Category: Play

Broken windows and dreams

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We survived the holiday weekend.  Maria’s cousin, Alana stayed with us from Saturday through Monday morning.  I love having her over because the girls get along so well.  They go up to Ri’s room and play barbies or listen to Justin Bieber or play Pet Shop in the basement.  I can actually read a little bit of a book or clean the house without having Maria at my heels asking me to play.  Alleluia.  And I love that they are so close.  I wish I would have been as close to my cousin when I was little.  They are good for each other, too.  Maria shows Alana how to be more daring and Alana shows Maria how to play something for more than three minutes.

Mario stayed at Grandma Ionno’s house on Saturday night until Sunday.  He loves himself some Grandma and Grandpa time because he is all by himself and spoiled to death.  He gets to wrestle, show-off, watch tv, and lay around in his pjs.  Not a bad life.  He did want to come home on Sunday night, however, because he knew Alana would be there.  Jon explained to him that the girls may want alone time and Mario chirped back “Alana will want to play with me because she tells me all the time how cute I am.” Oh, ok…. We gotta watch that head of his.

When he walked in, the girls showered him with hugs and love (no wonder his head is big).  They all went upstairs and played “Big Time Rush”. This game consists of Maria and Alana being themselves and Mario being one of the BTR singers.  He played James when we saw him.  He walked by us with his nose in the air as Maria and Alana fawned over him.  It seemed to come natural to him – scary.

I walked up to Stauf’s to do some reading around 5 pm.  Jon watched the kids.  I got a call around 5:45 from Jon.  “Get home now” he stated firmly.  “Mario punched his window out.” My mind leapt to blood everywhere, glass shattered all over.  Luckily, his had suffered a couple of cuts with no glass in them and the glass mostly landed on the roof.  Jon had already subjected him to the wall when I arrived home.  He held a tissue on his hand.  He looked like a mean mama-jamba.  He looked like a prize-fighter.  Jon and I are in for it.  I made him put alcohol on it so that he felt the sting – until that time, he really didn’t see any negative consequences to his behavior.  After I stung him with the alcohol, he cried and shouted “I don’t want to do that again!”  When Jon asked him why he would want to punch his window, this was his response: “I wanted to get on the news.” Oh, are we truly in trouble.

Mario showing his wounds

After that chaos, the kids fell asleep in Maria’s room; Maria and Alana in the bed and Mario on the floor in his sleeping bag and band-aid. 

On Monday, we all talked about what an incredible figure Martin Luther King was and is in our society.  Both girls knew what he stood for and what he fought against.  I told Maria how we walked across the Broad Street bridge when she was one year old in order to honor him.  She couldn’t remember.  Mario knew that MLK “had a dream.” I told him how I remember going to his classroom when he was two and seeing his picture on the bulletin board.  The teachers had taught the kids about MLK’s famous “I have a dream” speech.  They then had the kids tell them what they dreamed of.  The words underneath Mario’s picture were “I dream of ‘popsicles’!” 

Thanks for giving us dreams, Martin Luther King, Jr.

The joys of snow

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Old man winter decided to shower us with snow today. Finally.

Snowflakes danced on my nose and eyelashes as I ran through the neighborhood this morning. My IPod died on me ten minutes into my run. Irritation and anger raced through me for not charging it the night before. However, as I continued to run and pout, I heard vibrations of snow on the trees and a trio of birds still chirping away in the 15 degree weather. I changed my thinking: rather than be irritated for 60 minutes, I became grateful for the glorious morning and the snowflakes and the weekend and the opportunity to be by myself for an hour. The results were much better, indeed; I had a most enjoyable run.

Maria teaching Mario early

I came home to a trashed house – the remnant of a crazy week juggling colds, homework, work, and kids’ addiction to electronics. As I began to clean, I sat Mario down with a phonics workbook. He is having trouble with his ABC’s and we are trying to think of ways to help him learn them. When Maria was his age, she had numbers and letters down pat. Mario’s teachers tend to put less emphasis on rote memorization and more emphasis on creativity. I like that style of teaching but I still want Mario to learn the basics! Then again, he isn’t hitting Kindergarten for another year and a half so I should probably just chill.

All Maria needs to hear is that Mario needs to learn something and she transforms herself into “teacher-mode.” She set up a desk and asked Mario to sit with her. She quizzed him on letters and when he got them wrong she gently told him “that is not right, buddy; let’s try it again.”  He surprisingly hangs in there with her, even letting her lead in the ABC song. He gets to “LMNOP” and he mumbles something incoherent and continues on with Q and then straight to Y. I have no doubt that Maria will straighten him out and get him reciting his ABC’s in no time.  She is a born teacher – even giving Mario a report card based on his ABC’s (“You did ok but keep practicing.”).

After an hour and a half of cleaning, Jon and Patrick and Mario left for Marion to see Jon’s mom and dad, and I stayed home with Maria and Alana (Mario ended up staying with Grandma and Grandpa Ionno after just pleading to them one time to spend the night – he is spoiled). The girls stayed in Maria’s room for a while playing a game that scares me. One of them is the mom and the other the teenage daughter. The daughter screams at her mom and tells her she hates her and drives off in the family car. It seems to always start this way. A snapshot of the future? Let’s hope not….

Maria has inherited my ADHD so after a short time of playing that game, she was ready for something new. She threw on her coat and went outside to play in the half-inch of snow. Alana followed. I continued to clean the counters. Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. I answered and saw the girls giggling around the house. I went back to cleaning. They rang again. I opened the door and they both lobbed tiny snowballs at me. I stood in the house with snow falling off me. Should I get mad about the snow in my house or the snow on my shirt? Should I get mad that they interrupted my cleaning.  No.  Instead I got even!

I threw my coat and shoes on and chased them around the yard until I got ’em both with snowballs. Since we were covered in snow, we decided to try to build a snowman. The snow was light and fluffy and sparse, which prompted both girls to tell me there was no way to build one.  But I always remember my dad’s actions on a summer day at the farm months ago. He had bought Mario a kite and Mario wanted to fly it but there was absolutely no wind. Everyone told Mario he could not fly it; that is, except my dad. He took him outside to give it a try. With a hill and a will, my dad ran down the hill with that kite flying high in the sky behind him. Mario jumped up and down with sheer joy on his face and we all stood in awe.

The girls with Alycia Snowy

And, following my dad’s footsteps, Maria, Alana and I made ourselves a sweet, little snowman. It took lots of work – the girls shoveled their hearts out – but we did it. Alycia Snowy Ionno is her name and she is a beauty.

Skippin’ Football Sunday

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The family woke up on Saturday and got working on cleaning our rooms.  It caused much heartburn in Maria on Saturday night – she worried that she would be bored cleaning her room.  “How can I make it fun, mom?” 

“I used to listen to music and dance around my room while I cleaned,” I told her.

A while later, she headed to her room to go to bed.  Jon and I were sitting downstairs when we heard Justin Bieber’s voice coming from upstairs.  A few minutes later we heard crying.  Jon went upstairs to see what was wrong.  Maria stood in her room with tears down her cheeks and told Jon “I am trying what mom told me to do but it isn’t working.  I am still not having fun.”  Poor thing….

That is why when we woke up on Sunday morning, I jumped out of bed and made cleaning fun!  I smiled and laughed and skipped around as I helped Maria pick up her room.  Mario jumped right in, too, picking up barbies and folding clothes.  Maria picked up a book here or there, made her bed and then moved on to getting dressed.  She is going to be one that takes two hours to clean her room on Saturday morning.  When we moved to Mario’s room, he lost interest in cleaning.  He was more concerned about jumping off his loft bed and doing kick stands around his room.  Maria helped me check the clothes on his floor to determine whether they were too little for him anymore and if they were dirty.  He somehow still does not understand where the laundry basket is located. 

Maria and Alana outside of the hospital with the flying pig

After cleaning, we got ready for the day.  Jon scooped up Mario under his wing, and headed to Dover, Ohio to visit Big Mario and Vicki for a day of pasta and wrestling.  I scooped up the Maria and Alana and headed to Cincinnati to visit my grandma in the hospital and to play at Aunt Julie’s house.  We listened to Big Time Rush for most of the ride and then colored pictures for grandma.  The kids were anxious to see grandma – I think they were more anxious to see “sick” people and the devices and instrumentalities of the hospital.  Neither of them remember a hospital.  They peered at the people in the hall and in the beds entranced by the fragility of life.  When they got to grandma’s room, they greeted her skeptically not quite sure if they should get near her.  As time went on, they got better at engaging with her eventually singing Christmas songs to her and talking to her about school.  Alana must have sung her 10 religious songs that she learned in Catholic school.  When Grandma asked Maria to sing a song, Maria belted out Jingle Bells!  My grandma looked at me and said “you need to get Maria in Sunday school.”  

