A Replacement

As I mentioned in my last post, I am sending my two favorite boys to the Super Bowl and with an adventure like that I could not send them without a camera, so I said they could take mine(so nice I am:).

Well, a have a very important party to attend myself on Sunday so, I had to breakdown and buy this:
(for myself of course:)



Ours broke at the beach last year and we replaced it with a cheap one, that could never take the place of our cannon.

Again, I made this purchase for my boys, so THEY could have a camera at the game:)

I ROCK!

Because I am the very BEST wife and mother in the world, I gave the okay for the purchase of two tickets to-


My two favorite boys will be headed to Tampa for the Time-of-Their-Lives. The Super Bowl and warmer weather, I am awesome:)

*note to husband and son- you best bring me back a souvenir

This is why he's the Best...

Maggie spent the better part of an hour sitting on this "chair"


And that is why he is the world's BEST DOG!

We Had A Snow Day!

It is no secret that I don't like the snow. I can handle one or two snow days a year and today is our first one. The kids started asking to go out and play around 7:30am, I was able to hold them off until about 8:45am, but since then they have been in and out a half dozen times:) They love it. They made snow angles, a snowman, played on the sled and rolled around with the dog. I am glad they got the day off from school they wanted and some snow to play in!

But I am even happier that I am headed to Florida on Friday for a few days of warmth:)

Six More Days!

Only six days to go until the girls and I fly off to Florida for a long weekend and Gracie's 1st birthday! I really hope the sun shines for us and the temp can make it up to 65-70.

My mother picked up Gracie's gift today(and gave it to her). We got her a wagon and so far she loves it. She just kept climbing in-and-out:)

Anyway, in six days I will be some place warmer than here:)

Sun and Park Fun

Nothing beats a 55 degree day in the middle of January, especially after weeks of 20's. After fetching the monsters from school, we headed to the park where we stayed until it was too dark to play! The kids had so much fun and are nice and worn-out from running around in the fresh air for nearly 2 hours! Gosh, I cannot wait for Spring:)

It's (Mostly) Done!

Today the new furniture came for the living room!!! Now we just need the curtains hung!!!

Girls! The clothes will kill ya:)

My mother sent me on a quest for a dress for Gracie for her 1st Birthday(which is quickly approaching:) My "pay" for finding the dress was that I could also get dresses for Killi and Maggie to wear at Gracie's birthday party and birthday picture!!!

So with the NO free-time I had today, I found these:

For Maggie and Gracie



For Killi(I got her the t-shirt Gymboree had with this)



And I could not resist these, and got one for each girl:)



So, thanks mom! The girls will all look great in their outfits! (And thanks to Gymboree for having such cute clothes)

Happenings

I've not been a very good blogger lately. There has not been much to report(same old shit). I thought today I would recap the week for you; husband- work, work, work, commute, kids- school, fighting, whining, not much sleeping, me- driving, cleaning, driving, volunteering, referring, cleaning, yelling, screaming, pleading...and pretty much we all repeated those acts over and over again, day after day. It was a busy, long and COLD week, but that seems to be the way they are. It's okay though, my friend Tammy reminds me that there are only 61 days until Spring!!!

And in the interest of full disclosure, the girls and I are leaving in 10 days for a 5 day trip to warm and sunny Florida!!! The trip has been made possible by a very special little lady who is turning 1!!! I've never been so happy that my niece lives so far away! So, thanks Gracie for inviting us to your party, just make sure the sun is out.

The husband and kids are off Monday and Tuesday for MLK Day on Monday and Tuesday for the inauguration(sometimes it pays to live in the DC metro area:) We get two extra family-fun days! We wanted to head to Appomattox Court House, but they are closed for MLK Day, so we will settle for a trip the the Manassas Battlefield(Battles of Bull Run). The kids(Declan) got a passport for the national parks system, so each park you go to you get stamped; he and Husband are enjoying it, the girls like it too, but not near as much and Declan and Dad:)

I guess that's all- Hopefully tomorrow I will have some awesome pictures of the battlefield for you:)

A New Look

Killi has been complaining for the past few months of a head-egg(as she calls it:) We seen the doctor to be sure it was nothing serious and she came back "clean" so we moved on to the next step which was a trip to the eye doctor. I was really unsure of how this was going to go as she is not 100% sure of her numbers or letters. But it was Great! The eye doctor was Wonderful with her, so kind and patient. It was a really positive experience for her all around, she had me all to herself, she showed off her knowledge of letters and numbers and she got to skip an hour of school!


