Three cheers for smoothies!

August 21, 2012August 21, 2012Leave a comment

Maria attended her first cheer leading practice tonight. It made me cry. There she was trying so hard to follow the hand and feet movements, and surprisingly, not doing too bad. She didn’t seem too interested some of the time so I was interested in hearing her reaction to it afterwards.

She loved it. She liked having some other girls she knew on the team, too. She’s excited about wearing her uniform and cheering at games. So far she has picked two sports that I would have never dreamed of as a kid – horse back riding and cheerleading – but I am just glad that she has chosen something extra-curricular.

When we got home, she wanted to make a smoothie. My mom has been pounding the goodness of smoothies to me lately so I figured we’d give it a go. All we had were bananas and strawberry yogurt so I found a recipe on line that suited our needs (but substituted bananas for blueberries and Splenda for honey). It has a lot of sugar but at least it has some protein and nutrients, too!

Cheers to better nutrition and cheerleading (Aunt Julie will be proud)!

Weekend getaway

August 21, 2012August 21, 2012Leave a comment

We packed the Volvo full of blankets and pillows and sleeping bags and Red Bulls and chips and chocolate.

All to head two hours east to my folks’ farm.

We had to take the Volvo due to weird sounds coming from Jon’s Yukon. You would have thought the world ended according to Ri who complained about how squeezed she felt in the Volvo. We would expect nothing less from her, however, since she always talks about her first car being a mammoth SUV. My girl likes her space just like her dad.

We arrived at the farm and within five minutes of exiting the car, Mario begged to play badminton. The boy loves this game and could literally spend all afternoon playing it. He looks like a pro out there with his shirt off, hair tussled and tanned body. Maria went straight in the house to help cook and position herself for any sampling of extra food.

We celebrated dad’s and Jorge’s birthdays with cherry pie and cupcakes. Maria snagged a gift for Peepaw from her treasure chest at school. It was a huge pair of clay lips. She wrapped them in a Victoria’s Secret box. Dad was clearly surprised at the box and the lips! Maria explained that the lips were a paper weight to hold down his poems after he wrote them. What a doll.

Dad retired in June after working 40+ years to support his family. He plans on writing in his spare time which Maria overheard during one of our conversations. The girl has my desire to think through presents to the nth degree and make sure they have a purpose. I love it!

We sang the traditional happy birthday song to the boys and watched them make their wishes.

After the celebration, we worked off dessert with a family badminton game. Mario made sure it stayed competitive and Maria made sure we kept it light-hearted! After an hour and a half of competition, Mario, Jon and Peepaw stacked wood to make a fire. Ri and I got the materials to make s’mores and before we knew it we were sitting in front of a blazing fire eating marshmallows and s’mores and telling stories about when Sarah was little. Maria loves listening to stories about the past (especially when she’s able to eat marshmallows!). Mario played with the fire the entire time intrigued by the heat and flames.

Maria enjoyed seeing her horses and got to perform obstacles while riding Taz. She amazes me on the horse. She is so calm and in control, and she knows so much about them already. I love watching her brush them and kiss their noses.

We headed to Mario’s and Vicki’s house on Sunday after gobbling up Sarah’s sweet potato hash for breakfast. We had not been to their house in months and Vicki cooked so many magnificent things, as always! Meatballs, spaghetti, tomato salad, homemade bread, steak, and zucchini bread for dessert! Jon and I could not move for a half hour. When I did finally move, I bounced on the trampoline with Maria. God help me. I can’t believe all that food stayed down!

Ri and I had a blast on the trampoline – we laughed so hard at each other bouncing everywhere. At one point she crawled over to me, laid on me, gave me a huge smooch and whispered “I love seeing you laugh mommy!” My baby girl. Mario and Ri had a good time, too, while Jon and I sat with Mario and Vicki on the porch and chatted. The weather was perfect.

We arrived back at our house in time for Ri and I to take a quick bike ride to Giant Eagle to get food for school and work. We even got sample sheet cake from the bakery ( two pieces each!). Life is good.

Second Annual Kings Island trip – check!

