future plumber

One of the things that absolutely cracks me up about A is that her...um...crack is *constantly* on display. Now, I know that most kids have this issue (big bellies, teeny heinies), but A's seems to be more pervasive of a problem than most kids. And, a long standing issue at that.

When we went to the Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia was afforded the opportunity to check it out! And, so can you!

 

This weekend, as I was rummaging through the 4T bin of clothes to find A a short-sleeved shirt that would cover her oh-so-cute Buddha belly, I also grabbed a pair of 4T pants. I figured maybe she just needed bigger pants to fix the problem. But, as we were skating on Sunday, Liz passed by and said,

"I love how A's pants don't seem to reach all the way up!"

So, not so successful.

Hopefully, the problem will remedy itself before she gets to thong-wearing age.

girls weekend

This weekend was a girls weekend 'round the Slacker house. John headed up to Providence to catch the first round of the NCAA tourney. He did this last year, too, and just like last year, the weather was gorgeous. This softened the blow big-time for me because, according to the basketball gurus, Tennessee was supposed to go to San Jose for the first round...so I was a bit bitter I wouldn't be repeating my March trip to Cali.

Anyway, the girls and I (and apparently 1/2 of the DC metropolitan area) headed to Clemyjontri Park on Saturday. The girls had a ton of fun running around (even though the Merry-go-round was closed). We also packed a picnic to eat there...which we ended up eating in the back of the car since I didn't feel like lugging our picnic to and from the overflow parking.

On Sunday, we headed into Arlington for a birthday party for my friend Liz's son Jake. An ice skating birthday party. Trying to navigate around the rink with 2 (well, 3 including me) non-skaters was a bit challenging. But the girls picked it up pretty well. E even tried to jump a few times...apparently she watched a bit too much Olympics. A had fun, too, but reached her limit. She turned to me at one point and said,

"I just wanna go to Miss Liz's and eat PIZZA!"

But even she skated without holding onto the wall!

All in all...it was a good time had by all the Slacker ladies!

change of season

This winter has been rough on the Slackers. In addition to all that snow we've gotten...we've been struggling with E and her feelings on SAC. Almost every day we would struggle with how she didn't want to go, and why couldn't she be a car rider or bus rider like [insert name of classmates]?

We pointed out how much fun she had when she was there. We tried to be more accomodating. I've rearranged my schedule so that she can be a car rider (and not go to SAC) on Fridays. Nonna has been picking her up one day a week (well, when she's not visiting Baby AJ). John's been trying to finagle his schedule, too.

The frustrating thing has been that E hasn't necessarily appreciated these changes. When I told her she could be a car rider on Fridays, it wasn't met with "Why can't I do it everyday?" And we're still met with resistance Mondays through Thursdays before and after school...and on the weekends...and at bedtimes. I would oscillate from being heartbroken (My Poor Baby Girl!) to annoyed (It's not like we're sending her to Boot Camp!) to flat out exasperated (#@)$#@(*$)*#@$).

But, the weather is turning around these parts. Each day has been warmer and sunnier than the last. When it's this pretty out...it's hard to be in a bad mood. Yesterday, when I picked her up from SAC, she was playing outside. I was met with laughter and giggles...not bitching and moaning whining. And, this morning was relaxed and carefree, I dropped her off at school as happy as a clam.

I'm not foolish enough to think that our problems are over....but I am hopeful that the beginning of Spring will be a new season for us all.

please touch mueseum

Last Friday, the Slackers headed up to Philly to visit our friends who live there. John had some work to do, and the girls and I played hooky to hang out for the day.

On Saturday, E, A, Maura and Maggie and Autumn and I headed into Philly to the Please Touch museum. The girls had a blast going through all of the exhibits, including the restored Merry-go-Round. And (shocker!) I actually remembered to bring my camera...so we have photographic evidence of the fun!

 

All in all, we had tons of fun!

the cutest one-year-old in the whole wide world!

A year ago...she looked like this:

And, now?

Happy birthday, Baby AJ! We all love you and miss you!

joke of the day

A: Knock knock.
John and me: Who's there?
A: Banilla ice cream.
John and me: Vanilla ice cream who?
A: Tootie [insert hysterical fit of laughter]

cutting class

We had a fun weekend that included a birthday party for the girls and John and I going to his company's (incredibly delayed) Holiday Party. John's Uncle Paul and Aunt Kathleen graciously offered to watch the girlies while we went to the shin-dig (it was an overnighter)...and fun was had by everyone!

When we got back late Sunday morning, it was fun to find how it had gone, and t hear the funny (and different perspective) that they had on the girls. Uncle Paul declared that E is already huge backseat driver. And Aunt Kathleen had this funny little story about A.

