Music to my ears

Ian picked the violin to play as his string instrument in 4th grade.  He had never played an instrument before or was able to read music.  He took his opportunity to learn very seriously and practiced all hours of the day.  At school, Ian's instruction happened once a week and somewhere between October and May (with lots of snow days in the Winter), Ian became a musician.

This past Thursday, we got to see Ian in action.  85 4th graders, many of whom were playing an instrument for the first time ever, came together and put on a concert.  It was awesome.  They sounded amazing!

Not sure why the focus goes blury  again and again, but you can hear the sound without a problem.

Ian had a front row center seat!

Ian's special guests who came to watch.



I loved watching Ian play.  My mom came in town for this concert and we got to see it twice -- once during the school day and again in the evening.  My in-laws came from Baltimore for the evening performance, plus my mom, Jeff and Sam.  I am pretty sure we presented a bigger cheerleading section than other families.  Love it!

Plumbing woes

We recently had an eye-opening experience with a company we thought we could trust.  We had a maintenance contract for plumbing (it has now been cancelled!) and found out the hard way, that the plumber sent to do a routine maintenance check was a sheister!  In every sense of the word, he was a crook and took advantage of us.

In a bit of good news, we had a policy with Dominion Power to cover the replacement of a hot water heater and also included coverage of the main water valve.  Kudos to me for signing us up for this a few years ago.  Both insurance policies are getting used and our plumbing/water issues are not costing us anything to fix besides a few phone calls (and hours spent) with the company we thought we could trust to get our hefty deposit refunded.  Fortunately my efforts were successful in getting the refund.

We put the claim in late on a Friday night with Dominion Power.  One of the companies Dominion Power works with who handles their service calls promptly TEXTED me on Friday night and asked how bad our problem was -- did we currently have water?  Did we have a leak?  Could I text him a picture?  Oh my gosh!  How great is this guy?  I replied back, yes, we have water, no we don't have a leak.  Please, please, please take care of those who don't have water first. 

I then get a follow-up text on Saturday asking if we will be there on Sunday (Yes!!  Sunday!!!) morning.  The guy arrived between 9:00am to 10:00am.  After the visit, he texted me again what our coverage exactly included. And texted me yet again to let me know when he'd back.  All of our communication has been by text on my cell phone.  How awesome is that???

The other day I got a text message letting me know it was time to make my next dental appointment.  They've done away with the post card and moved to texting for reminders.

I love that texting has now moved beyond my friends and includes service professionals.  It is fabulous!!  And its even better when the person you are texting with responds back instantly. 

Sam's most awesome prank

Sam did something that had us all laughing.  It was simply awesome of her to think of this, execute flawlessly!, sit back and watch the results.  Pure brilliance!

Each year, the night before the kids' birthdays, I wait for them to fall asleep and go across the street to Safeway.  I buy the biggest balloon I can find.  I'm talking like the balloons that cost $16 each.  I take it home, sneak it in to their room (while they are sleeping), so when they wake up in the morning (on their birthday), the first thing they see is this crazy-big balloon wishing them a happy birthday.  I've done this every year for each of the kids, since they were born.  Just something to make their day a bit more special. 

The balloons last for a good month after their birthdays.  So it is floating around the house, and can be found in various rooms depending on what the kids do with it.  A few days after Sam's birthday, Ian is downstairs playing on the Xbox and Jeff & I are sitting in the living room chatting on the couch.  Sam comes running up to us, with her hand on her mouth trying to keep the laughter from erupting out of her body.

Sam (whispering to me):  You are not going to believe what I just did...giggle, giggle.

Me:  What did you do?

Sam:  I clipped the balloon to the back of Ian's shirt. And then I ran away.  He doesn't know....giggle, giggle.

Me:  Oh, that's awesome Sam.... giggle, giggle.

Jeff (realizing something is going on):  What did you do Sam?

Sam (whispering to Jeff):  I clipped the balloon to the back of Ian's shirt...giggle...giggle.

