Another Trip to the Happy Valley

This past weekend we went on a trip to one of our happy places - Happy Valley!  I've mentioned before that we began the college brainwashing process with the kids a long time ago.  We just keep watering that seed every time we visit Penn State.  This time we went for a mini lacrosse reunion and lacrosse game but the kids thought all aspects of the trip were exciting.  The kids had so much fun on our "cation" as Coco likes to call it.  They normally love hotels of all kinds but this one had a pool which elevated it in the ranks.  This hotel also had a hot dog, per Coco.   The rest of us call it a hot tub.  Don't worry, Matt and I have more sense than to allow a 2 year old to get in a hot dog, she only put her fat little feet in.

At the lacrosse game, Luke took advantage of Matt's alumni pass and spent most of the game on the sidelines of the field.  Adrienne and Coco played with the rest of the little critters in our tribe on the side of the hill.  The Nittany Lion was a new friend for Adrienne and a nightmare for Coco. The three of us spent most of the game in transit to and from the concession stand or the bathroom.  After the game, we all enjoyed playing on the field. Luke got an extra special experience when one of the Penn State players literally gave him his back-up long pole.  It was like winning the lottery for Luke and it was just amazing to see his excitement.  We did have to squash his hopes and dreams a little when we wouldn't let him sleep in bed with the stick or take it to school on Monday.    You know, because that would have been easy and wouldn't have caused a distraction at all.

I should also mention that we had the chance to catch up with some old friends we hadn't seen in a while.  Matt's former teammates Chris, RJ, and Marshall and their families were all there and it was nice to finally meet all the littles and to reminisce about the good ol' times.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend:

Gymnastics

It's only natural that a child of mine should start their athletic career in gymnastics.  We skipped right over ballet because if my kids are anything like me, ballet would be too slow, too safe, and wouldn't provide enough action.  I had a very short ballet career myself as it was suggested to my mother that I be removed from the class and enrolled in gymnastics.  Apparently they don't want you doing cartwheels when you are supposed to be doing plies.  It didn't help that I couldn't hear at the time and my dance teacher spoke with an incredibly thick Russian accent.

And thus Adrienne and Coco have been enrolled at Rochester Gymnastics Academy, where they speak with incredibly thing Bulgarian accents.  Luckily, my kids don't have any hearing problems but it is hilarious when they describe certain movements with their won version of the Bulgarian accent.  I've had the "pleasure" (ha!) of attending the "mommy and me" class with Coco every Wednesday morning and then schlepping back to the gym with Adrienne every Wednesday afternoon.

Coco had a rough start to gymnastics because she doesn't like to, you know, listen to instructions or wait her turn.  Sometimes she just takes off and runs as fast as her little stems can take her which is astonishingly fast, across the gym.  Other times, she joins a friend or two on the trampoline when they clearly want to be on by themselves.  They do this little obstacle course and some of the other kids don't move as quickly as Coco so then she tries to pass them.  There have been days where I've sworn off ever bringing her again but then some days, the kid shows off her natural talents. She naturally has the best skills in her class, but taming her wild ways is a challenge. We've finally gotten to the point where she knows the rules and if she doesn't follow them, she doesn't get the magical stamps all over her body when we leave.  And what is it with the stamps, why are they so coveted?  I'd put stamps from their heads to their toes if that worked at home!

Adrienne on the other hand is the perfect little gymnastics student.  She's such a teacher pleaser and she tries so hard.  The poor thing has been blessed with her father's long frame and as such, it's more difficult to control those limbs.  But she's coming right along.  She does flips in the belt on the trampoline and she's working on climbing the rope to the ceiling of the gym.


And with both girls, we've been working on how to pronounce gymnastics.  Coco says "nastics" and Ade says "gin - astics."  Gymnastics with gin would be interesting.

I tried to capture them in action:

It's hard to see but Ade is in the first photo:

Coco doing her butterfly stretches:

Coco on her favorite apparatus - rings:

Spring Break 2016

Spring break has come and gone and here we are with snow on the ground in April.  And more snow keeps sneaking into the forecast.  I'm going to be escaping to Florida by myself here in a about 10 days for a work trip but the rest of the crew will need to deal with winter seclusion for a little bit longer.

