SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How much do I love that it snowed in Lodi this morning????? TRIPLE LOVE IT! This morning, about 7:15 it snowed in Lodi. This video was shot at school when the only people at school are teachers and office executive assistants (hi ladies)...and poor Matthew because he has to come with me and I go so early. Turn up the volume...that is Matthew's teacher saying "This is SO COOL" tons of times and I agree!


Here is Matthew trying to catch a snowflake!

STAR of the week!!!

This week Matthew was STAR of the week. He was SO excited! I mean he set out all of his things to take for show and share, filled out his questionnaire the minute he got it, and drew his self portrait in full color. He had been waiting for such a long time to be picked and it was finally his week!!

Monday morning he wakes up early, gets dressed, comes into the bathroom to bush his teeth and that is when I see it. PINK EYE! Now, I have been a teacher for seven years now and I know pink eye when I see it. I immediately tell Rich to look at his eye because I now know he cannot go to school and he needs to see a doctor to start eye drops right away. Rich, being the retail guy, actually has no experience at all with pink eye and informs me that he is fine, and take him to school. I simply said, "YOU ARE KIDDING ME, RIGHT????" Because I know how it is going to play out...he will get to school, his teacher will see it, send him to the office and make him come home immediately. But, Rich wasn't having it. So, Matthew goes to school. And by 9:30 that morning, we are calling my mom to come and get him because he cannot be at school.

You understand how devastating this was. The STAR gets to do everything during the week. He gets to get the lunch cards in the cafeteria. He gets to run errands with the friend of his choice. All of these things are incredibly important in the life of a first grader...and this first grader is now banned from campus until he has had 24 hours of antibiotics in his eye! He was heartbroken.

Here is where I will praise his teacher to no end. There are certain teachers who are perfect for a grade level and Matthew's teacher is exactly where she should be. She made up the two days he missed in the three days he attended school this week. He adores her and I am so grateful for that because she understood what he needed out of this week and was so willing to make it up to him.

The best part of the week was when Rich and I went into the class. We went in to share pictures and favorite stories. I read his favorite book to the class. He had brought his little dog to share, his Whitehorse snow globe, his photo album, and a snowman. So what started out to be a disaster, turned out to be a success.

I am growing to love all of the kids in his class. And now Rich can put faces to names.


Rich sharing his favorite stories.


Here is Matthew passing off the STAR folder to Logan for next week.

Our Weekend

Our weekend first started off with basketball. Matthew is a couple weeks into his basketball season and loving every bit of it. They have practices once a week and he has just as much fun at those as the actual games. After the game last weekend, we were gathering up everything and getting ready to go and he and some of his team mates just kept shooting baskets and would have probably stayed there forever if we had let them. I would love it if there was an open gym somewhere that I could just take him and a couple of friends and let them shoot baskets for hours. They would love it.

This picture below is of Ryan and Lily. Lily is five days younger than Ryan. They pretty much keep us entertained during the game. The snack together, play ball together, play mommy and daddy together...yes, that's right, and get into trouble together. She is adorable. Please notice the grins on BOTH faces and the hand holding.


After basketball on Saturday, Rich and I headed to Vegas for a sports show. It was incredibly relaxing. I read all four of the books I took (yeah me!) and got in a nice long nap. Rich came back to the hotel room after he was meeting with reps, ready for dinner, and I was apparently snoring. That is success in my book!!! Yeah me, again!

Since we stayed at the Mandalay, we decided to only walk the strip one of the nights due to the chilly weather and my forgetfulness to pack a jacket. I needed make-up, so we walked down to the Forum Shops at Caesars. I guess we have never really walked that much, for that long, outside on the strip and it really opens your eyes as to how FILTHY Vegas is. The streets were horribly gross. I now understand why we cut through billion dollar casinos to walk on their plush carpets. I felt I needed a tetanus shot when we got back. If I come down with Hepatitis, it was due to the streets of Vegas.

We stopped at the Bellagio and took these horribly tacky, tourist pictures with our phone camera. We looked like those people I usually make fun of. KARMA!! Inside the Bellagio Botanical Gardens, they had a fall theme with scare crows and cornucopias. They had this huge tree, with a face on one side. It moved, spoke, and smiled for cameras. The eyes even moved, which was a little to creepy for my taste, but I took a picture anyway!

