One of THOSE Days

To say the past few weeks have been trying in our house would be an understatement. We were never blessed with the Terrible Two's, the Three's were also pretty smooth, and the Four's? I would hesitate to say a cake walk, but still pretty easy.

But the Five's? Calgon, take me away!

It seems that almost overnight, our sweet, charming, polite, no-trouble-at-all, perfect specimen of a child has turned into a mouthy, can't-keep-his-hands-to-himself, rude child. All I have to say is that when he acts like that, he is not my son!

We have scratched our heads and wondered is it the upcoming changes? Kindergarten? New baby? Those are things that are all six plus months away! Regardless, this is the exchange that took place on Brookside Circle at 6:45A.M. on Friday morning.

Me: "Tyler, please come into the bathroom and brush your teeth."
Tyler (sitting on the floor, playing with his Legos): "NO! I want to finish this first!"
Me: "You know the rule. No playing with toys until you are all dressed in the morning."
Tyler: " I don't care."
Me: "I am going to count the three, and then I will take away your Legos if you are not in the bathroom."
Tyler: "Fine! But I am bringing my plane with me."

At this point I am not going to argue anymore and accept the compromise. He comes into the bathroom, carrying his Lego plane that he has been building. I now have to remind him that he needs to brush his teeth. He then half-heartedly swings at me, knowing that will be cause for more trouble on his end...

Tyler: "Stupid mommy." and "I hate you." and "Stupid dummy mommy." and "You are really a stupid dummy."

At this point, I wanted to wring his neck and bust out laughing. So what did I do? I took a page from the parent of the year book that I authored and said:

"It's really too bad that I am so stupid because you are my son and that must make you stupid too."

Guess what? He brushed his teeth and we made it to school without any more incidents! That is, until we got to school and I realized I forgot to bring in something for Show and Tell. I went over to where Tyler was hanging his jacket and apologized for forgetting. You know what he told me (the same kid who was a monster from an hour earlier)?

"That's okay mommy, we had a really rough morning."

And with that simple exchange, I knew that the cranky monster from earlier was gone, at least for a little while. I also knew I needed to give hugs and kisses and leave quickly so I could go cry at the sweetness of the moment.

P.S. I said for a little while.

Mayor's Cup, 2010

Last year, despite the huge season the Fermi Falcon's had, there was one monkey on Frank's back for the past year. That was their loss to cross town rival, Enfield Raiders. Always a huge game for the kids, parents, and the town, Fermi came away losers last year.

What a difference a year makes.

After losing their game before playing Enfield, and winning their few before that by a score of 2-1, the Falcons found the puck on their sticks and then in the goal. Needless to say, they came away big, with a 7-2 final score. The only way the game could have been even better was to have scored more goals!
The Fermi-Enfield game always serves as senior day for the kids on the team. After presentation of flowers to the moms, it was time to move on with the game. Frank's parents even travelled to town for the weekend to watch a big victory. Stands packed, alumni present, and school officials were all ready to keep control of the crowd during the game. Tyler helped with picture duty and took this great one of starting lineup announcements.

Then it was time for the opening face-off.

Towards the end of the game, it became very apparent that Fermi was going to come away victorious. Tyler and I made out way towards the team bench. He enjoyed the game for the top of a spare net, his preferred seat!

The final score!

This game is also the 'Mayor's Cup" in Enfield. Not only are bragging rights at stake, but so is a beautiful trophy. The kids all gathered at center ice to accept their prize.

After the kids enjoyed their trophy, skated a lap with it, and showed it off to the crowd, they gathered in front of the net for the "Stanley Cup" picture. A must in any hockey celebration! Remember how Tyler and I moved closer to the stands? Well, Frank came and get him and if you look really closely, you can see his little hands around Frank's neck. So excited to be part of the celebration. Unfortunately, this was the best shot I could get without taking my pregnant belly onto the ice! :( (For a better shot, go here.)

I did manage to get this shot as Tyler and Frank were on their way off the ice. One of the captains skated over and handed the trophy to Tyler! Smart kid-- he will make a great dad someday!

