I'd like him to start wearing a helmet socially....

While pointing at a construction site, Noah announced, "Mommy, that is a big hole!" (pause) "I could jump in that hole". It was easily 30 feet deep.

This is the same boy who at 3 announced that he was going to jump off the skyway. His gear:
1. his tight shirt (summer surf shirt)
2. bathing suit
3. two noodles (because clearly one wasn't enough)

I am having anxiety about my babies doing things like snowboarding, motocross and extreme sports!

Smitten

One of the boys' kindergarten buddies has a sister. Last year, our school 2nd grade was matched up with another school's 2nd grade as pen pals. Sam ironically ended up with the sister of the twins' buddy. And then she got into the boys' school this year.

Sam and said sister are good friends. She and Sam are tight. She was the new girl. Sam is just a sweet as sweet can be. And now is just as smitten as smitten can be.

Let it be known that she is also very nice. There are some 3rd graders toying with the land of the big girl. This week, Sam announced that two girls in his class wear fake nails, "even though they aren't supposed to." There is some extraordinary, well maybe quite ordinary, cattiness. OK. Move on. But the little sweetie that he raced around the skating rink with tonight hasn't discovered make-up, even lip gloss, always says hello to me by name (and not the first one), and skates fast.

Sammy dumped it repeatedly trying to keep up with her. They went round and round and round and round. Finally, we flagged all the kids down when it was time to go. We were plus one as new baby niece is 2 weeks old so old niece came with us. I've got three kids ready to go and Scott has *again* given Sam the head's up. I head to the car with 3/4 of our crew. Scott and Sam finally come out. It was only after Sam called repeatedly to his pal, when her mom said, "do you want me to get her?" Sam said yes and then told her to have a good weekend.

My baby is smitten.

This brings to mind a quote I recently read "If you are going through hell, keep going" (Winston Churchill). I believe this means I cannot stop moving until they are 24.

LC

A consultant sent me qualifications today. One resume had LC after his name. Now I've seen any number of alphabet of combination and if I haven't, they are typically easy to find. Until LC. So I looked it up. Here is what LC might mean:

Low Carb (not one I run into professionally)

Legion of Christ (again, not really applicable)

Lyrical Combat (like a sing off?)

Lovin Cupful (of anything in particular?)

And seriously...I have nothing to say about this one:

Lemonade Conspiracy

Bigger than me.

OK - It was bound to happen. I had a crappy day at work. I don't have those. Today I did.

So I came home and finally ordered pictures that I'd been meaning to:











Waiting to get into the Magic Kingdom for the first time.




This is Aidan pretending to fly a jet pack.





And I went to Zumba.
Still feeling just grumpy.

So I decided to do something that is better than stewing in frustration. When I run the half marathon in May, it will be to benefit Roswell Park Cancer Institute. I've joined the Team Cure Challenge with a very modest fundraising goal. If you are interested in supporting me you can search me at:

https://giving.roswellpark.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=964&tab=1


I can also email you my link directly.

I was very excited to run the half marathon before but after this day I'm even more excited to put some other purpose behind it. It puts things in perspective.

Incidentally, if you cannot support me, you can still do your part in the fight against cancer.

1. Just please wear sunblock.
2. Don't smoke.
3. Register with the National Blood Marrow Donor Bank.

The Road to Wellville

My mom, sister, cousin and I managed to pull off a girls weekend in Saratoga this weekend. With the schedules we individually juggle this should have taken as much negotiating as the Kyoto Accord. But schedule it we did!


We started with an overnight on the farm where we got lost in a pile of old photographs that my Gramma brought out. I learned that my Great-Grandfather's father and mother were shunned by their families because he was a Christian of some variety and she was Jewish. His parents disowned him and bequeathed him $1!

This is my Gram, looking not unlike my niece's most recent school pic with the giant bow.




My Gram also is really ready for spring and keeps an unbelievable garden every year in a former in-ground pool. This is her window, lined with seed packets giving her something to look forward to.




