Fall fun!

Ti's the season for Soccer! I forget how fun it was watching William when he was little run around the field. This is Patrick's first year playing, and William and I have gotten more giggles sitting together on the sidelines watching the kids and laughing at the chaos. I tell him stories of the silly things he did and he denied it all! I know Aunt Jen and Nicole will remember this well...in William's first game he was made goalie, the goal was made up of two orange cones and the coach explained to William that he needed to guard the opening and keep the ball from going through. William guarded the goal for a little while, but I guess he was finding it difficult, so finally he ran over and picked up the cones and moved them closer together...less to guard! We were laughing so hard we couldn't go out there and fix it.

William is doing quite well this year, he has discovered that shin guards are a good thing and that getting the ball is fun! We love watching him and his team play hard on a Sunday morning! My one regret is that some of our favorite friends are not able to be on the team with him this year. Maybe next year!

Patrick has not changed any dynamics of the game as of yet, but he and his teammates have chased the ball off of the field through two other games and into the woods... They don't actually have games, just skill sessions followed by 15 minute scrimmages which they thing of as games, they actually play each other, they just don't know it. His shorts are too long...his socks are too high, and I love every minute of watching it and William doesn't believe for a second that he was ever that small or silly! - We know the truth and have the video footage to prove it!

On another note, a call out to a friend that was hurt today, her strength and grace never cease to amaze me. I am not sure how many times you need to get knocked down, but you always get back up and smile while heading in to the world for more. Wish I could give you a hug before I leave for DC...I will bring you back a treat!

The most WONDERFUL time of the year....

So another year begins, and the big yellow monster ate the kids. Not a moment to soon to be sure! The kids were just ready to get back into the structure of the school year...or was that the moms? Here nor there, everyone was smiling this morning at the neighborhood bus stop. The kids were looking forward to seeing who their teacher was and who was in their class. What a great group we have! Several new kindergartners this year got on the bus and the big kids took good care of them. Patrick really wanted to go, but he will just have to wait until next year.

Patrick started his last year at Mulberry this morning, actually it is called Kindercare now, but after 6 years it will always be Mulberry to us.

William started here when he was 4 and graduated to kindergarten, and Patrick started when he was 10 weeks old. He will graduate from the very same classroom with some of the same teachers William had the end of this year.

Hard to believe they are growing up so fast!

Well, no one will be growing if I do get on with dinner so off I go. Hope everyone had a great first day of school!

Shoes

Crocs have been quite the rage for a while now. I myself after having said I would never wear them have two pairs, and both William and Patrick have a pair of their own. What became fun this summer was collecting the Jibbitz. They earned them for all sorts of things. I was looking at all our shoes laying in the middle of the family room floor this morning and I notices something. Mine are very clean and the Jibbitz are straight and distributed over both shoes (actually all 4). William's shoes while dirty have all the Jibbitz in tact and on one shoe, he is trying to fill in all the holes on one the move on to the other. With Patrick, his shoes are really quite disgusting...half the Jibbitz are missing and the ones that are there are dirty, upside down and missing body parts. Goofy is missing an ear, the Dino's head is gone..and some time between the photo and this post the Yin Yang went missing.

Funny how some shoes can start to look so much like their owners. I still can't figure out how Patrick keeps killing off the Jibbitz, but they keep disapearing! Poor Dino!

A girl's right of passage...

Today I got to witness a young girl's right of passage. It's not the prom, or driving, or dating..or any of the normal things you might expect...but miss Ella got her first taste (Literally!) of a $100 bill.

She had so much fun flashing her "wad" at the store today! She was waving her bills all over the place and when we finally had to take them away from her she accepted scrap paper in trade..I am sure that won't always be the case, but for today whether it was paper or $$ she smiled from ear to ear. Aren't babies fun!

Our family has had lots of fun with babies this weekend. You know how you always offer to watch babies for new moms? Well we finally had someone take us up on it! Friday night Jack came over for a visit. We had a lot of fun. We all went for a walk. William and Patrick both sang him songs, and we went through several bottles! Little Jack must be going through a growth spurt, he went through several bottles quite quickly, and kept wanting more!

