Easter 2013

April 1, 2013April 1, 2013Leave a comment

Maria was more excited about Easter this year than Christmas. For the last three days before Easter she kept wondering what the Bunny might bring her. I never thought she cared much about the baskets that I create for them each year but I was wrong. As we sat at the table writing letters to the Easter Bunny, she said “I want to say something to her (I love that she treats the Easter Bunny as a girl – my progressive-minded girl) but I don’t want to sound greedy.”

“What are you asking her?”

“I’m asking her to please bring a basket for me and Mario again this year.”

“We’ll, I don’t think that is unreasonable to ask. Just ask it politely.”

So she wrote “P.S. Would you consider bringing a basket to me and Mario?”

I love that girl. She really is a thoughtful little soul. When Mario acted up later in the evening, I told him the Bunny was watching. He could have cared less. So I got more firm with him. Ri started sniffling. I asked what was the matter and she muffled her words “I don’t want my brother to not get a basket.” She watches over that boy.

She left out a cup of milk and cheese for the Bunny. She couldn’t find carrots. Then she went promptly up to her room so the Bunny would come. Mario stayed downstairs. I kept swearing that one day the Bunny would not come because he didn’t go to bed on time. All I can say is he knows he’s got a sucker for a mom and I would never let that happen.

And sure enough, even though he didn’t go upstairs until 10 with Jon, the Easter Bunny somehow managed to fix up two awesome baskets with bug catchers, a Katy Perry CD, Skylanders, clothes, sunglasses, and chocolate bunnies, of course.

The Bunny gave me written instructions to hide the eggs since he couldn’t hide them outside with the rain. The kids tore through the downstairs and the hunt ended in two minutes. They wanted those baskets.

I had to give $5 in an egg to each of them because we missed the Heile Easter egg hunt where there is always the possibility of finding the $5 egg (Grace was the sole participant this year so she got lucky). They were high on candy within 10 minutes (how fast can Mario down peanut butter cups? Three in a minute).

I still don’t know what to think about Ri and her belief in the Easter Bunny. With as old as she acts, I can’t believe she still believes. But then she gets so excited about Easter and writes a letter to her and leaves out food that I think she must believe. But then again, on Easter morning when Mario pulled out a Skylander and I said stupidly “I thought you’d like that one” she quickly interjected”you mean the Easter Bunny, don’t you, mom?” with a coy smile on her face. She keeps me guessing. Mario doesn’t give it much thought as long as there are gifts and money in his basket.

After finding eggs, we headed to Marion for Easter brunch. Nothing like filling yourself up with bacon, ham, creamy macaroni and hash browns before diving into brownies and chocolate peeps. Why aren’t elastic sweatpants allowed at brunch?

Carrie and Gio had to stay home because Gio was sick but we got Alana for the day. Mario enjoys playing with her as much as Gio. Grandma Ionno had eggs ready to be hunted and the kids got treated to more candy and another $5 egg. I’ve never made $10 bucks that easy.

The kids visited the mama and papa geese near Patty’s bridge. The papa squawked at us to stay away from his woman and babies and Mario had to tell us the story of him and Grandma getting chased by the papa two weeks ago. Then the kids rapped on the rocks (much to Uncle Patrick’s dismay – I told him we’d sing hard rock next time).

Mario crashed on the ride home but woke up when we got close to home begging to see Quinn. I told him they weren’t home from their aunt’s house yet and he got so mad. “You promised we could see them, mom!” He is all about keeping promises lately. I explained to him that I said we could see them if they were home. He surprisingly understood and sat quiet. I need to be very careful with my promises from now on because as long as I don’t promise something I know may not happen, he seems ok.

He ended up having a good night with his family. We took a scooter walk and played football. And ate a ton more chocolate Easter bunnies.

Weekend Round-Up

March 24, 2013March 24, 2013Leave a comment

Biking up to the Annual Cake Walk was bad luck. How were we going to carry a cake home if we won?

The Middle School gym was packed with no ability to avoid touching another human (Jon would have been very unhappy). I am usually ok in those situations for a brief period of time but then I reach a rapid breaking point and need out quick. There were the parents who loved every second of the event watching the crowd and chatting with other parents. Then there were the seriously irked parents in the crowd silently bemoaning their children for making them endure such conditions. I was in-between. This was the first year that I felt comfortable allowing Ri to leave my sight and run around by herself or with friends. And thank god I did because there was no way to let her walk ahead and still keep an eye on her. Ten feet ahead and she was in the masses. Mario wished he was Ri and could be on his own. He is so over having to be next to me and not run around on his own. Luckily, there was a toy/game area cordoned off upstairs so I could stand back and let him do his thing (inevitably he’d run back to me though and say “Mom, come watch me play!” (he needs me more than he thinks)). Mario found Quinn and followed him everywhere. He’s got a complete boy crush on him. Ri hung with Sophie.

