Not A Happy New Year And A Challenge

We're struggling this New Year.  We've been rotating a man down since 2014 started and we're still not out of the woods.  Yet.

The Mitt

First one to go was George.  He touched a hot fireplace during our last holiday get together on New Year's Day.  The first couple hours were tough.  But after that, it was smooth sailing.  Just proudly telling everyone, "I touch a fireplace!" While showing off "my mitt." Must be the 3rd child thing. 

Shortly after, I got sick.  Head cold sick.  Down for the count, lying in bed, please-cut-off-my-head-so-i-can-feel-better sick. Ugh.

Then it spread.

Oldest

Isn't that the worst?  Actually, it's not.  Having just gone through it, I can say that being sick yourself is worse than your child being sick.

So many times, when my little guys are feeling bad, I get to a moment where I just wish I was sick instead of them because it would be better that way.  Well, no.  It's not.  And I'm saying it here so I remember it.  Not. Better. 

So far, the middle child has somehow avoided it.  The youngest has a cough but full energy.  And my better half is totally down for the count.

He's the not-out-of-the-woods-yet part. 

But 2014 hasn't been all bad.

Big Boy Bed

(Excuse the world's worst picture) 

Confession: I sneak into the boys' bedroom at night to check on them before I go to bed and sometimes I take a picture.  They are always bad pictures.  The cuteness is never captured.  But this is the first one where all three are together. 

George has a big boy bed!

It's the trundle/pullout (sold separately) part that I talked about here.  It slides right under their IKEA bunk bed...even with the plush rug in place.  I love it.  

But we still have the crib in the room.  And if you're counting, yes, that's 4 beds in the smallest room of the house.  It's there because George gets silly at bedtime, so sometimes we have to put him back in his crib.  Ok, most times.  He's the third child.  We'll get there. 

And lastly...with every new year, I update our family budget.  With money planning top of mind, I found this:

Challenge

It's my challenge.  And if I succeed, I'll have $1378 in an envelope at the end of the year.  If it's too hard to read the chart, let me explain.  For each week of the year, you put away that dollar amount.  So week 1, it's $1.  Week 2, it's $2.  And on.  So by week 52, the total amount saved will add up to $1378.  It seems totally doable.  

It's like that math problem in high school where Johnny starts saving a little money when he's 20 and Danny starts saving a lot when he's 40 but Johnny ends up with more.  I'm not Johnny.  But here's my chance to feel like him...and turn 2014 around.  I've got 50 more weeks to do it!

We Wish You A Merry Ice Storm

It's that time of year.  My stress level is to the max and I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off.  Merry Christmas!

While knee-deep in the chaos, we had our very first winter concert at the big boys' school.  Last year the concert was cancelled due to the teacher strike.  So our baptism was this year.  By fire.  Almost literally.  It was a super long line up to mad-dash rush into the gymnasium that was a thousand degrees. 

But it was all worth it.

"Tuppens A Bag..."

Grade two, tallest in the class, hates to sing.  My heart burst.

Then winter break began so we got out of dodge. 

New Berlin, WI

AKA: the frozen tundra.  My homeland.  A 10 hr drive. 

We do it for the Neuens Family Christmas party on my mom's side.  She's one of six kids that still all get together for the holiday.  Of course, most of the siblings are grandparents now and the offspring is exponential.  My husband has been to 10 of these and still has no idea who some people are.

Me & G Playing Bingo

The highlight of the party is Bingo.  Everyone plays.  First winner picks a grab bag from the middle, opens and displays "prize" (unless you consider a frying pan from goodwill a score).  Second winner can swipe the prize or pick new.  And on and on until the popular prize has changed hands 20 times, grab bags are gone and my kids are in tears over prizes they hate.  Merry Christmas!!

Best Prize

Somehow my dad scored the best prize this year.  I don't know how he did it, but nobody swiped his garbage bag filled with pre-buttered theater popcorn.  (Courtesy of my cousin who works at the local movie theater ;) )

The next day, we headed down to my brother's house for the second half of our holiday vacation.  He got his Christmas present early, but I managed to borrow it for a few minutes.

"Ok, glass..."

I am not tech-y.  Nor am I much of an early adopter.  But Google Glass got me.

"How Do I Do This?"

It got my old man, too.  He took a few videos by voice command and winked a few pictures.  The future is here!!!

And then we snapped back into reality with news of an ice storm back home.

Uh Oh

We love our neighbors.  We were quickly informed of a branch that fell from the tree on the right of this picture.  It's a tree we don't own, but prune regularly for safety.  It hit the porch roof and caught the edge of the eavestrough on the way down...

...and landed on the wires that run from the street to our home.

Which ripped the mast that holds those wires right off the house.  We still have power (thankfully) but the situation is dangerous.  I think Steve's words were, "There's nothing more exciting than home ownership."

Merry Christmas!!!

Being Thankful

My American roots were showing this week.  Something about that big turkey-related holiday.  I can try to be as Canadian as I want, but I can't not celebrate American Thanksgiving. 

Cayuga Lake

This is our 6th year celebrating it in upstate New York, where my aunt and uncle live.  My mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law and sister all caravan here from the Midwest.  We rent a house on the lake, so it's a true getaway for everyone. 

Freezing Cold Hike

This is the first year it snowed while we're here.  Thank god I packed the boots. 

Taughannock Falls

But it didn't matter. Middle child couldn't feel his feet midway through the hike.

Kid Table

It's the first year the cousins sat together unattended for more than 5 seconds. 

Family

And the first time all adults were in the picture together.  Thank you, middle child. 

And thank you, family, for making it another memorable turkey day.