Inside the Botanical Gardens in the Bellagio.

Us in front of some watering trees.

One of the trees in the gardens.

This would be the "freaky" tree. Seriously...a little creepy.

Us in front of the reservation counter at the Bellagio. Those are huge cornucopias behind us.


This is a picture of a display at the Four Seasons. This was right outside where we had out sports meetings and when we walked by each day, there was this overwhelming smell of sugar. The entire display is edible. Amazing!

Look-A-Like Day!

Today was Look-A-Like Day at school and Matthew and his little friend Ryan S. wanted to dress up together. When Ryan's mom came up to me and said they wanted to dress together, I immediately thought of the jerseys that Matt and my Ryan have for the Kings. And I thought it would be sooooo cute, because it says each of their names on the back of the jerseys. All in all, perfect!

Quick side note about Ryan S. This is how small Lodi is. When I had Matthew in the hospital, the last day I was there, right before I was checked out, they brought a mom in who had just had a c-section. I happened to recognize her because I had worked with her husband a few years earlier. Anyway, here we are, six years later and from sharing a hospital room to the boys being in the same class and friends. LOVE IT!!!!

Matthewpalooza

Well, I have a six year old. How freaky is that? Yes, this was the big birthday weekend and we made the best of it.

This is the last time I will post about Disneyland for a while. One, because frankly I think you are done reading about it and seeing the kids on the same rides over and over. And two, our season passes are done and we won't be purchasing them again due to the cost of having to pay for Ryan now. The happiest place on earth is also the most expensive place on earth.

We loaded up the car on Friday night and headed to Anaheim. Both the boys slept from Lodi to Fresno, woke up to eat dinner, and then went back to sleep. The end of the week must have caught up with them. When we arrived at DL at 11:15pm, everyone was WIDE AWAKE, so we headed across the street and decided to ride some rides. The park closed at 12:00am, so we were successful getting on some rides. It was nice to let the boys out and run around after being in the car all night. The best part of that night was the guys face at the entrance who scanned our passes and realized that it was our first entry of the day...at 11:30pm. I think that officially puts us in the crazy family of the year category.

Saturday was officially Matthew's birthday, so he proudly wore his Happy Birthday button for everyone to see. All the cast members said Happy Birthday to him and he had a hard time saying thank you. I told him if someone wishes you Happy Birthday, SAY THANK YOU! It later occurred to me that my children have been programmed to not talk to strangers...so, he was really following the rules.

Here is the big 6 year old!


Matthew got a camera from us for his birthday. When we went to West Virginia and Washington DC earlier this year, I gave him a camera I had won at school to use, but it really didn't take good pictures. He was so good with it though that we thought he could probably handle having one of his own. My niece Mikayla go a camera last year for Christmas and she loves taking pictures. I also remember my sister-in-law setting some ground rules right away for when it is appropriate to take pictures and when it is not. We did the same right away....thanks Stace!! I think I will let Matthew do his own post in a couple of days and I will let him share with you the pictures he took on his trip.

Here is Matthew trying to take a picture of Goofy and Goofy isn't letting him.



Here are some other fun pics from the trip.





This is Matthew's favorite "ride" in California Adventure. The rope swing.

Homework....The Never Ending Story.

Matthew is screwed. Is that rude? Okay, how do I put it another way...he's toast. He's a goner. His life is over. Done. Finished. Why? Because I am the homework checker. Not because I am "the teacher." It's because he has to do his homework when he gets home and I am the only one here to check it. So, he's screwed. Why? Because I am the teacher. I am mandated to check, correct, and teach. It says so on my diploma. And it should have said so on his birth certificate...but that is another story, for another time, for those parents who believe that a teacher should teach their children everything they need to know in life and think they have a free pass as a homework checker.

Matthew came home with sentences today. Take five spelling words, write five sentences. Simple, right? Totally. And simple is what he delivered.

I have a tent.
I get a pen.
I like the color red.

I looked over them and said. "These are sentences, but they are not good sentences." I told him that I was going to erase them and he was going to do them over again. I told him that my students can't write simple sentences for me, they have to write sentences that have details in them. I told him that it is not okay to do enough work just to get by, that I expect him to put more effort into his work and try harder. This was his response...

