School Days

Well, Annabelle had her official first day of school yesterday... In case the first photo is not too obvious, she was very excited. She did great with the whole- Mommy leaving her- thing, she even told ME to be brave! I guess it's a good sign when you go to pick a kid up from school and they don't want to leave?

Jack had a tough time leaving his big sis at school. He was sobbing, and had huge streams of tears running down his face as he repeatedly shouted, "I WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL TOO" all the way to Starbucks. And then he was happy because he got to eat a giant cookie for breakfast. And go to Toys R Us to buy some new cars. And go to the car wash. And play with any toy he wanted without having to fight for it.

All in all, Jack was a pretty happy camper. Until it was time to pick Annabelle up from school. And then Jack was unhappy again. And he pounded on the school doors, SCREAMING, "WE HAVE TO GET ANNABELLE", "WHERE IS ANNABELLE?", "I WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL BUS" (??).... And then everyone within a 5 mile radius was unhappy. Except for Annabelle, who thought Jack's rantings were hysterical.

Thanks To Everyone!

Thank you everyone who donated in support of my Jimmy Fund walk!

Apart from Jack having a MAJOR kicking, screaming, back throwing, head spinning, BITING-Mommy-TWICE meltdown on the bus back to the starting point, the walk went pretty well!!

As of today, Team Abby has raised over $9,000.00 and donations are still coming in!

Annabelle, sporting her medal, enjoys a quick burger after the walk.

Jack and Teddy have a little goove and a cookie before the start, while Abby's sister, M.K. enjoys a good nose pick.

After the walk, Miss Abigail made a special appearance to thank everyone in person.

A Heartfelt Request From Annabelle

***Thanks to EVERYONE who has already donated!!!***

**As of today, Team Abby has raised over $8,000!!**

Annabelle's little friend Abby was diagnosed with Leukemia in March 2007. Next Sunday, September 16th, Annabelle and I will be joining Team Abby and participating in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk to help support the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Abby has been very brave, fighting for the past 6 months, but still has a bit of a bumpy road ahead. She visits the Jimmy Fund Clinic once a week for treatments.
If anyone would like to make a small donation you can do so by visiting my fundraising page:
http://www.jimmyfundwalk.org/jenbolitho

Many thanks to ALL!!!

The Unofficial First Day

There was an open house at Annabelle's preschool today. It was her first time seeing her classroom and meeting her new teacher and the other children in her class. Her "official" first day is next Tuesday and she is very excited!

From the moment we left until right before bed, all she talked about was how much fun she had at school and how she couldn't wait to go back. Actually, I had a hard time getting her to leave!

Although she looks a little nervous in the first photo, I can assure you she was as cool as a cucumber! She walked right in to the classroom, said hello to the teacher, sat down and made herself at home. She sat right by the door and greeted all the other children as they walked in.

About halfway through the open house the parents were asked to leave so that the teacher could get a better sense of how the children would deal with the separation. Of course my lovely daughter practically didn't even notice that I had left the room! She did great, made a few friends, and had a big smile on her face when she came out of the classroom and saw me waiting in the hall... I only wish the photo was better.

The Evil Gate Keeper

"I am the keeper of this rock sculpture."
"Little brothers are NOT allowed."
"Yeah, I just tried to choke him."

Story Land

Team Monkey was taken to Story Land in New Hampshire for a mini retreat in the mountains and a fun day at the park. Having never been to any type of amusement park before, they had absolutely no idea what to expect...

Miss Annabelle was super keen to go on all the rides, Jack not so much. He sat out the first ride of the day, the flying shoe, and was a bit hesitant to get on some of the other rides. He eventually gave in and, even though he tried to jump out of the flying balloon, he seemed to really enjoy going on the rides.

Annabelle's enthusiasm didn't always guarantee a positive outcome... She was apparently freaked out by the roller coaster, which I didn't witness because I was too busy driving back to our Chalet to get Jack's Teddy Bear, the flume ride and the tea cups, which I got to see first hand. She was so upset on the tea cup ride that they actually had to make a special stop to let her off!

