Election 2010

To quote a holiday hero of mine; "If this isnt the biggest bag over the head punch in the face I ever got..."

Seriously, what will it take to wake the people of RI/MA up from the zombie polictical state they are in?!!! Why do they continually vote for higher taxes and more debt? Because their grandparents did??? That answer doesnt work for me.
As far as I am concerned the patriots who lost this election have only one choice left after getting sandbagged the last two critical elections, vote with our FEET! Thats right RI/MA, tax and censor someone else all the way to the poor house because I want nothing of it!
Until I do move I plan to be the obstruction, the insubordinate surf who refuses do as his master demands.

Summer is Here!!!

Hello Readers,
Well it is now June and things are starting to look up! My beautiful daughter Sofia is growing fast and so is my garden, plus by this time next week I could be working either for a steel erection company or a big orange box....

Sofia was born in April, healthy as can be. My in-laws came up for the week of her birth to hang out and help out which they did, keeping the boys occupied and the house straight as Ang and I welcomed our new child. Evan and Cole love their baby sister.

Evan and Doug helped with putting in a nice garden bed and planting many veggies. We have corn, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes (San Marzanos!), peas, carrots, lettuce, basil, parsley, lavender, zuchini, watermelon and strawberries. All seem to be growing well except for the watermelon, we probably arent in the right region for that. Something ate all but one of my Romaine lettuce plants, God help that little creature if I catch it. We also recently discovered that we have wild blackberries growing in the back of our property, can anyone say Blackberry Jam?! I have to confess that I dont know the first thing about gardening but I come from a long line of green thumbs and so I hope that by just being out there, I will summon some gardening know-how from my DNA.
So with three kids now, a garden and property that always needs something, I dont find many spots of boredom. Its funny to me because even though I havent had a job I seem to find so many things to keep me busy. Thankfully I have had some side work to do which helped with the income shortfalls.

What about my job search, well it could end soon. Last week I went on a some interviews to become a sales rep for one of our nations largest retailers. Its 100% commission pay and I am pretty nervous. I have not held a position like this before and I keep thinking, "blessing in disguise" but is there really such a thing? Since its the only open door right now, I am going to put my whole heart into it and see what happens while praying that God watches my back. Ill try to log in and post again soon to keep you readers up to date.

Well, its a beautiful day outside today so I need to get off this computer and pick something off my to-do list and turn up my doing dial! You do the same.

Home but not Alone

So its been two weeks since being laid off. Now I am home everyday with Ang and the kids, which I count as a blessing because I get to spend more time with them. Not that I didnt spend good quality time before, its just now there is so much more of it. Since being grounded, my youngest, Cole, has really taken to me and vice versa. I love having two boys. So energetic and enthusiastic.




Well while home I have also got to tackle a few projects around the house such as swapping out some electrical outlets (original to the house 1926), reorganized the kitchen and dining room and made space for a usable office while also giving the kids a play room. More like a toy room.
The cold weather has been a beast. 20 degree averages really dampen the outdoor activities however it has made for some great ice skating. Oh yeah, Im teaching my jock-to-be first born to skate so he can play hockey (his request not mine). Funny thing is, Im teaching myself at the same time. I am finding many similarities to skiing so its going rather well.
The job search is a lot harder than I was anticipating. Ive never been out of a job before and all my previous searches were done while being employed. I think what adds to the level of difficulty though is this horrible economy. As much as I love managing construction I am beginning to think I may have to switch industries again.
I would like to be back to work before the baby arrives in April, but at the same time it would be great to not have to start a new job then immediately have to take time out again.
Angie and I are getting excited for the birth of our daughter. So far the pregnancy has been healthy and steady which is a blessing. We have a few names picked out but we wont decide until she is born most likely. Evan likes to call her Lidia. We are not sure where he came up with that name though.
Well, I have pretty much brought you up to speed. I wish Ang and I could remember to find the time to keep this up to date on a more frequent basis. But for now this is what the readers will have to live with, a random update in between life events. Thank for your interest.
Take care, rob

The Last Six Weeks

I am happy to say that we have made some serious progress on our yard. About 6 weeks ago the jungle was removed by a wonderful backhoe and 2 days of hard work. It's great! We were finally able to walk on all of our property and not just the small patch of grass in the backyard. So we went from the jungle to barren dessert looking land. There is a lot of dirt! Actually it is just now getting back to dirt. It has been mud since the rainy season hit about 4 weeks ago. It finally ended on monday! Yeah for the sun and a big dirt yard!!!

Ahh yes, the rainy season. It started raining about a day after these pictures and didn't really stop until this past Monday. The rainy season brought many a sickness to 53 Scott. Evan started us out with a cold that got passed to Cole and then passed to me. That was my first 3 weeks in June. I thought we were in the clear but Evan started complaining about his ear and low and behold he has an ear infection. That was treated and we went to Ohio for Fourth of July. Everyone is pretty much healthy. I am still a little sick. We get back from Ohio and Evan starts running a fever. We go back to the doctor and he has an adenovirus. His fever goes away and again I think we are healthy but we wake up Sunday and I have pink eye and Evan has a mystery rash. The doctor had no idea what it was but said to come back if it isn't gone in 48 hours. It isn't gone but it does seem to be getting better so I am not taking him to the doctor.
In the midst of the sickness my father came for a visit. It was really nice to be able to spend some time with him. I don't remember ever having a weekend with just my dad. It something that I would love to happen more often! It was great that his visit led into our trip to Ohio. We decided to drive to Ohio because it was cheaper then flying and renting a car. We started the drive around 7 pm thinking the kids would sleep through the entire trip and I would sleep and tend to them while Rob and my Dad would alternate driving. In theory it was a great plan. In reality I will never do it again. The kids did not sleep through the night and were pretty miserable the entire time. I slept for the first 3 hours of the trip and then was up either with the kids or making sure the driver was awake. I was seriously the only one in the car that was awake and alert. I should have just driven. Anyway we make it to Ohio!!!
Ohio was a fantastic trip. We got there Friday morning and let everyone sleep. That afternoon we went to the zoo with my mom, sister and her family, aunt patty, and my cousin bryan and his family. It was a great time. I love the Columbus zoo! Evan had a wonderful time. He is still talking about the elephants and the bears. A good time was had by all. The next day was the 4th and the retirement party for my dad and uncle Rich. I was able to see a lot of family that I haven't seen in years. It was really nice to be around my family. That doesn't happen enough. So here are the highlights for me from the weekend.

-Speeding in any state is against the law.
-Rental cars are not always serviced properly



-Fireworks do not appear to wake up my children. I am thinking of creating a device that turns all the creaks in my floors into the sound of fireworks so my kids stay asleep when I walk past there rooms to go to bed.

-It doesn't matter how long it has been since you have seen someone. If they are a good friend then it's like you just saw them yesterday. I am very thankful for the Cali's and there friendship.

-Evan wore out my Dad and Luke before his nap time. He has an amazing amount of energy.

I have a great family and am very thankful for them.

I couldn't find my camera in Ohio so I don't really have any pictures but my sister posted some on her blog. lovintherockies.blogspot.com

