A Momentous Occasion

My baby lost his first tooth yesterday. It has been loose for a couple of weeks but being a wuss and also male he has been babying it and eating on the side. So yesterday it came out while he was drinking water. I know, strange but true. Anyway, the six year old was very excited because he was expecting a shiny new quarter. Imagine his delight when instead he received a dollar. See that's the key to true happiness, low expectations. HaHaHaHAa.

Vacation

The boys are officially on vacation as of today, which mean I am totally at their beck and call for the next two weeks. Wish me luck. Anywho...if my posts are few and far between, don't worry I'll be back. After the crazy last minute Christmas shopping because Santa has totally been a lazy bum and gotten next to nothing for the boys yet. I did buy one item which I found on sale early but was totally found out by the six year old who was snooping in my room so it has become a gift from Mom and Dad and now Santa has to start all over. Also I have quite a few holiday parties to attend cause I'm a popular girl like that.

SNOW

So Saturday it started snowing. Now, here in Jersey we don't shut everything down for a little snow as apparently DC does. (AT least that is what Amanda reported on MODG) However we got a significant amount of snow to please two young boys.

As I do not have a creative bone in my body, I kept my butt inside and left the snowman building/getting wet and cold to the hubby.

I don't know if you noticed the snowman holding the beach shovels but the boys assured me that Frosty is headed to the snow beach so he needed them.

He Shall Henceforth Be the Four Year Old

So Saturday was the big blowout party for the four year old. Have you ever thrown a party and no-one came? Well that was my 6th birthday party. Oh we weren't talking about me? Sorry, I got sidetracked. Anyway, we started with an RSVP list of 29 adults and eleven kids. Then the excuses started flying. They probably weren't all excuses, but still. One of my sisters-in-law was sick herself so couldn't come with her family, one sister-in-law said her two daughters were sick so she couldn't come, a cousin called cause her two sons were sick and my brother just didn't show up and later informed me his daughter was sick. (They were at an emergency clinic which is why they couldn't call.) At any rate, one hour into the party I had three kids and five adults. Now my son wasn't fazed by this but I was just a little bit upset.


















This is them completely unfazed as they are bouncing in the bouncy house and ball pits.





Eventually, another child and three of my sisters showed up in time for the food. This is also called over an hour late. (That was especially for them, in case they're reading this.)















After eating was the traditional busting of the pinata which three year olds are no good at. I eventually just pulled the strings and let them go crazy.













Then we did the cake. This was nearly ruined as a guest blew the candles out before my son could get to them but we lit them again and let him have another go.



Now after all that and the four year old's friends went home, three more sisters and a brother showed up to extend my party which was supposed to be 1-3pm until six o'clock. Don't worry I paid them back and used them as cheap manual labor during the clean-up.

Sick

I was going to post about the fabulous birthday party which was had by the three year old on Saturday but that will have to wait another day. My sons are both sick. Now my sons, when they get sick don't just get a sniffle like normal children. NO. They get huge swellings under their ears which was diagnosed by the salivary gland specialist at Columbia Presbyterian in NYC as recurrent juvenile parotitis. When the six year old was two and getting this every other month, I was concerned and sought out specialists and two MRI's, a cat scan, three specialists, several hundreds of dollars later I find out he has something for which there is no known cause or cure. Isn't that fabulous? Anyhow, their faces swell up like chipmunks (their pediatrician thought it looked like mumps the first time she saw it.), they develop fevers of approx 101 and since their faces hurt, they don't want to eat or be touched. Of course, I have discovered that it also coincidentally also occurs when they are having other illness like a cold or allergy attack so their are usually other symptoms to deal with as well. So tons of fun to be had here until everyone gets better.

Sorry, I Have an Excuse...Or Three

So sorry about not posting or commenting and otherwise generally ignoring the blogging world lately. Here is my list of excuses:

The husband has been obsessed with posting old pictures on facebook. When I say old, these pictures are over two decades old. Since he is not technologically savvy this requires yours truly to scan in and upload each and every photo for him. (Your welcome honey!) Check out the vintage couch in the background...I rest my case. P.S. I wasn't born yet cause I am not that old. (Just in case you were getting any ideas.)

Have you noticed that it is the Christmas season? Wednesday was the six year old's Christmas concert which is fine but his school runs from Pre-K to grade 8 and every class does a set of songs. I was there from 6 pm until 8:30. Have I mentioned that I dislike evening activities? They screw with bedtime, mealtime and most importantly T.V. time. Mind you, I would also complain if they put it on Saturday.....

I have also been working on the three year old's birthday. (soon to be four year old) I finally got the pinata. Since the party is tomorrow, I had a few worried moments. I found a backup car pinata at Party City but the three year was adamant that he wanted the Mach 5 from Speed Racer. Thank God it arrived today. So now in between dropping off the kids at their different schools, picking them up at their different schools, at different times, I have to stop at the Supermarket for the last minute stuff which I forgot while I was at the supermarket on Wednesday in the pouring rain. I also have to stuff the pinata and get the goody bags all set. (thank you kids for RSVPing yesterday! I guess some people don't understand what that P is supposed to stand for.) Anyway, the only thing I want to do tomorrow is pick up the cake and balloons and decorate. Somehow, this list will lengthen but I am still trying to be proactive.


