Don't try this at home

The thing with my family is that everyone is artsy fartsy, whether they like it or not. When we were little girls, my father would create amazing sculptures for us out of random objects from the workshop. He can make anything from statues to wind chimes to copper bowls.


My sister shocked everyone when she chopped of her stunning blonde hair to a short red cut in college. Apparently this, along with the vast array of black clothing options, was the way to express yourself when you're going to school for Fine Arts and Sculpture. Thankfully the red hair faded over time out but her passion for the arts and theatre never did. Our uncle also helped develop our appreciation for the arts because he's always involved with theatre. It was my dream to go to school for photography but my sister claimed the "starving artist" title first since she was older and got first dibs on it when she started college.

Given our family history (and the fact that both of my boys are lefty's) it's pretty safe to say that there will be some sort of Arts in their future! In an effort to expose them to as much as possible, we headed off to the "Cirque du Soleil" themed symphony last night.

We got there early and the boys kept busy working on their Chickfila coloring books. (What kind of mother/son date night would be complete without Chickfila?!)



Joshua channeling The Rock (Goose egg compliments home wrestling match. Jacob won.)


It didn't take long for Jennifer and Kimberly to arrive. As usual, Jacob quickly informed Miss Jennifer that she would be sitting next to him. (When we first got there, Jacob whacked Joshua when he sat in Miss Jennifer's seat!) Kimberly, aka Martha Stewart, came fully prepared with a wicker basket loaded with fresh cut fruit and delicious cookies. This spread put my goldfish crackers-in-a-ziploc bag to shame!






During each act, I reminded them that they are not allowed to try the stunts at home!



Bieber Fever struck the symphony!!


Why yes, that is two practically naked men painted bronze standing on each others heads.


Jacob, the budding photog, took his first picture with my new camera. He listed this as one of his favorite activities of the night!


All in all, it was a great night and the boys did amazing. I sincerely hope that the boys continue to love the arts as much as I do. I now understand my mothers reasoning for only one Starving Artist allowed at a time considering my sister went to a private Catholic university. The equation for Starving artist follows. 1 Starving Artist at a private university or 2 Starving Artists at a public university!

Regardless of what college Joshua attends, he'll have to take a drama class because this when he woke up and realized that he had a stuffy nose. Pathetic, I know.

Splish Splash

It's officially summer in our house! The boys had a wet, but fun, day between school and swim practice. Joshua enjoyed Water Day at his school which involved a Noah's Ark themed chapel and water play on the playground.


It was so cute to watch all the little kids pretend that they were animals marching on to the "ark" before it started to rain.






The kids had a blast and I know Joshua will remember this for years to come. The kids scooted straight from Chapel out to the playground where they went wild playing in several different kiddie pools, shaving cream and paint. It cracked me up because the girls played quietly in their pools while the boys attacked the shark pool. I'll admit it, my kid was a ringleader!



This was right about the time that Joshua declared himself King of the Playground




Joshua has inherited my love of ice cream so you can imagine how thrilled he was to learn that they were having ice cream sundaes for snack...at 10 in the morning!!


Later in the day, Jacob had swim practice and Joshua tagged along. Jacob is doing so well and his little brother loves to cheer him on. (I should mention that there's a dirt pile just begging to be played with and that may have something to do with Joshua's enthusiasm for attending swim practice.)


Go, Jacob, GO!!!


I love that he is so proud of himself. He's such a little man. (Side note, check out the little girl rocking boots and shorts. Gotta love a girl with style!)


They are building a new development next to the pool and they boys LOVE the bulldozers. We park right across from them so they can keep tabs on what the workers are doing.


All of this time at the pool is making me so excited for the lazy days of summer. (Somebody please remind me of this in August when 110 degrees and the kids are about to attack each other at any given moment!!)

