Off for Some Fun

We're off on a family vacation. M is sailing from Chicago to Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw - like our dog!) and we're going to go up there to greet him when he crosses the finish line. His boat is a biggie -- about 72 feet -- so he should finish in about 35-40 hours. The last time I waited for him to finish this race, it took him about 60 hours (smaller boat and no wind.) This one should be much better.


Here's a website that tells you about the race: http://chicagoyachtclub.org/racetomackinac/coursemap.cfm. M's boat is Porororoca (I think that's spelled right) in group GL 70 (the big boys) and we might be able to follow his progress on the computer (if his boat is one of those that is tracked.) I can't believe that he's racing with these big boats -- I've heard about Nitemare and the others -- they're fast! The residules of the hurricane are here, so we'll have isolated/scattered thunderstorms -- M doesn't mind that at all, it means he'll have WIND :>

The boys are SOOO excited about the trip. There are no cars allowed on the island -- only bikes and horses to get around. We'll have a good time for three days -- swimming in the hotel pool, touring the fort on the island, visiting the butterfly house, eating fudge, swimming in the cold lake, renting bikes for a bikeride (I checked and they do have bike trailers and kids seats for the boys.)

Here's a website that tells you about the island http://www.mackinacisland.org/visitor.php?pages=20.


We'll also spend a day or two at Sleeping Bear Dunes http://www.sleepingbeardunes.com/slideshows/beaches.html where we'll rent a canoe.

Here are the boys on canoes at Grammma Smith's house over the 4th. Riley's on the top pic, with his big cousin helping in the back.

T is having a great time, too. He looks so grown up, doesn't he?

I have a lot to do to day -- laundry, pack, take Mackinaw (named after said island) to her "sleepover camp" (aka really cool kennel that she loves), pick up the new Harry Potter book to read on the island, get some DVDs at the library for the kids to watch on the long drive there... I better get going!

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Just a note:

There are two new blogs on the net for your reading pleasure. My sister and my cousin have joined the blogging world. Check out their blogs - you can click on them from here -- just go to the right-hand margin under "Blogs I like to Read."

Enjoy! Now, scroll below for your regularly scheduled blog...

Dinner Ramblings

Here's a picture of T that I love...so peaceful.


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Tonight it was just me and the kids for dinner, because M isn't feeling well. (poor guy, I hope he doesn't have what I just got over.)

Well, R could *not* stop talking! Ay yi yi.....he was all excited about a time machine that he wants to build. He went on and on. I'll try to remember some of his excited chatter (while T and I enjoyed our fruit salad, cresent rolls, and mac n cheese.)

R: When I'm 8 I want to build a time machine. Or maybe when I'm seven. I'll be six in two weeks, so 7 isn't that far away. I'm going to build a really cool time machine. It will be successful (editor's note: yes, my brilliant almost-6-year-old used the word "successful"). It will be successful, not like those ones on TV that blow up. I'm going to take the bath tub to sit in and protect me for my trip.

Me: How will the bathtub protect you?

R: Well, if the bathtub protects you during a tornado it should be okay in a time machine. It will be really great to go back intime and see all of the things that we need to see...like the dinosaurs, except that they might eat me, or the cowboys and I could bring my guns, but they should be real for the trip. And I could take a clock and hook it up to the bathtub...that should work out good for going back in time. I would try to go into the future, but that's the trickiest...I'll work on that after I go back in history first.

Me: That sounds really great. R, but I've never really heard of a time machine that works. Scientist have been trying to do that for years.

R: Yeah, that's a good point, mom. Maybe my machine will take us to a place where people dress up like the people in the olden days and act out the things so it's just like you are there. That would be really great and awesome, you know? To see it just like it was back in time..and the houses could be like the olden day houses and the food could be like the food they had then. You know?

Me: I think that's a good idea, R. Now, you let T talk for awhile and take three bites of mac n cheese.

T: Moo. Mooo. Moo.

Me: T can you speak human and not cow, I'm not good at cow language right now.

T: Moo! Can I have some more fruit salad?

A Story About A Man And His Boat

M is a sailor. Not the white hat, military kind of sailor...but, the sail on a sail boat kind of sailor. He's been sailing since he was about 8 years old. He learned on small boats on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin -- boats that took one or two kids to race. He's been racing big sailboats for about 10 years -- big, as in 32 feet or so big -- the kind that take about 7-9 people to sail in a race. He's done the legendary Chicago-to-Mackinac Island race about 6 times. (Even though you may not heard of the race, it is legendary. Ted Turner has even raced it on his sailing yacht.)

Anyway, needless to say, M has wanted a sailboat FOREVER. When we moved to the Midwest from San Francisco (and had a big of jingle in our pockets) he wanted to buy a boat. But he also wanted to put in a pool, and he wanted to own some hunting property, and he wanted to own a cottage, and he wanted to upgrade our RV...am I missing anything? So, we made a deal. We set aside a bit of money and agreed (note, that means that we agreed together) that we would live through one summer and then decide which of the fun summer things we wanted to invest in -- the boat, pool, cottage, or RV. It would be silly to just jump into one of these expensive things without knowing where we'd rather spend our time (and money). We agreed to this. Together. Agreed.

How is it that every other week, M has come to me with another "amazing deal" on a sailboat? Honey, this is such a bargain and she's a beauty (all boats are female, did you know that?) Each time, I would remind my darlin' that we agreed to a plan and wouldn't buy anything this summer. Then, there was the sailboat in Grand Haven that was in incredible condition -- no, I reminded him, we agreed that wouldn't buy a boat this summer. Each boat seemed to get more expensive. First they were in the $5K range, then somehow they crept up to an amazing deal at $9K. He wore me down (which was probably his plan to begin with.) I finally said, okay, if you can find a boat that works for the family for $1K we can get it this summer. Of course, I thought that this was impossible. After all, look at the price ranges that he was dealing with before.

Well, I obviously don't know my husband very well, because I should have known a "mission" when I said one. For two weeks, he was online and on the phone, researching sailboats that were for sale in the closest five states. He learned about which fleets were active, which boats had benches (a stipulation that I had -- I hate sitting on the edge of the boat, and it's not safe for the kids), which boats were light enough for our SUV to pull on a trailer. I knew I was in trouble.

He had it narrowed down to two kinds of boats -- Stars and Buccanneers. He found a Buccaneer in great shape a half an hour away from his mom's house. The Buccaneer is 18 feet long. As T says, "it doesn't have a basement" so there is no place to sleep. But she's a cutie! I'll post a picture as soon as I get one. Ours is sky blue with a red-and-white striped (like the Cat in the Hat's hat) spinnaker. We named her Yankee Doodle because of her colors and the fact that we got her on the 4th of July weekend. The name Firecracker was a close second; actually, it was the kids' favorite, but we wanted to show a bit more patriotism.

M and the kids sailed it at his mom's house last week and had a great time. We put it in the nearby lake on Sunday and had a blast too. R is a natural sailor. When M told him to "cleat the jib" R knew exactly what to do! T was more interested in the snacks that I packed than learning how to sail, but he had fun too.

Here's a website that shows some pictures of the Buccaneers, so you get a feel for her. They race them with two people, but you can sail with 4 or 5 pretty comfortably.
http://www.buccaneer18.org/

Yesterday, the wind picked up and the trees in our woods started really blowing, so he jumped in the car and went out and took Yankee Doodle for a spin around the lake before the thunderstorm started.

My man has his boat...and he's a'grinnin' from ear to ear.


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The Party of All Parties

So, we've lived here for about nine months and have been itchin' to have a party. But, we haven't known anybody to invite. Now that we've been here a bit, M knows a lot of people in our neighborhood. He's like that...you know, Mr. Friendly. I like that about him. So, M designed an invitation for our shindig and I invited a few people from work and he invited, well...the whole neighborhood! Luckily not all could come and we had about 35 people at our house. About ten of them were kids.

