Two birthdays, stitches, and a new school. And some randomness, too. Not in that order.

Sheesh, two birthdays in this house since I last blogged.... life must be busy! :-)

Aubrey turned 9! (Holy bleep, I do not feel old enough to have a 9 year old.) Poor thing wanted a slumber party birthday party, and so she invited only a handful of friends - only one rsvp'd (that she couldn't come). The other 3 didn't rsvp at all, and didn't show up. Aubrey was crushed. I had a feeling before it happened, so I tried to brace her as best I could. And we (Andy and I) had already decided that it was time to have a kitten in the house, and that a 9 year old is old enough for some responsibility in caring for it, so we let her pick HER kitten. She helped pay for it, she named it, she helps clean up the litterbox... Anyway, I took her looking at kittens the night she was supposed to be partying like a rockstar. And why? Whywhywhy do people not rsvp? Just a quick call. Or text. Or e-mail. Freakin' annoying people.

And also, we decided to switch elementary schools. The old school was okay*, but Aubrey was struggling in some areas, and they were not as helpful as she needed them to be. So when a flyer came about a charter school, we checked it out and decided a switch was necessary. She's having a tough time with homework, but is apparently doing well in class. So we are brainstorming ways to get her to concentrate and focus at home. Lauren is, well, Lauren. Didn't even want me to walk her into the building on her first day. I DID walk her in, but that's not what she wanted. Crazy girl.

*and what I really mean is, I thought the old school was okay. Until I saw her struggling so much with some of the homework she was doing in the 2nd week at the new school - I'm pretty sure they should've held her back or something. Learned that old school doesn't teach phonetics. Isn't phonetics key in learning to read and comprehend? Also, watching Aubrey try to answer some of her homework questions, it appears that they worked really hard at teaching their 3rd graders how to pass the standardized tests last year, and neglected other things as a by-product.

Sasha turned 2 in the middle of all of this. She is an awesome 2 year old, I have to admit. Loves to sing and be sung to - 'You are my Sunshine' is a favorite, along with 'The Itsy-bitsy Spider' and, thanks to our summer camp program at the preschool, an annoying song about a princess sung to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'. I can no longer sing to her about a twinkling star - she gets mad at me and insists I sing about the princess. Stupid summer camp. She loves to eat. Especially fruit. Pretty sure she'd attempt to eat her weight in bananas (all 19.4 pounds of her) everyday if I'd let her.

She loves playing with baby dolls, and likes to play "Squeezy Pie" - a game where we hug eachother again and again. But Not the Hippopotamus is a favorite book, along with Beautiful Oops (awesome book!!!) and Pat the Bunny.

Oh, and Sasha got stitches. In her chin. From falling from a standing position on the floor while playing with Lauren. This child climbs everything (she's gotten on top of the kitchen counter to turn on the microwave before) and she needs stitches from falling at ground level. Of course. Anyway, she was a trooper. Hated being papoose-d, but it was absolutely necessary to keep her still enough for the doc to stitch her up. She beat Lauren to needing stitches. But I figure Lauren's expensive, holey mouth makes up for it.

(Oh hey, about that expensive mouth... so when she was 3 we had to remove her two front teeth that had been capped when she was 18 months old. Grown up teeth are nowhere near to coming in. While in Colorado, a tooth next to her hole got knocked out. Another capped tooth. With no hopes of fixing it. She's got a 3-tooth wide hole. And, no joke, the most expensive mouth in the house.)

Today I am 28 weeks pregnant. Andy took a picture of me at 26 weeks. I am HUGE! Definitely looked bigger than I felt at that point. But now I kinda feel as big as I look. Bending over, squatting down to get something off the floor is really tough. Getting out of bed is a production. Enough of a production that when I wake up in the middle of the night needing to pee, I weigh how badly I need to pee against the effort necessary to get out of bed. Staying in bed is often the winner.

goggles and ice packs

Sasha needs goggles, because her big sisters have goggles. She's yet to want to stick her head under water, but she still feels like she needs to wear her goggles. Too cute.

Anyway, this girl who must be just like her big sisters, but who is also entirely independent and free-thinking and unconcerned with the way things should be, has got some silly ideas about how the world works. So when she hurt her foot this afternoon and I held an ice pack on her foot, it didn't take long for her to take the ice pack out of my hands and off of her foot. Her right cheek needed the ice. Doesn't matter where she actually gets hurt, the right cheek always needs the ice. She tried holding the ice pack on both cheeks, but that was not as comforting as the right cheek alone. All this because the first time she used an ice pack, it was on her right cheek. I'm glad it was one of her northern cheeks, and not a southern cheek. And I kinda hope she never outgrows this oddity.

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edited to add: is it difficult for anyone else to type 'goggles'? Google is such a part of my life, I kept typing 'google' and deleting to fix...

Oh, she's a crazy smart silly goofy thing

Sasha LOVES apples, doesn't love apple skin. I rarely give her a peeled apple, as I figure she'll get used to the peel and eventually eat it. (the peel is packed full of good-for-you, I want her to eat it!)

She has learned that the dogs will eat anything she drops. Anything. So, she nibbles her peel off her apple, drops it on the floor, and the dogs swoop in and eat the peel before she has a bite of naked apple in her mouth. This system works for them, and means I'm not picking up apple skin bits, but dangit, eat your peel, Sasha!

