Agility

My girls are finally tucked in for the night and the Goose and I just sat down to watch the American Kennel Club Agility National Championship.

I've had dogs before the Goose. My last dog, Phred, LOVED to watch animals on TV. Rodeos were his very favorite but a good agility competition was exciting too. He would sit on the floor (my dogs are more couch or bed sitters than floor sitters) and stare at the TV. He would ocassionally bark or go over to the TV, stand on his hind legs and lick the screen.

So, what's the Goose doing? Sleeping on my feet. Agility tires the boy. Why exert yourself when Mom is busy on the computer, the girls are sleeping and Dad is clearly not moving for a while? I can't say I blame him. And I can't say we will ever be competing in an agility competition...hey, we did finally graduate from puppy kindergarten but it was close. I saved his certificate in case it's ever questioned.

I mean really, does this boy look like he's ready for any kind of competition?

Woo Hoo!!

That is a woo hoo for the Superbowl being over. That was really hard for me (and yes, of course, the Superbowl is all about me, LOL). As I said last week, I am a lifelong die hard Giants fan but the Patriots are a really close second and there was that whole perfect season thing going on....

So, I ate my way through the first half and knitted my way through the second half. I have a stomachache and a few more rows done on my sweater and a very very happy husband, father, uncle and sister.

And the Who is two for two...first the Red Sox and now the Giants...life is good.

Nursery School Politics

Have you ever stood in the parking lot of your child's preschool and had the urge to put your fingers in your ears and scream, "I'm not listening!" to the other parents?

I do.

For the record, I am not interested in who has the most playdates, who has the most activities or who has the most kids at her birthday party. I am not interested in gossip about the school.

If you have recipes (or better yet knitting patterns!) to share, if you have cute stories about your kid or if you want to talk about the weather then come on over and chat by my car. But leave the competition out of it. We can get back to that when our kids join sports teams and apply to college. In the meantime, as long as your kid doesn't routinely bite, push or otherwise abuse my kid, we're good.

Last Night....

When I was little and had a bedtime of 8 or 8:30 and I remember thinking that it must be a lot of fun to be an adult. I mean, you just go to bed when you're tired and you get to make a lot of decisions for yourself. If you want to read an extra 15 minutes, no big deal.

I guess that some nights that is true. Then there are nights like last night.

Here's what happened:

10 pm: I am working. My husband asks if he should turn the heat back on. I look at him like he's crazy and ask why he thinks I might have turned it OFF in January.
10-10:30 pm: Not much happens here. My husband hits the heat reset button and on the third try admits defeat. Oh, and there's a lot of huffing and puffing and not nice words being said by both of us during this time.
10:30-10:45: We debate which would be worse. Staying home without heat and hot water or dragging the children to my parents' house 30 minutes from us. Our oldest is a very finnicky sleeper and is unlikely to go back to sleep at Nona and Pop's house. We decide freezing is the lesser of two evils.
10:45: I give the Mote an extra blanket and take the baby into bed with me while my husband calls the oil company. The baby who was sleeping soundly (and who we are trying to get to sleep through the night now that she is a big girl of 5 months old) decides that's time to eat at the Mommy Buffet and be wide awake for a bit. Great.
11:30: The oil company shows up. They fix the problem. By midnight we have heat. Our excitement is ridiculous. I mean we know we had heat when we bathed the children at 6:30 pm, so this hasn't been going on so long but man, did it feel like it.
Midnight: Everyone is back in their right beds or crib.
4 am: The oldest child wakes up FOR THE DAY. Apparently, she is suddenly very afraid of the dark and monsters and the wind and who knows what else.

We are all a little tired in my house today. I sent the Mote to school anyway and have her parent/teacher conference this afternoon (that's a little preview of tomorrow's post, I'm sure!).

Oh, and that thing about grown-ups being able to sleep when they want....I guess I wasn't so right about that!

Why we're not yet Ready for Disneyworld

Yesterday my mother and I took the Mote to Stew Leonard's grocery store. For those unfamiliar with this wonderful place, it is a great place to grocery shop with kids. They have displays above the food that have singing cartons of milk, chickens, eggs etc. Over the bananas is a Chiquita banana and the kids get to push a button to make her sing and dance. They love it! And the quality of the dairy, produce and meat is fabulous, so I like to go there too.
But never before have I gone to Stew Leonard's on a Sunday. At noon. It was crazy. the Mote insisted on walking next to us rather than riding in the cart. She's done this before but during the week when the crowds aren't so bad. She sort of zoned out with all the people and would wander wherever she wanted. Thank goodness my mom was there because I had to keep my eyes on the Mote all the time and couldn't find the perfect watermelon that Mote so badly needed in January.
So, I've decided we need more crowd practice before I can even entertain the thought of Disneyworld. Since Stew Leonard's has some good prepared foods at reasonable prices I think we may need to practice there so we get in our crowd practice AND I don't have to cook...

"Myselves"

What a difference 20 years makes!

Teen Self: Waits anxiously for U2 tickets to go on sale and stays on the phone for hours to get tickets. SO excited when she gets tickets.
30-something Self: Waits anxiously for Laurie Berkner tickets to go on sale. Gets through immediately. SO excited when she gets tickets.

Teen Self: Can't wait for the next party!
30-something self: Dreads the next birthday party with cupcakes and crafts.

Teen Self: Has great hair with natural highlights
30-something self: Has great hair with expensive highlights.

Teen Self: Babysits a lot and often thinks that it would be easier to be the parent because you'd be in your own home and could do your own thing.
30-something self: Laughs hard at Teen Self

Teen Self: Looks forward to the weekend because there's no school.
30-something self: Still enjoys the weekend but admits to looking forward to the week because there is school.

Teen Self: Can't get the latest hit song out of her head
30-something Self: Can't get that song Moose A. Moose sings on Noggin out of her head

All jokes aside, my priorities and interests are remarkably unchanged in 20 hours. And I am proud of that.

Sports Overload

My kids seem to bring us luck when it comes to baseball. My husband and I have both been die-hard, fanatic, frustrated and ever-so-loyal Red Sox fans since we were little. Then in 2004, the year my older daughter was born, they FINALLY won the World Series for the first time in modern history. They did it again in 2007, the year my younger daughter was born. And, yes, I do have to explain to my husband repeatedly that this coincidence alone is not a good enough reason to have a third child.

Anyway, baseball season is long over and while we count the days until spring training we busy ourselves with our other two favorite sports. College basketball and football.

And let's talk about football. We both grew up Giants fans. I remember watching games with my dad and my uncle and even my grandfather. I didn't understand the game but looked forward to them all the same. I remain a proud Giants fan. But my "second" team is the Patriots. We lived in Massachusetts when we began dating, got married, bought our first house and had our first baby. We got the Patriots fever. So, my husband likes to view this year's Superbowl as a "no lose" game for us. And I agree. I'll be cheering for the Giants but I won't be disappointed to see the Patriots have an undefeated season.

And now I must go yell at the TV as I watch my beloved UConn Huskies basketball team play Cincinnati.