Kings Island

We got everyone a pass to Kings Island for this summer and the girls have already gone quite a few times. Monday was my first time to go, but Jeff and Conor had already been once. The girls went off on their own as soon as we got there and Jeff, Caitlyn, Conor, and I headed to kiddie land. The first ride we rode was the Scooby-doo haunted castle. Conor and I were in one Mystery Machine, and Jeff and Caitly rode in one behind us. They supply flashlight guns to shoot at the monsters throughout the ride, and it counts up how many monsters that you get on a little digital scoreboard in the machine. While we were standing in line, we asked Conor if he wanted to ride with me or Jeff and he picked me. Jeff proceeded to tell him that "Mommy is a bad shooter" and he would lose if he went with me. He was soooo wrong! Conor scored 600 with his, Jeff got 530, and I got a whopping 810. Apparently there was only one working shooter in their machine, they claim, and the one that did work didn't work half the time. Yeah, right. Likely story.

After the ride, Scooby-doo was outside and the kids went up to get their picture taken with him. Conor was a little hesitant, he inched his way to standing next to him.

Then I talked Conor into trying the bumper cars. Apparently when he and Jeff went the only ride he wanted to ride was the White Water Canyon ride over and over again. Which is what he wanted to do again, but I told him that we had to go to other rides as well because he wasn't the only one there and we wanted to do something different.

He was a blur driving around running into all the other drivers.

He had a blast.

He ran into the little girls just as much as the little boys.

After the bumper cars, Caitlyn wanted to ride what used to be called the Beastie but is now Cosmo and Wanda's Fairly Odd Roller Coaster. Conor would not be talked into it. We stood in line with them, though. We just walked across the seat instead of riding.

We then went on to meet up with the girls and have lunch. After which, it was time for the White Water Rapids ride. It was a fairly overcast day, not warm at all. Which is good while walking around the park, but is not good for getting wet.

We got soaked. Totally soaked. It was fun and we laughed a lot because of Jeff's complaining every time he got hit with water. I do think he got the worst of it.

After riding two times in a row (there weren't a lot of other people dumb, errr.. I mean, brave enough to ride it, we walked down game row. Mistake. Conor wanted to play all the games. We played a few, but didn't win. Conor saw an ice cream shop and wanted a cone, so he and I got one each. Jeff and Caitlyn were too cold. What wusses. Heh.

The ice cream piled onto those little cones were HUGE. They flowed over the sides, and I don't know how it stayed. Well, it really didn't. It melted down our hands. A sticky mess that even Conor didn't like. He ate most of it, but then was tired of it cuz his mouth was frozed and he want to throw it away. Caitlyn was riding on the swings, and Jeff took Conor's ice cream while we were waiting and began to lick it. It was a bit top-heavy and the ice cream fell off the cone as he tried to lick it. It was quite funny - the look on his face afterwards. I didn't get a picture though - I had my hands full with my own cone.

He was bummed that he couldn't play more. But at $5 a pop, no way. I'd rather just buy a stuffed animal.

Although you can't tell by the pictures, this is what the sky looked like.

Caitlyn wanted to ride the Scrambler, but no one else did so she hopped on by herself.

And loved it.

Here was a little friend that caught a ride on my shoe and I thought he was a rather interesting looking bug, so I took his picture.

After the scrambler, Caitlyn wanted to go back to kiddie land and ride the Reptar (roller coaster) but Conor would have none of that and he wanted to go up on the Eiffel Tower. So, Jeff went with Caitlyn, and Conor and I went up the tower. And, OK, I'm terrified of that thing. I mean, it has been there for a very long time and one of these days it is going to fall. I went up on it all the time as a kid, even walked up the stairs to the lower level all the time. (That part is closed off now.)

We got to the top and my legs will barely move to walk around it. I inch out to the edge and grasp the bars going around - like holding on to something will prevent me from falling with it. But, hey, it made me feel a little safer. I couldn't take any pictures though, my hands were too busy. Conor looked down on the people below us and said they look like ants. Then he wanted to find Jeff and Caitlyn somehow... lol

We stayed up there for what seemed like forever to me, but was more like 5 minutes before I talked Conor into getting back on the elevator and going down. We walked back to kiddie land and there was a water gun game that he wanted to play. The minimum amount of players needed was 2 and it only cost $3. So he and I played. And he beat me twice! He chose a Sponge bob for his daddy, and a teddy bear for mommy. :) We then went to meet up with Jeff and Caitlyn. Caitlyn and Conor had actually started to be dry from the water rides, so they decided they wanted to run through the water land.

