Link to more photos

Our Summer, 2007 trip

This should take you to some more photos of the trip...

More Vacation photos

Vacation Photos

Here are some of the photos - friends and family... on the way to Iowa, and in Iowa

Ok - some photos from our trip

I will be adding these from time to time - we took so many photos, it is hard to choose which to put up here! I wanted to remember to put this one up though in particular. It is a sign that was hanging inside the door at a tattoo shop in Decorah, Iowa. I thought it was funny...

Sorry I am slacking off a bit on the blog

I have had many requests to get off my duff and update this blog - and I will, I promise. I have two little boys, and of course my 2 year old kiddo here with me, and life is getting pretty wild! So, needless to say, I have little time for the blog. I will update it asap (maybe even tomorrow) with some photos from our vacation this summer to Iowa and to the Soo, both of which were amazing... it is awalys so wonderful to spend time with friends, and of course with family!

Love to you all, and I will update soon, I promise!!!

Catherine

More artwork

Just thought I would share... more lithography

Mommy, Catherine, Daddy, Aubrey!

... so today Lanie woke up at about 7, and started (pleasantly) yelling "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!", so when I didn't answer, she started yelling "Catherine! Catherine" (perfectly pronounced, might I add), so when I didn't answer then, she yelled "Daddy! Daddy! Aubrey! Aubrey!"...

Needless to say, we got up and answered her...

Lanie's first sleepover

Again - just wanted to share this... Lanie and her cousin, Noelle, had a sleepover. This was when we were in Long Island for Pop's funeral. We came home from the calling hours, and the girls were in bed - poor Noelle though - Lanie is a real mover in her sleep, so eventually, Noelle was kicked out of her bed, and went to sleep with mommy & daddy...

Lithography (my artwork)

I thought I would share this with whoever reads this... I am taking a lithography class now (last class for my degree). I had other plans on what I would use as my images, but as we all know, things change sometimes. When my Pop Pop died, I wanted to do something special for my family, because he was so special to all of us. I chose one of my Fav. photos of Pop when he was young, and drew it rather largely with litho crayons (can't erase, so you can't make mistakes) on limestone. From that, I used gum arabic and nitric acid to etch the stone. From that, I printed 12 prints of my Pop Pop, one for each of my sisters, one for my Dad, one for Auntie, and one for my cousins, Kristen and Danielle (each). Today is father's day, so I gave Dad his, and one for my sister Shawna. I rarely draw, and drawing people is particularly difficult, since you lose their likeness if you don't catch the most important details. You learn a great deal from drawing too - I learned that Pop and I had the same teeth (shape). I never knew that, since he had aged, and his teeth were replaced with dentures. Even my dentist could tell we were related (I had to show her the print... I am particularly proud of this one).

I hope you enjoy. If you are one of my sisters (or auntie or cousins), I will be sending you a print soon!

Love,
Catherine

PS - these are some of the different stages the stone went through... I thought I would share the process a little with you all.

Isn't she lovely?

Of course she is. This was at brunch the other weekend in the middle of our bike ride - she was very huggy with mommy, which I always love!

"If yer happy in your nose, cwap your hands"

Just a little something cute - Lanie likes to sing - a lot. So, she really enjoys the book that Aunt Barb & Uncle Chris gave her last year - "Clap Your Hands"

Though, the other day I heard her singing it - she was singing "If yer happy in your nose, cwap your hands"...

I thought that was funny.

"It's a standing bottom!"

This is what Lanie said last night as we walked by a few nude bottom-halves of mannequins...

Damn plumbing...

So, um, last night our kitchen sink stopped draining. We tried the plunger - it didn't work. Tried liquid drainer, didn't work. Tried an auger that we bought last night from the home of pot (home depot), didn't work. Oh crap.. time to call the plumber. That is something that luckily, we have never had to do, until last night. I left a message with the answering service at Roto Rooter to have someone call me back. They called first thing this morningand were able to come out on a non-emergency call at 10am. Not too bad of a turn around time anyhow, right? So, Joe from Roto Rooter showed up and quoted us a charge of $257.95 to unclog the drain. Ugh, that seems like a lot for what was to be a 5 minute job. So, we said ok, and off he went to clear the drain. Two hours later, he is still here, and the clog was way the hell down the pipes, through the basement...

