Heading into the Weekend

Ah, Saturday! A day of rest and relaxation, right? The weekend is here and there is nothing to do, right? Well, not for me. It’s gonna be a pretty busy weekend.

This week was full of events for our family. Big changes and some stress (no need to talk about my wallet anymore!).

The biggest news was the addition of our dog, Maizy. If you missed that blog – here it is:

We’ve Gone to the Dogs!

I’m happy to say that she is fitting in quite well. She’s making the place her own, and getting up on the furniture …

She loves to cuddle up to us. She and Sam seem to be getting along nicely.

And Ella loves that Maizy will sleep in her room with her at “quiet time”.

Andrew just gets really excited to be around her. Especially when we’re outside. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure who is harder to get to come in – Maizy or Andrew.

Maizy loves to run around in the yard. She especially loves to play fetch with a ball.

She waits with baited breath for me to chuck it out in the backyard.

I don’t mind being outside with her. The baseball team has been outside practicing and getting ready for the season. One of the best things about our backyard is the free admission to watch a good game –

Of course, Maizy LOVES when the kids are eating. There is NO shortage of food that falls on the floor, unless it is peanut butter. That peanut butter pretty much gets worn by the kids….

Maizy became a member of our family from the onset. What a blessing she is to our home.

The rest of the weekend is loaded with some projects. I’m hoping to finish painting the nook we built and then we’re grabbing one of those playscapes from a friend of Sam’s and moving it to our yard. In between all of that, we’ve got people coming to give us estimates on what a fence is going to cost. Busy Busy!!

Have a great weekend!!

We’ve Gone to the Dogs!

We’ve talked about getting a dog for some time. Sam has always wanted a dog, but there were so many things that we needed to do first. We don’t have a fully fenced in yard, for example. We also were concerned with how the dog would react to the kids – not to mention our cat. We always knew that at some point, we’d be getting a dog. However, I don’t think either one of us thought it would be … well, today!

Here’s the scoop. Yesterday before Sam left for work, her sister texted. She asked if we would be interested in a four year old lab who is good with kids. The story behind this is that her friend’s daughter had diabetes and epilepsy. It was recommended that they get her a service dog. I guess the dogs didn’t really get along. So her owner wanted her to have a loving home.

Her owner said that if things don’t work out, she will gladly take her back and try to find a home for her. They obviously love this dog a lot. I think we both figured that it would be a trial run, but we knew pretty quickly that this will be her new home.

This is Maizy. Coincidentally, Maizey is also our cat’s name. She made herself at home after sniffing around a lot. The kids were MORE than excited to have a “puppy friend” of their own!

I guess by the look on my face, I was pretty excited, too.

The one thing I worry about is that when the kids are at my mother in law’s, they can lay on top of their golden retriever. They climb all over her and she takes every bit of it. I’m not sure Maizy will be as happy about it. So we have to tell the kids to be very careful with her and to use nice hands.

After she got used to all of us, we piled into the van and headed to PetSmart. We had to get food, food and water dishes, a lead for her to run around in the backyard until the fence goes in, and a pet bed. It was an expensive trip, but we expected that.

She is making herself at home and at one point curled up in front of me and fell asleep … and so did my leg!

The only one who is still not too sure about our newest family member is Maizey our cat. That hasn’t stopped her from sneaking up on her while she is asleep to check her out and make sure she is ok …

I laughed when I told Sam, “Well, one thing is for sure. We won’t have to worry about cleaning up food on the floor anymore ….”

We are all looking forward to having our new puppy friend living at our house!

Friday Photo Flashback

It’s been a few weeks since I have done one of these posts. I neglected to write about a pretty big event this week, so let’s go back 21 years ago.

My oldest son, Dante’, was born 21 years ago this week. It is so hard to believe that it has been that long. They say that when you have kids time moves a bit faster. I have four children now and I can tell you that the more kids you have, the faster the time goes!

This photo was taken at the hospital just after he was born. What is special about this picture is that my mom and my grandma are also in it. He was my mom’s first grandchild and my grandma’s first great grandchild.

