Summer Fun

We may not have done everything I originally planned this summer, but that doesn't mean we didn't have loads of fun.

Our summer started off with out local Community Day. There was a wall to climb, bounce houses, and if you ask GG, an epic balloon sword fight in the middle of the field.

I think Little Dude's favorite part was getting his hair done.

A few weeks after that we made our way to a local amusement part. GG was so excited to be tall enough to ride every single thing. While Little Dude wasn't quite tall enough for everything, he was ecstatic that he didn't have to go to Kiddie Land.

Last year this park added a new roller coaster. With SnoMaggedon the previous winter, the coaster building schedule was pushed back. We had to wait until this summer to finally ride the new Sky Rocket. It's a short ride, but exhilarating! Plus you can catch an awesome sunset through the tracks.

For the first time in a few years, we failed to get pool passes. But that didn't stop me from taking the kids to the pool. Little Dude is growing up (tear) because he stayed in the big pool with me and his sister.

Except when one of the lifeguards would start an epic water battle!

I think if you to ask my kids what their favorite part of the summer was, they would most likely say our vacation to DC. GG barely remembers going on vacation when she was little and Little Dude has never been on a vacation. The out of state trip when he was 4 weeks old doesn't count.

I have so many pictures from our trip, but some of my favorite include pizza slices as big as a 6 year old's head

and unexpectedly running into Bumblebee outside of the National Zoo.

Our summer vacation is coming to a close in a few weeks. The kids and I still have one more trip coming up to our own zoo. Even though what we actually did differed from the list I made at the beginning of the year, I'd say we had a kick ass summer!


For more summer fun pictures, check out



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I'm also linking up with Wordful Wednesday





Until next time...

A call no mom wants to get

Karma is a bitch. Plain and simple. I keep saying things and those things keep coming back and biting me in the ass.
I had been bragging for quite some time about my kids rarely getting sick while all their friends were dropping like flies. BOOM! Ear infection with one and pneumonia with the other.

Yesterday really solidified that karma is definitely not my friend. I received one of the phone calls no mother wants to get. A call from the teacher can be bad enough, but a call from the school nurse is never good.

I'm sure the nurse explained everything that she knew, but I only heard bits and pieces. Your son. Bathroom. Head. Doesn't remember what happened.

Oh shit!

I took a few deep breaths before I got in the car. The last thing I needed to do while freaked out was drive! Luckily the school is only around the corner.

What we think happened was my boy banged his head on something in the bathroom. If it wasn't the bathroom, it was the hinge of his classroom door. Anything is possible with Little Dude! How this injury was discovered, since he doesn't remember, was by a friend. One of Little Dude's classmates pointed out that he had blood on his neck. When he went to wipe it off, his teacher noticed that it was in his hair as well. This prompted a trip to the nurse's office.

The nurse explained that his cut didn't look deep enough for stitches, but the fact that he had no clue how it got there was disconcerting. Concussion was where my mind immediately went. And I'm sure hers, too.

Since we were unsure about him needing stitches, I really didn't want to wait in the ER to have them send me home. I would if I had to, but I thought to call our pediatrician instead. My favorite doctor (he really is!) looked at his head, asked a few questions, and did some test to rule out a concussion. Thankfully stitches were not on the agenda. We were sent home with directions to apply antibiotic cream and avoid sports, pools, and washing hair for a few days.


We don't have pool passes yet and my boy is quite happy to not have his hair washed. But how the hell am I supposed to keep him engaged in calm activities? This is obviously not something a boy who busts his head open is good at!



Wordful Wednesday by

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Until next time...

I can't take good pictures, but I can make a mean shake

This week has been a hellish week, weather wise. I'm so glad that today will finally be a lot cooler. And when 85 is cooler, you know it was bad!

But this weather did prove for some good swimming! I took the kids to our community pool Monday and Tuesday, and GG went to a friend's uncle's house to swim in his pool. Wednesday we took a much needed swim break to hang out in some air conditioned stores for much needed grocery shopping, but yesterday we were back at the pool.

Yesterday we met up with a friend, her daughter, and her daughter's friend to go to the wave pool. I was a little apprehensive because Little Dude is just now used to being in the big pool. But he still doesn't know his limits. I warned him that a horn sounded before the waves began and the I would have to hold his hand. Further out the waves would go over his head and if we stood where they would break, he would most likely get knocked over. Not good for a boy who hates getting water in his face!

Even though both kids swallowed too much pool water, we all had a blast! GG even started swimming a little better. I tried taking some pictures of the kids in the pool, but with the sun and the glare off the water, I wasn't sure if they would turn out.

We didn't want them too far in the water after lunch.
For a bit they stood in the shallow end and jumped over the waves.

Little Dude discovered he could lay on his belly
and crawl around like a snack as the waves splashed over him



Aren't my nails awesome?!?