So they did, and they got totally soaked. They ran through 3 or 4 times.

By this time, it was still gray on one side of the tower...

and the sun was shining on the other side.

We met up with the girls again and I took their picture to prove that they did actually go with us. We were all tired (Conor was grouchy without a nap) and decided to head home.

One last picture of all four of them...

And we walked the long distance to the truck.

On the way home we stopped to see Granddad. He was glad for the visit. He was sitting in a chair, so Allie and Ceara sat on his bed, and both kinda laid down. We found folding chairs in the closet so we were all able to sit and talk with him for a bit.

One of his nurses walked in (a guy) and saw Allie lying in the bed and started teasing her. Said he was about to give her a suppository because he thought she was a patient. We all laughed, and she had a confused smile on her face. "I don't know what that is.." she said. Which caused a lot more laughter.

The nurse said, "I'll let them explain it to you," and left.

We picked up some food and went home. We were all wore out. I laid on the couch and watched a movie while everyone got ready for bed. Then I took a long, hot bath to get warm and went to bed as well. It was a fun day with lots of laughter.

Today... I'm shampooing my bedroom carpet. So, I better get started on that. :)

Conor's latest obsession

Is with money. How he can earn it, how much he will get, and can he please count all the money in my purse? (never really a whole lot there. :( lol) As I've said before, Conor loves to borrow my camera and take pictures. Here are just a few of the many he took of this $20 bill.

Everything we ask him to do he says, "How much will you pay me?" Which... may not sound good, but sometimes he gets money and sometimes he doesn't. He doesn't really ask for a whole lot, though. He will work for shiny pennies!

What it has done, though, is make him really good at math. Addition, subtraction, some multiplication. And he hasn't even started school yet! If you give him a problem... say if you have to pay $87 for groceries, and you give the lady $90, how much will she give you back? He will tell you $3.

This morning before I was leaving for work he was doing a crazy little dance while chanting "Hundred dollar bill" over and over - moving his arms in crazy directions. It was quite funny. I wonder if it could be like a rain dance or something and it could bring some hundred dollar bills raining down on us... *sigh* wishful thinking!

Fun in the sun

A few pictures from swimming at my dad's house

Ceara, Caitlyn, and Conor spent the majority of the time in the pool - playing games and having fun.

While Allie spent the majority of the time laying in the sun trying to get a tan.

Everyone had a lot of fun though. The water was just right for cooling off after baking in the sun for a while.

I'm hoping to get the time to go today, although it's doubtful. I have too much to do around the house today. One more week of work and I'm on VACATION for a whole week. I guess I'll have plenty of time to swim then. If I don't take on any home projects that is.

The great cake debacle

I've made many, many cakes over the past 10 or so years, and never have I had what happened last weekend happen. I've had other problems, so I guess they should be expected every once in a while, but what happened last weekend just stumped me.

Mary had originally asked months before to make a cake for Matt's graduation party only to discover that her mom planned to buy the cake from a local bakery. Since Matt doesn't really care for cake anyway, she changed to order to a decorated cookie.

A few days before the graduation party, she discovered that her mom wasn't getting the cake so she asked if I could do the cake instead. Shouldn't be a problem, I told her. I just needed to go to the supply store to get cake decorations and a box. Then I discovered that the supply store I have used for years closed down. Since these stores are only open during my work hours I had to go during my lunch break and I didn't have time to go to the one I used to use. So, I had to do it on Friday - which is no big deal.

Well, Friday turned into one thing after another. On my way to work it was a nice day so I had all my windows down. Something flew into my eye (even though I had sun glasses on) and so of course my eye closed. I could not open it back up. So I ran off the road just a little - nothing major don't freak out mom - and recovered. I got to work by holding my left eye shut. I went to the bathroom and rinsed it out. It was a bit red and swollen, and watering, but it was open.

