Hello, Mr. Murphy, and welcome.
Just as we had regained our emotional balance and returned to “normal” around here, we were hit with a stomach bug. BabyGirl, JediBoy and PisecoDad were all up sick from 2:15 am last night, sometimes in shifts and sometimes in tandem. Naturally, the Mom was up the whole time through, cleaning up, holding heads & fretting. Lots of laundry today.
Fortunately, they all seem to be improving already, though certainly worn down and still needing to rest. The boys are playing through a favorite video game a second time, trying to unlock secrets and hidden treasures. BabyGirl is unusually sedate, mostly just sitting with the boys and watching the screen.
That gives me, finally, a time to sit and catch my breath. Tonight I’m looking ahead, in a general way, to the next month and a half - Thanksgiving week and then […]
Original post by piseco
…so have you, you, you. You came too, too, too. You’ve been to the zoo, zoo, zoo.
At least you can imagine you were there!
Today was BabyGirl’s second birthday, and we celebrated by meeting friends at a zoo between our homes - about an hour’s drive for each of us.
We did the entire zoo twice, had lunch, watched all kinds of animals, ran and played and wore ourselves out. We were at the zoo for almost 6 hours. It was a great treat, and the kids loved seeing all the “elimals” (it sounds like a cross between Elmo and animal). Especially the monkeys, the “elimunts” (you can figure that one out!) and the penguins. Oh, the penguins.
JediBoy was the first to figure out, by accident, that if he walked along the glass holding a graham cracker, one particular penguin would follow him, trying to get […]
Original post by piseco
Let’s get this straight: my post this morning was a belated post about Halloween, written two days after the fact about events that happened on time. This post that you’re reading right now, scratching your head and heaving a sigh because I won’t get to the point, this post here is about belated carving, written on time about events that happened two days after the fact. Is that clear? Okay, then, read on.
JediBoy had his pumpkin last week but wanted to carve it on Halloween. When Halloween arrived, he decided he wanted to carve it with Pappy. When Pappy arrived on Halloween, JediBoy decided he’d rather play Legos after all.
When Pappy came back to our house this morning, JediBoy asked if he was ready to carve a pumpkin! Pappy was surprised but game. Pappy cut the top and I helped scoop out the […]
Original post by piseco
We’ve had a busy week! The kids and I did lots of little things all week to celebrate Halloween, which meant we weren’t following our typical routine and so I wasn’t on the computer much to blog for all my adoring fans. I do apologize!
Today’s fun, besides JediBoy’s basketball game in the morning, was the wild and wacky 2nd birthday party for BabyGirl. (Her actual birthday is next Thursday.) We rented a party room at the local children’s museum for an hour, and then stayed to play for two more hours on the museum floor. We had so much fun dancing to a cd of BabyGirl’s favorite songs and eating snacks and ice-cream-cone-cupcakes in the party room and then trying out all the fun displays in the center. The ride-on bikes, ice cream cone stand, water tables, tunnels and ramps were the biggest […]
Original post by piseco
Sometimes mom is right.
JediBoy woke up late this morning but happy, and seemed fine. We had ourselves some fun, flipping coins and rolling dice and keeping tallies of the outcome, reading variations of the Paul Bunyan story, coloring pictures of nanny goats and watching videos about cheese making.
Then he started to feel grumpy, and he was whiny. His nose was running. He was hungry, but wouldn’t eat. He was tired, but wouldn’t sleep. He worried his lips until they were chapped, and he had a chapped spot under his bottom lip, too. He had a terrible headache after reading, even though he had his glasses on. Eventually he took a nap on the living room floor for about an hour, and woke up ready to cry.
We drove to the doctor’s office in the rain. He fell asleep on the way, and it’s […]
Original post by piseco
One year ago today… we drove a van, took two planes and an airport shuttle and arrived at our hotel in Guatemala City, excited that the very next morning we’d meet our own BabyGirl.
