The Big Sleepover

The Pond kids have not slept over at Grandma's House in ages. I was getting ready to leave Saturday night and I got attacked...hugs, kisses, pleases...."PLLLLLLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSE!!!!!!! CAN WE STAY????" Well, what can you say to THAT. So, they spent the night away from me. I can't really rememeber the last time they were away from home. They had a blast. Mirabel said she stayed up until morning...which my mother verified was pretty close to true. She was up until at least 11pm. The Nadeau kids slept over also. So, Justin slept with Marina and Mirabel slept with Derek. I guess they played games, watched The Disney Channel and read books. The next day, they got up and went sledding and ate lunch. It was a blast. I am so glad Mirabel finally got to have a sleepover. She has been dying to. She is already saying that her birthday is going to be a "sleepover" which I find hard to imagine with a bunch of 5 year olds, but we'll see. Maybe we can do pajamas or something. Especially, when I was 5... I remember walking home from the neighbor's house in the middle of the night from a sleepover. It was just crazy. She is such a girlie girl. And the fact that she sleeps with me most of every night doesn't help her case much.

Uncle Roy turns the big 5-5. Happy Birthday!

The candy bar flowers

The Cake...and the Paparazzi

Can't have ice-cream without chocolate syrup! Lots and Lots!

Mr. Universe

Mirabel decided she was going to play Beauty Shop. We were all the victims...I mean clients. We got our hair done and our nails painted. We even got to pick out a necklace!

Uncle Roy gets a Birthday Make-Over

Great-Grandma gets her hair and nails done

Lookin' good Shel!

We went to the Playcare Art Show today. Mirabel only had a few pieces in the show because she doesn't get there in time for art. The items she had were lovly. We had some nice strawberries and cheese and crackers. It was nice.
This morning we had Justin's conference. He is obviously the smartest kid in the class.. (ok, the teacher didn't say that...but that is what I got out of it!) Anyway, he is meeting the standard or above standard in all areas. Just an all around good kid. Quiet, reserved and afraid to be wrong....a totally different kid than I know. But, then again, I was always that way in school also.
Justin is not doing baseball this year. Baseball King...the Biggest Yankee fan ever...the kid who wears baseball uniforms as regular clothing....the kid who has been awesome at baseball since age 2....not playing baseball....hmmm. Ok. Well, I did not quite believe it so I brought the forms to the school so that when I picked him up I could turn the forms in. Well, he saw the forms and said, "What is that?" I said, "Baseball sign-ups." He said, "I told you I didn't want to play baseball!" Then, proceeded to have a hissy fit in the parking lot in front of all the parents and kids. So, basicly, I looked like a parent who was forcing my kid to play sports. I told him that maybe if we just put the forms in he might change his mind and that way he would be covered. Then, he yelled out, "What are you....deaf?? I don't want to play baseball!!" So, that was the last straw and I got in the car semi-humiliated and went straight home. So, I hope he doesn't change his mind. I was not happy. He says that t-ball is stupid, lame, and boring. I totally agree with that. But, I think that you may need to do t-ball to learn the rules and get into the program. I guess I just "don't know anything about it." (Secretly, I am happy because t-ball is really, really lame and I don't even like watching it.)

Body Crayons....the gift that brings siblings together....

Mrs. Gifford found out on her own

We had Mirabel's conference on Thursday. Mrs. Gifford was pleased to announce to us that Mirabel is extremely smart. I was pleased that SHE was finally smart enough to figure that out. As I have been saying all year, her kindergarten teacher will be in for it because I will have to get on their case about her work. I guess I don't have to now.
Last night I was up until 2am working on school project stuff and I wanted to take 1/2 day today. And my license expired from my birthday ..and with my RECORD I did not want to take any chances. Anyway, I was dropping off Mirabel and I had to have an impromtu meeting with Mrs. Gifford about Mirabel. Anyway, she has tested her and she is testing at a beginning 1st grade/end Kindergarten level in several areas. This is also something I already knew. I was just waiting to spring it on them. Anyway, the joke was on me because I missed my chance to take 1/2 day and had to work all day, and I am now driving without a license! Oh well.
Mirabel the genius.....got me yelled at by her busdriver...Aunt Winnie yesturday. Apparently, she is misbehaving. She said that Alexa told her to get up and walk around. I told her that maybe she ought to do what Mirabel tells her to do instead of what Alexa tells her to do since she is in trouble now.

"Geez Mom, do you have to take a picture of every sign in the world?" "No.....just the ones that involve you darling."

Shelley is still behind us. We drove from Barre to St. Albans to Jericho in a 3 hour span!

Jackson after their second win!

Justin's tooth is hanging by a thread...it is still not out! EWWW!

Fun at the hotel!

Mirabel eating after a swim

Pizza, drinks and swimming at the hotel in Berlin

Only in Vermont ...the hotel's indoor pool is across a 25ft snowy gap and in another building

Justin celebrating his goal!

The State Tournament

Well, this is it. The end of hockey. The kids had the first game of the State Tournament last night at 8:15pm in Barre. They were on fire. Ian scored 4 goals, Sean 1 and Justin 1 and Jackson 2. Very cool. It was exciting ...but I get so nervous when Justin is out there. He is never, ever going to be goalie dang it. I would never live through it. Anyway, when he scored he of course did his usual, skate across the ice with his stick in the air, but then when he went over near the box, everyone jumped on top of him in a big pile. They were very excited. When the coach opened the locker room door for the parents to come in...he said, "Where did THAT come from?" It was not a great game because it really was so one-sided. But, HEY, Essex has been on the other end of that ALL year. So, I guess we deserved that one.
The roads were really bad so we didn't get home until 10:45. It was crazy. Justin also started skiing again with the school program yesturday. He had a blast. He is in the same group with his friend Brandon. Brandon is a cutie. He is a real bad-boy. But, he is cute. I think one day he will have girls chasing all over him. Anyway, besides the stress of trying to get Justin to do his homework, eat, get all the stuff ready for the next day and get out of the house, it was a good time.

The big 0-8

Well, the other day was our wedding anniversary. We made it 8 whole years. I am so excited about my Birthday/Anniversary/Valentine's Day gift....I got an Ipod Nano. It is really cool. I got to use it to spin today. I haven't really put any new music on it...I just basicly (after 2 hrs of trying to figure out how) took the music off my MP3 and put it on the Ipod. It is very tiny so it is weird to think that you can put 2G of music or pictures on it. I think I am going to enjoy that very much. I am going to get an I-trip so I can listen to it in the car w/o headphones...like I have been with my MP3. Very annoying.

My Birthday...and Aunt Edie's of course.

Well, the big party was on Saturday night. The usual. We were all worn out from driving to Rouse's Point, NY and back earlier in the day and then shopping at Walmart afterwards. I got lots of cool clothes. I got a rug cleaner...mostly because of my last years present...Max. He is a bad...bad..dog! Oh well, I can't wait to get it out and working. I couldn't really sleep on Saturday night, I am not sure why, but I couldn't. Sunday, we got to sleep a little because the game wasn't until 11:45 and it was in Waterbury. Justin played awesome against St. Albans and they almost won. Justin scored a goal. He hit the puck from the red line and it went as slow as a puck can go....right in. The goalie was shocked. I think everyone was. But, as I always say...those are the ones that go in! It was awesome. It changed the momentum of the game. They went from one goal to two and tied. In the last minute, St. Albans scored. Oh well, for them to hold St. Albans 2-3 was a miracle on ice really. After that, I just went home and kind of slept and hung out getting ready for my school project. I watched a movie and went to bed.

The Pacemaker is being installed soon

Well, I am pretty glad the real hockey season is coming to an end. I can't take the stress. It is so hard to sit in the stands and seeing the kids play and wanting to have a bug in their ear to tell them what to do. It doesn't help to yell because they don't hear you and if they do, it distracts them and they look up and lose focus. Friday night was a game against Burlington. Burlington's coaches seem to feel that standing on the bench and yelling instructions as loud as they can works for them. I guess it does because they won...but ... the Essex kids are not used to yelling and they kept looking over towards the Burlington coaches because it was so distracting and some kids had the same name as a Burlington kid. The score was 0-0 at the end of the 1st period, and I guess Burlington didn't like that because they began to get very aggressive and kept slashing and tripping and spending lots of time in the penalty box. They especially had it out for Ian, our big scorer. He kept getting the brunt of the beatings. Anyway, it was no fun seeing them outright slash and hit the kids. Oh well, that is the name of the game...they are allowed 5 penalties per kid...why not use them, right?

Ok. Hate to have to say it, but here it is...Alan is the coolest.

So, I have been having so much trouble getting these links to actually work. I enlisted Alan to fix it and he worked very diligently today. And, as far as I can tell, it's working. Not only that, they are actually at the top of the page again. How exciting. OOOH. Anyway, that problem is fixed. Phew!

Justin had hockey at 6am today so no hockey tonight. That is exciting. But, there is hockey Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. So, I will be busy. Only two more weeks of hockey. Then, what? Not sure. What will we do with ourselves? It will be crazy.

A month and a half until the Spinning Marathon!! Yes! We are the "Going Nowhere in a Hurry" team and we need to raise money to spin. So, I hope everyone is ready to give, give, give. Last year was super cool...and this year maybe...just maybe.... I won't have tendonitis and won't have to spin no-handed. That kinda sucked. So, Shelley and Roger will have to duke it out to see who is going to get the coveted spot on the team...or maybe, they could become the Gnarly Nadeaus and form their own team! Anyway, I can't wait!

The Pledge

Ya, know...I never really think about the Pledge of Allegiance. But, every Tuesday at the school I have to say the Pledge. Odd. I think it is kind of funny that little kids say it everyday and then when you are out of school, you really never think about it again. At least...I don't...maybe I am not a real American? Dunno.