Been a long time, been a long time...

Recently I've had a few family members ask about the blog...in the days of FaceBook, Instagram (I still haven't been a Twitter person), it's been much easier to post on social media versus a blog post.
I've missed the blog - it is always fun to look back at our early posts and see all the photos and funny kid posts.
They are less "cute" but beautiful, and less innocently funny but more sarcastic humans these days.

Just a quick update to 2019:
 - Mason - engaged and getting married in October.  We get a beautiful daughter-in-law (Ciara), sweet grand daughter (Mia) and grand-pup (Jade) ... and we couldn't be more thrilled about it.

Ella and Silas are busy bees - Ella has soccer training all summer. 6:15am  every morning.
Silas has decided to focus on wrestling and tryout for football this fall. His soccer days are apparently over.

We just returned from a family trip to Colorado and I have so many pictures.  I'll need to do a day by day. I'll just say - it was amazing and I can't wait to go back!

Only 2 Months Behind...

I'm once again slacking greatly on the blog.  I had a nice little bout of motivation back in March and April and then things just took over life again...

May was really busy as the kids finished up their last weeks of school and soccer was winding down with several tournaments that took over our weekends!

Ella and I took a mini midweek road trip up to Cleveland with Jennifer and Abby to see John Green and a couple of the stars from the book turned movie The Fault in Our Stars.  The place was PACKED with screaming girls.  It was crazy!!

The girls totally loved it and Jennifer and I...lived through it.  I enjoyed the book actually - I started reading it while we were sitting at the mall waiting for the author and actors to come out.  The movie was...meh...
Ella and I went to see it opening weekend.

She made her own TFIOS tee shirt too. 

____________________________
This year the kids' school got a new gym teacher after our original gym teacher retired.  We LOVED our old teacher so we were pretty skeptical about a new person.  But, he's been FABULOUS!  He has organized so many fun fun FUN things for the kids, including the Fall Warrior Dash that we participated in.
This year field day was a Full day of fun for the kids (years before they split it up and it was just 1/2 a day).
There were so many activities and the kids and parents all had a blast.

(so all the above was added on Monday...here we are on Thursday and still trying to finish this!)

Back to Field Day!
Mr D had a fire hose thing that the kids LOVED!!

 Silas and Ben below...

 Silas on the water slide

Ella and Abby being goobers! :)

So, with that, I got 1/2 way through May...still the last of school to go.

BUT we leave for the beach soon, so that will probably interrupt any more posts about May for now!

N-O-P updates (Including PROM!)

It's been a busy and beautiful couple weeks - Spring seems to finally be here!  Mason is finishing up his track season (next week he has his last invitational), he will finish up the last 5 days of his high school years next week as well.  We've had soccer for Ella and Silas, Girl Scout events for Ella.  Justin and I...just a lot of work and trying to get the house in shape outside.  The inside is a train wreck!!

So back to my alpha-updates...

N is for:

Notes - I love finding the notes that the kids leave around.  Usually it's Ella but Silas has started leaving notes too.

One of my favorites is the one that E left on the bedroom door when I was super sick with salmonella:

Today - I found these.  Ella got allergy tested this week  This was her note this morning after trying to take her Allegra - poor kid.  I think I need to find a liquid version. She was writing the note below as the pill was making its way down...

And she is at a COSI sleepover tonight with her Girl Scout troop.  This is the note that I found on my bed on top of one of  her tee shirts.

 

Apparently she had me confused with her other mother...

O is for:

Ouch!

As I mentioned - Ella had some allergy testing done this week because she has been MISERABLE this spring (if you recall the itchy eyes).  I took her to the highly recommended Dr. Grace and she was all "WHOA...girl's got some crazy allergies going on!"

I know that the right side is the grasses, which were the biggest welt/hives and then trees (especially maple, sycamore, and oddly, Olive trees). Also ragweeds, cats (no need to get rid of Cleo though), gerbils (great excuse to never get one!) and but luckily no dustmites or molds.  She is an Aunt Margie allergy incarnate!!

P is for:

Prom

Mason and his lovely girl, Yasmine, went to Senior prom last weekend. They looked wonderful and had a great time.  The paparazzi stalked them!

Tim took this pic thinking we all looked like a bunch of Japanese tourists...

 We borrowed our old backyard for most of the pictures.  Love the flowering trees. 

 The lilac bush that we planted so many years ago.  It's so big and pretty now!

I really like this one below...a contentment and proudness to be together...

