Christmas 2006

Well, here it is. Cory's fourth and Camryn's second Christmas. Cory made a gingerbread house out of graham crackers at pre-K. Camryn got into opening the presents a little bit, but once she started exploring one gift, she didn't want to let it go. Cory, on the other hand, had NO such problems. ;) Pop-pop and Grandmom Decker came up late on the 24th so they could be here for gift-opening on Christmas morning.


Oh, yeah... and Camryn was petrified of Santa. I am assuming she'll get over that in the future.












Here's Camy with Grandmom Decker:










And Cory watching TV with Pop-pop in the recliner:










I think this is my favorite picture of Camryn from the whole Christmas season. I think you'll see why:

Birthdays, 2006

Camryn had her first tastes of birthday cake in December 2006. Mommy and Aunt Lynnie had their birthday on 12/15, and Camryn's first birthday was on 12/21. She REALLY enjoyed the cake... and she sniffed each bite before she ate it.

Bathtime is FUN!

Well, Cory decided to "do" Camryn's hair in the bathtub one night. It was HYSTERICAL! Mommy tried to do Cory's hair, but I personally think she might have too much hair to do this to it!

Cory got her ears pierced!

Well, Cory started off all excited, but when the women popped the holes in her ears, she screamed loud enough to pierce OUR ears! She had asked several times before to get her ears pierced, but changed her mind at the last minute every time. This time, she went through with it.

The ladies at the ear-piercing place were smart... they took TWO people to pierce at exactly the same time, so there was no piercing the second ear on an already-traumatized little girl. :)

BEFORE:
She looks so... eager and excited, doesn't she? All ready?












AFTER:
She cried so hard, I cried! (But can you see the teeny little bit of bling? No more boring gold dots, unless that's what you want!)

Ahhhh, but the magical power of ice cream (and running into her friend, Griffin) helped stem the crying. (Thanks, Griffin!!!)

Thanksgiving 2006 and Thereabouts

Well, Thanksgiving 2006 was our one and only Thanksgiving in upstate NY. Around this time, Camryn also rode the merry-go-round at the Carousel Center Mall for the first time. She wasn't too sure about it, and held on to Aunt Lynnie for dear life most of the time. The ride ended JUST in time... if it had lasted any longer, I think she might have started crying.

We had Thanksgiving dinner pretty late. So, we all went to the park to kill some time. It was a little chilly, but not too bad. The girls had a BALL on the swings!

We also had a bit of an unconventional menu. We had... praline-stuffed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, veggies, and CRAB. Since it was "just us", we figured crab would be a nice departure from the ordinary. I think it was a great idea. (Good thinking, Laurel!)

Halloween 2006

Well, I have just been an AWFUL blogger... I haven't uploaded anything in such a long time! I'm going to have to get you all updated, then.

Halloween 2006 was a lot of fun. I hadn't been trick-or-treating for a LONG time. Cory went as Tinkerbell, and Camryn was a bunny rabbit. And Cory ended up with a pretty good haul! Laurel and Brian each carved their own pumpkin. I think they did a great job!

Well, when in Rome...

I have been upstate for almost two months now. I am still looking for a job (it's kind of frustrating so far), but am hopeful that I will find something soon.

Either way, I am taking the GRE on Saturday 11/11. It will either help me or hurt me on my college applications. I'm hoping I'll do okay... I have to remember lots of geometry and algebra I haven't thought about in an awful long time!

I wanted to put in some semi-recent pics of Cory and Camryn. These are from the Pumpkin Festival here. It snowed later in the day! (ack!) The snow only lasted a few minutes, but it was there. It has snowed a couple of times since then. I guess I need to buck up and accept it!

Well, it's quite late here now, and I'm thinking I need to get to bed! Catch you all later!

Well, it's almost done!

I moved almost all my things (except some clothes and last-minute items) upstate over Labor Day weekend, and am now staying in a faculty member's empty one-bedroom apartment while I finish out my job here at Stony Brook. My last day is September 15th. After work, I'll be driving up to Dad's house, and then going to Chris' house on Saturday for the kids' birthday party.

Then it will be done! All I'll have to do after that is drop my Lawng Island accent. *Ü* Hmmmm... after 19 years on the Island, I wonder how long that will take?

Republishing blog...

Well, I wanted to just add a link to my list of links over there →
But... it wouldn't show up until I republished my blog. I'm not sure HOW to republish my blog without doing a post, so here's the post so I can republish my blog.

Someday, I'll get the hang of this whole thing. :)

Some pics from the Benjamins - July 2006

We took a day trip up to Old Forge (in the Adirondacks). Isn't it gorgeous?

Laurel with Camryn on the boat.

The boat's owner lets all the kids take a turn piloting the boat when they get into the Second Lake, because it's much more private (fewer boats). So, Cory got a chance to pilot the boat! (There's Daddy behind her.)

Cory drying off at the pool. What a cutie!

I think having a pool at the house is one of her priorities now. :) She loves the water!!

Camryn... about six months old. How cute is she? She loves sticking her tongue out! :)

The Decker Five!

From Left to Right, this is: Elizabeth, Heather, Matthew, Adam, and Erik. This was early in July. The quads are three (will be four in September), and Matthew just turned eight. This pic was taken after playing in the sprinkler and taking a bath. I got ALMOST all of them looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. :) 

More July 4th pics (well, eventually there will be more...)

OK. I have a bunch of other pics to upload, but it's almost midnight, and the software's acting buggy, so it's going to have to wait another day or so. Sorry!

Fourth of July Trip 2006 - Decker Portion

Well, I started the week at Chris' house, then went to Laurel's. Somehow, I missed pretty much all fireworks shows. I kind of missed the fireworks, and was hoping to get to see them. I saw the tail end of the show in Rome, NY, but it was from about two miles away. Not quite the best seats in the house.

When I got to Chris and Gina's, I saw (left to right) Elizabeth, Adam, Heather, and Erik watching some tv. It's not the norm to see all four of them sitting still. They are SUCH busy kids. I just loved seeing this moment of peace. Drinking their morning juice. :)

It was, after all, Matthew's birthday on July 6th, so I was able to be there for his birthday party. It was SO nice! Lots of family around, an enormous cake (with PILES of icing), and a happy birthday boy who happened to eat NONE of the cake that he had specifically requested.
Ah... the joys of being eight.

Now, Chris and Gina's goal was to put in the flag pole quickly. Heck, with an aunt and grandparents around to help, it should be totally doable! Well, they didn't count for their own kids' deep-seated interest in what Mom and Dad are doing.

I think they did a GREAT job! It looks fabulous.

Grandma and Grandpa Decker... playing with Adam.

Locks of Love!

I decided to cut off a hunk of hair and donate it to Locks of Love. They're a wonderful organization who make wigs for kids with alopecia areata and other diseases that cause them to lose their hair with no cost at all to the kids.

Wow. It's AMAZING what five years of procrastination and lack of decisionmaking can do. My hair had grown WAY past my waist, and it really was time to cut it. But I really love having longer hair, so I decided to just cut about 12-14 inches. Here's the before picture. I took it really quickly before I left work today:

And... here are the "after" shots:

Me with my disconnected ponytail at the beauty salon. :)

My self-portraits in the bathroom mirror:

OK, so it's not earth-shatteringly different, but it's not bad, is it? :) I know it'll be easier to put in a french twist or a bun! And my head feels like about 10 pounds of drag has been removed. (hee hee!)

I'm just going to have to get accustomed to the shorter length -- my mannerisms still go with the super-ultra-long hair. It's not as hard to push it off my shoulders any more. And it's SO much healthier!

The storefront

It's not much to look at, but the bikes are awesome! 

The logo, close up!

OCC on an orange bike. :-) Seemed... right, somehow. 

Military Bike

 

Cory and the Christmas Bike

Well, Cory looks thrilled, doesn't she? She couldn't get out of there fast enough.