Playing Catch-Up!

It's been forever since I last posted. I'm an ass!

So...Reid's high school reunion was a great time. Kudos to Andrea McElroy and others who planned the weekend! From the weekend in Fairmont we took off for DC (with Nana) to visit Rikki & Doug.

The week in DC was filled with activities -- 1 day at the Museum of Natural History (so E could see dinosaur bones and "The Hall of Apes"), 1 ridiculously full day that included 6 hours at the National Zoo + 3 hours at the Air & Space Museum (E insisted on seeing some "arrow planes"), 1 (albeit cranky for the most part) day at the American History Museum (my favorite!), 1 minor league baseball game, Reid & I got away for an evening in Baltimore to hang out with Jake and see his new place, and lots of fun!

If you haven't seen the American History Museum since the American Flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the National Anthem has been restored - it is a must! I visited the museum on several occasions while the flag was being restored, which was really neat to see...but now that it is restored -- it is simply breathtaking! (You can learn more about it here: http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibition.cfm?key=38&exkey=70)

Stories from the game that tickle my funny bone:

The minor league baseball game we went to was the Bowie Baysox (a Baltimore Orioles affiliate) vs. the Portland Sea Dogs (a Red Sox affiliate). We were happy to have Elisa Gladstone join us all for the game - it's always good to see Elisa! E was especially glad to have her friend, Elisa, join us as Reid & I were quickly ditched so she could hang out with Elisa. The Baysox mascot, Louie, was this big muppet-looking green "thing." Really cute, actually. When Elizabeth first saw him from a distance, she jumped from Elisa's lap onto Doug's.

Then E obsessed a bit (shocker!) and would tell us that after the game, and after the fireworks, and after she ran the bases, she would meet Louie. Reid, having played these reindeer games before, got Louie down to our section to meet Elizabeth. (Louie was quite a sport, too, I must add!) Needless to say, Elizabeth didn't want him at all near her. Doug tried to show E that Louie was a good guy and gave him a high 5. (Meanwhile, Louie is hugging & kissing on Reid's head...while Doug is sniffing his hand that he just high 5'd with Louie!) Doug later told us that Louie's hand was really wet, which made his (Doug's) smell like stinky feet. E never warmed to Louie...but she survived. Rikki & Doug (after a thorough scrubbing of his hand, I'm sure) bought Elizabeth a stuffed Louie. Upon receiving her Louie Baysox stuffed mascot, E observed, "Hey! His hand isn't wet!"

More obsessing -- here's a bit of my conversation with Elizabeth later that evening:
E: Is Louie tired, Mommy?
Me: Yes, Elizabeth. Louie worked hard tonight. I'm sure he is tired.
E: Am I tired, Mommy?

Reid nearly caught a foul tip. (To do so, min you, he would have had to have knocked down a 12-year-old kid...he's so not as competitive as I am!) Afterwards, Elizabeth came down next to Reid and said, "Next time I'm going to catch the ball, Daddy!" That's my girl!

After the fireworks, Reid tried for some time to get Elizabeth to run the bases. (Louie was blocking home plate so he could high 5 all of the base runners with his wet, stinky feet hand!) He even got E so far as getting her feet on the field to no avail. (At least there was no crying - as there is no crying in baseball!) Eventually, Reid & E headed back to join the rest of us. Fewer than 10 minutes later while on the way to the car, Elizabeth tells me, "Hey! I forgot to run the bases!"

We've had a great summer! Elizabeth is swimming a bit -- easily goes under water and can hold her breath for 10 seconds (no holding of the nose, either!). She's super-tanned...like the Coppertone baby. (I'm quite savage, too! Tanned enough that you can tell the difference between my skin and the white on my t-shirt!) We're making some progress on the potty training...although I'm ready to start looking to see if we can easily transition from pull-ups to Depends as it doesn't seem as if this is ever going to end!

Hail Wheeling!

I told Reid last evening that the deer must have had a great feast on the hydrangea bushes in the front of our house. The hydrangeas were chewed to shreds!

Apparently we got out of Wheeling at the right time. On Tuesday, July 21st, a hailstorm lasting for more than 30 minutes hit Wheeling. Our next door neighbors, Jim & Marie (the greatest neighbors in the world) phoned to make sure we knew to look over our property. The pictures they took of the aftermath showed hail stones from very small to nearly the size of golf balls.

Here is a picture that someone in the area snapped of the storm (no idea who or where):


I guess the deer didn't have a feast after all.

So, after talking with Jim & Marie, we set about to inspecting around our home. Fortunately, no major issues with the house. A few vents were dinged. Some paint was chipped off the house (not good, but it could be worse.) All of the stained glass is intact. Even the glass-topped patio tables are free of damage. The landscape lights show indentations, one is cracked on the top.

I started taking pictures of things like the landscape lights, the plants (I know that is hostas pictured and not the hydrangeas!) -- pictures that could help us should we need them for insurance...

The greatest damage was done to Elizabeth's table. (Doesn't she really look pathetic?) To make matters worse -- Elizabe th inspected her "colors" (colored chalk) and noticed that the lid to one of the containers wa s cracked (gasps!) She insisted that I take a picture of this, too!

Things EJ Will Miss About West (by God) Virginia

With our dear friend, Erin, heading South for her internship at Disney's Wide World of Sports (soon to be ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex), I thought it would only be appropriate to give her a send-off Blog post...with some of the things she will most miss about West (by God) Virginia:

• Showing people where she lives while simultaneously flipping them off.
• Game days...nothing is finer than a fall in Morgantown on game day!
• Getter "Bonnie Blue Blazer" inspected by the Great State of West Virginia and declaring on an annual basis that she is not a farm-use vehicle.
• Pepperoni rolls
• Being bossed around by a 3-year-old that inquires, while EJ is bathing her, "Ya gittin' in???"
  
• A cemetery in her back yard.
• Country Roads -- and all of the beautiful scenery.
• The WVIAC Basketball Championship week...always a good time!
• The social scene at D-Lazy Lizzard, Bent Willies, and the other fine-quality establishments downtown...
• Coffee, free Wi-Fi hot spot, and excellent bridesmaid dress alterations thanks to the Fairmont Folks!
• Michael Walker...oh wait, that ship has already sailed!
  
• Clapper Burgers
• Easter celebrations with the Morton Clan in Webster Springs.
• Having to pay to get that savage tan...

Considering what goes on with the animals around here, she may be happy to be getting out of dodge!

Happy trails, Erin! We'll miss you!!! ♥

Elizabeth-isms

Sometimes it's just easier with the Cliff Notes:

• Last day = Yesterday (as in, "I played with the kids last day.")
  
• Yes I ma'am = Yes, I am!
• West Liderdee = West Liberty
• Pack Pat = Backpack
• Patapiller = Caterpillar
• Paint Nails = You have your fingernails/toenails painted
  
• I wanna watch 'The Kids' = Jon & Kate + 8 (one of her favorite shows)
• I'm going to 'The Kids' = Daycare
  
• Miss Frienda = Miss Brenda (her teacher at Daycare)
• Baseball Papi = Big Papi (David Ortiz) - still not to be confused with Papi (Rogers Cunningham)
• Lady = Erin Jones - she sometimes call Erin by her actual name, but for the most part, it's "Lady"
  
• Pewter = computer (as in, "Close your puter, Daddy.")
• Moat = remote
  
• Can I help you? = Move over, I'm going to do this...forewarned is forearmed.
  
• It's Wake-Up Time = daybreak (pre-cock-a-doodling of any roosters!)...yet, strangely, when the sun goes down, it isn't "Shhhh! It's sleepy time down South"
  
• Yellow is MY favorite = Yellow is my favorite color. Because it is my favorite color, it cannot be your favorite color. Additionally, I reserve the right to call certain foods that are yellow during certain times of the day (example: bananas at breakfast or corn during dinner) by the color "yellow" (typically stated, "I want to eat Yellow.") and you should know just what in the heck I'm talking about, because "Yellow is my very favorite!"
  

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

We took Elizabeth to her first ever baseball game on Sunday -- a MLB game, no less (she only goes first class!) Pittsburgh v. Detroit.

A few things of note: Throw back day to 1909 -- not a good thing! No music, no video board, no additional scoreboards (so you can keep up with other games), no mascot, no 7th inning stretch...a bit of a snooze-fest, IMHO.

Traffic was ridiculous. Not completely because of the game, but the Pittsburgh Arts Festival is going on, too...and the way the signs directed traffic from the Interstate was not well thought out. We sat in traffic for much longer than we typically would have, so we didn't get Elizabeth as much time on the bouncy toys as we would have wanted.

Reid kept score, like he and his Dad would do at games they attended together. Some day he'll be able to teach Elizabeth how to keep score at a game.

It was a beautiful day...very sunny...quite hot for early June. I sprayed both Elizabeth and me down with SPF 50. She managed to darken her tan. I burned my shoulders, not painfully though, a bit on my legs, and a bit on my face. I'm so thankful that Elizabeth has Reid's complexion...it's an awful lot of work to stay as white as I am!

A huge thrill for us was the introduction of the Pittsburgh Penguins -- with Sidney Crosby carrying in Lord Stanley's Cup. Woo Hoo! Let's Go PENS! What a treat for E's first game!

Although Elizabeth didn't watch a lot of the game, she was sooooo good. And she got a couple of "surprises" for Papa in the gift shop during the 2nd inning. (Although she may have let the cat out of the bag yesterday evening on the phone. We'll see if Papa can get an Oscar for his acting surprised in a few days...)

The Pirates won, making it a very bad weekend to be a Detroit fan. Elizabeth is now a fan of the Pirates, too. (No worries, Papi, she still says that the Red Sox are her very favorite.) She was disappointed that she didn't get to see Baseball Papi. I tried to no avail to explain that Baseball Papi plays for a different league...

One of Elizabeth's highlights was getting to run the bases after the game. It is really neat that they let kids down on the infield to run the bases on their Sunday home games. Elizabeth, like many of the kids, was a bit disappointed that she didn't get more than one trip around the bases. However, later in the evening, when we were eating dinner at Cheddars, E saw a picture of PNC Park behind our booth. She told us, "That is where I ran 'round, and 'round, and 'round, and 'round the bases."

Shame on Daddy

Elizabeth doesn't like to be shamed on. She doesn't really mind being in trouble. She doesn't care if we tell her to stop doing something because she may get hurt. But shaming on her -- that she wants no part of! (See Blog entry from January 12, 2009: http://wvu-mama.blogspot.com/2009/01/nearly-forgotten-elizabeth-funny.html).

We were having an indoor picnic lunch today when Reid started playing with the left-over popcorn kernels. I told him to stop since I didn't want Elizabeth to pick up on this. (He does listen, so he stopped.)

But ever the Daddy's girl, Elizabeth said to me, "Don't tell that to Daddy."

To which I, ever the one to egg on, said, "Shame on you, Daddy. You shouldn't do that."

Then Elizabeth moved from sitting beside us both to sitting as close to her Daddy without being on his lap and told me, "Don't shame on my Daddy! He's a good boy!"

He didn't offer to buy her a pony for taking his side, but I think we're going to "the Oglebay" in a little bit to go swimming. And he just got us tickets to go to the Pirates game tomorrow. It will be Elizabeth's first MLB game (sorry, kiddo that you won't be watching Baseball Papi and the Red Sox!) It looks to be a pretty neat day for her first game -- there are a ton of promotions going on: Players at the Gate - where all players & coaches (excluding the starting pitcher) will be greeting fans at the gates from 12:00 noon - 12:30 p.m.; Turn Back the Clock Day - The Pirates and Tigers Turn-Back-The-Clock at PNC Park to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the 1909 World Series matchup that saw the Pirates defeat the Tigers for their first World Series Championship. In honor of this anniversary, both teams will wear their 1909 uniforms as the Pirates replicate the turn of the century ballpark in-game experience.; Kids Day - Sunday home Pirates games are Kids Days! From the Giant Eagle Kids Fun Zone on Federal Street before the game to after the final pitch when all kids are invited to Run the Bases right down on the field, Sundays are for the youngest Pirates fans. (Pre and post-game activities are subject to schedule and weather.); and Kids Ice Cream Bowl - Kids 14 and younger get this ice cream bowl.

She is sooooo excited to go to the game tomorrow! I hope she does #2 in the potty so she can eat the ice cream out of that bowl tomorrow... We shall see!

Where Is It?

With just about 4 minutes to go in the nail-biter that was the Game 6 of the Stanley Cup (Go Pens!), Elizabeth begins the quest to find her paci.

"Where is it, Mommy?"
"Where is it, Nana?"
"I don't want that one, Papa."
"Daddy, where's my paci?"

This is basically all we heard for the final 4 minutes of this ridiculously tight game.

There are 26 seconds to go in the game when Papa asks Elizabeth, "Where did you have your paci last?"

E replies, "In my MOUTH!"

She's too darned funny!

Let's Go Pens! It would be too sweet to see Crosby lift that 35 pound cup...

Alex is TWO!

What a great time was had at Alex's 2nd birthday party! Alex is one spoiled two-year-old, and I had nothing to do with that ;-)!

To guide folks into the party, which was held at Alex's second favorite aunt's (Aunt Jane Freshour) home (I'm, of course his favorite aunt!), I made this huge-ass sign -- getting good use out of my Sesame Street font cartridge for my Cricut:

And then there was a smaller Big Bird sign at Alex's Grandma & Grandad Wine's house...with the final sign at Aunt Jane's house. If you couldn't find your way to the party, you were pretty blind!

Alex's Aunt Cheryl said that she was so distracted with the big sign, she nearly wrecked her car...and I believe she can remember how to get to her sister's house!

