a fun trip to city park

Last week we met Justin at City Park during his lunch break and let the kids do some of the rides. It was nice to see Daddy in the middle of the day and to watch the kids enjoy a special treat.

look at this boy!

Keepin' it real on Father's Day

Well today sucked. Sorry if that's harsh, but to describe it any other way wouldn't be honest. It was a little hard to acknowledge other father's who were still "here". I found myself jealous, feeling like it's just "not fair". I want my kids to still have their grandpa. So they day started off with Justin getting up early and riding out to get a latte and some eggs so I could make his favorite oat scones. I felt pretty slack. After Justin came home I was cleaning up the kitchen, because I had left it a mess the night before. I reached under the sink to get the dishwasher detergent and noticed lots of water. There was a leak and a stench! Then I noticed water coming out from the other side of the island onto the floor. Oh what a nice was to start Father's Day. It felt appropriate this year though. My "jack-of-all-trades" hubby became a plumber for the day and replaced all of the pipes under the kitchen sink. I told him he got a "re-do" on Father's Day. Below is a picture of the card Isaiah made for Justin. I told him how to spell the words and he wrote everything himself! (it says "I love you Daddy") I am so proud of him! He's such an excited learner.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

A small boy is sent to bed by his father...

[Five minutes later]

"Da-ad..."

"What?"

"I'm thirsty. Can you bring me a drink of water?"

"No. You had your chance. Lights out."

[Five minutes later]

"Da-aaaad..."

"WHAT?"

"I'm THIRSTY...Can I have a drink of water??"

"I told you NO! If you ask again I'll have to spank you!!"

[Five minutes later]

"Daaaa-aaaAAAAD..."

"WHAT??!!"

"When you come in to spank me, can you bring me a drink of water?"

this is all Gabe picked out after his bath

Who needs clothes?... it's always about the accessories after all :)

one of my dad's favorite bands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqGM5kBQrBs

Battling nature & conquering our fears... while Dad laughs his ass off !!!

My Mom and I went up to the lake house a couple weeks ago to get it opened for the summer. As usual, there was some evidence of animals that had gotten inside. There's nothing you can do about those little critters when the house is vacant all winter. Well, before we went to the grocery store we checked out the status of the kitchen. My Mom pulled a drawer open and we found this little guy. We both freaked out a litttle, and then realized that we needed to get down to business. After debating about whether or not to call in the neighbor for help, we looked at each other and knew that Dad was surely cheering us on and would think it completely histerical if we couldn't do this on our own. So, my Mom came up with the idea of opening the kitchen window and handing the entire drawer through the window. So that's what we did, and placed it on the front porch. The tiny little guy crawled out of the drawer and immediately went under the deck and back into the kitchen!!! At that point I declared war. We set up a mouse trap under the sink and in the same drawer. I had some cheese from our sandwiches that I used to bait the traps. We left for the store and I was pretty confident this whole mess would be over by the time we got back. When we returned, I checked the traps. No cheese... no mouse either. The little stinker was able to get the cheese and get away!!! So then we put some peanutbutter on the traps and by the next week when my Mom went back up, she caught one... but it wasn't the same mouse! Ugggghhh!!!

Congratulations Hil !!!

My sister has officially been hired as Artie Lange's personal assistant. He is the comedic sidekick on the Howard Stern show. Hil really went after this job after she heard that he was looking for a new assistant. With one look at Hilary's resume, he hadn't even met her and already knew he wanted her for the job. These pictures were taken after her interview with Artie a few weeks ago. Her spunky personality and quick wit will be perfect for the job. She is already making the arrangements for a gig Artie has this weekend. GO HIL! You'll be GREAT!!!

i miss you unbearably dad

things will never be as good as when you were here with us, but we will continue on with the love you have given that is still inside us. thank you for helping make me who i am today. we will keep shining if you will keep watching. one day we will fly with you...

what did he just say?

So Gabe, Isaiah and Zach were playing ring-around-the-rosie on the big air mattress. Isaiah was singing "ashes, ashes, we all fall down!". When they were finished, Gabe proceeded to walk around the house singing "ah sh*t, ah sh*t, fall down!". I wish i had it on tape!

you've got to be kidding me...

those of you who know me well, know that painting and changing colors is therapudic for me. during this evenings "therapy session" my neighbor brought some strawberries by. while we were talking outside, gabe decided to get some more painting done. check it out. thanks to prozac, i was able to keep my cool and enjoy the adventure and not beat his bottom to kingdom come!

a Mother's Day date with my handsome little cutie

Isaiah's preschool had a special day today to celebrate Mothers Day. We sat out on the patio and the kids served us strawberry shortcake and tea and gave us beautiful flower bouquets that they made, complete with perfume sprayed on them to make them smell as beautiful as they looked. It just so happens that strawberry shortcake is my favorite dessert! We actually had a version of it as our wedding cake!!! It was a special time for Isaiah and I to be one-on-one. We have started going on dates on saturdays just the two of us. It has been good bonding time not to be interupted by cute little you-know-who!

Isaiah captured this exciting moment of me unloading the dishwasher!

Saturday night "Wii date"

Justin's cousin Alison and her husband Brian just got a new Wii game system. They brought it over to our house for dinner and games saturday night, and boy was it fun... and tiring!!! It really gives you a workout! Well, at least for out of shape people like me! We played tennis, bowling, baseball, and best of all boxing! That was the most tiring and fun! During all of the comotion, we lost track of the two little ones, and found them back in the playroom. Below is the scene we found!

bragging on my neice

I want you to close your eyes and imagine the cutest little neice you could possibly have. Perfect in every way, she's beautiful, spunky, imaginative... Well, here you go...
The only thing that could possibly make this picture any cuter is if you could hear her voice... well today is your lucky day... have a listen...

WARNING: the following is a bit graphic

So the kids were playing in the sandbox last night which had a little bit of water in it, so they got pretty messy. Gabe sat right down in it so his diaper was pretty soggy. He decided to take it off. I figured I would let him run around naked for a few minutes before his bath since he loves to be naked. He stood over by the edge of the driveway facing some mulch. His hips were thrust forward a bit like he was aiming. He just stood there like he was waiting for something to happen. I decided to watch. Eventually he peed! I was so proud of him. And he was pretty proud too! That's when I went inside to start running the bath water. When I came back out, this is what I found:

Oh boy.

strawberry picking!

Yesterday we went strawberry picking with Aunt Shannon and three of her kiddos. It was great. The strawberries were red, juicy and beautiful! The kids did a great job picking the perfectly ripe ones. In fact, Gabe smushed his thumb into a few. He's an aggressive picker! Next time... blueberry picking!!!

A sweet welcome home

I got back in last night around 8:30 and stopped in to the hospital to visit little Conner who is fighting a serious infection in his knee and leg. He seemed in very good spirits but things are still not improving. I pulled in the driveway at about 9pm and the boys opened the door before I could even get to it. It was so wonderful to be greeted by their hugs. I immediately noticed that Isaiah felt very hot. He was running and fever and so we gave him some medicine and he actually slept through the night but was still hot each time I checked on him. When I walked in the door though, I noticed two empty wine glasses waiting on the counter next to several birthday cards and a gift. There were candles lit in the kitchen, living room and bedroom. It was very sweet. After we got the kids into bed Justin pulled a very nice bottle of champagne from the fridge. I opened several great cards that he picked out. They were very funny and my gift is that we can do some painting around the house that I have been itching to do. I love to change colors. He is going to paint the kitchen and my bedroom. He wanted to have it done when I got home but wasn't sure if I had made a final decision on the colors yet. Anyway, we had a very nice evening together. Now I'm 28, hard to believe that it's been a decade since I graduated from high school. I still feel like such a kid! Anyway, it looks like we will be back up to see my Dad in about two weeks. Time will tell if we can make it up to the lake or not. So far things don't look very promising but we'll see.

update

Hello friends! Thanks for checking in on my blog. I flew up to NJ today to spend a few days with my Mom & Dad. It's so great to see them face to face. I cannot even begin to tell you. Thank you Anne, Shannon & Alison for devoting so much time to my boys and loving on them so well while I'm up here. You'll never know the eternal blessing you're allowing me. One-on-one time with my parents cannot be described any other way than "priceless". My Dad is doing fairly well. Confusion still plagues him. But if we take our time with things, it helps. My Mom noticed this morning htat his right leg was swollen and she got a nurse over here immediately. It turns out he has a second blood clot in his leg, now that makes it one in each leg. They are starting him on blood thinners again. We are in the process of planning a trip up to the lake so my Dad can see his favorite place one last time. It brings him so much joy. I hope we can give him this experience like a gift. You know the saying "you can't take it with you", well most things you can't, but I do believe you can take what's in your soul, and that's your relationships and what's in your heart that you love. My Dad loves the Adirondack Mountains and has for decades. I would love to see his eyes light up as he looks out from the cabin at what he loves to call the "vistas". He cracks me up! I just got finished reading to him and now he's asleep. Pray for my Mom and my sister. They are full time care-takers and it is quite a lot. They are two very strong women who need supernatural support. Remember them if you will. They mean the world to me.