Class of '89 - 20 Years

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My 20 year class reunion was a few weeks ago. It was such a great weekend. Friday night we had a get together with our families at the playground behind school. It was so great to see everyone's kids. It is hard to believe most of us are parents now.

Saturday morning we rode on a float in the Oatka Festival parade. Funny story: Dave was wondering about decorating the float. My response was "It's LeRoy. It's probably just a flatbed with hay bales and signs on each side that say Class of 1989." When I told our class president that Friday night, she started laughing and said that was exactly what it was and that the signs she spraypainted that afternoon were drying in her garage! Riding on the float was a blast. It was so fun seeing everyone. I loved hearing the "There's Mrs. Overacker!" from all my students. I joked that we should do it every year. My longtime friend Mike was the highlight of the parade. He hasn't been in town for such a "public" event in, well, 20 years. I was given the task of pointing out parade spectators to him along the way. Everytime either he or I spotted someone, his response started with "It's [firstname] frickin' [lastname]." His excitement provided for lots of fun amusement.

Mike and I were "dates" for the dinner that night. First, we crashed our mothers' 45 year reunion as we had done 20 years ago as seniors in high school. Many people remembered that event and we had a reputation to uphold! We headed to our dinner and had a great time. Our class prez, Amy, did an awesome job organizing the evening. It was wonderful to have most of the old gang together again-Jen, Sherry, Cheryl, Kim P., and Ann. We missed Kim M. and Val! It was also amazing to catch up with so many other people I hadn't seen in 20 years. Although, Facebook has helped with "seeing" many of them much more! We had fun dancing to tunes from the old days. We left to continue the party at some LeRoy haunts. Jen, Mike, and I ended up at the Eagle to see Exit 47 (a bunch of local alum) perform. We had an awesome time. Jen and I were jamming together and it felt like old times.

Can't wait for our 25th!

Emily's 7th Birthday

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It is hard to believe my little girl is 7 and going into 2nd grade! Emily had an extended birthday celebration this year. Grandma went to school to read a book to her class for her school party. Due to the swine flu, we celebrated her actual birthday with just a quick cupcake. She had a birthday party with her friends after vacation at Bounce-It-Out in Pittsford. What a fun place for kids! A little stressful for parents who are trying to keep track of more than one child. Luckily, Mom was there to watch Erin while Dave and I kept an eye on the party guests. We finally had Emily's family birthday party the weekend before last. We enjoyed our time with Aunt Molly, Uncle Mike, Jacob, Elijah, and Grandma Beanie. I think the boys had a bit of "culture shock" with all the girly things! They had lots of fun exploring the toys. Next up, my parents' 40th anniversary on August 9.

Cape Cod Vacation

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Our vacation to Cape Cod turned out to be quite an adventure. Emily got the swine flu Thursday (my last day of school) and Erin had it by Friday night. Because my parents had been exposed to it and due to my dad's fragile health, they could not come with us. We were disappointed beyond belief. This vacation was to be my parents' 40th anniversary gift (it's actually on August 9). They were put on Tamiflu and fortunately escaped illness. Dave and I both got hit with symptoms but not as bad as the girls.

We were finally able to leave on Monday (our rental started on Sunday). Aunt Sharon was very patient waiting to leave. Our house was right on the bay beach so we were able to enjoy the water without taking the girls anywhere since their fevers hadn't broken. Tuesday morning the girls asked if they could just get their feet wet. That turned out to be immersion in full clothing. Very fun! We spent a lot of time on the beach, swimming and exploring. We found lots of crabs. The water was cold but the girls didn't care. Dave and I learned not to care either. :)

The fevers were finally gone on Wednesday which gave us more freedom. We went to the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History on our only rainy day. They had many creatures indigenous to the Cape Cod area which were very cool. On Friday, the girls went on a Pirate Adventure in Provincetown Harbor. Evermore Emily and Evening Star Erin, along with the rest of the "crew," helped Notorious Nikki find Pirate Pete's treasure. The crew even hit Pirate Pete with water cannons. The first treasure they found was a trick~Pete's dirty laundry. The second treasure had lots of goodies (think Oriental Trading) and Pete's grog (root beer). The crew got to taste Pete's grog. Erin wouldn't even try it but Emily loved it. They had their picture taken with Captain LuLu at the end of the voyage. The girls had a great time. The "real" crew does a fabulous job with it. The kids got to help raise the pirate flag, read the map, and haul in the treasure.

