Monday Musings - Father's Day

 

Father's Day is always an interesting time around here.  Not only is it the day that we celebrate mine and Rich's dads (who made us into what we are today) as well as the awesome Father that Rich is himself, every few years it's a double holiday because Rich's birthday is around that time.

This year both weren't on the same day, but it's sometimes hard to get out of the mindset of them being together and celebrated together.  I'm used to Rich working if his birthday isn't on Father's Day, and us celebrating in one big "You are awesome and we love you!" celebration.  This time, he took time off between his birthday and this weekend so we celebrated his birthday first and, after a few days of just not doing much at all, found ourselves on Father's Day.

For his birthday, Tedd and I made him dinner, let him choose everything he wanted for the day.  Tedd had gotten him a D&D shirt, Pete had gotten him Earthworm Jim on Steam and I had picked up Ticket to Ride.  The boys and I made him a lemon cake with lemon frosting.  It was a great day and I think he felt very loved.

Yesterday, even though Tedd and I had gifts for him, we didn't quite get into the same gung ho mindset.  Tedd had been busy playing with his friends online, while I was trying not to stress over something I shouldn't have been stressing about anyway.  Pete was the only one that was interacting him with him, though he was playing his own game.  He was telling Rich all about the game he was playing. When Rich decided to take a nap at 10 am, I realized I'd screwed up.  I tried to make the rest of the day as awesome as possible - including going out for lunch at Uncle Bud's Catfish and Stuff (they make the BEST hushpuppies around!), taking him to Rick's Comic city to pick up some new reads, and playing Ticket to Ride when we got home - with the boys.  I think we managed to turn the day around, but I still feel bad that we didn't get on top of things from the beginning.  (We did, however, give him our gifts before going out to lunch.  Tedd got him a "Loading: Dad Jokes" shirt and I got him a "Science: It's Like Magic But Real" shirt.)  I have to try to do better next year.

Rich and the boys, Father's Day

Figuring out Ticket to Ride

It's the Little Things

 Tomorrow, two things are happening.  My apartment complex is coming to do the quarterly spraying and I'm getting some furniture from a friend.  As such, today is a day of cleaning. 

I came downstairs and told Pete that we needed to clean and his job was to clean the living room.  Rather than fussing or "waiting for Tedd", he got started.  When I was done with my breakfast, I went in and found he'd done a pretty good job.  There were still a few things to do, and he patiently picked up the things I pointed out.  It's not the way things usually run.  I'm grateful for it.

While he working on the living room, I was working on the entryway and the kitchen.  Tedd was working in the dining room.  Unusually, he was giving me a bit more grief than Pete in terms of cleaning.  But I knew that, unlike with his younger brother, he'd actually get the things done eventually so I left him to it.  I finished up the entryway and got started on the kitchen when I ran out of mental spoons*.  I must have looked like I was flagging because Tedd came up and put his arm around me in a hug.  "It's ok, Mom.  You've done enough.  We'll get the rest done."  For all the slight annoyance earlier, I needed that. I'm grateful for it.

Next I called Rich to let him know that I might need his help tonight.  He's been working in the office today and has to stop at the grocery store tonight, but so I was hoping that he could just do the vacuuming, maybe help a little in the kitchen.  "Tell me what the priorities are and I'll work on them.  It's ok, love."  I needed to hear that right then.  I'm grateful for it.

When I ran out to grab "thank you for helping" lunch for the boys, I dealt with kind people in the drive-thrus.  I was wished a blessed day and told to drive carefully with a smile.  It helped make my day a little better.  I'm grateful for it.

On Kind Words, I had someone tell me that my message asking to share something positive that my message WAS her positive for the day and thanked me for bringing joy into her life.  I always hope that my words, my messages asking people to share their joy with me, is helping.  Hearing that it does made me smile.  I'm grateful for it.

A lot of little things didn't go the way I wanted them to, but that's fine.  I'm choosing not to focus on those little things.  For today, I'm choosing to focus on the little things that lift my spirit rather than the little things that destroy it.  Because life is made up of the little things.  We just have to choose what little things we choose to make the focus of our day.

