they came bearing gifts

John's parents (aka, Grandmom and Grandad) are visiting this weekend. They brought presents from their recent trip to Ireland (with a layover in London) and the Dollar Tree.A especially liked the new doll stroller and her apron, but it was the Elmo backpack that took top prize. When I went to take her picture and yelled, "Smile, A!", this is how she posed:

mean girls

Last night, E, John and I were snuggling on the couch. (A was playing with her Little People...her new big obsession.)

"Mommy and Daddy, Paige-y was mean to me today," E told us.
"Oh, no! What happened?" we asked, concerned that at the tender age of 3 1/2 we were going to have to deal with a broken heart.
"Well, I drew on her picture with my marker. And then she told me, 'You're fired.'"

Whew...we really dodged a bullet there.

tag...i'm it!

One of my new blogger friends, Lipstick at the Mailbox tagged me for a meme. Since I'm trying to get her to like me...here it goes.

(Post rules at the beginning of the post. Answer all the questions. Tag 6 people, go to their blog and leave a comment to inform them that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.)

1. What were you doing ten years ago?
Living in Arlington and working for an environmental consulting company. John and I were just starting out dating so I was spending lots and lots and lots of time with him. Oh, and attending weddings...I went to 4 weddings that summer, and was a bridesmaid in two of them.

2. What are five things on your to-do list today?
Work out, Drop the girls off at school, Complete a report at work, Cook dinner, Unload the dishwasher

3. Snacks you enjoy?
Popcorn, chips/crackers and dips, chocolate ... but I try to eat baby carrots instead

4. Places you've lived:
At my parent's house (before AND after college)
In Charlottesville
In Arlington
In Sterling
In my current house
Never *once* out of Virginia, unlike my nomadic twin!

5. What are 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire?
Quit my job!
Go shopping
Take all my friends on a big vacation
Buy a beach house and a mountain house
Start some sort of charitable foundation

6. People you want to know more about?
The people I tag...

Steel Magnolia
Deep in the Heart of Texas
Sweet Peas and Pumpkins
Party of Five
Mom Running Happy
Jersey Baby

tales from the shallow end

In addition to the fun on the waterslide on Sunday, the Slackers made a trip to the pool on Saturday. We arrived at 11 AM and were shocked to have the pool to ourselves, with the exception of a 10-year-old boy swimming around. As E took off her cute little cover-up (thanks, Kiki! It still fits!), we realized that, for E, old habits die hard.

"Uh, E." I said. "You shouldn't be wearing underware under your bathing suit."

Now I'm not sure if it's because this is the first summer that she didn't need swim diapers or the fact that she's been trying to wear her bathing suits ALL THE TIME that prompted this wardrobe malfunction. But, it certainly didn't phase E, who stripped down nekkid and made a bee line for the pool.

"E...NO to underpants! YES to a bathing suit!" John and I screamed at her.

Luckily I think the little boy was underwater when this all occurred.

Once we were all in the pool, we realized two things:

1. E can now fully stand in the shallow end of the pool. It's one of those moments when a year's worth of growing suddenly hits you. Last year, E couldn't stand in the shallow end unless she was on her tippy tippy toes with her head tilted all the way back. This year? She can walk around the shallow end. My how she's grown.
2. A cannot stand in the shallow end of the pool, but that doesn't stop her from trying. Dear lord, A is *fearless*. She kept walking on off the steps and jumping into our arms. Even in the baby pool she'd dunk her head under water and (gross!) drink the water. Thank goodness E is much more cautious in the pool, because A is certainly a handful.

We might hit the pool again this weekend (or an evening this week if the temperatures stay up there. Hopefully we've worke the kinks out for future trips.

slip slidin' away

So, Sunday did get a heck of a lot better. The AC guy got here at 10 AM and was gone by 10:30, taking a hefty sum for his troubles with him. The girls and John got back from breakfast and proceeded to do a little quiet reading while John and I cleaned up a bit.

Note: Pictures are blurry because John took them.

Around noon we headed outside and set up the moonbounce/water slide in our yard. That's when the fun began...the girls were out front, playing, splashing and having tons of fun. One neighbor made PB&J sandwiches, another brought squeezable yogurt and we brought out canteloupe...so the kids didn't even have to stop to eat (although I did have to take a waterlogged piece of sandwich away from A...ew).

