Alice and the Witch
As promised. . .
Alice in Wonderland and a little witch. If only you knew how very fitting these costumes were for their very distinct personalities. . .
"Alice" is carrying around the white rabbit she chased in the story and the little witch (for this picture anyway) had tossed her custom-crafted by Home Depot and Mr. BBM broom aside. She was like "Seriously, you’re expecting me to carry around a broom? You want me to carry a broom when I could be carrying around melting chocolate? Um, no. I don’t think so."
Because flash cards are the new "Kit Kat’s". . .
Hmm, M&M’s or Goldfish? I’m thinking M&M’s. After all, there’s nothing cuter than chocolate drool on a witch.
Here is the calm before a major storm that almost involved a self-inflicted head wound off my Mom’s floor as she threw herself flailing around in true 2-year old style because Mr. BBM wrangled the lolly away from her because she seriously had enough sugar already.
The little witch from behind because one day she’ll thank us that there is a cute picture of her butt.
And for all of you people who thought that "Caldron" was spelled "Cauldron". . . you can spell it either way. I checked. Oh, and that’s Lil C looking in her other bag for her long lost lollipop. Yeah, the night ended on sort of a rough note.
*** For those of you who may have missed it, check out the second half of the previous post for how the MRI went.
Kicking off the Summer
We decided to kick off the summer right this year, and spent Memorial Day weekend in Ocean City, MD. There are benefits to having a husband who traveled 24/7 for two years. . . hotel points. We spent the weekend in the new Hilton Oceanfront Suites and it did not disappoint. We had a living room, a bedroom with two queen beds, a full kitchen and a fabulous jacuzzi tub in the bathroom that made more bubbles than Lil C could have ever imagined. We also had some cool chairs that are Lil C approved.
We also had a fabulous oceanfront view that Lil C enjoyed immensely. I mostly just freaked out and continued to test the rails to make sure they were up to my standard.
In addition, there were two oceanfront pools. One had a swim-up bar that I did not get to enjoy despite the fact that I kept telling Mr. BBM that he was "on duty" and that I was going to go make some new friends at the bar. I’m all talk apparently.
The other was a kiddie pool where I spent most of our time getting splashed by some kid who thought my legs were pool toys. I started to seriously consider practicing some take downs, especially when he got his little hands all in order to splash Lil C again, after both of us and his Dad told him to knock it off. Mr. BBM and I also took about 3000 turns each catching Lil C at the bottom of a kiddie slide, when Mr. BBM wasn’t taking a ride himself. Lil C also cleared out her sinuses in the fountains that were just the right height for a good shock to the nostrils.
Lil C also enjoyed hanging out with her new buddy, the whale. That partially-transparent-because-she’s-so-white-girl is me, and that’s the most you’ll be seeing of my new swimsuit which was so delayed at Victoria’s Secret that I went out and bought a different one.
During our short stint on the actual beach, Lil C thought it was particularly funny to dump a bucket full of sand on my head. She also found the freezing cold waves pretty hysterical, especially when they splashed her "bum bum." The weekend was fabulous, minus the four hours it took us to get out of our actual room and down to the pool or beach each day. Putting sunscreen on children is completely exhausting.
Unlike North Carolina beaches where we go each year, Ocean City has a much younger crowd especially this time of year. A popular destination for Senior Week, I was reminded of the stark difference between my visit to OC MD 13 years ago compared to now, with two children. The difference is huge.
Thirteen years ago, I was partying with my friends after graduating high school. This weekend, I spent a large proportion of my time trying to get Lil C to sit in a high chair and/or just let me breathe for a minute. This is her idea of hanging out with Mommy, or "Me" as she likes to call me. We are officially in the "clingy" stage.
And then there’s my other kid who’s not clingy in the tiniest bit, which had me constantly scanning the pool and freaking out when I couldn’t find her and her cute little floral bikini.
So to those going off to Senior Week within the next few weeks, my message to you is simple: Enjoy it, because in 10-15 years you’re going to be a little less hot (a little people, not much), and a lot more busy putting sunscreen on little munchkins. You’ll trade your Coppertone oil in for SPF 50 minimum. Gone are the nights spent partying until 2 a.m. In fact, 10:30 starts looking like a pretty reasonable bedtime after a day at the beach. The good news is that you’ll spend a lot less money on beer in the future; and instead of laughing at your drunk friends, you’ll be laughing along with your kids who are having an absolute blast.
Easter with a Legend
I met Dave "The Hammer" Shultz on Sunday. He was a big star for the Philadelphia Flyers before I was born. According to my dad, he was the guy you didn’t want to mess with. He beat up EVERYBODY. He happened to be at the Flyers game on Sunday.
Last week, when a friend offered us his club box tickets for the final Flyer’s game of the season, we didn’t think we’d be able to go. It was on Easter Sunday after all. But with four free tickets in a prime location, how could we not? My Dad is a HUGE Flyers fan and has been for many years. So, the family decided we’d have our Easter get-together on Saturday.
Sunday, my Mom, Dad, Mr. BBM and I went to the game while the girls hung out with my sister and her boyfriend.
Me and Mr. BBM from our awesome seats (Thank you MIKE!).
My parents, Mr. BBM and I used to have a blast together before the kids came along. When I was in my final year of college, I got a 4.0 and my parents were ecstatic. So, on a visit home, we popped a couple bottles of champagne, played Scrabble, and got "stoned." That’s what my Mom said she was after having some champagne. She obviously had her adjectives a bit messed up because getting "stoned" was not at all a part of that equation. Every time she has a drink to this day, we always ask her if she’s getting "stoned."
Today was like old times. In the front row of the club box seats at center ice, we felt like royalty. My Mom and I drank Yuengling’s and chanted for the Flyers like we were teenagers (that’s my Mom with the big ole beer). We I even heckled the Sabres fans sitting in front of us a bit.
As we entered the arena today, my Dad grabbed my arm and yelled, "Look! It’s Dave Shultz!". I know Dave Brown, another brute in his time. Shultz I do not know other than having a familiarity with his name. After my Dad filled me in on who he was and what he did, I remembered all the old stories my Dad told me about him. Let’s face it; hockey fans like hockey for more than just the stick work and goals. Every die hard hockey fan likes to see a good fight, and "The Hammer" did not disappoint back in his day.
During the first intermission, my family and I took a walk to see if we could find Dave Shultz and get a picture. We found him, got a picture taken with him, and he signed my Flyers jersey too. My Dad joked that he was going to tell Dave that he could kick his butt as we were walking up to him. After the picture, I told Dave Shultz what my Dad said. I have never heard my Dad object so quickly and so loudly. "No! No!" he yelled. Dave laughed and said, "He probably could. You know I’m a senior citizen now!" We all laughed.
That’s Dave Shultz in the middle, and my Dad (who just got a clean bill of health after his final CT scan). You can’t even tell the man had a craniotomy only months ago!
Today was probably one of the best Easter Sunday’s ever. And did I mention that the Flyers won? Even better.
Upon returning home, we saw this scene:
That’s Lil C with Mr. Better-Propose-Already-What-Are-You-Waiting-For-Oh-My-God!
Lil C was completely sacked out, which is probably what those Sabres fans in front of me were if they didn’t take my advice and stuff their Sabres sign in their jacket on the way out as I strongly advised them to do.
Happy Hallmark Day!
Happy Hallmark and Florist Day everyone! When I was in college I spent two years working in flower shops and let me tell you that Valentine’s Day only comes with a negative connotation after that experience.
For days leading up to V-Day, I spent hours upon hours slicing thorns off of roses and stabbing my hands endlessly; and on the actual day I spent hours trying to get forlorn looking men in and out of the store in a timely fashion by packing up whatever flowers we had left into a presentable looking box. I was always glad to see the 15th arrive.
In elementary school, Valentine’s Day was fun. I carefully wrote out Valentine’s and delivered them with care to all my friends (and enemies because you have to in elementary school as Big I found out last night).
In Junior High, Valentine’s Day stopped being fun as hoards of girls got called to the office to pick up flowers that their boyfriends had sent to the school for them. Now that I think about it, they were probably flowers from their parents or from themselves, sent to make themselves feel special. How many boys in Junior High really had $50 or $60 to put out on roses?
I rarely had a boyfriend over Valentine’s Day, so it was always dull. High school was more of the same. I had a boyfriend for one year but the teddy bear and rose he brought me left me unimpressed. The feeling that I thought would be there just wasn’t there. It was a relationship that was going down the drain anyway.
But when I got home, it was a different story. Starting in Junior High, I think my Mom realized how tough V-Day can be for a boyfriendless adolescent. Valentine’s Day became a day when my Mom broke out the good dishes. She cooked up a feast, made a pink cake and as a family, we ate dinner by candlelight. My sister and I always got a little wrapped gift-not a lot, just something that made us smile.
It was so nice to know that we could expect a treat at the end of the carnation filled days. So, instead of waiting for Junior High, I started the same tradition in our family when Big I was just one year old.
Tonight, we will dine by candlelight, eat a special dinner and cake and both of the girls will get a little surprise or two. I hope that as they get older, they’ll continue to look forward to our special V-Day celebrations, and that it will make those boyfriend-less school days a little easier on them.
How will you spend Valentine’s Day?
On a different note. . . for my fellow karate-ka, if you have a heavyweight gi, what kind do you have and what do you think of it? Either leave me a comment or shoot me an email.
Doing my part as a Mommy Blogger
I’ve been really lousy about posting pictures lately so I thought I’d post some pictures from Christmas and beyond so you can see how much Lil C and Big I have grown.
Think these two look alike at all?
Here’s the Christmas card picture. Lil C’s cheeks aren’t usually that full. It’s just that to get her to sit still for more than 10 seconds at a time, we had to feed her a constant stream of fruit puffs and they, well, puff the cheeks a bit.
Here’s before the chaos started. Two sets of grandparents, great-grandparents, an aunt, a future uncle(?) and two parents who forgot that they started shopping in January for this year’s Christmas, and well. . . you’ve got a little bit of crazy.
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