Perfect Moment Monday - Things to do in a Hotel Room...

Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between. For more Perfect Moments, go HERE


We had a good time at the convention -- some more than others--I did not get to play as many games as I would have liked...but my son had a GREAT time and was so well behaved and had so many games that he played--my highlight was when father and son played an old style D&D game today. His highlight was playing a full scale model city Godzilla monster game on Friday evening.

I did win one of the games I played. It was a new game that I thought was so fun that I bought it...and today we played it at home.

Hubs, as usual, got voted best gamer in one his adventures. I did a bit more pool time with the kids this year--I am amazed at how much my daughter is progressing in the swimming department--definitely looking forward to swim classes with her once the weather is warmer.

We all had various games and events going on...but what do you do during those down times in the hotel room?

You play with dragons...





You eat microwaved pizza...





Or, before going to the pool, you jam/dance to the end credits of "Megamind"...

Gaming Migration....

It's Total Con time again!!

My chart is ready, laundry is done...packing started this morning. Today is my last workday for the week. And then Friday morning we are going to the hotel. Hubs gets first strike on games at 1 p.m. on Friday...looks like I will be setting up the hotel room with the kids. Then, Michael and I will be having our respective games in the evening (mine is scheduled to last until 1 a.m. or later--hence why its good to be at the hotel that the convention is being held!)

It is always interesting to do this convention each year. We meet up with old friends and aquaintences...people we see once or twice a year, people we see more than that. There are familar faces that I never quite know their names, but I know them and we quickly nod at each other as we go about the convention. Our children are known there. Michael is known both for his wonderful imagination and wit and for his tantrums and eccentricities (which are not that different from a lot of the other gamers--yeah, ADHD and OCD are waaaaaaay represented at the convention). Willow has grown up at the convention--people are always commenting on how she has changed since last they saw her.

Being at the convention feels warm and inviting. And while there is competition (don't even mess with the guys and their train games--I am just sayin'!), most of the time you just feel like you are a part of something and everyone is just enjoying being there and being geeky.

We need this away time this year. We need the distraction. And I am looking forward to it.

A Must Read...

Um, why does the government hate women so much?

Perfect Moment Monday - His Birthday

Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between. For more Perfect Moments, go HERE


I do not like getting up early so I can watch Super Hero Squad. I do not particularly like going to Bur.ger Ki.ng for lunch. Nor do I really like spaghetti for dinner. But he does. And it was his birthday today and I had it off. I would have liked my whole attention to be on him today, but his sister was also home today, so I did what I could with him. So, after getting him to give me 1/2 hour more sleep (I mean, yeah, it was a day off, he could wait until 6:30, right?), I watched cartoons with him, we played with his sister, and the kids got ice cream (her first melt down of the day was when I said 2 hoodsies at 11 a.m. was enough).

During lunch I did that embarrassing thing I always hated that my mom did (and at one time I am sure I swore I would not)--I told him what I had been doing 12 years ago today (being in a drug induced stupor and breastfeeding). After lunch, he spent his gift cards at Ga.me.st.op.

We have a long history with Spongebob PC, X-Box and Wii games. We have bought them for his birthday, he has bought them for my birthday (its a platform game--I kick butt on platform games). So, the ultimate perfect moment today--watching and commenting with him while he played his new Spongebob Wii game, while she slept on my chest.

How did he go from this:

To this:

So fast?!

Old Skool - Beastie Boys Rock Band

Friday night, after dinner...a little Rock Band...and some Beastie Boys!

Glimpses.Life.

It is 6:30 a.m., my warmth is being compromised, my neck hurts. I realize that he has come into our bed (within the last 10 mins). Long and lanky and I snuggle up with him, realizing this weekend he will gain another year and I will lose another year.

Father and son get up eventually, leaving me in bed to sleep in. Unlike normal Saturdays, I do not set an alarm. I have anxiety dreams, and restlessly sleep. I wake up to the clock reading "11:00 a.m.!!!" and then rub my eyes and it really is 8:30.

Down the stairs to familiar cartoon sounds and the new routine of potty training...meaning a toddler is running naked around the house half the time...sometimes by choice.