Saturday we made our way to Saratoga and a divine little spa with all the trimmings. It would seem that I was sheathed in dead skin since after my facial I had my 25 year old face again! I ran a total of 9 miles this weekend, soaked, steamed, swam and best of all hung with these fabulous ladies.

Please note that there was very little hair product or make up in use!



And then somebody ran by the pool.....



THEN, I came home to a clean house and a pork roast! Which is pretty good on any given day, but damn good when this is how they spent their day.

penance

Noah told me to close my eyes for a surprise this morning. I was in the middle of getting breakfast, lunch, water bottles, teeth brushed, shoes, homework, shirts tucked and pinning every boy's St Patrick's Day pins on. I said no. Then quickly thought better of it and sat down, on the dirty kitchen floor, while he fumbled with one of the pins.

"OK!" He beamed.

This was it! It reads "World's Cutest Leprechaun" (transferred to my purse since I couldn't wear it all day at work)


He's the sweetest sweetest boy.

which witch?

Noah: Why are your putting that on your face.
Me (dripping in sarcasm): To keep my skin pretty. Do you think I'm pretty? (insert my snicker)
Aidan: sort of.
Noah: yea sort of.
Me: What about you, Sam?
Sam: yeee-ah.
Me: Do you mean to say that I'm NOT the prettiest girl you know?
(insert their evil cackling!)
Me: Well, who IS the prettiest girl you know?!?!
Noah: Abby.
Aidan: Chloe.
Sam: Katie.

(insert my animated, over-the-top response here, specifically orchestrated to elicit more cackling)

Me: alright! That's it! You are getting a new Mommy. A pretty one.

Noah: NOOOOOO!

Me: Yep. She'll be super pretty.

Then I turned and Noah's eyes were glistening with tears. "No, Mommy." He melted in my arms. I promised him that I was joking and that he was stuck with me for life so it was a good thing that this Mommy forever, even if I'm not so pretty. That broke a smile and got me an extra hug.

Which I'll hang on to while soothing my aching guilt.

Anyone for a little green and leafy

Vegetables. We have a good relationship now. Fresh, steamed, canned, raw. Preferably not over cooked. Mushy = blech! It was not always the way.

When we were introduced to spinach, hot and buttery. I stared it down until it was cold and coagulated. I got moved to the kitchen from the dining room. Hee Haw came on. Then off. I finally choked back the spinach. Gagging the whole time and then got sent to bed. I love spinach now. Cooked or raw. And now my boys loved it. Someone recently commented to Aidan that something was better than having to eat spinach. He looked at he like she had three heads and said, "I LUV SPINACH".

Eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, B-R-U-S-S-E-L- S-P-R-O-U-T-S
It's all delish.

The line in the sand is drawn at the hideous little ball of hell known as the pea.

I remember as clear as day telling my parents that peas popped and oozed. I may have been three years old. They were grossed out. Thus was created the family rule of one elimination. Everyone got to have one vegetable that they didn't need to eat.

Mine was clearly the pea.

Fast forward:
We have the perfect school/afterschool arrangement. The kids can go on any day of the week and I don't need to plan for it, i.e. something runs late at work and they just go. It is attached to the school, run by the Boys and Girls Club (which incidentally is currently advised by Condeleeza Rice) only for kids at our little school. They feed the kids snack. They will feed them a (reasonably) healthy dinner if they are there late enough. And oh, by the way, it's free. exactly $0, every day, week, month, no matter when they go or don't.

Last week, they sponsored an ice cream social. It was also free if you brought a donation of cans to support the Torch Club, the little community action group. The boys stayed through dinner until the ice cream social. I went and, while eating homemade sundaes, I said, "what did you have for dinner?". Noah said, with a mouth full of hot fudge, chocolate chips and sprinkles, "we didn't eat". I posed the obvious, "why?"

We had plans to go out, had counted on the boys full and ready for bed for the babysitter. I was a little irritated, just until he responded, "there were peas". I may be a lot of things, but I'm not a hypocrite.

Oh-Kay! Grilled cheeses for dinner!

