Thanksgiving in Florida

Thanksgiving was really fun this year.  Morning of, we flew down to Miami super early.  We got in town just in time for Thanksgiving dinner with Dave's parents.  

It got chilly fast in Chicago, so it was really nice to be in the sun.  So much so that Dave and Nico got some swims in at the pool.  The water wasn't heated (LOL).  Nico did not mind.  Dave did, a little.  I was excited to read and relax in a chair in the sun.  

On Saturday, the boys went to do judo at a big judo place down there.  I got to see one of my good friends from grad school (Ursula) who lives with her family in Cooper City.  We got our nails done and had a blast just hanging out.  

We also spent the afternoon with a family that Mike and Gay know.  They have a pretty sweet house with a pool and 4 kids, three of whom were pretty close to Nico's age.  Of course Nico had a blast.  We also got to see Dave's best friend and their family.  They have a son who is about Nico's age.  They hit it off.

It is comforting to know that we can take Nico places and he can figure out a way to get along and even have fun with other kids.

The Fair

We've been trying to squeeze in as much fun as summer will allow, in the last couple of weeks of August.  Granny You was in Michigan for a longer trip last week, so Nico and I headed over for a couple of days to hang out.  We did some work on the family tree, which required a road trip out to the Drake aka Baker Cemetery in Amboy Township.  

Friday Gran took us to a community fair in Hudsonville, which was actually quite large, for being a community fair.  Nico got a little helicopter time in before we headed to the barns to check out the animals.  

Uncle Scott was with us- so we hit up some rides.  Here we are on something called the Glider.  True story: I don't think I like rides.  During this one, I kept my eyes closed.  

Uncle Scott rode this one, called The Magic Carpet ride. It goes up in the air and around.  Or as I like to call it: NOPE.  

Nico had his first go at bumper cars.  He wasn't big enough to go himself, and not quite tall enough to reach the pedals.  So I did the driving.  So it probably wasn't as much fun as it would have been if he got to drive himself.  Maybe next time, kid. 

And then these guys.  So the last time we did a fair, Nico didnt even get close to winning a fish.  So, stupidly, I thought it would be about the same now.  That was false.  Nico won two goldfish.  He named them Little Fin and Guppy (don't ask me which is which).  So I guess we now have to get a fish tank set up.  

This weekend, Dave went to the first soccer meeting of the new year.  He got uniforms for his team- which is cool.  They are being sponsored by Fox Sports this year, and their uniforms are green with a white stripe across the chest.  Nico is super excited about it.  He is going to try to get the team name to be the Dingos, but I am holding out for the Super Worms.  

Birthday Weekend

Nico's 6th Birthday Weekend turned out to be pretty fun.  Mike and Gay got in town on Friday morning.  Dave scooped them up and headed to Nico's last day of camp celebration (read: "talent" show).  His little group ended up doing a little dance, which was fun.  I got it on video- but frankly it was kind of lame.  Nico was in the back corner, so you can't see him very well.

Saturday was the Ginsa festival.  I had to shoot an event at CrossFit and headed to a birthday party for Jen (good southside friend).  Dave and Nico participated in a judo demonstration-which was pretty sweet.

There was a part of the demonstration where the two boys (there was another one aside from Nico) who each did some throws with their dads.  It was adorable.  They took turns being thrown by their dads. 

And throwing them:

Sunday was Nico's actual birthday and when we opened most of the presents.  Dave and I ended up getting Nico a big lego set that he has been wanting for a long time (the mega Police Station)- which was a big hit.  We also ended up buying him a bunch of weapons (a bow and arrow, a catapault, and a slingshot).  I'm not sure really, how that happened.  

The birthday boy wanted pigs in a blanket, macaroni and cheese, and chocolate chip cookies for dinner.  No cake for this kid. Which is fitting, I guess- since last year he was obsessed with pineapple upside down cake and this year it is chocolate chip cookies.  Just goes to show how much kids change.  

I can't believe its been six years.  Like I can, but I can't.  Every day, Dave and I are blown away by something he says or something he does.  He's using the word "obviously" a lot lately- which makes me laugh.  He's growing up fast- he rarely has fits anymore- which is great.  But he's also starting to understand the world around him a lot more- which is fun.  But it makes me a little sad.  

My boss's son just graduated from high school this summer- and he has definitely been feeling this. It's made me think about how parenthood is really just a long goodbye.  Building to the day when you take your kid off to college.  And how they really feel like they are leaving you.  But it's hard- because you know that it's time.  And the fact that you are at a place to be able to do that says that you've done your job as a parent.  And you know how much they are going to love it.  They just really need you to let them go.  My boss didn't feel like he was ready.  

I don't feel like I can ever be ready for that.    

Anyways...

But then there was the trip to the Lego store.  Now, this started a couple of months ago with an email that Nico sent to Dave's mom saying, "When are you coming up?  Mike (Dave's dad) and I are going to the Lego store."  Which is actually a funny thing to say in an email with no greeting.  

At the lego store, Nico ended up with the Mobile Police Command Unit- a big trailer and truck rig that is awesome.  With the station- Nico is well equipped for a while.  I mean, since we aren't doing what I want to do (which is put Kragl on all of it- but that is apparently not how we play with legos in this establishment).  

Worn out after the LegoStore.   He isn't too big to snuggle on mom.  

It was a great weekend.  It is always fun to have family in town- and I feel like we are lucky to be at a place where we can offer a place for family to stay.  And that we aren't working so much we can't see them.  Its nice that Nico likes his grandparents so much.

Dog Days of Summer

Not much going on around here- we are just trying to soak up every bit of summer possible.  This past weekend, Dave had to cover a SOX game (sucker!) so Nico and I went on a little adventure in seek of Blackberries and swimming at our friend's Grandparents house.  The blackberries were a bit of a bust.  In that we showed up to this supposed "Grandma's Berry Patch" only to find there were no blackberries to be had (DAMN YOU INTERNET!!).

But we pushed on- swinging by Kevin and Jen's Grandparents house.  The grandparents belong to Jen and were so gracious to let us come hangout in their pool.  Kevin cooked us Chicago style dogs.  You know what is up.

Randomly, check out the video of Nico playing catch with Gordon.


I swear- I thought Gordon was going to end up in the tub!

The One with Cousins

This weekend was really fun- Nicole and Emerson came from Texas. We definitely had a big weekend- trying to squeeze a lot in.
Nicole and Em got into Midway on Thursday.  Since the weather looked kinda crappy, we decided not to do all of the things until Friday.  In hindsight, this was a bad decision, because Friday was the hottest day of the year and all the things we wanted to do involved being outside and walking. A lot.

So Thursday night, we just hung out at the house and did some coloring.  Friday we got started pretty early, making our way to Maggie Daley park (a huge new park down by the Lake).  It is a pretty sweet park- but it's huge.  And the trees are still little- so there wasnt much shade to be had.  In fact, the slides are all made out of metal- which made them quite hot.  But the kids didn't seem to mind.  At all.  Check out this video of Nico coming in hot and losing control of his landing. To be fair- the slides were super fast and he wasnt the only one to wipe out on the landing!


After that, we walked by CloudGate (the Bean) on our way to grab lunch.

We made our way to Navy Pier so we could ride the Ferris Wheel.  The Ferris Wheel is kind of famous because it is apparently, the one in Ferris Bueller's Day off.  Also, it is going to be replaced soon.




Friday night was pretty chill at the house.  Nico and Em had a good time hanging out with each other and watching TV.  Saturday morning we went to a nearby Barnes and Noble, where Nico reminded me of all the things that he wants for his birthday.  We ended up with a new book about battleships and aircraft carriers.  It is pretty sweet.

Saturday afternoon, we headed out to Lisle for a Red Stars game.  Julie Johnston, Christen Press, Lori Chalupney, and Shannon Box (USWNT) play for the Red Stars.  Karina LeBlanc, Adriana Leon, and Melissa Tancredi all played for the Canadian National Team for this World Cup, which is cool.  Nicole got in touch with the facilities guy for Benedictine University (where the Red Stars play) and he let us on the track for pre-game.  We were standing there when the players walked by.  When Karina LeBlanc and Michelle Dalton (GKs for Red Stars) walked by, Michelle Dalton fist bumped Nico and Em- which was basically the highlight of the day.

The game ended in a tie and the kids were gems.  Nicole and Em left on Sunday.  Nico and I kinda moped around the house for the rest of the day.  

The One When Aunt Judy Visited

Last week Aunt Judy came to visit.  It was pretty fun- I think Nico liked having someone else to wear out.  And Aunt Judy had no problem wearing Nico out! Nico and I headed down to the train station to pick her up on Friday night.  Dave had Lou Malnati's and beer waiting for us when we got home, which was very nice.

Saturday morning, we took Aunt Judy to Nico's soccer game.  He had a really good game- the kid scores at will.  As much as I hope that he will be a goalkeeper- I think he likes playing defense too much.  And let's be honest: defenders who attack out of the back and are legitimate threats are rare.

Saturday afternoon, we got Nico dressed up as Captain America and headed to Lincoln Park for some type of Halloween Spooktacular Fest... where kids trick or treat at businesses in the Lincoln Park area.  Aunt Judy and I may or may not have had macaroons from a french bakery.  After, we grabbed a couple of pints and lunch at an Irish place called Gallway Arms.  

Sunday was pretty chill: we wanted to try a new restaurant in the neighborhood, so walked up there while Nico rode his bike.  After, Nico and Aunt Judy had a water fight at the park while I sat on a bench and knitted.  I'm not sure how that happened, but I think Aunt Judy didn't realize that Nico would hold her to it.  She was a terribly good sport.  After, we took her down to the Loop so she could catch her train back to Michigan. In all it was a really fun weekend.  

Allez

We are having a blast this summer.

Nico being home from school on Tuesdays and Thursdays has been fantastic.  I have been able to take a vacation day here and there in order to hang out with him.  Yesterday we managed to just hang out at the house.  I went to the gym in the morning while Dave and Nico headed to the Y.  When we got back to the house, I ran out to drop my computer off to the computer guy (DO NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED.  Note to self, if you ever hear me talking about buy a new HP, that is your clue to stage an intervention.  Worst debacle ever).  I swung by to get some icecream and headed to the park with Nico.  While we ate our ice cream, we watched some older kids to a soccer practice.  Which was cool.  But then we got on with our main reason for being at the park: gk training.  It's a bummer that little guys' soccer doesn't have gks.  He's looking forward to playing actual gk for a team in a game.



Even better, is that we have started having a go at each other in the form of one on ones.  Only Nico doesn't call them that.  He calls them "tustles".  Which is hilarious, since I use the word "tustle" like this: "Nico Royse, if you pop me in the face with that sword you're swinging, we're gonna tustle, so I'd stop if I were you."

We are going to try to sneak up to Michigan tomorrow to see Uncle Scott.  I wanted to get up there earlier, but just couldn't make it happen.  Other than that, not much else is happening.

I have a CrossFit competition next weekend (on the 17th).  I haven't done a competition before.  The previous competitions my gym has held, I've been like, "Oh, Damn.  I'd like to.  But who is going to take pictures?"  Or my personal favorite, "Oh, I meant to sign up for that one in Arlington Heights, but registration is closed.  Bummer."  In all honesty, I am kind of nervous about it.  It's a team competition, so it shouldn't be too much of a grind.  As far as our team goes, there is another girl who definitely has a motor, but isn't probably as strong as I am.  The two guys each have their own strengths... I just don't want to be in a place where the team is counting on me to full snatch 95 lbs.  Because that is just not going to happen... unless the competition calls for me to fail horribly.  Because I am all over that :)

In any case, I asked Nico if he was going to cheer for me.  He said yes, and I asked if he had any cheers for me.  His answer: "Allez la putain!" Which is not nice.  Not nice at all.  To be fair, I taught him this accidentally in the car... you know how it is.  It's french for "Go Whore!"  But he also knows Allez is GO.  So, I can understand the confusion.  I hope he doesn't really cheer like that.  That would be terrible.

Been around the world...

We had a fantastic trip to Florida.  Seriously- it was just what we needed.

We left late on Wednesday night (after I taught), but we settled into the drive quite nicely.  Nico went to sleep right away and I dozed till Indianopolis, where I took over for Dave, who was quite tired. I got us through to Nashville over night (in terrible rain) and Dave took over.  We pulled into Tallahassee late on Thursday to stay the night with G and LJ, (Nico's good friends from Creative Preschool).  I was a little nervous that they would be awkward- like suddenly they would think, "Why did we hang out so much together back in the day?  You're lame!"

But my fears were unfounded.  In about 45 seconds, they had picked up exactly where they'd left off.  Which was fantastic.  Nico was a scotch bummed when we left the next day to head down to Ft. Myers Beach, which makes me think that they are still good friends after all.

We got to Ft. Myers Beach around mid afternoon.  My and Dad have a week in a time share on Ft. Myers Beach, at Spring Break, which is why we were that far south.  Once we got there, it took us about 20 minutes to get in the pool.  Seriously,we swam for probably 2 hours.  It was fantastic!!

We ended up doing some shelling on the beach and Granny made us smores (in a kitchen- weird).  Nico even entertained by singing his rendition of "Let it go" (from Frozen- which is just weird... normally he is pretty shy about things like that, with people who are not Dave and me).  Saturday morning, we checked out and headed over to Miami to see Dave's parents and Aunt Rosie.

We didn't do much there- except hang out and swim.  Grandma and Grandpa got Nico a toy heliocopter, which required some playing.  I got sunburned at the beach.  We went to bed late and slept late.  It was really restful.  I am so glad that we got to go and the weather was nice.  

We left Monday night to head back.  Yeah, we ended up driving 4 days in a car, to stay 3, but I really liked the trip- mostly because I like road trips.  If we were on vacation, I wouldn't do much more than I did in the car (read, listen to music, talk with my boys, and eat snacks).  The car had XM radio- so we blasted Radio Margaritaville and The Bruce Springsteen channels pretty much the whole way.

I should add, that save the 10 minutes while we were leaving G and L's house and 10 minutes just outside of Louisville- Nico was an absolute gem.  Seriously... I am reluctant to breath mention of it... but we might have turned a corner, which I will talk about more later.

5 years.

It's our anniversary today.

It's weird.  When I was a kid there were things that I really looked forward to in my life.  Even at a young age, I remember being cognizant of how anticipation could make time go by so slowly.  At first it was things like Christmas and going out of town for soccer tournaments.  Then it was graduating from high school and going to college.  Then soccer seasons starting.  Then soccer seasons ending.  And graduating and moving to Tallahassee.  And looking forward to meeting the guy I would marry.  Then it was moving in together and getting married and having Nico. And more soccer seasons starting.  And more soccer seasons ending.  And finishing my degree and moving to Chicago.

What I have come to realize is that these things come to pass in what feels like a blink of the eye.  When I think back on the day we got married, its so clear in my memory, it seems like yesterday.  But then I think of how much things have changed since then, so I know, intellectually, it can't have been yesterday.  I just have a hard time wrapping my mind around it sometimes.  It's disconcerting sometimes.  Regardless, I am happy it was Dave.  He's been a wonderful husband and father.  

Happy Anniversary, Babe.  Here's to another 50!

Am I fired?

Are you going to take my blog away?  Are you sick of me not posting?  I know- I am terrible.  I hop that Nico understands when he gets older than where there are huge gaps in the timeline of his blog that its because we were too busy having fun for me to be blogging. 

So, Christmas.  Yeah, it was a pretty great holiday.  Mom and Dad came up north.  On Christmas Day, they drove over from Michigan with JJ and Uncle Scott.  Nico and Dave chatted with Mike and Gay on skype so they could watch Nico open some of his presents.  When Mom and Dad, Uncle Scott and JJ got to Chicago,  we started up the oven to get the three pans of egg fondue that Mom brought going while we opened presents. Mom (Granny You) set Nico up well- with police walkie talkies, and other police gear (like handcuffs, a badge, and a police beanie hat).  Mike and Gay set Nico up with a little guitar and a Captain America sweatshirt (along with a U of L sweatsuit).  Santa brought Nico a train and some blocks, both of which he was pretty excited about.  

After we opened presents, I started in making Christmas dinner.  We ended up putting a ham in the crockpot and a turkey in the oven.  Along with dressing, mashed potatoes,gravy, cranberry sauce, and two types of pie (apple and pecan).  In all, it was way too much food- but that is just how I roll.  Uncle JJ was a bit sick on Christmas Day, so he relaxed and tried to take it easy.  

Nicole and Cody arrived with their kids on Boxing Day-which was pretty much the main event.  Nico had basically been counting down the days till they would get here, because he loves playing with Maddox, Emme, and Becks.  The kids had a really good time playing with each other.  We introduced the kids to Home Alone, which was funny. When asked what the movie was about, Nico explained that it was a movie about a lady that returned home to her son. I don't know what that means.  

We got some snow, so the conditions for a snow ball fight were pretty much perfect, which was fine by Max, because he'd been wanting a real snow ball fight for a while. 

As a Florida girl newly transplanted in the Great North, I didn't really understand the rules of snowball fights. Apparently, you're supposed to take great care to not peg anyone in the face.  I may have gotten Nico once or twice in the face.  On accident.  Maybe.  SorryImnotSorry. 

While they were here, we managed a trip to Legoland.  LEGOLAND.  It was really cool.  In fact, Dave and Nico have decided that they want to build a replica of Chicago at our house. Like so:

Which is fair- it was really cool. The kids were all champs.  And we even  had our first 3D movie experience. 

Other than that, it was a pretty chill holiday.  It was nice getting to see so much of our family.  

Haters Should Hate

I think it would be hard to like me.

I don't know if I have haters, but assure me, I probably deserve it.

I have a fantastic life: an adorably funny and smart son; a superhot husband who does laundry and cooks (almost as well as I do). I have a job that I LOVE. I live in a cool ass city and I am getting some time to do things I have wanted to do for a long time (photography and fitness... A LOT OF BOTH). Nobody's life should be allowed to be that awesome, right??

Speaking of awesome, take a look at this kid:

So that is how the cookie crumbles.

I had my interim probationary review at work this week and my boss had some really nice things to say. One component of my job is to provide research consultation to faculty members. This might be anything from helping someone run some stats, to finding data sources for someone else. Earlier this week a faculty member that I helped a couple of months ago approached my boss and raved about me. Unsolicited. Yeah... that is pretty cool.

I really like the people I work with. While I appreciate that I have fairly low standards for work-place interactions, I believe that my current situation would be enviable to anyone. My boss is cool in that he tries to empower all of us to be in control of ourselves and our work. In fact, he hates us having to be dependent on him for stuff. Which works out great for me, because I hate being dependent on people for stuff.

My co-workers mostly leave me alone. We all have the things that we do and no one tries backstab or undercut each other. We all have the things that we bring to the table, so we don't compete with each other. And here is a weird thing, that "bitchy-we're-all-friends-but-we-aren't" thing that happens in a lot of places? Not up in the SSRC. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Great Weekend=Cubs Lose, Wolverines Win (barely), and City Wins.

Oh, where do you start with such an awesome weekend?

Well, JJ and Scott got to town late Friday morning.  And pretty much as soon as they arrived, we took off for Wrigley.  Nico was at school, so he didnt come with us to the game (A fact that he reminded me of later when he was looking at pictures on my phone.  He said, "Oh, I don't think I remember that day at the Cubs game..."  Yeah, because we didn't take him!! Yikes!  How is it that he is four and is already mastering the guilt trip??)

When the game was almost over, Dave split to go get Nico from school and get our pizza and I was in charge of navigating us back to the house.  In doing so, I accidentally navigated us onto the purple line train to Linden.  It was express, so we had to ride all the way out to Howard before we could get off.  Yikes!!  

Friday night, we hung out at the house, which was fun.  Nico and I showed JJ our new game called Two Square (hint: its just like four square).  JJ played lots of games with Nico and is generally well-liked by Le Beast.  So much so that when he came down stairs on Friday morning, Nico took a flying leap off the 4th step at JJ (who caught him).  No big deal.  

Saturday morning, Dave and Nico headed to swimming lessons at the YMCA and Uncle Scott, JJ, and I hung out at the house watching football and soccer.  I made us some delicious burgers for lunch and when Nico and Dave got back, I put Nico down for a nap.  After, JJ and Dave headed to a birthday party at an indoor waterpark/splash place.  While there, Dave networked with grownups and may have even got a lead on a adjuncting job at NEIU, which, coincidentally enough, is one of TWO universities in our back yard.  Not like, Gary, IN is in Chicago's back yard.  But like in the Albany Park/North Park/Peterson Park neighborhood of Chicago.  Isn't that sweet?

When they got back from the party, Nico helped me make some egg fondue.  

Normally, this is a Christmas only kind of dish, but thought it would be great to have for breakfast on Sunday, since it didnt require anyone standing over a stove on Sunday morning.  This was really important for me because of the Manchester Derby.  A day when the two teams in Manchester play each other.  It was made even better this year, because it's early in the season and they were tied for 5th place.  A win for either team would help that team immensely in the standings.  

My team (Manchester City) is sometimes sketchy in the back.  I love them, but seriously, they lost to Cardiff a couple of weeks ago.  Losing to Cardiff is like Wakulla losing to Godby (no offense).  But seriously, they have one-two strong players... there is no reason Wakulla should lose such a game.  United (JJ's team), on the other hand, is usually so class.  So imagine my surprise when this happened:

Yeah, it was pretty awesome. That said, there is still plenty of time in the season for City to screw this up.  :)

  

Nico in the K'Zoo...

On Wednesday, Dave took Nico to the Children's Museum.  Which is apparently, the best place on earth.  While there are things to learn there, the place is mostly for play.  Including this:

Doesn't that look like fun?  Can't wait for the cousins to visit... think they will love it!!

Yesterday Nico and I drove up to Kalamazoo to see Uncle Scott.  It's an easy, if somewhat boring drive.  Which is saying something, because I figure I have driven every inch of Florida's interstates, plus the turnpike.  Uncle Scott is having surgery today on his arm, which he broke in the car accident last week.  

Nico was a gem, except for a 2 minute meltdown he had when we left because he wanted to cuddle with me.  So, we swung by my grandparents old house on Lorraine Ave (literally a street away Scott's).  I sat in the back seat and cuddled the boy while a bunch of nosy-body neighbors wondered what the hell was going on.   

To me, this is a very "Michigan" house.  I can't even explain why.  

We had to stop three times on the way home so Nico could pee.  Including once in a traffic jam.  We pulled onto the left shoulder.  Nico totally peed outside... with lots of slow traffic driving by.  As we were getting back in the car, a tow truck pulled in front of us.  And then I had to explain what we were doing there.  Apparently, Chicago drivers take disabled vehicles seriously, because a bunch had apparently called to report a disabled vehicle on the shoulder of the westbound Edens.  See what I did there?  I just referred to 94 as the Edens.  In the 2 months I have been here, I have listened to the weather report on WBEZ and have had NO IDEA what was going on.  But apparently it's like this: The Edens=I-94, The Stevenson=I-55, The Kennedy=I-90, The Drive=Lakeshore Drive.  Yeah, I am really figuring things out.  

In good working order...

So I am officially a short-timer at FSU.  Less than two weeks.  When I started thinking about transitioning to DePaul, I was a bit cavalier with Dave and Nico.  I just figured that we would figure out a way to make it work.  The problem is... the legislature.  Seriously.  When I got the job at DePaul, we were in the drop dead period of just before the session, so Dave couldnt leave.  But DePaul wanted me there yesterday.  So, I just figured I would figure out a way to make it happen.  Dave and I have been apart before.  I went to Malawi.  I went to DC for an internship when I was 7 months pregnant.  Whatever.  I just didnt think it would be that hard on Nico.

Turns out- it is.  

The thing is, it might not be, if the session wasn't happening.  If Dave could sort of coast at work and go into overdrive at home, then it might be doable.  Its just really hard to be in overdrive at work and at home.  What that means is Nico gets pretty unhappy when I am gone.  And I am caught between that rock and the hard place... knowing that in the long run, the kinds of things Nico will be exposed to in Chicago will be far outweigh the shittiness of being away from me for 1.5 months.  But then I have to ask myself, "there is no harm in asking right?"

So long story short, I asked my new boss at DePaul if I could push my physical start date back by about 10 days.  He said yes, and that is great.  But I can't help but feel like I am on the verge of being fired.  From a job I just got.  Wouldn't that be unfortunate?  It gets us closer to when Dave's mom can come up... which is great... Nico likes hanging out with her.  But there is nothing like the feeling of about to be fired from a job you just got.  

Does this mean that I am going to stay on for another 10 days at the College of Medicine.  No.  I will not be doing that.  I hope to use the extra days to get packing.  And help out as much as I can with DePaul stuff here in Tallahassee.  Which is great, because I wasn't really sure how I would get stuff packed up on Friday April 12 and leave on Saturday April 13.  But I just assumed it would happen.   

Other than that... going through the list of stuff that has to be done before we can move. Yesterday was doing something about our bikes.  We have three.  That we never ride.  One has been sitting out in the yard for a year, the other two in the the shed.  So I asked a friend to get them in good shape for us.  Nico's new favorite thing is checking to make sure something is "in good working order."  So that is what we did after school yesterday.  He kept saying, "Mom, I am getting this bike in good working order."

It's pretty great.  Dave made it home last night before we were done with dinner, which means he got to read to Nico before shower time.

Where in we have a hard time finding a house...

I had a temper tantrum yesterday.  Literally, a crying, throwing stuff temper tantrum.

It started on Saturday.  When I found a house in Forest Park.  Now, let me back up a minute.  We are exceptionally difficult people to find a house for.  In addition to requirements that we NOT live in Crackden, IL, USA, we need a place that will let us have dogs.  We also need a place with a yard, because I am not trying to walk dogs down 2390482390 flights of stairs at 2am, just so Gordon can sit there and look at me like I am an idiot.

We are also trying to find a place we can actually afford... and that has at LEAST 2 bedrooms.  I say at least 2 bedrooms, but what I mean is two bedrooms and a basement or three bedrooms.  Shockingly, this puts us eligible for about 5% percent of listings that I actually find.  Now, once you rule out all the places in Indiana and the far flung suburbs (seriously, I'm not driving  my happy ass an hour and change to work every day.  Nor am I going to sit my happy ass on a train for 4+ hours every day.  Aint gonna happen.  Aint no one got time for that.)  So this makes us eligible for about 1% of the places that I can actually find on the internets.  And then there was the place in Forest Park.

It is the second suburb west out of Chicago (next to my dream town of Oak Park).  It is a 3/2 with a finished basement. In our price range.  With a yard.  Walkable to the El.  I convinced a DePaul coworker to go by... he gives it the two thumbs up. We set an appointment for him to look at the inside of the house for Tuesday at noon.  And I get an email from the realtor at 1145 that the house is off the market because someone else rented it.  SON. OF. A-.

The most annoying thing?  Its not like I have been looking for a day.  I have been looking since mid-January. I have apps for this.  Today when my mechanic decided to open his shop up an hour and a half late (seriously, who does business like that?) I was on my phone.  Searching for properties. So, this is annoying.  We have a couple of feelers out there... some friends in the area who have leads on places, one in Arlington Heights and potentially Oak Park.

There are three places that are on our list now, one is in Evanston- small, with an unfinished basement... Evanston is cool because its kinda hipster and an easy ride on the train to my work... Northwestern is there.  Another in Norridge (an easy, short commute), which is a 3/2 with a finished basement, but Dave doesnt like Norridge.  And another in Hoffman Estates- which is verging on too far... but the house is CRAY.  It has more bathrooms than our house has rooms.  It looks like one of the victims of the bursting housing bubble... 2700 square feet.... HAY (which is short for Huge Ass Yard).  You think Jessi Bishop-Royse has a hard time keeping a 1500 square foot home clean?  Wait till she is dealing with a 2700 square foot home.  Seriously- I kind of want to have the house just so that during the holidays, JJ and I could play soccer in the living room and Max and Emme can play tackle football in the kitchen.

I am starting to rethink my strategy.  I wonder if I should just sit tight and wait till I get up there at the end of the month.  Then find a place I want, go there, start throwing money at them until they get me a key.  Probably a good idea.  Meh.

Vacation!

So we had a really great vacation in Gulf Shores!  The whole family (except for my Dad) was able to come! Even JJ, from New York!!

We had a lot of fun. And didnt go to the beach once.  We stayed in a condo neighborhood, that had two pools.  I made lots of good noms and napped pretty much every day. The cousins had a blast running around together.  In fact, less that 12 hours into the trip, Nico had managed to scratch Max's face with a hard plastic sword.  I guess we play a little rough?

We all got plenty of Becks snuggles, and Nico was really good with him.  That is a good sign.   

So, since we have been doing this potty training thing, Nico has this thing, where after he goes to the bathroom, he runs out of the bathroom and around the house in just his underpants.  On Tuesday night, he did this.  Next thing you know, no one is wearing any shirts.  

While we were there, we did Maddox's birthday.  The gift of the day was a batman suit, which was really cool.

Nico got a bunch of ideas for stuff he wants for his birthday.  When we left, his major comment was that he wished he could have played with Max and Emme's toys more.  Which is fair, since they do have lots of cool toys.

Nico and Dave made friends with a very friendly looking beagle.

And I got the first official smile from Becks (official, because Nicole saw it.  My mom claims to have gotten one- but Nicole didnt witness it, so it doesnt count).  The one you see below is like the second or third smile.  Isn't that cool?

So it was a great trip.  We're back on the grind today.  Trying to get caught up from all the work I didnt do last week.  Nico is mostly potty trained.  He hasnt had an pee accident since Friday.  Of course, he still does #2 in his pants.  But he's really sad about it.  

Yes!

So because our sitter cant watch Nico this week and because we are on the road to Pensacola on Friday (four hours away) we decided to bring Ma Bishop up to Tallahassee to help with Nico.  The legislative session is going on now, so Dave and I just cant deal with the no childcare situation... so Ma Bishop is here.  Yay!!  Although I did just spend the last 12 hours driving and have yet to be asleep today.  You probably know how this is going to end- with me being a cranky beast!!

Other than that, not much new is going on.  We beat Bay Tuesday night (which is why we are still alive to travel to Pensacola on Friday).  We are just about the last public high school that is still alive, so that is cool.  I have also been talking to the Tallahassee Democrat a bunch... Wakulla is all up in the paper lately!!

I have also been turned onto the idea of time shares.  I think Dave and I need to buy one.  Apparently they are really cheap now.  I think I'd like 10-16 weeks of time shares... all over the world.  Wouldnt that be cool?  That way, I could afford my 4-8 weeks at the beach every summer... thrown in a ski week in January, plus the week between Christmas and New Years... maybe even Thanksgiving week somewhere?  Hell yes!!

All for now.  Going to get some sleep.

Christmas

So it has been a pretty crazy last couple of weeks. Between the three games a week, doing christmas, having to work and such, I have been getting my ass handed to me. Plus, I am trying to run a half marathon in February- so a lot of my extra time has been taken up by training for that. We ended up taking two losses just before the break- 2-0 to Arnold and 2-0 to Leon. On the upside- we have four games after the break... hopefully we will get some of our DL list back.

