You Got a Friend in Me!

A few weeks ago a friend of mine posted that she was purchasing tickets for Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3, which got me thinking that we should take the kids. After looking into it and looking at all the things going on with the kids in the month of September I decided we just didn't have the money for all four of us to go. I mentioned this to another friend of mine, who smiled and said "Let me call Jim. He might have a guy!"

Jim is her husband and from all the stories I hear knows just about everyone in Rhode Island. She asked him if he might be able to get some passes for one of the shows, and he said he would look into it. Like I said that was weeks ago. I had honestly forgot all about it, the tickets, "the guy" and most of all the show - until Thursday of this week. Jim sent me a message saying he had passes for us that he had gotten just that day. WOW! I couldn't remember when the show was, so I hopped online to see - THIS WEEKEND!

Since Mad Dog was heading down south with me yesterday (he was meeting a friend of ours) I thought we could make the Friday night show at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence. It was at 7PM, which meant I could work a little bit of overtime and then they could pick me up, grab a bite to eat and go! We didn't tell the kids, feeling it was better to keep it a surprise. Lex with his 50 questions, kept asking where we were going, what we were doing, why we were doing it. Once at the Providence Place Mall, Lex figured out that the "Surprise" was going to see Curious George Live! Mad Dog told him he wasn't exactly right. Why George live? Back in February (I think) I had taken him to see Curious George Live at the Hanover Theater in Worcester for a "Surprise". He linked the two in his head and came up with his guess.

We grabbed a quick bite at the food court and made our way to the Convention Center. Once inside we were surrounded by every Toy Story and non-Toy Story souvenir you could think of. I put Loki down, and she ran to a kiosk where she saw a huge picture of Woody! She got excited. We made our way to our seats, which the guy at the box office made Mad Dog believe were on the roof. That was not the case. The seats were perfect. We could see everything.

For the first ten minutes Lex kept asking Mad Dog when George was coming out. He finally got it when the main characters came out on the ice. Both kids sat and watched, with little trouble. Lex of course needed several bathroom breaks, which were a waste since he didn't go. Loki was so excited, watching very seriously at time and then clapping her hands or leg to the beat of the music. The show had the songs from the films as well as popular pop songs, such as:

• We Got the Beat - GO-GOs
• Barbie Girl - Aqua
• These Boots Are Made for Walkin - Jessica Simpson version
• Dream Weaver - Gary Wright
• Star Wars Cantina song 

It was a lot of fun. We stayed for the whole thing, which I was very surprised about since Lex usually asks to leave early. I was glad he didn't, since I doubt Loki would have been happy about that since she was so into it. At the end of the show we made our way slowly back to the car, dealing with the crowd. We made one last bathroom break at the mall before going back to the car. Yes, we made it out with NO souvenirs. I can think of about 20 different things I would like to do with that money. 

In the car, the kids were talking about it. Very excited and still wide awake for a while. I asked Lex how was his day. He said it was a "Good" Day. 

Me: What was your favorite part of your day? 

Lex: Playing with Loki. Loki good to play with. 

Me: (choked up). 

My Three Uncles and Aunt

Brent & Loki

I am the oldest of three children. I have two younger brothers, Sean (30) and Kevin (27). Though we haven't always gotten along, we find ourselves in a good place now a days. All three of us are currently married and each of us along with our partners have found a way to complement the group dynamic each in a different way.

With Sean and Tiffany living in Fort Lauderdale, we don't get to see them often. Visits usually happen twice a year. This week happens to be one of those weeks. Today we found the time to get together for a little family time at my Mom's house, they place where we grew up. Mad Dog had to work, but Lex, Loki and I made the trip down from Worcester. The kids love their Uncles and Aunt. Lex of course is happy to see everyone right away, where Loki has to warm up to everyone.

Sean, Tiffany & Lex

I am currently the only one of the three with children. I don't see anything wrong with this since, my brothers and their partners are a minimum of 5 years younger than me. At my brother Sean's age I had just met Mad Dog and it was 17 months later that I got pregnant with Lex (he was planned, we just didn't think I would get pregnant on the first try).

