Sorry

Sorry for not posting. We were on vacation, then I was feeling overwhelmed, and the last few days just weirdly blue. For no apparent reason. We are off for vaca for a few days this weekend/next week, but then plan to be back and ready to roll!!!

Almost Time to Get Off (on) the Pot

A few weeks ago Big Man moved into the Preschool room at daycare. He was only one of two kids who were not potty-trained (not a prerequisite for the class). Big Man plays with potty training - sits on the potty quite a bit, but rarely does much. I haven't started to work on it much yet. But last week the little girl who moved with him started wearing underwear. His teachers talked to Big Man about it, and said don't you want to be like Macy? Big Man looked them right in the eye and said "I not ready yet". hee hee

Sometime this fall I hope to complete my third successful potty training using the one weekend method. Big Man is a little stubborn (can't imagine where he gets it from), so I don't think it will be fun, but it would be nice to be diaper free finally!

Modern and Funky (and even functional!)

I am in the process of working on the new bedroom for the girls. We are moving them from their cramped bedroom to our old bedroom which is nearly 2x the size and has 2 closets. So, in working on planning ideas, I have been watching Craigslist to see if I can find any cheap desks or finds for their new room (much more to come on the room soon!). I have used Craigslist successfully two times in the last 8 months - first to buy this great piece, and then to sell concert tickets a week ago. It really is great. Anyway.

While I was there I saw an ad for a Frank Ghery chair. Frank Ghery is an architect who is known for modern, funky buildings including this cool hotel, and the cool Disney Concert Hall in LA.


Anyway, someone on Craigslist was selling a Ghery chair for $100. I checked and the cheapest I could find it was $790 online. hmm.. Now I do not need this chair. At all. I wasn't even looking for an outdoor chair. But man, it is cool looking.

So last night I finally went to see it. and LOVED it. So..here it is in my yard. Probably not its final home, but at least its there. Cool, huh?

Book Review - Shanghai Girls

Just finished Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (on my Kindle, of course!). She is the same author that wrote Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (which I also loved). It is a great book about two sisters living in Shanghai in the 1930s and their move to America. Its a very compelling book that kept me captivated on a long car ride with (sometimes) demanding children just behind me.

The character development is great - you can really picture the people in your mind. I really liked how it examined the bonds between the sisters. The depictions of race/culture relations in the US during that time were also fascinating. While a few plot happenings were expected - others were not. I recommend it!

Gone Nutty

My kids love Scrat from the Ice Age movies, and last week got even more chances to see crazy squirrels. The tiny town of Olean, NY (on the Allegheny River in western NY state) wanted to replicate the excitement of the Cows in Chicago or even the Pandas in DC. So they did squirrels. Hee hee

The kids loved them, and several times a day when we would travel through Olean we would have to seek their favorites out. Here are a few:



Gotta love small towns!

Three Year Olds

Big Man is just cracking me up these days. His newest game is Mommy/Little Boy. Except he is the Mommy and I am the Little Boy. We play it in the car, usually on the way home from work/preschool. Basically instead of hearing "mommy mommy mommy" he just asks the same questions starting with "little boy". But he really loves it.

Last night Nana was babysitting so DH and I could go see the Blondie/Pat Benatar show (it was great!). Nana kept seeing Big Man with wrappers, but he would not discuss them or show her where they are from. When we got home there were two boxes of fruit snacks in the trash. 2 boxes we had purchased this weekend, that each had 10 packs. We figured we had used 5 - leaving 15 unaccounted for. When we woke up this morning, I told Big Man he was going to show me the fruit snacks. He immediately said "I not a bad boy!". I said we would see, and he needed to show me the fruit snacks. When he was up and dressed we went downstairs and I showed him the empty boxes. He picked one up and lead me down to the playroom. He kept saying they were in "my house". Turns out he meant the cardboard house he had made at school. Inside were about 12 packs of fruit snacks and several empty wrappers. I thanked him for showing me where they were, and told him he was not to take food out of the pantry without asking. He said "I sorry mommy". Who could resist that face?

Kindle Review

So last week I got a Kindle. I had been wanting one for a while, but the price (just went down to $299) and the fear of buying too many books kept me from it. Then my awesome MIL gave me some belated birthday money, so I went for it.

Got it last week. and so far I LOVE it. Truly. Although I could see how it could bankrupt me. One of the features I love is that you can "sample" any book you want to buy. So you can download a chapter to see if you like the writing. That is a great feature! Also, you can buy and download any book in about 60 seconds. SCARY! We did a roadtrip this weekend, and being the fast reader I am, I finished my first book on the way up. What to do? Download another one (or two) for the trip home. So great. Good news is most books are $9.99 (cheaper than even the big paperbacks these days!) and many classic books are free. I got 13 bobbsey twin books to read the kids for $.99 total!

Reading on it is not at all like reading on a computer screen. It looks like a print book. And the Kindle is so easy to use. I am totally hooked. I will miss being able to hand over favorites to friends, but I can tell them the titles! And how great is it to be able to have so many books in the palm of your hand (it can hold up to 1500!!). It fits easily in my purse and I can carry it everywhere. It also holds a charge for a long time! If you shut off the wifi (except when you are buying books) it can go for days without being charged.

So, while not a cheap expenditure, its what works for me! For more Works for Me, visit: www.wearethatfamily.com

Up on the Farm

This weekend we went to Western New York/PA for a memorial service for DH's grandmother. She lived to be a ripe old 94 and still had her faculties -- we can all be so lucky.

After the service, there was a pig roast on DH's uncle's farm. It is a cattle farm and the kids LOVED playing with the cows, throwing rocks and sticks in the creek, climbing on the hay bails, and running around the barn. It was great for them to play with their 2nd cousins (we think - DH's 1st cousins kids?), whom they rarely see.

Big Man really loved the cows, asking about every half an hour the whole 4 hours we were there to go see the cows. At one point he asked to see the piggies. I explained that this was a cattle farm, and so there were only cows. Big Man looked at me and pointed at the roasting drum and said "Momma..they cooking a piggie right over there!" LOL....he got me there.

We had a great time with family and some awesome roast pork with Uncle Massey's secret BBQ. Gotta get that recipe.

A 3 hour tour

Ok, it was only a two-hour tour. When we do our crazy beach week with all our friends, both the men and women get to do activities sans kids. The men go golfing. The women have done a variety of things (segways, jeep off road, shopping/spas) but this year we decided to rent a powerboat and go out for a spin. One of the husbands said we were nuts. None of us knew how to drive a boat, and we would crash the thing. I kept arguing that they wouldn't rent the boat to us if they thought we could crash it. I was convinced they had come up with a way to make it work.

Of course, they had. They gave us a quick lesson, and told us not to worry - we didn't need to dock the boat upon return. We just needed to glide into the dock and they would come pull us in. PERFECT!

so we spent a lovey 2 hours out on the Sound, drinking wine, eating cheese and having a great time. Reminded us of our week in Paris last year.

So if you are on the Outerbanks and want something fun to do - rent a powerboat! I highly recommend!