My books and games are little things that bring me joy.  Strange camera angles do as well.

* If you've never heard of the Spoon Theory of Chronic Illness, the whole story is here.  But basically it's about having a limited number of spoons, or things you can do, in a given day before your illness (be it mental or physical) kicks in.  Some days, I have more spoons than others.  I try to plan my days as though I'm going to have fewer spoons to do what I need to so those get done, and only worry about the other things if I've got any left.  The spoon theory is a more concrete way for me to understand why some days are more difficult than others.

Sundays in My City

For the first time in many months, Rich and the boys have gone back to church.  Teddy's Religious Education Class is from 9:05 until 10:30 (when Mass starts) and Pete's is during Mass.  Rather than heading back home today while Teddy was in class, we let Pete play on the playground at the church.  He and Daddy had a great time, while I got a chance to take pictures.

Pour Your Heart Out - It's Not All Bad

This year has been filled with a lot of negativity here - the problems with the van on our trip north, Rich not get assigned classes and money being tight, the engine blowing this November, the sprain in my foot just in time for the holidays.  Since so many of these things have happened in the second half of the year, it's been hard for me to remember that the year hasn't been all bad.  But really, it hasn't.  And I'm not just talking about the usual good things of having a roof over our heads, food on our table and being together.  There's been so much more.

It's been a year and a half now of Rich being cancer free.  I still remember the fear last year when we found out that he had colon cancer.  The worries as he went through surgery.  Would they get it all?  Would it reappear somewhere else?  How badly will the surgery effect him for the future?  And yes, some of those worries are still there.  We both know that there's a possibility of the cancer returning in the future.  And there have been some changes that we've had to make since his surgery.  But the important thing is that for 18 months, cancer has been out of his body.  And that's enough reason for anyone to celebrate.

This summer, we were able to take the first long vacation as a family since both boys were born.  Yes, there were problems with the van.  But the time we spent with family and friends was priceless.  We'll always have the memories of the week at the beach with Rich's family, watching the cousins play together and getting a chance to chat with other family members.  I'll always be able to rewind the video in my mind of my boys playing miniature golf with their Pop.  I still feel the hugs and love from stopping to see my heart-family, Dave and Barb.  I will always remember the peace of visiting with my mother and sister and watching my boys play with my sister's kids while remembering the fun I had with my own cousins as a child.  It was a summer that I won't forget.

This year, we were able to leave diapers behind.  It was sometimes difficult, trying to get Pete to use the potty, especially in the beginning.  He just preferred pull-ups.  But sometime after PDO was over, something clicked with him and it was all potty, all the time.  Of course he still has occasional accidents.  He's four.  But 99% of the time, he is dry.  Of course, 99% of the time, he also doesn't want to wear clothes, which makes the problem moot.  But he's making steps in the right direction.

In May, I was able to watch my son say good-bye to Kindergarten, then watch him say hello to First Grade in August.  I watched him receive an award for his reading at the end of the school year, and watched him surprise his first grade teacher with how well he could read.  I watched him deal with a bully in kindergarten and not let it break him, and I watched him gain a lot of good friends in first grade.  Every day, he impresses me, his dad and his teacher with his brains.  And just as often, he impresses us with his heart.  I've watched him become a great six year old and that's something else that I could never replace in my mind.

And Pete... along with his success at potty training, I've gotten to watch him become the little clown that he is.  His sense of humor is something that I swear I'm going to get on video one of these days.  He is growing so quickly, showing how smart he is and how different from his brother he is.  He's still small enough that he can snuggle with me on the couch (especially right now when I can't do much more than snuggle on the couch) and that fills my heart with joy.  He's my little scientist, my super hero with his enemy invisible man and my imaginative child.  He's part of what's made the year great.

