Past, present, future

8.14.04

A few weeks ago Brian and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary! We took a trip out to Lee Massachusetts (No, not to go to the outlets there lol) We had a nice lunch there and checked out the Norman Rockwell museum (briefly, because.... well, you know how it goes with kids) But we had a nice drive out there and back. Car DVD players are AMAZING if you have kids!! By the time we got back to NY it was almost time for our dinner reservation. We went to this great restaurant called Waters Edge, that we had gone to before with Owen. We wanted to go back and enjoy the restaurant just the two of us, and sit outside instead of inside. The outside seating was right alongside the river and looked really romantic when we had gone there in July, so we knew that when we came back for our anniversary we wanted to sit outside. So, we showed up on our anniversary, a half an hour before our reservation and the hostess told us that there was a 30-45 minute wait to sit outside. We decided to go to the bar and get a couple glasses of wine and enjoy the beautiful evening outside, and wait for an outdoor table on the patio. What a GREAT decision. That one decision made our anniversary perfect. As we waited, couples were seated basically all around the waiting area, close to the restaurant (not with a good view of the water) and Brian and I joked about how if they decided to seat us close to the restaurant we would wait for a better table, closer to the water. Well, we didn't even have to do that. When they called us, we followed the hostess and we kept going..... and going.... and going... until we reached the furthest level forward and down. It was perfect. It was a little landing with a table for two that pointed out towards the water. It felt private and romantic. We finished our wine, enjoyed our meal of an appetizer, salad, filet mignion, and ended it with a delicious piece of chocolate cake and a champagne toast to our commitment and love. And of course the past 5 wonderful years we have been married. When we got home there was a rose bush waiting on our door step (from Brian =) and inside, a box of my fave Godiva chocolates mmmm and a Willow tree statue for our collection, called "Promise" Then..... Brian gave me the ring he picked out for me. It's perfect, just what I wanted. I'm so lucky that he has such good taste.

Right now I'm just trying to organize EVERYTHING in the house. It's tiring, and annoying. Sometimes I seriously feel like renting a storage unit just so I can get all of the things we don't use, out of the house. I feel like if the stuff is out of the house then I can get rid of it easier without feeling attached to it, or needing it. Upstairs across the hall from the master bedroom is a bedroom that we're going to use for baby #2, but right now it has all of Owen's baby furniture in there (which will stay in there anyway) along with A LOT of boxes that we just threw in there when we first moved here like TWO YEARS ago!! I haven't even looked through them so who knows what we even need (doubtful that we need any of that stuff if we haven't cared about it so far) But the hardwood flooring needs to be put in there, and the walls painted. I'm such a spaz that I always need everything done way before it's necessary.

Owen starts preschool next month! It's exciting and scary all at the same time. I know it will be amazing for him (and me!) but I'm just glad I'll get to meet his teacher before he goes to school. I think that Brian is going to be taking the day off from work so that he can go check out his school too. With school, comes fall. I can't believe it. It feels like this summer just flew by.... much faster than last summer.

Better late than never!

Owen's 3rd Birthday was over a month ago but with the craziness (written briefly in previous blog) I never really got around to writing a birthday blog for Owen. So here goes!

Owen Alexander
June 20th at 10:53 am
7 lbs 9 oz, 22 inches long

My beautiful baby boy minutes after he was born

and... My beautiful BIG boy on his third birthday!

Gymbucks!

So anyone that knows me, knows that I'm a complete Gymboree fanatic. One thing you should know about Gymboree is that they have "lines" of clothing that come out every so often. The line is named, for example, this month is "Mighty Dinos". Everything within a line is coordinating. If you have a shirt, of course you need the socks, and matching hat, and coordinating pants. It's addicting. It's safe to say that I'm hooked. I've been a Gymboree fan since Owen was about 3 months old. I LOVE their newest line "Mighty Dinos". Maybe it's because some of the lines within the past year have been disappointing. Anyway, tomorrow is Gymbucks redemption and here are the goods.... I'm pretty much just sticking to one line because I love it so much, and I have all of the items I want from the other lines. Also, I needed some fall clothing for Owen especially since he's starting preschool in September.



I went to Gymboree and had everything set aside and ready to go when I go in tomorrow to redeem my gymbucks, and I'm glad that I did because the dino hoodie (light blue, at top left) is already out of stock on the website and that's pretty much my favorite piece, so I'm glad that it's reserved for me at the store.

Absent

I think many of you have probably noticed how I haven't been keeping up to date on here. It's been hectic around here to say the least! From my grandmother passing away around memorial day, Owen getting a huge gash on his head a couple days later and getting stitches, to my diagnosis with mono a few days after that... I haven't been able to catch up. JUST when I thought that maybe I would be able to do an entry in here, it was my birthday/Owen's birthday and vacation a few days after that. Alright, so we get home and there's more drama before I can even think of blogger whatsoever. Brian has Lyme disease.

When will I get a break and get to enjoy my summer?!? =(

weekend fun or weekend work?

Today, during the 85 degree weather, we took Owen to the Rainbow Play Systems showroom. We thought it would be a good idea to let him play on the equipment before taking the 2k plunge. The whole process of looking for playgrounds has been really stressful... and I'm glad we have found the one we're getting. I probably won't be 100% sure of that though, until it's here and assembled. It was so cute though because Owen kept saying "I'm a pirate!" when he was up at the top, looking out the telescope and turning the wheel.

After, we went to lunch, picked up our pool and came home to assemble it. We had to clear out the area to put it, which took almost the rest of the day. Now we have the hose in pool, and it will be in all night. Who knows if it will be full by morning. Brian said it contains something like 5k gallons! Ahh. I sure hope that the pool is full by morning because it's supposed to be 92 tomorrow and I have a little boy who was saying to me all afternoon "is the pool all done yet?"

the Spring projects have BEGUN!

It can't be spring without the Spring projects and, well.... lets just say our projects are a definite sign of Spring. We have already laid out a bunch that we will be starting soon.

I wanted a pond when we lived in Virginia but everytime we anticipated buying the supplies, there would be something to tell us it wasn't a good idea. The main reason we never were able to put in my pond was that our yard flooded several times a year. We would end up with blue crabs walking across our yard sideways haha... but anyway, it would have been impossible to keep everything IN that we wanted in, and everything OUT that we wanted out. Our poor fish would have washed away and into the salty bay, which they wouldn't have enjoyed I'm sure. Plus, I don't think the crabs would enjoy being in a pond. So, with that said, it was on top of my list of things I wanted to do with the next house we bought. I have a place picked out in the yard and have started digging so that we can do the project in time for Mother's Day.

The only problem with the pond situation now is that the dog/the kid are going to be fascinated with it. The only solution for that would be to have water that they COULD go in. We've wanted a pool since our last house (and the flooding situation made that dream impossible too) so again, we decided we would do that with our next house. I just can't see myself having time to maintain a huge pool right now, plus, we're going to be at the lake a lot this summer so that makes it even more impossible to maintain it when we're 45 minutes away. Since it's so important to us that Owen keeps up with his swimming, while enjoying the summer, we've decided to get one of these until we have the time to build and maintain an in-ground pool (when our kids are older and less crazy as the toddler stages most likely!)
We had a pool just like this in Virginia because with Brian going out to sea so much, and me going to NY ocassionally while he was gone, it made sense to have something carefree. I used it throughout my pregnancy and even our dog enjoyed it! It was pretty durable too, we never had any problems with it. We actually ended up putting it out by the curb before we moved because we couldn't take it with us. Someone picked it up like 10 minutes after we put it out there haha.
So now I just have to dig out the ground and level it up a little bit so that the pool will be on completely flat ground without any sharp roots or stumps sticking up.

Last but not least, the playground for Owen. Many of you moms have probably noticed that you don't get much for the money when it comes to playgrounds/swing sets. A lot that I've seen are just so flimsy looking that I can't imagine having it hold up to a boy. Plus, do I want my son on something that doesn't seem safe? Luckily, my husband is really handy. He built such an elaborate deck at our old house. The building inspector said that the house would be gone, but the deck would still be there. After looking at some playgrounds, Brian decided he was just going to build one himself. He is SO excited to get started on this project. My dad is probably going to come help him with it, so it will be nice for them. This is what it's going to look like:


Brian just picked up Owen to go put him to bed and Owen said "Mommy, I can't wait for my playground! Playgrounds are so fun!". I'm sure the rest of the neighborhood kids would agree....

Spring is officially here

And It's official because....

We went to Jumping Jacks today!

For all of you who aren't from this area, Jumping Jacks is a seasonal outdoor 50's style drive-in type restaurant that was built in the 5o's... my parents have memories of going there when they were younger, and I have so many memories going there as a kid. They have water ski shows in the Mohawk River that runs along side of Jumping Jacks. There is a huge park on the property with a playground, basketball courts, baseball fields and a beach that I remember swimming at when I was little. A stage that has free concerts... it's great.

It was opening day about a week ago at Jumping Jacks, but we were just able to get up there today for the first time this year!!