As we were walking through the bakery (because I told Chloe she could get cookies), we browsed.  Have you seen the Costco cupcakes?  They are gigantic!  I mean, they have to be three times the size of a normal cupcake.  Chloe then asked me if the food in there is made for REALLY big people.  Yup, I guess so.  I do have to say, though, that I DIDN’T buy the coconut cream pie because it was just too damn big.  And I would have to eat the entire thing.

We paid for our groceries, and stopped to buy our customary churro.  As we were driving home, Chloe talked to me about what she did in school today.  They were talking about weather.  She said “Mom.  Weather is either a tiger or a sheep.”

:::huh?:::

OOOHHHHHHH, you mean either a lion or a lamb?  OK, I get it.

By the way, today got a lamb

So, it was St. Patrick’s Day and I went to get our personal taxes done started.  It was a beautiful day.  Sunny and warm.  Tony caught me on my cell just as I was leaving the accountant.  He needed some supplies for the bar…could I stop somewhere?  No problem.  I headed to Wal-Fart, which meant I had to pass the DQ.  (Now that I live out in the ‘burbs, I don’t drive past a DQ very often).  It was open!  I got right back on that cell and screamed to Tony “DAIRY QUEEN IS OPEN!!!!”  I never seem to stop on that very first day I see that it’s open.  I save it.  I plan for it.

The days passed.  We had fantastic weather.  There was bike riding, chalk drawing, basketball, roller skating, swings, bubbles.  All that good stuff.  Well, yesterday I made the plan.  I told the girls that we could head to DQ after dinner.  Ice Cream?  Sprinkles?  They were in.  As we were getting ready to head out, I looked at them.

Oh my gosh.  To put it nicely, it looked like they had a fun day.  Becca had a gigantic splash of mud on the back of her shirt from throwing various objects into the sandbox-that-is-now-a-science-experiment-because-it’s-filled-with-water.  She had biker shorts on. Both of their hair?  Mess.  Chloe had on some hand me down flowered corduroys that were too short.  I made her change her pants, brushed some hair, and had them cover up with some hoodies.  Becca looked at me and said “Mom!  Why do we have to look nice?  We’re going to get ice cream, not to a wedding!”

Smart ass.  She’s never even been to a wedding.

We had a great night, got to the DQ before there was a long line, and headed to the park for a couple of hours.  Chloe passed out on the couch as soon as we got home.  Slept in her outfit all night.

Sure beats what was happening a month ago…more than two feet of snow and being stuck in the house for a week.  Glad that’s a distant memory!

Enjoy whatever weather YOU have!!!!

It was New Years Day.  There was some fresh snow on the ground.  I actually cooked.  I made a pork roast, kraut and mashed potatoes.  We were having a pretty lazy day and the kids were being good.  Great way to start off the year.  We ate dinner a little early (smelling it all day can do that to ya!), and the kids asked if they could go out sled riding.

Let me interject a little something here.  Back before Tony and I got married, I had one condition.  Not about the marriage, but about kids.  I told him that if and when we had kids, he would have to be in charge of any of the snow related activities.  I hate the snow.  Don’t like being in it, feeling it, smelling it or looking at it.  That was the deal.  And I’ve held him to it.  I’m not quite sure why we live HERE, where it SNOWS.  But, whatever.

So, back to January first.  Sled riding.  Fine.  The day before I had just bought new snow pants for the girls.  We get them all bundled up like Randy from A Christmas Story, and out they go.

So, off they go to the backyard. We have a gigantic sled riding hill just past the yard. It’s not actually OURS, but belongs to the homeowners association. Anywho, there were some older boys sled riding earlier in the day, and the temptation just sucked the girls in. And I had the house to myself for a while. Bonus. I even took a picture of them out in the snow:

Not a lot of snow, but enough for a few rides.  Well, here’s the next picture I took:

Yup, that’s Chloe in the emergency room.  Earlier in the day the boys had built a little ramp in the snow.  Tony was steering the kids clear of the ramp.  But as the kids got braver and braver, they went higher and higher up the hill.  As Chloe went down, she hit a little divet and headed straight for the jump.  And landed.  On her shoulder.  And broke her collar bone.

I didn’t realize at first that she had broken her collar bone.  Nothing was sticking out.  But her cries.  They went straight through my heart.  That’s how I could tell that something was REALLY wrong.  So, we packed it up and headed to the Emergency room.  When we told her that we were going to the hospital, the cries stopped.  I think she was happy to be going so that she could get some relief from the pain.

