I only have a couple of minutes before we leave for the airport for part 2 of our forever long spring break, but just wanted to report that the first half was a success. We had a blast with our friends and got some much needed fun and I think our guests had a great time too.
When they arrived there was still snow on the ground so the kids, who had never really even been in snow, got to make snowmen. It was even the first real snowmen for Sarah and Amanda who instead of packing the snow together like last time actually got to roll the balls through the yard to make a proper snowman. It was so neat to see them experience something I did as a kid for the first time.
The next few days were filled with shopping and eating and skiing (by only one family) as well as a hockey game and tubing. We also had a fantastic Easter with a visit from the bunny in the form of overflowing baskets, a big yummy breakfast, an egg hunt and cascarones (hollow eggs stuffed with confetti that you crack over each other's heads). Unfortunately I rolled my ankle while dashing up the patio to smash Lizette over the head and prematurely ended my fun for the day, but it was still so, so much fun and our friends had never done it so that made it even better.
I was so sad to see everybody go yesterday as this is the most fun I've had since April from New Jersey was here over New Year's, but the cleaning lady came yesterday and that helped the sting go away since the house is back to normal. Of course leaving today for a sun-filled four day vacation also helps.
Just makes me look even more forward to summer when we get to see even more friends and family.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
"Please Mommy it would make me really happy and I would be your best friend."
- Amanda's way of asking me if she can have some of my breakfast, because her breakfast isn't good enough.
- Amanda's way of asking me if she can have some of my breakfast, because her breakfast isn't good enough.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
Andy: I'm going to go get the iPad.
Me: Sigh. Don't you think you've played enough today?
Andy: What?
Me: If screen time killed you, you'd be dead.
Andy: I would have been dead a long, long time ago.
Me: Sigh. Don't you think you've played enough today?
Andy: What?
Me: If screen time killed you, you'd be dead.
Andy: I would have been dead a long, long time ago.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
"Sarah, if you don't play doctor with me I will kill you."
- Amanda. Doesn't sound very doctor-like, does it?
- Amanda. Doesn't sound very doctor-like, does it?
Spring Break
Every time I log in to blog I look at the last time I blogged and just sigh. Once a week is a pretty crappy schedule. I think about blogging a lot, but don't actually make it here to do it. I need to give myself some kind of incentive, like I do to the kids, to make sure I actually come here and write all the crazy things that are running through my head. You know, like you can't eat that Easter candy (yes, I've gone through three bags already) until you write your post. That might actually work.
It doesn't help that the days are flying past and we are already at spring break which means our downward spiral towards the last day of school is getting closer and closer. Yesterday was the kids first day of spring break and they don't go back until April 8th. Isn't that crazy? Two weeks and one day. I don't really get the extra day thing, but almost every break they've had this year except for Thanksgiving has started on the Friday before the actual break. I think they do that for the teachers because they still go for an inservice without the kids, but it seems kind of weird to me.
So normally I would totally be freaked out by a two week spring break with nothing to look forward to except lots of fighting and "Mom, what can I do?" asked over and over and over. These kids have about 4 million toys and every video game you can think of as well as hundreds of books and more art supplies than the school art teacher and yet they never know what to do with themselves. Unbelievable. What I'd like to do is just take a nap every afternoon and have someone fold and put away all the laundry, but I don't think they are going to do that for me.
The reason this spring break is different is because on Tuesday the Dodds from Orlando and the Gomezes from Miami (or Gomae and we like to call them) are coming to visit. These are two of the families that we go on vacation with every summer so we know how to just hang out and do nothing with them (assuming that we may do a little of that in the next week). But we also know to pack up our entire clan and go find something to do. They are staying for a week and I am so excited that they are coming. There will be shopping and eating and skiing and some imbibing after the children fall asleep and lots of silly goofy behavior. Something that I have missed a lot over the last nine months.
They stay until the following Tuesday and then on Wednesday (yes, the next day) the five of us are headed to Phoenix for some sun and swimming and relaxation. Since it is like nine degrees right now and snowed about seven inches today I could use some sun and relaxation. It did allow us another wonderful family day at home, but family day by a lazy river sounds a little bit nicer. We are also hoping to meet up with a few different friends who recently moved to Phoenix as well as see opening day of the Diamondbacks. Fun stuff!
