Bunk Bed Brothers

This afternoon as Chris and I were watching the Buckeye game, the boys were upstairs playing in Riley's room.  It was the longest time they played together without yelling, fighting or crying and it was really fun to hear them laughing and and playing along with each other.

When it was getting close to nap time, Riley came down and told us that he had tucked Asher into the top bunk and he was going to nap up there - so who were we to refuse this request?  Asher was so cute snuggled up on the top bunk in such a big kid bed!

And for bedtime tonight, Chris asked if they wanted to have a slumber party and sleep in the bunk beds together.  This, of course, was met with resounding approval!  So tonight, the boys are having a brothers sleepover party.  I hear them talking and laughing and so far I have only been called in twice, so we will see how this goes.  Keeping my fingers crossed that Asher will fall asleep quickly and Riley will stop talking to him when he stops getting answers!

Halloween 2018

This year, the weather has been beautiful all around Halloween but of course the day finally rolls around and rain threatens all day.  We kept our eye on the clouds, planned our outfits accordingly and made the best of the day.

Riley had a costume parade at Hoover where all the kids wore their costumes and took a stroll around the blacktop.  I wasn't planning on going cause it was in the middle of the work day, but Riley asked really nicely and told me I was going to be the only mom that wasn't going to be there.  With the guilt laid on that thick, I popped over to Hoover to watch the parade, only to have Riley see me, ignore me and pretend that I wasn't even there!  He was happy to have me there, I know, but it was funny to see him try to be too cool!

With Chris in Israel this year, we put snacks on our porch and headed over to Bibi and Zee's house to maximize our trick-or-treating experience.  We know where the lights are all on and the big candy bars are handed out!  After shoveling down some green monster mac and cheese, we donned our outfits and headed out.  It drizzled a little here and there but nothing that we couldn't handle.  At the first house, they were giving out foot long pixie sticks.  Asher asked what it was, I told him sugar, and for the next 10 houses, he asked if they were giving out sugar.  He made his candy selections very methodically and I had to speed him along a little here and there or we would have only made it 5 houses in an hour and a half.

We got back in enough time to help Bibi hand out the last of her candy and go through our stash to pick out the one piece that they could have that night - another challenging concept.  Last year, the Halloween candy made it almost through to the next year, but we will see how long it lasts in the candy bowl this year!

Kindergarten, here we come!

Believe it or not, today was Riley's first day of kindergarten! We have been counting down the months, weeks and days and the time has finally come - I Riley was really excited for the start of something new!  He will be doing morning Kindergarten Enrichment at the JCC in the morning, then he gets to take the van to school and will have afternoon Kindergarten at Hoover Elementary.  

I met Riley at school this afternoon for the first day exchange and with his new backpack, his sporty outfit and a big toothless smile on his face, he said that he was ready to go - no hesitation, no tears, no anxiety - just a kid who was ready to make new friends and go on his next adventure.  As a mother, what else could you hope for your child but excitement for education and new experiences?

And as it was a big day to celebrate, Riley got to pick where we went for dinner.  His choice was pizza and ice cream - he is clearly my child!  With a sticky, chocolate covered mouth, he told us that he is excited for another day of Kindergarten tomorrow and I can only hope that the excitement continues throughout the year.

Goodbye tonsils!

After thinking about it for months/years, we knew that the time to take Riley's tonsils out had come.  Between the two sets of ear tubes and having his adenoid removed, it was always something that we knew would probably happen.  The breaking point was when the dentist told us that his jaw was forming in a different way because his mouth was always open.  With that, we circled back to the ENT who confirmed that the time had come.

Today was the day and I can't tell you what a wonderful job Riley did!  We brought him to the hospital and after a lot of waiting, a lot of playing, a lot of wondering when it would finally be our turn, he hopped on the bed and was ready to ride down the hall.  Zee made him a special Star Wars blanket that was there with us from start to finish and Riley hasn't left it all day.  The procedure itself took just over 30 minutes and then the doctor came to tell us that his tonsils were now in tonsil heaven.

Riley took a long time to wake up from his nap, but when he did, he was in good spirits and was ready for a slushy and Gatorade.  He has been drinking well all evening and even ate some apple sauce, a yogurt and a banana when he got home - off to a good start!  I know better than to think that this is indicative of his recovery and am anticipating the pain levels to go up in the next week or so, but we have a kitchen stocked with cold, soft foods and hopefully we will be able to manage the pain as it comes.

And just as a cute reminder - here is a picture of the first time we went in for ear tubes about 4 1/2 years ago.  Note, Riley has certainly changed but my cool disposable outfit still stays the same!

Road Trip!

