Who else...

wants to go on the MckCruise?!!!

I knew it would be a cruise and I SOOOO want to go!

In the words of Jerry Maguire..."Who's coming with me?"

Our 2 year celebration in honor of Erin ** UPDATE

** UPDATE!
Meet the newest addition to our family! His name is Bacha (Baa-sha) and he joined our family today. Bacha was named after the wonderful Dr. Emile Bacha who performed Erin's open heart surgery of course!! He is VERY small but gentle. He also has a cute little beard and mustache! Erin loves the newest member of our family!

The week of Valentine's day we started our collection for our 2nd (but 1st year with a name!) Pennies for Patients loose change drive. The flyer went home the week before and on Monday 2/8/09 we were ready to go. Hearts went up on the office door and when someone donated, they wrote their name on a smaller heart and stuck it on of the bigger hearts.






It was slow going at first but by Friday I was lugging change out of the school in two Stop and Shop canvas bags. Greg had to help me load the bags into the car that night to take to Coinstar!! Last year my kids and I, with the help of Greg over the weekend, rolled almost all of our coins and it turned out to be a bigger pain than just coinstar-ing it! So this year we opted not to roll our coins and with the help of 4 of my favorite girls we practiced sorting, and grouping while getting a lesson in the value of money and kindness (Thanks, Kassidy, Desiree, Hayley and Tessa!)






Any-who...

After taking the coins to the Coinstar machine and adding them to our cash and checks...the total was $308! Yay!! Again, I was blown away by the kindness of our parents and staff at the school. I will be forever grateful to all those who donated. Whether it be 25 cents of 25 dollars! It truly was the thought that counted!

With Greg feeling under the weather on Valentine's day and my list in hand, I headed out to Michaels and various other stores to purchase items on the resource room's "wish list".

Here's what I came up with...




I wish the pictures truly showed our overflow of love! (Added thanks to my mother in law Deb, sister Denise and sister in law Katie, for their donation to our goodie basket!)

We were supposed to be taking a trip up to Boston to hand deliver our goodies to the wonderful Caroline Obert in honor of Erin, the surgeons who performed Erin's successful surgery, all the doctors, nurses and aides who took care of our precious gift from God, and the families and children who face the odds every day.
Caroline is the woman behind the ever expanding Marsha Freed resource room and a support to cardiac families and patients on the 8th floor of Children's Hospital Boston. Unfortunately, a horrible stomach virus is "plaguing" the cardiac wing and all it's "guests" and we are unable to visit until March 14th.

Instead, I am posting our story and awaiting breakfast with my little hero. We are also hoping to take a ride on the carousel horses at Warwick mall and maybe...if daddy says yes, buy a fish!

What a difference 2 years makes!

I'm so itchy!

I am just itching to post my news from Pennies for Patients...but I need to go make myself dinner and catch up on my MDS (Many DVR'd shows...take that MckMama...I can do it too!)

So, maybe you'll see me tonight...and maybe, you won't! Again!

Not Me! Monday...no really, NOT me!

I won't be participating in Not Me! Monday...again! Sorry. I'm just not into it this week. It's not like I had a 3 day weekend to start/finish/put away laundry and I am just now beginning it...Monday night at 6:30! Nope, not me!

Oops!

Maybe later on tonight between eating dinner, switching loads, taking a shower and watching Jon and Kate plus 8, I will have time to post all my fun news about Pennies for Patients.

Or maybe, you'll have to wait until let say...Wednesday!!

**And good guess, Kate on how much money we raised this year! You'll just have to wait and see!

Pennies for Patients

It's coming people and it's gonna be BIG!



Wait for it...

I could get used to this!

Temps. in the upper 50's?! Seriously! I could get used to this!

Erin and I took a trip to the fantastic playground behind Town Hall in Barrington for some much needed playtime.

We went to the playground and all I got was these lousy pictures from last year




and what a difference a year makes! Erin was able to play this year instead of just chasing random kids around!

I really haven't been feeling too bloggy lately. I've been a bit of a blogger stalker instead! Eventually I will have something worth writing about. I have a feeling there will be some juicy stuff posted next week!

Until then...

Maybe I'll write more later...

but right now all I can say is go and visit my cousin Liz at Loving Mom 2 Boys: Tribute Tuesday: CHD Week to read the most wonderful things that anyone has ever written about me!

Bye, bye, T.V.

As a teacher I know that every child learns and grows at their own pace. Each child is different and they should be treated that way. Furthermore, I know I shouldn't compare Erin to the other children in her classroom but on Wednesday I did and it resulted in taking her T.V. out of her bedroom.

I didn't have one in my room until I met Greg and he bought me one for Christmas. I was 19. It was pretty scary that Erin had one in her room since infancy (not like she watched it but it came in handy during feedings).

Oh, so anyways...back to the comparison.

Erin has a little friend in her room who we will call "Dora". Dora comes from a family of well educated parents like Greg and myself. (tee hee!). A co-worker of mine who had been visiting the toddler room earlier that day approached me with this story of Dora and how she had been playing with doll house toys. Let's just say this 18 month old was playing with these dolls like I wish some of my 4 year olds played with toys! Dora's level of play far surpasses her friends and instead of thinking, "How cute" or "Wow!", I instantly thought, "Erin would have never thought of that! She needs to stop watching so much television!"

For I know that Dora's parents allow very little if none at all television watching. I am sure that their nights consist of sitting around the dining room table playing Scrabble with "Dora" and her 4 year old brother, who for sake of argument, we will call "Favin".

Erin loves to "read" books independently, color on her easel, explore sensory activities like play dough and pouring and scooping oatmeal. She also loves to watch Toot and Puddle when she arrives home from school after a long day of play. Is that so bad?

I am hoping that by taking the T.V. out of the room she will be more willing to engage in more independent play. Lately, like most other toddlers, she is in the stage of wanting constant one on one attention from me or Greg. Some would say that it is time to start trying for child #2 but that would just be irresponsible right now. The T.V. in the bedroom was a babysitter for us on the weekends with our "up with the chickens" Erin and became such a bad habit. Right now we are limiting the television watching to when we are making breakfast before school and possibly for a 1/2 hr. while I make dinner on my work long days 3 days a week. The other days there will be very a strict rule of no T.V. Let's see how it works out! I want my little girl to become a cardiologist some day right? Future cardiologists don't watch T.V!
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Did you figure out what Erin was mixing in the bowl in the last post?



I think we had a guess of flour. That's partially right. She was mixing flour, water, oil and salt to make play dough. Due to the bad weather last weekend we were forced to stay indoors (again) and come up with something new to do. We had a lot of fun making our own play dough (1 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup water mixed with food coloring, 1/2 cup salt, few table spoons oil) It kept Erin busy for quite some time! We made it in the morning (hence the pj pictures) and continued playing throughout the day!










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You all like Sesame Street, right? Have you ever want to see Elmo gobbled up by the Cookie Monster? You have?! I was able to take a few shots of just that this afternoon at dinner time. Would you like to see them? You would?

These pictures are brought to you by the letters E and S and by the number 2!






Oh wait! "Cookie Monster" is eating pepperoni in the last picture not Elmo!

Teaser!

Gray's Anatomy is on and I HAVE to watch it. I'll leave you with this question. What was Erin mixing in her bowl this past weekend?
In the words of MckMama..."wait for it people!"