My new digs....

Welcome to my new blog!!! Big huge thanks to Heather for her wonderful creativity and talent for my new look. When I filled out the questionaire Heather sent me, I told her it was completely up to her. Well she definitely figured out the best look that suits our lifestyle. Thank you so much Heather - we love it!

Thank you Secret Pal - Weekend Update

Last week I received my first package from my new secret pal from my Teamonkey group. Thank you so much for the very thoughtful gifts. Mimi recieved her very first tea set and it plays "I'm a Little Tea Pot" (which was Joseph's favorite song as a baby). Joseph was a very lucky little boy and received 2 great K'nex sets. He loves them and sends a big hug and thanks SP. The day after this package arrived, Joe and I received a big ol' box of candy from Hometime Favorites - It said do not open unless you were a child of the 80's - well I am :) Yum is all I can say about this - we have had so much fun going through this box of goodies.

Weekend: We had a great visit with our friends Alfie, Tommie, Devon and family - We met these friends on our last trip to Duck Key and have been friends since - They were in a nearby town visiting family and made the trip to see us and we are so glad they did - we had a great time with them and got to meet and spend time with their extended family. We had lots of fun boating and eating! For some reason the pics I took didn't come out so I'm hoping theirs did. We spent the next 2 days of the holiday weekend at the beach (I know for a change) We went to our favorite resort via boat and spent the day swimming there and then anchored offshore and went to another beach and listened to a really good band. But first and foremost we were grateful for our Country our freedom and the U.S. men and women who died in the military service for our Country. That really was what yesterday was about.....

~My Guys
Okay for those who don't know about the crazy LoveBug invasion in our neck of the woods - It's been a an insane season for them. May and December is the month for lovebugs but we have never seen them like this in the 3 years we have been here and from what the locals and the news are reporting either has anyone else. They do not bite but they are a real nuisance and they wreck havoc on your car. We have washed our cars 2x this weekend because these suckers will eat the paint off. I dont' even want to mention what was involved in cleaning the boats - Since I didn't do it I guess I should not complain. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Below is a picture of some poor persons car that really needs to get those love bugs off!

7

Here we are at number 7.....

Proposal

***UPDATE: To explain the blowup doll for Melissa and Kris - Next to the labor room I was in, there was a birthing room with a jacuzzi for water births (looking back, wish I had done that :)) Anyway, There was a blowup doll in the jacuzzi and my extremely funny brother thought it would be amusing to bring the blowup doll into my room - not so funny at the time - sort of funny now. By the way Melissa, I'm not sure when you moved but it may have been the same hospital you delivered your twins - Northern Westchester?
Big congratulations to my brother Dom and his fiancee Francine. Francine graduated last week from College with her nursing degree and boy was she surprised when not only did she get her diploma but a proposal as well. Here's how I met Fran: 7 1/2 years ago while in my 10th hour of a 21 hour labor decided that an epidural was sounding really good. As the needle was coming out of my spine I hear my brother in the hallway. For those who know him, you can attest to the fact that he is NOT the quiet one in our family. Next thing I see is a blow up doll being stuck in the door and my brother making some joke about it and then the beautiful Ms. Fran. I took one look at her and thought why is this very pretty, thin women standing at my bed. Sorry Fran if I wasn't at my best that day but I'm sure you can understand :) Well here we are 7 1/2 years later and she is finally officially joining our family. Not to overlook your accomplishment Fran, big congratulations from us on your graduation. You set out to achieve a goal, you worked hard and that goal was achieved - be proud!!!! Welcome to our family.

WEEKEND, RUMORS & RUNNING

WEEKEND: No pics to share this weekend because this time I left my memory stick in my computer the one day we did our boating. It was a beautiful weekend that started with going out to dinner with our good friends, sans kids, to a real live Ruth Chris Steakhouse. Having lived in NY we are extremely spoiled when it comes to good restaurants but things are looking up now that we have this fabulous restaurant. Saturday there would be no boating until I got me some shelves in my pantry that for some reason were never put in when the house was built. What a difference a few shelves can make in ones life. I spent the rest of the day organizing closets - I love when things are in order :) Our boating day was Sunday and it was a nice relaxing day at the beach. We did our usual Sunday night Chinese food and before we knew it Monday morning was knocking.
RUMORS: I swear (again) I'm staying off the rumor boards. I have to for my own sanity. Last week we get the great rumor of CCAA getting far into November and now the new rumor which I won't even bother typing. Closing my eyes and ears and I am going to delete the site from my bloglines (maybe).
RUNNING: About a month or so ago when I decided to try doing my cardio outside by riding my bike over the bridge but ending up getting yelled at, I decided how about walking. Well my walking turned into me doing a little jogging and before I knew it, I was hooked. I wouldn't exactly call myself a runner (yet), I still stop in between the 4 miles I am going each day but nonetheless it's a start. The best part of this is that I really love it and am looking forward to it each day. The scenery is beyond beautiful and when I get to the top of the bridge and lookout at the Gulf of Mexico, I gasp at the beauty I'm surrounded by. That beauty and a little Dream On by Aerosmith can really do wonders for your stamina. Anyway, blogging about this today is to help me keep it real - this is, after all, a blog for my daughter to read one day and I wouldn't want her to read this post and say "hey mom whatever happened to that running thing?" but rather have her running right along side me...
~ ps - those fab Mizuno sneakers are on the way to me thanks to my sweet husband.
Hope everyone has a great week.

