Happy 15th Birthday Kyleigh

I don’t even know how it’s possible but my adorable niece and godchild turns 15 today. I love her with all my heart and cannot imagine not being her aunt! I cherish every second of the time we get to spend together.

Our little entertainer…


Had the pleasure of attending her first concert (Harry Styles) with her, her friend and her mother (my sister)…


Love her even when we are dangling over the ocean…ha ha!!! Thanks for riding with me (the chicken)…


Such a cutie…


She sure loves her aunt/dog Gracie…


I got to be her confirmation sponsor…#blessed


Entertainment at the campfire….ahhhhh…


She has so much love for her first second-cousin!! Cuteness overload…


I love you sooo many bunches with all my heart!!!! 

If you have a second, please send my sweet and kind niece a Happy birthday wish below!!! I promise I will be sending all comments to her!! Have a phenomenal day Kyleigh!!!!

XOXOXO

A Little Amish Vacation?

Okay!!! Back and ready to move on! Yesterday I mailed back my company laptop, credit card and cell phone! I am officially no longer working for Bayer.

It was a nice run but everything has to come to an end and I was no willing to move so that is that.

I am applying for any six sigma jobs that are in companies I would feel proud to work for! Fingers crossed I find something quickly!

I went through what I would call a slight depression for a while there. I wasn’t depressed depressed but I was kind of sad. I knew it was coming and they definitely prepared us for it; but it hit me like a ton of bricks. I honestly thought I would retire at that company. And I didn’t realize how much value I put into who I worked for. I really loved that company and I gave my job my whole heart.

Anyway...I have my first interview tomorrow...wish me luck!

I have been spending as much time as possible with my family on the weekends! As you remember my sister‘s family, me and my parents have all been together often on since Covid hit in March. We were in Florida altogether when we first heard of Covid.

These are the people that I’ve been spending most of my time with. We are believers in wearing masks when we’re with other people and we are definitely trying to keep some distance between us and my parents so that they stay safe!

We went to Amish country over the weekend for a little getaway. We were wearing masks even though we were walking on the streets outside. We took them off for the pictures.

So much fun browsing and shopping and all of the Amish shops!

Of course we had to get ice cream! The ice cream was amazing at this little shop!

The girls wanted to pose on the giant chair!


We got home my parents house and could not wait to get into the hot tub! They only fill this thing in the winter and we look forward to it every year!

And Sunday was spent helping my parents rake leaves at the lake. They have a lot of leaves to rake and I needed the exercise! I love this picture with the lake and the flag!


I’m sorry I’ve been slightly MIA and I promise to change that. I’m now going to head off and catch up on all of you! Thanks for all of you who have reached out on Facebook and Instagram also. I am OK and I’m coming out of the funk slowly but surely. I think making a commitment to blog every day will help as well. So I plan to do this as much as possible.

I love the blogging community and all of you! Thank you for always being that ear when I need one to listen and thanks for making my life so much brighter and broader!!!

Hugs to you all!!!!

Florida 2020

So first let me say....

A HUGE thank you to everyone for not giving up on my blog through my Corona virus silence!!

I can not begin to express to you guys how wonderful it was to see and read all of your comments and know that you did not all give up on me through my silence!!

So, let's rewind back to March and I will now share with you my trip to Florida to visit my parents.

Every Winter my parents rent a house in Florida and each kid goes down to visit with their family.

I usually try to overlap a few families so I can spend time with my nieces and nephews as much as possible.

So I flew down on March 10th right as we started hearing about the corona virus or Covid 19.

Here was the first day at The Villages. We went to a community pool and it was packed with people and the weather was perfection!  (Not joking, the pool was packed although you cant tell in my picture below as there was no one in the chairs in front of us.)

I got to spend a lot of time with these adorable children. Love these kids more than life itself!!

More pool time with the kids and Mom and Dad and sister...

Thinking about my babies at home and hoping they were safe. I had a cat sitter going in everyday and with all the conflicting stories I was just praying they were safe from this Corona thing.

As you can see, entertainment was in full swing at The Villages every night until a few days before we left. It was like being in a different world from what every back home was texting me was happening there.

Got a lot of golf in with my Mom and Dad. I suck but I really love to play!

We played this course in The Villages a lot as it was close to our rental house.

Another packed night at the town square...

More golf and sunshine!!!

Saw this little turtle on the golf course....sooo cute!

He did not want to meet me; as soon as I got nearby he ducked in his shell! HA

Crammed in the car and headed to the pool again....YAY

Love these kids; they go along with all my crazy dress up ideas!!!

The whole family dressed up and went to the town square for St. Patty's Day!!

My sweet niece and Godchild Kyleigh...

Sunset on the pier...

Another without the kids...

Saw this super cute exterminator car in a parking lot!!! LOL

We spent a lot of time at the pool; the kids were at school from home by the time they came down so they did homework at the pool many days.

But they did also have their fair share of relaxation in between studies...

We found this crazy bird that the kids nicknamed "red-headed chicken duck". HA! If anyone knows what it is let me know...