One of the best things of the year was watching my dad regain himself.  For so long, he'd been in pain. There was so little that he could do - physically and mentally.  But he was able to let go of baggage, have his back repaired and lose a lot of weight.  And now he's doing so much.  He's even dating again, and I couldn't be happier for him.  My relationship with my dad has always been strong, and I'm still a Daddy's girl.  (I doubt that's something that will ever change.)  But I feel even closer to my dad now, somehow.  I've been able to spend more time with him, able to see him more (both at my house and at his) and I'm continuing to make memories with him just as much as I'm making memories with my own children.  The best is that I'm able to let him continue to make memories with his own grandsons.  I can't regret that.

I've made a lot of positive changes in my life as well.  I'm continuing to lose weight.  Slowly, yes.  But I've lost over 35 pounds since I was at my heaviest a few years ago.  And I'm noticing the difference not only in my clothes but in my ability to do things.  I don't hurt as much as I used to.  I don't feel as tired as often.  And I'm heading in the right direction.  I'm also starting to figure out how to keep on top of the things that I need to do around the house.  For awhile, my house was a disaster.  There was a time when we were being threatened with non-renewal of our apartment because of the state it was in.  But now I'm able to keep things clean and I'm even working through my clutter.  This moment in time, when I can't do as much as I was because of the sprain, is a momentary set-back.  I've internalized what I need to know to get back on track.  And that's what is important.

So I may often say that 2012 sucked.  It's been a year when one thing after another has gone wrong.  But I can also remember the things that have gone right, the things that, when I remember them, will fill me with a sense of pride and love, that will make me smile when I remember them.  Like every other year, 2012 has had it's good and it's bad.  But I want to try to remember the good as I step from 2012 into 2013.

Friday Fragments

This is the first time I'm participating in this wonderful meme at half-past kissin' time.  (Click on the picture and you'll be taken to her site.)  I've got a lot of fragments running through my mind right now, so this is the perfect time for it.

• When I got out of my funk and started checking out my blog again late yesterday (yep, the mood from Wednesday kinda bubbled over into yesterday too), I found a wonderful surprise.  The wonderful people who host Thirsty for Comments Thursdays (and that would be Acting Balanced, Silver Faeries and Dragonflies, Thoughts 'n Such, Crazed Mama and Touristic) honored me my making Sanity's Overrated the featured blog for the day/week.  They even linked me up in the top link-up spot.  Thank you, guys.  You really helped turn my mood around with that!
  
