Palin Rap

I couldn't help but laugh over this. A lot.

Baby goes Indian

We made some Indian food tonight. Butter chicken, to be exact.

Our son GOBBLED it up....and had seconds.

I just thought that was worth noting. Our child has enjoyed chinese, thai, mexican, italian...he loves them all. And now we can add Indian to the list.

Berridge Progress...

A while back I posted about some of the projects that my brother has been involved with. Last week, while in town, Michael took me to update me on some of it - and I have posted a few pictures on my page of the progress.

Click here for pictures

Here is a video from a few months ago and what it looked like then.
http://v.mcomet.com/detail/3420607/

Barack Roll

I got this one from Monica - and it was too fun to not post. Enjoy!

A delightful day.

ended up staying home this weekend (shock of all shockers!) and on Sunday, we were able to have a most delightful adventure.

First, we went to Frederick Meijer Gardens. We were able to see the current exhibit of Jaume Plensa. Isaac kept calling the largest sculpture - "big head!".

Then, after naptime, we went for a nice bike ride and thus the previous post...

Before bed, we had some time to play with our trains. Brian made the "mother of all train tracks" for Isaac...under the fancy train table...and had 3 trains going at once. It was fun.

I posted pictures on our photo site.

We haven't gotten to have a nice family day like this in a while...and we very much enjoyed it.

Thomas has some competition...

Brian has been having a lot of luck getting Isaac to ride in the bike trailer. They went for a 6 mile ride on Friday, so the three of us set out for the local park tonight. We thought we'd make it more fun for Isaac by bringing along his spider man fishing pole. At first Brian was casting and Isaac was reeling, but after a few minutes and a few practice casts, Isaac got REALLY good at casting and reeling all by himself.

Suffice to say he didn't want to leave the park, but after 45 minutes of watching Isaac smirk and giggle (Daddy I did it!), we decided it was time to head back for make dinner. Now we got home and the first thing he went for was his toy fishing pole, move over Thomas...at least for tonight

New pictures added!

In the spirit of attacking my "to do" list with a vengeance...so shall I update pictures! All can be seen on our photo page (see links at side bar).

First: Photos of Will and Isaac on the day of their b-day party as well as pictures of the train table that Isaac got from his money from Grandma and Grandpa Freeman.

Second: Pictures from a recent weekend at the cabin. We took Isaac to Lumberman's Monument - and I am not kidding when I say he almost went up and down the stairs all on his own (Daddy had to help at the end!)

Third: A few pictures of Will from my recent one day trip up to Wolverine, as well as some misc photos from the last month.

Fourth: Pictures from our weekend visiting the Nelson family and cousin Antonio Giacalone's baptism.

Hope you enjoy!

Welcome - my newest God-daughter!

Congrats to our good friends, Chris and Mindi on the birth of their second daughter, Leah Rose DeSanctis!

She was born on Wednesday October 8 at 6:33am. She weighs 7 lbs. 15 ozs. and is 20 inches long. Sister Kayla is very proud! Mindi and Leah are doing great!

Annual Freeman-Giacalone Charitable Gift

Once upon a time, our family used to do the whole name-pulling, gift exchange that so many families around the country do at the holidays. Don't get me wrong, I got some lovely gifts, but at some point, it just became difficult because inevitably, you would get the ONE person who either had all they want OR was impossible to buy for. Another travel coffee mug anyone???

In the years after my Grandmother Joan passed away - my family, in some desperate way, needed the first holiday without her to mean something more. Finally, my Mom came up with the idea of buying gifts for the Angel tree at Dukette School in lieu of for each other. Everyone jumped on board, and the $25 bucks we normally spent on our exchange gift was all pooled together. My mom visited the tree in it's last few days, gathered 12-13 "angels" and off to the store we went. Mom, Brian and I had a great time filling these pathetically simple gift requests...calling them "shoe girl" and "pants boy". There is something sad about a child putting on their angel that they want a pair of shoes for Christmas. So - we managed to stretch our money so "Shoe girl" got 2 pairs of shoes, socks, a hat & gloves and a small toy tea set. The story went on with pants boy, pajama girl, coat girl, etc. No kid got just their one little thing, we couldn't stop at just that. The workers at Dukette were overjoyed.

The following year, we spread our joy somewhere else (having not gotten to the tree in time!), and the year after, etc. So - by now, we have helped the Women's Center at St. Luke's, the Career Alliance, etc. One year, I don't recall where it was for - we just bought socks and underwear. LOTS of it. That was hilarious and fun in itself.

In this economy, when so many need so much - I feel proud of my family - for getting into the spirit of giving. For not caring to get something ourselves. We have our big family dinner. The children open their gifts....and the rest of us just know that we have contributed to the true spirit of the holiday - helping others less fortunate.

That being said...from time to time, other people pitch in. A friend, my in laws, etc. Our family has never ended our "family ties" at someone who has a shared bloodline. I can't tell you how many holiday dinners have had friends join in. So, I was thinking this year, hey - why not just throw it out there...do YOU want to pitch in? Do something good AND be a little part of the Freeman-Giacalone family this year?

If you are interested, drop me an email at becky@blueskymi.com - I can let you know where we are choosing to donate this year and let you decide if you would like to join our "fun". I will even post photos of our "swag" before it gets donated.

Any amount is welcome, anyone is welcome.

Aniston Dancing...badly.

I promised this a LONG time ago...but here is our clip of Jennifer Aniston, dancing quite badly - at the Rothbury Festival.

I have been studying these moves in order to integrate them with my already perfected "Elaine" moves for my upcoming adventure with a group of Larks.

Weekend at the Nelson's!

See pictures from our weekend adventure to visit the Nelson family!

http://noelupnorth.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html