Sooo it went like this...

I tweeted to Peter Facinelli to come join his birthday party on his app.
Little did I know that he was already IN there.....
Sooo... hahahhah I went in.....




HAHAHAHHAAH!! Too funny!
Ya had to be there I guess!
He had a good time with us all in there!
Happy Early Birthday, Peter!!

First Day of School!

Wow it's been a while since I've updated !!
The summer flew by and the girls are back to school!
Ellie has started Kindergarten and M'Kayla is in 2nd grade.
Time flies!
Here are their 1st day of School photos.




In our front garden before the bus came





Kirby watching for the bus, waiting for the girls to get home

FUN DAY today at The Cullens Online!

Writer's Block Can Get A Little Frustrating

Have you ever had something to write but it just didn't come out the way you wanted it to? I have such a great story in my head and it's in desperate need of being written down. I can't seem to find the time nor the right inspiration to get it started. I've written a LOT of fan-fic and also even much more of my own stuff.
On occasion I get wicked, nasty writers block and seek inspiration from other talented writers and artists.
When you get writer's block, what do you do? Who/What do you seek for inspiration? Once you get those creative juices flowing can you stop and re-start successfully?
Tell me everything! I'm a writer, desperate to get my gears greased and back in operation!!!

My iPhone!

I am posting from my iPhone!
Very cool!
Now that I can Blog on the go, I hope to be more consistent with posts!
I'm off to discover more goodies on my phone!!

--
I Posted this via Skypetr, 2009-05-09 18:19:39 -0400

On the blog again....

Wow, it's been ages. I haven't had a hi-speed connection in a long time and we've finally gotten that taken care of so I think I'll be a bit more regular here again.
Lots of stuff going on over here. We've been doing great through the school year and M'Kayla is almost finished with 1st grade. What?! It's insane to even think of her being 7 years old but hey, she is and she's the height of a 9 year old. VERY tall and just sweet as can be.
Ellie is just about to finish up her pre-school class and will move ahead to kindergarten in September........... What?! HOW did she grow so fast? AND she's already lost 4 teeth and is now, patiently, waiting for her '2 front teeth' to grow in. She's so cute!
I wish I had photos on this computer but as of yet I do not. I will upload some very soon and get a blog or 2 up about our recent trip to England, Scotland and Wales. We hope to return to the UK in September! I just LOVE it there. I've got some sort of a magnetic pull that draws me there.
Enjoy the day. We've got 'Seattle' type weather going on here in NJ... misty, fog and drizzle-rain.

All I want for...

Christmas and Hanukkah is.......
BUTTERSCOTCH!
Our family celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah. December is a whirlwind! Ellie's birthday, Hanukkah and Christmas all fell within the same week this year! C R A Z Y!
The girls were VERY excited about their presents this year. We payed extra attention and got them things they REALLY wanted. One such present is 'Butterscotch' the Pony. She's a large mechanical pony that responds to touch a special brush and carrot that came with her. She has several sensors all over her which make her do all sorts of things when she's touched by you or 'hears' or 'sees' you.

The girls enjoyed spending time with all of our family over the past few days! I love this time of year because we all get together and have a chance to catch up and enjoy each other. The rest of the year always seems to be all hustle and bustle and time just slips away. We always have ntentions of seeing each other through out the year but that seldom happens. I love December because for us, it's family time and there's no better time than that!!!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wishing you and your families a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!!!!

Halloween 2008!

It's been a long time since my last post! *eek!* I think it's about time for an update, eh?

Halloween!

Halloween around our house is a big deal! We love to decorate the entire house, in and out, including a graveyard, ravens, pumpkins a skeleton and various other creepy stuff!

Here's Captain Jack and Mr. Skelly in our entry hall!
Captain Jack was soon joined by Daphne from Scooby Doo and Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb!

Here are a few shots of our 'graveyard'

Ellie decided that she wanted to end the night as a little witch!
We had a great Halloween, as always!!

It's the LAST DAY of JULY!

