i still exist. virtually and actually. the boy child is in bed and the girl child is napping on me, so i am left with a moment of solitude. the past year wasn't the best it could have been. sure we had a lot of great moments (the birth of girl child, for instance), but it seems like there was a lingering gloom following my family around. i'm preparing for a great year. i sense that this will be the year of realizing dreams, the culmination of all our hard work. this year we will move, trading our apartment for our schoolhouse. the kids will have ample opportunity to grow and flourish, and hopefully i can follow suit.

i finally did it. i met taylor hanson. and i totally don't look happy about it...

we went to atlantic city for amanda's bachelorette party. we got free shots at firewaters, walked the boardwalk (where amanda tried to drink a giant bottle of rum...off a billboard), put our feet in the sand, met a guy that claimed to play vinnie chase's uncle on entourage (not pictured), and laughed at amanda's amazement at the fake sky in the tropicana.

this was micah's first time in a pool.

he loved it, to say the least.

erin's graduation party. i think the picture speaks for the night. note the empty yeungling box in the background. note the red party cup. note the expression on erin's face. i love my family/adopted family.

i know that this picture is blurry but i think it compliments my brother's choice to put his hood up on his graduation gown. he graduated with highest honors, but they failed to mention that when calling his name. i'm proud of my brother and am now harboring a grudge against rutgers.

i took micah to trader joe's and the farmers market at surburban square. we did a lap around the farmers market and were not impressed by their produce. we're going to hold out and go to the overbrook farms farmers market this saturday. they are only open on saturdays from 10-2. stephen said they were set up last weekend, so i am eager to see what they have.

we went to trader joe's and picked up some groceries. it seems as if they are getting in on the yo gabba gabba craze as well...
and now that i have posted that, i will sing myself to sleep.

i picked up a quart of trader joe's brand of soy cream. i couldn't help it...it was mango vanilla!!!
i decided to throw in one more of my favorites: penguins. i loved this ice cream substitute. i usually have trouble finishing small containers of soy creams, but that will not be a problem this time. the vanilla half didn't have an overpowering soy taste and the mango half was perfection. it was a wonderful ending to my day.