The Marriage Ref

Last year I would watch this show called The Marriage Ref. The show helped couples solve issues. Three comedians would listen to the issue at hand (each couple told their side), make funny comments and then rule with one couple or the other. It was very funny and I really hope it comes back.


The one show I remember was where the husband wanted to write numbers/letters on his socks so that he could keep the pairs together. His point was that he felt they should stay together and the wife refused to assist him in keeping pairs together. Why do I remember this one? I personally thought it was a great idea. So I put initials on the twin’s socks so I could keep them with the right child.

Sometimes I feel like we need a stint on the show to settle some of the disagreements we have in our house. One just happened recently.

The other day my husband got to go to lunch with some of the Oriole players. He purchased some baseballs so that he could get signatures. The destination for the signed balls is in the entertainment center in the “man cave”. Great idea.

But then he pulled out this box of bobble heads, like 8 of them. Honestly, I don’t remember the team, maybe the Capitals. His plan was to put these in his “man cave”. I had to break the news that NO bobble heads would end up on the shelves in the entertainment center.

I won this one and the bobble head have ended up in the boys’ rooms. They are banned from the basement. I wonder how the comedians would vote on this one.

I guess I better get a move on doing something with the many shelves in the entertainment center.

Is it really February?

We have had such a mild winter so far.  As I was walking the dog today, I had to take my jacket off.  It felt like a spring day.  I had to come home and check the calendar to make sure we are in February and winter is not over yet.

I have to admit I am a little miffed that we have not had a good snow.  One where the kids could play, make a snowman and even go sledding.  I am hoping for one good snow and then off to spring.  Nothing but a little rain and mild temperatures for the next week.

We had a great weekend.  The Mother in law came in for a visit.  She was able to experience our chaotic days.  The boys had a great time visiting with her.  She was able to see them play basketball and practice baseball.  The visits always seem to go by so quickly. 

I was so touched on Monday, after school E says I wish Grandma was still here.  It does suck to live so far away from family. 

Well, I finally took my test and passed.  So I am officially food safety certified for the next 5 years.  How exciting.

Report cards were issued on Monday.  I am so incredibly proud of them, they both came home with straight A's.  Wow.  I was not expecting that.

I also had a conference with Tee's preschool teacher.  I just came out of the conference thinking it was a waste of time.  I know what he knows.  He knows all his letters but may get confused on a few.  He knows all his sounds.  He can count to 100.  But really that just doesn't mean that much to me.  I want him to have fun because after this it will be non-stop learning for the next 13 years.  I am not sure what I expected.  Maybe I wanted her to tell me that it was such a pleasure to have Tee in class.  Instead I got that he needs to be reminded to keep his hands to himself or doesn't share toys.....and it just goes on.  I feel like the other boys' preschool experience was so different.  I feel like Tee has missed out on something good.

This week has been non-stop so far and will just continue on through the weekend.  We have birthdays to celebrate and a scouting event. 

Spooked out

We had a really nice weekend even though it rained/snowed all day on Saturday. When it rains that means it is inside project time. We had a lot going on this weekend.


Friday night was the dance put on by the PTA.  It was a fun night.  I was very glad to be done with this event.

Saturday night we had a Halloween party to attend.  They have a 4 year old son who is Tee's best friend.  They also have a 8 year old son who the boys enjoy playing with.  The parents planned the party as a surprise for their kids.  The kids were gone with grandparents all day while the parents prepared the haunted house. 

It was another fun evening. 

Tee was determined to get an apple!



And he did!



Yes, I know that putting your mouth in a big pot of water filled with apples after several other people have tried to put their mouth on an apple is totally disgusting.  In fact, my older boys wanted nothing to do with trying to bob for apples.  Everyone needs to try it at least once.

Tee and his best bud.  These two have an unbelievable connection!

Although  the older boys did not have any costume parties at school, Tee did.  I was one of the parents who signed up to help with the party.  The kids had a parade and then back to the classroom for games.  Tee loved that I was able to help out.

No masks allowed at school.

This evening we went to a neighbor's house for dinner.  It was a last minute invitation.  The boys were so excited for Halloween.

Jay as the cool ghoul, Tee as venom and E as the dementor!

We ended up splitting up a little tonight.  The husband took the two older boys with some of their friends.  I took Tee with one of his neighborhood buddies.  I made it back to hand out just a little bit of candy. 

It seems as though there was not so many people out this evening.  My neighbors said they had a lot of candy left over. 

