Meet Duncan!

Why yes, it has been almost 3 months since my last post and everyone who reads here knows why. Rather than explain what you already know, I'm just going to start back up like nothing happened. Today we added a member to our family! Duncan the Westie came home with us. He is two months old and looks like he will fit in just fine around here.

Monkeys meet Gorilla

Rolling down the hill

Luke was sufficiently recovered to hurl himself down the hill at Innis Woods along with Michael and Justin.

Drama King

Son #1 is making us CRAZY! A month from reaching the Age of Reason---hmm, I have my doubts. We went to Innis Woods after dinner and he said he had a stomach ache and couldn't possibly walk and wanted me to push him in a wheelchair (they have two sitting at the park's entrance). When I said no, he proceeded to do this. Why, yes, he is crawling down the path.

 And across the grass.

 He punctuated every little bit of crawling with a very dramatic attempt to stand up and then a collapse. I believe it was about a quarter mile of crawling and whining.

 Somehow, he perked up when I allowed him to borrow the camera to take these pictures.

Justin in Kidspace

I finally renewed our COSI membership yesterday. The idea is that next fall, with only Justin at home, I will do some of the fun stuff I used to do when Luke was that age. We used to go to Kidspace at COSI once a week. I don't remember going as often with Michael because Luke was in preschool. Yesterday, it was clear that Justin is at the perfect Kidspace age and that Michael, while still enjoying it, would probably have more fun in the other exhibits. Justin monopolized this volunteer for about 15 minutes. Ah, the patience of a young girl who clearly has no children of her own. She just loved how Justin kept stacking the shapes and knocking them down. She was telling him what the shapes were and then kept cracking up whenever Justin would say "okatagon" and "fiangle." Yeah, he's quite the charmer with the ladies.

Waiting for big sibs

I forgot I took this picture a couple of weeks ago when Matt was out of town at his grandmother's funeral. Luke had a martial arts demo up in Sunbury and I had no choice but to bring the other two boys. Justin fell asleep on the way and waited out the rehearsal in the car parked in front of the studio. Michael spent the hour-long rehearsal comparing video game notes with this little girl. I can't remember her name, but her big sister Alexandria is on the demo team with Luke. Their little conversation was cracking me up. It was all going so well until they realized that they were only at the rehearsal and that they still had to endure a trip to a local church and then wait through the actual demo. It was a LONG afternoon.

long time, no blog

Due to a variety of issue. Me not feeling well (still working on what that could be, best guess prior to finishing all of the diagnostic stuff is Meniere's Disease). Going crazy with the house on the market. And then I lost the cord that hooks the camera to the computer. Found it! Although with the camera on its last legs, it hardly matters. Only one of every 7 or 8 shots comes out. I would like to point out to my husband that next weekend is Mother's Day. Just sayin.

One Last Birthday Post for Michael

Michael's birthday was during spring break at preschool, so we brought treats on Tuesday to celebrate. No nuts. No peanuts. Gluten-free. As I was passing them out, a little girl asked "are these kosher for passover?" Kosher chocolate Easter bunnies--seems like an oxymoron. It was. No luck. But she took it pretty well. The teachers thought the whole thing was hilarious. Luke is on his spring break this week, so
he got to come with me.

Justin preferred to sit with the ladies. But he enjoyed his snack.

Nanny

During the big Ponesse family dinner on Saturday night, we learned from my father-in-law Stephen that Matt's 99-year-old grandmother was not doing well. She had been in a nursing home suffering from dementia and other ailments for several years, but had taken a turn for the worse in recent days. Later, Auntie Judy called Greg to confirm that things were progressing rapidly. She encouraged Matt and Jon (the two out of town brothers) to try and see Nanny on Easter in case they couldn't return for the funeral in coming days. We went up to the nursing home after church on Sunday. I stayed in the car with the kids because Judy had warned us that things would be rough. Matt said it was quite awful seeing her as she was, but he was able to say goodbye. He also brought his Uncle Richard and Aunt Kathy out to see me and the kids. I love Matt's Uncle Richard and Auntie Kathy, so I was really grateful to be able to give them my condolences and just visit with them for a few minutes. Then we headed home. As we crossed into Pennsylvania, Greg called and said that Nanny had passed away. We are waiting on funeral arrangements, but it looks like it won't be until the end of the week, so Matt will drive back to Toronto.

I was lucky enough to meet Nanny when she was still healthy. I remember her as a perfectly regal old lady. She always made butter tarts or butterscotch pie for family events and Matt and his brothers are still trying to imitate her "cavazone," a kind of sausage pie, which doesn't seem to be an actual dish or word, but that's what she called it, so that's what they call it.  Here she is with Talia in 2002.





Nanny especially enjoyed the weddings.

 

 

Here she is dancing with Chris at Stephen and Sylvia's wedding in 2002. He was probably 22 or 23?

And with Matt's Dad, Stephen. I always remember her wearing this dress to formal occasions. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter 2012

 

I lost my camera (such as it is) for a bit of the trip, so I used my new cell phone to take pictures. I think I need to change the settings somehow, the quality is poor and the size is too small.  We were in Toronto from Thursday to Sunday. It was a whirlwind trip. We saw lots of family and the kids had a blast.

My niece Kayla, isn't she adorable? And she doesn't know a stranger, she warmed right up to us.

 Luke and Michael taking some down time to play a game that Luke got as an early birthday present from Uncle Jon and Aunt Allie.

Uncle Chris and Justin at Michael's party. Chris has decided that Justin is his clone. I tend to agree.

 Auntie Katie with Justin and the twins at Saturday's Easter Dinner.

 

One of my favorite moments from Saturday, Michael snuggled up with his eldest cousin Talia. They spent about an hour like this, mesmerized by Auntie Ange's ipad.

