Happy Happy Birthday Callum !!!!!

Today my baby boy turned 12 !!!!!!! Where did the time go....

Where did my 2yr old golfer go? Now he's traded golf for soccer, Bob the builder for Harry Potter & can eat me under the table any day!!! I swear he grows an inch a week at the moment....

He is however still a good boy, he is determined, honest and the best big brother,

(even if Maisie will argue that...)

He declared today the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER, he's so funny, he says that every year....I guess that means that Rich & I are doing our job well :) Today included a new Liverpool jersey & he used his b'day money from everyone to buy a Nook Color...we also enjoyed an awesome lemon cake & dinner at Chili's & he has one of his BFF's over for a sleepover, it doesn't get much better than that...

Till next year :)

Happy 12th Birthday Callum, We LOVE you 

xoxoxo

It's up to you New York.....

The kiddos & I just returned from 2 weeks visiting family & friends in NY, we had an awesome time and we were so happy to be able to see everyone. Finny met a lot of people for the first time and loved every minute of all the attention.....


We had fun hanging out with Aunt Mandy at the pool, Finn got pretty brave for him & splashed around the shallow part of the baby pool by himself, as long as I wasn't far away!

Cal and Maisie actually had quite a few moments where to the untrained eye it might appear that they actually liked each other :)

There was lots of kicking back & relaxing in the garden...

There was a day spent sailing out to Fire Island with Mandy & Frank...there may or may not have been a few big waves, and one may or may not have been so big it came over the front of the boat & soaked Finn (who happened to be asleep) & I!!! Not a good way to wake up from a nap....

Certain little boys got buried in the sand several times....and LOVED it!

Maisie had a blast playing crazy football games with Frank & all the boys (even if she denies it!)

Finn practiced his pirate face, I think he's got it down....you should his Anakin Skywalker face too!!!

Maisie decided a life where boats & the beach are involved every weekend is a very good thing!

We spent a day at the Long Island Aquarium & Cal got up close & personal with the crabs in the salt marsh...

Finn took on the job of Grandpa's assistant with filling the bird & squirrel feeders, this may sound like an easy job but it's not...their yard is like a Disney movie with happy little birds, squirrels & bunnies everywhere & they easily go thru a huge bird feeder every day!!!! We obviously need to step up our game at home to encourage more wildlife, apparently we're headed to the feed store for supplies in the near future!

We spent an evening at the beach, finding horseshoe crab shells, posing for pictures, chasing seagulls & burying feet in the sand...

A very uncooperative Maisie let me take photos of her in Nannys barn despite the 100 degree temps...

Finn learned how to turn on the hose & we were all suddenly cooled off!!!

We explored the Sweetbriar nature center.....

And some of us had everyone eating out of their hand with their cuteness....

Thank you to everyone who entertained us, fed us, came to see us & tolerated our occasional grumpiness, we had a great time & hopefully we'll be back next summer for more fun!

Thank you apple!

Sometimes when you go to soccer tryouts over & over & over & over again....as much as you are there to support your firstborn, theres not really much excitement...fortunately there are iphones for such occasions!

Happy Sunday....

I was a little worried Sunday might be rough due to one to many margaritas last night, but fortunately I got lucky....

Today was the day we pulled off the biggest surprise in recent family history!

Our victim...Callum

Some mad & sneaky texting & phone call skills plus some mad driving skills (even if he was a little whiny about it today) by Mr.LaBenz enabled one of Callums bff's to show up today, completely unannounced (to Callum) all the way from hot & sweaty Memphis, Tennessee!! The boys haven't seen each other since we said tearful goodbyes last July in Naples...and the best part, Chase gets to stay with us until Friday!!!!!

Cal was in shock! Chase knocked at the door & I sent Cal to open it, following closely with my camera...it seemed to take forever for him to open the door as he tried to figure out how in the world Chase got on the other side of it!!!

After some stunned silence on Cals part & some yelling of "TWO DAYS....I'VE KNOWN ABOUT IT FOR TWO DAYS!!!!!" from Chase, the boys managed a hug...Cal I think was pretty close to shedding tears of joy, but pulled the manly man card and held it together!

Poor Tim, Chases dad barely got a goodbye out of him as the boys quickly made up for lost time, talking a mile a minute, comparing Nintendo facts & figures and catching up on anything and everything they could think of....

