My Last Day

Today is my last day of summer. 
Today is the last day I'll spend at home with my two boys.

I work this weekend, and Matthew starts school on Monday.  Already!  I know for some of you school has been open for a week or two, but we're only just about to step into the school year.  When I was growing up school never started until after Labor Day.  Starting in August seems so early to me!

Super Heroes

 When I came home from work last night, my living room was wallpapered!  Here's a sample of my new living room decor:

Ironman

Matt has loved Ironman since the movie came out, and he's been the subject of several portraits.

 Spiderman

We have a very similar picture to this already hanging next to the bathroom.  This one gets the costume in a little more detail.
The only thing I don't like is the Edward Scissorhands thing that's been going on with all of Matt's people.  A phase I can't wait for him to improve!













Captain America

Without a doubt, Lucas' favorite super hero!  I'm glad I got a picture of this one, because Matt tried to cut him out and he lost a leg :(

 Angry Birds

I don't know where this one even came from!  We don't play Angry Birds, but suddenly Matt is obsessed, and even managed to get Nana to buy him an Angry Birds t-shirt.
Weird.
I have to admit, though, I LOVE the beaks and slanty eyes!

Does anyone recognize this last one?  A cracked up when I saw him!

Old school!

Sometimes Accidents Happen, Sometimes People are Dumbasses

We've all heard the tragic stories: mom or dad forgets that a sleeping baby is in the back seat and they trudge off to work with baby in the car.  They come back for lunch, or at the end of the day, and are faced with a dead child.  It's heartbreaking, but it happens all too often, especially if there was a change in the daily routine.  It's just the way our brains are wired.  That's why they tell you to keep a stuffed animal in the carseat when it's empty, and to put it on the front seat when baby's back there.  That way if you do forget, at least there's something tangible to remind you.

When you see news like this in the paper though, it makes you want to vomit.  A woman left her five children, ages 10 months, 2, 6, 11, and 12 in the car with the windows cracked open while she gambled in the local casino.  Security officers found the children in the car, alive, thank God, and attempted to page the mother.  Attempted to page her for over an HOUR.  While  security footage shows she played SLOT MACHINES.  By the way, it was 91 degrees outside that day.

What the f*ck?!

Who freakin knows how long those kids were in the car BEFORE security officers found the kids and started tracking down their neglectful mother.  The oldest daughter had a cellphone and knew the number to reach her mother, but her mother didn't have a phone on her.  Way to go, mom.  She's been arraigned on five counts of endangering the welfare of a child and sent to county prison under $10,000 bail.  I'd be willing to bet that her bail is far more than those slots were paying out.

"District Attorney John Morganelli.... has said his office will seek 'severe sanctions' for parents who leave their kids alone while gambling.  He said none of those charged would be allowed to participate in a first-time offenders' program."  Apparently this isn't the first case in my area of the world of parents leaving their kids in cars while at a casino.  There have been ten other cases in the past two years in a nearby county.  What is wrong with people?!

Over the Mess

My boys have way too many toys.  I can't keep up with the mess, Matt can't keep up with the mess, and Lucas... well, he just adds to the mess.  Their room is the last place in the house I want to clean.  I thought practical storage solutions (in the form of two Cubeicles) would help.  They do, to an extent, but my boys, especially Lucas, tend to play with EVERYTHING at once.  So even though all of the cars have their own cubby drawer, even though all of the castle accessories have their own cubby drawer, even though all of the Potato Heads are in their own cubby drawer...nothing is actually *in* the drawers.  It's all over the floor.  Every.  Single.  Day.

It doesn't help that Lucas is systematically dumping things behind us when Matt and I tackle the disaster.  We never make any ground!  A part of me thinks it wouldn't be so overwhelming if they had less toys.  Another part of me reminds me that the toys that they have, they *do* still play with.  It's not like we have baby toys collecting dust.  I get rid of toys they don't play with at least four times a year, and still they have a ton.

I told Eric that I don't even want to get them toys this year for Christmas.  I'd rather get them things like new bedspreads, new curtains, maybe some shelving to keep the DVDs out of Luke's reach, a new DVD player because theirs recently died.  They'll get plenty of toys from my parents, his mom, his dad, and his sister.  Not that they won't get anything "fun."  We've already decided to get Matt an original DS and have a game for him.  Lucas will probably get one thing from us that he'll really love.  Other than that though, do we really need to get them a million toys?  Why not go for quality over quantity this year?  Matt doesn't need any more cars or blocks.  Luke doesn't need anymore anything, because he plays with all of his brother's toys.  Until they can keep up after themselves, I'm throwing my hands up!  I refuse to add to the burden.

Eric's not completely sold on the idea, and I get it.  He wants to give the boys those magical Christmases.  I'm just so over all the excess.  Am I wrong to feel this way?

Home Sweet Home

Wooo! Lucas and I are home after seven days in the Sunshine State.  We had such a great time, and seeing my mom again was like surfacing for air.  It had been too long.  It will always be too long. 

We got there late Monday night, and on Tuesday we had family over so in addition to my parents and two brothers, I got to see my grandparents, two aunts, and one of my favorite cousins and her son.  We all relaxed, chatted, ate, and swam.

On Wednesday, my mom, my youngest brother (15) Ryan, and the boys and I headed out  to Wyndam Cyprus Palms for the rest of the week.  My mom is in a vacation club with Wyndam and uses her points to stay at their resorts.  I've been to Atlantic City, Daytona, and now Kissimmee with her and I love their suites!  As you know, we live in a very small apartment, so I'm not exaggerating when I say that the units we've stayed in are all bigger than my apartment! 

We spent a day in the Magic Kingdom and the boys (and my mom and I) had a blast!  Matt had only ever been on cheesy kiddie carnival rides before, so I wasn't sure what he'd be up for.  The first ride we went on was Stitch's Great Escape, which is less of a ride and more of an experience.  It was a little scary for Matt and if I had known what to expect I might not have taken him.  He loved Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, his very first roller coaster, but was scared during Space Mountain... maybe because it was in the dark.

Lucas was also able to go on a bunch of rides with us, like the Astro Orbiter, Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Training, Pirates of the Caribbean, and a couple of others I can't think of at the moment.  We all had a really great time.

We also spent a day at Old Town and Fun Spot, walking around, looking at the gift shops, and yes, going on more rides! 

All in all it was a great trip and I wish we could have stayed longer.  Well, Matthew is staying longer.  He'll be at my mom's house until July 30th.  It was hard to let him go, but I got a phone call from him already today and he's doing just fine!  He caught a few frogs and a lizard that he'll be taking care of down there.  I just hope he uses the old camera I gave him.  I really want to see his perspective of everything.

I Scream, You Scream!

I didn't do too much screaming today, but Lucas sure did! 

A friend of mine, my boys, and I went up to the school (for the third day in a row, by the way) for their annual Ice Cream Social today.  It wasn't quite ice cream weather (and it certainly wasn't dunk tank weather, poor Mr. Yanders!), but it was warm with a nice cool breeze.  We paid for our ice cream tickets and instead of eating hot dots first for lunch like I had planned, we just ate ice cream instead.  Skipping meals in favor of treats isn't something I usually condone, but I let it slide today.  They got the ice cream from a local small business called  The Purple Cow Creamery.  Their ice cream is fantastic! 

There weren't as many people there as I thought there would have been.  Seems like there were more kindergarten families, but we didn't get there right when it started so the first wave might have already left.  As soon as we were (mostly) done with our ice cream, Matt ran right over to the playground, and Lucas followed right behind him.  I was a little nervous because usually when we go to the playground there aren't many other kids around.  It's not Lucas that worried me, it was the safety of everyone around him!  My little guy is pretty rough and tumble, and he doesn't have any manners yet.  Luckily there were no incidents.  At the playground, anyway.

The real fun started when I took Luke away from the slides.  I wanted to go wait on line at the bouncy obstacle course.  I stood in line with him, took off his shoes, got cut in front of by at least three little kids, and got maybe four people away when I noticed that they had a measuring stick.  Not like, a yard stick.  More like a piece of plastic pipe with a green tape mark.  A "must be this tall to ride" stick.  All of this time Luke was crying and carrying on.  He didn't want to wait in a line!  He didn't want me to take his shoes off!  Then, we got so close, and he really *did* want to bounce, and I took him away!  More tears, tantruming, and head throwing ensued.  And you know what?  As I passed the lady holding the stick I realized that it hadn't been on the ground when I first saw it.  Duh!  So, yes, Luke was plenty tall enough to go through it.  So... I took him back to the line and we went through the whole process again.  Screaming.  Crying.  Tantruming.  Finally, FINALLY it was his turn.  The lady kindly offered to go through with him, or to at least help him over the first wall.  Well, he wouldn't have any of that.  He wasn't really all that interested in climbing the wall in the first place.  He was there to *bounce*.  And lady, sorry, but you're not his mommy and he didn't want anything to do with you either.  So... in the end I had to pull him back out of the the thing while he recommenced screaming, crying, and tantruming.  No one offered me any parenting awards today. 

