A Day in the Life of an Almost-House Wife

Summer is Just Begining

2009-06-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, here is another long awaited post. So it's nearly the end of June, and the summer has already been a lot of fun. Our most recent fun outing was our day trip to Ocean City yesterday. I took the kids down, with Rachel, Jim, J.t. and Valerie. At first it seemed like it was going to be deja vu from last years visit, as soon as we got there it started to rain. We decided to walk down to the beach anyway, in hopes the rain would pass, which it did. We did all the normal fun stuff, playing in the ocean (far enough out to make Scott mad) and in the sand (getting it in all those "lovely" places), hitting the boardwalk (briefly), and eating a pizza that, for the price, should have been gold plated. At the end of the day we let the kids go on a couple rides, got some ice cream (again, gold plated price) and went home. We got in the car to head home around 10pm, at which point Christian was being quite the nutcase, and went from hysterically laughing in the back seat to fast asleep within 45 seconds. Obviously the sign of a good day.

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Last Thursday, the 25th, we took the kids to the St. Mikes fair. Boy, does a fair bring out the weirdos... oops, sorry, went off course there. haha. Seriously though, I love fairs. Even more so, I love bringing my kids to the fairs. I just love to see them have a great time. We went there w/ Scott the kids, me and Allie, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Boo-Boo and J.T., and we met up with Aunt Chelsea and Baby Ow. Even Pop-pop and Mom-mom made their way up there. The kids were, not surprisingly, well behaved for the most part. I actually wanted to yell all the older kids at one point, but only because they weren't running wild through the fair. They seemed a bit too calm, I rather enjoy the over excitement and energy. Christian was super cute, at the end of the night when we were waiting for Courtney and Ryan to finish on their big kids rides, he went on this one ride 6 times in a row. It was a car ride that went around in circles and would go up in the air and drop down. He loved it so much, I think I might get it for him for his birthday. Although we had specified on the ride there that we would NOT be playing the fish game, Christian ending u

p coming home with one, courtesy of Aunt Rachel. But he loves it, and named it Itty, so it's fine.

I'm a Slacker...

2009-04-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

So I know I haven't written anything in months, but I figured that I better write something soon or my Grandmom might beat me. There is so much that has happened since my last blog that I really don't know where to begin. I started a blog about Christmas, but never finished it. I started a blog about Christians 3rd birthday, also not done. I started a blog about random things, again, never posted it. Sorry about all my excuses, I will try to keep up w/ this. So I'm going to do a quick recap all the major events since December.

Christmas 2008:

My kids had another great Christmas. I don't know how dear old Santa manages to pull it off year after year, but he (she) always finds a way. Every year we spend Christmas Eve at Scott's sisters house, which is always fun. The kids get to see all of their cousins and they are all so close in age, which is wonderful. Scott's family is always fun to be around! Even I got into the spirit enough to have a few drinks, which is very out of character for me, but it was well deserved.

After all the festivities were done for the evening we went home to play Santa. Silly me thought it would be easy this year. I made sure to have all the gifts wrapped before Christmas Eve, thinking we could toss the kids in bed, throw the presents under the tree and be in bed by 11pm. hahahaha! Wrong. Somehow we still didn't manage to get to bed until 2:30am. I have no idea what went wrong. And on top of that, poor Christian was so anxious about Santa coming that he didn't sleep well at all, so he was like a zombie all Christmas day. The lack of sleep and all the excitement was just so overwhelming for him. (Don't worry though, the day after Christmas he was a complete nutcase to make up for the lack of crazy on Christmas day.)

Both Courtney and Ryan where such angels all day! They loved and appreciated everything, and they always enjoy the family coming over. My family always out-do themselves and it makes Christmas perfect. It wouldn't be Christmas w/out all the fun and chaos that a house full of family brings. Our dinner was great, the time together was great, the gifts were great. Even with a few bumps in the road, I tried to just be grateful for everything, and I was.

Christian Turns 3:

I don't want to talk about it. The end. haha, j/k. So our baby may not be a baby anymore, not something I'm thrilled about. But watching him grow and learn every single day makes up for the lack of baby-ness. He is so smart, and getting smarter every second. (And quite active too, although I'm sure that comes as a shock to most of you! haha.) We had a big party at our house for him. Both our families came, plus a few of our friends and their kids. It was quite a happening lil party, considering it was for a 3 year old. Christian had a blast playing pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, and just rough housing w/ all the other kids. He was so funny, for weeks leading up to his birthday he kept telling us that all he wanted was Handy Manny underwear. hahaha. He's so random sometimes, I love it. So we got him his H.M. underwear, a few other things and a bike. He was so excited about the bike. He's gotten really good at riding it too! All the kids are just getting too big. arg.

