Stumbling through daily life as a working mother of three
I just wanted to wish a happy birthday to my dear husband Michael.
Here’s the birthday card that I made for him (it’s so hard to make a nice masculine card, but I like how this one turned out using brown velvet and embossing):
Thanks, Michael, for sharing your life with me!
It’s been CRAZY around here with back to school madness the past few weeks. Having three children and only two parents is definitely an equation of inequality (as you can see, I’m brushing up on my freshman algebra skills).
Last night was Back To School night both at Andrew’s high school and Matt and Emily’s elementary school. Mike and I had to divide and conquer – the same tactic we’re using for all of their activities lately.
After the laziness of the summer, I’d forgotten (maybe on purpose from the scars it left) how insane it can be to work all day, come home in the evening, jam in a super-quick dinner (cook, eat and clean up in 15 minutes or less – now THAT’S something they should demonstrate on the Food Network!) and head back out for more – until we finally collapse into bed to grab a few hours sleep before we start all over again.
But back to the title of my post…I managed to squeeze in a haircut this week and asked if my stylist could PLEASE straighten my hair after my cut. Here was the result (and the hair I’d like to have):
Just for reference, here is my hair in its normal state:
Quite a difference, huh? My own daughter didn’t recognize me when I went to pick her up from school.
Unfortunately, the straight hair only lasts until I wash it. 🙁
I suppose I could go to the salon once a week and have it straightened regularly…not sure if that’s in the budget, though…
My kids have played many sports and have participated in lots of other activities over the years (baseball, wrestling, flag football, basketball, karate, dance, gymnastics…you name it, we’ve done it!), but this is the first year that two of them are actually playing soccer.
Emily started with her first Micro-Mini Soccer on Saturday:
She managed to get her game in before tropical storm Hannah came roaring through in the afternoon.
Then Matt played his first game on Sunday on Pitman’s traveling soccer team. He did a GREAT job playing defense!
It’s going to be a busy season…
Back to school time at last!
I love spending the summer with my kids and all…but all good things must come to an end!
This year Matt’s going into fourth grade and Emily’s going into first grade. This is the first time that Emily will be attending school all day – and the first time I’ll have some days all to myself (only on my Mondays and Fridays off, but hey – it’s something).
Have a great school year, kids!
Andrew started high school as a freshman at Gloucester Catholic today. I took these photos while he was waiting for the bus to pick him up at WaWa this morning (I made sure that there were no other kids around so he wouldn’t be embarrassed – although I think he was embarrassed anyway):
Hey, Andrew – just be glad that I didn’t drive you to school and take your picture as you walked inside…
Emily cut a new cut today for back-to-school – look how cute she is!
We took our last camping trip of the summer season this weekend in Elizabethtown, PA at the local KOA campground. Why Elizabethtown you ask? Mike grew up in nearby Ephrata, PA, so this was like a trip home for him. We booked this trip months ago so that we could combine a camping trip with a visit with Mike’s 91-year-old grandmother, Nan, who lives with his dad in Elizabethtown.
I have to admit, the trip started out not-so-well…the weather was fine when we left home on Friday, but by the time we got into central PA, it was POURING down rain. And it remained raining as we set up our camper and pretty much the entire first night we were there and into the next morning.
Which would have been okay but…there was no cable TV at our site! Yikes! Stuck indoors in the rain with the kids and no TV?!?! Oh…and then the bathroom roof started to leak as well…and did I mention that Geddy refuses to pee outside when it’s raining?
Andrew wasn’t with us this weekend – he was vacationing in Ocean City with his dad and step-mom. I called him when we arrived and told him not to feel bad…he wasn’t missing much so far…
But we made the best of it – we threw a duct-taped trash bag over the roof (now that’s classy, ain’t it?), watched some movies and played some games…before we knew it, the sun was out.