We failed on the cake front. Mario got so mad after our first loss that he pronounced “this is stupid, I’m never playing again!” Mario is intolerant of games of chance. He played a few more times and got irritated at losing every time. Ri could have cared less; she was busy bragging about how Uncle Jack played in the band at the Cake Walk when he was in middle school. I love this picture of us: I was stunned because I almost won; Mario was mad because he didn’t; and Ri was zoning out due to a sugar overdose.

Saturday brought 40 degree weather which meant we were on our bikes and trolling the neighborhood. We hit Panera with Jon (Mario ate his entire ham sandwich – miracle!) and trekked over to our old digs to see if our bird’s nest was still up in the corner of the neighbor’s house. It was! But we found no mama sitting on eggs. Maria again lamented like she always does about the new owner not taking care of our old house. “He doesn’t care for it like we did. He doesn’t even plant flowers.” I’m worried if he ever comes outside, she may give him a piece of her mind. We stopped at Doris and Kim’s house to say hi but they weren’t home. The kids wanted a sad picture to send them so they’d know we missed them.

But then our always joyful Ri chirped “Now turn those frowns upside down, folks! Unfortunately, her stranglehold on Mario produced a greater frown.

Next, we hit Zach’s house. They were preparing for Grace’s birthday party so we helped fill the piñata and broke out SpongeBob tattoos (we know how to party). Zach let M&M ride his go-cart which thrilled Mario. He also played b-ball with him. Mario is gonna love making boy friends at Stevenson. Meanwhile, Ri threw on Zach’s football pads and completely played the role of linebacker.

We left Zach’s and headed up to Kroger’s for eggs. We had our Paas coloring kits already. The kids engaged in their annual egg coloring doing better this year than in any year past (usually there is at least one colored water spill). After coloring 20 eggs we called it a night. Ri read Martin Luther King Jr.’s book to us before bed. The book contained his “I Have a Dream” speech. Mario paid no attention to which Ri scolded “you are never going to learn about history, Mario!”

We skipped out on the farm on Sunday due to the Winter Storm predicted for the day (ended up to be a false alarm with hardly any snow through the day – daggone meteorologists. Mario jumped on me at 7:30 in the morning begging to color more eggs. So there we were at 8 am coloring away.

Ri went to Yoga with me at 10am. She loves playing on the iPad and watching me sweat. She is at once in awe and disgusted. We came home and found Mario in heaven because he was playing with Quinn. Ri and I took off to Stauf’s for a scone and Uno and then picked up Sophie and Paxton to head to the woods. Nothin’ like a girl climbing a tree in cowgirl boots.

After climbing trees and playing in the shallow creek, we called it a day and went home. Quinn and Mario were playing mutant ninja turtles in the basement and eating peanut butter and Ri and Sophie took sleeping bags to her house to sleep outside in the snow. When Quinn had to leave, Mario gave him a big hug and told him that they would play again tomorrow “because we’re best friends.” When Jon questioned Mario about Gio being his best friend, Mario told him “it’s complicated, dad, let’s not go there.”

We ended the night with a family card game of Three Little Pigs and Beat the Parents. The kids demolished us. We blamed it on being tired but I think it’s more likely a lack of sugar from no cake.

Create your mission

March 21, 2013March 21, 2013Leave a comment

Maria came home from Brownies a few months ago and asked us to consider our family values. She had been tasked with creating a family tree full of branches outlining our family values – what we believe is most important to our family.

We discussed it over dinner blurting out different thoughts: “we take care of each other” (dad); “we respect each other” (me); “we love each other” (Mario); “we listen to each other’s words” (Ri). Ri decided that “we listen to each other’s words” was our most important value because it encompassed all of the other values: when you listen, you take care of each other, respect each other, and love each other. Wise beyond her years.

I thought of this time together as I read the New York TImes article about creating your family mission. The article outlined a study which found that the more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned. Children’s emotional health and happiness increased when they knew more of their family history.

A-ha! Jon and I had finally found a study that confirmed we did something right (I remember going back to work after RI’s birth and reading studies about moms who worked outside of the home being prone to hyperactive and obnoxious kids and bawling my eyes out). There isn’t a day that goes by that Maria and Mario aren’t begging us to tell them a story about their childhood, our childhood, our parents’ childhood. They love the story of Jon taking forever to walk home because he had to stare at all the trees or me crying my eyes out because I missed the Brady Bunch. They love hearing how Peepaw used to make furniture and Grandpa Ionno used to write stories and Grandma Lolo used to pump Ri’s legs to get her to poop and Grandma Ionno used to rock Mario to sleep and Grandma Meg used to read wise books to Ri.

