About time I logged on....

Just a quick note, seeing as how I am at work right now.....

It has been a pretty great summer so far! Once we got past the month of JUNE (which I now consider to be a "4-letter" word) the weather turned beautiful and has stayed that way. The gals finished up their T-Ball season with a parent / kid game and trophy ceremony. Also, they "graduated" kindergarten!! Can't believe that my eensy teensy twins are almost too big for me to pick up and on the cusp of being 1st graders! They are currently attending 1/2 summer camp: swimming in the community pool, taking little trips (bowling, roller skating, etc.) and generally staying up a little later and loving life. 4th of July weekend was spent at the beach, a couple of barbeques, and around the house being lazy - great weather, great boogie boarding, great food, great company, and great relaxing was had by all. Hit our first ever concert on the beach in Long Beach last Tuesday (or Wednesday?) night. I can't believe I had not gone to one before then. It seemed like half the city was there on the beach rocking out to the great music! And you couldn't ask for a nicer venue than one with the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop. And they concerts are free!! We will definitely be taking advantage of these concerts for the remainder of the summer. This past weekend was spent in W.Hampton at my brother Dan's house - we were blessed with great weather and spent the better part of 3 days in and around the beautiful pool. The kids all got along great, there was good food and family - the best part was that it was just a "regular" weekend, no big event to plan for or around. Things just kind of unfolded and everything was great.

Upcoming: The gals and I are going to Georgia for a week to hang w/an old h.s. pal of mine and her kids. Plans include a few small trips, and lots of hanging around her pool if the weather cooperates. Also, figuring out when to ferry out to Fire Island to hang with cuz Michele, hopefully will be soon! Our annual block party is planned for 8.22 - any of you that will be in the area are welcome to join us. Garage sale (well, a porch sale!) in there somewhere too, as I try to "de-packrat" my house. Other than that - hopefully more of the same of what we've had so far which is great weather and lots of fun and love with family and friends.

I will post some pics later this week, hope everyone's summer is going as great as ours is!! Love you!

Jill

Big Girl BEDS!

After waiting patiently for almost six years, after countless hours of sleeping, playing, tent making, and pulling the old switcheroo on Mommy and Daddy, after performing a myriad of gymnastic tricks, after pulling their "baby" blankets out from the drawer underneath yet one more night, after wearing out hundreds upon hundreds of D and C batteries in their "fish" and their "music players", after one last round of pictures, a couple of tears, and a very heartfelt, fond goodbye -

The gals got their "big girl" beds set up over the weekend. I am happy to report, that they are happy.

Will post some "before" and "after" pictures soon.

Random Friday night.....

Well, to start, something is WRONG with my spacebar. AND my period key (double entendre? NO!) And I am NOT HAPPY about either of these deficiencies as my Dell Notebook Computer 1) was not cheap! and 2) is not that old. Suspects will be questioned, punishments may be dealt.

But anyway......

(had to hit the period key like 80 TIMES)

Life is Work. Work is Life. Or at least it seems so lately. So, I have been making a conscious effort to separate the two.

Seriously. Let me elaborate.

We Lessards, are on a pretty tight schedule. Me more so than JP and the gals. I am always the first one up (on weekdays). I nudge JP, go in and wake the girls, and get the day going. As my previous day probably did not end till around midnight, my morning usually begins around 6:45 on a good day. Around 7am on a not so good day.

So, I nudge JP, go into the gals' bedroom, get them up or give them "5" more minutes depending on the time, and hit the shower. A FAST shower. Always. Except on the weekends or at night when I am lucky enough to have a few extra minutes . OK, this whole post so far sounds like I am complaining or bitching about my lack of time, which in a way I am but I am so not..

I am just documenting a day in the life...

So anyway, as NONE OF MY FAMILY READ THIS BLOG ANYMORE I can pretty much say whatever I want......SCOTT! YOU'RE A NORTHERNER AND WILL NEVER BE FULLY ACCEPTED INTO SOUTHERN LIFE! MICHELE! LIGHTEN UP! JOE! GET A CLUE!

ok, I am done with THAT.

If you (and you know who you are!) happen to be reading this post, trust me, that last capitalized comment was NOT directed at you

But I digress.

So work,

Necessary but hated

Not that I hate my "paying" job

And I certainly don't hate my "non-paying" job

But it is starting to wear on me.

The commute.

I don't remember my specific point when I started this entry, but I do realize what it has turned into -

I HATE MY COMMUTE.
Other than that? Right now? Life is good. And I am thankful.

Liar Liar, OH MY GOD, FIRE

Wow.

Wow.

WOW.

In an instant, your entire world can change.

In an instant, everything that you've taken for granted pretty much your whole life, can literally go up in smoke.

In an instant, you can be upstairs getting one kid dressed, while downstairs, another kid decides to blow out the candle that Daddy lit earlier in the day.

