Saturday, December 29, 2007

Sledding

Today, i wasn't sure what I was going to do with the boys. I knew that I wanted/needed Rich to work on the basement (we are so close!), but wasn't sure how to entertain the boys. Well, I decided I'd take them sledding this morning. They knew they had to nap this afternoon so that they could stay up to watch part of the game, so this was a good way to wear them out!

They all absolutely loved it. I definitely got a work out though because I went up and down the hill almost as many times, just none of them were on a sled :) Plus I had to pull, or carry, Max up the hill :) But no matter, we were the only ones there, so we had a blast! See for yourself!

Friday, December 28, 2007

School vacation week

Well, here we are on Friday and both the kids and I have managed to remain unscathed... so far! We have actually had a pretty busy week since christmas day, I am looking at 5 more days with them though :)

Wednesday we ended up doing a little shopping and mostly hanging out, I think. I actually can't quite remember what the boys and I did :) Although I do remember heading to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner to celebrate my Mother in law's 60th birthday. She even rode the saddle!

Thursday my cousin Allison came over, she's 10 and the boys, especially Max, love her!



Then we ran to 2 doctor's appts, 1 for Max in which he needed to have his face (sinuses) xrayed. I wasn't expecting that one to go very well, but after about 1 minute of him not wanting to do it, he did great! The other doctor appt was to find out Tim likely had a double ear infection. A little antibiotic and he is fine :)

Then we came home and the boys all took 2 hour naps while Allison played the Wii and I folded a little laundry and read for my upcoming class. Eventually, we decided to make the cookies that Lilly had given the boys. Both Sam and Max donned their new aprons and mixed up their batter.



Can you tell which set of cookies Sam did and which ones Max did? :) I really didn't try to control how they were done :) But they had fun :)



Friday, the boys got haircuts and then my sister came over so I could go grocery shopping. The boys were psyched that they didn't have to go :) Then I took the older two to see Enchanted. I thought it was cute, but it was a little too girly for them :)

And so here we are now. I'm going to d more homework and figure out what we are planning for the weekend. Hopefully working on the basement :)

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Xmas everyone!

We had a great day and I owe most of it to Rich. He always makes the whole dinner for my family and he pretty much spent most of the day in front of the sink! Even my brother commented on it.

Although my boys were tired, they had so much fun and I can't say how many times I heard, "This is the best day of my life" from my kids this morning.

But really, I had all my siblings, my parents, along with my gram, 1 of my aunts and my cousin there. We had a great time and despite tired children, I had a great day. Hopefully although my husband was a crazy man who made an AMAZING dinner, I hope he had a good day too. But really I love Christmas and I love my family. Here's some pics...

XMas Eve



As is our typical plan, we spent XMas eve day at my in laws. There are some things that you can pretty much always count on and this year some that you couldn't...

You always know that Kim will bring the beer bread, Tracy will have tons of stuff for all the kids, and that it will just generally be pure chaos with 5 kids around xmas presents.

However, I do not typically have Spam served along with the turkey. Apparently, this was a staple in the Person household growing up. Thank goodness I didn't meet him until college!

As usual, we left with more than we went with, but the boys were happy. As is my family tradition, the boys (and me) all got new jammies to wear for bed. This year the boys had also been asking for robes, so I got them robes and slippers too. Here is a pic:



We did almost get caught by the oldest around 9:20, all the presents were out in the palyroom and under the tree, so I headed him off in the hallway. He then yelled at me that we hadn't gone to bed yet! More posts of xmas day later!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

one more clip from advent show...

This was the final song of the night and the kids were adorable. Sammy is very funny in the background...

Friday, December 21, 2007

Christmas advent show

As I mentioned the boys had their advent show this week and they did amazing. The school does a really good job with each class... of course I get sappy every time I see them up there :) Here is one montage. I have to post the other video once I get it uploaded.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Quiet house

My house is so quiet!!! The boys are out of school for vacation, but since I still have to work, my mom took them until Sat. morning. This is a good thing, even though I already miss them :)

We had the advent show the other evening and the boys were absolutely amazing. I'll post up a video and pictures soon. I have to get them off the other computer:)

Saturday, December 15, 2007

elfed....

Check out my three little elves...

Click this link
MyElves

or copy and paste this into a browser:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1430414019

Friday, December 14, 2007

Daddy's cheering section...

Most of you know that Rich is in Kansas City this week at the national cyclocross races. (Yes I know fine time for a snowstorm to hit :) ) Usually the boys and I go to whatever races we can to cheer Daddy on. Tim is usually the loudest (and sometimes, I think obnoxious) cheerers in the whole place, yelling "Go Daddy!" as loud as he can. I know that Rich was missing us recently when he heard other kids yelling for their dads, so this is the best that we can do in our absence...

Good Luck, babe! We miss you... and don't you dare come home broken! ;)

those dreadful words....

St. Michael School, Hudson... Closed

I now understand how my mother felt whenever the school was closed! At least daycare is open so I only have the big two. Right now they are outside playing in the snow and later we are going to grocery shop and probably get some stuff to make cookies. we also have to buy Sammy some new snow pants and Timmy some new pants in general. It is going to be a long weekend! Thank god I have a party to go to tomorrow afternoon so I can get a break. It is a cookie exchange, so I think I am going to make spritz cookies like my mom used to.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Out first big snowstorm of the year...

We were all home early and able to play outside in the snow for a while. Here are some pics...

ABC Christmas

Today was Sammy's ABC Christmas play. I'm sorry that the video quality isn't great. I didn't realize the light was so bad. But you can hear him say his line quite clearly. He did such a good job and was so darn cute!

There are a couple of pictures to point out, the first angel is his friend Abby (this is the girl that he makes laugh all the time). The second angel, little black girl, is Adrienne and they are such good buds. The little girl dressed as Mary with a baby is Sammy's crush. He calls her, "The cutest girl in class". So darn cute!!!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Single Mom...