On Sunday morning, the foursome was headed to church. E and A were not happy about this...but, being the ever gracious hostesses, begrudgingly went. After mass began, A turned to Aunt Kathleen and said the dreaded seven words,

"I have to go to the potty."

Aunt Kathleen whisked her away to the bathroom. However, the minute they walked into the bathroom door, A turned around and said,

"I really *don't* have to go potty."

Imagine the excuses she will come up with in a few years when at 3 she's faking having to pee to get out church?

could have been worse

A has a new teacher who is always there when I pick her up in the afternoons. I don't know if this teacher just loooooooves A or does this for everyone...but she always tells me a Fun Fact about A. One day, she told me that they were playing Memory and A kicked everyone's ass. And, yesterday was no different.

"A was totally cracking me up today," she told me.
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, she made a microphone out of legos and was singing for the entire class!"
"Oh! That sounds like my girl."
"Yes, she was singing...uh...what's that song from the radio?"

This was where I started to get nervous. We've been listening to XM a lot lately, and sometimes my girls really like inappropriate songs. I started praying to myself please don't say Ke$ha's TikTok.

"TAYLOR SWIFT! That's right! I was really impressed at how she knew all the words."

Crisis averted...for now.

will run for cheesesteaks

So I had a wild and crazy Saturday evening. If by wild and crazy, you mean registering myself for a 10-mile race in 10 weeks. Which I totally do. Come May 2nd...you wanna know what I'll be doing?

Broad Street is Philly's version of the Cherry Blossom.

"But, Slacker Mama," you say, "don't you kind of hate running?"

Why, yes. Yes, I do. But I was tricked talked into running it by one of my best friends...so I really couldn't say no. Bonus! She hates running as much as I do!

I'm going to try start posting updates on training on my other blog. You know, the one I update even less than this one. We'll see how this all turns out.

Best case scenerio: I learn to love running.
Worst case scenario: I get a cool T-shirt.

candy detective

We were hanging out last night, when I noticed something strange.
"Hey, A. Why is your finger green?"
"I was eating candy."
John explained that E had received even *more* candy yesterday...and that the girls had snuck off and eaten when they got home.
"You were eating Fun Dip, weren't you? And since it was E's candy, you used your finger to eat it!"
"How did you know, mama?"

 

Sometimes, a mother learns from experience.

putting the slacker in slacker mama

Today was E's first day back to school since the week before last. And it was delayed 2 hours (and will be the rest of this week). For those of you keeping score, girlfriend has been out of school 10 of the last 13 school days due to snow, a teacher workday and President's Day. Craziness.

So, on Friday of last week, we received an e-mail from E's teacher talking about Valentine's Day...how they weren't having a class party for it, but if you wanted to send Valentines, here was the class list. I figured since the earliest they would go back to school was the 16th, and there weren't any official Valentine's Day activities, everyone would basically not buy cards to exchange.

Holy hell was I wrong. E came home with a bag full of Valentines. And most of them included candy despite the "No Candy" request in the e-mail. So the class parents? Suck-ups AND not very good listeners.

Luckily, E was perfectly happy with just receiving and didn't seem to notice that she didn't pass out any Valentine's to her friends. Which might speak more to her mooch-iness than her happy-go-luckiness. But either way, it's a win for me.

I mean I don't even buy cards for my family...I considered one of the brightspots of all this snow was bypassing the world's stupidest holiday altogether!

to my valentines

Though I might not show my love by remembering to buying Valentine's Day cards (in my defense...we've been housebound! And moving as a family unit otherwise!)...there's no place I'd rather be than snuggling with you all.


Happy Valentine's Day, John!
Happy Valentime's Day, E!*
Happy Balentime's Day, A!*
I love you all!




*thought I would wish them Happy Valentine's Day how they say it.

to do? to done!

After breakfast, we bandied about a gazillion ideas on what we could do to break the cabin fever that had infected our family. E decided it would be easiest if we made a list of all the things we wanted to do.

 

• lunch


• boling (bowling)


• back cooks (bake cookies)


• playing


• diner (dinner)


• dzert (dessert)


• go to bed

Yes, she crossed things off the list after we accomplished them. And, she asked if she could make a To Do list for tomorrow...and every Saturday and Sunday.

My girl is gonna be a list maker. I couldn't be more proud!

when you inherit your father's sense of fashion

Remember when I said I'd be taking pictures of The Blizzard of 2009 - Round 2 (the official term used by the newscasters). So...uh...yeah. Apparently, there's not so much "Fun in the Snow" to be had when 30+ mph winds whip the snow directly in your face no matter which direction you stand. So, not a lot of snowy frolics for the Slacker family yesterday.

I did manage to take a few pictures of the girls and what they choose to wear yesterday. They thought they looked awesome. And not in a crazy, unmatched Punky Brewster kind of way.

Evening Attire

 

The Daytime Look

 

And can we discuss how my girls seem unwilling to let go of their summer clothes? What is up with that? They wore bathing suits around the house during the last snow storm. I get cold just looking at them.

snowed in...send wine!

After getting close to two feet of snow of Friday and Saturday, bringing the region to a grinding halt, we're supposed to get another 8-10" tonight and tomorrow. Can someone explain to me where we are supposed to *put* more snow...'cause here are pictures from Sunday.

Notice the snow behind A? That's the pile of snow generated from shovelling the drive earlier that morning!

Uh? Timber?

The view out our front porch...please note how long our driveway is. Never buying a house on a pipestem again!

Not going to lie...trying to balance trying to work with both girls home from school has been overwhelming to say the least. Luckily, we discovered that E can go to A's school on a daily drop-in basis, which we put to use today (and will likely do later this week, too)! And I have to give Nonna (and Pop-pop) mad props for continuing to offer their help!

More pictures of this next round to come soon!

And, in case you were worried, the title of this post was just being cutesy. Our wine stockpile was replinished (thankfully) today by John, who stopped by Wegmans to pick up the essentials...beer, wine, bread and milk. But, if you want to send me wine, feel free to!

earning their keep

Yesterday was a "Snow Day" for E. It was kind of ridiculous...sure we had gotten a few inches of snow, but the roads were pretty clear by the time we got up. It should have been a 2-hour delay at most.

Anyhoo, the girls were home and Nonna came over to watch them so I could get some work done (because work-at-home moms? how the hell do you do it?!?!?). The kiddos wanted to go out and play in the snow...so I had them put in a little manual labor while they were out there.



And before you get all "Child labor laws!" on me, please note that they only had to do the front walk...the driveway was totally clear. And it wasn't all work and no play. They also built a mighty fine snowman, too.

And, I must give one more huge shout-out to Nonna for coming over. She's wathced the kiddos TWICE this week -- yesterday and on Monday, which was a teacher workday. Without her help, I probably would have collapsed in a heap of stress and worry on how I was going to get all my work done.

conspiracy theory

I'm pretty sure the only reason Groundhog Day is still a big deal is because preschool and elementary school teachers love all of the craft possiblities.

have girls, will travel

One of the things that I love about John is that he has never been intimidated by taking the girls places. He was the first of us to fly solo with a kid. When A was a newborn, he took them both to Cracker Barrel so I could get a few extra hours sleep. He's taken them to Knoxville and Charlottesville for football games, and done some sightseeing in DC solo.

The other week, he took A down to Charlottesville for a basketball game. It was a mid-week game, so we figured A would be a better companion...since E has real school, can't nap and generally doesn't fall asleep in the car. E was understandably bummed, despite my efforts to have a little date night ourselves.

Virginia had a game last night against VA Tech. We had already considered letting E go to the game because of it being so close to the weekend (and hey, maybe we could get her to sleep in on Saturday)...but our rough week here kind of sealed the deal. The only problem was that A knew that there were fun times to be had with Daddy...so not taking her was out of the question.

Most people might have bristled at the idea of taking 2 kids 5 and under to a sporting event solo. Heck, I don't think I would have done it. But, John?
No problem. (Now if only I could get him to take flattering pictures, he'd be perfect!)

some things never change

A's school is doing some sort of space curriculum right now. Or at least I think they are, because the other night when I picked her up she pointed to the moon and told me she was going to fly there in a rocket ship when she grew up. And, yesterday, she pointed to a picture of Earth on a bulletin board at school and said,

"Mama, dat's the planet we live on. Dat's Earf."

The ride home from school was thens spent discussing the planets in our solar system.

The girls were totally cracking up that there's a planet named "Pluto." And I thought to myself...one day, Pluto won't even phase you. One day, you'll be in your 30s and you'll be driving home with your own kids. And despite your full-on adult status, you'll still giggle at a planet named "Uranus."

Or at least I still do.

winter doldrums

So the entire Slacker family is in a bit of a funk. I don't know if it's the winter weather or what...but all of us are sort of blah right now. E, especially. She's even pulling some old shenanigans when it comes to SAC. And, guess what? A big ole helping of Mommy Guilt isn't really helping make me feel any better.

On the bright side, we had a good weekend last weekend, including going to a fantastic brunch with some good friends. Today, E didn't cry at all this afternoon! And, we've got a slew of visitors coming to see us this weekend, that the *whole* family is looking forward to. So, hopefully things are on an upswing.

Let's hope so. 'Cause these winter doldrums really suck.