Walking with the Dinosaurs

Hotdog, Pretzel, Bottle of Water.......$9.00

Light-up Dinosaur Toy with flying Pteranadons.......$22.00

Three Tickets to Walking with the Dinosaurs, Live.......$150.00

Learning a VALUABLE Lesson.......Priceless

A few months ago, I saw an advertisement for Walking with the Dinosaurs, Live! (http://www.dinosaurlive.com) After mulling it over for months, we broke down on Friday and ordered tickets to today's show in Amherst. The minute we walked into the Mullins Center, I knew it was a bad idea. We made it to our seats (in the 10th row!) and Tyler immediately said, "I want to go back outside." After luring him into the arena a few times, we finally gave up the fight and made the trek back home. The few mintutes I got to see of the show was really fascinating, but I guess he really was too young for this one and unfortunately it was a costly one. I knew on the way home that we had made the right decision when Tyler said "My legs were hot in there, I was scared." I think he meant that he was ready to run and the therapist in me said thank goodness we left. Instead, we came home, played football and soccer in the yard and made a yummy pizza for dinner. Not the way our day was planned, but a good one still!

If at first you don't succeed....

If at first you don't succeed....
.... try, try again!
This week in the newspaper I read about a Springfield Police sponsored free Learn to Skate Class. We decided that it would be a lot of fun to take Tyler for a few reasons. The obvious is because he loves to skate and it sounded like a great opprotunity, but also because it was free! The one thing that I am dreading about his love of hockey all boils down to one thing. Cost. It is an expensive to outfit, to play, to travel, and not to mention the thought of any medical bills that might accompany it!

Tyler had a great time tonight. He only made it around the rink once, but that was enough for his little legs (it took about half and hour!). He held his own out there on the ice with the older kids and was not intimidated by them. When he skated for the first time a few months ago, he always wanted to leave the ice whenever someone else came near him. He and Frank worked on getting back up on his skates tonight after falling. He did really well and was one of the youngest out there. I can not wait until it all starts to click together in his head and he is zipping around the rink. On the other hand this is the speed I can hadle for now!

What a fun night!

I had a few suprises in store for me tonight when I got home from work. First, Tyler's friend Olivia made him a dinosaur hat at storytime last night and when I walked into the house tonight, there he was, eating dinner with it on! It looks great! The hat is very adorable and he loves it! Thank you, Olivia! It was so nice of you to think of him!
Then, after dinner, Frank had to run back to work for an event. Tyler said to me "Mommy, I want to do something fun tonight." (My heart melted of course when he said this.... how could I say no to that face?) Frank's assisstant coach's wife and their daughter made Tyler an Easter basket with a bunch of goodies in it, including a whole assortment of bubbles. So I said to him "You want to take a REAL bubble bath?" The answer is below....
I filled the tub with bubble bath, handed him a bottle of bubbles and away he went! Thanks to Ashley and Maria for their thoughtfulness!

Easter Bunny, Take 3

This is the final Easter post, I promise. On Sunday we were able to take a few family pictures. Of course there was a lot of setting up and many redos to capture that "perfect" picture. So here you go!

Here is our crazed family. Tyler loves to take pictures like this and do "family hugs."
Tyler and Skylar were very photogenic during the weekend. got a lot of pictures of the two of them together. This was taken when were trying to round everyone up for the group shot.
I was the lucky person who got to set the timer and then run. We auctually got a few good shots!

Is there a doctor in the house?

Not only did this past weekend bring Easter celebrations, but also a nasty bug wiggled its way into our house.


At 4:30am Saturday morning, Uncle Jim woke to find himself as sick as a dog. When the rest of the house woke, Frank and Aunt Laurette took him to the hospital to get some fluids..... Luckily, he felt a little better to join us around dinner time on Satuday and made sure he was rested well enough for the Easter Bunny on Sunday.


On Sunday night, Tyler woke up around 11pm and said "I don't feel well." Frank wisked him to the bathroom (a second too slow, but that's another story!). On Monday, with Tyler sick, mommy and daddy exhausted, we all had a stay home day.


During their ride back to New York on Monday, Conor and Skylar both got sick.... And I was out of work today!


Whatever this bug was, it has left us all a mess!


Tyler enjoying some quiet play in his jammies. This was one of the first times he really got off the couch in 36 hours. Poor guy! (He loves to play with Frank's hockey dry erase board-- his cars are the players and when I waled into the kitchen this morning, I found him coloring with the dry erase marker-- NOT intended for him!)

Easter Bunny, Take 2

Happy Easter!