As I said, she was great through the exam and the out-come turned out to be an astigmatism and far-sightedness. Poor kid cannot buy a break! She looks just like me and now has the exact eyes as me!!!! The LOOKS were bad enough!!! Now she is sure to hate me forever:) The glasses should end/reduce the head-eggs!!!


Here's a look at Killi wearing her new glasses!!!


And yes, I was smart enough to buy insurance:)

Today

Today was much better! No fevers for the children, which means they can all go to school tomorrow!!! Killi has an eye doctor appointment in the morning, but it shouldn't take long and I can have here back at school by lunch, I hope:)

I did little today, lots of lying on the couch. Good news is that we spent little money this weekend except for a trip to the food store where we saved a ton! We watched lots of Football and have a happy home (and should most of the week) thanks to a Steelers win!! Now if they could just win two more; that would give us an awesome off-season.

This week looks much like the others:) Driver, cook, maid, nurse, nanny all the regular stuff. I would like to steam-clean the carpet in the house(they are really bad).

I suspect that things will start getting crowded in the area in the coming days with visitors arriving to take part in the inaugural events! It should be LOADS of fun around here! Me, I will be watching on tv, since they are calling for 20 to 30 degrees and maybe snow!!! So people if you're coming- bring lots of layers!!!

Have a Great Week!

Another One Down!!!

The not-so-good: Maggie began running a fever this afternoon. I kinda saw/hoped this was coming after her even-worse-than-usual behavior at the Food Store today and nap this afternoon. She woke up from her nap crying and running a fever. Oh well, what can you do.

The not-so-bad: Declan is feeling abit better today but his fever still spikes when he comes off the meds. He rested today, ate some and drank alot more so I think he is on the mend. Which will make this virus not that bad. The fevers were high and for 24hrs Declan was lethargic but we have had much worse.

That said, sleep for me has been scarce and I am tired. I am hoping that EVERYONE is well for school on Monday.

Today

What a day. It started, well Thursday never really ended, I fell asleep just before midnight and Maggie arrived just after 12:30am with "issues" that needed to be addressed before I was able to try to settle back down. Maggie had other plans. She thought it would be GREAT to throw-a-fit until I caved and let her sleep in the bed instead of on the floor, where she literally pushed-me-out. At 4:30am, Declan woke me up to say he didn't feel well. I checked him out, he had a fever, I drugged him and he headed back to bed, but only for an hour. That brought me to 5:30am, which I decided would be the start of my day.

I was pretty booked for the day, but with Declan sick, I needed to rearrange my plans so that I could nurse him to health. And let me tell you, he has been a very demanding patient. I did get most of what I needed to done thanks to Becca and Lauren! And I was able to escape the house for a few hours to shuffle the girls around.

I did get a reprieve from dinner duty tonight though. With Declan sick and not wanting to eat, Maggie being happy to eat Frosted Flakes(thank you again, Bec:) and Killi going on a date with her dad, dinner and a movie, No one needed a meal! That was nice.

I will spend the rest of the night sleeping lightly, in case Declan needs me, or for Maggie's arrival:( and hope that tomorrow brings a much need day of vegging!!!

Well, It's Friday...

As you know, usually Friday brings me joy with family-time just around the corner. This week, I would not mind skipping the weekend. Husband has not walked in the door before 7:30pm every night this week, so he is SOOOOOO tired (because he had a long week and no one else did, even though he has not seen the kids all week because they have been bathed and in bed before he gets home, Declan is sick. I am not sure what the illness is; fever, headache, cough. And while I know he can do nothing about being sick, I had a ton to do out of the house today. Well, I guess I will readjust, there is always something to clean here and laundry to do.

