Moms Gone Wild!! (aka The Boston Trip!)

In March I had a wonderful opportunity to go on a trip to Boston to attend a PTO Expo. The expo was only one day but since it was such a long drive and the expo filled an entire day we were actually in Boston for 3 days. No complaints though as it actually gave us a chance to do some of the touristy stuff! I had never gone to Boston before so it was great. I went with two other moms from the boys school who fortunately I am good friends with so that made the trip a LOT of fun!! (Hi Brenda and Wendy!!)

The first night there we just chilled out and went to a restaurant near our hotel for dinner. We were all exhausted from driving all day. After dinner we went back to the hotel to watch chick flicks and have a few "mommy drinks." Oh and we cried a lot cause we were missing our children SOOO much....yeah, that's it. It was great to watch a movie without a G rating for a change.

The next day was the PTO expo. We saw a lot of vendors and picked up some cool free stuff! We got quite a few good ideas to take back to our group. Definitely worth the trip!

That night we decided to check out Cheers. We knew it wasn't going to look like the bar in the show but it was REALLY different. Still a lot of fun though. The only real part of the bar that was used for the show was the exterior. And there was no Sam...or Diane...or Frasier...or Norm...sigh. And NOBODY knew our names! But hey, there was cold beer and yummy food so we got over it quickly!

We also went to Faneuil Hall which was a meeting place during the days of Samuel Adams and the Revolutionary War. Now it is a neat marketplace with lots of food vendors and little shops. Excellent for finding things to take home to the little munchkins!

On the last day we did a really neat trolley tour of Boston. Saw some really cool stuff--the USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides"), the Bunker Hill monument, the Old State House, Fenway Park, the harbor, and a bunch of other historical sites. We could get on and off at whatever stops we wanted and a trolley would come by every 20 minutes so we could reboard. We got to see a lot of things that we never would have made it to if we were driving. And the driving in Boston?? Absolutely horrible!! There is a reason they have trolleys. If you're ever in Boston, DON'T DRIVE ANYWHERE!! I can't tell you how many times we got lost and tried to find our way to a particular place only to be sabotaged by construction and one-way streets. Worse than NYC, I swear!

It was a great trip. Lots of fun to get away for a few days and explore a new city. I hope to go back one day with Keith and the boys!

Cub Scout Cake Bake

Connor has been a Cub Scout for 3 years now. Each year they do a cake bake. Each year I have lucked out and been able to get out of baking a cake. The first year Connor came down with a stomach bug. The second year Keith and I were in Vegas. This year I came THISCLOSE to escaping again when Connor started vomiting less than 48 hours before the cake bake judging. But, thanks to a speedy recovery, I finally had to supervise my son's baking of a cake. Unfortunately he didn't recover THAT quickly so we ended up doing it at 10 pm the night before. He enjoyed it so that was good....but I am glad it's only a once a year thing. And the sick part is that after the cake judging and awards they auction off the cakes and almost all of the parents end up buying back their own cake. So, on top of the $20 I had into making this cake, it cost me another $40 to get it back!!

Anyway, it had to have a Cub Scout theme so Connor wanted to do a Pinewood Derby Cake. Below is what we came up with. He got 2nd place in the most creative category. He actually did do a lot of the work on it and despite everything we had fun making it.

Whoops, I did it again!!

Yep, I did it again...I've been HORRIBLE at updating our blog and suddenly it's been 4 months again! I'm sick today and don't feel like doing anything else so I think I will take advantage of that and attempt to get everything caught up to date. So you'll probably see a few blog entries from me today. And once again I'll make the promise that I'll attempt to keep on top of this from now on. Do you believe me? You probably shouldn't!! :) But I swear I do have the best of intentions...

Below you will find a bunch of posts I did today going all the way back to September. Because I did so many when you get to the bottom of each page you'll have to click on "older posts" to see them all. You'll know you've gotten through all of the new ones when you get to the first day of school!! LOL

Please be sure to leave some comments, ok? Since I just spent an entire day updating this thing I'd like to know that someone is actually reading it!! :)

Christmas 2007

Here are just a few of the MANY pictures I took at Christmas. We had a great holiday and the playroom is now even more overflowing with toys! The boys had both spoken to Santa and then left him a note with their toy requests so he would be sure what they wanted! The thing Connor wanted more than anything was an electric Razor scooter. Evan really wanted a Mio Pup and a Squawkers Macaw, both of which he got, of course! They both got a lot of stuff for their Nintendo DSes and a TON of Pokemon stuff--cards, action figures, games, pillows...pretty much anything and everything Pokemon!!

Four eyes are better than two, right?

We've known that it was coming for a while but this past fall Connor had to get glasses. Though most kids would have dreaded this, Connor was so excited he could barely stand it! He had been wanting them for a while. He's been going to the eye doctor since he was 6 months old as he has unequal pupil dilation so the doc has been following the changes with his eyes. He had been there in January of 2007 for an exam and the doc didn't think that the benefit of putting him in glasses would outweigh the hassle at that point. However, once Connor went back to school in the fall he started complaining that he was having trouble seeing the board. When we took him back to the doc in October he said that it was time now for him to get glasses. He doesn't have to wear them all the time, mostly just for school and if he's watching tv or stuff at a distance. And although his initial excitement of having glasses has dwindled, he's still good about wearing them and *usually* remembers to grab them when he's heading off to school!

I think they make him look more grown up! Sniff!!

Kindergarten Plays

One of my favorite things about kindergarten is the adorable plays that the kids do for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Evan's class did such a great job! And my little Evan who was famous in preschool for not participating in any of the plays did a FANTASTIC job!! I'm not sure if I posted about this or not but last year during the preschool Christmas play he refused to cooperate, wouldn't even come out of his classroom until he was practically dragged, and then stood with his back to the audience the whole time only occasionally looking over his shoulder to cast a mean look at everyone! I was horrified!!

But this year he did great! He had fun and participated with the rest of the class. I would even go so far as to say he enjoyed himself!!

Nana and Grandma were able to come and watch the Thanksgiving play which Evan was really happy about. And he LOVED that Daddy was able to be there for the Christmas one since he usually can't because they're during the day when he's working.

After both plays we were invited back to his classroom. After the Thankgiving one we went to his room for a "feast" that the kids had prepared. Following the Christmas play we went back and had snacks and did a bunch of craft projects. It was a lot of fun! We are very thankful that the kids go to such a great school with teachers who take the time to do all of these extra activities.

Limo Lunch

Each year at school our PTO (JHSA) does a fundraiser in the fall that all of the kids participate in. This year we decided that our prize for the kids who were the top sellers in each grade level was going to be a limo lunch! After the fundraising was complete we decided that since so many kids did a great job we wanted to include more of them in the prize. So, in addition to the top sellers in each grade, we took all of the kids who sold at least $400. There were about 17 kids included. The principal, myself, and a few other JHSA moms went along to supervise (oh the sacrifices I must make!) and we had a really good time. We had the limo for a couple of hours and the kids thought it was so much fun just to drive around in the limo drinking their sparkling grape juice! We stopped for pizza for lunch but most of them just wanted to get back into the limo. Unfortunately neither of my kids sold $400--it would have been more fun for me if at least one of them had been along. :( Maybe next year!!

HALLOWEEN!!

Again this year we had our halloween party for the kids. About 25 of the boys' friends were here and all of the kids had a lot of fun!

Keith was out of town for Halloween so one evening we took our pumpkins over to Grandma & Grandpa's house and Grandpa helped the boys carve them. I must admit I was thrilled that I didn't have to do them and the boys enjoyed the time with Grandpa.

Evan decided to dress up as Spiderman this year and Connor was the creepy guy from the movie "Scream." I took them trick-or-treating for a while and then they went to a party that one of Connor's friends was having.

Next year I would like to have a Halloween party for the ADULTS!! :)

Pumpkin' picking day!!

One of our favorite days each fall is going to the pumpkin patch to find the boys Halloween pumpkins. Ok, so it's not actually a patch...it's a bunch of pre-picked pumpkins...but you get the idea. The place we go has a big corn maze and a tepee made out of corn that the boys think is really cool! I always get some of my favorite pictures at the pumpkin patch too! It was especially fun this year because it was in the 70s the day we went. Gotta love that in October!

The Magical Pumpkin Patch

At Halloween the kindergarteners heard a story about a magical pumpkin patch. Then we all went on a walk to "find" the pumpkin patch which was down the street from the school. The kids all thought it was a lot of fun to find this patch which was in the backyard of a house down the road. They all got to pick their own pumpkin before returning to the school. Here are a few pics of the kids that day.

Evan and his pumpkin.

Evan and his teacher, Mrs. Wolff.

Mrs. Wolff's Class.

Connor & Evan's birthday party!

I'm only a few months behind on this. This year the boys both wanted to have Pokemon birthday parties. Rather than having 2 parties less than a month apart we opted to do a joint party for the first time. Why haven't I done this before?? It made my life a lot easier!! I guess I was hung up on the fact that they should both have their own party...but if they don't care then why should I?

So anyway, they had a Pokemon party with lots of their friends and family. It was at the end of September and the weather was great so we had it outside. We even rented a bounce house which all of the kids enjoyed! They both got spoiled rotten!

On their actual birthdays we still tried to give them a special day with cake and presents from us. Both boys got a Nintendo DS this year from us which they LOVED!! They are both little video game junkies!

In this pic you can see Connor giving his little bro instructions on riding his new big bike! LOL Evan got a new bike for his birthday from Papa (my dad). He had always had Connor's hand-me-down bikes in the past and was so proud to have his own NEW bike!! I love this pic of the two of them.