Johnny!!

I really had to take a moment to express my grief over the recent loss of Patrick Swayze. In case you didn't know, he's been battling pancreatic cancer and loss the fight yesterday. Really there were two movies that I loved him in, one being Roadhouse, because let's be real, who doesn't love the combo of him and Sam Elliot looking rowdy in mullets and jeans and kicking the asses of the town hoodlums. But, my real love for Patrick began with none other than Dirty Dancing. This was and still is my favorite movie of all times.

I truly have the fondest memories surrounding this movie. I remember seeing it in the theatre and absolutely falling in love with him. From the leather jacket to the tough car to the muscly back he reveals while teaching Baby to dance...oh swoon! I remember watching this scene over and over and over again...delicious! I also remember getting the VHS version, which was ultra cool back then, for my birthday and watching it repeatedly at Lisa's house on her giant sofa. I would take it with me every time I slept over I think! Then of course, in college it was a Nollen 303 staple! Kathleen and I would alternate between DD and Grease pretty much every day. Our other roommates would come home, look at the TV and roll their eyes! They had no appreciation for art! ;) I can recite this movie from beginning to end and in my eyes, it's what made Patrick famous. Although, I'm sure he wouldn't want to be remembered for it! I recall seeing an interview with him and he did mention that after DD came out he received lots of scripts calling for him to play the heartthrob type and he turned them down because he didn't want to be type cast, so I'm sure he's annoyed by those like me who only want to remember him as the sensitive bad-boy that girls loved and father's distrusted...but I would carry a watermelon for him anywhere, any time!

I truly am sad for this great loss and I will be watching Dirty Dancing as a vigil for weeks to come. I'm considering having a movie watching party, but let's be real, can I really fit in anything else in the next 11 days?! My darling husband however has outfitted me with both the DVD and Blue Ray versions, not to mention that I still covet my battered VHS copy, so be ready to party at a moment's notice in case I change my mind! Goodbye, Johnny Castle... thank you for keeping Baby out of the corner, staying true to yourself, never knocking Penny up and remember that you will always live in my heart!

Mad Greeks!

Vroom, vroom!

safety first!

enjoying our food!

Sophia's favorite...gyro sandwich!

If you look carefully, you can see that she's spreading extra tatziki onto the pita before each bite

Nick and Aunt Bess

Shelby and Stacy

We hit another Greek Festival tonight for some good ol' family fun! There are two Greek churches in the area; our church, which is the "Kansas" church and the other church, which is the "Missouri" church. The Missouri church has a much more showy festival, which in some ways is nice, but I think most of us prefer our church's homey atmosphere and ala carte menu. Nonetheless, the food was tasty and the company was even better! Although Sophia probably would have been happier traveling on the motorcycle, we all piled into Marsha to put her third row to the test! We got 7 people inside and I think we were all fairly comfortable! We could have fit one more in between mom and Shelby, who were in the third row, but that would have been tight! It was kinda fun to pack in there though and really get the use out of it. However, in just a matter of time, there will two car seats in the back and things will not be so accessible! As per expected, Sophia was thrilled with the music and dance and I literally had to stop her from running onto the stage to join in. She settled for sitting on the stairs that led to the stage and watching for a bit. She enjoyed her gyro and it was seriously too funny to see her spreading on the tatziki before every bite, she knows where the good stuff is!

Little Miss Perfect

Sophia had her two year screening from our Parents as Teachers representative yesterday and she received a perfect score! Hooray! I realize that this is just a way to keep track of benchmarks, but it is exciting to know that she is growing and developing so well. I was even surprised at a couple things she did, not even knowing that she could! One was stringing beads on a string, I didn't think she'd be able to do it as it was never something we'd even practiced, but sure enough, she did it! She didn't really like that activity though, as once she put the bead on she was quite concerned with taking it off again and didn't want to string more than one bead at once! She was also able to draw both a vertical and a horizontal line when asked, which is apparently a 3 year old skill. She also enjoys drawing circles and is pretty good at those too. Sophia also managed to stack 7 blocks on top of each other, jump with both feet and run, one of her favorite activities! Our PAT lady has always been impressed with Sophia's vocabulary and of course she passed that part with flying colors! So far I think the longest sentence I've heard from her has been about 8-9 words, pretty good I'd say! She said I should take credit for her mad language skills as it's a sign that she comes from a home where she's talked to a lot and hears a lot of language, but I'm thinking it's mostly cuz I'm a big mouth who talks too much, but hey whatever works! ;)