All in all, I think everyone had a great time. The weather was great, admission price to Story Land wasn't too painful (kids 3 and under free-woohoo!), stuff inside the park was pretty reasonably priced, no one got too cranky, and we spent most of the day hopped up on sugar... Who could have asked for more?

Adorable Moment Of The Day

I pulled up in front of the house and let the kids out of the car. As I went to open the front door they went over to inspect the oozing sap levels of their favorite tree (a new ritual). I called them to come in and Annabelle came running, but Jack stayed by the tree. After calling for him about 10 times, Annabelle finally said "I'll get him for you Mom", and she went back outside, took him by the hand, said, "come on little fella", and led him inside.

~These are a few of my favorite things~

I can almost hear music from The Sound of Music playing in the background~

Christine from Manic Mommy has tagged me to come up with a list of my ten current favorites. Since she not only knows where live but, could probably spit on my house from her front steps if she so desired, I thought it would be wise to play along! So here goes:

the list is in no particular order

1. Pilates- I've taken Pilates classes in the past but have never really been into it, Yoga has always been my hippy exercise of choice. Recently though I've started taking a Pilates class at my gym and I am really loving it. I am actually starting to notice a difference in my gut!
2. My Life Is Good pajama pants. The weather has been cool here for the past few nights so I got to wear them for the first time in months... Ahhhh, how I've missed them so.
3. A good Margarita- seems to be my drink of choose this summer. That, and the Mojito. Oh, and those Corona Lights that Manic Mommy keeps feeding me, also on the list. I guess this favorite is- all drinks containing alcohol in general.
4. Having a tan. Sounds silly I know but, having been in CA for so long I had almost forgotten how horribly pasty white I become in the winter. Being here in MA for the past 2 years has made me appreciate the summer sun!
5. Being completely contradictory to the above favorite, I do love Fall in New England.
6. Speaking of Fall... Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte is definitely a Fall favorite! I also wait all year for the Eggnog Latte, but that's a whole other season.
7. Another recent favorite, which I am actually just starting to go off of, is Webkinz. My sister gave the kids some Webkinz pets a few months ago and, as my children are too young to use the computer, I have been dutifully keeping those pets alive (and playing all those nerdy games).
8. I have also, sadly, become a reality t.v. junkie. I am awaiting the premiere of the new season of Survivor. So I will count Survivor as a favorite.
9. One of my all time favorite things is Christmas. I know I am supposed to be thinking of current favorites but this is hard, so Christmas will have to do!
10. Now I am tired of thinking so I will list as my most current, current favorite thing: finishing this post which I have been putting off for a while and choosing two other poor soles to carry the torch.

So, I choose my lovely sister Kristen, because I'm sure she will have more interesting favorites than I, and I also tag Tina because, what better way to welcome her back from her year long blogging hiatus!

It's Official!!!

No more diapers for the girl who swore she would wear diapers forever... Annabelle is officially potty trained!!

I'm guessing the general consensus would be that, it was about time! But I must say, by not pushing her very hard and letting her decide when she was ready, saved me a lot of frustration. One day she decided, and that was that. Apart from the 2 accidents she has had (luckily both at home), this potty training business has been a breeze!

In Trouble

I can't remember why she was even in "time out" when I snapped this picture. It was just one of those days... But I'm sure she did something really bad!

Wet

His sister poured water on his head...

A Few Fun Facts About Being Out In Public With A Potty Training Three Year Old

(At least my potty training 3 year old)

• They will announce to EVERYONE that they are wearing underwear


• They will tell EVERYONE what type of underwear they are wearing at the moment (i.e. Little Mermaid, Curious George, etc...)


• They will tell EVERYONE what type of underwear they wore yesterday


• They will try to show EVERYONE their underwear


• and their little bum too


• They will tell EVERYONE that they went "peeps" on the potty


• They will tell EVERYONE that they went "poops on the potty...
• Yesterday


• But today they had a little accident...


• and pooped in their Little Mermaid underwears


• But now they are wearing different underwears


• with fairies on them...


