A New Hairdo and A New Age!!

This past week and a half has brought with it two big changes for me. The first event was that I got a BIG haircut!! All three of the men in my life aren't fans of my new do, but Veruka likes it and I LOVE it! (What is with guys and long hair??? I just don't get it.)

Here are photos:

The second big event was my Bday! I am now officially "30 + 11" years old. 

I had a great birthday. It rained, which would normally bum me out....but instead, the rain brought me happiness because that meant that all 3 kids softball & baseball practices were cancelled. Woo hoo! We got to go out to eat dinner at a reasonable hour and I even got a canoli for dessert!

The best part of all was my present. The day before my Bday, Brian came home from work and told me he had an early Birthday present for me. He went back to the car and came back carrying a big box that contained.......

...........the new stereo speakers he'd been wanting for the past 6 months!

I told him that that was a present for himself and that I was stating for the record that that wasn't my Birthday present. :)

I should've known that he was just joking with me and trying to get a rise out of me. The next day, my Birthday, he gave me my present and it was an iphone!!!! He told me that he actually bought my iphone first and then he bought the speakers.

I was so excited. I love the phone. All 3 of my kids also made me Birthday cards, which was absolutely my favorite gift. So, to recap; iphone, canoli, Birthday cards made with love by my kids = a great Birthday. 41 is okay by me!

My Baby is 8!!!!

I cannot believe it, but my baby is 8!!!! It is just amazing how quickly these past 5 years have flown by since we moved back to Maryland. It seems as if someone has hit the fast forward button on my life, and as hard as I may try, I can't stop it. Does anyone else feel this way?


Why is it that when your kids are babies and toddlers, the time seems to move EXCRUCIATINGLY slow, but just when they get a little older and things finally seem to get a little easier, the time flies by at the speed of light??

I mean, for Pete's sake, in 3 1/2 years we will have a kid in COLLEGE! I digress, this post isn't about her, it's about my baby, my Little Buddy. So let me get myself back on track. (We've called him "Little Buddy", since he was born. It's always "The Big Kids" and "Little Buddy." He'll probably be a 6 foot tall, 30 year old, married man....but he'll still be my "Little Buddy!")

All right, now I'm really going to get back on track. This year he really wanted to have a sleepover. We tried and tried to convince him to do something else. I tried to push the laser tag party on him, but he wasn't interested. Finally, B & I sat down and talked about it. Why were we trying to convince him to go somewhere for his party? We'd end up spending $250-$300 for a party, and it wouldn't have been what he really wanted!! So, with fear and trembling, we decided to let him have the sleepover.

Because he has an early January birthday, we usually wait a few weeks to have his party. It turned out that we are so dag on busy time(isn't this supposed to be our easy time of year?) that the only time available was on a Sun to Mon when the kids had off school for MLK's Bday. That was fine, but Bri had to leave first thing in the AM to head to a meeting in the Bahamas. I'd be on my own for breakfast and the boys departure. Yikes!

Actually, the party was great!

He had invited 9 friends, but one couldn't make it. So it ended up being 9 boys total, including him. They did a cool Amazing Race type scavenger hunt. The boys were divided into 2 teams and they were given a clue to lead them somewhere in the house. When they got there they had to complete a task and then they'd get their next clue, etc, etc, until they were finished the race. Both teams got prizes. (I have learned something over the years and years of parties!) Thank goodness for the big kids. They were both great helpers! Then, they played lots and lots of football, the two teams were supervised by B.....just to make sure there wasn't any rough tackling going on! We did gifts and cake. The boys played video games and watched 2 movies. Then, they all went to sleep....well, all but one. The last kid stayed awake until after 4AM! (Thankfully, it was my nephew!) Most of them were asleep by 12:30AM. They had a blast.

Here are some pictures. The first one is from his real Bday. His gift from us was a BMX bike. Now he's just like his Big Bro!

Check out the pix of B's Kick-off by finger. Funny!

Charlie's 12th Birthday!

I am so sorry to have been away from the "Blog" for so long. We've had so much going on.....let me start by catching you up from the beginning.....Charlie's Birthday.

Charlie turned 12 on November 19th! I know....I can't believe it either!!! How can Brian and I possibly have kids that are getting so old?????? Shouldn't we still have toddlers and babies????

Anyway, I digress. Sorry, let me get back on track. First of all Charlie's #1 birthday request was an XBox 360. This has been his number one gift item for the past 3 years, so this year Brian and I decided to give him some ultimate joy and actually get it for him. We spoke to him about maybe spending less on his party and also trading in some old video games to go towards the purchase of the XBox.

So, he asked if he could do a sleepover party. "Sure," I said in a moment of weakness, when my brain was apparently turned off. "That sounds like a great idea."

He and Veruka typed up invites on the computer ......and Charlie handed them out.

Let the fun begin!

The day arrived, and I woke up with my brain fully functioning......Oh my gosh....what had I agreeed to? 8 boys for 16 hours! What was I thinking?

Before the insanity began, we let Charlie open his presents from us.

Here is the XBox moment!

Then it was party time.

So, what do 8 eleven and twelve year old boys do for 16 hours in your house???

Eat a lot of pizza.....

Play many, many games of "knee football"....

Eat Cupcakes! Mmmmmmmm!

Open Presents!!!!

Play many hours of Madden 2008 on XBox....

And barely sleep!!!

Now, here is the worst part. Due to my slowness in loading the pictures onto my computer and updating the blog...some of my pictures got "accidently" deleted by Veruka while they were still on my camera.....so I no longer have the photos to prove it. (She honestly thought they were all already uploaded.) Not only was there very little sleeping going on.....there was lots of fun had by all...... and there was a Sharpie marker involved!

That's right....a Sharpie marker!

Charlie woke up with a beautiful drawing on his face, done by his buddies........ in Sharpie marker.

To pay them back, he and a friend (who shall remain nameless) drew a mustache and circles on the cheeks of one of the culprits and colored all over the feet of the second culprit. (I know, I don't get the feet either!)

When they came up to eat breakfast, we saw the extent of their artisitic abilities. Of course they all thought it was HILARIOUS!

I imagined the worst...since Thanksgiving was only 2 days away.....can you imagine the poor boy going to Grandma's house with a handle bar mustache on his face???? His Mom would've died!

Well, I don't know why, but by some miracle of God, the marker washed off!!! All evidence was eliminated before the first Mom appreared to collect her tired son. Whew!

I am only sorry that you can't see the pictures.....I've learned my lesson, and will be uploading my photos immidiately from now on!