Wow, it has been awhile!

Well the month of November seemed to fly by. I have been busy so I am sorry to not have posted anything. I hope that all is well with everyone. I will just catch everyone up with the past months happenings.

Let's start with my aunts birthday. Sorry Tammie there were no guarantees when it came to this picture. Her kids had bought these PJ's for her birthday and we made her try them on. Can you believe that they still make these and big enough for adults. =)

Since my parents house was semi-finished we decided to have Tammie's birthday party there. So here was our make shift dining table. Don't you just love it?
Yep, it is about a foot wide and maybe 3.5 feet long. Poor Paul looks tired. Well we all had a good time and Happy Birthday Tammie!!

The weekend after Tam's birthday we moved my parents into their new house! Yippee it is done and ready to live in. We made several trips with a U-haul and for the adventure of it Noah, Nick, Noel, Brandon and I rode in the back of the truck. It was a blast and I highly recommend it to anyone. So here are a few pictures once we had light again.






Thanksgiving came and went so quickly. I hope that everyone had a great turkey day. Here is a picture of my dad and Noah after too many festivities, past out on the couch.
The next day Black Friday, Nick, Tam and I braved it. Or should I say that Nick and I braved it. Tam sat in her car because she was cold. =) Here is a great one of Nick. He and I went strong through mid-afternoon!Well I have to sign off because I have work to do tonight. But I will try not to take as long next time. I have a ton of other pictures to put up. Take care!!

Coolest tree ever

I am turning into my grandfather. When we go through his pictures we always find pictures of nature. My mom groans and says "I get it, he like nature" but I look at them and see the differences. So I have another nature picture for you. When I was out today I saw this amazing tree and all the leaves looked like this. I only have 1 leaf to show you sorry, but picture the entire tree looking this way.

Take the time to see the differences!

Parents House Update

I have several pictures of my parents house to update everyone on. This picture is a picture of my parents sunroom, and woohoo carpet. Things are coming along quite well, hopefully they will be in some time mid- November. Speaking of a well... here is the guy putting my parents well in. Yippee finally a toilet for up there instead of always having to use the woods. Or not... here's the thing. The plumber came out to hook up the lovely and very precious toilet and the tank had sunk and the pipes into the house were not straight out like they should be but at a 45 degree angle. So this need to be fixed before the plumber could hook up the toilets. The guy to fix it was on vacation. So the well has been there for over a week and we still don't have a toilet, in fact we will still have to use the woods through this weekend. But the worse part was yet to happen. We had a terrible rain storm and their basement started to flood. Our first thought was that the windows in the basement were not sealed or something went wrong with the grading of the yard. Nope- when you went into the basement you could see and hear what was going on. It sounded like a shower, and the 2800 sq. ft. basement was almost all soaked- so the water was coming in extremely fast. I will allow you to guess where... any thoughts? Well no one would have thought that it would be pouring in from the electric box. Literally about a 5 gallon bucket full was coming through every minute or so. Now the fun thing is that the electric was working to the house and had been for a couple weeks. So now going through the same area were electric wires and gallons of water- sounds fantastic huh? Well it was. My mom called the electrician on a Saturday to come out and take a look at what was going on, he found that when the excavator covered up the tubes that housed the underground electric he hit it and it broke, so this basically created a stream. The tube sucked in the ground water and it went right through the electric box and right into the house- great place for it. =) So my mom was flipping out to say the least. But these are the things that we are going to look back on and remember. =)
Here is a Princess fan for the princess Aracely's room. My mom is having a princess room made up for her for when she is with us and spends the night. Her walls are going to be pink stripes and all her decorations are Disney Princesses. My mom never went all out like this on me!!
Here is my pooped mom after she and I finished laying the floor in her pantry. Below is a picture of the living room with carpet and the paint finished. The fireplace was finished today but I haven't had a chance to see it yet. I can't wait, I hope that no water gets in!

A nice fall day

Today was a great fall day. The temps were in the lower 60's and it was great to go out with Paul and take a walk. As we were walking I saw this huge pile of leaves and just felt the need to dive in... a lo and behold Paul has a hold of my phone and snaps a picture. So I thought that I would post it for everyone to get a good laugh at. But hey, it was fun and not something that I get to do everyday- wish that I could though. =)






On our way back to the house I saw this tree and thought
that it looked like it was on fire. I am not sure if the photo
will do it justice but it was a beautiful sight and I thought that I would pass it along. Enjoy and look for the great little moments in everything.

