Featuring the Fors

Where have we been?

2010-09-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

My gosh, it has been months!

Well we have just been busy. We had a great summer. Dan and I went to Jamaica in July with 2 other couples and had a marvelous time. Then in August we went to Ohio with the kids for a week, then finishing the last weekend renting a house with Dan's family and a visit to Cedar Point. We also had t-ball, gymnastics, dance, and many playdates.

Now we are back to school. Megan is a big first grader at her new school, St. Peter's. She looks so adorable in her uniform. Ryan has adjusted to his 4 year old preschool class at Kensington. Ryan's teachers kept commenting to us about him being such a good listener, and what a good student he is, and how they have fallen in love with him, and for a while Dan and I would look at each other and say, "They have the right kid, right?" He seems to be a completely different child at school.

Dan and I are getting right back into the teaching swing. I am pretty excited about my schedule this year. I am co-teaching for several groups this year so I am looking forward to that.

Well it is a school night so I had best get my booty to bed!

Summer Fun!

2010-06-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

I am exhausted from all the super-fun we have been having this week.
Thursday we went to the Cell to see the Sox sweep the Braves. Well, Dan ended up having class so I took my nephew and the kids and met up with friends and their kids. We actually had some pretty decent seats, something that we don't usually do with the kids. And again, I seem to have a magical touch at the ballpark, but I leaned over to the kids in the 8th inning and said, I feel like this one is going to be homer, and wouldn't you know it, Paul Konerko hit one into the seats!

Yesterday the kids and I drove up to Delavan for an absolutely fantastic day of swimming and boating. The kids are getting braver in the water every day! The kids loved tubing, and are already planning when they can try it again! I had an awesome ride in the tube, and Auntie Gretchen was able to finally flip me off after several attempts on the wild ride. It was awesome! Well, I thought it was awesome, my little protector Ryan apparently kept reading her the riot act. Something to the effect of "That's my mom, I said slow down!" And he was very concerned about me when I flipped into the water. He always takes such good care of me!

Today I went for a nice 5 mile run while the kids were in art class. Then we checked out the farmers market, a couple of garage sales, and decided to spend the afternoon swimming in the pool. Megan has made it swimming across the pool and back for the first time today without her floatie! And then Ryan surprised me by swimming out to us without his floatie on! I think we finally have some swimmers here!

Medical Updates

2010-06-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, well that sounds way more serious than it is. Today the kids had their 6 and 4 year old check-ups. Good news all around.

Best news of all- Megan is back on the growth charts! Yay! Last year she had fallen off the chart below the first percentile. This year she has grown like a weed, she is way up to the 3rd percentile! But she has always hovered around the 5th so the doctor was quite pleased. And of course we were super-excited because she is now 42 inches which means hello roller coasters-here we come (ok, maybe only a few more rides, but that was such a huge marker for us)! She also weighs in at a whopping 39 pounds.

Ryan is also growing nicely, keeping along his growth line. He is now 35 pounds and 39 1/2 inches staying right near the 10th percentile. He was also tested for diabetes and got a clean bill! I wanted the pediatrician to check him just to make sure because he sometimes seems to be really thirsty, and while I think it is just his active personality with his family history I figured it was better to err on the side of being overly cautious.

We came home and spent the afternoon swimming in our pool. What fun! Iwill have to post some pictures of the kids in their crazy get-ups. These two, I swear that could not have looked goofier, but they had so much fun. They wore bathing caps and swim goggles in addition to the floaty suits. They got pretty good at swimming with their heads under water, so hey if they need to get all crazy to do it that is fine by me!

And more good news, Megan is nearly riding her two-wheeler! She asked me to let go today (this is a HUGE step) and she even made it about 20 or 30 feet. I think she will get the hang of it pretty soon.

Ok, off to go enjoy more summertime fun!

I Rock!

2010-06-13T16:03:00.000-07:00

Today I completed my first sprint triathlon. It was amazing, what an experience. I think I have found the sport for me!
I completed the entire race in 1:51:43. And I achieved all the personal goals that I set for myself: don't drown, don't fall off the bike, finish (not last), and under 2 hours. The last goal was really a hope since I thought it was a long shot!
I definitely plan to do this race again-I think I may have even talked a few family members into joining me next year! There are some things I would do differently, like remember what to do when I get in the water! It was amazing, I haven't been training all that long, but I have really been consistently practicing the swimming as I suspected that would be my weakest link. Man, I hit the water and totally forgot all the practicing I had been doing. Maybe I just kicked into survival mode or something, but anything that poor Dan had me work on (and I really had made HUGE strides in this) went out the water when I felt that cold water and got my first gulp. But I guess it wasn't all that bad because my anticipated time to swim was 10:30 and I finished that leg in 7:51.
Then it was off to the bikes. Again I laid out my energy chews and my gum, and forgot to take either one. Oh well. Previously I had practiced this course, the first time took me 1:05 and the second 1:00. Not today. Today I made it in 54:59! I felt pretty good on the bike. Maybe next time I could give a little more here.
Last leg was the run. Now this part I imagined would be tough since my legs felt like jello, and no imagination necessary, this was tough! It was a 4.1 mile race to the beer, and the first mile took me a little over 12 minutes, but then I started to get some feeling back into my legs and was able to finish in 43 minutes.
It was such an exciting day! Oh so much fun! And I did it all with my good friend Maggie-who will be my partner again this year for the Muddy Buddy race on August 1. Not a triathlon, just running and biking with some obstacles and a giant mud crawl at the end! We are some crazy ladies!

The Countdown...

2010-06-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Our many events/activities are ending with many more beginning in the next few days and weeks.
Dan and I finish school some time tomorrow. I say sometime because technically we have to stay until 3:00, but in all my years there I have never stayed that long, but you just never know. The teachers at my school plan to promptly head over to the bars to beging a pub crawl (or if we get really lazy a pub sit-we just sit in the same chairs at the first bar for the whole day!)
Ryan's last school day is Thursday. His last day with our sitter was last week. Megan's last day is Friday, and since that is the last day of school at St. Mary's we are expecting many tears (mostly from me). The Kindergarten is hosting the last school mass, and Megan has been practicing reading her petition. So many goodbyes this year...
This weekend will finish the kids' gymnastics class, and begin the kids' art class, something new for us.
I have been busy "training" for my first triathlon which will be in a mere 13 days. I don't expect to win any awards, just complete the 3 events. I will be swimming 1/4 mile, biking 14.7 miles, and running 4.1 miles. I am really excited about it, and I have found I enjoy biking and swimming far more than I ever thought. I have even started getting used to (and not totally hating) getting up before 5 am to get to the pool for a swim a few days a week, and for those who don't know me well, I am not a morning person! I don't really swim the correct way, and have given up the idea that I will before the race, but since I have my very own swim coach/personal trainer in my house, my goal/his job is for me to learn to swim the right way by the end of the summer. Boy does he have his work cut out!
In the next few weeks the kids will start swimming lessons and t-ball, and Megan will start the big girls gymnastics pre-team.
We are gearing up for our many trips, I am heading to Florida in 3 weeks, Dan and I go to Jamaica in July, and we are wondering where our camper will go this summer. We have plenty of states yet to color in on our map, but we haven't narrowed down where we will head this summer. We are open to any suggestions!

I Did It!

2010-04-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

Dan and I had a little challenge. If I swam 10 laps without stopping and hanging on the wall he would shave his beard. Guess what? I did it. In all I swam 20 laps, but I did the first 10 without stopping. I did stop in the second 10 a couple of times, but all in all it was not bad! Amd now Dan gets to shave!!!! Although he tried to tell me that he said I couldn't put my hand on the wall at all, and I disagreed and said I was turning, not resting. I think he is more surprised that I actually COULD swim since he has never witnessed it before! I will post some pictures of my victory prize as soon as I get it!

My Baby Girl is 6 today!

2010-04-09T20:27:00.000-07:00

That's right folks, she's 6!

She is becoming a little older and a little wiser, but I really hope she doesn't grow up too fast. Megan is blossoming in Kindergarten. She loves her teacher, and is really doing quite well with the academics. Megan is always writing or drawing wherever she goes! And if you haven't talked to her in a while, you may not know how fond she is of ... cats! Megan LOVES LOVES LOVES cats, especially her cat Sesame. Chewie is not so bad in her eyes too, but Ses is the clear favorite. And Ses loves Megan right back. Sesame sleeps in her bed, lets Megan dress her like a baby and put her in a doll stroller or carrier, and is just as loving as can be.

And not to be totally left out of the birthdays, Chewie turned 12 yesterday!
April is quite a month for birthdays!

Can you believe it?

2010-04-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

The weather, that is! If you are living in the midwest you must have been enjoying these unseasonably warm past few days! A couple of 80 degree days, and the best part was we were on our spring vacation so we really got to enjoy them!

I know in the next few days and weeks when the weather is perfectly springlike we will be missing these absolutely beautiful days that really felt more like summer. And we are soooo wishing for summer.

The fourth quarter is always the toughest, for me anyway. It seems like everyone gets a little antsy and eager to be finished. People, that is the teachers as well as the students, need a long break from each other as this seems to be the time of year when people really start getting on each others nerves. Those annoying habits that your co-worker did that amused you in September, well by April or May they are no longer cute or endearing. You see it in the kids too. In the beginning of the year the kids are happy to see each other after the summer, they are patient when someone is struggling, they easily take turns and wait in lines, but by spring they know each other all too well. They know how to push each other's buttons, they know which drinking fountain works the best, and fight to be the first one to reach it! The temperatures get warmer and the rooms do too (at least in my school since we don't have AC), the kids get stinky (ever smelled a 5th or 6th grade classroom after recess? ugh!) This is the longest stretch of the year! And we are going in for the last 42 days starting on Monday! (yep, countdown has begun!)

We are on Vacation!

2010-03-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

Well, spring break anyway!

Actually last night we got back from our little get-a-way to the Kalahari in the Dells with some friends. Boy, did we have fun. Who knew my kids were such fish? The only thing that held them back from trying every waterslide in the park was the height restrictions! The bigger the slide, the bigger the smile when we got going! They SO take after me! And I tried the "toilet bowl" or some kind of bowl, it sure felt like a toilet! It is this slide that starts way up high with a pretty good angle so you get some decent speed going before sending you into this circular tube where you spin around for a bit before gravity drops you down the center into a pool of water. Well I fell into that pool completely sideways with such force that my goody-bits needed to be readjusted in my swimsuit before coming back up for air. And when I came up for air, totally disoriented, the water coming from the "toilet bowl" was pouring over me so much I had a hard time figuring out where to go to get out (oh, and hard time breathing!). But it was a fun in a Oh-I-just-may-drown! kind of way!

Today we registered Ryan for his new school next year, Kensington. We registered Megan last week at St. Peter, so now all the really tough decisions have been made. Both kids got into the schools that were our first choices so we feel pretty good about our decisions. Of course so sad that we will be leaving St. Mary's, but since there is nothing that can be done about that we have to move toward a new future!

We don't have too much on our agendas for the remainder of this week. We are looking forward to the nice weather we are supposed to have, getting out in the sun, playing in the yard, and riding our bikes! And of course the spring cleaning that none of us is looking forward to, but oh so needed!

My baby is turning 4!

2010-03-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

Can you believe Ryan is 4 already! I still remember how tiny he was when he fit into my arms! But no more; he is such a big boy now!

Let's see, a quick what is Ryan like: well he is a super smiley little boy who is always filled with more energy than I ever knew existed! Ryan loves school, playing with his friends, and trains, trains, trains! He loves to talk, loudly and a lot (we're not sure where he gets these qualities), and he loves to snuggle, especially with his mommy-this is one I hope he never outgrows!

For his birthday we took him for a train ride to his favorite restaurant, Two Toots in Glen Ellyn. As you can imagine it was a train themed restaurant, you know the kind where they deliver you food via train. He loved it! He told the manager that he wants to work there when he gets a little bigger, and he made sure everyone there knew it was his birthday!

Of course the downside to traveling by train is that you have to follow their schedule. So we finished with our lunch, and lingered for as long as we could, but then we just had to tour around downtown Glen Ellyn. Now, normally thsi would be the highlight of the day for me as I love visiting all the little shops and bookstores, however apparently Mother Nature did not get the memo about today being the first day of spring. The whipping winds and the snow made walking anywhere outside absolutely zero fun, and having to be out there for 1-1/2 was really quite brutal! I mean, we really couldn't stay in the little antique shops with the kids for more than a few minutes before I started having heart palpitations thinking about what might break! Eventually we got home and into some warm clothes with some hot chocolate, and then the reflections of the day were pretty once again!

St. Patty's Day and more!

2010-03-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

We wish all of you a belated Happy St. Patty's Day!

Last Saturday Megan and Ryan danced in the parade with the McNulty Irish Dancers, and they both did a great job. It drizzled and misted the entire time, and it was a little over a mile, and both kids made it up until the very last stretch before hopping onto the trolley. Afterwards we stopped for brunch at Heaven on Seven-not Irish, but yummy anyway, and we watched the rest of the parade. Then we headed to Border's Books to see Ralph Covert of Ralph's World- a favorite of the kids. Ryan brought his guitar along and played along with Ralph the entire time. Ralph even signed Ryan's guitar!

We continued to celebrate all week long as the kids decided to add a song to our dinner prayers, Lord of the Dance. Megan knows all the words to the entire song, and Ryan has been found singing the chorus at various points throughout the week. If you have seen the video, clearly he IS the lord of the Dance! I am enjoying hearing it ringing through our house no matter who is singing!

On Wednesday my principal put me in charge of organizing a party in lieu of our faculty meeting. Do you think this Irish party-girl had any problems with that job? Absolutely not. I found a nice establishment, not Irish- but Italian that threw in free appetizers and was local. We had a great time, played a fun vocabulary game (that's what you get when you put the speech-language pathologist in charge of activities), had some yummy food, green beer and awesome socializing. Best faculty meeting yet!

Vegas Baby, Vegas!

2010-03-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

So yesterday a couple of friends from work and I all flew to Vegas for the Bon Jovi concert. We decided to save our money on a hotel room since we would hardly be there a nd just pull an all-nighter.

Our inicial plan was to not get too crazy so we wouldn't crash midway through the night. Well, by the time the limo dropped us off at the airport crazy was already on its way. We had mimosas, then our flight was delayed an hour so we had a little time to kill, and maybe a drink or two!

When we arrived in Vegas we got all dolled up in the airport bathroom, and put all of our stuff in an airport locker and headed out for some fun.

We went to the Wynn for their dinner buffet-yum! Then it was off to the concert. And it was FANTASTIC! That man is unbelievably beautiful-and we spoke to each other, over a crowd of about 30,000! No really, I was overcome with excitement, and it got really quiet int eh stadium and I yelled, "I love you JON!" To which he responded, "I love you all too!" He spoke to ME!!! As you can imagine I was quite ecstatic! They played for nearly 3 hours with no breaks, and the entire show was amazing! They played all the old favorites mixed in with many new songs, including Megan's favorite! We had SOOOO much fun! There were many mullets in the crowd, and the lady in front of us who truly looked like she was plucked right out from 1987! We kept trying to get a picture, but since we are relatively sure this wasn't a costume, we didn't want to be too obvious and insulting!