We had the menu discussion about two weeks ago and wanted something barbeque-ish, but didn't want to be chained to the grill the whole time. We threw around things like pulled pork sandwiches, brats, hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and even sloppy Joes (which got ruled out because of the non-griling aspect of them and the fact that I don't think that they are really "summer food" to begin with. We/M kept changing the menu. He was going to bring back the Italian beef from Chicago (but he brought back a sailboat instead, but I digress). Instead of actually deciding anything, we decided to have pulled pork sandwiches AND brats AND hot dogs! M bbq'd two pork butt roasts on Friday afternoon/evening/night and we pulled pork from 9:30-11:00 on Friday night. A lot of work, but it sure was good. He also bbq'd the brats on Friday and we simmered them in beer all afternoon on Saturday. I just had one for dinner tonight too and they sure are tasty -- the taste very beer-y and delicious. Strange that I like them to taste like beer since I don't like beer. Hmmm...

Anyway, when folks asked if they could bring something, we told them to bring an appetizer. I made a big pasta salad, chocolate-dipped strawberries and brownies for dessert, and apples with caramel sauce (like I made last week. They were such a hit then, why not?) I also put out chips and salsa, chips and onion dip, veggies and dip, and I made tortilla-roll pinwheel sandwiches (like last week) but never put them out because we had SO MUCH FOOD. Our friends brought bruchetta (two different kinds from two different people, more veggies and dip (from a nutritionist), spinach casserole, and a blue cheese ball and crackers. Good thing that M convinced me that we didn't need the artichoke and spinach dip that I was going to make.

M had hooked up our deck speakers which are in the shape of terra cota planters, and are actually terra cota planters on top. Totally cool. He made a "party mix" of songs that played throughout the party (it had four hours worth of music on it and we used it all and then restarted it for another hour or so.) We had three coolers filled with drinks, one with cokes and juices, one with wine and vodka coolers, and one with beer. An interesting note, we had two pastors and thier families in the crowd -- I've never seen a party where the coke drinkers outnumber the beer drinkers. We had to keep refilling the coke cooler. Funny.

We had the "jumpy" blown up and going so that the kids could jump to their hearts' content. It was on the other side of the yard from the play-fort, so we had kids all over the place. We had enough chairs for 24 people because we borrowed 6 chairs from our neighbors. People kept complimenting us on such a fun party. It was fun! The kids got to stay up for the whole thing and were thrilled that they got to run and catch fireflies. Again, very cool. R asked if he could stay up that late every night because he loves fireflies....ummm, no. Fraid not. The boy doesn't sleep in. No matter what time he goes to bed, he gets up at 6:45 or so. So, no can do with the fireflies every night.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun.

I promise to write about the boat, but right now I gotta make sure that two boys are washed up in the tub. They've been in there for twenty minutes, but I don't know if they've used soap yet.

Fourth of July Summer Festivities

It's been a whole week since I last blogged. And it was a busy one. M sailed from Wisconsin to Michigan and then we drove to Illinois, going through Indiana. Yep, it was a four state weekend. We celebrated M's dad's birthday -- on July 3rd, just like my sister -- and had a little party in their huge backyard on the lake. While M golfed with his dad and brother (a request from the birthday boy) M's mom and I got ready for the party. I made tortilla roll-ups, apples and caramel dip, and chocolate-dipped strawberries. She made BBQ pork for sandwiches, her famous salsa for dipping, deviled eggs, and cream cheese with pepper jelly for crackers. Lots of M's dad's family came and the boys got to meet some more cousins -- two teenagers that played with R and T all day long; it was like R and T were their personal play things. Boy did my kids love it! They took them on canoe rides, had wrestling matches in the water, and practiced swimming. They played tag -- how I always turned out to be the "safe" spot, I'll never know, and played bocce ball. It was a really nice day. We had lots of good food and good company and good weather to boot!

Almost best of all, both boys took a nap before the festivities began -- amazing! A. Two. Hour. Nap. Nice....! They were in good spirits all day -- no crankiness and no complaining (but, then again, what's to complain about in a day like that?) They even got to stay up until 10:00 so that they could see our fireworks show...our own personal fireworks show.

M and I bought a whole lot of fireworks in Indiana back in May. It's legal to buy cool fireworks all year long there. Even fireworks that shoot up and explode into the air - like the professionals! It was awesome.

The next day, I took the train home (five hours on two trains, but it was nice...a little "me" time with a book and my new iPod) and M and the boys stayed for two more nights. They got back late last night and we're all here together now.

Two notes that I'll write about tomorrow or the next day (call this a blog teaser, if you will): We now own a sailboat, and we're getting ready for a party on Saturday night with about 30 people.

See ya later!

What Do I Look Like, Chopped Liver?

I was at an "off site" today in a meeting of the minds to try to solve our brand's problem (you know, the one that we haven't been able to advertise in nine months because we can't make an ad that people like or that makes them want to buy the product.) There were ten people in the room, including two SVPs (Senior Vice President), one EVP (Executive Vice President), on Vice President, two Directors, one Associate Director (me), two Managers, and one Consultant. The folks in this six-hour meeting probably are worth $4-5 million in salaries and bonuses a year....big bucks, big minds, and yes, big egos. (By the way, I was the only female in the room. Usually, this is not the case, but I think that it's because there were so many senior executives in the room. It's an interesting part of business life.There are no other Associate Directors who are female and only one Director who is female in my division of 200 people. I hope that the glass ceiling can be shattered soon.)

The morning started out with a lot of pointing fingers and defensiveness. It was a bit ugly. But, I think it had to all get out on the table so that we could get past it and be productive. And, five hours later, we were productive.

With free-flowing Diet Coke and water, you can bet that I had to make a few bathroom breaks during the day. After getting directions to the bathroom from one of my collegues the first time. I could only find a men's bathroom and a unisex handicapped bathroom. So, I used the handicapped bathroom. The second time, I asked an employee of the hotel and was told that there were no women's bathrooms on that floor and I should just use the handicapped bathroom. The floor of this hotel is the "executive board room" floor, where there were SIX meeting rooms for 10-20 people in each room. How old-school is the hotel (which was built three years ago) to think that they would only have men in these board rooms??

The third time I went to the bathroom, there was someone cleaning the handicapped bathroom, so I waited patiently outside. I knew that there was only one potty and one sink in there and it wouldn't take too long to clean. The woman cleaning the bathroom glanced up and saw me waiting. She said "I'm sorry, these bathrooms are for the board rooms only." I told her that I was meeting in one of the board rooms. She said, "no, I mean the executive board rooms down the hall." Yes, I told her, I'm meeting in the Amish room. "Are you sure?" she asked. I finally said, "Yes, I'm an executive from XXX company meeting in the Amish board room. May I please use the bathroom." "Oh, I'm so sorry" she replied and hustled out so I could do my business. I guess that because I'm not a fifty-year old man in a suit, I couldn't be an executive!

Lots of Rides, But No Games

We just got back from the local 4th of July carnival. It's set up at the local airport about three miles away. M and I splurged on the unlimited-ride wristbands for the boys. We calculated out how many rides they'd get with just tickets and this was a better deal. We got there as soon as I got home from work and stayed for two hours. Each boy got to go on 18 rides, including repeats.

