Evil is as Evil Does

Dani and Evan were playing with some superhero action figures today in their jogging stroller while Jason and I were out running. Its hard to hear them with the canopies down, but I distinctly heard this amusing tidbit...


"I'm a BAD GUY. I'm going to drink some WINE!!!!!"

First Day of Kindergarten

Dani woke up ready to go to school this morning. Unfortunately, she has pm Kindergarten. As we headed out the door to walk Emily to school in the morning, Emily told her, "Don't forget your backpack, Dani!" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" my brain screamed. Luckily, I was able to hush Emily before Dani heard what she said. She managed to contain her excitment all morning, helping me wash the dishes and playing/refusing to play with Evan. Even after we FINALLY got the lunch time, she was ready, with shoes on and backpack loaded a good 15 minutes before we had to leave. When we finally did get on our way, she held hands the whole way with Nathan, the boy who lives across the street. Daddy was not too happy about that. We met up with Jack too, who lives down the street from us. When we got to the Kindergarten doors, Dani was off like a shot, with nary a look behind her. Jack's mom went around the building and peeked through the windows (yeah, Jack is her first Kindergartner :D) and saw that Jack, Dani and Nathan were all sitting together. I don't doubt that Dani would have been fine had she not known anyone in her class, but I am glad that she had a couple of friends from the get-go.




It was a mob scene when we came back to pick the girls up from school at the end of the day -- kids and parents EVERYWHERE -- there are roughly 1000 kids at their school, and even with most of them riding the bus, there were probably were 150-200 kids and parents standing around trying to find each other to walk home. I could see Dani's teacher, but I didn't see Dani near her. I figured Emily must have gotten to her first and they were waiting together somewhere in the throng. When Emily caught my eye though, she was alone! I asked her if she had Dani and she replied that she had just gotten out. So I headed over to Mrs Yarborough...

Me: Are these all that's left of your students?
Mrs.Y: Yes, who are you looking for?
Me: Dani.
Mrs. Y: My Dani?
Me: Yes. Dani Restuccia
Mrs. Y: <Looking around> She was here a minute ago... I think she went with her sister.
Me: Well, she might have been looking for her sister, but she just got out here and hasn't had a chance to find Dani yet.

Me: Well, if any of the kids was going to wander off, it would be Dani.
Mrs. Y: Yeah, Dani... wow... She's doesn't stop talking! I had to keep telling her to put her finger on her lips!
Me: Yeah, she finally learned how to raise her hand last year, but she raises it while asking incessantly "Can I talk now? I'm raising my hand? Is it my turn to talk?"
Mrs. Y: Well one of the other teachers moved her kids over to the car-rider group, maybe Dani followed her... we'll take these kids over there and see if she is there.

Me: Dani! Honey, you're supposed to stay with your teacher!!
Dani: MOM! What took you so long! I was looking for you.
Me: <hugging Dani> I was looking for YOU!!! You have to stay by your teacher 'cause there are so many people here.
Dani: <crying> I couldn't find you, Mommy!

Nothing like a lost kid to awaken your sympathies. She insisted on holding Nathan's AND my hands on the way home. I think that experience was a little traumatic for her, as she was a little extra weepy for the rest of the day. Still, she wants to go back tomorrow so it wasn't completely traumatizing. We'll just have to work on sticking with her teacher until I find HER! And maybe on keeping her lips zipped too.

First Day of Third Grade

At the begining of the day, we went to the gym and meet our teacher and say the plege. Then, we got in line and walked to are classroom and we talked to people and got to know each other better. After that, we did a scaveger hunt on papers of what we did over the summer. Next, we had a bathroom break then we read a story. Finally, we went home.

Emily Restuccia, age 7

We all walked Emily to school this morning, as has become our tradition, though we only had Daddy walk her into the school because there are so many of us and we know that the school is a ZOO the first morning! She seemed a little nervous, but excited and her confidence seemed pretty high as she felt like hot stuff in her cute red dress and cool clogs (I'm not sure which was the deciding factor in chosing this outfit -- the dress or the shoes, but she I'm definitely sure that she was the cutest girl in the 3rd grade today!) Em is lucky to know a bunch of kids in her class this year, which has never happened before, except that she knew ONE girl in her class last year. What is really cool is that Lindsey, one of Emily's favorite friends from Kindergarten our old school in Lakewood Falls is in her class this year! She says her teacher is nice, but not as great as Miss Lassandrello or Mrs. Sorensen were. You never know, though, perhaps she will, in time, prove to be better!

