Gavin-speak

Gavin and I were driving to school this morning and he noticed that his old, well worn and loved, owned first by Francesca (but we'd never tell him that) teddy bear had a few unidentified sticky things stuck to his fur. So he tried and I tried to pick them off, with no success. So he thought that maybe we needed some help...

Mommy, you need to get the 'tweeze nips' to take this piece of something off of teddy.

The what? I thought. "Tweeze nips"?? Did he mean to say Cheese Nips? Why would I use a Cheese Nip to remove the sticky pieces off of teddy??

Gavin, do you mean TWEEZERS???? Not "tweeze nips"...

Yes Mommy - Tweeze nips...cheese nips...tweezers...you know what I meant, didn't you? Just get the tweezers and remove the sticky stuff from teddy.

Once we were stopped at a red light and I had stopped laughing I was able to remove the sticky little pieces of what may have been candy from teddy's fur. Tweeze nips...too cute.

And they're back...

My little darlings came home last night. I think this may be their last mini-vacation with their grandparents for awhile. There was alot of whining this trip. Oh well, they are not perfect. They took a ride on the Strasburg Railroad, visited a pretzel factory, and did alot of swimming. I think Francesca's favorite part was seeing the Amish. She kept telling me on the phone about the Amish - "Mommy, I saw the Amish, I saw the Amish!!" She was very excited about the grape jelly she bought "from the Amish lady". I'm glad the Amish made her so happy!

Scott and I had a nice 2 nights without the kids. We went out to dinner Wednesday night, to Pasquale's, where we were able to converse without being interrupted, and out for ice cream Tuesday night. We kept saying how much we missed them, and they told us when they got home that they missed us too. And really, that is all a parent wants to hear from their child.

And they're off...

On vacation, again!! Those two kids of ours are away again! Seems like yesterday I posted about their trip to Mystic and Newport. Now they left this morning for Strasburg, PA. It's spring break week in the Port Chester school system, which means Francesca spends her days with my parents, unless me or Scott is able to take a day off. So, my mom and dad decided it was time to take the kids back to Vermont. The kids have been talking about this for 2 weeks or so.

Yesterday, I called my mom to see if she made reservations and she sighed "Big problems, Dineen. The hotel pool is under renovation. I don't know where we are going to go." Big problems is right. Scott and I were all set to have 2 blissful, uninterrupted nights of sleep, with no Francesca coming in our room at 2 AM and no Gavin crawling in between us, "because his sheets were cold". This would not do. Plus, if the kids didn't get to go anywhere I would have 2 very grumpy children on my hands. So I got to work. I tried to give my mom ideas - different parts of Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania. Finally they agreed that Strasburg, PA might be fun. Strasburg is home to the Strasburg Railroad, the National Toy Train Museum and close to many, many other things. My mom was able to make reservations at a hotel with an indoor pool and they were all set. Phew!!

Francesca and Gavin set off this morning with packed suitcases, backpacks filled with their Leapsters and small toys, and 2 Webkinz each. Plus I believe Happy, Francesca's stuffed unicorn, snuck into her suitcase. And 2 Thomas the Tank Engine trains in Gavin's. Of course. Can't go to the National Train Museum and not bring one of your own!!!

As much as I wish Scott and I were there with them, it is nice for our kids to make memories with their family outside of memories shared with us. Someday, they will be older and look back on times with their Ma, Pa, Grammy, and other assorted aunts, uncles and cousins and smile. I know that when I think of things that I did when I was younger I smile too.

National Arts in the School Day

Yesterday, in all of the Port Chester schools, "National Arts in the School Day" http://www.nationalartsintheschoolday.org/ was celebrated. It is a program that the Port Chester Council for the Arts started and piloted in our schools this year. For Francesca's class, she was instructed to wear old clothes that could get messy. No problem there, since she seems to get paint on almost everything she wears. Her class, from what I could tell based on her description, did some art projects with paint and maybe some shaving cream (she could be stretching the truth here, never sure with her). She was very excited because local PC entertainer Lou DelBianco was at her school!! http://www.findlou.com/Default.htm Oh boy are we Lou fans. Last year we caught his show at Rye Town Park and Lyon's Park during Port Chester Day. We have one of his CD's that the kids listen to all the time, and I mean all the time. Sometimes in the car we have to ban Lou DelBianco because if I hear that CD one more time I may bang my head against the car window. I think it is time for a new Lou CD this year...

I think it is great that our small town and its' schools gets to be the very first group to reap the benefits of this awesome program. Although I am not theatrical in the least (my mom and Scott may disagree here), I see Francesca having a dramatic future - shoot she has a dramatic present - and I am thrilled that the Port Chester Council for the Arts has these great offerings for our children. I am sure that once she gets a little older we will be attending every play as she will want to be in them!!

We are soooooo old

Today we were busy. We went to the library, the post office, the Apple Farm (local fruit and veggie store, one of F and G's favorite places to go). Then we went home - I did some laundry, Scott cleaned out the fireplace. It was time for dinner, I had not taken anything out of the freezer. So after much deliberation, we all decided that we would go to Applebee's in Mamaroneck. We were sitting in our booth, enjoying our appetizers, when Francesca looks at all the memorabilia on the walls and says to us:

"What's that circle thing with the hole in the middle and writing on it? What do you do with that?"