Each boy has his own favorite type of ride. R loves the small rollercoasters that look very fast to me -- it was big enough for both adults and kids to go on it. He had a grin from ear to ear the whole time. T is a different story. He likes rides that whip him around, fast -- not up and down. He'll go on a ride that whips around the corners and he laughs so hard, while R looks uncomfortable and nearly turns green. They had a very nutritious dinner of funnel cake and snow cones (it's a carnival, after all!) M ate a pickle which reminded me of my youth when my folks sold pickles at the county fair and tried to use a photo of me as their advertisiement. The problem was that they wanted me to take a bite and smile for the camera, but I hated pickles (still do) and couldn't manage more than a grimace for the pictures.

But, I digress.


R also went on the climbing rock and did pretty well. The guy helping out was really nice and gave him lots of help. He made it up about half way to the top two times. T also tried, but found it to be too dificult; "I'm never going on that again!" I said that maybe he could try when he was a bit bigger and he said that he would think about it.

About the staff at the carnival (aka "carnies"). There were four that seemed normal and were nice to the kids. Five of them were missing more than two teeth. About half of them were chain smoking. Three didn't say a word to the boys, but just motioned with their hand where to get in the ride. Then, there were the game carnies...my worst nightmare. They would yell to the kids that they'd get a free game and a winner every time. After we passed the first one and I nearly lost R to the sirens of the carnies' calls "Hey boy, you look like you can win this. Come on over here and give it a try. It's okay. you can do it. Don't worry, you're mom will let you, won't you mom?!" Aarghh.... From then on I held their hands tightly. At first I got down to the kids' eye level and explained that these guys try to trick you into giving them money for the games and we weren't going to fall for their tricks. Then, after barely making it by the fish-for-a-duck game, M explained that we spent all of our money on the ride wrist bands and had none left for the games. That did the trick, thank God. After that talk, R would tell the carnies"We can't. We don't have any more money." Whew. Boy, I've never liked those carnies and I'm sure that my dad and mom were never like that when selling his pickles, sea monkeys, and photo buttons.

But, all of that is forgotten.

When we walked into the house, R said "I feel like we've been on vacation today. We went golfing, swimming in the lake, and to that cool carnival. Thanks mom for taking us there." Awww.


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By the way, have I mentioned that R is taking golfing lessons? He loves it. While he takes the lesson, M plays nine holes, with T driving the cart and putting. Too cool.

Nothin' a Little Malibu Rum Won't Help

I'm having a tough time at work right now. It's nothing that I'm doing wrong; I'm actually doing my job well and getting compliments. It's that the brand I'm working on is having a hard time. We're having a hard time getting an ad on air and we're getting desperate! It makes for a stressful work environment, when we're all trying to do what's right and it's just not working....yet.

The good part of the day is coming home to such happy boys and a great husband....and a bit of Malibu Rum that M bought for me today to "take the edge off". But really, the boys are having such a fun time this summer and are thrilled to tell me all about it when I get home at night.

Tonight M had a chicken and salad dinner all ready when I walked in the door and a drink poured for me (he knew it was a rough day and I have two more rough days coming up.) Drink in hand, I listened to T tell me about the little, tiny beach that they found on a new lake today and R tell me about the new soldier's armor that he created out of a coat hanger and some wire shelving squares. The were both talking at once (I do have two ears after all) and were so enthusiastic, that I just smiled and nodded when appropriate.

Summertime, Summertime, Sum- Sum- Summertime

Ninety degrees with 85 percent humidity is definitely summer weather in the midwest. I've learned to appreciate tank tops, even with my wobbly upper arms. The boys and I have learned to appreciate a good glass of lemonade and we have the recipe down pat: Fill the pitcher up with ice, roll three lemons to release the lemony-juice-goodness; juice the lemons, catching the seeds as best as you can before they go into the glass; pour juice into pitcher; fill pitcher with water; add five packets of splenda, stir and drink. Yummy and refreshing.

M and the boys also bought me a Super Soaker (water gun for you water gun novices). As in, "quick mom, get your swim suit on and come join us, you're on my team!" M filled his Super Soaker up with crushed ice for an extra cold squirt to the opposing team.

We saw the remake of Herbie the Love Bug, "Herbie Fully Loaded" and it was a fun family flick. It was also a nice way to get relief from the heat.

I've Never Heard the Words "Texas" and "Uvula" in the Same Sentence Before

Last night I was lamenting on how I still felt rotten after being sick for five days. Even though my sinuses were clearing up (and my mucus changed to a much nicer color from the grey-green it had been for two days), I still felt like Crap! And my throat hurt *really* bad. I knew that my throat hurt all along and I know that my glands were swollen and nearly popping out of my neck on Saturday, but my main complaint was never my throat. It was my mucas-head that wouldn't drain or dry up or explode (which seemed like it would make it feel better if it did explode.) I also had no energy and no appetite (as I have lacked for five days, which by the way, is good for the diet, but not good for providing any said energy.)

ANYWAY, I found a flashlight and asked M to look at my throat. I could tell by looking in the mirror that it was quite pink, but I couldn't see much past my tongue. While looking in my mouth with R's camping flashlight, he exclaimed, " You've got a white spot the size and shape of Texas on your uvula. I think you've got strepp." Texas on my uvula? Well, I grabbed the flashlight and went to the bathroom mirror, shined the light in my mouth, said "ahh" and discovered that the man was right! There was a white Texas on my uvula that took up about two-thirds of the uvula. Hmmmm....

I went to the doctor this morning and learned that it's not strepp, but a "doozy of a throat infection." I'm not sure if they learn "doozy" in medical school, but I knew what he meant. I left with a perscription for antibiotics in my hand and orders to stay home as long as my fever was above 99 (it was 99.9 at the doctor's office.) The boys got to have me home again today (I left work at 11:30 yesterday), even if I spent the whole time lounging on the couch. Oh wait, I did make it out to the red adirondack chairs at some point today :> They make me happy.

I am feeling much better and actually made dinner tonight (pesto chicken on the grill and a salad).

Weekend by the Lake

Except for being sick, it was a really fun weekend. I was sick with a flu or a really bad cold or something. It kicked my butt. None of the drugs worked well, so I couldn't breathe through my nose for four days. (M said that I was quite a trooper and thanked me for hanging in there.) Finally I can today, but my throat still hurts and I have absolutely no energy. Enough about me, here's what happened over the weekend.

We went camping. It was the first time this season that we went camping. We took "The Duck" out of storage (named because of the picture of the duck on the side of our tent-trailer.) M's mom has always wanted to go camping, so we invited them to go with us. It was definitely cozy in the Duck. As my grandpa used to say, it sleeps six, but walks one. Everybody had a good time. I was feeling super lousy on Saturday, so gramma, grampa, M, and the kids went for a tour of the submarine that is a museam near where we were camped. They also ran across a Father's day picnic in town with free hot dogs, cotton candy, a jumpy and other games. I got a good four hour nap and they had a great time.

We also brought along our bikes. M and his dad took the boys for a ride (T in the bike trailer and R on the extend-a-bike behind M). M also took his mom for a ride and they had a really nice time. I had some energy on Saturday afternoon and we walked the block to the lake where I sat on my behind and the boys and M played in the lake (Grampa slept on the beach, snoring away!). It was an hour of splashing in the lake, building sandcastles, and collecting sea shells (including olives, my favorite shells that I used to collect in Santa Barbara).

Of course we had campfires each night, and even one on Saturday morning. We roasted hot dogs, roasted marshmellows, made s'mores, and had a nice time by the campfire. I think it was a good first camping experience for M's mom. The kids had a great time -- R wants to live at the campground, T missed his home but said that he had a really good time.

We're also going camping next weekend. Hopefully we'll all be healthy and we'll all enjoy it.

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Tonight while T was helping my dead-head our flowers said out of the blue, "Mom wouldn't it be great if we built a lazy river in our back yard?" I don't know where he learned the term "lazy river" (or wazy river as he says) but it sure was cute. After I told him that unfortunately we couldn't build a lazy river in the backyard, he proceeded to tell me exactly how we could. It involved an endloader, dumptruck full of water, and lots of pretty river rocks. Sounded nice.

To Swim or Not To Swim

On Sunday, we headed to our local lake for a morning full of fun in the water and the sun. It was about 80 degrees and a bit humid, but not too bad. It was about 10 am and there was only one or two other families at the beach. We almost had the place to ourselves...nice.

M kept walking towards the water to put our towels down. I had to hold my tongue because I thought he was getting too close and we'd get soaked when the tide came in. Luckily I did hold my tongue because the tide doesn't come in at a small lake!

We all went in for a family swim and had a blast. The water was shallow for a long ways out. R and T could touch for a really long time. They were so happy, collecting rocks, splashing, and bobbing and kicking. We swam out to the bouy that designated the swim area -- it was deeper here, but the boys had blown up swim rings around them and did fine. I told the boys that sometimes those rings go up over your head if you're not careful, and that all they had to do was kick-kick-kick and they'd get their head up above the water. They had a good time with those rings.

One bouy was tipped over and R investigated and found the hole that let in water to make it too heavy to float -- quite a sleuth. T would go under water, touch the bottom, and shoot up like a rocket. Lots of fun.

We got the kids closer to shore and M and I got out and sat on the beach watching the kids with smiles on our faces. We both love the water and love it that our kids love the water too. T came out and collected sea shells (or is it lake shells?) We called both boys in for our picnic lunch (cheese sandwiches, cherries, and juice for the boys; cashews, cheese, and pickles for M and me. - Atkins, ya know.)

M went back in with the boys for a long time -- I could hear lots of laughter from all three of them. It was fun to watch. R is very proud that he invented a new sport -- underwater rock climbing. I'm not really sure what it entails, but he talked about it all day.

When it was time to come in, IT happened. Tommy slipped out of his ring. It happened for only two seconds; it wasn't even a big concern to M and me. He was in water that was only up to his belly button. Well, let me tell you, it was a concern to him! He was a-screaming and a-crying! Poor boy was scared to death! (I SWEAR it was for only two seconds, but you'd never know it by his carrying-on!) He was yelling "I'm NEVER going in the water again!" and "I hate the lake" and "I was sooo scared!" We had a really hard time calming him down. Even though we were planning on going, I thought that it was pretty important that we get that boy back in the water so he remembered how much fun it was! Back in the saddle and all that. (Plus, he was going to start swimming lessons the next day. I wanted that to go well!)

He did not want to go in. Nope. Not gonna do it.

Finally, M talked him into going in the water up to his knees. He did it, but he wasn't happy about it. I could see M getting frustrated, so I whipped off my shorts and top and decided to get wet again for the cause. I went to T and he was not happy. I kept walking out farther and he yelled "The water is higher than my knees, daddy said I only had to go to my knees!!!" I convinced him to go to my knees and went in a bit reluctantly, but he went in. He even broke a smile once or twice, but it wasn't easy. Finally I got him to splash me (which isn't usually allowed) and he had fun. Whew. Mission completed. We went home, hoping (and praying) for the best on Monday at swim class.


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Swim Class had two black marks on it from the get-go:
1. R and T were in two different classes, which was fine for R, but not for T. Quote: "I never have fun without R." End quote.
2. T had the whole scary episode the day before.

I think we had less than a fifty percent chance that things would go well.

M braved it and went with a positive attitude. A postitive attitude that lasted about half way through T's 20 minute poolside fit that he pitched. Poor T. Poor M! M went from the postitive attitude to empathy to consoling to cheer leader to consoling to frustration to making deals to anger to completely fed up. T wouldn't go in the water with the class. He wouldn't sit by the pool with his feet in the water. He wouldn't sit down by the wall to watch the class (I think this is when the anger set in, I know it would have with me if I were there!). So, M took T to watch R's class, which went swimmingly (sorry about the pun, but I just had to use it). R used a kickboard, practice his strokes, and practice breathing. He likes his coach and had a great time. M called me with a report of the whole thing and my heart went out to him.

Somehow, M got a brainstorm to go to the lake after swim class. The very lake where the beforementioned incident happened. M took R and T in the water and they had a great time. Both kids had a great time....swimming in the lake....a great time. M left me a voicemail, saying "T's cured." Cured? How can that be? But he was. He went to swimming class today with nary a whimper and had a blast. He says his coach is pretty and had fun swimming and playing in the pool. Allelluia!

Hot Day at the Park

We were playing at the park today and R climbed up really high on one of those metal monkey bar things shaped in an upside down U. Those kind that you climb up to the top, carefully turn around so that you can climb down the other side backwards (otherwise you'd be heading down head first) -- you know the kind I mean? -- R calls them the Rainbow Bars.

ANYWAY, R had a tough time at the critical turn-your-body-around part at the top. So, he asked me to help him and I did. He said that his tummy felt funny from the Rainbow Bars. Then he said he had to go poop. There was a portapotty on the other side of the baseball field at the park, so we trekked over to it. Luckily it was open and it didn't stink. R went poop and Tom did too. When we headed back, R said that his tummy hurt still and came to sit with me on the bench while T played on.

Quote of the day: After R sat down next to me..."Mom, I think my tummy hurts from the combination of the tricky Rainbow Bars and the blistering hot day."

Never fear, within five minutes he was fine, running and jumping again.

Boondoggle of a Business Trip

I just got back from a business trip. This was one that I was dreading because I'd be gone for three nights. I hate being gone for more than two. But, I couldn't help it. This was a sales meeting and I had no control of the agenda. I was also a little mad that there was going to be hardly any work to be done -- only three hours of meetings a day for two days -- the rest? play. I wasn't happy about being forced to be away from the kids for four days and three nights to play! (Crazy, I know.) But I had to go and I did. M prepared by arranging for a babysitter to come over for three hours both Tuesday night and Wednesday morning so that he could get a break. He and the boys had a great time while I was gone. Sure they missed me, but they had super soakers to occupy their time in the 92 degree heat. As M said, they got "soaked to the bone" every day! That made me happy while I was gone.

Meanwhile, I was at a fabulous beach resort, having a great time. Besides the whole six hours of meetings I spent some time on the beach watching some of my colleagues learn how to surf (quite amusing!) I got a "hot rock" pedicure (in which they gave me a foot massage with hot rocks -- nice) on my company's dime. I liked it so much, I booked a manicure for the next day on my dime. I went to a beach party with a great live band. They served all you can eat lobster and steak and an open bar with great umbrella drinks. And, there were four fire pits set up with all the fixin's for s'mores. The next day, I read a book in the shade, got my manicure and leasurely got ready to go out with the gang -- to a great restaurant and a sing-along piano bar afterwards. The piano bar was my idea and it was lots of fun. You could request songs and it was fun when the crowd all sang a long to the song you picked out. There was after hour drinks after all of these events until two in the morning, but I never partook -- I was always in bed by midnight.

So, despite my initial misgivings, I had a good time and my family survived :>

Fun Visit with AJ

AJ was here for a nice, but too short, visit. We sure miss her! We used to live only about an hour away from her and sure got used to seeing her a lot. Anyway, she was here for four days and we really enjoyed her company -- M and I agreed that she's an easy guest to have over. The boys had a blast with her. Some highlights:

• Long walks with T and meeting the neighborhood cat who walked with them for blocks
• Exploring the wilds of Africa at the zoo
• Seeing a movie with AJ sitting in between the boys
• Harmonizing with me on "You are my sunshine" at bedtime -- it must have been good because both boys requested it (you could say that we had an encore!)
• Sitting in the red adirondack chairs and watching T play on the swings
• AJ spending an hour grooming Mackinaw (the dog definitely enjoyed AJ's affection!)
• Drinking vodka tonics with LOTS of lime at cocktail hour
• Listening to R explain in great detail how an airplane works (or paper airplane, in this case)
• Watching the very big storm roll through and feeling the temperature drop from 95 to 70 in a half an hour

We're sad to see her go, but we have a lot of good memories to add to our memory banks. R told me that he felt "sad to see AJ walk into the terminal becuase she's the funnest aunt that has ever visted us in our new home."

