We roll like that.

Good job finding us mom. We only stole a bag of marshmallows to munch on behind the kitchen

island. No crime No time...now leave us alone with our marshmallows!

Let's take a break

This morning Nora was up real early. She likes to get up and talk to her Dad before he leaves for work. Charlotte comes down dressed for the day. Two mornings in a row, she'll wake up and dress herself before we even see her. I think I like this, but also a little sad my baby doesn't need me to pick out her clothes. Who knows...I'll probably be dressing her again tomorrow!

We should be cleaning for our playdate tomorrow, but we've been scrapbooking and playing dolls this afternoon. I actually just put them in their rooms for their nap. Glad we started naptime again. So far, so good....

New layout

Overcast day today and it's a good time to work on our scrapbooks!

Yes my yankee friends

Memorial Day weekend and the pool is open. Nora and Charlotte put their bathing suits on this morning at 7am! There was a lot of work (Craig), playing(girls), and reading(who me!) today so we made our trip down to the pool this evening. Craig went in with the girls and they are definitely ready for pool season. Both went underwater and didn't want to leave at all.

Graduation Celebration

Nora has completed her first year of preschool and we went to her graduation ceremony Wednesday night. Nora and her class sung songs and everyone watched a slide show of the year.

The kids all went back to the classrooms and then parents were supposed to pick up their kid in the room. We had to walk by a table of all kinds of cake to get to Nora, so Charlotte didn't want to have anything to do with getting her sister, she was mesmerized by the Cakes! Just like her mother!

We've started taking evening walks on the golf course. We hardly ever see anyone, but tonight we had to step aside for some late golfers. These guys must have hit at least 6 balls between them teeing off on the 18th. They couldn't see where their balls were landing, so we started taking pictures of the girls. I've decided it is very hard to get a decent picture of Charlotte because she never wants to stand for a picture so everything I have of her, she is moving or I get a picture of the side of her head! So when they completed the hole, we scouted around and found 7 balls on the outskirts of the green! Good bounty for the night. I told the family we'll have to start a tally.

Cougars united for Cook!

You know who you are!

Cougars for Cook!

Everybody looks happy, right?

Broadway, Here I come!!!

So our big dance recital weekend has come and gone but I wouldn't be me if I didn't have a story about something crazy happening. Friday night's dance recital was at 6:00p.m. and Nora was a beautiful dancer and made her mama so proud I had tears in my eyes. Her dance was probably was 30 minutes into the start of the show and after her part I raced back to the dressing room to hug my baby and congratulate her. We went back out to the auditorium to watch the rest of the show and especially Charlotte who kept everyone entertained around us with her dancing in the aisle! But alas we left after Act 1 because it was just too long and I was worried the longer Craig watched some of the um....less talented dancers....the more he thought he was wasting money and he kept whispering it was time to sign the kids up for soccer or tennis! OK...it was a great night because we had Grandma Judy down from Rochester and we all got to see Nora's first dance.

So let's move on to dance day 2. The dance on Saturday started at 2:00 p.m., but for some terrible reason I had it stuck in my head it started at 2:30. Can you see where this is going?LaDiDa Ann was floating around all morning and afternoon. We're eating snacks at 1:30, I dress Nora in her costume at 1:50....we take pictures outside for a while...pile in the truck and we're halfway there and Craig looks at the clock, it's 2:12 and he says.."I thought this thing started at 2:00 today" My heart stalled and I started to panic....we pull out our tickets...they say 2:00! Holy C#@+! We tear into that high school, we're beeping at cars to get out of our way, driving around people, Craig pulls up to the auditorium doors, I jump out, scoop Nora and start a full out run to get her inside with her class. I book to the dressing rooms...the other little girls aren't there...random stage moms see me and yell out "Her dance is happening right now...they've already started!" This is my nightmare, not real, not real is running through my head. My heart is racing, my lungs hurt, I'm racing around in wooden clogs, for heaven's sake, but we didn't come this far for nothing! So I turn around, clutching my baby and I see that stage door and I tear it open and see I got us backstage on the right where that little girl in my arms belongs...and I put her down and give her a good shove and she twirls out to where she is meant to be! The stage mom turns and looks at me in astonishment and I start this crazy hysterical laughter because I figure I probably lost my mind already. Is she going to yell at me....she can't hurt me...I'm already a crazy woman and now a bad mother! I tell her this in between breaths of hysteria. She pats my shoulder and tells me I'm not a bad mother and it's all OK. The dance ends, Nora comes over to me and I hug my baby and tell her she was fantastic and Nora tells me..."I only got to dance the end!" Someone give me the award for world's worst mother already! So to make matters even sadder, I carry Nora into the auditorium and see Craig, Grandma, and Charlotte standing with an usher trying to find their seats and Craig has his camera and equipment to take Nora's picture dancing and I have to tell them it's all over and they missed it.

