Life Lesson #248

When a bee approaches, RUN!

This morning we were able to spend some time outside. I weeded, Frank golfed, and Tyler did a little bit of everything-- he played on the swings, shot some baskets, and hit some balls with both the baseball bat and his own golf clubs. While we were outside he asked if he could eat lunch outside. I thought that sounded like a great idea.

Tyler was starving and polished off his peanut butter and fluff sandwich and pineapple:


And even took a few mintues to cuddle with daddy for a picture:

After lunchtime it was going to be quiet time. Tyler busied himself on the deck with bugs and some leaves and Frank and I cleaned up the yard below. While I was cleaning the toys up, I heard "Ouch!", and then the tears started.... I raced up the stairs onto the deck to see a bee flying away. I realized right then, my baby was stung! Ouch, indeed! Frank and I brought Tyler inside and after a bunch of convinceing he let us look at his elbow and out some ice and medicine on it. He was a lot happier after I took out the Spongebob Band-aid though:

I guess this was a lesson learned for us all. Tyler will never look at bees in the same way again, and I really should have pursued that degree in medicine, right? I guess all of us mother's are doctors and don't even know it!

Keeping it cool.....

Just like everyone else I talk to, we are suffering here from the heat. I am anxiously awaiting the storms that are predicted for tomorrow night. They are supposed to signal the end to this heat wave, but it is still supposed to be 89 degrees on Wednesday (that is still heat to me...). On my ride home tonight the car and the banks registered 99-102 degrees....

Unfortunately, my plants and my garden are all suffering. After dinner I went outside to water everything and Tyler joined me. I decided that he needed a bit of colling off as well, so I turned the sprinkler on for him....

I finally got a good shot of my Energizer Bunny. I used the black and white on my camera.

After awhile, Tyler became braver and got closer to the sprinkler. Notice he is wearing his shorts. Once again I had to explain to our little exhibitionist why he couldn't be 'naked nake' in the yard.
Dancing with the sprinkler...

A short video I took. It's not that great of quality, I had to keep my distance because of the sprinkler and the camera. Don't think it didn't cross my mind to join him!

My Epiphany

I never had a problem with turning 30 years old. I never had a problem when I turned 31, either. However, I am finding that being 32 has been not such a smooth ride. Last fall, after suffering from headaches all day long, I had an eye exam. The diagnosis? I needed glasses. I thought to myself, "Self, you can deal with this." Some mornings I spend five minutes with the tweezers pulling out grey hair. It wasn't until this past week that I really felt out of sorts, though....

Frank and I have been trying to empty out the fourth bedroom, a.k.a. the Junk Room. We had a spare dresser that I had mentioned to someone at work and she asked if she could donate it to one of her clients. I told her "No problem!" Frank and I moved it downstairs into my car and I drove it to work and passed it on to my co-worker on Monday. By Wednesday, I was a little slow to get out of bed and by Thursday, I could hardly move at all.... My back simply was killing me! What happened to "no good deed goes unturned"?

After multiple phone calls to my doctors office, a lot of Ibuprofen, and advice from lots of different people, I left work early, and had Frank drive me to the Emergency Room. I felt like a fool. I simply could not move, I was not comfortable sitting, standing, or sleeping! When my name was called in the waiting room, I was brought back into my assigned bed, and I was handed the johnny to put on.

That's when it hit me. I am getting older. (Notice I said older, NOT old.) As if this realization wasn't enough, the doctor who treated me reassured me with "85% of people have back problems at some point in their lives." Thanks, doc. I guess he didn't realize I was having an epiphany at that moment and that I am NOT 85% of people!

At least this whole episode was short lived. I was given some meds to take and by Saturday my back was feeling well enough to clean the house and move around. Hopefully I have learned my lesson and will hire someone next time!

Baby, it's HOT outside!

At the beginning of the week when the weather forecasters gave the 10 day outlook, I couldn't believe my eyes. They were predicting the 90's for this weekend, and closer to 100 for Monday. On Friday, it was supposed to be near 80 degrees outside and it didn't even make it out of the 60's! Then, Saturday morning, it was overcast, humid, and muggy, and chilly, all at the same time. I for sure thought that the weatherman had done it again-- blew the forecast. Then I looked outside at noon, the sun was out, and my house was unbearable. The Cheapskate in me lost out to the Comfort Queen. I turned the central air on. I can't believe I did it on June 7!

Anyways, after it made it to the 90's yesterday and again today, we are all glad that the air went on at this point. After all, as I was going around in the morning and opening up the windows, I found that most of the windows were still the storm windows from the winter-- it really hasn't been warm enough to worry about opening them all up! My question is, "What happened the the 70 and 80 degree weather????"

