Sunday Fun

We spent the bulk of Sunday cleaning up leaves. Ben was a significant help raking and we were all pretty beat up (minus Emma who was "watching the dog" ie "scrolling her phone") and happily exhausted after a hard days work. Daddy spent the early evening hours installing an outdoor electric outlet so we can hang lights outside this year! My famous meatballs were served with Chef Daddy & prep cook Emma's Roasted Tomato Soup.... so yummy!!

Monday was a nasty windy and rainy day. The kids were home as usual on Mondays and we invited the boys over for afternoon fun. Phoebe LOVES playing in puddles and comes inside a drowned rat. We lost power for about 20 minutes just as we were finishing up dinner... no big deal and the kids were happy to get internet back fast. LOL

Do what ya gotta do....

Grateful for family this Thanksgiving 2020. Got to hang out and distance w my Dad on Wednesday night. Ate some subs, drank some Coors light and talked for hours. Wouldn't exchange the night for anything. Daddy and the kids hung out across the basement, they were patient and kind as dad and I jibber jabbered away...

Thanksgiving day... Macy's parade. Writing out Christmas cards. Football. We rocked a few rounds of Uno. Emma easily won round one. Gramma round two. Ben round three. Gramma round four taking away the trophy of UNO goddess for the day. 

Gramma and Daddy team cooked up a fantastic meal. We were joined by Aunt Lisa and Uncle Dennis and cousin Frankie! 

Woke up early today, wished Aunt Lisa a happy birthday, got our syrup supplies for gifts and hit the road home. Made it home in a timely fashion and the kiddos put up our tree. Phoebe is so far respecting the tree! Happy Mommy...

14 years...

 Just over 14 years ago Daddy signed on to work with a company he had never heard of before in a field he had absolutely no knowledge of.  He had an interview, he saw an overview of the company and came home to me with promises that this business would give us not only financial freedom, but freedom of time to spend our days how we want and with whom we want...

A few weeks later we found out we were pregnant with our Emsadoodle and control of our time became a VERY IMPORTANT why... You see, I never wanted to put my children in daycare. It's that simple. I wanted to be there for every single happening in their lives. I didn't want to miss first steps or first words or silly things like Emma eating dog poop or Ben eating pasta three meals a day... Heck, this blog started as a way for my hard working hubby (and family around the country) to also "not miss out" on the daily activities of our growing babies. 

So it is with absolute joy that I post today that the Batter Bunch has hit their Executive Marketing Director promotion in #iamwfg. What that means is we have not only built a big baseshop of crusaders, but we have transferred those skills forward and taught three other champs to do the same. By "we" I mean Daddy, but I also know he could not have achieved this without my never ending support, my ability to get shit done on the fly, while providing a cozy and clean and safe home for our children who are growing into extraordinary human beings that we are wildly proud of.  This promotion is the definition of TEAMWORK - at home and in the office. 

Sushi??? You think this is about sushi??? (Monsters Incorporated..)

It's been an interesting 8 months of this covid 19 pandemic...

I'll chat about it here and there, but really, I just want to get back to recording what I love about our Bunch.

Today is Saturday... I forgot to thaw any protein for dinner and the steaks I pulled last minute will do for tomorrow so , the HORROR, we "had to" go out for dinner...

We chose our old friends at Hana Sushi just down the street and WOW they never ever disappoint. 

Emma enjoyed her favorite Nabeyaki Udon. Ben had the Tsatsami Fry and chose the Alaska roll on the side to share. Daddy went with a Salmon plate with our favorite Naruto roll and I went with teriyaki scallops. The kids wanted to try EEL!!! And bravely bit into some unagi sushi and LOVED it. 

Proud mama right here...

Best part of tonight? For the first time in forever... tonight's dinner felt like a pre-covid night out with my favorite people at our "favorite place" - ie wherever my favorite people are... *love*

Yes, we wore masks into and out of the restaurant. Yes, the table was far from others. But it felt good to EAT OUT and support a place we love to death.

Thank you, Hana Sushi, for giving my family a great dinner with even greater (sometimes wicked silly - but that is what we do) conversation... and now? LOTR... extended cut. Let's go, Frodo! with Samwise by your side, nothing will stop you!!!

peebee claus is coming to town

hi its emma omg i've blogged before this.  so as you all probably know by now we got a puppy, her name is phoebe.  she has at least 7 nicknames, peebee, pheb, peebus, phoebucus, squish, noodle, and stinky.  phoebes favorite thing to do is pee in the house, bite, eat underwear, and jump on you.  she has yet to meet roxy, but i want that to happen now. period. ben "doesn't like" pheebs, actually he's just pretending we all know he loves her because she's so cute and squishy.  she is an absolute demon from 7-9 am, but the rest of the day she sleeps and bites.  when we first got her she was really little, and she puked three times.

as the great Maddie ziegler once said "this is my world, and your just living in it" and i like to say "this is phoebes world, and your just living in it." phoebe also likes to hid from us in the front yard, she also likes to watch criminal minds and tiktok with me.  she is very scared of the volleyball but loves lacrosse balls.  i was scootering with her on the leash and she stopped and i totally ATE IT.  anyways i started watching criminal minds and i like it but phoebe likes it more tbh.

