Home from Colorado

Brian got home from a trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado last night. His flight was canceled, so he had to catch a later one. Which was a bummer because the boys were waiting for him to pick them up from school, and instead got me ... again. H drew him a pile of cards -- basically one for every day he was gone. It was a typically business meeting trip -- no fun mountain biking events this time -- but he did get invited over to someone's house, and they made a bison roast that he says was incredible. We are glad to have him home.

Lunch Boxes

Next week is the last week of school for H & C. And, while they will go to the summer program at the same place, one thing will be missing -- hot lunch. That's right, no hot lunch all summer long! Remember what happened last time? What's worse, is H has decided that next year, it's cold lunch for him. No more of this hot lunch stuff. I'm hoping to talk him out of that, because frankly, I feel like my head may explode if I add one more thing to remember. But alas, there is no other option for summer, and the time is coming. So, I was on kirtsy (an awesome site by the way) and found this!









(Photos from http://wendolonia.com)

And I'm thinking, that a modified version of these (we don't own bento boxes or cute toothpicks) are great for my kids. This super-mom has a ton of great ideas (minus the peanut ones -- we are a no peanut school after all, which really puts a damper on things) and it might just help me get through the summer.

Elementary School

Do you know that there are 5th graders who are almost as tall as me (I'm 5'9")? Well, there are. Today I took H on a tour of the elementary school he'll be going to. He was so excited, and I think he's happy about it ... except I don't know for sure because he didn't say one single word the whole time we were there. (Maybe he noticed the giant 5th graders too.) I can't wait to see what next year will bring for him. But at the same time, how in the world did he go from being my little teeny tiny baby, to a 1st grader? Who gets allowance -- yes, that's something else new we started this week.

C's Chicken

Due to popular demand, here is a closer look at C and his new Playboy bunny chicken. He still is carrying it around, but at least he didn't want her tucked into his bed today. What a character. By the way, do you like his two little scrapes right under his nose? He tripped on the sidewalk on Saturday.

My Mother's Day, 2008

I had a terrific mother's day, thanks to Brian and the boys. It was gloomy and rainy out, but that was ok. We got to build H's new desk, which he loves. And the kids stayed in PJs until 5:00. For dinner, we went to Cafe Iberico. We hadn't been there for a long time, and you sure can't beat tapas and sangria! H dressed himself, and even picked out a tie since it was a "special occasion." And C was so excited he got dessert (notice the hording of caramel sauce below). Could I be luckier, really? I don't think so.

Vistors from Wisconsin

Grandma, Aunt Pam, Ian and Mackenzie came for a visit today, and we had a great time bumming around. H & C got a new Webkinz. But C's favorite gift from Grandma can be seen above. What is it, you ask? A rubber chicken from a pet store. With boobies and a pink polka-dot outfit, with Playboy bunny ears and a tail. And it squeaks. And he says it looks like Mommy. At least she's got a good figure. Bet you can't say you have a squeaky rubber chicken like that, can you? Oh yeah.

ish

H took art class the last few months at school. He came home with some of his work on Friday, which included the two of drawings below. Both of contain this letters forming the word, ISH. We asked what ish meant. H said, "You know, when it's a little of something. Like snow-ish. There's only a little bit of snow." There's a new one for the dictionary according to H.

If It's Not One ...

it's the other. Or the other. Brian was cleaning our stove hood and almost cut the whole tip of his finger off this morning, and landed himself in the ER. That means, that in the past two years, every single one of the boys has paid a visit to the ER. First it was H with a tooth through his cheek. Next it was C with a pussy willow in his nose. Now Brian. Seriously, it's just me and the dog who haven't had to go yet -- which is actually a big deal, because before kids we had Sky Pilot the greyhound, who constantly was visiting the emergency animal hospital. Here's Brian before the four stitches he got on his finger tip. Wowch!

Backwards Day

At 4:09 a.m., a tired C stumbled into our bedroom. Fully dressed in new clothes. With a rugby shirt on -- backwards. I asked him if he got himself dressed. He said yes, and that he had an accident in his bed (something that does not happen often). I pulled the sheets off the wet bed, examined the damage a 3-year old can do while trying to dress himself in the middle of the night (it seems he first went through the t-shirt drawer) and got him pajamas to sleep in for the rest of the night (by this point, a mere hour and a half). Since he already had picked out his clothes, all we had to do was put the pants and shirt back on. And, add a pair of underwear to the outfit.

Doodie Head

H is graduating from his Montessori school in a couple weeks. And he's realizing that he will not know many, if any, of the kids in his first grade class next year -- and he's nervous about it. I tell him "it will be great, you'll make a ton new friends, it will be a blast" but really I'm thinking I TOTALLY GET IT, you poor guy. After all, he'll be with brand new kids ... kids who have gone to Kindergarten together ... and older kids. It will be a completely different environment than he's used to. But, he'll be fine. And I know he'll love it. But think about it. So far, one of the worst things that has ever happened to him is something that happened the other day. It went something like this.

H to Brian and I: "Someone was calling me names at school today."
Us: "What were they calling you?"
H: "A doodie head."
Me: "When that happens, just tell them to stop calling you names."
H: "I did, but she kept on doing it."
Me: "Then just walk away from them."
H: "I couldn't! I had to keep holding her hand! We were all crossing the street!"

Chinatown for a Birthday

We went with our friends (and lucky for us, our neighbors) to Chinatown for dim sum to celebrate Chris's birthday. It was beautiful out, so perfect for window shopping and a trip to Ping Tom Memorial Park. We even got to see a freight train, so the boys were in heaven. Actually, we were surrounded by trains -- el, Metra, freight and Amtrak. I've never seen them so wide-eyed in my life.

A Baby Shower and Improptu Dinner

My college roommate, Irma, and her husband Greg are having a baby in June. A boy. It's so exciting. Yesterday was her shower in Milwaukee. I haven't seen Irma for awhile, so that was great. Plus, a couple other friends I haven't seen in ages were there, so we got to catch up. It was just a great afternoon. Here we are:

That evening, we had dinner at Leif & Melissa's. It started as "hey, let's grill out," but we were not sure about the weather so it turned into amazing Italian meal, and believe me, I'm not complaining about that at all because for those who know Melissa, you know what that means. Here's how it all started:

A lovely centerpiece, a little blue, a little smoked ricotta and ... a bottle of 1999 Dom Pérignon. W-O-W. Delicious. What a great day.

Wowch!

H telling a story to Brian: "... and then I was like, Wowch!"
B: "Wowch?"
H: "Ya, you know -- it REALLY hurt."

Pretending It's a Pie

So, last night was one of those nights. Didn't feel like cooking, but had to. Realized the fish I was thawing, wasn't thawed. Then realized the fish I was thawing really wasn't fish -- it was our dinner for tonight. Time to go out. Boys wanted the red chicken place (Indian food), which kind of makes me laugh because I always remember something H said. "Mom, where does red chicken come from? A turkey?" Anyhow, I digress. Drove to the red chicken restaurant, and it's closed for remodeling. It actually brought tears to H's eyes. I'm not kidding. So we ended up at Bar Louie. Boys had mini sliders and tater tots. C is very protective of his food -- even leftovers. He walked the entire way back to the car, wouldn't let anyone hold his leftovers, and pretended it was a pie. I guess he's got the same obsession I have.