SUMMER'S HERE!!

Finally, the log awaited favorite season of all is here. After an always way too long winter, I really look forward to the time in the warm sun.

We went to the cabin last weekend to kick off the summer for the Memorial Day holiday. We got the boat in the water and used it 2 days in a row. The kids all love the boat and one, two or all three usually end up sleeping on it at some point.

About a month ago I was pulling out of the garage and wasn't patient enough and backed right into the garage door. I was distracted by LUKE and now we need a new panel. Of course something like that usually isn't worth putting a claim into the home owner's insurance, so $750 later... Oh, my main point of writing that is when the door guy came to measure, he used our 6 foot ladder and left it up. A mother robin decided that the ladder was the perfect place to build her nest. It's up high, she has easy access through the broken bottom portion of the door, and who is going to bother her in a garage? Yesterday one of the 4 eggs hatched, and today another one (probably 2 soon). They are sooooo cute!

Update on Luke and Mallory:

• Binky's are GONE. Thanks to Michael who likes to take them away cold turkey. I would have tied them to a balloon or something like that, but whatever works.
• Luke always has a scrape or bruise on him at all times. He does not walk many places. It's usually a hop, skip, jump or run to get from one place to another.
• Mallory is still finding ways to make us laugh. She calls her hands "paws", she cracks up whenever Cole pretends to hurt himself (hmm?). But, she is also very nurturing to her brothers.

Update on Cole:

• He is playing baseball and striking out lots of his friends. He said "Mom, I'm happy when we win, but I feel bad for the other team because most of them are my friends." There are 2 pitchers that the teams look out for in terms of best pitching, and Cole is one of them!
• Still doing great with math and spelling and thanks to an amazing teacher this year, he got more into science too.

Things we'll be doing this summer...

1. Going up to the cabin a lot.
2. Traveling to Spokane, WA and Priest Lake, ID for a Jamieson Family Reunion!!
3. Going to the beach.

Quick update about nothing

I just feel that I haven't posted anything in a while and my "followers" are going to stop following if I don't write something.

Here are a few thoughts...

Why is it that "boys will be boys"? Where did that saying come from and why does that seem to excuse any bad behavior that boys do?

Why do I feel guilty for letting the 2 year olds watch an hour of tv?

Can I get off this ride for a while? Time is going by riduclously fast. Seriously. Really fast.

Ok, Cole is, well, see above. Just kidding. How about this, Cole is an 8 (almost 9) year old boy. He's doing really great at hockey. I have to take him clothes shopping this weekend since he's outgrown everything he owns.

Mallory and Luke are talking a lot lately. Putting words together to form semi-sentences. "Mommy, wheaaaaahhhhh yuuu?" (mommy where are you? I'M ON THE COMPUTER!) Or, "Eeeet dinnnaahh now" "But it's breakfast sweetie!" "Eeeet dinnaahhh" "Ok, let's go eat dinner". They are just really cute right now. They get along very well. They sleep very well. I just can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can go outside more.

I am in the market for a new camera. Mine broke when I dropped it *cough* hard on purpose *cough* on the ground. I'm also in the market for a new car, a printer/scanner/copier/fax, computer, etc. A girl can dream, can't she?

Here are M&L coloring. They love to color. And M feeding Papa a Cheerio.

You might have to watch this a couple times to hear what she says.

Mallory and Luke turn 2!

Last week was Mallory and Luke's 2nd birthday. I know, how does time manage to speed up when you're an adult? I can't believe they're 2 already! Next step, college applications.

We celebrated by having family and friends/neighbors over. There were about 50 kids and adults here. But, by the volume...I'm guessing there were more kids than adults.

I was busy cooking for a couple days because I was determined to host a kids birthday party with something besides pizza. I decided that 3 days after Thanksgiving people might enjoy mexican food! I made pork carnitas and chicken enchiladas, Brad made his 7 layer dip and Michael made a big ol' batch of his yummy margaritas.

About an hour into the party, I panicked because not all the kids were eating (and not all of the adults either). I turned to Michael and said, "I think we need to order pizza!! QUICK!!" So, we had 4 large cheese pizzas delivered. Guess what? There wasn't one slice left over.

All in all, everyone had a good time.

NEW YORK birthday trip

I can't believe it actually happened. Something my friend Melanie and I have been talking about for a year actually came through.

We decided to meet in NYC for our big bad 40th birthdays. We had a great time and had a jam packed 2 days in NY.

The weather people were calling for the worst weather of the season (of course they were...why wouldn't they on that weekend?). Nor'Easter, wind, pouring/driving rain, winter-like temps. Well, Mother Nature gave us a birthday gift and the rain actually held off until the day we left! It was still cold, but at least we didn't have to contend with the rain.

