End of the Year Wrap Up: 2018 Edition

I am totally amusing myself with today's blog.  I haven't written consistently in a very long time.  So sporadic through 2018 and I'm a bit embarrassed that this will only be my 32nd post this year.  In my heyday, I never missed my pattern of every other day and easily wrote upwards of 130 to 160 posts a year.  I can't start something and not see it thru.  And my end of the year wrap up post follows a very consistent formula on how I like to end the year. Even when I don't feel like writing and am not inspired, I still need to do my ending post.  I find it very fascinating what I obsess over and what I could care less about.

This past year was a huge one for us.  Ian reached the milestone in the Jewish religion that every kid and their parents stress over and get anxious and excited about all at the same time. Ian became a Bar Mitzvah in May.  He did an amazing job and made Jeff and I very proud.  If I have to give one highlight to 2018, this undoubtedly is it.

I am constantly in awe that I am a mother to a 10 year old and a 13 year old.  There is so much more they can do for themselves.  One of the better milestones we get to experience is that a babysitter is no longer needed; even when we go out at night.  It's not like Jeff and I are always on a date night -- far from it -- but the few times we did have evening plans that did not include the kids, we were comfortable to leave them home alone.  Given that we do not have family close by to babysit, hiring a babysitter gets very costly.

Another year has flown by and I hope I've done a better job of keeping up with the hustle and bustle of our lives.  Ian pretty much handles his social life now and I just check in with the various parents to make sure they are aware of what the boys are planning.  I never thought I'd be "that" parent who questions and monitors everything, but somehow I've become her.  It's true what they say, you shouldn't be your kid's best friend; you need to be a parent first and foremost.


Travel this year:

March:  Weekend in Pennsylvania for Alexa and Lia's B'nei Mitzvah
March: Niagara Falls (Canada side) and Pittsburgh for 5 days
April:  Susanne and I took the boys to NY for the day for Sam's Bar Mitzvah party
May:   Robyn in Orlando for 4 days for Meghan's graduation from College
June:   Pennsylvania for the day for Uncle Bernard's party
June -July:   Ian and Sam in Orlando for 15 days
July:  Jeff and Robyn overnight in Pennsylvania for Chelsea's party.
July- August:  Both kids at Camp Ramah for 27 days
August:   Robyn in MA and VT for 2 days
September:  Ian in Nofolk for the weekend for Elijah's Bar Mitzvah
September:  Robyn in Orlando for 5 days
November:  Ian and Robyn in Pennsylvania and NYC for the weekend for Jonah's Bar Mitzvah
November:  Week in Myrtle Beach for Thanksgiving

I always think that we do very little traveling and while it's true we are gone hardly ever for more than 2 or 3 days at a time, and rarely as a family, we do manage to get out of town if all it requires is a road trip.  Most of our reasons for getting anywhere in 2018 involved an invitation of some sort and us accepting.

One of our most favorite trips was to Niagara Falls.  We went during the kids' spring break and unfortunately some of the stuff we would do wasn't operating yet for the season, but it mattered very little as we had a great time.   Looking at the Falls never gets old.

This year I spent only 1 day in NYC and saw two shows:  Summer (based on Donna Summer's life) and The Other Josh Cohen.  Both were very enjoyable and it made for a very fun and long day in the Big Apple.  

We also did not make it to the beach this past Summer.  It was just too much on top of the Bar Mitzvah and something had to give.  So far its looking promising that we will be able to return to OC, NJ with my cousin and her family this Summer.

Ian began his 2nd year of middle school with no struggles and instantly found himself asking a girl out on a date and getting cast the staring role of the school play, "Rock of Ages".  What an exciting time for him. The relationship with the girl never went beyond the first date, but he can now say he's done it and it did go well.  However, they decided it would be better to be friends.

Samantha is having a much better time with her studies in 5th grade.  The right teacher is everything!  Samantha's teacher this year is new to the school and has been fantastic working with Samantha.  We do plan to schedule testing with a reading specialist to see if Samantha has something specific that can be diagnosed rather than waiting for her to fall below grade level before the school system will intervene.  Horseback riding is still at the top of Sam's list of activities she enjoys.  In a most wonderful turn of events, Sam decided to register with Ian's drama group through George Mason University and also do acting.  If you ask me, this is where Sam is truly going to shine.  The girl can be so dramatic and just needs the right vehicle to let it go free.

I have to say, I am most looking forward to the time I will have with Jeff from 1:30pm to 5:00pm every Saturday from February to June while the kids are at their drama program together.  He has plans for us to go grocery shopping or to Costco or wash/vacuum the cars, or clean the house.  While I have plans for us to have a late lunch, or early dinner or go to a movie if the timing works out.  Ha!  Maybe we can compromise and take turns checking off items on each of our lists.