Thanksgiving In Instagram

I took a ton of pictures.  But had trouble picking the best.  So I let instagram do it for me.

And not one is of a turkey.

Our roadtrip from WI to upstate NY was by way of IL, where my brother lives.  On our way to the park, we dared to deck out in Green & Gold despite being in Bear Country.

Later, the kids raked my brother's leaves.  Meaning no work was actually done.
(Evidence above)

We drove from IL to Niagara Falls, where we met Steve.  After spending the night in a hotel, and gorging ourselves on TGI Friday's, we made it to the rental property on Cayuga Lake near Ithaca, NY.

The view of Cayuga Lake from the backyard of the house. 

The big boys hiked around with Uncle Joe and managed to avoid stepping in poo. 

We braved the treacherous bridge, staircases and rocky shore to visit the lake daily.  In the Finger Lakes region, there are waterfalls everywhere.  One more beautiful than the next. 

This was the best shot of my Henry from the trip.

Well, this one with daddy on the pier is a contender, too. 

Our family can't get together without playing Trivial Pursuit, Men vs Women.  We even have a trophy.  It's engraved with every win. 

And Thanksgiving 2012 = Women!!

We woke up to this every morning. 

Jake loved skipping the millions of flat stones into the lake.  Highest score: 6 skips.

Our tradition is to have Chinese food for dinner the night after Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle's house who live in the area.  This last shot is the beautiful pink sky we saw from their front yard.  My favorite part is that American flag in the foreground ;)

Our Thanksgiving was amazing...we can't wait to do it all over again next year.   

We Are Family

I'm still recovering from a weekend full of family fun. 

In a good way!

The bulk of my recovery comes from rushing to get the million-and-one house projects done before guests arrived on Thursday.  All of which, I can proudly say, GOT DONE.  But before I reveal all the blood, sweat and tears related to the house, here are highlights of the family...

First of all, no Wysocki gathering is complete without a full bar.  

Stock Up

And then my mom added her wine picks from the US.  Just saying!

Once we completed stockpiling the liquor cabinet, focus was completely on the kids.

Cousins

My George and my brother's Charlie are 2 months apart.  Could it get any better than that?  Yes, it could.  How about same temperament, motor skills, food likes, food dislikes and haircuts. 

Slide!

We got out to the park a couple of times for fun.  Charlie loved hanging with George in a big city park. 

Teamwork

Charlie especially loved the sand...as his park at home has woodchips.  He got busy digging, dumping, pouring, scooping, eating.  That last one wasn't his favorite.

Loving It.

We finally left once naptime came around.  But it was hard to go.

Can you say no to those eyes?

After the big kids finished school for the week, full-on family time kicked in.

Game Time

Mimi always comes loaded with games.  Does she know my boys, or what?

Laura & Dad

My sister and dad got caught up on her life in Indiana.

Chef Stevio

And Steve spent time in the place he shines the most.  The kitchen.  His passion is my crack.  Literally.  He made "crack pasta" (aka: jamie oliver's sausage fusilli) and we all licked our plates.

On to the weekend spotlight: Henry's 5th Family Birthday Party.

Totally Excited

I suck at taking party pictures.  Especially at present opening time.  I use my little point and shoot, take hundreds of shots, but none turn out very well. 

The only one I ended up liking was this single shot I grabbed with my iPhone.  The look on Jake's face is priceless because he couldn't keep himself less than 2 inches away from Henry the.  entire.  time.  But hey, who could blame him?

Once candles were blown and presents were opened, the adults had some coffee and the kids had a photo shoot.

Joe + 4 Boys

I love this shot of my brother and all the boys.  My guys especially love hanging with their Uncle Joe.  To see them all together makes me forget how far apart we live.

Peg + The Monkeys

As much as I love my brother, I might love his wife more.  She brings out the best in my boys.  She's always willing to listen to their loooong stories, fold hundreds of paper airplanes or put together one last puzzle.

Just look at Henry.  That's joy.

Peg + 4 Boys

And the look on Peg's face here...that's joy, too.

As the weekend came to an end, we took a couple last shots.

Mimi & Her Toddlers

There couldn't be a better grandma for Charlie & George.  At one point, Charlie would cry because George was in Mimi's arms.  Then George would cry because of Charlie.  So I grabbed George to make it easier on Mimi, but he screamed even louder.  Sorry Mimi - must be hard to be so loved.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Charlie.  But only after breakfast.

And Raffi.  No table time is complete without Raffi. 

(I think we turned Charlie into a convert.  Almost.)

All in all, our weekend was a success.  Stay tuned for posts showing projects I completed before everyone's arrival.  It was down to the wire - as in minutes before they walked in the door.  But those always turn out the best, don't they?  You'll see...!!!!

Guest Posting on 4mothers1blog

This was never my intention...but I was honored to be asked.  A guest post?  Me???

It's live as of today.  Check out 4mothers1blog to see it. 

Where It All Began

EEK!

Sunset

Last week I lost my Auntie Pam. 

Anyone who knew her loved her.  And anyone who loved her is mourning her courageous and heroic fight against cancer.

We traveled south to be with my dad's family in Florida for her funeral.  Steve is my hero for staying home with the boys while I was away.  And my mother-in-law is a saint for taking George for a couple nights. 

While it was a heartbreaking reason for our side of the family to be all together again, it felt good to support each other by just being there. 

Mom & Dad - Nokomis Beach, Venice, FL

On our last night together, we brought wine to the beach, watched the sunset and toasted Pam.  I can't think of a better way to celebrate and say goodbye.

Auntie Pam, I love you.  I'll miss you more than I can say.  
xo