Time Bandit...

...I have no real reason for not blogging as of late, however if I could pin the blame on something I would say my life has something to do with it. Just busy, you know that oxymoron being a "Working Mom" it's just that, life, well it never ceases to keep me moving at the max. I have had my share of relaxing moments, my birthday Spa Day for instance (Heaven!), last weekend at the lake, etc...it just seems like when you have those times the last thing I am thinking about doing is opening the laptop.

Of course I could blog after I get done with work, pick up the kids, stop at the grocery store, make dinner, play with the kids, give the kids a bath, read them a story, put them to bed, clean up dinner, start laundry, fold laundry...I sit on the couch with BeerDaddy, who has also competed in this marathon day and we chat about life's greatest mysteries, like are we out of milk, who is dropping off the kids tomorrow, when are we going to put this laundry away and then....it is 10:30/11 ish and we are exhausted, so we head to bed and race to see who can fall asleep first (I am the winner 99.9% of the time).

We are surely not alone in this "Rat Race" called parenting...but it can put a brake on the ol' blogging, which I really do find therapeutic. So now that I have gotten that diatribe out of the way, I can catch you up the life that is mine.

My birthday was fantastic, although I had a very slight, itty bitty midlife crisis turning 31, mainly because I found more gray hair, my face looked like I was aging and more importantly I was so excited to turn 30 and FINALLY be done with my 20's that I kind of forgot that the years keep coming. BUT...I did get over it and my guys had breakfast with me, I had an absolutely lovely day at the spa with my Mom, Grandma and Stacy...and capped the night off with a delicious dinner at our house with family and friends. Really it doesn't get any better (the cut, color & facial helped with the aging part too).

Ross is done with preschool and to say that I am going to be a puddle when he starts Kindergarten or graduates from High School is an understatement. I had to leave his last day of preschool ice cream social about 10 minutes early and found a few tears strolling down my cheek while walking to my car just thinking about my first baby moving on to the next stage of growing up...too fast I tell you, too fast. Quick cute story about his last day...I went to thank his teacher for all she had done this year and she said that "Ross had really opened up this year and...well the girls are quite smitten by him. And well Ross, he seems to be quite the keen on them as well." Oi vey...my little blond Casanova. Here are a couple pics of Ross with his teachers...

I have so much more to tell, but I need to sign off as last night the guy in the hotel room next to me (yes, I am on the road again, back in the Big Apple and more adventures to tell) vomited his brains out, literally. All night long and the intensity of the sound was unreal, I honestly have no idea how he could even possibly have enough in him to last that long, so I have decided he must have lost his spleen and a couple other organs throughout the night. Just in case you were wondering I am staying at the beautiful Grand Hyatt, however the walls are so thin, I think it is a requirement in NY that any sound must be magnified while in your hotel room. My guess is the only thing between the walls is a piece of vellum paper. So my plans to get some much overdue work done were shattered. I did however decide that I could not stomach listening to this again tonight as 2 pillows over my head with the tv on could not drown him out. So I went to the front desk asked if they could check to see if the person in the room next to me had checked out, explained why, the apologized profusely and asked if they could send up a bottle of wine for my troubles...of course not wanting them to feel bad I agreed...I know big of me.

More to come and no I will not wait 2 weeks or more...good stories are on the way and just as a teaser I'll just say that Ross posed this question to BeerDaddy and I on a recent walk "how do babies get in people's bellies?" YIKES!

Mother's Day 2009...

Biting the Big Apple...

...again I find myself sitting down to try and update my blog for the billionth time in the last couple weeks, however this time there will be success!

I am currently coming to you from the "Lake" aka Grandma's house on Lake Mille Lacs for the Fishing Opener and more importantly our annual Mother's Day Weekend. I look forward to this weekend for many reasons, typically it is the "kickoff" to the many weekend trips we will make here this summer (although we frequent the lake all year long), it is the FIRST of my Birthday Celebrations (I adore my birthday beyond words, why I don't know, I think it is something my Dad instilled in me and we both make sure our celebrations last a good month), and bonus now that I have Children I get to celebrate Mom's Day with my Grandma, Mom, Aunts, and now Cousin's Wives. The weekend pretty much sucks for the guys on many levels, not only do they get to submerge themselves in the freezing cold water to put the dock and lift in, BUT they also get to cook & clean all day Sunday for the Women. Lucky men, they should be so fortunate that they married us! :) So I spent the day playing outside with the boys and taking them for a spin on the four wheeler, now we are hunkered down inside while I enjoy a fine glass of Vino and the Men they are hovered around the fire trying to warm up....

