Feeling lucky.

Have you had one of those moments in your life where your heart literally stops and you think about all of the things that COULD have happened in that moment but didn't?  Maybe your little one was just about to tumble down a flight of stairs and you caught him just in time?  Or maybe the car in front of you slammed on the brakes, causing you to do the same and you just missed hitting them? 

We had one of these moments last night when this happened:

Yep, that's a tree.  And it's a pretty big one, even though it may not look that way in the picture. It's hard to see because of the glare, but if you look closely in the last picture you can see that it was more than the top half of a tree that just toppled over out of nowhere (it wasn't windy, or storming, or anything last night...in fact, it was a beautiful night!) 

We said someone must have been watching over us....the trunk of the tree landed within just inches of our house.  Within about 2 inches of our air conditioner and is literally next to our gas meter.  The only minor damage we have is a dent in our gutter from a larger branch landing on it.  There was no one out there.

It could have been a whole lot worse.

The roof that it would have landed on was our playroom.  The area just to the side of the tree around the corner is an outside toy box and our sand table.  I shudder to think of what would have happened if the kids had been out there playing and the tree had fallen slightly differently.  Or if the kids had been out there going around the side of the house to head over to play with the neighbor, and the tree had come down.

Again, it could have been a whole lot worse.

So right now, we are dealing with the headache of insurance companies (2 companies in fact, the tree is on our neighbors' property, so that makes it even more complicated) and we are having our annual luau party next weekend and the side of the house is trashed, it took out some of our landscaping, etc....BUT, I am trying to focus on the fact that we are not dealing with the headache of a damaged roof, broken windows, or injured people.

It's one of those moments where, once your heart rate returns to normal, you breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Singin' in the rain

Ok, so there was no singing, it was more like grumbling and whining.  As if dragging myself to my fitness class twice a week isn't already a challenge enough, today it was raining. 

 

I survived the walk in the rain only to barely survive the class.  A few weeks ago, I discovered that chugging a bunch of water in between sets on a circuit then doing 10 burpees makes me throw up in my mouth (and I don't mean that figuratively, like "oh I hate burpees so much they make me wanna puke in my mouth")...I mean it quite literally.  I discovered today that mountain climbers on a cardio circuit have the same effect.  Gross.  Also, you're welcome for me sharing that tidbit of information with you.

There is one redeeming aspect of hiking up to that class every Tuesday and Thursday, and that's that I get to admire the Cathedral on my way there.  This view never gets old. 

obviously taken on a non-rainy day.  I don't think I threw up on this day either, so there's that.

Hail to Pitt!! 

Hair, There, Everywhere

I'm all over the board when it comes to my hair.  I want to grow it out!  No wait, I like it at my chin!  Maybe shoulder length would be good?  I hate my hair like this!  I love my hair like this!

Is there such thing as hair ADD?  If so, I think I suffer from it.

I haven't had much of a choice when it comes to my hair recently, as I'm trying to grow it out for Brian's sister's wedding in November.  I hate fussing with my hair during big events like that, so I'm on a mission that it will be long enough to pull back and not fall out in pieces all day!

It didn't help though that I chopped it off last November.  Almost to my chin.  oops.  Hair ADD strikes again.

I swore off any major cuts after that, and I've managed to stick to it.  My hair is now in that awful phase where I hate it because it's kind of in between lengths, flips out on the ends, and is just non-cooperative in general.  My hair stylist assured me during my last trim that I will see some relief soon, I'm almost through the worst part of growing it out.  I hope that's true because it's pretty bad.

See?  It just hangs there. Blaaaaaaaah.

All of that being said, I'm hoping to maybe experiment with longer hair if I can make it past this bad stage.  It's been a long time since I've had longer hair, so if I have to grow it out for a few more months anyway, why not keep it that way for awhile?  I recently came across from pictures of DJ Tanner (aka-Candace Cameron Bure) and I LOVED her hair.  Side note-this picture is from Uncle Joey's wedding.  And she's posing with Kimmy Gibbler.  My 10 year old self just wept with joy.

Candace Cameron's hair on the right

I also came across this picture of her that maybe I can achieve before mine gets as long as the one above?

I think I just have another 2 inches or so to go to get this look.

Feel free to leave hair opinions and/or your favorite quotes from Full House in the comments section.

4th of July Weekend

Wow, I'm posting about one weekend before the next one happens....that hasn't happened around here in awhile!!  :) 

It seems like lately the universe has been apologizing profusely for the positively terrible winter it dished out just a few months ago.  The weather has generally been pretty pleasant and last weekend... a HOLIDAY weekend no less, was gorgeous.  Just perfection.  Friday was the actual holiday and we just hung around the house and got a few things done. 

Saturday, we headed down to WashPA to visit my parents and also to attend a wedding for my dear friend, Olivia and her (now) husband, Bob (thanks for babysitting, GG!).  Olivia is one of my oldest friends, and I was so excited to be there to share in her special day!  Her wedding was outside and she really could not have asked for more perfect weather.  Her venue was gorgeous; if you are looking for an outdoor/rustic feel for a wedding, you should definitely check out Shady Elms Farm.  Both the venue and the bride were stunning! 

 

Sunday we were able to see another friend of mine, Cortney!  Lilianna and Liam picked up right where they left off the last time they saw each other and enjoyed swimming for hours :)

Both of the kids were drained after all of the fun of the weekend.  Liam fell asleep at my mom's house and slept for much longer than we anticipated, we ended up crashing her house for dinner since he didn't wake up until almost 5.  Then Jake looked like this in the backseat at 6:30 within just minutes of leaving:

I hope your weekend was just as fun!!

Baseball Awards Ceremony

I already posted about the very last baseball game of the season, but I just wanted to share the cute pictures of the awards ceremony they had a few weekends ago.  Each player was announced on the field over the loudspeaker as they went to accept their trophy....you know Jake was pumped for that!! 

So our sports season is officially over for the summer....we told him he could pick one thing to do in the fall and it looks like right now he's leaning toward trying out basketball for the first time.  I will not argue with an indoor sports choice for a time that has cooler weather :)

Liam's 1st trip to the dentist

With age 3 comes many responsibilities....preschool, potty training (still working on that), and the obligation to get your pearly whites examined on a regular basis.  Liam went to the dentist for the first time the other day, and it was a successful trip...no crying, no cavities!  As I expected him to do based on his visits to the pediatrician, he climbed right up in the chair, talked to the hygienist about his favorite things (his friends from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, playing outside, and going swimming) then leaned back for the exam.  All was well! 

Say cheese!!!  See ya in 6 months :)

Some days are better than others.

"BOYS!  Keep your hands and feet to yourselves, please."

It was 6:15pm.  We had pulled in the driveway earlier that day around 5:40 and while I drug all of the stuff in from the day at work/daycare/summer camp and let the dog out, the boys played outside.  In a surprising turn of events, they came in at 6 without a fight when I told them I had to go in to start dinner.

They were both looking exhausted from the day (the heat and fun summer camp activities have been having that effect on them lately) so I told them they could just relax and watch TV while I got dinner started.  I flipped on the TV in the playroom and headed into the kitchen.  No sooner had I pulled the pack of chicken out of the fridge did I hear the bickering begin.  He touched me, he's sitting too close to me, he's making me hot....

"Liam, stop bothering your brother.  Jake, use your words and not your hands to keep him away.  I just need to get this chicken in the oven and I'll be right in."

Ok, where was I?  Oops, oven isn't on.  I'll wait for that. What else can we have with this?  Do we have any....

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a body hitting the floor and crying.  I walk in and Jake is sitting on the couch immediately starting to apologize....

"I didn't mean to....he wouldn't stop bugging me....I only pushed him a little....I'm sorry....I'm sorry....."

I wish this is where I would say that I comforted everyone, turned off the TV, and we had a little Full House style family moment where we talked about respect and kindness.