My mom slept in the waiting room on very uncomfortable chairs waiting the arrival of my son. She refused to leave. We did not know the sex of the baby and mom was really sure it was going to be a girl. It didn’t matter that the baby was a boy, because she was madly in love with him at first glance!

She and my former mother in law were the first to see him. I was pushing him to our room in the rolling bassinette (seen above) accompanied by a nurse. My mom thought she saw me in the hall and the two of them ran to see. Sure enough, they both got a peak at their grandson.

I love the picture above because you can see the awe in my face. You can see the joy and curiosity in my mom’s face and the sheer happiness on my grandma’s face. I also love that my mom’s arm is around my grandma. The two of them didn’t always see eye to eye, but the birth of my son brought them together here.

Both mom and grandma have passed away. The short time that my mom got with my son gave her more strength as she fought those last years of her battle with breast cancer. No matter how much she hurt, no matter how sick she may have felt, she never passed up an opportunity to see him. He gave her a reason to fight harder. They had a very special bond.

All these years later, my son still speaks of her. I don’t think there has been a year that he doesn’t stop at the cemetery near her birthday or the anniversary of her passing. She would be SO proud of him.

I know I am very proud of him. He is officially a MAN now. I worked on his birthday, and I am hoping to be able to get together with him to share an official “toast” to him. I had to laugh because he went to Olive Garden on his birthday and he had his first glass of wine. I asked how he liked it. “Eh, it was ok. It was a bit much.” I told him, “Well, you can’t drink it like you drink milk or water, you have to sip it!” He told me, “Yeah, I found that out the hard way.”

Ella wanted to wish him a happy birthday and so we made sure to video chat with him on his birthday. She said, “You’re gonna be 21!” Dante’ reminded her that he was now 21 and she just repeated herself. She loves her big brothers.

It’s been quite a journey for him and he has come so far in his 21 years. He will continue to grow and mature. He is going to do great things. He is one of the kindest and loving people I know. He is funny and loves to laugh. I see a lot of me in him. Sometimes, when I hear him talking to me, I actually can see myself talking to my dad. It’s crazy.

21 years …. wow. Happy Birthday, son. I love you!

Spring Scooter!

Ok, not THAT Scooter!

Sam went to the store today and saw that the had scooters on sale. These were the ones with two wheels in the front. She couldn’t pass up the deal and grabbed one for each kid.

I woke up a bit early this afternoon and it was such a nice day we all went outside and the kids showed me their new modes of transportation!

Ella, of course took right to it.

It took Andrew a little bit, but he learns fast!

Ella decided that she wanted to take a walk and for the first time in what seems like forever, the entire family got to stroll around the neighborhood before dinner. It was a beautiful day and it was some much needed family time.

Yesterday was nice, too. Sam and I have decided to get rid of the trampoline. We haven’t said anything to the kids yet, but I let them get on it yesterday for a sorta last hurrah. Watching them play on it, I am almost sad to get rid of it.

Speaking of trampolines – our local police Facebook page posted one of the funniest pictures I’ve seen in a while. This was tooling around Flint this morning ….

I am sure this is TOTALLY safe!!!

Happy Spring!

Easter Weekend Recap

I hope your Easter weekend was as good as mine. It seemed like we were constantly on the go, but it was filled with many wonderful moments.

I worked Friday night, so I came home and went right to sleep. Sam’s mom and dad were hosting Easter dinner on Saturday afternoon. I grabbed a few hours of sleep and got up to get ready for the day.

When we got there, many of the family were already there. Ella is always excited when she gets to be with her cousins. It didn’t take long for them to head outside for the Easter egg hunt.

The weather was perfect! Loads of sunshine and decent temperatures. It had rained a day or two earlier and the back yard was a little muddy, so the hunt was done in the front yard. Parents were out making sure that each kid got their fair share of eggs!

The kids sure did have a blast looking for eggs.

Sam’s mom changed it up a bit this year and we had a Mexican feast for dinner. Tacos, Nachos, and a TON of desserts. It was nice and easy, and somethings the kids all enjoyed eating.