In an instant, while you are helping with socks, the smoke alarm can go off.

In an INSTANT, you can hear your child start screaming hysterically from downstairs.

Wow.

Wow.

WOW.

If you don't have a smoke alarm -

Get one.

As soon as possible.

If you don't -

If WE didn't -

I still may have run down the stairs quickly enough to see flames to the ceiling in my living room.

I still may have been able, to grab the burning "scented sticks in a bottle of scented FLAMMABLE ALCOHOL" before it exploded all over my living room.

I still might have had enough time to grab the bottle and throw it in the kitchen sink, and douse the fire on top of my entertainment center, before any "real" damage happened.

Maybe I would have had the time.

Maybe.

If you read Scott's blog yesterday, you would have read about a seemingly very nice, normal guy, with a seemingly very nice, normal, wife, with a seemingly very nice, normal, life -

who just lost EVERYTHING to a fire.

God, I am blessed that we had that smoke detector.

I am blessed that this happened during the day, when I had a chance to react.

WE are BLESSED, that a spur of the moment decision by my 5 yr old daughter, did not lead to us losing our house, our possessions, our pets, our lives.....

Tonight we had obligations that kept me from testing our fire extinguisher.

I am actually shaking my head at myself as I re-read that last line,

but it is true. Tonight, we had obligations that kept me from testing our fire extinguisher.

After reading that same sentence again -

rather then waiting for tomorrow to make sure it works,

I am going to do it now.

Wow.

Wow.

WOW.

But for the grace of God.

PS - I am adding to this post, as I was just contemplating life as I currently know it while sitting in the bathroom (where I do some of my best thinking)

Thank GOD I had the presence of mind, to assess the situation and respond correctly.

Thank GOD, I had to presence of mind, to calm both of my hysterical children down (one of whom did not even see what was going on but freaked anyway)

Thank GOD, that instead of freaking out myself, that I was able to turn this incident into a lesson for both of my kids, in that I comforted them until they were ready to hear the facts. the facts that a "little" fire such as it was could have easily turned into an uncontrollable fire, and I told them what they should do if GOD FORBID such a thing happens -

'STOP DROP ROLL" if they are on fire

YELL AND GET OUT if any thing or any ONE is on fire.

We won't be burning any candles for a while in our house.

My little Daisies....

Ah, but for the days when grown ups and grown up organizations waited till children were mature enough to schill their own wares! Sadly, those days are no more and now the responsibility falls squarely upon the parents' shoulders to make sure their kids "do" their parts.....

In light of that, Natalie and Cecile are "selling" Girl Scout cookies for their brand new Daisy Scout troop. If your mouth waters as mine does every time I see a green sash with badges or a beret, feel free to email (jill_brennan@timeinc.com), call (h.516-889-.4648 w.212-522-1985) or stop by. NOTE, part of the proceeds will be used to provide cookies and other goodies for our troops overseas.





Alternatively, if you will be at AMA's tomorrow for the Paul / JP birthday bash, I will of course have the sheets with me :)

Thanks for your support!

Jill

Deep In The Heart Of Texas

After 8 years and some strong persuasion (AND finding out the miles on my debit card had accumulated enough to pay for 3 of 4 tickets), we finally dragged the kids out from the "Texas" under our dining room table and hopped on a plane for the "real" Texas. Our journey began with a sleep over at AMA's house on Sunday evening in preparation for a 7:05am Monday flight. Actually, our journey probably began when the kids started "going" to "Texas" under our dining room table but I digress....

After enjoying dinner and chat at AMA's we finally got the girls settled on their pallet (Texas talk, more on that later if'n I remember) and off to la la land. JP, AMA, and I followed shortly after in preparation for our 4:45am wake up call. Surprisingly, we got up, organized, and to the airport (thanks for the ride AMA! And the parking space! And your bed!) with nary a hitch and were up in the air right on time. Cecile and I shared some fruit and conversation with a very nice Texan lady, JP and Natalie did their own thing in the seats behind us, and before you could say "yee HA!" we were touching down at DFW. Where, might I add, the weather was quite a bit nicer than at home. Goodbye, down coats, hats and gloves! Hello, denim jackets! Anyway, while JP collected the luggage the gals and I went outside to search for our transportation. Within 10 minutes Scott and Cassie came to collect us (Cassie correctly pointing out to her dad that the man we were standing with was NOT Uncle Jon-Paul!) and off we went to the Girl Scout store for badges to hand out on the Daisy Scout trip scheduled for later that day. Store was closed. Which turned out to be a mini theme for this vacation. But again I digress....