PSU riots

I am sure that many of you out there heard that after the big win from this past weekend there
were riots downtown. Well I thought that I would pass a few photos along to those of you who haven't seen any. Ryan said that he went down after they were over and the place was destroyed. It was a great game and I am glad they won- Paul and I were on the edge of our seats. Thanks Jess for leaving your house so we could win the game, Dan you are going to have to keep her away the rest of the season. =) Go Penn State!! P.S. I am supporter of having fun and singing songs about Penn State, but not a supporter of destruction and that is what it turned into.

I know, I suck at this!

Well I am the worst blogger out there. But I guess between working 2 jobs and helping my parents with their house I have an excuse. Anyways this blog is going to be about Aracely and another weekend with her. She is just so cute.

First off we took her roller skating again because she requests to go all the time, but this one was a Halloween skate party. So we dressed up. Here is Cely and Paul. Aren't they a great duo? It almost looks like she was mad at him and turned him that ugly.

Then her dancing in the middle of the skating rink. She is getting so good!! The other people there were taking her picture too!
Nothing to say about this picture!
Now for Saturday- Fun Unleashed. This place is great, you have tunnels and slides and all kinda of fun things to do with the kids. I love going here because I love to play in the jungle too. The best is when we all play hide and seek, me, Paul, Aracely, and Ryan. But here are a few funny pictures if Grandma trying to get in on the action. (Note: we have been there many times before and this was my mothers first time venturing inside.)

Here is Aracely leading the way for Grandma, just in case she would get lost.

Cely is then helping Grandma to get to the slide and clapping because she made it, whew I wasn't sure she would make it either! And then the fun ride down the slide. (Note:One time when Cely and I were there (not this trip) the slide was so fast that you flew into the netting around the slide and landed on your knees or butt- which is a good 6 feet or so from the bottom of the slide.) My mom was lucky or unlucky enough not to experience that. But it would have been funny!

In Loving Memory

Today's blog is dedicated to a very sweet old man, Paul's grandfather. He passed away just days ago and we found out yesterday. He was an amazing man who had the chance to work with 3 of our presidents, he was the secretary of Education for at least 1 maybe 2 states (I will have to clarify that).

This blurb is directly off Standford website where he went to school.

Now retired, Leon P. Minear, AM ’41, EdD ’47, previously served as a regional commissioner of education; organized and chaired a United Nations international conference on job training; organized educational luncheons for the U.S. Congress, House and Senate; and worked with three different Presidents during his career with the federal government. He also brought together most of the nation’s governors, state legislators, chief state school officers and others interested in education to explore the feasibility of having a separate department of education. His work in the same capacity established the Education Commission of the States.

Dr. Leon P. Minear is director of the Division of Vocational and Technical Education, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, DC.

He was full of stories and full of life even at the end. Fourtunatly, we were able to see him on his best day before he died- in fact we thought that he was going to be able to pull through. But God had other plans- he was going to be able to see his wife that he dearly missed. Well Grandpa you will be remembered and there will be tons of stories told about you!

This past weekend

This past weekend was a ton of fun. We took Aracely roller skating which has quickly become one of her favorite activities. During the skating fun they play a few games- well we always play. Some of the games are harder than others because she skates between 2 people holding our hands- well the game was limbo. So I knew she could do it because of her height but to stay on her feet alone was another story. Throughout the night we had worked on her skating by herself and she was doing really great. So she would hold Paul's hand and skate up to the limo stick and he would let go and she would walk her little skates underneath. Well she was successful but she also didn't have to bend down. The next round- again she made it. Woohoo she is doing great! There are about 10 or so of us playing. Ryan and I are playing (competition, I told you!!!) and so are some other little girls. So the next round- a few girls knocked out but the three of us are still in. Then they move the bar about 4 notches down. One little girl out, then 2, then 3, now Aracely's turn- and she makes it. Yippee! Now it is my turn- aghh I am too big and hit the bar. Ryan's turn- he makes it. Now it is the 2 of them. She makes it and he didn't!!!! She won a free snow cone for making it- I can't believe it, she did so great.

