Fudge

My parents dog, Fudge has been a part of our family for the past 12 years. Unfortunately, his health was deteriorating and a trip to the vet today revealed kidney failure so my parents made the decision to put him down. With Buddy & Franny at his side Fudgie made his way to Dog Heaven.



WHEN TOMORROW STARTS WITHOUT ME ~Author Unknown
When tomorrow starts without me,
And I'm not there to see;
The sun will rise and find your eyes
All filled with tears for me.
I wish so much you wouldn't cry
The way you did today,
Remembering how I cross my paws
In that very special way.
I know how much you love me,
As much as I love you.
But when tomorrow starts without me.
Please try to understand,
That an angel came and called my name
And petted me with her hand.
She said my place was ready,
In Dog Heaven far above,
And that I'd have to leave behind
All those I dearly love.
So when tomorrow starts without me,
Don't think we're far apart.
For every time you think of me,
I'm right there, in your heart.

Tooth Fairy

Sydney lost her first tooth today, a little front tooth on the bottom. I wonder what the tooth fairy will bring?

Last Day Of School

Today was Andrew's very first last day of school. Unlike many kids, Andrew was sad. He loves school and learning and will miss his teacher and friends.


Andrew & Mrs. Mazzaferri

I think more than anything he will miss seeing Claire. Over the past year Andrew has developed quite a crush. He talks about her, makes her bracelets and pictures, and always wants to sit right next to her. He even changed up the words to the popular song "I Kissed A Girl". He sings I kissed Claire Wood and I liked it, her tastes like fishy crackers.

Lets Go Out To The Ball Game

Matt, Andrew and Grandpa Greg took in an Indians Game. Greg and Matt enjoyed the Indians shutting out the Chicago White Sox. Andrew liked the popcorn, peanuts, nachos and hot dogs. At the end of the day everyone was happy.

Happy Gotcha Day Andrew

It was three years ago today that we met Andrew for the very first time. He came off the plane cheerful and effectionate and both hold true to this day. I cannot imagine our family without him.

Every year between his birthday and gotcha day I write a letter to his birthmother. I share with her how bright and sweet he is. His love for swimming, the Cars movie, school, and riding bikes with his friends. I know the odds are slim that she will ever seek out more information but the letters will be waiting for her if she does.

We try to incorporate Korean culture in our gotcha days. Unfortunatly, Canton Ohio doesnt have much to offer but we did stop by the Korean Market and Andrew picked out a few treats.

Sydney Turns Seven

Sydney invited the girls from her first grade class to a cake decorating party to celebrate her seventh birthday. As I mentioned in a previous posting, Syd loves the Food Network cake shows and wanted to incorporate that into her party. So, we started off making english muffin pizzas; the girls we very proud of their cheese & pepperoni placements. Which made them difficult to secretly recreate when I burned them in the oven.




I baked a nine inch round cake for each girl and they really enjoyed icing and decorating their masterpiece. Sydney's started off beautiful with a big yellow daisy in some grass but just like the other she kept adding and adding to it. By the end all the cakes were coated in sprinkles with mountains of rainbow icing. But, they were all proud of their creations.

Thanks Mom for all your help!



We wrapped up the night with another birthday party with the family. Keeping with tradition we let Sydney decide the menu and we dined on grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Happy Easter

Cake Consultation

Sydney's seventh birthday is coming up next Friday. We decided to throw her a cake decorating party to embrace her love of baking and cake shows. She is a big fan of the Food Network Cake Challenge and hopes to be their mystery client someday. Just in case their producers don't come knocking I set up an appointment with Susan, the wedding consultant at Fisher's Bakery. She met with Sydney & I to help design the perfect birthday cake. Of course Sydney brought along her cake drawings, computer print offs and color palette. Susan was wonderful and really made Sydney feel like the client, directing all her questions to her. Together they came up with lovely sketch and met Mom's budget! Can't wait to see it!

Andrew Turns 4

Happy 4th Birthday Andrew! Matt and I along with Grandma Pam, who was in town to help celebrate all went to Tiny Tots this morning. Andrew was thrilled to be going to school on his birthday. His teacher, Mrs Mazzaferri makes birthdays very special event with a crown, singing,special chair and of course line leader!