August 16, 2012August 16, 20121 Comment

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We braved Kings Island yesterday for the last hoo-rah before school started. We took that amusement park by storm and were all over Snoopy Land (I miss Hannah Barbera land though)! The kids chose the haunted house ride first since its the closest to the entrance. When the ride ended, Mario begged to go on it again. This would be the theme after every ride – he would beg to go on the ride again. I tried to explain to him that if he went to a different ride, he ended up loving that one just as much if not more so he should give new ones a chance. I don't know that he quite got it – he probably was just so excited after each one that he had to proclaim "Let's go again!"

Maria loved the roller coaster in Snoopy Land, which used to be called the “Beastie” when I was little. It was surreal to stand in the same stalls and wait for our turn on the coaster just as I did 30 years ago with my best friend, Beth. Beth and I would wait for an hour to get on that coaster; meanwhile chatting it up about things I cannot even begin to remember. And now I stood in that line with my kids – Mario climbing the rails and pretending to be a superhero and Maria staring off into space patiently waiting her turn. Life moves fast.

Maria held her arms up throughout the roller coaster ride while Mario sat by me and leaned into my side burying his face. He loved the ride but would never consider holding his arms up and watching us descend. Maria would have it no other way. She was ready for the Beast, and I think she would have tried it if I could have gone with her (Mario was just tall enough for the Beastie).

We hit the water park right in the heat of the day – great timing. We did more water rides this year. Mario lost all fear of the kids’ slides – last year he was scared to go down and I had to hold onto him. This year he zoomed down them. But he drew the line at the enclosed slides. He does not like feeling trapped (he’s got mama’s issues!). Maria, on the other hand, conquered all three of them!

We also tubed down the Lazy River – Maria’s favorite. She loves to lay back in her tube and drift down the river. Meanwhile, Mario and I were chomping at the bit to walk or swim but were admonished to stay in our tubes.

We left the water park to ride the Beastie again and then to hit the kids’ games. Again, another déjà vu as we rolled the bowling ball on a track and tried to keep it in the little valley. I used to play this game all the time with Beth and score some serious stuffed animals. It was my favorite – and it’s still only 25 cents. I had my mojo back because I won twice. Maria chose a small frog the first win and Mario got to choose the second time. He wanted a big turtle but you had to turn in the small prize for it. Maria threw the man her frog and said “please give my brother the big turtle.” She takes care of that kid. We played the birthday guessing game where the attendant has to guess within two months of your birthday in order to win. We always win on these games so paying 5 dollars is a safe bet to get an animal. The attendant guessed October for Ri so she got her orca but he guessed September for Mario – dead on! Mario did not understand that he didn’t get a prize and when it sunk in, he showed his displeasure to the amusement of us all. We calmed him down at the water spraying game where he shot his water gun into the hole so well he won every time (he did reciprocate Ri’s kindness and got her a unicorn). When all was done, they each walked out with three animals (and I was down a mere $45! – what can I say – I am a sucker for stuffed animals!).

We ended the day with tattoos. Mario chose a gold dragon.

Mario chose a rose.

Does that give insight into their personalities, or what?! We wrapped up the trip with the Eiffel Tower where we saw “all of the world” according to Mario. Six and a half hours of fun and games.

We hit I-71 for the outlet malls and met my mom, who in keeping with a tradition set when Ri started kindergarten, bought her a load of new clothes (and clothes that were not “whore-ish” as Jon calls some of the outfits she desires!). She also bought Mario, “Mr. Particular”, a pair of flip flops (after he tried on ten pairs) and a pair of jeans and jean shorts (again after he assessed them for ten minutes; when we got changed out of our bathing suits at KI, Ri and I were done in three minutes; Mario took ten!).

We got home at 8:20 – just in time for a quick shower and some snuggle time with dad. Maria was knocked out in ten minutes; Mario stayed up with Jon a bit longer. He is all into dad time lately so Jon cuts him some slack.

Second Annual Kings Island trip – checked off for the year! Victory!

No Seat Belts!

August 12, 2012August 12, 2012Leave a comment

We woke up craving Giant Eagle donuts. Their bakery is getting better and better and it’s become harder to resist the variety of sugary love in the cases. I figure the stroller rode or bike ride to get to Giant Eagle makes up for the calories consumed (maybe if we biked back and forth twenty times over…).