They looked SOOOO gorgeous. Makes me want to pull out all my old prom pictures :)

  

Always playing the Catch-up Game!

Lot's of catching up to do on the blog!  The last few weeks have been very busy!

Mason got his license!!!!  I have to say it wasn't a smooth process but he eventually got it done.  He went for his (3rd) test on St. Patty's day and I think he had a bit of the luck of the Irish on his side!

(maybe wearing grandpa J's duck sweatshirt

helped!)

We had our spring break...Ella was the only one of us that got to go anyplace.  She went to the beach with the Mascos and had a blast. 

Though she did get homesick...we did a LOT of texting and Facetiming!

She was happy to be home again! :)

While Ella was at the beach, I took a weekend trip to Chicago with Beth to go help Andrea out and meet Baby Jack. It was a super quick trip but fun to snuggle with him (and to let Andrea try to get some extra sleep!).

Running season is here again...I participated in a 10k training run with the neighbor friends.  This coming weekend is the 15k and then on May 5th, my 2nd Half Marathon!  Yippee!

The Easter Bunny came for a visit and left some movies and chocolate goodies for the kiddos.

Silas was ECSTATIC when he got a Pokemon card holder in his basket.

The whole family got together for our Easter dinner at the church.  I took about 10 pictures and someone has their eyes closed in every one!!

The kids had worked hard on an Easter play - The Bunnies that Saved Easter, was the name I believe.
Guess who the bunny was?? :)
It was cute - they did a really good job and Justin was a natural!

Things have just been busy, busy, busy...Mason is back in track, Ella and Silas have started soccer and Justin is coaching both teams again.  Work is kicking my butt, Justin is trying to finish up a kitchen remodel and move on to a few bathroom remodels (here in the neighborhood which will be great for the gas budget!).  We continue to work on clearing out some clutter, keeping up with things like laundry, grocery shopping, and having some fun (we've got to a few more concerts in the past month).
Summer will be here before we know it and we've got some family vacations and fun stuff planned!

I'm (over)due for a YOSP update too...soon, soon...

Bloggety Blog...

Chapter 1:
Donna - is better and home from the hospital.  She was gonna go Thelma and Louise on them if they didn't let her out when they did.  Yep, the Zuidermeister is a tough one - warrior!

I got her casual text last Friday that she was having a bad day and had clots in both lungs, thus admitted to the hospital. After a few exchanges, I really had a mini-freak-out of "what if something horrible had happened????"  See that smile above?  It's one that I can't live without and I'm thanking God that she is getting better.

Chapter 2:
Jodi - now she is in the hospital.  Gallbladder :(  Really, when we hit 40, does it all have to go to hell in a hand-basket?  Gallbladders, cancer, blood clots - we're 40 for God's sake, not 80!  Hopefully Jodi will be home very soon and feeling much better.  Another dimpled smile I can't do without ;.)

Chapter 3:
Dead Turtle / Sad Siley - Little Turtle man bit the dust.  Uncle Tim found the cute little turtle on the golf course this spring and brought him home to Si...unfortunately, he did not survive our household.  It's survival of the fittest around here - if you can't feed yourself at this point, be prepared to go 2-3 days without eating.  Toughen up.
Silas was very sad though.  It really bummed him out the last couple days. It probably didn't help that we kept the dead turtle in a baggie on the deck for 48+ hours in 96 degree temps.   You've seen CSI and what that can do to remains :(
He's been properly buried with a few kind words and he's with Grandpa J now.

Chapter 4:
Hudson Class Reunion - Last weekend was Justin's 20 year class reunion! Who knew I'd end up with such an older man!  We drove up to Hudson for an overnight stay and Justin reconnected with many friends that he hadn't seen in forever.  I had a great time mingling and seeing people that he's talked about for years!  We both had a fantastic time and Justin was so glad that he went and that they had such a great turnout.

I find it amazing how quickly, 20 years later and worlds apart, the connection can be re-established. I think a great alumni event would be to do a day back in high school.  Backpacks, books, teachers, a happy hour after...hmm...(but no homework!)

