Happy Birthday, Jack!

Today Jack turns 7! Happy Birthday! His little soiree is later on today.

A curious looking Jack at about a year old.

Jack in his tuxedo at Kara's Sweet Sixteen party in 2004.

Jack this part Christmas.

Picture of the Week

STILL can't find the cord, which concerns me. It's possible I packed it and left it in the hotel. I'll have to pick up a new one tomorrow.

But here's a picture of the week just the same:


This is Lindsay with the giant fort we built after the Blizzard of '96 hit New York.

This Looks AWESOME!

The best one yet, I think!

The Return!

I'm back from Puerto Rico - had a GREAT time! Right now I'm tired from the trip and need to find my camera cord so I can upload all the pictures. I MAY have packed it, but I didn't see it ON the trip and I haven't seen it anywhere in the apartment yet so I hope that it turns up soon. I'll hold off on pic of the week until I find it, and if I don't, I'll do a different picture of the week!

Until Next Wednesday...

...posts may be few and far between. I am heading down to Puerto Rico tomorrow and while I WILL have the laptop and I WILL have internet at the hotel, I highly doubt that I will use it to post here that much. So it's off for a week and I'll be back next Wednesday just in time to post next week's picture of the week (which I am CERTAIN will be from the trip!).

If I get a spare moment in the evenings, I will try and post some pictures and thoughts and whatnot from the trip, but we'll see how that goes - I'll strive for the first ever LIVE edition of Travel Tales but I know I won't be able to keep up with the entire trip. There's so much to see and do in only five days! But you KNOW that I will be updating just as soon as I get back with lots of pictures and stories!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Today is Grandma Aurora's birthday! Happy Birthday!


This was always one of my favorite pictures of Grandma and Popops when they were younger. It just looks very glamorous!

Picture of the Week

Here's Robert at LAST year's Forbidden Pleasures Day at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I will be missing it this year, but don't feel too bad cause I'll be gallavanting in the rainforest in Puerto Rico! I leave the day after tomorrow!

Quote of the Week

"I sometimes find, and I am sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind.... At these times... I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one's mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one's leisure."

-J.K. Rowling, "The Pensieve," Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2000, spoken by the character Albus Dumbledore

Changes

I've changed things up, yet again! This time, I've decided to include non-family related news, since I do so all the time anyway, and just step things up. I am still looking for the perfect template... hopefully I'll find it soon. There's always one tiny thing that's wrong with it when I see it. I guess that's what happens when you're too picky. In any case, expect more changes to come as I spruce up the place and see what I can do with my limited HTML skills!

I have some ideas.

By the way, photo gallery should have new pictures very soon. I'll be putting up the album from Bryan and BJ's get-together.

One Week!

One week left until I'm flying down to Puerto Rico for five days of relaxation. The computer's comin' with me so we MAY have our first even LIVE edition of Travel Tales!

This Week's Happenings...

This week we went to Bryan and BJ's wedding reception (I know Bryan from work and coincidentally mom knows BJ from the Singer's Forum - we only made this discovery about a month or two ago!). Saw the gang from work, which was fun and we had a nice time.

Kristi, Michelle, and Me. Sadly, I have a tan in this picture. You really wouldn't know it though, would you?
Michelle, Me, Jackie and Kristi - again, I'm super white! Hopefully Puerto Rico will fix that.
Showing off more of my whiteness with Anthony and Tamir - though, admittedly, you can't compare "whiteness" with Tamir ANY day of the year AND I do kind of look pink here.

Saturday we're off to a comedy club and then we're having dinner. Tomorrow's only one week until Puerto Rico!

Tales of a Seven-Year-Old

This is Installment # 3 of my journals. I still have quite the ways to go in my first journal and then we'll see how far I'll take actually posting these thoughts. For the most part, my current journals are full of fantastical ramblings and lists of things I need to do the next day!

In any case, I'm procrastinating from cleaning and doing this instead for a few minutes! As usual, I'm leaving the original spelling and grammar in tact. I'll put a correction in parentheses if I think it's hard to understand!

Also, these are especially funny to read right now because they are pretty much EXACTLY 20 years ago, give or take a couple of days!

Entry # 9 - July 16, 1988

Last night I sleep over at Amanda's.

We played with her freind Jenen (Janine).

We had a lot of fun.

Ther was an aregue (argument) about a dumb Ken doll betwin Amanda and Jenen.

After the aregu was over we had lunch because we all were hugry.

***

Entry # 10 - July 18, 1988

Yesterda I went to Jordon's house.

I played baskitball.

Lindsay and Jordan dindin'd (didn't) play with me.

Today I will go to the botanic garden.

***

Entry # 11 - July 19, 1988

Today we will go to a play grup at Ambers.

I think we'll have fun.

***

Entry # 12 - No date.

Last night I slepet over at my coisns house.

Lindsay and Jordon were crazy.

They wouldn't go to slep.

***

Entry # 13 - No date.

Today I will go see Big top pee wee. I might bring Kate and Lindsay might bring Shan (Shane).

