2nd grader

After our false start yesterday, we were off and getting ready for school this morning. All was well...we were ready 30 minutes early and went across the street to feed and water the cats we are watching. Then we walked down to the bus stop. Halfway there, Lily wiped out. Huge skinned knees and bleeding palms. She was hysterical. And I couldn't exactly take her back home...the bus was coming any minute. So she limped and screamed to the bus stop and then just cried...loudly...the whole time. -sigh- Better than locking myself out of the house like last year.
Andrew has had zero nerves...he's an elementary school pro at this point. But 2 minutes before the bus came, he wrapped his arms around my waist and whispered, "What if I don't like Mrs. L?" My sweet sweet baby. How much longer will he hug me for comfort in front of his friends. -sigh- And then the bus came and he was off.

I watched 2 little boys all day for a friend of mine, so it made the day pass rather quickly. She even paid me...whoopee! We made cookies for Andrew's first day...and I doubled the batch for my friend so she'd have cookies for her daughter as well.

I had to drag the kids out to walk down to the bus stop...Lily was having...um...pooping problems, so she was screaming and hollaring AGAIN at the bus stop. Lordy.

Andrew skipped off the bus with a huge smile on his face. I had told him this morning that I didn't want to get shrugs and "I don't knows" when I asked him about his day. So he gave me Every. Single. Detail. about his day. Literally from the moment he walked into the school until the end of the day. They did an amazing amount of work in the first day of school. And apparently Andrew absorbed it all :)

After his dissertation, Lily dragged him away to play Pokemon. And they are happily entranced in their own little game again. Reunited and it feels so good!

First Day of School!!!...oh...wait...

Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene has done a number on local roads and power grids. Allegedly. Our house was untouched. We never lost power and we have a few sticks on the ground...nothing else. Unfortunately, the rest of the district was not so lucky. One dad sent out a picture of a MAJOR road...completely underwater.

So Andrew gets one more day of summer vacation. -sigh-

The Shore

We made it back home from Jersey today! I closely followed my friends...and they were so worried about losing me on the freeway, we drove slower than a funeral procession. I have good friends ;)

It was a simply gorgeous day...low humidity, breezy, some cloud coverage. Perfect for the beach. And this one is only a little more than an hour away from our house!

But, I'll admit it, my children are spoiled brats. The water was too cold (it was). The sand was too gravely (it was). The beach was too crowded (it was). Guess who the biggest spoiled brat of them all is ;)

No, seriously, if you weren't constantly comparing it to another beach, it would be a simply lovely place to spend the day. And, in fact, we had a lovely day.

Andrew refused to do anything at first. Just driving by the beach to look for a parking lot he announced, "I don't like this beach. It's too crowded." He also refused to go in the water. But he had a blast finding treasures in the sand...little shells and crab claws, etc.

It certainly was more crowded than we are used to...and this is in the middle of the day on a Tuesday...I can't imagine the weekends!

Lily is truly my beach girl. She just loved it. She was also scared of the water...there is almost no shelf, so the waves really smash into the shore. So she just flitted in and out and dug holes and threw sand into the waves. Happy girl.


Michael was scared beyond reason of the water. He wouldn't get within 8 feet of it. Screaming in terror. But he loved the sand. He kept burying himself in it. Unfortunately, he wouldn't get in the water to wash it off. -sigh-

The most frustrating thing was that the kids wouldn't stay in the same area. Lily was by the shore, Michael was by the blanket, and Andrew was wandering by the boardwalk to look for treasures. And there were 5,000 people milling around us for me to search through. I am so exhausted from trying to keep an eye on them all the time.

But it was successful. I would go again. It is so close to us! And the homes near the beach were so huge and gorgeous...I could just walk around the neighborhoods and house hunt ;)

I'm glad we did it! We survived Jersey!

34

Yesterday I turned 34. Jeff treated me like a queen for a day...letting me hole up in my room and read a book, making stuffed french toast for breakfast, taking the kids to a birthday party while I went to get my cousin Nicole from the airport, giving the kids a bath while I drove back from the airport sans Nicole due to storms, and finally driving back to the airport to actually get Nicole when her plane arrived a few hours later. Honestly, I feel like he's buttering me up for something. Like today he'll come home from work and say, "Hey, I didn't want to ruin your birthday, but I have a job interview for an oil rig in the Persian Gulf. Won't that be a fun experience for you and the kids?!?"

But he was probably just being nice ;) The kids were...not as cooperative as you would hope. They were hilariously excited to give me their gifts (chip clips, 2 Tervis cups, a candle, an ice cream scoop, and a new spatula) and nearly frantic to cut into the birthday cake.

I wanted to make resolutions for my 34th year. My resolutions are always very similar and I always always break them. So I won't even write them down. No point. One was to challenge myself to write a blog entry every day of my 34th year. And then I forgot to do one yesterday. FAIL! Another is to finally lose 20 pounds. But I've been saying that for as long as I've been blog writing, and all I've done in the last 6 years is GAIN 15 pounds. -sigh-. I suck at resolving to do things.