All was not lost, so don't get too sad. We All saw Nora dance on Friday night. I just told Craig to leave his camera at home because all the dance communist manifesto stuff said No Flash Photography and I didn't want Craig to make us stand out and I'd be embarrassed. Yeah I'd gladly take Craig and his flash photography over my tsunami of embarrassments any day! Lesson learned...see ya later dance class until next year if they'll have us!

Watch out boys!

APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO DATE MY DAUGHTER NOTE: This application will be incomplete and rejected unless accompanied by a complete financial statement, job history, lineage, and current medical report from your doctor. NAME_____________________________________ DATE OF BIRTH_____________ HEIGHT___________ WEIGHT____________ IQ__________ GPA_____________ SOCIAL SECURITY #_________________ DRIVERS LICENSE #________________ BOY SCOUT RANK AND BADGES__________________________________________ HOME ADDRESS_______________________ CITY/STATE___________ ZIP______ Do you have parents? ___Yes ___No Is one male and the other female? ___Yes ___No If No, explain: _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES SECTION: Church you attend ___________________________________________________

How often you attend ________________________________________________

When would be the best time to interview your: father? _____________ mother? _____________ pastor? _____________

SHORT-ANSWER SECTION: Answer by filling in the blank. Please answer freely, all answers are confidential.

A: If I were shot, the last place I would want to be shot would be: ______________________________________________________________

B: If I were beaten, the last bone I would want broken is my: ______________________________________________________________

C: A woman's place is in the: ______________________________________________________________

D: The one thing I hope this application does not ask me about is: ______________________________________________________________

E. What do you want to do IF you grow up? ___________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

F. When I meet a girl, the thing I always notice about her first is: ______________________________________________________________

G. What is the current going rate of a hotel room? __________________

I SWEAR THAT ALL INFORMATION SUPPLIED ABOVE IS TRUE AND CORRECT TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH, DISMEMBERMENT, NATIVE AMERICAN ANT TORTURE, CRUCIFIXION, ELECTROCUTION, CHINESE WATER TORTURE, RED HOT POKERS, AND HILLARY CLINTON KISS TORTURE.

_________________________________________________________ Applicant's Signature (that means sign your name, moron!)

Thank you for your interest, and it had better be genuine and non-sexual. Please allow four to six years for processing. You will be contacted in writing if you are approved. Please do not try to call or write (since you probably can't, and it would cause you injury). If your application is rejected, you will be notified by two gentleman wearing white ties carrying violin cases. (you might watch your back) To prepare yourself, start studying Daddy's Rules for Dating. Daddy's Rules for Dating Your dad's rules for your boyfriend (or for you if you're a guy) :

Rule One: If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two: You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three: I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four: I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a 'Barrier method' of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five: It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only from you on this subject is: 'early.'

Rule Six: I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven: As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process than can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge . Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight: The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka - zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual themes are to be avoided; movies which feature chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine: Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied, balding, middle-aged, dimwitted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten: Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi . When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit the car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car - there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

Haha! This was part of a funny email I once got...felt like a laugh today.

I love that pic of Craig with the girls. It was taken by me the day Charlotte was born.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Best of Times...Worst of Times

Well, our week started out great and it quickly fell apart. On Monday afternoon, the girls received a package from Aunt Sue Sue that contained the beloved Lelli Kelly shoes for Nora.
Did a 4yr old child ever love a pair of shoes more? They are pink, sparkly, and crazy cool. Charlotte got a very sweet pair of reef sandals with a leopard print that she calls her "giraffe shoes". Probably because of the pattern, but I like to think it's because they have a slight platform. Then for a double whammy, another box appeared on the doorstep from Grandma Judy containing all kinds of cute fairy items. Little skirts, wands, plates, cups, and candy, plus so much more that I couldn't keep track. It was a madhouse with all the new goodies. So after our rush of goodness, we left for Nora's last dance class before the dance recital next week. Then it was on to Moe's for our Cinco DE Mayo dinner. Then Nora started to burn up with a fever. I gave her some children's Tylenol and got a call from our neighbor down the street. Her daughter had roseola. She gave it to Nora. Great. We missed a whole week of school and our Mother's Day tea. So Sue Sue sent more shoes. Clogs from Hannah Andersson. Nora has pink, Char has blue and she walks like a baby deer unsure of her legs in them! Too cute!

Zoo Days

This past April, the girls and I purchased memberships for the Richmond Zoo so we can attend all year round. With prices skyrocketing on everything right now, if we go at least three times this year our membership is more than paid for. Now we have a a good activity to fall back on for those long days of summer! It's actually a pretty cool zoo too. You can buy a cup of zoo snacks at the gate for 2 bucks and practically feed every animal on the premises with the exception of the lions, tigers, and bears (oh my... yeah I couldn't resist!) I was unable to get a snapshot of the girls feeding the giraffes, but here are a couple of them feeding the barn animals. I'll get better shots this summer because we went on a Friday morning when it looked like every school age kid in Richmond was on a field trip there. Note to self...Do Not go to zoo on a day when there are at least 50 school buses in the parking lot. Turn around and Leave!