It's Safety City!

Summer is in full swing at Casa de Pesty, and with it brings a full summer with something going on every day.

For the past two weeks, Aron and Alyssa have been doing one of every child's summer rite of passage, Safety Town. Who has not rode around the little buildings in big wheels while obeying the "Stop" signs and practicing their arm signals for stop, left, and right turns? Every day brings a new topic, such as crossing the street, stranger danger, and railroad crossing. The funny thing is is that my kids seem to be the teacher's pet because I have been working with them at home previous to this summer's class. I have one child who knows his phone number and most of his address while the other one knows she lives two houses down from Leela. (Leela is a neighborhood girl who is about 10 months younger than A2.) That's my kids for you, one analytical as you can get while the other is currently running around the yard hugging trees with no shoes on.

Everything's Shiny, Captain!

Alright, so I have let this little blog down. It has been half a year since my last posting, and so much has happened I am not sure where to begin. Since August, the Pesty Family has had major changes. First, the little house that was Down by the Bay successfully went into contract and closed, with our new house closing following a few hours behind. This was followed by the insanity of packing everything and anything into caravans, laundry baskets, and moving boxes. This was after the inevitable filling up trash bins of at least three different houses. :-) And despite the insanity, both dogs and children alike seemed to survive the process. Mommy decided to make the A-Team an active part of the process in order to avoid a lifetime of therapy bills, and was completely up front about the entire moving thing. It helps that we managed to move into a neighborhood of similar-aged children and keep them in the same school.

Old House / New House

Thanksgiving was normal and Chanukah and Christmas passed with little trouble. Two round-trips to Cleveland and a malfunctioning garage door made the holidays all the more worse. Nothing bums one out than a broken part of your new house but that is life. The little Pests seemed to be overjoyed with their family time and presents, with Aron and Daddy trying to make the Bakugan Maxus Dragonoid while Little Ms. Thing did her princess thing. Of course, Grandma B. brought supplies to make edible dreidels, which was a big hit for young and old.

Insane amounts of snow managed to hit Columbus during January and February, and every calamity day allotted during the school year was used in the wake. While Mommy was happy for a break, sleeping in nowadays is next to impossible. (I suppose it has to do with a daughter who is convinced that she is a cat, and sits on one's head in the morning until you either wake up or put on her little show.) So I scored some snowsuits and went outside with my friends to "shovel" the drive, the street, the trees...you get the idea. Hey, it kept them busy for thirty minutes and tired afterward.

Warmer weather is around the corner which means mowing, chalk drawings, and trips to the local zoo or playgrounds. Add to the insanity that we recently purchased a membership to COSI, which was used on Tuesday. Both children and Mama alike were exhausted from this adventure but that WAS the intention. :-) Of course, warmer weather does mean more time outside, and this year we were alerted to a bunny burrow in our mulch bed by Kira. Thankfully, she was the one to find it because if Barney found it, the casualty list would be four and not one passing of natural causes. :-) I suppose that this makes my "Saving Wildlife" list ahead by two creatures, seeing how Barney has a bird, a partially paralyzed squirrel, one full bunny and 3/4's of another to his "kill list." We never did find that missing leg....

Summertime once again brings fun and chaos in dress and tuxedo form. Aron and Alyssa will be participating in Aunt Becki's wedding, so let the fun begin! And now, off to do dinner and dancing. Well, not dancing as so much as a song and dance about how little people do not want to eat their dinner.