They Had Me at the View and the Devils May Live in NYC

This was the view from my and Chris's hotel room balcony Thursday afternoon.

This was the view from our hotel room balcony early Friday morning.

To be honest, it's amazing I managed to take a picture Friday morning that was in focus and straight. I admit to only being outside because gulping cold air seemed to help the pounding in my head and the horrifying stomach ache that hinted to the party we attended the previous evening.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of that party. Not a one.

Chris and I traveled to Watkins Glen to celebrate a new hotel opening with my entire family, including our NYC contingent - my brothers, sister in law - Tennille and Trav's girlfriend Lynda. There was much food, much drink, bands and lots and lots of people.

After we arrived at the party, I remember nursing one drink for two hours as I smoozed with party goers and nibbled at a ton of yummy food. I was relaxed and enjoying the jazz quartet on the patio, talking easily with friends and family. And then the NYC contingent - Seth, Tennille, Travis and Lynda arrived - and it all seemed to be quickly lost in a blur of drinks, more drinks, champagne and tequila shots. We busted many a move to the band, dancing up a storm. We giggled and dunk many a rice krispie treat (and marshmallows! and cookies!) in the chocolate fountain. (oh, so good.) We partied until way past our bedtime - finally passing out in bed at 2 a.m. (Note to self: those wild NYC kids were still at it when we left. They put us to shame.)

So this morning, when Chris and I had to drag ourselves out of bed to drive back to Buffalo, and reality, and work, and three children and our heads were split open and our stomach heaved, we blamed them - our NYC family. We have agreed they may be the devil. (Especially Trav's girlfriend Lynda who introduced the whole tequila shot idea into the equation.)

Obviously, we can't party like the rock stars we used to be. (Even if we pretended we could - just for a night.)

All in One Day

In one day, today, I:

- forgot to fill out Aidan's school picture form and only remembered as bus was coming down the street. I dashed out a quick check for a random amount as the bus waited, and waited, and waited in front of our house watching me, again in my pjs. Aidan is going to be s0oooo popular at school. I can tell.

- got my first call from Aidan's teacher. She had to call me because she couldn't understand the check I sent in that morning for Aidan's pictures since I never selected a package of pictures, a color for the backdrop or even paid the right amount for any of it. As we finished the call, she chuckled and said to me, "You have three young boys, right?" At my agreement, she laughed again and said, "I did too. And it gets easier, I promise." Good. Good to know.

- realized that the seminar I was signed up to watch via webcast was not at 9 am like I thought and planned, but really at noon because it was all on Pacific Coast time. Thus, my nice easy seminar day was now watching talking heads from noon until eight, instead of 9 until 5.

- also realized that during said seminar I am required to click a button every six minutes or I will not get the credit for watching the seminar. Therefore, I had to click the button right before break, grab my car keys and drive like a bat out of hell to pick up the boys before the next segment began.

- failed to relax and enjoy the seminar. Instead, I sucked every last minute out of that day. My laptop followed me to the bathrooms, my closet, the kitchen and den. I cleaned all the bathrooms, cleaned my closet, tried on old clothes, did a few loads of laundry, made Halloween cupcakes for boys, made homemade sauce, cooked up some meatballs and gave myself a pedicure. I apparently have forgotten how to relax. Do any mothers remember how to relax?

That's it. That's my Wednesday. All in one day.

May the Force Be With You at Pottery Barn Kids

The boys and I traveled to Pottery Barn Kids today to meet a few of the Star Wars characters in person:

I have never seen so many little boys at the Galleria Mall. It was Star Wars mania. Boys in Star Wars t-shirts, carrying light sabres, and hanging onto Star Wars books. It made me feel like less of a freak of a mother with my Star Wars obsessed kiddies. Maybe we should all form a support group?

Math Fun

Aidan brings home a folder every day from school. The folder contains any notes from the teacher, any announcements from the school and any completed and scored worksheets Aidan did during the day.

