Mountains with a younger woman

Just came back from a much needed weekend getaway in the mountains. The kids stayed one night with nana and the other night they spent with Auntie Joe.

I just saw this old house sitting on a main road and I had to stop. The stories that it could tell, the history that it might have.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Saturday night was movie night with the little buggahs, all except Jack. Mommy,Charlie, Lizzy, Ump and Paula joined us at the movie theater to watch the movie "diary of a wimpy kid". It was actually a pretty funny movie. All week long the kids were asking me if I wanted to see their pimple..."its got a hair in it". I didnt know where they got that line but I thought it was kind of gross. Now, I found out where they had got the phrase. It must have been on a trailer for the movie. It was gross. The movie was great though. You can tell a successful movie by its ability to keep the kids mind occupied the whole time. They all sat in their chairs and werent even hankering to get up and go to the bathroom, thats a miracle in itself.
There was plenty of snacks from the movie popcorn to the ones we bought at Walmart before the movie and snuck in. Of course I had to have my M&M's, I shared a little of it with the kiddo's....honestly, not alot. The kids loved having Paula and the ump along. Jimmy was just starting to get a little under the weather and spent some of the movie with his head resting on the ump. He got progressively worse, enough to have to skip out of school on Monday. We havent decided if he'll go to school on Tuesday. Its not looking good but we'll see. Jack got sick on Sunday too but he bounced right back and was singing and dancing by mid afternoon on Monday. If Jimmy does stay home on Tuesday we will probably make a trip to the coffee shop and Black Gordon. He doesnt want to stay out of school because he cant sit still for very long. Wednesday and Thursday he takes his competency exams so i'd rather he rests up for those......sleep time now.

Bizzy week

Its amazing how quickly time goes by. I know its something that I say all the time but it is so true. I took a look at my little guy (Jack) this week and I just cant believe how big he is getting. You force yourself to take a pause and look around and see all of them some times. Jimmy has these long, skinny legs and he's just shooting right up in height as he starts towards age 9. He is non stop action and loves to be outside. The basketball hoop took a spill this week during a bad windstorm so he took back to the street hockey net. I had to rush Umple Eddie over here today so we could bang that damn basketball stand up again because the running around playing hockey was just about killing me. And another thing, Jimmy has been putting on his pads and chest protector and playing goalie while I shoot on him. Its frustrating when I get stuffed by my eight year old son. Of course I'm proud because he's athletic and active but Dad's are supposed to let their kids beat them, not actually get beat.
Laura also been shooting up in height and that brings us to the inevitable problem of when she gets taller than Jimmy. You know its coming but he's not going to like it one bit when it does. She's a healthy gal and its becoming uncomfortably obvious that she's shooting right up on the stringbean charts. Is it wrong when we have no idea what the homework answers are supposed to be when they ask us to help them with it. I think I can think and figure laura's out but a couple of times lately Jimmy has had questiongs about his homework and I have no freaking idea. Google is a great thing. Back to Laura though, she's been hanging around with Lizzy alot lately and that makes her happy because she sees Jimmy with all these friends and she naturally gets jealous. We've decided that she is right and should be involved with more girls only activities instead of tomboy ones.
My little Tappin (Catherine) talks all the time about her upcoming entry into the kindergarten class in September. For now, she's in preschool and loving it. She has a friend named Andrew B whom she talks about constantly. In school she gets to do show and tell every Wednesday with items that start with a different letter. She looks forward to it every week and we have alot of fun with it. This upcoming week is the letter T, last week was spoons for the letter S. Most weeks we are better than that though, so for spoons was so precictable and unoriginal, we expect more. My little angel is so snuggly and sweet towards us. She is constantly telling us how she loves us. At night when I go into her bed to kiss her goodnight before I go to sleep, she always has a smile on her face...and this is while she's sleeping. Laura, on the other hand, will wake up while I tuck her in and start talking in her sleep.
And then there's Jack. This week, as in most weeks, we spend tons of time together during the day. Usually, we take a trip to see the Black train and that leads us to the Coffee shop where he has become somewhat of a celebrity. The owner of the coffee shop considers him her boyfriend. He shares the sentiment and its so funny to hear him talk about his girlfriend. I think one time there was another guy talking to his girl and he got a little jealous. Sometimes at home he just breaks out a scream, for no particular reason. I remember one time recently it set me into a moment of a flashback. That is by no stretch a confession, but I do remember doing certain things that my little terrorist does....hmmm
I had referred recently to the lack of photos lately. Its really uncomfortable not taking them. I have been good for about a thousand pics a month. Since January it hasnt been so. Its been good to get back in the game. I have two cameras, one is my good canon and the other is an old Kodak camera that is literally held together with duct tape. Its got some years on it but still works.

