Hurricane Irene

The night before Hurricane Irene hit, the wind was blowing with a fury! I was awoken by a loud THUMP hitting the back of our house, and it was very possible to have been a whole tree. I could not sleep with the wind. Sam was sleeping, and Kaj was sleeping, and I wondered how they could sleep through this. I thought about waking Sam a few times. When we got up Sunday morning, we had already lost power. But, had heard the storm had been down graded, and was suspected to hit around noon. I guess it did. It was raining a lot, and kinda windy, but as far as hurricanes go...I like Irene alright.

We faired pretty well in the ole storm, other than the fact that we had to live without power a few days. (see picture above) haha - this is actually not a tree from our neighborhood. The power turned back on at 8:10 this morning. It was beautiful. I clapped and celebrated and Kaj just kinda looked at me and barely cracked a smile.

I would like to thank everyone who spent more time than they may have wanted to talking to me on the phone.

I am very grateful for power. I am grateful to blow dry my hair this morning, I'm happy to hear the sound of laundry spinning from the other room, for a fridge that can preserve food.

This is our basil plant- we named "pesty" for the pesto it has supplied us with, survived the storm.

The only possible casualty in our home is our fish...who is not dead yet, but he is sure not looking so good.

The Calm Before the Storm

  

  So, as probably most everyone knows by now,  Hurricane Irene is headed our way! I'm a little nervous considering I have never experienced a hurricane, nor did I put that on the top of my list of "things I really want to experience", but here we are! We're in New York now, there is hurricane season here, so when in Rome. So we are as prepared as we know how to be. The locals say it will be a tropical storm, and that it is being blown out of proportion. I feel like it could be epic. I know that I need to get through one, and can then form an opinion. The storm is expected to hit tomorrow night, which is a Saturday and the worst of it will be seen on Sunday. So, of course, classically, it was a lovely day. A hot summer day, not a hint of a breeze, not a speck of moisture (discounting sweat beads) never would you guess what the next day will bring. Sam has had the week off of school before fall semester starts, so today we went to the wildlife and ecology center in Holtsville, and had a great day!

This llama had the best hair cut of all the llama's!

Bedtime Faces

 

On a night while I was hard at work, Sam sent me these pictures. Kaj getting ready for bed, of course! It made me so happy to see my two boys.

Kaj - Bears

Memory Lane Monday: The Legend of... The MoffCloff

I have been looking forward to Kaj words lately. I am excited to see what the babble will transform into, and I was reminded of a childhood memory of my own.

I am certain mom's everywhere love to hear their kids say things, they may say them wrong every single time, and you giggle, and let them continue with their story. But, at what point, do you teach them the right word in place of the cute version they have come up with? When it's not cute anymore?

Well, perhaps I was 9-10 years old I had been referring to the good old fashioned washcloth as a moffcloff. "Mom, can you hand me a moffcloff?" I gestured toward the closet.

"A what?"

"A moffcloff."

"It's a washcloth." She handed it to me.

What the?! Um... I have been calling it moffcloff the whole time, we're talking my life to this point. And now you're telling me it is washcloth?! Ok...if you say so.

So, the answer is! The right time to correct children in their word errors is before they have a memory of ever saying is wrong.

Ode to Baby Teeth and Mom Ears

I have always loved a good set of pearly whites.
Anytime Kaj is in sight of his little elmo toothbrush
He must brush.
So he brushes...

Sometimes 5-6 times a day

But who am I to frown at oral hygiene?

It is amazing how thankful I can be for hearing
How you can distinguish the different sounds in the house
A crash
Kaj is dropping toys from his pack n play

A scraping

Kaj "vacuuming" very helpful, indeed

A bounce

The ball dropping down the stairs

Silence.
Listening isn't good enough then.
I usually find Kaj has dumped out my purse and wallet or he is on the chair laughing at the possibility of something funny happening at the computer.

RALPH'S FAMOUS ITALIAN ICE

Welcome to Ralph's! This is one of my new favorite places to go. The first time I went there, there was a line of at least 10 people, and I heard Sam's food advice echo through my mind:

"Just look for the places that are always busy..." Busy Busy Busy (the echo)

This is the menu! Wow, a little intimidating if you are amateur like I am.

The first time I got lemon because Sam told me he heard it was primo, that it is if you love to take bites out of lemons.. I, however, do not. But the texture was so amazing I had to give another shot!

As you can see Kaj is a little overwhelmed too! Ha! The second time I got chocolate hazelnut and peanutbutter! This time I learned you can add to flavors for the same price, and um..it was so so good! Bits of chocolate, bits of hazelnut in a delightful master piece

This is what I got today, the third time cookies n creme and chocolate milk. I'm just sayin,

Keep in mind this is ice..ground up so finely that it is like the best ice cream on the planet

Kaj is making sure that he is getting all of the dregs!

He got them!

Delicious!!!!

Come to New York