After the show we headed to the casinos for some gambling. The slots were none too kind to me so I lost a little and mostly people-watched. And let me tell you about 2am there are some pretty freaky people in that town!

At some point we decided to try our luck at the "old Vegas," and I even taught the girls to play roulette. We had a good time and lots of laughs!

We made it safely back to the airport as exhausted as can be. We all fell asleep before take-off and slept most of the plane ride home. I did get up at one point because the plane got a little too hot, and I nearly tackled people to get them out of my way to the flight attendant area because I got a little light headed. But they were so kind and gave me some ice for my neck, and I was magically cured. They did say several people were complaining about it being too hot on the plane, so I don't believe it was totally self-induced, but my wild fun was probably partially to blame!

I am pretty sure I won't make it up for the Academy Awards tonight. Up until the plane ride yesterday I hadn't seen one sinlge nominated movie, oh wait was Up nominated? Well maybe one. And on the plane yesterday we watched Up in the Air so now I am two which will be the first time in at least a decade that I have watched a nomiated movie before the awards! I think I will be going to bed in about an hour. Someone tell who wins, and who was best and worst dressed!

snow day snow day snow day...

2010-02-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

At this point the only acceptable reason to allow snow to fall on this earth is because you want to give us a snow day. If in fact you are not going to make it snow enough to actually have a snow day, then just keep it. I am so over the snow for this year. Moving on. Winter over, spring begin.

Tomorrow is not going to be a pleasant day at work, well not at work, but meetings after work so I would really like to have a snow day. Yes, that would only prolong the inevitable, but maybe by then we will have a better plan. Or more confidence. Or maybe win the lottery and it won't at all matter.

I have a feeling there will be no snow day, just enough snow to make driving hellish. Please please please if you are going to drop any more snowflakes make it enough for a snow day or cancel the snow altogether. It IS the last week of February you know-time for winter to be wrapping things up and sailing on outta here!

Another one bites the dust, weekend that is

2010-02-17T05:58:00.000-08:00

We had a really nice Valentine's weekend. Dan was busy at his last swim meet for the season most of the weekend, but the kids and I enjoyed time together playing, relaxing, and attempting to clean the house.
On Sunday we tried another new church, well the church is not new, just new to us. We are leaning towards that school for Megan for next year, and wanted to see what a Sunday mass was like. It was fine. I don't know that we will find a true home like we had at St. Mary's, but I think it will be ok. There is just no way to replicate the intimacy and family coziness of St. Mary's in these huge mega-churches, which seem to be the only churches/parishes surviving. And mass was a little longer than we are used to which only made the kids a little squirmier than I would have appreciated so we had to come home and take a time-out before resuming our fun activities.
We did venture out to see The Toothfairy. I thought it was cute (and of course there was the Rock-shirtless in 1 scene-yumm-o!), but the kids again gave it two thumbs down. I swear unless it is a movie they have seen a million times, they are just not interested. They hated Up as well when I took them this past summer!
On Monday we headed out to Rockford to an indoor waterpark with the Troyers thanks to Mimi and Papa. We had lots of fun, but were exhausted after only 2 hours. It took us a while to get the kids onto some of the slides, but as soon as we did they were off! They had so much fun! And Kate and I had fun on the big slides too! We managed to fight off the YMCA day camp kids for most of the day, but then we all petered out. We took the kids for a late lunch-early dinner to a McDonald's playland to let them burn off whatever remaining energy they may have had before heading home and dropping into our beds.
Weekends are so much fun, but sometimes so exhausting. Oh, and in between all this fun we have been watching lots of Olympic coverage. Ryan was really digging the luge-we glossed right over the fact that it really is very dangerous, even deadly! Both kids have been figure skating across the floor in dramatic poses. Fear not, participating in the Olympics will not really be in our future!

Expecting Disasters

2010-02-10T18:39:00.000-08:00

Apparently I watch too many disaster movies. Last time the kids were all about playing sinking ship after watching Titanic. This week they have been asking all sorts of questions about tornados following the movie Twister. And after last night's earthquake (that we didn't feel) we- Megan and Ryan are obsessed with the idea of another earthquake.

The thing is they are not obsessed in the bad way, worried about what will happen, well I guess they sort of are, but they are not worried about anything really bad happening. Now they ask things like, "When the tornado comes will it take away my dinner?" or "Will the earthquake knock over my trains?" "Do the cats think the earthquake tickled their tummies?" It is nonstop. I suppose deep down they are probably a little worried, so I try not to brush off any of their questions, and try my best to answer them without laughing, and keep reminding them that we never even felt the earthquake (we are such sound sleepers) and that we are more than prepared since we all know what to do for a tornado.

But perhaps my movie selection should return to something far less scary like You've Got Mail or 27 Dresses!

Hey Guess What??

2010-02-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

In all of our chaos and sadness of last week, I totally forgot the one really exciting thing... Dan and I booked our trip to Jamaica! We are going in July with 2 other couples that we have traveled with before. We always have a great time, and no doubt we will this year as well! Of course we are going all-inclusive, that's really the only way we like to do it now once we've had the experience!

Riding the emotional rollercoaster

2010-01-31T15:18:00.000-08:00

We had a big St. Mary's celebration this morning to kick-off Catholic Schools Week. Of course it was very bittersweet as it was the last one that will ever be at St. Mary's after 88 years. I think I cried the majority of the mass. Most were tears of sadness, some were pride. All the wonderful teachers were there, the children's choir sang beautifully, and all the St. Mary's students came up to sing, "You can make a difference." There were reporters from the Daily Herald and the Chicago Tribune there so if I find pictures in the paper I will share.

After mass we headed to St. Irene's to begin the process of finding a new school, new parish, new home. The staff and parents were so wonderful to us, and it seemed so much like St. Mary's one just had to wonder if this meant we would be back in this position in a few years.

We got home, but when I checked my email I found out that St. Peter's was also having an open house today so we rushed right over. We got there just in time, 4 other St. Mary's families had just arrived and the principal kindly gave us all a tour of the school. As one mom said it was like the Ritz Carlton! The opportunities for the kids in the future were amazing. Dan asked if HE could get a job there!

We have one more open house next Sunday, and then it will be time to make some decisions. Megan has official given her stamp to all 3 schools since they each all have their own playground! In all likelihood there will be people she knows at all 3 schools so at least she won't have to completely be the new kid in town!

We have some big decisions ahead, and I am quite sure we are not fully cried out yet, although I am for this weekend-the sinus pressure is killing me! But we are moving forward, and as Principal Coughlin reminded us this morning-between tears, "The hand of God never pushes you where the Grace of God can't protect you."

And the blows just kept coming!

2010-01-30T13:02:00.000-08:00

This week could have been better.

The district that both Dan and I work in is facing huge budget deficits as most districts in the state of Illinois due to the extremely inadequate way our state has elected to fund education. And since those of us who live in Illinois know, the state has zero money, it has been defaulting on all the money that it had promised to the school districts to fund such unimportant things like READING and EARLY CHILDHOOD.

So everyday we have been hearing about more and more programs that will need to get cut, many pure rumor, but since no decisions have been officially made people have begun speculating and worrying. Why, might you ask is this MY problem? We since I am one of the co-presidents of our teacher's union, I get to deal with the questions and concerns. And in periods of frustration and worry, EVERYTHING becomes a major problem that must be dealt with immediately-like we don't have actual teaching jobs or families of our own! Since I have become co-president I have to admit I am shocked at how many people cannot communicate! Most of the problems that we get brought to (almost daily) can be solved with a bit of communication, but NOOOOO, that would be too easy. So needless to say I have been kept quite busy with emails and phone calls and meetings for the past few weeks.

But the worst news of all came to us Friday morning. As I was dropping Megan off at the house of the family we carpool with, Mrs. B told me that it was official, they were closing St. Mary's at the end of this school year. I missed the call the night before (dealing with aforementioned issues) so it was such a shock. I got back into my car and halfway to work I had to pull over because the crying took over. I cried on and off for a big part of the day.

My heart felt broken. It still is. St. Mary's began as a convenience for our family, but grew in the short time we have been there to part of our family. It feels like we have just lost a family member, and we are grieving.

Well Hello!

2010-01-27T15:53:00.000-08:00

There are many I things I should be doing right now, but I just kind of need a minute to do nothing. After having class on Monday (although Kate and I ditched and visited with the p's, Auntie Louie and Auntie Gretchen so we were still home late) and this new computer class on Tuesdays I came home from work today to find mountains of dishes and laundry to wash, clothes to fold, toys to pick up, and then that doesn't count any of the cleaning that should have been done over the weekend but were too busy to do like cleaning the bathrooms or washing the sheets.
Needless to say, all of that is NOT getting done tonight. But I will attempt to tackle a few things, at least ubtil I get distracted again!

On a good note, I complete my first 30 day workout on the EA Sports Active! Well, it's actually 20 workouts that complete within 30, and I did it. If you have the Wii I highly suggest you get this game. I could be a spokesperson I love it so much, but then again why would they pay me???

the boat game

2010-01-23T16:58:00.000-08:00

So this evening the kids decide to play "the boat game" and as I am watching them play, it occurs to me that they are playing Titanic. They are jumping off the boat (aka: couch, stairs, chairs, etc.) and swimming around the house.

Earlier today we were watching the movie, and they were asking questions about it. Hmmm. The good news is while I think they know people died, they are playing that they are swimming to safety. I think we will stick with this version for a while. At dinner tonight Megan prayed for the people on the boat. We expplained to her that it was a really long time ago, almost one hundred years, to which she responded, "Well, we could still pray for them!" And you know what, she's right.

Frustration

2010-01-07T18:05:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I was really mad. More of this crap being union co-president. You can never make everyone happy, and I know that, and expect that, but when we get insulted for our work (many hours), volunteer work by the way, I get mad.

So I got home and since I was really mad I wanted to either have a glass of wine and some ice cream or pound it out in a good workout. Since it is January and I am trying to live a bit healthier I opted for the tough workout. Yeah me!

Only I think I was a bit too aggressive as today my entire left side is sore and my knees are throbbing. Perhaps I overdid it!

When will I learn... life is all about BALANCE!

It's back to work we go

2010-01-03T13:09:00.001-08:00

Our last day of Christmas vacation officially ends today, and we managed to finish it by doing absolutely NOTHING! The kids and I finally got out of our pj's (and into sweatpants) about an hour ago. We have been flipping through nothing on the t.v. read some books, played some board games, trains, barbies,etc, but really nothing that can be considered productive. The breakfast dishes still remain on the counter and I completely forgot to start dinner in the crockpot so that will have to wait for another day unless we decide we want to eat at 9:30 this evening! A lazy day for sure.

I had big plans for gettting so much accomplished this break, as I do for almost all breaks, but they typically aren't much more successful. I DID manage to organize about 4 years worth of pictures, but only because I needed to empty the pictures from the drawer of the coffee table to make room for the new t.v. stuff!

It's hard to believe we have been home for two weeks already. The time just flew by. And for all those who say "poor you, only off for two weeks," please remember that that is one of the perks of the profession. You too could have made that choice had you wanted to in YOUR career. The time did fly by, and none of us feel ready to head out into the workplace/schools/sitter's on a very chilly morning tomorrow. I am sure a lot has to do with these frigid temps. It is so cold I don't even want to leave my bed let alone the house! But we all must face the music and the cold as Christmas vacation 2009 has come to an end!

Rollin' rollin' rollin'

2009-12-29T19:51:00.000-08:00

I took the kids roller skating tonight. Their school was trying to get people together over break for a fun get out of the house activity so I thought we'd give it a try-all the while in my heart believing it was a colassel (sp?) mistake! Well it turns out my kids really aren't that bad of skaters!

I'm not saying they are getting ready to join the roller-derby team or anything, but for a 3 and 5 year old I was pretty impressed. Megan for the entire first hour skated by herself, barely even looking back to find me or Ryan. And she was just sailing beautifully. She figured out how to glide on one skate, of course she hasn't yet mastered gliding on both feet, but it was still a pretty good attempt. She took one nasty fall, and then for the remainder of the night she wanted to skate close to me.

Ryan skated for a while in the beginner's circle, mostly holding my hand, but a few times he would let go for a while. But then after sitting out on the girls-skate when they announced boy-only on the floor he tore away from me and sailed right out there with all those big boys! And he made it all the way around one whole lap by himself but then he got caught up waving to me and took a spill. The rest of the boys-only skate he spent skating with the girls who worked there, but he wouldn't leave the floor!

Both kids wanted to stay to the bitter end (9:00) which ended with the last 2 songs dancing in bare feet. It was all in all a good night, a surprisingly good night.

And for my Addison friends- it took me back to family nights at the Addison Roller Rink before it became a banquet hall!

Merry Christmas to all!

2009-12-27T18:38:00.000-08:00

We have finally finished with all of our Christmas celebrations, and there were many! Thank you to all those who we celebrated with and for those who gave us so many wonderful things-our house (and bellies) are filled!

This year was an exciting year because both kids were really into Christmas. It was so exciting to see the joy on their faces! of course with all the business of the season we also had quite a few tears from exhaustion.

We are very happy to report that tomorrow we have absolutely NOTHING on the agenda. We can sleep late, play with our new toys, and maybe get in a little action in the snow. Ryan had an absolute ball sledding this afternoon at Dan's aunt's house. His new favorite phrase was, "That was totally wicked!"

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! It really is the most wonderful time of the year...

Awesome shows!

2009-12-06T17:42:00.000-08:00

Today Dan and I got to see two incredible shows. The first, Star Wars: In Concert was absolutly fantastic! It was the music from all 6 movies with movie clips and lasers played by the Royal Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and Choir! Even if you were not the Star Wars buff that I am, you could appreciate the pure genius of the show. And the show was narrated by Anthony Daniels, aka C-3p0. It was a fantastic experience at the United Center, which you wouldn't think would be a good arena for that quality of music, but it was, oh it was. The stadium rocked to the symphony-just amazing! Yes, my inner geek was out in full force today!

Of course Dan and I got a chuckle about finally being in a place where the line for the men's bathroom was longer than the women's! We would have loved to take the kids with us, but unfortunately we thought they were a bit too young to fully appreciate the experience.

Then we had to rush off to get Megan to her school performance this evening. Her school had a live nativity, cookie walk and Christmas concert that was opened by the Kindergarteners. They said The Five Candles poem and then sang "O Come Little Children," not a song I had ever heard of until this year, but was very sweet. Megan did a great job performing in the cold! She does love to sing!

After her class performed we went in to buy some cookies, and were both happy and sad that all the cookies we made were already gone. Happy that they must have looked appetizing and everyone bought them early, but sad because we were counting on eating those cookies we worked so hard to make this week-8 dozen!

We stayed to watch the 8th graders perform the live nativity-but I tell you that baby Jesus looked like he was about 18 months old! Then we watched the first, second, third and fourth graders sing their songs. That was all the cold we could have, so home we went! But another good night!

Oh, and I totally forgot to mention our evening last night with the Troyers. We went to the Bolingbrook Promenade (a mall). Every hour on the hour they have a Christmas lightshow set to music from the Transiberian Orchestra. We watched the show then headed to Bass Pro Shop as we heard Santa was going to be there. We head to the line, and the girls asks us if we have a Bass Pass. She did not explain well what they were for, only telling us she didn't have anymore, and we could wait, but we most likely wouldn't get to see Santa. Kate, Joe and I take the kids over by the boats, no big deal. Dan goes over to the service desks, asks around, gets a pass, we end up getting in front of all these other people and wait like 5 minutes to get our free picture with Santa! It was great, and mostly a total miscommunication, but it worked for us! Then we did a little more shopping, had a late dinner, and a lot of fun!

