Shopping, Letterboxing, and Festing Oh MY!

Roland took Friday off so we had a 3 day weekend with Daddy and we did it up. Friday we were supposed to go to Harborfest but the rain held us up so we headed to Syracuse for some shopping and yummy sandwich therapy. I was on a mission to find a smaller stroller for trips to the mall and craft fairs and such so I dragged the boys to every baby store there was. We went to Burlington CF, Babies R Us, and Target and ended up finding a smaller stroller that I liked at Babies R Us after trying a million out. We also went to Golf Galaxy which sent Ro right over the edge, he was in heaven! Then we headed to out fav lunch spot Brooklyn Pickle, they make the fattest sandwiches you have ever seen and they were awesome!

Saturday Ro had to work all morning and into the early afternoon so after a tough morning with the baby Ro knew from the look on my face that we needed an outting and when Seth woke up from his nap we did another letterbox, super fun as usual and then we headed to Super Walmart, tried out the new stroller and picked up a few needed items.

Sunday we were finally able to make it to Harborfest and the humidity had let up so it was warm, but not unbearable. We walked around, ate, checked out the shops and people. Then we headed to our fav farmers market in Oswego and stocked up on home grown cucumbers (fav!!!), plums, mini pies, and all sorts of yummies.

A Special THANK YOU!

I want to dedicate this entry to The Gilbert's (Nina primarily) for sending me mail love in the form of my very own pink and green love bunny. It was th greatest gift at the best possible time for me. I love it love it love it and I will treasure it always. We've got a family of love bunnies here now. Seth adores his and he loves to chew on all of his bunnies arms/legs! Thank you so much I love you all!

Today we are headed to Oswego for Harborfest, it got rained out on Friday and Ro had to work yesterday so that is where we will be today. We are sunscreaned up and ready to go!

It Could be Worse, we could have TWINS!

Last night we were invited to our financial planner, whose wife is a fellow teacher in my district's home for dinner. Mike and Sue have 13 month old twins, Jenna and Ryan. Jenna and Ryan are great kids, but I give Mike and Sue huge props, I don't know how they do it. I guess they just do because that is all they know. Seth was a good boy and we had yet another feast. I came home feeling super duper full, but in a good way.

BUBBLE FUN

This morning was the dreaded morning for three more shots, but we made it through and with much success. All is well and our doc even said that whenever we feel comfortable Seth can move to the forward facing carseat. We discussed it and feel that when he can sit up on his own we will make the transition. Seth now weighs 21lbs. 11oz. and he is 29 inches long. Thank the lord his weight has started the slow down, I can't carry much more.

Tomorrow I am VERY excited to report that we are headed to Oswego, our alma mater for Harbofest. Back in our younger days it was a HUGE drunkfest, but this year we will be taking the family approach and bring Seth. It should be a great day to walk around, visit some friends, and eat eat eat all of the yummies that it has to offer. I can't wait!!! Pics to come.

Hair Issues: To Trim or not to Trim?

Seth was born with a ton of hair and it has thus thinned on the sides and in the back and he is now growing new hair. Our problem, not really a problem, but our dilemma is that Seth has a thick area of hair on the top of his head that is just there and if he were a girl I would be able to put clips or barrets in, but he's not or so I thought. I picked Seth up from the sitter after going for only the morning today to find him in the jolly jumper with a big sticking up poney tail in his hair. Hysterical thought to see your 6 month old son with pony tail on the top of his head, but there it was plain as day. I think my sitter was trying to tell me to trim his hair a bit.

Back tracking a bit, we had our lobster and steak feast on Monday night at my parents house and I am proud to say that I ate, all by myself, one large lobster tail and it was heavenly.

Tuesday Seth and I went on a playdate with one of my friends and her two children. Seth was an angel, he did a ton of people watching and was happy as a clam for over an hour in the stroller.

Tonight we are headed to another friends home for dinner. We are just super popular this week and I'm psyched because I don't have to cook, not once this entire week. This post is a little late because it wouldn't upload pics yesterday, but it's finally done!

