(Say hello to a super long blog that I really should have condensed into a few paragraphs, but didn't want to. Bear with me folks, or just skip to the pictures...I'll never know.)

Saturday we took the bus to NYC for another fun filled day. All week we had been watching the weather and kept hoping that the rain that was predicted would magically disappear before it hit the East coast. Unfortunately, we went to sleep Friday night knowing that there was a 100% chance of heavy rain and thunderstorms for the next day.

After a bus ride, that Max slept through and Russell talked through, we were dropped off at The Met (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). As we stepped off the bus into the drizzling rain, I had one moment of "ugh! This is going to be a crummy day." That thought lasted about 5 minutes and 5 minutes only. As we stood waiting in line to get into the museum, I looked at Max with ketchup covering his face as he enjoyed a hot dog from a street vendor and I realized that rain was not going to slow us down. He was unfazed by the drops of water falling from the sky, landing on his bun and making it soggy. He was enjoying his time in NYC already, and nothing was going to keep us from having a great time.

We spent a few hours in The Met admiring the art work. The boys had been given an assignment (Yes, there was schooling involved. Not all fun and games.) to complete during out time at the museum. They were to pick out 5 pieces that they enjoyed, draw it, write who it was by and the title, and then do research on them come Monday morning. Luckily we had an excellent tour guide (aka, RC) who also gave the boys a fantastic lesson on colors, shapes, perspective, etc..

(I could not use a flash, so these are a bit blurry.)

If you look at the pictures you will notice that Max really took his drawing seriously. He was always drawing and seemed so studious. When we were getting ready to leave the museum and I took a look at their sketch books I noticed that Max had been drawing bits and pieces of things he saw, and then drew a circle around everything and put arms and legs on the circle. He then wrote his name on each drawing several times to make sure we knew who it was by. Maybe someday it too will be in The Met...

Both boys LOVED the arms and armor wing of the museum. They bounced from exhibit to exhibit pretending they were knights using the swords and armor they saw.
We then took a walk down the street to see The Guggenheim. The line was out the door, around the corner and down the street, so we admired the building from the outside and then headed to the subway to catch a train to the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge was definitely the highlight of the day. It was drizzling, then clear, then pouring, then drizzling, then pouring, and we were all DRENCHED by the time we made it across, but we had a great time. We stopped to watch cars whizzing below us, we were able to make out the Empire State Building when there was a break in the fog, and we were also able to see The Statue of Liberty in the distance. We quoted The Newsies movie and stopped for Maxwell to take our picture, which he had been wanting to do all day. He did a good job...
By the time we got to the Brooklyn side we were soaked and needed something to eat other than granola bars, nuts and dried fruit I had stashed in my purse (makes us sound like squirrels). We walked a bit in Brooklyn and tried to imagine ourselves living there. Some of us could picture this more clearly than others. We went back down to the subway were it was warm and dry and took the train back to the Manhattan side to grab a bite to eat. We ended up roaming the streets looking for something to eat that was not a chain restaurant and close to where our bus was to pick us up. We found a little shop, got some sandwiches to share and enjoyed a break from walking.

This video was taken by R.C. when I stopped with the boys to play a "guess what color car is coming next" game. The rain had let up for a few moments and you could see the skyline of the city pretty well.

By the time we were ready to head to the street our bus was to pick us up at, it was just barely raining. We grabbed a cup of coffee for the ride home and tried to figure out where in the world our bus was. As we were standing around waiting, a man walked up to Max and handed him a balloon, smiled and walked away. Later, as we were still standing there waiting, he walked by again, patted Max's head and expressed his joy in seeing he still had the balloon. R.C. and I were certain he was trying to impress the beautiful lady he had with him. Finally our bus came, and just in time. As we were waiting outside it began to thunder and lightning and we were not on the bus 5 minutes before it began to pour and really storm. Max was asleep along with R.C. before we left the city and Russell and I played the alphabet game. We got all the way to Y and then Russell got quiet. I thought he was asleep so I didn't say anything, but then he turned to me and said, "how about we tell people we got all the way through the alphabet, and just forget about Z." No sooner had I told him that we didn't have to lie, but we could be done playing, and he was zonked out on my lap. (R.C. did wake up shortly after he fell asleep. He did not sleep the entire way. If I don't mention that, I will not hear the end of it...:) ) The ride home was long and stormy. It took almost 5 hours due to the storm!

The boys did wonderful! I was so proud of them for walking so long and not complaining. Many kids would have wanted to be carried, but the boys were troopers and kept up with the hustle and bustle. Max would get bumped periodically while walking and we tried to instruct him (as all good parents would do, right?!) to yell out, "I'm trying to walk down here!" in an annoyed voice, but sweet Max would not do it. Good for him.

Random/pointless things I noticed, or thought of, during our trip:

1. I actually uttered the words, "Hey, R.C., did you notice how good that subway car smelled?" 98% of subways smell like pee (Sorry! I know! But it's true!), but for some reason on one of our subway rides we had a car that smelled like butterscotch. Yummy!
2. Scary, gangster looking people don't look so scary when they are using an umbrella to stay dry just like me. They may be tough, but they hate to be wet and soggy like the rest of us. It really knocks them down a notch or two.
3. On the ride to NYC there was a guy on our bus who had his hair "nicely" styled. It was flat all around, except for right in front. He had a patch of hair that he had spiked straight up. I wondered what he was going to look like when he got on the bus to come home after being in the rain like everyone else, but to my surprise he sat in front of me with his hair still standing tall. I don't know how he did it! Everyone else looked like they had a bucket of water dumped over them. This guy really knows what he is doing in the hair styling department.
4. Art students don't go to NYC to see art. They go to shop for clothes at stores that we have in the mall a mere 4 blocks from the school. (This was a bus charted by RISD so all passengers were students. That's how I know they were all art students)
5. I have gotten to be quite good at ignoring people yelling things in the streets, homeless people asking for money, and vulgar things happening around me when I am out and about. I did find it hard to look away when I noticed a man licking (yes, licking!) a bus stop wall though. I guess I am still a work in progress when it comes to gawking.
6. I'm not old, but I sure felt like I was when I listened to conversations being had around me on the bus. Was I really like these kids when I was 18-22 years old? Surely not, right!?? :)
7. All kids should be done with strollers before or by the age of 5. We passed a kid just chillin' in a stroller while his mom (poor thing!) pushed him and he looked to be about 5-6 years old. (I know some kids have health issues and need to be in a stroller/wheelchair. I'm not trying to be rude or insensitive to these kids. Stop writing your hate mail now, please.) It's strange to see a kid pass you in a stroller and give you the "I'm lazy and don't want to walk, you got a problem with that" look. I will quote R.C. and ask, "how old is too old?"
8. I have a super awesome little family!

I knew things would change once Russell turned 7. I was prepared for him to mature a bit more over the course of the year, but things seem to have moved in fast forward.

He hates to wash his own hair...I sure hope he can learn to shave his own face. I'm not ready to teach that yet, or ever.

Happy birthday Russell!

This is a little slide show I put together for Russell (and all of you).
Some pictures you have already seen on the blog, some may be new to you.
The song playing is one of Russell's favorite songs.
Enjoy!

Last weekend we wanted to get out of the house so we took a trip to......Bass Pro Shop. I never would have thought I would say that this was out big weekend outing, but there, I said it. We took the trip to look at their aquarium, animals, and hiking trails. The boys had a great time feeding rainbow trout, practicing their rifle shooting (no sure shot in this family!), looking at taxidermy, and looking through aisles of camping gear. After seeing all there was to see inside, we headed outside to walk through the Ocean Spray cranberry bogs. We enjoyed the fresh air, beautiful trees, and a massive acorn fight.

Russell's camo shirt was no accident. He wanted to fit in....

Throughout the bogs they had animal statues which were great for climbing on.
Max found a good spot to hold, but then realized he didn't like his position.

Recently I read an article about blogging. To sum it up: Women (particularly mothers) read other blogs and believe that other families are "perfect". No fighting kids, no tantrums, perfect marriage, always clean house, etc.. It told how unhealthy it is for women/mothers to think this way because, come on, no family is "perfect". But, when they read other family blogs they begin to feel they are failing because their family is not "perfect" like these others seem to be.

I'm sure no one thinks that my family is "perfect", but just to make sure, I wanted to share with you a few reasons why we are far from "perfect".

1. Our good ol' family rules sheet is smudged and wrinkled due to little boys crying on it while standing in time out so often.
2. Some nights the boys are in bed by 7:15 pm because I just need the day to be over.
3. I try to make everything from scratch, but I still have fish sticks and french fries in the freezer for when I just don't want to cook.
4. I do laundry on Monday. I fold it on Monday night. It usually doesn't get put away until Thursday...or the next Monday when I need the laundry basket to carry the dirty clothes downstairs.
5. Many family outings don't happen. People (I'm not naming names here...) get cranky so we turn the car around and go home.
6. School is a chore some days. Russell is good about doing work most of the time, but there are days when he cries and whines about every little assignment I give him. These are the days when I want to cry and whine too.
7. R.C. and I have a very happy marriage, but there are times when we argue and don't speak for days. There are days I am thankful he has a studio to go to. :)
8. I have told the boys we are going on a nature walk to find leaves, mushrooms, nuts, insects...but my main goal is to get to the pharmacy up the street to get a diet coke.
9. Max has rule #3 on our rules sheet memorized because he has been in timeout so many times for breaking the rule. ("Do what you are told the first time you are told.")
10. Russell is sometimes up for an hour before anyone else stirs in the morning, and I'm ok with that. He is the only morning person in this household.
11. I have thrown toys away in anger because they we being fought over/not picked up.

The list could go on and on.

You see, those things would not be fun to read about. But, even though we are not a perfect family, we are happy, have fun together, and love each other. I don't compare my family to others, so I hope others don't compare themselves to us. We are far from "perfect" and loving every minute of it!

Someday, this little fellow is going to have a girlfriend....
And he will regret posing for pictures this way...

Last week nothing exciting happened. I really shouldn't even be blogging now because there is nothing to blog about. We had a very uneventful week of school and living, which is not always bad. The boys are doing great in school. Russell has not been thrilled with the fact that I give him homework to do on his own after we are done with our lessons, while Max longs to find an extra worksheet hanging on the fridge with his name on it. R.C. is working working working. It's been hard getting used to having him gone a lot again. It is hard to believe that in 8 months he will graduate and we could be moving again.

Russell lost his 4th tooth. Once again, I am very thankful to see his new tooth coming in already because it's weird to look at your kid and see a toothless gap in their mouth.

Hopefully something blog worthy will happen this next week. If not, well, we have a birthday coming up, another trip to NYC planned, and my mom and dad are coming at the end of the month. Surely there will be something to write about then.

Well, here's the best I could do. You get the idea. They're cute (crazy, but cute) and make a blazer look good.

Now, we're off to find nachos(??!!), art, and maybe R.C. along the way.

Tonight is the first art opening of the year that the boys and I are attending. There are usually snacks which consist of: fruit, veggies, cheese, crackers, wine, beer, and ginger ale.

Russell just got his blazer out the the closet in preparation for the evening and announced, "I hope they have nachos tonight."
I love the way this kid thinks, and I will be following him to the snack table just in case he does find nachos.

Both boys have awesome blazers now, so after they get dressed for the night I will snap a picture so you can see my nacho hoping, art loving, blazer wearing boys.

Last Saturday we took a trip up the road to Lincoln Woods State Park. It was a BEAUTIFUL day for a hike and picnic. I don't know why we had not been to this park before, but we will definitely be visiting there more often.

Forging a path through the woods.

The path led us beside this rock, but Max decided to go down the rock. It really wasn't that steep, but he pretended he was repelling off the side of a cliff. After a hike, we stopped for a picnic lunch and a game of catch. R.C. and Russell had brought their baseball mitts, so as they played, Max and I took a walk down to the lake and relaxed atop a giant rock.
When everyone was refueled, we found another place to hike. This time we were climbing mainly on rocks. We had a nice break when we found a swan and Russell just happened to have a scrap of bread in his pocket (who is this kid...Hansel?) to feed it.

Earlier in the week the boys had me take this picture of themselves after they ate suckers from the bank. They wanted me to post it for Aunt Chrissy. They are blue tongue lizards. She may be the only one to get this...

And finally, due to the cooler weather we have been having, the boys were able to enjoy a tea party with hot cocoa and marshmallows. They are so polite when the tea set comes out. They pour for each other and share marshmallows. Maybe the Queen will join these gentlemen someday for cocoa tea...

As the boys and I were sitting in traffic yesterday, Russell noticed the car ahead of us had a license plate that read, RI 1. He then thought that that must be the first person to ever get a license plate in the state of RI. Maxwell then screamed "it's Roger Williams! Get him!". I'm thrilled that Max has learned that Roger Williams was the first to settle Providence, but it makes me laugh to think that Max assumes he is still around and driving a car. Russell tried to explain to Max that Roger Williams didn't drive cars, but Max was not buying it.

I FINALLY GOT ACCEPTED!!

It had been over a month since I sent in my "intent to home school" letter and I had not heard anything from the state of RI. I started teaching Russell 2 weeks ago and began to get nervous/anxious that they, for some reason, decided not to approve my lesson plans I turned in. Finally, today I received my approval and can checkout textbooks from the school district if necessary. I am so relieved! RI takes FOREVER to inform you of important information so I guess waiting a month is nothing, considering I waited an entire school year to finally be told that I didn't have to turn anything in for kindergarten. I was quite angry about this since I kept EVERY piece of work completed last year and VERY detailed notes about everything we did so I could turn it in at the end of the year. I guess I can chalk it up as practice for this year.

Here's to an amazing school year!

We belong to a gym (YMCA) and I finally convinced R.C. to go with me in the mornings. It's been fun working out together every other morning while the boys play with other kiddos in the kid area. I think we have a good workout. We start by doing a brisk mile on either the elliptical machine or the treadmill, then we pump some iron on various equipment, and R.C. does some extra weights while I finish with another run (or quick walk, depending on how my knee is feeling) on the treadmill. We spend approximately an hour to finish our workout. Some weeks we go each day, some weeks we go every other day. Some days we spend less than and hour, some days more than an hour, but the above routine is "normal".

Now that R.C. is back to being at the studio until late late late, I am enjoying quiet evenings alone doing yoga or pilates. I find this to be a good way to end the day. R.C. has a different way to end his day (or should I say his time at home. He still has quite a night ahead of him in the studio). It's called "boy on a baseball bat lifting". This is a bit too physical for me in the evening, but both the lifter and the "weight" seem to enjoy this form of exercise.

Recap of last week:

• Max mastered name writing.

• R.C. and the boys played baseball.

• R.C. "youtube-ed" a Christmas song and proceeded to hum/whistle it for half the day. He almost didn't make it to the end of the day....
• I got nailed in the nose with a baseball. I learned my lesson to never play without a hat or sunglasses when the sun it out.
• The boys had their yearly physical and Max was annoyed to have to go to the doctors office. He smiled once during the 45 minutes we spent with the doctor. This smile came about only because he was told to take his clothes off...he loves to be naked.
• Russell was very talkative last week. I know, he always is, but last week he was more than usual. I almost didn't make it through the week.
• We cleaned our section in the basement. Fun...
• It's cool here! Fall is just around the corner!! This makes me so very happy!

• We walked up to the "Hope St. Festival" (the "main" drag in our neighborhood) and decorated cookies at the bakery and listened to drummers.

We were surprised to see these big "monsters" come to dance to the music. They are from a place downtown that makes these costumes. The boys love to walk by the store, and even like to go in, but Russell was not thrilled with seeing them dance. Max thought it was pretty cool though.


This week R.C. officially starts classes. I and the boys are not looking forward to this. We go back to seeing R.C. rarely, packing lunches and suppers for him to take to the studio and longing for one day on the weekend when we can have him to ourselves. One more year of grad school and then....

The first day of school was great! The boys were up early and ready to start the day at 7:00 am, which would have been great had I been able to fall asleep before 4:30 am. But we were all excited so the tiredness has not hit me until now (which is why I drank 2 cups of coffee after supper...so now I will once again not be able to sleep!! What is wrong with me!!) They were both very eager to get to work, mainly because they wanted to use their new pencils. Much of the work I had planned for Max was to be done in crayon, which he was not too happy about. He only wanted to do work if he was able to use a pencil, so we switched gears and worked on writing numbers. Russell did great and retained much more information from last year than I thought he would. We are in for a really great year I think.

