also on the memory card

Since I went ahead and downloaded the Halloween pictures to my computer, I also got the rest of my October pictures, too. Which aren't many. But they crack me up. So here they are.

How A drinks her chocolate milk...she's got mad chugging skills

What happens when A dresses herself
(note the abundance of patterns)

E and John hanging with Baby AJ

We got Boo'd...we boo'd back
(we also think polka dot shirts and polka dot dresses "match")

A dressed up as Fancy Nancy for her Halloween Party at School
E channelled Miley with a little peace sign action

halloween recap

For Halloween, we headed up to Philadelphia to celebrate Maggie's 4th Birthday with Queen Mommy and the Four Princesses. It was a whirlwind trip -- we headed up on Saturday morning and were there for about 24 hours. But much fun was had by all -- a birthday party, Trick-or-Treating AND a sleepover all in one!

Trick-or-treating was cut short due to the rain, but the girls managed quite a haul, inlcuding the Holy Grail of T-or-T-ing: Full-Sized Candy Bars. Oddly enough, the highlight of the evening was handing out candy to everyone else. Maura and E set up stools in the front hall and watched for Trick-or-treaters for an hour. It was too cute!

 

So, the homemade kitty ears were a gigantic FAIL on my part. It was a felt and glue disaster, but I could not get the ears to attach to the curved headbands. My mother-in-law suggested a hot glue gun...but after looking at how much cold, non-scalding glue was all over my hands, I decided against that. So I went to Wal-mart (thanks for the tip, Pigtails to Pacifiers!) and bought some. In a small victory, they both wore the tails I had "made", and E did end up wearing my homemade collar (Cat name: Princess) while A (Cat name: Tinkerbell) opted for the cheesey bow-tie. Yes, I understand that I went from homemade to the retail devil...and how I failed to make quite possibly the world's easiest Halloween costume, but oh well. Better luck next year.

bullet points

Somehow time has gotten the best of me and suddenly it's been a week since I last posted. So I have a lot to talk about but am too lazy to type it all out but too little time to post each individual thing. So, here's a bullet list:

• Social Butterfly. I have been all about the socializing of late. Last Thursday, I met up with "The Girls" for dinner. Kiki, Uncle Steve and AJ were in town all weekend. On Friday, my friend Susie and her fam (minus the twins) stopped by for lunch. We met up with our old college roommates (lovingly referred to as The Ditch) to go to the UVA game on Saturday. Though, it was really rainy and we actually never got around to going into the game, preferring to tailgate the entire time. I swear, I've talked to more people who are not immediate family members in the last week than I did the entire month of September!
  
• Birthday. Today's my birthday (and Kiki's, too)! I'm 35, which means that I'm now eligible to be President. This one has been a harder pill to swallow than ones in years past...since from here on out I'm closer to 40 than 30. However, I still consider myself to be 27, so I'm taking it all in stride.
  
• Halloween. The girls are getting excited for Halloween. We're making their costumes this year, which has *disaster* written all over it. Even though they are going as cats, and by definition all you need are ears and a tail so how hard can it be? Also worrisome? A insists that she's going to be Tinkerbell, and I fear she doesn't mean Tinkerbell the Cat. I'm sure hilarity will ensue regarding this in the next few days.
  

And, that's all I really got for you now. We're headed out to dinner tonight for my birthday. And then we're making cat ears and tails. Yep. I'm ringing 35 in with a bang!

the nerd and the realist

E's class goes to the library once ever so often. Library, along with PE, computer lab, music and art, are scheduled on some sort of rotating basis that requires a PhD to understand. It involves Red Days and Blue Days and there are numbers. Okay, I'm sure it's not that hard to figure out...however, I find it much easier to ask E, "What did you do for your Encore class today, E?"

Where was I? Oh, right. The Library. So, when E goes to the Library, she's allowed to check out a book (provided that her mother is awesome and totally remembers to put the previous selection in her backpack so it's not overdue). So yesterday, when I picked her up from school, E pulled out her new book from the library. And, what wildly exciting book that was sure to inspire love of reading had she selected?

Poland. E had checked out a book on Poland.

