Sunday, July 25, 2010

End of Days

Madiyar's and James' time together is drawing to a close. Madiyar will board the plane to head back to Mass tomorrow morning, bringing to an end their nearly three weeks together, first at M's house, then at ours.
I thought they would get bored, or at a minimum irritable with each other, but I didn't see that happen.
While James was at Madiyar's, they went to their vacation spot in the mountains and played tennis; swam in the pool and the lake and splashed in the creek; went hiking and up into the mountains and explored caves; rode their bikes to the dollar store to buy candy; watched movies both on the big screen and from the couch at home.
When at our house, they played ping-pong, swam in the pool and jumped off a bridge (literally). They rode their bikes to the dollar store to buy candy; watched movies both on the big screen and from the couch at home. They went to the beach one day and to Hershey Park the next.
They're still going strong.
Me? I'm ready to drop.....





Climbing onto the bridge.....














I can't look!













Crazy flips









Swimmin' like fish






















Boogie Boardin'








Walking the jetties
in Barnegat Light

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Spa Day


My blog's getting a girl's night out at the spa. Stay tuned for a full, three-years-in-the-waiting, makeover.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Nesting


Is it b/c I'll be getting a "new" kid for a week next month?
Is it b/c one of my "old" kids will be returning home in a few days after an absence of a week and a half?
Or is it b/c deep down I'm a closet OCD maniac who never gets her fix?

Whatever the reason, yesterday was the first honest to goodness day I've had this summer that I didn't have to cart one of the kids off to a doctor/dentist/orthodontist or lesson. I had no groceries to shop, no dry cleaning to drop. I had no vet, no farrier, no wormings to tend to.

So what did I do? I revamped the girls' closets, handing down, throwing out, storing away for later. I overhauled Mission Control in my kitchen where I track appointments and activities, homework, due dates for books and DVDs, and the perpetually incoming permission slips. And I organized to within an inch of its life the arts and craft shelf in our so-called Dining Room (insert air quotes here).



I had all the earmarks of a mother-to-be in her nesting phase. But I know this organizational mania was induced, not by pregnancy hormones, but instead by a rainy summer day while I was one child down and had the soothing sounds of a Monopoly battle in the background as white noise.

Looking around at my house, I need a lot more of those days ......

Monday, July 12, 2010

Fancy Pants


My sister Mary just gave her website/blog a makeover and it looks faaaaabulous, dahling. Check it out .....
http://marybirdsong.com/

Friday, July 9, 2010

He Le-eft, on a Jetplane ....


Yesterday, I watched James board the airplane to fly solo out to stay with his best friend for a week+. He was met at the airport by Madiyar and his Mom (my good friend Dee) and she whisked them home where the boys have been busy making runs to the dollar store, going for walks together, eating pizza and watching movies. Today they are loading up the van and driving out to their family vacation spot, where they will fish, swim, explore and, you guessed it, eat pizza and watch movies (de rigueur stuff for teenaged boys).
When James flies home next w/e, he will do so in the company of Madiyar, and M will stay with us for about 10 days where they will...oh you know the drill.

Here's to James and Madiyar having a wonderful best friends reunited blast together over the next nearly three weeks.
Here's to Dee getting a small break when the boys are with me for a bit.
And here's to me getting a break while the boys are with her.
I miss him, but it is so nice to have, not one less mouth to feed, but one less mouth to argue. I feel more relaxed already, even after only one day, from not feeling quite so "on guard", ever on alert for the latest confrontation.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

If it worked for him ......


In an exclusive interview with Yahoo! News and The Huffington Post, he {Warren Buffett} credited his father for teaching him how to live, and explained that all parents can make a "better human being" by offering their children unconditional love:


The power of unconditional love. I mean, there is no power on earth like unconditional love. And I think that if you offered that to your child, I mean you’re 90 percent of the way home. There may be days when you don’t feel like it, it’s not uncritical love, that’s a different animal, but to know you can always come back, that is huge in life. That takes you a long, long way. And I would say that every parent out there that can extend that to their child at an early age, it’s going to make for a better human being.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

4th of July Tie Dye


My sister and her hubby and their new baby were visitin' with us and we all went a little crazy dying things red white and blue to show our patriotic colors.
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