a FIRST!!!

Preparing for Christmas in Outerspace

Most of you probably remember that we've decided to have themed Christmas celebrations with the kids. This year's theme is Christmas in Outerspace. I'm so excited about this one that I already started shopping...yesterday I bought a spaceship and our plan is to decorate this instead of the traditional Christmas tree. I know what you're thinking...you have to have a Christmas tree...but I'm thinking that isn't the case. There are plenty of other Christmas trees for the kids to enjoy...and I think Edwin will be so excited for his very own rocket!!! I haven't told him about it...I think it will be a fun surprise for Thanksgiving weekend...and a fun family project...instead of cutting down our own tree...we can build our own rocket!

Date Night

A much needed night out for Dave and I....we went to the UC vs. Oklahoma football game on Saturday night. My mom and Mike came down to watch the kidS...it was a great night out, despite the UC loss...

Pat on My Back

Today we had to go in for part one (of three) of Lyla's first diaper study. For our readers who don't know, I have signed both kids up to participate in P&G diaper studies. Edwin has been doing approximately 1 study per month and it has been great extra money - in the form of gift cards to our local grocery store. Definitely helps our budget.

Anyhow, back to today's story. We get there and sign in. I look around and notice that all of the other moms have their kids strapped into strollers or they are running around like kids on sugar highs...Edwin on the other hand...he walks in, promptly introduces himself to the crazies and asks "mama, help me sit in this chair, please!" All of the other moms looked at me in disbelief. They were all asking how old he is...and I responded that he turned 2 in June. He was the youngest of the big kids at the facility and was talking circles around them. So polite. I was soooo proud. And that was all in the waiting room.

When we got called back to the test room, they had a table set up with several toys and a shelf full of books. I had to fill out some paperwork for Lyla and me and Edwin asked "mama, can I play, please?" I of course said sure...just be nice and remember to share. He walks over to the table and again introduces himself "hi, i'm edwin!" The staff was shocked and started asking his age again. They all complimented him and me on his speaking ability. He continued to play until I was done with the test. Then he asked "mama, can we read one book please?" I almost melted...of course! So, we read a book all together and he made sure we showed Lyla each picture and then I told him it was time to leave and we'd come back tomorrow for part two of the test. He put all of the toys away and went to the door. As we were leaving, he turns around, waves and says "See you tomorrow everybody!"

So, on the way home I couldn't help but to pat myself on the back. If Dave would've been with us, I would've patted him too. We are great parents...sometimes it is nice to take a minute and remember that!!!

WEEK IN REVIEW

We had our first block party since moving into the neighborhood 8 years ago. Despite it getting really chilly at the end, it turned out to be very nice. Hopefully this will be an annual thing, but who wants to be in charge of it... NOT ME! :) They even invited the firemen to come visit. Madeline and Meredith were hesitant, but they did enjoy watching the firefighter get all dress up in his gear. He, on the other hand, was sweating bullets!! I actually probably learned a lot more than they did after explaining all about their truck and equipment. Very interesting! Madeline was even brave and sat inside the truck. Meredith decided sitting on the curb at that point was more desirable.

The girls got to make their very own door hangers and buckeye necklaces while there. The necklaces turned out super cute! Of course, our neighbor had a flat screen TV set up outside to watch The Ohio State Buckeyes win.

One of the games was eating a powdered sugar donut off the string without knocking it down. The girls did pretty well at this. They were so dainty and clean about it. WHY DOESN'T THIS HAPPEN AT HOME?!?

Today, was Madeline and Meredith's first day at "Sunday school". They seemed to really enjoy it (especially after them whining about going to church all morning) . Matt and I attended mass by ourselves. WOW! That was strange not to be shooshing 2 little girls for an hour.

GO STEELERS!!!! ---PHOTO BY MEREDITH

Rolling Around

Lyla rolled over from belly to back last night for Dave...I haven't seen it yet...she's really growing up too fast!

over 1/2 way to our goal!!!

we are over 1/2 way there!!!! $785 committed...please do your part to help NOW!!! THANKS!!! http://memorywalk10.kintera.org/cincinnati/mindyleeross

Lyla 3 Months

WEEK IN REVIEW

Firstly, I can't believe I forgot to include a picture of our new king bed. YAY! Matt and I actually have room to roll over without bouncing off the other person. What a concept! We still haven't bought a headboard yet, but that will come eventually.

A few months ago I registered for a radio contest to win new windows for the house. Well, on Tuesday, I received a call that I qualified to win the windows. I needed to show up two days later for the "party" at Antone's banquet center. I took Madeline as my guest (no one was available to watch the girls , so Matt remained home). I seriously had some anxiety about going to this event not knowing anyone! I sucked it up and went b/c what if I won? Madeline LOVED eating the rather lame snacks. At least she enjoyed it. There were at least 300 people there (yes, 300 people I didn't know ... stress!). We got our food and sat at a table with other women and waited for this shindig to start. No one could even hear to talk to each other so I guess ignoring each other was acceptable. HAHA. The DJ came right over to Madeline and asked her, "if you could win anything, what would it be?". Madeline says, " A Barbie". Nice! The first 25 names drawn out of the barrel qualified to be in the final drawing for the windows. I was not drawn. DARN! The next 25 names drawn either took a prize envelope OR put their name back in for another chance to be in the final drawing. My name was drawn fifth. YES! Now this is a no brainer. I have to take the envelope b/c putting my name back in the barrel doesn't guarantee that I will be drawn 2 more times to win the windows. I want to go home with something! When we were up there the DJ remembered Madeline and again said that there were no Barbies. :) So my big prize was Uncle Nick's Greek Chicken Family Pack. (32 pieces of chicken, 32 potatoes, a tub of coleslaw, and pop). I won a good prize considering most of them were leaving with zip. As soon as I chose the envelope I was no longer in the running for the windows, so we left. YES!

Today the family fest at school was occurring. The jump arounds were placed indoors b/c of threatening weather. I can't believe they fit them inside. Meredith spent most of her wimpy time like this: . She is scared of the jump arounds. I don't get it. Her teacher found her and encouraged her to try the slide. She told Meredith that she already went down it herself. Like magic Meredith was brave and stood right in line to do the slide (and she did it many times)! Granted no smile was found on her face, but at least she did something. Madeline, of course , LOVES these things and totally ignores us the whole time. She particularly loves the jumping section. She burned a lot of calories today. Meredith was so brave from the slides, that she decided to give the jumping one a try. She went right up into it , "tried to bounce" .... and BOOM the waterworks turned on and out she came. This is the photo for her gripping to the side for dear life. Well, at least she had some fun. Is it Steelers time in your house?? From the screaming coming from the basement here, I think it is definitely that time of year.

Betty's Marbles T-Shirts Available and Donations Needed ASAP!!!

As you know, we will be walking in the upcoming Alzheimer's Walk on October 2nd in honor of Grams (Betty) and we would like (read NEED) your support. Please take a moment to make a donation to our team so that we can reach our goal, consider purchasing a t-shirt and come walk with us on the day of the event. You know how special this cause is to me and I sincerely appreciate your support...I can't wait to send pics to Paps and Grams and tell them about our team's successes!!!!!

My sister has designed an AWESOME shirt for our Alzheimer's Walk team. They will be printed on a light blue, supersoft, vintage-style t-shirt and feature our team name: Betty's Marbles. We hope you will consider purchasing one even if you don't plan to walk with us on October 2nd. If nothing else, it is a stylish way to make a donation to our efforts. The shirts are $10 each and I need your order by Friday, September 24th.

**Kids sizes are also available, but will be printed on a normal style t-shirt!**

**I'm ordering a special (one-of-a-kind) onesie for Lyla Betty as well!!!**



**A very special thank you to Jessica for the great design...**

Smiles

Edwin recently discovered that he can make Lyla laugh...too cute!!!

Another Cute Outfit

Another great find at the mother's exchange sale...

Play Time

WEEK IN REVIEW

Well, we got another child in school!! Meredith had her first day of 3 year old preschool. The boys went on Tuesday and the girls went on Thursday. I asked the teacher how it went ... " I wish I had the girls all the time!". My thoughts exactly :) Meredith told us everything that she learned today (unlike Madeline who will give you a tidbit here and there!). She seemed to really enjoy being there. Can't wait for Tuesday for day#2 (with the boys ... yikes :) HAHA).
Most of you know that I CHOOSE not to cook , b/c it doesn't thrill me. But, I do have a husband that enjoys making meals for us. That is good for me. Well, when the rare occasion occurs that I cook, everyone has to make a big deal about it. Matt got the camera this time for "proof". So here you go, I made homemade meatballs and sauce. Thanks to Amy and Chris for the delicious recipe. *** I need to invest in a garlic press. It is now one week and my fingers still stink of garlic. Yuck***This weekend was Nametag Sunday at church. One of my biggest annoyances is when people call me 'Melissa'. So this nametag thing was a great idea to curb this , right?!? Do you see where I am headed with this? As we were leaving the church , Fr. Hazel was handing out our bulletins. As he did, he said each person's name. Mine of course was "Melissa". I hesitated (a second) before correcting him. He responds, "I read it wrong. Crap! I married you!". Everyone gets my name wrong, but hearing a priest say "crap" ,made it awesome.

Here are some photos from our bubble blowing fun. I ,also, am including Meredith driving in her Barbie Jeep listening to public radio. It cracks me up to see these girls maneuver the car in reverse!

New HAIR!!!!

Finally went to the salon - it has been since December 2009...much needed "ME TIME!" and I love my new hair! Just hope I can make it look 1/2 as nice on my own!!!