Imagine our shock when we went to meet the agency rep around 3:30 and she told us that the foster parents were bringing BabyGirl at 5:00 that afternoon! I couldn’t keep my heart from racing as we waited, and waited, and waited for that last agonizing hour and a half.
The last year has been an amazing one in so many ways. We held that joy in our hearts today, and celebrated.
Original post by piseco
I’ve been offline most of the past two days, hiding in bed with a chest cold and rotten sore throat. I’m starting to see a little improvement today, so I wanted to share the following fact with you:
The Poison Control Center says that a 23-month-old girl will not be harmed by eating 28 Halls Defense Vitamin C Drops, Assorted Citrus.
In fact, not only will she not be harmed, she will continue to show her usual, hearty appetite at dinner and consume a hot dog in the bun, some fries, a drink and miscellaneous other snacks throughout the evening until the 28 wrappers are discovered at 8 pm.
BabyGirl got into the bag in my bedroom while I thought she was napping, and came down around 5 so it was at least 3 hours later that we found the wrappers and called Poison Control just to be sure.
The lady on the […]
Original post by piseco
My immediate family is small and spread apart. When we’re lucky, it’s just between two states, but four months of the year my dad is on another continent. We don’t see family very often!
We live in the town we moved to when we were just married, a town where we knew no one at all, and had no close friends until I met R at work. We’ve made a few good friends here over the years, and imported some friends from home. And we’ve learned that dear friends are really part of the family. I wrote about some of them here in January, when we went to the portrait studio for my birthday.
Today, I returned to the portrait studio with another chunk of our found family: the unsocialized, wild, weird & wonderful homeschooling kids. Leigh & her family are leaving next week (her husband has […]
Original post by piseco
First, the update on BabyGirl. Last night after dinner she was still limping, so PisecoDad decided to take her to the walk-in clinic just to be safe. They did an x-ray: nothing’s broken, so the doctor said it’s probably just a sprained ankle, considering the way that she was walking (she wouldn’t walk on that foot flat, only on tiptoe).
The funniest part is that the doctor also has a 22-month-old daughter, and she did THE EXACT SAME THING on their backyard slide the night before! So he said he had spent a lot of time watching how his daughter was walking, trying to be sure of that diagnosis, so as soon as he saw BabyGirl he knew it was the same thing. How weird is that?
Anyway, he said there’s nothing much you can do for a toddler with a sprained ankle. Trying to enforce keeping […]
Original post by piseco
We are home.
The three days spent focused on Great-Aunt Mel’s funeral passed without any extra trouble. BabyGirl was happy to stay at camp with Aunt Robin and JediBoy was good as gold during the service, paying attention and asking suitably thoughtful questions.
The rest of the week, my kids turned to the lake for endless entertainment.
JediBoy loved the paddleboat, now that he can reach the pedals himself. He was a water-boy, an explorer, more outgoing and independent than ever before. He made an eight-year-old friend four camps up the lake and spent large parts of Saturday and Sunday out with him, roaming the land and shore between our two camps (all the camps in between are either family or friends). Another night, he went over to talk to the fifteen-year-old girl at the campfire next door, and stayed with her for an hour an a half, roasting […]
Original post by piseco
Tonight we’re mourning the loss of PisecoDad’s Great-Aunt Emelia, who finally lost her long battle with scleroderma.
Aunt Mel was Gigi’s closest sister and best friend for all of her life, so the loss hits her especially hard. We are doing all we can to comfort her in this dark hour.
The passing has us scrambling to leave town right after breakfast tomorrow instead of a leisurely after-dinner drive up to the lake. Fortunately we’d already planned to be in that part of the state for the next week.
At the same time that we are absorbing this transition, the kids are still excited about the journey and our lakeside, mostly-tourist-free week exploring the gentle world around us.
I will be internet-free until next Saturday, September 6th. I’ll see you then!
Original post by piseco
I know you’ll forgive me my three days of bloggy silence.
My dad and his wife were here and gave the two of us a little kid-free time for our tenth anniversary.