Memorial Day weekend

Memorial Day Weekend aka the poops and the peepee's. We actually had a really great weekend. The weather was pretty nice and Evan behaved really well which was a much needed break from his typical state of holy terror. We decided to push the limits of his good behavior and head to our favorite Mexican Restraunt. Things went really well. Evan was being very good, using his inside voice and actually coloring the paper with the crayons verses the menu. THen the food came. We ordered a cheese quesidilla (sp?) with beans and rice for Evan. He looked at his plate, looked at Rob, looked back at his plate and then looked at Rob with this confused look on his face and said "Dada that poop on my plate." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. He thought his refried beans were poop. It was hilarious. Rob reassured him that it was in fact beans and not poop, but Evan kept looking at Rob and with all seriousness saying "No Dada that poop on my plate". After a few minutes of going back and forth Evan finally stopped looking at Rob and looked at his plate one last time and under his breath says, " That poop next to my rice". It was hysterical! He didn't eat anything because it all touched the poop. So that was Sunday. On Monday we went to my mother-in-laws for a lobster/ clam bake. Evan was happy because he got to play outside with his cousin Ethan all day. Rob left early for his softball game and I stayed with the boys so Evan could continue to play. At one point Evan fell and said he had boo-boo's on his leg. My sister-in-law went to see if he was okay because I was trying to get Cole to sleep. While she was checking him he started to go peepee or said he had to go, I'm not really sure, but we thought he already had gone. He was in his swimming trunks so I asked Rebecca to hose him off. She went to get the hose from her husband who had just finished washing and waxing his Cadilac. Evan went over to him and pointed at the tire and kept saying tire, tire. John thought he was admiring his nice, clean tires and said yeah those are tires. I was sitting with Cole quite a distance from Evan when from under a car I could see Evan's swim trunks around his ankles. OH NO!!! Then came John's cries "He's peeing on my tire, he's peeing on my tire!" Sure enough Evan dropped trow and peed on John's nice clean tires. Again, hysterical. Armando, my father-in-law comes around the corner of the car bent over laughing. I was in tears I was laughing so hard. Everyone was laughing as my son "marked his territory" on John's Caddy tire. Thank goodness John found the humor in it! So that was our holiday weekend. Cole didn't really do much other then eat and sleep. It was a great weekend!

Things to Remember

I've had a lot of people ask me lately when Evan started doing things and I realized how much of Evan's life I have already forgotten. There are a lot of little things that I don't want to forget from both Evan and Cole.
-When Evan is loving what he is eating he humms until he finishes.
-When he was about a year and a half old if he wanted to be picked up he would say "I hold You, I hold You"
-Cole at 4 months old already prefers to be sitting up. He can almost sit on his own.
-Cole is very chatty
-Cole loves to give kisses at 4 months old. He'll grab your face an pull it to his mouth so he can give "kisses'. It's super cute!
-Evan pretends to cry every night when we carry him upstairs. It's the most obvious fake cry I have ever heard and I laugh every time he does it.
-At 2 1/2 Evan has a good idea of who he is. I told him he was a big boy and he said,"I not big boy...I Evan"
-That's another thing he doesn't call himself Enan anymore.
-He calls me Mommy or mom but he still calls Rob Dada.
-When Cole wakes up whether from a nap or at night he always looks up and smiles.

I'm very thankful to have 2 healthy little boys and a husband who I love dearly. There have definitely been trying moments but i wouldn't trade them for anything.

Easter shopping and Potty Training

A few weeks before Easter I took the boys to the mall to get there Easter outfits. I had it all planned out in my head. I had 3 stores to go to. Things went really well in the first 2 stores then we hit store #3 The Childrens Place. Evan had reached his limit. I was looking at ties that were near the front of the store with Evan right next to me and Cole in his stroller. I put a tie back, look down and Evan is gone. Then I notice that the big display "SALE" sign in the front window display was swaying back and forth. It was Evan running under the sign like it was a big sheet hanging just for him. I gave him a warning but it was just too much for him. Minutes later he was back under the sign. At that point a sales lady came up to me to let me know that he shouldn't be doing that because the sign could fall. (Apparently it had a few times already that day). I decided to take a break from the store and come back later. Evan had to hit the sign one more time and of course it fell. The sales lady was not happy. We left the store for about 15 min. Evan calmed down and i felt it was safe to go back. I was wrong. Evan was horrible. They have these big wagons in the front window displays and Evan was determined to ride on them. I pulled him off a couple of times but then he started taunting me and the next thing I know I am chasing him around the wagon in the window display. Litterally running after him. At one point I stopped and realized that I was "THAT" mom. My 2 year old was out of control. I eventually nabbed him but it took awhile. I quickly tried to grab what I needed so we could leave but I wasn't fast enough. Evan darted under one of the display tables and I could not reach him. He wouldn't come out. It was terribly embarrassing. He eventually got close enough to the edge so I could drag him out but it was the worst shopping day I have had with Evan.
Now on to potty training. How does one not know when they have to poop and pee? I don't understand. You know where you are suppose to go so why can't you get there in time. I don't get it. Evan is just not getting it and it is frustrating because I don't know what else to do or how to explain it to him in different terms. All I know is I am done changing his diapers so I will persevere until something clicks and he starts to go on his own.