Rock and Rollin

The Artinghelli household has been very busy lately.

We have been adapting to life with a Kindergartner.  Let me tell you, our routine has been changing.  No more are the days when we could go to work, come home, eat dinner and play.  Now we have to somehow get homework and 20 minutes of reading into our routine.  Sure, that doesn't sound too bad, but it's hard after having a jam packed day.  We are all tired and the last thing we want to do is homework.  We want to play and just have fun. I'm not sure how it's going to be next year, with 2 children in school.   When Austin's teacher first started giving out the sheets of homework on Friday, I thought, okay, we can get most of it done on the weekend, but some weekends are busier than others, and when we don't do the homework on the weekend we struggle to get it done after school. Okay, so 5 sheets not so bad, but then to throw in 20 minutes of reading and now worksheets to go with the reading, and then practice the site words, so he can read, and oh here is some modeling clay so he can work on his fine motor skills, that will really help with his writing.  It's just a lot!

But I must say, Austin is a sponge.  He is learning so much and it's so cool to see how he uses his brain, the questions he asks, are priceless.  We played a card game, much like war over the weekend.  And Austin knew right away which number was more than the other, which one was the less and which one was the same.  Proud mom moment.  And John David did too!  It's so cool to be able to play more "games" but also reinforce the learning that he is doing at school.  And I feel that John David will be one step ahead, since he is listening to everything Austin is saying. 

The time change just about killed me, but I'm happy to say that we are finally over the Time Change Hangover as I have been calling it.  Austin had the HARDEST time.  Up at 4:30 a.m. a basket case when I picked him up from school.  He was just so out of sorts and making us all crabby.  John David was the lucky one because even though he was up early like Austin, he got to nap at school.  The first day, I was telling John David how lucky he was, that Austin, mommy, and daddy didn't get to nap.  He was upset that he had to nap, and I told him, No no, we are wishing that we could nap too!  Lucky duck.

Halloween was cold!  We managed to go around the block and that was it.  John David's hands were so cold that he just wanted to stop. Austin was beaming, from house to house, across the street.  He wanted the candy!!!  Even with that, they haven't eaten much candy.  They forget about it since I put the candy away.  Unfortunately, Kevin and I know where it is ;-).  We carved pumpkins and the boys had a blast.  They drew the faces on the pumpkin and Kevin and I carved them out.  None of the boys would get the "guts" out so mommy had to do it.  Eewwww.  Austin and John David really enjoyed seeing their pumpkins light up outside.  They are definitely "proud" of their work. 

The toys r us toy catalog came in the mail and the boys freaked out and went to town circling items they would like.  I think they circled everything on the page!   The boys didn't particularly like it when I said, that we would have to give some toys away to make room for the new toys that Santa would bring. I would like them to get invloved with giving their toys to someone who is less fortunate.  We are also going to adopt a family, like we did last year, but this year, I really want the boys to help out with that.  They get a lot, almost everything they want within reason, and it's time for them to start understanding "giving".  I too, would like to give more.

I really enjoyed my time in San Francisco, the Dreamforce Conference was amazing and I have a lot of great ideas to bring back to Edlong.  I was very happy to make it to the Golden Gate Bridge.  I was just in awe when I stood beside it.  



 Thanksgiving is next week and the Christmas.  We are gearing up for the holiday!  Can't wait!

Living Life

Best friends climbing trees

We are rockin it over here.  We have been super busy, from soccer practice, soccer games, birthday parties, homework and just every day life.  The days are quickly passing us by and the warm weather is turning cold much to quickly, pretty soon pumpkins and Halloween Costumes will be upon us.  It's crazy how time really does fly.

Austin is doing awesome at Kindergarten.  I'm so impressed with him.  He's getting green cards at school, which is awesome.  It's a behavior card, green means great day, yellow means good day and red means bad day.  We want Austin to get the green cards!  And so far, that's all he has gotten.  After 30 green cards, he gets to pick a prize out of the prize bin at school.   He gets 5 sheets of homework on Fridays, and this week he had them all done on Sunday, he has a week to complete it all.  Someone mentioned when they don't have homework, to have them read for 20 minutes.    I'm going to incorporate some of that as well as working on our speech words.  He has 2 sheets of speech words to work on too.  I'm not ready for this homework, it's definitely a new concept for us, but we are doing our best.

