Ahh, Valley Forge Junior High!!

In middle school I lived just outside of Philadelphia near Valley Forge. In fact, I went to Valley Forge Junior High School, way back in the late, late 80's. After setting up a quick myspace account - one of my friends from middle school, Heather found me!! It was really neat to see her picture b/c I really would have recognized her anywhere!! Anyway, she mentioned a group picture that we took - and I KNEW right away - which one she was talking about. It has taken me a couple of weeks looking through boxes in the attic but - I FOUND IT! And I also found a whole book of pictures that I took in PA!! TOO FUNNY!! I wanted to post these on Myspace, but I could not figure out what I was doing, and as usual myspace was SLOW!! So I am putting them here for Heather and you all to see!!


This is the picture of the gang in 9th grade. We were going to the 9th grade formal - and we ate out beforehand at a restaurant and the only thing I remember is that when we were eating chips, one fell down the front of my dress. I was so embarassed, but I know that nobody else remembers but me!! LOL! Lets see, I couldn't find a yearbook - and I am trying to remember everyone's names, so I will try. Amanda Gleason, Kris Themstrup, Heather Brown!, Brett Glazar, me, another Heather, Marty Molloy and Erin. For some reason I cannot remember Heather and Erin's last names ... there is a yearbook in the attic somewhere!! I will find it too!!


This was our French Class. This is a picture of Brett, Heather and Amanda. We had so much fun in this class. Too bad I only know about 3 words of French now!!


This is Kelly, Mr Lubking (the assistant principal - whose office was # 118!) and Heather!


This is in the school hallway in VFJHS - this is Heather and Erin!


This is me. I thought that I should put at least one picture here. This was the beginning of 10th grade. I loved this shirt - it was from the GAP - and I had a matching scrunchy!! I thought I was so cool in this shirt. So there you go! I really did like middle school, I know that most people didn't. I guess that is why I taught middle school before I had the girls!! :)

Faith's New Allergies

Hi! Well, we got Faith's allergy testing back. She had a stuffy nose all summer long - and it turns out she is allergic to dust mites and dog dander. Yup, she is allergic to Goose. Luckily, the allergist gave us a few tips on how to control dog dander - so we don't have to find Goose a new home yet. And we are praying that the allgists ideas will work because we all love our Goose Dog!! And while we were in Hilton Head he enjoyed a wonderful visit with the vet, who says he has arthritis. Now he is on Vioxx for dogs and he is acting like a puppy - running all over the backyard. And in the last two days I have been vaccuuming and cleaning like a mad woman trying to get his 'dander' out of here! Luckily, we have had beautiful weather and I have had all the windows open
to clean out the house. It feels wonderful in here! Oh, and the allergist suggested we get rid of all the stuffed animals that they play with because they are full of the dust mites that she is allergic to as well. No problem - there are so many here that they have not even noticed that I took all the stuffed animals out of the guest room. But she LOVES her stuffed puppy and bear. She lets us wash them, but that is the only time that she really lets them out of her sight. The allergist said that if she is going to play with them as often as she does, that when she is at school or we are out for the day, we need to keep them in the freezer to keep down the 'dust mite population' - SO GROSS!! Anyway, from the land of allergies, I hope that you are all well!!

Wildlife Beach

While we were at the beach we saw a variety of wildlife. Which was strange - I mean the most I have ever seen at the beach have been shells. But we saw starfish and rescued them from drying tide pools! The girls were all about finding the starfish and mommy taking them back out to the ocean! It was really amazing to see them, because so many of them were in the process of regenerating legs!!

We saw a live sand dollar, and they are not white but they are endangered. And of course, I didn't have my camera with me when we saw that!

And yesterday we were not allowed to swim in the water because the coast guard and the lifeguards saw 'big fish' swimming off the coast on their aerial fly-bys. YIKES - can you say, SHARKS!! And while we were just sitting in the sandy water, I put my hand on a big shell, that still had the 'creature' inside - ALIVE! I put that one back in the water - quickly!!

Oh, and the 'wildlife' also included a drunk waiter - that wanted to build sandcastles with us!!!

"The big fish are out there!"

"And they are this big!!!!"

Look, I actually took pictures of myself . . .