Our Newest Pet Additions:

Courtney and Ryan both wanted new pets for Christmas, so that's what they got from their Aunt Sandy. Ryan got fish and Courtney got a hamster. Of course Christian was all over them, he's such an animal nut but he's like Lennie from Of Mice and Men. (For those of you who haven't read it, basically he's just a tad too rough with them. haha) Christians fascination w/ them is slowly fading. So being the brilliant parents that we are, we decided to get more animals for Christian to torture. We got a fish tank from Scott's father for downstairs and got some fish. My first few attempts at fish keeping didn't go exactly as i hoped. But I'm a fast learner and now my fish are doing rather well! This last group of fish that we bought included some mollies, which I had later come to learn are live bearers. We woke up one morning and there were teeny tiny little baby fish in the tank. Christian went coo-coo for them. For hours he just kept saying "I love them soooo much, they are sooo cute! I just want to hold the baby fish!" This turned into quite a few floor kicking tantrums, he just did not want to hear that you can't hold fish. He finally wrapped his head around that, and now he loves taking care of them. We managed to save 3 baby fish from being eaten, now they are 3 1/2 weeks old and getting big. I'm so proud of myself! We also got Ryan a turtle, a red eared slider to be exact. I got him that because I killed his fish. Both him and Courtney have been taking excellent care of their pets. But our first batch of fish had one fish that started to be attacked by some of the others, so me not knowing that could make a fish sick, I moved it into Ryan's tank, which then got sick and got his fish sick and killed them. I'm the worst mom ever, Ryan's fish would have been fine if I would have just stayed away from them. So i definitely felt obligated to replace them, and this time he chose a turtle.

Ok, so that's as much as I can write right now. Sir Christian is up and I have to make dinner and get Court and Ry to their games. But I will write more and add pics later.

That Boy Can Run!

2008-12-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

This time every year the kids ears seem to work miraculously better than ever before. They can hear the sirens from miles away, and they get crazy waiting for the fire truck to come down our street. As the sirens get louder so do the children. They know that Santa is on that fire truck and they just can't wait to see him, even my older two who know he's not real still get just as excited! Little Christian isn't used to this yet, his memory is just starting to get better. But Courtney and Ryan got him plenty crazy reassuring him that Santa will be on that fire truck. His eyes lit up, the magic of it all is so alluring for a 2 year old. He stood at the curb jumping up and down, yelling "Santa, Santa!" for like 15 minutes till they finally came to our street.

He was mesmerized by Santa and I was mesmerized by his enthusiasm. It's such a beautiful sight, seeing a small child who believes and delights with every ounce of his being. The look on his face was truly priceless. As Santa slowly drove by Christian is waving and yelling "Hi Santa, I want a fire truck!" and "Bye Santa, I love you!". After he passed, Christians awestruck face turned to me and said "Mama, I wanna see Santa again!" Immediately falling in love with that look on his face I told him we could go down the street to see him again, not really sure if we'd be able to catch up to him though. Boy, did I underestimate the excitement that was running through his veins, because the second I said yes he took off down the street after him. I ran behind Christian, barley able to keep up with him, his little feet moving a mile a minute. I've never seen such tiny legs move so damn fast! Santa's fire truck stopped down the street so that the kids could come sit on his lap, and Christian kept pushing the other kids out of his way. When it was finally Christians turn he sat up on Santa's lap with a goofy grin on his face and didn't say a word. It was adorable!

