It is never to early to put your kids to work!

Can I just tell you how much joy this image brings me?



All those hours of driving him back and forth to gymnastics practice, paying for private lessons, sitting through hours on the benches waiting and watching, forcing him to practice his strength routine at home during the summer (push-ups and dips people!!)

And this is the pay off. 

The boy is now strong enough to carry full baskets of laundry up and down stairs. 

Yes!!!

I'm working on teaching them the proper Gap folding techniques, but that can wait.  For now, I have my little minions handling the stairs.  They've also learned one of the most important lessons in life.  I'm going to share it with you.

"Never go upstairs or downstairs without something in your hand."

It's key.

On to greener pastures.

After three breakins, (car, smashed car window, home)we decided it was time to move.

Welcome to my life!



All boxed up!

And this is only a fraction of it!

Yes, you may be slightly surprised by the amount of aluminum foil and saran wrap I own. This represents the remainder of the BIG COSTO PURCHASE we made before we moved to Bermuda a year and a half ago. Knowing how expensive everything here was, we took the advice of others and went crazy at our BIG COSTO PURCHASE day. I'm so glad we invested in this much food protection. It really makes me want to just jump up and prepare enough food to feed an army, because guess what? If they don't finish, I can WRAP IT ALL UP!!!

Or did you not even notice the aluminum foil and saran wrap because you were so awed by the number of boxes I managed to pack last week?



In the course of packing, I also discovered I never met a beauty product I didn't like. This represents yet another small fraction of my possessions. These came from the first drawer. That means there are two other drawers also full of equally useless junk. But because I deemed them less important (i.e, I used them "less") they got relegated to the 2nd and 3rd drawer. I organize by frequency of use, you know. Yes, you should have seen my kitchen ... before I packed it all up!!!

Judging by the amount contained in my first drawer, you'd think I never walked out of the house looking anything less than a fully spackled Kim Kardashian. That is decidedly not the case. When I walk out of the house, I'm lucky I'm wearing deodorant. I don't know why I bother buying makeup.



Moving is not really that much fun. However, moving with kids means you stumble across some of their stuff that often makes you pause and smile. Above is Jordan's year one writing journal. He describes the day he went swimming without his "flotes" (a/k/a armband floaties.) As you can see, it was a very exciting moment for him (and me) too. Judging from the picture, he also went swimming sans clothing.

That was not how I recall it.



Even as we packed, the kids continued to lead active social lives. Jordan returns from a birthday party with goofy glasses. I like to keep the kids entertained during this process.



That is, when I'm not putting them to work. Back to work!! Those window aren't going to clean themselves missy!



Every successful move needs a good taskmaster/slave driver. Without me and my lists of things to do, I shudder to think what this one would be doing.

What's on your cell phone?

Glimpses of our life deemed worthy of a camera shot:



Pajama time - Jordan and Mina read me bedtime stories, including... "pajama time," by Sandra Boyton. It's an oldie but a goodie, and I recall reading it many times to them when they were younger.



Jordan sitting on a rocking chair at the golf club. While we wait for our table, Jordan notes birds he sees on the course.



Same day at the golf club. Kid's "afternoon at the movies," is over and Mina comes to find me. Tunic top by Boden. I love this one, why didn't I buy it in blue also? Oh, I remember.. because their stuff is overpriced.



The Smurf. Tucker's golf club has finally gotten smart and is running promotions this winter to entice members to come in with the families. While the kids enjoy movies, the grown ups get drink specials at the bar.



A few moments of peace and quiet. It's hard for me to believe our kids are finally old enough to be left unattended sometimes. Well.. unattended meaning they are in the room next to us.



Jeff raiding the "pantry which must not be opened." That's what I call the shelves which contain kid snacks, a/k/a the extra five pounds I can't get rid of. Nothing good can be found behind these cabinets.



The kids experience their first ever root-beer float. Surprisingly, they weren't loving it, but that's probably because they have little experience with the taste of soda.



duck feeding at the Botanical Gardens. Post cooking class, I took the kids here for a picnic. We quickly found company.



Masterworks Art museum, "Art for All," on Saturdays. Free art classes? Heck yeah we're there.



A shot of a house we looked at during our search for a new home. Pretty location, right near the beach, but not for us.



Jordan - pre bloodtest. If only the staff at the local hospital had an iota of competence. Yes, they screwed up the blood test again. We waited weeks only to be told they didn't run the right test.



My little bean. Love those braids.



Grandma keeps the kids entertained the day I went to get my race bib. Sunglasses and Scooby Doo. Why not?



grilled cheese with mozzarella and noticeably bare cork boards. Packing is in full force. Baby gate is also up.. Oscar p-d me off. I love coming home to chewed up paper and underwear.

The new year begins with a bang.

January was a really busy month for us... in more ways than one. More on that below..



Jordan's class assembly - celebrating the Chinese year of the dragon - came off without a hitch. Jordan paraded onto the stage and recited a long list of animals representing the Chinese zodiac. You could almost hear the collective gasp of relief from the parents in the crowd (mine included) when he finished without making a single mistake.



