Time to Call Dr. House?

I've been having some "health" problems lately that are rather disturbing. Here are a few of the symptoms I'm dealing with:

>My hair is falling out by the fist full.

>My skin is broken-out and my fingernails are growing at warp speed.

>Today I made myself an omelet for dinner and then voluntarily ATE IT!

>The minute I wake up in the morning I start calculating how soon I can reasonably go back to bed.

>Jeans that were loose when I bought them have now taken on the characteristics of Spandex which I must now pour myself into each day (at around noon).

>I have to eat ice cream every single day. (Okay, so maybe that's not really a new thing...)

>I have to wake up once (sometimes twice) every night to pee.

>I burp frequently but have to be sitting straight up to do so. (I know...so unladylike...my mother would be appalled...)

So is it time to visit a specialist? Is it a tumor? A strange disease? A rouge strain of the bubonic plague????
Nope...

It's a BABY!!!

Expected end of symptons: Mid May

Into the Mystic

Today we ventured to Mystic, Connecticut to visit the Mystic Aquarium. Yes, that's right, we traveled out of state for a half-day adventure. (Living here is so strange.)

The aquarium was really cool. The first thing we saw when we walked in were two really pretty beluga whales that were showing off just for our benefit. Next we went to the California Sea Lion show. This was cool since our previous experiences with Sea Lions have been watching them lounge around on the beach and stinking up the place. It was good to see them earning their keep.

There were lots of cool exhibits but of course, the favorite of Max is always what he can get his hot little hands on. Thus, the hi-lights of the day were:

1. The "cownose ray" touch pool. (Max got to touch two as they swam by)
2. The old guy holding the baby alligator that the kids could pet. (It was really really cute!)
3. the crab and sea star touch pool, and
4. the huge parrot Max got to pet, then hold, then feed.
(It's amazing what can be accomplished by a determined 4-year-old with selective hearing.)

After the Aquarium, we headed to Mystic Pizza for lunch. Mystic Pizza happens to have been the setting for an early Julia Roberts flick called...
*drumroll...*
"Mystic Pizza". Unfortunately, I never saw the movie, so a tiny bit of the coolness was lost on me. Fortunately, the pizza was fabulous and we got to stare at posters of Julia while eating it.

All in all, it was a very fun adventure!

I HEART MYSTIC!

Etymology Lesson

Yes, sometimes I read the dictionary for fun! Does that make me a bad person? Someday I hope to see some of these revised definitions in there. (Thanks for the forward Karie! Love it!)

The Washington Post publishes a yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for various words. The following were some of 2001's winning entries:

1. Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent

6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absent-mindedly answer the door in your nightgown.

7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence (n.) the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a
steamroller.

10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified demeanor assumed by a proctologist immediately before he examines you.

13. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddish expressions.

14. Circumvent (n.), the opening in the front of boxer shorts.

15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that - when you die - your Soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Pokemon (n), A Jamaican proctologist

Mass Hysteria

This weekend was all about Massachusetts. Dr. Dug's dad, Dr. Dub Sr., came to town for a visit and for the BYU/Boston College game.

Saturday morning, we all piled into the mini-van and headed north. I dropped off both Doctors at the college and proceeded to the Boston Children's Museum with the two future Doctors. What a cool place!!! It had basically everything a kid could want for hours of non-stop entertainment, including a two-story tubey climby tunnelly thingy. (Like you would see at McDonalds Playplace, only much bigger and easier to lose a kid in.) Max loved it.

Sammers loved the Construction room with about 15 low tables with ramps, tunnels and roads and bunches of trucks and construction vehicles to drive on them. They also had a water area, a Blue Man Group area for some reason (No Tobias, though...!?), a bubble area, (very sticky but cool) a really cool golf ball and ramp area, an art area...and a lot more.We didn't even get to see everything before it was time to pick up the big boys.

They were a bit sad about the outcome of the game, (BYU lost in the second over-time) but thought it was extremely entertaining and well-played anyway.

