Boo!

My mom bought this CUTE dress for Mary. It is reversible and has Candy Cane appliques on the other side. Thankfully, I had the perfect model to put in it!

Emma is at school today, so after a trip to work out, Mary and I bumped around Meijer for a while, looking at shampoo and what-not. Amazingly, there are no pumpkin pies at Meijer. I may have to make one myself - UGH.

Antebellum Dress

This dress was worn by Leona Denning (Peaslee) in 1863 in Atlanta. It's been in our family (as well as the name) since.

***Addendum: I photoshop edited the girls into one picture, and not very well, I might add. There is only one dress of great antiquity and heritage in that picture!

Musings

I am still plugging away t the Triathlon workout. There is one in May (yes I KNOW that is far away, but you can't really DO a triathlon in Michigan in the winter) nearby that I am contemplating. I have had another person offer to do one with me (that makes 2). Yikes! Who are all of these people who do these things??? And Jim is right there with me, swimming and running and biking as though it were HIS surprise to the world Triathlon training. That is true love, I tell you. You can keep up with all of my training minutiae by clicking the Tri to be Fit link on the right side of this page under Blogs of Interest.

Today is another day of Emma at preschool. Mary and I have settled down to a comfortable routine together. Mostly, the routine involves Mary happily following me to anything at all while she sings about how she loves Mama. Seriously - that is what happens. So last week we went to the mall and bumped around for a while (spending too much money - at Gymboree in particular) and shared a cookie from Mrs. Fields. Later we read books for a VERY long time and she translated them all for her new stuffed Nemo doll. Today we went tot he mall again, this time to get tinkerbell costumes for both of the girls. Yes, they are both going to be the same thing. It was not my idea, but Ithink it is wonderfully cute. The only problem is that they are out of wings. Mary had her heart set on wings. We have tinkerbell shoes and dresses, but no wings. One would just not believe the sadness that descends on a two year old when she was expecting tinkerbell wings and did not get them. She's napping now, so I am hoping she is over that for the moment.

This past weekend I went to an all day crop with my mother-in-law which was wonderful and productive. You would think that 12 hours straight of scrapbooking would satisfy some corner of crafty neediness, but it does not. Much like an addiction, that only makes me want to do it more. I am having a hard time focusing on things like laundry and meals because I only want to scrapbook. That's all there is to say about that - I am trying to avoid a good portion of the draw to craft right now.

One more thing - I am saddened by a recent event. Two of my regular blogs have closed up shop in the last month. One is a good friend of mine (actually, my Nemesis). He closed up with no explanation except that he was done with blogging. Imagine! I cannot believe that he would leave he blogosphere hanging like that. I really did enjoy reading his witty posts. I am hoping this is a temporary thing or he is planning on sending me long, descriptive emails about his daily life. The other blog is Fluid Pudding, which always makes me laugh out loud. *SADNESS*. Just thought I'd share.

It's All About Me

I know this is cheating, but I was reading away on one of my favorite blogs and she referenced this post, which made me laugh out loud in a way that is unfitting.

Other news that is unnecessary and totally about me:

I am reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Amazingly enjoyable!

I have now completed 4 full weeks of training, 2 of them completely swimming. (This means 5 or more days a week of working out). I am almost enjoying swimming. Almost.

I am cooking Lemon Pepper Pork Roast for dinner. YUM. With homemade applesauce. And Caesar Salad (homemade dressing and croutons, and Parmesan we shredded ourselves).

I am aggressively learning how to use Access Database - this week. Anyone have a pile of data sitting around?

We painted the railings on our patio yesterday since snow is supposed to fly by Friday.

I am looking for Halloween costumes for the girls - a white dog and an orange cat. Krypto and Streaky. Any ideas of where I can get those?

Going to work out again tonight, but I may NOT swim. HUH!

I got up at 4:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. YAWN.

I'm doing an all day crop this Saturday with my mother-in-law : now THAT'S bonding!



That's all she wrote, folks. I just couldn't think of anything else today!

The Best Quote from Today

Emma: "I'm quite out of little hugs now, it is awfully late. I can only give you big hugs now."

Friday Night

It's Friday night at 9:00 and the girls are in bed (mostly) and Jim is off at a poker tournament (I'm not kidding, but I'm not going into details). I only want to sit and watch TV in my (mostly) quiet house. What to watch? Traditionally, Friday nights are bust for programming, even though we have hundreds of channels. Tonight, I've got 3 Martha Stewart's TiVo'd. Not the right mood.... Let's see... Battlestar Galactica! No, not quite. OOOOOOoooooooo American Idol- Back to the Beginning! Doesn't THAT sound like fun? Hm.... $40 a Day, Larry King, That 70's Show, every CSI ever invented, Law and Order.... and I settle on Most Haunted. THAT should be a good show to watch all by myself and go to bed until somebody creeps home at ungodly hours. Oh- ***TWO*** EPISODES! HOORAY!!!!!!

Triathlon Blog

For any one who CARES to see all of the hours of cold, wet swimming and not so much of the other two sports, you can try this link. I started training the wek of September 11th, so you can go back on the little calendar and see all of the things I have been doing for 4 weeks. If you don't care about the exact numbers, the jist of it goes like this:

I am so bad at swimming I couldn't even swim far enough non-stop to do the fancy drills the book wanted me to push through. So I stopped following the book - a break, if you will -and just swam. That's all. I'm on week 2 of only swimming, 4 or 5 days a week. Things are going well, especially since I figured out how to zone train using heart rate information. Ugh, it all sounds so technical. It's not, really - I swim. I think next week I will try the training book again, I'm feeling a little soggy.

Mary, Genius Artist Extraordinaire

Yesterday, Mary watched a video. It was a nice little work my brother-in-law put together with images from the Monterey Aquarium set to nice, classical music. Jim was bumping around on the computer and she was watching him, so she asked him 100 times what the little creatures on the screen were, and he answered (100 times): jellyfish. Later that evening, she was doodling on her magnadoodle and drew this:

To do this, she had to take the little kitty shaped magnet and turn it upside down, then draw the lines, AND to make a SET of jellyfish. I was thoroughly impressed. If those don't look like a jellyfish, I don't know what 2 year old drawing would. That's it. I've nothing more to display to prove my daughter's genius status. You'll have to take me at my word.