• Yesterday, we got news that relieved a little of my stress.  University of Phoenix offered my husband another class.  He's been working for them as a second job for the last couple of years.  It's been pretty steady work, giving him a 5 week class or two to teach pretty close to constantly.  But for some reason, the last couple months have dried up.  He had one class through September, but nothing new seemed to be on the horizon.  Now it is.  And today, he got another class to start around the end of the time of the one from yesterday.  It's taking a HUGE weight off my mind.
• I had a DUH moment the other day.  I was coming into the living room where the boys were watching the pilot episode of Planet Sheen. There was a seen where Sheen was introducing the king of the planet he crash-landed on to the monkey (who is far more intelligent than Sheen, but then, who isn't?) that had crashed there many years before.  He said something like, "This is Nesmith.  He's a monkey, but we call him an ape."  And it was only then that I put together those two facts along with the fact that Nesmith wore a wool hat to realize the homage that was being paid (for those that may not catch it either, Mike Nesmith was a member of The Monkees and he wore a signature wool hat in the show).  And I could have slapped myself for it.  I've been a big fan of the Monkees since the mid-80s when they did their first reunion tour, and I missed this completely obvious reference.  And I don't have the excuse of it being the first time I watched the show.  No.  I've seen, in part or in whole, at least a dozen episodes where the info was right in front of my face.  Yeah.  Sometimes I'm a little slow.
• I took a big step last Sunday and played a few games of Pokemon with people that were NOT in my family.  It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.  I may do the same on Sunday... or I may shop at Goodwill for Halloween Costumes.
• Speaking of Halloween, I wish my boys would make up their minds.  First Teddy wanted to be the Hulk.  Now he wants to be Ash from Pokemon.  I'm actually ok with him being Ash because I've got a lot of the things for that already.  Though now he's talking about being one of the gym leaders.  Pete keeps bouncing between Pikachu (which would be easiest because, unlike Teddy, he still fits in last year's costume), Panpour and Tepig. I told them they needs to make up their minds this weekend.  I'm going to Goodwill to look for things to make their costumes on Sunday.
• I'm catching another cold.  Or maybe the same one wasn't as dormant as I thought.  I'd gotten over the scratchy throat, the stuffy nose and the cough sometime in the middle of me getting the flu.  But last night, the stuffy nose came back and this morning, the scratchy throat is.  Time to start pounding the zinc!
• I'm so grateful that the boys have found a love for Pokemon.  While it does often get tiring to hear about Pokemon constantly, they've found a great community in our local league, with everyone being supportive of everyone else.  And they're also learning the right way to act when a game is over, with a handshake and a "good game".  It amazes me when I hear the two of them playing a game in the other room and then, without prompting, I heard, "Good game."  And not just from Teddy, but Peter too.  Now if I can get them to work that attitude into the rest of their lives....
• I'm thinking of starting a weekly meme.  Just a fun little thing to do and, hopefully, get others to join in the fun.  I was going to start it today (it will be called, tentatively "Friday Favorites") but I haven't had a chance to build a button for people to snag for the hopping.  So I'm hoping next week will be a little calmer, both in terms of stress levels and things I need to do.  But watch this space for a new meme!
• Finally, I had to buy a webcam today for something Rich needed it for,  It's the first one I've had in... probably 5 years or so.  It's so much smaller than I'm used to!  But I am hoping that, having it hooked up to the desktop, I may be able to start doing some vlogging once in awhile too.

Thanks for stopping by and reading the fragments of my mind.  If you're interested in more fragments, head on over!

Back with the Five Question Friday!

It's been awhile since I've done... well, much of anything.  It feels good to get back to some of my old favorite memes, sharing things I probably wouldn't even think to talk about otherwise.  Today sees my return to Five Question Friday, hosted by Mama M over at My Little Life.  Feel free to join along with the weekly questions.  Just follow the link and add your blog post to the list.
Now, for some answers.

1. What do you enjoy doing the most with your spouse?
   
   This will probably sound weird, but playing a computer game together. I don't mean something like both of us raiding on WoW from our separate computers, but both of us sitting in front of the same computer, working on a hidden object game. One of us will have the "controls" (keyboard and mouse) and the other will point out objects, help solve puzzles... whatever we can find that works. It's a relaxing time for us (most of the time) and it's sharing something together.
   
2. How do you eat your taco? From the top or from the side?
   
   
   
   From the side, of course. Top down means that I wouldn't get all the flavors mixed together the same way I do when eating it from the side.
   
   
   
3. Have you ever shut off the basement light and ran like a fool because you knew someone was down there and would get you?
   
   No, but only because I've never lived in a house with a basement. In NY, we lived in a trailer and in Florida, they don't have basements because the ground isn't right for them. From the time I left college, I've always lived in apartments where I didn't control the lights. All that being said, if I DID have a basement, I can totally see myself doing this.
   
   
   
4. If you could change one thing about you what would it be and why?
   
   
   
   This is an easy question. I would get rid of my depression. I've been fighting it for more than 20 years and I'm tired of fighting it. I hate the mornings when I can barely force myself out of bed, when I can't even force myself to deal with my boys. I hate feeling like things are never going to get better and that I'm a useless lump of nothing. I want to feel good about myself more often than not, to not feel anxious about everything all the time. I just want to be "normal".
   
   
   
5. What age do you think is appropriate to have the "bird and the bees" talk with your children?
   
   
   
   It depends on the kids in question. With Teddy, I suspect it will be soon because he's so curious and he's been asking some questions. With Pete... who knows. But what I'm trying to use as my guide is when they ask questions, answering them honestly. I want my kids to know they can come to me with questions. Though, to be honest, there have been a few questions where I've punted them to Daddy because I just don't know the best way to answer a 6 year old boy. :)
   

Five Question Friday for 3/9/12

Mama M has a weekly meme that helps us get to know one another a little better.  Every Friday, she posts five questions.  Then it's up to you to answer them, link back on her blog, My Little Life and, above all, have fun.
So, here are the five questions for today and my answers.




