Holiday Lights

At least once a week we drive through Lincoln Park and every time we comment on how nice the holiday lights are.  Last night I decided that I would take the boys out to see the lights and to walk around and enjoy them.  The boys were so excited to go, they each brought their cameras to take pictures.

One of the first things that I noticed was that they had Christmas music playing.  We never noticed that touch because the windows on the car are always up.  Watching my boys run around to look at the lights and taking pictures was such a wonderful sight.  MJ said that it was one of the best nights he has had and AD agreed with him.  I think I might have gotten my Christmas miracle, the boys getting along and agreeing with each other.

Here are some of the pictures that we took last night.  If you get the chance, I would recommend spending some time walking around and see the lights.

Elf On The Shelf

Ahh, the Elf On The Shelf!  Was this invented by someone who didn't have children and had lots of time on their hands?  We have been lucky to avoid taking part in this holiday tradition.  That is until this year!

Several of AD's friends have the "Elf", one day after returning home from a friends house AD asked me why Santa hadn't sent our elf to us.  Not knowing how to respond I said that maybe Santa really needed our elf to help out at the North Pole.  I was very hopeful that this would be a great explanation and he would forget about the elf.  No such luck, the next morning AD again mentioned the elf and still didn't  understand why we didn't have an elf to report back to Santa.  So, like any good mother I told my child I would email Santa and ask him why we didn't have an elf.  You would have thought that AD had won the lottery with how excited he got about this.

Now I had a very busy day planned and didn't plan to be at home until the boys got out of school.  There was no time in my day for an elf visit, but an "elf visit we had.  When I picked the boys up from school I made sure that everything I had picked up and done was evident in my van so it would look like I hadn't been home all day.  We even had one more errand to run before going home after school.  I told AD that I had emailed Santa, but I hadn't heard back from him yet.  When we finally got home and walked into the house all I could hear was AD yelling "Our elf is here".  I told AD that Santa must have gotten my email and sent our elf right away.  The elf even came with his own book, which we had to read right away.  

Now every night I have to remember to move the elf to a new location or do it first thing in the morning before the boys wake up.  Well this morning, I was informed that our elf didn't move last night.  UGH!!!! To say the least I had a very sad child.  I finally told him that perhaps our elf didn't want to report to Santa because they hadn't been on the best behavior yesterday.  He told me that today would be a better day so the elf can report to Santa tonight.  Whew, I hope the elf remembers to move tonight.

Here is a picture of the elf in the same location as yesterday. He is sitting on the hat rack with my husbands cowboy hat.

Summer Happenings

I started this entry back in June and just realized that I never published it.

I totally suck at writing my blog, how hard can it be to write what I am thinking.  There have been so many things that I wanted to write about, but I have talked myself out of them.  Why, I have no idea why.  Now summer vacation is here and the boys are home from school for the next three months.  I should have lots to write about, at least I think so.

Here is what's happening this summer for us.  Last week I spent 5 days chaperoning my sons Cub Scout Pack at their local day camp.  These were fun days but very long (about eight hours each day).  Each day the boys did something new and exciting.  The favorite part of the week were the days they got to shoot BB Guns, Sling Shots, and Bow and Arrows.  Every morning when the boys would arrive they would ask if we were shooting something.  I am glad that our pack had these last on the schedule each day so the boys had something to look forward to.

This week my oldest MJ is away at Boy Scout Camp.  We dropped him off on Sunday morning and left him and three other boys setting up their tent and cots for the week.  I hope that they all survive the week in one tent.  I know that MJ was looking forward to camp this year.  He will be working on Rifle Shooting, Fishing, and Canoeing.  Lets hope that he stays safe and dry.

While MJ is off having great fun with the Boy Scouts, AD and I started off the week by going to a FREE movie at the local movie theater.  Apparently Rave Cinemas does free movies for  nine weeks during the summer.  Each week there is a different movie, we plan to keep doing this each week.  AD is also participating in a Wrestling Camp this week in the evenings.  He has been having so much fun learning new moves and meeting other wrestlers.

The rest of the summer should be low key with a couple of fun weeks planned.  There will be lots of swimming at the pool and the local "Beach" at a state park. 

UPDATE: This summer that boys and I ended up doing a "Jar Of Fun".  I read about this in a magazine, and it was a lot of fun to put together and use.  I got a plastic jar and used stickers to put the words "Jar Of Fun" on it and then let the boys put stickers on the jar.  I then had the boys tell me some things that they wanted to do over the summer.  We typed all their ideas in to the computer and then printed and cut them out.  Each morning the boys got to take turns pulling a piece of paper out of the jar.  Whatever that paper had on it was what we were going to do that day.  The boys had so much fun taking turns and seeing what we were going to be doing that day.  There were never any complaints about what we had planned.  It made for a very relaxing summer.