Triathlon Training

I have had a few people ask me for more information about this Triathlon thing, so I'll give a little of the background and the information up to now. First off, know that I have been working out regularly all summer - that's 2 or more time a week. I have 20 pounds remaining from when I was pregnant with Mary and I am trying my best to get rid of it in a healthy manner. For the record, I should list things that I hate, just as background:

1. Being wet
2. Being cold
3. Being cold and wet
4. Sweating (see #1)
5. Running (this used to bring on panic attacks in High School, bad enough to send me the hospital)
6. Being out of breath

That should cover it.

So, I put aside some of these issues and began doing serious yoga/pilates last fall with a friend once a week. While that felt like I was working, it did nothing for my over all physique. So, this summer I got more involved and starting going to Lifetime Fitness regularly. Still nothing. So I decided to get down and dirty and figured if I could do a Triathlon, I would be in shape and forever get rid of the extra weight. So I bought a book . I read the book. I started week 1 of running, biking and swimming. Well, I tried. I didn't have a bathing suit, so I had to get that. My shoes make my toes go numb when I exercise (they are over 8 years old, and pre-pregnancy sized). I found that I can't swim with contacts if I don't have goggles. Bought those. And my hair kept getting in my face, so I got a swimming cap. Then my hair started feeling funny from the chlorine, so I had to find some good conditioner. And my gym bag rebelled from sudden frequent uses, so, after it split open along the seams, I bought a new bag. And then I started.

I got to week 3, which was the first week of moderate training (versus easy, or adaptation to training) and found my lack of enjoyment of swimming was working against me. I can't swim well enough to do the drills that I was supposed to be doing for the training. So I am taking a week off (this past week) and doing nothing but swimming to try and catch up. I have spent every day at the gym swimming. At this point, I think you should return to the list at the beginning of this post and consider what this means. I found a lot of good information on the web on how to swim better and how to train. I really stumbled across some good information on training in different heart rate zones and tried that. This boosted the number of laps I could do in a half an hour to an amazing amount, for me. I have two days left of swimming and then I will try to do the drills for weeks 3 training. If I can do them, I will continue with the training. If I cannot, I will do another week of swimming first.

As for a Triathlon at the end of this, I suppose I will have to. That means I would have to address the bike issue, as the bike I currently own is a 1978 3 speed. Not normally considered competing material. Of course, I do have until the spring, as there are not too many Triathlons in Michigan in the winter. What I hope to gain from this is a truly fit and healthy body that will quit pissing me off (hopefully 20 pounds lighter). At least, I will be able to keep up with Diane once she recovers from having a baby.

Lunch at Olga's - WITH Olga

My Mom has stayed with me this week, since when she came down she decided to break a rib. Yes, you read correctly. She came down to watch Emma while I took Mary to an orthopedic doctor about her knock-kneed stance. 10 minutes before we got home, Mom was climbing on a chair to reach batteries for a new game she got Emma, when she fell off and landed in the space where my kitchen island once stood. Subsequently, the force she required to move the island when she landed broke her rib. So she stayed. That was my fortune, even if it WAS because she broke a bone. So today, she started to get cabin fever. We went out to lunch at Olga's in Westland Mall and to our surprise, Olga herself was there. Ha! I didn't even know there WAS a real Olga! As a matter of fact, I usually don't eat there - we went because it is a favorite spot of my Mom's. Mary wasn't too impressed, although she liked the fries dipped in ranch sauce. You can see she is looking to make a quick escape with her doggy bag. But it was a fun diversion!

All the Attitude in the World

Mary Leona, age 2. The rest is self explanatory.

Family Time isn't what it's Cracked up to Be

Last night, in an effort to appease Emma, we took the girls to the family swim time at the Lifetime Fitness swimming pool. That will be the last time we do that for a LONG time. Let me just tell you, Internet, we needed 2 parents per child at the pool, or maybe 3 just for Emma. She wanted to run. She wanted to swim. She wanted to jump. JUMP WITHOUT ANYBODY CATCHING HER. Then she wanted more running. And she only wanted to do this in the deep end. As if 3 feet isn't the deep end for her. Then we took the girls back to the locker room, where Emma did not want to stay within the confines of the nice shower area provided for the families with kids. While Jim showered, I tried to dress the (wet) kids and dry their hair a little - while Emma played with the reset button on the plug the whole time. And there was whining and gnashing of teeth by both children when we tried to leave.

All in all, there were some brief moments of valuable family time in the water, like when we all played Ring Around the Rosey together, or when Jim took the girls, one at a time, under the giant mushroom waterfall thing and waved from behind the waterfall. But I am not ready to make any more tender pool remembrances any time soon.

I Sure Swam

Well, I swam. I did! I even tripled the distance that I was able to swim from last Tuesday's premiere effort before I hit the point where I surely believed that I could never get enough oxygen. So next week I should be able to make it all the way across the pool. (HA! I was just kidding there, see!)

Swimming Today

I'm trying to get out the door with the kids and get to Lifetime Fitness. Week 2 of Triathlon training and I am already dragging and losing steam. I have 5 more weeks of this!!!! Of course, it could be because today is swimming day and it is COLD out. I'll be inside, but I hate swimming. I also hate being wet. But, I've got my swimsuit on (underneath my sweater) and I'm trying to get the kids dressed and out the door. Ugh.

Porcupine Meatballs

You must, absolutely MUST read about the Porcupine Meatballs here first, and then here. My thoughts precisely.

