Marvelous May

Wastin away again in margaritaville....

May got off to an amazing start as Kevin and I headed down to Key West with Tim and Rach for my birthday present. I had been counting down the days for this trip since January!
It was a team effort to care for the boys while we were gone for 4 days. Alek started out at Jakey's so he could go to school Wednesday and Thursday. He was so excited to stay with Jake and hang out at LaLa and Jim's. He kept asking me when we were leaving! Maks headed down to Granmom and Poppy's. Then Thursday they came up and picked Alek up at school and spent the night back down there. They had a nice time visiting MeMe and going to the hair salon with her. She was able to show off her boys in person, she was so happy. Later that day, Noni picked them up and headed back to our house, so her and Pop could take over the reigns from there.

They spent the weekend, they headed to Joe's communion party saturday and had brunch with Nana on Sunday. Alek and Maks had a blast while we were gone. Which is wonderful, it is so easy to relax on vacation when you know your kids are having a great time and are in great hands. So thanks for everyone for making our getaway so easy!

So, Key West was a blast!!

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale, picked up our rented convertible and cruised on down through the Keys.

It was a gorgeous sunny day, felt so good to be in pure sun, no rain clouds, no crazy weather, just clear skies and sun.

We stopped for lunch at Hog Heaven in Islamorada. It was right on the water and the food was awesome, the Landshark Lager was really good too!
We continued on and made a stop at our favorite place in Marathon-The Island Fish Company. Margarita tasted really good!
Several hours later we rolled into Key West and into The Parrot Key Resort.


We checked into our townhome, went and stocked up on some staples at Walgreens, took a quick break and headed onto down to Duval Street.


The Flyers were playing so we were in search of a great bar to watch the game. Thankfully local guy Pat Croce owns the perfect combination Key West/Philly Bar, The Rum Barrel.

This bar was awesome, Philly food, island food, all philly sports on. We had a great time watching the game, eating and drinking, despite the loss. This bar ended up being our go to place each night, watching the Flyers sadly lose and the Phillies win. We brought home shirts and gifts designating us as the Southermost Phillies Fans!

Days were spent lounging by the pool and soaking up the sun. Our resort had four pools to choose from which was perfect, because there were some rather loud and obnoxious people there. I will never understand how people yell to each other across an entire pool and hold a whole conversation this way. This family drove us nuts, but thankfully we could easily escape them!

I read 3 books in four days on my Kindle. It was awesome, just pure relaxtion.

The guys went tarpon fishing on Friday, but had no luck. They had a good time though, I imagine it was just gorgeous out there on the flats!

We took in Mallor Square and the gorgeous sunset, walked around Duval street, hit some of our favorites bars like Captain Tony's, Turtle Kraals, and Irish Kevin's. The people watching on Duval street is spectacular!

We were there for Cinco de Mayo and enjoyed some Coronas and margaritas. We ate well and enjoyed dinners at Conch republic Seafood company, Half Shell Raw Bar and The Commodore. The Commodore was amazing. We sat upstairs at open air windows and looked out over the marina. The food was absolutely amazing. I highly recommend it if you are looking for an really nice dinner.

It seemed to be the week of sports when we were there, between the Flyers and Phillies and then saturday was the Derby. We watched the race at the Half Shell which was fun. Their beer steamed shrimp is amazing!
We always seemed to wind up back at the Rum Barrel though. They have a roof top deck, eating area and bar with flat screen TVs. They have live music up there as well. We had a blast hanging out watching the game, trying new drinks served up by very fun bartender from delaware County.

A TV show that Kevin and I enjoy on HDTV, called Drinking Made Easy, was filming in Key West and it seemed like everywhere we went we just missed Zane and Steve. So one morning we ate breakfast at Schooner Wharf and there was Steve and his crazy beard, filming a couple parting shots. We got to meet him, great guy, best job in the world!

It was a great four days, so relaxing and just alot of fun. Of course it flew by, but we were anxious to get home and see our little men.

We pulled in our driveway the same time they did. They were so good at brunch, Noni took them to Target and spoiled them!

It was awesome to give them great big hugs, we missed them so much!

They had such a great time though while we were gone, I am sure they barely noticed we were away!

We arrived home on Mother's day, so I was given some very nice cards from my boys and beautiful flowers for my pots on the patio.

I especially loved my handmade cards from school!

Alek had to write a paragraph about me and reading it brought me to laughter and tears. This is what it said: "My mom's name is Kris. She is helpful and nice. My mom likes to play with me. My mom helps me clean my room and she plays baseball with me. My mom loves to eat pasta. My mom looks beautiful when she is in the sun. My mom is the best at making cake (ok, stop laughing, since everyone knows I dont bake!).

If I could give my mom anything in the whole world, I would give her a new car because she needs one. I love you mom."

Seriously, that was the best Mother's day card ever!

May has gotten off to a fabulous start. Baseball continues to keep us busy and it is going well. It is fun seeing how they improve each week!

School has been busy with field trips, book fair, water ice social and we got to see TT off to her prom. She looked stunning. Cannot believe in a few short weeks she will be graduating!

Please time, slow down......

There has been alot of rain unfortunately so a bunch of rain outs for our baseball games. The grass is green but soggy and we really would love some more sun so we can stay outside playing!!
We are looking forward to Memorial Day weekend, a quick trip to the beach and then back for JoJo's memorial day party and the parade! So happy summer is almost here!

Wait

Where did April go? Oh yea, it was filled with baseball, birthdays, school and Easter.

April seems like a blur, I am trying to remember what happened and how the days went by so quickly. I hate months like that, well it usually means we have had busy fun, but I hate when it goes by so fast you are not sure how you got to the next month!?

School continues to go well for both guys. They are happy to get outside more and more for recess. They are gearing up for the spring field trips, end of year parties and signing up for summer camps.

Alek received a reading award at school which came complete with letter from principal, a certificate and his picture posted in the lobby. He was very proud of himself and we are very proud of him. We love watching him read and are amazed at the progress each week. Math continues to be the subject he excels at, sadly he will surpass me in math by next year-he already figures out his problems quicker than I can. This "new" math is a bit tricky for me!

Maks' writing is getting better, he tries hard, his teacher says he continues to be a perfectionist and will throw out papers if he doesn't get it how he thinks it should be. He is drawing alot more. I love it. Last year he barely wanted to color, now he is drawing pictures with people, heros, pokemon.

Maks also has taken to performing headstands, handstands, flips, backbends. We are not sure if he wants to be a gymnast or is prepping for a future career in the circus-you should see him on the monkey bars! We have asked him if he wants to take a gymnastics class and he always says no. Hard to figure this kid out!

Alek had a Dance-A-Thon at school, which I was chair of. As stressful as it was planning, it wound up being a great event. The kids had a blast, it was so much funny watching the kids dance together, laughing at the teachers, trying line dances, running around and just enjoying the moment. It really is fun to watch how your child interacts with their schools friends when they dont think you are watching!

Baseball is busy, 2 teams, actually make that 3 since Kevin is playing also, and a bunch of rainouts which require rescheduling. Alek and Maks are having a good time playing. Alek is focused and really loves the game. Maks, well, lets just say he adds a little extra flare to the games and God bless his coaches for their patience!

Maks has performed handstands on 2nd base, cartwheels at short stop, sang songs at 1st base. Last game he put leaves in his cap so it looked like he had horns and then proceeded to play air guitar in the field. Ahh Maks, he leaves you scratching your head. As I have said before, he marches to the beat of his own drum!

April means birthdays around here--there are quite a few between both of our families. We celebrated Kevin's birthday in the box at the Phillies game. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun!

Next up was Pop's 65th birthday. Surprise party planned by Noni at Pop's favorite pub.
Pop is not big on birthday's, in fact he had the day blacked out on the calendar, so we were worried about his reaction! But he had a great time, good food and good times! Happy birthday to my daddy!

Next up, was Easter. Since as usual I was NOT on the ball, Grammom came to the rescue and dyed Easter eggs with the boys for me while we were at Pop's party. And of course being Grammom it didn't stop with eggs. They made cupcakes for MeMe and for themselves with her baking for kids cookware (seriously, I dont even have that) and oh, she just happened to have a bunny cake mold lying around the house-really? So they made a cake too. Definitely put mommy to shame-I better step it up!! Kidding aside they had a really fun day, we stopped by to visit MeMe and give her the homemade easter treats. She was so happy she got to see her little men.

So Easter morning, started off with a fun egg hunt both outside and in. They loved their special baskets and we enjoyed a nice fun family morning.

We then headed down to Granny's for Easter dinner with JoJo and Uncle Rich. The boys were excited for another egg hunt at Granny's. They loved racing around the yard searching for money eggs! Though they required Granny and JoJo help for the remaining egg.
We then enjoyed a beautiful afternoon and yummy dinner.

It was a very nice Easter!

Easter Monday meant the BIG 40 for me! Fabulous at 40, isnt' that how it goes?

I had a nice day at work with treats and gifts from my co-workers. Then I enjoyed a nice dinner with my boys. My boys did great and remember I wanted a Kindle for my birthday, so I was very excited to open that and download some books for my upcoming birthday trip to Key West.

It was a great day, though it is weird, I am 40, my body definitely feels 40, especially in the morning, but I dont feel mature enough somedays to be 40? I guess its right what they say, growing older but not up!

Take Me Out to The..

Really, chilly and windy ball field! Batter up, its that time of year again, our favorite sport.. BASEBALL!!! We switched leagues this season and so far we are happy, though the fields are all open, no trees around, so the wind is crazy, the temp is several degrees colder than home. So we bundle up and head to practice!

Maks finally started T-Ball, he was so excited. He is now officially a Royal and he is very proud of that and his new baseball hat. He has pretty well so far, just a little issue with the running. He hits the ball and stands there playing with the tee or watching how far the ball goes.

But, we talked about this, he got some coaching from Tim over the phone and next practice he was much better. T-Ball is a trip, the kids crack me up! Maks is so happy to be playing the game his big brother has been playing.

Alek was officially drafted to the Cardinals in the pony league. He was very stoked to find out his buddy from his class is on the team and his dad was the coach.

He has two boys from his class on the team, so he is loving it. It has been a chilly start, I am hoping for warmer weather so I dont have to wear my gloves to the field! But, the boys dont seem to mind.

We are happy to be watching the Phillies get off to a great start this season. We have High Hopes!

Tonight Alek was laying in our bed watching the game and I was dusting the TV, he said, "mom your blocking my view". I said, its no big deal, we are getting our butts kicked. He said, Mom, it doesn't matter if we are losing, I am just happy the Phillies are on and Mom, it doesn't matter if you win or lose, just that you have fun.

Keep up that great attitude Alek!

Lion vs. Lamb

Oh March, why must you tease us, sunny warm days, then cold winter-like mornings. Just let it be spring already! We want to stay outside and play without having to put our winter coats back on. I have been lost for several weeks now without my favorite camera. It broke during the insane ice sledding adventure in the Poconos, but thankfully it was still under warranty, so off to Sony it went and I was left with my cell phone camera. No comparison.

So it must be spring because Kevin has re-done the pond, or the waterfall. This seems to a regular spring occurrence. Though he swears this is the last time, he has it just the way he wants it (I think I have heard this before). But, it looks great, as always he did a wonderful job. While Kevin was slaving away on the pond, I took the initiative to have playground mulch delivered with my neighbor and then I fixed up the play area. That was hard work, manual labor is not my cup of tea, but the play area looks great and it has alot more cushion to it given the high flying antics of Alek and Maks.

Other new happenings in March, is that I started working per diem at a nursing home. I really missed patient care, and I found a perfect set-up. I have only worked a few times, but I really enjoyed it.

Alek and my friend's daughter, E, received late Christmas presents when Mary Poppins came to town. We had a fun night, though I have to say I was disappointed in their choice of restaurants downtown. Applebee's, so much for nice dinner before the theatre! The show was great though. I really enjoyed it. Alek kept swearing that the little boy playing Michael Banks, was his friend Xander. He did kind of look like him, but I had to keep explaining to him, that this kind of show is a huge deal and if Xander was in it, we would have known.

Maks had his IEP. His speech has improved so much. He still struggles with his R, TH, but she said that still falls within the normal for his age. His receptive language went from delayed to above average and his expressive went from moderately delayed to average. He is still struggling with the volume issues and we are always reminding him to breathe and exhale as he speaks and also to speak like he is singing. He complies but then a second later is talking extremely loud. The therapist said it is very hard for his age to change behavior. But hopefully his vocal cord nodules wont get worse. next week he has an evaluation by the school district's speech pathologist and that will help determine his services in the fall. For now, the IU is switching him to once a month.

March also means the start of baseball. Maks was finally getting to play TBall. He was so excited. He laced up his spikes, grabbed his glove and picked out a baseball hat, oh and several layers of clothes and his winter coat. He was "drafted" by the Royals. He did good his first practice. TBall is a trip. He did pretty good in terms of paying attention. He has a strong arm and he hit well, the problem is running. He didn't quite grasp that. It was funny, he was just hanging out on each base and didn't run until a coach lit a fire under his rear.

He seriously cracks me up. He is so entertaining. Hopefully next practice on Saturday will be warmer! We are still waiting on Alek's draft notice and he should start practice next week.

Well we hope the sun and warm air decide to come soon and stick around, because we are sure sick of this cold!

Maks Funnies

Oh Maks, how you crack us up!!

What is funny about Maks is he doesn't know how funny he is.

He has this dry, matter of fact, sarcastic humor about him.

So out of the mouth of Maks this week:

At my brother's house for my niece and nephew's birthday. Maks coming running in the house and I tell him to go to the bathroom as I have noticed he hasn't in awhile. He says, "but mom I already went, outside". I said, "excuse me, you went outside?". He says, "Mom I didn't pee my pants, I just went in the mulch".

Ok then, that is much better!

Upon a field trip to nursing home, he was sweet and gentle and kind to the residents. He told me he kept talking to one lady and she just smiled at him alot. He said, I asked her, "why dont you talk?" he said she still didn't talk, just smiled, so he tells me, "mom I dont know why the old lady didn't talk, she was a good listener though".

He has a great session with his speech therapist at school the other day. She said he worked so well his controlling his voice volume and whispering. She was really happy. The session ended and he ran back in his classroom and announced, VERY LOUDLY, "hey everybody, Im done my speech, lets playyyyyy". Apparently his therapist, just put her head in her hands and sighed.

The other night, the boys were playing Wii as I was getting ready to walk with my neighbor. Maks comes running upstairs, heads to his bedroom. A couple minutes later comes back downstairs with only his pajama shirt and carrying his bottoms in his hand, he ran past me. I said what are you doing, he yelled going potties mom! The doorbell rings and Maks coming running out, still naked from waist down and looks out the window, giving my neighbor a show. I see her doubled over laughing.

He says, "oh boy mom, Miss M saw my weinis." (Maks seems to have combined penis and weiner). I said, well that is what happens when you run around naked. He said, "sorry mom" and off he went. I guess at some point he put his bottoms on!

Riding his scooter today, doing tricks, he wipes out, it looks bad, he is laying on his side, his back to us, I expect him to be crying, but he looks over, with his angry face and says, "Uh, I jumped too high". We started cracking up and he got upset, he said, you are laughing at me cause I fell. We explained no, it was his reaction and reasoning behind the fall.

This kid is a trip. It will be so much fun to see what he is like once he realizes how funny he truly is! I think we will be in for it!

The Stats

Usually I throw the yearly stats in the birthday posts, but Alek's doctor's appoointment fell after the birthday festivities.

So onto the stats:

Alek grew 3.25 inches from last year, he is now at 49.75 inches! The doctor was amazed, she said generally at this age, you usually see 2 inches per year.

This explains the clothes not fitting!

He also gained 8 pounds and weighs in at 57 pounds, though hard to tell where that is, Mr Skinny Guy!

Growing like a bad weed!

And the celebration makes

its way to the beach! The birthday week celebration continued down at Pop and Noni's. Alek was extra excited that Jakey was able to come as well!
Kevin left that same morning for a golf trip to Hilton Head with the guys, so it was good for us to escape for the weekend. Saturday was nice and warm. The kids were able to kick their shoes off and run barefoot in the sand. They really enjoyed playing on the beach. Maks asked if we brought his bathing suit down!

I swear the beach just relaxes me the instant I get out of the car. I guess it is the smell of the salt air, the sound of the water. It was a sight for sore eyes after this winter!

As we walked onto the beach Alek said, "ahh my beach, I missed you". That's my boy!

He went right to task looking for his shells and stones.

It was a great weekend for finding clam shells and beach glass (lots of different colors!). After playing on the beach the boys rode their scooters and had some races speared on by Pop. They came to a crashing halt after Alek wiped out. So we took a break and then headed to Grotto for some pizza and game fun.
The boys had a blast all weekend. Alek and Maks did great, Jake is definitely a calming influence, not as high energy as they normally are down there!

It was a great weekend and a great way to wrap up the week of Alek!

Kevin has been enjoying his time in Hilton Head, so glad he had a chance to go, but we cannot wait for him to come home!