News from the Nord's

Rock Off Finals

2012-02-09T13:10:00.001-08:00

The boys are in the Rock Off Finals at House of Blues on Saturday, February 11th!
http://www.hudsonhubtimes.com/news/article/5154625

In The News

2012-01-04T16:44:00.000-08:00

When I lived in Hudson in 8th grade I "made" the Hudson Hub. It was my 15 minutes of fame. Of course it was in the "Police Blotter" section and referred only to "unidentified teenagers" and referenced an excessive toilet paper purchase at Rite Aid followed by a forensic level investigative connection to a handful of houses being TP'd that night in the local area. I knew it was me and that's all that mattered. Crap. Did my mom know it was me? Then there was the next 15 minute of fame highlight...something about a gaggle of preteens "borrowing" for sale signs and relocating them to other houses that weren't actually for sale. That may or may not have been about me.

Well, now Nick is in the Hudson Hub. For a slightly more reputable reason of course. Look for them in the Plain Dealer too!

Boy Band Makes The News - CLICK HERE

i can totally google nick now

2011-12-29T08:14:00.000-08:00

Nick is not nearly as excited about this as he should be, in my opinion.

Nick's band, Hit the Ground Running, is opening for Drake Bell....for those of you with middle schoolers (or a college student, in my case), this is Drake from the Drake & Josh show on Nickelodeon who now decided to become a singer, shocking I know. As a result.....the band can be googled and is listed on ticketmaster. I thought it was cute. Nick was only mildly impressed with himself.

some boy band updates

2011-12-20T19:20:00.000-08:00

I may need to start moonlighting as their publicist.

Boy Band concert dates:

January 14th - They are opening for Drake Bell (from that cheesy show Drake & Josh on Nickelodeon) at the Grog Shop in Cleveland. Even Jack is impressed.

January 15th - Semi Finals for the Tri C Rock Off at House of Blues (daytime event)

January 15th - Showcase red carpet event for Universal Records at House of Blues (starts at 6:00). 5 bands were invited....4 are already signed with Universal. Needless to say the boy band is pretty excited.

January 31st - Peabody's in Cleveland, opening for Falling in Reverse...one of Nick's favorite bands. I had previously told him he couldn't go to the concert - in downtown Cleveland on a school night - so he went out and got an opening band spot with them. Now he can go. Clever.

Family Picture Day

2011-12-10T18:46:00.000-08:00

As the children get older it takes little to no bribing, arguing, begging, pleading, or "just zip it and smile" comments to get family pictures done. I did have to promise a one hour time limit and lunch at the restaurant of their choice. Deal. Spoiler Alert for Grandmas: You will be getting these for Christmas so if you want to be surprised don't look now. Oooh, on second thought...tell me what you want! I can have color changed (bright, matte, whatever, black and white) and get any size. I have a LOT more....

Just Jack

2011-11-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

This is a very clunky spliced up version that I took from a big long highlight video. I didn't even bother to fix the music. I'm ~~lazy~~ very busy. Now, most mothers would just splice together all the good things their child did. I, however, picked all of the clips that highlight how my sweet passive boy turns into a shameless self congratulator. Is that a word? He shamelessly cheers himself on. Jack is #72 - in blue or white shirt - you'll find him... just look for the kid who is clearly very impressed with ~~himself~~ his team. The first few clips are actual plays, the rest is purely for entertainment value.

What. Theheck.

2011-10-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

I love watching Jack play football but a ~~tiny~~ sort of small part of me was looking forward to the end of practices 3 days a week and weekend games. I was counting down the days until nothing. No practice. No games in the rain. Nothing. Nothing until baseball in February. And don't get me started on why we start baseball in February in the mid-west where winter lasts through April. Anyway. Just as I was enjoying what should have been the beginning of a sports hiatus Jack announces that he is playing basketball. Uhhhhh, what? He likes to smash the ball with a bat. He likes to smash other children on the football field. Is he aware that basketball allows for no smashing of any kind? So now the 3 month hiatus turned out to be nothing more than a 1 week break. A break during which he made me drive him to the weight room at school at 6:30 a.m. 3 days a week. What. Theheck. Would a little less self motivation really kill anyone? I think not. So now I guess I have to learn the rules of basketball. Goodbye football...see you next August.

Arts & Crafts

2011-10-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

This is what Stephanie does with her free time at school....

another little shout out to the boy band

2011-09-25T19:29:00.001-07:00

CLICK HERE

a new song from the boy band

2011-09-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

Highlights of the Week

2011-09-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

These are Jack's arms. They look like painful bruises but I'm told they are called football battle scars. And that chicks dig them. Whatever.

Nick's boy band is playing again at Musica on Sunday night. They have actual groupies now. Other than parents.

Stephanie is home for the weekend. I am grateful. We needed to balance out the testosterone in this house a bit. We had a girls night dinner and movie. Neither of us smelled like sweat, talked about inappropriate video games that we probably shouldn't be playing anyway, rated a girls hotness, quoted Family Guy, or recapped every football play made over the last week. It was beautiful.

sack...sack....sack that quarterback

2011-09-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

Jack Nord #72

Homecoming 2011

2011-09-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Nick & Mary

the boy band

2011-08-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

http://www.purevolume.com/HitTheGroundRunningMusic

Baby Kendall

2011-07-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

My cousin Marcie's baby. Total cuteness. Stephanie was plotting to steal her. I of course refused to participate. But I did offer to help hide her. In the interest of avoiding a federal prison sentence we'll just keep visiting her. For now.