Scary Spongebob tent in the middle of the living room floor. An old toy, its a bed tent for my then 5 year old son, found again last week. And now it is a hiding place for the naked toddler...and the cats. And I thought I snuck it up to my son's room last weekend...and now it seems to have come down here again...I am going to kick that tent at some point this weekend...

Feeling a little nervous about the birthday party...not a lot, really, this is old hat by now. A couple calls from parents--one for directions to the venue, one to explain that one of his best friends cannot make it--he has Strep (!)

Pick up the cake--from a bakery this time and more expensive then I thought...go to Wal.greens and pick up ginger ale and cola.

The party is successful, kids arrive on time, instructor is ready, nerf guns are ablazing. She plays with an old toy of his, given to her as a "present" to make her feel better about the attention that is not.all.hers. Pizza delivered in the nick of time, cake moist and rich and good.

Home with presents, he disappears to assemble presents and open his presents from us. Playing side by side, my children are quiet and interesting and amazing. And I video tape something that is intangible.

Evening time and now I am talking on a long range walkie talkie (a birthday present from his cousin) while he and my husband go to the grocery store for a couple of items.

Too much sugar has been had by all. But bedtime is soon.

Husband reading the last book...now time for me to put them to bed...and while I am looking forward to some adult time with my husband, there is a part of me that would like to just snuggle in the bed with them...

+

Birthdays

Yesterday found me stalking the various social media for three amazing women in the IF community.

I am so very happy for all three of them! And as I watched and waited for each newborn to arrive...I thought back to my children and their births. I especially thought of my first born. He was also born in February.

So this weekend will be filled with Birthday fun...his 12th Birthday Party is on Saturday. Rambunctious, hyperactive boys (and some girls), running around an obstacle course shooting Ne.rf Guns...pizza and cake (with Clone Troopers on them). I still haven't gotten things for the goody bags yet...

As I spend his actual birthday this year (it is a holiday this year!) with him, I will be thinking of those small babies across the blogosphere--those so hard-fought and won babies and the many babies-to-be out there... And how small my son used to be, how he has grown...and how grateful I am for it all.

Perfect Moment Monday

Perfect Moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between. For more Perfect Moments, go HERE

I wish my memory was better (part of the reason why I blog and scrapbook). Looking over photo albums (nothing like death to make one go over your memories). I am looking at them alone up in my bedroom. I smile and I remember. And I think of those times when I took for granted a game of 500 Rummey, sweet peas and tunafish sandwiches. Or organ playing where I got to play with the peddles/paddles. Or singing of songs (some of which I cannot remember, some I sing to my children). I remember squirrels and roses and visits to campus. I remember that my brother has ALWAYS been a Ham on camera...and that at some point my parents were happy together. I remember bike riding with my gang of friends up and down the neighborhood....memories flood my mind, just little snippets, but they are there.

I then realize that I am doing something wrong. And I go downstairs. With each child sitting next to me, I go over the album again. Memories need to be shared.

Memories of Childhood - Gone

Remembering a big green Buick

The excitement of power locks

Visiting and listening and playing cards (lots of different games with cards)

Ice Cream at night

Rough housing

Long summer nights outside in the air, lightning bugs

Being told to be polite (critical love)

Going to the hair salon--one of the girls

Cloth calendars hung in the kitchen

Helping with dishes after a big homemade meal

Gone. Both are gone now. Grandma joined him finally today.

Perfect Moment Monday - Weekend

Moments from an average weekend:

Moments #1 & 2: He comes into our bed (it is 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday). He snuggles for a bit, but after a while it is obvious by his squirminess that he is up. I lay there surprised by the fact that his toes are wiggling at my ankles (how has he gotten so tall?). I enjoy an all around embrace from him and from my husband and we share this snuggle before the day (I am hoping to get more sleep however). Finally, he gets up. And I tell him to go read his book he is supposed to be reading for school. Husband and I try to lay back down and snuggle (I have bought us 1/2 hour more sleep). As we lay there, we hear shuffling and movement. Our cats are up and trying to get our attention so we will feed them. They run across our room. They stalk each other, as they climb onto our furniture, often pushing off various items, large and small, each crash or thud we cringe but try to keep asleep. After a huge crash of items fall down, my husband starts to get up, but I stop him--I am enjoying this time together and I ask that we ignore them for just a little longer. We snuggle, with his head upon my chest. And then the cats get all Snoopy-like-a-vulture. Gabby looking directly at us above our heads; Kif up on the amoire where he made such a loud noise just a few moments earlier. Staring directly at us. We don't budge. So then they play-fight right in front of us. Until one of them passes gas. Okay, okay--we are up! (As our son comes in after 15 minutes to tell us he hasn't been reading his book)

