On the Road Again...

After almost a week at Bubba & Pap's house, it was time to hit the road again. With the van packed full (inside and the roof rack!), we headed to Duncansville, PA (near Altoona) to visit with Chris's Grandparents for a while. Not only did we get to see Grandma and Grandpap Beyer, but Janaye and Brandon were there as well. They are Chris's cousins - the children of his Auntie and Uncle Jeff (they were both at work during our visit). Here's a cute picture of the kids with their cousins (first cousins once removed, actually).

We also took a couple of pictures with Grandma and Grandpap Beyer. I love that the kids have great grandparents, although they are certainly too young to appreciate that they do. Here are the photos - Grandpap Beyer has been ill so he was reclined a bit, so forgive the up-the-nose shot!

Christmas Morning

After a fun Christmas Eve where the kids stayed up a full three and a half hours after their normal bedtime, it was finally Christmas morning in the Ruffo house (aka Bubba & Pap's house). Now, because we are traveling and lugging luggage (hmmm... perhaps that's a hint to the origin of the word "luggage") and presents, we decided to write a letter to Santa and let him know that we would not be home for Christmas. To ease his burden for Christmas Eve, he could skip our house that night and instead bring us gifts belatedly once we returned home. So none of the gifts shown in the next pictures are from Santa. Those are still yet to be delivered!

Once we were home from Aunt Lorraine & Uncle Ralph's house on Christmas Eve, the kids went to bed and we got out all of the presents, laughing a little hysterically at how many there were. (We were tired, stuffed full of food, a couple of us may have been a little drunk - not me - and the sight of all those presents almost caused a case of hysterical giggles.) So we piled them under and around the tree, in front of the coffee table, and on the side of the couch. And shhh... don't tell the kids, but we each opened a couple before heading off to bed, knowing that at exactly 7:00 AM, at least one child would be up and looking for presents!

Here's a cute shot of Chris with the beautiful tree and presents spilling out from underneath it.

As predicted, Dominic was the first one up on Christmas morning. He made a beeline for the family room to check out the presents. After posing for a quick picture, he started stacking presents by the recipient. He loves playing Santa!

While Dominic couldn't wait to open presents, there was a certain cranky little girl who insisted she didn't want presents and pouted her way through breakfast.

Finally we were all ready to open presents - even Francesca. With the exception of a paper cut causing some thankfully-short-lived-hysterics, we had a wonderful Christmas morning! Here are a few more photos from that morning.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Wow, I have a lot to catch up on! We've been traveling for the holidays and still have a few days before we get to go home. On December 23rd, we drove the 10 hours (500 miles) to Bubba and Pap's house outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Dominic was supposed to have school that day, but we took him out so that we could be in the 'Burgh before Christmas Eve, since that's when our big family gatherings happen. We left a foot of snow in MA to go to a rainy, dreary PA. No white Christmas for us this year, but that's okay. I'd rather be with family than snow!

First stop Christmas Eve is my Grandma Ruffo's house - my Dad's mom and the kids' Great Grandma. We eat a traditional Christmas meal consisting of several yummy foods that we only get once per year, including spaghetti with clams, fried smelts (little fishies!), beets & eggs, broccoli in red sauce, rolled pizzas, mushrooms & hot peppers, and other goodies. Francesca loved the smelts - I think she ate about 15 of them or more! After dinner we take the annual family pictures and then open presents. Here's the picture of our family with my Mom & Dad, my brother Michael, and my Grandma. She turned 81 a few days before Christmas.

After we leave Grandma Ruffo's house, we go to my Aunt Lorraine and Uncle Ralph's house where my Mom's whole side of the family gathers for barely controlled chaos. The crowd consists of my grandparents, our family, Aunt Lorraine & Uncle Ralph and their whole family - including Cameron & Kellie and the four girls plus Christopher and his girlfriend, Aunt Barbara & Uncle Todd, Aunt Marilyn & Uncle Rich with Matt & Dan, and I think that's everyone. It's quite a crowd and the kids have a blast! Dominic and Francesca love seeing their cousins, although every time Francesca was sitting with Aunt Lorraine, little Lindsay would run over looking concerned and crying out "My Grandma! My Grandma!" Francesca just gave her "the look" as if to say, "I don't know who you think you are, but this is MY Godmother." It was a riot!

We also take family pictures at their house so we have the whole family immortalized on film. Well, not on film - at least not with my camera. I guess we're immortalized in bits and bytes! Here's a picture of the four of us. (Uncle Ralph set up a "photo studio" in the basement with tarps. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the wrinkles looked awful and the lighting was bad!)