Jar Of Fun

This year for summer vacation we decided to take a long weekend trip instead of a big week long vacation.  This year we went to Bloomington, Indiana and camped at a "Jellystone" campground.  Both MJ and AD were so excited to be staying there.  On the way down to Jellystone we stopped in Indianapolis and visited the Indiana State Museum (we used our Boonshoft Museum membership and got in for free).  We had fun looking at all the interesting exhibits.  On our way home we went to the Wonderlab,The musuem of Science, Health and Technology (again thanks to our Boonshoft Membership).  This was a fun museum with lots of hands on science experiments for the boys to do. 

Home Sweet Home

Boo Boo and the boys

Yogi and the boys

Summer came to a close for us with AD's very first trip to King's Island.

 I would say that we had a wonderful summer and are sad to see it come to a close.  Both MJ and AD have asked if we can continue to use the "Jar Of Fun" during all of their breaks from school. 

A Family Fun Day!

We have had such busy schedules that we haven't spent much time together this summer as a family.  While looking over the family calendar one day I noticed that we had a couple of days where there were no activities planned or scheduled for anybody.  I decided that on those days we would do something fun to spend some quality time together.

On a Friday evening before the boys went to bed I told my family that on Saturday we were going to get up and pack lunches and head to Chillicothe, Ohio to go to the Hopewell Culture, National Historic Park.  The park isn't that big and the museum was small, but the best part had to be taking the hiking trail.  Each of the boys was able to check out an explorer backpack.  These backpacks had all kinds of guides in them and binoculors, even a notebook and colored pencils so they could draw things they saw on the hike.  The boys had so much fun using the binoculors to look for the birds we could hear in the trees.

After we were done exploring we decided to do some geocaching, but that didn't happen.  Instead we went to Hocking Hills to do some hiking.  I had never been there before and was in for a real treat.  There are six main hiking areas at Hocking Hills.  We went to three of them.  First we went to Rock House.  Rock house is believed to have been a hideout for horse thieves and bandits in the 1800's.  I do not like heights at all, imagine my surprise and anxiety when I discovered that in order to get into the cave I was going to need to climb 53 steep steps on the side of a cliff.  The best part of climbing up to the cave were the hugs and high fives from my kids, who told me that they were proud of me for putting aside my fear.  While in the cave a little boy shouted, "This is awesome".  I couldn't agree more, the cave was incredible!

After we left Rock House we headed to Conkle's Hollow.  This too was breath taking.  With the drought we have had the waterfalls were dry.  Before we headed out on the trail we had to decide which path to take.  Should we take the lower path or the one that warns you to have continuos control of children and that those afraid of heights should avoid the Gorge Rim Trail.  Yep, the lower trail was for us.  It was a lot of fun to see the boys having so much fun climbing and playing where the waterfalls should have been.

Once we were done at Conkle's Hollow we headed over to Old Man's Cave.  Once again the sceanery was breath taking.  We started our journey at the Upper Falls and the Devil's Bath Tub.  Then we continued down the trail to Old Man's Cave.  As we exited the cave our youngest, AD, asked how much farther to the cave.  We explained that we had just come out of it.  His response was "Oh, I didn't think that was a cave, but I guess it was".

On the way home we stopped off at Sumburger in Chillicothe, Ohio.  This was an interesting resturant.  To place your order you pickup the phone in your booth and tell them what you want.  When it is ready they bring it to you.  Everytime you need anything you pick up the phone and let the staff know what you need.

I had a wonderful day with the family!  I am looking forward to our next family fun day, which is a surprise for the boys.  Be on the look out for that adventure story.

Words To Live By....

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as the pathways to peace.

Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

               -Reinhold Niebuhr

Two years ago I had my world turned upside down when my dad told my younger brother and I that we had a half-sister who is two years older than me.  I was so angry, hurt, disappointed and felt like I didn't really know my dad.  I did not speak to him for a long time and when I finally did it always felt strained.

Recently, I have seen so many things that have made me stop and really look at what is important in life.  The Serenity Prayer kept popping into my head, not only was I thinking of these words I was also reminded of something that I had seen on Facebook, "Life is like a roller-coaster, it takes you up and down, has some twists and turns and flips you when you least expect it.  How you handle the ride is what matters!"

Even though I kept saying to myself and others "It is was it is and there is nothing that I can do about it."  I did not really believe it.  I was still hoping it was a bad joke or would just go away.  Well, I am here to tell you that it didn't happen.