Friday night we all went out together for dinner. Saturday morning, JediBoy had his last game of summer soccer, so we all went to that. Then JediBoy told us to go to a movie! The kids and the grandparents went to Chuck E Cheese, a playground, and out for ice cream. PisecoDad and I went out for Indian food then to see The Dark Knight.
We spent Sunday morning at home together, and then PisecoDad and I left - we went out to Sunday dinner, a spot of shopping and then tucked in to a jacuzzi suite overlooking the river at a hotel in a neighboring town. Our first overnight alone since the era B.C. (Before Children). It was very, very […]
Original post by piseco
Today is our 10th wedding anniversary… and one of my two most treasured gifts used to look like this:
That was JediBoy on Tuesday. If you want to see him today, the all-new-and-improved six-year-old cutie, peek behind the cut!
Original post by piseco
On Monday night I was convinced it was Sunday. Today I kept thinking it’s Saturday - because PisecoDad’s been home again. This has been a most confusing week.
We just heard that JediBoy’s dear friend Nate broke his wrist last night, and spent all of today at various doctors to get it checked, x-rayed and finally casted. It makes our day of errands, Legos, Jim Weiss and rounding numbers sound perfectly blissful in comparison. Poor Nate!
(Does it surprise anyone that I was able to peek back through my photo files, skimpy as they are, and find a fitting picture of JediBoy consoling Nate?)
Original post by piseco
A day full of errands, appointments and a new soccer practice all with PisecoDad home from work has my brain all fuzzy. Was it really Monday?
We spent the morning cleaning out under the playroom couch in search of the MUS Beta dvd. (Keepin’ it real, right?) We found Legos, Playmobil, playing cards, drumsticks and dust bunnies galore. AND the dvd we needed, so it was worth the search. Then we cuddled on the bed and watched the dvd up through lesson 4, which we’re on this week.
Doctor’s appointments, lunch out, the copy shop and library ate up the middle of the day. Then JediBoy had his first practice with his fall soccer team, home for a late dinner, and here we are, with me thinking it’s Sunday night.
BabyGirl spontaneously started saying “happy,” a word she’s never even attempted before, with often perfect clarity today. […]
Original post by piseco
JediBoy has had a loose upper tooth since well before the wedding, probably around the beginning of July. He stopped eating at the front of his mouth and won’t dare eat anything hard there like a raw apple or corn on the cob. By this point, he’s had two short bleeds, false alarms obviously, and his tooth can stick out at almost a 90 degree angle!
This morning, he started making this snaggletooth face that reminds me of his Uncle Crit - who, when he was younger, would make the goofiest, craziest faces when I pulled out my camera. It makes me crack up laughing, so here’s my picture of today’s joy:
We’ve had kind of a cranky day in other respects - it started with a late breakfast, bad moods and a missed chance to meet up with friends for berry-picking - but we managed to get ourselves […]
Original post by piseco
We’ve had a very nice weekend, in spite of the heat and humidity. We were able to take the time to be with several of our good friends and family this weekend, and that time was cherished.
Yesterday morning started with soccer… here is 40% of Team USA! We’re lucky to have three of JediBoy’s friends on his soccer team.
JediBoy was thrilled to have his Grandma & Grandpa come down to watch him play. After the game, we went with them to lunch out and then for a hot but yummy trip to the pick-your-own farm for fresh raspberries. The kids liked seeing the animals and eating berries right off the bush.
When Grandma & Grandpa had to leave (which put JediBoy in a bit of a snit), we drove home and relaxed for a couple of hours.
In the evening, we went over to Aunt R & Uncle J’s […]
Original post by piseco
We had a very nice, if hectic, weekend. We did get to soccer on Saturday, and JediBoy has three friends on his team so he is thrilled. He’s glad to be playing soccer again - he didn’t do spring soccer this year so we’ve been soccer-less since March.
After soccer we did lunch and then drove down for the wedding weekend - swapping JediBoy out for Em, who wanted to ride down with BabyGirl. I’m sure we got the better end of that deal as BabyGirl slept most of the way while Em watched Hannah Montana on her DS, then after BabyGirl woke up, Em entertained her by chatting about what we saw along the way. The two boys, riding in the back of the other van, kept up a constant stream of chatter for two and a half hours!