My camera becomes the group picture camera, so I set it up on the tripod, lined up the shot, got my remote control, and got into position. From there I can click as many pictures as I want either immediately or with a 2 second delay. It's so much nicer than pushing the shutter on the camera and scrambling into position before the picture takes! That little remote was definitely a great investment. So here is one of the group shots with everyone in it.

I have more to write about and more pictures to post, but we're leaving to go out to dinner in a few minutes. (We're at GG's house right now.) I'll try to catch up more soon!

First Tooth Fairy Visit!

Dominic lost his first baby tooth!

If you remember from previous blog posts, his two bottom front permanent teeth have been growing in behind the baby teeth. Luckily the baby teeth seemed to be getting looser, otherwise they'd have to be pulled. As we wait for both of them to fall out, we've been telling him that he has "shark teeth" since sharks grow new teeth haphazardly and in rows behind existing teeth. You should be able to see the two rows of teeth in the bottom in this picture:

Then last Wednesday, December 17th, he was brushing his teeth before bed and out popped one of the bottom baby teeth! (Thank goodness, it was barely hanging on and giving me the heebie-jeebies every time he was twisting it around!) Good thing Bubba had given him a tooth pillow about 3 years ago in preparation for that very event!

So the tooth was placed ever-so-carefully in the little tooth-shaped pillow and left at the head of his bed for the Tooth Fairy. And guess what - she came! And because that first tooth is so special, he got a whole five dollar bill for that tooth!

I wonder when the other one will fall out. Hopefully in the next month - it's getting pretty loose!

The Nutcracker

You may or may not know, but both Dominic and Francesca take dance class - ballet & tap. This is Dominic's 3rd year and Francesca's 2nd. In order to have them in the same recital at the end of the year, Francesca was moved to Dominic's class where the kids are all 5 & 6 yrs old. She does pretty well and holds her own with the older girls, and the convenience of having them in the same class is certainly a benefit.

Every year, Patti Morris Dance puts on "The Nutcracker" here in town with her dance students. Last year, Dominic was one of the angels (Francesca wasn't in it as we hadn't moved her to his class yet.) This year, they were both mice. The pictures below are from the dress rehearsal, so they don't have their mouse hoods on. (No photography was allowed during the actual performance.)

They both did such a good job, I was so proud of them! We taped the dress rehearsal, so I hope to get the video on the computer before too long. *fingers crossed* We can't wait to see what parts they get next year!

Real bowling is not like on the Wii

Last weekend, Chris, the kids, and I went to a birthday bowling party for their friend, Nicholas, who was turning 5. And not just regular old bowling, but candlepin bowling - something neither Chris nor I had ever done. We were all looking forward to the experience!

Now, we have a Nintendo Wii and one of the games in the Wii Sports collection is bowling - 10 pin bowling. And the kids are good. I'm talking strikes and spares good. When our families were visiting for Thanksgiving, Bubba, Pap & Uncle Mike would crack up watching the kids flail their arms and end up with spares, while we tried desperately to get the right board position or curve to accomplish the same thing. So they felt prepared to bowl. Ready to get their hands on a real ball. Strikes and spares, here they come!

Yeah, right. Thank goodness for gutter bumpers! Even Chris and I needed them a few times! Here are a couple of shots of the kids bowling and with the birthday boy.

The Ice Storm Cometh

Last Thursday, the television weather forecast called for ice storms overnight and cautioned viewers that conditions would be bad - trees covered in ice, icy roads, etc. We left Dominic's birthday party at Pump It Up at 6 pm and there was just rain and wet roads. No ice. We went to bed that night - no ice. We woke up the next morning and our trees were icy. Not crazy icy, just covered in a relatively thin layer. A few branches looked weighed down, but otherwise not bad. School was canceled for Millbury, causing us to wonder why.

Then we turned on the news.

Wow, the photos they were showing of trees and power lines down across the state, of tens of thousands of people without power, of cars, fences and houses crushed by falling tree limbs... Unbelievable! It turns out that the western side of Millbury didn't have power for at least 24 hours, but that's nothing compared to what some MA residents experienced - and are still experiencing. There are still people I know without power, with an anticipated date of Monday, Dec 22nd for when they could get it back. A week and a half with no power. People are in hotels, spent nights in shelters, lost all the food in their freezers.... You can't buy a generator anywhere in MA as they are sold out. If you are a lucky one who has a generator, you'd better lock it up because people are stealing them - not to mention looting the houses that people have had to temporarily leave. Unfortunately a crisis can really bring out the dregs of humanity.

