Weekend Update

FRIDAY: I was planning to stay at work a little late. Doris had left a little early to go to the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit. At about 5:55pm Becs sent me an email to ask if we wanted to have dinner at Mi Rancho in Silver Spring. I called Jason immediately and asked if he wanted to go too. Sometimes Friday's are tough for Jason to go out to dinner because he's had a long week at home but even though he had already cooked the boys a couple of burgers (though they hadn't eaten them yet) he was totally up for it. I sent an email back to Becs telling her "YES!!" She couldn't believe it. She thought it was totally a long shot and wasn't even going to ask us but I told her, "invite us to dinner where we don't have to cook and throw in margaritas and Jason and I will almost never say 'no'". Becs, Jake and I all rode the metro to the restaurant and Jason packed the boys in the car. Even with the rain, we had a great time. The pitcher of strawberry margaritas and Dos Equis helped but best of all it was the great company and Doris surprised us and showed up too (we texted her on her way to the restaurant).

SATURDAY: Saturday had it ups and downs. On the up side, we had a nice morning. Aidan and I played Wii tennis before breakfast. He said if he wins, I had to make him breakfast in bed. I took on that wager and ended up making him breakfast in bed. He loved it, took full advantage of me and acted like a king!

After getting ready we went into my office. Leo was so cute and asked "am I going to work with you?" I told him "yes" and his face lit up and he said, "thank you so much mommy. I get to go too? and Aidan?" He was so excited. The boys helped me clean up my desk. My cubicle was a disaster. It looked like a paper hurricane had landed in my cubicle. There were papers on the floor, on my desk, still sitting in my printer, in the overflowing recycle bin, everywhere! The boys had the run of the office and they loved it. They ran back and forth between my cubicle and the recycle, we filed stuff in the filing room (Aidan thinks the filing room is 'spooky'), we cleaned up my bookshelves, they washed my coffee cups, cleaned out my drawers, shredded papers, put books on other shelves and wiped down my countertops. Aidan and Leo loved it, Jason was a good sport and a super helper. Jason went to the potbelly's and got us sandwiches and we ate in our conference room. They asked if I had meetings in here and where I usually sit. The boys had so much fun that Aidan asked if we could go to my work on Sunday.

Aidan also had a birthday party to go to later in the afternoon. On our way home from work he asked if he could take a nap. I told him "yes" but that we were almost home and he had to go to his party. He started to cry and said he didn't want to go. Jason was frustrated because he hates it when Aidan rsvp's for a party and then the day of the party doesn't want to go. I hate it too but sometimes when you get there he warms up to it and ends up having a good time. I offered to take him but Aidan wanted Daddy to take him. So, nervously I watched them head out the door. Leo wanted to go to the party too but since he couldn't I promised him we would do something. We ended up making a St.Patrick's Day cake. Halfway through mixing the batter, I heard two car doors slam shut. I looked out the window and saw Aidan and Jason, unhappy as can be, walk up the stairs. Jason said Aidan cried when they got to the party and didn't want to go in so Jason took the present inside and said Aidan wasn't feeling well (which obviously is true). The birthday was at some sportsplex-a place Aidan had never been.

When Aidan came home, I told him he had to go to his room for a while. Surprisingly, he went without a fuss. I sent Jason to the book store and movies (this is clearly the only fun thing he got to do), Leo and I finished the cake, and I went up to talk to Aidan. I told him that the reason that we were upset was because he had told us earlier that he wanted to go the party so his friend's family paid money for Aidan to be at the party, they had planned for him to eat pizza and cake, so we had wasted their money and that most of all his friend was looking forward to him being at his birthday party and he was disappointed on his special day. If he RSVPs to a party it is important for him to go because people are planning on him being there. Jason said that even if they would have gone inside he would have hated it because it was loud and crowded and unfamiliar--all the things Aidan hates. I don't know if it was the right talk but it was the talk we had. The rest of the night went really well. They were all in a good mood, ate a super dinner (even Leo) and we frosted the chocolate cake with green frosting and put on green sprinkles.