1. Are you looking forward to the time change this weekend?


Gods, no!  This weekend is my birthday so I will, in essence, lose an our of celebrating my birthday.  Grrrrr....


2. Are you getting the new iPad/would you want a iPad?


I used to want one, but I'm actually pretty happy with my Kindle Fire.  Yeah, I can't get a lot of the same apps, but I still get a lot of fun out of it.  That's the important part.


3. If money was not a problem, what is the one thing you would splurge on?


I would travel to Dragon*Con.  It's a con that I've wanted to attend for a long, long time and I just never seem to have the money to go and do it right.

Or maybe I'd pay to have a site redesign for here and Views from the Reader Side. Yes, I AM a geek.  Why do you ask?


4. How did you and the Mr. (or Mrs.) meet?


I thought I'd written about Rich and my meeting before, but the only thing I could find was a post about the day he asked me to marry him.  So I get to talk about the meeting now.  And I don't mind, because it's such a great story.

I met Rich on a message board system in 2001.  It was more a geek board than a dating board, though several relationships and marriages came from being a part of this board.  When we first met virtually, it was because we found each other commenting in the same threads fairly regularly.  Over the course of the next year, we became friends.  Not good friends, but friendly.  I was dating someone else at the time, so I wasn't looking for love.

Then came January, 2002.  There was a get together in New York of members of the board.  This was an annual thing and always brought in a pretty big crowd.  I was living in New York at the time, so I opened my apartment to a couple of friends, one of which was Rich.  We had a fantastic time that weekend, learning a lot about each other and getting closer.  It was a good friendship.

Not long after he went back home to Philadelphia and I realized that things weren't going well with my boyfriend.  For my own sanity, I ended it with him.  I was chatting with Rich online, telling him about how I broke up with my now-ex and that I just wanted to date for a little while.  I wasn't even thinking of him at the time, but he pointed out that he was available.  He came back to New York in a couple weeks and from that point forward, I knew that I was in love and that I'd found the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

5. Summer is right around the corner. Bikini or one-piece?


Do you see the body in the picture up there?  The one that is in the size 20 dress?  Well, I'm bigger now than I was then.  If it isn't a one piece, I'm not going out!

Gaming with Teddy - Happy Birthday, Robot!

We're big geeks.  It should come as no surprise to any of the regular readers of this blog.  One of our biggest geeks, and one that we really want to pass along to our children, is role-playing games.  And tonight, we tried one of our first non-Pokemon related games. We played a round of the incredibly kid-friendly Happy Birthday, Robot! by Daniel Solis (who is, in my not so humble opinion, one of the best indie writers out there).

Happy Birthday, Robot! is primarily a story-telling game, with dice to help determine who gets to add what to the story.  It's a fantastic gateway drug for some of the more advanced games because it introduces the younger or new players to collaborative story-telling.  The rules are incredibly simple to follow - including rolling three dice at a time to find out how many words can be added to a sentence and how many your "neighbors" (the two players on your left and right) can add.  There are freebie words (Robot, Robot's, And, But), tokens to loan to your fellow players and to add bring a close to the game and an epilogue section to pull things together at the end. The story comes together one sentence at a time and can sometimes go pretty far afield of what the first player to utter words thinks it will.

Tonight, it was just Rich, Teddy and I playing.  As enthusiastic as Pete was about wanting to play, he just doesn't have the counting or reasoning skills for it quite yet (though his story-telling ability is top notch).  It took us about an hour to play and the time went quickly.  This time around, Rich and I did the writing because, while Teddy's writing is getting better, we figured this might be a bit much the first time around.  But I am hoping to use it as writing exercises in the future.

