Just a Taste of Spring

Last week we had about 3 days where it was around 55 degrees. I was jumping for joy. I had a spring in my step and a new found burst of energy. I don't know what it is, I just work better when it's warm. The driveway and yard were soaking wet and still full of slush, but I didn't care. The little kids and I went for a really long walk with the dogs. (Abby is with us for a few weeks.) And we even went sledding in the yard on the little amount of snow we had left. I have only gone out sledding with them one other time this winter because I am a selfish parent and have no desire to go out in the freezing cold and drag a sled up the big hill 20 times while Nicholas is whining at the top of the hill because I am not up there with him. He's not a sledder. He won't even try it and, therefore, thinks that no one should sled.  Anyway, since it was such a balmy 55 degrees that day, we just had to get ice cream. Those few days were great, and hopefully it will tie me over for a few more weeks until the real spring hits.

In the meantime, winter is back with a vengeance. We got hit with an ice storm a couple nights ago, which later turned into snow, so our trees have a very pretty shiny glaze over them, and the ground is recovered.

Nicholas is 3!!

Thursday was Nicholas's 3rd birthday. I'm a little sad about this for a couple reasons. One, my little baby is getting farther and farther from being a baby and it's happening too quickly. I just signed him up for preschool last month for the fall for gosh sakes! Secondly, 3 is one of my least favorite ages for a child. Everyone talks about 2 year olds negatively. I LOVE 2 year olds. Thats when they start coming into their personalities. They make choices. They have distictive likes and dislikes. You can talk to 2 year olds and usually get a response back. They are still baby-ish enough that you can hold them and cuddle them, and squeeze their squishy bodies. 3 year olds have attitides and use them regularly. They throw horrendous temper tantrums and it's not so easy to distract them from what they are throwing that tantrum about.  And there is no logic to the tantrum. (In my eyes, at least!) 5 out of 7 mornings, Nicholas wakes up and asks for candy for breakfast. I tell him the same thing every morning. Uh, No; and every morning, he drops to the ground and screams his head off because he can't have candy. It's very frustrating.


Nevertheless, I love this little guy so much and he still makes my heart burst when some of the things come out of his mouth. Like, how no matter what he's doing he will stop just so I can hear him sing Jack & Jill. (I will get it on video and post it, I promise) Or how when I ask for a kiss, he says "Don't kit my ghin, only my head". Translation: Don't kiss my skin, only my head. Or how he asks me to press the imaginary button on his chest, and when I do he says in his most fearful, deepest, loud voice, " I am Iron Man!!" Let me tell you, when I was given this boy, I got a good one.


For his birthday, Nick took the day off, which I was elated about, and we took the little kids to the Children's Museum. I have never been there, and man, oh, man did we have fun.

Unfortunately, Taylor and Shea were in Baltimore with their Dad for a leadership seminar, and couldn't be here to celebrate the day.

Isabella went on this climbing thing, and we were absolutely shocked. If you know her, you know that this is a huge accomplishment for her. This is the same kid who screamed like a wild lunatic last year in the Burger King playland (in front of all her preschool friends) because she was afraid of the climbing thing.

She had a little trouble when she got to the top and couldn't figure out how to get down, so a very kind little boy climbed up and showed her how to come down. After that, she was good to go and went up and down like a pro 3 or 4 more times after that. We were so proud!

On our way home, we had lunch at Presti's, my favorite Italian bakery, in Little Italy.  

When we got home, it was the moment this kid had been waiting for since Christmas. Present time!! You can see he is bubbling over with excitement! Don't you love the ring of chocolate around his mouth?

Instead of cake, he wanted brownies for his birthday dessert.

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day aside from his 2 oldest sisters not being able to share it with him. Nicholas Joseph, you are my favorite little guy in the whole wide world, and I will kiss you skin. A lot. Happy Birthday, big boy!

Easy Valetine's Day Craft

I found this idea in my Family Fun magazine. It was easy and fun and they look really cool when they are done.

Supplies

A heart shaped cookie cutter (I bought 3 different sizes)
Yarn (I used pink, white and red) cut into 12 inch peices
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 cup water
Wax paper or parchment paper
Ribbon 

Cook the corn starch and the water until it gets thick. I made several batches and mine went from runny to thick and goopy immediately, so I added another 1/4 cup of water after I took the pan off the heat. I stirred it until I had the right consistency. 

Take your yarn peices and dip them into the corn starch mixture once it has cooled. Remove any excess cornstarch by running your finger and thumb over the yarn. Coil them inside the heart until enough yarn has taken the shape of the heart. Press down on all the yarn so it lays flat inside the cookie cutter. Carefully remove the cookie cutter and let the yarn hearts sit for at least 24 hours. Ours took 2 days to completely dry. 

Once dry, tie a ribbon through the heart and hang it on your window.

