Summer's Gone By in the Blink of an Eye

Well, a new school year starts for my boys in a few weeks and I see that my last post was back in May. So much has happened, I don't know where to start! In fact, it's been so long since I last posted, I've felt it's too much to tackle, which only keeps me away longer. Time to start it up again.

My main computer crashed a few months ago, and with it went my ease in posting pictures. I'll have to see if this laptop can handle Picassa again now that my husband has given it a rebirth. If not, I'll figure out a plan B. So this post will just be text. Boring, I know, but gotta start somewhere!

Okay, so May was filled with fun for me. Mother's Day and my birthday. Plus gorgeous weather, wrapping up Robbie's last days as a preschooler, and finishing up soccer for both Robbie and Scottie.

June brought us all to Disney where we celebrated Robbie's 5th birthday with Ron's whole family. 8 kids ages 9 and under and only 6 adults. We were definitely outnumbered, but had a fantastic time! The end of June was Allie's 1st birthday. How is it possible that my youngest little baby is already a year old?!

July was filled with fun summer days of camp, sports and lots of time at the pool. Besides the church's Vacation Bible School (all three kids attended and I volunteered to teach a class of 3rd graders!), the boys also took sports camps. Scottie's was a multi-sports camp where he learned the basics of soccer, baseball, football, and tennis. Robbie chose a single-sport lacrosse camp. He was by far the youngest participant, but had an absolute ball!! Both boys took swim lessons at the pool, and Allie learned by watching. She thinks she's a fish! Allie's first steps took place toward the end of the month and I knew I'd be chasing her around before long.

So here we are in August now. Enjoying the last days of summer as we gear up for a new school year. Swim lessons and camps are all done for the year, but we're squeezing in day trips to the Jersey Shore and lots more time at the pool. Allie walks all over the place now, and the boys are just so great with her and with each other. On days when I'm close to losing my patience, I try to take a step back and look at them for the absolute blessings they are. So small and innocent. Yes, they need me A LOT, but I know the time will come, all too soon, when they won't. Then, I'll find myself staring at them and just wishing they'd bug me for some attention.

Sigh. What a summer it's been. What a lucky Mommy I am!

I'll try to figure a way to post my favorite pictures of the summer later. Thanks for reading!

Mother's Day

(Just found this that never got posted from May)

Both kids had cute preschool programs for Mother's Day, which I got to attend. I caught a couple of the cute songs on video from each of the boys' classes.

Scottie's class sang "Skit-a-ma-rinky-dinky-dink"

Robbie's class did their "Mommies are for..." song.

And if those weren't cute enough, I also got serenaded

(having trouble with this last video)

Where'd April Go?

Wow! Somehow, the entire month of April came and went without a single blog entry! Guess that means we were pretty busy around here. Sorry for the hiatus, but we're still here and all are doing well...finally!!












April was full with Easter, Spring Break, my annual Mommy Getaway trip to the beach, and lots of time spent outside enjoying the beautiful weather and flowers!!





Allie is now TEN MONTHS OLD!! How did THAT happen? She's still crawling and cruising on furniture, but no first steps yet, so that's good (for me, at least). She's babbling all the time, and has a few "words" (more like repetitive sounds) that signal what she wants. Mama, Dada, baba, num-num (for more food), and kee-kee (for kitty), to name a few. She lets me put her hair in pigtails now, which I do just about every day cause she's just so stinkin' cute in them!!


Scottie is starting to talk in school now!! He not only whispers to his teachers, but he even spoke during Show & Tell last week!!! He brought in a helicopter and told everyone what it was and what it's name was, too. We're so proud of him!! (Grandpa and Poppy will be proud. During "Transportation" week at school, Scottie proclaimed that helicopters and school buses are his favorite things.)
















Robbie is really catching on with reading and writing. It's like a switch has been flipped, it's wild to witness! He sat at the table, staring at the bottle I was drinking from and just started working on it. "s...e...l....t...z...e...r. .....Selt...zer....SELTZER!!"
And he completely surprised us just yesterday with his writing, too. He's been writing his name for a long time, now, but not much more than that. Yesterday, the boys were drawing and Scottie gave a picture to Robbie. Robbie brought it into us and showed us what he wrote on the back of it. Check it out!! All by himself, in the other, with no direction or help at all!!!! (It says "To Robbie, From Scottie".) We're so excited!!




And the picture that Scottie made for him on the other side is above. Scottie said this is a picture of our family wearing Mickey Mouse ears and there's a dragon on the side, too. They're both excited for our trip to Disney next month!!