To get his little mind off of the bouncy obstacle course (where Matt spent the next hour, running back in line the moment he got through) I took him over to where there were a pile of hula hoops.  Have I mentioned before that this child loves hula hoops?  He was finally playing nicely when a boy, maybe second grade, came over with his slightly older sister and mom.  Luke didn't want to share at first, but settled down when he saw the boy laying the hoops on the ground and jumping into them one by one.  Little Boy didn't like the way Luke kept picking up the hoops though, or the way he tripped over them and moved them out of position.  Or the way he didn't jump them in order.  The situation kept devolving, with Little Boy throwing himself on the ground and kicking his feet.  A classic two year old move, but not quite so acceptable from a second grader.  They decided to move on, and I decided to try to get Lucas to take a nap in his stroller.  HA!

I was ready to leave, so I hunted Matt down and told him that it was just about time to go.  He begged to try to dunk Mr. Yanders (the assistant principal) before we left.  So we stood in line for that.  Luke was a little calmed down by then, getting snuggly with his blankie, so it was no big deal.  While he was on line I saw Samantha's mom.  We figured out that we live pretty close to each other, within walking distance!  So we agreed to try to get together sometime soon.  By the time Matt got his chance at the dunk tank, it wasn't Mr. Yanders, but Ms. Piazza (the principal) sitting on the platform. 

Matt did his best, and he even hit the target once!  He just wasn't strong enough to activate the lever.

For the most part, I'd say we had a good time.  On the way home Matt somehow scratched his leg enough for it to bleed, and he's not good with blood so there was a little panicking.  My friend and I got him through it without having to carry him piggy back down the hill.  Once we were right outside the door and I was digging for keys, Matt's friend that lives here came over.  I told him to be tough about his cut and not whine about it in front of his friend, and he did good.  Unfortunately, we learned that his friend is moving away and we're not sure where.  Six year olds aren't the best sources of information after all.  So Matt is pretty sad about that, but hopeful that he'll be able to see his buddy next year at school.

Two more things, and them I'm done!  I saw the chick with the pink hair again.  I didn't recognize her at first, because today it was purple.

And this picture, this one right here... I am under strict orders NOT to post it to Facebook.  She never said anything about my blog though!

A Slice of Summer

Once again, it's raining on Monday morning, but I don't even care because we had such a great weekend!    Just a warning to you, my friendly reader, this is a long post!  I'll try to break it up with lots of pictures though.

Matt had a field trip on Friday to a local nursery, and then his class spent the rest of the day at a playground.  I feel really bad because it was pretty cool in the morning so I sent him to school in jeans, but it warmed up considerably in the afternoon, and he must have been really hot.

Right after school a local church was hosting a Spring Fun Nite.  It wasn't what I expected, but we had a blast.  I was surprised by how few families were there.  They had an obstacle course, tug of war, and kickball set up and the families were split into three teams.  The parents were fully expected to participate!  I wish I had photos of the relay race because it was pretty hilarious.

You had to run weaving through flags, crawl over a mat, jump through hula hoops on the ground, jump rope five times (not consecutively, and thank God, because we would have been there until the apocalypse), run and jump over three (very very small) hurdles, attempt to land three rings on an orange cone, and *finally* tag the next person on your team.  The jump rope was about 100 feet too long so the little kids were having a lot of trouble swinging it over their heads, and the parents were way too out of shape to actually jump.  Matthew did great, and he was the only kid to make any rings onto the orange cone!

Lucas and I went together.  We ran through the flags, I helped him do a roll over the mat, and we jumped (slowly) through the hula hoops.  Somewhere in there I lost a flip flop and had to go back for it.  Definitely not the best choice of footwear, but, again, I wasn't expecting to be in an Olympic tournament.  Obviously a two year old can't be expected to jump rope, so I grabbed it and astonished everyone with my mad skills!  Yes, people, I am capable of jump roping.  It shouldn't be so impressive!!  For the hurdles I just picked him up and jumped with him, and he was giggling hysterically for that, and finally we reached the ring toss, where I didn't make mine, but Lucas, from a distance of 0 inches, made both of his.