The last couple weeks have been a little crazy, but life seems to be slowing or maybe it's that my travel scheduled has slowed. I was in NY last week for work and then a Friend/Coworker, Susie, met me out there for a little girls getaway. We had a BLAST! Needless to say we tore up NY in a few short days. The first night we had the best intentions to head over to Rockefeller Center for dinner, but ended up "stopping" for a drink at the hotel bar...yeah well that quick stop lasted a little longer because they carry one of my favorite Pinot Noir's (La Crema) and I can't have just 1 (again, that is why I am Vino Mommy)...at some point we managed to pull ourselves away and walked a couple blocks down to a place called McFadden's Tavern. Great burgers, but the music was way too loud for our old ears so we had to leave as we could only comprehend every 4th word we spoke (and no it was not because of the wine I had consumed). We spent the rest of the trip hitting up Chinatown for some "discounted" designer purses, Little Italy for lunch, Central Park with a pit stop at Tavern on the Green, Times Square, lunch in Tribeca and FINALLY mastering the Subway! There are so many stories but I will only make you suffer through 2 (Lance and Beerdaddy quit rolling your eyes)...

...first one happened while shopping in Chinatown, we were accosted about every 5 feet with someone asking us "you want Gucci, Coach, Prada...come with me" (you have to say it really fast and in your best Chinese accent) and then all of the sudden this man who appeared to be homeless or maybe he just had poor hygiene yelled into the crowd "THIS IS INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME AT IT'S WORST, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED". Ashamed, me? No. Giddy at the great deals and happy that I can help this Entrepreneur realize his/her dreams. Yes.

The second and the one that still has me laughing, is when Susie and I were walking out of Central Park and an older Asian man had photos displayed of famous NY landmarks and Central Park...we stop to look and he turns to Susie and the following conversation transpires...

Man: Foto (again use your best Chinese/English accent)

Susie: (Nods that it indeed is a photo)

Man: Foto, Foto, Foto, Foto

Susie: Yes (again, smiling that and acknowledging that they are photos and there are 4 of them )

Man: Fo Seasons, April, May, Fall, Christmas

Priceless I tell you, priceless. I will try and post some pictures from the trip in the next couple days, but until then I hope all of you readers that are Mother's have a wonderful day tomorrow...I know I will!

Random...

...I am currently at Casa Del McNab in the great City of St Cloud for a weekend visit of splendor and vino...today I joined the ladies of "Oakwood Lane" (Stacy's gal pal neighbors) for a little lunch which I imagine is much better and less controversial than the ladies of Wisteria Lane. Good food was followed by a trip to the mall in which I became reacquainted with all that is fantastic at New York & Company. I hadn't been there in years and needless to say I made up for lost time. Good for me, bad for BeerDaddy.

So not a whole lot of earth shattering news, we signed Ross up for Kindergarten and have come to the decision that he will attend half day in the morning (we were told that our neighborhood has been AM for years) and Brian will bring him to school (they don't bus from our neighborhood). I am hoping all works well, we have stressed out (or maybe just me) over this for months and I'd like to think that we have made the best decision possible...we'll see. Speaking of decisions Stacy called me shortly after reading my last post to inform that I had indeed lost my mind as she had never considered me a bad parent and was dumbfounded as to why I would think that and post such nonsense. My response was...maybe it was PMS and I didn't want to admit it...or lack of Vino.

Other than that last weekend we had a little memorial dinner in honor of the 1 year since my Grandma passed away, it was very nice and since my Grandpa adored and loved my Grandma immensely he wrote a little speech that had most in tears...such a sappy guy...(BeerDaddy pay attention). That same day my godson turned 21, yes my Aunt was that nutty and bequeathed me with the honor of being her son's Godmother at the tender age of 10. So being the good Godmother that I am, I go out for a couple glasses of vino so that I can buy him a shot. Well somehow I was given a couple shots and boom goes the dynamite. It was a lot of fun, but I am way to damn old to do that anymore as Sunday came around and I was not so much enjoying life.

Last but not least I am sending a special shout out (albeit belated) to my Dad/Mr Fabulous/Bampa/Special Shoes...who turned a fantastic 51 this week. I luv ya Dad!!!

Parenting, it's not as easy as it looks...

...hard to believe that this Thursday I will be taking the Big Boy to "Kindergarten Roundup" i.e. registering him for school, meet the teachers, and get a sneak peek at what's in store for next fall.