The heat didn't seem to bother anyone too much, as long as we were in the pool. Back home where we don't have AC and the fans can only help so little much, I needed to find a way to keep everyone cool. Wednesday night I remembered I still had a cookbook from when I was a kid. In this cookbook is the best milkshake recipe. Ever!!!

Johnny Appleseed Shake

1 pint (2 cups) vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
1 cup apple juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Place ice cream, apple juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg in an electric blender container. Cover container. Turn blender on to high speed and blend for about 30 seconds or until smooth and well blended.

Pour into glasses and serve.

Makes 3 servings



Even the husband, who rarely eats sweets, liked them. Little Dude whined and cried begged and pleaded until he took a sip.

Until next time....

Just Keep Swimming

Here it's hot
There it's hot
Everywhere it's hot hot


So you know what that means? Pool time!!!

We finally made it to the pool earlier this week. I was expecting the same as last year. GG would go off to the big pool and find a friend. Little Dude would venture into the baby pool and play with the toys. So I brought a book to read when I was done in the pool.

The kids were in the baby pool for maybe 10 minutes when they made a slow bee line to the big pool. Can't run! Last year it took close to 2 months to get Little Dude off of the steps in the big pool. This time, he went right in. He walked back and forth in the shallow end, splashing and sometimes dancing, for an hour and a half! I was so proud of him!

It also meant that I was in the pool for an hour and a half! GG can't really swim, but she knows her boundaries. I feel safe watching her from the sidelines. Little Dude has no fear and doesn't know his boundaries yet.

sorry if the pic quality is bad
these are from my phone

Thursday we took a trip to the pool again. I don't think any feet stepped in the baby pool! At least not the feet of my babies!

Little Dude even went a step further today. I asked him if he wanted to jump in the pool. He said yes!!! He stood on the side, grabbed my hands, and in he went. 15 times in a row! Then suddenly when I wasn't ready, he jumped in on his own!


I'm still not sure if I'm ready for him to grow up, but there is one thing I know for sure. I have never been prouder of my little man than I was at that moment!



Until next time....

Pay it Forward

If you read my last post than you know all about the 10 things that make me happy. If you didn't read it, go check it out. I'll wait!

I realized late in the day that I forgot to pay it forward. It's been a crazy week so I apologize for that.

I've already passed this on to Rita over at One 2 Try this award. You should check out her blog - it's a pretty cool place.

Now for the other 9 people...

Well, I'm going to take the cop out route on this. I hate picking and choosing certain people. Firstly, I'm bad at decisions. Second, I always feel like I leave people out when I do that. If you are a follower and a commenter on my blog, please take this award. Let me know if and when you do your top 10 so I can come and check it out!

And now I must get ready to go swimming. If you read my last post, did you notice that I didn't mention swimming when I said I want to live somewhere warm? It's not that I don't like to swim, because I do. But it's 10 degrees out right now. Swimming is the furthest thing from my mind! As a matter of fact, the complete opposite is all I can think about - getting and staying warm!

But GG decided at the last minute she wanted to go the her school's swim party. Yes, it's inside - we're not that crazy in the 'Burgh! I think she found out which of her friends are going.

Thankfully Little Dude isn't coming. He's still not comfortable in the water (unless it's the baby pool, and there's not one of those at the high school). When he told me he would just watch us, I said "Hell No" he would have so much more fun hanging out with Daddy at home. And now Daddy's sick so we'll see how that goes!

Wish me luck!

Until next time...

Double Dipping - Posty Style

Amy over at Keeping up with the Schultz Family tagged me and challenged me to name my top 5 moments from 2009. Well guess what? It's Tuesday. In other words, I'm doing my top 5 post-it style.

Yea, I'm double dipping. It's my blog so back off, k?

1.

I left hell quit my job at the end of the previous summer and I was so excited to stay home with the kids. We had pool passes and did a few little trips to the farm and what not. The last time I had a whole summer with one of my kids was when my oldest looked like this...

2.

My summer was also full of some kick ass concerts. Along with the ones above, I saw Jimmy Buffett and the Clarks. The Clarks was also my kids' first concert. Except for Little Dude falling asleep on my feet, we had fun. And btw, we were maybe 20 feet from the stage. Someone please explain his ability to sleep.

On my feet!
On cement!
In the middle of a concert!!!

Speaking of Little Dude...

3.

Day AND night!!!
Do you know how flippin excited I am?!?

4.

We had family come in to visit last year. It was so great to see them! My cousin was pregnant at the time and her and her husband have recently welcomed their little one into this world. Congrats!!!


5.

HA!!! Fooled you!!!
There are no babies coming out of me anytime soon!

I'm referring to my blog. I can dress it up all pretty. I can say whatever I want. And the best part is, I don't have to worry about any back talk, unlike what comes from the other 2 devils angels I have.

TAG!! YOU'RE IT!!!

Ok, if you don't want to do a top 5 of '09, that's fine. Let me know if you do and I'll stop by to check it out.

But at the very least, head on over to see SupahMommy and read some other cool post-its!

Until next time...

Don't Cha Just Wanna Throw Her Into a Wall?

When it comes to cute kids, I know a lot of people who say....

"Don't you just want to eat them up?'

Well, I used to work with a girl who said some kids were so cute she wanted to throw them into a wall. Yes, I know some odd people. And come to think of it, people as a whole are a little effed up! I mean, if you want to eat kids, well, you have a problem!

Anyway, GG hasn't been to school at all this week.
But you bet I'm sending her tomorrow with a big grin on my face!

I emailed a friend last night and asked her to pick up GG's missed work so we can get started on it. When we got home from getting Chris from work, I grabbed her work out of the mail box and started sorting through the papers. Man, do we have some work to do over the next few days!

And as I type this, she is doing a few pages. She just told me she's bored and is going to do some more homework! I hope she thinks like this in high school!!!

Anywho, in those papers were a bunch of things that needed to be sent home. In that pile was a certificate and a Halloween Smiley cookie. GG had won 3rd place for the cutest baby in the 2nd grade!!!


of course, I think she deserved 1st =)

Unfortunately I don't have the picture of my chunky monkey that we took to school. I assume it's on display somewhere in the school. I'll have to check tomorrow. But I did come across one that just needs to be shared....




Kind of appropriate that she had a Piglet outfit on!

Looking at her now, you would never know that she was a chunky baby! It's funny because until she was about 4 she looked like she had chipmunk cheeks! Did you know that a lady I worked with actually thought I had rubber bands around her because she had so many rolls?!?

I would NEVER do that, even if it made for a cute picture, but I can see where she was coming from...

Until next time...

Verizon and stuff

So here's my beef with Verizon.....

We had a land line. Never used it, but thought it would be wise to have one just in case. Well, the electric company was working on their lines one day and snapped the phone line to our house. They claimed they reported it to Verizon, but no one came out to fix it. About 2 weeks ago I finally got around to contacting Verizon to get the line fixed and restore our phone. I did it all online and the scheduled day for them to come was July 9th. I wasn't sure if someone needed to be home so me and the kids had a day in. Well, 5 o'clock rolled around and no Verizon (I wanted to go to the pool that day, too, so I was a tad upset). I called and explained what had happened. The customer service person (once I got through all the recorded menus) was very helpful. I was told Verizon would be out hopefully Friday morning, but definitely by 5 o'clock Friday afternoon. We got home from our concert (which was awesome) and noticed that they still hadn't fixed our problem.

First thing Monday morning I called them yet again. I explained our problem, again, and this time I was transferred to a supervisor. She apologized and said someone would be out that day and we did not need to be home, which is good because I was sick of waiting for them. By 5 o'clock, NO ONE HAD SHOWN UP!!!! I called after dinner and was on the phone for darn close to an hour! I explained the problem to the 1st person who transferred me to someone who could help me. The 2nd person dealt with Fios and couldn't help me and I was transferred back to the main menu and had to start over. The 3rd person I talked to had to transfer me to someone who could "help"me. I was transferred to a West Coast office. I live in Pittsburgh so that didn't do me any good. This person transferred me to the East coast office and again, this person was Fios related and transferred me back to the main menu....again!!! I had to hang up at this point because if you scream and swear at the recording, she says "I'm sorry. I don't understand you". I called back, talked to the, um...not sure how many people it is at this point, but he was very helpful. When he said he had to transfer my call I asked if he was sending me to a Fios person because I did that already and they can't help. He said no. Instead he transferred me to this b@*ch who claimed that my service was scheduled for July 14th. Needless to say, I hung up on her. BTW, I gave all of our information to each of these people so they could look at our file. You would think if the dates were screwed up somewhere along the line, someone would have noticed a little earlier.

So yesterday, Verizon was here and they finally fixed our problem. This morning I got a phone call from this lovely company. It was a recording saying that we will be credited on our next bill for the amount of time the line was down. Chris and I would have called ourselves and asked about this, but it would have taken 27 phone calls and we weren't up for that. And to conclude this mess of a story, a Verizon representative called after dinner and asked if I would mind taking a quick survey about our service that was done on July 10th. Notice the date? It's not correct at all!!! Her 2 questions - rate our service and would I recommend Verizon to anyone. Poor and no were my answers. I also gave permission for them to contact me and ask for more information about why I feel this way. Go ahead and call! I'll tell you every word of their screw-up!

On a happy note, Paige had her 1st of 2 pool parties tonight. This one was for soccer. She got to swim with one of her best friends and one of Mike's friends was also there. They also got to swim when it was dark. How cool is that?!?