Well, as I write this Rich is on a plane to Kansas city. He is headed out for the national cyclo-cross championships. So, from now until Sunday, its all me... I already miss him.

Tomorrow is Sammy's ABC christmas show at school. He is a king and I can't wait to see him. I'll be taking as many pictures and videos as I can take especially since Rich can't be there. next week is the next christmas show, but its the whole school!

Ok, I'm off to bed.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Playdates

I left work early today so that I could bring the kids to a playdate at a friends house. It's days like today that I miss being a stay at home mom. I've made pretty good friends with a couple of Mom's from Sammy's class and it was really nice to hang out with them while the kids played tonight.

Apparently, they do this (make dinner while the kids play) every thursday, but since I have soccer and I can't get out of work early all the time, we won't be able to join them much. I'm a little bummed about this because I really do want to build relationships with the moms from school, but I just can't be as involved with the school and the moms as I'd like to be because of work. The kids had a blast while the moms made pancakes, eggs, and bacon for dinner. It was a lot of fun!

I've invited the group over to our house after the holidays, so hopefully I can clean my house by then!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

"Shhhhh, I'm in a timeout..."

So today at lunch, Max was making funny faces so that the other 2 would giggle. And I really have to try to work on this with him, because that is what I hear from daycare all the time. So, I turned his chair around so that he couldn't see the boys anymore.

Well, the other two kept giggling and i watch Max turn over his shoulder, look at them, and whisper, "Shhhh.... I'm in a timeout." While he points to himself! I just had to turn my back and laugh at him.

That kid is such a ham.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

looking forward to xmas

Can I just say that I love xmas? I love buying gifts for people, especially the kids. I love seeing the boys faces when the open their presents. I really just love seeing people smile. As I get older I really am cherishing the time that I do get to spend with my family. As I said before, we are having the Chuplis family xmas on the 23rd, and I can't wait to hang out with my aunts and cousins. I don't see my gram or aunts often enough and we really do have a blast when we are together! Can't wait.

I have a bunch of shopping done, but I am planning on taking Monday off to try and do a bunch of shopping that is left. Mostly, I am looking forward to a day off by myself. Nice and quiet :)

Just got home from soccer and am so ready for bed. 'night!

Monday, December 3, 2007

That was a close one...

Ok, note to self, hide a key to the house outside!

This morning was one of those days where I realized that this is a good idea for many reasons, one of them being, if your 2.5 year old locks the kitchen door, you have a way of getting in without panicing.

Now, that being said, I did not have to call the police, break a window, or go into a complete panic (although Tim burst into tears), luckily I got in on my own. But standing there pleading and trying to explain to a 2.5 year old to unlock the door by turning "the little thingy" while he says, "no, you do it" is not fun.

I managed to get in by jiggling the door knob a little hard and it just allowed me to open it. (I'm thinking some angels in heaven (grampy) had something to do with that). But it does also make me worry that anyone could just jiggle the doorknob and get it open. Timmy even tried it and was able to get it to let him turn the doorknob even though it was technically locked.

What a way to start the day!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

In training

Work is quiet for the next couple of days as I am in training. I am taking a 2-day course about negotiation, so this should come in handy with my husband and my father (two of the best negotiators I know :) )

Also, I have to warn my aunt and cousin about the Chuplis family xmas... On the Sunday before xmas we are headed to their house to celebrate and hang out. We have a ton of fun whenever we are there, but my kids do not give my cousin Joe a minute of peace. They just love hanging out with him because he is one of few teenage (I think he's still a teenager) guys that they know. Well, it is only going to get worse since Timmy is ALL about football now. he will turn on the TV and put on any footbal game he finds, doesn't matter who is playing. When he picks numbers fo guessing games, he picks numbers of Patriots players only because of who wears them. So, Joe is going to have his hands full! I'm sure Katie will too as Max will not leave her alone either!

Ah... a break from my kids!!!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Out of the mouths of babes...

I was home with Max this morning as I had to take him for a doctor's appt. And while we were sitting together on the couch, he slides his hand behind me and rubs across my lower back. Since my sweater is on the short side, he rubbed skin instead of shirt and his comment to me, ....

"Is that your butt?"

Of course, I said no and started laughing so he of course said, "yes it is, its your butt!" and laughed!

That child...

Friday, November 23, 2007

Thanksgiving weekend recap

Busy busy weekend! Turkey Day at my sisters was great. The boys had a good time and all the food was tasty! After dinner we walked to the playground so that the boys could play. The mild weather really helped!

Friday morning I was up bright and early to do some shopping. I got to Toys R Us at 4 am and there w as already a line a quarter of the way around the building. By the time they let us in, the line was around the building! I grabbed my stuff and was out of there by 5:10! Then headed to Target and got in line there as well! Not as bad as toys r us though! All in all pretty much got the 2 older boys done.

For the most part we just hung out on Friday and Saturday. We did go to Rich's bike race on Saturday morning in the freezing cold, but Timmy loves to cheer for him, so it was fun. It helped that the race drove right by a playground as well! We had Rich's 15 year high school reunion on saturday night, which was fun until I had about 1 (ok maybe 2) drinks to many! That made Sunday a really hard day for me.

But after a couple of naps I was good to go and ended up chasing lucy around outside for 4.5 hours. The boys let her out by accident around 3 and i finally got her in and bathed at about 7:40. Not fun. But overall a good long weekend! Here's some pictures from Thursday.




the pictures I promised

Here are a few pictures from Tim's thanksgiving show:



Monday, November 19, 2007

Busy busy busy

Well, work has not gotten any easier, but I have had some big wins lately so that helps!

Homework is still crazy, but should hopefully be done in the next couple of weeks.

