Dogs and babies

This is really for Anna or Sarah who brought this subject up at T-giving, not sure who did.
The question was how do you take a dog out to do his business when you have a baby? I have an answer. Today I had the pleasure of having Abby at my house all day. She hates Patches because he barks or whatever. And when I would change Abby's diaper in the living room, Patches would do his business on the kitchen floor. This happened just about every time so no need to take the dog out at all really. So it's very simple, buy a good mop.
It is like having twins. I rocked Abby and Patches at the same time because then she wouldn't cry. When Abby went to sleep, I put Patches in my bed where he usually naps, but had to lie down with him until he fell asleep so he would not wake Abby for a half an hour.
So a dog and a baby at the same time -- just like twins.

And here is Samantha

Hi all -

I am happy to say that Samantha and family (not pictured) are doing very well & will be returning home on Saturday.

Ocean City Pics

I'm sending you all a link to Snapfish for the rest of the pics. Here is one of the takes from the Gmom and P lunch @ Dr. Unk's. In this pic, Ben's head is kind of hidden. I have two better shots, but my computer has been randomly choosing which pictures it will let me load up into Snapfish. I don't know what is going on. I will work on the problem tonight and hopefully have the better versions over to you tomorrow. The ones @ the Dunes actually turned out really well with everyone, but it's not letting me load those either. BAH!!!!

I'd also like to direct your attention back down to my post prior to Joe's hilarious one. The link should be working now.

I did it again!

After some initial confusion, here I am! I agree with everyone that Thanksgiving was great. We did miss Kenny and Matt, though. Hope Joe's arm is feeling a little better. What did the Dr. have to say-- are you in a hard cast now? Glad we heard from Matt on both the phone and blog -- after all, he is the reason that we are all here. I am sure that the blog will live long after Matt's return. Take care, everyone, and get ready for winter to roll in...Emily -- keep up posted on your snow count up there!

Message from Joe....

Instead of creating my own account, I have decided to use Anna's. The last thing that I want to do is bother some computer guy for help.

There have been several questions about the status of my arm, so I have decided to post an update on the blog. First, I have posted a scanned X-Ray of my arm after the emergency surgery. Please keep in mind that the pins appear to be more painful than they actually are:


















Later, Anna thought she would be funny by taking an X-Ray of herself. In the X-Ray below, she decided to wave to the X-Ray machine while wearing her biking helmet. Anna really likes to 'be careful' when she rides. That's one thing that I really love about her.















All joking aside, my elbow is fine. I am more embarrassed that I fractured it playing nerf baseball. Who does that, really? I didn't even fall.

On a different note, I would like to thank everyone for another fun Thanksgiving.
Hope all is well,
Joe

I thought maybe Uncle John could help this guy out...

Click on the link below:

CLICK

For those of you who don't know Craigslist is a place where you can find anything for sale, worldwide. It's great when searching for apartments (that's how I found mine) or furniture (it's where I got my coffee table). But, it's full of other random posts as shown in this example

Hey Super Cool Family!!!

So, I wonder if we are going to have more bloggers, since it seemed to be the topic of a lot of conversations at Thanksgiving. I do not recommend working the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it is a big drag! But I do have to be thankful that I had no delays either way!

I want to give a shout out to Calvin's Christmas Cd, I like the first song the best! I listened to it on my way to work which is a twenty minute drive, so I got to listen to a couple of times. It was in my head all day, it is really catchy!!!! Good job Calvin!

Abby - Stop being so cute, I miss you already!!!!

Joe, how is the ole' radial?!?!?!? This at least gives you an excuse to sit on the couch and watch TV all night.

Hope everyone else made it home safe. I think it was an awesome weekend and I can not wait till next time we are all together!!!

