Happy Anniversary

Wow! This time 13 years ago I was probably getting dressed for pre-pictures. We were married at 12:00 noon on April 29, 1995.

It's strange how time seems to go by so fast. Sometimes it feels like yesterday (although I wish I still looked as young as I do in this wedding picture), and other days it feels like forever!

Who would've thought 13 years ago we would be where we are now: 3 boys, a dog, a house in IN - just to name a few.

Shawn - I love you more and more with each passing day. The life we've built is amazing and I thank God for bringing you into my life 16 years ago at that karaoke bar in Mt. Adams! We've been through a lot together (that's actually an understatement!), but there's no one I'd rather trek through life with than you and our family!

Happy Anniversary honey!!! I love you!!!

The babies are here!!! or somewhere anyway...

UPDATE 4/29/08

So I guess my fear was realized about the duck eggs. I emailed eNaturalist.com to see if they could provide any answers to our recent mysteries regarding the nest. When I went out to check this morning, the lone egg in the post below was gone, and this time the nest was all askew. This was eNaturalist's reply:

I hate to bear the bad news, but I'm quite sure your Mallard's nest was destroyed. I can't be sure what kind of animal it was, but definitely, those eggs did NOT hatch in 12 days!! The list of possible nest-raiders is a long one so it would only be a guess as to what your predator might have been. Although it's natural for predators to take prey, humans have made a lot of changes in our environment that make it harder for some animals, like your duck, to safely raise a family. In most communities, there are lots of skunks, Raccoons, Opossums, dogs, among other creatures that are more numerous than you might expect. It's very likely that your duck will renest but I doubt she'll choose a location near where her first nest was located. Sorry, I know how exciting it can be to have a mother duck hatch her babies within sight. Maybe next year.

John Wiessinger -- April 29, 2008

So sad!!!

The baby ducks have hatched we think . . . so why do I feel so sad and disappointed???

Yesterday we fed the mama (as we do every day now), yet this morning they were gone! I'm still wondering how we missed it. She's only been sitting on them consistently for 12 days, so according to the "duck calendar" we had at least another 12-16 days before they hatched! Guess they went into premature hatching.

I'm hoping they come back - if nothing else for food and to "show off" the brood. If they do, we'll get pictures and post them. Otherwise, until next year maybe. . .


Guess the "daddy ducks" knew something we didn't. They were hanging out in our front yard the past few days.
One lone egg remains in the nest. The other shells are scattered about. I don't know if this egg just hasn't hatched yet or if it's dead.
A view of the shells. We only found 6 or 7 around the nest area, but we also found one all the way up by our deck near the gate.

Baseball 2008

Sorry for the delay in posting - our computer was being overhauled and we just got it back up and running!

So, it's that time again - baseball has started and it's eating up almost all our evenings, but the boys are having fun - so I guess that's all that really matters! Their 1st games were quite the contrast weather-wise, you'll see what I mean below!


Evan had great weather for his 1st game - here he is playing 3rd base.
Batter up!
He scores a run for the team!!!
Poor Grant had miserable weather this past Saturday morning at 8:30 am (can you tell from this picture how cold he was?)! Who schedules these crazy times for 6 year olds anyway??? I think the temperature that time of morning got up to 48 degrees!
But he still got a great hit off one of the coaches pitches - winter coat and all!

Just a few friends

So last weekend, it was so nice out - a "few" of the neighbor kids all came over to play some Light Sabres vs. machine gun games! I just had to take a picture cuz' almost all of them wanted to pose for it (there were 13 kids total) - still not sure who won - Shawn even joined in at one point. It was all of them against him. I'm thinkin' the kids won that one...

I also got to watch cute little Emily Poe. I think it's the first time I've watched her without Jake (Blake and Grant weren't too happy about that as they love to play with Jake), but they had a good time pushing her in the swing!

Blake's 1st ride on his new big boy bike!

This video is more hilarious because of Shawn's commentary while Blake is riding his new bike for the first time! Blake actually did a great job riding - I guess Shawn is just living his cycling sponsorship out through his sons (who all LOVE to ride). Maybe one day we'll be going to watch one of them at the Tour De France!!!

Duck Dilemma's & Updates

Well the whole neighborhood knows about the family of ducks we have - and the kids love updating everyone on the everyday happenings . . . so, here's the latest! Guess you'll be seeing these posts until they hatch - I just didn't have the heart to move the eggs. I suppose we (and mama duck) are adjusting as you'll see in the pics below!


