Backtracking to Mother's day

I had a great Mother's day. Aaron let me sleep in, but my internal alarm clock wouldn't let me. I started to smell the yummy French toast and peeked my head out the door. It WAS french toast!! I ran back to bed and pretended to be asleep when I was greeted by an 8 year old boy in his checkered robe acting with a towel on his forearm like a butler. "Please wake up Mom and sit up" he said in a very British voice. Five minutes later, the yummy breakfast came and I enjoyed breakfast in bed with my 3 boys and 2 dogs. I even drank orange juice out of a champagne glass. ;)
Andrew made a special "extra energy" Pokemon card for me and Owen made a cookbook. Elliott managed to give me a monster poopie diaper.


Later in the day we went to the nursery and I picked out a Hydrangea vine. WHOA! This thing is going to be beautiful cascading along the picket fence on the side of our yard. We have a gate that I want to "disable" for the safety of Elliott. No better way to disable it than to put a huge viney hydrangea on it.

In the afternoon, Aaron prepared an awesome meal for us before we headed to his mom's house for ice cream. I had a monster t-bone, wine (my new favorite kind by the way is Luna de Luna), rosemary potatoes and grilled herbed bread. He is a fabulous cook, I wish he would do it more often. Aaron made this Mother's day very special for me and I felt very appreciated.







It was a great Mother's day. I had a good cry in the morning remembering my own mom. I remembered not to put mascara on until my good cry. For me, not having a mom to acknowledge on this special day is pretty hard for me. Yes, I can "acknowledge" her but to actually call her and hear her voice to say "Happy Mother's day, I love you Mom" is something I wish I could have back. I have been able to get through every other holiday perfectly fine without my mom, but Mother's day will always have a sting to it for me.

My mom making peirogie.

Elliott and his bowling ball

He loves his new bowling set.

Sad week.

Yesterday morning, my dad called with horrible news that my great nephew Bo passed away in his sleep. He was only 1 month old. Prayers go out to my brother Darryl's entire family.
Darryl and Bo...

Jacob and Bo

New schtuff.

With every season comes new things, seems like this Spring has more than usual. First, we have a gazillion things coming up in our new yard. When I say gazillion, I really mean a gazillion. I have started on one garden bed trying to get out all of the leaves to make way for plants to pop up. So far most of our ground cover is popping up everywhere. I am very excited to see what is exactly out there. We did have to cut down the flowering plum tree I wrote about a month ago. It was just too damaged to try and save. It made me very sad.

Yeah, so we have another dog. His name is Bentley. We responded to a Craigslist posting about him. He has been on there for a couple of weeks. He comes to us from a very good home and is very well trained. He is also a snuggle bug. Anyway, I think Bentley will be a great addition to our family and will shape Granola up a little. Granola is showing him the ropes and doesn't let him get away with much. I think he may feel a little sad at times but I also know this type of behavior is normal when introducing a new dog to the family. Meet Bentley... Another new beginning...we have more fish! Our female Platy had babies over the weekend. We watched the entire process and it was just amazing. She had a total of 23 babies. In the video below, the yellow female (that sits in the top left hand part of the "maternity tank"). You may have to rewind a time or two to focus your eye on the fish.


Piggy backing off this fish story is a classic. So, I don't really know how to tell the difference between a male and a female fish. Apparently there is an extra fin somewhere on the bottom of the fish. On Sunday, I went into the room to check on the new fry and noticed the "male" having a fish tail sticking out the bottom. I called the 2 neighbor girls and told their mom that another one of our fish is going to have babies. She sent the girls over and they watched, and watched, and watched. No babies. I called the pet store and told them that I thought the mom was having difficulties and she told me to stroke the bottom of the belly and gently pull on the baby tail that was hanging out. I thought this was gross but I did it anyway. Nothing came out and I totally got grossed out and stopped. 2 hours later I went back and the tail was still hanging out. Well, while googling for some answers I found out that the "tail" hanging out was not a tail but part of the reproductive system. Super.

Welcome to America.

Welcome to the good old U.S. of A where we have the freedom to order a pizza called "Godzilla". Surprising enough, it was good.

Pet store visit

We went to our favorite pet store today (Petland on 23 in Lewis Center). I almost walked out with a beautiful Siberian Husky. Really, they just got it in and if they had the paperwork ready I am sure it would have become part of our family. It was so sweet and snuggly. I see why Andrew's favorite breed has always been a Husky. Those eyes!




Oh, why yes. That is a tortoise 12 inches away from Elliotts face! It wonders around the store with 2 balloons taped to it's back. Kind of creepy that it followed us around all over the place. Elliott loved it as you can see.

Thrift store checkout fun...

April showers bring wet ceilings

As the kids were getting their showers last night, I noticed a hand sized water spot on my kitchen ceiling. I went upstairs to stop the showers in both bathrooms. Owen started to freak out when he saw the water spot because he thought the ceiling was going to cave in and we were going to die.

This morning I called a plumber and he stopped over for 7 minutes. I think I am in the wrong business because $80 later (mind you, 7 MINUTES) he confirms that there isn't a leak in the drain pipe (thank God) but my children got too much water outside of the tub. I should have known and came to that conclusion myself but when it comes to water and pipes, I have learned to step back and let the professionals take charge.

