Round 2!

I'm in need of another vent session - so Toni, get ready! LOL!

1. If you're walking in a parking lot, a busy one nonetheless, with your kids, please hold your kids hands and do not let them walk closest to the moving cars. I did not plan to spend my day watching your kids run around as you stick your hand up at me (the international sign for thanks) 15 times. How about you take that hand, get your child, and get to your car!

2. Drive into the gas station. Park your car. If you pay by cash, go pay. If you pay by card, slide it in the slot (really neat, huh?). Open your gas tank. Get gas. Close your gas tank. Get in your car. Drive away and have a merry little day. If you forget something that you need, please drive into a parking spot because as much as I would love to sit and just watch your bumper, I do not have the time to wait for you to get your yummy cup of coffee and that pack of gum you need. Thanks, 'preciate it.

3. Just because you have hot flashes, doesn't mean the rest of the office needs to freeze as if we're working outside in 2 degree weather. Get a fan and blow it on you and stop touching the thermostat. Touch it again and I will turn on my space heater and sweat your ass out.

4. Just because there's a lovely little sign stating to please not block the entrance doesn't mean I have to. It's saying please. I'm saying no. End of story, wait until I move. Maybe I didn't see the sign, maybe I wanted to do it just to piss you off because I know you're one of those drivers that pisses me off. Who knows. Don't inch up on me as if that's your international sign of move with your arms flinging around showing me how mad you are, that only makes me mad. If there is a car behind me, again, inching up won't help because obviously I can't move dipshit.

5. I have a child. I correct my child. When I'm correcting her, don't stare at me as if I picked her up and I'm swinging her around my head. It's not my problem that you think it's ok for a child to talk back, hit, kick or bite.

6. Riding a bike is great. Good for you. Riding a bike in the middle of the road as if you are on a motorcycle, not so much. Find a sidewalk and use it.

7. My title is Executive Assistant. Go back, read it again. Do you see anywhere in that title the word office? No, and I will explain why - because I'm not the office assistant. If you can't do something, don't come to me asking me to do it. I don't mind favors here and there, but if you want me to do it on a regular basis, start signing some checks made payable to me.

That's it for the day! :-) I know its not as much as the last time, but don't worry, I'm sure I'll have more later! Have a great weekend!

Easter Weekend

Easter was great in the Lawson household - I'd have to put this up there as the best one yet! This year was the first year that Jenna really followed along with what the Easter Bunny is and what happens. All weekend we talked about him (her?) and she loved dying the eggs and knew that the Easter Bunny was going to give her a special surprised. So, after she went to bed Saturday night, Tom and I did her basket (as you can see below, we stuffed it!). Then, we woke up at about 7:30ish, came down, got everything ready and then Tom went up to get her (she was already awake) as I'm hiding all of her eggs that she dyed. There was about 7 total.


After I was done that, I raced upstairs and say "JENNA! GUESS WHO CAME!?!" and she gasps and says "The Eeeee-der bunny?!?!?" HA! Too cute that kid! She came downstairs and loved what was in her basket! Then, we tell her that she has to find all of her eggs! She loved that part, going all throughout the living room looking for them! She found them all within a couple of minutes, but then wanted to find more, so as she had her back turned, Tom tossed one to me and then hid one himself so she could have 2 more to find. It was really fun!


We then went to Tom's parent's house for breakfast, to which Grammy and Pop-Pop Lawson spoiled her! That was really nice, just spending breakfast with them and watching her con Pop-Pop Lawson into getting just "one more" piece of candy. :-) Then, we headed home so I could put the huge ham in the oven. We had my parent's over for dinner, and yet again, Jenna got spoiled by Grammy and Pop-Pop Vingless! With the help of my genius Mom, we had ham with scalloped potatoes, green beans, broccoli, and biscuits. I'm telling you, without that woman there, it would have turned out to be a mess! I have no sense of timing foods, so it all worked out!


Overall, it was a really nice Easter and I'm very thankful that we were able to spend it with both families. This is an Easter that I won't forget - watching Jenna hunt for eggs made me think of the times we did that growing up (ok, well I would sit there with my stuffed bunny and Steph would zoom through getting them all as my parent's would be yelling at her to wait for me and she'd get mad because she could see them all!).


Hope everyone had a nice Easter as well!! :-)

Jenna's Easter Basket and eggs that she dyed

Lexus watching everything going on wondering where her treats are! (Don't worry, she got some!)

Daddy walking down with Jenna! She's excited, can you tell??

Jenna posing with her basket!

Wanting to dive right in!

She loved looking for eggs!

I think she just finished her 2nd piece of candy!

Getting excited that she just found another egg!

Getting spoiled by Grammy & Pop-Pop Lawson!

And then getting spoiled AGAIN by Grammy & Pop-Pop Vingless!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!!! Hope you enjoy all of the candy and the family and the food!!! You know I will! I know everything that the "Easter Bunny" is bringing for Jenna, Mommy will have to taste just to make sure its good! :-)

Love,

The Lawson Family

Spring is in the air!!