My job at the preschool is still going great.  The women I work with are truly wonderful and so much fun to be around.  And in the best update I have from the beginning of 2018, I am most pleased to write that I no longer work for the Crazy Man.  It was perfect timing to walk away when he moved to Chevy Chase, MD to live in a retirement community.  I do talk to him from time to time and enjoy his stories a lot more now on how he is driving others bonkers.  I've continued my 5:30am workouts 3x a week.  The camaraderie I have with this group of women who show up at 5:30am is very special.  They make it worth it to drag myself out of bed on those cold mornings.

Jeff's job continues to give him opportunities to shine on some of their most challenging projects.  He enjoys his work, comes home at a reasonable hour (most of the time) and is in a great mood.  There is little more you can ask out of a job.

One of the most surprising developments of 2018 is Jeff's desire to cook and bake.  Each week Jeff takes the time to research new and interesting recipes and cooks us dinner on Saturday night, complete with a dessert.  The kids and I are pleased to report that the vast majority of dishes he attempts are winners and yummy!  Jeff now makes homemade pasta!  Really.

Lucy is still a key member of Team Toppall.  She remains as sweet as ever and loves to cuddle with all of us.  She has her routine of when she will jump in bed with Jeff and me (somehow she knows when it is 4:30am!) and loves to put herself to bed each night in Ian's bed.  Sam's big thing is to snuggle with her on the couch.  Lucy loves us all very much and we can not get enough of her.  I am pretty sure if we could be guaranteed a dog as sweet and amazing as Lucy is, Jeff would be the ring leader in bringing home another rescue.


The year ahead in 2019:

I realized as I was writing this that I surround myself with amazing women.  From working out, to working at the preschool, to friends I have from the MOMs group I was in from way back, to friends from the preschool years, to friends I have in Orlando, and other friends I have met along the way, I am most fortunate. I feel so blessed to have these women in my life and look forward to my time I spend with them.  They make the dark days brighter and give me many reasons to smile.  I am fond of saying, it takes a village, and my village is full of the most awesome people ever.  I can't think of a single one who I wouldn't answer the phone for in the middle of night and go help them or know they would do the same for me.   As 2019 gets underway, I look forward to continuing to grow these friendships.

Ian and Sam are registered for their usual month-long stay at camp this Summer and I am hoping that Jeff and I are able to spend a week to go somewhere.  Fingers are crossed that we can make this work.

I am enjoying my time in the afternoons not having to do my 2nd part-time job that day.  Its amazing how much  the day feels less hectic not having to run around every single minute from job to job to activity to activity.  In 2019, I hope to build in more walks with Lucy during these afternoons, getting fresh air and giving us both a chance to stretch our legs.  There is no reason I should not be able to do this. I am hoping by writing this, I will be held accountable.

My new thing for Fridays (my free day from preschool) is to go the movies.  By myself!  Sometimes I get friends to join me, but if its not possible, I will go on my own during the late morning and before the kids get home from school. I am definitely keeping this up in 2019.  Going to the movies has to be one of my most favorite things to do.


My New Year's Wish:

I wish for all of us to be compassionate and less judgy.  Give someone a hug if it looks like they need it, lend an ear if someone needs to be talk.  I have found most people just want to be heard.  May 2019 bring us all happiness, many reasons to laugh, and good health.  Happy New Year!

It doesn't get much better than this.

Ian had such an insanely amazing day on Friday, October 19th that you couldn't help but smile being around him.  It was definitely one for the record books.

Ian's middle school is doing a production of "Rock of Ages".  Competition is fierce to not only get a role, but to perform in the play at all, even as a minor player.  There's auditions on acting, singing and if you manage to get a call back, dancing.  Approx. 225 students try out and only 50 or so get a part.

Just a side note:  Ian tried to get a part in last year's play, "Little Mermaid", but didn't make the cut.  He made lemonade out of lemons and volunteered to do lighting.  However, he quickly found out that lighting wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  And he still had 6 more shows to work after this realization.  :)

Ian worked hard on his audition and made it very known to us that he really wanted this part.  It's the part of Lonny, who is the narrator of the show.  Lonny is described as the guy who commands the audience and owns the stage.  He is friends with the best people and everyone wants to be friends with him.  Everyone loves him.  Ian's drama teacher said, we want this to be the most likeable character of the show.

Ian finally heard back on Friday afternoon the results.

How's that for an awesome result?   Top line billing!  OMG!   Ian came home and couldn't stop jumping up and down.  To see this level of excitement was contagious and soon, I was jumping up and down with him.   Way to go Ian!  He is going to make an awesome Lonny!

But wait, there's more!

The previous week Ian asked a girl out for the first time.  Ever. !!!!   His date was Friday evening, going to their school's high school football game.  He said the date went really well and he was excited to report that he held her hand -- in front of the whole school to see.  How's that for making an announcement to everyone that you are together?!?!  He also said she looked cold and he offered her his hoodie to put on.  She had a coat on and now Ian's hoodie too.  Ian is in 57 degree weather with just a short sleeve shirt.  He is silently thanking his parents that we made him put jeans on and not wear the shorts he was planning.    So Ian had everyone coming up to him (even high schoolers who he didn't even know) congratulating him on getting the part of Lonny (it's a really BIG deal!) and then seeing him with a girl he likes.   He couldn't have been happier than if we told him we were putting a go-kart track in our back yard.