Also, she recently taught Andy how to play fetch, with her playing the role of the dog. Hilarious.

whiskey

"Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey, whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky..."

Not only does Lauren sing along to this song, but it's her favorite song. With as often as we listen to it, I wouldn't be surprised if Sasha says 'whiskey' soon. ;-)

We are doing sign language with Sasha, and ohmy, it's awesome! I didn't do it with my other girls because, well, I just didn't. But we're doing it with Sasha, and an added bonus is that we are all learning sign language. Really, it's pretty amazing to watch your baby (she's 12 months old) tell you she wants to eat, or that she wants more of something, or that the cat is nearby. Cheese, milk/nurse, apple, banana. All words she's signing, plus some others.

And, on the preschool front, I am enjoying teaching preschool. The one year olds are tough, man. But they are cute, and fun. I'm enjoying this age more than I expected to. Mostly, I figure, because the one year olds, while they do need a schedule, need less of a curriculum than the older ones do, which fits in with my style pretty easily.

Last week I made blue jello (blue being the color of the unit, along with the shape being triangle, and the theme being Texas) that we played with. I plopped jello in front of each kid, and let them just do whatever. Sasha wasted no time in putting it to her mouth. Suffice it to say, Sasha ate more jello than her 6 other classmates combined. Anyway, one little boy did really get into smearing it around on the table, and the other kiddos poked at it, not really sure what to do. We'll be playing lots with different textures (great for brain development!) throughout the year - any ideas are welcome!

Oh, and I'm doing signs with them, too. Eat is the one that some of them have picked up on.

We're doing dance class again this year, and I'm so excited to see how the girls grow and change from last year. The owner of the studio is their teacher this year. They are in separate classes, back-to-back, and the owner teaches each one. I had no idea before we signed up, but I'm glad. I feel like we lucked out, because the owner has such a passion for teaching little ones to dance. I'm very curious to see how Aubrey does with her, as she's such a free spirit when it comes to dancing. Or, well, anything, actually, but with dance it's just more obvious.

Starting to make Thanksgiving travel plans, figuring out where we'll go (because it's always been Deming, and now that no one is in Deming, it's not the place anymore) and what we'll do, and who can come. Some folks aren't feeling up for a big family gathering, and while part of me understands it, another part of me is saddened. Dude, we're still family. Makes me feel like, for some of the family, the old folks were the glue, and now that they're gone, maybe some of my relatives think, 'What's the point in sticking together?" Really, it makes me sad.

Lauren Elizabeth has decided that maybe Lauren is not the name for her. So she's requested that we call her L.E. I love it, and if she really takes to being called L.E., would you have her write it as L.E. or as Ellie? But then, also, there's a girl in her class called Lizzie, and Lauren/L.E./Ellie now would like to be called Lizzie, too. Since her middle name is Elizabeth, it's not really a stretch, but she likes it because then 'There would be two Lizzies. Wouldn't that be great, mom?' Anyway, I'm cool with calling her L.E. Not too keen on Lizzie yet, because of the classmate. Eh, we'll see.

Oh, and one more thing, to make this post even more random, have you ever had kalbi? Man, on man, is that stuff good. Korean bbq short ribs. Judy got it all ready and brought it over for Andy to grill. Yum! If you are so inclined, I'm tagged in a note on facebook, the note being the recipe Judy used. I'd go copy it, except facebook isn't loading well tonight. Poop.

Summer fun

Summer break has been full of sticky, splashy, crazy fun so far, and it's only just begun!We've gone splashing at the splash parks several times each week, with one day hitting two different splash parks - that was quite a day! We're frequenting the library, keeping track of what we read and participating in the summer reading program.
We're watching our garden grow. It's growing really slowly in this intense heat. I don't blame it. I'm surprised it hasn't yet shriveled up into dust. We're jumping on the trampoline, when it's shaded. We're hanging clothes outside to dry. Ahh.
We're sitting in our kiddie pool. We're feeding the birds (there were 3 blue jays in the yard earlier this week - so, so cool!). We're watching baby deer following their mamas.
But most of all, amid all the doings, we are just being. Being together. Being silly. Being sweet. Being loud. Being creative. And eating watermelon. Lots and lots of watermelon.

(by the way, I think watermelon photographs really well, don't you?)

another year older

Last week I celebrated my golden birthday, and I'm excited to be beginning my fourth decade. :-)

My big birthday gift is a chicken coop. Don't have it yet, but it should be done when we get back from our Wisconsin trip, then I'll get me some hens!

And, once that happens, instead of paying to go to the zoo, I might just start selling tickets for people to come to our zoo! But I've been thinking about chickens for awhile, and I am very excited.

In other news, Andy (and the laptop) were in Arizona for 5 days. Andy (and the laptop) got back today. Andy (and the laptop) were sorely missed. Andy keeps asking if I'm done on the computer. I keep saying "almost," all the while thinking, 'dude, 5 days without the computer. f i v e d a y s. I've got some catching up to do. Oh, and honey, I missed you, too. I promise.' No really, I missed Andy much, much more than I missed the computer, of course. And I'm glad they are both back. :-)

check out how the wind is blowing Aubrey's hair. And how the wind ain't doing a thing to Lauren's 'fluffy bun.' Mama and the hairspray developed a very close relationship on recital day.

