Father's Day gifts preschool style

My children continue to make me laugh...and cry at times...but mostly laugh. The other day I took Brian and Kate to swimming lessons and when I was buckling them up afterward I told them that the next day was Father's Day. I explained that daddy was their father and that we should think of something nice to get him. Brian thought for a minute and then said, "I think he would like a gun squirter (I'm assuming he meant a squirt gun)." After a moment Brian then said, "and a blow hole." I burst out laughing, which Brian didn't like at all and demanded to know why I was laughing. I told him he was just funny, which he also didn't like (I've found that when you tell kids they're funny they tend to think it's a "bad" thing. I asked Brian to explain what a "blow hole" was and he looked at me like I was an idiot. He said, "You know, it's a hole that you blow out of." Kate then chimed in from the back seat, "Dorey" (Dorey is the blue fish from "Finding Nemo"...I guess she thought Jeff would like his very own Dorey). Brian then said, "A new car." Well, there you have it: a gun squirter, a blow hole, Dorey, and a new car....it's quite a list.
We ended up getting Jeff two new shirts. I looked for blow holes everywhere, but they're hard to come by. :-)

Where's Kelly??

I couldn't find Kelly the other day (but I knew she wasn't in the street). I found her in the shed sitting in the wagon. I think she was prepared to sit there all day until someone came to her to give her a wagon ride.

Life, death, confusion, clarity...

I feel the need to apologize to anyone out there who has been waiting for a new post from me. I just haven't been in the mood to write much lately. I guess part of it is that we got cable recently and now I have like 5 million channels to choose from, so who has time to blog?? Seriously!

Also, there has been a lot of sad stuff happening over the past several weeks. In May, I knew of 3 young men all in their twenties, who died within 2 weeks of each other (2 of drug overdoses and one young man who fell down a flight of stairs and died). My neighbor's grandmother also passed away in May. I then learned about a boating accident that took the life of my sister-in-law and niece's hairdresser/friend. She too was in her twenties. Just two weeks ago I learned of the tragic death of my friend Nancy's brother Jack, who drowned following a seizure, while swimming alone in a pool. This past week I learned that my sister and brother-in-law's nephew, age 21, died of a drug overdose. And then this past Sunday I went to the wake of a neighbor and fellow parishoner from St. Mary's church. Amy, wife to Brendan and mother to 5 year old Emily, lost her 4 year battle with cancer late last week. The thing is, I didn't know she had cancer. I didn't even know she was sick. Jeff (my husband) found out about her wake from our priest as he was leaving church on Sunday.

Even though funny things continue to happen in my life, such as Kelly pooping in the tub tonight, I have found that my thoughts have been on life, death and life after death, lately.

Life is messy. We say things such as, "A parent should never have to bury their child." Well you know what? A 5 year old child should not have to be without her mother. I think we have this notion of what life is supposed to be, or what we all want it to be. For me it goes something like this: you're born, you live a healthy, happy and full life, and then you die when you're old. Now, the older I get the older "old" gets, so for me old is around 88. When I'm 60 maybe "old" will be 100, who knows. However, this type of life I just wrote of doesn't exist. I'm beginning to realize that life is not about the time you spend living it or even what you accomplish during it. Life is about something we don't (or can't) understand. I mean yes, we are supposed to trust, love and have faith in God, treat others the way we would like to be treated ourselves, be selfless, be humble etc. But some people die before they are even old enough to know how to accomplish these things. What I do know is that being created...existing...living...gives us the opportunity to one day die, and then live again with God, our Father, who loves us with a love that brought us into being in the first place.

I believe that the ultimate goal of life is to one day make it to heaven, because let's face it, that's were the good stuff is. This "life" that we speak of wanting here on earth really and truly exists in heaven. The bonus is that it never ends. To live in a place where there is no suffering, no war, no pollution, a place where there is always joy and laughter, and all questions are finally answered, and loved ones are reunited with each other, and chocolate rains down from the sky (at least this is what happens in my heaven).....THIS is the LIFE I want to have.

So for now I will continue to turn to God in prayer for those who are suffering, for those who have lost loved ones, for those who have passed on, and for all the other intentions that need to be prayed for. I will also pray for God to help me make sense of things that I cannot understand and to continue to trust in Him above all else. I guess that's all for now. It's late and I don't even know if I'm making any sense with this post. I just wanted to honor those who, I think, have died too young, and too tragically, in the past few months. And for my neighbor's grandmother, who DID have the opportunity to live a full life, but is still so very missed.

