Flashback Friday

July 2006

Our family of five along with my mother spent the Fourth of July at Disney World. It was the best fireworks celebration that I have ever experienced. I don't have any pictures of the show, I have never been able to perfect night time photos, but here is a picture of the castle, the next best thing to see at Disney! It was probably the hottest day yet of the summer when we went, but it was still awesome!

When I was around 9 years old, I spent the Fourth of July at Disney with my parents. I have the picture of me standing in front of this same castle with my goofy hat on to prove it.

Kitchen Renovations

Renovations have begun on our kitchen. We're not getting into gutting walls and installing new cupboards - that will come, but for now, we are making some cosmetic changes to freshen things up a bit. So far I have primed all the molding, windows, doors and edges. Day two plans - roll the remaining sections on the walls and hope that with the heat and humidity it will dry in a reasonable amount of time. If we can get this done early enough and it dries in the one hour that is promised on the can, maybe I can edge the walls in the color!!

He Did It!

Three years ago, September 2007, Joseph started his first day of prek just one month after turning three. He started at Bright Beginnings at Jefferson Rehabilitation Center. I had many mixed emotions about him going to prek at JRC as it is an integrated program for what we call "typical" children and mentally disabled children. One of the major pros for me was that I work for JRC, so I was right there with him, in the beginning he was there the hours I was at work, so it eliminated the need for additional babysitters and the cost for him to attend was discounted by 50%. The part I was concerned about was the integration....would the class be slower, would he be bored, would he even learn anything??

I'm sooooo glad I made the decision to enroll Joseph in this program. The classes were not slow at all, they are the pace of any average preschool, he was definately not bored, and he learned more than I ever imagined! He has gained the self confidence to enter kindergarten knowing everything from counting to 100, colors, shapes, letter recognition, writing his name to making friends, being able to speak to others, making eye contact, and the list goes on!! I'm so proud of all that he has accomplished in these past two years and I'm so anxious to see how the next 13 years are going to go.

I have nothing but good things to say about the JRC preschool program. All the teachers and assistants that he has had from start to finish have been awesome! Everyone knew Joseph and understood him, where there to help him and me, offered suggestions and ideas so we could all work together to bring him from what he was to what he has become.

First Day of Prek

Last Day of PreK

Monday Blues

Flashback Friday

Every year since Greg was little, I buy the $5 Old Navy flag shirt for the Fourth of July. I don't have many pictures of just Greg when he was little because scanning and digital photography wasn't that popular! But here are the pictures of the last few years. I went out yesterday and bought their shirts for this year! I think Greg is a little upset over the whole thing, but all I ask is for him to comply for one day!

2005

2006

2007

2008

Three out of the four pictures where taken in Florida...seems we always go to Florida in July! However, this will be the first year since 1980's that I will not be going to Florida, except the year 2004 when I was 8.5 months pregnant with Joseph. I could not endure the drive! I'm going to miss our vacations to Florida, but it will sure be nice to see other parts of the USA!

Best Buds

We were so fortunate in finding our house because our neighborhood is filled with little boys and all my kids have tons of buddies right in the neighborhood. The group of boys that Greg hangs out with range in age from 11-17. At first I found that hard to believe because when I was growing up, the kids a couple years older than me, wanted nothing to do us "younger kids". But these boys all get along great.

This is only a few of the boys on their first day of school - Nate, Chris and MJ (or big Mike as the little guys call him).

My good friend Tiffany lives down the street and she has two little boys - Brady and Patrick who are 6 and 4. We also befriended Winona (aka Nona) and her two boys Christopher and Adam who are 7 and 4. Nona and the boys live in the military housing right by the school the boys will be attending, all within walking distance from our house. Most weekends we are all hanging out because mine and Tiffany's husbands work and Nona husband is in Iraq.

Toys R Us

When we first moved into our house, I thought the little sun porch off our diningroom would be the perfect spot to put a set of wicker furniture, to curl up with a good book and open the windows to enjoy the summer. Unfortunately, it has turned into our playroom and has been a constant thorn in my side since. I like things to be neat and organized, every car, dinosaur, superhero and army guy has a particular spot and I like these toys to remain in their designated spot. As you can see from the pictures below, I can't win that battle! I have cleaned and reorganized this space more times than I can count and it ends up like below in a matter of a week - if I'm lucky. So, once again, I've added this project to my to do list this week and I've bribed Gregory with minutes for his cell phone if he helps. I'm going to put one of the toy boxes in the boys room and load it up; they don't play upstairs too often when we are all downstairs, but I'm hoping in the mornings they can play in their room while we get ready, or possibly sleep in...shhhhh...don't tell them that! I've also informed the little guys that we are making a huge pile for the poor kids and an equally huge pile for the trash bin. Do we really need all those happy meal toys or the 5,000 army guns that come with those little GI Joe guys?????