It was a bit of a going away party for a family that lives on another street. They are military and are moving to California on Tuesday. They have three boys who are the boy-est boys I have ever seen. Really. Yesterday was the first day I saw the middle kid without some sort of weapon attached to his body. He usually has an arsenal of swords and guns and the like on him.

When the three of them converged up on the slide, it got much louder and splashier and crashier. I immediately looked for A who was by far the youngest and smallest (the three-year-old had E by 2 inches and 10 pounds). Well, she was in the middle of the pools, screaming and yelling with delight. When I finally forced her out of the pool at 2 for her nap...she threw the biggest baddest tantrum on record. And then napped until 5.

Since all of us were spent from the heat, we headed to our favorite pizza dive for dinner, and then onto our new favorite soft serve place. Pickle Bob's, we still love you, but Effie's is definitely a better bargain (and they still have Butterfinger as a topping). We came back, bathed and PJed the kids and headed to bed. I was the "night owl" of the Slackers going to bed at 9 PM.

On the agenda for this week...staying cool and figuring out what the heck to get John for Father's day. Suggestions would be appreciated!

hell on wheels

The girls entertained themselves last night while John and I cleaned up from dinner by giving each other rides in the dolly stroller.My kids are such rebels, blatantly disregarding the "not to use as an actual stroller" warning for the sake of a few thrills. Being the good and responsible mommy that I was, I *did* tell them that what they were doing was dangerous. I just waited until after I took their picture.

Speaking of "the land down under", it is currently as hot as Hades in our house right now. Because our air conditioning is broken. During a heat wave where the Heat Index will be 100+ degrees. So I'm waiting on the AC guy while John and the girls head out to breakfast.

The heat, however, will not stop me from enjoying a cup of (hot) coffee and the paper in peace.

i've lost the battle, but i haven't lost the war

So this morning, after dropping the girls at school, I had to run to Tarjay for a couple of things -- namely window cleaner, ant traps (oh, how you disgust me!). Also on the agenda? Exchanging the bathing that Nonna bought E last week for a smaller size.

I know what you are thinking.

Oooo! The Tarjay bathing suits are so cute! Which one did she get? The green polka dot with the skirt? The pink plaid one? On of those adorable rash guard shirts and a bikini bottom?

No, no, and no. I was exchaning the Dora bathing suit my mom bought E. Last year, it was John who caved. This year, it was Nonna. Et tu, Brute?

I was present at Target when the suit was bought. I tried every trick in the book to get her to get a non-character suit to no avail. So to ease the pain, I convinced her to get the cutest of the Dora suits...a little orange one piece with ruffles and polka dots. And my mom bought A one, because (1) she would be livid if she didn't get a Dora suit and (2) I figured kids in matching suits are far cuter, even if they are Dora. Alas, we bought E a 5T figuring she'd have a perma-wedgie otherwise...but it was too big.

So, on my trip today, I looked for the 4T version of the Dora suit. None. I had to settle on E's original choice a pink Dora bikini. Sigh.

It's supposed to be in the 90s this weekend...so the Slackers will be hitting the pool and/or putting up the water slide. I'll post pictures of them, and you can tell me that they look cute despite the suits.

she turns to foam in the real story

So, E is getting more and more into The Princesses. I find this very strange, because she's actually never *seen* anything with The Princess in them. No movies, no TV shows...nothing. I'm assuming that this exuberance for The Princesses is partially peer pressure...other girls at school love them, and therefore she does, too.

Recently, E has picked a favorite. It's Ariel.What this means is that there is a lot of mermaid talk around these parts. On Sunday, we were all sitting in the family room when E asked us,

"Kiki, Nonna and Mommy, do you want to learn how to sit like a mermaid?"

She then proceed to sit as straight as humanly possible, and put her legs together folded off to one side to make her "tail". She also had this very regal but very serious look on her face. It was precious. She checked each of our forms and then declared us all mermaids.

And I'm not sure how it evolved, but E will always ask me,

"Am I still your baby?"
My response is always the same, "E, you will always be my baby."

Today though I got a different question.

"Mommy, am I still your mermaid?"