After school we had ChickFila for lunch and ran some errands before heading home to bake his cake. Keeping with tradition we let the kids pick their birthday meal. Andrew selected salami and turkey sandwiches,macaroni and cheese, and a birthday cake with candles.

Cincinnati

We traveled to Cincinnati for a 2 day cheerleading competition, the last one for the season. Grandma Franny drove down with us and Grandma Pam flew in on day 2. The Cheetah team pulled out a good performance with a few minor mistakes putting them into 4th place at the end of day one. If we could put together a clean routine on Sunday we could move up to 2nd. That night both kids had a blast playing with all their friends in the pool, tepeeing the coaches doors and having a pajama party in the hallway.

I want to give a shout out to my CPR/First Aid Instructor! Who would have guessed I would use my skills just one week later. On Saturday night we were having dinner when a woman near us slumped over into her dinner. Armed with my new skills I confidently jumped up and asked her husband if she was choking. He said no she just stopped talking and fell over. By now she was starting to come around so we lowered her to ground and elevated her feet. She had never experienced this before and did not have any heart or diabetic issues so I am not sure what caused it and didn't stick around once EMS arrived.

We awoke the next morning ready for another full day of competition. That was until I headed across the hall and knocked on the Grandmas door. Sydney had decided to spent the night over there and kept the grandma duo up all night vomiting. Thanks again, Mom & Pam for all the hard work. The two of them nursed her all night while we unknowingly slept. Unsure what we should do, Matt got her up and showered, hoping that will perk her up a bit while I went in search of the coach. Gym owner, Dawn suggested we bring her over to the venue as late as possible and maybe with a few crackers and some rest we might get a two minute routine out of her. Its a tough call because you know she is exhausted and not well but her whole team is depending on her. When you are part of a competition team and each member is crucial. Thankfully Sydney was a tough cookie and did preform. It was not pretty but we were very proud of her. The Cheetahs took third out of five tough teams.

Fire Station Field Trip

Andrew's preschool class took a field trip to Plain Township #5 Fire Station today. He was very excited and made siren noises from home to school.
To start things off they watched a short movie "Elmo Visits the Firehouse". Then Andrew happily volunteered to demonstrate Stop, Drop and Roll.

Then we headed out to see the ambulance & firetruck. The fireman did a fantastic job explaining all the equipment and gear. They wrapped things up by pulling out the ladder truck with lights and sirens going. Andrew loved it!

Big Questions

So I am driving along when Andrew blurts out: Mommy, is my birth mom dead? I was totally caught off guard. I was prepared for, where do babies come from or why do girls and big boobs and boys have little boobs? I have already tackled those with Sydney. I was not ready for my three and a half year old to ask me serious birth mom questions. Thinking quickly I replied with "I sure hope not, I would like to meet her someday". He must have been content with my answer because he didn't question further and went about playing. He has always been aware of his story but I didn't realize he was old enough to process the details.

To top it off the past week he has insisted he has a little brother and he is growing up in Korea. He is even coloring pictures for him. Tonight at dinner he said he was sad because he misses his brother.

Yikes. Can you imagine what he will ask at age five?

Our Little Leprahcaun

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

32 Years

Today is my 32nd birthday. Yikes! I was going to write about all the fun things I did today but working out at the Y and picking up books at the library just didnt sound interesting. So I decided to post my "bucket list". I've had one stored in my computer for about ten years now but today I decided to update it and post for all to see. Hopefully, that will push me to complete all the unfinished ones.

