Moving!

Just when I thought one rollercoaster was enough, I have decided to ride two at the same time. Our family has decided to relocate to another part of the country. We have enrolled L in a fantastic school which excites me more than I can say. I will be going to culinary school once the kids are settled in their new schools and the best part is that SJ will keep his same job as his company is fine with him working remotely. This will be a great distraction from the wait since we will have to sell a house and buy another one. Oh and pack up all our crap. YIKES! So here we go kids, buckle-up!

Family Fun!

Our family LOVES skiing. We head up north every weekend of the season to strap on the waxed boards and shimmy down a snowy mountain. This season has left a lot to be desired when it comes to natural snow but the mountains have done a great job with snowmaking and last week we got 2 feet of the real stuff. I enrolled L in a seasonal lesson program which runs Saturday and Sunday from 8:30 - 3:00. It is 4 lessons a day and includes lunch. Yes, a VERY long day for such a young person. At first we said we'd come at lunch time to get her and when we arrived she'd say she wanted to stay for the afternoon. Then pretty soon when we would drop off in the morning, we'd say "ok, we'll check in at lunch time to see if you want to come home" and L would give us **THE HAND** and say "ugh M.O.M., I'm staying the WHOLE day" Okay fine.

So until a few weeks ago, I hadn't skied with her in a very long time. She started the season a solid snow-plower. Here are pictures from early February when I discovered she had learned to paralell and was now saying things like "look mom I can ski backwards!" or "look mom I can ski on one ski". I was speechless. You can see her trying so hard to get her skis right together and when she does, sometimes when she turns she tips over. It is very cute.


It is magical to see your child love something so much. We are having a ball every weekend hanging out on the slopes as a family.



B is still to young to get into the ski school so I work with him on my own. He is doing very well, learning to keep his wedge and is starting to turn on his own! This is the good stuff!

Works for Me Wednesday Tip

Well, here is my first WFMW post. At times when I do a lot of baking like around Valentines Day or Christmas, I am usually needing to butter a few pans here and there. To make that easier, each time I unwrap a butter stick I put the wrapper in a ziploc bag that I keep in the fridge. When I need to butter a dish or pan, I just grab one of the wrappers out and use what butter was left on the wrapper to do the job.

Things are looking up!

I was going to start a diet next week. You see for some reason I have given myself the liberty to eat whatever I want whenever I want for the past two months. It is showing. The hardest thing I find about dieting is reducing my calories at the beginning. Well someone was looking out for me yesterday when I came down with a throw-up bug. Not only did I not eat anything yesterday but I tossed up anything left in my stomach. I also have no interest in anything but water so this reducing my calories thing so go much easier than I thought AND the diet will start a week earlier than scheduled.

Also, YouTube decided to get my video up. It is a quick thing I did Saturday night about our CNY festivities that day. The sound and picture won't be great as I took it all with my digital still camera.

Down for the count

Hello Friends,
I made a cute video yesterday wishing you all a Happy New Year. Unfortunately I can't get it to load properly on YouTube. Well there is that and the fact that I have been puking all day. B threw-up twice on Friday night and yesterday my husband got it and now I have it. And like any good mother, I have taken the brunt of the virus and have barfed more than anyone. Luckily B recovered in time for CNY festivities yesterday and my hubbie fell ill right afterwards. So, as soon as I can get YouTube to cooperate, I'll post the video.

I Interrupt my bitchfest for important breaking news...

I have copied much of this from my agency website which is usually a no-no but in this case we need all the help we can get.

The USCIS is proposing rate increases which will affect all of us. In my personal opionon, I am more annoyed the USCIS has not payed attention to our repeated attempts to get them to extend the validity of the 171H than I am by this extra $135. The whole process will have me racking up several thousand extra dollars so this small increase does not impact me terribly HOWEVER it is the principal of the thing. When there are so many waiting families who have petitioned the USCIS on this matter it is as if they were covering their ears saying "la, la, la, la".

Here is the information CCAI is providing:

The proposed changes include:
1.) Biometrics (fingerprints) from $70 to $80 per person, and
2.) the I-600A from $545 to $670.

As most families must re-file their I-600A to get a new I-171H, this proposed change will affect you! USCIS has invited the public submit their comments regarding these changes by April 2, 2007. (If the changes do go into effect, it is anticipated they will be in place by May/June 2007, according to our local USCIS office).

