Oy Vey.

There won't be any cute pictures with this post. I only have about 10 minutes before I have to get back to work.
You see, all the work I was SUPPOSED to get done while Jim and the kids were away today (planting the flowers, mulching, painting Sam's room, finishing up the basement, cleaning the house, weed wacking, cleaning up the driveway, finishing the laundry) didn't get done (duh)...and now they're coming home so I'm running around like a mad woman to get everything completed. I don't try to over-achieve or anything...it's just that all this stuff needs to get done. And it's sooooo much easier to do it when the kids aren't underfoot.
But I have one story to share.
Caroline has, shall we say, the gift of gab. She is downright verbose and never at a loss for words (I'm thinking the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree with this). This is fine - most of the time. I always get a bit worried when I take her to the doctors or to meet her new principal or people I work with. She has a tendency to blab. A LOT. There are no secrets with Caroline. Be this as it may, we had an interesting experience a the pediatrician's office last week.
We thought Caroline might have a UTI. No fun. She was having a really tough go of it (no pun intended). Dr Harding and I were trying to discern if she was having trouble with constipation as well. Apparently poop is a topic that Caroline feels quite comfortable discussing (if you remember this lovely anecdote). Before I could even try to stop her, THIS came out of her mouth. Full of italics used in the way only Caroline can use them. All without her pausing to take a breath...
"Well, sometimes I have really big poops. Yeah, like this big (holding up her arms). And you know, one time I pooped and it was really big and it was sooooo cool. I looked in the potty and it was in the shape of a four! That used to be my age! I pooped my age! Isn't that awesome?!?!"

Yes, dear. It's awesome. Thank you for sharing (said while planting my face firmly in my palm).

Beardsley Zoo

Yesterday we got to meet old friends (and their cute offspring) at the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport.
We had such a nice time. It always amazes me how you can go years without seeing some people and catch up when you see eachother like no time has passed.
Thanks for making the trip up on the ferry Sara, Howard, Brayden and Jordyn! We hope to make it down to Florida soon(er rather than later - you know how I am with airplanes...).
Here is the Worcester crew ready and waiting for some Zoo action...

And it took four of them to make up the wing span of a Condor!

I got the question about Buffalo Wings today. She just doesn't understand why we call chicken wings that if they don't come from Buffalo. At least she's smarter than Jessica Simpson...

Hanging out with the Tiger...

I think he's really saying, "Feed me, Woman! Don't take my picture!"

Do you know how long it took to get them all to sit in one place for the amount of time it took to take one picture? I am in total awe of anyone that photographs children on a regular basis...

There were peacocks everywhere. This one put on quite a show for the kids.

And just for old times sake...it's not like hanging out at the Bus Stop after football, but it's still a great time!

Love you guys! We had a great time and can't wait to see you again! =-)

Annie!

Just got done pulling about a year's worth of old pics off the camera, and flipped thru a couple of the videos - I had forgotten that Karen was able to snap these vids of Caroline doing her level best to sing with vibrato several selections from the musical Annie, which Karen had just finished with at church. Enjoy!

annie0


annie1


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Tuesday Morning

Whew!
Only 12:15 and what a day already. I have about ten minutes before going to my next project for the day. Just long enough to feel like I should be doing something, but not long enough to really accomplish anything. So I figured I would blog as I munch on my pb&j.
It started at 4AM when Nathanael decided that it was time to wake up (and for everyone else to wake up). After we watched some Star Trek we went for a walk. Not that I don't love watching TNG (it was a really good episode where Geordi got brainwashed by the Romulans) or walking with my son (4000 steps!) - it's just that I don't enjoy these things as much when they happen before six in the morning.
And when we got home, we saw this:

Now Sam is usually a decently cute kid. The picture doesn't do him justice. Not only could he not open both eyes all the way, he also could not move the left side of his face to smile.
Not pretty. He looked like he got beat up or was dressing up in some really bad face mask for a Trekker convention.
So...hi-ho-hi-ho, it's off the the ER we go.
*Just* an allergic reaction. We have to keep watching to see if it develops into a cellulitis (I pray he doesn't have that tendency like someone else I know).
And when that was all done we got to go to BJs to do a h-u-g-e shopping run. But all the stuff is unpackaged and put away in the basement (the only opportunity I have in my life to let my true anal retentive tenancies shine through).
And my ten minutes are up. Time to get moving.
I hope the rest of the day is much less eventful.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my father, father-in-law and my husband. You all do so much to enrich the lives of those around you. I am so blessed to have you in my life. Thank you could never be sufficient. =-)
We had a lovely day today. We laid low and went to Old Sturbridge Village for the day. It's only 7:50, but we're all so very ready for bed right now. Sleep has been difficult to come by lately. Caroline hasn't been sleeping because of the excitement from her recital and some nasty bladder spasms (Ditropan seems to be helping, thank goodness). Nate hasn't been sleeping because of ...well...I don't have a reason...teething?...ear infection?...a really sadistic sense of humor?...sometimes I think he just likes to see us bleary eyed and dependent on coffee (I didn't even LIKE coffee until I became pregnant with Nate - go figure ). Sam is our best sleeper. Never thought I would have those words come out of my mouth. Never Ever. How times have changed.
With the netbook, pictures are very time consuming to post (I will catch up with the baptism pictures, I promise) and I know Jim needs the computer for Diamond Mind, so I'll get up as many pictures from today as I can.
And then we'll snuggle up to the radio for the Yankees/Cubs game. Still feels a bit weird to listen to the Cubbies and not have Ron Santos involved...
From OSV today:


