Jim and I headed up to Park Ridge to visit with the TCNJ gals at Kim and Al's house... we ditched the kids at the Georges' in Paramus (thanks, Carolyn and Dino!) and had the whole afternoon to ourselves. Which was good, as I needed my lil' Bobby fix! He's getting big, that's for sure. Below, here he is with his mommy, Kim.
We had a fantastic dinner and dessert and great conversation. I love getting together with the girls and discussing books, movies, music, and school stuff. We had to leave before the board games began (torture!), but it was the best bet to get home at a reasonable time with the kids.
Trenton ended up going to the doctors the following day. Pink eye! (Yes, Ollie had it last week). Then on Monday, he was in absolute pain. I took him back to the doctors to find that he had a raging ear infection and a 102.3 fever. Thankfully, the medication is very effective.
The weather is supposed to be in the upper 70s tomorrow and Friday, then in the 80s this weekend. Our plan is to head to the city for the Tribeca Film Festival Family Street Fair... if you're interested, check out the map of all the cool things to do here. We're excited!
You see that massive pink cherry tree in the background there? That is the reason why I haven't had many good pictures to blog this week. That and the hundreds of other trees in bloom this month. The millions of pollen spores floating around outside. Making me close my windows on beautiful days, just so that the green dust doesn't settle all over their furniture and on the sheets. Blah. We've been battling with 'seasonal allergies' since the beginning of March. They've hit Oliver a lot harder than Trenton. Both kids have been on Zyrtec for about a month now. There's still sneezing, runny noses, blue marks around the eyes... at least the coughing has gotten better. But the fluid build-up is worse. I brought Oliver to the clinic on Monday evening, because puss was coming out of his eyes! Ended up having an ear infection, too. Doctor said it had to do with fluid from allergies. Great. The poor kid is so miserable. Add to that FOUR teeth. All four canines, top and bottom! That's the only time he gets a diaper rash... So we play inside a lot. And go to the gym. They've both gotten used to playing at Gold's Gym since Jim and I switched our membership from Retro to there in February. We like it so much better, even though the membership is three times as much (!) but the daycare price is included (ahh...) I think we're going to experiment with T's hair some more. I like to keep it well above his eyebrows, but I'm thinking of leaving it longer around his ears and sides of his face... the back is all kinds of strange looking. Maybe taking off some of the bottom... It is hard to get him to cooperate anymore. Bet the Leapster would distract him a bit, though. As of now, he's allowed to play it only when he has a good day at school. He really does like it and seems to be learning a lot of math concepts from the games we have.
Ollie freaked all of us out by sleeping until 7:00 this morning. Jim and I both checked to make sure he was still breathing. I don't remember the last time he slept so long... Zyrtec induced? Below, a pic from naptime. Look at those legs! That hair! Yes, we haven't totally given up the paci, although we were this close. But then the allergies got bad, and it was a good way to get him to smile... His absolute favorite thing is Elmo. He'll take the remote and point it at the T.V. and ask for "Elmo". He'll wake up from his nap saying "Elmo". At night, you'd better have the Elmo book ready to read to him. And God forbid his two Elmo t-shirts are in the wash...
I keep telling myself to enjoy every second I have with him in this baby stage. It was my ABSOLUTE favorite stage with Trenton-- from about 9 months to 2 years... so sweet, cuddly, short, chubby, innocent...
It's so funny that this was the first picture of the bunch on Easter morning... You try to get everything set up the night before and leave the camera in a place that is easily accessible. But then they wake up and race downstairs... Both boys saw the various eggs hidden around the house pretty quickly. But while we ran around watching Trenton, Oliver figured out that you could OPEN the eggs and that there was CHOCOLATE in them. He LOVES chocolate-- just like his momma... So is that a look of guilt? Or maybe he's wondering if it will be confiscated? He didn't seem to care that there were more eggs to find. He was fine with the one he had ;)
The look on T's face here is priceless, although the picture itself is overexposed.
Everything happens with a superhero stance, it seems. Trenton scores points for finding the most eggs, and getting me to think that I'm liking Easter morning more than Christmas day... Make sure to check out the videos of the kids finding their baskets. You can sense T's determination to find his basket after seeing what Ollie got in his. I actually think T forgot that there were baskets hidden-- he was so focused on the eggs!
The bunny was good to them. Major stash of books, toys, etc... All the candy was in the eggs. Oliver got a babydoll that is very similar to Trenton's baby Mike. T says that it is a girl, but I'm going to leave that up to Ollie to determine... Who am I to deny the little guy his first taste of Peeps?
I'm pretty sure this is the best picture of the bunch.
Or is it this one?
Definitely not this one.
Okay, at this point, just get us to church already...
Thanks, Jim, for attempting to get a great pic near the flowers. Unfortunately, the little people were not as cooperative as last year :( My parents came in the late morning, went to church with us, and then returned for lunch. Afterwards, they went off to visit my grandmother and put flowers on my grandfather's grave. The kids napped. Jim and I enjoyed the quiet for a bit. The afternoon was beautiful and we were able to spend a lot of it outside with the kids. Below, T holds the flowers that I planted today in front of the house.
"Thank you, Hop, for bringing me all those treats! I will show my gratitude by feeding you your favorite-- brown rocks!!!"