Chapter 5:
Chad's Visit - Another fantastic reunion this week was Justin's elementary and post-high school Europe traveler friend visit.  Justin and Chad are T-burg friends and honestly, I feel like I've known Chad as a friend myself all these years because of the stories that I've heard (we know how Justin tends to repeat stories!).  Chad and his girl, Meara AND their two large dogs (Meisha and Bear) stopped for a visit on their drive from the Finger Lakes (NY) to Tuscon (where they live).  I expected complete chaos with all the animals but they were fantastic and Zoe and Cleo were very hospitable hosts.  I wish they had been able to stay a few more days and we'd gotten to catch up more.
Justin and I stayed with Chad in NYC many moons ago (pre-kids).  Chad lived in a tiny apartment above a Greek diner and Justin and I slept on the couch.  Sometime during the middle of the night, I was woken up by mice (quite possibly RATS) rummaging  through the garbage in the tiny kitchen area.  Yeah, it makes me appreciate a rodent-free suburbia!
Chad and Meara are awesome folks - I hope it's not another 15+ years before we can visit again...

(a picture of Meara and Chad that i stole from Chad's Facebook page :)

Chapter 6:
Indian Lake - We had a fantastic time with the Hile's and Lang's a couple weekends ago at Indian Lake.  A weekend of total relaxation, swimming, boating, fire by the lake...greatly enjoyed it and got a terrible sunburn on my back!  The kids tubed and (Silas especially) - were thoroughly exhausted!!

JP all big and burly - he looks like Popeye :)

Coming soon!
BEACH!!!!! One of the things that I love about vacation is the time to take pictures and blog about our trip.  I really hope that I have the time (and internet connection!) to do that this year.

YOSP update - I've been bummed that we were slowing down in our progress but Justin started "officially" on the basement last week and that has been a huge boost in our progress on the house!  Pictures sometime soon :)

The Little Phone That Could...

Do just about everything! I got an iPhone this week, mostly for work reasons and I was due for an upgrade. I am really liking it. The 2nd reason I have wanted one is for the cool camera apps. There are SO many apps...I found and downloaded 40 (almost all free) within a few hours.
Of course several were camera apps. I got a flower picture of course...



Justin fell asleep watching a movie with the kids tonight, which is common these days.




My LA trip was good but dang, that is a long flight!! Next week is Denver for a conference, then hopefully not too much more travel for the summer.

We had a few ripe strawberries from our patch today. They have been coming in pretty good this year. Justin worked a ton on the garden last weekend. The last few years the garden had so many weeds that it really was hard to keep with. He put mulch down this year and so far it has helped a ton.



Ok, that is all for now. My pointer finger is tired now :)

- Posted on the go from my iPhone

Odds and Ends and This and That

Nothing major (well maybe a few things major) and yet so much on my mind.  In no particular order...

1. This week I FINALLY booked the beach house for the summer Outer Banks vacation. Back to Nags Head this year. Loved last year's trip to Emerald Isle and it will be fun to switch it up again and go to our spots in Nags Head.  I hate to wish my life away, but I am ready for the beach...and it's not until August so I have a long wait!!

2. Justin and I had a rockin' Friday night with our annual CF Wine Opener AND The Black Joe Lewis concert. We only stayed at the wine event for about an hour and then took off to the Newport to see Black Joe. We met up with Donna, Lee, Sarah and Brian.  Such a great band!!

3. Speaking of Sarah and Brian...looks like we'll have a little one (hopefully for Sarah, smaller than 10 lbs. at birth!) due to arrive in October :)  Our family is due for another (no pun intended...). Congrats to them and I'm ready to payback my babysitting dues! (How any times can YOU use "due" in one little couple sentence update?) - by the way - I (really) went to the library today and returned 8 overDUE books. seriously.

4. Speaking of babies and heart attacks, dear friend and neighbor Jen about gave us both this week. At 21 weeks pregnant with twins she had some preterm labor issues. After a lovely week in Riverside - she's resting comfortably at home on STRICT (the emphasis for her in case she checks the blog) bed rest. I think with all the conversations about her cervix in the last few days..she may not be as private as she once was...
(Seriously, it got very scary last week and it's been amazing to see her friends and family rally to help her, her husband and preschooler with dinners, playdates, hospital visits and a showering of love). Prayers, love and lots of positive vibes have and continue to be sent their way.

5. Speaking of cervices (I just had to pause and look up what the plural of cervix was- cervixes? cervi?  cervix+  Now I know).  Really, there is no way for me to lead that into soccer or track...in any appropriate way.

6. This week started the kick-off of soccer for both Ella and Silas (both coached again by my darling husband).  Si played on Saturday and it was about 35 degrees outside and raining. Sucked but the boys played great and most importantly - got their snack after the game.
Ella played on Sunday and scored 2 goals! Last month we read a Mia Hamm book and she also played indoor soccer over the winter - she is wired for soccer sound now!


