MY THREE SONS

Jan 20, 2010

My Eyes

This is how I used my time while waiting for Callahan at the dentist. Yes, I was the loon in the waiting room snapping pictures of my eye with my cell phone

My Irish Eyes

Jan 17, 2010

This is our master bath, it's a 3/4 bath in our bedroom. Everything in it is white except the tile in the shower.
Boring, boring, boring! On my list of upgrades are new sink, medicine cabinet, lights, new exhaust fan, paint, possibly subway tile on walls (will decide if I'm up to that challenge) and some more storage. Thank God Tim is quite handy because he will have to do the plumbing, electrical work and hang the cabinets.

This morning I removed all the old seal from inside and outside of the shower. Put the industrial fan on it all day to dry. Tonight, I resealed the shower, scraped of some peeling paint and spackled...a lot! Now the industrial fan is drying it again.

that giant purple splotch near the ceiling was from a large hole I cut in the wall when the roof was leaking last year. I was concerned whether the drywall and insulation got wet, but it appeared dry. So we had a real pretty hole for quite some time

That nice white rim around the lower base of the shower is my handy work. Our house kinda leans so the shower is not flush with the walls halfway up. Every six months or so I have to reseal.

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Tim took the boys to see Avatar tonight and Karrick asked why he didn't go. I told him it was almost 3 hours long, that he probably wouldn't sit through it.
His reply:
"I probably would have gotten fat anyway sitting there for 3 hours"

"Did you learn that in PE?" I ask,

"No, more like from WALL-E"
he said with a "whataya an idiot" tone

"Did WALL-E get fat in the movie from sitting too long?" I ask

"No mom the humans did"

with a look on his face that screamed
"like robots even get fat..duh"

Aren't I the town idiot

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I'm going to say that this weekend just kicked my ass...I must be getting old. First my boys had a four day weekend which is just wrong on every level so soon after Christmas break

I went to 3 different basketball practices, 2 different basketball games, baseball registration, had a wonderful lunch date with Tim at California pizza kitchen. Went butcher block shopping with Tim and had 2 extra boys overnight Friday, 1 boy overnight Sat and another overnight tonight (all different boys) and watched at least 4 movies. Not to mention the above mentioned bathroom project. I'm telling you right now I'm not upset about going to work tomorrow..Peace and Quiet, I say. Tim is taking the boys skiing for the day

Jan 16, 2010

The cute factor isn't lost

This morning Karrick started basketball, at 8:15 am I might add. Tim and I had some concerns that after 2 boys and over 8 years of competitive sports under our belt; the cute factor may of run it's course. To start all over again, especially at 8:15 am every Saturday morning might be a tad brutal. I am happy to report that it was as cute as cute can be. Karrick just loved it.

Jan 15, 2010

that boy can jump...

That would be my TJ way up there, at basketball practice

and that is my Callahan gettin tough at basketball practice.

Jan 14, 2010

How often does an Astronaut come to school?

Pleasant Lane Elementary had a PBIS Celebration (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) today. Students and faculty wore their Red Gotcha shirts. Lombard native Astronaut Dan Tani came to the school to talk about achieving dreams and setting goals. He also reminded the children how beautiful the earth is and brought in great pictures and stories from inside the space shuttle.

Unfortunately Callahan still has the stomach flu so he had to miss today. He was fortunate enough to meet Mr Tani last year. My friend Karen W. took Callahan to her church one day to meet him. They talked about IMSA and NASA where Cal plans on working. Callahan got the above picture of the 2 of them and a signed picture of the space shuttle

I asked Karrick to tell me 1 thing he learned from Astronaut Dan Tani and he said

"Everything floats in space"

Jan 13, 2010

A Snowman and a thick green booger

In class Karrick read a story called Snowballs, it had great ideas on how to build an interesting snow person. For homework he came home with 3 paper plates taped together and had to create his own interesting snow person. At school each student will tell the class how his snow person was made.

The finished product...Why a snowman car...of course. Look close and you can see little black wheels on the bottom. The blue triangular piece is the windows and the black tail on the back is actually the cars wing.

I will apologize now for the giant green booger hanging out of Karricks nose. He is on his way to a sinus infection->ear infection-> pneumonia or maybe this will be the year that green gunky boogers (that are the size of marbles that are only removed by my pinky finger shoved half way up the kids nose. You know the ones that you tug slowly on and the kids eyes start to water because the tip maybe hanging out, but the end is still stuck up in his sinus cavity) go away on their own w/o a 3 week drawn out production. Sorry I got graphic but I'm a little punchy...I'm on day 2 of a puker and I just bet you, that same as last night, the minute I get in bed Cal will come up saying he didn't make it to the toilet.

Jan 10, 2010

Cal and theThe Kmart ad...

The big day has finally arrived. Remember this blog WWE Seriously!?. Callahan's WWE ad came out today and you know what? It is pretty darn cute, not to mention almost a full page ad. He received his check a few weeks ago plus SC Johnson renewed his contract for the 4th year in a row for his OFF ad. That money was included on the check which totally made it all good in Cal's book. It appeared that he made a crap load of money for a less than enjoyable day. 99% of all jobs are fun, I'm not dogging the business at all. The entire 8 year experience has been very kind to my kids, not to mention their bank accounts.

Today started basketball season! WooHoo! TJ had a 12:30 game which they lost in the 4 th quarter. I was thrilled to find out that Jamie W (TJ's travel baseball team mate) was on the team. Which means my favorite "Peace mom" Karen W. will be at all the games. I tease Karen because she proudly holds the title as "Lombard's only Liberal" and is all peace, love and granola. She loves swimming in this sea of Republicans.

This year TJ, Callahan and Karrick are playing basketball...Wow! The only draw back is all Karrick's games are at 8:30 am every Saturday morning...OUCH. He is just thrilled to finally be on a team with uniforms and

"everyone will come just to watch me?"

"Yes, honey"

Tim and I went to York Town Mall today, boy do we have some fun shopping together. We found 2 pieces of art that matched our living room perfectly. After many years we finally put up something other than our kids portraits

Jan 9, 2010

Our day out

Tim and I had a day out. First we headed to the theater to catch the 12:10 showing of Brothers. What a fantastic movie, very real I thought. At times I teared up and at times I was shocked. You walk out of the movie thinking "would you do it or not?" I went with "would not".

Straight from there we headed over to Sams club and loaded up.

After heading home we fed the boys, showered and dressed for dinner. We went to what may be my favorite restaurant.

Redstone in Oak Brook is just wonderful. I love the atmosphere and we have never had anything less than superb.

I was able to wear my diamond bling

Outdoor fire pit

Must have flat bread original as an appetizer. Super thin crunchy flat bread with Mozzarella, tomato and basil.

I also had a lump crab cake. Tim had a steak while I had Shrimp Gamelle . Somehow after all that we were able to finish not one, but two desserts

Hot chocolate chip cookie with ice cream, chocolate and caramel sauce covered with pralines

super chocolate cake

Finally we headed to our local Blockbuster for some more movies before going home and calling it a ~~day~~ night

Jan 7, 2010

Sleigh ride

Thinking it would be fun I suggested to Karrick we travel to school by sled. I was a little shocked by his reply
"great, I just know I'm going to get a tardy slip"

He plopped himself on the sled and off we went. I pulled him down the block as he squealed with delight. No tardy slip, in fact we were 15 minutes early. It was adorable to watch him and his buddies take turns pulling each other around the playground . As the bell rung Karrick says
"Mom, can you pick me up in the sled"

"sure will" I replied

Jan 4, 2010

Glenbard East Class of 2014...OM"fing"G!

My heart is racing and I feel an anxiety attack coming on...NO JOKE! I knew this day was coming and I thought I prepared for it, it wasn't suppose to come now. Last week TJ's tentative high school class list came in the mail for Freshman year. It's barely January, for the love of God! Slow down, everyone just needs to slow the F*** down. Today TJ came home with the above booklet and all kids of sheets...too many sheets. Graduation requirements for High school, driver ed, electives and College entrance requirements.COLLEGE FREAKIN ENTRANCE... STOP! PLEASE can we please finish 8th grade. My head is spinning...college requirements already...he just turned 13! Wednesday is Freshman orientation which Tim has to take TJ because my long awaited photography classes start Wednesday and I have to take this first class to take the next 7 weeks or wait until May. January 21st is HS registration and meet with the HS guidance counselors to choose regular or honor classes based on teacher recommendations and EXPLORE test scores.

This seriously may be mentally harder on me than Kindergarten

Jan 3, 2010

Alpine Valley Ski trip

Just love this picture of Callahan

We spent 3 days at Alpine Valley skiing. This is our 3rd straight year heading to WI after Christmas for some family time and skiing. We had a wonderful time together. WI is a great place for practice skiing before we head out to Keystone in Feb. Tim's parent have a home there. Callahan has taken to skiing like a duck to water. He was bombing the black diamond runs and jumping, hence Tim getting him a helmet asap. Must protect that brain.

This was my first time to Alpine, Tim went there often as a child. The hotel was cute nothing fancy, but the skiing was outside the door. Convenient. You can see the mountain lit up in the background.

My big boys

Tim and TJ. TJ hasn't been on skis since he was about 3 years old. The last 3 years he has snowboarded, but a wipe out on the first day hurt his left wrist (not the pitching arm thank God) It was near ZERO and icy so he flipped to skis.

Cal and Tim above and Cals jump below

This is the jump Cal went over, the 2 guys in the foreground are adults so you can see the height of the jump and how far you have to go to land. Callahan wiped out, but he was the only one that would try it. God Bless him for trying

Cal

Grandpa came up for a day and helped karrick get comfortable. Grandpa started Tim and his brothers out sking by age 3 or 4. Tim was competing and winning at 4.