Yesterday, Frank had to proctor the S.A.T. and Tyler and I cleaned the house from top to bottom. After a crazy and busy week, it needed it! In the afternoon, we went over to Tyler's friend Olivia's house and the kids had a great time playing outside in the water. As we adults all stood there, dripping with sweat, we all wished that we had our bathing suits as well and could join the kids! Maybe next time! We all had a great time hanging out together and the mommies were able to even squeeze in a little "mommy time" at the end of the night!

Tyler and Olivia drinking from the spray mat....
Wipeout! The kids were having a blast running across the mat and then sliding. Remember how much fun Slip 'n Slides looked until you set it up and REALLY tried it?

5,4,3,2,1...

DERBY!

Last summer, we were able to visit a lot of little fairs around Western Massachusetts. One that we went to, was the Four Town Fair, in Northampton, Massachusetts. I was drawn to this one because they advertised a Demolition Derby. We were free that weekend, so we took the afternoon and went to the fair. Well...... We got there mid-afternoon and we had walked the entire length of the fair, ate, went on some rides, and took in a lot of scenery-- all in 90 mintues. What do you do next? We people watched! Luckily, Tyler was amused easily, had a bit of room to run around, and was happy...

As it got closer to enter into the arena for the Derby, we bought our tickets and found seats. It was a home away from home! I thought that people like that only existed in the Midwest. I was wrong. I guess small town people are everywhere! It was great! As the cars started lining up for the auctual event, they made announcements "Please sit as close as possible to your neighbors, the event is sold out!" (Huh?) and "Last night we had to stop the event due fights in the stands. This will not be tolerated!" All I could think was "What have I gotten myself into?"

We had a blast! Tyler had so much fun watching the cars crash, the firetruck putting on engire fires, and the tow trucks hauling away the broken down remains of cars! For weeks afterwards, he would play "Derby" with his Cars, complete with "countdown". Last week, I was making dinner for all of us and this was what I saw in the family room:

Derby Time!
Tyler uses his drawing board as the arena and even does the countdown (starting from 5!) and then goes at it! I am proud to say that my son learned to count backwards from an afternoon at the Derby! Can't wait until this summer's!

Daddy's Barber Shop

Tonight was hair cut night at the Genovese household! Frank has gotten very good at cutting his own hair and knowing that it is getting warmer out, we decided to give Tyler a "summer do". I very a little nervous about this-- the last time I tried to give him a hair cut he had a huge bald patch on the side of his head..... THIS time Tyler said that he wanted Frank to cut his hair, I guess he knew how funny it looked the last time I did it!

BEFORE:
Notice the ketchup face. Daddy's Barber Shop opened up right after a yummy dinner of hotdog and corn on the cob-- both dipped in ketchup!

DURING:


My bathroom was COVERED with hair from both of their haircuts! Thank goodness for the dustbuster. Frank did a great job with the cut and I was able to get in there with the scissors at the end.

AFTER:

Fresh from the bath! Not a bad job-- maybe we both have a knack for hair cutting-- any takers?

Softball, anyone?

Tonight, Tyler and I went to watch Frank play in the Fermi Seniors versus Staff and Faculty softball game. It was a fundraiser for "Relay for Life" and we had a blast. We joined Tyler's friend Olivia, her daddy Glen, and played on the swings, rooted for daddy and Elaine (Olivia's mommy), and ran around until we dropped! The faculty won and Frank had a single and two doubles for his team, including a few runs scored!

Taking in the game with a bag of chips!
There's daddy, in the outfield, can you see him?
Down on the field after the game. One of the faculty shaved his head and a senior was chosen to do it. Relay for Life has special meaning to this teacher and he was happy to oblige! Daddy and Elaine in the outfield during the Home-run Derby. The seniors won this, 17-15, despite a late run by the faculty-- the last player involved hit 9 home-runs!

Today's random thoughts....

Don't read this if you are easily grossed out!

Tonight at bathtime, I was paying bills at the computer and Frank was getting Tyler ready for his bath. This is the conversation I heard from the other room:

Frank (knocking at the door): "Tyler, are you ready to get into the tub?"

Tyler (as Frank enters the bathroom and notices him laying on top of the toilet, lid closed): "There's nothing to see in here!"

Frank: "Well there may be nothing to see, but I sure smell something."

Tyler (opening the toilet lid): "Look daddy, dinosaur poop! Mommy, get in here now!"

I, of course being the good mommy I am, run right to the bathroom and look into the toilet. I will spare you the rest of the details, but a few questions popped into my mind.....

