Who loves summer??

We do!! Thank goodness it finally feels like summer has arrived, it has been sorely missed in our household. I find it ironic how quickly people start to complain about the heat and humidity after months of crying about the cold. I also find it funny how that no matter where you go people strike up a conversation about the weather. I believe I had a conversation about the weather at two gas stations on Sunday, CVS, and the grocery store. The last one I had to turn away so I wouldn't bust out laughing. Regardless, summer is here and I am thrilled!!

This last weekend we went and visited our home away from home the Heer's in Minneapolis. We always have so much fun in their company. We were able to stay with them with peace of mind that Ruby was well taken care of at the Kuehl's. I couldn't find a sitter for her so she came along for the ride. Erik and I bragged up how easy she is and they will not need to worry about her, she can fend for herself. I think 20 minutes into getting there she projectile vomitted on their gorgeous wooden floors not once, twice, or three times on their floor...but four times! I proceeded to blame Anthony for feeding her Lunchables on the way up when I knew full well it was me. Sorry Amy...I didn't think she would actually puke it up considering she eats her own poop. It all ended well after she settled down but once again THANK YOU to Brad and Amy. I took them out for breakfast on Sunday to say thanks and hope they enjoyed it. I know I did Keyes Cafe' rocks-great suggestion AJ!!

Anyways back to our weekend. We stayed Fri-Sun, the kids played great for the most part. The adults played well for the most part and it was great. We ate well, drank well, and enjoyed a good game of old fashioned dominos. I would have loved to stay one more day but we had to get back to reality and travel back home to work Monday. As always Alex was a horrible traveler and Anthony slept both their and back. Anthony has always been a really good traveller. We can tell him we are going to be there if four hours. He will look at us and tell us he is going to take a nap then. Why does Alex not understand that concept? He will proceed to scream almost the entire time we are driving unless we are trying to bribe him with Lunchables, drink, or garage door openers. Seriously?

Well the 4th of July is approaching us and we are headed to the lake. Alex has not been feeling good the last couple of days so I am crossing my fingers that he will be charged up for the weekend. He really is not a lake fan either. Loves to run and jump in the water, not a fan of sleeping at the lake, and is usually up at 5 am when the birds start to chirp. I am hoping my in-law's will take the boys over night of Friday so we can have some adult time with Brad and Amy, maybe hit DL for some dinner at Fireside and go watch GB Leighton with the Greene's. Anthony keeps asking me about smokeballs so I am thinking we will make a trip for some small fireworks as well.

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July. Appreciate our country, your families, and those that feel like home to you. For those are the people that make it all worth it.

All grown up!

We have a great weekend ahead of us. My little cousin Nicholas is getting married. My sweet Nicholas. I believe he goes by "Nick" now but to me he always be my Nicholas. I think that I have mentioned before that my dad has 12 siblings. He is #6 and I was the first grandchild, my grandma waited a long time for me. Next was my sister and to follow suit were Tiffany, Nick, and Stacey. There are plenty more to add after them and I love them all dearly but with the trio I just mentioned I literally can recall snapshots of their lives in my memory. They are children of my Uncle Bob and Aunt Natalie who are potentially two of the coolest people together and apart. Love them!! Anyways, my dad and Bob are maybe a year apart and so naturally we spent alot of time together growing up. Since I was the oldest I also assumed the responsibility of being the babysitter. Back then I think I was 9 this first time I babysat my little cousins and sister. Gasp!! Now I think you could go to jail for that. Nicholas was the easiest kid, not sure if it was the whole middle child thing or what but as long as you had a good Disney movie and a box of cereal you were good to go. That child lived off of cereal. Bob and Natalie should have taken stock in Post. But now he is getting married and I am really happy for him. He is marrying his highschool sweetheart too. Anthony is his ringbear, I told him that am not responsible for anything that happens. Please keep you fingers crossed for us. So we are packing up and heading to Detroit Lakes for the weekend. Time to get my dancing shoes back out and remind my little cousins just how totally cool I am.

Repeat, Rewind, Repeat, Rewind...

Anthony, can you please get up?
Can you please get dressed?
Can you get your shoes on?
Can you get in to the car?
Can you please eat your breakfast?
I understand you are tired but that is what happens when we don't go to bed on time.
Can you hang your coat up?
Do your clothes belong on the floor?
Can you get in the bath so you feel nice and clean?
Can you please hang up your towel?
No, you cannot have ice cream because you did not finish your supper.
Time to brush your teeth.
Time to pick out a book.
No you cannot sleep in our bed.
Anthony, I see you get to bed.

Repeat, rewind, repeat, rewind...not to mention the don't push your brother stuff and it is really important to listen stuff.

Patience is a virtue or if you ask me a blessed miracle.

Hmmm....where do I begin?

Well the subjects we are covering today are: super busy summer, Rob and Missy's wedding, Kristin's wedding, my new job, and Erik is out of town all summer for work.
Our summer is in full swing. Anthony had his first T-ball practice on Monday, his team is appropriately called the "Angels". He looked so darn cute out there. Some kids were completely focused, others were playing with the "sand" on the field, and I would say Anthony was right in the middle. His attention was good when the coaches were focused on him but if they would move on so would he. Today he spent the day with my in-law's and they relayed he did better practicing at their place. He also drove the four wheeler by himself and rode two of their horses by himself. Grandpa Tony was very proud. Anthony starts St.Joe's summer program tomorrow. He is excited to hit the pool as well as all of the field trips the have planned for the summer.

