She's Crafty!

Oooooh la la! I bet you are thinking that this little crafty Halloween owl cookie lollipop delicacy is the work of my creative direction. You are dead wrong. Carly brought this little gem home from preschool today, only further reinforcing my insecurities in the area of all things crafty. So, it is really no surprise that Halloween costumes stress me out. On one hand, I love the idea of spending hours putting the perfect finishing touches on a simple (yet brilliant!) homemade idea. On the other hand, who needs to spend $75 on materials and then spend hours sewing or, in my case stapling, an ugly outfit together.

The Halloween excitement began early this year. I blame the ghost display at the library, but it just as easily could have been the candy corn I was forced to rescue from CVS right after Labor Day. In any case, we have been discussing Halloween costumes every time Carly gets knee deep into her dress-up clothes, which is daily. Of course, she doesn't think any of her dress-up clothes are good enough to be Halloween costumes, so this has been a hot topic. About three weeks ago, I began to get nervous. Old Navy costumes were selling out in her size and we had no concrete concepts. Dr. Carly Quinn Medicine Woman? No. Ga? No. Super Carly? Definitely not. But, then one evening before bed, she finally announced that she wanted to be a monkey. Sweet! Ahh, not so fast...the next morning, she declared that she would be a butterfly. At this point, the important thing was that I knew she had a vision of herself as a successful trick-or-treater buried deep within. We were moving in the right direction.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, when I decided it was action time. I began trying to get a final answer out of her, which was tough. Finally, one morning while getting ready for preschool, I told her it was time to make a decision. I needed to put the wheels in motion. After much deliberation, she announced that 2009's Halloween costume would be......a butterfly! Off to school she went, and off to find wings I went. I scored. I found $6 wings and came up with an idea for creating a fuzzy butterfly body and antennae. As a bonus, the butterfly wings came with a butterfly wand. We were good to go.

That is, until I picked up Carly from school. When I announced that I had wings in the car, a major meltdown ensued. MAJOR. "I want to be a monkey!!! I am goooooing to be a MONKEY MOMMY!!! NOT. A. BUTTERFLY!!". As the temper tantrum escalated, I decided to sweeten the deal by bringing out the butterfly wand. I could see the temptation in her eyes...the girl wanted to play with the wand. I mean, who wouldn't? It had streamers, sparkles, and a sweet little butterfly at the end! She grabbed the wand and I brilliantly suggested that she could be a magic butterfly for Halloween! No dice. A butterfly magician!? Not happening. So, I did what I had to do: I sent her to her room to calm the sobbing and I went downstairs with Teddy to reevaluate.

So, about 10 minutes passed and slowly I heard the crying and hysterics come to an end. There was some shuffling in her room. Then I heard the pit-pat of feet coming down the stairs. Carly confidently walked into the living room, grabbed her wand, and announced, "I know what to do mommy. I'm going to take my magic wand and I will turn my butterfly costume into a monkey costume!". Round one: Carly.

to be continued...

Teddy on the Move

It has been a long *ss time since my last post. I commissioned a guest blogger and he really let me down. We'll call him "Craig". Thanks a lot Craig. Anyway, hope this video fills you in on what's been going on here. I've got a funny Halloween tidbit that I'll post this weekend, along with some pre-Halloween pics. In the meantime, TGIF everyone.

Summer '09

How do I begin to describe part two of our summer travels (two of two, but wouldn't it be great if there was a part three, Greg!)? We started off with a week at the P's house. Carly attended bible camp daily with her cousins (amen to that $45/week fee!) and Julie and I got some much-deserved sister time. She talked me into a new blackberry and a new favorite Starbucks beverage. I talked her into a third frozen margarita.

And, let's just say that the P's backyard "playground" and basement full of transportation toys (I thought it would it be weird if I said "boy toys") made quite an impression with Carly. Teddy was impressed with the lush basement carpet for his crawling knees. As they are prone to do, they both settled in quickly with her cousins.



It was also very cool for Carly and Teddy to have the opportunity to spend time with their great-grandma Rita. Carly has some of Grandma Rita's spunk and a lot of her sweet tooth tendencies streaming through her veins.

Carly, Grandma Rita & Katie:


Charlie, Nick & Grandma Rita:


Katie, Gram & Teddy at Gram's new digs:


After the week of Bible camp ended, we took off up north for the Rock. I had hoped to post new pictures of us enjoying the beautiful scenery and beach on a daily basis, but we ended up indoors for a huge portion of the trip. Damn the weather gods! Did Carly misbehave at Bible camp? So here are my random selections...

Say "hi" to the Hay Monster at the end of our street:


Here we are making the most of a rare beach day.




And fast-forward two weeks when we were all glad to have the P's arrive for some playmates.






Harbor Days 2009, highlight of the up-north summer. We began with the festival. The kids loved the rides. Those of us who took physics- even the high school version with Sister Agnes- were terrified, but this was no time for focusing on the rusty nails, so-to-speak.



