Eve turns 5 tomorrow!!!!

My baby is turning 5 today!  FIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The following statements show she is ready:

“I’m ready for Kindergarten.  I can count.  I know all my letters and sounds and shapes and I can write them all.  Not a problem, mom”

“It is going to be hard though, with all the boys loving me.  The boys always love me.  Its because I’m so cute, isn’t it?”

“The bus looks cool.  But is it dirty?  Do I need wipes?”

She is ready for the Day Care Party, the Home Party, and the “Super Friend” party.

I am doubtful that I’m ready for any of these things.  J 

My baby is 5.  So smart and talented and amazing that it takes me breath away.

Happy Birthday, Beautiful Girl!!!!

The Tadpoles are Here!!!!

For Evie's birthday, she asked for a Frog. An African Clawed Frog from a company called "Grow-A-Frog" which, much to my surprise, isn't in the Sea-Monkey type of business. When I did my research, I found out that kids had gotten frogs from this company from back in the late 70's and many, many of those frogs lived to be over 20 years old. At that point I understood that this was a multi-decade pet and I had to do some more research. First question, how do they ship 'em?? Answer, in a plastic baggie with water! Our Tadpoles arrived today, with the complete starter kit that will get them through to the Froglet stage. The kit included the tank, sand, shells, food, booklet and two Tadpoles.

The kit Evie ordered was the "TadVenture" kit. Everything we needed, right down to the hot pink (color chosen by my Pink Lovin' girl!) sand, sea shells and plastic palm tree. And two GORGEOUS little Tads.

Of the two Tads, one is big and strong and was up and running in the "Head down, Tail Up" feeding position. The smaller of the two was in what I might say was a bit of stress. Honestly, I wouldn't do half so well after being shipped UPS, so props to the little guy! After an hour or two in the tank, however, he too was zooming around and gobbling up their filter feed.



Evie spent a considerable part of the afternoon in a chair in front of the tank and holding a magnifying glass. The tadpoles' skin is see through, so you can see their heart pumping and veins... right down to the leg buds growing on the Big Guy. Honestly, I can now see leg buds growing on the Little Guy, and I swear they weren't there earlier! My little scientist is beside herself watching these guys. (and yes, as the Reigning Champion Tadpole and Frog Catcher, I myself am amazed)



Big Guy actually belongs to a friend of ours, but her parents aren't sure about keeping a frog, so Abby is "babysitting for life" until we know otherwise. :) Our friend Kassie has tentatively named her's Fernando, but we won't know if he is a boy or girl for about 5 more weeks, when they turn into Frogs. When I asked Evie what hers was named today she said, "I don't know. It'll come to me."





I'll keep everyone updated on the Tads, and Evie's upcoming B-day celebration.

Evie: Character Interlude, Age almost 4

A friend's child was having a rough a day and needed a moment alone. Evie was asked to guard the doorway and not let anyone bother her.

"T," brother of child needing a moment alone, tries to enter the room. Evie holds her hand up, Crossing Guard Style.

The Sign says "No"

What are talking about? I don't see a sign. What sign?

Withering look....

I AM the sign. And I say No.

And that, in a nutshell, is our Evie.

The Easter Bunny Has Arrived

Abby
The Easter Bunny Has Been Here! He left lots of goodies and even ate most of the hard boiled egg, as well as took the time to respond to the Easter Bunny Questions left by the kids.


Question 1: Where do you live?
Question 2: Is there a town of Easter Bunnies, or just one of you?
Question 3: Do you Celebrate Every Holiday?
Question 4: Do you have Easter Bunny Babies?

The real question is............ can anyone guess how I answered?

Pheromones

Evie saw a spider on the playrug tonight. She ran to me, with the face of "SAVEMESAVEMESAVEME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" that every mother knows will have traumatic results at bedtime as the horror is revisted... again and again until around midnight when they pass out.

After *gently* pitching a towl over the spider, squelching my own squeals of horror in order to maintain a calm demeanor, I threw the towel, spider and all, outside.

I knew I had better put a good spin on the spider story in order to forstall a bedtime fiasco.

"Sweatpea, it's gone now. He just got lost and I had to help him find his way back outside."

"But what if he comes back? What if he follows the trail? Like the one they can smell but not see? Like ants do?"

Take a moment and let that sink in. My three year old just discussed pheromones. I'm in trouble.

After soccer practice with the boys' team tonight, Abby was telling me that there were so many very cute boys at soccer.

Take a moment and let that sink in. My nine year old just discussed pheromones.
I'm in trouble.

Focus, Concentrate!!! Don't Eat GS Cookies!

Abby was working on some homework and talking and fidgeting.
Evie, sitting near her, looked up and said,

"Focus, Abby!! Concentrate!!"

Abby took it in good spirits, rolled her eyes and moved on.

Later, when she got her zipper stuck on her coat, she said,

"Mom, can you help me?"

Evie said,

"I can help you, Ab..."

and moved forward to fix it...,

Abby says,

"Oh, no, I draw the line here. I'll fix it myself."

I think, looking back, that my 3 year old taught my 9 year old to be more self-reliant.

On a diet update, I lost a pound. Yeah, salad and tuna for a week and all I lost was a pound. You see, the problem is the Ambien at night. About an hour after I take it, I can't say no to whatever secret goodies are stashed in the fridge. Like the 2 slices of leftover pizza, or the last 3 squares of chocolate from Abby's Wonka Bar.
Frikken Ambien is destroying whatever work I'm gaining during the day, and to top it off:

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES came in today. WTF am I suppossed to do with them?????????????

The 2010 Father/Daughter's Valentine's Day DanceAbb

Pooka Dots

This Friday is the Father/Daughter Valentine's Day Dance in our town. A greatly anticipated event, fathers all over our town go all-out to make it a magical date night with their little girls.

Let me put it this way: If you don't order your little girls' their corsage ahead of time, the local florist will give you a SCATHING look and not-so-patiently explain that you'll be getting the leftovers.

Abby and David traditionally go out for a nice dinner before the dance every year. (Pizza, actually, but when you're wearing a silk dress and wearing flowers, its "nice.") This year will be Evie's first year joining them for the Dance.

My memories of past years are vague, as I'm not allowed to attend, so can only go by what I'm told. Here are some highlights from previous years:

The first time David went, it wasn't even with one of his own kids. My niece, Mariah, needed a date for the dance as her father was out of town. David volunteered to take out for dinner and then to the dance. He took her to what was then the finest restaurant East of the River. She ordered lobster. Dinner cost $130.00 During dessert, she looked up and, loudly, proclaimed,

"This place is fancy! Just like the Olive Garden!"

She has never lived it down. I mention it yearly.

The first year Abby went to the dance, she wore the most stunning shade of blue. I have that dress put away, waiting for the day that Evie is big enough to wear it. (It'll be a few more years!) Abby was so excited to get flowers and go on a date with Dad. They didn't get home until very late. She was asleep when he carried her in. She woke up long enough to tell me,

"Uncle Dale was the DJ!!"

My Bro-In-Law's brother is a DJ, and unbeknown to us, DJs our town's Valentine's Dance every year. It is one of the few times we see him during the year. He is an awesome guy with a fantastic wife and kids. I'm jealous that I don't get to go to the dance, because the last time Uncle Dale DJed and event we went to, I got to talk to his wife, Tracy, all night. :)

This year, both my girls are wearing Polka Dots. Both Polka-Dotted, both Pink. But very, very different.

Evie's is a beautiful, large print, multi-shades of Pink number with a bow in back. She has informed me that she needs 4 bows for her hair.

Abby's is a beautiful, sleeveless, tailored and frilled only-at-the-bottom Pink and Brown polka-dotted number. David said

"When did you get old enough to wear a dress like that?"

Just goes to show how (as Evie says it) Pooka-Dots are classic, but they come in all shapes and sizes. One of my girls is going to her first dance. One of my girls is going to her first dance as a young lady.

The First, and the Squeakquel

Today is not only Abby's official 9th birthday, it is also the first time she has ever gone to the movies and sat more than a row away from me.... (with her friend, Walker, who is a BOY.)

It is also the first time that Evie has ever gone to the actual MOVIE theater to see a movie.

Here are some quotes from her:

"Wow."
"All the Single Ladies!!!"
"Where's Abby?"

I couldn't catch anything else because the straw from her Slushie didn't acutally leave her lips until approximately 90% through the movie, which is when the cup was empty.

The good news is that David can now take both girls to see movies, which is one of his favborite things to do in the world.

The only bad part of the weekend was when someone said to me

I can't believe she's 9!!! That's almost in the double digits!!

I think I almost cried.

Don't tell me what to do

Evie and Grandma and I were doing a puzzle today. The Monkey Puzzle, to be exact.
I made the mistake of trying to help her with a difficult Zebra piece.

I know what to do, Mommy. I'm 3 YEARS OLD. You don't need to tell me. I can do it on my own, now.

A few minutes later, when she was still having trouble with another piece:

Mommy, Why aren't you helping me? I'm trying so hard and you're just watching!

I totally can't win. But it is funny as shit to play.

Merry Christmas, Baby

Abby's video

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/170f7c1da7acd2f0da5ea77f7427e6cb

My girls got thier own personalized message from Santa today in what is the most advanced and amazing video that I have ever seen. Completely personalized, down to the letter, literally.

Evie's video

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/c5fc69ce1472c439194353ffbe6d1954

Evie is very concerned about how Santa knows if you have been good or bad. I told her she had better mind her manners, cuz Santa could hear.

"No, Mama. Santa isn't here. He can't hear me."

Then she changed her mind real fast when she saw Santa's video to her. :)

Back to Funny

"Evie, what happened today that made us laugh really really hard?"

"My bup."

"Excuse me?"

"My bup. It always makes you laugh, Mommy."

"It does?"

"Yes. Cuz its so cute."

So, other than Evie's butt, which is that cute, here were other funny things that happened today:

1. I remembered, vividly, how slippery the rocks are at Hammonnassett Beach. That was about a millisecond before I remembered how cold the water is in November. That was a microsecond before I fell in and remembered how much I dislike wet, sandy, clingy clothes stuck to me.

At the same exact time, I recalled how much I loved the beach. Every sandy, wet, cold, slippery bit of it.

2. On the way home, my brother had a look of happy exhaustion that melted from his face, replaced horror and regret.
"Oh, God. I forgot to take the huge snails out of the bucket after I showed Evie."




I got some great pictures of my mom and Evie and Don having a beach picnic at sunset and a lot of "prippy prippy shells."

I Worry Too Much

And complain too much, but there are worse things.

I was working on an assigment from a client, upstairs at my mom's house. Evie and Grandma are downstairs playing a rousing game of Don't Break the Ice. It's very quiet down there.

Evie comes to the bottom of the stairs and calls up to me,
"Mommy! Gramma not working! We gotta problem!"

My first thought is.
Ohmigod... is mom dead? Did she die right there playing Don't Break the Ice and Evie has been trying to wake her up while I was working upstairs?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?

Don't worry, all was well. They had finished thier game and my mom was trying to work the TV to get a toon on for Evie. And aparantly not doing it right.

My Kid is Trying to Kill Me

We have an attic over our house, the kind with the pull down wodden stairs that, when folded, go flush with the ceiling. Attics suck, but its better than no storage space at all.
Well, over the weekend as I was turning Evie's baby room into Evie's Big Girl room, I had to go up to the attic to retrieve Abby's old bed guard. You know, the mesh guard that keeps little kids from falling out of big beds in the middle of the night.

So I'm in the attic, about to climb back down with my safety-thing. I take a quick peek down the attic stairs/ladder to the hallway to remind myself that its a long fall off of rickety wood stairs to a tile floor. Evie was standing in the hallway looking up at me and smiling. I smiled back and turned. My foot was hovering around the third rung when a warning bell went off in my brain.

what was she holding that was shiny??
I brought my foot back up and sat on the floor of the attic, looking down.

"Evie, what are holding?"
"This, Mommy," she giggled.

Evie then holds up a metal bracket in one hand, and a fistful of nuts and bolts in the other.

My kid had dismantled the bottom 4 rungs of the stairs/ladder. It was holding on by the one remaining bracket with no nuts or bolts at all. I think she's trying to kill me.

And yes, I had to jump.

Real girls play soccer, even in the rain.

And they look pretty darn cool doing it.

Our day today was mostly spent at Soccer fields, with a little bit of shopping thrown in for measure at the end of the day.

Tonight will be the last night that Evie spends in her crib. Tomorrow afternoon we'll be setting up her "Big girl bed" and redecorating. As usual, she has picked out a Butterfly theme for just about everything. The only big exception was that she chose the massive fuzzy-soft pink blanket over the not-so-soft butterfly comforter.

I'm a little sad that our home will finally be void of a baby crib. Even after Abby had outgrown it, we still kept it in the spare room because we knew that eventually we would have another baby occupying it. Tomorrow it will be dismantled and put in the attic, maybe for a grandchild many, many, many years from now.

Evie Turns The Big 0-3!!

The day was not-too sunny, not-too cloudy and just-enough warm. Perfect for a pool party Birthday! All our friends came and the little ones brought their swimmies and floaties. Evie, of course, brought none of those things. She brings older cousins who cater to her, carry her, float with her in the pool and otherwise meet every needs.


Yes, Mariah. I mean you.

See? Evie's personal floatation device!





Can you even get over how cute this cake is? Not only cute but c'mon, a caterpiller? I LOVE caterpillers!

And you should have seen how many ears perked up when I asked "Who wants grass??"

Hmm, yeah. I was talking cake. Who wants the grass pieces of the cake. Makes me question the quality of the invite list!

The theme of the party was Butterflies and Flowers. Though I seem to have NOT gotten pictures of the balloons ::smacking self::: they really were everywhere. Evie chose the theme and all the goods that went with it, including handpicked butterfly balloons and tableware, right down to telling the baker how many butterflies, how many bees and how many caterpillers should be on the cake. It took forever, but she was proud and confident in her choices.

We chose the perfect flower pinata.

We did not purchase the flower pinata. Why did we not purchase the flower pinata that we spent a half hour choosing? Because we saw this on the way out of the store.

And this is what it became:

We loved having our wonderful friends over to celebrate out big, big, big girl's 3rd Birthday.

editors note: the big big big part was demanded in the rewrite to coincide with the new household policy of "I not a baby. I a Big, Big, Big girl." followed by a firm statement that she had to pee, and that Mommy should wait outside the bathroom door for her.

Personal Kryptonite

Everyone has their own personal form of kryptonite. Mine is cilantro. Yes, you read that correctly. I have the unfortunate ability to taste cilantro in the very air if it's in the room and it is the most vile thing in the world. My stomach turns, I break into a sweat, I get all weak and then I have to go dive into something chocolate to forget the horror of it all. I'm not kidding. My friend Vicki makes a to-die-for Hawaiin salsa that I can't get enough of. I thought she was so sweet to make me my own bowl of it, then I found out that the main recipie had cilantro in it... and she's such a great friend that she took out my portion before she added cilantro to the main batch.


I luf her.





Abby's kryptonite is broccoli. David was foolish enough to demand that she try a large piece of it while at a restaurant with other family members. Apparantly the gag reflex is genetic. She lost the broccoli and most of her dinner on the floor immediately.


Evie's kryptonite is her rocking horse. The 70's version that is suspended by the Springs-Of-Death. No one, and I mean no one, is getting on that horse if Evie is around. If you try, she comes at you like.... well, like a 29 pound linebacker with a voice matching the pitch and octave of a smoke alarm.


We all have our limits.

Momentous Occassions

Some big things happened in the past month. Let's recap in chronological order:

1. Abby showed in the 4-H fair.





Even though she was by far the youngest, she still managed to beat the pants off a few kids in every class. Jeepers acquitted himself in his own style. He was so bad in Abby's jumping class that by the time she finally got him to a fence and got him over it, the entire crowd burst into spontaneous cheers. The judge was laughing so hard so hard she had tears in her eyes. Anyway.... I think that was what the tears were from. It might have been horror, I'm not sure.

2. Abby and Jeepers won this years Costume Contest at the fair.

They were Dorothy and Toto from The Wizard of Oz. Abby was Toto. Jeepers was Dorothy.



See how thats funny? The little bastard can buck me off, but I can make him wear a dress, a wig and red sparkly slippers. Of course the joke may be on me, because he seems to enjoy dressing in drag.

3. Evie turned the big 0-3!!

We sent out invitations for the pool party, but this being New England, land of It-Will-Rain-On-Your-Birthday, we put an addendum on her invite that specified Rain or Shine, and just in case people didn't get it in text form, I put Evie in front of the pool in her bathing suit and snorkel while wearing rain boots and holding an umbrella.

Invites with precautions for the illiterate or the very rushed, totally my style.

The party was so much fun, and we had so many of our very favorite people there that it deserves a post of it's own, which will be coming forthwith. ;)

4. Abby started 3rd grade. I remember a few years ago, taking that first "First Day of School" picture. Abby was so little and cute. Now she's all "What-eveh" and has her hair done just so and, did I mention, she got her ears pierced??? Mmm-yeah. 3rd grade. She's gotta wait on the tat though. Like, 30 more years or so.

5. Evie had her Pre-School Orientation. She's very excited because her friend Jayda is in her class. Her pre-school looks amazing and I can't wait to have her really be a part of it. I'm excited to see how she does and how much she learns.

No pictures of it yet, though, cuz I'm waiting until her first day to take official pictures.
But since she's so darn cute, here is a Random Cuteness photo:

"Hey, Tarzan. Yeah. Get me a sippy-cuppa juice, pronto."

Parental Pride Post

Okay, back to the parental pride post that I promised everyone...

Abby scored a 100% on her semester Math test!!!!!! Whoooo-hoooo!!!!!!!! This is a big test, with a lot of hard problems, and my brilliant baby ROCKED it!!



My other little Einstein-in-the-wings is working on her letters (she's only two, so that's just as big an accomplishment) and actually wrote two "A's" that I could recognize easily. She's also starting to recognize two different sight words when we're reading her books at night. My goal? Reading independently by 4.
Here's a picture of her A's.

Things that Penetrated the Foggy Melancholy

The craptastic environment has been getting to me. Everywhere I go, friends are being laid off of work and those that do still have a job are waiting for it to go, too. Everyone is stressed out and mentally hiding away in fuzzy fleece jammies with a stash of Ben&Jerrys and a Cadbury Bar thrown in.

Well, that's where I've been anyway.

So because It's been WAY TOO LONG since I posted, and I have a million wonderful, funny, amusing and just plain interesting things to say, but not the will power to say it, I will leave you all with this:

A list of things that penetrated the foggy haze of my melancholy this past month:



* Evie says "Eyeuvoo, Mommy"
* Abby still let's me hold her close, at least when none of her friends are looking
* David makes the best Alfredo sauce, but gamely tells me how good mine is
* My Mom doesn't remember what I said to her 5 minutes ago, but she can still make the BEST french toast in the whole wide world (is that like muscle memory?)
* Aspen still *floofs* her butt in the air and lolls out her tongue when I say "Who's a Pretty Girl???"
* Jeepers runs past me, into the barn, flings the cover off the grain bin, steals a mouthful and then turns to wisely love me up before I take a pitchfork to his butt
* Abby wants to be an Animal Protector when she grows up. And a Dragon Rider
* Evie checks the 2nd graders' classwork and sagely nods her head if they are doing it right
* Old books are like old friends. You know every word, every story, every nuance, and welcome them each like a new discovery on a well-worn path
* David gave me the warm blanket, even when he could have had it for himself
* Evie looks out her window when she wakes up. I begin our morning litany with "Good Morning..." and she says the thing we're saying good morning to outside of her window. As in, "Good morning, tree. Good morning, snow. Good morning, bushes." Only one recent morning, as we looked out her window and I began by saying "Good Morning...." she piped up with "Og poop." Okay, then. "Good morning Dog Poop." Apparently, that's what she saw when she looked out her window.


So there it is, friends. My motto of the month. "Good Morning, Dog Poop."


Oh, and yes, my butt still hurts. I could never have imagined going over 6 weeks without sitting comfortably. I have no trouble imagining it now.