The boys have been good, but of course a little crazy :) This past weekend, we went to karate, bought paint for the downstairs (its shaping up!), and right now I can't even remember what else we did...

Sunday I took them to Chuck E Cheese for a while and then after nap we went to the playground and then to Rich's bike club's annual party.

Today was Timmy's "snacktime with the pilgrim's". They put on a little play and then we had snack with them. Ask him anything about the pilgrim's he knows it all! Picture's to follow!

Thanksgiving is coming up and just means that I'll be more busy, but I'm really hoping to get a few minutes by myself this weekend. We shall see!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

sigh...

chaos, craziness, and just a whole lot of everything going on...

Work is crazy... as usual...

School is busy with a big group project as well as a 10 page paper...

The boys have a ton going on right now... Parent/teacher conferences (more below), flu shots, thanksgiving plays, and just generally the holiday.

And I have two friends that I am sad for/worried about. One friend is someone who is there for anyone whenever you need her. Her mother and sister were visiting there family in India and were in a car crash on Tuesday. Her aunt and sister were killed and her mother is in critical condition. My heart breaks for their family. Take the time today to hug the ones you!

The other is a friend who has something going on, I just don't know what yet. She left me a message which ended in tears which makes me worry about her. I hope to hear from her soon!

But back to parent teacher conferences...

Both boys got absolutely glowing feedback. Sammy has a heart of gold, is so friendly and sociable, is 1 of 2 kids who are already reading in kindergarten, but... he doesn't stop talking (is anyone surprised :) ) Fortunately, he is always talking on topic, but still always talking. All in all a great report.

Timmy is also doing fabulously. Mrs. D had only great things to say, he is patient, bright, and at the point of helping out the other kids. She is going to start giving him supplemental packages in reading, which means he will probably be reading third grade material by the end of the year.

Ok, I'm off to do homework, but I figured I would add a couple of pics :)

We bought Max his bike helmet and it came with some pads. He loves it.


We have been playing a lot of superhero monopoly lately...

Monday, November 12, 2007

the abilities of boys....

Well, we all know that boys have the ability to pee standing up, which ultimately gives them more "freedom" on where they can go... My boys exemplify this!!

We've told the boys that if they are outside and they really just can't make it inside, they can go outside. Apparently, we need to be far more specific about, how, when, and where! Normally, I would figure they would go behind the shed or hide somewhere if they really had to do it, but no, not my children :)

I have recently (a few weeks ago) "hiding" behind the tree in my front yard to pee. Hiding is in quotes because, yes they were hiding from me (as I'm in the house) which meant that they were on the road side of the tree!! They were appropriately scolded for peeing in the front yard!!!

Well, apparently, we were not specific about where it was OK to pee. My mother in law watched the boys this afternoon and while they were helping bring stuff out to my father in law's truck, my mother in law found a puddle in the driveway. After a few questions, she found out that Sam had peed in the driveway!

I really do chalk this up to being little boys :) But they need to try and hide it a little!!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Our first trip to the principal's office...

I am so angry right now!!! So, I bet a lot of you think that I'm talking about Tim... but I'm not. Sam has made his first (and last) trip to the principal's office. These boys have been told that they should never ever come home to tell us that they have been sent to the principal. So Sam is in a load of trouble. Apparently, he and the other boys were climbing the sinks and attempting to go over a half-wall in the bathroom. When the teacher found them, he was standing on the sink attempting to go up and over. He went straight to bed tonight and lost some other priveldges.

On another note:

Tonight Max would not eat his dinner, but we left him at the table briefly to look at the progress on the basement. Well, he then came to the top of the stairs to say that Lucy ate his grilled cheese. I asked him if he gave his sandwich to the dog and his reply???? "Yup!"

Sometimes, this parenting thing is really hard... ok, its always hard, I guess I just need a break!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Max strikes again...

This child is such a trouble maker... but he's so darn cute!!

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I hear Sammy yelling from the playroom. I ask what is going on and Sammy replies, "Tim is teasing me." Well, before I can even call Tim in, I hear from Max in the same sing-songy voice that Sammy used, "I teasing you too!"

So, I laughed and called both Tim and Max to the bathroom! Tim is so gonna use Max as one of his weapons!

Monday, November 5, 2007

renovations

Rich has started a second blog to capture all of our never ending house projects. I've linked it in the nav bar.

The basement is the next project on the list. My Father in law is finishing our basement. He has built our garage and breezeway and our playroom. The boys can't wait until its done!!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

I called Sammy a fat, dufus...

Is what Max tells us as he walks out into the kitchen today... Its lovely how the older two brothers use the smallest one to get at the other one. Max is the poor go-between!!

Also, here is a picture of the boys getting ready to watch a scary movie with Grandma last night.

4 day catch up

Ok, I haven't posted any real content since Wed morning so here's a true recap.

Halloween night I took the boys trick or treating, which in and of itself was all good. Rich was in class that night though so we had just left a bowl of candy out, which surprisingly was not empty. So the boys were told that they could sit on the steps and hand out candy. So I took Max in, got him out of his costume, into his jammies, and let him watch shrek for a few minutes.

So I went back to the front door to check on the boys and they were gone! I called their names and there was no answer, called again, no answer. So now I'm getting worried as its halloween so easier for scary people to disguise themselves, its nighttime and dark. So I go outside to call them again, no answer. Ok, totally panicing now. I heard people across the street, but couldn't see anyone, so called again and nothing. Finally I heard Timmy's voice and then saw them come running back across the street. Well, I lost it, burst into tears and told them they could no longer sit out front to hand out candy. Well, Tim burst into tears as I was telling them what I thought and Sammy just wouldn't look at me. I don't think that they will ever leave the yard without telling me again!!

Thursday wasn't anything exciting except me rolling my ankle in soccer.

