Timing is everything.

It's funny how the world works. I wasn't supposed to be a) moving boxes b) into the basement on Thursday morning. I should have a) been doing a presentation at the realtor's office who helped us get the bungalow but she didn't come through with the scheduling; and b) I should have been putting the boxes in the sunroom but the painters ran out of ceiling paint and that was the only ceiling that had not been painted. So Thursday found me and mama putting boxes into the basement of the fabulous bungalow:

Today's picture of our new home!

With just a few boxes left I decided to NOT pay close attention to my footing and did myself in on the bottom step into basement rolling my right ankle real good. I didn't hear any cracks or crunches but it swelled up real good:

Oh, HELLO!

so Mom agreed with me that I should get some x-rays. Thankfully they turned up no broken bones, but one gnarly sprain. Don't believe me?

How about now?

Or now??

And let's not forget my left knee:

It's even prettier now that the bruising has come through!

I have spent the better part of the last three days on the couch with my foot elevated while my Mom has played nurse / nanny / house mover / dog walker. Have I mentioned how awesome my mother is?? Ben wanted in on the elevation and suggested I put my leg up on his butt! I'd let you make up a caption for the pic but I just don't think you beat Daddy's finest:

We shall forever call this "Bootie and the feet".

Can't walk but I can still make curtains! I think she likes them...

Fun with screen shots

Ben's personal trainer continues to work him hard. He never really wants to go, but doesn't put up a fight, and when we get there he has a blast, so we will continue to go as long as our schedule allows. When he has been a good listener and tried hard, Miss Lauren lets him finish up in the ball pit.

"Hey, Mom, take my picture!"

Ben is still such a great sleeper. Put this kid to bed and he's out in 5 minutes for a good 10-11 hours. DST hasn't affected us too poorly this year - he actually sleeps 'til 7 (as of now) vs 6:30... I went to check on the kids before going to bed the other night and found this:

Not sure why he chose the floor, but he looks pretty cozy!

Emma on the other hand continues with her Daddy's night owl ways. She goes to bed around 8, reads her chapter books for a good 90 minutes, before I make her turn off the reading light. We are blowing through all our books and have become frequent visitors to the library once again for new goodies. Her reading skills have increased her spelling confidence, but her "comprehension" may still need work - case in point, I was napping the other day and she decided to text Gramma Lou and ask for the Frozen movie. But she chose to pretend she was me and Gramma didn't catch on! (If you ever receive a text from me that doesn't quite make sense, IT'S PROBABLY NOT ME TEXTING!)

Clue #1, all the YES answers. Clue #2, misspelling "Angry Bird Pirate Pig Attack".

Clue #3 - weird comprehension

The cute thing is she came into the room afterwards and woke me up and told me what she did. I guess her guilty conscience was getting the best of her!!

We've been cracking down on Ben' horrendous eating at dinner. We feel like Beast yelling about Belle, "If she doesn't eat with me, she doesn't eat at all!!" Except our howl goes, "If you don't eat what we eat, you don't play with the iPad!" The kid was iPadless for days and days as he is so wicked stubborn and went to sleep on an empty stomach, too. The upside of the starve-out, he is finally starting to take nibbles of new foods and his arts and crafts creativity has skyrocketed. He's been hooked on the Angry B*rd Go Cart App - so he decided if he can't play it, he'll make one and pretend. What a novel idea!

Our clever beaver.

We hit up the explorium w Henry and Jane and made a Leprechaun trap. They were so focused! Ben, not so much - he played the time away with the marble design game...

He will never escape!

Daddy had a long day yesterday at the office which is pretty rare and left me for the day solo with the kiddos. I was pretty delirious by bedtime... Em is doing a project for the science fair that use a water balloon - as in one balloon - but I had to buy a whole bag as they wouldn't just sell me one balloon. This is what I decided after 10 hours of being tortured:

That's good parenting, right?? (Luckily Gramma Lou is coming for a few days to help while daddy is in FL!)

Two weeks?

Wow. How has two weeks passed since I blogged? We've been keeping busy. I've packed a lot of the rarely used items for the move. Now I just want to donate them to some needy organization because, really, I am excited to simplify - and rarely used are just that, rarely used! But alas, I will bring them and find a new space for them in my giant big bungalow. (At least that is the way it is going to feel compared to the penthouse.) The family moved out over the weekend, so we went spying through the windows to refresh our memory as to the space. SEVEN more days and we should be able to get inside and get to work making it our own. Waiting is the hardest part!