We are recovering from the week off of school and from a road trip to Philadelphia.  We wanted to visit Aunt Emily and torture ourselves with a trip to an indoor water park.  Ok, maybe the kids don't view it as torture and at least this one served adult bevvies.  Per usual,  the car ride back lasted for 3 days but was only 6 hours long on the way down. 

About the car ride - Luke had been talking about how he just couldn't wait to get in his seat in the back of the van with his movies playing and his headphones on.  He really loves logistical details and I love that he enjoys to adventure and not just the destination.  What time are we leaving, where are we stopping for lunch, have we built enough time in, what time will we get to Emily's, yada yada yada. The kid is a road warrior - at least on the way down.  On the way back, he seems to be a lot more discontent.  And I'm not even going to bring up that they (all the kids)  don't know how lucky they are because I remember riding 5 hours backwards, in the back of a hot station wagon (with weak air conditioning!) on the way to Long Island in the dead of summer with nothing but word searches.  Word searches.  

Back to the water park...I found myself, on multiple occasions, talked into some ride with Adrienne where as I began my decent into the darkness, I cursed myself for yet again going on a ride "site unseen."  I'm constantly amazed at how brave the kids are on some of these rides.  Luke tried the "flow rider" which simulates surfing and wake boarding.  He did surprisingly well on his first try but did get thrown backwards at about 60 mph at one point.  It should have been a red flag that they make you sign a waiver saying you won't sue them before you can go on the ride.  And Coco for her part, loved the water slides with the a nice foam landing strip at the bottom to continue the slide on.  

Alas, I think I can wait another 5 years to visit an indoor water park. Our next mini adventure is a weekend trip to the homeland, Penn State University.  We will be attending a mini reunion with Matt's teammates and all of their offspring.  I believe a pizza party in a random hotel ballroom is in order.  Not quite the wild weekends we are used to in State College but fun none the less.   Stay tuned for the results of that trip. 

Cutest Song Ever

It turns out that Coco is quite the aspiring singer. She belts out her version of nursery rhymes/lullabyes with such gusto for such a little person. Her carseat tends to be her favorite performing venue but the breakfast table is a close second.  Most recently, she's been entertaining us with her rendition of Mary Had a Little Yam.  That's right, Mary Had a Little Yam.

It goes a little something like this (there are not typos or missed words, this is how she sings it):

Mary had a little yam, little yam, yittle yam
Mary had a yittle yam, its white snow.
EVERYWHERE that Mary went, mary went
yam, sure to go.
EVERYWHERE that Mary went, sure to go.

I haven't ever seen a white yam, but I've certainly heard rumors of one!

Our First Broken Bone

And it's surely not to be the last.  What starts with a thud and ends with a shriek?  That would be Adrienne breaking her arm.  She was sliding down the banister - something I could swear I've told her not to do before (about 600 times).  She flipped over the side and landed flat on her face on our hardwood floors.  Matt and I were in the kitchen at the time and Luke and Coco were in their rooms so no one actually saw Ade's failed dismount attempt. Were weren't sure how serious the injury was so we tried to settle her down on the couch with some boo boo patches (kids gel -ice packets).  We ended up bring her to the pediatrician at 8:00 pm, they sent us to an extended hours orthopedist across the the street and there we learned she had earned herself a hot pink cast. She cracked it pretty good - a fracture at the radial head and one on the ulna.  Luckily for both of us, they did not need to set it.  They wrapped her up and we were on our way home by 9:30 pm. I've actually spent more time at the dr.'s office for strep throat.

The first 2 days she was in a little pain but not bad.  What bothered her most was the itching under the cast.  A week after the fact and she's started sleeping through the night again.  The cast has slower her down much.  She still wrestles with her brother, jumps on the furniture and does the 25 yard dash in the living room. I even caught her 6 feet up on the rock wall at the JCC yesterday.