Strep versus Siete

The boys and I were planning to kick off Mothers Day weekend with fiesta at a friends house to celebrate Siete de Mayo (not to be confused with Cinco de Mayo). Our plans quickly changed once Jacob started complaining of a sore throat and then the bombshell dropped...the boy took a nap! Napping in our house means that you better get the copay ready because there is a doctors appointment looming. I tried to get in with our doctor but that was impossible on the Friday afternoon before Mothers Day.

Thankfully there's a Minute Clinic close by and were able to get us in without a long wait. Turns out that Jacob tested positive for Strep not only by their doctor but by their newest intern, Dr. Joshua. Joshua firmly explained to the doctor that Jacob got sick because pollen got into the cut on his knee. Jacob corrected Joshua by telling him that he's sick because he didn't eat enough fruit. He also explained to them that his insides were falling out because he had diarrhea. (Lovely detail, I know.)

It cracks me up to think that the boys managed to have fun at the appointment even though Jacob was rocking a 103 fever AND my bright pink hoodie.

Taking pitiful pictures to send to Daddy



Dr. Joshua examining the patient for pollen.



One curled up boy in a now stretched out hoodie



My uncle pointed out that on Mothers Day I'm definitely going to feel needed. As parents, we try to make our children independent but the reality is that moms always want to feel needed. While Jacob may not enjoy the weekend very much, I'm going to relish in the fact that my little guy still needs me. On that note, I'm off to put another cool washcloth on his forehead. I better enjoy this "needed feeling" before the antibiotics kick in!!

7 Kids and Counting

To put it simply, today was insane. A good insane, but insane nonetheless! Our day started with a birthday party with some old friends and the boys had their first try at bowling. It was hilarious! After several tries, Jacob made a spare and Joshua got the ball all the way down the lane. This was a huge deal but they were soon saddened by the news that they couldn't keep the bowling shoes. (Phew!!)





Their attention was quickly diverted to cake and then to a few rounds at the video games. Jacob may have done better at bowling, but Joshua smoked Jacob at the race car game. Although they started at the same time, Jacob had to have money inserted in his machine three times while Joshua continued to play the same game. Who knows, maybe Joshua will have amazing driving skills like his mother. (Except for when I was 3 and drove a van into a house. Or the time I hit Mrs. Finnerty's car. Oooor the time my car floated down Will Clayton Parkway.)





In the same way that a Scranton party don't stop, neither does ours! Later in the afternoon, we met up with the Seelys and Texidors for some ice cream. And as usual, the three families took up the entire kids section! (Note to TCBY, the plastic picnic tables aren't enough for our brood so please be better prepared for our next visit. Thank you.)



Our ice cream adventure may have backfired on us because we then had 7 kids all sugared up and ready to go. So we decided to White Trash-it and head on down to the local McDonalds and "borrow" their playset. Between all 11 of us, only one $1 drink was purchased (with refills!) and our kids played and played and played. We figured this was acceptable considering the countless times we went through the drive thru to get a Happy Meal and the kids didn't actually get to play on the playset. You know, something along the lines of a playset rain check.



If you are wondering, yes that is a grown woman in the McDonalds play structure. At one point or another, we all had the opportunity to climb the structure and rescue a kid or two.

After today, I'm convinced that TLC needs to make a show about us. Sort of a hybrid of Real Housewives of NYC/Atlanta/NJ/OC and The Duggars 19 Kids and Counting. Do you hear that TLC, get on it!!! Now all I have to do is think of a name... Any suggestions?

Sink or Swim

It's that time of year again...Swim Team! Yesterday was the official start to the hustle and bustle of daily practices and weekend swim meets. This is Jacobs' second season and the first for Joshua. Last year during Jacobs first practice, he jumped in the pool and literally sank to the bottom. He worked his tail off all season and eventually swam the entire length of the pool. This year Joshua is our sinker and I hope this goes better than last years private lessons. (Joshua is the kid who schmoozed his little way out of swimming and ended up relaxing on a chaise lounge.)