Another busy weekend for us! And this week looks to be a busy one as well!

Pics of the Parade

2009-11-28T12:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

He really looks like a boxer doesn't he? I don't know where he gets all the bruises!

The kids got to sit in the trolley for a few minutes to warm up before the parade got under way!

Surviving our busy Thanksgiving weekend!

2009-11-28T11:40:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday afternoon we had Megan's parent-teacher conference. She is doing well in school although she still needs to work on some things in the social arena-like not having to be first or the only one who gets to sit next to the teacher or the one with the right answer all the time. Her teacher says that that actually has been getting better over the last few weeks. We'll work on that. The other thing was tying shoelaces. So Wednesday we bought her a pair of tie shoes, and now she is a master! When she puts her mind to something she is incredible!

On Wednesday we put up our Christmas village and of course the train!! The kids were so excited they were really driving Dan nuts!

Thursday morning I ran in the turkey trot as I have been doing for the last few years. Have I mentioned I don't like running in the slush? It actually wasn't that bad, compared to the Shamrock Shuffle, but it was sleeting the whole time during the race and some parts of the street were a little slick, but no injuries to report so that was good. Then we headed off to the Ryan Thanksgiving dinner. As usual it was a great time with great people and great food!

Friday morning I went Black Friday shopping. I got up at 3 and headed out the door. My first stop was Toys r Us-they had door busters at midnight and 5 am so I was hoping to avoid the madness at 3:30, and it worked. I was in and out in about 20 minutes-got what I needed, it wasn't on sale, but it was the last one they had left so I choose to think of that as a victory!

Off to Kohl's. I was in line when they opened the doors, and they gave us nice sheets of paper with directions to where all the doorbusters were located and exactly how many they had in the store. Unfortunately one of the items I was looking for said they had NONE in the store, so I went for the other items on my list and I was out of there in less than 20 minutes! No line at all at the checkout. So far, pretty good.

Next stop Sears. Had a little trouble located things, but only because I had no idea what I was looking for, but once I found it, I was set. Got that loaded into my car (and it was heavy!!!!) and headed across the street to Target.

Got in line at Target a few minutes before they opened, got in, and got a few more items off my list. Of course I can always puts around in Target so I shopped a bit, got a coffee at the Starbucks inside the store-mmmm, and then headed to the checkout. I was not as efficient in Target so I did come across some lines at the checkout, but it certainly could have been worse!

At 6 I went to the Learning Express, one of my new favorite stores. The people there are so nice and the items are so cute, albeit a bit pricey, but the things I wanted did have good sales!

Off to Menards. And here is where this pleasant experience began to go awry. My first mistake apparently was not being here when it opened at 6-it took me 10 minutes to get through the parking lot, and I ended up parking 2 lots over. Then I had to wait to get a cart-fat lot of good that got me as it was so hard to manuever through the store because it was jam-packed with people, carts, lumber carts, and the doorbusters. I found a few things then headed to the checkout. I was seriously in line to check out for almost 45 minutes! Insane!

I went home hoping to get in a nap, but that wasn't in the cards so we put up our Christmas tree and the outside decorations! The it was off to the Naperville Electric Lights Parade. Both kids were in it this year with McNulty Irish dancers. They looked so cute, but unfortunately by the time the parade stepped off Ryan was so cold he decided to ride in the wagon. I'll have to post some pictures and maybe even a video or two!

Tonight we have the 9th annual pub crawl. Can't believe we have been doing it for 9 years already! Looking forward to it as usual!

Lose vs. Loose

2009-11-23T16:02:00.001-08:00

Ok people, I am not the grammar/vocabulary police, but I have come across this mistake at least a dozen times this past week alone, and it is just plain making me crazy!

Lose-verb It means misplace something, no longer have it

Loose-adj It means ill-fitting, too big

Please STOP mixing them!!!

You may lose weight which will cause your pants to fit loosely. But you cannot loose your mind, of course at this rate, I just may!

I love my son...

2009-11-21T13:26:00.000-08:00

I love my son, I love my son, I love my son, I love my son...

I need to keep reminding myself of that! Today is one of those days his three-year-oldness is really getting to me!

He was sent to his room because I got tired of him throwing things in the house for the last time even though he was reminded gently and then even not-so-gently that we don't throw things in the house.

So a few minutes later I go up to his room to talk to him about why I was upset. He was smiling the whole time as he said, "I was frowing fings 'cuz I really like to frow fings!" Then he says, "Do you like my stickers?" as he points to his decals that he had taken off his wall, stuck to the carpet and tehn to each other. So I am concentrating on unsticking them from each other and removing all the little hairs all over when Megan comes in and starts asking about what smells. Now, I had noticed it, but couldn't place the scent, and thought it was some kind of cleaning product in the air since we were cleaning downstairs. I put down the decals and really start to concentrate on the smell. It almost smells like something is burning. But what? Nothing is on the stove or in the oven?

Then Megan says, "It's his light!" I turn around and sure enough there are 3 more tiny decals stuck to his lightbulb, starting to smoke! Another minute, probably 30 seconds, and they would have started a fire. I am quite sure! Luckily this was a safety issue, so I had to direct my focus to the lightbulb and burning stickers rather than his hide or he wouldn't be sitting for a week!

After I cleaned it up he came up and said, "Sorry Mommy," with his head hung low.

Yes, girls have their issues, but I am quite sure they would not BURN MY HOUSE DOWN just to see what would happen!

I just have to remind myself:
I love my son, I love my son, I love my son!

Still riding my Bon Jovi high!

2009-11-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

OK, so I am SUPER excited! I am going to see Bon Jovi next year. TWICE!
A group of us were really jazzed about getting tickets for the Soldier Field show on July 30, then we got even more jazzed since we got tickets to see them in Vegas on March 6. Vegas baby Vegas! We got a pretty decent price for airfare, and we will be gone less than 24 hours. Of course the prospect of pulling another all-nighter is a bit daunting, having just come out of one a few days ago, but I would do ANYTHING for Jon!

For those of you who are still following DWTS, I am very disappointed in this season. So much so, I may have to stop watching. Really, Kelly has NO business being in the finals, and while I really enjoy watching Donnie, he is not finals material either. The crappy thing is I don't actually like Mya, but she is the only one left who can dance, and if she doesn't win, this popularity contest is OVER in my house!

I'm exhausted

2009-11-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

We survived another Girls Night Out last night. Many of my cousins and sisters, Amy, Dawn, Marybeth, Molly, Annie, Kate, Jen Holly and I had a great night at my house relaxing, drinking and playing games. As usual we had lots of laughs and lots of fun.
We started our evening with some homemade chili made by Amy and lots of chocolate. We played a conversation starter game, flippy cup, drinking jenga, more flippy cup and a little Guitar Hero World Tour on the Wii. We even had a blind taste test between Miller Lite, MGD, MGD 64 and Old Style. We were surprised that none of us got them all right! Somehow it ended up being 5:30 am, and some of us just decided it was better to stay up all night than get a bit of shut eye, so we did. In all today I squeaked in about an hour and a half of sleep all day. I plan to go to bed momentarily!
My parents were kind enough to take in Dan and the kids as they were evicted from the house. The kids had a great time at their sleepover with Mimi and Papa. Ryan crashed at about 5:00 this evening and appears to be out for the night. We are all in rough shape and in need of a good night's sleep!

Yikes...it's been a while!

2009-11-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

Hmm, quick recap...

We all celebrated Halloween and Erin's first birthday last week, lots of fun. Megan was a bride-she was inspired by all the weddings she went to this year, ironically all Uncle Drew and Aunt Jenny's! Ryan was Buzz Lightyear and Dan and I were Woody and Jessie from the Toy Story series as well. It was lots of fun to see Dan really getting into the costuming. He made both mine and his from various treasures found in a couple of goodwill/resale shops. We'll have to post some pictures!

Last week we had a busy week with parent-teacher conferences. Several long days with the kids going to school then off to Gramma and Grampa's for the evening then back to do the same thing over again. Luckily for us Dan, Ryan and I had the day off on Friday to relax! Poor Megan still had school. Mmmm, just think, next year BOTH kids will have scholl and Dan and I will have 1 whole day to ourselves, oops getting ahead of myself, that is a whole year away!

On Saturday we celebrated Dan's birthday by taking the kids bowling. It was cosmic bowling and we had bumpers, and not to brag but I DID have the highest score, of course i won't say what my score was because we did have bumpers and that was still how bad I bowl! I was really pushing to do something outdoors since we had a surprising 71 degree afternoon in November, but the rest of the gang wanted bowling so I was outnumbered. Just for the record, I am not in favor of everyone getting to vote when they are not voting with me-I really don't think my family is a democracy, clearly I am the monarch!
After bowling we headed to the kids' favorite restaurant, Chili's-the Red Pepper, as that is how it is known in our house, for a little dinner. Apparently the kids were starved before we even put in an order Ryan kept flagging down the wait staff shouting "Over here. You forgot to bring our food!" We ordered an appetizer plate and they both inhaled the chicken. When it was gone, Ryan continued asking the wait staff when he was getting more chicken and why they didn't bring his corndog yet! The natives were getting really restless and Dan reached to grab something from Ryan and totally knocks over his giant beer glass which shatters on the table and spilled all over Megan. The poor girl was soaked in beer! If we weren't living it, it would have been hysterical; at the time we had only a mild case of the chuckles! We DID survive and came home with a few laughs and an adventure! We'll have to think of a way to top it next year...
Well that was a recap, I guess it really wasn't all that brief.
Looking forward to Girls Night Out on Saturday right here! I am sure we will have many laughs and a few good stories!

2009-10-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

We are home sick again today. Well, Ryan and I are home again today, but this time Megan is with us.
Monday night in the middle of the night Ryan had a 102 fever so we knew he was going to stay home. By morning he was happy and playing and for most of the day fever-free, but eventually the fever did return. All day he was content to play with his trains or lay on the couch and watch tv. He was an angel. And I accomplished quite a bit more than I expected. I ran 3 miles on the treadmill, washed some walls (they really needed it), and started cleaning out our junk room. Some people have ajunk drawer, well ours has developed into a junk room. The nursery, since it is not being inhabited has been the place where we put all the things we don't know what to do with. Clothes the kids have grown out of, off-season clothes, things needing to be fixed, extra sheets and blankets, the list goes on. Well this room has been totally out of control, and yesterday I got through most of it. It still needs some attention, but it is not quite the train wreck it was yesterday.
Today I had high hopes that I could get it finished, but that does not appear to be the case. When the 2 of them are home they just like to annoy each other. They are just sick enough to be whiney, but not really sick enough to sleep and rest like they should.
Perhaps I would get more accomplished if I were not on the computer, but let's face it, this is more fun!

Tired of the Cold!

2009-10-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

It's a little early in the season for this cold of temps. We had to pick our pumpkins over the weekend since we had our first frost of the season. Our harvest included 5 pumpkins that are still quite green. Three of them actually have some potential to look like pumpkins if they orange-up a bit. The last two sadly do not appear like they will graduate into actual pumpkins. A few more weeks would have done wonders for our pumpkins!

My pumpkins on the other hand are doing quite well. We all seem to be fighting head colds, but with no fevers we feel confident that we are flu-free so we can continue our normal daily activities. This weekend we took in the Toy Story double feature at the movie theater. I know, it seemed crazy to me too to spend $35 to see 2 movies we already own (and can recite by heart), but the kids were so excited about going and they talked about it for days ahead of time we didn't dare disappoint!

The kids have had some crazy one-liners lately but as usual my memory is shot so you'll just have to take my word for it, they were funny!

Better watch out- I can take you down!

2009-10-06T19:19:00.001-07:00

I completed my certification today in physical management, therefore I can and WILL take you down if you piss me off. Ok, maybe not, only if you pose a threat to self or others. It was an exhausting day because not only did I have to learn how to be the lead, also the assist, and then of course to practice I also had to be the student. You would have thought I had plenty of padding, but my behind is sporting a few sores already. We must have practiced dropping to the floor (onto tushies) from a standing position at least 50 times! But at least the 3 of us are ready should we get called! Ironically, of the 3 of us the tallest is 5'3"-really were WE the best option???

The kids got their school pictures this week, and they are really cute. Ryan is growing up so fast I can hardly keep up. He also is quite theatrical, always singing and dancing-sometimes "playing" musical instruments. He never seems to run out of energy. I wish I could bottle thay up and use some for myself!

And my big girl Megan is really starting to read. The teacher in me gets so excited to see all those exciting new things she learns everyday! Today they learned all about spiders in science, and she came home to tell me why I should be afraid of some spiders (like the Black Widow and Tarantulas), but how "most of the spiders you see are harmless-that means they won't hurt you, mom!"

Oh, and I happened to be looking at the school's slide show presentation that one of the other parents put on facebook from when the bishop came to visit last week. Before I hit play my eyes caught a glimpse of some clothing I recognized. Yep, sure enough Ryan was captured in a few pictures with the bishop. Everyone is praying, bowing their heads except for Ryan who is very obviously posing for the camera. In another shot the bishop is blessing the kids, and they are all facing him with their backs to the camera-except Ryan, again posing! I am SO glad his name is not attached, although it is a pretty small class (6 kids) so I imagine people will figure out who he is fairly quickly! I am SOOO getting a phone call from the principal in my future-I am sure Ryan will follow in Uncle Drew's footsteps and poke some poor kid in the butt with a pencil! I can see it all already!

What a Busy Week

2009-09-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

The week has just been crazy! But we are down to one more day so there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Monday after school I had a meeting, and then we were off to Mimi and Papa'a house for Moonday night dance. Kate and I are back tapping again this year, and the kids are back for some fun and a lot of craziness (loud chaos) of the Monday nights.

Tuesday Megan began her tap and ballet class after school, and I had my school's curriculum night.

Wednesday Dan and I had our faculty meetings, then we raced to get the kids, get home, get some dinner, and head off to Grama and Grampa's so Mom and Dad could go to St. Mary's open house. We understand Megan is going to be quite busy this year in Kindergarten as they have a great program. We also visited Ryan's classroom and saw all the exciting happenings for the 3 year olds. They too will be learning quite a lot!

Today I had another union meeting, this time with the Superintendent. I was very nervous, but all went well. When I came home, the dining room was set up-complete with a Doodlebops tablecloth, my china, and fake candles. Dan and the kids made fishsticks, fries and peas (I have trained him well-dinner must include at least 1 vegetable!)

Tomorrow the kids have picture day, and after work we are all going to the Sox game. It is half-way to St. Patrick's day so they will be wearing green pinstriped uniforms and we get green hats. Dan found some of our green St. Patrick's Day beads, so I think we are all set. Should be a good time-and a much needed good time after this very busy and very stressful week!

2009-09-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we are getting into a routine, not fully there yet, but we seem to be managing.

I am absolutely delighted-both kids love-love-love school! Although I wouldn't know it from just talking to them. They tell me very little, even when or especially when prompted with questions. I thought they weren't supposed to not give answers until they were at least in the tween years! But I can tell they like school because they "play school" and I hear them talking about the day's events and activities.

