Desiree's Birthday

This is Desiree, Bobby's soon to be step daughter.  We went to her eighth birthday party a couple weeks ago at Lakeview Lanes.  According to Bobby, it was her first real party.

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My kids had a blast.  Todd stayed home with Ellie... She was sleeping and grumpy and it's not the best place for her anyhow.  See Abbey watching the ball?

Adam is encouraging her here.  I love that.   Adam was so clever.  He was aiming the little kid helper right at the pins he wanted to knock down.

No mistaking, they love Uncle Bobby.   Her family and friends were there.  Her brothers sat off to the side.  They do not accept Bobby and this is an improvement over refusing to be in the same room.  Below is one of Lynette's sons, Nicholas.  He lives with his Dad.

Birthday girl.  Abbey was fascinated by her.

Group shot.  The one in green with Abbey is Matthew, her other son.   He's good with Abbey.  Ugh, I cut a kid off.  Rookie mistake.

Garbage Man Ball 2014

In the midst of sick January, we actually made it to the Garbage Man's Ball.   Otherwise known as the Casella Waste major accounts holiday party.  I had only a cold at the time and the kids were getting better and Ellie hadn't gotten super sick yet so Bethany and Brianna risked cold germs so we could go.   I was so grateful!

It snowstorned on the way, one cloud that kept following us as I watched on the radar.  I had had plans to have cocktails and enjoy the snacks, but my cold didn't like my vodkas Collins.  The food was excellent as always.  I spent much of the night talking to Sylvia Trichillio, the wife of Joe who is friends/associates with Todd.  I really like them.  They are about 60 and Joe reminds me of my Dad.  That's him in the awful picture, wearing a Hawaiin shirt because they had just come back from there.   His wife was so embarrassed :).  She made the kitchen make me more sliders because I loooove them.  It was thoughtful.

Todd spent almost the whole night with his new BFF Travis Bliss.   They've been friends for years but recently, it appears to be on bro-mance level.  He had his girlfriend with him and was clearly uncomfortable.  Melissa is 27 and was drunk and runs her mouth, which he can't stand.  Nice enough... She talked with me for awhile because she told me Travis said she had to.  I don't think he wanted that shared!!   She was criticizing the place for all the things I love... The mismatched antiques, navy walls and dim lighting.   But I think she thought she was impressing me.   Funny conversation.   She is nuts about him I think.   And his secretary...

Always a nice night.   Can you believe it was our SIXTH?

My Adam

I handed in Adam's Kindergarten paperwork last week.  Can you believe it?  We also went to his well-child physical Wednesday afternoon and he's 52 pounds and 45 inches tall and he took his shots so well.  He's always so brave; it impresses me.   He let them do everything, including hearing and vision and was happy to hop on the table.  After they did his blood pressure, he want and got the equipment and put it back on, causing the doctor to notice how smart he is.

We signed him up for Trinity, knowing if we move we will switch.  There are a couple of schools in town we would switch to and of course, JD is like a private school and the other district we're considering slightly, Baldwinsville, is a top 50.  But any way about it, he's a big boy.

Adam is amazing.  He's creative and thoughtful.  If someone says owe, he's right there to make sure you're OK.  He's in love with Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 right now as the food animals just feed his imagination.  His favorite is the "Taco-dile".  He loves video games and we have to keep a lid on it, but it serves as a great reward and punishment!   He is so thoughtful and just loves his sisters.  He gets sad if he is separated from them too long.  Here's some cookie faces last week after I stopped at the bakery on Thursday because I missed them both!

He feels things deeply and has a slight insecure streak I keep an eye on.  He's doing really well at school and I see him keeping an eye in Max, who is kind of the out kid this year.  I love that!  He's come so far...it's exciting to watch him grow up but it's starting to feel like it's going to slip away!

Post Office Field Trip

A couple of weeks ago was "P" week at school for Adam.  They went pretty big, with a Piggy Picnic, a Popcorn party, a Pirates and Princess Party and a field trip to the Post Office.  Adam just loved every single day!  The day we all met at the post office was freezing of course and all the kids were excited.  It wasn't just his class, but the other class, as well.   

Here's Adam with some of the other boys in the lobby looking out that window.

His posing face.  Oh, Adam.  I know.

Behind the doors.  The kids barely listened.  The lady was quite and they are 4 and 5.

Note Adam paying rapt attention.

Adam, she's the other way!  She explained the mail and then we went outside to see a truck.

The kids LOVED that part.  I kept trying to explain to him what a post office was and he got it after I explained how Grandma's boxes go to a post office in Virginia and then driven here to ours.  Then he got it. Spoiled kid!

But it was still freezing :)

But what the kids were REALLY waiting for was to mail their letters.  They all wrote letters to the parents at school and one by one, mailed them.  And when it arrived the next day, Adam was THRILLED.  He wants to check the mail all the time now.  Love him.

Eh

I survived that illness.  The funny thing is, once you're on the other side, it fades fast.  I'm still on antibiotics though that are tough on my stomach.  The occasional cough.  As sick as I whined about being, I didn't realize how sick I really was until I started to feel better.

February is starting to slip on by with Valentine's Day to work on for this week and Abbey's birthday.  We are feeling the crunch to figure out the house thing and on Saturday saw a house that if it had had a fourth bedroom or a large room for two kids to share, we'd be offering on.  It was perfect otherwise.  We hemmed and hawed, but four bedrooms is one of our biggest needs.  Abbey sharing with anyone would be a struggle and in a small room, impossible.  There was a den, but it was an amazing library with a fireplace and wood built-ins and a wet bar.  And it was right in the center of the house.  NOT good fourth bedroom material but would have been a awesome living space!   The week before we went to see a foreclosure that would need about $70,000 in work. It had potential, but it just doesn't feel right.   I will say with each house we look at, I look back and learn more.  At first, we were obsessed with land.  Acreage.  Now, we don't care as long as we have privacy.  We also wanted a pool, though it wasn't a must have.  Now, it's not a concern at all.... the kids are learning to swim at camp.  And as much as Todd doesn't mind a project in most aspects, it's kind of coming out that he doesn't want a project for a house.  We want something that's unique that's well made and been taken care of.  We do not care if it's "updated" if it's nice.

Here's the teddy bear Adam got me.  I love it.

A few weeks ago on the phone, my Mom told me she wanted to send me a girl gift and asked me some questions.  She's done it a couple times in the last few years...new socks, some clinique perfume lotion. It's thoughtful and nice.  I can tell she's excited she can do some stuff for us now.  So she sent me my first "real purse".  I was pretty excited.  It's a Dooney and Burke.  I had told her I had been looking for a good purse for a while, but I didn't expect this!

Then a few days ago, another Macy's box arrived.  My Mom sent me another gift....some Lancome makeup.  I was surprised and enjoy the thoughtful gesture.  Todd warned me with Mom, not to look too much into, something I should be well aware of.  But I do like that she's trying to do something to show me some effort.  It's no secret that we struggle and her taking off to VA upset me.  I'm over it, but I am cautious.  I will enjoy and appreciate the gifts and not put too much into it either way.

Getting up at 5am at the latest makes me eternally tired.  At least dinner is in the crock pot.  Those days are great, because dinner making is a stressful thing for me between Todd's tastes and his schedule and I want him to have something to eat after working 12 hours.  It snowed like crazy here for an hour and then the sun just peeped out before it started going down.  Just another winter day in Oswego.  I good nap right now.  Adam is in his room watching Tom and Jerry on Todd's computer and Abbey is ripping her room apart and Ellie is waking up from her nap.

Ellie has been drinking bottles...LOVING bottles.  I nurse her at 5am and 7/8pm but she prefers the bottle now.  It's getting to be a struggle and I don't know if we'll make the ten months.  She just wants to be independent.  Another one.  Hard to let go emotionally as I'll never have the opportunity again and more practically, she's small and gets colds and it's supposed to be her best medicine.  Though in the last few weeks, since she started lapping up the formula, she's rounding out.  It's possible my thyroid medication was giving her a hot metabolism.  I don't know.  It is what it is.

My Mom Christmas

 This is the first year I had a child really excited about Christmas.  It made it my first Mom Christmas in a way.  On the Sunday before, Todd and Adam hit the road Christmas shopping.  They made the local rounds.  They went to Stone's Candies and Adam picked out this Rudolph Chocolate for me.  Then Todd took him to Harbor Towne Gifts to pick out a gift for me.  Todd told me the lady helped him.  I can't find my photo, I'll have to add it, but it's a Boyd's Bear that says Moms Light Up the Holidays.  He was SO excited to give it to me.  It's on my dresser and he puts it in my bed for me to sleep with.

A few days before, Todd had asked me if there were anything I wanted for Christmas and I told him that I didn't expect it for this Christmas because it was so late, but I really wanted a Mother's Ring.  My boys went down to DuFore's and picked one out.  I LOVE it.  I love the style and the band.  It's gorgeous!  Todd said he expects Ellie to be trouble because her stone (Emerald) was twice as much as the others.     I will be honest, Todd really makes whatever I want come true.  I am really spoiled.

It felt like a real Mom holiday.  To see one of my kids excited to do things for me, it felt nice.  And it also made me feel older.   By the way, Adam picked out a Rapunzel dress for Abbey and a talking puppy for Ellie.  So cute.

Infection

Finally went to the doctor and he poked around my face and told me I had a sinus infection.  I figured.  Friday morning I woke up with the hearing in my left ear almost gone.  Dizzy and weak from fever, I was done.  I knew after dropping Adam off, I just couldn't drag the girls back.  Todd went and got him.  He went back to work but told me to stop worrying about the house.  He came him early Saturday and took the A-team out so I could nap, but Ellie got up.   I slept in as much as I could with Ellie needing me Sunday, but it was nice to get back in bed after feeding her for a couple hours and I even got breakfast in bed.  Todd did a lot of house work, insisting rest is what I needed.  It didn't cure me, but it took the hopeless edge off.  The overwhelming feeling that had crept up.  I should be asleep now, but the pain in my face and head makes it difficult.  Wonder how long until the antibiotic starts to work.  I feel like I've lost two weeks, but Todd assured me that these last two weeks sucked in general.  Ha.  I had pictured January as a time to pull myself together and get some organizing done,but instead, I've just been trying to hold things together.  At least I got my hearing back tonight. It has been years since I went to a doctor for an 'everyday illness'.