Yellow Belt!

Alev tested in Karate yesterday and got her yellow belt!

Our resident bunny

This is the ideal "pet". He lives in the bushes near the end of our property and comes out in the morning and in the evening to eat our grass and clover. His mom also comes out but usually not at the same time. We get to appreciate him in all his cuteness but not cage him. He is part of nature and we love him.

The Flapper

Here is a picture. I changed the flapper so the toilet doesn't run anymore. :-)

Crazy Hair Day at School

...here is what we came up with.

shnoogie

she approaches. "press my nose." i am writing my list of what i want to do today. finally i am feeling better from this awful headcold. i am distracted. she says "i'm right here." i look up. "press my nose." i do. "beep" and then she walks away.

The Kitchen-Before and After

5 seconds with z

he grabs my hand and points to his sister's baby doll. she is in the bottom of the china closet and under a blanket. "shhhh" he says then sucks his upper lip into his lower to form his kissing lips and leans forward towards the doll. he says "kick, cock, kick, cock, shhhh". he is pointing to the clock on the wall. he grabs my hand and wants me to point to the clock and the numbers "ee, ah, ee ah". looking at my hand he notices the last bite of a piece of bread in my fingers and pulls my hand towards his mouth. he puts the bread in his mouth and spits it back out into the palm of my hand, scraping his tongue against his teeth. it was my last bite, so i eat the bread. i don't even think twice.

a minute

Its been a while since my last post. Much has happened.

Oz got a new job in Stamford.
My kitty, Samantha died after 19 and 1/2 years.
I took Z to visit the preschool he will attend in September.

As I said in my last post "everything eventually changes" and it did.

Deep breath.

Not all fun and games

So. Umm. How do I say this without sounding like a horrible mother? Doing it by myself is harder than I ever thought it would be. Oz left on Thursday morning to go to his company's conference in New Orleans. A has a cold and hasn't been sleeping well or going to school and Z has been getting out of his bed at bedtime and staying up until about 9pm. Then starting at 5:30am or so he starts getting out of bed again. Its driving me insane. Add to that the very cold weather and I can see how prescription medication would be enticing to many in my boat. The worst part of it (and this is the horrible mother part) is that sometimes I don't feel like trying anymore. I let them watch too much t.v. and don't give them vegetables with their dinner. I forget to have them brush their teeth before bed and I get frustrated when they wake me up in the middle of the night. This is a low point I know and putting myself in the 3rd person actually does give me some perspective. Cue tears. I don't even have the energy to think positive. My only solace is knowing that everything eventually changes...and sometimes it just takes a minute. I am waiting.

Snow Morning

The kids had fun this morning in the 1.5 inches of snow we got last night. A was so excited. She said she had been waiting all week for it. If you can believe it Z did not fall down.

Loving Mondays

I know its probably annoying to all the 9-5ers out there, but I have come to love Mondays. It is quiet in the house and I catch up on all the stuff I have let go over the weekend to tend to other things that are more important (like family and myself). I guess I find a great comfort in tending the nest. I am glad that I get to stay home and take care of my children and our home. Plus I get to do fun stuff like buy Power Ranger umbrellas (for Z) and bubblegum (for A). It really is the little things in life that make me happy. Suriye, Sibel, A and I went to see Disney on Ice yesterday. It was great fun. A bought a "jesse" hat for herself and a "woody" hat for Z. On the New Year's resolution front I am trying the "8 minutes in the morning with Jorge Cruise". The extra 5 that somehow ended up on my waist and hips is hanging around (no pun intended). I wonder if it was the apple crumb pie, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, the apple bread or the 58 servings of eggplant parm I have consumed over the past 4 weeks. Regardless, I had 1/2 of a mini whole wheat bagel for bfast, 1 cup of coffee, and 3 eggwhites. Instead of the grapefruit half I had one of the kids fruit leathers. Lunch of green beans (with salt only), a soy hot dog on a slice of bread with ketchup and 2 tbsps of Z's mac and cheese was DEELISH-really. The 8 minutes part is the weight program you do in the morning. It is pretty easy and Z did most of it with me. How long will my enthusiasm last? Tune in next post...(bath time for Z).

Playing Outside

In these days of peanut allergies and the flu they say that playing outside for at least an hour every day helps to build the immune system. So here we are playing. The flash, again, does weird things. The kids had fun.