No moss gathers...

on a rolling stone! Again, I have been pretty busy around here. I had a final paper to write and turn in so I haven't allowed my self time to blog. Plus there is still all that nastiness going on at work that I have had to deal with. That fight is far from over. There have been some management issues that have resulted in unfair treatment of the employees. It has been so counter productive that is affects my health. I don't eat, I don't sleep well. My stomach is in knots every time I go to work. I don't believe people should have to work in an environment like that. And I mean ANYONE. For those of you who don't know, this is a union job and there is a contract agreed upon by the company and the union. The contract wasn't being followed and quite frankly the managers were creating a hostile work environment. So I file a grievance or five. Seriously, I filed five grievances.And now I have a bull's eye on my back. I am not exactly management's ideal associate. Nope. I will stand up for myself and those that I work with. So things are getting handled but in the words of our union's director, "This place is in the shitter." My long term goals are to work for our union (or any union that will have me!) so being the one who is in the hot seat is actually great experience for me.
I can't believe summer is almost over. What a horrible mother I have been! Brady hasn't even gone to one day camp and she hasn't had too many play dates either. It seems like anything that we did that was fun, was all done before July. Work picked up in July too, so that put a damper on going out of town. The weather has been lousy too as far as hitting the pool. Brady and I did get to go to Idlewild with her troop and that was a blast. Sooo much fun and perfect for kids aged 12 and under.
I have misplaced my camera and I know there are pictures on there that need to be uploaded! So until then I will leave you with my two silly kids!

The Rising of the Sun

How long can a blog lie dormant before there is no chance of resurrection? I am not sure I am willing to wait for that answer! Yeah, yeah. I know. I just lost interest in blogging. But, the main problem is is that I keep writing blog posts in my brain. So I though I had better rev up the blog and get posting.
I am a little worried that no one checks the blog anymore, but maybe my family still checks in!

What have we been up to? I have been non stop busy from about the last week in March until the last week in June. I chaired the Student Appreciation committee for Brady's school and that requires a lot of preparation as well as having to spend the week of celebration at the school. I have never been great at asking people to help or delegating tasks. But I am definitely getting better. After that was finished, a couple of moms and I spent a month coaching the girls to sing, Hard Knock Life from the show, Annie. They performed it for the entire school for the Annual Variety Show. They were fabulous! We were soooo proud of them. They worked hard and it really paid off. If I can get the video to upload, I will edit and update the post to include the video. So after all of that, Brady still had soccer and gymnastics. She had to rehearse for her gym show and then we had to get her ready for gymnastics camp. She attended WVU's camp with her cousin Jenna. They worked those girls out hard and there were a lot of sore muscles, but they had such a great time. She and Jenna roomed together in the dorm. Brady had a night of exhaustion and home sickness but other wise she did just fine.
That catches us up until July. July hasn't been too busy but I have been dealing with a lot of stress from the land of the oppressed. Yes. I am talking about work.I won't go into it now because I don't want to jeopardize anything I have going on at the moment. But if there is no reasonable resolution, I will start blowing the whistle. Nah, make that the siren. I will scream it loud and clear. This place stresses me out so bad that i can't eat, sleep, and I am filled with anxiety. Why don't I quit? I will. I just have a battle to fight first.
So that is the last six months in a nutshell. I am going to really try to resurrect the blog and keep the family in the happenings!
Ta ta for now!


Just a couple of pictures until the next post!

I'd love to give ya an update with some pictures, but...

I have no idea where my camera is! I really don't even have too much to update about. Christmas came and went in a blur. I have been working a lot and with two kids on top of that I am super busy.
Brady just started gymnastics class in Washington, PA. This is what she has wanted for a long time. She is already geared up for WVU's gymnastics camp this summer. Jenna (Tom and Steph's daughter) is going to attend also and they are planning on dorming together. Yes. I am going to allow Brady to stay in the dorm for camp. The cut off age is 8 and she will be 8 years old by then. You may think I am crazy, but my girl is very level headed and she will room with Jenna who will be almost 11 by then. Taylor is going to go to WVU's soccer camp so she will probably be in the same dorm as the girls. I love the fact that my daughter is not afraid to branch out on her own and go to this camp and stay in the dorm. I am so proud of her. She is truly a great kid. I probably wouldn't be so quick to let her if Jenna and Taylor weren't going to be there also.
Oliver is as busy as ever. I am always surprised by his next new phrase. Last night at dinner he said, "oh gosh, mom." Where the hell did that come from? Then later he started pounding on me and spewing some gibberish (picture Ralphie in a Christmas Story when he beats up on the bully) I was so shocked I didn't even say anything for about a minute. I think I was trying to understand if he was really angry at me or being silly. So I just took his hands and said, "You don't hit mommy." This morning I was giving Michael a demo and pretending to do to Oliver what he had done to me and Oliver calmly took my hand and said, "Don't hit." Very cool that the connection was made. Some days Oliver is a wild child and I feel like I am losing my mind and some days he is so sweet I can't kiss him enough. He does have a fondness or putting things in my coffee or water or whatever drink I may be having at the moment. I have walked away and came back to find a flashlight, a scrub brush, popcorn, chips...(you name it) in my cup. He has also managed to put something down the toilet that Michael can't get out. He even pulled the toilet to work on it and still nothing. So he bought a new toilet.
I recently applied to be re-admitted to the Master's program I started a few years ago. I was accepted and it looks like I am heading back when the next class I need is offered.
I am going to try to be a better blogger. I feel like I am getting back on track with a lot of things, so keep your fingers crossed that I find my camera!

