I made a cool cake!

Oh my gosh...two blogs in one day. Even as I write this the phone is ringing but I'm ignoring it. I just wanted to show off the cake I made for Matthew's 9th birthday. I'm hopeless at creating anything from scratch, so I was surprised to see how much he loved this. I just bought dollar-store dinosaurs and made a 'dinosaur island', complete with chocolate muffin for the volcano. It's so great when they're young and so easy to please...

Finally a snow day

Having lived in Michigan for four years, I know the meaning of the word 'snowstorm'. However, that meaning is a little different here in New Jersey. Any snowfall above 1 inch is considered a snow storm. We've only had little more than flurries this whole winter, so finally a whopping 4 inches fell, the schools were closed, and the kids hit the sledding hill conveniently located on the side of our house. Not being used to such harsh winter conditions, they only lasted one hour outside. Seeing it took over an hour to locate all the snow gear and then suit everyone up, I'm not sure if it was worth it! They probably beg to differ.

Back to school bliss

It's finally here! The kids went back to school on September 10, and I'm discovering the joy of having a complete thought without being interrupted! Just to make sure, I disconnected the phone all morning just so I could accomplish getting all the laundry downstairs on the same day and into the washing machine without piling up on the floor like it usually does.
Of course, having an empty house can be bitter-sweet. No more meeting Lindsey at the bus stop at lunch time and listening to her little chatter about her day over peanut butter sandwiches. But I still get to see everyone later on, so the silence doesn't last forever.
Now it's time to work off the lovely 8 pounds I gained this summer!

Back from the West

Hi everyone! This is our very first post on our very first blog page. We were so inspired by Aunty Becky that we just had to give it a try! Anyway, due to such a shortage of free time, this whole blog thing might be short lived.
We headed west July 18 and landed in Salt Lake City, Utah for 10 days where we had a blast visiting friends and family and enjoying the 100+ temps. Then we headed north to Spokane, Washington for a 3-day family reunion (see pics). It was great to reconnect with everyone and try out Uncle Monty's new seadoo. Going 60 mph in 4 seconds is quite the experience! We flew home Aug. 4th to New Jersey and marvelled at just how green New Jersey is!
We headed back to JFK to pick up Kelsie the next morning, who had been in Peru for the past 5 weeks. She immerged from customs smiling and waving but noticeably thinner. She also had a certain odor due to only taking 7 showers in 5 weeks! Needless to say her morning prep time in the bathroom has dramatically cut in half, which is nice. We'll tell you all about her trip on another blog. Let's just say she hasn't looked at a guinea pig the same way since.
Kelly