Mama sittin' on her herd (yes, it's a HERD - see how many eggs we have now in the next pic!)
That's right . . . 8 EGGS!!! I hope she's done, but she's been laying an egg a day since we discovered them.
Tanner was out this morning. I saw him going over by the playset so I ran outside. Sure enough, he walked right by her and scared her out of the playset. He then started sniffing the eggs and that's when I stepped in to get him away from them. She was watching me from here - looks like she was ready to bolt if I came near her! Guess she was thankful though, cuz' she went right back to sitting on the eggs once I put Tanner inside.
We went out late yesterday afternoon to see how many eggs were there, but this is what we saw. Guess they have their own weather radar and she knew it was going to be cold b/c she covered them all up with her feathers and mulch. You can only see 2 of the eggs peeking out from her protective covering.

Tag, I'm It!

Okay, so I've been tagged twice now by Crystal and Nicole, so I guess I'd better get on with this! ;o)

Four jobs I've had:
1. Paralegal (Collections, Estate & Probate, Family Law)
2. 3rd party collections agent
3. Jewelry store sales associate
4. Full-time mommy

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. Pretty Woman (still one of my faves)
2. Steel Magnolias
3. Breakfast Club
4. Any kids movie: Shrek, Flushed Away, Over the Hedge, Cars, Robots, ohhh the list just goes on and on an on...


Four places I've lived:
1. Cincinnati, Ohio
2. Anderson/Cherry Grove, Ohio
3. Mason, Ohio
4. Fishers, Indiana

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. American Idol
3. The Hills
4. House Hunters and pretty much any other HGTV show!

Four places I've been:
1. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
2. Warsaw, Poland
3. San Francisco, California
4. New York City
5. Hilton Head, South Carolina - ohhh wait, that's five, oh well.

Four people who email me regularly:
1. Linda
2. My hubby
3. My Bunco crew
4. All those crazy shopping places I signed up for: Old Navy, iTunes, Upromise, Staples, Bath & Body Works, Children's Place, Tommy Hilfiger, Pizza Hut - you name it, I've probably got my email registered with them!

Four of my favorite foods:
1. LaRosa's Pizza and Graeter's Ice Cream - man I miss my hometown sometimes!!! At least they have Skyline here!
2. Any kind of pasta
3. Salad - but only if it has lots of egg, bacon, cheese and croutons on it. Definitely not a "healthy" salad, but sure tastes good - especially with Russion or Thousand Island dressing on it!
4. Any home-cooked breakfast food - pancakes, bacon, hash browns, eggs, etc.
Okay, anyone else getting hungry???

Four places I would like to visit:
1. Paris, France
2. Switzerland - should've gone with my hubby when he went for the Tour De France when my Aunt and Uncle lived in Geneva!
3. Cape Cod, Maine - just want to taste really fresh lobster!!!
4. St. Thomas or some other crystal clear, blue ocean place with lots of sun and beaches!!!

Four things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Moving back to Cincinnati ;o) (I can dream can't I???)
2. Seeing God's plan for our family's lives (see reference #1)
3. Visiting my sister more often now that she's out of NYC and closer in Atlanta, GA
4. More fun times and vacations with our best friends, the Cassidy's!

Four people I'm tagging:
Christina
Tara
Shannon Poe
Shannon Pongratz

The Liller Wildlife Preservation

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so the kids were in the backyard playing on the playset when Blake yells to me that he and our neighbor Amanda found an "egg" in the playset. Well, I just thought they found an easter egg left over from the hunt - but when I go to look, I see a single egg (seriously, it looks like an egg you would fry up for breakfast) burrowed in the mulch in the sandbox area of our playset. I immediately thought it was a goose egg (which Grant thought was hilarious as he just had one of those on his eye - see 2 posts below for that story).

So this morning, we see the "goose", which is really a female mallard duck, sitting on her beloved "egg", while the daddy mallard swims in the lake right outside our fence. We make sure the dog doesn't go out (cuz' I'm sure that duck would take his head off if he got near her "baby"), and patiently wait for her to leave before going outside to play.

Once she's gone, everyone goes out to play (but I'm sure they were really just wanting to check out the "egg") and we see not one, but TWO eggs!

So my question is this . . . how long does it take for duck eggs to hatch??? Not sure how long I can keep the dog inside while she's sitting on the eggs - but we don't want to disturb her or the nest. I can't wait to see them hatch - this will be a great learning experience for the boys!!!

This was as close as I could get without upsetting her - my zoom lens was all the way out!
After she left, we got a picture of the nest burrowed in the corner.
So far, 2 eggs and counting... Scrambled or fried? (just kidding)