Oliver is 2!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it has been such a long time since my last post. I swear I just don't know where the time goes!
Here are some updates:
Oliver at 2 yrs old:
He weighs 29lbs
He is 36" tall. (if you double that, that means he should be about 6' when he is fully grown)
He is very verbal.
And funny! And he will tell you that he is funny. "I funny. I funny, mommy."
Yes, my little man you are VERY funny.
He is everything that a two yr old boy should be. He climbs, he runs, he throws tantrums and he melts my heart. He is so sweet. If Brady cries he goes and hugs her. Last night she couldn't get the bathroom door open so she was yelling for help from behind the closed door. He ran over and said, "I comin, I comin Brayee!"
And his all time favorite saying, "Woook mommy. Woook Daddy." I love to see life through his eyes.
He absolutely adores the cats and they would rather he not even come close to them.
He can kind of count. Although he usually skips from three to six!
He knows some of his shapes. He knows: circles, squares, stars and triangles.
And he knows about 75% of the Thomas the Tank Engine characters. He is obsessed with Thomas. Every time he gets a new train, it comes with a piece of paper showing all of the engines in the line. I swear he carries that paper around for weeks and studies it. It is wrinkled and falling apart and he still shows it to you and says, "Woook mommy!"
I can't say enough about him. He just makes my life that much brighter. Here are a few pictures:

Our good friend Robin was thoughtful enough to bake a Thomas cake for Oliver. We had to hide it until time to sing because he just wanted to play with Thomas and run it down the track.






I had wondered where all those goldfish crackers went!

Cricktoberfest

Michael held his 10th annual Cricktoberfest last weekend out at the camp. This is a yearly gathering of friends and family. The friends have changed over the years but a few remain steadfast and true. The family dynamics are the most fun to witness. We had a herd of kids running around during the day. Brady and her friend's spent their time raking leaves into piles so that they could jump into them from the swing. Oliver did all that he could to destroy the leaf pile and aggravate the girls. Ha! Little brothers!
My mom actually kept my kids over night so this was the first full night Michael and I had away together since Oliver was born. We camped out in a tent and even though it was really cold we were warm and no way was I giving up that night away to wimp out and go home!
I got some great pictures:







I can't even begin to explain the depths of my love for my babies:

Down on the farm..

I have some catching up to do with the blog. Last weekend Michael and I took the kids and headed to Trax Farms. There was no football game and the weather looked promising. The weather turned out to be super hot. I mean, hot! And the place was packed. It is such a great place but it was kind of hard to enjoy with the sun beating down and being crammed in with so many other people. Note to those who may go. Get your man to skip football and go when it will be less crowded. Most of the crowd will be home watching the game. We did get to meet up with Michael's cousin and her husband and managed a few minutes with Pap and Noreen. It felt like we didn't really get to see them because we spent so much time standing in line. Oliver loved the petting zoo and the train. I think Brady was a little nervous about feeding the animals with a baby bottle. As soon as they saw the bottle they came for her FAST.
We ended our trip with a hay ride to the pumpkin patch and the corn maze. Brady and I are going to carve the pumpkin tonight. She has informed me that she wants zero help with carving. Ok. I'll post pictures of her finished product!
Some pictures from the farm:

Busy, Busy

It sure seems like we are never lacking for things to do. Especially in the fall. Last week we finally had the pleasure of getting to meet Miss May Devine. May is the first child for our friends. I have been patiently waiting to meet her. These pictures don't do her justice. She is sweeter than sweet. She has the softest little head of hair. She makes all the baby faces and sounds that a new baby makes. She just follows Jeananne everywhere with her eyes. She reminded me sooo much of Brady at that age. I wanted to take her home with me!!!! She made me want another baby. (And then reality hits when you leave. So no need to raise an eyebrow!)I really can't put into words how beautiful she is, so I will let you see for yourself.





I am not so sure Oliver was as enthralled with May as I was. I think he was a little more thrilled with Ned. But for those of you who are big fans of fur babies, you'll love little Ned.


Oliver was actually really good with Ned. Brady wants a dog sooo badly ( a chocolate lab)but we have been holding out until Oliver gets older. Honestly, I don't think that I am ready for a dog. I am just getting to the point where Oliver has gotten a bit easier!
The blog is undergoing a makeover. I ended up deleting my widgets when I changed the template, but I will have the links back up in no time!