, no way!) And Logann wanted the Baby Alive doll (another $50 toy, maybe i should buy that one, god knows no one else can potty train her, maybe the doll can teach her? i doubt it!)
S and L will have to hold out for Santa(grandma) for those two toys, mommy's done!
post this year's boy toy gifts, curious what your little ones are getting.

My Little Athlete

I never thought I'd see this day... For Logann's birthday we bought her a tee ball set. Logann wasn't too excited about it but Sophia has really taken a liking to it. Maybe my little princess will turn into an athlete after all.

Next lesson: getting her to open her eyes and not duck when attempting to catch the ball!

For Sale

here's the link to our house listing for those of you that have never seen it. we're heading back North if you haven't heard. hoping to find a house in Saratoga Springs again or nearby. 2 showings so far last one went well so we may be up there for the snow even. the market is bad though so i'm just hoping we're there by the time sophia has to start kindergarten.

http://www.fmrealty.com/site/property/listing.asp?mlsID=962342&rNum=R12562&area=6&markettime=1%2F1%2F1993&minprice=375000&maxprice=400000&whichpage=1

Second Child

How come no one ever told me how much more difficult second children are. I think I must have the most stubborn child of all. So Logann turned 3 a few days ago. She's always been very attached to her diapers so I never bothered mentioning potty training to her. Too many bad memories of Sophia and the potty. My thinking is that one day she'll decide to do it and it'll be done.
John however has been obsessed with getting her out of diapers. We've had a big box of birthday presents my mom sent in the closet for a week. Every morning John has teased her with the box, telling her she can open it if she goes potty. She could care less!
Last night I finally gave in and she got the presents. This morning John put her in a new pair of My Little Pony underwear. She was all excited but no lie 5 mins. later, John was tossing the poopie panties out! I had to laugh.
Her words when asked about it "when I turn 4 I'll be a big girl and I'll go on the potty, but I'm still a baby"
The kid loves diapers!

Thirteen Point One

Completed my first half marathon today in Raleigh! I was surprised how much I enjoyed participating in it. John always told me how much more exciting it was to run when racing. I don't think I believed him though.

I was actually having nightmares about this race as I had to take almost a month off of training to nurse yet another foot injury. Luckily someone invented anti-inflamatory/pain killers. I probably owe my success this morning to those 4 little pills(and a bag of ice). No pain or problems thankfully!

I ran the 13.1 miles in 1 hour 59 mins. and 13 seconds. I figured I would be lucky to finish in 2:10 or hell lucky just to finish period. So needless to say I was pretty happy. I'm also pretty psyched that when I got to mile 12 and we split from the full marathon runners, I thought I had it in me to join them! My feet probably won't let me accomplish that goal though.

Anyway it was nice to run the first half of the race with my neighbor/friend Jackie. We chatted and mostly complained as to why we weren't forewarned of all the hills. At mile 8 she fell just a little behind me so I spent the rest of the race trying to catch the girl in the green shorts. Never did though! Other than fighting the urge to throw up at the end as I sprinted determined to break 2 hours, I felt great : ) Think I deserve a massage tomorrow though, not sure if i'll be able to walk.

Happy running!

Three

My baby is three today! Sniff,sniff

Trick or Treat

The girls(the Bride and Ariel) were so excited for Halloween. It was amazing how much more they were into trick or treating this year. They were practically pounding down the doors for candy. Sophia said at one point "this is the greatest day ever, all the houses have candy for me, i can't believe it!." They did tire pretty early though, when their bags were only about a quarter full. Not enough peanut butter cups for mommy to call it quits!
Logann insisted on being Ariel but refused to wear the moppy hair. At least we were able to get it on her long enough to get a picture.

This year we went out with some friends in another neighborhood. S&L love to hang out with their 3 girls, Wonder Woman, Cleopatra and Barbie Island Girl.

The Bride

Saturday we went costume shopping for Halloween. Sophia couldn't wait to get home and wear hers. Getting it off her was a challenge though. It was pretty funny, when she first tried the dress on, she said "Well I think it's kinda a little itchy" but when she saw herself in the mirror with it on, she decided that she was beautiful and seemed to forget all about the itchy lace! Is she ever a girly girl! She's right though she is one beautiful looking bride. When asked who she was going to marry she said her daddy and then after that she would marry Nate(the little cutey at the gym daycare).

The Camera

Logann and Sophia are always dying to take photos whenever i break out the camera. Last night as I was trying to get a picture of Logann with her dog Pinkie, they insisted on taking some.
A couple of the photos came out pretty neat actually. Some others were very scary! Those I won't post! Logann's are the last two, obviously. She hasn't figured out not to cover up the flash yet, I thought it gave the photo a neat effect though.

Pinkie

Logann has finally given up the Dora doll for Pinkie the dog, her present on Sophia's birthday. Pinkie goes everywhere with her and unfortunately always seems to be missing.