Disclaimer: The beach was hot and I was wearing lots of slick sunscreen and NO make-up, so please excuse the pics of myself. My adorable girls are much more photogenic! I promise that these pictures were taken over several days, but the girls were always in these bathing suits, because the new ones that I bought them, of course were too big!! LOL! We did have a wonderful time in Hilton Head and we were sorry that our week was over so soon!

I hit a wall...

Hello Karebear blog followers...It's early this morning. I had all these great plans for Karen's blog this week and it didn't happen...boo.

First i was going to write about the big giant spider outside our deck door...but I didn't.

Second I was going to write from the perspective of Goose being home at Karen's...but I didn't.

Third I was going to write from the perspective of our ant farm and give you all an update..but guess what? I didn't.

Now it's Friday, Karen comes home tomorrow, I have been up for the last two nights with a crying baby (ugh, she has a cold this time), I have a party to plan and give tonight--make three different dishes, I am meeting a friend to go walking this morning and I have to bring and pick up Munchkin from school....

All that to stay, it's not that I didn't have all these amazing blog plans...but I did, I just didn't do it.

BTW I still am planning a lil' something something, it will most likely be next week before I get to blog about it. It will be good I promise.

KJ out.

Really Kelli, I am just putting pictures up!!

Kelli - KEEP BLOGGING!

Well, I just wanted to post a few more pics here! BUT I still want Kelli to keep guest blogging, b/c I really don't know how long this internet connection will last, it seems to go in and out!! But enojoy these from this morning! K out



The girls are pretty tired!! As I am typing this, they have been asleep for about 2 1/2 hours and I have not heard a peep yet!! Love it and I know that I will miss naptime when we go home!! K

Guest Bloggin'

I have a ton of things I plan to put on here this week...while Karen's away, Kelli will play :) But I see she is posting...so I'll have to be super sly.... Okay first things first, I've not blogged in forever because I have been scrapbooking like mad, which is really good I know but I'm sorta missing the whole blog scene. So for good measure I'll show you a layout on Karen's blog of what I've been Scrappin' Lately. I did one for all my blog friends so you can check it out on my site but here's one for Karen.....LOVE YA BABE! Hope you are having fun in HH :)

Oh, Hilton Head!!

Yeah!! We found a wireless spot in our Condo at the beach!! I am sitting in our bedroom wedged between the tv and a very beachy lamp - but I will sit anywhere to get internet access!! We got to Hilton Head on Saturday evening and went for a walk on the beach. The girls were ecstatic! Sunday and today we spent from 8:3o AM until 1:00 PM at the beach. Then after lunch the girls both took 2 1/2 hour naps!! Gotta love how much the beach wears them out!!
I was a little worried when we got here at first b/c baby A was looked a little scared by the condo and she asked 'why are we staying in somebody else's house?' But after we made a big deal about how big a girl she was and this is an adventure - she calmed right down!! And I am sure that shear exhaustion has helped her a little too!! So from the land of sand and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I hope you enjoy these pics!! Karen

You want me to put my foot where??

I am so glad to sit down. Have you ever worked out so hard that when you sit on the couch, you never want to move again?? That is me today! I took a Pilates for Ice Skating Class this morning. And the usual group of skating adults couldn't be there, so I had the coach, one on one! OH MY GOODNESS. Let me tell you that I had no clue that I could stretch like that. She was a machine!! She did say that I had great flexibility and great turnout. Great, so I can be a ballerina. And I can hyper-extend my joints - which I guess is good! But the craziest thing she made me do, was stand on a ball with one foot, put one hand on the ballet bar and do a spiral - see picture!




FUN!!! But it gets better - then she stood behind me and pushed my leg up as high as it would go - and I ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE THIS PICTURE!! I AM NOT JOKING - SHE PUSHED AND it went up!! I did the splits - in the air!! Now, I cannot walk. My hips are burning - and what I am going to feel like tomorrow?? But I really impressed myself for 1 minute of -WOW- and 48 hours of pain!! I will update you all tomorrow!!

Taco - Putting On The Ritz

Okay, another video, I know. But this one is a favorite of my childhood, not the video, but the song. My mom had this record, a small one song record. My brother and I used to listed to this all the time! (Sorry to embarass you you Robb!!) Anyway, I don't know if any of you have ever heard this song, but I really wanted to put on my blog so that I could listen to it at anytime!!! TOO FUNNY! Gotta love growing up in the 80's!

