Name that Jack-o-Lantern

Please identify the following Jack-o-Latern in the comments:

Lyz is convinced that it is unrecognizable. She and Avery shared a pumpkin.

And the rest of them:

Mine:

Jenn’s:

Chris #1:

(hard to see but it is a really good Dora)
Chris #2:

Delaney and Baam’s:


Cupcakes for the special occasion:

We learned something about Delaney. She is normally the child of NO FEAR. It seems she is not a fan of fake bugs and people wearing masks.
Witnessed in the following videos:
#1-Delaney does not like bugs.
#2-Give Daddy Kissey-no!!

By the end of the night Delaney and the bugs were getting along just fine 🙂

Party On!

Sunday was Avery’s 5th birthday party (Her birthday is actually Friday, the night that we do Trick-or-Treat here in Amish Country, don’t ask. We all think it is very very dumb). We had tons and tons and tons of fun.

Jenn and I spent most of our time keeping Delaney occupied so that Lyz and Chris could keep their eyes on Avery and all of her friends, so sadly, most of my pictures are not of the birthday girl.

We went down a really big slide:




We watched the pigs race:



We did a hay maze:



I failed at convincing anyone to do the hedge maze (like the one in the TriWizard Cup!!)

We had hot dogs, chips and apple juice:


And cake of course:

We mined for gold:




We rode ponies:


(This would be Delaney cheering “YaYa yeah YaYa!!!”)

We told her to hold on tight, and she did it like it was her job!!
And swings:

And trains:

Check out their faces in this one:


And really big tractors:


And go karts (until Jenn and Chris got kicked off of them anywho):


More pig racing:

Fed some animals:



Phew. And then we all went home and took showers because it was nasty hot, and dude, it is OCTOBER!!!

Oh, one more thing:
October 11, 2009


October 24, 2010

Amazing!

Have I ever mentioned I’m a dork?

This picture makes me way too excited.

Balloon Release

Awhile back I mentioned going to the dead baby party.  While there I met so many wonderful women.  And other than Facebook, I haven’t seen them (not including Lyz of course) since.

One of the women, Stephanie, founded the Sweet Pea Project after losing her daughter Madeline. This year she organized a balloon release for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day.

It was magical. I know, magical doesn’t seem like the right word to describe a bunch of families releasing balloons to the skies and tears from their eyes. But it really was. It was solidarity. It was amazing. The cloudy sky opened up right as the baby’s names were read so that the balloons were highlighted on their way up into the heavens.

Stephanie really thought of everything. The paper that we wrote notes on was seed paper so that when the (biodegradable) balloon burst the seed paper will plant wildflowers.

Stephanie was so sweet. While we had met at the DBP, we hadn’t really talked all that much. When she saw me she told me that she was so sorry that the worst day of my life, was the happiest day of hers. Her rainbow baby was born the day Blue died. It was so beyond sweet of her to think that she needed to apologize for something like that! It made me weepy.

We also met up with Lyz, Avery and Delaney (who had to leave early to get to a Halloween Party, hence the costumes), and Andrea, Belle, Hudson and Nicole to honor Lyz’s Angles (long story), Asiah and Max.

More pictures:


(check out Delaney’s face)



Balloons for Blue, Honeydew, 3 angels and Right, Obtuse and Isosceles:

I remember.

Remembering Blue, Honeydew, 3 Angels, 3 Landis Angels, Gabriel, All of the August 2006 Angels and siblings, Max, Asiah, Dane, Madeline, Rayne, JJ, Wallaby, Sprout, Pearl, Agatha, Peter, Augustine, Jude, Roar, Snuffy, Turtle, 3 Flowers, Brendan, Haloumi, Laura’s Two Angels, Baby A, Stella, Liam, Beatrix and so so many more.

In preparation for Friday

As most of us know, Friday, October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day.  To participate I will be doing three things.  One of which I need your help on please.

1-I will be attending the Sweet Pea Project’s First Annual Balloon Release.

2-I will be lighting a candle at 7pm to help in creating the wave of light that will go around the world in memory of all of the lost babies.

3-I will be listing the names of my babies and of those I know as my Facebook status.  I plan on posting it every hour.  I don’t care if annoys any of my Facebook friends.  And this is where I need your help.  I need to make sure I haven’t forgotten anyone.  If I have forgotten your baby/ies in the list below, please let me know either in a comment or via email (heidimingo@gmail.com) so that I can make sure your baby/ies are included.

Blue, Honeydew, 3 Angels, 3 Landis Angles, Gabriel, All of the August 2006 Angels and siblings, Max, Asiah, Dane, Madeline, Rayne, JJ, Wallaby, Sprout, Pearl, Agatha, Peter, Augustine, Jude, Roar, Snuffy, Turtle, 3 Flowers, Brendan, Haloumi, Laura’s Two Angels, Baby A, Stella and so so many more.

Happy Blogoversary!!

Three years.  Wow.  That is a long time.

 

A sweet little blog that started off as a journal so my parents could follow my pregnancy, turned into a journal of baby loss, turned into a journal of ttcing, turned into a journal of everyday life (and flamingos of course).

 

I love my little blog.

 

Happy Blogoversary dear blog, you mean the world to me!

The Ten Commandments-Part Two

Kay, so what got me started on my Ten Commandments rant?

First I took a call from a hotel guest that had stayed here for Sukkot. She was very upset because she realized she had taken a towel home accidentally. She wanted to know if she should mail it back or send us a check to replace it. I told her that it really wasn’t worth doing either option, thank you for being honest with us, but one towel isn’t worth the hassle, especially since it was an accident. Her response? “What, you want God to be angry with me for breaking a commandment? You do know that one of the ten commandments is “Thou Shalt Not Steal” don’t you?”

She demanded to be transferred to someone higher than me to get their answer, which was exactly the same. This isn’t the Ritz, we ain’t got none of them there classy fluffy towels here.

Second, I may have rear-ended Jenn’s car while it was parked in front of me in my work parking lot.  I was parked behind her, on a hill, and when I took my foot off the brake my car drifted forward a hair and tapped her car.  Her car didn’t even move.

BUT, some other woman in the parking lot started screaming at me how I was horrible for not leaving a note.

1-Jenn’s truck is ANCIENT.  But it runs, is paid off, and holds a lot of memories for me.  I have never known Jenn without the truck.

2-The truck didn’t move.

3-Technically, I’m partial owner of the truck so why should I leave a note?

So I roll down my window and explain to the woman that the truck is mine also.  She doesn’t believe me.  Thou shalt not lie, she screams.  I calmly grab my keys out of my purse (no, my car key is not on my key ring, don’t ask) and walk to Jenn’s truck, open the door, start the truck and smile.  See?  Mine.

She didn’t apologize, she simply stomped away muttering that I was rude for not leaving a note.

The Ten Commandments-Part One

When ever I hear or think ten commandments the first story that pops into my mind is of antique shopping with my mother in northern Michigan. We used to stay at a place called the Silver Fox Resort, and right across the street was a sweet little antique shop. I was looking at the jewelery and spotted a charm bracelet where each charm was one of the commandments. Except, where “Thou Shalt Not Steal” was supposed to be, was a little tag that said “Thou Shalt Not Steal has been stolen”. I giggle about that every time I think of it!!

I am not here to preach, but most of the ten commandments seem pretty common sense to me, right? I have been yelled at twice in the last 24 hours for breaking the ten commandments. I personally don’t believe I was wrong either time.

I, for the most part, do a pretty good job of not breaking the commandments. So I started to write which commandments I was good or bad at and realized it would be more fun to do this bullet style, cause I apparently am not all that great at keeping the commandments!

1-I am the Lord thy God.  You shall have no other Gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself an idol.

*Well, most of us know how I feel about this.  As I like to say “God and I are not on speaking terms right now, ask me again next year.”  (On a side note, do those that watch American Idol break this commandment?)

2-Do not take the name of the Lord in vain

*Hmm.  I’m getting better at this one.  I say Cheese and Rice, or thanks to Glee “Grilled Cheesus”.

3-Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

*Um yah, working in a hotel does not allow me to follow this one.  I do beg for every Sunday off, but I will be honest and say because it is my favorite day of the week to nap, not because I’m keeping it holy.

4-Honor your father and mother.

*I spent the better part of my teenage years doing everything I could to not follow this one.  Let’s just say that my days may not be long upon the earth.

5-Thou shalt not murder.

*I think I’m doing pretty good with this one.  Or do fruit flies count?  And where do fruit flies come from anyway?

6-Thou shall not commit adultery.

*No problems there.  Unless you count that Jenn and I have been thinking about becoming polygamists?  We could take on a third wife to do all the boring household chores!!

7-Thou shalt not steal.

*Whoops.  I may or may not have a problem with this one that involves crabs and Christmas tree ornaments.  Let’s go with I may not.

8-Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor.

*I may have given my neighbor crap recently as he is a DJ for a radio station that had Miranda Crosgrove coming in to visit yet he couldn’t get Avery in, but I don’t typically talk crap about people, unless they really deserve it.

9-Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.

*Again, no problem with this one.  I often joke that I am not a homosexual, but a Jennsexual.

10-Thou shalt not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

*Whoops, failed again.  I covet lots of things.  Purses, cars, homes, vacations.  I am human here people!
So I guess the moral of the story is that I don’t do all that great at the ten commandments.  I shall share the stories of getting yet at for breaking them tomorrow, this post has gotten long enough!

 

All you can eat shrimp or BUST!

Not quite in that order.

Saturday we had a wonderfully full day. First we headed to the area’s annual Bridge Bust. They shut down one of the bridges going over the Susquehanna River and turn it into a glorious craft show! Joni, Lyz, Avery, Delaney, Jenn and I all stuffed ourselves into the car and headed out.

I told my mom that she has to come out next year. The whole bridge was filled with things I know my mom would love. My absolute favorite thing?:

This beautiful child’s desk. I love it. I would have killed for such an awesome desk when I was little. As it was my poor mother and I spent years looking for a specific type of desk and never found it! Joni had been inside a booth when I spotted it and I almost sat on it to stop other people from looking at it. I pulled her up to it and we both just stared for a moment. We thought the man had built it, so Joni asked if she could get it in a different stain to match her dining room. Nope, it was an antique. This made it even more desirable. Joni asked my opinion and I said “I would have given anything for this desk as a child.” And it was hers. It looks perfect in Joni’s dining room, even if the stain doesn’t match perfectly!

Everyone that I have told “We went to the Bridge Bust” instantly asks “What did you get??” Well…I got some dog treats and cat treats, Jenn got a cute little sign (Lyz got the same one…story is not blog appropriate), and I also got a rockin’ sunburn. Yes, I am so darn pale that I managed to get a sunburn, in October, with a high of 68.

More Pictures from the Bridge Bust:



What happens when you buy so much stuff you fill the double stroller with it?:

And what happens when you buy a child’s desk, 3 big stalks of corn, several other bags of goodies, and two giant bags of freebies?


That second picture is of Avery and Delaney. What? You can’t see them? You should see the position Jenn and Joni are in…

We had enough time after the bridge bust to run home and change before meeting Joni, Chris, Lyz, Delaney, Shawn, Chele, Shannon and McKenna for dinner at Red Lobster. This is a funny story in and of itself. Jenn and Lyz are really the only two shrimp lovers of the bunch, well Avery too, but she went to spend the night at GreatAunt Eileen’s house. When a vote was put up on where we should meet for dinner, and Jenn was in charge of handling the votes, we somehow ended up at Red Lobster. Not quite sure how this happened, other than it is all you can eat shrimp and Jenn loves her some shrimp.

We had a delightful dinner and continued to sit and chat even though Chris had left us all to head into work. Jenn and Delaney were playing. I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned it before, but Delaney has a thing for Jenn’s hair. She loves it spiked, she loves it soft, she loves it long time. When she was littler she would accompany her hair rubbing with a creepy little noise, thankfully she has outgrown that, because it was really quite creepy.

At the dinner table she was quite happy to simply be rubbing her face and hands all over Jenn’s spikes:


And then she made the happiest little “sigh” sound and reached around Jenn’s whole head and hugged it: