Coach C

When I met my darling hubby, his 3 kids were 10, 8 and 5. We met in the spring, and while we were dating, I remember being amazed at how much time was able to spend with me, even while being a very involved dad to 3 very busy kids.

Then November arrived and C mentioned that HAP all played on recreational basketball teams. Fun! I would love to sit with you in the stands and cheer the kids on - I am not a huge basketball fan, (baseball and figure skating are my faves...) but kids playing any sport is entertaining to watch, so sure! Let's watch HAP play some BBall! Great, C said!

Turns out my wonderful boyfriend was also the coach - off all 3 of his kids basketball teams. Which meant 3 nights a week he was at a practice, 2 nights a week he was thinking about practice, and Saturday he ran around like a crazy man to 3, sometimes 4 games in one day with all the kids in tow. I think C was most excited to have someone to help get the kids from place to place when games overlapped! Sitting in the stands with moms of the other kids I felt strangely out of place. They all knew each other and knew each others' kids. Someone would inevitably ask me, which one is yours? I never got that answer down pat - "Oh, I'm dating the coach" never sounded right. And, "I'm watching number 11", sounded kind of creepy. But I did like watching HAP play. And even more, I liked to watch C coach.

He's a great coach. He's the coach you pray your kid gets, no matter if they are a talented player or a newbie. He's fair, fun, ever-positive, and really knows how to talk to kids. So he coached 3 separate teams the first 4 years I knew him. Then P got too old for rec Bball, so he coached 2 teams for 2 years, then A got too old for rec Bball. Now, this year he is only coaching H. Quite a difference.

I wish I knew I more about basketball so we could talk strategy and about plays. Mostly we talk about the girls on the team, their strengths and how to build them up to better themselves and the team. And he vents about other coaches, refs, missed calls, bad attitudes...and I am happy to listen because I know it's something he loves to do. He has 2 more years to coach H, and then there will be a 3 year break before R can start. I'm pretty sure he will quite ready by that time to coach again, and I'll be able to sit in the stands and say I'm R's mom!


-The Good Stepwitch

Start of a very merry Christmas!

Today was the start of a very christmas-y weekend at our house! I am so excited! I feel ready for Christmas music, pine trees, cookies and movies! I sort of feel like the only house in town without a christmas tree at this point, so let's go on a tree hunt - bring it on!

But that is part of tomorrow's excitement. Today we kicked off the weekend with R's school Christmas performance/pancake breakfast. C was all in, mainly because of the "all you can eat" pancakes part. Last year, we went to R's Xmas performance, and while we enjoyed it, we were bummed that he was really too young to do anything except sit in his teacher's lap. (And eat about 3 pancakes, of course...) But this year, he definitely participated more, doing all the little motions for each song and clapping like crazy at the end of each one. It was a lot more fun to watch! He also made an ornament and we all had our share of yummy pancakes. Cute morning!






I think one little girl was ready to be finished with the singing...


This evening our whole family went to our church for the annual "Hanging of the Greens" night. We all had a great hoagie-feast, games, crafts and started decorating the church. P and A are staying at the church tonight for the youth lock-in, so they will probably not get too much sleep - but they have a lot of friends at church so, I'm sure they'll have a blast.

Tomorrow we head out to find our tree. Hopefully it won't be too tough, I'm not at all picky when it comes to trees... it just has to a 7 ft Fraiser Fir with a drilled, straight trunk, no bald spots and nothing living it. (you think I'm exaggerating, but we brought home a tree with a mouse living in it when I was a kid.) We are also taking R to see SANTA, so wish us luck.

This is last year's Santa picture:
I felt like the worst child-torturing mommy ever. Even Santa is giving me the evil-eye.


I'm hoping their relationship has improved over the summer.


–The Good Stepwitch

Budding Photographer

So last month we had a bad streak of things breaking in our house. My car, our laptop, our hair dryer, and our camera all broke with in a week of each other. The car is fixed for the time being (though it's on its last wheels, literally. I see a new car in my future...) we splurged and got a nice new laptop, we are letting our hair dry naturally and asking for a camera for Christmas. My parents lent us an old camera of theirs to get us through the holidays.

Our camera was broken by me and R. It was mostly my fault because I left the camera on the counter with the camera strap dangling tantalizingly over the edge of the counter. R came along and pulled the strap. The camera crashed on the floor and the lens popped out and cracked. Bummer.

The camera still works, but it has no way of focusing. So tonight I gave it to R to entertain him while C and A were doing some exercises and P was working on homework.

He had a blast, he didn't care at all about looking at the pictures he took, he just wanted to run around and take pictures of random stuff Here are some of his best ones:










-The Good Stepwitch

Growing up

Today was haircut day for R. (sigh)

I have mixed feelings about haircut days. Chris loves the look of buzz cuts on little boys, and I agree it's cute. But I also think little boys with blond curls are A-DOR-A-BLE. So this past summer we buzzed R's hair for the first time and I loved it, but I could not believe how much OLDER it made R look. I was really shocked. He kept the buzz all summer, but come September, we let it grow again. And his curls came back!

And they were A-DOR-A-BLE!

But they were getting a little unruly, and Chris started hinting that it was really time to get his haircut again. I agreed, but didn't want a super-short buzz. So this was R last night, still curly:


And here he is tonight:

This milk is quite good, could I get you sippy cup? Or some juice maybe?

He looks a whole year older! How does that happen?? He can't be getting this big this quickly, can he?

Thankfully, his second pose proved to me he really is still 2 1/2. What a ham. Buzz cut or curls, he's still pretty stinking cute.




-The Good Stepwitch

My First Sweaty Concert!

Any one who knows my hubby knows that he is a music-junkie. He likes all kinds of music and goes to all kinds of concerts, sometimes just by himself, sometimes with his son, P. Sometimes with his mom, and sometimes with me. A lot of the concerts he goes to with P are Punk / Rock concerts and festivals. He crowds surfs, he stage dives, he moshes and he sings REALLY loudly and is right up front for every number.

Needless to say, the concerts that he and I go to are not usually those kind of concerts. We go to see Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco, Aimee Mann... where there is a slightly mellower crowd. We are still must be right up close to the action when possible, but there usually just a lot of swaying and singing along and cheering and the feeling of: Ahhh, this is a nice night out listening to music with my hubby.

Then two weeks ago, I had my first sweaty concert with the hubby.

Sweaty Concert was a term I coined after realizing that when C would come home from some concerts, he would be bruised, bloodied, sunburn, clothes ripped or lost, and he would be so stinky and sweaty (even AFTER driving home!) that I would not let him touch me until he was showered and had started the laundry. So now, whenever he mentions to me he is thinking of going to a show and would I like to go, my first question is: Is it a sweaty concert? If the answer is yes, I tell him why don't you take P?

However, when he asked me if I'd like to go with him to see Frank Turner at the TLA in Philly, I was interested. I LOVE Frank Turner. For many reasons. First of all, he's a punk singer/songwriter from England, he's adorable and witty and plays accoustic guitar (he admits not very well) but what he lacks in skill, he makes up for with passion. Did I mention he's British - such a lovely accent... If you haven't heard of him - please look him up!

So I was totally up for a Frank concert.

Will it be a sweaty concert? I asked.

I don't think so, C answered. He doesn't have a big following here.

So we went! We had a wonderful date night dinner out in Philly on South Street. I was facing the door, and after we ordered, I looked up and guess who walked in the door of the restaurant? Frank-Freaking Turner and his band!!!! I had a famous-person-flip-out moment as I choked out to C: Look, it's FRANK! He walked by our table, and cool as a cuccumber, C says very politely, Hey Frank, we're looking forward to the show later.

Frank smiled at us and said, That's brillant! (or words to that effect) and went on his way. I was dazzled.

We got to the concert and waited through 2 opening acts before Frank Took the stage. He started playing and all of a sudden I was moving. Literally picked up off my feet by the crowd around me and we all surged ahead to the stage, to FRANK! C held me tight, for a moment I scared I was going to fall, or be trampled or something, but it was great! We were right up front, maybe 3 people back from the stage, and we screamed every song and moshed and danced and C saved me from a crowd surfer landing on my head (good thing he is so tall!). It was a great, crazy date night!

And the best part was we were both so stinky and sweaty afterwards we could hold hands all the way home with out feeling icky!




-The Good Stepwitch

Excuses

I have not been the best blogger lately. I was really good at this two years ago. I would think about what I was going to post every other day or so, and take pictures and sometimes even create artwork for my posts! Now I seem to have no time for sitting down for even 10 minutes to post an entry! Hmmm....

Something must have happened in those two years... something small, and blond, something usually hungry, and always wanting to play. Someone, actually, with a ridiculously cute smile and a super special way of taking my face between his two cute little hands, physically turning my head towards his, and whispering: "Let's play, Mommy! Let's play!"

Well, duh, of course we're going to play!




- The Good Stepwitch

Pirate Shirt

So, I try be to crafty every now and then. But being a graphic designer, I have high crafting expectations, and when my crafty projects don't end up the way I want them to, I get bummed out. But I have finally learned an important crafting lesson: Get the right (AKA: better quality) craft materials, and you will get the results you are after.

I am constantly frustrated by the lack of cute, graphic boys casual shirts available. And I don't want to pay $20 for a shirt Ryan will grown out of (or stain) in a couple of months. So I decided to start designing some graphic play shirts for him, and use iron-on transfer sheets and embellishments like paint markers and embroidery floss to add some character. The problem was I also was cheap, and got some crappy brand transfer sheets, so the transfer never lasted through more than one wash, and sometimes wouldn't even adhere to the fabric! And I got the crafty-blues.

But then I tried Avery brand Transfer sheets and all is well. They are great and I have never had a problem with them. Go Avery!

SO: I found this adorable pirate ship graphic for download on one of my favorite blogs: The Graphics Fairy (there is link to the site on the right).


I added an "R" the middle sail, and printed the ship artwork on to the transfer sheet, after mirror-flipping the image. I had picked up a $3 gray long sleeve shirt from WalMart for this project, I wanted the design to be subtle, so I left the ship black.




I cut it out, and placed it in the lower left corner of the shirt, like it was just sailing along. Then I ironed it on.

Now the fun part! I used fabric paint markers to add some colors to the flags of the ship. And that was it! It's cute and easy, and the shirt is gray (so hopefully it won't show stains too quickly.)



That reminds me of another transfer trick - if you have a shirt that has a stubborn stain on it, but otherwise the shirt is in good shape, just place a dark color transfer graphic over the stain, and it hides it perfectly! I did this with a cute white and blue shirt R got. He wore it twice before getting a spot of spaghetti sauce on in that refused to come out. So I designed a large Thomas the Train graphic that used a lot of dark navy blue, and placed it so the stain was covered! It's like a brand new shirt, plus it's a Thomas shirt , so it's new AND improved in R's opinion.

Can you find the stain?

Let's hear it for cute, cheap play shirts!!


-The Good Stepwitch

Trunk-or-Treat in the Land of Oz

Today was our Trunk-or-Treat at church. The yucky snow/sleet from yesterday was gone and we had a sunny, but cold day for our set up. It was a lot of fun and all the kids had fun, mostly I just enjoyed spending the afternoon with my parents in silly costumes. Our theme was the Wizard of Oz, our minivan was the Wicked Woods, and my parents car was the Emerald City. Cast of characters was as follows:

Dorothy: A
Wicked Witch: H
Cowardly Lion: R
The Wizard: my dad
Glinda: my mom
The Tin Woodsman/woman: me

I was not planning on being in costume, but then since I was the one who sort of signed us up for the trunking and roped my parents into trunking as well, I was getting a lot of grief for not dressing up. I made H and my costumes out of odds and ends, R's Lion costume was found by my mom for $1 at a yard sale, and A had a friend lend her the Dorothy costume. My parents did their own costumes, and I have to say, they rocked the Emerald City. They also created a little "Munchkinland" between our two cars. So cute. And there was candy, much candy, and there were no nap for our little lion, but a very fun afternoon for us all.

Here are picts!

We start in the Wicked Woods...


and travel along the yellow brick road through Munchkinland...


To The Emerald City!


My Dad rocked the wizard look.


Our Oz Crew. The Cowardly Lion was very into the plush Toto dog...


If I were king of the forest, there would be candy everyday!



-The Good Stepwitch

Halloween Family Night

So can you tell cabin fever has really struck home - 2 blog entries in one night!!

It's not often, especially in the fall, when all 6 of our family members are together for an entire evening. Usually one kid had a sleepover, a football game, a date, or if it's C or I, one of us is working late or at choir or something. BUT, last night all 6 of us were home together for a really nice Halloween festive night.

C made his chili, which we all love, especially on a chilly fall night. We also carved our pumpkin. The kids usually draw out their ideas on paper and then we leave it up to C to mash-up the ideas into one pumpkin design. He's really good at it! But this year A wanted to do the carving, and she took it very seriously. H did most of the design this year and A did all the carving, and our pumpkin came out great! Our little man wasn't really into the whole pumpkin thing, after he realized the pumpkin was not for eating, he sort of bailed on the whole experience and watched Micky Mouse on TV instead. I guess maybe next year he'll get it more. But he sure does get the candy aspect of Halloween: CANDY = HAPPINESS.

So H and A did a great job on the pumpkin. R went down to bed and the rest of us settled down with hot apple cider and I opened the halloween candy bags up (we have to test the candy to make sure it is OK to hand out to children) for everyone to have a couple treats. We watched Captain America, not exactly a Halloween-themed movie, but pretty good. We were all wrapped up in blankets and quilts and had some candles going and it was just NICE family time.

When we were going to bed, C and I both commented on how nice it is that HAP are at an age where we can all watch a movie we enjoy together. C said he kept waiting for one of the girls to say: this is boring, I'm going upstairs, or for P to go play video games or something, but they didn't. We had a great family night with lots of laughs and jokes and candy and we need to savor those nights, because it's becoming very real to C and I that P is leaving for college next year. How crazy is that?? We are all going to miss him so much, but I know C will miss him most. So I really pray we get more of these family nights over the next several months to enjoy together.

Here are some pumpkin picts:

Dad preps the pumpkin...



A goes to work



The finished masterpiece!


-The Good Stepwitch

Seriously?

So, I really DID jinx our good weather weekend streak. Today it is cloudy, 32 degrees and has been raining/sleeting/snowing all day!!! YUCK! Hellooooo, can someone say OCTOBER? In Southeastern PA we don't sign up for snow until mid-November. So this is not very appreciated. Though I have to say, I am already feeling like our siding project is going to worth the investment. It's 32 outside and 65 inside, and that's with the thermostat set at 65. It may sound weird, but that's a first for us in this house. Yay new siding!

Thankfully, R decided today (after several no-nap days) to take a 3+ hour nap. He is still going strong and it's almost 5:00! But that means, that I am house bound since C is out running H to her tennis lesson, going grocery shopping and to the library. I feel cabin fever creeping in.

I am very hopeful that the wet stuff is outta here by 3:00 tomorrow for our Trunk-or-Treat. Will post more about that tomorrow!


Just yucky.


-The Good Stepwitch

Busy Fall weekend!

It was a great fall weekend for our family! Beautiful weather...AGAIN (there, I officially jinxed our awesome weekend weather streak - sorry) and jammed-packed of activity! Primarily because it was homecoming weekend at P & A's school. P is a senior and A is a freshman, so A was SUPER excited to have her first homecoming experience. She embraced it from the start of "spirit week" right on through to the homecoming dance last night. It is cute to see such school spirit and see her have such a fun start to high school.

A and her gals


Since our house is right across from the school, A had some friends come over to watch the homecoming parade with her on the porch. R was excited to watch too, because some floats throw CANDY...actually one float threw candy and he got exactly 2 lollipops and 1 airhead. Which is fine - we didn't want him to get a ton of candy, but it was sort of sad seeing him by the street with his little yellow candy bucket waiting for candy to rain down on him. Oh well, he'll get his share on Halloween.

Who wants CANDY??


We went to the football game specifically to see the halftime show since P is in the band. It was a great show - I think the best one P has been part of, but it was COLD so we were glad to leave after the show. The kids got ready for the dance later at their mom's house. Chris had to run over there last minute to give P his wallet. He had left it at our house and it contained his license for driving he and his girlfriend to the dance as well as the actual tickets for the dance. That boy is definitely not a boy scout.... he is almost NEVER prepared...

P is right on the 30 yard line in the front.


They are supposed to be serious all the way through the routine...P's really good at that.


Dad and A before the dance - she looked lovely!


But it sounded like a great time was had by all! Today the hubby and I took Ryan to pick out some pumpkins and more apples, since he eats apples like he's a horse or something! He wasn't really into pumpkin hunting, but he did a little looking and when we asked him what kind of pumpkin he wanted, he said, "A little pumpkin - for me!" So that's what he got. It was a great fall weekend! Next weekend is our Trunk-or-treat display!!! I even roped my parents into parking next to us to be the Emerald City, can't wait to see everyone's costumes and take pictures, and, of course - give out CANDY!




-The Good Stepwitch

Saga of the Siding

Last month C and I decided (at long last) that it was time to have our house resided. It was a project I had been pushing for some time. Our house is over 100 years old. It has little to none in the way of insulation, so our house would be freezing in the winter and sweltering in the summer. The insulation that we could actually see in one area of our cellar was NEWSPAPER! I think 100-year-old newspaper has a negative R rating when it comes to insulation.

So anyway, we decided to take the plunge and do it. We found a great company that specializes in insulated siding to make old homes greener and more energy-efficient. I was so excited!!!! In addition to making our home more energy efficient, it was going to look brand new!!! Whoever did the siding on our house originally (during a renovation in 2005), literally took siding off an existing house and pieced it together on our house. And the capping around the windows and doors was awful. Of course, I wasn't looking at that stuff when we bought the house - I was looking at the completely renovated, lovely interior. Learned my lesson for the next house we buy....

So this week the siding project started. To put it mildly, there have been some bumps along the way this week:

Bump #1: Water damage was discovered. This was no big surprise, we knew there would be some, but we did not think it would be structural. It was. It wasn't something the siding company could fix. We needed a contractor to do it. In 2 days. I freaked out a little.

Bump #2: When I got home the first day, I found that the siding guys had put THE WRONG SIDING on our house. They were about 1/3 of the way up 2 walls - with the wrong siding!! I freaked out a little more. OK, a LOT more...

Bump #3: The weather was not cooperating. ARGH. Go away rain!!!

Long story short, it really has worked out OK. The project will most likely be finished tomorrow. But I have come realize how much more easily I freak out over stuff now. I don't think I used to be this way. Not this bad, anyway. Maybe my dad will read this and say yes, you always freaked out way too easily. But I think having a life-altering freakout period in your life can alter the way you handle problems afterwards. I tend to think the worst thing will happen. Thank God for my parents and my amazing hubby who show me again and again that it's not the case.

So, I resolve to start working on mellowing out more. Because really, no matter what the outside of my house looks like, it's the people inside my house that are most important. Thanks Dad for reminding me of that this week. Also, my house IS going to look awesome, and be more energy efficient and easier to maintain.... as soon as it stops raining.

I'll post pictures soon!

-The Good Stepwitch

Apple Day

It's perfect weather again outside today, so C and I took the boy to Highland Orchards for some harvest fun. HAP was at their mom's house this weekend, so we'll have to see if we have another orchard day with all 4 kids, but Highland is a cute little orchard with stuff perfect for two-year-olds. There were goats to feed corn to, a hay bale maze, cut-outs for photoshoots ( I m such a sucker for these...) a fake cow for milking, a playground and of course food! Right now, Ryan is all about apples. He asks for them all the time. So when he saw the 3 huge bins of apples (golden, red and macintosh) for "picking" he was all about that! He reached right into the Golden delicious bin, grabbed an apple and started munching away. Nevermind washing it, paying for it, whatever, go apple boy go!

It was a nice short visit, we probably only stayed about an hour, but goats were fed, cows were milked, games were played, and apples were picked and eaten. Most importantly, to C at least, was that we picked up apple cider doughnuts. Sooooo yummy.

Here are some pictures:


Not too scared of the goats this time!

Showing daddy how strong I am, he only helped a little...

My little man

- The Good Stepwitch

Welcome Autumn - please stay awhile!!

This is my absolute favorite weather and favorite time of year. The only problem is every year I feel like it flies by and is over before I know it! I love to wear jeans and a sweater and not need anything more to feel cozy. I love being under a quilt watching TV with C. I love mums and pumpkins and gourds, or "gorks" as R calls them. And I love Halloween!

This year our church is holding a Trunk-or-Treat, which is when you park your car (at the church) and decorate it and kids can trick-or-treat by going from car to car. It's basically a Halloween Tailgate! It's nice for kids who live in rural areas with no huge neighborhoods, and it's GREAT for me because even though we live right in town on a fairly busy street, no one really comes to our door on Halloween. And I wanna give out candy!!!

So I have great plans for our setup this year. We are doing a Wizard of Oz theme, specifically, the Wicked Witch's Woods. I will take pictures as we start getting our props together, but A will be Dorthy, H will be the Wicked Witch (though, she has made it clear she is going to be a cute, funky-cool Witch - she will not be anything ugly) and R will be the cowardly lion. I am so excited!

On another note, this past weekend, my family participated with a lot of our extended family in the annual Multiple Myloma Foundation 5k Race. Four years ago we lost my hushand's dad to MM. Each year since we have done this race in his honor with many family and friends. This year I was so proud of C - he came 1st place for his age group, and finished the race in 4th place overall!! He was all like, "yeah, no big deal" but I know it meant something special to him, and I was so happy for him. He even got a medal, though he refused to pose for a picture wearing it (silly man, did you think I'd post it here? Well, yeah, I totally would...) but I did take a picture of the medal.

So welcome Autumn, and please don't go and turn into winter too quickly! Stick around and let's have apples and cider doughnuts and leaf piles and pumpkin hunting and hayrides first, OK? Deal!

-The Good Stepwitch

Naked Life?

It's a quiet Friday night at our house, only kids in the house are H and R. P is out with his girlfriend and A is at a sleepover. It's so neat to see how the kids social lives have evolved over the last few years. P has a lovely girlfriend, and he is really good boyfriend, I have to say. Even though I am only his stepmom, I take pride in the fact that he is a courteous, affectionate and polite boyfriend.

A is at a surprise birthday party for a friend of hers. Seeing A with her girlfriends makes me remember my friends in high school and how loud and ridiculously silly we could be together. We would seriously get high off of just being in the same room together. And I remember the mom of one of my friends commenting on how we "wore her out" when we all got together. I completely understand that comment now. Needless to say, I am sooooo glad this party is at someone else's house tonight instead of here.

So, it is just H and R here with me and the hubby on Friday night. Which means C and I are enjoying a bottle of wine, H is reading and Ryan is playing LIFE. The board game. While wearing only a diaper. He spins the spinner over and over and picks a random card and drives his little red car all over the board. We will play for real when Ryan goes to sleep in a little bit.

Sidenote: Seriously, why does H love the Game of LIFE? It takes forever to set up and forever to play and it's not that fun and no one ever really wins or loses. Not my favorite game, but it's a H night so she gets to pick and that's fine.

Best Quote of the night:

H: (exasperasted, because she has spent FOREVER setting up the LIFE game board) Ryan you can't play LIFE!"

R: "Why not?"

H: "Because you can't play LIFE naked!"

For the most part, I agree.

What if?

So what would happen if I wrote about my day today?

What if I just brushed over the past two years, full of so many joys and just as many sorrows, and moved right into the present? A lot of stuff has stayed the same. We live in the same house, (though there is a new family member with us now!) and the house is still the source of a lot of headaches for me... I am still a graphic designer, though now employed at a new studio. I still love what I do and can't imagine doing anything else, except maybe being a stay-at-home mom. (I wish!)

I really enjoyed this blog when I was writing it regularly 2 years ago, but stuff happens, and shit happens too, and priorities get re-ordered. I tried starting a new blog a couple of months ago. It was about life as a cancer survivor living with a brain tumor. Seriously, who wants to read a blog like that? And more importantly, I didn't want to write a blog like that. I want to blog about my 2-year-old trying to master the potty, and P's senior year of high school, and A's first homecoming dance, and H's art class - she's drawing pears. She's been drawing pears for three weeks now. I am wondering when she will graduate to a new fruit.

And I want to blog about my amazing husband, C, who holds me together in every way imaginable. This month we celebrated our 5 year anniversary. 2 years ago, on our 3rd anniversary, we got the news about the tumor. And in the words of Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

Things are good now. And I want to blog about now. So what if I just started this blog up again? Would anyone read it? Will I even want to keep it going? I hope so.