I could continue to act like a wounded child and cry foul or I could grow up and act like an adult and trust in God to show me the right path to take.  That was easy... no, it really wasn't.  I wondered if I could really just let it go and move on with my life.  The answers I was seeking came in an email from a friend.

"God does not give you the people you want, 

he gives you the people you need to help you, 

to hurt you, to leave you, to love you and 

to make you the person you were meant to be."

Ok, I guess that finding out I have a sister was not the end of the world, I survived.  Perhaps if I open the door in the wall that I have built up around myself and let my sister in then maybe we could be friends.

I am no longer angry, hurt or disappointed with my dad.  I understand why he kept this secret from us and have forgiven him for it.  I am also happy that he was able to find his daughter. I love my dad very much and hope that he can establish the same relationship he has with my brother and I with his daughter, my sister, Amy.

It has taken me a long time to get to this point and I hope that it's not too late to establish a friendship with my sister.

Cast all your anxiety

on him because he

cares for you.

1 Peters 5:7

Remembering 9/11

Where were you on 9/11 has become my generations "Where were you when JFK was shot?".   I will never forget that horrific day.  I was attending a company training about one hour away from home.  The company stopped the training and made an announcement about what was happening, then they told all the Dayton staff to return to Dayton, since we are only 20 minutes from Wright Patterson AFB.  I remember driving home and listening to everything on the radio and feeling scared, angry, sick to my stomach and worried about my parents in the Washington DC area and my brother who is in the Army.  Once back in Dayton I went to pick up my one year old from my neighbors house.  The hug I got from MJ was the best hug I have ever received.  As the day went on and air travel stopped I remember thinking how eerie it was to not hear or see planes in the sky above my house.  As the day continued I kept trying to get a hold of my parents and brother.  I finally reached my parents abut 7:30 that evening, what a huge relief.  They were both fine and had already spoken with my brother.

Fast forward ten years to the 9/11 tenth anniversary.  Most communities held celebrations to commemorate the anniversary.  My children and I attended the 9/11 ceremony in Kettering, Ohio to honor those who lost their lives that fateful day.  While my boys have heard about 9/11 they really do not know how much the world has changed because of it.  Kettering's celebration opened with the presentation of colors by the Police and Fire Departments along with a beautiful rendition of our National Anthem by Eleventh Hour and ended with a one minute running of sirens, 21 gun salute, and playing of taps to honor those who lost their lives that day.  Kettering's City Manager explained that the Stone Memorial was done by a New York artist.  The location for its placement had to be painstakingly accurate.  The stylus on the statue had to match up with Solar Noon on the Solar Calendar from 9/11/2001.  On this day that time would be exactly 1:33:17 pm.

On September 11, 2001 nineteen men committed the worst attack on the US.  Three Thousand men and women lost their lives while, going to work, rescue personnel trying to rescue those trapped in the twin Towers and a plane that saw instant heroes by stopping the hijackers from carrying out their attack on their intended target.  On September 11th we must come together to honor, remember, and pay respects to those who lost their lives on that fateful day.  We as parents need to talk with our children about the events on that day so they understand why and how this attack occurred and how it has changed our country for ever.  My oldest was only one years old at the time of the attack, he will never remember what it was like that day or for the days, weeks and even months following the attack.   I want my children to know that each and every 9/11 is a day to celebrate the survivors, remember the innocents lost and to know that hatred will not win.

My Year In Review

Wow, it has been a year since I started this blog and I know that I haven't been very good about keeping my blog updated this year.  I thought this might help review what my year has been like.  My goal in 2012 is to keep the blog updated at least on a monthly basis, hopefully more.


January - I decided that I wanted to work on getting out of my comfort zone. So I decided that I would start blogging.  For some people this might not be a challenge, but for me it was huge.  I don't like to show anyone what I have written down.  Coming up with a name for the bolg was the hardest part for me.  After several suggestions I finally settled on the title.  Why did I chose "Even The Dog Is A Boy",  I am married with 2 sons and our dog is also a boy.  When we got our dog alsmost 2 years ago I requested a girl dog, but we ended up adopting a boy instead.  Oh well, I guess I will continue to be the only girl in the house.


February - This was a busy months of firsts for me.  I started to blog, became a mom of a wrestler (I still can't believe it), touched a shark, and took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge for a mini vacation.  This was a great month to start new things.


March - I had to go back thru my calendar to see what we had done this month.  We did absolutetly NOTHING.  I am not sure how we managed to have an entire event free month.


April - Let the baseball season begin!  Both boys played baseball, they even played on the same nights.  This kept us busy running between games since they seemed to have games at the same time each night.  This month also brought with it Spring Break.  Spring break was a little different this year.  We all went different directions.  I went to Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Virginia.  MJC went to Gulf Shores, Alabama.  My husband and ADC meet me in Virginia.


May - Mother's day was a great day.  We went for a hike and picnic lunch at one of the local state parks.  We even took the dog with us and had a wonderfully relaxing day.  ADC turned 7 and had a pirate party with his friends.  May was also the month that the preschool I teach at was told to vactate the church we were at.


June - We spent a lot of time out at Ceaser's Creek State Park, swimming in the lake.  The park has a public beach and the boys really enjoyed going there to build castles.  This month I spent a lot of time on the finishing touches for the Relay For Life of Oakwood.


July - Relay For Life of Oakwood was this month.  This was probably the hardest thing I have ever done, but it was so worth it.  I really enjoyed watching everyone making a difference and raising money for cancer research.  After Relay was over I took the rest of the month to just spend it with my children swimming at the pool and "Beach".


August - The beginning of a new preschool is upon us.  August brought with it a new location for the preschool I teach at.  There were so many things that needed to be done before the school could be opened.  Several of us along with parent volunteers spent long days at the location getting the rooms cleaned, painted and organized for the first day of school.  At the end of August my boys went back to school.  MJC started the fifth grade and ADC started the first grade. MJC also turned 11 and had a Percy Jackson themed party at a local park.  He and his friends had so much fun.  I can't believe how fast the boys are growing up.  


September - The new preschool opened with success.  I turned 40 and the world did not crash.  My husband and I found ourselves busy with all of the boys soccer and football games.  I know that there were times we weren't sure if we were coming or going.  


October - Halloween, is not  a favorite holiday of mine.  MJC and ADC both decided to be Smurfs this year.  Do you know how hard it is to find RED sweat pants for a child?  I searched every where for pants that would work for MJC to be Papa Smurf.  ADC decided to be baker smurf and that was much easier to pull together.  I know that a lot of people prefer to buy the costumes, but I like the idea of the boys using their imaginations to put together costumes from things they already have and/or to buy clothes that they can wear after Halloween.


November - Thanksgiving, is a favorite holiday of mine.  I love being with my family at this time.  Usually we go to my parents house in Virginia, however this year we all went to my brother's house in Tennessee.  It was wonderful to see the cousins playing together.  Many laughs were had by all, the highlight was watching the YouTube video's.  The best one had to be the "Honey Badger", my boys still say "this honey badger, he just don't care"  when ever something goes wrong.


December - Another year has come and gone!  That seemed like a fast year.  The boys had a two week break from school over the Christmas holiday and they were gone for half of that time.  On Christmas we opened gifts as a family and then went to an Aunt's house in Cincinnati to celebrate with more family.  The boys stayed there from Christmas until New Year's.  The house was very quiet with them gone.  I guess I got the one gift I have asked for for several years, peace and quiet.


There you have it, my 2011 year in review.   I hope you enjoyed it, now let's see if I can do a better job of keeping the blog updated in a timely fashion this year.

A Christmas Memory

This year while I was out doing some Christmas shopping I had a memory from Christmases past.  This is something that I hadn't thought about for a long time and it put a smile on my face to remember it, at the same time it made me sad.  I thought about my grandfather and all the times we spent listening to the Chipmunk Christmas Albums.  The only reason I can think that I had this memory is because my son MJ was going to be playing the part of Alvin in the holiday concert at his school.  


I remember being at my grandparents house and putting the record on the player (we didn't have CD's back then) and singing along with the Chipmunks.  As I am standing in the store remembering this happy time, I happen to turn around and there were both the Chipmunk Christmas Albums on CD.  I had to buy them right then and there.  I was so happy to have found them that I did a happy dance right there in the store.  Boy, did I get some strange looks.  I never dreamed that I could find something from my childhood that would make me so very happy.


A couple days later the Chipmunk Christmas special was on TV.   As I sat there watching the it my boys I began to cry because it reminded me of watching it with my grandfather when I was a little girl.  MJ asked me why I was crying so I told him about the music and watching the Chipmunks with my grandfather.  What made these memories so special to me is the fact that my grandfather passed away 14 hours after MJ was born 11 years ago.  Even though he is not here to share in these memories, I feel blessed that I have them and can share them with my children


It always surprises me when the memories of loved ones lost will come flooding back to me. It is the simplest of things that will trigger a memory no matter how big or small.  Did you have a holiday memory that came flooding back to you this holiday season?