After grandma’s, I took the girls to a delicious bagel shop in Blue Ash.  I grew up on these bagels and cream cheese.  They are fabulous.  We got toasted bagels with a load of cream cheese and sat at the bar.  Heaven.  Next, we headed to Julie’s to see her dogs and visit Grandma Lolo.  The girls LOVE to walk Julie’s dogs because they are just right for them.  Both are maybe 25 pounds and do not pull on their leashes.  They allow the girls to drag them anywhere.  A win-win situation for all. 

I went back to the hospital to be with grandma. We had a pleasant conversation about her friends, card parties, and needing solitude.  Us Menkedick brood all have that solitude gene in common – we need alone time to be our best.  We picked it up from grandma, I learned. When I returned to Julie’s house, the girls were downstairs listening to records on a Fisher Price record player.  Yes, records!  Maria was amazed at the looks of the record player, laughing at how I used to have to listen to music on such an antiquated device!

We hopped in the car to head back to Columbus.  Alana’s parents are much more strict than Jon and I and wanted Alana home by 7:30 since it was a school night.  We raced up I-71 in order to hit McDonald’s Playland for ten minutes (it has become a staple with each Cincy trip).  We got Alana home 1 minute late and proceeded to Orange Leaf for a frozen yogurt treat before bed. 

Mario walking up the long hill.

The boys met up with us at the house – they were exhausted from four-wheeling and wrestling all day.  Little Mario also decided that he was old enough to walk up the long hill from Mario’s shop to Mario’s house all by himself.  He got tired of waiting for Jon to finish his conversation with Big Mario and informed Jon that he was big enough to take the trek himself.  Jon agreed, not sure if he would make it or not.  But that boy has determination and will when he needs it and he made it.  

We all gave each other kisses hello, got in our pjs and headed to our beds – no time to watch football on this jam-packed Sunday….

Winter has arrived.

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Snow!

The New Year brought snow.  I should clarify – light flurries.  But that differentiation did not matter to Maria. She threw on her coat and gloves and hat and took advantage of the dusting of snow to make snow angels on the deck of the house.  Mario sat in his room sulking because Maria did not tell him she was heading out to engage in such activity.  The New Year also brought a stroll down memory lane.  Jon took the memory card from our camera and found a way to put the slide show on our giant screen tv.  Very cool.  The pictures were only as far back as a year ago but we still waxed nostalgia about how the kids have grown, how old our former house looks, and how relaxing and warm our trip to Cancun was in February 2011.

Waiting for the pool!

With the light flurries came blustery winds and temperatures in the teens with the wind chill.  We are not ready for this yet since we have been spoiled with 45 degree weather over the last two weeks.  So what is the best way to beat the winter cold blues?  Go to a swimming pool! Indoor , of course.  We dusted off our suits, found our goggles, called our cousin, Alana, and headed to the Dublin Recreation Center.  The kids threw on their suits in record time only to find out that they had to wait seven minutes for the rest break to end.  One aspect of the Dublin pool I dislike is that they have 15 minute rest breaks every hour.  You freeze.  Especially little Mario who shivers and turns purple.  I hold him close to me and feel his tiny body shiver against me. 

When they blew the whistles to jump in, Maria was the first to jump.  Alana was a distant second and Mario right after her.  He went swimming across the pool.  Maria gingerly walked on her tiptoes around the pool.  Alana clung to me.  Alana knows how to swim but she must still not feel comfortable with it.  She also likes to goof around with me and splash me.  I am so used to Maria doing this it didn’t bother me too much but I was hoping that her and Maria would play more together to let me chill.  Of course, Mario was also in his clingy state wanting me to act like a dinosaur.  He wanted to breathe fire on me and shoot lasers at me but he wanted me to live and just be hurt – not die.  He has specific instructions with all of his games. 

The pool has a lazy river that Alana and Mario loved.  Alana wanted me holding her hand the entire time and Mario wanted me to be within a foot of him in case he went under too long and needed help up.  I have gotten better at sensing when he wants me to hold him and when he wants to be left alone but every once in a while I grab him when he wants to be on his own and he growls at me.  I usually give him a look and he says “Sorry, mommy.”  At least he recognizes his issues too!  Maria went around the river by herself.  I would look over at her on the other side and see her laying her hair in the water letting the current push her along.  She is so calm in the water compared to Alana who is clingy and hyper (it’s funny because out of the water, it can be the opposite). 

 

Ready for the showers

Maria’s friend Zach arrived about a half hour after we got in the pool.  All was fine for a while but then Maria felt torn between Alana and him.  Zach wanted to go down the big slide (which Alana could not do) and Alana wanted to go down the baby one.  Maria looked at me with those big blue eyes and said “I feel torn, mom.  I want to be with Alana because she is my cousin but I also like Zach and they don’t want to do the same things.”  I explained to her that such a thing happens a lot and she just needed to split her time the way she felt best.  I also explained that she had brought Alana with her so she needed to be sensitive to that.  In the meantime, Alana only wanted to play with me so it didn’t matter.  But Ri stuck with us for the most part since her and Zach have about a 15 minute tolerance for each other before they spat. 

After the pool, the kids stood in the showers for 20 minutes.  Mario loves to stand under a hot shower and let it run over his head.  Maria and Alana just like to be goofy in it and act like they are famous stars.  Maria is also getting modest with her old age.  She did not want to get naked and dressed int he “main” locker area because too many people were around.  This was surprising from the girl who used to run naked around my aunt’s house to make my Grandma Heile laugh hysterically.  We sat with Zach and Grace and Amy in the lobby and ate pretzels and subway sandwiches.  We asked questions to the kids like “who would you most like to meet?”  Mario answered “my butt” while Maria and Alana answered “BIG TIME RUSH!”  When asked where they would like to visit, Maria and Alana both answered NYC because that is where Big Time Rush lives (not sure about that) and Mario answered with his stock answer: Hawaii.  Jon and I can picture him on his surf board with his blonde hair and chiseled little body riding the waves all day long. 

As we drove home, I looked in the rear view mirror.  Mario’s head was cocked to the side and he was fast asleep.  The holiday celebrations finally catching up to him.  Maria and Alana intently watched Thumbelina on the DVD entranced with the friendship between Thumbelina and Tom Thumb.  The snow lightly hit the car windshield and blew over to the grassy bank.  I took a few deep breaths and thought of Jon waiting at our warm home for us.  Winter has arrived.

Living in the Moment

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I am in full-blown new year’s resolution mode.  Thinking of what I want to change in 2012 and what I want to do better.  Trying not to beat myself up for the things I did not get accomplished in 2011.  Trying to recognize the things that I did accomplish.

Livin' in the moment at Darby Creek

One thing I worked really hard at this past year was being in the moment – with the kids, with Jon, with family, with work colleagues, with running, with wrapping presents, with washing dishes.  I recognize the times that I achieve this task because I walk away from the moment feeling fulfilled.  I still remember two years ago at our old house.  I had picked up Maria and Mario early from daycare in order to spend the afternoon with them.  We got home, picked out some chips and sandwiches and sat in the front yard for a picnic.  My phone rang.  I picked it up.  It was work.  I began to discuss an issue with my colleague.  I continued to make faces at M&M trying to show them I was there with them even though I was on the phone.  After 10 minutes, Maria rose up from the picnic and walked to the sidewalk.  She looked angry.  I tried to push my colleague to the end of the conversation but she kept talking.  Maria started crying.  I realized what I had done and hung up the phone.  I walked Maria and Mario to the alley in the back of the house.  We put Mario in his plastic “car” with a long handle on the back.  Maria went behind him and grabbed the handle.  We took off all the way down the alley.  Mario looked back at us laughing hysterically.  Maria looked up at me giggling.  And I breathed in that moment in order to have it forever.  Two years later I remember it like it was an hour ago.  That is what I want more of for 2012.  More clear moments with family and friends and myself where I allow myself to be fully present.

This poem by Mary Oliver is pasted on my desk and it always reminds me to live more in the moment: 

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Forts and Theo’s and the Stars

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Mario and Mama Meg and Taz this Summer

I checked in with Grandma Meg and Peepaw tonight to see if the kids were behaving. 