SUNDAY: Aidan started swimming lessons again and again, it was another activity he didn't want to do. I didn't put up with that one. My whole shpeel about swimming is that once they can swim easily in the deep end of a pool without any help they can cut the swim lessons but until then they will go. It simply a matter of safety. No ifs and or buts. How parental is that? Sounds like something my parents would say.

After swimming the boys dropped me off at Doris' house for the monthly Creative Memories scrapbooking event. I had a great time but I realized where Aidan gets the anxiety of crowds and noise because there were lots of people at Doris' and lots of loud talking which towards the end gave me a little anxiety. I worked on Leo's first year album (no comments please) and made some great progress. I am on the very last month (February) and working on his 1st birthday party. I love the pictures. The boys are adorable and I can never get enough of looking at their baby pictures. They are too sweet for words. After I got home, as is tradition, we looked at the new pages I did and we looked at both their albums. They love looking at them too, maybe not as much as me but they like it.

While I was scrapbooking, Jason took the boys with rain boots and all to the airplane park. They walked around in the mud and the puddles for a little while. Jason sent me a cute picture of Aidan and Leo standing in the middle of a gigantic mud puddle.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Sorry there are no pictures.

Happy Fourth of July

I got off work early yesterday (at about 3:10) and we drove down to visit Uncle Bogey and Auntie Thotlady. We are staying at the Embassy Suites. The boys, especially Leo, love to stay in hotels. I do too to be honest. It is like a mini vacation from all the mundane responsibilities at home. This morning we woke up had breakfast (Embassy Suites has the best hotel breakfasts) and then Jason went to work out with Uncle Bogey and the boys and I went to the swimming pool for an hour. Aidan is a great swimmer. I was throwing him in the deep area to make sure he could float. The first time he went a little crazy trying to swim but the second, third and fourth times he just went straight into floating. It was really great! Leo is also learning to love the water. He jumped off the side of pool, dunked his head and puts his face in the water. When we got back to the room, it was clean! Does life really get better than that?

On a sad, sad note Uncle Bogey and Auntie Thotlady's dog Charlotte passed away on Wednesday. We are all very sad and especially sad for Uncle and Auntie. She was a super wonderful puppy and will be very missed by the whole family.

We will go back home tomorrow. We do not want to battle the traffic on Sunday and I thought it would be nice to have a day of rest over the weekend. Work has, as usual, been a bear. Maybe tomorrow we will check out the Rockville fireworks if they have some. I don't want to go downtown to watch the fireworks because it is just not a good idea with two small children. Jason and I did it a couple of times when we were "young" and we are just not that interested now-maybe in a few years.

On Sunday, we plan to go to Jake and Bec's house for a BBQ. We did this last year too and it was great fun. There was lots of great food, awesome company and relaxing. It was a hot day and there was beer and a sprinkler for the boys to run around in with only there underwear on. I had to ask Bec's if it was okay if she had two boys running around her front yard in only underpants. She said "of course"!

So that is what we are up to. I hope everyone else has a safe, fun and relaxing fourth of July.

Love you.

Summer Holiday and Travel

I just wanted the family and our friends to know that we have made reservations to come and visit this summer. We really look forward to seeing everyone. We will arrive July 21 and return August 3. On a side note, it is extremely expensive to buy four airplane tickets especially in a one-earner income family. I know I totally should not be surprised. I travel pretty frequently, right? The tickets that we purchased on an invidual level were priced pretty well. I really should not complain but when they total it, it is still a bit of a shocker. Also the expenses just come at a difficult time when we are trying to get Aidan into summer camps. We could only afford one, one-week soccer camp. You can't believe how expensive it is. You don't want to get me started but it is REALLY, REALLY expensive. I don't know how other families do it! For families with both parents in the job market, they have to scramble to get their kids in camp and then come up with over $2,000 for camp and change their work schedules to drop off and pick up. I think we should have year round schooling (seriously!). We may try to get him into one more, one week camp but we will see.