I feel like Ryan has totally grown up so much in just the 4 days he has had school. Oh, he's still Ryan for sure, but he just seems a little more like a boy and less like a toddler-not that he is a toddler, and maybe that's the difference. I don't know. I can't quite put my finger on it exactly, but it is something different.

Megan is learning important things at school, like being a good role-model and learning to be responsible. And so she comes home and tells me what we all need to do to be responsible people and good role-models. Well, I guess somebody needs to keep us in check!

Dan is surviving another year of middle schoolers. Certainly not MY cup of tea, but to each his own. He will start up the new swimming season in a few weeks, and then we will hardly see him until spring!

I have finished most of the beginning of the year meetings and have started seeing most of my students. I always hate scheduling because it is never as easy as it seems like it should be. And then just when it looks good on paper, you try it out, and there are inevitably a million changes that need to be made. But it has been fun to see so many of my students from last year and see how much they have grown over the summer.

Well this summer baby has not yet fully adjusted to getting up early with the alarm clock so I had better go and attempt to fall asleep before midnight!

It's back to school time!!

2009-08-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

Ryan had his pre-school orientation yesterday. He was very excited to bring in all his school supplies and meet his new friends. He has 6 kids in his class, 3 boys and 3 girls. All 3 boys have siblings in Megan's class and are well, you've met Ryan, a bit rambunctious. That teacher will definitely have her hands full on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:15-2:55! Yep, that's full day preschool! The principal told us the main objective is to learn to play with each other. And they do have a nap time, we'll see how that goes!
I think Megan was a bit excited about going to school today. She marched into my bedroom at 5:55AM fully dressed and announced, "Mom, I'm ready to go to school!" I was like, "Megan, you've got 2 and a half hours!" But we got up, attempted to do a little Wii kickboxing, but we had trouble turning on the Wii so we putzed around for a while before it was time to go.

Megan had her Kindergarten orientation today, and she was excited to see all of her old friends as well as meet the new ones. There are 22 kids in the class, mostly girls!

She is very excited this year because she gets to go to school EVERY DAY and on Thursdays she gets to have hot lunch!

Yea, for me because now we don't have to make lunches on Wednesday nights because both kids are in school for hot lunch Thursdays!

I don't really know why I dislike making lunches so much, it is such an easy job, but man, I just don't like doing it!

Dan and I have survived our first full week of school. Dan found out he has to teach 2 quarters of 7th grade Health and 2 quarters of 8th grade Health. He is not looking forward to 8th grade as this is sex ed!

Today after work I decided to go for a nice long run. I ran 10 miles! Unfortunately I stopped around mile 8 for a bathroom break and my muscles immediately stiffened up so the last 2 felt like torture. It was unfortunate because the rest of the run actually felt pretty good, I mean as good as running for 8 miles can possible feel! But now I have muscles all over that are in pain. I plan to take a bath and hop into bed!

Is this what people DO in the mornings?

2009-08-25T17:16:00.001-07:00

I woke up this morning at an ungodly hour, 5:35! For those who have never been around me in the morning, well, let's just say I am NOT a morning person. I think all summer I woke up primarily between 9 and 10 am!
Well our sitter has some "business" to take care of and requested that we bring the kids at 6:30 instead of 7:30. I know, crazy, who asks to have the children for an EXTRA hour every day?? Since Dan has to be at work at 7:10 he will normally be taking Ryan on the 2 days he needs to go to the sitter early, but since school doesn't start until next week both kids got to go this morning. So I got up to help Dan get the kids out the door. It was 6:05. So I went for a run. I got in at 6:30, threw in a load of laundry, loaded the dishwasher, took a shower, flipped the load of laundry, made myself a yummy HOT breakfast (scrambled eggs on a tortilla with some cheese and salsa), blew dry my hair, pulled some weeds, opened all the windows in the house, straightened up the kitchen and left for work. I haven't accomplished that much S@#% in 1 morning in ages! I felt so productive.
We'll see if it works 2 days in a row!
Tomorrow Megan will be with me all day since I will take her to her Kindergarten screening appointment during my lunch hour. Then Thursday Ryan has preschool orientation, Friday Megan has Kindergarten orientation before school official starts for them on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

ALERT!! ALERT!!!

2009-08-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hold the phone people, the unbelievable has just happened! Dan cleaned out the garage yesterday and put my car inside! My car has NEVER been inside the garage. It is a very tight squeeze since this car is really too long, but it did fit. For those of you who luckily have never seen my garage, well there was a "path" to the door, but otherwise it was filled with tons and tons of crap! Well Dan worked hard and now if my car is not in it there is plenty of room for anything!
Not to be outdone, I cleaned out my closet. I think I got rid of almost 10 pairs of shoes, shoe boxes, and a whole mess of other crap. I still have one more shelf to go, but the outcome so far is great!
See, when the pressure is on we can really get down to work! We go back to school on Monday so we felt the need to attempt at least some of the things on our to-do lists!

Poo, poo, it's the flu!

2009-08-11T04:48:00.000-07:00

Well we had planned a lovely outing to Delavan today which will be cancelled. Last night about 6:30 pm Megan started puking. And that lasted until about 1:30 am. Dan started around 10pm, and he was still going strong at 1:30 when Megan's flu gave up the fight. About 4:40 this morning Ryan started gagging a few times. Although he hasn't actually thrown up yet, I figure that will be the plan for the day.
On Sunday this was me, but I thought at the time it was all self-induced as Dan and I attended a 40th birthday party the night before and enjoyed the festivities immensely! But as I see how the rest of my family has gone through this I think perhaps it was a combination of flu and party!
We are all actually thanking Kate, who seems to have been the one to really geet this whole thing started!

It's already August!

2009-08-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

And we go back to school in only a few short weeks! Where has the summer gone??

I guess when you spend a good chunk traveling the time really flies by. The last week in July we took off on the road to the Twin cities to visit with Meg and Joel and kids as well as take in what will hopefully be the last time the Sox ever have to lose to the Twins in the dome! We had a great visit with the Gronaus and Jean and we even got to meet her beau, Cameron, who is just as cute as he is talented in the cooking department (and of course very friendly as well)!

We also toured St. Paul taking in a train museum (which Ryan laid out on the floor in full tantrum mode when it was time to leave) and the Mall of America before riding the Lightrail to the dome. We did take a little abuse from the mobs of Twins fans on the train, they actually booed us, even with the kids, but we survived unscathed, ready to represent the Sox.

We had planned to drive home on Thursday, but decided to detour into southern MN for another campground. They were wonderful to us in Austin, and we toyed with the idea of visiting the Spam museum (we were sure it would be like visiting the second largest ball of twine...), but we decided to spend the afternoon playing in the pool and campground. They even had animals the kids got to feed like chickens, rabbits, goats, and llamas. They had miniature donkeys, but the kids weren't allowed to feed them.

This week we have been busy with our newest sport, soccer. I absolutely hate the game of soccer, but the kids really wanted to play, and since this is really just good exercise, not actual game-playing I signed them up. Dan had jury duty downtown this week (a federal case), and they finally released him last night with the possibility that he couild get called back in the next week. We are hoping for no on that one!

The kids were begging to go to the beach, and I contemplated taking them into the city by myself when I remembered that our public pool is a beach set in an old quarry. What a perfect afternoon we spent there splashing in the water and sliding down the waterslides. Both kids learned to go down solo, with mom catching at the bottom, and just having a ball!

Today we spent the afternoon playing outside. Both kids were rollerskating (not well) and Megan decided she wanted to try riding her bike sans training wheels. So we took off the skates and the training wheels and gave it a whirl. And she did it, only about 5 feet, but hey you gotta start somewhere! So congratulations Megan on starting to ride a 2-wheeler!

We survived our first family vacation

2009-07-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

No, really. That in and of itself is a very big feat. It was the whole gang, minus Erin. Mimi, Papa, Dan, me, Megan and Ryan, Kate, Joe and Izzy, Dan and Holly and Drew and Jenny. Lot of people. together. for 10 freaking days. And everyone came home alive and still speaking to one another. Utterly amazing.

Here's the short short version of the trip (as we frequently speak in movie quotes, probably drives some others crazy):
We were very much like the Griswold's in any of the vacation movies. Large group of people making mistakes, getting lost, not able to communicate with almost everyone except ourselves, and laughing a lot.

I think we were the Griswold's meet Romancing the Stone, another of our favorite movies, with a little Who's Harry Crumb? thrown in for good measure-"travelling down a mountainside IN A CAR WITH NO BRAKES!!!"
Oh we have lots of stories and lots of laughs. It was an experience of a lifetime. The kids will mostly remember the puppies which thankfully remained in Ecuador.

Of this I know, I have been to the most beautiful place on earth.

Happy 4th, no 5th, oops...

2009-07-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Ooop, I guess it's already the 6th! Oh well, I hope you enjoyed your 4th of July celebrations! We sure did!

We started our weekend holiday weekend on Thursday with the Troyers. Kate and I took the kids to a fest to experience some good old carnival fun. We were shocked to see how expensive it was. So each kid got 2 rides, except lucky Megan who got an extra.

Izzy was initially panicked by the rides, but after she watched Megan screaming with delight on the dragon roller-coaster she seemed a little more at ease.

We got the kids to ride on a corvette, but my question is when did corvettes get a back seat??

We were totally ripped off by the other ride the kids chose. They chose one of those big jumper-slides. Well they only got 1 slide down for 4 tickets, each! And each ticket was $1.00. That's right folks we paid $12 for about 30 seconds worth of entertainment they could get in our backyard with our jumper, although it was bigger than ours.

Rip-off!

On Friday Dan and I took the kids to the Eyes to the Skies festival in Lisle. If you have never gone, it is a great experience for kids young and young at heart!

Of course they had more rides that we were suckered into, but so much more. We got to go out onto the field where they were blowing up hot air balloons. Because of the wind they didn't actually lift off at all, but it was so much fun to see the balloons start from canvas on the ground to floating masterpieces. The Allied van here was a favorite of ours.

There were so many different balloons. The energizer bunny was 13 stories high!

The evening capped off with a great 80's coverband concert followed by fireworks.

Some of you may guess what song is playing as Megan is "Walking like...?"

On the 4th we spent the day with Dan's family up in South Beloit. We watched a parade just over the border in Wisconsin, and let me tell you Dan's aunt and uncle were about the only ones who weren't in a tractor. His family restored an old Nash so they rode in that. There were about 150 vehicles in the parade, easily 120 of them were tractors. The kids thought it was neat. Back at the farm, the kids went on ATV rides with their daddies. We headed back home in the evening and met back up with Dan's brother and family to watch the fireworks.

Since then we have been relaxing and packing to get ready for our trip. We leave for Ecuador on Wednesday morning. We get to start our trip with a sleepover tomorrow night at Mimi and Papa's before a LIMO comes to pick us up. The kids are so excited by so many new experiences we will be having, that nobody is getting any sleep!

A funny Ryan-ism

2009-07-01T20:16:00.001-07:00

Today in gymnastics the teacher called out, "Ryan Fors, " to which he replied, "No, I'm three!" She got quite a kick out of that one! He is such a character!

growth spurt???

2009-07-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

Megan MUST be going through a growth spurt. The little peanut is eating me out of house and home! Both yesterday and today she has been eating and eating like crazy. Yesterday she ate 5 pieces of toast for breakfast, 2 sandwiches at lunch, a chicken sandwich for dinner then polished off an ice cream cone after Matthew's baseball game. With of course a ring pop or sucker in there somewhere for good measure.

Today she ate 2 pieces of toast for breakfast, 1 1/2 sandwiches plus applesauce and yogurt, some pretzels, and her entire dinner-with seconds which was pepper steak. She actually asked for MORE vegetables and rice! She actually asked Dan to wait a few minutes because she wanted to finish all of her dinner before going to the store. This never happens.

Hopefully the actual growth won't kick in for a week or so. She will get to try on her dress for the wedding when we get to Ecuador next week, and since it will be the day before the wedding their won't be much time to fix it if she busts out. Then she has to wear the dress again in August.

The doctor will be happy if she shoots up a bit. We have to go back in 6 months as the doctor was a little concerned that her height "fell" off her graph compared to her previous measurements. Surely all this will fix that!

What have we been doing?

2009-06-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

Well all last week it was HOT HOT HOT! (My kind of weather by the way) So we were swimming swimming swimming! Every day we swam for hours in our pool. Lots of fun. This week we introduced the kids to the slip-n-slide! Megan absolutely loves it. Ryan can't quite figure it out yet, but he likes playing out there anyway.

We also have been getting ready for our vacation. Very exciting as we leave in 8 days! It seems like we were looking forward to it for so long, and now it is here!

And so much for my summer vacation, at the end of my school year I became our union co-presidnet for next year. I was told there was not much we would have to do in the summer. Well so far that has not been the case. I have been on the phone and email constantly trying to settle this insurance thing. I am hoping that it will be considered finished (for the most part) after today. I am ready for some undisturbed rest and relaxation, or at least as much as the kids will give me!

HOLA!

2009-06-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

So I have been taking a Spanish class this week, and I am really enjoying it! The teacher is a great mix of fun, but not over the top annoying. And we have these really cool projects. Here is a rundown of the class activites we have done, or will be doing this week:
Monday morning we worked on vocabulary and grammar stuff, then in the afternoon we went walking around downtown Wheaton and had to use our spanish to identify several locations.
Today we spent the whole day in class, but at least half the day we spend attempting to converse with each other in Spanish.
Tomorrow we spend the morning in class, then we head to Portillo's for lunch (because it is on the way and we can talk to the employees) then off to a Mexican grocery store for the afternoon.
Thursday morning we are in class, and then off to a Mexican restaurant for lunch.
And the culmination on Friday we have to write and perform a skit in the morning, then we are off for lunch and drinks at another Mexican establishment.
While the class sounds like a lot of fun, and it totally is, I am actually finding that the Spanish is flowing much easier, and seeing as this is probably a good chunk of the Spanish I will need in Ecuador, I think it is definitely worthwhile!
I have been practicing at home, and the kids are learning phrases too! We'll see if any of it sticks!

We've been busy

2009-06-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

We have had my niece, Isabelle, here for the week, and we have been keeping ourselves pretty busy.

We started off Monday night with an impromptu birthday party for Sesame, the cat. Sesame turned 2 on June 6th and we did not have a proper celebration so we made a quick batch of rice krispy treats, found a kitchen candle and had a birthday party. The treats were yummy, but I don't think Sesame appreciated her "party." The kids were wild and crazy and didn't fall asleep until after 11!

Tuesday we played and watched movies before heading over to Megan's t-ball game. Ryan and Izzy enjoyed playing in the field, which I was so sure would tire them out. It didn't. They didn't fall asleep until 9:30!

On Wednesday my cousin Meg came over with her 2 kids, Eddie and Lucy. Mimi and Papa came over with Baby Erin too, and we had a fun playdate and lunch! The poor kids all looked like they were going to crash, but somehow they stayed up until after 9!

Today was a rainy day! I had to go to the doctor's office for my last Hep A shot. The kids all watched me get a shot, and must have asked me at least a million times if it hurt. We stopped home for a quick lunch and then headed to the mall. I thought I would surprise them with the play area and a movie. We went to see Up. I thought it was cute, bjt it was entirely too scary for the kids. Luckily Izzy didn't seem to know what was going on, but Ryan and Megan were both scared and begging to go home. We made it through the movie, and on the way out of the theater all 3 kids said, "That was a BAD movie!" Which got a bunch of laughs from the people around us. We did hit the play area and the bad movie was forgotten.