We went on a horse drawn carriage ride in Central Park, lunch at Carnegie Deli, Mamma Mia on Broadway, walked the entire length of Central Park, The Guggenheim and Metropolitan Museums, shopping on 5th Ave., dinner at Smith & Wollensky's, and watched the Yankee/Angels game (on TV).

We had a great time and vowed that we would go back there together on our 80th birthdays!!

Enjoy the pix!

Hi,

Just a late night post while all is quiet. Lately Michael's and my conversations are as follows, "Hey, did you get my email about ---------- MOM, where's my homework, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Luke NOooooooooooooooooo" Me to Michael, "Nevermind, I'll text you later." When I left last night for karate I had all those spiral things over my head like you see in cartoons, but after the 2 hour workout, was much better.

Cole is a superstar in hockey. Scoring every game and skating better all the time.

Mallory's new thing, crawling into Luke's crib. Michael suggested we should move their cribs away from each other, then thought better of it, its probably safer the way it is. And cuter too.

Luke is just so cute and so smart. If it moves, or has a lid or a switch, he wants to know how it works. He's figuring out cause and effect right now. If I do this, then this. Not always good. He still loves to climb. Uhhhhh, when does that end? Mt. Everest??

LOVE my job with Uppercase Living. Challenging at times, but so fun!

Michael is loving his job too. IBM is great. ? He coaches Cole's hockey team, just finished up with the town over 40 softball team, and is now a lector at church. He will read this Sunday. He'll be embarrassed about this, but my friends from Cole's school think he's a babe!

Dad and Ev will be visiting for the next couple of weeks. Can't wait to see them. They got a room at the Mt. Washington hotel in NH. I think it was the inspiration for The Shining???? Must find out about that.

I'm going to NY with my BFF Melanie T. mid-Oct. Can't wait. We'll see Mamma Mia! go to a museum, and I'll take the time to walk around the Jackie O reservoir which is where my other friend Melanie (that passed away a couple years ago) and I walked when she was pretty sick.

Enjoy the pictures. I'll try to be good about writing the funny things that are said or done chez DiSilvio.

Peace.

Back from Vacation

We got back at around 5 p.m. yesterday after an almost 2 week vacation to see my sister Laurie in Virginia and my mom and John in North Carolina. I calculated a total of 24 hours of driving with 3 kids by myself!!!

I'll back up a little. About a month ago I broke my pinkie toe on my right foot while chasing Luke. I caught it on the kitchen doorframe. My body went one way and my toe went the other way. I went to the ER and the x-ray confirmed that it was broken. The Doc taped it up and sent me on my way. Several friends (thank you Cori) recommended that I see an orthopedic surgeon because the toe can heal funny (not funny ha-ha, but funny strange). So, I went to see Dr. Gilligan (don't let the name fool you. He is pretty cute, and he used to be on staff for the Red Sox!) He was excellent! They x-rayed my foot and when they pulled it - ouch! - and taped it together, the bones would slide off each other and wouldn't stay. He recommended surgery, so the next week I had that done. I was gonzo (they put me out) and Dr. Gilley put a temporary pin through my toe and toe bones to keep them in place. I had a post-op shoe and crutches....oh and of course Percocet. I only used the Percs for 2 days and the crutches for about that amount of time too. But, I couldn't get the toe wet. Showers were interesting, but I was really bummed because I wanted to go in the pool and mom and John's!!

We left for Laurie's Tuesday, July 14th. We had a great time hanging out. Laurie is working, so during the day it was me and 5 kids! Laurie hosted an Uppercase Living party for me with some of her friends on Thursday. Sunday, my kids and I left for NC, about a 4 hour drive. Mom hosted a party for me on Sunday afternoon - yes, I guess this was a WORKING vacation for me. It was really nice to get to meet a lot of their friends from the church. The party was very nice. Monday evening my Aunt Gayle arrived from San Francisco and Laurie's girls came down from Virginia. Gayle hadn't seen the kids in a year, so she was having fun chasing them around. Tuesday Brad, Holly and kids came so all in all there were 15 people in mom and Johns house! Lord help us! It was hectic, crazy, loud, but we were together! The kids had a blast in the pool and playing together! Laurie was able to come down Thursday night for a few days - yea!! We had a really great time, great company, great conversations and great food of course!! Thank you!

So, now we're back to reality. It is nice to be home, but it sure is wonderful to be with family. We were only missing Michael in that crowd, and he was missed!

Because I can only post 5 pictures at a time on this, here is the link from our trip:

http://picasaweb.google.com/comaluke/TripToLaurieAndMomSJuly09?authkey=Gv1sRgCL_a5a7R3qzb0wE