PepsiCo's deaf commercial will air on Sunday superbowl!

I am thrilled to tell you that there will be a commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday that will show two deaf men communicating with each other in ASL! What is even better, they will show one of the deaf community's well-known jokes! I think that it's great they will be bringing awareness to the deaf culture in a positive light.

Check out the link below, CNN wrote a report on this commercial out of ten commercials that they chose to make reports on.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0801/gallery.super_bowl/8.html

New Challenge

Hi there,

I can't believe it's already the end of Jan. I feel like Feb. crept up on me!

This morning, I read a post on a homeschooling yahoo group and somebody said something about a challenge where you commit to making something a day. Anything. Knit, crochet, draw, bake, cook, craft, painting, or whatever. I went and checked it out, and it sounds like fun. The only requirement is that you make something, and you document it on their site. The best part about it is that it doesn't have to be big, they said just spend 20 minutes on it, no more than an hour. Tonight is the last day to register, by midnight.

Considering my struggles with sticking to something as a commitment...I thought I'd take up the challenge. It's only 29 days, the shortest month of the year! It'll help me tap into my creative mind (eventually) but I will start with ideas from the magazine that my brother gave me for Christmas as a subscription. It's called "Family Fun", and it's always filled with simple crafts and fun food to make with your kids. On the days I feel like cooking, I'll try out new recipes from my "Cooking for 2" magazine.

http://www.thing-a-day.com/

I'll probably post some of our creations on this blog. I wonder what we'll make tomorrow!

Dinner at my house

My brother (Anthony) and his girlfriend (Lara) came to visit WV! They stayed at our place for 2 nights, then flew back home to Boston. My sister's family came over, and a couple of friends. I think it was my first time to cook for 10 people! I actually had fun cooking up a storm! Then we had cake and ice cream for dessert. We really enjoyed having Anthony and Lara here with us, so it was a great week with bunches of people around all the times!

Abby and Uncle Anthony chatting

My turn to catch up with my bro!
Tara waiting for dinner by playing w/ puzzles
Anthony and Lara listening to Mark. See the clock on the table? It sings a bird tune at every hour. Anthony got that for me for Christmas, it's a long story about why he gave it to me. I loved it! He put it up on the wall for me with all of the ladies' help on making sure it's centered and all that, ha. Fierce cat in action!
Kade playing w/ his daddy. My sis in background.

family & friends
My nephew & niece! Kade, 3 and Tara, almost 2

Babysitting my niece, Tara

Tara playing in basement w/ toys


Tara found Abby's toy and liked the music that played on it.

Silly Tara!
She likes purses, bags, or anything that you could stuff things into. She found 3, and we had to encourage her to share one with Abby!

Last week, my sister and her family finally moved to West Virginia from Florida! They arrived on Monday night, then the next day they moved all day. I babysat Tara so she could play and have fun while her parents worked hard moving stuff from the truck with her older brother's help (Kade, age 3).