Practice in the Rain

A couple girlfriends and I went to a huge sale yesterday - called the Mother's Exchange. It was held at a local high school and was a bit overwhelming! There were 100+ moms selling stuff...kind of like a gigantic yard sale...Everything was organized by boy/girl and by size...then there were separate sections for toys/accessories/etc. We were there for 2 hours...but I could've been there all day as there was so much to dig through. So glad I left both kids at home with Dave - seeing other moms trying to look for items and manage their kids was insane. So, my best find was the kid's Halloween costumes...Edwin has been requesting to be a fireman and I found the below adorable fireman smock for $1!!!! I found the black boots, which will also be great for this winter (and rain apparently) for $4. So, the only thing left to get is a fireman hat...cheapest costume yet for E!!!! YAY!!!! And - by the pictures, you can tell how pumped he is...Mama was his hero for finding what he's been asking for!!!! Of course, we had to practice wearing the costume and play in some puddles as soon as I got home...

And what is Lyla going to be? My next best purchase - a dalmation dog (to go with E's fireman theme) for $1!!!!! Can't wait to get some pics of them together!!!! Lyla has an eye infections so she wasn't in the mood to practice wearing hers...pics to come!

Getting Ready to Watch Football!!!

Girl Clothes are Complicated!

Everything needs to be a complete outfit or I feel like I've failed an exam or something...check out these ice cream leggings, white onesie and pink sweater...geez - I'm getting better and better...in a few months I'll be a pro at dressing a little girl!!! LOL

I LOVE YOU

Check out Lyla's hand...

One Man's Trash...

And to think I was just going to throw this wrapper away!

Facebook Profile Pic Analysis

OK, so I’m up way later on a school night than I wanna be. But I’m on wait-until-Lyla-wakes-up-from-her-evening-doze-off-session-then-feed-her-a-bottle-and-put-her-to-bed duty. She was due to eat at 10-10:30. Since it’s well past midnight as I type, I obviously got a little more than I bargained for tonight. Anyway, I only provide this intro as a warning that what I’m about to write only interests me (if even that).

It has finally arrived! After much laboring, a great milestone, my 15th ever Facebook profile pic has been selected.

Why is 15 a milestone, you ask? Well, it ends in a 0 or 5 for starters…that’s something, no? My dad’s birthday was the 15th, so there’s that. And don’t sleep on the fact that 15 is the atomic number of phosphorous. Oh, and the Andy Warhol quote, right? And maybe most important, during my arguably most productive season in organized baseball (when I anchored a slightly-above-average collection of 13- and 14-year-olds by batting clean-up and playing 1B, plus earned a much-deserved benchwarming spot on my league’s travelling All-Star team) I wore the uniform number 15.

Without further ado, here’s the pic:

Photo by: Mindy Ross for The Ross Experience

As you can see that’s Edwin and me. And because of civil society and its arbitrary laws against keeping gorillas as pets, it should be obvious that this photo was taken at the zoo.

And since I promised this one week ago via Facebook status update…

need a new profile pic. but considering it'll be my milestone 15th ever profile pic, I can't choose lightly. oh, and I'm planning a statistical analysis all 15...but you already knew that.

…here it goes.

As misnomer-ous as it may be, I’ve not been in all of my profile pics:

The individuals featured in the 3 pics I wasn’t in:

1. Nick Swardson – There was a Facebook trend that lasted a few days a while back where people picked their celebrity doppelganger. Google him, we look somewhat alike from certain angles.
2. Steely McBeam – During the Steelers’ 2009 5-game losing streak, I changed my profile pic to Steely until the Steelers finally won a game. Sort of a hunger strike-lite. I asked others to join in support. There were no takers.
3. Dick LeBeau – From is Hall of Fame induction last month. Changed my pic on a whim, but the change lasted over a month.

So for the twelve I was in, here the location by state and whether the pic was taken indoors our outdoors:

So you noticed my most recent pic included Edwin and myself, right? Well, it turns out I was solo for only 3 of my profile pics, which were my 1st 3 overall. (Un)interestingly enough, no more than 2 people total have ever been in one of my profile pics. It’s either just me, or me + one other person. Here’s the breakdown:

So Edwin’s the big winner. But in Lyla’s defense, she’s only been alive 9 short (read: long) weeks, so Edwin had a 2-year head start. But what’s the deal with Mindy’s presence...lacking, huh? I chalk this up to the fact that we may be together in the occasional staged family photo, our best stuff comes when one of us is chasing the kids around while the other is snapping away. We got to get ourselves into some more pics together.

Unless something really unique pops up, I’m hoping we can kill 2 birds with one stone with the next profile pic (get Mindy’s and Lyla’s figures up + break through the 2-person limit glass ceiling) and get the whole 4-member Ross clan into the next profile pic.