Once we were all back together again, I drove everyone back to downtown Boston. Now, for those of you who know me, you know that I'm quite directionally inept, spacially challenged, and otherwise geographically impaired. SO I'd like to take this opportunity to praise myself for being able to follow MapQuest directions without once getting lost in Boston. {Great Job!!!Thank-you! I'm Welcome!}

Anyway, we spent the evening seeing famous sights, eating great Italian food (with Gelato for dessert) and talking football to all the other blue-clad Mormon tourists (and some Boston fans.) We even ran into one of our favorite San Francisco neighbors, Jeff R., who was also in town for the game.

The boys did great considering all the driving, walking, waiting, and sightseeing.

Which is maybe why we decided to try our luck again on Sunday! After church and lunch, Dr. Senior wanted to see Cape Cod. So into the van we all went again. Luckily, this time I didn't have to drive or navigate. It's a few hours away, but well worth it.

We stopped at a few beautiful beaches to collect shells and just generally enjoyed sight-seeing. I love New England architecture, so I had fun staring out the windows at all the great homes and buildings we passed. It was another long day for the boys, and Max said he never want's to go to Massachusetts again, but all in all, it was an awesome day! 

I Heart Books

I'd just like to quickly mention an awesome book I finished recently. I've actually finished quite a few books in the last few weeks, but this is the only one that deserves mentioning. It was lent to me by my friend Diane and came highly praised.

The book is My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I don't want to give anything away (I don't even like reading the summary on the back until after I've read the book) but I will say it's the kind of book that sucks you in so you can't think of anything else until you finish it. (And then you still can't think of anything else for the two days after you finish it.)

One bonus of the book is that it takes place in Providence, which is very cool because it's not a very common setting. I would rate this book PG-13 for language and "adult theme's and content". Let me know if you read it and what you think!
Enjoy!!!

Have You Ever Had One of Those Days...

when your kids flood the bathroom floor all the way over to where the spare toilet paper is stacked?













when you accidentally set-off the car alarm, fumble with the key chain for five minutes before you're able to turn it off, and then realize that no one even came to your aid?!?

when you sneak into the kitchen for a fortifying Go-gurt only to have your fingers slip and squirt it directly up your nose and all over your face?

when you walk into a restaurant with friends after a visit to the park only to have your 4-year-old puke all over the booth because he refused to get off the spinny thing 30 minutes previously?

I HAVE!!!

Can 'Ya Smell That?

Last night we ventured to Providence to check out WaterFire for the first time. WaterFire is a series of 97 wood-burning braziers (not the kind you wear) installed in three different rivers snaking through downtown Providence. Every summer weekend at dusk, huge tepees of wood are lit, with great ceremony, in the braziers and kept burning all night. Orchestral music is broadcast throughout the area and street performers and vendors line the streets. Private parties can rent boats or gondolas and sail down the rivers. (We were content to watch from the shore.) Not long after all of the fires were burning, the smell of woodsmoke filled the air and made me want to go camping. It smelled soooo good.

Later, when we walked past some particularly aromatic food booths, I was dismayed to find neither Husband nor I had any cash. It was the work of a moment for me* to find a swarthy Italian vendor and get directions to a nearby bank. (There are lots of swarthy Italians here in Rhode Island.) 30 minutes later, I bit into a huge "Dough Boy" covered in powdered sugar. (This is what I called a "scone" growing up, but does not even remotely resemble the scone you might buy at your local bakery. Think wad of dough stretched out "personal pizza" size and deep fried.) Oh, the artery clogging goodness...! Hub-Dub bought himself a frozen lemonade (also very popular here) and between the four of us, we finished off both treats. That, for me, made the evening complete and we headed home. That was last night....

Tonight after dinner I was resignedly doing the dishes when Dug-Hub came stealthily into the room. "Quick! Let's go jump!!!" I looked around and realized the boys were nowhere to be seen. D** had introduced Max to a Disney kid show website and both boys were vegging out contentedly in the office downstairs.

Three seconds later I was out the door and that's when I smelled it. Not only was it a little chilly out, but there was a definite NIP in the air! And to think, if I hadn't been sneaking out behind my kids' backs, I wouldn't even know that FALL IS HERE! (...practically!)

We had a few uninterrupted minutes of jumping as high as we wanted until Sammers realized we weren't around and came out to find us. (It may have been my giddy laughter that gave away our location.) Pretty soon, Maxer joined us too, and we had a good family bounce before bedtime.
TTFN!

