Life with Sam n Zack

Hear about life at 193 with my two little loves and Michy too....

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Sam at Sue's

Did I ever write about Sam spending the night at Sue's? Well, the short of it is that every night when Sue is leaving she asks both boys if they want to come home with her. One day a few weeks ago Sam said, yes I'm going to go get my pajama and toothbrush I'll be right back. Leaving me stunned. I said that we should call Mommy first and it was decided that Sam would go. He went stayed there, we all survived. Last night he wanted to go again. Mich wasn't going to be home until late so having Sam out would make it a bit easier for me. We called Mich, who wasn't thrilled since she hadn't seem Sam that morning since she left earlier then he woke up but we decided to let him go. Isaac and I ran errands while Mich worked late. We met at the diner for a late dinner at about 8:30 where Isaac ate my entire Belgian waffle. As we were getting in the car to go home Sam called and said he wanted to come home. Sure thing kid, we'll be right there. He said that he missed us. When we got home he was lying in our bed and I laid down next to him. He said thanks for picking me up mom. I told him no matter where he was if he wasn't happy he should call and I would come. Then he said thanks mom, I love you and nearly squeezed me to death with his hug. It's great to be missed and even greater to be able to fix a problem. They should all be this easy.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Photos

I figured that it had been a long time since I posted any photos, so here are some of the latest.



















Alyssa getting kisses by a sea lion at the Aquarium.

























Sam with some birthday loot!



















Silly Sam!


















This is what he does when you ask Issac to say cheese.
























Dapper Isaac!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Isaac Overboard and an unrelated funny story

At 33 days shy of his second birthday our small boy decided its time to climb out of his crib. He loves his crib, I know that he could have been climbing out of it for months now. The boy climbs anything he can, it's scary really. I think that yesterday's successful escape was due to the fact that Sue put him in there when he didn't want to be. Just because he looks tired doesn't mean that you can dump him in his crib and expect him to be happy. Her story went, he was tired, I put him in his crib, he cried for a minute, then it got quiet, I thought he had fallen asleep. She was downstairs folding laundry. So, a little while later she went upstairs, peaked into his room and he was not there. He was in Sam's room playing on the floor. I just hope that she learned her lesson and doesn't give him the opportunity to do it again. He never cried when I put him in his crib. I never put him in awake, I just know that he is ready. He also never goes to sleep right away, I will hear him talking and playing for a while afterward. I guess it will be interesting to see. We did move the mattress to the lowest setting last night.

Yesterday the boys came to my office. In the area where the photocopier is we have a dish of paper clips. Isaac started taking handfuls of them and throwing them on the floor. Sam was picking them up and putting them down my shirt and Sue's shirt. I went to Sports Authority to buy Sam cleats for soccer. As I was squatting down to pick out his size I had a very terrible feeling down there. I looking around to see if any one was looking and then gave a little tug to find that one of the paper clips made its way into my undies and got caught in the hair down there. OUCH! I had to go into the Sports Authority bathroom to remove it. Crazy, right?!?!?

Monday, April 24, 2006

I just want to feel fine

I've been sick since Wednesday. As the afternoon went on I started to feel worse, when I got home I was having trouble imagining how I was going to deal with the kids. Thanks to the tv and both of the boys being very agreeable I survived until Mich came home. Wednesday night I felt crappy and although I didn't take my temperature am sure I had a fever. I would get terrible chills and shake then be sweating like gardening on a 100 degree day. Thursday I woke up feeling so much better and decided it was a fluke and went to work. Once again the afternoon came and I started to deteriorate. I left early and went home and got in bed. Mich came home early and Sue stayed a bit late so I didn't have to deal with the boys. Mich took my temperate and it was 102.8, that's a lot for an adult that took advil an hour before. I was having that shaking.sweating thing again too. Friday I decided that I'd better go to the doctor to make sure I didn't have something awful. She said it was a virus and that I should rest and take Advil and/or Tylenol. Saturday I woke up feeling better but not perfect. I had an afternoon slump but was okay in the evening. Sunday was better and today is better yet although I'm still not fine. I'm okay but not right. I just want to be right.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Happy!

I'm so happy today. Well, I'm almost always happy but today my happy meter is nearly 100%. Mich and I had 4 days off in a row, yes 4! Thursday I had taken a vacation day to spend with my cousin Vicki and her daughters. We planned to go to Coney Island to go to the Aquarium and possibly go on rides maybe see if we could find a shell or two. Well, Thursday morning the alarm goes off and Michy says she's not going to work she's coming with us. Woo Hoo! We started out by going to the bagel store and loading in the Heffalump movie into the dvd player. The kids were happy, Vic and I were sitting in the front and Mich spent most of the ride on the phone with work. We got to the Aquarium just in time for the sea lion show and somehow snagged seats in the second row. I think the highlight was the kiss that Alyssa from the sea lion. Afterwards we went to dinner at Arirang for dinner. It's a hibachi place where they made a big deal about your birthday, flashing lights, a cake and a special song. Every time the lights would go down Sam would say is in my turn. So stinking cute. The next day was fun because we had Sue and we both had the day off. We went shopping for furniture, clothes for Sam and birthday presents. We had lunch just the two of us. That night we went to my mom's house to celebrate Sam's birthday. We always have an especially good time when Rob and Kate come. Mom did a Spiderman or as Isaac says man-man theme. Sam was in heaven. He got many gifts and was a happy boy. Saturday his eyes weren't even open for a minute when he asked can you call Jon, I want to see him for my birthday today. We told him that we had to wait a little bit in case they were sleeping and went downstairs to eat breakfast and open the presents we got him. We got him all the things that he's been asking for a batman watch, a batman space ship and a guitar. We also got him a some undies and pj's. We wouldn't let him open the guitar until Isaac woke up because that was from him. So he checked and checked and he finally woke up. We already had plans with Vic and the girls to go to Bowcraft and also plans to see Cynthia, Julia and Jonah. So we called Jon and he was available, we arranged to pick him up. Then I talked to Cynthia and Jonah had a fever so I arranged to pick up Julia. So there I we were with 4 kids in the car! We were off to Bowcraft, it's a little amusement park right near our house, perfect for the 4 year old crowd. They went on the big trucks, train, boats, motorcycles and scrambler. The also played one of those games were you shoot the water at the target and things race to the top. We told the kids that no matter who one they had to give the prize to Zack. It was a Bob the Builder doll. He loved it! In between the rides all the kids had ice cream too. Then we went to TGIFriday's where the adults refrained but were so ready for adult beverages. Service was kind of slow but it all worked out in the end. When every one was finished they came and sang a birthday song that was so funny. Sort of this rap thing, there were five people standing around our table clapping and stomping their feet. Sam loved it but of course didn't take a bite of the dessert they brought. Then we went back to our house to play in the yard and have the Buzz Lightyear cake that I decorated. It was a bad idea on my part to ask Sam what he wanted for breakfast on his birthday on Friday night as we were driving home from my parents, I guess it didn't dawn on me that he would ask for something that we didn't have in the house. So he said strawberries and a Buzz Lightyear cake. Crap where was I going to get one of those! So I was thinking that I'd go to the bakery and get a cupcake and surely they'd have a Buzz that they put on cakes. Well, all they had was "whatever's in the book lady", so I flipped through every page of the book and no Buzz. They had Woody but I doubt he'd do. So I went to the supermarket. Did I mention that I woke up extra early to try to do this before Sam woke up. At the supermarket they did have a Buzz cake in their book, things are looking up. Of course they can't just throw together the cake for me but I can buy the packet of stuff and do it myself. Great. So I pick a cake that is white with green trim and has only 3 balloons that I figure I can scrap off. I take a photo of the cake in their book with my phone so that I can see how to decorate it. I had already bought decorating icing for the jello gigglers that I was planning on bringing to school but then found out I couldn't use because it's not kosher for passover. I rush home to work on the cake. It turns out much better then I could have expected, I was proud of my efforts. I even had it all done before Sam woke up. He didn't make mention of the cake on his actual birthday so that's why we finally got around to cutting it after lunch. It was getting late and we had plans to go to the Gigantino's for dinner. I drove Julia home then headed to Jon's house. We got there and no one was home, poor Jon gave me this horrified look and said, Will you babysit me? Like I was going to leave him there alone. I called his mom on her cell to find that her husband had come to her job to visit with the baby. So we drove over there and dropped Jon off. I got back home and we rushed off to our dinner plan. It was such a pleasure to sit in the backyard and watch all of our kids run around and have such a great time. They have a son that is Sam's age and boy/girl twins that are Isaac's age. They got a cake for Sam. So many celebrations! We got home and crashed. Sunday we were going to Albany for Mich's grandma's 88th birthday party. It was scheduled to bring between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. Not really the best time for us to start a party that is taking place 3 hours from home but oh well. For some reason I woke up early and couldn't fall back asleep so I went to the kitchen to make the jello jigglers for Sam's birthday celebration at school the next day. We had to do something that was kosher for Passover so we decided on jigglers. I looked at the package and saw that we needed 2 1/2 cups of boiling water so filled the tea kettle and took out the baking pans that I was going to put the jello in. Sam picks his jello by color so they ended up with green, yellow and pink or lime, lemon and strawberry kiwi. The water boiled I made each color and then got in the shower. The boys woke up had baths and got dressed. We went to the diner for breakfast and ate with all of the post church easter dressed people. Then got into the car to head for Albany. There was an accident that caused our trip there to be 30 minutes longer then it should have been. We figured out a wonderful thing, how to have the boys wear the headphones so that we can listen to music! So we opened the sunroof and jammed to the xm radio. We got to the party and had a great time. It was wonderful to see everyone in Michelle's family. The boys had such a great time running around and they were so social and wonderful with everyone. The boys got many gifts especially Sam, since it was his birthday the day before. We had the forethought to pack pj's so when we stopped at a rest area for a potty break we put on the boys pajamas. Both of them were asleep by the time we got home and they both transferred. The next morning we woke up and as Mich got the boys ready I went downstairs to deal with the jigglers. I decided that I'd cut squares, circles and triangles. I pre-plated one of each on to the Spiderman and Batman plates that had be selected by you know who. As I was doing it I was thinking these don't seem right, they seem too soft. So I plated each one and covered it with waxed papered and then stacked them into the guitar box. We all went to school together. We dropped Sam at his class and then took Zack to his class. It was great to have Mich there with me so she could see what it's like in the class. Also for her to see what our boy is like with his classmate. Sue came to pick up Zack and we went back to Sam's classroom. We read a book to the class, Green Eggs and Ham and then it was snack time. The jigglers weren't jigglers at all. It was basically a diaster, they stuck to the wax paper and the ones near the bottom were so smushed. The kids all seemed to love it though. They gave Sam a crown to wear and all sang happy birthday. It was so very adorable. Then it was back to reality as Mich and I went our separate ways to work. When I got home from work I looked at a jello package and found that I was supposed to use 4 boxes of jello. No wonder, I used more water then the regular recipe calls for.