Gregory

You won't see many pictures of Gregory throughout this blog and it's not from my lack of trying. Greg is three months shy of turning 13, my baby will be a teenager!!! Getting pictures of him is very tough because (1) he is never home or around for me to get one, (2) he won't allow me to tag along to the skatepark to snag a couple shots, (3) I can't even sneak pictures because he always finds me and finally, (4)when I do get a picture, he is making his "Mom, PLEASE get out of my face", face. Here are some pictures I took the past month - see what I mean!

New Neighbors

We own a duplex house, we live in one side and we rent the other. The lady who rented the other half has lived there for about 10 years, she is 87 years old! Well, she is moving out, against her will, unfortunatley she is in intensive care and will have to go into a nursing home. We'll miss you Miss Bea! Her family is moving out all her stuff as I write this and will be out by the end of the month and then we (Steve and I) start the grueling task of remodeling, probably completely, every room on that side. Carpets will be pulled up to expose all the hardwood floors, walls stripped of the god awful wallpaper and coated with some Kilz primer, the kitchen cupboards will all come out and new put in.....and the list goes on. Hopefully some friends will pull through and help us out!!! We already have new tenants lined up, a couple that has a little boy Joseph's age and in his preschool class and another little boy in 1st grade is interested. They are an Army couple and the husband has been deployed to Iraq, he is not even half way through his tour; me and my good friend Tiffany have befriended Nona and she has joined us in our Friday playdates. Anyways, her lease in the Army housing is due to be renewed August 1st....so that means we need to get our butts in gear and get to work so this can be finished by the end of July. I'm acutally looking forward to this project.

Picture Perfect

Joseph asks me the other day - "do you know why I'm so smart Mommy", I ask why and he tells me "because my brain takes a picture of everything I see and keeps it in my brain so I remember everything". Boy, where do they come up with this stuff - maybe it really is true and I have a little Einstein in the family!

My Three Sons

It's a crazy life with three boys in the house; one teenager and two toddlers! There is never a dull moment, never a quite moment, never a moment alone, but I wouldn't trade these moments in for the world!

Lucas

To The Baby - I've always loved you best because while endings are generally sad, you are such a joy. You readily accepted the milk stained bibs, the frayed books and the used crib. You are the one I hold onto so tightly and never put down. You are the link with my past and my reason for tomorrow. You darkened my hair, quickened my steps and restored my vision. You gave me a sense of humor that security, maturity and durability can not provide. When you are all grown up and have children of your own, you will still be my baby.

Lucas Steven Rich was born January 17, 2006. He broke our pattern of birthdays with a 2 or 22! When labor started with Luke, I was feeling like a pro and decided I would tough out as much labor at home as I could. Sometime early evening on January 16th labor started, by 10 p.m. labor was getting pretty strong, but so was my will, so I stayed home still... then by about 1:00 a.m. I'd had enough and was ready to go to the hospital. By the time we got there, got in the room I was READY for the pain meds - however, Lucas was ready to make his appearance. My water broke and out he came, before the doctor could even make it into the room! He was born at 2:17 a.m., and I was medication free. Never in my life will I do that again!

Joseph

Dear Middle Child - I've always loved you best because you were my challenge and it made me become the woman I am today. You cried often, had no patience and wore faded hand me downs. You could play in the dirt and leave your toys all over the livingroom floor and you helped me understand that the world would not collapse if you went to bed with dirty feet. You were the child of my busy, ambitious years and without you, I would not have survived the job changes, moves and the routine that is marriage. Never in your life will you get anything first, but it only makes you stronger.

Joseph Patrick Rich was born on August 2, 2004, the year after Steve and I were married. He arrived one week early, after giving me a scare. While I was pregnant I developed inter-uterin growth restriction or in otherwords, my amniotic fluid level was very low. We were going in for stress tests and ultra sounds every other day, then one day at the doctor's office, he stripped my membranes and sent me to the hospital. Right after I got there, I was given an epidural and was feeling no pain at all. It was a much better labor than Greg's! I wanted Joseph to be born on August 2nd because Greg is September 2, Steve is Feb. 22 and I'm April 22. Well, he came at 11:52 p.m. only 8 minutes to spare!

The Wedding

Steve and I were married in June 2003 in Florida. It was a simple ceremony in a friends yard with a good friend of my mother's marrying us. We decided to say our vows in Florida with my Mother and Stepfather present because we were not able to spend any holidays with them and they missed out on many special events because they lived so far away, so this was our way of giving them something.

We also had a "renewing our vows" ceremony in Watertown in September with a big party afterwards for our family and friends here. So for the next year it was just the three of us. However, on August 2, 2004, that changed!