The Scheduled, the Unscheduled, and the Inbetween

There has been some minor clamoring, so I am posting - I LOVE my public! Emma has been doing just fine in preschool. It is a wonderful, fabulous place where she plays well with other children and learns about God, all between hayrides and feeding the baby chickens. And it is ALL DAY LONG, so what more could a parent hope for? Sometimes I worry about leaving her for all day, and I hang around the Web Cam to see what she is doing most of the morning, but I pick her up right after Mary gets up from her nap and that is about as good as I can do. My poor little baby Mary (ok, she's 2 already) doesn't get a solid nap when Emma is home, as Emma must be Larry Boy and what is Larry Boy without his trusty Alfred? (In the picture, Alfred is the Asparagus guy, the tomato is trying to be a sidekick "Bobbin" and it is not working very well) So after Mary and I run around with other Mommies and their 2 year old children, going to Tea and Tambolas all over the town, we play some hide and seek before she goes down for a nap. Then I sit at the computer and stare at the sleeping children on the web cam. I am hopelessly lost without Emma all day, but I do so that she learns things I do not have the patience to teach her.

Other news: Mary and Emma have started gymnastics. They went today for the first time. They are in the same class together, along with Yours Truly, who is supposed to guide and support them through the first steps of throwing their bodies about with grace and purpose. That is a huge step up from throwing their bodies around the way they do now, which is randomly and without a thought as to what they may land on. Emma LOVES the balance beam. That is all she wants to do. And she doesn't want the little steps they offer her, but the ENORMOUS one that the professionals bounce about on. So it was a little hard to reign her in while teaching Mary how to jump on a block in a straddle. Mary was FABULOUS. My little dear would do everything the teacher told her as well as she could and beamed with pride when she did something. Trampolines! Bars! Beams! Obstacle course! Butterfly sitting! It didn't matter - Mary was in her element. They both enjoyed the floor trampoline and Emma even managed to jump around doing what they told her to. Mary did a funny little gallop jump and said, "Jumpy! Jumpy! Jumpy!", while beaming. I might take her tomorrow for the open gym play while Emma is at school, being watched by other parents with nothing to do but miss their toddlers.

Monday Mary starts swimming lessons. It sounds like my children are suddenly all booked up with events and schedules coming out of their ears. Indeed, they are not! But Mary experienced her first swimming adventure on Labor Day and the whole of her being wants to swim, "by her own". The child would not stay attached to me for anything and spent 2 full hours trying to propel herself around in the water despite the whole sinking thing. So I signed her up the minute I could. I thought it would be some special Mary/Momma time and swimming lessons were something Emma and I enjoyed when she was younger. I didn't anticipate putting her in the gymnastics, but the only class left for Emma was during a time when Mary had to come. She really lucked out on this one! So now, between an aggressive work out schedule (did I mention the triathalon?), preschool twice a week, swimming lessons (still not sure where Emma will be during those) and gymnastics, we are booked to leave the house at least once every day. This is amazing to me, since in the past year I could go the entire week without using the car. And look where we are now!

First Day of Preschool

Wednesday began a new era: the one where Mary gets to be an only child for a period of time twice a week. This picture is Emma's new pose which she busts out every time you tell her you are going to take a picture. There are some others, with Mary and Mama and Daddy, but none are as wonderfully Emma as this one. She started preschool at Real Life Nursery School and Farm , where she goes Wednesdays and Fridays and can stay the WHOLE day! This is mostly because every day they go to the farm and help take care of the animals. Then they also get to go on hayrides and ridehorses and things like that. This would be hard to do with 2 hours a day. Plus, Mary gets some primo Mama only time, which this week has been Mama/Daddy time - a VERY rare thing indeed.

When I called to check on Emma at lunch time, she was doing fine and still wearing her purple hat (and her Larry Boy watch, and her flower multi color necklace - one MUST have accesories). When I checked the web cam at nap times, she was fast asleep with her pink fuzziness blanket and matching pillow. When we came to pick her up, she cried. SOBBED. And told us how she 'missed-ed' us because she loves us. And how she shared her flower necklace with one girl but not another. And how they learned about God who made the Earth. And how they have blue beds to sleep on. And all of the injustices a toddler suffers in one day, and all of the REALLY EXCITING things she did. All told, I think it was a net positive. Today, anyhow, she was happy to go and did not even look back. And I get all of the baby Mary (who is not really all that baby-ish any more) snuggles and love and kisses that I want. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

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At the zoo

More Toddler Crazy Logic

Yesterday we were all headed out to lifetime Fitness and Emma saw a fire truck (the EMS unit) leaving the station. She was excited that they were going to help somebody.

They might be stuck in a tree, she said.

Indeed, they might, I replied.

Or water, she said.

Or water, I agreed.

Or dirt.

Yes.

Or snow.

Yes.

Or quicksand.

You are right.

Or strawberries.

...

Or chocolate.

Nobody said much of anything after that. Jim chimed in that if that person who was just stuck in strawberries and chocolate ran through some whipped cream and ice cream that they would have fallen into Sundae. I'm still trying to figure out how strawberries got into Emma's head.

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Cart buddies

True Love

I am back home (as of Sunday night) and relaxing into the normal routine. I had a fun time, as I always do when spending time with Diane. We went to a bookstore (I already blogged the picture of the stack of books), the scrapbook store (not because I can't go to one near me, only because she has the largest chain practically right next door to her), a massage, and many meals out. All of those things were wonderful. I flew in Sunday night, to a bedraggled Jim and crew. The girls had not napped all weekend and Jim was flustered that he had not been able to catch a 10 minute shower while I was gone. I felt loved and missed, which is what all mothers want to know.

Right now (3:10 PM), Emma is not napping (I am trying to shorten her naps so she will go to bed before 11 PM). She is trying to explain why she cannot go to the bathroom, and apparently it involves a "long, twisty slide and the pee-pee is scared of coming down". I always wondered how that worked.

With that tidbit of toddler wisdom, I will take my leave.

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Karate girl who just won 3 medals!

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Spending!

Travel Travails

I'm going to Minnesota this weekend to visit the Ruckers. Since there are new restrictions for carry on luggage, I tried to clear up all of the confusion. Here's the exhaustive list of things that cannot be taken with you on board. What is not listed either way is lipstick. Now, Internet, I do not wear lipstick all of the time, but I like to keep a bit on me in case I am feeling rather pale. So, I shall go to Minnesota with ghostly aspect. And no mascara. This one is more problematic, as I don't leave my bedroom without mascara and eyeliner, not to mention the state. I know it sounds silly, but it is a habit and I feel really uncomfortable without it. So I will have to buy a tube of it when I get there, I suppose. Sadly, my martial arts weapons are not able to go with me. But, the really FANTASTIC news is that I can take a cigar cutter and a corkscrew. HOORAY!

