2008_08_17 Soccer
17 years ago
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Fire Expo
They have this Fire Expo every year and it is a really neat thing for kids and adults. We went on the fire truck rides (Andrew got to honk the horn), Matthew and Andrew both did a zip line, put out pretend house fires with the fire hose and fire extinguishers, met Sparky the fire dog, watched them put out a propane gas fire, watched them extract someone from a vehicle accident and cut the top off a car, and Matthew and Dad stayed to watch Iris the accelerant detecting dog. Here are a few photos and video (I have to click the play button twice on each video to get it to run):
On the 4th try...
I finally remembered the password to my blog! Well, that's really not the reason I have been away so long, but it really did take 4 tries.
We have been busy getting the boys back to school, I have had a couple of really busy weeks at work, and projects around the house are keeping us busy in the evenings/weekends.
Both of the boys are adjusting well to their school schedule by now, can't say the same of the first three weeks. Even last week, we had a skinned knee on the way to the bus and then Matthew missed the bus on Thursday afternoon. Lucky for him, our neighbor is also the reading teacher and took Matthew to the office to call dad. We have had issues with not drinking enough liquid, drinking liquid and not alerting the teachers to impending accidents (Matthew has come home in different clothes on 3 different days now). I think I have this stopped by a rarely before seen "No Potty Accident" dance after school if he stays dry. For whatever reason, it's working, not pretty, but it's working.
The boys are eating lunch at school 2-3 days a week and taking their lunch on the other days, so here is the current schedule:
Monday: Chicken Nuggets
Tuesday: Take lunch
Wednesday: Take lunch
Thursday: Andrew gets grilled cheese at school, Matt takes lunch
Friday: Pizza
A side benefit from the boys taking their lunch is that Mark has decided it is just as easy to make three lunches as two. Boy do I feel like a heel, but it sure is nice to have a lunch ready and waiting when I walk out the door.
Mark was moping around the house last weekend and he finally admitted he was wanting a toy. I figure he has given up 6 years to stay home with the boys, ok, I can go for that, what is it? You want to play hockey on an XBox 360? Oh boy. So off to the store we go and now we have his hockey game as well as the Star Wars Lego game for the boys. After the first two hours, I was ready to take it back to the store or give it to the first neighbor who walked by our house. The boys loved it, but it was hard for them to play the game at first (aka sibling rivalry). After a week at it, they have figured out quite a few things on their own and it doesn't require constant supervision (so I guess it can stay). And no, this wasn't on my list of projects around the house that Mark promised he would do when the boys went back to school (but he is making progress on those too).
I have to share one funny from yesterday morning...I came down and fed and walked the dog. Of course, Andrew is already up and has been on the computer as well as playing XBox downstairs. I decided to check email before starting breakfast and about the time I sat down at the computer Mark came downstairs. I took a look at the screen and thought to myself "You know, if you are going to look at pictures like that, the least you could do is shut it down so the boys don't see it." Something of that sort came out of my mouth and Mark came over to take a look at the screen. "I didn't do that!" Riiiiggghhhttt. Although the unmistakeable "I'm Guilty" sheepish grin never came over his face, so it did occur to me that he was telling the truth. Let's just say there were three small pictures of a television sports anchor that were suggestive and somewhat revealing. I closed it down and moved on.
About 1/2 way through breakfast, Mark asked me if the anchor's name was Andrews and I said yes, I think it was. Mark queries Andrew to ask if he had been typing his name on the computer and he said "Yes Dad, I was in Computer Lab yesterday and they showed us how to use the Shift key to make letters in Uppercase, so I tried it on our computer." Andrew's login at school is AndrewS and if you type that into Yahoo search, the first line says ALSO TRY: erin andrews, blah, blah, blah. Andrew must have clicked on erin andrews and after that, the Rice Krispies must have been pretty boring! Go ahead, give it a try yourself! While you are doing that, I will work on the parental controls.
Despite a full court press on the allergy meds last week, I still came down with the "Every year just write off the last week of September allergies/head cold". It doesn't help that my department at work was without air conditioning for 4 1/2 days last week (they are installing a new air handler on the roof and suffice to say, it's not working). It was 90 degrees in Baltimore for at least two of those days, mid eighties on the other days. We got that fixed on Friday, but the allergies had taken over. Not feeling like doing much yesterday, we took two cars to the Fire Expo in case Andrew and I wanted to come home early. Looks like Blogger is not uploading photos correctly right now, so you will have to wait until tomorrow :-(
We have been busy getting the boys back to school, I have had a couple of really busy weeks at work, and projects around the house are keeping us busy in the evenings/weekends.
Both of the boys are adjusting well to their school schedule by now, can't say the same of the first three weeks. Even last week, we had a skinned knee on the way to the bus and then Matthew missed the bus on Thursday afternoon. Lucky for him, our neighbor is also the reading teacher and took Matthew to the office to call dad. We have had issues with not drinking enough liquid, drinking liquid and not alerting the teachers to impending accidents (Matthew has come home in different clothes on 3 different days now). I think I have this stopped by a rarely before seen "No Potty Accident" dance after school if he stays dry. For whatever reason, it's working, not pretty, but it's working.
The boys are eating lunch at school 2-3 days a week and taking their lunch on the other days, so here is the current schedule:
Monday: Chicken Nuggets
Tuesday: Take lunch
Wednesday: Take lunch
Thursday: Andrew gets grilled cheese at school, Matt takes lunch
Friday: Pizza
A side benefit from the boys taking their lunch is that Mark has decided it is just as easy to make three lunches as two. Boy do I feel like a heel, but it sure is nice to have a lunch ready and waiting when I walk out the door.
Mark was moping around the house last weekend and he finally admitted he was wanting a toy. I figure he has given up 6 years to stay home with the boys, ok, I can go for that, what is it? You want to play hockey on an XBox 360? Oh boy. So off to the store we go and now we have his hockey game as well as the Star Wars Lego game for the boys. After the first two hours, I was ready to take it back to the store or give it to the first neighbor who walked by our house. The boys loved it, but it was hard for them to play the game at first (aka sibling rivalry). After a week at it, they have figured out quite a few things on their own and it doesn't require constant supervision (so I guess it can stay). And no, this wasn't on my list of projects around the house that Mark promised he would do when the boys went back to school (but he is making progress on those too).
I have to share one funny from yesterday morning...I came down and fed and walked the dog. Of course, Andrew is already up and has been on the computer as well as playing XBox downstairs. I decided to check email before starting breakfast and about the time I sat down at the computer Mark came downstairs. I took a look at the screen and thought to myself "You know, if you are going to look at pictures like that, the least you could do is shut it down so the boys don't see it." Something of that sort came out of my mouth and Mark came over to take a look at the screen. "I didn't do that!" Riiiiggghhhttt. Although the unmistakeable "I'm Guilty" sheepish grin never came over his face, so it did occur to me that he was telling the truth. Let's just say there were three small pictures of a television sports anchor that were suggestive and somewhat revealing. I closed it down and moved on.
About 1/2 way through breakfast, Mark asked me if the anchor's name was Andrews and I said yes, I think it was. Mark queries Andrew to ask if he had been typing his name on the computer and he said "Yes Dad, I was in Computer Lab yesterday and they showed us how to use the Shift key to make letters in Uppercase, so I tried it on our computer." Andrew's login at school is AndrewS and if you type that into Yahoo search, the first line says ALSO TRY: erin andrews, blah, blah, blah. Andrew must have clicked on erin andrews and after that, the Rice Krispies must have been pretty boring! Go ahead, give it a try yourself! While you are doing that, I will work on the parental controls.
Despite a full court press on the allergy meds last week, I still came down with the "Every year just write off the last week of September allergies/head cold". It doesn't help that my department at work was without air conditioning for 4 1/2 days last week (they are installing a new air handler on the roof and suffice to say, it's not working). It was 90 degrees in Baltimore for at least two of those days, mid eighties on the other days. We got that fixed on Friday, but the allergies had taken over. Not feeling like doing much yesterday, we took two cars to the Fire Expo in case Andrew and I wanted to come home early. Looks like Blogger is not uploading photos correctly right now, so you will have to wait until tomorrow :-(
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Bee Be Gone!
Never a dull moment here...
Wednesday morning as we were getting Andrew to school, the Bee Be Gone (isn't that cute?) folks called to tell us they were in the neighborhood with a "Bee Emergency" and could come by earlier than their scheduled 2-4 pm appointment. I had called them over the holiday weekend as I was watching the bees go into the front bush and never come out. I briefly looked for a nest but after reading several web sites suggesting you not attempt to remove a nest yourself and to contact a local beekeeper, I relented.
Glad I did. Mr. Bee Be Gone arrived at 9:15 am and quickly determined the YELLOW JACKET nest was in the ground. He said they usually get 7-8 of these calls a week and this time of the year the nests can be as big as a canteloupe and contain anywhere from 5K to 25K bees. Now this is getting exciting! He told us he was going to "suit up" and I started having flashbacks to Ghostbusters, although his vehicle wasn't nearly as cool. (After hearing the story at work, my co-workers asked if there was a large plastic bee on the top of the truck, Great idea!). I had to go to work at this point, so the rest of the story is from Mark.
"Suiting up" consisted of a long sleeve T-shirt, long work gloves, and a full bee keepers hood with mesh in the front. He sprayed the area to kill off any yellow jackets around the nest (apparently this makes them really mad and they swarm), then he dug up the nest with his hands. How disappointing, ours was only the size of a softball. Mark said he threw the nest in the back of his truck with about 30 other trophies, I mean nests. Then he sprinkled a white powder on the ground where the nest was. The point of this is to catch the yellow jackets at sunset as they come back to find their home destroyed. The powder gets on the bees and they die and it continues killing for 6 months. He said we should be careful as the yellow jackets may die in the yard or on the sidewalk and their stingers still work for 5-7 days post-mortem. Great, we have two young children! No problem he says:
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Andrew's Debut
"My big day is here!" (Andrew's exclamation to all the other moms and kids at the bus stop this morning). Andrew was so excited to go to school he could hardly stand the wait. Yesterday morning he wanted the day to go away so night time could come. Bye big guy!!! (sobs, sniffles). Not to worry, plenty of folks are checking in on Mark throughout the day :-)
Official End of Summer
You know summer is over when...
---you spend 5 1/2 hours at the pool with 200 of your neighbors fighting over the lounge chairs
---Terminix is on the way to irradicate the cricket population from your garage
---you spend 5 1/2 hours at the pool with 200 of your neighbors fighting over the lounge chairs
---Terminix is on the way to irradicate the cricket population from your garage
Sunday, September 2, 2007
First Rock Concert
Yay! Guess what Blogger added this week? Video posting! It's about time. Now I don't have to fight with the millions of other folks who try to upload videos to YouTube on the weekends (which is the only time I remember to do it, just like all the other lemmings).
In honor of this new feature, you get get photos and video of the boys first rock concert last night. We went to the Maryland State Fair in Timonium (just north of the Baltimore beltway). We got there around 2:15 pm and left at 10:15 pm after the concert. Mark and I really enjoy INXS (it was the first concert we went to while we were dating) and finally, we were able to take the boys to a show. Here is the concert stage from the top of the Big Wheel.
We took a blanket and chairs so we ate corn dogs, popcorn, french fries, and caramel apples before the show.
Another gentleman was kind enough to take a photo of all of us. You gotta love Hammy the Squirrel from Over the Hedge.
Here goes the first video post (INXS with "What you Need"). Please excuse the poor quality, I didn't feel like fighting all of the "40 and 50 somethings" for a closer spot (he, he, I can say that for another 5 months!). We danced with the boys all evening and had a great time. Matthew said the music "rocked his head and tummy like nuts!" Huh?
In honor of this new feature, you get get photos and video of the boys first rock concert last night. We went to the Maryland State Fair in Timonium (just north of the Baltimore beltway). We got there around 2:15 pm and left at 10:15 pm after the concert. Mark and I really enjoy INXS (it was the first concert we went to while we were dating) and finally, we were able to take the boys to a show. Here is the concert stage from the top of the Big Wheel.
We took a blanket and chairs so we ate corn dogs, popcorn, french fries, and caramel apples before the show.
Another gentleman was kind enough to take a photo of all of us. You gotta love Hammy the Squirrel from Over the Hedge.
The squirrels and the swords.
Here goes the first video post (INXS with "What you Need"). Please excuse the poor quality, I didn't feel like fighting all of the "40 and 50 somethings" for a closer spot (he, he, I can say that for another 5 months!). We danced with the boys all evening and had a great time. Matthew said the music "rocked his head and tummy like nuts!" Huh?
Maryland State Fair
Yesterday we spent the afternoon and evening at the Maryland State Fair in Timonium. The boys love their roller coasters, but we also rode the ferris wheel, watched cow milking, checked out the cows and pigs, and attended a rock concert (next post).
Matthew on the slide
2 hour old piggies!
Matthew on the slide
2 hour old piggies!
The Birds and the (SWARM OF) Bees!
So to keep all the stories in order, we are still catching up from last weekend. We came home about 6:30 on Sunday night and decided to get pizza for dinner so we didn't have to cook and clean up before school started on Monday. Mark left to pick up the pizza and the boys went outside to play.
I was getting plates out of the kitchen cabinet when I heard terrifying screams from outside. At first I thought it was coming from the backyard and not our kids. The second time I heard it, I knew it was from the front yard and as I ran to the garage door, Andrew was coming in. He was in tears, his face red, and screaming ow, ow, ow! I sat him down to figure out where he was bleeding and then he finally said "It was a bee mom, I got stung by a bee!". So he shows me where he was stung (twice) and one of the stingers was still in his leg. I ran to get a paper towel so I could pull out the stinger and accomplished that when the screaming from the garage started all over again.
What in the world? I flung open the door to the garage and I see Matthew being attacked by a swarm of bees right outside the garage door. There must have been 20 bees circling around him and as I ran toward him I caught something in my mouth. Thinking it was a bee, I spit it out on the garage floor. I ran back to Matt and pulled him into the garage, swatting back the bees as we made our way into the house. Matthew was screaming like I have never heard him before. I sat him down next to Andrew and he continued to wail for a good 20 minutes. He was stung 5 times (ear, two on the arm, three on the legs)! I checked for stingers and couldn't find any. Matthew had been stung once in the past and didn't have a reaction, but he was so traumatized by the swarm and not being able to get away that it took awhile to calm him down enough to decide he wasn't having a reaction. (Matthew repeatedly said he didn't mean to hurt the bees - turns out Matthew was playing paddle ball against the bushes).
I remembered meat tenderizer for stings, but we didn't have any so I went for a paste of baking soda and water. I went back to the kids and the stings had turned into quarter size welts. I put the paste on and then we tried to eat dinner - no one was very hungry. Matthew was really uncomfortable the whole time. After dinner we gave him Motrin and they watched a TV show for distraction. I went to wipe off the baking soda paste and the welts were gone and all that was left was a small red blotch. By Monday morning, everyone was fine and Matthew went off to school. I guess it is good to know your kids aren't allergic to bees, but this is not the way I prefer to find out.
I was getting plates out of the kitchen cabinet when I heard terrifying screams from outside. At first I thought it was coming from the backyard and not our kids. The second time I heard it, I knew it was from the front yard and as I ran to the garage door, Andrew was coming in. He was in tears, his face red, and screaming ow, ow, ow! I sat him down to figure out where he was bleeding and then he finally said "It was a bee mom, I got stung by a bee!". So he shows me where he was stung (twice) and one of the stingers was still in his leg. I ran to get a paper towel so I could pull out the stinger and accomplished that when the screaming from the garage started all over again.
What in the world? I flung open the door to the garage and I see Matthew being attacked by a swarm of bees right outside the garage door. There must have been 20 bees circling around him and as I ran toward him I caught something in my mouth. Thinking it was a bee, I spit it out on the garage floor. I ran back to Matt and pulled him into the garage, swatting back the bees as we made our way into the house. Matthew was screaming like I have never heard him before. I sat him down next to Andrew and he continued to wail for a good 20 minutes. He was stung 5 times (ear, two on the arm, three on the legs)! I checked for stingers and couldn't find any. Matthew had been stung once in the past and didn't have a reaction, but he was so traumatized by the swarm and not being able to get away that it took awhile to calm him down enough to decide he wasn't having a reaction. (Matthew repeatedly said he didn't mean to hurt the bees - turns out Matthew was playing paddle ball against the bushes).
I remembered meat tenderizer for stings, but we didn't have any so I went for a paste of baking soda and water. I went back to the kids and the stings had turned into quarter size welts. I put the paste on and then we tried to eat dinner - no one was very hungry. Matthew was really uncomfortable the whole time. After dinner we gave him Motrin and they watched a TV show for distraction. I went to wipe off the baking soda paste and the welts were gone and all that was left was a small red blotch. By Monday morning, everyone was fine and Matthew went off to school. I guess it is good to know your kids aren't allergic to bees, but this is not the way I prefer to find out.
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