In other weekend news, Finley has taken up a nudist approach to gardening it seems...

And the older children have taken to creating their own summer version of extreme sports...the idea is that you get an inflatable kiddie pool & fill it with approx 2-3 inches of water, you then run at break neck speed down the yard & leap into the slippery wet pool. As any good parent would do, sensing complete and utter chaos was imminent, I set myself up at a safe distance to capture the craziness on camera...

They ended the afternoon with an oldie but a goodie...Hose Firing squad!

It's going to be a crazy week....I can just tell!

Getting Fancy!!!

Ok, I'm just getting way too slick with this blogging thing & we now have a very varied assortment of music to listen too as you read...so crank up your volume, or down depending on your mood & enjoy...suggestions of "music to read Heidi's blog too" are appreciated....

My mind has officially been lost!

Those who know me & love me, know that I have a slight aversion to exercise...it's not fun, it makes me crabby & tired, it hurts...alas the imminent threat of the big 4-0 b'day, a vacation in FL & just a little too much jiggle in my wiggle have convinced me that work needs to be done!

So it was with reckless abandon that I downloaded couch-5K on my iphone along with some music to inspire me....hahahahaha!

Today was the day....the way it works is these crazy people believe that they can train you in 9 short weeks to run a 5K, week 1 starts out with a warm up then you "run" for 1 minute, walk for 1.5mins & so on until the last 5 mins which is the cool down, in total you run for 8 minutes...not so hard right? No it's not unless the only time you run is if someone BAD is chasing you, & well I can safely say after this morning that the bad guy is going to have to be in HORRIFIC shape for me to outrun him!

Armed with Lady Gaga, Lenny Kravitz & Katy Perry blasting I set out, a lovely Australian lady keeps me on track "In 10 seconds it's time to run for a minute" the first 4 runs weren't too bad, #5 I think I muttered something unladylike whilst waving to the garbage men who were either laughing or frantically looking for a phone to call 911 for me...by runs #7 & 8 I was definitely talking back out loud to Miss Australia & not in a friendly "Hey Sheila can you throw another shrimp on the barbie" kind of way...the phrase "Oh just shut the hell up"may have slipped out along with other unpleasantries....

There was a point where I thought I may throw up, pass out or die....but by some miracle I didn't...now it says 5K, and I know for a fact that's not how far I went today, if I did then I'd be typing from a hospital bed for sure....I made it home, gestured to Cal to fetch water & collapsed on the floor...at which point Finn felt this was an excellent time to play pile on Mommy, UGH.

Cal asked what was wrong & I said "I ran", to which he about fell over laughing...I explained the program & he just kept chuckling as far as I could tell, it was pretty blurry for a while...

Tomorrow Sheila says I get to rest...I wonder if the kids know about this? But come Saturday morning I'll be out there again, huffing & wheezing my way around the neighborhood, so I'm apologizing now to the residents of Greenbriar for the potential foul language you may be exposed too....

Class of 2011!!!

Last Friday was a pretty big day for Cal, 6th grade Graduation!!!! Talk about those moments where I get all sappy & cry...I held it together really well for once, I think if it had been back in Naples I would have bawled but new school & not knowing anybody it wasn't such a teary event full of memories, I guess I did my crying sap thing back on April 21st in front of Naples Elementary when we said goodbye to everyone.

But really...he's going into 7th grade!!!! Middle School!!!!!! Those kids are so big!!!!! How did that happen, wasn't it just yesterday he was graduating Kindergarten in South Carolina?

And now he's almost 12, growing like a weed, eating me out of house and home....doesn't help that he wanders around saying "5 more years & you'll be crying because I'm going to college!" and "Wow, in 3 years Finn will go to school too, man you're going to be a mess when that happens!" Thankfully he's not too old to be grounded for being a smart ass!

After the children received their certificates on Friday some of them read essays they had written on their memories of being at Greenbriar West.  It was funny to hear  each one say "During my 7years at GBW........" So strange for our family that they had only gone to one Elementary School, Callum has gone to 4 different ones in 7 years, and that's probably a pretty low number of schools for most military kids! We're choosing to believe it makes them a more confident well rounded person, adaptable to new situations, what great skills they are learning...and well, if that's not the case, hopefully the Military will pay for their therapist later when they have to deal with their highly dysfunctional childhood :)

CONGRATULATIONS Callum, you are going to have a great time at Rocky Run Middle School..and who knows, you might even get to be there for the whole 2 yrs!!!!!!!!!!