Tom said it took me about 1.5 hours to remember why I was done having babies...and it took him 45 min. About the time I told William and Patrick to go to bed, and they went upstairs, brushed teeth, climbed in bed and waited for us to come up, I remembered that with babies there is never any sending them off to do anything on their own, so while Jack Jack is the cutest... There will definitely be no more babies in this house. Even if I have to keep borrowing babies to get it out of my system...I have started to enjoy my Independence way too much to give it up now. The boys are at just the right age that we can start doing stuff together and they can participate, and they can get some stuff done on their own. I am spoiled!

Well, my family is in bed and I am off to bed as well. More fun tomorrow! Can't wait to tell everyone about it! OH yeah! Deena finally sent me a few pics from Alaska! She got home tonight...but better late than never. I had asked her to walk on a glacier for me, her email said this is it...I don't quite get it.. but here it is anyway, I can't wait to ask her what she is talking about! The photo to the left is actually a glacier...what she is touching to the right is - I just don't know!!!!

Talk to you soon!

Corrupted JPGs

that's what I had...

a whole folder of them! I knew what some of them were but not all of the or I thought I knew what they were but it turns out I didn't!

How disappointed I was when I discovered that I had lost all the photos from the zoo! Over Memorial Day Maggie had come up from Florida to visit and we too her to the Philadelphia Zoo. Then I realized I had also lost half of the photos from William's end of year skit. I really wanted them back! I spent hours on line trying to find programs that would reconstruct the files that were in the folder. It seemed like all the data was there, it was just when I tried to open them I got a red X. Noting worked.

Then I found this program that said it could save corrupted photos but only if they were on a memory card. I had already deleted and re-formatted the memory card several times but what the heck! It let me try it to see what was there but then you had to pay the $30 if you wanted to save whatever it reconstructed. This program found 517 photos on an empty card. All the zoo photos, the skit photos, Phillie's game photos (that I hadn't realized were missing yet!), and a bunch of other things...some I had and some I didn't. let me tell you it was one of the best $30 I ever spent!

I was really disappointed that everything was missing. We had so much fun at the zoo and Tom, William and Uncle Tim had so much

fun at the game and it was all missing! All in all it was a good

night! Glad I didn't give up!

So if you loose your photos give me a call - I know a guy!

We have Pirates! ARG!

The Pirates have invaded! What a great weekend! After a really long few weeks we got to have some real fun this weekend. First we had a great time at the Pirates and Princesses birthday party for our friends Cathleen and Aiden. It is so hard to believe they are 6 and 4 now. I find it hard to believe that all of our little six pack (now 7!) is growing up so fast!

I got a real treat this year and got to make Aiden's birthday cake. I had been wanting to make a Pirate ship cake for some time now but neither of my boys had ever wanted one, so Aiden let me make it. I got a great photo and so great guides from a friend at work, plus found some directions and suggestions on-line. We really had a lot of fun here making it - Tom and William went mini Pirate hunting..my mom baked the many cakes involved in the construction, and Tom and Patrick went candy shopping for the decorations. It really looked good if I do say so myself!

And then we went outside... icing glue and 95 degree weather and things started to melt...by the time we got to the party, one side of the cake looked like it had already been in battle. Luckily...it did not matter to Aiden...the smile made it all worth it. The panic, the blasting of the AC all the way to the party, the emergency icing at the house and the frantic emptying of the freezer...in the end the smiles went on for miles and while the Black Pearl it was not...neither was it the Titanic...

Today we got up and met the Stillings at The Renaissance Faire for Pirate day! WE always have so much fun when our two families spend time together, sadly we don't get to do it often enough! Our three pirates wore their earrings and had lots of fun! It never ceases to amaze me the wonderful people that go there. The boys were stopped all day by amazing costumed people bearing "booty" for all the kids. A lot of them don't even work there, they just love the place and they love the kids and families that come to visit. What characters! And how amazing that they stay in character the way they do! We have been several times and have seen and done new things every time. We always have a great time.