!@%!#

Today I am not at the top of my game, but I am getting over the worst of this cold. I took the girls to Meijer's to get some milk and bananas and they were angels. They even wanted to ride in the cart as opposed to walk around and touch things on the shelves. After the blissfully easy trip through the produce, we were in line and Emma kept pestering me for candy. As a rule, I never get candy from the shelves in line, since to do it once means we ALWAYS have to do it. So Emma starts with the normal, "Can I get candy?" and I say, "No". Then she repeats it and I say no again. Then Emma says with resignation, "Oh, Dammit." I stopped putting groceries on the conveyer and looked at her face and asked her what she said. She repeats herself. At this moment, I happen to catch the look on the sweet old grandmother's face behind my cart. It is shocked, yet guarded look. So I calmly say, "Emma, we don't say that word." Emma replied, "Well, I am frustrated, Dammit." I explained to Emma that that wasn't a nice word and made her apologize to the lady behind us for using such an ugly word. I felt the need to say something else to the nice looking lady, so I said,"She is just starting preschool - I can't believe the things she is picking up!". Of course, she does't start until September and has only visited once. But I didn't tell her that. About then I realized that Mary, who is in the habit of tunelessly singing random lyrics at the top of her voice has picked up the cause and is standing in the back of the cart, swaying to the beat of "Dammit, daa-a-a-a-a-aaaammit, damiiiiiiiiiiiit, DAMMMMMMMMMMIT!!!!!". Can I just say how HAPPY it made me that my children picked this public forum to share their first cursing experience? And truly, I DON'T know where they got it from, since my downfall word is completely different. If they started taking the Lord's name in vain I would have known where they got it from and would have been a little humbled. At this point, I can only assume that Emma has figured out how to sneak downstairs and watch Howard Stern long after we are asleep. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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(My homemade sinusitis cure)

I am under the influence of a summer cold this week. Monday I had an enormous headache. Today it has evolved to a sneezing fit with a sore, swollen face. Nothing that is bad enough to render me useless, or even to send me to bed, mind you. Just enough to thoroughly annoy me and keep me near the tissue box. So, after Sudafed and Motrin did not make a dent, I got desperate. I wandered out to my garden and cut some lavender and wrapped it up in this tidy little package with 2 tea bags and a few drops of peppermint. Then I moistened it and microwaved it for 30 seconds and laid it on my painful face. Sweet relief! It cleared my nose and soothed my headache. I have found a wonderful new use for my lavender! The little yellow package also removed my makeup, which you can see in the perfect shape of my eyes right in the middle there. Anyhow, I had no right to makeup with the blotchy face I was sporting, so I guess that all worked out.

For Lydia

My friend over at Keep Your Eye on the Kids is taking a nice month long vacation on the beach just like she did last year. The link in this entry will take you right to the adorable picture of her 2 1/2 year old daughter, who is wearing the exact same bathing suit as my dear 3 1/2 year old in this picture. Click on the link on the side over there to read her most current entries. Now, I am not sure whether you think Emma is sun bathing or nearly dead, but she is, in fact, neither. One day last month her cousin Avis came over to watch her and her sister while hubby and I ran around town like crazy childless people. They were happily playing in the little pool when Avis busted out the camera and Emma began to pose. This was her idea of posing. I have a slew of pictures of her reading or plain ignoring the camera, but this one showed the bathing suit the best. So, there you go, Lydia. I hope your sand castle building days are warm and the people downstairs stop being twits. You should report them.

The Devil Wears Strawberry Shortcake

The children are a little tired and sassy this evening. We have 1 hour before we can rightfully put them to bed. So, we decided to take them to the park, since every MINUTE they were in the house they were doing something to potentially cause bodily harm. We figured the best course of action was to strap them into the stroller (instead of letting Emma ride a bike, zipping ahead of us and crossing streets without looking) and wheel them over. Emma informed me that her shoes did not match the stroller, they only matched her bike. In fact, her shoes do match her bike. They do not really match the stroller. Even with an iron clad argument and a screaming toddler, she was just wheeled away in the stroller. Poor girl, what will her friends think of THAT fashion catastrophe?

On a Lazy Summer Day

Summer afternoon on the market's front porch. We walked up there, or I walked and pushed Mary's ride thingy and Emma pedaled away on her bike (that's why she is wearing knee pads) to kill some time. So the girls picked out some Twizzlers and we sat on the front porch of the market and counted cars. Emma got up to 25 and then things got a little screwy and then suddenly there was a game of tag that erupted. In the middle of all of this, they stopped to lean against the wall and Emma threw her arm around Mary. Mary didn't even squeal which, I must tell you, is highly unusual. I love impromptu sisterliness.

Today's Desires

Ok, so yesterday I said I wanted a candy bar. At 4:00 two young girls came to my door selling candy bars for a fundraiser. I kid you not. So, today, I'm going to get a little more demanding in the hopes that some odd coincidence may again drop my desired item on my doorstep.

Just for the record, I want:

3 million dollars

A teaching job

A maid


That should cover it. I'm going to buy a lottery ticket today, just in case.

I just want.....

A candy bar.

A maid.

A teaching job.

Or an obscene amount of money, which would take care of all of the above in one form or another.

Music In the Park

I took the girls to Plymouth today to enjoy the weekly Music in the Park, along with half of southeast Michigan. The picture you see is hardly 1/3 of the people there. I have to tell you, I had no idea this many people existed within driving distance to downtown Plymouth. And all of them with kids! The girls weren't bad, but we left after the program was half over. They had both climbed into the stroller and were getting that 5 mile stare they got when they are awfully tired. So I ran through Jimmy John's and grabbed a sandwich and loaded them up in the car. By the time we got home they were both asleep. Asleep enough, that is, to consider the 15 minute ride home as their entire nap time. You've guessed it, they recharged. Home at 1:15 and both girls ready to roll by 2:00. So here we are at 3, when they are usually still sleeping, and they are up and fighting. So glad we tried a new thing.

