I miss him ...

For those of you who don't know my grandfather, the below clip is something he would have been very proud of. His entire life revolved around youth sports, for more than 60 years he coached & managed baseball & football, but he enjoyed every minute of every sport we watched. He even came to every single figure skating competition I had and I honestly think he enjoyed them. He would watch me cheerleading. He would drive my brother to hockey games, and when he didn't drive him, he met us there. I know for a fact even when he was sick, he never missed Mikey's soccer, baseball or hockey games, especially the high school ones!!

He was youth sports in East Longmeadow !!




Did you see that man in the last part of the video?? The man on the left with the sunglasses standing next to the scholarship winner, that's my Dad. That was his 15 seconds of fame, almost :) And how awesome are those T-shirts? I think the caricature of my Papa is spot on. And I'm also betting that my father didn't get me one of those T-shirts :(

Don't you think my Papa would be proud of my Madame President status ??

Time is flying by ...

I've very neglectful of my blog in the last couple of months. It never seems like I have enough time to sit down and type up my thoughts or activities. And for that I am truly sorry. Perhaps now that we are rolling into summer and most of our activities will take a little hiatus, I can get back on the blogging bandwagon.


Some sad news to tell everyone about. Last Friday we had to put our Bulldog, Buzzy to sleep. Buzzy was a wonderful dog, never growled, never bit anyone, never even complained. He brought him home when he was 4 months old and in October he would have been 14 years old. He was around when we brought Rachael, Erin & Trevor home from the hospital. He was Rachael & Erin's pony, they rode him around like cowboys & cowgirls. He lived a long doggy life with us. The doctor who saw Buzzy last Friday said that Buzzy didn't want to leave us and that was why he was around so very long.

On a happier note, we are off to Disney this weekend to watch Rachael play in the Disney Memorial Day Soccer Shootout. I love the Wide World of Sports Complex. It is absolutely beautiful, the fields are perfect and the tournament is run in true Disney form .... flawless !! It will be hot, there isn't usually a breeze on the fields, so I'm packing the sunscreen! This is the end of the soccer season for Rachael .... it was a good year :)

But wait !! Tryouts for next season are on Tuesday of next week. Yup folks, that is a whooping 24 hours off ! Yippee, what will I do ???? Thankfully, there is about 6 week where we will put the cleats up and enjoy some family time.

I have a ton of pics for everyone to see. I'll get them uploaded in the next couple of days! Wait to you see how Trevor has grown .... he is quite the little man !! And an update on Erin, he is no longer required to attend speech classes, he was released this year !! He was very excited about that.

And one more thing ... Poor Ass Momma Bird has more eggs. This is now her third try at the Momma Bird thing. So far we have do not have any baby birds and I'm not holding my breath. I just don't think she knows what she is doing.

Promise I won't be gone long .....

The New Addition ....

Meet Lionel ..... he likes cheese ....

I know this is going to sound crazy ... but he actually grows on you and he has me. He is sweet and cute. Just so you all know, he is a fancy rat, as opposed to your every day garage variety !!

sometimes bribery isn't such a great idea ...

To the overly enthusiastic young lady at the pet store,

Thank you for all your help yesterday. You were very nice, sweet and extremely helpful. This is probably your first job, and I'm sure your boss appreciates your enthusiasm and knowledge. Lord knows, my kids think you are just about an animal god. I'm even sure when you go home tonight and tell your parents how many animals you suckered people into buying today they will beam with pride.

But let fill you in on a little secret sweetie. We came in for a hamster. They are cute and their life expectancy is relatively short. It was a carefully thought out decision of two parents who carefully manipulated their child into wanting a particular pet. It was a form of bribery to my 8 year old son who need a little push (ok, a shove) into passing a writing test and using his little brain to its fullest capacity. A hamster.

It is quite apparent that you have studied up on domesticated animals. You deserve your job. Your knowledge on how wonderful rats can be for pets was amazing. You had my kids complete attention. They only give this attention to me when I am offering them ice cream. I knew right then and there when my 8 year old son who has ADD tendencies , couldn't take his eyes off of you as you spewed on and on about how a rat would be his best friend, that I was in trouble. At that exact point I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to round them up and leave because this visit to the pet store wasn't going in my favor.

So here I am writing you this letter while a rat climbs over my keyboard. If I think of him as something like Stewart Little I am okay, but then I snap back to reality and realize that at the end of the day Lionel is a rat. With a long tail, he is a rat. And he lives longer than a hamster. And should or when he gets lose, to quote you, I will have a little more of a chewing problem, thrills me to death.