There are of course two different things were talking about here. Wanting kids and having kids. Both my brothers are very good with children in their own way - though I think with some polish they could be better. Having said that, nothing makes you a better parent than hands on training. I started thinking about this tonight since very recently there have been two new additions to our extended family. My cousin Christopher and his wife just had a son, J.T. (John Thomas born on 9/2) and my cousin Amy and her fiancé Sam just had their daughter Kiley born this morning (9/11). Both events are very exciting. These events coupled with seeing them with Lex and Loki today make me wonder, will my brother's have children?

Kevin & Brent

I don't know the answer to that, and I don't usually ask questions about it. In some ways I feel it's more complicated for Kevin and Brent, since they will be looking at adoptions or a surrogate mother, on the other hand getting pregnant isn't any cake walk at times either. Honestly I don't know their feelings on the subjects of having, not having, wanting or not wanting kids. It's not my business, but knowing the two of them and knowing how much Lex and Loki mean to me and enhance my life I hope they do.

It might be put better if I said that I hope they both know that they would make good parents. They both have a strong bond towards family and know the importance of it. They are also stronger than they might think they are. When I started this entry I had a clear picture of what I was going to write, but now writing it I'm a little lost.

What I do know is that there are two little kids in the other room that had a wonderful fun filled day because of the four people they spent it with today. They adore their time with them and can't wait for the next. Each time they warm up a little quicker or take to one person more than another, but either way they love every moment they have with them. Thanks for being great little brothers and wonderful big Uncles (you too Brent & Tiffany).

Move over, Mr. Pricklepants!

Yesterday we had some family time, a day for Lex and Loki before Gabrielle comes for the summer, giving them a little Momma and Daddy attention before things change for a while.

The day started off with us all leaving for eastern Massachusetts, since I had to work until 1PM. We stopped for donuts and coffee (donuts for the kids, coffee for us in case you were wondering). After dropping me at work Mad Dog took both Lex and Loki for a little visit to Nana Sandy's to see Nona and Papa Stuart, before going to South Shore Mall to meet Michael (Baby Finn's Daddy according to Lex). They visited the Lego Store at South Shore and they managed to talk Mad Dog into buying them another Disney Cars set of Duplo, which they would surely fight over (and did). They had a little pizza at the mall before heading back Mansfield for me.

We had made a plan to take the kids to see Toy Story 3 that afternoon. This would be Lex's 4th movie in the theater (Spider Man 3 {he was a baby and lasted to the first big fight scene}, Horton Hears a Who and Wall-E) and for Loki her second (Wall-E). We decided to forgo the 3D experience and opted for regular. Before going Mad Dog and I grabbed sometime to eat at Whole Foods (I had a New England Turkey Sandwich - which is amazing with their cranberry pecan bread). I also grabbed some Pirate's Booty for the kids, since I don't like giving Loki popcorn still and it wouldn't be fair to let Lex have it.

Tickets purchased we headed in, taking a row of four on the side (kills me not to sit center). Loki against the wall, Mad Dog next, with Lex and me on the end. The preview started. Okay let me stop and say something here - I'm a HUGE preview fan, if it's something (preview) I'm dying to see (when I able to go to a movie) I sit up in my seat, pay attention and ingest every little detail. Having said that, I am a mother of two now and every second counts when it comes to keeping them focused. Kids go into a movie theater and they think they are going to see Buzz and Woody as soon as they walk in (I know they need to learn patients -which they are) just like they do when we turn on the DVD at home, but to expect kids to sit through 15 to 20 minutes of preview before getting the the main event is just cruel and unusual.  Needless to say, after every preview Lex ask "Toy Story 3 NOW!"