• And those don't have "poops" on them
• And EVERYONE will be happy to know

Not A Moment Too Soon

And just when I thought my blog might turn into an angry rant forum... My Mama has, on her birthday, gone and offered me the use of her camera (which, ironically, we gave to her on her birthday last year), for the next 3-5 weeks, while mine is being repaired!

Happy Birthday Nana!

*note missing flowers and small finger prints on the cake

WTF?

It's only 8am, my kids have been up for about an hour... Already, this morning I have found (and cleaned) pen marks all over the love seat, a banana that someone had stepped on and left mushed in the rug, pancake mix spilled all over the kitchen, syrup all over the dining room chairs, and a puddle of milk in the rug. I have put back the "little chairs" (which were used as climbing devices in various locations) about 6 times, pulled a wad of toilet paper out of the bathroom sink, picked up about 2,000 cars, built a train set, and opened about 30 mini cans of playdoh. I have succeeded in making a pot of coffee, but have not had any yet. I've also made pancakes (hence the syrup all over the dining room). Right now I am about to go and pick up all of the playdoh, which is now ground into the rug, but not before I change Jack's stinky diaper. I hope this is not an indication as to what today is going to be like!!!!!

Waaaaah!!!!

I just smashed my camera!!

I am so annoyed. I was trying to get a decent shot of Annabelle wearing her new shirt that her nice Auntie Kristen sent her, when the camera slipped from my hand and landed face down on the hardwood floor, on the lens which was fully extended. I picked the camera up and tried to retract the lens, it gave a pathetic little moan but wouldn't budge. I gave it the once over, and it was then that I noticed the camera body, much like my own, is falling apart at the seems.

A slight panic set in before I remembered that; when I bought the camera originally (2 years ago), I might have also purchased an extended (4 year) warranty from Best Buy. So I searched every place I could think a Best Buy warranty plan might be hiding, and I found several... Including one for a Canon Elph, purchased in 1999! But alas, none belonged to the Canon SD500, smashed camera of the day. Which made me not only annoyed, but also very sad...

Then I thought: Hey, I can get a NEW camera! I've been thinking about getting a digital SLR anyway, I even recently told Nick that if he wanted to get me one as a joint Christmas/birthday gift, that I would be happy to accept it. Problem solved! Only, as nice as a digital SLR would be, it is rather bulky, and I would also like to keep a little point and shoot handy for chasing after Monkeys and all, which would mean that I might have to go ahead and get a new point and shoot, as well as a SLR... And probably a divorce too.

Not ready for a divorce yet, I waited on hold with the Best Buy service department for over 20 minutes (surprisingly, my cordless phone-yet another Best Buy purchase- didn't die out on me during this time), and a very nice gentleman got on the phone and informed me that yes, I did purchase the extended warranty for that particular camera! He gave me my sacred warranty number, told me to bring that, along with my busted camera, to the nearest Best Buy store and they would have my camera back in tip top shape in no time! Yeah!!

So, to get to the long-winded point: I won't be posting any new pictures for a while... Except for this not-so-great one, which I was able to salvage for Auntie Kristen: And husband, even though my little camera will be mended soon, I still want a digital SLR for my b-day.

Picture You

Annabelle has decided that the fire hydrant in front of our house makes a fantastic camera. She asked me to stand there so that she could "picture me."

Here, she is taking a picture of me, while I take a picture of her... "You picture me, and I'll picture you." It all makes perfect sense!

Potty Training?

I was in the kitchen, unloading the dishwasher, when all of a sudden I heard this little voice say, "Mommy, oh no, I'm stuck." I knew Jack was in the living room playing with his trains, so my first thought was that he had dropped a train, or car, in between the couch cushions, which is usually the case when he complains about things being "stuck", so I wasn't in any rush to go and investigate his complaint. A few seconds later, I hear again, "Mommy, help, I'm stuck." This time, I realize that his voice is not, in fact, coming from the living room, but the bathroom... And yes indeed, was he ever stuck!

Sidewalk Paint

It seemed like a good idea at the store,

it even seemed like a good idea when we first got home and started painting.

