Can you Believe the Time?

Can you believe it has been over 6 weeks since Lindsay joined the clan!! I can hardly believe it. Lindsay had her one month check up a week ago (I know, a little late in posting the details). She is in the 75th percentile for both her height and her weight. I was a little shocked, since both of her sisters barely made it on the chart at the same age. See what happens when they get to cook a little longer I guess. She weighed in at 10lbs 3oz and measured 22.25 inches long. Her nickname is fitting more and more. Allie and Ryleigh have both taken to calling her "tank". Although Allie calls her Lindser Tank. It is really cute.

Ryleigh also had an appointment the same day. She needed to get the second half of her flu shot. She did great. No tears or whining at all from her. And as a reward for her bravery she received two Backyardigans stickers. You would have thought she won the lottery. It was so fun.

Lindsay is really a good baby and has been getting better at sleeping at night. She does really well with her sisters always wanting to love on her, but lets us know when she has had enough. She loves to be held and has begun to smile. It is really great.

Just thought I would share Lindsay's progress with everyone. We are so grateful to have her in our family and look forward to all the "firsts" again.

Lindsay's Blessing

When we were down at Mom's at the beginning of November, one of the things that we needed to accomplish was find a date that would work to bless Lindsay, so that as many family members could attend as possible. After a straw poll was taken, it was decided that December 2nd worked out best for us, as that date was also working for Rachel, as her father would be in North Carolina and be able to possibly participate as well. I talked to Bishop Duersch, and he said that would be fine.

Well, it turned out that we picked the weekend that they were calling for our first ice storm of the year. Great. Well, Rachel's father, wife and Zach/Daniel came up on Friday night, and ended up staying in a hotel room that Becky rented for them. Mom and Thad came up Saturday night, then Andrew/Amy and Nancy all came up Sunday morning. Andrew called Saturday night to see if what time that church started, and said he would call in the morning for directions. Well, we weren't up when he called the first time, but the second time he called we were. They ended up getting a later start than they would have liked, but started out for the journey, determined to get here. Well, as time passed that morning, and showers were finished, and people getting dressed, it was looking close as to whether or not Nancy, Andrew and Amy were going to get to our house in time. We got a call from Nancy, giving her "40" and not even 3 mins after that call, Andrew called to give us same. Even with leaving after Nancy by about a half-hour to fourty five mins, Andrew was now only about 3 miles behind her. So, we all piled into the cars and got to the church only a few mins late. The blessing was pretty much what you'd expect, I was nervous that I was going to say something wrong, or bless her with the wrong name.

Wes and Beckie (Rachel's dad and step-mom) left church right after sacrament meeting with the boys, because they had such a long drive back. The rest of us returned to our house for a family dinner we put together, before everyone returned home. It was a nice weekend, and I am glad to have everyone show up that could have. Pictures to follow.

???

Why am I watching Project Runway right now?

::goes to find movie with guns and bombs::

::digs out Transformers: The Movie::

Ahhh..... much better!

Ahso .... Vely Tastee .. |o)

I was a late comer when it came to "Chinese" food. To this day, I remain a picky eater. Chinese always has tons of veggies, which I am not a big fan, or has odd sounding if not odd tasting sauces that the stuff is cooked in. I remember the first night that I was taken to Chinatown in D.C. and ordered my first dish, Orange chicken. I wasn't too sure it sounded great or not, but in my condition at the time, I would have eaten just about anything. It ended up being great, and I stuck to ordering that as my staple for a long time, even though Chinese food was never at the top of my list of foods to eat. Then one night, my oldest friend, Alan Kanyan, and I went to Ying Chang's (sp?) in Fairfax for dinner. I knew it was there, as it's only about a mile and change from Mom's house, but due to my avoidance of Chinese, I never went. Well, that's when I found out about General Tso's chicken and hot/sour soup.


