I'M HAVING ANOTHER NIECE!!

That makes 7 nieces an no nephews. Apparently our siblings are not equipped to make boys. Another princess for me to spoil!!


Myspace Princess Diva Graphics

In case you didn't get your fill of Hughie cutness . . .

Christmas Memories

We had a wonderful week full of family, gifts and lots of food. I'm sure my thighs will be paying for it for the months to come! However, it was great to see all of our family and friends. The kids are having a blast with all of their new gifts and I spent the day today doing absolutely NOTHING productive. I'm thoroughly exhausted and looking forward to having nothing to do in the coming months! And for the record I SWEAR that next year my children will wake up at HOME with presents resting under a real, live tree. I"m not sure how long I can pull off that, "Santa dropped off presents early at Mimi's for you."

As great as Christmas was this year, without my Mom-mom for time in 33 years, it wasn't the same. I have a feeling that it will be quite some time before the hole in my heart heals.

Here are some photos from the past week:

Checking out the trains and lights at Dutch Wonderland:


Making cookies with Mimi:



Keeping Pop company:




Santa and toys!




Hughie loves Maya:



Uncle Bill is 50!




Other stuff:

bakeeball

Here's a little clip of the first time I got Hughie to say "basketball" on video. He'd said it for the first time just minutes earlier! You have to pause my playlist and listen carefully or you'll miss it.

Memories . . .

Here is a photo slide show I made for Mom-mom's funeral. The quality seems to really stink on here, but you get the idea! It has music that was funeral appropriate, but I would prefer if you would turn that music off and let Natalie Merchant sing the background music (first song on my playlist).

In Loving Memory

Ruby Lee Seymour "Mom-mom" - my grandmother.

December 9, 1921 - December 12, 2008

She was, hands down, the best person I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Well miss you, Mom-mom, until we meet again . . .

Family Photo

Here is a family photo that we had taken at my Mom's house. Can you believe I actually got a photo with BOTH of my children smiling at the same time? It's the first time that's happened in the last five professional photo shoots we've done.

Crayons, Cookies, Kisses and Dips

Tonight Mandi and I went to the kids' Christmas Program. Well, not so much of a program as the barely organized chaos of some 40 odd preschoolers. This year's theme was the "Colors of Christmas." Each kid had a giant crayola crayon and a line corresponding to the color of their crayon. Georgia's line was "Aqua was the blanket that kept him warm." Doesn't Georgia look grown up???? My baby! And Riley (Georgia's bff) was a total ham, as usual.






After the program the kids enjoyed cookies and juice and Hughie attempted to hiss his sweetheart McKenna. She was relatively receptive. Becky got it on video so we can use it as the intro for their wedding video!








Tonight F&M won their fifth game against Johns Hopkins. They are now 5-0, GO DIPS!!! (The F&M mascot is the Diplomat.)

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday visiting with both families. We hit Bellefonte first and I thought that I would earn some in-law points and take up a dozen Maple Donuts. YUM. So, I take Hughie and we carefully pick out 13 donuts and have them packaged up. I get out to the car, put the donuts on the roof of the car, put my coffee in the cup holder, put Hughie in his seat and settle in for the rest of my road trip. If you're doing the math there, you will realize that I never put the donuts in the car. They are somwhere on route 83 feeding a family of hungry deer. The worst part was that I didn't even realize that I had FORGOTTEN to put the donuts in the car until about an hour later. I'm telling Chris about all my delicious selections and it hits me that the box is not in the car. Sorry, Erin!!!

At Mimi's house we ate Thanksgiving dinner with most of the F&M basketball team. They had to practice on Thanksgiving this year, so some of them missed their family feasts. Not to worry says Roxie, I can cook for 15 hungry college boys (averaging about 6'3"). And she did. We had fun painting Christmas ornaments and decorating gingerbread cookies. I have so much for which to be thankful.

Brownies and Bag Heads

Here is photographic evidence that I am a bad mother and let my kids lick the brownie batter spoon, raw egg and all. Georgia's an old pro, but this is Hughie's first encounter with salmonella. Also note the pair of scissors in front of Hugh and the fact that he is teetering an inch from the edge of the island.




And here is a video of Hughie just being SO FREAKING CUTE I can barely type this post. And no, I can't for the life of me figure out how to rotate the stinking thing.

Georgia's Art

Lately I've been loving Georgia's art work. I think I might start framing it and make a huge wall collage. Right now she's particularly obsessed with sparkle puffy paint and who can blame her?

Let's Get Rocked

So last night we're watching a CMT show called Crossroads where country artists get a chance to collaborate with all kinds of musicians from different genres. Last night's pairing was Taylor Swift and DEF LEPPARD (my favorite rock band of all time). You can laugh, if you want, you can say, "what about Van Halen? Grateful Dead? The Stones??" All I can say to you is that until you've been 4th row at a SOLD OUT York Fair concert (where drunk people with mullets are being booted by security left and right) and actually experienced Def Leppard live, you know nothing. Right, Griney & Bogie?!? Talyor was cute and sweet and all, but she didn't do much for Def Leppard. At least I got my fix.

Finito!

I still have the little stuff (towel bars, etc.) but the bathroom is finished! Yeah! Now we have to finish the bedroom and we can move out of the guest room. Woo-hoo!

Sexiest Man Alive

So I'm perusing cnn.com today and they have a teaser that People has named the Sexiest Man Alive for 2008. Immediately I thought HUGH JACKMAN. Please be Hugh Jackman, please be Hugh Jackman, please be Hugh Jackman. No more of this Brad Pitt crap, I want a hottie this year! Matt Damon last year, are you kidding me? Seriously? The link took forever and then, there he was. The second cutest Hugh alive.






And you know why he's the sexiset man alive (besides his gorgosity and accent)? He's been happily married to a non-model for a LONG TIME and the only time you see him in the tabloids is when he's frolicking shirtless on the beach with his kids. He's a triple threat (yes, he sings and dances too) and a good dad? Brad Pitt and George Clooney can't hold a candle him. His wife's reaction to his being named the Sexiest Man Alive? "I could have told them that years ago." Love it.

Three Little Words

Last night I was working on Georgia's family turkey project with Hughie and G-Ro. The kitchen island was a mess of paper turkey feathers and sparkle paint. I asked Georgia was she was thankful for and she replied, "Turkey and Mandi." Ok. I asked Hughie and he said, "Gahkeys" (cookies). As we were finishing up the project, Hughie looked at me and said, "I lah loo."

"Yellow? You want to the yellow crayon?"

"Uh-uh." (shaking head no)

"I lah loo."

"I love you?"

"Uh-huh!!!" (Shaking head yes)

Mommy was a puddle on the floor. It was one of those absolutely precious Mommy moments that I will treasure FOREVER. I love you too, little man. More than you'll probably ever realize.

Weekend Pics

School Halloween Parade Pics

No, the bathroom isn't finished. We had some down time while we waited for some floor trim to come in. Next week it will be finished! *fingers crossed*

Here are some progress pictures:



Like the color?!?!?

How many days until Christmas, Mommy?

Yes, that is the first question that Georgia asks me every morning now that Christmas decorations are. I decided that after Thanksgiving we would make a paper ring chain with the number of days left until Christmas so that Georgia has a visual and will stop asking me!! As annoying as the question is, I know that for my sweet little four year old this season holds an unlimited amount of wonder and excitement. She literally squeals with glee every time we walk into a store and she sees Christmas decorations. "Mommy, it's CHRISTMAS!!!"

Hughie is transitioning into tantrum mode. It's rare that we have a diaper change or clothes change without some protest. This morning in my office when Hughie got his treat (a mini Krackel bar) he screamed and cried when I handed him the candy. How dare I unwrap it when HE wanted to? It's alot easier this time around though because I know what to expect. That and the fact that Hughie is a million times easier going than Georgia. When he throws a fit I remind him that he's got NOTHING on his sister. ;)

Hughie's new favorite word is, "Ruby." We watch an episode of 'Max and Ruby' before bed. So when we head upstairs to watch it after bath - Hugh points to the tv and says, "Ruby!!" Ruby also happens to be my grandmother's name, so I love to hear him say it.

And let me just say again that DVR is the best thing that has ever happened to television. I really hate commercials and being able to skim right over them is heaven. That and the fact that we can watch DIFFERENT episodes of 'Max and Ruby' and not the same one over and over and over on demand. Sigh.

Barack Obama

Last night I was watching the election coverage with Georgia (flipping back and forth between that and Georgia's favorite "adult" show 'Ripley's Believe it or Not') and trying to convey her what a hugely historical moment we were witnessing. The glass ceiling was about to be shattered!! All Georgia knew was that she liked Barack Obama's commercials and she even voted for him during her class vote at school yesterday (Obama won 9 - 6). I didn't even think she was really paying attention to it all until this morning when she crawled into bed with me this morning first thing and whispered, "Did Barack Obama win?" :)

Halloween 2008

On Friday evening after visiting Daddy at work (so the ladies in the athletic department could make a fuss over my little Halloween Princess Witch and L'il Frankie), we headed to Riley's house for some pizza and trick or treat. The girls were pretty much pros with their candy collection techniques, but Hughie had some learning to do. At first he was confused, but that didn't last long. By the third house he was sprinting to the door with his hand outstretched. We did coax him to say, "Ti oh tee" a couple of times and it was quite adorable. he still can't say thank you, but he signed it. We then spent the rest of the weekend gorging on candy like the rest of America. Ugh. I brought the rest into work with me today!

And now that she is "officially" 12 weeks, I would like to announce that my sister-in-law Andrea is pregnant! And Andrea's due date is May 17th, so she's planning to schedule a c-section on May 19th, a VERY SPECIAL DAY! That would make three generations of Anstines with that birthday (me, dad and baby Anstine)!! Cool, huh? Let's just hope that baby cooperates and doesn't try to sneak out early.

With the good news is the bad. Mom-mom (my mom's mom) fell and broke her hip last week. She made it through hip surgery today, so keep her in your prayers. The statistics for 87 year olds recovering from broken hips are not good. :(

And the bathroom will probably be finished THIS WEEK. I picked a color, Tranquility by Benjamin Moore (blue/green/gray) and it rocks my world. Chris put it on over the weekend and it's perfect! "We" (read: Chris) still have to rip up carpet, refinish the hardwood floors and paint the bedroom, closet and powder room, but I'm sincerely hoping that we are back in our own room by the end of this month. I can't wait!

Talented Friends

One of my best friends from high school, Emily, has a photography website and she truly does some great work! Check it out. If you happen to be in Boise, Idaho and need some family photos - SCORE!

http://mkayphoto.blogspot.com/

Why can't I take photos like that??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another great fall weekend . . .

We had another busy, but fabulous weekend. On Friday night we had our hayride and it was a blast despite the fact that it took me 50 minutes to get to Funk's Farm (normal time 15 minutes)and the fact that I organized the hayride and was the LAST person to arrive (10 minutes late). The weather was perfect and no small children were impaled on the giant roasting skewers, so I view that as a win/win. I was smart this year and brought glow necklaces so we could see the kids running in the dark. One very entrepreneurial youngster (KIMON) even tried to sell the necklaces and bracelets he had acquired for a dollar each! Ha! And a big thanks to Papa for watching Hughie for me and introducing Georgia to female pirate heroines. He got us sucked into this pirate movie starting Geena Davis and now Georgia wants to be a girl pirate. Well, at least it's not Ariel, right?








Saturday was the pumpkin party at the Dietrich's. The weather was horrible, but we managed to have fun and stuff ourselves with chili and apple pie. I made my "famous" apple pie for the apple pie contest and it was gorgeous, but somehow my tweaking of the recipe resulted in apple pie soup. I still managed to win the taste portion of the competition, but I placed second in presentation due to the soup factor. Have no worries, a turkey baster saved the day and the pie was still really yummy (and eaten).







Sunday was the York Halloween parade and the kids loved it. Nothing like marching bands, monster floats and free candy to really bring on the holiday spirit! Hughie insisted on wearing my bat headband for the parade.







The bathrooms are almost finished. Jerry is grouting the tile, finishing the wainscoting and framing the windows this week. He claims by next week they will be completely finished! Chris has the pleasure of painting everything, so he's been priming this weekend.Here's a preview (and no, that's not a bar it's the shower wall, the rest will be glass).