One thing I'm determined to do this year is venture into Jersey (insert shaking fist) more. We've lived here almost 5 years (can you believe it? 5 years ago on labor day we found out we were moving to Philly. FIVE YEARS), and I avoid the nearby state of New Jersey like it is a 3rd world country. But they have enticing things...like beaches, and Whole Foods, and Trader Joes, and Pottery Barns. So tomorrow I'm venturing to the shore for the first time. Don't ask me which one. I don't know. I didn't ask because it wouldn't mean anything to me anyway. I will blindly follow one of my friend's cars through the confusing intersections until we reach sand.

So hello, 34! We'll try to reach 35 with more blog entries, less pounds, and more Jersey (insert shaking fist) driving experience.

Photo catch-up

So we had a delightful weekend. I'm glad Nicole doesn't have a blog, because hers might read something like:

Dear Lord. If I have to play another game of UNO or Yahtzee Jr. or Monopoly Jr or pretend restaurant I may line my pockets with stones and sink to the bottom of a river.

But she DOESN'T have a blog, so you only get my version ;)


We didn't do much, honestly. She was here en route to Germany, so I didn't want to wear her out too much. And we are boring. But I'm sticking with the Germany thing to make myself feel better.


We DID go check out a cool sculpture garden that I've been meaning to go check out. Despite the fact that it is in Jersey (insert fist shaking here) and we managed to miss the turn-about (not marked) that would have taken us left to the park, it was pretty cool. Very nicely landscaped grounds and sculptures tucked in every nook and cranny. Of course, I only remembered to take 4 pictures:



The kids ran from sculpture to sculpture reading the tiny signs to see if they were able to touch to artwork. Imagine little voices yelling across the open spaces, "Can't touch this!" Now imagine the group of 30-somethings giggling and immediately getting MC Hammer stuck in their heads. All. Day.

We also went swimming with Nicole (no photos), to the mall with Nicole (no photos), and hung out at the house an obsene amount of time due to rain (no photos). We stayed up chatting like college roommates, but went to bed like lame-o 33 year olds. I can't wait for her to come back next Sunday and celebrate our birthdays together. She insists that we will be celebrating MY birthday, but I've informed her that if I have to turn 34, she is going down with me.



Some other random photos on my camera...

Playing UNO. Michael is not so good at it yet. He just wants to skip people.

At the wedding in Cleveland:

I don't know why I'm the only one squatting in this one. We later took a shot of all of us crouching down to make Andrea the tallest sister...but instead I have this one of me looking like I'm collapsing. I only had 3 (or 4?) raspberry martinis...I swear!

My sisters and I with my Aunt Jeannette, mother of the groom.

The kids dancing in front of a tv display at the mall.

Andrew posing with his block creation at Grandma's.
The ice cream cake that Lily picked out just for me. She knows me so well...purple icing with dinosaurs in the middle ;)
Michael is potty trained! Yay! It means we can't lock him in his bedroom anymore. Which leads to us finding him asleep in the hallway outside his room.
Lily playing a game all by herself today. She does this a lot. But this is the first time I've found her playing with a toy. So stinkin' cute. She was making a voice for him as they played.

Preparing to be self-concious

I am preparing today. Preparing for a much anticipated visitor. My cousin Nicole.

Nicole is my twin. Not really, but that's what we call each other. She was born 20 hours before me and stole my intended name. If I hadn't been so insistant on arriving on my actual due date (I've always demanded being on time), I would be Nicole instead of Giselle. She always lived in Chicago while I lived in Ohio, but I have so many great memories of me and my twin. We thought we looked so much alike that if we dressed the same, people wouldn't be able to tell us apart.

Funny, because we are quite different in many ways. I think I've always been in awe of my cousin...even as a very young child. And before every visit, I get nervous and self-concious of myself. It has been 5 full years since I've seen her, and the feelings are intense.

Nicole is beautiful. Crystal blue eyes, wavy dark hair, and straight white teeth. Contagious laugh and smiling eyes.

Nicole is confident. She never seems awkward or out of place. She is who she is, and makes no apologies.

Nicole is brave. She went to a alternative high school hundreds of miles away from her parents. She has faced chronic debilitating headaches, heart ache, living far from support systems. And without an ounce of self-pity (that I know of), she soldiers on and makes friends and supporters wherever she goes.

Nicole is adventurous. She has traveled the world, taken on big issues, and overseen obstacles to get there.

Nicole is humble. No matter how amazing her life has been, she has the ability to make you feel interesting and worthwhile.