I would love for Halloween to be the last Saturday of the month.  It would be nice to not have to rush through dinner to get them out and back in to get ready for bed.

It is fun.....but I am glad to be done with costumes.

Day off from school = forced family fun

When we were driving today, Tee tells me I am the best Mommy in the world.  Sound nice?  He should have stopped there, but said when you are mean you are the worst Mommy.  I told him that hurt my feelings and that I loved him very much and had to take care of him.  I guess he felt bad and he said ok Mom, you are the best Mommy in the world even if when you are mean.  I left it at that!

Friday was a day off from school, although Tee had school I let him take the day off.  In the morning, I told him we would go to the zoo and he was so excited.  He said Mommy, I have never been to the zoo.  Yes, I feel like the Mom of the year.  He is 4 and has NEVER been to the zoo. 

I purchased a groupon a few months back for a family membership.  The membership expires in December.  It was a bit of a chilly morning but that didn't stop us.  I had never been to the zoo here but had heard that the area on the way is not a great section of town.  I put the address into my GPS and away we went.  Yes, I got a bit lost but was able to find it after a few minutes.

We could have taken the tram to the animals but the boys wanted to walk.

We tried to get as many pictures as possible.

Change of photographer.

Tee is working on his skills.

The Raven!



My animals!

We spent the first part of the morning in the children's section.  Lots of animals and we didn't miss one.  After lunch, we took a train ride.  It would be nice if they had a ride that took you around some animals but it just goes out and back. 

We then hit the African animals.  There are the bigger animals: lions, elephants, giraffes, chimpanzees etc.  The last stop were the polar bears.  We did a lot of walking and decided that we would ride the tram back to the front entrance. 

I love it when the older kids have such a good time doing something that Tee enjoys.  We had such a good time.

Apples.....Apples

I am a bit behind.  A week ago Saturday, it was a beautiful day, we had no plans and we thought it was a good day to go to the farm.  We visit the farm a few times a year and the boys love it.

We headed around lunch in order to stop on the way there.  We stopped for sandwiches.  On the way, E made some comment about not wanting to go.  This was our first outing in a long time as a family and I was not going to let him ruin it.  My response was we were having a family day and we were ALL going to have fun.

We made our way to the apple orchard.  We were able to pick 4 different kids of apples.  It was spread out a bit so we got a lot of walking in.  We got lots and lots of apples.

The boys standing in front of the apple trees!

My piggies!

They have a maze for the kids.  Jay and Tee went right in, with Dad of course.  I was afraid that Tee was going to get separated then get lost then get upset.  They went in and had a great time making their way through.  E stood next to me just looking.  After a few times through, I asked E again if he wanted to  go through.  He said yes.  And he had so much fun.  I can't tell you how many times they all made it through the maze.  We started timing them to see how quickly they could make it back. 

In front of the maze!

 We also went for a hay ride.  As you ride through the woods you see many different characters from Winnie the Pooh to Harry Potter.  It was fun for the boys.  They tool pictures of each and every character.  As you can imagine the pictures were not great.

Our hay ride!


We managed to spend our entire afternoon at the farm.  The apples are delicious.  I have only made one dish with the apples so far.  It was a crock pot recipe for Apples.  It was really yummy.  Tomorrow I think I will try another recipe for apple bread. 

The older boys have flag football on Saturday afternoons.  Even though I had to push them into playing they absolutely love playing.  They wished that game would last longer than 1 hour.  I have yet to take my camera with me to a game. 

Our pool was finally closed this past week.  With all of the rain and colder weather we have not been able to swim since August.  We were a little late this year and I am glad it is finally closed.  The pool is covered in the winter.  The cover sits in a storage bin outside.  We have had to wait until that came out in order to put away all of the pool toys.

Yesterday was a really nice day a bit windy but nice.  We ended up starting a fire in the pit to make smores.  We invited some neighbors over to join us.  It was a fun night.

Our Sundays involve Tee's t-ball game and E/Jay have baseball practice for a few hours.  It seems like weekends fly by.

First Stop

The alarm went off really early on Wednesday morning.  We got up and were on our way a after 5 am.  The boys did really well in the car.  Tee kept us laughing in the car.  It was only a short time before he was asking if we were almost there. 

We decided that instead of trying to make it all the way to Florida we would stop in Savannah.  We would stay the night and tool around a little.  I really like Savannah, it is such an old town with lots of history.  I have been there a few times a very long time ago.