The study also recommended that parents convey a sense of history by passing down traditions – the hokier the family’s tradition, the more likely it will be passed down. Oh, we got that covered, too. We have hokey, we have normal, we have in-between. We check our stockings on St. Nick’s Day, we draw pictures of what we are grateful for at the end of the day, we look for candy and toys in the back yard on Easter, we head to Kings Island every year, we have a family bash on New Year’s Eve, we buy chips and pop for the ride home from Cincy.

So, I may have hyperactive and attention-deficit prone children from my 9-5 job but at least they will have self-esteem and be able to stand up for themselves.

Heading up with Grandma and Grandpa

March 18, 2013March 20, 2013Leave a comment

Jon and I realized last week that the upcoming weekend was going to be insane. Jon needed to prepare for an interview at work and I had to attend an all-day retreat Saturday and finish a load of work on Sunday. We were stressing about what to do with the kids on Thursday afternoon and then TA-DA! Super Patty to the rescue!

My mother-in-law is 71 (or 72?) years old. She looks 50. She moves like she’s 25. She plays with the kids like she’s 15. She also takes care of my father-in-law who is 92. For 92 years old, he does well traveling with Patty and walking to and fro but Patty still needs to be there for him on a consistent basis to take care of basic needs.

I remember going to my grandmas’ houses to spend the night. I looked forward to playing Chinese checkers or watching tv and eating a bowl of ice cream. But after that initial night, I was ready to go home. See my friends. Play with my toys. Grandma only had so much energy (or desire) to keep me occupied. But our kiddos… well….

“Mom, please let me stay at Grandma Ionno’s for five days”, pleads Mario every week. When Ri came running into the house Thursday night asking if she could have a play date with Sophie on Saturday and I told her no because she was going to Grandma’s, she jumped up and down with excitement: “can I stay there all weekend”, she asked.

And so there is never any guilt when sending them to Patty’s and Joe’s because I know they love it and they will be treated like royalty (and the same can be said about all their grandparents – they have got three sets of world class grandmas and grandpas, lucky dogs).

Patty picked them up on Friday after school even though she had planned on meeting Jon on Saturday (the kids begged to go up on Friday). They walked around the pond and chased geese. They ate yummy treats. They played on the iPad. They got treated to the bowling alley on Saturday night. Patty took them by herself while Joe stayed home with Chris. They won tickets and got all sorts of crazy toys. On Sunday, they had a St. Patrick’s Day party complete with hats, necklaces, green shirts, and cheesy potatoes (Ri’s favorite). Patty took them out to get all the decor and food for the day. I mean, seriously, how fun of a weekend is that for a kid?!

Patty can’t leave Mario’s sight when he is up there with her. When Ri asked Patty to get Life cereal at the store, Mario begged Patty not to leave. Being the negotiator that he is, he turned to Ri and said “you don’t need Life cereal, you can have one of my Lunchables for breakfast (he thinks that is a present of gold since they have Oreos in them). Mario was upset when he found out Ri was going with him for the weekend complaining “I never get alone time with Grandma!” Ha, that’s a big ol’ fib seeing he has probably spent the most time with her and Joe of all the grandkids. But he will do what it takes to get extra time. And sure enough, Patty allowed him to stay through Wednesday while Ri had to come home to school (Ri uses every chance to tell Mario that he will be in school soon and won’t be able to spend time with Grandma on the weekdays).

Mario spiked a fever Sunday afternoon. Patty called with the news and immediately started brainstorming on how she could help so that I could get into work this week. She’s gotta double as my mother-in-law and guardian angel because she ended up keeping him up there with her and taking him to an Urgent Care so that I could attend mandatory meetings at work.

I know she and Joe love their time with the kids and feel no burden taking them like they do. That is a blessing. But I feel completely indebted to her for taking these munchos when we get in binds like this past weekend (and now week). I am so grateful to have such a support network in my family. There is a great peace of mind in knowing that no matter what problematic situations arise, my familia peeps have my back… and provide loads of fun for the kids while doing it.

Weekend Round-Up

March 11, 2013March 16, 2013Leave a comment

A list of all the events from the weekend of March 8:

Friday

Ri headed to Kids Night Out at Stevenson. She stayed in Ms. Palmer’s room with the third graders to help watch Ms. Palmer’s little boy, Colin. She would give up friend time to watch a little kid anytime. She also got a healthy dose of Spongebob while they waited for Mrs. Palmer to get organized.

