March Birthdays

Here is a quick tribute to our March birthdays....Mom (a/k/a Nana) celebrates on the Ides of March- and she is celebrating a pretty big one this year. Darcy- my best buddy from Buffalo also celebrates in March, the day before Nana...not to forget my wonderful college roomie Miki at the start of the month, and my dear beloved Hubby at the end of the month. All those calm even tempered Pisces in my life, and my Aries Ram of a husband. Happy Birthday to you all!!

Construction....ugh!

OK I do not mean to sound ungrateful. I am very excited to be in the process of creating a new kitchen, new bathrooms, new laundry room, new office, new floors....should I go on? But I am not sure I will be able to live through this! For 9 years we have lived here with a "to-do" list, and all of a sudden my husband is whizzing through the list. All at once I might add. Closets are being moved, walls being built, doors removed, floors disappear- from 7am to 4pm we are under attack! Luckily we have a wonderful GC who is trying his best to keep things sane, but this HUGE job is slowly traumatizing me as each day goes on. More and more of our home is becoming thrown in boxes and covered in dust! One good thing is that I am finding things I forgot I owned, and I am throwing out many unused items. But still...this is not easy on me. What will I do when we actually break down the kitchen and I cannot even cook meals? We might have to move out....how do people deal with this? This is one of those things that everyone pretends is not a big deal- but it totally is...Like having a baby, maybe??? We will keep you posted!!

Vacation!!!

Well we are back from our Caribbean cruise during February break! We really needed it- or I should say i really needed it- in light of all the child illness and construction we left behind. We love cruising and the girls always get tons of attention- it was a relaxing, refreshing trip. Our highlights included visiting the Turtle Farm in Cayman Islands, and swimming with the stingray in Cozumel, Mexico. The girls were good as gold on the ship, sat nicely through the formal dinners, and loved the shows- they even befriended the cruise director!! All in all it was an awesome trip, and it really stinks to be back in the cold and back in the mess and dust of this construction! We are doing too many things at once (my husband's idea) so there is no safe haven- maybe we should move into the basement!!! Hopefully at the end of this, we will be happy in a shiny new kitchen- and two new bathrooms! In the meantime we got some amazing pictures from our trip!

Construction!!!

my kitchen!!

Ok - So after living in our house for about 9 years we are finally starting to tackle updating kitchen, two bathrooms and some other areas in need of repair. The thing is- I knew it was going to be intrusive and messy,, but I had no idea how bad it would be! We have only tackled the bathroom so far and I have had enough! I cannot get myself and the girls out of the house in the morning. We cannot find book bags, projects, coats, shoes... most are sealed behind plastic in other rooms. The girls are THRILLED that they can eat all meals in front of the TV in the family room. Once the kitchen is torn apart, i do believe I will begin twitching. I know I am a creature of habit, but I also realize my success in our chaotic life comes from some order and organization- at least enough to get us out the door in the morning! I am sure when we have a sparkling new kitchen in a few months I will be so happy and this will fade away...we hope! Stay tuned on this one!!!

Washington DC

Well in the middle of our hectic life (weekly snow and ice storms, coughs and colds, planning for kitchen renovation, packing for february break) we took a weekend trip to D.C. Al had a meeting and offered to take us along. Di was thrilled b/c somewhere in her travels she had heard that Dorothy's ruby slippers were in Washington at the Smithsonian... she is already much smarter than I...so that was the clincher of the deal for us! We had such a wonderful time! The girls were pumped to see the shoes, they were so excited to see the White House, and the other crowd pleaser was the Lincoln Memorial. I really enjoyed the experience with them...my favorite part? At the Smithsonian Museum of American History, just past the ruby slippers was Kermit the Frog. The ACTUAL Kermit! I got all choked up- not sure why- but to me that was big! We had a chance to visit with some good friends whom we do not see so often, and even hit the Georgetown bookstore (Al's alma mater). It was a lot to squeeze into one weekend, but we did have a great time and are already planning a trip back to see what we missed (Panda Bears at the National Zoo...need I say more?)

8 year old Drama

Is it possible that my sweet natured 8 year old is becoming a pre-teen? UGH!!!!!!!!!!! I see the signs..she is picking what she wants to wear (which she has done since age 2) but now it is always very specific and "cool" (anything princess or cute is "out")... Mom is often wrong...she only wears her Uggs and refused to even wear snow boots because they are "ugly" (I put my foot down on that one)...and now she has taken to wearing odd things...15 hair bands as bracelets...a pair of glasses she made out of paper...I am perplexed. I thought I was cool and hip.. but I am quickly realizing that I am SO not hip anymore. This is just a taste of the future coming from my 8 year old.. the worst is yet to come...but I am starting to realize that there are going to be MANY battles that I just will not win. This is a huge revelation to a mom. Up until this point, Mom knew it all- Mom was superhuman- Mom was the best....where is this cruel world leading us now????? Luckily, Gi could care less what she wears and the littlest things still make her SO happy....I will take solace in that for now. And thank God for two beautiful healthy growing girls!!

SNOW part 2

January has quickly become the snowiest we have had in quite awhile. It has to have been a few years since we have had this much snow! We have had numerous school closings and delays and it is not even February yet! My girls are loving every minute of it and they are old enough now to look at the snow and cry out "Sledding!"... Daddy takes them down our sloped driveway on sleds and they love it! The first time it snowed (before Christmas) we had a warm day a few days later and all the snow melted. Gi sadly exclaimed, "winter is over". I explained to her that winter had just begun and many more snowy days will follow. Happily for them this has been true. Unhappily for mommy who has to drive up and down the icy hills of our town. So far so good...we will have to see what February brings!