Saturday - February 28, 2009

I was lucky enough to be able to sleep late this morning. Tim and Noah came to wake me up and ended playing a few games of rock, paper, scissors. Noah won first with paper:



then with scissors:



Took a picture of Noah for his pre-school. They want a picture of him dressed as what he wants to be when he grows up:



That's the best I could do on short notice.

Alana wanted to stay home and play on her computer all day, but it was a nice warm day outside and Grandpa and Grandma wanted to take the kids on a hike. I'm positive she enjoyed herself once she got out of the house.

Got a belated happy birthday phone call from my friend Andrew. He and his wife Erin are expecting their second son (already named Connor) at the end of March. Andrew asked if I would be Connor's Godmother! Yay! Now I really can't wait for the kid to be born. :)

So the kids left around 1:30 and Tim and I went to play cards with my Grandma:





We played Rummy and, for the first time ever, Tim kicked our butts!

After that, Tim and I headed first to my Grandpa's gravesite to pay a brief visit (today would have been his birthday...we always shared birthday parties) then to the British Beer Company for dinner. We waited for an hour for a table:



I found a cool telephone booth cabinet that I'm totally going to build for myself (minus the sucky lighting):



and Tim showed me one of his quirky habits while he perused his menu. When he is thinking deeply, he rubs his arms on his face:



The food was excellent, coffee was excellent, service was excellent. Other than the wait, it was a stellar experience. (Thanks again for the gift card, Jimmy!!)

Then it was off to home and watching The Untouchables before crashing.

Friday - February 27, 2009

Since I had my earplug in my left ear last night, Alana was able to get into our room this morning and kiss me on the forehead without me hearing her coming. So the earplugs are good for sleeping, not so much for being otherwise alert. There was one time a few months ago where she stood over me in the middle of the night and nearly puked on my head. I narrowly avoided it then, so if I have these earplugs in...I sense I will not be so lucky in the future. But I will get better sleep so it's a trade-off.

So anyway, Allie got ready for school and onto the bus, then I got Noah ready and took him. Swung to the grocery store after he was dropped off to return a whole bunch (four trash bags/$11.60 worth) of soda cans and bottles. Feels nice to have the back of my truck empty once again.

Did some food shopping after I returned the cans and stopped at the service desk to buy a lottery ticket for tonight. The lady behind the counter asked me for an ID. Just turned 30 yesterday and can still pass for 18? I'm not sure whether I should be insulted or grateful. ;)

Went to pick Noah up from school and all of the kids were playing outside in the school's playground. Noah was swinging on the swings with his eyes closed:



Boy, do I know that feeling.

Tyler came over to play after he and Alana got home from school. They jumped over two huge bouncy balls and had a blast:





The kids went outside for a bit (it was unseasonably warm today) and then Tyler had to go home just before dinner time.

My brother and my nephew Steven swung by shortly after to bring over the home-made arcade gaming computer my brother has been building. Randy (my brother) was kind enough to let me take his picture (getting mellow in his old age):



Tim had some issues getting his car out of the parking lot in Boston, but it was all resolved and once he got home Randy explained how everything works. Tim is excited to play with it this weekend and add some stuff to it. This stuff is beyond my little brain's capacity to understand, but someday, I swear it will make sense to me. While I might not understand how it all works, I definitely can play video games...so I will gladly be a tester along with Tim. :)

The kids ate dinner separately (Noah was too antsy to wait for Allie. This is Steven keeping Allie company - and it was roasted chicken, stuffing, and green beans if anybody cares to know):



Steve and Allie had some of the delicious edible bouquet I received yesterday (Tyler had some too, but I didn't get pictures of it):



Allie got chocolate all over herself:



I know. It's more than you needed to see. She's into making silly faces whenever she sees a camera lately...get used to it. I'll try to catch her off-guard as often as possible.

After Randy and Steven left we all chilled out in the living room for a while until it was bedtime for the kids. Now it's video gaming for Tim, screenplay writing for me.

Happy Friday. :)

NOTE: Click on any picture to see the full-size version. They get cut off in here sometimes.

Thursday - February 26, 2009

Today started out with Alana missing the bus because it came two minutes early and we were totally not ready. No jacket, no brushed hair, no snack in the backpack. So we jumped in the truck and I drove her to school instead. But first, she posed with some Guatemalan worry dolls that she's been making:



I had an appointment for a physical at 10am, which was good because I haven't had one for many years and I've been having chest pains and weird lung issues for a few months now.