I'm still writing my mommy column, "Because I Said So" for TheAlternativePress.com. It's now published twice a month, so check it out when you can! Ron is still with Bank of America, even in this uncertain climate within the banking industry. Thankfully, he's in IT, so he's less at risk. Still, can't be a fun atmosphere. Hopefully, it'll get better for him soon.




And sadly, our Devils didn't make it past the first round of playoffs. Darn those Carolina Hurricanes!! I guess that's what we get for having two Carolina boys in the family rooting for the wrong team.

Bug Out

Quick update since it's been a while, then back on duty for this nurse, I mean, Mommy.

The bug first hit Ron about 2 weeks ago. Congestion, sinus pressure. We thought possible allergies?

Next in line was Allie. Hers manifested as a 2-day fever about 1.5 weeks ago. Her congestion didn't set in until after the fever was gone for a few days. Now just to get her back on a good nap schedule after forgetting how that's done.

Last week, Robbie. Congested, runny, stuffy nose. Sleep, no appetite, low-grade fever. Home from school.

This weekend, my turn. Basic annoying head cold. I was the lucky one.

Today, Scottie. Fever, coughing, congestion, lack of energy.

UGH. The house is Lysoled. Sheets are changed. Time for this bug to BUG OUT. We're done. Ready for Spring. Warm weather, playing outside, no more illness!

At least they're all still cute.

St. Patty's Day Parade in Morristown

We had such a fun-filled family day today! We started the morning by going to our friends' house for their annual "Bagels and Beer" party before the Morristown St. Patrick's Day Parade. We all laughed at the over-abundance of beer that no one was drinking,

and commented on how much things have changed in just a few years. As guests walked in, they walked in carrying heavy carseats and diaper bags instead of sixpacks and coolers. We all sat around Sarah and Eric's living room and joked that the bodies lying on the floor were a lot smaller and more sober than we remembered in the past, too!

After the party, we headed to the parade. Our secret parking spot by New Jersey Monthly magazine's building was now behind the police barricade, so it took almost an hour to find a spot to park. Grateful for the double stroller and Ron's strong shoulders, we hiked our way to the parade. But once there, we all had a ball.

The kids loved watching the bag pipers, horses, dogs, fire trucks, marching bands, soldiers and Irish dancers all go by. We managed to find a good vantage point on the wall in front of the Ambassador (across the street from Calaloo Cafe where Ron and I had our first date...aw!).

Home for naps, then out to dinner at Pizza Hut. All three kids are wiped out tonight from a fun, busy day. When I put the boys to bed, I asked them each what was their favorite part of the day. Robbie proclaimed the parade as his favorite, specifically, the big dogs. Scottie's response made me laugh. "My favorite part was going to St. Patrick's house for the party." I guess it only makes sense that the party before the St. Patrick's Day parade MUST have been at St. Patrick's house! Sorry, Sarah and Eric! He didn't mean to rob you of the credit for another great party!

The Lion and The Lamb

Fierce.

Ferocious.

Mighty.

ROAR!!!!

Sweet.

Snuggly.

Faces

I adore.

(Note: there were pictures that went with each line here. Not quite sure what happened. Will try to track them down.)

March Snow!

Even though we are all definitely ready for spring to arrive, we did enjoy our snow day on Monday! March really came in like a lion this year! We got a total of about 5 inches. It was too cold to be packing snow (just light and fluffy and wouldn't stick), but the kids had lots of fun in it anyway!

It was absolutely frigid, but the boys actually stayed out longer in the cold than they had on warmer snowy days this year. We had to bribe them with hot chocolate to get them to come inside. Lots of fun for all five of us!

Headlamps, Sighs, and Lullabyes

The Maisch boys had a fun week this week! Ron found these cool headlamps on sale for $2 each and the boys have had a blast wearing them. Around the house, outside in the dark, walking home from a friend's house, in the bathroom (Scottie says, "They make my pee pee blue!") and they're perfect for reading a bedtime story, too. And it was mild enough for lots of outside playtime, too. They wore their lightweight jackets and cool backwards baseball caps instead of heavy winter gear. They just thought they were so tough. Scary little hoodlums, aren't they?

This week was also big for us as parents. We registered Robbie for Kindergarten on Tuesday. We're still not sure if we'll send him on time or delay him by a year (we're waiting till mid-summer to decide for sure), but it was a big day. One of those, "I can't believe my baby is old enough to start public school!" moments for me.