The Long and Not So Short of It

I took the girls to their annual well-child appointments. Everything went well, and if you're up for the stats, here they are:

Emma is 39.5 inches tall and weighs 32 pounds. She will be starting preschool in a MONTH!!!

Mary is 37 inches tall and weighs 30 pounds (OUCH! My aching back!). She is 1 1/2 inches taller than Emma was at this age, and most of the size 2 clothes are looking a bit short on her. Looks like she will be catching up to Emma's wardrobe before the end of the year, which will make a lot of things more difficult. It will also cause a lot of clothes to not get worn twice, or handed down as they are now. My friends will suddenly be receiving a lot more clothes when I pass things on, as Mary will no longer be a stop on that hand-me-down chain. This makes me and my pocketbook quite sad.

So, 16 months, 2 1.2 inches, and 2 pounds different. That amazes me.

Last week we went to buy some shoes for the fall weather. I guess you could say it was our first "School Shopping" that begins the long years of new clothes to start the new school year. I choose 2 pairs of shoes that Emma could pick from - a nice, sensible pair of white shoes or a trendy, Strawberry Shortcake pair of zippy brown and pink shoes. Emma obsessed over a fluffy set of Princess slippers. No amount of refocusing even came close to getting her attention. She tried them on. She walked around in them, proclaiming that they fit her and they were very comfortable. She sang their slipper praises and generally ignored the shoes I was trying to get her to pick from. So, we eventually bought the slippers (one pair for each girl, of course) and then she conceded to pick the Strawberry Shortcake shoes. You may think that I should have just picked the shoes for her, but then you would be uninitiated in the Ways of the Toddler, which would cause a fight EVERY time she needed to put on shoes if they were not ones she liked. As it is now, she has decided to have a VERY strict opinion on the outfits I put on her. One less fight on a daily basis makes my life a lot easier. So, we got new shoes for the fall season AND a nice fluffy pair of Princess Slippers to boot. Now she is set to meet her peers.

Bad House Karma

Ok, this is just wrong. So far while Jim has been gone, and more specifically in the last 4 days, more things have gone wrong with this house than usually occur in 4 months.

Remember the dryer? That was the start.

Then the back porch light burned out.

The front porch light followed shortly thereafter.

The kitchen sink faucet is leaking - this is a recurring issue.

The sink is now leaking under the cabinet, too.

The icemaker got jammed - I fixed that easily enough.

The icemaker remained jammed, even after my fabulous fixing.

The phone in the basement (where I spend a lot of time with the girls) wasn't working.

And then, the regular maintenance things are piling up, just making the whole situation seem slightly insurmountable:

The grass needs to be cut
the gardens have a lot of weeds
the trimming needs to be done before we lose sight of the gardens
the kiddie pool needs to be put away
the toilets (all 4 of them) need to be cleaned
the house (all 4 levels) needs to be vacuumed
the garbage needs to be taken up
the laundry needs to be done (whoops, then there's the dryer issue)
grocery shopping needs to be done
bills need to be paid

And I have a killer headache. So far, things are running about par for the course. I'm going to bed now.

Contrariness and Burning Dryers

A random conversation with a contrary Emma:

Emma: How do my eyebrows stay on?

Me: They are hair that grows through your skin, just like the hair on your head. They do not need anything to stay on.

Emma: NO! NO! They have white things underneath them like glue that no one eats and that is how they stay on.

Me: Oh!

Emma: Is the sun going down now?

Me: Yes (it was 8:30 in the evening and we were driving home).

Emma: NO! NO! It is coming up - it is morning time.

Me: Well, actually it is night time and the sun is going down.

Emma: Why aren't we going to a car wash? We have to go to a car wash! The car is saying, "I need a car wash, hurry up and go to a car wash". Mama! THE CAR IS DIRTY!

Me: It is late and I am not going to a car wash. They may be closed at this hour. Why don't you sit back and take a little rest until we get home?

Emma: NO! NO! It is morning, LIKE I TOLD YOU! I cannot take a little rest when it is morning - the sun will get in my eyes and wake me up.

The random conversation, with every opposition possible, continued until we got home at 9:00. The measure of how tired Emma is relies on a scale of contradiction. The more Emma contradicts things, the more tired she is. If we are in the car and she starts complaining that we should be driving the car in a different direction, she is just on the verge of exploding with discomfort or falling asleep. Tonight was no exception.

I've uploaded additional photos of the Rain Mum incident, so if you'd like to see them click here. Good pictures were hard to get, but they are worth their weight in gold. And I really enjoyed getting some comments on the post, since I seem to have dropped off on the average number of comments lately.

Not too much else to tell. Jim is traveling and I am making due. The dryer, as I mentioned, has stopped working and emits some faint burning smell which should concern me. I'm going to ask a neighbor to have a look at it. The wretched thing is only 4 years old. In our last house we had a refurbished Laundromat washer and dryer (that had the coin system disconnected ) and that thing was still working when we left after having used it 8 years. That was about 5 years longer than the predicted lifespan. Somewhere in my mind I am annoyed and concerned about this one, but mostly I'm wondering how much it might cost to get it fixed and what I am going to do with all of the kid's clothes in the meantime.

That's about all that is newsworthy and otherwise.

Dancing in the Streets

My Mom is staying for a few days while Jim is in South America. We were all getting a little cabin fever, I suppose, when the rains came this afternoon. The girls were having a blast in the alley behind the garage, when my Mom jumped in on the action. Too bad she is going back home tomorrow. As an aside, my dryer stopped working while I was trying to recover their clothes from this little foray. Irony!