Congrats Frank and the Fermi Falcons!

And baby makes four!

That's right, folks! After five long years, Frank and I finally decided that it was time to add to our family! We could not be any more excited/happy/nervous! This decision has been in the works for awhile but because of moves, job changes, life, was always put on hold. Not any longer!

I found out I was pregnant on Monday, November 23rd, while Frank was out playing hockey. On a whim, I took a test and it was positive! I really thought that I was going to jump out of my skin! I was so excited, but I also knew that I knew and no one else did.

How could I break the news to Frank?

After collecting myself, I remembered that on Wednesday, my in-laws were going to take Tyler for the night so Frank and I could have dinner. Alone. Together. Knowing that Frank is not one for big spectacles and to-dos, I decided that dinner would be perfect!

The problem? That was 48 hours away. I couldn't say anything to anyone! UGH!

Anyways, I went out, had the following picture printed, bought a card, and stuck with my plan. The funnier part? I filled out the card in the car, while Frank was driving. I was in the backseat, but he still had no clue!

All throughout dinner I was jumping out of my skin! I just could not wait to tell him! I managed to wait until we were almost done with the meal and then presented him with the card. His response? "What's this?" Mine? "Just open it, I got you a card." Well, duh.

I did not even have to write anything in the card (but I did) and when he saw the pictures, he said "Really?" That response and the expression on his face (oh yeah, and the tears in his eyes) was well worth the 48 hour suspense!

Six weeks and twelve weeks, below.

Tyler posing with his new baby sister/brother. Will we find out this time? I am definitely ready for some pink, ruffles, and dolls to overtake the house next!

But wait, the story of Baby Geno's arrival is not over yet. For a few weeks after we found out, we told a select few people-- family, and close friends. One of the most common questions we were asked was "Does Tyler know?". We waited to tell him until we were ready for everyone to know! But the way in which he found out was pure accident.

One afternoon Frank picked up Tyler from daycare. When he arrived, Katie and Ellie said to Frank "Congratulations!". Frank, looking quizzical, must have needed a better explanation. Katie told Frank that Tyler had told her that I was going to have a baby boy and name him Ellie. Frank, assuming that I had told them, as well as Tyler the news, thanked them, said we were very happy, and that Tyler would indeed be a big brother. However, Frank could not understand why Tyler had a confused look on his face!

When they were on their way home that night, they called me and Frank told me what had happened. I explained to Frank that no, I did not tell Tyler, or Katie and Ellie! Whoops! That explained the strange look on Tyler's face when Frank announced he would be a big brother! Needless to say, I was disappointed the news was not given at home with both Frank and I, I quickly had to laugh (damn those pregnant mood swings!) about how things came about! That was the night it was time to break the news! Thankfully, Tyler is as excited as we are!

More irony about this pregnancy? Projected due date? August 4th! Importance of that date? Our 9th wedding anniversary!

All Aboard!

How do you entertain a five-year-old during the middle of winter? You don't! you let him do his own entertaining!

As Frank and I were doing some cleaning and putting away laundry, Tyler found the basket, a very old hat from Disneyland, circa 1980's, and his Islander jacket. For thirty whole minutes, Tyler played in the basket and was as happy as a clam!

Pond Skating

One cold Sunday afternoon in January, Frank and Tyler headed out while most people were sitting by their warm fires. Where did they go? To one of our local ponds to play hockey! It had been cold enough over the last week that everything was frozen solid.

When Tyler and Frank arrived to the pond (also known as a water hazard at a local golf course!), there were only a few other people there which made the prospect of skating for the afternoon look even better.
Tyler, of course, could not wait to try out his mad skating skills he has been perfecting this year. He even has his game face and game stance down pat!

Fortunately, as the mother of a hockey player, I am lucky that Tyler can hold his own and is very quick on his skates!

Of course, being quick also means falling harder! Thank goodness for padding and equipment!