They were both amazing. Loki make it 3/4 of the way through without a peep, sitting on her own seat before getting a little antsy. She then bounced from Mad Dog's lap to mine where she settled for the end of the film. Lex did wonderful, getting a little scared/upset at the climax of the film (which was complete understandable- hell I was scared/upset too). The movie itself was great! Both Mad Dog and I loved it. We both hope Loki will grow-up to be like Bonnie (one of the characters in the story). I will also say it is official I cried at ALL three movies in the theater. In the first I cried when Buzz lost his arm. I can't watch the second without crying if I listen to the Sarah McLachlan version of the Rand Newman song "When She Loved Me" - I sob. Even if I start to talk about the song I cry. I won't give away anything about the 3rd, but if you come out of this one with a dry eye, should honestly go see the Wizard for a heart! 

After the movie I decided we needed a little toy love. We took the kids to Toys-R-Us. We checked out all the new Toy Story 3 toys. At home we have a Woody Doll which I bought when the Toy Story came out (I did have a Buzz Lightyear, but I don't know where he is) which has my name on his boot like Andy in the movie. Before leaving Toys-R-Us we bought Loki a Jesse and Lex a Buzz Lightyear. They haven't let them out of their sight all weekend. They have even shared them with each other (a bit). We put their names on the bottoms of the feet just like in the Movie. Last night at bedtime Lex took Buzz to tuck-in and Loki took Jesse, but before going to sleep Lex made sure I was taking my Woody doll with me.

GO SEE THIS MOVIE! Take your kids, take your friends, take you parents. If your going off to college take your parents- they won't be only crying because of the toys and characters the will fall in love with, but they will cry because of you! One last thing...The Gypsy Kings doing "You've Got a Friend in Me" BRILLIANT!

Long Weekend (Part 2)

Monday morning we woke to Lex jumping into bed between us at 6:15. He watched TV quietly for 10 minutes, when Loki's internal alarm went off and said "Lex is up. WAKE UP!" At this point she woke up and cried out for someone to come get her out of her crib. They sat quietly for 10 more minutes before leaving the room to go watch Toy Story in the living room. That lasted ...come on you guess...10 MINUTES! Wow you're good at this, yes 10 minutes before the fighting started over something. At this point Mad Dog and I gave up and we got out of bed. Breakfast was made and kids were feed. Pancakes, turkey bacon and Toy Story 2. I had a heaping cup of COFFEE, since I knew it was going to be a busy day, they way we were starting out.

Our plan was Elm Park in the morning for a little duck feeding, soccer and play time on the "Tree House" before heading off to get some kind of lunch for a picnic at Green Hill Park. Everyone got dresses, we packed backpacks and I some how managed to remember the Sunscreen (remember I'm the bad Mom that never remembers sunscreen, hats or anything else that is important for little kids to have). Everyone in the car. 

Elm Park is usually a good time, but Lex and Loki were having issues this morning. We think part of it was they were still a little beat from their fun filled day in Maine, the other is the other kids were not playing the way they wanted to play. Also, since we came later in the morning, the playground had time to heat-up making the slides and equipment too hot to play on for long. 

 

The ducks were not interested in our bread today so we attempted to move on to soccer. Lex was excited because there was a little boy who ran over when he saw us with our soccer ball,  but the little boy kept picking up the ball and not kicking it to Lex. This go old very fast and Loki of course got feed up when the little boy touched her ball - at that point we thought it best to leave Elm park with  a very important lesson learned - COME EARLY. 

We stopped at Panera Bread and grabbed sandwiches, waters, juice, milk and a cookie for our picnic. Green Hill Park was starting to get busy. We slipped to the back and found a little spot were we could spread our blanket and enjoy our lunch. Mad Dog and I splurged and got Lobster Meat sandwiches which were very yummy. The kids enjoyed grilled cheese and got a kick out of eating on the blanket. Lex even helped clean-up   before we headed home for a nap, which we all participated in.  

All in all it was a wonderful day, and we have the fine men and women of the Armed Services to thank for it. I hope everyone had a good day today, I know we did.