Then Jack painted Annabelle's head, and leg, and shoe,

and then had the brilliant idea...

To paint Mommy's car.

Then sidewalk paint didn't seem like such a good idea any more.

Delicious AND Nutritious

I left Jack at the breakfast table for a minute while I went to assist Annabelle on the potty, when I returned I discovered that he had made a little addition to his breakfast:

peanut butter and jelly on a bagel, blueberries, and a battery... guaranteed to jump start any morning.

Little Girl, Big Bed

Annabelle's crib was one of those convertible-bed for life- type of things, which went from a crib, to a toddler bed, and then on to a full size bed. We never bothered with the toddler bed stage because Annabelle was always too lazy to climb out of her crib, so figured, eh, why give her an easy opportunity. Besides, she always claimed to love her crib and had no interest in moving into a bigger bed, so it seemed silly to turn it into a toddler bed when we would have had to put a side rail up anyway.

While we were away, at The Cape, she spent the week sleeping in a "big girl" bed, and really loved it. She shared a room with Jack (who was in a cage, I mean pack-n-play) and, although she did get out of her bed on more than one occasion to go over and chat to him, or pick up his teddy bear or something; she never once left their room. Not once.

The first night we were home, I took her up to her room to put her to bed, she took one look at her crib and burst into tears... The next day, we made a family outing to purchase a new mattress. It arrived about four days later. A few days after that, lazy Daddy got around to converting the old crib into the super deluxe monkey seen here:

Annabelle is very, very pleased with her new "big girl" bed.

Cape Week

We spent last week on Cape Cod with some friend's of ours who flew in from New Orleans for the occasion. They brought along their kids, who are 12 and 14, which was great for us because they completely entertained Annabelle and Jack (who loved annoying "the big kids"), AND they also babysat!

We had great weather, spent most days at the beach, and most evenings doing kiddie activities like trampolines, bumper boats, and go-carts... Annabelle loved the trampolines so much we actually went back like 4 times! We also rented bicycles one day and rode part of the Rail Trail- it was the first time that Annabelle and Jack got to ride in a bike trailer, which they were not very happy about at first, but really enjoyed once Daddy got a peddlin'. Another day we went up to Provincetown for the day.

On the way back to Beantown we stopped off in Plymouth and checked out Plimouth Plantation and The Mayflower II. For the most part, I think our kids were a bit too young for the plantation, but they did really enjoy chasing the chickens!

It's no secret that Jack loves water, he was completely in his element at the beach. Each day Nick built a big sand castle and "off roading" track so that Jack could run his cars in the sand. He had such a blast knocking down Daddy's sand castles!

Girl Genius

A few weeks ago Nick and I were driving in the car with the kids and for some reason we were trying to teach Annabelle our home phone number. She was not getting it all. She kept jumbling it all up and laughing, as she does, so we just gave up and didn't give it another thought.

Yesterday, in the car again, out of the blue she came out with: "If I ever get lost I have to tell someone to call my Mommy at ***-***-****." She said our exact phone number!! In complete disbelief, we of course asked her to repeat herself, which she did- over and over and over again, but she was correct EVERY time!!!

Now if I could only get my little genius to remember not to omit 14 and 15 when counting to 20...

Mini Football Madness

She dribbles,

She shoots,
She scores!

Where Did My Baby Go?

I took these pictures of Jack the other day, as I was looking at them it occurred to me that he no longer looks like a baby. Maybe it's the hair cut, or the fact that he is losing his baby chub, or maybe it's the way he is dressed. Or a combination of all of the above.

Maybe.

Because he couldn't possibly be growing up this fast.

Could he?

Perhaps I should try letting his hair grow, fattening him up a bit, and dressing him in animal print clothing...

Strawberry Picking

Annabelle picks her first strawberry

Watching Swans with Daddy

Upset because we wouldn't let him "swim" in the pond

Everyone needs a little strawberry ice cream

Mmmmmmmmmm.

First Movie Theater Visit

The Monkeys made their first visit to the cinema yesterday, to see Shrek the Third. I was a little bit nervous about taking them because they can barely sit still for five minutes, let alone two hours but, in general, they both did really well.