When I picked her up from KNO, I ran down the hall with her and out the door trying to pinch her behind. We jumped onto a stone structure and laughed as we tried to get our breath. She looked at me and said “you are the funnest mom ever!” Words tucked away in my heart.

2. While Ri was at KNO, I took Mario to Target to buy new shirts and a Skylander (he got to buy that with his own money). We got our icees and headed straight to the Skylander aisle. And… we stood there for what seemed like two hours deciding which Skylander to buy. Another kid came over while we were standing there and he and Mario acted like old friends as they chatted about their favorite Skylanders. Hilarious. We ended up with Stealth Elf who Mario reported was liked by everyone – even our babysitter David. A cute little gal, I must admit. Then we headed to the clothing aisle. Doggone Spring clothes were already out so we could only find a few long-sleeved shirts. He found some boxers that “looked just like dad’s” so we got those, too. We got a good deal on a Dr. Seuss book – $5 – and Mario “read” it on the way home. He is hilarious with reading. He simply looks at the pictures and makes up his own story. He’s pretty creative, and usually some up with a more interesting story than the one in the book.

Saturday

We took advantage of 55 degree weather! We also took advantage of Mario’s new running shirt – as soon as I came home from my run he begged to go out with me for another run.

“I have my new running shirt, mom! I want to test it out!”

Ri biked (her worst nightmare is running!) and Mario and I ran. I explained to him about keeping a steady pace which he adhered to for two seconds and then sprinted again. After about two blocks he turned around and said “why aren’t I sweaty yet, like you always are?!” He wants to come home sweaty just like his mama (another one if Ri’s nightmares!). We played at the park a while and then went home to toss the football.

After running around, the kids were ready to chill in the car for a trip to Cincy for Cy’s 18th birthday party. Mario made dad and I engage in a singing contest (dad won with his famous song “Spicy Meatballs”) and Ri drew a picture for Cy’s birthday. When we arrived, the kids went straight to Robert and Cy and their girlfriends to play. Robert tossed the football with Mario and Cy messed around with Ri. There was a two-year old boy at the party so Ri was in heaven chasing him around and holding him. She is gonna be a heck of a babysitter.

Jane made killer lasagna and garlic bread: the Italian Ionno family was quite pleased. Liz and I ate with the kids downstairs cracking up at Ri going to town on her lasagna and Mario trying to play pool. Jane has hosted 72 birthday parties over the years for her kiddies – what a machine! We sang happy birthday to Cy, gobbled up chocolate cake and ran around the house wild until it was time to head home.

Sunday

Ri rode her bike and I ran up to Stauf’s. We took a long way up and down side streets to make it a three mile ride/run and Ri cranked it out on her old, run-down bike. She prides herself on being able to ride this bike (she always asks “do you think [insert friend’s name] could ride this bike like I do?). The chain is rather rusted and the pedals are tough to push but she has her parents’ strong leg muscles!

We had a wonderful Stauf’s trip – we sat outside in the 60 degree weather eating a chocolate chip scone and talking about school. I love mornings like that. We brought home a donut for home-body Mario and got ready for the Ionno clan to arrive.

We hadn’t seen Alana and Gio for a while so the kids were excited to have them over. As soon as they arrived, Ri and Alana were upstairs playing barbies and Gio and Mario were on my bed with my iPad and Grandma Ionno’s iPad. When we made them come downstairs to play, they picked up their nerf guns and acted like they were zombie killers.

I took the girls to the woods to try to find baby bunnies. No luck on that front but we did find a good tree to climb. It was only 65 degrees but Ri was “so hot.” She had to create a “belly shirt” to cool down and slip off her shoes. God help her when Summer hits.

The boys were next. I took them to the woods by the train tracks (I didn’t let them go near the tracks, Aunt Kathy!). They were hilarious talking about Skylanders and zombie killing. Mario kept asking Gio if Gio had a running shirt like he did. When Gio said no, Mario scolded him that he needed to get in shape.

When we returned, I had to play zombie. The boys destroyed me with their nerf guns (they did an excellent job aiming from the waist down). Then Grandma Ionno got in the mix and wrestled Mario. For 70+ years, that woman can hold her own. I can’t get over how much energy she has. She was on the carpet rolling all around with Mario. Good way to stay fit ad work off some of the calories consumed from Jon’s killer homemade spaghetti and meatballs meal.

We ended the weekend on our backs looking up at the sky and debating what the tree in our yard most resembled (I thought the tree stump from Skylanders and Ri thought a mom asking her kids why they broke something – you can see who is more creative).

And here’s to the start of a new week.

KFC and Duck Dynasty

March 7, 2013March 7, 2013Leave a comment

Jon used to joke that we were like Ronald and Nancy Reagan because we would pull out tray tables after work and eat our dinner while watching Jeopardy. I guess there’s a picture of Nancy and Ronald doing this exact activity.

