Champions - AGAIN!!!

Fairmont State wins WVIAC golf title
For the Times West Virginian

ROANOKE — Fairmont State used strong final rounds from Ben Palmer and Justin Caroli to pull away from the field and claim a 13-shot victory at the WVIAC men’s golf championship.Palmer fired a 69 and Caroli added a 70 to help the Falcons shoot the low team round of the tournament of 302 on Wednesday.

Palmer’s final round of 69 marked the low round for the week and was the 14th score in WVIAC Championship history to break 70. It was one shot off the conference record of 68, accomplished three different times.

In addition to Palmer and Caroli, the Falcons were led by Will Gautreau with a 235 (79-75-81), Zack Rudy with a 235 (79-75-81) and Joel Cano with a 270 (87-85-98).

“I am so proud of these guys,” FSU head coach Reid Amos said. “Stonewall is such a difficult golf course, after posting 20-under at Canaan, I think a lot of folks thought a tougher and tighter venue like Stonewall would not be ideal for us. It turns out we were able to get it done. The guys are already talking about the trip to Super Regionals.

“We’ve gotten super play out of our seniors Justin Caroli and Will Gautreau. Zack Rudy has turned into a player this semester and freshman Ben Palmer was unbelievable today. We couldn’t ask for any better a team player than Joel Cano. It was a true team win.”

Fairmont State’s victory assures the Falcons of their fourth consecutive NCAA Division II East Region appearance. The site of the May 5-7 event has not been officially announced but it will [most likely] be St. Anne’s Country Club in Delaware.

West Liberty State senior Matt Hicks finished the 54-hole event at five-over par 221 and claimed medalist honors. Caroli finished second, a shot back of Hicks with a 222. Ohio Valley’s Paul Raines was third at 224. West Liberty’s Scott Smith (229) and Palmer (230) rounded out the top five.

This was the first time the WVIAC championship has been played in the fall.

Congratulations FS golfers!!! You continue to make me proud of your accomplishments!!!

Words & Phrases

We're really going to be in for it soon...Elizabeth is repeating a TON! In fact, during the Red Sox game on Friday, when the Sox briefly let the Angels back in the game, Daddy (my Daddy) said, "Oh, $hit." Which, if you know my Daddy, is a rare thing to catch him swearing. Next thing you know, a very tired Elizabeth said...you guessed it "$hit." At least we haven't heard a repeat performance of the swearing...which means somebody may want to take her off of my hands, STAT!

I was trying to figure out a more comprehensive list of the words & phrases Elizabeth can say. I'm sure this will still be missing some, but I have broken the listing into categories (that made sense to me.) If there is a * beside the word, she can also make the sign for the word. Here goes:

