Mantel in the Morning Weekday Mornings 5am to 10am
About Me:
Well, I've been with the WGAR morning show since November of 2001! Since that time, I've been set up on ten blind dates with WGAR listeners, ridden the Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, learned to ride a motorcycle live on the air, landed a Cessna and jumped out of an airplane from 14-thousand feet! On November, 27th, 2004 I married Sgt. Jason Meadows. Six weeks later, he deployed to Iraq with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines out of Brookpark, OH and thankfully he came home to me in October of 2005. Sadly, 48 of his fellow Marines did not return and we will NOT forget the ultimate sacrifice they made.
A few things most of you already know about me....First, I LOVE chocolate, all animals (especially dogs and horses), and I really love to travel! My favorite television show is The Amazing Race, thanks to Jim Mantel who got me hooked. I also like CSI, House, and Dancing With the Stars. I got hooked on DWTS after competing in a local version with professional Dance Partner Andy Slimak and winning! Ballroom dancing is a TON of fun but harder than you'd ever imagine. Anyway, the Amazing Race is the show that inspired me to travel so I visited Las Vegas, California and Seattle in '02 and '03 and in 2006, Jason and I traveled to Sydney, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand for our "real" honeymoon when he returned from Iraq. I have lots of plans for more travels so stay tuned!
As for my "story": I grew up in Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood and went to Immaculate Heart of Mary Grade School, then off to Trinity High School and finally Heidelberg College in Tiffin, OH. Now I live in Parma with Jason, Brayden, Carlie, Gryffin and Merlin and every other weekend, we have Jason's daughter, Makenzie. As you all know by now, Brayden joined the family on January 22nd of 2007 and Carlie came along on September 25th, 2008. My children are my world and I LOVE being a mom! I have a BEAUTIFUL family and I know I'm VERY blessed! So...its been many years now since I've worked for WGAR and despite working with Jim the Curmudgeon, and the often angry Captain Tony (hey what do you expect...he works with Jim too), I still love being part of the morning crew. And when I'm done at work, I go home to my beautiful family and I get to be a mom which is the most wonderful job of all!
NewsChannel 5 Presents Laurie with the "Cleveland's Dancing With The Stars" Trophy.
Mother Nature must really hate us lately. All of this rain is really putting me in a bad mood. I'm DYING to get the kids OUT of the house and enjoy some warm weather. The only good thing I can say about it is that its forcing me to get stuff done INSIDE the house. For instance, this weekend I went through the kids dressers and got rid of all their old clothes. And while I was doing that, they were playing nicely.
Trust me, that right there is RARE which is why I had to snap the photo!
Anyway, I'm praying for warmer, sunnier days just as much as you are and I hope they arrive SOON! I've got a very busy summer ahead of me! By the way, if you're not yet following me on Facebook, please do! Just click here and send me a friend request: Laurie's Facebook Page
Long Lost Laurie
Monday 05-09-2011 10:24am ET
Well, this is probably the longest I've ever gone without blogging and I'm sorry about that. For those of you who follow me on Facebook you know exactly how busy I've been with the new DJ business. I've worked every single weekend for the past month and a half and I'm exhausted! I also feel like all I've done is work lately and the kids are suffering from a lack of attention so we took them to Kalahari a couple weeks ago to focus solely on them! They had a blast. I've been trying to upload some pictures here but the system won't let me so you'll have to friend me on Facebook to see them all!
I was also trying to post some pictures from Easter Sunday even though the holiday itself was sort of a bust for my family. My grandmother went into St. Vincent Charity Hospital with Congestive Heart Failure and she's now in rehab at Jennings. She's doing better but she's still kinda weak and she gets a little confused every now and then. After all, she's 95 years old so I guess that's understandable. But when she was in on Easter Sunday, things got a little dicey so Easter dinner got cancelled. The kids still had fun finding their eggs and baskets in the morning but the rest of the day was spent at the hospital!
Other than that, I've just been busy playing tunes at lots of events around town. I had a few more pictures to share but once again the system is being difficult and I can't post anything at all so please check back again later or become my friend at Facebook.com.
Bowling FUN!
