Last week in review: HECTIC! Ryan adjusted to his new glasses like a pro! We never expected him to take to it so easily but once the glasses came on, he wanted to wear them all the time. Matty was an exceptional big brother and made a big fuss over Ryan – told him that he looked like Harry Potter LOL. Actually, Matty then wanted his own glasses – go figure! We also got “transition” lenses – so that when Ryan goes outside, they transition to sunglasses and vice versa. For Ryan, it was definitely magic.

Last week of the month is always fairly crazy for Scanlon and Pinto and this one was no different. Of course everyone wanted to close on Thursday so I ended up having two 1pm closings, a 3:30 closing (these were in my office) and a 4:30 closing in Great Neck. It might have gone smoothly had the 1pm clients not waited to show up until after 2. So my closings all ran together – I ended up closing three of them pretty much simultaneously. I got to my 4:30 closing at 6 to have my worst fears realized – my buyer was short because the loan officer did not take into consideration the true nature of the “grant” program he was using. It seemed as though we were going to be able to use the grant money – $7,000 – but it turned out we couldn’t – it was just a means to be able to show more of a seller’s credit then the normal FHA guidelines would allow. It did have a happy ending – we were able to fund the closing on Friday.

I also had my last lunch club at Meadow School on Wednesday. I really enjoyed this time with the kids and Matty. So we had our last games of “Hot Rock” (or Hot Potato to those of you not in the know) and “Sight Word Bingo”. The kids had such a good time with my lunch club they all agreed they would sign up for my lunch club again next year. Really made me feel great – this is how I like being involved in school. Nevermind the PTA with all the cliques, bickering and jockeying for position – I like being involved on the classroom level with the kids. Here is a picture of my lunch club – what a great group of kids!!!

I actually made my 3rd day at the gym this week – Woohoo! The elusive 3rd day was mine on Saturday when I headed to Synergy in the morning. I got to BS with Geri and Stephanie – two trainers and even squeezed my much hated cardio in. Danny and the boys enjoyed “critter day”. A family of squirrels took up residence in our shed and ate through the cushions and our deck umbrella. Danny had to relocate three baby squirrels with hopes that the mother would come back for them. Also, some birds decided to build a nest in the soffit at the back of the house. Danny and Matty used the hose to flush them out and he repaired the soffit. Ryan and I took a ride to see if his other pair of glasses were in (they weren’t of course – because I didn’t call before I went there) but we made a nice pit stop at Dunkin Donuts – giant iced coffee for me (feel the burn of the caffeine baby!) and some munchkins for Ryan. I ended up drawing the short straw and had to take Matty to Mass for Mandatory Church. Danny used the excuse of no clean pants so I took him. Little did I realize that because it was Palm Sunday that not only did we get some palm to take home, they have the extra long Gospel because of the Passion reading. After focusing on some gentleman with long, sparse gray hair and a dark audburn toupee (you would think the guy would realize he wasn’t fooling anyone), the Mass went pretty quickly and soon we were on our way. We actually made tentative plans to go to Dave & Busters with Bill, Terri and their son Billy for Monday night. I know the boys will have a blast and I will be able to cream them at Air Hockey.

So we had Emily coming over at 7 to babysit the boys because Danny and I were actually going out. This is a rare event because we are basically lazy – we would rather stay home and hang out with the boys instead of getting dolled up and coming home late. Also, the Wii is very addicting – don’t knock Wii Bowling until you have tried it! We were supposed to go see Danny’s friend Bill and his band at some bar in Massapequa Park. They are an AC/DC cover band so I busted out my leather MC so I would be sufficiently rocked out (and I was – oh yeah baby!) and we decided we would meet Robby and Lucy for dinner first. After a fantastic Italian dinner and some great wine, Danny crapped out on me. He got comfortable at their house and settled in. After two Coronas and it being 11:30pm (way past our bedtime), basically the only thing to do was to go home. I was miffed – all dressed up in my rocker girl clothes and some uncomfortable red heels (although they looked mighty hot, like most shoes of their ilk, they did hurt) so I let him have it. Men are oblivious for most of their waking lives – he had no idea that I really wanted to go to see the band. It was not that I had a burning need to see an AC/DC cover band, but it was what we had agreed to do and it was something different.

Today we went to Toys R Us (or Mecca to the kids) so we could get Ryan his giant Nerf Sharp Shooter Gun. The boys have behavior charts and if they earn 10 stars with their good behavior, they get a prize. Now, Ryan has been burning for this gun (thanks alot Nickelodeon!) so we agreed that he could have it as his prize. So we went, picked it up (along with the new force action light saber for Matty) and headed out to lunch to our new favorite place, the Grand Luxe Cafe. This place for me is Mecca. A gi-normous menu and excellent food do tend to make me happy. The kids got their tall, fancy drinks with all sort of fruit (so tall they had to stand up to drink them) and we had our lunch. The best part was the dessert. We had to order it when we ordered our entree as it was made to order. It was a Caramel Ice Cream Almond Cookie Sandwich. It came out in a giant bowl with 4 spoons and what a concoction it was. Put it this way, Danny basically has no sweet tooth (it is actually a potato chip tooth) and he dove into this. The cookie was warm and chewy like a brownie. There was ice cream, whip cream swirls of hot fudge and caramel – how could anyone resist? Of course after a meal like that, all we could do is sleep on the couch – well, actually Danny and Ryan. I bummed around and watched Food Network. A nice, lazy Sunday with family – just the way we like it.