Rock Climbing

It was a rainy day with nothing to do, when Christina suggested rock climbing. Matthew had a playdate with a friend, so he missed out on the fun.

Massapequa Merchant Mile

I ran the mile race Saturday, joined by Christina, Mackenzie, and Matthew. Courtney didn't run, so John stayed with her and cheered us on.
I finished in a time of 6:19, which is pretty darn good considering the year I've had. That got me 3rd place in my age group. Christina also won 3rd in her age group! Mackenzie is in the same age group, and didn't win an award, but I was very proud of her just the same. The men ran after the women, so I went back to the start to run with Matthew. He did great, and was happy that he finished. (He didn't care that he was last, he got his own police escort!) Also, the men's masters (over 40) ran before the women, so Matt was in a pretty competitive group, even if there were other kids.

Fire Island Light House

After the big Talent Show at Summer Rec this morning we headed out to the Fire Island Lighthouse. We got three quarters of the way up when Courtney freaked out. She got scared, and we all walked back down. Christina agreed to stay with her while Matthew and Mackenzie and I climbed back up. Then Christina and I went up. It was clear and beautiful and a great view from the top.
Afterwards we swam in the waves and had some snacks and hung out on the beach awhile. (Courtney is making a face because I wouldn't buy her a book at the gift shop. We have a gazillion books! Who else yells at their kids to stop reading and quit buying books?)

Newspaper

Yesterday's paper had a lot of blank pages, so the kids filled it with their own news. There were comics, updates on toys, Barbie news and a Mommy head fuzz check. (3% more fuzz than the day before!) Cracked me up. It was worth having to wait to read my paper.

Fire Island

We took the ferry over to Fire Island to visit friends who are renting a house right on the beach. Christina swam in the waves like a fish, and we all hung out on the beach most of the day. The kids enjoyed the hot tub until we kicked 'em out so the grownups could use it.
It's the kind of place where the kids can walk down to the market and get ice cream, and go to the ball field and play by themselves. And deer would walk right by.

Poppy's 80th Birthday Bash

George is 80!

We had a luau party in our backyard for John's Dad. All of Poppy's children and grandchildren were here to celebrate.

Brookhaven National Lab

BNL offers Summer Sunday tours for families. Today's theme was about their National Synchrotron Light Source and invisible light, but we loved the Whiz Bang Science Show. Two scientists blew up hydrogen balloons (Matt and my favorite!), froze stuff in dry ice, and lots of other cool experiments.
Christina got to go up on stage to get splashed by water from a pole that was vibrating and made cool sounds. Matt raised his hand and jumped up and down (despite a warning that this might hurt) to get picked for an experiment about static electricity. It was pretty funny to see a group of kids holding hands, all cringing and shrieking at the same time.

Sagamore Hill

Pop Quiz: what is Sagamore Hill?

Teddy Roosevelt's house in Oyster Bay! Poppy joined us for the tour, and bought the kids souvenirs. We also checked out the Theodore Roosevelt Museum. Matt liked Teddy's sons, Quentin and Archie, who did pranks like putting bullfrogs in a visiting senators bath.

Camping

We camped out at Cedar Point County Park, waaaay out in East Hampton. It took us 2 hours to get there, but we got a great spot and John and I managed to get the tent up before lunch without any major arguing. (We figured out the next morning what those leftover pieces were for.)
The beach was rocky, the bugs had a feast, our air mattresses deflated by morning, dirt and sand got into everything and we had a great time!

Randy Schader Fan Club

Our pal Randy came to visit all the way from California. He just hung out and experienced a regular day with us. Christina and Mackenzie made brownies for dessert, and we sat around the fire out back awhile after dinner.

In the morning we dropped Randy at the train station, took Christina and her cello to Summer Music camp (that I almost forgot about, but her friends mom called me), and left the rest of the kids at school for Summer Rec while I went to my regular appointment at 1o am.
Picked up Christina from Music and went to the dentist because her palate exander came out. We shopped for some camping equipment before getting the other kids. That darn palate expander came out again, just when I had three of their friends swimming in the pool with us. Convinced John to come home early rather than get all these kids picked up, and went to the dentist again. Spent the rest of the evening packing for a one night camping trip. Yippee!

Happy Birthday Mackenzie, Courtney & Matthew!

Mackenzie, Courtney and Matthew turned 8 on Monday!

They had a party with their friends at Prime Time Sports on Friday. I made 72 cupcakes in all for three class parties. Mackenzie wanted green aliens, Courtney got monkeys, and Matthew had baseball cupcakes.

Happy Fathers Day, John!

Dad's day started with breakfast in bed (with chocolate frosted donuts, of course), some fun gifts (crocs, a hawiian shirt, a yankees shirt), and a family barbecue in the afternoon, and catching some of the US Open on TV. What more could a Dad want?

Lunch

Mackenzie was nice enough to make me lunch today. Tuna on rye, with raisins and green pepper slices on the side, plus a little box of nerds. There was a nice little flower in a pot, too, and I even got a little show to go with my meal. The best part was my drink. Looked like ginger ale, but I know we didn't have any. When Mackenzie showed me the soda can she found in the fridge, it was a Coors Light. I passed on the 'soda,' but loved the rest of my lunch.

Disney!

After Jamie & Shawn's fabulous wedding Betty and Carol joined us at our favorite place... Disney!

We ALL rode space mountain, drove cars at the Indy Speedway, had to go on Small World (which was way too cute for Matt), and loved the Hall of Presidents (where the kids think some of them were robots and some were real (not)). In a lapse of parental judgement I made Courtney go on Splash Mountain. She complained the entire wait about parents forcing children to go on scary rides, screamed bloody murder the entire time, and then said she'd go on again. She went on Space Mountain, for heavens sake!
We did Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, and Test Track at Epcot before walking around the countries. Ate schnitzel, sausages, and potato salad in Germany, and danced to the oompah music. Matthew got picked to lead the band!

Before heading home on Wednesday we ate breakfast at Chef Mickey's. All the characters signed Mackenzie's Pluto baseball shirt and she showed it off at school the next day.

Here comes the bride...

Jamie and Shawn were married on Saturday, May 19th. They looked stunning together. Christina was a jr. bridesmaid, Courtney and Mackenzie were flower girls with Lindsey, and Matthew was a hit as the ringbearer with Frank. Frank is a pug.

Mothers Day

My day started with our tradition of breakfast in bed. (Chocolate donut, blueberry pancakes, bananas and coffee!) I ran a 5k race in the mornings, and went to the beach in the afternoon. Overall a great day!

Matthew's Famous

Matthew's class is featured in the 1-800-Flowers Mothers Day catalog, and they're on the website, too!

There's a really cute video you should see at:
http://ww11.1800flowers.com/template.do?id=template8&page=4052

Earth Day

Saturday was Earth Day. The girls and I picked up trash around the preserve by Brady Park. Later Christina had a soccer game, followed by a softball game. (She had to change in the car!) Mackenzie had a soccer game, and then she and Courtney had a softball game that Daddy coached.

The weather was so warm and beautiful this weekend, that we had our first backyard fire this year on Sunday night and roasted marshmellows!

Hot Dates

Tonight is the Little Ladies Dance. The girls got all dolled up, and went out to dinner and then to the dance with the cutest guy in Massapequa.
Meanwhile, Matthew and Mommy had a date, too. We went to dinner, bought baseball cards, and played games at Dave & Busters.

Reflections Winners!

Christina won 1st place for literature, Matthew won 1st place for choreography, Mackenzie won twice, 2nd place for literature and 1st place for music. Courtney, despite writing an awesome story, didn't win a trophy, but got a medal for participating. (Click this link to read Courtney's story, and decide for yourself if she should've won.)

Easter Fun

Aunt Betty came for a week and took the kids to Vanderbilt Planetarium, The Cradle of Aviation, and The Firefighters Museum. Then their cousins from Maryland came for Easter. We enjoyed seeing Uncle Peter and Aunt Laura, but Matthew was in heaven with two more boys to hang out with.
Kyle, Matthew and Maxx digging in to dessert. (The best way to have it is everything in one bowl, topped with whipped cream!)

The Mattejat side of the family group photo: Mackenzie, Maxx, Courtney, Matthew, Christina and a reluctant Kyle. (What is it with parents and taking pictures all the time?)

Lunar Eclipse

Did anyone else see the lunar eclipse on March 3rd? Aunt Donna and Uncle Allen joined the kids outside to watch, and they brought light sticks, too!