Austin doesn't really like to talk about his day.  Although in the past couple of days that's gotten much better.   I read a blog post about questions to ask, so I have to remember that.  Kevin, tickles Austin until he tells him a few things about his day.  Oh and at bed time after things have calmed down, he likes to talk about his day a bit more.  Hoping that gets a little better.

The transition between picking him up at school and coming home has been awful.  I've been really stressed out about it.  He's tired and probably hungry.  Going to start bringing a snack in the car to see if that will help his mood by the time we get home.  It's been rough, that and this whiny stage we are in.

John David is doing very well in pre-kindergarten!  I've been getting great remarks on him!  I knew, I would, he is such a good kid, and wants to please you.  They were a little concerned that he still wore a pull up for nap/bed.  He doesn't nap at home, so I haven't tried to stop the pull up during naps.  So all of a sudden, he just asked to sleep in underwear during nap, so they let him and he's doing FANTASTIC!!!! Woot woot.  He has also asked for underwear at bed time.  And that's a work in progress.  As long as I wake him between 12:30-2:00, it seems to work fine, he pees, goes right back to sleep and wakes up dry.  When I didn't get him at that time, he was wet.  I don't know if what I'm doing is right.  I know I'm exhausted waking up and having both boys go potty and then back to sleep.  It's a good 20-30 minutes of interruption.  5-10 minutes getting them up and back to bed and then another 10-20 falling back asleep <---- I wrote that about a week ago, update, I no longer wake him!  Sometimes, he wakes me up when he wakes up to go and other times, he makes it dry all night.  Here and there he is wet, but I say JD is done with DIAPERS!  Woot woot!!!

JD doing yoga, kids got style too

John David has been a comedian lately, his facial expressions and the way he makes these faces has us cracking up.  And his remarks, one day, Kevin, John David and I were laying in bed, and Austin started walking towards us and John David says, "he comes trouble maker"  just how he said it out of the blue was hysterical. He is definitely a character and we love him.

Austin self portrait

Austin has this new thing, making books.  We get some white paper and fold and staple.  He has been having a blast making these books.  I love how he draws him and John David.  Really shows how much he loves him.  Austin is quite the artist!  He loves making people, self portraits and coloring pictures.

looking good in uniform

I'm not sure if Austin likes soccer.  I'm not sure if it's just too much with school and being tired.  The first game wasn't good.  He got tired quickly and wanted to be done. The second game was better and by the 3rd game, he almost scored!  They take turns in the different positions.  Last week, he was goalie and I have to tell you that is the most nerve wrecking position.  I was timer that day and was constantly looking at how much time was left.  Luckily his team kept the ball on the other side.  I was just so glad when I got to call time.  We still have plenty of games so hopefully it continues to get better each time.


The Artinghelli clan participated in the 2014 lung run.  I ran a 5K and Kevin and the boys walked a mile.  The best part about that run was running in to the finish line, seeing all three of my guys cheering for me.  It made the run.  Kevin and the boys saw a butterfly while doing the walk, and for those of you who don't know the significance of a butterfly, I will tell you.  When someone in your life passes, there is a sign that they leave you, at least for us there has been.  For my mom it's the numbers 333 and for my Father In law, it's a butterfly.  So whenever we see those numbers or a butterfly, we know that our loved ones are with us.  It's nice to take a moment and think about our loved ones who we miss oh so much.  So, since we were doing the lung run in honor of my Father In Law, it was significant to "see" him or the butterfly.  We feel that it was his way of showing us that he's okay and moreso that he's with us.

Can't believe fall is on us.  We have already seen pumpkin decorations and the boys are talking about Halloween! 

Austin and Kindergarten

Dear Austin,

Can you believe it, you are starting Kindergarten.  When did you become such a big boy?

I know you will do great.  You are so excited, as am I, for your new journey.  I will drop you off, give you the biggest smile and send you on your way.  I will be there waiting for you when you are dismissed with open arms and a big grin.  I will not cry...I will not cry...I will not cry.  In front of you.  Let's go out for ice cream afterwards, so I can hear all about your first day!

I'm trying to picture you in your back pack.  We are going out this weekend for your school supplies. You can pick out whichever back pack you want, even the character ones.  But if it falls apart after the first day of school, we will have to get a more durable plain looking one.  You already got your shoes, but we also talked about wearing something cute on the first day. 

Austin, I know you to be the sweetest kid out there, but you do have your wild moments. Please do your best to listen to your teacher, to keep your hands to yourself, to wear your glasses, to share and most importantly learn and have fun.

I really feel like just yesterday I was holding you in my arms for the very first time, rocking you in the glider during the wee hours of the night and being overjoyed in all of your firsts, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking.... and now another first is upon us. 

You are so smart, writing your name, knowing your letters and numbers, counting, now you will learn to read among so many other things.  Daddy is banking on a full ride to Michigan, so we need to get serious ;-)  just kidding, well not about going to Michigan.  That is one of daddy's hopes for you to attend his all time favorite school, hopefully it's a dream you both share.

Please be nice to the girls.  I know you like the girls and talk about how they don't like you.  It's probably because you are a boy, not because of anything you do.

My advice for you.

• If you have to fart, try to do it quietly in the corner, or even better, in the bathroom.
• Raise your hand
• Wait to be called on
• Share the crayons
• Don't talk about poop
• Be polite, say please and thank you
• You like to talk loudly, maybe talk just a little bit quieter
• Get to know the other kids in the class room
• Have fun and learn

I love Austin, to the moon and back.  I'm excited for you as you start Kindergarten.  I know you will have a great time and learn so much.

Love,
Mommy

Vaca

What a magical vacation we had.  Disney was everything I expected, magical, exhausting, fun, and overstimulating.

The boys loved Disney and seeing their eyes light up, made the whole trip, worth it, in my opinion.  They loved Small World, and Petar Pan, the oohs and ahhs and mommy look, daddy did you see that, really made me enjoy our trip.  They loved the rides we went on, especially the Men in Black ride at Universal where they could shoot at the aliens.  Austin hated, and I mean HATED, Despicable Me and Shrek, he screamed his little heart out, and even though John David was fine on those rides, he HATED, Simpsons ride. 

Both boys loved the pool, especially the resort pool.  The pool had zero depth which is comforting for John David and Austin was comfortable jumping in the pool, bigger the splash, the better.  What I did not expect from this trip, was John David going under water on purpose.  He's always been a little more timid of the water, but really has come out of his shell.  I'm so proud of him.  And Austin, he was swimming and blowing bubbles without his floaties.  He has 1 swim lesson and learned so much during that lesson.   The boys are fishes.

I loved Magic Kingdom at night.  I'm so thankful Kevin and I took the kids back.  The electric parade was very cool and the how the castle changed pictures during their presentation was amazing and the Fireworks!  I loved the fireworks.  Boys have only seen the fireworks once before so I felt that this was a special time.  Especially over looking the castle.  It was during this display that I truly saw how magical Disney is!

We went to Chef Mickey's to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto.  Seeing the boys face light up was amazing.  They really loved meeting them and showing them their Donald and Mickey stuffed animals.  They still talk about it a month later.

The SHRM conference was amazing and inspiring. Lots of great speakers and break out sessions and I'm bringing a lot back with me.  Tim McGraw was amazing and am glad that I saw him.  We didn't even get seats, we made our way as far up as we could and stood the whole time.  I think I might even have lost my voice.

I also had a free day and I went to the beach on the Atlantic for the first time.  We enjoyed lunch on the beach at a bar/grill restaurant and listened to live music, and he pretty much played country music, my fav.  I looked for sea shells and got a few. We went into the ocean and a wave got me a time or 2.  My flip flops broke and I quickly found out how HOT the sand is!  OMG, I had to run so my feet wouldn't burn.

The Hilton Orlando was wonderful, I loved the pool outside and LOVED the PALM trees.  It was great to just sit on a lawn chair and enjoy the scenery.  The only thing I didn't particularly like about the hotel was the bed, which is a big thing, but the scenery at the pool more than made up for it.  Next time the conference is in Orlando, I will stay there again, and enjoy that pool again!

What I learned about Florida:

• the lights are forever LONG
• the handicap stall has a sink in it
• there are birds everywhere and they like to eat your food 
• It rains almost daily
• They like keep the convention center cold
• The flowers are beautiful
• And most important, I loved Florida!

The boys and I went to Wisconsin with my dad and Mary, aunts, uncles and cousins.  We had a blast but sure did miss Kevin.  He couldn't come since he didn't have the vacation time after our trip to Florida.  We went to Scharenberg's which is where my family would take us when we were little.  We hung out at the lake all day and really had a blast.  The boys loved the water and mostly the sand, sometimes they said they didn't like it and other times they did.  Both brave boys went tubing.  I can't believe it!  We were in the boat and next thing I know they were asking to tube.  What is going on?!?!  I feel like yesterday, I was bringing them home from the hospital and now they are doing big kid things.  It's just surreal and overwhelming.  They also went fishing for the first time and caught a few!  We were only there for a couple of days but we sure did have a blast.  It was nice hanging out with everyone!

We truly did have a wonderful vacation.  I look forward to the many vacations we will take and memories we will make.

A lot is going on now too, t-ball, summer and back to school, which means next month, Austin will be in Kindergarten.  Can't think about that now, must focus on summer.

Happy 4th birthday, John David

Oh Johnny, what am I going to do with you, I told you to stop growing and here we are again celebrating another birthday.  John David, you are the sweetest kid I know.  And you have quite the personality.  You always have us cracking up with your silliness. We love you so much and want to wish you a big happy 4th birthday. 

You have been so patient, you know your birthday was coming up but you didn't ask about it too much, well until now.  Now that Austin's birthday is over, you know your special day is just around the corner.  We have been crossing out the days on our calendar.

Where are you today!  Gosh, it's funny because as I'm typing this, Darius Rucker's, "It Won't Be Like This for Long" is on and boy oh boy he is correct. 

You weigh 43 pounds and are 42 inches
 

 Your most favorite foods are cheeseburgers, pickles, salad, meatballs, applesauce, monkey yogurt, and bagels.  Let's rewind for a minute, salad?  When did you start liking salad?  We were out one night and you told me you wanted salad with the orange stuff.  I played along, since you told me you eat it at school, and sure enough you ate it!  And that orange stuff, it's yummy french dressing.  I like french too!  You also love spaghetti and you get that spaghetti face that kids get.  I always wanted a baby with spaghetti face, loved those Ragu commercials and now I have my very own.  You don't like the spaghetti at school, because, and you tell me this, "it's not mommy's spaghetti"  It makes me so happy that you like my cooking.  Just like daddy, you like vanilla ice cream.

Last year, I really had to help you with your bike.  Now, you are a master at it, going up and down the street.  It's amazing how much difference a year makes.  Pretty soon, we will all be able to ride together.  We just need to get daddy a bike!

You know your letters and your numbers 1-10, how to write your name and draw amazing pictures.  You like to make us special pictures and put them in envelopes.  Mommy and daddy need to lick the envelop though, and then you make a special delivery.  One time, you even put the note in our mailbox and mad daddy go retrieve it.  We need to teach you how to address an envelop and put a stamp on so we can share your precious pictures.

You love to sing.  And of course, it's Frozen, "Let it, go"  You were doing a puzzle the other day and you were belting out Let it Go.  I thought it was super cute. When we came to your Spring Sing, you were front and center singing your songs, and at bed time you like to sing songs together.

Speaking of bedtime, you have your own system, and like last year, you like to change it up.  We never really know how its going to go. Sometimes you want to hold your blankies with the tag closest to you, other times you want them covered over you and sometimes you don't even want them in your room.  You have a special love for your teddy bear and kangaroo or bunny, whatever it is and love to cuddle with them.  You 95% of time need a sip of water before bed.  You love to hear songs, stories and you love to talk before bed.

You have a blast with daddy.  He likes to play ball with you and watch you ride your bikes.  He does his wrestling moves on you but most of the time you aren't a big fan, only because you don't like to be locked down, but you like to lock him down.  Soon, my son, you will be locking him down. When grilling season started, you needed to have your play grill outside beside daddy and you love to cuddle with him

You like to be comfy and only wear jeans sometimes, very rarely, you are much more comfortable in comfy pants and a shirt.  You are very good at dressing yourself and usually match.

If you watch TV and it's still not a lot (like your brother) you will choose, Doc McStuffins, Daniel Tiger and Henry Hugglemonster.

You are having a blast playing Spot It, Go Fish and Memory with me.  You are very good at it too. You always beat me at Memory! 

You also love the ipad just like your big brother.  It's amazing really because when we first started Despicable me, you weren't very good, but now you are awesome!  You like Sonic too.  You love to do puzzles on the ipad as well as on the floor. 

John David, we better start getting ready to call you JD because I'm sure that is what they will call you on the team.  You start your first t-ball practice when we get back from Disney and you will be a star.  I'm so impressed with your ability to HIT the ball with no tee, and you hit it hard!  I feel for the pitchers because they are going to get a lot of line drives right back at them.  Your aim is awesome.  I'm just in awe of how good you are at hitting and throwing.  I hear soccer is in the fall, if t-ball goes well maybe you'll like soccer too. It doesn't matter what kind of ball it is, you love them all.  When we go to the park, you want to bring your football, basketball or just any kind of ball.

We are so lucky because you love to make our coffee in the morning and you love to make pancakes with Grandma.  We like to call it a cup of Johnny and your pancakes are delicious.  You will set the table for us too, so helpful you are!

 You are amazing John David.  Mommy and Daddy just think you are more caring little boy out there.  We hope you have a wonderful birthday and year.  This summer should be so much fun.  Can't wait to see you jump in the pool this year!  Happy Birthday, buddy!

Happy Birthday, Austin

My dear sweet Austin, happy 5th birthday to you.  Can you believe it, it's FINALLY here!  You've had a hard time with waiting for your special day.  You know it's after mine and Mother's Day, and before John David's but the 3 weeks in between is very hard for you, you are so excited.

Happy

It's hard for me to believe that you are already 5.  And little man, you are starting Kindergarten in the fall.  You will be going to daycare in the morning and then will be bussed to school.  Such a big boy you will be.  You are starting t-ball in a few weeks and we are so excited to watch you.

Let's see what you have been up to.

You are 48 pounds and 44.5 inches.

You can't have a messy room.  We will put you to bed, get you all tucked in and then will start hearing banging and moving going on in your room.   Then you'll come out of your room with a purpose and want us to see your room.  You have no problems keeping a mess in the living room, but your room has to be clean, with the exception of under your bed, although you just told me that you want to clean it.

Loving on Buster

You have a deep love for Buster.  There are times, when you will lay on the floor with him and pet him so nicely and look into his deep brown eyes.  You have to kiss and hug him before we leave in the morning and before you to go bed.  You often tell him you love him and that you love his big brown eyes.

Mommy cuddles

You have learned that mommy loves to hear sweet things from you.  You see, buddy, I'm trying to show you what your mom and your potential girlfriends will want to hear.  It makes us feel so happy to hear nice things.  So sometimes, you will say, "oh mommy, I have a secret for you", you'll pull my hair away from my ear and whisper,  "I love you".  It melts my heart every time.  You say things like, "I will love you forever"  "I'm going to love you all day"  "I still love you"  "Oh mommy, you look so cute with your hair like that". 

Being silly before bed

You crack me up with your style.  In the winter, you would only wear jeans.  Do you know how many pairs of jeans you went through, a bazillion.  Because, while you will wear jeans every day, you will not wear ripped jeans.  But the minute we come home, you rip the jeans off and put on comfy jammy clothes, which entails, shorts and short sleeve shirt.   Now that it's warm, one might think you would wear jean shorts, but no, it must be basketball comfy shorts with no strings.  We will have to cut off the string or just remove it. You like to be cute and often ask me "Mommy am I cute?" after you choose your clothes.

 Austin, right now your favorite foods consist of pizza, but only cheese pizza, and if the cheese comes off, you have a melt down!  You like cottage cheese, monkey yogurt, oatmeal squares.  What's different about you know versus a year ago is that you are more willing to try food.  You may not like it, but you will try it.  You are definitely my child, because you like shrimp, and you take my shrimp.  Austin, you must know, that I would not give you my shrimp, if I didn't love you.  Shrimp is my favorite dish and I don't share with just anyone. I do share, but when it comes to shrimp, I gotta be selective. Good thing you chose the Lobster place for birthday dinner so you can eat shrimp. You love ice cream, chocolate ice cream, just like me.  Vanilla just won't do.