I can't believe how quickly the summer is going by! For some reasons I'm happy to see it going by so quickly and in a way sad too! I LOVE taking day trips with my family, visits to the neighbors for evenings of chat and fun outside, being on the patio in the shade, watching my girls splash in their little pool and their little dirty bare feet right before they are put in the tub at the end of a very fun, active, sweaty, heat and humidity filled day!
It amazes me how quickly the seasons pass by us! I remember as a kid, summer really did feel endless and carefree. I miss those days! As adults, nothing is really carefree anymore. We've got sooooo many responsibilities and obligations that sometimes we let the days pass without so much as a blink. I haven't taken the time to update my blog because we've just been having such a great time together that I haven't thought much about the computer. I know that as soon as school starts (early September) I will have more time and will update more frequently.
We've had family visiting from over seas! Lots of things on the 'to-do' list before she leaves on August 15!
So far we've .......
gone to the mall
Philadelphia Zoo
IKEA
Crystal Cave
Atlantic City Boardwalk / Beach
Valley Forge National Park
New Hope, PA
Monmouth County 4H Fair

Still to do:
Bushkill Falls, PA
Somerset County 4H Fair
6 Flags Great Adventure and Safari
Discovery Museum
Ringing Rocks
and a few other places that I can't remember at the moment!

It's been a jam-packed summer so far with lots more to do! I hope everyone else is having a great summer, too!!

Parades!

Ahh the summer.... lazy days, heat, humidity and PARADES!

We do several parades a year. This was our 1st time in the Rocky Hill Independence Day Parade.

We drove our WWII ambulance this time. It was great weather UNTIL we go to the end of the route and the picnic got rained out!


Thank a Veteran for your freedom!

A Kick-Start into Summer!

For us, Memorial Day weekend is the 1st 'official' day of Summer!
Our weekend usually starts with my husband driving one of his WW2 vehicles in a local parade. This year he participated in 3 different town's parades.
We find it incredibly important to honor those who serve and have served in our country's military.
Whether you approve or disapprove of the government's involvement over seas, we ALL need to respect and honor those who give all to protect us.

On Saturday our new neighbors invited us over for a BBQ and a dip in their pool! What a fun afternoon we all had, especially Mackie and Ellie who were in the pool for 4 straight hours!
Even Kirby got into the pool for a few seconds to cool off. It amazes me that he's just 4 months old, has never been in water (other than the groomer's sink) and he KNOWS how to swim!

On Monday, we opened our little pool, we fired up the grill and we headed outside for a BBQ!
It was a PERFECT weekend. I can't remember a more perfect Spring than we've had this year.

Lil Fuzzy Pom

Kirby is SO friggin' CUTE!
He was only 2.5lbs in these photos!
Here's a layout of pictures of him from the 1st few days right after we got him. He's still teeny but he's bigger than this now (4Lbs).... *sigh*
I was inspired to do this layout by a challenge on "A True Friend A Priceless Treasure" blog! I love that blog because it's for scrappers who love to scrap their PETS!
Anyway, here's my take on this week's challenge.

Mobile blogger

Back in the scrappin' saddle!

It's been a while since I've scrapbooked anything. Over the past couple days I've actually been able to sit and relax and pull out some scrap supplies. Here's what I've worked on.

I am on a roll over here and hope to get a few more pages done by the weekend!

Gators and Turtles and Snakes, OH MY!

We went to Charles Towne Landing in Charleston, South Carolina with our friends, Beth and Ed. It's such a gorgeous place. The trees are ancient and so huge, there's wildlife all around. We saw a lot of different 'critters', including alligators!
And, yup... we were THAT close! *Gasp*

Beth found a snake while she was walking in the grass. He didn't even seem phased that she was about to step RIGHT ON HIM! She called Ed over and he picked the snake up (grass snake) and showed him to the girls.

He then released it onto a tree branch to get it off the ground away from harm.

The trees in Charleston are HUGE! During our walk at Charles Towne Landing, we came across some GIANTS! The girls loved playing beneath the beautiful huge trees. There was shade everywhere we walked.

Everything's bigger in South Carolina....or is that supposed to be Texas?? LOL! Anyway, the girls, being the animal lovers they are, were also fascinated by the bugs. Yeah.. they're a LOT bigger than they are used to seeing and they loved picking them up off the walkway on leaves and sticks and putting them back on the grass or trees.

As we walked the path we saw a large box turtle and decided to take a picture of it. When we approached we noticed she was laying eggs. We got a fast picture. We didn't want to disturb her.

Can you see the tiny fiddler crabs? Look hard.... there are lots of them!! The girls had fun trying to count them as they scurried around.