How could I say no?

odds and ends

I've had a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head about each of the girls that I want to remember/post about. I also had a couple of cute pictures from our playground trip over Memorial Day that I wanted to share. So...here is my multi-tasking post...you can see how cute my girls both in personality and looks!

Sweet Baby A...

• instead of nodding her head to answer "Yes" to a question, will open and close her mouth several times. We think she thinks this is how people nod their heads. But it really is damn cute and we find ourselves asking her simple questions just to get her to answer yes.
  
• will, 9 times out of 10, answer the question "What do you want for dinner?" with one simple answer:

  "PIZZA"

  The other 10% of the time she will ususally answer "Pat-ta" or "Ice Keem!" Though, at Sunday at lunch she wanted the special, crab cake. But I think she thought it was an actual cake.
  
• has turned into a little Linus. In addition to Taggie, she also has a bigger blanket that she sleeps with at night. This blanket is yellow and soft and cuddly, and she calls it "Mee-mik". She also loves this cheap-o stuffed Elmo that we got E for Easter two years ago. Those are her three bedtime must haves.
  
• loves to say goodbye to things. When she gets out of bed, she turns to her crib and says "Byebye, taggie!" When we leave the playground, she shouts "Byebye side!"
  
• would much rather be outside. A spends at least 20 minutes a day hanging on doors and shouting "Ah-dide! Ah-dide!" And most times, bringing her inside involves some sort of bribery or dragging.

Hurricane E...

• is too smart for her own good. She's not napping at school anymore, and her teacher's are trying to get her to stay quiet during naptime since pretty much everyone else does. On Monday, one of her teachers said,

  "E, I am friends with your mommy and daddy and I'm going to tell them that you are not napping and are not being quiet."
  "If you are friends with them, then what are their names?" E replied.

  The teachers were stumped. They know us as E's Mommy and Daddy or Mr. and Mrs. Slacker. So, when she wasn't looking they looked up our names on some paperwork. Unfortunately, the paperwork was something "official" and therefore had my real name on it, not my nickname.

  "I'm going to tell John and Slackereen that you weren't listening," Miss Elizabeth said.
  "Miss Elizabeth, if you were friends with my mommy you would know her name was Slacker!" she replied.

  And then she kept on talking through nap time.
  
• is becoming a girly girl. She pretty much refuses to wear pants...or even skirts for that matter...opting for dresses (in particular, the one pictured above, which she says is "the most beautiful dress in the world") instead. And her favorite books are Pinkalicious, Purplicious and now Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy. I can't wait until she is 13 so she can teach me how to put on make-up.
  
• is a morning person. She's always slept in to a decent hour...but once she is up, she is UP and talking and talking and talking. And she wants to get dressed and go play outside and get some breakast and, hey, is Dora on? We're not sure where this came from as John and I (and A, for that matter) are pretty damn slow on the uptake in the AM.
  
• is easy to please. The other night, I served my old standby to the girls for dinner -- a little pasta, peas and parmesean. E rested her head on my shoulder, sighed and said,

  "You're the best mommy EVER. Thank you so much for making me this dinner."

But perhaps what makes me happiest is how good of friends they have become. When I pick A up at school, the first thing she asks is "Issy?" (translation: "Where's my sissy?"). And as soon as E hears a rustling over the monitor at naptime, she's up in her room going to get her baby. And they play together so well, giggling the whole time.

to nonna and pop-pop

Thanks for forgoing a romantic dinner on this, your 36th anniversary, in order to pick the girls up from school. A bottle of prosecco is in the fridge...help yourself. And, enjoy this little ditty!



Man, do I love YouTube!

we miss her already

Kiki came in from the Windy City to visit this weekend. It was a super quick trip, but I'm so glad we got to see her before she and Steve move all the way out to Cali. E was super-excited to see Kiki...A was a bit wary at first but quickly warmed up to her.

At dinner last night, I asked E what her favorite part of the weekend was.

"Kiki," she replied.
"Me, too." I told her.

