funforkids

 It has become increasingly harder for me to get to work lately.  Now working for almost 2 full months, my little one has decided he doesn’t like it when I go to work.  About two weeks ago the tears started coming and the protests, and the sobbing.  I swear there are days where my departure resembles the part in Titanic where Rose vows she “won’t let go”.   He says:  “No mommy I can’t let you go.  No Mommy-noooooo!”   My husband has to pull him away as he clings to my body as if he will never see me again.  I in turn go to work feeling horrible like the mother who has abandoned her baby.  Thankfully, the older one sleeps later, because if the two of them get together on this process, it will prove to be my downfall.  As it is, the older one will say EVERY NIGHT:  “Mommy, do you have to work tomorrow?’  When I answer yes, he says: “Can you skip it?”  Is it really so bad while I am gone?  The best is when they say they miss me or when they get on the phone and say:  “Mommy are you coming home soon?”  It breaks my heart.  I miss our trips to the park, and playing in the yard.  I miss splashing in the sprinkler and riding bikes in the street.  What I miss most though is the all day kisses and the hugs so tight.  AS I write this with tears building in my eyes, I have to stop myself and say:  this too shall pass.  They will get over it.  But will they?  Will I?  Ugh–this economy has ruined us.  Mommy’s all over the country are having to leave their babies and take jobs to help pay the bills and our kids are the ones who are really suffering.  ANYWAY… 

     So today, the three year old was in rare form and told me:  “Don’t you dare go to work!”  I held back my laughter and put on my straight face.  “I have to go to work baby” I said as I grabbed my shoes.  I managed to get one on and the other one he grabbed and sat on.  “No work!” he said.  I figured wrestling him for the shoe was not a good idea as it would be harder for me to calm him down PLUS it would wake the other kid and I didn’t want that to happen.  So, I walked away into the kitchen, one shoe on and one off with the hopes that he would just forget it.  I grabbed my jewelry and put it on and returned to the living room expecting him to be still sitting on the shoe, but to my surprise it was gone.  “Where’s mommy’s shoe buddy?”  ”You can’t go!” .  My husband walks in and he lets out a:  “I hate you Daddy-go back to work!”.  WHOAH nice greeting right?  It got worse from there.  I picked him up and held him. Kissed him.  Loved him. Then had to leave him crying and reaching for me.  =(  When he realized I was really leaving he yelled:  “Mommy I need a kiss.”  I gave him a kiss and he calmed down.  Thank GOD!   However, I don’t know how much longer I can handle this parting is such sweet sorrow business.  

I went to a block party today at a cousins house.  Each guest was asked to bring a dish, drinks, or deserts to help keep preparation to a minimum.  It was such a great idea to ask everyone to bring something so that the host and hostess didn’t have to bar-b-que non-stop.  After dinner everyone put out their desserts.  I had been walking around with one of the kids when I saw my husband gesture to me about dessert being served.  As I walked toward the table, my husband said:  “Your kid is eating dirt.”  I said:  “What?”  I looked on the table and saw a green plastic flower pot with a plastic garden shovel and what appeared to be dirt plus a rather large daisy drooping over the side (which apparently was standing straight up prior to the digging in and devouring.  I also saw a bunch of kids eating it like crazy.  I said:  “What is that?”  Someone had made a cake inside this ordinary garden bucket.  I imagine that it was ADORABLE before they dug into it.  As I checked out the plates–the cake did indeed look like dirt and it had worms inside:  GUMMY WORMS!   SO CUTE!  So I sought out its’ creator and got the info on how to make it.

     Here is what you will need (The amount will depending on how large of a container you are using.  She doesn’t have set cup measures: 

 One or more packages of OREOs (She used the low fat variety)

 One or more packages Jello Vanilla Pudding

  One container Sour Cream

 One or two containers of  COOL WHIP topping

  Two or three (depending on how crazy you want to go) packages of Gummy Worms 

  One plastic planting container

  One  Plastic garden shovel or Trowel

   A few artificial flowers to poke from the top of the “soil”

Here’s how you make it:

Place the OREO cookies (SANDWHICH AND CREME INSIDE–not the 100 calorie crisps which do not have the creme) in a blender and crush them until they are of a powder-like consistency.

In a separate bowl prepare your pudding and allow it to set.

