Birthday madness

May 7, 2013May 7, 2013Leave a comment

The 8 year-old birthday festivities have concluded. They lasted four days and made me a zombie by the end.

Ri did not want a big bash at an inflatable gym or a sleepover with 10 girls this year. She wanted her best girlfriend and her cousin to come out to the farm for the weekend. And she wanted me to do a “surprise” at her school. Piece of cake, heh? Not for the mom who has to think of fifty different ways to create the best surprise.

It started at the beginning of the week with traveling to four different bike shops to look for bikes for Ri. Then debating over and over whether to get her a used bike of a new one. Then whether to get a new Target bike or a new Trek bike. In the end, we opted for the Trek because Ri loves to bike so much. She also just reached the height to be on a 24 inch bike so she’ll use this one for a while. I took her to the Trek store in the guise of getting a bike for Jon’s birthday so I could see which one she gravitated towards. Surprisingly, she went for the black one with pink writing and not the pink one. Good girl.

I also ran around shoe stores and Target to buy her some sandals and shorts. She loves these new athletic shorts at Target and she needs them – her running shorts from last year barely cover her tush (not a look Jon likes).

On Thursday, I went to her school at 1:30 and set up decorations at the shelter across the street. I had cupcakes, balloons, poster board for the kids to sign, water bottles for all the kids to take home, and treats. I had ordered pizzas because I had planned on going at 11 am but when we woke up that morning and I told Ri I’d surprise her at 11, she flipped out. “Today I get to go to computer lab with Ms. Palmer. I can’t do it any other day but today!” So, my plans changed. Thanks to Ms. Palmer for rolling with the punches.

The kids were hyper when they arrived for the party. They bolted over to me wanting to dive in the cupcakes and run around the field. They all sang happy birthday to Ri and signed her poster and flung themselves into the cupcakes. We played trivia – the first person to give the correct answer got a water bottle. Everyone knew Ri’s favorite band – Big Time Rush. The boys scattered to one area of the park and the girls to another and the party continued until school was out. One little boy came up to me afterwards and told me it was the best day he’s had in school. What a compliment!

Afterwards, I took two of Ri’s friends to the park and back to the house to play. We couldn’t find Janira’s mom when we headed to dinner so she got to come with us. Mario made them watch Ghostbusters in the back seat while we drove to Olive Garden. Ri chose it because Alana told her they had all you can eat breadsticks. My little Italian gal. Patty and Joe met us there.

The food was pretty bland but the breadsticks and salad weren’t bad. And they brought a nice size cake for Ri which is all we truly cared about.

We headed home to open presents. We gave Ri her shoes (too big) and her clothes (perfect). Then she looked at us quizzically wondering if there was any more. I left and brought in the black bike and her eyes opened so wide. She loved it. She went directly outside and rode it. Now every night she wants to practice using the gears.

I spent Friday buying treats for the girls’ gift bags at the farm. I wanted little magnifying glasses and journals to record their findings but I could not find them anywhere. So they got Nerds (not a smart candy to eat in the car) and bubbles and notebooks and pens and stuffed animals. Saturday arrived and I packed up the Volvo (freshly detailed) with sleeping bags, pillows, clothes, boots and giggling kids. Mario got to sleep over at Gio’s house and Jon went hunting.

We stopped at Giant Eagle for Ri’s horsey cake and then Walgreens for some Red Box movies. Alana begged to listen to Shake It Up on the way out. Poor Sophie is not too into that music so after the fifth song, I told Alana we had to turn it off (Alana knows every word to every song). They played with Furby (Grandma Ionno’s gift to Ri) and laughed. Then we played a game the rest of the way out where I gave them a letter and they had to draw a picture of a word that began with that letter. They loved it. Then they had to make up a sentence with the words they made up. Yeah, a little creative thinking to add to the ride.

We stopped at McDonalds Playland in Zanesville for some lunch and some play. There were a ton of local kids screaming and running throughout the area, however, so it was a quick trip (thank god).