Nicole is so much more. :) How silly to think I could sum her up here. Add that to the fact that I don't even really know her very well...to me she is a composite of childhood memories (she was so good at roller skating and she painted her bathroom freehand and she had this cool closet that you could walk in and play) and stories passed between her father and my mother and then to me (she just spent a year in Uganda working on her PhD something or other) and the few visits we've had as adults (the last time I saw her I was in the first trimester of my pregnancy with Lily...so I'm pretty sure I barfed while I was hanging out with her...and we were randomly at a fencing tournament for Jeff...I'm sure THAT was exciting for her...and yet I remember her laughing...).


She is in stark contrast to me. You know, the girl who uses self-depricating humor at every turn? The one who cried for 2 weeks because she went to college 45 minutes away from her mommy? The one who has never lived by herself and has kept herself cocooned in safe loving family her whole life? The one who ate at McDonald's in china town in San Francisco because I couldn't read the menus? The one whose most recent great accomplishment is teaching a child to not eliminate his waste into his pants?

After being in Africa for a year, will she look with disgust at the excess that we have? Will my children be obnoxious (yes) and will it make her want to run out and get her tubes tied? There is a lot of pressure for my children to be charming and funny and well-behaved...because they are MY life's work...all I have to show for the last 8 years.

Luckily, I know that when Nicole walks through the door, it will be a blast. There has never been a time where I've felt self-concious or awkward while I'm with her. That's the cool thing about cousins...you just kind of pick up where you left off. So she just needs to GET here, so I can put all this self doubt behind me. Well, I need to sweep the kitchen floor first...but THEN she can get here.

Tour de Ohio, 2011

July 29th- drive to Ohio with little issue. Lily slept for 2 hours...a personal and family record. My favorite Michael quote came when it was his turn to pick the movie and he picked The Little Mermaid. Lily was so excited. Mike told her very seriously, "I'm just a boy...who loves mermaids."

July 30th- Jeff and I get all gussied up and pose for pictures like it was prom all over again. We leave the children with my fabulous in-laws and head to Cleveland for my cousin's wedding. I see all kinds of family I don't get to see much, enjoy a beautiful wedding service that reminds us of our own, drink, eat great food, drink some more, dance, and enjoy a hotel room all to ourselves. A lovely lovely 24 hour date.

July 31st- Wake up and realize that we are getting too old to stay up until 1:30am. Curse the children for prematurely aging us. Go out to eat breakfast just the two of us to try and stretch out our date day a little longer. Head back to Mt. Vernon and jump in the car to go fishing and ride a pontoon boat with the kids and in-laws. Catch nothing. Get adorable videos of the children taking turns driving the boat and playing with the worms.

August 1st- Go to the random Amish Farm, and wander happily looking at and feeding animals. I even had a giraffe wrap his tongue completely around my arm...several times. That night we had dinner with my sister and her husband and sat around the fire pit cooking s'mores.

August 2nd- Leave for Cincinnati...without Jeff, who was working from his parents' house for the week. We visited with my Aunt Jeannette a bit, and then went to visit my Memere. The kids were fabulous at the nursing home and it was nice to see her smiling. Went to the library and out to pizza.

August 3rd- It was a stormy day. We went to the mall and played at Pottery Barn Kids and the Lego store. Children were spoiled ;) That afternoon, we took the kids to see The Smurfs. Dinner was a birthday feast for me (even though my birthday isn't for a few weeks), complete with presents and a homemade German Chocolate cake. Jeannette and "Uncle Buck" stayed to celebrate with us.

August 4th- Went to a park in the morning and let the kids run around and feed ducks/fish. In the afternoon, we went to the pool with my cousin and her son. It was refreshing and relaxing. The kids watched Fox and the Hound while I ate dinner quietly out on my parents' porch.

August 5th- After a quiet-ish morning, we headed on the road again. We stopped in Columbus to have lunch with Andrea and Dave. It was...a fast lunch. Going out to eat with tired children is never a relaxing venture. Once back in Mt. Vernon, Jeff's parents shooed us out the door to have a pre-anniversary date. We got back in time to help put the kids to bed and then retreated into his parents' hot tub and ate Graeter's.

August 6th- Jeff and his dad went zip-lining, Linda went to a shower, and I stayed back and ignored the children while I finished my book (The Paris Wife...very good). That afternoon we went to the water park in town and had a blast. I think Andrew went down the water slide 20 times. And off the diving board the same amount. Came back home and had another birthday dinner and cake and presents (still 2 weeks before my birthday). Great-Grandma and Dottie stayed to celebrate.

August 7th- Jeff and I celebrate 12 years together while driving back to Philly. Michael slept 45 minutes. Favorite Lily quote came when she was mumbling and I complained I couldn't understand her. She said, "I. Am. Speaking. English." Tee hee hee. Got home to a house empty of food, but we were too lazy to go shopping.

August 8th- I avoid the piles of crap in my front hallway and bedrooms and kitchen counter by writing an unnecessarily long blog entry. Must take all 3 grouchy children to the store. Must hide all sharp implements and rope so I don't do myself in instead. Ugh.