Here they are at todays practice. Yesterday I had them in matching suits (thanks Nanny and Pop Pop!) but didn't have time for pictures because we were running late. You'll notice that Joshua is rocking Jacobs old competition suit and has a little muffin top! We are still waiting for Jacobs new suit to arrive so he gets to sport a super cute Boden suit. (Thanks Aunt Teri!)



I'm a little nervous about how this swim season will go. One of two things will happen. Either they will be super-fab swimmers and I get to relax on the chaise lounge all summer OR Joshua will continue to sink and I will be chasing him all summer. Swim, child, SWIM!!!

Tour de Woods

It's official...I have a bike!! This is big news considering I bought (and then later sold) a Burley d'Lite bike trailer without ever using it. Much to Matt's frustration, the reason the trailer was never used was because I didn't buy a bike. My sans bike lifestyle changed the other day when I got a nasty shin splint while running. This led me to purchase my first grown up bike (so long Huffy!) and hit the trails.

Today I went out for a little roll around The Woods and caught myself thinking of how much I've changed since moving from Scranton. It was kind of like a movie playing...families walking, birds chirping, people pushing their yappy little dog in a stroller, etc. So here I am, so proud of my little suburban life and comparing it to how it would been if I never moved. Right as I was about to leap up on to my high horse, Wreckx-n-Effect started blaring Rump Shaker on my iPod and in that instant, I was forever banned from sitting on any high horse. It just goes to show that you can take the girl out of Scranton but can't take the Scranton out of the girl. Who knows, maybe if I get in stellar shape from all my bike riding I can live out my dream as a 90's gangsta rapper? What What!

A quick note that has nothing to do with bikes or 90's rappers, Joshua found a new way to entertain himself. Every day when we pick Jacob up from school, Joshua and I wait about 20 minutes in carline because we like to be early. Bless his heart, he's usually good about waiting and finds creative ways to entertain himself while strapped into his car seat. Today Joshua became a statue. This was accomplished by wrapping the Randalls newspaper ad around his head and sitting as still as possible. One would think that this would cause for some much needed quiet time, but no, Joshua managed to turn himself into a statue that talks. For at least 5 minutes, my Backseat Statue repeated over and over again "I am a statue. Don't touch the statue." Lovely.

Prada, Dolce & Ice Cream...Oh My!

Today was one of those busy days filled with appointments and errands but we made the best of it. For those of you that don't know,I have a minor obsession with gold flip flops. They are usually cheaply made, borderline tacky and never last an entire season. That being said, I found the 1st par of Summer 2010 at Old Navy and snagged them for the bargain price of $9. (Holler!) After my deal, Joshua and I stopped by Marshalls hoping to find a cute sundress to wear with my snazzy new flip flops. I didn't find a dress, but I did find an entire row of designer shoes all begging to be tried on. So that is what we did. I tried to squeeze my fat feet into as many shoes as possible and sashayed my way through the aisle. This wasn't a one-strut deal, I'm talking a good 10 minutes of me strutting my stuff on the imaginary catwalk.



Versus



After Marshalls Next Top Model, we met up with Jennifer and the boys for some fun at the mall. We got there a little early and managed to snap a few pictures of the boys being silly. Please note that Jacob brought Henry the cow with us and I have every intention of using these as blackmail pictures in 10 years.







What's better than a healthy dinner? Ice Cream!! There is nothing quite like Marble Slabs Sweet Cream with rainbow nonpareils to make a girl smile. There aren't any pictures of our ice cream outing because I was busy shoveling it into my mouth. (I am very serious when it comes to ice cream. Once a Frosty Freeze girl, always a Frosty Freeze Girl)

Last but not least, we hit up the carousal for the best $1 entertainment in town. Cooper and Caleb were a couple rows away from us but am pretty sure that I heard some Seely giggles while we were going around. Jacob and Joshua also enjoyed it and Henry gave it two hooves up.





One last thing that made me smile, the Seely boys learned a new song at ELP and had a blast belting it out as we left the mall. It was one of those super sweet moments that just make you smile. It took everything in me not to whip out my Jazz Hands and groove on along with them.