On Monday, I drove through the town of Shrewsbury on my way to go Christmas shopping. I was absolutely shocked to see the state of things just 15 minutes from our house. The tree line looked as though a tornado snapped off the tops of every tree - limbs were broken and shattered, their inner wood a bright, sharp contrast to the dark exterior bark. Like sharp, jagged teeth they're a visible reminder of the ice storm. Looking lower, every yard, sidewalk, and open area was piled with branches, some small, some full trees broken off from near the roots. The tree-lined cemetary was apalling. The tombstones were literally covered with debris, some knocked over by the falling trees and limbs. Unbelievable. I couldn't pick my chin up off my lap as I gawked at the devestation.

I don't know how we got so lucky. Not only didn't we lose any of our trees, but we never lost power. We were snug in our beds fast asleep as thousands of people - and friends - in neighboring towns lay in the dark with no heat, listening to the crash of trees as they fell, hoping their cars, their fences and their homes would be intact come morning. No, I have no idea how we were so lucky, but I am thankful that we were.

Slacking

It seems as thought I've been slacking with the blog posts. A lot has happened here since my last writing. Last Thursday, December 11th, we had Dominic's birthday party at Pump It Up, the inflatable playplace extraordinaire! Two full hours of jumping, bouncing, sliding, running, and eating junk. That's a great idea - let's physically exhaust the kids and then rev them up with a sugar high! :) Seriously, though, the kids love that place and the party was definitely a success - we had 24 kids who enjoyed themselves. Here's a shot of Dominic before blowing out the candles on the cake he couldn't eat.

We tried to get a photo with all of the kids. I think we got most of them, but keeping their attention and getting them all to smile was an impossibility.

A great time was had by all, and even better, the ice storm hadn't yet started at the end of the party so everyone had an easy drive home!

More about the ice storm in my next post....

Ice Storm A'Comin

From yesterday....
Holy cow is it windy here today! The weather is remarkably mild for December - the car thermometer said it was 62 degrees when I picked Francesca up at school less than an hour ago. Unfortunately it is rainy and extremely windy. I've seen several umbrellas blown completely inside out, plus one of the teachers doing the drive-through at school couldn't keep her rain poncho on because of the gusts. The poor thing abandoned the poncho and ended up looking like a drowned rat as she helped the little ones out of their cars.

Today...
Okay, I'd love the 60 degree weather back! It is cold and rainy today. It's predicted that the temperatures will continue to drop, turning the rain to ice. By this afternoon we may be in the middle of an ice storm. That's just great. Dominic's birthday party at Pump It Up is today. Last year we got snowed out and Pump It Up canceled the party. I'm crossing my fingers that the weather holds off until after dinner tonight so that everyone can come to our 4:00 party and not slide off the road in the process. Cross your fingers...

Thanksgiving done, next stop, Christmas!

We're finally back to status quo here at the Beyer household after a fun family Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law arrived from New York last Wednesday afternoon, followed by my mom, dad and brother on Thursday just after lunch time. Six adults, four pies (2 pumpkin, 1 apple, 1 black raspberry), chocolate covered pretzels, snickerdoodles, pizzelles, homemade candy and biscotti, and a wealth of other edible yummies filled the house. (Why we felt the need to add a dozen Dunkin Donuts into the mix yesterday is beyond me!)

We were definitely in the Thanksgiving spirit here! Dominic even had a turkey shaved into the back of his head!


Francesca even helped me make the cranberry sauce on Wednesday before anyone got here.


Although I wish I could say that her happy demeanor lasted more than a few minutes at a time...


But no matter how grumpy one little girl likes to be, it's wonderful having the family here for any reason, and this is definitely an appropriate holiday for their visit. I am so thankful for my family, especially my mother as we have such a close bond. Having them here is so great, but I think it gets harder every time they leave. At least in this case, I know we'll be seeing them in three weeks when we drive to PA for Christmas. I can't wait for the craziness of Christmas Eve back home!

This past weekend was filled with shopping, eating, playing the Wii, more eating, more shopping, more Wii bowling and golf, and did I mention eating? I got pretty much all of my Christmas shopping finished - woohoo! Now comes the fun part - wrapping! We also put up the Christmas tree, took the kids' picture in front of it, and ordered our Christmas cards. I ordered them yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, then logged into my account at YorkPhoto.com this morning and saw that their status is "processed and shipped" already. Impressive! I guess I'd better get on the ball and get our labels updated and printed so we can get those bad boys in the mail asap once the mailman drops them off. Plus there are the rest of the Christmas decorations to get out of storage and put up, but I'll admit that I have a hard time mustering up the motivation to do that when we're going to be away for a week at Christmas. But Santa is still coming here - we have to leave him a note asking him to please bring our presents on Dec 31st instead of the 25th since we'll be in PA and don't want to have to cart them home from there. I'm sure he'll understand. ;)

Giving thanks for all the stuff

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! The day we give thanks for everything that we have and show our gratitude for for our homes, families, toys, and other good stuff. Unless you're my kids. They can't wait until their grandparents come because "they are going to buy me stuff." *sigh* I really don't want my kids to emulate Madonna and the whole "living in a material world" attitude, but somehow that seems to be where they firmly stand.