 Once the pudding sets, add your sour cream and COOL WHIP mix together for a nice smooth consistency.  You will want to keep testing the cream to select your desired taste–add more or less COOL WHIP or Sour Cream till you achieve the taste you want.

Once you achieve your perfect mixture you are ready to assemble the cake

In a NEW, CLEAN, plastic garden flower pot, add a two inch layer of crushed cookie crumbs.

Follow up with an inch layer of the creme mixture.

Add a few Gummy worms throughout the creme layer –not too many!

Add a second layer of cookie crumbs and then alternate with the creme mixture and the gummy worms.  Start layering again with the cookie crumbs then creme and GUMMY WORMS –ETC…until you reach a good level in the flower pot.   

 End the layer with the COOKIE CRUMBS so the top of your cake will look like SOIL.

Place a few artificial flowers in the soil and assemble a nice little flower pot for yourself.  Add a Gummy Worm too if you’d like for good measure. 

Use your NEW garden shovel or garden trowel to serve.

Many thanks to the great chef at the ELSIE LANE block party for passing on her recipe. 

We had our yearly block party on Saturday August 9th to the great joy of my kids. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and everyone was out early setting up for a fun-filled day. As has been the tradition for the past 3 years, The Magic Circus was on hand to keep the kids busy. This year he brought the usual “jumpy castle”, sand art, a snow-cone machine, Cotton Candy, and Tattoos. He was also the DJ and the magician.   I would like to say that I was 100% happy about his service, but unfortunately I (and a few other parents) were not satisfied with his services this year. The first year we had him do the block party he was great–he had quite a few “helpers” on hand to monitor the comings and goings on of our kids–ensuring safety and fairness for everyone both in the jumpy castle and in the crafting areas. Last year my family did not participate as we were away on vacation so I can’t say how the service was last time, but this year many of us were unhappy. Perhaps our organizers were at fault in not specifying how many children would be in attendance (or atleast an estimate), or perhaps The Magic Circus is at fault for not being prepared for a large number of children, it was after-all a block party.  Either way, things were not run very well this year. Who knows, maybe one or two of his helpers called out sick.  Maybe he didn’t get the shipment of glass jars for sand art–I don’t know.  Anyway,  a few scuffles between angry parents were diffused and the day went on without major problems.  You know the old saying:  You can’t please everyone–it sure is the truth. 

     The magic show turned out to be a hit with the kids.  The magician may not know how many supplies to bring, but he sure knows how to make birds fly out of hankies, turn water into sand, and make a firey stick float in the air.  I say all of this with a half smile–It really was cute for the kids, and by the time he had performed his magic, they had already forgotten about not getting tattoos and cotton candy.  All in all, The Magic Circus does a good job.  I would just be sure to give him a FIRM ESTIMATE on the number of guests you will be having at your function prior to the function and make sure he is accountable for bringing enough supplies.  It’s just not a party without the cotton candy!  =)

 My family and I took a little staycation on Sunday. We were bored, the kids were feeling cranky and I just couldn’t possibly do the same old thing for yet another weekend so I said: LETS DO SOMETHING FUN TODAY!!! We decided we would go to a great little place called Adventureland which is located in Farmingdale (Long Island), NY. Once I told the kids where we were going they quickly shaped up so we could ship out. Its amazing how quickly two boys go from hitting each other to helping each other get dressed. My mom and dad had taken them to Adventureland about two weeks ago so they quickly rattled off all of the rides they wanted to go on with mommy and daddy this time. We got there around 12 noon (it opens at 11 a.m.) and the park was pretty empty so we were able to buy our tickets with ease and without the kids growing antsy on a long line. The prices were very reasonable– $19.99 for kids under 48″; and $24.99 for kids and adults over 48″;. I had just been to the local church bazaar and spent $40 for two all day bracelets which to me was a rip off because the bazaar only had 3 or 4 rides that my kids actually wanted to go on–it was such a waste of money. Adventureland’s PAY ONE PRICE (POP) bracelets cost ($19.99 and $24.99) enables the kids and adults to go on 30 something rides as many times as you want–It is so well worth the money and the trip. There are so many great rides for the little ones too–there are at least 25 rides (if not more) that are completely appropriate for my 3 and 5 year old boys. We had a ball! We hit the water rides first, then moved on to the obstacle course, the helicopters, the flying clowns, and I think almost every other ride that would take the three year old. My boys were having such a great time that We had to rip them off of a line and force them to eat lunch. They swore they weren’t hungry, yet they devoured the pizza we bought them as if they hadn’t eaten in a month. Adventureland has a great eatery which serves kid-friendly food like pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken strips, and fries. There was plenty of seating so we didn’t have the anxiety of finding a table (I HATE THAT!). If you don’t want to sit in the food court, there are also outside stands that have ice cream, drinks, chips, popcorn, and good old cotton candy. There are also lots of carnival games like basketball toss, ring toss, the watergun balloon breaking game (what’s it called?), bust the balloons with darts, and many more. There is a large arcade as well so bring the spare change. We stayed for about 4 hours, but believe me we could have spent 8 if my husband didn’t have to go to work that night.

