Weekend Wrap Up

We had a birthday, BBQ, porch tearing out and potty training filled weekend! We had fun to say the least and here is how it all played out...

Friday night we celebrated my Mom's 55th birthday and I'm sorry to say that I forgot my camera so I don't have any pics from that evening. My grandparents came down and Tom made a delicious meal. She and her best friend will continue to celebrate her birthday this weekend with a trip to the spa in Lake George. They will have a blast and I will be home and jealous! j/k!

Saturday night we had our first BBQ of the season and all of our friends were able to join us despite the last minute down pours of rain that we experienced. It was also the big night that my friend Jen unveiled the 4 wheeler she bought her husband. He was more then stunned and so excited!

Rod was like a kid in a candy store and you couldn't tear a smile off his face!

I bet you never thought you could fit this many people in our breakfast nook? Well, you can if you really try!

Our million calorie a slice dessert

Saturday night was a blast and all the kids had fun spending time together after a couple of weeks apart! Oh, the adults too! :)

Sunday Ro and Rod went out wheeling for a while and then Ro started his spring time project of tearing out the floor of the front porch and laying down new decking boards. It is turning out great and will hopefully be done in the next night or so.

Potty training is going so far so good! No major catastrophes to report at this time and no major stressed out Mommies either. We are all doing well!

Last, but not least we'd like to say an extra bloggie congrats to our friends Eric and Sarah! They are expecting their second baby the end of December! We wish them all the best!

Sit back and RELAX

Here are a couple fo videos since I know that you are all going through withdrawl after the last week with none!

Our little botty shaker!

Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney

Just Breathe

I feel like I have been going going since we got home last Friday. This is the first time that I have sat down to think it all through. We had a wonderful vacation in Florida. Seth truly enjoyed every moment and we enjoyed experiencing it through his eyes. Here are a few of the 100 pictures that we took!

There are a million more, but I won't bore you with them. It was a great trip, we ate, drank, played etc. to our hearts delight. It was good to come home and it is good to be back into our routine.

Unfortunately on the last day of our trip Tom's sister passed away. The funeral was yesterday and now we are trying to remember that she is at peace and in a better place.

We are also tackling potty training. We are trying to remain POSITIVE, but we know this will be a long hard battle. We have come to the realization that there are 2 Seth's. The one Seth that goes to Pat's house is very cooperative and pleasing. He will go potty with no tears and has no accidents. The Seth that comes home is not so sweet, likes to cry and carry on and will not sit on or go on the potty. I have to keep smiling though I'd rather cry and I do know that this too shall pass and he will train eventually, but we are NOT giving up. We threw out the diapers last night and we are moving forward. We actually put them in the closet, but he thinks they are gone :) Say some prayers for us in the next couple of weeks!

We're home!

I will update further tomorrow. We are still catching up on laundry, sleep and such.

Signing OFF...

I'm signing off for about 10 days. We'll be in FL for 6 days and before and after I'll be taking a computer break! I'm getting a little burned out of blogging, but I'm sure after some warm sun and fun times I'll be refreshed and ready to return. Have a great week/weekend and I'll be seeing you!

Lists

I have lists running through my head...

dinner tonight, doctors or no doctors before the trip, lesson plans for after break, one more Walmart trip, a much needed nap, finish packing on all fronts, get a pedicure, need a massage, find a used 4 wheeler for a friend, thank god that we didn't book with America Airlines, pick up the house, shave my wildabeast legs, etc.

These are just some of the thoughts running through my head! How is your Thursday going?

As Promised...

Hope you had a great day Maya! We love you!

Song of the Day

3 days until our trip!!

Happy Birthday Maya!

I have a great video wishing Maya a Happy 2nd Birthday, BUT it is at home on my computer so I'll upload it late this afternoon!

Check back later!

APPR

I just came from the principals office where I had my semi-annual APPR Review. I used to get super nervous, make lists and prepare for days for this session. In the APPR you have to basically self-evaluate your teaching. It is hard because you are asked to rate yourself in terms of needs improvement, acceptable and exemplary. No one wants to toot their own horn so it is hard for me. Anyhow, no matter what my principal knows that when I start opening my mouth either good or bad that I break out in a super red rash. Today was no different, you'd think that someone was beating me by the way my chest looked. She finds it humorous that she is complimenting me and I'm still getting red. Anyhow, the session went wonderfully and I got rave reviews which is nice to hear from time to time.

