Hi, it's me again!

It's been so long since I have written that I actually had to reset my password because I couldn't remember it! How many bloggers can claim that?? We have just survived Christmas 2008. It was a fairly uneventful experience........by that I mean that the kids were fairly well behaved and were marginally excited about the whole process, which equals a success for us. We crammed 3 Christmases into 2 days, which is an event unto itself. We started at the crack of dawn at our house where Santa had waved his magic wand in ourl iving room. Then, about 1:00pm, we headed up to Ocala and visited with my family and had Christmas that evening. The next day we went over to John's Mom's house and had a brunch and Christmas again, and then came home so John could go to work. It was a pretty busy two days! The kids are very excited about the things they got..........Ian wanted WII games, and got the Guitar Hero bundle pack from Santa. Gavin wanted electronic Monopoly, and has discovered that it isn't any fun playing against Daddy, who immediately puts up hotels on his property and then it costs 25 million to stay a turn. I just want to know how my hubby can be such a tycoon at Monopoly, but just can't seem to turn that around into a life experience!! I'm sure it's because nobody has ever stared him out with 15 million before! Emma got a huge assortment of Barbie furniture and is very content to sit up in her room and play with her Barbie's all day!

The Power of the WII

So this summer, we got the WII system by Nintendo. I actually thought very hard about the benefits and the downsides of having a gaming system for our family. We never had the PlayStations, or the PSPs, or the Xboxes..........we didn't even so much as have Atari floating around. What we did have and loved was the V-Smile system from VTech. The boys played those games almost every day and we have quite the collection of Super Hero games. But, as Ian gets older, I realize that he is completely in the minority by not having a gaming system. Spend any time in a second grade class, and you realize that a lot of the language being used is that of gamers, and classwork becomes dimensions of other worlds. I convinced myself that Ian was at a disadvantage by not having that commonality with his peers. He almost needs that tangible conversation to be able to socialize and break down the barriers that are self-imposed. So, we embarked on the journey of finding the right gaming system. John would have liked to have PlayStation 3 because it plays Blue Ray Disks. I wanted a system that maybe the kids would have to get on their feet once in a while to play. In order to remove the "mine" component of the system, we decided that it would be John's Father's Day gift, and therefore, belong to him, with all of the powers of ownership attached. Of course, we couldn't find it in June and bought him the WII Lego Starwars Game instead. In hindsight, maybe having the game around, but not the system to play it, led to the highly anticipated day of getting the WII. I almost wish that I could have been a fly on the wall of Ian's mind as he imagined for 6 weeks what is was going to be like to play. Mid July, we finally found the system at Best Buy and bought all of the necessary trinkets and gadgets to play with multiple kids. We have had the system now for a month. I am ready to get rid of it. My friend Kathy has told me that we are in the "Honeymoon" phase with the system and that this too shall pass. I hope she has access to a crystal ball, because I see no end in sight to the addiction. My boys will wake up early and play the games before I even get up. They yell at each other that one killed the other, that this car ran off that road, that it's not fair he's a pro bowler. They have no awareness of the passage of time, they forget to eat the lunch that is placed in front of them, they knock over glasses of lemonade with literally no realization of what has happened. When I tell them to turn it off at night, they have melt downs that they need to finish just one more level. I welcome the arrival of school because I have steadfastedly said that there will be NO WII during the school week. I have heard every imaginable plea that has been uttered, have been offered every penny from secret hiding places, and have been assured that rooms will be picked up and cleaned. I am standing my ground. There will be NO WII during the school week. I was determined to close my ears to the wails of deprived boys, to be as stern as any rehab director staging an intervention, to have no wiggle room. Then came TS Fay. School started on a Monday, I put up my reminder signs.........."don't ask, there is NO WII" and they canceled school for Tuesday. Ian woke up, ran downstairs, and announced that it was no longer a school week because they had no school to go to. So, during the first week of standing firm, they played for 36 hours...........that's almost a full time job. So, today starts another Monday, a real 5 day week, and I am once again determined that there will be NO WII during the week. Wish me luck! If you come by the house after 10:00 pm, I'll play you a game of tennis.

summer vacations

Wow! I almost can't believe that summer is over! We had such a busy time, doing lots of day trips here and there. We started off with a camping and canoeing trip, (see my blog about camping in the wildernesss) and then we stayed at a local condo with other family members for a week. The kids went fishing with their older cousins, played at the on site water park , and participated in the daily arts and crafts. We played family tennis, shuffleboard, and volleyball tournaments. As a family, we bought SeaWorld, Aquatica, and Busch Garden year passes. We went to Aquatica, which the kids just loved, and we spent two days at Busch Gardens, which I think they loved even more. If we lived closer, we would be there a lot! We also broke down this summer and bought a WII. So, we've had a very busy summer and Mommy is really looking forward to the beginning of school!