We got a break in the weather this weekend. A lot of the snow melted off and the ground is muddying up. It's supposed to be in the high 40s / low 50s all week until Thursday - which is supposed to be 27 and snow! Zoinks. We busted out the waffle maker last weekend for a cold Sunday morning treat...

Hit the spot!

I'm trying to pack and Em keeps stealing my boxes to create projects. Behold her rocket ship, complete with a finger knit seat belt for safety.

Captain Emma, at your service? Where to? Mars? Let's go!

We've been doing a lot of praying for this handsome fella. He's feeling good but not too pleased with the news that he has to do another 6 months of aggressive chemo. We are looking forward to seeing him next month when he returns from Florida.

Kick it's ass, Grandpa!

Ben walking across a tightrope - and this kid qualified for physical therapy!

He's ready for the circus.

Our elementary school has a full size pool that opens it's doors on Monday and Wednesday evenings for family swim. Em's been bugging me to go, and we finally made it last Wed. Guess what? It was awesome! How have we never done this in 3 1/2 years??? (Gramma Lou - bring your swimsuit! and a towel! All our beach towels are packed and we had to share one towel between the three of us.)

We survived family swim.

I finally used my gift card from Christmas at the shoe store. I got fancy heels for work and have yet to wear them because I can't get them off Em's feet...

Mom, can you buy me shoes just like this?

Daddy had a birthday yesterday! The kids made cards for him and Ben wrapped up some legos with some "instructions" on how to build a plane. It was adorable.

Just say no to clutter in the bungalow!

What is it? What is it?

Only the declaration of Independence!

We pawned the kids off on our pals and did a little of this:

Yes, please! Happy Birthday, Daddy!

It's birthday party weekend - 3 yesterday and one today. I'm exhausted!

I'm not tired! But I am only 5. Maybe you shouldn't have waited so long to have babies old lady!

Time for a nap!

Em and her pal, Abigail.

March comes in like a Lion...

Maritime Master

We survived Winter break and the kids had a good week back at school. Amazingly, we had four days of no delays or school cancelled in a row. They are still stir crazy from being cooped up in the Penthouse so we have been spending a lot of time at the Maritime Explorium. That membership has surely paid for itself! It is now my birthday present go to place - they sell day passes for $5 (I give two) which is better than a crappy toy for $10 (my limit!) - so kids can get out and about on us for an afternoon of fun!

I tried Rach*el Ray's two ingredient pizza dough last week - cauliflower and eggs - I thought it was very tasty, my family? NOT SO MUCH.

Look at that expression - and this kid will eat anything! Oh, well, more for me!

Gramma Lou came to the island for the weekend to hang out. YAY! She was put on kid-taxi duty Saturday while we were at the office... Thanks, Gramma!

Engrossed in her story.

Last Sunday was a tad bit warmer so we went for a hike along the beach. It was just what my soul needed. Ben kept asking, "Why do we have to go on such a LONG walk?" We found tons of cool shells and oysters and ocean goodies. Once we move, we will be walking distance to this beach (20 minutes) - it's all downhill to the beach and a nice hearty uphill on the way home. I love a good hill walk, the kiddos, not so much - will the red wagon get more use this year? Possibly.

Sunday morning workout.

So I bit the bullet and got a crate for Dodo. Guess what? HE LOVES IT. I am absolutely stabbing myself in the eye over all the stress this dog has caused me the past four years with his separation anxiety. Why didn't I buy this four years ago???? The crate also makes a great time out spot for the kids. Oh, wait, no it doesn't as they think it is fun to play in it. Sheesh.

Ben wants us to add wheels so we can pull Dodo around in it.

After school Thursday I noticed Ben had a little blood on his forehead. I lifted his hair an noticed this gash on the side of his head! Ben, buddy, what happened? Does it hurt? "No, Mom, I needed a tissue and no one heard me so I put there." Wait, what? That's right - not a gash at all, just storage for his bloody booger. ZOINKS!

I have no words... At least he didn't wipe it on the carpet?

We were back at the explorium yesterday afternoon celebrating Dr Suess. We got our hands nice and slimy making "Oobleck".

