Helpful Hints

B and I just discovered the most amazing thing you may or may not know about. We've had a silver plated tea set that the girls just love to play with. It was passed down from my grandmother, and was so tarnished, it was almost black. We had tried a little silver polish and elbow grease, but it was way more work than it was worth, so we just left it alone.

Then, the other night, I was surfing the web and came across suggesting a new technique that doesn't require silver polish!

You'll need:

--Some kind of container (bowl, roasting pan, etc) lined with aluminum foil
--Boiling hot water with added
--salt (a few tablespoons should do it)



Just place your tarnished items in the aluminum-foil lined container and pour the saltwater over them until they're fully submerged. If you look closely, you can actually see the tarnish disappear. Leave it for a few minutes (you may also have to repeat the cycle). Then buff the silver items to dry them off and make them extra shiny.

Another hint for removing crayon from walls, use a little toothpaste and sponge.

That's it for today, but if I come up with any others, I'll be sure to pass them on.

It's all about Abri Day!

All week, I've been planning on telling you how Abri's doing these days, but just a short while ago was a big moment in her life. She took her first 3 steps.

It's no secret that she's been pulling up on everything since Aug. She is a determined little one, and many guessed she'd be walking by 9 months. I prayed she would not. I would have been happy for her not to do it until Feb. or later. Oh, well.

She's just changing so rapidly these days I don't know where to begin. It wasn't long before we moved that she transitioned into being a real little person. You could start to see her mind work and understand cause and effect. She adores Lise' and wants to do everything Lise' does. I think that's part of the reason she's so determined to walk. They have their own language and laugh and play together quite well.

Another one of Abri's favorite things to do is climb. She will climb anything and everything! She's quick to find a way too. Her favorite thing is stairs. She's already tumbled down a set of carpeted ones once and survived. Unfortunately, our new house has them too. Just last week, things got mighty quiet and that mom intuition told me to go find her. Sure enough, she had bypassed my wall of boxes meant to prevent her from getting to the steps, and was upstairs playing.



One thing we've noticed is that she's very intune to music. Much more so than I ever remember Lise' being. I'm saying it now, she's going to be our musical child. Here's her kazoo recital.

Santa Detox

(pants courtesy of Flossie :-)

As for the tree, I had big plans to have our front room (seen in pic below) cleared out enough to have a real tree. That isn't even close to happening, so I settled for our emergency back up tree complete with kid friendly ornaments. The kids didn't seem to mind, and I don't have to worry about Abri eating tree needles.



Christmas came a few days early when a box arrived from Grandma & Papa

Merry Day After Christmas!

It's a chilly one up here in the Northeast. The girls and I are still in our pajamas revisiting all the exciting "prizes" that were opened yesterday. We're soon going to head out to Home Depot b/c they have their 18 gallon storage bins on sale today and tomorrow for $10 for 3. For now though, we're waiting for the ice to melt off the windshield. I'm in no hurry.

With just the 4 of us, Christmas was a quiet one this year. This was the first time Lise' really understood Santa's role in the process. As you saw from earlier postings, she didn't want to be in the same room with him, much less speak to him, so we didn't push the Santa side of Christmas. It all changed about a week ago when I took the girls to an indoor play group. It was their Christmas party, and Santa was there to take pictures. I asked Lise' again if she wanted to tell Santa what she wanted to Christmas. Her first response was NO, but as the hour went on and she saw that he wasn't out to get her, she let her guard down. By the end of the event, she had told him that she wanted a dollhouse for Christmas. After that, it was all Santa.

On Christmas Eve, we made cookies for him. Man were they good!!!! Here's the recipe for the Raspberry Cream Sandwich Cookies from Martha Stewart. Nothing for the best for Santa. The next time we make them, I think I'll make them a little smaller. They were just so rich. Even Santa couldn't eat all 3 of his.



With the cookies and milk in place, we all went to bed to wait for his arrival.

The next next morning was fun. The cookies were gone, and low and behold, there was a dollhouse for Lise'. Santa had remembered. Lise' even allowed Abri to play with a few things in the dollhouse. Her favorite thing was to look through the windows to see Lise' on the other side.



Another favorite item of the morning was blocks. It was definitely a block Christmas. I think we got a total of 4 different types. There will be a lot of building going on here. We should be able to turn one of the girls into an architect yet!


After our bellies were filled and all the presents were opened, we decided to hit the road and explore our backyard. It was a pretty day, so we settled on sailing the Staten Island Ferry from Staten Island to Manhatten. It was a chilly one, but fun nonetheless. It was a training run of sorts for when you all come to visit. We searched out the best location to view the Statue of Liberty and not freeze your tush off and learned which ferry to ride for the best sunset shots this time of year. So bring it on!

One more just for fun

Lise' watches the snowball card over and over, so I created another for her enjoyment. Hopefully, you'll enjoy as much as she does.

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

The Annual Christmas Card

Well folks, our move has finally affected us. For months now, we've known that in order to get the card out and in your mailboxes by Dec. 24, we'd have to be organized. I'm here to tell you we are not! For starters, we couldn't decide where the card should reflect...Alabama b/c it was our home for 11 months of the year, or NJ b/c it's where our Christmas would be. Add in the stress of the move and general disorganization (like where in the world is my address book) and you still have no card.

All hope is not lost. We still intend to send one out, but when it arrives is anyone's guess. In the meantime, I hope this tides you over.

Thanks to our guest appearance by Uncle P.J.

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

B here....I just completed the personality profile.