Parading and Letterboxing

We had such a great weekend. It wasn't too hot and humid and Seth was very cooperative on our outtings. Saturday my mom and I took Seth to the Can-Am Parade in Sackets and he was so good. The timing was perfect as well because just as the parade ended, in came the rain. There were tons of bands and great floats to look at.
Saturday night we had some friends over for dinner and that was fun as well. We had tons of great summer food and tons of little ones running around like crazy.

Sunday we decided to go Letterboxing. (Thank you to the Gilbert's for introducing us to this awesome activity!!!) We chose a Letterbox relatively close to us and away we went. It turned outo to be hidden in an old school house from 1888 and it was so much fun. We are now addicted. We found one for next weekend that has 5 boxes in it. Each clue leads you to another box. So next Sunday we are off on our next treasure hunt.

This was called District No. 10

Tonight we are off to a lobster and steak feast at my parents house. Free lobster, I'm all over that! Seth and I have plans for each day this week so that ought to be fun. Unfortunately on Thursday our outting is getting Seth's 6 month shots, OUCH! We'll keep you posted.

T.G.I.FINALLY!

The weekend is finally here and we once again survived the crazy, hot, and humid week. Today I was able to go to work and Seth was able to go back to the sitter for the day. I called our sitter and told her my mother thought that she was a saint after she watched Seth for four hours. She had new found respect for all child care givers in the world. She had to admit to me that watching my little bundle was extremely tiring!

Anyhow, back tracking a bit, on Thursday Seth and I traveled up to Lowville to visit my grandparents and go to the Lewis County fair. I'm not much of a fair goer, but this is once again a tradition and I am learning as I grow older that you "Can't monkey with tradition!" My grandfather has a green thumb and he plants, grows, and arranges flowers. He loves to submit his arrangements to the fair and he once again was awarded first and second place for all of his arrangements. I was pretty proud of him!

Thursday evening we went to a retirement party for Roland's aunt/godmother. Aunt Jan lost her husband about 5 years ago and about three months ago she met a wonderful man and has fallen in love. We are so happy for her. She has now sold her home and decided to retire and enjoy life. I think it sounds like a hell of a plan. Like I am saying more and more, you only live once so do it up! This is a self portrait of Seth and I. My face is looking a little greasy so ignore that please, it's so damn hot out you just can't control it!

So this weekend we are busy but not too busy. Saturday morning we are going to the CanAm parade in Sackets and then having what was supposed to be a small dinner party, but has now turned into a rather large friend get-together of about 11 plus us. The more the merrier! Sunday we have no major plans, I'm dying to go Letterboxing so hopefully we can pick one and head out for an adventure!

Obsession

I'm not sure if I have expressed my obsession for home grown cucumbers yet, well I flippin' love them so much. My grandparents have a garden and they have already given me some, which I have already been devoured. Today I'm hoping to buy some more at the farmers market! YAH!!! This pic actually looks kind of controversial, but they are so yummy.

Seth loved the parade last night except for the very LOUD truck horns that scared the bajesus out of him and caused him to scream. Other then that, he was happy as a clam. My camera on the other hand didn't make it, the batteries died at the worst possible time, we tried taking some pics on the camera phone, but I'm not really sure how to download them onto the computer. I'll try and figure that out.

We had a great meal at my Gram's and the night was very enjoyable. She has so many beautiful flowers in her yard and Seth rolled around on the lawn enjoying some different scenery. Today we are headed to the farmers market and then an old high school friend and her 3 1/2 month old daughter are going to come over for a visit late this afternoon. It has only taken us 10 years to get together. Ro is home sick today with a little bug so we are trying to let him rest as much as possible. This is Seth with my very hippie uncle! He is still stuck in the 60's, never likes to wear a shirt, but hey whatever makes you happy right!!

It's a Good Day for a Parade!

We have come to the conclusion that Seth may turn out to be a pool junkie, he totally loves to be in the pool and he isn't afraid to splash himself and everyone around him. Well, the temps have finally cooled a bit and we aren't instantly dripping when we step outside today so that is the good news. I got a phone call late yesterday afternoon from my sitter. It was a little startling because rarely does she call. Oh, first of all Seth was with me at the time. She asked if Seth was sick and I said no, so she proceeds to tell me that the "Hand, Foot, and Mouth Virus" is going through her place. This virus causes rashes in the mouth and on the skin and it is spread by putting your hands in your mouth, thus the name. Seth was supposed to go to the sitter today because I was working so I panicked, but I'm learning to calm myself. Of course I instantly called my mom and she was soooooooo wonderful to offer and sit for Seth this morning. Well, if you don't know my son Seth, then you aren't aware that he can be a handful in the mornings. So I left for work at 7:45 and arrived home at 12:30 to see my Mom looking completely exhausted. For someone who never takes naps, she said she was headed home for a nap. Mom, I owe you BIG time, thank you soooooo much! What would we do without our Mom's and Dad's, they are the best.