Why are the 3 of us standing here looking at this, together?

How does such a small guy make such a BIG B.M.?

Green Thumb, Part 2

On Monday, I finally managed to get all of my plants into the ground. I think I was procrastinating a bit because they were doing so well in their little "peat pots". I hopefully will remember that they are there and that watering will be important if I ever expect to get anything from this! I was so good when I first started the seedlings-- I had everything labeled and sorted and ready to go. However, in all the moving around, the labels fell off, so I have no idea which plants are which. I guess that will be my extra incentive to sticking with my mini-garden!

Is this zucchini or squash? Maybe these are the pumpkins?
Or do these look like pumpkins? While I was trying to figure all this out, I did consult with the seed packages. Did you know that the seedlings I planted all look the same at this stage? Needless to say, the packages were not helpful!
In the meantime..... Frank and I have learned that without a fence around the yard, Tyler needs someone to stay with him. He had a ball playing in the sandbox and even called himself a "buckethead"-- with good reason, I suppose!

Oh, what a weekend!

As a little girl, we had the opportunity to go camping a lot. California's beautiful weather, great beaches and mountains afforded itself to that kind of vacation. I always loved being outdoors enjoying the special time we had. For years now, we have tried to go to Eagle Lake, in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. This is what Tyler calls camping. As a little girl, I used a tent, sleeping bags, and camping equipment. Tyler thinks a tent is only for the playroom and camping consists of a trailer with flat screen TV's, air mattresses, and a fridge! Anyways, we usually go for Columbus Day weekend, but this year we went for Memorial Day weekend instead and not one of us is sorry we did. We had a great time!

We left Friday night and getting out the door was a feat in itself! We couldn't decide if we should wait and leave later, or risk being stuck in traffic just like all the other long holiday weekends, but this weekend we decided to tough it out and leave right away. Lucky we did! We made great time, saw a lot of HIGHER gas prices ($4.29 in Danbury, Connecticut) and didn't see many cars on the road at all! The weather was beautiful all weekend long and as soon as the kids were awake and fed, they left the house! We played baseball, walked along the creek, went to the park, took golf cart rides looking for deer and turkeys, hung out around the fire, and even got to enjoy the Eagle Lake Beach Party!

Tyler didn't waste any time getting into the water. And it was COLD! None of us thought to bring suits for the kids, and Tyler's mom (who shall remain nameless) dressed him in a polo for the beach party?!? However, it was really nice out, so I took his shirt off. Shortly after this picture was taken, I reminded him that we didn't have any towels with us, either and that going further in was probably going to be a bit cold. He eventually came out and as soon as he did, he stopped in front of the life guard stand and announced (with his shorts and underwear halfway down) that he was going to take off his pants and go swimming!

Here is Tyler at the beach party. They had food, music, and a bounce house for the kids (I wanted to take a turn, but I guess they noticed that I was a bit bigger than the rest of the line-- maybe next time?).
Enjoying the campfire. Tyler TRIED his first marshmallow. I say tried-- he took a bite and then tried to put the other half back in the bag!
Skylar and Tyler "camping" in the loft at the trailer. Poor Sky was quite the trooper while everyone was running around this weekend, she had to protect her arm and she is doing a great job at it!

"Why can't I continue down this steep, rocky terrain, mommy? Why can't I?" Behind the trailer there is a creek and this Momma Bear didn't want anymore stitches on this child!
Posing at the beach-- behind him is the lake and a pier.
Posing for the camera during our wildlife hunt. We saw lots of deer, some turkeys, and as Tyler reminds me, we even saw a cat.
Messing around with the camera-- I really had no idea it was able to take a sepia shot! Maybe that is what the booklet said I never read!
Tyler and Conor enjoying the slide at the park.

Happy 6th Birthday, Conor!

We can't believe you are 6 today! Congratulations on becoming such a smart, bright, wonderful guy! We hope you have a great year and can't wait to see how big you are now!

Love,

Uncle Frank,

Aunt Jen &

Tyler

Arts and.... Craps?

Tonight Tyler got done really quickly with his dinner and his bath and we had some free time before quiet time. I asked him if he wanted to have some art time and he said "yes"! I pulled out his scissors and some stamps I had gotten awhile back for him and he went to town. He is a very bright guy, well spoken, and wise beyond his years.... except for the pronunciation of 'crafts'-- he says "craps"! It always makes me smile to hear him say it, so I decided to share my smile with you:

PS: By the time he was done with arts and craps time, he had blue fingers from the stamp ink. PROBABLY not a good idea to do stamping AFTER bath time!

PPS: Let me know-- music or no music?