The first phase is dice rolling and the dice are split based on what the storyteller rolls.  Any ones and twos stay with the storyteller.  Any threes and fours go to the person on their right. And any fives and sixes go to the person on their left.  Dice are rolled three at a time and the storyteller can keep rolling sets of three dice until either they don't want to roll anymore or one of their neighbors has four dice in front of them.  The number of dice each person has in front of them is how many words they can add to the sentence, along with their individual free words (the storyteller gets the free word Robot or Robot's, the person on their right gets the free word And, and the person on the left gets the free word But).  The storyteller writes their part of the sentence first, followed by the And person and then the But person.  The three need to come up with one sentence.  When they are finished with the sentence, the storyteller gets tokens (placed heads up) equal to the number of dice they had for the sentence.  Then it moves to the next person, with them becoming the storyteller and the person on either side of them becoming the neighbors.  After the first roll, the storyteller can borrow tokens from other players to add words to their sentence, placing borrowed tokens tails side up.  The last round happens when one player has ten tokens, allowing any remaining players to have one last chance at being storyteller.  The final portion of the game is the epilogue, where each person gets to write a complete sentence by themselves.  It starts with the person who has the most tokens, then going around based on the decreasing number of tokens. When it's your turn, you can write a sentence with as many words as you have tokens and using the free words Robot, Robot's, And, and But.  Then sit back and enjoy the story that you created together.

Teddy really enjoyed rolling the dice and coming up with his parts of the sentence.  Being the youngest, he was the first to roll and come up with the beginning of the first sentence.  By the end of rolling, Teddy had four words that he could use (with the free word Robot), I had four (with the free word And) and Rich had three.  It took about a round, seeing each of us take our turn at storyteller, for Teddy to really understand what he was doing.  And we did help with suggestions as we played.  Teddy has the tendency to use a lot of words where a few would do, so we would help him still get the idea across but fit within the number of words he was allowed to use. I think we crafted a pretty good story, all told. And Teddy said he wants to play again.

I do think, though, that we'll stick with three people playing for awhile.  As we were getting closer to the end, Teddy's attention started to waver a bit and he was ready to end the story.  But he did finish up with us, coming up with some great sentences at the end.  I'm hoping that this will become a regular weekend game for us.  And maybe in a few months, as Teddy gets more into it, we'll check with our friends' to see if they and their six year old daughter would like to join us.

And now, without further ado, here is the story that we created tonight by playing Happy Birthday, Robot!




Happy birthday, Robot!

"You are two today, Robot, and we're gonna have fun!" said his Mommy.

"Can we go swimming and then to the park to swing and slide?" asked Robot.

Robot danced while Mommy thought about going there.  Robot stopped dancing and came to Mommy but she wasn't ready yet.

"Ok, Robot, if you are good."

Robot sighed, "Ok, Mommy. I promise I'll be good for you."

They went to the pool and had lots of fun, but Robot rusted! Robott's Mommy took out his special oil and he could move better now.

"Mommy, let's go home now," said Robot sadly, "But I want to rest."

Then Birthday Robot slept until morning and felt so much better but was kinda sad.  Then Robot's Mommy came in and brought him a cake!  Robot smiled at his Mommy, "Oil cake with cookie icing! My favorite!"

"The cake was really yummy and now I'd like some milk," said Robot.

"Ok," said Mommy, giving him a hug.  It was the best day ever.

Christmas in Nashville

This year was a slower Christmas.  Without everyone else living at my Dad's house, we didn't have the big Christmas there that we usually have.  Instead, we stayed home for the day, planning to go up and see my Dad this week when my sister and her family were in town.  (We were supposed to go today, but that's been shunted to tomorrow because Pete's sick.)  So it was a far more laid back Christmas than we've had since Teddy was really little.

The boys were told that they weren't allowed to wake us up before 7 and they weren't allowed to go downstairs without us.  And they were pretty good about it.  At 6:45, they came in because Pete had a nightmare and rather than make them go back to bed, we got up and were ready to head downstairs and see what Santa had left us.

