Friday, February 26, 2010

Hair

Let's talk hair at the Jerome household....why not, on a dreary, snowy western PA day. Growing up, I did not appreciate my hair. We three Shippy girls had dark and curly hair....oh, how I wanted straight and blond, like my "Bouska" friends (I also wanted to be tall like them too, but that never happened). After three children, my hair straightened a bit and now.....well, I would LOVE my curls in all their glory back. Darrell just wishes he had his hair back, curly or not. So now, all three of our children have the thick, curly hair. Ann-Marie still appreciates her curls because it makes her different and she gets compliments on them. Evan, being nine, has now decided that growing his hair out shaggy, like the teenagers he knows. I was surprised when Darrell agreed to this (him being the retired military guy) but he commented, "Let him do it as long as he has HAIR!" (Almost sounds like a line from "VeggieTales.") So Darrell took Evan into our favorite barber about a month ago for a "style" his curly, thick hair could grow into. I have to say that I like it on him. For some reason, Alec wasn't able to go to the barber that day and I don't think we've gotten his hair cut since before Christmas......he has had lots of positive comments on how everyone loves his curls, but this morning I couldn't take it anymore. He had to get it cut! So (sorry Ron the barber) Darrell took things into his own hands (or clippers rather).....

before.....
during......
and after!

Don't worry, for all of you getting used his longer hair....it will grow back! But this is much more manageable now.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Evan is 9!

What a wonderful birthday Evan had....and now he's officially nine! He likes to open one present at each meal, so breakfast brought the opening of Aunt Carla and Aunt Sheila's gift....new sports cards with a binder and special pages to organize them. He's having a blast with those!
After lunch, we headed into Pittsburgh to meet one of our favorite families to hang out with (the Agnews) at the Carnegie History Museum. Evan wanted to see the new whale exhibit, but of course we dropped into many other exhibits as well. On the way home, we stopped at the new Giant Eagle market place in Robinson for a special treat....fresh made crepes (Nutella and whipped cream for the kids; prosciutto, asparagus, and Brie for the adults....YUM!) Then home for dinner, unwrapping of the family gift - new little league baseball mitt, balls and bat for when he starts baseball in the fall. We all sat down to part of a Star Wars movie before heading to bed....wonderful but exhausting day.

Since we are all about food, Evan chose all meals for the day....so the menu was -
Breakfast - Chocolate chip pancakes
Lunch - Tuna salad in pita pockets
Dinner - Spaghetti with shrimp and dessert was carrot cake cupcakes







Monday, February 15, 2010

Valentine's Day 2010

The annual Valentine's Day treasure hunt....reading the clues....
finding the loot....
eating heart pancakes and red applesauce!
Darrell fixed us a wonderful tuna dish....thanks to Toni for the tuna! I hope everyone had an enjoyable Valentine's Day!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Evan's birthday celebration


We celebrated Evan's 9th birthday on Friday with a trip to the new SportsWorks in Pittsburgh and a sleepover with his friend, Silas. Everyone had a really good time...we highly recommend visiting SportsWorks! Favorite activities were the "You-yo", comparing your sprint time to an Olympic athlete's time, pitching a ball the length of a Major League baseball player, rock-climbing (Ann-Marie only...she made it to the top again!), and Body Cam. Darrell and Evan went on the virtual Phantom Menace ride, which was very intense.








Evening activities included pizza, cake (I made the Steeler's football cake), ice cream, and Wii games. Evan's actual birthday is on Friday, February 19th.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Quote of the Day.....

"Who needs a gym membership when you have SNOW to SHOVEL!" ~Darrell Jerome

How we're spending our snow days.....

Curling up in front of the fire with a good book......
building forts for a comfy spot to watch a movie!

We have more snow and the temperatures have dropped to cold! We're comfy cozy in our warm house, so we're very thankful for still having power. We have discovered a new Cranium game that I had tucked away for a rainy (or snowy) day. All in all, we're doing well here....thanks for checking in!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Snow pictures

I told my dad in Iowa (who is laughing at us today!) that I would post these pictures....so here you go Dad. Yes, we got hit with the STORM! Most of the time, when it is an east coast storm, the Pittsburgh area isn't included....we are too far west (dare I say we are "almost" midwesterners?) This time, we got in on the action. Darrell went around the yard and measured different spot....he found between 20" and 24" on the ground!
The kids went out to play in it, but it is so deep, it's almost not fun....above, Ann-Marie attempting to make a snow angel.

And here's our car....whenever it snows, we park one of the vehicles on the street so we know that we can get out if we need to....our double garage is down a hill which makes it harder to dig out and get the vehicles out in snow and ice. Darrell is standing on the street.
This one is hard to see, but Darrell said he made a "playpen" for the kids....dug a trench and a circle path so they had somewhere to play. How funny!

We have to be careful in our yard, however, as we have lots some massive branches off the tree directly behind our house. One fell on our playset, so I'm not sure if there was any damage or not yet. The snow is deep and heavy!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Birthday pictures

Just me and my EasyBake Oven cake....made by Ann-Marie!

The kids enjoyed theirs also....they really got into them!
I should mention that Darrell made me Chicken Marsala over pasta for my requested meal. YUM! I had a very enjoyable birthday, thank you for all of the nice birthday wishes!