Well, I doubt Ronald and Nancy bought tray tables for their kids and let them eat dinner on them while watching Duck Dynasty! Yea, folks, we have now started a weekly ritual: Kentucky Fried Chicken and Duck Dynasty on Thursday nights. Jon’s friend, Joe would keel over on this one (he makes fun of Jon for dressing the kids in camo).

We are quite the crew with our tray tables lined up, our greasy chicken, and our mashed potatoes. The only thing missing tonight was our biscuits – KFC dogged us in the drive-thru! I have a feeling that was a mistake meant to be, however, because we may have all been comatose if we added biscuits to the meal.

Next week, we are getting iced tea to drink to fit in with the Duck Dynasty family. Yea, that’s how we roll….

Weekend Round-Up

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013Leave a comment

Maria exhibited her mom’s wackiness for “Crazy Hat Day” at school by taking her straw hat she received as a gift at a birthday party and pinning a stuffed animal on top.

If it would have been the first week of school, that would never have happened. But since she knows her classmates so well, she had no qualms about it. She is quite the party animal when she knows everyone involved.

She had one heck of a day on Friday because after Crazy Hat Day, we played Yahtzee in the evening. Mario and I have both gotten Yahtzees while playing the game and Ri always gets so dejected that she hasn’t experienced the thrill. First roll of the game, she got a Yahtzee! And with sixes! She was so charged up. I think one of the greatest milestones for kids is when they experience excitement for another instead of experiencing jealousy. This happened with Mario. He got so excited for Ri when she got her Yahtzee; he gave her a big big and yelled “good job, Ria!” About five minutes later, she rolled another one. She ran into Jon to tell him the unbelievable news. Mario didn’t exhibit quite the excitement but he didn’t whine either (big progress). Ri ended up demolishing us by over 200 points. She remains the reigning champ but a game is scheduled for tonight and I feel lucky.

On Saturday, we went to the middle school’s fun fair. They have a raffle, tons of cookies and cupcakes, games and a bouncey house. What more can kids ask for?! I always feel bad for Mario because Ri is at that age where she “meets up” with her girlfriends and runs around with them the entire time. Mario begs to bring a friend but his friends live outside of Grandview and it’s a whole big ordeal to plan a play date. I am so glad that he is starting Kindergarten next year and will meet Grandview boys to hang with on the weekends.

Sure enough, as soon as we walked in, one of Maria’s friends appeared. They walked around together for most of the time (Hailey’s mom “trailed” them without letting them know it). Ri’s at that strange age where you feel comfortable letting her run around at a closed event like this but you also don’t want to leave her completely unchaperoned. It feels strange not to have her by my side and to watch her act goofy with her girlfriends and boys in her grade.

Meanwhile, Mario wanted me to watch him go down the bouncey house slide fifteen times over. He still stands by my side, which I won’t complain about at all. But as soon as our next door neighbors showed up, he left me and went running around with Quinn. He loved the toilet paper toss – our little hillbilly.

He also kicked it at the dart game – got a bullseye on his first try (taking after his Uncle Greg).

The kids located the face paint table towards the end of the day and Ri, being true to her school spirit, got a Bobcat paw. Mario, being true to his bad self, got a vicious snake.

I could not believe it was 2 pm when we left. We stayed at that fair for three hours. I was spent. But we managed to head into my office around 5 in order for me to print off some things. We ended up on there until 7 pm. The kids loved sitting at the computer and playing. Mario was on mine and Ri was on my assistant’s. I was on my colleague’s. when I had finished my tasks, I walked into my office and found Mario watching some home-made Transformers movie where every other word was a cuss word.

“How long have you been watching this?” I asked him.

“Only a few minutes. It’s awesome.”

We had a talk about using those words and I didn’t hear any of them the rest of the weekend so hopefully we are in the clear.

My dad called Saturday night to ask if he could crash at our place after watching Jack play at a bar that night. It’s a sad day when your dad is partying til the wee hours of the night and crashing at your place (and you’ve been in bed since 10 pm)! Ri and I made pancakes for Peepaw in the morning and then followed him to Cincy to decorate Grandma Menkedick’s grave on the anniversary of her death. Ri wore all pink in her honor. It was freezing outside.

I love the few words my dad said to Ri when she told him she was freezing. “Now we can visit her grave every year and we will know that Spring is coming soon.”

Maria had to take a picture before we left.