After sleeping soundly all night, the kids woke up and darted out of their beds! They could not wait to discover what the Easter Bunny left for them! We finally made it to the basement (after getting milks and more importantly, starting the coffee!) where the Easter Bunny left them all sorts of goodies-- candy, toys, giant coloring books, and lots of goodies. They had a blast sorting through their baskets and have been playing with their new stuff all day and during breaks, have been munching chocolate rabbit ears!

"Wow! I wonder what else is in here? Oh cool, dinosaurs! I love these new dinos!" A rare quiet moment thanks to the wonderful people at Crayola!


After wrangling in the troops and managing to get everyone dressed for Easter, we had our Easter egg hunt. The kids had a great time looking for all the eggs in the living room. The Easter Bunny left money, M&M's, and Hershey Kisses. He is one smart bunny, I tell ya!

Tyler looking for some eggs.

Skylar on the hunt for some eggs. She had pretty stiff competition, but she holds her own!
"Look, mommy! The Easter Bunny got me Rangers! I love the Easter Bunny!"

Easter Bunny, Take 1

We had the first part of out Easter celebration today. Tyler, Conor, and Skylar were lucky enough to be able to look for the special gifts that the Easter Bunny left at Grandma and Papa Genovese's house. We told them that the Easter Bunny loved to leave treats for kids who were squeaky clean and after our day outside, boy did they all need a bath! Tyler and Skylar received Gameboys and Conor got a WWE Wrestling game for the Wii.





Thanks Grandma and Papa and the Easter Bunny!



On the hunt for their special bag.....
"Boy this Easter Bunny sure uses a lot of paper. I wonder what is in here?"
Posing with the 'Cuz's and their new toys.

Happy Easter!

Spring is HERE!

After months of sitting in the house, looking out into the yard and saying "I can't wait until Spring comes", it finally arrived in Wilbraham today. There were no clouds in the sky and although it was still chilly outside, we bundled the kids up and went out into the yard. Of course, now that the snow is all melted, I have to come to terms with the fact that we never got around to picking the leaves up and the yard is a mess. We have had snow since before Thanksgiving! The kids had a great time playing on the swingset and the rollercoaster and managed to empty the garage of all the toys within 20 mintues. We even got a chance to take a walk around the block in the wagon.

A great picture I just had to share with everyone. Tyler and Skylar are 4 months apart and they love playing with each other. As they were getting ready to go out, they grabbed hands and I grabbed the camera!
Notice the squints! And they are not squinting because of snow glare! Yay! I was happy to reconnect the swings for them!

Who in the World....

When we moved into this house, there were a few things that we KNEW we had to change-- the pink dining room (painted our first 48 hours in the house), the while carpet that covered about 1500 square feet of the floors (pulled up within the first 48 hours in the house), and lots of wallpaper (most of it is gone-- thanks to my trusty steamer, it works great! One of my best investments!).


However, there were a few things that I still look at and scratch my head about and ask the question to myself....


"Who in the WORLD would use white for EVERYTHING in the kitchen?"


The floors in the kitchen are white tile. The floors in the family room, leading from the messy garage and front walkway, are white tile. The kitchen counters are WHITE! It makes me crazy, but what perplexes me even more is that Winn and Nancy Reed, the couple who had this house built and lived here until we invaded, raised 6 KIDS here! I am constantly cleaning counters, floors, EVERYTHING! I only have 1 CHILD!


This post does have a point.... I have noticed that with the white counters, nothing comes off of it easliy-- coffee, washable (!) markers, cherries are the pits (HA!), but the worst came this weekend....

What was I thinking!

Tyler had a blast, he was a great study and picked up very quickly on the art of Easter egg coloring. It was so much fun to do, too! We even used the "magic crayon" it came with and drew on the eggs. Of course, there were a few casualties as Tyler had to test them to see how done they were. I almost wish I ate hard boiled eggs, I would have had a reason to do more!

The Easter Bunny is Coming!

What a busy weekend! (We seem to have a lot of these!)


On Thursday night, Grandma Perry came to town so we could help celebrate her birthday!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

For her birthday, we got her tickets to go and see Jerry Seinfeld on Friday night. Frank, Grandma, and I all had a blast! After the show, we went and ate at a great seafood place we love to treat ourselves to. Tyler got to stay home with babysitter Katie (whom he loooooooves!).
The good news is, is that Katie had NO DIAPERS to change! We are accident free and 100% potty all the time during the day (Phew! Finally! I was thinking he was going off to college with them!).