This year, Patrick adopted a baby Dragon at the Orphanage. He has wanted a pet for so long and he really like this little guy. He came with adoption papers and everything! His name is Big Rock...Rockey for short...he eats crickets and baby food. We shall see...I guess I will have to try and hold the lizard... ugh!

William on the other hand was captured by the mud people...the only way to get un-captured is for someone to put $ in the basket...and in the process take the risk of getting captures themselves. William had gotten captured saving someone else. It took a little bit of debate between us to see who was going to attempt to save him...the rest of the crowd wasn't moving...so daddy to the rescue! I am not sure I have seen him move that fast in a very long time...he did not get captured and we were on to the next adventure! We saw a joust, several shows, LOTS of Pirates (including captain Jack Sparrow!), took part in a treasure hunt, and pretty much ate our way through the village! We missed the human Chess match...but there is always next time and I for one can't wait!

I have fallen...but I am up!

Where have I been you ask? Well I have NOT fallen off the edge of the earth! I have been all over though…entertaining guests from London…”Hi Rema!” Working until all hours of the evening..dress hunting for my nephew’s wedding (found it!) Tux shopping for the boys…back to school shopping for William – if only he would stop growing all would be well, but we barely get home from the store and they are too short again! We killed the kids fish…I was sick all weekend..and I am sure just like most of the rest of the people trying to get ready for the back to school rush I could go on and on and on....I even get to bake a pirate cake!

I am now looking forward to two fun days with family and friends...oh, and Laundry! and maybe a bit of scrapbooking!

Deena is in Alaska this week..she was supposed to email me a photo of her on a glacier but it is Thursday and I have seen nothing yet…but I have not given up hope. I will post again soon, but I wanted to break the dry streak and the streak of "started and interrupted" posts...maybe I will finish some of them, they were interesting!

That's enough of that!

We are here!!!! SAVE has begun! A weekend full of paper, photos and 90 of my closest friends...and of course, my mom...

I always look forward to these weekends but this one was specially needed. Things have been a bit stressful with all the comings and goings of late. Tom and I have had many late nights at work, and we have had many full weekends, which were fun...but left little time for laundry and life which had to get squeezed in between sleeping and everything else which stresses you out a bit. There was a very fun trip to Rehoboth beach...a trip to Virginia for the shower and visits with family, then the CKC Convention. The CKC convention was last weekend, VERY busy! but VERY satisfying! MLPA made a very nice showing for their first year, both their class and their booth got rave reviews..I love our local scrapbook store!!! We did get to take the boys to see Ratatouille last weekend - really cute! We had fun!

So now we are here! The long awaited SAVE weekend...twice a year, me-n-mom...and 90 -200 of our closest friends... No kids, no husbands, no dishes, laundry or responsibilities! All our meals are prepared for us, someone else even makes OUR bed...

We get to sort through photos, memories, paper and adhesive...lots and lots of adhesive! I am so glad Rollie ran with our little idea, going on year three and each one is more fun than the last. So thanks Rollie for these weekends, and thanks Tom for doing the work of 4 for 4 days! and all I can say is there is just one thing missing... Deena! So hurry it up! Your seat is empty!

ya KNOW!

you would think with the convention coming at the end of the week, and SAVE at the end of next week I would be excited. Well, I am about those things, but have you ever noticed how the people who really really suck are the only ones who don't know that they suck?

You know them...the ones that just suck the fun out of everything, make life more difficult for the rest of the population, are so dang miserable with their own little lives that they feel the need to try and bring everyone else down with them. So now I am venting. We have had the good, and the bad, and here is the ugly on Trish's Treasures. Not that the sucky people are reading this because they are always more interested in their own self to care about anyone else. But someone once told me that with a blog...it was good to get it all down and it would feel better to get it out...you know who you are and you were right, I feel better.

So now I am going home, to hug my kids and read another chapter of Harry Potter to them before they go to sleep. This was just a bad day and I am going to start over again in the morning and see what happens. I hope everyone else has a better day than I did, and if not...there's always tomorrow!

Thanks for listening..see you at the convention!