The kids were excited about what they got me and wanted me to open my gifts first, but I convinced them to take turns between themselves and after that, Mommy and Daddy would take turns.  There were gifts from us, gifts from Grandma and Grandpa, gifts from Nonni and Pop, gifts from Great Aunt Rosemary and Great Uncle George and gifts from Pete's godfather (and Rich's cousin), Will.  They were rolling in gifts.

While all of them were well loved, there were a few obvious favorites.

For Teddy:

Nonni and Pop got Teddy the Pokemon Unova set.

Teddy kept using our Pokemon Pearl and Platinum games, so we got him Pearl for himself.

We also picked up Platinum for him as well.  He doesn't have a DS of his own yet, but I think that will be a birthday gift in February.

I hadn't expected him to be quite so excited about the Bakugan we got him.  But he didn't want to let them go.

In an attempt to get a bit more exercise for the boys, I got Teddy a pair of Grow with Me Inline skates.

Santa brought Teddy Scrabble Jr... something he'd been begging for!

Grandma and Grandpa won big with Pokemon shiny cards and a folio to keep them in.  And this from grandparents who know nothing about Pokemon.

And finally, the Pokemon Black and White manga, volume 1.

As you can tell, it's been a pretty Pokemon Christmas.

For Pete, here are some of his highlights:

New Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Sheets from Nonni & Pop.

Alphie from Nonni & Pop... and he's been playing with him for days.

Santa brought a Dinosaur Train motorized set.  It hasn't been set up yet (no room until we do some cleaning) but he wants it to be!

In trying to help him work on his numbers, Pete got a Chat & Count phone.

Some Dinosaur Train figures to go with his playset.

A book about Dinosaurs from Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa also picked up dinosaur figures for Mommy & Daddy to step on.

While Teddy got the inline skates, Pete got Grow with Me Roller Skates

Thanks to Aunt Rosemary and Uncle George, he has a new bedtime friend in Roaring Rex.

There was one big win for the whole family:

Season 1 of Pokemon, Indigo League

For Rich, the big winner was, I believe, a bunch of comics and graphic novels from his loving wife:

Beanworld, Vol 1 & 2

Eternals, Vol 1 & 2, and PVP, Vol 5

As for me?  Well, along with the various DS games that I got from Rich, the boys got me my favorite:

My Zebra pillow pet.

And finally, I pooled together the various bits of Christmas money that I received and bought myself a Kindle Fire.  I've been wanting an eReader for awhile, as well as an android/iPad/tablet/something that runs apps.  This melds the two of them nicely.  It's the most I've ever spent on a Christmas gift for myself and I'm really looking forward to it's arrival on Friday.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas (for those who celebrate such things) and are enjoying the end of 2011.  May 2012 be even better for you.

The Pokemon 12 Days of Christmas

This afternoon, at Teddy's request, he and Rich sat down and figured out the Pokemon 12 Days of Christmas.  Teddy was most of the way there so it's definitely his baby.  He wanted me to share it.  And rather than write out the whole things, I'm going to start on Day 12.  (Since most of you know how the 12 Days of Christmas goes anyway.)

On the Twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Twelve Squirtles squirting
Eleven Swellows flying
Ten Chimchars blazing
Nine Sandiles digging
Eight Miltanks milking
Seven Muks a sludging
Six Klinks a clanging
Five Ultra Balls
Four apricorns
Three TMs
Two Blazikens
And a Snivy on a vine whip.

He has his daddy's love of parody.

The List Challenge: Day 13

Once again, we're back for The List Challenge. Today's list involves someone very, very close to my heart.  My husband, Rich.