We arrived at Red Hawk farm at 3 pm to a pen of barking, excited pups. Little did they know what they were in for over the next 24 hours. The girls immediately begged to get them out and run with them. The once tranquil farm exploded with yelling and laughter and the “chuck-it” winging a tennis ball across the lawn for Stella. Ahh, the energy kids bring to a place.

The chickens also had it in for the weekend. The girls moved to them next. They “herded” them like sheep and surprisingly did a good job at it. They also discovered six eggs in the henhouse which was quite exciting for them (and tasted delicious the next morning).

They then moved onto the creek to bathe in the mud-filled water. They loved the freedom to get as wet and dirty as they wanted. Alana about died when I told her she could get her shorts wet. And Ri beamed when I told her she could dunk her head under water. One of the simple joys of the farm – splashing in cold water on a sunny day.

The next stop was the horses. Sweet Taz allowed all three girls to ride him without any issue (he was quite ornery with Ri the weekend before but she handled it well due to her Grandma Meg training). I wish we could snap our fingers and have Ri at the farm for riding lessons and then back home an hour later for shower and bed.

It was back to the creek with Sarah and Jorge joining us later. Stella took a liking to Sophie following her down the creek bed. Maria discovered the wonders of slimy, soft algae and caressed it with her hands. Alana held on to Rosie tightly since Peepaw had warned that she would get lost if you let go of her leash. At one point, Stella grabbed the leash with her teeth and swung Rosie, and Alana, around in a circle. Alana somehow held on until Sarah got Stella but she was shaken up. All it took was us affirming what a strong girl she was and she stood up, shook it off and said “Maria’s grandpa will be proud of me!”

Sarah spotted trillium flowers on the bank of the creek. Beautiful and purple. Luckily, we had our renowned photographer with us.

I was ready for some food after all of the activities. So were the girls. We chowed on homemade Boboli pizzas while sitting on the screened in porch – a slight breeze hitting our skin and the sounds of evening surrounding us. Presents came next. Ri scored some cowboy boots and horse galoshes from Meg and dad, American girl clothes from Alana, a game from Sarah and Jorge, and a watch from Sophie. She hugged everyone with her monster hug squeeze and we were ready for cake.

I got a picture of a horse for her this year; I guess she’s graduated from the party theme cakes at Giant Eagle. She loved it. We broke out the game Sarah bought her, Quizzle, after cake. It was a blast. I think adults enjoy it more than kids. We played a mean game with Jorge winning due to his superior visual acumen. Dad set up the tent while we played and the girls took their board games in the tent and played. The adults called it a night at 9:30 but the girls stayed strong. At least two of them did. Ri fell asleep on the couch watching a movie with them at 10 pm. Sophie got scared shortly thereafter because the movie was spooky. Alana has no fear from all her Goosebumps movies. I put them in the tent at 10:30 and laid on the couch looking out the large window at the sparkling stars in the sky. It’s beautiful to view the night with no artificial light surrounding it. Alana came in five minutes later complaining that Ri was kicking her. She laid with me all night.

The morning brought dazed, punch-drink looks from both kids and adults. The kids played with the chickens and dogs some more and devoured Peepaw’s blueberry and walnut pancakes (easy to do). We took a creek walk again but this time from the road all the way back to the pasture. I told my dad that he needed to host a Warrior Race out at the farm between the mud and water and branches and thorns we needed to traverse as we walked the creek. Forget barbed wire fences and hoses for water – we have it au natural at Red Hawk. The girls were unstoppable and in heaven.

Dad and I got to take a walk together on his new trail through the woods. I got some insight on flowers and trees as well as the latest news on fracking and the plea of oil companies to lease his land. He, as always, is thinking through every option available and being practical yet principled about the ordeal. I just adore my pops.

We ended our time there with another chicken round-up, discovering a few more eggs, and spoiling the pups in their pen. We weren’t on the road twenty minutes before Ri was conked out.

I should have seen this coming between her lounging in the hammock with Meg and her dazed and confused look with me!