Peepaw and Maria at the farm this Summer

My dad answered: “Hellllo.” He sounded in good spirits.  The kids screamed “Hello” to me in the background.  My dad put it on speaker and a cacophony of voices came across the line.  Maria informed me that she ate spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread at Theo’s restaurant.  Mario informed me that they made a fort and dug for gold in the gravel driveway.  Dad chimed in to confirm that they were being good and sweet.  Meg informed me that dad and Mario lay in the Study together and look at the stars.  Maria surely makes Mama Meg play barbies with her. 

We meet them at noon tomorrow for the drop-off at Olive Garden.  Jon and I are excited to see them.  Maria and Mario do not know how lucky they are to have three sets of grandparents that provide them such unconditional love… and spaghetti and meatballs!

Gloria would be proud

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Sleeping over at Maggie's!

I picked up Maria and Mario from Cousin Maggie’s apartment at 9:00 am.  Maggie had offered a sleep-over for them last night and they jumped with joy at the prospect.  A night filled with pizza, play-doh, fire in a real fireplace, muffin-baking and movies.  She had them asleep at 9:45 pm, too (I swear, my cousins Laura and her need to write a book!).  When I picked them up, they interrogated me about whether St. Nick had come to the house last night.  When I grew up, I always remember St. Nick coming on December 6 (which I believe is truly St. Nick’s Day).  I typically got candy and maybe some small toy but I just remember the thrill of feeling something in my stocking when I came down the stairs in the morning.  I have kept that tradition up with M&M but instead of doing it on December 6, I do it on the weekend so we aren’t rushed with school. 

When the kids and I home, they ran straight to their stockings.  They plunged their little hands in the stockings and big smiles emerged (in addition to other little things, Maria got earmuffs she had been wanting and Mario got a transformer).  We all sat in the living room together, which we rarely do because the family room has the recliner chairs, the tv, the Wii.  But it was so nice to be in the living room with the natural light that can’t help but perk you up. 

After the kids reviewed all of their presents, Maria looked at me.  Earlier on the ride home, I had told the kids how excited I used to get for St. Nick.  Maria had asked if he brought me anything.  I told her that usually St. Nick just brings kids toys.  After she looked at me for a minute, she got up and rushed out of the room.  I knew what she was doing – trying to gather some “gifts” for me.  She has got such a kind soul.  She came back five minutes later with a bag full of my things – shoes, old barbie, clock.  “Here, mom, St. Nick brought you some things, too!”  Mario caught on how impressed I was with Maria’s thoughtfulness, and immediately ran out of the room.  He ran back ten seconds later with a frog ornament and presented it to me saying “Here mom, this is from St. Nick, too!”  I told him how happy I was to have him and Maria and he responded “did I give you a better gift than Maria?”  He always wants to be number 1 – he is going to be brutal on the court or field. 

We played around , cleaned up, and at 2:00 pm, left for the Pump-It-Up gym for a birthday party.  On the way to the party, the kids asked to watch Power Rangers. I put it on for them and I heard them in the back talking about the different Rangers.  Mario told Maria that she could be the blue power ranger and she agreed.  I blurted out from the front “there is a blue power ranger who is a girl?”  Maria immediately hit the back of my seat and scolded me. 

“Mom, you make it sound like a girl can’t wear blue.  You make it sound like a boy can only wear blue and a girl can only wear pink.  That should not be how it is.”

Yeah, I could have just eaten her up.  All of those years that I sang “Free to Be, You and Me” to her rubbed off.  She would make Gloria Steinem proud.  Earlier that day, I had tried to move our bed.  After realizing it was way too heavy, I stopped.  Maria approached me and shook her head.  “Girls never give up, mom. You can do it.”  

Maria sliding

Pump-It-Up was chaotic and tiring.  I can’t stand to just sit around like the other parents so I go through all of the exercises with the kids.  After 45 minutes, Maria and I were spent.  Maria kept asking when we would go to the other room and eat.  Mario just wanted to keep playing.  When we finally got to the room, Maria immediately sat down in front of a piece of pizza and cheese curls and went to town (I was jealous and wanted to sit right by her!).  Mario only wanted water.  These two could not be more different when it comes to food.  Maria is my healthy, ready to devour, eater.  Mario is my grazer, a bite here or there eater.  During the entire meal, Mario wanted the plastic crown and scepter that the two birthday kids got and he was going to every length to get them.  I had to keep telling him not to try to steal them but he kept trying to sneak ways to do it. I told Maria that we would have to leave.  She had a meltdown because we had not eaten the cake yet.  I guess along with teaching her how to be self-sufficient and not stereotypical, she also learned my love for sheet cake.  I could not bear the thought of disappointing her and not letting her eat cake.  So we stayed and I policed Mario a bit longer. 