Now that that is over I am counting down the hours until Friday at 11:30am when I'll be done until after break. Pat is closed on Friday so Ro and I are each taking part of the day off to be with Seth. I opted to work in the morning and Ro will work in the afternoon.

Tonight Kristen and Jacob are coming for dinner to take their minds off their utter excitement for her hubs and his daddy coming home tomorrow after being overseas for the last 7 months. I'm making meatloaf and homemade mac and cheese. YUM!

Song of the Day!

Rock on with me to some old school rock on this Monday morning!

I took the day off to pack, organize, shop, etc!

Childhood Memories

I can only imagine what Seth will have to say when he views this blog 15 years from now. He may die of utter embarrassment! Right now the moments take our breathe away and bring tears to our eyes!

Seth and Maya wanted to play Rosey all night. Maya kept saying, "I finger Rosey," as she grabbed for my finger to get me up. We all had a good laugh at that one!

More details from the weekend in the next day or so I'm packing my little brain out! 6 days to go...

A Song a Day

I'll be posting a new song each day that keeps me going and gets me pumped for Florida!

Filled with...

My Friday has been filled with...

* Finally putting a spring jacket on Seth with his hood up (too cute!)

* Singing to The Wiggles in the car
* Panera bagels for breakfast, yum!
* Laughter on the way to school this morning
* Paying bills/teaching classes/making sub plans
* Chatting with a friend/co-worker while we had the chance
* A hot lunch date with the hubs
* Chicken Parm sandwiches and french onion soups
* Fountain sodas
* Wearing my new navy blue mary jane crocs for the first time in the rain and freezing my toes off but it is so worth it
* Students writing their life stories and putting their whole hearts in them

Looking forward to the rest of my day going as well as the first part! Here's hoping!

Vacation Please!

A Tribute to Love

I called my Gram & Gramp this morning to wish them a happy happy day and one of my Gram's responses was, "Well, here is to working on 70 years!" I love that attitude!

In other news, we only have 9 days until our trip and we are in full on organize, pack and plan mode. I am going to take Monday off and get everyting done with no stress! We can't wait!

Tagged

After reading my friend Amanda's blog I thought I'd join in on this fun so here goes...

I hit shuffle on my i-pod and I'll share the first 10 songs that came up. I always say, if you want to get personal with someone, check their play list. So on random shuffle of 342 songs, here's what we have..

1. Who Knew ~ Pink
2. Sweet Child of Mine ~ Guns and Roses
3. You Give Love a Bad Name ~ Bon Jovi
4. Another One Bites the Dust ~ Queen
5. Salisbury Hill ~ Peter Gabriel
6. California Love ~ Tupac
7. Jealous Guy ~ Gavin DeGraw
8. Jesse's Girl ~ Rick Springfield
9. Sweet Home Alabama ~ Lynard Skynard
10. Otherside ~ Red Hot Chili Peppers

I'm not tagging anyone, but it was super fun to do this. If you read this, just do it. ROCK ON!

New Song

Seth's newest song to add to the collection!

I now have 14 report cards done and only 12 to go! I'm ahead of the game and ready to get them done. Yesterday I wrote about the beginning of our weekend so today I'll fill you in on the rest. Saturday we went to our normal Kidnastics class followed by a super sized three and a half hour nap! Then, we went to the Charlton's for a belated Easter dinner. The kids played really well and Seth was pooped out.

Sunday we met my Mom for breakfast at Panera, did some Sunday shopping and then had Mom and Tom for dinner. Tom had just gotten home from his week long golfing trip to Myrtle Beach and he was tan and refreshed.

I started packing last night for our trip and it was pretty difficult to wrap my head around what to pack. It is so cold here that I'm not sure what to pack and I don't want to over pack too much! Anyhow, it will get done and if I don't pack enough we can always shop. That won't break my heart.

Oh, I also was gullible enough to fall for my first April Fool's joke of the day. One of the girls I carpool with got in the van this morning and announced that she was 6 weeks pregnant and for a split second I fell for it!

Kidnastics Rocks

Friday night we went to Family Night at Kidnastics and the kids played their hearts out. At the end Miss Erin pulled out this inflatable and it was a huge hit!