Wednesday 03-16-2011 11:06am ET
Last week I told you we were going to have Makenzie's birthday party at Yorktown Lanes in Parma Heights and I promised to post pictures. All of the kids had fun on Saturday and as always Yorktown Lanes was very accommodating. There were five 10-year old girls on one lane and a bunch of little ones on the other lane and somehow we managed NOT to have to call an attendant for any stray balls or pins! Here's the birthday girl with her cousin (and my niece Abri)
And here's Brayden. Check out that form:
Then there's Carlie "cheater" bowling:
She's got form too:
And when they weren't bowling, they were climbing on this motorcycle. Here's Abri and Carlie:
And then it was Brayden's turn...check out that look of concentration:
And finally another picture of the birthday girl blowing out her candles!
The party was definitely a success but I'm glad we don't have any more birthdays to celebrate until September. They stress me out a bit.
Anyway, since its the Lenten season, I wanted to share with you the BEST place to get a Fish Fry on Fridays!!! If you like Lake Perch (and I DO!!!) you will LOVE Fish Fries from Playmaker's on Ridge Road in Parma! Amazing lake perch and hand cut-homemade french fries! YUM!!! Make sure you give them a try this Lenten season!
And as always, make sure you friend me on Facebook if you haven't already: www.facebook.com/lauriehovater
Geeeeezzzz...I'm a slacker!
Tuesday 03-08-2011 10:26am ET
Okay so this is probably the longest I've ever gone without updating my blog! Really sorry to those who follow me but it sure has been a crazy couple of months. If you follow me on Facebook, you know I've recently started a little DJ business so that has kept me incredibly busy. First I was scrambling to purchase equipment, mainly used stuff,and then I was meeting with a web designer to plan my website. I've actually had a couple of gigs already and hopefully I'll get more once I launch my site. Here's a picture from my first gig.
As for the kids, they're doing great! Kenzie just turned 10 this past Sunday but we haven't had her party yet. That will be this coming Saturday at Yorktown Lanes in Parma Heights and I'll be sure to post pictures.
Again, sorry for the lack of blog entries lately but its so easy to update everyone on Facebook and this takes much longer so make sure you follow me on Facebook if you don't already!
Cake, Trucks and Field Trips!
Thursday 02-03-2011 9:49am ET
Well...I'm not doing the best job of updating the blog lately but that's because we've been SO incredibly busy ever since the start of 2011! After Brayden's birthday, we had our niece Abri's birthday party too and I have proof that Carlie REALLY enjoyed the cake:
Even when we're not out and about we seem to be incredibly busy at home. Brayden BEGGED me to let him make snow angels one night so I took him out in the backyard and he had a blast:
Please try to forget the fact that I allowed my SON to wear pink snow pants outside! His old ones were too small and all I could find were an outgrown pair of Kenzie's which did happen to fit him.
Anyway, that same night Brayden and Daddy decided to build his bird feeder truck:
He was VERY proud of that project. Meanwhile, Carlie tried to stay out of the way but that's hard for her to do. Hard to get mad at this adorable face though:
Anyway, last Friday was Brayden's pre-school field trip and I actually had fun too. It was at the Children's Museum and I just knew Brayden was going to love the "grocery store" because he LOVES grocery shopping with mommy! I was right!
There are lots more pictures from the Children's museum and you can see them all on my Facebook page! Make sure you friend me if you haven't already!
Happy 4th Birthday Brayden!
Tuesday 01-25-2011 10:50am ET
Well, 2011 certainly has been busy, especially this past weekend! It was Brayden's 4th Birthday on Saturday and I was the working mom at his Pre-School on Friday so we could celebrate. He managed to split his lip open at school just a few minutes before we were ready to eat cupcakes and hand out his goody bags but he toughed through it. And on Saturday we had his party at Yorktown Lanes in Parma Heights! Great place for a kids birthday party if you're interested! Here's Brayden showing off his "form":
Carlie needs a little more help than Brayden but Kenzie was there to lend a hand:
And when Carlie wasn't bowling she was hanging out with her boyfriend Gavin who's just about 6 weeks younger than she is:
After everyone was done bowling, Brayden and Carlie both decided to take a spin:
Finally, after all the fun at the Bowling Alley it was time to go home and let Brayden open his gifts from Mommy and Daddy:
I think he was pretty happy with the way his birthday turned out and he told me yesterday that he "loves being four!"
Happy New Year!
Monday 01-03-2011 11:06am ET
Wow, its been a few weeks since I blogged but I've been on vacation for a full week and a half. It was wonderful! I got so much done at home and it was great spending so much quality time with the kids!
Anyway, I figured I'd share a few of my favorite holiday pictures so I hope you enjoy! We'll start with Christmas Eve. First we went to Church at St. John Nepomucene like we always do, and then we headed to my parents' house for dinner and gifts!
Here are Carlie and Brayden along with my nephew Alex and niece Lily anxiously waiting to open their first gift:
And the big gift on Christmas Eve was the Guinea Pigs!
On Christmas Day I ended up taking Carlie to the Minute Clinic because I was pretty sure she had an ear infection! I was right. And she's just finishing up her antibiotic TODAY! Poor thing was miserable for at least two nights!
Christmas evening we went to my Mother-in-Law's house to open more gifts:
That's probably the first pic since Thanksgiving of '08 with ALL the grandkids on Jason's side!
And we got a nice family picture too:
The day AFTER Christmas was actually our Christmas Morning. We don't pick up Kenzie from her mom's house until mid-day on Christmas so this way she gets to wake-up to Santa's visit like the rest of the family:
Here's poor Carlie opening one of her first gifts...notice how miserable she looks in this photo:
Here's Brayden after he opened up his new Toy Story beanbag:
And Kenzie opening her Monster High Journal:
And finally we had our final round of Christmas later that afternoon when my Sister-in-law and Brother-in-law came over to exchange:
And that pretty much wrapped up our Christmas Holiday! We didn't do much for New Years at all. In fact, I was asleep before Midnight. Sad, I know!
Anyway, thanks for reading my blog and I hope you come back often. I'll try to update more frequently so there's something new to read!
Tis the Season...
Monday 12-13-2010 9:19am ET
No doubt your kids are home from school today and you'll have plenty of time to read (yeah, right!) and catch up on my blog, so I figured I'd give you a new entry to enjoy! The kids have been in rare form lately! Not even a cold or a fever could slow them down and luckily Daddy always catches what I miss on film! Here's a picture of my cuties playing in the foyer:
Brayden and Carlie don't typically play in the foyer so daddy wasn't sure where they were when he heard giggles coming from the front room. Check out this video:
Gotta love those giggles!
Anyway, we captured another video of the kids during their bedtime routine but I'll save that one for another day! However, I will share a few of the pictures from bedtime!
Yuck...no makeup and my hair's a mess so forgive the appearance but I headed to bed myself soon after this picture was taken!
Well...actually bedtime took a little longer this particular night because Carlie was in a "mood"
She sure does make a great mad face doesn't she?
Anyway, this past weekend we finally decorated the house and put up our Christmas Tree! That meant we dug out the Santa hats and Carlie put them on. She was definitely enjoying herself:
And this is one of my new favorites:
And it never ceases to amaze me how much the kids change in just one year! Last year, Carlie was only about 15 months old and wasn't much help decorating the tree. This year, she wanted to do it all by herself!
And so our house is now full of Christmas Cheer! I'm really looking forward to the holiday this year since both kids are SO excited about Santa. Brayden is counting down the days and driving us nuts already and I just think its going to be one of the best Christmas's we've had in a LONG time!
My Silly Kids!
Tuesday 12-07-2010 10:46am ET
Well, it was a productive vacation despite the whole family being sick last week! I managed to finish most of our Christmas shopping, get everything wrapped and get all of our Christmas Cards mailed. And then of course I got the cold just in time to come back here to work so pardon the way I sound on the radio this week.
Anyway, Saturday night, Jason and I went to a wedding and my sister-in-law Fawn and my niece Abri watched Brayden and Carlie. The kids LOVE Abri (she's 9) so they didn't even care when Jason and I left. We probably could have stayed out all night but Jason wasn't feeling well and I wasn't 100-percent either so we were home by 9pm. But, while we were still at the wedding, Fawn was kind enough to send me a few pictures she took on her phone and I wanted to share them with you because they're really cute. No matter how hard I try, I can NEVER get the kids to cooperate for a "staged" photo so I was shocked that they cooperated for Fawn.
Here's when she told them to make a funny face:
And then she apparently asked them to make the "Home Alone" face:
Again, I can't believe BOTH kids COOPERATED at the SAME time! Such cute photos so I hope you enjoyed them.
And thank you to everyone who's been sending me coats! We're going to clothe a lot of people downtown on Christmas Day this year!
© 2012
