I am a Mountain Dew- What are you?

You Are Mountain Dew

Ultra hyper and full of energy, you're on a permanent sugar high. Some people complain about your taste, but the do appreciate your power. Your best soda match: Coke Stay away from: Root Beer

What Kind of Soda Are You?

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" -even if you don't like lemonade!

So it has been too long. Our last post was in May, and now we have one more day in June. Not to say I have a horrible life, or I am unlucky, but I am sure excited to get JUNE over with. It has been an extremely chaotic month. So to give you a quick brief of what has been going on......

A. Bryan devotes his life to studying for boards.
B. Tricia puts in her two weeks at the salon after months of obnoxious "drama" that she just can't take any more! There of course, are other reasons too.
C. We used up all of 2007's budget $ for the car in one day! :o)
D. Mason was diagnosed with Asthma. It has been a lot of trips to the doctor!
E. Tricia' s tooth fell out and now she looks like a hillbilly. Several trips to the dentist, and several more to come, only to find out that she has more dental work to be done! YEAH!
F. Bryan, amidst all of the chaos, continues to focus on his up coming board exam. Tricia is really feeling the pressures of his absence.

This is when you ask yourself, how many things can happen at once and where the heck are all my blessings? And then after pondering all this chaos, these are things we are reminded of.........

A. Bryan is studying hard for something to be able to support his family. Way to go B-MAN!
B. Today was Tricia's last day of work, being the reason there is a new post! It wasn't all bad, the job came with a paycheck. (I got in my car tonight and had a celebration!) I never have to go back to that ridiculous place again. WHAT A BLESSING!!
C. At least we have a car. And a car that runs well is especially nice, we have that too!
D. Mason was diagnosed promptly and has been on treatments. Thank goodness for modern medicine and living in a country where treatments are so readily available!
E. Although Tricia looks like a hillbilly, it will eventually come to an end. This has been very entertaining! We have a reason to laugh every time she talks!
F. Bryan the trooper, stays up late, gets up early, studies, studies, studies. What a blessing to have such a great example of what hard work and dedication is. And most of the time, when he is "Absent" he is just a walk down the hallway......studying in the Laundry room! :o)

As the month comes to a close, my thoughts led me to ponder what sorts of blessings could come if a car just "softly" hit me. Just enough to knock me out for a few days. Here is some, to name just a few. If I lost a few more teeth, they would treat that as an emergency. Maybe I would get quicker results. They could whip up some dentures in no time! I would actually sleep through an entire night! I would get to sit in a bed, maybe even lose a few pounds, and have meals brought in to my family. I would get to watch Oprah upon waking. If I broke a leg and some ribs, I could request to be pushed around in a wheelchair, doing nothing but reading books and drinking chocolate milkshakes! But boy would it hurt! Ah, and this is where percocet comes in to play! After pondering this and the many other luxuries of getting hit "softly" by a car, I realized I am nuts, but that any way I view it, I can remain optimistic through my trials and seek the blessings of them all. So, I am indeed, grateful for my trials! And I really do hope I don't get hit by a car tomorrow, or ever! :o) Night!

There is a saying that always keeps me in check when I start thinking things like, getting hit by a car might be nice:

"We cannot always control the circumstances in our lives, but we can control our attitude towards them." ~unknown

In the Making

I have a friend, Allison, who suggested to me to make hair bows and sell them. I thought it was a great idea and so I am going to do it. I've had a lot of fun making them. It is more fun to pick out the ribbon. I thought I would put a few pictures up. They just need the little clip on back and then I am done! Hopefully I can start selling them within one week from now. Thank you Allison! :o)

Weekend Getaway to "Spittsburgh"

This past weekend we went to Pittsburgh to visit Shaun and Amy. Dad and Val were visiting along with Amy's parents and Grandma for Shaun's graduation and Ezra's baby blessing. It was great to see everyone! The trip was bitter-sweet because Shaun and Amy will be moving soon. It has been so great to have family a short drive away from us and we are really going to miss them.

We had so much fun while we were there. The best part is the kids always have a great time and love spending time with each other. On Saturday, we went to the water front along the river called Station Square. Here Olivia and Alyssa played by the fountain that danced to music (A mini version of Bellagio's fountain in Las Vegas) Of course they took of their shoes and took it all in! Then they cooled off after all their dancing with an Italian ice treat! A North-east favorite!
Mason loved that he could run around and puddles were easy to find! As you can see, he did not want to be caught. His running motion came as I was saying, " Mason, come here." And he interprets that as, "run Mason run, oh, and mock your parents while you're at it!" This is the response we get these days! Nonetheless.........adorable!