Emma's Tea Party

Emma turned 4 this year and wanted a Tea Party in the worst way. I was thinking of my house filled with all of these little girls in fancy dresses, and wondering where I would find the time to clean my house, what I would do with my two boys, and where I would send my husband so he wouldn't go crazy. Even admidst all of these obstacles, I was determined to give her a tea party. Then, thanks to my friend, we discovered this county park with a splash pad. Not at my house, entertainment for the kids (playground AND splash pad), the boys could come and hang, (both old and young) PERFECT! Thankfully, Emma was up for the prettiest bathingsuit-splash pad-tea party too. John's Mom had bought Emma a tea set a couple of years ago and had kept it, and so she and I were thrilled that she had an appropriate gift, and I had a cake topper for her purple and pink cake! Emma loved having all of her friends over, loved serving tea, and loved generally being the center of attention. She declared it the best way to turn 4, and I agree. Also, as part of her birthday gift froom Mom and Dad, she got to design her big girl room. Can you guess what she picked?? A garden with flowers and fairies, with purple and pink walls, of course! Since I am no Martha Stewart, I was so excited about how it turned out and wanted to share a picture of it!

Wilderness camping................NOT

John and I took the kids camping to Juniper Springs in the Ocala National Forest this past weekend. As a child, we would go there once or twice a year, mostly for my Dad's company picnics. I have fond memories of walking down the creek, canoeing, and swimming in the Springs, and wanted to introduce the experience to my kids. What started out as a tent camping expedition, quickly evolved to a borrowing of a pop-up camper adventure, which morfed into taking my parents 32' rv, equipped with bathroom, fridge, stove top and AC. Hardly roughing it, really! I admit, I'm a wuss!

Our first night we were introduced to all of the racoons that live in the campground area.....Emma was sure that Pocohantas was somewhere in the woods if Meeko was so close by..(such is the life of living with a wanna-be Princess). I brought along the kids' nets, which they were so excited to catch the fish in the Spings with. We will definitely be taking Ian with us if we ever do "Family Survivor", as he can catch those little minnows!

Now, I don't remember the Spring water being so cold when I was a kid (it is always 72), but as my sister explained, there is now a difference in temperatures: kid warm, Daddy warm, and Mommy warm. 72 is definitely not Mommy Warm, so I watched from the side as the kids swam around, caught fish and shivered. There is a rock wall about 10' above the water (which goes down about 20') that people often jump off of. Next to that wall is a slippery rock that is another 3' or so above the wall. If you know my kids, you know that Gavin was not in the pool but 5 minutes before he wanted to jump off of that wall. My sister tells me that for sure, I had jumped off of that wall many times when I was younger. I think it must have been traumatic enough to have been wiped from my memory.........but, that is nothing to watching your 6 year old contemplate jumping 10 feet into 20 feet water. He just finished up swim lessons, and is still working at being a strong swimmer, so I made John stand on the ledge under the wall in case Gavin needed help......(John declared 72 not Daddy-warm either, but he's a Daddy and will do almost anything for his kids....did I mention that the grass and fishies in the water freaked him out??) So, Gavin jumped in, doggie paddled to the ledge and declared that "AWESOME". I so see his Uncle Billy in him.........Gavin will be the high adventure, parachuting, thrill seekerer of our family! Eventually John jumped as well, figuring he couldn't let his 6 year old show him up. And, then, much to my surprise, Ian decided to jump too. I was so proud of Ian, as it usually takes him a while to attempt something new and different, and this was definitely out of his comfort box. By the next day, both boys were jumping off of the slippery rock too! Emma was happy to play on the steps, thank God!

The next day, we canoed the creek run..............7 miles long. We had to take 2 canoes because of weight and water levels, which meant that John and I canoed the creek primarily by ourselves. Although Ian turned out to be quite an oarsman. Gavin, on the other hand, couldn't quite figure out the jist of paddling. After a mile, Gavin left my canoe and I got Ian, which was much more enjoyable for all of us. We saw too many turtles to count, a couple of other canoers, and two very large alligators. I've decided that alligator size is relative to your environment...........in a zoo, these gators were probably not very big, but on the side of a creek, 2 feet away, with your children in the canoe, these guys were HUGE. We couldn't convince Gavin though that they were real. He wanted to row over and touch one to see if it would move. See, adrenaline junkie in the making.............. We completed the canoe run in about 5 1/2 hours, which was a couple of hours too long for the boys..........Emma enjoyed the canoe trip by laying on a soft sided cooler in the middle of my canoe and thought it was fun. John and I ate Motrin for dinner that night!

Actually, John's Mom, my parents, my oldest niece, my sister and her two girls all came out and we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and made s'mores over our campfire. It was a lot of fun to just hang out by the fire and relax. The next day we went to Mom and Dads to unpack the RV, let the kids swim without fish, and headed home.

