I Want My Summer Back!!!

I'm missing summer. I miss the warmth, having my windows open, the sunshine. I miss not having to wake up early to get kids to school, I miss the freedom of no homework, I miss seeing my kids (well, I have to admit, sometimes it's nice to have a quieter house...).

I'm dreading the fact that we have full blown winter ahead of us. *sigh* I think I need to start up with snowboarding again, that should help ease the pain of snow.

Anywho, I've been sorting through our family cottage pictures, we went there for a week this summer. It was so nice to be able to get away and be free of jobs and responsibilities. Nice memories, as I sit huddled under my blanket...

This adventure begins as any of my trips posts do; with the exciting departure. Allie seems particularly excited....

A little more enthusiasm from Tom....

And let's not forget the back row....

They always want to go fishing first when they first arrive at the cottage (although these picts are from after a swim).....

Followed by swimming....


They also like to just hang around the water's edge (not as scary now that they're older but still...)...

The dog was afraid of the water....

But was willing to make an exception to inspect the passing ducks that the kids were feeding...


We didn't spend our whole time on the water though. Mid-week we went to the Corning Museum of Glass (I later learned we were not supposed to take photographs of the exhibits... oops!)...


They had a great glass blowing show as well... really interesting... (don't they look excited?)...


We also went mini-golfing...

At the end of the week Bobby's parents, aunt, and a cousin and her child came to visit....

The dog was happy to see Grandpa...

Here's Allie hanging out with her second cousin. Don't they look alike?...



Nice week... I feel a little warmer already... =)

Random Photo #3

Nothing warms a mother's heart like watching her children zone out while playing video games. Actually, all sarcasm aside, I love this photo. They are playing nicely together, no one is bleeding, Matt is doing his "cool guy" moves, the dog is cowering under an end table (she's afraid of the camera), and it reminds me of summer... what's not to love?

Destructo Dog

I spend a good amount of time every day prying items out of my dog's mouth. Even within the few words I have typed, I have had to stand up and take a doll away from Kiko (the doll, by the way, is now missing a hand). She's always been a bit "chewy" but it's been worse the last few weeks. I only have to walk a few steps to find evidence of her handiwork.

Don't get me wrong, I love my dog (finally), but if I had to do it over again I would either get an older dog, a less "chewy" breed (although that can be hard to predict, I think it can be a personality thing), or no dog at all. I snapped a few photos to illustrate my point. Every stuffed animal we own looks like this....

Every doll Allie owns looks like this (and this is not the one I just pried away from Kiko)...

Kiko has now destroyed seven pairs of shoes (this one is mild but she did damage the elastic that holds the shoe closed rendering it useless... she loves elastic and velcro)...

She loves to chew on her crate. She has now chewed the opening of her door so much it is difficult to close it.... but we figure out a way....

*sigh*

Schizophrenic Weather

I'm not complaining, I'm really not. It was almost 70 degrees yesterday and about the same today. I love warm autumn weather; there's not much better than that. What makes it hard to deal with is that any minute, I know it can change and start snowing. It was hailing/ snowing just four days ago and I'm sure it will be 30 degrees in a matter of days again.

It really messes with my internal thermostat and on the cold days all I want to do is climb under my blanket and hibernate. I suppose there is not much I can do about that except enjoy the nice days. I have to say though, when the kids are grown, I am going to lobby to move our home base somewhere warm... like Belize. Bobby and Pete were tossing around the football yesterday, I had to snap a few picts....

Mini Puzzle Master

After Allie's bath last night, we snuggled in my bed to warm up. While there she noticed my sudoku book and wanted to write numbers. I told her which number went in the specific square, and she wrote it in. It was so cute. She loves writing numbers...


Then she wanted me to take a picture of her "sleeping"...

So fun, it makes two days ago an almost distant memory...

Random Photo(s) #2

This has been floating around on my desktop for months. Pete is such a goofball. He found Allie's tiara (a souvenir from me when I visited my Grandmother in July in Arizona) and decided it suited him. Amazingly, he allowed me to photograph him wearing this. The blackmail pictures just keep piling up...


ps- Allie saw this post and is outraged that Pete is wearing her tiara. She keeps telling me to "get these out of here! ok!?".

I'd Like to Thank All the Little People Who Made This Possible...

This is my finest hour. 3/5 of my kids have been crying today because I am a M.O.M. (mean old mom- as my dad would say... nice, huh?). Matt was despondent because I would not let him get Star Wars III at the library today (it's pg-13). He also stated that if I would not let him watch it, he would not do his school work. I love it when my children try to manipulate me.

We then went to Sam and Tom's school book fair where they seem to sell more toys and chotchkies than books. When Tom wanted toys instead of books, I was mean enough to say "no". He had an uber-melt down which involved me walking out of the building with him kicking and screaming. He even took off his boots and threw them at me when we were in the car (could it be the Arab in him?).

I then came home and had Allie screaming at me because I would not allow her to make mini cupcakes for dinner. Doesn't she know that I have a healthful hot dog dinner to serve instead?

There's nothing like children to reduce your self confidence to zero. I packed my kids fun lunches in their lunch bags for our errands today, we went to the library and made a special trip to see Sam at school (we actually wound up meeting him outside because of Tom's lovely display). I'm making them hot dogs for dinner for heaven's sake... the all beef kind.... because they llooooove them. This was supposed to be a good day!!!!

Argh. So today I win the "Mother of the Year" award. I must be the best mom ever.

I have to say the only thing that made me feel better is when I went online for the "mother of the year" clip art, it showed Sharon Osbourne winning a "celebrity mother of the year" award for paying for her childrens' rehab out of her own pocket. I suppose I haven't hit rock bottom yet.