So we bought some applegate farms turkey burgers. Liam and Brendan are pretty great eaters (though Brendan won't eat tomatoes) but when it comes to burgers they are purists. Surprisingly we haven't had turkey burgers in a long time, but since they've been digging a local restaurant's veggie burgers, and what with the whole 6 degrees of mad cow thing, I thought we should try turkey burgers again. They each ate a half, but Brendan's comments, with complete sincerity: "These taste like headphones" and "These aren't good, I mean they aren't really bad but they're just not good." And Liam said, "Seriously, they taste like foam. No really, why do they taste like this?"
Something to remember. Aidan, well, Aidan ate the bun and the broccoli.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
In the Middle of Our Street
(this was written yesterday)
Last night Aidan woke up around midnight and was fussing and pulling on his diaper and saying ow. It seemed dry but I figured I'd changed it anyway and then in a solitary lucid moment I grabbed my booklight to take a look and found his legs were covered in hives. No one knows why, but we had the cats bathed and shaved on Thursday and I have a feeling that had something to do with it. I know there are a million seasonal allergens out there right now but I'm still pretty convinced it was this weird powder they put on the cats, which makes me feel itchy just thinking about it. I'm going to go look at pictures of when Brendan broke out in hives once and see if there are pictures of shaved cats from right around that time too. I really should have gotten a master's in detectivery. Anyway cat baths were added to the day today, and I really love extra stuff to do on Crazy Tuesdays (more on that later.) (oh and I just remembered Liam got a bunch of dirt in his hair from working in the garden and he needed a bath but failed to get one. shoot!)
Also, the tv installers called to say they would come between 7:30 and 8:30. Liam and Brendan leave for school at 8 so of course they came at 7:50. And 12 seconds before the rang the doorbell Liam spilled milk all over the floor that leads to the room the TV is going into. Anyway, Liam and Brendan got to walk to school just with each other as I watched from the the porch. Exciting! Equally exciting was when Liam saw the wii box and exclaimed "Mom! This tv plays movies about the Mario Brothers!" We decided to try and downplay the wii instead of making it a big deal as a present or something, but Liam was excited to play an inaugural game on it after school. That was before the installers decided they couldn't instal the tv on the wall we wanted it on ("I've been doing this for 10 years and never came across something like this") (to be fair it was just paneling over a brick wall (which we hope to some day take off) but the studs weren't adequate to hang the tv from.) So the other wall where he wants to put it requires us to have a carpenter come and take out a wall mounted airconditioner (which admittedly were were going to do at some point but not NOW) and patchup the wall and somehow match the paneling and yadayada and what about the siding. Bottom line tv, player and wii returned to sender and once again for every x many thousands of dollars we intend to sink into the house it's multiplied by 5 and that corresponds to an equal and opposite reduction in home value.
Tuesdays are like this: Liam and Brendan have school, Eric works, then I work at 5:00, and Liam and Brendan have Irish dancing at 5:15 and Liam has baseball at 6:00. When means they have to eat dinner at 4:15 or else they have to wait til 7:15 and that's too close to bedtime.
(This was written today)
Also, usually Eric walks the kids to school but this morning I walked Liam. When we were just about there Liam said in his sweet small voice, "In music we're learning our last song." "Is it the song you'll sing at the end of the year kindergarten celebration?" "Yes, it's the very last song we'll sing and it's an echo song." AHHHH! I am so sad. This is going by too fast and there is NO WAY I am going to be able to sit through something like that. I will seriously sneak out if I can do it undetected and go back in at the end because really there is no way I could be there. heart breaking...
Last night Aidan woke up around midnight and was fussing and pulling on his diaper and saying ow. It seemed dry but I figured I'd changed it anyway and then in a solitary lucid moment I grabbed my booklight to take a look and found his legs were covered in hives. No one knows why, but we had the cats bathed and shaved on Thursday and I have a feeling that had something to do with it. I know there are a million seasonal allergens out there right now but I'm still pretty convinced it was this weird powder they put on the cats, which makes me feel itchy just thinking about it. I'm going to go look at pictures of when Brendan broke out in hives once and see if there are pictures of shaved cats from right around that time too. I really should have gotten a master's in detectivery. Anyway cat baths were added to the day today, and I really love extra stuff to do on Crazy Tuesdays (more on that later.) (oh and I just remembered Liam got a bunch of dirt in his hair from working in the garden and he needed a bath but failed to get one. shoot!)