Love,
Em

Matt!

love the dress !

phone call from matt

Welcome back everyone,
We did get a real phone call from Matt on Sunday Morning,
Anna,Joe,Tim,Paula Amanda and grandmom and pop all got to say hi.
He sounded good but this was the first time I got to hear him without a lot of noise or getting cut off so just hearing his voice was terrific. He daid say how much he missed the fun so send him lots of stories to keep him smiling. It was great to see everyone enjoying everyone.And grandmom Skowronski along with her side kick grandmom almon join us at Zippys. Looking forward to the Christmas Party.
God Keep,
Love mom aunt Mary

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Well I think it is about 2am there so a few people are probably still holding out and waiting for everyone to make it down but were probably kicked out of the bar a little while ago. I can't thank everyone enough for the emails, cards, and packages. I really wish I could be there to beat everyone in poker (kenny and rob please practice) and run circles around everyone in football. We've actually had two days of overcast here for the first time so i hope the weather is nice back there. They are having a Thanksgiving lunch rather than dinner here which i think is kinda lame, especially since i'll just want to sleep after i stuff myself with food. No new or exciting news around here to share. Hope everyone has a great time and i'll call when i can. Miss everyone.

Pam's Boy Is Home..............

After one year I am so happy to see "The Boy" again. Already he's taken photos of me doing stupid stuff on his camera phone. Some things never change. He wishes he had Calvin to help him do the music portion of Matt's videos. I think they'd make a great team. We have to come up with something amazing with Abby in a video at Thanksgiving. We'll figure out something that won't emotionally damage her for the rest of her life. See ya'll Wednesday (sound like Britney Spears, don't I)?

Hey Matt here's another stupid video I found.

Hey Matt,

So yeah, I found another video that I think you should know about. Here is the link...

Matt Funk Song

Yeah man, I'm sorry you can't make it home for Thanksgiving. Hopefully this stupid song will bring back a few memories from back in the day when we kicked it old school playin step ball on your dads porch.

Anyway, it is 3:45am and I have to go get on a plane.

Take it easy,
Cousin Tanner

Ha! Ha! Ha!

According to this story, that's what Santas down under will be saying this year instead of the more traditional - "ho, ho, ho." Apparently Santa's typical greeting is derogatory towards women. OK seriously? Mr. or Mrs. Claus could not be reached for comment, but I am fairly certain this has caused a lot of uproar up north.

So in case anyone is keeping track:

1) My kids will wonder why Santa is always laughing
2) She (yes, she) won't be able to bring cupcakes into school on her birthday because some kids are too fat and lazy
3) She'll be solving algebraic equations in elementary school instead of going to recess/gym/art/music. Oh well, I guess she won't be left behind.
4) Will be called out of school on Halloween to march around the parking lot with her mom and dad (camcorder rolling) because having a school-wide parade is un-PC.
5) Will be reciting a God-less version of the Pledge of Allegiance.

If you can tell, I am fired up and I just wanted to see what everyone's thoughts are on the above matters. I am sure Uncle John will have a lot of wisdom to offer.

Matt, you are a pretty important person....can't you take care of some of these things? Oh and while you are talking to "them" please tell them to let you come home early. We miss you. And if you are still reading this, Kenny and I need Christmas ideas for you pronto!!

Ho! Ho! Ho! I mean...."Ha. Ha. Ha."

You got me again!

John -- I fell for Matt's driving a tank hook, line and sinker. Here I have been worrying about him in a tank, where he would be going in a tank and why is he in a tank, and you are joking???? I guess that is better than the real thing happening. Just watch what you are saying and who might be so gullible as to believe you!

Bloggin for Dummies

This post is only for Paula and me to see if can figure out how to post our own blogs. We did not want to bother our kids again.

Kenny or Dwight?

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would give everyone the opportunity to see Kenny in action as the newest member of the WXII12 news team.

Please enjoy these Halloween antics.

Yes, this was actually on the air.

He does serious news stories too, in fact his sweeps piece is to air this evening and is bound to raise a lot of discussion among Winston-Salemians. You will be able to check out that video and its corresponding forum online soon.

100th Post

I would just like to note that Uncle John's post below was this blog's 100th POST!!
That is a pretty impressive amount of posting for just a short period of time!! I thought it was fitting that the 100th slot went to Uncle John and one of his stories. I do not believe the line about the tank getting stuck in the sand. If Matt was to take tank driving lessons (which I am ashamed to say, I kind of believed at first), then he wouldn't get it stuck in the sand.

