Saturday, September 27, 2014

Living Life With More Joy

I struggle with doing things joyfully… Especially when there are little people involved… I read a quote (which I wish I had taken a screen grab of) that was something to the effect of - we need to be joyful warriors in this crazy world - (hopefully I can find the source). 

Instead of focusing on the beach being kind of a bust (well for me because there was not 24/7 beach time); we'll focus on getting to spend time with my parents and Uncle Kev and getting to go to the beach for a few hours - just enough to get a lite sunburn : ) . 

We are happy for the AWESOME weather we had for our first soccer game this morning and not on the fact that the Alligators could probably use a few more practices. But seriously I think our team had a fun time overall.

We can have fun in Wally World even when we look like this:


(M's the odd ball out in her non-soccer-wear; so we looked really cool matching, promise)




Seriously, it is the little things.

We were the only people on the bread aisle (which we went in circles looking for) and I revved up the cart and ran down the aisle. Seriously all the girls were cackling and I couldn't help but smile. We 'went fast' a few more times as we were checking out and in the parking lot. It was such a small but JOY-filled moment I cannot describe.




2014 Family Beach Pic

Obligatory family beach pose with the flamingo. I'll do a whole post on it… maybe. But it was fun hanging out with Grammy and Grandpa Joe and Uncle Kevin for a few days (yeah they put up with our crazies for more than a few hours! : ) HOWEVER, going to the beach when it is cloudy and misting and not warm is kind of a bust when you have 2 kids who desperately want to go to the beach and a 10.5 month old who cannot get on the beach house floor because it's not even worth discussing the germs and funk.

Without further details...


Until next year we're probably a little…


{crabby - in case you cannot read the shirts} because we've not on vacation

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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Raining with a Chance of Surfing...



R - I like… surfing… in dee rain

What's the most important thing to occur when you go to the beach and you are 4 and 2 yrs old?…

Go to the BEEEE-CH

Even if it is 65 and drizzling.

You get in the wave and splash around and fall down and have a great time. 

And then you freeze your little behind off on the walk/carry-me-pul-easeeee mama ride home

Monday, September 22, 2014

Recent Happenings 'Round Here

Yes it has been awhile since I posted so here's what's up…

This summer I have been 50/50 on having E rest. Sometimes she can work on her workbook other times she can play upstairs and other times she must rest. One afternoon it was entirely too quiet upstairs and so I called for E and nothing. Ran upstairs to find this. Checked in Papa's office. Ran back downstairs to see if she opted to rest on her own. Nothing. My heart maybe got a little nervous.



So I went back upstairs and did some searching to find this...


Sigh of relief? Yep… And while we are on the topic of sleeping… 


Goodness she loves her Papa!

At the beginning of summer I knew it was going to be a long summer of semi-napfilled afternoon… enter Pre-K workbook. It's about 500 pages of coloring letters, shapes, numbers etc. I thought it would take E into the fall. Well turns out she was super into it and finished 100 pages in the first week. She did settle down and finished in early August. 


I told her if she wanted to finish the book and pick out a reward she had to diligently do each page (not overly scribble scrabble) and write somewhat legibly. The prize of her choice new markers. Oh man. Those last few pages of correcting 'not-so-diligent- work were challenging but the day the markers showed up - E thought it was all worth it. So what's she working on now? The Kindergarten workbook. 


If that book had cutting and gluing on every page she would have finished it weeks ago. Also, if I could teach this kid to read by cutting stuff out she would be reading novels. Any good cutting and pasting your way to reading activities? Anyhow, she claims she wants something Frozen related once the K workbook is over but she has got some time before that happens : ) 



M is finally out of the infant carrier and into E's old carseat. E got a new one. I installed E's (zebra) and left R's (pink) where it was. For arguments sake I wanted to see if you could fit 3 Britax (yes they are the most massive but considered some of the best) carseats across the third row of el Odyssey. Yeah… That would be a definite negative. I did manage to fit three across the back once but only one was a Britax. Good thing M is rear facing in the second row… 

About little M:


She would love to pull up on everything. Except she doesn't. Though she did pull herself up on the little bottom bunk in the girls room yesterday - much to E's delight - and then proceeded to fall off the other side. Much to my heart stopping moment of fear I kept the - I told you this would be a not so fantastic idea - speech to myself. 