Moving forward on our way to take a ferry ride, Bryan was threatened to be shot at by Indians, but this didn't seem to phase him too much.............moving on............



Once we were on the ferry everyone sat back and enjoyed the view. One of the things that is so unique about Pittsburgh is how many bridges it has. There are approximately 440 bridges making it the number one city in the world for the most. It beats Venice, Italy! WOW! Because I couldn't put them all on this page, I highly suggest visiting someday if you haven't all ready!
Riding the ferry is a great way to view some of the more spectacular bridges the city has. And for all the sports fans out there, you get a great shot of Heinz stadium and PNC Park! Very cool!



Sunday was a very busy day......Handsome little Ezra was blessed and Shaun graduated! YIPEEE! And everyone went to Olivia's music performance that her music class put on. Shaun joked that the more money you pay for school, the bigger your diploma.......and he definitely payed for it! Of course he earned it too! :o) As you can see this is true! A very happy Dad too! We are all proud of him! We know our Mom is so proud too! Good Job Shaun!











We ended the trip on Monday with a day back down by the waterfront. We went to the Duquesne Incline. It is a ride you take up the side of a cliff! To get to the observation deck to see the spectacular view, you take one of two original cable cars that date back to 1877. As one car goes up the rail, the other goes down. Once at the top, AHHHH........ENJOY!!!!

Alyssa and Olivia enjoying the ride up!

Here is a family pic from the observation deck.

A second honey moon? Sweet, but we are pretty sure those were our kids just above us. Maybe next time! And hopefully those pictures will have a beach and an ocean in it......and no kids!

This a great shot of the incline and the cable car. What a view! The triangle you see is Pittsburgh's downtown, also known as the Golden Triangle. What a way to end a weekend getaway! We had a lot of fun in a short amount of time! It was extra great to see Dad and Val. Dad looked great and kept up just fine! Dad was his good old self. If he didn't have energy you wouldn't have ever known. He is a trooper. I think he looks great x-tra bald! And Val, as always, is so pleasant and endures all of us "crazies" with grace.......and patience! She is a trooper too! :o) Of course she is younger and her energy isn't in question!
Now how can we entice you all to come visit Philadelphia? Let's see, I don't think it as pretty as Pittsburgh. But it is pretty........dirty! he he. And our kids are pretty so you would have them to look at! And we aren't within comfortable driving distance so that doesn't help either......hmmmm, not doing so good here. HOWEVER, the historic landmarks, its location to so many other fun cities, cheese steaks, and awesome indoor market, make up for the dirtiness. Despite Philly's many flaws, it's nice to come "home." Back to another adventurous week. This trip should hold us over for at least a couple of months! Good night!

Meet THE Princess........and don't you forget it!!

Alyssa, 5 years old, in the CROWN jewels. And make no mistake about it, she is a princess. She recently had a princess birthday party with some of her friends. When we were preparing for it, I kept referring to the crowns as tiara's. While driving in the car recently,Bryan and I were having a conversation about getting enough tiara's for the party. Alyssa, always listening intently, corrected us, "They are not tiara's, they are crowns, if you call them tiara's again, you will not be invited to my party." We apologized, and oh so sincerely. Then Bryan said, "Alyssa, it might be a little hard for you to have a party with out the help of Mom and Dad." As she always does, she wittingly replied, "Oh, don't worry......I can handle all those kids, but it just might get a little sloppy though!" And we know she really believes she could have too! This is a girl in control..........in every meaning of the word! This kid out wits us everyday! It's a good thing we think she's cute! :o)

Yet Another Vicitm!

Mason, now 14 months old, adores his big sister Alyssa. She wanted to share with him the excitement of her new birthday things! He is so relaxed. He loves this chair probably more than Alyssa and loves to utilize it while watching the ever agonizing PBS show, Teletubbies. A man that can proudly wear pink is truly a confident one! And he is a little man! We will see how confident he will be when Alyssa uses this against him someday..........hang in there buddy, we understand! :o)

Kiss Requirements

Today Alyssa asked for some milk and Bryan told her he would get her some in a minute. She demanded that he either get it now or he would lose out on his kisses for the day. He did not meet her deadline and Alyssa dealt the consequences. Later in the evening Bryan asked for a kiss and she reminded them that his kissing privileges had been removed. No matter how much he begged she would not give in. She told him if he did whatever she said tomorrow he could have some tomorrow. As Bryan put her to bed she gave him a kiss, but said "I gave you a kiss tonight, but that means you will get one less tomorrow.