We performed our tornado exercise at my mom’s house Sunday afternoon. We watched Lou eat a stuffed bear, ate cookies and played on the bed. Then we went to a birthday party that Grace-Bug was invited to at a gym with inflatables. Nothing like inviting yourself to someone’s birthday party (luckily we knew them). The kids went non-stop on the inflatables and begged me to join. Aunt Julie tried to teach me to sit still and make them play on their own but I couldn’t last too long. Besides, I love playing on those things! Ri, Mario and I held hands down the shark slide and Gracie even braved it. And… we even scored sheet cake! Ri and I downed two pieces each.

We ended the day with baths at Julie’s house. Maria and Gracie in one tub and Mario in his own. They smelled like baby shampoo on the way home. I miss that scent.

Grandma Lolo gave Ri a koala bear and Mario a “hot stuff” bear (apropos) for the ride home. We stopped at BP for our chips and drinks and we were off for Columbus. When we got home, we hoped dad would surprise us and not have left for his trip. No such luck. The only silver lining was that the kids got to sleep in my bed with me ( a silver lining for the kids – not me – as I get kicked and punched all night!).

Jon and mini-him

March 4, 2013Leave a comment

I never need to miss Jon too much when he’s out of town because Maria acts as a mini-him.

This morning Mario begged to play with the iPad and I let in after the fifth plea just to have some quiet. Maria shook her head at me and counseled “you have to say no to him, mom, and not give in.” Then we were walking out the door to head to school and I had a ceramic bowl of apples for Mario. Maria saw them and scolded me.

“You aren’t letting Mario take that nice bowl into school, are you?”

I saw Jon channeled through her at that moment. I burst out laughing and found myself responding like I would to Jon. “No babe, I’m not going to let Mario bring in the bowl to school.”

As I drove to work, I realized I did let Mario take the bowl into school. Jon and mini-him would be so disappointed….

Stepping out

February 26, 20132 Comments

Our trip to Cancun started with a box of Whoppers and Bossypants. I must have snacks and a good book on a two-hour flight (in fact, any mode of transportation absent a bike requires emergency snacks).

We left Mario with Patty and Joe and Maria with Meg for the first two days of our trip and then M&M went to the farm for the weekend. Mario is beside himself at Patty and Joe’s house even more than before because they recently bought a Wii. Mario packed up his Skylanders and couldn’t wait to spend hours showing them off to Grandma and Grandpa (they will be sainted). It was almost as awesome as Christmas morning for him. While Mario was at Grandma’s house, he made a formal declaration to her: “Grandma! My mom doesn’t buy me any clothes that fit.” He did this after he went in the bedroom to get dressed and came out with a pair of high water pants and a long sleeve shirt that could have been short-sleeved on him. In my defense, I bought him clothes this year but I have tended towards the smaller sizes because up until this awakening with Patty, he never wanted pants that went to his ankles and he wanted his shirts skin-tight. So, I’m glad to see he’s turned a corner and that Patty got to be his personal shopper while we were away. He dragged her into Children’s Palace, picked out clothes, and had her and Joe wait outside while he tried them on in the changing rooms “like the girls get to do.” He walked out with an Oxford shirt and a pair of jeans and asked if he looked cooler than Justin Bieber. Patty told him he looked cooler. He was smitten. He found a tie to match his shirts and he was set. Thank you Patty for clothing our rock star.

Maria hung with Meg and dragged her all over the house to see random things – her fish, her clothes, her on-line games. She even got to take Meg to see her classroom and demand Meg to definitively tell her whether it was Jack’s old room or not. They ate pizza with Jen and hit Target for a new pair of hip peace symbol pajamas.

On Friday morning, Maria got the present of her life – a day off of school due to the ice accumulation. Poor Meg had to deal with the school closing (Jon and I lucked out!). Not only did she need to deal with the school closing – she had to deal with a migraine and vomiting. We would have never known had Maria not left me a voice mail that I got when I returned home on Saturday that went something like this: “Mom, please call me as soon as you hear this message. Something is very wrong with Grandma and we need you to come home.” Lovely. Meg ended up feeling better by later in the afternoon and luckily the kids were able to spend a few hours at the neighbors’ house dancing to Gangum Style while she rested. Mario got to eat chocolate for breakfast and Maria got to fill her cereal bowl with Lucky Charms so all was good with them.

Meanwhile, Jon and I ate like 16th century kings and played in the ocean like toddlers. We are one of few folks from Jon’s work that actually go into the ocean, probably because there are always red flags on the beach (meaning you shouldn’t enter) and because you wouldn’t want to hit the waves if you are the tiniest bit intoxicated. The waves were angry this year, and Jon and I were hurting after a half hour in the water. We limped out complaining that our shoulders hurt, our legs were weak, our calves were twitching. It’s not easy getting old and still acting like you’re two. But we continued to jump in every day we were there. We may be immobile for the next two weeks but we did it.

