Wedded Bliss

It's true! On September 6, Spike and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. Strangely enough the weather nearly perfectly matched the day before our wedding and the day after. My dad and sister Tara watched the boys and Spike and I went out to eat. Oh what a treat! Even though we talked a lot about the boys, we reminisced a lot, too. We joked about how good we had it when we were first married and we didn't even know it. Two incomes! Low rent! FREE TIME! Getting up at 10 AM! No Schedules! Oh, it's hilarious to think about now. We couldn't believe how quickly and blissfully the last 10 years had passed. Certainly there was not so blissful times in there, but overall, wonderful. We fast forwarded 10 years and realized that we'd have a 15, 12, and 9 year old. ISN'T THAT NUTS???

First Day of School

9/3/2008
Holy Emotional Day Batman!
I've managed not to cry so far, but I'm totally on the verge! BOTH boys started school today. Jake headed to kindergarten and Aidan off to preschool. They did GREAT. They were excited and didn't seem nervous at all. Jake got on the bus pleased as punch and just immediately started buckling himself in and Aidan ran into the preschool and started playing with toys. I can not wait to hear the full report back from them both! And now I'm sitting at home with no kids here and it is so weird.

9/8/2008

School has been on for a few days now and things are going well. Jake says his favorite things are art and the bus. I'm really surprised about art, I was fully expecting Gym or Recess. He also LOVES math. We really see quite the engineer in him. Aidan was really upset that preschool is only twice a week. He really wants to go 5 days. He gets very sad when Jake gets on the bus in the morning and says he misses him. His preschool teacher says that this is the *BEST* class she's had in years. brag brag. And Jake's kindergarten teacher sent home the sweetest note about Jake today. She said he makes her smile and is a really good friend. Aww shucks. I can't hear enough nice things said about my kids from people not related to them!

Pink, Pink, PINK!

Well, it's official, we're having a girl! Our mid-way ultrasound proved nothing. Baby wouldn't cooperate! A long week later I had another one and without a doubt the tech said "It's a girl!" Well, I drove straight from the ultrasound to Babies R Us! I needed the pinkest, frilliest thing I could get my hands on!

We've now moved (okay, spike moved) my scrapbook room downstairs and it's all empty and waiting to become the pinkest nursery! I found a great white, wooden dresser with beautiful porcelain knobs for only $60 on craiglist and that's the only furniture in there right now.

Went to the paint store today actually and got a few samples. Then I eyed a wallpaper book and couldn't believe the options!

The BIG news!

Okay, Big news time...

Baby 3 is on the way. Yes, I know, we're nuts. I had a miscarriag in March and I've had a few complications earlier in the pregnancy so we haven't really told many people. But I'm at the 11 week mark in 2 days so we feel confident to share our news.

Our due date is January 15. I always swore I'd never have a january baby because I hated being one, but hey, what can you do?

We're really looking forward to the baby and while I secretly wish for a girl (okay, not so secretly), I pretty much know that I'll be the new host of "My Three Sons".

About Time!

Okay, so it's been a few months. Fell of the blog wagon. A lot's been going on!

Jake graduated preschool earlier this month. It was a beautiful, cool day here and it was an adorable, if not chaotic, ceremony. I can't believe I didn't cry, but there was a lot going on. The kids sang short versions of "You are My Sunshine" and this song called "Kindergarten in the Fall" that was just adorable. The valedictorian gave a short speech, no I'm just kidding. The graduation was in a church and let's just say that picture taking was not at its easiest. Jake did really well, even sang ALL the songs and he was dancing his own funny dance most of the ceremony. And the school gave us each an 11 X 14 color photo of each kid in a cap and gown as a surprise memento. It was so sweet I couldn't believe it. Jake was jazzed because they had cake and juice after.

My timeless reality of parenting

As Oprah says there are certain 'a-ha' moments. Oh how I love a day where I can quote Oprah. We just recently took down christmas and there was a lingering bunch of 'what do we do with this stuff'. Among the 'stuff' was a victorian era looking cardboard box. Against every bit of 'I Should save this' training I had, I decided to recycle it. As metaphoric as it seemed, I was pretty much getting rid of pre-kids ideas. Prior to kids I had always envisioned a christmas of Victorian proportions. Egg nog, gathering around a piano caroling, perhaps a wassil or two. Most of all though, a gorgeous, almost untouchable tree with candle light (somehow done safely) and fragile, sentimental ornaments. Though we had no real money when we were first married, we managed to buy a few things towards my victorian christmas vision. Spike pretty much got no say in the decorating. Even the first two years of having kids, I managed to keep some semblance of Elizabethan elegance. And then...it happened. The Spider-man ornament picked out by Jake. This would be followed by batman, and starwars. Bob the Builder and Thomas the Train were selected by Aidan and my humble untouchable tree, was shattered. And you know, as I was getting rid of some element of my petticoat wearing, wassiling imaginary christmas I did honestly think that I was happier with the new ornaments because they meant so much to the boys. Now really, I had heard my mom and countless other mothers breathlessly, and selflessly declare that something made them happy simply if their children were happy. A child myself, I couldn't buy that. I thought they were programmed to say that. While there might be some people who subscribe to that 'must say it' theory still, I actually do get happy when the boys are so happy. When Aidan did his little jump up and down in hyper excitement because his Crayola ornament arrived and when Jake rushes to show everyone his light up spidey on the tree, I do smile.

Bowling Day

So Amy and I naively thought that it would be fun to bring the kids bowling. C'mon, we're going nuts all winter with the kids cooped up inside. So let's just say that bowling left me with no energy to 'spare'. If I say fiasco you have to take the word as no exaggeration for the description of today's bowling... If someone ever proposes taking two 2-year olds and 2 four year olds bowling. Just say no. Actually Jake and Hailey (the other 4 year old) were okay, but it was hard for them to wait and take turns. And thank god the machines in the arcade were not turned on!

Aidan and James (the other 2 year old) however were a mess. Aidan did well for a little while. He got such a kick out of it. But once the thrill was gone, that was it. James had no interest at all and accidentally ran onto the slippery part of the lane and when we called for him to come back, he lost concentration and fell. He hit his head sooo hard on the wood lane. I could practically feel it. Luckily I travel with chocolate chip cookies and one of them instantly helped him. So we left early--before our paid hour was up. and we headed right to McDonalds. Little did we know everyone in Chester decided to go to McDonald's for lunch, also. But imagine sitting in a McDonald's parking lot (with the playland clearly visible) and telling the kids "Sorry, too crowded" so we went in. I will say they did better after eating. But wow. I'm not even sure Amy and I got a coherent sentence out all day. It was so tiring.