"But Mom, I am not one of your students. I am not in the fifth grade. And those were sentences!!!!"

So he wrote new sentences. I helped him think of sentences that had more details in them like, "I went to the pet shop to get a hamster." and "I set up a tent in the backyard to go camping." and "I have a good friend named Jeevan." OF COURSE, I had issues with him starting all of the sentences with "I", but judging by the look on his face and the meltdown that was to come on at any minute, I decided to skip that. There is always next week.

I had someone tell me one time that the reason Matthew is so smart is because I am a teacher. There is absolutely no truth to that. He's learned a lot because we have taught him. Those "teachable moments" that I have some days in my classroom, where I have gone completely away from what is in the text book, to describe and give details to explain to my class what the concept is....that doesn't get turned off when I come home. Some days it does....don't get me wrong. The thought of sitting with Matt and doing homework after I have corrected 90 papers and it's only Monday, is not appealing. But it's simple, his teacher isn't responsible for everything he learns. So yeah...he's screwed. Because teachable moments have no office hours.

Halloweeeeeeeen!

Happy Halloween. The two goblins of the Marini household were in store bought costumes this year (GASP!!!). I know, I know. The last couple of years I have made Matthew's costume and this year I totally gave in. But listen....he wanted to be a tornado. And as cool as that sounds and as cool as it would be with all the ideas going through my head....I still wasn't sure how I was going to do it. So, last week when Kathy and Terry, our fabulous executive assistants for Reese School, offered a M&M costume....I JUMPED ALL OVER IT! And Matthew seemed to be very satisfied being a giant piece of candy. So all were happy.

That brings us to Ryan. He wanted to be a skeleton. Then a spider. Then a skeleton. Then Buzz Lightyear. Then a spider. Then a skeleton. Then a spider. Then Buzz Lightyear. Do you get the idea? Ryan was a pretty much a day to day decision. And as much as I like to support his need to express himself in different ways...it was getting down the to the wire, so the $11.99 Buzz Lightyear costume won. Yeah Buzzzzzz!!!

Trick or treating was fun this year because both boys were able to walk up to the door by themselves, say the magic words, receive the candy from strangers, and move on to the next house while Rich and I stood at the end of the driveways yelling..."Don't forget to say THANK YOU!!" That was fabulous.

Yesterday we met the Locke's downtown and did a little Trick or Treating to get us in the mood.



The big boys on their own...


Here is the cat that adopted us for an entire block and walked with the boys to each house.


Ryan wanted to bring the cat home. (I think Daddy did too)


At Nana Sharon's at the end of the night. Ryan is in a sugar coma.

"FOOT" Reflexology

This morning Rich and I drove up to Sacramento to a foot reflexology place. I have been there once before and I was happy enough the first time, I decided to go ahead and make the drive back again to get some cheap foot rubbing.

I am not sure what was different about it this time. I don't know if my body was overly sensitive or if I was this lady's first customer of the day because it was pretty much the worst massage experience I have ever had. And by the way...it was the same lady who did my massage last time.

At the beginning of the massage I told the lady that my back was hurting due to how my feet were soaking in the tub and how the chair was reclined. There was absolutely no support to my back and it was like tiny little constant shooting pains. When I told her that I needed to move she looked at me with this blank stare. That probably should have been my first clue as to how my hour was going to go.

She started by rubbing my head and shoulders. Now let me explain to all of you that I enjoy hard pressure massages. So I tend to not say anything to the person because I don't want them to let up on pressure for the rest of the massage....just maybe in certain places. About three or four strokes into my neck and shoulder I think I screamed out loud. I opened my eyes in horror of the pain and the lady was smiling and said, "Too hard?". "YES!" I said. The rest of the time she spent on my shoulder area I was so tense that I seriously did not relax and I think it made it worse.