On Saturday night we had Rob and Missy's wedding. Had a blast! It felt good to get dressed up, see lots of old friends, and dance like crazy. After the dance we had a crew at our house and partied like it was 1999. Erik and I also felt extremely old the next day. But it was absolutely worth it!

I thought that I was going to be able to pull off going to Kristin's wedding as Leslie's date that is this weekend in South Carolina. My new boss approved my time off even though I just started but unfortunately Erik is leaving tonight for the rest of the week to work out of town-BOO! It is going to be an odd week with both Erik and Leslie gone. My two constant adult companions are out of town. I really do not like sleeping alone (without Erik, not Leslie :) but am grateful that it is only Wed-Fri this week. It sounds like it is going to be Mon-Fri going forward this summer so I will be flying solo through out the week with the boys. I am very lucky to have all the help from Erik's parents, I honestly do not know what I would do without their help. They watched Anthony all day today, picked up Alex from daycare on their way to bring him home, and had an awesome hot dish made for us for supper. LOVE THEM!!

I also LOVE my new job. I think it is just the challenge I was looking for. The techie world is a big learning curve for me but everyone in the office is around my age, super eager to help, and laid back. Just the way I like it! We have a mandatory outing to lunch for Rib Fest on Thursday, should be a good time.

Well that is your weekly update of the Tortorice's. Alex is having a hard time due to his teeth FINALLY all coming through. He has done really well transitioning to full time daycare. I definitely have been missing my Mon and Fri's with the boys but am trying to focus on the fact that this is good for all of us in the long term. I guess we shall see!

So I tried to be the cool wife...

But it didn't work. I am now just irritated!! So this past weekend is Memorial. This past week I have been picturing my long weekend at the lake, relaxed, and calm. Children playing in the field, picking up shells, and enjoying some adult beverages with my lake friends. Nope, not me. Instead I am sitting at my house on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon looking out my window at the golfers. I ended up coming home last night because Alex ran a fever yesterday and as the day progressed so did his fever as well as his becoming more uncomfortable. I knew that if I drove home with him, put him in his own comfy bed he would feel better. Good call because this morning his fever had broke, I bathed him, and fed him some oatmeal. He returned shortly after to his crib for a long morning nap. The part of me that is the mother is relieved that my baby is feeling better. The part of me that is missing out at the lake is very irritated with my husband who is having lunch at Zorbaz's as I angrily type on my keyboard. The logical part of me knows that Erik deserves time to hang with his friends at the lake, I also am glad that Anthony is able to play with his lake friends. The flip side is I do get tired of being the mom sometimes. Why is it that we naturally step into the responsibility? Do not get me wrong Erik is a wonderful father. There is not one thing he would not do for me or the boys. Well except tell everyone that Alex and I are going to be back today and that since Alex is feeling much better but not 100% that tonight we need the camper to be low key. He doesn't want to be "rude". I matter of factly told him that it truly is a better idea to be rude to his wife who will now be staying home again to ensure that Alex gets the rest he needs. I was able to do that trying to hold my composure, bursting into tears, all the while slamming the phone down. AJ posted about snapping recently and let me tell you I definitely snapped today. So I don't win the coolest wife award today-DO NOT CARE!!

***Update: Erik has the camper free of disturbances (love our friends but love my sanity more today), Alex and I will be heading down to the lake shortly. He will sleep peacefully and I will have a conversation with my old friend Gray Goose.

Anthony's Big Fish

This past weekend we took off to Baudette to celebrate my Aunt Nancy's 50Th Birthday as well as spend some due time with my parents. On Sunday we went fishing out on Lake of the Woods on my dads boat. It was Erik, Anthony, my dad, and I. By the way if any of you that are reading this are single you really need to get up north, I have never seen SO many men in one town. Granted they all had a three day shadow and smelled like fish. But desperate times call for desperate measures :). Anyways we get out to my dad's fishing spot with about 25 others. We find my Uncle Stu and saddle up next to his boat. Erik is on fire, he drops his line in and catches a fish. Drops his line and catches a fish. Pretty much the same thing with my dad. Not as often but still holding his own. Now my line on the other hand would get a nibble, I would give it a tug to "snag" the fish and bring up my line to see that I had been robbed on numerous occasions. Anthony was for the most part interested in the shiners and bringing them to us to bait our hooks. Mid-afternoon the fishing really picked up. My dad had his and "Anthony's" line in the water and both caught fish. Now up there when you catch a fish you have to net it before it comes out of the water because most of them are big walleye that once they are out of the water to start shaking the line and break it off. So Erik and I jump in to help net both of my dads fish that he is reeling in one at time. Not paying any attention to Anthony on the other side of the boat."Dad, I think I got one." We all look back to see Erik's pole bent and our little Anthony reeling away. Erik takes off to the other side of the boat and realizes that Anthony has a pretty big fish. I bring the net, and after Anthony has reeled it all the way to the boat by himself I pick it up. Erik measures it and our little man reeled in a 19" walleye all by himself! We were all so proud of him. He yelled over to my uncles boat,"Hey Stu, I got the biggest fish!" Sure enough within minutes we are completely surrounded by our 25 neighbors. Well at the end of the day Erik caught his and my limit. I caught one fish and would have missed it because I was so absorbed in Chelsey Handler's new book "Are you there Vodka, it's me Chelsea." Great book by the way. But proud to say our son Anthony began his walleye fishing career with a vengeance!

I will post a pic as soon as my mom gets it printed, sent to me, and I scan it. She is still not confident in her uploading skills...what did we do before digital?