We were fortunate enough for Darth Vader to join us. "Don't worry, Caroline, I will save you. I am DARTH VADER the SUPERHERO!!" We can't break it to him that Darth isn't exactly hero material yet...
Here is some of the damage at OSV from the tornadoes a few weeks ago. If the storm had come 50 yards farther north, the Village would have taken a direct hit.


Captain Chaos also decided to join Darth this afternoon. Or should it be Captain Snaggletooth?
More later...must sleep. G'night.

The Aftermath...

Caroline is sooooo very tired, but can't sleep after her first dance recital.
And because she can't sleep, we can't either.
Sigh.
Here are some pictures from the first installment of "Raindrops are Falling on my Head."
PS - Thanks for your help tonight, Auntie Melanie. =-)

On our way to the recital:

Ready to go:

And the ride home.
She looks like she has had a good time, huh?

Bath Time

I have about three minutes to post since Jim is giving the kids their baths tonight...
Busy day today - we walked over two miles (Sam and Caroline took turns riding in the double stroller), went to CVS, went to the Post Office, hung out at Mommy's work a bit, did some crafts (just be surprised on Father's Day, okay?) and got to Caroline's dress rehearsal for her dance recital.
An added bonus was that I have the biggest fat lip I've had since the days of Blessed Sacrament. Sam was trying to show me how fast Lightening McQueen could go. He was going really fast until he ended up in my teeth. I'm going to look great at work. =-)

Here is a picture I got of Caroline today waiting to go on. She is such a big girl now.


Okay - time to go. Bathies are over and I plan on being Don Zimmer to Jim's Joe Torre when he is playing Diamond Mind Baseball tonight.
PS - Happy, Happy Birthday to Pops! We love you. =-)

Preschool End of the Year Ceremony

Today was Caroline's last day at OLA.
As usual, she brings her own perspective to things and seems very insightful, especially for a five year old, "I know I will make new friends next year at Abby Kelley, but I will still have my buddies here. I'll just have more buddies, right?"
We were a bit annoyed when we got to school. The notice we got says the doors to the school opened for people going to the ceremony at 9:45. We arrived at 9:30, anticipating a line at the door. They had been admitting people the whole time - so even though we were half an hour early, we were six rows from the back because all the rest of the seats were taken. And people weren't exactly polite about staying out of the way to let us get some pictures. Grrrr. So the best pictures we have are from after the ceremony.
But the ceremony was lovely. The kids had fun. And so did we. =-)
And now we have / need the rest of the day to recover.

Nate's baptism was yesterday. I need some time to sift through and organize some pictures to post. You can totally tell that Nate is the third child because you know how many pictures Jim and I took of the day?
NONE.
Good thing we have family members who are excellent photographers. =-)

Like I said, we're recovering the rest of today. We have enough leftovers that I won't have to cook tonight (or tomorrow) - so I'm just putting lunches and such together. It's a welcome reprieve after the craziness of the past few days. Now all we have to do is plan for a dance recital, my Dad's birthday, Father's day, a day trip to CT, a meet and greet for kindergarten and work. You know, easy stuff. =-) Never a dull moment.

Thursday Night

It is bedtime and I think the strawberries we had at dinner had some obnoxious juice in them. These kids are nuts!
But they're cute...
And absolutely and totally crazy.

Thursday Morning

It has been a tough week for Nate.
Not only does he have a sinus infection, he has two ear infections.
Poor kid.
He has been a total trooper, but sleeping has been, shall we say, limited.
So Nate and I got up this morning at 5:30 and went for a walk. Only to get caught in a thunderstorm.
That about sums up our week.
At least we got some steps in. =-)
And just when I get so frustrated at the lack of sleep and making my way through the day feeling like an utter zombie, I see this and it's all okay.
Okay, I'll be honest - coffee helps too.

I had a flashback to this picture as I was watching Nate sleep last night. THAT'S my problem - I'm watching him sleep instead of sleeping myself. Seems like this kid has a sense and every time I get into REM sleep, he wakes up screaming. Makes for some crazy dreams.
Even though he's getting to be a big boy, he is still very much a baby. =-) And a cute one at that.
That makes it easier to take, too.

