The Never Ending Summer

Today is August 30th and in a teacher's world that means that there is one more sleep 'til Christmas, er, the start of the school year. The classroom gets set up, there are reorientation meetings, catching up, greetings from the higher ups. Since I am one third teacher and three parts mother, my mind and body still goes into back to school mode at this point of the summer. The cool mornings and evening truly have some mental/chemical effect on me. But this summer, on August 30th, I am not thinking of the first day of school outfit, oh no friends, I'm packing. That's right, packing because we aren't yet done vacationing because this wondering, amazingly sunny and warm summer just won't end. And the school year doesn't start the day after Labor Day, no-no, we have all next week too. Next week when everyone we know is back at school. Well, not everyone, there are those people with whom Natalie goes to school--they will be home, too.

But my mind and my body, they are prepared to go back to school, because it is August 30th.

Back from the Dead

Today, the bro and I were enjoying some silly one-on-one time while Natalie was swept away on a playdate. He and I were tickling each other, and I was enjoying the best little baby boy laugh I know. It doesn't take much with him, and when he really gets going you can't help but laugh with him. And imagine my surprise, when through our laughter, I caught a glimpse of the hermit crab tank and noticed that a shell had a emerged on the left hand side. A shell that had not been there for at least a month. A shell that was buried far under the sand for so long, that the water had evaporated from the dish and assuming Hermie was dead, I never bothered to refill it. Yes, PETA folks, I neglected my hermit crabs...but they made their own graves and I assured myself it was not my fault, their lifespans must be short, and I should have been warned at the start of this very long summer.

(Sidebar: I have these shelled roaches for three more weeks since Natalie doesn't start school until September 13 - that's right 13th!!!!)

I literally gasped at the sight of this shell and all laughter stopped as the Bro and I carefully examined it from our side of the tank. I dared to take the lid off and actually picked up the shell to see if anything was in it. I mean there had to be, how else would the shell have gotten out of the sand, right? So I steeled my will and picked the shell up only to truly understand the term "heebeejeebees." Ew. One might have thought I was in a pit a snake or patch of spiders the way I dropped the shell, shook my entire body, and felt an immediate need to shower. Even the bro shook it off a little, and he eats ants. But I dare to say, I did in fact see a crab. One which I think struggled to dig it's way out of the sand to die, because it was weak and movement was limited.

Three weeks and counting and these heinous, half dead insect/crustaceans will be out of my life for good.

Bleh!

Down the Shore

Highlights:

• the perfect place to wear bright pink toes, made brighter by my ever deepening shade of brown skin
• beautiful weather six out of the seven days we were there
• the perfect backdrop for beautiful pictures of my children
• plenty of adults around so that I was able to go to the bathroom and shower whenever I wanted
• an early morning jog along the ocean's edge
• delicious egg breakfasts that someone else made for me
• butterfly potatoes
• a fresh caught fish dinner making the boys 9 hour absence well worth it
• watching the pure joy and excitement on Natalie's face while riding boardwalk rides
• mini golf

Lowlights:

• Seaside (except for the butterfly potatoes, cheese steak, and orange cream cone)
• Horseflies
• splinters on the deck
• breaking my tooth on a piece of peppermint salt water taffy
• it only lasted a week

Free to Be

I've been getting a hard time from some of my family members about the fact that I "allow" the Bro to wear tutus, shiny purple beads, tiaras, Snow White costumes...but many of these same people applauded me when I allowed Natalie to wear "little boy" underwear. I don't get it. Why is it ok for her, but not for him? The way I see it, Natalie and I are teaching him very important lessons about accessorizing so that one day, should he fall madly in love with a girl, he will appreciate her femininity - truly valuable. Between Nat and myself, he may end up being the perfect boy, perhaps with a love of the ballet.

When I showed my brother the picture posted above, he immediately responded that he was going to Toys R Us to buy the Bro a GI Joe "action figure."

" Um...is that like a doll?"

"No! NO!" he says. "It's an action figure."

"You know Natalie is going to want to play with it."

"Yah, I know. That's ok," he says.

Harumpf.

Rundown

Hi, remember me? Friend, wife, mother of two, used to be an avid blogger...there are a few things contributing to my absence.

1. The discovery of Dexter. This disturbing, yet highly addictive show easily ate up three hours of my life each night. I had to keep watching. But we caught up on Season 3 and now have to wait until mid-August to get Season 4. So in the meantime, we have started watching Weeds, which is much easier to walk away from to do other things.

2. Camp, swim lessons, painting rainbows, playgrounds, playdates, barbecues, birthday parties, trips to NJ...Last week, I tried to make a date with my dear friend Steve and informed him that I wasn't available until August 9th. AUGUST 9th! And I am pretty sure I went and booked some stuff since then that makes me less available.

3. The destructive force better known as Hurricane Joe. I can't take my eyes off of him for one minute. Not one! Because in that minute, that blue eyed little cherub as dropped no less than five toys in the toilet bowl, plus all the toilet paper and his happy splashing around in there, eaten at least a handful of dog food, dropped no less than three things in the dog's water bowl (including my phone) and is happily splashing around or dumping the water all over the kitchen floor, had at least fifteen cents in his mouth, and is precariously perched on a chair that he will fall off of and ultimately cry about. Not one minute!

Now we are packing up to leave the Bay State for the next two weeks. Poof! Two weeks, gone! Luckily, one of those will be spent fist pumping on the Jersey Shore. Maybe we could record ourselves and sell it to MTV since we are real Italians...I'm just sayin'

So that's the rundown, and I am a little run down.

Natalie No. 5

My baby girl is five. Her aging process seems to be which similar to how a dog ages, becuase one might believe, regardless of her height and lack of permanant teeth, that she is in fact thirteen. But she's not, even though she would like to be. But still, she is one whole hand and that is a super big deal. I have kindly asked her to stop growing, but she gives me a dimpled smile, shrugs her shoulders and says, "Mommy, I can't help it. I have to grow."

Five things everyone should know about Natalie:

1. Her favorite colors are pink, purple, and blue. She likes all the other colors, but those are her most favorite and she tries to incorporate them into all of her outfits.

2. Her favorite princess is Ariel. And she likes to dance around the house singing, "I am the beautful princess, Ariel."

3. She likes a majority of processed breakfast meats - sausage, bacon, taylor ham

4. Cheese is her favorite food, she likes them all, including blue and feta. She refuses to eat melted cheese (ie grilled cheese sandwhich) unless it is in the form of a quesadilla. In this case, she will deepen her voice, and repeat the word quesadilla with five year old enthusiasm.

5. She can complete 300 piece puzzles by herself and is quite the talented builder of blocks and legos.

Summertime

and the livin' is easy...mostly because it is full of hot dogs, hamburgers, sprinklers, a sandy beach, and plenty of ice cream.

Have I mentioned that it is good to be me? 'cause it is :)