Meet the Teacher

Dani had meet the teacher night tonight. We went with the two little boys on our street that are in her class, Jack and Nathan. We went in and shook Mrs. Yarborough's hand and turned in our school supplies. Dani found her mailbox and her cubby and found the bathroom in her class and then we went on a scavenger hunt that sent us to the multi-purpose room, the office (to get a pencil), the nurse's office (picked up a bandaid) and the media center (a bookmark of her very own -- that Dani insisted that she is NOT going to share). When we returned to her classroom, she wanted to check out the classroom. We found the reading center with really cool kid size chairs and read "How Do Dinosaurs Eat?" She was delighted to see that there was a kitchen JUST LIKE the one they had in her preschool. I'm not sure how to report her reaction to all of it. There was a lot going on, so she seemed a little distracted, but she did remember her number and the location of her cubby. She is excited, but surprisingly mellow about the whole thing -- probably just nervous. When she got home, she sat down and wanted to tell Emily and Daddy ALL about it. Emily was clearly impressed with Dani's enthusiasm, she told me "I can see the little happiness in her eyes!" Obviously, Emily knows that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Here is Dani's report on the experience:

We wrote my name on my red folder. I did a treasure hunt. We found a pencil in a box -- all the kindergarteners got one. We went to nurse and got bandaids, but we didn't put them on. I have my own bookmark from the library. In my class there is a checkered table with a marker on it. I saw a kitchen. Mr Gluck (the principle) talked to me -- he is nice. We read a book -- How Do Dinosaurs Eat? My number is 8 and my cubby door has an Rr on it. No D. Just 2 Rs. Mrs. Yarborough is my teacher. She is good. She is nice.


The pictures I took ended up a little blurry -- camera was giving me trouble. But the pictures are so cute, I must post them anyway. And yes, that's Dani wearing a SKIRT!

A Souvenir

Dani caught pink eye from her cousins. She is none to happy about it....

Dani: Mom, when are my eyes going to stop being pink?
Me: In a few days.
Dani: But HOW will they stop being pink?
Me: Those drops Daddy has been putting in your eyes are killing the pink eye germs.
Dani: I HATE germs... Oh, I am never going to eat my boogers again!
Me: Eating boogers didn't cause... (rethinking this teaching moment).... yeah, that's a good idea, Dani.

Brenny meets an ice cream cone

Grandma gave Brendan his very first ice cream cone. He liked it. A lot.

A Meeting of the Blogs

While in Connecticut, we got to go visit our old friend, and blog inspirator, Shana Henrichsen and her boys. When I first met Shana, we both had only 2 kids and now we both have 4 (and she's got twins on the way too -- not going to follow her there, though!). We some how managed to have "matching sets" Emily and Hunter are about a month apart in age, Dani and Noah are ONE DAY apart, Evan and Denver are 9 months apart and Bren and Caleb are only 6 weeks apart (and we didn't even live in the same state when we had the little guys!). From the first moment I met the Henrichsens, I knew we would be good friends, but unfortunately, we moved away from Connecticut after only about a year of knowing these great people. Shana's blog has helped me to keep up with their family, so stopping by for a visit was almost like having a playdate with any of our friends in Illinois. All the kids played in the wading pool and on the slip and slide while Shana and I chatted. Brendan and Caleb, got to meet, being the newest additions to both of our families since we last met. Bren certainly found his match in Caleb, as is indicated in the following pictures....




It was funny to see Brendan have to get as goood as he gives! It bums me out that we left these great people behind when we left Connecticut. They are definitely one of the things I would transplant over into our lives in Illinois. Maybe someday.....

860+ Miles

We survived our the drive from Plainfield to Newtown, Ct. What we expected to be a 13 hour drive ended up being more like 15 hours. All things considered, the kids were really pretty good. Only a minimal amount of "Are we there yet?" whining transpired, and a minimum is definitely to be expected. Brendan had a bit of a hard time sleeping, which is par for the course with him whether in the car or in a bed, but once we got here, we figured out that the poor little guy has an ear infection (yeah, so much for those $3000 ear tubes),so that may have been contributing to the problem. It has definitely caused some sleeping problems while here. He spent a good 3 hours screaming on Wednesday night and probably 30-45 min whimpering on Thursday night. Thursday is was just so clear that he was in pain. I brought him into bed with me and Jason and he just writhed all over the bed until the Motrin kicked in and he was able to sleep. Friday we figured out that we were dealing with an ear infection and are taking steps to ease his pain. Already he is acting more like his happy little self.