Today in History

Today in history (a short lesson):

In 1912, New Mexica became the 47th state
In 1930, The 1st diesel engine automobile trip (in a Packard sedan) completed
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlined a goal of "Four Freedoms" for the world: freedom of speech and expression, the freedom of people to worship God in their own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear
In 1942, The 1st around world flight occurred (Pan Am "Pacific Clipper")
In 1958, Gibson patents the Flying V Guitar
In 1968, The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" album goes #1 & stays #1 for 8 weeks
In 1970, Frank Vincent Genovese, a son, is the first child born to Frank and Patricia Genovese in New York, making this day his 40th birthday
In 1973, "Schoolhouse Rock" premieres on ABC-TV with Multiplication Rock
1994 Ice skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked by Tonya Harding's bodyguard

People about ready to take the plunge (also known as people born in 1970):

Kelly Ripa

Andre Aggassi

Matt Damon

Beck

Claudia Schiffer

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Connelly

Vince Vaughn
Tina Fey

Lara Flynn Boyle

You know you are born in the 1970's if:

1. You know that another name for a keyboard is a "Synthesizer".
2. You know who Max Headroom is.
3. You could breakdance or at least wish you could.
4. You wanted to dress like the Hulk.
5. You believed that "By the Power of Greyskull," you HAD the POWER.
6. You thought that Transformers were more than meets the eye.
7. You remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off.
8. You knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout".
9. You know where to go if you "wanna go where everybody knows your name."
10.Punks actually "shocked" people.
11.You remember when ATARI was a state of the art video game.
12. You own many cassettes.
13. You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living on the moon. And you would be like the 'Jetsons'.
14. You had a Swatch Watch, or three.
15. You had a crush on Bo Derek or Heather Locklear or Cheetara.

Happy birthday, sweetie! Tyler and I both love you! Don't worry, you don't look (or act) a day over 39!

Love,

Jennifer and Tyler

New Years Eve 2009

This year for New Years we took it easy. After a crazy month, we were ready to spend some quiet family time together and welcome in what we hope to be a calmer and more relaxed 2010. Also, Grammy and Grampy were still in town and we did not want to overwhelm them with our partying ways!

After much thought and consideration, we decided on a nice meal of Porterhouse steaks, baked potatoes, and broccoli—yummy! Tyler was not going to eat that yummy meal so we asked him what he would want for dinner. His choice? Chicken nuggets and tater tots (with Ketchup, of course!). We made dinner, ate, and headed down to the basement for the rest of the evening. I managed to shoot a few pictures just to document the fact that we really did stay awake and acknowledge the New Year’s coming!

The adults all played games and Tyler did, well, Tyler things. At one point, he even played bartender for us and made sure that all the poker chips were accounted for (!):
After that, he chose to start winding down a bit. After all, staying up to watch the ball drop is not so easy, is it? He opted to watch a movie a cuddle on the floor, joining us for the countdown to 2010.

As for adult game time? We played ‘Battle of the Sexes’, men versus women. Frank and I have played this game numerous times and I think the overall tally of wins and losses is Jennifer, 1,291 wins, Frank, 1 win. I thought it would be a good game to play since Grampy usually has the answers to everything. The woman definitely kicked some male butt the entire game until it got to the last question for the win—we just could not get the answer (or so I thought!). One question “What is a Biathlon?”, threw me for a loop—my answer? Shooting and cross country skiing. What the card said according to Grampy? Luge and Skiing. Because of that oversight on my part, the men won, and we would never hear the end of it—or would we? Thankfully, Grampy has a good conscious and he came clean the next morning about his cheating escapades (which Frank claimed to know nothing about, but guilt by association!) and the women were set for the rematch the next night—who won this time? You got it—the women! So now the tally stands at Jennifer 1,293 wins, and Frank, 1. Sorry sweetie! Better luck next time Grampy!

Christmas, Round 2

Is it us, or does Christmas last forever nowadays? We welcome it-- the longer Christmas lasts, the more friends, family, and gifts there are!