I like to look at all the worksheets to both get an idea of what Aidan is working on in school and to see if there is anything we need to work on at home to help him with his school work. Over his year and one week of school, I have seen worksheets with big stars and worksheets with one or two marked wrong. I never saw a worksheet with everything marked wrong. Until today, that is.

Everything. Every question! Wrong. No star at the top of the sheet - just a note from the teacher to Aidan which said "see me." It was a sea of red cross outs and checks. Not good. Even worse, it was a math worksheet - an area in which Aidan has naturally excelled.

I was concerned and figured I better review the math questions so we could do some review over the weekend at home to help. The worksheet listed a number, had a blank space, and then listed another number. In essence, the student was required to sequentially fill in the blank so that 12, ___, 14 became 12, 13, 14.

I'll be honest. When I saw how easy the problems were, I grew even more concerned. We have big problems here people. Apparently, my first grader can't count in double digits.

Aidan's answer was 12, 26, 14. The numbers he put in the blanks weren't even close to being in order. They made absolutely no sense.

After a minute, I looked at it again and comprehension dawned on me. I laughed and called Aidan over to talk.

Instead of filling in all the numbers in sequential order, Aidan was adding them all. I guess the kid can count after all. Whew.

Waving the White Flag of Motherhood

I had to switch my schedule this week and I was at home with the boys today. I was really looking forward to it. I had fantasies of the perfect day we would have together. We would take a walk in the sunshine. We would go to the park. I would push them on the swings. We would cuddle up on the couch. We would giggle and dance.

I have to laugh at myself sometimes. The walk sucked. Brennan complained he was bored the whole time. He dragged his feet and sulked. When we finally got to the playground, he moaned that it wasn't the RIGHT playground. Griffin screamed at me when I pushed him on the swing. Apparently, I wasn't pushing him hard enough, high enough or fast enough. We lasted outside for all of forty minutes before they were begging to return home. Forget soaking up that beautiful sunny fall weather, we must get home immediately and fight over action figures.

I guess it is a good thing we did return home. At home, at least, there are no witnesses to the parade of time outs, tantrums and screaming. Just me. Just me listening to the constant whining, the unending crying and the persistent fighting. Just me cleaning up the bowl of mac n cheese dumped on the floor at lunch. Just me being told by my three year old that I'm "not nice enough," that "I don't play enough" and that "I'm no fun." Just me wiping up the stream of urine left on the bathroom floor. Just me having my child throw something at me in anger. All the mess, all the tears, all the yelling - all just for me.

And that was all before we couldn't find Brennan's blanket before nap time.

I tore apart every inch of this freakin' house and no blanket. My imagined quiet nap time quickly morphed into more hysteria, more screaming and more tears. The dull ache in my head escalated into a full blown pounding.

Aidan got home from school, clearly worn out and cranky. After ten minutes at home, he burst into tears when he realized he had lost a Lego piece to his star wars space ship. His tantrum lasted a half hour. He raged. Griffin joined him just for fun. I wanted to bang my head against the wall.

After breaking up the millionth fight, enduring yet another screaming tantrum, I threw up my hands and quietly told them, "I've had it. I'm done."

I wave a white flag. I need a truce. I need tomorrow to be a better day.

It has to be a better day.

Sleepless for Twilight

I didn't get much sleep this weekend. Was I out partying it up? Did I have a hot date? Were the kids keeping me up all night?

No, no, and no.

I owe my late nights to that damn Twilight series of books. I started Friday with book one (and a glass of wine or two) and I was hooked. What is not to love? Teenage love and angst mixed in with some vampires and werewolves? It was like Buffy in a book! (Yes, I adored Buffy. I LOVED Buffy. Saw every single episode. I still contend it was amazing television. Don't judge me.)

I finished book one at 12:30 am Friday night. I then surfed amazon to consider purchasing books two, three and four - but I didn't want to wait for the free super saver shipping to finally deliver my goods in two or three weeks. I needed a more immediate fix.

I was glad I didn't cave. On Saturday, my cousin Ali brought over books two, three and four. I skipped in glee! (And yes, there is something a little scary that I am reading the same books as my adorable, seventeen year old cousin. But then, I also watch Gossip Girl and I have dvred the new 90210. I am obviously trying to reclaim my youth. Or the youth of my fantasies.)

I barely slept Saturday night or Sunday night as I knocked off books two, three and four. I would finish one book and the next would be too much temptation for me. I couldn't help myself. I couldn't stop. I lack self control.

This may explain to my neighbors why Aidan and I had to run down the street for the missed school bus Monday morning. And why I ran for said bus in my bare feet, pjs and wild, uncombed hair.

But it was worth it. Definitely all worth it. I need a nap now though.

Aidan at Six

Happy Birthday to my sweet six year old boy.

At six, you are my junior scientist. You have proudly announced you are going to be a scientist when you grow up. (And then you went out into the backyard to catch bugs to examine under your new microscope.) You prefer nature shows and the discovery channel to kids cartoons. (although you have a soft spot for scooby doo.) I will still never forget the day I found you watching an HGTV program on how to build a backyard deck. (an interesting choice for a five year old boy.) Your obsession with Star Wars continues, but you have added a little Pokemon to the mix. You love books that explain the world to you and will spend an hour pouring over a treatise on dinosaur bones, space or ancient egypt. You also have a love of video games - from the Wii (you rock the drums on Rock Band) to Star Wars Legos on XBox (you have figured out how to fake hook up a controller to let your brothers believe they are playing with you. )

You like to be in charge. You can get a little bossy. You love to negotiate. You ask a whole lot of questions. And you are my rule enforcer. I see a lot of myself in you and your daddy likes to remind me of that every chance he gets.

You don't like food all that much, unless it's a favorite junk food snack. We battle over veggies and fruit, but you always have room for pizza, cupcakes, pepperoni, and cookies. You are still my junk food junkie.

You are kind and sweet. You look out for your brothers and your friends. You never want to see anyone else hurt or upset. You love to cuddle and give hugs. You tell all of us in your family how much you love us. Every teacher you have had - from your toddler room to summer camp this year - has told me you have such a good, kind heart. Of all the things I have heard, that is always what makes me proudest of you.

Happy Birthday Aidan. I love you and I am so very proud of you.

(I am sure we won't see much of you today, now that we are caved and bought you that Nintendo DS you wanted for your birthday. I am trying to convince myself it has educational value. Trying... )

Church Time

Aidan's second day of school today opened with his very first school mass. I remember, not so fondly, how hard it was as a youngster to sit still for the long Catholic mass and asked him after school this afternoon if he had a difficult time this morning at church.

"No," He replied, "Church is actually a lot of moving around. We're up. We're down. We sit. We stand. We even kneel. There's a lot of kneeling. There's actually a whole lot to remember to do. I had to move a ton."

That's church from the perspective of an (almost) six year old.

1st Grade

First day of school: 1st grade. Things were a little easier than last year. There was no screaming or tantrums brought on by fear. There may have been a little hesitation as Aidan took his first step onto the bus, but his excitement to get to his new classroom, see his old friends and meet some new ones - propelled him forward.

I left work early today, eager to get home to see him off the bus. I always imagine our "Hallmark" back to school moment, giggling over the antics of his classmates over milk and cookies. And then I remember, I have three boys. I barely get two sentences out of him before he is off and running with his brothers. (Note to self: boys are not the best communicators.)

But his two sentences were all good. Welcome to first grade.

Overheard

Overheard at Aidan’s party on Sunday:

Aidan’s friend approaches Chris with serious eyes and says to him, “Hi, Aidan’s Dad? I need talk to you. I really want to have a sleepover with Aidan. Can I have a sleepover with Aidan?”

Chris, not quite sure how to respond to the solicitation, “Um, sure. We’ll talk to your parents and set one up soon, okay?”

Aidan’s friend: “Well, see, okay, since we are all here. I mean, I’m here and you’re here, right? So how about we just talk dates now, okay? Let’s put something together. Let’s make it happen
Aidan’s Daddy. Do you have a date that works for you guys? Because I’m available.”