Friday we had Sammy's soccer pizza party and then Saturday we had the parents soccer game for the last week of soccer. Then we left to head to my parents so that my dad, brother, Rich and I could go see the australian pink floyd group. Now normally, this isn't a group I would listen to, but grew up listening to them with my dad. When we were growing up we had a family room or play room and every saturday we spent the morning cleaning it listening to my Dad's pink floyd or pat benetar records. (yes records). The concert was a lot of fun and even funny to watch the 50-60 year old women dancing and screaming like 20 year olds.

I am tire today though and am just trying to figure out what to do with the boys before the football game!! Go PATS!!!

Friday, November 2, 2007

More halloween

I promised more pictures and here they are:

My Cookie Monster, Ninja Lord, and Evil Jester


Max had to have a silly hat for silly hat day at the boy's school


Max with his silly hat and silly glasses


Max is waiting for trick or treaters

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Halloween pics

I've got a ton of pics from today, I have to get them off the other computer, but here is one from Max's daycare:

Halloween

Today will be n early day for me since I scheduled the older for Dentist appointments (yes before they go trick or treating) :) Then I'll pick up Max and we'll go home and get started. Rich is in class tonight, so we'll be the people that set the bowl out for the lucky people who come to our house first. They'll get to dump the bowl right in :)

Funny story: I laugh at how kids think that our world is so small... Timmy was telling me about how his teacher went to visit her daughter at college in CT this past weekend and I said that their cousin Joey also goes to college in CT. And Timmy said that we should ask Joey what his girlfriends name is because maybe it is Mrs. D's (his teacher) daughter. :)

Ok, I started this an hour ago and many people have come into my office to chat:) More pictures tonight!

Friday, October 26, 2007

My Grampy

I know this is sort of a random post, but while I was downloading the pictures of Max, I came across some pictures of my grampy. I felt the need to post a quick message about him.

My Grampy passed away about a year and a half ago and I miss him every day. I will always remember my Grampy as full of life. he always had a smile on his face whenever he saw one of his grandkids or great-grandkids. He was a true family man who would have done anything for any one of us if we needed him.

He always made us laugh...

He had 11 fingers (no not really, that was just one of his many jokes), but her always had me fooled.

He would show me his "pride and joy", think pictures of products with the same name.

He also showed me his diamond ring and pin that he got for my grammy, (think dime, ring, and pin).

He always painted pumpkins for us each halloween.

I like to think that I get my love of making people smile from him. I like to do nice things for people because it always makes me feel good and that was him. He would always pull a coupon for free hugs out of his pocket for anyone who treated him nice, a nurse, a waitress, or any one of my friends that I brought by the house.

He truly was such a wonderful man, and I'm not sure why I'm having this sudden urge to post about him, but I do miss him. And it makes me smile every time Max passes by the picture on his dresser of him and Papa because he points to it and says, that's Papa. I really wish my kids got to know him better.

I miss him!

couple of pics of Max

Here is my little cookie monster... I'll take more on halloween of all three of them!


Sorry its been a while...

It has been a relatively normal week in our house except for all of the after school stuff that has been going on.

Monday of course was school for me. Nothing big there, but Tuesday was a halloween party for Sammy, which Tim was upset that he didn't get to go. And Sammy was really upset when I picked him up to leave! It is very interesting to me to see how other kids live. I totally believe that each family does what works for them. Everyone is different, but I think that Sammy didn't want to leave because what kid wouldn't want to leave a yard that has an inground pool, a trampoline, a big jungle gym, a popcorn maker (like you see at the circus), and a bedroom that has bunk beds and a TV. Now their house is only the size of mine. They are truly the nicest people, but my kids had better get used to seeing other people's things and being OK with what they've got:)

Wed Rich had school and yesterday we had the downtown trick or treating in Hudson. Oh my God, what a crazy place. They block off about .5 mile of main st and all the stores along the way give out candy. We essentially got in a line starting at one end and walked through the line all the way up one side and back down the other. Granted the boys were really good and looked very cute, my arm is killing me because I carried Max most of the way. Otherwise we never would have moved along!!

Now they get to get more candy next week. Although, I must really be a mean mom because I scheduled cleanings at the Dentist for both boys on Halloween :)

Ok, time to work! I'll post a picture of my little cookie monster tonight!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Sunday recap

Today, the boys and I spent most of the day at my parents. They were really good and had a blast playing catch and soccer with my dad and brother in the backyard. Lilly was there and the first thing that Max did after running into the house was to give her a hug. I think it made her day.

My mom of course ended up having to find something on TV for Max to which he made sure to tell her that he needed the foot stool to watch... Now, mind you his little legs aren't longer than the couch, so it really just needed to be nearby :)

Timmy had a great time watching the Pats with Lilly and Uncle DJ. He is really getting into the games lately and so it was great for him to watch with them.

There were of course a couple of funny Max stories: First he made sure to be a great team player during soccer and told Grampa that he had a "nice try" when he kicked the ball.

There was also the time where he lost a shoe on the front steps as he came in the door. He then came inside and said, I take other shoe off. Which he did and then he pushed open the front door and dropped the other shoe with the lost one. :)

He is too darn funny.

I do have to say though, it is always nice to "go home" to my parents to feel like a kid again. Not only did I have my favorite ice cream from growing up, but I also had my dad tell me to stop twirling my hair (a horrible bad habit I have had my whole life).

Ok, I'm off to match socks!

Saturday recap

We had a pretty good weekend... i'm sure the weather helped! Saturday I took the older two boys to soccer, then to a birthday party, and then the whole family went to Pumpkin Fest in Hudson.

Pumpkin Fest is essentially a big fair where organizations around town have food and game booths, and other fun activities for everyone to enjoy. We got some dinner and then tried out some games. Sammy did really well in a soccer shoot game and Tim did great at the baseball-dunk-tank-like game. He hit the bullseye about 4 out of 6 times, but just not quite hard enough to soak the kid, so they let him run up and push the target with his hand.