Hi, This is Ben. i do not like the pheb. for infinite reasons. so lets list 2 of them

1. the pheb is super loud.

2. the pheb constantly barks which scares the crap out of me.

3. the pheb eats EVERYTHING, and that's annoying, because emma hardly does anything about it, even though it's HER job to stop pheb from doing these things, she just watches tik toks all day.

No time for the blues...

Mondays are our busiest work day - we are in back to back meetings from 9am to about 2pm. While we are in these meetings the kiddos are knocking out school work. Ben needed to do a quick Science project today. He chose, "Is there a difference in a popping between touching bubbles with wet hands or dry hands?" He hypthosized there would be no difference and he was mostly correct...the bubbles popped with immediate contact on dry hands and lasted just a smidge longer on wet hands. Who knew? hahahaha (Aren't you glad I am blogging again?) Check out this cutie pie pic of a WFG kiddo watching Brian train her mama on zoom.

Ben also needed to record himself playing the cymbals for the Star Spangled Banner - thankfully we don't own any cymbals and he just clapped his hands together in the correct spots. The 5th grade band was supposed to be playing the Star Spangled Banner to kick off a Long Island Ducks baseball game in June. While I fear that will also be cancelled, their teacher is challenging them to practice every day anyways.

The meatballs I made for dinner last week held up nicely after being frozen and reheated in the air fryer. They made for yummy "meatball burritos" for lunch today. Chef Daddy threw together a fun and funky casserole for dinner with rice, green beans, corn, swiss cheese, hard boiled eggs and salmon. It was actually pretty darn yummy!

Ben and I went for a walk before dinner around the neighborhood while Emma made homemade BOBA for milk tea and daddy prepped dinner. It was an absolutely beautiful Spring day with blue skies and birds chirping.  We cleaned up the yard tonight after dinner and the kids jumped together on the trampoline and played basketball and some playstation video games... Pretty typical day in quarantine! 

That sucked...

Grandma Nancy passed away on Saturday due to non covid related causes. We are unable to go to PA and hug Grandpa because of this stupid virus. Ben shared the sad news with his class today when they "met up" in their virtual classroom and they were very sweet and supportive. It was interesting to hear him talk about it - he is such a sensitive little guy. Rest in Peace, Grandma Nancy....

Days 1-21... What to do when all you have is time?

It has been an interesting 21 days in the lives of the Batter Bunch - that's for sure! On Saturday, March 15th we made the decision to move our business 100% online, lock the doors of our office in Hauppauge and hunker down here in PJV.  The transition - while scary at first - was oddly seamless! We have the most incredible people on our team who "flow like water" and our business has not skipped a beat. We had a record month with recruiting and building and helping a ton of families make better financial decisions. I've no doubt this way of doing business - virtually - will be a game changer for our team, everything happens in double time when you no longer have to commute to an office!

On Friday 3/14 as I dropped Ben and his best buddy off at school for early band practice, I had a feeling in my gut the state of NY was ready to shut the physical schools down and go online as well.  I suggested to Ben and Sam to grab anything in their desks and cubbies that was really important to them and bring it home in their backpacks for the weekend. The teachers must have caught my vibe as all the schools sent the kids home with books and calculators and chromebooks, etc to transition to online learning.

3/16 Monday and 3/17 Tuesday were spent with the kids transitioning to online learning. Then the district had the brilliant idea to STOP, regroup, call 3/16 - 3/20 "snow days" that we did not use, and the following week 3/23 - 3/27 "Spring break" (moving up the already scheduled break a few weeks.) This was a truly great idea in my humble opinion... it gave the kids a chance to process the idea of quarantine and social distancing without the pressure of completing school work.

On Monday 3/30 we jumped in full force with online learning ready and focused to find a schedule. That being said, the workload is a joke - both kiddos are done in minutes and spend their time doing other stuff.

What other stuff?

Well, we are absolutely blessed with a giant yard with space to do many things. As it is Spring the weather is touch and go... On the good days we "require" outdoor PE. Their favorite PE activity seems to be our trampoline. It's their go-to when I say OUTSIDE TIME!

They / We have also FINALLY spent significant time on the fancy basketball court that we put in two years ago and barely used. YAAAYYY!!

We try and take walks around the neighborhood daily. We hit the beach the first week shut in. As much as they main complain about getting out and moving, they always come inside with a better attitude = fresh air soothes the soul.

We have been cooking up a storm rediscovering old favorite recipes and trying new ones out. I dusted off the bread maker and have been making fresh bread every few days...