After a whirlwind celebration with Frank's family, my family came to town. We were looking forward to the visit and rest and relaxation, but it also meant one thing to Tyler-- more Christmas! He was so surprised to find that Santa paid a visit to Grammy and Granpy's house in Indiana as well as his home in Massachusetts.
After we rounded up all the troops, it was time to sort the gifts and get to work! Tyler soon discovered that Santa is a very smart man and he knew just what Tyler wanted.

Fortunately, Santa knew that Tyler had asked for the Tag Reading System (no complaints from his mom and dad on that gift request, either!).

As for the rest of the gifts under the tree, there were surprises as well! Grammy got a wonderful Polish Pottery tray:

Frank was ecstatic over his new Wii hockey game:

Frank was ever more excited (as was Tyler) to open his new Islanders neon sign for Man Town in the basement:

The best gift of the night? Granpy's Green Bay Packers Snuggie. That's right, a Snuggie. Every time Grampy comes to our home he asks where we keep our Snuggies. Now he doesn't need to ask, he has his own!

Ever since I can remember, we always got full stockings on Christmas morning. Usually they were full of candy, little trinkets, soaps, you get the picture. As we got older, the gifts became more interesting. Shower caps, sewing kits, pens, all with hotel logos on them. Being newer in the family, Frank thought this was hilarious and throughout the year we would stock up on all the freebies we got at fairs and during Frank's college visits. Since there were no official stockings this year at Christmas, round 2, Granpy found a new way to "surprise" Frank:

By filling a freebie laptop case with all the goodies! Although I did say that there were no official stockings at this celebration, there was one reserved for Granpy-- filled with all the goodies he gave us last year and more goodies we picked up through the course of this year. Only the next 365 days will tell us what next years stockings will be filled with!

Christmas 2009

This year we celebrated Christmas in Massachusetts with Frank's family. We were so excited to stay at home and host everyone for the holiday. It also meant a lot that they were willing to forgo their usual holiday traditions at home and bring their party to us! By lunchtime everyone had arrived and the kids were dying to start ripping into some gifts! First, I was determined to grab some family shots before things became too crazy.

After awhile, there was no holding them back any longer. We decided to let the kids open their gifts from Grandma and Papa and from the parents on Christmas Eve. This served a dual role: the kids had new toys to play with while we relaxed, cooked, and watched sports, and it meant that Christmas morning was saved for gifts from the big guy!

I thought this shot was kind of funny-- all the adults watching the kids rip into their gifts and documenting the occasion as good parents do!

Tyler's gift from us? Star Wars stuff, of course! We got him the Disturbance at Lars Homestead playset, something he saw at Toys R Us one day and just had to have!

After we were done with gifts, it was time to get ready for Santa's visit. We put out milk, cookies, and carrots inside for Santa and the reindeer, but we also wanted to make sure that the reindeer found their way to the house and the kids ventured outside to spread the reindeer food. Back inside, the kids put on their jammies and proceeded to play Star Wars.

After a bit, dinner had settled and it was time for dessert. This year, Tyler and I made a Christmas tree birthday cake for Jesus. The kids sang Happy Birthday and blew out the candles and then it was time to eat again! We had this cake, chocolate chip cheesecake, sugar cookies, and a delicious peanut butter pie that my sister-in-law whipped up during the day. Yummy!

Right before bed, Frank read all the kids "Twas the Night Before Christmas". I had to capture the shot:

After storytime, it was time for the kids to hit the sack. We waited until we knew they were all asleep and then we put our elf caps on and went to work.

For some people at 4 Brookside Circle, Christmas morning start very early-- like the 4 o'clock hour early. Cousin Conor woke very early and could not get back to sleep. luckily, Uncle Jim was able to distract Conor until after 6A.M. so the rest of us could be coherent for most of the morning! As soon as the kids saw what Santa had done, they could not wait to get work!

