Matty's First Communion

Yesterday, we celebrated Matty's first communion at St. Christopher's RC Church in Baldwin. Although it was pouring the night before, the sun came out for us. While I wasn't thrilled with the way the Religious Education department handled certain aspects of the program (didn't allow the kids to walk up the aisle, communal banner instead of individual ones or pictures in church), it was still a beautiful ceremony and Matty was so handsome and grown in his first suit. After Church, we went to the Milleridge Inn to celebrate with the family. This was the place my family always celebrated major occasions including my first Communion. Not only are they pros at handling events like this, they have the Village with old fashioned candy & toy shops, a bakery & jam shop and various other little places to investigate. The kids had a blast and Ryan swears to me that he is the one who discovered the Village. Today, Matty goes to Church again, dressed in his communion suit, to celebrate with the rest of the St. Christopher's community. Next week we have the May Crowning and he gets to wear it again which is nice.

Spring Break Part A: Easter

So this year, my kids have to spring breaks: Easter in March and Passover in April. Makes for a very strange Spring. They started their vacation on Wednesday and they are off through the Monday after Easter. I guess Danny decided he needed an Easter break also so he took vacation Thursday through Monday. The boys spent the first two days with Emily making cookies, having lunch at McDonald's and playing in the play area, playing video games, reading books and just plain having fun. I took off from work on Friday and we all went to the Bronx zoo. It was a tad chilly, especially when the wind kicked up, but otherwise a nice sunny day. Before we went to the zoo, we checked out the zoo's website and saw that a baby monkey was born the end of January. Of course, the zoo's Easter events were taking place over the weekend when we weren't going to be there. The first place we visited was the birds, mainly because it was indoors (and warm!). It's not exactly easy to find all those little birds amongst the tree limbs and leaves in each exhibit. It's kind of like playing I Spy, which happens to be one of Ryan's favorite games. Next, we decided to explore the tiger exhibit. It was a nice big tiger planted right in front of the glass. The kids were laughing because it had its butt up against the glass. The exhibit was geared towards tiger conservation. One of the signs indicated that there are only 5000 tigers left in the wild - which really gives you a moment's pause. That is not alot of tigers and it also indicated that there were some countries that the people were so poor they sold tiger parts for salt. Can you imagine? We decided to stop for a lunch break and grabbed a couple of pretzels. After munching on them, we went to the reptile house. This place was steamy - apparently the snakes, lizards and turtles like it hot. In addition, the zoo staff had not yet been on poop patrol because the snake exhibits were chock full of snake shit. What goes in must come out! Ryan is infatuated with snakes so this was one of his favorite exhibits. After this, we went to the mouse House. As we open the doors we were overwhelmed with such a stench. I couldn't put my finger on it but I knew that I recognize that smell. It wasn't until some lady said "skunk" then I realized that the stink was exactly that. And there it was, white in front of us, a big fat white and black smelly skunk. I was almost crawling up the walls at the site of all the rodents scurrying about. We escaped fairly quickly and the kids decided they wanted to take a ride on the bug carousel. We got such a nice picture of the boys on the carousel with Danny standing between them. The zoo got smart and hired photographers to take pictures and then sell the photographs. we actually ended up with three very nice photos as Ryan figured out how to look at the camera and smile. Here are the pics: Of course we needed some souvenirs so we stopped at the gift shop and Ryan acquired another snake and Matty got an adorable tiger (of course there were more items but I am trying to keep this brief). On the way out we visited the monkey House. It always amazes me how much these little monkeys look like little people because of their human expressions. It is somewhat disconcerting at times. We looked for the Titi monkey family and luckily found them. Surprisingly, the suit did not advertise that there was a new baby. On the way home we also stopped at Arthur Avenue but boy was it jammed! We should've figured that on Good Friday it was going to be packed. While we were unable to get into our favorite stores, we were at least fortunate enough to pick up some cannolis and Easter pie. We had a little traffic on the way home but all in all it was a very fun day.