In other news, Spud has dropped even more. The doc said Baby has moved even lower but is still hanging out waiting to be born! Good job, Spud...stay in there just a little bit longer! I even "lost" a centimeter this week, which I was quite pleased about! My doctor attributed it to the baby moving lower which causes the height of my belly being less, I attribute it to the fact that I didn't have a dozen cupcakes at my disposal this week! I told him to let me have my happiness any way I could get it and he agreed that was probably wise! ;) Spud is still fairly active as I continue to be amazed by how much room it thinks it has in there! I have started consistently waking up around 2ish and 4ish am, so I'm thinking that this will probably be feeding times. I have such high hopes for myself during the days, where I really need to get things done, but in reality, most of it just doesn't happen. During Sophia's nap time the past few days I've been napping myself, which is wonderful, but it of course stops me from doing things that need to happen! Charlie is being a big help and has started pitching in with more housework lately, which is much appreciated. I know he's tired too, but it really helps when I don't have to bend over to clean floors, etc. We've also been finalizing plans for Sophia to spend the nights with Aunt Annie and Bama during our hospital stay and putting finishing touches on her birthday festivities. I have also been trying to get out of the house as much as possible the last few weeks, and it's been so fun! Tonight Jill and I have pedicures and ice cream on the agenda and I'm so looking forward to a ladies night!


Overall, I think I'm to a point of readiness for this baby to arrive. Like I said last week though, it needs to wait until after the party, but then it's game on! I realize it's only a week later that we're scheduled for surgery, but I'd be okay if he/she came any time during that week! Of course I have other appointments, not the least of which is my registration at the hospital, but we'll just have to wait and see I suppose!

The Surprise in on Me!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

First of all, let me say that this post is looooooong overdue, but it's not my fault! They didn't tell me to bring my camera! ;) I have been at the mercy of others and then Jodie gave me a disc of pictures, and c'mon, now, I'm not that advanced. So, now that Charlie has loaded some pics...I'm ready to post!


I love my friends, they know me so well! Last weekend Julie and Jodie were the hostesses to a surprise baby shower for Spud and me. I was tricked into thinking I was going to a Silpada party (I must say I was disappointed, but only midly!;) and when mom and I showed up at Julie's, there was a baby shower, with a theme and everything! Their theme was cupcakes and it was very well chosen! Everyone was to bring a dozen cupcakes for judging and sharing. Some people made their own, some did store bought, but all were delicious! They made me a platter and I had to sample each one and then judge the overall best. This was too difficult, as you can imagine since their must have been at least 10 different kinds of cupcakes to begin with, so they gave me a break and let me chose a winner based on cuteness and on taste. The cuteness factor went to Pam and Shelby who made cupcakes that looked like little sleeping babies with a chocolate hair curl and a plastic pacifier. Anne made a chocolate cupcake with a very creamy and delicious frosting, plus she decorated them so cute with pink and blue, sprinkles and a Hershey's kiss. I also have to give a shout-out to Lisa who was a very close runner up in the taste category with her s'mores cupcakes...they were TO DIE FOR! (Lisa, you're going to have to shoot me that recipe, by the way!) Instead of frosting she used a melted marshmallow with a little Hershey square on top, ingenious, I say!


My guests stocked me up with diapers and other goodies like wipes, bibs, and a soothing sounds bear. Plus, Jill made me some awesome books and a cd that will come in very handy once Baby arrives. Everyone also contributed to a group gift. Even Sophia, who was not in attendance, recieved a few things too. We played a few games, including one where people guessed how big Baby would be and surprisingly everyone was pretty nice. I think the largest guess was 8lbs 6oz, or somewhere around there. Sophia was 7lbs 11oz, so if the wives tales are true, Spud will be bigger, but I'm hoping not much more than 8-8.5lbs. Not that it matters too much since it will be extracted from my womb, but I still have to carry it around!


I was so overwhelmed with happiness, surprise, joy...you name it! After the party, everyone was able to take home a dozen cupcakes to share with their family...a perfect parting gift in my opinion. The only un-perfect part was that now I had all these cupcakes that I devoured far too quickly, maybe that contributed to my weight gain! Charlie and Sophia did get a couple of them, but I'm going to go ahead and take responsibility for most of the cupcake eating that happened in our house!


I think we're ready for Baby and this made everything even more joyful! Thank you to everyone who planned, contributed and attended...you made my day!

Blackberry Picking

Sophia found a kitty to love!

She and Isaac square off for a battle of the buckets

so cute...sharing the berries

Yes, Mom?

running through the berry bushes!

