Teach Me How to Mommy

For Christmas Amy's amazing husband got Amy two tickets to see Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper live in Providence, RI.  In fact, he is so great that he didn't even expect to be her date.  That ticket was already taken (by me naturally). And so it was.  On Saturday,  Amy and I left after gymnastics and swimming lessons, park time, breakfast and lunch.  We traveled the short road to a city we have never been to and, well we just had some honest, good fun. We splurged on a fancy room and got some special drinks.  We laughed our asses off for two hours and even though we were in bed at 11pm it was a blast! Top 5 Highlights: 1)   Brian bought good tickets.  We were dead center and pretty close.  Even though we love Andy and Anderson we both didn't really know what to expect.  Who pays money just to hear people talk?  Well, Brian does and boy did we benefit!  Well-worth if it you have the option. 2) You're never too old to crash a prom.  We are not including pics for

It's Good Friday and what a good Friday it has been.  In fact, it's been a really wonderful vacation, the only bad thing being that it's almost over.  Amy talked about the "last stretch" . Fourth quarter is here, summer is around the corner.  She's right, well kind of.  May hasn't begun, and even though it's nice out, I still worry the cold air will come back and the work days will still be long.  Anyways, let's just go with her mindset - summer mode . We did a lot of things this vacation, including hosting a birthday party, a night away at the beach, the Aquarium and more.  Although many people we know went on vacations to Florida, California or further the farthest we went was outside of Boston to the Great Wolf Lodge.  I have to say that it looked really cheesy from all the ads, but it came highly recommended by a few people we know.  We wanted to take the kids somewhere  - some place new, exciting before we tackle a longer, farther vacation.

Monday and Tuesday Colin and I had some epic adventures.  Here's my recap! Monday : Wadsworth Falls & Wadsworth Falls State Park  To get to the actual Waterfall (the "Big Falls) use the address:  25 Cherry Hill Rd, Rockfall, CT (or Middletown, CT) To get to the actual Wadsworth Falls State Park use the address:   727 Wadsworth St, Middletown, CT 06457 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Playing in the stream at Wadsworth Falls State Park Last year Colleen, Megan, and I took our kiddies to Wadsworth Falls State Park, and it was fantastic!  However we both used the Iphone Map to give us directions and it brought us to a neighborhood where we both (separately) drove around aimlessly for a half hour before figuring  out where the heck to go.   When Colin and I were leaving the park on Monday, I saw a friend who told me she had just had the same problem!   (Use the addresses above to get

Making it to April Vacation feels like mile 20 of marathon (not that I've ever run one... but one time I watched the Boston Marathon at the top of Heartbreak Hill, and that was exhausting)....  April Vacation is a random place in the year that I decide that the year is complete.  I have a little more than one unit left to teach, I have to start making the little moments with my students LAST, and in just a few short weeks I have to start detaching, because these students will soon will no longer be "mine". This year has been harder than ever; have you noticed the lack of posts? The school day takes more out of me than ever before. The emotions are high, the needs are high, prep periods are used for pretty much everything besides prepping (covering class, meetings, reports, data). I'm staying later and later, when I should be leaving earlier and earlier.... and it took a complete breakdown (in front of my period 7 class no less) to just stop. ...and finally, a

So this week my three year old turned four and my two year old got bunk beds.  No exaggeration there, it's just how my week is going.  Lucy was once three and now she's four.  Rather, she was once a baby in my arms and now she's a running, jumping, flipping, dancing, chatting four year old.  It's hard accepting the inevitable, but I think it's going to be a magical age. Right and so sometimes you mention to your father-in-law that having bunkbeds would be so fun for his grandson.  Then sometimes that same father in-law digs out his own son's bunkbeds from the early 1990s.  He then refurbishes and delivers them shiny, new and sturdy... They are awesome and we are so lucky.  I thought it would take some adjustment for John.  You know, still yearning for his crib - not yet ready for a true big boy's bed.  Yet for five nights straight he's slept cozily in his bunkbed cave.  His crib has been cast aside and serves him only as a storage unit for