During the morning severe thundershowers moved into the area, so it was storming outside when I went to lunch. The supply store I had to go to was in Beavercreek (about 25 miles north) so I got on the highway and the rain started pouring down. People were pulling to the side of the road to wait it out because it was so hard to see the car in front of you. I went slowly along at 15 miles per hour and finally made it there. Their graduation stuff was picked over so I got what I could and got back to work. It had quit raining by the time I started back.

After work I had to go Father's day shopping and get some cake ingredients. By the time I got home, we ate dinner and I just figured I'd relax for a little bit before starting on the cake. It would be easy enough to decorate, the most time consuming thing would be baking them and making the icing. So I asked Allie if she wanted to bake them for me and she did. She made one chocolate and one white. When they were done, I went out to make the icing to discover that the cakes were flat. They had not risen at all. Maybe 1/2 inch thick. I thought it was something Allie did, so I questioned her on it, but she swore she did it right. So I made another one myself. It did the same thing. By that time I was out of cakes to make and it was 2am. I thought about going to the grocery, but I was so tired I couldn't. I figured I could go to GFS the next day and get one of their sheet cakes (without icing) and put my icing on it and decorate it. That was about the only option I had as baking two more cakes was not an option, I would not have time.

I got to GFS and found their cakes. But none of them were sheet cakes without icing. They only had Sara Lee chocolate cakes with chocolate icing. I was desperate. I bought it. I got home and called Mary - gave her the two options that were available. 1. I put white icing over the chocolate icing on the cake I bought and decorate that or 2. I put the yellow and white cakes I made on top of each other to make one cake and decorate that, and bring the chocolate one as is. She choose option #2.

So, I put the yellow cake on top of the white one, and decorated it. I put both cakes in my car and drove them over to her house. When I parked in her driveway, I opened my door and locked the doors (habit) and then didn't know what to do with the keys, so I figured I would just leave them in the car and I put them back in the ignition and got out with the decorated cake. I put it on the hood of my car and went to get the chocolate cake out of the back to find that I had locked myself out of the car. I had, thank goodness, cracked all my windows and we were able to force it down enough for Mary to reach in and unlock the back door.

We opened the chocolate one (which was frozen when I bought it so I left it out to thaw) to find that you were supposed to open it immediately and take the parchment paper off before letting it thaw. We got it off anyway and smoothed the icing down and put some extra decorating stuff on it.

Good thing she choose option 2 because had I opened the chocolate one I would have found that it was impossible to remove it from the cardboard box it was in to decorate it with white icing.

So I left the cakes and went to get ready for the party. I forgot to take any pictures of the cake before leaving it though. It was a simply decorated cake - mostly the things put on it were the decorations. I took a picture when I went back to the party, though. It had already been cut and the diploma and other things had been taken off.

So, here it is. The final cake. Not even close to the best I've done, but it was edible and it tasted good anyway. The chocolate one is in the background. I didn't bother taking a picture of it by itself.

I think I should just retire from making cakes. :)

The Zoo

We got a family pass to the Cincinnati Zoo this year and have already used it quite a few times. I've only gotten to go once, though. Jeff and Conor have been the ones getting the most use out of it since the girls were in school and I had to work. We all finally got to go the week after school let out. The very first thing we did came up to was the merry-go-round. Conor begged to ride it, he didn't want to wait until later, so he talked the girls into riding it with him. Allie, Ceara, and Caitlyn all got on and chose their animal to ride. Conor got on one, and then chickened out and got off. He said he might ride it later, but that he didn't want to rid it anymore. So the girls rode it around by themselves.

Doesn't Allie look thrilled?

We got tickets to see the Spongebob 4D movie that was starting not long after we got there. There was a bird show right around the corner, so we went to watch it while we waited. It was a hot day - can you tell by Conor's red face? We had only been there about 30ish minutes when this was taken.

After the movie, we rode the train to the elephant area and got off and walked around. The elephants were outside the building so we stopped to look at them for a few minutes before moving on. Conor left his water bottle where the elephants were and insisted that he had to go back to get it. Jeff took him while the girls and I waited.

Allie refused to get her picture taken with the baby elephant. Apparently she doesn't like elephants very much.

The reptile house offered a bit of a break from the sun and I, personally, love to go in and look at the snakes. I've always had a fascination for snakes. My mom wouldn't let me have one when I was a teenager, though. :(

Posing with the gorilla statue wasn't a problem with Allie, apparently she likes them and mentioned staying there to live with the monkeys. They wouldn't let her though.

