I am from

...Okay. I'll jump on the bandwagon. But beware. Poetry is NOT my thing. If that's what this is. Seriously...not my thing. You can blame Jane.




I am from wood paneled station wagons, from Tasty Marshmallow Krispies, Up and Down the River, Little Big Man, The Last Unicorn, and vacations to wide sandy beaches with nothing to do but be together.

I am from many different houses, each filled with the smells of cooking and artwork created by an uncle, clean and fresh, comfortable furniture and no forbidden rooms.

I am from window boxes full of annuals and houseplants with Proper Person names.

I am from never-ending game playing and straight brown hair with hazel eyes, from Laliberte's and Borchers's and Welch's and Brodeur's.

I am from the passive aggressive and teasing, non-confrontational and forgiving, welcoming and never ever forgetting.

From you are the most beautiful girls in the world and I'm going to put a brick on your head and I picked out a great dad for you and I first fell in love because your mother was so beautiful.

I am from CCD and sacraments and a kind nun and intimidating priests and trying to make each other laugh in mass and praying the rosary when someone is sick.

I'm from Ohio, French stuffing, lace cookies, and mushrooms that are great on steak or with turkey.

From the Pepere who was an orphan at 16 with 4 younger siblings he managed to keep together, the uncle who asked me why I was wearing a bra when I clearly didn't need one, a twin cousin who stole my name ;), and the amazing love stories and examples of true, sustaining, thick-and-thin marriages.

I am from photo albums in basements, tea cups from my Memere, odds 'n' ends hand-me-downs loaded with memories, and anecdotes of family history never told the same way twice.

From much love, stability, and easy to be taken for granted.

Fireflies

Saturday night we let all 3 kids stay up to catch fireflies. Lightning bugs. Whatever.

My kids go to bed early. Mostly because they wake up early and I am...ahem...sick of them by 7:00 at night. So Saturday was a real stretch. Michael was up at 5:30, Lily at 5:45, and Andrew at 6. It doesn't get dark enough for fireflies until around 9pm. By the time the kids were in bed, I was also ready for bed...my normal bedtime is between 9:30-10 pm. I was mentally spent. And then Sunday morning, Michael was up at 5:45, Lily at 6, and Andrew at 6:30. Lordy...what am I going to do when they stay up later than me? No peace and alone time!

I digress.

Catching fireflies was fantastic. It was Michael's first time, and he was ecstatic. Maybe as excited as seeing Thomas for the first time. Seriously. Jumping up and down, screeching when the one in his hand flashed for the first time, running about with general giddiness and hyperactivity. It only took him a few seconds to start catching them on his own. It was a joy to watch him and one of those times where Jeff and I catch each others' eyes and grin as if to say, "Oh, yes. THIS is why we keep them alive."

Andrew was over-tired and uncharacteristically rough with his siblings. Not physically rough...that's totally normal. Just constantly expressing his dominance over them. "Wow, Michael, you caught one. Well, I've caught 5 already." and "Gee, Lily, you aren't very good at seeing them. I am having no problem catching them." Grrrrrr.

Lily was...well, she was Lily. Of our 3, she gets the crankiest when she is sleep deprived and she is just generally over dramatic. She was screaming when she wasn't seeing them and catching them as quickly as Andrew. She was screaming when she realized that catching them meant they would touch her skin. She was screaming as she tried to explain to us that the flashing light would burn her skin...even as we tried to reasonably show her that her brothers were not getting hurt. She screamed a lot. But then Jeff tricked her into holding one, and she was delighted and shocked that it just tickled her. And then she happily bubbled around catching fireflies, naming them, and having conversations with them...in her totally charming and endearing Lily manner.

We should do things like this more. There were so many cute moments. Like when Michael stepped out into our super long grass and said, "Oh! This grass is too deep!"

The next day we took all 3 kids to the movies...for the first time ever. Well, the first time all together. We went at 11 am on Sunday...and the total cost was $44. That's just tickets! I totally smuggled in treats. So this may well be the LAST time we take all 3 kids together to the movies. Cars 2 was a clever and amazing movie. Not a KID movie, per se, but a great movie. When many of your jokes are in the subtitles or regarding crummy cars from the 70s and 80s, I'd say you are not even trying to appeal to the children.

It was a nice weekend. And hard to believe that next weekend we'll be sitting on the beach in South Carolina. Kiawah, here we come!!!

Thomas!!!!