Mommy and Emma

So, I think my daughter is an average 3 year old. She loves dolls, and she doesn't like to eat........unless it comes from a box with cute characters gracing the front, or it is a pop tart, particularily chocolate, or brown sugar and cinnamon. Now, you must understand, Emma would eat these two items all day long if I would let her....and often enough, she has worn me down to cereal at night. Now, she absolutely refuses to eat what I cook for dinner, declaring it "disgusting" before it even hits the table. I am trying to hold the hard line: when she is hungry, she will eat, and to make sure that she only has access to healthy things. I think though that it has gone too far.......here is a conversation that happened last night: I was upstairs stripping paint off of her bedroom walls (she has slept in the nursery long enough, so she declares) and she was playing with her barbie dolls. While she was brushing one of the dolls hair, the head popped off. Emma said that she could look into her dolls head and see her brain. I asked her if the brain was big or small. She said it was small. I immediately said, "well, she must not eat her vegetables at dinner time"......how quickly these innocent conversations turn into the power struggle issues! Oh, and no dolls were injured during this exchange, as Emma was able to get the doll's head back on, intact with the small, non-eating brain.

Summer is here!!

Today was the last day of school..........which, for my kids, is also the first day of summer. My Mother-in-law came down on Tuesday morning to see my youngest son "graduate" from Kindergarten. Her mother, who had lived with her for 22 years, passed away earlier this year, giving her much more freedom to spend her days as she chooses. We have thusly entered into a new relationship with Grandma Mac. She drove down on Tuesday, and will be going back home on Friday. The kids are excited, John and I actually went out to lunch (BY OURSELVES), and we may even get a dinner date out of it! What a great way to start summer!

Gavin won a Presidential Silver award for academic brilliance. One girl and one boy won it from each class. It is actually signed by President Bush........needless to say, he was VERY excited! Interestingly enough, I have been getting many congratulatory calls, which kind of makes me laugh a little, because I certainly didn't do anything! Gavin is just Gavin, a wonderful young man. Ian won the Academic Whiz award for his class. His teacher said that if anyone ever wanted to know the answer to anything, they would just ask Ian, and he would know. He also received his standardized test scores back this week.........his overall battery tests out at 7th grade, 7th month, with his language skills being Post High School. I'm still not exactly sure how an 8 year old can have post high school skills................I'm not sure if that says a lot about my son, or not so much about the average high schooler. Either way, he is doing very well and is looking forward to 3rd grade next year, but only after an amazing summer. He has already submitted his wish list for what he would like to do this summer.

I wish each of my friends a very happy summer and cheers to the power of suntan lotion!

Memorial Day Weekend

I managed to entertain my children again this weekend! I am SUPER MOM! On Saturday, Ian had a soccer game...sadly, they lost 2-0, both goals being scored while Ian was goalie. He is just not made out to play the goalie position! It was the longest 8 minutes of my life to watch my boy struggle and look over at me, like, "hey Mom, come get me off this field!" All of my cerebral insights about how it isn't just him on the team....it's a team effort....everyone has to play their part to keep the ball away from the goal......everyone has strengths and weaknesses...just went in one ear and out the other I'm afraid. He is pretty excited about the pizza/swim party after their last game next weekend though! At this age, it is still all about the oranges at half time and the snacks at the end of the game. After the game, we headed up to Ocala and helped my niece celebrate her 6th birthday party. Between the pool and the water slide, the kids were busy all afternoon. My brother and his family were also there for the weekend (good for Ian, as my oldest Niece and Nephew are extreme soccer players and Ian was able to practice, play and just talk soccer) All 12 of us (5 adults, 7 children....Dad couldn't make it), went Blueberry picking Sunday afternoon, (we had to get the kids out of the water somehow). Gavin was sure there were blackberries mixed in as some of the blueberries were a darker shade of blue. I think we actually picked more than we ate, although Emma had blue teeth by the time we left! My little pickers managed to pick 5.8 pounds in an hour..........I'm seriously considering hiring them out this summer. My husband's Mom came over for a couple of hours on Sunday to visit and see the kids. All in all, a successful weekend: the kids visited with all of the grandparents, I enjoyed a pleasant drive home listening to MY music (with sleeping kids) and I got to see my husband for a couple of hours before he went back to work Monday morning.

My first jump into Blog Land...or, was I pushed?

So, my sister in law and now my sister have both started "blogging" on their own blog sites. I have only just started reading the various blogs that my sister has sent me........you know, along the lines of, "this will make you laugh". I have often thought, when do these people have the time to sit down and write and keep up with their pages? I guess I'll now find out. I like the idea of a blog........being able to write what I want...because, afterall, it's MY page........keeping track of what I am doing in life....because, often, I look back and say, "now, what did I do last week"....and, at some level, having something to keep me accountable to making sure that every day is enjoyable, amongst the craziness. I think I also want to have something tangible to hold over my kids when they say that I'm the meanest Mom around, and no fun. How nice will it be to plunk them down in front of this and say....see, you were smiling on this day!!