The weekend ahead will be filled with trips to the store for food and drugs, cleaning, laundry, a very grouchy husband(who will be waiting all weekend for the STEELERS game and then will be unbearable if they loose), a sick monster(who is a boy, therefor "dying" from his illness), girls that have discovered a new hobby of constant fighting, oh is it going to be fun!!!

I am hopeful that I can find my "happy place" and find some positives in the weekend!

Winter...

It is cold and gray and cold all the time. Today when I got out of the shower, I glanced out the window to find a passing snow shower! It really is not making me happy. I want it to be warm and sunny, hot and humid would be great!

All Set

I set the alarm for 7:20 this morning to have enough time to get the kids dressed, fed and out the door; I am pleased to report it went well until...I got to preschool with Mag and it was closed until Wednesday!!!!!!!!! This made one three year old very happy and one mommy not so much so:) I had an appointment with a bottle of Hair Color and some laundry planned this morning:) It worked out well though, Becca took the baby and I went home to my hair color and laundry-

Declan and Killi had a good day back. They had missed their friends. After school, we stopped by the park for a few minutes of fresh-air, the weather is supposed to be crappy the next few days. They came come showered, ate and crashed!

It might take us a little time to get back into the swing of things:)

Hopefully come Wednesday, Maggie will still be willing to go to school!

Aren't Kids Great

This morning Husband took Declan to a birthday party for a girl in his class, only one parent was invited and taking Declan seemed more appealing to him than staying with the girls:) Anyway, most of the kids attendance were family friends, there were only two other kids from class there, but Declan had fun anyway! Husband on the other hand, said it was a pretty tough crowd:)

For that last 15 mins of the party, the birtday girl sat in a giant chair and opened her gifts, and as she opened your you went up and stood next to her. So comes Declan's time and he heads up. As the girl opens her gift Declan explains to the entire room that he received TWO of these for Christmas and kept one and is giving the other to her!

Boy am I sorry I missed the party:) But a valuable lesson has been learned- TEACH MY CHILDREN THE ART OF RE-GIFTING-

My Favorite People in My Favorite City

Today we decided to take a ride downtown to take in a museum. It is one of the best things about living in the DC metro area, the Smithsonian is there and the fee is FREE! We also wanted to see how preparations were coming for the upcoming inauguration- Here's what we saw and did:


The West Front of The Capitol. The building of the stage and grandstand is well underway! Also along Pennsylvania Avenue(the Parade route) there are stands being erected! They are expecting quite a turn-out and you and tell that they are working hard to get ready!



We had lunch here! Maggie has been walking around for weeks reciting their jingle(we have never been before:) So, husband had a coupon, sorry poocon:)and we gave it a try. It was at the Verizon Center so it was easy to get to and find parking. To food was good and the prices were good, considering it is the city.




Husband and Declan with sign for the Smithsonian, American History Museum




Declan and Killi riding the L inside the Transportation Exhibit




Killi with a horse and carriage(I swear she will find the only animal wherever we are:)




Declan getting hit by a Chicago Bus:)


While at the museum, we also go to see(but were not permitted to take pictures of) a hand written copy of the Gettysburg Address. The exhibit just opened and is only there for a short time so I am glad we got there. The paper was in great condition and to see Abraham Lincoln's signature was very cool.

There was also an exhibit on the Star Spangled Banner, which included the Flag that Flew over Fort McHenry when Francis Scott Key wrote the National Anthem. We did not make it in to see the flag(the line was huge) but we did get to watch a show for the kids about how the GIANT flag was made and why it had the number of stars and stripes it did when that flag was made in 1813. It was a great, interactive show for the kids, I hope they keep that one around for awhile.

In all we had a good trip downtown and when we got home Husband and I took down almost all of the outside lights. Now I am freezing and not feeling great(my latest cold is starting to kick my ass:) But I can say that I am very satisfied with how my first day of 2009 went!