The Walmart Christmas Tree...

It's a Vanessa ritual...I don't get it but here it is:

Vanessa's 9th Birthday!

My beautiful 9 year old daughter....

She had a couple of friends go putt-putting with her. Glow-Putt was pretty cool! Missing is a school friend. She had to leave before the final picture.

BOO!!

Mo was Snow White, of course.
Harley designed the costume herself. She's a monster!
Vanessa is a girl from Monster High named DracLaura. She's a vegan. :-)

A Visit to Renicks

Two words: PUMPKIN BOOTY!!!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2011

Harley lost her first TOP tooth last week. The other one is barely hanging on. I call her Nanny McPhee now. It grosses me out.

Harley on the first day of SECOND GRADE. Her hair had a mind of its own... But she likes it "BIG!"

Vanessa on her first day of THIRD GRADE. 3rd grade.....where has the time gone?

Harley isn't big on touchy-feely affection. Especially from her older sister. Can you tell?

So I said told Harley to stop it and let me take a nice picture of the two of them. Now Vanessa has a "Ha! Mama yelled at you." look on her face and Harley is still creeped out by the half-hug.

Ah, siblings.

Summer 2011

A lot has happened since my last post. We went on our first official family vacation. The girls saw Red, White and Boom in person. Tony spent part of July in the hospital. I entered my last year in my 30's. We checked out the new Scioto Mile.

We started off with a 5-day cruise out of Tampa, FL. We had 2 ports, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico. There was a town on Grand Cayman called Hell. Let me tell you, it felt as hot as that!

These are Mayan Indian dancers in Cozumel.

After the cruise we headed to Orlando. We stayed at a fabulous Sheraton resort for 5 days. We went to Disney one day. We ate at Planet Hollywood - I got to see "The Jenny" from my all-time favorite movie Forrest Gump!

Our last stop was back in Tampa/St. Petersburg. We went swimming before getting back on the plane to Ohio. We saw dolphins swimming!!

No pictures of Tony in the hospital. He has cellulitis in his lower leg. I could post a picture of his leg, but I don't want to gross everyone out! (you're welcome)

Yesterday was my 39th birthday. "Not 40 yet!" was the pharse repeated all day. The girls and I went down to the new Scioto Mile. It is SO nice!! I want to live downtown.

School will be starting soon. It's been an action-packed summer!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARLEY!!!

(I have not signed on in a while...whoops!!)

My awesome girl Harley Quinn turned 7 a week ago!!

She is the author of Harley-isms. She is a triple-threat entertainer in acting, singing and dancing. She has such a creative mind. She is a kind spirit. Always looking to help others.

Love her to pieces!!!

The Lord's Day

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! If you haven't already listened to it, I suggest listening to It's only Friday, Sunday's a comin' on YouTube. Very powerful.

So I was adventurous Saturday and made a bunny cake. Pretty good for a novice.
Mo


Harley
Vanessa
Goofy Girls...

People Will Start To Wonder!

So I am going to invest in some professional grade bubble wrap to put Vanessa in every time we go out to play.

RECENT FUNNIES - UPDATE!!!

Mo: One day recently when it has been nice out the girls were riding their bikes/scooters. One of my neighbors came over to talk to me. While we were talking, Harley runs down and says "MAMA! You know the potty chair you were throwing away? Mo is peeing in it!!!" Sure enough, I go to the garage door to check it out and she had peed in it and was just pulling up her pants.

Harley: "God is bigger than the sun, bigger than a skyscraper, even bigger than a TAXI!!"

Me: "Harley, what kind of dressing do you want on your salad?"
Harley: "salad dressing"
Me: "Duhhhhhh..."

Vanessa: "Harley, if it storms tonight can you make sure I'm not awake?"

(RANELLE, THIS ONE IS FOR YOU...) Harley's take on Geometry: "Awfully big word for a bunch of shapes."

Harley: By the time I'm 48 I'll be known as the S.S. Awesome!

Yet another... "April showers bring May FLOODS."

Happy Birthday Mo!

She came into the world in a crazy, frenzied way and hasn't slowed down since. She is my baby girl and she will tell you so. There is a reason God saved her for last! She is keeping me moving and God knew I would need that too!

I LOVE YOU ADRIENNE MONIQUE WOODS! MO!

Valentine's Day 2011 - Where's the Love?

I'm only joking, we have a lot of love in our house. Let me explain our Valentine's Day.

For Christmas Vanessa and Harley received scooters. We have not had a nice enough day to ride them. Mo's birthday (who I will celebrate in a follow-up post) is the 15th and she received a scooter. Monday was fairly nice out so I thought I would let the girls try out their new scooters for a little bit before we went inside for homework and the normal routine. Well it only took a FEW mintues for Vanessa to fall off the scooter and break her arm.

We initially went to a Children's Close to Home. Unfortunately, Vanessa's break was angular and had to be set by an orthopedic doctor. That sent us downtown where 5 million people were sneezing, coughing, puking, etc. in the ER waiting room of the main hospital. Vanessa was warned not to touch anything or anyone and hand sanitizer was applied every 5 minutes.

The doctor set Vanessa's arm by using an X-ray to make sure it was aligned properly. Kinda cool... She was a real trooper. She didn't cry or move. I think the codiene helped, but still she was awesome.

She asked for a purple cast, but apparently the doctors were color-blind and purple turned out to be blue. Thankfully she was okay with that.

So I spent 6 hours in an Urgent Care or Hospital on Valentine's Day. Fun times, fun times. LOL

Let the itching commense!!