We invite you to submit your comments to USCIS, by clicking on the link to the USCIS site.

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main


After clicking on the link above, follow the three steps below to access the COMMENTS Form:

1.) Enter KEYWORD:
USCIS-2006-0044

2.) Then click Submit
3.) Finally, click on symbol below words "Comments add/due by 4/2/07"


****PLEASE****EVERYONE****MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD AGAIN!

Just Bitching....

I have to air an annoyance with another parent at preschool and this is the best place to do it. Perhaps this is tacky to be talking trash about someone else but this person bugs the living daylights out of me. Plus, I live in a VERY small town notorious for people talking behind other peoples back. I don't like it, I rarely participate in it but there it is.

When L was 5 months old we took a two week trip to Tuscany with my extended family. Both my brother and father are physicians and we decided that because ear infections can result in really little ones after long plane rides that the doctors would bring an odoscope (the thing that you use to look inside ears and noses) and I would get an RX from my doc for something to treat an ear infection should it happen. While I was at CVS filling the prescription a man appeared next to me with a similar baby carseat and a vague South African/ Australian accent.

This is the way it went:

Man: Is your baby sick?

Me: No. Just a precautionary RX for a trip we are taking.

Man: Where on earth are you going that you can't find modern medicine to treat an ailment?

Me: Well, we are going to Tuscany and although I'd be fine using the Italian medical system, we are traveling with physicians who can diagnose so I figured I would be prepared.

Man: Ugh! I am SOOOOO done with Tuscany. How boring.

*******long pause*******

Me: Really? If that is the case, where in the world are you NOT done with?

Man: (A bit frazzled I bit back) Uh, Uh, Uh, I dunno, Turkey probably.

me: Huh.

Man: (saying to his son - same age as L) Okay, Jacko lets go.


Fast forward 5 years and there is a terrible troublemaker named Jack in L's class at Preschool and he has a most annoying dad with a vague South African/ Australian accent. This dad came bellowing in this morning at drop off, pretty much yelling at the parents to make sure that none of their children brought anything with peanuts because JACK is allergic. He then pontificates about how Jack has an Epi-Pen at school and how severe his allergy is. The rest of the parents were looking at him like he was mad. There are a bunch of kids in her class with a peanut allergy and the school is peanut free. WACKO! Teach your kid with severe allergies to not eat anything until a parent or teacher has checked it for peanuts!


Side note: I have recently learned this family is in the same school district as we are. F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.

Sunday Confessions

If anyone asks, I tell them that I am NOT shopping for new baby yet because it is totally silly to shop for a baby whose age and weight are totally unknown. Furthermore, there will be the added challenge of buying the right size for the right season. So with that said, I AM NOT SHOPPING FOR OUR NEW BABY YET. If you want to see the real truth click here!

(you can also find the link in the future to the right called "Posh Pickles")

SEVEN

Happy 7th LIDvesary to us! I can't believe we have been waiting 7 months and still no sign of a speed up. I find myself fluctuating between getting really excited about bringing my daughter home and really depressed it seems so far off. It is a strange set of emotions but I am dealing with it so far thanks to all my friends out there in bloggityville and Yahooland.
xoxo to all of you.

Hissssss. thud. thud. thud. thud.

I saw something like that on a billboard just outside Hartford, CT as an ad for AAA's roadside service and chuckled that it was cute.

Not 10 minutes later immediately after dropping my husband off at the airport, that is what I heard. Hissss. thud. thud. thud. thud. I hop out and see my rear driver's side tire flat as a pancake. Alone, 2+ hours from home, 2 cranky toddlers in the back, and 11 degree temps with high winds made for this to be a less than ideal situation. I called AAA and they said they would meet me in about an hour. We got the tire changed and the dinky spare put on and I hobbled home in my Sienna. The moral of the story: Always have a good book in the car cuz it will turn an unexpected delay into treasured reading time. (suggestion only works if coupled with a DVD system in the car to keep the kids occupied.)

Thank you Firefly Pal!

My Fireflies Secret Pal has outdone herself! First of all, look at the beautiful wrapping. It was so pretty to look at just in the wrapping. Well of course I opened them.


It has been a long time since I have had most of this equipment in my house. When I got rid of the first set of baby stuff I didn't think I'd miss it but I do. This gift has made me really excited to have a baby in the house again! L is so pumped for the Princess feeding set. This will be what she uses when she is feeding her sister! Thank you to my very dear SP!
xoxox