7. Mason had his first home track meet today.  I was bundled in 2 pair of running pants, a turtle neck, my down winter coat and was still freezing.
Poor kid!

8. Stuff like this continues to be the downfall of my (already messy) house.  Silas made this Jack be Nimble, Jack be Quick candle stick in school in January.  Can't get rid of it because Silas likes to jump over it and (really) it's just too cute to toss so soon. So there it sits. being jumped over. and stepped on. and moved around from place to place.

I won't know what to do when all the school art stops coming home.  I love it :)

9. I know that I need to update the picture at the top of my blog...I just love it -the kids all look like they aren't growing up as fast as they are in real life. Soon...

10.  Ella's favorite band right now is Vampire Weekend.

11. I went 12 days without running - I hurt my knee and couldn't put any weight on it running or going up/down stairs.  It's better now and I ran on Sunday and it did pretty well.  I missed it terribly!

This, That and the Other

To continue with my updates from earlier in the week...

Last weekend I met up with some high school pals.  As I was getting ready to go, Ella asked me where I was going.
"I'm going to go hang out with some high school girls."
To which Ella exclaims  "oh, oh, I want to go too! I want to hang out with high school girls!"
I had to grudgingly admit - "honey, it's 40 year old high school girls...not girls in high school now."
"oh, never mind then" she said all bummed out.
Do you remember being young enough that you thought 40 was pretty much synonymous with the early bird special and hip fractures? 

What was fun about this group is that (with the exception of Sherry), I didn't hang out with these girls in school.  Our paths crossed in various activities and because of other friends but we wouldn't have just called each other up or gone to the mall together.  With the advent of Facebook, we all connected on there and keep in touch.  Rhea (bottom left), who I cheered with in middle school and some of high school, has had a lot of health issues since we graduated and she wanted to get together and see us - so here we are!  We had so much fun and it was so funny to get all our different perspectives on high school and who remembered what. I'd never want to go back to high school but the memories are fun :)

~

Last week, I attended Famous American Night in Ella's classroom.  All of the 2nd graders had written a report and designed a slide show (on a Mac none-the-less) and we got to view all of the slide shows, plus a few skits that involved the kids reading from scripts.  They all did a wonderful job.  God love these teachers, I don't see how they do it. Kids + other kids = chaos!!
Ella's famous person was Amelia Earhart and as she was doing her research, there was a lot of new information about her possibly having been found after all these years. Pretty cool.

~

We've had some funky weather here this winter.  Snow, rain, ice out the ying-yang, and then hail and terrible thunderstorms and tornado watches (in February!) last Sunday. They woke Justin and me up many times throughout the night - our bedroom has a skylight and it's like the Flashdance strobe light scene in there when the lightening gets bad.  Silas was the first to come in our room, about 5 minutes after we put him to bed. Ella came in around 2:30am. Zoe came upstairs at some point and peed in the floor, she was so scared. Even Cleo came  up and slept with us. I thought that Mason was being brave but when I asked him the next morning...he hadn't heard a thing all night. He slept right through the storms.

 ~

I plan to post an end of Feb YOSP update this weekend, but one related goal is my running. I can't remember ever feeling this happy and excited about physical activity. I've been one to make myself exercise but I've never been this excited about strapping on running shoes and my iPod and just go. It's been 2 months and 2 days and I feel SO much healthier and still in shock that I actually can run. I started logging my runs soon after I started and put a widget at the bottom of the blog - if you notice me slacking, call me on it :) So far, last week is the only week that I missed some running days. I was sick and only got 2 days in what should have been a 4 day running week.

Part of me wishes I had started running a long time ago but most of me is really just happy to have something new to get me motivated right now.  It's fun to start something new - especially something new that is good for you too. 

YOSP - January Update - 2 weeks in

I plan to do a YOSP update at least once a month...I want to see my progress in writing!!

1. Get in better shape financially.

• I've updated to Quicken software since my "financial institution" decided to update their online banking and it's not compatible with MS Money and I wasn't too happy that they didn't tell me that before the transition! (Apparently I was the last person on earth to know that Microsoft is getting rid of Money).
• Have a meeting with a planner scheduled to help organize priorities, pay off debt plan and get a better handle on the business expenses for myself and Justin.  
• Ebaying unused items...$100+ so far in the last couple weeks :)
• Lots of juggling this month as the aftermath of the NY trips and Christmas hit the books.  We are using our Neat Receipt software and scanner to make sure that we are aware of what we spend the money on though.  It's very helpful to not only know that I spent $52 at Target but how much was necessity and how much was "oh, that is cute!"...