We decided to take the COTA bus downtown after breakfast. Jon drove us a few blocks up the street to the bus stop (yeah, kinda defeats the sustainability argument for taking the bus, but hey, we saved five miles of gas going downtown!), and we waited patiently for the No. 5 to arrive. After a mere seven repetitive questions of “when will the bus get here?”, it arrived! The kids jumped onto the bus steps and dashed to the back. I paid $2 and joined them. Mario’s first response:

“There are no seat belts!”

He was charged. Maria enjoyed the thrill on Mario’s face with me since she had already experienced COTA with me a couple of years ago. I explained to them that a lot of people rode COTA during the week to get to their jobs, and that people read while on the bus or think about their day ahead. M&M soaked it in and asked questions galore. It was heartwarming.

Our trip lasted a mere 27 minutes and we exited at Bicentennial Park. I have been taking M&M down to this park for years. It doesn’t have any swings or a playground. It just has bronze statutes of mythological creatures and cement blocks to hop on and off of as you go from one statute to the next. But the kids have always loved to read about the creatures and climb on them.

They also have loved to jump from one block to the next. Mario had such trouble the last two years trying to jump from one particular block to another that was situated just a bit farther away than the others. This year he flew right onto it. II told him the story about how it used to be hard for him and he said “Mom, look” while he acted like he was scared to jump. I smiled at him and he responded “I’m getting bigger, mom.” Yep, you are bud.

We headed to the Santa Maria next. They had tours going on so we got three tickets and joined the rest of the group. It’s always interesting to see who the guide is for the tour. Last time it was a very boisterous young girl who had wavy brown hair and thick glasses and loved getting the kids roused up with stories from Columbus’ time. This time we had a scholarly-looking lad with white tube socks and loafers. He was maybe 17. He loved espousing his knowledge and hearing questions from the audience. He answered all of Mario’s questions with a slight chuckle before each response. A 17 year old in a 50 year old body. He was good though and we learned about what they ate on the ship (hard bread they softened with water and animals they housed on the ship), what games they played (ring toss and checkers), and how they killed rats on the ship (not too humanitarian). We skipped out of the tour a bit early to head to Dirty Franks with dad. Maggie and Laura were supposed to meet us but showed up late and there was no seating for them. They decided to meet us back at the house. When they walked out, Maria started crying. “I want them to stay, mom. I want to be with them.” I ran out with her to try to stop them. We were successful – Maria jumped into Maggie’s arms and fled away with them. Meanwhile, Mario ate two hot dogs with Jon and me. Two! He has to be going through a growing spurt.

We met the girls back at the house and sat around and talked to them about Australia and life in general for two hours. I miss that girl cousin time so very much. Ri hung with us for an hour and then crashed on the floor. Mario knew it was his opportunity to play computer and he took full advantage of it.

A low-key Sunday with a splattering of COTA bus trips, ship trivia, hot dogs and girl talk. What should we have in store for tonight? I see Graeter’s as a perfect end to the day….

Rain down on us

August 9, 2012August 9, 2012Leave a comment

The smiling faces of a mama and daughter who trekked through pouring sheets of rain to return home from Mario’s football practice.

My girl is a machine. She was pretty upset at first. Mario got a ride with a football buddy of his (a sweet boy who towers over him but has taken to Mario and watches over him at practice) and they headed to DQ. Poor Ri had to bike home with me since we biked down to practice (Mario sat on my bike) and no one offered to put our bikes in their cars and take us home.

At first she pouted about being tired and then she cried a bit in fear when she heard a thunder clap but after five minutes she got that determined look on her face and she was all business. She pedaled like a champ and walked her bike half way up the hill to our house. When I took the bike from her and walked my bike and hers up the hill, she ran beside me to keep up.

On the final block stretch, we were both laughing and soaked to the bone. We parked our bikes in the garage and took the picture above. The picture doesn’t do our soaked selves justice! Ri was clearly proud of herself and I continued to reinforce to her how awesome she was to bike through that storm.

The joys of having a strong, determined daughter.

Mario’s reasoning

August 9, 20121 Comment

The boy is killin’ me lately with his comments.

A week ago, we had to have a talk with Mario because he bought $30 worth of “diamonds” while paying Pet Shop on my iPad. Somehow Maria and him found out my password. So, the door has been shut on any more purchases. He still begs me everyday arguing about how cute a German shepherd is or how adorable a little pig would be in his pet shop. I have told him that we don’t have money to spend on virtual pets.