I will post more pictures as I download them from my camera. All the photos above are by Beth King. ( Thanks Beth!! )

Therapy Dog in Training

We recently got a Pomeranian. His name is Kirby. He turned 3 months old yesterday (April 9th 2008).
He is SO good. He doesn't whine, complain, yap, or carry on in any way at all. He's friendly to everyone, which is probably because we take him just about everywhere we go! He's started training to become a therapy dog (Therapy Dog International) and will take the place of the 17 year old dog, Bailey, we recently lost 2 weeks ago.
I had taken her to Stonebridge (an over 55 community which also has an Assisted Living section where they house advanced Alzheimers patients.) Bailey was the resident therapy dog there until about a year ago when she became deaf and could no longer her commands. She lived a great, long life and we miss her terribly!
I think she'd be proud of this little guy following in her footsteps.
Kirby will be the resident Therapy dog for the Montgomery Senior Center! His training has started and he's just such an 'eager to please' kinda boy!
If you are unfamiliar with the work of Therapy dogs, I can explain it a bit and you can check out the website for more info! You may have a dog who could change lives!!
Therapy dogs are friendly dogs with excellent behavior that visit hospitals, nursing homes, senior centers etc and bring a bit of joy to the residents and patients who live there. They are excellent dogs to help people without them even knowing it!!
People who have had strokes reach out to touch/pat the dogs making strides where they didn't THINK they could!
There was a man who had a stroke and hadn't spoken in 3 months but when he saw my dog (Bailey) he said "Well hello there little dog!" . The nurse just about fainted because this man hadn't said a word since his stroke and the dog made it effortless for him.
Kids recovering from trauma and childhood diseases brighten up when the therapy dogs come in the room! Older people in nursing homes LOVE when we bring in the dogs. They always reminisce about a dog they had 'way back when' and how wonderful the dog was and how "this dog reminds me of....."
It's an excellent, excellent therapy for memory, motor skills and just plain morale. We are excited that Kirby is so compatible with the training so far and hope that he continues on the road he's on! He's gonna be a star!!!

Weather Woes!

I am tired of all the rain. ALL WINTER all we've gotten is day after day after day of RAIN, RAIN, RAIN! WHEN WILL IT END? We had one or 2 nice days in the past 2 weeks and today, once again, RAIN. *sigh*
I am drowning over here in mud, muck and RAIN!!!
We got one small snowfall in late January or early February. That was it. This was the rainiest, wettest, dreariest winter I think I've ever experienced.
Spring is here and yes, it's supposed to be a 'rainy season' for the most part but 5 of 7 days a week of RAIN is pathetic. I think I need to migrate like birds do. I'll winter in a place where it's sunny and in the 70s with VERY LITTLE RAIN and then I'll summer in a place where it's 70s, SUNNY and VERY LITTLE RAIN! lol
Can ya tell I'm all washed out by all the RAIN?
I hope your weather is better than mine has been for the past 5 months!!!

Scrapgarden's Blog Challenge for today

Do you make it a habit to do something scrappy each day?
I DO! That's not saying that I actually ACCOMPLISH it.....
More often than not, I get side tracked by laundry, scrapbooking forums online, a phone call or something good on TV. Sometimes it's something as simple as being distracted by wanting to be LAZY.
I don't get any daytime scraptime. It just doesn't work that way. My scraptime only comes after 8:30PM and honestly, MOST of the time I'm feeling kinda lazy and un-scrappy by then.
I get cattle prodded now and then by my buddy, Laura!
Going to check out the scrap blogs of my friends and the forum galleries can get me inspired too. I TRY to get SOMETHING scrappy accomplished daily but it just isn't always in the cards!

Spring

is REALLY here! How do I know this, other than the obvious calendar? Well I know it because the PEEPERS SAY SO!!

The Peepers? What's a PEEPER, you ask?

Wikipedia can give you a good idea about the Spring Peeper.

" A Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer, synonym Hyla crucifer) is a small tree frog widespread throughout the eastern USA. The spring peeper is a small frog, attaining an adult size between 0.75 and 1.5 inches (up to 40mm) long. They have a dark cross on their backs roughly in the shape of an "X", though sometimes the marking may be indistinct. The color variations of the spring peeper are mostly tan, brown, olive green, or gray. Females are lighter-colored, while males are slightly smaller and usually have dark throats."

Photo by United States Geological Survey

Are these little frogs cute or what?!

Every night at 11PM I walk the dogs for the final walk of the day. I've been listening and listening for the Peepers for about 2 weeks now, hoping that I'd hear them soon as this really IS the sign that Spring really IS here! Tonight, I walked outside and was greeted by the sound of 100s of Peepers, singing and peeping and just making my heart soar! I LOVE these little froggies and can't wait to hear them on their 1st night, every year! We're lucky enough to live near the canal and river where they breed and live so we get a concert every night through the Spring right on into the summer!!

These little frogs sing their chorus and keep me company, late at night when I am walking my dogs. For more information about the Spring Peeper, check out Wikipedia