10:45 PM

(copying format- thanks Rollie!)

Patrick: MOM!

he comes running in our room very upset

Me: Patch what's wrong?

Patrick: You know that juice from the store this afternoon? I want to try it now.

we had been to Costco early in the afternoon where the sample lady had been giving out juice samples. William got one for each of them, Patrick did not want his so William drank both.

I am not sure if he thought William was still carrying the juice around, or if he thought I was going to pop him in the car for a trip to Costco in the middle of the night, but apparently he did not expect me to double over laughing because he looked surprised for a second then cried harder. Now Tom is running up the stairs to see why I can't breathe and who broke Patrick's heart. Thankfully when he realized what Patrick wanted he also deducted my tactic was not working so he took another one and took him back to his room.

Patrick is either making us laugh or making us crazy...either way it is always an adventure!

Mom's garden...

We have had so many very busy weekends this year and it looks like they aren't going to stop any time soon. This one sounds like it is going to be kind of quiet. Tonight I think I am going to open a bottle of wine and chill by the garden.

I planted my garden this year...thanks Rollie for turning 45...your party instigated many changes at the house I had wanted to get to for a very long time but kept putting off, one of them being re-planting "mom's garden". The garden started when William was born in our first house. On my second Mother's day Tom dug out a garden down the side of the house and he and William planted my first perennial. After that I got many. When we moved I was not able to take them with me, but I had the most perfect spot in the back yard to "resurrect" MOM's garden.

I did not start with just one this year, I put in quite a few, and I love to go and watch them. What is it about blooming flowers that is so peaceful? So besides finishing my kits, doing the laundry, getting William's glasses, finding my stuff for SAVE!, going to Costco, working at the store, planning the meals for next week, going to the grocery store, helping my brother find furniture, and planning childcare for the next two weeks, I think I will make it a quiet weekend and sit by my garden and chill. Is it 5:00 yet? I think I need to find a bench to go out there!

Everyone have a great weekend! Take some time for yourself and sit by your garden or wherever you like to sit!

Patrick's first Trophy

Have you ever seen such a happy boy? Patrick got his first trophy this year for T-ball. He had an interesting season, our boy who never sits still decided it would be fun to walk quietly from base to base. Then there was the day he just refused to go on the field. Of course when he did decide to bat he swung in a complete circle...his "windmill hit" as he proudly called it. Halfway through the season he decided he was done and while he liked going out and hanging with his friends Sean & Aiden on Friday & Saturdays...he was done with the T-ball thing. We explained that if he did not complete the season with his team there would be no trophy at the end. So he kept going. For the trophy.

I must admit, it is a pretty cool trophy, and when he wasn't carrying it around showing how it was so much bigger than his dad's golf trophy, it was sitting next to him while he played or watched TV, he was sleeping with it.

Patrick had a lot of fun this year playing for Coach Fisher. It might not have been the same fun everyone else was having but Patrick is known for making fun all his own. We can always count on Patrick to make us smile. You never know what he is going to do next. I can't wait to see what he does in soccer!

Virginia...

We went to Virgina this weekend for my nephew Brian's fiance's bridal shower. We drove down late Friday night while the kids were groggy and not poking one another. Then we got up early the next morning and went to one of my favorite places - Great Falls Park. It was one of the first places Tom took me in Virginia when we started dating and I proceeded to fall in a puddle. I reminds me so much of the woods in Michigan where we used to walk along the lake at by grandmother's house and it is beautiful to boot!

The shower was beautiful too, I had never been to such an elegant..yet comfortable event. The home was beautiful and decorated so nicely...and the food was really great. I am dying to get the strawberry chicken salad recipe! And rumor has it what I was drinking was a Mojito. The bride was beautiful. Alyssa is both beautiful on the inside and out and I am so glad Brian took his time and waited to find her she is quite the catch. I know they will be very happy. We are very excited for the wedding, Patrick is Brian's godson and he will be a "helper". Somehow he got the idea when you were in a wedding you are the one getting married and he was upset. So we are sure to tell him he is helping not getting married. Cause "He doesn't want a weddin!"