So, he found a solution.

He yelled hysterically for me last night while I was doing the dishes. I ran into the family room to see the end of an AllState commercial. He looked up at me and made his case:

“Mom, you need to switch to AllState because they can save you a lot of money – like $100 – and then you would have money to buy me my pets on Pet Shop.

Makes sense, heh?!

Lovin’ his corn hole and womans

August 8, 2012Leave a comment

“Mom, look at those hot womans!”

This was the first comment out of Mario’s mouth when we got off our bike and headed to a block party at the park. Lovely. The scary thing is that it is innate in Mario – he certainly never hears Jon talk this way or me. He doesn’t watch male-chauvinistic shows and we have never watched Jersey Shore! After I scolded him about referring to girls that way, he proceeded with this comment:

“Mom, those girls think I’m hot.”

“What is your deal tonight, kid?!”

“Mom, I’m just telling you the girls think I am hot because I am so tan.”

Yeah, as Jon has said in the past, I think our best bet is to sterilize him for the next 20 years.

I took his mind off girls by leading him to corn hole. He became addicted with throwing those beanbags in the hole. If I got one in, he wanted to get two. We played for an entire hour and a half. I had to drag him away.

So there we have it. Jon and I have nurtured a girl-crazy competitive son. Oh, and a good-hearted son, I must add; on the ride home, he offered to coach me in corn hole so I could play better next time!

Mario, the Romantic

August 6, 2012August 6, 2012Leave a comment

It’s just me and Mario tonight since Maria is at her grandma’s house and Jon is partying with his buddies in Baltimore (he is actually working but heading out to awesome dinners in the evening so I discount his time away as play!).

Mario and I took a bike ride to the library to pick up two Wild Kratts DVDs on hold for us from another library. Mario’s been asking for these for a month and he was so charged to hear they were finally waiting for us. He biked like a mad man to the library in order to pick up the DVDs (however, he did take the time to climb off his bike at certain uneven driveways and cross walks to ensure that he did not tumble over on his bike – the daredevil has his limits, I guess).

After picking up the movies, we headed up north to Dick’s Sporting Goods to purchase his mouthpiece and cleats for flag football. He chose some rockin’ white and black Under Armour cleats and a red and white mouthpiece. He keeps asking when Wednesday night will be here. He’s just a tad bit excited.

On the way home, Ri called to say hi. A few minutes before she called, Mario had lamented to me how much he missed Ria. When she called and I told him it was Ria on the phone, he held up his right hand and said “Don’t say her name, it makes me miss her more and I can’t stand it.” That will make Ri’s day.

When we arrived home, Mario asked me if I knew how many girls he liked. I told him I didn’t know and probably didn’t want to know. He told me he had 20 girls he had a crush on and his number one crush was Jillian, a girl at his school. He continued to show me his love for her…

“I like her so much that one day when I had to fart, I scooted over to the couch and held a pillow to my butt so she wouldn’t hear it.”

How incredibly sweet, heh? If only more men were so considerate?!

Chillin’ with the family

August 5, 2012August 5, 2012Leave a comment

I made the mistake of coming home Saturday morning.

I usually take a long run and hit the gym on Saturday mornings but yesterday I took a short run and only lifted for a brief time so I could hit yoga at 9:30. I ran home to get my bike to ride downtown to class. When I turned the corner of the driveway to head to the garage, I saw Maria and Mario. And they saw me.

“Mom’s home! Mom, will you play soccer? Will you ride bikes?”

“Guys, I am heading to yoga but will be back in an hour and we can do all of those things.”

“Not fair, mom. You took a run and now you have to stay home.”

When I continued to get my bike, they both boycotted me. “Don’t talk to her, Mario,” Maria demanded. I biked away with the both of them staring me down. When I got home, they were camped out on the floor under their blanket fort watching Tom & Jerry.

“Hi guys.”

“Hi mom!” It’s as if nothing had occurred an hour earlier. Gotta love kids.