Rest

Sunday night.
Lunches are packed. Kids are asleep. Ballgame is on the radio.
Finally some time to sit.
We had a really busy weekend. Not frenetic (could any day in this house be described as not frenetic?), but we were on-the-go constantly.
We got our basement and our garage cleaned out. Two truckloads of furniture went to a couple that is getting married soon (a big thank you to Grampy and Grandpa who came all the way to Worcester so we could use the truck) and we have a Bagster full of stuff waiting to be taken away. There is definitely much more to do be done. But it feels good to make some progress in crossing things off our to-do list.
And, as if cleaning wasn't enough, Caroline had dance class, we went to a garage sale, got to the Albanian Festival (baklava....mmmm....), went to church, planted some flowers, mowed the lawn and grilled up some super tuna steak for dinner tonight.
No wonder I'm tired, stiff and sore. And very, very ready for bed.
G'night.
Sam fell down and hurt his bottom on Saturday. He was more than happy to walk with BooBoo Bunny stuffed down his pants. Too funny!
Sam and Caroline had a great time on painting the barn that Nina and Pops sent. We'll probably finish it up next week.
You know we let Caroline dress herself. Why on earth do people keep asking us that? (This is how she was dressed to go to the Albanian Festival. It was very Roma of her - she actually wasn't that conspicuous).

Wednesday Night Date Night.

Not that we've been able to go on too many dates for the past six or so years...but tonight our date night was spent "picnicking" in the basement during our two tornado warnings.
Yikes. Seriously scary stuff. We kept the kids subdued with some fruit snacks and workbooks while Jim and were trying to listen to the AM radio and make sense of what we were hearing. The radio was so static-y from the lightening it was hard to make heads or tails of things for a while. We saw the reports of tornadic activity in Springfield about five o'clock, so we knew we may have to take some cover, but didn't think much of it. We had the television on (not our normal practice, we were keeping our eyes on the weather) when eating dinner and all of the sudden, it was so dark outside it was almost like it was the middle of the night. We knew it was time to head downstairs. We didn't sustain any damage, thank goodness. A funnel cloud was spotted downtown, though. There are still tornado warnings north and south of us. We have the kids in their jammies and are just hanging. Sam and Caroline are seriously starting to grate eachother's nerves. We just might get some tornadic activity inside, too. =-) They just showed another cell re-firing over Springfield, so it looks like we need to be preparing for round three. We just saw that the National Guard was activated.
Wow. Just wow. This is craziness.
But don't worry. Channel 7 just announced that they will, in no way, interrupt broadcast of the Stanley Cup Finals. Good to know that we still have priorities. Gotta love New England Yankees. Oy vey.
Lots doing here lately. School is winding down. Caroline is getting very, very excited to go to kindergarten next year. We've been in touch with the school principal (yes, already) so they have an idea of the "challenges" that they may have on their hands with her/us. Caroline did have some reading testing and she, with reading, is at a fourth grade instructional level. Math is certainly not at that level - but she does okay there, too. We are currently doing "homework" assignments on our own, but it would be great to get a little more direction from people with education backgrounds. We're trying to keep our learning experiences literature based, that seems to work well with her because she is so strong with reading. Science has been really, really fun - science is everywhere and everything - so it's easy to find things to do with that. Our real challenge has been math. Bleh. Always my nemesis.
Sam is officially potty trained, so it looks like he will go to pre-school next year. He is so excited, "I get to go to school and play with the trains. I will play with Rusty. I will play with Bill and Ben." I'm thinking it's going to be at least a few weeks at school before the novelty of the train table at OLA wears off. But all the teachers have been warned and know what to expect. They have witnessed some serious freak-outs when I have tried to extricate him from the table at different times. Sammy is showing some of the same traits that Caroline did at the same age - like sitting down and, without prompting, writing his name (we knew we gave him a short name for a reason! Nathanael is going to be in for it when he has to learn his name). Sam, right now, is "reading" books out loud that he has memorized (and is so proud of himself). It's cute to listen to. I love it.
Sam, not to perseverate on the whole potty thing, learned how to pee in the Lake this weekend. He is such a concrete thinker, it was a real stretch for him not to pee in the potty. But now that he's over that, I think the proverbial cat is out of the bag. This kid will drop trou anywhere now. I caught him trying to pee in the front yard yesterday (gotta love it when your son is buck naked standing on the front steps, facing the road and trying to pee for distance onto the front walk). Today I intercepted him before he peed in the bathtub (luckily his brother was not in it yet).
Nothing but class in this establishment, I say. The neighbors must love us. =-)
Nate is Nate. He's so funny with his cackling laugh and his "kisses" that are more licks than anything else. And although he started out sporting a mullet, his hair is slowly transitioning into "hockey hair". Maybe he's a Bruins fan already? Who knows...

I apologize for the rambling. I feel I need to do something "productive" as I'm sitting here trying to track the weather.