We went whale watching on Saturday (4th of July morning). What a fantastic trip! We saw four humpback whales, all young ones. The second one we saw came right up by the boat. Our guide said the mother was nearby but we never saw her. When we went about 25 years ago with our good friends, the Kurtz's, a mom and her calf came right up to the boat. Very cool! The last whale we saw on this trip was quite a show-off, breaching (jumping into the air) about 20 times. Our guide said you only see a whale breach about one out of fifty trips. We saw one two years ago too~we're liking our odds! Our guide also said whales usually only breach once or twice because of the energy it expends. We were sooo lucky to see this whale. It was so exciting to watch him. It was an amazing experience! The girls loved seeing the whales and going on the boat ride. I've included some video below. If you are patient, the footage is breathtaking!

We ended our vacation watching 4th of July fireworks over Provincetown Harbor from our deck. Very cool!

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Dancing Queen

Emily's first dance recital was June 6th. (I'm a little late with my post...oops.) We are so proud of her! She did three dances-ballet, jazz, and tap. June 6th was my brother Thom's birthday. Emily loved her Uncle Thom and Thom was in awe of her so we all thought it was fitting that her first dance recital was on his birthday. We enjoyed a great day of dancing and Thom's favorite marinated chicken ("Thom's chicken" as we dubbed it years ago...it's become a favorite of Dave's too). Mom and Aunt Sharon joined us for the recital then they, along with Dad, came over for dinner. Erin skipped the recital...it would have been too long for her. Our friends' daughters, Kim and Bethany, watched Erin. She had fun with them. It was a wonderful day together.

Emily will be taking ballet and hip-hop this fall. Erin is taking a tots class this summer and will be doing the preschool class this fall. She just loves to dance!

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Super Spring Fun!

I just finished writing out Emily's birthday invitations and thought I'd better catch up on my blog.

We have had a busy spring! It's hard to believe that summer is almost here. On May 22, I had emergency eye surgery for a detached retina. I had a shadow over the top right corner of my left eye. Fortunately, I didn't let it go as I could have lost my vision in that eye entirely. It certainly put a new twist on life for a few weeks. With the gas bubble in my eye, activities like lifting and bending over were limited for a couple weeks and I just began driving to school yesterday. Thank goodness for my fabulous mom and wonderful colleagues who carted me around for four weeks. I have about three-quarters of the vision back in my eye now. It's blurry but it's progress!

Emily's spring has been particularly busy with Brownies, t-ball, swimming lessons, her school's Flag Day Celebration, year-end school picnic, Memorial Day parade, and dance recital. Erin has cheerfully come along for the ride in all cases (except the dance recital). We went to the Spencerport Firemen's Carnival last weekend. It was a nice night...a little cool...and the girls had lots of fun.

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We have a lot on our plates this week too! Emily's last t-ball game is Tuesday, her last day of school is Wednesday, my last day is Thursday, her 7th birthday is Friday, and we leave for Cape Cod with Mom, Dad, and Aunt Sharon on Saturday. Phew! It will be a welcome vacation. Dave and I, along with Aunt Sharon, are treating my parents to this vacation for their 40th anniversary in August. The girls can't wait to get to the beach!

Happy Father's Day to all!

Batter Up!

Emily has been playing t-ball for about a month now and is really enjoying it. She plays for the Orioles. Daddy was hoping for the Red Sox! The league does a great job of coaching the kids on their skills. They play 3 innings with no outs and everyone gets to bat. They rotate both field positions and places in the batting line-up. Game nights are Tuesdays and Thursdays but Emily has dance on Thursdays so she has missed those games. Her recital was yesterday (I'll post pics soon) so we'll get to the Thursday games now.

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Mother's Day

We had a wonderful Mother's Day. We went to brunch with Mom, Dad, and Aunt Sharon. Then, it was back to our house for some coffee and dessert (yummy cookies and cannolis from Martusciello's). It was a fun, relaxing day. Dave and the girls gave me gift cards for a pampering day so I'll be relaxing again soon :). Hey Moll, one was for Sephora~hint, hint! Our first summer trip?

