Halloween, Past and Present

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Done, Done, Done and DONE!

All four of these silly kids are back in school!!!

Summertime Insanity

So, yeah. I have/had this blog thing, but updating it has gotten a little, well, difficult. Summer should be for relaxing, but most years it seems even more hectic than the school year. Mostly because the schedule is so much more inconsistent. So far this year, we've had 1 week of art camp for 3 kids, 1 week of hockey camp for 1 kid, and 1 week of golf camp for 2 kids. We have another week of hockey camp coming up, a week of vacation, a week of gymnastics camp for the girls, and a week of lego camp for Sam. Plus I have 9 chickens to tend to and a garden full of tomato fungus, cabbage worms and japanese beetles.

RIP Big Boi and Andre 300. Roosters who crow gotta go

It doesn't sound like much, but them I'm working like crazy, and occasionally trying to use the damn pool in the backyard! 

Plus holidays...

And museum trips...

And legos, legos everywhere! 

It's been fun, but very, very busy. Luckily, next summer I'm carting the kids off to France, and we won't be able to afford to do anything but relax! 

What I Did On My Summer Vacation by Amy Jo

I know it seems silly to be recapping my summer vacation when the season only properly began a few days ago, but trust me we've already crammed an entire summer's worth of stuff in! At the time of my last posting, the big children were just wrapping up school. We got them home just in time to ditch the boys with their grandparents and whisk the girls away to Hilton Head for a few days. It was non-stop beach going, swimming, sandcastle building fun.

We got home early Tuesday afternoon, said hello to the boys, got cleaned up and headed out for a fun filled night at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, featuring Ben Folds. We were exhausted, but it was amazing!

We slept like a ton of bricks that night, got up Wednesday, and got straight to work. SOB was off the rest of the week, and we had many projects to tackle. We planted EIGHT MORE SHRUBS (we've been kind of on a shrub planting tear around here), we spread 8 yards of mulch inside the garden and around the new shrubs, we pulled up all of the carpeting in the basement and on the stairs leading there, then SOB fixed the sub floor down there in anticipation of our brand new carpet that was supposed to be installed yesterday but still isn't here, we bought new couches, we mowed and weed whacked many blades of grass, harvested many peas, cleaned out the entire garage, and SOB (with the help of my dad) built me an amazingly awesome new chicken coop out of reclaimed doors from this very house that we live in! 

The little chickens aren't so little anymore, and keeping them in the garage was keeping the garage very filthy. Now they can all live happily outside! 

(Related: do you know anyone who might want a few roosters?) 

Oh, and I also shot a wedding all day Saturday, with the help of my lovely and talented new assistant, my sister-in-law Tori!

Then first thing Monday morning, I dropped three kids off at camp and headed to court for the very first time in my life! It was nerve-wracking, even though I knew the outcome mattered nil. I just had to make an appearance so that one of many bureaucratic boxes could be checked off. 

Today Sam is off on an amazing adventure, and I'm all super mixed emotion-y about him growing up and having experience on his own, but that's another post for another day. I'm stuck here waiting (still) for the afore mentioned carpet to arrive and be installed for a little bit longer before camp pick up. If the sun stays out maybe we'll go swimming tonight. 

Summer, you're pretty bitchin' so far.

Meet You Future Second and Third Graders!

The Sound of Music

Today Sam and Lucy had their first ever piano recital. They began lessons in January, and they have an amazing teacher. She is fairly strict with them, but very kind and encouraging. She actually called Sam out at the end of the recital today because he kept insisting that he wasn't going to perform. Meanwhile, he knocked it out of the park. Lucy played her little heart out as well, and watching her watch the other students was enough to make me weepy. I'm so very proud of how hard they both worked to master their pieces, practicing several times a day for many, many weeks. Sam in particular was very nervous, and we had to bribe him with  a soda to get him in the car, but once we got there he relaxed a bit. Plus he was totally distracted by the cute little girl sitting next to him. (Not Lucy)

It makes me so happy that my children love having music in their lives. Sam just signed up to play cello next year, so he's going to be working on TWO instruments! And Lucy just may be a little virtuoso in the making. In the time she's been working on her two recital pieces, she basically taught herself the next two songs in her book. I have to ask her to stop playing sometimes! Do I sometimes have to remind them (more than twice) to practice? Yes. Are there times when they don't want to? Yes. But we've gotten over this big hump and I think it's going to be smooth sailing from here on out. And that is music to my ears.