First date ever!   And it landed on the same day as Ian getting the role in the play.  Talk about an awesome day.

I am so happy for Ian. He has come far from just one year ago at this time, he'd come home every day from school and announce that he was dying.  Every time he walked into another class he'd either get nauseas, his back would hurt, he'd have a headache and lots more other ailments.  His transition to middle school was a rough one. It was touch and go there for a while on if he was going to survive 7th grade. ;)  

With 8th grade, it appears Ian has found his groove.  He has a great group of friends and being a theatre nerd is not such a bad thing.   Between now and President's Day Weekend in February, Ian will be spending almost every day working on either his school play or the musical he is in with his AFYP (acting for young people) group.  I love that he has the confidence to do this and getting up in front a whole theatre full of people is not intimidating.

This girl he is interested in is a very lucky young lady.  I hear from those in the know (ok, Ian), that he will be getting date #2 in the works.  Now, I just need to figure out a way to meet her.

Writing.

So I haven't felt very inspired to write lately.  I've spent some time thinking about why and can only come up with the following theory - Writing to me was an avenue to process all the crazy stuff we had going on with the kids and generally living life.  Many days I felt like I was on a high-speed train and there was no getting off.  Every time I turned around, a new crazy situation was occurring or something that should've gone as planned, didn't.  I needed to get it all down on paper before it too quickly became a blur.

Writing was my way of moving on.  Documenting all these little moments and the big ones too so we'd have record of them to look back on when the kids got older.  I never want to forget some of the more outlandish experiences (flying with the kids when they were 2!, taking them to the zoo when they really didn't want to be there, Ian at the dentist, working for The Crazy Man), just like I don't want to forget our wonderful traditions (apple picking, ice cream on the first day of school).  And along the way, there were some very funny moments (accidentally dropping Ian in the trash can, Sam telling Ian that he needs to stop talking because she was going to pass out from his bad breath), the special days (Ian's Bar Mitzvah, my trip to England/Portugal, adopting Lucy) and hitting milestones (getting braces, learning to ride a bike) deserve their place too.

But lately, our life has become so much "easier' (for lack of a better term).  The kids have become very independent and can do so much on their own, without assistance from me and Jeff.  We can leave them alone at night and go on a proper date.  They can prepare simple meals for themselves, and showering is most definitely a solo activity not needing our assistance.  All of our potty training issues FINALLY became a thing of the past.  The kids have wonderful friends with very little drama that normally associates itself with adolescence.  Sam's behavior has vastly improved and she has become a fabulous little person to be around.  Life just feels more comfortable.  It's like this is how it's meant to be lived and I don't count the minutes until Jeff comes home at the end of the day to rescue me.

I still very much want to document the day to day - it's the best form of a diary I'll ever manage to keep, but I need to be inspired to write.  And I just haven't been until now. Something has happened very recently and my first thought was, wow, this day needs to be written about.  So I'm back at the computer and getting back in my groove.  Stay tuned...

Back to the daily grind

And just like that with a snap of the fingers we are back to school and all the craziness it involves.  We had a very eventful first day.  I received a text from Ian approx. 1 hour after school starts telling me that one of his springs in his braces broke.  The spring sprung is how I was referring to it.  I called the orthodontist and the best possible option to get it fixed was at 2:00pm later that day.  On Ian's very first day of 8th grade, he missed the last hour of school.  Ugh.  This so wasn't on our schedule.   We went from 0 to 60 in no time flat in going with the flow while being thrown a curve ball.

When Ian arrived at the orthodontist, it took 4 technicians all working on his mouth for a solid hour to figure out how to fix the problem so it wouldn't happen again.  You can imagine Ian's level of joy at having 4 sets of hands hovering over his mouth, all holding various dental instruments.

Samantha had a great first day of school and really likes her teacher.  This makes me really happy.  Because having to convince Sam to go to school in the mornings is not my idea of fun.  Due to enrollment over the Summer, Sam's school added a fifth 5th grade class. She got an awesome teacher with only 24 students in her class.  So fantastic!

We ended the day on a sweet note and continued our tradition of ice cream on the first day of school.  This year it was Samantha's choice on where we went and Dairy Queen it was.  Yum!

First day of 8th grade!!

First day of 5th grade!!!

So. Not. Happy.

Dairy Queen for the win!

Our countdown has already begun...just another 179 days of school left before summer vacation.

Summer 2018

Summer is in full swing!  We kicked off the start of our break with a wonderful visit from Max.  Max is my cousin's son who is 6 weeks younger than Ian.  The boys are like two peas in a pod and it's always a pleasure when we get to spend time him and his family. Max is a huge Phillies fan and Ian loves the Nationals.  It was serendipitous that the Nationals was having a home game against the Phillies during one of the nights Max was with us.   Other than rain the first 20 minutes or so, the evening was gorgeous -- no humidity and high 60s.  Yay for us!