Santa was talking to him, and the first question he asked was "What's your name?" Worst idea ever Santa. Later that night after all the excitement, when we were putting Christian to bed he was talking about his experience with Santa. Then suddenly he got an incredibly distraught look on his face, so I asked him what was wrong. His reply... "Santa didn't know my name... I'm Christian Michael MacDonald!" Stupid Santa. But he did eventually forget about that, and he's super excited to go get his picture taken with Santa tonight. I can't wait til Christmas morning!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-07T10:40:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving of 2008 has come and gone, so I now get to brag that I survived it. It may sound like my mindset on thanksgiving is completely opposite of what it's all supposed to be about, but you'd understand if you knew the circumstances, which I will not get into right now. Also, I don't like the holiday as a whole for 2 reasons; it's based on a complete fabrication in every sense; and even the moral of the fictional story is a bit ridiculous, we shouldn't have to feel forced to be grateful for/want to spend time with our loved ones just one day out of the entire year. If that's the case, creating a holiday for it won't suddenly make everyone open their eyes and be grateful. Please don't get me wrong, I know that I've got a pretty good life in every sense of the word, and I most certainly am grateful, I definitely don't take it for granted, or at least i try not to (we all have our moments). But picking one day out of the year and giving it a name doesn't change those who are ungrateful. Anyway, that's the cliff notes version of my thoughts on thanksgiving. I'll stop now, you get the point, (and if you don't lets pick a day and call it "We're All Geniuses Day"). haha.

Christain loved playing inside the ottoman!

Christian does NOT like fake poop!

The kids with Scott's parents.

Cousins

Love

He insisted upon making the potatoes... then refused to eat them.

So in actuality this blog is only being written because I have some cute pictures of the kids that I wanted to post. Being as that a blog is about writing, I felt it necessary to write a little something in addition to my pictures. So there ya go... and Happy Thanksgiving.

My Computer Is Back Up!

2008-11-19T06:32:00.001-08:00

Most of you probably aren't aware of this because I really haven't complained about it, but my computer crapped out on us last week right before our refrigerator did. What a week for us and our stress level. But we got a new refrigerator and HP finally sent us a new hard drive. So we are now back up and running. Lets begin, shall we?

First I would like to write about how unfair life is in the sense that children are only children for such a short period of time, after which they move on and have to be responsible adults for what seems like forever. Confused on where this is headed? Well I guess I'm a bit unappreciative of the fact that my baby boy is officially no longer a baby, there's no denying it now, for he has moved out of his crib and into a big boy bed (a fire truck toddler bed to be exact). I know you might be thinking that he should have been out of that crib a while ago, but I think I was in denial. As happy as I am for Christian and how excited he is about his new bed, I really don't appreciate the short life cycle mother nature as imposed upon baby-hood. Has anyone happened to come across the fountain of youth yet so that I could keep my children young and in need of me forever?

Secondly, but still connected to my previous train of thought, my niece, Autumn, turned one on the 17th. Happy 1st Birthday Goober-pants! My how the time has flown by. She's such a cute little goober, and although I know that she is still a baby, that too will come to and end all too soon. It seems like just yesterday her mother was in labor, pacing through the halls of the maternity ward and about to beat the crap out of a slow moving janitor. haha. Her birthday party was at Chuck-E-Cheese, and she had a blast! She looked so freakin' cute, as usual. Courtney and Ryan were very well behaved, they had tons of fun and won a LOT of tickets. Poor Christian was sick and had a fever, but even through all that he was really well behaved! (He even tried his best to have fun.) He's such a trooper, he reminds me a lot of Ryan when he was that age. Here I go again, reminiscing and getting all sentimental. I'll just stop myself now or this could end up being a very long blog. Lets move on.

I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW! Sheri and Johnny's beautiful, healthy baby boy was born on November 16th at 7:09 pm. His name is Jaxen, he was 7 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long. He has the exact same ears as my brother and he's so adorable. Congratulations to Johnny and Sheri! I'm so happy for them, my brother's been wanting to be a Daddy for so long! Holding him, so tiny and innocent, makes me want to have another baby. Once again, I suppose this is also connected to my first train of though, so once again, I'll stop before I get started.

So this is all the latest news around here. Change is now, and will forever be, on the horizon. I'm still not sure how I feel about that. I used to think I was a fan of change, but now that I have children everything has, well... changed.

The Election

2008-11-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to write a quick something about this weeks presidential election. To everyone who voted in this historic election, I am proud of you. No matter who you voted for or your reasons behind it, you made your voice heard in this momentous election. To everyone who didn't, shame on you! I may be disowning you, I haven't decided yet. haha. I voted for Barack Obama, as I'm sure you all guessed, and I am so excited about his win. I really hope his lives up to our expectations as a country, and I think he will. In my opinion, this country desperately needs a change, and we got it. We are in a hole and need someone to help us find our way out. Onward we go, with a new president and hopefully a new era.