Noah and I arrived on time, filled out a little questionnaire, then were (in a very timely manner) brought into a room. The doctor asked me some questions about the chest pains and stuff, then checked my reflexes (right knee did not want to cooperate) and checked my eyes and ears and all that good stuff. Noah was very well-behaved:



He really liked a display of the esophagus. He asked me all kinds of questions about why it showed damage on some parts. Then he asked about what an epiglottis is and I had to explain that too. This is him examining the esophagus display while we waited:



I was given an EKG and a breathing test, both of which I'm told came back fine. Blood pressure, fine. Weight, fine. Heart rate, fine. Cholesterol is being checked.

I treated Noah to McDonald's since he was so awesome during the visit to the doctor (he had a cheeseburger and apple slices with root beer), and when we got home, this was waiting on the doorstep:



Katie, John, and Joey, are the total bomb. What a way to make a girl feel super special! Thanks, guys. <3

After I put the yummy fruit arrangement in the fridge we headed out to meet up with my friend Mark for some lunch at Uno's. He lives up in New Hampshire so I don't get to see him too often. He's rocking some cool sideburns these days, so here's an obligatory photo:



He's going to kill me when he sees this on my blog, he thought that photo was just to put on his contact page in my iPhone. (It was, but since I already had it...)

Fantastic lunch, very good conversation. Hopefully I'll get to see him again soon.

Headed home to get Alana off the bus, did some homework with her, then she checked her e-mail and played on the Build A Bear-ville website.

I did some cleaning while Noah played a video game and Alana played on their computer, then I made some dinner (spaghetti and turkey meatballs) and my mother came over (with cookies!) to watch the kids while Tim and I went to our spinning class.

This spinning class went a little better than the last, but the teacher did things entirely differently. She's much more tough than the Tuesday girl. My butt HURTS.

Tim gave me a gorgeous rose that seriously is the best-smelling rose I have ever smelled:



and I got a bunch of e-mails, texts, phone calls, and facebook messages wishing me a happy birthday. I tried to respond to most of them, but I couldn't to all. I also got a fantastic message from my dad (he called while we were in the cycling class) which I'm going to put here for you to listen to once I can figure out the stupid microphone issues I'm having right now.

After the kids were in bed, Tim and I watched some Heroes on tivo and Tim gave me the best massage in the history of all time.

I put in some new earplugs (Tim snores) for the first time last night...slept like a baby. Those things are awesome. I should have invested that five dollars WAY before now.

Wednesday - February 25, 2009

Today started off pretty awesome. I woke up to this:



The only thing better would have been if I were able to stay in bed with that little snuggle kid and snuggle him for longer than a few minutes.

Mr. Noah wanted to help me take the trash barrels out to the street this morning, but we were running slightly late for his school so I told him he could help me take the barrels back in after they were emptied.

I went to the gym while he was at school and attended a power lifting class. It was crazy...I did pretty well until I was supposed to do lunges with weights. Yeah...I can't. So I did that part without the weights. My new goal is to not look like a huge wuss during that portion of the class. *smile*

I also managed to make a cool invitation for my cousin Linda's 30th birthday party which is coming up. I really like it. I think I might start doing more graphic design-like invitations in the future. They take less time to do!

After I picked up Noah, he was very happy to help out his mom:





What a good guy he is! He spilled my just-purchased iced coffee about three minutes after this picture was taken, but he was too cute to kill.

I had to leave at four o'clock to go to an audition for a film since it was being held in New Hampshire. I'm very glad I left when I did, because I arrived at exactly the time they needed me there - 6:30. Took an hour longer than it should have due to traffic.

Went well, we'll see what happens.

The ride home was much quicker than the ride up, and now I'm going to settle down with my newly-purchased-and-not-yet-spilled iced coffee and watch some LOST with Tim.

Thank you to my mother who watched the kids from four until Tim got home. You rule. <3

Tuesday - February 24, 2009

Today started out pretty cool, with Tim missing his train and deciding to stay home. This meant he and Noah had time to play Guitar Hero and make maracas out of toilet paper tubes. This also meant I had an hour to fall asleep on the couch and finally sleep off the last of the awful cold I had. Only thing that remains is a very mild sore throat and a little bit of congestion.