The kids just came back from 2 1/2 weeks in Orlando, hanging with my side of the family.  Their visits are always special and they love spending time with their relatives.  This year we tried something new and Ian and Sam flew back by themselves. Success!  Southwest doesn't require the unaccompanied fee for kids ages 13 and older.  :)

And in just 2 weeks, we drive up to Palmer, MA for the kids to go Camp Ramah.  Ian and Samantha will be there from July 25 to August 19.  Ian and Samantha have been looking forward to returning for another summer and they are thrilled that all their favorite friends have been assigned to the same bunks.

Let's do the math -- out of 9 weeks of Summer, the kids will be away for a little more than 6 weeks.  It is nice to have a break and being able to take it easy, especially after all the running around we do during the school year, but I do miss the kids.  The house is so quiet when they are not here.

Since I am no longer working for the Crazy Man and the preschool is closed for the Summer, I have lots of time during the day to fill.  Jeff and I cleaned out our utility room and I binged watched all 6 seasons of "The Americans".  What a great show!

I came up with the idea to repaint several rooms in our house.  After being in our house for 14 years, we've never repainted and it was beyond time to freshen up the place a bit.  Jeff and I aren't quite on the same page with what I want to do, so now I'm not repainting.

So far I haven't run out of things to do.  I spent a few days creating the photo album from Ian's Bar Mitzvah.  And I finished the yearly photo books I do for each of the kids. I cleaned out my email inbox (13,000 emails received, 22,000 emails sent -- all gone!). I keep seeing a closet, drawer, cabinet or area in the house to organize and declutter.  I think I've hit every single one of them by now.  I hate clutter!   I've met some friends for lunch, taken Lucy to the vet and other errands, including presenting a letter to Congressman Connolly's office with other moms letting him know its wrong separating kids from their parents.  Oh, and I took a trip to the National Zoo to see Moke, the 9 week old baby gorilla.  What a cutie!

I know I should be embracing the peace and quiet when the kids aren't here, but I really do enjoy being with them, especially when we can do stuff and have fun. It's nice to have some time taking a break, but I don't think I achieved a good balance this Summer.  6 weeks within a 2 month period being apart from Ian and Samantha is a little too long.   Please remind me I wrote that when we are back to living la vida loca in the Fall.  :)

Birthday freebies!

It pays to get older!   It has been a delightful surprise to receive so much free stuff from all the loyalty programs I've registered with over the past years.  Over the past 6 weeks, the offers have been flying in.  And since these are all places we frequent anyway, getting something for nothing makes it all the sweeter.

Lettuce Entertain You Restaurant group (Wildfire):  $15 credit

Chick-fil-a: a free item

Pei Wei: free entrée

Red Robin: free burger

Silver Diner:  free entrée and dessert

Cava: $9 credit

Uncle Julio's: $25 credit

Noodles & Co:  free rice krispy treat

Fox Restaurant Concepts: free dessert

Maggiano's:  $10 off when you spend $30

Starbucks: 1 free food or drink item

Kohl's: $10 credit

Soft Surroundings: $20 off when you spend $75

Regal Cinemas: free popcorn


Wow, right?  How fun to be the birthday girl!

47 Candles

10 days ago was my 47th birthday.  It was a great day with Jeff and we enjoyed a delightful evening spent at Oyamel for dinner, followed with a walk around the Wharf in D.C.  The city has done a great job revitalizing the area and the new Wharf is beautiful.

Look at this amazing sunset!  

Something has gotten into Jeff and he decided to start cooking for me*.  The night before my birthday he made from scratch Gluten Free Brioche Bread so he could make me French toast the next morning for breakfast.  It was delicious!  And then the day after my birthday Jeff went to great effort to make me my most favorite dish, from scratch, Gluten Free Gnocchi.  He paired it with brussel sprouts as a side. Wowee!!!   Both dishes were amazing.  I think Jeff surprised even himself on how well everything turned out.

Jeff made this bread and turned it into French toast!!

Jeff made this gnocchi with pesto sauce!!

But wait, there's more!

A a few days later and Jeff decided he wasn't done yet in the kitchen.   Check out this super cute text exchange we had (hopefully he doesn't get upset with me for sharing this):

   How wonderful!  And yummy! The vegetarian risotto was amazing.  And Jeff made a cheesecake too (peanut butter cheesecake with a chocolate chip cookie crust); all gluten free!  I am guessing all those cooking shows on the Food network is paying off.  And I am more than happy to be his food tester.

If this cheesecake was an item on a menu, it would be a best seller!

*There has been no mention of the kids enjoying Jeff's gourmet dishes, because they were in Florida at the time.  Jeff has said he will make the gnocchi again for the kids to have.  Apparently that has been his easiest dish to master.

Samantha and the violin

Samantha attempted to learn to play the violin this past year in 4th grade.  Even though she said she'd practice daily, we never saw her pick up the violin even once during the school year.  When asking her why she wasn't practicing, she said because she thought it would be more fun.  Ugh.