Halloween

2008-11-04T15:35:00.000-08:00

I love Halloween, it's possibly my favorite holiday. Some day I will have the house that is so scary it sends children screaming and crying. I always loved those extra scary houses. So of course I get excited on Halloween, every year. This year Halloween was extra special. As an added bonus the Phillies finally won the world series again, after 28 years of waiting, two days before Halloween. The Phillies parade was on Halloween, so we had a quite an exciting day. It was the first time I have ever allowed my children to skip school, and with the exception of another world series win by the Phillies, it will also be the last.

Scott was originally going to take the Courtney and Ryan to the parade and I was gonna stay home w/ Christian. However, after dealing w/ the massive and rowdy crowd at the train station, as train after train continued to pass right by because they were packed full from the very first stop and working off only 2 hours of sleep, he decided to come home and have me give it a go. So the kids and I drove into the northeast and hopped the El down to city hall. I had no delays or problems (until the journey home). Let me just warn you that these words will not do it justice, but the city was INSANE! Every sidewalk, street and corner were packed full of crazy Phillies fans. I wouldn't let go of my kids hands for fear of loosing them in the crowd. We tried our best to get w/in sight range of the parade, to no avail. It was an impossibility, this coming from one who believes that nearly nothing is impossible. We were packed in there like sardines in a can. The only time the kids were able to see any of the players was when the random lady next to us offered up her rather large husband to lift the kids up. It was nice to finally see some kindness from strangers in Philly. That day the kindness was not exactly as prevalent in the city as the fans were. I think that that many Philly fans, so excited and drinking so early didn't really bode well for their reputation. Regardless of that, or the fact we didn't get to see much of the parade, it was awesome to have the kids be part of it. Who knows the next time this will happen, and they can say they were there.

Then of course our Halloween festivities. The kids looked awesome, as usual. Courtney was a devil, and she was a beautiful one. Ryan finally settled on Jason Vorhees, he loves the scary stuff (especially scaring the pants off his sister). Christian was a dalmatian, and he was adorable. He carried that costume with him everywhere for the entire week. We did all the normal stuff, stopped by Aunt Junes and Uncle Craig's a few days prior, stopped over Great-Grandmom's, then came home and went trick-or-treating. All the kids enjoyed themselves and were surprisingly well behaved considering all the excitement. Aunt Chelsea came over with Autumn (or Baby Ow as Christian calls her), so that she could be with her cousins on her first Halloween. Lil Miss Autumn was a skunk (how appropriate), she was so cute I just wanted to squeeze her til her head popped off. haha. She was loving all the attention! After we were done begging the neighbors for junk food we came home to give out candy and play out front. Sandra, although she did come over my house, didn't celebrate with us, instead she fell fast asleep in my bed. She must have been pooped from working the parade all day to have missed out on Halloween (she's also a Halloween lover). Then after a few other visitors, Uncle Johnny, Aunt Sheri, and Mom-mom Karen, I got my little puppy into bed. Sounds like a long day for my older 2, but it didn't end there. At that point Scott took them over to Uncle Boo-boos house for a bit so that he could try to scare the crap out of them. They finally got to bed after hanging out there for a little bit. Those 2 were beat! In short... it was an awesome day!

England - Day Number 6

2008-10-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

So folk, my trip has just about come to an end. Just one last trip... to London Heathrow Airport. This week really flew by, you all know the saying. So my past 2 days, here's what went on.

Yesterday, we kinda slept in and took our time getting ready. We had quiche for breakfast that Maggy made (yum!). Then while Maggy got some reading done Andy was kind enough to drive me to Guildford so that I could go get a Harley Davidson t-shirt for my father. The drive was beautiful, but when we got there they were completely out of the shirts that had the town on it. Sorry Daddy! No need to fear, they should be getting them back in soon and Mags will send it our way. Then we had dinner at Andy's Nanas and Granddads. We had what she calls "bits and pieces", which just means MANY different smaller items. I filled up quite a bit, although his Nana kept yelling at me that I hadn't eaten at all. haha. Then the best part of the day, Maggy and I forced Andy and his friend to carve pumpkins with us. Halloween isn't anywhere near the same in England as is it for us Americans (sad, I know), no trick-or-treating, scary lawns, or pumpkin carving. So this was their first time ever carving a pumpkin and they were quite hesitant at first. But they ended up really getting into it and doing a great job! Yay Halloween!

