Weekly Update--- Summer Plans!

It's been a crazy busy week here in the Bug household. We've had a few contractors come over to talk about designs to have an additional room added on to the house. If we decide to do the room addition which is what I really want, it will be the girls shared bedroom. Then we gain 2 rooms to do whatever we please with. One would be a play room for the kids and their friends. The other... we have no idea yet. It will probably double as a guestroom/rec room for us. At least, that's the plan anyway.

We've been planning a beach trip too. We've found a lovely villa to rent \and have been awaiting the rental agreement to come in the mail. The Villa actually sleeps 10 people, which obviously, we won't have that many people but the price was right, and the days we could go were open.  Redmosqui has been planning for summer.... ontop of my planning! It's kind of exciting. I am usually the planner of the family. My plans for summer involve the beach, trips to my hometown, to farms for fruit picking. Going to various farmers markets. There is a really big one inside Charlotte, NC. I have been on my own when I lived in that area. I've been waiting for the kids to be older since it is on a busy street and for us to have more time to go to it. Last Summer, I was still working 6 days a week. My one day off was on the day that it was closed. So we didn't have the opportunity to go.  We also are planning on going to Lazy 5 ranch so that the girls can feed the zoo animals from the Tram. Redmosqui plans on movies, concerts, and a dinner cruise out on Lake Norman. I was hoping to have time to do a Mystery Dinner Theatre Train but I don't think we'll be able to do that this year. The other thing I wanted to do that is iffy--- I want to take the bugs to the mountains to ride on Thomas the Tank Engine. I've been looking into that for a couple of years now, since Bug has shown an interest in trains but we may have to wait until next year. So those are some of our Summer plans. We'll see. It seems like we have enough on the books for now.

Another reason we were so busy this week--- I registered the Bug for kindergarten! We went to the school. Walked around a little bit, and filled out all of the paperwork. She's signed up for kindergarten camp which is about 2 weeks before kindergarten actually starts. Essentially, it is a kindergarten training camp. The couple of the ladies in the Elementary School office recognized the girls. They attend church at the Preschool I have the Bugs enrolled in. She has a month and a half left of preschool. Soon she'll be taking her little cap and gown pictures and doing her little graduation ceremony. Her picture will also be in the newspaper. I have her first week of kindergarten off of work so I can be home to ease her into it. I can say she has turned into a well rounded young lady. Generally, I think she's like me but I also see a lot of her uncles in her as well. She doesn't have too many temper tantrums anymore but she can argue her point now with precision and valid reasoning. You can tell that she wants to use more complicated vocabulary that she has, so she struggles with that a little bit. She's so helpful. She gets up in the morning. Get's dressed. Makes her own bed, and attempts to let me sleep. She gets Bee up and dressed as well--- Except she uses her own clothes instead of Bees clothes. But it's the thought that counts. She knows that I come home well after she's been in bed. Although, I end up getting up with them anyway instead of trying to sleep longer.... I know that she tries. She does other chores in exchange for a small (very small) allowence, and for stickers on a chart. Once the chart is full we will go to Xtreme Play. Which is one of those centers filled with bouncey houses. I've always called her my little Sugar Plum Fairy and she really is.  But she's starting to grow out of my calling her that. As long as bee still lets me call her my Sweet Pea or Baby Doll for a little while longer, I'll be content. I am not sad at this point that she's going to kindergarten, I am actually happy to have a healthy, thriving child. Perhaps closer to that date, I will feel differently. We'll see.

 There were thoughts about taking Bee out of the preschool so I would have less running around to do, but I know she would be disappointed. She's doing so well and is upset on the days she doesn't have school. She's so attached to Bug that I am sure she will struggle with bug being gone from about 7:45am-2:40pm. That's a long day even for Bug to be away from her sister that long. But Bee is doing so well. As for paying for it, we're lucky that this year we were able to apply and obtain scholorships for both of them which cut the cost, literally, in half. We would actually still qualify for it next year for Bee as well so she'll get to stay there for another 2 years. It is income based but it would be ashame to take Bee out of school when we've met so many amazing people/parents there. I've become close with most of the mothers as well since me and Bee hang out there for an hour waiting for Bug.