I know I have said it before but I am simply amazed at how fast time has flown, I mean really how is it possible that 5 years have already passed since he was born? He is such a precocious little boy, who has been called an "old soul" more than once. He is a lover, a cuddler, but needs his space. He definitely knows what he wants and has no issue letting us know how he feels about something. He can not be forced, if he is not ready to sing a song, play a game, etc...he will not do it.

He is a processor, a thinker and me, I am doer. This can be a conflict at times, me being the Mom who wants him to do something on my time (get his shoes on, pick up a toy, take a picture...) and he of course not wanting to do this. I know this sounds like the classic parent/child conflict, but lately I feel like my fuse has been a little short. No need to call CPS...nothing bad, we aren't on a spanking rampage (and NO I am not berating those who choose to spank), I just realized that on at least 2 occasions this weekend I sort of snapped at my Big Boy for not doing what I asked him to and maybe just maybe it was a little more than what was necessary for the "crime".

I worry that I have been too hard on him and for goodness sakes he is only 5 and if I am this hard on him at 5 what will I be like when he is 10 or 15? So I shed some tears (NO, I am not PMS'ng) and BeerDaddy brought me back to reality that yes I may have snapped (we all have our moments) and lord knows between the funeral frenzy, Easter, and all that ensued last week I was a wee bit stressed, that I am still a good Mom.

I just don't want my boys to remember me as that Mom who was too tough or hard to please, because oh my god these boys mean the world to me. So I will forgive myself, as I am sure my little Rossman has for my little blurp in time where I wasn't the perfect Mommy and hope that he and Jack always know how much I love them. They are my sweet perfection that bring me so much joy and I know that there will be other moments, but hopefully I can learn a little something each time.

Like I said, this parenting thing...it's not as easy as it looks.

Deja Vu...

...but not the kind I like. I am back from a couple of chaotic weeks and the return to normal life is quite comforting.

A year ago, Brian and I came home from Cancun to find out that my Grandma (my Dad's Mom) had become sick and although initially we thought it was something she would recover from, it was dire enough that we were told we should head to the hospital when we landed. Within a week of being home she passed away. This was devastating for all of us as it was so unexpected, this Saturday it will have been 1 year.

So when I got on the plane to come home from Cancun a week ago and made a call home before takeoff to see how the boys were doing, I was crushed to hear that my Grandpa was not doing well. I waited until we were in flight and went up to First Class where my parents were to let my Mom know what little I knew and that it sounded serious. I went back to my seat and just sat that there in awe that we could possibly be going through the same motions as last year. We landed, my Mom called her Sister to find out what his status was and made the decision that she needed to get to his house as soon as possible. My Mom's other sister arrived a few hours later and would join them shortly. I was told that I could wait until morning that things would be fine until then. I went to bed that night second guessing that I should have gone to see him, my thoughts were confirmed when I received a call at 6:30AM on Monday that my Grandpa had passed away 15 minutes earlier.

I was sad, I was mad, and in an instant the relaxed and refreshed feeling of being on vacation less than 24 hours earlier was gone. The rest of last week went as most do after someone passes, we cried, we put pictures together, family gathered, we laughed, we became stressed, we told stories, we said good bye and then we partied. Wait....doesn't every family have a good party when someone dies? Well, my family does because well that is what we do best, celebrate life and the life of someone we love.

My Grandpa was a complex man to say the least, he saw things from a point of view much different than I. I always knew he had a love for the outdoors, hunting, fishing, anything that would place him near a lake or woods. What I didn't know was the deep love that he had for his family. Not that I didn't think he loved his Children, Grandchildren or Great Grandchildren...it was just not something I heard him speak about. But I couldn't help but notice how many people at his funeral stated how much he expressed to them the immense love he had for his family above all. I would be lying if I didn't say this took me by surprise. Again, I don't say this as a negative thing, I guess maybe I viewed his love as more understated, but it does feel good to know that we were such an important part of his life. He will be missed by many and I personally will miss my many lunches with him where I would get him up to speed on the latest and greatest stories of Ross and Jack.

So tonight I am in Indy trying to get caught up with work, caught up with life, and trying to remember what life was like before the chaos ensued. I miss my boys already and am counting down the hours till I see them again.

Hello...anyone here??

I promise I have not vacated the premise...still alive, still kickin'. It has been a crazy couple of weeks and I have quite the post drafted for tonight. But until then Vino Mommy needs some vino. Much to come....