All in all, it took 2 1/2 hours to clear this thing up! He advised us to remove our garbage disposal all together, and not to use one again. Apparently in older houses with older pipes, garbage disposals are very bad. Wonderful, since we JUST bought the thing...

Nonetheless, the problem is fixed, thanks to Joe at Roto Rooter, and to be honest, that was a decent experience. He was very friendly, seemed really honest, and should we need a plumber again, I will ask to have him back out. He was really fantastic and pleasant to deal with. So much so, that I think I will call Roto Rooter to compliment his work and his great attitude.

THANKS!

Link to some photos

Occasionally I will upload photos to the web to share with y'all... this is one of those times. If you want to take a look at the graduation photos from this past May, here they are!

PS - just click on where it says "LINK tO SOME PHOTOS" to get to the pics...

Love you all!

The feeding of the giant birds

'Twas a nice day today, so we decided it would be fun to take some old bread to the bay and feed the ducks - apparently it is a nuclear bay... look at the size of those beasts!! Honestly, the swans were rather intimidating, size-wise, but other than the one that thought Lanie's hand looked like a tasty snack, all of them were really quite docile. There were some babies there too, whch are always so nice to see.

You can't see it from this photo, but the swans were actually much larger than Lanie!!

Going for a ride on a Bikel (Bicycle)

Monday (Memorial Day) we decided to take a bike ride around a local park for a bit. This was the first time we had taken the bikes out (and the trailer for Lanie). Lanie was so pleased about the idea of going, but even more pleased that she has a helmet. She wore it around the house a bit, and when we loaded the bike stuff up, and went to put her in her car seat, she insisted on wearing her helmet. After a short while, she took it off and rode in the car without it. All in all, it was a lot of fun for the whole family.

It's Police Car Time

On the way home from dinner tonight, Aubrey asked Lanie what time it was - we ask that question each night when it begins to get dark, and it is close to "nite-nite time". Lanie's response was "It is not nite nite time". We asked again what time it was, and Lanie answered "It is not nite nite time. It is Police Car time".

Of course, we did go to the parade today and there were plenty of police cars there, along with the much coveted school bus - she is absolutely obsessed with school busses. She insists that she "does love a school bus" and that she will go on a school bus... oh yes - I think a school bus will make a great first car for her ;-)

First day as a paid teacher...

I dropped Lanie off this morning at "Nana's" so she could spend the day there, and the night as well (once in a while, she sleeps over at Nana's to give Daddy and me a little grown-up time - hubba hubba ;-) ). Anyhow, I came home, Aubrey and I started to clean the kitchen floor so we could start/finish the tiles in here. We had to go and buy the tiles and some other stuff at Home of Pot, oh, home Depot, sorry, and while there, my cell rings - it was the district we live in (and one that I am hoping for a real teaching job in), calling to see if I could come in and sub for the afternoon. Without even asking what subject, I said yes, of course I could come in! So, an hour later I went to the school and was told I would be teaching grades 5&6 Science class - haha - Me? Teach Science? Well, it could have been worse. I mean, it could have been MATH, right?

So, there I was, my first sub job. How bad could it be, right? The first group came in, which was ok. They were 6th graders who were learning about, get this - rocket science... So, I taught rocket science, for real... very cool!

Then I had a break, and the 5th graders came in - holy hell... these seriously were some of the most terrible students I have met so far! Talk about rude and disrespectful! They were so loud and terrible that another teacher came in and yelled at them (how embarassing was that... I felt terrible). Well, the kids then turned on the teacher that came in and began backtalking her!! Little crappers... anyhow, I was slowly able to get them under a little control, but not much. It sure didn't help that this was a Friday before a holiday weekend I am sure...

Well, the saddest part is this - I made more money today subbing for two classes than I would have made at my regular job in 2 days! Ugh - SOMEONE HIRE ME!!

I just ate PBS.ORG

Again, this kiddo comes up with some of the funniest phrases. We were eating dinner tonight, and I asked her how she liked her dinner. She smiled and said rather confidently "I just ate PBS.org.".

We watch Sesame Street on TV on occasion, and at the end of each show, the announcer mentions that parents should log on to PBS.org to check for other listings - so I can only assume she got that there.

As I am writing this, she took the remote control and stated "Give me a detail" - updates to come on this new discovery later... ;-)