Eight Days until Jessica turns 8!

Well Jessica turns 8 next weekend and I thought it might be fun to spend the week with some old pictures. Forgive the poor quality of the pictures because they were either taken with our digital video camera or were scanned in from a print. Jessica's due date was March 24th. I had quit work on Feb 28 and was looking forward to spending the next 3 weeks vegging out and "getting ready". Well one week later she was born- stinker. We were caught a little off guard, grabbed the car seat out of the box as we headed out the door- dropped off our videos at Blockbuster (didn't want the late fees)- and went to Baystate. Jessica was born at 11:22am after a nice nap and minimal labor. She weighed 7lbs 7oz and we thought she was just beautiful.





These pictures were taken about half way through the year around 5 or 6 months


Tune in tomorrow for pictures of one year old Jessica.

Oscar Time!

Last Sunday was one of the biggest nights of the year! Oscar time! We went down to my Mom's for the big event. I took a few pictures, but seem to have put down my camera and picked up my glass of wine before Kelly and Brenda arrived- oops sorry guys. Mom Dee and I all glammed up.

The mantel display focusing on the 5 best picture nominees.


Bec and Emily!

Weekend in NYC

I have been remiss in blogging for the past two weeks so I will be catching up. Jessica and Marc went off to NYC for the weekend to visit the Tuckers. Saturday morning they all headed off to the children's museum. Lots of fun was had, I will just share a few of the pictures. Here are Jess and Sasha relaxing on top of the balls in the big ball pit.

Since it was Valentine's day, they had some valentine themed crafts out and this is the one Jessica made... awwww.

Jessica has been very interested in the story of Balto. She saw a movie about Balto and has read a couple of books about him, one of which mentions his statue in Central Park. Jessica was very anxious to go see the statue so they made sure to make it part of the trip.

The statue is right near the Zoo so they headed there next, but unfortunately it was almost closing time so they did not get to explore the whole zoo.

Apparently the trip across the park to the subway station took a bit longer because Jessica needed to ask every person with a dog if she could pet the dog.

Jessica and Sasha on the subway on the way to ....

The Empire State Building! They went up around sundown and forgot it was Valentine's day so they witnessed two engagements and consider themselves lucky to have left before 18 people arrived to get married.

One final picture with both Sasha and Matty! Jessica loves New York and can't wait to go back.

Vacation week begins...

So vacation week has begun. Marc and Jessica headed to NYC for the weekend on Friday to visit with the Tuckers. They are back and took lots of pictures so I will post about their weekend soon. I was looking at a long weekend with Justin and then Becky came to the rescue and they invited Justin to sleep over on Saturday night. This was Justin's first "real" sleepover and he was so excited. He had a grrrrrrreat time. One of the things he was most looking forward to was playing Lego Batman multiplayer on the DS with Jack. Bec took this picture of the two of them in Jack's bed- happy as can be. I picked him up at 1pm and he still wasn't ready to go- 24 hours is just not enough Odell time for this little boy.

Thank you guys very much he had a great time- and crashed early tonight.

Watching American Idol with Jessica

So my mom got Jessica into watching American Idol last year. I had lost interest in the show a few seasons ago but recorded it for Jessica. Jess was excited to start watching this year, I told her once they got to Hollywood I would start recording it for her. I really don't like watching those early audition shows where they spend 45 minutes with bad singers, making fun of them and insulting them and then 15 minutes on the people that can actually sing- anyway didn't want Jessica to see that.

Which brings us to this year of AI. We enjoyed watching Hollywood week. We don't like Tatiana- annoying laugh and so dramatic. I loved that when one girl cursed out another girl and it was beeped out Jessica guessed the one girl said "I hate you"- because that was the worst thing Jessica could imagine the person saying.

Tonight we watched last night's episode where they decide the final 36. We were really routing for the best friends, we liked both of them very much. When one friend made it through and the other did not we were so sad. Jessica says, "Mommy I am so sad that he didn't make it", I was tearing up behind her so she didn't see me. I told her I was sad too. Then she says, "I think I am going to cry", I told her it was ok I was feeling the same way and she started really crying. We are such saps. Marc joined us for the last 15 minutes. It was a sing off between two contestants. Marc says, "well that was horrible" (he was so wrong). Jessica turns and says to me, "Daddy just doesn't understand music like us girls". She makes me smile.