*This phrase totally ripped off from P.G. Wodehouse's character Bertie Wooster.
**It's really hard thinking of witty names for Doug.

Last Weekend

Last weekend we were invited to attend the wedding of one of Doug's co-residents.

She got married in Canandaigua which is in Upstate New York. A few minutes away is Palmyra where we ended up staying for two nights in the lovely Palmyra Inn. Here are the highlights:

Day 1: We visited the Hill Cumorah, and the Joseph Smith Farm in a torrential down pour. Got wet. Saw the beautiful Palmyra Temple and took a tour of the Grandin Building where the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon were published. Had to chase boys the whole time and stressed out the Sister Missionary giving the tour. Glad to have left some of the artifacts intact when we left.

Got yummy New York pizza for dinner then went hot-tubbing at the hotel where we were joined by friends attending the same wedding.




Day 2: Got up and drove to the wedding breakfast. Found out it wasn't until the following day. Felt stupid. Left and went back to Palmyra for church. Stayed long enough for Sam to poop and for us to realize we left the wipes in the hotel. Felt stupid again. (We don't say stupid! Say three nice things...!)

*That afternoon while the boys relaxed, I got to walk around the Sacred Grove which was literally just around the corner from our hotel. It is an extremely beautiful place and I'm glad I got to go sans boys!*

Day 2 Afternoon: Drove to our very first Catholic Wedding, which even included Mass. It was really cool and the bride looked smokin' hot! It was just like on T.V.! Processional, cute tiny boy bearing ring, wedding march, ...the works. My boys looked adorable and even managed not to throw any fits in the Cathedral. (whew!)

Day 2 Evening: Went to reception at extremely nice Inn next to extremely beautiful "finger lake". Tried to keep Max from pulling down tent. Narrowly averted Sam's determination to spread bride's dress with ketchup. Succeeded...barely. Enjoyed yummy food and "Shirley Temple's". Left exhausted.

Day 3: Got up and drove to the wedding breakfast. Got to eat this time. Drove Northeast to Niagara Falls. Discovered that the town of Niagara Falls is an ARMPIT! (You thought Truckee was bad!) Entered the beautiful State Park and felt better.

*It's really cool seeing the falls even if I was a tiny bit worried about one of my small sons hopping a fence and getting swept away without so much as a barrell for protection. (I really am getting quite paranoid in my old age.)*

Got to see a huge waterfall up close. Got wet...again. Left for home after seeing all there was to see.

For Steve!

I'm surprised how sad I was yesterday morning when I learned that Steve Erwin, Croc Hunter, had died. I was pretty sure he was invincible and would live forever! Mostly though, I'm sad for the family he left behind! We'll miss you, Steve!!!















Yes, we're supposed to be Steve and Terri holding our ferocious little croc. Give us a break...they were last minute costumes!!!

This Blog is dedicated to my heart-broken nephew, Ryan, who idolized Steve Erwin! 

Books, Glorious Books!

Most of you know that I sell Usborne Childrens Books. (What better combination than books and parties? I ask you?!?!)

This month Usborne is offering a September Starter Kit Special for only $25 with free s/h. The kit includes 10 books (plus a bunch of supplies if you want to sell):

Animal Stencil Book(BD)
Big Bug Search, The (P)
Fox on a Box (P)
Gladiators (H)
Pirates (Beg. Soc. Studies) (H)
Playtime Baby (Board Book) (BD)
Spooks' Surprise (P)
That's Not My Bear (BD)
Things to Make and Do for Christmas (P)
Under the Ground (H)

This is a great deal even if you have no interest in selling but want to get a super deal on the above 10 books, and also be able to buy other fabulous books at a discount any old time!

Let me know if you're interested, or click here for more info.

Happy Reading!

P.S. If you have no desire to sign-up but want to earn some free books, you can, of course, host a party or e-show. And if you have no desire to host a party, want no free books, and just want to buy a few directly...I can help you there too. Aren't I helpful?

P.P.S. Reading to your kids makes them smarter. Just look at my little geniuses!!!
:)