First Timers!

We love mutilating vegetables!

BOO!

Today was one of the best days here. When we woke up this morning Maggy made what's known as a full English breakfast (aka a LOT of breakfast food), which was delish! Then we went to see Stonehenge. It was a bit of a ride out there, but so worth it (and it was so awesome of Andy to drive us out there for something he's seen before). The drive again was magnificent, beautiful English countryside, and it was incredible to be right there looking at Stonehenge. Then we went into Windsor. We walked The Long Walk down to Windsor Castle... you have to see the pics to fully understand the beauty. After which we had proper tea at The Crooked Tea House of Windsor. It's a tea house that is so old that it is actually crooked and doesn't even have bathrooms. Really good and different. Lastly, we did a bit of shopping before heading home to watch A Nightmare Before Christmas. Again, Yay Halloween!

Stonehenge

Me in front of Stonehenge

Maggy, Andy and me

The Long Walk (you can see Windsor Castle at the end)

Windsor Castle

The Crooked Tea House

Proper Tea

So now I have just finished packing, and I'm ready to go home to my family, who I miss incredibly! I am so lucky and very grateful to have been able to have come to England, and beyond appreciative of Maggy and Andy for... to keep it short... revolving their lives around me all week. I am also beyond appreciative of Scott for being so awesome about staying home with the kids all week by yourself while I was out gallivanting around the globe. Thank yous, a million times over, for everything. I had a blast! Home, here I come!

Sunset over the ocean on my way home.

Update #2

2008-10-17T07:01:00.000-07:00

Well mates, it's now day 4 of my trip, it's all going by so quickly. Yesterday we spent the day in London again, and we finished most of the London touristy stuff. While Maggy was in class I went to the Tate Modern and spent a few hours enjoying all of the incredible art. Of course the were all the big names, Picasso, Man Ray, Van Gough, Pollack, Monet and so on (which are all amazing), but there were also a lot of artists that I don't know much about whose art was just as amazing. I really enjoyed that part of my day.

Then I stopped along the River Thames in Southwark to have lunch, beautiful views and some people watching made for a nice lunch spot. I wandered around London for a while, taking pictures and stopping by the London Borough Market. Then I decided to try to find my way to the National Portrait Gallery, there was an Annie Lebowitz exhibition there that I was totally thrilled to see. So I asked for directions and was told that it was right near Trafalgar Square. Famous square, so that was an added bonus. When I got up there the entire square was packed full of crazy people, as were the streets lining it. Little did I know that the British Olympian athletes were there. I couldn't even make it through the square to get to the gallery, so I missed out on that exhibition. Then Maggy and I met back up and we stopped at a few gift shops then made our way to the Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, House of Parliament and all that good stuff. (we got some beautiful pics that I'll share when I get home. Then came the most horrific thing of all, time to face my fear.....

Buckingham Palace

Note the random old lady...

Big Ben and House of Parliments

We saw the Queen! (she riding in the front car)

The London Eye. All I have to say is HHHEEELLLPPP! I am horrified of heights, it's my worst fear ever, and I having been dreading this moment since I first started planning this trip. However, I did try to rationalize it w/ myself, how often will I get the chance to do this? I kept telling myself to stay calm, I'll be fine, people go on it all the time, it won't fall and I won't plummet hundreds of feet to my untimely death. Needless to say, I didn't do to good of a job calming myself down. But I did it, and I'm so proud of myself for doing it. I didn't throw up, or lay in the fetal position sobbing like a baby. I was shaking, visibly upset and didn't move my ass off the seat once, but I did it, even had my eyes open for most of it. I knew I'd kick myself later if I had let that experience go to waste. Even now, just thinking about it is giving me chills. I did it though and I am proud.

I was just a bit afraid, to say the least.

The view from almost at the top.

I managed to fake a smile though...

You can see for miles.

After that we caught the train home, made dinner and just relaxed for the remaining part of the evening. This morning I got to sleep in (we had to get up at like 7 am the first day and 6 am yesterday). We had some tea, did our hair and makeup, took a walk into town, then came home and cooked and baked. (Maggy did the cooking, she made a quiche, but we both made cookies). She had just left for work not too long ago, Andy should be home any minute and us 2 will walk up to Maggy's work and hang there for about an hour til she gets done. Then we're gonna come home, have some toad-in-the-hole for dinner(?), and we're going out tonight to have some drinks. Or as they would say, we're going out on the lash to get pissed. haha. It should be a fun night.

