Mini-Vaca!

I am taking a mini-vaca from the blogging world. Not because I really want to, but because I currently have "better" things to do with my time than sitting in front of the computer. Like baking. And cleaning the house. And socializing. And now that Daddio has switched to the evening shift, I am able to substitute teach again. And I have been. So that's how I am spending my time during the day right now, which means no more composing posts during Ben's nap time.

And I've also been on an exercising kick lately, trying to lose some weight and tone things up. And that's how I've been spending my nights, which means no more composing posts after the boys have gone to bed. And I've been going to bed earlier because I have to be up around 5:30 AM, which means no more staying up until midnight to finish composing the post that I started during Ben's nap time.

So..........


Mini-vaca.


Be back soon.

I Am Not Myself Tonight

Or rather I wasn't this weekend.

Daddio and I took an overnight trip, sans kids, to Burlington, VT this weekend, which is a rarity in and of itself. But I also did a few things that I never do, such as try new things, which I am always hesitant to do. Here is a rundown of our visit:

We dropped off the boys at my mom's house around lunchtime on Saturday and took the Essex, NY ferry across Lake Champlain and over to Vermont. It was a pleasant ride, but I would imagine that it would be much more enjoyable during late spring or early summer, when things are actually green again. No signs of Champy, however.

Image Source

Mommy Doesn't Know Best.

I knew that one day "it" would happen, I just didn't think that it would happen this soon. All along, (meaning for 3.10 years), I have been the relieved mother who boasts that "it" has never happened to her child. I have heard stories of parents who have experienced this and felt pity for them, while secretly beaming with pride on the inside. I dreaded the day when Owen would start school and become exposed to something like this, but felt safe that "it" would not happen yet. But in my naivety, I neglected to consider playgroup, which he attends twice a week with five other kids. For the past three weeks, it has only been Owen and two other girls who have been at playgroup; three of the children (all cousins), had been mysteriously absent for three weeks. For the past three weeks, Owen has been returning from playgroup with nary a cold, but then the three cousins returned on Monday. And this week? This week saw the Great Puking Disaster of April 2011, and I am totally blaming the three cousins for it.

My Book Babes-A Blog Hop

Katie at See K Read is hosting a one time blog hop called "Book Babes". She is a mom who loves to read, and therefore, loves to see photos of babies and their books. And guess what? She wants to see our babies and their books, so dig out your photos and hop on over to participate!

My Little Bookworm

This is the earliest photo that I have of Owen with a book. He was a little over 6 months old here. He loved "reading" this baby faces book. He still loves to read, and it's not uncommon to find him sitting on his bed with a book when we thought that he was playing instead.

Ben has never been a big reader, so I'm pretty sure that this is one of the only photos that I have of him with a book nearby. (He's about 4 months old here). Thankfully, he is finally starting to take an interest in books, but I suspect that it's mainly from watching Owen reading and a desire to do what his big brother does.

Now hop on over to See K Read to check out some more little bookworms!

RTT: Tea Parties, Exercising, and Burlington, VT

It's time for another Random Tuesday Thoughts, currently being hosted by the rebellious Stacy at Stacy Uncorked.

• It seems as though the only posts I am doing lately are Random Tuesday Thoughts! Okay, in reality, that really is all I'm doing, but I suppose it's because they are so easy! I don't have to worry about gathering all of my thoughts into an organized and cohesive post. I've also been busier these last few weeks. Well, maybe not busier, but less inclined to sit in front of the computer for hours on end (because that is seriously how long it takes me to compose anything).

•  In a quest to try to lose those last stubborn baby weight pounds, I have started working out. Kind of. I'm not going to the gym or anything entirely motivating as that. I'm using the Exercise on Demand feature through our cable provider to complete various workouts at night after the boys have gone to bed and while Daddio is at the gym. It's a nice feature to have. I've tried kickboxing, yoga, cardio, pilates, "piloxing", and bellydancing workouts so far, along with various mini-workouts for my abs and buns and thighs. It's been a good experience, but I'm not really seeing too many results yet. I understand that it's only been a week, but come on! That's one of the reasons I have always hated working out; I would prefer to see instant results and tend to lose patience if I don't. But, it has been over one week since I started, so I'm hopeful that it's a sign that I will actually stick to it this time around. We will see. 

•  I am a member of the Friends of the "Small Town" Free Library committee.Basically that means that we are in charge of organizing fundraisers to help raise money for our local public library. We are in the middle of planning an American Girl doll tea party. I am on the crafts committee for it. As a mother of two boys, this will be an interesting experience for me, and I'm kind of excited about it. This is the second year that the tea party has been held. Last year only 30 tickets were available, and it sold out immediately. This year, we changed the venue to be able to host 60 young ladies and their dolls. Tickets were sold out in less than one week! It's crazy how popular this is! Basically, the girls get to dress up and bring their American Girl dolls with them to participate in crafts, and games, and refreshments for a few hours. We also offer items available for purchase and are raffling off this year's American Girl "Girl of the Year" doll, Kanani; she's Hawaiian. I was assigned the task of creating Bingo cards, and I think that I did a pretty nice job.  I had to come up with 15 different cards.

• Spring is finally here. Yay! Hurray for spring! Yesterday our temps were near 70, if not all the way there. Today, we are expecting mid-60s, while the rest of the week will see the 50s. I'm not going to complain, because as long as it's not more snow, then I am a-okay with that!

• In American Idol news, what on earth happened last week?! In all fairness, I should admit that I don't vote, nor have I ever voted, for an American Idol contestant, so I am probably one of those viewers who is to blame for why Pia was sent home last week. I assumed that Pia would make it to the final three. However, I did not think that she would win, (I've already pegged James Durbin for that honor). While Pia has an absolutely beautiful voice, and the image to go along with it, I don't think that she has shown enough personality to actually win. She is not the performer that most of the other contestants are. Apparently that's the main theory behind why people suspect she was booted last week. I think that she should have at least lasted longer than Stefano, but what do I know. 

•  Daddio and I took a mini-trip to Burlington, VT this weekend. I intend on writing more about it in a separate post, so I will just say here that on Saturday, we stopped by my mom's house long enough to throw the boys out of the car, and headed to Burlington for the night. I love my boys to death, but it was so nice having that time without them. I think that we actually enjoyed each other's company for once! Or at least I know I did, I cannot speak for Daddio on that one. But it was a nice stress-free trip together. Next time we're shooting for a whole week. I'll tell you all more about it later, but in the meantime, you can check out some of my purchases while I was there.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday: Shameless Promotion of the Familial Kind

www.SMWartworks.com or www.SMWartworks.etsy.com

*That's my sister's work; not a photograph, it's a graphite portrait.. She takes custom orders, folks. Get in touch with her!

It's Tuesday Already?

So I (almost) completely forgot that today is Tuesday. For whatever reason, I keep thinking it's Monday. Time to whip out a quick Random Tuesday Thoughts, currently being hosted by Stacy Uncorked.

I originally had a list of random ideas started, but I have misplaced it. So let's try to pull something out of nothing...

• I would like to know whose bright idea it was to package plain oatmeal in a box with blue coloring and with a picture of real blueberries on top of a bowl of oatmeal on the front. The strawberry oatmeal comes in a box with red coloring and a photo of real strawberries on top of a bowl of oatmeal, so I think that's it's a pretty safe bet that a mother who is scurrying through the grocery store with two hungry and tired boys is going to quickly glance at the box and assume that it is blueberry oatmeal and throw it in the cart. This is why I don't go grocery shopping. I wonder how many other distracted mothers were fooled by this.