And here is Aubrey not dancing. Silly girl, cute costume.

If it worked, here's one of Lauren's recital performances. She's watching her teacher off stage, even though she knows the dance, and I'm pretty sure she was told "stay on the orange X."

Lauren's growing up so darn fast

"Look, mom, now I'm a man!"

the beard suits her, don't you think?

it's easier to just stick my tongue out next to her than photoshop a grin on her face. plan on seeing many pictures of my tongue in the future, because this girl is having way too much fun with the "stick your tongue out when you see a camera" phase. Except, of course, when she's all bearded up and manly.

this girl, though, will grin. it may be goofy, but she'll grin.

see, goofy. and Skippyjon. after a literary character we love.

the way Aubrey ended a postcard to her aunt. Love us chicks. I LOVE it!

and what's a post without a picture of Sasha Belle? she and Oscar are becoming the best of friends.

In a two day period, 3 friends had babies. 2 girls, 1 boy. Plus, our new neighbors have a 9 day old boy. When I mentioned that to Andy, he thought maybe I was getting baby fever. I don't know where he's been the past 7 1/2 years, my baby fever does not kick in while I still have a babe in diapers... we've got some time.

Marinara sauce is on the stove, the house is smelling so yummy! Andy wasn't here to make it so I got to put carrots in. I would've also added chopped spinach, but I'm out. Instead we'll have steamed green beans next to our spaghetti.

Happy weekending!

October, so far

Phew, October's been busy. Okay, okay, 2009 has been busy, but really, lots has happened in 10 short days.

In the past 10 days:

~our cat L.B. went outside and didn't come back. She's 14. We're pretty sure she wandered off to die. I'm really sad, I miss her an awful lot. Especially at night, when she would normally cuddle up on my pillow. She managed to fit her entire body on the pillow next to my head without touching me at all. Oscar, her brother (from the same litter) misses her, too. They've never been apart. L.B. (short for Little Bit) is the calico one - Oscar doesn't share my pillow the way I share my pillow, as you can see.

~Sasha embraced that she is a Texan. Also, she started smiling and giggling.

~Sasha's went on her first picnic, and she slept right through it.

~my mom came to town. Her first visit to our home in Texas. She's the first grandparent to meet Sasha. We were all thoroughly spoiled. :-)

~we went to the pumpkin patch. Really, though, there's not a patch where you pick your pumpkins, but lots of fall activities, and loads of pumpkins in the barn to buy. Our favorite activity: painting pumpkins. The girls painted and painted and painted (and the paint took days to dry!).

~I made several trips to several animal shelters, and scoured craigslist. Still no L.B. (we're hopeful that she will come back, but realistic in that her nine lives are most likely up.) Visits to the shelter will resume again on Monday, though.

~after months of talking about it, and weeks of periodic searches, we found Daisy Mae and promptly fell in love. She is the best tempered dog I've ever met. Her family could no longer afford her, and after just over 24 hours with her, I know they must be in a really desperate situation, to give up an animal as awesome as Daisy Mae.

~I found the farmer's market. It's pretty small, but the variety was good considering there were only 4 vendors. As is my luck, next week is the last week of the market until spring, but one of the farmers lives maybe 15 minutes from me and grows all year long... I got his card and plan on making his farm part of my weekly shopping!

~Aubrey went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. Not such a big deal, except this is the first b-day party since we've been in Texas, and I know none of her classmates and their parents. So, my mom, Sasha and I hung out at CEC's while Aubrey partied. I really liked the b-day girl's parents, and also the other mom from Aubrey's class that was there. And I hope that I don't need to go to too many parties at CEC's. Great for the kids, but sheesh, it's so loud in there. I could never work there.

Sasha Lorraine

Sasha Lorraine came into the world at 11:22pm on Saturday, August 22nd. She was born at home, and everything went perfectly, even though she beat the midwives! I delivered her on my bed, Andy was right there to rub my back through some really tough contractions, the girls were asleep in the living room, and my new friend Kim was in the other room nursing her 6 month old.

Sasha came out screaming, and has continued to show us that her lungs are in perfect working order. :-) She's nursing well, the girls are in love with their new baby sister, Andy handled everything really well considering he doesn't like birth at all, and I am so happy. Upon waking this morning to find that her sister had been born, Lauren used her most quiet voice - quite a challenge for her - to ask, "She came out?" "Does she have little baby feet? Can I see them?" "Does she have little baby hands?" Does she have ears? Oh, they are tiny." "Does she have a butt?" "Can she pick her nose with her fingers like I can pick my nose with my fingers?" "Oh. she's so tiny and cute!" Then she curled up on the corner of my pillow and watched Sasha and I sleep for a while.

It's official, we are in love.

37 weeks and counting

We are getting so excited over here. I think we've settled on a name (though I'm not ready to share yet), and her carseat should be delivered today. My birth kit arrived last week (the birth kit contains everything that the midwives need and want for delivering this baby here at home, plus an herbal bath that I couldn't resist!), and her moses basket is set up in front of my bedroom window, next to the shelf holding all her diapers and clothes. Oh, one package of disposable diapers are on their way - I use cloth, but the first few days after delivery, when we are all getting to know eachother, and all so exhausted, we'll use disposable so that I'm not over-working myself by doing too much laundry.