I had a rough Wednesday night and Thursday due to some rockin’ gin and tonics. There was something about the ocean, full moon and 80’s music that made me do it. And it will be another year before I do it again. I just don’t have it in me to recover quickly. I woke up in my dress Thursday morning with Jon laughing at me. I felt like I had swallowed a cat. When I stood up, my legs felt like spaghetti. I was hurting. I tried to make it the gym to ride the bike with the hopes of sweating some of those nasty toxins out of me but as soon as I pedaled, it felt like someone was squeezing my head in a vice. It was no use. I went back to the room and curled up in a ball. Jon returned from breakfast and shook his head.

The rest of the day consisted of a facial and a massage and lots of steam room and sauna action. I refused to leave the steam room until I was dripping in sweat. Those little alcohol toxins were going to be blasted out of my body somehow if not by exercise. I ate two entrees for lunch. We sat with Jon’s colleague, Dave and his wife Jen (the “sporty couple”). They are always a treat with hilarious stories about their kids or their house or some random event that happened to them. They also give us a little glimpse of what M&M may be like in a few years since their kids are a few years older than ours.

By the evening, I was back with the living. We had dinner at a fish house with Jon’s boss and others on Jon’s team. We sat outside and chowed down on crab, lobster and apple pie. One of Jon’s friends, Craig and his wife Julie (the “healthy couple”) sat with us at dinner. Craig gets on Jon for eating McDonald’s for breakfast; he gasps when he hears Jon order his breakfast and tries to urge him to eat oatmeal instead. God love him. There was an ongoing joke at the restaurant that Craig and Jon were “together” since they sat next to one another (I sat across from Jon and Julie and Julie and I decided the boys could have each other). It led to much laughter through the evening in addition to the laughter that came from discussing 80’s tv shows (Love Boat, Dynasty, Eight is Enough, Chips – it was hilarious to hear the names of these shows that we all grew up with in the 70’s and 80’s).

Friday was a much more friendly day to me. I had not drunk at all on Thursday night and my body thanked me. I got out of bed ready to take a run in the heat and hit the gym. Jon and I hit the breakfast bar together, too, which is one of our favorite things to do on these vacations. For a girl who loves chocolate and bread, I was in heaven, Chocolate croissants, french toast with almond slices, nutella, chocolate donuts, chocolate muffins. Maria would have been hitting the bar with me five times over if she was there. We swam in the ocean again Friday and then met up with the president of Jon’s company and a throng of others to have dinner at a Mayan restaurant. We sat with a good group of folks including Jon’s colleague, Joe and his wife Lydia (the “chic couple”). They are precious. Lydia is Sicilian so Joe had some hilarious stories about dinner with her parents. He also told us the story of why he enjoys Porsches and VWs so much. Jon wants to follow in Joe’s footsteps and buy a Porshe. I told him he could if Joe promises to provide maintenance on so it so we avoid throwing thousands of dollars at a car shop when something goes awry.

We were so full after our dinner on Friday night we could barely move. We packed up some of our clothes for our 8 am departure on Saturday but then gave up and laid on the bed like two beached whales. When the morning hit, I did one last run to remember the hot weather (I would much rather run in cold weather) and then hit the breakfast bar with Jon. We got to the airport two hours early as the hotel requires us to do and then found out that our flight was delayed three hours. So we had five hours to kill. We played Gin Rummy and ate Dominos pizza. It was the bomb even though Jon is up 7-4 on me. But I did win our one and only game of Crazy Eights. Yeah, I’m bad.

We arrived home late Saturday night and called the kids. They were so excited to hear from us they couldn’t stop grabbing the phone from one another. That felt good. Meg said that Maria cried for me when the night-time rolled around – sweet baby. Mario got me on the phone to tell me he thought of me when he looked at the sky and he wanted to see me – second sweet baby. I hung up the phone feeling loved. The kids reported their adventures when they returned from the farm – Mario helped Peepaw cut a trail in the woods (he showed me his cuts from the thorns); Maria helped Peepaw clean bird nests and found two blue eggs and Meg taught her the process of sewing (that is a talent we need in this house). Both kids got to go fishing on Saturday when it was a tepid 45 degrees outside. They got some bites but no fish.

When they arrived home on Sunday, I ran out to greet them. I got two of the longest, strongest hugs in a while and sat on my knees enjoying them. Then I got pulled inside to look at Maria’s eggs and to show Mario where the iPad was so he could play on it – he hadn’t been around technology for two whole days! Maria was by his side within minutes helping him try to buy gold coins to use in his Spiderman game. And we are back to normal….

Riding the see-saw

February 17, 2013February 17, 2013Leave a comment

Behave as if tomorrow is your last day.