After a few hours of walking around in the hot sun, we decided to call it a day and leave.

But not before Conor made his transformation...

Into a Mime.

Errrr.. wait. That's not a Mime.

A Mime with a black eye!

Oooops - a puppy!

A thirsty puppy by the looks of it.

Sly dog. He took the role to heart and even barked and growled for us while he had a puppy face.

And apparently dogs aren't afraid of the merry-go-round. Go figure.

**Note: I have many, many pictures of the animals at the Zoo. I've even posted some before. So I chose not to take any animal pictures this time and just get the kids. :)

I Believe

I was sent this in an email, and since I agree with every part of it, I thought I would post it here.

A Birth Certificate shows that we were born
A Death Certificate shows that we died
Pictures show that we lived!

I Believe...

That just because two people argue,
it doesn't mean they don't love each other.
And just because they don't argue,
it doesn't mean they do love each other.

I Believe...

That we don't have to change friends,
if we understand that friends change.

I Believe...

That no matter how good a friend is,
they're going to hurt you every once in a while
and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe...

That true friendship continues to grow,
even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.

I Believe...

That you can do something in an instant
that will give you heartache for life.

I Believe...

That it's taking me a long time
to become the person I want to be.

I Believe...

That you should always leave loved ones with loving words.
It may be the last time you see them.

I Believe...

That you can keep going long after you think you can't.

I Believe...

That we are responsible for what we do,
no matter how we feel.

I Believe...

That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I Believe...

That heroes are the people who do what has to be done
when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I Believe...

That money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I Believe...

That my best friend and I, can do anything,
or nothing, and have the best time.

I Believe...

That sometimes the people you expect to kick you
when you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.

I Believe...

That sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry,
but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe...

That maturity has more to do with what types
of experiences you've had and what you've
learned from them and less to do with how
many birthdays you've celebrated.

I Believe...

That it isn't always enough, to be forgiven by others,
sometimes, you have to learn to forgive yourself..

I Believe...

That no matter how bad your heart is broken,
the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I Believe...

That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are,
but we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe...

That you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret.
It could change your life Forever.

I Believe...

Two people can look at the exact same thing
and see something totally different..

I Believe...

That your life can be changed in a matter of
hours by people who don't even know you.

I Believe...

That even when you think you have no more to give,
when a friend cries out to you - you will find the strength to help.

I Believe...

That credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe...

That the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

'The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything;
they just make the most of everything.'

Kindergarten

I really don't like that word. I have to think too much about it to spell it. It should be spelled kindergarden - why does it have to be a T? There is no t sound in the word when you say it. BAH!

Anyway, Conor is now officially signed up to begin kindergarten in the fall when school starts. We had registration Thursday - which used to include testing as well, so I scheduled the day off. Then I found out that there wasn't going to be any testing - new thing this year is that they do that right before school starts in August some time. So... Conor didn't even have to go.

I could have worked anyway because the registration lasted until like 7 or 7:30PM - but I chose to keep the day off. Just because I wanted to. Conor ended up going to Cindy's (his baby sitter's house) because he just HAD to - he had bought a ring for Carly and he HAD to give it to her.

I took him to drop him off at Cindy's and he gave Carly her ring and all the other kids immediately said, "What did you bring for me?"

Ashley, who calls Conor her boyfriend, asked where hers was, so Conor explained that it cost a whole $.25 and he couldn't afford more than the one he got for Carly. So then he sat down next to Carly and Ashley asked to sit on his lap. Ahhh the girls.

So I left at that point and went home to be a bum. Jeff and I took him to the school to register him later in the day. Even though he didn't have to be there, we wanted him to go to see what the school was like.

When we got there Conor was excited and wondered if Carly would be at the same school. It seems he doesn't understand that she goes to school in a different district. We went in and filled out the paperwork and afterwards went to see what the classrooms looked like. They were all locked, so we could only look through the doors until the janitor walked by and let us go in and look around in one.

The classroom was full of color and fun - beanbag chairs, a wall of computers, the alphabet on puppets, little mail slots for their papers, a small aquarium with cocoons turning into butterflies. Conor loved it. He is very excited to start school.

We also saw a flyer for soccer on one of the walls, so we are going to be signing him up to play soccer in the fall.

My baby boy is going to school soon. I hope he loves it and does well.

May 14th, 2008

Today would have been Charlie's 23rd birthday. There is not a day that passes that I do not think about him. I'm not much into sharing my feelings on here, but I could not let the day pass without acknowledging him and remembering him on my blog.


I still have the Peace Lily plant that was given to me when Charlie died. I think of him when I see it. I think of some of the times when I would pick him up from his mom's and bring him to dad's house. I worked close to him so it was easy for me to do.


I think of the time when I was upset and he did Jim Carrey impressions to make me laugh.


I think of all the conversations I had with him about Dad's reactions to certain things - like his ear being pierced and his tattoo he got. We had some laughs when trying to guess what he would say.


I think about his tourettes and the tics he had and how much I ignored them when I noticed them.


I think of him when I saw him at Brett's funeral - how I hugged him and cried and told him I didn't see enough of him now that he was older.


I think of his snake he had when he was little.


Every time I see a skate board I think of him - hanging out at the skate boarding place where I picked him up from sometimes. Or the DVD I made of the VHS tapes that he made of himself. In those tapes, it shows him trying different moves over and over and over again until he gets it right. He didn't give up, he just kept on trying until he got it right.


I think of him when I think about painting my house - because he was supposed to help me.


I can't very well go over every thought I have in this post, but the point is I DO think about him. Every day. And I am glad that I do. I don't ever want to forget him.

Happy Birthday, Charlie. I love you very much.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there!!

Posing

Being typical teenage girls (uhhh, wait. I don't remember doing any of this when I was a teenager! oh, yeah, no digital cameras then...), Allie and Ceara like to take pictures of themselves. Either via a mirror reflection, or holding the camera at arms length to take the shot.

And now they've started to include Conor. He loves to take pictures and will get my camera and take various strange pictures of things and people. I usually just delete them though - thank goodness for digital cameras!

And oh, my... Gage too. Sheesh. Peace, dude.

Any thoughts on what he could possibly be thinking?

This totally cracks me up.

Ceara looks to me like she is about to roll her eyes at Allie and Chrissy - but I know better. She poses too. I just don't have those downloaded to my computer yet!

New Quilt

My mom has this quilt that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. There is just something about it that I love, but she was not willing to part with it. We went to IKEA and bought a new bed. After we had it all together and didn't have a big enough blanket / comforter for it, my mom surprised me by giving it to me. It made my day. :)



If you look a little closer, it is a quilt of the 1900s. It has the decades in it - 1910 through 1990 - with pictures surrounding it of things from that decade (I assume, I have not actually checked...). Below is 1970s.

And the 1940s. No, don't ask me what the pictures mean. I just love it. For the colors and the theme.

So, thanks, Mom. I really do love this quilt. :)

Two months without posting!

Yes, I know I've been a slacker. Each time I have opened my blog in an attempt to post something, I have been distracted. By what? The blogs I have linked on my side bar to the right. The newest edition - Pioneer Woman - has me addicted. I still haven't read all her entries, but I'm trying to! If you have NOT read her site, I suggest you go on over right now and check her out. Funny, interesting stories. Contests (with prizes). Photography (at some point I will reload Photoshop on my computer and try all this out!). Cooking. Home and garden. Even if you know how to cook, her cooking site is excellent. The pictures of what she is doing step by step are amazing.

I also had some computer problems and had to re-image my computer. Thus losing all my pictures (I did, however, back them up) and all my programs (Photoshop, Office) and I have yet to reload them.

I did take some time last night and uploaded some pictures that I have taken recently and will be posting all of them below this post (several posts). So, scroll down. If you don't see any new pictures, then you've come too soon and I'm still working on it! I do have to do some work as well ya know. :)

OH! And *ahem* I will be back dating them so it will appear that I didn't skip two months of posting. HEY! It's my blog and I can do that. So, ha!

Like my nephew's birthday party on 03/29/08. It will look like I actually posted the pictures on that day! heehee

Jumping

Just some pictures of Conor jumping on the trampoline at Molly's house.

The one above looks like he is standing in mid air. He looks so stiff. lol

I was going for some action shots - didn't do too badly. :)