I am very ready for summer though. I am ready for having Redmosqui home all the time. We've been talking on the phone several times a day since we only see each other 2 days a week. Luckily for me, the job is going great! I've get my bonus for March on tomorrows check and you know... I feel lucky to have a job with the bonus. The bonus itself more than triples one of my checks from my old job (that has now buld een outsourced and everyone in the division was laid off). My father in law and I were talking and I am lucky. He hasn't gotten a raise or a bonus in the last 5 years. I will be getting a 10% raise next month. It took a lot of effort of my mom and my friends to help get me into this job. Get me trained, licensed, etc. I am thankful that I am doing well and excelling. I don't want to waste all of their hard work and contribution to my family, my need for health insurance and our financial stability. Financial stability is hard to come by these days and we're lucky at this point. Very lucky. Seems like things really do fall into place when they need to.


I've been reading a lot of books lately, and have watched a couple new movies. We bought Avatar today but Game 5, of the first series of hockey games for the Pittsburgh Penguins was on tonight. We were going to watch it afterwards, but the game was on from 7pm-midnight. So maybe Sunday. When my husband saw it in the theatre, he told me it was like Dances with Wolves. I guess I will see. You'd think I wouldn't have time to read or watch movies, but somehow, it happens! This passed month, I've read / watched:

Dresden Files- Book 12 "Changes" (Redmosqui is reading the series now!) by Jim Butcher
Twilight -- New Moon (Redmosqui finished reading the series!)
Codex Alera (Books 1-4) -- Another Jim Butcher series. May wait until I finish the 5th and 6th books though. (Redmosqui won't be reading these because I've already told him all about them.)

I do miss blogging and reading my favorite blogs. I didn't even have time for a Wednesday post this week, but it's okay. Summer. Is. Coming! I hope everyone has had a good week so far!

Wow.....

This is what happens when Redmosqui is bored.  He finds a site that lets you customize your own motivational posters. So what does he do with that? He takes a picture, puts it on there and adds a quote from Bug or Bee. These are really things they have said.

So here is one from Bug:



Here is one from Bee:




If anyone is interested, I can ask him for the link so you can not be bored too. :)

How I met my love.....

Photobucket" />

In honor of Valentines Day, some bloggers are writing about how they met the love of their live. I've decided to follow along with Mama M. at My Little Life this week with her Valentine's Day Extravaganza. Add your link below and share your story. Sunday was the story of how you met your love. Monday is your favorite best or worst date and Tuesday is your engagement story. I killed 3 birds with 1 stone... or story. ;)

I *was* in college in 2003. But..... (uh huh, there's always a butt) I kept getting chalazion's on my eyes. Was forced to be all pirate-like with eye patches for a couple of months. I wasn't allowed to drive and no longer lived on campus so that was out. I had no choice but to drop from the semester. I was bummed, but I spent a lot of time online, and on AIM. One day, I get this pop up saying that this screen name was unknown to my buddy list but wanted to speak to me. I look at the screen name, and it wasn't something like cutie4utee6669990000, so I thought about accepting it. It could have been someone from one of my classes. Afterall, I did drop out of the semester without saying anything to anyone. Accept! The message went like this:

Him: Hi, I am new to Charlotte. I found you in the directory. I was wondering if there is anything to do here.
Me: You can go to bars, go to clubs or go to Carowinds. That's pretty much it.
Him: Okay, well that answered my question. I am going to go clean up my dishes from dinner.
Me: Ok. Bye.