As soon as Seth wakes up and so does Grammy, we are headed to the Lewis County Fair Parade, a long running family tradition. We go every year and it is the best parade there is. Just to give you a little background, Lewis County is pretty red-neck country, eventhough I am from there, and people don't mess around at this parade. Lawn chairs, cars, and such are parked on Main Street by 10 am in the morning for a 7pm parade and people bring large plastic bags because of the amount of candy that is thrown out. I use the candy that I get from this parade as treats for my students and it lasts half the school year. Hopefully there will be some pics to come of our parade festivities!

Weekend Success

We had a hot and wonderful weekend of fun! Seth's party ended up being a huge success and tons of fun. All of our family and some of our friends enjoyed an afternoon of food and fun in the sun. The heat was not too unbearable and luckily there was a breeze to cool us off from time to time. Seth took an amazing nap in the afternoon so Ro and I were able to kick back a bit and talk to everyone before he awoke. We had the party catered so that made it even easier on us and the food was amazing. I had to take some pics of it because it looked so good I didn't want to eat it, but we did of course! Roland's sister Sheryl brought a new game with her and everyone was addicted to it, it is called Rung Ho, not sure if that is the right spelling, but it was very fun and even Rocky and the younger kids got into it. Poor Rocky was decorated with the balls though!
Our five year old niece Lexy was so funny, we asked her what happened to Seth in church and she said, "They watered Seth's head Aunt Jen!" Everyone left around 5:30 and we headed to my mom's house for some much needed pool and cool down time. Seth loves the pool and splashes it up! We have to keep him from drinking too much of the water though, he was nose diving in it.
Today is back to the same old routine and it is supposed to be even hotter then yesterday so we will be headed to Grammy's pool at some point for a cool down. We hope that you all enjoy your Monday and hopefully it is more exciting then ours!

Heat Heat and MORE Heat!

This is just a breif update until I have much more time. Yesterday we prepared for Seth's party, which will start here in a few minutes. I got my much needed massage and booked one for Ro for next weekend. It was amazing and I loved it! We got the house ready in the afternoon and then went out to dinner for Ro's dad's birthday in the evening. I miss going out to eat more then anything so I savored every minute of it. I love when someone else cooks for me, it is the greatest! Grandpa and Nana Buckingham watched Seth as he is not ready for restaurants just yet. Seth slept awesome last night and this morning we went to church for the first time and he is now baptized. He was sooooo good in church, we were nervous, but he pulled it off! Now on to the party. We will all be stinky due to the heat, but hopefully everyone will eat, drink, and enjoy. Pics to come! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday all!

Busy Week

Well, we finally made a very tough decision and chose two candidates to fill our positions. I honestly think that was one of the best/hardest experiences that I have ever been involved in, yet it made me feel like, "Hey, I'm doing something right!" After teaching for seven years you wonder if you are getting stale or if you are doing right by your students. I left yesterday feeling like I want to create some new units and spice things up in my classroom so I'm on a mission now! Next week I actually get paid to work on/in my classroom so I'm ready to tackle some new things. You can't beat getting paid $15/hr to work on your classroom/curriculum. It's a no brainer!

Today Seth and I are hanging out, playing, and running some errands later in the day. The big baptism and party are on Sunday so even though it is being catered I still have to pick up beer and other little things.

Tomorrow I am taking a MOM day and spending a day with a very close friend. We are going to do lunch and a little shopping, but mostly gabbing and catching up. She is due to have her 1st baby at the end of September so I love to see how she keeps growing everytime I see her.

Saturday my wonderful and thoughtful husband has scheduled me a massage and I can't wait to lay back and relax for one hour. I'm counting down the minutes!