Who Needs a Babysitter?

Can I get one for each of the kids?
(the crate, not the dog!)

Locks of Love

Courtney and Mackenzie donated their hair to Locks-0f-Love, where they make wigs for kids who have lost thier hair. Here they are, before and after....

Science Fair

Science Fair time again! Christina experimented with different ways to clean up oil spills, Mackenzie worked with moldy bread, Matthew figured out if heavier baseball players hit more home runs, and Courtney sent eggs flying with different packing materials.

Who's The Cutest?

It's tie. They're all cute.

It's a Boy!

We got a puppy! He's a cute little guy. His name is Toby. We got him at the shelter. Just because.

Eggsperiment

Courtney threw eggs off the back porch last night for her science fair project. She was testing packing materials, from cotton balls to crushed crackers. Matt and I smeared each other with the leftover shaving cream. These days I figure, what the heck, make a mess and have some fun.

You think you had a bad day...

Kind of says it all when Christina's grace before dinner was "Thank you God for me not having to go to the emergency room." Charlie Brown bit her finger this morning, Mackenzie wacked her in the eye this afternoon, and ten minutes later she was crying again, but this time for real and gushing blood. She hit her mouth on the fence and bit her lip. Two doctors at the pediatricians office looked at her, (checked her eye to boot) and told us lip cuts don't get stitches unless it goes all the way through. After half an hour with ice on her mouth, and a cold compress on her eye, she was back running around.

Happy New Year!

Celebrated with our friends. Here are all our kids, don't know where the grownups are. (hic)

So Many Toys, So Little Time

Santa brought all kinds of fun stuff! Courtney was psyched to get the Illustory Kit, so she can write and illustrate her own hardcover book. Mackenzie had a cow-y christmas. Matt got the biggest, coolest RC truck. Christina got a super pogo stick, earrings, and lots of soccer stuff. Everyone got lots of books.

Hermione Lives!

On his way out to the bus this morning Matthew starts stammering, "It's her! I found her!" I had no idea what he was talking about, until I saw him pointing at the floor by the stairs. There was Hermione, the hermit crab. I put her in her cage, and she came out and went right to the shell with water.
Christina put little bowls of her food all over the house, but she didn't have access to water.

In other news, everyone's spewing but me. Matthew threw up all night Tuesday. The girls all got sick last night. John's not feeling so hot, either. That's four days total with kids home from school. Kinda putting a crimp in my shopping plans!

APB: Missing Hermit Crab

Pet emergency: Hermione the hermit crab disappeared. (Christina may, or may not, have forgotten to put her back after she took her out this morning.) Her cage is on the kitchen counter, so I wouldn't think she could survive the fall onto the tile floor. Now we can't find her anywhere. It's kind of spooky. Courtney says Hermione went on a secret mission. Mackenzie suggested Charlie Brown ate her. I can't imagine where this thing could be, but I find myself looking into corners everywhere I go. And stepping carefully.

Gingerbread!

We are obsessed with gingerbread this year. On the way home from piano lessons yesterday the kids wanted me to stop at Starbucks to get the gingerbread latte. Everyone had a sip. (So what's a little caffeine before bed?)

Yesterday was also St. Nicolaus Tag. If you leave your slippers out that night, the elves leave candy in them! (So what's a little candy before breakfast?)

Someone's already been nibbling at the gingerbread house! Must be a very tall elf.

Turkey Day Weekend

Got soaked watching the parade in the city, had a great dinner at Betty’s in Jersey City, caught up on school projects and playdates on Friday, Christina’s team won 2nd place in a soccer tournament Saturday (yay), I ran a race this morning, met the kids at John’s hockey game, John put up Christmas decorations while I helped Christina build an Iroquois long house. And this was a quiet weekend. ;)

Fame & Fortune

Christina and I ran a 4k cross country race on Veterans Day. The triplets ran a 1k Fun Run. Courtney says the Fun Run wasn't very fun. Meanwhile she took pictures and Mackenzie was in charge of the video camera. Matt cheered. Christina did great, and finished strong. I took 1st place in womens Masters (40 and older) and got a check for $100! Daddy returned from his trip to Las Vegas with a pile of cash. Now the kids think we're rich. Matthew thinks we should give some to charity. So they're each getting some money and they have to research who they want to give it to.