I am finally sitting down to write about Michael's weekend. His Thomas weekend. It was a lot of money, a lot of rip offs, and most of all? A lot of joy.




We drove down the day before seeing Thomas so that we could ensure Michael saw Thomas in the morning when he was fresh and happy.

We met my parents for lunch in Strasburg, PA...the crazy grandparents drove from Ohio to experience "Michael's moment." (as Andrew kept calling our weekend).

We went to a farm playland, and bounced and slid and mauled baby chicks and drank $4 lemonades.

Then we went to our hotel. We had pick one that had a tremendous pool experience, so that Andrew and Lily would have something...just in case Thomas didn't rock their world. The pool was amazing...but Michael just might have enjoyed it the most out of the 3 kids. Daredevil. Then the kids had dinner in bed...a delightful swing on the popular breakfast in bed concept.

Downside to the expensive hotel? They placed us in a room overlooking the atrium. Where a wedding reception went on until 10 or 11. Loudly went on. My tip? Don't stay at a Doubletree...even if the pool is cool. Or at least ask if they have an atrium for events and then request to be far far away from it.

The day finally came. All we heard all weekend was, "Now I ride on real Thonas?" We had the first ride of the day...so Thomas wasn't quite ready yet. We got to see the other Strasburg Rail Engine...which was pretty cool.

We sabotaged a conductor on his way to work. He had a very cool handlebar mustache and was so friendly and nice to the kids.

We acknowledged Father's Day a few hours late. Nothing says "I love you!" to the dads in your life like packing them in with emotional toddlers and a huge blue train.

Here's the moment we first saw Thomas up close and chugging down the track. I swear, if you went to a Justin B. concert with a hall full of 12 year old girls...the reaction would be the same. All these toddlers were screaming and jumping up and down and crying and yelling out "THOMAS!" It was hilarious.

My Andrew was patient and enthusiastic and never complained a second. He was a good sport about letting Michael get his way and I just wish I had taken him when he was 3 and loved Thomas.

They did have some cool things for him to do. Like pump this thing down a track. See? I learned lots of technical trainy terms this weekend!

Lily was less enthusiastic and a bit whiny. She was excited to see Thomas the first time, but when we were pointing him out again later on, she said, "Yea. I already saw him." Thomas has never been her thing.

But she got into the spirit a bit. She was very kind to Michael and even let him pick the movie in the van because, "This is Michael's weekend."

Here we are riding Thomas. Michael has just felt the train start to move.

Andrew enjoyed the train ride too. We all did. But doesn't he look about 12 years old in this shot. Eerie.

Lily was an angel on the train. It was cool and breezy and put everyone in a good mood. Too bad it was ridiculously short. We honestly paid more than $1 a minute for this train ride. My dad was calculating how much money they were making each day. Disgusting. And yet? I have no regrets because of how much fun we all had.

There were other little train rides too. Not nearly as cool.

All in all, a successful little trip. We left Thomas and ate lunch at a silly little restaurant in a caboose...that was right next to the train tracks. Michael was giddy each time Thomas went by. As we drove home, he must have said 4 times, "I had so much fun riding real Thomas." And when I was posting these pictures just moments ago, he started reliving it again. "I love riding real Thomas!" Now I just feel like I should plan little weekend trips for the other kids. I'm thinking Hershey for Lily ;)

PS. Dude. I hate blogger the last month or so. Seriously? Could blogging be less fun with all the glitches and technical issues to deal with? Each time I blog it is something different. I can't hit publish. The pictures download with an entire page of space between them. No spacing between anything. Can't link. Stops to save every 5 seconds and messes up the type. Spell check that only works in one area and then gives you no suggestions for any misspelled words. Are they just trying to get rid of everyone?

Endings and beginnings

Let me just say that for the record, Andrew's first grade teacher is a genius. The kids had 2 1/2 days of school this week. What in the world would you do with that time? Wasted. Not for this teacher. She created a Flag Day performance and spent last week teaching them their lines and patriotic songs and facts about the American Flag. Then she invited parents to come and watch...and had 2 performances so no one would miss. One on Monday and one on Tuesday. Genius. We will miss Mrs. C. Her 32 years of experience teaching will be a hard act to follow next year.

Here's Andrew back on August 30th. The day I locked us out of the house. -sigh-

Here we are on the last day, June 15th. I really wanted a similar shot and pose for the last day of school. But I waited too long to go out and take it, so Andrew ended up missing the bus. -sigh- I really need to get it together.