My favorite part about the time we spent there was this: My sons, who are usually not very sweet to each other at home, were best friends. THE BEST OF FRIENDS. They were holding hands, hugging eachother and taking care of one another as they waited for their turns on the rides. I loved it. I absolutely loved it.

I highly recommend ADVENTURELAND as a great staycation spot.

For information on parties or group rates phone (631) 694-6868

Congratulations to my cousin Melissa (formerly Gayron) and her husband Paul (Antizzo) on the birth of their first child: Talon Reid Antizzo. Talon was born on August 7th 2008 and weighed in at over 9 pounds! Mom, dad, and baby are all doing very well. Talon was due into the world on August 5th but apparently wanted to stay in a bit longer. Aunt Jenny says: Talon is “so cute” and the biggest baby in the nursery. His Mommy is recovering well in the hospital and daddy is on diaper duty! I am sure that any day now Paul (the dad) will be signing Talon up for a NASCAR driving course so that his son will one day be racing his way to fame. For now, Talon will have to enjoy the comforts of his safe and secure car seat and the warmth of his mommy’s loving arms. God Bless baby Talon. I am hoping they will submit a picture for me.

The Feast at Our Lady of Grace Church is here again.  As usual I took Ryan and Michael for a few hours of fun and games.  I have to say that I was a bit disappointed in the set up this year.   I found that there really weren’t many rides for the boys.  There were a lot more rides for the older kids (the teens) and very few for the little ones.  The little kids rides included this Strawberry that is almost totally enclosed and moves like two miles and hour.  Each time Ryan and Michael passed me they were stone-faced with boredom.   There was a bus-type ferris wheel which was pretty cute.  Michael went on that one about five times in a row, and a firetruck ride which they went on a few times too.  Ryan disappeared with Grandma Ali for a while because the ‘baby rides” were boring to him.  Michael kept going between the bus and the firetruck rides.  Ryan and Grandma went on a ride called the paratrooper while I tended to Michael.  It was one of those suspended swing-type rides that whips you around.  Ryan came running to me afterwards and asked if I would go on it with him again.  Apparently Grandma Ali was done with the big rides.  Grandma took over the Mikey watch and I went with Ryan.  When we got to the ride they were pouring buckets of water on it…. yep someone had apparently lost their stomach on it.  I said:  Great–I will be the one who has to sit in the vomit swing!  After a brief clean up and a conversation with another parent on line, the ride was ready to go again.  Ryan and I got on and he nuzzled up close to me.  The ride started slowly as they boarded the riders, and once all were secured, the ride began to whip.  I have always loved the rides–ALWAYS!  But this time, I went into a mini panic attack.  My heart started to race and I got so hot.  My mind started racing and all I could think of was, Oh my God I have my five year old son on this ride and if this damn swing comes loose …. well, you get the idea.  It was terrible.  I didn’t let Ryan know that I was upset, but I definitely didn’t play up the fun factor because I didn’t want to have to go on  it again.  I began to pray and that calmed me down, but I decided that was enough of the big rides for me too.  The ride didn’t look that bad from the ground, but the force it has when it swings is very uncomfortable.  If you have any history of panic attacks DON’T GO ON THAT ONE!  Or if you have a bad stomach for that matter.  On a more positive note, the boys finally decided that they would try the big slide and then we took a few trips down that together and ended the night on a positive note.  The feast also had the usuals–the food, the tatoos, the picture booth, the sandart, and the other carnival games that promise you wonderful prizes should you be able complete the games of skill.  All in all we had a nice night.  Next year I will post it early–so you can check it out yourself.  It kind of snuck up on me this year.