Mario stopping!

On the way home, Mario reviewed his goodie bag.  He pulled out sunglasses and complained that they “weren’t cool.”  Maria schooled him:

“Mario, life is not about finding happiness in things.  If you have family and friends around you, that is all that matters to be happy.” 

And that sums up the beauty in our girl, Maria.  Mario is catching on, too, because instead of throwing the glasses at her like he may have a six months ago, he shook his head and acknowledged Maria’s insight. 

“You are right, Maria.  I will like them.” 

Beautiful.

Thank God For Friday…and pizza…and cousins…and head massages

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Between fighting the flu early in the week and fighting work insanity late in the week, I am relieved it is Friday night and I am able to sit in front of my computer and eat a DQ blizzard.  We received a treat tonight with Maggie and Laura coming over for pizza and hair brushing.  Yeah, that’s right – not together though!  We ate pizza (before pizza, Mario said grace and stated he was thankful for his cousins and his family and won Maggie and Laura’s hearts forever).  Maria hung on Maggie’s and Laura’s every word; she looks up to them like I looked up to their moms.  

M&M with their cousins

As we ate pizza, Mario began fidgeting in his seat and jumping out of it to dance around.  Jon and I told him to sit down and eat.  He kept talking. Maggie and Laura have always teased us about how lenient we are with discipline and we have always teased them about running a tight ship.  But, I have always admitted that a little bit more of that “hard ship” attitude would be helpful, especially at dinner. Laura took his arm and firmly stated “Mario, your dad spoke to you and asked you to sit.Sit.”  He sat.  We completely ignored him until he began eating his pizza.  He finished it in 5 minutes.  Laura figured out that his one “treasure” that would hurt him the most if taken away was attention.  He lives to be the life of the party.  Take that away, and he is bored.  And that is what we did when we ignored him and paid him no attention – he was forced to eat his pizza to get that attention back. Genius!  

After pizza, Maggie started a bath and Laura got hair products to comb out Maria’s knotty hair.  Maria’s hair looks like strands of gold when it is fully combed out and only Laura has the ability to get it combed to that level without Maria screaming and carrying on like an insane person.   After Maria’s hair, Laura combed mine, and if that was not heavenly, she massaged my head.  I sat at the table lost in another world while Maggie kept the kids busy and Laura kept my head amongst the clouds. 

After dinner, they helped clean up and wrestled with the kids.  They called it a night around 9 pm since they had to take a shower and get ready to hit the bars!  Oh, to be young again.  Jon and I are seriously contemplating paying them a salary per year to live in our attic; I do believe it is the only way that M&M will learn their manners, pay attention, and behave appropriately in society.  Ok, I may be exaggerating a bit but they are good and on Friday night when Jon and I are exhausted, they are awesome!

Shopping Country

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Mario doing his model pose before he leaped off the tree stump

We braved heading to Polaris last night.  Polaris is a little city in intself with strip malls on one side of the street and a shopping mall on the other.  It’s north of the city and takes about 25 minutes to get to it on a good night.  I purposefully left at 6:30 pm with the hopes we would miss traffic but cars were braking constantly creating walls of red in front of us.  When we finally arrived at the lighting store, it felt like midnight and I had lost all enthusiasm for picking out lights.  I got some of  my enthusiam back when Maria and Mario discovered a playroom in the showroom, which allowed me to spend more than two seconds looking at lights.  Shops that contain kids’ playrooms rock this Earth and I just want to kiss all over the owner for thinking of us crazed parents that need to bring our kids with us to shop.  

The showroom overwhelmed me.  Lights hanging everywhere – silver, bronze, chrome, gold, amber….   I am finding that I need a limited choice of things when I go shopping or I get overwhelmed and cannot make a choice.  Not like I can make a quick choice between two things but 100 things just make my brain freeze.  I could have stayed at the showroom for hours, though, because Maria and Mario were content in the playroom watching Ariel with a new friend whose mom was enjoying a reprieve, too. 