Banarama - Cruel Summer

OH MY - I cannot believe that I found this one too!! This is one of my favorite songs of all time! Who knows why? Do you remember what original movie it was in?? (Clue - I wanted to marry Ralph Macchio, go ahead and laugh. I can take it!!) The movie was Karate Kid!! Oh, youtube is addictive!!

Kelli and My latest dance!

I know that all of you were jealous of the 80's video the Kelli and I did! (She shared it here as a guest blogger - hehe) But I wanted to share this latest dance and song act of ours!! You don't have to watch the whole thing, it is pretty long!!

Links For You - All about Food!!

Things that I would love to eat!!

UMM, I really want to make this!!

I just want to have a personal chef that would make food like this for me everyday!

Aagh, if only I wasn't lactose intolerant!!

Things I don't want to eat?

Deep Fried, Huh?

Meat with a face?
PIZZA?

What the Heck - you can never say that I overeat!!

*************Cupcake Food Thing that didn't fit into my catagories!************

Black and Yellow Argiope

Well, I decided to research our spider! The size of the spider really does freak me out and I thought that I better find out a little about it! So it is called a Black and Yellow Argiope and they are harmless to humans. But the more I zoomed in on the picture I realized that he has 'faces' or shapes like faces on his back! Creepy - so I am posting the zoomed picture here for you all because it is really neat looking!

Today's Random Pictures

Well, today seems to be another RANDOM day here in the ATL! It started yesterday with Baby A vs. CVS display shelf and as you can see, Baby A lost. And she had 2 stitches inside the 'hole' (as she calls it) and six on the outside! Yikes, I really don't like going to emergency rooms, but they were quick and took us right back when they saw a bloody child and mom holding skin together!! Baby B was alright, but she didn't like seeing her sister's red stuff!




















The next picture is Baby B - she wanted her picture taken too, this is the astronaut 'mask' that they made at school today - in honor of the letter A!





















And the Final picture is the Spider that we saw outside while we were taking these other pics. I don not think this picture does justice to the SIZE of the spider. And who knows if beside him is an old 'shell' or his lunch! This is our Atomic Spider and we actually get one like this every year! Last year it was closer to the door and I tried to kill it - Windex nor 409 killed the thing, finally it was the Scrubbing Bubbles that did the job! But this year he is far enough away from the front door that hopefully I won't be in the front yard spraying cleaning products into the bushes! (And no, there will not be any pictures of that!)

Our first day back - was last week . . .

The girls went back to school last week, but I didn't post the pictures! :( Sorry! I love school, they love school - it is FANTASTIC!! So now I am off to the rink for a little more skating time!! WHOOHOO!!

Andre . . .

I am watching the saddest thing, ever, on tv. Andre Agassi, just lost his last match at the US Open. I have a lump in my throat, because it is Andre. My favorite player of all-time. Oh my, he is so gracious. I just want to hug him, he is THE tennis man!

He used to have long hair and his picture was on my favorite t-shirt that I wore to tennis camp in 8th grade. He had an earring and an attitude that was so un-tennis like at that point in tennis - that was completely cool. There is one song that we used to listen to on the way to tennis camp, Life is a Highway by Tom Cochrane. That was the first summer that I had ever had friends that could drive. We used to speed the whole way to camp - blasting this song as loud as we could. We all would wear our Agassi tees - and dream of being as good a player as Agassi. And he is only 6 years older than me, he was already winning major titles, when I was just learning to play. So since I couln't find this song to post here, here are some of the lyrics for you...

Here are Whooo umm yeah...
Life's like a road that you travel on
When there's one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind
There's a world outside ev'ry darkened door
Where blues won't haunt you anymore
Where brave are free and lovers soar
Come ride with me to the distant shore
We won't hesitate
To break down the garden gate
There's not much time left today

[Chorus:]
Life is a highway
I wanna ride it all night long
If you're going my way
I wanna drive it all night long

Through all these cities and all these towns
It's in my blood and it's all around
I love you now like I loved you then
This is the road and these are the hands
From Mozambique to those Memphis nights
The Khyber Pass to Vancouver's lights

Knock me down get back up again
You're in my blood
I'm not a lonely man
There's no load I can't hold
Road so rough this I know
I'll be there when the light comes in
Just tell 'em we're survivors,

So that is all, I will miss watching Agassi play tennis. But I wish him a happy life in retirement with his family and friends. Bye, Agassi.