Shortly after that, I remember we're great for music and concerts and comedy shows. I hadn't added him to my buddy list but I did do IM logging back then. So I messaged him back to let him know. And we started talking via AIM pretty much all day, every day. After a couple of weeks of IM talking, we decided to meet. I decided to meet him at Golden Coral. And then I decided that one of my best friends would have a boyfriend problem, and need to come with me just in case he turned out to just have a normal screen name but own a not so normal brain. (I had 2 stalkers on campus that year.) So, best friend lets me pick her off, and we're off to golden coral. I realized, I didn't even have his phone number, so canceling was out. If he turned out to be nuts, it was only one dinner. He didn't have my phone number either so it worked out. After I picked up one of my best friends to go to meet him, she saw how nervous I really was.
So, we get to Golden Coral. And there he was. He sent me his picture so I would know what he looked like. As soon as I saw him, I knew I would marry him. He was wearing and blue and white button down, stripey shirt. And jeans. I said hi to him, and made sure he was the guy I was supposed to meet. Introduced him to my friend and went inside. We all go inside to eat. My friend and who I was hoping would be my future husband hit it off great! They talked, and talked and talked..... and talked. And we ate and ate and ate. Finally, I was certain no one could eat anymore, and no one could talk anymore so it was time to go. She talked to him more than I did. I just kind of joined in when I had some pertinent to add to the conversation. Obviously my friend left with me, but on the way back home she said there was something different about me, and in the few years that she'd known me she'd never seen me this way before. I told her that I thought I'd be marrying him. She said she believe it and asked to be dropped off at the mall. So I dropped her off and still had a good 20 miles to go to get home when I realized, I wanted to call him. Didn't have his number, he didn't have mine. I called my mom instead. A few days later we went on another day--- to Bruggers Bagels and Starbucks. (Which is also the same date we relived when he proposed to me almost 3 years later.  Except people were staring at us when he proposed, not on our first date) 4 weeks later, he helped me move into a new apartment. And he pretty much moved right on in with me. We've been inseparable.

And that's how I met my love.

Best date: Starbucks and Bruggers.

Worst date: He knew I loved astronomy, and while visiting some of his family in PA. He packed blankets and pillows and took me to a lake he used to spent time at when he was a kid. It was May 2003. He also go us food and coffee. The only thing he didn't pack-- bug spray. I got eaten by mosquitos. The date lasted all of 15-20 minutes. What can I say? Mosquitos are attacted to me. (OH and he has nothing to do with his RedMosqui nickname, I guess that just ended up being a coincidence.)






  

Comic Relief--- What does he/she do to make you laugh?

Comic relief is definitely a necessity. In the world of kids, you can't let them be the only things that make you happy. Why? Because at that point, you may have already become clinically insane. Redmosqui and I definitely have playful banter--- All the time. In fact, pretty much all of our interactions are playful banter. He claims it's the italian in him. I say.... I haven't quite figured it out.

I sctually think laughs are more important than romance when the children are young. If you can't laugh with each other, definitely laugh at each other. How do I make him laugh? Simple--- Say something off the way, un-rehearsed and completely unexpected. He was listening to his ipod before bed, and turned to say goodnight to me. Either the music was too loud for him to hear my response or he just wasn't paying attention. So, my second respond to his, "I said goodnight hun," was a snappy "Isaidgoodnight" all pretty much the way I just wrote it. We both laughed for quite a few minutes. Who did I sound like to us? Fez, from that 70's show when he says "Isaidgoodday." I love that show. What's a bit more sad is that I did wave my hand in the air like he does in the show without even a second thought.


How does he make me laugh? Recently it was the invention of our decided bank robber names. Should we ever decide that we're going to rob banks, our cheesy couple bank robber names would be-------- Jack and Tori. If you know us, you know we don't need to rob a bank and never will ever rob a bank. Yet, my wonderful Redmosqui just out of the blue gave us these "robber" names. We would definitely be the least productive bank robbers and it caused probably about 10 minutes of what-if scenarios on a topic we know absolutely nothing about. The concept of where Jack and Tori would go and what they would do was enough to keep us laughing at each other for a while. And strangely enough, I believe I found names for a couple of characters in the book I want to write, Jack and Tori!

So, what does your significant other do to make you smile, laugh or be playful?