We hit Great Indoors next.  That store looks like it is going downhill.  It used to feel more perky and alive.  We walked in and there were hardly any people, aisles were practically empty of items, and the mood was dejected.  But, they did have some pretty lights.  Luckily, they also had a mattress section right across from the lights that kept M&M busy (they loved the remote-controlled adjustable beds, of course).  I fell in love with one but it was not in stock.  I want the light before Thanksgiving so that I can show it off to my family.  Of course,  the practical right-minded part of me is saying that I should order the light and not care about getting it up before Thanksgiving since I will have it forever and I will love it.  But the anal, perfectionist that I am wants to have my lights installed prior to Thanksgiving so that the house can be in order, and that part of me prevailed.  I left the store with no lights but an idea of three or four that I would continue to consider until I went back to the store by myself on Friday afternoon. 

Maria "flirting" with Jack Hanna

About ten minutes prior to us leaving for the Playland, Maria walked over to me and begged for us to go. “Mom, I am ready to die.  I am so so hungry!”  Mario, on the other hand, begged to go to the Playland first.  Maria conceded as long as we got pizza and an Oreo brownie afterwards.  As we passed mannequins in the Ann Taylor store window, Mario looked up to me and whispered “hot girls!”  He is so wrong.  He acted like a wild man at the play land leaping off rocks and animals.  Maria ran around with him for about ten minutes and then her growling stomach forced her to stop.  It took us ten minutes to round up her insane brother but we finally got him to go by telling him that he could hop all the way back to the Food Court. 

We took down some pizza and an Oreo brownie at the Food Court.  While we ate, I asked M&M what lights they liked best at Great Indoors.  They ignored me as they ate their pizza but then Maria finished her food and began to lecture me. “Mom, you WANT new lights but do you need them?  There are things that we want but that we don’t need.  Do you think the lights are something you want but you don’t need?”

Huh??!  Where did I get this little minimalist, philosophical girl?  Oh yeah, she’s my daughter and I helped raise her to think just like this.  Meanwhile, Mario sat in his chair making strange faces and putting the remainder of his pizza on his head and stomach to try to make us laugh.  Where did I get this over-the-top, comedian boy?  Oh yeah, he’s my son and I helped raise him to be insane!   We drove home and called Jon to wish him sweet dreams good-night, laid down in my non-reclining bed, and fell fast asleep.

Don’t leave us, Autumn

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We are getting down to the last few weekends where you can still go outside in a sweatshirt and shorts (or jeans for those cold-blooded folks), view a few remaining leaves on the trees, and feel the warmth of the sun on your face.  I can’t stand to be inside on these weekends because I know in a very short period of time, I will be relegated to the house staring out the windows at the bleak, frigid, bare-treed world. 

The cousins ready for a train ride

We woke up on Sunday to a balmy 59 degrees (most mornings nowadays are in the high 30s) and I over-bundled the troops for our morning stroller ride.  We hit Giant Eagle for something different and its close proximity to CVS where I needed to develop pictures.  Jon and I bought a picture frame collage when we bought our new furniture for the house a few months ago and the frame has a bunch of different sized frames that look really cool in the spur of the moment.  However, once you get home and are forced to fill 2.5 x 3.5 and 4×4 and 3x 3.5 it is a different story.  I think I have spent  over 4 hours at CVS trying to correctly develop pictures to fit in the frames.  It is driving me batty.  And yet I won’t give up (although I did feel like throwing the collage frame out the second story window one night at 1 am).  But I digress…

Mario got a chocolate muffin and Maria got a chocolate sprinkle donut at Giant Eagle (Mario said “Why do you get chocolate donuts when you don’t like chocolate?!” Maria’s response “I like chocolate donuts – who wouldn’t?!).  After Giant Eagle and CVS, we headed home reading Berenstein Bears Moving Day.  Yes, I stroll them and read them a book held by Maria who does a great job turning the pages and holding it just right so I can read the words.  As we approached home and the sun peered through the few remaining leaves of the big oak trees, I decided that I would brave it and see if my niece and nephew wanted to head to the zoo with us.  My sister-in-law agreed to let them go and Maria and Mario screamed with excitement. 

Having fun on a statute

We got home and packed pretzels, raisins, and fruit roll ups for the trip.  We grabbed the library movies we had rented earlier in the week, and we were off to Hilliard to pick up M&M’s cousins.  We packed everyone in the truck, fastened seat belts, and headed north to zoo land.  I thank the heavens that I only have two kids but if I had four, I would be able to crank it out.  I packed those kids in the car in less than a minute and that’s with buckling seat belts, too.  I have become a pro. 