 Semi-dazed egg hunt on Easter morning. We were all pretty strung out by then!

 We went to St. Michael's Cathedral for Easter morning services. Apparently, getting a nice picture in front the adjoining St. Michael's Choir School where Matt went to school was too much to ask, so we'll settle for this.

Michael's 5th Birthday

 So thinking that I could blog from Toronto was optimistic. I can't believe my Michael Moo is five! My easy baby. My happy and cooperative toddler. My animal-obsessed preschooler. My boy who instinctively knows which adult is in charge of which house and will boldly (although politely) approach them with an "excuse me" to fulfill whatever desire has come upon him at the moment. My planner--he already has next year's birthday party in the works. But he's also my enjoy-the-moment kid who experiences true joy in a way that no one else in the family seems to. You are a complex little man, Michael Stephen Ponesse, and I love being your mommy.

Michael's birthday fell on Good Friday this year (as it did the year he was born) and it turns out that Good Friday is a federal holiday taken very seriously in Canada. NOTHING was open. We had to postpone his birthday lunch at IKEA (just as well with the meat restriction as meatballs are his favorite). Luckily, I had brought cake mix from home because even grocery stores were closed. Since I knew we weren't having a big expensive friend party at home, I kind of splurged on the treats. Each of the cousins got a cup and a little dog and dog ears and a bookmark. I also ordered doggie candles for the cupcakes--with monkey wrappers in case you are wondering where the monkeys are.

Michael got lots of presents and everyone ate way too many sweets. In hindsight, it was far too much celebration for what was supposed to be a solemn day religiously, but Michael's birthday won't fall on Good Friday every year. And Michael's the middle child, so it was nice for him to get some extra attention from his aunts, uncles and cousins.

A boy and his monkey

I think Michael's been a little short changed in the posts of late, but with his birthday coming up,  we will remedy that shortly!  We'll be in Toronto on Michael's actual birthday and will celebrate with the cousins, so there's not really going to be a big party here this year. So today, we met his best friend Joseph at Chuck E. Cheese for a little pre-birthday fun. Joe got Michael a really cool airplane and Michael insists that it was "Joseph's Mommy" who gave him this monkey which he proudly proclaimed to be his nineteenth monkey! I'm not sure if that's right, but it's as good a guess as any! Hopefully, I'll figure out some way to post from Canada this weekend for Michael's actual birthday.

Happy Birthday to Justin!

Of course, I forgot to post the birthday video until three days after his birthday!

Easter Party

 This afternoon was our annual EBC Easter Egg Hunt at the Franks' house. The kids are getting so big, it just amazes me. They always hate having to wait for the hunt to start, but today they were all walking around the eggs and had the will power to not pick any up until "go" time. Although, Michael complained A LOT about having to wait.

 And they're off!

 Justin got like six eggs and was done and just sat for the next half hour and ate candy. Sometimes, he didn't even bother to unwrap it!

Caleb and Luke as Luigi and Mario.

Wish I would have gotten more pictures, but my camera is basically dead. The viewscreen is cracked, it barely focuses and doesn't really zoom. But there is so much on our plate right now, a new camera is pretty far down the list.

Look who's two!

More birthday posts to follow, but I wanted to get something up in case tomorrow gets away from me. My giant baby boy! What would I do without you! You are pure heaven . . .except when you're not. You're like a big loveable tornado! You're a bulldozer. You like to "cheers" everything, you like to "nuggle" with mommy and you never go anywhere without your puppies! And you are already quite the expert on Mickey Mouse and Thomas the Tank Engine. Happy Birthday, Justin Gregory Ponesse!

Purple Belt!

March?

Shirtless with popsicles in March? Scary. But the kids are loving it.

Spring at SYC

You know it's spring when this happens at the preschool:

 So much mud, deliberately made by Michael's class, but enjoyed equally by their little sibs. The only problem with the wonderful mud lake is that it leads to this:

A filthy, wet and tantruming toddler who has to be stripped down and carried kicking and screaming from his beloved mud pit.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day was the Day of 3 Parties. All three boys went to a birthday party at a bounce house in the morning. Then we came home and rested a bit. Then Luke and Michael went to a party at Koguryo and Justin went to another birthday party. I should have taken pictures there as it was a "littles" party for the 3 and under crowd. And Matt didn't get any pics at the martial arts party because he dumped the kids and went to Lowe's, which is his second home these days.

shamelessly stolen

From Alyssa's blog. Aren't they just so darn adorable?

Great Wolf Lodge

Whenever I go anywhere these days, my camera dies first thing, so forgive the crappy phone pics.

After we repainted, laid the paver path and gave midterms and after mommy and daddy got sick with a stomach bug, but before we graded the midterms and pulled up the carpet, we took the family to Great Wolf Lodge. It's an indoor water park resort in Mason, right next to Kings Island. It was our "rookie" trip. We had so much fun and now we know how to have even more fun next time.

 

 Wolf ears were the hit of the trip. They are still wearing them two days later.

 After swimming and dinner, Luke and Michael started playing Magiquest, a live action Harry Potter-style game. We had to buy a wand and a game, and then you get sent on quests throughout the hotel and you wave the wand and it activates things. It was pretty cool, but kind of expensive, but Luke got totally hooked and wants to go back just to play the game again. It's impossible to finish, it just keeps going. Michael got a compass, which we didn't even use this visit because it's for a later part of the game.

Then it was storytime. There's this giant tree with old-school animotronic animals and people that tells a bedtime story. It was pretty lame, but definitely necessary for the rookie trip.

Oh yeah, the water park, I almost forgot. Michael loved the hot tub. Luke loved the wave pool. Justin loved the yellow slide.

Next time, we will bring breakfast stuff and our sound machine. But we've found a new tradition.