------------------------------------------------

I'm going on a three night business trip -- be back Friday night. I made a calendar for R and T to mark with stickers the number of nights I'll be gone. I hate being gone more than two nights...three nights away is so much harder on the family than two nights. Well, at least I haven't had to travel much in this job!

R, T, and AJ get ready to go into the wilds of Africa at the local zoo. Note: T put together his own outfit -- engineer's cap, gold necklace,and all.

R plays the drums in the African village at the zoo.

One of the cool parts of the zoo was feeding the giraffes from a perch up high. T cracked up when these two giraffes both tried to get the food that he fed them.

Making Friends

One of the difficult things about moving to a new city or state or region is making friends. It's part of what I call, creating a life in my new surroundings. I've had to do this many times in my adult life (never as a kid since we lived in the same house all of my life, which I like!) Creating-a-life is easiest when there is something built-in, like college or grad school. It was even easy in Chicago when there was a whole "class" of 15 of us transplants who were recruited to work for the ad agency and move to Chicago. Since we were all new to town, we all hung out and socialized together...at first as a group of 15 and soon we broke off into our own little mini-groups (I just went to a wedding in Austin for a member of my mini-group.) Experiencing difficulties together (like moving to the big city of Chicago and knowing nobody) often builds bonds between people.

But, we don't have anything like that here. in Smalltown Midwest. I'm not in school with a bunch of class mates who are all trying to graduate on time (or just merely passing a tough class). I'm not a part of transplants at my job, most are from the area or at least the state and all know other people. So, that leaves neighbors and parents of our kids' friends.

This weekend was a windfall on the creating-a-life front.

On Friday night, the Rose's, neighbors of ours, invited us over for dinner. We had them over a month ago for dessert and games and they reciprocated with dinner. It was fun. Mrs. Rose made a delicious spinach casserole that I'll be making soon and our boys and their boys had fun playing together.

Last night, we had friends from R's hockey team over. The H's have one boy who is R's age. M and I really like Mr and Mrs H a lot. Their family own three local grocery stores and Mr. H is the wine and produce buyer. We had a lovely time sitting out on the deck while the boys ran and played in the back yard -- just the kind of scene that I imagined when we bought the house. I marinated and M grilled some steak, chicken, and asparagas. It was all good, but the chicken was amazing. I don't know if it was the tasten chipolte marinade or the great grilling, but it was like butter -- smooth and delicious.

When Mr H called to see what to bring, I quickly said a bottle of wine. I'm no fool, he's a wine buyer for goodness sakes! He brought the tastiest 1997 Sirah from Australia (sorry AJ!). It was YUMMY! He also brought a free sample given to him that is the biggest seller in Sam's Wine Warehouse in Chicago. From the looks of M's and Mr H's faces, I could tell that it wasn't so great, so I didn't partake -- I didn't want to ruin the delicious taste of the Sirah. We also opened a third bottle and finished it off. Now, Mrs H only had one glass of wine because she was the designated driver in their family. So the three of us had three bottles! I was feeling juusssttt fiinnee by the time the night was over :>

It was a nice ending to a great three day weekend and a great jump on creating-a-life.

Mom and Dad on thier visit. What a good looking couple! 

R learning to play chess on Gramma Smith's deck. He had so much fun learning from Gramma that we're hunting down the chess board that we have in boxes somewhere around here. 

T shows off his new haircut and new stuffed animal, "Grinnie". 

T before his recent hair cut, with a bouquet of "beautiful flowers for mommie."

Birds of A Feather

There are lots of cool birds in this state. We have one little bird feeder outside our window and it's amazing the different kinds of birds that we've hosted for a bite to eat. R is really into the birds and wants to know what each one is. I am definitely not a midwestern bird expert, so I bought a book (okay, I bought two books, but who's counting.) The book that we like the most is sorted by colors, so if the bird is mostly grey, you look in the grey section of the book. Pretty cool.

There are some birds that are here all year round and some that only stop by on their migratory path. Next year, I'm going to write the date by the bird in the book so that we'll know when to expect them the next year.

One of the most amazing birds for a California girl to see is the cardinal -- boy are they red! We have a cardinal couple who must live in the woods behind our house. They are both pretty, but the male is absolutely brilliant! He was especially striking against the white snow in the winter. What made me think of writing about birds is this crazy male cardinal. Since it's spring, he's feeling especially territorial (I guess) because he keeps "fighting" the "other male cardinal" he sees in the window. Dope! He keeps raming himself into our windows! He's been doing this for about a month now. He'll even go to different windows and do the same thing....thunk....thunk....thunk....thunk. Eventually he stops for awhile. It's funny...and sad!

Besides this crazy cardinal, here are the other birds that we've seen:
Baltimore Oriole
Yellow FInches
Chicadees (a couple of different kinds)
Robin redbreast
Blue Jay
Lots of different kinds of sparrows
Plus more that I can't think of right now.

Also, I just figured out how to ad the blog address of a blog that I LOVE to read. "The Big Yellow House" on the right side of my blog. Check her out, she's a great writer and very entertaining.

Visit with The Folks

I know, I know. I haven't blogged in FOREVER! But, a lot has happened. Namely, my folks came to town for a nice long visit. We had a lot of fun :> I'll give you some of the highlights now while the boys are taking a bath:

• Got to show off our new house and yard, which both mom and dad really liked.
• T had lots of fun coloring with Grammie each morning while R went to school.
• Went on a road trip to Holland, MI to see the windmills and tulips.
• Saw a local minor league baseball game and sat in the "expensive" box seats with a waitress and everything -- the seats were onlyl six bucks! Gotta love small towns.
• Went to the local airplane museum and sat in "every cock pit that was there" according to R. Mom and Dad got a kick at how much the boys know about planes and how M teaches them more and more all the time.
• Went to a card making workshop with Mom and had some good mother-daughter creative time.
• Went on a road trip to M's folks house for a really nice visit -- fishing, sand castle building, hammock sitting, board game (Pegs and Jokers) playing, boating, and general laughing, gabbing, and having a good time.
• Almost 40 games of Pegs and Jokers with me and M against Mom and Dad -- after crushing them one of the nine nights of playing (they blame it on the wine and distraction of doing laundry at the same time) we ended up almost even, but M and I were ahead by two games when they left for the airport. What fun! We were addicted. The *minute* the kids were in bed, we were dealing the cards :>
• Grammy improvised songs about each of T's stuffed animals, which had him in stiches for twenty minutes.
• Planting more window boxes with my mom (I have five now and three planters full of flowers -- I think I'm done now!)
• Just being together as a family.

All in all, it was a really great visit. Too bad I miss them already...

Mother's Day

I had a really nice Mother's Day. It was different than any recent Mother's Day because I wasn't playing ping pong in the MDPPT. I sure missed being with the Burns family! I wasn't sure that I'd enjoy myself because I was a little sad about not being in California. But, I had a really good time.

We headed off to Chicago Grandma's house to spend it with the Smith family. We celebrated on Saturday by going to the zoo and my favorite tapas restaurant. We had taken M's mom there for her big birthday a few years ago and she really liked it, so I thought it would be fun to treat her as part of her present.

It was fun to be with "the uncles" too. R and T always have fun with the uncles! So, Grandma Chicago had three of her four boys there, plus two grand kids. I think that she really enjoyed the day as much as I did.