Story Time
At Lunch...with their matching dimples
Kiki teaches E the Art of Making (and Eating!) Dirt

And, lest Nonna and Pop-pop feel left out of the documentation of the weekend's festivities....
In case you were wondering, both John and I were there the entire weekend. Just nobody took pictures of us. Since I'm usually the one wielding the camera, I feel like I'm becoming like Charlie from Charlie's Angels...just the voice telling the story. Well, they are *my girls.*

oh what a beautiful morning

This morning has been pretty damn nice. I got up a little early, and just as a sat down at the computer I heard A in her crib. Since we were the only two up we got some good uninterrupted snuggling time. It was *so* nice, since she's way too busy to just snuggle these days.

E got up shortly after, and so we played upstairs for a bit. It looked like the girls were going to fight over creepy baby...but E was able to distract A with a teddy bear.After getting dressed (only requiring two wardrobe changes from E) and brushing teeth and hair, we then headed downstairs for a little bit of breakfast. Then it was time to go. No car ride for us today. We loaded up the double stroller and off we went. It was such an enjoyable way to get to school. E asked if we could do this coming home, too. We will, since I left the stroller at school (rather than walk through the neighborhood with an empty stroller).

Tonight will be a quiet night. Tomorrow, Kiki (and Nonna and Pop-pop) will be coming over. It should be a good weekend!

the discipliner

The teacher's in A's class use "redirection" to discipline her and her classmates. This has apparently rubbed off on A. The other day, John was tickling her. She turned to him and said,

"No no touch!"

On Monday, after all of the big kids had moved on from the water slide and were riding bikes around the cul-de-sac, A got into the pool. It was just A and E and the two little grandsons of our neighbors, who are about the same age as our girls. The younger of the two boys went down the slide and ended up landing close to A. He didn't knock her over or even really splash her ... but A was not happy. She wipped around and shook her finger and yelled,

"No no nah nice!"

I guess it wasn't a very nice thing to do. And, the little boy relented. He didn't go down the slide again while A was in the pool.

creepy babies, water slides and e's first date

The Slacker Memorial Day weekend was tons of fun. My parents came over on Saturday. While John and my dad golfed, the girls went to the playground and had tons of fun. Afterward, we cooked out and had a yummy blueberry cobbler for dessert.

On Sunday, we packed everyone in the car and headed into DC to visit our friends and their 4-week-old son. He was a little cutie and so sweet and tiny. Both E and A liked him...but they liked playing with their dolls in his swing even more. Our friends had a ginormous creepy baby that they had used to get their dogs used to the concept of a baby...and (lucky us!) E liked it so much they gave it to her. This baby ranks about an 11.5 out of 10 on the creepy baby scale, and E and A have been playing with it non-stop ever since.

On Monday, we spent pretty much the entire day in the cul-de-sac. A group of neighbors (including us) chipped in and purchased this:So while the kiddos had fun splashing, sliding and shooting the water cannons, the parents sat out, chatted and cooked out.

When we moved onto our street, E was 11 months old. Most of the kids on the street were a couple of years older (5 or 6 back then). There was one younger boy, but he was 8 months older, which seemed light years ahead at the time. But, now as E nears 4, she not only plays with the other kids but she is actually becoming friends with Sean, who will be in the same grade as E.

Well, yesterday at one point, E and Sean were driving around the cul-de-sac together in one of those battery operated Jeeps. They looked *so* cute and of course plans for weddings were drawn up. When E said she had to go potty, Sean actually drove her to our house and waited her to use the potty and come back out, and off they went again. Quite the gentleman.

Today is back to reality...but this weekend, Kiki comes to town! We can't wait!!!!

coffee talk

When your Mama doesn't drink tea, what are two little cuties supposed to do? Have a *coffee* party. A stuck her hand into my mug this morning and discovered that she loved coffee. After stalking my mug for a good part of the morning, I relented. Each of them got a serving of milked-down coffee in their tea party mugs. If and when we ever get together with the Jersey Baby clan, I know what we'll be serving with snack.

These pictures crack me up. In the first one they look like two ladies chatting it up over coffee. And, A apparently inherited her coffee drinking style from me, as I'm a big fan of the dual-hand sip she's using in the second picture.
And any concerns that caffiene would hype these kids were alleviated by A falling sound asleep for her nap. E's out at The Teets getting some items for dinner tonight with Nonna. John and Pop-pop are golfing. And me? Maybe I'll get out of my PJs, take a shower and get dressed. It is almost two after all.

little links of interest

My co-worker told me that this morning on NPR they ran a story on slugging. For those of you not in the DC area, slugging is basically organized hitch-hiking. You wait in a line while cars going into DC pick up enough riders to qualify for HOV. But, there's a whole ettiquette involved, including no talking. When I lived at home and worked in DC right after I graduated from college, I slugged in. Ah...those were some good times.