Jeff:  Hehehehehehe.

Ian:  (FINALLY figuring out something is going on):  What happened to my shirt?

Ian is now running up the stairs towards us, while the balloon (this really, really, really big balloon) is trailing him.   Jeff, Sam and I bust out laughing.  Ian is completely clueless.

Gosh I love this girl and that she thought this up all on her own.  So incredibly hilarious!

This is a picture of the balloon that Sam attached to the back of Ian's shirt.

Sam's idea for a Father's Day Present

A couple of weeks ago, Sam and I are in the car by ourselves.

Sam:  I have an idea for a Father's day present for daddy.

Me:  Oh, what is it?

Sam:  Let's get dad a dog!  We will surprise him with it.

Me:  Sam, I love where you are going with this, but remember, we won't be around on Father's day.  We are leaving early in the morning to go to NYC.  And Daddy will be home without us.

Sam: Yes, that is why its perfect.  We give daddy the dog and then we leave.

At this point, I think Sam wants a dog more than I do.  As far as plans go, Sam's is pretty well thought out.  We all know Jeff does not want a dog.  With Sam's plan, we don't have to hear him yell about it.  By the time we get back into town, the little guy will have already grown on him.

My crazy shoe story

In my blog titled "Magical, part 2" I spoke of a crazy shoe story.  Here it is:

When I took Sam to Kohl's to get a pair of sneakers, we ran into Heather and her entire family (including her mom and stepfather!).  They were clothes shopping for her family as Mike's father had just passed away and the kids needed some appropriate clothing for the wake and funeral.  Gosh, I love Heather. She is truly an amazing person.  Not sure how she does it with 4 kids and multiple part-time jobs, but she makes it look easy and is always ready to lend a helping hand to a friend or her children's schools. She's one of those people that manages to fit 28 hours in a 24 hour day without breaking a sweat and always with a smile on her face.  She could give a master class in organization and multi-tasking.   Ok, enough about Heather...let's get on with the story.

Sam and I make our way to the shoe area.  She finds an awesome pair of skechers sneakers and is thrilled with the cushioned sole.  As we are leaving the shoe department to go check out, I run into Heather again and see her trying on these super-cute shoes.  I instantly fall in-like with them.  I personally don't need another pair of shoes, but I can't resist trying them on.  Yes, they are comfortable, look good and very reasonably priced.  I will take them!

 We are leaving to meet Jeff's family for dinner in about an hour.  I had a different outfit in mind, but decide to switch things up to wear my new pair of shoes.  When Sam and I walk in the house, Jeff sees the two boxes of shoes and questions the purchase.  "Sam got 2 pairs?"  (He would NEVER have a problem with this if I said yes.  If Sam needs 2 pairs, get Sam 2 pairs).  However, the extra pair of shoes was for me.

Me: No, I found a pair of shoes too!

Jeff:  I didn't know you needed new shoes.

Me:  I don't.  But that's why I am never in a panic over shoes.  I am always one-step ahead of being barefoot.  :)

Anyway, we get to Cafe Deluxe for dinner in Bethesda and in the middle of the meal, Sam has to go to the bathroom.  I go with her and while waiting for her to come out of the stall, a woman next to hers comes out and says to me the following:

Lady in the bathroom:  Oh, I thought it was my daughter that walked in.  She has the same pair of shoes as you!  In fact, I have them too and my daughter-in-law too!  We all have them.  We love those shoes.  We get them each year, in different colors.  They are sooo comfortable!

Me:  I know!  I just got these 2 hours ago.  I'm excited about them too!

Lady in the bathroom:  You are not going to believe this.  My daughter paid $200 for her pair!  I got mine for $79 at Macy's.  How much did you pay for yours?

Me:  $39 at Kohls, plus, I had Kohl's cash and a $10 off coupon. So they were practically free.

Lady in the bathroom:  What brand?  Is it Ralph Lauren?

 Me:  Yes (taking off the shoe to confirm), it's Chaps...that's Ralph Lauren's brand.