On Sunday, the uncles and M made a DELICIOUS brunch. They had an egg bake, sausage, baked apple pancake, bagel and lox, and fresh fruit. Yummers! I had three helpings of the the baked apple pancake that Uncle Dan made :>

I got amazing gifts too -- much more than I expected and much more that I should have gotten (but I'm not complaining!). R had told me the day before that he and T had gotten me a ticket to "someplace really cool that I'd love." The "ticket" is a gift certificate for 4 hours at a day spa here in town - manicure, pedicure, facial, and massage. Yahoo! Count me in!

M gave me the sweetest card that made me cry (as usual!) and gave me a ring that made me cry too. He knows the story of how my dad gave my mom an aquamarine ring (her birthstone) when she was 16...and my mom gave me that same ring when I turned 16. Only eight months later I lost the ring at the beach. I thought that I was doing the right thing by taking it off and putting it in my shoe before I went in the water. But 5 hours later when I went to leave the beach, I casually shook the sand out of my shoe and put the shoe on. I had forgotten that the ring was in there!! I went back later, but never found it. As you probably guessed, M gave me a beautiful aquamarine ring. I just love it. It's not the same one that dad gave mom and mom gave me, but it sure is special and reminds me of that ring and my parents' love. M is one special man :>

Catching Up with the Boys and Patch

It’s been over a week. I only have a minute to blog, so here is the executive summary of the past week:
- Planted the pansies on Saturday – and promptly brought them in the house on Sunday night because of the state-wide freeze warning.

- R is getting in his 6-year old molar…I didn’t know there were 6-year old molars!

- Overheard from R while he was playing playdough with T, “It’s a beautiful sunny day here in playdough land.” (It was raining outside – I like his imagination, or was it wishful thinking?

- Mackinaw is in heat. She’s only 6 months old! She’s wearing a denim doggie diaper around the house.

- Overheard from T the other day, “R stop being so mean to me. That’s not fair. Patch doesn’t like it when you’re mean to me.” (Patch is T’s beloved stuffed puppy, who has gotten quite involved in T’s life lately. Read on for more about Patch,)

- T said to me the other day,
T:“Mom, Patch says that I need to eat more plums.”
I replied, “well, honey, you’ve had two plums with your lunch. That’s enough for today.”
T: “But mom, Patch says I NEED more!”
Me: “Patch isn’t the boss, honey. You’ve had enough plums for one lunch.”
T: sigh, “Mom, Patch IS the boss of my work.”
Me: “I didn’t know you work.”
T: “That’s because you’re not the boss of my work, Patch is.”

A Nice Spring Snow?

Last week when it was 80 degrees, I thought about putting away the winter clothes (boots, jackets, mittens, gloves, scarves, snow pants, etc.) but I played/worked outside in the sunshine instead. Well, good thing I didn't....yep, it's snowing. And the snow is sticking. I ran out and cut the beautiful daffodils so that they could live a bit longer inside. They were wilting with little pieces of ice stuck to them outside in the 34 degree weather with the snow coming down all around them. Craziness! Neighbors say, "Welcome to Michigan" when I exclaim that it's just not right to have snow on April 23. The guy at the video store said "welcome to Michigan" when I said I was renting videos because it was going to snow over the weekend. The funny thing is that EVERYBODY talks about the snow, not just me. So, it must be a *bit* unusual, right?...if everybody talks about it?

What Does the Pope Have to Do With My Taxes?

Sometime last week I went to my appointment at H&R block to get my taxes done. M made the appointment and I went in. This was fair because he's gone to the tax guy every single year that we've been married. So this time it was my turn. When he made the appointment, M told the folks at H&R Block our situation -- moved from out of state, he was self-employed last year, my company paid the moving expenses -- so that they would know what they were getting into.

I show up at my appointed time, wait my turn, and sit down with the tax person. I started off by reiterating our situation. Just as I was saying that we moved from California in 2004, she started shaking her head. She told me that she was a newbie and not qualified to do my taxes and she was sorry. I explained that they should have known about my situation because my husband told them when he made the appointment and they should have somebody qualified to help me. She said that they couldn't do my taxes that day because the Pope had died.

Wait a minute. Rewind.... they couldn't do my taxes because the Pope died?

I calmly said, "No disrespect, but 'm not sure what the Pope's dying has to do with my taxes." She said, "his funeral was today."

Oh.... What?

She continued, "and our three tax experts took the day off to watch his funeral."

So I couldn't get my taxes done because the Pope died......

Tick on T

Yesterday evening we were sitting in our new red adirondack chairs out by the firepit while M was putting together the airator to tow behind his lawn tractor. I had Tommy on my knee and was rubbing my hands through his hair when I saw it...a big (size of a pencil eraser) flat UGLY tick. I had never seen a tick before and never saw a picture of one, but I was pretty sure that's what it was. I gently tried to move it, but no such luck. It was attached to my little boy's head -- burrowed into his head. Gross! I was very calm and said, hmmmm -- looks like you have a friend. M was walking up and I showed him -- yep, it was a tick. M said to smear Vaseline on it so it would begin to sufficate and pull its head out. I smeared the puppy with Vaseline and watche it and didn't see anything happen. After about 10 minutes (very long minutes), M pulled it out, head and all. I guess it did pop its head out with out me seeing it. All in all, it was a painless experience. T wasn't freaked out, I stayed calm, and the tick is out.

After the boys were in bed, I did some online research and learned that the ticks that carry Lyme disease are quite small -- usually just the size of a head of a pin. I read that if it's big - like the size of a pencil eraser, chances are that it isn't carrying Lyme. Of course, there are other diseases that the little bugger could have been carrying, we'll just watch the bite area and T for symptoms. I guess that's the bummer about having the back yard butt up to the woods!

A Night Out and a Day in The Garden

M got a babysitter for Friday night and we planned on seeing "The Aviator" at the cheap theater in town. We had seen it on the marquee earlier in the week. Wouldn't you know it, but the movie wasn't there any more! We didn't see any movies that we both wanted to see (I thought the Wedding Date sounded good, but it looks like I'll be seeing it on a business trip from the movies-on-demand in the hotel :> ) In our quest for a movie to see, we swung by the other non-mall theater in town (mall parking is a pain) and didn't see anything good their either... Remember the days when the one theater in town had one movie showing? And you checked the newspaper or called the movie theater itself to see what time that one movie was playing? Well, these days, the movie theaters have so many darn movies showing (our "small" theater has 7 theaters and the big one has about 16) that we don't really have to plan anything. We usually can just show up and a great movie will be showing within a half hour. This has only backfired on us two times and Friday night was one of them. So, what to do when you've already eaten dinner and there are no movies that you want to see?

You go shopping.

We hit a couple of furniture stores, the brand new Salvation Army store, Target, and K-Mart (we already went to Wal-Mart the day before. We were looking for a bunch of things -- patio furniture, front porch furniture, living room furniture, and a great reading chair for the bedroom. There was no particular priority except that patio furniture is kind of at the top. We have a lovely patio table and chairs, but we need more for our big deck. We'd like to be able to sit at least eight people for dinner and have extra seating to boot, not to mention the must-have chaise lounge that I require for outside reading.

We thought we found a cool reading chair for the bedroom, but it turned out to be too big. I'm actually not sure that we really have room for a reading chair in the room, but we sure want one and hopefully we'll find one that's good for reading and small enough for the room. We did find a wicker set for the front porch -- a love seat and a chair with cute blue and white cushions.

I also found some beautiful, brightly colored bowls and a pitcher at Target. Target is always a good time shopping for cute little household things. All in all it was a fun night.

