DOES MOM EVER GET A BREAK??

I'm beginning to think that the answer to this question is NO!! I swear sometimes I can barely hear myself think. In the car all I hear is MOM, MOM, hey mom, mom can you look at this, speed mom, go mom, slow down mom, turn up the radio mom, the radio hurts my ears mom, turn it down mom, mom can I have gum, mom can we get panda express, mom I want pizza!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH, yes sometimes I just roll down the window and scream. Moms, just can't ever have a bad day. You always have to put on your smiley face, after yelling first, and apologizing for being mean and saying things you really might not have said had you had one minute to process the first question you were asked. Moms wake up and before your feet ever even hit the ground you're running. I worked all night last night. I walked in the door to the fact that Gates peed his bed, so the sheets were torn off the bed laying in the floor waiting for the laundry fairy to wash them, dry them and put them back on the bed. Gunnar was up screaming (literally) because she couldn't find jeans that fit, Todd was still laying in the bed with his head under the covers(must be nice). I must say, a good mood is hard to find when you walk in to this chaos. I bite my lip, step over the sheets, go in the bathroom, wash my face and crawl in the bed trying to ignore all that surrounds me. Next, Todd storms out, yelling at Gunnar to be quiet so I can sleep, Gates is yelling about his jeans being too big---OH so I might as well just get up and intervene. I first help Gates. I walk in and say "what is it that you'd like to wear?" little jeans is his reply. I pick a pair he says "yup, those are great", one problem solved. Next to Gunnar. "Why are you yelling" I say, very calmly. "I can't find jeans that fit". How about these, I ask, "no they hurt when I sit down" (I wanted to say well then stand all day, but I didn't) ok then how about these, holding up another pair, "OK" problem 2 solved. Now noone is crying the house is quiet maybe I can sneak back in the bed without anyone seeing me. I just doze off, Todd comes in. "Do you know where Gates new shoes are, he's pitching a fit because I can't find them". I get up look around the house, and finally find them beside my bed where he took them off before Todd gave him a bath the night before. I now crawl back to bed, climb in and off to dream land I go. At 12:30 Todd puts Gates in bed with me after picking him up from preschool, and feeding him lunch. It takes him about 30 minutes to fall asleep, by this time I'm awake and having a hard time laying their so I decide to get up and come down stairs. Apparently the laundry fairy did come and wash the sheets but didn't know what to do with the laundry that was in the dryer because I found it laying all over my couch. Just what I want to do now is fold laundry, but I have a hard time leaving things like this, so I just do it so I can be done with it and not think about it anymore. I open the mail, to find such lovely news, my health insurance is going up---yipeeee, can it get any better? Frantz autobody calls next, "Mrs Henry your car is ready, only a minor problem, only gonna be $$$$$!! Great thanks be there in a bit to get it. Really I wanted to say just keep it!! I need CALGON!!!!!! The day did get better. Gunnar came home with her sweet smiling face and was very understanding when I said she couldn't play with a friend because we had stuff to do. Gates woke up in a great mood, besides the fact that he doesn't get the fact that the weather is getting cold and he can't wear shorts all the time anymore. Small fit about that, but I let him win and wear short and a short sleeve shirt, hey if he wants to be cold so be it. Both kiddos were very understanding and didn't complain when I said we were going to the gym because I needed to sweat out some frustration. Maybe the look on my face was all they needed. The were thinking we better not say one word or she is gonna BLOW!!!! This post was me using all of you to vent---some days are doozies same are filled with daisies, today well you can guess what category mine fit in.

