Ok so I am really bad at blogging on a regular basis

We went to Atlantic City to see one of my best friends, Sheri from NC. Emily loved staying in a hotel and thought it was so cool. But as you can see, she was just exhausted. She fell asleep mid-morning.

Abby Loved Caesar's indoor beach/sand. She had sand in every crease of her body!

Emily and me at the beach.

Abby in a rare "girly girl dress" but you can see all the babies. She's holding 2 "babies".

Emily did Soccer recently at the YMCA. Lets just say... its a GOOD thing she is pretty~!!

Ok, so it should be apparent that I am really bad at blogging. I get in a groove and then just as quickly fall away. So I started working at a new insurance office - State Farm. Its so different. It's not that I dont like it- but instead of service it is hard-core sales and I am just not into that. I am holding my own and landing some big accounts, but its a stress I don't like. The one thing I like least about the job is the hours. I work all day on Monday -literally -9am to 7pm but seldom leave before 7:30. I hardly see the girls on this day. It makes the day seem so long and tough. But then I am off on Tue-Wed. I work 9-5 on Thur, 9-1 on Friday, and 10-1 (but more like 2) on Saturdays. When I stared ti was supposed to be "just a few Saturdays" a month but has turned into every Saturday. And my co-worker takes every holiday off... errrr (but Im not bitter, no no no ). Canio's job is going really well. He seems to have gotten into a groove himself. His one year mark is coming up in August and while there are no guarantees, it looks like the company will keep him. Living on a one year contract has been stressful, but we are so much better off now. His team is doing the best in the region, which helps his cause... but poor Canio is driving my old Honda Civic, ie the clown car. Emily is loving school. She loves her teacher, Ms. Linda. Abby spends time at the YMCA as well in the member's nursery, and loves Ms. Karen. They will both be returning next year. Its a great place - we spend a ton of money there, its sad... but they do seem to be a family oriented group. I am very happy with it. So Emily has turned into such a sweet little girl. She loves to color people (im going to scan in some of her artwork). Now we are working on drawing houses, etc. She is starting to read, which should really cramp our current "spell it so they dont know what we are talking about" technique. Recently, she told her Nana - "Wow you have an old neck". She has taken to saying "Whoever smelled it, dealt it" when someone passes gas...then a hardy giggle ensues. She's really into her stuffed animals now..and is starting to watch real shows - like High School Musical and Matilada. Abby is ... well... crazy. She still has her red hair... she talks like a firestorm. She loves being naked! And she will stick her butt out and say... "see my bum". We are slowly potty training - uh, ok, she's peeing on the floor. Or she will sit on her NEW Pooh potty (hahaha no pun intended) and say... after 2 seconds... Ehhhh, I can't do it. She loves babies. Baby dolls, polly pockets, barbie... you name it... she's willing to try it. With Easter coming - she recently discovered candy. OH boy. She went to the dentist and neither she nor Emily have any problems. Emily did dance/gym class. I will post pictures. She loved it. She really got better as it went on. THen we switched gears to soccer. How cute is it that she would duck everytime someone came near her with the pack running after the ball~! The coach was great and like always - everyone liked her. She is such a sweetheart - everyone loves her. I love my girls. They are faithful and love church. Abby says her prayers, and Emily prayed on her own the other day when I lost something - so I would find it. How great is that! I was so pleased. Im grateful for the Savior. I love the week before Easter. What a wonderful thing to recall his last week of his life and to read the symbolism and to know it was done for me. Ok, Enjoy some photos!

Fall in NEPA

We went to Robas Family farm on a very nice day - the temp ended up being 70 that Saturday (2nd in Oct 08). The next day we painted our downstairs and Nana and Poppy took the girls BACK to Robas.

Enjoy the pics!

Emily's 1st Day of preschool 9/2/08

Emily started preschool - 2 days a week at the YMCA. She was so excited and to my utter surprise, she didnt even cry for us. She was super excited and went about going to school like a pro. She loves to go and now tells me how boring our house is.

They have started swimming lessons too. I can tell she dresses herself because her pants have been inside out and backwards. But hey, shes DOING IT!

The best part was that because Canio had recently gotten back from Chicago, he had the day off so he was able to go with us.

Emily has her first field trip in 2 weeks. They are going to an apple orchard. She is so sweet.

Thursday after class, out of the blue, told me what she wants to be when she grows up: (in her words)... a mail person, or maybe a babysitter - yeah, I really want to watch babies, or a painter, teacher or a belly checker (upon further questioning - belly checker is a doctor).

Emilyisms

Ok here are a few Emily-isms and/or cute stories that Emily came off with yesterday and today... First, our neighbor had a guest who was standing outside smoking. So when Emily went over to say hi to our neighbor, she walked up to the smoker and said. Ewe, that stinks.... then.... uh, you're not really gonna stick that ting in your mouff (mouth) are you? She was obviously embarrassed as was I. I quickly got Emily away before she could say anything else (although as soon as we were out of earshot I explained to Emily smoking is very yucky and will hurt you but next time be a little more gentle when talking to grown ups) She tilted her head and said, well, I was right...right? I promptly offered her a piece of gum! Today Emily was getting ready for her practice day of school (I got to stay as she investigated the toys and kids). She was wearing a little hoody because it was chilly. Emily has tried to zip zippers for at least 6 mo. So she said, Mommy can you zip this? I said yeah, hang on... a min later I hear... I did it! I zipped it..... I ROCK. It was so out of character it made me laugh and then she laughed, but she had been totally serious. Emily came up to me tonight and said... Um, Mommy if I told you the truth.... would you still be mad? I asked her "about what?" She replied... Oh nuffin, Im uh... just nervous... I mean curious. =) And Abbys new words are: Brush, play dough, rice, "dont cry, I pooped, Emme (for Emily), Sissy, catmeow (one word), miss, need, I fall, stick, betsy (Emily has named her trike Betsy and Abby now thinks they are ALL called betsy), draw, pray, and Mommy play.