So Many Legos

I used to believe that my father-in-law really loved me. I now know that 750 legos are immutable evidence to the contrary!

It all got done.

My part time job has been very nearly full time for several weeks now. The deadline was noon today. I got home way late last night and could not face the mid-week restock.

So Scott went Wegmans sometime well after 9pm. He forgot his wallet.

So I went to Wegmans before 6am this morning because that is when I wake up.

And work? Well there were four more hours that followed the four hours of getting the last of the last done.

Finally got to see my little men for some QT tonight.

After dinner and getting Aidan & Noah to unload, then re-load the dishwasher, they showered, brushed teeth and we built the Woompa Cave. Folded laundry. Vacuumed. Changed the sheets. Rotated the wash. Fed the dog and cats. Walked the dog....in the rain.

Finally sat down with my nail polish, a glass of wine and Scrabble on FB. I went for the second glass of wine, put the bottle back in cupboard and caught the full glass of good Cesanese on the way back down. My kitchen looked like a crime scene! I was so spent that for a nanosecond I thought about leaving it.

Clearly, I did not leave shattered crystal and red wine strewn across the kitchen.

Let's just say, that now that I've vented, I'm going back to the wine. In a plastic cup. Classy.

old chocolate is still chocolate

I went to a conference as a vendor back in the fall. In attention-getting 101, you are taught to feed them and they will pay attention. This applies to conferences, presentations, sales pitches, class, work…..what have you.

Well my fancy book learnin’ tells me that good candy gets more attention than bad candy. So Dove Chocolates and Reeses Cups adorned my table in pretty fall colors.

Today I was cleaning my office and found a few chocolates at the bottom of my convention bag. Instinctively I popped the six month old Reeses Cups into my desk drawer until later having learned from the best economizer known to modern times,- don't waste. The only Reeses Cups I’d ever known growing up were always at minimum six months old with the white coating of having weathered temperature fluctuations. This was due to my Grandma Eagan buying everything in volume including food that could never come back across the border from the Canadian beach cottage. These deals, too good to pass up, were left in the mothballed, contact paper-covered cupboard next to the awkward volume cans of Coke for next season.

To all of the Eagan cousins and friends who ever scorched their lilly white, irish skin at Bay Beach chasing Eli’s fries with Coke and last season’s Reeses Cups, this one’s for you!

Some Recent Gems

My brother and sister-in-law are so so so close to welcoming their newest baby. And as anyone who has ever given birth has likely enjoyed the exhausting last month. My nurse midwife once told me that she believed the last month of pregnancy was intentionally so hard so that you wouldn't worry about actually giving birth.
Last Sunday, I had my niece and nephew for the day to give the mom-to-be to be a chance for a nap or whatever. We took the kids on a nature walk. Played trains. Made chocolate chip cookies. Played Disney trivia. Played trucks. Watched a movie. Had baths. It was a terrific day and the kids were awesome. Julia and I ate cold, left-over chinese with our fingers, out of the box.

We are not as child-proofed as we once were, but it isn't as if there is a bowl of marbles, a pile of steak knives and booze in sippy cups on the shelf next to the high chair. There was, however, a six foot ladder in my kitchen. The three year old boy focused right in on it!

Miles: Can I climb this ladder?
Me: No.
Miles: Why not?
Me: It isn't set up.
Miles: Can you set it up?
Me: No.
Miles: Why not?
Me: Oh ok.
(once the ladder set up)
Miles: Can I climb it now?
Me: No.
Miles What are these for? (pointing to the supports on the back of the ladder)
Me: They help hold the ladder together.
Miles: And (pointing to the legs of the ladder) is this the slide?

Of course, because why would you climb a ladder if you weren't going slide down something.


In other topics, I am not handle philosophical conversations at bedtime.
Aidan: Mommy, why do kisses make the noise?
Me: So that you know that you landed it.
Aidan: I think it is because God made them make noise.
Noah: Mommy, maybe, but I think Mother Nature made the science stuff though.

Sure. Ok. I've got nuthin'! That will have to do for the night boys.