Friday, May 30, 2008

No Events...

This week has been so completely uneventful that I've got nothing new to tell you! The weather has been fine, the kids have been good. I haven't taken any pictures in the past couple of days. Hmmm. Well I guess I'll ramble on and see where that takes us.

Matt golfed the best he's ever golfed while he was away last week. He was thrilled to have a round where he shot an 80. I'm told that's good ;-)

I'm obsessed with Etsy.com A new love is THIS seller's earrings. They are just SO pretty.

A Skylerism: Skyler and I were sitting on the couch. I was reading my book.
Sky: Mommy why aren't you reading the words?
Me: I'm reading them in my brain.
{pause while Skyler thinks about this}
Sky: Are there little children in your brain?

I've done a bit of digital scrapping lately. I've mostly used old pictures that I'm still obsessed with.

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This one is new:
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We don't have much planned for this weekend. We've been doing little projects around the house. We've got family visiting in a couple of weeks (Hi Molnars!)

Skyler has her photo shoot on Sunday. We're going to go to the Botanical Gardens. I'm excited about just that part alone!

Have a fantastic weekend! Hopefully I'll have something interesting to talk about on Monday - no promises though, mmkay?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Holiday Weekend quick and dirty...

Friday
* New Haircuts for Skyler and Mommy - we look cute.

* Tried new italian ice place - YUUUUUMMMMY! Had italian ice for dinner - bad mommy.

Saturday

* Neighborhood pool opens. They couldn't WAIT to get there. It was freezing.
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* Worked in the yard.
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* Cleaned the playroom.

* BEGGED the kids to go to bed at 8:30. I was exhausted. I'm fairly sure I was asleep before they were.

Sunday

* More pool & yardwork

* Cleaned the living room, rearranged the furniture

* Kids played outside all day

* Daddy came home "YAY DADDY"

* Took Daddy to italian ice place

* Daddy's golf pictures:
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Monday

* MORE pool. Several of Zack's school buddies showed up so he was happy for a good three hours.

* Bbq in backyard with friends.

* Sprinkler fun
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* MORE italian ice ;-)

* The End.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Riding Bikes...

Since both kids can now ride their bikes without training wheels we decided to upgrade them. I picked out a new bike for Zack that was bigger and had two handle breaks and the COOLEST part, to him, a kick stand. Skyler upgraded to Zack's old bike after Matt promised to paint it girly colors for her.

I decided on Wednesday afternoon to take them to the local park/lake/bike trail to ride. I didn't have time to figure out how to put the rack on the van for my bike but I figured, hey they're just learning, I can keep up. HA!

This is the last I saw of Zack:

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I bent over to get Sky going on her bike and he was GONE. As Skyler and I stumbled our way around the lake, she wobbling and shooting in front of joggers, me yelling "SORRY" and "Excuse her" repeatedly, I had half a mind to ask one of the joggers going in our direction that if they saw a boy with a tie dye shirt on to tell him to "Get his ASS back to his mother NOW". But they were probably already annoyed with me. We eventually found him 3/4 of a mile around sitting on a bench enjoying some water from his bottle and patiently waiting for us. He thought he was pretty big stuff. We had a long talk about riding too far etc etc. You could tell he was thinking "Yeah yeah, I'm a big kid". We'll continue working on that one. I let him live another day!

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Next I let them run off some energy by running up the steps of a giant hill and then rolling down. This park is a former trash heap. That's right, it's built on trash.

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Little House on the Prairie Molnar Style:

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As we were leaving we stopped to watch some people who were fishing. In the time that we were there they caught a large turtle, a large eel, and an enormous catfish. The kids were SO impressed.

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Then this guy, Scott, showed up. He comes every Wednesday and Thursday to feed the geese.
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Hmmmm
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We had a blast and as usual, because he has trouble with transitions, Zack decided it was the worst time ever when it was time to leave and he wanted to stay. I wish the poor kid would find another way to show his disappointment. But whatev, I'm used to it.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Roots...

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Do you know what that is? Take a closer look:

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THAT is the water line to my house being pushed out of the ground by tree roots. It started to show through the dirt and the kids thought they found a treasure. Matt took a look and made a sound like this AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!@*$&*@#&$**% WTF! Actually that was me. Matt was pretty matter of fact about the whole thing.