There was a lot of outside play after dinner. They had sidewalk chalk, Barbie dolls, bikes, and more. My nieces are in gymnastics. One of them said to me, “Want to see something impressive?” So I said, “sure.” She did a one handed cartwheel and some move where she flipped over backwards or something. I told her that was awesome and asked if she wanted to see me do something impressive. She said yes. So I sat down on the grass and then got up. I said, “Your 52 year old uncle just got up from the ground without any help! That is really impressive!” My mother in law chuckled out loud at that, but my niece looked at me like I was nuts!

Before my brother in law left, the kids thought it was cool to sit on his motorcycle.

Both kids fell asleep on the way home. All that outside running around must have really tuckered them out. It was still sort of early and we want to color eggs when we got home. This was “fun.”

We took an old comforter, grabbed some of the shirts that were to small for Dimitri and let Ella and Andrew wear them. My Facebook status read: “Colored some eggs tonight. Coincidentally, we also colored the blanket, the kitchen floor, Ella’s legs, and Sam and Andrew’s hands.”

When the kids went to bed, Sam gathered up the stuff for their Easter baskets and I started making footprints. Yeah, Sam bought a bunny footprint stencil. You put it on the floor and sprinkle baking soda on it and it makes footprints. So I had footprints going from the door to their baskets. Andrew walked out and immediately started spreading the baking soda all over the place! Ella thought it was cute.

This year we bought them new baskets. Really cool ones we saw at a local boutique. They were loaded with candy and prizes.

Sam’s dad came over later in the afternoon and helped me finish up the wall of the nook we are building. For the most part, the hard stuff is done. We need to sand the end of the bench and then paint. I will post pictures when that is finished.

The weather today was nicer, too. Warmer! It was a no brainer to get outside today. The kids spent lots of time in the sandbox…

…being silly ….

… and despite the look on her face in the above picture, she actually asked to push her brother on the swings…

It was a weekend full of many happy memories. I have to remind myself to enjoy every second because time moves so quickly. Tomorrow my son, Dante’ will be 21! I have no concept of how that happened so fast!! I can tell you this, though, the more children you have, the quicker time seems to fly ….

Spring Is For Splashing!

We have had a lot of rain over the past couple days. It has rained so much that the small city park near us was completely flooded!

While I slept today, Sam said there was torrential rains. When I got up, I could see that the backyard was flooded.

I have to give credit where credit is due – my wife is the “fun” parent. I really don’t think that I would have been the one to say, “Let’s put on your rainboots and go jump in the puddles!” to the kids. She did! Ella lit up! She couldn’t wait to get outside. Andrew was just as excited.

So we all went out and the two of them jumped and splashed! It was really fun to watch.

It was 70 degrees with a slight breeze and the kids loved every minute of it! The smiles and laughter were worth every ounce of mud they brought back in the house!

Andrew was walking by out and you could hear the water sloshing in his boots. Both kids had a cup or more of water in each boot, so the boots came off.

They had a blast jumping and splashing. Oh, to be a kid again!

The wind started to pick up a bit and the sun went away, so it was time to come inside. Neither kid wanted to come in! Despite the chattering teeth, they still wanted to play in the puddles. Sam had gone in and started a bath for them. There was some major coaxing by me and they finally (and sadly) walked inside.

I wish I had gotten a picture of them when they came in. Two wet kids, with mud in the hair, and noses! The warm bath cleaned them up and wonderful memories made – all thanks to Sam’s playful suggestion!

This Looks Like a Job For …

I could have used Bob the Builder or Handy Manny today! I would have settled for Tim the Toolman Taylor! Sam bought a climber/triangle/something or other for the kids and it arrived today. I figured it would be an easy thing to put together, especially since the reviews said so. Then, I opened the box to discover that the only tool I needed was – the allen wrench!

If you are unfamiliar with my thoughts on this God awful tool, you can read the blog I posted about it back in 2018 here:

The Tool I Hate the Most…

Here’s the thing – Andrew is climbing everything. The other day, he had figured out how to climb up the living room windows. Don’t ask! Sam figured this would be a good way for him to climb things. It really is a very cool thing. It has a rock wall/slide that they can climb up and slide down. The triangle is perfect for climbing and then there is a half circle thing that reminds me of something you’d see on a playground.

