cutest baby ever!!

well, you may remember I wanted a little baby carrier awhile back but it was too pricey ($85!!) so I was shopping for fabric the other day to make my girlfriend a wrap for her new baby with (hello Sara - if you're reading this - don't buy one! LOL) and I found the print I wanted in the baby carrier.

So for $30 - I made 3 (count them - three!) wraps - one for me, one for baby Zach and one TBD (anyone? any news to share? it could be you! LOL)

Exhibit A, seen here:

instructions for the no-sew part can be found at: http://www.mamatoto.org/Default.aspx?tabid=124 (which is really just how much to buy, how to cut). For the panel I got my idea from the Moby D (www.mobywrap.com) - this one is shorter (just the 5 yards) so it is much easier to use than my Moby IMO and oh-so-dashing on my little man.

Here's another cute pic of the 3 generations taken yesterday...

Today was another good day at school. I dropped the girls off in the a.m. and wanted to stay for mass, but Mikey was still asleep so I just did a quick drop off instead of waking him up. Came home and did a little dancing with my boy and then a walk around the block while Isabel rode her bike. Ran into the neighbor and her girls so she invited Isabel over. I left to pick up Carmen and after she got back Mike took her out to his parents where she brushed "gatito"

Excelsior loved it apparently which is nice as he usually ignores the girls. Spent a lovely afternoon with my girlfriend and then went to pick up the older girls from their full day of school. They have a pool in their neighborhood and we got to go swimming...bummed I opted not to take the camera - they had so much fun and ran into some other kids from school.

Well, off to IKEA with a friend...

there's nothing cuter than a little girl in saddle shoes...sweet!

carmen and mari-v coloring as the day begins



first day of school went well. no tears. mikey behaved at mass. it was a great day! isabel stayed home with daddy to play on the "puter" and we met up afterward at Amy's.

got the call from EMU - looks like it may be another 6 week stay of execution! - the only open placement now is an Area Complex Director which requires you to live in. obviously a no-can-do...so i'm trying to work it out with the union rep that i can take another open position, but one that they won't fill for another 4-6 weeks. if i can keep my benefits, we may just do that. it means i won't get paid for that time period, but at least i'll have a job! more info to come, in the meantime...cuties abound!




mikey with Amy's two boys: Jackson and Sammy

making cookies...

had a little impromptu 'party' to celebrate the last day before school starts. painted sugar cookies with some friends of the girls...yum!


off to bed for the big 6:00am wake up call tomorrow - it all begins!

visit to grandma paulas

we found a snail (no pics though - sorry!) on our walk and then the girls tried on their spanish dresses.



















mikey spent some time 'talking' with auntie b :)

there's only one thing to do on a rainy morning...

get out your rainy day acrutrements and enjoy the puddles!!






or make puddles as the case may be...

mug shots

maria

carmen

isabel

facial expressions of the infant...an instructional guide

this is how i look while eating...


after eating (click on the pic - you can still see the milk coming out!)

alert

intrigued

happy

sad

while flying...

while being kissed














from the top attached to my mom...ah snug as a bug in a rug (or a moby)

lessons in life...fish don't eat cheerios

so off they went to the park yesterday with butterfly nets and cheerios determined to lure some fish to the side of the pond where they could catch it in the net and as Maria said, just hold it and study it b/c you can't take it out of the water...they can't breathe above the water!

but no go...the fish just wouldn't come close enough. ah well! a good time was still had by all!

and Mike's artistic too! now we now where my girls get it :)

oh my culturally astute, saintly children....

oh freakin frack - ugh!! i just wrote a whole litany of the day's events and now it's gone! argh. anyway, back to it b/c I'm sure you're all dying for the story to go with this title! LOL

well, it was a long day. left the house at 8am to drop the older girls off at camp. saw a mom and the principal from the school so we chatted for a bit and Mikey flashed them his big smiles :) then it was off to Discount Tire for new tires on the van and while they did that, we went over to GFS to pick up some school snacks. got the van back and on our way to Target, we were listening to classical music in the van. Isabel says to me "mommy, this music is telling me something bad is going to happen." and I say really? she continues with a story about how there is a witch who is locking the princess in the tower and she can't get out - very imaginative, nothing she's "seen" before like a movie - it was really cute and pretty cool I thought.

after Target we went back to school to watch the performance. The girls did great! It was an art/music/dance/theatre camp so they had some artwork and performed some dancing and singing numbers.