More ended up on his shirt than in the bowl - and his hands are stained blue from the dye. HA!

Who knew that mini marshmallows and toothpicks can quiet the children for a good 20 minutes.

Must go to the supermarket!

I'm not buying any more toys for Ben. He got a cool marble run for Christmas and this awesome Gears set, etc etc, but what does he play with? The duplos and wood blocks we have had for 6 years...

But, Ma, I make cool creations!

Movin' on up

It's Winter break, my faithful readers. That means 9 days (or 108 daylight hours) of "something to do" to be filled. The weather stinks - too cold to play outside and when it does get warm, the two feet of snow plus massive drifts and plow banks that have turned to SOLID ICE make it not such a fun place to play. We have been forced to stay inside and in hopes of avoiding 108 hours of technology / tv, we busted out all the awesome board games we got this past Christmas from our mom and pop toy store - and lemme tell ya, they don't disappoint. Today's game of the day was "Hoot, Owl, Hoot" where all the players work as a team to get the owls back to the nest before the sun comes up. Our neighbors must have been wondering what all the 'hooting and hollering' was all about because we played it ALL AFTERNOON and were screaming up a storm for those owls to survive... The best part of it all, while Em was taking a bath tonight, Ben got a piece of my printer paper and drew out his own version of the game even cutting out game pieces to make it look right. This kid is one amazing thinker / designer - not that I want to rush the years, but I am fascinated to know what he grows up to be!

Speaking of amazing males, Daddy got his creative cooking on and cooked up this octopus into the most amazing salad the other night. Emma chowed it, Ben wanted nothing to do with it...

That would be the female offspring hand on the bottom helping Daddy.

We got the confirmation today that the Bungalow is all ours from March 15th onwards. Yahoo! We are planning to move boxes in from 3/18 to 25ish, then the big furniture the last few days of the month.  Gramma Lou has awesomely rearranged her schedule to occupy the kiddos for a few days while we make that move happen so I am confident it will be a smooth transition. Emma has already requested a hot pink shaggy area rug for her bedroom - we even found it on Home Depot's website, so if any of you happen to know the Easter Bunny, tell him where he can pick it up so the girl will be happy.

Speaking of the girl (and her dog)... I'm trying to figure out how to make the move UNstressful for the dog. Dodo is old and crotchety. He has separation anxiety and is just a pain in my butt because I am not a dog person. When we leave him alone in the penthouse, we have to barricade the kitchen and close off doors and put the chairs on the sofa and, freakin' seriously, go through so much just to run to the supermarket to grab milk. It's easy enough to do in the penthouse because it's small, but the bungalow is big - too big to Dodo-proof, which means I have been scouring the internet for a giant dog crate because even though the beast is 10 years old, I am determined to crate train him so I don't have to do that anymore. Crazy? You tell me, dog lovers...

She never pays attention to the dog yet insisted I take this picture - go figure.

Speaking of hairy beasts - for some reason our barber (Daddy) is refusing to trim Ben's hair - he is insisting that if I won't let him buzz Ben's head again, he will simply let it grow into your favorite 80s metal band lead singer's style.

I look like Emmet from the Lego movie with my crazy helmet of hair...

I found him sporting this look yesterday - maybe I should have texted the pic to Daddy, maybe then he will get on the barber's back to get the trim going lest his son start looking like a bad B 80s movie star...

No one puts Baby in the corner.

Hello, Spring? Can you hear me?

The kids had their yearly dental visits last week. That's right, I said it, yearly - not every six months like you are "supposed" to. Now that Em is getting adult teeth (her adult molars came through), I'll bump her up to every 6 months but I have never pushed to have them go every six months as they don't eat a lot of sweets, are great brushers, and have never gotten less than two thumbs up from the dentist. They were both super stars - so much so, the facility asked if they could get their pictures taken with the dentist for publicity purposes - Ha! My kids, modals.

Not quite sure what to do with my hands...

More relaxed in the chair.

When Ben wants something and we say 'No', he tries cutesy things like drawing sweet pictures of him and me together to try and get whatever it is he wants.

Whatever you want, kid.

