Poppy & Gheghe have left the building.

We had a great Christmas with the Pop and Ghe-ster! So glad they decided to come down and spend it with us. They left this morning for the trip back up to LI.












Happy Trails!

"Yes, I love technology...

... but not as much as you, you see. But I still love technology, always and forever."

Christmas Eve!

Christmas 2007.

Merry Christmas!*

*Please accept, with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious tradition or persuasion of your choice, including but not limited to secular practices, with respect for the religious and/or secular traditions or practices of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally sound and successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures, whose contributions to society have helped to make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country, nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting these greetings, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal at any time without prejudice to either party. It is freely transferable with no alteration of the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself, himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher, without approval or agreement from the wishee. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of any subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and this warranty is limited to the wisher's obligation to replace this wish or issue a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

(saw this on another blog and had to share!)

Here Comes Santa Claus...

... right down our lane!

You win some, you... well, you know.

Although the Patriots played a great game, they fell to the Falcons in the semi-finals this morning. The Falcons were the #1 undefeated team going in, but I think Jack's team gave them a run for their money!

Jack catching a touchdown pass:

Check us out!

Go Elf Yourself!
and then, Go Scrooge Yourself!

John Cusack is a Wussy Little Fraidy Cat.

Two chicks driving down to Miami alone... not scary.
Eye surgery... not (too) scary.

Being assigned to Room 1408 at our hotel... scary!

Pop Quiz.

Today Jack's team (The Patriots) played it's first playoff game. See if you can answer the following multiple choice questions:

1. With his team down 12-0 in the first quarter, who scored the first touchdown for the Patriots?
A. Mickey Mouse
B. Jack
C. some other kid on the team

2. Who intercepted the Saints' pass and ran in a touchdown to bring his team ahead 18-12?
A. Tinkerbell
B. Jack
C. some other kid on the team

3. Who caught an amazing, way-over-his-head pass in the end zone for the extra point, bringing his team's lead to 19-12?
A. Spiderman
B. Jack
C. some other kid on the team

Yes, the Bs have it! Jack played a fantastic game which came down to that extra point! They play in one more playoff game next Saturday, the winner of which goes to the Superbowl!

Photo of the Day. Possibly of the Year.

Last night we attended Lake Mary's Annual Holiday in the Park/Tree Lighting Ceremony. Much bizarreness ensued. The mayor, along with a large group of children, counted down and the beautiful tree in central park was lit. Actually, it took several seconds after they hit "1" for the lights to turn on, but hey, who's counting? Oh yeah - everybody. Immediately after the lighting, the musical entertainment broke into everyone's favorite Christmas song... "ole, ole, ole, ole - feelin' hot, hot, hot!" and then everyone formed one of those bunny hop/tango lines and danced around the park. In the distance, you could hear the beautiful sounds of Santa's sleigh bells... wait... that's sirens... getting much louder! Suddenly, three squad cars come screeching around the corner, followed closely by a fire truck, lights ablaze - and out jumps the big guy himself!














This photo shows Santa being led through the crowds by the head Police Elf. Santa's handlers had to form a human chain so that the kids (and their camera-wielding crazy parents) could not form a mosh pit around him. I think the picture is funny, though, because it looks like Santa is being arrested by an elf and chased by the paparrazzi.

Anyway, Merry Christmas!

So Be.

Spent the weekend in Miami Beach...






































































Yes, this is an actual mailbox dressed like R2D2!



















Will's idea of a roller coaster!















More photos on the Flickr badge! -->

Eat, drink, and be merry, people!

Another Magical Moment.

The Holiday Season has officially gotten underway at planet mancuso! The kids celebrated Thanksgiving with their friends today at their school's annual feast, and are now off for the holiday until the Monday after Thanksgiving. We then decided to make a quick trip down to Disney MGM to see the Osbourne Spectacle of Lights display.













































After seeing the more than a million lights dance to music, John and Jack rode Rock-n-Rollercoaster then we made for the exit. We decided to stop in at Scoops, a little corner ice cream joint, for some, well, ice cream. We placed our orders, and as John went to pay, an official "Magical Moments" dude stepped in and told us that our ice cream was on Mickey today!

Let the music play.

Yesterday afternoon we had the opportunity to watch and listen to Jack and Leah's first band performance. The school band is new this year, so the kids have only been practicing together since August. Most of the kids in the band only first started their instruments in August as well. They have had to learn how to put their instruments together, take them apart, clean them, read music, follow the conductor's leads, actually play the right notes at the same time as everyone else, and also, breathe at some point. So for only having been together for three months, it was pretty impressive!

Everything and the kitchen sink.

To celebrate her official move into teenagerdom, Gheghe and I took Leah, along with Olivia, Leah's longtime friend and neighbor, and Ashley, Leah's longtime friend and cousin, to Disney for the weekend. We spent Saturday at Magic Kingdom, pretty much both opening and closing the park. Saturday night we stayed at Coronado Springs Resort, and then spent Sunday at MGM. We finished the weekend at Beaches & Cream Ice Cream Shoppe, where we indulged in the "kitchen sink." It was a great weekend with great company for a great kid!































Happy Birthday Leah!


















*More pictures & commentary at C by the Sea!

**UPDATED to show the aftermath of the kitchen sink

Help!