It didn’t take long for my fingers and thumb to start hurting because of how hard it was to get the screws in. After screwing in about 30 of the 50 screws, my thumb started to blister. Eventually, I ripped the skin off my thumb and needed to throw a bandage on it. My wife ran and got me one – a Cocomelon bandage.

My wife got a kick out of me having to out that silly thing on!

Once the project was finished, the kids really had a blast!

At some point, the rock wall/slide became a table and they had a tea party!

My favorite thing, however, is the fact that they took the half circle piece (seen above on the left) and turned it over. They put a blanket over the slats and rocked in it.

God, do I love these two!!

Yesterday we took a walk around the neighborhood and even played a bit outside. Ella is always excited to see her puppy friends. Melody is one of her favorites. Melody has cancer and her owners are always so nice to us when we see them.

It seems like we’ve been cooped up forever and they were loving being outside. Andrew was excited to see the sun!

This picture was taken just before he got in the red and yellow car. It had rained the day before and of course, it collected some water on the seat. That didn’t stop Andrew from going for a drive. Naturally, I had to get a picture of the results of that drive ….

I’m so glad it is warming up. I’m looking forward to many days outside with them!

Steak, Paint & Bunnies

Our wedding anniversary was this past Sunday. Five years! Sam had to work Sunday, and we had both taken a day off to celebrate. She took Monday off and I took yesterday. Originally, the plan was to take a little overnight trip somewhere. However, after much talk, we decided that there were things we could do around the house that we have put off for a long time. Having the kids and Nana and Papa’s was going to make it a lot easier!

When I first moved in with Sam, she had a couple racks on the wall where she hung her clothes. There is no closet in the bedroom. As I recall, we were sleeping one night and one rack pulled out of the wall and fell to the floor. We pulled the other rack off, too, and it left a few holes in the wall. I patched them – years ago – with the intention of sanding and repainting. That never happened – until this week.

On Monday afternoon, Sam dropped the kids off and I pulled all the furniture out of the bedroom. Our intention was to paint it with a color we had intended for the kitchen (and never used), but Sam and I decided it might be a bit too dark. So when she got back, we went to dinner and then ran to Menard’s for paint.

We decided on dinner at our favorite steak house. Both of us ordered Filet Mignon and enjoyed actually having some face time together. It was so nice to have kid free conversation with each other. It felt like forever since we have been out to eat together.

Menard’s is right down the road from Lucky’s, so we stopped there and looked at paint swatches. The bedroom was a bright yellow color and we debated painting with the tan we had planned for the kitchen. We both knew that we wanted to stay with a light color because the room is already small. Sam found a yellow that is almost a cream color that we both liked. We bought the paint and went home.

Once we arrived at home, we donned our “paint” clothes and got to work. We both agreed before starting that we hate taping the room! What a tedious task! We also both stated our concerns about the color. You know how you see a swatch and think, “Oh, I like that” and then hate it when you see it on the wall?! The good news is, it looks good and we both like it!

Our hope was that we’d only need one coat of paint. It really dried quickly and only one wall needed a second coat. The only reason it did was that I had marked off some things on the wall to hang pictures and it bled through the paint. Once I put the second coat on, it looked great.

We had pulled the mattress off the bed and dragged it into the living room, which is where we slept. We left it out there and when the kids came home they thought it was a hoot to have the bed on the floor. We spent a lot of Tuesday all curled up on our bed watching TV and being silly. PRICELESS family time!

Sharing a Room

One big change for all of us was that we moved Andrew’s crib out of our room. He and Ella are now sharing a room. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. We’re working through this right now. Andrew will get up off and on through the night, and there is the fear that he will wake up Ella if he cries. Believe me, the last thing we need is both of them up in the middle of the night. Fingers crossed.

We’re already pretty sure that Andrew is a genius. Earlier today, I walked to their room and couldn’t believe what I saw. Andrew had pushed Ella’s bed close to his crib and was actually standing on the railing and was trying to climb into his crib. How he knew to do that, I just don’t know. The incident is one that assures us that there will be more ER visits in the near future.

Bunnies!