• PEOPLE: Mama/Mommy/Jennie; Daddy; Kenny (Kennedy); Nana; Papa; RaRa (Rikki); Doh (Doug); Larry; Boomer; Gamma (Grandma); Papi; Anne; Sean; Ali (Alex); CaCa; Caylin; Jake; Stewie; Joe; Sarah; Hans; Rich; Steeb (Steve); Erin (sounds more like Anna, though); Rusty; Tim; Nancy; Stella; Connie; Johnny (Mom & Daddy's neighbor); Tyler; Will (sounds like wheel); Justin; Booty; Ben; Joel; and Jon (the last 7 are members/graduates of the Fairmont State golf team)
• PLACES: Home; Church; Pool
• MOVING THINGS: Car; Truck; Bus; Ball; Train
• NOISY THINGS: Drum; Horn; Violin; Xylophone; Hoo Hoo (that's E speak for a whistle)
• FOOD-RELATED: *Eat; Cup; Spoon; *Wadder (water); *Milk; *Bobble (bottle); Ice; Coffee; Lunch; Bean; Corn; Peas; Ham; Cheese; Apple; Peach; Honey; Pear; Cake; Cookie; Brownie; *Cracker; Egg; Banana; Grapes; Nut; Pumpkin; Pizza; Yogurt; Yummy
• ANIMAL KINGDOM: Animal; Dog/Puppy; Cat/Kitty/Meow; Cow; Bird; Tiger; Elefan (elephant); Bear; Lion; Fish; Duck; Turtle; Monkey; Butterfly; Goat; Horse; Pig; Lady Bug; Octopus; Panda; Quail; Whale; Zebra; Frog; Owl; Dinosaur; Lamb; Cardinal; Bunny Rabbit; Bee; Gecko; Squirrel
• BODY PARTS: Head; Toes; Hand; Eyes; Mouth; Nose; Ears; Arm; Ebow (elbow) Teeth; Hair; Foot; Knee; Belly (she can point to all of these body parts on either herself or someone else)
• THINGS WE DO: *Play; *Bath; Sleep; Swing; Kick; Potty; Pee; Rock Rock (in the rocking chair); Clean; Read; Ride; Color; Peek; Catch; Bounce; Five (as in a high 5); Sit (sometimes!)
• CHARACTERS: Bobby (Spongebob); Patrick; Snoopy; Santa; Elmo; Mickey; Mimi (character from her Baby Einstein books); Bobo (character from the book Hug)
• OTHER WORDS: Funny; Umbella (umbrella); Chair; Stop; Baby; Angel; Cross; Again; *More; Golf; See; *Hep (help); *Peas (please); *Up; *Down; In; Out; On; Picture; Ouch; *Hurt; Hug; Leaf; Flower; Wave (identifying a picture of an ocean wave); Phone; Pillow; Happy; Hi/Hey; Boy; Lady; One; Two; Three; Ready; Yea!; Book; *Diader (diaper); Hat; Glasses; Socks; Shoe; Shirt; Keys; Sox (as in Red Sox); Ginia (West Virginia - identifies the flying WV logo every time and says "Ginia"); Want; Hewow (Hello); Sun; Ring; Money; Grass; Purse; Watch (the one that tells time); Star; Moon; Paci (pacifier); Hot (usually in reference to my coffee); Igloo; Kite; Yarn; Tree; Sunset (identifying a picture of a sunset); Moon; Ocean (identifying a picture of the ocean); Clock; Queen; Balloons; Sticker; Block; String; Sleep; Bell; Mirror; Comb; Brush; Garbage; Nasty; Dirty; Sleeve; Squeegee; Push; Flag; Cuddle; Kisses
• PHRASES: *All Gone; No, No, No!; Hush (any time Kennedy barks, E tells her "Hush!"); Hey Lady (usually what she says to greet Erin); Beep Beep Beep (upon sight of a school bus or when hearing a little bit of the "Wheels on the Bus" song); Bye-Bye. See Ya Later.; I'll Get It.; Shhh - ___ Sleeping; Uh-Oh; Good Girl (to Kennedy); I'm cooking; Want It; Thank You; Night Night; Love You; Oh God (we're thrilled with that one, let me tell you!)

"Funny"

Elizabeth is changing so much every day. I am continuously amazed at the increase of her vocabulary. According to BabyCenter (http://www.babycenter.com/):

19 to 24 months

Your child now understands as many as 200 words, though he'll probably use only 50 to 75 of them regularly. Many of these words will be nouns that designate objects in his daily life, such as "spoon" and "car." Between 18 and 20 months, his pace will pick up as he acquires ten or more new words each day. If he's especially focused on learning to talk, he can add a new word to his vocabulary every 90 minutes — so watch your language!

I know, I know...I need to pay special attention to the watching of my language...

Anywho...here are some of the new(er) words for Elizabeth since I last posted about her language development (I'm sure that the list is not complete):

Funny - she uses "funny" in context when something is funny to her

Play - she's said this one for a while, but she's doing the same hand gesture (it's a difficult word to sign for a tot!)

Lion - very clearly...and can id a lion on her cards and in books

Set - Erin has taught her to "set" for her first volleyball skill

Bird - when she identifies this by a picture or in a book

Hurt - with sign - typically right before she pulls on a fist full of Kennedy's hair

Bus - she can identify the real deal school bus, or a picture of one

Beep, Beep, Beep - this is what usually follows seeing a bus "beep, beep, beep" from one of her favorite tunes - The Wheels on the Bus...

Want - she may want something, but we're not always as good at figuring out what it is...

Again, Again - usually to see the dancing Elizabeth & Alex video I posted a while ago (funny if you haven't seen it, you'll want to check that out!)