How cute is this?

2011-07-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

Nick's band got an actual review on a website for local bands.....it's a start :) Here is a copy of the review and below is the link to the website:

The first band I saw was Hit the Ground Running. Pop-punk and still in high school, they were a lot of fun. They were the first ones to play on the main stage; they’re young and there’s definitely room for growth (musically), but they seemed to enjoy themselves on stage, and they got the energy in the room going. Verdict: Definitely see them if you get the chance. They’re still an up-and-comer but I think they could go a long way.

http://circlesandsoundwaves.tumblr.com/

***The review is in the 7/8/2011 article. Check back on this website....they were interviewed when they played on Monday night!

Peabodys in Cleveland

2011-07-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee are the champions........

2011-07-02T06:27:00.000-07:00

Jack's team won last night securing first place in their division. Play offs next week and then we are DONE with baseball. I think we will get a 2 week break and then Football starts. What the heck.

every. single. day.

2011-06-26T04:42:00.000-07:00

Somewhere along the way summer vacation stopped meaning vacations, reading books at the beach or simply sitting at the pool doing absolutely nothing all day. Now it means there is just more time to play baseball. We have some type of baseball event going on every. single. day. Weekends are taken up by tournaments that keep us out of the house from 8 a.m. to, oh I don't know, the freaking sun is set. We are leaving in about 10 minutes for day 2 of a tournament. Depending on how they do today we could have anywhere from 1 to 3 games. 6 hours of playing. They are 11. Needless to say by game 3 it could get pretty scary.

nick's band at musica in akron

2011-05-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

the parental duty

2011-05-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

Otherwise known as the elementary school band concert. I refrained from scratching out my own eyeballs long enough to get some pictures. I do have to say, though, that I love this school. The whole concert experience - including going in, sitting down and leaving - was 30 minutes.

the maddie james foundation

2011-05-21T04:39:00.000-07:00

If you have been following the story about Maddie James (I went to High School with her mom) then you will be happy to learn that The Maddie James Foundation reached a goal of 1 Million Dollars last night and will be able to build The Maddie James Seaside Learning Center at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, CA. Click the little turtle on the right to read her story. Sadly, Maddie lost her battle with DIPG only 8 weeks after her diagnosis but her foundation was able to reach the goal in under 4 months. Last night they reached $920,000 at the Reaching for the Sea Stars Gala and the St. Regis Resort and Hotel donated the remaining $80,000. They reached the goal in advance of the June 11th deadline, which would have been Maddie's 6th birthday.

some pre summer updates

2011-05-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

I'll start with Stephanie so she doesn't feel left out being away and school and away from the crazy chaos that is my house. Stephanie is renting a school security van and taking her dorm residents on a field trip to the Columbus Zoo. She is as excited now as she was when she was going on a 5 year old field trip. She has announced that she wants to go to Vet school. For those keeping track that is 5 majors in 2 years, but I'm told she has kept it in the same science area so none of her classes are wasted. We are looking forward to having her home for the summer, but she will be taking online summer classes and leaving us for a vacation with Aunt Laura to run though the streets of Washington D.C. I'm still trying to find a film crew to follow them around.

Nick is finishing up his school baseball season today, if it doesn't get rained out. This week he pitched his first complete game no hitter shut out. I'm told that was a good thing :) I think he was pretty proud. Summer baseball starts in a few weeks, as does drivers ed. When Stephanie got her license I was traumatized....this time around I can't WAIT to turn the keys over and let him cart himself around to all of his activities and events. I have promised to not refer to his band as the boy band anymore now that they have more official gigs. I hate the word gigs, but whatever. They are playing at Musica in Akron on May 27th and at Peabody's in Cleveland on July 8th, opening for bands that are allegedly well known. They are also playing at Relay for Life in Hudson on June 11th but I'm pretty sure that one won't make them famous.

Jack is Jack, basically just entertaining the rest of us. He is playing baseball too. We've convinced him that he doesn't have to do whatever Nick does so he mostly plays 3rd base and pitches only a little. He's not totally accurate yet at 11 years old but man that kids throw could take your head off. I think we should just have him pitch when we are losing, he can take out a few of their good players. Jack offered me up to bring in snack foods for the international feast, from the region he was studying. Normally this would be no problem, but, ummmmm, he studied Point Noire in the republic of Congo. They eat monkeys people. Monkey tacos for the 5th graders? Maybe I'll just bring bananas. He's ready for swim team, summer baseball league, baseball camp, football camp, church camp...you get the picture, keeping him busy all summer is the goal here.

We are definitely ready for summer around here. Winter lasted until late April and then it just rained. Bring on the sunshine.

this made me laugh

2011-05-13T13:27:00.001-07:00

HTGR - Helpless (Acoustic)

2011-04-19T15:35:00.000-07:00

my babies

2011-04-16T09:57:00.001-07:00

........another dance

2011-04-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

The Boy Band

2011-04-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

Hit the Ground Running

2011-03-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

the big concert

2011-03-06T17:48:00.000-08:00

i'm trying to figure out how to get the video off my camera, on to youtube and uploaded here. total drama.

for now here are some pictures!