Quick picture while walking one morning of my Mom, sister and nephew Ryan.

This is my niece Aly pretending to be mannequin....I think she did great! Can you find her?? HA 

Around March 18th the Corona craziness hit The Villages. As you see in the picture below NO ONE came out to the square and entertainment was shut down.  We went to walk around after dinner and there were only a few people out that brought their own music to dance to.

Got a little St. Patty's family shot!

We played a lot of outside sports other than golf too. The kids loved shuffleboard, tennis and boccee. This is Kyleigh and I on a shuffleboard break....

All of us outside playing...

Aly and Ryan asking tennis anyone???

More shuffleboard fun....

A little Gecko came to hang out with us in the shuffleboard courts...

Another shot of the red-headed chicken duck...they kids fed him a lot. They were worried about him.

Here is a closer photo of this odd looking creature.

It was time to fly home on March 20th so we all headed to the airport together. My sister's family had a flight about an hour before mine so i shot this picture of them waiting to board the plane. At this point many people had masks. We did not... 

So the visit was great but strange at the end and it was very nerve-racking flying home no knowing if it was safe or not.

I arrived home March 20th around 8PM. I had no stock of anything and no food as I was to be gone for 10 days. I tried to go grocery shopping but everything was closed early due to Corona (including our 24 hour Walmart!!).  So, March 21st I went shopping and found no paper towels, toilet paper, sanitizing wipes or sanitizer. Also, the ground chicken and meats were almost empty!!! CRAZINESS!! I got so angry that I could not even purchase anything that I would need. My neighbors were wonderful and shared TP with me but the whole experience of the level of hoarding here in Pennsylvania gave me no hope for society!!! I think I all of the sudden went into shock mode and stayed there for the past three months. UGH!

So far, no one in my family or extended family has been diagnosed with the virus. We all have had symptoms like headache, cough or achy here or there but nothing confirmed and no one has gotten SICK sick. 

Is it possible that even through all of that travel and activity that none of us were exposed? My parents are both 76 and healthy...I do not know what to think. Here's to hoping that we were already exposed and have the antibodies we need to stay healthy should this virus make a comeback in the Fall.

Does anyone know anyone personally that got sick? How did your kids adjust to all the changes? how did you adjust to all the changes? Did you have hoarding in your area?

HUGS to you all!! I missed you all so much!! Have a wonderful day!!!!

 

It's finally Summer 2019

Happy Monday ya'll!!!

I hope everyone had the fantastic weather that we had in PA/OH over the weekend!!! It finally felt like summer - yippee!!!

Out speed boat is on the struggle bus lately. The steering is really tight and my father recently broke a rib (UGH!!!) so we are waiting until he heals a little before we tackle fixing the boat.

So.....this weekend we improvised and tried having the kids ski behind the jet ski! We had never tried this before and it actually worked! They had to hang on really tight initially as they drug a little more than usual in the beginning but once they were up it worked pretty great! HA!

Mom drove the jet ski and I rode backwards and worked the rope and spotted!

Here is Kyleigh....

And...heading into our dock...the kids love to ski into the dock area and let go...here is Kyleigh again...


And when she let go...they just slowly sink down into the water....HA!


And...here is Ryan behind the jet ski...


And closer to the dock area....


And...he let go...


The pontoon boat parade is two weeks away...this year we are doing the Safari Theme! I think it will be amazing!!!!

So, 4th of July weekend we will decorate the pontoon and I promise to get get pics for you...if you want to see our past themes...click below...
2015-Waikiki
2016-Jailhouse
2017-Tub
2018-Construction Site

My nephew took this enhanced picture of the lake this weekend...


And this is the UN-enhanced version...any question why I drive to my parents every weekend in the summer?!?!


My niece made these protein balls for everyone to try. They are chocolate chips, peanut butter, coconut oil, and vanilla...they looked delish!!! I forgot to try one! HA!

Sunday we started the day off at church and then to help my parents. The church built a new hall and my father helped a lot both with his time and his engineering skills. They had a tour for people to see the new hall after mass so we hung out and greeted people as they entered...oh, and ate a lot of cookies!!!




My niece had her earphones on for the ride home with her Taylor Swift music...I decided I needed to bug her so I used "Cabin Talk" to intercept the Taylor music with my rendition of "Shallow" by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. You can see by how she is covering her ears it did not go well....HA! That's my Mom on the right trying to stay out of it...HA!


Sunday on the lake was spent paddle-boarding and floating...the weather was beyond perfect! Here is Kyleigh...


And another mid-spill...


And then finally...the aftermath...HA!


And here is Ryan...


We did a family cheers to Summer!!!!


And spent time after dinner on the patio watching the hummingbirds...I tried so hard to get a photo but this is the best I could do...see him/her?!?!


I hope you all had a great weekend and got a fantastic start to your summer!!!!

What is your favorite part of summer? What is your favorite summer recipe? How is life? Is it Summer where you live?

HUGS!