HAPPY EASTER EVERY-BUNNY!

let us not try and pretend I can catch up the last ....whatever many months.... in one blog post. i can't tell a short story. i'm too funny to condense. well, re-phrase, i amuse myself and i am trying to work on not torturing others with my endless witty inter-brain banter. so we will start here. its not the beginning, but a very good place to start. why now you ask? inspiration! in the form of a poem that i heard on the radio and realized, crap, i could have written that. instead, i will copy and paste and you can read it and say "crap, she could have written that". yes, i am delusional enough to think i could be as funny as Tina Fey. Hubby, should you be reading this ... i'm not holding my breath on that.... but just in case....please don't roll your eyes so far back into your head. one day they are going to get stuck like that. But courtesy of Ms. Fey, i present to for you to enjoy...

PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER

First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

Guide her, protect her

When crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels.

What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, dammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, That she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back.

“My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

return of the princess roo

after 5 VERY long weeks without my very special girl i was VERY glad to have her home. and her new friends were just sooo excited to meet her! of course we took her to mikes, in annapolis

sprinklers and popsicles

gal pals

the day after our hershey park trip, miss roo headed off for her grand vacation west of the mississippi. a couple days after that, hubby departed for maryland. i had the super fun job of packing up our entire life and moving it. thank goodness for uncle wessy! he was scheduled to visit us while roo was gone and in one of many pieces of good luck was in nj just in time to drive the u-haul from nj to md!

and after all that stress and hustling and packing and moving...we found a nice place to relax and have fun....good adult fun!

the moving crew!

thank goodness we found golden tee!

this place is awesome! if you visit team candland, we take you to mike's in annapolis.

time flies when your turning your life upside down...again

okay, okay...i know. i am a delinquent blogger. i'm sure ya'll missed my wit and charm and fabulous pictures of miss roo (oh i know that is what you really want)! well, it's my mission to catch ya'll up on the cra-zy summer we have had before summer is actually over!


we shall begin with our trip to Hershey Park. or, as i like to call it "the trip where we found out we were moving to maryland".

this little puppy is charlie. out of all the toys and crap at hershey park, all little miss roo wanted was daddy to play a carnival game and win her a prize. for a mere $2 happy kid, happy parents!

as the shorter parent, i get to experience the joy of the rocket ship ride. even though i am convinced one day the thing is going to snap and i will be hurled across the park and land on a cotton candy stand, i do it for the love of miss roo's giggle.

byeeee new jersey......helluuuuu maryland

finally! some excellent news to share! mike has a new job in maryland....starting TOMORROW. he interviewed last week, was hired this week and left today to start his new job tomorrow. with reagan in arizona and new mexico for the next month and mike in maryland from monday to friday this week, i am a lonely gal. but not a bored one. gotta find a place to live, a way to move us, pack all of our stuff and move on down to maryland! whew! so much for a boring month without roo!

an open letter to those that i love

dear friends and family...

yes, i have been quietly hiding under a rock for the past few months. no, its nothing personal that anyone said or did. i still love all my friends that are family and all my family that are friends. i have just have been selfish with my charming wit and personality lately.

2009 was a rough year for team candland. i was certain 2010 was going to be a whole new page in a whole new book. instead, the epic is carrying on and 2010 seems just to be another chapter in the same book of neverending wonder and doubt about what the next day will bring.

i know a lot of you are inquiring about our plans for the summer. if i knew what i was doing a week from today i would probably be better able equipped to worry about 3 months from now. as soon as i can get in a position to formulate some sort of plan i will be more than happy to share.

so i apologize to everyone and send love to all. please be patient with me while i try and find my way out from under the rock.

xoxo

sue

the first (real) snow of the year

how perfect that the first day of winter brought us our first good snow! we waited with anticipation all day yesterday for the dumping that the news promised us. and while we were sleeping, all snug in bed, the snow came.

the super cute "snowman accessory kit" i bought was worth every penny....except the snow was too dry to stick together to make more than a bottom. which i quickly announced was the head.

reagan loves the snow!

mr. mike and his big red shovel. shoveling the alley is quite the workout!

after the snow fun we came inside for hot chocolate, oatmeal and now its time for boys to watch football and girls to go shopping! what fun winter is starting out to be!