Happy Spring!!! Since I'm slow here at work, I came across this in my readings and thought I would share it with you all. :-)

About Amy

Eight Things I am Passionate About:
- My daughter
- My family
- My friends
- Being the best person I can be to everyone around me
- Making sure my house is clean (yes, quite OCD with that, but I don't care!)
- Baking - even though I can't cook, I love to bake!
- Eating right
- Not taking things too personally

Eight Things I want to Do Before I Die:

- Travel somewhere outside of the US
- Drive cross country throughout the US
- Have my house completely paid off and remodeling done
- Have Tom finally clean up the basement so its a place where everyone can hang out
- Spend my days doing what I want to do, not what I have to do
- Win an office pool - I NEVER win! LOL!
- Try out for American Idol and land a spot on the worst of the worst show in my chicken costume
- Take a nice, long vacation with my whole family

Eight Things I say Often:
- HA!
- Love you!
- HAAAAY (Thanks to Joanne!)
- Morning bug-a-boo! (to Jenna)
- Hi, this is Amy
- Baaaaaaaaaaaabe
- No Jenna
- Sure!

Eight Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over
- In My Daughter's Eyes by Martina McBride
- The Purcolator by I don't know
- Bringin' Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake
- Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Yellow by Coldplay
- Small by Carrie Underwood
- Shoop by Salt N' Pepa
- Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks

Eight Things That Attract Me To My Best Friends:
- Sense of humor
- Honesty
- Compassion
- Understanding
- Respect
- Strength
- Outgoing
- Love

Name a sound you like to hear
There are so many, the giggling of the kids when they are playing or when they sing, the sound of the ocean and music.

What is your favorite kind of cheese?
Oh damn, I'm a cheese girl and if I had to choose just one, it would have to be cheddar.

Do you sleep late on Saturday mornings? Why or why not?
Yes and no. According to Steph I do because her kids are up with the roosters (Jenna wakes up at 8:30am). If Tom gets up with Jenna, then yes. If he doesn't, then no.

When was the last time you forgot something? What was it, and how long did it take to remember it?
Is it bad that I can't remember? LOL! I'll edit this post when I remember and I don't know how long that'll be! LOL!

Fill in the blank: I notice ____________ when _____________.
I notice that my eyes get teary when I get angry. That doesn't mean that I'm going to cry, it just happens.

ABC's and 123's!

My baby is now a little girl! I'm so proud of her, not only can she say ALL of her ABC's, she can also count UP TO TWENTY!!!!!!!! She's been doing her full ABC's for about a week or so now, of course she still gets caught up in L-M-N-O-P, but if you say it slowly to her, she'll do it. Before, she would sing it and some of it would get jumbled.

Last night, she was playing with her baby doll and I hear her going "say EEEEE-LEBEN bay-bee! EEEEEE-LEBEN FUUUURRRR-TEEEEEN!" over and over again. I asked her to come here and count with me, I figured that she had just learned to count higher than 10 in school that day. Low and behold, as we got to 10, she kept going!!! She gets them a bit jumbled, but when you remind her, she gets it right!! I'm so proud of her, she picks up on everything and really tries!

Now she's at the independant stage, where she wants to do everything. She wants to get dressed by herself, put her shoes on by herself (she does the right feet now!), put her jacket on by herself and doesn't want anyone to help her.

My smart girl!!! :-)

I'll have the early bird special, side of bowling and for dessert, some "DAH!" at 3am!

This weekend was a nice weekend! Originally, we had plans Saturday night to go to dinner with one of my best friend's and her boyfriend, but she had to cancel because he had to work! Steph already had plans to come over to watch Jenna and spend the night with the kids, so Tom and I decided to make it our date night! Tom and I went to dinner about 4pm (once it his 5pm around her on a Saturday night, forget getting a table anywhere but McD's!) and then after that we went to Target because we needed a new griddle, our other one broke. $245 later, we walked out with a griddle, a movie for Jenna, 2 movies for me, 2 movies for Tom, stuff for Jenna's Easter basket and other stuff that I can't remember.

By the time we got home, it was 5:30. Steph looks at us as if we have 2 heads and she was like "Um, you guys have a sitter, you go out and come home at freakin' FIVE THIRTY!?!?" She gave us an idea to go out bowling, just the two of us, so I helped her give all of the kids a bath and then off to bowling we went!

When we showed up there, my cousin Neil was there with his girlfriend and her family (it was her Dad's birthday) and we actually ended up bowling right next to them! Let me tell you, I haven't bowled in years. Not only do I suck (little kids a few lanes down were doing better than me...I didn't think it would be right to ask for the bumpers up when even they weren't using them!) Then, I started to get texts from my friend Shannon, who was at the same bar as my friend Steph and they were both texting me that we should come up, so after our game, we went up to meet up with them for an hour. I told Steph how Chris cancelled, so we went bowling last minute. We were there hanging out with them for about an hour and a half and then we were home by 12:30ish.

