Zachary has fun with crayons

Some kids color with crayons. Zach finds non-traditional ways to play.

Em is a working woman!

Last week Emily applied to a job at a clothing store in the mall next to my office. It's the ONLY job she has applied for this summer (or really, ever). She got the phone call today -- she got the job!!

Em's first day is on Thursday. She has to fill out paperwork and go through training. She wasn't sure if she's actually "working" on that day, but I told her she should be prepared to. She will need to buy some clothes from that store (she doesn't have any!) because she's only allowed to wear their brand while she works. I guess I will hook her up with a few things in advance, and then she'll have to buy anything else after she gets her first paycheck.

I'm so happy for and proud of her! I remember my first job and the freedom I felt by having my own money that I'd earned. I think she was surprised and excited that they hired her, but I think this is very good for her ego and a good start to her summer vacation.

Chatting with Daddy

With Kevin in Spain, we do our best to chat every couple of days via Skype on the computer. We both have web cameras with built in microphones, so we can talk and see each other at the same time. This is great with the baby because being away from your Daddy for 6 weeks at a stretch is tough! But seeing him "live" every few days helps a lot. Zach will smile and chat with Kevin and kiss the monitor. They also get to do high fives and fist bumps and interact. It's really sweet.

On Father's Day we had a nice little chat with Kevin. I woke Z up from his nap to talk to him so he was groggy, but as soon as he saw his daddy he lit right up with a huge smile. This is him sitting on the desk right next to Kevin who is on the computer monitor.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband, Kevin! Even though you're in Spain at the moment, Zach and I will be toasting to you, going to play at the park, and blowing kisses to your photo (and to you "live" on Skype). Have a very happy day today, and know that we love you!!

Terrible 2s

I'm a little behind on my posts -- have had lots of fun things going on this month but I don't seem to have time to write about them! Instead I post mundane things like this. :)


The other night we had to go to Target to get several things (including the detergent in the post below). Evenings are kind of hard to do things like that because we have limited time between picking Zach up from daycare and getting him to bed -- sleep, bath, stories -- they all seem to fill up that time nicely. Adding in a run to Target messes up the schedule. But it couldn't be helped, so after getting home from daycare and shoveling Z full of dinner (he was not a big fan of meat ravioli), we ran out the door. You'll notice in this photo that he doesn't match and looks kind of dirty. Yes, Distracted Mom didn't really notice. That's not what he wore to daycare -- it's what Lucy changed him into after he told her he had poo poo and then showed her. He stuck his hand into his diaper and shared the contents with her. Yuck!!! It apparently also must have gotten onto his clothes because she changed his whole outfit. Anyway, he came home like this and we went out to Target like this. And because Z had had a cookie with dinner (very unusual, I don't give him sweets, but Em had made cookies and he really wanted one), he was jacked up on sugar and a little crazy. He wouldn't stay in the cart, just wanted to run at Target. We played with toys for a while, but I really needed to get a few things and that's when he melted down. Yes, filled with sugar and overly tired, my not yet 2 year old had a tantrum or two in the store. It was cute of course because even whiney Zach is adorable, but it was really hot in the store for some reason and I had on a sweater that I couldn't remove, so it was hard to handle. I finally wised up and realized he'd be okay if he walked and I pushed the cart -- but just had to continuously herd him towards where I needed to go. While I was looking at detergent he moved all of the dryer sheets from one side of the aisle to the other so I'm sure they just love us right now at Target. But it kept him occupied for 2 minutes so I confess I let him do it. We made it out of the store intact but it did make me realize (for the 1 millionth time) how much I miss and appreciate Kevin!

Mr. Hefty Hefty Hefty

This morning just after finishing his breakfast, Zach grabbed the bottle of detergent that I hadn't brought down to the basement yet, and said "Heavy". I didn't know he knew that word! I love when he comes out with things that I didn't know he could say! I grabbed my ever-handy camera to show him lugging the bottle around. It really IS heavy!

23 Random Things About Zachary

Zach turns 2 next month, and in honor of his last month of being 1, he asked me to share with you some little know random facts about himself.

23 random things about me (because I am – almost – 23 months old):

1) I love orange juice and ask for it every morning (“orny yuice”). I like to drink it in a big boy cup that doesn’t have a sippy top on it. I’m getting pretty good at not spilling.
2) I look almost exactly like my Daddy did when he was my age.
3) I don’t really have eyebrows. They might be there but just really really blonde. For some reason my mommy is a little obsessed about this.
4) I’m getting a little tired of my high chair. I think it looks like a lot more fun to just sit right at the table.
5) At restaurants, I turn around in the high chair (and stay that way) so I can see the rest of the people in the restaurant and flirt with them and say hi repeatedly.
6) I really want a doggie. Or a kitty. I love them both a lot.
7) I am the only Zachary at my daycare.
8) My sister’s room is one of the coolest places on Earth. I like to go in there and play with all her make-up toys.
9) I’m a collector. I like to pick up pine cones, rocks, and other items and carry them around.
10) I’m a huge water baby and love to play and splash in the water and dig in the sand at the beach.
11) I hate vegetables. Sometimes I’ll eat peas or carrots if I’m starving and they haven’t given me anything else to eat yet, but I usually try to avoid them.
12) My shadow is really cool! I discovered it a few months ago and I like to make it move.
13) I like the moon and airplanes up in the sky. I will point them out to you.
14) When I’m in a coffee shop or a restaurant and they grind coffee beans or turn on a blender, I will also make those grind-y noises.
15) I’m a little afraid of our vacuum cleaner although I try to be brave.
16) I love to be outside. I love to climb on things. I love to jump off of things. I have lots of bruises on my legs.
17) I try to sing the happy birthday song and the ABC song almost every day.
18) Apparently I’m a little tall for my age. This works to my advantage when I want to grab things that the grown-ups put up high and think I can’t reach.
19) I’ve woken up dry a few times from naps lately which gets Mommy excited. She’s not too happy though when I pee wherever I happen to be when my diaper is not on.
20) Parks are cool. I love playgrounds (bonus when they also have a sandbox).
21) I like to try to do things myself. It makes me mad when people take things away from me to try to help me.
22) My blankie is one of my prized possessions. I sleep with it every night – sometimes I sleep on TOP of it instead of having it over me. It is snuggly and blue and nice, even when it needs to be washed.
23) It’s pretty easy to get me to laugh. Just chase me or tickle me. Laughing is soooo funny!

Emily's Graduation on the Web (and TV)

In case you missed it or if you're interested in seeing it again, you can now see Em's graduation online (or if you're in Brookline, on BATV). If you only want to see her actually walk across the stage, you can fast forward till close to the end (maybe 3/4 of the way through) to see her. She's the 3rd one to walk, so don't miss her. :-) Click the title link to see the video.

Graduation!

Well, she did it! Emily graduated high school on Sunday, June 7th! It was a glorious day, very warm and sunny, and the graduation was held outside, on the field in front of the school. She was the 3rd (out of 430 kids) to walk across the stage to get her diploma. We were fairly far back from the stage, but there was no missing that beaming smile! I took some pictures of her (which I'll post later tonight), but the whole thing was also apparently filmed by Brookline Access TV, so I'll have to find out what channel that is on so I can record it, assuming they repeat it again considering it's now 2 days later.

Following the graduation ceremony, we all went back to our house for a party to celebrate. We had yummy food, mimosas, and cake, and Emily opened up a whole bunch of great presents. We had attendees from North Carolina (Grandma Acevedo), Pennsylvania (Debbie and Mike -- our wonderful old family friends), New Jersey (Grammy Sandy), Connecticut (her dad Mike and his girlfriend Laura), as well as our local "family" from Melrose (Liz, Dave, Nicholas, and Baby Girl, who is due in August -- on Em's birthday). Making a late showing was Mr. Cawthorne, Emily's favorite teacher, who actually lives on our street! He has been Em's history teacher for the past couple of years and was one of the teachers who wrote her college recommendations. Considering she got into 8 schools, mostly her own doing but undoubtedly those recommendations helped, I think we owe him a debt of gratitude!

Emily got a lot of money and gift cards for her graduation, but also some beautiful jewelry, a bike (from me and Kevin), a Tiffany key ring, some yummy lotions, and a jewelry making kit from her little brother. Her dad went the sentimental route, and along with a gorgeous sapphire and diamond necklace, gave her a mix tape (okay, it was a CD) filled with all the songs that remind him of her, along with a copy of the Dr. Seuss book "Oh the Places You'll Go". It was very sweet, and an emotional moment for us all. But I'm a big, big sap, so cried on and off the whole day. In fact, my throat is all chokey now, thinking about how my baby girl is already so grown up and has graduated high school! I'm so proud of her!

Prom Night

It's Emily's senior prom night! She's there at the prom now, and has already texted me a couple of times to say that it's kind of boring. The kids all said that at the junior semi-formal dance last year too. I'm not sure what they're expecting, but apparently dancing is not it. They're more looking forward to the ATPP (after the prom party). Fortunately, the high school throws a fabulous bash at the school gym to keep the kids occupied and in a safe place for most of the night and wee hours of the morning, post-prom.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First I have to share photos of my beautiful girl, all decked out in her prom-y clothes. I can't help but remember my own senior prom and the layers of pink satin and crinoline I wore. Compared to me, Em has a very sleek, California-esque, simplistic look. But still beautiful, no? I was surprised at the simple dresses the girls all chose. They're all very pretty, but very short. Out of the girls who went to Becky's house for the pre-prom photos (photos shown here), only one (Caitlin) had a long gown on. Maybe it's a Boston thing, because I've seen other friends post photos with their kids in long gowns. At any rate, they were all so cute decked out and they must have felt like we were the parent papparazzi with the amount of photos we took!

Becky's family hosted the pre-prom gathering at their beautiful home. We all hung out by the pool, had some snacks, and I even had a glass of wine. Zach came too and showed off all his cuteness. He loved Becky's dog, Hermes, and Rachel's little sister Madelyn (who is 10, much closer to his age than anyone else there!) Em's dad and girlfriend came in for this event as well, which I think always means a lot to Em considering he lives 3 hours away.

Unlike my prom in my high school gym, Em's prom is being held at the Fairmont Copley Hotel in Boston. This is a pretty swank place! They served them dinner (courses, Em said) and then it's dancing time. I think it goes until midnight or so, and then they'll hop back into their limos to go back to Becky's house (I think?) or someone else's house to change (probably should have found that out!) before going to the high school gym for the after-party. Poor Em is not a night owl these days -- she likes her sleep! You have to enter the after-party by 1:00 and then can NOT leave before 3:30 a.m. It goes until 5:00 a.m. The goal is to keep the kids inside, sober, not driving their cars down to the Cape, and getting into trouble. It's a great idea, but they're locked into the gym, and poor Em is going to be so exhausted! She talked a big game yesterday about staying up all night and then going out for breakfast, but I'm not sure how long she'll last.

These last couple of photos are of Emily and her date, Andrew, and Em and her favorite brother. No, there's no love connection (at least not pre-prom, we'll see if anything happens to change that). Andrew's mom introduced herself to me and then told me how adorable she thought Em was. :-) But of course.

The latest with us

I can't believe it's finally June! That means it should be getter warmer in Boston, and I guess it has, it's just sporadic. We can still use the heat at times, that is, if it was working. The landlord is getting the system upgraded, but they shut it off a couple of weeks ago and it's still off. They claim it's because they hired a "loser" and it's not their fault (that's pretty much verbatim for what they told me). Fortunately we have blankets and Zach has a space heater, and there are warm days here and there, or else I'd be a lot angrier. Note to self: if I'm ever a landlord, I will treat my tenants better than these guys have treated us. I'm really looking forward to buying a house and moving out at the end of the summer!

So the house hunting is kind of fun, but really overwhelming. We've been pre-approved for a mortgage and our credit is actually really good. Kevin and I were surprised for some reason by this. I think we both expected the lender to laugh at us -- kind of like "oh you little children, you aren't adult enough to buy a house." Fortunately that was not the case and we are somehow actually able to afford a house in the Boston area. While we will still pay a small fortune for a house, it will still be all ours, with no one living above or below us. We've gone to a bunch of open houses and have a better idea of what we like (and more importantly, what we don't like) and have come to the conclusion that we might need to live a little further out of town so we can get a bit more of a yard. The next step is to find a realtor and educate ourselves on homebuying. As Kevin is in Spain for the next 5 weeks, the realtor shopping is up to me, and I have a few people I need to speak with about this. It's on hold though at least for the next week though as there are a few other major things happening at home this week.

Emily's last day of school was on Friday of last week, and she goes to the prom tonight. Her date asked her via text message which just made me laugh as it is sooooo 21st century to be asked that way! She has a beautiful silk aqua colored dress and is wearing gold accessories. She has been freshly spray-tanned, had her nails done, re-dyed her hair again a little darker (it's been fading nicely to a light reddish brown that I like and she doesn't), and is going this afternoon to get her hair done. She's not sure if it's going up or down. She's been working on finding hairstyles that she likes. I think she's put more effort into getting ready for the prom than I did for my wedding! Okay, maybe not quite, but I at least skipped the spray tan portion. Em is going to her friend Caitlin's house to continue to get ready, and then everyone is meeting up at Becky's house for pictures and to take the limos together. I'll post pictures this evening. I'm sure they're going to be so pretty and I will be my typical sappy mess as my baby girl hits yet another milestone.

I'm giving blood at work at lunchtime (before I leave early to get Em to/from the hairdresser), and hoping they actually let me do it. Last time I tried to give blood I was denied because I didn't have enough iron in my blood. I've been borderline anemic my whole life, but I usually pass the iron test on the second try. I was a little dizzy this morning though so I'm a little worried. Maybe I should eat something. I think it's so important to give blood, and since they're actually coming to my office, I feel like I have to do it.

I hate to post this without photos, but I'm at work (shh, don't tell my boss) and if I don't post it now, I never will. Will post more with updated Em photos later.