I worked on my screenplay for a bit too, and realized that maybe I really can finish it in time for my deadline. I might have to pull a couple of all-nighters, but I'm optimistic that I can get it done.

Once Allie got home, Noah made a leaf pile in the back yard since most of the snow has melted and they both (Allie somewhat reluctantly) jumped in a pile of leaves for a while.

I got a phone call from a guy who works for a production company which is producing several feature films over the next year. He wants me to meet him at 6:30 tomorrow night in Manchester, NH to audition for a role in a film called "The Evangelist". Though I detest being in front of the camera, I'm not turning down money at this point. Let's hope I can get there through traffic by 6:30. And not suck.

I helped Alana with her homework and helped her study for her spelling test, and then it was time for me and Tim to go to our cycling class at the gym. The kids had a quick (very quick, by our standards) dinner, and off we went.

Tim thought he was going to die after 20 minutes, but then the endorphins kicked in and he was raring to go for the rest of the hour. I realized my lungs are not in fabulous shape but my legs could go on forever. Hopefully doing this regularly will put us both into very good shape.

When we got home, Tim made us some chicken (yum!) and we watched Obama's TV broadcast. A very nice day. :)

Monday - February 23, 2009

Back to the "normal" routine of things. Noah was not wonderful at school today (the fact that Alana woke him up in the middle of the night because she felt like playing her radio probably did not help) so he was not allowed to play video games today.

My morning (while Noah was at school) was spent doing laundry, filing paperwork, and writing my screenplay. Things came out well today. My throat still hurts, but it's not as bad as yesterday so I think I'm finally on the mend.

Picked up my father in-law from the hospital (just a routine procedure, he's fine) and Noah fell asleep for most of the ride. That's one more thing that won't happen for much longer. These kids are growing up too fast!

Got home around the same time as Tim, the four of us ate a delicious dinner together then Tim headed out to his buddy Pete's house to play music with Pete and Mike. Tim plays bass, the other two both play guitar. They desperately need a drummer, but they sound pretty awesome together as it stands.

My plans for after the kids go to bed is to continue working on my screenplay. :)

Sunday - February 22, 2009

The kids went over to their Mammma's house for an hour while Tim and I went to the gym for our fitness assessment. We got a kid named Derek as our personal trainer. Luckily, he was not as peppy as the woman we met on Thursday when we made the appointment. Just a normal dude, and I am grateful for that. (Pep annoys me, haha.)

We set our goals (me: three months, Tim: year-long) and set up another appointment for the second phase of the fitness evaluation. Off we go.

My throat hurts much worse today, it's now hurting my ears when I swallow too. I've never been this swollen in my life. Will probably end up at the doctor tomorrow.

Noah endured a haircut by mom today (and he handled it much better than usual), and both kids have had their fill of playing video games. Little do they know...they have to clean their rooms tomorrow. :)

Tim and I finished out the night watching the Oscars. I guess I have to see Slumdog Millionaire. Why do I have the feeling I'm going to hate it? But really, I'm just glad Anne Hathaway didn't win anything. She sucks.

Thursday - February 5, 2009

This post is out of order, but I wanted to show these awesome pictures of a rosy-cheeked Noah from a day he played in the snow.

Saturday - February 21, 2009

I still felt like crap today. My throat is still swollen and killing, but the headache I had yesterday is gone, so there's that.

Went on a bunch of errands today and applied for that overnight job at Home Depot. I'm sort of hoping I get it and sort of hoping I don't. I feel so weak with this cold right now that the thought of working overnights seems particularly draining. I will figure it out if I get it, probably will sleep in the afternoons a little if the kids will be forgiving.

Didn't do much today, since we rarely have weekends where we aren't somewhere or another, I thought it would be nice to just chill. The house ends up getting trashed that way, but whatever. I can clean it on Monday.

Watched Kiss the Girls, one of the movies on my "rewatch" list. I'm watching a bunch of films over while I'm writing my screenplay - ones that I particularly liked the seamlessness of.

Friday - February 20, 2009

Set up birthday parties for each of the kids today. Noah's will be at Scalliwags and Alana's will be a Carousel Family Fun Center (roller skating). I was told that Ronald McDonald was going to be at the mall today from 11-12, so I packed up the kids and drove out there right after eleven.