For the past many, many months we have had Gabe and Arielle's wedding to look forward to - and in addition to that, we created a road trip between the wedding and Hershey to make the most of our time on the road!  So we packed up all of our stuff, packed the car full, turned on the tablets in the back seat and enjoyed the road.  The boys loved every minute of the wedding weekend and the event lived up to the hype.  We had so much fun with family and enjoyed celebrating Gabe and Ari!

After the wedding, we headed to New York City and hit up the Big Apple.  We went to Times Square, Central Park, ate pizza, bagels, hot dogs and pretzels, we explored the city, road the subway and walked miles and miles.  We had a teeny tiny hotel room that we packed ourselves into but at the end of the day, we used it as a headquarters and spent so much time out in the city that never sleeps.  On the way out of town, we took a ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and saw it from every angle.  We even hiked up 197 steps up to the pedestal of the statue - Riley hiked up on his own and I carried Asher up like a little monkey.

Next up, we headed to the city of Brotherly Love (or in our case, love but also kicks and yelling) and played tourist in Philadelphia.  We hit up all of the touristy spots - the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Constitution Museum, the burial spot of Benjamin Franklin, a carnival, the Ferry Terminal market and so much more.  We ate Philly cheesesteaks, ice cream and snacked around the city.  We had the perfect exploring weather and the weather held out so we were able to make the most of our time in Philly.

Last up, we made it to Hershey, the sweetest place on earth!  We started the chocolate fest at the hotel with handfuls of chocolate and Chocolate Bingo.  Asher was not old enough to understand the game and made it a little challenging to play along but Riley got into it and loved when he won.  Zee, true to form, continued his streak of winning Losers Bingo and loved that he was able to keep the tradition alive.  We swam in the indoor and outdoor pool and went to Chocolate World to have lunch with milkshakes, measure ourselves up to the characters and learn how chocolate was made.  Riley remembered the last time we were there and it was so nice to continue the family tradition of visiting Hershey this summer.

We had such a great time on the road and after 10 days together, we all still enjoyed each others company.  We came home with a ton of stories, pictures galore, a lot of laundry and memories to last a lifetime!  I would definitely plan another road trip and think the boys will get more and more out of it the older they get.  Here's to more time of the road!

Memorial Day Memories

Well, it's been a while since I have posted but things have been very, very busy!  Between bachelor/ette weekends, sports classes, family time and just getting things done, we have found plenty of ways to fill our days.  

 This weekend, however, we didn't have many things planned and I had the chance to spend the long Memorial Day weekend with the boys. The Family Park had an event that we went to on Sunday and the boys were really excited that it was finally outside pool weather again.  They could have cared less about the concert that we went for and were just counting down the minutes until I would give in and let them go swimming.  Riley is such a little fish and Asher is doing a great job swimming to the wall.

I surprised them at the end of the day and asked if they wanted to go get ice cream - they surprised me by wanting to dress up for the occasion.   And who am I to deny my boys the chance to be creative, so we became super heroes who like ice cream!

Mt. Lebanon has a great Memorial Day parade so this morning, we loaded up the car, found a spot along the parade route and watched all of the fire trucks, police men, "army guys" and bands make their way down the street.  Bibi taught Asher to wave his little American flag at everyone to show that he appreciates them and the whole way home, every time he saw another car or motorcycle, he would waive his flag at it.

The boys both loved watching all of the pomp and circumstance and even better, loved going to check out the fire truck after the parade was over.  They were in every seat of the fire truck and I literally had to peel Asher out of the drivers seat.  Riley told me today that he wants to be a police officer, a fire fighter and an army guy - I am going to keep my fingers crossed that engineer will make it back onto the list soon.

And as if yesterday's ice cream surprise wasn't enough, we were invited to ice cream for lunch with Bibi and Zee after the parade.  This little total pole of happy people is brought to you by sunshine, family, fire trucks and sugar!

Waiting for the tooth fairy

It's official - Riley has lost his first tooth!  

His front two teeth have been a little loose since he and a friend were playing a few months ago and he knocked his face into a wall at school - it ended up being a lot less dramatic than it sounds.  Since then, he has been able to wiggle them both but this week, we have had a lot more motion.  He was eating an apple this evening and I didn't think anything of it. When I left to bring Grandmommy home, apparently the boys jumped into action.  By the time I came home, Chris told me to go check out Riley in his room.

There he was, grinning a gap toothed smile, very proud of his new look!  He said that it only hurt a little and that he was very brave.  His tooth is currently under his pillow in a Crown Royale bag awaiting the arrival of the Tooth Fairy.  He said that he knows that she will come tonight and that he thinks she will be leaving him $23 - that's a lot of inflation since my days of losing teeth!

The look is very cute today - let's hope it still looks this good in 8 weeks for Gabe's wedding!

Out of Africa

Well, I just got back from two weeks in South Africa and I truly had an amazing time!  I had a great group of 35 and everything went smoothly, we had great weather and the sights were incredible.  All the while, I kept checking in to see how things were doing at home, not knowing who had the harder job - me with 35 on the road or Chris with 2 at home.

Through the power of technology, I was able to send daily pictures and videos and we were able to video chat pretty frequently.  Whenever I did manage to call at a time when the boys were awake, they seemed more interested in being able to hold the phone than actually talking to me.  When I got back, they both seemed so much bigger than when I left.

One night before I got home, Asher wanted to sleep on his floor.  Rather than allowing him to sleep on the  floor, Chris brought in the race car bed.  Imagine my surprise when I came home to see Asher's "big boy bed" in the middle of his room.  And since Riley got upset that Asher was using "his" old bed, Riley got to sleep on his top bunk for the first time.  Changes all around!

I just went in to check on Asher and I am not quite sure that he understands the new bed completely...

Asher joins Club Tube

This week, Asher - in a quest to do everything just like his big brother - got his own set of ear tubes.  We had considered them for a while as he was getting multiple ear infections and then we thought we were in the clear.  He went a while without getting one and we had our fingers crossed.  Then, he got three in a row and the ENT had no doubt that tubes were the way to go.

Asher didn't really know what was going on, just that he got to spend the day playing in a new outfit.  Riley's procedures were in the morning so the fact that he couldn't eat was not a big deal.  Asher's procedure was in the afternoon and I thought it was going to be a big deal but he didn't even seem to miss breakfast or lunch.  He was a champ through the whole process and the only time he cried was literally the 10 seconds between when I put him down on the table and he fell asleep for surgery.

The procedure itself only took about 15 minutes and as soon as he was waking up, we were able to go back and be with him.  He was being a grouch - as expected with anesthesia - but as soon as he had us and animal crackers, he calmed down and got to go home.  The rest of the day was spent with snuggles, naps, tv and snacks so Asher was pretty happy.  And he was able to go back to school the next day - everything was back to normal!  Riley said that Asher should get blue ear tubes just like he had, so now they have blue buddy tubes and Asher is even more like Riley!

Let's lace up!

This weekend, we went to an ice skating birthday party and had the chance to take both boys out on the ice!  Riley has been skating a few times - with Stacey and Brad, and most recently with Chris, but Asher has never laced up.  Riley is getting pretty confident and I am so proud of him for getting out on the ice and not being scared.  He doesn't have great technique yet but he get excited about going to skate and is happy that we will be signing him up for lessons in March.

Asher wasn't quite sure about the ice at first, but whatever Riley does, Asher follows, so out he went without much hesitation.  There was a lot of wobbly steps and hand holding on the way to the ice but as soon as we put him on the rink, he put his trust in us and really impressed me with his go-with-the-flow attitude.  Chris and I took turns going around the rink with him cause there was a lot of bending and holding on our part (and aching backs today) but even though his feet were sliding this way and that and his coat kept riding up to show his tummy to all, Asher had a great time and kept asking to go around again and again.

I think this is a fun activity that we can definitely continue as a family and I look forward to the days that we can go around the rink without having to drag the boys along - maybe they can do the dragging in the future!

Hola Mexico

For Christmas and New Year's the boys were invited to keep me company in Mexico while I worked an AJ group and the countdown had begun months ago.  Riley kept asking when we were going on the cruise, if he could speak Spanish and if he would be able to eat as much guacamole as he wanted.  The time had finally arrived and we headed out west for our two week adventure.

It was not going to be a vacation for either of us as I had the group to take care of and Chris had the boys to control - I know that Chris had the more challenging and stressful week.  With three stops in Mexico and three days at sea, there was a lot of things to do but a lot of time to fill.

The boys liked the idea of the cruise and took to the ship like fish to water.  The pool and the hot tub was the all-time favorite activity and I knew that if I was looking to them, start in the water.  Either that or in the Piazza where the live music was playing.  Asher particularly liked the mariachi band and they would look for him at each performance.

We had beautiful weather and I was able to find a happy compromise between group time and family time.  The boys were a handful but for the most part, happy just to be in the sand and the warm sunshine.  Riley also liked going to the kids program for a few hours each day and with a huge screen out by the pool, all three boys liked the movies that were shown each day.

And of course, we got to celebrate Asher's 2nd birthday on board!  We had a family party complete with cake and a present from Bibi and Zee. Our little New Year's baby loved when all of the attention was on him and will now expect to go on a cruise to celebrate each coming year - which I could be on board with!