What to do? Granted, my children are not exactly lacking in the toy department, but we certainly don't buy them toys every time we're out, half the time, or even a quarter of the time. We value books and family time. They play independently with the same toys for hours at a time. So why, when their grandparents visit, are they obsessed with "what they brought us" rather than enjoying the fact that we get to see them for one of the few times each year?

I'm considering declaring a moratorium on gift bringing and buying when my parents and my mother-in-law visit. Part of me wants to lay down the law and say no presents unless it's a birthday or Christmas, their presence (rather than presents) should be a gift in itself. But I also don't want to be THAT daughter-in-law who doesn't allow a grandma to give presents to her grandchildren. But I also don't want them to be spoiled brats with the gimmes-gimmees.

Of course, this weekend we celebrate Dominic's birthday, so there will be presents. With a December birthday, it's too overwhelming to celebrate at the same time we see the family for Christmas. Not only would it be too many gifts at once (so that he wouldn't appreciate most of them), but his birthday would be a bit lost in the craziness that is the Ruffo-family Christmas celebration. So we celebrate at Thanksgiving instead. And of course, heaven forbid one child get presents while the other is left out. (Isn't that the point of birthdays?) That means that Francesca gets gifts at Dominic's birthday and vice versa.

Maybe I can request that the grandparents don't buy them additional stuff while they are here this weekend. I have a feeling that would be akin to asking them to cut off a limb considering the amount of Black Friday and Thanksgiving weekend shopping we are apt to do. I guess we'll wait and see what happens. Hopefully I can nip any extra random gift purchasing in the bud....

In the meantime, where am I going to put all this stuff???

The Perfect Jeans Wipe Out

It's Tuesday night and I should be preparing for all of our Thanksgiving company who will begin arriving tomorrow. There are Usborne books everywhere, presents in various states of wrapping, mail, paper work, magazines, bushels of clean laundry, and who knows what else piled around the house. But no worries, I'll blog instead!

Let me take you back two posts ago, to the saga of my perfect jeans. There they hung in my closet with the receipt shouting out the amount paid, causing guilt every time I looked at them. By last week, the 30-day return time frame had long since expired so I had to accept the fact that the jeans were indeed mine.

Last Wednesday, I was feeling pretty good - physically and mentally, which is rare these days. I went to Curves for the first time in months and then actually washed my hair AND shaved my legs during my shower. (I know, crazy!_ I decided it was time. Time to wear the jeans. I have to admit, cutting off the tags did make me wince. No turning back! I put them on and ahh..... Yes, they were worth every cent. Throw on a cute top, blow out my hair, apply some make-up, and I was looking good! I took the kids to gymnastics class, feeling like one of the more put-together moms (and sold some Usborne books while I was there, too). As a bonus, I had a parents' association meeting that night, so there was another chance to show off my new duds.

I'm the VP for the parents' association at Francesca's school, and my neighbor Tony is the Secretary this year. He was picking me up at 7:15 to carpool to the meeting. At 7:10, all hell broke loose. Tony arrived early, the dog wanted in the house, I was scrambling to grab my insultated cup full of hot tea, and Francesca was screaming yet again about something mundane. In my rush to get out the door, I missed the doorknob and failed to pull the front door closed. I reached way in to grab it, pulled it shut as I turned to go down our front steps, caught my foot on the step, and fell.

For those of you who've been to our house, you know that we have four cement steps leading from our walkway to our front door. The walkway is made of pretty, yet very hard, paving stones. I fell from the 2nd step down to the walk, landing directly on both knees.

Think about that for a moment. A forward fall from two feet up with quite a bit of momentum where you land directly on your kneecaps on frozen pavers (it was 20 degrees) while holding a cup of hot tea - luckily with a lid. It's almost a week later and my knees still ache and have to be bandaged. Yet that night, as I knealt there in excrutiating pain, the only thought racing through my head was...

I ripped my jeans.

Tooth Update

Just realized I forgot to post a tooth update...

Short version - The dentist said we'll give Dominic's two bottom front baby teeth another 2-3 months to fall out on their own. If they don't, they'll pull them. So cross your fingers!

The Perfect Jeans

Ah, the search for the perfect jeans. If you're like me, you find this search both stressful and infuriating. Not having the perfect body type (and who does in real life?), I have issues primarily with length and the dreaded "waist gap." When I'm on a mission for jeans, I generally end up at Marshall's, where they have a wide variety of random brands with many different shapes and sizes. Armed with 20-25 pairs, I trek to the dressing room to let the fittings begin.