Tomorrow will be another busy day as Megan has gymnastics, then both M and R have doctor appointments. We will come home, have lunch, pack and head to Jellystone for a camping trip! I hear it will be wet and cold! Wouldn't be camping otherwise!

I'm On Vacation!!!!

2009-06-08T20:13:00.000-07:00

That's right, folks, I am on vacation until August 24th.

However, I use that term vacation loosely. To start off we have my niece Isabelle here for the week, so instead of 2 children I will be chasing 3! Then next week I am taking a class M-F from 8-2:30. Following that it will be packing, getting the last of our shots, more packing for the trip. The trip. Then the unpacking and huge amounts of laundry from the trip. A few major league baseball games, a few minor league baseball games, boys t-ball and girls t-ball, Irish dance, gymnastics (x2), a few camping trips, a coupl-a weddings, Ryan family picnic, and of course a trip to Kiddie Land before they close for good.

Busy? YES!

But aaahhhhh...THIS is what I live for!

The light is getting closer....

2009-05-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

The light at the end of the tunnel, that is!!

Only 1 more week of school! Well, and then that pesky little last day (Monday) to pick up report cards. So for people like me who don't actually give out report cards I just hang with my gals and my kids and wait for the luncheon.

We are all looking forward to our summer vacation. A few days without setting an alarm will be fantastic. It won't last long as our summer activities will be starting shortly, but we will enjoy it for a few days!

I am taking a Spanish class the week of June 15. My Spanish is ok at best. I undertand a whole lot, but can use hardly any, expect with my language disordered students who help me out. My students and the kindergarteners are about the only people I feel confortable conversing with in Spanish, probably because that is about the level I am at. So I am hoping after a week of speaking Spanish for 8 hours a day I will be more confident as we head to Ecuador! My testbook has arrived, and although I have only briefly glanced at it, I am not all that confident that I will learn a whole lot of new information, buut at least it will be a nice refresher!

Megan and Ryan will be starting their summer t-ball leagues next week. I am not quite sure what I was thinking when I signed them up. They are both practicing from 5:30-6:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I remember thinking that sounded great. 1 hour free to myself. Unfortunately I must have missed the part where they are NOT at the same park. And Dan golfs on Tuesday. So question to all... how can you be at 2 places at once? If I master this one, I will be sure to let you know how!

My Goodness I haven't posted in ages!

2009-05-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am back. Not that I ever actually went anywhere, but we have been busy around here with just our regular stuff. Not to mention the HUGE piles of laundry and dishes that are screaming to get done. I am just not in the mood. Somehow it seems wrong to be inside doing things like dishes and laundry when the weather has been so nice. However tomorrow I will have to give in because 1. the kitchen is making me crazy-and we need to have something to eat/drink out of and 2. if I don't do laundry soon we will be running the neighbor naked!

I think it has taken me all week to fully recover from all the fun of girls night out last weekend. What a blast it was. It is a good thing parties like that a few and far between because this old body can't take too much! I slept a good bit of the day away on Sunday, and I was afraid I would be too groggy or out of it to perform Sunday night, but the show must go on and on it went. My mom posted the video on facebook. It really was my favorite dance of all time so I am glad I was able to get out there and show my stuff. I SOOO wish I had more talent because I really love to perform!!!

Megan is winding down her preschool year. She has really taken to the whole school thing, and I am amazed at some of teh things she has learned. She knows almost all the prayers and several of my favorite church songs; this month, one of my all time favorites, Ave Maria. She really loves to belt out the "maRIa!" This week she also learned God Bless America! She is very excited about her first big field trip on a bus! That is the exciting part. It is coming up on June 1, and boy is she excited. The whole school has been studying about the city of Chicago all year so the pre-k through 4th grades are going to Chicago for a tour and to visit the historical museum. Megan can identify several prominent Chicago landmarks such as Buckingham Fountain, Sears Tower, and of course most importantly, US Cellular Field!

Ryan has been busy learning ot play T-ball. At first I thought all the coaches knew his name because he can be such a little stinker, however this week I think I learned of another reason. Ryan's team has 6 kids on it. Three of them are named Ryan! On Thursday my Ryan was on 3rd base and another Ryan was at 2nd. The other Ryan's dad starts yelling at him (not the bad yelling, just the attention getting yelling) to run to 3rd. MY Ryan stops in his trek towards home plate, turns around and heads back towards 3rd! At one point, 2 Dads were calling out the name "Ryan" along with 3 coaches. Those kids had no idea where to look or where to go! I may have to come up with a nickname. And something more appropriate than Boo, which is what we call him.
We have gotten into a nice routine though getting to and from practice. My goal is to use less energy this summer by taking our bikes whenever we can. So far we have been jogging to T-ball. Sometimes the kids run along side the stroller and sometimes they hitch a ride, but so far we seem to have gotten into a good rhythm so hopefully we'll keep it up through the summer!

Dan has been back to coaching for the last few weeks. He had to start wearing a bathing suit and leaving his keys and phone locked in his office because he has 1 new girls on his swim team and she's not really much of a swimmer. He had a couple of close calls lately-where he almost had to jump in to rescue! I think he will come away from this season with his first gray hairs!

Well that's about all I've got for now!

Happy Mudda's Day!!

2009-05-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

Hope all you mother's are having a good one!

4th place

2009-05-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

We just received the official results from Megan's first feis. She earned 4th place (out of 11 girls) in the under 6 age group! We are so proud of her.

I didn't realize her age group was being scored. Now we know. The judges comments said, "great smiling, need to work on timing."

I have no idea what that means!

We've been swined!

2009-05-07T20:40:00.000-07:00

My school, that is, not my family.

And you know how on the news ALL those schools closed when a suspected case turned up. Not mine. No no, can't stop the free babysitting! We have kids coming to school sick, coughing, fevers, we send them home, they come back the next day. Why? Because THAT is just the lind of community I work in.
Our confirmed case, he was AT SCHOOL when the hospital had to call the mom and tell her he had to get picked up from school IMMEDIATELY and he could not return the rest of the week. The two kids that sit next to him, both had been sent home with fevers. They both returned the next day, less than 24 hours later.

I get why the CDC is not recommending closing schools. Really I get it. But not in communities where parents send their kids to school when they are clearly sick and experiencing "flu-like symptoms." They can't tell me this story is not coverd on Telemundo, I happened to know that it was covered, and we have been sending home notes daily-not that we would actually expect them to read them!

The teachers in our school have been cleaning everything. Multiple times during the day. I have been washing my hands so much they feel like sandpaper. I am so glad tomorrow is Friday! Several teachers are coming over tomorrow after work for some cocktails (hopefully) in the sun and to get in a little de-stressing Guitar Hero!

My Dancing Queen

2009-04-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

Megan had a very busy dance weekend. Friday night began with dress rehearsal for the park district recital.Megan's class tap danced to "Yes Sir, I'm your Baby Now!" It was a very cute little number and she really seemed to enjoy it.

She also likes to pose for pictures in various dance poses!

Saturday morning we had to get up bright and early (ok, so it wasn't that early, but I went out last night so it felt early to me) to head to Maywood Park race track for Megan's first feis (pronounced fesh). It was her very first Irish dance competition. At this level they did not actually compete, they just performed, and all the girls "won" medals. I was surprised how well she did since she had to perform by herself, and they accidentally put her into a group with slightly older girls instead of the girls from her class, but she got right up there and jigged her little feet off. She was SOOOOOO proud of herself, and I was so proud of her as well, even though she didn't actually do much of the jig.

As you can see her competition was heads above her, but she thinks that she was put with the big kids because she is so good!

Megan and her friend Margot pose with their medals!

After a quick bite to eat we headed back to Batavia to get ready for her recital.

The girls all were practicing their ending poses. I was the backstage mom this year so I got to enjoy all the silliness before and during the show!

This group loves to ham it up for the camera!

Getting ready to go on stage.

The girls did great in the show, and we were all quite exhausted when we got home.

While Megan is our dancing queen, she is not the only performer in our house this week. Mommy performed our tap number in my school talent show. I was the surprise finale in the show, and though the majority of the kids in my school had no idea what tap dancing was, it turned out to be a huge hit. Now the students are all calling me the dancing teacher! This year's number is I think my favorite of all time, Bandstand Boogie. It is really fast and fun. When Kate and I perform in our show on May 16 we'll post pictures, maybe even a video! By the way tickets ARE still available!!

Here is Megan's solo jig followed by her tap number (she is the little one front and center)!

Nice move, Mom

2009-04-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well, on Wednesday Megan appeared to have made a turn for the better. She was fever-free for 36 hours and just seemed to be suffering from a regular old cold. So we sent her to school. About 9:30 I got a call from her school, they think she may have pink eye. So off I take for day number three (I can really get used to the idea of 2-day work weeks, this being the second in a row for me). I took her to the doctor, but I was sure they were going to tell me it was just a cold/virus and there was nothing they could do about it.

Nope. I was wrong. Megan had pink eye in both eyes, double ear infections, and possibly walking pneumonia (he wasn't confident that it was truly pneumonia). Ooops. And I thought she was doing better! She wasn't complaining of her ears bothering her after Sunday morning, and since this is the first ear infection we have had, how was I supposed to know they wouldn't hurt her? Most ear infections I hear about are extremely painful.

Eh, oh well. So they loaded her up with some antibiotics and eye drops and sent us on our merry way. She took a brief nap in the car on the way home from filling the prescriptions and it was like *poof* miraculously healed. She was back to normal again. With just a cough and cold.

Now hopefully we can keep this from spreading to Ryan who originally I thought had the worse cold. He starts t-ball tomorrow! Can't wait to see what THAT looks like. We played baseball in our yard today for at least an hour. I can't imagine a bunch of 3 year olds out there!

Recovering

2009-04-14T07:25:00.001-07:00

We started our whirlwind weekend with Megan's 5th birthday on Thursday, April 9th! Don't be fooled by the picture, she was really happy. The poor dear had been looking forward to her birthday all week. She got up right away in the morning and came running to my room and asked, "Is it my birthday now, or do I have to wait until 1:00?" She was EXCITED when I told her even though on her actual birthday she wasn't born until 1:09, it was her birthday all day long! We went to Chili's for dinner, since it is her favorite! Then Erin and Izzy came over for a sleepover!

Megan was such a good babysitter. She fed Erin her bottles, played with her and even rocked her to sleep.

I dug out Megan's ballerina dress that she wore as a baby and found 2 ballerina dresses in her closet and got all the girls dolled up. We headed to the mall for some pictures with the Easter bunny. I even had the girls wearing bows! Then we went home, had some lunch, and headed out again to a different mall to pick up Megan and Ryan's spring pictures. Killing some time in the car kept everyone calm and relaxed, or at least it kept ME calm and relaxed.

On Saturday, Megan's 5th birthday kid-party was a smashing success. We had so much fun, and it was well worth it to have someone else plan the activities and run the show. Could I have done it myself? Of course, but I wouldn't have enjoyed watching the kids and taking pictures. Plus I would have had to get all the props so in the end I think we definitely made the right choice.

The cupcakes were placed in the shape of a guitar, but my artistic skills are not the best so it was not immediately obvious to anyone!

Unfortunately as the party was winding down, Megan began looking a little deflated. At first I just thought she was just overwhelmed from all the attention, but after everyone left I took her temperature and she had a fever. She started getting that cold that the Troyers have.

We enjoyed Easter at Grammi and Pappy's. The kids had a blast on their Easter egg hunt, and playing with Aunts and Uncles, Jenny, Holly, Dan and Drew.

But all this fun makes for some tired and sick little buggers. Megan's fever is gone today, but she still looks and sounds miserable so we decided to keep her home for one more day. Because we decided so late to keep her home I am home with the kids agains today. Hopefully both kids will feel almost 100% tomorrow so we can get back on schedule!

Our Spring break staycation

2009-04-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

We started our spring break staycation with our regular Saturday morning routine. Megan had Irish dance and gymnastics. We found out at dance class that Megan would be "competing" in her first feis at the end of April. I hadn't realized the preschoolers were particpating, and lucky for us that is the same day as her other tap class recital so it will be a preforming kind of day!

Kate, Izzy, Ryan and I headed into the city to pick up our race packets for the Shamrock Shuffle. We enjoyed a nice, but a bit chilly day in the windy city (and it was)! Sunday brought in the snow and cold for the Shamrock Shuffle. Kate promises to post pictures of the blizzard-like event!

On Monday, the only really semi-nice day of the break, we took a bike ride to the park. Well, with the wind, we decided it may be a little early yet for bike-riding as our ears and fingers were totally frozen. But it did feel so nice to be outside, running around the park!

Most of the days we have been enjoying our new Guitar Hero World Tour! The kids have even gotten out their Doodlebop guitars and we have had family jam sessions!

On Thursday we met the Bakers at JumpZone! A fabulous facility that houses several giant jumpers/moonwalks. The kids jumped for 2 hours! It was so much fun. I even got to get in on the action as I "pretended to help Ryan" several times. It was a lot of fun, if I do say so myself!

What a wonderful way to spend some of this energy!

After all the ju,ping we went for lunch and of course, ice cream sundaes at Colonial. The kids all enjoyed riding the cow!

On Friday Ryan and I brought Megan's class pupcakes (aka cupcakes) for her birthday since she will be on spring break this week for her actual birthday! The first picture is Megan with her teachers.

On Saturday Megan had a Wizard of Oz themed birthday party for a girl in her class. She dressed as Glinda the good witch since we had an abundance of pink dresses, tiaras and wands!

For dinner, Mimi, Papa and Izzy came over to celebrate Mimi's birthday. What fun we had!

Today we went to a train show. Ryan was captivated by all the trains! He would have stayed glued to the displays for hours. He was so content to just sit and watch. He never needed reminders not to touch the displays. It was very interesting to watch him and see his excitement over something that you wouldn't expect a 3 year old to get excited over.

Oh, yeah and can you see his shiner? There is a conflicting story on how he got that. According to Ryan he tripped and fell, crashing into the slide. According to Megan, she kicked him. I am guessing it was a little of both.

After the train show, we went to 2 Toots for lunch. Ryan didn't remember going there last year, but Megan did so she was super-excited when we made the announcement. He sure was excited once we got there. There is nothing like a good old-fashioned diner, oh yeah, who delivers your meal via train! My camera is a little slow so you can't really see from the pictures, but those baskets are being delivered by train.

And of course any restaurant that has a horse is just a keeper in our books!

It was a great afternoon!

So, we have had a busy staycation. We haven't done very many of the projects on out to-do list, and the house is a wreck, but at least we can say we had some fun despite the crummy weather. And we still have two more days, with more crummy weather so perhaps a project or 2 may actually get completed!