We headed to the library this afternoon to pick out some new challenging chapter books for Russell, and Max was determined to find some "preschool chapter books on colors with dogs in them" that he can read. Russell has become good friends with the librarian in the children's library. He loves to talk with her and just hang out near the desk so he can tell her random facts of his life. She is always happy to see the boys and is more than willing to do anything to get them the books they want to read. Over the years we have learned that a librarian is a good person to have on your side, especially if you are 6 and want to request massive amounts of Pokemon books through inter library loan without your mom and dad knowing, so they can't say "only one Pokemon book today". Hmmm, who would be this sneaky?

As we were finishing up our work today Russell began thinking about his preschool teacher. Yes, it has been a few years since he was in Mrs. B's class, but to Russell is was just yesterday. She really was the one who got Russell started on the right foot when it comes to school. (She also taught Russell great songs that he is hoping to help me teach Max this year! What a nice older brother.) Mrs. B is also the reason that Russell wore a blazer to preschool one day and has loved blazers ever since. He wanted to look "sharp" one day for her so he found a blazer in an old box of hand me downs we received from someone. He obviously liked the response he got from her because he wore that blazer until the buttons fell off. I guess he wanted to look extra nice today also since he pulled his newer blazer from the closet for first day of school pictures.

Ahhh...Russell and his blazer.

Max when he was not so happy about using crayons (he's too grown up for them??!), but still working hard.

Summer is over! Well, summer break is over. Tomorrow we start lessons in first grade and preschool. The boys are excited to start school in the morning and they each picked out the pencil and eraser they want to use for the first assignment. Max was talking today about how he wants to learn to read a map on the first day of school, and Russell was kind enough to inform him that you don't read maps in preschool...you sing songs and color. But, hey, if Max wants to learn to read a map then we will work on it! :)

Due to today being our last day of summer break we wanted to end it with a bang. After a quick workout at the gym, we headed out to do some mini golf and go cart driving. Just a few miles from here there is a place that has bumper cars, go carts, slick tracks and mini golf, along with other things. It was a cool morning and we had the place almost to our selves. We took a quick drive around the go cart track and then hit the mini golf holes. We quickly realized that after the first hole we were not going to keep score. Russell took 17 strokes to get his ball in the first hole...he will definitely not be following in Tiger Woods' shoes. Max thought that he had to keep hitting his ball while it was rolling so who knows how many strokes he took. It was very fun though!! We then went back to the go cart track and had a race. Russell was a great co-pilot to me and Max was co-pilot to R.C.. Russell and I tried our best to beat R.C. and Max, but I am a much more careful driver than R.C. and would slow down for each turn, but I know for next time that that is not necessary. Watch out!! We finished our time there by giving the boys each $1.00 (I know...now days that's not much, but it seemed adequate to me. Not everyone agreed...) to play some video games.

Great form...

Last week I was able to take my kitchen back after surrendering it to the heat of summer. For weeks I didn't want to cook so as not to heat the house more. The heat has let up so I celebrated by baking some bread. This might not thrill all of you out there, but let me tell you, I have never smiled so much while making the boys their beloved PB&J. You see, I had some homemade jam I whipped up at the beginning of summer, some homemade peanut butter I made a few days earlier, and homemade bread. It makes me feel great to know each and every ingredient they are eating and know that I did it in my little kitchen instead of hundreds of ingredients being dumped together in a huge factory. Too bad I couldn't have milked the cow to get their milk or picked the corn to make their corn tortilla chips. Maybe someday...

Last week we purchased all our curriculum for the first semester of 1st grade and preschool. I told the boys they were not allowed to look at it yet so that it would be exciting and new when school starts. We are starting lessons on Wednesday and I am mapping out our first week of lessons today. I have books and papers strewn about the kitchen table and I could not keep the boys away from the books any longer. They are so excited to work in their new books! I guess that is a good thing.

