Charity

Every week the boys get one dollar for each year of their age for allowance. Ten percent comes straight off the top for charity. Then the rest is cut in half between savings and spending money.

In the past, we've taken construction paper mittens off the Christmas tree at our library, and used the boys' charity money to purchase the gifts requested on them. They have always enjoyed shopping for someone close to their age, and continue to do so.

This year though, R rounded up his charity money each week before dividing his savings/spending, and ended up with a lot more than usual. We talked about some of the ways that money could be put to use. And he decided he'd like to help animals.

Well as these wonderful connections typically happen, a few days later I saw an advertisement in our local newspaper requesting help for a dog pound. And R decided a trip to BJ's was in order.

One hundred fifty pounds of dog food, and a drive to the next town over, left us all feeling pretty good about why we do this every year. Even B who does not willingly donate money on his own, liked the feeling and commented on how cool it is that the boys are growing up with this habit.

April

It's so hard to believe that April is over. It was a busy and memorable month for us. I've been taking lots of photos.

E had a good time with the surgeon "costume" I brought home from the hospital for him. Couldn't find his stethoscope in the mess of his costume drawer though:
The week of B's surgery was one of the most challenging of my life. We were thrilled that the dot which had been placed on him to indicate to the surgeon where his stoma should go, got to go unused:No ileostomy...yay!

My garden kept my spirits up during that week of three hours into Manhattan, six or seven holding B's hand, and three hours back home:
My mom took the boys to all of our activities during that week: Green School on Wednesday, Zoo classes on Thursday, and soccer on Saturday. Then after soccer on Saturday (the day after the surgery) she whisked them away to Maine to keep them entertained during my week of commuting. It was the second toughest week of my life. I took a photo of her for her new business cards:
B's brother E's hospital was right across the street from B's, so I could actually look out our window at it. They released E while B was still recovering from surgery. I looked out the window one day and saw that his fire station was at the hospital. I was surprised that they could all get down there from the Bronx for his release day, but then I saw this:Apparently some Easter Bunnies had to pay a visit to the children's floor of the hospital, and only the ladder truck that E drives would be good enough. Coincidence?

Very strange, I must say, to have a week that focuses on me rather than the kids, but nevertheless...

I had an amazing commute the night of B's surgery. I got to watch a woman being serenaded in the 68th Street subway station:
Then I stepped onto that train and saw a guy giving Free Bouncy Rides:I was taking photos of him when another passenger offered to take a picture of me enjoying a ride: I have to say the energy in that subway car was one you don't get to experience in Manhattan very often; at least two dozen people all smiling together...it was an incredible feeling which I hope I can continue to call back on for a long time. It put me in such a great mood that I actually thought to take photos of Grand Central. I've walked through that station hundreds of times in my life, but it's never more beautiful than at night:I also thought to look up:I can't believe I had never looked up before...for six years I worked in a building right above Grand Central and walked through it every day!

B really enjoyed utilizing the Patient Recreation Center at the hospital. It was nice that it was right on the floor he was on. We participated in a drum circle together, and afterwards hung out and made these: He actually stopped in by himself one day when the boys had arrived back home and I needed some time to be with them. He made some watercolor paintings, and was glad for the opportunity to commiserate with other patients.

It was nice to have had our Easter Egg Hunt with the boys' friends planned for the day after B came home. The kids all had a great time again this year: Easter gave B something to concentrate on rather than his recovery:E's, R's, B's, and mine. And Easter before and after the Easter Bunny, who is still alive and well in this household: I'm thankful that we haven't had school to ruin the fantasy for us.

After B came home, life got somewhat back to normal, although I have to admit I got a lot less done with him home since every day felt like a weekend. We were invited to some playgroup friends' home to build a geodesic dome. First we made them with gum drops and toothpicks, which has always been a favorite activity of ours:Then we made some with rolled up newspaper:One of the moms used to live in a geodesic dome home for part of her childhood and started talking about how some of the levels were pentagons instead of triangles. This led to a conversation about how much time would be saved if we did some of those instead...But then we got a good lesson in how triangles are more stable, especially when working with newspaper, which is not:We ended up having to put a 2x4 in the middle to hold it up.The older kids had lots of fun while the younger kids ended up in the sandbox. No one seemed overly frustrated by the necessity of the 2x4 but R did say he'd like to make one "right" by ourselves at home. We did have a very fun day with all our friends:And several kids finished it off with crowns:Other random April stuff: We spent some time getting back to the books. Both boys wanted to do some "school work" to earn TV time:The boys have had lots of fun playing at playgroup:where I no longer have fun since one of my "friends" let slip about B and now all these acquaintances keep asking me how he is. So much for my one place of normalcy.

R went to a birthday party and brought home some fake snot: I've been enjoying my cutting garden. It's got good stuff this time of year:


April may have started out as one of the most difficult times of my life, but I do always try to find joy in the small things.

Came across a great quote, which is my new mantra: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain."

Through the weekend

This week E learned how to make egg salad. He always liked using the egg slicer, but can now also peel the eggs, mash them, and mix it all up. Yum!

We've been worrying about one of the squirrels we feed. He broke his right leg and his left eye is all cloudy. (Remember, you can click the photos to see them larger.) He seems to be getting a little more energetic every day, but it probably won't last too much longer. E and I had some interesting conversations while we watched him as another squirrel jumped on his back. First we thought it was attacking. Then we thought it was trying to mate. But we decided that it must be some sort of other relationship. Either mom/child or mate. The other squirrel seemed to be pushing him along. E named him Survivor. We also had a conversation about euthanasia, but that did not sit at all well with E. This week we'll be getting a book about squirrels at the library. We know surprisingly little about them other than what we've observed, and are looking forward to finding out what kind of social circles they run in.

Friday evening from 7pm till 9:30pm R went to this thing called Twylight Zone, which is an event for tweens at the YMCA. They open the pool and gym and game room to tweens. It's free for members and was only 6 bucks for guests. With all of R's friends there were a total of seven of them, and they had a great time. He refused to bring his camera and take pictures for me. He is wanting to be his own person now and have time with friends that he doesn't have to share with me. *sigh*

E had me take a photo of the biggest pot he ever won (R is so damn good at poker, although E is lucky as hell at everything else). Poor thing smashed his finger while he was running to tell me to take his picture. He held it together long enough for the photo and then needed some ice and a Spongebob bandaid.

Saturday we went down to to New York to celebrate B's nephews' birthdays. Aunt R decided to do the boys together since Uncle E normally handles all the Joe Housewife stuff and he is in the hospital rehabilitating. It was so strange to be in his house with him not there. It was mighty good to be in New York for something happy though.

The boys had a great time playing with the Playstation upstairs and the Wii downstairs. They always have a great time there, but we always end up having to have the no gaming systems conversation on the way home. Yes, I'm already regretting the Nintendo DS we bought R for Christmas. Argh.

I was so happy to get a great shot of all the B kids together. And Uncle M stood behind me to get them to all smile. Well done, Uncle M!

This morning (Sunday) I walked on my treadmill for 20 minutes and rode my Lifecylce for 10 minutes. Standing ovation please.

Today E was invited to a neighborhood friend's birthday party at a gymnastics center. He wasn't thrilled with the circuit aspect of the party, preferring the free time they had to play on whatever they wanted. He loves having playmates in our cul-de-sac. He loves being the oldest. He is eight and the next after him is six. And it goes down to two and a half. See him towering above the other kids (along with older cousins who had also been invited), I love that all the neighborhood parents love him. They tell me he is "pleasant" and "kind". I'm so glad that he has the opportunity to be with younger kids and nurture that side of him.

R invited some friends over for the afternoon. They played basketball and who knows what else while E and I were at the birthday party. E was so pleased that they included him when he returned and wanted to play with them. What a great group of kids. All of them have little brothers and are understanding.

I loved watching them walk out of the woods with all their wooden rifles, Nerf guns, and blow horns. They must've had a fun day. I'm so thrilled that R is starting to take care of his own social life and that I really can stop worrying about that aspect of his life.