Unfortunately I have no new pics to share with you, but I'll see if I can't drag out an old one to add a little oomph to this blog. Have a great rest of the day to all!

My 2 daytime buddies!

Mid Week!

Let's see if I can even remember what has been going on in the past few days. Each week becomes more and more of a blur to me. I was definately down for the count over the weekend, feeling like dog poop, but luckily that has passed and I'm feeling much more myself.

Over the weekend we actually looked at three houses. That was really fun, but disappointing the same. We are in no hurry to move, but if the right house comes along we are not opposed to it either.

I have been interviewing possible candidates for two new positions in my district over the last couple of days and that wraps up today. We are interviewing a total of 11 people for two positions and right now we have narrowed it down to 3 people and we still have to interview three more people today. Needless to say this is going to be a difficult decision to make. One I am not looking forward to. I have very much enjoyed the experience though. It is so interesting to see what different personalities bring to the table. One candidate brought us M&M's to demonstrate how she would teach a math lesson to a class of first graders. The chocolate went straight to our hearts!

Tomorrow is our free day so I think we will just make sure that we have everything ready for Seth's baptism/party this Sunday. The weather forecast says that it is supposed to be 90 and muggy so that might be interesting because Seth doesn't enjoy the heat so much! We'll have lots of helpers though to help us through.

Short Update!

Hello to all!

I'm so sorry that it has been so long since I have blogged, but I have been incredibly sick and that's no fun to write about. I'm not sure when I'll be back online completely. I've been chosen to be on the interview committee for my district this week in the hiring of some new teachers. I'm very excited about this task as it has been 7 years since I went through it myself. Maybe by Thursday I'll be able to get back online and catch everyone up on our lives. Have a great start of the week to you all and I'll be in touch soon!

The 4th!

Seth with his Papa Charlton on the 4th, whom also bought him three new outfits for next year! He is always on the lookout for sales! Thanks Papa!

We are still in recovery mode from the weekend, but we managed to enjoy our first 4th of July with the little guy. Trying to get him back on his normal schedule and what a task that has been. Tomorrow he is going to the sitters for some play time with the kiddies and for some mommy alone time with the house and computer. As always we have been looking for a new house and we actually have a couple of leads that we may even go and view this weekend. I have such mixed feelings about moving. I love my current house and neighborhood, but it has its downfalls so we are always on the lookout for something better. It's too funny, we are always looking online for new houses in the area and as soon as we find one we like we do a driveby to see what it looks like in person. We really liked one yesterday, but during our driveby we discovered that the neighborhood was crap so we scratched that idea!

Seth with his GREAT-Grandpa on the 4th!

PS- Nin, Seth LOVES his Ugly Doll, he had all body parts in his mouth on our ride yesterday afternoon, thanks so much for all of the awesome homemade gifties, we love them so much!

I'm Attempting Being Back!

So I just finally downloaded all the pics from over the weekend as well as the 4th and I may be able to catch everyone up with our lives over the past few days. Our friends the Gilbert's arrived on Saturday and we were busy busy until they left late Sunday evening. Kudoes for driving 6 hours one way with a three year old and a 6 month old. We give them HUGE props for doing that because he never would have been able to. We loved seeing, talking, laughing, eating, you name it with them. You don't realize how much you miss people until you are back with them and having a good time.

On Saturday we went Letterboxing, which I now feel that I will become addicted to and I can't wait to do it again soon! Then, we took the kids to the playground at Thompson Park. Seth slept, Joey crawled all over, and Grace played! That evening, as tradition follows, Nina and John cooked us their Chicken parm, which was amazing as always!

Sunday, we took a drive to A-Bay and walked around, ate, looked at boats, etc. It was a warm, breezy and beautiful day. We all enjoyed ourselves a ton!

Unfortunately all fun must come to an end and we had to say goodbye on Sunday night, but we are in high hopes that next summer we will go away together on a vacation with both families. That will be crazy fun with a 4 year old and 2 one year olds! AHHH!

Grace found Rocky's weak spot, he LOVES beer!

Out of Commission

Since our friends will be here for the next few days we will be out of commission on the blog, but we'll have all sorts of new pics and news to share when they have to leave us. So stay tuned and have a great 4th of July weekend!!!