I suppose it is official today, if it wasn’t already official on his first day of school. Alex is no longer a baby. Not that he’s been a baby for a couple of years, anyway. There was something oddly final about his first day of school, and today’s event solidified that for me. He lost his first tooth today. There isn’t anything special about a kid loosing their first tooth, per say. It’s a rite of passage for kids, I suppose. I just didn’t think he’d lose it so soon. But true to form, he’s ahead of schedule. Ryan and Zach lost their first teeth at about 6 1/2, roughly a year ago. They were sharks for awhile, having their adult bottom teeth long before they lost their baby teeth. And while Alex’s adult tooth has just barely broken the skin, it isn’t fully erupted yet. I really didn’t expect him to lose his first tooth until after he turned 6, like his brothers. But I should have expected it, since he’s always been ahead of his brothers in most everything developmentally.

So tonight we will have another visit from tooth fairy. Good thing the tooth fairy is a working woman

Family, the kids | No Comments »

I haven’t done much on my blog in awhile. Part of it is that I’m just so busy with school and work and home that I don’t have time. Part of it is that I have to keep a blog for one of my classes, so the time I would normally have to blog here I have to spend blogging there. However, today, I’ve decided to skip the class blog in lieu of the *ahem* important football game on tv. So, in honor of my Alma Mater,

NCAA, Purdue, Sports | No Comments »

Yes, I know that there are now 96 days to Christmas, and not 100, as the title suggests. What I’m actually talking about is a website called One Hundred days to Christmas. It’s another List Mama blog, but I like it because it’s Christmas related. I always find that it sneaks up on me. One day, all is normal and then BAM! I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off (though, really, who thought of that phrase? Can a chicken run around when its head is cut off??) trying to get everything done at the last minute. I am afraid that will hit me double this year with work and school and everything else going on. Not to mention that in the midst of all of that, I have to pack and plan for our trip to Erie for Matt & Jen’s (Jenson) wedding. I’ll hop on board anything that helps me keep on track and keep organized. I’m an un-organized person by nature and it’s very frustrating to not be able to find things when I need them. But, what can I do? It’s in my blood…

Anyway, I encourage you to check out One Hundred Days to Christmas, especially if you are an un-organized person like me It might help take some of the stress out of the holidays for you as I’m hoping it will do for me

Christmas, Holidays, blogging, life | 3 Comments »

Hat tip: List Mama

Jennifer over at List Mama’s Blog posted this list of things that can be done to stay positive during our economic downturn. Very simple ideas, but I think during hard times we over look the little things that could make us happier in lieu of wanting a permanent “fix,” whatever that may be. I liked her list, so I thought I’d post it here.

# Decide to do something new – maybe just as exciting, but for a smaller cost
# Get a fresh perspective – either try to look at the situation with new eyes, or actually talk with someone who might give you some new insight
# Brainstorm – alone or with your family, brainstorming can produce some amazing new ideas
# Eat together – gathering around the family table for a homemade dinner can bring enormous joy in the midst of stress and chaos
# Look for possibility – they are endless, if we just are aware and paying attention

blogging | No Comments »

A Swiss gastronomist has stirred a controversy in the tranquil Alpine republic after announcing that he will serve meals cooked with human breast milk.

read more | digg story

General | No Comments »

At 4:04 this morning, my niece, Lillian Grace was born. 7 pounds, 9 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. Welcome to the world, sweet Lilly!

Here is my beautiful new niece:

I had predicted that she’d be born on the 16th or 17th, while my parents thought she’d be a 9/11 baby. I was right She was born one day shy of one week to the day before her due date (Sept. 23rd). Happy Birthday, Lilly! Auntie Trisha loves you so much and can’t wait to see you!!

When I told the boys this morning, Alex and Zach were excited. Ryan’s response? “But I already have a cousin…Katie” To which I said “Yes, and her sister Abbie. And now you have another cousin, Lilly.” That apparently wasn’t what he wanted to hear because he said “But I just like Katie.” Kids. Too funny!

General | No Comments »

I took the boys to the library today and made a decision to turn some of the reigns over to the twins. I got them their very own library cards. I have never seen two kids as tickled as they were, standing there in line, signing their names to the cards. They couldn’t believe they were able to have their own card and check out books on their own. I figured at 7 they were old enough for that. They were tickled pink to find a bunch of Captain Underpants books, lol. I also enticed them into checking out some of the books I used to read as a kid…Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, etc. I had also had a couple of recommendations from people for their age group and sort of perused the aisles to try to find some books I thought they might be interested in. They don’t have a particular genre that they like, though Ryan said he does not really like mysteries (I promptly pointed out to him that he really enjoys the Boxcar Children Mysteries, to which he answered, “Well, I still don’t really like mysteries.”). So, we got many different genres so that they can explore what kinds of books interest them. I also got a series (or part of the series) on cd called Magic Tree House, which was recommended to me by people at work. I couldn’t find the actual book, so I thought I’d try the book-on-cd. I don’t know if that will interest them, since they are much more like me and want to have a physical book in hand, but maybe if I listen to it, I can get an idea of whether it would interest them.

Any recommendations from you book-worms out there for second grade boys who read at about the third grade level?

Books, Media, the kids | 2 Comments »

At least in most of my classes, anyway. Today in my campaigns and elections class we talked about the use of social networking (among other things) as a way for candidates to reach the all-important youth vote. I commented that while I was perusing the DNC and RNC blogs last week for another assignment, I noticed that the RNC had links to social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. The DNC did not. I was surprised by this because the DNC seems to have the corner on the youth vote, but seemed to have a hard time incorporating the social network sites on their web page. When I brought up something about twitter (a link to it from the RNC site and being able to follow both candidates on twitter, which I am) everyone else in the class looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. Now, mind you, there is only one person in the class who is older than I am. All the rest are in the coveted 18-24 year old voting block. And I had to explain to them what twitter was. I didn’t expect that the youngsters wouldn’t know what it was. I didn’t equate twitter with people my age, though there are clearly people older than me using it as well.

I just thought it was interesting that a generation so plugged-in had no idea what twitter was…

Technology, blogging | 2 Comments »

School is going well for me and, as you can see from the neglect on my blog, I’ve been busy at work, too. While my classes aren’t too much of a struggle yet, I’m finding it difficult to manage my time between school, work, studying, laundry, cleaning and spending time with the fam. I’ve not had to manage my time like this for nearly 6 years, so I suppose it will take some getting used to.

In other news, Alex had his first day of kindergarten last week. He woke up with a nasty cold the same day and I could tell he didn’t feel well, poor little guy. But he braved the sickness and made it through his first day. Here are a couple of pictures. I really thought I’d end up taking more, but didn’t. I didn’t want to be the only crazed parent snapping pictures every 2 seconds. I was also too busy trying not to cry to think about getting too many pictures. But, here are a couple:

He was so excited to ride the bus home that day. I took him to school, so he only got a one-way ride Thursday. But he’s been waiting since January to ride Joe’s bus with his brothers. He came off the bus beaming from ear to ear.

The Family, going back to college, the kids | No Comments »

As I follow the Kodak Chief Blogger on twitter, she posted a url to this story, which I find really cool! Here’s what the designer, Chueh Lee over at Samsung China, says about the camera:

“Touch Sight is a revolutionary digital camera designed for visually impaired people. Simple features make it easy to use, including a unique feature which records sound for three seconds after pressing the shutter button. The user can then use the sound as reference when reviewing and managing the photos. Touch Sight does not have an LCD but instead has a lightweight, flexible Braille display sheet which displays a 3D image by embossing the surface, allowing the user to touch their photo. The sound file and picture document combine to become a touchable photo that is saved in the device and can be uploaded to share with others–and downloaded to other Touch Sight cameras.”

It isn’t on the market yet, apparently, but I really hope it does make it there. What a totally neat idea!

Media, Technology, pictures | No Comments »