So today started S____n Summer Camp. Basic structure is less screen time. Positive feedback jars that can earn them cool rewards. More reading, more playing, more crafting, less vegging in front of tv, less fighting, less laziness. That last one is for me.

Day 1 was successful, I'd say. The marble jars were great. Michael got a marble each time he went potty. He didn't wear a diaper all day and even went to Target without one (I forgot). No accidents, AND he asked almost every time. No prompting necessary. The kids earned marbles by cleaning up, by playing nicely together, and by random acts of kindness to each other throughout the day. No marbles are given if a child asks for one. No marbles are ever taken out of the jar. Prizes include getting a treat from the ice cream truck, staying up an hour later, going to AC Moore and picking out a craft, $2 to spend at the grocery store on anything they want, etc. Ideas are welcome, peanut gallery.

One of our first activities was to make puppets out of their faces. Each kid posed for 3 shots of just their head, trying to show different emotions. Samples:

I printed them out on white computer paper, cut out their heads, and glued them on the end of Popsicle sticks. We took turns putting on plays with their head puppets. A huge hit. I'm sure we'll do it again as the summer goes on. We'll probably get Jeff and my heads involved and maybe even Shadow.

We went outside to paint our toilet paper tubes/future safari binoculars. I kid you not...it was fun! We have passed some kind of a threshold in the house where painting is fun. Everyone sat and painted and shared colors and no one freaked out about getting paint on their skin and they kept the correct paintbrush in the correct color and I don't think I yelled or started sweating or anything. Miracles. After we painted our toilet paper tubes, it was going so well that the kids just continued painting masterpieces:

Once finished we let them dry. They had blown all over the yard, and we lost one of Michael's initially. Andrew being the amazing big brother he is, quickly traded with Michael and took the monocle for himself. (5 marbles for that one...) I stapled the tubes together and added string and Voila! Safari binoculars. We went on a little safari in our backyard, and the kids had a blast! And no one got a tick! Success! I of course forgot the camera for that part, so the kids posed for me in the family room later:

While we were painting, Michael suddenly had to pee and asked if he could go in the grass. I don't know where he got the idea, but perhaps it is deep in the DNA of the male that it is cool to pee outside? Anyway, he was all excited about his act of maleness and Lily speaks up from the picnic table where she is painting, "Great. You peed in the grass...like SHADOW DOES." Ha! You tell those icky boys, Lil'!

It was a nice day. I am TIRED. The kids don't miss tv...yet. Andrew and Lily played for the entire time Michael was napping. They played pretend for 2 hours. Heaven. And in the morning they were totally absorbed with a board game. The only problem is...Michael. He wants to play with them DESPERATELY...but he's not very good at it yet. He gets too rough and has a short attention span and is, you know, three. So our challenge this summer is going to be to include Michael but not let him ruin the older two's fun. Should've had 4 kids...that's the hidden answer. ;)

Tomorrow we have a playgroup in the morning, and I have to pack for out trip to see Thomas this weekend. At some point I should go and get some food for when my parents come back with us from Thomas. And everyone will be re-learning how to shop together. It's been a while since I've done food shopping with 3 kids in tow. Yippee!

A week without Lily

Sunday we parted with Lily for the week. She left Bald Eagle State Park with Grandma and Grandpa and we went on home. I had grand plans for great one-on-one time with Michael and doing fun things with just 2 kids. We ended up doing virtually nothing. Ugh.

Things that thwarted my plans:

--heart troubles over the weekend led to a doctor's appointment Monday, lab visit Tuesday, and cardiologist appointment Friday. Childcare was found for 2 out of 3 visits. At the lab, Michael entertained the other patients by saying things like, "Red is for lemonade" (on the water cooler) and "You need to go to the doctor" (to the woman asking him questions about his name and age). I am probably just fine, by the way. I have a bunch of tests scheduled for the end of the month, so obviously they are not worried about me keeling over and dying yet.

--Heat, my God, the HEAT. It was in the high 90s for much of the week, preventing any park adventures. Also preventing me from going to museums because there is nothing I like less that entering a car after it has been sitting in a parking lot in 100 degree heat. Also, Andrew's school had early dismissal on Thursday because they don't have air conditioning and it was dangerously hot.