The last few Sundays have been tough for B. He realizes that he needs to continue to do the things he can while he can. At first he was so immobilized, but he is learning to live day by day and appreciate the moment. Today he cleaned the gutters. There's no way he will be able to do them in April when he usually does, and he refuses to pay someone else. So he is carrying on.

But by about 3:00 he starts looking like he's ready to cry. He showers and puts on his pajamas and climbs into bed to watch something on TV to get lost in. He is counting down his weekends, and now he has only one left until his life is changed so drastically for several months.

Nine days until his surgery.

January Fun

Lots of planning for our vacation around here; reading books, looking at websites, making reservations, and planning our itinerary. R says he is tired of the snow, but he still goes out to play now as much as he does in the summer. The snow this year has been obnoxious. B did not get season passes for skiing this year because the snow has been so bad the last few years. Now he is considering getting monthly passes to Mount Southington for himeself and R, when we get back from Florida.

The boys have been playing basketball on Saturdays. No weekday sports at all. It has been heavenly for me with so much less driving. I signed them up with some neighborhood friends. We parents take turn driving the kids, and the kids get some time to play together while not playing basketball. It's turning out to be a great arrangement. (For those of you who are new here, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.)

Here is some sort of war game that E invented. He drew the water and the land, and made up rules to play with his civil war soldiers. B played with him and said it was a pretty good game. That E is so creative.

And here is the young man with his new Nerf Long Shot. Thanks Aunt R and uncle E for all that money for Christmas :-/ The only good thing to come of this, is that I've given him permission to shoot any cats in the backyard (how screwed up is that). We have a big problem with cats chasing our birds away and everyone I've asked has assured me that the Nerf bullets will only scare them away and not really harm them. Whatever.

We tried to make some Outrageous Ooze, but it didn't work out. The kit we had was old and perhaps the gunk in there had expired. We were bummed about it, since generating excitement for this kind of activity is so challenging, and having it not work out doesn't really help the cause.

We have stopped trying to shovel the sidewalk since the boys convinced the plow guys to push all the cul-de-sac snow in the front of our house. We do have some awesome conditions out there.




B is really good about playing out front with the boys. I went down the lawn once, but I went too fast and am afraid of killing myself. So I am the photographer now.

R is getting really good at snowboarding. We have to get him on some real slopes this year. He's only skied on the slopes, but he is ready to snowboard. Here's the view of our front hill from a second floor window. Pretty cool hill. The boys built a snowman yesterday.
This is what it looks like today. We hadn't realized it was that warm outside.
E had some fun with some neighborhood kids today. He loves being the oldest.
More soon!

Early December

Friends came by to play in the snow.

We went to see Bolt in 3D. This movie was exquisitely beautiful. I can't say much about the story, although the boys seemed entertained. I was too busy simply looking at it. It was so well directed and the use of the 3D aspect was not at all gimmicky. When watching it flat you would not likely be able to tell it had been made for 3D. I'm so glad we saw this. It reminded me of admiring the beauty of the backgrounds in Disney's The Aristocats in my History of Animation class in college. Candy for the eyes. Disney rocks 3D.

I'm very happy to have gotten my birdfeeder back up. I haven't seen as many cats around as I had, so I thought I'd give it another try. The first day we filled up all those feeders the boys and I spent hours watching and counted 14 different kinds of birds. I wrote a list, which of course I can't find now. That's fine though, the fun was in the writing. We consulted my identifier book and listened to my chirping identifier and have since been enjoying watching immensly. Here are a Downy Woodpecker, male Cardinal, and a Carolina Chickadee.

We had a good long visit with friends we haven't seen in WAY too long.

E managed to pry out the ice R had prepared in the buckets Thanksgiving weekend.

R is very pleased with the Electronics class he took at the Green Street co-op we joined in Middletown. He is looking forward to taking it for the next 14 week session too. E is looking forward to continuing his music appreciation class.

The boys practiced their letter writing skills: