Graduation Day

Jack graduated from his first year of preschool yesterday.

He won't turn 5 until January, so he will get one more year of preschool under his belt before he enters kindergarten in 2011. Thankfully he loves school and his teachers. At the beginning of the year I thought for sure he would have major separation anxiety, but he took to school like a fish to water. It was a bittersweet feeling knowing that he was comfortable being there and didn't need me to hold his hand all the way.

His last day was fun. Each child had to bring a parent and they had lots of "up north" themed activities to do. Jack's girlfriend even introduced herself to me.

::side note:: She is ADORABLE and Jack just thinks she is the greatest. So much in fact, that he is even trying to get his aunt to name her unborn baby "Maddy O".

All in all it we had a lot of fun, and it was a major plus that I got to sneak out of work early to enjoy the day with just Jack.

JACKtionary

From last evening...

::Back Story:: Jack spent last week at his Dad's house and when he came to our house yesterday Husband noticed some scratches on his neck.

Husband: What happened to your neck, Jack?

Jack: Kitties (Jack's cat at his Dad's) scratched me. And then Daddy couldn't find his gun.

Husband: What did he need a gun for?

Jack: To get rid of Kitties.

::insert blank stare here::

Thankful Things from Thursday...

I have two from this week :)



1.Husband. He is such a GEEK, but I love him lots. However, he does get lots of side-eyes; which he completely earns per the example below:

I had to work late last night so I sent Husband to our biannual Homeowners Association meeting.

I leave him unsupervised for two hours and what does he do? He nominates HIMSELF for Vice President...and wins. He finds this hilarious and is insisting that I refer to him as VP (not going to happen). Geek mania, I'm telling you!


2. DVR. Allowing me to corral the kids, get things done, and still be able to watch the season finales of Bones and Grey's in their entirety's. Grey's was AWESOME. Husband even kind of got into it. He was also laughing at me being on the brink of an anxiety attack as my heart raced and teeth chattered through a majority of the episode.

Better late than never.

I got my Mother's Day gift from Husband last night - only 10 days late, but worth the wait.

After seeing Blair over at The Heir to Blair rave about The Vintage Pearl (and a failed attempt a winning her giveaway - rats.), I decided to give Husband the ol' wink-wink-nudge-nudge-kick-in-the-shins approach.

And lo and behold, it worked! He got me this bracelet, and a picture of the finished product with the kids' names:





Love it.

And for your viewing pleasure, I give you Reese.

Postcards from MY Momma

Just a couple for today :)

::After telling Mom about how Jack decided to drink out of his paintbrush rinsing basin last night::

Mom: Isn’t that cute. You once colored your whole tongue with a marker. Must run in the family. ::side note:: I do not recall, nor will I ever admit that this ever happened.

::Back story: Mom went on a road trip with two friends for fisherman's widow's weekend::

Me: How was your road trip?
Mom:We got as far as St Michael at one point. wooohoooo ::St Michael is about 5 minutes from home::

I admire her sense of adventure.

Home Sweet Home

It's just after 8:00 and we are finally back home and unpacked from our weekend in Wisconsin. The benefit was a success and the kids had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's. Jack gave me a hanging basket of "monkey faces" (pansies) that Grandma helped him put together, and Reese greeted Daddy with a mouthful of spit up when he picked her up for a kiss ::vom:: I could have passed out laughing.

OK, now back to the part about the benefit. Wisconsin was fun, but it's good to be home. The animal tally (aka the animals we braked for) was: 1 bear, 5 deer, and 1 fox.

The silent auction raised over $2600, another $2200 was raised from the 50/50 raffle, plus whatever was raised by the other raffle ticket drawings, wrist band, and paddle sales.

It was a very long day, but we had a lot of fun. Even if I had to let an extremely intoxicated Larry suck my big toe in order to get him to buy an entire bucket of paddles at $2 a piece. I was wearing sandals, so he disinfected the area with vodka first. ::shivers:: It's amazing what you'll do (and never, ever do again) for your family.

We drank, we laughed, we raised money, and we lifted our glasses to a stand-up guy to a few plays of "Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced" by the Dropkick Murphys. 'Twas a good weekend.


AND

If anyone is wondering, watercolor paints are NON-TOXIC. Tonight as I was giving Reese a bottle before she went to bed I heard the sound of gargling water. Jack decided that his paint brush rinsing basin looked especially tasty. Fabulous. Thankfully I caught him before he swallowed and promptly sent him to brush his teeth. I think we'll stick with crayons.

You never know when it will strike...

...but there comes a time when you know you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

That time is now. And I have only been here for less than 2 hours. ::Hi Dad. Yes, I am on break and not wasting company time blogging :) ::

I am so anxious and excited to get on the road to see the fam today that I can barely stand it! Just under five hours 'til freedom!

Hopefully I will have some good stories by Monday; but until then, have a fantastic weekend!

Rain, rain go away.

It's been raining and cloudy here for almost the last week. Jack is getting stir crazy and needs to just get outside to release some of his energy before he drives me up a wall. Thankfully there is talk of the sun and 70-degree weather returning just in time for the weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, Husband and I are taking a little road trip to Wisconsin to gather with family at a benefit for my cousin who lost her husband a few months ago. The whole situation makes me so mad because of how unfair it all seems. He wasn't supposed to leave her like this to raise four boys under five years old, but fortunately she has an amazing support system that will be there for her every step of the way - including Husband and I, even though we are miles away. We are so excited to see them and can't wait to make the trip. This will be a great weekend.