We got another nice surprise when we got down there, our other nephew Robert got engaged as well. We got to meet his fiance Ali and she too is a wonderful girl. Smart boys our nephews they know when they have it made! Their wedding will be next year on the beach in the outer banks on June 28th, so it looks like we will be spending a week in NC next summer. Tough duty! It unfortunately means postponing another plan, but I would not miss Rob's wedding, he is such a special guy. All three boys are.

While we were at the shower, Uncle Chris had spent the day attempting to wear out the boys, and while William was exhausted and Tom felt older than ever...Patrick still couldn't lay still to fall asleep. They had gone hiking, and swimming, and fishing (that was more scaring the fish away by splashing in the mud), and just plain running around all day, and he still took an hour to fall asleep.

Sunday morning the boys had more fun, William got archery and crossbow lessons, as well as Lacrosse. He also inherited some very special lacrosse uniforms. Patrick got chased around a bit and got to play some games too. He also got a pair of lacrosse shorts that he proudly wore over the ones he was already wearing all the way home. I really wish we lived closer to these guys. They are so good with William and Patrick, from teaching them to run matchbox cars down the banister of the stairs when they were little right up to now. It has never mattered what they were in to these teenagers, now grown ups got down on the floor with them and tried to talk to these little kids about whatever it was that was going on in their lives. William and Patrick couldn't ask for better cousins! I hope they turn out just like them.

Special friends

It seems like William and Aiden have always been friends. I guess they have been since Aiden was born, William is a few years older but it has never mattered to either one of them. Aiden's family lived down the street from us, and William took to his new friend immediately and there was no looking back. Not even both families moving could separate them. We have remained friends even 30 minutes apart.

This year William and Aiden got their first pets. William got a hamster named Oreo and Aiden got a rabbit he named Flip Flop. They have been bugging us to get the pets together for a play date so one afternoon we decided to see what would happen.

As it turns out a rabbit and a hamster have a lot in common, they shared toys and food and sniffed each other and had a grand old time. Who would have thought? Well, Aiden & William did!

I have been so lucky in my life to have had a girlfriend I met when we were 3, our moms were friends and we remained friends through moves and different schools and college and boys and marriage and kids and many many states. How great to have friends like that where even your pets are great friends! I feel so lucky that we met the Fishers and William met Aiden, I hope they will always be friends. I think they will.

Sunday morning rides

Sunday morning we got up and went to see Uncle Tim off on his Christmas in July ride for children. Uncum is a member of the Blue Knights and they collect toys then deliver them to the Salvation Army. It is fun to see all the bikes arriving and lining up. So many people! So many kinds of people...biker guys and people you wouldn't think of as biker guys. Uncum even had a pink backpack full of toys to donate strapped to his bike. It is really cool to watch - and REALLY loud! Patrick still doesn't like the loud noises and it was very hot even that early in the morning.

The boys pulled out their chairs and watched the police motorcycle teams go through their drills and run the obstacle course. They move those things really well! It is amazing they don't drop them. I am waiting to see who will be the first to ask for a bike of their own...maybe Tom????

Friday Night Lights

Tom and I got to go out to dinner by ourselves Friday night... we went to DaVinci's in Collegeville - pretty good! We talked like grownups. Didn't separate or threaten anyone with time outs, and really had a fun time.

Once a year my parents take the kids to the carnival at Wissahickon HS while we go to dinner then we meet them there for the fireworks. We have recently discovered that the 4th of July is one of my dad's favorites, because of the fireworks, and we have never been disappointed with the show.

The hardest part is the waiting. Both of the boys got glow wands this year and the camera took some really good shots of the light. All the funnel cake, ice cream, and water ice helps, but it takes forever for it to get dark. Then there are all the speeches and then we pull out Patrick's "hear" muffs so he isn't scared of the noise. Once they started Patrick and I looked for the yellow fireworks and commented on how silly they were to have so many Christmas fireworks. I like the ones that whistle and he like the ones that fizzled. William & Tom like them all.

I hope we have many more of these family outings full of fun and fancy lights!