Happiest when on bike

Thank god, Daddy got your bike down, because you love to ride.  Last year, you were riding with a little help from me, now, oh my goodness, slow down!  You are giving mommy gray hairs.  You go so fast, in circles and you fall a lot, but you get right back up.  You are so determined and courageous.  Maybe, next year we will have the training wheels off, my whole head will be gray! ;-)  When you ride your bike, you have the biggest grin on your face and it just makes me so happy.  I'm sure you feel so free!

You love to play on the iPad!  And you are good at it too.  Minion Rush and Sega are favorite games, but you are known to play memory, puzzles and ant crusher.

Your favorite  shows are Henry Hugglemonster, Doc McStuffins, Up (The funny movie), I'm not sure why you call Up the funny movie, but you do.  Other shows you like, Jake, Daniel Tiger, Ella the Elephant.

I have a question for you, why do you go unbelievably crazy the minutes before and after the bath? Maybe one day, you'll be able to answer this for me as I really would like to know.  Bath time, is crazy.  There is water EVERYWHERE.  And I don't know what to do, yes, you get water all over the place, but you do clean it up afterwards, pretty good too.  Just scared that one day, you will have a nasty fall.
 
Something new the past couple of weeks.  You are freaked out by ants.  You were playing in the dirt and all of the ants appeared and some got on you and you were running and screaming, "GET THEM OFF"  Then, you had to go go inside and wouldn't come out. John David was outside with daddy and you were inside coloring because you didn't want to be by the bugs.  It's okay, Austin, mommy hates bugs too!  I'm sure you'll be over that soon.  And that you'll be bringing me your treasures and I'll be screaming.

pictures before bed

You have a blast with daddy.  You love it when daddy traps you and tickles you.  It seems as though you can't get enough.  Daddy loves getting you with the hose and hearing that contagious laugh of yours.  Recently, we have all started playing Spot It and Go Fish and it has been a blast. 

He even gave his guy a name

You have been so creative with your pictures.  It's amazing to see how much your pictures have changed in the last 6 months, especially your self portraits. They started off pretty basic and now they have hair and what looks to be glasses.  I love it.  And you are so creative with your chalk drawings outside.  When I pick you up from school, it's amazing what you have in your folder, so many fun and creative drawings.  Thankfully, I'm keeping some of them in a bin to look at.

Stopping to look at the view

You like to be the boss and tell people what to do, especially John David.  Apparently, you like to tell on people too, at school you told the teacher your friend was playing with the string on his shorts.  Silly boy.  We try to tell you to worry about yourself, but to you everything needs to be in its place.  We are working on this.

Austin, my sweet Austin, we love you so much.  You are a hoot and definitely keep us entertained.  You are wild and crazy but have a big sweet heart.  You keep us on our toes and laughing.  We look forward to another fun summer and a lot of firsts this year.  Kindergarten is in just 3 short months.  And you will rock it!  You will love riding the bus and making new friends. You will do wonderfully.  We are so proud of you, happy birthday buddy!

It always happens this time of year....

and it probably always will.  The time between my birthday and the boys birthday, the weather starts to get really nice and I get all nostalgic.   I know it has to do with the boys having a birthday, and probably with changing of seasons.   But I get this pit in my stomach.  And maybe that is more so this year, because we are having a lot of changes.  Austin is starting Kindergarten, we are going on a big trip next month, boys are having their first kids birthday party,  we are starting them in t-ball.  I know I say this every year but they really are growing up. Kevin took the bikes down, he was a rock star last fall and got them all hung up in the garage, and from the first time on their bikes they were already riding down the driveway into the street, and I only really need to help up the hills.  Unfortunately, our neighborhood is pretty hilly so a tad hard for the boys, but they are rocking in.  They love having their bikes down.  They love using their muscles and John David as he was riding in circles in the backyard told me he was getting exercise.