Out on the lash.

My First 2 days in England

2008-10-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

Birds-eye view of English Countryside

This will have to be a short blog, being as that I'm absolutley knackered as they would say over here. Well my flight got in yesterday at 9:30 am. We took the bus and then the train to get back to Maggy's house, which is adorable! We hung around here and cooked and baked and walked to a nearby market for some wine. We took a quick trip to the mall near her, just to put money in the bank though, didn't really get a chance to see it. Then later in the evening we stopped by the pub that Maggy works at. It was really just a chill day for the most part.

View of London from the Waterloo Bridge

Of Course...

My first time on the tube

Then today we left the house a lil after 8 am to head into London. Maggy had class, during which time I wondered my way to The British Museum. It was really incredible, nice to have some adult time to see these amazing things. We walked through London to get to her school and walking over the River Thames, I could see half the city. The London Eye, Big Ben, Houses of Parliment, Shakespears Globe, just everything. It was such a beautiful view! Then we went to the London Dungeoun (awsomely creepy!), and then to Madame Toussauds Wax Museum (hilarious!). Last on the agenda for the night, we went to this new, modern, dim sum resteraunt called Ping Pong w/ 2 of Maggys close friends. The food was awsome, and it was great to try these new foods being as that Scott isn't a big fan of new foods, and the Chinese beer was good too. Than we ran to catch the train home after filling ourselves with foor and beer.... not a good idea. haha. Now we are back at her house and I have to get up at 6 am tomorrow to head back into London for another all day London outing, so i need to get to bed. Sorry this was so short and there are no pics. I won't be able to add pics til I get home. But thats been my first 2 days. Another update is soon to come.

Big Ben through the London Eye

Shakespears Globe

Me and the Queen rockin out! haha

It's like wheres waldo...

I was helping him out

Oopps!

2008-10-05T05:40:00.000-07:00

Wow, I really let life get in the way of something I enjoy doing again. It's been over a month since I last wrote anything. Although, this may or may not be typical behavior for me... it's possible that I just might be a natural born slacker. September was just an insanely busy month, even more chaotic than usual. We, as a family, managed to make it through by the skin of our teeth (and perhaps a bit of sanity to spare, not sure though, maybe we should take a poll). haha. I did try to write something a while ago, a beautiful, thoughtful piece might I add, and just before I posted it my little angel Christian came in and starting hitting buttons and deleted it. Being the persistent person that I am, I quit. No worries, it was only for a short while, and now I'm back to write about stuff that really has no meaning for anyone but me.

September. Crazy September. So much to say that even just thinking about it stresses me out again, haha. So lets do the short hand...

Christians 1st ever dentist appointment, anyone who knows my son knows that means a whole lot of AHHHHHHHHH! haha
School started for my 2 oldest, which means shopping stress, first day jitters, he said/she said/ best friends/ worst enemies, tons of monotonous paperwork for me, etc.

Courtney decided last minute that she wanted to play fall ball, so add all the practices and games into the mix.

Scott's brother got married, and both he and I were in the wedding party. That + 3 kids= empty bank account and nearly impossible if it weren't for my selfless cousin Sandy. She might as well have been their new mother this past month. haha. Thanks again Sandy if you're reading this, none of the ridiculous amount of help you give us goes unnoticed or unappreciated.

GORGEOUS!

Christian was a party animal, dancing up a storm the ENTIRE time! "Put me down Dada, I wanna dance!"

They love each other... just not in public. haha.

Courtney turned 11 (HELP!), and the rehearsal dinner for John and Lex's wedding was on her birthday.

As an added bonus to that crazy weekend, Scott decided to have oral surgery to remove all 4 of his wisdom teeth that Thursday. What a bumbling dummy he was that day, but I still love him.

We also had Scott's cousins wedding to attend, which wouldn't have been a big deal... if it weren't an all day affair in Ocean City.

My Great Aunt Betty came into town so we had dinner at my Aunt June's house to spend time w/ her. That was actually pretty relaxing.

Courtney and Ryan both had dentist appointments and orthodontist appointments, which I somehow managed to do all 6 appointments without them ever missing a second of school. GO ME!

I apparently am the family mediator. If you know my family use your imagination to think about how stressful that can be. That's all I'm going to say about that.