Thankfully, we have our baby girl to keep us in those teeny tiny wonderful moments. Allie is all over the place these days. Allie is all over the place these days. Crawling under chairs, peeking through the coffee table and pulling up on everything. She'll be driving for real before we know it!

And, in the middle, there's Scottie, our sweetheart. He's getting more and more big boy everyday, but he's still my little snuggler who cuddles with me every chance he gets. And he's showing that sweet side with his baby sister, too. While Robbie was at school one morning this week, Scottie came with me to put Allie down for her morning nap. As I put her in her crib, Scottie asked, "Can I sing her Twinkle Little Star?" After I said yes, he climbed up on the footrail and began singing. I ran downstairs for the camera and caught just the last line. So stinkin' cute!!

Love these kids!

Thanks, Mom and Dad!!

Since Ron was away over Valentine's Day weekend, I shared my days with the other three loves of my life. I can assure you that my children never looked so wonderful to me than they did on Saturday morning. Why, you ask? Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I guess!!

I got my parents to agree to take the kids overnight on Friday so I could have some girlfriends over. Not only did I have a great time with my girlfriends, but I had the whole house to myself!! It was bliss!! That was the first time I have ever been home, in the comfort of my own house, ALONE!! I had a wonderfully peaceful evening, night and morning to myself. My house stayed clean, and I found myself actually looking forward to picking up my little monsters, I mean angels on Saturday morning!!

When I got to my parents' house to get the kids, I found happy, clean, adorable smiling faces. Boy, what a difference one night makes!! Thanks, Mom and Dad!!

(Now, I just have to manage to make it through this week of the kids' Winter Break with no school!!)

My Funny Little Valentines

What a fun week this has been! This was Scottie's first Valentine's Day in school, so we're very proud of his first valentine. (I can't figure out how to fix the picture to the right -- I did take it the right way, but blogger is auto "fixing" it to make it vertical when it should be horizontal.) Anyway, The front is marble painted in the pic to the left. On the back, Scottie drew a picture of me (the one in blue) and a picture of Ron (the one in red) and wrote the word, "boy" (to the left of Ron's head) all by himself!! We're so proud of him!! The poem in the center is very sweet, too. It reads:

"Most holidays our teacher
Has us do some special art.
You can see our hands and fingerprints,
But do you see our hearts?

You cannot see a "heart-print,"
But our hearts are there each time.
So please accept my little heart,
in this special valentine."

Talk about making a Mommy burst with love and pride for my special little Scottie!!

And Robbie's class did a great celebration this week, too! Today, his teachers held a "Kindness Awards" ceremony. Each student was honored for a kind act in class. Mrs. Drury had Robbie stand in front of the class as she read his award out loud. He was so cute and I was so proud! Robbie's award reads:

"This Kindness Award is presented to Robbie Maisch for his kindness to his classmates. When Mrs. Drury, Robbie and a friend were starting to play a game together, and Robbie and his friend both wanted to go first, Robbie decided to let his friend go first.

Thank you, Robbie, for letting your classmate go first when you're taking turns. That is very kind!"

While the boys were at school, Allie and I had our own little play time. I'm just so amazed at how fast she's growing! I went to get her after her morning nap the other day and found her, STANDING UP in her crib! She had pulled up, not just to her knees, but to her feet. I think she was trying to look over the rail to see where she had dropped her paci. (Guess that "object permanence" phase is upon us!). And check out this video below. She can now sit up all by herself without anything holding her up! And she seems to have learned that "piggy toes" means HER toes! Anytime I say it, she reaches out and finds her toes.

And lastly (and my personal favorite), she loves to dance!! We play music or sing and she rocks her little body to the tune. If someone is holding her, she even does a little baby headbanging! We have Ron to thank for this one. He started singing the "La, la...la, la, la....La, la....la, la, la" intro to Offsprings "Self Esteem" and now Allie recognizes it and does her little dance routine every time! Love this baby girl!!

Kitchen Facelift

I know, I know, it took me long enough! Finally, after much delay, here are the before and after pictures of our kitchen. Ron did a terrific job with our cabinets. Total cost was about $300 (including electrician), but what a world of difference!! Ron took the doors off, added chair rail moulding to the door panels, added crown moulding to the tops of the cabinets, and we both painted the cabinets white, inside and out.


(Do you have any idea how LONG it takes to paint cabinets inside and out? Or how long you have to live with your pantry items on the piano, your tupperware on the credenza, and your dishes stacked on the floor?)



But the end result is a much more open, bright, inviting space. We just love it!

And to give credit where credit is due, this entire cabinet facelift was all Ron's idea. From the crown moulding to putting chair rail moulding on the doors. All him! Thanks, hon! I love being married to such a handy guy!

Creative Games

We hosted a playdate at our house last week for the neighborhood kids. We laughed as the kids invented new games to play together.

At one point, they took out all of the costumes and hats from the dress-up chest and put them on in bizarre combinations. (Scottie, with an empty plastic storage bin on his head told me he was a monster. Duh, Mom!) Then they brought lost of the little play food and small toys to us moms, sitting in the living room. Not sure what that was for, we just laughed and the moms holding their "goodies" just held on to them as we continued our conversation. Next thing we know, a parade of silly kids comes in using empty hats and bags and came "Trick or Treating" for the goodies they had supplied us with. What a cute idea!!

Then came the "Mommy Rope" game. Toward the end of the morning, they found an old section of rope Ron gave the boys when they were being cowboys. The group managed to tie it into a huge circle and all got inside the circle, leaning and walking in opposite directions, forming their own silly game of molecule. The whole time, they're all saying, "Mommy, Moooooommy. Mommy!" The fun was when they all fell down on top of each other. They repeated this at least twenty different times, laughing and giggling more each time!

It's so much fun to see how their little minds work and see them creating such great games all on their own. Who needs fancy electronics and organized activities all the time? These kids know how to invent their own fun!

I'm so glad we got everyone together again. We all (kids and moms) had such a great time! Thanks to everyone who came over to play!!

Allie's Accomplishments!

Monday was a big day for our baby girl!

When I went up at 6:30 to get Allie up for the day, she was on her knees with her hands on the railing of her crib. Ack!! She's learning to pull UP already!!

She had a rough night the night before, which I chalked up to her cold. She was getting awfully annoyed that she couldn't suck on her pacifier since she couldn't breathe through her nose! I thought it might be teething when I saw her pink cheeks this morning, but only felt swollen gums. Then, after her morning nap, she gnawed on my finger and I felt it. ALLIE'S FIRST TOOTH!!!

And our girl can move, too! She still travels with her belly on the floor, so it's not an "official" crawl just yet, but let me tell you, she is efficient!! She does get up on her hands and knees to rock and can move her knees to crawl, but mostly, that pushes her backwards, which she doesn't like. So she continues to scoot, but covers an awful lot of area that way! Today, in the amount of time it took me to walk into the kitchen to refill Scottie's water, she had gone all the way from the living room, through the hallway, through the den, and up the small ledge into the playroom!!! All by herself!! When she knows what she wants, she moves fast!

And finally, Monday also brought with it the need for our baby gates again. Check out Allie's new trick when she sees someone head upstairs. Yes, this is my girl, pulling up on the bottom step/landing of our house. After seeing how she got into the playroom yesterday, I'm not doubting she'll make it up the steps in no time.

Ack! My baby is growing up! And today she turns 7 months old. Happy mini-birthday, Sweet Pea!!

Brotherly Love

Everyone always comments on how well the boys get along. They truly are each other's best friend. But the flip side to that is that they're also each other's worst enemy.

Yes, it's true that we were walking through the Home Depot this weekend and the boys, standing behind us, said, "Look at us!" So we turn to see them standing in the middle of the aisle, just hugging each other, like in this picture here. Fellow shoppers smiled and said how cute they were. If they only knew the episode from earlier that morning. Rewind about 2 hours and this is what happened:

Ron and I are finishing lunch in the dining room when we hear the telltale wail that means one of the boys is hurt. Typically, Robbie is crying because Scottie has hit him in a battle over a toy or Scottie has fallen down or walked into a wall, but we try to always hear them out to get to the bottom of it anyway. Well, this time it was Scottie who was the injured party. He came in crying, holding his hand.

"What's the matter, Scottie? Did you get hurt?"

"Yes. My hand is hurt."

"What happened? Did you fall?"

"No, I didn't fall down."

"Well how did you hurt your hand?"

"I tried to punch and hit a toy."

(Ron and I are now trying to conceal our laughter.) "You tried to punch and missed? What did you try to punch?"

"Robbie."

"So you went to punch Robbie, but missed and your hand hit a toy and that's how you got hurt?"

"Yes. Can you kiss it to make it better? I need a snuggle."

Well, we just couldn't contain ourselves anymore after that. Ron and I burst out laughing and told Scottie he doesn't get a snuggle for trying to punch Robbie. We sent him on his way and finished our lunch. Just a typical day in the Maisch household!!