Color - she loves to "color, color, color"

Book - she loves her books

Pillow - she loves either sitting on the big pillows at home or at Nana's & Papa's, or just chucking them off of the couch at home or at Grandma & Papi's

Watch - by sight for the thing that tells the time

Tyler - E typically says "Tyler" any time the phone rings or when she is playing with the phone. She has good taste in men.

Dum - not dumb, but "dum" for drum

Horn - pointing out a trumpet in her point and see book

Wave - identifying an ocean wave on her flash cards

Patrick - Bobby's BFF (Sponge Bob if you aren't on Elizabeth speak)

Corn - for that yummy treat Daddy shares with her

Diader - for "diaper" with sign

Shoe - and she usually tries to walk around in our shoes

Socks - for the warm things that go on your feet

Sox - for Gooooo Red Sox!

My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.

Okay, perhaps quoting Gerry Ford was a bit dramatic...but it was a near national crisis to me! (And I certainly attacked this issue with more care and concern than the idiot currently residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave does for our national interests, but that, my friends, is another Oprah!)

I ordered Elizabeth's Halloween costume, Princess Leia, on September 7th. I razzed Auntie Anne to get on the ball and get Alex's costume ordered. I waited and waited. Alex's Yoda costume arrived at Grandma & Papi's. I waited. I contacted the online store where I had placed my order. They told me that the Princess Leia costume is on back order. They may or may not get it in stock. Essentially - SOL. I went to Ebay - and paid what I think is an un-Godly amount of money for a Halloween costume (made completely of cheap fleece - cheap, cheap fleece). And, finally, I could breathe a huge sigh of relief when the costume arrived. It is cute, cute, cute! But Nana is going to have to work some of her Betsy Ross magic as the headpiece is HUGE - it fits me!

I've been such the slacker on my posts (and in uploading pictures) these days. So, here are a few shots of Elizabeth helping to bake Papa's birthday cake.



















Baker's Note: Don't even THINK about decorating the reduced sugar cake with the reduced sugar icing. It may taste good, but what a gooey pain to work with. The cake is very moist and crumbly. The icing is just goo. Lesson learned on this adventure!

Boo Boo Update: The knot on E's noggin that you see here is finally gone. Left of the china cabinet incident is a small dot of a scar. Last night she banged up the other side of her forehead (closer to her hairline) when she hit her head on the coffee table - not realizing how close she was to it when she bent down to get a block. You block head!

I can say Grandma!

Elizabeth & I had quite the exciting trip home to see Mom/Grandma & Daddy/Papi!

After nearly 20 months, Elizabeth said "Grandma!" Yea!!! Here's how it went down Saturday afternoon:

Scene: Grandma & Elizabeth playing with flashcards.

Grandma (holding a card with an umbrella): What's this?

Elizabeth: um-bella

Grandma: If you can say umbrella, then you can say Grandma. Say Grand-ma.

Elizabeth:

Grandma & Elizabeth go through a few more cards...

Grandma: Say Grand-ma.
Elizabeth: Gam-ma.

Hip hip - Hooray!

On Saturday evening, Elizabeth fell off of her tricycle...into the corner of the china cabinet!!! Her first boo-hoo boo-boo! (Believe it or not, I was washing dishes at the time!) At first, her noggin was indented but it didn't take long for the goose-egg to pop up on her forehead. She is quite the Morton tough girl - she didn't cry that long (for something that had to hurt like the dickens!) I couldn't really get a good picture of the boo-boo until she went to sleep.

Sunday, she was a real treat to all in attendance at Mass. It is the first time since her baptism that she had to be taken out of the church. All I heard when we were outside was "Gam-ma. Gam-ma. Gam-ma." Little stinker.

The tricycle was forgiven and she got back on it later yesterday evening. Cute picture of Elizabeth during her evening ride - despite the boo-boo (which had little/no swelling on Sunday, just bruising and the scab.)

Bonus Update - I have received 2 phone calls today from Nana...E has gone twice in the potty. Any guesses as to what I'll be swinging by Target to get this evening??? Can we say, "unprepared"??? Man, I am never going to get Mother of the Year! How is it that while I am continuously shopping I seem to miss the obvious things??? Don't get me wrong, I don't think we'll be fully potty trained for some time to come...I just wouldn't want her to ask for it and me not to be prepared...

