Why 30 something parents shouldn't party

Had a weekend of 2 -2am nights. 1 was more civilized with husbands and cocktails and dancing- the other was a girls night that combined champagne, sambuca, red bull and vodka, and a dance club. Please note we arrived at the dance club late so that the 20 year old crowd couldn't see how really old we were. ( just guessing that when we all went crazy for a madonna song it was a clue that we were ancient not to mention we weren't dressed in skinny jeans and backless tanks)

1- Thought I was doing okay sunday morning until I came downstairs to get a drink of water and was greeted by the smell of half drunk glasses of white wine, meatballs shrimp left out over night. (seriously that smell and cleaning up took me back a few steps)

2- Darling children who bless their hearts DID not want to watch tv (strange phenomena) and wanted to play outside all day. (Note- I sat my booty in a lawn chair and pretended to be a goalie while CJ and Casey fired shots at me that occupied a good 30 minutes). Chris did save the day but letting me have some downtime where I laid in bed and sipped england's version of gatorade.

3- Recovery time- its monday afternoon and I am still hurting. Walked at the slowest pace ever on the treadmill (the grandma next to me looked like she was hauling she was going 4.5 mph) and felt tired from doing that- seriously I think by wed I might be somewhat functional

4- Gossip- somehow our little girls night circulated around our itty bitty school. So I had alot of I heard you went out until 2am to such such place. (sad surburban reality that this is headline news)

RSVP

A little bit of complaining- have I mentioned how much I hate when people don't RSVP- it so annoys me- so I am throwing a little shindig for a girlfriend of mine for her bday and the invites have been out for 3 weeks (technically 24 days) and I am hunting down RSVPs in the final hours- love the fact that one girl asked me if she could let me know the day before (e.g sounds like she is waiting for a better offer or to check if there is a new movie out on SKY and trust me in our hood THERE is no better offer going on )- seriously my face was priceless when i said " you won't know until tomorrow if you are busy on Sat night". Seriously- I am an email girl-(hell my iphone is connected to me 24 hours a day)- text or email or post it on my wall- just reply. (see I told you this blog is poor girl's therapy)-Ah return to sanity or in my case watching dvr reruns of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey"

Random

Chris was out of commission all day sunday with manflu- it seemed midly mysterious that in his sick condition he was still able to see NFL hilights ( and he kept watching the replay of the end of the ND and MSU game- which in some petty wifely way gave me intense pleasure- hehehe). But to be honest he really only drank sprite and throat lounges. The kids were good about staing outside and I took them to the park for 3 hours to scootered off some energy and eat icecream.

We are fully back in school mode- homework, tennis, soccer, swimming, ballet, and gymnastics.
And yes I would love to drop an activity and watch OC reruns while eating chips and salsa but alas this blog will serve as historical documentation for the kiddos "that mama drove you all around god's green earth for you to do the extra stuff you wanted to do"
Other news- we have to buy and wear some dorky rose boutonniere to school on friday for some historical birthday party- just what I need trying to pin a rose on a 3 and 5 year old- (perhaps I will look for a wrist corsage version- man I miss homecoming and the angst of will the guy be able to purchase a wrist corsage that matched my dress -( yes I was the loser that provided my dates with fabric swatches to avoid any dilemmas)

Let's see just got home from an open house at the school-we got to hear the goals for the year ( more science and math and less free time) and then look at some of the work they have done the last 2 weeks. The kids had to write a little blurb about their summer vacation (CJ wrote " I went to Switzerland and I went to a kids club and played with legos. " )- see all this travel and he doesn't mention the mountains, the hikes, the fondue; he mentions the legos .

The other assignment was likes and dislikes- one of the little girls wrote I dislike school- (for which the teacher took a red pen and wrote in large capital letters (OH DEAR)- CJ was a little more of a kissup; his likes were- Mrs."Current Teacher", Molly, imaginary friends, and poison (no idea)- Dislikes- dead animals, dogs that bark, when imaginary friends go away ( I guess per CJ that is after lunch), and pushing. Love the fact they had us sit in the kids little chairs so we could feel like we were back in school ( minus the napmat , milk and graham crackers snack, smurfette lunch box, fruit roll ups, crossing guards as I walked to school, Trapper Keepers, Amelia Bedelia and Ramona books )- ( sorry for the trip down memory lane)