(maria was in the show, but I was losing the wrestling match with the camera settings during her numbers)

i was juggling Mikey and the digital camera during the show since Mike had to work today and the camera was on some setting that just made the pix turn out blurry and I couldn't really fix it, but on the upside Mikey really enjoyed the performance. He was smiling and 'talking' to the girls on stage (we sat in the front row):

then after the show (and a pic with Miss Kathleen and Miss Emily – the co-directors) we had a little lunch (cheese, cracker and salami tray from GFS-thank you very much!) and then onto the classrooms!

See! There's Maria!

Maria showed Carmen around the kindergarten classroom while Mrs. Peters held Mikey. Carmen was somewhat excited, but oh Isabel! I thought she'd never leave and once again, she reminded me: "I think I'm ready for school. I think I'm big enough." awww...

We got to meet Sister Mary Grace who is teaching second grade. She seems really nice. I was talking to her about the class and Maria's personality and she asks me "Is she 'Saint Maria' that Mrs. Hayward (Maria's first grade teacher) refers to?" and I said, well, I don't know about that, but Mrs. Hayward did tell me once that every class needs a Maria. Sister lit up and was like "that's her! Mrs. Hayward called her little Saint Maria." well, of course I was quite proud and impressed :) I only hope Maria can live up to the title - LOL.

Then on the way home we were listening to classical music again and Maria says - this is when Rothbart does such-n-such...this is when Odile dances with the prince and the swan (Odette) is trying to get in - she totally recognized the music to Swan Lake!! granted, she knows the music from watching the Barbie version of the ballet, but still, I thought it was cool that the music sunk in like that! so I definitely will have to try to rent a copy of the real ballet.

The girls really got a lot out of the camp too - all the italian words for loud and soft in music (forte and piano, etc.) which again are being reinforced by their newfound fav The Little Einsteins (a cartoon on Disney Channel) and really seemed to understand about music telling a story, expressing feelings, etc. It was a great experience and I'm glad we decided to send them.

Heard from EMU today - the woman is hopefully going to tell me about my placement early next week. Ay yi yi. I hope it pans out...I am SO nervous right now.

In other news, our lovely neighbors are moving :( but to TC so we'll still get to visit now and then :) Also my best friend Sara from highschool had her third babe :) - Zach - so 3 boys for her. I only saw pix, don't know the 'story' right now. She was living in Canada but is moving back to the states, so I'm excited that maybe we'll get a few visits in here and there now, especially since my mom and dad are in TC now.

Mike took the girls to the park (with fishing nets and cheerios) and Mikey is sleeping and since this darn post took me about 2 hours to put up (internet went down, etc.) I should go get the basket of laundry calling my name...

same old, same old...

mikey has officially found his hands - they are in the mouth at all times and if you put something in his hand it immediately goes up for tasting...yum! he is all smiles and coos and even a few belly laughs here and there. i cannot believe how stinkin cute he is! he is such a good baby. definitely fusses when he needs something and sometimes clearly outright *hates* the car and lets you know it with the wail, but other than that, he is an angel sent from heaven!

the older girls and i had a dentist appt today so after we bought gym shoes after they got home from camp, we rode our bikes (i walked with mikey) to the dentist and the dental receptionist held mikey while i got my teeth cleaned and he was so good and all smiley with the ladies - cooing them up - very cute! maria may have a small cavity but carmen was cavity-free! whew...after all their dental treatments...it's a relief to get out of a dental appt for three with just one small cavity. i still haven't taken isabel in, shame on me! but i do help her brush her teeth often and get a good look in there when i do so i'm pretty sure she's in good shape.

still no freaking word from the University about my job placement...can i just say

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'm supposed to go back in less than 2 weeks, i'd like to know what i'm doing and how many hours i'm expected to work, yk? soooo frustrating. i have emailed a few times and left a voicemail today - how hard can it be to just even email and say "i'm still working on it, i promise i'll be in touch/keep you updated." i absolutely loathe the no reponse approach...it's so inconsiderate!