She was a total trooper.  Calm and collected the entire way.  Polite with the doctor.  Not complaining a bit.  Here’s the next picture I took:

We had a few rough nights with her sleeping, but all in all she was a great patient.  And because I waited so long to tell you this little story, I can tell you the ending.  Which rocks.  She had to wear the sling for about four weeks.  We went to the orthopedic doctor on that last day, they took another x-ray and decided that she could officially remove the sling.  In the doctor’s office, after the doctor left, I handed her the sling and asked if she waned to put it in the trash.  She gladly grabbed the sling and slam dunked that thing.

We headed outside of the doctor’s office, sunlight on our faces.  Chloe looked at me, raised both arms over her head (which she hadn’t done in exactly four weeks) and exclaimed “This is the best day of my life!!!!”

She just cracks me up.

OK…I’ll catch you up on some more stuff soon!

There we were, watching iCarly, when my friend and neighbor called.

C:  “Are you in the basement?”

Me:  “No.  Should I be in the basement?”

C: “Look out front.”

Well, I looked out front and said “Um, yeah.  Maybe the basement wouldn’t be a bad idea.”  Now, if I were a seasoned and dedicated blogger, I would have taken pictures.  I didn’t.  There were some crazy dark clouds out there, and they were swirling.  Granted, it was a pretty big swirl, but they were swirling none the less.  It was eerie, too.  It wasn’t raining, it wasn’t really windy and it was creepy quiet.  So, to the basement we went.  As we got to the basement, the power went out.  Me, two chicks and a dark basement.  We found some candles and a flashlight and listened to the rain.  A few minutes later, the power came back on.  We watched the last couple minutes of iCarly, and then the power went back out again.  The storm wasn’t really bad by this time.  Our power has gone out plenty of times before, but never for more than an hour.  The girls were a little freaked out.  I told them that the power would probably be back on shortly.  We went upstairs, and tried to figure out what to do to entertain ourselves in the almost-dark.

I gave them a bath, got them ready for bed and read a few books.  OK…it was nearly 8:00.  The power went out for good at 6:30.  My kids NEED to sleep with a fan.  It’s strictly for the white noise.  If they’re totally exhausted, they can sleep without it.  But they were nowhere near exhausted.  I searched my brain.  I remembered that about 10 or so years ago, I bought a little noise machine.  (This was because the hubby also needs to sleep with a fan.  We were going on a cruise, and there was NO WAY I was going to let him bring a box fan on the ship.)  I dug out this machine (in the dark), hoping that it took batteries.  Yippee for me, it took batteries and I set it up for the girls.  No night light, but Chloe is the only one that really needs it.

So, the kids went to sleep and I took myself downstairs.  I just laid myself down on the couch and relaxed.  And if you’re a mom, you know that if you lay down and relax, chances are you’ll be sleeping soon enough.  Chloe woke up a few times looking for me, so each time I would take her back into bed.  I kept telling her that the electricity would be back on soon.  It wasn’t.  At about 1:00 a.m. (I think) I climbed into bed with Chloe and fell asleep.  Hard.  Tony came home.  Turns out, he doesn’t have a key to our front door.  He always uses the garage door opener.  Which, of course, won’t open without power.  He knocked and knocked.  But I was in the room with the sound machine.  Knocking?  Yeah…didn’t hear it.

I did wake up and see a light flashing in the hallway.  I walk out and look down at the front door.  I saw Tony holding his cell phone up to the glass.  I opened the door, apologized, and asked how long he was there.  About twenty minutes.  I sat up and chatted with Tony for a bit, in the dark.  Chloe woke up.  We all went to bed in our room about 4:00 a.m.  Still no electricity.  No fan for Tony, and I asked him to please not die while he was sleeping, because he wouldn’t be able to use his CPAP machine (he has sleep apnea) without electricity.

At 5:10 a.m. the electricity came back on.  Chloe immediately wanted to go back to her room with HER fan and HER night light.  Becca slept through the whole darn thing.

So now, every time it rains, the kids ask if we have to go into the basement.  There weren’t any more storms on Thursday, but there were supposed to be some big storms yesterday.

Yesterday.

The day I had tickets to a VIP pre-concert party for Dave Matthews.  The day I had a chance to win one of four cruises.  The day I could see one of my favorite bands in concert.

Well, I’ve got to have a cliff hanger.  I’ll write about the party and concert later today.  I’ve gotta head out

Have a great Saturday!

After that, we got to hang out with some friends and neighbors for an impromptu cook out. And you know, summer is great and all…but what am I going to do with the kids?!?!? I think they will absolutely kill each other if I don’t give them something structured to do, at least for part of the summer. Lucky me, there’s a summer rec program available. It’s close, cheap, and lasts for four weeks. We’re signing up today (and so are some of their friends). Problem solved. And guess what? I’ll have some ‘me’ time!!!