The Hudson Police were handing out glow necklaces and such so we took a picture of what the back seat of the van looked like on the way home.



The boys also got their faces painted (don't ask me why there is blood on a ghost, but Sammy thought it was cool):









We then came home and watched the Sox beat up on Cleveland!

Friday, October 19, 2007

T.G.I.F.

Well, the week is over, finally! I took the boys to karate and then we went home and had a quick dinner before Rich took the boys to see a pre-season celtics game. Max and I went out and bought birthday presents for a friend of the boys.

Tomorrow we have Soccer, then the birthday party, then Pumpkin Fest. This is basically a town fair kind of things with games, food, rides, and other things to do. (well the rides are really just little things, not amusement kids of rides.) It is typically a lot of fun for the kids, I just hope that it dries up in time!

I'll try to have some pictures up soon.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Looooooooong week...

Um, can I just sleep through the next couple of days. Lots of customers, plus wearing nice clothes all week, plus being sick has made me grumpy, tired and worn out. Rich got sick on Sunday night and then it seemed that I was starting to get it on Tuesday night. Not a good thing since Wednesday was my long day with customers. So I took a vitamin C, a vitamin c with echinacea, and nyquil and went to bed at 8:30. It mostly worked, I woke up wed. feeling pretty good except for the sore throat. I made it through the day and even went out for some drinks with customers. All in all, a reasonable day.

But today it hit hard again. I couldn't stay at the conference all day and left at 10:30 to come home and go to bed :( I slept until 3!! I'm feeling a little bit better but still very rundown! Oh and i still can't swallow without grimmacing!

So tomorrow it is back to work, but I'm totally ready for the weekend!! A busy saturday, but then Sunday we'll head out to my parents!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Weekend recap

Busy weekend as usual, but lots of fun! Of course it was not without its cute comments from Max.

Fri night we went next door to the neighbors for dinner. We just did take out and it was probably a ton more work for them, but it was fun to hold Emily (the absolutely happiest baby) and to get a chance to chat with Bill and Kristen a little! But it also meant all the boys were up a little late!

Sat. Rich left at about 4:45 for a race in Gloucester, so I had to get the boys to soccer sort of on my own. My in-laws came to watch so it was helpful to have an extra person to help watch and chase Max. Although, he did have one incident where he pooped in his underwear. Well, the only thing I had in my car was a bag full of clothes for donation, well, it is now one less shirt, because that is what I had to wipe max up with. I pretty much threw the underwear and shirt away in the trash!!

I did take them to the playground in the afternoon and had a blast chasing them around like a monster!

We had then planned to take the boys to the Worcester sharks game (they were so excited) and then we realized that we were exhausted and couldn't do another late night, so we took them to Chuck E Cheese instead. They totally had a blast!

Sun we spent most of the day in Gloucester watching the races and watching Tim do his second race. he was doing awesome until he went a little too fast into a tight turn. He of course was totally disappointed in himself and in tears because he was 4th or 5th until that point. But he really did do great!

Came home and made a spaghetti dinner which was good, but made me reminiscent of my mom's homemade sauce! Boys in bed early and now its time for more homework!

WICKED busy week ahead of me as a customer conference is in town, so I'll be in the middle of it until Thursday night!!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

privacy in the bathroom

Ya know, I always used to wonder why my mom left the bathroom door open when she went in there... now as a mom, I know, one of us was likely to walk in on her anyways, so why even close it to begin with!!

Tonight, I was in the bathroom, really actually enjoying the fact that I was alone, when of course, I hear Max, "Mommy, where are you? I need hug." Rich being good, says, Mommy's busy, come give me a hug!" He of course says, No and enters the bathroom. He says, "I need a hug!", gives me a hug and I ask him to leave and close the door. As he starts out, he turns and looks at me and say, "I go now, but you come out give me 'nother hug." And closes the door and leaves. Of course, he came back in at least once more, but still did give me a hug when I came out!

So darn cute!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

More kids say...

My boys really do say the darndest things sometimes :) There truly is a reason they are made cute :)

Last night at dinner we were having a discussion with the boys about hard work and being the manager of a group. I'm not a big fan of the word boss, but the boys get that better than manager. So we talked about how I'm a boss and Rich is a boss and Max said, I wanna be a boss. SO I told him he can be the boss of "german" his stuffed elephant. So Timmy looks at all of us, walks into the playroom, and says, "Ok, I'll be the boss of Sam." Typical TIm mentality to which we then had to tell him, that No, he does not get to boss Sam around!

Sam was then upset that he couldn't be the boss of anything, so Rich told him he could be the boss of the animals in the house. TO which he replied, "I don't want to be the boss of the animals because that means I have to take care of all of them!"

The final funny kid thing for today is that this morning I had to wake Sammy and Max up to get ready for school. Sammy did not want to get out of bed and finally came into the bathroom. he came in and said, "It's not fair!!! the crabs get to sleep all day!!"

Ok, done for now!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Again, Max and Timeout...

Max's regular time out spot is in front of the dishwasher for 2 minutes. As a child in between 2 and 3 he is hitting the time out spot more frequently than we'd like. Well, apparently last night while I was in class he started pulling the spiderman chairs and ottoman out of the playroom and dragged them to the kitchen. When Rich asked him what he was doing his response was, "I need go timeout." Apparently, he doesn't get that timeout shouldn't be cooshy!

Monday, October 8, 2007

Trail racing

We had a relatively fun weekend. After Karate on Sat, we went out and bought halloween costumes. Max is going to be Cookie Monster, Sam is a Ninja Lord, and Tim is going to be an Evil Jester. Only problem is apparently he takes after his mom because he is too scared to wear the mask most of the time. So he may just end up being a plain old jester instead of an evil one. (I say he is like me because my parents have a picture of me dressed in my halloween costume as strawberry shortcake, but I didn't like the mask, so my little sister wore it. If I have it somewhere, I'll scan it and post it.

Then we went to the race on sunday morning. It was really kind of chilly, but the race was still good. Timmy isn't sure how to pace himself yet and started out really strong and then ended up walking here and there. However, it wasn't an easy race and he still did really well. Sammy on the other hand, ran every single step in a beautifully paced manner. The funniest part about it was before the race though. Sammy said that he was afraid to run the race by himself because, "what if I get out in front of everyone and then I don't know where to go?" It was so cute :)

Then of course, Rich and I ran the adult trail race. Now, I have to say that I am officially going to stick to the roads. It was not fun to run through sand or over rocks and roots. I like the solid footing!

I am waiting to see if my friends have pics to post from the race.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Come on... it's thursday night soccer...

I had a game last night and it was pretty ugly. Not because we lost by a goal (I did score by the way), but it was a very physical, cheap-shot kind of game! My team is actually pretty good about keeping their mouths shut and playing a clean game, but these guys were dirty and vocal. Lots of penalties, yellow cards, and one guy on the other team even got a red card after the game was over! It could've been a good game between two good teams and it just got ugly.

This weekend should prove to be a busy one. Soccer is cancelled for the holiday, so we will do karate tomorrow morning instead of this afternoon. Then we'll likely shop for halloween costumes. I'm going out with the girls and then Sunday morning the boys are running a 2 mile race. Should be fun!

I'll post some pictures later!

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Finish to the weekend

Yes I know its Tuesday night and the weekend is really gone, but here's the recap.

Saturday was a crazy busy day with soccer and then just hanging out with the boys until it was time to go to a dinner party with my co-workers. Which was an absolute blast, there were some delicious dishes and I even learned how to toast in Russian!

Then Sunday Rich went to a bike race in the morning and then me and the boys followed so that Timmy could do his first bike race. It was pretty basic as it was a course around the edge of a baseball diamond, but he had never ridden in a group of riders before. My proudest moment of the race was when in the first lap, he fell off his bike and he immediately got right back up, on his bike and even passed some people. He didn't freak out or anything. Of course as he finished the race he was upset that he was not in the front of the pack, despite it being his first race and having only been riding on 2 wheels for a short period of time. He really did great.

Timmy waiting to line up


Timmy and Rich hanging out

Timmy attempting to pass a couple of other riders

Had to put in a pic of Rich in his race. He is coming down the middle of the hill.


I finally ended with a get together at my daycare provider's. We were helping other parents who don't have kids in school yet to see what the options are and why people choose what they did. It was interesting because a couple of people disputed sending kids right when they turn 5 which is exactly what I did with Sammy. Oh well!

Saturday, September 29, 2007

when will I sleep in?

When is it that children make the switch to sleeping in on the weekends? Today was a perfect fall morning for sleeping in, nice cool breeze coming in the window, snuggled up cozy in my bed and by 6:30 I had two kids in the play room fighting over the t.v. and one in my bed watching teletubbies.

Now 1 hour later, the little one is in the playroom watching Shrek and the older 2 are having wrestlemania27 in my bed. And when I scolded them to say that someone could get hurt by being thrown off the bed and that I could hear that Sammy had already been hurt, Timmy says, i only accidentally kicked him in the mouth. Exactly.

Rich is crazy enough to be out for a bike ride in this chilly weather... although as I type that, would I trade a cool morning run for referee'ing? Even though I hate running in the cold, I just might trade it for the quiet :)

Friday, September 28, 2007

brain...is...full...

I spent the entire day (ok, most of it) in presentations of technical stuff that I work with and now my brain is full. I am so glad that it is Friday because the weekend is here. Although the weekend is really full right now!

Tomorrow we have soccer and then I am going to take the boys to WPI since it is homecoming and my friend Cindy and her little girl will probably be there. Then there is a dinner party at my co-workers house. It is pretty much my group plus a couple people who used to be in my group :) Should be a lot of fun!

Sunday is sort of quiet except Rich has a cross-race and then I am supposed to go to my daycares house for a get together of parents who want to talk about where to send their kids to school. But I procrastinated on getting a sitter, so I may end up canceling or maybe I'll go late when Rich gets home. We'll see.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

where does time go?

I really don't know how it can have been 4 days since I last posted! It pretty much means that things have been crazy. Monday night was class, Tuesday night I went out to dinner with my 2 sisters in law. That was really nice, we don't often get to socialize and just be friends because whenever we get together we are normally chasing the kids around.

Last night Rich had class and I spent 2 hours working on homework. I totally need to spend more time reading, but I guess that will be the plan for tomorrow night. Tonight is soccer, so I won't be home until late.

So my funny story from last night though is this. I was wrestling with the boys, which I have to say, I am not likely to be able to do on my own for much longer! Well, Sammy figured it would be funny to take off his stinky socks and make me smell them. Well, then Max gets a hold of one and covers my eyes. Then Sammy grabs his stuffed dog and puts it on my face and says, "its farting on your face, mom!!" and makes fart noises. So Max then takes the sock and puts it on my head and says, "sock fart your head, mommy." And makes fart noises. Sammy and Timmy and I thought that was hysterical and started cracking up. Have I mentioned that I live with boys?

Monday, September 24, 2007

I'm not driving anymore

So, it is break during class and I'm still angry with myself, so I'm starting my post for today. The reason for my title... I was backing out of my spot at work to come here and backed into someone trying to drive by.