On another note. Jessica and I went to the library to return our big pile of books and get some more. She was beyond ecstatic when she realized the library now had the newest series of the Rainbow fairies books- the Petal Fairies. Of course it seems some other children have also found this out so only 2 of the books were there. She COULD NOT WAIT to get home and start reading. She zoomed through her homework. Got all sorts of excited when I told her she should go to bed early. Got into her pajamas super fast and sat on the couch reading until bedtime. We brought her up to bed at 8pm and she admits to not turning out her light until 9:25pm because she was reading, finished a book she had already started, finished the first of the petal fairies books, and almost finished the second one. Love that she LOVES reading- wish she would get to sleep a little earlier.

Anyone looking for a slam dunk birthday present for Jessica should pick up the next series of this book- the musical instrument fairies- pretty sure it is being published this month.

Valentine Treats

I made some very cute treats today for Justin's preschool party tomorrow. I originally saw these on Pioneer Woman's blog around Halloween in the this post. She found the recipe from the Bakerella blog, which I love reading now, so I got this recipe from this post.



You can add a stick and make it a pop- I tried that with some heart shaped ones, they didn't come out so good though. But check out my cute cake pop model!


Some other mom volunteered first for snack, but I have been dying to try these out so I made them anyway! I have to say they are Yumm-O!

Trip to the Post Office

Justin's preschool took their annual trip to the Post Office to mail their valentines on Wednesday. Since I am at the post office weekly, or more in the holiday months, they know Justin pretty well and greet him by name. The kids get a kick out of buying their own stamp. They go up to the counter and say, "one stamp please".

Then they put it on their letter.

Then they get to go in the back and see how it all works. Here is Justin cancelling his own stamp.
After they take the grand tour they go out back and get inside a mail truck and honk the horn- the highlight. We got the valentine today in the mail- very cute.

Fun day at Camp Jewell

About a month ago we received a flyer from Camp Jewell YMCA inviting Alumni and their family to come and spend the afternoon last Sunday for free. Well this was a no-brainer for us. Camp Jewell was the first camp that I worked at in addition to holding many childhood memories as well. Marc has never been to Jewell before and since it is only an hour and a half away we have been talking about going there for family camp, maybe Memorial Day Weekend if possible. The kids had such a great time at Frost Valley we thought they would enjoy spending the day at Jewell as well- and we were right. First up the Tubing Hill. There are 4 different runs going down the hill. Justin was fearless once we pointed out, what we believed was the scariest run, he kept going down that run over and over. He even gleefully talked perfect strangers into going down that run. So here is Jessica all suited up.

Do you see that speck on the bottom of the hill? That is Justin.

As always the walk up the hill is the hardest part. Remember that stranger Justin talked into going down the scary run? Well then he sweet talked her into pulling his tube up the hill. But wait that is not all... then he jumped in the tube and said "wheeeee" and pretended to be driving the tube- do you know what? She pulled her tube, his tube and HIM up that hill- that kid kills me. They had tandem tubes as well- Jessica loved going down the hill with me, and then she loved that I hauled the tube up the hill. I have to give them credit though, both kids pulled their tubes up the every other time.

We also spent some time in Boulder Basin...

We went to the Candle Corner and made candles.

Justin took the instructions pretty seriously. One second in the wax and 3 in the water. So even after he subcontracted Marc to finish the candle he still counted for him- VERY LOUDLY and criticized Marc when he erred. See the other guy in this pic? That is Mo Barton one of the few people still at Jewell that was there 18 years ago when I worked there.

Actually there were two other people that were campers when I was a counselor and remembered me- one of them is the Camp Director now. I felt old!

We took a quick trip over the bridge to Chapel Island- Justin actually stopped and looked at me for this picture.
Jessica was such a trooper and wanted to try everything. She and I went to go snowshoeing. She really enjoyed that- we didn't do too much just a little track.