Totally awesome swing set

Jeff had a vision of what he wanted our side yard to look like and boy did he make it happen! This first picture is the best "before" picture I could find of our over grown and under-used area to the left of our house. As you'll see from the upcoming pictures, not only does our yard look beautiful, but Jeff built the kids an amazing swing set to boot!

This shot was taken from the upstairs window.

The kids are loving it!



Not sure if Kate was pumped about the height in this one :-)

Here's to not giving up

Well it's been one month since I started blogging about my "weight loss" and I present to you the new me....about 5 pounds heavier. Since I'm real and this blog is real I felt it was important to post this lovely picture and talk about my weight gain. This past month has been a tough one mostly because of illness, not me, but my kids. I've found that when they're sick, they're moody (even more so than a 4, 3, and 1 year old can be) and the stress level in the house sky rockets. In addition, when the kids are sick (with fevers) we don't really leave the house. Where does this leave me? Well it leaves me in the house, stressed and bored...so I eat...because I'm always in the kitchen and I'm always surrounded by food. What to do?? My plan, now that the kids seem more healthy, is to get out of the house (as much as possible) and exercise, rather than grab something to munch on when I'm bored or stressed. I have a few other ideas but I'm going to wait on sharing them until this month is over.
Oh and by the way, I just came from the gym in this picture, hence the red face and wet neckline of my t-shirt...quite attractive, I know. Wish me luck, say a prayer, hijack a dessert truck so that it never makes it my grocery store...feel free to do whatever you need to to help me it. Thanks in advance!!

Some of my recent facebook posts

I realize that I've neglecting my blog lately so for those of you who are not on fb, here are some of my posts from the past week...just kidding...enjoy!

Highlight from my day: one of my children was so focused playing hide-and-go-seek that they had an accident (#1) in the closet in which they were hiding. Oh, but not a "neat" closet, but one that has mounds of clothes on the floor waiting to be sorted into "keep" and "go to goodwill". Just another day in paradise for me :-)

My 3 & 4 year old children decided to put sand in their underwear today while in the sandbox. They told me that they were pretending to be babies who pooped in their pants. While hosing them off...ALL parts...the 16 month old got into the paint the kids had been using to paint rocks with and was painting her head and legs. I'm so tired.

I had a dream last night that the truck which brings ALL the food to our grocery store crashed and they weren't getting another delivery for weeks. The store gave out each family a ration of food AND a box of appetite suppressants....they didn't seem to work for me though.) Apparently this is the type of dream I have after watching The Biggest Loser.

I just spilled some bleach on my hand but PLEASE don't worry about my skin being damaged in any way...I'm pretty sure the white will stay white.

While downstairs typing my last post, I was unaware of the activities of a certain 16 mth old upstairs. After emerging from the basement I was greeted by a diaper-less toddler. I reluctantly began the search for the missing garment. It had been removed in the kitchen, dumped out, stepped in, and tracked down the hallway. Miraculously I neither screamed nor cried...but the day is not yet over.

I am SO overtired today that I've been rolling on the floor laughing at my own comments to other people's posts. I'm predicting that I'll blow up at my children sometime between now and 5, before finally bursting into tears and saying something like, "why does life have to be so hard sometimes!" or "STOP FIGHTING!".......I'm THAT kind of tired!

If there had been a hs yearbook superlative created just for you, what would it have been? Clearly mine would have been "Most likely to become a fb sensation AND stay-at-home mom, who eats large amounts of chocolate and hums the theme to Wonder Woman constantly." Too bad that wasn't a category when I graduated...what... the heck was wrong with the yearbook staff??

Ummmm, I'm thinking that I should NOT have just dried the blanket I just washed. I opened up my dryer and it looks like somebody just sheered a sheep in there. Anybody need some wool for their spinning wheel?

My son at breakfast: "Mom, did you ever have a mean mom?" Me: "No. Nonni is my mom. Do you think Nonni is mean?" Son: "no" Me: "Do YOU have a mean mom?" Son: (pause) "no"...why the PAUSE little man??!! I guess he's mad because I wouldn't let him use the permanent marker I was using....I'm WICKED!!!!!!1

I'm watching "The Biggest Loser" while eating a MASSIVE chocolate chip cookie.... I'll start my diet....again....tomorrow.

I kicked Monday's butt: Brian to pr-school, two grocery stores, home, shoveled BIG mound of dirt off driveway and raked it to plant grass, Brian home, lunch for kids, nap for baby, three batches homemade choc. chip cookies, dinner kids, b-day dinner husband, AND..rest!!

There is a concert going on in my living room right now...a Kate original..."Stupid man up in the cup"...I can see her name up in lights now!