My great niece Amelia is here from Michigan this week. She is such a sweetie. It is so crazy for me to see her growing up. I mean, I know my kids are growing up but when you see someone else's child all grown, it's a little weird. Here is a picture of Amelia a few summers ago...


We went to the candy store a couple of days ago. I absolutely love this place (minus the clown collection). It was a little crazy on a Saturday. Here are some pictures from our trip to CLOWN CONE.

The only place you can get a slushie for $.40!!



During the boys spring break we went to my Dad's house. Every night around 8:30, it was Elliott's time to snuggle with papa. Both nights, he fell asleep on Papa's lap. Precious.


Also, Elliott's hair gets a little crazy now and then. So does my dads. They look like twins eh?

Slipping through the cracks

Gosh. There are days that I feel like the biggest loser of a parent ever and today was one of them. Actually, this entire week was a cruddy week in the parenting department for me. I saw myself as the parent I never wanted to be. I sure hope it was just a random week for me and this doesn't become a regular occurrence.

My boys are growing up and I am not sure If I want them to quite yet. I delight in the moments when they can get their own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without my help. On the flip side, I go to bed many nights with frustration heavy in me. They are trying to figure out who they are and where they belong. This process produces resistance and alot of button pushing. I am not a fan.

I love my children. I love being a mom but why does this have to be so hard?

special visitors

On Thursday, two of my sisters (and my niece Alicia) came from Michigan to visit me. On Thursday evening, we went to Babushkas Polish restaurant in Clintonville. I love that place. It is just like my mom's Polish cooking. Here are some pictures from the visit with my sissy's.






After our trip to Babushkas, we headed to my favorite thrift store. While waiting in line, Elliott loves to test out all of the silly glasses.






We had fun looking at Scrapbooks of my kiddos. My sister Susan about peed her pants when she came across a scrapbook page of our old guinea pig's funeral. It was so funny to see her expression of Stu in his "casket" the boys made for him. Only I will document such an event, right? Susan, this picture is for you. Download it and save it as your background on your computer...lol

Rest assured, Stu lived a very full and spoiled life.

My "good finds" include an entire Thomas the tank train set for a whopping 3 bucks (not the lead tainted version), a little tykes dollhouse AND furniture (for all of Elliott's girlfriends when they have play dates) for a crazy price of 5 dollars, a KRUPS coffee/machine for 5 bucks (the espresso part was clogged up with a calcium deposit but with a little elbow grease I fixed the problem), and a real black pearl necklace for 2 dollars!!! It is just beautiful. It needs to be restrung, but matches the black pearl earings got for me while he visited Japan a few years back.

And of course, I made plenty of Lattes.

Thanks for the visit ladies!

A neighborhood get together.

I took Pharaoh in tonight. He layed in my arms while the vet administered the sleepy medicine. When we came home I got the boys from their neighborhood friends to bury Pharaoh. Little did I know that the entire group of neighborhood kids were following closely behind to get in on the burial service. Rest in Peace my feline friend. I will miss snuggling with me tonight but will not miss the piles of poop you have left for me all week.

Pharoah

About 1 year ago, our vet told us that Pharaoh (age 13) had a mass in his tummy area. We were given an option to have an ultrasound to find out what exactly it was, but we chose not to have it and let nature take it's course. For the last week, we have been finding piles of poo placed throughout the house. The vet told us this would eventually happen for the mass would grow and push against the bowles or bladder. So, I called the vet today to see if this is the begininning of the end for him. He assured me that I was making the right decision and that it is a good call on my part. I was actually furious with him for pooing on my floor and on the beds prior to this phonecall. Now, I know for sure there is a reason for his behavior. This will be my beloved buddy's last picture.
I am the only one he interacts with, so this is pretty hard for me. We are taking him this evening and will have a burial when I return home. Sad day for me, sad day indeed.

Other posts about Pharaoh...
This one

This one

Curls

This little boy gets away with lots of things. I have a hard time disciplining him, those curls just seem to soften me up.

projects!

I have an ongoing list of projects in my head. Not like you want to know what I am up to, but here is one of them.
I have 3 boxes of empty wine bottles from Craigslist that I plan to make a garden project with. Here are the 2 ideas that I have thought about. I am leaning toward the edging though. What are your thoughts?

Skateboard headboard

Thanks again to Wally at Old Skool Skateshop in Westerville, a headboard for Andrew's skateboard room is in the making! Aaron actually has all of the decks in the back of his car so we couldn't complete the entire project on this beautiful day. Amazing what a couple of pieces of wood with some skateboards screwed onto them will do to tidy up and complete his room. This project cost about $7.00total to make (pieces of wood, I already had the screws, Wally provided the old decks). This entire piece will then be drilled into some studs in the wall behind his bed.

St. Patty's Day

I am menu planning for St. Patty's day. I love this stinkin Holiday! For some odd reason I find great delight in preparing green food (which results in green waste that makes my boys crazy excited) on this day. When the boys were smaller, Larry the leprechaun would come to visit and play tricks on us. I think yal remember the video of Larry sticking the Skateboard up in the tree or when Larry turned the toilet water green. Silly Larry.

This year, this is what I have planned.
Let's start with Dessert

Yeah, totally rad right??

The main attraction...a cheesy fondue! My kids are super picky, so we will most likely have lots of sausage and tortilla chips, and tortillas.


To wash it all down...


Of course, Aaron and I will enjoy some of this later in the evening...