So it would come as no surprise to anyone that by the time Sam's strings concert was performing at the end of the year, we weren't expecting a masterpiece.   And it didn't disappoint in the least.  In fact I think the music teacher knew the 4th graders needed help and combined all 3 grades that play strings into one performance.

Samantha gave us the heads-up that she and her friend were being seated all the way in the back row.  The many rows were all at the same level and there were a lot of them.  So seeing Sam perform was going to be difficult at best.   The girls didn't follow instructions very well and when they saw two open seats up in front, they helped themselves to a very highly visible placement.

When the music teacher saw where Sam and her friend picked to sit, they quickly got moved back to their original seats.  But not before I was able to get some great pictures of them.

And this is where she got moved back to.

Due to the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade coming together to play at the Strings concert, the auditorium was packed.  Standing room only and everyone was packed in there like sardines.  I had to go early to drop Sam off and my plan was to save seats for Jeff, Ian and me.  Even 40 minutes before the performance start time, every single seat was taken.  And many more people were walking in behind me looking for seats too.  I finally found one seat and was able to find a seat for Jeff a few rows back. Ian took one look at the packed room and decided to walk back home.

Here's the funny part to this story:

When the concert was over and Sam asked where Ian was, we told her when he saw how crowded the room was, he walked back home.  Sam was less than pleased that Ian missed her big concert.  She said she had to sit through 3 years worth of Ian's concerts and plays and it wasn't fair that he missed hers.  Samantha came up with a plan to even the score.  She was going to play for Ian when she got home and make him listen to her.  And this is where we finally hear Sam play and realize just how bad she is.  Remember, we never got to hear her practice so this was all new to Jeff and I too.

Yep, that's bad!  However, this wasn't even one of the songs that Sam performed in the concert.  I requested Samantha to play the music she played earlier in the evening at school.  Sam's reply?  "I can't.  I lost the folder with that music a long time ago."  Ha!

And with that, we packaged up the violin and got it ready to return.  Samantha's musical career has officially ended.

My night with Barry!

There are few musicians who can put on a concert and I would know every song they perform.  Billy Joel, Barbara Streisand, and P!nk come to mind, along with Barry Manilow.  My mom is a big Barry fan and I grew up listening to his music.  After all, he writes the songs the whole world sings.  ;)

Barry Manilow came to town several weeks ago and I had the amazing opportunity to see him perform from Row A.  That's the first row!!  OMG!  And even though Barry is 75 years old, he can still belt out the notes and put on a fantastic show.  It was a great concert!  And having these amazing seats made it a crazy-awesome evening!

Barry did this really neat thing where he had video projected of him playing "Mandy" from the 1970's and then he joined in and did a duet with his younger self singing and playing the piano.

Scroll down for some video from the concert.  :)

"I write the songs" :

"Copacabana" :

"I made it through the rain" :

 What a nice way to spend a Friday night!

Cutting the cord

I recently looked closely at our Verizon bill and discovered among the many fees we are paying for Internet, TV and our home phone, was more than $60 a month to rent those cable boxes that hook up to every TV.  This only covered the set-top boxes, not the actual tv channels or anything else.  23 years of paying that each month!  Stop the madness!  Our Verizon bill is ridiculously high and for the longest time I've wanted to do something about it.

I got inspired to start researching our options when one evening, Jeff said to me, with the kids away for so much of the summer, let's see if we can bring our FIOS tv channel package to the lowest one they offer and save a little money.  I replied back with, let's get rid of them altogether.  There has to be a more reasonable solution.  We have friends who have said goodbye to FIOS and cable many years ago.  But, they don't care about having live tv and is satisfied with streaming shows as they are posted.  The only way this was going to work for us is if we could still watch TV live as it aired.  We needed to have the same channels we had with FIOS.  It needed to be a mostly seamless process if we were going to give FIOS the boot.  We are family that LOVES our TV.

As for getting rid of our landline, I needed to find a company that would port our home number. This would only be successful if we kept the same phone number.  We briefly thought about getting rid of the landline altogether and only use our cell phones, but too many people have our home # and we still use it quite a bit.

I am happy to report that I was victorious with everything.  We've officially gotten rid of Verizon providing our services for our home phone and tv.  We still have them as our internet provider but only because I haven't found a better alternative.

Our landline is being provided thru Vonage, it's a VOIP (voice over internet protocol).  We still have the same phone number and all of the features that we had before (voicemail, caller ID, call forwarding).

I found a few different companies that offer live TV streaming through a Roku.  Our first attempt was with DirectvNow.  It had every channel we wanted.  However great the price was and the live tv channel offerings, it wasn't reliable and it didn't work more than it did work.  It was frustrating and Jeff was ready to stop this little experiment I was undertaking and keep paying the big bucks to Verizon for FIOS.  We took to calling it "DirectvNever" when speaking about how the transition was going.