The Drama Unfolds

Remember when I talked about the competition cheerleading team that Taylor was a part of? I had foolishly, but gladly taken on the role of Treasurer. I was getting a lot of resistance from the coaches on what money was being spent, so I requested a meeting in October. At the time, I felt like I did not have a lot of support from the other officers or parents. I think most everyone agreed with me, but no one wanted to rock the boat. So I went to the meeting and waited and waited for almost an hour before 2 of the officers showed up and 1 of the 4 coaches showed up. I had Isabella and Nicholas with me who were absolutely starving and freezing. We have a very casual meeting outside the school on the sidewalk and I was told how it was going to be from here on in. I did get a few words in, but I felt ganged up on and unsupported.  The only positive from the meeting was that I made it clear that I was to be informed of all money transactions. I didn't necessarily have to handle the money, but I wanted to know every dollar that was taken in and sent out. I told them that I would provide every parent at the monthly meetings a spreadsheet of all the fundraisers and expenses that we had incurred each month. I had a good handle on the money that was being brought in, because I made sure that either I or another parent was personally counting the money. But because I wasn't actually handling the money once it was put in the account, it was like pulling teeth to get an accurate account of our expenses. I would ask and get the brush off over and over again. Finally, one of the dads started asking questions and I told him what I was up against. Within 2 weeks, the superintendant was involved, and the head coach was immediately fired. The superintendant told the parent group that he was let go for not following precedural rules, after being given 3 warnings. It was pretty crazy, and the whole team was in an upheaval. Some of the parents thought it was unjust, some of the kids blamed the parents, and 2 of the 3 remaining coaches quit. It was madness. There is now one coach, who, I think, really has the girls' best interests at heart, but is caught in a tough bind. She is the daughter of the coach that was fired. She's extremely talented and the girls trust her and respect her. I am very happy that she decided to stay and fininsh the rest of the year. All the money from here on in will be controlled by the parents, which is how it should have been from the beginning. This also means that I have a lot of work to do and will be making lots of trips to the Board of Education to drop off money and fill out forms. I am happy that things have changed but sad that it had to be handled the way that it was. Unfortunately, the girls had to learn a big lesson from someone that they really liked and respected. There are consequenses to every decision that you make, and when you don't follow rules, there are punishments.

1 week later, the girls were scheduled to perform in Pittburgh at a pretty big competition. They put their feelings aside, and pulled it together and won the championship. I did not attend this one because it was an overnight stay, and I couldn't get away for the night, so Taylor's dad took her instead. These kids are really talented and work really, really hard. I am so proud of their accompishments.

Here's a video of their performance.   

  

Hmm, Has it Really Been That Long??

I noticed that I haven't written anything since November. Wow, that's a long time. I don't intentionally ignore my blog duties, I just always find things that are so much more pressing. Such as, getting ready for that little holiday we had in December. I know everyone has to get ready for Christmas every year, but for some reason, I always feel completely overwhelmed and unprepared no matter how early I start the process. Somehow, I pulled it off and was ready by Christmas Eve morning. Nick and I spent a couple nights in the basement wrapping presents till 2:00 AM, but somehow we pulled it off and were ready by Christmas Eve morning. We spent Christmas Eve with Nick's family and Christmas Day with my family. We also had my cousin's and my Aunt visiting from Brazil, which was really cool.

Then there was my "Friday Night Lights" marathon. For a while there, I was unhealthily addicted to this show. I started watching the show in the 4th season. Then ABC Family network starting showing repeats from the beginning and they were on every day. Half way through the 2nd season, they took it off the air. I am assuming they did this because there was only one household (mine) that was tuning in daily to catch what was happening in Dillon, Texas. I was devastated. I rushed to the library to borrow seasons 2 and 3. I would wake up early to watch an episode, I would park my fanny in front of the T.V. at naptime, and I would stay up really late after everyone else was in bed. I could not get enough of this show. For a while there, I felt like I was part of the Dillon Panthers. It was starting to freak me out and I was driving my family crazy because I kept referring to the characters as if I personally knew them. What would Tami Taylor do in this situation? Why didn't Tim Riggins go to my High School. Thank God Tim Riggins doesn't go to my daughters' High School. Julie, guard your innocence you foolish little girl!

(It should seriously be illegal to be this hot)

We have recently entered Birthday season. Technically, someone in our family has a birthday in every month of the year except December, but from January through April, there are multiple birthdays in those 4 months. It is pure madness. January started with my darling little Shea, who turned 15 on the 15th. She asked for new bedding and to paint her bathroom. Long gone are the days when she asked for Barbies and American Girl dolls. (sniff, sniff) The bathroom is done, but she can't seem to narrow down a bedding set that she wants, although we have perused just about every catalog, website and store I can think of. She doesn't even have a specific idea in mind, she'll just know it when she finds it.

Next was my neice Paige, who became a teenager on the 21st. Every time I see her, which is fairly frequently, she grows taller. Her legs are about a mile long, and I am not kidding. I think her fave gift was the snowboard that her parents got her.

The latest birthday was my father-in-law's, on Friday. We celebrated on Saturday, at a fantastice restaurant, and then went back to my in-law's for dessert and presents.

On deck for February, we have my brother-in-law, Joe, Nick's grandmother and little Nico Suave' is turning 3 on the 17th.

In the last 3 weeks, almost every major appliance in our house broke. My beloved Dyson vacuum couldn't handle the pressure that I was putting on him and broke down. I was without him for a whole week, which was pure torture. $150 later, he's as good as new, and is being used religiously. Our dishwasher broke shortly after Mr. Dyson, and could not be fixed. After 1 week of handwashing all my dishes, I decided to purchase styrofoam plates and plastic cups. We did some serious damage to the environment that week, but, I'm sorry, hand washing dishes for a family of 6 ranks up there as one of the worst tasks on the planet. I have my new Bosch dishwasher, which I absolutely love. There was no love lost between me and the old one. It was extremely expensive, and from day one, it did not clean our dishes well at all. The next thing to go was my Microwave. I broke the glass tray that same week, and had to wait a week for the ordered one to arrive. Thankfully, I still had our old microwave in the basement so we were able to use that. Last week, our furnace started making a horrible clattering noise. Apparently there was a plastic piece on the motor that broke. Of course, you cannot purchase the plastic piece alone, you have to buy a whole new motor for about $700. I am surprised my credit card didn't burst into flames after all these charges. But, everything is fixed and and installed and we are back in business.

That's the latest. Hopefully 2 more months won't go by before I recap my life.