The boys are crazy about their bikes.  We have rode to the park, which was an experience.  Once we got to the park, they were riding around the park on the sidewalk, and I was watching as a proud mommy, not sure what to do, stand and watch, sit, chase after them.  Austin was riding on the basketball court but decided not to turn and went down the grassy hill.  I ran after him, for a few reasons, but mainly because he was headed downhill for the marshy area.  Luckily, he spun out just in the nick of time, in front of all of the frisbee golf players but not quite in the marsh.  Everyone was quiet but me, I was running, asking him if he was okay.  Austin was silent, we got him up, and not one time did he cry.  I laugh because one of the frisbee golf players, yelled, "AND HE'S GOOD"  I was shocked that he didn't cry, but merely got right back on the bike and proceeded to ride.  I think a year was shaved off my life and received a few gray hairs and Austin got some bruises, okay a lot of bruises from the past couple of days, but man that kid is persistent, courageous, determined.


Mother's Day.  My kids are too funny when it comes to keeping secrets.  They can't for the life of them.  So they made me something at school.  Austin comes to me, "I made you something special at school today, but I can't tell you what it is.  It's a bracelet and you're going to love it.  Oh, don't tell Miss Brenda or Miss Angie."  And then the boys are in the back seat telling each other what they made me. They had their gifts ready for me on Wednesday, but I was good and waited to Mother's Day to open them (so not like me).  In hindsight, it might have been better if I opened them early, because they were super excited to have me open my presents at 5:45 a.m.  We had a very nice day, we went to breakfast with Milly, and then the boys and Kevin and I went to the forest preserve near our house for a bike ride, kids rode their bikes and Kevin and I walked behind them. John David didn't make it too far so Kevin and him rode back to the bench by our car and Austin and I continued.  I thought we were only going a bit further but the path kept going so I thought it would be best to turn around.  I had to run to keep up with Austin on the way back.  He is a speed demon, I hope this isn't a look into his future with him driving.  Then we ran around in the grass and took some cute pictures.  Took a nap at home, organized clothes and then went out to dinner.  All in all a great day!

Spring Sing.  We had spring sings for both boys. We didn't know what to expect.  Austin was super excited for us to come, but when we get there he was so shy.  A lot of parents were there and I think as a 4 year old I would be scared too!  He didn't sing, but he did play with his sticks and had the cutest I'm so shy smile on his face!  John David on the other hand, was up front, singing all the songs!  He was so excited as well and just had the biggest smile on his face.

I have really been missing my mom lately and I’m kind of angry about it.  I know she’s proud of me and looking down on me and my family.  I feel her.  But I want her here to share in my excitement with the kids.  I feel cheated.  Mother’s Day is even harder than most days, I see pictures of my friends with their kids and their mom’s and just want that!  It’s just sad.  Now, I do know she is with me, I “see” her all the time.  See, when I see the numbers 333, that’s her sign for me.  She is buried at 9A333.  My dad saw 333 right when she passed and now when I see 333 I think of her.  I’m lucky that I do see 333 a lot and that makes me both happy and sad.  Just the other day, I   And I just cried, because I couldn’t do that. So when we were driving and talking, I turned behind a car and wouldn’t you know the license plate was 333.  I was mad at her because I had no sign of her on my birthday, it just made me so sad. And then of course I feel mad at myself for being mad at her.  Crazy ripple effect, I tell ya.  I posted the picture of my mom the other day as my facebook profile picture because I wanted to be like everyone else showcasing their moms.  Just before that, the boys and I came across her picture.  Austin says “she took care of me as a baby!”  He remembered me telling him that.  So on Mother’s Day, I looked at all of the supportive comments people gave me on my profile picture and just smiled.  I know she would be proud of me, want to know how I know, because on Mother’s Day, I looked up and saw the time, 333.  Her sign for me.  I know she’s okay, I know she’s looking down on me, smiling, but I admit I still feel cheated and I’m mad because I know that she would love being a grandma to my 2 amazing, rambunctious, little men.
was telling Kevin how upset I was about my mom and how much I missed her. On the radio that morning, people were giving shot outs to their mom.

Preschool is ending and it'll be time for summer activities at daycare. Both boys received portfolios of their time there.  I saw, name writing samples, cutting samples, drawings, paintings, self portraits, photographs, letters, and it was AMAZING.  Definitely brought a huge smile to my face as I can truly see how much they have learned there.  I will treasure this book forever.