On Friday, Emily's school held a Mother's Day tea. It was a breakfast tea so I took the morning off. It was very cute. The kids sang a special song which I included in the Smilebox. They also made us placemats and tissue paper flowers, wrote about us, gave us a teabag in a paper teacup, and planted marigolds. They made everything themselves. It was such a special time to share with Emily! Emily wrote about so many things she loves~hugs and kisses, reading to her, helping her with homework~but kids always come up with one that makes you laugh or say "huh?" Emily's was "I love when she gets me supplies." I didn't realize replenishing pencils, glue sticks, and erasers could be so exciting! Ah, the world of a 1st grader!

Hope all of you moms had a great day too!

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New Tricycle

Grandma and Papa bought Erin a new tricycle for her birthday (in December) and of course she has been anxious to ride. We went outside one day before Emily got off the bus to try it out. She loved it. I also posted a quick clip of her riding.

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Feeding the Fish

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Well, I'm way behind on posts so I'm trying to do a quick catch up. I've been out of the classroom a lot over the last 3 weeks which has meant tons of sub plans and school work in the evenings.

Erin ended up with the flu the first three days of my full week of break...ugh! She was a trooper. We had lots of snuggle time while Emily was at school. We went to the public market with Hinty on Thursday...just a quick trip to test out if Erin was really feeling better. On Friday, Mom came with us to Sephora (her first experience). Erin and I also rode the carousel. We had a nice lunch then headed to Powder Mill Park to feed the trout. We discovered the hatchery about 4 years ago with Emily. It's a great place to go when you just want to get out of the house for a little while. Erin was very eager to feed the fish but was taken by surprise when they splashed her while jumping for the food! She ended up loving it, laughing each time she threw the food in and they splashed (especially when they got me!).

We went to the canal in Pittsford to feed the ducks. I knew the water wasn't in the canal yet but I was hoping for some hungry ducks. No such luck. The few ducks that were there didn't swim over to us so we ended up feeding the seagulls and carp.

We always love a trip to the bookstore with Grandma so we stopped at Borders. Erin LOVES looking at the books. She's so cute...she doesn't know where to look next...there's so much to see.

So, even with the flu, we still ended up with a couple fun days.

Easter 2009

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We had a nice Easter weekend. My parents came over to color Easter eggs on Saturday then we took the girls to the park. Dave practiced baseball with Emily (t-ball starts soon) and I took Erin to the playground. It was cold so we only stayed out for about 20 minutes but the fresh air felt good!

The Easter Bunny was very good to the girls bringing them some yummy candy and the Bolt and Madagascar 2 DVDs. Bolt is the first (and only, so far) movie Erin has seen in the theater. Emily's been to a few, one of which was Madagascar 2. My cousin Lisa, her husband John, and son Luke came for brunch. Her son Jacob was with his dad for the day...we missed him. Our dear friend Ruby came as well. We had a wonderful time. We don't get to see Lisa and her family often enough but we make the most of the time we have! Hinty (Aunt Sharon) gave the girls a bag full of goodies, including quick-dry nail polish because she knows how much they love painting their nails (toes and fingers) and how much I love the quick-dry polish! Grandma and the girls had their fingers and toes painted. I just had my fingers done. (I had a pedi last week so no one was touching my toes. :))

Emily has school all this week :( so Erin and I are hanging out :). I am hoping to work on potty training this week. Erin is much more challenging that Emily was.

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.

Dance Pictures

Emily had dance pictures a couple weeks ago (on Dave's 40th birthday). What a process that was! She takes ballet, jazz, and tap. It was crazy getting her in and out of three costumes. Luckily, hair and makeup was easy for pics but I hear the recital will be much more demanding. Here are photos of each of her costumes. I will work on Easter pictures now that I'm caught up on our other events!

Build-A-Bear

Our cousins Katy and Joan gave the girls Build-A-Bear gift cards for Christmas. Three weeks ago we took the girls out there to build their new friends. Emily had been once but didn't remember a lot about it. They had a great time! Their new friends - Ally the Frog and Sabrina the Cat - have been frequent companions over the last few weeks. Grandma and Papa also gave the girls a gift card but we will save that for a rainy day this summer. Grandma wants to come with us. Here are some pics from our fun day.

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St. Patrick's Day Fun

I love going to the St. Patrick's Day Parade. It always makes me feel like Spring is just around the corner. On Saturday, we packed lunches and headed downtown. We are lucky to be able to park at Channel 10 (and use the bathroom there!) so we don't have to hassle with the crowds...other than 25 minutes in Spot for my coffee:). And, when the girls have reached their limit, we can sneak out the back gate. The girls had fun getting beads, candy, and watching the Irish dancers. Erin thought the dogs in the parade were hysterical. She got so excited, laughing like crazy. She also loved dancing to the music. I took some video of that...very cute! (The Smilebox cuts off her head a little but whenever I try to download the video directly to Blogger it doesn't work.)