Fortunately there are no contracts and it's a month to month arrangement.  I went back to the drawing board (in this case google) and found a different company.  YouTubeTV had all the local channels we wanted and the sports channels Jeff loves, but it was lacking the food and entertainment channels we needed.  So another quick search gave me the idea to try Philo.  Between the two streaming companies, we had every channel we needed.  And even better, these two Internet companies work!   The streaming is flawless and we can do everything we did with Verizon, including recording our shows and watching them later.

We've quickly adapted to our new set-up and the money we will be saving each month is pretty spectacular.  I love technology and love it even more when it works.

A year of growth

I am way behind on writing my blog.  No excuses or reasons why I haven't been writing, it just hasn't been happening.  I guess its good that I don't feel obligated or burdened to keep it going.  It is what it is.

However, I do love that this has become a diary of sorts for me. I enjoy documenting the small and big things that happen in our lives.  Because its all of these moments that make up our years.  I have experienced that as the years fly by (time really does go fast), most of the day-to-day becomes a blur.  When you leave one stage and enter another, your whole world becomes that stage at that very moment.  It's so easy to forget what came before.  My family and I love being able to look back and remember the craziness, the happiness, and how far we've come from the more challenging times.

In an attempt to catch up on the last several weeks, here goes:

Ian's Bar Mitzvah project had a phenomenal ending.  He wanted to participate in a walk and raise money for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) in honor of his grandmother (my mother) who has Type 1 diabetes.  We formed a team and walked on June 3rd in Washington DC.  Through many generous donations, Ian raised $1,700 dollars!  One of the cooler things to have happened was when we somehow won a contest we didn't know we had even entered for raising the most money during a particular week.  The winner and the rest of their team gets to hold the American Flag during the National Anthem at the kick-off ceremony.  How cool is that?     

As you can see from the photos, it was raining, even pouring at times and we got soaked.  We didn't turn down our opportunity to hold the flag.  It was such a cool thing and really made our whole experience.

For 11 months prior to Ian's Bar Mitzvah, he participated in weekly tutoring sessions to prepare for the big day.  At 6 weeks out, Ian's sessions with his tutor became 2x a week. It's a lot of work.  The woman who was assigned to be Ian's tutor was wonderful with him. I took a picture of the two of them together on the first session Ian had and the last one, 11 months later.  Look at how much Ian grew in the year!

June 2017

May 2018

And that is my final thoughts having to do with Ian's Bar Mitzvah.   ;)   Stay tuned for more updates on many other things in the coming weeks.  

School today? No way!

This is what you call 4th quarter parenting...both kids didn't not go to school on their birthdays.  Samantha on May 23rd took the day off and Ian on May 31st took the day off.  Why not?

If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have gone to school nearly as much as I did.  I mean, I went every day!   What is up with that?  I think a skip day every now and then is a good thing.  And once SOLs (standardized testing) is over, we can all use a day to decompress.

I've done this for years, letting each kid take a skip day of their choosing.  Fortunately their birthdays are at the end of the school year so it worked out well that they could take their birthday off this year.

The county we live in places so much academic pressure on our kids.  It's insane.  I love being able to do this for them.  And getting one-on-one time with each kid while the rest of the world is at school or at work is priceless.  I hope they look back at these days and find them to be as special as I do.

Alert the news! We have a teenager in the house!

Ian had a tough time transitioning to middle school.  Given how social and friendly Ian is, it surprised us all and really threw us for a loop. But once he got the hang of changing classes, having a Gold schedule and a Blue schedule to follow every other day and the much longer class periods (90 minutes each!), he found his groove.  Although I have yet to really see him study for tests or do homework, his grades are awesome. So the kid must be doing something right.

Ian has discovered a fondness for improv and stayed at school many times on Thursday afternoons to be a part of this group. Improv makes sense as Ian still loves acting and the two activities both have to do with performing.  He loves to be on stage.

Ian tried out for the play his middle school does each year.  He didn't get a part in the play and volunteered to do lighting.  After the first show, Ian realized just how boring doing the lighting for the play was going to be and dreaded having to do the next 11 shows.  Of course, there were many more interesting things he had to turn down because the play schedule got in the way. I am proud of my boy for sticking with it and doing the lighting at every show.  He saw his obligation thru to the end.

This year was a busy one as most of his friends were Bar/Bat Mitzvahed.  A huge amount of time was spent going to services on Saturday mornings and many, many parties were attended.   I think every Jewish kid experiences this growing up-- one very busy year and then it settles down to the usual level of activity.  Most of the parties it was just Ian invited.  It was fun to pick him up afterwards and hear about the party.  This was the year that Ian slow danced with a girl for the first time.  And second time, and third time.  All in the same party!  No, Ian does not have a girlfriend (although, if you ask me, I do think he really, really likes this girl).  I am proud of Ian for having the courage to ask a girl to dance.  And in other parties that followed too, Ian continued to slow dance with the same girl and would even request the DJ to play slow music to dance too.  Really?  This is my son?  GO Ian!  And yes, you must really, really like this girl. Stop denying it.

