Citystreams posted this fun and very different seven question meme, on her blog recently.  What you do is copy the list of questions below and paste it into your comment. Next  fill in the blanks with whatever you want to know, about me. I will answer your questions, as quickly as possible right here in the comments section. With any luck, my comments will look like a list of questions followed immediately by answers.

Here are the questions to copy and paste - have fun!

1. What do you think of _____________?

2. When did you last ____________?

3. __________ or ___________ and why?

4. What did you ______________?

5. What’s your favorite ______________?

6. How would you ______________?

7. Who would you most like to ________?

Thanks for playing! Feel free to steal this for your blog. I’d love to ask you some questions, too!  Hopefully a lot of lurkers will step out of the shadows and jump in here. I will check in today while running errands, doing laundry, sorting through photos, and unpacking from a long weekend away. More to come on the weekend away soon.

Thanks to Kim for this fun idea!

Here are the directions for the Mosaic Meme a la Flickr:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s Flickr Toys: mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Have fun with this and please share your mosaics if you participate.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello.

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My question this week is inspired by the 4th of July. . . .

What is the best fireworks display that you have ever seen in person (not on television)?

By far the best fireworks I have ever seen were at Disney World. I would have a hard time saying which park since each was unique for different reasons. I loved the ones with Tinker Bell flying through the air at the Magic Kingdom and I also loved the laser show at EPCOT that included plenty of fireworks. I also recall on one vacation watching the fireworks that were set off from the Disney Studios at our hotel.

One day I would love to go to NYC to watch their amazing fireworks spectacular in person, but personally am not willing to fight large crowds and will continue to enjoy them on the television while in my air conditioned home!

Please help me to celebrate Aloha Friday by answering my question in the comments. Also feel free to leave a link if you participate within the comment section

Later today we are heading to visit my brother, sister-in-law and sweet little niece for a long weekend. We have a four hour trip ahead of us. Please insert the *groans* here! To be honest I am not sure what worries me more with the upcoming trip - (1) Packing for our family of four, or (2) The trip on a holiday weekend with a 4 and 1 year old in the car.

Last night after I was done packing up all of our clothing in one small suitcase I sat down by my computer to make a list of all of the other sh "stuff" that we will need. I was multitasking at the same time. It was the perfect time to reply to comments on my blog via e-mail. Candi at ~~All Day Night~~ mentioned in a quick e-mail (followed by instant messaging) back that packing before kids was bad enough, but with them she feels like she is moving. AMEN!!! 

We are lucky with this trip that the arrival of my niece means we do not need to haul some of the otherwise essential items for a baby, you know like toys and a pack n’ play. Still we have plenty of other items to remember. I am also lucky that we can pack up without worrying about FAA regulations since this is a road trip.

Here is my list:

• Snacks for the car ride - must feed the natives or they are more likely to get restless on the adventure.
• Toys/books for the car - another sanity saver
• MP3 player - filled with music for the adults and kids.
• Wii Fit/Game/CD card - crucial or my brother and sister-in-law will not allow us in their house!
• Sun lotion - must have in case we spend time outside, especially if we go to the zoo.
• Cameras/batteries - we must capture a photo of the three grandchildren for my parents., otherwise we are not allowed to come home according to my mother.
• Medicine - need all of our allergy meds and fluoride pills. Other items also being taken along for the ride since someone ALWAYS gets sick when we go to see Uncle I and Aunt M.
• Cooler - although we may not need this it is good to have in case we want to haul anything back from Wegmans.
• Kid essentials - this includes diapers, wipes, butt cream, sippy cups, binkies, toothbrush/paste, buddies/blankets.
• Phone charger - the cell phones never hold their charge well, so we must be prepared.
• Razors - hubby needs to control his face and me the legs.
• Makeup - can you believe I actually forgot this once and have to actually write it down?
• Pillows - we all sleep a lot better if we have our own pillows and they are easy enough to take with us.
• Knitting - need to continue to work on my projects in the car if I am the passenger.

This is most if not all of the list as it stands now. The only other items are reminders to take our garbage out and vacuum before leaving. The booster seat and stroller are already in my car. Are you tired yet? I know I am ready for a nap (some of which has to do with a certain little teething monster being up a chunk of the night in our bed). Too bad I need to run some errands today before we hit the road.