Thanks to the men and women of the Military

May 19th marks the annual celebration of Armed Forces Day, a day on which we say thank you to the members of our armed forces.

We are grateful to live in this Country and proud to be American....
Joseph put this song on his MP3 player today and thought it was appropriate for our blog for the weekend. For some reason you have to press play to hear.

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Milestone...

One year ago today we Federal Expressed our application to our adoption agency. It took us five months to paperchase and were logged in with CCAA on 10/27/06. Today we began our journey to you Miranda Rae ~

***Even though I keep saying I will not buy another thing, I just couldn't resist these 2 precious dresses.

Weekend

For Mother's Day this year when Joe asked what I wanted to do, it only took me about a minute to decide to take our boat to my favorite place, Boca Grande. We were still dealing with some smokey skies on Friday but by Saturday it was clear. We have been going to this Island for about a year - I've blogged about it many times. Our wonderful social worker/friend lives there so we got to spend time with her which is always fun. This weekend was the annual Womens Tarpon Competition - lots of fun to watch. My camera battery died as soon as we got there and I forgot my spare so no pics to share. We had a nice long weekend just hanging out together, playing scrabble, fishing (big snook were caught), swimming, teaching J to drive the golf cart, and just being together. I got a beautiful necklace and bracelet that was chosen b/c it reminded Joseph of Chinese Lanterns and a great book on running. Joseph overheard us talking to our social worker about the wait times, etc. and after she left asked us why it was taking so long for Mimi to come home? We really had no answer for him but tried to explain it as best we can. His suggestion to the CCAA - "Everybody should get their baby right after they send their paperwork in". Oh how I wish it was this simple!

Happy Mother's Day

To everyone who is already a mom and for those who await their children, Happy Mother's Day.
To my mom, I love you and so enjoyed spending last week together.

I was honored to attend a Tea with my son yesterday where he gave me a beautiful flower and a list of things he likes about me - here they are:
1. She is Smart
2. She likes boats
3. She always picks me up from school
4. She likes everything I like!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

All good things come to an end....

Okay, that is not Lorelai's jeep in the picture (it was mine) but she does have the same one on Gilmore Girls. I must be completely oblivious because I am a huge Gilmore Girls fan and I did not know the series is ending next Tuesday. I heard rumors but when did that become a definite thing? It must be that darn Rory who doesn't want to come back. I was watching this past weeks episode and when the coming attractions said Series Finale, I almost cried. Well, not cried but I had that same feeling as when Melrose Place ended. Then to boot, I'm reading a magazine in the dentist office today and I see an ad for the series finale of King of Queens. What is going on? I don't watch much tv but Gilmore and King of Queens, I may as well get rid of my TV.

Bahamas

To celebrate my mom turning 70, me, my sister, my 2 brothers, my sister-in-law and my mom all met up in the Bahamas for 5 days of fun in the sun and that is what we had. It was so nice to just hang out together. We ate, drank, laughed, sat in the sun and repeated that pattern each day (oh and some of us went to the casino). I can tell you that gambling is not for me or my sis - we decided to spend $5 our last night in the penny slots (yeah that's right one cent) and of course we have a problem with the machine and have to call security over which is a really big deal in the Bahamas - the tech guy kept saying he had to call the Government. Well after 45 minutes of waiting for the Government, we decided losing five dollars wasn't so bad and called it a night. I know my mom enjoyed spending time with all of her kiddos in the same place for 5 days. It was lots of fun but I did miss my guys. I guess they missed me to because I came home to a big ol' chocolate cake that said "We Missed You". Sweet :) Mom - I speak for all of us when I say that I am so grateful we were all able to be together to mark this very special occasion - Happy Birthday - we love you.... your fab 4 +1.
Christina: I hope the papparazzi stopped following you :)

For more photos click HERE
then click on Bahamas 2007. I'm trying out a new photo program but it does not allow you to get a code for blogger like the other programs. I'll try it out with this post