We arrived at a quiet zoo with parking close to the entrance.  When we entered, everyone grabbed a map and began to review as if they knew what they were reviewing.  We decided to head to the Petting Zoo first.  Of course, it was closed.  The barn was open so you could see the goats but it’s not the same as being in the pen with them.  We decided to head to the North American region and come back to the Petting Zoo. 

Watching the polar bear

One of the coolest sites of the day was the polar bear exhibit where you can go underground and watch the polar bears dive into the water to play or catch fish.  Two polar bears jumped in while we stood underground, and the kids got to witness them playing and swimming around in the water.  They were darling.  We tried to hit a playground after the polar bears but it was closed, too.  The kids were upset and began with the whiny complaints (“This zoo is awful…”).  I explained to them how lucky they were to be able to come to the zoo and how a lot of kids don’t even get that opportunity.  Maria understood it immediately but the rest of them failed to comprehend at all.  Nonetheless, we continued on to the bobcats, pumas, and moose and their minds were promptly diverted to how cool those animals looked. 

The metal statutes were a big hit for the kids.  They loved to climb on them and swing from them.  We hit one of those at almost every new geographical location.  The bird sanctuary was a bigger hit than I thought it would be.  They searched for birds throughout the sanctuary and when they found one they made a mad dash to the chart to see what kind of bird it was.  After the bird sanctuary, we hit another playground and it was closed, too.  This even pissed me off. I get that they close the playground areas at a specified time each year but really, on a day that is 60 degrees?  More disappointment on their faces when I told them it was closed.  I think it was disappointment and exhaustion from walking for two and a half hours.  Tension began to rise in the two groups of siblings, also.  Giovanni had found a feather and Mario wanted to touch it.  Gio refused.  Mario begged.  He still refused.  At that point, Maria walked up to him and pointed her finger scolding him about how selfish he was being and how he needed to learn to share.  Alana hurried up to defend her brother and tell Maria to leave him alone.  Maria proceeded to tell Alana that Mario would not share his toys with Gio if Gio continued to act selfish.  Alana said that Gio didn’t care.  And yes it kept going just like that for another minute or two before I interjected.  What would spark up 4 and 6 year olds after an exhausting day at the zoo?  McDonald’s Playland!  Let’s go kids!  

Tunnel Fun

My kids are used to the Playland because of our trips to and from Cincy where the McDonald’s Playland acts as a rest stop half way in between Columbus and Cincy.  Their cousins are not used to McDonald’s Playland because their parents do not frequent such establishments.  Aunt Mary is a lot different from Aunt Carrie.  I could care less about the dangers of such playlands – germs are good for kids in order to build up tolerance.  Heck, I never worried about germs as a kid and I turned out healthy.  But Aunt Carrie is polar opposite.  I am sure it sickens her to think about playing at McDonald’s.  I respect her for that – I sometimes I wish I had a little more of her style in me – but if the kids are with me, we will head to these types of places because they are cheap and the kids like them.  Heck, they spent a half hour running around and exhausting themselves so that when 9 pm came that night, they should have been out cold (Maria was knocked out; Mario was just getting a second wind). 

Finally, we ended up at Joann Fabrics to look for vases and flowers for the house.  I could not believe how good the kids were at that place.  They had every opportunity to run all around the store when I was looking at flowers, but they stayed by my side or within earshot of me.  I was very impressed, and because I was so impressed, I let them each buy a little something.  They helped me select flowers for the dining room and tried to find me some artwork for the room.  Nothing would do the trick so I made an impulse last-minute buy of two flower pictures.  I got them home and decided against them immediately.  Oh well.  I do like the flowers we bought. 

We got home at 6 pm and helped Jon with the remainder of the garage cleaning.  He had worked on clearing out the garage while we went to the zoo – no small task since we threw every piece of junk and unnecessary item in the garage when we moved into the house.  To my surprise, after we were done, he asked if we wanted to go to Bob Evans.  Heaven.  I had been craving their pancakes for weeks.  We loaded up and headed down to Bob’s for pancakes and dinner rolls with butter and mashed potatoes.  Thanks, Mother Nature for giving us such a beautiful Autumn day.