St. Patrick's Day

This morning found me up at 7am. That in itself is noteworthy. I got up to put the corned beef into the crockpot. Corned beef. Ew. B loves the stuff, but I think it's gross. This is the first year I made it. He was so happy to see me preparing it that he went to the store and brought me home a green carnation before going to work. I didn't wear it though because I didn't want it to get crushed.

Since I was up anyway I made the boys green eggs and they had that along with the Irish soda bread B had made over the weekend.

Then we got dressed and headed to bowling. I'm thrilled to be bowling again. I joined a league in September. We bowl every Tuesday morning. It's probably 1/2 retirees and the rest are closer to my age. No one younger though.

I bowled with my mom and aunts when I lived in New York way back when. I was pretty good then, and am extremely happy that time and fat haven't seemed to make a difference now. My average is the second highest on the league, at 153, and my team is in first place. Today I bowled a 156, 214 (!) and a 142. This is my second week in a row bowling over 200. Woo hoo!

The boys come to bowling too. For years I've sat on the sidelines or in the car when it's cold, and driven them to all manner of sports and classes. This year I decided they could sit for my sport. They hand out on benches on the other side of the place and read/play with R's DS/play with action figures/do workbooks stuff to earn TV time, and basically keep themselves busy without too much complaint. R is taking a baby sitting class next month, and I told him they could stay home after he's done, but for now they have to go and suffer through my bowling. Although sometimes they do ask my dad to comb by and watch them so they don't have to go.

After bowling we came home and the boys went outside to make themselves a fire. That's something they are so into these days that I've stopped taking pictures. Although I don't think I've posted one here. OK, here's an old one.

While they did that I spent a really good portion of the day looking through tons of books in the basement and filling 9 plastic grocery bags with disposables. I still have a lot to go, but they really did fill up my trunk.

When B got home we had our corned beef (ew). The boys liked it well enough, but next year if I make it again I'll be making something else for myself.

We ended the day by going to the movies. The theater in Wallingford sells all tickets for $5 on Tuesdays and B has been hating that he misses them all the time. So we agreed that we'd go at night so he can join us. We saw Race to Witch Mountain. We knew it would be coming out so a couple of weeks ago we watched the original (borrowed from the library) to enjoy before the super effects ruined the the enjoyment. Good decision, that.



The boys enjoyed both versions, but of course, like the new one better (duh). I liked the old one better (duh). The new one was fun, but lots of explosions and a little more over the top than necessary. I guess it's what kids expect these days. My favorite part was when the two original kids showed up as adult characters on this one. I'm so glad I saw Kim Richards' name at the start of the film, so I knew to look for her. The boys liked that too. And B was so glad he got to join us. It did mean getting into bed close to 10 though.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

We had a difficult night last night. R threw up in his bed at 11pm. E made it to the bathroom around 2, and then they were both up at least three more times each until they got up a little after 7. Luckily they all let me continue to sleep till 10, or I would've been dead. All three of my men are blaming it on lunch at Nardelli's, but it just doesn't compute for me. Nevertheless, they are all extremely wary of returning.

Today we managed to drag the boys out into the beautiful day to watch the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New Haven. We had our chairs and found a great spot in our usual area close to the end of the route. We love this parade and I hated having to miss it when I was sick the year before last. So although the boys wouldn't feel really better until about half way through it, they were glad we went.

We look forward to taking the boys to the parade in Manhattan sometime, but for now ours is just as good and 1/3 as long. Plus we can get there 1/2 hour after it takes off and still get good spots too see it. In New York chairs are useless unless you arrive at least an hour before the thing starts (no matter where on the route you are), so not only will we have to stand, but it will be for about 3 hours instead of 1. However, even if we stay only 1 hour, we'd probably get to see twice as much because there are so many participants. And the bands are much bigger. Ah, that barely touches upon the pros and cons.

I have to say though, that for what you are actually seeing, it's mostly the same. We have our share of weirdness to watch. And from the families with the loud horns, the teenagers who join in to walk with a group they don't belong to, to the adults who stumble along with their paper bags, the spectators are exactly the same.

The only thing B and I really miss is cheering for the sanitation guys that follow the horses.

My anti-war 12-year-old

“Mom, how come if you kill someone here it's called murder, but if you kill someone in another country they call you a hero?”

Spring

I'm so happy that in the midst of all the stress I am feeling, that I can still slow down enough to live in the moment of a beautiful spring day.

I started out with an episode of The Waltons, which always mellows me. For lunch we went to Nardelli's in Naugatuck. We had actually seen the place featured on a program on The Travel Channel and have wanted to go ever since. Sometimes it really bothers me that my family loves food so much.

The lunch was good. The boys loved it and can't wait to go again. Perhaps we will stop in on the one in Waterbury which we sometimes actually pass.