A picture is worth a million words-lets catch up

MORE PHOTOS WILL FOLLOW--- AND WHEN I LOADED THESE... THEY LOADED FROM THE BOTTOM UP. SO YOU ARE WARNED (THEY MAY SEEM OUT OF ORDER). Abby discovers her belly. (she found that binky behind the couch....I've taken the binky away during the day...) A rare moment caught on tape where Abby is NOT torturing the cats! Just our beauty listening to Daddy one day at lunch.... And our devilish Abby....driving a boat at Knoebels. Emily, Abby, and their cousin Grace really enjoyed Knoebels. It was great to watch them play together and enjoy it.

Emily feeds the gorilla a leaf.... look at abby's face....

Hmmm... Abby tries to match the Gorilla's serious looks. Emily stops by a pond to cast a few wishes... Emily poses for a picture - she is learning to skate... and yes, can you tell she is SUPER happy I asked her to stop for a minute for a picture. (Didnt help she was looking into the sun)... I couldnt get an action shot because that would have just been a picture of Emily laid out on the ground (shes not very good yet at staying vertical without my help)... It didnt take her long to give up and just play hopscotch instead. Look at that BEAUTIFUL hopscotch board. woo hooo. I wonder who drew that?!?!

Abby practices posing as a model.... (oh and by the way...she loves to have "babies"...dolls, stuffed animals, etc).... On the 4th we had some friends from church over... Emily loves Andrew (their oldest son. They also have Ethan, and a new baby Alex)...Can you see how excited she is? Abby decided to play golf...any hey... to improve her odds--- why not use a wiffle sized ball! =) Another trip to the zoo in Philly... Canio and Emily explore a peacock. CHeck out the archives.... there was a peacock about 2 yr ago that ate a cracker right from Emily's hand. Emily holding a gorilla's butt??? Hmmm

Crazy morning

Those of you who know me, know that I am not really a morning person. So, I try to prepare for morning the night before (well, wait-- since canio's been ou of town I do this)... So I am prepared with a movie in the dvd player, choc. milk made up, frozen homemade pancakes--- Im good... right? WRONG! Emily and Abby objected to my choice of movies.... And then a few days better, while getting ready to go to church, I popped in a Veggie Tales movie --- Abby was, hmmm, shall we say engrossed? Yesderday afternoon, after we went to church and I attended a visiting teaching conference (or 3/4 of one because one of the YW came and got me to tell me that Emily had decided to go home and had tried to get out of the nursery... I quickly went to nursery to see two pre-YW girls shoving Emily back into class.... Obvisously this wasnt going to work..... so when I walked in... I was greated by not one but TWO screaming kids. Abby screamed because I had left her and Emily because she had just been pushed. But Sunday was tough anyways....Emily hadnt slept well. The first part of sacrament my girls sat quietly looking at books. I wante dto take a picture because this just does NOT normally happen. I was SO thankful. Then ... Abby pooped! I knew once I took them out to chg Abby I would have lost the battle....and I did. The only saving grace is that Emily knew Andrew would get to play with her at the end of church and in Emily's own words..."she "loves Andrew with all my heart" Emily was also a little upset that Andrew no longer thinks the world of Emily...as he is now 5 and loves boy things. But what a sweet spirit (hey at least she has good taste)... He is always kind to her and tries to include her.

Later, after a nap...Abby wanted to go outside. She LOVES it outside and will cry to go out. I caught her at the door a split second before EMILY decided to help her escape. When I went out to corale them back inside- Abby (with her sisters help) got her bike inside. She was so darn proud of herself, I had to snap a picture first! THEN I yelled!

Finally, one of Emily's new favorite things to do is to grab the camera and start snapping pictures. This one she took of herself not long before bed on Sunday. Pretty funny! She looks AWFUL - You'd swear she just lost a fight or something.

Anyways... look forward to updates on my zucchini bread recipe, how Canio's Chicago trip ends (round 1), how watching the twins Gracie and Katelyn go, and Emily's first day of school.... oh... and lots more pictures since I just got them all loaded to the computer!

We made it through a week!

We have made it through a week without daddy! On Tuesday we went to the movies and Abby was GREAT! She sat through almost the entire movie on my lap. Since going she keeps saying "moo-ee" Her language has EXPLODED and she repeats a lot. She likes to color (on walls) and paint! She loves her babies, her baby stroller, and shoes! She is a shoe Hog! Emily has been talking about school. She is so excited. We had an adventure on Wednesday by going to K-Mart to pick out a backpack. She went with princesses of COURSE! We had hotdogs (ewe) from their little snack bar. We also stopped off at the Butler Street Playground (my personal favorite right now because it is fenced in and because Abby runs like a lighting bolt - it is very helpful). You don't realize just how much you rely on your spouse for just support, if nothing else, until they are away. Canio will be away again in Sept, Oct, and Jan. Canio will be doing the Dunmore High School football games again. You can listen to it at www.audiosportsonline.com I believe its under Football, then District II Football. Well, I will add pictures (right now we have over 300 photos on our camera so it will take FOREVER to load them all!).