isabel is adorable as ever too. her favorite thing to do is finding treasure...bird feathers and bee-bees from airsoft guns being her favorites. it's so cute. yesterday she was putting them all in the old style coffee grinder we have as "purprises" for us all. mike said she's like ET, she has this whole pile of miscellaneous stuff she's "collected" and it's taking up the entire space between our bed and the wall...the clutter drives me nuts, but she's so cute about it you can hardly be mad.

signed her up for a jazz/tap/ballet combo class today. i hope she likes it. yesterday the girls were teaching her things from camp: "plie, lift, releive, lower" (i'm sure my spelling is way off-too lazy to google) and "pique, pique, pique" - she LOVED it. amy gave her a pair of dance slippers that were too small for katie and she was in heaven! she's still on her eating kick so she can "grow bigger" - she got to go to grandma paula's today all by herself - she was so excited. kept telling us how much she missed her and how much grandma missed her!

well, after all my braggin about the 'angel' - i've got a pretty grumpy babe on my hands...so i'm off for now. mike took carmen and maria to the park with the digital camera my dad got us (thanks dad!) so i'll post pix later if there's anything good to post :)

running in place...

i'm having one of those overwhelming moments where it seems i'm just running in place...i feel busy, busy, busy, but like i'm not getting a thing accomplished. ugh. doesn't help my general irritability, lemme tell ya...

apparently though i have found five seconds to breathe. the older girls are outside riding their bikes and mikey is swinging and only isabel is here insisting that i "look it! look it!" she has been so cute the past few days. we got back from TC and the older girls were trying on their school uniforms and saddle shoes (PS there is nothing more adorable than a little girl in saddle shoes!) and Isabel just kept saying "i think i'm gonna grow bigger. i'm pretty sure i'm gonna get bigger and be able to tie my shoes and go to school." and she has eaten so well the past few days since mike assured her that is how she will "grow bigger" as she so desires. i wish we had the $ to send her to preschool this year - she is so ready for it, but alas, that's $800 we just don't have for something she doesn't really 'need' - i did remember a $75 credit from a lesson carmen never end up taking and she's going to do a dance or gymnastics class this fall. she'll *love* that (i hope!)

the girls had a lovely time in TC and the break was much appreciated! they got to go putt-putt golfing and to the pool and beach and picking blackberries with grandma and grandpa - these were the 'highlights' they mentioned.

our last night mom and dad took us to a showing of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat put on by some college/HS students - it was a great show, the girls enjoyed the dancing and music and thankfully, Mikey was pretty good, just nursed the whole show :)

today carmen and maria started art/dance/theatre camp at the school. they enjoyed it and got to go with some old friends and will hopefully meet some new friends. once again, i got to hear a lot of conversation from isabel about how she's going to "grow bigger" - she was a little bummed not to go.

well, that's the gist of things around here. life just doesn't stop for me to write about it, so i gotta get back to the real thing...

shave and a haircut...two bits? no - it was free!

so we started out the day with a walk downtown and then lunch at ruby tuesday's (mike had a hankering for the salad bar). mikey was so good on his first trip to "eat out" that i thought we deserved a picture!

he doesn't look happy here but trust me - he was good!

After lunch we went to Kohls to try to pick up a wedding band (Mike lost his at the cemetary about 2 weeks ago) - my third attempt after two outs from KMart and the original purchase of the original band of course! ack! total sucky construction on the way out to Northville, almost gave up it was such a PITA to get there, but we made it in only to find out they have no size 9 band. so i'll try later in Canton...

Then I went to get my haircut, a little 'splurge' since the girls were gone and Mike took Mikey out to grandma Paula's for the afternoon. well, I had 10 inches, so I donated to Locks of Love (http://www.locksoflove.org/)and the haircut was free! so I guess my splurge was just lunch out - yay! free haircuts definitely good for the budget, now I just have to convince my hair to grown another 10 inches b4 I feel the need for another cut :) anyway, here's the new "do"

music in the park...again!

my best friend Amy with Mikey (her godson!)

a close up - couldn't you just eat him up?!??!

I hardly have any pix of Amy and I together, so Owen got this one for us!