This is the evil beast causing all the trouble:

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Do you have any idea how difficult it is to cut tree roots? Pretty FUCKING difficult. What idiot home owner plants a pine tree next to the front of their house/driveway? What idiot builder doesn't clear them out before building?

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

No Inspiration...

I'm not feeling inspired by anything specific. I don't have anything to talk about. BLAH!

In the meantime, while we're waiting for my big mouth to think of something to say, I was playing around with some pictures:

I love love this picture. Brooke was showing her little cousins her favorite books. They were all grouped around her listening. It was such a sweet girly moment.
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Don't they look tough?
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Aww, this was such a torturous moment for Zack. He was in pain and oh so terrified of getting stitches.
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I just LOVED her hair this day. A. Because she let me brush it and 2. Because the braids turned out even.
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That's it for today's photo essay. I'll try to think of something good to entertain you with tomorrow. Toodles!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Weekend in review...

I was hungry right after work on Friday so we took the munchkins to Ynot Pizza. They weren't thrilled with that idea because it was "BOOORING". I happened to have their bikes in the back of my car so later we stopped at the local middle school and let them ride around on the tennis court. They are both whizes without training wheels. We had Sky try Zack's bike and it's the perfect size for her so now I need to hunt down a bigger bike for him. Then Zack found a tennis ball and we made up a game. It was sort of like tennis (without rackets) and sort of like four square. Matt and Sky were on one team, and Zack and I were on another. As goofy as Skyler is she managed to get a few points on us and after 3 games their team, I think they were the Eagles, were declared the overall winners. Zack immediately demanded a new partner for next time. I took some video, but frankly, it's long and probably only entertaining to me. I'll spare you!

Saturday we borrowed a friend's power washer and washed the mold and mildew off of the side of our house and the roof shingles. It's so hot and humid here that once a year or so you need to do this to keep up. I was on the roof and was the spectacle of the neighborhood. Most of them couldn't believe that Matt let me get up there, but really, he weighs twice as much as I do and is at least half as limber. If he falls, yikes, I don't even want to think about it. The kids got a kick out of it, but no one took any pictures. Oh and I cleaned out the gutters too. YUCK!

That evening we went to the local Jubilee celebration with our new neighbors. Their daughter and Sky already knew each other from soccer and have become even closer in the past two weeks. We had to park pretty far away, but the walk was nice, it was a nice evening. Jubilee was completely overwhelming to me pretty much immediately. I hate huge crowds. We got tickets for the kids to go on rides and then went in search of the ones they wanted to go on. As soon as we got to a line, Skyler broke down in tears and crawled up my body until she was in my arms and she was holding on for dear life. She couldn't really tell me what was wrong, but I think it was all just too much for her. Zack and D. went on lots of rides together. We finally got Sky to go on the Merry-Go-Round


and down the slide



and we almost got her on the swings



but while they were waiting her brother informed her that they were going to go FAST. She got out of that seat SO fast and ran for the fence where I was standing. Once the ride started going she had that "are you freakin kidding me? You were going to let me go on THAT?" look on her face. Her friend who is younger than she didn't seem to mind at all.



We also watched the fireworks and ate cotton candy via the longest line in the history of carnivals. We didn't get home until after 11:00. The kids went straight from car to bed. Within an hour Sky was crying in her sleep. She wasn't awake but she was crying "Mommy Mommy". I just scooped her up and put her in my bed and she was fine. I think the whole thing was too much for her.

Sunday was a day of rest. My upper body was sore from holding the power washer for such a long time. I also needed to finish Pillars of the Earth as it was WAY overdue at the library. I didn't want to bring it back because I was really into it and I couldn't renew it because there is a waiting list. SO - I finished that and took a nap ;-). Matt took the kids out and about. It was a nice rainy day!

Friday, May 16, 2008

So yeah, he's Gifted...

Remember THIS post? The one where I mentioned that Zack had passed the first round of testing for the Gifted Resources program? Well we got a letter in the mail on Wednesday. He has been "identified as Gifted". I can't tell you how proud of him we are. He has no idea what we're talking about so it's hard to show him how we feel, so we ended up making it about working hard in school and getting to be in a special group in class next year.