R actually talked me into a basketball game of HORSE. I lost by only one letter. It was cool to see him getting nervous. And it was wonderful to have two other families and a bunch of kids running around our cul-de-sac flying kites and riding bikes. One little 6yo girl declared "this is the best day ever!"

I spent some time in my garden cleaning out leaves and pulling out dead stems which haven't provided "winter interest" in some time now. Digging around in the garden in March is good for the soul.

Spring is coming; pay attention. The crocus are blooming and the daffodils and tulips are a good three inches tall. Our Pussy Willow is blooming too. It's time to cut branches off the Forsythia and bring them inside to bloom. Here's a before and after from two years ago at our house. They only take a week to bloom, so be patient.

B is fitting in all the fun he can before he is bedridden for a while. He took the boys to the park in town and here I sit contemplating. I can't seem to muster up the desire to blog much anymore, which is a huge shame since I love looking back and reading them. The older posts really do help me focus on how much we are doing. These days I seem to focus on how much we are not.

R is anxious to learn how to spell. I bought a curriculum which several people have suggested, but have not managed to crack it open and plow through my part. He is also anxious to move forward with math so he's not "an idiot" when he enrolls in high school in two years. Got an online program for that, but have yet to look through it and get it going. Plus we've been really inconsistent with the boys' eye exercises. I haven't been too hard on myself about all this, but do feel like everything is "on hold" right now. Although there are a bazillion things scheduled from now till Easter, I feel like time that's not already scheduled should be simply enjoyed. For my own sanity.

Have to make dinner now...

Stupid song lyrics

Yesterday were were driving along listening to the radio, and E comes out with:

"Why did he shoot the sheriff? He's just going to have to go to jail."

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!

Holiday Highlights

Wasn't sick this year - woo hoo! - so there was cookie making happening. We actually ran out of tins to store them in! Here's our cookie station:

Crafts for gifts:

A weekend visit to Maine for Grandma's annual craft day with the "boys of '97", as R refers to them, also included a visit with Uncle R (my brother) who brought a box of Halloween clearance finds, some of which he gave the boys. He was amazed at how E falls right in to character for each item he puts on.

Our annual family outing was to see A Civil War Christmas at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven on a weeknight. It was a little difficult to follow with jumping story lines, actors playing several different characters, and no clear sets helping to define what was going on, but we did share an interesting critique on the way home, and shared our favorite parts. The Long Wharf Theater is a fantastic venue that we look forward to returning to.

Had a huge snow storm which dropped about 10 inches the first day and another three the next night.

Woke up to all that snow, cleaned it all up, and drove down to New York to visit B's family. Here are six of the seven male cousins spawned from the three male sons born to my mother-in-law:

Picked up my deliriously happy sister in New York after visiting with B's family. She got engaged during her two-month hiatus to Columbia to meet up with her till-then mostly pen-pal man.

E had lots of fun introducing his new Hess truck from his grandparents to the ones they had given him in previous years:

Mom arrived with matching pajamas for the girls this year:

Decorating gingerbread cookies that Grandma had brought was lots of fun:

We had lots and lots of game playing going on the whole time my sister and mom were here:

My cousin stopped by on her way from her home in Philadelphia to her family in Maine on Christmas eve. It was a disappointingly short visit, but an extremely enjoyable one.

We left the camera near the fireplace so that Santa could take photos of the room with his presents there. Fantasy is still alive and well in this household.

R's favorite gift was the Nintendo DS that B and I gave him. I hope I don't end up regretting that agonizing decision.

This year the only present E asked for in his letter to Santa was a box of 40 flavors of Jelly Bellies. He wrote Santa that he could surprise him with the rest. Santa was very excited and did a fantastic job. Here we have a mask with parts you can put together however you like. Then you choose a mouth based on the voice changer you want to use. So you choose a face, then choose a voice. E said it was his favorite present.

He also desperately needed a new knight costume. His was way worn out from all the Renaissance Festivals we went to this year. He was extremely excited that this one came with a helmet.

After opening all the presents and enjoying eachother's company for a while, we went to the movies to see Bedtime Stories:


We really enjoy movies in our family, and this was a great one. It was a wonderful, kid-friendly story. All six of us thoroughly enjoyed it. I have really enjoyed growing up with Adam Sandler. I wish he would show this side of himself more often. And I loved seeing his buddies from Grandma's Boy, SNL and others my sister pointed out.

I have to admit, I have a hard time letting the photos do the talking. There is so much to fill in that I will surely forget over the years. But this is so much faster. And hopefully I chose photos and wrote enough to spark my memories.

This was the best Christmas I've had in years. All of us were so much more relaxed this year than we usually are. It was wonderful.

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: