though it's not on the itinerary...

Here's a little Limerick for you!

There once was a mama who slacked.
During Grey's she (finally) packed.
She'll be gone for a while,
As she tours the Emerald Isle.
But fret not! In a week, she'll be back!

Don't miss me too much when I'm gone!

a visual representation of how i feel today

FYI: This is E around 13 months or so. She was eating something that was clearly not her favorite. I have no idea what it was, but man is that look priceless.

dear go diego go writers

I understand that you guys have a tough job. I mean, the preschool set is notoriously fickle, and there are only so many animals that live in the rain forest that Diego and Alicia can rescue or go on an adventura with. But seriously, you guys crossed the line.

This morning, A got up earlier than normal. In an effort to complete my workout, I turned off my TiVo'ed episode of What Not to Wear and put on a Diego episode. It all started out innocently enough...Diego and Alicia's grandfather had a strawberry farm, but a windy wind blew away all of the strawberries right before Alicia and the Bobo brothers could pick them for the big strawberry festival. How would Diego save the strawberry festival?

That's easy. With the help of an iguana...who ate some strawberries at the rescue center and then *pooped* the seeds in the garden. That's right, Iguana poop saved the day.

Writers of Go Diego Go...do you not know your audience?!?!?! Do you not understand that there will be an epidemic of kids across America who will be pooping in their backyards this summer in an effort to grow their own strawberries!?!?! What's next, a very special episode featuring a mother bird vomiting up half digested worms for her babies?

Luckily, I don't think A made the poop-strawberry connection (though she *did* poop right after...coincidence?). But I deleted the episode before E could get an ideas watch it.

Consider this your warning ... you pull that crap (heh) on us again and it will be all Dora all the time.

Sincerely,
Slacker Mama

it was the best of weather, it was the worst of weather

It was a tale of two weather patterns here this weekend.

Our warm and sunny part of the weekend started off with a bang on Friday afternoon with Nonna and Pop-pop stopping by and treating the girls (and me!) to Pickle Bob's ice cream. Then we got some good playing outside time before grilling out for dinner.

On Saturday, we headed out to breakfast at John's favorite dive. We then headed out to Baby Animal Day at local park. The girls had a great time petting the baby animals and running around. I was a little nervous how A would do, since she's a deathly afraid little wary around animals, but she loved it. We then came home and played outside for the rest of the day, hanging out in the cul-de-sac with the neighbors and then grilled out again.



We woke up on Sunday to torrential downpours and cool temperatures. Blech. We did head to REI to pick up some things for our trip to Ireland. I got a wind and water resistant jacket, John got some shoes and the girls got new pairs of Crocs. We hadn't planned on the Croc purchase, but when A saw thems she started screaming "Cock! Cock!" (heh) They both got the fucshia Mary Janes. John tried to get them to go for the orange, but A shook her head furiously and said "Pik! Pik!" The rest of the day were boring chores -- laundry, grocery shopping, and a hair cut for E. The girls did get a little stir-crazy, but nothing a little running around in the garage couldn't cure.

On the agenda for this week: IRELAND! We leave on Friday. Now if only the packing fairy would visit Chez Slacker, we'd be good to go!

carrying on a family tradition

I've mentioned this before, but my mom stayed home with Kiki and I for the first few years and then went back to work when we were about 3 or so. My parents were *fantastic* working parents, and I aspire to be like them with my girls. I don't remember feeling like I was missing out, and I certainly remember them being at all the important things that parents should be at (and then some!).

That's not to say that growing up I didn't sometimes wish things were different. You see, my mom worked in DC when we were growing up and traffic was just as horrendous (if not more so) back then as it is now. So she was often up at 4:45AM and out the door before Kiki and I got up. My dad was the responsible party for getting us up. This was both a blessing and a curse. On the bright side, our morning routine included climbing into my parents' bed and watching cartoons (Mighty Mouse and others) with my dad. Unfortunately, it also meant that my dad was responsible for brushing Kiki's and my hair.

Oh, the horrors!

My dad's method of doing this was to cup one hand under our chin to hold it steady. Then he would brush our hair down as hard as he could, producing a greasy, stuck-to-our head look. To add insult to injury, our hair was already in a heinous bi-level cut (that's on you, Mom!) so we needed all the styling help we could get.

