Nicholas's 7th Birthday Party - SO PROUD!!

Citizens Voice Article TIMES LEADER ARTICLE

Conversations from kindergarten..and beyond

It must be forever since I felt compelled to write anything on here - Facebook has kind of been my media outlet for complaints and random comments on life. But thought I would capture just two of the funniest conversations between my 6 and 4 yr old tonight...
Nicholas "Lauren in just beautiful"
Maria feeling left out "Nicholas am I beautiful"
Nicholas "Well you are pretty but you are complicated Maria"
and another one
Maria "Nicholas guess what? When I was in mommies belly I was singing"
"I was singing, I'm coming out so you better get this party started" She is seriously so witty it makes me laugh...you have to be quick to get half of the things she is saying. She is my little girl 100% some of the things she says are the exact same things I am about to say and she takes the words right out of my mouth.
So here is their X-mas eve pic.

Long time no talk

Wow has it really been since July since I last posted. It's just too hard to catch up on everything from that long ago. So maybe I can just capture the moment. Nicholas is sitting here talking non stop - he just never stops talking or moving. A bit like the energizer bunny but his batteries never run out. I guess it is genetic because Mike and I don't sit still so well either. His favorite conversation goes like this..
"What's your favorite football team"
Me: "I guess the Eagles"
"What's your next favorite team?"
Me: "I don't know I don't really have another favorite"
"well what about Penn State"
Me: "I don't like college football - it bores me"
Nicholas crying "Well why don't you like Penn State they are cool"
Me: "PLEASE can't we talk about something else..."
Maria is sitting in the other room watching Mulan in the dark by herself with the door closed. She is so strange sometimes.
She has been accident prone lately and went through some bad bumps, bruises and stitches and really for no other reason than just running first and looking second. Hopefully she will catch on - look first then run.
We are almost finished with our basement project. It has come together so well I am thinking of moving down there. The only think missing is a kitchen.
Well - a few pics and hopefully be back soon.

July

I promise some pictures soon but here's the recap. It rained, then it rained, and then it rained some more. We manage to get an almost rain free week at Wildwood Crest again this year. The kids love it there and as it turned out we had friends vacationing up the road who have a little boy Nicholas's age, so he had a buddy. This took some of the pain of the on going battle between Nicholas and Maria away.
I am pretty sure my kids fight more than any other kids I know, and when they aren't fighting they are only 1/2 a second away from another fight.
They entertain each other in the car these days by playing bite my finger. Here's how it goes in case you ever want to play.
Nicholas - let's play a game
Maria - OK what game
Nicholas - I have a good idea, I'll put my finger out and you bite it
Maria - OK
Nicholas (SCREAMING very loudly) - Mommy Maria bit my finger
Game over - Maria 1 Nicholas 0
We really need to the get the DVD player back into the car. I was hoping wihtout they would take in more the real world but all they are doing is making me wish I had plexiglass separating the front seat from the back.

Maria is going through this phase where she has the answers to everything. For instance....here is an example of an interaction between my mother and her.
Mom - what's your friends name
Maria - Ava
Mom (thinking Maria says that name cute, this is a few minutes later) - Maria was was your friends name
Maria - Poopy head..

So she does this a lot when she answers you once and you ask her again, you can almost assuredly get the answer poopy head. I am sure what she means to say is I already answered your question so leave me alone. Were it not for her curls and cuteness she would never get away with this behavior.

We went miniature golfing last night and she immediately got in trouble for not listening. I hauled her away to a picnic table and some young boy was smiling and looking at her like she was a cute little girl, obviously this young man does not deal with Maria everyday - she jaded him with the curls and blue eyes. I wish I had the looks to pull off being grouchy and bossy, but I guess I have to settle for biting my tongue in lieu of telling everyone poopy head.

Pictures of summer fun to follow soon!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, OK just bears...

I have been meaning forever to touch base in virtual reality. Now guilt has taken on the better of me and here I am about to embark on a three month catch up tour of my life.

We travelled to Pittsburgh in May for my nephews engagement party. We stayed at his house. I was really impressed - 27 and single and he had all the fixings of a real adult house. I was expecting to bring my own sheets and silverware but turns out that wasn't necessary. So this was my first trip back to the burgh since having the kids. In my crazy mind I pictured taking Maria to Jacks at 8AM and having a liquid breakfast from a bar stool. The reality was a little different. We did get to walk from 26th to the Beehive and back. We saw the old rat house on 16th street, passed the Rex where I used to work. The amazing thing is how different life looks from the same view almost 15 years later. Jesus did I say almost 15 years post graduation. OK 14 to be exact but still that is so long. Life brings so much our way in that amount of time. Standing outside the Rex, walking over 10 blocks, the South side seemed so small. The houses so tiny, the bars, for as many as there were, just didn't seem so fun. OK truth be told I was there Sunday morning after the fun had ended and the streets were littered with the sins of the night before. But still it really put it into perspective. You can go back but you can never go back. I guess the lesson learned is to savor the moment because every minute is fleeting. How did I ever think college and college life was so difficult, ha..that old hindsight adage is ringing in my head now.
So I did get to meet up with my friend Timmer who is happily settled in Shadyside with his boyfriend.
I guess the good thing about 15 years post college is you get a little used to who you are and the skin you are in. So I don't struggle so much with a hair being out of place or the many pounds I have lost and gained and hope to lose again.

OK enough on the Pittsburgh trip.
We just came back from a week in Jamaica, which was just awesome. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Rose Hall, I highly recommend it there if you ever get the chance. The trip was fun, I had my second less than favorable ocean kayaking experience. The first one for those who might remember was before Kim's wedding when I had the great idea we had time to kayak around the entire island, only to get too tired to finish and too late to make the wedding on time so we ditched the kayaks for the wedding. This experience was a little different. We were out in the wide open sea and flipped the kayak. I panicked about sharks while my friend the smart one didn't flail and try to swim, she stayed with the boat, which drifted further out to sea (mind you my measurements are embellished in my mind, we weren't that far out but far enough that swimming in was a struggle, we did have life preservers on too) At some point the hotel guys realized we flipped and came out with their little speed boat to rescue us. Mike heard it all go down and didn't even bother to get up and look, he just figured it was us and we would be fine. I like his confidence in me. I think he overestimates me too much.

The kids are doing great - we took a bump on our flight and got some flight vouchers so I got the crazy idea we could take Maria and Nicholas to Disney again. I thought the potty bribe would work. So when we got home I promised Maria if she uses the potty she can go to Disney. She promptly acquiesced and declared I am ready to go to Disney. She doesn't understand the terms of the agreement mean to use the potty FOREVER!! And am I crazy going back to Disney, that which I hate more than anywhere else on earth. I guess I still can't believe it was so horrible, I need another dose to confirm.

OK gotta get to bed and stop boring everyone before they fall asleep.
Oh one more thing - the post title refers to the bear families that frequent our backyard - more on that later!

Happy Easter to all and to a good night

Oh wait that is the Santa saying.
Here we are at yet another American made holiday. Yet another ruined holiday for you traditionalists. Let's see.... we have effectively warped Christmas into a buying frenzy in the name of Santa, so let's just mess up Easter with another obscure story about a rabbit leaving eggs everywhere and a basket with candy or toys in it. Can you believe some kids actually have a list of what they want for Easter. Then there are the lines at the malls to sit on rabbits lap - which is probably a cast out
Catholic priest getting off on little kids sitting on his lap (sorry for the church dig there) but it is a little strange for an adult to dress like a child and have kids sit on his or her lap. What if the same adult dressed up on, let's say Memorial to do the same thing, they would be jailed!!!
As if a basket full of sugar isn't enough...parents willingly oblige to the demands for toys at Easter.
I am about fed up with the whole thing. There is no way to escape it either - even on our childless cul-de-sac tucked in the woods in Mountain Top, Easter is everywhere. Rabbits and bunnies and eggs and baskets.
So as an American parent I must oblige to my children for the next few days. Maria wants Barbie Pop Tarts in her basket and some binkies. Nicholas wants chocolate candy. I can threaten them with cancelling the rabbit service if they are bad or remind Maria that the Easter Bunny took Nicholas's binkies away. Then on Sunday morning when they wake up and dress all nice I can give them loads of chocolate to dribble down their faces and onto their nice cloths, if we are lucky one of the kids will eat so much junk they will get sick and then not want anymore candy. And we will all smile blissfully and post pictures on Monday. Ahhhhh, I love American holidays!! So Happy Easter Everyone.

Cleaning Carpets

So if Nicholas didn't push me to the edge with finger painting poop on the walls, then Maria has certainly pushed me to the edge by pooping on her bedroom floor. The worst part of it is; she cannot simply poop on the floor and walk away. She has to step in it then run around like a mad woman. Leaving foot tracks throughout the light beige carpet that covers our second floor (I know we should have gone with wood floors upstairs too). She was just a very lucky little girl that Friday I had a Dentist appointment. Lucky because I hate the dentist and was amply drugged up on some ativan to take the edge off the dentist. The additional side effects of Ativan is they also take the edge off poop stained carpets. I was pretty calm about the entire ordeal, got the steam cleaner out (which by the way if you don't have one they pay for themselves when you have kids) and steam cleaned the carpet.
Maria was pretty proud of her artwork and proudly told her daddy when he came too.
If I look back, most of Nicholas's potty and poop escapades were precursors to using the potty. Maybe this is part of the process and we are close to a breakthrough. I can only hope.