The parade was a drown-out, but the sun came out in time for us to have a party back at the Rock. And party we did. Here's a picture of the next generation of the Acme Athletic Club:



But the candid shots say it better...









Then we had another week of bad weather, Greg saved himself the return trip, and we said goodbye to Northern Michigan's summer.

Our Day

Today went like this:

In typical fashion, Teddy was up at 11:00pm, 2:00am, 5:00am and ready to start cruising at 6:30am.

So, we started off slowly. The weather looked bleak again and I was in no mood for it. Apparently, neither was Ga.

Then Sully got us in trouble.

The sun broke through the clouds, however, so we headed down to the beach and contemplated our options.

Carly decided to jump off a bit of energy.

The waves were fierce, but we went swimming anyway. That's when our day really turned around. From our vantage point in the lake, we spotted a noble visitor in the highest point of the tallest tree near the Rock.


Do you see the magestic creature way at the top? It was a bald eagle! The National Bird of the United States of America! Mom said it was a sign. She would not elaborate on what she thought it was a sign of, but perhaps a reminder to always pay our taxes? A reminder to tivo the Colbert Report tonight? Maybe he was there to remind Sully where dogs stand in the hierarchy of the animal kingdom. I mean, this guy looked big enough to swoop down and grab the S-man with his talons and give him an ass-whooping.




...which reminded me to grab Teddy and make sure he didn't smell like or resemble waterfowl or large fish.


And, finally, another 10:00pm sunset.

Big Chill

We haven't had the best weather on our trips this summer. True to form, today was a tad chilly. We are used to summers of tank tops and humidity, but today we found ourselves in jeans and sweatshirts...until my little stripper three year-old hit the beach late in the day. Thank you to the kind lady who saw my desperate plight as Carly exited the lake in the buff as a cold wind kicked in and offered us her towel.



We also hit the farm with the goat who climbs the ladder (see last year's post). Teddy found the rooster a bit intimidating, even before it bit Carly's finger.

C'mon sunshine, we need you!

Worth the wait

So I've got a lot of catching up to do. First, we had the trip to Boston. Then we had Carly's birthday celebration. Next, we had the week with the Pietrosantes. Now we are at the Rock and I'm so far behind in my updates that this slow wireless connection will never be able to do my stories justice. Although I plan to go back and catch up (will blogger let me do that?!), for now, I'm just posting a few pictures each day to capture the essence of our trip. Laaaaazzzzzy mamma!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to Greg! I'd tell him myself, but he's been sequestered downstairs studying for his LEED certification for the last two and a half weeks. Actually, we did manage to squeeze in a dinner out tonight at our favorite Mexican restaurant and do a few gifts upon our return home. Carly made Greg a father's day gift at camp last week and, since it came home wrapped, we were all eager to see what it was (including Carly, who had forgotten). It was a pencil holder. Old school! Apparently word has gotten out among Carly's teachers that Greg is a geek. Also from Carly, Greg received a badminton set, courtesy of the strategically 3-ft high Target dollar bin, which Carly never forgets to inspect. For the record, I beat Greg in an impromptu match while Carly quite accurately imitated his pathetic dive moves. Apparently all this studying has weakened his skills (are you listening Dan?).

So, off to more updates about the kids.

Carly recently has developed, how can I say this tactfully, a bit of an Attitude.



What was it that turned my sweet, helpful, smart little baby girl into an independent, push-my-buttons little diva? Dare I say it was the abrupt 48 hour (Memorial Day) potty training? Or is it just the fact that her baby brother is starting to be more of a threat with his move-it-or-lose it strategy toward her toys? I'm not sure, but you know you are in trouble when you pick up your daughter from her second day at day-camp (glorified preschool) and the teacher says to you laughing, "Carly mentioned that she didn't "cooperate" this morning for you. She explained to us exactly what that word means too. Ooooooooooooooooooh, I have a daughter like her. She's grown now, but....oh, I understand (wink wink)."

I'm moving to on to Teddy now, but with over 44 hours of roadtrips on our schedule this summer, I'm sure I'll have more on this topic later.



Teddy continues to be a mover & a shaker. He was up on all 4's rocking in April (4.5 mos) and took off crawling in May. He is now 6 mos and is pulling to a stand in his crib and climbing up on the dishwasher and any other supremely dangerous spot he can maneuver. Of course, he just locks his knees and does the Nestle plunge backward, so he's destined to have his mom's SAT scores.

What else? He is eating, but he isn't nearly as interested in food as Carly was when she first started. Maybe it's because I sort of burnt the first batch of red peppers and eggplant that I tried to steam & puree and, yet, I still attempted to get him to try it. I am already guessing that Teddy will be eating quite a bit more jarred food that his older sister did.




Oh hell, at 6 mos and almost-3, these two kids have it pretty damn good. I love this time of year when a good dose of "getting outta dodge" resets my parental insanity gage. We look forward to making memories with all the cousins this summer!