Saturday brought a gorgeous sunny day and yard work. The previous owner laid down some weed protecting fabric throught the landscaping, making it impossible to plant anything (we punched holes in it to plant the bulbs when we first moved in). M and I raked and shoveled up the bark mulch to get to the weed protector and pulled it all up. I was pretty sore in my back and arms this morning, but really happy that we got it done. M also tilled the soil and we'll mix it with potting soil and mulch to make it all ready for planting after the last frost. Another fun part about working out in the garden is that I got an upclose look of the plants coming up -- looks like there are a few geraniums, some tall grasses, and a couple of plants with tiny purple flowers. Our raspberry plants are budding too. It's fun to see spring happen up close and personal :>

Never Before Mother's Day

The boys are in the bathtub cleaning off the grime from thier afternoon playing outside. Let's see, I think that they played hide and seek, did chalk drawings on the driveway, drove their mini-ATV, played basketball with the neighbors and played Buzz Lightyear all in the span of two hours. They are balls of energy, for sure!

I, on the other hand, was also productive. I mailed our tax returns (hey, and it's only the 14th!) at the post office. Actually, we e-filed two of the tax returns and had to mail the two that we couldn't e-file. Yes, you're right, we had *four* tax returns! One federal, two state, and one city. Can you believe that we pay city income taxes? Strange to me too.

I'm having fun with this Spring thing. Since we moved in the house in the late Fall (end of October) we didn't see what spring/summer foilage is around the house. So, in addition to the daffodils and tulips that we planted, we're seeing other unknown sprouts coming up. There are two clusters of purple and green thick things that are coming up on either side of the front walk. I go out and check them out each morning to see if I can tell what they are. Since they are only about a half inch out of the ground, I can't tell a thing yet (plus I'm not familiar with these midwestern plants yet!).

I've been told by a number of people never to plant around here before Mother's Day because we often have a frost in May. That sure bummed me out...I've been drooling over garden magazines dreaming about the day when I could did in and plant my little heart out.

But,I just learned that pansies can be planted a FULL MONTH before the last frost! I'm giddy with the thought of running over to Home Depot this weekend and planting a couple of window boxes for the deck! Yahoo!

A Great Weekend

It's late and I'm ready for bed, but I wanted to blog a bit. Here are the highlights of the weekend:

• Beautiful weather - 60s and 70s
• Bike ride along the river with the family (R behind M and T behind me on our bikes)
• Geocached and found the treasure (it was R's first "first to find"
• Sat outside on the deck and drank my Diet Coke listening to the birds sing
• Played mini-golf with the family -- the golf place opened this weekend and lots of folks partook in the fun in the sun
• M took Mackinaw "hunting" in the woods behind our house and both had a great time ("hunting" means that M hid five pheasant wings in the woods and then got Mackinaw to come sniff them out or "hunt them up!")
• The boys played with the neighbors and we discovered that there are more 4 and 5 year olds than we even knew about in our neighborhood (they were all hibernating during the winter)
• Had some friends over last night to introduce to Pegs and Jokers

That's it. I have to go out of town for two nights on business. I'll blog later....

In The 70's

For the first time in six months the thermometer has hit the seventies :>
Yes, that makes me very happy! R is off of school this week for Spring Break and it was perfect weather for the little guy. He and T ran around all outside all day, playing with the neighbor kids -- hide and seek, tag, swings, and even some chalk drawings. R was able to break out a Spiderman toy that he got for Christmas for the first time. It's an outside toy and this is the first nice day (beside snow days for him to play outside.) It's basically a Spidey glove on his hand with a cool attachment that shoots Silly String or water or little nerf arrows. He had a blast. He also had his first "owie" of the season, skinning his elbow on the cement when he fell down at some point. He told me "I didn't even cry, mom, I'm a tough guy"....does he get that from his father? Hmmmm....

Speaking of his father, M played in a poker game on Saturday night with a bunch of guys from my work. It was Texas Hold'em -- twenty bucks in and you play until you're out. They started out with 15 guys and he made it to the last table of the 5 winners. He didn't win, but he had fun.

M wanted to do something fun for R's Spring Break, so he got tickets to the local ice hockey game. The Wings are in the playoffs and we'll go to one the game on Wednesday night. M invited one of R's friends from hockey class (a friend who has parents that we got to know pretty well) and his friend and their parents will join us at the game...should be fun. T says he'll go as long as he gets to sit by me.

I just took a blogging break because T was yelling from the bathroom that he was out of toilet paper. I brought him some more and saw two suspicious looking brown stripes on the way. "T, did you wipe poop on the wall?" I asked. "Oh, yeah, sorry." T said. "T, why did you wipe poop on the way." "Oh, I forgot mom. I'm sorry." Forgot? Forgot that you can't wipe poop on the wall? What's to forget? Do I have to make a list of all the things that you cannot wipe on the wall? Even if I did make said list, I don't know if I would have had the forethought to include as one of the contriband wall-decorations. (I know, he was probably wiping and encountered more that he planned on and got a bit grossed out. Being out of TP, he thought the wall was an easy remedy for his poopy fingers.) But, geesh!

T on his birthday, getting ready for the party (you can see the craft table all set up behind him.) 

Ready for the Snow

R and T bundled up for playing in the backyard. This picture was taken two weeks ago. We've since lost all of our snow --yahoo! The locals say that we'll get one or two more snow falls before spring is really here, but I'm hoping that they're way off base :>

Hail Austin

We had a fun time at the wedding in Austin. It was nice for M and I to get away on our own and it was great to share our friend’s special day. I didn’t get the sunshine that I was hoping for. We had rain and thunderstorms both days that we were there. During the rehearsal dinner, a huge storm rolled through which had hail the size of golf balls….golf balls! I’ve never seen anything like it before and boy was it loud!! When we went out to the parking lot we realized that there were a bunch of cars that were damaged, including broken mirrors. Our mirror was in tact, but our rental car had about 300 golf ball sized “dimples” all over it. Three hundred or more. Golf ball sized. Egads. M quickly called the rental car emergency line to report the occurrence. We were the laughing stalk of the Hilton valet team when we rolled back to the fancy four star hotel (that I got on Price Line for cheap). For the next day and a half, M would joke with the valets “be real careful and don’t scratch it” when we dropped it off and “hey, what did you do to my car!” when we’d pick it up. Funny. The part that is not funny is the debate over who will pay for the damages. Even though it’s an Act of God, the rental company holds us liable. We turned down the insurance because our AmEx Gold Card would cover it. AmEx says that we didn’t sign up for that service this year (even though it has always been a regular part of the Gold Card service, which is one of the reasons I pay the big bucks to have the darned GOLD card in the first place.) The worse case scenario is that our regular car insurance pays for it, but who wants to get their premiums raised due to a doggone hail storm? The boys had a great time staying with Gramma – they died Easter eggs, decorated a pussy willow Easter tree with mini egg ornaments; went to Chuck E Cheeses; fished with their uncles; flew kites on Easter day (family tradition on M’s side); and were very good during Easter mass. All in all it was a fun time. M and I arrived at Gramma’s by 4:00 on Easter, just in time for tasty appetizers and a delicious Easter dinner.

Our Plans for Easter Weekend

I don’t think I’ve mentioned what this Easter weekend entails. It’s a strange one, but will be fun. My good friend from Chicago, Ellen, is getting married in Texas this Saturday (I know, the Saturday before Easter!) That’s the strange part of the weekend. M and I are going without the kids (that’s the fun part!) We’re leaving today to take the kids to gramma’s house and then we’re flying to Texas tomorrow morning. We’ll go to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night and the wedding on Saturday evening. In between, we’ll soak up the 75 degree sun :>

Gramma is excited to have the kids for the weekend and we’ll still make it for Easter dinner. It all works out fine. I must say that I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to swing it logistically – to get the kids to gramma’s, fly to Texas, and make it back for Easter dinner – but we will make it and it should be just fine.