JSL is quite obsessed with balls. He loves to play catch, to roll them, to toss them, and to look for them. Anything that is round and looks like a ball is therefore a ball in his 13 month old mind. Case in point was Saturday as we were putting groceries away. JL and I bought a mini-watermelon at the store and it was on the ground. JSL found it in the bag and pulled it out onto the floor. He immediately squealed "ball" at the top of his lungs. He kept playing with his watermelon "ball" and was quite happy until he tried to pick it up. He just did not understand why it was so heavyy. I finally went to get the camera and captured some of his antics.

Another popular sport in our house involves the Nintendo Wii. NHL loves to spend time with JL to bond, especially when the Wii is allowed. He enjoys playing bowling, baseball, and golf. He LOVES playing Mario Kart Wii. It is funny listening to him talk about it. He knows all of the Mario characters from my childhood and can tell details about each of the courses and cars in depth. Tonight I thought it was time to get a video of the boys during their almost nightly routine. As you will see NHL sits on his daddy’s lap and they play together. 

I love my boys!

I admit it, I want my little boys to stay just the way they are. I love that NHL is exploring the world around him, anxious to learn to read and write, talking about video games with Daddy, and learning to love chapter books. What I am in denial about is that my baby, yes he technically will always be my baby, is hardly a little boy anymore. Before my eyes my little boy of four has morphed into an almost five year old boy who will be off to kindergarten this fall. I am in major denial that my little boy, my first born is old enough to be in "real" school.

The reality partially hit Thursday which was NHL’s last day of nursery school. 

It came at me quickly and right between the eyes. This is the last summer before my little man goes to school and has homework, before our lives as a family will really change. I feel like I lost so much time with him when I went to work for three precious years of his life . . . time I will never get back. Thanks to this guilt I am going to try to make this a great summer for NHL. I want to make sure he has fun, gets to be a kid, and most importantly does not have time to worry about kindergarten. My poor little guy is a worrier and change of schools is upsetting to him.

Last Wednesday when we were driving home from school NHL and I had the following conversation:

NHL: "Mommy I want it to stay June."

Me: "Why NHL?"

NHL: "I don’t want to leave my school"

That tugged at my heart. I so wish I could have stopped time for my baby and let him stay in the place that helped to make him believe in school again after the horrid start in the fall.Unfortunately, I can not push the pause button and before I know it September will be here. I just pray that things go well. I really fear that another bad start could ruin NHL’s desire to learn and he has so much potential and is thirsty for knowledge.

What I am not going into now is a phone call from NHL’s kindergarten teacher for the fall.  I cried on Friday after the conversation and was beyond upset. Heck, I have tears in my eyes now. I really hope that my first impression (over the phone) is wrong and we will not have any issues, but I guess I am quite pessimistic after the start at the other school in the district back in September. I truly hope I am making something out of nothing.

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More on the denial front is that my baby technically is not a baby anymore. JSL is a toddler now, although he will always be my baby like his big brother.

This week JSL has learned so much and had so many milestones. His first molar FINALLY popped up during a nap one afternoon. Now the poor little guy has three more of those and the four canine teeth to work on. Words keep flying from JSL’s mouth. If he wants something he now has words to use for many. A favorite is "Wah-wah" for water. Saturday night while out with family friends and my parents, JSL wanted my mother. He knew that we were all leaving and he said "Nana go bye-bye" while waving to her. Then as he saw her move away from her he started to cry and throw his body to her.

Temper tantrums are another big milestone. When he does not get something he wants JSL has learned to use his voice to show discontent. Not only does the little guy scream, but he will also stomp if standing and jump up and down. JSL will throw his body at the object he wants and hoot and holler hoping to get the item of desire. The other night while NHL and JL were playing Mario Kart on the Wii, JSL decided he wanted to play and/or get NHL’s new hair brush. Neither of these was an option and we had our first real temper tantrum. I sat there watching all of his antics. I was a bad mommy - I laughed so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes. It was just too much seeing such a little person make such a fuss.

JSL is also very close to walking on his own. He lets go of items for long periods of time and is starting to walk holding onto the wall, letting go and thinking about taking more steps. We all are curious to see if those first solo steps may come at Uncle I and Aunt M’s house since that is where NHL finally walked on his own. Perhaps it will be a tradition - update to come soon.