Our Lost Winter Recess

So my boys did not have a winter break. Or at least, not the way it was intended to be - with fun, playdates etc. Nope - we got the virus - not exactly the flu but close enough. Ryan brought it home from school (some other little kindergardener who refuses to cover his or her mouth when they cough or dripping with snot) and started getting sick last Saturday night. Matty came down with it on Tuesday and it nailed me on Thursday. And I had the flu shot!!! I went to the doctor to try to head it off and he prescribed a steroid - I don't know if it helped much or just got me through Friday in one piece. Today is the first day since Thursday that I feel better - weak, but better. The boys took it hard as well - 103 degree fevers and being too weak and tired to do anything but lay on the couch. Here is a picture of Matty somewhat on the mend: So we tried to do some fun things - even though the boys were stuck inside. We made shrinky dinks. These things are alot of fun and I had shrinky dink inkjet paper to work with too. So I printed out some animals and we made pushpins out of them. The boys drew on some of the shrinky dink paper and made their own designs. We also introduced a new trick that I found online - adding clear embossing powder after the shrinky dinks bake and then bake another 4 minutes. It adds another nice, clear, shiny layer. Here is a picture of our creations: Friday we had a snow day. I got the boys outside for a little bit to shovel and play. They were stir crazy at this point and I needed to dig my truck out. I actually had a closing to go to (even though I was infected with the creeping crud). Of course, I couldn't resist making some snowballs. Lucky for the boys, my aim stinks - I am lucky I can hit the side of a wall. On the other hand, Ryan has fantastic aim! Here is a nice snowy picture of our backyard: Today we are just chilling out - I am recovering, Matty is enjoying his 12 hour marathon of Pokemon Diamond & Pearl on Cartoon Network and Ryan is trying to entice Danny to play Scooby Doo with him on XBox360. We are also making a nice slow cooker pork roast with green apples and onions (smells yummy!). I might make some pokemon shrinky dinks for Matty if I can muster up the energy and some of those peanutbutter fudge cookies (just cause they are so awesome!).

Everyday Digital Scrapbooking: How to Create a Simple Gift that is Sure to Impress: Digital Tutorial

Everyday Digital Scrapbooking: How to Create a Simple Gift that is Sure to Impress: Digital Tutorial Scrapbook calling cards are such a cool gift to make! They are a definite necessity in this day and age and can be tailored to the recipient's personality. How many times has someone asked you for your contact info - cell number, email address etc and you had to scribble it on the back of some miscellaneous piece of scrap paper floating around in the recesses of your bag? Makes a great gift for kids to give their friends - can become a trading card for kids too! The possibilities are endless!