A few more weeks in the cast and she'll be as good as new.

Outtakes

I love, love, love having the end product of family pictures but I absolutely despise the process of producing them from start to finish.  First you have to find time in the ridiculous family schedule.  Once you pick a date, you then have to determine what time of day will produce the least number of meltdown victims.  Next, you need to choose family outfits and convince each individual to actually wear them instead of their usual unique style.  Once we load all our people into the car to embark on the journey of said family portraits, we then begin the process of bribing them for good behavior.  Okay good, now we have everyone agreeing to listen and smile politely for the photographer.

We get out of the car and enter the studio.  And this is when all hell breaks loose.  Photo props are being used as imitation weapons, furniture is being used as jungle gym equipment, bows are being ripped out of hair, snacks are being smeared on shirts, etc., etc., etc.

We remind everyone of the promises they made in the car and they straighten up a little and get in front of the camera.   And then 30 seconds later,  one small being decides that nope, not today, I'm not going to cooperate!  She proceeds to play with toys outside of camera range while the rest of us stand their smiling like clowns waiting for the disobliging one to buckle under peer pressure and join us.  And because she doesn't buckle, we physically grab her and force her to join the picture.  This tactic produces beautiful pictures, let me tell you.  Now we have one crying child, one who is hungry, and another who needs to use the bathroom.   And we've only been here for 15 minutes at this point.  This sort of scenario continues for the next 30 minutes at which point we are all just done.  We apologize profusely to the photographer and load everyone back in the car and promise ourselves we will never do this again.  Until next year.

Oh, I forgot about the part where I then have to go through all the proofs and decided which of the very few decent pictures I want to choose.

In the end, we did get some great pictures and I really do love having them.  The good pictures are truly priceless, I just wish the painful.

Here are some of the pictures where you can see someone wasn't in the right spot or happy:

A Day in the Life

Today was one of those days where Matt and I had to exchange what felt like 100 calls/emails while at work (and this was before noon) just to manage the 3 small minions and whatever issue they were having.  Here is just a sampling from this morning:

Exchange#1: Matt, you put the baby in the car with no jacket, you need to drop off her jacket on your way to work.  Oh and we accidentally put her in capri pants and it's December.  Drop off some pants, too.

Exchange#2: Matt: I had Luke run in and drop off the coat and the pants to Coco.  Task complete.

Exchange #3:  Rachael: Matt, did you remember to pick up the baked goods this morning for Luke's music class party?  You know, the one he told us about at 8:00 pm last night?  Matt:  Yes, but we got cookies instead of donut holes because the donut hole containers didn't list the ingredients on it so we got cookies that did.  And by the way, since when are there parties in music class?  Do we believe him?  I dropped him off at school with cookies in hand - he was thrilled.    

Exchange #4: Matt:  I got a call from school that Adrienne's not feeling well, they want to know if she should go to the JCC or if they should send her home on the bus.  I told them to send her to the JCC.

Exchange #5:  Rachael:  I got a call from the JCC, Adrienne didn't get off the bus and they wanted to know if she should have.  They are calling the school to find out where she is.

Exchange #6:  Rachael:  Ok, they found her, she was on the bus headed HOME!  She's still on it so they will drop her off at the JCC.

Exchange#7: Rachael:  Adrienne just called me from the JCC, she made it there.

Exchange#8: Rachael:  Matt, the plan for tonight is for you to pick up Ade and Luke and take them to piano lessons and then I will pick up Coco and meet you at home, is that correct?



Photos: Ade torturing her beanie boos by hanging.
(trying to turn her real beanie boos into the beanie boo key chains that kids are putting on their backpacks)

Mickey Duck giving a big cheesy smile :-)

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving 2015 was the best one yet!  We made so many memories with the kids it's hard to pick the favorites.  Matt and I had our best times yet at the Pie and Glove 5k.  The kids spent hours in the mildest November weather in recent history out on the trampoline.  They played with baby Violet, they fed her and even took a bath with her. Aunt Emily brought them a garland making kit and we returned home with yard after yard of paper loops.  I fondly remember looping and pasting (yum, paste!) together red and green construction paper as a child.   We filled ourselves to the point of near bursting with Thanksgiving dinner, homemade egg nog, AND, and, and, homemade poutine!  Personally, I could feast solely on the egg nog and the poutine and be far more than content.