We're also getting kind of ansy (antsy?) over here. My body is nearing the end of it's rope, and causing me to act out of character... I'm showing the girls and Andy so much less patience then they deserve, and the girls might as well be under quarantine for my energy level is so low we spend most all day every day here, inside the house. (BTW - a mild cool front is headed our way later this week. We'll be 99' instead of 101'. I rolled my eyes when they actually called that a mild cool front - a 2 degree change can hardly be called a front.)

We've made a sign, and hung it above the moses basket, "We can't wait to meet you, Baby Name-yet-to-be-revealed!" The girls are constantly playing with their dolls and stuffed animals as their newly born babies (also, that they are new neighbors - inspiration is easy to come by!).

In all our baby preparation preoccupaton, one of our cats Oscar, has been losing weight. He and his sister, Little Bit, turned 14 on July 5th. We kind of figured, well, it's getting close to his time, we'll make sure he still always has access to food and water, but we began talking with the girls about him not being with us much longer. Well I feel like an idiot. True, his days are limited, but it took me quite awhile to figure out that he was losing weight because he couldn't eat, not because he wouldn't. Rather suddenly, the crunchy food he's been gobbling up happily for years is just too crunchy. So, once this realization hit me like a ton of bricks, he's been a much happier cat. Still skinner, but he was a 20lb cat - some wight loss is okay. We still have quite a bit of crunchy food, so I'm alternating serving canned food with the crunchy food soaked in chicken broth, and all 3 cats (Haley is the baby at 10 years old) seem happier.

Oh, and I have to say, previously I blogged about the steam mops, noting that the steamers were difficult to push along the floor. Well it turns out that using the mop on the tile is amazing - it glides really well, cleaning the floor so much faster then if I were on my hands and knees scrubbing it (something about the linoleum in the bathroom causes it to show so much resistance, I guess). So, while I still love my Eureka Envior Steamer so much more than the Shark, my criticism that the Shark commercial was incredibly misleading may have been too harsh - it's entirely possible that the Shark glides on tile the way the Eureka does. :-) And, I'm glad the linoleum is only in the bathrooms! I've yet to try the hardwood floor of my bedroom, maybe later today.

I stumbled upon this poem today, and while I plan on keeping it in mind those first few weeks postpartum, I think it's important to remind myself that 3 1/2 year olds don't keep, and nor do 7 year olds. Maybe cleaning my bedroom floor can wait, after all!

"Song for a Fifth Child."

Mother, oh Mother,

come shake out your cloth,

empty the dustpan,

poison the moth,

hang out the washing

and butter the bread,

sew on a button

and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house

is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery,

blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little

Boy Blue (lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping's not done

and there's nothing for stew

and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing

will wait till tomorrow,

for children grow up,

as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs.

Dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

~Ruth Hulburt Hamilton~

Cat food too.

Aubrey has always been an observant child, and she just gets more and more observant. Which I am glad about, but it leads to difficult conversations.


Our grocery store prints coupons and ads on the back of their receipts. They also print missing person notices. One specific notice, actually. We've seen it a few times. Anyway, she reads all the fine print, and knows that the lady and little girl pictured are the same person. That she disappeared when she was almost 3. In 1983. So she plans on cutting my receipt apart and putting up this little missing person notice on the fridge, so that if we see her, we'll know it and be able to help her.

"Why did she disappear, mom?"

"Where were her parents when she disappeared?"

"Is she a burglar now?"

"The man who took her, is he going to hurt her?"

"If we find her, can she stay with us for a few days?"

"Who put the ad on the receipt?"

"Who is looking for her?"

"Can we help look for her?"

"What if she's forgotten where she lived?"

Fortunately we were able to completely avoid the possibility that this woman died (or was killed) long ago.

Also, earlier in the day, she asked what happens if a woman is pregnant but doesn't want to be pregnant. I just replied with, "That's a conversation for when you are older, honey."

And, we talked an awful lot about people who need to use food pantries. She recognized that we have a lot of money, so we should help people who don't. So we're trying to remember to buy a few items for the pantry every time we go to the store. She wants to deliver them to the pantry herself, so we'll seek out the pantry soon (we usually drop stuff off in the basket at church).

As difficult as it is to have these conversations with my 7 year old, it's incredibly rewarding, too.

And then she'll just bust out with the most random goofiness. The Simpson's episode tonight was talking about being an American, freedom, all that stuff, so she wrote me a note:

"I wish we had freedum. Cat food too."

That's a note that will be up on my fridge for years to come, I suspect.

the past month - in pictures - and in reverse order

Aubrey's 7th birthday today - she's getting so big!

My sister is back in the states after living in Prague for 4 years - here's the Welcome Wagon at the airport.


At the botanical gardens in ABQ.

The hole Andy's foo tmade in our n ew ceiling as he was trying to diagnose a/c problems (because central Texas during a June heatwave STINKS!).

The neighborhood deer - they love to be petted, but we don't do it often - deer ticks and all that fun stuff! We do feed them each evening, though. They'll eat right out of your hands.

