Monday, May 27, 2013

Miller's VPK Graduation

Last weekend was Miller's VPK graduation. A couple months ago we received a note stating they were having a graduation ceremony at a local hotel. It was on a Saturday. Caps, gowns, pictures, the whole 9 yards. At first, I completely balked at the event thinking what a scam. I have to pay another $45 for a pre-K graduation ceremony?!?! All I do is shell out money to this school.

Fast forward to last weekend. Although it wasn't the best $45 I have spent, it was one of Miller's best weekends. G&G Sladky made a short trip for the event. We got dolled up and went to the ceremony. Miller was required to where a white shirt and black pants. We jazzed it up with a hot flame belt. Here's the pre-ceremony silly shot.



Upon arrival we dropped him and his gown off in the staging room and headed to the room to find a seat. We got the second row but note for future events-figure out which side of the stage. We were on the wrong side! Oh well, I could see him and got some distant shots.

They started out with some words from the staff, then the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner. They had a few songs and a skit. The skit consisted of them being at their 10 or 20 year reunion and were dressed in their profession. Each kid came up in pairs or trios and delivered a line. Miller was in the last pair and had 2 lines. He was a news reporter with his credentials and microphone on. *Miller mentioned a week before graduation he had two lines and wanted to know why he was the only one that did. I assumed he was just complaining. Nope, he was the only one with two lines and they were a lot longer than most of the others. He rocked it!


They changed into their gowns and came back for their actual diplomas. The biggest hit was they received a 2013 gold ring from one of the teachers.




After graduation we went home for a bit. Miller swam and then we went out to the restaurant of his choice. He picked "Adam Good Grilled Cheese" bar because they have macaroni cheese bites (they are delicious). After that we made a trip to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. He said he had the best day ever.

He topped off that graduation with a parent/teacher conference the following week that also left me beaming. I hope kindergarten is as successful as this past year has been. I am super proud of him and can only imagine 13 years from now what his high school graduation will be like.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Sickness

The house has been plagued by sickness. A few weeks ago, Mason was teething and sickly. I posted about his satanic qualities already so no need to dwell on that. Then Ryan had a sinus infection/terrible head cold.

Fast forward to last week. Miller had an infection on an owie on his chest that required a trip to the pediatrician and antibiotics. I should have taken him in sooner but the "hot compress and squeeze the ick out" process had worked over a couple days and reduced the size of it. Funny thing, the doctor said we did the right thing. At least I am not that bad of a mom.

That same week, Ryan took Annie to the vet for a diagnosis on her eye. We assumed they would say we needed to remove it and we would book that appointment. Nope, off to the ophthalmologist she went. Many hundred dollars later, she's on medication for the rest of her days. Her medicine schedule rivals a 90 year old. She has some medicine that will cease once her ulcerated eye is better; meaning, Ryan has one less medication to give. She has different items and doses for each eye, 3x a day. My lord!

Then it was my turn. I got the sinus infection/head cold Ryan did (or so I thought). My left ear plugged up and I had a cough from hell. I kept thinking it would get better (started on Sunday). By Thursday afternoon, I was in a walk in clinic with a severe ear infection. The ear infection hurts like hell but top it off with this terrible cough that keeps me up half the night and I am one cranky mom.

Hopefully my antibiotics kick in soon and I start to feel better. I want to bleach my house and go a few weeks (ideally months or years) without such illness in the house. Yuck! Luckily, none of us are contagious.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Auntie Em's Visit and Mother's Day

I think most of my posts start out with "it's been a while." Anywho....

Auntie Em came for a visit 2 weekends ago. It was fun on many levels. I picked her up Friday and we headed to the kids' school for a Mother's Day Tea. In Miller's room, I was given a hat he helped create (painted giant coffee filter). Then we sat down for brownies, strawberries, and tea (iced) at a table decorated with hand prints in the shape of flowers. While we had our tea, I received a beautiful card Miller made, a MOM frame (popsicle sticks) with a picture of the two of us in the O, and a flower he made.

In Mason's room, I skipped the goodies since he was done eating and was handed a ton of additional presents. He had made hand print flowers on a white t-shirt with their name and year written on it, painted a little glass jar holding a tea light, created a laminated pot of flowers with hand prints, a painted planter with a flower growing in it, and a certificate for being a great mom. In addition to that, they spoiled me at home with flowers and more gifts. Talk about raising the bar.

Back to Em's visit. Friday was low key and Saturday we headed to the Young At Art museum. It was awesome! I don't know who had the most fun. There was plenty to do for all ages. I could have stayed longer but Mason had hit his limit and it was lunch time.






On Sunday we took Miller to the comic book store and Target. We also took him to get a haircut (Mason went with Ryan earlier that day). Em and I escaped for a short version of shopping on Sunday afternoon.

Monday we sent the kids to school and Emily and I headed to Boca Town Center for some more shopping (well, browsing). We can't afford designer products! We had lunch and then came back to float in the pool before heading to the airport.

The boys were well behaved all weekend. We had play time at home and some pool time. We ate well and of course drank well. Hopefully we see Auntie Em again before Christmas. It was a great weekend without any sibling squabbling (us girls or the boys).

Sunday, May 05, 2013

How Much Longer?

I need to review my blog for Miller updates related to teething because Mason is like Satan's spawn as it's happening. It's the cycle (probably the pain > fingers in mouth > germs > cold > more snot > more discomfort > cough > more pain > tired > miserable kid = miserable mom and dad).

He's never been a good napper so in times like this (was up until almost 9pm when bedtime is normally between 6:30 and 7pm), coughed throughout the night, up at 5am and not happy to be up, we really notice it. He has been hit and miss with eating but drinking a lot of fluids. He hasn't spiked a fever either. We have resorted to rounds of tylenol because we are hoping it will take the edge off and make him sleepy. If that fails, I guess there is always more liquor in the cabinet for us to drink.

I feel terrible we can't comfort him. He has always been 100% sweet and then 100% evil in the span of seconds. I think that's what is taking the toll on us more than anything. I believe Miller had ups and downs too but they seemed less severe.

Oh well, I am hoping this is the last round of teeth for a while. I think this completes his baby set...I am too afraid to stick my fingers in there to count!

I am walking on egg shells right now because I think he's actually asleep. I have a ton to do but don't dare make a sound. Wish us luck because next weekend Auntie Em is here and she will never visit again if he's like this while she's here.

On a much more positive note; Miller and I went to the mall yesterday to get him some black pants and a white shirt for graduation. I ended up getting him Levi's (skinny boy jeans!) instead of dress pants. I sweetened the deal by letting him get a reversible belt (one side has flames, the other is black). I even tossed in a stop at DQ while looking for gifts for his teachers. I do enjoy our little outings together even if bribery is needed. He's such a good boy and takes the brunt of us when we are having a tough time with Mason. He's lucky his mom and dad were first kids and understand that it comes with the territory.

He is also going to win the best big brother award and best friend award. He's always helping Mason and explaining things to him. A classic line last week was while he was showing Mason how to do something..."Mason, if you don't watch me, how will you ever learn how to do it yourself." I giggled and he said something about "oh, that's why dad says that."

At school, they had pajama day. He decided to wear his batman pj's (long sleeves and pants). I packed his Ninjago shorts/tshirt combo incase he got too warm. I found out one of his friends didn't wear pj's so he let him borrow them so he wasn't left out. How sweet can he get? Hopefully Mason will have similar compassion towards others. I hope to report something sweet after Satan is exorcised from his body this week.