Also, the Social Security Administration has come up with their list of most popular names of 2007. E's name is in the top 10...but A's, name is a fast riser up almost 100 spots from last year! She's a trendsetter, I tell you!

Other interesting things I learned while cruisng around the SSA site on my conference call.

• The big trend is boys name rhyming with "maiden". Dear lord, there are a lot of variations: Jayden (No. 18); Aiden (No. 27); Aidan (No. 54); Jaden (No. 76); Caden (No. 92); Kaden (No. 98); Ayden (No.102); Braden (No.156); Cayden (No.175); Jaiden (No.191); Kaiden (No. 220); Aden (No. 264); Caiden (No. 286); Braeden (No. 325); Braydon (No. 361); Jaydon (No. 415); Jadon (No. 423); Braiden (No. 529); Zayden (No. 588); Jaeden (No. 593); Aydan (No. 598); Bradyn (No. 629); Kadin (No. 657); Jadyn (No. 696); Kaeden (No. 701); Jaydin (No. 757); Braedon (No. 805); Aidyn (No. 818); Haiden (No. 820); Jaidyn (No. 841); Kadyn (No. 878); Jaydan (No. 887); Raiden (No. 931); and Adin (No. 983). What's so awesome about this is the quote in the press release:

  Social Security spokesman Mark Lassiter indicated that the agency would resist any legislative efforts to standardize the spelling of these names.

  I just think it's *hilarious* that it was even a consideration to try and make people back off the damn creative spellings.
  
• People still love, love, love to name their twins with matchy names. All of the top 10 name pairs start with the same letter. And really, 38 parents named their twins Ella and Emma?!?!?! As a twin, whose sister is named with the same letter, I beg you STOP THE MADNESS!
  
• You can also see the top 100 names by state. It's interesting how that, even across a state there are pockets of popularity. For example, there were 80 Paiges born in 2004 in our state, but two of them are in E's class. Conversely, there are 3,500 girls born that were named one of the top 7 names in the state...and E is the only one in her class with one of those.

And if all this name talk intrigues you, or you are pregnant and looking for names....head on over to Nymbler, which will suggest names based on what you like. It's actually pretty accurate...for example, it suggests our unused boy name based off of E and A's name.

Which reminds me...I was wondering about this. For those of you that had picked out both a "boy" and a "girl" name when you were pregnant...do you keep the unused name for your next kid?

When I was pregnant with E, we had picked out our "boy" name, and if A was a boy she would have been named that. But my mother-in-law mentioned that she had three separate girl names picked out for each of her sons.

So there you have it...enough stuff to keep you busy for the morning.

it's not like brushing your teeth

If you were fly on the wall in the Slacker bathroom (or an ant...because dear lord we are losing the battle against ants in our house), you would have heard the following conversation between me and E.

"E, did you go potty yet? It's bedtime."
"Yes, Mommy."
"Did you wipe?"
"No, Mommy. I only have to wipe twice a day or if I poop."

maybe they have hollow legs

Last night before bed, I was singing E "Goodnight, Sweetheart." I sing this to her just about every night; she loves the Doh-doh-doh-doh-doh part. Well, we always sing about what she did that day and what she'll be doing tomorrow. (Thankfully, E doesn't require that When I told her that she would be getting dressed and going to school,she looked at me and asked if she could eat breakfast at home. I told her if she got ready fast enough in the morning that she could.

Lo and behold, this morning she was ready with enough time to spare for breakfast. Since I haven't had a chance to make it to The Teets for our weekly grocery shopping trip, the Slacker pantry is looking pretty bare. E and A's breakfast options were limited to...well organic cereal bars and bananas. Both girls ate this up as if it were the last meal they were having. We then hopped in the car and headed off to school.

Now, I'm sure I've bitched and moaned about mentioned this before, but the girls' school does not serve lunch, except for Friday when they order pizza. But, they do serve breakfast in the morning and an afternoon snack. When we got to school, they were still serving breakfast. And you know what, *both* of my kids sat down and helped themselves to another meal.

Now, only if I could eat two breakfasts with wild abandon...

a galloping good time

The weekend to Philly was tons of fun! We arrived on Friday evening (after a 3 1/2 hour drive...ugh!). After a quick dinner, Maura, Maggie and E all got in their matching pajamas for their slumber party (A and Bridget were too young to join in). At 11 PM, we had to go back into the girls' room to tell them that the really, really had to go to bed.

The next morning, we got up and got ready to go. We met up with the rest of our group and caravanned over to the races. Our tailgate was set up and ready to go around 11:30 AM...and then someone read the program that the first race started at 1:30 PM. Nevertheless, the kids had tons of fun running around and playing. They enjoyed watching the horses run by and E even got to pet a horse.

We did try to get a group photo of all the kids...but that was the least successful aspect of the day.
In the end, we were only able to get a picture of A and E together...And then John and Maura joined in on the action.We had initially planned on staying for 4 hours or so, thinking that would be the longest the kiddos could manage. But before we knew it, it was 5:30 PM and the races were over...so we packed up and headed home. And how much fun did the girls have? Well...here's how they arrived after the 20 minute trip back to Sean and Autumn's. The girls did rally for a cookout in the backyard and some fun jumping in the Princess moonbounce. [Note to self: Start stalking Craigslist for a moonbounce...that thing rocked!] The next morning, we got up, had some breakfast, played a bit and then headed home.

The rest of the afternoon at home was fairly uneventful...a little laundry, getting ready for the next week, some more playing outside. Then, about 6:30 PM the exhaustion of the weekend set in for the girls. Massive tantrums ensued. So we threw the girls in the shower, got them in their PJs and they were both conked out by 7:30 PM.

All in all the weekend was so much fun! It was one of those weekends that I wanted to just pack up and move to Philly. But, alas, we are back to the daily grind here. Luckily, I get a four day weekend (Friday and Monday off), which should make it a bit easier.

I'm already counting the minutes until the weekend.

and they're OFF!

The Slackers are headed out a little early today, up to Philly to party with the Party of Five. We're going to the Radnor Hunt Races, which are steeplechase races.

Since John, Sean and I all went to Virginia (WAHOOWA!) horse races are near and dear to our heart. An annual spring rite of passage at UVA is the Foxfield Races...which was basically an excuse to get dressed up and get tipsy (football is our excuse in the Fall). In fact, one of the first people I saw at Foxfield was a girl who was crying because she was so happy...it was her fourth year at Foxfield and she had *just* seen a race horse. One of the second people I saw at Foxfield was a guy wearing a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, a bolo tie, and...well...nothing else. Oh, the stories I could tell about Foxfield.

But, I digress. The Radnor Races is like Foxfield for adults! We bring the kids and have a much nicer tailgate. And we bring sunscreen, being the responsible parents that we are. (You could always tell who went to Foxfield at class on Monday by the tell-tale sundress shaped tan lines.) Last year, the girls had a blast. This year should be even more fun because we've got a bigger group going and have planned a little bit better.

E is uber-psyched to see her friends, Maura and Maggie. She missed out on the big St. Patty's Day sleepover because of A's ear infection du jour. When she got to school today, she told every teacher she saw "I'm going to Philadelphia." She then proceeded to walk up to every student in her class and tell them individually that she was going.

"Triniti, I have to tell you something. I'm going to Philadelphia today.
Chad, come here. I'm going to Philadelphia.
Siyona, did you hear? I'm going to Philadelphia.
Connor, I have to tell you something. I'm going to Philadelphia."

E is also excited that, since this is a road trip over 2 hours, she gets to watch the DVD player. We have those portable ones you strap to the back of the seats...which are quite possilby the best invention known to man. Thank you, Mr. or Mrs. Inventor of the Portable DVD Player!

So...what is everyone else up to this weekend???

I've got a busy morning...I have to pack the girls and myself, pack the car and run by the grocery store. Not sure if I'll get back to post about the New Kids on the Block performance on the Today show this morning. Feel free to comment about it in the comments as well.