Wow, it's been awhile!

Yikes, I can't believe that it's been almost a year since I posted last. A lot has happened in 2010, a lot that I haven't shared. Must be that Facebook habit I haven't managed to kick. :-)
According to my last post, Brian and Katie had begun dating. They are now engaged and will be married in May 2011.
Joey auditioned for and got the role of Gus in Disney's Cinderella. He did a great job and loved it. Just this week he asked if he could try out for a movie role !@# The next time Cincinnati has a movie filmed locally, I guess we'll be auditioning! Joey continues to take piano and is having a successful fourth grade year.

Christmas Chaos

I love Christmas and everything about it-the shopping, the wrapping, the decorating, the hanging with family. Everything but one...when it's over. It seems as if the much anticipated holiday dawdles on its way here and then rushes through in a flash. I'm looking around my living room at the towers of boxes and piles of paper wondering where the time went.
Pete came early to see Joey's holiday program so our Christmases actually began early in December. Christmas Eve is always spent in Dayton with the Rachford side of the family. On Christmas morning, we open the presents that Santa left at our house, then have lunch with my dad's side of the family and dinner/appetizer with my parents and siblings. Lately, our tradition has included spending the night at my sister's house.
This year we added some new family members-Matt married Justine, Brian is dating Katie and Scott married Danielle. We missed Michelle and Quentin, although I'm sure they had a great time together in Colorado Springs.
I can't wait until next Christmas!!!

Getting Our Tree

Yesterday was our annual go to the Christmas tree farm and get a tree day. This is simpler than it sounds in that we (Greg, Cindy, Jimmy and I) are the only paid volunteers at Aunt Christina's Christmas tree farm. (Bottom of Backbone Hill, Rt. 50) Joey was not into the whole walking into the field and cutting down a tree thing, so being the good parents that we are, we forced him to do it with a little bribery, I mean motivation. You know, the whole Santa and the elves are watching speech. It didn't take long to find a tree, cut it down and drag it to the car. The best part, for me anyway, was arriving home after a long day at the tree farm and seeing the Christmas tree all lit up in our living room. Joey and I will hang ornaments on it as soon as I find them-they're in storage, of course!

Elves Day Tradition

Did you know that Santa's elves do a little snooping for Santa before Christmas? My dad must have made a special deal with either the elves or Santa, because those little buggers would always sneak into our house and fill our stockings with little treats before Christmas came each year. As I was growing up, the elves also visited our friends the Sandfosses, but for some reason never visited the Ottaways. Hmmm...
Joey has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the elves this year. Every morning in December, the first thing he has done is sneak downstairs to check the condition of the stocking hung by the fireplace. Unfortunately, there was only one stocking, Joey's, because the others are in storage. Last night, Joey wanted us to put out some socks just in case the elves were refusing to visit our stockingless house. I found some very stretchy, comfy socks for him to place on the hearth.
This morning Joey couldn't wait to tell us that he spotted two of Santa's little helpers in his doorway when he awoke around 1 o'clock this morning. One of them wore a red Santa hat, the other a green one. He even heard them whispering! Further evidence that the elves had visited lay in our full stockings.

Changes

Greg and I have probably been talking about building our dream house out on the family farm since before we were married (13+ years). Our friends patiently listened to us voice our dreams and would occasionally ask about our progress knowing there had been none. Two (or was it three) years ago, we actually started doing real things to make it happen: the land was surveyed, Greg met with the excavator, Ed designed the house and prepared the blueprints, Pete ordered the windows. Well friends, our house is now up for sale. We love our house (Greg plans to continue making improvements until it sells) and our neighbors, but Sammy's passing has made the move even more appealing.
Check out the link below:
7845 Stonehill Drive
You can also view the video tour:
Video Tour

Sad Goodbyes

My family has been sadly sharing our memories of Sammy, the best dog ever. Many lessons have been learned from his passing, but the most obvious is one that is only learned the hard way: appreciate what you have while you have it. Greg, Joey and I are realizing what an important member of our family Sam was. In December of 1997, Greg and I drove to a farm in Kentucky to "look" at some puppies that my aunt Christine told us were being given away. The beautiful mommy golden let us look at her puppies while yellow cat Jingle looked down on us from the hay bales. A little gold fuzz-ball was too scared to hide from us, but his sweet personality grabbed our hearts from that moment. We got lost on our way home from the KY farm, but snuggling in my arms was a barely six week old golden/lab mix. Our pictures from that day are in storage, but the emotions that we felt that day are fresh. I miss my sweet Sammy. So do Greg and Joey.

Lemonade for Sale

Yesterday Joey and Cassidy set up a mobile lemonade stand and sold their product door-to-door. The division of labor was easily decided-Cassidy was in charge of product and Joey did the actual selling. They were so cute and determined to do well. I am proud of their initiative.

Hopefully I'll get to enjoy some down time over the next few weeks. This summer is speeding by, only four more weeks until school begins! I finished my second class on Friday {two weeks driving to Oxford every day} and don't have another until August, so some playtime is definitely in order. I would like to see the newest Harry Potter movie, take Joey to Kings Island and the Beach, sleep in a bit, and swim at the pool.