Scott and I look up and realize she is looking at a record album and we both start laughing after thinking 'oh boy, are we old'. So he tries to explain to her -

"Francesca, that is a record. When Mommy and Daddy were your age, that is how we listened to music. You put the record on a record player and it spun around and you heard the music. Sometimes we even had small ones that you could listen to".

"What???? No CD's??? What about iPods? Did you have an iPod then? Stop being silly. That could not have played music!"

By this point even Gavin was getting a good laugh over the idea that you couldn't just carry your music around wherever you went 'back in the day'. They only know CD's and iPods. Scott and I are turning 35 this year, but that conversation made us feel about 100!!!!

Francesca, what will we do with you????

Francesca is one sneaky almost 6 year old. This morning, Scott was helping her pack up for school. He went to put something in the front pocket of her backpack, and noticed a folded up piece of paper. Not wanting to miss some important notice or memo, he took it out and unfolded it. It looked like homework! It was homework! Francesca had done her homework during the afterschool program. It was neat! It was a miracle! It was done in blue magic marker...She did her homework in blue magic marker, but did it quite neatly. Knowing we would not approve of blue magic marker, she folded it up and put it in her backpack. But wait! That homework needed to be signed by a parent (some worksheets need to be signed, some don't), so she did what any kid who wanted to hide something from their parents would do - SHE FORGED OUR SIGNATURES!!!!! Very neatly, in super-neat printed blue magic marker handwriting, she wrote "Scott LaDore". She even managed to remember that the "D" needed to be capital.

Scott was now in a quandry. He thought, "do I yell because she signed my name or do I compliment her on the nice handwriting??" He gave her a high-five for the neat printing but reminded her that she should never, ever, ever sign mommy or daddy's name to ANYTHING, especially when you are in kindergarten and should not even know that trick!!!!

T-Ball Wrap Up

Well, they survived...and I didn't even need the first aid kit (at least not this week). Gavin loved it - he ran for the ball, tried to throw someone out and generally gave his all. Francesca, on the other hand, ran off the field when she saw me approaching. Asked me if I remembered the first aid kit "just in case". I don't think Francesca and T-Ball are going to click, but I am hopeful. Next practice, 1 week from today.

T-Ball

Tomorrow night starts T-Ball. It is the kids' first practice. They got mitts on Sunday and are pretty excited (well we hope they are). Scott is assistant coach or something like that. I will be there after work, mini first aid kit in hand. I better grab a few band-aids from work tomorrow before I leave - you never know who will fall down and skin a knee - although if I had to bet, the initials of the child would be F-A-L. Let's just hope my children don't have my athletic ability - which is slim to none...although for your giggling pleasure, let's run down my illustrious athletic career:

High school softball - made it through 2 practices, was then told by the coach "I would not play you if we were losing 20-1"...I promptly quit and cried to my mom who called the athletic director quicker than you could say strikeout. Coach apologized, I told him I wouldn't play on his team if he was winning 20-1!!!! End of high school career.

Tennis team - can't remember if I actually went out for this or if I am confusing myself with someone else...

College - bored during 3rd year, decided to go out for the crew team...HA!!! Family thought that was hysterical! The oars were bigger than me, plus the idea of Dineen actually working out was mind-boggling. My biggest work out to date was lifting heavy nursing textbooks. Surprised them all, rowed crew for a season. Got the team jacket, buff arms from all that rowing and mom could say that HER DAUGHTER WAS AN NCAA ATHLETE!!!!! (at least for 6 months or so)

I hope Francesca and Gavin enjoy every moment of T-Ball, I will post lots of pictures of 4, 5 and 6 year olds running willy-nilly around Lyons Park...

Weekend at the LaDore's

For the first time in awhile, we had nothing special planned for this weekend. No work for me, no birthday parties, no special events. It was great to just hang around and enjoy the days. Friday night we did have Family Bingo Night at Francesca's school. Talk about chaos! It was loud and tough to hear those bingo numbers being called over the screams of the kids. But we had fun. Gavin even won a basket - the Boy's Toy Basket, which was the exact one he was hoping to win. Francesca did not win a basket, but Gav promised to share a water pistol with her and that made her happy.

Saturday after grocery shopping and a quick trip to Kohl's we decided to go to Rye Town Park and fly kites. Rye Town Park is where Rye and Oakland beaches are, so the kids brought their sand pails and shovels, hoping to dig in the sand as well. Playland is right next to Rye Town Park, so Gav asked if we were also going to "Disneyland Beach"...Playland Beach, Gav, it's Playland Beach. But the wind did not take off too well, so we had a hard time flying the kite. Scott managed to get it in the air a few times, but without any big wind gusts our kite-flying adventure was cut short. After the park, we drove to the Read Sanctuary, which is right past the end of the Playland parking lot. The kids wanted to look for frogs. No frogs, but alot of mud. We had to hose off their Crocs when we got home due to all that mud and their penchant for stepping in it.

Today we went in search of baseball mitts for Tee-ball, which the kids start practice for this week. That in itself should produce MANY funny stories to blog about! We found them both mitts and then headed for lunch with Grammy Carol at the Port Chester Coach Diner. After a lunch of hash and eggs for Francesca and hash and french fries for Gavin we went home and cleaned the house. Yuck...no fun. Back to work and school tomorrow.