Chris, trying hard not to laugh, “Um, well, hmmm.”

Aidan’s friend: “It can be at my house or your house. It doesn’t matter. I just want to have a sleepover party with Aidan. So, let’s firm up some dates, okay Aidan’s Daddy? Can you go grab your calendar? Go get your calendar and give me some dates. Let’s do this! Let’s make it happen!”

I can tell you now. I am not ready for the sleepover phase. And Chris and I are clearly not prepared for the negotiating tactics of six year old boys.

Overheard on Monday:

Our friends Christine and Dylan’s five year old daughter Casey has decided she will marry Brennan when she is older. After greeting us at her house with this news, she tells Brennan to follow her to her room to assist her with picking out a swimsuit to wear in the sprinkler. As I watch them, Brennan and Casey stand in front of her closet and slowly go through each of Casey’s bathing suits.

Casey: “What about this swimsuit Brennan? Should I wear this one?”

Brennan: “Hmmm, well, that one is okay.”

Casey: “Do you like this one?

Brennan: “That one is nice too, I guess.” Brennan takes a minute to look through a few more swimsuits, selects a blue one piece swimsuit, hands it to Casey and says: “I like this one better.”

Casey nods and smiles at Brennan. “Okay Brennan. I’ll wear this one for you, okay?”

Brennan: “Okay.”

At Brennan’s devilish smile back at me, I am fairly certain I am not ready for my three and a half year old to be picking out bathing suits for his girlfriends.

The Birthday Party: Age Six Edition

I had told Aidan that my idea for a perfect birthday party was for him to invite two or three friends to the pool for a swim. He told me his idea of a perfect birthday party was to invite all the boys in his class, his friends from summer camp and a few more to our home for water fights.

So today, I had eighteen children at our home, ages six and under engaged in water battles with squirt guns, water balloons and muddy mud. We had a giant, two story high water slide, borrowed from our neighbors, that the boys catapulted down at death defying speeds. It was all boy, all the time. Chaos reigned supreme.

Aidan picked the theme: a shark soaker of a bash. This led to my compulsion to make shark cupcakes. (I almost lost my sanity on this one. It was hard. Very, very exceptionally hard.) We also did a shark pinata, stuffed to the brim with candy and toys. The boys fought to the death over every last bit of candy after the shark burst apart at the seams.

In the end a good time was had by all. A whole lot of water, a bunch of mud, and lots and lots of birthday fun.

He Lost His Marbles

I started my morning with Brennan shoving a marble up his nose. Nothing says maternal devotion quite like shoving tweezers up your son's nose to fish out a plastic marble. Boogers, blood, and snot... oh my.

I asked Brennan, repeatedly, what exactly convinced him to push the ball up his nose. He said he wasn't sure.

He wasn't sure.

I have no appropriate parental response to this.

The Knock Knock Joke

After bathtime tonight, Brennan decided to regale me with his stand up routine while I got Griffin dressed in his pjs.

Brennan: "Knock, Knock."
Me: "Who's there?"
Brennan: "Griffin!"
Me: "Griffin who?"
Brennan: "Wow, Griffin has a lot of gas!"

At that, Brennan howled with laughter, joined by me and Griffin (who truth be told, was passing quite a lot of gas while I had been changing him.)

When we stopped laughing, Brennan smiled and said to me, "And THAT was my funniest joke ever, Momma." He smiled to himself, shook his head and nodded, "That was THE joke."

My three and a half year old comedian in training.

A Whole Lot of Play

Instead of our regular summer Monday routine of swimming, sun, more swimming and more sun, we set off on an adventure this morning to the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester. Grandma JoJo and Nicole joined us on our trip to the land of Sesame Street and Elmo, Berenstain Bears and Clifford, Reading Adventureland and last but not least, my very favorite - the pint sized, all kiddie run Wegmans.

The boys worked the grocery check out and took home their individual Wegmans printed receipts of their grocery totals.