The three of us needed a water after we were done, so we each grabbed a bottle. The water was warm, but oh well.  Next up was tug of war.  Matt had fun, but Lucas and I sat out.  All three of us were wearing jeans.  I can't believe Matt had the energy to go on, especially after being on a field trip all day!  After the kids got tired of tug of war we went back to the obstacle course and played with the hula hoops.  I cannot hula anymore!  I guess I lost my rhythm.

Then it was our turn to play kickball.  Most of the parents sat out and let the kids and the teens from the church play.  Matthew has NO IDEA how kickball works!  I thought he would have played it in school, but apparently not, because he was running ALLLLLL over the field.  It was funny, and since there was no competitive edge to the game at all, no one minded the crazy kid that ran around all the bases every time he kicked the ball. 

Finally it was time to go back inside and eat.  Hot dogs and lots of homemade side dishes were served and the boys mowed face.  Lucas especially enjoyed the watermelon and grapes, but wasn't a fan of pineapple.  Matt made me proud of his healthy choices, taking a big serving of salad, but as soon as he was done he went straight for brownies, cookies, and chocolate covered doughnuts.  Eh, he's 6, what else could I expect?

After we left and got home what did Matt want to do?  Go right back outside and play with his friends!  So we all finally changed into shorts and went right back out.  Kohl's called and wanted me to come in on Saturday.  Luckily the shift didn't start until 4:30, so we also had a busy Saturday...

It was Farm Day at the Farmers' Market.  There were lots of animals to see: goats, alpacas, sheep, bunnies, and pigs.  Last year they also had chickens, so I'm not sure if we missed them or they just weren't there.  The boys had a great time petting the animals.

Lucas got frustrated when it was time to move on and threw a fit.  One of the girls from the 4H club that sponsored Farm Day came up to us while he was mi-tantrum and offered to let him pet her rabbit.  Very seriously she said to me "I find that the best cure for tears is laughter."  Oh, why thank you for the tip, 9 year old little girl with no children!  Out loud I said, "Yeah, you're right.  Look, it's working already."

We made our way around Center Square a few times, just browsing, jumping in the hay pile, splashing our feet in the fountain and soaking in the sights and noise.  When the heat got unbearable we had lunch at McDonald's and the boys played with their new Spy Gear from their Happy Meals.

On the walk home we picked some very pretty and sweet smelling white and purple wild flowers.  I cut them and put them in a vase on the kitchen table, and now the whole living room is filled with their fragrance.  I had a couple of hours to relax before work, and I took advantage of them, sprawling on the couch while Lucas happily took a nap.

I worked yesterday, and I think all of my boys spent the day being lazy and I don't blame them.  Today I have a ton of housework to catch up on: two nights worth of dinner dishes, a mountain of laundry, and Eric buzzed his friend's hair last night and left the cut hair in the tub, so I get to do that, too.  SO... I guess I better get started. ;)

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Opening Day of "Fun Season"

Yesterday was gorgeous!  Finally I had a day at home with perfect weather.  I decided that as soon as Matt came home from school I would take them both to the playground.  There are several playgrounds within walking distance of our apartment and the closest one got new equipment that I hadn't seen yet.  Eric had taken them on one of those freakishly nice days we'd had at the end of winter, but I still wanted to check it out for myself.  When Matt got off the bus I told him that we were skipping his homework until later.  It was about 3:45 and I figured we had plenty of time to play.  We could get home around 5 and he could do his homework while I cooked dinner, which I'd have plenty of time to do before Eric got home from work.  He was pretty excited, especially since it's been so wet this week.  So off we went!

I was pretty impressed when I got my first look at the new equipment.  It's got a tree house theme going on and it's pretty cool.  It only has one slide, but it's the biggest twisty slide I've ever seen.  The equipment really isn't meant for kids under five, and there's no alternative toddler friendly equipment aside from a swing set that has those baby bucket swings.  Lucas is pretty coordinated, so he wasn't deterred from climbing all the way to the top of that bad boy and sliding down over and over.

Matt taught Lucas how to climb up the slide, but he never quite made it to the top.  And, yes, instead of reprimanding them for going up the slide, I stood around and took pictures.  We were the only ones there.  And kids are kids, ok?  If they were interfering with a child trying to come down, yes, of course I would step in.  Otherwise, I let them be.  I very clearly remember a little girl with dark brown hair and dimples who very much loved to climb up slides.  And the little girl in me would feel like a hypocrite if I tried to stop my boys.

Ok, this... this was a supervised collision.  It only works when the big boy is at the bottom and the little boy is coming down.