At the end of the month we hosted Courtney's birthday party for her friends. We gave her a choice and she opted for a big gift and a small party. So we got her a digital camera and let her have a sleepover. A gaggle of prepubescent girls at my house all day and all night.... hindsight is always 20/20. haha.

We, Scott and myself, tend to be good at procrastination. Which means we've lived in this house for over a year and a half and poor Courtney's room still looked like it could be part of a crack house. (Arg, the guilt!) So we waited until the week before her sleepover to finally finish all the spackling, sanding, priming and painting. Needless to say, that week consisted of many long nights and little sleep. But she loves her new room and she's actually keeping it clean... for now. Ryan's room, here we come.

There is just a sample of the month that was September for us. There was so much more craziness, I just can't be bothered w/ writing the rest. We made it out alive, and I thoroughly enjoyed the chaos. The wedding was beautiful, my family has great teeth, the kids are active, happy and learning, Courtney's getting older... too old, one more home project is crossed off our list and we love our lives and each other. Now comes October, and I'm excited and ready. Bring it on! haha. My favorite holiday and my trip to England lie ahead of me. Life is good. GO PHILLIES!

The Unofficial End

2008-09-02T06:06:00.001-07:00

Well today marks the unofficial end of summer for those of us that have children in school. So this past weekend we gave the summer a great goodbye by spending it up at the mountain house w/ their grandparents. It's always nice to see the kids enjoy some alone time w/ their grandparents, (they've got 9 grandchildren ranging from 2 years old to 17, so you can imagine the lack of intimacy at family functions). We did all the normal stuff we do when we are up there, rode the golf cart, picked apples, caught frogs in the pond (yes we let them go), rode the ATVs, played games and just plain enjoyed our family. But this trip we had an added bonus, we went to camel beach all day Sunday. It was the first time we've been there and I thought it was a great park. It was a bit crowded to say the least, but we all still really enjoyed ourselves. We now know to go on a weekday, not a holiday weekend. Christian had a blast in all the little pools, sprinklerish things and slides. He was also surprisingly well behaved sitting on my lap on the lazy river. Courtney and I went on the ride called the spin cycle. I was freaking out just waiting on the stairs (I don't do so well w/ heights, wish me luck on my first plane trip in October). Needless to say I probably embarrassed Court w/ my craziness. ha ha. But I ended up loving the ride, I just psych myself out I suppose. Ryan went down the same type of ride, but w/ out a tube, he loved it. Court and Ryan both went on a few rides. Then there was the wave pool. We were in that for a while, partially due to the fact that there was no line, ha ha. We taught Sir Christian how to jump waves, and other than the occasional late jump/mouth full of water/little bit of vomit (eww) he did great and didn't want to leave it. Scott, Melanie and I would take turns going in the deep part w/ Ms. Courtney and Mr. Ryan. That was a lot of fun, although watching Ryan go under every few waves and trying to lift him by any limb available wasn't so thrilling. ha ha. He was fine, he's an amazing swimmer, it was just me freaking out, not him. That's part of being a parent though, seeing danger anywhere and everywhere while your child is convinced he's invincible. All in all it was a wonderful way to end the summer, I mean what could possibly top 5 episodes of near drowning experiences. ha ha. If everyone goes home at the end of the day exhausted, cranky and reminiscing about the day it was a good time. Let the school year begin!

Our Day Trip To The Beach

2008-08-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

Today my cousin Sandy and I took my kids to the beach. It was a well deserved trip considering what happened last time we tried this. (Last time about 10 mins after we got there it started to downpour, so hard it stung. Christian was screaming, Courtney was buried in the sand and we were all soaked running like manics to the car carrying crazy heavy bags full of soaked towels. Then when we finally get to the car and head out we sat in traffic for over an hour just to get off the island. A distance that should have taken us about one and a half minutes. And to top it all off, the sun came out shining bright while we were sitting in traffic. It wasn't the best beach trip, to say the least.) Today was a whole other story. We got there nice and early, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and it was a much nicer beach! No boardwalk full of shops screaming "Spend every penny you've got!" haha. Lifeguards that actually paid attention to the water and the people in it. We played in the sand together digging holes, making "castles" (though they didn't look much like castles haha), burying our feet and burying Ryan and Courtney. We buried their legs and turned Ryan into a seahorse and Courtney into a mermaid (again, sand is not my 1st choice in artistic mediums). haha. The older two were hopping waves w/ their Aunt Sandy while Christian and I were playing in the shallow part of the water and making friends w/ the other kids on the beach (depending on what beach toys they had... Christian. haha) And although the beach was pretty packed come the afternoon, it still wasn't chaotic. It was mainly families or people just relaxing or playing one sport or another. None of those drunk obnoxious people you try to hide from your kids. All in all it was a pretty great day w/ my kids at the beach. Other than a few kinks in the road, which for any parent is unavoidable no matter the situation, or the fact that I'm red as a lobster (yes I slopped the sunblock on my son and completely forgot about myself, big surprise), the day was perfect.