Ok. Julie showed me her personality profile and I knew that I could do better than her, so here it is:



This is my first time posting anything on the blog. Interesting, this blog thing is.

Personal DNA map

Just checked out my friend Angie's blog, and she just completed this personality test. My results are what you see. It says I'm a considerate director. I do direct an intricate corporation on a daily basis, and I agree that I'm quite considerate under the demands of the job, so I'll just go with it. Roll over the different colors to read what they mean. Be sure to check it out yourself.

One week later

We rolled into town in time for our realtor's Xmas party. As you can see, Lise' still doesn't want to get near him. This may be our one and only attempt this year.

Abri's socks were a hit! They read 99% Nice 1% Naughty

As for our move in status, we're still living in boxes. We have found a few must have items like the bathroom heater, but we're still missing a few too. The one I want now is the down blanket for my bed. The search goes on.

The unload went well enough. The truck arrived early, so to the house we went. I took the girls down to Dunkin' Donuts for a sugar rush. You'll see from the pictures that both girls enjoyed them. The rest of the day was spent keeping them out of the way. THANK GOODNESS for portable DVD players. As a rule, we only use ours on car trips, but that day it sure came in handy. Lise' started out with just a recliner and the movies. Eventually, she saw the rocking horse come off the truck and requested it join her in the den. That kept her busy for hours. Eight hours later, everything was off the truck, and we had wall to wall boxes.


Donut Hole Anyone?

The Directors of the show

Can't really decide what to do with the tractor. We may just decorate it for Xmas!

Give a toddler a dvd player, a horse and McD's, and you won't see her for hours!

Abri was pretty content too.

And, it was FINALLY over!

Weekend of unpacking has been sidelined by illness

We had big plans this weekend. A Christmas party on Friday followed by cleaning out the front room for a Christmas tree.

That all changed with a case of food poisoning for Lise' and I. It wasn't pretty and ended with a trip to the emergency room. We'll spare you the details, and although we're feeling better, it's slow moving around here. Just don't order me a caesar salad anytime soon.

As soon as this all blows over, I'll be happy to update you on where we are around here. As always, I have more pictures to share.

The MOVE Part V

We were finally in the homestretch. Only 3.5 hrs. from DC is our new home. The weather was less than exciting for the final stretch.


A brief drive thru Baltimore


B pumping his last tank of gas for a while. (It's illegal in NJ to do it yourself).


IF you could read this, it would say "Welcome to Delaware"


And last but not least...they must have known we were coming!

The MOVE Part IV

With North Carolina behind us, we set our sites on Washington, DC. It was a short 4 hrs, especially b/c the kids slept almost the entire time. We stayed in the middle of it all at the Embassy Suites. It was a nice night, so B strapped Abri in the backpack,and we hit the streets.

Hello Virginia


Hello DC-it was raining & my windshield was dirty


Lise's 1st hot dog on a stick (not a corn dog b/c she wont' eat the bread)


Me and Lise' on the METRO


The White House


The Christmas Tree on the Mall


The windows at MACYS


Abri enjoyed the ride

The MOVE Part III

We said goodbye to Atlanta and headed north. Of course, before we got to NC, we had to pass through South Carolina. There wasn't much to say about that, but we do have a pic or two.

If it hadn't been for the napping children, we might have stopped near the giant peach for some peach cider.

We made it to the NC state line without incident, but boy were we in for a surprise. I'm not sure if it was the climb in altitude or what, but Lise' started screaming her head off. It didn't take us long to guess that she had an ear infection. Abri already had one, so we were familiar with the symptoms. Unfortunately for us, it was already 5pm (CST). So, we put in a call to the doctor in AL, and they hooked us up with some medicine for the evening, although it didn't do much to ease her pain through the night. In an effort to continue our tradition of visiting doctors across the nation, our suspicions were confirmed-Lise' had a double ear infection. Lucky for us, she was already on her way to recovery, and it seemed the sleepless nights were behind us.


We spent 2 nights at the Misita bed & breakfast. After our visit to the doctor, we headed to a great museum near Chapel Hill, the Natural Museum of Life & Science, and I recommend it to anyone who has the time to visit. There were just too many things to do and not enough time.

We had to make a detour to the pharmacy on our way. Lise' LOVED the grocery carts!




For all of you who know me, you know how much roaches make my skin crawl. I was just waiting for B to play some sort of joke on me and tell me one was on my head.


They had a really great outdoor area too. Lise' and B had a ball making music and shooting water all over the place.









We sure had fun staying with Nanny Caron and Parain Chris! Nanny is too cute with her 9 month pregnant belly. We can't wait for the news of their baby girl!

Unfortunately, time was too short again, and it was time to hit the road. I'll share that clip in another post.

The Move Part II

We didn't have far to go the first night. It was only 3 hours to Jeff & Alex's in Atlanta, GA. They graciously provided comfortable accommodations and a home cooked meal to us weary travelers. Lise' always enjoys visiting Uncle Jeff & Aunt Alex, although I'm certain our kids are a little exhausting to a couple used to a quiet home. Sorry Jeff & Alex! They do have a dog, Roux, and Abri's first word other than Dada was DOG. She enjoyed Roux so much that when she woke up the next morning, the first word out her mouth wad DOG. too cute. After a warm breakfast and quick goodbyes, we left for Durham, NC-the home of Chris and Caron. Goodbye Alabama, hello Georgia! On the way into Atlanta, Lise' was on her 100th round of Jingle Bells. It's a great song to hear her sing. Pay close attention to her southern twang.