Road Trip!

Well after 4 years of not being away from the kids, my husband suggested I go on a road trip. So two friends and I are heading off to New York City to see the sights.

We have gone up and down the emotional roller coaster of "Maybe we shouldn't go?" "Three nights is a long time." "I have so much to do at home."

The time has come and we ARE GOING.

I am sure it will be fun once we work through the anxieties.

Later on dudes.

Open Challenge

I feel the need to publicly challenge all professional chefs and cooks out there to prepare the meals they prepare with a 27 pound 2 1/2 year old on their hip ("Mommy I want you hold me.") and while negotiating World War II between the older siblings. ("I am just so mad at him." "He hit me on the head with the umbrella." etc. etc.)

Wouldn't it be nice to have a personal sous chef to chop and prepare the food? I would even let them do the serious cooking every now and again.

I mean, really, how am I to have my husband's slippers and cigar ready for him when he comes home from work?

To me, this is one of life's great mysteries.

A "Leisurely" Evening Stroll

I had been at home most of the day with the two younger boys and their colds. We had been taking it pretty easy. We snacked. We played "Sorry". We watched video. After dinner I thought maybe Ben should get out of his pajamas and we should go somewhere and do something. Why not get ice cream and then go for a hike??

Great plan. We drove out to the ridge where my father's parents lived. I knew there would be a beautiful view and if it had been mowed we could easily hike to the top. Lucky break because the grass had not only been mowed but had been raked into lovely rows soaking up the September sun and awaiting the baler. We happily hike. The view is great even though a bit obscured by the overly mature trees around the edges of the field. I even smiled as Ethan and Ben bowled Osage orange balls down the hill remembering doing the same thing as a kid.

Things were going so well and we saw the farm house over the tall grass. "Can we go to the house?" "Sure."

We venture around the barn, teeter across the telephone pole on the ground, look both ways even though it is sparsely travelled, cross the dirt road and head to the big house. We admired the grounds and headed around back to the grape arbor. Ethan tried to swing on the hammock (a big no no if Grandma was looking out the window) fell off and declared "I think I broke a bone." He didn't. After what came next he quickly forgot the pain from that ordeal.

Next scene Will poking a stick in the ground. Chaos as Ethan starts screaming that something is biting him. Will starts screaming. I can't see anything. Kevin yells, "BEES". We all start running across the yard. They are hanging on. Ethan still screaming. Stripping off his shirt. They are still hanging on our clothes and trying to sting us. "RUN." We head up the road. Ethan still screaming. Will crying. Ben running. We make it halfway up the road as we try to get back to the van. Bees are still on my pants and jacket and Kevin's shirt. We start stripping off our clothes. Kevin rips Ethan's sock off because there is one still biting him. "KEEP RUNNING."

"Take the baby." I yell because I am out of shape and I was slowing down. Will was distraught because we left his satin Cleveland Indians jacket laying in the road. My soccer boys, Ethan and Ben are in pretty good shape and ran the entire half mile to the van. Ethan was running on gravel with one shoe off.

We finally made it and applied medicine to Will's bite on his right cheek and to all FIVE of Ethan's bites. Everyone calmed down and we buckled Ethan in his car seat in his underwear because of the two bites on his back.

I can only imagine what the white truck that passed me thought as I was retrieving the clothes we littered up the hill.

Everyone is fine and sleeping soundly perhaps due in part to a dose of benadryl.

"We're supposed to get ice cream after we get stung but we already got some tonight." says Ben.

Crazy crazy night. All for a stroll down memory lane and some fresh air.

"I wish we were made of wires and when bees try to sting us we sting them back." says Ben.

Shh it's a Secret

Sometimes
My
Kids
Really
Really
Really
Drive
Me
Crazy.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go In the Water

Yesterday I thought I was sailing smoothly. As the saying goes, "I was cooking with gas." The morning flew by with a trip to Trax Farms with my Mom. Will had a great time chatting his heart out in the car and looking at all the pumpkins and "ho ho's" (Santas) in the store. I returned home, switched the laundry, put Will to nap, returned to the kitchen to turn on the tea kettle and then tidied up a bit. I then thought to myself, "Oh I will get dinner together so that after school time can go more smoothly." I had put chicken in the crock pot before we left and it was done and ready to be turned into Chicken Tetrazzini.

See what I am saying? I was on fire. Things were just getting accomplished right and left. Rarely do I feel this productive.

I should have heard it. That subtle...da dun...da dun...da dun da dun da dun...I should have seen the dorsal fin protruding from the water......I should have run for my life.

Instead I lifted the ceramic insert from the crock pot to let it cool. .....da dun.... I set it down on to the stove top. ....da dun.... as I simultaneously set my arm down on the spout of the tea pot that was boiling on the stove.

AHHHHHHHHHH Could you hear the screams??

The result is a very large, circular mark on my right arm.

My friend Sara exclaims, "Sal, is that a birthmark on your arm? I've never noticed it before."

Note to self: Give up any notions that you need to have your act together. It only brings you harm.

Petting Zoo

Despite the excrement that inevitably gets stepped on and

despite the Germ X squirts that don't really feel like they clean off the "animal" and

despite the fact that my two year old didn't know whether to squeal with delight or shriek for his life when he was surrounded by goats,

oh how they LOVE LOVE LOVE a good petting zoo.

First Day of School

And all that good stuff.
Things are pretty quiet around the house now as Ethan and Ben have started school. Ethan is in Second and Ben is starting Kindergarten. Here is a glimpse of their return after first day.

And now the routines begin....home, snack, homework, snack, dinner, snack, bath, snack, bed......mixed in with a little soccer sprinkled here and there.

Ethan performed the "Second Grade is Awesome" dance for us. Ben told us about snack time and how they shake their booty to the months of the year song sung to the Macarena.

Here's to a good school year!