In addition to that, I have finally finished planning all of our summer travel and for once I am really looking forward to summer with the kids. We are going to Dallas for a week so the kids can go to camp and we can catch up with some of our old friends, we are going to Michigan to see my parents and sister-in-law and the kids' cousins and then to Chicago to see my sister and brother and the rest of the cousins. Then to the Jersey shore to see some friends from college and finally to Destin to see the same people that are coming next week. Yay! It will be a lot of traveling but will be worth it to see a lot of people we love.
So I welcome spring break, although it doesn't seem so spring-like, and look forward to the last two months of school. Hopefully I will get back here more frequently so you can come along for the ride.
It doesn't help that the days are flying past and we are already at spring break which means our downward spiral towards the last day of school is getting closer and closer. Yesterday was the kids first day of spring break and they don't go back until April 8th. Isn't that crazy? Two weeks and one day. I don't really get the extra day thing, but almost every break they've had this year except for Thanksgiving has started on the Friday before the actual break. I think they do that for the teachers because they still go for an inservice without the kids, but it seems kind of weird to me.
So normally I would totally be freaked out by a two week spring break with nothing to look forward to except lots of fighting and "Mom, what can I do?" asked over and over and over. These kids have about 4 million toys and every video game you can think of as well as hundreds of books and more art supplies than the school art teacher and yet they never know what to do with themselves. Unbelievable. What I'd like to do is just take a nap every afternoon and have someone fold and put away all the laundry, but I don't think they are going to do that for me.
The reason this spring break is different is because on Tuesday the Dodds from Orlando and the Gomezes from Miami (or Gomae and we like to call them) are coming to visit. These are two of the families that we go on vacation with every summer so we know how to just hang out and do nothing with them (assuming that we may do a little of that in the next week). But we also know to pack up our entire clan and go find something to do. They are staying for a week and I am so excited that they are coming. There will be shopping and eating and skiing and some imbibing after the children fall asleep and lots of silly goofy behavior. Something that I have missed a lot over the last nine months.
They stay until the following Tuesday and then on Wednesday (yes, the next day) the five of us are headed to Phoenix for some sun and swimming and relaxation. Since it is like nine degrees right now and snowed about seven inches today I could use some sun and relaxation. It did allow us another wonderful family day at home, but family day by a lazy river sounds a little bit nicer. We are also hoping to meet up with a few different friends who recently moved to Phoenix as well as see opening day of the Diamondbacks. Fun stuff!
In addition to that, I have finally finished planning all of our summer travel and for once I am really looking forward to summer with the kids. We are going to Dallas for a week so the kids can go to camp and we can catch up with some of our old friends, we are going to Michigan to see my parents and sister-in-law and the kids' cousins and then to Chicago to see my sister and brother and the rest of the cousins. Then to the Jersey shore to see some friends from college and finally to Destin to see the same people that are coming next week. Yay! It will be a lot of traveling but will be worth it to see a lot of people we love.
So I welcome spring break, although it doesn't seem so spring-like, and look forward to the last two months of school. Hopefully I will get back here more frequently so you can come along for the ride.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
"Mommy, when you grow up then you will be a Daddy."
-Amanda, who is obsessed with getting bigger right now.
-Amanda, who is obsessed with getting bigger right now.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
I Want Books!
Last night was Andy's spring band concert. It was a joint concert with five elementary schools, the middle school and the high school. It was a fabulous way for the kids in the elementary school to see what they could become in just a few short years if they stuck with band, and also showed them the different bands they could participate in with performances from the high school jazz band and concert band and mention of the marching band. That's the positive part of the evening.
They concert was in the high school gym. I don't know if they don't have an auditorium, which they must because the school is enormous and has about 5,000 students, but I don't think everybody would have fit on the stage because the head director said there were over 300 band members performing. It didn't seem like that many, but there were a lot. So instead of sitting in a nice, dark, plushy seat auditorium, we sat in a bright, everybody can see what you are doing and how well you are paying attention, horrible acoustics gymnasium on wooden bleachers. The only think worse than wooden bleachers is metal bleachers.
