Dogs in Paradise

Pumpkin Carving!

More silly photos from the teens and tweens

Sam and Allie wanted to take photos with their "friends"...

Tommy likes to hike his shorts up and document it.  Phoenix (the dog) is very confused...

Never Boring Living With Teenagers.

Blink

It's crazy to think that it's been nearly 5 years since my last post.  I was back on here to scour my blog for pictures of my father-in-law.  He passed away two days ago and we've been preparing photos for the slide show at his service.  Hard to believe how quickly my kids have grown and life has passed.  I guess it takes a death for me to get back on here.... it's that busy.

Grandpa with Petey in 1997

It's tricky now too.  My kids are not as excited to pose with tupperware on their heads and dance for the camera.  They are more likely to give me sarcastic looks and text on their phones.  My days consist of driving around a lot.  Not the most post-worthy activities.  I should do that though... post a map of my driving escapades if for no other reason but to remind me that I'm not just imagining that my life is a blur.

So how does one keep up with the demands of life and still try to savor it?  It's really a legitimate question that I don't have an answer to.  Pete's in college (!) now, my "baby" is almost 10.  Our life has switched from internal activities within our home to external ones throughout the region.  With each child involved in one activity a couple times a week, it makes for multiple activities every night.

It begs to ask the question though.  Can I find joy in documenting teenagers and some tweens?  Will they let me?  They always seem to enjoy reading the older posts but never seem to want to allow me to photograph them in the present *sigh*.  It's something to ponder.....

Soda Thoughts

I'm giving up soda for the New Year. It's sort of like New Year's and Lent rolled into one shot. I like these dorky self-improvement holidays. I like the feeling of trying to conquer my perceived weaknesses. Although, I must admit, soda is not a true love of mine...not like chocolate (which I also gave up for a year). No, this is not a love, just an occasional fling that has empty, unnecessary calories. I really do want better health and fitness this year so this is a natural resolution.

So here's the confusion... where do I stop? If I'm giving up soda because I don't want the empty beverage calories, then shouldn't I also give up all juice drinks? I won't give up 100% juice because I find it helpful to grab some in the morning when I'm on the run and can't sit and eat a meal. So it's now soda and drinks that are not 100% juice. But here's the real dilemma... what about hot drinks (i.e. hot chocolate) which are, in my opinion, a necessity in the wintertime? Do I give those up too?

I think I'll keep the hot chocolate and give that up for the real lent or something like that. Nothing that's too long term. Although I don't drink soda all the time, I don't want to lose my sanity and fail miserably...I have to keep my choco. It is, after all, my true love. =)

Here's hoping it leads to better health and fitness. Happy New Year's Everyone! Drink a soda for me!

Where did the year go?

It's hard to believe we are nearing the end of 2010. I can't believe how quickly this year passed. I've definitely let my blog lapse. It seemed a bit inconsequential but I miss it. My kids miss it too. Although they never let on in the past, they enjoyed looking at my blog and seeing the "old" pictures.

When my brother-in-law passed away last month, my kids spent the better part of an afternoon looking at the blog and remembering some of the fun day-to-day events that occured in our life. I think it was therapeutic for them. Memories I would have definitely forgotten were great reminders of our life together. I really don't want to take that for granted... so I will write.

Writing in my blog more often is my New Year's resolution (along with giving up soda for a year and losing a bajillion pounds). I'm not sure this blog will ever be interesting or provocative, but I'm ok with that. My reality is that my life is neither... but it's good.

As an update, we are in the middle of our birthday marathon. Allie turned five yesterday. We did a standard Chuck E. Cheese's party (or as my friend would say "Upchuck E. Cheeses" as it seems someone always winds up sick from going there). Thankfully no one got sick... just a little exhausted and had a near meltdown in the car. Thankfully Allie pulled it together before I had to take a picture to document the moment. Sammy's birthday is next Friday and we are still unsure as to how we will celebrate, I'll try to figure that out tonight. I haven't even started to think about Tommy's (on Jan 12), and poor Bobby (22nd) will again be left with the afterthoughts of a birthday celebration. That's how we roll here... by the seat of our birthday pants.

More musings, updates, and picts later....