Boom chicka boom boom!

I love karaoke!   In fact, it's been years since we had a good dance/sing party!

I've had my eye on vocopro mixers and now that Christmas is right around the corner - I've put them on my Christmas wish list!

Let the good times roll.   Nothing says a great party like karaoke!!

Busy and busty...

Our life has been CRAZY!!   The holidays have really crept up on us and I can't believe that it's 2 weeks away from Christmas!

Graem has been busy with soccer.   Emmy is quite the hockey star.   Keane is running all over the place.   WE are all trying to keep him out of trouble!

Boston!

Margot's annual ASLA conference is in Boston.   What a great place for the family to get-away too!   We are leaving tomorrow and traveling and staying at the Westin.   Can I just say how much I LOVE THE WESTIN?!

I plan on taking the kids to the aquarium Friday and then the girls to the Cornell vs. Harvard Women's Hockey game Friday night.   I think they will have a great time!

Saturday I'm meeting up with a friend and we are going to hit the zoo!  

Sunday will be a travel day and we'll hopefully be ready for work and school Monday morning.   Doubtful.

Yep, I'm alive.

It has been a long time since I've posted on this blog.   What can I say...I suck.

Anyway, I'm trying to check in more often.   This used to be a great way to keep track of the kids milestones and with us being so busy with three kids and going back to work - I'm afraid Emmy and Keane won't have much!

In other news - We have booked our tickets to go to Disney World!!

Sweet tea!

We just got back from North Carolina and my favorite part (aside from seeing relatives) is the sweet tea!!    I was told that you have to buy Luzianne tea and then mix the sugar in when it's still hot.   I've never done tea brewing so this concept is still new to me.

I prefer both sweet and unsweet tea and this summer if I want to keep the pounds down it might make sense to go with non-sweetened!

Everyone is getting older...

Thursday I go for Emmy's kindergarten meeting.   It's hard to believe that my kids are getting so big.   Graem is half way through her elementary experience.    UGH.   Slow down.  

I have enrolled the kids in three camps this summer and Keane is due to start daycare in the fall.    I'm excited for him ... but also ready to go back to work.  

Keep an eye out...

We keep getting notices of a predator that keeps trolling our area and asking kids to approach the car.   We have had the conversation with the kids about saying "no".   However, I'm know how kids are and ours are super friendly.   I need to make sure they are protected and stay safe.

I looked up where can you buy pepper spray and it's harder than you think!   I couldn't find a place locally so I had to purchase some online.   

Almost done...

I painted the kitchen and dining room.   Tonight we are going to do the backsplash tile.   We weregoing to go with glass tile but instead we decided to do stainless steel.   I think it will be really nice once we finally have it done!

It's sneaking up on us....

We have our house rented out for CU graduation and a wedding in July.   We know for the graduation we will head to Michigan and visit my cousins and Aunt and Uncle.    We are still trying to figure out the July date.

We have so much to do before then!

We have to:

Paint the kitchen/dining room.    I plan on tackling that this weekend with the help of a few friends.    Hopefully, it won't be too bad and we can nail it out in a Saturday.

Install glass tile backsplash.

Install undercabinet lighting

Clean basement room

Fix plumbing

And then the hardest is to get everything absolutely perfect for the guests!   We hire the housekeeper to come out and clean - but for $1,000/night I have to make sure it looks and feels good!

Smokin'

When I was in college - I smoked.    I didn't smoke a ton but it was enjoyable for me.    Typically, I would do it socially.   The thing is, every time I smoked the next day I would feel awful and I hated the way my mouth felt.  

When we went to London to visit the boys I had to try a Cuban cigar.   It was fun.    However, cigars aren't my thing and I can't imagine it being a habit.     

One of my friends is hooked on perdomo cigars!   They can be hard to find and he has to have them shipped in.

Glad that my addiction is food and I can just go to the nearby restaurant to get my fix!

Back to the grind...

I've been back in town from my California trip for a week and a half now.    It was so much fun and I'm already thinking about doing it again next year.   It was incredible to travel by myself and have a little peace and quiet.   There's alsosomething about not being needed every minute of overy day to wipe ass, pick up toys, or do laundry.  

Margot was home with the kids and they did really good.    Keane started to have a hard time the last day and delays at the airport made me think that I might never get home!

Anyway, I'm back in the saddle and feel pretty good.

This summer...

I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with Graem and Emmy this summer.   I know that we'll probably try to go on vacation but also I want to put them in a few weeks of summer camp.  

Of course, it's all just time and money.    I wish we had more of both!

Plumbing issues...