On the 9 hour journey, a thought popped into my head.  I really love the Food Network channel.  How fun would it be if we could eat at Paula Dean's restaurant, Lady and Sons.  With my handy dandy droid I started researching.  I looked over the menu  and then saw that reservations are made each morning at 9:30.  So you wait in line at 9:30 and then are given a reservation time.  They do have a buffet available for people who don't have reservations.

After we checked into our hotel, we took a bus down to the River area and walked around a bit.  It definitely is the party area as there are many bars along the river. 

We then made our way to find Paula's restaurant.  We finally found it and saw the hostess to see if by chance we could make it in.  She looked at us and said she couldn't seat 5 together.  We could split up and both my husband and I were thinking, sounds good the kids can sit on their own.  But that didn't fly with the hostess.  I was TOTALLY BUMMED.  Maybe I need to plan ahead and send Paula a note prior to our next vacation down south.  

On Thursday, we took the boys to the Savannah Railroad Museum, which lucky for us was right behind our hotel.  Yes, sure it is vacation but who says you can't learn a little on vacation.  We took a self guided tour but we also had a guided tour of the Executive cars.  Usually the President of the Railroad was the one who would ride in this car.  They have restored them.  We learned some interesting facts:  ice was put in the bottom of the train and that is how the car was cooled 

The boys also were able to work the hand car (we are unsure what the name is).  Tee and I got to ride along but I could tell that it was much harder than I thought it would be.  The guide had to help the boys.  The men who worked these back in the day sometimes had to go 50 miles a day. 

After the nice morning, we tredge on in our road trip of 2011.

Minnesota visitors

We were so happy when the husband's sister said that they wanted to visit us.  The boys have developed a relationship with all of their cousins but they have one that they communicate with often.  They text each other on their itouches and occasionally they will skype.  It is nice because we are so far away and we don't get to see them often.

They had close to a 17 hour drive done over two days.  The boys were texting the entire trip so we knew where they were until they arrived at our house.

The first day they were here we all spent the day hanging out at the pool.  It was a HOT day so it was nice to be able to stay cool. 

It was nice the husband was able to take a few days off to spend with us. We decided it would be nice to take a trip to Annapolis. We decided to take a sailing trip on the Chesapeake. It was a nice afternoon.



A nice passerby took a picture of all of us in Annapolis!



The husband and E.



Tee and Mom chilling.

Jay and Ry

Nath and my boys.

Cooling off with drinks.

Quite the crew.

the family

He finally got brave enough to move from the safe area.

Future sailor!

 The next day we decided to visit the Aquarium.  Baltimore does have a nice Aquarium.  And we even got snuck into a dolphins show.  We only caught the end but it was good.

Yes, more pictures.

 And the kids spent a lot of time outside in the pool.  My sister in law got a lot of neat pictures of the kids but I only got a few.

The boys (except Tee) all went to a minor league baseball game.  They all had a really good time.  A few of the boys got game balls and one got a soft ball that was thrown into the stands. 

We were so glad they were able to visit.  The boys were so sad when they left.  Jay was finding all reasons why they should come back or why we should meet up with them somewhere.  We hope to be able to see them again sometime soon.

Another summer week

Nothing like spending a few weeks on a 1000 piece puzzle only to get to the very end and realize you have lost a piece. The boys and I spent so much time doing this really hard puzzle. We had fun and are looking forward to the next one that I purchased.


Well, this week started off with Tee getting into a fight at a birthday party. This really caught me off guard. The kids were playing in the yard. She had a big water slide, there was a playground and a little playhouse. It ended up that the birthday boy and his cousin were throwing toys at Tee. He ended up trying to fight the cousin.

I did make Tee apologize and explained that the best thing to do is to walk away. The birthday boy came over the next day to say he was sorry for throwing things at him.

The boys had fun at golf camp but I wasn’t extremely happy with the camp. I am not sure that they were really taught much. I feel like there was a lot of messing around vs. instruction. The boys seem to like the golf pro but I personally don’t think he has much personality. I am going to try to find a different golf program for them next year.

We did go up to the gym pool this week also. It is a big pool with a zero entry area and a few big slides. I kept trying to get the boys to go down the slide and they did not want to. I then realized that Tee could go down the slide. I asked him and he jumped on the offer. He spent a lot of our time there going down the slide and loved it. Then the boys finally started going down the slide.

It has been so incredibly hot here. I feel like a hermit. We have everyone one of our blinds closed and all fans going. Friday made me realize that we needed to close up a little bit because it got way too hot in the house.

We are fortunate enough to have the pool and we have definitely used it this weekend. We have all been emerged in the water the entire time.