By the time we got home in Sunday, I was beyond exhausted. Poor Jon sat on the back deck waiting for us to arrive. Oh shoot! It was his birthday. I barely could muster happy birthday to him but he understood. “You do too much, babe” he told me gently as I whined about being tired. “I love you too death and you’re a magnificent mom but you do too much.” He had a point. I probably didn’t need to stop at Meijer’s on the way home and let the girls get a little toy.or unload the entire car as soon as we got home.

“Baby steps” I told him and he nodded his head and grinned. We sat on the deck and talked while M&M ran around with the neighbor kids.

Pittsburgh

May 2, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

In my twenties, I remember my girlfriend talking about sleepless nights with her sick daughter. They were horror stories to me full of broken sleep, house-bound days, and snot wiping events.

And then came Maria and Mario. And broken sleep, house-bound days, and lots of snot wiping. And survival through lots of ice cream, 5 hour energy shots and Vela blogs.

Almost two weeks ago, Maria developed hard-core allergies. Her eyes swelled and watered and became bruised. We went to the doctor three different times over an eight day period to try to find the root cause. At first, it was diagnosed as allergies, then pink eye, and then a skin infection with allergies. It took her out of school for the last three days of the school week. I stayed with her for one of them, my mom for one, and Patty for the last (thank god for family). Patty was going to keep Ri for the weekend until I told Ri that I was still heading to Pittsburgh for Sarah’s graduation. Ri freaked and begged to come even with swollen eyes. I couldn’t say no since she looks up to her aunt so much so I agreed to meet Patty half way in order to get Ri Friday night. At the same time, Mario had no desire to go to Pittsburgh. He was starting to feel hot and had a rash on his cheeks. Patty offered to take him so that Ri and I could go to Pittsburgh without the stress of a sick kid. What a god-send she is. Not only did it help me but it also made Mario’s day because any time with Grandma is the best time ever for him. I have no doubt that he would choose Patty over me anytime.

After driving back to get Mario and sitting in major traffic, we arrived at the Wendy’s in Delaware for the exchange. Mario hopped right into Patty’s car without hesitation. Ri jumped in mine and begged to head straight to the farm. She wanted to see Savvy who recently returned to the farm. She also wanted to be closer to Pittsburgh to see Aunt Sarah. And so I downed my Five Hour Energy at 8 pm and we were off. Ri played market on the iPad most of the way asking me what foods I wanted to buy and re-asking me after the first grocery trip was completed… and second… and third. I didn’t mind the constant interaction, however, because I needed stimuli.

We got to the farm way past Meg and dad’s bedtime and Ri was so slaphappy she laid next to me giggling for 20 minutes. Meg and I both commented the next morning how soothing it was to hear that core laughter coming from her little soul.

We woke Saturday morning to an exquisite day and headed east to Pittsburgh. We made it to Sarah’s apartment and Ri ran inside to greet Sarah and Jorge, and most importantly, the dogs. Maria got her fill of kisses and we were off to graduation.

The Cathedral of Learning has been Sarah’s second home for the last three years. It sits amongst the bustle of traffic and looks like a building out of Florence, Italy. You just know minds are churning away inside of it. When Ri and Mario and I visited two years ago, we met Sar in her classroom. She hadn’t arrived yet so Mario did a dance for her class and Ri stood near him completely embarrassed.

It was a good thing that Mario stayed back because the graduation included an hour and a half of graduate readings. Each grad read a piece of their work for five minutes. I gave Ri the iPad but hoped she would listen to the stories. I didn’t think she spent too much time listening until she and I were walking to Stauf’s this week and I said “let’s make up a poem. I will start. One day I walked in the woods.”

Ri stopped me immediately. “No mom. You should say ‘One–day–I–walked–in the woods.” She had totally picked up on the voice inflections during the readings. I Love It.

Sarah read a lyrical essay about my grandma. Ri knows how sentimental I am so she crawled down to my chair and rubbed my cheek as Sarah spoke. Always the caretaker. I could listen to Sarah for hours and read her writings all day long. She is talented beyond belief (and her professor, Jean Marie completely agrees).