Parks and Picnics

Well yesterday, Oct 27th Gates and I went on an adventure. I use the word adventure because we took a walk to the park and somehow I let my 3 year old convience me to take the dogs along. If you know anything about my dogs, you are laughing right now. I love them to pieces, but they are, well let's just say a bit rambunctious!! Pacey does great on a leash, Knox, yeah well, not so much. We looked like the traveling circus. We passed some lady with a dog and I swear I was tangled up in the stroller as it was tipping because Knox was trying so hard to go meet her dog, Gates almost flipped over and I was trying to look like I had it all together. The nice lady did ask me if I needed a hand. UGH!! I smiled, no thanks I've got it all under control. I was grumbling under my breath hoping she couldn't hear me. She must have been thinking, boy I'd hate to see you out of control. We finally made it to the park and enjoyed a few hours of play, before walking home again. We ALWAYS take a ball and bat with us everywhere we go now a days. So Gates and I played a little ball, pretended to hunt for the beast(you know the one from the Sand Lot), and we just had a grand time. I forgot to mention that Gates got new shoes. Black converse high tops, just like Benny(from the sand lot). He actaully wore PF flyers, but you can't get them for little kids--Gates couldn't tell the difference so we went with it. I mention this because we met a few new friends and all Gates could do was say "do you like my new shoes?" to the moms, the kids, their dogs yadayada. He is VERY proud of his shoes. He kept telling everyone, Benny wears these shoes. I'm sure they were wondering who the heck is Benny?!! I didn't even bother to explain. I just let him talk, and talk, and talk, which is about all he does these days. He never stops talking. So funny not too long ago we were wondering if he was ever going to talk. I think God is playing tricks on me. He says, you ask questions and I will give you answers. Oh and yes HE did. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining because I do LOVE to hear his sweet, little voice, but occasionally I would like to ride in the car without being told how to drive, especially from a 3 year old who can't even reach the pedals!!!!! So back to the story. On our way home Gates ask if we could go home get lunch and go back to the park for a picnic. This would have been a great idea had we thought of it in the beginning, but NO WAY was I doing this again. I did manage a picnic on the deck with a blanket, pb and j sandwiches and chips and cookies and a wonderful conversation!!

OCTOBER 22 The Birthday Boy!!

OK, so forgive me, yes, I'm a few days late---AGAIN!! I'm a busy mom of 5. Well 2 kids, 2 dogs, and the biggest trouble of all 1 man:) Gates had a wonderful birthday. He was so excited when he woke up. Gunnar and I did a quick run to Dunkin Doughnuts and grabbed some birthday goodies for breakfast before everyone got up. So nice to do fun stuff like that(bad for the hips good for the heart). Gunnar thought it was great because she actually got to contribute too. Gates thought he was turning 6 and was a little dissapointed to learn that 3 was smaller than 6. He still doesn't have the three finger thing yet, oh but he will before too much longer. We got Gunnar off to school and then Gates and I just hung out for the day. We picked Gunnar up about an hour early so we could head to the fair.. The kids had a BLAST! They got to ride tons of fun stuff, eat lots and lots of goodies and play some games. I must say I was very impressed that they both picked an ear of corn as their choice for dinner. Maybe I am doing something right. However, funnel cake was high on the priority list. Gunnar's favorite thing was this bungie jumping thing--don't even know what to call it, but Gates insisted on doing it too and the nice man running it allowed him to even thou he truely was a little to small. You hop on these trampoline like things and go way up in the air. Gunnar discovered she could do a double back flip. Scared me just a weee bit I must say. Gates the dare devil watched big sis and decided to try flipping too but just couldn't muster his little body all the way over, so he ended up doing a head dive. Thank goodness for a soft landing. It was a wonderful evening, perfect for the fair. The weather was chili, but we didn't let that stop our birthday fun. Smiles filled the night and sleepy eyes soon filled the car. Everyone was sleeping before we could even make it out of the park. Straight to bed they went and another day was soon to begin. I ended the night with big kisses and happy birthday wishes for my big three year old man!!!

