Pirates!

We left our Wednesday playgroup and are thrilled that all of our friends have arranged to meet once a week with us on another day. We are so blessed to have created friendships with them that they are willing to work to keep. The tweens are meeting at one house, while their siblings are meeting at someone else's (who happens to live within walking distance of the first). Here's a photo of the younger crew last week; E with his best buds:

This week we had planned to have all the kids together rather than meet at separate houses, but too many kids are sick, so we canceled this time around. I'm glad we've been doing other fun things so the boys didn't miss it too much.

This evening we went to our now annual excursion to The Connecticut Gilbert & Sullivan Society's yearly performance. A CT homeschooling family participates with this group and invites other homeschoolers to come to the dress rehearsal for free, which is awesome, since were we to pay, it would cost us $80.

This time it was The Pirates of Penzance. It's so cool that the boys love to go see an opera (ok, technically it's an operetta) every year. R even skipped his last soccer practice of the season for it. The show was very funny, but we still all agree that our favorite was the first show we saw, Iolanthe in 2007. After all, although we had silly pirates this year, Iolanthe had the classic large woman with shielded breasts and long braids with a horned helmet. We'll keep going every year that we are invited to, but it will be hard to top that.

Co Co Key Water Resort

...is offering free admission for the next couple of weeks, so we had to take advantage of that. The boys had such a good time with their friend RP at Chuck E. Cheese's the other day, that we decided to invite him to join us again today.

Everyone had a fun day.

Luna

My brother gave us our dog. Honestly, I'm really not a dog person, and could still return her without looking back. And it really annoys me that I have to be the alpha. Really. But the boys adore her and feel she is part of the family. Even if it means we can't go anywhere for more than about four hours or so, since I can't feel good about leaving her in her crate much longer than that.

Luna is now six months old (and still growing...argh). Here she is playing a game, or more accurately getting mad that we are playing a game...


Sleeping on her stinky pillow...

Checking me out from the back seat of the car...

And trying to look fierce with E. But the ears always give her away...

I'm Back

Thought I'd give this another try. Again. And that I'd open it up to the general public. Again. We'll see where it goes. And who reads. And who stalks. And if I care.

E found Chuck E. Cheese's coupons in the newspaper at my dad's house. Normally I steer clear of that place, but I thought it would be fun if we went and they each invited one of their friends. We've needed some distraction from the theft of our playgroup and this seemed like a great way to get it.

I think they both had a really fun day. (Remember to click on the photos to see them larger.)

Soccer and Golf

Soccer season ended for E. He loved his team and is bummed that it's over for the summer.

R is still playing for another weekend, and also gets to add golf to his list of sports. He is on a golf team now. I love that they make the kids dress up. He didn't even mind the nice pants...I think he realized how handsome he looked.

E's 9th Birthday...with the big bouncy house

E's birthday party was a week late this year. We had to have it on a weekend since so many of his friends go to school now. It was nice too, because we were able to invite our families. My mother came down and spent a couple of days, and my dad canceled plans to be here.

The boys were disappointed that Uncle M couldn't make it, because two of his three kids was sick. E was really bummed that none of my siblings made it either, but was glad to at least have two of his cousins to play with; B's brother E's family, which was awesome. (Click on photos to enlarge them.) It was great to see E up and about. He really is a very different person now, after the stroke, but he is still E in there, and he can walk, and talk, if you are patient enough to allow him to get out what he wants to say.

Here he is in the middle surrounded by his family and my dad, who was so glad to have the opportunity to visit with him. E was a musician and he and my dad share that, E having actually bought a really old, but well functioning, amplifier from him many years ago.


I can't believe I spent the money on it, but we got a bouncy house this year. The boys chipped in and gave me $30 so we could get the really big one with the slide.

I let E invite everyone he wanted to, figuring if I spent all that money we may as well at least get good use out of it. We invited 47 people, but we ended up with 32, I think.

B made it through the day pretty well considering he had had chemo that weekend. He managed to jump around in the house since he was the only grown-up in the family who was around to and could. He's such a great dad.

I think I did a great job coordinating this whole thing. Family was invited from 11:00 till 3:00, and I served them lunch at noon. At 1:00 all the kids around the neighborhood (all under age 7) arrived. They had 30 minutes to bounce without getting hurt, until the big kids arrived at 1:30. At 3:00 all the family and neighborhood little kids left, and the big kids then had an hour to bounce around wildly, since they had been invited to stay till 4.