Now, I looked both ways and even in my rear view mirror as I was going, but then my car beeped (to tell me I was out of gas) so I looked down and then Thump! I hit someone, but in my defense, she commented that she "almost made it around" me. SO she saw me backing up and instead of honking or stopping, she just tried to beat me. So I really think that we are both at fault!! I'm so mad at myself! As usual Rich is being good about it, but still. It must have something to do with this car!

back to class! more in a bit!

Home now and waiting to go pick up dinner! So in any case, I really do think that it has a lot to do with my car and me not being good at its dimensions and such. I am just going to have to figure it out though! Arg!!

Time to eat!

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Gorgeous summer end/fall beginning day

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day weather wise. We had soccer this morning which was fun, but I had to run an errand before that. Last night I dropped a bunch of stuff off at a tag sale which was a fundraiser. Well, before I left I ended up buying one of those electronic ride-on toys for the boys. We got it home and it didn't work, so we charged it. This morning it didn't work either, so I brought it back in the hopes that I could either trade it, or find out how to work it. Luckily, long story short, I was able to trade it for the other one.

Well, the boys absolutely love riding around the yard on it. Even Max!! Maybe I'll post some pictures tomorrow :)

So after soccer they played outside riding the toy and running around. We had lunch, nap, and then Rich took Tim and Sam for individual bike rides. The rest of us played outside with the next door neighbors. I got to hold little Emily and she is so darn cute. But no, I am not having anymore!!

Then this evening, my in-laws came over to see the boys and so Rich and I went to dinner at the Olive Garden. Food was delicious, but there was too much of it. I totally need to run tomorrow!

Wicked busy day tomorrow, but it is supposed to be really nice out, so it should be fun!!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Allowed to re-use titles???

Because if I am allowed to re-use them in the blogging world, I would again title this one, Um...ouch!!

Let me just tell you how much my butt hurts! Ok, maybe you don't want to know, all of my muscles are screaming right now. I have not done any strength training in probably a year and yesterday I decided to try to get back into it with a muscle conditioning class at lunch. Well, the instructor said it was gorgeous out, so she took us outside and we did lots of different exercises, including running around the parking garage and going up and down the stairs a couple of times. I totally felt like I was on the show, The Biggest Loser. Well, by the time the class was over, my legs already felt like jello.

Well, then I went and played soccer last night, so I was kind of just adding insult to injury with the legs. And today, I had to park on the third level of the garage and use the stairs. I had to let people pass me I was so slow!

Ok, break over, time to work!
Elana

Thursday, September 20, 2007

freakishly tall

OK, so this is mostly for the people that I work with, but even for my family, Rich's bike is freakishly tall. As reference, he had a cyclocross bike made to fit him. This is a bike meant to off-road as well as cover whatever terrain the course throws at them. Well, the cool thing about this bike is that it was made specifically for Rich. So the high is perfect for him. This is what makes it freakishly tall. As a reference, I am 5 foot 5. Here is a picture of me and Max and the bike:

Monday, September 17, 2007

Reach the Beach recap

Ok, so I've got a few minutes, so I'll give my recap of the race. All in all, I really had a good time. Even with the total lack of sleep (total about 1.5 hours) I remained in good spirits and ran every single step of my 15 miles! Here is a little more detail:

We started off for NH at about 7:15 Friday morning and got to Cannon Mtn. (the start) in plenty of time to register decorate the vans and get runner 1 off. Then we got gas and headed to Lower Falls to wait for our turn to run. Now, I LOVE lower falls, this will always be my most favorite spot from vacationing as a kid and even now my husband thinks I act like a kid when I get there. We hung out there (yes I did put my legs in the water for a while and had I brought my suit, I would have swum). Then we dropped Lisa back at her transition and waited for her to come in. She came in smiling and we were off. We moved to the next transition of HAM arena to wait for Maureen. We then moved on along 113 picking up finished runners and starting new ones. My husband started his leg at Madison Elementary school and off we went to the Brass Heart Inn so that I could wait my turn. I was extremely anxious knowing that I had a huge uphill start, but it was downhill for a while before I hit the next big hill. I was feeling pretty good until I hit a pothole and fell, but I jumped up and figured, it wouldn't be a race if one of the Person family didn't come back bloodied. I finished at White Lake park and off we went for pizza.

We went to rest and wait for our next set of legs to start and of course at midnight when Lisa was about to start, the rain came in. My leg didn't come until almost 5 am that morning and was another 5.5 miles. I still felt good and managed to frog leap with another guy having some calf issues. It was nice to have something to entertain you when you are running for an hour, in he dark, at 5 am, in the drizzle. The highlight of this leg though was sprinting to the finish because the guy behind me was egging me on. And we were off for breakfast!!

While we were in Dunkin Donuts, this guy came up and was asking to cut in line. Well we turn around and basically he was in the middle of running his leg and decided that an iced coffee would be good. We let him cut us and about a mile down the road we saw him running with his coffee and a big smile on his face. Crazy!!

We got to Chester College and finally were able to take a nice long nap. I really only got about a total of 1.5 hours, but it still helped. We finally made the hand off and the final legs were upon us (well most of us) Rich and Lisa still had 2 more legs to run. So we followed Lisa to the next transition and handed off. I finally ran my final 4 mile leg at about 1 or so. And I must say that although running every step of it through Exeter, NH, I could not catch the old guy up ahead of me. I tried with all my might to make my legs move faster, but I just couldn't do it. Maybe if I ever decide to do this again, I'll pass someone. But since this was my first, I'm happy that I ran every step and finished it. And I'm even able to walk today.

Thanks again to my parents, I'm not sure if I would have been able to take care of my kids when I got home that night. I was exhausted and ready to just crash, so it really was a humongous favor for my parents to take them for the night! We really appreciated the time to recuperate!!

So I started this earlier today and just finished it, but the race was fun and now I'm trying to decide if I should keep training and aim for a half marathon or just stick with 10K (6.2) milers.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Um....ouch!