Since planes no longer serve "free" food (hello, $4 slice of cheese and a cracker!) we were starving by the time we arrived at casa Lessard. Angie had prepared a FEAST for lunch, even Scott was impressed with the spread (if you know Scott you know that's saying something!) and we had a great time eating and making plans for the week. Looking back, that lunch pretty much set the tone for our whole vacation, in that Angie went above and beyond to make sure we had everything we could possibly want or need, and made us all feel very welcome and at ease. That warmth and hospitality continued throughout our entire trip, not just from Angie but from the entire family: Cassie graciously shared her toys, her room, her clothes, her time, etc., with her cousins and was ready for non-stop fun and games from the word go; Dylan (who gave up his bedroom for JP and I) and Marissa put up with and even seemed to enjoy the girls' CONSTANT attention to them and "badgering" of them, attended and hosted "sleepovers", took them out hiking, amused and kidded them all to no end, played games with the "grownups", and were so genuinely nice and upbeat that I found myself hoping our girls will turn out much the same; Scott ensured we NY'ers had plenty of "authentic" Texas fare, both in the restaurants we ate at and with the food he had killed himself, made sure we "got our shoot on" by taking us out to the local shooting range for some target practice AND by giving us a chance to prove our prowess (or lack thereof) with moving targets a la clay pidgeons, and was generally agreeable and congenial to whatever it was the "group" wanted to do at any given time (no small feat!); and Angie made "everything else" (the rodeo trip! tickets to the circus! lunch! homemade pizzas! banana pudding! lunch! trip to the nail salon! Christmas gifts for the girls! lunch! trip to the ranch! pallets (Texas for "blanket on the floor)! packed lunch for the arboretum! etc! etc!! etc!!!!) seem so absolutely effortless it was hard to believe she does not do this kind of stuff for a living.

ANYWAY, we had a fantastic time. Jon-Paul and Scott goofed around together a bunch, Angie and I got to know one each other better and I discovered that I really like her! Not that I didn't like her before but we had never had the chance to really sit down and talk for any length of time. Once we did I discovered that even if she was not married to Scott, I'd like her a lot anyway and I feel that I have gained not a relative by marriage but a new good friend. Cass, Cee and Nat were like peas in a pod, you would have never known by looking at them that they do not get together a few times a week to hang out, giggle and have loads of fun. Dylan and Marissa flitted in and out during our stay but happily were able to spend a bunch of time having fun with both the kids and the grownups. Justin stopped in briefly one night close to bedtime and gave us all an impromptu mini concert with his new guitar, he plays great by the way!

Fires were built, New Year's was rung in, S'mores were constructed, children chased sheep, jumped on trampolines, whispered secrets at bedtime, saw the inside of a jail cell, "drove" a patrol car, rode mechanical bulls, saw a rodeo and a circus, and petted cows, games were played, good food was eaten, movies were watched, cowgirl hats were purchased and worn proudly, Marissa was in handcuffs, sleep was scarce, and a wonderful time was had by all.

I hope it does not take us another 8 years to get back. Somehow, I don't think it will :)

Now I have them by the short hairs.....

My beautiful daughters, inspired by their beautiful cousins Cassie and Kaitlynn, decided that they no longer needed all of their hair once they saw other children who had no hair at all. So last week I took them to Hair Expo in Oceanside.

Now understand that the reasoning behind this, while good intentioned, was not all unselfish. These kids, have more hair at 5 than I have had my entire life. These kids, have hair that was getting so long, it got in the way when they went to the bathroom (use your imagination to figure THAT one out). These kids, have had at least 10 inches of hair cut off already, over the course of the last 2 years - again, more hair than I have ever even had. And, these kids, being only 5, are not yet ready to take care of, or even really appreciate, the beautiful locks they have been blessed with. So it ended up in a pony tail. Every day. And now that they are swimming at camp 3 days a week, those pony tails were a hot tranny mess!

So, after discussing "the cut" to make sure they understood how much hair would be coming off, off we went.

Now Jeanine had recommended Carolyn, the hairdresser who had done such a beautiful job on Kate's hair. She did not have enough time to do both haircuts, however, so Natalie had her hair cut by Katie (not THAT Katie!) and Cecile was shorn by Carolyn. We were early (!) and as Katie was free, Nat was up first. Katie whipped out her trusty ruler (she didn't

actually "whip it out", she had to go to the front desk and dig it up) to make sure the required 10 inches were there. It turned out to be 11 inches. Then, Up In The Chair and Off! With! Her! Hair!!

Cecile's hairdresser was now available. Out came the ruler, the scissors were sharpened then Up In The Chair and Off! With! Her! Hair!!!

So there you have it. I think it was harder for me to see that hair cut off then it was for my beauties. As you can tell from the pics, they are thrilled with their new hairstyles! And I must say, maintenance has gone from an 8 to a 2 on the difficulty scale. AND, some little kids will soon have beautiful hair complements of my gals.


The end result!


Okay. that's it for today. Apologies to those of you (hello Scoot!) who don't like posting about their kids. I for one, am all for posting about them all the time cause they are the best thing I have ever done in my life :)

More later..........

Jill (STILL waiting for JP's first post!!!!!)