It's official. I hate Dora.

I've never loved Dora. But I could understand the appeal, and was fine with my daughters, each in turn, having a mild obsession with her or her cousin, Diego. It's all part of being a kid, right, falling in love with a character? Who hasn't done that? And all was fine in our home, with this mild obsession.

But, with my ickiness lately, I have resorted to allowing far too much tv, all for the sake of my sanity. This coincides, unfortunately, with the decision we made that we do not need cable any more. So, when we are tired of the offerings of pbs, in pops a dvd. Dora "Super Babies" is the dvd of choice this week. Lauren can watch it over and over, and lucky for her, it runs in a loop, so if you aren't quick enough in hitting "stop" and "eject" and hiding the dvd, it starts all over again.

And, in all seriousness, I can handle that. It's okay. I always control the volume, so I can make it so that I barely hear it while I'm trying to rest. But, the fact that this dvd has been playing in a seemingly constant loop for a week only became a serious problem when Lauren's gift from my brother-in-law arrived.

He sent her a gift card to Target. Super cool, that part of the gift I loved. :-) The accompanying card, though, well, it's Dora. And she sings. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you! Cumpleanos feliz, somethingIcan'tunderstand a ti, cumpleanos, cumpleanos, cumpleanos feliz!" Like all musical cards I've seen, the sound quality is poor. And the volume tries to make up for it by being really REALLY loud. Loud, poor quality sound combined with Dora's animated voice = I'm trying to think of revenge on my single, childless bro-in-law (suggestions are always welcome).

Wouldn't you know it, that dang card is her favorite toy right now. My only saving grace is Lauren is afraid Aubrey might want to play with it, so she asks me to keep it up high for her. It comes down several times a day, with strict instructions to play it in a room mom is not in. (which doesn't mean I don't hear it, of course, just that it's kinda muffled by a wall or two) And then it rest on top of the fridge for hopefully a few hours.

So there you have it. I now officially hate Dora. Her voice is like nails on a chalk board to my ears. I want to vomit. And that's not first trimester nausea talking.

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.....

I'm still here. Still battling my morning sickness. The zophran worked wonderfully for exactly two days, and then the side effects of tiredness and weakness were too much for me to handle, and so I sometimes take the zophran, sometimes don't, and go back and forth between feeling just barely okay and just barely alive. I'm about a week away from the end of my first trimester, and I'm hopeful that I'll be better soon!

The baby bunnies are still here. One (I hope two!) will go to his new home this weekend. I need to take more pictures. Mama gets fixed tomorrow, and the babies get sexed tomorrow, so we'll know what we're dealing with. And my online research said that typically the cost of fixing a rabbit is $50 to $75. So I was thinking, okay, not bad. But our vet, no, she charges $110 for a male, $125 for a female!!! I did not think it would be that much more then the typical.

Lauren turned 3 yesterday, and woke up with a fever, so her party that should've happend has been post-poned until next weekend. Which is fine with me - more time to think about her cake. :-) Also, more time for her to change her mind as to what she wants, but hey, that's okay with me. I try to decorate with mostly just frosting, anyway, so she could change her mind as I'm frosting it and (so long as I can kinda create what she's requesting) it's not too big of a deal.

Every once in awhile I come across an adorable project that I want to try someday. Now, whether I do actually try it or just imagine making it, well umm, there are lots of projects done in my head, let me tell you! And a handful of half-started bits here and there in real life. This is one that I hope I do follow through with someday - it's so cute, and the tutorial makes it seem really doable, despite the picture. Seriously, I saw the picture and said, "Crap. There's no way I could do that." Then I read the instructions, and I could do it, if I sat down and did it. So check out this peek-a-boo lampshade, and tell me it's not so cute and maybe, just maybe, a little doable! :-)

There's a chain restaurant up here, Egg Harbor Cafe. They are only open for breakfast and lunch. And they are BUSY. We got a gift card to go there for Christmas, so we took Lauren's Godmother Paula out Saturday morning. Mmmm. My food was amazing. For one simple reason. They have green chili. Seriously. I was a bit nervous, but decided to try their potato and egg skillet, topped with ham, cheese and green chilies. It was amazing. I was in heaven. The chili was mild, but had such great flavor. I could go there everyday. And, breakfast for 5 was about $36 - not bad, I thought.

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This just in....

"Mommy, when I grow up I be Dora. D-d-d-d-d-dora. Dora Dora eenie meenie Dora."

But earlier this morning, she had plans to be The Little Red Hen when she grows up, and also maybe a gumball. We've also talked about being a pancake or ice cream cone or pizza. Umm, we really like food in this house. :-)

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Did you know that I can kick Andy's butt in Wii golf, even when I'm lounging on the loveseat? Even when Aubrey wants to try so I let her finish my turn and she hits it 20-some yards right into the hole? Aubrey beamed. I laughed. Andy cussed. And the Wii sat quiet the rest of the day.

And, my last little rambling for now.... every morning, and I mean every monring that we take Aubrey to school, I end up yelling at Lauren to get her shoes and coat on. WIthout fail. I hate it, but I don't know what else to do after I've asked her 6 times nicely to please get ready so Aubrey isn't late. Anyway, so unfortunately yelling happens here. This morning my neighbor called to see if she could take Aubrey to school since Lauren and I both are icky right now. So wouldn't you know it, Lauren comes around the corner with her shoes and coat on. I think tomorrow I will try to just say "Okay, let's get ready." and see how far that takes me, because it was so nice to not yell this morning.

Happy New Year!

Loads of thoughts are rambling through my head.

First, as I was writing about the childrens book we are currently loving, I thought to myself, wouldn't it be great for my kids to have some penpals?

Nothing fancy (or elaborate or spendy), but my girls would love to get a postcard, letter, anything, from anyone. So, anyone interested in a penpal opportunity? I envision sending postcards from Wisconsin with little bits of info about Wisconsin and our lives, a drawing and some fun stickers we found, stuff like that.

I can't devot loads of time to this project, my initial goal would be to send one mailing a month (one mailing per penpal) in hopes of receiving one mailing back from each penpal. Let me know if this interests you, and we'll work it out.

Second, I want to do a little earthy giveaway, based on green things we do, so get your thinking cap on and start thinking about all the little things you do to help mama earth. I know one of the items will be a string bag - I love them, but got 5 in the set, and never use that many. Hey, I am a proud re-gifter. It's all about being green, you know. I'm trying to think of another one or few items I could include. Anyway, start thinking (if you might want to enter, that is!) and I'll try to get my booty in gear.

Third, any new years resolutions or goals for you? I've been exploring my personal faith and relationship with God, and know that this bit of exploration I am on needs to intensify into the new year, but I'm not willing to elaborate too much on that right now. Any plans to lose weight are, of course, tabled. After the holidays I crave healthy food, so I am hoping to milk that for all it's worth well into 2009. Family goals of eliminating some of our debt (well, all of it, but we're being realistic here). And I want to strive to be less lazy about cleaning up the house.

That's all for now, I am exhausted and want to read a bit before I fall asleep. I hope you had a great New Year's Eve and that the new year is one of your best!

Ten things

Ten things I am doing right now instead of packing. Because I only leave for almost 2 weeks in 36 hours. I've got plenty of time to pack, don't you think?

1. blogging - obviously

2. trying to figure out the mystery of the vanishing ring. Seriously, a few weeks ago a ring Andy gave me (the only one besides my engagement ring and wedding band he's given me, so that you don't wrongly think he showers me in jewels) went missing, got found and then went missing approximately 1 day after being found. I am puzzled. also, about a month before it went missing, my wedding band vanished. for whatever reason, I'm not concerned about that one - I'm convinced it's in one of our vents, and until I feel like removing said (old, stuck really well) vent, I like to think it's safe. Same time that wedding band went missing, my favorite Lia Sophia ring up and vanished, too. Maybe there's a ghost hanging around that likes pretty rings. Couldn't be the 2 1/2 year old. Nope, not a chance.

3. making baby caps - did you see this post of mine?

4 down, 3 to go if I have a chance. Probably won't have that chance, but that's okay, because check out #4.

4. making receiving blankets - same project as the baby caps.
I loved making these. The blue flannel is an old bed sheet - nothing fancy, just sewed two pieces together. The other one is old receiving blankets (that were all too small for this project) cute and pieced together - my first try at quilting, and I LOVED it! The picture really can't do it justice.

5. taking pictures of gingerbread houses that may collapse (or be eaten) any day now, (please notice Aubrey's favorite part of the gingerbread house - the girl in the window. some of the candy has been disappearing each day, pretty soon we'll be able to make new frosting and attach new candy - the evolving gingerbread house

along with girls that have had way too much cake batter, and insist on sitting in plastic tubs while watching tv sideways. by the way, I thought about not washing the mixing bowl - she got it pretty dang clean!

an apron I made awhile back and never showed you,

and our two bunnys (please forgive the gross cage - they are hard to photograph, and my best chance was before I cleaned the cage - that little black turd of a rabbit is one messy dude - he pees EVERYWHERE (when I say everywhere, I mean even my curtains. ewwww. he's got distance, that's for sure!).

6. admiring Aubrey's artwork. I call it a leaf. she calls it her phone. Lauren insists that she made it at Ms. Col's, and that it's a leaf phone. Leaf, phone or leaf phone, it's beautiful and I love it!

7. making popcorn for snack time tomorrow

8. cleaning the kitchen. no, not really, but I should. see #9

9. making cake for work tomorrow because it's the 3rd Thursday of November (the popcorn snack is for 1st graders - Mr. R just might kill me if I sent cake to school (or, if I were a teacher and someone sent in cake for no good reason besides it being the 3rd Thursday of November I would kill). This cake is amazing - mandarin orange cake with pineapple frosting. I will share the recipe when I have more time.

10. not folding laundry. that's right, I am not folding laundry, and all my efforts to not fold laundry will prove quite unhelpful in my future plans of packing, so I figure it kinda fits in with this list. I am instead playing with these two sillies.

Okay, so maybe listing 10 things was kind of a stretch, but I am definitely not doing what I should be doing!

I will try to post bits of our adventure, but life may get in the way, we shall see. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Surrender, or girls' weekend so far...

Girls' weekend has, thus far, been quite a success.