Oh don't get me wrong, my son is happy. Ecstatic, he loves Lionel. And because my son did his best and passed that test, he deserves his reward. I just want to make sure you understand that I am a kind person, a nice mom and mostly a pushover. Be careful because the next Mom you con into taking a rat home may not be as nice as me!!

Former Customer,
Mom with a rat

One down ..... 23 more meetings to go .....

I held my first board meeting as the Madame President. Yup, I was completely nervous.... but when I walked in and looked at "my" table, the nerves just disappeared...

I had a pink Presidents table .... just for me .... and it was pink .... I loved it. It was very thoughtful !!

Look closely ... do you see the Pink Tiara and Pink Purse ??? How cute are they ....

Yes, I had a Tiara. Totally funny, Totally Appropriate !! I was tickled pink ... LOL !!

Seriously, I ran the meeting. It went along as meetings are supposed to. It was my first, so I am fairly certain there are some things I can improve on. But overall, I was proud of myself. Sitting in front of a room full of people who all have their own, very unique opinions & definite personal agendas can be very intimidating, but I now feel like I am grasping my role as President ...

I may lose my mind ....

Before I start .... I love my Trevor. He looks like me, he is the only one does. He is so very darn cute. Let me say that one more time. I. LOVE. MY. TREVOR.

But ...

He is something else. He is now a little over 2 1/2 years old. Well into the terrible two stage. And really, until now, it has been a walk in the park. For the most part parenting Trevor has been easy, little bumps here and there, but easy. But the last few weeks, my son has turned into a little Tasmanian devil. A little tornado. A little boy with a big attitude. A handful.

Trevor's vocabulary is far beyond any of my other children at his age. I think it is due to having an 11 year old sister and an 8 year old brother. Trevor is polite, he will always use his please and thank you''s. And Trevor will tell you he loves you, he just follows it up with "punk".... "Mommy, I love you punk" or he will tell you he wants some juice ....."Mommy I need apple juice please butt head". He almost has the context down pat. Almost.

He has discovered that he can escape anything by locking the door. He can take Erin's toy and lock himself in the bedroom. He can take Rachael's lip gloss and lock himself in the the bedroom. And he won't unlock the door. Unless you tell him you have to go to the bathroom. Even if the room he locked himself into is a bedroom, it still work. Eventually, I will need a new approach, but for now he hasn't figured it out.

He can successfully open both locks on the front door. He escapes, alot!! Good thing for us, our front door is noisy. He has a growing friendship with the Florida lizards and he needs to look for them all the time .... it is more like a form of torture. There are many lizards missing their tails in my entryway!

Oh Trevor ... sometimes the only thing that saves him is this super cute face .....

Super Awesome picture taken by Beth ....

I certainly had a very busy week. I got through it, not sure how, but I'm here and it's Friday! A little tired, a little stressed, I little frustrated. But the weekend is here, and I WILL find a way to not do anything work or President related.

Tonight is my Relay for Life ! Yahoo! I have signed on to walk my bootie off to fight cancer. My walk is dedicated to my Papa, who lost his life to Lung Cancer a little over 3 years ago. I am excited about doing this for him, and me and any of you who are survivors or who have lost a loved to cancer. Think about me tonight ...

In my unpaid position, it has been a difficult week. I wonder sometimes why people make decisions they do. I've taken on a big role, and while I feel that I am more than capable of doing it, I am starting to question the motivations of others that consider themselves unbiased volunteers. Not a fun end of the week, but it's my job now, so I will find a way to deal with it. Dealing with it may require a couple of adult beverages ... shhhhh.....

Trevor-ism of the day:

"I love you Mommy Butthead ....Thank you"

I'm not going to even discuss this ...... but if you're a mom you just know this was accompanied by a nice long time-out. And hysterical quiet laughing as you round the corner

Tomorrow is the big All-Star game for Erin. Yup, I'll be taking lots of pictures. He is very excited to play. I know he is going to do awesome. He is soccer star!

Rachael is a 5th grader this year! Yup the 5th grade class of '09 ! At our school, this is a big deal, they treat the 5th graders much like seniors in high school. They do many, many things, but the big thing is the 5th grade bash. The theme is Welcome to our Jungle. (the 80's girl in me wants to break out into a cover of Guns and Roses, Welcome to the Jungle)

She just received her 5th grade shirt ... So cute.. don't ya think ?? It was designed after the theme and by one of the 5th graders.

Sorry for the poor quality pics...my crackberry didn't want to cooperate at 6:30 this morning.

If I haven't said it 700 times before. My little girl is growing up. I'm hating it.