I guess I need to get used to milestones coming and going with both of the boys. I can not imagine how much of a mess I will be in Setpember, no less on JSL’s last day of nursery school in four short years.

Will watching  my boys grow and become more independent ever get easier?

BTW - Here is a photo of me the summer before I went to kindergarten. 

We kept talking all about it and making it sound fun. NHL was excited that the little girl that will be going to the same elementary school this fall was in the same class with him. We watched the Little Bill episode on Noggin where he goes swimming too many times to count. Thanks to this NHL was officially my Guppy Guppy Guppy!

Although excited at first about swim lesson, he quickly decided that he wanted nothing to do with them. By the second week I had to go down by the pool and force him to get into the pool. I made it clear to his teachers after that that I was quite comfortable with him being pulled into the water. He had to get in and if some screams were the way, so be it. By the forth week progress was made. He enjoyed swimming with a noodle. During week five and six he actually left the side of a teacher and used the pool noddle to move around on his own.

After the sixth and final lesson the teacher approached me. She told me that although NHL had been there for all six lessons she was going to invite him to the make up lesson the next week. It was probably going to be outside in the kiddie pool and she thought it would be a gret experience for him. We gladly accepted.

Here are some photos of the outside lesson. JSL and I went to watch and tried to stay in the shade since it was so sunny and hot.

Getting comfortable in the water with his teacher. 

Once he was in the water he loved it. 

He finally realized that the ENTIRE pool was 3 feet deep and he could walk around without anyone.

Meanwhile the little guy and I were getting very warm waiting outside the pool in the heat. 

 Of course the 3 feet deep kiddie pool had some negative features. NHL thought it was more fun "walking" around the pool rather than putting his legs up and kicking.

Usually the class is only thirty minutes, this day they were outside close to an hour. All of the kids had such a great time - even NHL wanted to race around. 

We are hoping to find another location for swim lesson for the fall. At this point we can not even think about membership where NHL was at school and they require that for future lessons. For now we just hope that this great introduction help to ease his fear of water and allow him to enjoy swimming fun this summer.

Thanks to Kailani at Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello.

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My question this week. . . .

What was your favorite cartoon as a child? What cartoon do you like to watch now? This does not have to be one that your children force you to watch - really!

The inspiration for this came from being SO sick of the 24 hour Noggin. Ugh, I wish they never did that, or at least never advertised so that kids knew it was there 24/7.

When I was little really liked to watch The Flintstones and Jetsons. Later on there was Rainbow Brite and Carebears . . . along with He-Man and She-Ra. We often watch things on Noggin and Disney here, so to keep with my not that the kids watch, I enjoy Family Guy. The humor in it makes you use your brain.

Please help me to celebrate  Aloha Friday by answering my question. Also feel free to leave a link if you participate within the comment section.

You may wonder why I keep making the same thing. Well,  they are mindless and I can stock pile them for gifts, to use here, and well who knows. Another reason is I am stuck waiting to try a new project that I am quite excited about (log cabin) I tried to teach myself, but that did not work out too well. So I am being a good girl and patiently waiting for my teacher to come over and help me with that (HINT).

Here are a few of the items that I made. I made the following for my grandmother since she uses cloths to wash dishes. 

After this my friend asked me if I could help her to made some for part of a bridal shower gift. I whipped these two out in less than two days. I absolutely fell in love with these colors. 

Once those were done I wanted to make some in pastels for a baby gift. As I started the second matching washcloth from the same skein of yarn I notice there was a break in the yarn. Typically this is not an issue. Unfortunately, this was not the case this time. As you can see there is a marked difference in the colors. At the top of the second (on the right) it was bright at the top for the first 15 or so rows, then it gets very muted. When you look at the two cloths together you would think they were not only different colors, but certainly from different skeins of yarn. Not true, they were made from the same Sugar N’ Cream skein of yarn. I was quite upset and did not have time to fix this by making more. I called the company and was less than impressed with them. I still have to e-mail them the photos later on. 

Hopefully this was just a fluke with the yarn. I know I have a used a lot of their cotton in the past (along with Peachs & Cream) and never had a problem before. Here is the baby gift all set. 

On that note I feel the need to knit some before bed! If you ever need/want any hand made knitted wash or dish cloths just let me know.