Picnic at (on) Black Gordon

Getting back from a really great bike ride, the three of us headed out for a picnic right on Black Gordon. Of all the times we've come to see the big black train, we've never used it with a tablecloth, until today. Jack had a great time as he ate two hot dogs and a full peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Catherine grabbed a hot dog too. They both dipped the hot dogs in the ketchup that they made me bring. I think this is going to be a new thing to do.
After Jack ate half my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, we all headed over to the train that doesnt move. Gotta love that train.

Someone must have been spraying graffiti...Keep Off...Is that some new gang?

St Paddys week

My poor camera has been left in the closet for almost a month now. The poor thing came out in a flurry of photos for St. Paddy's celebrations. This week we were in the annual St. Patricks parade to city hall which was preceded by a mass at St. Patricks. The kids all week were making St Patrick items in school, such as Catherines leprechaun that adorns the front window. We then had a Saturday mass in church with the Irish flag. Sunday was the Ceili were all the kids (except Jimmy who is way too cool for that) were dancing around. Jack joined in the festivities with all the kids, gotta love the hairdo's. They had face painting for ...the kids...when they put the table out I was the first one to jump in a seat. Those kids had no chance.
After we left we headed to Kara's house for the annual corned beef and cabbage. Umple Eddie, Nana, Doe, Marion and Ken,Aunts Estelle, Chrissy, Janie, Jackie, Steve and Margo, chip and kim and all the kids and cousins were singing up a storm.

Where a kid can be a kid

Catherine was showing Chucky how to do "step, step, back two three"

Saturday was the day Catherine has been looking forward to for quite some time. It was time for the birthday party at Chuckee Cheese for Andrew B. Its funny about their names because if there are two kids with the same first name they become Andrew A. or Andrew B. Andrew B is one of Catherine's good friends in pre school. She always talks about something crazy that Andrew B has done. Its cute. They had chose Saturday morning which I thought was a good idea because the crowds hadnt crashed the gate yet. She got a cup full of coins and headed off to play games. It really is a pretty neat place to just play games and not get gouged too too bad. My friend Tracy was also there with Frank, Frankie and little Jimmy.

There are tubes above your head where the kids travel through to ultimately end up through a slide. The tubes have a small window so parents can keep track of where the little ones are. At one point I was tracking her through the windows not sensing any sort of problem. Catherine eventually came down the tube slide and she was a bit upset. Apparently, she wasnt sure where she was up there and didnt see me to guide her out. She went right back at it only this time we made a game of it where she would look out the windows and i would guide her with a point of the finger and a thumbs up. so darn cute.

We ended up having us some pizza and meeting Chucky himself. Catherine went up and gave him a couple of hugs and also showed him her irish step moves and asked him to join in. Overall, she had a great time.

After the party we went to Target and got some gifts. I had promised Jim an Xbox game, Laura got a lucky 8 ball, jack another Thomas train and Catherine got another Hannah Montana trollup doll. All because i wanted to go and pick up a flashlight.

The very next day Momma was out and we were at the house and the walls were closing in on the buggahs so we decided that it was time for all of us to once again head out to go see chucky. It was a little tougher with all four of them. Thankfully, they were very well behaved and Jimmy would hold onto Jack's hand and the two girls stuck together. I didnt lose them once. The place was packed so I told them only for a half hour, we ended up there about two hours. Jack loved going through the tubes and thankfully Jimmy was right behind him most of the time. This was a long time coming because they have been asking me since last year to go to Chuckee cheese. Jack really enjoyed himself. At one point Jimmy was playing the basketball game and Jack was helping him. There was a big queen to the left of the game just leaning. Of course she wasnt going to be doing too much moving. Jack ended up throwing up a ball that came dangerously close to her. She was put out, the ball almost knocked her wig off. Only Jack.