Afterward, Ri and I walked down all 36 flights of steps and took the elevator back up to five to chow down on desserts at the reception. There was a little girl there and Ri gravitated right to her while Meg and I spoke to Sarah and her professor. It really was a lovely afternoon.

And the loveliness continued when we dined at a Thai restaurant with an outdoor patio. They had a warm atmosphere with vines of flowers surrounding us and the sun laying its rays upon us. It is such a beautiful thing to be able to have an entire conversation with another adult without a child interrupting me. And to eat amazing food.

After stuffing our face, we took the dogs for a walk in Frick Park. The ride over in Jorge’s and Sarah’s little car and the two dogs was comical. Stella sat on Mona and then leaned over and licked Ri too death.

Sar let Ri walk both dogs when we got to the park. That is a helluva job seeing that Stella is a big mamba jamba and pulls whenever a dog or squirrel comes near. But Ri surprised us all. She jerked back the leash when Stella pulled and bellowed “NO!” Sar and I turned our faces to one another and cracked up. She’s no joke.

We sat in New York traffic in the middle of Pittsburgh but finally arrived back at reached Sarah’s apartment and gave her graduation present to her. A little bubbly and cheez-it’s as well as a Street Food cookbook and wooden cookbook holder. Ri knows her aunt.

We hit the road back to the farm to spend the night again. When we arrived at 9:15, we got to surprise Peepaw at the cabin. He had his friends around the table getting ready for some poker. We decided to leave them be and stay down at the house. Grandma Meg had some Nashville clips to show us on Hula. Ri was addicted at first blush and I was soon thereafter. We finally hit the hay at 10 pm and Ri’s cough only kept us up half the night. When we got up in the morning, Ri got to ride her Taz and even persuaded me to ride for a second. She loves her horses.

We drove home at noon and I was exhausted. I told Ri I needed 10 minutes to rest and before I knew it, we both woke up two hours later. Sarah tired us out. Jon arrived shortly after our nap with bad news – no turkeys. We all laid on the carpet and talked about our weekends as the sun faded away. We were in bed by 9. Mario, to the contrary, was busy wrestling Grandma Ionno until 11 pm.

Twilight Zone

March 25, 2013March 25, 2013Leave a comment

I had to be in the Twilight Zone last night:

1. Jon folded all of the laundry.

2. Maria finally passed Xtra Math after months of frustration and after it looked like it would be months more work from Saturday’s report. She unwillingly logged on Sunday night and within five minutes of work received a message that she completed all levels of Addition. She was so pumped up and immediately texted her teacher this picture.

From Saturday’s report I didn’t think there was any way she’d complete soon. It was so frustrating because she’s on division at school but she can’t get past Addition on this on-line Xtra Math site. I knew she was just as frustrated. So when the screen showed she passed I was beside myself with joy. She scored a sundae with cookie dough topping which made all the hell she endured with Xtra Math worthwhile.

3. Jon became a ninja warrior. He stole the foam roller, numchucks, and swords from M&M and took them on in a kitchen showdown. Nothin’ like settling down right before bed time….

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….

Snowball personalities

March 7, 2013March 7, 20133 Comments

Nothing like the snow to bring out our respective personalities:

Maria, the muscle. She rolled that snowball until it took both Jon and I to lift it.

Mario, the provoker. He threw snowballs at me and Jon and Ri every time we turned our backs on him.

Jon, the machine-lover. He couldn’t wait to get home to his snow blower and clear off the bit of snow at the end of the driveway that had accumulated throughout the day (Mario in the foreground making his snowball move).

And me. The do-er. “Let’s stop this nonsense and build our snowman!”
And since I have trained my kids well, we ended up with not one snowman but five of them scattered throughout our lawn (the neighbor kids did come down and help to their credit).

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….

"MOM!"

Adventures in the Life of a Working Mama

Tag: Family

Birthday madness

Pittsburgh

Twilight Zone

Create your mission

Heading up with Grandma and Grandpa

Weekend Round-Up

KFC and Duck Dynasty

Snowball personalities

Weekend Round-Up

Jon and mini-him