Busiest Week in February

I can't say I am unhappy that this week is over and I can breathe a sigh of relief. This was definitely a hectic week on all fronts. It started with Matty's birthday on Tuesday, February 12th. I still can't quite believe he is 8 - where does the time go??? I feel like it was just yesterday that he was wandering off to the dining room, a/k/a Matty's toilet, to do his "business" where he would promptly inform us that he was "making brown". Now he reads like a pro, flies through TIVO rewinding live TV & recording shows already in progress (Pokemon is the big favorite) etc (oh and he hits the bathroom instead of the dining room lol). He is very happy to be an even number this year - feels like it is far superior to being an odd number (which Danny, Ryan and I happen to be this year). Ok, so back to the hectic week. Matty wanted Sandra Lee's peanut butter chocolate cookies for his school birthday party. Ok, not a big deal - her recipes are fairly easy and delicious - got that. Picked up the frosting and peanut butter (already had the sugar cookie dough as we stock up on that). First wrench in the monkey works - Monday afternoon one of my real estate brokers brings a client for a land trust and gives me an hour's notice. Now normally, notice isn't a big deal for a contract signing. It is a big deal for a land trust contract signing. The trust documents are complex, transfer tax returns have to be drafted and it is all time consuming. Plus, lets add a distrustful client who thinks he is half a lawyer. Makes for a late night. Before I knew it, it was 7:30pm and I was just leaving the office. Of course when I got home, it was not a happy reception and lets just leave it at that. Still had to make cookies though. I didn't finish until after everyone else had gone to bed but they were delicious. Here's a picture of the yummy delights: Of course Ryan remarked, while eating one, that the frosting looked kinda like poop (I thought the same thing myself when I was squeezing it out of the pastry bag!). I also made Matty a birthday card cause, well, I didn't know whether or not Danny signed my name to the card he bought lol and I didn't want to take a chance. I finished the whole fiasco and went to bed around 1:30am. Everything did look very nice for Matty when he would wake up in the morning and come downstairs: Thursday was the next looming event - Valentine's Day. I also have my scrapbook lunch club that day with my little monsters - 15 kids Kindergarten through 2nd grade (including my own two little darlings). I decided to make Valentine's Day Cards with the kids which wasn't too difficult. I also took on making Valentine's Day Bookmarks for the kids in Matty's class (what was I thinking????) I created the bookmarks digitally with several different kinds, added the kids names to each one and then would laminate them and add tassels with beads. Wednesday night, I took my little printed bookmarks and we went into the basement. I grabbed my trust Xyron machine and looked for my laminate cartridge. Hmmm, found one that was practically empty and the only replacements were two laminate with magnet cartridges. It wasn't a good time to realize that the boys' nasty habit of laminating every piece of paper they got their hands on used up my 50 foot laminate cartridge. Also figured this all out around 8:45pm and Michaels closes at 9pm. With a sinking feeling, I realized I would have to go to Michaels in the morning, after I dropped the kids off to school. The pressure was on and the stress was mounting. Wrote out Ryan's Valentines and went to bed. Wednesday was the 100th Day of School and a big deal in the elementary grades. We had done Ryan's 100th day project the week before, but Matty needed 100 of something to bring in. Thank God we had a container of mint hard candies and there was just over a 100 in the container. The 2nd graders did all sorts of math projects involving the number 100 and the Kindergarteners had a party. The boys came home with festive 100th day hats and I couldn't resist taking pictures: Happy Valentine's Day - my boys gave me a 2nd generation IPOD Nano in pink - it was so adorable! I got them off to school and raced to Michaels for that laminate cartridge. Grabbed it, along with some other assorted items (I cannot go into Michaels and come out with just one thing - physically impossible) and raced back home. I laminated all the bookmarks (like 22 of them), punched holes in the top and proceeded to make the tassels and attach beads. An hour and a half later, I was done. It is now like 11am and lunch club starts at 11:40am. I gathered up my supplies for the cards and packed up my truck. Luckily, my sister-in-law, Donna, volunteered to give me a hand with lunch club that day (which made life a heck of a lot easier) and we made some really nice cards with the kids. Many of them made the cards for their respective teachers which was really nice. Raced home to get changed because I had a closing in the office. (Notice the theme for the day - racing) When I got to the office (a good 45 minutes late) a dozen breathtaking red roses in a vase was sitting on the coffee table in my office. The closing went smoothly, signed a couple of contracts and was only a little late. We had talked about going out to dinner so when I called Danny and told him I was on my way home, I was totally surprised when he said they were heading out the door. I forgot - Matty's guitar lesson. I drove directly there and met them at the Oceanside music school. Afterwards, we had a romantic (uh not) dinner at Moes. It was very tasty however - they make awesome Mexican food. Ah, but then the kicker of the evening - Matty had to bring the bookmarks back home. Evidently, he started whipping them around and the beaded tassels got hopelessly tangled. I couldn't even speak - all the hours of work, the running to Michaels, for this. I tried to untangle them but it was impossible so I had to cut the tassels off. Matty was devastated - he hadn't meant for this to happen and I couldn't hold it against him. So, I sat down and replaced the beads and tassels. But this time, I made three groupings and tied ribbon around the tassels and another ribbon around the body of the bookmarks. I put them all in a baggie and wrapped the rest of the baggie securely around the bookmarks and secured it with tape. They made it to the kids, safe and sound this time. I survived the crazy week - Friday was fairly inconsequential except for the evening trip to BJs so we could get Matty a birthday cake for his party the next day at Sportime (nothing like waiting till the last minute). BJs is good like that though - their cakes are simply fantastic - you pick out the one you like and bring it to the bakery lady and she writes your message on the cake in your choice of colored icing. Takes all of 5 minutes - we walked out with a nice whipped cream icing, marbled cake with a chocolate mousse and raspberry filling. Matty's birthday party on Saturday was absolutely perfect. We had it at Sporttime in Lynbrook. Matty got to pick three sports for the kids to play. He chose floor hockey, kickball, and soccer. He had a good turnout - a total of like 15 kids and they all had a blast. I took some really nice pictures and this great shot of Matty and Ryan: The miracle is that they are actually both looking at me at the same time. Any parent with kids this age would realize that it practically takes a planetary alignment for something like this to happen.