Anyway, we had a great time, and the boys got to let out some pent up energy and be really silly together.                                Boys being silly--->

I love this picture!  I'm so surprised that it came out as well as it did because I had to use my old camera (my "good" camera is missing its battery), which doesn't have any special features or settings, and yet there isn't any blurring.

I feel like the "fun season" has officially started now and I'm so ready to go on adventures with the kids!  Tomorrow night is Spring Fun Night at the elementary school and the Farmers' Market is on Saturday and, miraculously, I'm off of work and will be able to take them.  The weather is supposed to stay gorgeous, so we'll be having lots of fun the next couple of days!

What's Your Kid's Favorite Toy?

These are Luke's recent favorite.  He plays with these things every single day!  We have four and a bunch of accessories.  We had been keeping one up on the top shelf of their closet, just because three seemed to be more than enough and I figured keeping one extra in case we somehow lost all of the other pieces was a good idea. 

Lucas didn't like that idea.  Their closet has built in cubbies running up the middle, kind of like a single stack of cubeicals that support the top shelf.  I caught him at the very top trying to get that unopened Mr. Potato Head!  He climbed right up them like a ladder, pulled down the box and dropped it to the floor, and climbed back down all on his own.  I wish I had a video of this little monkey in action!  It was pretty impressive!  After that I figured he deserved the prize.

What do your kids love playing with?  What's their go to toy?  Share with me!

Six & Two

Both of my boys recently celebrated their birthdays!  Lucas turned two on March 25th and Matt turned six yesterday (April 2nd).  Early in March I started planning their party.  I wanted to do something different.  In the past we've had small parties at our house, but with Matt being in school I knew he'd want to invite some friends from class, so I was looking for something where I wouldn't have to entertain and clean up after everyone.

My first thought was Chuck E. Cheese's.  The problem with there is that I HATE Chuck E. Cheese.  He's creepy.  So I looked online for something to do and found BounceU.  I fell in love with it immediately!  So I made reservations and started planning.  I decided to book the smallest party, for up to 10 children since this was our first time and, to be honest, we couldn't afford a party for more than that.

I invited enough kids for the party, but because of pettiness, spite, and plain ole' not giving a damn, on the day of the party we had my two boys and one girl from Matt's class coming.  Oh, I ranted!  My Facebook status was:

 "You know, my kids are important, too. And today is THEIR birthday party. So if everyone could please put aside their petty bullshit for the sake of THE KIDS it would be greatly appreciated.
Apparently, that's too much to ask for. And apparently, if you can't just send your kid downstairs, or to the next building over, if you have to actually make an ounce of effort to take them somewhere 15 minutes away, then it's too much trouble to be bothered with. THANKS EVERYONE"

Maybe it was a little much.  Maybe it was just enough.  I was in Mama Bear mode and I needed to roar a little.

Luke, Samantha, & Matt

Of course, the kids had a great time at the party anyway!  All of the adults also bounced and everyone had lots of fun.  I am still upset that I ended up paying so much money for so few kids, especially when things are still suffocatingly tight for us right now.  At the time I made the reservations I had certain expectations that weren't satisfied, but it was too late to cancel; Matt was already so excited and you know what, my kids deserve a great birthday and they had one despite all of the adult drama!

I would really love to have their birthday at BounceU again next year.  Hopefully we'll be able to afford a larger party and invite his whole class.  That way even if half the kids can't make it, there will be plenty of them there.  We had such a great time with the three of them that I know more would be a blast! Here are some more photos of the party: enjoy!

One side of the cake had 6 candles for matt, the other had 2 for Luke

How to Avoid Being Eaten

I've been getting a lot of criticism lately for Lucas' hair.  It hasn't been cut yet, and I can't tell you how many people tell me how cute "she" is.  Or the comments on Facebook about when we're going to cut it.  What do you think?  Time to snip those locks or what?  Personally, I think a pair of scissors are in order.  It's just something we haven't done yet.

And, again, I apologize for the sideways picture.  This time I DID try to fix it but even though I rotated it in Photobucket it keeps coming here in its original state.  Whatever.


This weekend Matthew had another project to work on.  Don't know if you remember or were here for the scarecrow he and Eric made for school.  This time it was a turkey.  A turkey who has to disguise himself to avoid being cooked into a delicious Thanksgiving meal.  Our Turkey decided to disguise himself as none other than Santa Clause!  Who would ever think of stuffing him into an oven (besides maybe an old witch who lives in a gingerbread house)?  I think this old Tom is safe this year.