Maddie James

2011-02-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

Maddie is 5. Excuse me. 5 and 1/2. I went to high school with her mom. She was recently diagnosed with a non operable aggressive brain tumor (DIPG). Her parents have started a foundation, in her name, with a focus on the Dana Point Ocean Institute. The foundation is seeking to create the "Maddie James Seaside Learning Center" at the institute.

Maddie reminds me of Stephanie when she was little...from the white blonde hair to her love of all sea creatures and undersea life. (Yes, Jack is still a bit concerned that Stephanie thinks mermaids are real). Stephanie even attended the summer camp at the Dana Point Ocean Institute when she was 5, too. Now she is Marine Biology major (among other majors and minors that change weekly). We have been looking for some type of charitable foundation to get involved in as a family. We found it.

Click here for the Maddie James Foundation Website

now he thinks he's famous

2011-02-21T17:16:00.001-08:00

Nicks boy band, Hit the Ground Running, is actually listed on their very first concert ticket. Ok, now I think it's just too cute.

The Boy Band

2011-02-12T20:07:00.000-08:00

So, Nick Nord and his boy band get to play in a real live concert. They are the first opening band, for the second opening band, for the headliner band, at Musica in Akron. They are also the youngest band ever invited to play there. As I have been told numerous times.

They spent an entire day at a recording studio, made a CD of four songs that they wrote themselves, started ~~harassing~~ self-promoting, and just like that got a call with an invitation to open for the band Stay. Yeh, I don't know who they are either.

Now, it's quite possible that at one time or another I may possibly have been half listening when Nick started babbling on about if he gets a record contract before he graduates would I let him pursue that and delay college. I will deny until the day I day that I said yes. However, is it possible that I thought "yeh, ok, whatever, like that will ever happen" in my head? And because I was multi-tasking and didn't want to kill his dreams by telling him I was thinking "yeh, ok, whatever, like that will every happen" did I maybe then say something that Nick might have thought sounded like "ok."? Possible. In the words of Jack Nord, oh crap.

Click this link and you can see them advertised. Oh....and remember when we had tons of t-shirts made with their band name....False Hope....to wear when they played? Yes, so, they changed their band name. It is now Hit the Ground Running.

Click Here

My New Best Friend

2011-01-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

She's beautiful and perfect and she smells good. She is my cousin Marcie's new baby, Kendall. I was thisclose to simply just kidnapping her. I held her and fed her and we became good friends. She barely cried and when she did it was basically a super lame attempt at crying. In the last picture she is just yawning. Did I mention I really sort of just wanted to take her home? Thank you Kendall for giving me a valid reason to buy baby girl clothes.

the view from my front door

2010-12-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

Just some pictures

2010-12-05T12:27:00.000-08:00

The end of football season

Jack & Kiera at Halloween

A Christmas card photo that didn't make the final cut

Homecoming 2010

2010-10-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

Nick & Mary

ummmmmmmmm.........

2010-09-29T04:28:00.000-07:00

I'm wondering just exactly why he thinks this matches....

weekends in the fall

2010-09-26T05:55:00.000-07:00

Homecoming

2010-09-22T04:08:00.000-07:00

So Nick has spent weeks trying to find a creative way to "ask" Mary to the Homecoming dance. I need to point out here that they have already discussed it and know they are going but he wanted to officially ask her. Not only did he include me in the idea phase he let me help make the signs....so, uh, yeh, i'm in. Of course that also meant that I had to drive him over to her neighborhood at 5:30 a.m. today in order to set up all of his signs. Totally cute.

jack's no good very bad day

2010-08-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

The day started like this...

And ended like this...

***it's not broken, just a nasty swollen bruised yellow strain. he's out for at least 2 weeks. no games over labor day so he's hopeful that he will only miss one game. and he's not very happy about this :)

.....and they wrote it themselves

2010-08-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

FalseHope
Uploaded by nordvideos. - Explore more family videos.

Nick

2010-08-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

***click on image to enlarge

batttle of the bands and other things

2010-08-13T05:59:00.000-07:00

So Nick and his boy band got a spot in the Battle of the Bands on Saturday night. They ordered T-shirts with their band name and got a "T-shirt Cannon" to shoot them out to their adoring fans during the big concert. Yeh, did I tell you that Battle of the Bands is in the library courtyard? Pretty hard core here in Hudson. There are 9 bands and 3 of them get to play at Blossom Music Center. Just Kidding. They get to play at Taste of Hudson. A gig's a gig, or so I'm told. Here he is playing at a birthday party. Sorry about the quality of the picture...I had to steal it from his Facebook page. He is my facebook friend now. I'm not allowed to write anything on his wall. He never said anything about stealing stuff. (He's on the left in the striped shirt)

So lightening struck our apple tree. Not sure what to do with it now. The deer, however, know exactly what to do. They have been telling all of their other deer friends that there are free apples all over the ground. Last night there were 6 of them. Of course my attack dog is useless and they just stare at him while they gather in my yard. He stays safely by my side on the deck and doesn't even bark at them. Useless. I told him the word is out and all the woodland creatures know he is a mama's boy.