On the way home, I kept picking the wrong routes to take downtown (lots of traffic).

Mommy: Boy, Mommy's not picking the right way at all today.

Emily: You don't have to be right Mommy, as long as you try.

Mommy: You are absolutely right Emily!

Love it!!

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I also included a picture of the smiley face pancakes Emily and I made this morning. My mom used to make these for Thom and me. I have made pancakes for Emily before but she was so little she didn't remember. Last week, I had the sudden thought that I needed to make pancakes with my girls. Erin was still asleep so Emily helped me. We made Dave stay upstairs to surprise him. It was funny though...I had whispered to Emily upstairs that we would make pancakes. When we got to the kitchen, she took the frozen pancakes out of the freezer. She didn't realize I meant we were actually going to MAKE them! We had fun. Emily was very proud of our surprise.

Happy Birthday Papa!

Monday is my dad's 68th birthday. He is still recovering after his bout of pneumonia and stay in the hospital and since our whole family is fighting colds and sore throats, we won't be able to see him :(. I recorded the girls singing Happy Birthday to him (with a quick message from me at the end) so he knows that we are thinking about and missing him.

Happy Birthday Dad! I Love You!

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Funny Moment

Today was a long day. I am battling an awful cold. This morning was Part 1 of the state math test~my kiddos did really well :). Then I got a call at about 1:20 that Emily was sick so I had to leave school to pick her up. Since my dad is still in the hospital my mom wasn't available. Fortunately, our school is so good about covering when something comes up so I was able to leave. The doctor says it's just a cold that has triggered an asthma episode so we are all about inhalers and cough medicine for the next few days!

But, it's the little things that make a long day end on a high note. We were heading upstairs tonight when the following exchange happened:

Erin: Mommy! Sissy said I a baby.

Emily: You are a baby.

Erin: No I not! Mommy! Sissy said I a baby!

Mommy: Erin is actually a toddler.

Erin: Nooo!

Mommy: What are you Erin?

Erin: I me. My name is Erin.

Don't you just love it?!

In honor of Erin declaring her identity, I included a couple pics from this weekend at the Museum of Play.

Happy Birthday Elmo!

Last Saturday, we went to Borders for Elmo's 3rd birthday party. Mom had noticed a sign advertising it when she was shopping there that week and we're glad she did!

The girls made cards that looked like Elmo, played charades (guess the Sesame Street character) and Elmo Says (Simon Says), listened to stories, and had red & white frosted Rice Krispie treats after singing to their favorite little red monster. Erin wanted to do charades and Emily said she would go with her. The rest of the parents got a laugh when Erin said, "No Sissy! I fine!" Emily had a turn using Elmo to play Elmo Says. The kids made wristbands with numbers on them for a drawing at the end. Emily's number was picked second and she chose the Elmo CD. She was very excited. It was a great activity for a Saturday afternoon!

Tonsils...Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Emily had her tonsils out on Monday. We went to the Westfall Surgery Center, a place specializing in outpatient surgeries. They were wonderful. As soon as we walked in, the receptionist gave Emily's "Puppy" a wristband (it was actually a collar on him). Ann, the pre-op nurse, was great in explaining everything that was going on to her. She had lots of questions and wasn't nervous at all. The anesthesiologist bent over her bed and talked right to Emily about what was going to happen. We met both operating room nurses, one before and one after, who were also fabulous. They gave Emily a sedative to relax her before she went in. She was quite loopy...we had a few laughs about that! Dave and I were relieved when about a half-hour later the doctor came out to tell us she did great and everything went "perfect."

Post-op was tough. It was hard to see my baby there, hooked up to an IV with somewhat labored breathing (all expected but still hard). Emily's oxygen level was a little low so they had her on blow-by oxygen for awhile (been there before with Erin's hospital stay two years ago). She woke up quite disoriented and uncomfortable but cooperated with drinking water and eating a little bit of a popsicle. Joy, her post-op nurse, was fantastic!