The Gifted Resources program puts kids who are "identified" in a cluster within a class with a specialized teacher. They learn everything that is in the appropriate age curriculum in a more in-depth manner with additional learning resources. He will never have to test again and the "gifted" label will be his through graduation from high school. I asked what happens if a gifted student isn't performing to the standards that they expect and the Gifted Resources Specialist said "well we just work harder with them". I love that answer.

According to the National Associated of Gifted Children: "The term gifted and talented student means children and youths who give evidence of higher performance capability in such areas as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the schools in order to develop such capabilities fully." There are various other descriptions as well. Hot diggity - Pa and I gots us a smart one!

Matt and I aren't nervous about whether Zack can handle his learning going forward, we're worried about whether WE can. We're going to have to go back to school!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Freudian Slip...

So we get a notice in the mail yesterday about our economic stimulus checks. It says how much we got and that it was direct deposited. Matt opened it and says to me "Hey did we get our golf stimulus check yet?" Uh, NO we didn't get our GOLF stimulus check we got our ECONOMIC stimulus check and I chose not to stimulate the economy - I paid bills.

Mini Mother's Day Vent

SO - exactly whose idea was it to show both the PGA and the Red Sox on Mother's Day? I'm sure there weren't any mothers involved in that decision. As much as I enjoyed our visit with family, this is what the men did:

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The picture below is where Matt is explaining to my cousin's husband that you can get yourself a little golf outing nest egg by purchasing a pack of gum at 7-Eleven and debiting $20 from your account and putting the change in your golf bag. Over time, it all adds up. BUSTED!

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Sporting events should be banned on Mother's Day. Is it too much to ask to not have to compete with the television one day out of the year?

Monday, May 12, 2008

Mother's Day Weekend (longest post Evah)

Mother's Day weekend was off to a great start on Friday when I discovered that I had extra hours on my time ticket so I had to leave two hours early. I debated between a nap and getting a pedicure and the pedicure won. Matt had plans to meet a friend out for drinks so I had the kids take me on a date to our favorite Greek pizza place. They managed to behave and we had a nice meal. We went home, put on our jammies, and climbed into my bed where we watched Man vs. Wild. I had planned on watching a tivo'd episode of some Alaska special from The Discovery Channel but it mis-recorded or something. Zack loves Man vs. Wild and we had an educational experience out of it. Skyler especially loved when the guy, who Zack tells me is named Bear, was skinny dipping in some leech and piranha infested pool of water. HE didn't think it was infested but the water looked nasty to me. We finished that and drifted off to dreamland.

I got to sleep in Saturday morning and then headed off for a massage courtesy of my three Lovies. It wasn't the best massage I've ever had, but heck, someone was rubbing my back and didn't want sex afterwards, how can you complain? I decided against going home and listening to my rain bored kids whine and complain that they couldn't go outside and went shopping instead. I got Skyler a couple of cute new things including:
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Clogs with pink sparkles on them from Gymboree. Because I'm a super bargain shopper I paid $3.49 for them. YES I DID! For $3.49 who DOESN'T need a pair of pink sparkle clogs? Skyler agrees and as you can see she's ROCKIN the CLOGS!

Matt got a babysitter and we went out to a movie and sushi. We went to see Baby Mama. Since we don't go to the movies often/ever, I wanted to see something funny. Tina Fey and Amy Poulher are so hysterical. The movie ties things up a little too neatly at the end but was really funny otherwise. After that excitement we went grocery shopping at Walmart - we get a babysitter and all hell breaks loose. WATCH OUT! Every person in Virginia was at this particular Walmart buying their mother one single rose. Can you plan ahead further than 12 hours? And how about you spring for the whole bouquet? ANYWAY - that was fun.