Moment #3: Girls night out, just my friend and I. We do this once a month, and we are both looking forward to it. So when the traffic causes us problems...we do not postpone or cancel. No, we call each other on our cell phones and we come up with another plan. Her plan is simple. She goes south on this particular road; I go north. We meet in the middle to go to whatever restaurant seems to be decent. Every so often, we call each other to talk of progress, the neighborhoods we are going through, our lives. She finds the place first (she had to drive further this time--I was stuck in a larger traffic jam). She describes it and I am not too hopeful, but I don't care, because we are going to have a good time anyways. Finally, thanks to our cell phones and GPS's we meet. And the restaurant is a great find--and we enjoy the time together.

Moment #4: She is wearing underwear, her first pair ever. A reward for going in the potty chair six times this weekend. It is the end of the night, but I am willing to let the day go a bit longer so that she can enjoy her new items (underwear AND new shoes--oh she is such a girly girl!) As I take a picture with my cell phone, I find it blurry and not that good. I debate about taking another--to find my husband pointing at the floor...yep, our first underwear accident has occurred! And it doesn't phase me (unfortunately, doesn't phase her too much either). A little later and its time for bed. Not wanting to fight (or fight the sudden momentum we have in potty training) she is wearing a second pair of underwear over her diaper tonight.

Show & Tell

Please stop over to participate!




Some pictures I took at the Harvard Natural History museum last weekend. Its been a year or so since we went and I think that Willow is especially at a great age for this museum. I think we will be making more treks out there this year.



Michael and Willow looking at a dinosaur...I always enjoy turning around the corner and finding this one--it takes up the whole wall and greets you as you enter the room.




Some of the taxidermed animals on display are showing their age (some are from the 1880s), but I think its part of the charm.




I just love walking around and seeing the animals just come at you...




Willow enjoyed seeing what was around every corner...

Lost Treasures

My cellphone broke. Actually, it is not broken, the window glass on the outside of my phone broke last week when I dropped it on the kitchen floor. As we got ready to transfer my data to my husband's old phone (which has been lying in the junk drawer for a couple years), we found a treasure of time....

Late fall of 2007--before becoming a big brother...

And then there was this...

Sometimes technology is great.

The Plan 2011 - January Update

I blame the snow.

Pretty much all plans were changed or cancelled, postponed or otherwise ripped to itty bitty shreds (kinda like snowflakes).

That being said, I did not totally lose hope--lost sleep and time, but not hope.

In the Health/Well-being department:

Well, I kept my morning exercise routine fine, and even diversified. However, we had trouble trying to get Willow down for bed at a decent time until recently. And my husband has been working insane hours. So, that night time Wii workout--kinda tangled up like the cords behind my television. However, I did lose 5 more pounds. To gain 2 back after being stuck at home with snow and eating comfort food...so, a net loss is a good thing, so we will say "Yay!" for that goal!

"Try to tone down the stress eating--find other outlets for getting rid of stress" HA, I say HA to this goal. Maybe this month!

In the Family Life Department:

"Ultimate goal is to spend more time with family; family work as team"

Well, nothing like snowstorm after snowstorm after snowstorm to pull the family together. And all and all I have been able to spend more quality time with each child. I am winning more battles than I am losing with Willow, who is a strong willed child. (P.S. Willow--um, just cuz you say "please" 5 bajillion times doesn't mean that that I can magically make gum/candy/juice boxes appear--if we are out, we are out...) More chores and responsibilities have been implemented with pretty decent success and I am feeling pretty good about this goal too.

Still working on the damned swearing...


In general, January was a hard month. Husband is working lots of hours and we have had lots of snow days. But, I am looking forward to this month with my son's birthday and with Total Con. And hopefully the snow will stop soon. (I'm tired of living in a world of snowforts)