And Football has started. The one thing Jack lives for all year. Pushing people over. Who knew. He moved up to the "big boy" team and was worried he wouldn't get as much playing time as he did last year as he is now in the group of "young kids" on the team. You know, going in to 5th grade as opposed to the older more experienced 6th graders. Yeh, no worries. Seems he can pretty much push anyone over and will be playing the whole game again. I don't know what his positions are called. On defense he gets to push people down and on offense he gets to just hold them back and is only allowed to push them down "on accident if it doesn't really look like I intentionally tackled them." He says this with a twinkle in his eye. Nice.

We had a one week break from sports between the end of swim team and the start of football for Jack and fall baseball for Nick. We didn't know what to do with ourselves with all the free time. I'm pretty sure I sat on the deck for a week straight. Now we are back to packed schedules that include nothing related to the parents of course: trying to figure out who has to be on what side of town when, planning the trade offs so we can each try to be at both games for a little bit when they overlap, and announcing every night that tomorrow I'm going to make something for dinner early so it's here and ready when we all get home at 9 p.m. Yeh, that never happens. I totally get why Carol Brady had Alice. I want one. I'm considering telling Erik he can take a second wife. Provided she cooks and cleans. Oh, and sorts the white laundry. I hate white laundry. I bet Alice matched up all the socks perfectly and there was never a random sock without a match.

dean's list

2010-08-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

I was personally horrified that she willing took chemistry, so this is a pleasant little surprise. Click on the link....

http://www.hudsonhubtimes.com/news/article/4868597

so it seems that if you feed them they keep coming back

2010-08-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

not for the weak

2010-08-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

So, about Jack. Remember the whole shingles nightmare? We do. He finally seems to have gotten over the neck pain 2 1/2 months after the fact. However, his little scalp didn't resolve quite so easily. Now, you may be asking yourselves, "Self, why in the world did they shave his head?" Well they didn't. Daddy did. Jack wanted his head shaved for football. Clearly Jack didn't realize what he was asking, right? There is a 25% chance that his hair will grow back in the "spots." Until it grows long enough to again cover the "spots" I am making him wear a hat. At all times. Jack, however, couldn't care less.

Happy Birthday Nick!

2010-07-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

Today Nick turned 15. And he brought his girlfriend out to dinner with us. That's pretty much the highlight. Her name is Mary and she is very sweet. And she survived dinner with this crazy bunch so she gets points for that.

2010-07-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

*click on photo to enlarge

and i did it without reading the manual

2010-07-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

I read People Magazine. Every page. Every word. I read at least one complete book a week. Just for fun. But the thought of reading a how to manual makes me want to scratch my own eyeballs out. The fact that I refuse to read instruction manuals makes Erik want to scratch out his own eyeballs. Or maybe mine. Anyway. Here is what I learned today. By not reading.

Meet Mike and other exciting stuff

2010-07-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

This is Mike. He is from CT but going to college in OH. He will be living with us for at least a year, while he works and goes to school, in order to get OH residency and in state tuition. He is a brave boy to move into this madhouse.

Mike is a good boy. And so far he has revamped all of our computers, has done something cool too our modem and wireless network that makes everything go super fast, and scammed me photoshop. This of course is why I'm up at midnight playing with photos. And did I say he was brave to move into this madhouse?

In other exciting news I got a super cool new camera. I know I'm pushing Erik over the edge because I'm learning how to use it by playing with it. Contrary to his suggestion that I read the manual. Has he met me? I practiced tonight at the swim meet.

you can come over and play now

2010-07-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

Guess what is done?

2010-07-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

Me. I'm done. I'm done waiting for the deck to be done. It's almost done. Whatever that means. It looks done to me and the things that "aren't done yet that you can't see" are of no interest to me. Anyway. One of us was done being patient and one of us finally gave in. And so we have a table. Grandma is coming next week. Erik knows that means we have a strict everything must be done deadline. And then it will be done.

In Jack news. That poor kid is still dealing with effects of his shingles. I'm just glad that (1) all of the blisters that are now crusty festering blood spots are confined to his scalp and (2) he isn't bald. He also has random neck pain, I think more like a stiff neck. I researched this and it seems like he could be dealing with annoying effects for months. Mostly what I read indicates that effects are worse and more likely to occur if the shingles aren't treated within 72 hours of the first blister. Now I don't feel quite so bad for telling off the ER doctor. Jack didn't get the right meds for about 5 or 6 days. He can be fine for days and then he will have 1 or 2 really bad days. He seems fine in his baseball games and that's all he's really worried about. I'm about ready to handcuff his hands behind his back to keep him from picking at his head. It's grossing me out.

Stephanie survived and loved her trip to Ecuador with Grandma and Grandpa. Sea Lions, turtles, snorkling, birds, people making her bed every time she left it, her own little private mermaid land. We heard every detail. A few times. I'm pretty sure we will never be able to pass off Sea World as a "vacation" ever again. However, she came home a little sore as she may or may not have fractured her tail bone. Jumping off the second story of a yacht. Yeh, you heard me.

Nick is done with baseball for a few weeks and is busy recording songs with his band. Songs they wrote. They are entering a battle of the bands contest and trying to win a performance at the Taste of Hudson. I just thought he could play the guitar. Who knew he could write the songs too. He can't read sheet music you know. Rain Man, anyone? Whatever keeps him off the streets is just fine by me.

I love summer. It's warm. It's sunny. It makes me forget that for about 9 months out of the year it's simply gray here. I love the pool. I don't even mind finding random children that don't belong to me sleeping throughout my house in the morning. When I didn't even know they were here the night before.

an end is finally in sight...

2010-06-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

...which is good because there is deck furniture taking up my parking space in the garage and i have already invited people over. to sit on furniture. not in the garage.

on this day in history.......

2010-06-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

..... jack made the 2010 little league world series team. go jackie go!

random updates

2010-06-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

So for those in the know, Jack is all better. For those not in the know poor little Jack was pretty sick. Without rehashing all the details (long and boring) or a play by play recap of me telling off the ER doctor (it sort of makes me look bad) here's the scoop:

Jack had what turned out to be shingles. Yeh, I know, he's not an octogenerian so go figure. Anyway, he was diagnosed with a bacterial infection. They were throwing around the word MRSA like it was free candy at a parade and totally annoying me. I digress. Based on the lame diagnosis he was prescribed a high dose of a very strong antiobiotic that wrecked havoc on his poor little body and resulted in an all over rash that had nothing to do with the rash and blisters on his head. After a virus was festering untreated in his body for 5 days an infectious disease specialist diagnosed it correctly, gave him the right meds, and gave him a new antiobiotic which he now really did need from the secondary infection that developed from festering blisters. Yeh, gross, I know. He's totally fine now but for the crusty blister remnants on his cute little head. His biggest concern? Of course other then the pain in his head that he described as someone stabbing and cutting his scalp with hot knives, was that he missed a math test. All is well, he was allowed to make up his test thereby saving him from a life of failure I'm sure, and was invited to try out for the world series little league baseball team.

Jack in the ER the first night. And then Jack crashed on the way home from the hospital - note the red swollen face - 5 days later. And then Jack - again note the red face - after I pushed him over because he looked uncomfortable sleeping on his hand.

Nick survived his first year of high school, finished his first year of high school baseball, is now into summer league and is still trying to book gigs for his band. I would like to commend Nick for refraining from any teasing or taunting as well as refraining from any leprecy and/or horror movie references in light of the blisters and rashes all over his brother's body.

Stephanie has her last final tomorrow, will grace us with her presence for 1 week and then is off to Ecuador to tour the Galapagos Islands. Must be nice to be a starving student. She got an R.A. job (aka dorm and/or hall and/or safety monitor) job for next year. She is most excited about having no roommates and being able to sleep in a quiet dark room.

And we are making progress on the deck. I figured that ordering furniture may just push it along a little bit. It will be here Thursday.

decking done

2010-05-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

No, not the whole deck. Just the decking. Man I deserve a patience award. Or like the Nobel Peace Prize or something. Anyway. Decking floor part done. Much to do still. Despite comments about not putting furniture out there yet because it will be in the way of tools blah blah blah a finished deck floor, quite frankly, begs for a table and chairs.

who knew they had arts and crafts in college

2010-05-27T18:24:00.000-07:00

So I'm checking out Stephanie's facebook wall. Yeh, stalking, whatever. And this is what I find. And I love that it is covering up what appears to be chemistry homework. Of course I can't be sure because I stayed as far away from chemistry as was possible. I also can barely draw recognizable stick figures.

entertaining comments from jack

2010-05-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

Jack: You know, next year in 5th grade they teach us all about how babies are born.

Me: I know. Are you looking forward to that?

Jack: Yes, because mostly I want to find out if my suspicions are correct.

Me: Well, do you want to talk about it now, with me?

Jack: No thanks. I think I would rather be surprised.

What. Ever.

some things never change

2010-05-17T06:21:00.001-07:00

Last night Stephanie had her choir banquet. Yes, the first year of college is almost done! Anyway, this was her "award." I think she got the same thing in pre-school.

progress and now lack thereof

2010-05-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

So here is where we sit with the deck. And it will sit. While we deal with the flooding issue in the basement. I don't mean a little. It's a big bad lake of a mess. Erik ran downstairs to get more boxes for Steph right as we were leaving to go visit her. And came across a lake. Something about a sump pump breaking during our last torrential hurricane. And yeh, it's possible no one has been in the basement for a few days, possibly all week. I'm pretty much thinking we can't salvage the wood floor. Not a happy day. We did get to go to home depot to buy a new sump pump so that was fun. I very sneakily tried to check out the patio accessories without being too obvious. I very smartly opted to only make a mental note of things I wanted versus saying it to Erik out loud. Including new wood flooring.

Patience is a virtue

2010-05-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

That's what I hear anyway. I'm trying to have patience. I think I'm going to plan a party so Erik will feel compelled to complete the deck by that date. No pressure of course. Should we try for 4th of July?