On to the feet/shins. When I get pedicures I have to tell whoever is doing it not to rub my shin areas. They are sensitive for whatever reason and it hurts like crazy. As she starts in rubbing the bottom of my feet, I am starting to relax because it feels good and I am thinking to myself...this is what I drove 40 minutes for. Just as I was fully relaxed, eyes closed, probably a minute to two from snoring, she moves to my shins and once again I think I screamed out loud. Let me just stop to explain this to you, the shoulder and the shin incident were so painful...It was as if she stood up and did a handstand on my shoulders and shins and put all of the weight her little 100 lb. body had and it went into the pressure of her hands that went into my skin. Again, my eyes flew open and I said, "That hurts!"....nothing, she does it again. "THAT HURTS!!!" FINALLY, a lady a couple chairs over from us says something in their native tongue and she lets off of the pressure.

At the end of my massage last time, she had me sit up and then she rubbed my back for about ten minutes. Which I loved. THIS TIME, apparently they have changed their routines and got these new chairs because she had me roll over onto my stomach and it looked like a massage chair. I was encouraged because I thought of how bad my back was hurting and how I could really use a quick rub down.....that was not what happened and somehow I think I will never be able to explain this so people understand what really went down....

As I am laying there, she starts to rub my back and neck. I am starting to think this $20 is going to good use because again, I really just showed up to have my feet rubbed. She continues to rub all over my back, but I realize that she is starting to use a little more pressure than before and it is starting to get a little uncomfortable. Again, hesitant to say anything due to out lack of our communication skills, I let her continue. I can feel her sitting on the edge of the chair, and then with what appears to be her elbow and all 100 lbs. of her, she begins to work her way up my back. I scream again. She can't hear me of course because my head is now face down. She works up one side of my spine and then down the other. I tell myself just get through this and she will be done. The hour is up and what really is left to do???? THE UNTHINKABLE!!!!

Right when I think she is done. I feel her sit up from the chair and I start to move to get up and pay to get the hell out of there. Then I feel it.....HER!! ON MY BACK!!!! The little 100 lb. lady is now sitting on my butt and she is thrusting her elbows into all parts of my back. Now, to be completely honest with you....I thought it was a joke. I thought to myself...I am on candid camera. The whole room is in on it. They are all carrying on in their conversation acting normal while they are secretly taping me and this lady who is on my back and torturing me. This is not happening. I again go to make some loud sound as a SOS for anyone to hear me and some over to help. Then she gets up. "You feel good?" she asks? I don't really know what expression I had on my face, but she left quickly to get me some hot tea. I looked around the room, again suspicious of everyone, and quickly go pay the lady at the front counter.

Never again.

Play Dates and Broken Hearts

Today Matthew had a play date. It is not the first that he has had, but it is the first where Ryan knew that he was not invited and he could not go. It's reality setting in. This is not going away anytime soon. Play dates will happen, hearts will be broken. As Ryan was crying crocodile tears while Matt left, he was yelling at me, "You're not a nice boy, Mom!!!"

I remember these days. My sister is four years older and I couldn't count up the times that she yelled from her bedroom to my mom or dad, "Can you please tell Heather to get out of my room, she is bothering us!" So I get this. I get what he is going through, and it will be tough, but one day Ryan will have his own friends and do his own thing.

I am off to play Wii with my little guy. As he was screaming and crying, I was offering everything I had to make it up to him. He finally took the bait. Off to play Toy Story Mania. My thanks to Kristin who came and got my big boy so that I could spend some speical time with my little boy.

Girlfriend

So I have this new girlfriend. I love her. Really love her. It was pretty much love at first sight. Ever since we "got together", we have pretty much been inseparable. Everywhere I go, she is not far from me. I go to her for a lot of things and she understands my needs like no other has before. We really have this immediate connection that it has taken YEARS for me to find. I love Rich and everything, but this is just a different kind of love. A new love. And we are going through all of those new relationship kind of moments where I am excited to see her each day, she travels with me everywhere I go, and she isn't embarrassed to be out in public with me at all. Sure people stare at us sometimes because they can't believe that we need to be together ALL THE TIME. For instance, we got a lot of stares at Disneyland because people just thought it was silly for us to be together so intimately while in line for a ride. They probably thought....you are with your family for crying out loud....you two knock it off. But I can't. I've tried. Maybe when the newness of our relationship wears off, like all relationships do eventually, I will not be so attached and in love with her .

What is nice about my new girlfriend, is that I don't have to share with Rich. You see, he has a new boyfriend too!