We took the kids to get Spring pictures done on Friday. We got the pictures back on Monday and they came out SO good. Kudo’s again to Beth at Enjoy the View Photography for capturing precious moments with our kids.

The photo above is probably my favorite one of the two of them. Perfect smiles and I love that Ella is holding Andrew’s arm. They were both excited to take pictures with real bunnies!

They did so well with them. The bunnies were a bit skittish when they were taken out of the basket, but we still got some good shots. I love that Andrew loves to hug animals. He does it with our cat all the time. Beth caught him hugging the bunny –

What a wonderful picture! I just love how Ella is looking at Andrew here!

The past few days have been filled with plenty of amazing moments. I am so glad to have been able to share them with my beautiful wife and my kids.

Trying to Unblock Writer’s Block

I’ve been struggling to write. I’m sure it is because I have had a lot of things on my mind over the past couple weeks. The things on my mind are not necessarily things I want to write about. It’s hard to be in this place. I’m still struggling to get through it, and pray that everything will be ok. That being said, I decided to sit and write about some happy things from the past few days.

“Raising Gamers?”

I usually only play on the X-box when the kids are asleep. Recently, I was in the middle of a game and Andrew woke up from his nap. I paused the game, went and got him, and spent two minutes finishing the silly car race. He loves the controllers of the game. Another time, Ella was done with her nap and came in to the bedroom where she saw me playing “the car game.”

Now, Andrew will grab a controller and point to the bedroom. He wants to play the game. Ella does, too. So I pulled the batteries out of two controllers and they hold them while I drive around. They, of course, think they are playing! It’s fun to watch them.

Too Many Tonies?

Remember a while back I mentioned the Tonie that the kid’s Aunt Margaret sent? We have ordered a few more to play on it. I guess we didn’t realize how many we had until we lined them up on the mantle.

Many of them have songs, some have stories, and some have both. It has been so nice and has helped keep the TV time down to a minimum. If you have little ones, it is worth every penny!

Too Many Ninis and the Genius of Andrew

From my wife’s Facebook:

Andrew is only suppose to have his pacifiers at bedtime. All of a sudden we were missing a TON of his pacifiers. There was none left in the diaper bag or his crib… yet all day long he would show up with one and we are constantly taking them from him.

Tonight while cleaning I found out that my brilliant child at 1 years old has hidden his pacifiers throughout the house. I have found 6 of his hiding places. I’m not even mad, I am truly impressed!

I swear, he is a genius. He plants them everywhere and knows exactly where to get one when we take one away!

Bunnies!

Our photographer friend, Beth (From Enjoy the View Photography), had Spring “Mini” sessions this week. We booked a session for just the kids. Originally, we were going to have them dress up like in Easter attire. Sam decided that she was going to have Ella in the outfit she was in for her birthday, and match Andrew up with her in some overalls. They looked so cute together!

As a bonus, Beth had real live bunnies for the session. Ella was so excited when she heard about them. We didn’t really know what to expect, but I think we were able to get some good pictures. We’ll know soon. I snapped just one that has a funny story to go with it.

Beth had a bag of carrots to feed the bunnies. The carrot that is in Andrew’s mouth, was just in the bunny’s mouth about two seconds before I snapped this. Well, at least it is a healthy snack!

Fab Four Week

I took part in a feature hosted by Max at the PowerPop Blog about the Beatles. The feature continues for the next few days. His idea was to write about your favorite Beatles song – or anything Beatles related. My write up gives a nod to one of the boys. Which one? Watch for the post in the next day or two.

My Guest Ideas

Last week I mentioned that I was thinking about hosting something similar to what Max is doing and what Dave does with Turntable Talk. I am still trying to think about whether I want to do something music, movie or TV related. Stay tuned…..

Friday Photo Flashback

It has been a few weeks since I’ve done one of these. I’m not sure why it has been so long. Anyway, with this being a holiday, I found one that I wanted to re-share.

Today, I was going through Facebook Memories and I saw this photo from last year:

We snapped this on Andrew’s first St. Patrick’s Day. It’s really amazing to see how much these two have grown. They are almost the same weight and size now!

There really isn’t much more to say about the picture. It is one of my favorites of the two of them.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!