(They also received "back to school" haircuts)

This year we are starting school at a set time in the morning. Russell is an early riser so I am going to take advantage of that and hopefully knock out some one on one time with him before Max wakes up. Russell will also be working more on his own in different subjects. He will be doing more reading and writing out answers to questions about the reading. This should allow for some one on one time with Max. I am also not going to plan our weeks out too far in advance this year. Last year I planned out almost an entire semester before we even started lessons and learned that it didn't work out how I had hoped. I found myself taking a lot of time in the evenings to rework our schedule to make it work for us better, so this year I will plan a week in advance so I can easily change/add to our schedule as needed. This will hopefully save a lot of scribbling out in my planner and changing dates on worksheets. Our first few weeks will be review and getting into the swing of things and figuring out what order we want to do our different subjects in.

Russell is wanting to have another art show this year, and Max is showing interest in this as well. They have been talking amongst themselves and have decided they want to have a joint show. The date and time for this will be announced on a later date...

First day of school pictures coming Wednesday....

I completely forgot to write about a super fun night we had last week!

Since we are so into baseball this summer we decided to take in a Paw Sox game at McCoy Stadium. It was a beautiful night and the boys were well rested and excited for their first baseball game. After a quick supper we pulled on our Red Sox (Paw Sox are the minor league Red Sox) hats, grabbed the boys ball gloves and took off to see the game. We had amazing seats! R.C. was thrilled to sit next to a man who took up his own seat and some of R.C.'s, and I was lucky enough as to sit next to a woman who talked my ear off. I smuggled some Twizzlers in my purse since I hate spending a fortune on ball game snacks, but we did get some Gatorade and ice cream in a helmet.

We were having a great time until about the 6th inning. The boys were great, but there was a man who ruined the evening for many people in our section.

You see, a few rows down from us there was another family who had small kids. The dad, and one of the boys, was sitting in one row and the mom, and other little boy, were sitting back a row or 2. The dad had taken one boy out to get a drink and as they were coming back, and squeezing past the people in their row, the little boy tripped and spilled a bit of his drink on a man sitting in the row. I, and everyone else, watched as the dad apologized and sat down with the boy on his lap. This grown man jumped out of his seat and started yelling at the little kid!!! This man was probably in his early 50's and the kid looked to be about 3. He proceeded to call the kid horrible HORRIBLE names! I'm talking 4 letter words that you should NEVER say around a kid...let alone AT a kid! The dad was holding the kid trying to keep calm and apologize, but the man was not having it. He was threatening to "meet" the dad in the parking lot and kept yelling at the kid and sticking his finger in the kid's face. He was so angry he stormed off, forcing his wife to leave also (lucky lady) and stopped where the mother and other kid were sitting. He then got in her face and began yelling at her also. She clapped her hands over the child's ears and just shook her head. Everyone around us was yelling at this man telling him to watch his mouth, but he didn't care. For the remainder of the game the dad held the boy while the boy kept his head down or on his dad's shoulder.

I don't think I could have kept my cool like these parents did if some man was yelling at my child (but yes, I understand it could be worse for a child to see their parent yell at another adult...it's a tough call). I could hardly keep my cool sitting a few rows up. If I would have been closer I am certain I would have snapped. Sure the kid spilled on him. I saw the man's shirt...it was maybe 8 spots of lemonade on his shirt. It's a ball game, expect to get hot, sweaty, and a little dirty...and it's not like the man was wearing a 3 piece suit. He had on a t-shirt and jean shorts. He made a huge scene and quite possibly ruined baseball games for this little kid.

As we left that night I thanked the talkative lady sitting next to me for being so kind to us. She talked and talked and talked, but she also gave tissues and hand sanitizer to the boys when they were covered in ice cream and laughed more at/with the boys as they were acting silly. She told about her grand kids and about her husband snoring in his easy chair while she is trying to watch a show. She said it was one of the most enjoyable games she had been to, and she didn't even watch much of the game, she watched the boys more. I realized that she was the perfect seat neighbor. She was the kind of person you hope to sit by at a baseball game.

All week I have been thinking about this and I still feel horrible for the little boy and his parents. Randomly during my day I will think how this grown man acted and hope that I never see someone act this way again.