Apparently, they pick from a group of pre-selected books, and since another fundraiser just trying to shake us down for more money the International Fair is coming up, the theme of the books was "Countries." And the girl on the cover of Poland had some sort of flower headband on.

So, last night at bedtime, she picked her Poland book for her story. I opened it up and, sure enough, it read like an encyclopedia entry about Poland. It started off talking about the geography of Poland, such as, Poland is the size of New Mexico and the majority of the land was covered with a central plain.

E was fascinated. A was not impressed.

"I no like dis book," A said.
"What?!?! This is a great book!" E replied.
I continued reading, "Poland has over seven thousand lakes."
"Wow! That's a LOT of lakes! Did you hear that A?" E prompted.
"Dis book is bad. I read my Dora book."

So while I finished telling E about pirogies and the school system of Poland, A patiently thumbed through her Dora book.

It was such a fitting way, to end the evening with my girls. E definitely has a more serious side to her, compared to my fun-loving, life-of-the-party A. And, while I definitely have my nerd-ish tendencies, I'm going to have to side with A on this one.

And I've marked on my calendar when that book needs to be sent back to the library.

dirty laundry

With a month and a half under our belts in the new school year, I think it's safe to say that we've fallen into a pretty comfortable routine. I don't think much has drastically changed from before kindergarten. Since the evening is a bit more rushed because we're home a few minutes later and E has homework (even if it is "Name all the colors you can find in your room. Which one is your favorite?"), I am trying to streamline dinner by pre-prepping ingredients (like chopping veggies) beforehand.

But the bane of my existence? Laundry.

Even with the higher capacity of our fancy schmancy front-loader, we generate at least 5 freaking loads a week here. And my current method of attack is to do them all on Sunday. That way, all the laundry gets DONE -- washed, dried, folded and put away. The downside to this is that I'm basically doing laundry all day long. Which kind of sucks.

But if I try and spread it out over the week, things go amok. First of all, the fancy schmancy front loader takes for-evah for a cycle. To wash and dry a load of clothes can take 2 hours. Since I get up early to exercise, I try to make it to bed by 10. So I kind of get bitter if I'm up waiting for our clothes to dry when I could be sleeping. Also? The laundry then just ends up sitting on top of our dryer for a week since I can't really put away the kids' stuff, seeing as their rooms are dark and I don't want to wake them.

So, tell me folks. How do you handle your laundry? And how much does your family generate? Any tips or tricks you'd like to share?

rain, rain ... thank god you're here!

This, my friends, is our forecast for the next few days:

Now, usually, I would be all,

"Rain?!?!? You have *got* to be kidding me?!?!?! I hate the rain. We'll be stuck in the house...with nothing to do!!!!!!"

But, in all honesty, John and I have been excitedly checking the forecast over the last few days making sure that it would be raining all.weekend.long. At one point he was on the Weather Channel and screamed,

"Ack! They have just clouds on Sunday. JUST CLOUDS!"

So we had to switch it to NBC's HD Weather which still promised us rain. Thank goodness!

So what's up with the love of the rain? Well, the fact of the matter is that I'm tired. Really really tired. You see, John has been out of town 4 of the last 5 weekends (you know, since Labor Day). Three of the four weekends was just me and the girls. The fourth one (last weekend), I'm still hungover recovering from. The one weekend he was home? Well, that was Sweet Baby A's birthday so it wasn't what you could call "quiet."

Since I'm so freaking worn down from these last few weeks that I'm relishing a quiet weekend stuck at home. There's talk of movie (and, of course, football) watching. Maybe making some chili. Maybe even baking some cookies. There might even be an attempt to make the girls' Halloween costumes. But other than that we're plan-free.

And, right now, that's the way I like it.

(almost) wordless wednesday -- wedding recap

We got dressed up...

despite the cold...

...and witnessed a wedding in which a Flower Baby was pulled down the aisle on a bouncy seat strapped to a boogie board!

We danced and had fun...

...despite the obstacles in our path...

...it was great to share some good times with some great friends!

reunited

John and I are headed out to a wedding this weekend. It should be a fun wedding...the groom is a fraternity brother of John's and the bride is a sorority sister of mine, so we pretty much know the entire non-family guest list. Also, we'll be staying at a beach house with 3 other couples. I'm sure it will be *just* like Beach Week...except now we have 9(!) kids between us. My guess is the phrase, "I just can't [drink/dance/party/stay up late] like I used to" will be thrown around a lot.

In other exciting news, I got my hair cut yesterday. My hair had been looking *atrocious* lately and I've decided that layers and I needed to break up for a while. And since it's fall, we put a little red in my color which, holy hell, did I need desperately because I'm very, very gray. So, lo and behold, this is what I came home with...

 

Kind of reminds me of a cut I got almost exactly two years ago.

Katie Holmes, I just can't quit you!

party in the u-mess-a

I don't know what I love more about this little video...how cute A looks when she's moobin' her hips like yeah, or how completely unphased E is that her sister is singing, dancing and otherwise hamming it up for the camera. It happens a lot around these parts.

putting those newly found reading skills to good use

On Saturday, the girls and I spent a good deal of the day in the car. We hit Target, dropped E off at a classmate's birthday party, and then headed in to meet Nonna and Pop-pop for dinner. While in the car, I spent the majority of my time flipping through the XM radio to find a song that E and A would like.

At one point I stopped on a station just as a song was ending and a new song was beginning. E thought I had moved on to a new station and wanted to hear what had just ended.

"Mama! Put it back! That was Katy Perry's Waking Up in Vegas! I love that song!"
I was a little more than shocked. "How did you know what song was on, E?" I asked.
She pointed to the radio display that showed the Artist and Title.
"Because the name said K and then P. Katy Perry is a K and a P."

So, I don't know what I'm more in trouble for...the fact that she'll probably know when I try to zip past Miley Cirus or other annoying artist from now on, or the fact that my 5-year-old counts Katy Perry as part of her go-to hits.

fuzzy milestones

One of my reluctance to document E and A's milestones in some sort of baby book (you know, other than complete laziness) was because I'm a stickler for details. And babies aren't an exact science. So...sure...you might notice that they got a tooth on January 3rd...but who's to say that they had it for a whole month unbeknownst to you and your prying fingers!

I honestly couldn't tell you what either girl's first word was. Especially since we did sign language with both kids...did the first sign they made count as their first word or did it have to be the spoken word? And, either way, how do you know it was their first and when it occurred? What if they were saying a whole bunch of other words and we just didn't know it?

And so it is with E reading. She's been "reading" pages of books for a while. But those were her favorites, like Fancy Nancy, that we read all the time. And she could recite them whether or not she had the book in front of her. Then she started to pick up on other words in other books. But in the past week or so, she's been reading those starter books to me, with very little prompting of words or correction. Some of it might be basic memorization...but the other night she picked a book off the shelf that I can't remember reading in months and read it to me. So, I think it's safe to say that E has learned to read.

I'll mark it on my calendar.

In other where-the-hell-did-my-baby-go news...we headed to the dentist on Monday. (And, yes, A was insanely jealous. Dentist = Doctor in their little minds.) But the dentist pointed out that E's bottom two teeth are the ever so slightest bit loose. So, ToothWatch '09 has commenced at Chez Slacker!

someone turned three!

On Friday, my Sweet Baby A turned 3. I'm still stunned by the fact that I am now the mother of a three-year-old and a kindergartner. I mean, I could have sworn it was just yesterday that she was born...and now she is a running, jumping, scooter-riding bundle of energy.

The weekend festivities started off with a trip to the doctor for her 3-year checkup. The doctor was very impressed with how well she talked and not at all concerned about her cute little ways of saying things like three (free) or girl (gu-yell). She ended up having to get a shot, and the FluMist (which was much more traumatic than the shot). I dropped her off at school and then came back a few hours later to bring a snack. We than sprang E from school a whopping 10 minutes early and played outside until Grandmom and Grandad arrived.

Once they arrived, we let A pick where we should eat. And where does a 3-year-old want to eat on her birthday? Chuck E. Cheese? Chick-Fil-A? Local pizza joint? Nope. A wanted fine italian cuisine at Desiderio's, the new place that opened us near us.

On Saturday, we had A's Birthday Party. And by "Birthday Party", I mean, we had dinner with Grandmom and Granddad, Nonna and Pop-pop, and Uncle Matt and Aunt Noreen. Again, we had A's choice of dinner (ribs...or "ribbies" as A likes to call them) and birthday cake. And presents.

