Spring Break 2010 = Youngers Gone Wild!

I know I have other updates to post (birthday, new car, etc) but right now - it's SPRING BREAK!!  

We started the trip by driving up to the Finger Lakes (NY) to visit Grandpa J.  We rented a little cabin in Lodi for about the same price as a decent hotel in the area but with more room and a wonderful porch. Much more comfortable!  We've gotten to know the owners of the cabins. They actually purchased the land for the cabins from Jim when he sold the old farm house and land.  They have donated weekends for the CF Wine Opener and Donna, I and some girlfriends have stayed at the cabins during a girls' weekend.

On Sunday we drove around the Ithaca area to see waterfalls.  They were beautiful!  Grandpa J was our guide. He didn't walk the trails much but still hung in there with us all day.  It was the first time that we've spent a weekend in the Finger Lakes and did NOT visit any vineyards!

Grandpa J has had 3 rounds of chemo and it's sapped his energy, he's lost his hair and a lot of weight. The kids (Ella and Si, especially Si) had questions about where his hair went. It didn't take long though for them to adjust and it was business as usual.

One of our first stops was Taughannock Falls - one of the highest falls east of the Mississippi at 215 feet. 

It's never easy to catch all of us with a smile and open eyes!

It was a lot of fun to walk right down beside the falls. A little nerve wracking with Silas running off and all around!

After Taughannock Falls, we went to Treman State park. www.nyfalls.com has a lot of great pictures and information of all the waterfalls in the area.
 

 Ella got misted as we walked the trails closer to the falls.

I can't remember the name of this one but it was one of my better pictures that I took.

The rug rats posing for a picture.

It was a great and tiring day.  The kids slept like the dead that night and on Monday we made the drive to Nags Head. They were zombies most of the 12 hour trip!

The week so far at the beach has been wonderful. A MUCH needed break away. More updates and pictures from Nags Head to come sometime soon!

A Lesson Learned (the painful way...) updated

Sometimes in life, there are lessons that one must learn oneself.  No one thought to tell you any differently.  I had one of those lessons today.

Several weeks ago Ella pointed out to me that I have a bit of a mustache* (surely the sunlight was hitting just the right way and it was more obvious at that moment).  I've had it on my list of to do's: "purchase hair removal paraphernalia" but have not been at the right place at the right time to do so.  

Mason and I made a trip to the Food Lion this morning to get our spring break groceries. We decided to go over to the Dollar Tree to grab a few other things. While browsing the aisles, I happened upon personal care items and there...several "hair removal" items to chose from. 


After examining the options for several minutes, I decided on this product - it's only a $1 right?  Not a big deal if it doesn't work.

Lesson 1: Some things are best not purchased at the Dollar Tree (even if it's "only a $1")

Lesson 2: If something doesn't come with How to Use instructions, don't think "how hard can it be?"

Lesson 3:  Never take sandpaper to your upper lip**

Lesson 4: If you choose to ignore Lesson 3, do not take a beach walk in the sea salty air because it burns like a mother!

* we should all be blessed with a 7 year old that points this kind of stuff out to us

** I consider this to be the moral of the story


If you are smarter than thee (it has been said that I might be a little more "book smart" than "common sense" smart) - heed my warning and learn from my mistakes. 

Update:
Uncle Tim had to send me his 2 cents...

I'm doing much better now by the way - no longer in pain but I'm not ready to try any new methods just yet :-)

Updates to Look Forward to...

Ella's birthday party and the fab orange cake

(Imagine the Price is Right voice):  A NEW Car!!

Spring Break 2010 is taking us to NY and NC.  Loads of fun!

Pictures are slow to upload while in NY with the aircard so photos will have to wait.

In the meantime, an Ella funny:

I'm talking to Ella after a long day of travel, whining and fuss butts...

Me:  No, you cannot have (whatever it was)...you and Si have not been on your best behavior

Ella:  hmm, I don't think I have a best behavior.

Okay, so I did upload one cell phone pic - Ella and Rosie at Grandpa J's. Ella totally loves this cow. My, what big cow nostrils you have!

 More updates as wireless internet access allows...TO BE CONTINUED...

Happy Birthday to My Girl

"You won't remember how it started with us, the things that I know about you that you don't even know about yourself. 
We won't come back here."

Kelly Corrigan - Lift (2010) 

Dear Ella,

Today you are 7 years old! You have been waiting and wanting your birthday to get here for months. And today, as you celebrate being 7, a part of me mourns just a little bit. My heart catches to think of you another year older, another year closer to growing up, and there's not a darn thing that I can do to slow it down. You've prepared me from Day One though.  Your independence has been fierce since the day you were born.  One thing that you don't know now but I'm sure I will hold over your head many times down the road:  you almost killed me within your first 6 months of life.  You never slept (okay, you actually slept about 14 minutes a day). Within the first 6 weeks of you being home I had mastitis, strep throat, a uterine infection and felt like I'd been tortured by the Mafia. I was so rundown and exhausted.  Oh, but you were such a beautiful baby those minutes that you did sleep.  I could hardly pull my eyes away from you  as you slept, to finally get some sleep myself, because you were so peaceful and perfect (and I was probably in shock that you were actually sleeping).  You slept propped up in my arms at night for months on end, and Dad and I did try tough love.  We tried to let you cry it out but you won, always.