***

Entry # 14 - No date.

Today is Lindsay's party. She invited a lot of people. I don't know if Kate is comeing.

***

Entry # 15 - No date.

Today I will go to gym in school. It will be lots of fun. Last week my teem won for playing hokey (hockey, NOT hooky!). It was lots of fun. They other team lost. The End.

***

Entry # 16 - October 31, 1988

Today is Hallaween. I'm going trick of treating with amanda. We will get lots of candy.

***

Entry # 17 - November 26, 1988

Today I went ice stating with Courtney and Mom, dad and Lindsay. It was lots of fun with evryone. I loved it.

***

Well, clearly at this point in my writing I have learned many new adjectives. Everything is still just FUN or FUNNY or A LOT OF FUN. The entries seem to get more involved after that last one - apparantly being in the second grade started to have an influence on me (and you can't see it cause these are typed, but my handwriting is A LOT better!).

Picture of the Week

Despite having hundreds of pictures, I am running out of good ideas for picture of the week! Hopefully this summer will bring some new fabulous pictures into the mix, but I'll continue to weed through and find the good ones!


An exhausted Emily and Kara on the floor of Jordan's room in Los Angeles. This was after we had spent the day at Disneyland, which we all saw for the very first time! (That actually may NOT be true in my case; I think I remember being told that I went there as a baby, but I don't remember it so it doesn't count anyway!)

Quote of the Week (Two Days Late)

I have forgotten to add the quote of the week to the site this week. Anyway, here it is:

"Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain."
-Author Unknown

Friday Night at Keyspan Park

Dad had some tickets to an All-Star Cyclones Game so a bunch of family and friends headed out to Keyspan Park to enjoy the game, the fireworks and, of course, the hot dogs! The game was played by a number of famous current and former football players, as well as Billy Blanks, the creator of Tae-Bo.

Kara and Emily waiting outside before the game.
Audrey and Lindsay with their snacks.
Kara and Emily during the game.
Lindsay with her raffle tickets - she didn't win anything.

Mom's Review

Mom got reviewed on Cabaret Exchange (the link is to the article I quoted from).

"I was really knocked out by someone new to me named Wendy Russell. Her ballad singing and emotion-tinged voice conveying honesty and sensitivity are nothing short of magnificent. I really can’t wait to see her do a show--- if this night was any indication of what’s to come, alert the cabaret midwives: a star is about to be born." - Rob Lester

Picture of the Week

Ted, me, Lindsay and Grandma along the water in Rockford, Illinois during the summer of 1991. Check out my horrible choice of footwear!

Announcing a New Blog

Visit my new blog, A Fine Notion to see all the latest sewing, craft and other projects I am working on. This is an effort to make the family site more about simple family news and pictures. Coming soon to the site will be pictures of the things I am currently working on, including a new bag and a new dress! I also plan to continue the Anatomy of a Dress series, both with my projects and with the ones that get produced for next year's play.

Quote of the Week

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."
~e.e. cummings, 1955

Photo Gallery Updated

The photo gallery has been updated with pictures from this past weekend's adventures upstate. Click here to view the album.

Weekend Highlights

This weekend I headed up to Orange County, intending to go to Alexandra's Graduation Party and then come home. However, I ended up early for the party so I stopped at Carol's house to kill time and visit with Carol, James and the boys. We headed to the party together, then they suggested I stay overnight rather than drive home, even though they would be at the Green family reunion.

Well, long story short, I ended up AT the Green family reunion a bit, and staying at Carol's overnight, making a whole weekend of it! Here are some highlights - more will be in the picture gallery shortly!

Grandma gets creative with the confetti at Alex's party.
Nicholas tries to drink the water falling off of the tent.
Ben, Mary Lou, Carol and Chris at Alex's party.
A blue-mustached (from Gatorade) Daniel poses in the grass.
Nicholas and I pose with the flowers.

A New Look - Yet Again

Apparantly I'm horribly indecisive and can't come up with a suitable template for the family blog. I'm sure I'll figure one out soon. For now, we'll test out this green one and see if I can get used to it enough to keep it... we'll probably just end up going back to the darker dots, as I always seem to return to them!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Indenpendence Day!

We're having an impromptu barbecue over here - I think there is literally ONE guest! Oh well, that's what we get to throwing together a part on Wednesday!

Picture of the Week

One night after a party in June 2006, Lindsay thought it would be a BRILLIANT idea to stick her face into a cake. We won't even discuss the food fight that ensued before that.

July is...

National Baked Beans Month
National Ice Cream Month
National Tennis Month
Read An Almanac Month
Anti-Boredom Month
Hitchhiking Month

I recommend trying all those things - except maybe the hitchhiking (that can't be safe!).

And, in the spirit of it being Anti-Boredom Month (and ironically July being the month of the year I am the MOST bored!), I will attempt to come up with interesting things to do everyday to decrease your boredom.

Today, however, I am going shopping - so that's everyone's Anti-Boredom Assignment today.