A new addition to the Doyle family.............

Congratulations to my cousin Brian and his wife Jenn as they celebrate the birth of their daughter, Caleigh Elizabeth. Caleigh was born in the early morning hours of Wednesday, April 23rd, weighing 6lbs. ?oz ??inches (mom you have permission to correct me) and she is absolutely adorable. And also to the new grandparents and aunt, my Uncle Richie, Aunt Marion and cousin Jean, congratulations!!!! Your lives will never be the same--and I mean that in the most positive way--there is no greater joy or love :))))

God Bless to all!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. The sleepless nights are not forever (hopefully) ;)

DVR & American Idol..................

I'm not a huge TV watcher but I LOVE DVR. Kenny DVR's the shows I'd like to have time to watch and when I get the time, usually after I get home from work and every one's asleep, I can fly through the shows without commercials-its great. We have shows like Jeopardy, Cash Cab, John and Kate plus Eight and AI recorded.

Last night I watched American Idol on DVR--My opinions: I am not a Sayesha fan at all-too cocky. Jason's lost me. Poor Brooke looked in pain when she sang and although I thought Carly did a good job I'm still not a fan. I really liked David Cook--I think he could do an album with all the songs he's done so far on AI. David Archuleta is either too young or too naive or too something.

Prediction for bottom three: Jason, Brooke and hopefully Sayesha.

Back to school and work......

We've had and have been having gorgeous weather here in NY and we were able to take full advantage of it last week.

(Last week) the kids and I were off from school. Kenny had a much needed vacation and I made sure I didn't pick up any shifts at the restaurant. On Monday and Tuesday Lauren, Alison and Tommy attended a Baseball Camp at a local church. The coaches did such a great job and they all had so much fun and wished they could have attend the whole week--but because of yearly testing they were only able to attend the first two days :(

For Lauren, Alison and Tommy standardize testing was on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday--Kelly will start testing next year and she can't wait. Testing occurs once a year and is a time the kids really look forward to. 1) because they're off from school 2) they get to see friends 3) (I think) they enjoy packing a backpack with snacks, new pencils and erasers. Although the kids do well on these tests it can be a stressful time for me-since I am not 'teaching to the test'--but every year the kids tell me that most of what's on the test are things they learned the year before--Whew!

And I'm happy to say that Kenny is gaining more confidence in do-it-yourself jobs--or you could say--do-it-without Mike-jobs and was able to get some things done in and around the house--He changed a couple of ceiling fans and updated some of the doors downstairs--I can't believe the change when a door is updated--thanks honey ;)

Carly's right...............

American Idol is just not the same without Michael Johns :(

No more Michael Johns on AI!!!???

I was so disappointed to see Michael Johns voted off American Idol. I was predicting him, David Cook and David Archuleta to be in the top 3. Anyway, life goes on :)

Lauren's baby quilt creation...............

At a HSKids (Homeschooled Kids--a bi-weekly co-op we attend) sewing class, Lauren and her classmates each designed and sewed baby quilts to donate to a local pregnancy crisis center. I loved the quilt and asked Lauren if she could PLEASE sew a king sized quilt for my bed--she adamantly said "N0." "What about starting a baby blanket business to earn a little extra cash?" again an adamant "No." It took a lot of hard work and time since we don't even own a good sewing kit let alone sewing machine but she was able to get it done and was happy it would be going to a mom & baby in need.