I couldn't have found a food that screamed Aaron more than this. Basically it's fried chicken nuggets cooked in a hot and sweet sauce, with dried hot peppers. It's spicy, sweet, and served with white rice. That place became a regular of Alan and mine, especially when they started their lunch buffet. I just love the crabmeat rangoons, General's chicken, the hot/sour soup and other fare offered on the buffet. When we moved up here to Pennsylvania, one of the things we tried to find was "our" chinese food greasy spoon. We tried all over Pottstown, but the General's chicken up here is way different than what I got used to at home. It's more of a sweet and sour sauce, with a ton of carrots, onions, broccoli and other filler to hide the fact that there isn't much chicken in the dish. Rachel is okay with the food, as sweet and sour chicken is pretty much the same no matter where you order from. So, now I've found that sesame chicken at our new greasy spoon chinese joint is closer to what I'm used to. It's not as spicy as I like, but at least it isn't eight bucks worth of broccoli and ninety-five cents of chicken.


Whenever we go back to visit the family in Virginia, we always try to squeeze in a trip to Ying Chang's for lunch with Mom, Nancy, or whomever wants to go with. On our last trip, Allison saw that I was using chop-sticks (very gay, I know) to eat my food, and wanted her own set to try. I attempted to give her the kid friendly version, where the back end is molded together, but she wanted the ones that are just like Daddy's. Well, here's the result:











She had a ball eating the yellow noodles, and actually ate something besides the mini desserts they have. The one bad thing was that the little (Avenue Q reference coming) cawrring me olee enter, offensive to me Lady wasn't there for Mom to talk to about the water, her kids, or general merriments. Oh, well, such is life, the food was just what I wanted and I was able to enjoy not only the Tso's chicken, but they also had sesame chicken as well.

Sorry

Okay, for the 4 or 5 of you who read this blog, I apologize for not posting much this month. I work in the grocery business, so November is a very busy time for me. That coupled with the new baby caused me to procrastinate posting much of anything. Well, something happened recently that has caused me to want to post something that's been bothering me since this event.

Okay, first off - I am not perfect. I make mistakes in my life. Some are really big ones, others are minor. I don't always consider the feelings of others, I curse more than I should, I don't eat a balanced diet, I talk about people behind their back, I talk about breasts a lot, I watch too much TV, I have downloaded songs illegally, I don't mow my lawn or do yardwork religiously, I am blunt with the truth, these and many other traits are things that I am not always proud of.

But one thing I am not is a sanctimonious flake of a person, who casts people aside like they are garbage if they exhibit a flaw, or do something to me that I don't like. If a person wrongs me, realizes their mistake and apologizes, I am more than willing to accept them into my life again. I do believe in second chances for people whom I have welcomed into my life as friends. I only "burn the bridge" with a person after repeated violations of my trust or if there is no sorrow for their actions. I also am not a person who just meets sorrow with silence, and will accept an apology with words when sorrow is expressed. I just don't understand how someone, who claims to be a Christian, would do this. It's spelled out in the Bible, to forgive people. No one is asking you to forget, for the love, and move on like nothing happened. I'm not even asking to be welcomed back into your good graces. All I am asking for is to be forgiven, and then if the bridge is still too far to cross, then it doesn't have to be. It's just frustrating for me right now, as I have lost someone that was important for me from my life.

What I did was wrong, and I am sorry for it. But let's just get this straight: I have apologized, over and over. I cannot do more than that.

The Final Countdown

Well, today marked the end of Allison's first season of competitive soccer. Last Sunday was supposed to be the end, but due to the weather last week, it was decided to postpone the final weekend to November 3-4th. The last weekend of Pottsgrove soccer is called a tournament, as all the teams play 3 games, and the association turns into festival mode as well. There were soccer vendors, a moon-bounce, but no funnel cake. Disappointed was I. Daniel and Zachary were able to take part in some of their games, but as Becky was leaving that day as well, they weren't able to play in all of them. Zach made two games, and Daniel only one. It was very cold, and the wind was swirling, but we were only able to stay for half of one of Zachary's games. Lindsay was bundled up, but even so, with the wind blustering across her little face, it just made it difficult for us to rationalize us staying. Becky came back to the house, and left soon after she packed a few more things into her SUV before her trip home. Our year of service came to an end, with tears of thanks, and a brief hug with each of them. They arrived home safely in Carolina at 8:00 PM or so. Things seem quiet again without them, and I do miss having them around after getting used to them being here. I hope that they will adjust to being home with Mom again well, but have no doubt they will.