We took a trip to the local flea market where we picked up some great bargains at the book stall. Kids books were 3 for $1 and grown-up hardcovers were $3 each – not bad! We also picked up some whoopie pies, one of our favorite sweet snacks. For those who don’t know what a whoopie pie is, it’s basically a Pennsylvania Dutch version of a Hostess Devil Dog – but better.
We had a chance to visit with Nan in the afternoon – here she is with Matt and Emily:
Nan was kind enough to give Emily a lovely bracelet that her mother gave her:
The initials on the bracelet are “NM” for Nelly Marx, her mother’s name. It’s over 100 years old – what a special piece to pass along to your great-granddaughter! Emily is a very lucky little girl – and she was a very gracious 6-year-old, I’m proud to say.
This weekend, we also managed to fit in a hike along the Conewago Recreation Trail for a few miles:
This was a great trail (very level – I liked that!) that led through some cornfields and shady trees with lots of friendly bikers and hikers along the way. We also saw an entire family of deer crossing the trail – and our own family didn’t even complain…that much, anyway.
We also took advantage of the campground activities – the pool, BINGO (Emily won a toy snake during one round – Mike was upset that she didn’t choose the Penn State coffee mug instead…), hayrides…
The activities also included a ‘wet hayride’. We basically rode around the campground on a ‘pirate ship’ and were armed with large water guns and water balloons while campers sprayed us with hoses (and water guns, fire extinguishers, buckets of water…whatever they could put water in) as we rode by. The kids had a blast – and we were soaked to the bone when it was all over.
But now summer’s over and it’s time to get back to reality…the back-to-school clock is ticking down – only 2 more days to go!
I am not normally a political activist – I mean, I do listen to the news (mainly on NPR – I’m such a geek!), research the candidates and have voted in every election since I was old enough.
And this is not a political blog – I’m sure that there are others who can debate the issues with much more knowledge and passion than I.
However, I have been watching the Democratic National Convention all week with great interest. I have been so impressed with the speeches given by Hillary and President Clinton and have come to greatly admire Joe Biden and his strength and commitment to his family.
And after listening to Barack Obama’s speech last night, I feel more strongly than ever that he should be our next president.
There – I said it! That’s my political opinion – for whatever it’s worth.
Mike and I sat in silence for a moment after the speech was over and I had actual tears in my eyes, I was so moved. We looked at each other and said, “How can he NOT win this election?!?!?!”
But we realize that there are those who don’t agree.
We saw one of those American citizens on the way home the other day. I was horrified when I saw an actual bumper sticker on the car in front of us that read, “Nuke their ass, steal their gas!”.
God help us if those who feel that way remain in power for another four years…
Let me add that I realize that is not the sentiment of most McCain supporters – he’s certainly an honorable man that has served his country well. I have great respect for him – and that respect was echoed during the speeches given during the DNC this week (including Barack’s).
But there are still those who feel that “Nuke their ass, steal their gas!” sentiment so strongly that they would not only say it, but would wear it proudly on their car bumper for all the world to see.
I know American citizens are better than that…
Emily and I were excited to find a new item at Michaels – a Project Runway fashion doll kit!
As I may have mentioned, Project Runway is my favorite show – I don’t know who was more excited about the doll – Emily or ME (I think it was me)!
The kit has a paper doll, stencils to make different pieces of clothing, patterned paper and accessories like gems, sequins and trims.
Here is Emily’s first creation:
Emily LOVES to mix the patterns!
And here is mine:
How fun! I love having a daughter!
We took advantage of the gorgeous weather with a hike in Ceres Park this week. It’s only about a mile from our house, but I haven’t been there in YEARS.
It’s not your typical park with a playground and picnic benches – instead, there are lots of hiking trails leading to a lake and beautiful clear stream. I forgot how pretty it is back there…
We took the dogs along – Daisy loved swimming in the stream:
But Geddy wasn’t having any parts of it. I wish we could let Daisy off the leash, but prior experience tells me that she WILL make a run for it as soon as she’s free…
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