Weekend - Virginia Beach

Labor Day weekend (yes, I'm behind on my postings, get over it!) Reid, Elizabeth, & I went to Virginia Beach - stayed with Steve, Jessica, & Grace. We had a FABOO time!!! Steve & Jess were soooo good to us...and I must still get the recipe (still working on the Morton Family Cookbook) for the cheesy potatoes that Jess made - delish! (I have been able to successfully replicate the shrimp with cheese tortellini recipe - E loved it again! She didn't inhale 3 servings of mine like she did Jess's, but liked it a lot!)

Here are a few pictures from just a few of the funny moments:

Elizabeth found Grace's Barbie collection...and borrowed a chair. She thought she could sit in it...and we all nearly lost it! Too funny!!!
Grace has this great Barbie battery operated car. (No worries, Elizabeth still isn't that interested in Barbie - maybe I can avoid this completely!) Anyway, Grace was so good to give Elizabeth a ride around the street. I think E could have spent half the day in there...but good for Grace that she didn't expect to be driven around all afternoon. Reid & I took Grace & Elizabeth to the beach. Grace is really swimming quite well! Naturally, this was Elizabeth's first trip to the beach. She enjoyed it - despite not having taken a nap. She LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the sand. I think she would have spent all day just digging in the sand if we would have been game for that. She liked the tide washing up on her feet, but certainly did not like her feet getting buried. Although she loves the pool (even pointed to the ocean and said, "pool", she wasn't really wanting to go out into God's pool. Maybe this was lack of sleep, maybe this was just good enough judgement on her part that she can't swim well enough to swim with the fishes.) Elizabeth had her first summer fling with a cute boy - younger than her, just like she likes them!

We can't wait to get back to the beach...and to see Steve, Jess, & Grace again.

Thanks for the great time!!!

Kennedy update

Kennedy has received a clean bill of health! Yeah!!!

The "thing" was an epulis. You can read more about what in the heck an epulis is here: http://www.petplace.com/dogs/epulis/page1.aspx. Hers would be the "fibromatous" kind. She could potentially get another one...but all is well!

Woo Hoo!

Kennedy's ordeal...

The last time Reid & I were at Mom & Daddy's, Reid noticed this "thing" in Kennedy's mouth. We got her to the doctor as soon as we could.

Reid poked fun of me because, although the doctor said that Kennedy was in good health (dropped a few pounds even!), I focused on other things he said. He said that she had a slight heart murmur...and that she would need her teeth cleaned (especially since they would have to put her under anesthesia to remove the "thing"), and he called the "thing" (and I quote) "interesting." (It was attached only to the gum, not also connected to a tooth.)

You don't like hearing the word "interesting" to describe some abnormal growth.

Still Reid continued to poke fun at me. I continued to remind him Kennedy had been in my life longer than he had. (It didn't stop the poking.)

On Tuesday, the "interesting" thing was removed with great success. The doctor said once he was able to get Kennedy asleep and to get a better look at this "interesting" thing, it was an easy removal. She only got two stitches as a result. She got her teeth cleaned, too, and they are sparkling! We still have to await the results of whether or not this "interesting" thing is benign or not...but all is looking up!

Sweeeet!

This is one SWEET website to get geeked out on Mountaineer stats! Just had to share!

http://wvustats.com/

Let's Goooooo Mountaineers!

Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot!

Wow! Was this weekend hot of what???

The WV Pete Dye Classic was fun to work...and we enjoyed Erin staying with us (so she didn't have to do the extra drive in the morning or evenings to Motown.) According to Elizabeth, "Erin" and "Anne" sound very similar.

We had about as much fun as we cared to in the 97 degree heat with 97% humidity. Blech!

Where was Elizabeth's sprinkler ball when we needed it on the course???


Here are some other cute pictures from our last trip to Mom/Grandma's & Daddy/Papi's:


E's first taste of corn on the cob (garden fresh, no less!) Yummy! Poor Reid had to share...

Elizabeth getting a "ride" from Papi. She loved getting to be pushed around in the wheel barrow. When that didn't suit her anymore, she thought she could trade places with Papi.

Giving a sweet kiss to "Ali," her baby cousin, Alex!