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Dinner w/ Mum and Papa

The Birthday Fairy

Happy Birthday to my baby, Mary Leona! I can't believe she has reached this milestone and yet seems to be so much older somehow. This morning, we all snuck into her room and woke her up (gently, since she is easily startled, and scaring the bejeesus out of a kid isn't the nicest way to wake her up on her birthday) and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. We had to sing it in Spanish, since Emma wanted to sing a "new" Birthday song, so Mary was a little confused for a stanza or two. She was also a little loopy since I had given her Benadryl in the middle of the night to help her runny nose and watery, itchy eyes. So for the first time through the song, she sat up and wobbled a bit, staring at us and shaking with the effort to understand why her family had waken her up with some sort of singing ritual and they were all speaking another language. In retrospect, maybe we should have done that a little differently. anyhow, once we sang in English and she realized what was going on, she got really excited. Then we let her open her presents from the family, which was difficult, since Emma wanted to "help" her so badly. And the gift that Emma had picked out for her was one the Emma, of course, wanted to play with. so fighting ensued a little earlier on this momentous occasion then any other day. Jim left for work and then fighting over the new toys escalated and finally crested the climax of Mommy Anger Point when Emma cut her hair. That was about 10 AM. I know it seems like a big jump, and the sequence even makes me think of an angry toddler, standing in defiance with scissors in one hand and a hank of hair in the other, saying, "Give me the toy or I SWEAR I'll cut it!!!". That is not what happened at all, although it is a funny image.

Today, Mary decided that she was a Big Girl. That's great, affirmations all around. Except that Big Girls do not wear diapers, and therefore, neither does Mary. I would normally ignore the pleadings, except that Mary has shown an amazing interest in using the toilet. For over a week now she has consistently had a BM success at a time that she asks to "go to the potty". So, I thought we might be able to roll with this and got out some training pants - the cotton ones with plastic outsides, to keep all the nasty stuff inside. That meant that when Mary announced it was time, there was no recourse but to drop everything and go into the bathroom - sitting and waiting for things to work like they should. Meanwhile, Emma, who was frustrated with the idea that it was a day centered around someone else, disappeared into the depths of the house and became quiet. After Mary had finished up her (successful) trip to the potty, Emma reappeared and I asked her what she was doing while I was helping Mary. Riding the rocking horse, she told me. That was a happy relief. And cutting her hair, she added, because it was driving her crazy. Sure enough, a telltale wisp of liberated hair was hanging below the rest of her hair. I followed the trail of hair snips upstairs to my bedroom, where the "childproof" doorhandle had been expertly beaten into submission with a single, well placed blow from a determined toddler. More hair, this path leading right to the bathroom, where a pile of lovely light brown hair lay in the middle of the carpet.


Then Mary had a couple of friends over for cupcakes and she continued to wear the princess dress up skirt she had opened that morning, because she insisted she was a "Birthday Princess" (who is a big girl and does not wear diapers), and the rest of the morning went off without unusual incident, except for the torturous screaming that occurred when I insisted on a diaper for nap time. But that's a normal thing with two toddlers in the house. And don't forget the Birthday Fairy that showed up this morning:

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HippoMary says hello!

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Stopping to talk to a worm.

Back at it

Emma is upstairs screaming her heart out and Mary is sleeping. I'm not sure how well Mary is sleeping, in light of the circumstances, but both of them need a good, hard sleep and some sort of reset button. It's just after 1 PM. About 5 hours ago I was ready for nap time, as Mary had been up since 6:30. Not just awake, mind you, but SCREAMING. About what? Who knows? She spent most of the morning screaming or squealing or making some form of loud, piercing noises meant to wake up her sister and anger me all in one fell swoop. Once everyone was officially awake and calmed down, Zoe came over and we did some crafts. We painted a forest (we are all learning the letter "F") and made flowers out of cupcake papers to glue on the forest floor:

(Mrs. Bailey, Mary, Zoe, and Emma)
We are going to continue with "F", since it is such "fertile" ground! We are going to look for animals we would find in a forest and stick them on the wall as well. I also want to make GIANT flowers, a la Lydia, as I think it would be fun. Just so you get an idea what Mary is like today, you might really enjoy this picture of her:

It's pretty self explanatory. Emma has stopped screaming now (she was upset about nap time) and I think I can sit down for a quiet lunch. After a morning like this, it's popcorn comfort food time and a cold can of Pepsi. I think I'm making shrimp scampi for dinner, since we had pizza night last night instead of today like we usually do. I haven't started the mountain of laundry yet, but I am satisfied that I've made it this far.

Celebrating independence Day

Happy July 4th! Should I say, instead, "Happy Celebration of Separation"? Huh. When you think of it that way, it's like having a big party every year on the day you moved out to be an adult. So we went to the parade, arriving just as the fire engines turned past the corner we went to. The fire engines are the whole reason we dragged the girls to the parade. Closely behind were the congressmen and their faithful constituents, tossing candy into the crowd. This was a good enough reason for the girls to stay. We watched that parade until the end of the suckers and the snack cups full of Kix that I brought. 25 minutes. Then the kids were done. So was Jim, since he was so hot and sweaty from the heavy, humid, air and the blazing sun beating down on us like nobody's business. He only got 4 hours of sleep last night, but I think he would have been crabby just from the heat. Then we headed to the mall to let the girls run around while we basked in the airconditioning. That was fabulous. Ate lunch at the Coney, came home for naps, took the girls to the park, got pizza for dinner, yadda yadda yadda. Pretty much a non-stress, average day at the homestead. Tomorrow should be characterized by towering laundry and frantic cleaning to catch up to the regular pace of things. And I may have to cook something again. Blah.

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Dinner @ Ikea

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Emma's spa day

Hedgehog Love

After reading Emma her nightly bedtime story from a book called "Love Is...", I asked her what things she loved.

Emma: "I love jellybeans."

Me: "I love jelly beans, too."

Emma: "The purple the green the blue and the orange. Not the red. That's for you."

Me: "Oh! I love the red! What else do you love?"

Emma: "Ummmmmm, I love my big girl room'"

Me (preening): "Really? What else do you love?"

Emma: "I love hedgehogs."

"Hedgehogs? What?"

"Hedgehogs, Mama. I love hedgehogs." This was said with a surrender in her voice, a complete statement that could not be argued with once you REALLY knew what a hedgehog was. Kind of like saying, "It was meant to be!" with that particular lilt to your voice.

"Emma, I don't know what you mean." Maybe I misunderstood. Emma put her little hands delicately on either side of my face and leaned in, to the point where my eyes could hardly refocus to see her face clearly.