Back on point ... we are really looking forward to Ethan and Aidan getting reacquainted and playing together. We are also looking forward to Leo and Riley getting to know each other again as well. I'm super curios to see how the boys all end up playing together. Leo is used to playing with Aidan and Leo is totally into being a "big boy". I'm working on his one-year scrapbook and he is not impressed because the album is full of baby pictures. He asked me where the pictures of him as a big boy were. Also whenever I have called him "my baby", he correctly replies "I'm not a baby". Of course I told him he will always be "my baby". But what I am wondering will Leo and Riley want to play together orwill they want to play with the "big boys" and will the big boys want the little guys to play with them. It should be interesting.

Aidan had his first day of soccer camp Monday. The drop did not go so well but on the pick up he said he had a great time. Yesterday's drop off went much better. He was EXHAUSTED both days when Jason came to pick him up. After camp on Monday, they went to pick up some soccer shorts and cleats and he did not want to take off his shin guards. Even after they got home and he was going to take a shower, he didn't want to take them off immediately. He asked if he could put them on after his shower, with is pajamas. It's so cute. Yesterday at camp they also had about an hour or so for swimming. He gets to go to the pool again today around 11:00 am. He is taking his soccer camp with his friend Willam. On the first day, William was really sweet when Aidan was dropped off. He wanted to hold Aidan's hand and walk and sit with him at the start. Here is a picture of our soccer champ.

He looks so big, doesn't he?

Heroes

I'm totally addicted to a new TV show. I haven't had it this bad since I got into Alias a couple of years ago and we couldn't get the DVDs from Netflix fast enough. It's Hereos that I'm addicted to, HEREOS! Save the cheerleader, save the world. My mom got me season 1 of Hereos for Christmas 2007. I didn't really get into it then. At the time, Jason and I watched one or two episodes and for some reason I just didn't get into it. Jason did, so he has seen all of season 1. For Christmas last year, my mom got me season 2 so I thought maybe I should check it out, plus Jason gave it a positive review. Now I'm totally addicted and can't stop watching it at night before bed. Jason and I watch one or two, sometimes three episodes before bed. The down side of it is, it's getting a little frea-kay! The other night, the cheerleader's dad, pull eddown the sheet of what he thought was a dead Syler. The clencher? It wasn't Syler that was dead it was the doctor and Syler was standing right behind the cheerleader's dad. Can you say scary!!! I couldn't go to bed. I closed my eyes and I would just be a little frightened. You know kind of jumpy but I still love it. I'm still on season 1.

Tonight is swim night. Aidan has lessons from 6:10-6:40pm. He is doing amazingly well swimming. He has improved so much. Jason and I were just commenting that he's only had two sessions and the difference is incredible. Leo switched swim days so he now swims on Thursday mornings.

I was supposed to go to Egypt next week but I cancelled my trip. My workload is just too much right now that I can't take it. I'm sure my mom will be incredibly relieved! Aidan was so disappointed, when I told him I cancelled my trip he said, "Can't you just ask your boss to make you go?" He said he was going to miss me but he wanted me to take pictures of the pyramids. Maybe one day we will all be able to go and see the pyramids in person!

Bon nuit!

Mad in the Holma Family

So the last couple of days have been tough in the Holma household. I'm not sure what it is but something is in the air. Yesterday, I left work at about 6pm and so didn't get to my metro stop until about 6:45pm. It has been a long couple of weeks for me at work as well. I'm drowning in work but that is for another day. When the boys picked me up I got in the car and the first words spoken to me where from Leo. He said, "Aid mad, Dad mad, me mad". I new when I got in the car it was not going to be a good evening. Even now I am not sure what all went down but after about two minutes of being in the car Jason said, "I'm going to the movies." That's fine, actually most of the time when he is in such a mood its usually better that he is not in the house. When we arrived at home Jason flew out of the car, went inside and got his stuff and was ready to go before the three of us even got in the house! I thought boy this must be really bad. Though when Jason went to get in the car, Aidan grabbed onto to Jason, cried and said, "Don't go Daddy, please...don't go." This continued and finally Jason decided (against my better judgement) to not go.

