Reminiscing...

My brother came over last night to have me fix his bad hair cut and we got reminiscing about the past. When my brother was in high school he used to come over every Thursday night to watch the O.C. and have dinner. Two springs ago he helped me scrape my garage when we were repainting and he found this pair of safety goggles and decided that he would act like an old Jewish man with a lisp. If you heard this impression you would literally pee your pants so I had to take pictures of him, of course. While I was looking for this photo I realized just how many pictures that I have taken over the years. I counted 21 photo albums in my collection and I have already taken and downloaded onto my computer 644 pictures of Seth and he is only 4 1/2 months old. Needless to say I am a picture freak, but I will have great memories when I am old and gray!


As promised, we continue our Napoleon Dynamite quote of the day with an added little treat, I dug out a picture of Justin wearing my "Vote for Pedro" t-shirt! He definately has the Napoleon facial expression!

I have to say that I LOVE the word DANG now along with FLIPPIN' and GOSH! People look at me like I'm crazy, but they are fun to say and use in everyday talks. I challenge you to use them the next time you are just talking to someone!

One last thing, I took Seth for a walk in the stroller last night and it was super sunny outside so I put his new sunglasses that I bought him on and we are walking down the street. I'm singing with my ipod and just going and soooooo many people drove by and took double takes at Seth it was hysterical. Bascially, they either LOVED the sunglasses or thought I was super WEIRD. They were attention getters.

Totally BORING Hump Day w/ Exciting News!

Drum Roll PLEASE..... We are so excited to share that our close friends from MA are coming to visit over the 4th of July! YEAH!!! The Gilbert Clan is traveling many many hours with 2 young children to come and visit us. It will be days filled with kiddies, food, laughter, pics galore, and fun fun fun! We are so thrilled that they are willing to make the trip up this year. We only get to see each other in person once a year, but we spy into each others lives daily via our blogs and fotologs. Nina has been the influence on me that has made me totally obssessed with taking pics, being crafty, and blogging.

The Crazy Gilbert Clan

Napoleon Dynamite Quote of the day:

I'll end today with a cute pic of my men napping together.

I Found It! I Found It! I Found It!

I FINALLY found a "Vote for Pedro" baby onesie! Hip Hip Hooray! Look for upcoming pics of Seth in this little number in 5-6 business days!

Big Boy!

Hello to all! All of a sudden I looked at Seth last night and realized that he is growing up and FAST! He is a rolling maniac now and just basically can't sit still. He definately fits the name we have given him, "On-the-Go-Seth"! So we tried out the high chair for the first time last night and he liked it. Tonight we will try peaches as our entree. He grabbed the spoon right out of my hand. He's Mr. Independent at 4 1/2 months old! Watch out!

In other news we have many upcoming events to be excited about. Here is our social calendar of events:

** Great-Grandpa turns 80 this weekend and we are going out to dinner with Seth for the first time.

** Seth is going to meet all of his Great-Aunts and Uncles on Grammy's side this weekend.

** Father's Day is this Sunday and we have many special things planned for Daddy!

** The Gilbert's are coming for a visit in July. HOORAY!

** The Mt. Carmel Feast is next weekend. We'll be showing our Italian pride!

** Mommy is almost done with work for the summer.

____________________________________________________________________

Moving on, as promised we have our Napoleon Dynamite quote of the day:

My 10 year reunion is coming up this summer, how crazy is that? I'm starting to feel a little old. Oh well it should be a good weekend. I'm excited/nervous about the whole thing. It ought to be interesting to see some old faces, many whom I haven't seen in 10 years, others I see all the time. We will have to wait until August for pics from the reunion though, stay tuned!

Tribute Week to Napoleon Dynamite

We had the best weekend despite the rain, but this week is supposed to be ALL sun ALL week and I can't wait. Break out the stroller, the back pack, the front pack, whatever. We are going outside to soak up some of the sun while we can.

I received my "croquet" pin from Nin in the mail and I love it, you are so creative. It is proudly displayed on my favorite jacket for all to see.