We had cupcakes which had had the wrappers taken off before being frosted, and were able to have "cake" in hand with no plates, utensils, or mess. I've found that kids tend to eat the whole cupcake and not just lick off the frosting when there is no paper to contend with. Easy.

The kids also had a blast hunting around for their candy "treasure" bags that had been hidden around the backyard. I was so pleased that when we couldn't find one, all the kids readily agreed to share one piece of candy with the girl who couldn't find hers (showed up in the gas grill the next day).

It was tough when everyone was gone. R headed out with one of our guests for a sleepover, and it was just E and B and I. I bounced around in the house a bit, and we all had a good laugh when I lost my balance and almost fell.

We had a quiet evening together, and E had lots of fun bouncing in the morning before the guy came to take the house away.

It really was an awesome day. And it was certainly the easiest kids party I ever hosted. But honestly, I can't see how people spend this kind of money on kids' parties year after year. Crazy.

Memorial Day Weekend

We headed up to Maine this year. I usually avoid my mother's enormous family around holiday time, but I was feeling like B needed the break from home, and my mom dotes over him to his great satisfaction. Plus it's a really cool place to be to feel the summer's potential.

We had a fantastic Saturday playing with my three-year-old nephew, M. He's been slow to blossom and it was really nice to see him interacting so much. He really bonded with my kids when they were up there during the week of B's surgery, and was super excited to see them when we arrived.

My brother talked my mom into lending him money for a small electric motor for the row boat. I'm glad he did, because B would not have been able to take the boys on their usual row (another couple of months of restricted activities while he continues to recover from his surgery), and it's something he really enjoys doing when we go up there.

We went up to my Grandmother's cottage at Granny Kent Pond on Sunday. Where the bazillions of people always are. Except this time there was almost no one. It was incredibly disappointing that none of the other four 1997 boys' families showed up, because my kids had no one to play with all day. And they were already dealing with the disappointment of Aunt D canceling her trip home from Colombia at the super last minute. Poor R had even brought his tadpole with sprouting legs all the way to Maine to show her.

It was also a bummer that one of my uncles was sick and the dock couldn't be put out into the water without his manpower. Plus the picnic tables were behind the dock. Which all adds up to my Memorial Day inside instead of on the beach.

Nevertheless, R did say at the end of the day that it was still better than just hanging out at Grandma's all day. They had an acceptable time fishing and playing in the water and with the sand and drinking soda and eating Doritos and red peppers and hot dogs. And I got to hang out with my grandmother since some of her entourage didn't show up and I didn't feel like I was on stage. She's 91 and getting tired. I don't blame her; eight kids is a lot. And they kept coming home...

Sunday was the most enjoyable day. E enjoyed some quiet time fishing with the boat tied to the dock. He was determined to catch something, but never managed it.

I took time to enjoy the view from the deck...and the deck from the view...

We had an excellent time playing some miniature golf with Grandma (my mom). My boys are so blessed to have a Grandma who adores them and interacts with them so much.

After that we enjoyed some scallops, lobster roll, clam chowder (don't even ask "what kind?"), haddock fish and chips, and chicken tenders at The Weathervane. Yum!

And finally it was time to go.

But R didn't want to.

In a big way.

He wanted to stay in Maine with Grandma until this weekend, when she is coming down to Connecticut for E's birthday party anyway.

So he talked about it with E, and E decided to stay too.

It was a really agonizing decision for E. The week of B being in the hospital is still with him. He is so worried about his dad. But he loves R most, and didn't want to leave without him. Plus the next day was his birthday and we were planning to go to a Rockcats game, which we had done last year and he loved.

But after reassuring him that B would be fine, and that we would go see the Rockcats another night, yes with Nagy Papa too, he decided to stay. The security of getting to hold on to my new cell phone seemed to help.

I have to admit that driving away from them was a surreal experience. I could still see the apprehension on E's face, but knew he'd be glad he made the decision he did. And B and I got to spend the rest of our 18th Wedding Anniversary alone.

And now several days...

Wordless Wednesday

"My Man"

Wordless Wednesday is a meme. For me, it is the day when I present a photo of our lives without explanation (other than a title for the photo).

The blogroll of others who are participating can be found here. Spend a few minutes looking at some really great photos!