the beginning of our 2009 christmas season

tonight was the lighting of the town christmas tree at the park. i love my small town! there was hot cocoa, christmas carols and the promise of a special guest!

reagan immediately found a friend from school in the crowd. notice the use of hats and coats. it is beginning to feel a lot like christmas!

santa (after parking the sleigh at the fire station i suppose) arrived at the park courtesy of our local fire department!

santa was so sweet. he noticed how big reagan had grown since last year and reminded her to be a good girl and listen to her mommy and daddy.


reagan even got a special prize from santa....a little christmas bear she quickly named "sweetie bell" and she has announced that she is taking her bear for show and tell!

november is half way over?

what a crazy month it has been so far. i knew i was going to regret not posting all these adventures right away!! so here is a quick peek at what we have been up to since halloween. they are out of order! :( i promise to post better going forward! xoxo

this is in new york. does anyone recognize it? it is the house from the will smith movie "i am legend". we passed by it on our way to the path train. because i am uber-dork, i thought it was great fun that i had the dvd in my purse to mail back and i put in the mail box right across from the house! love it! i know....weird-o!

this is reagan's buddy ava from school. well, reagan insists on calling her eva. ava doesn't seem to mind. ava and her mommy (laurie) went to the magic show that our church had. magical silly willy delighted and amazed. so did the tattooes, face paint and balloons!

these are our friends crystal and john. we had a fabulous time on a beautiful day with them. church, lunch, zoo, amazing dinner (made by crystal)! an awesome time with awesome people! :)

ah! magical silly willy picked reagan as a special assistant. she was so excited and then got a little stage fright maybe? but she was super cute and had a lot of fun.

reagan and ava at mcdonalds. these two angels sat and ate lunch at their very own table and were sooo good!

crystal and i at martha stewart. the cheese show! fabulous! crystal is from manhattan and is an amazing tour guide of the city. so fun!

i may be creating a monster.....

reagan saw this at target the other day and said "look mom....its a martha stewart show!"
when i was working on a craft a couple days later she pulled up a chair next to me and said "today on the martha stewart show...."

then yesterday we watched martha stewart on demand for over an hour at her insistance. she said "please mommy, can we watch martha stewart? please?"

too stinkin' cute!

reagan's first school dance.....

last night was the parents guild halloween party at reagan's school. it was 2 hours of way too loud music ("is this music really loud, or are we too old?"), a lot of kids (grades prek through 3rd)
running around and screaming ("does that kid have parents here") and warm soda and treats (reagan could often be found at the treat table).

reagan has her own unique style of dancing (its like elaine from sienfeld) and was fascinated at watching the others dance. the kids had fun and the parents only had to endure 2 hours. i asked her if i could go to all her school dances with her and she said yes. mike says that won't work forever and i told him just wait and see! :)

this is halloween...this is halloween....halloween....halloween

pumpkin decorating

if you haven't watched nightmare before christmas at least 100 times you are really missing out.

actually, it is one of my faves and my pick for family movie night last night.

but it was perfect to get us in the mood for our traditional pumpkin decorating at Michaels Arts and Crafts.

Family Fun Day at the NY Aquarium

thanks to Bank of America for the fabulous "Museums on Us" program we spent the day at the New York Aquarium!

underneath the "waterfall"

we all decided the walrus was pretty awesome. fat, lazy, wrinkly....just like our bulldog!

and then.......

the aquarium is at coney island and we took a walk on the beach since we were there

Harvest Days at Terhune Farm

Me: Look at Mommy.

Reagan: Cheese.

Me: Look at Mommy

Reagan: Cheese.

she loves loves loves feeding goats

taking time to stop and smell the flowers

w
wagon ride around the farm

pumpkin princess

i'm a dork....and i know it.....

these are some pictures i took yesterday at the baseball game that tickled my funny spot:

either those are tiny baseball players, or a giant bear

tiny baby wearing giant headphones

baby annabelle hogging the peanuts

the first (faux) day of school

today was a day for those kids who were not quite ready to ditch mommy and daddy for a day of school. we all know that is not our child! 22 groups of parents and kids gathered in the parking lot for the first day of school. well, what i have dubbed the first (faux) day of school. it lasted an hour. oh well, next week will be another blog with the first (full) day of school.