About three months ago, I was once again on a quest for the perfect pair of jeans. Pair 1 - nope. Pair 2 - eh. Pair 3 - for God's sake NO! Pair 4.... As I put on pair 4, it was as though the heavens opened, shining a bright ray of light down onto me - and the jeans. Waist - no gap. Butt - looking good. Length - long enough. Fit - perfect. I stepped out of the dressing room and a random woman walking by stopped to say "Oh my goodness, those jeans fit you perfectly! It's like they were made for you!"

At last, the perfect pair of jeans. Perfect perfect perfect. Until I looked at the price tag. What?!?! How could jeans be at Marshall's and still cost $100??? My eyeballs just about popped out of my head. (I've since discovered that this particular brand - something about 7? For all mankind... something or other... are typically $200 if not more and are one of those IT brands. You know, the kind you see in People magazine but usually not on real people.)

So no way. No way was I paying $100 for a pair of jeans. I hate paying close to $40 for jeans, and the price definitely has to start with a 2 or 3. $27 - no problem. $32 - not too bad. $38 - getting close to the limit. But $100??? No way. Let's move on with the fitting.

Pair 5 - I don't think so.
Pair 6 - no freaking way.
Pair 7 - not bad, but certainly not close to pair 4.
And so on.

So I did it. I bought them. Then I took them home, hung them in the closet with the receipt, had instant buyer's remorse, and vowed to return them in the next few days. The next day, life resumed its usual craziness and I promptly forgot about them and Marshall's strict 30-day return policy. So there they hung for three months.

Until yesterday....

Teeth Everywhere!

I wrote a few days ago about Dominic having one of his bottom front permanent teeth coming in behind his baby teeth. Well, this boy is tooth-alicious! He's got the second bottom front tooth coming in as well - also behind the babies. Plus there is a molar coming in way in the back on the bottom right. It's like his lower jaw is going on a crazy tooth-sprouting rampage! His front two baby teeth are a bit loose, but so far the tooth fairy has yet to visit out home.

His dentist appointment is Tuesday, so we'll find out soon if we're going to let it be or yank 'em.

Weekend

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night! S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night! Oh yeah, Saturday night is upon us. It is party night at the Beyer house. Man oh man, do we have an evening of excitement planned! It's going to be a night of revelry, enchantment, and fun, fun, fun until our daddy takes the T-Bird away!

Okay, not really. I have an Usborne show tonight and Chris will be home putting the kids to bed. In the meantime, there's chili bubbling on the stove while we watch Bobby Flay do a macaroni & cheese throwdown on the Food Network. Mmmmmac 'n cheese. I'd like to taste test that one. The last episode was Philly Cheesesteaks. Now that was a drool-inducing throwdown. Makes me want to roadtrip to Philly just to eat cheesesteak for every meal at every place possible.

Today started out busy but now we have a small lull until dinner. First thing this morning, we did a run to the Walmart Supercenter. It's big, new, bright, clean and CHEAP! We loaded up with canned goods, flour, soy milk, bananas, and cotton balls, then it was home to unload before heading back out to dance class. The kids were practicing their dance for The Nutcracker. This will be Francesca's first year in The Nutcracker since last year she was in the younger class until January when she moved into Dominic's class. This year, their age group are the mice, so they've been practicing their "mouse hands" and shaking presents - too cute! I'll definitely have the video camera there for the dress rehearsal to catch it all on film. Of course, who knows when or if we'd ever watch it. We still haven't checked the camera from the recital back in May that my Mom hopefully taped while we were in Alaska. I guess we weren't too broken up about missing their recital. :)

Okay, chili's ready! Check back frequently for more Beyer family ramblings!

Election

Well, it's Obama. Drat.

Teeth

Oh, I forgot to mention Dominic's tooth. Last night, Chris noticed a new tooth - a grown-up tooth - starting to come in behind Dominic's lower front teeth. The problem is that he hasn't lost any baby teeth yet to make room, and this new tooth is coming in crooked and back too far. I'm going to call the dentist tomorrow and see what they say. I don't want his teeth all messed up, but I'm afraid they are going to want to pull one or two baby teeth to make room for his permanent ones. If that happens, the Tooth Fairy is going to have to do something extra special for all the "pain and suffering" caused by an unnatural tooth extraction.

There's always something...

Apple pie!

Another busy day here at the Beyer household. After putting Dominic on the bus this morning, Francesca and I headed to my GI doctor for another test. After drinking a not-too-gross cup of some sort of "testing fluid," I got to breathe into bags every 15 minutes for about 2 1/2 hours. In a couple of days I'll find out if I have bacteria issues in my digestive tract. The lactose test came back clear last week. So while I'm hoping they find something to fix, I am glad that I can still eat ice cream. And caramel lattes with whipped cream.

Francesca was so good the whole time - I was very proud of her. I took the portable DVD player so we watched Cinderella for the first hour and a half. Last time we took Annie, which is actually a long movie! That little redhead sings her way through well over 2 hours! It was time to go and she was still climbing up the railroad tracks on the raised drawbridge. Luckily, once Cinderella was over this morning, Francesca was happy working her way through her lunch and watching the bonus tracks. My amazing, sweet husband packed food for both of us, knowing that food keeps Francesca happy and also that I was going to be famished after fasting since dinner last night. And yes, he packed me a big piece of apple pie.

Since I didn't get a piece of pie yesterday, I feel I am well justified having eating two today. (I have yet to be able to come up with a justification for the third piece, but I'm still working on it. The day isn't over yet...)

Daylight Savings

Ah, the end of Daylight Savings time. As of 2 AM last night, we are all back on Eastern Standard time, which of course means that it's now dark just after 5 PM. I can already feel the seasonal it's-too-dark blues trying to creep their way in. Begone! Eh, I guess can deal with dark. Cold - that's another story. Brrrr....

I'm trying to warm up with a cup of tea. Tea with no sugar. I had no idea how gross it would be without sugar. I have a test tomorrow morning at my GI doctor, so all I was allowed to eat today was white rice, white bread, and plain chicken. I can drink water, black coffee, or tea. No sugar, dairy, whole grains, fruits or veggies.

Hello. I'm bland. Nice to meet you.

I had a home show this afternoon where the hostess is resisting the fact that it's frickin' cold and refuses to turn on the heat. I was freezing the whole time (even with a thick sweater), as were the other guests, and I still can't quite shake the chill. If only I could drink hot chocolate - that would do the trick! But instead I've got my yucky plain tea and a slice of white bread. It's torturous. Not only do we have literally a cauldron full of candy from Halloween, but there is also a homemade apple pie in the refrigerator calling to me. It knows that I want to eat it, and it's calling to me. Mocking me. It knows I can't have it, yet it keeps projecting thoughts of itself into my white-food-addled brain.

I'm packing pie to take with me tomorrow morning. As soon as the test is done, I'll make quick work of that pie. That delicous apple pie....

Fasting sucks.

Where are the kids?

It's 6:45 PM and I'm getting low on individually-wrapped Twizzlers. Not because of a steady stream of trick-or-treaters, but because I'm bored and eating them myself. I think they are starting to fight back because the plastic cocoons which encase them are getting harder and harder to rip open. I've already resorted to using my teeth. A little bit of plastic never hurt anyone, right?

But really, I've only given away about 16 pieces of candy in the past 47 minutes! Where is everyone??? Are all of the kids keeping Linus company in the pumpkin patch? Someone really ought to tell them that there is no Great Pumpkin so they can come take all of these Smarties and Skittles off my hands.

My neighbor across the street is following her tradition and has margaritas and pony bottles of beer, so maybe I can take advantage of the low traffic rate and skip over there for a treat of my own. But I'm not too sure that's a good idea considering Chris has our strobe light set up. It's messing with my eyes and equilibrium enough as it is!

Oooh, doorbell! Gotta run!

Family Halloween

There you go, my first attempt at adding a photo to my blog. How'd I do? That picture is from Pumpkinfest this past weekend. Pumpkinfest is a yearly fall celebration organized by MAP (the Montessori Association of Parents). Francesca is at Country Montessori - our last year at the school. I can't imagine leaving there - it's such a wonderful school with amazing teachers! So sad that next year both kids will be at the *gasp* public school. As Vice President of MAP, as well as the bake sale queen, I'm usually caught up in the event logistics too much to enjoy the day. This year I decided to take a deep breath and try to step back a little bit. It worked - too an extent. :) Anyway, the photo above is our family picture from that day, taken by my good friend, one of the sweetest women in the world, Julie Cray.

Today was busy, busy - and it's not over yet! A quick summary of my day: bus stop, breakfast, Staples, Linens 'n Things, Kohls, Target, Francesca's school, post office, lunch at "The Wright Place" in Millbury, home to pop popcorn, then to Dominic's school for the Halloween parade & party. Plus there is still trick-or-treat tonight, and I have to leave home tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM for a vendor event. (I probably shouldn't point out that I don't have anything ready or packed up for that event yet. Or maybe I should point it out to myself so that I get off the computer and start packing!) Nah, I have plenty of time!

So tonight is trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. We made spur of the moment plans at the bus stop today to go to our neighbor's house for pizza before t-o-t starts. For most families, that would mean no cooking for the mom (aka: me), but since Dominic can't eat pizza and Francesca can't eat pizza with egg in the crust (the restaurant said they are "pretty sure" it does), that means I need to whip up some delicious, wheat-egg-milk-nut-free dinosaur chicken nuggets to take with us. (By "whip up," I mean "heat frozen nuggets in toaster oven.")

I suppose I really ought to go prepare for tomorrow's event, so I'll leave you with a picture of Dominic from his school Halloween parade today. In case you aren't a big Pirates of the Carribbean fan, he is Captain Jack Sparrow. (Make sure you say it with authority, it's not captainjacksparrow, it's CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow!)

We did forgo the eyeliner. At least for school. ;)

Trick or treat!

Only one day 'til trick or treat!

Update on those Rice Krispie treats for Francesca's class - it's important to note that if you plan on cutting pumpkin shapes out of something, you should first ensure that you own a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter. I did make extremely nice rectangles, though, and dipped them in melted chocolate as a consolation prize. Considering there are 22 in her class and I sent about 40 treats and zero came home, I guess they were a hit. I don't need no stinkin' Pumpkin cookie cutters!

It's October 30th and I just dipped into the Twix candy bars for trick-or-treat. And the Skittles. I'm craving anything Reese's but there's none in the house due to the super fun allergies. But perhaps I'll be able to eat peanut butter in...

ROME!!!

It's official as of this morning, I earned the Usborne trip incentive to go to Rome, Italy at the beginning of April. My mom is already planning to make the trek here to MA from Pittsburgh to stay with Dominic and Francesca while Chris and I go off on our romantic getaway. I can hardly believe it! Now if my GI doctor can fix me by then, hopefully I can actually enjoy the trip and not be a physical mess due to the travel, excitement, time change, and every other thing that messes me up. *fingers crossed*

The next trip incentive is going to be announced this afternoon. I wonder where it will be???

Snack Time

Do you ever commit to do something that sounds good at the time, but then when it comes time to actually do it you wonder where your mind was? I'm like this every year with snack sign-up at Francesca's school. Each parent is asked to sign up for five days each year to bring a snack for the class. Of course I have to be one of the first moms to get her hands on that sign up datebook. Of course I anxiously flip through looking for the "good days." You know, the special days - birthdays and holidays. Since Francesca's birthday is in July, that leaves me with holidays. Ooooh, she's at school on October 30th but not the 31st, so I'll make snack on the 30th and it will be some wonderful, amazing, oooh and ahh theme snack!

Yeah right.

Here it is. October 29th. I look at the calendar and there, staring at me in red ink, it says "SNACK." Crap. What to make? Not cupcakes - Francesca is allergic to eggs, plus they get cupcakes at least 37 times each week as it is. I could buy popcorn balls, but the Martha Stewart in me cringes at taking in a store-bought popcorn ball. Plus some of the kids are barely three years old and heaven forbid I be the one who supplies the choking hazard. So what to make???

I happened to go to WalMart today on a beans run (no pun intented). Somehow, we have depleted everything in our pantry with the word "beans" on it - kidney beans, garbanzo beans, black beans, white beans, and even the non-legume green beans. So it was off to the Super WalMart for cans. (Which suddenly brings to mind a scene from "The Jerk" with Steve Martin shouting "He hates these cans!!!") But I digress.

While pushing a can-filled cart around the evil-yet-awesome superstore, I was inspired. Rice Krispie treats! But not just any Rice Krispie treats - oh no, these are going to be Halloween Rice Krispie treats. And what does that mean, you ask? I haven't a clue. All I know is that Francesca is going for a nap in 3 minutes and then I will have approximately 1 hour 22 minutes to whip up an awe-inspiring Halloween version of a classic treat. I'm thinking there may need to be food coloring involved....

So I'm off to google "Halloween Rice Krispie" treats and hope for inspiration in the form of items I have readily available in my kitchen. Wish me luck!

Done for October!

I'm home. Home from my last of 11 Usborne home shows this month - my busiest month in my 3 1/2 year career as a consultant. In an effort to ensure that I would earn the trip incentive for Rome, I overbooked my October. Every day I'd check my sales, my trip points, my downline's sales.... Tonight marked the finale of that effort after a particularly busy week - 5 home shows in 6 days! And I'm happy to report that Chris and I will be going to Rome in April 2009. Hallelujah! The push was all worthwhile! And now I'm off to bed.

Entry #2!

Rain, rain, go away, I wanted to go shopping today! Both kids are at school and I had grandiose plans to stroll around the local shopping center and perhaps use these Ann Taylor Loft gift cards that are burning a hole in my pocket. Unfortunately, as we were putting on our shoes to head to the bus stop, I heard a pattering sound on the skylights. Break out the umbrellas!