We hit some traffic due to road construction (and passed my buddy Tim Daly on the way without seeing him - he called me right after to tell me he had been waving like a fool) and took the back way into the mall. Lucky we did, because Ronald McDonald was walking out the back door. Caught him crossing the parking lot at 11:41. Little jerk, he was supposed to be inside until noon! So I rolled the window down and the kids yelled hello and waved, and luckily he wasn't a total jerk and waved back to them. So while they didn't get to hug him, they did get to at least see the guy. Better than what would have happened if we had gone inside only to realize he was already gone.

We went inside the mall and the kids rode the carousel (these types of activities won't happen for much longer):





Then we took pictures inside a photo booth (some were from the machine, some were my iPhone inside the booth:







The kids' friend Kyle came over to play after we got home. They played outside for most of the afternoon, but came indoors long enough to track mud all over the carpet.

I felt like donk all day since I caught a cold and my throat hurt so bad it felt like it was going to close all the way and cut off my air supply. I managed to not be a beast all day even though I felt like crap, and we had a lot of fun. :)

Thursday - February 19, 2009

Alana had a playdate with her friend Abby. She went and had lunch there and hung out for a few hours with her and her two brothers. I took Noah grocery shopping while Alana was out of the house (shopping with one kid is easier than shopping with two).

Later on, my mother came over to our house to watch the kids while Tim and I went to sign up at a local gym. That went well, we're going to return on Sunday for our fitness tests and then we can start working out regularly.

We had been working out daily, but the elliptical that Tim bought me for my birthday a few years ago ended up breaking (Tim), so it will be nice to get back into a routine.

Wednesday - February 18, 2009

Today was a pretty chill day. The house was somewhat trashed since it's vacation week and I feel guilty making the kids clean their rooms when they have friends over constantly.

Tyler came over to play with the kids again today, and I spent a very nice few hours chatting with his mom. It's been a while, so it was nice to catch up. It seems like things are going in the right direction for her these days, so I'm very happy to hear it. She likes working with animals, and I'm very glad she's feeling fulfilled.

Tuesday - February 17, 2009

My friend Katherine volunteers at an animal shelter and her father has been ill recently, so she asked if I could watch her son Tyler while she went to feed the animals. Tyler's a good kid and in Alana's class at school, so I was more than happy to have him over. He was dropped off at 9:30, and the kids all played video games for about an hour.

Then it was off to the mall where I'd heard there was a YMCA program going on. Once we got there we realized the program was actually a really lame bean bag toss game for two year-olds and a bead bracelet-making table. So we went to the arcade.

The kids all played various games and I even got to play some ski ball. Tyler won the jackpot on the wheel of fortune game, so he got to pick out all kinds of cool toys at the end of the visit.

Then it was off to Friendly's, where I treated the kids to lunch:



They all had a good time. :)

Monday - February 16, 2009

The technical beginning of school vacation week for the kids. Tim also had the day off from work. In the morning, Tim and I drove out to Millis to meet with a guy and shoot a Glock 26. Very nice gun. :)



We went out to lunch at the 99 Restaurant, Tim had dessert - his favorite strawberry shortcake. The kids had their lunch with my mother at McDonald's so they could play at the playplace they love so much.

We picked them up after lunch and went home for another leisurely day. I searched online for an overnight job, since I can't work during the day (kids). I found a few that were interesting and many that wouldn't work. I applied to a couple that I knew were long-shots, and wrote it on my list to apply at Home Depot during the weekend when I had time to drive up to the store.

I still haven't figured out when I'll sleep if I get an overnight job, but I'll figure that out later, I guess.

Sunday - February 15, 2009

We lounged in bed for a very long time since we had no kids to attend to. I took my laptop to bed and worked on my screenplay, and Tim brought the Playstation into our bedroom and played Madden.

The screenplay came along nicely, Tim made me food and tea and stuff so I wouldn't have to get up while writing. He even went out and bought Cadbury eggs since I was still cheating on my diet. What a guy. :D

Stalker Dave came by that night and watched Monster with us. What a depressing ass movie. Very good performance by Charlize Theron, but damn. Depressing story.

Kids still at my mother's house!

Saturday - February 14, 2009

Valentine's Day.

Tim let me sleep late, and when I woke up the kids opened their cards and found their chocolate on the kitchen table. Admittedly, they had candy before they had a proper breakfast.

Tim presented me with a rose and some sugar-free chocolates (I'm on the Atkins Diet):



and he was given two cards (I couldn't choose just one) and some chocolates in a football-skinned heart box.

