the Life of Olena

On Sunday my FIL took us to the city fair. Olena was so excited. Though she couldn't ride all the kids rides (still 2 inches too short) she was able to ride a few and still had a really good time. However, I must comment on the ridiculous prices for the fairs now a days. Each ticket was $1 and the average kiddie ride took 3-4 tickets. How on earth do they expect a decent size family to enjoy the day??? what has this world come to??? I guess I can finally say, "back when I was kid, we had to walk to the fair up hill both ways, and the tickets were only 25 cents each." :) Here's a few pics of the day! Playing in the City water scape. Daddy, Olena and Grampy!

As expected we have been busy, but things are going great despite a few sickly people in the house. Olena picked up something because she was suffering with terrible congestion and stuffy nose, and me...well, remember the slightly swollen eye? That got worse. A LOT worse. Ended up going to the urgent care and the found a scratch on my eye lid that got infected so I ended up on 3 antibiotics, 2 for my eye and 1 oral. Then because I am so lucky I managed to acquire all of the lovey side effects to the antibiotics. I am finally getting back in the "saddle" and now playing catch up around here. We spent 2 days in Windsor with Rickie and had a good time. We went for a 4 mile hike through their nature trail. There were a ton of bugs which Olena wasn't too fond of, but we managed. And then the next day we had a little picnic by the river. Played on the play ground, and fed the birds. Olena chased them more than she fed them, but we all had fun none the less. It was relaxing and ...

Something to Think About When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee. A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.He then asked the students if the jar was full.They agreed that it was.The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.The students responded with a! Unanimous 'yes.'The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire cont...

Ok I know I am killing you with pictures, but I have gotten so many cute ones lately. I also feel like she is growing up quicker than I can "watch" - over these past few weeks she honestly grows up and changes every day....every day I look at her, I notice it is either her face matured a little bit, her sentences are getting really good, she is developing this great sense of humor, she gets taller, skinnier, her feet are getting bigger, her hands are growing - everything is just happening too quicky :(

I have to say, I have the cutest little girl in the whole world :) Even dressed as a dork in floods, she still managed to pull off some really really cute preschool pictures! The blue one is by far my favorite.

Sorry, I haven't been posting much about us lately, I honestly just haven't felt like blogging. First before I forget, if you haven't already you need to check out Toyna's blog (Kissacks) because she has the funniest video on there. I was cracking up :) Well try to bring you up to date. Me ; marathon running. I have been exercising at least 4 days a week but unfortunately I know I need to push it a lot harder and soon. But I have been under the weather with a few different things lately which has really sucked my energy. At this current time I am suffering with a huge swollen eye lid...why? I have no clue. I hurt yesterday, I woke up this morning with some swelling and throughout the day it has slowly grown larger. Now I sit here typing away with my left eye barely open! good news :) the house is perfectly quite. Lana is with my parents and Jason is at an expo for work - ALONE AT LAST!!! I must admit, I don't like it for too long but for a couple of hours ...

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago. Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote. The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. (Lucy Burns)And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.' They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. (Dora Lewis) They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, t...

Olena is on this kick about asking if things bite. She has this strong belief that everything around her either bites, or roars like a monster. And it is cute as can be to hear her ask it in her little tiny voice- and for some reason her sentence always comes out fast but very clear... We go to the chiropractor earlier in the week. He has a model of the spine standing on the floor. We walk into the room, she stands in the door with hesitation while I get on the table. Dr asks her whats wrong? pointing at the spine "Whats that?" "A spine" "Spime?" "Yes, a spine" "What Spime?" "Do you know what bones are Olena?" "Yes, bomes are in your body" while pointing to herself "Ok, well a Spine are the bones in your back" She finally decides to come through the door and get a closer look, she walks over to it and cocks her head while looking at it. "Touch it?" "Sure go ahead" Then she turns arou...

half english/half french version :)

Over the past few days I have noticed that Olena has grown quite a bit. At the begining of summer she could not reach the "door bell" at her school and was about 2 inches from doing so. Last Wednesday she gave it a try and was actually able to just reach it. Jason said something today too so I decided we would take a look at just how much she really has grown. I was completely shocked!!! that last time we did this was only back in June. Look how much in just 3 months :) I started this back in Jan. of 2007, only 1 month after being home. Now I just need to get her to gain some weight.

I received this today from a excellent friend of mine. If you have time, check out their blog, listed under "Favorite Sites" in my side bar. It is a story of courage, faith and love. Always be grateful for the many blessings in your life each day, and remember to pray for those less fortunate than yourselves. Dear Prayer Warriors: I recently shared a prayer request from Shea and Bethany, a couple from Mississippi who are going through not just a tough pregnancy but a life-changing gut-wrenching experience that just cropped up unexpectedly during the 20 th week of their pregnancy. They have set-up a blog and their testimony, in the face of what they are going through, is amazing. Please visit their blog site to read some of their story…and please continue to pray for them.

Well we're home, and I am ready for a vacation now! We went camping at a KOA campground in Erie, PA with my cousin Matt, his wife Cindy and their son, Ethan. My parents and my uncle and his family were there too. Though it was a nice trip it will filled with many....lets say.....memories! Started by us not being able to fit all of our stuff in the HUGE suburban we took. So we had to add a roof top carrier and even a extension platform to the hitch just to take all of our things. We decided to take the suburban and ride down with Matt/Cindy and Ethan figured it was big enough and we could split the gas costs. Finally after stuffing the truck like a can of sardines, we got on the road about 5:30p on Friday ~ only 1.5 hours behind schedule :) Made the journey in record time, of 5 hours and only 1 stop. Personally I think that is a huge feat considering we were traveling with 2 toddlers. To make a long story short, Matt got an infected ingrown hair which swelled up his WHO...

They go together like peas and carrots :)