Thankfully, our next-door neighbors graciously allow the adults to wait inside their garage until the bus comes, so we can stay at least dry even if we aren't warm. I asked Pete if, when they bought the house, they noticed the "port in a storm" garage clause. It makes me so happy to have neighbors who are friendly, down-to-earth, and nice people. Not everyone in our neighborhood would offer their garage as shelter. Now if I could just get Pete to sell coffee in there....

As for the kids, a little bit of water falling from the sky doesn't affect them, so they were their usual boisterous selves, complete with rain coats and kiddie umbrellas. The driveway was a sea of frogs, pink frills, Dora and Batman - umbrellas hiding little heads and hopefully keeping them dry. If only I could retain enough youth and innocence to make me not mind the rain, instead of scrunching up waiting for it to end. Or maybe that just means I'm smart enough to know to get in out of the rain. I must admit, I am not particularly looking forward to winter mornings at the bus stop. I'm such a fan of the cold. (I hope you read into the sarcasm in that comment.)

Thank goodness Francesca's school has a drive-through drop off and pick up. Everyone lines up in their cars, then you circle around so you're right in front of the door, and one of the teachers gets your child out of the car and takes them inside. Ingenious! I don't even have to unbuckle my seatbelt! Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy taking Francesca inside many days and sometimes staying for the morning songs, but give me rain, sleet or snow, and baby, I'm in that drive-through line.

So now here I sit. On the computer. Listening to the soothing sound of the rain on the roof, but far from shopping. I think I'll make myself a cup of International Coffee and curl up in front of the TV for half an hour until I have to pick up Francesca. That sounds like the perfect plan for a cold, rainy morning to myself. Just please don't let it turn to snow.

First post

Okay, I give in. I'll try out this whole blogging thing and see how it goes. It's not as though I have copious amounts of free time to write, but what the heck, right?

Halloween is looming. A candy-filled, costume-clad delight. The kids cannot wait for trick-or-treat, a night I both look forward to and dread. I love the costumes, going from door to door, exclaiming over the kids in the neighborhood, and that naughty feeling you get from being outside wandering around at night. What I don't enjoy is the constant worry of possible allergic reactions. Reese's peanut butter cups, Reese's Pieces, Snickers, Almond Joy, Peanut M&Ms... Nuts, nuts, everywhere, but so little candy my children can have. Don't get me wrong, one of the pros of food allergies is that they just straight out CAN'T eat much of the loot they'll gather. (That means more for me after they're in bed.) So while that takes childhood obesity and rotten teeth out of the picture, it also mandates an on-hand Epi-Pen Jr - just in case.

So much in society revolves around food - birthday parties, holidays, going out to eat, traveling.... All involve the presence of food and/or needing to eat. This means that at every turn in life, my children are reminded of what they can't have, of how they are different than most other kids. With allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat, sesame, and others, they are denied the freedom of grabbing a cupcake at a birthday party or a quick snack at a friend's house or getting something from the ice cream truck. They stand aside, watching the other kids putting things in their mouth with abandon, without a worry, without the threat of a life-or-death situation. This separates them from their friends. It is a constant reminder that they are different. And it is already bringing the question - "why?" A question that I can't answer for them.

This past May, Chris and I went on an Alaskan cruise. A cruise that I earned as a Supervisor with Usborne Books. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - I should have been on cloud nine! Instead, every time someone asked me "Are you taking the kids?" it made me sad. Can you image taking two children with food allergies into the middle of the ocean and trying to feed them? Cruise ships don't exactly cater to special orders. Mental images of Dominic gasping for breath and turning blue-purple as the ship radios the coast for a helicopter that may arrive too late.... So no, we didn't take the kids.

Next April, we'll be going to Rome. My soon-to-be-earned trip is again a sense of pride and excitement for me, but also bittersweet. I imagine the incredible experience it would be for Dominic and Francesca- a different country, ancient ruins, another language, people who can pronounce my daughter's name, an airplane ride, new foods to try... and then reality hits. Oh yeah. Food. That's kind of important. So how do you say in Italian that my son could die if any butter sneaks into his food? Looks like Chris and I will be alone again. Don't get me wrong, a romantic week in Rome with my husband is definitely not a bad thing! It's just the lack of choice in the matter that makes my heart ache.

As the kids get older, I hope they will be able to experience more, to do more, and to take care of themselves along the way. Until then, I continue to hope and pray that perhaps they will someday outgrow these allergies, these limitation, these unfortunate circumstance that limit their experiences and put them on the outside of their circles of friends. In the case of trick-or-treat, well, I guess we'll go with the trick.