By the way, I'm pregnant. That's pretty much going to be my excuse for everything for the next eight months. Get used to it.

Days Off Are A Blessing...and A Curse

So the boys had no school today which means that we get to sleep in, and by sleep in I mean maybe an extra hour max. Since it was a day off, there is no particular rush to eat breakfast and get out the door which pretty much means the boys are in slow motion this morning and don't want to do their chores. In addition, the boys are under the misapprehension that I sit around all day waiting for them to get home. Now that they're home, they want me to do crafts with them and otherwise entertain them. I printed out this Santa Claus Template in the hopes that it will keep them busy enough to post this blog and yet here it is two hours later and I'm still not done. I like not having to rush off at a particular time to pick them up and I like the change in routine, somewhat but it really plays havoc with anything I need to accomplish that day.

My Rant On Jim Farber

So I was innocently reading the Daily News yesterday...Okay I wasn't innocently reading, really I was reading it while mocking their complete lack of literary style as well as a lack of any intelligence at all in their opinion columns. But I digress... I was reading this article entitled Seasonal Songs Merry & Scary. Some nobody named Jim Farber crowned himself music critic of the day and listed 10 Christmas songs that are "heavenly" and 10 he called "annoying" and "humbug." So here is my problem, on the humbug list is my favorite, my husband's favorite and the six year old's favorite. So clearly someone has no taste. So first my husband's favorite, Santa Baby, which this excuse for a music critic calls "a joke that couldn't seem more forced." A joke?!? Really?!? I suppose the joke must be on the scores of artists who have remade this song including Shakira, Macy Gray, Natalie Merchant, Faith Evans, the Pussycat Dolls, Leann Rimes and Miss Piggy to name a few. Don't believe me, check it out for yourself on Wikipedia. If you haven't heard some version of this song over the years, you have been living in a box and you need to get out more. I know that you will be shocked to hear this but the six year old's favorite is Alvin and the Chipmunks, Christmas, Don't Be Late which the author says "wears thin fast...when played annually." May I respectfully suggest that the author is not the intended audience for Alvin and the Chipmunks. The six year old on the other hand can listen to this song all evening long and will ask me to play it again tomorrow. I admit it isn't the height of enjoyment for me but neither is Max and Ruby and Yo Gabba Gabba but I manage to sit through that without killing myself and I only have to hear the Chipmunks during the Christmas season. Finally on to my personal favorite which is Christmas Eve by the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Of course this lame author didn't even bother to specifically name any particular song, no he blanketly (is that a word? well it is now) disparaged everything the Orchestra has ever performed by calling it "late period Meatloaf mixed with a road company version of Jesus Christ Superstar." I suppose all those hundreds of thousands of fans going to see them every year are just fans of annoying music. I suppose that all the people who bought the Christmas Eve album (enough to make it go double platinum) just don't know what they are listening to. Whatever his excuse, Jim Farber needs to stop subjecting his unsolicited, unprofessional and highly erroneous opinion on the unsuspecting public and get himself a blog.

Dear Santa, Giants & Library

Dear Santa,
This year, instead of getting a lot of little presents, how about one big one? You know those commercials where the woman opens up the box of keys and then there is a fancy car in her driveway with a big bow on top? Yeah, that would be nice. Set the elves to work.
I live in hope,
Cassie
P.S. I can make one big cookie instead of a lot of little ones, if that would help.



Dear NY Giants,
Remember when you were undefeated? Wasn't that nice? You beat the Cowboys before and you have to beat them again so that I still have a reason to watch the remaining games.
Thanks,
An undiscouraged fan



Dear Union Public Library,
When I take the three year old for story time, I kind of expect you to read him stories. Singing Hickory Dickory Dock and How Much Is That Doggie In The Window is all well in good but I don't really think it falls under the category of a story. You do have books in the library right? Just Checking.
A Patron


Check out ShortMama for some more letter fun.

A Note From the Six Year Old

So yesterday the six year old broke his Iron Man Action Figure. (Now when I say action figure this is a talking piece of electronics about 15 inches tall.) So while I was cooking dinner, he comes in to ask me to fix it. Unfortunately, this is a regular occurance with two boys, at least in my house. However, since I was cooking dinner, I obviously could not give him the immediate attention he craved. This resulted in a temper tantrum. (He tried to fix it himself with box tape but that didn't work.) So since both my husband and I were ignoring the temper tantrum, (I was cooking dinner!) my six year old wrote us the following note. I leave in the misspellings for your amusement. You don't lick me. You hat me. I am in visible. Of course my husband's response to this was of course I'll lick you and proceeded to chase the six year old around the house in an attempt to lick him. Good times.