Reasons Why You Love Your Significant Other

• He has a fantastic sense of humor
• He knows all the in-jokes
• He gave me two wonderful little boys
• He can pull me back out of depression when I'm feeling low
• I feel secure when he's holding me
• He's a great cook
• He has a lot of the same tastes in books and movies that I do
• He doesn't complain when I need to get away for a little Me time
• He accepts me for who I am and only tries to help me change the things that I want to change
• He's the one that my heart and soul tell me I should be spending my life with

Memories Monday - A Hot Day in July

9 years ago this Wednesday was a hot Saturday in July.  Rich had taken the train in from Philly to spend the weekend with me.  We had planned on going into Valley Stream to get my eyes checked and get some new glasses for me.  (It had been about 5 years since my last eye exam.)  So we took the train to the local Pearl Vision, only to be told that we should have made an appointment.  It would be an hour or more before we could get in.  So we decided to spend some time walking around.  Green Acres Mall was nearby and we figured the walk would be good for us.  Being around lunch time, we decided to head for the Red Lobster that I knew was near by.

Unfortunately, what I didn't realize was that it was on the other side of the mall and the heat was getting to me worse than I could have imagined.  By the time we got to the restaurant (having walked outside the whole way), I had a minor case of sun poisoning.  I ordered lunch, but before it got there, I became so sick that we had to have my lunch boxed up.  We still needed to get back to the train station, but I knew that walking back in the heat would only make matters worse.  Going through the mall, though, would get us most of the way there in air conditioning.

We came in through JC Penny's, only to find out that they were having a jewelry sale going on.  We'd been talking about getting married for awhile, so I wanted to look at the rings, give him an idea of something that I wanted.  I was hoping to find an aquamarine set in gold that wasn't too big or gaudy looking.  Aquamarine is my birthstone and has always been one of my favorites.  But the sale had caught the attention of a lot of people, and there was no way that we were going to be seen any time soon.  Rather than wait around there, we decided to pass for the moment and finish walking through the mall.

As soon as we left Penny's, we were faced with another store - King Richard's Jewlers.  Rich and I agreed, later, that it was a sign for that day.  We went in, just to look around.  I'd had such a hard time finding small aquamarines in gold that I didn't expect to find anything.  But sitting in one of the cases was the perfect ring.  10 karat gold with a small aquamarine, accented by two tiny diamonds.  It wouldn't overwhelm my petite fingers.  It was the perfect ring for me.  And Rich decided that he was going to buy it for me.

Not my exact ring, but pretty darn close.

"Just don't expect to get it now," he warned me.  "I want to find a special time to give it to you."

The jewelry store was able to do sizing there, so we only had to wait an hour before we'd be able to pick up the ring.  We wandered around the mall for a bit, window shopping at the various stores. I honestly don't remember any of the stores that we looked at that day.  I was just so happy to have found a ring that I fell in love with.

When the hour was up, we went back into the store.  The gentleman behind the counter wanted to make sure that it fit nicely, so Rich slipped it on my finger.  I was about ready to slide it back off when he told me, "No.  Leave it on."  My heart stopped, wondering if it meant what I thought it did.  But Rich just paid the gentleman for the ring and took the empty box that it had previously been nested in.

Outside the store, he looked at me with a smile on his lips and love in his eyes.  "Will you marry me?"  I started to cry, throwing my arms around him as I whispered, "Yes."

Later he told me that he'd had every intention of holding on to the ring until he could find the perfect romantic moment to ask for my hand.  But when he saw it sitting on my finger, he knew that he never wanted to take it off.  He knew then and there that this was this perfect moment.  So he let me keep my ring on.

I don't wear it any more.  A combination of one of the prongs breaking, thereby releasing the stone, and the fact that I've gained quite a bit of weight since that day 9 years ago have made it impossible for me to do so.  But I have the ring and I have the stone.  And someday, I'l going to get it repaired.  Because it was my perfect ring from a perfect day.

37 Years Ago Today

37 years ago today, a boy was born to a loving pair of Italian-descended parents. I didn't know it at the time (as I was only 3 months old myself) but this boy would one day become the most important man in my life - my husband.

I've been lucky enough to celebrate birthdays with him for the last 9 years and each year has been better than the one before. And each year, I've been incredibly glad that not only did he come into the world 37 years ago, but that he came into my world 10 years ago.

Happy birthday, baby.

I love you.