Urban Farm Living

It isn't even May yet and already my garden is eating up most of my free time! Last year was great, but this year we decided to expand operations a little more. I was cramped, needing more beds in the plot, and more space to walk around. Last year we had six 4x4 foot beds and one 1.5x10 foot row. This year we've almost doubled that. And we added a chicken coop. Because we weren't crazy enough with our giant front yard garden.

These are some of our silkies. We currently have more chickens than we will ultimately want, but since we got them unsexed, we bought extra. We are only keeping ladies, and probably only about 5 of them. But there are more than that right now, so, yeah, we're going to be eating some really fresh chicken dinners some time this summer. 

These are some of the second run of chicks we got to replace the fellas from the first run. Plus, somehow we ended up with all one breed in the first run, even though they were supposed to be assorted. The second run has three different breeds, so we will have a little more variety.

Speaking of variety, the vegetable varieties have increased dramatically this year. Since we'll have more room, I let each kid pick something new to try and grow. Sam chose brussel sprouts, Lucy chose purple cauliflower, Maggs chose watermelon, and Fred chose peppers. We already grow those, but he didn't really understand that. Plus we have five tomato varieties, tomatillos, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, corn, zucchini, pumpkins, two hot pepper varieties, two sweet pepper varieties, and blueberries. I saved seeds from all of last year's tomatoes, and luckily everything sprouted! If everything goes well, we should be getting fresh eggs sometime in August. It should make for a tasty summer! 

Second Time Around

We're going to Vegas! SOB got a retro 1970s tuxedo, I got a dress, I have a celebrity's wife's phone number, the chapel is reserved and it's going to be epic! 

Mother Hen

Over the weekend, I quelled my urge to have another baby by picking up eight adorable baby chicks. 

We have been planning all year to get chickens, and the stars aligned on Saturday morning. Right now they are residing in a kiddie pool in our garage, under some heat lamps, nesting comfortably in our old shredded documents. There is a coop to be built, but they won't be big enough for outdoor living for 4-5 weeks, so we have time. The county ordinance states that we can have 5 hens and no roosters, but we got unsexed chicks so I bought some extra to hedge our bets. Plus, we already have one babe who looks like he/she might not make it. The kids are standing vigil, but have already started planning where to bury him/her. (Edited to add: he/she didn't. Super sad face.) 

They are so cute and fluffy, it's hard not to get a little attached. Fred has even been singing them lullabies! You go ahead and try not to get a little misty watching this! 

I had to cut off the cuteness because the furnace kicked on, and since I was sitting nearby, it drowned out all of the extra cute names Fred had given the chicks.

Yes, I have to check their butts to make sure they aren't clogged up, and yes, we may have to deal with an unpleasant situation if and when some turn out to be roosters, but still? I heart them.

OMG Fred is Three!

Just like his brother, Fred wanted his song to be Everything Is Awesome. I don't know how he'll feel about this, but at least I complied. 

Last night I was playing with Freddie on the floor in his room when he kind of tackled me. I laid there, with him laying flat on top of me, and I told him about how he grew in my belly when he was a baby. He sat up and looked at me funny. 'I didn't grow in your belly mom. I grew in your heart. And when I came out your heart was empty so it filled up with love. And bees.'  I may have died laughing. Happy birthday buddy. You'll always be my baby.

Our Family On Ice

A few weeks ago I took Freddie to a 'mommy and me' stick time session at our rink, cementing his position as youngest first time ice skater in our family! To be fair, I may have been younger, but I don't remember. I'll be gracious and give him the title. Last year I took Maggie for the first time, Lucy started when she was three as well, and Sam went for the first time on his third birthday, but then didn't go again for over a year. Fred got on the ice a few weeks shy of his third birthday, and he cried most of the time. In his defense, later on that night he came down with a fever, so I think he was already feeling crummy. That first day he didn't manage to do much besides push a bucket a few feet around the door, and even that was done only through bribery with a twix bar. Last Friday, however, he did much better. He was feeling better, so that helped. And his pappy came along, which was very fun for him. He was still pushing a bucket, but he did several laps around the rink at a pretty good clip. In fact, he was comparing himself to Turbo the snail, and he kept saying 'left turn!' as we would round the corners. (If you haven't seen the movie Turbo than this means nothing to you, but be assured it was as cute as hell.) 

I usually make a video of Sam skating at the end of each hockey season, but he's too fast for me now. I tried at a public session back at the beginning of February, but he kept getting lost in the crowd because I couldn't keep up with him. He can really move when he wants to. His hockey skills have grown a lot this year, too, but I'm glad he has one more season as a mite because he needs to work on his listening skills. Plus he'll be a giant next season, and that might be fun for him. Back at Christmastime I got a quick video of him before he got away from me. He is in the orange coat...