We all spent the morning together not doing much of anything, then we dropped the kids off at their Mammma's house (my mother) because she wanted to steal them for two nights! This was the beginning of school vacation week, so I couldn't really object. :)

After the kids were dropped, Tim and I went shopping in Plymouth then went to eat at Olive Garden. I was cheating on my diet, so I ate delicious carbs and loved every second of it. (Thanks for the gift card, Katie and John!) Very delicious food.

Tim and I ventured back to our house and watched a movie, Hero. It was very interesting. Awesome cinematography.

Friday - February 13, 2009

Noah had a Valentine's Day party at his pre-school (he brought mandarin oranges to share).

Once Alana got home from school, I took the kids on a surprise adventure. We drove
to the train station and parked, and waited in the cold (thankfully not as cold as it HAD been in the days previous) for the train to arrive. We hopped on and the kids were very well-behaved while we motored into Boston. The woman across the aisle from me appeared to enjoy the kids; she kept smiling at me throughout the ride.

Once we arrived at South Station, Tim met us on the platform. We walked a few blocks away to the Elephant & Castle on Devonshire Street. Very tasty British food. Alana and I each got a chicken pot pie:



Tim got a chicken curry dish with jasmine rice and Noah got a cheeseburger which he devoured:



Food and service were both fantastic, I do recommend the place.

Next, back onto the T for a short trip to the Garden:



The kids were very happy to find out that we were attending Disney on Ice. As soon as they got into the building they were amped. Both were taken by the parent of the same sex to the bathroom so we could avoid those trips later. That done, each kid was allowed to pick out a toy, then we made our way to our seats.





The kids' faces lit up when they saw Donald Duck emerge from behind the curtain, and the smiles just got bigger and bigger throughout the show. Tim and I really enjoyed the Lion King portion of the show, but the kids liked the Cars portion:



They each got some cotton candy, one bag came with a Lighting McQueen hat:



and one with a Tinkerbell hat:



It's safe to say they had a fantastic time. :)

After the show we took the T a few stops back again (very crowded) to South Station and walked over the bridge to reach Tim's car. The ride home was full of nice music and a very happy and somewhat sleepy family.

Thursday - February 12, 2009

Alana started e-mailing on February 3rd. Tim built a computer for the kids, so they both have up to an hour each day where they can play games or send e-mail on their new machine. Alana has e-mailed her friend Abby a lot, and today her friend Abby got her own e-mail address.

In celebration of this, here is a video of Alana using the kids' computer for the first time:



The kids spent a lot of time writing out Valentines for their school friends today. Alana had Kung Fu Panda Valentines, and Noah had Marvel Comics Valentines. He's doing a great job writing his own name now:



I also had my Library Trustee meeting, where we discussed budget issues (again). Not fun times financially, no sir. The Secretary, Elaine, was out so I took the meeting minutes notes. Let's hope I don't screw them up.

Wednesday - February 11, 2009

Today was Gerry's 66th birthday (Tim's dad), so we went over to their house after Tim got home from work. His gift from us was a new wide angle lens and some filters to go with his camera. He likes taking panoramic shots, so this will work well after I show him how to crop photos on his computer.

His gift to us was a delicious roast beef dinner and a nice salad. We spent some time going over old photos of Tim and laughing. (well, okay, I did most of the laughing. Just look at this one!):



It was a good time.

Tuesday - February 10, 2009

Nothing of note today other than I went to the dentist for a cleaning.

(Yay.)

Noah was very well-behaved while I was in the chair. He hung out and played with blocks quietly and happily. :)

Monday - February 9, 2009

Today Noah was "happy news" person at his pre-school. This means he got to choose a toy to bring to show all the kids. He also got to be the weather man for the day, and say out loud the day of the week, the date, etc. He chose to bring his Transformers to school to share.

This night, Tim came home from work early so he could attend "Dinner with Dad", another fun school thing with Noah. (Don't have any pictures since I wasn't there.)

The two boys danced the night away, ate pickles and hot dogs, and had a grand old time.

Sunday - February 8, 2009

I worked on "BEG" again.





Tim hung out with the kids at home, and our niece Lindsay and nephew Nick came over to hang. Tim and Nick built Nick a bass (came out pretty sweet) and even though I was delirious from being so tired when I got home, it was good to see them. :)

Nick added some stuff to his bass and it currently looks like this:



That's good, because we were lacking the screws to hold the pickguard on...now it's not going anywhere.