Sunny Day @ Patti's farm

We had a gorgeous November day to take Patti Lavigne up on a visit to her farm to pick up some furniture and teach us a bit about owning a horse. Her farm was amazing-gorgeous views of Conesus Lake, a huge barn-Brooke and Dupree enjoyed jumping in the hay, and beautiful horses. Dupree learned a lot-the delicacy of manure, how to hang with horses, play with kittys and respect the older dog-Sadie. We came away with a furniture project and dreams of someday owning our own farm.

Suny Brockport Weekend

We had a great time with Amanda, Alice, Mom, Dad, Brett and Theo first weekend of November. Got to see Amanda's campus, dorm, taste of college life. It was a beautiful warm day to visit the campus. We made teddy bears, ate ice cream and browesed the campus. Amanda looks amazing-hard to believe she's in college.

"It's cookie time" Another year of scouts, another 150 or so boxes of girl scout cookies sold with moms help. Kate got her cookies on Halloween and was quite anxious to start delivering. It started with "where's the cookie form?" 4 hours later, after cleaning/searching, no cookie form. Only 1 possible scenario. The Dew! Everyday I come home to find shredded papers around the house. You know those girl scout cookies, irresistable, even when on paper. Let's just say it's been great fun trying to figure who ordered what!

Another cheer weekend!

Go Panthers. I think I dream youth football cheer in my sleep. I'm occasionally known for breaking out into a cheer at work. Can't help it-all of the hours at Kate's games, practices, competitions is getting to me!

This weekend was equally crazy. Spent Friday night trying to straighten Kate's hair-no easy task. Up early Saturday to arrive at Ganada by 10am for Kate's competition. Her team did their best performance yet, but only placed 4th in the standings. She was disappointed, but motivated to do better next week.

We left Ganada at 4pm, headed straight to Horseheads for the annual Galusha pumpkin carving. Brooke, Brian and Dupree were having a great time and carved some nice pumpkins. Kate and I enjoyed seeing everyone and having a yummy meal. It was a long, but great day that got spoiled on the way home by my speeding ticket in Geneva.
Apparently, I was doing 44 in 3omph zone. REALLY!?!? Plus, I was driving home 2 of Kate's friends, and we we all wearing glow in the dark necklaces. Do the cops really have no one better to ticket? I'm TICKED! Good thing for Kate, Alex and Emily-we laughed the whole way home about Officer Peters, how he kept the spot light on us the whole time as if we were going to try and get away. I've never gone to court to debate a ticket, but you can bet I'll be there for this one.

Sunday, another game at Edison High School against Northwest. It was a chilly game. Panthers shut them out. Next week, playoffs, another competition at RIT. What will I do when cheer is over?

Columbus Day weekend

What a busy weekend. Nanny(Brian's mom) flew up from Long Island on Thursday night to spend the weekend with us. While Kate and I were immersed with cheerleading, Brian, Brooke and Nanny went to PF Changs Thursday night. Friday, Nanny babysat for Dupree and cleaned the house. It was so nice to come home to a clean house on Saturday.

Kate had her first of 3 cheerleading competitions on Saturday at SUNY Geneseo. Her team took 4th place. Check out the video clip, I thought they deserved third. 2 more competitions to improve and the whole squad is motivated to do a better after getting a taste of competition.

Sunday we went to a horse auction at Farmington race track. It was really cool-we're motivated to one day be a horse owner. Sunday afternoon, home football game vs Hilton, we won. Monday I went back to work and nanny headed back to Long Island. Overall, a busy, fun weekend. Special thanks to Nanny for all her help with Dupree and around the house.

Apple Picking October 2009

Spent Saturday at the Apple Farm in Victor picking some yummy macintosh apples. Girls were busting to make apple pie as as soon as we came home but Brian and I already had plans for a night out. We went to Tastings in Pittsford and enjoyed some great food. Sunday was busy-church, football game in Greece, and selling girl scout cookies. Hope to get to making the pie tonight. Upcoming week-cheerleading, cheerleading and more cheerleading-stay tuned.

End of Summer Corn on the Cob

Dupree loves walking on the trail across the street, especially visiting the cornfield!! He's growing up so fast, now 5 months old. Debates continue as to whether he should be allowed on the furniture. Today, the ruling is "not allowed on the furniture". I'm sure tomorrow will be different.

Bagged 2 peaks September 26, 2009

Kate and I headed to Erin and Dougs on Friday for a short weekend in the ADKs. Erin, Doug, Maddie, Cooper, Kate and I left Glens Falls at 11am, started our ascent up Cascade at 12:50pm. We totally overdressed(per my suggestion-oops). The first mile was filled with multiple layers coming off, astonishment at how warm and sunny it was. We made it to the top of Cascade at 3pm for lunch. The views were amazing. After much deliberation, Doug, Kate and I decided to climb Porter as well. It was a muddy .7mile to that peak from cascade. Kate's blood sugar was in the 50's all day but that didn't stop her from bagging 2 peaks. Cascade was first peak for Doug, Maddie, Kate and Cooper. Third for Erin, second for me. Ended the day with dinner in Lake Placid. It was a tiring, muddy, hot, great day!

DUPREE

June 2009

Welcome our new baby Dupree-isn't he cute? Born April 26th at Kresland Kennel in Victor. Loving brother to many other cute pups.

Nicknames:
Dewey
Dewey Decimal
Little D
D-zel
Big Easy

Dew had a great summer learning his place in the fam. Introduced him to camping his first week-he was the hit at Roscoe 4th of July parade. Below, crossing his first river.

Cure4Kate 2009

Our team exploded this year. Kate and Brooke designed Cure4Kate tshirts and we had 40 made figuring to have a few left over. Over 50 friends showed up for the walk. It was a great day. We raised over $1100 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. We truly believe scientists will find a cure for Kate-JDRF funds the majority of research done towards finding a cure. Join us for the 2010 walk and party in May.

Summer 2009

Oh what a summer.....New puppy, first trip to Orlando, camping in Western NY, Catskills and Adirondacks. Kate went to Camp Stella Maris for overnight camp for one week, Brooke enjoyed horse camp at Lehman Stables. Brian enjoyed golfing in Texas with high school buds. Erin, Doug and Maddie traveled to Rochester to visit with us. As usual, September hit before we knew it.

Back to School 2009

Wow, what a busy 2 weeks. Brian returned back to Charlotte September 1st for the start of another school year at Charlotte High School. He has a new position, new students, and renewed motivation for a good school year. When he's not teaching science, he's home with Brooke, Kate and Dupree after school managing homework, activities, doctor and dentist appointments. On the side, he continues to work on magnaclean and bringing it to market. It's been a slow process, but he has made a lot of progress...Look for it on the shelves soon!!

Brooke turned 11 September 6th and started middle school this year. She gets up at 6am to make the 7am bus! Craziness. Good news-she loves middle schoool and is apparently starving by 10am. We're continuing to try and find something that she can bring to school and will actually still taste good by the time lunch comes around. If you think of something good for lunch, let us know.

Kate started 4th grade and doesn't have too much to say about it!! Apparently, the "real" work has begun and not as much playing goes on. Favorite subject: RECESS. When not in school, she is cheerleading 4 days/week. 9 years old and totally committed to the team.

Me?? Well, I continue to work at URMC. Luckily, I have great colleagues that make the busy day lots of fun. Phrases this past week: Good times. Love it.