Lucy has passed her first figure skating skills test with flying colors, which surprises me not at all! Back when she was skating regularly, she always seemed to pick things up a little faster than Sam. She hasn't been on the ice nearly as much last year and this year, but it only took a week or two for her to get right back into things! She has been asking for one of those sparkly, twirly figure skating costumes, but has no desire for her own skates. I told her she would be getting her own white skates first, because the pretty costume wouldn't look as nice with her brown rental skates. She was not happy with me. 

Maggie also graduated to the next level of ice skating class. She was in a tot prep class, also know as the bucket class, but in the next session she will be in the snowplow Sam class! She is very excited about the name of the class, but less excited about the lack of buckets used in said class. We also took her to the mommy and me stick time last week, and she was appropriately adorable. However, I don't think hockey is her thing. She was holding the stick upside down the whole time. 

SOB still has never gone skating. He is, and will always will be, the undisputed oldest first time skater in our family.

Some footage of Fred pushing a bucket with a little Maggie bonus!

My Two Sons

This is Fred crying because we took him out in the snow. As he requested. 

My boys, my lovely little fellas, have been being a humongous pain in the neck these past few weeks. I've avoided writing about because I was hoping it was a short phase brought on by the inconsistent school schedules and horrible weather we've been having. That may very well be true, but because of some damn groundhog we're looking at another six weeks of this shit, so I'm assuming the bad behavior isn't going away any time soon.

Fred. Oh my sweet little baby Fred. I was the last one to know about this shift in your behavior. You saved up all of your smiles and cuddles for your mama. Unfortunately you ran out sometime in the middle of last week, and now all I get is screaming and poking and hitting and spitting. And the whining, my god the whining. The only thing in life that you desire is a "blaster toy", which you will point at someone and scream FREEZE RAY! Thank you Star Wars and Despicable Me. Mostly, people don't like gun-type things pointed at their faces, and this particular blaster toy makes a sound that would drive even the most patient person insane. So we hide it from you. But usually you find it, and since we're smart enough to hide it up high, you just sit on the floor under said "blaster toy" and wail. "Fred, stop crying." "BUT I WANT A BLASTER TOY!" "Fred, come eat dinner." "BUT I WANT A BLASTER TOY!" "Here, have a cupcake instead." "BUT I WANT A BLASTER TOY!" If it wasn't Sam's effing blaster toy, we would have thrown it away weeks ago.

Speaking of Sam, guess who's grounded until he's 42? He's developed the attitude of a teenager, combined with the anger management issues of a DMV employee, and the impulse control of a toddler, with a touch of hormonal pregnant lady peppered in there, just for laughs. He's been alternately weepy (over NOTHING) then shove-y, then mouthy, and then punchy. Mostly with us at home, but I've seen it happen after school and at hockey. He actually got kicked out of practice on Monday (by me) for being way to rough with his team mates and giving me enough lip to last a lifetime. The hilarious thing about this is that he's practically been an angel during school, and his piano teacher sent me a long email last week about how lovely he is (and Lucy, too). I'm worried because he doesn't seem to pick up on social cues, and so he'll be goofing around with a friend, things will get a little too rough, and Sam, who is a giant among second graders, can't seem to stop himself. Even after calling his name 3 or 4 times, he doesn't stop what he's doing, and I usually have to intervene physically. If he's with his friends or team mates, it doesn't come off as malicious, just annoying. Lucy, on the other hand, he seems intent on killing.

We're going on vacation in a few weeks, and we're going to be spending a lot of quality time together, including TWO 16 hour car rides. I hope we all make it back with our sanity (and limbs) intact. 

Can a Picture Be Worth 1,000,000 Words?

Santa 2013

My kids are Santa pros. Gotta love em! Here are some, but not all, of the years past…

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My Famous, Dead Neighbor

Blog, Interrupted

Business is booming, and October is looking to be the busiest month I've ever had ever, both personally and professionally. Just this past weekend I was busy with these two lovelies, plus another family.

Oh, and plus my OWN family! We went to see the giant duck that's floating down at the point. Then we picked pumpkins. That was after an hour and a half of hockey practice. At the end we visited with my sister-in-law and my cutie nephews!

The grind isn't going to let up for a few more weeks, so things might be quite quiet around here. I'll try and pop in to say hello every now and again, though, ok? Be well, internets!