New Beginings

I am calling this new beginnings for many reasons. First of all I am posting again for the first time in many months...yes Rollie I am doing it again!

Encouraged in many areas of life right now, I got an extra boost this past weekend with an amazing 48 hours in Rehoboth beach with very special friends and family, here I am starting again.

We went to Rehoboth with my friends Rollie & Kate and their son Josh who generously asked us to crash their family vacation for a few days then didn't take it back - go figure! After a week of 4 year old anticipation, we got up at 4 am to meet at Cracker Barrel, where we started off the weekend with pancakes...what could be better. A few hour in the car and Rollie's car started to leak bubbles...

A quick stop at Walmart for William's first boogie board and an array of buckets and shovels for Patrick. Off we go to the beach where Josh and two of his very kind friends showed William the finer points of the boogie board. Note to self, water shoes (he has his father's glass feet) and swim shirt. He didn't do so bad for his first time out...a few setbacks, but we were really proud at how he stuck to it for the most part!

Patrick told everyone there were "socks" in the water and his plans for the weekend were just to dig a big hole. No more Shark Week on the Discovery channel for Patrick! So Patrick dug a hole.

I had lots of time to think on the beach. And quality non-scrapping girlfriend time with Rollie. I tried to eat crabs...but there will just have to be more for Rollie. I love crab, but I can't get past their little faces. I will have to stick to crab cakes! I was also introduced to the Candy Kitchen and Thrashers. I love Vinegar, but I now crave it on everything! Although I have discovered it is not the same on tater tots! I loved giggling and being a pirate with Rollie, we shall have to celebrate national "Talk like a pirate day".

It was hard transitioning back to work. I spent Monday and Tuesday surfing the net looking for hotel rooms to go back..but with work and William's science camp it became painfully clean that I was dreaming. So I just kept waiting for my beach report, and finding new things to pour vinegar on.

It is hard to put all my thoughts and feelings from the whole weekend in to words, I know I am am blessed in so many areas of my life, and I got to experience quite a few of them over the weekend. It has given me the strength, and the strong desire to start over. It is a new day.

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940)

Patrick!

There are many thing I want to remember about Patrick's childhood, his love of potato chip cans, the blue Christmas, "hang-burgers"ordered with cheese and without meat. Rescue heroes clenched in his hand, and messes wherever he goes.

How can this face get in so much trouble? Our little Patrick is the master at pushing buttons. He has got the pesky little brother thing down to a science. I hope someday William understands that it is his duty to be the little brother and drive us all bezerk! Lucky for us he always follows it up with the clear blue eyes...the great big chocolate covered smile, and an I love you!

Today I am taking care of my violets.

First a little background. I collect violets, or should I say I save them. You know the ones, the half dead violets you see at the grocery store or Home Depot, the ones you know they will throw in the trash rather than give water and light and make healthy again. And even though you know you are going to still pay full price for it you take it home anyway because it still has a chance. I started doing this when I got my first apartment, I have all the special pots and tools, the violet food and rack to sit them in the sun together. I continued my little hobby when we bought our first house but went on hiatus when William was born (once he was mobile he started knocking them over on an accidental, but regular basis). Then came Patrick and I left the pots in a box a little while longer. But last year I saw a sad violet in the store and and brought out the box. Now I have three, in varying states of health. Once upon a time I would tend to the violets every couple of weeks, now with kids and work, and everything else going on I only do it when they really need it. Today they didn't, but I did.

To take care of violets you need to cut out all dead leaves, but not just the dead ones, the dying leaves, when they get to big and start to die, they still pull nutrients from the new ones. The trick is to know when to cut them off. Sometimes you cut a few, and sometimes you cut a lot. You don't always want to cut them off, but you do because you know that in order for the rest of the plant to have enough energy to grow, they need to go. You also need to turn the soil. add a little new soil, a little food, a little water, a little sun, a little faith, and a little love.

So today I am deciding which leaves to cut, how deep I need to go to find the healthy plant again.

Hopefully if I do it right...every once and a while....I might get a flower.