Just as I walked in, I could hear Anthony crying. Since he was in Jenna's room in the pack-n-play, I got him, changed him and fed him. Then, he decided to be up until 4am! I couldn't wake Steph up, I know she had her hands full the whole night with 4 kids! But at the same time, he wasn't really fussing when I was holding him, just when I put him down. It was really cute hearing him saying just "DAH! DAH!" over and over again! LOL! The things you find funny at 3am! Then we were all up by 8am yesterday morning, so I made all of the kids breakfast and then Steph and Brian went foodshopping and I watched the kids, then came back to my house and we all had dinner. PHEW! Of course, Jenna and Leann were on the bad step every half hour because they are Frick and Frack, if something happened, chances are, they are involved! LOL! I think we're in trouble if they go through elementary, middle and high school together.

Needless to say, I was tired by the time Jenna had to go to bed. But overall, it was a great weekend! Now...excuse me while I go and Icy Hot the whole right side of my body. :-)

Weekend Pictures (stolen from Steph! LOL!)

I'm stealing these from Steph's pictures that she took. I couldn't find my camera to take pictures Sunday - tore the house up trying to find it. Come home after everything was said and done and I go in the kitchen and there it was...sitting where I last put it...on top of the microwave. D'oh!

The proud Mattoi Family

The proud Mattoi Family with Jenna jumping in.

The crazy Aunts!!!

Anthony with his Godparents, Uncle Tom and Aunt Jen

Anthony with his Godparents

Proud Uncle Tommy!!!

Mommy trying to steal a kiss! LOL!

Aunt Mamie and her happy boy!!

Uncle Tommy, Aunt Mamie and Jenna with Anthony! He's such a ham! LOL!

Grammy with Anthony

The Lawson Family

LOVE this picture!! He's working on his "But Mommy, I didn't MEAN to do that!" face! LOL!

They LOVE their bathing suits for swimming class!

Ok...vote....this is SO a Steph face!!

All of the kiddies playing!

Weekend-ness

This past weekend was a busy one!! Saturday, I had a ton of errands to run around, and of course I got stuck in the pouring rain. It was horrible! Luckily I didn't have Jenna with me or else as soon as it started, I would have called it a day! LOL!


Sunday, we had Anthony's Baptism. The whole day was great! Anthony was all smiles, all day! No matter what was going on, who was holding him, or what he was doing, he was all about smiling for everyone. He is just really a happy baby and you can't help but smile watching him! Of course Uncle Tommy was excited and proud to be his Godfather! And as far as Jenna and the twins that day, I was extremely proud of them. For those 3 girls to have no nap, they did really well both in church and at the restaurant! Of course, at the church, we had Angela and Tom sitting behind us instigating Brittany and Jenna, but it was pretty funny! We kept reminding them that they had to whisper, which they did, but they were doing the LOUD whisper! I had cheerios on hand, so that helped some too. By the time the Baptism ended, there were cheerios all over the floor - but hey, no temper tantrums or crying, so its alright...right?


At one point, when it was time for the priest to bless Anthony, Tom, Steph, Brian and Jen all stood up and Jenna saw them. All of a sudden, she puts her hands up and yells "HAAAAAAAY! (We can thank Aunt Oh-wee's for teaching her that) LOL! Then at the restaurant, we have Daddy teaching her to put her thumb, pointer finger and pinky finger in the air all while saying "Rock On!" LOL! Pretty humorous!


It was really nice having the whole family there along with the Mattoi side of the family, its always a great time!


Until next time! :-)

You will be missed Grandpop!!

It is with deep sadness that my Grandfather has passed away. He passed away peacefully this past Saturday night with his family surrounding him. He will be greatly missed by all of us, he was an amazing husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather.

Yesterday, as we were all sitting at my parent's house, telling stories about both my Grandpop and Grandmom, my Mom talked about when they went to the funeral home and when they were asked what his hobbies were, my Mom and my Aunt said "his family", which was 100% the truth. He was all about what was going on with us and what we were doing and there wasn't one function that he would miss for the world. He was the happiest sitting back and watching what we were accomplishing and made it known how proud he was of all of us. There was nothing that he wouldn't do for us. One great memory that I will always have was the time him and I were bored and decided to make a checkers board out of cut up pieces of paper and lines drawn out on another sheet of paper. We played checkers for hours!

I will be forever grateful to him for selling us the house that my Mom, Aunt and Uncle grew up in. If it wasn't for him, who knows where we would be living, but I take comfort in knowing that we are raising a family in the same house that my grandparent's did and that's all because of him.

Now he is with my Grandmom, which I'm sure she is giving him hell for the things that he did after she passed. If you knew my Grandmom, you would know that I'm speaking the truth!

Rest in peace Grandpop, we love you!!!!

John J. Cael

Former Langhorne Resident

John J. Cael, age 80, passed away Sunday, March 2, 2008 at Manor Care of Yardley.

Born in Philadelphia, he had been a Langhorne resident for 50 years before moving to Yardley a year ago. He had served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. John was a devoted father and grandfather who had enjoyed spending time with his family.

He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 49 years, Marie. Left behind to cherish his memory are his children, son John J. Cael and his wife Filinta of Upton, Mass.; and two daughters, Marie K. Vingless and her husband Donald of Levittown, Pa., and Terry A. Brophy and Zeke of Oakford, Pa. He is also survived by seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.