We had a slumber party last night with 2 extra 6 year olds. Chaotic doesn't quite do justice to the level of craziness that occured here last night. But it was fun. My favorite part - when three, yes three 6 year olds took a bath. Together. A surprisingly large amount of water stayed in the tub.

After the girls went to bed, I watched Lars and the Real Girl. Very moving. I kept dozing, though, so I plan on watching it again late tonight - maybe I'll doze through the parts I saw last night and see the rest of the movie. (Really, it's a good movie, I was just so stinkin' tired I couldn't not doze)

I had my first Edgu class this morning, so the slumber party ended kinda earlier (but they were all up before 7 anyway, so it wasn't like I was being a mean hostess and kicking out sleeping girlies, in case you were wondering). Anyway, Edgu. I really liked it. Different from anything else I've ever tried. All new-agey and spiritual. It's designed to alleviate back pain, and I've heard amazing things about it. You don't have to have back pain to benefit from it, though, that's just where it began.

Then the girls and I headed down to Costco and Trader Joe's (45 minutes away - we go about 2x a year). We got goodies for our roadtrip, plus a few groceries for the coming week. And, what's a penny-pinching mom who's trying to budget for a cross-country roadtrip to do when her 6 year old asks for the gingerbread house kit? This penny-pinching mom says, "Yes! Let's get it!" These kits have become a bit of a tradition in our house, so I couldn't say no.

Of course the gingerbread house must be decorated as soon as possible, so with Aubrey seated nicely in her chair and Lauren half naked and climbing across the table, Gingerbread House '08 began. For each piece of candy Aubrey put on the house, Lauren ate 4. And then, just for the heck of it, Mommy (of all people!) squeezed some frosting on Lauren's knee. Oops. Then Aubrey's wrist. Oops again. The frosting of each other continued for sometime, until Aubrey couldn't handle it anymore and decorating of the house resumed. Lauren went back for more frosting on her legs, and that's when mom declared that dinner would be served in the bath. Yes, I was afraid the sugar would take over my house if I didn't get it cleaned up immediately, and the only way the girls would be pried away from the frosting fiesta was to offer such a ridiculous alternative that they would be foolish to say no.

Leftovers in the tub. Not cold macaroni and cheese like in Todd Parr's book, but cold (as requested) broccoli-chicken casserole. And some applesauce. Two clean girls later and we're settling in to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks. Well one of us has to clean the kitchen at some point, but I'm thinking Lauren's up for the challenge, right? By the time I was 2 1/2 I was dusting the china. This girl's had it easy for way too long. Time she help out around here, I say.

Completely unrelated, Emily posted about school dances, so I thought I'd share a picture from senior prom. Looking back, I think I was pretty cute. Hindsight, and all. Enjoy!

some perspective, please

In Aubrey's short life she's only had 3 teachers - 4K, kindergarten and now 1st grade. Her 4K teacher and kinder teacher were both women. Her 1st is a man - Mr.R. About my age, single, no children. I thought he was really cool. and kinda cute, but that's completely beside the point He seems to really connect with the kids, and makes learning fun - making up "Mr. R. Life Stories" focused around the letter friend of the week - brought his own keyboard in to the classroom for the kids to play music.

However, he seems to have a defect common among men, though let's not stereotype, okay in which he doesn't seem to communicate well. But here's where you come in, because maybe I am over-reacting....

A few weeks before Halloween, I send a note, saying if he wants to do a Halloween party of any kind, let me know (I'm one of the "room moms") and I'd work on organizing it. Never heard from him. (This incident didn't bother me, just sharing.)

Three weeks ago, on a Thursday, I send a note saying that beginning Tuesday to please let Aubrey walk with Corin (who has a different teacher) *after the bell rings* to the front as we (Corin's mom and I) were switching up the way the girls are picked up and we want them to leave the building together. Tuesday comes, and Corin stops to get Aubrey. Mr. R refuses to let Aubrey go, saying he'll walk her up, they can meet in the lobby. He proceeds to get to the lobby with Aubrey and tell Col (I wasn't there that day) that he will NOT allow his students to walk the halls without him, it's against classroom policy. No big deal, right? Except that maybe acknowledgement of my note, with a bote back, or a call, saying he couldn't do as I asked would've been nice..... next day I send a note saying I am sorry for any problems, didn't realize it was an issue, but in the future if he can't do as I've asked, to please let me know immediately..... his LONG note back saying he is sorry if I feel that the care of my daughter is being disregarded, blah blah blah - I never accused him of not caring about my daughter, I was just asking gthat he let me know what's up. That ended with me leaving him a voicemail pretty much laughing and saying, "Dude, we are not communicating well with eachother - I think you are a great teacher, I trust you with my daughter, I just need to know what's going on if you can't do as I've asked, got it?"

I was ready to chalk it up to a mistake, we all make them, maybe I was over-reacting a bit, whatever, no biggie.

And then, tonight, I learn that Aubrey is in a "Friendship Class." She is being pulled out of regular class time with 5 other 1st graders (out of 65-70 total 1st graders). And why do I know about Friendship Class? Because Mr. R. talked to me about it? Umm, no. Because Corin has some anger issues, agression issues, etc. and her teacher wanted to recommend to her mom that Corin do this class - Corin gets there, and Aubrey's there. According to Aubrey this was her first day in the class, too. 3 boys, 3 girls. I know the 3 girls, and Aubrey while far from perfect has completely different issues than these 2 other girls, she doesn't seem to fit into the same classification as the other 2. I can't speak for the boys. And I can't say that Aubrey doesn't need to be in this class - because I don't know a freakin' thing about it.

Seriously, am I over-reacting in wanting to yell and scream at Mr. R. that he had no right to put Aubrey into a class, that, rumor-has-it must be recommended by the teacher, without so much as a heads up that he was going to send her?

And, how should I deal with this situation?

my heart is glad and heavy

first the glad:



Tears of joy while watching John McCain concede to Barack Obama. And for a moment I thought I was being ridiculous. But then I decided I wasn't being ridiculous at all. I'm excited to see what happens. I hope that there will be some real change, but know maybe I'm just dreaming, as every politician makes promises that they cannot keep. And then I remind myself that we've just elected the first african-american president in our history, and I convince myself change must be a-comin'!



now the heavy:



Aubrey has journal time in class just about every morning. Today Mr. R sent home the completed journals from September and October. It looks like he gives the students a starting idea, and they write a sentence or three about it, along with drawing a little picture. This part of Aubrey's day has been tremendously helpful in strengthening Aubrey's writing skills. However, Aubrey's entry for October 27th -



"Something scary happened to me this weekend. I was fat."



NOOOOOOOOO! Why oh why is my 6 year old saying this? Coincidentally, (or maybe not) later that day Aubrey told her friend Corin that she (Corin) was fat. Corin is obviously larger than Aubrey, but fat she ain't. Ugh, really, a 6 year old need not worry about her size, or that of her friends. It's so sad. And I feel like it was my fault, because it's entirely possible that the weekend she "was fat" was a weekend when I was bloated and hormonal and my clothes that are kinda tight anyway because of weight I've gained were tight enough for me to tell Andy I was fat. Dang those little ears that hear everything. CrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapCRAP



Heavy heart, indeed.



Know of any good books or websites that address body image, self-esteem, all that fun stuff?



In other news, my camera has been found. Picture updates in a few days.

Deck the what?!?!? And Halloween, too.

So, I know I want my blog to be positive, but sometimes I'm just gonna have to rant. Like now.

Today was unseasonably warm. Hot, even. Mid-70's. Keep that in mind, would you?

As I left work at 3:30 this afternoon, I marvelled at how nice the weather was. Two Halloweens ago it was snowing, and today I was HOT in my jeans and running shoes (I was not hot because I was running, I was just wearing running shoes).

Get in the car. Unroll the windows. Turn on the radio.

Here's where my rant begins...

Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
'Tis the season to be jolly
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

and here is where you cover the eyes of any little ones trying to learn to read at this moment.





What the F*^#? Seriously? We can't even go trick-or-treating before the over-commercialization of Christmas starts?

I love Christmas. The entire holiday season, beginning with Thanksgiving preparations, is amazing. Such a focus on our family, our Savior, our home, the simple things that make our life complete. And all the baking. I love baking. And the music. I adore Christmas music. After Thanksgiving. Maybe a few songs in mid-November. Not a radio station devoting their programming to Christmas songs now. RIDICULOUS!!!

I know I'm a little crazy about this. I'm usually very easy-going. But one of my life rules is NO CHRISTMAS MUSIC BEFORE NOVEMBER. The unseasonably warm weather was just the cherry on top.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, trick-or-treating was fun. Lauren fell asleep on the way home from daycare, so Aubrey and I went t-or-t-ing while Andy and Lauren stayed home. Aubrey wore butterfly wings, with a cut-out fish around her neck - she was a butterfly fish (what I'd been at work earlier) and I wore her doughnut costume (cardboard cut-out decorated with felt frosting and sprinkles - what she had been at school*, girl scouts and daycare). And she got enough candy for 6 kids**. Lauren woke up minutes after Aubrey and I got home, so she put on her butterfly wings and I took her to Bob & Bev across the street, and called it a night. And my camera is MIA, so umm, sorry, no Halloween pictures.

*Apparently Aubrey'd been talking about her costume in class - when we arrive with her doughnut costume, one of the girls sees it and says, "Holy God, she wasn't kidding!" All I could do was laugh.

**I've always put a limit on candy consumption, but then it stays in the house for sooooo long, so Aubrey and I decided that we will all each as much as we want tonight, without even asking mom first!!! and then, beginning tomorrow, have a 2 piece a day limit. And, I decided unilaterally that all the candy expires about mid-November, no matter what. As I'm typing this, though, Lauren is claiming that the 11 blow-pops in her hands are all hers, and I'm maybe rethinking our plans for the night. :-)

In a kinda funny twist to my Christmas music/Halloween situation, I found out today that my sister will be with us for Christmas this year. That means enchilada casserole for Christmas Eve Dinner, and Grandpa John's sticky buns for breakfast Christmas day. And thinking of that puts me in the holiday spirit. But it's still way too freakin' early to deck my halls!

How was your Halloween? For your sake, I hope there was no decking of halls, silencing of the night or jingling of bells! ;-)