Well, I'll certainly give the blow by painful blow of the Reach the Beach relay that Rich and I did this weekend, but for now, I'm gonna sit and not move. I took a really long hot shower and ate half a calzone and after Rich showers, we're in bed. Thank god for my parents... they took the kids to their house overnight. They have no idea how absolutely lifesaving that is. Long story short... I'm had 1 and a half hours of sleep since yesterday at 5:30 A.M. And have run 15 miles in there and my legs are toast! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

busy week

Well, work and school are typical, but I am still getting into the swing of things! (and so are the boys).

School is going well, but apparently Sammy had to turn his card for the first time. This is what happens after they have been warned that they need to change their behavior. Apparently, he and 2 other boys weren't settling during rest time, so they had to change their cards. At least he told us about it, but this is what I expect him to learn in kindergarten.

Tonight I am trying to do about a million things. I am packing for my run, and trying to get everything ready for my friend to watch the boys. So as much as I wish I had a good story for you all, I don't.

Although Tim did get his brace off so his finger is all healed!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Officially a soccer mom...

So although I had always been a soccer mom in the sense that I was the one who played soccer, today it turned around. Tim and Sam started soccer today. They are in separate groups and they are both enjoying it! But it is pure mayhem and chaos there while they are practicing.

Imagine a baseball field, just big enough for a high school to play on, then put 140 kids from ages 5-7, plus at least 1 parent per child (we have to stay), plus a soccer ball per child, plus enough 'fields' for sammy's age to play 3 v 3 and Timmy's age to 6 v 6.

Sammy was quick and worked on kicking the ball in the right direction, but there was one kid on the other team who was really good even for 5 years old! Timmy on the other hand was an old pro and scored his first time down the field. In fact he and another boy from his school scored three times in as row and the coached had to pull them back to defense to give the other team a chance :) Here are some pics:

Sammy waiting to start:


Sammy in action:


Timmy and Andrew waiting their turn:


Timmy celebrating after his first goal:

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Max the hambone

We call Max a Hambone so often that he calls himself that. he also knows that he is funny, so he plays it up!!

Tonight we were reading the 'F' book. This is a series of books with Sesame Street characters where there is 1 book for each letter. So the F book is about 'F'riends. It starts out talking about how Friends have Feathers and fur, some friends fly and others float. Then goes into how some friends are fit and then it shows a pictures of Cookie Monster surrounded by food. The line is supposed to be, 'Some friends are fat - and like it like that.' Well, we get to that page and I read, "some friends are..." and Max says, hungry! Then we all laugh and we start to read it again and he says, "Some friends are fat and hungry." It was so darn cute. And of course he did it over and over again because it made us laugh!

First Day of school

SO, yes it's been a long few days since daycare was closed, but finally the first day of school is here and daycare was back open. Woo hoo! However, Timmy got up at 5:55 and then came in my room EVERY minute to check the time to see if he could get up yet. Then he was dressed by 6:10! I wish I could get him to do that every day from now on!

So we took some pictures and off we went to school. Sammy was so darn cute. My funny story, which if any of you see him, you can not retell to him, is that he was cold before we left so he put on his uniform sweater which has SMS on it. He said, "Oh, I see, St. Micheal Sweater" It was so cute, but I laughed and he was not happy about it!

Here are a few pictures:


Sunday, September 2, 2007

Taking the plunge...

We did it!! My friend Ellen and I went skydiving yesterday! It was completely awesome and you can not imagine how crazy it is to be falling at 120 miles an hour! Here's the play by play!

2:00 Ellen and I arrive
When we got there we watched our 25 minute video telling us that we were essentially signing away any rights we had to sue them for pretty much anything, including slipping and falling on a banana peel in the parking lot to even if they do something incredibly stupid and we get hurt. We also find out that they are on a weather wait since it was really freaking windy yesterday.

3:00 we get some food at the local pizzeria and wait for Rich and the boys to come by. They have a great waiting area with lots of stuff for kids to play with.

4:30 they start calling experienced jumpers to see if they can get a plane up and test out the wind. So we watch about a dozen people go up in the plane. However, at this point Rich is getting a little wary because they plan started to tip and looked like a wing might hit the ground, but it was fine. Of course then Rich said, "After a year like we've had, so you really want to tempt fate on a windy day?" Yeah, not feeling great about this at that point.

5:00 They call us to the hangar to start getting ready for our jump at about 5:30. Woo Hoo!

5:25 we head for the plane. At this point I still don't feel nervous, but once we were on the plane and taking off the jumpers were chatting with each other about little mishaps, I told them I was going to stick my fingers in my ears and go "la la la" until they pushed me out of the plane :) But I was joking!




5:30 or so and 14, 000 ft. I jumped out of the plane attached to Dalton! At this point we are moving at about 120 mph in the freezing cold and I can hardly breathe. I remembered to arch my back, bend my knees and put my arms where they are supposed to go. Although I think I still had a bunch of stuff in my sinuses because I got an instant headache and my ears were totally clogged. But the view and the rush was amazing!

Then Dalton pulled the chute and we were gracefully floating down to earth. I was yelling and waving at Ellen (although she couldn't hear me, she did see me wave.) We did some spins and just kind of hung out up in the air, it was so peaceful up there!



My parachute was pink and purple. Ellen's was Yellow, purple, and pink (She is the one to the far left of the photo)

Then as we were coming down I yelled to the boys and Rich got some video of me landing. All in all, it was a blast although I think a little tainted by the sinuses thing. (My headache was still there this morning). So I think I would do it again as long as I were wearing long sleeves and was certain my head was clear.



It really really was a lot of fun! Then since it was so late we took the boys to McDonalds and went home to pass out. If anyone wants to go again, let me know I'm sure RIch would jump if I didn't :)