The boys loved the Clifford exhibit. They loaded giant dog bones into Clifford's huge dog bowl via a pulley. They tended Clifford's garden, drove a boat, played in sand and crawled through dog house tunnels.





And then we were off to the land of Berenstein Bears. The boys loved Father Bear's woodworking Workshop; Brother Bear's tree house, the Bear restaurant, the Bear dentistry, and most off all - the egg farm.





After lunch we admired the giant saltwater fish tanks. Griffin was in awe of the real life Nemos swimming all around him.

We finished off the play-extravaganza with a visit to Sesame Street. The boys sat on the infamous front stoop and Griffin drove Elmo and Cookie Monster in a cab. The boys even got a chance to visit with Elmo on tv.

It was a perfect day of play. A perfect, exhausting day of play. I need a nap now. If only my children agreed.

The DC

Once a month, I get together with a group of girlfriends for our dinner club. We get all gussied up and go out on the town to try out a new restaurant, intent on only three things: great girl talk, a good meal without a children's menu in sight and many a glass of wine.

Yesterday, we celebrated our two year anniversary. Two years of food, friendship and much, much fun. Carolyn even remembered to bring her camera to document the occasion. (Carolyn held the camera steady, got us all in the shot, and even reminded us all to smile sweetly in spite of the drunken men across the street propositioning us quite loudly.)

(Not pictured: our lovely friend Danielle who is bursting with baby and was at home with her feet up. We drank wine for her though. We're good like that.)

This is Private!

Like most boys, Brennan is a tad bit obsessed with his, ahem, private area. He will spend most of his day and night and anything in between with his hand firmly attached to his nether region. In response, Chris and I have attempted to teach Brennan that he should seek out some privacy when he needs to, well, um, shall we say, spend some quality time with that part of his body.

Last night, my friend Carolyn was over for a chaotic, Friday night pizza dinner. The scene was loud and crazy, as always. In the midst of the chaos, Brennan was full out displaying his nether region obsession. I took him aside and told him quietly, "Brennan, that is only for when you are in private, okay?"

He looked at me with wide eyes, shrugged, pointed to me, Chris, Carolyn, Aidan and Griffin collectively and yelled, "Private? This IS private."

Perhaps we need to spend a little more time talking with Brennan about the definition of "private."

Movie Mania

At around the age of one and a half, each of my children seems to become addicted to one particular movie. If given the choice of watching television, they will consistently ask to watch their favorite movie, again, and again and well, again.

With Aidan, it was all Toy Story, all the time. We watched Toy Story 2 day in and day out, to the point where I was convinced I could do a dramatic reenactment of the whole movie. Despite his having seen the movie at least a million and one times, Aidan always acted as if it was his very first screening of Buzz and Woody. He would gasp with fear when Buzz was in peril. He would yell at the tv, “Run, Buzz, Run!” when Buzz battled evil Zurg. And he would breathe huge sighs of relief when Buzz was safe and sound.

My least favorite part of Aidan’s Toy Story movie obsession was his love for the Toy Story DVD case. He refused to go anywhere, anytime without the empty movie case in hand. And in a society obsessed with discussing how their children aren’t ALLOWED to watch tv, I really stood out as THAT mother at playgroup watching my child climb up a slide clutching a worn dvd case in his hand and yelling “Buzz!” to anyone who would listen. (I didn’t make many mommy friends from that playgroup. It’s hard to wonder why.)

While Brennan shared Aidan’s love for Buzz and Toy Story, his first favorite movie was Monsters Inc. He would repeatedly ask to watch Monsters Inc. over and over in his baffling toddler Boston, Massachusetts’s area accent: “Monstahs, Momma!” “MONSTAHS!” Every time the movie began, Brennan would wiggle excitedly to the jazz music played over the opening credits. As the music died down, Brennan would turn, look at you seriously, place his finger over his lips and whisper, “Shhhhh, monstahs. Shhhh.” He would watch with rapt attention as the new monster bumbled through the opening scene, falling over himself in hysterical giggles at the slapstick antics.

