Happy Momma

October 08, 2009

Madison's Daisy troop visited a local Fire Station at this week's meeting. The girls seemed to have a great time although there was some disappointment that they didn't have a pole to slide down or a fire dog. As Madison's friend Alysse said, "every fire station has to have fire dog!" Although funny, the creepy 6 foot version wasn't the same to them.

Posted by Amy at 01:28 AM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2009

I might be crazy. A little crazy is probably ok considering I have kids, but I have no way to judge my crazy level. Honestly, I'd rather not open that pandora's box anyhow.
After crying myself to sleep for four nights and after realizing all the distractions in the world couldn't get my mind off of Bella and the thoughts that I made a huge mistake, I went back and got her.
Yes, I went there. The shelter sure didn't care, it's not like I dropped her off in the dark of the night like my friend thought I did. I'm crazy, not a coward. I gave them all her paperwork, gave her a dose of her flea Rx that day and explained to them through my sobbing, shoulder shaking cries why I was giving her up. So, I just went back and asked if I could get her back. There's not an ounce of doubt in my mind they judged me as crazy. The lady was super sweet, understanding and wished me good luck. A little of my feelings came from the guilt corner, but most of my feelings came from just missing her. No, the girls don't like her and Mark hasn't changed his mind, she is a pain in the ass dog, but she's my pain in the ass dog. I missed having her here so much. In the end it came down to me believing that it's ok for her to just be my dog, it's ok that she won't be considered our family's dog. I love her, she loves us and she belongs here.
I was so happy to be bringing her home. Sure I thought about the circus that was soon to be our home, but it still felt right.
We now have two kids, two cats, one dog and three fish. The cats are curious about Bella, she's curious about them, but so far Bella just tucks her tail as they run around corners teasing her. There have been a couple hisses from the cats as they smell her out, but Bella is handling it like a champ.
Mark is handling it like a champ too. He seems to be ok with my level of crazy.
I fell asleep at 9:30 last night and didn't wake up until 6am! As I said before, everything felt right again.

Posted by Amy at 07:34 AM | Comments (2)

October 05, 2009

The girls are absolutely in love with their new furry friends! Madison didn't want to go to school today because she was going to miss Daisy. They both got to sleep with them again last night, but after two mornings of the girls waking up at 5:30 I don't see that lasting long.
Daisy is missing Madison as well. The last picture is her waiting on Madison's bed for her while she's at school. Both girls got lots of cuddles with them yesterday and Madison thinks it's so cool that Daisy will listen to her nightly reading.
Aside from the early morning cat alarms, the two buggers are great. I know it's only our third day, but it seems that the cats personalities match up well with the girls too. Chloe's cat Dewey is fiesty, likes to play and chase things while Madison's cat Daisy, is the cuddle bug and wants to do a whole lotta nothing! The picture of Chloe laying on the couch with the cat is actually Madison's cat. The one of Chloe sitting on the floor petting a cat is her Dewey boy. Dewey is also a fan of hiding behind corners and attacking my feet as I walk out of a room. It's so funny. He does know how to cuddle though as he's been curled up in my lap since I started writing this post.

Posted by Amy at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)

October 04, 2009

There’s been a big change in our family this weekend. After a year of having Bella, I decided to take her back to the pound Friday. If everyone was honest I was really the only one who liked her in the end. Which was apparent after I was the only one who cried. She was a good dog, a great dog for me really, but she just wasn’t good with kids or even groups of people. Her energy rarely ran out and the kids just didn’t ever grow to like her. They (Mark included) liked the idea of her, but not Bella herself. When everyone was gone for the day she was just a normal dog for me. Followed me around, laid at my feet under the table, sat outside under a tree while I did yardwork, rolled over for belly lovin’s and did everything I think a dog should do. She was a different animal for the girls though and visitors. She never scratched or bit them out of meanness, but she was still always scratching and biting them and after a year of having her, the girls still didn’t have any kind of bond with her. When I told them I gave her to another family (yes, another lie in my mommy life) they both cried for a total of maybe two minutes. They both were sad about how much I was crying though and after dinner Friday presented me with two cards saying how sorry they were. But when they went running around the house playing and being kids they weren’t sorry at all to not have Bella biting their hands and scratching their legs. They weren’t sorry to be able to leave their bedroom doors open while they played without worrying about their squeals driving Bella crazy.
As hard as Friday afternoon was for me, I really do know it was the best for the whole family and I know there is a dog out there perfect for all four of us. We’ll find her someday.

On our way home Saturday from a birthday party Chloe went to, the girls and I headed to the pound (a different one) to look at cats. I’m more of a dog person, but I certainly find cats adorable, and after the last year fiasco with Bella I have come to realize the girls personalities are more suited for cats or maybe just an old dog who wants to lay around all day and be loved. I’m a little gun-shy so to speak about bringing home another dog just yet though. They want a playful friend who will also cuddle. The animal’s size may have something to do with it too since the girls aren’t rough and really hated when Bella ran into them knocking them down.
So, after taking a few kittens out of their crates and testing their personalities, the girls fell in love with not just one, but two kittens. They are 5 months old, brother and sister, and they are the most adorable and funny little creatures. They have already accomplished many things including distracting my sad thoughts, making us all laugh with their crazy little antics and as far as cats go, these two are really great. They’re already litter trained, they get along so great with each other, they loved the girls instantly and I hate to admit it, but I can see the girls have more of a connection with them in one evening than they had with Bella after a year. They are so in love!

The girls slept together last night and when Mark went in to check on them, he found both kittens sleeping by Madison. Madison has claimed the girl and named her Daisy (Madison is a Daisy girl scout) and Chloe happily claimed the boy and named him Dewey. She has always liked my parents cats and one of them is named Dewey.

I still miss my Bella girl very much but it was sure great to wake up this morning to these little cuties playing with each other and then purring in my lap.

Posted by Amy at 06:33 AM | Comments (0)

October 01, 2009

We've had a fantastic weather week! Lows around 50 and high's were at 80. Being able to have the house open and fresh air blowing through encouraged me to get the bed sheets washed, refresh the patio plants and do some general Spring cleaning in the Fall.
I'm waiting for that really windy day though when I can open a few key windows and all those hidden clumps of dog hair will come out of their hiding places. I'm not in the mood to go searching.
Our patio is my favorite place in the house. On Tuesday afternoon we were outside from the minute I got home with the girls until it was time for bath. We played out there, we cooked out there, we ate out there and then we played again. Actually after I got home from volunteering Tuesday morning I was out in the yard until I left to pick up the munchkins. I really do love being in the yard, planting and generally fiddling around out there. I've come to believe our house can never have enough wind chimes or bird stuff. It's so big out back and I still see so much potential! Thankfully Mark has a very easy-going personality. Madison is becoming my little nature appreciation girl. She's starting to pick up caterpillars, even daddy long leg spiders, and when we can't find her, she's on the patio "watching nature" as she says. Both girls love the bird/butterfly garden we did.

Since the plants in there are all new, it's not that filled in, but next summer....look out! The birds already go nuts over there and I have yet to look over there and not see butterflies flitting around. Well, I should take that back. I was out on the patio at 4:30 this morning having my coffee and I didn't see any.

Madison is enjoying school a lot more this past few days. Her class however has gone through a lot of changes for little guys. The original teacher, as you know, went out for maternity leave. Then they had a sub that was supposed to be there for the 6 week duration, but she was offered a full time permanent position at a different school, so her last day was last Friday. No loss at all in my book. I don't usually like to judge teachers because they have a very tough job and honestly I've never walked in their shoes, but I judged her as terrible for teaching a first grade class. She'd be better suited for high school, or maybe a prison guard. A new sub started this Monday and she is fantastic! She is so much like the original teacher and the kids warmed up to her almost immediately. She has a son in first grade and she doesn't take her job too seriously. I think that's very important if you're teaching 6 and 7 year olds. Have fun people!
I know I'm her mom and I'm biased, but Madison is really a good girl in school. At home is a different story, and a different Madison, but at school, she's a serious little student and a smart little peanut. The first day the new sub was shadowing the old sub was last Thursday and I was there volunteering. She came up to me and commented on how helpful Madison is and what a great reader she is. I didn't care what she said, I cared that in one day she seemed more observant than the other sub did in 3 weeks.
Madison is doing much better this week and I'm looking forward to going in to volunteer today since I won't feel like I'm walking on egg shells with the drill sergeant.

My girls are becoming little divas too. Both girls love looking pretty, having hair accessories and wearing jewelry. Madison is a lazy fasionista though. She won't pick out the outfit but she wants me to make her look cute. Chloe on the other hand not only tells me what she wants to wear, but she always matches quite well. She'll search her drawer until she finds socks that match her shirt and she'll only wear the shoes that look good with whatever she's wearing, even if it's just shorts and a t-shirt, her shoes matter to her.

Chloe wanted to wear this hair scarf thing and would not leave the house until I found the missing dress that it went with. I had a different outfit picked out that went just fine with the scarf, but nooooo, it had a specific dress and it had to be found. Thankfully Madison saw it a few weeks back hanging in the extra closet in Chloe's room. Right now that closet is storage and a few random dresses are hanging in there, but I have a feeling Chloe is going to want to claim both closets as she gets older.

Well, I'm off for another morning of fun at Madison's school and then groceries and cleaning. The cooler weather has me inviting people over again so Madison's teacher is bringing over her new little girl tomorrow for a playdate and Saturday we're having a cookout with my friends Melissa and Wendy and their families.
Good stuff!

Posted by Amy at 05:42 AM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2009

Madison was a very happy girl yesterday. It was Friday, no homework and Nonny was with me picking her up from school. My mom came down for the day just to hang out, do some sewing and just be in new surroundings for a bit. We had a very relaxing day and I always enjoy her company. We've had a ton of rain around here and not being able to go out in the yard this week has taken away a list of to-do's for me and made me a bit stir crazy. This was our yard Thursday evening.

It's all gone down now and while the yard is still a bit messy from it all, I'm hoping we can go out there today for the girls to play.
Madison's class missed outside recess everyday this week except Friday because of the rain. One day it was taken away all together, meaning they couldn't play in the room or watch PBS Kids during the recess block, because the class had it taken away. I swore to myself I was going to leave her teacher alone during the maternity leave, but on Tuesday when I saw her in the parking lot picking up her other daughter from school I found myself complaining about the substitute's recess punishment deal. As soon as the words left my mouth I wished I hadn't said it, but her teacher was surprised and on Friday (when the rain finally stopped) only a few kids had to sit out recess for acting up rather than the whole class. Her teacher had come in to see the sub on Thursday and Friday so I'm assuming something was said to her. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? Well, I squeaked.
So, between finally getting to run around outside at school, knowing the weekend was here and she didn't have to write for two days and then seeing her Nonny in the car at parent pick up, Madison was having a fantastic afternoon yesterday!

And as for Chloe bear she's pretty much always having a good day. She has the occasional fit, but life is still really sweet in her world. She did however break down when Nonny was leaving. She cried and cried and wouldn't let go of Nonny's neck. We worked through it and reminding her of our Friday night movie and popcorn deal helped.
Mark works DUI checkpoints just about every Friday night so we have a girls night cuddled up together watching a movie and pigging out on popcorn. We all love it!

We got Chloe's room done last week, here’s her room all put together with new yellow walls and blue bedding and curtains.

It took me the entire week to put their rooms back together. I pulled out every toy, book, game, puzzle and stuffed animal they own and put everything back with the right box, the right pieces and in the right room. I feel like all I do is look for things for them and hopefully for at least two weeks they can find their own crap in their own rooms! I’d like it to last longer, but I’m not stupid.

Here’s Maddy’s room put back together and everything put away. I think I took the pictures just to prove how it can look and remind myself of all the hard work I once did.

On Wednesday we painted our bathroom. Here’s the before with the same dull gray the whole house was built with

here’s the after picture

I took that picture before all the chocolate colored accents were added. Like a rug, towels and shelving. The curtain will be a dark brown too, but I haven't found the material that screams out at me yet.
It was bit lighter of a green than I thought it would be, but Mark likes it and it’s growing on me.

So, we've stayed busy the past two weeks powering through all the rainy days, Madison got an excellent progress report and as silly as it sounds, football season started! I love Sunday football and the feeling of lounging around all day smelling the pot roast or other yummy lazy day meal in the oven.

I love that family time!

Posted by Amy at 06:25 AM | Comments (0)

September 16, 2009

This is proving to be a tough year for Madison. She doesn't like first grade. At all. She would probably say 'hate' if that word were popular in her vocabulary, but up until now she just tells me how terrible her days are and how much she doesn't like school.
I've had to make many adjustments to our conversations and routine and we still don't have a good groove.
Her only complaint is all the work they have to do. I'm happy it's only one complaint, but it's enough to influence her feeling about school in general. She's tired of writing, tired of thinking, misses recess and loathes homework. I now loathe homework time. They still have recess, but only once a day instead of the twice they had in Kindergarten. And now that her teacher is out for maternity leave, the substitute takes away recess from the whole class if they act up, it doesn't matter who the offenders are, everyone gets punished.
I think that's wrong.
She actually came home today with a blister on her thumb from writing so much today. Granted, she does hold her pencil really tight, but c'mon! She said they were handed a big packet of worksheets in reading and spent the whole time writing sentences. I'm sure I've mentioned in the past how much she can't stand writing either. I've come to not care about her penmanship grade. As long as she can tell me she's trying then I'm not going to put any pressure on her about it.
I'm very grateful she doesn't have to struggle when it comes to finishing her work and I'm glad she's starting to enjoy reading more. But, her lesson of "life ain't easy" is coming along a lot faster than I thought it would. Volunteering at the school three days a week helps me get an idea of what she goes through and I can be more sympathetic about it. We've taken away her chores, she doesn't get her allowance either, but she's a bit happier not having a list of things to do each week too. She still offers to help around the house here and there, but I think it's different for her when it can be on her terms. She's only six so I'm very ok with that. After her homework is done she can pretty much do anything she pleases. Xbox, tv, play outside, movie, whatever. Some may think she's getting off easy or something, but I can see how much they do in class, I can see how it's stressful to her and she gets outstanding marks on her work (again, sans the penmanship grade), so I feel we're just letting her be a kid for as long as she can. She's going to have to grow up so fast anyway and so far she thinks it sucks.
My word, not hers.
For the most part, I agree with her completely.

On a slightly different note, I am loving my volunteering jobs this year. I go in Mondays and do pullout reading groups for Kindergarten. There are six classes and I pull out about 6 kids at a time from each class to teach some reading comprehension and small group work. I work with the high groups first and then go back around to each class and pull out another 6 kids (average) at a time for the medium/high level.
On Tuesdays I run the Sunshine Math for Kindergarten. Which is an enrichment program to teach kids problem-solving skills as well as critical and creative thinking. Again, I pull out a small group of kids from each class and work with them.
Then, on Thursdays I work with First Grade doing their fluency testing and helping individual kids when needed so they get some one-on-one reading and writing help.
I enjoyed volunteering last year, but this year I feel I'm being given more substantial tasks and I love it!

And, like I said before, being involved in the school helps me have a very good idea of what Maddy deals with and I like having the first-hand knowledge on some things that I wouldn't have otherwise.
It doesn't change what she goes through and it doesn't change how she feels about school, but it helps me be more sympathetic.

Posted by Amy at 04:55 PM | Comments (1)

September 13, 2009

We went to a Kenny Chesney concert on Friday night and what fun we had!! I had the pleasure of reaping one of the few benefits of living in a small town. This area is all about who you know, and while we started out with nosebleed seats that made me nauseous to look down, we ended up with GREAT seats! We ended up with VIP armbands, on the floor touching the stage! It was such a great night. We met another couple for dinner before heading to the concert and had no idea the night was going to be so amazing. Miranda Lambert was the opener and she was awesome, but Kenny is one cool performer. He sang 23 songs (at the end of the show the stage guy gave me the song list that was taped to the floor for Kenny) and the whole concert was 4 hours long! My feet were killing me, I had a pinched nerve in my back, my eyes burned so bad I was ready to rip my contacts out and go blind, a kink in my neck from looking up at him and it was ALL WORTH IT!!

Yes, I'm the dork who has to take a picture of her hand touching the stage!

The girl with us took this picture of Kenny's backside and I'm so glad she did!

Kenny and Miranda singing a song near the end

Posted by Amy at 07:26 PM | Comments (0)

September 10, 2009

We started painting Chloe's room yesterday and we're trying to get it finished as fast as we can. The girls had to sleep together last night and that made it interesting. Chloe kept talking, Madison kept getting mad. 9:30 was the last time Madison came out mad at me for Chloe having to sleep in there. I went in again to talk to Chloe and she was hiding under her blanket making very loud snoring noises. She's quite a character, but I wasn't in a funny mood considering they went to bed at 8:00. After I told her I would need to take her 15 or so stuffed animals away if I came in again, she finally fell asleep. But, I heard them across the house at 6:20 this morning giggling and talking so I'm guessing Madison paid her back for keeping her up late. Madison is my early to rise girl and Chloe is not.
Anyway, back to the room. Three years we've lived here and we've never painted her room. I tried one day with some leftover pink on a roller and she pitched a hissy fit. She threw herself down and cried about her room having to be blue. Blue! Of all the colors she could pick, that one has been her favorite. A year and a half later, pink patch still on one wall, we finally compromised with blue bedding and curtains, but soft yellow walls. We're both happy.
I just finished repainting the baseboards and will be putting the outlet covers and shelving things back on the walls this afternoon.
Madison will be happy to have her bedroom back to herself tonight and Chloe will be cuddled up in her new blue sheets.

Next up is our bathroom. Another room that has never been touched, but that will change soon!

Posted by Amy at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)

September 08, 2009

We had a fantastic weekend. Saturday evening we walked down to a neighbor's house for a cookout and had a ton of fun. It was my friend Wendy's house and one of her sons is Joey...the Joey that kisses Chloe. We sat around the kitchen table and talked the evening away. It was great! And I'm pretty sure there wasn't any kissing between the two sweetie pies.

Sunday I went out for lunch and shopping with my mom and my sister for my moms birthday. I'll admit I didn't look all that swell, at first my mom thought I was sick and she became all mommy-esque until she found out I was just hungover. She took all of her sympathy away and pretty much told me to suck it up. I did, and we had fun. While I was out I got some paint for Chloe's room and our bathroom. Neither of those rooms have been touched (in a decorating way) since we moved in and it's about time I make them look pretty! Mark was very annoyed with my purchasing choices. He told me to go out for myself, buy things for me and have fun. Well, I had fun, but when I came home with 3 cans of paint, two plants, a potato brush, a lamp, some clothes for Madison and only one shirt for myself, he told me I failed. I guess I did, but I got things that make me happy!
That should count for something.

Sunday night Mark worked another security thing and didn't get home until 7:30 Monday morning. When he woke up we spent the rest of the day in the yard. We did some little things like watering and mulching, but really we hung out under the umbrella with a cold beer and talked about how wonderful our life is. The girls played in the sand, did some swinging, colored on the patio table and chowed down on some yummy afternoon snacks. We grilled some wings for dinner and ate that on the patio as well. The weather was pretty pleasant all day and I'm so excited for the cooler weather!!

Today I volunteered at Madison's school, tonight I'll be carpooling for girl scouts and tomorrow I start painting Chloe's room.
I have a sneaky suspicion that the weekend will be here again before I know it.

Posted by Amy at 01:22 PM | Comments (0)

September 04, 2009

I didn't volunteer today but instead decided to get some plants for a new bird/butterfly garden I'm doing in the backyard. I like seeing birds having fun, splashing, eating and all, but I don't want them near my patio since they leave unpleasant gifts on my chairs. So, I decided to try and make them a place of their own.
It's pretty big and will take a while to perfect, but I think it's going to look fabulous!
I didn't have all that much time before I had to go get Chloe, but it was apparently enough to tire me out since I fell asleep on the couch with her while she watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
After lunch I put her down for nap and headed outside again. I hadn't planned to work more since I already showered, but I got wrapped up in stuff and before I knew it I was drenched in sweat once again. I so enjoy being outside with plants and making things pretty!
Anyway, I have two bird baths and three feeders in the garden and I just put a water feature in there with running water to attract the birds. One of my favorite things is how birds can hear when I fill the bird baths and once I walk back to the house they're flying in for the fun! So the water feature ought to do the trick.
I've put a bunch of butterfly friendly plants in there too.
The weather is getting a bit more tolerable, but it's not quite enjoyable. I'm hoping to get the yard all pretty again in the next two weeks so we can fully enjoy the backyard and have some more cookouts once the weather turns a bit cooler.

I must be off to wake up Chloe and pick up Madison. She had picture day today and felt very fabulous herself all dolled up and wearing her pearls again. I'm looking forward to hearing about her day and she already told me this morning she's looking forward to the weekend! With those factors I'm crossing my fingers she's in a pleasant mood. Mark has another DUI checkpoint tonight and I really want it to be a good night here at the homefront.

Posted by Amy at 02:42 PM | Comments (1)

September 03, 2009

Up until yesterday I had a very tough week where not only did I not appreciate being a stay at home mom, but most nights I went to bed grumpy about how much the day sucked.
Mark was working a crazy schedule this week between DUI checkpoints, night security for FPL, and his regular crazy days so I had a lot of single mom things to accomplish. I didn't do all that much more than normal, but just having the feeling of doing it alone made a difference. There's something about going through the nighttime routine of shutting down the house, turning off the lights, checking the locks and crawling into bed alone that can really drag me down.
When I picked up Madison from school yesterday she didn't even say hi before asking if daddy was home. When I said yes she then asked if he was awake. That would actually be a very important question since when he does DUI checkpoints and the security for FPL, he sleeps when he can. The girls were very happy to hear he was home and awake and would be playing xbox with them after dinner! I was happy to have my partner again! Just having someone else to answer the whole slew of questions the kids have is relief enough. That means I don't have to have my ears open all the time while my mind wanders.
It happens a lot.
After the kids went to bed last night we sat on the couch with me reading my book while he watched a movie.
It was completely unromantic and yet absolutely wonderful.

Anyway, today I volunteered again at Madison's school. I was there Monday and Tuesday with the Kindergarten classes, but today I did fluency testing for two of the first grade classes. It's so very cool to see how far these kids have come since the reading groups last year. I'm looking forward to the same thing with the new little ones in Kindergarten this year!

I left there just before lunch to go pick up Chloe and I had that peaceful feeling I've talked about in the past. Things were going great today, Mark would be home for dinner, I was about to get some great Chloe cuddles and I knew I had time to get groceries while the girls would be at dance later in the evening.

Madison has finished her homework, I'm listening to Mark and the girls play xbox and I'm about to make a pizza since it's dance night.
Today was overdue and much better than the previous few have been.

Posted by Amy at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)

August 27, 2009

Madison thinks she has a boyfriend.
Chloe said her best friend Joey kissed her on the cheek.
I think I'm getting gray hair by the minute.
And Mark thinks it's all crap.

Madison liked boys last year. The same way she liked girls. They were fun and she liked to play on the playground with them.
Tuesday she got in the car from school and woah! something was different. I could tell immediately so I turned the mirror so I could look at her face. She was looking out the window with this isn't-he-dreamy expression and a goofy grin she couldn't control. "Mommy", she said, "I think I really like Brandon. I get all nervous in my stomach when we talk and he's so nice".
Ummmm, hold up. What happend to The Wiggles, ponytails, and spilling your drinks on the floor? The last 6 years just screamed through my mind and my little girl was instantly not acting her age.
I tried what I could to talk to her about having boys as friends too, about how many nice kids are in her class, I even pulled out the don't you think you're too young card. It wasn't working.
In her mind, she's in love. She asked me how I knew Daddy was going to be my husband. She asked me how she will know if Brandon is her boyfriend.
My mind was racing around. Seriously...hold up a damn minute! We're not even home from school yet.
Chloe then decided to chime in that Joey kissed her!
Good Lord children!! What is your problem?
I had to stop talking. I couldn't digest it all and the subject needed to change quickly.

Madison got in the car yesterday from school and after I asked her how school was she told me she didn't have a chance to tell Brandon he was her boyfriend. I said, "k, I was talking more along the lines of how was class, any new spelling words, but ok, let's talk about this Brandon thing more". Lovely.
I explained to her that boyfriends come along a little later in life and she should just consider Brandon a really good friend that she likes being with. I highly suggested she not try telling him he's her boyfriend or he might get embarassed and maybe even laugh.
Yeah, that may have been a cheap shot, but I really don't want to see her get hurt and embarassed if this whole thing goes south. She asked why he would laugh and again, I took a really cheap shot. All I could come up with is "sometimes boys are silly, he may not know what to say, so he'll just laugh".
This whole conversation was not what I would call a shining moment in my parenting life, but I think I was sucker punched with this topic from my 6 year old.

I thought all was well until Mark came home from work and almost the first thing out of Madison's mouth was "Brandon's my boyfriend Daddy".
I'm done. I think I have to let this thing run it's course and just listen to her when she wants to talk about it.
She honestly thinks she's in love.
I honestly think it makes me sick to my stomach.

Posted by Amy at 09:46 AM | Comments (2)

August 26, 2009

The girls are doing great in school and we're thriving off a schedule for the family. I really do love being able to have us all together around the dinner table and most mornings we're eating breakfast together too. I made the girls eggs and bacon Monday morning and it didn't go well at all. You would have thought I opened up a week old garbage bag, scooped out whatever I could reach first and plopped it on their plates. Their reaction was rediculous considering they both like eggs and bacon...they just are too used to having it for dinner and not for actual breakfast. I guess that's my fault. I always enjoyed the breakfast-for-dinner deal when I was growing up.
Yesterday morning I did the same, but just for Mark and myself. Ohhhhh, that got their attention! What's this? Mommy's just serving us crappy old cereal and they get the good stuff!
Maddy immediately changed her mind and Chloe very hesitantly stuck with the cereal.
Dinner was interesting last night as well. It was baked chicken breasts, corn, noodles and gravy. They both were full of so many compliments I finally asked Mark if he was paying them. Nope.
You're a rock star mom! This is awesome. This chicken really is the best mom.
Seriously, did you say something to them before dinner? Nope.
Of course the night before they had vegetable soup with beef and crab meat in it which earned another inquiry about the garbage bags outside and literally took Chloe 45 minutes to finish one bowl.
So, my theory is they may have just appreciated what they weren't served more than they were appreciating the chicken and corn deal. Regardless, last night was one for the record books.

I got a call yesterday from Madison's teacher that it was P.E. day and if I was able to, Madison would like me to bring her some tennis shoes. They have a very confusing special area schedule and they get marked off if they're not wearing tennis shoes for P.E. Her teacher said she probably wouldn't be marked off because she still had on closed-toe shoes, but Madison just asked her if she would call me anyway. Thankfully her teacher is a sweet heart and very understanding to the concerns kids have. I brought her some shoes and shorts by (she had on a skirt too) and was quite surprised to see how many of my reading group friends from last year are in her class. So many kids were coming up to hug me there ended up being a line waiting to say hi. It was so incredibly sweet and I was really happy to see how many wonderful kids are in Madison's class. And I realized I miss volunteering there. I'm waiting for my background check to get approved and then I'll be back doing reading groups for the Kindergarten classes hopefully.

The girls started dance last week. Madison is taking a tap/hip hop combo class and Chloe is taking a tap/ballet combo class. Chloe was thrilled to finally be doing dance and Madison was just plain nervous. Happy, but nervous. They started off fast and furious learning a routine the first night (which was one of three parent observation nights) and she did pretty good. I had a terrible seat and they were moving really fast so I only got one good picture and you can’t even see her face!
Chloe’s class was MUCH smaller so I was able to get some better pictures there.

Posted by Amy at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

August 17, 2009

First full week of school starts today. We had a busy weekend with Marks parents here and my Grandma's 80th birthday party. The party was at my mom and dads and I was able to see 2 of my cousins again and my aunt and uncle. I just saw them all in June too and to see them once in two years is good, so this has been great!
We woke up this morning to a lot of rain from Claudette, but we can handle rain. I actually woke up to it at 3am and never did go back to sleep. Things like that will be one of the down sides to Chloe only being in school until 11:30. I could really see myself cuddling up in bed listening to the rain and napping the day away, but not with school schedules.
Madison headed off to school with a really loose tooth and the weirdest feeling came over me. She lost her first tooth here at the house and I guess I took it for granted because thinking about her losing her second tooth at school made me jealous of her teacher! How weird is that? I want to see her face when it comes out and help her clean her mouth and do the mommy stuff. Her other tooth is already fully in behind it and making her mouth uncomfortable since she also got two of her molars in this summer. I'm excited to see her face when she tells me it came out anyway. I love how her barely there eye brows go way up and her eyes get great big when she has something exciting to tell me!
Chloe has a new friend at school named Lily. I heard about Lily on the first day and when we were walking up the sidewalk this morning Lily's dad said he was looking forward to meeting Chloe because they heard about her all weekend. And living in such a small town I already kind of know her mom. One of my friends is Lily's neighbor and they are good family friends. There is no such thing as six degrees of separation in this county. The human web here is MUCH smaller. I'm still not comfortable enough here to consider that a good thing.
It's great when I need to know something about someone, not so much when I consider others are returning the favor.

I'm going to try to rest a bit before picking up Chloe and hopefully she'll be ready to nap after lunch too. I should probably set an alarm so I'm not late for Madison though. My eyes are burning and I'm really feeling the effects of not sleeping well last night.

Posted by Amy at 10:09 AM | Comments (1)

August 13, 2009

What a day! Both girls started school this morning. 1/2 day for Madison which meant I picked her up at 1:15, but Chloe was an 11:30 pick up so needless to say, my morning was gone before I knew it. I was able to pressure wash the patio, put some BBQ in the crockpot for dinner tonight, some Tortillia Chicken soup in another crockpot for the freezer and update the blog with Disney picks. I was almost late to get Chloe.
Chloe and I came home for lunch, then headed out for Madison. Picked her up and headed into town for her tap shoes for next week, and her dentist appointment. I have been calling for two weeks to see if they've had cancellations so I could get Chloe in at the same time, but alas, everybody was keeping their appointments and thus frustrating me. We went in, I asked one last time when I signed in Madison and YAY they had someone on the phone who was cancelling their afternoon time. That couldn't have worked out better!
No cavities for either girl again!! I know one day it will happen and I won't be able to brag, but until that day happens I'm going to shout it from the hilltops that I'm so proud of my girls!! I have terrible teeth and so help me....I will act like a drill sergeant if I have to when it comes to their teeth. I don't want them going through what I do. They made sure to remind me again that both girls will need braces and Madison may even need some teeth extracted within the year.

Well, on to school. Chloe's morning was identical to last year. Same school, same four teachers she's in love with and I picked her up as dirty as I did every day last year. Two new bruises, covered in sand and dirty new school shoes. She talked about their prayer before class and lunch being for God and about her crazy new friend Lilly. She said she missed me, but had a lot of fun.
Madison had a GREAT day! She is completely smitten with her teacher and has talked non-stop about her. I have to admit, if I didn't know her teacher I would say she's full of bull with how much she says she enjoys teaching and how special the kids are and how much she was looking forward to school starting again. She really is a very special lady and I couldn't be happier that Madison is in her class this year. Madison already got 3 gold coins today for good behavior (she trades those in for rewards), ran an errand to the office (Mrs. C told me this morning Madison was going to be her assistant), she read the three sentences on the board and according to Mrs. C's email to me shocked her with well she read, and she got to lead the class in the A Too Tee tah song. She really hasn't stopped talking about her day.
It's been a great day for my girls and that means I'm smiling this evening.
Life is great.

There's a mirror on that wall there and I thought it was so cute that they couldn't stop looking at themselves.

Posted by Amy at 06:12 PM | Comments (0)

We're back from Chloe's birthday trip...have been since Monday, just been busy with back to school stuff. Both girls started this morning and I'll post those pics later.

Again, had a fantastic time. Here are the highlights.

The girls cooling off at the dinosaur dig at Animal Kingdom

First of many fits. I just love this phase.

Girls on the carousel

Madison jamming to her ipod on the bus.

Prince Caspian at Hollywood Studios

We did the Belle storytime for the first time ever and it was so cute

The girls got picked to be in the show

Madison doing her latest diva pose

Disney's latest street party Celebrate It!

Dancing with Donald. They gave all their attention to Chloe and I can't begin to tell you how often Madison is overshadowed when the girls are together. We just try to remind Madison of all the things she gets to do because she's the big sister. It's very difficult for Madison.

Big hug for Chloe before he gets back on the float

Chloe's birthday dinner at Chef Mickey's. So fun!!

While we did have a great time, we won't do the back to back trips again. Not to mention the heat and crowds that the summer brings. We had about 48 hours to get ready for school starting, hair cuts, open house on Tuesday and Wednesday and they both went to school this morning. I'm tired still from the trip and I pick up Chloe today at 11:30, Madison at 1:15, then Madison has a dentist appointment at 3pm and I'm hoping to get some cleaning done before Mark's parents come in this weekend. The house has really never looked so rough. The busy summer has taken it's toll and I have a lot of catching up to do!