Mackinaw will be going to gramma’s too – hopefully that goes well. She’s been having accidents in the house again, which is very frustrating. You see, we took down her “poop corral” and have been putting her on the “line” ( a strong line that runs from the roof of our house to a tree in the woods; she has a leash that attaches to that so that she can run around in the back yard.) Well, she gets so excited about all the sights and smells in the yard that she forgets to “do her thing” out back. We bring her back in the house after a half hour (or hour) and she often “does her thing” right in the house within 10 minutes of walking in the door from the outside! Arghhh!! Gramma has a plan to keep her in the laundry room (easy cleaning) and taking her outside a lot…and Uncle Dave has promised to take her on a morning run and evening run each day. Our fingers are crossed!

Have a happy Easter! I’ll blog when I get back.

Perfume

T: Mom, are you wearing that good smelling stuff that ladies wear?
Me: Yes, T, I'm wearing perfume.
T: Can boys and men wear perfume?
Me: Yes, men can wear something called cologne --it smells like perfume.
T: Oh good, I just love how you smell this morning (big grin).

Successful Dressing

T always dresses himself and usually does a great job. He usually looks quite put together. Today he came downstairs with a pair of tan corduroy pants and a green sweater vest – nothing under the vest. He did look pretty cute, but it was 26 degrees outside. I told him he looked pretty sharp and unbeknownst to him, went upstairs and got his white cotton turtleneck that he loves. A minute after I came downstairs, he sneezed. I took advantage of his sneeze and asked him if he was a little cold. Yes, he said. Well, I have a great idea – why don’t you wear this turtleneck under your sweater vest. That’s a great idea, he said. After we reconstructed his ensemble, he beamed a smile at me and said, Thank you mom – you’re the best mom in the universe! Not only did I got him to change his outfit without a fuss, but I also got one of my favorite compliments from the little tyke.

A Calm Saturday

Today was a nice day being a "stay at home mom" as T calls me on weekends. I made breakfast of baon and eggies-in-the-nest with the left over green-and-white swirled bread that I bought for St. Patty's day. Yummy! Then M and I decided to take the boys to the movies to see "Robots". It was pretty good and the kids loved it and laughed a lot during it. They also liked the popcorn, sprite, and Nerds candy that we bought them (those three things came together in a kids box). Each boy carried in his own booster seat that they grabbed in the lobby of the theater (they didn't have those when I was a wee lassie!)

After the movie, we strolled around Sears for a bit (we like Sears a lot now for their smart sponsorship of the TV show, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"). We got the boys some hiking boots on sale for $7 each, I got a cute pink jacket (I'm hoping that the quicker I get a Spring wardrobe, the quicker Spring will come here), and M got some sprockets (or some other tool that I can't think of right now.)

We stopped at Taco Bell on the way home because it was1:30 and way late for lunch. R polished off TWO bean burritos and an apple emanada! Then it was time for naps. During the boys naptime, I tried to upload some more pictures onto the blog, but it wouldn't work....so frustrating! I'll figure it out soon :>

I made dinner of sliced Emeril's sun dried tomato chicken sausage sauted with sliced red peppers and mozerella cheese melted over it. I added about a quarter of a cup of pasta sauce...Yummy! served it with a salad and called it a dinner.

Tomorrow M is going skeet shooting (if it's not snowing too hard -- he'll go if it's snowing lightly, the crazy man!) I'll hang with the boys -- probably go grocery shopping and to the library - -and definitely will do a bunch of laundry.

Gotta Get My Eyes Checked

I guess I'm getting old. I've been saying for almost a year now that I have to get my eyes checked. Now, I say that I REALLY have to get my eyes checked. My eyes hurt and I get a headache after working on the computer for awhile. They hurt while watching TV. And, I kinda see shadows on letters when I read. Oh, yeah, it takes me *forever* to read the exit signs on the highway. So, what's stopping me? I dunno. I found a doctor (the one we took R to) and I have the registration forms to fill out. I just have to do it and make an appointment. Tomorrow, for sure. Really.

Since winter is taking forever to go away around here, I'll list things that I *like* about winter in the MidWest:
1. Snow on the ground when it sparkles
2. The way the woods in the back yard look right after a snowfall
3. Sledding down hill
4. Snowmen and snow forts
5. Red cheeks

M had a good day today (yay!). I deleted the post where I talked about him a lot. It made me (and him) uncomfortable to have it "out there on the 'net" for the world to see. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. Keep 'em coming :>

quotes to remember:

"Yoohoo, rabbits, anybody home?" upon finding a rabbit hole on one of our hikes over the weekend. - T

"I'm not trying to complain or anything, but there's no more toilet paper in the bathroom." He's been getting into trouble lately for his attitude -- so he was making sure that this wasn't an attitude situation, but simply a need-for-TP-situation. - R

"I can swim great, but it's the breathing thing I can't do yet. I also have a problem with gravity when I'm in the water." R telling AP about his swimming skills.

That's it for today.

Nice Homecoming

I was out of town for a night on business and got home at about bedtime last night. The boys had made "Welcome Home Mom" signs and put them in the windows. When I got home, they were both in their jammies and greeted me with a lot of enthusiasm. Actually, they were pretty darn hyper. They were jumping up and down and talking at the same time, rushing to tell me all about the two days that I missed. I went upstairs with them and we decided to dance to get rid of some of their energy. R put on his new clock radio and found a rock-n-roll station because he "loves rock n roll, Mom!" They danced their pants off, doing spins and jumps that only young kids have the energy to do after a long day of running around. I had such a great time watching them with a big smile on my face. I was good to be home.

Just a Quick Note

Things are pretty busy lately... I’ll blog over the weekend. Kids are healthy; R’s eye is completely healed. I have to be gone for one night this week on business after working late three nights this week :< Dog is nearly house-broken (alleluia!). M is really tired lately -- diagnosed with anemia. He'll have more tests to determine the cause. T's in a swimming class called the "Little Bobbers." R is ready to sign up for soccer.

I promise more soon...

Eye Update

We took R to an ophthalmologist yesterday and he’s doing fine. It turns out that there was a “foreign body” still in his eye, under his eyelid. The poor boy now has 6-7 scratches on his cornea from that darn thing! The doctor was really nice and gentle (M found the only female eye doctor in town; he figured a woman would be more gentle with our little guy than a man. I know, it’s sexist, but I think it’s sweet.) Anyway, R did really well in the doctor’s office. He was a bit nervous with the big “eye machine” as he called it.

I left work early to meet them there – it was a family event. R sat in the “king’s throne”, M and I sat in the two chairs provided, and T sat on my lap. I got nervous when R did the initial eye test because he couldn’t read any lines with his hurt eye! Then the sweet doctor told him to blink his eye five times and then wipe it with a tissue. After that, he did great – whew!

She numbed his eye and put in some orange dye (like the other doctor did). Then she looked in his eye through the “eye machine”. R kept unconsciously flinching away whenever she’d get close with the light or with an instrument, so M helped hold his head pushed into the forehead-sling. He did great. Not only did she find more scratches, she also found the foreign body. It looked like the one that M found on Sunday morning – a tiny white spec.

She wants us to continue with the antibiotics so that he doesn’t get an infection. She also gave us some “comfort drops” that are kind of like a gel. It fills in the scratches and makes a nice film over his eye, which makes it much more bearable. She prescribed those drops 4 times a day or as often as he wants them. He liked the way if felt so much that he said he’d want them 6 times a day! She also “prescribed” an afternoon on the couch watching cartoons with a cold washcloth on his eye. R liked that advice a lot :>