And then, I fed them all ;) We had ham, apricot glazed carrots, garlic asparagus, cornbread cake, and carrot basmani rice. And wine... new fav is a California red blend called Menage a Trois (tastes great and right in my price range). Dessert was assorted goodies from mom that were donated the next day to Jim's colleagues at work. I'm continuing my Lenten challenge of giving up chocolate... sorta... I've decided to see if I can limit myself to eating chocolate only on the weekends. It has been a rough week, on top of the already six weeks I've been doing this, but I'm interested to see if it makes any difference in the long term weight-wise. We'll see how long it lasts...
Grandma Lacina got the kids tickets to see Elmo and Sesame Street Live. In the past, she's taken T to see Sesame Street Live and Thomas the Tank Live-- he loved both. This time, she took both boys! I dropped her off (along with friends Karlyn and Emilyn, above) and picked them up an hour and a half later at the State Theatre.
Mom said that Oliver was mesmerized for the entire show. Both boys thoroughly enjoyed it. I love the exposure to the live performances! Later this month, we'll see "Are You My Mother?" at the Algonquin in Manasquan. Looking forward to it! Had to fit in this pic of the boys making the Bunny Cake. We took it with us on Friday up to Len and Tiff's place in Jersey City. AWESOME dinner (thanks again, Tiff!) and great conversation. My parents took the boys for the night and the next day... and Jim and I spent our time bumming around shore towns (coffee at Green Planet, shopping at the Bass Outlet, lunch at Twisted Tree). It was a busy Easter Weekend!
Ladybug diapers rock. Although these pictures were taken last week, they are still relevant today! We've had some freaky-hot days lately, including topping 92 degrees yesterday. Spring is here, for sure. Better sun than more rain... The last pic is of the two plants that are now planted in front of my home. They go well with the other ones that have been sprouting up!
Trenton was very excited to dye Easter Eggs. He got a coloring kit-- superhero themed-- from Grandma Konopack the other week, and has been die-ing to use it. Ha!
I don't think I've ever seen T eat a hard-boiled egg before. But he did. Just not the yolk. That's OK, buddy, I don't like the yolk either ;) Oliver, on the other hand, could eat "eggies" for every meal. But only the scrambled kind. He refused to believe that what I was trying to feed him was actually an egg. He's just licking it, below. I had to eat it. T is VERY excited about the Easter Bunny coming. He's made me count down the days with him for at least the past week. This year we plan to have dinner at Len and Tiff's on Good Friday and then have Easter dinner here on Sunday. I'm excited to use my fine china! For the first time! Because it is a holiday! Stay tuned to see how it goes...
I had a dentist appointment last night. I never knew you could make an appointment at 6:15! Left pasta for the boys. They musta had fun, as you can see from these pictures. That toy box is the best $9 I've ever spent. Long live yard sales!
So, if you've been anywhere near New Jersey in the past few weeks, you must know something about the feud going on between Governor Christie and the NJEA teachers union... Last I've heard, he's asking the teachers to take a one year pay-increase freeze to offset the amount of money lost from state aid. I've seen the proposals for next year's school budget here in town, and it ain't pretty. They're proposing to increase class sizes (25 as the max in K-2), eliminate 40% of classroom supplies, guidance counselors and computer teachers cut, and eliminate band pull-out in the elementary school, among other things.
I go back and forth about a lot of this stuff, though. One, I'm impressed that Christie has decided to do what he said he'd do, and work hard to actually balance the state budget. I do believe teachers can learn to do more with less, so long as they are taught to do so and have support from their administrators. However, I don't think it is very respectful or professional for Christie to speak to teachers (via the union) in the tone that he's set out: very much a "you'd better do this, or the kids will suffer". Some of these districts in the state are going to lose 99% of their state funding next year and are scrambling to figure out how to do it. And some voters won't realize that the budget put before them for voting on April 20th is necessary-- there have been lots of cuts made. If it doesn't pass, guess what? SOMETHING passes. Just not as much as was proposed to voters. Which means even more cuts.
In our town, on a $350,000 home, this budget would mean an $80 increase. If it doesn't pass, the possible re-worked budget would be about $60. Still paying something. And the board has asked for there to be some way to ensure that all after-school activities are not cut (they'd all have to be paid by parents out of pocket).
The title to my post references this post over at the New Jersey Moms Blog. I think she's right, in that not many moms are talking about this. We need to get informed and educate each other about the facts and then encourage people to vote-- either way-- on April 20th.
The teachers out there get it. From what I hear, Spring Break has been a welcome reprieve from the stress, gossip, and uncertainty at school. I truly feel sorry for all the teachers who will get RIFed-- it happened to me, and it is a horrible way to be let go. I know that I'm lucky not to have to go back to work next year-- the job market is going to be SWAMPED with applicants. But I'm also glad that I'm working on this masters degree and have some experience under my belt.
So, is the sky falling? Will people care? Or will they not "get it" unless they try?
OMG who is that absolute cutie pie?
We had a fantastic dinner and dessert and great conversation. I love getting together with the girls and discussing books, movies, music, and school stuff. We had to leave before the board games began (torture!), but it was the best bet to get home at a reasonable time with the kids.