While there is a whole lot of screen time happening... I'm not going to torture myself about it. Em spends a lot of time chatting with friends via FaceTime and Ben plays video games with his buddies over the web. It's a connection we find beyond valuable. Thank god for the internet. :)

 

Batter Bunch 2020 Covid 19 Edition...

Hello old friends. Yes, I know I have been away for a very long time. Business is "booming" and I "haven't had time". That last part is a lie... I have the time, I simply didn't make this journal a priority. But being quarantined at home with my favorite people for the past 21 days I am reminded of what I loved doing so much when the Bunch were babies - sharing our adventures with you!

They have given me permission once again to share our days in this Covid 19 time period as a journal of sorts they can share with their children in 30 years. Some of our favorite moments now that they are tweens are reading over old blog posts and laughing at their antics. Every one has been printed and bound and these books are truly my favorite gifts to myself and our families.

 Soooooo, here we go!!!

Happily Ever Martins

Guess what we did Friday? Yep! More gaming! More swimming! This time we adding in "attended wedding". 😍 It was another beautiful day. 

We started off the morning at the Market Kitchen. It's the buffet style restaurant most all inclusives have. The food was pretty good - but mommy is simply not a fan of buffet food - chef daddy has ruined me! That didn't stop Emma though - I'm happy to report this kid continues to be an adventurous eater. 😊

After filling our bellies, we played some games. Ben "taught" me how to play Chess. Of course he won...

Daddy and Em stuck to ping pong. Em's skills are growing!

We swam in our pool afterwards and I enjoyed a fresh made carrot / ginger juice from the smoothie bar next store. 

That bar also serves these yummy refreshing things every day around noon! #purecoconutwater

And, they do a daily cooking demonstration around lunchtime. Today's demo was sushi! Lucky us as you get to eat the food after they make it - yum!

We hit up the kid zone after lunch and then back at the room to get cleaned up for the wedding. (Must dab in Mexico!)

Turns out, I grew me some good looking kids!

Daddy did an outstanding job marrying the Martins. We were so proud of him! ❤️

At the reception Ben was the first to hit the dance floor! His breakdancing skills are wicked good!

Emma certainly wasn't shy - she boogied the night away as well! 

We had a great time with our Foundation Family. It's truly incredible the high quality people our business attracts. I'm so grateful it caught us 10 1/2 years ago and helped us become better at life. ❤️

We are on the plane home now. Em actually woke up w a sore throat and stomach ache. She is asleep and this kid NEVER sleeps on a plane. I'm hoping it's just exhaustion. Thankfully tomorrow is an easy day before she heads back to school Monday. 

I'm pretty sure I gained 10lbs in four days... Going to need a good 6+ mile run tomorrow!! #grateful

Afternoon fun in the sun

Which pool shall we choose?? There are certainly lots to choose from! We hung out here in the kid's zone the first part of the afternoon.  

The water slides are short but they land in about a foot of water which makes for some good splash pics!

Yes, that is Em crashing into Ben!! Hahaha. Have a look at my beauties:

From here we headed to the AquaBar pool while daddy worked on his matrimony speech (he is ordained and will officiate the wedding). I didn't get a pic as my phone was charging. But we did get this rare Mommy pic of her swimming in our private pool (mommy no likey chlorine...)!

We got cleaned up and headed out to dinner. First stop appetizers at the sports bar:

Then off to the outdoor seafood place for more YUMS!!

After dinner we met everyone on the beach for a bonfire and roasting marshmallows. It was windy but still FUN! This is the groom, Joey. 😍

We finished up the night with a dip in our private jacuzzi. After we put the kids to bed, daddy and I ordered cheeseburgers from room service in honor of our 10 year anniversary coming up...but that's a story for another day. ❤️

Day 2 am FUN

We've had a busy morning! Refreshed after 11 hours of sleep, we ate some yummy breakfast and set out to once again explore the resort and the surrounding beaches. 

This is the stairwell in the main building from the lobby entrance down to the resort area and the lounge in the lower lobby. 

There are multiple wedding spots on the campus, this one is just up from the beach and very private and welcoming. 

We took a two mile round trip walk along the beach to a man made jetty. It was windy this morning and that kept the heat and humidity at bay. 

You could walk out to the end of the jetty - it was IGUANA land! Daddy let the bad dad puns fly! "You are a part of the reptile alliance and a traitor!"

Sing it with us, "Dead Iguana from Mexico!" (Ugh)

The end of the jetty:

We took a dip in the ocean after our walk:

Then a swim in the pool in front of our private pool in front of our room! ❤️

Then it was off to lunch! All that swimming makes the Batter Bunch HUNGRY! Ben was in Heaven - pizza AND sushi!

Oh, and some ice cream for dessert before we head out on our afternoon adventure!!😍