So much fun has been occuring since we got here... the kids have been just about mauling Grandma and Grandpa... I'm not sure how they tolerate it, but they do with a smile. Dani has developed a special love for Uncle Shannon, who taught her how to peel and eat a shrimp. If he's not here, she's asking how long it will be before he gets here. Things have been touch and go at times with our cousins Tegan and Eamon, but even when they aren't getting along they all want to be together. Today was especially funny -- a day of contests. We started out with a swinging contest, followed by a "hand slap game" contest, which led to a running contest. The kids wanted to finish off with a weight lifting contest, but having nothing to lift, they had a cousin lifting contest and gave each other piggy back rides around the yard. Tegan definitely was the best at that one, she swears she even got ME off the groud!







We have spent lots of time outside in the backyard. Grandma has a big bush that is especially attractive to butterflies and we have enjoyed watching them flit around the yard. Tegan gave Emily a lesson in butterfly catching, but when Emily couldn't manage to catch one, Teg caught one for her and let her hold it. Emily was so excited to touch a real butterfly! She kept asking when Daddy would be back from Aunt Tam's house so she could tell him all about it. Finally I let her call him because she just couldn't stand the waiting!



It has been a long time since I've visted Connecticut and felt any sadness and felt any sadness at not living here anymore, but this time I have felt the most bizarre tuggings to live back here again! Its so pretty with all the big trees, our cousins are here, I helped Tam work at Wellbaskets, which was really fun, and I went to Stew Leonards -- there's nothing anywhere that can compare to Stews; and we visited old friends that I wish we could see more of. Luckily, our pockets are not deep enough to indulge this bit of "homesickness." I also have to remember that though the trees are pretty, there are TOO many of them and it makes me carsick to drive around here because I can't see anything beyond the trees. Our cousins are fun, but we do have good friends in Illinois too. Wellbaskets would probably be more fun than real estate, but I'm sure there would be plenty of days that Tam and I would drive each other NUTS pretty frequently. I always spent too much money at Stews (this trip was no exception either!) and we can't garauntee that our old friends will live here forever, so we just have to keep in touch and enjoy them when we can. Illinois has great qualities that I would miss terribly if we moved somewhere else. I wish I could have EVERYTHING I wanted in one place. I guess I'll just have to deal with most of what I like in Plainfield, and find ways to get to the things I like about other places when I can get a chance!

Perhaps he needs some new toys

Look at all the options he has here! Power Rangers, book, an airplane, his pacifier... what does he choose to play with? VEGETABLES!

Licking the bowl

Why is it that licking the batter out of the bowl is even better than the brownies themselves?

A Helper Kind and Good

Every once in a while Dani is seized with the desire to "be nice." This will cause her to do many different things -- most frequently to get me a glass of water, or try to stand over the stove while I'm trying to cook or something else that either isn't helpful, or isn't really wanted. The gesture is usually so sweet though, that I express great appreciation. Recently, she has started to enjoy being nice is a capacity that actually IS nice! She can empty the dishwasher! And not just that -- she can put the dishes away! And she's even had a successful attempt at loading the dishwasher too! This is amazing -- jobs that she can really do -- that are HELPFUL! I can definitely get used to this!

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Emily asked for her own ice cream maker for her birthday, assuring me, that such a toy was made. I pretty quickly dismissed that idea, figuring it would be a hunk of junk and would only be a pain in my neck. However, Emily had a friend who saw the same present and thought it was so cool that she just had to get it for her. For days after her birthday, she begged to use it, and I kept putting her off, sure it wouldn't work and would only cause tears on her part and irritation on mine. Finally, I got the necessary ingredients and let her try it. After a few minutes of churning, as I suspected, the tears started -- it wasn't working. I (ever so patiently) explained that the thing was a piece of junk and she should have expected this from the beginning... then all of a sudden, we realized that the metal cylinders were covered with ICE CREAM! Emily thought it wasn't working because she didn't realize that the ice cream had to be scraped off. So we used the scraper to shave all the ice cream into a bowl -- and voila! Real ice cream from a toy that is unbelievably, NOT a piece of crap! Turns out, this thing is actually quite cool! I have been keeping a container of ice cream mix in the refrigerator so she can whip up a serving or two any time she wants and thus cause me minimal hassle. Three cheers for whoever created the Baskin Robbins Double Scoop Ice Cream shop. Congratulations on creating a toy that actually works!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