Sunday morning I got to sleep in again. Skyler had been SO excited all week to sneak awake and make me breakfast. She told me that I was going to wake up and smell bacon and wonder who was cooking breakfast. She must have seen that in a movie somewhere. So Matt and the kids made waffles and bacon and Skyler made me tea. It was a wonderful breakfast. The kids gave me gifts they made in school and made me cry. They're starting to measure their gifts to me on how many tears it creates. Sobbing is REALLY good. We all went to get dressed which is when Skyler and I had a knock down drag out over what she was going to wear. She's 5 and already giving me a headache about her wardrobe. I'm doomed. We worked that out after 45 minutes of fighting during which I learned that 5 year olds do not understand that when their mother says sarcastically "FINE wear THAT on Mother's Day so long as YOU'RE happy on MOTHER'S DAY!" that it does NOT in fact mean that it is fine to wear whatever you damn well please it is rather a guilt tactic used to get you to wear what SHE wants.

We headed to my cousin Jackie's house. Her sister Jill was visiting with her kids. The visit was nice, it's nice to see your family once a month or so. The kids had a great time. The adults were all pretty crabby, myself included. The gray rainy weather was affecting our moods and we were all showing it, except Jackie's husband Patrick who was on cough syrup with codeine. He said he was "Zen".

Just this week Zack learned to ride his bike without training wheels and in true Skyler fashion she joined him. They brought their bikes to Jackie's and the kids raced circles around her cul de sac:



That lasted until Zack took a big wipe out on the wet pavement and was bleeding profusely from the elbow. We got him cleaned up when Jackie decided that jumping in the salt water pool would make him feel better:

It was MAYBE 65 degrees out. Nutty kids.

That was basically the end to the day minus the whining when it was time to go home. I took a nap that resulted in my not being able to sleep last night so I'm crabby and cranky again today. WAH!

How was your Mother's Day?

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Physical Therapy Musings...

Tomorrow is my last day of physical therapy. Not only is my shoulder feeling much better and my back muscles stronger, but I have really enjoyed going. The facility is fantastic. The two physical therapists are young and fun and joke around with their patients. I'm actually disappointed that I won't be going anymore. If you ever have the opportunity this is the greatest place EVAH for some people watching.

* There's one middle aged lady who comes in and is dressed casually but every time I've seen her she has a different designer purse and sometimes the matching patterned shoes to go with. She has modest wedding rings so I've decided that she's probably a stay at home military wife whose husband was low in ranks when they got married (the tiny diamond) but who is high in rank now. She's put in her dues raising the kids who are all grown and now things are a bit easier on the purse strings SO if she wants a new designer bag for everyday of the week, she feels she's earned it.

* There's the overweight gentleman who is getting his shoulder worked on and spends his whole therapy appointment in gray sweat SHORTS pulled almost up to his chest and nothing else. None of the other shoulder patients (myself included) feel the need to take their shirts off. Heck, I feel bad when I take my shoes off and go barefoot.

* I get so excited when I see this one older woman walk through the door. The therapists tell me she's crazy but in an eccentric way. She gives them SUCH a hard time. Everything they ask her to do she acts all difficult about. You can tell she's totally enjoying herself and doing this entirely for fun. Her appointment is probably the highlight of her day. She said something the other day and I pinned her as being from Boston. "SOUTH BOSTON" she tells me. Apparently there's a difference and she wanted it pointed out. She didn't look impressed that I was from Haverhill.

* There was a whole discussion one day about what songs people wanted played at their funerals. Perhaps this is a generational thing. The people who joined the discussion were at least in their sixties probably closer to seventy and had the whole thing planned out. They knew exactly how they wanted their funeral to go and what songs should be played. All I could think was - "hey how about you live your life rather than plan your death"? Leave me a comment if you've got your funeral all planned out. ME? I don't care what you do when I die - whatever makes you feel better!

* Oh there was also this one patient that habitually showed up late. I could just tell my therapist made him work harder, not enough to be really noticeable but you could tell if you were doing as much people ogling as I did. I got a giggle out of it and called her on it, she gave me a pretend shocked face.

Those are just a few little tidbits that jump to mind. I'm going to miss going. Is that weird? Every other person I've ever spoken to has hated PT. Maybe I need a life. OH and Zack has been telling people (I didn't even know this at first) that Mommy is in therapy. I had to ask him to clarify PHYSICAL therapy. Maybe I should just go to therapy - there are so many hints all around me ;-)

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Random Ramblings...

I have a new baby niece to gush over. Matt's sister and her husband welcomed baby girl Madison Leigh into the family on Monday. She is a total chunker. She weighed in at 9lbs 5oz and has the chubbiest cheeks.


Daddy is very proud of his new baby girl!



Everyone is doing well. The whole family is gathered around them to give them support and congratulations. We're a bit sad to be so far away, but we're glad for internet and cell phones. We got to see her picture within minutes of her being born.

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We're officially done with soccer. All practices, games, camps, and parties are done until August. In a highly amusing turn of events, one of Zack's coaches was kicked out of the game on Saturday. The Ref that we've had for the past couple of weeks obviously thinks that the kids are older than 6/7 because she's making all sorts of fancy calls and telling them about rules they don't even have the vocabulary for. She made a few ridiculous calls where both coaches were rolling their eyes. Coach Rick contradicted her on one call and she blew the whistle and told him he needed to find a replacement. He wasn't being beligerant, his own child wasn't on the field, and the contradiction was in the OTHER team's favor. All the parents are such good friends that we found the entire episode to be the BEST way to finish the season. We even presented Rick with several of his very own "Red Cards"




Let's see. Skyler and I spent a good portion of Sunday morning making Mother's Day cards. Zack wanted nothing to do with the artsy crafty stuff. He has to be in the right mood. He was in the mood to be left alone. Matt golfed with my Aunt & Uncle who moved here recently. It was a nice quiet day. Mike and Amy came for dinner and I actually got to hold Nate with no crazy chaos going on.

We aren't too exciting. I'm distracted with how much I hate the whole daycare system and how they hold you hostage and how expensive it is. Matt is getting ready for his annual golf trip. The kids have summer fever. They're ready for the beach and pool but it hasn't quite gotten warm enough yet - the warm weather has been slow coming.

Talk soon!

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Bone Marrow

I have a weekend update post with some exciting family news that I'm working on, but in the meantime I have to post about something that is near and dear to my heart.

The National Bone Marrow Registry is holding its annual May drive and is offering free registration kits (normally $50) to the first 10,000 online registrants or the first 36,000 in person registrants (click HERE to find locations near you). Matt and I joined last year. They sent us a kit with six swabs in it. You rub the swabs on specific areas inside your mouth and wrap it up per instructions and pop the whole thing back in the mailbox. It was super easy. A dear friend of mine, Barb, registered last year and just this past February donated her bone marrow to a three year old little boy who would have died without her. She was a bit scared but has since said that it was the most wonderful thing she's done.

Please register today. You may never be called or you may save a life!

Thanks a bunch!!

Friday, May 02, 2008

Look what I found on Etsy...

I KNOW I've mentioned how much I love Etsy. I THINK I've mentioned how much I love this picture:



I love it in B&W too:


Well I found this artist at Etsy and look what she made me:


It's a watercolor painting. I LOVE it. Look at her gorgeous little face!!!

Have a great weekend - it's our last for soccer. We have mixed emotions. We really enjoyed this season!

PS - check out Zack's soccer pics. The only thing that makes them different from the three previous sets are the mohawk!
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Thursday, May 01, 2008

Back in time...

Not only was April 22nd Earth Day, but it was also Kindergarten Registration. Skyler was super excited and had planned to wear a cute little dress. THEN she decided that she had to wear her Earth Day t-shirt, the one that says something like "Save the earth, there are no princesses on the moon". It sucks when you're 5 and have all these fashion dilemmas. What to wear, what to wear.

She got to meet the Kindergarten teachers, take a bus ride, enjoy a story in the library, and eat a snack. I got to fill out 752 different forms all with the same information on them which leads me to ask A. can't they automate this stuff? Where else in the world is everything triplicated on paper? and 2. Can't they streamline these forms? Is it really necessary to have us fill out an almost identical form three times simply because it is going to different locations? Put ALL the information on one form and make 3 copies. If you've got a little extra info on your form, please disregard. And you know what? None of it matters because the first week of school they send all the same forms home for you to fill out again "in case something changed over the summer". Efficiency at its best I tell you.

Here are some pictures:

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PS - I am so pale you can almost see right through me in that picture. You can barely even see freckles. I need some sun!
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