About halfway through Brennan’s Monstahs obsession, we ran into a little snag. We didn’t actually own the Monster’s Inc. dvd. We had recorded it on our tivo and saved it for all eternity to watch over and over and over at will. Right up until our Tivo died, taking the beloved Monstahs with them.

Brennan was not amused. And at the time, Monster’s Inc. was, for whatever reason, not an easy movie to track down. The day I found it, at Wegmans of all places, I felt as if I had struck gold. Chris acted like I won the lottery when I showed him the dvd. And Brennan happily shushed us all so he could, once again, watch his Monstahs.

Griffin has followed the tradition of his brothers. While he enjoys the Monstahs and loves him some Buzz action, he has chosen Ratatouille as his first addiction. The first thing he asks for in the morning and the show he begs us for when he gets home from school is “Tooie”. He will grab your hand, pull you into the playroom, point at the television and ask sweetly, “Tooie? Tooie Momma?” Once we acquiesce to his request, he curls up in his toddler chair, rubs his blanket across his cheeks and raptly, devotedly watches his “Tooie.”

Thankfully, Griffin’s older brothers have good naturedly endured the multiple viewings of “Tooie” day in and day out. Perhaps, because they remember their own similar movie obessions from their glory days.

Fighting the Tuesday Blahs...

It's hard to go back to the grind on Tuesday mornings after my delicious part time four day weekend spent with the boys. Sometimes it makes me cranky. Really, really cranky.

But today, I combated those grumpies by heading to work with this:

and these:


Because if a brand spankin' new, fancy, oh so pretty red Kate Spade purse (The best birthday present evah courtesy of the birthday fairie: my Mom!) and a pair of adorable patent leather peep toe pumps a la Targeh ( a present to me from me!) doesn't make you feel happy inside, what can?

Happy Tuesday to me.

Packing Summer All In a Day

I feel anxious at the end of summer. I am conflicted when the night brings a fall chill to the air. Fall is my favorite season with its slight chill, turning leaves, apple picking and adorable fall sweaters. But I'm not ready for my friend fall to interrupt my love affair with summer. We haven't tired of swimming or tennis. We still want to spend days at the pool. We still want to grill, eat drippy ice cream cones and soak up the sunshine.

Last night, I sat outside after the boys went to bed and read on our patio. The air was beautiful, but definitely signaled that fall was approaching. It made me unbearably sad.

To (over)compensate, we took Saturday and packed as much summer as we possibly could into one day.

We started at the Fair. We rode rides. Brennan and I conquered the Tilt a Whirl. (I almost threw up. It made me realize I am not as much fun as I used to be. I felt better when Chris admitted his knees were ready to give out from squeezing on the kiddie rides. We are OLD.) Aidan wanted to go in every single Fun House. Twice. Griffin had many a meltdown over his inability to go on every ride with his brothers. (What do you mean I'm too short? I can keep up. Let me out of this stroller NOW.) We ate fried dough and cotton candy. The boys played game after game. We left only when we were sticky, tired and covered in grime. Home for nap.

We all slept - even Chris for a good hour. After we woke up, we decided to hit the pool for swimming and dinner. We swam for hours and were one of the last people to leave. I finally coaxed the boys out of the pool with ice cream.

Is there any better way to end a perfect summer day than with ice cream?

A Week Wrapped Up In Goodness

My birthday week was lovely. Three nights of tennis, a day off of work with a good book, swimming with the boys, lots of thoughtful birthday wishes, cards and messages, lunch with the women folk of my family, and all capped off with (of course) pizza and chocolate cake. (Because, really... is there anything better than celebratory pizza and chocolate cake?)

In between this birthday goodness, the boys decided to celebrate our intermittent rain and soggy backyard by creating their very own mud pit. (Who needs a pool when you have mud?) And a good time was had by all. (I only wish I had a picture of Chris's face when I told him "good luck with bathtime because I have to get to tennis.")