Lady in the bathroom:  Oh my G-d!!!!!  Where is there a Kohls???  Where is the nearest Kohl's???

Me:  I don't know, I come from the Fairfax area.

Lady in the bathroom leaves in shock.

I'm feeling pretty good about this shoe purchase.  What a great deal!

Yep, these are them.  :)

Cool new gadget alert.

 At the end of April, I made a very much needed trip to go home and spend a long weekend with my family.  By myself.  From Friday morning to Monday afternoon, I had a great time seeing everyone and spending a few days at the beach with my mom and Lori.  I loved my time and absolutely cherish whenever I get the opportunity to be around them.  My family are the best!  It's hard having the distance we have between us.  That's why its important to me that I go down at least once a year, on my own, and get some one-on-one quality time.

I stayed one night at my Dad and Rita's house.  Since I had been there last, Meghan got a new shower head in her bathroom.   It has to be the coolest thing I have seen in a long time.  The shower head has a display showing the temperature of the water.  And it is color coded based on how hot it gets.  So incredibly cool!  I believe it changes from purple to red when it hits 110 degrees. 

Just think how neat it would be to turn on the water and not ever have to worry you didn't get the water hot enough or it was too hot before you stepped in.  You can find your perfect temperature you like, get the water going and step in to a perfect shower time and time again.  How awesome would that be?

I have no idea if this shower head has been around for a long time (and maybe it has), but I am so happy to have discovered it.  Just when you think that something can't be improved any more than it is, this comes along.  :)

Display reads:  104 degrees.

Display reads:  110 degrees.

Time to Party, Part 2

Birthday palooza is now officially over!

Ian decided he wanted to do a birthday parrty at Climb Zone in Laurel, MD.  Due to the distance (about an hour each way), I couldn't expect his friend's parents to drive that for a birthday party. I told Ian he could pick his closest 5 friends and we would take everyone.  Three kids in Jeff's backseat, three kids in my backseat.  I was banking on the fact that one boy wouldn't be able to make it.

I love this place!  The cool thing is that it is indoors and offers a very non-traditional version of rock wall climbing.  Instead of the usual walls, you get to climb all sorts of various textures -- Lincoln Memorial, Eiffel Tower, Tetris, Soccer Field, Alice in Wonderland theme, Route 66, Bookcase, tires, ropes, Skateboard ramp, outside of a building, etc.  It is never ending all the various things you can climb.  It is a visual feast for the eyes!  Jeff even climbed too!  

It is well worth the drive and the staff is always so super nice.  You couldn't ask for a better experience.   We reserved one of their indoor tents, ordered food from 3 Brothers Pizza and had Jeff's parents join us.  In a extra nice touch, Susanne and her son Dagan joined us for pizza and cake.  Unfortunately Dagan had just had eye surgery and was under strick orders to not do physical activity.

Each year I tell the kids, "That's it, I'm done doing birthday parties.  You can each invite one friend and do some kind of experience with them (ie baseball game, go-karting, afternoon tea, spa, etc).  And each year, we end up doing a formal party.  This year, however, we did keep it on the small side and it turned out awesome.  Sam had 4 friends and Ian had 4 friends.  Both parties cost almost identical in price and both kids were thrilled with how awesome each party was.  Dare I say it?  This years' birthday parties were a blast for me too.  I really enjoyed how we celebrated.  I wouldn't even mind if we did this same thing again next year.  Sam loves the Climb Zone as much as Ian.  I could see myself suggesting a dual birthday party (we have yet to do that!) and renting a van for all the kids.  :)   No, that's crazy talk!  We are done having birthday parties.  Done.  Really.  I'm serious. Sort of.

How cool is this wall?????  That's Ian and his friend.

Sam on her way down.

Ian and his friend scaling the United States

Jeff and Sam scaling Tetris

Up close and personal to Tetris

Jeff scaling the fifty states.

It's Spidey Sam!

Grandma and Sam

Look at me!

All done.  :)