Annabelle was very, very excited... more so about my nephews coming with us than seeing the film but I'm sure she didn't really understand what was about to happen. Once we arrived at the cinema her eyes widened and the excitement level elevated through the roof, especially when she saw the snack kiosk. I got her a bag of popcorn and then barely heard a peep out of her until the movie was over. She sat in the row across from me, in between my nephews, so if there was any chitter-chatter they got the brunt of it.

Jack wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. When we first walked into the theater there was a very loud preview showing on the screen, which must have frightened him because he clung to me and would not let go. He started to relax a bit once the scary preview was over and by the time Shrek had started he was sitting calmly on my lap. He sat on my lap quietly, eating popcorn, for a good hour before he started getting fidgety. There was another little girl, who was about Jack's age, in the row behind us who kept getting up to say hello. Before long the two of them were running up and down the center aisle together, at one point, Jack stopped and did a little dance while announcing to the entire audience, (at full volume) "I'M DANCING!" It was then that I knew Jack had seen enough of Shrek. So Jack was removed, he and I spent the final 15 minutes of the film wandering around the lobby.

Current Favorite

Annabelle's new favorite song is Bohemian Like You, by The Dandy Warhols. Have a listen. Then repeat play about 40 times... It'll be like a car ride with Annabelle.

The Dandy Warhols ...

Two Year Check Up

Jack finally had his two year check up, (only 2 and a half months late).

He completely freaked out in the Doctor's office so we were unable to get accurate measurements but, they estimated that his height is about 35 inches and weight about 30.5 lbs., putting him in the 50-75Th percentile. He was too upset to do any of the visual tests, although he did manage to identify an apple before his meltdown, and when Dr. P asked him where his hair was, he quizzically responded with a, "on my head". The highlight of the visit though was when Jack, dressed only in a diaper, grabbed his shoes and legged it down the hall yelling, "time to go home!!!"

Um, you forgot your pants Jack.

"My Five"

The girls at the gym daycare taught Jack how to give a "high five" today. He is too funny, he calls it "my five".

Little Clown

Annabelle is a strawberry fanatic. When Nick heard that there was a strawberry festival a few towns away, naturally, we just had to take her. Imagine a whole festival devoted to strawberries! For someone as small and as mad as Annabelle, that would be a dream come true.

The entire way there all she talked about was how she was going to eat all the strawberries and bring home a big basket full. She was so excited! But when we got there she sadly asked the burning question... Where are all the strawberries? We walked up and down the rows of tents looking for the strawberries; we saw pottery, we saw jewelry, we saw some nice crafty handbags, and some framed artwork. There were plants, and balloons, and all sorts of knickknacks... But there were no strawberries. We kept looking.

Finally, on our second go around, we noticed a group of people standing in a line in front of a frail old woman, who was seated under a tent behind a huge cash box. She was taking their money and handing them tickets. Then we saw the sign... STRAWBERRY, could it be? Actual strawberries? But why is there a need for tickets? Are they housing the world's largest strawberry in there, we wondered? We read further... STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE.

Strawberry shortcake? All these people are waiting in line for strawberry shortcake? Maybe the strawberry shortcake lady knows where the real strawberries are, we thought. So we waited in the line. When we reached the old woman and inquired as to where all the strawberries were hiding, we found out that this was it; the highlight of the festival. People waited all year for this strawberry shortcake. Turns out, the only strawberries we would be seeing at the "strawberry" festival were in the form of shortcake. How disappointing for the small one, so we thought...

We got her a bowl of strawberry shortcake and a few balloons and she was as grateful as if we had let her loose in a strawberry field on an empty stomach!

Happy Days Are Here Again

And all is right with the world; Jack's favorite car has been found!!!

The sneaky little bugger was hiding behind the stove... Silly me for not looking there sooner. He probably would have stayed there for all eternity too, had Jack not lodged a different car in between the stove and the wall, requiring me to move the stove out to retrieve.

Today, Jack is a happy, happy boy.