Do I win the coolest Mom ever t-shirt yet?

So, I have a tendency with my kids to get a little emotional at certain times...I cannot watch a DisneyWorld parade without sobbing into my $12 Mickey shaped cotton candy, First Birthdays send me into a 2 week period of tears, remember whens and OMG he/she's not a baby any more...they are practically in college!!! So I was pretty sure on Wednesday that I was heading for one of these moments as the time was finally here for MAISIE'S FIRST POP CONCERT!!!!!

My first concert way back in....well, it was a while ago, was to Wham! Wembley Arena, me and 10,000 other screaming girls & my poor brother who volunteered for the task of taking myself & a friend. I still have the t-shirt, I'm still in denial of George and all his drama, one day he'll say it was all a publicity stunt, he's realized the error of his ways & we'll live happily ever after together.

Maisie's first concert...the one and only KATY PERRY!!!! The pictures pretty much say it all, she had an AMZING time, Katy was awesome and we both LOVED it...

About half way thru she screamed into my ear "I WANT TO BE KATY PERRY FOR HALLOWEEN" to which I screamed back "OK" and then this outfit showed up on stage!!!!! 

Maisie....I changed my mind!

The morning after was however a little rough on my girl, she's had a headache all day, gee I wonder why! But she's also had a grin going from ear to ear on her face all day too...

So the big question....did I lose it? Bawl like a baby over my baby loving her (pre)Teenage Dream?

Nope...

Ok, sort of...not at the concert, I was too busy, singing, dancing and screaming along with her, but today when I looked at the mostly awful photos & then finally on this video, which basically tells you just how happy she was, I had a little sniffle or two...my girlie is growing up & as much as I miss the hair bows, stick figure drawings and all the rest of it, this new bit is pretty darn cool, and so am I...

(well at least for now in her eyes)

Back in the US of A.....

Welcome to my new blog!!!! I can't believe it's been 7 weeks since we left Italy....some days I miss it some days I don't, but for sure I miss my friends & I know the children do too...

Adjusting to life in the fast lane of Washington D.C has been an experience that's for sure, at first we were in culture shock, overwhelmed, panicked, excited, scared all at the same time...We felt so much pressure to speed everything up when we were so used to the laid back "dopo domani" way of life...I still have those panicked days every once in a while but we're getting used to it here, we're trying to create a balance of relaxed Italian living & crazy over scheduled busy American living, no easy task but we're getting there.

The kids are all great, they are much tougher than their parents that's for sure! Cal & Maisie started school within a couple of weeks despite the  total incompetence   help of their school in Italy, they settled in fast & already have some good friends, that was our hope that they would find people close by to hang out with over the summer. Only 5 1/2 days of school left & then I will officially have a 5th grader & a  7th grade MIDDLE SCHOOLER!!!!! How the heck did that happen? Am I old?

Finn is wild as ever, stubborn, sassy, sweet, all at the same time usually...he's talking up a storm & has mastered the art of talking back already, you gotta love those terrific two's!!!! He is the master of all things sneaky & destructive as you can see from his recent adventure with waterproof eyeshadow & deodorant....

He's become an expert bird & squirrel spotter & has bird seed & peanuts at the ready at all times, evidently however the squirrels are not so much hungry as they are greedy & they have taken to burying the peanuts in our mulched borders around the garden so I foresee a frenzy of peanut searching in the colder months! Last night Cal & Maisie spotted fireflies or lightening bugs or whatever they are called, so their new mission is to catch one...they have mason jars at the ready & I'll have the camera on standby!

Rich & I are plodding along, getting used to his new unbelievably intense school schedule, trying to fit in nights out & family time along with his studying and laying out skeletons on our dining room table...I'm trying so hard to be respectful of the skeleton as I know it's a real human one and not take pictures, but it's hard especially when the kids have fondly named it Steve & it lives in a suitcase in my dining room!

I swear I'm going to be better at updating this blog than I was the old one, if you're new here the old one will be up a little while longer until I get around to having it printed into a book, so head over here to check it out. I'm going to try & include some of my culinary adventures here & once I get my stuff properly organized I'll share my crafty projects too...

So welcome, sit back and enjoy a peak into the craziness & destruction that most of my days involve and don't forget to leave comments, I love comments..