Also, the tv installers called to say they would come between 7:30 and 8:30. Liam and Brendan leave for school at 8 so of course they came at 7:50. And 12 seconds before the rang the doorbell Liam spilled milk all over the floor that leads to the room the TV is going into. Anyway, Liam and Brendan got to walk to school just with each other as I watched from the the porch. Exciting! Equally exciting was when Liam saw the wii box and exclaimed "Mom! This tv plays movies about the Mario Brothers!" We decided to try and downplay the wii instead of making it a big deal as a present or something, but Liam was excited to play an inaugural game on it after school. That was before the installers decided they couldn't instal the tv on the wall we wanted it on ("I've been doing this for 10 years and never came across something like this") (to be fair it was just paneling over a brick wall (which we hope to some day take off) but the studs weren't adequate to hang the tv from.) So the other wall where he wants to put it requires us to have a carpenter come and take out a wall mounted airconditioner (which admittedly were were going to do at some point but not NOW) and patchup the wall and somehow match the paneling and yadayada and what about the siding. Bottom line tv, player and wii returned to sender and once again for every x many thousands of dollars we intend to sink into the house it's multiplied by 5 and that corresponds to an equal and opposite reduction in home value.
Tuesdays are like this: Liam and Brendan have school, Eric works, then I work at 5:00, and Liam and Brendan have Irish dancing at 5:15 and Liam has baseball at 6:00. When means they have to eat dinner at 4:15 or else they have to wait til 7:15 and that's too close to bedtime.
(This was written today)
Also, usually Eric walks the kids to school but this morning I walked Liam. When we were just about there Liam said in his sweet small voice, "In music we're learning our last song." "Is it the song you'll sing at the end of the year kindergarten celebration?" "Yes, it's the very last song we'll sing and it's an echo song." AHHHH! I am so sad. This is going by too fast and there is NO WAY I am going to be able to sit through something like that. I will seriously sneak out if I can do it undetected and go back in at the end because really there is no way I could be there. heart breaking...
Friday, March 9, 2012
Aidan in Translation
For those of you who want a primer:
Down
1. Down
2. Up
There it is
1. There it is
2. Thank you
Aye
1. Yes
No no no
1. No
2. Absolutely not
3. No Yes No Yes No
Momma
1. Mommy
2. Daddy
Mommy
1. Mommy
2. Daddy
Dad
1. Daddy
2. Liam
3. Brendan
4. Mommy
Ow
1. Ouch
2. Get away from me
3. No I cannot share this with you
Vrrrrrr
1. Vacuum
2. Car noise
Guck
1. Stuck (usually in reference to himself, a ball or Roomba)
More
1. More
All done
1. All done
2. Not really all done because I forgot I still want to eat more
Ruck
1. Truck
Beebo
1. Belly Button
Eye
1. This is your eye right here where I am pressing my finger
Nose
1. Nose
Ball
1. Ball
2. Round object that I want to throw that is not a ball
Wow
1. Wow, that's cool
2. Wow I'm amazing you should be clapping for how amazing I am
Down
1. Down
2. Up
There it is
1. There it is
2. Thank you
Aye
1. Yes
No no no
1. No
2. Absolutely not
3. No Yes No Yes No
Momma
1. Mommy
2. Daddy
Mommy
1. Mommy
2. Daddy
Dad
1. Daddy
2. Liam
3. Brendan
4. Mommy
Ow
1. Ouch
2. Get away from me
3. No I cannot share this with you
Vrrrrrr
1. Vacuum
2. Car noise
Guck
1. Stuck (usually in reference to himself, a ball or Roomba)
More
1. More
All done
1. All done
2. Not really all done because I forgot I still want to eat more
Ruck
1. Truck
Beebo
1. Belly Button
Eye
1. This is your eye right here where I am pressing my finger
Nose
1. Nose
Ball
1. Ball
2. Round object that I want to throw that is not a ball
Wow
1. Wow, that's cool
2. Wow I'm amazing you should be clapping for how amazing I am
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
The List Is In!
Liam, Brendan and I have made our Vacation List. As you'll see it's unlikely we'll hit all these places this year, but we'd rather have too big a list than too small a list. We had hoped to go with Eric on his first week-long trip to CA, but unfortunately he had to make his travel plans while I was super sick and I just couldn't muster arranging plans for us as well and switching my work hours and whatnot, so we won't be joining him when he flies out next week. But he'll be going to CA for his new job at least a couple times a year so we'll definitely catch a ride out there on a regular basis and hopefully at least once this year. Ok, drumroll please:
- Champaign (the boys LOVE going there, and actually I do plan on Marching in May so we most likely will be going)
- Alaska (Brendan's addition)
- Indianapolis ( we were supposed to go last week to see the Butler / UIC game, but sickness thwarted those plans. I was able to give our bball tickets to my old college roommate and she has a 4 year old so it worked out reasonably well. We'll go visit my prof either this Spring/ Summer or for a football game in the Fall. Most important of all is that we see Blue II (and maybe Blue III)!