Instead, I yelled. Not just yelled, I reached a level that most people (and dogs) would probably categorize as screeching.  I was livid.  I was near tears.  We hadn't even been in the house for 20 minutes and they were at each other's throats...and while watching TV!  How is that even possible?  I screeched about how all I needed was 10 minutes and they couldn't even give me that...how they are brothers and they should be able to get along without needing a referee half of the time...I screeched about things I don't even think were related to the actual incident.

 I was frustrated with Liam for being an instigator and not leaving Jake alone after I had asked him to do so.  I was frustrated with Jake for taking matters into his own hands and not just moving to another chair to stay out of Liam's reach.

Basically, I was frustrated that they are 6 and 3 years old.  Should they know better and be able to control themselves for such a short period of time?  Yes, they should.  But should I realize that not everyone is perfect and that I could cut them some slack for doing what are normal sibling behaviors?  Yep.  I could do that for sure.

But it's so easy....it's so easy in those moments to forget the good things.  To forget that just 10 minutes before that incident, they happily played basketball outside with each other, no incidents whatsoever.  It's easy to forget that just the night before, I had been able to get dinner started while they set up a whole Toy Story scenario in the playroom and happily acted out scenes with their figures from the movie with each other, even taking turns with who got to be the coveted Buzz Lightyear. No pushing, no fighting, nothing.

After I cooled off and got the boys separated, I retreated back into the kitchen.  As I was digging through the freezer trying to find some veggies, I heard little feet creeping into the kitchen.  I turned around to see Jake standing there with his arms open, waiting for a hug.  I slammed the freezer shut and picked him up...as we were hugging he said "I'm really sorry that I pushed him off the couch and made you feel so sad."

I have to pause here to say that he has come so far, because I can guarantee you that 8 or 9 months ago, that scene would have played out in a completely different way.  Chances are, Jake would have gone off to his room and would have been inconsolable for an hour or so. He never would have apologized on his own, without prompting.  He wouldn't have pulled himself back together that quickly.  I know some people probably think I'm out of my mind when I talk about his sensitivity to food dye, but I believe 100% that it has an adverse effect on him.

But I digress.

The point of all of this is that I'm certainly not perfect (as evidenced by the scene I just described) and neither are my kids.  Neither is my husband for that matter.  But we put on our super mom/wife/friend cape every day nonetheless, and we do the best we can. Maybe we do it while repeating to ourselves little snippets of inspiration like, "this too shall pass" or "they're only this little once" or "tomorrow will be better"....but we do it. 

I'm preaching these words not only to my fellow super moms, but also to myself because I think we all need a reminder that some days are better than others. 

Goodbye Kindergarten, Hello First Grade!

I just realized that it was well over a month ago, but I forgot to post about the end of Jake's kindergarten year.  As with most things in life (especially since having kids) the year just took off and was gone in an instant.  I'm happy to say that even though kindergarten started out a little shaky for our little man, he worked things out and we ended the year on a positive note (aside from him crying the last week of school because he didn't want to leave his teacher...but I guess even that can be looked at as a good thing!)

Here are some comparison pictures of the first and last days of school...

First day, August 2013:

Last Day, June 2014:

A few days before school ended, I sent Jake in with a copy of Oh the Places You'll Go, along with a note to his teacher, asking if she would sign the inside of it...kind of like a yearbook message.  I'm hoping to do this every year for him (at least until he finds it to be embarrassing and begs me to stop...even then, maybe I'll just do it behind his back!)  Here is the message she wrote:

Dear Jake,

I loved having you in my kindergarten class this year!  I remember seeing you play Battleship on the first day of school, and now you can read and write!  It has been so nice to see you learn, grow, and make new friends.  You are a hard worker (and neat too!), and you have a great sense of humor (your laugh is contagious!)!!  Always stay that way :)  I can't wait to hear about your future elementary school adventures, so be sure to visit.  Maybe I'll even see you zipping past me on the ski slopes!  Best of luck!

I really feel so lucky that we were able to have such a great teacher for his first year of school!  Jake wrote her a little note for the last day, and we sent it in along with a plant and a Panera gift card:

Less than 2 months until we have a first grader....