-- The boys don't really know what to DO with each other. Lily seems to be the glue. The idea lady. I had to kind of teach the boys how to interact. And they did. But they didn't have nearly the fun times that Lily ensures. I mean, there was a lot less screaming. But there was a lot more tackling and ball throwing and rough play that led to injuries. No one pretended to be a cat or a Pokemon. It was a weird week. Michael came up to me a few times a day and said, "Where my best friend Luly?" Kind of sad and cute.

-- I borrowed season 5 and 6 of Grey's Anatomy from the library. So every afternoon and evening I was sucking into the soap opera drama of it. Meaning...no cleaning or projects were accomplished. I've never watched the show, and I really enjoyed the melodrama. But I think I'm over it now. Oh! And I read a book. Not a good one. But I read it. Very unproductive.

-- I decided that while Lily was gone I was going to hard core potty train Michael. We had no diaper on whenever we were at home. It went...okay? He is definitely ready. And he is definitely NOT ready. So. I don't really know what to do next. He will not ask to go if he's wearing a diaper, but he frequently goes potty when he is not wearing a diaper. Underpants feel enough like a diaper that he also has no problem going in those. So commando is the only way we have success. But it still isn't fool proof. Or should I say, Poop proof. Exhibit A:

This happened minutes after he'd successfully gone potty on the potty. Apparently he wasn't done. And he stepped in it with his shoes and walked through the house to get Jeff and I in the family room. He stood in front of me and said, "Ma. You got to come see this. I poo on the floor." -sigh- I hate potty training.


All in all, despite the craziness and the whining and the stubborness...we just aren't right without Lily. It's very Jerry Maguire. You know...she "completes" us.

And the boys were so happy to see her. She jumped out of the car and first ran to Shadow. Ouch. Then Michael ran out yelling, "My best friend!" and Andrew tackled her in a hug. And they ran in the house playing like a pack of puppies. A few minutes later we found them like this:



Just watching tv cuddling up on the couch. What a blessing to have kids that love each other. I'm so glad they have each other!

Bald Eagle State Park

We went on a mini-vacation with Jeff's parents this weekend. To Bald Eagle State Park. We stayed at the inn. I have been trying for 2 days to embed links on those...but D&!n Blogger.

The inn was beautiful and fabulous. The park was scenic and lovely. We had ideal weather. And almost ideal children. It was a wonderful weekend.


The patio off the back of the inn. Overlooking Bald Eagle Mountain and PJ Sayers Lake (I think it is called that). Notice the grills...that's where we made our Saturday night dinner. Steaks. Tube steaks for the kids and yummy steaks for us.

Views from the patio.

There were bald eagles nesting on the far shore of the lake in front of the inn. They had telescopes set up on the balconies so you could see them. We saw two babies (huge!) and the adults with their regal white heads. Amazing.

One of our excursions on Saturday was fishing. Lily loves fishing. Well, actually, she wants nothing to do with the actual fish. But she likes picking out the worm and casting and reeling in her catch. She is uncharacterisically patient while fishing.

Andrew also loves fishing. He is also a bit too chicken to touch the fish but he is patient and calm about the whole process. I think he empathizes a bit too much with the fish and the worms. Like his mother.

Andrew's bass.

We don't have any pictures of Michael fishing because he was too impatient. We'd get his line cast out and he'd throw down the pole and yell, "I wan go fishing!" To which we explained this IS fishing. This is it. Then he'd throw a little screaming fit. And when one of his siblings would catch a fish, he screamed, "But I WAN GO FISHING!" -sigh- Did I mention he didn't sleep so well the first night in the hotel?

We also went to a sandy beach for a picnic lunch. There were dead fish everywhere. This was possibly the highlight of the trip for Michael. He talked about the dead fish all the time. (apparently they lower the level of the lake a few weeks ago, and the change in pH is killing just this one kind of fish).

Another one of Michael's favorite things were the bird footprints set in the concrete sidewalks. Simple pleasures. Andrew riddled the naturalist with questions about birds and eagles and bats and a millipede that he found on a walk. The naturalist was around quite a bit throughout the weekend, coming to talk about the eagles on the balcony of the inn, leading a nature walk, and giving an evening talk about bats. Andrew drank it all in and LOVED it. He did cry a bit about the bats (they are dying in vast numbers from a white fungus)

All in all, a fabulous weekend. Thank you, Linda and Paul! And I hope you are enjoying Lily...since you kidnapped her away after the trip. It is strange around here without her.