The Big Conspiracy

2008-08-21T07:23:00.000-07:00

I was truly convinced that everyone was just too busy for me this year. To be quite honest, I didn't mind at all. I mean, what mother of 3 wouldn't appreciate a nice semi-relaxing birthday, one without all the duties that come along with hosting a party. I've hosted like 57 bazillion holidays/ birthdays, showers etc. since we bought our house. So I really did appreciate just my kids, faux husband and father being here for my birthday. Everyone else called and wished me a happy birthday and that was plenty. When my brother called he invited us for dinner the next night since he couldn't make it to my house for my birthday. Of course i accepted, if I get out of cooking for a night who am I to argue? haha. I was also convinced a few weeks ago that everyone was trying to plan a surprise something for me, but I nipped that in the bud real quick. After that, again totally convinced that they couldn't pull off a surprise party, and thought they had given up on the idea. Yes, I was sadly mistaken. As I walked into my brothers house and everyone yelled "Surprise!", I was speechless. Although I was so sure that I didn't want a surprise party, I was wrong. I was very thankful for everyone being there, it was a great surprise after all.

My Birthday

2008-08-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. It's funny how everything in life is so contradictory, even something simple as a birthday. One minute it feels like just another day of cleaning, cooking and refereeing, only w/ a cake at the end of the day. The next minute I seem to get all sorts of nostalgic at the simplest things, looking at my Dads face and wondering if he's thinking back 25 years. Looking in the mirror and realizing that I'm far from where I'd thought I'd ever be, and so very happy about it. I'm having a war w/ my two oldest children to see who can blow out the trick candles first while my youngest thinks he's being sneaky fingering the cake (and so delighted that hes getting away w/ it, might i add)! And as all this is going on I'm thinking enjoy these wonderful birthdays of mine, while my kids are young and excited about it (and me), because no matter how many stars I wish on, how many eyelashes fall on my cheek, how many coins I toss in the fountain, or how many candles I blow out I'll never get this day back. Regardless of the number of times throughout the day I may get so frustrated that my face looks as though it might explode, at the end of the night I sit in my silent house and remember how lucky I am, for everything, and I am grateful. (Even if my sons potty training may not be going exactly as I planned. But at least he's enjoying picking out a new pair of big boy undies every 2 hours! haha) Here's to another bickering, screaming, demanding, exhausting day, full of the laughing, loving, and mayhem that is my life! (and i love it!)Christian is convinced that its his birthday like 27 times a year!

Aww, the Pop-pop loves them!Our happy family

My Early Birthday Gift

2008-08-18T06:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my camera of 4 years decided that it finally had enough of all the abuse from us. The banging, dropping, tossing it in my bag or car or table, splitting open and slamming it back together finally took a toll. Any one who knows me, or any parent for that matter, knows that i could not possibly survive this world full of picturesque moments without a camera. A wedding, unnecessary, a dentist visit for myself, unheard of, but life without my camera, unbearable. So that's what i wanted for my birthday. Last night we, as a family, went out to look at cameras for my birthday gift. I found one that I liked, and it was reasonably priced. HD, 10.1 mp, as apposed to my old 4 mp. 12x optical zoom and 5x digital zoom, my old camera only having 3x digital zoom. There's a whole list of upgrades. Let the picture taking and memory capturing begin! Yay! Here's a few of the pics I took just trying it out.

Im a Blog Virgin

2008-08-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've never "blogged" before, but Maggy suggested it as a good way to keep people updated and stay connected. So i figured I'd try to start it right away before i forgot or got caught up in a heap of poo covered toddler sheets. Ready or not here I blog. ha ha, i know I'm stupid.