Tag--I'm It!!

I was tagged by the lovely Liz! So, here are my seven random facts even though I do not think I can even think of seven people to tag.

1) I work from home. People incorrectly assume this means my kids stay home with me. They do not. They go to daycare. I have a demanding full-time corporate job. My office just happens to be in my home. I love the flexibility and not having to get dressed up every day.

2) My all-time favorite Christmas song is Bruce Springsteen's version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Closely followed by Christmas Wrapping (the Waitresses) and All I Want for Christmas is You (Mariah Carey)

3) My husband and I have the same initials--SMR. These were also my initials before I married him so it was cool that I got to keep all of my monogrammed items. (Okay--I don't really have any monogrammed items).

4) I am obsessed with the blog Cake Wrecks. Have you read this? It is hysterical!

5) I am once again making baby food for my youngest kiddo. Jordyn has just started eating solids so I am steaming, pureeing, and freezing all kinds of fresh, seasonal, organic fruits and veggies. I love doing it--how else can you cook for an infant? Jordyn enjoys it also. Baby Girl likes to eat!

6) I was a ballet dancer for 14 years. I miss it!

7) Back when Steve and I were dating, I was chosen to go on stage with The Blue Man Group in NYC and be part of their act. They made me eat a Twinkie and then made mushed up banana shoot out of this contraption they made me wear. They also broke my sunglasses accidentally. But it was fun.

And I have decided not to tag anyone. Partially because I'm lazy but secondly because nobody reads by blog!!

Confucius Say: Winners Never Cheat and Cheaters Never Win

Okay, so maybe Confucius didn't say that and maybe that saying is about quitters and not cheaters but the same logic applies. I am referring to the clearly underage gymnasts from China. Do they think that we believe that this girl is 16 years old? She's missing a tooth. She weighs 68 pounds. And what about the news service article from November that indicated another Chinese gymnast was only 13? She's suddenly 16 too. They are cheating. Cheating! Don't get me wrong, as much as I love the US team, they truly turned in a silver medal performance. But would they have beaten the Chinese team if they didn't have underage athletes? I guess we'll never know. I realize that China is a communist country and that these poor girls are taken away from their families as children and put through a machine meant to churn out world-class athletes but does a gold medal mean the same thing if you won it by cheating? And this is scary cheating. This is institutional cheating which involved government falsification of passport documents. That totally goes against the spirit of the Olympics and it makes me angry. And it makes me angry that the IOC is not looking into this further in fear of offending their hosts. What is to stop other countries from trying the same thing? Way to go China. First fake fireworks. Then having a cute girl lip sync to the less cute girl's singing. Now this. What's next? A Chinese swimmer wearing scuba fins? Hey--as long as he has a document stating that those, in fact, are his feet...

Anniversary Video

I made this video for Steve for our anniversary. It is pictures of us from the last 8 years. It's scary how young we look in some of them. It means we're getting OLD! But it's been a lot of fun too. Enjoy!

5 Years!!

Five years ago today in front of all their family and friends, a boy and a girl promised to love each other forever and ever. Since that day, they have had two kids, made thousands of happy memories and shared countless laughs. That boy and that girl are still crazy about each other. They do nice things for each other. They hold hands when they walk in the mall. They love hanging out together more than anything else in the world. They have created a very happy life for each other and for their kids.

Steven, I love you more than you will ever know. Thank you for making me happy every single day of my life. Thank you for my beautiful babies. We have a good thing going here.

Blue Eyes, Baby's Got Blue Eyes

...and a little red birthmark on her nose

Back to the Old Grind...

Well, I'm officially back to work after a glorious 12-week maternity leave. I had fun playing stay-at-home-mom. I enjoyed taking mid-day naps and going to the grocery store at 10am. I enjoyed having dinner started by the time the boys got home. I enjoyed watching The View and listening to the nonsensical rants of Elisabeth Hassleback. I enjoyed every second with my baby. I'm so glad that she and I had that time. And I'm sad it's over. On the other hand, I am back at a job that I truly enjoy. People really seemed to miss me while I was out and that is really nice to hear. I have a great manager and a great team and I really believe in what we do. It feels good to use my brain again. I thrive on a challenge and there is no shortage of challenging situations at work! It's not easy to drop my kids off at daycare in the morning but I have peace of mind knowing that they are in good hands. Chase loves seeing his teacher and his friends. He is a very social kid and I hope that being in daycare will do the same for Jordyn. So upon me again is the challenge of work-life balance. I have found that I am most successful at this when I allow the scale to tip in either direction. Sometimes there are family things going on that require more of my time. There are times when work has to be a little more of a priority. I'm fortunate enough to be able to work from home which helps make the balance that much easier. Even though it would be nice to one day not have to work a full-time job, I try every day to make the best of our situation. And I'm grateful for the 12 weeks I had with my baby girl. I'm looking forward to the 12 week break I'll get when Baby #3 comes along...

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Chase is in a mimicking phase. He copies everything we say and do. We have found that we really need to watch what we say when we have a two-year-old parroting back to us. And while it can be annoying at times, it can also make for some pretty great photos like this one: *And I find it pretty darn cute that Chase is holding a magazine called "Toddler" which incidentally is not a magazine for toddlers but about toddlers which I got for free at the pediatricians office.

Wordless Wednesday!

I've Been Tagged!

I was tagged by Jessica. So here is what you gotta do if someone tags you: 1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog. 2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. 3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. 4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog . Here are my seven facts--some weird, some random. All true. 1) I have extremely small feet and can buy children's sneakers (which are much cheaper but oft pink and sparkly) 2) I eat candy bars by first eating off all the chocolate and then eating the middle 3) Both of my childbirths were completely natural and med-free despite the fact that I am normally a big wuss with a very low threshold for pain 4) I have a horrible habit of using up the toilet paper and not replacing it with a new roll 5) I have a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology but my current job is not in that field 6) My hair is naturally very curly and hopelessly frizzy (and I HATE it) so I pay lots of money for a Japanese straightening process every 6 months. It is worth every penny. 7) Sadly, I am so new to blogging that I don't have 7 people to tag. Everyone I know who has a blog has already been tagged by Jessica, Jenni, Margaret, or Michelle. Sorry ladies. It looks like I'll be breaking the chain.

Separated At Birth?

Is it just me or do Suzanne Sommers and Donatella Versace share a striking resemblance to Janice from the Muppets?