The end of an ERA

2009-04-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight I watched the final episode of ER. As I fully expected, I bawled my eyes out in the 1 hour retrospective before the show started.
When it first came on (the year I graduated from college-yikes!) I can remember thinking it was one of the best shows on television. For nearly the first decade I watched without fail. Then as the years went on life interrupted. I watched some, but not all episodes and even missed an entire season or two.
Tonight as I was watching clips from shows over the years, I can remember events in my life that were happening at the time of the show. And I really got to thinking. This show has been on for my entire grown-up life. Well that just added to the tears.
Some may say that the finale didn't live up to the hype. There was no major/catastrophic event. And true, there was no catastrophic event, but I would say the show ended with grace, class, and style. The writing was touching, but not cheesy. I thought the way the writers wove in the old and current characters was seamless. And of course, they centered a good bit of the story lines on Dr. Carter, my all-time favorite ER character. I will miss this show.

Did I just blog about a tv show?? How can I be this emotional?

I think my feet are finally thawing

2009-03-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

It was a bit dicey this morning, and we questioned whether the race would go on, but go on it did. For those of you who were not in Chicago this pleasant Sunday morning-at the END OF MARCH mind you- here is a brief description of the weather: cold and crappy. To be a bit more specific, it was 32 degrees and sleet/snowing over night and into the morning.

Kate, Dan, Holly, and I gathered our warm gear and headed in for the Shamrock Shuffle, a fabulous 8k run (~4.97 miles). Kate and Holly decide upon arrival that they are skipping the run in favor of Starbucks. Dan and I decided to brave the elements and run.

I thought I was so prepared. I had an extra pair of shoes/socks that I planned to change into right before the race began. I did. As I was waiting for the race to begin I could here so many people around complaining how they already couldn't feel their feet. Ahh, suckers, they weren't nearly as clever as I was!! So the race takes off, by the time I reached Monroe (~1 block) my feet and calves were thoroughly soaked. So wet you could hear and feel the liquid squishing out the sides. So much for my cleverness. And just when you started to feel like your feet were drying out some, well at least not squishing, you hit a block that was full of puddles and slush so again the feet were soaked. I counted at least 4 times where my feet were fully submerged in the freezing mess.

As I was between mile 2 and 3, I really contemplated cheating. I could just cut off a mile and head over a little sooner. It's not like I was winning any big prizes or anything. So I finally talk myself into it, at the next street. When I got to the next street, I looked, it didn't go through, I was not going to be able to cheat. I was just going to have to run the last 3 miles. And I did. And it wasn't so bad. Well, I mean it sucked, but I am glad I didn't let myself cheat because I would have felt awful afterwards.

So I finished the race, got my beer and headed over to meet Kate, Holly and Dan. We then headed over to Drew and Jenny's house for a post-race pizza party. Joe and Dan brought the kids, my parents and cousin Dawn also stopped by. We were a lazy bunch-I think i catually fell asleep for a bit.

The kids fell asleep on the way home, and at this point we are hoping they sleep until morning. Otherwise we will be screwed because I am going up for a nice long bath, a book and my bed!

I'm on spring break!!

2009-03-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right folks, I am finally on spring break! It has felt like a long time coming, but to those of you non-teacher types you probably wish I would just shut up right here, yeah, yeah I have heard it all before, "You only work 9 months of the year, days off every month, yada yada yada, and usually I respond with something profound like, "You could have made the decision to become a teacher, but you chose ____." Not today. Today I am going to give you a few brief examples of WHY teachers could not possibly be expected to work 12 months of the year.

The kids are freakin' nuts. We haven't even had spring-like weather for more than a random day here and there, yet the kids have spring-fever! Just of few examples of events that actually occurred this week:

1. Ever see the movie Mean Girls with Lindsay Lohan? Well we had a group of 6th grade girls start a book, I forget what they call it in the movie, but basically it is a book full of lies about other students and teachers. Two of the girls wrote most of it, and "threatened" a 3rd girls to write more. The 3rd girl wrote one thing out of fear from her nasty friends, and so when the book was discovered and the first 2 girls were suspended, they told the 3rd girl that they would do something else to make sure she got suspended as well. The girls are so dumb. They dated, described in detail, and even signed the book for everything they wrote. Duh??? Did you not thnk you were going to get caught? On the plus side they did have all these rules on the first page of requirements of writing in the book, such as correct spelling, indentation, etc. so perhaps they have actually learned something after all.

2. Yesterday, after school, 1 sixth grade girl was taunting another girl. The tauntee has been working with the social worker about how to avoid fights. Well kudos to her, she actually tried to walk away, when the boyfriend of the taunter shouts, "Are you going to let her talk to you that way?" So the tauntee turned around and clocks the girl in the face. A full-on girl fight with punches and hair-pulling ensued. Not to set the scene, this fight took place in front of the school, in fromt of about 150 kids on the school buses with their faces plastered to the windows!
Now, if that was YOUR boyfriend who just got your ass kicked (oh, and she did!) and got you suspended, wouldn't you dump him?

3. Oh yes, now let's get to the parents of girls in above-mentioned fight. The girls have reported to many teachers that their parents don't like each other. They have no problem swearing or insulting each other, and do it regularly. But here's the kicker, they start yelling at each other at school. And the police have to get called. Again.
So not only do we have to deal with the children, and attempt to explain why we don't need to fight to solve our problems, only for the exact opposite do be taught from their parents!

I could go on, as these were only things that happend in the last 36 hours, but I think this just begins to show why teachers would seriously become certifiable if they didn't get these required sanity breaks.

So now I am off for the next 10 days!!! We have an extended spring break this year since the Tuesday after we were scheduled to come back is an election day. Several of our buildings are polling stations. All the buildings are so old that none of them have a secure place to vote that is away from the kids so the buildings are wide open to the public. Because of safety concerns the district requested to have the voting take place in other locations, but it was denied. For a few years we had police officers stationed in the buildings, but now they just decided to close. Rather than having to go on Monday, off on Tuesday, they gave us both days! They just tacked them on in June.
The weather is expected to be especially crappy for this nice, long spring break. I think I heard a possible 3-6 inches of snow tomorrow night, just on time for the Shamrock Shuffle! Ugh!

We should have bought a lottery ticket...

2009-03-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

We are really feeling lucky right now!

Last night we took Ryan out for pizza for his birthday, and they had one of those games with the box full of toys and the giant claw. Nobody ever wins the crap in there. Well, last night we won not one, but two footballs. Because we NEEDED 2 footballs!

Tonight we went to my nephew, Matthew's baseball team's pasta dinner. Your typical fundraiser event. We bought a wingspan amount of raffle tickets for $20, and this is the list of items we won:
1. Family fun pack (movie tickets and movie candy) Valued:$25
2. An Edible Arrangement-you know those fruit bouquets, we laughed because I told Dan we needed that since my family is coming over tomorrow! Valued: $55
3. $25 to Outback Steakhouse
4. $25 to Brian's Charhouse
5. A one month membership to a gym which includes 1 week of free tanning and a personal trainer

Then for the silent auction we won 4 tickets to a Sox game, 4 Sox tumblers, Sox beer cozies, and Sox shopping bag. Yeah, it was the Sox shopping bag we were most excited about too!

The rest of our table cleaned up pretty well also. My sister-in-law, Lynn won a wine tasting for 10 people, a Chuck E. Cheese gift card, 4 tickets to a Cougars game, and a giftcard for batting practice. Her mom won a couple of items too! And really there were lots of other people there, we really weren't the only ones!

So this weekend appears to be lucky for us. Watch, we won't win anything else for a really long time!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ryan!

2009-03-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

Today Ryan turns 3 years old. Actually in 44 more minutes, as he was born at 4:49 p.m. He is just as adorable as ever, which is to say he is kind of a stinker.

Last night Ryan had us all up for a while in the middle of the night as he puked, all over himself, Megan's blanket, MY bed, My comforter, and MY pillow! This was about 3 a.m. Then he was Mr. Chatterbox until after 4!

Auntie Louie and Auntie Gretchen were here for a babysitting/playdate with Ryan. He was so excited. All week he kept telling us how he couldn't wait to show them his "super-duper, handy-dandy new toys!" What new toys he is refering to, I have no idea, but it was all he could atalk about all week.

Today as they played, whenever they asked him to clean up his toys, a chore he really does not like to do, he said, "The problem is I am playing with ___ over here now!" Any excuse to not clean up. They also watched some basketball games, and he proudly told me that Marquette won, but when he played outside he was not Marquette. I was really glad he cleared that up for me!

Tonight we are going out for pizza to celebrate. I am not really in the mood to cook, and we all love Pizza!

Happy St. Patrick's Day Weekend!

2009-03-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

Megan walked/danced in the Naperville St. Patrick's Day parade today with the McNutly Irish Dancers. Here she is warming up before we headed over to line-up inthe staging area.

Megan and her friend Margo were ready to dance. A few nerves had Megan in a fit of tears for a bit before we started walking.

Look at all those dancers! Megan is sitting in front next to the girl on one knee.

I guess this was not the best shot as Megan is on the far side so you can really only see her feet!

The 3 preschoolers got ready to perform the jig for us after the parade.

And here is the big performance! We hope you all have a happy and safe St. Patty's Weekend! Who's ready for a round of green beer?

What have we been up to?

2009-03-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well, lets see...

Ryan is learning to ride his new Lightening McQueen 2-wheeler. He hasn't had too much practice yet since it has only started warming up, and he can just barely reach the pedals, but I think by summer he will be speeding right along.

I also have noticed that his language is pretty well developed. His thoughts are complete, he uses sentences, and he has started being able to form a logical argument or rebuttal when he wants or doesn't want something. And he follows it with the most adorable, "PLEEEEASE!" that it is really hard not to give in. I am working on that, and you would be surprised by how strong I have been! One of the new words he frequently uses is probably. If you ask him a question he will almost always start his answer with "Probably..." and it always fits the situation!

We decided to enroll Ryan in preschool next year. Most mornings he is very concerned about who is going where. He wants so badly to go with Megan on the days she goes to school. He will go to school with Megan on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and he will have the teacher Megan had this year. Ryan and Megan are very excited.

Today Megan had "step-up" day at school. The pre-K class went to Kindergarten for a math lesson with their new teacher (for next year) and the K class went to first grade. When I picked up Megan and her friend today they were so excited talking about their Kindergarten experience!

Tomorrow Megan will be dancing in the Naperville St. Patrick's Day parade with the McNulty Irish dancers. Come on by, we are #20 of 100 groups in the parade!
If these video clips will post (it has not been as successful as you might think), you will see clips from the McNulty Irish Family dance on February 22. One is with Barbara McNulty calling out the steps (the last one-WATCH FIRST-they somehow loaded in the wrong order), and the other is a little jig-freestyle!
WATCH SECOND CLIP FIRST

I think I saw the Hulk today!

2009-03-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

Well, that is Hulk Hogan. Or at least someone who looks JUST LIKE him, and really who would WANT to look like Hulk Hogan if you weren't Hulk Hogan, right? So it must have been him. He was leaving a gym-and that is something he would do, right? Ok, so it probably wasn't actually Hulk Hogan that I saw, but wow, I was glad I was at a stoplight because I did take a second look. And I am not quite sure why because there really is nothing remotely attractive about Hulk Hogan. Well, except for when Joel dressed up as Hulk Hogan, but even that was more entertaining than attractive. I'm sure I can find those pictures somewhere...

Changing gears-did youcheck out the fabulous weather today? Yes finally-65! Megan took off on her bike-she is really getting pretty good, and Ryan is just learning to pedal his bike with the training wheels-he hasn't quite mastered it yet, but he was happy! Then we played for a while on the swings in the backyard! It was so nice! We opened up several windows around the house to get some fresh air for a few hours! I know it won't last, but oh it was so fabulous!

I think it's gonna be a long spring

2009-02-26T19:11:00.000-08:00

Ryan is seriously afraid of funderstorms. I have honestly never seen him so terrified. It was raining most of the day today (hooray-that is SO much better than snow) and this evening the thunder and lightening really started to kick in right about bedtime. He looked so panicked, so I said that even though it was a school night, he and Megan could have a sleepover. I thought this would make him feel better.

About 3 minutes later they both came into MY room saying they were "scared of the funder!" So I piled everyone into my bed and we watched some tv and I figured they would be acting silly in no time and head back to their beds. Well Megan probably would have, but Ryan appeared almost frozen in the bed with his blankie wrapped up to his face one hand clutching a stuffed cat and both hands covering his ears. His eyes, however, were frozen on the ceiling. I really have never seen him so scared, and I probably wouldn't have noticed because he was so quiet I almost thought he was asleep. I offered him my hand (as Megan was already in the middle) and he grabbed my finger, but insisted that my hand be closer so he could still cover his ears.

It was so precious. My little character. Through all his fright, he did not shed one little tear!

What a weekend!

2009-02-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

Dan and I had a great date last night. We went to see He's Just not That into You. It was cute; lots of laughs. Then we went to dinner. At a real grown-up restaurant. Well, not that grown up, but at least there were no kids there~thanks Mom and Dad for taking them!

It would have been great to sleep in, but unfortunately that was not in the cards as today was the big McNulty Family Dance. So we got up early, headed over to get the kids and my parents and headed to Drury Lane. Megan got to lead the parade of dancers into the auditorium for mass (you often get to be the leader when you are the smallest one).

After mass we headed into one of the banquet rooms for some dancing and brunch. I have to say I was very glad that Megan's group was first. My energy level certainly dwindled as the afternoon went on. We enjoyed the brunch and the dancing, and survived the chasing of Ryan all over! He did announce that next year HE would be dancing on THAT stage! He just may!

I am having some trouble uploading the video of Megan's performance, but when I get it up and running I will surely post the video of what should be the jig!

Question...

2009-02-20T18:10:00.000-08:00

When did Guns n Roses and Bon Jovi become classic rock?

Classic rock is what my dad listens to. Not that I dislike his music. Quite the contrary. I like his music, but I wouldn't necessarily say that he likes mine!

Don't get me wrong, several of their songs are classics, (I mean you could hardly live without Livin' on a Prayer or Sweet Child O Mine) but I didn't think they were old enough to be in the classic rock category. They're from the 80's for heavens sake. That wasn't that long ago!

It's for real, here we go...

2009-02-16T18:43:00.000-08:00

We booked our airline tickets today for Ecuador! Yeah! However it was the biggest pain in my ass! It took nearly an hour today (not including the half hour on Friday night) and a few phone calls to the airline, credit card companies. It finally worked when Dan was on the phone with the credit card company as I was online typing.

"Ok, I am going to enter it now." "No, that IS our address." "Ok, we'll try Ct instead of Court."
"Reservation code, what reservation code? How do I get a reservation code?" "Fine, I'll sign up for the frequent flyer program."

On the plus side, I entered our passport numbers so many times into the computer, I think I have them memorized!

Here's where they are at this point in life...

2009-02-15T11:46:00.000-08:00

Megan is now starting to come in to the age of independence- of a different sort. She is beginning to select (and sing) her own music, and it is not toddler music or musicals-which I think all kids should learn to love. She has started enjoying pop music. Whenever we hear songs on the radio by Fergie, Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson, and even Brittany she perks up and starts to sing along with a little, "Don't change this song, Mom!" I am kind of amazed at how many songs she does seem to know since she only hears them on the radio. Of course she does have a tendency to make up her own words when she can't quite make out the lyrics-don't know where she gets that from, Kate!

Ryan is a little bugger. He has not yet mastered sitting quietly in church. He talks loudly, and surprisingly it is not at all about what is going on in church! After we finally make it to the end we are walking out and he walks right up to the priest, shakes his hand and says, "Bye Jesus!" The deacon got quite a kick out of that one!