If you couldn't figure it out from the party invitation and these signs, we had a wee bit of a Sesame Street theme going...

Aunt Jane found her Cookie Monster cake pan from her nephew, Mike Casto's 2nd birthday. (For any of you who are NASCAR fans, Mike is Tony Stewart's jack man.) What may be more impressive is that Mike is my age. Cookie Monster was a hit...as were the cupcakes of Elmo, Kermit (Sean's favorite), Zoe, Oscar, and Cookie Monster (which was my favorite of the cupcakes.) Not to mention the Kermit party hats that Sean has managed to hang onto since Clint's 2nd birthday (he's now 17!)

Oh, no surprise, Alex was spoiled by all of his aunts that were in attendance: Moi, Aunt Jane, Sonnie, Carol, Cheryl, Ca-Ca, & Sarah -- that and both sets of grandparents, and uncles, and cousins,and the aunts, uncles, and cousins that weren't able to come but sent gifts makes for one spoiled but deserving two-year-old.

Elizabeth's festive pillowcase party dress was quite a hit, too!

Happy birthday, Alex!!!

******************************************************************

My cousin, Mike, was in an ATV accident yesterday. He's in ICU in Charleston. (One of apparently 15 ATV accidents that happened yesterday that was admitted to the same hospital.) Please keep him and Aunt Cathy, Rich, and his sweet girl Caylin in your prayers!

It's Party Time!

We're getting ready for Alex's 2nd Birthday party. According to Elizabeth, "we have a lot of work to do for Alex's party!" (MY work time will be somewhat determined by how much Elizabeth "helps" Mommy with the decorating of the Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster cookies, the Cookie Monster cake, and the Oscar, Cookie, Big Bird, Elmo, Kermit, etc. cupcakes, and other birthday prep.

The invite is pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself! I love getting to play in Photoshop on stuff like this!

"Daddy's Party" is a smashing success!

Congratulations - West Liberty UNIVERSITY!!!

It was quite exciting to see above the fold in this morning's paper "It's West Liberty U: School Marks New Era." (You can read the article that ran in the Sunday edition of The Wheeling Intelligencer here: http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/523579.html?nav=515.)

Reid has been saying for weeks now if the school becomes a University again next year, he is going to quit (wink, wink.) Robin has assured us this won't happen.

Elizabeth and I went up to the Hilltop yesterday for part of the festivities.

What could have been a three-ring circus, especially with needing to move the concerts indoors due to threatening weather (it was pretty cold in the evening, so even though the sun was out during the day - and the rain held, it was a good move, for more than just the threat of rain) was so well executed. (Yes, this from the hyper-critical rather objective person when it comes to events!) In the ASRC they had the bands -- all of whom were outstanding (another thing I'm rather hyper-critical of), some of the food vendors, information tables, apparel sales, and some inflatable play houses. On the quad (where the band stage was originally intended), they had several carnival rides, more food vendors, and some carnival games. Thrown into the mix of all of that was a car show (earlier in the day when Elizabeth & I were still at home), an illusionist Craig Karges (who was phenomenal -- although on the ride home Elizabeth was worried about him pulling the tape off of his eyes), and fireworks at midnight.

Elizabeth dubbed it "Daddy's Party." And it truly was a heck of a party -- one should just not to do so much work for their own party. Despite what Elizabeth might think, I believe Ron Witt, Director of Alumni Association, and Tammi Seacrest, Director of Marketing (who brought E the Mickey ears that light up -- with her name on them!), deserve some huge kudos, too! And Webmaster Jesse Gagich, who wasn't enjoying the festivities so that he could ensure that the new website went live last night while the fireworks were going on (http://www.westliberty.edu/intro.html). If you haven't seen it, it's really "pretty" -- and the welcome from West Lib's most famous alum, Brad Paisley, is quite a nice touch.

E was quite hesitant to play in the inflatable houses, although on our drive off the hill she recalled things a little differently. She did eventually manage to go through the "patapiller" a couple of times and jumped in the "tiger's bouncy house" for about 10 or so minutes. She really enjoyed the carnival rides outside -- the cars and airplanes (only riding in yellow "arrowplanes" since "yellow's my very favorite".)

Congratulations West Liberty University!

Reid is now off, as of 9:00 AM, to Glade Springs for the 2009 NCAA Division II Atlantic/East Regional and NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship until Wednesday as a member of the DII National Golf Committee...and then on the 16th he is off to Blaine, WA, (110 miles north of Seattle, 35 miles south of Vancouver, BC, Canada) for the DII National Golf Tournament.

And then...

No and then...