The PTA hosted the annual Sweetheart dance in the gym at the Elementary School. We served a hot catered meal, had a DJ and professional photographer, and transformed the gym into an Enchanted Forest complete with lights and a rig from the ceiling of the gym with hundreds of lit up branches with chinese lanterns hanging down.  It. Was. Outstanding. I can't even tell ya how grateful we are to be a part of such a nurturing little village that came together to make all the girls from grades 1-5 have such a special night. Em was actually overwhelmed with all of the excitement (plus she had stomach issues) and wanted to leave half way through. I convinced her to stay until dessert (we had a full dessert bar, too!) but she was exhausted and her and daddy went home right after.

Blurry photo by me, not the professional.

I wish I could have gotten a pic of the full tub but then nak*d parts would show, but these sillies transformed the tub into one big battle of the angry birds versus the bad piggies. They made up these elaborate battles (and got the floor of the bathroom soaked...) and it was so fun to see them creating together versus battling it out like usual.

Where's my slingshot?

I had to take this pic of Ben from home versus walking out of the building wearing his giant heart like all the other preK kids because for the 2nd day in a row, I had to pick him up from school early as he was rocking serious intestinal cramps. He ended up missing school altogether Friday because as we were getting ready to walk out the door, he puked again! This was one gnarly stomach bug - a good 5 days!

Will you be my Valentine?

They were very excited to receive a small box of chocolates from Daddy - check out those cheesy smiles!

Happy Valentines Day!

Ben continues to wow us with his creativity. Below, he has taken a piece of his go cart race game and reconfigured it to launch into a wall of blocks that he made into a piggy pirate ship. He was so proud of his creation!

Don't mind the messy penthouse - I have absolutely given up and am counting the days until I can pack it up and get out!

No April Fools here!

It looks like we may be close to a confirmation of our April 1st move to the bungalow. I couldn't be more excited. The penthouse has served a wonderful purpose, but nearly four years of wear and tear on the building itself (can you say wall to wall carpet with two young kids and dogs = allergy palooza) combined with my desire to have a space all to myself that I can escape to for 5 minutes comfortably to regain my sanity on crazy days, not to mention the fact that we have been starved to entertain friends and their families (no space to do that in the penthouse), two toilets (let me tell you with the stomach bug this week - two toilets will be heaven), did I mention the SUN ROOM and giant back yard and walking distance to school, and you can feel my enthusiasm. (How was that for a run on sentence??)

fun with intestines

The bunch is rocking some serious stomach bug fun. It started last Friday after school with Em and she had three days straight of explosive diarrhea. She said after school today she feels much better although her appetite has not quite returned to normal.

Ben showed no signs of catching it until last night after lacrosse. We had picked up a pizza for dinner. He barely ate a half slice then started puking out of no where all over the carpet of the penthouse. I got him over the trash can for round two - he was so cute, "Why am I doing this? Why is my body puking?" I got him showered up and we came back into the living room to find the dog licking up the vomit on the carpet, GROSS!! Seriously, do not EVER let my dog kiss you - he has licked some nasty stuff... The kids were screaming bloody murder at Dodo, "Dodo, NOOOOO! Don't lick it, you will DIE!"

Daddy walked in the door at exactly this point to a stinky noisy what the hell is happening penthouse.

Ain't that the way it always happens?

Thank goodness I had the carpet shampooer handy, got the vomit cleaned up. Daddy got the kids off to bed and I crashed by 8:15. Why so early? Those dang kids shared the bug with me and I've possibly lost 10 lbs in the last two days. Ahhhh, what a mama will do to shed a few pounds.

Ben woke up perfectly fine this morning and wanted to go to PT. He did awesome - Miss Lauren loves him and is pushing him to learn stuff that is older kid appropriate. We talked after his session. She mentioned she finally got in touch with the Seit in Ben's class. The Seit said she wasn't sure why Ben qualified for PT, we all agree, but figure as along as he is enjoying it, we may as well continue going. I told her we call her the personal trainer and she loved that.

We came home for lunch and decided to send him to school. At 2:20 the school called, he was in the nurses office complaining of stomach cramps. I went to pick him up early and as soon as he saw me he got all emotional. I got him home and he sat on the toilet and let loose some serious wet farts (aren't you glad you read my blog?) and diarrhea. At one point he said to me, "Mom, I'm a bad kid!" Why, buddy, why are you bad? "Because I keep farting!"