January is also a big deal because Jordan turned 7! Grandma H and Michael joined us in Bermuda and helped celebrate!



Jordan was very excited. When asked what restaurant he would like to go to for his birthday meal, he named his favorite Italian hang out on the island - Portofino's. Although their pizza and pasta are his usual favorites, their ice cream sundaes are pretty impressive too.



Of course, there was a birthday party - complete with penguin cake. Having finally gotten the hang of things here, I managed to order enough pizza this year so no one went home hungry.



My little man.. I'm so proud of this guy. How can a 7 year old be this smart? He amazes me. Between his insane encyclopedic knowledge of birds, his crazy math ability, to the moments of absolute big-brother sweetness he shows to Mina... this kid continues to defy all expectations.



January was also a milestone month for me because I finally (FINALLY!!) entered and completed a half marathon. That's 13.1 miles. Whew! It took a long time, and a few too many injuries, to get to this point. But, I'll take it, thank you.

Now, for the rest of the story. First, thanks for the emails inquiring as to my whereabouts. I'll admit, post holidays, I did get a wee bit lazy about posting. I thought I'd catch up after Christmas and share the trip we took to the Poconos and upstate NY, etc. Trouble is, January happened and craziness took over.

And then we got robbed.

Yeah. Someone broke into our home in the wee hours of the morning, and stole my computer and cell phone. They came in through the window while Jeff and I were asleep upstairs and while our guests were asleep in the guestroom downstairs. Jeff heard a noise and came down the stairs, only to see a man outside the front door with a flashlight shining in. Someone else got out through the kitchen door.

That happened on January 12th, and I really haven't been the same since. I don't know how other people would react to this, but I'm having a hard time. Maybe it would be different if this was an isolated incident. However, in the span of two months, our car has been broken into twice. And now they've come into our house. While we were there.

So, needless to say, I haven't been in the mood too blog much. I've been too depressed, and anxious and angry. I'll spare you the details of the crazy OCD things I've been doing to feel more secure in the house. But in case you happen to be reading - yeah, you, a$$holes that stole my busted up Macbook with the broken touchpad and the cellphone that won't hold a charge for more that 40 minutes - you should pass this house next time.

Happy Holidays!

Major holiday fail of the year - not getting Christmas cards out. I had all these great, Pinterest-inspired ideas, but the days got away from me. Alas.

So for this year, dear friends and family... we're wishing you all a very happy holiday season!

The Trimarchi, environmentally friendly holiday greeting:







Have a safe and healthy holiday season! See you in the New Year!

Polo - the Polar Bear's First Christmas.

Once again, the kids performed in their school Christmas pageant, celebrating Jesus' birthday by dressing up as a ribbon-twirling Northern Light and a Little dancing star, to help explain to a baby polar bear what Christmas was really about. And yes, an entire Nativity was paraded to the North Pole, complete with a baby-hugging Mary, shepards, kings, a Jack Frost, a Santa and a snowman. I lost count of the characters after that.

It reminded me of the scene from the movie, "Love, Actually" where the daughter announces to the mother that she was selected to be the "FIRST LOBSTER!!!" at the Christmas Pageant.

The mother replied, "You mean to tell me there was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus Christ???"

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, because honestly... what can I possibly say about this?

Double - fisted sugar highs

also known as the company Christmas party. Wherein I get the kids dressed up and they pretend they've been good all year.



Look at him practicing the "I've been so good!" look. And yet, there's another cupcake in his hand.



The party is so sweet. Apart from all the treats and food, there's crafts, face-painting, small mechanical rides for the little ones, and even Santa makes an appearance and gives all the kids a present. The planners always do a great job putting this together; I'm always impressed.

Of course being the wicked soul I am, I pictured Santa handing out the bonuses to the employees in thin envelopes and started chuckling to myself. Now that would be highly amusing, in a Griswold Christmas kind of way. Jam, anyone?

I love that movie. Especially the part where his brother-in-law kidnaps his boss, and also the scene with Clark trapped in the attic, head wrapped in a Gloria Swanson style turban, watching family movies on the projector.

Note - I am not condoning employer kidnapping in any way whatsoever. Bad Clark! Bad Clark!



It's amazing how convincing this kid can be.



Mina, being who she is, felt the need to cuddle and groom Santa's beard first.



Gifts galore!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Ahh.. Christmas. I love it! The letters to Santa are done.

"Dear Santa, I was really good this year. Can I have a penguin pillow pet? I was good at the Arboretum. I was good everywhere." (Amazing, what a gift of hyperbole!)

Dear Santa, I tried to be good all year. All I want for Christmas is a mommy bunny pillow pet and a baby bunny pillow pet." (I love that she acknowledges that she "tried" to be good. At least she's being honest about all the times the behavior fell short.)

And my favorite.. the Elf has come back to scrutinize the behavior and report back to Santa.





And not a moment too soon.