So that has been my motto the last few days. I had to figure out something that would make me pay attention to all of the wonders before me: my hubby and kids, my family, my home, warm socks, Lucky Charms cereal. I had such a maddening couple of weeks at work that I lost balance and found myself on the low end of the see-saw that was stuck in the mud on the ground. I’d come home to kids who yelled “Mom!” and I would put on a smile for them but as they ran away to get a game to play or show me a cool toy, my smile vanished and I stood in the room all funked out. It didn’t help that I got my hair cut in those same maddening work weeks. I went to a new gal and told her I wanted bangs.

“Just make me blond and give me bangs – what the hell,” I told her one night after work.

Usually stylists are hesitant to make that move, especially if you are a new client. But this gal had bright red hair, tattoos everywhere, and quite a few piercings so if I told her to go for it, she was going for it – no questions asked. She completed her work and I wanted to sob. Yellow canary hair and straight, straw-like bangs. I couldn’t have looked less attractive. We took another hour and a half to tone down the yellow but I still walked away feeling like a mix between a monster and an 80’s punk rocker. It didn’t help that when I walked in the house, Jon’s mouth dropped and all he could say was “Oh My God.” Actually, he said one more word after that. “Thor.” Yeah, he called me “Thor.” I couldn’t really remember what Thor looked like but I knew he was making fun of me. A few minutes, he called me into his office with the kids. He had a picture of “Thor” on his computer screen, and pointed to it. The kids felt my pain and responded “that does not look like mom, dad! Only his hair looks like mom!” I wanted to crawl into bed and not return to society.

But alas, within a couple of hours, I was laughing with them about my hair and putting it all into perspective. It’s just a haircut, heh? Really, so I look like a male warrior, it could be worse. Not sure how, but it could be.

And so I decided this weekend that I would turn myself around – change my negative thinking and get on with it. I am now back on balance somewhat. Riding close to the middle of the see-saw. I even managed to handle a trip out to Dover on Saturday with Jon, the kids and Patty and Joe. I was a little frantic about the trip on Friday night because I wanted that day to prepare for Jon and I’s Cancun trip. I had also found out from Vicki a few nights earlier that the baby shower we were heading to (hence the trip to Dover) was going to have 100 people and be three hours long. Baby showers are those necessary evils that you must attend because a baby is going to be born! When you are the mother-to-be, it is the greatest ever. When you are a guest, it can be taxing at times, especially when there are 60+ gifts to open. But the visit went much better than anticipated. I got to spend time with Patty, and the kids got to torture her in the backseat by making her watch Homer Simpson iPad games and color rulers. We got to eat cupcakes and talk to Vicki and look at all the sute baby clothes that Stacy got. Maria got to sit next to Bianca and listen to her and her friend talk about random things like make-up, hair and boys. She was mesmerized. There were a few other little girls there ranging from ages 3 to 10. Maria was ok playing with the three-year old because she just held her around the lobby but she was completely awkward around the 10 year old girls. I had to stand out in the hall with her for 20 minutes making conversation with the other girls (who were just sweet as can be). When I finally told Ri I had to go back ot the party, she stood out there a few more minutes but then came back inside. She eventually went back out in the hall after some prodding and had a good time with the girls but she is not the chatty-kathys like Patty and me. She has got her dad in her in that area. She has always been one to choose to hang with the adults – even when she was three years old. It is that old soul in her.

We went back to Big Mario’s and Vicki’s house for some wine and some trampoline jumping (yeah, be careful mixing the two). After an hour or so talking with them, we drove home in near white-out conditions at times. Luckily, Jon drove. Patty and I kept the kids busy (she read an entire Aesop’s Fables book to Mario and I made up stories with Ri) until we got home. Then we ate more cookies and cupcakes and went to sleep at 9:30.

We woke up on a frigid Sunday morning and made chocolate chip-peanut-butter pancakes and eggs. It was heaven. I read them a few facts from the newspaper as we ate (the Pope is resigning; the economy is looking better; the Underground Railroad Freedom Center is in Cincy and we need to go soon). At one point Mario looked up at me with chocloate chips caked around his mouth and all over his hands. I almost let out an exasperated sigh but some other force came over me and I laughed. I laughed hysterically, which caused the kids to laugh hysterically. We couldn’t stop. It was marvelous. And awakening.

The moment took me to the high end of the see-saw.

"MOM!"

Adventures in the Life of a Working Mama

Category: Family

Easter 2013

Weekend Round-Up

Create your mission

Heading up with Grandma and Grandpa

Weekend Round-Up

KFC and Duck Dynasty

Weekend Round-Up

Jon and mini-him

Stepping out

Riding the see-saw