Monday, April 03, 2006

What a super weekend!

Friday night, I drove into the city and picked Mich up from work and we headed uptown to Lincoln Center. We parked and found a place to grab a bite to eat. Then we went over to the fountain where we met Ann, Jen and Greg. It was so great to see them. Jen and I have been friends for 19 years, Greg is her husband and Ann is her friend from growing up. We were all there to see Joseph's film, www.thingsthathangfromtrees.com , Joe, Jen and Ann all grew up together. I met Joe on my first day of college. The film was amazing, I'm so proud and impressed with my friend. It was really sad though, left you thinking. Our home was uneventful and we arrived home to everyone but Amanda sleeping. It was so hard from Amanda to wake up Sue.

Saturday was our lazy day. The only thing on the agenda was a birthday party for one of Sam's classmates and I didn't even have to go. We hung out in the backyard and enjoyed the 70 degree weather. Isaac is so amazing physically, he climbs up the rock and rope wall on the swing set and then dives down the slide. Mich and Sam went to the birthday party while Isaac and I started out to do some errands. Our trip was short lived as Zack fell asleep after the first store. I headed home and put him in his crib and took the time to relax alone. It's not like I got that much time as most kids parties only last 90 minutes. We spent the rest of the afternoon just like the morning, hanging out in the backyard.

Sunday we started by waking up late and realizing it was even later after we changed the clocks. Mich had her riding lesson at 12:45, I asked Vicki to pick her up so that the boys and I could come watch the tail end of the lesson and then we'd all be on our way. We went to see Jen, Greg and Nate in Staten Island. It was so great to see Nate, we celebrated his second birthday with him. Sam had a great time being the big boy and leading all the games they played. We had expected Zack to sleep on the way there but that never happened so by the time we were nearing the end of our visit he was so over tired. We said our goodbyes and we weren't even off the block when Zack feel asleep. That was at 7 p.m., we got all the way home and he slept until the next day. His bedtime is usually 9:00 p.m. We got Indian food for dinner and we're happy to get to bed.