- California (Eric's new job is in Mountain View, so we'll do San Fran and Muir Woods, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium)
- New York City (but Brendan specifies that we will NOT ride in a cash cab)
- Baltimore (we plan to go here to visit my aunt this summer)
- Florida (we may go here in November to visit Eric's cousin in Clearwater Beach and as he is a marine biologist Liam may get some face time with his work in Tampa Bay. Also the boys have a strong attachment to him even though they've only met a few times, and he has a little girl just about Aidan's age)
- Tennessee (my brother and his family want to go here to because they like the Smokey Mountains, and while we're there we want to check out the firefoxes Eric's new company has at the Knoxville Zoo)
- Water Park (I added this, and we are going to a water park to kick off Spring Break since I am working a lot that week and I want the boys to feel they have some memories from the break.)
- Hawaii (Liam's addition)
- Italy (we have all been wanting to go here for years, and I think we are getting close. There's a song we sing, "Senor Don Gato" and while it may be Spanish Liam and I decided long ago we will go to Italy and look for Don Gato up on the rooftops. Also Italy has agriturismo so we will check that out. As an added bonus Liam and Brendan are learning Italian in school! !molto bene!)
- Ireland (obviously)
- Africa (Liam & Brendan's addition. Liam thinks when he is 9 and Brendan is 7, I thought much older than that)
- Asia (Liam & Brendan's addition. They are more exotic than I am. Also, I spelled Asia wrong when I first wrote it on our list and it gave me a headache trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I plan to stick with Little Saigon and Chinatown, but they have to dream.)
- Champaign (the boys LOVE going there, and actually I do plan on Marching in May so we most likely will be going)
- Alaska (Brendan's addition)
- Indianapolis ( we were supposed to go last week to see the Butler / UIC game, but sickness thwarted those plans. I was able to give our bball tickets to my old college roommate and she has a 4 year old so it worked out reasonably well. We'll go visit my prof either this Spring/ Summer or for a football game in the Fall. Most important of all is that we see Blue II (and maybe Blue III)!
- California (Eric's new job is in Mountain View, so we'll do San Fran and Muir Woods, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium)
- New York City (but Brendan specifies that we will NOT ride in a cash cab)
- Baltimore (we plan to go here to visit my aunt this summer)
- Florida (we may go here in November to visit Eric's cousin in Clearwater Beach and as he is a marine biologist Liam may get some face time with his work in Tampa Bay. Also the boys have a strong attachment to him even though they've only met a few times, and he has a little girl just about Aidan's age)
- Tennessee (my brother and his family want to go here to because they like the Smokey Mountains, and while we're there we want to check out the firefoxes Eric's new company has at the Knoxville Zoo)
- Water Park (I added this, and we are going to a water park to kick off Spring Break since I am working a lot that week and I want the boys to feel they have some memories from the break.)
- Hawaii (Liam's addition)
- Italy (we have all been wanting to go here for years, and I think we are getting close. There's a song we sing, "Senor Don Gato" and while it may be Spanish Liam and I decided long ago we will go to Italy and look for Don Gato up on the rooftops. Also Italy has agriturismo so we will check that out. As an added bonus Liam and Brendan are learning Italian in school! !molto bene!)
- Ireland (obviously)
- Africa (Liam & Brendan's addition. Liam thinks when he is 9 and Brendan is 7, I thought much older than that)
- Asia (Liam & Brendan's addition. They are more exotic than I am. Also, I spelled Asia wrong when I first wrote it on our list and it gave me a headache trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I plan to stick with Little Saigon and Chinatown, but they have to dream.)
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Stop! Growing Up So Damn Fast!!!
One of my patrons at work told me possibly the worst thing I could ever hear, just before Liam started kindergarten. She said "once they start kindergarten, it's over. They will be in college in the blink of an eye." Now why she told me such a horrible thing, I have no idea. But I'm sure it was just a week or two ago when I was crying over Liam's too-fast-approaching first day of kindergarten, and now he only has THREE MONTHS LEFT!!!! What?!?! How did this happen? I know we lost about a month with the pneumonia, but still this just can't be. I am totally sick about it.
And you mean to tell me this was over a year and a half ago?!?!
