Sunday, September 28, 2008

Funny Max story...

So in the midst of all of our activities this weekend, we were in the car a lot. Which meant I tried very hard to make sure that the boys went to the bathroom before we left to go anywhere.

Well, at one point while we were heading to Tim's football game, Max said that he had to go to the bathroom. We were close to the field so I told him that he had to "hold it". His response to me was, "I can't!! I'm sitting on my butt." Apparently, he thought he physically had to hold it :)

Very cute!


Wednesday, September 24, 2008

New rule: No yelling

Soooooo, most people know that I am a yeller. I do feel bad about this, really. So today I decided that the rule for this evening was "no Yelling" by anyone. Rich is in school tonight so it is just me and the boys.

Well, when I got to pick up Max, he gleefully told me that he had No timeouts!! This is amazing because he averages 3 a day. Not good. SO I gave him the reward of choosing dinner. He picked the local pizza place and the other boys were thrilled. So we had dinner and ice cream and now we are home just hanging out. In fact, I haven't yelled once and really, the boys have behaved really well.

But then again, I'm just about to tell them that it is time to brush their teeth and climb in bed... let's see if anyone yells about that!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Wedding Weekend

Whew! I know it is Tuesday, but it was a long weekend!!!

One of my best friends from high school got married this weekend. And she made a weekend out of it. We went to Newport Friday night and dropped in on the cocktail party. We didn't stay long, but it was long enough to say hi and realize that I miss hanging out with my high school friends.

Saturday they had scheduled an afternoon sailboat ride around Newport harbor. We hung out with my three of my friends most of the time, as well as one of my friends moms. Then that night all the friends of the bride and groom went to a rather interesting dinner and went back to the hotel to have ice cream from Newport Creamery :)

Then Sunday we had a beautiful brunch with Barbie, Rob, and Scott. We sat overlooking the harbor while we ate. Then we headed to the other hotel where we were staying that night for the wedding and again went out back and sat on the lawn just chatting and relaxing. I don't know when the last time I just got to hang out and relax was.

Then that night we enjoyed a beautiful wedding. Here are a couple of pics:


Wednesday, September 17, 2008

just checking in...

Hi everyone!

I know it has been a while, but it is going to be until we get to a point where things are a little bit quieter. Let me see if I can remember all the things that have happened since the last time I wrote.

I went to dinner with my sisters-in-laws. It is nice that we can all get along and talk about how they and Rich are alike and different. They are a lot of fun and it was a nice night out.

Sam had his first soccer practice with Mom as coach. It was sooooo much harder than I thought it would be. The kids are great and the head coach is really nice, but we were not very organized and I think that I will put way more planning into the next session to make it go a little more smoothly. The kids had a great time, so that is what matters right?

Tim had another football game. Since the 'quarterback' got sick from what Tim had, the coach 'punished' him by making him play quarterback some of the time... he was psyched for that punishment :) In total, he ran for a bunch of yards, had 1 touchdown and played 5 different positions in total.

Max continues to be more of a handful than the other 2 ever were, but he is so damn cute it isn't funny!

Rich and I are still plugging away at school. I am really enjoying my class, Managing organizational change. The professor is very engaging and it really makes me think about how I manage my team.

This weekend, my friend Jodi is watching the boys so Rich and I can go away to a wedding. My best girlfriend from high school is getting married in an all-weekend event. We are using this weekend as our 10 year anniversary getaway, complete with hot air balloon ride, and lots of relaxation. (Of course I am panicing about how the kids will be for Jodi and will she be able to do all of the activities that the boys need. I know she'll be fine, but I'm panicing anyway!!! So much to get ready for her before we leave.

At least my parents will take the boys for an afternoon to give her a break. Yup, that's right, they are going to go watch my cousin's football game. Tim thinks that Joe is pretty much the coolest kid ever. He loves hanging out with him. In fact they all do. :)

I'm sure they will have fun and so will I, but I'll also worry, well at least a little bit!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sick already???

How can my kids be sick already, they haven't even been in school for a week. Well, let me back up...

Saturday Max started to be really cranky and then got a fever. he went in and out of the fever until very early Sunday morning, but passed it quickly with no other symptoms. All was well which meant he could go to daycare on Monday... where I found out a bunch of the other kids were sick.

Well, yesterday I got a call from the school nurse telling me that Sammy had a temp of 103.9 and was complaining of a headache. I picked him up, a little tylenol and he was doing well. We went to Tim's football practice where Sam started to get hot again so Rich took him home. But then at the end of practice I could see Tim was crying. I went out and found out he had a crazy headache and was getting a fever.

Well, both of them were home today with hand-foot-mouth disease, BUT they haven't had headaches all day, so they can go to school tomorrow.

In other news... if anyone wants to see some pics of TIm playing football, go here:

http://www.brianpsmith.com/jump/ayf08f


Click on Hudson, then click on Jr Mitey Mites, then the game against Leicester-Spencer... He is Number 13 in red. If you are asked for a password, it is helmet. There are a bunch of him running and a few of him tackling.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

First day of school

Well, it has come and gone. The typical chaos of the first day was all here, but of course as I stood there watching them see old friends, get excited about new teachers, and just generally look so much more grown up, I got teary eyed :) Is anyone surprised?

Here are a few pictures from the first day:

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Sorry it has been so long!!!

Really, I warned you that things were going to be chaos from now until Christmas :)

Let's recap the week and weekend...

Last week, one of the highlights was Sam's 6th birthday. Despite not having a friends party, we still celebrated that night with cake and presents. He got a guitar and lessons and a new Nintendo DS with a game. It helps that lots of people have sent him money so he can buy himself additional games. :)

Another meaningful note from last week was me seeing my allergist. My eczema was so bad last week, that I just couldn't take it anymore and he put me on a restrictive diet. Meaning that since Thursday, I have only been able to eat, beef, lamb, rice, potatoes, lettuce, and water. All of it plain, only flavored with salt. While I was excited about this on Wed, I became very disenchanted quickly. Sat. I added corn and yesterday I broke down and added diet coke/pepsi. Tonight I will add in fish. The hardest part about this is breakfast, the biggest upside is that I've lost 5 pounds.

Timmy had another football game on Sat. and of course he continues to play really really well. He ran for probably 40 yards, breaking 7 (yes he counted as he went) tackles to score his one touchdown for the game. He is loving it! I have to remember to call my grandmother and aunt to see if they would like to come out for a cookout and to see Tim's game this weekend against Lincoln, RI!

Sunday we went up to visit my Great-Aunt Betty. She lives just North of Keene, NH and it is just beautiful up there. We played in her big yard and then went over to the Surry Mtn. beach, where our list of incidents began. Luckily, none of them were with us... as we were driving in, two bicyclists were driving down the driveway ahead of us and one of them wiped out. We stopped to help and my guess is that he has a broken nose and concussion. Then as we are sitting on the beach and playing, a police car, fire truck, and truck pulling a rescue boat come roaring down the driveway. Across the lake there was someone in a kayak or canoe who was ill, vomitting and unresponsive. Then finally on our way home, we drove by a road that was blocked by police where you could see that a motorcycle accident had definitely occured. We counted that as our third incident for the day and pretty much figured we were done for the day.

Monday, we visited our friends Jeff and Kirsten in their new house. It is a gorgeous house with a big backyard. The boys all had fun playing and I even enjoyed my steak that day because it was actually just off the grill instead of re-heated for once!

And now we're back to the grind. Tomorrow is the first day of school and the boys are totally ready to be there! Pictures of the first day will be posted tomorrow night :)