Its starting to feel like fall

Yes the leaves are changing colors and the weather is getting colder,- and chris and I are both cursing at the tv as not one but both ND and MSU lose in the MOST ridiculous manners possible. Luckily our satellite went out- so we only had scores updates from the iphone for the last 30 min (took some of the sting away not having to watch Charlie leave quite A LOT of time on the clock). To add insult to injury- my dear sister in law and brother who live in Ann Arbor ( and no they didn't go to Michigan - they went to Lehigh)- had a status update on facebook like "Hell yeah Michigan...way to kick some ND ass!!!(okay its verbatim)(of course I had to leave a little comment so quickly family turns on you in the autumn).
Yes it feels like fall- already angry Sunday about why we couldn't win in the Big House- but at least we have the battle of the losers next week (MSU vs ND)-so one of us will be happy next weekend. The best was CJ kept asking why we call it football- since they weren't playing soccer on the field. ( yes that made chris mad- and we do realize we will have some language issues when we head back to the States)

Random

1- woke up this morning and remembered I had put a bottle of sauvignon blanc in the freezer to chill before some girlfriends came over- (yes the bottle exploded all over the freezer)- so day 3 of school and the kids were eating a cereal bar and juice box in the car ( I had intentions to serve them oatmeal and fresh fruit)

2- you will see from the pix -that $50 sparkly shoes have made a world of difference- seriously I would have bought the shoes last year if I knew she would have jumped into the sweatsuit to wear them.

3-day 2 of finishing cappuccino in peace is pure bliss!

4-stayed up way too late watching BBC documentary on 9/11- seriously so sad/depressing- as it contained live phone calls from the towers to the fire dept and call centers- the footage is still unbelievable to watch. Still remember being in Chicago with friends- watching in disbelief. (note another group of terrorists were just convicted in London of planning the liquid bombs on airplanes in the summer of 2006- thank god the British secret service uncovered the entire plan)

Back to School (YEAH!!!!!!!!!!)

Our summer holiday is officially over- tomorrow is school and yes I am ready for it to start-not so stressed this year as we are use to the drill- the uniforms all have their nametags and we have sparkly shoes awaiting casey jane to help woth that pesky prison suit. My patience is gone- we have cooked (some peanut butter cookies that never did rise), we have painted (on paper and of course on the lawn furniture as well), we have scootered, biked, strollered, roller skated, legoed, bitty baby dress uped, lil pet shopped, starwarred our way thru summer and now its time for me to drink a cup of coffee and actually finish the cup. ( oh and go back to the gym, and grocery shop for things other than gingerbread cookies and barbie and spiderman magazines). Yes- I will be sad but I need a break:)so bring on the school year:)

Ireland

So we got off to a rocky start- first a 4am wakeup call to get to the airport then a bad barista who did not put the lid on my coffee correctly. (yes, the entire coffee spilled all over my white coat and tan pants ) But as soon as we got off the plane and into our rental car things picked up ( both kids fell asleep) so for the first half of the Ring of Kerry- Chris and I had fun stopping at different points and not having to answer the "where are we going, what are we doing" type ????. Pretty brilliant landscapes - still confused how any folks not in wetsuits could be swimming in the ocean but you know me I am strictly a heated 85 degree pool girl. We stopped for lunch and a beer and walked around the town of Killarney. Kids perked up after the nap. We mistakenly allowed the kids a musical doll and a leprechaun for CJ that played "when Irish eyes are smiling"- let's just say we heard that song a zillion times in the car and by the end of the trip we nor our eyes were smiling . We had a fun place to stay (B&B) - would have been funner if we didn't have 2 preschoolers that didn't really let us talk to any other guests but it had cute little signs about leprechauns and tons of Golf memorabilia.

We did the usual touristy things ( and don't even get me started about people saying Americans do all the touristy stuff- so what- half the English folks we have met have never been to Ireland and its literally next door)- So yes, Chris and I kissed the Blarney Stone and we went to the Jameson Whiskey tour and Chris nominated me to be a whisky taster (I HATE whisky)- so I had to do 3 shots of different whiskies and the smell alone was enough to make me want to throw up. We ate seafood by the ocean
( yes Casey Jane likes lobster and would like that more often- so would I little lady) We drank beer during the day and in general had a vacation. The last town we stayed in Kinsale (harbor town)- was so cute- amazing restaurant's and shops. (Casey and I took a detour and came back with matching bracelets and a shirt for me- poor CJ's detour ended in him getting a haircut with Dad). And yes the people were friendly- they seemed to like kids when we took them out to eat- and we got a more warm fuzzy feeling than we usually get over here:) But I may be biased since I am 1/2 Irish.