 We went to the movies to see The Good Dinosaur, at which, Coco lasted approximately 17 minutes.  Not bad for her first movie.  (I'm secretly happy, albeit jealous, when friends tell me they have young kids who can sit through an entire movie and Coco can't.)  On Friday, we picked out our Christmas tree and brought it home to Rochester.  On Saturday, we visited the Muehe's in Canandaigua for brunch, stopped by to see Santa in his house on Main St, and decorated the tree at home.  Matt and I also had the opportunity to go out with good friends on Saturday night.  As you can see, we had such a busy week but it was all good fun.

We are truly thankful for the chaos and noise that three children and the rest of our family bring to make our holidays so special.

hanging out at home on Sunday after so much fun:

Coco turns 2

Our Mickey Duck has been around the sun twice.  It's been quite the ride.  Even with two doting older siblings and of course, two doting parents shaping her, she's certainly and undeniably her own person.  And she'll make sure you know it.  She's also ridiculously sweet and lovey and radiates happiness.  She's the epitome sugar and spice.  She's currently obsessed with Dora, Mickey Mouse, pistachios, yogurt pouches, books, and her baby cousin, Violet.  She loves to be tickled, chased and flipped upside down.  She is an art lover and likes "paintin'."  Her favorite songs are ABCs, BaBa Black Sheep, Row Row Row your Boat, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  She's our petite princess at the 20th-30th percentile for size.  In true third child fashion, she's simply advanced for her two  short years.

In honor of the monumental 2nd birthday, we had a Mickey Mouse themed dinner for her.  We celebrated with MiMi and G-ma and G-pa and she finally figured out the whole presents thing.  She is certainly spoiled by the immediate and extended family who love her and shower her with gifts.  She's a lucky gal to have so many people who  love her and there's nothing like a birthday to remind us of that.  She received such great gifts and for that, we are truly grateful.


Oh, and in case you are wondering why I called her Mickey Duck above, it's because she had Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck confused for a little while and was saying "Mickey Duck."  And because it was just so darn cute, we have nicknamed her Mickey Duck.  


The Cake:

Birthday girl on her actual birthday (day #2 of the cake):

At her party:

Opening an alphabet toy from Aunt Karis, Uncle Tommy, and Violet:

Opening Mickey Mouse figurines from Aunt Emily:

Sporting her new coat from G-ma and G-pa:



























Opening various gifts from Mimi:

Halloween

We had such a beautiful night for Halloween this year - warm, no rain, no sleet, no snow. We'll be paid back with at least 3 consecutive years of traditional Upstate NY weather in the future.

 On Friday, I volunteered in Adrienne's classroom for her Halloween.  Let me tell you, gone are the good ol' days of sugar laden school parties. Adrienne's Kindergarten class had a "Naturally Orange" party.  The "treats" included oranges, sweet potatoes, orange peppers, mangoes, orange juice, and squash - all organic, of course.  I felt bad for them, I really did.

In the afternoon, I took the kidlets to my office's Halloween trick or treating where they easily claimed 5 pounds of candy.  My personal office took a hit and I had to clean it up on Monday when I returned to it.  Sticky notes with scribbles everywhere!  And my swivel chair that I had perfectly positioned the way I like it was all sorts of rearranged.  We had a great time but my little moo cow refused her costume so she went dressed as a toddler who was refusing her Halloween costume.  



















On Saturday, G-ma and G-pa came up to help with the absurd amount of leaves we had in our yard and to see everyone off on their way to trick-or-treat.  We were having a nice dinner until some trick-or-treaters came very early and thus sent our crowd into panic mode. Hurry, get your costume, it's started!  And then the kids moved like I've never seen them move before.  Here's the clan!