Posted by Amy at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

August 03, 2009

We got our first cantaloupe out of the garden this evening. It's so cool! Our watermelons are almost ready too.
And I need to look up pumpkins tonight and see if it's too late to plant them. They would probably be ready for Thanksgiving time, but I think I've missed Halloween. Some of the bigger things like that take almost 2 and a half months. But, I'll look it up for sure.
Anyway, wanted to share the pics.

Posted by Amy at 07:33 PM | Comments (1)

August 01, 2009

It's been a very slow week for me. The biggest thing I did was go to my parents on Wednesday to celebrate the girls birthday. Mom made them each a cake and my sister, her husband and the girls came out to celebrate too.
That night Mark, quite on a whim, drove the girls to Destin (almost 3 hours away) to visit with his sister, her husband and their boys. They stayed there for two nights with them at the beach house and the girls finally had a chance to play at the beach.
I was going to go until Mark got off the phone with them and we remembered we had a dog. Plenty of people would have watched her, but we hadn't planned this and it was already almost 9 at night.
Oh well. I was bummed, but I did get to enjoy almost two very quiet days. Mark got a full dose of driving with the girls alone and being their one and only for two days. He was EXHAUSTED when he got home.
I however made some soap and lip gloss, read a book, watched a couple old movies on tv and generally chilled. It was fabulous.
They're all back now, Mark's working this weekend and I just put two loaves of zucchini cinnamon bread in the oven.
The house smells fantastic! It's Madison's favorite and we ran out last week. The zucchini comes from my parent's garden so that adds to the enjoyment factor for her.
Anyway, this has been a very quiet week. School starts in 12 days though! Before that we're going to Disney for Chloe's birthday then both girls have their open house for school.
I think we're all ready for the change. The relaxing is very nice, but I think they're getting a little stir-crazy as the end of the summer nears.
Well, it's time to get dinner started.
Ta ta

Posted by Amy at 04:49 PM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2009

This morning Madison and I made some donuts out of refrigerated biscuits. It's something my mom used to do and Madison is now in love with the idea. The oil is of course too hot, so I cooked them and Madison sprinkled the cinnamon-sugar on them. Chloe was still sleeping when we started so she'll probably help next time.
After breakfast I took Madison out for some back to school shopping. She was so excited! I have to admit, I was looking forward to it too. We finished off her class supply list first then went to try on shoes. She got a new pair of sneakers and one Mary Jane style pair. After that we went to find some outfits. Up until this morning I've always just bought clothes and returned them if they didn't fit, but she's been begging me to let her try them on in the dressing room so today seemed like the perfect opportunity.
After we found some outfits we took a break for a pretzel and icee where she told me how much she likes spending time alone with me.
I can appreciate that feeling.
And I hope I'm always able to do it with both girls.
After eating she tried on her outfits, which she will learn is a big no-no when you get older. Even though the consumed food may not change how clothes fit immediately, it will definitely be considered when shorts that should fit, don't anymore. That pretzel is just one more thing to feel guilty about. That pretzel will make you want to go home immediately and get on the treadmill. Or maybe open up the Ben & Jerry's. Or both. Whatever, to each his own.
But I digress, I may be feeling guilty or something.
Anyway, all of her outfit selections fit so we then headed over to the hair stuff for some matching barrettes and head bands then finished it off with a new back pack and lunch box.
She's all set and very excited to see some of her friends again.

As for me, I got on the treadmill after we got home.

I opened up the Ben & Jerry's 2 hours later.

Dammit.

Posted by Amy at 02:11 PM | Comments (1)

July 25, 2009

Last night was nice, but it went by too quickly. Mark worked the night shift and then a DUI checkpoint on top of that so he wasn't home until 3am. Well, that's when he was due home, honestly I have no idea what time he got home because I may have learned I can sleep in, but I've yet to make it past 11pm when going to bed. I remember him coming home, I think I mumbled to him, but I didn't fully wake up.
I thought about planning something for my last night, maybe going to a movie, having some friends over, or something else but decided in the end to just have a quiet night alone. I did some laundry, framed some pictures, looked through some craft books for holiday inspiration and generally relaxed.
We had a couple very cool mornings this week, low 60's for about an hour before quickly climbing to 90, but it was still nice. The crisp air was a stark reminder that fall is just around the corner and cool weather like that just makes me happy. Growing up in Southwest Florida I really didn't experience seasons unless it was ant season, love bug season or hurricane season. Sure I'm only 5 hours north of there now, but the weather can be very different at times.
Anyway, maybe it was the much needed alone time, maybe it was the cooler weather, maybe it was getting things done but something made me feel very grounded and I had that overwhelming "life is great" feeling last night. I actually feel that way pretty often and realize how very blessed I am, but last night I was able to consider the feeling for more than three seconds.
I headed to bed feeling relaxed, said a prayer for my babies, one for Mark's safety and then drifted off into peaceful dreams.
I woke up at 7:30 this morning and just smiled.
Life is great.

I'm mowing the lawn this morning while Mark catches up on his sleep and then I'll head out to pick up the girls. I miss them. I, of course, welcome the break with open arms, but it's been really quiet around here and I need my Maddy hugs and Chloe cuddles.

Posted by Amy at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)

July 24, 2009

What a relaxing time we've had. I found out this morning that I actually can sleep in!! I didn't wake up until 9:48 this morning and I thought for sure the clock was wrong. Mark goes back to work today, but not until this afternoon so he was able to enjoy the extra sleep as well.
I'm kind of snapping myself back in reality today though. This is my last night and I want to get the laundry and some house cleaning done before the girls get back. My goal is to clean out both girls rooms of all those little things they like to collect. You know all those birthday party favors, scraps of paper, broken crayons, old school work, etc, etc. As much as I would love to get rid of Madison's leaf collection, I'll hold myself to just removing it from her underwear drawer. She tried collecting love bugs this past spring and actually did until I found the first two in the bathroom. She couldn't understand how they got out of her room where she told them to stay.
That girl's a bit odd sometimes.
Anyway, I'm off to soak up more quiet time.

Posted by Amy at 11:36 AM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2009

After dropping the girls off at my parents yesterday we went to go see the latest Harry Potter movie. We're fans of the series, but were disappointed with the movie. It just seemed really slow at times and at the end left us saying "that's it?". We know from past movies that they have to leave a lot out in order to fit it into a movie but this one just seemed to leave out way more than what was in the book. We've heard they're making the last book into two movies and I'm sure that will help, but being fans we're a bit anxious to have to wait another year for the next movie when this latest one left us feeling so disappointed.
After seeing the movie we went to dinner and tried a new restaurant. I'm really not a fan of trying new restaurants. I know every so often it's nice for a change, but I wish we hadn't wasted one of our date nights on such a crappy place. The beer was warm, the food was average, the bathrooms were gross and the prices were like we were eating in New York. Not at all what we heard about the place, but we'll never listen to "that guy" and his judgement again.
Even though dinner and the movie disappointed me it sure didn't take away from my overall feeling for the day.
Freedom.
I feel so lucky to be able to drop the girls off at my parents for a few nights. Knowing how much fun the girls have when they're there and the fact that they'll be following the same rules they follow here makes me be able to take full advantage of the break.
It won't matter what we do during these days, it's really more about what we don't have to do that makes it so relaxing.
Today we're going to stay in our pajamas all day. We're planning on completely wasting the day. There's tons that could be done around the house, lots of things to go and do around town, but the one thing we're never able to do all day is nothing. The blinds are staying closed, the ringers are being turned off and the doing nothing will commence.
Well, not nothing. We are human, and without kids you know.

Posted by Amy at 07:00 AM | Comments (0)

July 21, 2009

Today is our anniversary. Eight year anniversary to be exact. Wow!!
It's been kind of a crappy week since getting back in town though. I came down with what felt like flu stuff on Friday night and after the fever, chills, nausea and body aches subsided, I was left with the original sore throat and some serious ear pain yesterday. I was figuring it would run it's course, but broke down and took myself to the doctor this morning just to rule out strep throat. The test was negative, but she gave me a five day antibiotic dose to cure whatever it is quickly in case it's something bacterial. She said it may be sinus related and just a side effect of the drainage.
Mark and Chloe got some touch of a stomach bug on Saturday, maybe it was Sunday I really can't keep the days apart this week. Mark has been a fantastic doctor and Mr. Mom for the past 4 days. Madison's been avoiding all of it and even enjoyed a birthday party for one of her girl scout friends Sunday.
We're going to take the girls to my parents tomorrow for them to spend three nights there. It's been planned for a couple months now and I've been looking forward to this break since that first phone call about it. But, now that I'm not feeling good, I'm hoping not to spend the break on the couch under a blanket with a bottle of advil next to me. I really pictured it being more like, on the patio, under the umbrella with a bottle of wine next to me.
I guess I'll just hope the antibiotic does it's thing and know that the girls will be having a good time regardless and I don't have to lift a finger for three days.
Nothing too shabby about that arrangement anyway you look at it.

Happy Anniversary sweetie!

Posted by Amy at 02:35 PM | Comments (0)

July 16, 2009

We're back home and it went way too quickly for us. We had such a fantastic time! The weather was our biggest complaint because it was so hot and it rained nearly every afternoon, but we still made it a great trip. The girls did great walking, but by the last two days, we rented a stroller. We went back every day after lunch for either pool time or nap, or sometimes both.
Here are a few of the highlights...

We left Saturday morning around 7am and got to the Pop Century hotel around 11:30. We checked in, put our luggage in the room, headed down to the hotel cafeteria for lunch then headed to Magic Kingdom.
We decided to try the buses this trip and LOVED them. They say that a bus will come every 20 minutes. I think that only happened once, but the rest of the time we were spoiled with either no wait or just 5 minutes. The girls loved the bus because they didn’t have to buckle up. We loved the bus because they bring you right to the entrance and it took off quite a bit of time especially when going to Magic Kingdom.

That first afternoon got busy around 4pm so we only rode a couple things, ate some ice cream treats then headed back to the hotel before it rained. We got back to our room with a pleasant surprise of being housekeeping family of the day which got us a turndown service with chocolates on our pillows and a certificate.
We all played in the arcade that first night a little bit too.

On Sunday morning we headed to Animal Kingdom, were there for rope drop (which we highly recommend) and saw the opening show before heading over to Dinosaur. I will always remember that ride as the moment I lost Madison’s trust. I told her I would never put her on a ride that was too scary. Like Tower of Terror…you’ll NEVER see me trying to convince her to ride that one, or even Expedition Everest. But Dinosaur, c’mon, can’t be that bad. Boy was I wrong.
We got off, Chloe immediately started rambling about how fun it was, how scary it was, wanted to ride it again, etc, etc. “but, mommy” she said “what was that screaming noise through the whole thing?”. “Ummm, that was your sister” I told her.
I’m pretty sure Madison hated me that morning.
Madison also traded her first pin that morning, they got Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore signatures, we watched the Tough to be a Bug show where Madison curled up on the floor hanging on to my foot because she was scared, Chloe and I got SOAKED on Kali River Rapids (could’ve got a full glass of water out of my clothes), Madison and Mark laughed from their dry seats, we rode a Madison-friendly ride that resembled Dumbo, then we ate lunch and headed back to the hotel for the pool. Madison was strangely quiet that day.

The opening show

Dumbo inspired ride at Animal Kingdom

Waiting for the bus to take us back to the hotel

After resting we went to Magic Kingdom and watched the night parade and fireworks, rode some more rides because of the Magic hours and didn’t get on the bus until after midnight!!

Monday morning we headed to Epcot, again we were there at rope drop. Rode Soarin’ twice, test track once, The Seas Nemo ride, ate lunch at the Mexico pavilion for Mark and again headed back for pool/nap. That night we headed to Downtown Disney and ate dinner at the new T-Rex restaurant…SO COOL!

Very cool dinosaur atmosphere

Girls got these huge fun drinks

They also enjoyed the fossil dig area when we were done eating

Madison got to have a shopping spree with birthday money. No, she hadn’t opened her gifts yet, but Disney alone gave her $63 for their birthday promotion they’re doing so we knew it was ok for her to do some shopping. She made herself a charm bracelet, bought some new pins, a jewelry box, some pirate dress up stuff, nail polish & lipstick (she’s a posh pirate), a charm purse and even a new lanyard for her pins. They also enjoyed Goofy’s candy store that night.

They started collecting pressed coins this trip too

On Tuesday we headed to Hollywood Studios…you guessed it…rope drop again. Rode Toy Story Mania twice, Star Tours twice, watched the 3D muppet show (again, Madison listened from the floor at my feet). We ate lunch at the Sci Fi Dine In Theater and this was actually one of our longest days at a park. For good reason.

Madison tried about a year and a half ago to be picked for the Jedi training show. She didn’t get it and by looking at the size of the kids who were picked we thought it was because of her size. So, she wanted to try again this year. We made the HUGE mistake of letting Chloe stand next to her. There is something about that Chloe bear that just draws people to her. I’m her mom so I’m biased, but we’ve heard it’s part her cuteness, part her spunky and sweet personality. I don’t know, but she got picked for the show and Madison did not. Madison was crushed. She buried her head in my stomach and just cried. Sweet Chloe yelled from the stage for Madison to keep her hand up, but Chloe didn’t know they were done selecting kids. Chloe was really just a cuteness factor and an easy target for making the audience laugh. She couldn’t get the light saber to work, she needed help with everything and when it was her turn to fight Vader the trainer said, “How about you just smile at him? There, not a bit of anger in this youngling.” Everyone told me how cute she was. Thankfully Madison wasn’t around…Mark took her to get some ice cream.
So, we came back two hours later so Madison could try again for the Jedi training. It was hot, it was miserable, but it ended up being worth it. Madison was picked first and was so excited!
They first train the younglings how to be a jedi, use the light saber, etc. Then Darth Vader surprises them all, they each have to fight him alone and they end up defeating him. When Madisom came out on center stage to fight him, the master jedi said “finally, what we’ve been waiting for” and pulled off her hood saying “a girl!” then she fought him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!"

"This is what we've been waiting for"

"A girl Jedi!!!" (the crowd went wild)

She was such a happy girl

They also got more signatures that day..

She waited so politely for their autographs

Then she got tickled!

Wednesday was Madison’s birthday and she chose Magic Kingdom for her big day. We got fairy and princess signatures, we rode lots of rides, they got their first Mickey ears and a certificate for it too. I didn’t know they give those out for your first pair.

When we went to lunch a cast member stopped us and talked to Madison about her birthday. Then she yelled really loud and everyone behind the counter stopped to sing Madison happy birthday. The guests standing there sang to her too. Then we were asked to be Sonny’s special guest (he’s the singing guy in the restaurant) and sit at his reserved table where we were waited on!
It was at this point Madison said she thought her birthday button was a lucky button.

We went to the Grand Floridian resort for her birthday dinner at 1900 Parkfare. What a hoot! The step sisters were so funny chasing each other around and throwing food at each other. The characters really played their parts well!

We had a wonderful time and I was quite sad to leave this morning. Aside from the heat, it was one of our best trips.

And this may seem like an extrememly long post, but in 6 days I took 866 pictures so it was really hard to narrow it down for the blog!

Posted by Amy at 05:31 PM | Comments (1)

July 10, 2009

I'm such a dork. It's really sick how prepared we are and how packing for Disney can feel like a well-oiled machine with not a single glitch.
I may be jinxing myself here, but wow, it's been smooth.
I was actually bored most of today. I did some yard work this morning (got bit by a hornet in the process), met my mom at the salon for her haircut, tossed Bella off to her and then Mark went to work.
For the rest of the day I put the suitcases in the car, got the cooler packed, cleaned the house and then sat my duff on the couch and watched Charlie and Chocolate Factory with the girls. I fiddled with Facebook a bit and tried to find random things to do to keep myself busy. I also caught a few Hannah Montana episodes with Madison. I actually find myself laughing when I watch it. I wouldn't go as far as to call us fans, but we do find it easy to watch.
Anyway, I want to be at the mouse house now and I know I'm going to get a terrible night's sleep because right now I already feel the cool butterflies in my stomach telling me it's almost here!!!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Posted by Amy at 08:14 PM | Comments (0)

July 08, 2009

It rained nearly all day yesterday. A couple storms were pretty nasty, taking the power out and dropping a ton of rain. Dodging the storms the girls and I got the last of the travel things we needed at the store, went to cheerleading and picked up books at the library.
After Mark got home from work I headed out to meet some friends for dinner. It seems to be easy for us to go out with our friends, but not so much on dates together. He went to a movie Monday night with a friend and saw Transformers, I didn't mind missing that one at all. We'll have three nights without the kids for our anniversary though so we'll make up some of the missed dates then.
Anyway, I was able to get most of our things packed yesterday which made my organized self very happy. The girls are all done, I'm all done and most of our food and misc stuff is done. Mark's first chance to go through his clothes will probably be this morning while I'm at the eye doctor.
I really don't want to be heading out into the pouring rain like I'm listening to right now, but I'm overdue for an eye appointment and honestly I'm looking forward to going out alone. I have a return at Home Depot, I need to pick up one more tote bag that I messed up on and I still need to get a birthday card for Madison.
I must go get myself ready now so I can be back by 1pm for Mark to go to work.

Posted by Amy at 06:14 AM | Comments (0)

July 07, 2009

We haven't been to Disney World since November of last year and that just seems too long. I realize our girls are going to grow up either unaware of how lucky they are to go so often or they'll grow up not liking Disney because their weird mom made every vacation seem like it was in Orlando. Either way I think I'm a bigger fan than I realize. Planning this next trip has me getting so excited and as always I feel like a kid before I even step foot on Main Street USA.
We were only going to go for 2 nights, then over the course of the planning, it got extended into 5 nights. I really just can't pass up some of the hotel rates they offer. When we go again in August for Chloe's birthday that one really is just for two nights. Mark couldn't get any more days off work this summer and the girls start school that week. But, we get to go twice this summer so you won't hear any complaints out of me!
I really don't know what it is. I've been to Disney so many times I really lost count, but I still get giddy inside when I first see those huge character boards welcoming you into the World. Even the Mickey shaped power line connector on I-4 has me smiling. Being able to say "we're here girls!" just makes me thrilled. It's a mixture of leaving behind stress/worries of everyday life, having awesome family time and being able to feel like a kid eating mickey shaped ice cream waiting for a parade to start that I've seen at least 20 times. I still find myself in awe at everything there is to do and see. We're all happy, we're all together and I really feel like we've made some of our best memories there.
We're not doing many big dining events this trip. We'll be having Madison's birthday dinner at the Grand Floridian resort with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella at 1900 Parkfare. The Fairy Godmother may make an appearance too, but not sure. Other than that, the only other reservation we made is at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.
Of course it being her birthday trip is what is making Madison so thrilled. For Chloe it's the fact that she finally hit 40" and can ride Soarin', Splash mountain and other rides she always had to wait in the stroller for on previous trips. Madison is still not sure about Splash Mountain, but Chloe wants to ride everything! The rides she can do now that she also wants to do are Soarin', Test Track, Splash Mountain, Kali river rapids, Dinosaur and Star Tours. There are other rides they are tall enough to ride, like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Stitch's Great Escape and Tower of Terror, but I still don't think any of those are good rides for them. Madison would wet herself in Stitch's Great Escape and I might do the same in Tower of Terror. I rode that once and will never experience it again.

The other new thing about this trip is that it's our first without a stroller. I'm mixed about that one. Completely excited to not lug around that hunk of plastic on wheels, but not sure how the girls are going to do not being able to rest in the hunk of plastic on wheels. We have two very small backpacks for myself and Mark to carry around everything we need and I know the girls will do fine staying with us and holding our hands when it's crowded, but I won't be carrying anything heavier than my backpack so we may need to sit and rest quite a bit. Which if you know me, I don't like to rest on a bench when we could be on a ride. Again, we'll be at Disney for five nights so you won't hear any complaints out of me about resting.
Unless we miss the fast pass for Toy Story Mania, I might grumble a bit about that one. Nothing a funnel cake can't fix though.

I’ll have to admit that my excitement comes from the girls. Mark and I went to Disney last year for our anniversary and stayed at the Beach Club resort where we could walk to Epcot and from there hop on a monorail to Magic Kingdom if we wanted. I had a great time that trip, but there wasn’t the butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling that I usually get. I just love seeing the girls faces when they talk to the characters and hearing them laugh when they’re on a ride. It’s just awesome.

The girls are excited about getting the character’s signatures again so I made them these little tote bags. Well, I bought the bags plain then printed out some Disney character pictures on iron on transfer paper, then ironed them on the bags.

I did the Mickey one without thinking about their big hands holding the fabric pen, so that may not work out. The princess and fairy ones should be fine though.
For the other characters they’ll just use autograph books. Madison wants to get the evil character siggy’s this time like Cruella, Jafar and Lady Tremaine. In the past she’s been terrified of them and Chloe still wants nothing to do with them. I promised her I would get their signature for her and she could wave from a distance with Mark. The girls said they're gonna rat out Mark to Tinkerbell and tell her he calls her Stinkerbell. I wonder what she’ll say?!
You see, I’m just as excited as a kid about all the kid things!

Only 4 more days left!

Posted by Amy at 02:30 PM | Comments (2)

July 06, 2009

I remembered to get the photo disk from my mom this weekend of the family pictures we took a couple weeks ago. We've been needing the picture with all of us. My parents, my sister and her family and the grandkids all together.
Here's a few...the kids all did so fantastic and it really went so much better than we were thinking it would!

Posted by Amy at 09:10 AM | Comments (3)

It's a dreary day around here. We seemed to get a lot of rain last week, then were at my parents for the weekend where it was sunny, hot and not a drop of rain. Just to get back home last night to more rain and again today rain is in the forecast all day. It's so overcast this morning and I really need some light coming through our windows to help me get motivated!
I did the yoga and strength training on the Wii early this morning, but that just woke me up, now I need to stay busy so I stay awake.
I have a lot of laundry today and we'll be sticking around the house the next few days for two reasons. One, Chloe started a high fever Saturday evening and as of last night was still fighting it. 102, but no other complaints. She's not coughing or stuffy, just feeling icky. The second being we're leaving for Disney on Saturday and I put too much pressure on myself to be prepared and ready so I'm already feeling behind even though we have plenty of time. I guess in my mind I would feel better if the suitcases were already sitting at the door. Since that won't be happening I'll just try my best to keep motivated in this nasty weather that makes me want to just curl up on the couch with the girls. Madison is already back in her bed watching an Eloise movie....she's got the right idea.
Chloe just woke up and doesn't feel too hot, but I'm off to take her temperature. She's really loving the summers and occasionally will sleep in until 8/8:30..it's great!

Posted by Amy at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)

July 01, 2009

The summer is steadily going by and we're enjoying the break. We went out to my parents last weekend and Mark helped my dad put up gutters. We left there Sunday around lunch and met up again at my sister's house that night for my niece's birthday party. Her birth was the beginning of a lot of changes for my family. Just over two weeks later I had my first child as well and I just can't believe it's been six years.

Monday I headed out and jumped on the Wii Fit bandwagon. I tried it at a friends house last week and loved it. I know I've only had it for two days, but I think it's awesome. I'm a huge fan of the yoga. I love yoga and it's the only thing I miss about our gym membership that is no more. The yoga moves on the Wii Fit are surprisingly accurate, my muscles burn right away and I love the feature that let's you see if you're balanced as you're doing the move so you can make adjustments to get the most out of it.
The kids love the hula hoop game and the ski jump. They're not good at it, but they love it.

Last night I went out to dinner and a movie with a girlfriend, Melissa, and we saw The Proposal.
So funny!
I highly recommend it if you like romance/comedy movies.
It was nice to go out with a friend too. A group of us do Bunco every month, but I haven't been to the movies in a really long time. Honestly couldn't tell you when the last time was. Not because of the length of time in between theater visits, but probably because the movie wasn't that memorable. I don't know.

Anyway, I'm off to watch a movie with my girls now.
(Mark's working night shift tonight)
Tales of Despereaux, twizzlers and cuddles coming right up.
Ahhhh.

Posted by Amy at 07:00 PM | Comments (2)

June 25, 2009

TB test was negative. I guess I should have mentioned I had no worries about that one. He mentioned there was a new strand that wouldn't present with the coughing/chest stuff TB usually does so he just wanted to rule it out. The other good part about the change is that they don't hurt to be touched anymore.
We're at a point of just watching the other two, keeping an eye out for more and possibly seeing a dermatologist.
Here's a picture I took back on the 11th. It was very difficult to get a picture that would give a good idea of how they look and feeling them is completely different as well. They felt horrible and they just don't anymore. I'm of course hesitant not to worry at all anymore, but it is weird that they would just start going away.
That's a little bruise on the bottom part of the picture, but the lump is on the top of the leg, right in the middle of the picture. I tried getting something dark behind her leg to give a good contrast of how they were raised.

He's still thinking her leg pain is related to growing pains. While she does only complain about them in the evening and just as much after doing nothing all day as she would after running around a lot or even long days at Disney, I still find it odd that it's been three years and sometimes she's in tears over it. I don't know, no mom wants to see their kids in pain, and growing pains is something I can't do anything about. So, naturally I don't like that answer.

Anyway, I wanted to update everyone and thank you all so much for the thoughts, suggestions and prayers. I'll of course update if more happens or changes.

Posted by Amy at 07:45 AM | Comments (2)

June 23, 2009

We had Madison's appointment yesterday, but over the weekend our worries were relieved quite a bit when two of the bumps nearly went away completely. It makes a diagnosis all the more difficult, but seeing them go away does wonders to my concerns. Her doctor really has no idea. He told us when he got back in the office they handed him the ultrasounds and told him about her, he started looking up some things, but really doesn't know for sure what they are. One of the four that is still there happens to be the first one that appeared and he said the radiologist noted there was a lymph node in that one. His guess is that they're her body's response to something. Maybe hematomas resulting from her hitting her shins hard on something. He agrees that's a stretch since there weren't any bruises. The other thought is they are some type of immunologic response to something. He tested her for strep and tuberculosis. The strep was negative and we go back tomorrow for the TB tests.
I just can't tell you how relieved I am to see them going away. His only other suggestion was a biopsy of one of them and he would refer us to a dermatologist for that if necessary.
So, we'll get the TB results, monitor them and see a dermatologist if the other two don't dissolve or more come up.

Posted by Amy at 06:48 AM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2009

After I dropped Chloe off at my sisters house, Madison and I headed over to her ultrasound.
They got us in quickly and I was impressed at not being treated like a number. That shouldn't be something to be impressed by, but over the 6 years of having kids in Florida healthcare facilities, I've gotten used to impersonal medical service.
The tech doing the ultrasound asked what was going on and seemed to actually care. She said her sister went through a lot of leg pain growing up and in her twenties found out it was something in her bone. I then mentioned the xrays we had on Monday and she said those were fine. That was my first surprise. I'm not used to a tech or nurse actually giving a clue of results, let alone actual results, of any previous test before the doctor has. She said our doctor would discuss it further with us, but their staff didn't see anything in her bones.
She started the ultrasound, and was marking edges with the computer of the four shadows (can't think of how else to describe them) on the screen. She asked me a few questions...has she had any trauma to her legs, has she been bit by anything, has she had a bad cold recently...all of which I said no to. Unless she's been bit by something she didn't know about, but I find that highly unlikely since they came on at different times.
She said the doctor who would be reviewing them later may still be around and she wanted him to see her since it was so puzzling to her. He came in, asked some of the same questions, but also asked if she's been scratched by a cat. The answers are still no to all of his questions.
He doesn't think they're cysts and he doesn't think they're tumors. He said they look like subcutaneous inflammation and said it's non-specific. Which if I'm translating correctly...someone please let me know if they know otherwise...tells me he knows what they're not, but doesn't know what they are.
So, of course I'm relieved in one sense, but there's still a question as to what they are. When I look up subcutaneous inflammation I find Panniculitis.
Internet research is a tricky thing. I don't think a parent can look up any symptoms or keywords online that their child is experiencing without freaking out about the results. However, without doing some research online, how am I to know what questions to ask, what tests to ask for, or sometimes even what to call something?
I'm her medical advocate.
I'm her resource for getting her answers.
And I'm totally in the dark on this one.

We see her pediatrician on Monday and we're going to ask for bloodwork to be done to help rule out any possible worst case scenario.
I'm still trying to think positive and I'm hoping this is going to end up being one of those mysteries we go through just so I can keep Clairol hair coloring in business.

I'll update as I know anything.

Posted by Amy at 06:58 PM | Comments (2)

Hot. So hot. Can't breathe.
We're reaching 100 degree temps this week with 101 in the forecast for Friday. Friday also calls for a heat index of 109.
I think of the summer months in Florida like the northerners think of the winter months.
I get done what I can when I can, but spend the majority of each day hibernating inside.
Drapes stay closed, I try to keep the air on 76 and we plan indoor activities. The summer movies, Zoinks Kidstation, whatever we can as long as we're not in the sun.
I've managed to keep the girls busy regardless.

Friday the girls and I met my sister and her girls at Build a Bear where I spent way too much money on ridiculously dressed stuffed animals. They're on skates too, with a leash, the girls really just wanted to drive me crazy pulling them around the house.
Later that afternoon I picked up a friend of Madison's and she stayed the night at our house.

Saturday morning I made the three girls chocolate chip pancakes, dropped off Madison's friend, then my sister and I carpooled to our parents house in Georgia to spend the day visiting with them and my grandma. The cousins had fun playing and Mark enjoyed a much deserved quiet house on his day off.

Sunday we mowed the lawn, got groceries and spent the remainder of the day lounging around.

Monday I took Madison to her xray. They scheduled the ultrasound for today, but since the xray is a walk in type deal once you have the order paper, I got antsy and didn't wait to do them both in one day. I'm no doctor, but the xrays looked fine. Chloe and I sat back in the room with the computers so I was able to see the four shots they took. Her followup appointment is Monday so we should hear then.
After the xrays I had to take the truck back to the tire place because the tire they patched last week was losing air. They ended up replacing the tire altogether.
Then we went to SAMS for a stock up on our necessities trip and once I got home I went to work reorganizing and finding homes for everything. I don't think everything at bulk stores like that are worth it, but some of the everyday things we use are enough of a cost savings that I'll buy them. It's the finding room for it that's a problem.

Tuesday, yesterday, we had a pajama day then went to the girls tumbling/cheerleading class in the afternoon.

Today we're still in our pajamas, but will be heading out later for Madison's ultrasound. Mark is on a shift right now with weekends off, so everything I've done during the week has just been me and the girls. They're really getting great at being in the car and showing their maturity when it comes to doctor offices, stores and restaurants.
Not that we don't still have the occasional "down on their level-low voice-through my teeth-scolding" going on, but generally speaking I'm quite comfortable taking them out anywhere, anytime.
And I have to say, the three of us spending so much time together has opened the door for some very sweet moments. Yesterday in the car, I enjoyed listening to Madison read Chloe a book and the other day (also in the car) Madison helped Chloe count past her 39 she always gets stuck on. She seems to think 60 comes after 39, so Madison helped her get to 100.

Anyway, I'll update again soon, but I have to say the girls and our to do list are sure keeping me busy.
And tired.

Posted by Amy at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)

June 11, 2009

Morning therapy

I was doing a little gardening this morning…aka therapy…and realized I haven’t shared pictures yet this year! It’s my 3rd Spring attempting a garden and I think I’m going to try for the first time this year for a Fall garden. This is the most successful it’s been and I’m absolutely loving it.
It has cucumber, squash, red and green bell peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, 4 different kinds of tomatoes, snap beans, sugar snap peas, herbs, onions and leaf lettuce.
I’ve also planted cantaloupe, watermelon and blackberries for the first time this year.

I made it a little bigger this year and we put a fence around it because of Bella and the bunnies.

Jalapenos…these and the banana peppers are for Mark’s nachos, salsa and other Mexican dishes he enjoys.

Cherry tomatoes…these are Madison’s favorite, she eats ‘em before I have a chance to save any for my salads

I planted more sunflower seeds this year too. One glance at these in the yard and I smile.

Here’s the not-yet-ripe blackberries

This isn’t in the garden, but I wanted to share with you my favorite rose bush. I love roses. We have 24 rose bushes in the yard, but this one is my favorite. It grows red, pink and white roses. The white one is hard to see, but it’s near the bottom right of the picture.

On a Madison update...the tests are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Longer than I'd like to wait, but at least it's scheduled.
I'll keep you updated and we really appreciate the prayers.