After an hour of hard playing the kids were hungry so we went back to Kristen's house and had some food and more play time for the kids followed by a lot of nakedness!

Group HUG!

I feel so very very lucky to have such wonderful friends with wonderful kids. Seth is one lucky little guy! I'll review the rest of the weekend tomorrow. I have report cards to tackle! Fun fun...

We Are Family!

I have that tune stuck in my head!

My theme for the impending future is family. Spend as much time with family as possible and remember that they are truly important and need love and support. Enough said.

Tonight we are going to do something I have always wanted to do, it might seem silly, but it comes around once a month on the last Thursday of the month. Every month this day goes by and something always seems to come up. Kristen emailed and asked us to join she and Jacob, so we are finally going to the Spaghetti Dinner at St. Athony's. I know it will be delicious with all of those old italian ladies cooking their hearts.

This weekend includes lots of play dates and family. We are going to the open gym night at Kidnastics tomorrow evening from 5-6 and then grabbing some pizza with all the kiddies after. Saturday night we will head to the Charlton's for a belated Easter dinner Bonnie style! It should be a fun weekend! It might even reach 40 degrees too, here's hoping!

Easter Wrap Up

The long weekend was wonderfully refreshing and I am feeling energized for the next two and a half weeks until our next vacation. We had a wonderful holiday weekend full of food, family and fun.

Easter morning at Sheryl and Eric's house

Helping to make appetizers with Uncle Eric

Tired from all of the excitement

Seth's 1st Easter Egg Hunt!

Easter is now over and even though we are deeply buried in snow it is starting to feel more like spring. We have already had a busy week. Monday night we went over and had dinner with Dad and Sue, welcoming them home from the warm Florida weather! Last night we just stayed home and caught up on all sorts of things. The sun is out and I'm feeling revived!

Hippity Hoppity Happy Easter!

On our day off Friday we successfully colored and put truck stickers on our Easter eggs. Thank you to my mom for helping and lending extra hands around the egg dye! It was GREATLY needed!

Adding extra touches to our very special eggs!

Our wish to all of our friends and family this Easter season!

We are headed to Albany today to spend the night and the holiday with Sheryl, Eric, Jess and Ro's parents. We are very excited, but we will return tomorrow evening after stuffing ourselves silly! Enjoy the holiday everyone!

1st Step

If you read my blog daily or weekly you know that I am more than excited about taking my family on a trip to Florida next month. Last weekend I picked my MIL up to babysit Seth and she asks me if I am packed yet?? I say, no are you? She is flippin' packed and it is three weeks away. So I am not packed, but I took the first step and I lugged the suitcases down from the attic. Now I am super excited! I may even start adding little items weekly or make a master list of all the things I need to remember.

In other news, Seth is starting to perk up and act like himself, but he is not 100% yet. Today is the last day of work this week and I also have Monday off. Tomorrow Seth, my mom and I are going to attempt to color Easter eggs and then go to play with Sophia and Maya followed by dinner at Mom and Tom's. It sounds like a super rough day! We are headed to Albany to spend Easter with Eric and Sheryl on Saturday and we are super excited!

Today is the first day of spring, but it feels like the first day of winter. Will it ever end? I need to try and be more optimistic! Positive thoughts from this point on...

Happy Easter to everyone in case I don't blog again before next week!

Late Update

Tuesday was quite eventful. Ro ended up taking Seth to the docs to see what was going on and it was a good thing he did. Seth has another ear infection in the same ear as three weeks ago. Sooooo, he is on a different medicine and hopefully it will clear up. PLEASE keep your fingers crossed that this is the end of it. We leave for Florida in 25 days and we don't want any ear infections for our trip.

Justin came for dinner and played Guitar Hero for the first time. He was instantly in love and played for a couple of hours. It was amazing to watch him play. He had the upper hand already being a guitar player, but it was still a challenge.

Lastly, my all time favorite show was on last night (One Tree Hill) and it wasn't just any other night. It was the 100th episode and it was jam packed with drama! I gab about it with a fellow teacher at work and our mouths were just a flapping this morning!

Nothing exciting going on tonight and only one more day until Easter break! YIPPEE!

Young Friends

Friday afternoon I watched Maya for about an hour and the kids played their hearts out. She was a little doll!