Deck Progress

2010-04-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

This is just the framing. This wood will not be seen. Trust me. I've clarified that issue. About 10 times.

and so it seems we have another pitcher

2010-04-24T15:09:00.001-07:00

my baby keeps growing up

2010-04-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

i'm so not kidding

2010-04-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

so guess where the boys are today? mount rushmore. yeh. you heard me. for spring break they decided to drive. yeh i said drive. to utah. a boys trip. probably limited showering, sugar and potty mouth for 7 days straight. if i'm lucky they really did stay in hotels and not sleep on the side of the road. jack will cave and tell me the truth either way. i'm sure he's keeping a mental note of all violations so he can relay them to me the minute he walks in the door. anyway. they decided to pick out fun places they wanted to go anywhere between utah and ohio. and they just went. what? no itinerary? no every single minute of the trip mapped out and properly planned? yeh. that's why mom didn't go. anyway, my boys are currently somewhere between mount rushmore and ohio. i don't know where. and i'm pretty sure daddy is acting like his GPS is all knowing so who knows where they really are. if they are lucky the easter bunny won't eat all of their candy before they get home.

butts only

2010-03-13T07:30:00.000-08:00

This is what I told the boys about the new couches. Butts only. No dirty shoes no food no crumbs no liquid and yes ice becomes a liquid so no ice either no slobber no drool no sweat no animals no mammals no amphibians no rocks no cars stuck in the corners no gogurt wrappers no orange fingers from cheetos that daddy sneaks into the house when i'm not looking no jumping feet no head butting cushions no diving off the back and on to eachother no bb gun pellets no nerf missles no fun and they are lucky they even get the whole butt thing. You may come sit your butts on our new couches anytime. Same rules apply. Except wine. Mom can have wine on the new couches.

This is what happens when I go away

2010-03-08T05:03:00.000-08:00

It seems Jack is attempting to flirt. Erik did a good job with the stealth photography. Unfortunately Jack has no game, or so I'm told. Ummmmm, he's 10.

i'm laughing WITH them

2010-02-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

So I know that technically it's wrong to laugh at your children. But seriously. This color blind thing is ~~ridiculous~~ just plain funny. The fact that either of these boys even have the nerve to challenge my color labeling is priceless. Now the lady at the store that also found it funny? Yeh. She got a dirty look. I can laugh at my children. But she can not.

The whole shirt buying process took far longer than necessary. Finally Nick gave in and trusted that I would not put him in a "light magenta" shirt. He sought the opinion of Jack, who quickly agreed that it was not light magenta. No. No. It was purple. Seriously?

The Boy Band

2010-02-24T20:03:00.000-08:00

Nick and his band had a gig at the talent show :) They wrote it themselves!

when do they have time to study

2010-02-15T20:49:00.000-08:00

So I love Facebook. Especially since Stephanie is my Facebook friend now and that is how I manage to stay up in her business when she's so far away. She's always on Facebook. Or announcing her plans that aren't school related. Or singing while her roommate plays the guitar. Or begging to come home. And what's with the constant profile picture changes. This is her latest.....BUT it's from the night she made it through the first round of OU Idol. Not quite American Idol but we'll take it. It's probably better anyway. If she makes the finals I'm going down to watch. And to secretly make sure she has school books and homework type stuff in her dorm.

today jack can have any toy he wants

2010-02-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

Jack decorated this. And yes we all ate it at 12:05 a.m. At peace with the knowledge that my kids will play along with my delusions.

The first step is admitting it, or something like that

2010-02-04T17:47:00.000-08:00

So I'm going to be 40. Like soon. Like not in 11 years which is generally what I encourage my kids to tell people. Like really soon.

I'm in semi denial. My family has been warned to simply let it pass quietly. Unless they want to get me something cute then by all means we can acknowledge it for the 10 seconds it takes for the unwrapping process.

Anyway...did I say I'm in denial? I had decided to just not even think about it for now. To set aside some time, at a later date, to begin the process of acceptance.

And then I got a card in the mail. Addressed to me. Directed to me. About me. With a big old freaking 40 right on the front. ~~Silently cussing in my head~~ I opened the card to find it was not from someone out to push me over the edge, not from a telemarketing company telling me I won 40 bottles of shampoo or something equally exciting, not from Carnival Cruise lines telling me I won a free trip for me and 40 of my closest friends.

Oh. No.

It was from the one person in the whole world who I thought would NEVER acknowledge that I'm actually old.....the one person I thought would indulge my fantasy of being forever in my 30's because it would make me happy and didn't matter if it was delusional....the one person who I was hoping could also not mentally accept this whole 40 nonsense and would be willing to join me in my various phases of denial, i.e. lie and tell people I'm 29.

MY GRANDMOTHER

And so reality sets in. If your Grandma says it then it's pretty much a done deal.

P.S. I know my aunt shows her this website so I hope she knows I'm kidding. Sort of. :)

Don't try this at home

2010-01-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

So after 2 years of complaining about the sun shining in the big kitchen window, disabling my vision, probably fading the floor, I have curtains. No easy task. However, Erik was out last night. Something about a big football game. And said he would put them up "tomorrow." What? I waited two years. If I wanted them up tomorrow I would have picked them up tomorrow. You know. So I did it myself. And if I ever write a book about 100 ways to annoy your husband, #72 would be "send texts to him that say things like 'do we have a ladder' and 'what's a drill bit' and 'why won't the plastic thing go all the way in the wall.'" It's cheap fun.