Allison's games were on Sunday, starting at 2:00 PM. For the rest of the season, the first half hour is spent on drills, and a mini-practice for a half hour. The rest of the hour is spent on the game, it's really up to the coaches. Well, this weekend there was no practice time, just three 20 minute games with no half-time break. The first game went great, with Allison's team scoring a ton of goals, and most of them by players who hadn't scored at all in the rest of the season. The second game was more of the same, as the team showed real signs of progress from the beginning of the year when we had only two kids who ever scored. That game showed that Allison was tired, and she ended up playing with a boy on the other team more than the soccer game. Coach Chris looked at us at one point and said, "Looks like someone has a little boyfriend." We laughed, and then mosied over to the last field for the final game. We ended up getting hammered that game (even though no official score is ever kept) by that team, but all the kids were tired and just wanted it to be over. Allison came over to us and was so excited about getting her trophy. Coach Vince gathered the kids around him, and handed a trophy to each of the players, with words of praise for each of them. Allison was called, and Coach Vince said, "This player was scared to play sharks and minnows when we first started, but she overcame that and scored a goal this season." He was great with her, and I thanked him for all his help in getting Allison to understand the game and enjoy herself. If he's coaching in the spring for the afternoon session, I want him to coach her again. Rachel and I are toying with the idea of trying to coach a pee wee team, if my schedule permits. Congrats Allie on your first foray into competitive sports .... you BETTER DO WELL !!! (giggles)

Halloween

Our last holiday with the boys ended up being Halloween. The original plan was for Becky to stay with us through Thanksgiving, and then she would return to North Carolina with the boys over their school break. Unfortunately, Becky was only getting two weeks leave from her unit, since she extended her active duty stint with the Army. We had already planned to have the boys with us, so we got costumes ready for the big night. Rachel and I were having a hard time with Allison deciding on a costume, as she kept changing her mind. Shocker, I know. We were at Target, and found a SuperGirl costume she really loved, but it was too big for her. She was so upset that it wasn't going to fit her, and we were back at square one. Finally, a few days before Halloween, we ended up at K-Mart, as all their costumes were discounted by 50%, and we were determined to find something that would work. Well, we found the same Supergirl costume there, but it was still one size too big. We bought it anyway, and decided in pure parent fashion to "make it work" by pinning it if we had to. Ryleigh was pretty easy, as we found an adorable Red Riding Hood costume almost right away. I got a hold of Becky while she was still in Carolina, and told her that Zach wanted to be a Carolina Panthers football player. She was able to get hold of a jersey (a freakin' nice one for a kid), and he was done. Daniel was done a long time ago, as he first wanted to be Diego. Rachel and I felt that was really juvenile for him, and he was that last year anyway. He changed to a Power Ranger, even though I felt this was juvenile, too. We were at Kohl's and found a nice costume, for cheap, and bought it weeks ago. So, we were done.

Rachel and I have been going with the Gallion's for trick-or-treating in their neighborhood for the last two years, and decided to go ahead and do that again. So, off we went. It ended up being a good time, albeit with the older kids having to be constantly reminded to wait for the younger kids. It was so funny, since this was Ryleigh's first year of T-o-T, and the first two or three houses she kept wanted me to open her candy immediately. She soon got the hang of it, and had fun with it. By the end of the night, she wanted to walk like the other kids, but wouldn't let go of her little duck that her prizes were stored in. So, I was the caboose in our train with her, and Allie ended up walking with Kirk Gallion and holding his hand. I am so glad we have them as friends, and that my kids feel comfortable with Dee and Kirk. By the time we took the 10 minute trip home, Ryleigh was crashed, and ended up with her costume as her pajama's as well. Oh, well, it was fun in any case.