Neglecting the Blog

So yes, I have neglected my blog - it isn't as if we are doing nothing these days. I have been very busy with going out and drumming up business with my new niche - land trusts. Most New York attorneys have never even heard of land trusts let alone know how to structure one so it definitely gives me a leg up on the competition. The downside of new clients is the "breaking in" period. We have to get to know them and how they work and vice versa. I am an email/IM/text girl - I like being able to carry on five IM conversations at once, emailing and texting. A phone conversation is a waste of time that often leaves one of the participants unclear later on as to what was said. A written record is always key - no misunderstandings (ok well atleast minimizes it), you can forward parts to staff to delegate work, update multiple parties with status etc. Unfortunately, some people do not subscribe to my theory of communication so my voice mail constantly builds up. On the family end we have been preoccupied with school (report cards two weeks ago), skiing, First Communion Meetings for Matty, guitar lessons etc. It gets hectic!!! Boys' report cards were good. Matty always does fantastically in his academics and citizenship (for lack of a better term - being respectful, following directions, listening blah blah blah). His teacher, Ms. Cavassa, can't say enough wonderful things about him. Ryan, on the other hand, had a stellar performance academically but somewhat in the toilet on the citizenship front. He isn't so much bad or malicious - he just does what he wants to do. So it was a difficult report card to address. How do you punish a kid who is the top student in his class but reward him when he dropped in being courteous, paying attention etc.? What a quandary. I am afraid that he is bored and that adds to the problem. We are trying to plan a ski trip for the first week of March. Danny and I would like to take the boys out west to Colorado to get some solid skiing in this winter. Focus has to be on whats to do for kids, flight times etc. If it isn't a kid friendly resort - it isn't for us. So we are leaning towards Snowmass/Aspen. Snowmass recently implemented multimillion dollar renovations including a giant kid's center. Flight isn't too long either and there are lots of family activities. It is so beautiful out there - so wide open and majestic. Absolutely worth pulling the boys out of school for that kind of experience. Both my boys are digging reading which makes me so happy. I love to read (haven't necessarily done much lately except for work related) and to me, its the key to knowledge. Matty's reading has improved dramatically - although he is reading on "M" level according to school, he reads books above that level with minimal assistance. Ryan sounds out words like a pro - I nearly fell off my chair the first time I heard him do it. He has a sound understanding of his letter sounds that he is definitely ready for phonics. This boy will be reading by the end of Kindergarten! Danny has been wanting to take the boys to the bookstore so we went last night. First, we had dinner at Ayan's Shish-Ka-Bob at the Source Mall. The people there are no friendly and the food is delicious. Imagine our surprise when we looked over at the table adjacent to us and we see Ms. Berson eating dinner with her financee and family! Ms. Berson is Ryan's kindergarten teacher. Everytime she spoke, Ryan's ears perked up and he looked over because he could hear her voice. Once they were finished with dinner, we waved hello and she stopped over to talk to Ryan. It was one of the most enjoyable family dinners we have had in a long time. We headed over to Borders Bookstore and made a bee line to the kid's section. It is so nice with rugs etc and places to sit and read. Ryan found a couple of books and promptly sat down to read SpongeBob Atlantis Squarepantis and I had to snap a picture of him:Matty is enjoying the Magic Treehouse series. (Hint! Hint! Everyone! Matty's Birthday alert!) It is fiction but based in historical fact. There are something like 38 books in the series plus research books to accompany certain Magic Treehouse books. He also loved the book, "George's Marvelous Medicine", by Roald Dahl, upon which he based his book report project. So I suggested some Magic Treehouse research books as well as some other books by Roald Dahl. I explained if he liked a certain book, then he would probably also enjoy other books by the same author. Danny got some Disney books and we were set.

Bring That Beat Back!

I have been fascinated with the 2007 remix of 90's and 80's dance/pop tunes ever since the Synergy Christmas Party At Don Juan's (DJ was awesome by the way) and I stumbled upon this fab site, Digital Eargasm. You can download the hottest remixes for free. There are also a number of other great sites: Retro Remixes, The Remix Archive 2.0 to name a few. I was able to get most of the songs that I heard that night. The DJs have been remixing "I Know What Boys Want", "Take On Me", "Too Shy" to name a couple. My real find today is an obscure dance/funk song from 1983. The name of the group was Girls Cant Help It and the song is Baby Doll. One of the girls I used to hang out with, Evelyn, had this on 12 inch but Evelyn was very proprietary - you could never get a copy of a song from her lol. Not that it was easy to do in those days - needed a record player with a cassette deck that you could record with. Trying to find this song before the days of the Internet was like looking for a needle in a haystack but I found it today!!!! They actually have a video on You Tube and here it is: