Miss Them

One of my favorite pictures of my Grandparents (Mom's side). The pictured is layered on a vintage Love Bird background with old paper layered over the top. My Grampa had written this in card to my Grama.

Time for Rest

Did absolutely nothing this weekend. Was supposed to meet up with the Nashville/Rockville gang, but Mama Jenn came down with some stomach thing Friday night (still not feeling right). Could be one of the following: virus, medication, food (fried/seafood), or STRESS. Spent pretty much the entire weekend in bed sleeping- felt kind of good to actually rest while being sick (never happens).

Blah.

Out of the Mouth of Jake {Part 2}

After building a track with Nana: "No bout adoubt it Mom, that track was the best!"

Riding in the truck: "Ma! Check out those cans!!"
I had no idea what he was talking about. He was looking at and counting the transformer cans attached to the utility poles.

After I picked up the mail yesterday and noticing there was a package: "Mom, who is that parcel from?!"

Eye Update {3.5 years}

In November's follow up appt., Dr. S. removed all but one suture in my eye that had the cornea transplant. Everything looked great with the exception of my vision. I had 20/20 since the surgery 3 years ago, but now my vision was reading 20/400 (where it was before the surgery)- I had definitely noticed a change. This was all due to my astigmatism returning (4 diopters) and developing a slight cataract due to the steroids I was given to prevent rejection of the cornea.

February's visit wasn't better as far as the cataract. It had gotten worse. I was given a prescription for the "dummy" lens in my right eye (woohoo, I could see again!). And we would discuss the possibility of surgery at the next visit in June.

Fast Forward to today. Visit went well..no tears this time! Dr. S. is so great, I couldn't ask for a better doctor (our kids are even about the same age). They performed the glare test and I didn't glare down past 20/50, so that was good (I don't drive much at night anyway). He did mention almost right away that I now was a candidate for the surgery. Good thing is, I can put it off. He wants to see me back in January- that's when the "new" cataract lens comes out (it is 4 diopters); it would be pointless to have the surgery now as the lenses only go up to 2.5 diopters.

I am not going to stress about it until I have to!

Love Dad

This week was super busy at work (the norm lately); looking forward for VACATION. Still way behind on my shows- would rather read or scrap when the kids go to bed.

Tuesday, Kaleb and I went to Dr. C as he still has that lingering cold/cough (since April) and I was coming down with that yucky bronchial cough. Sure enough, the antibiotic prescribed for the baby didn't clear everything up, so he is on the z-pack. I have what I thought I had and I am on the z-pack as well. I mentioned that Jake had a double ear infection on Memorial Day, so he took a peak at his ears and decided to put him on meds to clear up the remaining fluid.

Todd had a good day at home with the kids on Friday. My appt. with Dr. Mac went well and I am rounding the corner on my month long back spasm (it is near my lower spine and is very painful!). Jake woke up just before dinner with a fever of 102.4 and with some Tylenol, it went away. After he felt better, he and I went shopping at Kohl's "Late Owl Special" (or whatever they call it)- he was so good!!

On Saturday, he and I ran errands in the morning, went to the library (almost time to sign up for the summer reading program), and finally grocery shopping. I had a chance to sneak out (sans the A/C in 90 degree weather..yeah I have problems- Marvin actually told me if I start wearing black again I might feel better!) and head back to Kohl's. Todd enjoyed prime rib for dinner (my clam strips were not good..Thurs night they were under cooked and Sat night they were over cooked..either way I got sick both times, think I am having a problem again with fried foods).

This morning we enjoyed our usual Sunday "Big Breakfast". Quiet day today...I had a chance to get some reading and scrapping done. We found that Kaleb is actually getting 4 teeth in at once and not 2- would explain "fussy week".

My parents stopped over for dessert:

Jakob made them a scrapbook- love how he spelled "Grampy and Grammy":

Jake and Grammy:

I bought size 2T shorts for Kaleb because his 24 mo ones are getting a bit snug. As you can see, these are not snug- he walked around like this all day:

Jake's last day of school is tomorrow!

Tooth Fairy is Coming Tonight!

At Jake's last trip to the dentist (April I think!) we discovered his front teeth were a little loose.

I looked at him tonight and thought that his front teeth looked a little funny so I wanted to take a look. Sure enough, it was really loose! While I was on the phone with Nana, he managed to have it pointing straight out of his mouth (it was kind of gross...). After I hung up the phone, with some wiggling and determination of getting that "darn" tooth out, Jake lost his third tooth!

East Beach

The weather was sunny with temps in the 80's, so we headed out today with the beach in mind. Travels brought us to Rhode Island, first stop being Westerly. Found a cool cemetery by the water and then headed to grab a bite to eat at DJ's Diner (decorated 50's style)- food wasn't too great. We thought we may find some free parking (usually runs $10-$14) at Misquamicut, but that wasn't the case; we drove around the bluffs but there was no parking available- enjoyed the views and gorgeous beach houses though.

With Jakob sighing in the back seat and telling us how "down in the dumps" he was, we continued on Rte. 1. Second stop was Charlestown. We went down to East Beach (click title for info. on the beach/conservation area)-FOUND FREE PARKING- and decided to explore.

At this point it was 4:30 p.m. and the temp was 74 degrees. There were a couple handfuls of people and it was quiet. We all enjoyed ourselves! Jakob and Kaleb dipped their feet into the cold water. Jakob spent most of his time looking for shells with Daddy; Kaleb loved the feel of the sand on his feet and laughed so hard at the waves crashing that he ended up in a coughing fit.

Beautiful ride home until we got closer inland where the temps were 85 and humid.
Todd and I are a "little" red. My parents stopped over with our big A/C that my Dad so nicely cleaned- Todd was quick to install!

*Kids beach pics will be on their pages shortly (this week)

Kindergarten Celebration

Tonight was Jake's year-end kindergarten celebration at the school. Grampy took the night off from work; Nana cooked dinner (corned beef & kielbasa) and strawberry shortcake for dessert; Grammy and Candi were there too!

The whole afternoon kindergarten group performed many songs they have been learning since the beginning of the year- one was done in sign language. They were so awesome! Jake is quite the performer too- he even had his own special part where he announced a song his class would be performing (not shy at all!!).

Out of the Mouth of Jake

Mom: Jake what did you learn about in school today?
Jake: We are learning about the sea..in fact, Mrs. B brought in sea creatures to show us!

In the car after a trip to Dunkin Donuts:

Jake: Mom! I think we have a chocolate boy in the car!

*I turn to look and Kaleb had mangled the chocolate glazed donut

Brothers~ May

New Hair, New 'Kin

New hair for summer (his hair grows so fast!).


A new Webkin- her name is "Rosen-PM"..he is creative in the naming dept. I think this has become my obsession...I love to play the games! Over the weekend, Jake was like "Ma, are you on Webkinz??"..."NO JAKE!"..hahaha! We have a stash of 4 waiting for him as surprises for when he is behaving super well!

Thursday Afternoon Entertainment

Neighbors cat chased a squirrel up the tree in my backyard this afternoon. Showed concern for a *second* and thought I would have to tell them to get a ladder or call the FD (whatever they do to get them down). But, to my surprise the thing was smart enough to climb down on its own.

PS this one is not part of the "Ghetto Kitty Group"

Memorial Day Weekend

Most of the weekend was spent relaxing, cleaning, and reading and so was the intention for today. Jakob's ears had other plans! The ear pain began last night a little after 10 p.m.- neither of us got much sleep during the night. I headed to Walmart at 6 a.m. to try and find some ear relief- nothing..had to wait for the pharmacy to open. Phoned the Dr's office and the Dr on call suggested we head to the ER if it couldn't wait until Tuesday. In the mean time his temp had dropped to 101.4 from 102. The drops picked up seemed to work a little, but it was hard to tell because one minute he said he felt good and the next he was crying. Headed to the "Convenient Care Center" at WWBH and was in and out with a script in 1 hour! Can't beat that- I am sure it is going to cost though. Yeah, we missed the parade in town (Jake was on the couch..Kaleb had just woken up..and Todd was still sleeping).

Yesterday we were gone most of the day at a birthday at one of Todd's friends children. Jake enjoyed the pinata and kids. The sun felt good! Took the scenic route home...saw parts of MA I didn't know existed.

Sunday Celebration

Today was Catherine's college graduation celebration. The weather was warm, then turned cool. Kaleb enjoyed roaming around and picking through the ladies purses and trying to grab drinks off of the tables. Jake had fun in the barn with Nana and both kids enjoyed the COWS!





Pulling into our road, we saw this pretty little cardinal:

Many Boogy Faces of K

A Growing Collection

Jake's collection of Webkins has grown over the last month. He knows all 12 of their names (the newest one's name is Bo Chow Wing Wing Caw).

Saturday Fun

Enjoying some time outside! Please excuse Kaleb's boogy nose!

Daddy put together Jake's metal detector and hea nd Naomi enjoyed searching for treasures!

Escape

What a gorgeous day! We headed down to Old Saybrook for some Mexican (wasn't impressed this time) and enjoyed the scenic route home.

Extra Protection

A Treat

On the way home from ice cream:

Not Liking the Hat

MOS

Headed up to the MOS to check out the "Lizards & Snakes: Alive!" exhibit before it was over- they had over 60 types of reptiles. The exhibit was pretty impressive. Joining up were Nana, Grammy, and Shawn. We were there for 5 hours and still did not see everything. Todd and I enjoyed lunch at Taqueria..yummy Mexican!

The kids enjoyed the Children's Discovery Center the most.

I was able to sneak away to check out the "Double Exposure: Photographing Global Climate Change" exhibit. Really enjoyed Bradford Washburn's images.

Jakob was so fascinated by this contraption:

Left the MOS at the WRONG time..needless to say, it took about 3 hours to get home!