"HEDGE. HOGS. That's all. Hedgehogs."

"Oh," I said, convincingly, "I see." Emma was totally unconvinced and told me,

"I'll show you." She jumped off of her bed and rummaged through her books until she found a particular book called The Hat by Jan Brett.

"See, Mama? A hedgehog. I LOVE hedgehogs."

After that amazing revelation by my daughter I tucked her in and kissed her goodnight. Then I had a strong glass of wine. Since when do 3 year olds think about hedgehogs and their admirable qualities? It is nearly too much for my heart to bear.

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Hail storm!

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Jumping for joy

Randomness

I tried to post some pictures earlier from my phone, which got a reply from blogger that they were successful but they have not shown up. I am wondering if they ended up on someone else's blog, or else they are floating around in the general aether. It worries me that Mary may be lost somewhere in cyberspace, but I am not dwelling on it.

IKEA Canton opened this Wednesday. My friend Karla and I stopped by Tuesday night after yoga to see people who would camp out for 3 days for ugly chairs IN CANTON NO LESS! You can see pictures if you scroll down. The picture of the IKEA sign has Karla in front, if a bit blurry. The picture of me with two ladies and a strange green floral couch is actually (from left to right) the fourth person in line, the first person in line, and me, who was not in line at all and may wait until September sometime to wander in and see what all of the fuss was about. I really had no right being there. IKEA gave her the ugly green floral couch for being first in line. I have no comment about that.

Husband has been in Ghana all week. The girls have been awful without him and sob at night, calling "DADDY! DADDY". This trip wasn't very much fun over here. My Mom came and stayed most of the week and even with two of us they were nearly too stressful to handle. I was glad I had some help, because by Tuesday morning at 8 I was sobbing on the phone that I could not understand why my children were so difficult. It was generally a bad week for that. But I did get a lot of things done while my Mom was here, including planting the rest of my annual flowers. I searched all of the bushes, just in case my nemesis was stalking me since I knew he was in town, but I did not find him behind the hydrangeas in any case. He didn't call either, so I am thinking he is a REALLY good stalker. He's probably back home now.

There have been a couple of random child related happenings that are not cohesive in any way but should be recorded here.

The other day, Emma made it to the guest bathroom before I did. I have to lock all of the bathrooms, since Emma likes to irritate me by experimenting with water and whatever else she can find in there. I had neglected to lock his one and she was in and out before I could get to her. When I got in there, everything was perfectly in place, but it smelled. This wasn't a bathroom smell; it was a CLEANSER smell. So I asked Emma what she had done with a cleaner. She replied, "I cleaned the toilet". I looked in the toilet and it had evidence of bubbles from a cleaner in it. Then I looked under the sink and saw the Tilex sitting there. No harm done, but a bad precedence. I said to Emma, "Only Mommy cleans toilets." She immediately corrected me in the very specific way she has and said, "No you don't. Mama, the toilet was dirty and *I* had to clean it." Unfortunately, she was right.

Emma has taken to jumping everywhere. It began with a series of jumps to get across a street or a parking lot, which was painstaking but tolerable. Then it escalated to jumping to get off of things. Mostly harmless, but not a good thing to encourage. Finally it pinnacled to climbing up to greater heights to jump off just for the fun of it. This is bad. Sometimes it was a normal sort of jumping, such as off of a chair or a stool. More recently, we have gone to jumping off of the toilet when done using it. Then Emma decided that the bookcase in the nursery was climbable, therefore required jumping off of. She did this a couple of times and quickly learned that bookcase jumping was something best done when Mommy or Daddy were not in sight. Wednesday she ran upstairs after Mary's nap when Mary woke up. Immediately after that, there was a ceiling-shattering bang from the area where the bookcase lives. I walked upstairs calmly and asked Emma what happened. She denied everything, even direct questions (Note to self: old enough to lie). Mary, however, was happy to rat her out when I asked her what Emma had jumped off of. Note to Emma: welcome to siblinghood.

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Pigtails

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People camping out @ IKEA

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The front of the line for IKEA's opening tomorrow.

Update on Free Cell

I now officially HATE Free Cell. Don't try it if you haven't already.

The Good, the Bad, and the Sticky

The first day of a trip of Hubby's is always the worst day with the kids. I guess that one could say, "Well, that means it can only get better!" But that would be like telling George Washington during the depths of the Valley Forge winter that things could only go up from there. So today, as promised from past trips, was awful. I won't even go into details. Just let it be said that I had to bathe the kids and put them to bed at the earliest possible moment. And I try to avoid baths when I am by myself, since the two of them can create quite a bit of havoc when you add water. Tonight, however, Emma had 4 of the 5 mLs of her cold medicine mucking up her hair and causing it to acquire interesting additions that should not normally be found in hair. I should explain. Emma has had a cold and she is on the tail end of it. Right before nap time I wanted to give her some medicine to help her rest a little and clear up some remaining congestion that was bothering her. She is normally great about taking medicine. Today, while I cradled her in my arms to give it to her (this particular flavor is not her favorite and she has to be coaxed to take it), she spit the first bit back out all over me and then the rest she pushed out of her mouth and it ran down he side of her face into her hair. This stuff would not clean off with a wipe, which is my usual way of attacking sticky things from toddlers. I had to wash my arm and face off with soap to get the stickiness off. So you can imagine what Emma's hair looked like by the end of the day. So, that required baths. Now the girls are clean and snuggly and (theoretically) in bed. THANK GOD.

On another note, I have just discovered Free Cell. I think I am probably the last person with a computer who has not played it. So I have just sat down at the computer with the high ambition of playing 2 hours of free cell before I go to bed. I might make some popcorn to go with that.

And, I would like to say I am sad that no one has commented about my new arbor. Please, gush at will!!!

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My new arbor

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The cottage at Sam's Club. For 1687.00 your kids can have a dream house in plastic!