They played so well together! Sure, I could have twins no problem! HA!

No good dance moves, they were more concerned about the snacks and the juice!

Happy Tuesday!

Spring Fever!

I seriously have spring fever. I am ready to have my garage sale, clean out the house and open the windows, but what happens on Sunday morning... it snows again! Will this ever end? SERIOUSLY!!!

The weekend was a huge success. We went out Friday night to Joe's in honor of Justin's homecoming AND we just like to go to Joe's. We said we'd be a couple of hours and that ended up turning into 4hours, many drinkies, one large pizza and 20 wings later! Thank you Bonnie and Ro for watching Seth!Saturday was so busy it is hard to remember what we did. Oh, we started by going to Ro's Rotary Pancake Breakfast which was very nice and I think we will make it a tradition. Then, we went to Kidnastics, followed by Avon for some new Stridrites for the trip and the summer. My poor little extra wide footed boy has the hardest time finding shoes to fit his chubby feet.

Seth wasn't feeling up to par this weekend so I went to Palm Sunday mass with Mom and Tom and then we ordered Bernardos for dinner. We also rented the movie Mr. Woodcock and it was too funny!

Sunday we got groceries and then went to the St. Patty's parade. It lasted all of 10 minutes, but Seth got to see firetrucks and ambulances so he was in heaven.
This is a short work week, YIPPEEE! We are going to pick up our new trailer for the four wheeler hopefully tonight and we are having Justin for dinner on Tuesday.

Weekend Plans

Our plans for the weekend are as follows...

A quick trip to Joe's tonight with Justin and some of our friends to toast his homecoming as well as turning 21 once again! Thank you Bonnie for babysitting, we oh so appreciate it!

Sunrise Rotary Pancake Breakfast in the am followed by Kidnastics and possibly a quick trip to the Irish Fest.

Palm Sunday Mass either Saturday pm or Sunday am masses. Not sure which one as of yet!

Seth and I are going to make Easter treats for our family, close friends and buddies at Pat's on Sunday!

That's it in a nutshell, much more low keyed than last weekend!

Where the H#$* Is Spring?

Alright I have to make a wish list since I think we will basically be having winter all year long this year. Will the madness ever end? It is snowing AGAIN today and not just a little, but it is sticking! I'd had it and I'm starting to get cranky about the whole situation. It is light until 7:15pm, but can we go outside and play, NOOOOOO because it is so flipping cold out!

Here is is my list of things to look forward to in the upcoming months...

Kidnastics on Saturdays with Seth. I love to see the HUGE smile on his face as we enter that bright busy room.

Easter at Eric and Sheryl's. Our first overnight with Seth in quite a while. We are looking forward to a little holiday spirit and a change of scenery! Plus, Sheryl makes the most amazing bacon wrapper shrimp, they are to die for!

A pedicure for my ugly winter feet. I can't be wearing my crocs and flips in Florida before I go and get a pedi, it would scare you!

Our trip to FL, the sunny and blue skied state. In only 31 days I will be out of this ugliness! You can't tell how excited about it I am can you?? I can't wait to see every expression on Seth's face.

Outlet shopping with my mom in May! I've been dying to spend my b-day money, but I'm holding off until our semi-annual shopping day!

Memorial Day in Burlington with the Gilbert's. We are taking our yearly reunion to VT this year and we couldn't be more excited!

I'm sure we will add dinner dates, playdates and all sorts of fun things once this damn snow melts! At least I have a handful of upcoming excitement to hold onto for now!

New Videos

He was being a little silly!

The last time we went to the docs she asked Seth if he knew his Mommy and Daddy's names and he said, "Mommy a teacher and Daddy work Pepsi", BUT he did not know our names. Now apparently he does!

We hope you enjoyed your videos for the week!

Our Weekend was Full of...

Our weekend was full of...

*Snow

*Interesting parties

*Snow

*Kidnastics

*Breakfast at Longways

*Easter basket shopping

*Snow blowing

*More snow

*Naps

*Dinner/playdates at a close friends home

*Interesting conversations

*More snow

*Breakfast at Panera

* More Snow blowing

*More naps

*Dinner with family

It was a very busy and fun filled weekend! We look forward to this coming weekend for a little less craziness and the homecoming of Uncle J who hasn't been home since January! We can't wait!