So I will dedicate a small portion of this blog every day this week to my all time FAVORITE movie the one the only... Napoleon Dynamite. When this movie first came out my brother brought it over and thought I'd hate it. Well, after watching it like 10 or more times now I am totally obsessed. I have my own Vote for Pedro t-shirt and I have looked everywhere for a onesie for Seth, but haven't found one. If anyone see's a baby onesie that says Vote for Pedro I WANT IT! My brother and I have already planned for Seth's first viewing of this movie, of course with fountain sodas. Each day this week I will enlighten you with my many favorite lines from this movie.

CHAPSTICK FOR ANYONE?!

I found some video clips online, I just need to figure out how to insert them into the blog. I'm working on it!

My sleeping, peaceful, huggable, loveable little man!

A Weekend of Firsts

Let's try this one more time. I had this all set this morning and it booted me off and didn't save, I wanted to cry! It has been a rainy weekend, but a weekend of firsts for Seth. Friday night we went to the Relay for Life parade and Seth loved it. I put him on my front and he had a perfect view of everything and everyone. Saturday night we went to cousin Lexy's dance recital and Seth was once again, excellent and he loved all of the people and the music. He and I danced in the aisle, Daddy videoed us, but I'm not sure how to add video to this so I'll have to ask Nina and get back to you all on that. Today, we took Seth to Taco Bell for the first time. I had a craving, but don't I always. It is a good thing that I am so busy all of the time or else I'd weigh 200lbs.! I think I already put this picture on yesterday, but I'm sure you liked it so here it is again!

Moving on, Roland and I have become obsessed with the movie Old School, this weekend, it is flippin' hysterical so we have watched it on Friday night, Saturday night, and I bought the DVD at Walmart yesterday so that whenever we need a good laugh we are all set.


Here is my favorite quote from the movie, it's from Will Farrell (Frank):
Just a little background, Frank is running down a main street totally naked.
His Wife: Frank, WHAT are you doing?
Frank: We're going streaking through quad to the gymnasium.
His Wife: Who is going streaking?
Frank: They're coming.
His Wife: Get in the car Frank!
Frank: OK, hey honey do you think KFC is open?

I guess maybe you should just watch it, because this does not do any justice to how funny this scene is! Stay tuned for more quotes from movies that we love! Just wait until I pull out some quotes from Napoleon Dynamite.

Seth finally fits into his t-shirt that reads "MY BIG BROTHER IS A PUG", love it! He got so many compliments on it. Thank you to Sue, Brian, and Elizabeth, it is an amazing gift and we love it!

One last comment, favorite quote from my husband for today...

" Seth, did you pee yourself, it looks like you peed yourself!" He did and we have our 2nd outfit of the day on now! :)

Things that I LOVE about My Family...

It is a rainy and cold day here in Watertown and as I look at my husband, son, and dog I feel so fortunate. I am such a lucky girl and I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family. So I thought I'd list a few of the many things that I LOVE about my family.
* Kissing Seth's chubby and always warm cheeks.
* Rocky's snoring, even though I can't sleep near him, his snoring is comforting.
* Roland bringing me home a Dr. Pepper fountain soda or a Wild Cherry Pepsi just because.
* Seth in his Jump-a-Roo, jumping like a mad man.
* Rocky always being right by your side, you can never hide from him.
* Roland taking Seth to the sitter on Friday's so I can stop and get myself breakfast.
* Seth's CONSTANT smile, it lights up your day.
* Roland outbidding someone on Ebay to buy Seth Baby Einstein videos and then having them come in Japanese. He was so proud of himself. (We did figure out how to play them in English luckily!)
*Seth's people watching.
* Roland always being willing to get up in the middle of the night even when it is my turn.

These are just some of the MANY MANY things that I love about my family. I'll have to sit down and make a much larger list when I have more time. As I type Seth is determined to roll over so I don't want to miss it like in the middle of the night!


One more thing, Seth, Grammy, and I went to the Relay for Life Parade, Seth's first parade and he loved it. So many people to check out, he was in heaven!

We are going to see cousin Lexy's dance recital tonight, yet another first for Seth. It is a weekend full of firsts!