Lisa, Isaac, Sophia and I returned to The Berry Patch yesterday for a morning filled with blackberry picking. Sophia was thrilled when I told her about our activity and she immediately remembered her blueberry picking experience and talked about the buckets, the bushes and all the dogs and cats that live at the patch. Plus, she was so excited to see Isaac and talked about him all the way there! However, upon our arrival, it seems that they were already "picked-out" for the day...um really...it's only 9 am??! Apparently they had a very busy Labor Day Saturday and people were picking unripe berries so they didn't have enough ripened and ready for us that morning. Nonetheless, we had trekked all the way there and were determined to pick something! So we made the journey to the far patches and managed to find a few, and we really do mean a few, berries here and there. The kids had fun, which was really the main thing, and they managed to eat as many as they put in the buckets. Literally, I think we came home with about 20 blackberries, 1 blueberry muffin and a blueberry cobbler. I figured I may not have any dinners frozen for when the baby comes, but I sure can have a blueberry cobbler! I have my priorities, dammit!

Renaissance Festival

First time aboard a llama!

checking out some new-fangled porch swings!

making herself at home with the goat

baa baa everywhere!

kissing the singing fox puppet!

We figured we might as well make it a festival weekend...huzzah! The Renaissance Festival is a fairly big tradition here in KC and for our family it dates back to our childhood. As a family we used to go at least once a year and would have the grandest of times! My dad being my dad was so into all the acting, shows, costumes, etc. His excitement would always make it so much more fun for the rest of the family and some of my clearest and fondest memories of my childhood are from the Renaissance Festival. As an adult, Dad and I kept up our tradition and would frequent the festival each year. Most of the time it was just the two of us and we'd drink Black and Tans and roam the grounds going to see all of our favorite performers. This year was the first year I've been back since he died and it was a bit emotional for me. Although, I had some mixed emotions I wasn't quite expecting. Sophia had an absolutely wonderful time, something I must admit I didn't even think about cuz I was more worried about myself! ;) But I was so happy to see her being entertained, having fun and getting involved that it made me both happy and sad. Happy for obvious reasons, and of course sad because I missed my dad and remembered how much fun we had there. I tried to catch at least a little bit of every show that we would have watched and I dreamed of drinking Black and Tans, at least! I laughed at all the corny jokes and giggled a little extra on the inside when I knew it was something he would appreciate. There is one in particular I keep thinking about even now, hearing in my mind Dad's little chuckle as he repeats it to himself. The anniversary of his death and his birthday aren't too far away as we near closer to Baby and I have to say it does make me a bit melancholy to be going through more life changes and knowing that he won't be here to partake. It gets easier, as does everything, with time, but this time of the year is a bit harder for me to take.

However, I shan't go too far off target because in my state of pregnancy I can really fall off the cliff with too much emotion, so let's move on to how much fun Sophia had! Hopefully the pictures capture her joy and excitement of the day! It took her a while to warm up to the festivities as she was bombarded with fairies and fairy dust and wand making just upon entrance. Once she got her groove on, though, she was set to go! Our first activity was riding a llama, which I must say I really can't believe she did! She LOVED it! I walked with her but she happily bounced along atop the llama, petting it, waving to Daddy, etc. At the end she said bye-bye llama, petted it and walked away. We also listened to some pirate music, which was hilarious because she bopped to the tunes about run, whiskey and shots and when they stopped she kept hanging around and asking them to sing one more song! Should I be worried?? We also hit the petting zoo where Sophia befriended a lazy goat who took to sitting by the entrance looking for hand-outs. She just sat down right next to it and fed it and talked to it. She then went after the sheep who also surrounded her and loved her back, or maybe it was just the food! One of our final stops was the singing fox. The fox sang various kid tunes, accompanied by a guitar playing fool! At the end of the show Sophia went to put a donation in the pot and declared she wanted to kiss the fox. The fox put on some glossy red lips and puckered right up for her! This same, very sassy fox, also heckled Charlie throughout the show, it was too funny! I'm not sure what he did to deserve that, but he was a good sport! I guess I'll have to take her to some puppet shows soon, because she really thought that was fun! All in all, the three of us had a very full day (and weekend) and were happy to spend it together. We ate much, laughed and played as a family, and that can't be beat!

KC Irish Fest

Perhaps our last picture as a family of 3?
Stacy and Cody give Sophia a cuddle sandwich

trying out the bounce house

sailing down the inflatable slide

Sophia devouring her meat pie

with her turtle balloon bracelet

Princess Sophia

both girls wearing their crowns

Stacy and Cody, who recently graduated from EMT school (yay!), were working the first aid booth at this year's Irish Fest. We joined the masses for some food, fun, and music and had a great time! This year Sophia was really more equipped to handle the kids' tents and Shelby was such a good helper along the way, as usual! Surprisingly, she LOVED the traditional Scottish meat pie and ate the entire thing without blinking! I have to say I fell true to the pregnant stereotype and my favorite thing, albeit not very Irish, was the fried pickles. Charlie enjoyed some traditional fish and chips and we all appreciated the funnel cakes and frozen custard! It was a lovely evening spent with family! We're trying to get in as much as we can before we're hospital and house bound!