Um, YYYYYIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

**And just a little note. I’m planning on changing my blog over from Blogger to Wordpress. I have plans to do it this weekend, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen this weekend. So, if you’re coming here to see what’s going on with me and get some sort of blank page, don’t worry. It will be all sparkly and new soon!

Friday after school, Becca started. “Can you put up the pool?!?!” (I’ve promised that we’ll put up the easy-set pool that has been sitting in the garage for two years this summer). I told her that I can’t put that pool up until their birthdays (end of May).
Then she wanted a smaller pool. Well, it was 4:00 on a Friday. I wasn’t ready to tackle any kind of pool. So we compromised on the sprinkler. They were happy. Saturday, I caved. I put up one of those hard shell plastic pools for them. We later found that there must be a hole in it. But they had a great afternoon, bouncing between my yard and my friend’s yard. Carefree, almost summer.

Sunday we had a couple of events to head to. There was a christening for our friend’s twins down the street, then a communion party for other neighbors at our restaurant. We headed down to the christening. Now, our friends there put in an in ground pool last year. They got it late in the summer, and the kids were in it once. I didn’t think that the pool would be open yet for the season. But we got there, and the pool was open. (On a side note, I’m totally jealous of their pool and the set up. It looks like something out of a magazine. They should rent it out for parties.) So, I ran back to the house, got their suits, and they swam for a couple of hours.

Hello…it’s April in Pittsburgh.

It was a great time, and the first time that, as a parent, I didn’t have to get in the pool. They were fine just swimming on their own. Nice.

The communion party was held on Downey’s House’s deck. Because it’s not normally this warm in APRIL, we had to sort of scramble to get the deck semi-ready. The chairs still don’t match. We don’t have any coolers out there yet. We need to do some landscaping. But it went well, all things considered.

So, it looks like our little visit to summer ends tomorrow. Which is OK with me. But I’m glad that summer IS right around the corner!

But if you talk to me in August, I might have something to complain about

But if I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming big!

So, if you see me IRL (in real life, that is) and I’m staring off into the distance with a glazed look in my eyes, I’m probably thinking about myself in the warm weather, enjoying my new home.

Just leave me alone to enjoy it.

Same thing today. The girls got to play outside at a family birthday party. They really do need to burn off some energy (and cabin fever). Aside from a huge knee scrape (and a big hole in some tights), there were no major incidents today. All is good again in Downey-ville.

We did have a little funny tonight with Chloe. As I was making some scrambled eggs for Becca (and talking on the phone at the same time), Chloe walked up behind me. I was at the stove, and the carton of eggs were behind me at our island. Chloe loves eggs. Hard boiled eggs. You see where this is going, right? As my back is to her, Chloe grabs an egg…tightly…in her hand. I hear screaming, and turn around to see egg goo on the floor and one very confused three year old. It was a mix of terror and confusion. This is exactly what I saw above her head:

I felt bad (a little) laughing out loud. But I just couldn’t help it. So, now my two little angels are sleeping quietly. And I have this quiet house to myself. I just enjoy the peace so much. So much that I stay up much later than I should. Especially today, when we lose an hour of sleep. So, short post just to let everybody know that we’re back to our happy selves. Maybe I’ll post something more meaningful and/or entertaining next time!!

And shopping – I’ve really got to get on the ball (and get some cash!!!!). Looks like this entire shopping season will be paired with Mr. Chase Visa. And we’re getting hammered with birthdays right before the holiday. Between now and Christmas I have 2 sister-in-laws, a husband and four (probably five) kids birthday parties. Aarrrgh! Of course, there’s still a kid inside of me, and I think I’ve figured out what I want. I want a digital video camera. One of those cute little ones. I saw that Kohl’s has one on sale today and tomorrow for $90.

Now, I have no idea on reviews and such for this thing, but for $90 bucks I think it’s a deal. They just added Flip Minos at CafePress, and they’re almost twice as much. Now, I know that they take a nice picture and I’ve heard great things about the Flips, but I’m into saving cash.

Well, I’m off to do some office work for the restaurant. Well, not really off…I’ll still be sitting here at my kitchen table in my froggie flannel pj’s, drinking my coffee, listening to Chloe spin on the sit-and-spin!

OH, I almost forgot! There’s a free shipping coupon at CafePress for the weekend. The code is FCPHOL1 and it’s for orders over $50. Here’s the link to the CafePress Free Shipping Ad.