Needless to say I did not go into the office tonight and I begged Daddy to stop at the market on his way home to pick up gingerale. Fingers crossed for a bug free day tomorrow.

Things I dig

As we have been cooped up the past week with subzero temps, then 10 inches of snow on Monday, and freezing rain today, we have spent a ton of family time together. What we have learned? We are very blessed, that's for sure! But being cooped up reminded us that we are outgrowing the penthouse. I've been on a home search for a while. We knew we wanted to move when our lease was up at the end of May but we wanted to do that last year, too! Then we couldn't find anything available when we needed it without changing school districts which we were not willing to do, which meant we were stuck for another year. So when the below house (sorry for the blurry pic, got it off a website) came available as of April 1st at a great price - we jumped at the chance to look at it. It's 4 bedrooms with 2 full baths (TWO TOILETS, people!! Ahhh, that enough is worth the move!). It has a giant backyard, and an unfinished dry basement for storage. The home has been recently remodeled and is heated by gas not oil, which will make a big difference in the cost of heating the place. It feels like a giant bungalow inside - not unlike a home you would find in San Francisco. The floors are the original 1920s wood - not a carpet to be seen - YAHOO! The kitchen is small, but the giant sun room that you can see goes the entire width of the front of the house was screaming my name when I walked in the front door. We signed a lease and put in our security deposit yesterday - now we are just praying the current tenant's mortgage is approved for the home he is buying - as the move in is contingent on that. The realtor helping us is also helping the current tenants buy, she feels confident all will move forward in a timely fashion. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

From here on out I shall be called the Bungalow.

Ben's PT (physical therapy) or as I mentioned I like to call it personal training is going awesome. He loves it, Miss Lauren loves him. He comes out sweaty and happy and is learning new skills with each session. He can now do proper jumping jacks, throw the ball in the step-toss-follow through fashion. This kid is sure to get an athletic scholarship as he will be far ahead of all the other kids because of the early training!!

Finishing out his session with some Yoga.

Our superbowl snowstorm brought us 10 inches and no school on Monday. The kiddos had a blast outside with our neighbors. Ben's snow ball maker birthday present was a big hit as this snow was packing perfect! Check out those perfect spheres!

Duck!

This is just one of the MANY snowmen that are currently on display around the penthouse property.

"Do you want to build a snowman?" SING IT!

Lookie here. Ben has finally realized he can open the fridge and help himself. It's a blessing and a curse. :)  The good news is he is now eating mozzarella sticks, add another protein to the menu! 7 grams...

3rd cheese stick today! Greaaaaaaaaat.

Ems begged us to stay up til the end of the Superbowl. By the 3rd quarter when it was a bit of a blowout, Seattle scored yet another touchdown and Daddy and I pretended it was the end of the game to get her to bed. She was exhausted and fell right to sleep. She cheered so hard for you, Uncle Sean!

Our couch cheerleader.

Daddy is often playing guitar during his down time. Monday morning's blizzard meant no work for Daddy so Ben climbed on his lap and got his first guitar lesson. Doesn't he look like a natural?

Just call me Eddie Van Halen, dude!

Even though the snow has kept us from work and school, it sure has been pretty this time around. There was no wind with this blizzard so the snow settled nicely on the trees making the outdoors quite magical looking.

Out our bedroom window.

We've been board gaming it up - this game is "Sorry!" Sliders - the board game version of Curling. The instrctions that came with the game are stupid - that's right, I said the S word - so we made up our own rules and had good fun playing this skill + math game. :)

Ben is too good at it!!

Our ballerina also busted out her Angelina Ballerina game and practiced her moves all morning...

Can we stay in pajamas all day, Mom?

Morning giggle

Ben walked in on me while I was getting dressed this morning. "Hey, Mom, why you wearing those?" (I had on underwear and a bra.) "I'm getting dressed, buddy." "But why you wearing underpants?" (I LOVE that he calls them underpants and not underwear like most people.) "We all wear underpants, bud. You wear them. Me. Daddy. Emma." "Well, why you wearing that? (He pointed to my bra.) I don't wear that, see?" He lifted his shirt and showed me his chest - he indeed was not wearing a bra. "So why you wearing it?" "Well, it holds my boobies in place." "Oh, and so nobody can scratch 'em?"