Houdini Strikes in his Sleep

I think that I need to install hidden camera's in Seth's crib because he does the strangest things in his sleep. We put him in one direction and he ends up sideways, upside down, and backwards when we go to get him up. Last night he had woken up in the middle of night crying, not sure why, but the interesting part was that when we went to check on him he had rolled over onto his belly and ended up at the opposite end of the crib. So he's screaming because he's not used to being on his tummy when he is sleeping and he's gasping for air while his face is being smushed in the mattress. I actually missed the whole ordeal, Roland was able to rescue him.

The sad part is that the actual 1st time he rolled from his back to his belly we BOTH missed. He was so close last night, but he felt that he could accomplish his goal in his sleep without us being there to cheer him on. So, I'm on the lookout now and so excited to see it with my own eyes.

Seth loves his new Jump-a-Roo toy so I had to take a pic of his legs, he's like a crazy man just jumping and jumping and jumping until he completely tires himself out.

Tonight we are hopefully off to the Relay for Life Parade, weather permitting! Other then that we have no plans for the weekend. I can't even remember the last time we had no plans. We are excited about it, but it is supposed to rain ALL weekend, yuck! We'll make due though. Hopefully I will have something exciting to report next week!

In closing take a look at this pic and tell me what you think my 4 month old son is trying to tell me!!!!! Just kidding!

Houdini

OK, my baby is a flippin' Houdini in his sleep! I got up and fed Seth at 5am this morning and put him back to bed until we needed to leave for work. I go in to wake him up at 7am and he is laying in the complete opposite direction as I had put him down! I'd like to take bets on when he will walk because I think we are in trouble and he is going to be a busy boy, early!

So I bought Seth a pair of infant sunglasses because he seems very sun sensitive and the hats fall in his face. So the sunglasses arrived in the mail yesterday and they are soooooo funny looking on him. He looks like a combination of a rock star-alien. He was good about them though and didn't try to take them off.



There has been nothing interesting going on in our lives this week, but you know what, I have really liked it that way. I've been way too busy and going here and there. This week I have enjoyed just taking things slow and one day at a time and I think I will reward myself and my family by ordering pizza for dinner. Why not start the weekend early!

Back to Reality!

Hey Everyone!

I'm back to reality today, back to teaching and report cards and the real world. For the past two days I have been able to spend all day outside doing fun activites with the kids. The fun had to come to an end so now I am working on report cards and trying to find fun activities with actual goals and lessons in them to keep the kids interested for the next week and a half. We'll get through and then it will be on to summer vacation. Days of playing and having fun with my little man. I have to say that I think I will never learn that the sun causes burns. Monday I got burned on my shoulders. So I thought I was all smart and I wore sleeves and SPF 15 yesterday. So what happens... my scalp gets fried. You just have to laugh because I should know better by now. I just didn't want hat head for the rest of the day!

We are still working on staining our fence in the back yard. Ro finally bought a spray stainer so it is coming along much faster now. We would like the yard and house to look nice for Seth's baptism party in July! That should be fun!

Our counties annual Relay for Life is this Friday so we are hoping that the weather cooperates and we can bring Seth to support a great cause. He will love watching all the people. He is so much like his Grandma Bonnie, loves to people watch, but don't we all!

Here is a pic that I think is hysterical. This is one of my 4th graders. We had to ride to Cape Vincent for our Olympics yesterday and Chase was amusing himself on the bus. If it doesn't make you laugh then something is wrong with you!! HA!

Chase Boyer: Grade 4 @ Guardino Elementary School in Clayton, NY

St. Lawrence Skiffs: A Day on the River

I'm sorry that this is a day late, but the weather has been beautiful here and so we have been outside as much as possible and then by the time we come in and do all of our nightly rituals, I'm beat. Anyhow, on Monday I was able to accompany my fourth graders to the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton where they were involved in a boat launching. Our school was awarded a grant by the state to let our fourth graders build St. Lawrence skiffs, model size. They worked on their skiffs for about 2 weeks and then had a special ceremony to launch them. It was very neat and the kids really enjoyed themselves. I myself got a wicked sunburn and paid for my day of fun last night. Will I ever learn to wear sunblock all the time, NOPE! Anyhow, here are some pictures of the kids launching their skiffs.

My girlfriend Erin's 4th grade class also one of my reading classes.

Today Seth was lent a new toy, it is very fitting because he LOVES to be on his feet and up seeing everything. It is called a "Jump-a-Roo"! As you can see he is in heaven, he tired himself out in about 10 minutes and then fell asleep on our walk in the stroller.

I hope that everyone is enjoying there week, I have to go back to the real world and teach tomorrow, my two days of fun in the sun have come to an end, until next week! News to come...

Sunday Fun!

We had the greatest weekend despite the rainy weather, we definately made the most of a cruddy situation. Sunday Seth and I took a drive to Clayton and supported my schools Relay for Life team by buying 2 chicken BBQ dinners. It was to support 2 good causes, the fight against cancer and mommy not having to cook dinner! Hooray!

Later Seth and I went up and Seth was able to meet his cousins Gwen (9) and Elise (2) for the first time. They live in Binghampton and were up for the weekend. Seth was in heaven with the girls, he is starting young.

Seth has alos started enjoying the taste of just about anything that comes near his mouth. He loves to chew on his burp cloth, his fingers, anyones fingers, just about anything you put in front of him he will chew. Sunday he especially enjoyed Grandpa Buckinghams finger!

Fondue and Weekend Fun

To end a crazy week we had some close friends and their daughters over for dinner last night. We had so much fun! I tried a new recipe called taco cups and then we had chocolate fondue with fresh fruit for dessert! What a blast. The following are some pics from our evening.

Rod Voss

Roland

Jen Voss and Maya

Our Dessert Feast

Favorite quote of the evening from Sophia Voss age 2: "I smell Rocky's gas poop!" Loved it. Sophia is like any typical 2 year old, she's like the energizer bunny, but with lots of humor!

Sophia is a picky eater so for dinner she ate shredded cheese and a tortilla shell! YUM, not!

Today I treated my Mother to a belated Mother's Day pedicure and lunch out. My feet feel like they are brand new and it was so relaxing. Plus I tried a new lunch item at Tin Pan Galley, a fried green tomato BLT. It was amazing, I'd highly recommend it to anyone passing through Sackets Harbor, NY.

My Mom

My beautiful new feet

Have a wonderful remainder of the weekend to all!

The End of the Craziness

Happy Friday to All! Today marks the end of the crazy week we Charlton's have had. I am ending the week with a half day at work for a doc appt. and then going home to take a nap before I pick Seth up from the sitters. Mom needs a little QUIET rest! Tonight we are having Seth's girlfriend Maya and her family for dinner and having fondue for dessert. How fun is that?! I'd rather skip the whole dinner and indulge in strawberries dipped in chocolate for the whole meal. I can't wait! Pictures of our fun to come!

Roland has been CRAZY busy at work and I know he is super stressed, I just wish I could help ease the burden. So everyone out there, keep drinking Pepsi and or Pepsi products for my husband! PLEASE!


Last night my brother came over for dinner and we took Seth and the dog for a walk after dinner. Seth was completely exhausted from being awake for so long, yet stubborn not to fall asleep in his swing. So the following are pics of the little guy all tuckered out!

I need to debrief about last night just to let the stress out of my chest for today! Last night was insanely crazy. We had Roland's parents for dinner for his mom's birthday which was fine, but add in 92 degree heat, a cranky baby, a dog, and two house guests and you get one tired mommy! I was dripping sweat, running around like I had my head cut off, trying to get dinner cooked, the table set, laundry done, and keep the baby happy. AHHH! This is my life right now and it is insane. It is also insane that I feel like I come to work for a vacation! So with that said I now feel like some stress has left my chest and I can move on to more happy thoughts.

We had a wonderful 4 day weekend this past weekend and thinking of all that fun brightens my day! We took a trip to Oswego, where Roland and I went to college. We took Seth to our favorite fish restaurant down by the lake. We took him to the best farmers market where they have all sorts of fruits, veggies, homemade baked goods, plants, and basically you name it, they've got it! Then we took him for a walk along the lake and watched all the fisherman. He ate while the wind swept through his hair. It was a great day!

Sunday was also fun, but a little too busy! We went to cousin Lexy's 5th birthday party and played and ate ourselves silly. I can't wait until next year when Seth can actually run around with the kids and have a great time. I know, don't wish time away, but I do!

Well, I best go for right now, time to teach and do some work. Rainy day, but cooler so I'm a happy mama!