And you mean to tell me this was over a year and a half ago?!?!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
About Last Night
What can I say? We survived. That was our first time with three sick kids at once. Fortunately Brendan's at the tail end of this illness, Liam in the middle, and Aidan just got hit (and as of this morning seems to be on the mend already.) Liam slept literally all day and all night yesterday, with just bathroom breaks in between.. He wouldn't let us give him any meds, and since he slept through the doctors' hours and then the Immediate Care Center hours (the docs said we should go get him tested for strep) we decided to let him sleep and watched him like a hawk. With no medical knowledge at all we didn't really think it was strep, just cause he did have a bad cold and didn't have trouble swallowing and had a cough and didn't have a particularly sore throat and from what I could see of his throat it didn't look red or white or weird. And also Brendan seemed to be one step ahead of Liam in this illness and was doing much better. And the doctor said you need to catch strep in the first 9 days, so we decided to give him the rest he wanted and long story short today he seems better this morning and is fever free. I'm still going to be watching all three of them and will take them in the second it seems necessary. But I'm trying really hard to be the right mix of cautious without being neurotic. It's an uphill battle. :o)
Eric has to go to CA for two weeks in mid March, and I am trying to decide if we should go with for the first week. That could entail me flying in at least one direction with three kids by myself. yowzers! And my germaphobia will be in full swing at an airport in March. And the boys would miss a week of school. On the other hand we would be in California in March, so that would be awesome. And I really don't see L, B & A being too comfortable with not seeing Eric for so long. Ah, decisions, decisions. Ok, back to laundry!!
Here's a pic of the boys playing either Angry Birds or Shoot the Apple. Aidan really likes to be in on everything...
And here's a cute pic from the Liam and Brendan's joint birthday party in January with their friends from school... (realllly hope we can get the thank you cards sent out today. You know, just a month late.)
Eric has to go to CA for two weeks in mid March, and I am trying to decide if we should go with for the first week. That could entail me flying in at least one direction with three kids by myself. yowzers! And my germaphobia will be in full swing at an airport in March. And the boys would miss a week of school. On the other hand we would be in California in March, so that would be awesome. And I really don't see L, B & A being too comfortable with not seeing Eric for so long. Ah, decisions, decisions. Ok, back to laundry!!
Here's a pic of the boys playing either Angry Birds or Shoot the Apple. Aidan really likes to be in on everything...
And here's a cute pic from the Liam and Brendan's joint birthday party in January with their friends from school... (realllly hope we can get the thank you cards sent out today. You know, just a month late.)
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Thursday That Wasn't
What was supposed to happen:
Wednesday, Eric works in the day, I work in the night
Thursday, Eric works in the day, Brendan doesn't have school so his friend comes over to play, I work in the day, Eric takes the boys to the dentist in the afternoon and we take the boys to Grandma's and have a night out on our own, the first in quite a while.
What did happen:
Wednesday, Eric works in the day, the boys and I clean up the house for the playdate. Good day. Eric comes home, I go to work, Eric has a good night with the boys, baths, dinner, and then Brendan starts feeling sick, throws up a bunch of times, Liam starts crying that his ears hurt, I get stuck by a freight train in the rain on my walk home from work sans umbrella, we do 6.2 million loads of laundry, Aidan wakes up too early Thursday morning, I go to work, Eric misses an important meeting, we have to cancel the dentist and the babysitting with grandma.
I can't be too bitter though because FORTUNATELY Liam and Brendan got to go to their class Valentine's Day parties, which were super cute and they had a lot of fun, and I was supposed to work tomorrow night but someone switched with me at the last minute so now I have the night off. And Eric has a 5 day weekend coming up, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everyone will start getting healthier.
Wednesday, Eric works in the day, I work in the night
Thursday, Eric works in the day, Brendan doesn't have school so his friend comes over to play, I work in the day, Eric takes the boys to the dentist in the afternoon and we take the boys to Grandma's and have a night out on our own, the first in quite a while.
What did happen:
Wednesday, Eric works in the day, the boys and I clean up the house for the playdate. Good day. Eric comes home, I go to work, Eric has a good night with the boys, baths, dinner, and then Brendan starts feeling sick, throws up a bunch of times, Liam starts crying that his ears hurt, I get stuck by a freight train in the rain on my walk home from work sans umbrella, we do 6.2 million loads of laundry, Aidan wakes up too early Thursday morning, I go to work, Eric misses an important meeting, we have to cancel the dentist and the babysitting with grandma.
I can't be too bitter though because FORTUNATELY Liam and Brendan got to go to their class Valentine's Day parties, which were super cute and they had a lot of fun, and I was supposed to work tomorrow night but someone switched with me at the last minute so now I have the night off. And Eric has a 5 day weekend coming up, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everyone will start getting healthier.
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