Keeping my kids safe: sunscreen-check, bug spray-check, grooming for ticks-check, following them around with a pitch fork in hand to defend against the raccoon that my husband saw walk down my next door neighbors driveway yesterday AFTERNOON-check! I'm exhausted just trying to keep my kids healthy and ALIVE!

My 3 yr old decided that bringing her hot dog into the bathroom with her was a good idea today. However, I think she now has reason to rethink that idea. Supporting oneself on the potty while holding hot dog pieces = falling into the toilet. I'll leave the "it's gross to bring food into the bathroom" discussion for another day. I think the lesson learned today made quite a splash as it is.

My daughter was stuck in her seat at the kitchen table. I ran over and pulled the chair out and Kate said, "Mom, you saved the day!" Then a little while after that I was holding a barbie and she said (at least I swear it's what I heard her say), "can I play with your sister?" Kate is my new favorite person on this glorious planet earth!

Has the water main break here in MA made national news? Two million people and 700,000 households have to boil their water before drinking it. However, that's not really the most important inconvenience. Several Dunkin Donuts are not able to serve COFFEE! I repeat NO COFFEE at Dunkin Donuts! Doesn't America run on... Dunkin? Where's FEMA?? This TRULY is a NATIONAL emergency!

This has been one of the best weekends I've had in a very long time. It wasn't even the weather or the fact that I had a "day off" yesterday (although those both helped). I got to spend time with one of my dearest friends, I counted all my blessings, I breathed, and I "found" myself again. God is so so good...so good!

This morning my 16 month old was taking a bath and I left her (for just a moment, I swear!) to get a drink of water. When I came back in the bathroom she said, "Hi! How ah ya?" I burst out laughing and said, "I'm good. How are you?" She said, "good." She's 16 months old for crying out loud!!!! She's a riot I tell ya!

I wanted a peaceful dinner with my family. However, "peaceful" meals don't happen with Kelly...(she likes to do her "Kelly thing" cry, run around, get up/get down, sit on my lap, hold out her hand for a walk, etc. etc.) SO I gave her a lollipop while we ate and told her to go watch a show. I'll add that to the growing list of "things I would never dream of doing before I was a parent."

My mom came up to watch the kids today while I went to the doctor. On the way home I stopped at Trader Joe's and got the kids frozen chocolate covered bananas. When I took them out of the box and gave them to the kids my mom says, "Oh! This was on your front lawn!", and she handed me a packaged CONDOM! I wonder what reminded her of the disturbing gift she had for me in her pocket??!!

Brian found a worm the other day and was giving it a ride on his big wheels. A few minutes later I heard him say, "Wow Mom! These break really easy!" I looked down to see PART of it on the driveway. I said, "Brian, don't hurt it!" and he looked at me with a very serious face and in a concerned tone and said, "I hop...e he's okay."

I'm trying to cut back on salt so I bought unsalted butter...I buttered my toast...but it tasted flat...so I shook on some salt. I bought low fat frozen yogurt but it too was missing something...fat...so I mixed in Peanut butter. I'm a lost cause!!!

Saw a bumper sticker that said, "Grandchildren are your reward for not killing your own children." I would like grandchildren someday, so I'm going to keep reminding myself of that bumper sticker today. I also heard that Calgon only "really" takes you away if you drink it. Since I want grandchildren (and let's face ...it..I love my own children), I've decided not to take a swig.

I've never bought a pair of sweatpants with writing on the butt..never wanted to draw extra attention to that area. However, I was thinking that I might buy a pair a few sizes too small, so the letters are spread out and you can't read the word. As I lose weight people will be able to see the letters moving closer together and being able to finally make out the word. Like teaching a kid to read...

At one point this morning I think my children were all crying together in perfect harmony. It actually had a nice sound to it, just for that moment, and then it became unbearable again. If anyone feels like crying today I'd like to extend an invitation to my house because chances are, I'll be crying at some point too!

Funny post time. Want to know how I met my husband? Well, apparently my mother got tired of my being single. She went into the guidance dept. of the school she teaches at & announced, "Doesn't anybody know any single catholic guys?" I guess she asked other teachers too because that night she called me with 3 phone numbers I could call! I said, "I'm not calling these guys! But they can call me." Jeff called..

The "Diet" hahahahahahahaha....aaaaah....

On June 4th or so I'm supposed to be posting a "new and thinner" picture of myself after my month of healthy eating and "crazy" exercising. Ya, don't expect to be dazzled....I've actually gained about 3 pounds. HUGE SIGH....this would all be a lot easier if I worked outside of the home....and wasn't around food all day....and didn't eat due to stress.....because of constant crying and screeching from a few little angel girls.........
Nice day out today though, wasn't it?