Bye, bye, baby

I managed to sell the following items:

• Crib
• Pack and Play playpen
• 2 kid scooter cars
• Clothes (including bags of tights, socks, and t-shirts)
• Stroller (not the baby carrier and bases)
• Some random hardcover books
• Other miscellaneous items

Didn't sell everything I would have liked to, but sold a good amount of the large things. Lochmoor Mom, that bumper and crib skirt will be coming at you, along with a couple of coats you may be able to use. And does ANYONE need a bath seat? Why don't people know these are a necessity?? So I hauled off most of the remaining things to the resale shop, who is entirely too picky and would not even look at the baby carriers (like there are no babies to carry in cars??) and the paltry remains are yet to be distributed to a few other places. I am amazed at how hard it is to get rid of baby items.

Now my children are tucked in and I have some remaining post-garage sale cleanup to tend to.

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This car came to shop!

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Sale-ing day. Come buy!

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Snack time

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Garage sale fodder

To Do List

Things I should do today:

1. Empty garage of random things
2. Wash garage floor off with hose and sweep out water
3. Wash car seat covers for old car seats12:30
4. Fold 100,000 small children clothes
5. Bring up from basement following items: high chair, pack and play, old crib, baby carrier, baby rocker/infant seat, corresponding linens, mobile, crib skirt and bumpers for crib, 3 containers of gently used toys
6. Set up tables in garage
7. label/price EVERYTHING I OWN
8. Set up for subdivision garage sale and prepare to get rid of all traces of babies
9. Wash 4 sets of sheets that Mary puked on yesterday 10:15
10. Fold 2 loads of kid laundry 2:20
11. Do 4 loads of adult laundry, fold, set in baskets on the floor for 2 weeks in hopes that the laundry fairies put it away when I am not looking2:00
12. Bathe children so Mary doesn't smell funky from last night's epic vomiting10:30

Yeah, that should be enough to make the day go by. And to think it is nearly 10 AM already and I haven't done anything on that list except put the pukey sheets in the washing machine. Yep, it's looking like a classic stay at home Mommy day.

1989

Kristen hit it right on the head - Christmas of '89. I had every reason to by happy except one. I was newly engaged, done with the first semester of my freshman year at college, and Jim was traveling, I believe.

Story of my Life.

Back in the Saddle

Back at home, back to bicycles and dirty diapers, Kraft Mac and Cheese, Hot dogs, and play parks. New York is a distant memory but there are good things to that, too. Gone are the taxi rides (Breathless), the taxi fares, the noise and commotion and the $100 meals. I am quite happy, in truth, to be eating salad and cheese with fruit. I seriously think I gained weight by eating our way through the city. It was great while it lasted, I admit, and laundry and vacuuming are a far cry from Broadway shows and Frescatelli Carbonara. So I guess I can boil it down to an old saying: It was a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. I am fabulously happy to be walking toddlers to the park or playing my piano while they dance in the living room. Today during their naps I intend to do laundry and watch the season finale of Desperate Housewives, which was TiVo'd while I was at Caroline's on Broadway. The break was intense and wonderful and I am looking forward to our next adventure in a year. We did talk about going to Disney World with all of the kids sometime in March, so we may do that before we trek out on our own next May or June. Meanwhile, the men need to make their equivalent trip plan, before Diane has another little body around to keep them from doing such a thing. I don't think they are going to choose New York, but I am sure it will be just as interesting.

Well, the natives are done with hot dogs and it is time to put them down for naps. Hooray!

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Cute's sister

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Absolute cute

Vacation's End

On the plane, waiting to be whisked back to my real life-what a glorious break it has been!

--

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

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Some Dim Sum

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In a taxi

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Times Square

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Catching a quick bite

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Caroline's, a comedy club. Let the laughs begin!

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Dinner at a French bistro

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The Met

For those of you wondering, while Wifey is off having fun in NYC, I have been home with Bunny #1 and Grandma Saunders. Bunny #2 is off with Mum and Papa. I haven't heard how much fun she is having but I will pick her up today, so I'm sure she'll tell me.
Emma has been a little angel. Yesterday we went to the store and for a bike ride. Emma rode, we walked all the way to the big park. For those of you not used to walking alongside a toddler on a bike, it goes something like this:
E: Look, Daddy! I'm doing it!
D: Good job, Honey!
E: Oops, Daddy! I got stuck on your foot!
D: (grimmacing from the 5th time my foot has been run over in the last 50 feet). Its okay. Do you want me to push you?
E: No, Daddy! I'm a big girl like just you and Mumma! I ride my bike all by myself!
D: (rolling my eyes) Okay, Honey. Can you pedal a little faster?
Emma pedaled like mad and I think rarely exceeded 1 mph at any point except for the last stretch where I convinced her to race me. I think i walked at a normal pace.
It has also been windy here for the past two days. I told Emma we would fly her kite at the park. Dear readers, this was more work than it sounds. The kite needed a tail and the wind was too inconsistant to keep it aloft. It crashed on Emma twice (she wanted to stand right under the kite as I tried to get it in the air). Other than her gaining a healthy appreciation for gravity, she was unharmed. Unfortunately, Daddy was unsuccessful in getting the kite to stay in the air more than a few seconds. It usually required me to run across the park at full speed trying desperately to keep the wind to my back just to keep it in the air. Needless to say, I ran out of park and breath. Emma laid on the grass and told me she was tired. We went back to the house and played with her bouncy ball.
Today we went to the World Explorer Cafe ( or whatever it is called). Emma was the only kid there most of the time. This required Daddy to chase her through most of the playscape. After an hour, Emma told me she was tire and wanted to go. I guess I did my job! :)

New York Update

As you can see from the fun and varied pictures below, I am in New York having a fabulous time with my best friend. Yesterday we WALKED to every corner of the City, from the Upper West Side to the financial district to see Ground Zero. We also visited China Town, Little Italy, the subway, Times Square, SoHo, NoHo, Tribeca, Central Park and pretty much everything in between. With a lot of eating. YUM. We mostly ate, walked and shopped. Today we are a bit tired (read: DEAD) and haven't yet left the hotel (it's 11 AM). We have some rough plans but not sure exactly what the day will bring. Oh, and we ran into Larry King in the restaurant of our hotel Friday night on our way to a show. FABOO!

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Dinner in Little Italy

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Eating in SoHo

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5th ave, NYC

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Lunch