So, when I was in third grade, I looked forward to Fridays. My mom didn't work on Fridays, so there was a relaxed vibe in the house. No rushing to get kids out the door and parents off to work. And, my mom did our hair. So on Fridays, I wore pigtails. In retrospect, the bi-level pigtail didn't look so great, but I loved them nonetheless.

Now that I'm a mom and working part-time, Fridays have that same feel in our house. Usually I work in the mornings, but it's from home so we're not rushed. We often have breakfast and play before I take them to school. And I try to pick them up early -- sometimes before lunch and nap even. And this morning, E was so excited to be wearing a spring dress that she asked for piggles this morning.

And...since it was Friday, I happily obliged.

signs of spring

After a long, cold winter, spring is finally upon us. Over the past few weeks, the first signs of spring had appeared.

Longer days...

Birds chirping...

Blooming flowers...

Warmer weather...

and, of course, sending your children to school as clean and well-dressed children, only to have them be returned to you as dirty ragamuffins.

Thank god we didn't have to run errands after school today...that would have been embarassing.

catch me if you can

So A has learned a new game called Chase. This is how it is played:

1. Mommy and the girls need to go somewhere that necessitates them getting in the car. This trip also necessitates bags or purses or lunchboxes (or any combination, thereof) which transforms Mommy into a temporary Sherpa.
2. While en route to the car, A determines that this is the perfect time for the game to commence, and proceeds to run in a direction *away* from the car, laughing all the way.
3. Mommy begins to run after A while juggling the aforementioned bags/purses/lunchboxes.
4. Mommy catches A and proceeds to carry A (in addition to the bags/purses/lunchboxes) back to the car.
5. E, seeing how much fun A had playing the game, decides to play as well and runs in a completely different direction.
6. Mommy considers never leaving the house again.

the road to urgent medical care is paved with good intentions

I'm working from home all this week, which has been *so* nice. No commute, and I'm able to get things done around the house during the day. One of those things is meal prep.

Yesterday, I decided to make pizza dough so that we could have pizza for dinner. As I was getting the pizzas ready, E wanted to help. So she dragged a kitchen chair over, climbed on it, and helped me spread the sauce and sprinkle the cheese. Of course, A wanted to get in on the action...so she hopped up on the chair with E. For a while, things were going well. We finished with our first pizza, and I went to go put it in the oven.

You can see where this is going, right?

While my back was turned for 15 seconds, some sort of scuffle had ensued. I turned around just in time to see both girls falling off the chair. While neither of them was seriously hurt, tears ensued. I almost cried right along with them, to be honest. They finally both stopped crying when I broke out ice cubes for them to put on their boo boos (in the case of E) or to try to eat (in the case of A).

Then, to add injury to injury, when I went to take the first pizza out of the oven, my finger slipped off the pot holder. Instinctively I went to steady the pan with my other, pot-holder free hand. So I managed to burn the bejeebus out of fingers on *both* my hands.

Ugh. Next time I'm ordering Papa Johns.

So, all you mamas whose kiddos "help" in the kitchen...how do you get them to counter height? Chairs, stools, levitation? Or do you do things on the kitchen table or a kids table?

dora pajama dance party and piggle-palooza

Last night after baths, the girls got into their pajamas. Their Dora pajamas. E had two sets from the fall that were 3T, but were so ridiculously small on her that no part of the shirt and pants came close to touching, much less overlapping. So, this weekend, we headed to Kohl's where we picked up a Dora nightgown with a bonus pair of slippers and scrunchie (I kid you not! 1992 called and wants it's hair holder back!) and a Princess pajama set as well. They are both incredibly ugly and look cheaply made...but E couldn't be happier.

And, since E no longer needed them, we passed down the older PJs onto A. For 3Ts, they are almost too small on her! Nonetheless, she was psyched. She yelled at me this morning when I tried to take them off to get her dressed.

Here are pictures of the girls having a dance party on E's Dora blanket last night.


This morning, we had a few extra minutes so I put the girls hair up in piggles (as E calls them). There is absolutely *no* chance that the piggles will still be in their hair by the time I pick them up from school (or lunch-time at that), but here are the cuties before going to school.


The white box on the picture of both girls is to obscure the name of E and A's school. Sorry internet stalkers!

busted

E was helping me with the laundry today. When she offered to throw away the used drier sheet rather than rolling my shirts in to little balls folding clothes, I jumped at the chance.