This past week we have had some major plumbing issues.   The plumber came out last week and we are looking at replacing all sewage pipes with PVC.   We need to go up to 3" and he needs to reconfigure the pipes too.    So much for having extra money after our tax refund?

I've seen straight line action clamps that would have been helpful yesterday when Margot climbed on the roof in the middle of a snow storm!!

Dr. Phil.

Okay, I admit it...   I tape Dr.Phil and it's smutty and then Dr. Phil tries to make it seem like he's holier than JC.    He gets right in there and then sets everyone straight!

The hard thing is...   I can't watch it around the kids!    They have a good idea of what he's saying and half ot he shows are of poorly behaved kids.   God knows, I don't want them picking up bad behaviors!

Namaste

When Emmy was a baby I did a mom and baby yoga class.   It was actually really nice and I was able to meet some nice mamas and babies in our area.   I would consider doing something like that with Keane but I just haven't been able to get my act together!

I have looked at mats and wholesale yoga supplies online and it wouldn't be that hard to do more yoga at home either.   

Can't wait...

In 23 days I will be in Los Angeles with my friends!   I'm so excited.   However, there's a part of me that's scared to leave my family.   I'm going to miss the kids terribly and I have never left them.   I know they'll be fine - but still...I wish they could go with me.

I wasn't there!

I just started reading some of the back issues of Time Magazine this morning at the doctor's office.   Before I looked at the date I saw an article about marty hanaka.    I read it for two minutes and then I got called away.

It's interesting how any one source of media can portray a person a certain way.   Then in the two minutes that I read I can have an idea.   

That's pretty dangerous.   

5 more weeks!!

Til I get to go to LA to hang out with the girls!!   I'm really excited!!   Shockingly, I think I'm going to have a hard time leaving my family behind.   I'm going to miss the kids.    Especially Keane.   He's still nursing and I hope that when I come back he still wants to nurse.

I plan on pumping the whole time I'm away and I hope that my milk stays around!

Dinner

I've been trying to make some good home made meals.   I let M and the kids pick out what they want for the upcoming week and I go out and get all of the ingredients that I will need for the upcoming week.   Typically, a  meal ends up easily costing more than it would for us to go out to eat at a restaurant!!  

Tonight we are having meat loaf and rice.   It's gooooood stuff.

Old fart.

Well, it's happened.   Another year.   I'm 36 years old.   Damn, that's old.   I remember I was 14 or so when my parents were my age.   I thought they were so old.

And to think that I have a one year old?!  

I had a pretty good birthday.   It was somewhat upsetting that M didn't do anything to plan for my birthday.   I got a card.   We are broke from Christmas.   I was also afraid that my father had forgotten my birthday.   So that evening I was on the edge of tears.

Then I get the call/message and email.   It made me feel better.  

The best.

The one thing I'm a snob about is getting the kids good winter gear.   My kids spend so much of the winter days outside that they need to stay warm.   Typically, I shop online and try to pick up good deals on the best brands.   My favorite is patagonia kids.    

Patagonia offers great quality products.   Yes, they are a bit more expensive but with three kids - the jackets, buntings, and hats LAST!   

I just got my Patagonia R2 Jacket in the mail the other day and it's so warm and fuzzy!   I don't want to take it off!

Making money....

These days I've been looking for ways that I can bring in just a little extra money.   It's hard because you get to a point where if you work you lose money because you're paying out so much in daycare!!!    Then there's the aspect that I really don't want to work because I have three kids that I want to be home for.

I wish I could just pick up a little part time job that would let me bring Keane to and/or would pay good enough where I could work a few hours a week and not feel guilty about getting a babysitter!

Gold!

We are constantly looking for ways to invest.   Margot is confident that putting money into Apple is going to make her $5,000 investment into millions.  

I want to buy gold bars!   Gold has done amazing over the past few years and it's shocking the increase that it's had.   Even when the stock market was in the gutter gold prices were at an all time high. 

Pre-K

I am so glad that Emmy got accepted into pre-K.   It's been such a good fit for her.   And us.   The only downfall is that they get out early on Fridays and typically I pick her up and we hang out for 4 hours until Graem comes home.      Just if she'd take a nap she'd be in much better spirits!

Filtered!

It seems like everything in our house goes at once!   Right now we are battling the plumbing and trying to figure out why we have a slow drain in our kitchen.   Margot bought a snake the other day and wasn't able to pull anything out but sludge.

Today I'm going to call the plumber out to see if he can do some piping work to help the waterflow.

I'm glad that we don't have to buy the iqair prefilter this month!   However, we do need to replace our fridge filter.