Posted by Amy at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

June 10, 2009

For three years Madison has complained about her legs hurting. It's in the evening, it's her lower legs and it's quite often. Her doctor has assured me it's growing pains and quite natural.
Still, I keep an open ear to any changes in her complaints.
A little over a month ago I felt a bump on her lower leg. Right along her shin bone and not very big. It hurt if I pushed on it, so I figured it was a bruise. But, over the course of the last month 3 more have appeared and there's no bruise appearing with them.
I called her doctor and the soonest he could see her is in two weeks because he's in Japan.
Why doctors think they can vacation I'll never know.
So, wanting her in sooner, I agreed to see the nurse practitioner just to get the ball rolling. She's actually really good, but I've always wanted to have a doctor sitting in the room giving me their thoughts.
Well, her appointment was this morning and Ms. Marci (the nurse practitioner) was concerned. She went to consult with another doctor on the staff and then he came in to look. He's also concerned.
They've ordered xrays and an ultrasound.
He said they don't feel like calcifications (like what could result from a really bad bruise) and 3 out of the 4 are in soft tissue. The one is difficult to tell for sure if it's soft tissue or bone. They move around like a cyst, but they don't think that's what they are either. One is 2.5cm across and the other three are 1.5cm across.
Basically neither of them know what they are and I'm going crazy waiting for the tests.

On top of that she has an eye appointment this afternoon because for a little over a month she has complained about seeing things floating around and is getting headaches. She was in tears the other night about her head and, based on the tears and head holding, I can only guess she was experiencing a migraine.

Prayers for her, my nerves and our family in general are appreciated.

Eye visit update:
We're back from the eye doctor and he said her vision is great and everything looks fine. He couldn't explain the things floating or the headaches because he didn't see anything abnormal.
Now what?
Other than being more diligent about when, and possible reasons why it's happening, I don't know.
Her eyes don't hurt while she's reading or when she watches tv. She doesn't complain about headaches often, but when she does they seem bad.
I have a few theories:
One, she needs more water. I know I can get headaches as a sign I'm dehydrated and she has been spending more time outside than previously this year.
Two, she's describing something different than what it actually is just by not knowing how to describe it.
Three, the eye doctor missed something.

I'm going to give it a couple weeks and if nothing has changed, I'll take her to a different eye doctor.

Posted by Amy at 12:09 PM | Comments (5)

June 08, 2009

We're back! It was such a quick trip but we had fun. We left at 7am Friday and got to the hotel around 3pm (Mississippi time). We all took a quick nap, then got ready for the dinner party at Garreth's house. They eat a lot later than we do so we decided to take advantage of our free time and went to a highly recommended pizza place on campus. Oh, in case I didn't mention it before, we were in Oxford at the Ole Miss campus. The pizza was delicious and I tried a crawfish roll while we were there too.
Really yummy!
After dinner we headed over to Garreth's house where I was able to see all 4 of my cousins, their kiddos and my Aunt and Uncle, as well as my Grandma and my mom. The girls had a lot of fun playing with all the kids and Madison discovered lightening bugs!! We tried to get her to pull their light off but she was grossed out by it.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, then went down to the pool. It was way too cold for this momma, but Mark was happy to get in with the girls. They were in for a little over an hour, but then got too cold themselves. We met up with my mom and grandma after changing and headed out for lunch at another recommended restaurant, but this one was Mexican. Oh, we stopped at this candy store first and the girls loved it! Mark got some coke bottle gummies and these black and red berry candies that he hasn't had in forever. The girls got all kinds of goodies and I got some fudge, jelly bellies and gummy treats myself. So fun!
After lunch we all napped again and then got ready for the wedding. The whole weekend went so fast and we feel like we spent more time in the car than anything else, but I'm still so happy we were able to be there.

Chloe in Garreth's yard at the dinner party.

Madison finally jumping in the pool!!!

Chloe thinks learning the doggy paddle means you have to act like a dog too.

I tried playing with some of the pictures so that's why they may look different.

This smile is so big because she's taking her shoes off to go dance in the grass. Girl after my own heart!

Madison made a new best friend too. My cousin Bronwyn's daughter Hannah and Madison got along great and she already misses her.

I just love seeing girls play those hand clapping games!

Inspecting their bugs

Dancing the night away

Posted by Amy at 08:38 AM | Comments (1)

June 04, 2009

What a day. A damn long day.
I had plans to go out this morning to run two last minute errands. Return library books and pick up 5 things from the store.
One hour tops.
I didn't shower, I didn't put on makeup, I knew I still had a long day ahead of me after I got back home since I still needed to drive to Georgia after naps (hour and a half away) to bring our dog to my parents as well as pack the car and the cooler and clean up the house so we didn't return to a messy casa. I hate that.
We leave bright and early tomorrow morning and everything needed to be finished today.
Well, I had a brilliant idea to run into town. By town I mean the real town 45 minutes away. I wanted to check out Old Navy's sale on $15 dresses, I love their comfy dresses, and I still was hoping to find one of those fancy boobie holders with clear straps.
I knew I was extending that planned one hour trip, but I didn't know I had a flat tire in my future.
Flat, flat, flat.
We just got 4 brand new tires maybe 3 weeks ago spending a pretty penny on them and new brakes.
A two hour trip had a 6 hour fiasco added to it.
I was 15 minutes from the house when it happened. A coworker of Mark's changed the tire (Mark was an hour away). But the spare tire wouldn't keep air. Mark met me at home, where I needed to pick up our dog, filled the spare tire and followed me back into the aforementioned real town. My dad met us at Goodyear to get the dog since I wasn't driving to Georgia on a crappy spare tire and this event was cramping the day a bit. We then waited at Goodyear.
I finally got to the store to get those 5 things and I am completely exhausted.
I'm thankful the girls were so good. I'm thankful they had just used the bathroom before we got the flat tire. I'm thankful it happened today and not tomorrow on some backwoods Alabama road.
And I'm also thankful I was so on top of things and did all the laundry and packed our suitcases yesterday.
My hips hurt, I have a headache, and I seriously need to regroup so I don't forget something like the dress I'm wearing to the wedding or the map for our 8 hour drive.
Be back in a few days!

Posted by Amy at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)

June 03, 2009

Ok, I'll have to admit that so far I'm enjoying the summer. Yes, we're only on day 5, but who's counting? Yesterday was a busy day that included a free summer movie, some errands and them starting cheerleading. We happened to leave the movie before it was over because they were so bored with Horton hearing a Who and keeping busy throughout the day meant the arguing was at a minimum. They started cheerleading yesterday afternoon, but it's more like tumbling really. Watching Madison was like a train wreck. She is so uncoordinated, but you have to watch because she's laughing, giggling and saying "did you see me?!?" with every fumbled move. Her cartwheel is more like a donkey kicking an annoying cat walking behind it and her handstand looks like what our dog does after she poops.
She thinks she's awesome. Which just makes it all adorable.
They assured me it's natural and she should get better with practice. They probably just want more money, but Madison really wants to try cheerleading, so the gym will get it's coveted money and I hope she gets better. They tried talking me into the competitive cheerleading squad for her age group and it took all I had to hold back my laughter. I politely said something to effect of, "let's just see how she does this year and I'll get back to you."
The girls are in different classes, but they both were exhausted by the time it was over.
Today is a stay at home day. I have laundry and random prep work to do for our trip this weekend to see my little cousin get married. He's the last of six of us and the only boy. It sounds weird to call a grown man a boy, but he'll always be "the littlest cousin and the only boy" to me. Since he has 3 older sisters who adore him, I'm anticipating lots of sobbing. I'm not even sure they'll attempt to be quiet about it. While I'm not emotional at all about his wedding, although totally excited for him, I bet I cry just watching the three of his sisters.
I'm thrilled to see everyone again, but I have a lot to do today to get ready for it.
Ta ta.

Posted by Amy at 09:22 AM | Comments (1)

May 31, 2009

School is officially out. My big girl will never be in Kindergarten again and it was bittersweet Friday knowing it was her last day. I walked her in so I could get another picture of her and her teacher to match the one from the first day of school. I got an awesome surprise when she handed me a huge vase filled with gorgeous flowers and a restaurant gift card attached! It was from all the Kindergarten teachers to thank me for helping out through the year with the reading groups. So sweet!
Madison got her last report card and another round of all E's!! The comments from her teacher were:

Madison is a wonderful girl and I am happy to have had her in class this year. She is well-adjusted, kind and bright! With her friendly, cooperative attitude she will be a pleasant addition to any class.
Promoted to 1st Grade.

When I read the 1st Grade part it was a little surreal. They're both just growing up so fast. Last night Mark got a call from a coworker of his who's wife is a 2nd grade teacher. He was calling on behalf of his wife to let us know she was switching back to 1st grade next year and was asking if we "pretty please with a cherry on top" would send in a request for Madison to be in her class. I was happy for a few reasons. The first being that I know her and she is very much a what you see is what you get personality. She's upfront honest, rough around the edges and tells it like it is so-to-speak. The second being she's a really tough teacher, very well liked, but tough. The third being Madison loves her and she loves Madison. Madison has been begging me since the first warm day of the year if we can go swimming again at Mrs C's house. We went there last year during the summer a few times and they even made Madison a cake on her birthday last year. Madison's teacher this year was such a sweet heart, full of hugs and kind words, soft spoken...basically perfect for a Kindergarten teacher. If my intuition is right, I think Mrs. C will be a perfect fit for Madison as a first grade teacher. Don't get me wrong, we love seeing all the excellent marks on her report card, but we also want to have her challenged more. She's already reading chapter books (Junie B Jones is her current favorite) as well as doing the math worksheets they're doing in first grade. Her weakness is writing. I have her starting a journal this summer to try getting her used to all the writing she's going to do next year. It's not just the penmanship she struggles with, it's the creative writing aspect as well.
Anyway, we're very proud of how well Madison did in Kindergarten and we're really looking forward to how much she's going to blossom in First Grade. I think it's going to be a very exciting year!

Posted by Amy at 07:16 AM | Comments (1)

May 30, 2009

Here's some pictures from today. I was a sucker again and bought the disk so I could have a copy of all of them. I just can't say no to pictures of the girls!

Posted by Amy at 12:57 PM | Comments (2)

May 28, 2009

After getting the girls set up with breakfast this morning I headed to my bathroom to get myself presentable for the day. I must have been in there longer than I thought because when I came back out to the kitchen, I swear I was looking at a teenager sitting at the table.

Can't you just picture her saying "I don't do mornings"

My other big girl looks even bigger today!!! She knew exactly what she wanted for her hair and she actually told Ms Nikki how to cut it. It was so cute. Ms. Nikki had to promise her she would make it as short as she wanted it.
I really didn't care until she tied it off in a ponytail and handed me the hair she cut off. Good Lord!!! I was holding almost 6" of my daughter’s hair as well as my breath.
After it was all done I just couldn't believe how much older she looked and how cute the cut was.
She was all smiles and can't stop looking in the mirror.

Posted by Amy at 03:24 PM | Comments (2)

This week is proving to be busy. Nothing major, just a lot of little things.
Monday was of course the holiday. The girls had a Veggie Tales marathon before our cookout in the afternoon.
Tuesday I spent the day at Madison's school then we had game night.
Yesterday I headed to my sisters house to meet my mom to give her two bags of clothes she left here Monday. She wanted my sister and I to give her our opinion on them, but we all forgot and then she left the clothes here. After that little jaunt into town, I headed to Publix to take advantage of their buy one get one sales, then to Chloe's school to pick her up early. You see, Madison's school was having a party at 2:15 and she wanted Chloe there, but Chloe's school would rather kids not be picked up during nap so I picked her up early and she napped at home. Madison loved having Chloe there to show off to all her friends. With all the petting and doting, hugging and even kissing she was more like a doll than an actual child.
Today I'm letting Madison play hookie. She only has a half day today, and I love spending time alone with the girls. We're going shopping, out to lunch and then we have a hair appointment this afternoon. She's been begging me to have it cut again and I'm two months overdue myself. After that we're going to grab an ice cream cone before picking up Chloe from school. She only knows about the hair cut though, so I'll be surprising her after we drop off Chloe.
Hey, wanna skip school today???
How fun!

Two days left...
dun, dun, dun!!
Can you hear the scary orchestra music?
No?
Just me then.

Posted by Amy at 06:03 AM | Comments (1)

May 27, 2009

How do you thank someone for doing something you thought was impossible?
How do you thank someone for saving you from an impending hole of depression?
How do you thank someone for retrieving 16,000 pictures taken over the last 6 years of your family's life?
I have been harboring a secret for the past few weeks because I was too mad, scared and sad to accept it was possible.
Our picture drive stopped working about 3 weeks ago. We took it to a computer store, paid $70 and thought it was saved. Only to have it not work again 3 days later. We were seriously kicking ourselves for not backing the pictures onto to DVD's then.
Mark took it to someone with the state who takes information off computers for investigations ( I think ) and after 3 days she couldn't retrieve the pictures either.
He then sent it to his cousin Scott in Maryland. His wonderful, amazing, computer savvy cousin Scott.
Scott called me this afternoon and told me the great news. I really can't believe it. I'm pretty sure I hurt his ears screaming so loud in the phone. I had been trying-unsuccessfully-not to think about it, but the thought of losing all those pictures was overwhelmingly sad.
He is backing them all up to DVD tomorrow and in turn making me happier than he can imagine.
We are sending him a gift tomorrow, but there's nothing we can say or send that will match what he's done.
Nothing.

Posted by Amy at 06:35 PM | Comments (3)

May 26, 2009

The weekend was good.
We were lazy some, in the yard working some, going to church, having a cookout, the girls had some friends over on Friday evening and again on Monday. We had friends over too, but I almost appreciate it more that they have kids my kids get along with and they all entertain each other.
It was actually a little tough to get going this morning. My gears were slow and my head was foggy from all the relaxing. I really didn't want to do the morning school routine, but we muddled through.
I was at Madison's school volunteering all day and came home with my usual headache and back pain. Today I was sitting on the floor filing a HUGE bin of random papers that have been collected through the year. It took about 3 hours and just as many advil.
Due to the company we had over yesterday for a cookout we postponed our family game night until tonight, so I must sign off now that I hear Madison's shower is finally done.
Madison can play a mean game of checkers, but I get her back when it comes to Uno.

Posted by Amy at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2009

School pictures!! We just got Chloe's back on Thursday, so to the grandparents and aunts, they'll be mailed out next week.
Thanks to my sisters annoying pestering, I finally have the girls set up for pictures together next weekend too.
Chloe wouldn't smile for her school picture so I'm hoping we have better luck at Sears.

Posted by Amy at 01:54 PM | Comments (2)

May 22, 2009

I think this 3 day weekend will be a good way to ease me into the summer. And next week is pretty much end of year parties, half school days and whatnot, so that too will help me get used to the idea that summer IS going to happen.
Last year I really looked forward to the summer and having the girls together with no morning clock ticking in my face.
I'll still like that part, but once the clock strikes about 9am I know they're going to be bored and down each others throats if I don't have things planned.
Our friend Angie has put out a list of dates and activities, the local movie theater is having their free summer movies again and my sister is doing a once a week school review for kids the same age.
Hopefully that's enough.
I told my mom today while we were out that just the thought of the summer has me frantically searching for the happy place within myself.
If I'm not found in the closet rocking back and forth and mumbling to my imaginary gnome friends by the end of the summer I'll be shocked.
To be fair to the girls, they're actually really easy children. I can go just about anywhere with them and they'll be more than thrilled to do just that. They're really not that mischievous and they also have grown attached to going outside and playing for a very long time. It's just the arguing and yelling and fighting to be the leader that rips up my nerves. We told Chloe the sky was blue one day and she said no it's not, it's light blue. Madison then said, no it's light blue with white clouds in it. And it started.
They will fight about who gets to play the teacher all the way down to what color Goofy's hat should be in a picture they're coloring.
I'm pretty confident that the most common word out of my mouth is "Girls!!"
Anyway, the first week will be filled with some long awaited pajama days and nothing remotely resembling a schedule just to give us all a chance to relax. After that we go to Mississippi and the fun will begin!
I hope all my mommy friends are looking forward to the summer more than I am.

Posted by Amy at 05:18 PM | Comments (1)

May 21, 2009

Well, I talked to the teacher more about it and while they don't discuss the details of discipline of a child with a different child's parents, I was pretty much told all is done and the administration is considering it "handled".
So, not happy with that, Mark and I wrote a letter to the Principal expressing our very strong feelings on the matter and how we feel there should have been stronger consequences than just an apology note, sitting out recess and PE for the day and having his parents called and told about it.
Having been at the school volunteering yesterday while all this happened is the only way I know what his discipline was.
The Principal called me today and we talked about it further.
Again, she said she can't discuss the details of his discipline, but she wanted us to know there is more being done and their ultimate goal is to ensure he never does anything like this again. I reiterated what our letter said by telling her we feel an in school suspension or out of school suspension would have been a stronger message to him as well as the other kids who knew about the book.
We also requested they not be placed in the same class next year and she said no problem.
It was basically left that she acknowledges our displeasure and her door is always open if we need to talk to her anymore about it, but we won't know what more is being done.
It's a very tough situation for so many reasons. There's the obvious-the theme of the book. But then there's also the fact that he's really a good boy. As their teacher said there are others she might expect something like that from, and even some that she's been told not to let out of her sight, but him...he's one of the leaders in the class. He excells academically, he rarely gets in trouble and he's one she doesn't have to watch as much because like with Madison there's a level of trust that he's not getting into trouble.
He comes from a very good and Christian family and I actually wouldn't be surprised if I get a call from them sometime in the next week. His mom did go in to see their teacher yesterday morning and expressed their embarassment. I'm not sure that makes it better, but I guess it's an olive branch of some sort.
It's also tough considering Madison's feelings toward him. Then there's also the thoughts in my mind about him. Is he ok? Is something going on in his life? Is this a sign? A child calling out for attention?
I did a little better today distracting my mind. Tomorrow I'm going shopping with my mom just to get out of here and have something fun keeping me busy.
It helps that there are only 5 more days of school and the knowledge that this too shall pass.

Posted by Amy at 07:28 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2009

Another First

We had another first in our lives this week. This one gave me a heavy heart and I had a lot of emotions yesterday.
On Monday Madison had some scraps of colored paper in her backpack and I asked her if she needed them or wanted to keep them. She said no, they were just some notes from some boys at school. Well, you know that had me taking a second look at what I thought was just innocent scribbles.
Various messages "I love you Madison" "You're hot Madison"...all of them spelled wrong, some with hearts on them, some with just M instead of her whole name.
Really it irritated me, but whatever.
But then, the shocker.
It was a book. A book obviously done by a child. Ackwardly cut paper, 7 staples to bind the book together, all in marker, etc...but a very descriptive book nonetheless.
My heart first went into my throat. I couldn't talk. I had so many emotions running through me so quickly.
Without talking to Madison about it and just looking at the pictures, it had no words on it besides an M over her and a C over the other character in the book, I had no doubt as to what the theme of the book was.
I did ask her about it and she just said very casually "Oh, that's the book "C" gave me about him hating me and in the end I die".
The title of the book was "I hate you M".
I think I stayed very calm considering and I really don't know how or why I didn't freak out on the outside, because on the inside I was screaming and throwing a tantrum. I waited until Mark got home because between the two of us, he's more level-headed and I could ask him if I was freaking out too much.
He actually was more furious than I was. Rare.
Front cover: "I hate you M"
1st page: picture of him standing, picture of her standing, he's sticking his tongue out at her.
2nd page: picture of him standing, picture of her standing, he's pointing something at her. I can only guess what it is. And this was the only page that had a different color on it. Everything was done in purple in the whole book except here she had red around her.
3rd page: picture of a heart all scribbled and scratched out. (He told her that was her heart not being loved)
last page: picture of him standing, picture of her lying down. Little slashes coming out of what he was holding and landing on her. (That's where he told her she was dead).

I asked her some more questions about it, but of course I knew I wasn't going to have any real answers until I talked to her teacher.
I happened to be volunteering yesterday, so I pulled her aside before all the kids came in and showed it to her. I told her how upset we were. She too was furious, walked over to her desk, pulled out her book and called his mom in for a meeting telling her that C was on his way to the office. He went, he denied, he blamed, Madison was called down to the office, he admitted it, she came back to the room and to her, it was like nothing ever happened.
I really like her teacher, but I can't find any reasonable explanation how no less than 9 kids in her class (I had the pleasure of watching the class during all this) chimed in about why they thought they were going to the office and they all thought it was about "the book", and yet her teacher had no clue. I know we have sucky education budgets so her having 25 kids in her care is not her fault, but I can't help but think about how much time it took him to make that book and she never saw a thing???
C'mon.
I don't know the full extent or end result of his punishment because it was pretty much taking up the whole day. I plan on going in tomorrow with her and asking her teacher what the status is. I know his mom was called and they don't tell the other parent about that conversation. His Dad was called and coming to pick him up because he wanted to see the book. He had to write her an apology and tell her he was sorry. She told me last night when I was tucking her in that she forgave him. One of the tough parts about this is that there's no way for her, in all her glorious innocence, to realize what things like this can mean. A six year old having thoughts like that, putting so much effort into making a book, then even going so far as to giving it to her, only to deny it and blame it on someone else the next day....that's troubling.
I asked her last night how she felt about it and she, again very casually, said I'm fine, I didn't care about it. I asked her how she felt about C and do you know she said she feels bad he got in trouble! She said if it hadn't been her, or if I hadn't been mad that maybe he wouldn't have had his parents called. She's such a sweet and caring girl and they actually have been friends all year that I think she just feels bad she lost a friend. We kept it simple with Madison. We told her how wrong it was for him to do that, how much we love her and we talked about how good friends should treat each other. Mark and I decided not to bring it up again to her and let her just carry on with her care-free life.
Until the next "first" happens.
God give me patience.


Extended entry added after some thought.

Ok, after some thought, I've decided to write the worst part of it all.
Keep in mind I was not aware of any conversation between the administrators and the child. However at the end of the day yesterday, Madison's teacher explained to me something so disturbing it gave me chills and I later cried.
I know, I may cry a lot, but it was an emotional day and after being at the school all day, I just let go and gave myself a chance to be emotional last night.
She told me that C explained the last page was him peeing in her mouth after she was dead.
Where I thought it was bullets from a gun, Mark actually was right about what he thought the picture was of.
I can't explain it. I can't imagine what is going on with that child.
It's all a very sad situation.

Posted by Amy at 01:30 PM | Comments (3)

May 19, 2009

New Looks

Madison and some of her girl scout friends went to a cute little party over the weekend. It's a place called Cookies and Tea for me and they had a blast. Although, just as with my Mother's Day Tea, they weren't served tea. I don't get it.
But, they had their nails done, make up put on, they got to dress up, dance and enjoy pink lemonade, gummie bears and cookies.
She really enjoyed her new look!

By last night we had another new look to get used to...

She lost her first tooth!!! She was so excited. There was a lot more blood involved than I would have thought, which only grossed me out, and it was a really quick event.
She was eating some watermelon and started screaming. Thankfully it was a happy scream because the blood threw me off.
Her tooth behind it started growing in a couple weeks ago and she's been complaining that it hurts, so we're all very happy the baby one finally came out.
I had to wipe the dust off her tooth fairy bear, but at least we finally got to use it!

Posted by Amy at 05:50 AM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2009

I took the girls over to a friends house yesterday for some swimming. It was 84 in the water, but I was still freezing my tail off. We got the kids out for a 20 minute break just to warm them up some. Even through chattering teeth they argued.

I was spoiled this morning! The girls let me sleep in...and I'll need to explain that one. I don't sleep in, I just don't know how. I woke up around 5am and snuck back in bed around 6:30 (when they usually start coming out of their rooms) where I waited to be woke up. Much to my surprise, I actually did fall back asleep!! They both came in so sweetly and covered my face with tiny little angel kisses, wished me a happy mother's day and told me they made breakfast for me!
It's been a wonderful day and a huge thank you to Mark who made it all happen.

Posted by Amy at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)

May 08, 2009

I had a very good morning today. Chloe's school had a "muffins with mom" morning that was very sweet. For the first time since she started school she didn't want me to leave. She told me how special it was to have me at her school and she wanted to show me each and every toy she's ever played with there.

After leaving her school I took Madison to hers and stayed for their Mother's Day Tea morning. Although I was a bit disappointed they didn't serve tea...it seemed like the obvious thing to expect. We watched all five Kindergarten classes put on a little program for the moms...well, it was an hour long program. They sang songs, said poems, we watched a slide show of pictures taken throughout the year and then went back to their class where we got little gifts they had made and a Publix cake Madison had decorated for me. It was really a sweet morning and I felt very special.

The girls are VERY excited about Mother's Day. All week Madison has been expressing her undying love for me. She's even going so far as to tell me who she loves me more than. We discussed that a bit, but really I can't say I don't enjoy hearing it.
Chloe has a special gift for me that she made at school and is doing very well at being top secret with the box's contents. She wouldn't even let me hold it while she got out of the car this afternoon.

Mark told me I couldn't mow the lawn this week. Not because I get the week off, but because my gift is in the shed and he doesn't want to move it again. Bummer.

Here are two pictures from this morning.

Posted by Amy at 08:07 PM | Comments (3)

May 06, 2009

Mark took the girls out yesterday after school for some shopping and dinner. They left at 4pm and got back at 8pm. Just the look on his face when he got home and the first sentence out of his mouth "I don't know how you do it" was enough of a gift for me. It was also a very nice evening just hanging out alone since I wasn't feeling good yesterday.
I asked the girls what they got me for Mother's Day and they pulled the same trick out of their hat from Mark's birthday with the response of "nothin' you scallywag" as they sounded like pirates.
Can't blame a girl for trying.
Today is Mark's day off, I'm still not feeling well and Chloe is home from school with what I think is a cold. She had some pretty impressive crap come out of her nose this morning and she coughed a lot last night while she slept. So, we'll all be getting in a lot of tv and nap time today which is actually a little overdue with all the fun stuff we've had here over the last 6 weeks.
I hope there's some good shows on today.

Posted by Amy at 08:43 AM | Comments (0)

May 04, 2009

We had so much fun at the campout this weekend! It was completely crazy, but such a great memory for the girl scouts. We played games, we ate dinner, made smores, sang songs around the fire and the girls even had to go find their breakfast in the morning that the Girl Scout fairy left.
Many of the Dads were dreading the family fun day part and many of the moms were dreading the sleeping in a tent part. If I hadn't explained that before, we had the families participate in our end of the year family fun day and then the moms stayed overnight with their Daisy daughters for the campout. Much to our surprise, ever single family showed up and every girl got to participate in the campout. I really thought some of the Dads would chump out on the game part and I thought a mom or two would "fall ill" being unable to campout. But, everyone showed up and I really think everyone had a blast.

Nothing like a little water relay to get the fun started!

Maddy and I getting ready for the 3 legged race. We didn't win, but we also didn't break anything so it was a success.

Water balloon toss

Time to set up the tents. The Dads all left after they got the tents set up.

Well, Mark had to stay. He should earn a girl scout badge or something. He cooked the food, got the charcoal ready for the box oven brownies, built the fire and fixed the swing set after it broke. What a man!

We sang songs around the fire.

The girls giggled A LOT before falling asleep

Breakfast was bright and early...7am!!

This will probably be the girls favorite part of the Girl Scout year seeing as like most of the other girls, Madison didn't stop smiling for 7 hours.

Posted by Amy at 02:19 PM | Comments (1)

April 27, 2009

After taking the weekend off from walking, the four of us moms headed out again today for the 4 mile trek around our neighborhood. Once around is 2 miles and VERY boring if you don't have company. Twice around goes by before you know it. As far as the time it takes, I hardly notice it, but when it comes to the energy it takes...that I notice. It feels good to do it though and I'm going to miss not going tomorrow. I'll be at Madison's school volunteering tomorrow, but I'll be back out there Wednesday.
We finally replaced our grill this past weekend. Mark just finished putting it together yesterday after work and we plan on breaking it in tonight. Considering he has to grill for 25 adults and 28 kids this Saturday he better get used to it quick! This weekend is Madison's girl scout camp out and end of the year family fun day. We're hosting it and we're quite excited about it, but it's going to be one of the most interesting days. First and foremost, we're hoping the weather holds out, secondly we're hoping nobody breaks anything playing the sports, and third we're hoping the girls actually sleep.
Their last meeting of the year is tomorrow night and after that we just have a couple fun group activities planned before they break for the summer. Oh, the summer. I get hives thinking about it. Of course, between school starting a week earlier next year, my cousins wedding in Mississippi, both my kids birthdays, my neice's birthday, our anniversary, vacation bible school and other things I'm sure I can't remember right now, we'll probably be looking at school starting again before we know it.
Well, speaking of school, I have a few more things to get done around here before I pick them up today.
Ta ta.

Posted by Amy at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2009

The girls bickering was really entertaining this morning. They were sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast, Madison a bagel and Chloe mini wheats, while I packed Chloe's lunch. Chloe puts her spoon down and holds her nose while she crinkles up her whole face. Something stank. Obviously I can guess what it was, but the yelling that ensued was over who it was. Chloe told Madison she needed to say excuse me. Madison told Chloe she needed to say excuse me because it wasn't her. Yes it was, no it wasn't. YES IT WAS!! NO IT WASN'T!! You passed gas and it stinks Madison, say excuse me!
I broke in and explained to them that it wasn't either of them. There's nothing quite like dog gas. It's worse than a dead animal sometimes and the smell coming from the table (where Bella had vacated before the yelling started) stank so bad.
Then they had to apologize to each other, I let Bella outside and went back to packing Chloe's lunch while they started talking about glue sticks versus bottled glue. I just shook my head and went on with my morning.

I just got back from walking 4 miles with some neighbors. My legs hurt and for some reason my left hand is swelling up. I still need to go get groceries, but first a shower must happen so I don't offend anyone. Then a trip to the library and I'll pick up the girls. The morning is already going by fast, I'm sure 3:00 will be here before I know it.

Posted by Amy at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)

June 25, 2008

Like most people, I've been trying to stay close to home lately because of the gas prices so I'm finding myself working on new projects. I made these valances today and I'm quite proud of them. I didn't use a pattern because I was kind of figuring they were pretty basic. I called my mom a few times, she walked me through some questions I had and voila! we have new color and new curtains in the breakfast area. The pattern on the front is called Americana Gingham and the color on the back is a solid deep red like the red on the front. It makes them a little thicker and since there's a room on the other side I wanted to have a color over there too.

I picked up some contrasting material to make placemats and pillows for the living room. Again, trying to tie in the colors in the other rooms. The main part of our house is all pretty open so my challenge is to find a decorating style that can be used in all the rooms without going overboard and it all looking too busy.

The girls oooh'd and aaah'd when they woke up from their nap and saw what I had finished. Madison said they were "beautiful" and Chloe said they were "amazing". That was the best!

Posted by Amy at 08:15 PM | Comments (1)

June 17, 2008

She's such a sweetheart! As soon as she left Madison asked when we were going to go out to dinner so Miss Becca could come over and babysit. I have a very good feeling about this. Her first time babysitting will be next Saturday so I'll let you know if all goes well or if I find her hiding in the linen closet sucking her thumb when we get back home.

I have a Mommy PSA. One of the books Madison picked out at the library was a very cool one. Seussville has a new line of books out called the The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library. Madison picked up There's No Place Like Space and I have to tell you it is such a well-written book for her age. A couple times throughout the book she made comments like "Huh, I didn't know that", or "Wow, I thought the sun just came up!" I really wouldn't have thought to teach her about some of the details about the solar system but she's interested. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep up with these kids.
Some of the other books in the series are:
Fine Feathered Friends
Is a Camel a Mammal?
Oh Say Can You Say DI-NO-SAUR?
On Beyond Bugs!
and
Wish for a Fish

Posted by Amy at 03:35 PM | Comments (0)

May 31, 2008

Girly Girl Fun

Ok, I'll have to admit, it was pretty fun dressing her up. I never thought I could get into the whole girly girl thing, but I can! I still didn't put mascara on her and I tried to make all the makeup look subtle. The second picture is her seeing herself all dressed up and made up for the first time.
Doing all of this last night was just to get the class photo done. We'll do it all over again next week for the actual recital.

Posted by Amy at 06:55 AM | Comments (4)

May 30, 2008

School is out and the fun begins! It's been a week and I'm lovin' it! Not that the kids aren't driving me crazy at some point every day, I just love not having a schedule to keep or somewhere to be every day. No lunches to pack, no clothes to set out, papers to sign, money to give, etc.
We still have Madison's dance recital to get through, but that's fine. I'm already over the whole dance buzz though. She is able to participate in both dances, but now I'm running around trying to get everything she needs for it. The right color tights, the hair piece for the second dance, and she has to wear makeup! That's just foriegn to me. For the 3/4 year old combo class they have to wear foundation, neutral eye shadow, neutral lip stick, light blush and light mascara! I'll put some face powder on the child and some lip gloss, but I'm drawing my mommy line at the mascara, that's just stupid for a 3 or 4 year old.
We bought our tickets to watch her perform, we're paying over $100 for the outfits (not including the shoes, tights, and accessories) and we've been told to buy flowers to give her when she comes off the stage. She's probably going to be disappointed, but my little crystal ball is telling me we won't be going through this next year. It's been all she talks about on Wednesdays (the day of class) and for the last two weeks, she's been talking about the recital. I think it's too much for her age.

On the job front, I got my last 3 "thanks, but no thanks" letters from the school board. Since I didn't get called for a single interview, I'm still thinking they were filled internally.

The summer will really begin Sunday when we get on the road for Disney! I'm dreading the drive, but I'll take a breath when I see Mickey and the gang waving to us as we drive into the park.

Madison, being a girl after my heart, jumped for joy when I told her today was our first pajama day of the summer. She doesn't know that I'll secretly start packing us for vacation while she enjoys being a bum. Well, I'll be packing and breaking up the fights between the two monkeys. There was a time in the past I told Madison she better watch out when Chloe gets bigger.
That day has come and I really should have been warning myself.

Posted by Amy at 08:29 AM | Comments (1)

May 16, 2008

Madison's Math

This is a 4 and a half minute video so you've been warned!
Madison has been showing a lot of interest lately in math so my mom gave her a first grade math workbook last week and this video is of her working on her first page of it.

Posted by Amy at 05:04 PM | Comments (3)

May 07, 2008

Word on the street yesterday confirmed my thoughts about the jobs I put in for. They're all getting filled with transfers and there's still people losing their jobs. There's just not enough positions to go around with the current budget cuts.

We did get a letter this week letting us know the out of zone request for Madison has been approved though. So, there's the silver lining for me.
Since there aren't any part time preschool programs around here, Chloe and I will have another year... Some days I'd say it's another year of fun and other days I'd say it's another year to get sick of each other. She's an incredibly easy child (when it's just her) and she's actually a load of fun, but this mommy is ready to move on. Ok, maybe if I say I'm ready for more that will sound better.
I still have my limits though.
I don't want the girls in before or after school care and I want the weekends and holidays off with them. I want my 'moving on' and 'ready for more' stage to still allow for as much family time as possible.

Check out this picture of Madison. She's getting more freckles and her features are starting to change a bit. So is her personality.
She's calming down a bit and isn't my little preschooler anymore.

Posted by Amy at 03:04 AM | Comments (2)

April 21, 2008

I think we've found our church. It's only 10 minutes away, they have a very young pastor, a rather young congregation and we recognized quite a few people yesterday. I had a good feeling just driving in the parking lot. Family after family with all ages of kids were getting out of their vans and SUV's, Mark saw someone he works with, we saw teachers, principals and neighbors. Since Madison isn't in Kindergarten yet she was able to be with Chloe in the nursery which is exactly what I was hoping for. It made it easier on both of them and they're already excited to go back next week.
They loved getting ready for church too. They got all girly with lip gloss, perfume, jewelry and their little purses.

Posted by Amy at 11:10 AM | Comments (2)

April 18, 2008

What was originally just Chloe having a bit of a stomach ache Sunday night turned into an all out family affair with the bathrooms. By Wednesday night our house smelled like a nursery for quintuplet newborns lacking any form of diaper genie.
And I'll need to throw away our plastic Halloween candy bowls now as that was the biggest and best thing to throw up in for all of us.
Madison kept one by her bed and we kept one by our bed.
It was bad.
Madison only went to school one day this week and Mark missed Wednesday and Thursday as well as his softball game. He's supposed to go in today for firearms training, but I have bets on him collapsing after 2 hours of running around shooting things. He's calling the guy in charge beforehand to see if they're having a make up day so he can skip it.
We're all done getting sick except for Chloe. She started it and she's finishing it apparently. We're all extremely exhausted and generally having a slow time bouncing back. I broke down and bought some pull ups for Chloe after 4 nights of changing her bed sheets in the wee hours of the morning.
The one positive aspect of it all and something I am SO thankful for is that Mark and I didn't have it at the same time. I had it Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, he had it Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Today I'll be switching out toothbrushes, scrubbing toilets and continuing to air out the house.
I have such a fun day ahead of me!
But I'll take that over Wednesday's activities anytime.

Posted by Amy at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2008

We met my parents at a middle point destination yesterday to get the girls and it took 5 minutes in the car with them for me to start day dreaming about the next sleep over at nonny and pops.
Sigh.
I missed them, but I didn't miss the non-stop chatter, endless questions and the fights over toys.
Whats more is that Chloe got sick last night, continued to be sick this morning and then Madison's school called after she had only been there an hour to have me pick her up. They said she complained her stomach hurt and they were worried she might have what Chloe has.....you can imagine my frustration when I find out it's just because she's constipated.
Now I have one restless and attention deprived 4 year old as well as one very sick (from both ends) two year old.
I called Madison's school after lunch to find out what measures they used to determine her ailment. It was simply her complaint about her stomach hurting which Madison said was because she didn't want to finish her banana.
Grrrrr.

Posted by Amy at 02:03 PM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2008

Silly little girls

Posted by Amy at 03:57 PM | Comments (3)

March 14, 2008

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 as highest), how much do you like your own handwriting?
6

Soup
Do you prefer baths or showers?
Showers

Salad
What was the last bad movie you watched?
The Kingdom

Main Course
Name something you are addicted to and describe how it affects your life.
M&M’s-they make my butt fat

Dessert
Which instrument is your favorite to listen to?
The piano

Posted by Amy at 07:59 PM | Comments (3)

March 13, 2008

I love my camera!!

Our Dogwood springing to life

Butterflies in the freshly tilled garden

We have a tree in our yard that up until this week we thought was a dying oak, but obviously it's not! What's not obvious to us is what it is. We haven't a clue.

Our camera even makes weeds look good

Posted by Amy at 07:17 PM | Comments (1)

March 10, 2008

Before getting schooled on it tonight, I hadn’t realized what a big deal this softball league thing was around here. And Mark’s team is really good! They got bumped up to a higher league this year and with only two games down, they’re already looking at getting bumped up again to the B Division. The final score tonight was 20-4 and while I’m proud of that, I’m more impressed that I watched most of the game this time and even had the chance to cheer a bit. Not the pom-pom-short-skirt kind of cheer, just the clapping-because-hey-I-saw-that kind.
And it had everything to do with the fact that I promised Madison a dollar for every time she let me know Daddy made a good play.

Posted by Amy at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2008

Berry fun day!

I feel like I have strawberries coming out of my ears. Madison’s school finished up their fundraiser and we picked up our strawberries yesterday. I am SO glad I only bought one flat. It was 12 pints in a flat and up until last night I had no idea how much that actually was. I used 6 pints for jam, 2 pints have been washed, hulled and frozen for use in some homemade strawberry ice cream later in the week. 1 pint became chocolate covered strawberries and I still have 3 pints left for eating plain.

I never made jam before today and I feel pretty good that I tried. I talked to my mom, who canned like mad when I was a kid, and I just figured I’d give it a whirl today. Thankfully it was a lot easier than I thought it would be, although it’s a very messy project! The ironic thing is that I actually don’t like strawberry jelly or jam. I could put a hurtin’ on blackberry jam though so that will be next once the blackberries are in season.

Posted by Amy at 12:31 PM | Comments (3)

March 08, 2008

This may not apply to me yet, but time goes by fast

Posted by Amy at 07:11 AM | Comments (1)

March 07, 2008

Friday Feast

Appetizer

If you could be any current celebrity for one whole week, who would you want to be?

Simon Cowell. I love his raw honesty and I want to know first-hand if Paula is on drugs, drunk or just that weird.

Soup

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you enjoy talking on the phone?

2

Salad

Name a charitable organization to which you have donated (or would like to).

United Way, American Red Cross, March of Dimes, American Heart Association, Autism Speaks, Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

Main Course

What is a food you like so much you could eat it every single day for a month?

Apples

Dessert

Have you or anyone in your family had the flu this year?

My BIL is getting over it right now.

Posted by Amy at 10:24 AM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2008

The latest school work

Here's a couple of Madison's latest papers.

That's one colorful momma! She's doing very well with her reading and loves her Curious George reading books. Every so often she'll start sounding out words we see. We stopped at a pet store the other day and she sounded out "Pet Stop" while we waited in the car for Mark.

The biggest change we're having around here is dinners. They both have started turning their noses up at all meals. Well, ok, most meals. If it's in a casserole dish, forget it. They even cried about the lasagna the other night which they usually love! Chloe went as far as to make herself gag and she actually threw up at the table. She's done that twice now. So, I've started to make meals I've either never done or haven't done in a very long time. One was meatloaf. I don't like meatloaf, but I've stomached it when needed... like my moms when I was a kid and the in-law's when we visit. But I've never been a big fan or made it myself until last week. And MUCH to my surprise they both loved it and had second helpings!
I made scrambled eggs last week too-we've usually done sunny side up eggs-and Madison went to town on the scrambled version. Again, two helpings and 3 pieces of toast.
I'm happy with any meal they eat because I'm well aware that the next time I make meatloaf (the exact same way) that they will both turn their noses and cry for bread.
Night's like tonight though are great for everyone-
it's pizza night.

Posted by Amy at 08:18 AM | Comments (0)

February 29, 2008

A lot of people have mentioned Chloe's picture from the previous post. It was a perfect shot of her personality so I thought I'd share the sequence of pictures from her first look to her getting over it.
Mark had the camera and Chloe was looking at, and giving the look to, me. She wanted to go out and dance and I was telling her no. She can't stand to be told no to anything!

Posted by Amy at 01:22 PM | Comments (3)

February 28, 2008

It was observation night at Madison’s dance class yesterday. She seemed to be pretty excited we were there watching her be a princess. I think she did really well and had many more smiles to pass around than she did at soccer.

Chloe on the other hand was less than thrilled to be on the sidelines watching.

Posted by Amy at 07:15 AM | Comments (2)

February 24, 2008

Sunday is a funday

Here's some pics from our day today.

Oh how fun it is to be the big sister! Madison got Chloe to get under the laundry basket and then she covered her with pillows. She looked like a deer in headlights when I walked in the bedroom and then she just started busting out laughing.
It was adorable.

The girls got to hitch a ride in the wheel barrel

Madison was chasing butterflies before hopping in

I LOVE our camera!

Posted by Amy at 03:36 PM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2008

Madison never had the chance to say her verse in school yesterday. I was more bummed than she was and I didn't even know she had been learning it at all. She said the teacher picked her on Monday...ok, if that's true, she had that thing memorized by Wednesday afternoon. At the risk of sounding like I completely doubt my child, I need to ask her teacher about it. That just seems like a lot to remember for her in that short of time.
I had my substitute training yesterday and it wasn't bad at all. It was even a little fun. I should be ready to start in about two weeks, but Mark's new position and schedule is kind of throwing a kink in it. I can still sub, it just won't be as often or as easy on the family. So, my plan is to just sub when I can and hope for a more permanent position to open up.
Speaking of Mark-we're heading out to see his new office today. This will be the first time that he'll have his very own office and it's not his car! It's very difficult to set picture frames up on his dashboard and really not easy to hang certificates on the windows. Even the smallest of nails just sends a crack right through those things!
Mark has also started softball again. After only one practice he's asked me pick up a knee brace.....I only think it's a little funny though because I'm getting old right along with him. We crack and pop and have aches that I don't remember my parents complaining about at the ripe old age of 30.
I blame it on global warming.
The kids just got up and Madison already has the Upside Down Show turned on-where's my coffee?

Posted by Amy at 06:44 AM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2008

We still haven't found the charger, but took a chance on the camera having enough battery life left for one take. Thankfully we only needed to record it once.
She has such an awesome memory!

Posted by Amy at 04:05 PM | Comments (2)

Thirteen Things About Amy 13 Things on my mind today 1. I have something on my calendar for March 5th. I only wrote 9:40 am and nothing else. I cannot remember what it is or why I was so vague and it's driving me crazy! 2. Since we're getting quite a heavy rain at the moment, I'm thinking about how glad I am we had gutters installed on Tuesday. 3. Mark and hoping he gets the phone call he wants today. 4. The substitute certification that I'm taking tomorrow. It's a 4 and half hour...class, lecture, seminar...I have no idea. I'm excited to get going, but pretty sure it's going to be boring. 5. Mark's schedule. It seems to always find a way to be a thorn in my side. We had it good for a while with a somewhat permenant schedule of day shift with rotating days off, but it's changing again and he's going to be working a month of nights starting next week. I got spoiled having him here every night for dinner and our evening family time. 6. Lasagna. I made a lasagna last night before bed and put it in the fridge to cook today. We haven't had it in a while so I'm kind of excited for that and some yummy garlic bread. 7. How good Yoga makes me feel. I've been taking some yoga classes lately at the gym and I really love the relaxed feeling I seem to carry with me throughout the day. I did some yoga stretches yesterday morning right out of bed and I felt fantastic. But, we woke up late today, I was greeted by Chloe and a cold house, I wasn't able to do my Yoga stretches in a quiet and dark room and man, did I feel cranky this morning. 8. Our yard and the fact that spring seems to be here. I think we had the last of the cold snaps and I can start clearing off the dining room table this weekend. 9. We got all of our paperwork mailed out to our tax guy today, so now we just wait and see if we'll be happy or sad. We got a sad surprise one year so I don't hold my breath anymore. 10. I'm still trying to figure out where our old camera charger is. Madison has a verse she has to say in chapel tomorrow and I want to record it, but the camera battery is dead! If I find it, I'll post a video of her saying it. 11. My current book. I've been on this reading kick lately and I'm on my 8th book in a little over 3 weeks. This one is a mystery thriller with a bit of romance thrown in. 12. Strawberries. Madison's school is holding a fundraiser of selling strawberries. It's not an easy fundraiser as you have to stick to people close by and they should like to make jelly since they're sold in flats of 12 pints. 13. My need to sleep well. There are a lot of factors in me not sleeping well, but for the sake of my family I need to get a couple good night's sleep. Mark is snoring, Madison is having bad dreams, Madison and Chloe were both sick, thunder storms, Mark was coming to bed at 1 in the morning and waking me up, etc. He can try to be a ninja and I'll still hear him. Unfortunately once I'm up it takes me well over an hour (3 hours the other night) to go back to sleep.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Posted by Amy at 01:23 PM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2008

Soccer didn't seem to be her thing just yet so we're starting our next activity tonight. She has told me for months (even during soccer season) that she wanted to try dance. We went to observe a class last week where she was able to participate before we signed up and she loved it!
It's a 45 minute class that combines ballet, tap and tumbling. She won't be able to participate in the recital at the end of the year because outfits and shoes have already been ordered, so we'll cross that disappointing bridge when we get there. I know she'd be more upset if she had to wait until August to join in at all though.
And it should work out well because we’ll have a couple months to see if she likes it before putting out recital money for next year. She’s also said she wants to try Tae Kwon Do and while I’m up to letting her try anything she’s interested in, I'm only game for one activity at a time.
Are these not the cutest little shoes EVER!?!

Posted by Amy at 12:05 PM | Comments (1)

February 16, 2008

Things seem to be heading to the realm of normal around here. Chloe's throwing toys at Madison, Madison's telling on Chloe for everything including breathing wrong and I can't squeeze in a 6 minute shower without them plastering their faces on the shower door and screaming about the other.
Since the puke has subsided with Madison and the snot has slowed to a trickle with Chloe I'm happy to work on discussions of manners and playing nice instead.
For the moment they're playing quite well with their baby dolls and pretend kitchen set. And even though I'm sure it will be the kink that throws the whole deal off, I'm on my way to sneaking in a 6 minute shower.

Posted by Amy at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2008

Not a very romantic day

Valentine's Day just isn't what I remember.

Chloe's still fighting her almost 3 week cold.

And Madison just started randomly throwing up this morning.

Madison is devastated. Today was the class Valentines Day party and we made the goody bags for all 18 kids in her class. She's been looking forward to this party since last week. I still had to go to her school to drop off the goody bags and a page of homework she had yesterday (I think they were testing the parents since it took us reading directions to her). She threw up for the 3rd time as I was pulling into the parking lot.
I came back to the car having to face her sad puppy dog eyes filled with tears because she was going to miss the party. She perked up a bit though when I told her we'd have a pajama Valentines Day party at the house. She's in her pajamas, watching a Pony movie and the balloons are floating around the house.
Shocking as it may be, I'm not in a party mood.
I'm afraid it's going to be a very long day.

Posted by Amy at 08:58 AM | Comments (2)

February 01, 2008

Friday Feast

Appetizer
What is your favorite kind of cereal?
Oh there's just so many! Cinnamon Life this week.

Soup
When was the last time you purchased something for your home, what was it, and in which room did it go?
Earlier this week. Soil, seeds and starter pods. They went on our dining room table until they can be planted in the yard.

Salad
What is the funniest commercial you’ve ever seen?
I don't know if it's the funniest, but the one coming to mind is that Nextel one where they're all dancing in the break room.
My husband used to be addicted to his Nextel and I always pictured him doing that when I saw the commercial.

Main Course
Make up a name for a company by using a spice and an animal (example: Cinnamon Monkey).
Chipotle Chihuahua

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I haven’t ______ since ______.
I haven't danced since Sunday.
Madison wanted to see if I could do ballet. I proved to her that I cannot and should not dance like that.

Posted by Amy at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2008

A story to share

I was catching up on some of my Tivo shows and watched an interesting Oprah one. It was about listening to your intuition and how, as females, our fear is a gift we should use to stay safe. Often we don't though because we're too worried about seeming rude or cold or, gasp, a bitch.
I'm not worried about any of those.
I don't wave to any of the endless stream of construction workers on our street. I don't make pleasantries with the guy stocking the shelves at the grocery store and I don't engage in conversations with the person pumping gas next to me. I may come off as rude, but I just don't care.
That's not saying I won't return a 'hello', but I know how to keep an interaction at just that.
Now for my story that her show reminded me of.
I was driving to my parents the other day, Saturday afternoon at 2:30 to be exact, along the stretch that is quite desolate and only sprinkled with the occasional gas station or farm. Where I was driving meant I had out of state tags and limited cell phone service. I was also with the girls and sometimes I have heightened senses when I have the kids in tow.
There was a black car, with a male driver, sitting in what I would call my blind spot. He came up on me kind of fast and then slowed next to me, I had the cruise control on and after what was probably only a minute, he passed me. He then got in front of me. That was my first feeling of 'hmmmm....is he up to something?'. I turned off the cruise control and slowed a bit. He was a little ways ahead of me when he crossed two lanes and turned on his left turn signal at the traffic light. The straight light, mine, was green. I went through and he pulled out in to the lane again and was behind me once more.
Here of course was my second feeling of 'yeah, he may be up to something'. I will admit it crossed my mind not to listen to my intuition, that maybe he was just lost or he turned too soon. But I got my cell phone out and put it in my lap anyway. I turned at my left and so did he. The speed limit was 55, so I went 45 to give him a chance to pass me. He didn't. I went to 35 and he still didn't pass me. I got on the phone and called Mark. He started passing me while I was on the phone, sat beside me again and then he pulled in front of me again. Seeing that we were coming to a traffic light in the middle of nowhere I decided to just turn around. The thought went through my mind that turning around would make me and my out of state tags look lost, but it was also going to give me the absolute confirmation I needed before I continued to drive into the backwoods of Georgia.
So I turned, went about 2 miles and turned around again. He was gone and I let out my breath I didn't know I was holding.
I may have needlessly added more time to my trip or caused myself undue worry, but the old cliche will always hold true-
better safe than sorry.
I hope I'll always listen to my intuition and I hope I never find myself worried about what I may seem like to complete strangers.
I hope the exact same for our little girls.

Posted by Amy at 02:07 PM | Comments (2)

It's that time of year again. Our dining room table has been transformed into my very amateur little green house.
I'm trying my hand at flowers this year though. I'm still going to do some veggies, but only the ones that did well last year or at the very least, that I know what to change to improve them this year.
I want to get some color in our yard and fill in some of the space in the backyard. It's just too bare for my tastes.
And since I absolutely love spring, I'm going to try to cut some costs of buying the plants by having them already blooming in our house before planting time.
The ones I'm working on right now are Jaguar Marigolds, Fruit Smoothie Zinnia, Red Velvet Celosia and some yellow Calla Lillies.
I'm excited again to watch my plants grow!

Posted by Amy at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)

January 28, 2008

A very long drive when including rush hour traffic, lots of tears at the office, 2 x-rays, warning of possible tooth extraction and at the very least braces later in life, $129 payment, 2 hours late to school and surprisingly we all still left happy.
Well not all of us I guess.
Madison had another dentist appointment today and did FANTASTIC! She loves going to the dentist and doesn't have any cavitites!! She does have severe overcrowding on the bottom though. He said depending on how her baby teeth come out and the permenant ones grow in, we may be looking at having to extract one of her baby teeth to give the others a better chance at avoiding braces. But, he still recommended we start making friends now with an orthodontist.
The only tears of the morning came from Chloe because she didn't get to 'go'. She wanted to be in sissy's place so damn bad. She did get to sit in the chair and have her teeth looked at for fun and she got a toothbrush, but that wasn't enough. She screamed when we left the room and she screamed when she only got two treasures out the box and she screamed when it was time to leave the office.
Pathetic.
And I can bet you now that she'll be one needing the most dental work and growing terrified of the office.
Whether she's crying to stay or crying to leave, she'll make sure going to the dentist becomes a spectator sport one way or the other.
I was so proud of Madison and getting her choice of dinner tonight means we all eat pizza and I have an incredibly easy evening.

Posted by Amy at 10:22 AM | Comments (1)

January 24, 2008

I had to park in the dirt, walk past the outdoor firepits at Hammaknockers restaurant and step over the resting dog at the front door, but I made my opinion count in this one horse town.

Posted by Amy at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2008

I'm concerned Madison isn't doing as well as she once was in school. Nothing big, nothing serious and nothing really worthy of complaining about yet.
I've just started noticing some things that are different in the class. I'm willing to accept different as long as Madison continues to do well.
Her original teacher, who was highly acclaimed for the student scores she turned out each year, left just before Christmas. A family move to Texas for her husband's job. This left the teachers aid as the new teacher. She has what she needs to teach, but her experience is daycare.
The first change I've notices is the room is MUCH warmer than it used to be. The old teacher asked that we keep sweaters in the room for the kids to keep them comfortable. I think it's the teacher's preference after I asked her why it felt like a sauna in the class lately. She said the kids were complaining it was cold. I was picking up Madison and pointed out to her that Madison had sweat dripping off her head and her hair was soaked. She said she hadn't noticed before. Madison sweats when she naps so I asked her if maybe they took a late nap, but she said no and that Madison didn't even sleep during naptime. We got in the car and Madison told me her teacher wouldn't help her take her sweat shirt off.
The next thing I'm noticing is that Madison isn't having enough time to finish her snacks and lunch. It never seemed to be a problem before, but Madison said there just isn't enough time anymore.
Since school started up after Christmas, I just haven't noticed any new stories from Madison or songs or even her excited about the new letters she's learning.
They are doing more in reading, which may account for some of the changes. And I do think the teacher is overwhelmed with what the school administrators expect. They run a very tight ship with their curriculum and they expect the best from their staff.
And her new teacher was an outstanding aid to the old teacher. She was there early, stayed late, was running everywhere and really paid a lot of attention to all the kids. Unfortunately she now has an aid that does not offer the same help. She's hands off, quiet and I rarely see her.
I saw a mom talking to the teacher this morning about her sons progress and I'm planning on doing the same thing. I can't talk with the teacher when I have Chloe in tow though so I'll be waiting until Mark's shift changes next week.
I know I worry too much and I know I can be an annoyingly involved mom, but I'm ok with that.

Posted by Amy at 09:48 AM | Comments (1)

January 20, 2008

My kids sure do enjoy their food. Madison can eat BBQ chicken wings like a champ. She gets down and dirty and eats more than I do sometimes. Surprisingly, she didn't even get a single drop of sauce on her shirt.

And not to be outdone by her big sister, Chloe can pack the food in there and attempt to hold a full out conversation with you.
This was from the Oreo fun the other day.

I guess it will be a while before I can brag about table manners.

Posted by Amy at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2008

We have a new addiction here at the homefront.
EBAY!
Mark has been buying things on Ebay for a while. Really we both have. I found a cruise listed on Ebay back in '03 and we ended up buying that and going on a wonderful 7 day cruise. Mark has bought an occasional video game or accessory, but that was just the beginning.
After Christmas he decided to started selling some things too. Old xbox games, his old playstation, some computer games, etc. And since he started, maybe 3 weeks ago, he's made $207!!!
We just listed Chloe's cloth diapers this morning and already have people bidding on them!
It's quite exciting to see people wanting your baby's old crap rags.
Some people will buy anything.
Of all the diaper stash we had, it ended up being 6 different listings and should get us up another $100.

We've decided to save up the money, cash it out, and shop for a new surround sound system. Mark's had his eye on this Sony one for a while, but pulling 500 big ones out of thin air has proven to be difficult.

That Ebay commercial has it all wrong. I think it's definitely more fun to list an auction and see people bid on your old dust catchers than it is to win one.

Posted by Amy at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2008

I had a phone interview with the principal on Tuesday and she told me that to her surprise she's had numerous people interested in the position. That was surprising to me too since in the beginning I was led to believe if I wanted it, it was mine.
I haven't heard back from her and since she said she would make her decision that day, I'm left to assume I won't be getting it.
I'm still going to be taking the Parapro exam tomorrow and I'll be doing the substitute certification next month. I'm also going by the school district office today to get an out of zone request for Madison. They have to be turned in by March 28th and this particular school is 15 minutes closer to the house than the one we're zoned for. It's also the one I'd prefer to work at, so I'll be trying to shove my foot in those heavy double doors any way I can.
I'll keep you all posted on my return to work adventures!

Posted by Amy at 07:32 AM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2008

Madison had another great report card. They're starting to get more into reading and have been separated into reading groups.
Her teacher said she is doing fantastic and is in the top of the class.
I was reading some Curious George books to her over the weekend and I see a huge improvement. She's able to read some words like dog, cat and sit by sounding them out. And her class is working on sight words like 'and', 'as', 'the' and 'of'. Of course she also thinks she can read the entire book because she's memorized the passage as it relates to the picture that's with it. She gets very upset when I read it correctly and she says "that's what I said!".

Posted by Amy at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

January 13, 2008

We took the girls to see the new Veggie Tale movie yesterday.
Chloe ate enough movie food for the family seeing as how she polished off the popcorn, the Raisinets and the fruit chewy things. Madison just ate a few popcorn pieces and then chose our water bottle over her own Hi-C drink.
That's one of the ways Madison is growing up. I gave her a container of mini Oreos the other night after dinner and never said another word. She didn't ask how many she could have and I didn't tell her when to stop. When she was done, she got up, put it on the counter and went in the bathroom to clean her hands. I looked at the container and she had eaten not quite half of them. Which was probably about 15 mini Oreos-more than I would have told her she could eat, but not enough to make her sick. The next time she had them she only ate a few, maybe 7 or 8. It takes her about a week to eat one lollipop and she still has a plate full of Nerds sitting on the counter from 4 days ago. She just takes a few at a time as she's walking by.
Chloe on the other hand does just what Madison did 2 years ago. If I try to get her to stop eating a treat you'd think I was trying to trade it with a spider. Her scream comes out of her mouth, blasting me in the face, runs down my spine on it's way to my toes and shoots right back up what's left of my spine only to stop in my head so it can bounce around a little bit, leaving me scrambling for the Advil later.
The first night of the Oreos Chloe only left about 7 or 8 in her container. And the only reason she even stopped was because Madison was heading in to the shower (another big girl change) and Chloe wanted to take a bath first. I had the pleasure of enjoying her scream one more time.
The neighbors probably did too.

Posted by Amy at 06:04 AM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2008

It was interesting.
I'm inclined to take the position, but to be honest it's for selfish reasons.
I want to work in the school system and this is an open door to do just that. The money isn't great and the job is going to be hard.

This boy is going to take all of my energy. He's a good kid with a lot of needs. There wasn't any sugar coating going on today which I appreciated, but they sure put a lot of doubts in my mind.
I saw the class room, met and talked with the teacher, the Vice Principal and other assistants and while he didn't have any meltdowns-their word, not mine-they told me to expect them everyday and many of them. He's very physical and it takes 3 people to do a hold on him-again, their words, not mine. They told me to wear tennis shoes, jeans, no earrings and be prepared to get on the ground and get physical.
He's very smart and understands everything, but is non-verbal for the most part and his meltdowns are part of the autism.

I know I'll be helping the teacher, I may learn something about myself, I'll be trying something new and the bottom line is I'm staring at this stone in my path and I just can't walk away from it.
I feel the need to turn it over and see what happens.

Posted by Amy at 01:20 PM | Comments (1)

January 10, 2008

The winds of change

As it turns out, I may just take this full time job at the elementary school. A lot of phone calls have been made in the past 24 hours and after talking with the principal today, I've decided to go by the school tomorrow to see exactly what we're talking about.
It turns out the full time position is as a teacher's assistant working one on one with a 4th grader with autism. The teacher would always be in the room, but due to his needs, an assistant is needed as well.
They have also added some spots to the substitute certification class, so I've signed up for that as well. And I'll be taking the Parapro exam next Friday. So, I should be able to have two avenues to take. Both of which would get me going in the school system.
And I have a girlfriend who has offered to watch Chloe during the day.
I'm pretty excited about it all. I'm very comfortable with Christy watching Chloe and having good care for her is a major factor in it all. This August I was planning on enrolling Chloe in the school Madison is in now, so by then, both girls would be in school full time leaving me bored at home. This change just bumps that up a few months.

I'm nervous tonight about the unknown of tomorrow morning.
Happy thoughts please!

Posted by Amy at 07:20 PM | Comments (3)

January 08, 2008

Crank it up

I wasn't the only cranky gym goer this morning. Others like me, carrying around their own extra 5 pounds from the holiday, hit the gym today with their heads down and Ipods turned up.
My quietness this morning wasn't caused by a mood, just a lot going on in my mind. The main space filler came to a screaching halt when I got home however.
Over the holiday break I had started my application for a substitute teaching position in our county. My hope was to work a little bit in each of the four elementary schools this Spring and keep my ears open for a full time position in the school system that I could start in the Fall. That would give me an up close chance to get to know the schools before sending Madison to one. It would also give me a chance to know if there's one school over the others that I'd like to work at. My long term hope is to work in the school system in some capacity so I can enjoy the weekends, holidays and summers with the girls.
But, I just found out that the certification class set for February is full and the next one isn't scheduled until the summer.
So, I'm back to square one. I did get a call last night about a position opening up in the next week or two, but that's a full time position and I just don't think I'm ready to send Chloe to daycare yet.
I think I'll join the head-down-Ipod-up group tomorrow morning.

Posted by Amy at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)

January 07, 2008

Madison's Christmas vacation is coming to an end.
It's sad in a way. No more pajama days, no more lounging around the house and no more princess days. The weekends seem to always fill up with errands, chores, various parties and overall recovering from the previous week while attempting to prepare for the next week.
And this return to our very own regularly scheduled programing is just in time for Noggin to start some 24 hour programming of its own!
Which when I first saw it I raised my eyebrows thinking 'who would be watching Noggin at 3am?' But we've used it at 8pm since the extension and I've experienced being up at 3am with a puking little girl in the past wishing there was more than infomercials on, so I say thanks Noggin!
Now, to get back to school starting tomorrow... Madison is not happy about it. She woke up this morning asking how many hours she had left at home. Chloe and I will also be returning to the gym tomorrow after a month long hiatus. My fanny has felt the effects of the holiday and my jeans aren't happy with me. Mark goes back to work tomorrow too after a 6 day break.
So, while Mark is dropping off the truck at the repair shop from my little mishap a couple weeks ago, I'll be spending the day doing laundry, washing bed sheets, cleaning out the playroom, getting school lunch/snack stuff prepared and dealing with a very sad little Madison and a soon-to-be very happy little Chloe.

Posted by Amy at 08:38 AM | Comments (0)

January 05, 2008

Mark and I had a fantastic date the other day. Thursday to be exact and it was more like a date day rather than date night.
His parents were visiting us for a few days and gave us all of Thursday to do whatever. We took advantage of it too.
We headed out around 9 in the morning and didn't get back until almost 8 that night. We went shopping, did some returns, ate lunch out, saw a movie, did some more shopping, ate dinner out and generally enjoyed an entire day free of stress and full of adult conversation.
We got home just in time to kiss Madison goodnight and Chloe was already asleep!

I did a lot of breathing that day.
That day was wonderful.

Posted by Amy at 02:45 PM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2007

Our Christmas

The girls got to open a gift on Christmas Eve-it was their new pajamas. I had hoped to make them some myself, but there just wasn’t enough time.

Leaving cookies, milk and a note for the big guy.

Santa was very good to us!

Chloe got a big playhouse

Madison got a house for her Barbies

Aside from Madison waking up at 4am-we had a very relaxing Christmas morning. She tried going back to sleep in our bed, but really just spent most of the next 3 hours tossing, turning, moaning and even saying, “Can we PLEEEEEEASE open the gifts now, it’s killing me!” At least she made us laugh.
Once Chloe woke up, the girls started opening gifts. It was really nice because Mark and I just sat back, Madison can read the names so she handled the gift distribution, I drank my coffee and we just relaxed. It was so nice.
The girls got tired of opening gifts once, so while they played Mark and I ate some of the breakfast casserole and then we went back to sitting on the couch.
About midmorning we showered, and packed up to head to my parents house for the day.

I love, love, love Christmas time, but I also love getting my house put back together. While the girls continue to play with their toys this week, I’ve been doing just that.
I am leaving the tree up longer than I usually do though since Mark’s parents are heading back this way on the 1st to celebrate Christmas with us. Everything else has already made its way to the attic though. And I have a pile of old toys ready to be donated to make room for the new ones. I went through the girls closets yesterday so Mark doesn't have to keep putting clothes on Chloe that don't fit her anymore. So I have some clothes to donate too.
Yes, I do my spring cleaning at the end of December…
we all have our faults.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Posted by Amy at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)

December 24, 2007

Christmas Joy!

Posted by Amy at 11:52 AM | Comments (1)

December 21, 2007

The day of the car accident Mark did end up making dinner. We had tacos and dressed it up with a glass of Reisling. Then after dinner the girls put on a puppet show for us.
As parents of young ones, it’s our idea of dinner and a movie.

Posted by Amy at 10:29 AM | Comments (2)

December 19, 2007

Are you having a bad day?

I am.
My morning started off fantastic, but quickly took a trip to the crapper when I got in an accident. I didn't just get in an accident- I caused an accident. That's worse.
There is a bright side.
I was alone and I was fine. The man was alone and he was fine and he didn't have any damage to the trailer he was pulling.
But, there is a bad side too.
Mark took the truck to get an estimate and I did $1,600 in damage.
We're getting a second estimate tomorrow.
After that I started making some holiday goodies and forgot the flour in a batch of 7 mini banana bread loaves. They turned out more like babana bread bricks.
I also burnt the chocolate for my peanut butter fudge squares.

I probably shouldn't use any knives to make dinner tonight.
Ordering pizza might be my best choice of the day.
Or maybe Mark will be up to making dinner for us.
Sigh.

Posted by Amy at 02:31 PM | Comments (1)

December 18, 2007

Disney World Highlights-Day7

On Saturday we packed the van and checked out of our Port Orleans hotel. We were all kind of quiet that morning. A combination of being exhausted and a little sad that our week was coming to an end.
We went to Magic Kingdom again this morning to spend a couple hours on rides and looking for Hidden Mickeys. Madison became obsessed with it very fast and they’re pretty cool when you find them.

Just to give you an idea I’m posting pictures from one ride in Magic Kingdom, but there are almost 500 all throughout the Disney World area.
This is the backdrop as you’re in line for the Snow White ride. Look at the blue boxer shorts hanging on the clothes line-there are red classic Mickeys on them.

Here if you look at Snow White’s head there are two flowers to the left. Just under the bottom flower is a classic Mickey.

And once you’re on the ride there is a classic Mickey on the top of the mirror that the Queen is looking in. It's the three circles with red jewels in the middle that form the Mickey.

On the road again-we’re headed home, but not before Madison asked if we could sell our house and move to Disney!

That’s one stuffed van!

Posted by Amy at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)

Disney World Highlights-Day 6

Happy girl waiting for the park to open

First ride of the day!

We took a ride on the Liberty boat-Madison is still finishing up her ring pop breakfast.

In line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride

We had lunch at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and Friends. Here the girls were trying to get a sneak peek at the characters.

FINALLY-some healthy food!

Having fun in Pooh’s Playful Corner

Waiting for the afternoon parade to start

After the parade we went back the hotel and played in the pool a little bit, then had dinner and started packing to check out the next morning. This time packing wasn’t near as much fun. We were as bummed as the girls were that we were leaving the next day.

Posted by Amy at 07:13 AM | Comments (0)

December 17, 2007

Disney World Highlights-Day 5

Thursday morning we headed over to Magic Kingdom so the girls could get some rides in before we went to Epcot. We like Epcot, but there’s not much for Chloe to do there.

Here we were waiting in line and the girls were up to no good!

We love our Mickey Mouse and Pluto!

And they’re eating MORE junk food.

Can you tell how tired Madison is? She tried two more new rides this day. Soarin’ and Test Track. She loved them both and rode them each twice. She fell asleep later in Chloe’s stroller around 7pm. We headed back to the hotel early this night too.

Posted by Amy at 01:49 PM | Comments (2)

Disney World Highlights-Day 4

Wednesday was a little calmer for us. We went to MGM around 10am and got back to the hotel around 7pm. We had a character lunch with Jo Jo, Goliath and the Little Einsteins. We watched the afternoon parade, Madison got her face painted and we watched the Fantasmic show at the end of the night. Madison rode her first new ride here since she got taller. She tried Star Tours and LOVED it.

Posted by Amy at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)

Disney World Highlights-Day 3

Day 3, Tuesday, was by far our biggest day. We started the day off at Animal Kingdom and were the 1st Camp Visitor at Camp Minnie Mickey. We got to greet all the characters at once and got a cute little certificate for it.

This was just a cute picture from the safari ride

Later that night we had dinner in Cinderella’s castle. It was gorgeous! The girls were absolutely cute in their little dresses and our reservations were perfect because we were in the middle of our dinner inside the castle when the lights were dimmed and we watched the fireworks through the dining room window.

The castle was all decked out in beautiful Christmas lights.

We also had tickets for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party for that night. It was from 7pm-midnight and we actually closed down the Dumbo ride at midnight. We were running to get on and Mark and Chloe made it then the chain was closed off, but Madison and I were running a little behind and the lady was nice enough to let us on too.
They had the BEST fireworks show that night, gave away sugar cookies, hot cocoa and bagged apples. We saw the Christmas night time parade too which I think between that and the fireworks is the best part of the party.

The girls stuffed their faces while we waited for the parade.

Pictures from the parade.

Tuesday was a very long day and Wednesday morning proved something crazy. I’ve often told my mom and my sister that no matter what time Madison goes to bed, she’ll still be up early. It’s sick. She didn’t go to bed until 1:15 Wednesday morning and she STILL woke up at 6:30am!! It’s unbelievable.

Posted by Amy at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)

December 16, 2007

Disney World Highlights-Day 2

On Monday we spent the day at Magic Kingdom with Mark’s family riding rides, eating and getting very tired. We went back to the hotel for a nap, then we had dinner together at the Concourse Steakhouse in the Contemporary Resort (the one the monorail rides through) and went back to the park for more fun!

Angie, Mark & Madison

Lots of junk food!

More junk food after dinner!

Angie, Madison & Chloe

Daddy and his girls

The family before dinner

Grandma got to ride in the front of the monorail with her babies!

The race cars became one of Chloe's favorite rides

All the kids watching fireworks

Chloe wasn't too keen on actually watching them

Posted by Amy at 01:00 PM | Comments (0)

Disney World Highlights-Day 1

We left the house at 5am Sunday morning and headed out on our vacation.
When we checked in to the hotel, Mark’s parents met us there since they were visiting Disney for a couple days too. Then Mark’s sister surprised the family by showing up at our hotel while we were checking in. They too were going to be at Disney for a couple days. I knew they were coming but everyone else was in the dark and totally surprised to see them. The girls got to see their cousins and it had been almost 2 years!

Then we headed over to Magic Kingdom and Chloe got to see her favorite for the first time. She was so sweet and just wanted to talk to Mickey. She would have stayed there all afternoon if we could.

We headed over to the Liberty Tree Tavern for our first character meal of the week and my birthday dinner. We got to see Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Chip & Dale. The food was really good, but the girls were too tired to enjoy it like I had hoped they would. Mark surprised me by calling ahead and having a cake delivered to our dinner for my birthday. That was such a sweet surprise.

We had a fantastic first day and the girls fell asleep on the bed by about 10pm. We were all so tired and we still had 6 days left!

Posted by Amy at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2007

It's very difficult to pack when a certain someone insists on taking everything out of the suitcases and putting it all in our tub to play with.
As a side note, I have no idea why she's so fascinated with the bathtub.

Posted by Amy at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)

December 05, 2007

My parents came over last night for a Christmas kick-off party. We had lots of fun baking cookies, eating pizza (you know the traditional Christmas dinner everyone should have!) and opening presents!!!

They gave Madison a Cinderella Christmas tree for her bedroom and they decorated that last night too.

Chloe got a Mickey sitting in a rocking chair that tells the night before Christmas story REALLY LOUD. Although I’ve looked, I haven’t found a volume control so those batteries may be gone by Christmas. You really have no idea how loud it is.

They got us a BIG Mickey for our yard too!!!

Mom made each of the girls a pair of pajama pants for our Disney trip. Madison got Princess ones and Chloe got Mickey ones. She made them each a pillow to match too.
Isn’t she grand?!?

They got the girls each a Princess dress and purse for our dinner at the castle too.

Have I mentioned how excited we are for our vacation!?!?!
Only 3 days, 17 hours, 24 minutes and 6 seconds until we leave :)

7 days and 6 nights at Disney! It just doesn't get much sweeter. We're going to dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern for my birthday, a dinner at the Castle on Tuesday before we go to the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party that night, lunch on Wednesday with the Little Einsteins, lunch on Friday with the 100 Acre Woods gang and a couple more character meals thrown in there.
We don't normally go all out like this on our Disney trips, but since it's been a year we're going to make the most of it!

Posted by Amy at 11:31 AM | Comments (1)

December 04, 2007

3-2-1 Contact

Does anyone even remember that show? Not that it matters to this post in the least, just wondering.
For those who don't know, I've been cursed with having to wear glasses since the 6th grade. There aren't many things in life more embarassing than showing up to 6th grade wearing glasses. It sucked. No matter how positive my mom tried to make it out to be, it wasn't. I made good grades too. I was on the honor roll every year. And when I was called to the priniciple's office in 7th grade it was because he and the staff were surprising me with balloons and flowers for being named volunteer of the year. Yeah, walking back into class was loads of fun that day. The upside though was being able to go home with those balloons and flowers and knowing my parents were proud. But, I digress.
Almost 20 years later and I'm still finding myself strapped down with glasses. That is until yesterday. After going to the eye doctor I found out there's been some new technology in contacts that, I hope, will make it easier for me to wear them. These newer contacts for astigmatism are much lighter, almost annoyingly so since they fold over at the slightest touch, but they feel fine in my eyes. I've tried contacts before, but every time I blinked it felt like I had cardboard in my eyes. My eyes were constantly red and they just plain hurt after just a few hours.
My worry is how much this will change my look. When I picked up Madison from school yesterday the first thing she said was 'where are your glasses?'. I put the contacts in this morning, looked in the mirror and I just don't look right. The cliche 'something's missing' came to mind. Without thought I grabbed my glasses on the counter as I headed to the computer too. Glasses are just a routine for me. But, it's a 20 year routine I'm hoping to break away from.

Posted by Amy at 09:15 AM | Comments (1)

December 03, 2007

With only three families to work with and still having a hard time finding a date to have a Christmas party, we got together last night. We had thought it might be too soon, but it was still very festive and lots of fun. It was a very yummy dinner party with a gift exchange for the kids and the adults AND Santa stopped by to read a couple books to the kids. Santa had some connections with the Just Read, Florida program so books were a very good fit.
My kids lived up to their usual M.O. of course by not doing what I thought they would, but still doing the opposite of the other.
Chloe greeted him at the front door and then wouldn't get near him during the books. Madison hid behind my leg when he came in and then couldn't wait to hear the books read.
Madison is going through the whole magic of Santa Claus and it's making me feel like a kid again. She has a lot of questions and I'm just chock full of fun and sometimes twisted answers. She wanted to know how Santa knows if she's naughty or nice. I said his elves of course! She wanted to know how his elves know. I said they're everywhere of course! Where mommy? Well, elves come in all shapes and sizes so you'll never know when you're being watched. Some have big, pointy ears, but some have big pointy noses too. Some of those big, pointy noses may be pierced too. Some elves are bigger than others and some are in wheel chairs. Oh, and elves don't like to be pointed at and talked about loudly-that's a quick way to have a flag next to your name on 'The List'.
That answer, my friend, is what I'm hoping not only answers her question but avoids any future embarassments like we had last week in Michaels.
Things have come back to bite me in the ass in the past though, so I'll try to stay on my toes anyway.

Posted by Amy at 06:22 AM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2007

I finally got our Thanksgiving tree done last week. Christy came over for a stitch-n-bitch so I used the opportunity.
The leaves have things of thanksgiving from Mark and myself as well as the girls, my parents and Mark's parents with the year on the back of each. I opted out of making the actual tree myself and got one from Target. There may be a 'Sandra Lee's Semi-homemade cooking' on the food network, but I should have an Amy's Almost Made Myself craft show.

And while I'm displaying this tree today, we're also displaying our Christmas tree and most of our decorations, including the outside lights, at the same time. We have a very busy few weeks ahead of us, I wanted to take advantage of Mark being off work yesterday, and I wanted the lights turned on the day after Thanksgiving. I could make up many more excuses as to why it's all up so early, but the bottom line is that I just wanted to and that's usually all it takes.

Here’s my favorite Christmas decoration

And here’s our tree

And without Daddy around to dress the kids, what else would we have to laugh about!?!

I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by Amy at 11:34 AM | Comments (1)

November 16, 2007

Madison's latest school work

Here's the pages Madison brought home yesterday. I don't know if you can see it from the picture, but on the cursive 'R' sheet she traces the first three and then writes the last two herself.
I asked her to show me how she does the phonics page and I'm just amazed.

Posted by Amy at 06:16 AM | Comments (1)

November 15, 2007

Once again I'm finding myself needing to shift my thoughts when it comes to Madison. So far, she's always enjoyed being outside and seems to think she's an athletic child. Soccer taught us however that she is not that athletic. Not that she didn't do well, but she would have much rather sat down in the grass and played with lovebugs. She always wanted to be the goalie, as she said, because she didn't have to run around so much. And when she's with her cousin Sarah there is a drastic difference. When there is mud involved in the outdoor playing, you can watch Sarah run for it making the biggest mess possible and Madison kind of looking around with an expression of 'do I have to do that too?'. She's not keen on getting too dirty and she's not keen on being out of breath. If she sees a wasp, spider or anything of the liking, she doesn't just squeal, she also flaps her hands around like her nails are on fire and runs on her tippy toes.
What she really enjoys is pretend play, dress up, doing crafts, playing video games and as of recently-dressing pretty for school. She's told me twice this week that she wants to do ballet now that soccer is over.
Where I once thought she was going to be our tomboy, I'm rethinking that. Maybe it's a phase or maybe it's her growing up and doing what she really likes.
When we first found out our little baby was going to be a girl, I was nervous. I really didn't think I'd know what to do with a girl and this is exactly what made me nervous.
I girl? Fine.
A girly girl? Not so much.
I don't do my own hair, I don't accessorize and I don't wear makeup most days.
As with most things though, I'll just wing it. It's not like she's not going to speak up when she wants her hair a certain way. And it's not like she's not going to tell me she doesn't like what she's wearing.
The one thing I am confident about with her is that she'll tell me what she wants and how she wants it.
This was her today for school and she talked about how pretty she was all morning. I hope her teacher notices, because Madison asked me if I thought her teacher would like her outfit

Posted by Amy at 12:26 PM | Comments (1)

November 08, 2007

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things About Amy Things About our recent days Today's TT is an update on us. 1. Soccer season is over! We're happy and Madison is not. Here's her with her trophy: 2. Madison’s school is going through a second round of lice. When dreaming about having kids one day, I can tell you I never pictured myself sitting under a light looking for bugs in my little girl’s hair. I’m learning every nook and cranny on Madison’s little head, but fortunately I’m not finding anything. 3. Her school is also holding a Veterans Day festival and parade this weekend. I’ve baked a cake for the cake sale and I’ll be setting up that morning with the hopes of having time to run home and get the girls before the parade starts. 4. I’m not watching the boys after school anymore. Madison says she misses having them here, but she’s sure having less temper ‘issues’ lately. 5. It got down to 28 here last night!! 6. Chloe is fighting a nasty chest cough right now. So far that seems to be the main issue so we’re just keeping an eye on it, but the cough itself is getting worse on going on day 5 tomorrow. 7. Only 30 more days until we head out for our 7 day Disney vacation!! I can’t believe it will be a year since our last trip there. 8. We painted the dining room and added some chair railing there too. This room was also the sad gray color in a flat paint. I hadn’t realized how much I disliked the color of our house until we started painting over it. 9. I’ve been doing some workout classes at the Y. They’re kicking my ass. 10. Both girls adjusted to the time change very well. Madison woke up at 5:30 the first morning (which was 6:30 the old time and her usual hour to grace us with her morning breath), but other than that, it was smooth sailin’! 11. Mark only has one more game left in his softball season. So it seems things will be calming down around here just in time for the holidays! 12. Speaking of the holidays, at dinner the other night we were talking about Thanksgiving. Madison asked if we were going to go out and buy a turkey or shoot one. Apparently the other 4 year olds in her class have talked about how they’re getting their turkey on the table. I love this town, I love this town, I love this town. (my current mantra) 13. We have our one year walk through on our house tomorrow for the warranty. I absolutely cannot believe it’s been a year already.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

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Posted by Amy at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)

November 01, 2007

Candy, Sugar and Treats....oh my!

The girls were CRAZY last night. At 5pm they were acting like they were already hopped up on a starburst injection. We took them out trick or treating a little early, 6 o'clock, just to get them out of the house. Since we know all of our neighbors we just stayed in the street and let the girls go up to the houses alone. They did really good, but manners were nowhere to be found. Everytime Madison got some candy she whipped around and started running through their yard and shrieking "I got more CANDY!!!", leaving Chloe to fend for herself. She would turn around give them a half-hearted thank you after seeing us mouth a very stern "THANK YOU".
We didn't make it far before Chloe tuckered out. Mark took her home and Madison didn't even notice they were gone until nature called and she too wanted to go home. Then she was looking for her big strong daddy to carry her. Mommy wasn't up to carrying a 35 pound twitching, shouting and jittery witch. She was in her own little world...and it was full of candy.
I was bummed when Madison wanted to go home, but she said, "it's ok mom, I had fun and we can still have more fun handing out candy to everyone else". She's so terrific.
When we got home Mark had himself a nice frosty beverage and Chloe was sitting on the kitchen floor with her candy filled pumpkin on one side of her and a bowl full of skittles, whoppers and m&m's in front of her...mouth so full she couldn't even say hello.
Madison immediately dug into her candy as if she somehow knew she better do so while the gettin's good. She knows mommy's no holds barred streaks don't last forever.
She loved handing out the candy as much as she loved getting it. And the kids coming to our door loved her doing so as well. As long as they held their bucket in one place she would keep filling it.

I hope I did an ok job giving you a picture of the night because our camera battery died after only two pictures. Here's the two I got before we headed out-

Posted by Amy at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2007

We went to yet another Halloween party today. This one was an afternoon playdate with the local moms group. I made Madison’s costume a couple hours before the party. If I had more time I would have made Chloe the dryer, but maybe for Halloween night. It was another craft idea I saw online and I thought it was so cute!

Posted by Amy at 07:13 PM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2007

Our Halloween party has come and gone. We had such a great time and all in all I think everything went quite smooth. The kids had a fantastic time on the hayride, they got to paint pumpkins, play some carnival type games, win prizes, and eat caramel apples and cookies.
We ended up with 23 kids and 24 adults. Everyone helped by bringing things and everyone pretty much cleaned everything up for me.

I woke up this morning to a clean house and the Toys R Us toy book in the newspaper. I love shopping for toys. It's like being a kid again, except I have money to buy the things I see.
I called my mom and we met in town to shop and have lunch. Now I'm well on my way with Christmas shopping and I won't have to cringe everytime I hear that dreaded Christmas shopping question.
You know the one.

When Madison woke up from her nap I called the neighbor to see if her new best friend Alysse could come over to play. They are so cute together and I can see my little girl getting bigger by the minute. Her mom asked about sleepovers in the near future, but after seeing me choke on my drink and gasp for air, I think we'll hold off for a bit. I'm afraid it's just a matter of time though.

Posted by Amy at 03:18 PM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2007

Here are the pictures of us from the party last night. I haven’t dressed up for Halloween since high school probably. The girls had a blast and loved the fact that mommy and daddy dressed up too.

Posted by Amy at 02:25 PM | Comments (3)

October 26, 2007

I dropped three things in the shower this morning.
I couldn't figure out why the shower door wouldn't open until I realized I was pushing on the frame, not the door.
And I used the soap pump instead of the Mentadent pump for my toothbrush this morning.
My head is a little frazzled today.
We are going to a Halloween party tonight and with planning our own neighborhood party for tomorrow night I think my mind is just on overload.
Today I'm making two dips and beer bread for tonight's party. Cookies, cupcakes and spinach and herb spirals for tomorrow's party.
The kitchen is a mess right now, cookies are baking and all of this is actually made easier by the fact that Chloe just goes with the flow. She spent about 30 minutes dividing our Halloween candy into piles (and surprisingly she didn't open any of it). It took her another 30 minutes to finish a box of raisins and she likes going to all the windows (that are open) to see what's going on elsewhere.
Anyway, I think it will be a really fun weekend, but I think I'll be kicking my feet up all day Sunday.
I'll try to get a picture posted of all of us dressed up.

Posted by Amy at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)

October 25, 2007

Madison is learning from the Abeka program at school. This makes me smile because it is an excellent homeschooling resource and the only one I would use if I were to homeschool. Madison thrives in the type of atmosphere they foster. It's organized, it's straight forward, has strict rules for dress code and behavior, they get lots of outside playtime, she gets to play games on the computer and they do TONS of crafts. They expect parent involvement and the one day Madison missed, she was sent home with homework the next day. I could go on and on about the school, but the gist is that we’re very pleased with it and happy about our choice to take her there.
Yesterday she got her first report card. I know she’ll be tested at the end of the year for state evaluation on this VPK program, but I wasn’t expecting a report card.

Needless to say we were very happy. We took her out to dinner last night and she wanted “the place with the peanuts on the floor”. So we obliged.

Posted by Amy at 11:53 AM | Comments (1)

October 23, 2007

Have you ever tried to figure me out? By now you probably realize it's not possible. I've had a few people tell me that just when they think they've got me figured out, I do or say something to confuse them. I can tell you that it's not on purpose. I can also tell you that I think I'm a rather simple person and it's probably just the mood swings that throw you off.
There's no sarcasm there, that's just honesty at it's finest.
Lately I find myself doing to my children the very thing that I find annoying when others do it to me. Madison is becoming a puzzle to me and when I think I have her figured out, she pulls an Amy. For most people this would be normal, but for me it's irritating. I want to believe everything has a reason and a purpose even though my heart tells me differently.
I have felt fairly confident about raising my girls the past 4 years. I've always felt I could handle almost anything they threw my way. Whether I ducked or took it square in the face, I always worked my way through the issue. Even though Mark and I talked about choices for raising the girls, the ultimate decision usually came down to being mine. I've always said one of his best traits is his easy going personality. One that I have accepted I may never have. As Madison is getting older, I'm finding that I need to turn to him more for advice and guidance. The past couple months I have said something when referring to Madison that now makes me sit back and think.
I have turned to Mark and said "I can't handle her" or "you deal with her". Laying in bed at night I hear those words bouncing around in my head, almost screaming at me and they don't feel right. I remember how my mom raised me in a way that I appreciated years later. She didn't handle me or deal with me, she just accepted me, made me feel loved and let me be Amy. Most moms probably have that figured out, but they never had me for a child so I give my mom all the credit in the world for her patience.
I now need to try my damndest to be patient with Madison when she's just being herself. I need to think about my mom or my husband and what they would do if they were standing in front of her.
If it's possible for me to attain even a little more patience and have the ability to take one situation at a time I will be better off. Scratch that, our girls will be better off.
One of my many hopes in life is to survive their teenage years free of pharmaceutical assistance and, if it's not asking too much, with quite a few laughs along the way.
(a little sarcasm there)

Posted by Amy at 09:07 AM | Comments (2)

October 19, 2007

Friday Feast

Appetizer
If you were a dog, what breed would you be, and why?
A St Bernard. They can be overweight, loud, always in the way, drool over anything, lose their hair AND still be considered normal.

Soup
What does the color purple make you think of?
Oprah. Come on, you can't tell me you just read that question and didn't think of that movie!

Salad
Approximately how long does it take you to get ready each morning?
30 minutes. Hey, I'm not saying I'm ready for the runway, but at least I'm ready.

Main Course
How many cousins do you have, and are you close to them?
4 and not like I used to be. Physical distance has done it's fair share of contributing, but having busier lives has put it's two cents in as well.

Dessert
Take your initials (first, middle, last) and come up with something else those letters could stand for. (Example: SFO = Sweet Funny Otter)
Always Enjoying Beer

Posted by Amy at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)

Well, lookie what we have here...
I called a few of the soccer parents yesterday to cancel our practice and had the pleasure of finding out that I won that snack bet afterall. The Dad bringing snacks to the practice last night said he would bring them to Saturday's game instead and said he stole the bagged apple idea from whoever did that the previous week.
I, of course, said THAT WAS ME!!! He went on to say he loved the idea because he too doesn't want his child eating bagged cookies and rice krispie treats after soccer.
And while I would like to say I was modest about the whole thing, that would be a lie. After I got off the phone with him I ran out to the kitchen, told Mark I won and did a happy dance that was a strong resemblance to the Elaine dance from Seinfeld.
I think I even threw in a "Buyah!" and a "Shazam!".

Posted by Amy at 09:57 AM | Comments (1)

October 17, 2007

Rock Star

You know what?

I freakin’ rock! In three days I’ve done a 700 piece puzzle, painted our kitchen and breakfast area, taken Chloe and my niece Kiley out shopping and to lunch, gone to a playgroup, watched two other kids after school, AND still kept up with the house. Washing bed sheets, getting groceries and everything. Yeah, I’m totally bragging about myself, but if I don’t-who will?
My husband often says “You’re my favorite wife ever”. I’m the only wife he’s ever had, but all I’ve got to say is “Damn skippy!”

It was a flat paint in a sad gray color, but now it’s a semi gloss in a soft beige called Pebbled Courtyard.

After school star, Dylan, put in two pieces and also thinks he rocks.

Mark and I have decided to throw a Halloween block party for our development too.
Crazy? Yes.
But, I’m getting tons of offers for help and I’m accepting every one of them.

I wonder what the next 3 days will have in store for me?

Posted by Amy at 06:45 PM | Comments (1)

October 16, 2007

I love their little quirks

Madison loves tracing her hand. According to her, if you get the color on you, that means you're a really good artist. I'm guessing she learned that from Nonny.

Chloe has found a new place to look through her books.

Posted by Amy at 06:51 AM | Comments (0)

October 15, 2007

Well, we both kind of lost the bet.
No kids cried and no moms had any thanks to offer.
My girlfriend Christy, who I told about the bet, tried helping me out by offering her thanks. But from talking to her earlier in the day, I think she was curious what the kids would think.
After one of the most frustrating games EVER all the kids came over to me and just kind of stood there. I was admitedly a little annoyed with some of the little rugrats already so my response was a little snippy to them.
They all came up to me and just stood there staring at it all spread out on the towel.
"Do you not know how to pick up food?" was what came out of my mouth.
Yes, yes, that was mean. So, I made it nicer by following up with..
"just take what you want".
They did just that too and I think they were pleased with the snack. Amanda was right, the fruit and the water was a hit, but not the carrots.
Now, to my issue with the aforementioned rugrats. I swear to you some of them just had to be raised in a cave. And I don't blame the kids. So misbehaved, so freakin' rude and they completely ignore their coaches. I can't help but wonder if these parents realize that the coaches are VOLUNTEERS and the parents actually need to rope their kids in every so often.
Anyway, there's my vent for the night and the update on the bet.

Posted by Amy at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2007

My husband and I have a friendly little wager going on. I'm the soccer mom bringing snacks to tomorrow's game and if you know me, you know I'm not bringing crap for the kids to pig out on-like rice krispy treats.
Mark can’t believe I’m bringing what I am and is betting me five bucks that there will be at least two kids who bust out crying and refuse to eat anything.
I'm betting him five bucks that I have at least one parent thanking me for not bringing sugar in a syringe for their child.
This is what I’m bringing-

Anyone care to get in on this?

Posted by Amy at 05:30 PM | Comments (3)

October 09, 2007

Although I had to turn down an invite to a stich-n-bitch with some girlfriends, I have been able to get a lot done today. I’ve seen some projects online and in magazines that I’ve been wanting to try and I set aside today to get them wrapped up.

Here’s what I’ve worked on this morning:

I put 5 more ghosts around the other tree in our front yard

And I made these cute chair covers out of pillow cases and felt.

I did this on Sunday, but I still need to hang it in the hallway. I saw this in a magazine as an alternative to marking the kids height on a wall. If we move again, this can just come with us and the girls will like looking at themselves as they come out of their bedrooms.

Posted by Amy at 10:59 AM | Comments (2)

October 02, 2007

It worked!!

I'm so excited it worked! And literally-this took me 45 minutes from start to finish. I just did it while Chloe was napping.

Posted by Amy at 02:10 PM | Comments (2)

I don’t know if it’s the new area or that the kids are getting older, but I’m getting into this whole Halloween deal for the first time. In the past, we’ve just done the trick or treating, but I’ve actually done some decorating this year and it’s been well received!
Madison loved seeing everything yesterday and I’m kind of liking it too. The neighborhood kids thought the spiders crawling up our garage door were pretty cool too.
Here’s some of what we have so far.-

I’m going to be working on this ghost display I saw online. It should end up looking like 6 ghosts playing ring around the rosie in the front yard. Hopefully I can get it to work!

Posted by Amy at 09:05 AM | Comments (0)

September 29, 2007

We got our country britches unofficially handed to us today.
Our side was much quieter today and I stopped counting when we were down 7-1.
I have a picture that I would like to submit as our excuse. Madison was like 7 other players on her team today and informed us that she was too tired to play before the game even started. Apparently everyone had a late night last night and we had some very cranky kiddos not kicking the ball today.
The positive side was that we got to see Nonny, Pop and my sister and her family since my niece had a game at the same time on the field next to us.

I’m adding this one because it’s just too cute not to share.

Posted by Amy at 04:45 PM | Comments (0)

One of the many perks to having girls is being able to dress them up.

Posted by Amy at 09:08 AM | Comments (2)

September 27, 2007

Madison says the Pledge of Allegiance

Posted by Amy at 04:21 PM | Comments (2)

September 24, 2007

I just got back from the gym and thought I would update everyone that Chloe is doing fantastic in the Kid Zone. She now runs in there on her own and is waiting for me at the door to be let in so she can play. No more tears and no more stress. The tables have turned and I found myself giving words of encouragement to a new mom today who had to be called out of her yoga class to get her son.
Yesterday was a great Sunday around here. The girls stayed in their pj's all day, I built them a tent, they played, we cuddled and watched some football (go Bucs!) and it was a very relaxing way to end the weekend.

We found a new way to discourage people from ringing our doorbell

When Mark got home from work yesterday he told me about this little guy. I took his word for it, but then this morning I got to see him myself. I thought it was weird he was still there, but upon further inspection-that's just his skin. A slightly bigger version is somewhere close by no doubt. I'm thinking of leaving him there.
At least until the boys get off the bus this afternoon and walk up to the door. I'm going to find that very funny.

Our front porch seems to be a very popular place around here. Last week I came home to two pit bulls laying at the door. I was more scared of them than the snake from a few months back. I called animal control and they at least chased them off, but the guy driving the truck sure wasn't in a hurry to actually get out and do anything else with them. They hung around the neighborhood all day until the construction workers left.....hmmmmm....maybe a connection? Me thinks just maybe.
Our neighbor wanted to shoot them and intends to do just that if they return- just another reminder of our rustic and bubba-esque surroundings.

Posted by Amy at 11:27 AM | Comments (2)

September 22, 2007

First soccer game

Madison had her first soccer game today. It was cute, very entertaining and surprisingly competitive. The parents got more in to it than I think we were expecting. The cheers from the parent's section often scared the kids. They would make a good play, we would be really obnoxious and the kids would look around like 'what happened?'.

Pre-game roundup

Madison liked to randomly run around paying no attention to the game

Chloe rationed out the snack at half time

There weren’t many lovebugs out today so she did pretty well as goalie. She often threw in to someone on the other team though, so we’ll have to work on the throw-ins.

They don’t keep score in this age group so nobody from our parent’s section gave any regard to our kids’ 4-3 victory over the other team.

Posted by Amy at 03:11 PM | Comments (2)

September 17, 2007

Happy Heart

When I picked up Madison from school today her teacher told me she got all 5 of her vowels right on her test.
(sans the sometimes y ordeal)
I was puzzled. I didn't know she was learning vowels and I didn't know there was going to be an evaluation on them either.
She brings home all of her workbook pages each day and I proudly display them on the kitchen cabinets until Sunday night when I take them all down, put them in a folder and clear the way for the next weeks decor. I knew she had been learning to write some letters in cursive and I guess if I had given it more attention I would have noticed all the letters she's writing so far are the vowels, but honestly, I didn't notice. Well, it turns out she's been learning to write them and learning what they sound like and what words start with vowels.
Wow.
This private school thing may be more positve than just a safe place for her to get some early education.
Anyway, I'm proud to say she got a 100% on her oral evaluation of the vowels today.
She's proud of the fact that she earned the chance to pick out a toy out of the BIG treasure chest.
And mommy is even MORE proud of the fact that she didn't want a toy for herself, she said she picked out her toy for Chloe. She picked out a deck of Mickey Mouse cards just for her sissy. She forgot them in her cubby at school and was very upset until I turned around and went back for them. When I handed them to her she then handed them to Chloe and said, "here you go Chloe bear, I got them for you".

My heart smiles tonight.

Posted by Amy at 06:58 PM | Comments (4)

September 14, 2007

Madison had her first soccer practice last night. She was soooooo excited. I picked her up from school and the teacher said "so, I hear she has soccer tonight and her daddy is one of the coaches". She said it's all Madison wanted to talk about at school.
I love seeing her so happy.

Before leaving for practice

Just before starting

Of course Chloe wanted to play too

So, she resorted to stealing my camera when I wasn’t looking

And she’s actually pretty good. We were a little worried because she’s not the most athletic of children, but she ran around for an hour, no complaints, always smiling, and did an awesome job listening to her coaches and kicking the ball.

Chloe got bored and decided to play her hand at sleeping
-it lasted 20 seconds.

This was the end of practice and she was so tired, but still a happy girl!

Posted by Amy at 06:59 AM | Comments (4)

September 12, 2007

I made a couple more holiday tins yesterday. I should probably stop until Christmas though-you can only use so many holiday themed containers around the house!

I was painting these yesterday while the after school kids did their homework and one of them (the Kid Cuisine one) told me I'm a really good painter and that I must be really smart then. He then asked me if he could tell his dad that Ms Amy is smarter than him.
I said only if I could be there when he says it and then I handed him a cookie.

Posted by Amy at 01:35 PM | Comments (2)

In an effort to get dinner on the table at a reasonable time last night, I started making some things ahead while one of the after school kids was still around. He usually gets picked up around 6:15 and we're used to eating dinner at 6:00 so we've had to make some adjustments.
He comes sliding in the kitchen on his socks, comes to a screaching hault next to me and starts inquiring (not-so-nicely) about the smell and what I was cooking. I told him I was sauteing some garlic and onions, he watched me pour in some tomato sauce and cooking sherry and then told me that my steak sauce smelled gross.
Awesome.
He asked what we were eating for dinner and I told him Delmonico steak with a homemade steak sauce, onions sauteed in red wine vinegar and some green beans. He again made a wonderfully polite comment about how gross it sounded.
I asked him if he would feel more at home if I were to put a frozen Kid Cuisine in the microwave for him.
He said yes and he actually believed I was going to do it.

The positive thing about that whole interaction was that I felt an inadvertent pat on the back for making good homecooked meals for my family. I made a ham Monday night for dinner and Madison was so genuinely excited to eat it. She ate a great dinner, earned herself some mint chocolate chip ice cream, and thanked me a few times for making dinner. That was the same ham I made her school lunch with yesterday, used my pumpkin cookie cutter on and she ate the whole thing!

It's certainly not an easy habit to keep up with. They get thrown some chicken nuggets occasionally or have cereal for dinner, but overall I'm thankful I can do homecooked meals.

Posted by Amy at 08:45 AM | Comments (3)

September 11, 2007

Take some 97 cent tins

Add some paint from my crafty crap (and a Monday afternoon)

And you get these

The bug has bit me and I feel like being creative. I'm toying around with making some halloween costumes while I'm in this mood, but it still seems so daunting. I made use of my pumpkin cookie cutter on Madison's sandwich today and I'm going to have her help me with a Thanksgiving Tree this weekend.

Are you up to anything crafty?

Posted by Amy at 12:19 PM | Comments (1)

September 10, 2007

The weather is finally starting to cut us a break around here. We haven't been 'Arizona hot', but it was hot enough to keep my Florida behind positioned comfortably inside where, like the Beatles, it's always cool. My garden took a complete dump, all yard work was left to the hubby and there was no threat of skin cancer for the girls this summer. I just can't do hot.
Driving to get Madison from school last week I noticed the bank sign telling me it was 89-and that was 3 in the afternoon. I thought for sure it was a mistake until waking up the next morning and actually feeling a slight, albeit brief, chill in the air. It was 72 until about 9am, but still, I'll take it.
Now I'm getting that fall buzz. That one where you want to decorate the house like trees are changing in your living room. That feeling of needing some crisp air coming through your windows. It's the same feeling that makes me want to break out the bins of craft supplies.
When the cooler weather approaches, I know the holidays are not too far behind and that just makes me smile inside.
Now...the day the weather is so nice that I can open up the house and turn off the air will be right up there with my honeymoon.
Ok, not really, but it'll be nice!

Posted by Amy at 01:22 PM | Comments (2)

September 06, 2007

I love feeling appreciated.
I got this email from Mark today-he always finds ways to help keep me going.

I wanted to express my gratitude for your fine cooking. I had the pork meal that you packed, and it was far better than anything I could have had away from home. It was wonderful. Thanks again.

I'm sure he'll be a tad bit embarassed that I've shared this with so many people, but 6 years later I still feel as special as I did on our wedding day.

Posted by Amy at 12:55 PM | Comments (2)

September 05, 2007

As Madison is getting older and is spending more time away from the house, she's changed a little. She now has times where she thinks Chloe is too loud (and I don't argue that point) so she goes to her room to read or play quietly. That's not to say that Madison can't sound like an entire marching band all on her own if she wants to, she's just moody now about her space.

And Chloe is showing a lot of character. She is such a trip to be with. I find her doing the strangest things, she loves putting hats on herself (like the hat in the picture) and she's so damn funny.
The other night she was getting scolded for not eating, so then she threw some food. She, of course, was then being scolded for that.
I was across the table from her and I said something to the effect of 'no, don't do that, that wasn't nice' or whatever, I don't even remember what I said because she made me forget it.
She was covering her face after she did it because she was upset we were scolding her-or so we thought. Then she pulled open her hands, strapped on her classic sly grin and with the sweetest and cutest voice she could muster, she said,
"peek-a-boo"
We lost all composure of course and just busted out laughing.

Mark has his first softball game tonight. I can't help but laugh though because the game doesn't start until 9pm.
Did I mention he's not as young as he used to be?

Posted by Amy at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)

August 31, 2007

Chloe was a little better today at the gym. She didn't pitch her normal fit when I drove up, but she did insist that I carry her and she still cried a lot when I left. But, two friends came over to me after they dropped their kids off and told me she was doing great and not crying anymore.
The best part though is when I picked her up they told me she used the potty! I've been leaving her in a diaper so they don't have to deal with the whole potty training thing, but now that I know they don't care...I'm totally taking advantage of it.
It really shouldn't matter though because she's potty trained as far as I'm concerned. She has stayed dry the last 4 nights in a row and she doesn't wear a diaper during the day. In the past two weeks we've had maybe 3 accidents. I was even daring enough to let her wear big girl panties to a birthday party last weekend and on the hour and a half drive to my parents house!
She may be gaining a little weight though from all the M&M's she's consuming. Madison too for that matter since she always asks so sweetly if she can have one too.

I hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend!

Posted by Amy at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)

August 30, 2007

I recently mentioned my 2 year old's issues with being left in the care of anyone other than family. I wasn't kidding-it's ugly. There's no other way to describe it. It's just ugly.
I joined the gym when Madison started back at school a couple weeks ago and I just love going. It's a small way I'm starting to get some 'me time' back and a small way I can feel like an individual, even if only for an hour.
Leaving Chloe in the Kid Zone is trying to say the least. This morning she actually started screaming and kicking the car seat in front of her as I pulled into the parking lot at the gym. Thankfully she stopped screaming by the time I was walking inside and just settled with crying big alligator tears that ran down my arm as we walked the gauntlet that is the hallway leading to the dreaded room. Up until this morning I was still holding on to the hope that maybe it wasn't as bad as I was thinking. That maybe it's just me exaggerating things a little. Then I heard a woman walking behind me and she said (to me) "Awww, I remember her....it'll get better sweetie". I looked at her and kind of gave her this puzzled look. She said she was picking up her son and heard the woman in the room comment on Chloe's crying and that Mickey Mouse helps calm her down. She gave me some encouraging words and told me it took her oldest son over a month to be ok with being left in there. It did give me hope though as her 3 year old ran ahead of us and pounded on the door to be let inside because he couldn't wait for his mom to stop talking. Then I walk in and another mom gives me the affectionate head tilt and said, "awww, she's crying already?"
It was about now that I let go of my previous hopes.
I'm very comfortable with the place she's being left. It's a kid's dream as far as the toys and indoor playground (like at some fast food restaurants), she gets to watch the Clubhouse every morning there, and the ladies are very sweet.
So, as I have every morning for the past two weeks, I got her settled, kissed her, walked out and let out my breath that I didn't know I was holding in. She's just going to have to get over it.
Cold, I know. But, I really need this.
I picked her up a little more than an hour later and she was all smiles and having a great time.
We'll be going through the same charades tomorrow morning at 8:30 if anyone wants to come see.

Posted by Amy at 01:53 PM | Comments (3)

August 26, 2007

Wow, it's been a while, eh?
I'm not used to this whole school routine yet. I watch the neighbor's son occasionally in the morning and he catches the bus at our driveway. It's a true sign that I'm a rookie when I'm the mom still doing Madison's hair at the bus stop and putting on Chloe's shoes when I'm done while trying to down my coffee like it's a chaser.
I leave to drop off Madison right after the bus comes for the neighbor and after dropping Madison off at school I go to the gym with Chloe. She's in the child care section of course. So, I basically need to be ready for my day by 7:30am. But, again, I've got a big label on my forehead saying "ROOKIE" when I'm the mom who forgets a snack for Chloe and borrows a diaper from a friend.
I am enjoying my gym time though and Chloe and I are home by 10:30am totally soaking up the quiet and calm house until 3pm.

Mark has started softball-I heard he needs practice.
But I'm not one to gossip...
He was blessed with an empty house last night while I went to my parents with the girls. That only means one thing-I owe Jess an apology. Sorry girlfriend!
Mark and his cousin Scott (from Maryland) played Xbox Live for 8 1/2 hours last night. Some would say that's cool, that's fun, etc.
I would say it was stupid. Not the game or the part that he got to have fun with his cousin...the stupid part is that he played until 2:30 in the morning and had to get up at 6am for an 11 hour work shift and follow that up with a 2 hour softball practice.
I'm expecting him to come stumbling in the door at 8pm tonight.
You know he's not as young as he used to be.
But, again, I'm not one to gossip.

I'll try to update more, but you'll need to give me time to get into the school routine.

Posted by Amy at 05:14 PM | Comments (3)

August 19, 2007

The first week of school went by pretty fast and everything went well. Of course if you ask Madison she'll say she doesn't want to go back. But if you're in the car when we're pulling up to the school, you'd call her a Fibber McFibberson. She was excited every morning and has already started giving me the 411 on just about everything. The difference is that I may have to wait a day or two to hear what she did.
The main problem I'm having is her naps. They have naptime, she just won't go to sleep there. I can't fault her though-school is fun and she's never had to nap with 14 of her closest friends in the room with her. She's also by the teacher's desk for nap and told me that she'd rather watch Mrs. Tonia than nap. The only reason this is a problem is because I have the joy of putting up with her know-it-all attitude infused with exhausted crankiness every afternoon.
On Friday I was reminded that since she has 14 other kids in her class that means she'll be getting invited to 14 birthday parties on top of her other out of school friends. She got her first of many invitations that will be politely turned down throughout the year.
Yes, I'm that kind of mom. I don't go to things out of obligation and I don't burn my candle at both ends unless it will benefit my family. Besides that, I know I can't get away with making the choice for too much longer so I'll take advantage of it while I can.

While Madison is in school, Chloe is completely enjoying being an only child and she is so much fun that she makes me thankful Mark closed the factory.

I don't often get shots like this. The girls were taking a bath and listening to a Mickey Mouse cd. I happened to take the picture as Chloe heard Mickey Mouse start singing.

After this look she screamed so loud "MOUSE!!!"

Posted by Amy at 04:23 PM | Comments (2)

August 14, 2007

Madison's first day of school went well for everyone. I only cried a little, but actually found myself quite pleased with how quiet the house was with just one child. I was able to get more done in 2 hours than I can all day with both girls here.
When I picked her up the teacher told me she didn't nap long and Madison told me later that she didn't nap at all. She drew a picture of the two of us and told me this morning that she's going to draw a picture of all four of us today. She gets sent home with a calendar everyday where the teacher will put a little note on it and yesterday's note said "Awesome Day!!". Although Madison did tell me she had her name moved to Number One once-which meant she got in trouble. You can imagine how I cringed when she told me this. But it wasn't all that bad (in my opinion)-her teacher caught her with one of her legs tucked under her bum during lunch instead of both feet on the floor. You would know why this isn't a big deal to me if you've ever seen me eat. I used to get in trouble when I was younger for the same thing and I still do it. I request booths when we eat out so I can do it there too. And I daresay I sometimes even drive like that! I just heard a collective gasp from my readers.
And even as I write this I'm sitting at the computer the same way. I just can't sit comfortably with both feet on the floor.
Sorry Maddy.
She went to bed at 8pm last night and for the first time, except when we leave for Disney, I had to wake her up. I got Chloe up first and then put her on Madison's bed where she proceeded to crawl all over Madison and say "mornin issy" about 5 times while Madison moaned and groaned.
I enjoyed every minute of it.
She's at school now, Chloe's used the potty twice for me this morning and the house is sooooooo quiet.
It's going to be a good day.

Posted by Amy at 08:56 AM | Comments (2)

August 12, 2007

Chloe's party

We had Chloe’s birthday party yesterday. We decided to have it a family only party to avoid the stress. I felt bad for a little bit like maybe I was cheating Chloe out of the whole birthday party experience, but it ended up being wonderful. She had a great time with her sister and cousins and just having grandparents here is a highlight for her too.
Here are some pictures

Once again, my mom did a fantastic job on the cake and made a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake for her

Here’s the birthday girl

The girls played ‘find the bones’ and pretended to be Pluto looking for his bones.
Here’s a picture of them getting ready to hunt!

And here is Chloe giving one of her good hugs to Uncle Mickey (yes, that’s really what the girls call him).

Posted by Amy at 04:04 PM | Comments (0)

August 09, 2007

Posted by Amy at 09:28 PM | Comments (1)

Happy Birthday Chloe

Just some pictures of my silly little girl taken in the past few months.

April 8, 2007

April 15, 2007

April 27, 2007

May 22, 2007

June 29, 2007

July 13, 2007

July 26, 2007

August 1, 2007

Posted by Amy at 02:27 PM | Comments (2)

Thirteen Things About Amy Things About Chloe Today's TT is all about Chloe in honor of her 2nd birthday today. 1. She is a HUGE Mickey Mouse clubhouse fan. 2. Unless I'm leaving her with family, she has severe separation anxiety. 3. Eating cereal is a morning favorite and she sometimes has 3 bowls! 4. She can throw some really nasty tantrums. 5. She has the best head of hair I've seen on a 2 year old. 6. If she sees her sister do something-she must copy. 7. She loves swinging on a swing and is perfectly content just sitting in it too. 8. According to her, nothing is beyond her abilities. 9. However, she's apprehensive around big pools and needs some persuading. Once she's in though, it's hard to get her out. 10. Getting in the car takes more time with her because she HAS to do it herself. 11. She gives some pretty awesome hugs. 12. She doesn't like the previews before movies and screams thinking you put in the wrong movie. 13. Like Madison, she is also growing up too fast.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Posted by Amy at 07:31 AM | Comments (1)

August 08, 2007

Playing Favorites

When my sister and I were growing up we quickly learned the 'you love her more' game. We used that line when we actually thought it would change mom's mind about letting us do something or have something. As we got older we used it against each other though and turned it into 'she loves me more'. That was more fun since we could annoy each other and mom at the same time. Maturity had nothing to do with this as we continued to do this even after we moved out of the house but were together again for Christmas.

Now I'm a mom and I can still use that line. Only this time I sometimes believe it's true. The difference is it involves my own children and my husband. I know in my heart of hearts that it just seems true because they're with me all the time, they don't see him as much, and blah, blah, blah, but it doesn't ease the blow any.
He has even started to sneak in the house from work just to get a few minutes of peace before they attack. They found him yesterday by accident when they went to annoy what they thought was me in the shower, but to their pleasant surprise it was DADDY!!!!!!!!! I heard the screams of delight and knew they found him.
This situation has been going on since Madison was around 2. However, as she's gotten older and Chloe has been added to fun, the intensity of joy at the mere sight of him has increased. And while it sometimes still stings, I have learned to use it to my advantage.
Can you hear my evil laugh?
The reason this has become blog-worthy though is because of yesterday. It started at 7am when Madison woke up and just assumed her Daddy had already gone to work. I got hugs and kisses and morning lovin' until-dun-dun-dun-she saw him!...it was all over for me as I was cast aside and left to carry on making the bed.
(Ok, slight exaggeration-I got in the shower)
Then he slipped in the house after work and was found in the shower himself by the little monkeys looking for mommy to get them a drink.
(Another exaggeration-I don't even know what they wanted me for)
Little things carried on throughout the evening as they do everyday, but the real kick in ass was Chloe.
By the time the day was said and done, Chloe, who has adamantly refused to use the potty for me in two months-two months-went twice for him yesterday. Yeah, that's right, twice in one day. I should be happy that she's going at all, and I guess I am, but for pete's sake kid! I even tried while he was standing in the bathroom with us, but NOOOOOOO, she pushed me away and held out her arms for him and was obviously holding it until he was her lone advocate.
While I'm trying to be happy she's using the can at all, the good feelings are being blocked out by the thought that she loves him more.
It's a good thing they're cute.

Posted by Amy at 06:50 AM | Comments (0)

August 06, 2007

Mark and I were fortunate enough to have a date last night. We dropped the girls off at my sisters and then headed over to the theater to see Bourne Ultimatum. It was a good movie-not at all a chic flick, but I knew that going into it and now I have one coming to me. We went and played some NTN trivia next and then headed home to watch some football.
The girls are home now, Mark's at work and I'm trying to get the family calendar done. It's been a long time since I've put so much on the calendar.
Madison starts school next Monday and I start watching two kids after school the following week. Mark starts softball that week too and Madison starts soccer the week after that. We'll have the weekends to do things as a family and even that's minimal since Mark works a lot of weekends and Madison's games are on Saturday mornings. On the upside, I am REALLY looking forward to all the alone time I'm going have with Chloe during the day. She's quite the cuddle bug and does very well when she doesn't have to compete with Madison for attention.
I'm also hoping that the nights Madison has soccer practice can turn out to be good family time. Mark's the assistant coach and if Chloe does ok staying on the sidelines with me, then we'll all be able to enjoy the time. If Chloe proves to be a snot-blowing, screaming mess, then Mark and Madison will have a good time regardless.
I get a little anxious just thinking about so much going on-it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Posted by Amy at 01:11 PM | Comments (1)

August 02, 2007

Picture Day

Horrible, horrible, horrible.
I tried getting the girls pictures taken today. I know going into these things that it's hit or miss if they'll both behave and smile nice, but I still keep my hopes up.
Today was a miss. Chloe was absolutely unbelievable and I was looking around trying to find who she belonged to. My mom met me there so I have a witness to the horror that unfolded. She took a couple good pictures, but then broke down and I don't even know what caused it. Nothing would go right for her and anything that made her happy was brief and not sufficient.
She was more than crying-she was blowing snot all over herself, she was screaming in that pitch that makes your spine hurt, her angel kiss birthmark was almost purple, she ran up and smacked my leg once when I took the blocks she threw.
I was embarrassed. People were looking.
Madison did fantastic. She loved posing and she loved looking at her pictures even more. The unfortunate part was that most of her smiles looked like she was passing a watermelon out of her bum.
Today has been exhausting.

Posted by Amy at 02:10 PM | Comments (3)

August 01, 2007

Today was more productive than I thought it was going to be. I went to bed last night planning for Wednesday to be a pajama and movie day. I don't usually like to keep the kids running on empty and dragging them out of the house every day of the week so today was our planned pj day.
That didn't happen though. I did my exercise, showered and had a roast in the crockpot before Chloe was even awake this morning. I don't know if it was my energy boost or my annoyance with knowing something was hanging over my head to get done, but whatever it was, I changed our plans.
I went to Madison's new school first to clear up a mishap. I didn't have to, but after talking to them on the phone Monday, I decided to drop off her documents and tuition myself instead of mail it so I knew we were all on the same page. After that, I went by the girls' old pediatrician to finally sign the release so their files could be transferred to the new doctor.
And since the girls were actually doing very well with being dragged everywhere I decided to push the limit and stop by the grocery store for some biscuits-you just have to have flaky buttermilk biscuits with pot roast! They got lollipops at this last stop though since they were showing signs of irritation (and since the nurse at the ped's office thought they needed them).
The day hasn't been without some bumps along the way though. It has also contained a clogged kitchen sink and a dead fish. No matter how much plumbers crack I show, I just can't get the drain fixed and the fish has put a Nemo-esque damper on my afternoon.
I think the pot roast and biscuits will help though.

Posted by Amy at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)

July 31, 2007

Some things I've said lately are:
It's too good to be true.
I'll believe it when I see it.
I'm hesitant to be happy about it.
And some other guarded remarks concerning the sale of our old house.
BUT...it's official!
Mark just called the realtor and the papers have been filed. We closed on the sale of our old house today!!
We had our first offer in 10 months, we accepted it, we had the inspections, we signed and mailed our papers, the buyers did the same and I am so happy I could cry. Give me a warm shower and some Norah Jones and I probably will cry.
You can't even imagine the weight off my shoulders right now.
I'm smiling and shaking my head-I might still be in disbelief, but it's true.

I can now say:
It's true, I believe it and I'm happy!!!!!

Posted by Amy at 01:55 PM | Comments (2)

Paranoid Mommy Thoughts

Before I get in bed at night I do my final mommy things. Pick up any remaining toys, start the dishwasher, pick up clutter, turn off the computer, wash my face, brush my teeth, etc.
After all the lights are out, I find myself laying in bed reflecting on the day. Some days is deep reflecting, some days just musing over something funny that happened, but always using that opportunity to have uninterrupted thoughts about anything I want to. It's usually a very productive time in my day where I'll remember to ask Mark something or remember something I wanted to look in to or whatever. However it can also be the time that paranoid thoughts creep into my head. I find myself asking if I double checked the girls' window locks or if I should worry about the sexual offender living just outside our development or about a new 'odd' neighbor across the street.
They're not thoughts I'd like to be drifting off to sleep with, but they do remind me that we don't live in such an innocent world anymore. I don't feel bad about checking the watchdog website often or about doing a reverse look up to find the new neighbors last name because he very randomly offered to watch our girls after meeting him once, or about checking window locks after the termite guy spent time in every bedroom inspecting the walls and commenting on Chloe's "beautiful blue eyes" and Madison's "formal yet sweet personality". I hate that my thoughts go there, but I'll protect my kids at all costs.
My thoughts don't discriminate either. I worry about the church youth counselors and teacher's aids just as much.
A snake in the grass is just that.
To allow my kids to grow up without the fear I feel, I hope they learn to trust their instincts, listen to their flags and feel open to talk to me about anything. Maybe they can go about each day as if everyone means well and people don't hurt people and maybe I can protect them and still let them be kids.

Posted by Amy at 06:07 AM | Comments (1)

July 29, 2007

Weekend Projects

Along with our busy weeks, we've had some busy weekends. The weekends are still more enjoyable though since we bring on that work ourselves.
We started working on Madison's 'big girl' room last weekend and were able to finish it this weekend. Her room is the first in the house that we've painted, she has a new curtain I made, and chair railings. She also got new Tinker Bell bedding and is able to keep her computer in there for her games. I guess I technically can't call it finished though until I go through her new closet and get out all the crap I've stored in there since we moved in.

Our weekends are filled with normal stuff like chores and relaxing too. For a glimse inside this moment-Madison is in our room watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chloe is taking a nap, Mark is out mowing the lawn and I'm writing this with the sound of Guns N Roses-November Rain on the Sirius Shuffle.

Hopefully tomorrow is a calm Monday.

Posted by Amy at 02:28 PM | Comments (0)

July 27, 2007

All done

My bed isn't made, the sink is full of dishes, toys are everywhere & laundry can pile up faster than I would have thought in two days. My sister is on her way here with her girls who are staying the night and I have nothing planned for dinner-oddly though, I'd still call it a productive two days.
I finished reading 759 pages filled with stories of wizards, witches & muggles, and I have a smile on my face.

Posted by Amy at 03:07 PM | Comments (2)

July 25, 2007

Sew Rewarding

My sewing machine has gone from something packed away unless I need it, to something with it's own little corner of our house. I still have A LOT of learning to do on it, but I'm happy with what I can do. Remember my first project...the binding I put on some Ariel material for a blanket? Well, I used the material left to make a pillow cover for Madison too. She starts at a full day preschool next month and needs to have a pillow and blanket there for naps. She was once again the most grateful child I've ever seen. She was surprised and full of smiles and praise for how "perfect" it was. She gave me a big hug and made me feel so good about it.
We went over to our neighbor's house this past Saturday and after the host pulled a tie off her dress-that was funny in itself seeing her get pulled back after getting her dress caught on the kitchen drawer-I told her I would fix it for her. She went in her room to change and brought out another dress that needed repaired. I was happy to do it and she now has two dresses she can wear again.
I'm not crazy enough to be volunteering to make any school play costumes, but I'd be happy to try my hand at anything the girls need.

Posted by Amy at 07:18 AM | Comments (1)

July 23, 2007

Christmas in July

We feel like the jolly 'ole man visited us early this year. We've been very busy since Madison's birthday and most everything has had to do with new toys for all of us to play with.
The girls got a new swing set/jungle gym type thing for their birthdays, so two days were spent putting that together. Actual blood, sweat and tears went into this thing. It was such a pain in the arse.

Madison got a Nintendo DS Lite with her birthday money too. I was quite skeptical at first when all she would do was whine about not understanding the game and then having to start each level over AGAIN since she wasn't any good at it. Mark got himself a golf game for it so he could use it too, but that just made my eyebrows go up when he picked her up the pink game system instead of white or black. As it turned out, Madison might be a little golf pro-at least on a computer screen. She LOVES the golf game so much more than her Cinderella game and Mark loves hearing her say "Yessssss...I got it on the green with two shots dad!" I benefit from the game because it gives me some of the longest quiet times anything other than a grandparent has ever provided.

Madison also got a fish tank for her birthday. This one took a little longer to get going. I set it up the day after her party and was giving it a couple days for the water to be right. Then I had an all out mystery on my hands. Having only two clues to work with, you'd think it would have been a doozie to figure out, but I didn't need a confidential case to figure out it was Madison in the living room with the candlestick, scratch that, her hands in the tank.
I told her she would be looking at a 10 gallon tank of water and plants for her entire childhood unless she stopped using the water for hair gel. She stopped, we got fish and all is well. She has two goldfish and she’s named them Molly and Jake.

Madison has also gotten her own bedroom now. I gave in, I caved, I surrendered, and I accepted the fact that they BOTH wake each other up in the morning. Early in the morning. Before the sun is up in the morning. Chloe is doing fantastic with the change-she sleeps until 8:30 now. Madison still likes to greet the sun and pull my eyelids open so I can join her, but giving her a morning breath kiss and throwing a Nintendo DS at her is buying me a little more time at least.
And last, but certainly not least, is the newest addition to my nightstand. We got the new Harry Potter book delivered to our door Saturday by the muggle mail man and I started reading it last night. I am so excited to see if how she ends the series!

Hopefully I'll be able to catch my breath this week and maybe even finish the book.
Happy Monday!

Posted by Amy at 08:07 AM | Comments (2)

July 14, 2007

Madison's birthday party!

Madison had her birthday party today. It went really well and I think all the kids had fun. I had a lot of help with the party, so that made things much easier on me. It would qualify as a family affair for sure!

Here are some pictures

The princesses got to make some jewelry

The kitchen help

The cake master

The royal lunch

The cake (made by my mom!)

Chloe thinks the cake is YUMMY!

Here is the birthday girl today

Here is the birthday girl two years ago

Posted by Amy at 05:54 PM | Comments (6)

July 12, 2007

Thirteen Things About Amy Things About Madison Today's TT is all about Madison in honor of her 4th birthday this weekend. 1. She gives the best cuddles after her nap. She'll sit with me for almost an hour after she first wakes up in the afternoon. 2. Whenever I get all dolled up she tells me how beautiful I look. 3. She loves playing the Pinata game on the Xbox 360 with her Daddy. 4. She loves bathtime. 5. She's helping out a lot around the house. She'll make her bed, get dressed by herself, empty her bathroom trashcan, brush her teeth, brush her hair and she puts her dishes in the sink. 6. She always wants to squeeze my ACT mouthwash up to the top. 7. Her favorite cereal lately is Corn Flakes. 8. She loves looking at the Disney maps and books with me. 9. After she brushes her teeth she makes everyone smell her breath. 10. Her favorite computer game is Disney's Magic Artist 11. She's the best at giving hugs and kisses. 12. She would drink milk at every meal and with every snack if we let her. 13. She's growing up too fast.

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Posted by Amy at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

July 07, 2007

Madison's birthday

I'm planning Madison's birthday and getting things together like goody bags, games to play, the menu, and of course the adult drink of the day. Which happens to be a Gilligan's Island.
I love to entertain. I always say it's just going to be a casual gathering of friends having a good time. But I seem to always worry about every last detail. As everything else is since we moved- this party is different. I even tried to get out of it by asking Madison if we could take her to Disney instead. Thank God she said no. We couldn't afford it right now, it's a waste of money during the summer and I've already sent out invitations...I still thought it was worth a try though. To my defense, I did ask her in a moment of annoyed weakness. She insisted she wanted a princess party with all of her friends. She hasn't made that many friends yet and I didn't feel like inviting people I don't know and/or like , so I've kept the invite list VERY small, the food very crockpot friendly and I've downsized the party plan to two games and dress up for the girls. That's it. Take it or leave it. That's Madison turning 4 years old. The best part of all of it is that she doesn't care what happens at the party as long as her Grandmom & Pop-pop and her Nonny & Pops are there. They are her world right now even if she doesn't see them often. Having them at her party is all she's talked about.
Oh, and to add to my current birthday party aversion ...I read Mark's schedule wrong. I planned the party at 11am on Saturday because I thought he had to work the midnight shift Saturday night. But noooooooo, he has to work the midnight shift the night BEFORE her party and is off Saturday night.
So the birthday girl's daddy may be wearing a tiara and drinking a Gilligan's Island out of sheer exhaustion.

Posted by Amy at 05:10 PM | Comments (2)

July 06, 2007

I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July!
Ours was incredibly relaxing. We ate, we napped, we ate some more, we watched some movies and we ate some more.

Posted by Amy at 08:26 AM | Comments (1)

July 03, 2007

Hamin' it up

Who does she look like now?

Posted by Amy at 09:15 PM | Comments (3)

July 02, 2007

Many people have said our kids don't look like either of us...
I disagree.
She couldn't look more like her Dad if she tried.

Posted by Amy at 01:41 PM | Comments (0)

June 30, 2007

We started the weekend off at my sister’s house. The girls played in their pool and on the swip n swide. And then this morning I had the girls in our yard playing with our pool and hose.

This is just a cute picture I took of Chloe playing with Sarah's birthday present last night.

I have an update to the bugs, but didn’t want to add it to these beautiful pictures so click Continue Reading to read on.

Mark and I had a chance to work in the yard on Thursday while the girls were at my parent’s house. I went out to the shed to put something back and saw a black widow. She was in her web, which was on the rake. I actually wasn’t as freaked out as I thought I would be. I went to get Mark so he could kill it and so he would know what one looked like. He didn’t fail me as my hero and we grabbed some more things from the shed that we needed. One thing he grabbed was the gas can and we walked back up to the garage. We changed the oil and the blade on the mower and when I went over to pick up the gas can I noticed a lot of fire ants on it. Thank God I didn’t pick up the can. Upon further inspection there was one of the largest female black widows I have ever seen. She had her web right where Mark had carried the can. I don’t know how he didn’t get bit.
This one affected me much more. After letting the ‘what ifs’ go through my head and thinking about the girls, I just got overwhelmed. I don’t know where it came from but it took me about 5 minutes to regain myself. I have always loved playing outside as a kid and I love being in our yard now, but this is making me have second thoughts and I hate that.
The other two were found today. One in the shed and the other on the girl’s pool raft when Mark pulled out their toys for me. The other hard part about this for me is I’m naturally a very independent person and I’ve started asking Mark to do things like put up my table umbrella and get out the pool toys for the girls. Not that I want him to be the one getting bit by any means, I just can’t handle this situation yet. I need some time to get used to seeing things like this before my fear subsides.

No, I didn’t take this picture, but if you ever wanted to know what one looks like, here you go.

Posted by Amy at 02:22 PM | Comments (1)

June 29, 2007

These are the books currently found on my nightstand. While they're all good books, I'm having a much easier time reading those three fun ones! My reading time happens after the kids are in bed so I may only get a few pages done before I'm having my sweet dreams too.
I find Disney World to be such a fascinating place and I just love learning as much as I can about it. I highly recommend Birnbaum's Official Guide if you're planning a trip to the Mouse House. It's full of SO much useful information. And I recommend the Trivia book if you want to know all the fun facts that most vacationers don't know. The Hidden Mickey's book is fun to read, but it's a book you bring with you to the parks as a guide.
That brings me to that last book. So far, it's cover color is how the book makes me feel. It's a very well-written book and intriguing, but it's a little on the depressing side.
I definitely need the Magical books lately, so The Road will stay on the bottom of my pile for a bit.

What are you reading right now?

Posted by Amy at 08:50 AM | Comments (3)

June 28, 2007

We live in a town just teeming with culture. Only here can you head out to dinner as we did last night and see a woman wearing these:

and picking up her dead dog off the side of the road.
We assume he fell out of the back of the truck that dogs so often have the pleasure of doing in these parts. We’re just not sure if he fell out this week or last.
It’s also a town where people drive their 4 wheelers to the local walmart to get groceries. Since 4 wheelers can’t hold that much in the way of groceries, I’m sure they were just getting the necessities:
beer, the weekly news publication and some anti-itch cream.

Not every corner of this town is so rich with hickbonics. There are some mean and heartless developers trying to get rich. Their building efforts are about as slow going as the rusty 1946 Chevy trucks that can be seen sitting on side of the road, but their tenacity shines through. I may sound like my cup is ½ empty, but that’s just not the case. I know their heartless efforts bring with them a ray of hope for us. With every new house that goes up, I have the chance of meeting someone I have things in common with. I might meet someone who actually puts their children in car seats. Someone who also believes the saying~if you can’t feed ‘em, don’t breed ‘em. Nobody can say I don’t look at the positive side of things. My cup is ½ full~it just happens to be moonshine today.

Posted by Amy at 06:24 AM | Comments (2)

June 25, 2007

It's been a while, so I'll do my best to give a general update on the family.
Madison has had her first dentist appointment and it went really well. No cavities, no fear of the dentist and she likes flossing her teeth now. She learned a new word that day too~hygienist. I’m almost 30 and my 3 year old is better at the dentist office than I am.

The bug man wasn’t all that helpful. It’s more of a peace of mind thing at this point. Nothing can be done about the wingless wasps. They’re nearly impossible to kill, but since they feed off of other bugs we should see less of them anyway. Like my sister said, summertime just may not be a time for playing in our yard. Spring was beautiful and rather critter-free. We haven’t lived here for a fall season yet, so I’m hoping the summer isn’t a preview of things to come.

We went to two birthday parties this weekend. One for the neighbor we met at the library a few weeks back and one for my niece. I can’t believe my niece is four. It’s gone by too fast. My sister just reminded me today about how close I was to guessing the time of her birth. I was off by 2 minutes~I probably would have been right if it wasn’t for my sister’s extra pushing to avoid hearing me say “I told ya so!”
Chloe isn’t great at gatherings that include other kids. Some of it is an age thing, some of it is a personality thing. If someone is holding something interesting~it must be given to her immediately. If someone is looking at something interesting~they must stop immediately. This was true for the entire playground set at my niece’s birthday party too. She wouldn’t let other kids pass, she screamed at them to go away, she even pushed one little boy who just wanted one of the 4 slides she was claiming. She kept saying “NO, MINE”. We were to assume that meant the whole playground was hers and they were all acting as pirates as far as she was concerned.

The girls’ sleeping arrangement is interesting if nothing else. I’ve caught Madison waking up Chloe in the morning when for a while I thought Chloe was the one waking up Madison. It would go like this…
Madison wakes up and goes potty, she then goes back to the room (this is where I thought she was just being a quiet good girl~pffft!), but gets bored and decides to wake up Chloe. She does this by sitting on the floor by her crib and sticking her hand in. I couldn’t quite tell if she was poking her in the face or caressing her arm. I’d like to believe it was the latter. After Chloe wakes up, she would jump back in her bed and wait for mommy. If mommy took too long, she would come get me and tell me that Chloe is up.
Doesn’t that sound like a fun game?
Since I really don’t want to separate them, I’m doing the exact opposite. It will take some getting used to, but so far so good. Chloe will no longer be put in her crib to sleep, she is laying right next to her sister and they can figure it out from there. I’m not losing any sleep over it since they were waking up before 7am anyway.

Mark has a new favorite restaurant. Anyone that knows him well knows that it must be really good for him to say it’s his new Chili’s. It’s called Logan’s and I must say, I’m excited for our next visit back. Excellent food, perfect atmosphere for kids or no kids complete with peanut shells on the floor, great prices and good drink specials. Their bread alone is enough to bring me back.
Well, I think that’s it for now. We’re having a really nasty storm right now and since the girls are napping through it, I’m going assume the sleeping arrangement is still working out and Madison is happily wrapped up in her dreams unaware that she is drooling on Chloe’s toes.

Posted by Amy at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2007

I'm finding myself disheartened with our yard. What I once found to be the best place for our family to spend time is quickly becoming that dark alley I don't even want to walk by.
I feel like we're being taken over by a host of critters that I not only can't recognize, but that aren't good for our health.
About a month ago Madison was stung by a wasp. Not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things except that she was sitting in her playground that my husband had just treated for insects the week before. She screamed, she cried, I took a tylenol and then she played with the baking soda and water mixture until the sting felt better. She's now terrified of wasps.
About a week after that I was taking the girls inside from the yard when I noticed Chloe's leg had some huge swelling bite on it.
I took her to the doctor and it turned out to be a local reaction to 3 ant bites. Again, not really a big deal, I just now know she might react to bites more strongly than normal.
Over the past month I've also noticed an increase in animal waste in our yard-our fenced in yard-and my garden started being taken over with insects.
I was a little too late with the garden insect control so I've lost all of the tomato plants. My sunflowers also became infested with spiders, midges and weevils. All of which I had never seen before moving here and then doing some internet research.
Now, that leaves me to the two worst insects. We got a letter in the mail last month about some residents in our development complaining about black widow spiders. My first reaction was that it was a ploy, but after talking to just a few neighbors....oh sure, it's true. The neighbor across from us killed 3, the one next to us killed 1 and the newest neighbor I met at the library killed 15. Yeah, you read that right, 15 black widow spiders have been found in and around her house. Mainly in the garage and back patio.
This week Mark found an ant the size of a barn door. Ok, maybe not that big, but it was big for an ant. I think I found it's mother yesterday. Ironically I was outside treating the yard for insects. After looking it up I found out it's not an ant at all, rather an insect known as a cow killer-a wingless wasp with a sting so painful you think it would kill a cow-thus it's name I presume. We found both in our yard, the same yard our girls play barefoot in when they're in the pool, the same yard we sit in to blow bubbles, the same yard we want to make happy family memories in.
Like I said, I'm becoming very disheartened with our yard.
Apparently our yard treatments aren't working and Mark's mission this week is to find a pest control company that can take down barn doors and my fear of our yard.

Posted by Amy at 07:25 AM | Comments (3)

June 15, 2007

Friday Feast

I guess I'll break the long blogging pause with a classic Friday Feast.

Appetizer
Fill in the blank: The best thing about where I live is _________________…
That it’s quiet.

Soup
Create a new name for a deodorant (like “Flower Fresh” or “Shower Scent”).
Phresh & Phony Pheromones

Salad
What was the last piece of software you installed onto your computer?
Dora’s Animal Adventures

Main Course
If you were to receive a superlative award today beginning with the words ”Most likely to…”, what would the rest of the phrase say?
Fall asleep during a Star Wars movie

Dessert
What two colors do you like to wear together?
That’s a tough one. I guess I wear blue jeans and burgundy together a lot.

Posted by Amy at 07:18 AM | Comments (0)

June 06, 2007

We've been getting some much-needed rain the past few days. We've also been getting some not-so-needed visitors. This one was on our front porch.

I was very proud of myself for guessing what kind of snake it was. I was on the phone with Mark when I opened the front door to take a look outside and this little guy gave me quite the startle!
I told Mark I thought it looked like a rat snake, but took a picture to send my dad so he could say for sure. He wasn't in a hurry to leave, so before I took his life I figured I had some time to find out if he was innocent. My dad is pretty good at identifying snakes and I apparently have picked up on that trait!
Rat snakes are fine, so this one slithered on to live another day.
This situation brings up an odd little thing about me. I have a hard time killing roaches and spiders. Not small ones, but the ones that could make a crunching sound or ones that are big enough to make me feel some resistance under a shoe. I'd rather empty an entire can of bug spray from 6 feet away then smash a spider with a shoe only to have one of his legs sticking out and touch my pinkie.
However, put a dangerous snake near my house and I'll grab a shovel faster than Madison can say "I wanna see!!!"
Snakes terrify me so I have no problem killing them, bugs gross me out so I leave that to my brave superhero.

Posted by Amy at 02:39 PM | Comments (4)

June 01, 2007

You'll need to excuse the graphics/colors on here this weekend while I try teaching myself a few things.
Mark's cousin Scott sent me a software program I had been wanting, so I'm going to try some new things!

Posted by Amy at 02:46 PM | Comments (1)

Friday Feast

Appetizer

Name something you think is “the best.”
Paying bills online

Soup

On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 highest), how stressed are you today?
2

Salad

What kind of cleanser do you use to wash your face?
Biore foaming face wash

Main Course

Tonight is a blue moon! What is something that you believe only happens “once in a blue moon.”
Politicians tell the truth.

Dessert

When was the last time it rained where you live?
May 18th. Out of nowhere we had a 25 minute thunder storm and then the sun came back out.

Posted by Amy at 07:25 AM | Comments (0)

May 31, 2007

Thirteen Things About Amy Things I found in our yard this week These are extremely hot chili peppers in our garden. I used one last week and without realizing how hot they were, I didn’t use gloves when I cut it open. Sweet mother of evil~my hands were on fire until the next morning! A birds nest. The cool thing about this is that a bird made this home shortly after we put a pine cone bird feeder in that tree that Madison made. Sunflowers~my favorite! Marigolds that Madison planted Pesky love bugs all over the back of the house We went to a tree-hugger festival a while back and they gave away some trees. Here are two of the three we got: A dogwood And a redbud These just sprouted last week. It’s our summer squash and cucumbers. Our compost bin Lots of tomatoes on the way! My new flag Beautiful hibiscus blooms And of course, silly kids

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Posted by Amy at 07:39 PM | Comments (2)

May 30, 2007

Expectations

I decided to take the girls to the library this morning for the craft and story time they have each week. Madison was really looking forward to it even though she was already telling me the things she wasn't going to do. You know, all those fun things like dance, stretch and sing....they're the things she likes the best, but she informs me each time that she won't be participating...only to be the one enjoying them the most when the time comes.
Unfortunately I wasn't aware that it was cancelled today while they prepared for the summer programs. Luckily Madison was easy going about it and wanted to just head over to the puzzles and play area for a while.
If you're a parent, you may be able to relate to this. When we got to the play area I saw another mom and her young daughter sitting there. I immediately hoped they were normal and thought of a 'get out of jail free' excuse in case I didn't want to be trapped talking to her. I've been in a situation like that where either the child is a spawn of satan or the mother thinks X-rated movies are great conversation starters.
Neither her nor her 2 year old daughter displayed any traits that sent me running like a girl. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to learn she is a stay at home mom, was a Kindergarten teacher, now teaches sign language in the evenings and lives in our development!!! How freakin' cool is that? One odd thing though was that she invited us to her daughter's birthday party. That's a little quick, but I'm guessing she thought I was normal too.
I also know how difficult it is to find friends for your kids when they're young and how I don't want to look back on my kids' birthday pictures to see them sitting by themselves blowing out the candles.
Birthday parties like that are for the mom who talks about XXX films and handcuffs at the playground.
So, we got new books at the library, I met another mom and Chloe got a birthday invite. I would call that a successful morning.

Posted by Amy at 07:47 AM | Comments (1)

May 22, 2007

Today was all about the girls. I only did one load of laundry and that was diapers for Chloe, the only food I prepared was whatever they wanted (easy-peasy stuff like Cheetos and cereal), we played, we danced, we sang, we’ve had a good day.

I didn’t have the camera with me for everything, but I tried to catch some pics of their day for you!

I HAVE to share a story about this picture. We were only playing in the driveway, but Madison insisted she have her helmet on. I buckled it on and then I knocked on her helmet like it was a door telling her she was ready for some brick walls now. Looking behind her can you guess what she did? Yup, she ran into the wall. She kept wanting a bigger and better head start each time too. I was way too busy laughing my butt off to take a picture. I’m really regretting it though. I finally made her stop when I heard the neighbor laughing at her.

This is a snack to write home about. Juice, pudding and a super-size me bag of Cheetos.

She was dancing the coconut dance here, whatever that is.
(She picked out her outfit too)

And, finally, Madison’s singing:

Posted by Amy at 04:52 PM | Comments (3)

May 18, 2007

Madison's school had the end of year performance last night. It was so cute. I had no idea what to expect and only knew that 60 kids were going to be singing. They had the 2 year old, 3 year old and 4 year old classes all together singing 10 songs!! I thought that was a lot, but they all did wonderful and Madison had a great time.
They're not the best pictures, but here's what we were able to get:

The great thing to me about this picture is how she looked before this. She walked in the room and was so nervous, she scanned the room, started walking slow and was just looking for us. When she finally saw us she had the biggest smile on her face and seemed so proud of herself to be there.

Posted by Amy at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2007

Recent pics

We got the girls a little blow up pool for the summer.

The girls playing nice together~Chloe was the bus driver

Madison sleeping off her virus

Posted by Amy at 02:34 PM | Comments (2)

May 14, 2007

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!
My husband made sure mine was wonderful. He got me the Planet Earth DVD box set and I didn't have to lift a finger all weekend! He did laundry and meals and baths and dishes and everything in between. He hung the plant hangers outside and did some yard work. He even made me breakfast Sunday morning and when I headed out to go shopping with my mom and sister, I found a little note in the car wishing me, once again, a Happy Mother's Day. Come Sunday night he said he was looking forward to work the next morning so he could recover! So true.
I know he would do that stuff anytime I asked, but when it's Mother's Day it's just easier for me not to feel guilty about it.
I'm already looking forward to next year!

I'm very aware that what I'm about to tell you could have easily happened to me (and still may), but the fact that I've been a SAHM for 4 years and Mark is the one it happened to....well, I can't lie...it's a little funny.
I may be humbled later, but here you go:

This was Chloe's artwork while I was out shopping Sunday. It covered 4 walls and the front door! It's easier for me to find it funny since Mark had already painted over it by the time I got home (he took the picture) and it now looks like nothing ever happened.
I think he's enjoying being out of the house and at work today.

Posted by Amy at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2007

Today my husband has done 4 loads of laundry from start to finish, cleaned both bathrooms, the girls bedroom and their playroom, picked up dinner, put the dishes in the dishwasher, and now he's doing this:

He calls this the beginning of my Mother's Day weekend.
I call it foreplay.

Posted by Amy at 08:23 PM | Comments (1)

When a situation with my kids comes up, I first and foremost trust my instincts. That's no different when it's a medical situation, but I also need to trust the guidance of their pediatrician when I don't know the answers.
I found a good pediatrician when we moved and because the girls got sick almost immediately after the move, we needed him. He's treated them for sinus colds and a virus here and there, but since I hadn't been through what I would call an out of the ordinary situation with him yet, he didn't have my full trust.
Yesterday was his chance and he blew it.
Madison woke up yesterday at 4am vomiting and when she wouldn't stop or keep anything down by 8am, I called her doctor. They got us in at 10am and suggested a shot of medicine that would stop the vomiting and help her keep some fluids down. We agreed and he said in 30 minutes she should stop vomiting and by 2:30 she should be eating some of the B.R.A.T diet. She continued to throw up every 20 minutes and wouldn't even keep down 2 spoonfuls of pedialite. I called the doctor at 3pm and they said we needed to get her to the ER because she HAD to have an IV to replenish her fluid and even suggested which hospital.
Ironically our neighbor stopped by the house to tell me something and since he's an EMT, we asked him for some advice. He questioned the hospital the doctor recommended and said they don't do pediatrics at that hospital. He also questioned the shot her doctor gave her and lead us to believe it wasn't a surprise it didn't work.
Well, we got to the ER with a very hot, tired and dry-lipped little Madison in our arms. Throughout the 6 hour ordeal at the hospital we met the Charge Nurse, Madison's nurse and the doctor on duty who all questioned the shot her pediatrician gave her. The doctor at the hospital recommended that she receive a suppository and then she should be able to drink fluids after 30 minutes...all avoiding an IV.
This, of course, worked.
I was very happy she stopped throwing up, but very upset that it all could have been avoided if her pediatrician would have done the suppository at 10am.
So, we got some recommendations from our neighbor and the nurse at the hospital for a new doctor. There was one they both named first, so his office will be getting a call from me.
When I don't know the answer, I need to know that my child's doctor is giving us good advice.
Madison is doing better today. She moaned a lot through the night, but didn't throw up. She's drinking, but still won't eat anything. She still has a fever too, but her color is better, she's happier and all I care about is that she's keeping fluid down so we're just keeping a close eye on her.

Posted by Amy at 03:14 PM | Comments (2)

May 03, 2007

Backyard Playground

Mark and I have been working very hard the last couple days. One of the first things I wanted to get done around the house when we moved came to fruition this week. We got the supplies we needed Wednesday morning and were in the yard working on the kids backyard playground by the afternoon.
We've been dragging our feet shopping for a swing set, but now that we see right where we want it, maybe we'll get out there and bring one home!
Here's some pics of what it looked like and looks like now. Where it's empty on the right is where the swing set will go.

Wednesday afternoon

Thursday morning

thursday evening

Posted by Amy at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)

April 27, 2007

One for the memory book

After going to the bathroom today, Madison was excited to share some good news with me.

"Look mom, I wiped good, no skid mark!"

I will take full credit and/or blame for being the one she learned that term from.
My bad.
I was talking to her one day about proper bathroom habits and that was one of the 'things to avoid' lessons.
Mark will have to teach the 'what not to share' lesson.

Posted by Amy at 09:05 PM | Comments (1)

Friday Feast

Appetizer
How fast can you type?
63 WPM at 99% accuracy

Soup
What is your favorite online game?
I don’t play online games.

Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 as highest), how intelligent do you think you are?
6-most of that being influenced by common sense.

Main Course
Name three of your best teachers from your school years.
Ms. Mudle-4th grade-she made me like teachers
Mr. Robinson-6th grade science-he made me like learning
Mrs. Johnson-high school journalism-Our relationship ended on rough terms due to me walking in on a conversation I wasn’t meant to hear, but she gave me an open door to write the things in the school newspaper that nobody else would dare. That lead me to being the editor and winning some awards at the National High School Journalism convention that year and I attribute my joy for writing to working on that school newspaper.

Dessert
What are your plans for this upcoming weekend?
Rest. I’m either fighting some illness or fatigue, but either way I’ve been absolutely exhausted this week.

Posted by Amy at 02:20 PM | Comments (0)

April 26, 2007

Our garden is coming along quite well.
And by 'our' I mean mine and Madison's.
She's quite the garden helper, but as you can see, neither of us are too consistent with pulling the weeds out.

December 31st

March 13th

April 26th

We have carrots, red onions and lettuce in the first row, tomatoes and chili peppers in the second row and green beans in the third row.

The other things in our garden are scallions, basil, cilantro, parsley, oregano, rosemary, red bell peppers, green bell peppers and jalapeno peppers.
I tried to keep it full of things I use a lot in the kitchen. If it's a successful garden, Mark should also be able to make his salsa he enjoys so much.

I'll keep you posted!!

Posted by Amy at 03:54 PM | Comments (1)

April 23, 2007

One of the perks of staying home with the kids is that you're able to just pack an overnight bag and go pretty much anywhere you'd like.
I called my mom on Thursday and asked her if I could come up to their place with the girls on Saturday and stay the night too.
Of course she didn't mind. My dad's birthday was Sunday and we were all planning on being there for that anyway. Mark had to work, but I just packed bags for myself and the girls and we headed out Saturday morning. We had a great time just hanging out and having nowhere to go and nothing to do. The girls got to ride with Pop on his new tractor, I helped mom unpack some stuff and go through some things (they just moved) and the girls just got to enjoy the company of their Nonny and Pops. Mark came up to their place after work on Sunday for my dad's birthday dinner and when it was time to pack up and head home, we just decided we were too tired for the long drive home and stayed the night instead. Mark borrowed some clothes, I washed some clothes...well, my mom did, and we figured it wouldn't hurt Madison to skip school today too. They live an hour away from her school and I didn't want to rush around this morning after such a relaxing weekend.
The weekend was just another way our lives have slowed down since moving. I'm not so worried about schedules and a 'to do' list and we just let things happen. We all had a great time. I got some good quality time with my mom, the girls had a blast playing in the dirt, flying kites and building forts, and Mark even had the rare opportunity of a quiet house Saturday night after work.
I took some time out on Saturday to schedule myself a massage for tomorrow so that will be my rare opportunity of a quiet room.
Hopefully I don't get a talker...it will make me look rude when I fall asleep.
Speaking of which, I'm heading off to bed now. My bedtime is quickly approaching and my back is telling me to let it rest.
Ta-ta for now.

Posted by Amy at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)

April 18, 2007

Dinner time around here is like a sick and yet necessary joke that gets played every night around the same time.
I grew up with a family dinner time. My mom tediously planned and prepared healthy, balanced meals. Dinner was a set time each night. We listened to her call us to dinner, we ignored her and she called louder...we, of course, were waiting until that certain tone could be heard. My husband calls it DEFCON and has used it with me before. I remember it eventually got to DEFCON 1 and she would yell "if you're not here in two minutes, you go to bed hungry tonight!". Even once we were at the table, we knew what she wanted and we'd be damned if we were going to give in. She asked us questions about our day and we gave the most basic answers possible. Heaven forbid we let our parents in on our complicated and all-knowing teenage lives we were leading.
But, that was the good 'ole days.
The tables have turned now and my mom is blessed enough to be able to witness my well deserved paybacks being dished out by my offspring on a routine basis.
The latest dose I'm being served is from Madison. No, she's not even close to the teenage years, but she can be just as sassy and make me just as frustrated. Two nights ago we all sat down to a balanced, healthy meal that I tediously planned and prepared for the umpteenth night. Mark and I went through the normal routine of washing their hands, putting their hair back, setting the table, pouring drinks and getting everything to the table so we could all enjoy the next 20 minutes as much as possible. I sat down, I let out my normal relaxing sigh while I scanned the table to make sure everything was there and then asked Madison if she was ready to say prayer.
She was ready, she said prayer and we were on our way.
Madison has her chin resting on one hand, casually holds her plate up in the other, turns to me and in a cool voice says,
"here you go my servant".
I would have choked, but you see... I'm a servant, so I hadn't yet put food in my mouth. Mark did choke, but that was because he was stuck between a laugh and an empending scolding. Those are very difficult to do simultaneously you know.
My mouth was stuck in the open position and all Mark could get out was,
"that's not EVEN funny Madison".
I collected my shock, but couldn't look at her. I just turned to him and said, "well, it is a little bit".
What I thought was funny though was the irony of it. Her words were actually quite hurtful. I had a very long day with her and she had been testing her limits for 11 hours already and mangled my last nerve by about 4 o'clock. She had been demanding things of me all day and every time I was stuck at the cross road of wondering how to handle each individual situation. She rarely approaches things the same way twice so each issue seemed to deserve a different reaction.
'Did I hear a please?'
'Pick up your toys first.'
'You just had a snack, dinner is soon'
Well, you get the point. Her words seem to come from nowhere, but they were provoked somehow. After Mark scolded her and asked her where that came from she quite simply and innocently answered, "well, she's serving my food isn't she? That makes her a servant."
I just bit my tongue, wiped my tear and served her food. Mark handled talking to her.
My mom will probably have very kind and supportive words for me and she'll be the very wise and understanding mom that she is, but I would not be surprised at all if after reading this she heads to her secret payback chart posted on the inside of some kitchen cupboard before she calls me.
I want my freakin' glass slippers and magical fairy godmother.
I'd settle for a massage and manicure though.

Posted by Amy at 03:29 PM | Comments (2)

April 14, 2007

So, there I am, tootin' down the road on a typical Friday. Chloe and I had just picked up Madison from school and we were on our way home. I glance in the rear view mirror, I see what's behind me and just sigh. I say to myself..."here we go again".
Oh, I should preface this story with the fact that my rear view mirror is never pointed at the road behind me, it's looking in the back seat. I had always wondered why cars had THREE rear view mirrors!
Anyway, Madison has her finger so far up her nose she's probably swirling her eye ball around. I very dryly tell her to stop picking her nose. I'm really tired of having nose-picking chats, so my tone was pretty lazy. She then looks around in shock and says "I didn't know you could see me!" I, again, say the same thing I say every time..."Mommy sees everything" and I told her that hiding while she does something gross doesn't make it any less gross. She still hasn't caught on to the mirror. I figure I still have a little time before she does as long as I don't make eye contact with her through it. Asking her if she wanted a tissue didn't help, she just replied that she LIKES her finger up her nose. I even decided to open the big fat can of worms just for fun and asked her where she learned to pick her nose and who she sees do it. She told me she taught herself how to pick her nose (what a talented child I have!) and that Emily and Rachel do it (not the answer I was expecting). Out of all the little girls at school she can play with, she picks them and she talks about them all the time. I asked her if Ashley picks her nose and she says no. I proceeded to tell her it wouldn't hurt her to play with Ashley more.
Well, after about 10 minutes of this disgusting and going nowhere chat I ended up telling her that picking her nose will make her hair fall out. Yeah, that's right, I went there. I lied to my child and I will do it again if it means she'll stop touching her eye ball through her sinus cavity.
I don't know how long she'll believe me, but her look was the classic deer-in-the-headlights one and she removed her finger as she said in amazement, "I didn't know that".
I replied "Not many people do honey, not many people do".

Posted by Amy at 08:06 AM | Comments (6)

April 13, 2007

I was going through our pictures today and getting them all in the files they belong in when I started noticing a pattern. I've actually started a 'Madison & Sarah' file now since it seems I'm going to be having a lot of pictures of the two of them.
I'm very happy they'll get to grow up like sisters....
if only they wouldn't fight like it!
Here's some pics I came across today.

Posted by Amy at 02:59 PM | Comments (1)

Friday Feast

Appetizer
When you were a child, which crayon color was your favorite?
A new one.
I still love crayons and now that I'm a mom, I buy about 10 boxes during the before school sales and keep them on hand.
To this day I love opening up a new box of crayons and sitting down to color.

Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest), how likely would you be to change jobs if it required you to move?
Hard to answer since I’m a stay at home mom, but if I worked outside of the house I guess a 10 if the money was right and the move was paid for, otherwise no chance.

Salad
Take all the numbers in your birthday and your phone number and add them up, one by one. What’s the total?
80

Main Course
Have you ever “re-gifted” anything? If so, what was it and who did you pass it on to?
Yes, it was baby stuff and I passed it on for two years after Madison was born to just about everyone I could think of. We got WAY too many things like washcloths, bibs, rattles and stuffed animals. Some even ended up getting donated when I got tired of looking at it.

Dessert
Name something you need from the store.
Nothing. I just went this morning and I actually remembered to bring my list this time.

Posted by Amy at 02:33 PM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2007

Our Easter

Chloe gets her own Barbie

Madison got what she wanted….Color Wonder paper!

Chloe’s Easter dress

Madison’s Easter dress

Posted by Amy at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)

April 06, 2007

I have a Barbie update.
Madison filled two buckets with pinecones the other day so she got the Barbie. She is IN LOVE with this toy. It's her first one and it's a hit.
She has an attention span that I was unaware of before this lovely and all-too-perfectly-shaped toy entered our home. She wants to have it with her when she eats, sleeps and even with us at the grocery store this morning. The poop eating dog issue is still just that though. She crawled into bed with it last night and was immediately up in arms when she realized the dog still had "poop in his bottom"...her exact words. I rolled my eyes and told her to take him for a walk before bed then.
You have no idea how many times in a day I wonder if I'm really saying the things that are coming out of my mouth.
Anyway, I'm sure the Barbie stage will not be a short-lived one and certainly has potential to be a very entertaining stage for both Madison and myself. While I once thought I might be concerned about the whole mess of crap that surrounds Barbie when it comes to body image, I can say with a fair amount of confidence that it won't be an issue here. Within 5 hours of owning her, Madison wanted to cut all her hair off, lost one of her shoes and fed her a jelly bean-Barbie's not exactly being treated like an idol around here. I'm pretty sure Madison would also be freaked out at the fact that if put in human form, Barbie would actually be over 7 feet tall with the dimensions of 44-17-40, which makes me think Barbie would be a four legged freak.
Having said all of that...maybe we will have some body image issues to deal with after all.

Posted by Amy at 07:35 PM | Comments (2)

April 04, 2007

free myspace background

Today was my husband's birthday. Well, it still is, but with only 2 hours left in April 4th and the fact that he did turn 30, I'm sure he's considering the day over.
Did I say his age outloud? My bad.

The bad news: He had to work today.
The good news: I brought the girls to his work for dinner.
The bad news: He had to pick up dinner and clean up his boss's office after we left.
The good news: He's getting the Xbox 360 he wanted.
Who ever said 30 is old? He can kick any 12 year old's butt on any gaming console any day.
I'm beaming with pride.

I love you babe and I hope you had a good birthday!

Posted by Amy at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

April 02, 2007

You know that old adage...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree? Well, in this case it would be a pinecone, but it still fits the situation.
I was telling my parents about how Madison wants to start earning money because she's seeing some toys she wants and how Mark and I have come up with some things she can do that we would pay her for. One of which is pick up pinecones in the yard. It's one of those chores that needs to be done to save our mower, but one that nobody ever WANTS to do. That includes Madison...she went out to try one day and after picking up ONE pinecone, she moaned and groaned about how hard it was and she didn't want to do it-even if it meant she didn't get the Barbie with the dog that eats his own poop.
I'm not kidding....

Anyway, my mom asked her how much she was getting for each pinecone and was surprised to learn it was a nickel. My mom asked me, with a shocked look on her face, if I remember how much Dad offered to pay me per pinecone when I was a kid, a 7 year old kid who should have understood the concept of money. I didn't remember, but they didn't hesitate to remind me.
Apparently I was a lazy-ass kid. My parents offered me a freakin' quarter per pinecone and I STILL wouldn't do it. I really don't know what I was expecting to get paid.
I must have enjoyed leaving my mom scratching her head and my Dad having to do all the yard work by himself...oh, and not being able to buy the toys I wanted. Maybe a poop-eating dog and Barbie pooper scooper would have been more of a motivator for me but I doubt it.
I should have asked if they'd still be willing to cough up that quarter per cone deal, I'd hop, skip and jump my lazy-ass right over to their house today.

Posted by Amy at 02:42 PM | Comments (4)

March 31, 2007

My weekend project

I am on cloud 9.
My mom came over on Thursday and gave me another sewing lesson. I ended up being kind of frustrated with myself because I didn't have everything I needed to finish Madison's dress. So, she taught me how to read the pattern/what it all meant, lay out and cut out the pattern.
On a whim I decided to just sit down and try to do the rest on my own today. I got everything else I needed and went to work. I am shocked at how easy it seemed! One sewing lesson on my machine and I did a blanket binding. The second sewing lesson on understanding a pattern and then I finished a dress on my own!!!
I am so happy!

Posted by Amy at 04:40 PM | Comments (3)

March 30, 2007

Friday Feast

Appetizer
What are you proud of?
That's a very broad question. I guess I'll just note the more paramount things: my healthy and loving marriage, my husband's success and his dedication to raising our girls, being a mom and being a stay at home mom.

Soup
What is the best thing you’ve ever won as a prize?
Nothing's jumping out at me. I think I won like $8 on a lotto ticket once.

Salad
Name something you do that is a waste of time.
Argue with my 3 year old.

Main Course
In what year of your life did you change the most?
2003-the year I became a mommy.

Dessert
Where is a place you consider to be very tranquil?
While I was only 14 when I experienced it, I still remember the feeling I had watching the sun rise while sitting on top of a mountain in West Viriginia.
It was a little chilly, a slight misty fog was hovering around me and for almost 2 hours I just sat there watching the sun come up and the landscape change completely.
It was wonderful and so peaceful.

To do your own Friday Feast each week, go to Friday Feast to find out the questions you need to answer.
Have fun!

Posted by Amy at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)

March 29, 2007

Thirteen Things About Amy My Current Favorite Things 1. Clinique Moisture Surge Extra Thirsty Skin Relief 2. Grey’s Anatomy 3. Campbells Soup at Hand. I pop one in the microwave before I head out to pick Madison up from school and lunch is served! 4. Tending my garden and seeing everything grow-it’s very rewarding 5. Tastefully Simple Beer Bread 6. Our bathtub 7. International Delight Caramel Hazelnut Swirl Creamer 8. Learning to sew 9. A tall glass of sweet tea in the afternoon, a cool treat on a Southern Georgia, I mean Northern Florida day. 10. The new reading corner in our bedroom that replaced the television 11. This has made my list before, but it’s still a favorite used everyday. My cozy, warm, over-sized bathrobe from Bath & Body Works. 12. DanActive. I know I’m getting older when I’m replacing shots of Slippery Nipples: with shots of DanActive: I just tried it over the weekend and I’m hooked. 13. Wikipedia. This site rocks! I love having a place that has information on just about anything you can think of.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Posted by Amy at 06:47 AM | Comments (4)

March 28, 2007

I have a feeling that my first attempt at a garden may not be successful. I'm learning as I'm going and at this point I can only hope that I'm getting the right advice and information.
My hope was for a vegetable garden, not a butterfly garden....

...and while I want them here now to help with the pollination, I don't want the caterpillars that will no doubt join the party once these buggars have laid their eggs.
I also just got some news from our neighbor that does not bode well for my garden once some fruits start producing...apparently our front lawn is the meeting place for all the neighborhood bunnies.
He leaves for work at 5am and he said every morning there are 7 to 10 bunnies congregating on our front lawn. He also said that out of the 20 or so houses on the street, ours is the only one he sees them at.
Lovely.

My thought at this point, for the butterflies at least, is to try making a garden intended to attract them with the hope of getting them out of the vegetable one.

Any avid gardeners out there with some advice for me?

Posted by Amy at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2007

All good things must come to an end

I wish that weren't true, but for many things it is.
It had been 19 weeks, 1 day and 5 hours since we had to mow a lawn. Not that I was keeping track or anything.
Living in Hicktown, USA I don't think anyone would have thought twice if they had seen goats in our yard doing the job for us, but we're just not that countrified yet. All in due time....all in due time.
Our lawn could use a little TLC though considering we were mowing what looked like a sad little flower garden settled among sprigs of very long grass.
In all seriousness, the yard looks great and the dust has been forced from the mower. Now we just need this dry spell to come to an end so we have something more substantial to mow next time.

Posted by Amy at 06:52 AM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2007

She strikes again

Chloe and I were having an issue at lunch yesterday. I had the girls in the yard playing, so I decided to have a picnic out there too. Chloe didn't want to eat though, she just wanted to suck down her apple juice and then throw a fit over Madison's apple juice as well.
So, her "look" came out in full force all through our lunch fun.
Oh, she also growls now too. It warms my heart to the very core to witness my 19 month old angel clench her fists, glare at me and send such a lovely roaring growl my way.
I would be more concerned than I am if I didn't know it's just out of frustration because she can't say what she's thinking and get her own very strong points across to me through normal social methods.
Both my girls are as opinionated and strong-headed as their momma.

Posted by Amy at 06:57 AM | Comments (1)

March 20, 2007

An interesting way to get me to clean the bathroom floor

Madison likes her privacy when she's in the bathroom. And, really, who doesn't? I can't blame her and I would never deny her that privacy. Well, I can't say never...paybacks suck.
She headed to her throne this morning, but after forgetting to shut the door she hollered out for me to shut the door for her.
I obliged.
About 5 minutes later she comes running from the bathroom screaming like the little girl she is.
Madison: Mommyyyyyyyyyy!!!! My poopie's on the floorrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!! Helllllp!
Me: Your WHAT is on the floor!?!
Madison: My poooooooooopie and all the water! (As she's almost in tears)
Me (to myself): Good Lord, please help me through today, it's only 8:30 and I really don't want to start my day picking up poop from the floor and unclogging a toilet.
(What I really said in a freakishly calm voice from sheer exhaustion) "Ok, what happened?"
Madison: I just went potty, but it wouldn't go down when I kept flushing!

I walked in the bathroom to water dangerously close to the hallway carpet, grabbed about 12 towels and ran for the plunger. What was on the floor was a result of a heck of a deposit on her part and then her flushing 4 times in an attempt to get it down.
It took quite a bit of plunging, sans the plumbers crack, but I got it to go down and went to work on the floor.

It's fixed, she's empty and I'm washing a lot of towels today.

Posted by Amy at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2007

Tents, chores and family smores!

I would be the marshmallow, Mark would be the chocolate, the girls are the graham crackers pushing on each side of us and moving away from our comfort zone, friends and parents is the heat that's smooshing us all together.
It's a messy treat, but it's still a treat.

I was given a lot of advice before we moved. Some of it has crossed my mind a time or two and a few things have stayed with me.
One thing my cousin Amanda said was that the move was going to bring our family closer together. Of course, I had no idea what that really meant or how true it would be.
We don't have what we had back home. I know it will come with time though and I'm not concerned anymore. When we needed help getting something heavy out of the truck, we called down to our neighbor Suchat for help, when we needed more hands to build something in the yard, we called our neighbor Dave. We had both of our parents 3 miles away who we met out for dinner, visited with, and they had the girls sleep over...a lot, I had no less than 5 friends I could call at any time of the day for help with the girls or to get together somewhere. For a night of cards and drinks we walked down to Cheri and Suchat's house.
The bottom line is that we had it good, really good.
And as sad as I was to move away from that and as scared as I was to start out new, I can now see how right Amanda was.
Mark and I have had to do a lot of things now without help. Building the shed was a complete pain in the ass, but we did it, and we did it together. Most days and nights, if we don't have plans with my sister and her family, it's just us. We're no longer 3 miles from anyone or anything. But, we haven't been bored yet.
We're bonding as a family. Mark's picking up blue crabs for dinner (which is a wonderful 4 hour social meal), we take the girls with us everytime we go out to eat instead of dropping them off at the grandparents, we're building tents in the house, I've taken the girls to the library and the park knowing I won't know anyone there, but I can have fun with the girls anyway, we've even sat in chairs in the driveway while the girls played with chalk or on their bikes. I used to think 'those' people must be really bored if they can sit in chairs doing nothing while their kids play!
Now I see it as a great opportunity of family time and I see everything we're doing here as a chance to give the girls great childhood memories.
Another piece of advice I was given was to give it 18 months. I was told I wouldn't feel like I did back home for at least 18 months.
While it's not completely like it used to be, I don't think it's going to take that long. I'm comfortable here and I can now see all the great things about moving.
I'll always miss having our parents 3 miles away though!
Nothing can trump that.

Posted by Amy at 01:54 PM | Comments (3)

March 18, 2007

I met my mom at my sister's house yesterday to learn how to sew. I've had a sewing machine for two years now and never used it until yesterday.
Madison knew that her Nonny was going to be teaching me how to sew and I was going to be working on a blanket for her. When the Dad's got back from taking the kids to the park and lunch, Madison saw it and was just as cute as could be.
She saw me holding it and ran over to me with her mouth open. I was still sitting at the sewing machine and she was standing beside me when she leaned in for a hug and told me how "beautiful" it was and thanked me. She was so sincere about it. Then she went over to my mom (who was knealing down) and nearly knocked her over with a hug and thanked her. My mom told her that she didn't do it, but her mommy did. Madison said "No, thank you for teaching my mommy how to make it, it's beautiful!". It was so damn sweet, my mom even teared up. That girl amazes me with how sincere she is.
And I have to say, this blanket was just fleece material with a Princess Ariel pattern that I put a blanket binding on, but to Madison it was a new treasure.
I'm going to make Chloe's today, which is a Pooh pattern, but I'm fairly certain she's just going to put hers in the dishwasher.

Posted by Amy at 06:09 AM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2007

Spring has sprung in our backyard

Posted by Amy at 06:08 AM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2007

"Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason" -Ralph Waldo Emerson

It surprises me how quickly a mom can trust someone to care for their kids. I've never thought of myself as a paranoid mom, but in comparison to those around me, I am just that.
We moved in just over 3 months ago and I still think we're getting to know people. I would consider us all neighbors, friendly, but no more than neighbors yet. I've now been approached by 3 families about watching their kids for various things.
Not that I mind watching them, but I can't help but wonder why they're so trusting. I only have myself to compare them to and I'm certainly not ready to have any of them watch the girls. It's too soon and I really don't know much about these families. I know what they want me to know and I just don't feel we're that close yet.
It's not that they've been in desperate situations either. One wanted to shop for some shorts before a vacation and another doesn't want to have their baby out so late at their other son's baseball practice.
They've all offered to 'help' me out too, as they put it, whenever I want to drop the girls off to them. Maybe I just haven't felt that desperate yet or maybe I am just a paranoid mom, but I'm just not comfortable putting my girls behind their closed doors and driving away.
I must have a very trusting face.

Posted by Amy at 07:01 AM | Comments (2)

March 14, 2007

Posted by Amy at 04:34 PM | Comments (0)

March 13, 2007

Ode to the space under my bum and the fire that should be there.

I can't quite remember
The book with the card
To remember the birthdays
Of those near and far
Taking another look
I see there's hope alas
As I found the matchbook
For the light under my a$$

I try. I really do. Every year, it's the same thing.
I WILL remember to send out birthday cards this year. I've never made the same promise for anniversary cards, but birthday cards...yes.
This year was no different. January's cards were on our counter ready to be mailed out by the 3rd of the month. I had 5 to send out and they all went out on time, some even a little early.
Yay me!
Small, yet celebrated victory for my memory.
February's cards were also on the counter early, maybe the 5th of the month. Unfortunately clutter happened and some cards went out with a "Sorry this is late!" notice on the envelope.
It's now March 13th, I'm sitting here unable to sleep when my eyes glance over at the folder. The freakin' this-is-how-I'll-remember-the-cards folder. It didn't work.
So, Happy Birthday Chris...13 minutes late.
And, Happy Birthday John...hope today's a good one!
Neither of you will be receiving a card, but I thought of you both.
Hopefully Tara gets hers as I still have 6 days left.

If your birthday is in December, please don't expect a card. Seeing as how I didn't even send out Christmas cards this past year, I can tell you right now, I probably won't even be able to find that ingenious folder come August.
It's pretty, but it's not installed with a magical match timed to light a fire under my ass....
so really, it's pointless.

I do promise to keep trying, but I saw on a recent Oprah that trying is failing with honor.
So, I'll keep trying if you'll do me the honor.

Posted by Amy at 12:11 AM | Comments (3)

March 09, 2007

The Many Faces of Chloe

All of these pictures were taken in the last two months...

Posted by Amy at 03:24 PM | Comments (3)

Friday Feast

Appetizer
What is your usual bedtime? Do you like that, or would you rather it be different?
Usually I’m in bed by 9pm. Sometimes a little later and sometimes a little earlier.
I’d rather stay up later as that’s the best time to get things done around the house, but my body’s ready to sit down. Once I sit down, that’s the end of my day as I know it.

Soup
When it comes to advice, do you give more or receive more?
I think it used to always be about equal. Different topics though. However, lately I’ve been receiving more advice than giving. We have a lot of questions with the new house and the projects that come along with that. Not to mention the whole house selling/house buying extravaganza. We’ve all been sick a lot lately too, so I need advice with that more than before and just learning things about this new town requires advice.

Salad
Describe a memorable meal you've had.
Wow, I’ve had a lot. I guess I’ll just go with the most recent. At our neighborhood cookout last weekend we had chicken and steak kabobs with red and green peppers and onions. They were delish! And I made this awesome Italian potato salad that wasn’t anything like a traditional potato salad, we had steamed asparagus and tri-color pesto pasta. It was all very yummy and eating with friends is always memorable.

Main Course
Name a work of fiction that affected the way you think about something.
Again, I’ll just go with the most recent. Mark ordered me a romance novel for Valentines Day that had him and I as the main characters. I thought is was so awesome and I was so excited to read it. It turns out though, that I really don’t feel like spending my quiet time reading about us having a spat or about some strange man in the bar hitting on me and me liking it! However, it has given us some funny new inside jokes since he read it too.

Dessert
What is your favorite type of fruit juice?
Any that is poured over vodka.

Posted by Amy at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2007

This explains my past two days:

During flu season, the early symptoms of influenza (fever, chills, headache, sore throat, muscle pain) may mimic strep throat.

My body aches continued to get worse last night and my fever reached 104.6. My whole body was stiff and in pain and I was dressing in layers because I was still cold. I thought I was coming down with the flu, but after a visit to the doctor this morning, it turned out to be strep throat.
Mark called in to work today and has had to be Mr. Mom. He's doing a great job too, and looks very cute napping on the couch while the girls take their nap. He took Madison to school this morning, then came back and got me for my appointment, then went to the store for some groceries and my medicine, dropped me back off at home and headed back out again to pick up Madison. He seemed kind of cranky when he got back and when I asked him about it he said "I'm just tired, this Mr. Mom thing is hard" Then he reminded me of a plaque he got me a couple years ago that says "If being a mom was easy, a man could do it".
He's such a great guy.
And my sister called to tell us not to worry about dinner tonight, she's bringing me her delicious home-made chicken noodle soup and corn bread, yum!
This being sick deal has it's perks!

Posted by Amy at 02:37 PM | Comments (1)

March 06, 2007

Mark had a much-needed 5 day break last week and we were able to get so much done around the house and still have time to be lazy and enjoy good ‘ole quality family time.

Wednesday….and Thursday….and Friday-
Mark got our shed built. It looks kind of lost out there, but it’s a 10x12 unit sitting way out there.

Wednesday-
I got my flag pole up finally, I love that thing. I even bought it before we moved here so I would have it hanging around reminding me to put it up…just found it last week!!

While enjoying the hammock with us, Madison decided we should go to McDonalds for dinner. So, that was Wednesday night's menu. We got kind of spiffed up too. Girls looked all cute, I actually put on makeup and we sat there for a little more than an hour eating and laughing. It was really fun. Both girls ate great, everyone was in a great mood…Madison was even used as an example by a family sitting next to us...and then we got dessert there too.

Thursday-
was ridiculous. The weather report had us under a tornado watch ALL day so we postponed working on the shed. At 11am, there wasn’t any sign of bad weather so we went back out. It was an extremely long day, but we were able to get a lot done on the shed. Thursday night, well Friday morning really, had me (and eventually Mark) up intently listening to the wind for that classic freight train noise we always hear about. The wind was really bad, the satellite came off the roof, but that could have been shoddy workmanship too, and we were very tired the next morning.

Friday Morning-
Daddy Appreciation day at school. It was cute. It was a good memory for Madison, but ended up being a difficult morning for us. We were running late because Madison took a fall on our sidewalk and did a number on her knees, we couldn't find a place to park once we got there and then Chloe cried for about 20 minutes in the beginning.

Chloe ended up being perfectly content with a dry and crumbling blueberry muffin.

Saturday-
Our garage has been a labor of love, no that’s crap, but it was actually fun, that finally got wrapped up Saturday morning.

Saturday night-
We had our first neighborhood cookout. We invited 3 neighborhood families over who we’ve been slowly getting to know and who all have kids too. It was fun. Not what I’m used to, but still fun. I don’t think we’ll be hanging out with them all that often, but it’s always nice to be friendly with your neighbors.

Sunday-
We played hooky from church and went out to my parent’s house for lunch and to visit. It was a long day too, but so good to visit with them and see the girls so happy.

Posted by Amy at 03:25 PM | Comments (1)

My kids refuse to sleep in. I continue to be the fool attempting every so often to keep them up late in hopes of a late morning, but to no avail.
Madison only goes to part-time preschool which means I'm only a stickler for bedtime on the nights before school. Last night was an off night...not only because she didn't have school today, but because I was a bit under the weather. Since I was moving slower than normal and Mark was working I figured bedtime would happen when I got around to it. After dinner, bath, a movie, some books and my slow bones moving from here to there, the girls rolled into bed at 9:30 last night. They're usually in bed by 7:30 or 8:00.
Anyway, I left their room sighing and thinking, more hoping really, that something good would come from my off night and their late arrival to bed.
It didn't.
I heard Chloe first and thought for sure I was dreaming. I heard Madison next and flailed my body around to look at the clock---6:17am.
After fussing, moaning and thrashing around, I got up and started my day. I'm still moving slow, I've been on the heating pad much of today and bedtime might happen right after dinner if they keep pushing my buttons.
I should remind myself though that these are the same button-pushers who will be choosing my nursing home later.

Posted by Amy at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2007

It's all fun and games until daddy gets tired...

Posted by Amy at 03:15 PM | Comments (1)

February 20, 2007

It's hard to believe we've been in this house for over 3 months already. I wouldn't have thought about it had it not been for our 90 day walk through last week.
We have some minor repairs the builders need to make, but overall, we're pleased. We've learned some things about home building though in regards to what we don't want again and what we would like to see next time. Just passing 90 days in a new house though, I shouldn't even be speaking the words "next time".
The three months has passed rather quickly. I feel like we've been spending the entire three months settling in, which sometimes feels like it's taking us too long.
That's not all we've done in the last 90 days though. We went to Disney, we celebrated Christmas, we've all been sick, we found a church we like, we got Madison in parttime preschool, we've all made some new friends, Madison went to her first birthday party, I started a garden, and we've had more family time than we've had in a very long time.
Hearing myself think about everything we've accomplished makes me realize that it's all part of settling into a new home and a new town. It actually seems pretty reasonable that it's taken 3 months.
We still have a lot we want to do to the house as far as shelving, window coverings, furniture and general organizing, but it's coming along quite well.
I guess if I look at the fact that we can park our car in the garage and have home cooked meals in the kitchen, then we're doing pretty darn good getting settled!

Posted by Amy at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2007

Not that I expected anything else, but Madison is becoming such a protective and loving big sister. When I left Chloe in the child care room for church this morning, she was pitching such a fit. She was screaming so loud and when Mark walked past the hallway (about 50 feet away)with Madison they heard her too. I don’t remember the exact words or how it came about, but Madison offered to go into the small kids room instead of her Sunday School room to be with Chloe. We said sure and Madison went right up to Chloe and hugged her. We quickly left and another mom came out about 5 minutes later and stopped to tell me how they were. She said Chloe was doing just fine and Madison was still holding her and caressing her hair telling her it would be ok as she hiccupped and sobbed in Madison’s arms. As every mom can attest to having, it was one of those happy, but broken heart moments we sometimes have.
We’ve also been trying to get Chloe out of the crib and into the daybed for naps. It hasn’t worked, until today. Madison is supposed to be in the top bed, but I can take one guess why she’s in Chloe’s bed and I'd probably be right.
She’s going through the “I want to be a mommy” phase and although I don’t always have the camera with me, it’s picture perfect.

Posted by Amy at 03:25 PM | Comments (1)

February 16, 2007

I'm sorry to say it, but I have to cancel our long-awaited and much-publicized "Nekkid Jitterbug Hoedown" that was scheduled for 3am in our backyard.
Bummer.

FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mike XXXXXX
February 16, 2007 (xxx) xxx-xxxx

STATE OFFICIALS URGE FLORIDIANS
TO PREPARE FOR BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES
~Freeze Warnings in Effect into South Florida Tonight ~

TALLAHASSEE - State officials are urging all Floridians to prepare for the coldest weather of the season tonight. A cold dome of high pressure will settle over the state, allowing for diminishing winds and plummeting temperatures this evening. Hard freeze warnings have been issued for most of north and as well as interior north-central Florida. Temperatures in these regions may remain below freezing for 8-12 hours. Freeze warnings have been issued for most of the peninsula, including portions of interior south and southwest Florida. The overnight lows are forecast to remain well above freezing in the metropolitan areas of southeast Florida as well as the Keys.

The coldest weather of the season is expected to settle over Florida tonight with near record low temperatures by sunrise on Saturday, said State Meteorologist Ben Nelson. We expect below normal temperatures again Sunday night and are urging residents and visitors to be prepared for cold weather.

Floridians should remember the "Five P's" of cold weather safety. The 5 Ps are: Protecting People, Protecting Plants, Protecting Pets, Protect Exposed Pipes, and Practice Fire Safety.

Posted by Amy at 05:26 PM | Comments (0)

Such a fickle thing

Tuesday afternoon: 57 degrees and tornadoes heading our way

Friday morning: 24 degrees and beautiful

It's supposed to get down to 18 tonight!
For Florida...that's cold.

In the past two weeks this area has seen snow flurries, hail, tornadoes, bright sunshine and temps ranging from 20 to 72.
It's crazy!

Posted by Amy at 08:42 AM | Comments (1)

February 13, 2007

This is my baby…

This is my baby when you take her toy away…

Any questions?

Posted by Amy at 07:42 PM | Comments (2)

February 12, 2007

Party Pics

Here are some pictures from the party Saturday.

This is my parents original wedding cake:

This is the cake I made Saturday:

Here's the girls in their dresses:

If you look in my previous post about the party, you'll see a picture of me on their wedding day. My sister had dresses made for our daughters to match the ones she and I wore to their wedding.

Posted by Amy at 01:31 PM | Comments (2)

February 11, 2007

I knew I shouldn't have asked for more chores.

Not long ago Chloe started showing a lot of interest in Madison's bathroom activities so I found the small little potty for her small little heinie and set it in the bathroom. She thinks it's neat, and giggles whenever we put her on it, but because I don't feel like actively potty training, that hasn't happened too often. The only convenient time is just before their baths in the evening, so I did it again tonight and it actually happened! My 18 month old piddled in the potty...and it was a lot. I was absolutely shocked.
I'm very happy she did it, and very proud of her, but I really don't feel like keeping up with it more than at bathtime. I'm already in there, she's already nekkid and well, it just plain makes sense.
I'll just hope she's a quick study and starts to find cloth diapers uncomfortable.

Posted by Amy at 07:54 PM | Comments (1)

February 09, 2007

Love is in the air

We're having our very first party here tomorrow. We love having friends, family and neighbors all get together for the sake of just having a good time. Tomorrow's party is all about family. We're throwing a party for my parent's 25th wedding anniversary and I couldn't be more excited.
I love my parents. They've taught me so much, helped me when I needed it, left me alone when I needed it and let me be my own person...always.
Here's a couple pics from memory lane.

Oh...and here's my Friday Feast

Appetizer
Have you been sick yet this winter? If so, what did you come down with?
Yes. It seems like I’ve been sick all winter…knock on wood concerning the last 10 or so days though. All sinus issues.

Soup
What colors dominate your closet?
Blue and khaki

Salad
How would you describe your personal "comfort zone"?
Not entirely sure what that means.
Distance-wise...I shouldn't be able to smell your breath or count the pot marks on your face.
Personality-wise...I like routine. I like planning my day and knowing what to expect. Not when it comes to romance, there I like surprises.
Environment-wise...my home is my total comfort zone...all of it.

Main Course
On which reality show would you really like to be a contestant?
American Idol. I want to be like William Hung and get rich from singing really, really bad.

Dessert
Which holiday would you consider to be your favorite?
Christmas

Posted by Amy at 08:16 PM | Comments (0)

February 06, 2007

Madison and I have started our garden. She loves looking at the plants each day seeing how much they've grown and now stops by the dining room each morning to look at them.
She asked me the other day if a giant was going to come over to climb up the bean stalks when they get bigger. I told her I didn't think so, but if she sees one she could practice her running.

Posted by Amy at 04:38 PM | Comments (0)

January 30, 2007

Posted by Amy at 02:10 PM | Comments (2)

January 20, 2007

Friday Feast

Appetizer
Which television shows do you just refuse to miss?
Pretty much just Grey’s Anatomy these days

Soup
Who did you last speak to on the telephone?
My mom

Salad
How many pillows do you keep on your bed?
6

Main Course
Name one addition to your computer (software, hardware, etc.) that you'd love to have.
Photoshop

Dessert
What is your favorite foreign food?
Ummm, greasy take-out Chinese (Chicken Lo Mein to be exact)…not really foreign since I can get right down the street, but I can’t make it.

Posted by Amy at 06:20 AM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2007

Things are moving right along at the new digs and January has proven to be a much more normal month than December was.
I am, however, finding myself with this desire to go back to work. What 'work' that is, I don't know. I'm just finding my thoughts shifting toward getting out there again. Maybe it's just that inner need to feel important. So much for my belief that my husband and kids can fill every need I may have.
(Please pick up on the sarcasm there)
It also may just be that my heart isn't in it anymore. Anyone that knows me, knows that if my heart isn't in it, then I suck at it. I'm wondering if my time as a stay at home mom has reached it's peak of being beneficial and is now just me going through the motions.
I can honestly say that if I'm only going through the motions of mommyhood, then it's time for a change.
However...and this is a big however...when I picture myself at a job, all I can picture is me thinking about my girls, regretting my decision and feeling an unbelievable amount of guilt for not giving Chloe the same mommy time that Madison had.
While I realize how fortunate I am to even be having this dilemma, it doesn't make it any less of an issue for me.
So, I'll go on spending my days engrossed in raising my kids the best I know how, all the while ignoring the dancing thoughts of returning to work.
Which could also be said as, I'll suck it up and get over myself.

I know I'm having these thoughts for a good reason. I just haven't seen it yet. Maybe having these thoughts now will make returning to work in the future something I actually want to do or maybe I'm just getting prepared for something that's soon to happen.
It coud also be that I just enjoy torturing myself and being overwhelmed with guilt.
Such is life.

Posted by Amy at 06:20 AM | Comments (1)

January 08, 2007

Since it is a long and detailed story, I will get straight to the ending and then you can decide if you want to read the rest.
We found a preschool for Madison and she started on Friday.

Everything felt right from the very first time I heard about this school. I started getting excited and almost knew that this was going to be the school for her before even speaking with the Director. When we finally did talk (she was on Christmas break) she ironically only had one spot open in the school and that was for a 3 year old. Mark and I went in that day, Thursday, to look around, ask our questions, and meet the teachers. We signed her up before we left. We really did just have this wonderful feeling and we both felt great with our decision. On the ride home Mark commented on how impressed he was with not only the school environment, but the Director and the teachers we met.
When we told Madison that she was going to start school the next day, she was so excited. Seriously, ran up to me, arms around my neck, thanking me and telling me how excited she was. It was great.
We dropped her off the next morning and, wow, were they squared away.
Madison's name was already on the wall outside the class, on her desk and in her cubby. A teacher walking down the hall welcomed her and everything. Even when we picked her up later, she told us she 'loved' her new school and the Director stopped by to tell us how great she did. The teacher said she's a great listener and didn't miss a beat on her first day. Having already had Madison enrolled in preschool back home, I can tell you that getting feedback was a welcome change. I had to nag for feedback before.

Anyway, today was Madison's second day and I so miss this routine. I was able to get a Rx filled for myself, get some groceries and now Chloe is also enjoying the perks of having the house to herself for a little while...

Posted by Amy at 11:14 AM | Comments (1)

January 03, 2007

I must apologize

While deleting NUMEROUS spam comments this morning, I accidently deleted a page of friendly comments too.
I just wanted to assure you it wasn't on purpose!

Posted by Amy at 08:55 AM | Comments (0)

Posted by Amy at 08:08 AM | Comments (0)

January 02, 2007

I love meeting neighbors.
I was outside playing with the girls yesterday and a couple was walking their dog. I said hello, they said hello and then walked up our driveway. We talked for about 20 minutes and they seem pretty normal. They told me about another neighbor in the area. A neighbor that I’m already not fond of.
In a casual conversation about the community and the number of young families there are, they happened to just breezily mention the black bear that lives here and walks through everyone’s yard and then they just kept talking. After having them backup and repeat what they just said, I realized that I heard them correctly.
Apparently everyone’s gotten some pretty good close up pictures of him too.
So, now, as opposed to back home, I will NOT be asking Mark to inspect what noises I hear in the middle of the night. I will NOT care if I hear our trash being destroyed in the middle of the night and I will NOT give a rats ass if I think there’s an animal on the roof. Because most likely it won’t be the innocent raccoon, stray cat or possum that I was once used to. Instead it could be our resident black bear, or perhaps a freakin’ mountain lion for all I know.
And here I was worried about a stray bullet coming into my yard…pfft!

Posted by Amy at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)

January 01, 2007

I must warn you: the pictures you are about to see contain material that is graphic in nature.
When you click ‘Continue Reading’ you will be introduced to the underground world of something only discussed in small groups by close friends.
Dun-dun-dun!!!!

Clicky, clicky

*insert shrill cry from a daring mother*
A toddler learning to eat spaghetti!!!!

Disgusting…wouldn’t you agree?
But so damn cute it doesn't really matter.

I live life on the edge I tell ya.

Posted by Amy at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)

Recipe of the Day

Long Night

1. 4 girls aged 3 1/2, 3 1/2, just turned 2 and 17 months having a slumber party
2. New Years Eve fireworks that last for 2 hours
3. 30 minutes of buckshots because your hick neighbors wanted the fireworks to last longer than 2 hours
4. A 3 1/2 year old niece who misses her mommy and doesn't want to go to sleep
5. A 2 year old niece who not only misses her mommy, but is very sick, uncomfortable and can't sleep at all from 12am-5am
6. Snoring husband
7. Pot of coffee

Mix first 5 ingredients and you're pretty much done. If you finally get to bed and it's still dark outside, add #6. Once it's daylight and you're sure that the night is over because your own 3 1/2 year old daughter is at your bedside wanting to watch the Wiggles, add #7.
If mixed properly, this recipe should yield a long morning too.

How did you welcome the new year?

Posted by Amy at 07:32 AM | Comments (0)

December 31, 2006

Rainy Day Fun

10-51 to a signal 20

Now, to get her to pull over…

Does she know her clothes are missing?

Oh snap! She ran!!

Peekaboo

Posted by Amy at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)

RIP

Anyone know what that is?

3 hints:
-It's in our backyard
-When walking through it, you need to watch where you walk
-As time goes by, other people may want to take part in what it has to offer

Posted by Amy at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2006

Friday Feast

Appetizer
How do you usually celebrate on New Year's Eve?
Throw a big party at our house with all of our friends, neighbors and family. We eat, drink and celebrate like crazy. This year however we don’t have friends here yet and we don’t know our neighbors yet, but I will be babysitting my nieces that night, so there’s the family part.

Soup
Name one thing unexpected that happened to you in 2006.
I guess moving. While we were pretty sure it was going to happen, we had no idea it was going to be so soon or fast.

Salad
Where was your favorite place that you visited in 2006?
Disney World of course!

Main Course
What resolution is your top priority for 2007?
Find a niche for our family in this new town and make it home.

Dessert
Using just three words, describe 2006.
Preschool, Promotion, Progression

Posted by Amy at 10:51 PM | Comments (1)

Since I haven't updated in a while, I'm just posting some pictures from December. We had a very busy month and I'm looking forward to things calming down a bit.

December 12th
We had dinner with the princesses (the real Disney ones and our own). Chloe was just happy to be eating…actually that’s about the only time she’s ever happy:

December 13th
A tell tale sign that it’s been a long day at Disney:

December 21st
The classic Santa picture:

December 22nd
Our little reindeer…although there are times she’s as weird as the character behind her:

December 24th (morning)
On our way home from church that morning Chloe fell asleep while eating a cracker:

December 24th (evening)
Madison setting out cookies for Santa:

December 25th
Not even 7:30am and we had our first fit thrown:

The classic “good job on the gift selection” picture:

I knew there would come a day when they actually threw up playdoh:

Posted by Amy at 01:37 PM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2006

Here’s a video from dinner tonight. In one video you get to see my kids eating-and not eating, getting messy, being silly, getting loud, playing the ‘why’ game and having a meltdown.
And all of that happens in four and a half minutes….just imagine 14 waking hours with them! It makes for good memories.
Have a good week everyone, we’re off to Disney for 5 days.

Posted by Amy at 09:09 PM | Comments (0)

December 05, 2006

Hickbonics

I'd like to fit in around here, so I figured learning a litte hickbonics may help me-

ahz: the things you see with

aig: which come first, the chicken or the aig?

arn: an electrical instrument used to remove wrinkles from clothing.

bawl: what water does at 212 degrees.

bidness: commercial enterprise

bobbycue: a delectable southern sandwich of chopped pork, cole slaw an a fiery sauce.

co-cola: any form/brand of soft drink.

clinics: a tissue

crine: weeping

dawfins: name of the pro football team in Miami.

daints: a more or less formal event in which members of the opposite sex hold each other and move rhythmically to the sound of music.

dayum: an expletive; in other states, a four-letter word.

doc: a condition caused by an absence of light.

ever: each, as in "She's bin crine ever day since JJ run off".

far: combustion

git: to acquire

goff: a game played with clubs and a little white ball.

hep: a cry for assistance, as in "HEP! There's a far!

hoss: a large, solid-hoofed, herbivorous animal.