Ian is growing in to such a kind, compassionate, sweet young man. Ian is quick to lend a hand and help whenever he can.  He is your average American teen that texts, plays video games and loves to be with his friends.

This was the year of all those superhero and Star Wars movies took over the theatres.  Jeff and Ian were at each and every one the first Friday evening it opened.  It's cool that they have this to do together.  I couldn't get Ian to go to one chick flick with me.  I guess that's another sign he is getting older too.

One of the funniest moments we had this past year is when Ian declared he will start to cuss.  He says, as long as he isn't saying a bad word to someone directly (ie - you are a b*tch), then its perfectly acceptable to let a bullsh*t to be said every now and then.  Ha!  No, Ian.  You can't.  However, I am sure when Jeff and I aren't around, it's a different story.

 Ian is looking forward to going to camp this year and seeing what the "B" side is like.  This is the side that is for older kids.

Happy 13th birthday Ian!  You are now officially a teenager!  How exciting.  I hope you have a year filled with classes you enjoy, a sister who doesn't drive you crazy, and a big starring role in the next play you perform in.  Daddy and I love you very much.

1st day of 7th grade!

Ring!

Jeff and I have to be the least handiest people ever.  While I have big ambitions to do things around the house, we just aren't those people who can renovate a bathroom, install appliances, or hang a light fixture.  I think it is the most awesome thing when I hear from one of my friends they are currently ripping out their kitchen and installing new cabinets and counter tops.  Or, they tell me they are putting in hardwood floors or creating a tile back splash in their kitchen.  That will never be us.  I repeat, that will never be us!   We feel fortunate when we can assemble Ikea furniture and we don't have a piece installed upside down or have extra nuts and bolts left in a pile.

So you have to realize how HUGE this next sentence is for me to write.  Jeff and I installed the Ring Pro Video Doorbell.  All by ourselves!  We did it together.  Without any frustration, without any cussing, and without having to make multiple attempts during any of the steps, we did it.   We worked with the electricity inside the house doorbell box, and we worked with the electricity in the outside door bell.  Yes!  We did it!!!  We managed to figure out the circuit breaker the door bell resides on (it was not labeled!) and rewired both inside the house and outside the house.  Even when being thrown a small curve ball when we took off the old doorbell and the wires literally broke off in our hands due to how old the wiring was (circa 1978), we went with the flow and exposed new wire to use.  Take that old wiring!

The end result of being able to do this ourselves feels great!  Will we be inspired to try more complex do-it-yourself projects in the future?  Probably not.  I mean after all, we most likely just got lucky on this one.  But we will now be able to live the rest of our lives knowing we got it done and lived to tell about it.  I think Jeff was a little worried we'd electrocute ourselves or burn the house down.

Here is a picture of what our video doorbell captures:

Saturday, May 19, 2018 will now be known as the day the universe was kind to Jeff and Robyn, they ventured outside their comfort zone and came out victorious.  

Simcha, part 3

Once services at the synagogue ended, it was time to celebrate!  We planned a party for Saturday night at the Maggiano's in Tyson's Galleria.  They have a set of banquet rooms that can open up for as big of a space as you need it.   We used 5 rooms and was pretty much at max capacity with our 127 guests.  Our theme for the evening was "Casino and Games".  We had 2 black jack tables, 2 poker tables, 1 roulette wheel, a 4 person Pac-man game, a Foosball table and double shot (which is a 2 person basket ball throwing game).

Every guest got $25,000 in fake money to gamble with.  At the end of a 3 hour time span, the casino and games would shut down and you would get a raffle ticket for every $10,000 you had remaining.  Even if you blew through all your money, you still got one raffle ticket. We had five baskets in various themes that you could put a raffle ticket in and try to win.  At the end of the evening, Ian picked a winner from each fishbowl and gave the basket to them. 

The five baskets' themes were: 
-Lazy Sunday Morning (specialty teas, scone mix, starbucks gift car, starbucks hot/cold travel mug, and hot chocolate flavored spoons),
-Game On! (Dave and Buster's gift card, Huge Puzzle book, mini Pac-man machine, and Uno cards),
-With a Cherry on Top (Cold Stone gift card, 4 ice cream cone shaped ceramic bowls with spoons, ice cream scooper and a container of sprinkles),
-Chillaxin on a Saturday Night (Regal cinema gift card, microwave popcorn maker, popcorn kernels, and popcorn seasoning salts)
-All About George (filled with an undisclosed amount of $1 bills - there was $75 of them)

Jeff, Ian and I didn't really want go the DJ route.  Every party Ian has attended has done a DJ and we really wanted to do something that was a bit more unique.  Additionally, the DJ is usually loud (very loud in some instances) and the adults can't really have a conversation without talking very loudly.  Most DJs are geared to focusing on keeping the kids entertained and that is completely fine,  as this is a party for the Bar Mitzvah kid.  However, this tends to leave the adults off the dance floor while games are being played and orchestrated by the DJ and his crew.