Where do they get it?

2009-02-13T17:02:00.000-08:00

Today the kids were dropped off at my school at the end of ther day because my sitter had to take her daughter to am appointment. Well, the kids just LOVE coming to mommy's school so they came running in, and were only slightly disappointed that the bell had already rung and all the students were gone!

Ryan goes marching over to the gym, peeks inside then turns around and says to me, "Where did all the people go? I wanna dance and eat hotdogs!" Two other teachers in the hall got quite a kick out of that one. We continued to head down the hall to see how some of my friends fared with their Valentine's parties. Megan and Ryan were just chatting about this and that the whole time, and my friends were amazed. Allison could not believe how well (not to mention how MUCH) they talk compared to our students. Both Megan and Ryan went on and on about how they came last week for the sweetheart fiesta, and last time they were here they played with her basketball, and on and on about various things. We laugh because so many of our students think a conversation is made of one person (the teacher) asking questions and the other (student) answering with as few words as possible.

I know it is not a fair comparison by any stretch. Through our numerous inservices on poverty we are aware of how much that can impact overall vocabulary, and from there so much more! Plus, my kids have 2 teachers for parents; 1 parent who also talks nonstop! I imagine they have an edge in the whole "language" area!

It does make me appreciate what I do have.

What a difference a day makes...

2009-02-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

I have the most awesome husband in the whole wide world. Yesterday, while I was feeling blue, he cooked dinner- he actually found a recipe and made a whole dinner himself! Then he offered to pick up the kids after school today so I could get in a run outside. It was just what I needed. And can you believe it, when I got back from a nice long run, he had dinner going while he was straightening up the kitchen! He is fabulous!

Actually my mood gradually improved across the school day as many of the teachers I work with were all feeling the same... tired, tired of winter, eager for spring break. It was just nice to know I was not alone! And my sweet little kindergarteners who can be very frustrating were the sweetest, smiliest kids today, and if that can brigten up a mood, then nothing really can!

In a Funk

2009-02-11T16:44:00.001-08:00

I am definitely experiencing a funk. It's my usual February Funk. I always seem to have a rough patch right about now. Some years it's just a small speed bump that I rarely notice. This year it feels like an insurmountable cliff-if I make it to the top I'll just have to jump off!

All I want to do is sleep or cry. And for no reason. There isn't anything in particular. It's just my funk. Usually a run or a cuddle from the kids can snap me back to a functioning reality, but tonight I don't want to run, and the kids have been snuggled and hugged and read to as long as they will allow.

I think in some ways I blame the weather. While we finally had a beautiful day on Tuesday, it was short-lived. And with our busy schedules I didn't have more than a few minutes to be out enjoying it! Today is a rainy day, and I dislike rainy days when I am in a good mood so today it really makes me want to climb into bed. The kids go to bed in a few minutes; I think I will follow!

I am just lovin' it

2009-01-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

These days I am as happy as I will ever be driving around in my car. I do love my car if I do say so myself. One of the main reasons I love my car is the XM satellite radio. It is awesome. I am constantly flipping back and forth between 2 of my favorite stations... Hairnation and Broadway.

I know, I know they don't really seem to go together, but it is just fabulous. Just this afternoon I was jamming (oh, and I was REALLY jammin') the whole way home. How could I not when I kid you not these were the 4 songs I heard as I flipped back and forth: Skid Row's "18 and Life" followed by "Any Dream will Do" from Joseph, "Hard Knock Life" from Annie, and finally "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard. I almost hated to get out of the car thinking I might miss the next great song!

Busy Busy Busy

2009-01-24T12:03:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to a mini-high-school-reunion courtesy of Facebook. I went back and forth about going. My best friend from HS, Jill, and I went back and forth, "If you go, I'll go." Yes, so high school.
I am so glad I went. I had so much fun! There were tons of people there, not just from my class, but a few years older, and probably some younger. Most of these people I haven't seen in close to 20 years! It was really a lot of fun, way more fun than I was expecting. I went to the formal 10 year reunion back ummm like 8 years ago or so, and it really kind of sucked. This setting was more informal, had the different classes, it was way more fun.
And it was great to see and hang out with Jill. We are so different now, but we were able to fall right back into that same comfort level with each other!

This morning we had a busy morning getting everyone to their classes. Megan had Irish dance at 9:30 in Naperville. At 10:45 Ryan had his first solo class in Geneva, and then Megan had gymnastics in Batavia at 11. When I got in the car at 11:05, I sipped my coffee, closed my eyes, and relaxed. I had 30 blissful minutes to myself! No kids. No noise. Just me, my coffee, and my romance novel. Of course then it was off to pick up Ryan, back to pick up Megan, and home to make lunches and clean the house (well that is what I am supposed to be doing, where am I? On the computer!). It sounds like a crazy morning, but to me, this was one of the best ways to spend my Saturday morning. I love taking the kids to their classes. I am sure the day will come when I dread it, but for now I am thinking of it as a treat!

Tonight I am off to Holly's house to have my palm read or future told. I wonder what she will say? Probably something like, "You surely can't keep up this busy schedule!"

Of course I haven't decided if I want to know my future. I think some things are better off to be surprises. Like my life. Now YOUR life ont he other hand, I just have to know, so I am anxious to hear what this psychic has to say about everyone else!

That was AWESOME!

2009-01-16T16:51:00.000-08:00

Megan has taken to that saying this week. On a daily basis we hear this phrase at least 10 times a day. And to really hear her, you have to picture the scene in Tommy Boy when the deer destroys the car and Tommy (Chris Farley) looks at David Spade and says, "That-was-awesome!" She sounds just like it, and I'm pretty sure she's never seen the movie.

On another note, I am not nearly as bitter today, although it was even colder, and of course we still had to go in. It was an institute day so no students, and therefore no chance for a snow day. Several of us did comment about how the a few of the other few schools who were open yesterday were closed today.

Ugh. And it was ugly. -25 when I got in to start my car this morning. A reported windchill of -51. When we got up we found we had a new problem, our internet/phone line was down. So we spent a few minutes wondering if maybe we were supposed to get a call, but then we realized how ridiculous we were. Of course we had to go in. The bigger question was, "Does Megan have school?" Surely not, but then they only have our land line. How can we figure it out. There are so many closings on tv we could wait another 20 minutes and still not know. So we called Dan's parents to check online. Nothing there. Really? A Catholic School open in this? They are always the first to close.

We debated a bit about whether to call her in and send her to the sitters with Ryan or to try to take her and see. Unfortunately if we took her in and there was no school then we wouldn't be able to take her to Barbara's because we had to drop Ryan off a few minutes early so they could take Kaitlin to her doctor appointment. Well we decided to go for it, and if there was no school she could go to her grandparents house. Well, crazy thing-she did have school. Only 8 kids showed up, and it was a half day, but she loves school so it didn't matter to her that it was cold.

And being busy trying to decide what to do with the kids kept me from being bitter about going in myself. On my way home I just reminded myself that now we get out 2 days earlier in June!

Did you know...

2009-01-15T14:50:00.001-08:00

Did you know that it was colder in Aurora today than it was in Alaska?

Yep, by 18 degrees!

And guess what? I still had to go to work!

Do I sound upset? You bet I do! EVERY other school district was off. Not us! And why you might ask. Because we can't close. Our high school didn't close. We have to do everything the friggin' high school district does. Well HELLO assholes, the highschoolers had finals today and were home by 10:30!

I try to make myself feel better knowing I will get out 1 day earlier in June, but today that hardly matters. Today as I had to dress the kids in snowsuits, wrestle with the garage door to close and nearly lose my fingers to frostbite, it really didn't matter. So I am still pissed.

I know, all you non-school people are probably thinking, "boo-hoo for you; I have to go to work too!" And you can say that, but 1 of the perks of this profession is the occasional snow day. And when EVERY OTHER district around you closes except for yours, it kind of sets you off, well at least me anyway!

It's so cold!!!

2009-01-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

It really is.

I think the temperature, actual air temperature, is supposed to get down to something like -15. Then factor in the windchill and we are talking -30 or worse!

Do I live in Alaska? No, I live in the freakin' midwest. It is supposed to be pleasantly cold, like maybe the teens, maybe dipping into single digits in the middle of the night (and I even think that is too cold), but none of this 15 below crap!

I am really hoping for a snow day tomorrow. I don't want to have to leave my house, or my bed for that matter. I know the likelihood of actually getting one is really slim, but the idea is still rattling around in the old noggin'.

I think I am going to put on some warm jammies, make myself some tea, and go snuggle under the blankets!

It's back to the grind!

2009-01-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

Well now we have been back to school for a few days now, and I still have not fully adjusted. Of course I did it to myself, so I have no one to blame but myself, but I will blame my dear husband anyway! He let me sleep in so often over break that I got used to sleeping until 9-ish (one day it was actually 10:30-that hadn't happened in years) so now that the alarm goes off at 6 it is killing me. I never been a morning person, and I am still having trouble falling asleep before midnight. Tonight, I am going to bed early. Although I have said that for the last few days and something (Facebook, Wii, old episodes of Sex and the City and Friends) always seems to keep me up.

I think the kids are happy to be back onto a normalish routine. We haven't gone back to our full schedule yet, all those activities will kick up in the next few weeks, and it has been nice to slowly adjust. We are all enjoying having a little bit of structure and routine.

Son't get me wrong, I love having the time off, but during Christmas break all of our "normal" routines and activities are suspended and we are busy doing other things, so the time flies by in a whirl that is not quite, yet a little chaotic. Even in the summer when we have the time off, we have a schedule to keep for a least part of the day so I feel like we accomplish more. It is probably all in my head, well now on the computer as I ramble on and on and on...It is the lack of sleep!

Well, it is bathtime, then bedtime (for the kiddos) and then I believe I challenged Dan to a little WiiFit action!

Welcome 2009

2009-01-03T19:29:00.001-08:00

It's the new year!

2008 came and went so fast. Where did the time go?

We had a fun New Year's Eve here at our house with the Troyers, Carpenters, Mladys, and Walthers. The kids played together so well all evening long. There were several tea parties of which Izzy was the Grand Hostess, just make sure you don't hold that cup too long, lest she might think you were not going to give it back! All the girls loved playing in the dress-up clothes.

Ryan was really the only party-pooper. He fell asleep in the chair watching Cars around 11.

The kids seemed to have a good time, and when the ladies are together we always enjoy each other's company!

We hope you rang in the new year with someone you love, and hope that everyone has a better 2009!

I can't really be THAT old, can I?

2008-12-31T13:11:00.001-08:00

I went in for my yearly exam, and she told me that I was now at that age. She is recommending I set up my first...MAMMOGRAM!

I must have looked shocked! Me?? No, really I just turned 30! Really, that was 5 years ago??

What a blow!

And last night I had an eye exam (yep, getting them all in before the new year) because someone broke my glasses. Just ripped the arm right off! They refused to give me a new pair without an exam.

So Megan was in the room with me as I am reading the letters off the board with 1 eye covered. Apparently I made a few mistakes because as I was reading the letters she said, "I think that was a G, Mom!" I had to politely tell her that while I appreciated her giving me the answers this was test so I had to figure it out on my own. To which she said, "I don't think you're gonna do so good on this test Mom, you don't even know the letters!" Well the eye doctor and I both got a nice chuckle out of that!

So I guess I am old, I can't see as well anymore, and now my boobs have to get smashed. Oooh, I am looking forward to a new year!

Happy New Year to All!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-29T13:52:00.000-08:00

So we have had a busy few weeks. Here are some pics to help recap... I am behind posting some pictures from my work Christmas party that was at our house. Lots of fun with RockBand. I think we will definitely be acquiring this as we had a blast!

The kids had fun visiting with Santa on our Snowday!

Here are the kids at the Hansel and Gretel play down in Lincoln Park. The theater was just terrific for a kids performance, and Megan and Ryan enjoyed meeting all the characters after the show.

After the show we killed some time at a restaurant called Charlie's Ale house. Well the portions were huge! You can't really tell from the picture, but there were 3 huge breasts on Dan's plate plus a whole lot pf pasta (yes, he did eat almost the whole plate)!

Off to Zoo Lights where we met up with Kate and Izzy for a fun, but cold and snowy evening.

The kids enjoyed playing in the snow, and it really was very pretty.

My kids love the carousel (sp?) can't think today. I think Izzy could take it or leave it!

Ryan was so exhausted by this point he was barely able to hang on. He fell asleep shortly after we got on the road!

On the 23rd we officially started our Christmas celebrations with Dan's family at our house. Dan borrowed Joe's deep fat fryer and he fried a turkey. It was delicious, although it took forever to get the oil hot enough!

The kids all had a blast playing together. And soon it was time for presents. For such a small family there sure was a lot of chaos!

Minutes after the presents were opened poor Ryan fell asleep right in the middle of the chaos, kind of like Randy in A Christmas Story! If you look carefully you will see that he fell asleep right on Matthew's new bibi gun! Good thing he didn't shoot his eye out!

On the morning of Christmas Eve Daddy cooked us a nice big breakfast. We love when Daddy makes big breakfast! Megan is a bacon junkie!

We then got to open our presents to each other. The expression on Megan's face when she got simething she was not expecting or wanting was priceless!

Megan picked out this lovely shirt for me. Apparently it was on the clearance rack! Can you imagine such a thing? Who would not want it? Not I have to find just the right ocasion to wear it. Hmmm...Halloween perhaps?

Joe made Papa a Major Award! That guy is so talented! This one got out of order.

Then we met Izzy, Erin, Joe and Kate at the high school for mass in the auditorium. It was a very nice children's service, and when they called the kids up to the alter/stage, Megan practically knocked kids down as shw raced up there. Of course she turned and waved to us right in the middle of the consecration, so we have some things to work on!

After mass,we went back to our house and Mom and Dad, Drew and Jenny came over and we fried a dcuk and a chicken. We had planned to play games but we never got around to it. We got a surprise visit from Dan and Holly which the kids loved (the grown-ups too).

Christmas morning we found what Santa brought for us then packed up and headed off to Mimi and Papa's. Int he afternoon we had a little Wii action going. Even my mother-in-law got into the action!

Uncle Dan and Erin.

Ryan and his new big boy bike!

We finally had our last day of Christmas yesterday at Dan's aunt's house in Rockford. Megan fell asleep in the car around 5:30 and Ryan around 6. I was dreading that because thatis the worst time for a nap. However they were so exhausted from all the activities of the past week, they both slept until 7:30 this morning!

I love the holidays, but exhausting they can be!

The mind of a two year old...

2008-12-19T19:36:00.001-08:00

Ok, so today we decided we had enough of being cooped up in the house for this snow day so we decided to go to the mall to see Santa.

Not sure if Ryan remembers the whole thing, we launch into a whole discussion about what he and Megan are going to ask Santa for. Megan has been talking about only 1 thing for teh longest time, so she was easy. She wants a couch/futon. Ryan got one last year and they both love it. (Good news, I found it on sale in October and it's been in out garage since-good thing she hasn't changed her mind!)

Ryan had been mostly talking about Thomas the Tank Engine. Whenever anyone asked him what he wanted. Well he must have thought he had to ask for something else from Santa because all of a sudden he decided he wanted a bike.