"OH NO! MOMMY!" E screamed.
"What!?!?" I asked.
"My art! My art is in the trash!" she replied.

And sure enough, E pulled out three of her "drawings" from school.

Now don't get me wrong, we save *a lot* of E's work. And A's. However, after 5PM at school, they either are outside on the playground if the weather is nice, or in a classroom coloring and reading if it's not. Which means we get *a lot* of pictures that E draws. Sometimes upwards of 5 or so a day. So, I keep the ones that are really good (e.g., a school craft, the one she wrote her name on) and the rest get put in Mommy's Special File, which until now had been the laundry room trash can.

"Oh, Mommy didn't mean to throw those away!" I told her. Luckily two were actually on the back of school calendars, so I continued. "I thought they were just school papers."
"Okay, Mommy," E said suspiciously. "Let's go put them with the rest of my art right now."

Sigh.

So mission tonight is to re-throw out the art from Friday. And find a new place to do it.

heat + humidity = one cute 'do

Today it reached 80 degrees. And the girls spent *a lot* of time outdoors. We got a sneek peak of what A's hair will look like in the dog days of the DC summer. In a word, curly.

kebab-a-rama

Kebab-a-rama was a success last night. The girls had tons-o-fun playing on the swing set while we grilled the kebabs. The kebabs were pretty tasty, though A only ate the veggies (she's in a vegetarian phase right now) and E only ate the meat. Well, she did try some grilled veggies after I told her that little girls that eat their veggies get turned into princesses.

Here are some pictures of the girls. Really not the best, but I had to show you how there's really nothing cuter than an 18-month-old in running shorts and running shoes. And, E was rocking the soccer shorts last night.

turning lemons into lemonade

After yet another 2AM wake-up call from A (ugh!), I overslept my alarm this morning (ack!). So, I made the executive decision to work from home today and save myself from having to do the time-consuming activities going to the office entails...like commuting and showering.

Thus far I've been able to get some stuff done for work, get in a workout on the elliptical, and my house is sparkly clean. (Okay, my house would have been sparkly clean regardless since the cleaning lady did it...but I did let her into the house!) And, since it's such a beautiful day, I'm going to do a little work out on the back deck (gotta love wireless internet and laptops!). Later this afternoon, I'm going pick up the girls from school in the wagon and walk home, and then we are grilling out and eating on the deck. We picked up some kebabs from The Teets, so tonight is Kebab-a-Rama 'round these parts.

Turned out to be a pretty good day, after all.

"most favored parent" status

Currently, I hold the title of "Most Favored Parent" with both girls. While it often has its perks, it does have it's drawbacks. For example, I have to be a part of both girls nighttime routine. With E, I have to come in and sing her at least a song or two. With A...well, let's just say if John so much makes a move that might cause A to think that he will be involved in the story and songs prior to bedtime, there is screaming. And crying.

Anyway, when A got up on Monday night, I kicked John and told him it was his problem asked him if he could try to re-settle A after my attempts failed. His solution was to sleep with her in the guest room. And he did both pick up and drop off yesterday (and probably today, too). Consequently, A has definitely been a little more lovey dovey with him and minutely less so with me...causing John to joke that he might be the more favored parent before too long.

A girl can dream, can't she?

further proof my kids are geniuses

So, the other day when I picked E up from school, she told me she made a present. She does this every day, and generally her "presents" are scraps of paper she has cut and stuffed into her pocket or a couple hundred sheets of paper with two or three scribbles on it. She pretty much is responsible for the destruction of a tree a day with her paper habits.

But, that day she showed me her picture and said, "Look, mommy! I wrote my name on it!" And sure enough, she *had* written her name across the top! Now, I'm no expert in child development, but I think being able to write your name at 3 1/2 is pretty impressive...especially when your parents have stuck you with a ridiculously long name (nine freaking letters).

As for A...the yesterday I was putting on her pants. For some reason, I always count arms and legs as I put them on...so as I pulled on the first leg, I said "One." A looked up at me with those beautiful blue eyes and said,

"Ooooo!"
"That's right!" I said and then continued. "Three!"
"Or!"
"Five..."
"Icks!"
"Seven..."
"Ay!"
"Nine..."
"En!"

And with that, she threw her hands up in the air and smiled.

Writing names and counting to ten...these girls are the smartest kids EVER!

head wounds, basketball and more spring cleaning

Overall the weekend was a good one in the Slacker house. On Saturday morning, we went grocery shopping and then the girls played outside while John and I did some lawn work. Saturday afternoon, my parents came over to watch the basketball games. My mom brought meatball subs, which were delicious.

Sunday was our anniversary. In a true testament to the give and take that couples must make in order to be successful, I let John sleep in while I got up with the girls...and John didn't grumble about me drinking 95% of the coffee. We then got dressed and headed into Arlington so that I could go to The Container Store. We walked around a couple other shops and then headed to Faccia Luna for lunch. John and I split a Franco pizza, which is totally symbolic of our relationship (sausage for him and roasted red pepper and red onion for me). On the way back to the car, we ran into a friend of ours, so we stopped by his house to catch up with him and his wife. When we got home, I got to organize my cabninets and coat closet with my new toys from The Container Store)...we then had some dinner, played some more and then headed off to bed.

The only minor glitch in all of this happened on Saturday. E and A were playing on the couch...and E managed to fall off the couch and hit her head on the coffee table, resulting in yet another trip to the Urgent Care to get a forehead glued together. The good news is that she was a total trooper about it all...but I still feel somehow deficient in that both my children have required Dermabond in the last few weeks.

And, A? After a rough night on Friday night sleep-wise, she seems to have made a total recovery from this latest ear infection. Saturday and Sunday she went to bed without so much as a peep and didn't wake up until the morning. So yay!

Hope everyone had good weekends!

april 6, 2002

Six years ago today, we got married. It was one of the happiest days of my life, and has been followed by many, many, many happy more.

And the 99.99% of the time you make me feel like this...

...more than makes up for the 0.01% of the time I feel like doing this.

There is no one I would rather walk hand in hand through this life with. I love you!

the third time's...a pain in the ass

A woke up this morning with a fever. And fussy. And clingy. So, we called the ped and headed on in.

Yep. You guessed it. Ear infection.

Apparently, these have been three separate ear infections, as opposed to one ear infection that hasn't ever healed. However, this means that A's frequent-infection status is putting her dangerously close to needing tubes. Ugh.

E stayed home from school, apparently for comic relief. When the nurse was asking about A's symptoms and I explained that I suspected that there was an infection, E chimed in,

"I checked her ears already. Yep. There are bones in there."

So, the rest of the day was relatively uneventful. The girls are both in bed (well, A is asleep, E is chillin' in the Dora bed). John and I were supposed to go out to dinner tonight to celebrate our anniversary...but we're now waiting on our Chinese to be delivered while watching Superbad.

Good times indeed.

a little fun with photoshop

My work computer has Photoshop installed on it, so I've been playing around with it a bit. Mostly I've made banners for my friends' blogs...but then I realized "Hey, they must call it Photoshop for a reason."

When I was at a baby shower a while ago, the hostess had these really cute pictures of her kids. The photos were black and white, with one colored piece of clothing. It was really cute. So...here's my attempt at recreating it.

What do you think?

hangin' tough

I'm sure this comes as no surprise to anyone, but I *love* me some boy bands! It started with Duran Duran (and the dreamy John Taylor) ... moved onto INXS (and the hunky Jon Farris) ... transitioned over to New Kids on the Block (and Jon Knight...looking back, not so sure about this one) ... and recently was for *NSYNC (did you know they served beer at *NSYNC concerts? and that there was *no* line because everyone else attending couldn't even drive?).

So, NKOTB (for those of us in the "know") is performing on the Today Show tomorrow! And, I'm psyched. I'm going to DVR it in case I have to miss the actual performance due to pesky issues, like work. Then I'm going to move the coffee table over and perform the dance moves to "The Right Stuff" in my living room because it's been 20(!) years, but I still know them. That's right...I'm a bad ass.By the way, I'm pretty sure that A is going to be my Boy Band lover. The other day, I put an episode of Dora on while I got ready for work. E was watching it intently, but A had lost interest and was playing with some toys. Well, Dora and Boots needed some help from a humpback whale, so Dora suggested that they call her cousin, Diego. The mere mention of Diego's name caused A to shriek loudly, jump up from the toys she was playing with and RUN to the television to see her beloved. Too funny.

Oh, and in case you have been following our sleep drama, when I left the house this morning at 7:15, A was still sleeping as she had been since 7:45 last night. Let's hope this trend continues.