Urgent Update

2010-01-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow Jack is having a study group. At our house. For a science project. The people in his group? Grace and Betsy. How freaking cute is that. I've already been advised not to embarass him. And reminded that juice boxes are for little kids so please don't hand out juice boxes. Whatever.

shocking, i know

2010-01-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

so we took stephanie back to school today. i'm quite sure that during christmas break she only needed about 1/4 of the ~~crap~~ clothes we carried back in there today. anyway, stephanie is the "council floor rep" which really, we all know, is the equivalent of safety monitor. my own little bobby brady. once again proving my theory that everything in life can be found in an episode of the brady bunch (and/or in the movie parenthood).

Christmas

2010-01-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

twas the night before christmas......

jack scoping things out at 6 a.m. before we were allowed to wake up the big kids at 7...

jack woke them up at 7 on the dot....

the boys bonding over x-box. because what family doesn't need 3 different gaming systems. fairly ridiculous.

hmmmmm, maybe he believes a tiny bit....

2009-12-20T17:05:00.000-08:00

(yes, that's a vacuum)

Pieces of Christmas

2009-12-19T11:04:00.000-08:00

If I could get away with it I would have the house decorated for Christmas all year. Get away with it. Hmmmm. If I simply just don't put anything away this might work.

Erik and the big kids are in Connecticut for a long weekend. Jack didn't want to miss his Christmas party at school on Friday so we stayed home. Oh the priorities of a 9 year old. So far today he has cleaned windows, wrapped gifts and gathered up sheets from all of the beds. He's probably rethinking the whole stay home with mom all by myself plan. He'll be ok when he realizes that I do in fact allow the consumption of straight cookie dough.

The Stalker

2009-12-18T18:01:00.001-08:00

Notice the cat stalking the dog. Yes. The cat is hiding in a bag.

raising my boys to be men

2009-12-13T09:59:00.000-08:00

I figure I have 18 years to fully prepare my boys to be high functioning contributing members of society. Our world's future boyfriends, husbands, dads. Everyday I like to do my part to assist in their learnings especially since Erik has tainted them with talk of CYDN and the alleged evils of Pottery Barn.

Mom: Do you like my new make up?
Nick: Are you wearing make up?
Mom: Doesn't it look like I'm wearing make up?
Nick: Do you want it to look like you're wearing make up? I don't know this one. DAAAAAAAAD.........

He claims he knows the ones about jeans and hair:
Does my butt look big in these jeans? No.
How is my new hair cut? Looks great.

He says he didn't know there was one for make up too.

Thankfully I have a few more years with this one.

At a loss

2009-12-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

Erik is now a board member of our neighborhood association. Oh. My. God. I'm married to the old man that harrasses everyone for their late membership dues. If he starts riding around the neighborhood on a beach cruiser ringing a bell and handing out citations I will absolutely post a video.

he's the one in the dark blue/black

2009-12-05T10:54:00.001-08:00

....and this is quite possibly the most entertaining picture i have ever seen

just some updates

2009-12-05T08:54:00.000-08:00

So Stephanie passed all of her first quarter of college classes. This is a good thing. Especially since I didn't realize we should be anxiously awaiting this news. She's home until January 3rd. We forgot what it's like to hear singing and random movement from the long empty red bedroom. Not before noon of course.

Nick is funny. He's just really really funny. He should probably get in trouble for some of his alleged humor. It's just a little tough to reprimand when I'm laughing so hard I have tears in my eyes. I tried to convince him they were tears of sadness for his inappropriate mutterings but he didn't buy it. We have learned that when Nick likes his teachers he does exceptionally well in school. Remarkable concept.   Hire teachers that like children. Brilliant.

Jack is just Jack. That pretty much covers it. There are unrecognizable science experiments in bowls and cups throughout the house. He tells me it's extra credit. I think I heard the word polymer. I'm thinking all science experiments should be confined to the boys bathroom. And he's wrestling. Saturday mornings.   Early.   Jack and Daddy left at 6:30 this morning to drive an hour away to a wrestling match. I wanted to go. I really did. But someone had to get Nick to his pitching clinic and then come home and drink coffee in the lovely silence.

And then there's Aunt Laura. December 22nd is the day and we can't wait to see her. I was sad for this Christmas so it will be fun to have her with us.   Sad because it's the first year in 18 years where no one believes in the big guy with the red suit. Jack came clean. The pressure was killing him. He is the town crier you know. The keeper and sharer of all household happenings and secrets. No way could he keep this little revelation to himself for too long. He feels bad that he had such long Christmas lists before. Now that he knows it wasn't all free from the elves. He has 2 things on his list this year. He thinks maybe a 3rd could develop but he can't remember what it is. I love that kid.

And in case you are ever jealous because you don't get to hang out with my kids I leave you with this:   Last night, out in public, we saw a guy who looked exactly like Santa. Both boys started yelling - did I tell you we were in public? - SANTA.....SANTA.....I KNOW HIM. I was horrified. And laughing too hard to speak.

CYDN

2009-11-29T17:01:00.000-08:00

As in Crap You Don't Need.

