"Somebody once told me the world was gonna roll me..."

"Hey Mom! I crawl and make noise! Love me!"
Buck fooling around in his room.

Daddy and Thunder watch the Broncos
sort of...

Last week, RK was away for a work trip (old news) and the boys and I did our best (mostly me) to keep it together for 4 days without daddy. Buck increasingly notices when dad is away and even this morning asked, "where's Dad?" I told Buck that Dad was at work but would be home tonight and Buck was noticably (sp?) relieved.


After that week of mommy and me, our family had a lot of plans for dinners with friends. The first night out, Saturday, was at our good friends' home and included only couples. I decided that this would be a good night to drink as much wine as possible and get very loud. What can I say? I am very proud. RKZ and I had a wonderful evening - but RK was embarrassed to get the 15 year old sitter home at 12:30am. I still don't mind too much - I am more sad about the serving dishes I left at Joya's because I don't totally remember which I brought, so there is a chance I'll never remember to pick them up again. Ahh - the price of drunken revelry.

Sunday morning, we were all up at 8 am for 9am Mass (yeah, we like it) and it was Buck's first day at Sunday School. He was very clear that he is "shy" and explained this to everyone who would listen (which seems to negate the whole shy bit). They gave him Smarties (M&M's) at the end, and he seemed appeased. Loved it and we were able to 1/2 pay attention in Mass as Thunder is still too young to go to the toddler baby sitting (here is where I chant, "3 more months! 3 more months!")

AFter Mass, I slept all day. RKZ is the kindest husband in the world and he took care of the kids while watching the Broncos claim their 3rd win of the season. Lovely. I rallied at 4 in order to go to dinner at another friends' home (kids included). It was a nice treat to not have to cook all weekend. It's good to be the drunk friend (ha.ha.). But, now my Monday is filled with laundry and dishes and some groceries on the side. Back to life, I guess.

More tomorrow and the fun never ends!!!

"Come away with me in the night"

RKZ is coming home tonight. I have a 4 year old who PASSED OUT with exhaustion sleeping upstairs and a sleep-deprived 8 month old begging for attention from his high chair. I am counting the minutes until Thunder can go to sleep (it's 5:34 pm). Of course, Buck will wake up right at that moment and need to: go to the bathroom, get a drink, take his medication and watch Super Friends.

I'm not complaining. We had a great day. 8:30am parent/teacher conference with Buck's teacher ("meet the creature" a friend calls it) then off to lunch and a day of swimming at the Glencoe Club with Dan's friend, Brother, and his mom. The 4 boys were in "play school" for 2 hours while the mommies took some quiet time. We've decided that the club needs a "lying down" room. It has everything else. The highlight of the club for me was watching about 25 high school students playing badmitton in their crisp white outfits while I gave Thunder a bottle in the "observation lounge" (I'm not kidding).

RKZ home in about 4 hours. YEAH!!

While RK has been away, my friends have been keeping us occupied for afternoons and dinners. These pics are from our good friends' house where they treated us like superheroes and even dressed for the occasion.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE. We'll use it at their wedding for sure ;)

"I gotta' feeling..."

Thursdays are a celebration of nothing to do around here. I can't believe how nice it feels to keep everyone in their PJ's and take our time doing not much. Of course, this reprieve of actual activity doesn't apply to a 4 year old who only wants to pick at his baby brother. And it CERTAINLY doesn't mean that Thunder will stop crying every time I move away from him. Seriously, Buck is a bit of a nuisance and Thunder is all drama. Of course, I give T the benefit of the doubt as he's currently cutting 4 teeth that we can see. It's seriously tough to be a baby, I think.

We are enjoying our Sept weather as it was 32 degrees (90ish) yesterday! Can you believe that we complained about the heat? I was California beach dreaming for sure (although I hesitate to you that reference with all the MacKensie Phillips info coming out lately).

Buck has an ice skating lesson today (our only obligation) and it might be nice to spend an hour in a cool ice rink. B is an amazing skater and can already skate backwards!I fear hockey, so of course it will happen. more tomorrow. WE MISS DADDY!

A last day of summer trip to our local amusement park. Calaway Park:
Thunder's 1st ice cream cone
Buck's best school chum, Quinn rides all of the rides with him...
Quinn's bro also comes along

"99 Luft balloons"

Buck had his first day of school 2 weeks ago. He looks so BIG AND GROWN UP to me! He insisted on sitting on the stairs, which makes me laugh. Spaceman Buck at the science center(re)
The boys sharing Thunder's toys while wearing their "big brother/little brother" shirts. I made them take their bi-annual picture at the superstore earlier in the day.
A medley of school uniform pictures...


The other day, I was reading my facebook profile page and I realized that I don't like FB nearly as much as I enjoy blogging. It is nice to be able to look back over the years I've been doing this and see the snapshots of our family's life. FB doesn't allow that - I just waste hours a week reading about other people's nick names and political status statements. If there was ever a drain on my time and life, FB is it.

So, I am recommitted to blogging! Yeah! Enough happens that I think to write everyday - so now I will need to take the time. I read that Hemingway would write 500 words (could be more or less) a day and committed to that NO MATTER WHAT. It's a nice story, but I am not Hemingway, so I will just commit to at least posting some pictures. Also, silly stories will be included.

Today, we are off to Gymtastics for Buck and coffee for the mommies. Buck has 3 friends in this class with himself, so it's a good time for him and for myself. The only person I'm worried about is Thunder. He is crawling AND cruising right now (holding on to the furniture and "walking"). He is 8 1/2 months. Thunder needs a good deal of stimulation not to get into trouble. It will be interesting to see how the coffee hour goes.

RKZ is off on a work trip. It's the first one in a long while, so it's not too bad. He is in Victoria, Vancouver - at a beautiful house there golfing and boondoggling (Canadian for work party). I am glad that he'll have a few days (Tues - Friday) to enjoy himself. He was sad to leave us, but I'm sure he'll get past that on the golf course :)

"Take it to the limit - one more time"

Mommy & her boys at Heritage Park
Thunder's first wagon ride
Policeman Buck on a tricycle
Thunder's first Trike ride.
Batman buck (PJ's and costume combo - yikes!)

I realized that I haven't blogged in a really long time. I'm sure readers/carers have dropped off like flies. But, our lives are shifting back into a schedule, so I will be making time again - especially on Mon, Wed and Fridays when Buck is in pre-school for 3 hours! Thunder is currently crying as his nap ends upstairs, but I'm making him wait it out as he didn't sleep for the 45 minutes he needs. We're trying to get the boys back into schedules after a fun, hectic summer. They would both rather stay up and play than sleep any day (who wouldn't?).

All is well in Mommy-land. I am excited for the weekend as then we become infused with Daddy. That makes life easier and more fun!!

More recap of summer and descriptions of our lives later.

Also, possibly a late post about Sept. 11...what a sad day...