Your sense of adventure started early. You loved to stand on Dad's hand and balance. Nothing frightened you.  When we look through your baby book, this is one of your favorite pictures. You love looking at your baby pictures - "why didn't I have any hair?" is a favorite question.  I guess because I didn't either and you seem to be looking a lot like me (so I've heard).

You might look a lot like me, but you've definitely got your own personality.  You play hard.  And you crash hard. You sing, you dance. I call you Crazy Girl at least 5 times a day. You were never a good napper, but sometimes you exhaust even yourself. 

You have your own sense of fashion.  From the time you were old enough to walk, you've fought me tooth and nail about what you would wear.  Sometimes nothing but dresses, sometimes nothing but capri's.  Wool tights in August.  But it's always YOU. I even ask you what I should wear sometimes...

You have a beautiful spirit. You don't seem to fear hard work if it gets you what you want.  It used to scare me because often when you fell down or got hurt, you wouldn't cry.  But now I know it was your pride that stopped you from crying. Pride and stubbornness -you've got a lot of that too.

One thing that often amazes me and Dad is your focus and determination when you are working on projects. You can work on art projects or play with your dolls for hours. You really only get bored when you aren't doing what YOU want to be doing.

You are still at the age where you want to sleep with me and Dad some nights. Sometimes it's you AND Silas wanting to sleep with us - that gets a little crowded. As much as I fight to keep you in your own beds, I'm often secretly happy when you win, or find your way into our bed in the middle of the night. When you do, you usually hold my hand as we fall asleep. You snuggle in and again, I find myself fighting my tired eyes so that I can watch you as you sleep, just like when you were a baby.

As much as I want to keep you little, keep you safe, keep you mine...I am also excited to think about the person, the adult, that you will be someday. You will have the world by its tail. You've got a lot of drama and a lot of queen in you but you say you won't be an actress. Maybe not but whatever you decide to do with your life, it's going to have to be big enough for that personality of yours.

(Melissa Jones Photography)

"Remember this. This is what love feels like. 
Don't take less." 

(Kelly Corrigan - Lift)

 

I feel like it's my special day on your and your brothers' birthdays. You are the gifts that dad and I get to celebrate over and over. We thank God for you every day. My birthday wish for you is that you enjoy every moment of your 7th year and that your passions, tenacity and rambunctiousness grow right along with you.

Happy Birthday sweet Miss Boo. 

We love you!

 

Literacy is Great!

Until your 6 year old reads your card and 
asks "what's a lap dance??"

My Valentine's day card from JP

The Weekend that Wasn't

This will be a grumpy post - because this past weekend just blurred right into last week and makes it feel like I've just had a super, duper long week with no end in sight. My fun for the weekend included lots and lots of work and tons of laundry.  Justin worked all weekend too.  All I could envision is what it might be like to just go away someplace tropical, with a book in one hand and a big drink in the other. With or without kids but definitely without the computer and the washer/dryer. The most exciting thing this weekend is that Columbus (and most of Ohio) broke the February snowfall record with 30.1 inches.  I suppose that could be why I feel so cooped up and antsy - I'd just like to hibernate.

Silas even asked me on Sunday "can't I just sleep until summer gets here?" 

- my feelings exactly!! I don't think that in my 40 winters in Ohio, I've ever wanted spring to get here as much as this year!

 Even the snowmen have had enough...look how depressed he looks...

 

The leaning pile of snow. It stayed that way all night.

One thing that I've been trying hard to work on around here is some of our eating habits.  I've been reading some books on nutrition and preventing/fighting cancer.  There are a lot of things that I had no clue about. It's been very helpful.  I have switched our pasta to whole grain, trying to cut out as much refined sugar as possible and this week we've eaten apples, bananas, oranges, tons of blueberries, other berries (lots in smoothies), broccoli, carrots, brussel spouts, orange peppers, tomatoes and lots of avocados and salads.

I am having a hard time working more fish into our weekly menu though...maybe tomorrow we'll have fish tacos. And more beans...less meat. Yikes.

The animals continue to be loved...very loved to the point of suffocation.

 And they have claimed the kids' couches as their own...

Silas has been a good sport when I put his hat on...and he looks like a lump-head. He calmly reminds me that his mittens are still in his hat.

An Ella funny:

me: don't lick your sunglasses

Ella: I'm not licking them, I'm cleaning them (with her tongue...)

ick.

Silas has been his rotten self lately.  He is quickly learning the art of manipulation, especially if it involves the Wii or DS.  We really have to watch how much he plays because if we'd let him, he'd stay on it ALL day long!
I've been going into his classroom once or twice a month to help the kids do activities on the computer. It's fun to get to know the kids in his class and his teachers.  His teacher is pregnant and the kids all ask her a bunch of questions about the baby. One girl asked her to open her mouth so that she could see the baby in her belly :)

I am VERY proud of Mason right now.   He's done a good job of keeping his grades up all year, but for some reason, seemed to be slacking in the effort last semester.  When he brought home his interim grades this time he has all A's and today he got a postcard in the mail from his World Studies teacher:

Your student, Mason, has been recognized for...

turning it up this quarter! Mason has really applied himself and is performing at the level we all knew he could.  Great job!!

Yes, GREAT JOB!  I love my kids.  I'm not nearly as grumpy now :-)