Boys, the Bathroom and Bad Aim!

Now this post may count as TMI (too much information), but I am going to share it anyway. Lately the boys (Benny and Jacob) have been having trouble with their aim when using the potty. I am not sure why this is happening now or why the kids are getting sloppy but I know I don't care for the outcome. I grew up with two sisters and no brothers so I am not used to little boys with bad aim. I can't provide much direction in this area so I'll need to turn to George. But I need results soon!

Two New Bloggers!

There are two new blogs in town. My sister Elizabeth has started a blog to share her adventures in Chicago. Check out Elizabeth's blog at: Elizabeth's Chicago Blog. The other new blog is my good friend Kathy's blog. Kathy and I went to UNH together. Check out what is happening with her family at The Reynold's Family. Now, I just need to convince my sister Michele to start blogging and then get Julie and Laura going with this blogging stuff.

End of Summer Countdown!

I love the summer and usually hate to see it end but lately I have been looking forward to the fall in hopes that this rainy weather will go away. The kids go back to school in a couple of weeks and there are still a whole bunch of things that I want to do before we are back to our usual school/work routines. Here is what I haven't done yet:

1. Go to the beach - I have not gone to the beach once this summer! This is very unusual for a girl who grew up in Portsmouth and spent countless days there as a kid.
2. Go kayaking - Sadly, I have not gotten out in the kayaks this summer.
3. Have dinner on the decks in Portsmouth - another summertime ritual for me. I want to bring George and the boys down to Poco Diablo's for dinner and then go for ice cream at Annabelle's.
4. Refinish the outdoor bar by the pool. Last summer I bought an outdoor bar unit for the pool. It was on sale at Linens-n-Things and was the perfect size but it was the wrong color and would need to be refinished. I was supposed to do this last year but did not get around to it and I won't likely get to it this year. (Of course I am almost the only person who thinks it needs to be refinished. My family just laughs at me when they hear of my plans for this piece!)
5. Put some plants in the ground that I got as a Mother's Day gift. How sad that I have had these plants sitting on my decks for months now. I am sure that I have spent more time watering them and trying to keep them alive and just would have been better off putting them in the ground.
6. Organize the boy's bedroom. For some reason Jacob and Ben enjoy sleeping in our guest room. This is fine except that it means they don't use their room and have kept me from making the guest room into an official guest room (which really means letting me decorate it my way and have no trace of kid stuff in there!) So, we are getting some new bunk beds delivered this week and plan to clean, organize and set up the boy's bedroom so that I can finally kick them out of the guest room and have them use their own room.

Does anyone else have a few things they want to get done in the next couple of weeks?

Tri for a Cure!

This morning we headed up to Portland to watch my sister Michele take part in a women-only triathlon event for the Maine Cancer Foundation. Michele started training a few months ago for the event which included a .3 mile ocean swim, a 12 mile bike race and then a 5K run.

The event was amazing and truly inspirational. There were women of every age and of every shape and size participating in the race. Some of the women were survivors of breast cancer. We saw Michele during the bike race and she looked great! We tried to snap a few quick pictures but she was biking too fast for us!

We met up with her after she crossed the finish line. She was thrilled with her accomplishment and I agree. She met her goal of finishing the race and also raised a good amount of money for such a worthwhile cause. (I am toying with the idea of doing the triathlon next year - but I would have to train hard (very, very hard) to finish it!)


Here's the bike course...see the ocean in the distance.


That's Michele entering the frame on the left!


Off she goes - she's in that group!


Enjoying some shade....


Boys being boys!


My sister after the race...Victory!

A Blogging Milestone

I just published my 100th post! This may not be a big deal to you blogging veterans but for this relative newbie - this makes me happy! Little did I know I would enjoy this blogging stuff so much!

She's off to Chicago!

My youngest sister, Elizabeth, is moving to Chicago tomorrow. She is heading out there for a taste of the big city. We'll miss her and will need to plan a family vacation to the windy city!

Good luck Elizabeth! Start your own blog so we can keep up with you out there!

Our First Trip to the ER

We took our first trip to the ER today. Jacob cut his chin on the side of the pool while jumping into the deep end. George and I were not sure what type of jump he was attempting but it didn't work out the way Jacob intended.

The impact of the fall did not hurt much but then Jacob noticed blood on his chin. I checked out the cut and saw that the wound was spread apart and there was a quarter inch gap. We also saw some odd looking underlying tissue stuff (which the nurse later identified as subcutaneous tissue).

So, one trip to Barrington Urgent Care and 2.5 hours later, Jacob was the proud recipient of two stitches. When we first told Jacob he might need stitches he confused stitches with the word surgery and was quite nervous. He did a great job at the clinic and is even having some fun with his injury. He insisted we take some pictures so here they are:

The cut and the stitches

This kid is just fine....

Jacob wanted to document the scene of the accident. The alligator was not involved in the jump but Jacob took some creative liberties here.