This week is a quiet week. We are done with camps so I will have to make sure to find things to do to keep us busy.

The first week of Summer

E and Jay are exhausted.  The boys are doing a Scouts camp this week.  The boys are up and out of the house by a little after 7am and don't get home until around 5:30.  The camp is about a 30 minute drive.  Talk about a long day.

They are having fun and doing so many requirements of their next rank.  But needless to say they are so tired.  They wished it wasn't all day.  Honestly, I wished it wasn't all day too.  The good news is that there are only 3 more days left.  

I also put Tee into Nature Camp this week.  It is only 3 hours a day and he has had a blast.  One of his friends is going also.  They take hikes everyday which he loves.  I was a little worried about the camp at first since it is outside and I wasn't sure how many kids or who was running it.  But it has all worked out.

The husband is on vacation this week also.  Well, not much of a vacation for him.  We got 12 yards of mulch delivered today.  So he spent much of the day transporting to the backyard.  I was only able to help a little today.  Still lots more to move.

I am hoping we can accomplish lots this week. 

I grew up in a pretty strict household.  I remember my Mom sitting us kids down and making us listen to a tape of someone speaking about how rock music was devil music.  If you played the lyrics backwards there were satanic messages.  I was always a top 40 music listener, rock was not my thing but I am not sure if my Mom understood that.  So I sat in the room not listening much.  You did get that it was on a tape recorder.

Concerts were always out of the question.  My first concert was in college with one of my good guy friends.  I was into more alternative music in college.  We went to see The Cure.  It was a good concert but lots of freakishly dressed people.  It was in a coliseum so pretty mellow.

My next concert date was my husband, boyfriend at the time.  We went to Pearl Jam.  I like their music but I so much enjoyed people watching.  I wondered what the strange smell was that took over our space.  Yes, I did not hang out with people who smoked pot so I did not know the smell.  I also remember a guy in front of our space who was selling shirts or something.  He took his pants down and stuck money in his special underwear.  Interesting to say the least.

Luckily, my next concert was very mellow.  I loved the Lilith Fair.  Lots of great female singers.  Would love to see it again sometime.

That is the extent of my concert going until the other nights.  My husband mentioned that he entered his name in a drawing at work to win 2 tickets to the suite.  You had to answer all the questions correctly.  I got a text the next day stating he had won 2 tickets to U2.  He is very lucky, maybe he should start playing the lottery.

There was a lot of juggling taking place on Wednesday.  I had a friend who asked if I could watch her child because they were going to the concert as well.  I had a teenager sit with the kids for a while until my niece got off work.  

I was able to catch a ride with some friends fairly early.  We went to a dinner at a nice restaurant before catching a cab to the stadium. 

As soon as we got to the stadium, the others told us we missed Bono by 15 minutes.  He was having dinner in the suite right next to ours.  Many of them got pictures of  him leaving the suite.  How cool would that have been. 

The stage was amazing.  It was a great concert.  We had a great time.

After the concert we walked all the way back to my husband's parking space.  It was a 45 minute walk.  Drenched in sweat we were.

Easter 2011

It wouldn't be Easter without dying and decorating eggs.  The boys had fun and really took their time.

The boys were anxiously waiting the go to get to their baskets.

Scoping it all out.

The Easter bunny was sneaky this year and hid the eggs in the basement.

Emptying the goodies out of the eggs and eating a little on the way.

The boys decided to leave carrots out for the bunny.  How cute!  The bunny must have been hungry. 

We had a nice day.  We went to church in the morning and spent the afternoon working in the yard/garage.  It was a really nice day except we did have storms roll through in the late afternoon.

E had asked a question recently about if the Easter bunny was a real person or not.  My husband's response was it is an Easter bunny.  I had an indication that would not be the last question we would receive.  So I spoke to my husband before and went though what I would say.

Sure enough a few days before Easter, Jay asked me if the Easter bunny was real or if his Dad and I filled his basket.  I asked him what he thought and his response was that it was us.  Iasked him if he really wanted to know and he said yes.  So I admitted it.  What I wasn't ready for was the Santa question.  He did ask and E blurted out that of course Santa was real.  That was my cue that E was definitely not ready to know.  I told Jay that he had to believe in order to get gifts. 

I did ask where this was coming from and Jay said that his friend told him. Darn friend.  But at the same time they are 9 and I really don't want them being made fun of by their friends.

I have threatened both boys that if they ruin this for Tee that would be in so much trouble.  It would be the end of it for them.  They have had a good 9 years and Tee has about another 5. 