PS- Turn your radios to The Border (106.7 fm) today and listen for the Kia commercial. Our neice Lexy is there newest promoter and she sounds so darn cute, listen closely for her little laugh too. It is priceless!

PSS- 33 days until our Florida trip!

A mural in a subway stop in NYC, it was too beautiful not to snap a pic of!

It was made of all individual tiles.

Play Play Play

Seth and I have been on the go non-stop since I got home from my trip! Seth is such a popular little man that we were invited to Carnival Night on Fort Drum on Tuesday and Jacob's birthday party on Wednesday so we have been playing our hearts out for the past few days. PLUS, I was given yet another snow day yesterday so we got a lot accomplished. I was able to catch up on housework, laundry and we even tried to find a new comforter for the new bed. We were unsuccessful, but I did find a new swimsuit for Florida which is only 38 days away! We also went out to lunch with Ro which was a treat! Today we are headed to the docs for the dreaded 2 year shot. Poor little beaner!

Carnival Night

Watching Laurie Berkner

Cake Time!

IT'S ALMOST THE WEEKEND!

Extra

I forgot to mention that as if my trip wasn't enough of a gift I came home Sunday night to an even bigger present waiting for me... a brand new king sized bed! My husband worked the entire weekend on taking apart our old bed, moving it across the hall, lugging the old spare bed to the basement and putting our new bed together. It was an amazing gift and I have slept like a dream for the past 2 nights! You wouldn't even know that anyone else was in the bed it is so BIG! Thanks soooooooooo much honey!

Sing w/Me!

Highlights from our trip to NYC this weekend...

Grease is the word is the word that you heard...
Go Grease lightning your burning up the 409, Grease lightning go Grease lightning...
Summer loving had me a blast, summer loving happened so fast..
Your the one that I want, you are the one I want ooh ooh ooh...


Sorry, but these are the songs running through me head at the moment because it was the most amazing show I've seen and we had the most amazing seats you could ever ask for! We waited on line at the TKTS ticket booth in Times Square to try and get discount tickets and boy did we hit the jackpot. We got box seats at a value of $250 a ticket for the more reasonable price of $66 per ticket. I could have spit on the performers we were soooooo close. Not that I ever would have because they rocked! I felt like a VIP in our own little box with a closed curtain and all. It was an amazing show and I would highly recommend going to see it.

OK, so to back up a bit. We left about 8:30am on Friday morning and rocked out to some old school tunes in the car. My personal fav was when my brother sang "Jesus Walks" by Kanye West. He knew every flippin' word and I laughed my butt off. We also, of course sang "Living on a Prayer"! We got to Fordham at about 2:30pm and walked around until Chris got out of class. Then he took us to his apartment which is only about 5 feet from the campus, very cool location.

Later we took a walk to the real Little Italy which is in his neighborhood in the Bronx. We went to this little italian bakery and I got this..

It was as good as it looks!

Saturday we got up bright and early to catch the 9:40 Metro into Manhattan. We saw all of the major sights, walked around for 7 hours, ate and shopped!

Times Square

Chris, Justin & I in Times Square

Naked Cowboy up close and personal! It was like 10 degrees out and his nipples were sticking out like rocks. I don't know how he does this in the winter.

World Trade Center Site/Ground Zero
Bubba Gump Shrimp

Run Forest Run!
Stupid is as Stupid Does!

I May Not be a Smart Man, but I Know What Loves Is!

Thank you again to our Gram and Gramp who gave us money to eat like kings at Bubba Gump, thus the drinkies and shots!

Pic from the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center)
If you look closely you can see The Empire State Building in the background lit up in red. It was hella cold & windy up there that night too!

M&M's World Yankee Style

Check out the price per pound... yes that says $9 a pound! CRAZY!

If I could post all my pics I would, but I think you can get a glimpse at what we did ALL day on Saturday. It was my best trip to NYC thus far, very laid back and mellow. I have to thank my cousin Chris for being an amazing host and tour guide. It was a truly memorable weekend! Next time Ro is coming with me, I missed sharing all of the exciting experiences with him! My little bro took good care of me though!

PS- Happy Birthday wishes go out to our friend Rod Voss today! I hope you enjoyed your boobie cake. Your wife is crazy!