Another Trip to the Lake

So remember my last post? I was bored today. Well all of that changed quickly. Joe came home from work. He was out at 3 today. He mentioned something about going to Lake Compounce. We weren't sure that the weather was going to hold out for us though. So we kind of debated it and lounged around for a while and then at around 5 we said lets just go. So off we went.

We got there and Natalie wanted to go on the Wild Cat with me. Okay, I like the Wild Cat. I can go on that. So off we go. Let me just say a roller coaster after having a C-section is not a good fit. I felt like my insides were going to come right out of my incision. Natalie forgot that first hill was a doozy and I figured she'd had enough of those adventure rides.



Joe then took both the girls on the Twister. CJ and I sat and waited. They had fun with that.





Then Joe took Natalie on a ride he's been trying to get her on for a while. I must say I'm really surprised she went on it and I wish I had brought my camera. Unfortunately I did not. She went on Thunder 'N Lightning which is like a giant swing. It goes up so high in the air that it looks like you're face down to the ground. Natalie got off that ride and was white as a ghost, but she said she'd go on it again, but not today.

Unfortunately that was the last ride we did there. Poor Kaitlyn only got to go on the one ride. We went to get something to eat and as we were sitting and eating the storm clouds started coming in. All the rides were shutting down. So since they were closing in an hour anyways we figured we mine as well go. We did stop to play a game of Whack a Mole on our way out, but we didn't win. I think we're going back tomorrow though. We told Kaitlyn she gets first pick of ride since she didn't get to go on hardly anything. Sure is a good thing we have season passes and live only about 15 minutes away.

Alls Quiet in Blog Land

Well, at least on the blogs I read everyday. Been a quiet day. I'm bored. I should be doing laundry, but I'm not really motivated to do it. Another hour until my Mets game comes on. I really hate those late afternoon games on the weekend. I just went to a tag sale that my friend was having to raise money for Autism Speaks. She'll be participating in the Walk Now for Autism next weekend so I was trying to help her out. Got some stuff for the girls which took forever. Well, I should say Natalie took forever picking something out for herself.

So now I'm just killing some time. Does anyone collect Box Tops for their school? I'm the Box Tops coordinator at our school. Okay, yes I do it all. PTA president, Girl Scout leader, Box Tops coordinator, and looks like next year I'll be doing PTA treasurer too as we have no volunteers for that. Anyways, I'm trying to wrap up our Box Top collection. We've been doing a Box Tops 500 race. Each class has their own race car which races to 500 Box Tops. The winning class gets an ice cream party. I told them that whichever class wins the most would get a special prize at the end of the year never once disclosing what this prize would be. And you know what? I still don't know what that prize will be. Problem is I don't have one winning class. We've had 4 different classes win so far this year. So I'm doing one final push to the finish. They have until June 13th to get their box tops in to me. One of the classes that had already won was in the lead, but now another class has come out of no where with over 200 Box Tops. This class hasn't won at all this year. Ahhhhh, they are making this so difficult for me. I just want one clear winner here not a five way tie. Oh well, I'll figure something out I'm sure.

We got our Girl Scout cookie incentives last night. I wasn't aware that our troop had earned $75 to use at the Girl Scout store. That will come in very handy with the end of the year approaching and Try Its to buy for each of the girls. Natalie gets $35 in camp credits which can also be used at the Girl Scout store. We don't do camping so she can get her Junior uniform with that gift certificate.

Well, I guess that's about it. School's out for the summer on June 17th. Kaitlyn has her Kindergarten Ceremony on June 13th. Next Friday is our schools end of the year BBQ. Lots of fun stuff coming up. I hope you're all prepared to see tons of pictures.

Food and Fun Around the World

So at the beginning of the month we had our International Dinner at the school. I have yet to post those pictures though. This event occurred on May 9, 2008. We go every year. Actually, usually I help out with it and this year wasn't any different. I made desserts of course and Joe made chili. There were all sorts of different foods from different cultures. It's a great way to celebrate all the different students that we have in our school.

Wacky Crazy Day

A pretty typical Wednesday actually, but just some odd things happened today. Natalie had field day today. They walk down to the local park (maybe a block away) for field day. They couldn't complete their events because a baby black bear was spotted in the park. Wow, kind of scary. Natalie was upset that she didn't get to do all of field day. She said it was the worst field day ever. I talked to her though and she got to do most of the events today. It was the end of the afternoon that the bear was spotted. She thought someone shot the bear though so I guess that upset her too. She said she heard a gun shot. I tried to explain to her that they probably just put the bear to sleep so they could move it somewhere away from people. I think she understands. And I think she's not feeling so bad about field day anymore.