Because it was such an enormous (as my friend, April from New Jersey, once told me "that means really, really big") concert, I wanted to get there early to make sure we got seats. We arrived 30 minutes before it started, which still wasn't early enough, but were able to secure seats that were actually facing the band instead of behind it. All that to say that after arriving early and then sitting through an hour and fifteen minute concert, I was in serious pain from those bleachers. Luckily even though the girls were up way past their bedtime, which I recently pushed back from going upstairs at 8ish to going upstairs no later than 7:30 (more about that in a different post if I ever get around to writing it), they were relatively well behaved.
In the end we got home after 8:30 and went straight upstairs to bed. I told the girls that because it was so late, as is the case every time we go to bed more than 30 minutes their bed time, they would not get any books. Amanda put up a huge fuss. She kept moaning and groaning "I want books" but I wasn't giving in. I've been way too easy on her lately and not standing firm when she whines because the kid just beats me down. But when it comes to bedtime and the rules surrounding it, I don't often give in and we run a tight ship. Okay, except for the long time period when I would sit with her when she fell asleep and was so mad at myself for doing it, but no more.
I kissed her goodnight and told her she would get books the next night and gave her another million kisses and hugs but would not read her any books. Seriously, I could have read her two or three books in the time it took me to tell her she wasn't getting any books, but again I had to stay strong. I finally left the room with her still moaning "I want books." Eventually she fell asleep.
I figured that was it, all is forgotten. Not so much. At 6:30 this morning I heard her calling out and went to see what was wrong with her. I walked into her room and the first thing that came out of her mouth was, you guessed it, "I want books". I just shook my head in amazement, covered her back up with her plethora of blankets and told her to go back to sleep.
And that, my friends, is one of my daily joys of living with a hard headed, redundant three-yr-old.
They concert was in the high school gym. I don't know if they don't have an auditorium, which they must because the school is enormous and has about 5,000 students, but I don't think everybody would have fit on the stage because the head director said there were over 300 band members performing. It didn't seem like that many, but there were a lot. So instead of sitting in a nice, dark, plushy seat auditorium, we sat in a bright, everybody can see what you are doing and how well you are paying attention, horrible acoustics gymnasium on wooden bleachers. The only think worse than wooden bleachers is metal bleachers.
Because it was such an enormous (as my friend, April from New Jersey, once told me "that means really, really big") concert, I wanted to get there early to make sure we got seats. We arrived 30 minutes before it started, which still wasn't early enough, but were able to secure seats that were actually facing the band instead of behind it. All that to say that after arriving early and then sitting through an hour and fifteen minute concert, I was in serious pain from those bleachers. Luckily even though the girls were up way past their bedtime, which I recently pushed back from going upstairs at 8ish to going upstairs no later than 7:30 (more about that in a different post if I ever get around to writing it), they were relatively well behaved.
In the end we got home after 8:30 and went straight upstairs to bed. I told the girls that because it was so late, as is the case every time we go to bed more than 30 minutes their bed time, they would not get any books. Amanda put up a huge fuss. She kept moaning and groaning "I want books" but I wasn't giving in. I've been way too easy on her lately and not standing firm when she whines because the kid just beats me down. But when it comes to bedtime and the rules surrounding it, I don't often give in and we run a tight ship. Okay, except for the long time period when I would sit with her when she fell asleep and was so mad at myself for doing it, but no more.
I kissed her goodnight and told her she would get books the next night and gave her another million kisses and hugs but would not read her any books. Seriously, I could have read her two or three books in the time it took me to tell her she wasn't getting any books, but again I had to stay strong. I finally left the room with her still moaning "I want books." Eventually she fell asleep.
I figured that was it, all is forgotten. Not so much. At 6:30 this morning I heard her calling out and went to see what was wrong with her. I walked into her room and the first thing that came out of her mouth was, you guessed it, "I want books". I just shook my head in amazement, covered her back up with her plethora of blankets and told her to go back to sleep.
And that, my friends, is one of my daily joys of living with a hard headed, redundant three-yr-old.
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