As we were coming up with ideas on what we wanted Ian's party to be, it was like a light bulb went off at the same time for all of us.  The casino and games theme was just the unique thing we were looking for that would be entertaining for both the adults and kids.

We had fun carrying the theme throughout the evening.  We had custom decks of playing cards made and used the back of the box as a place card for our guests. 

 


The cake had a casino theme with fondant dice, chips, and playing cards.

The centerpieces were a work of art (if I do say so myself) with a martini glass filled with either dice or poker chips set on a mirror base.  There was confetti that had the heart, spade, diamond, clubs, "IAN", and "13" decorating the base.  Additionally, there were 3 balloons attached to each martini glass with a string of lights so it looked like the balloons were floating on the lights.

 It was a Mazer team effort getting the room set-up and ready in time.  Everyone played an important part and together we got it done (without a moment to spare!).  Here is a great picture of my dad and stepdad holding all the balloons until we could grab a few to put in place and come back for some more.

And along the perimeter of the room were big 22'' mylar balloon in the shape/design of queen of hearts, king of spades, and all the suits of cards.  These balloons were anchored with the string of lights too.

In addition to the casino and games, we also had a green screen photo booth.  This was a special request by Ian.  The photographer put together an album for Ian with a copy of every picture taken.  When looking thru the album, I hardly saw any pictures of Ian and his friends.  I asked him why this was and replied with, "They didn't want to leave the casino tables."    That is a sign of a successful event!

These are all the photos I can share until the photographer sends me the photos she took.  I didn't take any pictures all day!  I think everyone had a good time.  Honestly, the day went by so incredibly fast and I felt like in the span of a finger snap the 4 hour party was all of 30 seconds long.  It probably didn't help much that I had 3 cosmopolitans and 1 white Russian to drink.  But after a long, long day, it felt good to have a few.  ;)

A part of me wishes we could go back in time and I could attend the day's events as a guest.

Holy moly, Samantha is 10!

When reviewing what I wrote over the years about Samantha turning 7, turning 8, turning 9, etc, one thing has become very clear.  Samantha's personality has not changed over the years, she is just being more of it.  She is more spirited, more determined, more spunky than ever before.  She also can be more loving, more funny, and more sarcastic than ever before.  We basically have our 3 year old daughter in a current 10 year old body.  Samantha does not go easy on us. She will never be a people pleaser or do something just to make you happy or keep the peace.  That's not her.  She has her own ideas and likes to do it on her terms.

Samantha has a huge presence.  She is loud, when both happy and mad. She is loyal to her friends and somehow has managed to keep these friendships - despite things I've witnessed that would make me run in the other direction if Samantha interacted with me like that.  For example - the other day a neighbor that has a girl similar to Samantha's age rings our doorbell to see if Samantha would like to play.  Neighbor: "Would you like to play?"  Samantha responds quite curt and aggressively: "I can't see you right now." and slams the door in our neighbor's face.  I told Samantha to open the door back up and explain why she can't come out and play and offer a time when she will be available.

Samantha is honest.  Too honest sometimes and has no qualms if what she is telling you will inevitably hurt your feelings, as long as this is her view on things, she will say it and not sugar coat it.  Most days I hear how Samantha doesn't like something I am wearing and questioning why did I buy it to begin with.  Give her a present she isn't crazy about?  She will let you know before it even fully gets unwrapped.  Social grace is something that doesn't come naturally, or at all. But you will always know where you stand with her.  There is no second guessing that.

Many times this past year, I've been so surprised at Samantha's ability to figure things out.  And to take the initiative to do things.  Her mind works in impressive ways.  She is creative and can think out of he box.  This makes me happy.

Once sufficient motivation is given, Samantha is able to complete any task.  But if there is no motivating factors, then you might as well pull your hair out to get her to do anything.

Samantha does not like wearing dresses or skirts of any kind.  You will always find her in some kind of leggings or shorts and a simple t-shirt on top.  She is not one to gravitate from this 'uniform' she created for herself.  I am sure to the outside world it looks like she is wearing the same pair of black leggings every day, when in reality, she has 15 pairs.

Horseback riding is still Sam's activity of choice.  This seems to be her thing. I doubt it will ever get to the point where she is competing, but for the time being, she enjoys it very much.  It's a wonderful to watch her in action and see how different horses' personalities bring out either the best or worst with Sam.  She is very funny sometimes trying to get a stubborn horse to move when it has other ideas.  Talk about meeting your match.

Happy birthday my big girl!  10 is a very cool number to be.  Double digits from here on out.  I wish for you peaceful days, tranquil moods, and an open mind.  The ability to fall asleep easily, your school work to be less of a challenge, and a harmonious existence with your parents and brother.  You are very much destined for greatness.  I have no doubt that you will take the world on fire and go on to show everyone what all this spunk and spiritedness can do.  But in the meantime, it's important we all survive.  I love you!  Like unconditional, no matter how much you yell at me, or refuse to cooperate love you.  That's how much I love you.  :)

Not at all happy about Colonial Day at school.

First day of 4th grade!