Then later in the weekend we take her to Way Fruit Farm for a pumpkin and a hayride. While we were there she had her face painted, she played in the bunny barn, she rode this cool tractor ride that I wanted to ride in, we went to the pumpkin patch and picked out 2 pumpkins. And on our way back to the main building we saw all these men creating a perimeter. Weird huh? Well the men were making room for Sarah Palin who was on her way through to the State College airport and her daughter wanted a pumpkin. So they get off the bus, get a pumpkin, take a few photo's and shake hands with some people and leave. She wasn't there more than 15 minutes, it was quite different for a Saturday afternoon. Aracely didn't understand what was going on so my mom just told her that she was a movie star. She was much more excited by this. =)






I promise Sarah Palin is in this photo, it's just a little bit too far for my camera on my phone.












And doesn't this ride look like fun?

Bloomsburg Fair

Here is a fair that I recently went to for the first time. I wish that I would have taken more pictures but with the weather being kinda yucky I didn't. Hopefully next year I will take the time to take some pictures. The place was huge and not very organized. I have been to fairs before but this place was a cross between a fair, a freak show, and going to NYC where they sell fake purses and random things on the street. Again it was very different. And for the freak show part of it- they had tents set up where if you pay the fee you can go see a snake with a human head or a man swallow swords, or a woman take her head off and hold it. Nick- next year we are going in despite what everyone else wants to do. He and I were the only ones dying to go in and see for ourselves- everyone else with us was not so impressed.

Along the way I did get a few pictures of some of the crazy things we did. Here is Paul riding the mechanical bull. We had a contest of who could last the longest. For all of you out there that know me you know that I am super competitive. Well the applause goes to Paul- but I will say the guy operating it had it out for me. Every time I tried to get on it he would jerk the bull away and make me stand there like an idiot, one time when he did it I was already hanging on and he almost ripped my fingernail off. It created a crowd and therefore made him more money because people wanted to try it- so I understand why he did it. So here I am ranting about it so I guess I am just a sore loser. Paul lasted 11 seconds so here is a picture of him, I only made it a mere 5 seconds and therefore no pictures.

Also while we were there we came across this awesome toy. It is similar to the old school roller racer for those of you that remember them. But this one is way better. It is called a wiggle racer and adults can ride them also. So here are my cousins Noah and Nick riding them with all the little kids. I also rode one and loved it!!

I leave you all with the man who was in love with my aunt! Go Tammie!!!!!

My Parents House

Here is the start of my parents house. They look so far away in this picture! But things progress quickly.
Here is the house once the walls and the roof have been put up. This went by so much quicker than what I had thought. Early in the week you go to see the house and only a few walls are up, and by the end of the week and this is what you see. Wow!
Here is my mom after a busy day of insulating. My dad, mom, me, Paul and Mike (my uncle) were all up at the house insulating for a weekend. It went really well and I am a pro now!!!
This is what Ryan did while we all were working on the house. Some help huh?
This is my uncle Rick, the painter. My mom and I over the summer helped him to paint apartments during the summer transitions for PSU students, so when it came to her house she wanted it perfect and therefore that meant for him to do it versus her and I. We are good help when you need to get it done but we are not pros at this. So what happens.......
She can't help but to get into the action!!!!!!!! I was thrown into the painting too, just in case you thought that I had manage to wiggle my way out of it, not a chance. =)
While my mom, me and 2 uncles were inside painting my dad, Mike and Paul were outside putting up garage doors. My dad was also busy putting doors in through the rooms that the painting was finished in. After that weekend, the house looked totally different. It went from a house with weird walls to a house with definition. I will have to get some more pictures of the inside with the wall colors and the doors! I will also have to get a picture of the outside with the siding up. It looks fantastic!

Getting to know my family

Right now my little brother (Ryan) lives with me. We have custody of his daughter on every other Tuesday and every other weekend. So you will get tons of pictures of her. Her name is Aracely!

My parents right now are building there house and things are coming along well, you will also get a ton of pictures of that and how things are progressing.

My crazy other extended family members will be explained as they come up in my blog because there are too many of them just to give a few sentences to at the moment. I would not do them justice.


Today we had Aracely for a few hours and we went through a corn maze with Grandma, and went to a park and were playing on the swings, the slides, climbing everything and just having a good time chasing Ryan.
Sometimes all it takes is a little help!!

Well that is all for now. I am pooped learning how to do this, changing my background and writing a few posts. I will have to catch you all up on the other things that have been going on at later date. Maybe if we are lucky it will be tomorrow since my hubby is in Boston at a geek conference. =)

Well let's give it a whirl!

I am blogging for the first time. I know that I am sometimes behind the game. But a dear friend encouraged me to do this so that we could re-connect. So let's give it a whirl! I hope to do well by all of you other bloggers out there and my goal is to post semi-regularly. =)