As for Christmas- we opened gifts on Friday morning. We meant to do it sooner, but it was just too much of a beat down. We had five days without any childcare and two fulltime jobs to work. As well as shopping, presents, post-office trips, etc. While this new gig is nice, it is not like working for the state, where you arent there when you arent there. Seems like I need to bring my boss cookies or something to remind him why he hired me... in case he forgets and is tempted to fire my ass. Yikes.

Here is a video of Nico opening the tool bench. I decided at the last minute not to stain or paint it. I like the look of the plain wood- so I sanded it down.


If you remember, this is the one that I asked Cody to make... it turned out way awesome. It goes really well with the REAL play tools that I accidentally got Nico. Yeah. Responsible parenting: FAIL.

Nico was absolutely spoiled this year. Totally rotten. Santa brought Nico a basketball hoop and some hockey sticks. He got a ton of musical instruments from GranNY You, Aunt Nicole and Grandpa (including real drums). He got a play-food set from Aunt Rosie and all kinds of fun stuff. In fact, I have hidden some of it away for a rainy day :) One of the things he REALLY likes is his new tieko coat from Grandma and Grandpa. As seen here:

I have been himming and hawing on getting an ipad. I really want one- and actually see some use for one at work. But the entry level ones are still like 600+ dollars. Dave and I had talked about getting one and retiring my kindle to him... but I am not sure I want to give up the kindle. I ended up getting him a kindle any ways... now he can read more- he wont be looking for his book or not bringing it to work with him to read at lunch because it is too big.

Its getting late for me, so I am going to sign off- will try to write more tomorrow.

The Weekend

The weekend... is never long enough.

We had a pretty good weekend around here. Saturday morning, I went to campus where I worked on a paper and cleaned up my office- in preparation for MASSIVE productivity in the next month (trying to bang out a paper). While I was there, Dave and Nico went to the pet store to get some wet dog food for the boys and some treats. Nico loves going to the pet store- where there are birds and fish and people even bring their dogs. Speaking of fish... am contemplating getting a fish tank for Nico's room (a small one).

His bed time routine is changing a little and I think he is outgrowing being rocked to sleep. Am wondering if he'd be easier going to bed if there was a fish tank with a small light somewhere he could see it. Of course, it would have to be EXTREMELY low maintainence. Cause I can barely keep his room clean as it is...

Saturday afternoon, we went up to the Sears in Thomasville where we bought a king sized mattress. We know a guy. It was a pretty good deal... gotta order the box springs now (its a california king, so it needs a special box spring).

Sunday morning we cleaned up the house a little. It was still looking good from the Easter Brunch clean. Mama Bishop was coming into town, so we had to get things sorted out. Then I went to play in a scrimmage while Nico tried the floor routine:


Isn't he adorable?

I managed to back into the water pipe at practice and broke it and had to help fix it. BTW, I hate being responsible for dumb stuff like that... because then I have to fix it!! Boooo!!! I did save a penalty kick in the scrimmage. Of course, I also caused the penalty kick... sad face.

That is about all that is going on around here. Mom Bishop got into town on Sunday afternoon and things have been pretty uneventful. They hung out yesterday and did lots of stuff: walked around in the back yard, did some reading, some painting, some dancing. I think he is having a good time.

Easter update

Wow!! What a week!! Sorry I have been out of touch- I had my final exam on Wednesday and practice this week. It has been crazy. Easter was good. We hosted a brunch for some friends. So we did a lot of cleaning and cooking. Nico even pitched in to help:



And this is why it takes us a week to clean our house.

The Easter Bunny brought Nico some candies... and hid some eggs (will put the video up later). Overall, Nico was a gem during brunch. He hung out with Savy Weiss (who is about 6 weeks younger than him) and Jack F (who is 8). He was really good except for when it was time for a nap... and then he was mad. I think he liked hanging out with the people...

On Saturday night before brunch, I was frosting some cupcakes. He had grabbed one and squished it up so I gave it to him to eat. Then I gave him one with some frosting and tried to show him how to frost a cupcake. He took that to mean that he should eat the cupcake. It was all fun and games till I turned around to talk to Dave and I turned back to find that he was going after a THIRD cupcake. What the? How the? Yeah, I ended up having to fill in a hole he made with his frosting spreader with.... more frosting. :)

He really is a lot of fun these days. He is talking a lot. His latest thing is "OK." So I might say something like, "Nico, we are five minutes from home, OK?" And he says, very clearly and plain as day, "OK." Its awesome.

Mama Bishop is coming up this weekend... she is going to hang out with Nico next week, while FSU is closed. I think I have even tricked her into making me a skirt with fabric that looks like fabric she used in my wedding dress, only turquoise. :)