We dragged Mario out in his pj bottoms to the grocery to get icing to decorate brownies for the family get together at Jon’s niece’s house. Nothin’ like having your four year old kid in the grocery cart with only his Sponge Bob pj pants on – no shoes or shirt – eating a lunchable snack from the deli meat aisle. Hey, I gotta pick my battles, and this wasn’t one of them.

We came home and decorated brownies and then took off for Sherri’s house. All of Jon’s brothers were in attendance – a feat that only happens a couple times a year since they live in different states. Poor Josh and Peter and Matthew and Morgan. As older kids, they get all of the fondling and torment of the younger kids. Maria and Alana and Emi were teasing Josh and Peter incessantly. But being the good sports, they hung in there with them (it probably helps that they only have to deal with it a couple times a year!).

And it was comical that the little girl who copped a serious attitude when I went to yoga had no desire for me to be within 10 feet of her at Sherri’s house. Mario was almost as bad except that he wanted to wrestle later in the day and no one would agree except good ol’ mom.

Maria loves being around her girl cousins, and I welcome them all into her lives. She adores Emi who is always running out to greet her and Mario when they come over. She is the organizer of all activities and makes sure everyone has what they need to participate. Maria also enjoys Eli who is much more reserved and introverted but will lie on her bed with Ri for hours answering Maria’s questions. They are the big sisters Maria never had. Then there is Dagmawit who could be Maria’s twin. She is assertive and bold like Ri and they both have strong, muscular bodies. I wish Dag (as Maria calls her) lived closer but she gives us a reason to head to Savannah. Alana is a staple in Maria’s life since she lives close by and her and Ri are so close in age. They were excited all afternoon at Sherri’s house because they knew they were heading to Patty’s house for a few days (Patty calls them the Bickerson Twins because of the way they bicker with each other when they stay with her). And finally there is Morgan, Amy’s daughter, and Asma, Zach’s daughter. who we rarely see because Morgan lives in Savannah and Asma lived out of town until recently. They both blend right into Maria’s life when they are around though because they are Maria’s family and to Maria, that’s all she needs to know to welcome them into her circle.

Jon and I enjoy these family get-togethers because the kids go off and play and we can chat with adults. We got to catch up with Kevin and Margie about life with Dagmawit. They told us how Dag wanted to be a swim coach (since she is so good in the water) and the adult coaches allowed her. Before they could turn around, she was directing kids around the pool. When a parent picked up his child, she stopped him and said “Your child had a good practice today.” Love it! I told you Ri and her were twins. We also got to laugh at Micah’s antics and talk to Amy, Sherri’s sister who is my fellow runner in Savannah. Jon chatted with Debbie and Michael about Peter’s college and work. It was a pleasant Ionno gathering full of delicious food, much laughter, and good chats.

When we came home, Mario questioned where why Ri wasn’t with us. We told him Grandma’s house and he got so angry. “That’s not fair!” We explained to him that he’s gone to Grandma’s a lot more often than Ri. It didn’t matter to him. Grandma is a hot commodity and he needed to voice his displeasure. I calmed him down by watching a Ben Ten with him on the couch. He curled up on my lap and I scratched his back. Within fifteen minutes, he was snoozing away. It took me back to his baby days when I’d lay with him and watch him sleep – his tiny lips barely open and his sweet breath sending out the most wonderful, calming smell ever.

The Muscle strikes again

August 3, 2012Leave a comment

Maria continues to bolster her nickname “the Muscle.” I met M&M at the pool this afternoon after they called me at work and begged me to meet them. They were sugared up on strawberry ice cream bars when I arrived. They were ready to wrestle with me in the water.

After wrestling for some time, Mario decided to hit the diving boards. Maria followed. They dove off together a couple of times. Then I noticed that there was a little boy jumping off the low dive with Mario who was teasing him by blocking the top of the ladder so Mario couldn’t climb up out of the water. Maria noticed this little boy right after I did and instead of watching the stand-off take place like me, she marched right over to the ladder and looked him the eye and scolded him to “stop bothering my brother!”

She pulled Mario up out of the water and then she ran to the low dive only to beat both Mario and the other boy. Then she allowed Mario to take her place so he could jump before the other boy.

Our girl doesn’t mess around – and don’t you know that boy didn’t so much as look at Mario the rest of our time at the pool – and he definitely avoided Ri!

"MOM!"

Adventures in the Life of a Working Mama

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