As in I certainly didn't come up with that.

This is how Erik, lovingly I'm sure, refers to my favorite places (CYDN Stores) or my outings (hunting for CYDN).

Even Jack has joined in.

As in "come on Mom, this is CYDN, I'm not explaining to Dad how I let this happen so let's go."

Blah blah blah.

Anyway. Today we took a trip to Amish land. Amish ville? Amish country? Whatever. We were one with the Amish.

And guess what? We found CYDN. Tons of it. But it was cool stuff.

And tons of it.

Jack was horrified. Even Erik was into the CYDN. It was cheap, that's why. He even agreed to go back next weekend. This is important. I need his support. And the back of his car. And for him to get the antique desk into the back of his car.

I love the Amish.

Poor Jack. Not quite old enough to opt out of the day trips.

Science Center

2009-11-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

Waiting in line for the movie

Jack reading his Albert Einstein book on the way home

Kiera wiped out from a long day at the Science Center

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-28T06:15:00.000-08:00

Jack and Kiera waiting to be served.

Notice the food isn't even out yet.

I'm not sure how long they sat there.

Christmas Card photo attempt #87.

Not entirely sure what this is about.

Completely not sure what this is about.

Stephanie and the boy.

We think his name might be Mike.

This makes me feel bad for all the times I whined

when my mom wanted me to play the piano.

These two perform on demand.

i love this kid

2009-11-14T18:18:00.000-08:00

you won't be able to watch this just once

I'm told this was necessary for the football banquet

2009-11-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

Today Jack was called a sweetheart and the most feared player in all of Hudson football in the same sentence. I'm pretty sure he didn't even hear the sweetheart part.

***** please note the new color in the downstairs bathroom :)

Halloween

2009-10-31T16:47:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what Jack is. Stephanie, shocking I know, is a princess. Nick left a while ago with a mask. I don't have a picture and I'm really not quite sure where he is.

I miss the 80's

2009-10-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

So we went to a Halloween party and "had" to dress up from the 80's. My own personal heaven. Seriously, what ever happened to blue eyeshadow and hot pink lipstick with a purple tone?

Things I see early in the morning when they think no one is looking

2009-10-11T04:21:00.001-07:00

#77

2009-09-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

Nick's first dance.......

2009-09-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

Riding in a car with boys....

2009-09-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

Things I hear while my boys are talking in the car apparently not caring that I can hear them:

1. If everyone just wore rubber gloves all the time no one would ever again get struck by lightening.
2. Your taste buds change every 18 months.
3. Analyzing the word "sash" in relation to a girlie homecoming dress.
4. Analyzing a red versus maroon versus pink sash = entertaining when they are both color blind.
5. Nick on the phone confirming dinner reservations for the dance.
6. Jack counseling Nick on his dance attire and using the word outfit.
7. Discussing football plays and using the words conditioning and lifting.
8. Analyzing whether Jack will be taller than his 5 foot 2 inch tall teacher by Christmas.
9. Analyzing whether Jack will be taller than his 5 foot 5 inch tall sister by Christmas.
10. Analyzing the word date if you are going to the dance with "just a friend."

Unbelievable

2009-09-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

This from the boy who used to yell "ouch" or fall down all dramatic like if his brother simply brushed his body in passing. When he gets hit in football? Yeh, doesn't feel it.

Confidence and Self Esteem

2009-09-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

Somewhere along the way Jack has decided that we all have time to ~~care about~~ focus on his confidence and self esteem. I usually think it's a good week if everyone wore clean underwear and was, for the most part, fed every day. Yet he thinks we have time to worry about his self esteem. Who knows where he came up with this.

First it was "if you take me to see G.I. Joe it will improve my confidence and self esteem." Then it was "if you let me stay up until 10 it will improve my confidence and self esteem." And the latest? It's crap. As in "if you let me say 'crap' it will improve my confidence and self esteem." What? Well, whatever it takes I guess. I told him he could occasionally say "crap" in our house only and never when any visitors were here. Apparently that was good enough for him. I'm happy to do my part to contribute to his confidence and self esteem. I guess that's more important to a 9 year old than clean underwear.

enough for one day already.....

2009-09-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

So yesterday morning we moved Stephanie out and last night Nick told us had asked a girl to the Homecoming Dance. And she said yes. Here we go again.

I made them send me a picture

2009-09-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Please note the collection of Disney movies already set up on the shelf of her desk.

...and she's gone

2009-09-04T05:34:00.000-07:00

Erik and Stephanie just left to move her into the dorm. My desire to be there to make sure everything is put away, sheets are put on the bed and she has everything she needs didn't push me over the edge enough to make the trip. Plus there was no room in the car. Plus the boys had school today. Plus Erik needs to help her carry things up the stairs. Plus I took my aunt's advice...why do I want to cry the whole way there and the whole way back? Right now I'm just excited for her. Jack's excited for her desk and computer. Nick's excited for the football game tonight. I think it will sink in soon.

The room before.

She was supposed to be packing but instead she made this.

I can't even draw stick figures.

Erik and Nick trying to fit it all in the car.

I don't think she remembers the size of her dorm room

the same way I do.

Saying goodbye to Jack.

I think someone is going to miss his Sissy.

The room after.