While Husband and I are away, the kids are going to Husband's parent's house. Jack can't wait to see the sheep, chase the ducks, and take a hike in the woods with Grandpa and Fitz (Fitz is their beagle).

Any who, on a lighter note:

Last night I made Jack dinner and left him alone for a minute at the table while I went upstairs to get Reese into her pajamas. After what couldn't have been more than 30 seconds I hear Jack scream and burst into a hysterical crying fit. I asked what happened - to which he replied "I accidentally spilled my dinner!". I looked into the kitchen and just about the entire contents of the kitchen table were scattered all over the floor. I didn't ask, nor did I even what to know what the hay he was doing to cause the mess in the first place. I cleaned it up, wiped his tears, and Husband made him a a PB&J sandwich. Maybe I should have invested in a spill mat when I had the chance...

C'mon get happy!

Miss Krystal over at "Tie a Little Ribbon" has nominated yours truly for the Happy 101 Award! Way cool, right? Being a newbie to the blog world, this was a totally awesome surprise. And if you haven't already, go check out her blog. Even if you really don't feel like reading it, at least go to look at the pictures of her way cute daughter, Marley. And if you have a daughter of your own (or have a son that you wish was a daughter...or just really like hair accessories), check out her boutique too.

Rules of the award:
1. copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. list who gave the award to you and list a link to her blog (or hyperlink).
3. list 10 things that make you happy.
4. pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know about the award

Things that make me happy:

1. A clean house. Husband calls me "Monica Gellar", I call it sanity.

2. My kids. I love watching them grow into the little people they are becoming. The random things that come out of Jack's mouth are hysterical (refer to JACKtionary for examples). I can't wait until Reese starts talking. ::side note:: I just realized that I put a clean house as #1 and my kids at #2. Clearly I love my family more than I love a clean house. Family 1. House 2.

3. Husband. To quote Juno, he is the cheese to my macaroni. He's laid back and I'm high strung (and bonus, he's totally OK with that). He is my Xanax.

4. Movies. I love, love, LOVE movies. Especially Backdraft. I could watch that movie everyday.

5. "Friends" reruns.

6. All things chocolate.

7. Family trips to the cabin in Hayward. My family (extended family included) rocks. Beer, laughter, bon fires, family, fishing, fun. 'Nuff said.

8. My dog. Calvin Caalllv! No matter how naughty he is I love him so much that I can't help but squeeze him sometimes. Then he gets mad. Oh, and he burps a lot too. It makes me laugh.

9. Shopping in general.

10. Complete e-strangers who take an e-chance to e-nominate me for a random e-ward (ha.). You rock.


Nominations:
smonk you: a story about being a dad
Webbisodes
finally Mom

Postcards From Yo Momma

With Mother's Day right around the corner, I thought I would pay tribute to a great website and great women. If you have never checked out http://www.postcardsfromyomomma.com/, you should. It's basically the essence of shitmydadsays on Twitter, except it is a selection of hilarious and random words of various mothers. Go now, I'll wait until you come back.

waiting...

...still waiting...


Ok then. In honor of Postcards and in observance of yet another bye week in JACKtionary, I bring you "Postcards from MY Momma". Enjoy.

::Mom after hearing my latest test results at the Doc's::

Mom: Can't you just get a cold like a normal person?

::Back-story:: kiddos go to Great Grandma's house every other Thursday when I work until 7:00. Grandma gives me a bag lunch as a trade for the kids.

Me: Grandma gave me chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.
Mom: Bitch.

::Back-story:: Reese has "stranger danger" syndrome and screams every time she sees my mom.

Mom: How is Reese's anxiety? Do they have Prozac for babies?


Happy (early) Mother's Day!

Our landscapers are idiots.

::back story:: Being a new home owner with little to no gardening experience, a girl at work gave me some irises to plant in our backyard last summer. Calvin proceeded to dig them up and destroy them, leaving me with sad green stalks that stood for the rest of the season. I looked forward to the next year when they would make their comeback...


This year, my previously destroyed irises were finally coming back full force. Although they hadn't bloomed yet, they still looked a heck of a lot healthier than they did last year. And bonus, the dog was even leaving them alone! It was looking to be a good plant year...

...until yesterday.

After getting home from work I went to let the dog out the back door. To my HORROR I saw that our IDIOT landscapers had been there earlier that day mowing the lawn and weed whacking. Not only did they cut down the weeds in our rock bed, they absolutely mutilated my plants! Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I would like to think that a LANDSCAPER would know the difference between a dandelion and a healthy pre-bloomed plant! Iris leaves were scattered all over the yard and all Husband could do was laugh.

I guess I really wasn't meant to have flowers.

The day Sophie lost her squeak...

After months of reading rave reviews on Sophie (courtesy of the ladies on the Bump), I broke down and paid the $15 for the overpriced squeaky giraffe. And up until yesterday, it was $15 well spent.

Reese loved her, mostly because it was easiest thing (secondary to her feet) to get into her mouth. The squeak of the giraffe also brought the dog running to her, which she found to be extremely hilarious. Sophie then became known as the "Calvin call".

...until yesterday.

After an extensive nomming session, Sophie's squeak is no more. We can't figure out what happened, other than a probable drowning in drool, that has caused Sophie to sound like an emphysemia patient.

Sad thing is, although I know how much Reese enjoys Sophie, I just can't bring myself to pay the $15 for a replacement. I guess She will just have to learn enjoy Sophie's new "voice". It's never too early to teach your kids about acceptance. :)