Then we tried Cross Country Skiing.
The staff member was so nice, helpful and encouraging.
Even Justin gave it a shot!
Jessica makes me laugh. She was such a good sport. She kept falling down (she will tell you she fell once). I was behind her and she kept saying, "this is my first time on skis, I am really good. I can't believe how good I am." The staff member didn't help the situation by calling Jess a "pro". There was a very slight hill on the trail we went on, and now she thinks she has gone downhill skiing too. We had a great day and we were all wiped out upon returning home- ok I was really wiped out- phew.

The kids had a great time and asked if we can go back for an overnight some time. Definitely!

Father Daughter Dance

Tonight was the Father Daughter Dance sponsored by the Girl Scouts. This is the first year that Jessica and Marc attended. It is totally not Marc's thing but Jessica saw the flyer and asked Marc to go with her to the dance, so of course he agreed. Here they are as Marc gave her the corsage.

Adorable.

So when they rolled back home around 9:30 they were giggling and smiling and ready to talk about their night. They told me about what they ate. They told me about the dancing.

I made sure that Marc brought some money to buy Jessica a Shirley Temple and in case they had a raffle again. So then they told me about the raffle. For $5 they got 10 tickets. Marc assumed there would be multiple drawings, but instead they had one drawing for $200. Isn't that ridiculous? They could have made 10 kids happy for $20 each or heck bought tons of Webkinz and given those out. Instead they hand a wad of cash to one child and leave lots of unhappy girls. So Marc and I were tsk tsking this situation when Jessica reached into her pocket and pulled out a WAD OF CASH. She won the $200! Unbelievable!

Marc talked her into giving her brother $20. We haven't yet discussed savings. I still can't believe that whoever was running this thing thinks it makes sense to hand over $200 to a 7 year old. But I know one 7 year old that thinks it was pretty cool. It seems Jessica became quite popular after the drawing and everyone was asking to see the winnings. All I know is that when Jessica turns 21 I am so taking her to the casinos- who's with me?

The Animal Game part 2

So I left the animals out all week long. The fact is they played with them every day. Each day they would play another chapter. I think my favorite was Chapter 7 "Storm at Sea"- all the animals took refuge on the table, some might have been lost though unfortunately. At last check they were around Chapter 20 or so. On Thursday night Marc came home and they were deep into the game. He came downstairs and threatened to throw me out in the cold and lock the door behind me if cleaned up this game before the weekend. Well hmmm it has been pretty cold around here lately. Normally I wouldn't really care but I am the cookie mom for our Brownie Troop which means I have to store almost 50 cases of cookies somewhere and my plan had been to put them in the living room. Well Plan B. At some point this week Legos were introduced into the game. Here was the scene as I left to pick up the cookies this morning. They had been playing this way for about 2 hours since they woke up.

After I arrived home and rearranged the living room a little, I stacked up the cookies. And in no time at all they became "kingdoms".


Here is a pic of Buddy. He was following me around on Friday while I was cleaning, he finally gave up and climbed in the box.

CAUTION! Children at play...

When screen time is removed Jessica and Justin create quite elaborate imaginative games. It usually involves ALL of their stuffed animals and much of the living room gets involved as well- why play in their room or the playroom when there is a perfectly good nearly empty room available? This morning they were deep into some game when it was time for Jessica to head to school. Justin told me that all of the animals were stuck because the game was paused and would be played again when Jessica returned home. Hmm... so you are saying I am not allowed to clean up? So I did a little tour to see just what I was going to be avoiding today...

First up the shoe highway- for some reason the Pandas and Koalas were caught inside this roadway.

On the way to bed last night Jessica ALMOST picked up her moose and brought him upstairs but then she remembered he was there because it was part of "the game".

Let's not forgot the aquatic conga line on top of the couch.

Not sure what their role is but they look a little bit like they are in time out...

The line of dogs...

Love the bear family going on a road trip in the Speed Racer slippers...

Not sure what their role is either, it seems like they might be waiting to be pulled into the game- on deck if you will.
So I guess I just have to kick up my heels and eat those Bon Bons since I am not allowed to clean up. Of course there is no reason I couldn't do the laundry or clean the kitchen, but that is really nit picking don't you think?