We left the hospital about 1:00. Emily slept the rest of the day with brief moments awake to go to the bathroom and take medicine. Joy recommended waking her up once during the night to give her medicine and hydrate her throat. I stayed up until about 12:15 so I could do that before I went to bed, but, of course, she wouldn't wake up (not unusual...she's a sound sleeper). Needless to say Erin's 4:45 AM wake-up call (Aaaahh!!!) came way too early. Emily woke up pretty uncomfortable because her throat was dry. After some medicine, she slept for another couple hours and ended up having a pretty good day. She's been battling a headache since yesterday. She didn't sleep at all today (Ugh!! I needed a nap!!) so her discomfort level was a bit more.

I'm home with her one more day. Dave will be here Thursday with Grandma taking Friday. I am hopeful that she will be feeling good for our five days off together.

One neat thing that they do is take a picture of the kids with their families and put it into a card with the names of all the doctors and nurses that helped that day. Cool idea!

We are looking forward to some healthier months ahead!

Organization for the Entryway...Finally!

We go in and out of our house from the garage so I have been trying to find a way to organize our things. My search for benches had proven challenging over the past year, with all of them being too long for our narrow space. I have tried different things but none worked to my satisfaction. I'd just about given up, when... A few weeks ago Emily and I were in line to return something at Kohls when I spotted this bench with a matching hook/shelf. And it fits in our space!! I went back a couple weeks later when the pieces were 50% off and used my 15% off coupon for an additional discount. I put them together right away but just got around to taking and posting some pics. I used my new Cricut machine to make name cards for the hooks and baskets (which fit inside the new bench :), saving me that expense). P.S. Our walls aren't blue...I just used that to fill the space in the frame.

First Haircut

Erin has needed a haircut for awhile. I have avoided it because that means having to admit she's getting to be a big girl! After snips for snarls and some bang trimming of her own (yep...that's my girl!), I finally had to take the plunge. She did great! She was cooperative and enjoyed the attention. Erin is so proud of her new 'do. My baby's getting older...and looks it now, too!

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We've had some fun times over the last few weeks. My wonderful friend Molly and I had a girls day (shopping at Sephora, lunch, Starbucks) while our husbands went to the movies. We celebrated Christmas with my mom's cousins which is always a nice time.

We were supposed to go bowling with friends on New Year's Eve morning but Emily was sick (off and on that week ~ tonsils out on February 9...) so we took the girls on New Year's Day since she was feeling better. They had a great time...and no balls were dropped on any wee toes! There are some photos from that day. We met our friends the Lambertons at Chuck E. Cheese on Friday for some pizza and fun. Sorry no pics...I was too busy chasing Erin around :).

On Saturday, I went to my friend Audra's to celebrate her 40th birthday with a bunch of her best girlfriends. It was a fun time...we even made it to midnight! I enjoyed meeting her neighbor friends, too. Then, I stayed in my pjs all day Sunday.

This past Thursday night, we went to see Disney on Ice. The girls loved it. Emily picked out a Cinderella figure and Erin chose Ariel (no surprise there!). There's nothing like a Disney show to bring out the child in you. I have included a few pics of the girls and the castle. I'm still getting used to my new camera so I didn't have my camera set quite right for show pics...oops!

Stay warm!

Our Little Harmonica Player

My mom got both Emily and Erin harmonicas for Christmas. Erin is just loving hers. Even with the background voices, you can hear her beautiful music.

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Christmas Fun

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We had a wonderful Christmas. My parents, Aunt Sharon, and our dear friend Ruby came over. We had a nice day relaxing and watching A Christmas Story. My cousin Katy and her daughter Joan came over later.

The girls had a great time opening their presents. Emily is an old pro, of course, and Erin was really aware of everything so much more this year. They both got lots of fun, unique games from Discovery Toys and Hearthsong which we have played everyday over vacation. Katy and Joan brought the girls gift cards for Build-A-Bear, as did my parents, so we will be having a fun-filled day soon! Dave bought me a new digital camera~a small point-and-shoot that I can carry in my purse. I wanted something that I could easily take with me without a separate bag. It's a fantastic little camera. My parents bought me a Cricut machine for my scrapbooking. It's awesome! My mom had asked me about it a couple months ago and I never caught on that she was fishing. And, when Mom and I went on our usual bargain shopping spree the afternoon of the 26th, I found cartridges for it at JoAnn's marked 5o% off then another 50% off of that. Lovin' it!! Dave got satellite radio for his car which he has been wanting. He's been enjoying it.