THE MERRITTS

We've been back a week now and still on the go. We got back Sunday night and The Merritts(Matt, Jen and Zuerker) came on Monday afternoon!! Whew, can you say whirl wind. They just left this morning to head back to TN. Matt wanted to stop in Knoxville to watch Tennessee get pummelled again!! We will keep our fingers crossed that it's a good game and that doesn't happen. You know I AM still a TN fan too:). We've had another totally terrific week. Gunnar and Zuerker were their normal selves, as long as they were busy they were the best of friends, but the minute things slowed down they were barking at each other. I think that is what happens when you are with someone 24 hours a day with no place to escape. No really they did great and had a wonderful time catching up and playing together. I think they got to visit every park in Cary this week. Uncle Matt took then to Pullen park to ride the train, and paddle boats and carousel. They came home exhausted, but had more to do that evening. I was hosting a jewelry party and I needed the kids to be out of the house for a few hours, so Todd and Matt took them to Monkey Joes then out to dinner. They were SOOO tired when they got home. It was a quick bath, then off to bed for all of them. One night we ate Japanese, you know we can't ever pass up an opportunity to eat Japanese!! UUUMMMM it was delicious. We did take a few pics that night but Jen will have to email them to me so I can post them. We took the kids swimming yesterday at Lifetime(my gym), then out to get pizza. Swimming is always a success. The water really wears the kids out. I was sad to see everyone go this morning---especially my two little love bugs. Todd is out of town and now so are my babies. My house has never been so quite in my life. They've only been gone a few hours but I'm missing them already!! I am working tonight and hopefully tomorrow night, so the time will pass quickly. Until next time........

We're Back!!!

What an awesome week we had. The kids ours and theirs were wonderful. Everyone played together and became fast friends. We went full blast all day long and at the end of the day it showed. It was early to bed for the kids and then lots of catching up to do for the adults. You know you have a true friendship when you don't talk for months and years at time but the minute you get back together you are able to pick up right where you left off, like you were never gone. I'm just going to tell all about the trip in one post and the pictures for the week will be at the end instead of trying to post a story for each group of pics. It will be long but OH well~

So we truly stayed at a castle!! Wow, their house is amazing. I'm soooo glad I'm not the person that has to clean that thing. Can you say 8,000sq, feet!! Yes, you read it correctly. I felt a little lost at times, especially when I was looking for my sneaky children. Let's see there are about 4 living rooms, a sun room, an office, a play room with lots of cubbies to hide in, a game room, a true life theater--big movie screen---so awesome(my kids loved that), a pool, a hot tub--ummm too much to tell about. Gates and Gunnar loved the hot tub. The first night we were there they got in and played for about an hour. Gunnar decided to be daring and jump in the 50 degree pool---that girl has a few marbles missing. Well, then you know what happened next. The little one said "I CAN DO ANYTHING YOU CAN DO BETTER I CAN DO ANYTHING BETTER THAN YOU" and you guessed it he jumped right in too. If I could have captured his eyes when he hit that cold water it would have been a picture worth a thousand words!! He was like a cartoon character, he jumped in and was back out before his whole body even hit the water. I think I peed my pants laughting at him.

The next day we took a trip over to Agawam!! 89 Regency Park Drive--it looked exactly the same. Gunnar wanted to know if that was where the "poor people lived". Well, I guess we were pretty poor back then, but not to the degree that she was inferring. We took a few pics and walked around. We showed the kids where we use to walk Foster, and told them all about the snow we use to get, yadayadayada. Basically it was a trip down memory lane. Some good, some not so good. After that we went to the Celery Stalk--YUMMY!! The best soup ever, just like I remembered. Gunnar even agreed with us. And I had forgotten about the pickles--ahhhh, they are huge and OHHHHH so good. The rest of the afternoon we just kinda drove around and hung out. We took the kiddos over to the gym to meet some of our old friends and boys Todd use to coach. Of course Gunnar and Gates loved that because they got to play(and if you know anything about my kids you know they are gym RATS)!!

On Saturday we went to a pumkin patch, with corn mazes, hay rides, tons of playgrounds and fun stuff to do. We spent the day there and I think we all really enjoyed it. The weather could not have been more perfect. New England in the fall is unbelievable. The trees were so vibrant, Gunnar was loving every minute of it.

We decided not to go to Boston---there just wasn't enough time to fit it all in. Next time that will be priority. Next time will come before seven years!! Wow, it had been way too long. I'm so glad we went, but it is nice to be home.