tis the season...

for high school visits! Yes, I am back in action and out on the road. Yet again, my travel territory has shrunken (woohoo!) and now I'm just visiting schools in Harford and Baltimore counties. Today, my first day of visits for the year, I am reminded of why I love visiting high schools...the students crack me up. In school number 1 I saw an abercrombie fashion show. My favorite question of the day also came from school 1: "How many times do you have to get caught drinking underage before you are kicked out of school?". hmmm...are you seriously asking me this question (and fyi, i have no clue!!!)
at school #2 (a lunch visit that I promise myself every year i won't return to) some girl in a soccer uniform tied up so everyone could see her stomach (and i can't imagine she's great at soccer, she may weigh 90 lbs) is making out with a guy a foot and a half in front of my table....awesome!
the students at school #3 told me how I first looked like a college student, and then couldn't possibly be older than 21...umm, thanks i guess.
My mantra for high school visits...just as long as noone steals my hubcaps, I'll be ok.

Oh and Cirucci and I watched a little Follow that Bird, and made many many many phone calls during our wine fest the other night. We are sooo cool, maybe we should head back to high school!

Back from vacation!

We're back from vacation, and heading into a busy week. Both Carl and I are working all weekend, BUT I am having a girls only wine extravaganza tomorrow night with Cirucci (aka we sit on the couch, drink wine, and dish!). I'm sure Delaney and Alison will love a sleepover at Auntie Cirucci's as well.

Vacation was wonderful. It was a bit chilly for swimming at the beach (which of course upset Alison), but we had a great time taking long walks, both on the boardwalk and the beach and spending time as a family! We ate lots of food that is bad for us (pepperoni pizza, candy, doughnuts, milkshakes, etc) but that's what you do on vacation, right? We went swimming at the indoor pool, did a little outlet shopping, and collected a few sea shells. The girls learned some new words: "sea gull", "more" and "pizza". We took some great pictures, and did a lot of relaxing. Delaney and Alison had their first ride on the carosel...they didn't love it, but didn't hate it. We spent our evenings stolling along the boardwalk and sipping coffee. We saw my brother and spent some time with my parents...and I caught up on some schoolwork during "naptime" and "bedtime". We finally had a wonderful, relaxing time away!

Now to clean our house ;)

ding dong the nanny is gone....almost!

Carl talked to the nanny today, and I'm thrilled to report that she too is ready to move on! She may be with us for another couple weeks, she may not. She thinks she might already have another job lined up! The girls started going to Brooke's a few weeks ago on Fridays and seem to be doing really well there. There are other kids to play with, which has started to make a difference in their speech (I am shocked how only a few visits has seemed to encourage them to use more words). Sending the girls to Brooke's also allows them to get out of the house, even if its just to go to someone else's. There are times, especially during the winter months when the girls are always home (except for the weekends)...yuck!

My daughters are becoming increasingly smart, which is really exciting for me to watch. They're associating pee pee to the potty now, which is great. They both seem to really like sitting on the potty in the morning and before bed. No one has done anything in the potty yet, but they are getting the general idea. Alison likes to wipe ;) I'm not pushing the potty training thing at all, as they are both still pretty young.

I am loving dinner time now that Carl is home for it. It is wonderful to be able to sit down as a family! The girls are getting really great at using their silverware. Alison loves to clap when she and Laney get a big piece of food into their mouths using either the fork or the spoon. My Laney is developing her own opinions about things, especially what she wears...which is so cute to watch!

The favorite toys of the minute: play dough and their magnetic drawing boards.

In other news (not really since we planned this a few weeks ago), Bri and Cirucci are coming to dinner tomorrow night for mac n cheese. Oh, and my online classes are sucking ginormously. We are having internet issues at my house, AND one of my profs seems to be technologically challenged.

longest week EVER!

Always, the week before vacation is long. This vacation is a much needed one. I am feeling some deja vu with this post...pretty sure about 3 months ago, I wrote those same words..and our vacation turned into tons of driving and then an abrupt ending after Carl's butt surgery. I repeat, I NEED a vacation. We are leaving on Monday, which leaves me the weekend to get the usual house stuff taken care of, and we are only going for a few days, and to OC, but man do I have high hopes. These afternoons in the office are really dragging on.... I'm dreaming of warm, but not hot days on the beach, and cool evenings on the boardwalk, and lots of family time. Hopefully that will happen this time!

In the meantime I have some schoolwork to keep me busy and some crazy parents to chat with (I swear the calls get weirder with each year).

vampires, mummies and....ellicott city?

Saturday night, girls night headed to Ellicott City. Cirucci, home Laura and I headed for a little shopping, wine tasting and mexican dining before our ghost tour. I think that the wine tasting at Annabells (http://www.annabellsfinewine.com/) and dinner at Lapalapas (http://www.lapalapagrill.com/) tied for my favorite parts of the evening. They allowed for relaxation and conversation, and it was wonderful. Hopefully we'll go back with the boys for an "adult night" soon! The ghost tour was interesting...but definitely a one time adventure!

Sunday was spent at JC Penny's having pics taken of the fam and the girls. Some of the pics turned out really nicely, some not so nicely. I'm excited for our order to come in!! Alie has a cold, so she's been blowing snot bubbles everywhere, but doesn't seem to mind at all.

Oh! and a week from today, the fam will be relaxing at the beach. Hope for some good weather for us!!!! This is a much needed vacation...hopefully nothing will happen this time to ruin it!

long weekend

So since Carl worked ALL weekend (think til 10 pm which is not a change from the last week and a half) I thought the labor day break would be pretty crappy...but it wasn't!

The top 5 highlights
1. The fair on Friday night with Auntie Ciruc. The four of us had fun looking at the animals, eating, walking around, and watching the pig races!
2. Swimming on Sunday afternoon...who knew hanging out in the baby pool could be so fun?
3. Shoe shopping and lunch with the parents....
4. Shopping all Monday afternoon with Auntie Ciruc, my how we tend to lose track of time.
5. Relaxing and catching up on my 90210 research ;)

Hope everyone else had a wonderful long weekend!