As soon as the presents opening started, it was over! The kids were anxious to start playing, but also obliged to take a quick Christmas morning shot:

Amongst all the Star Wars toys, Transformer figures, and hockey stuff, Santa managed to come through with something else on the list this year: Zhu Zhu Pets! Frank put it together (only took about an hour!) and the kids played with the playset for a bit. Later in the morning, I wandered into the living room only to find Papa, Frank, and Puck playing with it!

The day was very relaxing for all of us (thanks in part to the early rising that morning!). We rested and relaxed for most of the day and then cooked during the afternoon. The kids even dressed for the occasion and once again obliged me with another picture.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Seven on Sunday-- Holiday Edition!

I am not really sure how to fit all the Genovese family craziness into the short amount of time I have, but here goes!

1. For the past 2 years I have "adopted" a child for Christmas from MSPCC, my former place of employment. Last year, I asked for a boy, close to Tyler's age, to purchase gifts for. I really wanted for Tyler to understand how lucky he is and to enjoy giving to someone in need. This year, I adopted to boys, brothers, ages 6 and 3. We went out a few weekends ago and bought Transformers and Toy Story stuff for them, along with other "must-haves"-- crayons, art supplies, balls, etc. We wrapped it all, labeled it and I dropped it off to the office this week. Here is Tyler helping to box it all up:
2. For weeks now I have been asking Tyler to write his letter to Santa. He finally decided that it needed to be done and sat down this week to write his own letter. We were so proud of him! What did he ask for? Transformers, hockey guys, and a television set with a remote control (?). We will have to wait and see what Santa decides to bring this year.

3. Last Friday we had a holiday get together with some friends. The plan was to load 5 kids and 3 adults into their mini van and drive through Forest Park and Bright Nights together. Lucky for us, it had snowed earlier in the week and having the snow on the ground was a wonderful backdrop to all the lights in the park. Unlucky for us? There were a lot of cars and we opted to go before dinner. Whoops! Lucky for us? We all packed snacks! Problem solved. The kids were wonderful troopers and hung in there for most of the trip, thanks to the snacks and Kids Bop, Christmas Edition!

4. After a lot of stress and worry over which teachers to buy gifts for and what to buy them, I finally settled on a plan for Tyler's preschool teachers: movie gift cards and baskets. It was so much fun to put together! I found "popcorn buckets" at the Dollar Tree, filled them with candy and a box of popcorn, included a Blockbuster gift card, and viola! Gift complete! Hopefully Tyler's Green Valley teachers will enjoy family movie time as much as we do during the Christmas vacation!

5. Grammy sent Tyler an early Christmas gift-- books! We decided a long time ago that you can never have enough books in a house. When I had more time, I loved to read and would polish off a book in a sitting. At night, during quiet time, we read 3 books. Lucky for us, Tyler has picked up on the love of reading and this was the scene in the hallway yesterday morning:

Tyler was reading to all of his animals and his son. His son, you ask? That would be Charlie Brown....

6. For the past month now, Tyler has been working on earning his latest bribe, ahem, reward, for good sleep behavior. Walking through the mall one day I saw that Build-A-Bear was featuring Star Wars outfits! Knowing that Christmas was coming and this was a much bigger prize that normal, we set out on 30 days of good sleep behavior. Friday was the last day of the reward and Tyler definitely had earned the prize! We decided to turn it into a fun holiday night and headed to diner at Uno's, visited with Santa and had pictures taken, and then made our way to Build-A-Bear. Tyler told me in the morning that he wanted to pick out a kitty, and he did just that. He dressed his kitty in a Captain Rex outfit and named him StarWii. You can see a picture of StarWii in the photo above.

By the way, what did he ask Santa for? A television-- with a remote control!

7. Saturday Tyler and I ventured into the world of Gingerbread House decorating. After hearing from people about how difficult it was to get the structure to stay together I was a little apprehensive about what the finished project would be. But I am happy to announce that we used ample frosting and allowed for lots of drying time and we were successful our first time around! Tyler had a blast once he got the hang of it and kept asking me "Can I eat this?" "Of course", I said-- that is half the fun!