1. Skydive a
2. Dive the Great Barrier Reef
3. Visit a nude beach a
4. Take a helicopter ride a
5. See Mt Everest
6. Ride the subway a
7. Attend the Iditarod
8. Swim with dolphins a
9. Take an African Safari a
10. Attend the Olympic Games
11. Take a swamp tour or wrangle an gator
12. Swim with sharks a
13. Ride a bull
14. Go whale watching a
15. Run with the bulls in Pamplona
16. View polar bears in the wild
17. Go dog sledding a
18. See a shooting star a
19. Ride in a submarine or aircraft carrier
20. Volunteer for a needy cause a
21. Attend the Rose Bowl Parade
22. Ride in a tank a
23. Watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace
24. Visit the Eiffel Tower
25. Learn to ballroom dance
26. Shop an Asian Market a
27. Visit NYC at Christmas Time a
28. Go to a drive in movie a
29. Shake the hand of a US President
30. Walk the Great Wall of China
31. Be part of a TV show or commercial a
32. Sit on a jury
33. Visit Pearl Harbor
34. Kiss the Blarney Stone a
35. Camp outdoors a
36. See the Acropolis
37. Stand on the equator a
38. See the Great Pyramids
39. Visit Washington DC a
40. Adopt a child a
41. Give back to our Armed Forces a
42. Visit Machu Picchu
43. Play the slots in Vegas a
44. Write & publish a book
45. Tour a concentration camp a
46. Make snow angels in Antarctica
47. Donate blood
48. Visit the Holocaust Museum
49. Visit a rainforest a
50. Witness a birth (animal or human) a
51. Ride in the blimp a
52. Visit the Galapagos
53. See the Northern Lights
54. Go to the Kentucky Derby
55. Ride a train a
56. Drive a Hummer
57. Take a gondola ride in Venice
58. Speak in front over 100 people a
59. Visit Alaska a
60. Learn to decorate cakes
61. Ski the Rocky Mountains a
62. Ride on a Harley Davidson
63. Watch a sumo wrestling match
64. See a NASCAR Race a
65. Work for Disney
66. See a Broadway Show a
67. Ride one of the worlds largest or fastest roller coasters a
68. Go bungee jumping
69. Visit a prison
70. Cross the international date line a
71. Climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge
72. Shoot a gun a
73. Go white water rafting a
74. Take a hot air balloon ride a
75. See the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade a
76. Visit a Buddhist temple a
77. Find a four leaf clover a
78. Ride in a combat fighter plane
79. Meet a king or queen
80. Eat something exotic a
81. Visit Red Square
82. Plant a garden
83. Fly a plane
84. Visit the Smithsonian a
85. Get a professional massage a
86. Visit Pompeii
87. Learn another language
88. Visit NASA a
89. See a drag show
90. Own my own business a
91. Ride the Autobahn a
92. Learn a martial art
93. Fly first class a
94. Experience weightlessness
95. Visit Normandy Beach
96. Be part of Oprah’s audience
97. Live outside Ohio
98. Set foot on all seven continents
99. Meet my grandchildren
100. Meet Andrew’s Birthmother
101. Save A Life




a Denotes completed items

Dental Drama

A few months ago I took Sydney to our family dentist to get her first filling. Everything went smoothly even the Novocain. But, when the doctor returned to finish the procedure refused to cooperate. So we paid for our dose of Novocain and left with a referral to pediatric dentist who could sedate her for the procedure.

We arrived at Dr Su's office this morning about 8:00 AM. The nurse took her BP which was really high, likely due to her anxiety about the dentist. They had her drink some medicine to make her really woozy. Even with the sedative the dentist said she continued to put up a fight but he managed to fill 7 cavities and place a crown on one of her molars. AHHHH!! Lots of money for teeth that fall out. You would think we never brush her teeth.

Happy Valentines Day

My camera is only working occasionally now but I was able to snap this picture of the kids and their valentines day gifts from Matt. Sydney and I got flowers and Andrew got some of his favorite snacks from the Korean market; shrimp sticks & chocolate dippers.

Kalahari Weekend

Sydney had a competition scheduled at the Kalahari Indoor Waterpark so we decided to make it into a mini vacation. Angie & David and my parents joined us and we got one of the two room suites.

Columbus Competition

A two day competition took us to Columbus for the weekend. Sydney did a super job and pulled off a nice back walkover. The Cheetah team brought home third place in the mini level 1 division. Great job Syd, Mommy & Daddy are very proud of you.

Happy New Year

We rang in the new year with friends & co workers of Matt's, the Pester's and Eshler's. Good food, fun and a few too many drinks for Matt.