2. Get the house organized. 

• started cleaning out the basement - we sorted through 2 shelving racks full of unorganized stuff.  A lot of it was the Christmas decorations, but also some other holidays, found some old albums (CCR and Nielson Schmeilson for Justin, AC/DC and Thriller for me :)  We have pulled a ton of stuff already that can be donated, some to be stored away for once we finish the basement and lots that is just plain old garbage!
• sorted and downsized the maternity clothes from 7 totes down to 2!  Those 2 can either be donated or consigned.

  

• Cleaned out the master closet. What a mess!  You can see before (left) and after (right) in the pics :)

 

3. Health and fitness...get into better shape!

• We've been been going to the Y 3 times a week.
• I have increased my running from 0 miles 4 weeks ago to (on average) 3.5 to 4 miles. My max so far was 5.5 miles on Saturday.
• Justin and I bought new running shoes that will help decrease, or possibly even eliminate, the pain!!  My left leg/knee/hip/hamstring has been very sore since I started running and looking at the video of my form (that they took at the shoe store) it's no wonder! I run like a duck!
• When you are walking/running on a treadmill, and it shows you how many calories you are burning...and then you consider popping a Twix or KitKat into your month, you realize that it will take 45 minutes of running to burn off those calories. It really makes you think about "is it worth it?" and I'd rather save my calories for wine! (oh, and healthy food too).

4. Do more family activities. 

• We haven't done any "organized" activities but we've had some movie nights at home.
• Ella started indoor soccer this week  - I think she'll really enjoy it!
• Family Y time now that we're going regularly again!

5. Spent more time on our interests and hobbies. 

• Running has quickly become a new hobby!
• I know this sounds cliche...but I've given myself "permission" to enjoy more time for reading, blogging and photography (and now exercising as well).  I have a huge guilt complex when it comes to work because I work by the "billable hour".  So when I'm not working, I'm not getting paid. Changing my mindset has helped greatly.
• My friend, NetterB is doing a photo project - a weekly theme and posting of weekly photos.  I love the idea and have decide to do the same on my FotoBabble blog.  I did a Google search and decided to follow the themes posted on this site. I am 2 weeks behind but plan to catch up with the weekly themes tomorrow!

6. Decrease my anxiety about death, dying and cancer. 

• This seems to be taking care of itself...the more I workout and feel "healthy" the less I worry about it. 

7. Spend more time with my husband. 

• This has mainly consisted of quality "home organizing" time lately and going to the Y together.  

7b. No more kids, so I have to watch just how much time I'm spending with my husband. 

• So far, so good!

I feel pretty happy with the progress on my list so far.  If I could continue at this pace, I will definitely have a YOSP!!

Random update #129

So, it's finally been nice enough weather to get out and do some gardening, planting, hang out outside...it's a super busy time of year with the spring sports for the kids, finishing up school / end of year activities, outside yard work, busy times at work for both of us and sick kids...Si and Ella have both recently had a pookie bug.

Last weekend was my lovely book group and it was our first gathering of the season in the gardens at Susan's.  I could go over there weekly and never tire of taking pictures of her wonderful garden.

I'm finding that May is routinely becoming a very busy month.  This year I did the Race for the Cure again and it was an incredibly beautiful morning.  We had SO much fun. And we stopped afterward and had a yummy breakfast at great little cafe in the Arena district.

(Sarah's - I would never eat such an atrocity of calories! ;)

Emma Lou (Beth's mom) and Margie at the walk

Cool video clip of the race here

This week started some of the final count down stuff at schools.  Ella had crazy hat day on Monday.  She pulled out the perfect hat.  Tuesday was mismatch/backwards day and she wore striped pants and flowered shirt - both backwards. But i forgot to take a picture of that.

This week has also been "first corn on the cob eating" week.  Yay for Florida corn!  It was yummy and made Silas very happy (something that has been very hard to do these days...)!

And speaking of corn, we also planted our own this year.  When we first plant the garden it's so disappointing - how barren it looks. But I know within a month it will be absolutely bursting.  We planted some corn, 3 kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, beets, snap peas, lettuce, some herbs...and we have a rhubarb plant the size of Texas. Looks like a big weed!

I was able to sneak out last week and take a few pictures - lilies, a bull frog hiding in the grass at Tara's, 

we have a nest and eggs in our shrub, some gorgeous roses have been blooming and I finally planted some pots and hanging baskets.

I'm ready for summer - bring it on!!