I am a little sad that they know the truth, it just confirms that they are growing up.  It is going by way too fast.

Turning the corner......maybe

Tee has been sick for the last 5 days. It started with a little cough then escalated to a non-stop cough and a fever. He has been fever free today but still hacking a bit. I have had him on nebulizer treatments which have helped.

I am thinking he will be home from school tomorrow. He can relax and recover without spreading our germs to others.

Tee and I were playing Wii downstairs this morning. He got a little difficult and I warned him I would stop playing with him. He chose to continue being difficult so I stopped the play.

He came upstairs and started crying and this is what happened:


He fell asleep in that position. So after I took my picture, I moved him up onto the couch. He woke up, started crying again saying he didn't want to nap and then fell back to sleep.

I am hoping today is the day where he starts to feel better and gets rid of the cough.

I look at my calendar and find it hard to believe that we are almost at the end of March. We had a fairly busy month. Sports, scouts and the never ending appointments.

The husband and I actually got 2 date nights this month. I know not nearly enough but enjoyed the two we had. We went to an auction for a local private school with some friends. It was fun and my husband got a little lucky, like always. Another weekend, we drove down to DC to eat at Carmine's. It was so yummy and can't wait to go back.

The husband was gone for a week for a leadership class in Pa. It was a long week for both of us (different reasons of course) but we managed to make it through.

I am sure most of you know that I am a reality tv fanatic. I don't know why I am so intrigued. When I found out Bethenny Frankel was coming to our city on her conversation tour, I decided I needed to go. I went with a couple of girl friends. Ok, she was 30 minutes late. Really! Big huge turn off. She did start off strong and then kind of fizzled with the long conversation of her new book. The worst part was listening to the questions from the audience. Funny how everyone relates to her and needs to tell her. I am glad I went. It was my first try of the skinny girl margarita, which was very good.

We have enjoyed some really nice days this month. It brings hope that warmer weather is on its way. However, this weekend is not looking so good. It is supposed to be cold with the possibility of snow. Someone needs to explain that it is almost the end of March and snow should be out of the picture. As luck would have it, the boys are set to play in a pre-season baseball tournament this weekend. The tournament is over 1 hour away, north of us of course. So my husband/coach is trying to figure out what he needs to bring in order to keep them warm in the dugout. They are possibly staying the night up there somewhere because of a 9am game time on Sunday.

Well, it was a short nap today for the little one.....off to feed him some lunch.

A running start to the year

The new year started and we were off once again to our busy schedule. School work is a little heavier this year. In addition, we are back to practicing baseball 2 times a week and basketball is 2 times a week (one practice and one game).

The husband scurried the first week of the year to get Pinewood Derby cars completed. This was his first attempt at Derby cars and the cars ended up looking really nice although they were not very fast on the track. E was a little disappointed but Jay handled it a little better.


E holding up his car!

E was very happy to get a trophy for a best in show!

Jay's bat mobile looking car!

The husband learned a lot during this process and has some ideas to improve the cars for next year.

The boys have been enjoying scouts. They are close to earning their next rank. The ceremony is held in early February and I am helping organize the event.

Since the beginning of the year, I have been to two sporting events. The husband had a work function in the suite for a Ravens football game. He was able to get two additional tickets so that the older boys could attend as well. Jay was in heaven as he is a really big football fan. E enjoyed himself also but doesn't love the game as much as his brother. It was a cold day so I stayed inside the suite and E joined me for a good portion. It was nice to be able to attend the game and what a way to watch.

This past weekend, the husband and I got away for a night. It is so nice to have my niece in town and able to watch the kids for us. During the holidays, my husband's work had an auction. He bid and won tickets to the Washington Wizards game. Not just any tickets, coaches tickets. The seats are on the floor right behind the players and access to food and drink. The game was really fun. The guys are so tall and we were so close.

A picture from the game.

We stayed in Georgetown, actually arrived around lunch time. After checking into our hotel, we were able to walk around a little and had lunch. I kept seeing everyone with bags from Georgetown cupcakes. I thought that the cupcakes had to be really good so we searched and found them. There was a really long line waiting to purchase cupcakes. We weren't going to stand in line but definitely will look into it next time.

I have enrolled Tee back in soccer for another 5 sessions. He is adamant about playing. We have a new teacher this time and he is really funny and the kids love him. He definitely has more parent involvement and the kids love that as well. We are going to sign him up for baseball in the spring. He can not play soccer on a team until he is five. No we are not trying to steer him into any particular sport....

It is only mid-January???????