News from the Easternshore

To all,



I have been told that Tom, Ben & Amanda, are planning to foot the bar tab the first night,in appreciation for all we have done for the little rug rats over the years. I cant wait!!
Thats so nice of them. Its not as good as the lunch they give the Grandparents ,
but its still nice.
We heard from Matt this week. He thanks everyone. He got his tank stuck in the sand.
The boy still can't drive.
Mary & I spent a lovely evening with the the Mother-in Law. She is so sweet and such a lady.
Pops OK too. I had to go over to their kitchen and take care of a problem, seems that a rat ate a
hole under the sink. ( got some work for you now Tom, where is my drill)
Tom made the paper again for catching the bad guys., Good Job Tom.
I went up to see Emily last week. She is very excited to come down for Thanksgiving and see everyone. Her house is cool, and the cat wild.

I hope the Uncles want to do something cool in OC next week. I am ready for that.

thanks

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the emails today. To be honest I had no idea it was even a holiday but I and everyone over here does appreciate the thoughts. Really nothing new or exciting going on over here. I'll try to call on Thanksgiving but for anyone I don't get to talk to HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Wish i could be there and i'm sure i don't have to say this but have a drink for me. oh the one exciting thing i did find out is that apprently the army has adopted a new policy where if you have deployed more than once withotu being home for two years you get a bunch of extra vacation time. i know its still kinda worthless but when i finally make it home i'll have almost a full month of free vacation. normally when we get back from deployment the unit gets 3o days where people can use thier vacation so with this i might be able to take an entire month off work. i mean just think a whole month i can spend with my mom and grandmom just working in the yard and sewing. if however they get a little bored with me plan on me randomly showing up at some ofyour places. ok well thanks again for everything. You all really are the family there is....or at least according to ben we are the best looking

matt/Veterans Day

Good morning family,
On a day like to day i miss matt more...if that is possible.
We had a small cermony at school when we raised the flag and many asked about Matt.
I did email Matt this morning with a special thankyou. I also wanted to thank everyone in this family. Matt knows he is loved and thought of every day. He is able to share the many packages with others that do not get packages. So please accept our thankyou it is meant from the bottom of our hearts!!!
Love
Aunt Mary,mom
God Keep

Calvin & Jeanine vs. Wild

Calvin & Jeanine vs. Wild

Hello Matt. Sorry I have not participated until now with tales from the states, but patience is a virtue and this story was worth the wait (Hey! that rhymed).
Last Friday I decided to take Jeanine out to dinner. We went to a small bar/restaurant called Pete’s two blocks away from our place. While enjoying our meal we noticed the sun had disappeared and a blanket of ominous grey clouds were closing in. Accompanying them were rather strong winds that made the underside of the leaves show with their gusts. A tell tale sign that a storm is coming. Not to worry. Jeanine I brought our handy green & black dollar store umbrellas. I was confident that no amount of rain could penetrate our fortresses.

We left the restaurant and the first block was not so bad. It was heavy rain, but as we hoped, our $1.07 investment held up, then came the next block. We encountered gale like winds along with heavy rain that swiftly imploded my defenses into collage of thin medal poles and a green tarp upon my head. Jeanine faired no better as she leaned into wind the water passing through her umbrella as if it were a strainer. It would have been enjoyable I think if we had a set of goggles. I was able to peer round the streets and sidewalks during our attack and saw that we were the only daredevils out braving the elements. We finally reached the sanctity of the side of our building. As suddenly as it started the rain stopped and the lack of onlookers was quickly replaced with a myriad of people wondering why Jeanine and I had decided to shower in our cloths. We entered our building, sopping wet leaving a trail of wet prints so anyone who wanted to join the imbecile parade could hop on. We finally reached our apartment hung up our cloths and reflected on the events that just occurred, Calvin & Jeanine vs. Wild, I think we lost.

News from Carhead

Well I have been asked why I have not been on this blog:

1.) Mary told me to stop writing.
2.) I have been too busy trying to fine Paula a gift card because I am not allowed to give her a
home made item. I guess Pam & Laura are still upset.


I went up to see Emily this week, and it was a good thing because Scott was there!!!
I have to keep an eye on him. Emily said she had a good time with Anna, but was glad to see someone from Vally Wood show up, ( finally). We had a good time!!, cant wait to go back the firts of December.

If any of the men care it looks like the rock fish are starting to feed. Let me know if any one wants in. It will eb done by hanksgiving, and yes its cold and wet but that is fine for "Real Men"

Matt called me and he is now taking tank driving lessons after work.

Many thanks to my Mother-in-law for transporting me to the airport the other day. If anyone wants to get a cardio-workout with out moving just ask her for a ride!!!

Matt!

Hi Matt-

Just wanted to let you know that there are some fun pictures and an even more fun card on the way over to you. Thought you might want something to look forward too and keep an eye out for it.

Stay safe!

Sarah & Rob

Phone call from matt

Hello family,
Well i got a phone call form Matt on Sunday sort- of. He called my cell and it was a quick hello and then a disconnect but I told him to call the grandparents phone and he did. I quess the computer works better on land lines but that conversation was cut off quickly as well. He has not seen the fantastic viedo from tanner but emily is going to put it on a disk and send it to matt for his viewing pleasure. I told him he had to by home by august 2, he did say that was cutting it close. So we may just have to pull all the frequent flyer miles together make our own recon mission and bring matt home for the first boy cousin to take the plunge. Personally i do not think Ben could have been any smarter to hold on to Merideth. So cousins unit and get ready for the trip over seas.Uncle john will be your leader so God help all of you. That was really all we had a chance to say. I will keep you posted.
Love aunt mary, mom

Visiting Emily

Hi Everyone,

Well I've been trying to post all week about my visit to Maine, but I couldn't figure out how to download the picture below. As Emily stated, I forgot my camera (big surprise), but I was able to find the picture below on the website for Bradbury Mountain State Park where Emily took me hiking - the picture below is taken from the same point that Emily I hiked to. Emily also took me to the beach where we searched for creatures (hermit crabs and snails) - of course I only looked, while Emily picked the creatures up and made friends with them. We also went to Mackworth Island on Casco Bay where we had lunch on the beach and walked the trails. I also was able to enjoy some Maine food favorites - clam chowder and lobster. I did learn how to knit as well (Emily and my wild night out), however, my scarf came unraveled on its voyage back to Baltimore, so I'm now starting from scratch. I need to practice at Thanksgiving while I'm surrounded by experts!

Alright, on my list to visit next are the Philly cousins (long over due) and then I'll make it down south to VA and NC to visit Rian and the Becks. Not to mention I need to get to Hollywood to visit Tanner and Vicki! Perfect ways to fill my weekends while Joe's in class!! Anyway, I highly recommend visiting Emily while she's in Maine - it's great and close (from Emily's apartment to my house took only 3.5 hours). I'm going to try to make it back next summer to go to Acadia National Park.

Only two and a half weeks to Thanksgiving - are you kidding me!

Love,
Anna

Anna's Visit

I just want the record to be shown that Anna was officially the first family member to come to maine while I have been here with the exception of my wonderful parents. We had a great time and besides a little rain the whole weekend went smoothly, which is surprising with both our families' trip histories. Anna and i did a lot of hiking/walking/relaxing, trips can be geared to what ever you would like to do. Snowshoeing and snowmobiling are possibilities for those who want to visit in the winter:) Amanda - Anna is now a knitter also!!! I showed her how while she was up here, and she is NOT a bitter knitter she picked it up quite nicely and seemed to enjoy it. We will see what has developed at Thanksgiving.
Last thing - the world continues to be a small place - my housemate in college works with Ben!!!

Love to all
Em

sorry no pics. Anna forgot her camera and I dont have one :(

A good thing in a time when only bad stories are told?

In my recent state of unemployment, I have been watching a lot of TV and reading a lot of articles online. At times it seems like everything is going wrong. Fires, wars, kids not being allowed to eat cupcakes at school....the list goes on.

Well, I saw literally 10 seconds of the documentary "Darius Goes West" on this morning's Today Show and it made me think that there are good stories to be told. I was a teary mess after just 10 seconds so I can't imagine what the entire film must be like.

Check out the film's website

The video doesn't seem to be available yet but it will be soon.

I suggest everyone finds a way to watch it!