Official Family Photographer

I just have to say how lucky we are to have Trish as the official family photographer! I can't even believe she was able to get any pictures of the recital. Strong work Trish!

Aslyn's Dance Recital

Aslyn's Dance Recital was on Tuesday night. There were about 50 performances that night but thankfully we only had to sit through 16 of them. Phew! Aslyn was a star in the making and it was one of the most comical nights I've had in a while.

Happy Birthday Alana!

36 never looked so good!!

Idlewild Park

Lish, Gary, Cadence, Ava, and myself all went to Idlewild Park on Saturday. It was an absolutely perfect day for it. Temps were in the upper 70s with low humidity and we didn't wait more than 5 minutes in any line to get on rides! Cadence was in her glory and was definitely in sensory overload. The only ride she didn't like was the ferris wheel. That was her first ride of the day with daddy and she wanted off as soon as that thing started. Lish said she must get it from her.....ferris wheels make her sick. Ha! Lish also discovered that at the tender age of 28, her days of riding amusement park rides are over. I thought the girl was going to hurl on the hot air balloon swing. Too funny! She also looked a little pale faced on the turtle mini coaster in kiddie land! I couldn't stop laughing. Anyway, here's a few pics from our day of fun....

Cadence looking at the ground wishing she was back on it.

Raggedy Lish and Gary

Jack and Jill falling down the hill. Is it just me or is Jill showing a little to much of her business to the world? This place is supposed to be G-rated!!

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. Geez, talk about chestnuts roasting on an open fire. :-)

Cadence doing her C is for Cadence dance

Ava thought Mommy's motion sickness was funny

Good News

Dave and I were approved for our loan. We had to have a full appraisal of our house which was lots of fun! We worked extremely hard cleaning and organizing for the appraiser. It was the cleanest it has ever been. Our property appraised for $85,000 more than it did originally which means all the hard work paid off. We close on the home equity loan on Friday and we still need to find out when we will close on the other house. Lake has a baseball tournament next week and Aslyn has her dance recital on Tuesday. We are also hiring a full-timer to work in Mom's office starting July 2nd and our college intern is working out quite nicely and may decide to stay when she graduates in May. Lots of good news!

Duffman

Word on the street in Chicago is Alex won first place in a costume contest for his portrayal of Duffman!!! Duffman is the mascot and spokesperson for the fictional Duff Beer Company on The Simpsons. Strong work Alex!! And to think....this kid went to Notre Dame. Ha!!

Happy Birthday Derek!

The Big 2-8!

Pics from Kenny Chesney Concert!!

Chesney

Sounds like everyone had a good time at the Kenny concert. Will we see any photos?

I Am Alive

This will be brief - I am at work. OK so I will give this another shot and try to keep in touch. Bear in mind I am 61 and the telephone works pretty damn good. How many of you have two cell phones to keep in touch with everyone? I need to go my policyholders keep me very busy ---I don't want to make the front page of our local paper any more.

Update

Hello Everyone! I am also still recovering from a crazy weekend with the girls. Aslyn has decided that Trish is her "new" Mom and I can be her "old" Mom. I can just imagine what the teen years are going to be like. We did finally get the garage cemented which is really nice. We are also in the process of finalizing a deal on a property across the street from us that we purchased at an auction. A local bank is supposed to be helping us with the financing. They are doing a drive-by appraisal of our property tomorrrow. If all goes well, we will be renovating that property to rent. Lake is done with school, but still keeping us busy with baseball and piano. Aslyn has a dance recital coming up on June 26th. Davina is just happy to tag along to practices and games. Hope all is well with everyone. Let's hear something from the Wood or Wityk boys??? What is up with our newest graduate?

Baby bathroom

I added some decals to our tub. I guess my spa tub is history!
This gives you a better idea of the spare bedroom color.
I won this basket at a wine tasting. I hope the kid likes to garden!

Baby room

I put the crib together all by myself this weekend. I know most of you won't believe me. Let's hope it doesn't fall apart.
The crib converts to a toddler bed.
Here is a better look at what the bedding looks like.
We picked bedding that was gender neutral. Just in case we get a girl.

"Mini" Girls Weekend

With Dave and Lake away at the car races in Dover, Delaware, Maura and I decided to have a last minute "mini" girls weekend this past Saturday. I took Cadence up to the farm to spend some quality time with Aslyn and Davina. It was a fun-filled (exhausting) day. Where do kids find the energy?? Seriously! Non-stop. We spent the day swimming, riding bikes in the newly cemented ginormous garage, and ended the day with a night at the movies. We saw Shrek 3. It was a cute movie but I think more impressive than the movie was the amount of popcorn that Davina was able to put down. I'm not kidding it was at least a third of a big tub. I don't know where she put it. It was like crack for her. All in all it was a fun weekend. The best part for me was finally sleeping in an air-conditioned house AND a bed!! It's been so hot in my house that I've been sleeping on my couch. (hint, hint. any time you Wood boys want to put my window A/Cs in, you're more than welcome). :-) Anyway, here's a few pics from our adventurous weekend.

The new smooth garage floor

Making chocolate chip cookies!

Yep, that's my Princess bathing suit

I'm in!

Hey everyone......look, I'm in too. I surprised myself. Great news Krista...you may be in Russia while Alana is in China. Yuk is right! Joyce

Traveling Pro

Hey everyone,

A couple of things...I just went yesterday to Mt.Pleasant, SC which is near Charleston to see my friend Diana D'Alessio play in an LPGA event. I have played golf with her before, but had never seen her play in a tournament. It was fantastic and I learned a lot. We all went out to dinner afterwards with her mom and a lot of her other friends and we shared our favorite "D"stories etc. She shot even par which left her at 3 over for the tournament. I will also get to see her at the end of the month at the practice rounds for the Women's Open which will be held in the Pinehurst area. I bought practice round tickets to take my lady members to show them how to really play golf. After seeing "D" play yesterday I am really excited to see her again. I am going to video tape her swing to set it up in my video archives to show my lady members.

Also, I just got an email from Special Olympics headquarters about a week ago and they want me to go to Shanghai, China in October to be a Rules Official at the World Games. I will let you know how that goes because we will just be getting opened here at the club. We have re-done the entire golf course and it is set to open in August which means we have pushed back all of our normal events so it should be exciting and crazy come September. I also have the National Tournament for Special Olympics in September down in Port St. Lucie. I will send pictures of the event once I get there. That one is a for sure thing. China is still up in the air right now.

Last, but not least I have been to the chiropractor recently and two things have come up. One my neck doesn't have any curvature which is why I have trouble with my sinus' and the tmj. Also, which is really funny I have an extra joint in my left hip which he calls a birth defect so I guess I am not perfect after all......that is news to me......hope all is well with everybody and great idea Trish.....

Adoption

Hello Everyone!

I'm sure you all know by now that Michael and I are adopting a child from Russia. Good news ...our paperwork is finally finished and our dossier was sent to Russia today. It should be five weeks to five months before we take our first trip to Russia. They require two visits. YUK!!! We've been told that we will get a boy. Girls take longer and we really don't have a preference.

The upstairs bedrooms have new carpeting and a fresh coat of paint. The crib came last week and we will attempt to put that together this weekend. I still need to make a list of things to buy. Any help with what I should put on the list would be appreciated. I'm sure I'll forget something. Oh.... and any hand me down clothes, toys, or other baby items would be helpful.

Please remember to pray for our child and all the other orphans out there!

I will send pictures of the rooms after I put the crib together this weekend.

Love,

Krista

Let's stay together

Hey Everyone,
Ever heard of a blog?? According to Merriam-Webster it's "a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer". Basically a way to keep in touch with friends and family in this world of technology. A few of my friends have started their own blogs to keep in touch and I think it's a great way to do so. Anyway, I thought we could start our own family blog to keep each other posted on what is going on in our lives. Since family gatherings are usually only about 10 times a year or less and with so many of us in so many different places....Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Winston-Salem, Philly, Pittsburgh, Bedford, Butler, West Sunbury, this will be a great place for us all to come together, albeit electronically, to stay connected. Anything you want to share is fair game....home improvement stories, a child's milestone, a great picture, health updates, promotions, vacations, recipes, random thoughts, etc. Hopefully everyone will be able to set aside a few minutes (even if it's just once a month) to post an update. It really is easy to do and even those of you that are a little "computer challenged" should have no problem with it. It's pretty user-friendly. Well, that's all for now. Happy Posting!! (hopefully)