This year we planted our first REAL garden. We've messed around a bit in past years with tomatoes and peppers, but this year, we got slightly more elaborate. We have a small assortment of veggies growing in the backyard -- tomatoes and peppers AND zucchini, yellowneck and butternut squash, lettuce, basil, oregano, cucumbers, watermelon and canteloupe. The plant have all grown to be pretty big and are sporting some pretty big flowers, so I'm hoping for a reasonable crop of garden fresh veggies! Though we are not yet harvesting anything from the garden, so I have learned a few things from this year's garden that will hopefully make next year's a little better. Number one -- start earlier... I didn't get my buns in gear until early July, so our plants are a little behind other people's gardens. We are still at blossom stage and our neighbors are eating red juicy tomatoes and offering us giant zucchinis. We do have ONE pepper that is nearing ripeness!

Number 2 -- we need more space... everything is pretty crowded in our little garden box. We will have to expand next year and get some more plants! Number 3 -- find out where my Dad gets his tomato plants -- I'm not too crazy about tomatoes so an abundance of them doesn't thril me (though Jason likes them). When Dad told me about the crazy tomato plants he grew this year -- purple ones even! I decided that would make the tomato growing more fun. We will be looking for those next year for sure!

Note Emily's hair in this picture. I was out weeding one Saturday morning -- it was really hot and sticky, so I had put my not-very-long hairs into a ponytail and then a headband in addition in order to keep the wispies out of my face. Along came Emily to help -- having put her hair in the exact same hairstyle. Not fashionable, probably, but cute.

Happy Birthday, Dear Emily

Since Emily's birthday falls exactly one week before Christmas, we usually minimize the observation of the day, usually just having a cake and a special dinner, and have a party sometime during the summer. This year, Emily got to have a friend-party and chose to have a swimming party. Many factors colluded to try to threaten the party's success. I foolishly volunteered to chaparone at Girls' Camp on Thursday night, not remembering that Em's party was on Friday. I arranged things such that I could make it home in time for the party, only slightly sleep deprived and with a whole 2 hours to get things ready. I ended up sending Jason and Emily over to the pool to meet the party guests and ran to the store for plates and forks and some balloons. I called ahead for the balloons, but when I got there, only about 4 of my 12 balloons had been blown up and the florist ladies were just standing around looking at a bunch of flowers that had apparently been arranged for a wedding. I went about my business, getting the various things I needed for the party and hoping they'd get back to work. To my great irritation, they didn't resume work on the balloons until I went to the counter and stood there impatiently. This little jaunt made me 10 min late for the party, but the terrible traffic jam between the store and the pool (literally about a 3 mile distance) threatened to cause me to be an additional 20 min late, but some creative side-street use minimized the delay to about 20 min total. This, however did not calm my nerves a great deal, since as we were dodging stop lights and slow taffic, it started to RAIN! When I got to the party though, all the girls were happily playing in the pool, which just got a heater this summer. I actually felt bad making them get out of the water for cake and presents, but they didn't even seem to mind that. They shivered while they devoured the very bright pink frosted cupcakes (which died their mouths an equally bright shade of pink) and, though they were freezing, insisted on watching the presents be unwrapped, even though I offered to let them all get back in the pool instead. Lucky for me, the determination of 7 and 8 year olds to enjoy a birthday party overcame whatever adverse conditions threatened its success.

Top row -- Emily Shultz, Lindsay Stassus, Sarah Holmes, Emily Restuccia, Morgan Guiffre
Bottom row -- Eliana McGillen, Rachael Flock, Erin Shultz and Kate Hales.

I just like this one

Having a Daddy who is an avid runner makes our kids think that running is way cool. Jason was planning on running a race a few weeks ago that included a kids mile race. We told Emily and Dani that they could run it and then, for reasons I can't remember, we didn't go to the race. Dani was especially upset and kept insisting that she wanted to run a race, so finally, we had a race evening on our front sidewalk. I, personally, can't believe that we are raising runners, but Jason is delighted at the prospect of many years of track and cross country. I strongly suggest that you click on the picture to view it full size so you can fully appreciate the goofy looks on everyone's faces. Apparently, running is best done with your mouth hanging open and your tongue sticking out.