On Friday, Tyler, Grandma, and I all went shopping for goodies for our Easter baskets. The day was planned so that we would also make a stop at the Easter Bunny in the mall. Tyler flat out refused. I do not blame him, either. For some reason, the bunny reminds me of Billy Madison. Didn't a bunny chase Adam Sandler around? Anyways, back to our topic. After I finally was able to make up my mind about what to get everyone for Easter, we were off to our home to rest for our big night out.

The rest of the weekend was spent playing, shopping, and resting. Frank had team dinner on Sunday, so we had some free time. Grandma, Tyler, and I headed back up to the mall (the reason why escapes me at this point!). We saw the East Bunny again and Tyler still refused (being the good mommy I am, I didn't push it, he still looked REALLY freaky!). HOWEVER, on the way out of the mall, Tyler said, "Mommy, I want to see the Easter Bunny." I said "Okay." And off he went! He was great! He walked right up, turned around, sat on the bunny's lap, and took a great picture! All for $19.99! What a deal! Unfortunately, there are none to show you, the very nice people at the Easter Bunny asked us to refrain from personal photography.....

I must stop now, it is getting late and I have to remember the rest of the weekend. Now I know what my supervisee said today when she told me she is part of the CRS group....

Waste Not, Want Not!

Last week, Tyler asked me if he could play with the "Hockey Potato." I had no idea what he was talking about! After I finally got with the program, I figured out what he was talking about-- a Hockey Player Mr. Potato Head! I honestly forgot we even had it! Someone gave it to us when he was a baby, I unpacked it when we moved and I put it on top of his closet. Since nothing gets by Tyler, he knew it was there and we FINALLY have played with it. I am sure that the fine people at Playskool would be happy to know......


.... We don't waste anything around here!

They just keep coming, and coming, and coming....

.... Birthdays, that is! Everywhere I look this month, it is someone else's birthday! I know that when March starts, stock up on the cards! In 2007, it was one of my New Year Resolutions to write down all of our important dates for family and friends and send cards. I was a little behind in doing this, but I have tried to start over the month or so....

Last weekend, we headed down to Long Island for the night to help Aunt Mary celebrate her 91st birthday! Talk about keep coming! She is in great health, and it is always wonderful to see someone who really has not stopped from doing the things she loved! We got to hang out with the cousins, Conor and Skylar, and see some second cousins, William (age 8), Lisa Jo (age 4 1/2), and Lyla (age 6 months). This was the first time we met Lyla and like always, Tyler went straight for her and it just reminds me how great a big brother he will be someday (no time real soon, though!).

Great Season, Fermi!

No. 3 East Haven cruises along against Fermi 


Final Score: East Haven 4, Fermi 0

Rundown: After talking with Fermi coach Frank Genovese it's clear that the Yellow Jackets just had too much firepower up front for the Falcons. There might not be a better team then the Yellow Jackets in the state right now. East Haven has now beaten it's last seven opponents 53-5. Talk about being on a roll. A different opponent and maybe the ending would've been different for Fermi. Sadly, that's not how it goes. Give Fermi credit, the effort was there if not the talent of East Haven. Still, the Falcons held East Haven to just four goals. Only three teams in the last two months have done that (Hamden, Glastonbury and Fairfield Prep).


To our favorite coach! Thanks for an exciting season and we will see you next year!
Love, Jennifer and Tyler

What's Wrong With this Picture?

When I was younger, I used to love going to the doctor and dentist because they had the Highlights for Children magazine. (I really don't know who I am kidding, I looked at the magazine a few weeks ago when I took Tyler to the dentist!) My favorite part was trying to pick out all the things wrong in the picture on the cover. Tonight when I got home, Tyler was running around in the kitchen and as he wizzed by, I caught a glimpse of something that didn't seen quite right. Can you guess what it is? (Don't mind the messy face, he REALLY enjoyed his pizza with daddy tonight!)

Farewell, Brett

Well, it is official.


Brett is done.


There have been few times in my life when I have felt empty like this in regards to my teams. Anyone who knows me knows that once a fan, always a fan. I do not waver. I am with my team through wins and losses. The last time I was this speechless about one of my teams was when I found out Bobby Knight was fired. It is going to be very strange to turn on a Green Bay game next fall and not see Brett there. He is the man. He started every game he possibly could, injured or not. He gave it his all and to think that he will not be taking the field is tragic in my book. I can be glad that Tyler got to see a legend play, he got to experience a master on the field and what one may refer to as a true sportsman. He didn't lie or cheat. He played through tradgedy, pain, and poor conditions. He didn't whine, complain, or pass the blame. I know a few athletes who could take some pointers from him.


Thanks for the memories.