That afternoon we spent time with the wedding […]
Original post by piseco
A very quick update: JediBoy was less feverish today, though he said his throat still hurt. He’s bouncing back, and everyone else in the family seems to have stayed healthy. So, tomorrow we’re off to the first soccer game of the season and then a three-hour drive to the hotel for Aunt R’s wedding on Sunday!
Original post by piseco
This has been a busy week for us, in that tiny, make-work busyness that can get under my skin. Our state’s school year begins on July 1 (that is, as surreal as it seems, next Tuesday) after which I will be Officially Responsible for Officially Homeschooling JediBoy for the very first time. There has been paperwork to put together and planning, in the sense that I plan, which is not nearly what I read many of you are doing! But I have been checking our library catalog to see what additional reading materials I can find for Story of the World, and that sort of thing.
Tuesday JediBoy had his 6 year check-up, at which they pronounced him healthy, growing, and “articulate.” I had to laugh. When I was in public school and we got evaluations on our report cards, there were certain words that followed […]
Original post by piseco
Today’s the day… JediBoy is finally SIX!
We had a fantastic day from start to finish. JediBoy woke up to a living room decorated with streamers and the birthday banners we’ve bought over the years, personalized with his name. He opened a few birthday cards and a pair of Real Binoculars from PisecoSis. We gave him a few fake-out Pokemon presents (just a few cards and figures) before scratching our heads and asking, “Wasn’t there another present here somewhere?” He peeked behind a chair and found the Lego Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer that he’s been drooling over at lego.com for months! He was so excited. (He didn’t like it when I said… “Wait, wait! We have to take it back to the store. It says on the box ages 9 and up. Can you just wait 3 years?”)
JediBoy worked on those […]
Original post by piseco
Our most-weeks-ly game night evolved into something extra special this week. When we started talking about it a few days ago, we thought it would be small and very low-key, as Aunt R was supposed to be out of town and Aunt T & Uncle M have company. But when Aunt R emailed me on Friday night to say she was in town after all, I tried to think up a theme. It didn’t take me long to realize that since JediBoy is having a birthday this week, we could do all Star Wars games.
Over a series of emails, that snowballed into Star Wars games, special food, a birthday cake and presents! We decided to make Star Wars food - which includes, of course,
Here are the kids (before J & S arrived with kids B & T), dressed for the occasion:
Several Star Wars games were […]
Original post by piseco
I’m starting to get the you’re-not-blogging-are-you-okay? emails. We’re all still here, just dealing with a week that’s getting increasingly more difficult and is only leading up to PisecoDad’s trip to the ENT to explore options for his chronically-rupturing eardrum on Friday (you know, the thirteenth). We’ve had panic attacks, grief, illness, car troubles leading to financial woes, and it’s only Thursday morning. I’m just telling myself that the week is just working up to Friday when all the tension will come to a head, explode, and we’ll spend Saturday just recovering. We’ll get through it - I just don’t feel much like blogging in the middle of it.
In the meantime, I’m cheering myself with the new gamer version of Discovery Channel’s great “I Love the Whole World” song/commercial. It’s on College Humor, so I can’t get it to embed, but you can watch it here.
Original post by piseco
If Friday was the day of exploring nature and taking nature photographs, Saturday was officially The Day of The Babies. Even though Andrew couldn’t make it because he was sick and Colin wasn’t feeling well (teething, we hope, was all that was behind it), the three babies had a blast.
The adults had two jobs to do: putting in our small (three-section) dock, and putting in the cradle for the end of the big dock. JediBoy was in the water with them (yes, I stayed on shore both times) splashing about and offering his very best advice. No one was seriously injured, though now that we’re all thirtysomethings instead of college hardbodies (cough, cough), everyone who helped was stiff and sore the next day, and Uncle Mark’s finger got just a tiny bit smooshed at one point. But just a little.
Besides that, we did what we do […]
Original post by piseco
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