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!!)