 

As you can see from the pictures, E was very helpful in opening the presents. We did have a few minor altercations regarding E really wanting some of the gifts A got. But, after the dust settled (and the sugar high wore off), the girls were playing (and sharing) nicely with the loot yesterday.

This week, we are back to the normal grind of things. We're definitely settling in a bit more, which is nice. In fact, E got mad at John on Thursday because he picked her up too early and she wanted to stay and play longer with her friends. So, all in all things are looking up.

my milkshakes bribe my girls not to cry

There are many things as a parent that I will not do, but bribery is not one of them. So, on Wednesday night as we discussed our days and how much fun we had at school and SAC when we weren't crying, I made a deal with the devilchallenge with the girls. If A didn't cry at drop-off and E didn't cry at SAC, then I would make them milkshakes for dessert. Mint chocolate chip milkshakes.

And it worked.

It was a bit touch-and-go for A at drop-off. As E and I turned to leave, she got a little skittish. So I scooped her (and her stuffed horsey) up and plopped her in the arms of her teacher as I reminded her of what she was working towards. She regained her composure and, knowing that she held up her end of the bargain, yelled out to her sister,

"Hab a good day, E. Don't you cwy at SAC!"

And E complied. She had a great day and didn't cry. So I broke out the blender and made us a round of milkshakes.

Tonight, we're eating out if they remain tear-free. So far, we're 50% of the way there. E better not blow this because, let's face it, I *really* don't want to cook tonight. And the place they are picking makes *fab* milkshakes, too.

A girl can get used to a life of bribery.

technically, she still loves school

So on Friday, when I went to pick up E from SAC (before and after care at school), the teacher told me that E had a rough afternoon. It seemed that my daughter, who was running and playing and smiling when I got to SAC, had spent the better part of the afternoon crying.

When I asked E about her rough afternoon, she told me,

"Well, mommy, I missed you. Why can't I just go home with you after school?"

In general, a statement like that would be a little knife in the heart...but when you are already not happy about the situation, let me tell you, I almost burst into tears myself.

After talking about what would help her feel better in the afternoon, we've let her bring in a small stuffed animal that she can play with at SAC this week. Alas, she says that she's still crying in the afternoon, although "not as much, Mama". Yay for progress?

And, hell-bent on not being forgotten in all of this, A is weepy at drop-off. John talked to the teachers this morning and they confirmed that she definitely takes some time in the morning to get back to being her normal self. The lack of E bing around has affected her, too.

I'm assuming that these are the normal adjustments that the kids are making due to all the changes. It happens every time they change classes. But damn if it doesn't hit me like a ton of bricks every single time.

she likes it! she really likes it!

So far, Kindergarten has been a success. E tells us she loves Kindergarten. The only problem? That's all she's told us. If you try to press for more details, she'll shrug her shoulders and tell you she doesn't remember.

What we have been able to determine over the course of all three day is the following:

• One of her friends from her old school, Kyle, is in her class.
  
• She sits at a table with Lauren, Tyler and Raj.
  
• She plays a lot with Gracie (who she met at Meet the Teacher).
  
• They did a fire drill today and she did not cry.
  
• Her favorite part of today was storytime.
  
• She played with Lexie after school...and Lexie is in Tessa's (friend from old school) class.

Aaaaaaand, that's all I got. I have no idea what they are doing during the day. But she likes it. And says she likes it better than her old school. So far so good.

and she's off...

to Kindergarten, that is!

 

The morning went well. E said she was "very excited...and a little bit scared." But there were no tears this morning, which was great!

After much debate, John and I ended up driving her to school, rather than having her take the bus. It was good to show her where she would spend her mornings...and we ended up seeing her friend from "the other school", which was nice. The K kids all converge in the cafeteria and walk to class together, and so she got in line said hi to a few of her new classmates and then John and I left. I'll pick her up this afternoon.

In other "I can't believe how fast they are growing" news...E learned how to ride a 2-wheel bike this weekend! And, not to be out done, A is now sleeping in a big-girl bed! Let's just say that I've had my fill of milestones...so I will be forcing the kids to do nothing new...at least until A turns 3 (three!) at the end of the month.

the suspense is killing us!

So, E starts Kindergarten on September 8. As in a week from today. As in oh-my-freaking-goodness -she-is-the-last-kid-on-the-face-of-the-earth-to-start-school. She's ready. We're ready. Even A's ready. Needless to say, we're all getting a little antsy for her to begin.

I think that part of the problem is that the school year will bring about tons of change. In addition to the girls spending the days at different schools, E will be doing before and after care at school. I must admit that I'm hugely disappointed that she has to do before *AND* after care, and was hoping to swing just one. But since her school schedule has a really late start and a late-but-impossible-to-guarantee-one-of-us- making-it-home-every-single-day end time, committing to before and after care it is.

It's going to be a huge juggle and I'm really not sure how I'm going to fit everything in. I'm hoping that it's not going to be as bad as I've made it out to be in my head (weeks and weeks and weeks of worry can do that to a girl, you know?). But I'm sure we'll somehow survive.

In the meantime, we'll just keep on reading those getting ready for Kindergarten books that Kiki sent (I've got them memorized at this point) and counting the "sleeps" until school begins.

life is good with an oreo cookie

The dessert offering was pretty much decided for us last night...a little Double Stuff Oreo action. You gotta love the black toothed grin of some happy girls (and marvel at the rare occasion when E emerges from a meal messier than her sister).

 

 

 

wannabe

I have friends who are real photographers. As you have seen from my pictures, I am not. However, I got bored this week during conference calls and decided to play around with some photos in Photoshop. I thought they turned out kind of cool.

 

 

 

 

Now if only I could convince John to spring for a fancy schmancy camera for my birthday, I'd be ready to go.

five

When I was a new mom I was batshit crazy a wee bit nervous about pretty much everything. I wanted to be a good mom, but then I would read books and it would make me doubt my abilities. Of particular concern was the gem found in pretty much every parenting manual around,

"Eventually, you will get to know your baby's cries."

Because, really? No matter how hard I tried to distinguish them, they all sounded the same to me.

These days, a point of stress with regard to my kids is getting gifts. On the surface you would think this is an easy task. I've been around this kid for almost 5 years...I should know what she likes, right? And to an extent I do. But the life of a 5-year-old is so finicky that you just don't know what she's going to like and what will be the end-all-be-all gift.

Case in point, E loved the books about Kindergarten that Kiki, Uncle Steve and AJ sent...but she screamed with delight "And, look! It came with CARDBOARD! I love to color on that stuff!" And the backpack and lunchbox that Nonna and Pop-pop got her paled in comparison to the birthday card they sent...that had a cut-out crown! That she wanted to wear to school today, in fact.

Cardboard and a crown...who knew?

Since it was E's 5th birthday (and a big milestone), I did want her presents to be special and a reflection on who she was. And, I think they really captured this amazing kid that we haven't ruined quite yet.

1. A new dress. I can count on my fingers how many times she wore shorts or skirts this summer. It was only fitting that we added one to her collection.
   
2. A new Princess nightgown. It was only a matter of time before she started to wear nightgowns pretty much exclusively. And we got her a new one since she so generously donated a Dora nightgown to A, when she wanted to wear a nightgown like her sissy, too.
   
3. Books. We got her two, a new Fancy Nancy book (which she had been begging for) and a Learn-to-Read book about "Princess Ballerinas" (her two favorite things in one book!). She is so close to reading...I can't wait for her to learn and have a whole new exciting world open up.
   
4. An iPod Shuffle. She loves music. Specifically she loves Taylor Swift and Hannah Montana. She knows all the words to Hannah Montana songs I have never even heard before. So I frantically tore the house up looking for found my old school iPod shuffle, downloaded a few new songs, and made an E-specific playlist. She was thrilled and it's never to early to learn the joy of regifting.

Celebrating her birthday at the beach was great. She had a blast going out to dinner with family, and then having cake and ice cream back at the house. John and I *did* get on the ball enough to order a cake...but Grandmom came through with candles and princess party hats for everyone! She also got some great gifts from the family, including a bike-riding Barbie. Who wears mesh leggings. Who knew.

 

All in all it was a wonderful celebration for a wonderful girl.