Off we go to the mall. No line whatsoever. We take our pictures, both kids sit right down on Santa's lap and tell him their wishes. Megan says she wants a couch-which really seemed to baffle the poor guy. Then Ryan says he wants a big bike. Off we went. I thought it was a good evening. We even got in a little more Christmas shopping.

Then as I am putting Ryan to bed, I ask him about his visit with Santa. He said, "But Mom, he didn't have any toys, and he didn't have a bike, and he didn't have a couch eeever (either)." That's when it hit me, the poor kid thought he was getting presents from Santa TONIGHT! And he came home with nothing. Poor guy. So I reassured him that Santa had to go back to the North Pole to get the toys and he will bring them on Christmas morning!

By the way, Dan ran out tonight to get the bike!

Snow, Snow, go away...

2008-12-16T19:42:00.000-08:00

The least thing this stinkin' snowstorm could have done was arrive at about 3am! How in the world can we get a friggin' snowday if it stops snowing at 8pm!

And boy, it was crummy tonight. Dan picked up the kids and I was going to meet them for Megan's last dance class for the fall. They were having parents' day and all the girls were to dress in pretty Christmas outfits. Well, I got there a little after 4 (that's an hour after I left work, a ride that usually takes 15-20 minutes). At 4:30 there was still no sign of her teacher and the director came and told us we would have to cancel class because Miss Paula was stuck in traffic. I called Dan and instructed him to go straight home. He got home at 5! He picked up the kids at 3:10! And we only live 1 town away! UGH!!!!

Who was that in California that was missing the snow??? You can have it! I am done with it, and it isn't even officially winter yet!

What a Party!

2008-12-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

We had a busy party-filled weekend. On Saturday we went to Auntie Louie and Auntie Gretchen's house for a fun afternoon partying with the cousins. The kids came home with so many gifts (thank you to all)! Megan and Ryan then had the chance for a sleepover with Mimi and Papa because mom and Dad had their Christmas party.

Well the party was at our house because the white elephant "winner" ended up having some family issues. We had about 25 or so people, and we had lots of laughs during the white elephant gift exchange. Boy, there sure is a lot of crap out there!

The real fun got started a bit later. Julie brought PS2 and Rockband. Was it ever a total blast! We had so much fun jamming for hours. Before we knew it it was after 1 in the morning.

Today Mimi, Megan and I went to see the Nutcracker performed by a dance group in Naperville. We really enjoyed the performance, although the plum prince left absolutely NOTHING to the imagination with those tights! The girls behind us had a good time chuckling! Lots of fun, I can see Kate and I doing the same thing when we were younger, oh who am I kidding, that could have been last week!

Now I am feeling a little fuzzy and tired. Must be the lack of sleep, or it could have been the wine, or maybe the shots...

Mark Your Calendars...We've hit the big time!

2008-12-08T19:48:00.000-08:00

That's right Ladies and Gentlemen, Kate and I have hit the big time; the pinnacle of our dancing careers. We will be performing on June 7, 2009 (yes, we are that good that we have been booked 6 months in advance) at Six Flags Great America!!!
It will be THE event of the season. We don't know what we are dancing to yet, and costumes are usually bordering on the criminal (but they look great from the audience). Rumor is we may be tapping to At the Hop. Which sounds good to me, I always prefer a live, peppy number. I think my favorite of all time was Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, which should be a fairly similar tempo.

Our other performance dates include: the big show on May 17 (6pm), June 14th at Elmfest, and July twenty-something at the Dupage County Fair!

You won't want to miss this!

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch...

2008-12-05T18:38:00.000-08:00

That's how I feel right now.

I am a Grinch.

I don't know why I decided to make Christmas cookies tonight. I HATE making Christmas cookies. Sugar cookies are the most disgusting waste of time on the planet!
I don't enjoy the prep work.
I don't like the process of flouring and cutting into fancy little shapes that don't stay fancy.
I don't find it fun to decorate them.
And I definitely don't want to eat them!

We made 2 dozen. 1 dozen burned. I have to make 7 more dozens by Sunday for Megan's school. I think I will be finding a bakery. I really don't have time or energy for this s%#t!

Another successful pub crawl

2008-11-30T17:48:00.001-08:00

Always a fun event, and this year was no exception. Many of the usual faces joined us as we made our way through St. Charles. Along the way we met some of Santa's elves. We promised them we were being good!

This year vests were the in item. Laurel and I were dressed exactly the same from head to toe, and we didn't even plan it!

Oh, those crazy relatives!!

Another round of shots, of course no liquor for Tam!

Good times were had by all. Today was a long day of recovery!

Mark your calendar for next year...

2008-11-28T18:11:00.000-08:00

Who was up at 4am shopping???

Yes, I actually went. I went to Kohl's at 4; Walmart at 5; Target at 6. I then went home and napped for a few hours before heading over to Meijer. I am crazy, I know. And really I didn't need anything, and bought several things that I will probably return, I only bought them because I got so caught up in the whole experience! Well, at least it was fun, and I think Santa, as well as Mom and Dad are done shopping for the kids. This evening Megan was in the Hometown Holiday parade in downtown Naperville with the McNulty Irish dancers. She did a little dancing although she refused to let go of my hand, so technically I was in the parade too. Ryan and Daddy were behind the dancers, and Ryan was waving to everyone! Daddy rigged up some lights to his wagon so he got to ride in style!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T10:14:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I ran in the Naperville Noon Lions Club Turkey Trot this morning. When the race started it was a crisp 23 degrees. But fear not, by the first mile marker I was sweating like a pig! I ran my fastest 5k (although to most runners this was not fast) since I started running again. That felt good.

When I got home we watched the McDonald's Thanksgiving day parade and started putting up some Christmas decorations.

In a little bit we will head over to Uncle Tom's clubhouse to spend Thanksgivng with the Ryans.

I always look forward to Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite holidays. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and if you're heading out at the crack of dawn tomorrow I hope you find good deals!

I Like To Move It...

2008-11-23T18:29:00.001-08:00

We just returned from Madagascar 2. I have to say I really enjoyed myself. The adult humor was great, and I know I missed some, but I don't have to worry, once it comes out on DVD I am sure I will see it at least a thousand more times.

I was nervous about taking Ryan since he has never been to a theater before, but it went ok. We had our giant box of popcorm which I figured would last us through the first 20 minutes or so, and then I smuggled in some ring-pops and Ryan's sippy cup which I figured would hold us through to the end or almost the end. It pretty much worked. Once the movie started the kids were pretty interested.

About half way through the movie, Ryan realized the lights were off (where he was the first hour, I don't know), he announced to the entire theater (because he doesn't ever whisper anything), "Hey, it's really dark in here!"

A little bit later he announced to the theater that he had to go pee-pee. So we trucked down to the bathroom where he sat in the toilet for about 3 seconds before he said he was done and ready to go back inside. At this point Megan decided she had to go, but since she is deathly afraid of automatic flush toilets she opted to hold it for the remainer of the movie and the trip home!

In all it was a pretty good experience, but I was glad I chose this movie because it had a very high interest for both kids and myself. Another movie might not have had the same effect, and if we lost their attention for even a few minnutes the entire experience could have been a disaster!

On the Bridget's poll: I'd give it a 2 thumbs up!

I got the question...

2008-11-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday after I picked up the kids from Miss Barbara's house Megan asked, "Mom, how does God put the babies in the mommies' tummies?"

I'm glad I was driving as this was the question I had been dreading, well since I found out I was pregnant with Megan!

So I thought for a minute about how to best answer this question with a 4 year old. Here's what I came up with:

B: "You know how at school you planted flowers by putting a little seed in the cup and giving it lots of water?"
M: "Yeah."
B: "Well that's kind of how God does it. He puts a little seed in Mommy's tummy, and we give it lots of love and soon it grows into a baby."
M: "Oh, ok. Are we going home the train way?"

So I fretted for nothing. She was content with a nice little story that really isn't a lie, just not exactly the full story.

There are no announcements to be read from this discussion. There are no seeds currently in THIS mommy's tummy!

News of the day

2008-11-15T08:57:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure there is any.

We just returned from Megan's Irish dance class. Some of her moves are beginning to actually resemble dance steps. I often find her skipping and "dancing" around the house these days. If you ask her what she is doing, she says, "The jig!" and gives me this exasperated look.

Ryan is busy being Ryan. Running, yelling, just you know, being a boy! We signed him up for this explorers class because he is always being schlepped about to Megan's classes, and he wanted his own school. So now he goes to class on Tuesday nights, and he is by far the oldest kid in the class, by like a year! He's the only one in class who can participate with the songs on his own. He doesn't seem to mind; he prefers to do his own thing anyway. Most of the time he spends the class playing with the trains and the balls. Really, we could do that at home! I'll have to find a better class for him next time.

Well, that's really all I've got for now. We are kind of in a not much going on right now phase!

Go Vote!

2008-11-04T08:23:00.000-08:00

Do your civic duty.

Get out and vote, even if you vote for that other guy and his little chicky.

Just vote!

If you live in IL, please vote "No" to the Con-con!!

And thanks to all those who voted early. We walked in at 10:00am, went straight to our machines, voted, and were back in the car by 10:08! So thank you to all who stood in those ridiculously long lines to vote early so that people like me didn't have to wait in line on election day!

Now comes the exciting part-watching the election returns! I am so excited! I am trying to convince Dan to take Ryan to his first class tonight so I don't miss any election coverage between 6 and 6:45. Although I think my George doesn't come on until 7 on ABC. I love watching his coverage of the election, and well frankly just watching him. Besides being very good looking, he is so intelligent, and able to express himself and the issues in a way that even not so quick-witted people can make sense of the world.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

We documented our weekend in pictures!
This year for Halloween people asked me if we told the Fors kids they had to be soemthing that started with an "f." Megan was a fairy and Ryan was a fireman. I guess it just kind of worked out that way! The kids trick-or-treated for a while before Ryan got bored and decided to stay in the wagon.

I think they had more fun sitting on the porch waiting for trick-or-treaters to come to our house!

They enjoyed sitting at the breakfast bar eating cereal, or maybe that was because from there it was easier to reach the candy bowl!

We found they all seemed to enjoy coloring, at least for a while. That gave us a break from the same movies over and over and over!

We did venture out to go shopping. Of course Izzy fell asleep in the car so she and Dan stayed in the parking lot, so Megan shopped for Izzy. We found matching princess pajamas and matching pinnk sparkly shoes. We had a pair at home that the girls kept trying to cram their feet into but they were way too small. Lucky for us, Ryan fit in that pair! Now everyone had oink sparly shoes!!

And they enjoyed rocking out in the living room. Yeah, I'm sure rockstars wear pink sparly shoes!
And please notice the mess in the background. The house still looks that way!

The 2 girls liked dressing the same we found matching sweaters today that they wore to church (no pictures of that one). I am really surprised how many people ask me if they are twins. Really, they look nothing alike. At least here I can see, they are wearing the same thing, but on Halloween at least half the houses we went to asked if they were twins. Strange!

This afternoon we will bring Izzy back home, and we can all see Erin Michelle now that she is at home!

Meet My Niece!

2008-10-30T20:54:00.001-07:00

Baby Girl Troyer, that is still her name since there has been no final decision as of yet, arrived this morning at 9:35! Kate looked great this afternoon for having just had major surgery. Baby girl looked great too, very tiny and very pink! So far she has a great temperament; she didn't cry once for the hour or so that I got to hold her!!

Izzy seemed to enjoy meeting Baby Sister, but was also just as easily entertained with her new baby doll, named Baby Sister, and her thoughts of her upcoming sleepovers with Jack and Kitty (Dan and Holly's pets) and Megan and Ryan, as well as the flushing of the toilet!

Welcome Baby Girl Troyer! We can't wait to hear your official name!

Our 1st trip to the ER

2008-10-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

We started out our Saturday with a trip to Brunswick Zone for a birthday party after Megan's dance class. The kids had a ball. Ryan was able to bowl, by himself-he's Mr. Independent these days, and Megan had a ball dancing and bowling with her friends. It was really great fun. It was Cosmic bowling, and they played fun music, and the high school kids that "run" the party were really great! They had the kids doing the limbo, the cha cha slide, and many more fun party dances. Ryan really got into the whole dancing thing, and kept finding new lights to dance under and shake his thang!

A perfect party, the whole thing lasted just under 2 hours, and the teens kept the activities moving at a comfortably rushed pace so no one had time to get bored! I will tuck this little birthday party idea into my bag of tricks!

Saturday night we did our family outing/grocery shopping at Walmart, and when we got home we were so tired we headed right up to bed. Or so I thought.

Megan and Ryan were having a sleepover in the guest bedroom/nursery (I still haven't given up the dream). All of a sudden we heard a huge THUD, followed by screaming and crying. Ryan fell off the bed and smacked his head into the dresser.

In the time it took for Dan to get from our room to theirs, and for me to get up the stairs his head had grown a ginormous bump. It stuck out almost an inch. I am not kidding you. We grab some frozen meat and stick it on there and debate what to do. Should we go to Urgent Care, the ER, stay home???

We decide to head to urgent care, and if it wasn't open we'd head to the hospital.

Well we got to Delnor Hospital at about 9:00p.m. Ryan seemed ok, but since it was bedtime we didn't know if we could let him sleep so we decided to have him checked out. In the end he was just fine, although he has a pretty good sized bump. And we got out of there relatively quickly, just about an hour!

He loves to tell the story of how he was jumping on the bed and had to go to the hospital for the ouwie on his forehead. Just like the monkeys on the bed!

And you'd think he'd have learned his lesson, but what did he go and do again tonight, jumped on Mommy's bed. And what do you think happened? He fell off, on his head. Again, althoug this time he fell on the carpet and a few inched over. No bruising, other than his pride since- oh, did he get yelled at!

This afternoon we met Mimi and Papa in downtown Naperville for some trick-or-treating! It was such a nice day, but after about an hour and a half the wind really picked up and the temp started falling. It was time to call it a day!

We are all tired and ready for bed now!

We Were Robbed!!

2008-10-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

Last night we (not me, I had taken NyQuil) were awaken at 2am by the neighbor. He said his dog was going a little nuts so he and his wife decided to take him outside to do his duty when his wife noticed to dome light on in our cars. Well he went out to check and there were 2 teenagers trying to make a break for it with Dan's golf clubs.

He scared the kids so dropped the clubs, but the kids got away. About a half hour later the police arrived (I was back to sleep; I really only woke up for about 30 seconds). Apparently they have been getting reports like this lately. The kids don't really try to break into anything, but they are opening all unlocked doors.

Dan looked in my car, but nothing seemed to be missing. Or so we thought. When I woke up this morning I asked Dan if my dance bag was in the car. He checked, and it was gone. Those poor criminals made off with a pair of ladies tap shoes and several pairs of dirty, stinky socks!! I was actually planning to wash them this weekend because they were starting to get that "not so fresh feeling!" Oh well! I guess that serves them right.

Some lessons we have learned:
1. Lock your doors at night, even if you think you live in a very safe subdivision
2. Make your husband clean out his Kingdom of Crap (aka the garage) so we might park in it
3. Make your husband clean out his car so that when the criminals come to steal stuff all they get are your stinky socks!

In the end we know we were really lucky. They could have gotten into to our house and much much worse! Some stinky socks and tap shoes are an excellent loss to make us learn some very valuable lessons!