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.

Happy Holidays

Even though I woke Christmas morning in a different place than years past, it still had a familiar feel. I awoke to the sound of my dad chopping wood and got myself ready as the smell of wood burning filled the air. Ahhh! Oh how I have missed having a wood burning fireplace on Christmas. And, probably one of the big reasons I wanted this house. As a child I dreaded hauling wheelbarrows full of logs up to the house. But, its been over 10 years since we had a wood burning fireplace and even longer since I hauled those logs so in a way I miss it. And miss seeing my dad hunched over the embers.

Soon enough the kids were up and scurrying about the house checking to see if Santa ate their cookies. Despite efforts to camouflage the violin Grandma Pam got Sydney that was the first thing she noticed. I think its safe to say everyone got everything they wanted(needed). Santa brought Sydney an IPod Shuffle and the reindeer pictures she requested and Andrew got his dinosaur.

Christmas Eve

Happy Holidays! Hope everyone has their holiday shopping finished & planning to spend the holiday with friends & family. Our family will be hosting Christmas for the very first time. With the exception of the one year when we went to the Florida Keys and surprised my grandparents on Christmas this will be the first time I have not awoke Christmas morning at my parents house. This year, Mom, Dad, Angie & David will be coming to our house. We will have our traditional appetizer dinner and then likely watch a movie. We had hoped to see the new film, "Marley and Me" but after learning the ending decided that might not be the best choice for Sydney.

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I wot you to tac a pichr of rodorf.
PS I Lov You. I wot you to bring a horse to.

Love, Sydney Lavelle

Erie PA Competition

Creeping our way through the snow belt during a blizzard we made our way to Erie, Pennsylvania for our first cheer competition of the season. Unfortunately, the weather kept away most of the teams but Sydney & the NEO Cheetahs did a fantastic job & walked away with second place.



Sydney & her Big, Chloe. NEO has a mentor program where younger members are matched up with veterans.

Central Park

Andrew has fallen in love with the touch screen televisions in the back of the cabs.



Central Park Carousal

More NYC

We hit several more big city sights yesterday. Toys R Us Time Square where Sydney & I rode the the indoor farris wheel while Andrew checked out the life size dinosaurs.




The Winter Wonderland at Macy's Harold Square was a very impressive operation. There were at least 100 people in line but we moved through in about 30 minutes. They line winds through an aray of holiday displays, and the staff take on a characters to entertain adults & children alike. When you reach the end each family is guided into one of six Santas workshop's where you have some one on one time with Santa.



Sera treated Sydney to her first pedicure.

NYC Part 2

In leiu of turkey we had Korean for our Thanksgiving dinner this year, bulkogi, kyogi and yakudori. Yummo! As usual Andrew was spoiled by the waitresses. He pouted when we didnt order any noodles; a few moments later our waitress arrived with a noodle dinner on the house!


This morning we took a the kids down to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. Sydney's only comment; "This is not a park and theres no batteries". Priceless! We tried to explain that in New York places with grass are considered parks. To our little Ohio girl, parks have playgrounds.

Big Apple Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are spending the holiday at Matt's sister, Sera's in the lower east side of Manhattan. We drove in last night through the Holland Tunnel after an unscheduled tour of the New Jersey ghetto. The kids were wide eyed at the sight of all tall building in all their night time glory. Andrew was bewildered by all the traffic and asked if it was a parade.



But, the parade had to wait till this morning. About 4:00 AM Andrew popped up from bed and asked if it was parade time yet. Maybe we should have followed his lead but instead we got up at 5:30 AM and took the subway over to 75th & Central Park West. We arrived about 7:00 AM and were about 20 yards back from the sidewalk in a sea of humans from everywalk of life. We spent the next two hours elbow to elbow with new friends from the Bronx and Sydney, Australia. Just like clockwork at 9:00 AM the grand daddy of all them all; the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade kicked off with a crowd countdown. Although we could only see the floats & balloons it was still spectacular. Several seasoned watchers brought along buckets, ladders and scaffolding to see above the crowds. We ended up with the kids on our shoulders.

Sydney was thrilled to see the real life; Hannah Montana. While Andrew squealed with excitement over a Buzz Lightyear & the cast of Sesame Street. So, despite the long wait, insane crowds and holding the kids up for 2 1/2 hours I am glad we went. Thats one more crossed of my "bucket list".