After being in the house for about 10 minutes, Jason decided it was time for the boys to go to bed. They had already eaten before they picked me up because they were hungry which is fine. It's tough for me because I don't get to eat with them but I totally understand that they might get hungry and I know it is a consequence of being a working parent. The hard part about last night was I then had to choose between eating dinner (which I was starving...did I mention I'm trying to eat better and lose weight...and so I only ate a salad for lunch and salad translates into hungry two hours later) and spending some time with the boys. Of course I chose to lay down with the boys, snuggle, and watch a movie before they went to bed. Jason disappeared downstairs and watched a movie for a few hours. After they fell asleep, I went downstairs and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. Does anyone else every eat peanut butter and jelly for dinner?

Being a working parent, especially of two little ones is hard. I think the hard part is trying maintain the balance between family and work so you don't look back on your life and wish you would have done things differently. I'm not sure at this point in time that I won't look back and wish I had done things differently on the work-family life balance. On the other hand, obviously one person has to work away from the home and in our house that is me and we made decisions that have led us down this path. In many ways, if I have to work I think I am very lucky. Thanks to Jason wanting to stay home with the boys, I have it pretty easy in the morning and pretty easy in the evening. I don't have to get my kids out of the house and to day care by 8am or leave work to pick them up by 5pm. Jason takes care of all the little things that I don't know how other people even manage to get done like grocery shop, car emissions tests, oil changes, buying drain cleaner from the hardware store, going to the dry cleaners and the post office, etc. The hard part is feeling like I get to spend time with boys and be a part of their daily lives (really a part), trying to make sure our marriage is strong, and trying to make sure I am mentally stable all the while trying to be proud of the work that I do. I don't know how to do all of this but I am going to keep trying, talking about it, listening to others, and always make it a priority in my life.

Tonight was a similar night, this time Leo said "Aid mad, me mad" and Aidan said "I'm not mad", which was a relief to hear. Jason said things had gone better today. I'm not sure he was better though. He was quiet irritated and grumpy so at 7:30 I asked him to go to the movies and he said it was too late. I asked him to go to the pool and sit in the hot tub and he didn't want to do that and I said..."please, just go somewhere" and so he ended up going to the movies. I'm not sure which one or where but he filled his pockets with candy, smiled and left.

Just to catch up...Tuesday as you all know is Swim Day. Since we all had the day off Aidan and I went to watch Leo and Jason swim which was fun. Leo does great in the pool, he seems very comfortable in the water and really does not seem afraid. He even hangs on to the barbell float and is comfortable using it to float in water that he can't touch the bottom in. Jason is holding on to him but I'm not sure Leo really needs him too. It is great to watch. Aidan also had swimming yesterdan and Doris came to watch too. Aidan did really great. They practiced swimming through a hoola-hoop and the first couple of times Aidan really walked through instead of swam but after the instructor showed Aidan how to swim through he really did it. They also had to swim through the hoop and then grab a toy underwater and Aidan did it!! He was very excited. Aidan also practiced his back float and the instructor really helped him and made him look more at ease doing it. Aidan said his favorite part of the swimming was the hoola-hoop and he asked if

he could go more than just one day.

Tuesday is Swimming Day

Tuesdays are now big days around the Holma/Ritualo house. Both of the boys are in swim classes on this day. Leo goes in the morning and Aidan goes in the evening. In Leo's class, both Leo and Dad are in the pool together. Leo's not learning any strokes or swimming techniques but is getting comfortable being in the water. There's a lot of floating around and kicking. This morning Leo wasn't too excited about going but once he got in the water he had a lot of fun. Aidan's class is more of an actual lesson. He's in the water with four other kids, a teacher and an assistant teacher. They work on holding their breath, floating, and kicking while their heads are in the water. Like his younger brother, Aidan wasn't too excited about going today but once he got in the water he had a blast. He can't wait until next week.

Leo's contribution to the blog-I asked Leo what he like most about swimming he said "cars", "polar express", "lightning mcqueen cars." I'm pretty sure he didn't play any of those things in the pool today but that is what is on his mind.

Aidan's contribution to the blog-"I dunked my head and grabbed the dinosaur from the bottom of the pool."