After picking the kids up from school we went to the grocery store. The one Joe works at because he's been working nights lately and hasn't seen Natalie much. I needed more toothpaste anyways. So we saw him and then I picked up a few things that we needed. I checked out and wrote a check to pay for it. I wrote the check for $30 over to get some cash. The cashier messed up though and put the check in for $10.05 more than I wrote it for. I noticed it before he gave me the money and of course argued. The head cashier told me there was nothing they could do. Well gee what am I supposed to do with this extra $10. Actually, he didn't even give me the 5 cents. I was so mad that they messed up like this though. Now I need to make a trip to the bank to put this $10 back in. I was getting cash back to give Joe some cash so he could get himself a little gas in his car so I went to give him the money and tell him of these people. He told me to go to the store manager. I wasn't going to, but on my way out I figured I'd better let them know. Well, he said all they could do was take my check out and rering the whole order. He told me that the check will go through as what I had written and not what was printed on the back of the check. So in actuality this kids drawer was going to be $10 short (or really $9.95 short). I asked him then how do I give this money back? And what if the check goes through as what was stamped on the back? He told me to keep the $10. All they could do now to correct it was to rering it and have me write another check. I didn't want to take the time to do that and he pretty much told me to keep the money for the trouble they put me through. Hmmmm, well I guess at least I tried to give the money back and do the right thing in front of my children. It was all very frustrating though. The head cashier should have had the order rerung to correct the mistake that was made by their cashier, but instead she didn't want to do the work so just said there was nothing that they could do to correct the mistake. Hard to believe that they wouldn't want to fix it though since they are going to loose money in this situation. I guess I sort of made out in the deal.

When I came home this afternoon my landlord asked me if anyone had gone through my car in the past few days. Hmmmm, nope not that I know of, but I did have a flat tire the other day. Apparently the other tenants had their car rummaged through and our landlord thinks it's the next door neighbors who did it. Okay, mental note, keep my car doors locked at all times.

Lots of strange events. Thankfully the day is almost over. Uh oh baby is crying, guess it's time to wrap this up.

When it Rains it Pours

So last week Joe's car seemed to be leaking anti freeze. We were worried that it was going to be a costly repair. Joe added more anti freeze though and so far all seems good. We're hoping it holds out. Then this weekend he started not feeling well. Saturday night we thought he had strep. We were going to take him to the hospital, but he didn't want to miss work because if he didn't go in Sunday then he'd loose his holiday pay. His sore throat did get better, but he has a really bad cold it seems. He's afraid he might have pneumonia again. He's been running a fever since Saturday. But still he's been toughing it out and going to work. He got up this morning prepared to go to his morning job. I slept on the couch last night and kept the baby in the living room with me so he could get some sleep hopefully in the bed. So 4:30 this morning he wakes me up and tells me my car has a flat tire!!! Ugh, we just bought these tires back in February. I don't remember driving over anything that would cause it to be flat. So Joe called out of his morning job because he doesn't get home early enough for Natalie to go to school and he didn't want to change the tire in the dark. He is now bringing Natalie to school for me. He's still running a fever. I think we might be taking him to the doctor today. Although, if he doesn't go to work today then he also could loose his holiday pay. I just hope he hasn't been making things worse for himself by continuing to work like this. I guess it's up to the store manager if he gets his holiday pay or not if he calls out. I would assume that the man would kind of have to have a heart. I mean he's gone to work the past two days sick as a dog for the man. No one else would do that. So I just hope he takes care of this and gets better soon. Hopefully his car doesn't start leaking anti freeze again and cost us an arm and a leg to fix. Hopefully my flat tire isn't caused by something that I ran over and the warranty will cover it.

Forestville Memorial Day Parade

We went to the Memorial Day parade today. Natalie and Kaitlyn were both in it. The schools art teacher was this years Teacher of the Year so she invited all the children who did well in the PAWS program to be in the parade with her. The PAWS program is an incentive that is done at the school where the kids are given "paws" if an adult in the building catches them doing something to be considering Playing fair, Acting kind, Working hard, or Showing respect. Each grade level has to collect a certain number of "paws" to get their picture on the board and then earn a "P", "A", "W", and "S". Natalie and Kaitlyn have both earned their "W". This means that Kaitlyn has been caught 12 times doing something to earn her a "paw" and Natalie being older has earned 20 "paws". So they were on a horse drawn wagon with other O'Connell School students and their Teacher of the Year. Unfortunately when they went by me at the parade they were on the opposite side of the wagon from where I was sitting. I did get a picture of them though at the end of the parade on the wagon though. They had a great time. CJ did pretty good with all the noise too of the parade. He got a flag which he refused to let go of for most of the day. So here are a few pictures of our Memorial Day parade. It was a beautiful day for a parade.

Memorial Day 2008

Memorial Day is generally viewed as the kick off to summer. We have parades and BBQs and fireworks. Fun in the sun for everyone. But lets not forget what today is all about. Remembering those who have fallen to give us those freedoms we take for granted. So while you're spending time with your family today enjoying the sun and the parades and the picnics and the fireworks remember those lives that were lost so you could do all of this with your family today. Don't forget those who are still overseas fighting for freedom. Thank a soldier today for all they have done! Thank you soldiers and your families for making such a great sacrifice for our country!

Memorial Day
by Michelle R. Christman

As we stand here looking
At the flags upon these graves
Know these flags represent
A few of the true American brave

They fought for their Country
As man has through all of time
Except that these soldiers lying here
Fought for your country and mine

As we all are gathered here
To pay them our respect
Let's pass this word to others
It's what they would expect

I'm sure that they would do it
If it were me or you
To show we did not die in vein
But for the red, white and blue.

Let's pass on to our children
And to those who never knew
What these soldiers died for
It's the least we can do

Let's not forget their families
Great pain they had to bear
Losing a son, father or husband
They need to know we still care

No matter which war was fought
On the day that they died
I stand here looking at these flags
Filled with American pride.

So as the bugler plays out Taps
With its sweet and eerie sound
Pray for these soldiers lying here
In this sacred, hallowed ground.

Take home with you a sense of pride
You were here Memorial Day.
Celebrating the way Americans should
On this solemnest of days.