Rochester Life

No seriously….. in the last two and a half years, my family has done more to ‘beautify’ the world than all of the ‘Save the Planet’ foundations put together. 

The Grish-man is too cute for words… his smile will melt your heart.

L-Rex has been walking for about a month.  And she most definitely LOVES her aunt shoe….  I’ll take it!

The Sam-ster… half Sam…half hamster… has finally taken his first Franken-sam steps.   And although he has a lot of secret girlfiend and although I promised not to screw him up too badly…. I’m pretty sure he likes me the most… but lets be honest that boy is all about ‘love the one you’re with.’

And lastly onto Ria— though she seems to have some “jerry in her junk” thing happening these days, I could honestly eat her up.  Part too smart for her own good…. Part too stubborn for her mom’s good…. when she pays even the slightest attention to you… you feel way special.

My list would not be complete without mention of Alexis and Kyle…. at 15 and 12, they are the oldest of my ‘babies’…but let me assure you that they are the coolest people I know. 

What teenagers want to hang out with ther old aunts and uncles?  Alexis and Kyle.

What middle and high schoolers have such a way with babies and seem to actually enjoy spending time with infants?  Alexis and Kyle.

Seriously I only wish I was a awesome at 35 as they are at 12 and 15.

So eat your heart out world… I am the luckiest aunt alive… 

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Me?? I’m not so sure.

I had high hopes for 2008.  Really, I did.  And in many ways this year was, in fact, a success.

But… when it comes to my resolutions… I’d have to say I that there was room for improvement.

Lets recap, shall we…

#1)  Stop eating proccessed foods:  I was really on track with this one until about September.  A busy semester working on my Administrative Certificate found me eating Hot Pockets and Progresso Soup many Tuesday and Thursday nights.  Who really wants to cook dinner at 9:00 at night?!

#2) Win the Rochester Marathon:  Perhaps my biggest disappointment of the year… I had this one locked up if Marathons (like MHG thought) were not always 26.2 miles.  Twenty-two miles would have been just fine with me.

#3) Take back the government: Happy to say that we made this one possible!  My faith in the America people has been restored… Pew, Pew!!

#4) Take back the gym:  Check. 

A fantastic side effect of this one…. I realized that I don’t need them.

#5) Redo my powder room: It took about six months, but its done.  And it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Now if I could just remember to use it now that its fully functional again.

#4) Earn $10,000:   I chickened out of the one phone call that would have made this possible. 

So as we wrap up 2008, I can’t be too upset-

My family is healthy and growing! 

I have a job…

…for now. 

And gas is under $2.00 a gallon!

I guess for everything else I’d like to change….

….there’s always next year.

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Umm.. seriously… don’t be jealous…. but these two are definitely the cutest babies born in 2008!  Maybe ever…

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When Halloween, a visit from grandpa and a Friday all coincided this year, it seemed natural to celebrate.

You see, my dad’s birthday is October 31st.  And this year, he and my mom spent the preceeding week helping my sister with the twins while Michael conferenced it up in California.

So the plan was to invite the Western New York contingent of my family over to JAY’s to celebrate his Birthday and All Hallow’s Eve.  JAY always does a great job as hostess.  With food from Simply Crepes  …

[Despite her experience last time, SKS enjoyed the sandwich crepes…  I wonder if she’s willing to change her opinion of was Simply Food Poisoning?]

…There were 4 types of Woodchuck Cider and bucketloads of candy!

And then it happened….

The Monkey JAY invited showed up…

Clearly not your ordinary monkey, this one was interested in “hummus” and playing “conkers.”  And she wasn’t the least bit scared by Sam’s BOO hat. 

She entertained us with her version of “LMNOP” and we all learned that when you count you aboslutely say ” 1, 2, 3, 5, 7.”

And though she did not seem pleased with DJY’s desire to be helpful during twinsy diaper duty, screaming “That’s my dad!”, she was totally into the Reese’s Stick that she found in the candy stash.

Sadly the evening had to come to and end and as the Little Monkey headed out the door, we all wondered….

…Does Lilly have any idea that there was even a Monkey in her house??

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Well, they’re here at long last.  The long months of sticking a needle in JAY’s ass have been totally worth it.  I am proud to

present:

 Lillian McKenna Gauss

#1 Snuggler

 and

Samuel Hardin Gauss

#1 Screech Monkey, Bobcat fighter.

PERFECT!

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A few years back after JAY had been living in NYC for years, I finally decided to use my February recess to visit.

On one day, we decided to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  If I remember correctly, she had never been.  And it had been years since I had visited Lady Liberty.

Now mind you, we live in a post-9/11 world.  A world of long security lines and taking off your boots to reveal the hole in the toe of your sock before you board the boat to Ellis Island.

Inspired by our visit, we decided to see if we could locate the documents on-line that showed when our great-grandfather John Y.  came to America from Poland with his property (his wife–my great-grandmother). This led us to search for the meaning of our last name…which in Polish means.. “lover of millet.” 

At first I was extremely diasappointed.   It didn’t sound like we were very improtant or exciting.  We weren’t the town blacksmith, or town banker.  We weren’t even the town baker.  We just loved a grain that we had barely heard of. 

But guess what suckers… the jokes on you.  Millet– the grain my people loved so much that they were named after it— its the number 1 food that keeps you skinny.  Top weight loss foods

Read it and weep people….. what my people have known (or stumbled on by accident), your people are just hopping on board with.

Now if only McKenna meant something cool, like “winner of a million dollars that she gives half of to her favorite aunt …and by favorite aunt I mean the one that massaged her mother’s ass” 

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…and now there’s a puddle of minty-chocolate at the bottom of my purse.

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