10 years

That's how long we have been married and we celebrated it with a weekend way ... alone.

We started planning this weekend in January. Where should we go? Who will watch the kids? Have we really been married 10 years, the kids make it feel like 20! I'm so tired just ship my body anywhere!!

We wanted to check off a "bucket list" destination -- Montreal, Sonoma, Charleston ... but those all required at least 3+ nights and my mom agreed to watch the kids for 2 night. So we picked a driving location and that was Kohler, WI and the American Club.

Only about 2-1/2 hours away and we didn't have to "sight-see." Perfect. We could stay in robes, get spa treatments, and eat snacks all day long. The only thing missing was the gurney to wheel me around so I didn't have to walk (did I mention I was tired?). We stayed in the Carriage House where the rooms are pricier but you get free access to the spa pool and the rooftop whirlpool which is a huge plus. They also had better tea time snacks and appetizers.

Exterior Work on the home ... still

We've only lived in this house for 8-1/2 years. Why should we think we'd be done renovating it? Our goal was to be done when the kids were born, but really it meant it just got pushed even longer.

As a matter of fact, we did a lot of work on this house so far this year (to make up for the lack of work the last 2 years). We:

• bought & installed a new hot water heater & air conditioner (bot very high efficiency). Now the "guts" of the house have been all updated
• grassed up part of our front landscape (see it on my garden blog)
• planted the entire backyard per our garden plan (also on the garden blog)
• built a new fence along the side of our house and attached it to the house with a new garden gate.

Our latest endeavor was getting a new front door! At the beginning of the year, I posted a few door options we liked. We ended up getting the last option - a Simpson wood door with 1/4 glass and 2 panels stained in dark walnut.

Here's how it looks from the inside:

Before

After

Outside, in addition to the door we had a new front stoop laid. The prior stoop was the original concrete that had brick pavers glued to it. The problem with the stoop was that the paver walkway was too low thus creating a 10" rise onto the stoop, in addition to pavers becoming loose and it being so small that you could fall off the stoop when you opened the door (oh and chipmunks living underneath). So we scrapped the pavers and made the stoop just concrete and larger - 4x8. (We'll tackle the walkway in 2014).

Here's a before & after photo of the stoop:

Old door, old stoop, old house numbers

New door, new numbers, OLD stoop

New everything! Door, numbers, and stoop

10 Pre-school Facts (PS: this is blog post #600)

This is after 2 days of Pre-school

1. No sleep. I couldn't sleep all night (as if it were me going to school for the first time)

2. Routine rocks! I think preschool will be awesome because I need something to keep me in a routine. (Wake @6:30, Breakfast, Wash/Brush/Dress, Play until time to go to school)

Breakfast of Champions! I made homemade waffles on the first day

3. 10 minutes. From my house to school. I was first in line to drop off both days. Say what?!? Will end this week.

4. Tears. I shed them massively after the drop off on Day 1. Driving & crying isn't safe.

Claire loves her big brother

5. So ready! This kid was so ready for school and it shows the way he can't wait to leave the house each morning!

6. Waffles & eggs. Breakfast routine: tues/thurs is waffle & yogurt, wed/fri is eggs & yogurt. 'Nuf said.

7. Day 1: Wesley, "I played with cars, did circle time, read books, ate lunch and then went home with mama."

8. Day 2: same thing except "I got to play on the computer."

Bye! Let the tears begin...

9. Pick up. I'm still so scared I'll be late! The first day I had a massive panic attack because Claire was playing with my keys and I couldn't find them! (Under the dining room table). Not the first in line. Thank god.

10. Weird. It's weird having the teachers get your kid from the car. Convenient, yes.

I have a pre-schooler

Summer is, to sum it up, done.

Wesley starts his first day of preschool on Thursday. Summer is over, and with that it takes my baby away to school. [Sigh.] He's not a baby anymore. He's a three year old preschooler. [Sigh.]

It felt like yesterday I was registering him.

I'm definitely finding this difficult to accept, yet excited for him, at the same time. He's so ready for preschool - even his Parents Day Out (PDO) teachers told me; he is mature, willing to learn, curious, vivacious, and most of all a big boy. He's used to being away from Mama, loved going to PDO and camp this summer without Mama, and playing with friends. I have no worry that he'll adjust well to this new setting, new teachers, and new faces. Newness never seems to phase him.

It's me. The Mom. Can I get used to the fact that I now have a preschooler? He won't be home with me all the time ... wait a minute? Am I really sad that I get a break from him?

Well, sorta. The baby Wesley was a pain without a doubt. All babies are. But he's grown into this wonderful boy who I have fun with, talk with, play with, joke and laugh with. When he leaves, I look at Claire and say, "Well? Got anything to say?"

So what will I do for 2-1/2 hours, 4 days a week while my big boy is in school? Claire and I will certainly occupy ourselves -- she in the daycare while I work out 2 days a week and then 2 days a week in different playgroups.

We'll have fun, bond, and I'm sure by the end of the year when summer hits us again I'll be crying when I drop the two of them off at Summer PDO -- and get some time all to myself. At least I'll cry the first week, after that ...?

July

Boy that went fast ... I have a feeling August will be even faster!

Feeding ducks at Cosley Zoo

Seeing the dinosaurs at Brookfield

Splash Park fun

Moms group family picnic

Butterfly house St Charles (butterfly on Claire's head)

In the middle of nowhere

Michigan reunion

Crab pool fun in the sun

Morton Arboretum

Maze

Morton Arbo

Morton Arbo Childrens Garden

Grandparents visiting!

Golly gee, look who's three!!!

He obviously did not get the memo that he's to stay mama's baby forever and ever because my "baby" turned 3 years old today.

Today he kept saying, "I'm three today, not two anymore."

"That's right," I answered.

"And when I'm four," he started, "I can play tennis."

 Funny man! Already thinking about being four?!

 

We had his big family party on Saturday -- 68 degrees!

Michigan reunion

My grandfather is one of 8 kids, all of whom immigrated to the US from Italy at some point (some were kids, some were married, point being none of them stayed in Italy).

Eight kids means there are a lot of relatives. 

This is the 2nd cousins picture (22 people are missing):

Growing up, I saw my moms aunts & uncles and 1st cousins a lot (I'm one of the oldest 2nd cousins): graduations, weddings for the most part. Then it stopped and we rarely saw anyone. My wedding 10 years ago was a big "reunion" of sorts and then ... funerals. The first of the siblings and spouses began to pass away and we found ourselves gathering for times of sadness rather than joy.

At the last funeral over Christmas, everyone decided that we should have a family reunion and a cousin who has a campground in Michigan, where many of my family live, offered to host. The first Family Reunion was held this past weekend.

This is everyone who came!

Not everyone showed up, but a lot did and it was FUN. The campground was a great venue, with a pool and bounce pillow -- my kids had so much fun. We had tons of food, as expected from Italians, and caught up with relatives we remembered as kids and meeting the newest in the bunch (my own kids!).

Everyone hopes this is a yearly event and I hope so too. It's wonderful to know that you belong to a "clan" and so many families don't have that connection and can say - "3rd cousin? Yep, I know them!"