Why is Minnie by the garage door? Because a certain 4 yr old left her for show and tell. And let me tell you, we talked about show and tell the night before and what she was bringing and the day of and please put it by the door so you don't forget it and EVERYTHING. Well 2 minutes into the drive I said… So, do you have your show and tell? {insert wailing and tears and screams} 

Fortunately there was enough junk in the van she had a run of the gamut for options but it was tough forgetting show and tell (for the first time). Apparently the point was not completely driven home because the next day she walked out without her backpack and we got to school and we were hopping out of the van and she looked at me and said 'Where's my book bag' I said 'Did you remember to bring it'

Oh the tears started welling up and the thought of no snack was going through her head. I let that soak in for a minute and asked her if she was moving to fast and why she was not being responsible for her stuff. But then, being the reasonable mama I am, pointed her to the back hatch of the van in which laid her book bag. Let's just say it has not been forgotten since. 


Oh and M is into everything. She especially loves her big sisters toys - the Duplos are some of her favorites. E is not overly happy about the occasional M invasion and R is usually on board with E but sometimes R is super sweet to M and gives M her Nini and piles up a bunch of stuff for her to play with. 


E's godfather gave her a 2 wheel scooter and E happens to think it is fantastic. She still cannot figure out the whole balancing thing but E at least feels like one of the big kids. R is still quite skeptical of the 3 wheel scooter… 


Oh my goodness. R has some of the best 2 yr old expressions… EVER!


She thoroughly enjoyed her cupcake :  )


E and I hit up the HT for a few items after she went with me to the dentist. Gosh she is getting so big and super fun to be around. We hit the samples but the cookies were gone : ( 


This made me smile - 


M almost fell out of the stroller leaning over trying to reach the ball she dropped… 


Finally…. Mexican caldo. Seriously. If you are sick you need some. Thank goodness for Nani who brought me some last week. I have this super annoying head stuffiness that I cannot kick. Hopefully a fews days of salt water will cure that… 





Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Preschool Art Weeks 1 and 2

I LOVE preschool art. The folders are usually full of the days activities. When E was in 2 yr old class I had this crazy idea that I could keep it… ALL of it. Well you can imagine how crazy of an idea that was. Now we display the art for a week and then it goes away. I really need about 3 or 4 refrigerators : ( I cringe EVERYTIME a make that toss into the recycling bin. There are few things that obviously get kept but most of it does not make the cut. 

For our own sake I'll try and gather the art before the big switch. 

Here are R's masterpieces:


And E's stuff… I'll try and take better pics next time!









Tuesday, September 16, 2014

It's that time of year...

We dusted off the cleats and found our shinguards and got R some socks and shinguards and even got a new ball.




E is in the 4-5 age group and R is along for ride and the jersey and the occasional kick to the goal - but it is SUPER funny because she is way into practice. Her favorite part is when we all come together and shout ALLIGATORS! She reminded me at least 3 times that we needed to say "Dragonflies" - that was our team from last year. 

Also E is already planning for the next season. She wants to be the Pigs and have pink jerseys. I keep on trying to tell her pigs are not vicious enough and pink is not fair to any boys on our team. She is not quite convinced.

This season should be fun. The boys on the team are super into playing and running and scoring (and tackling each other and wrestling the ball away from each other - we have some tactical improvements to make : ) The girls are a bit timid at first but they do actually run after the ball and try and get in on the action - I am excited for that. 

Friday, September 12, 2014

7 Quick Takes - Oreos, Triple Carts and BandAids

Back at it again… 



--- 1 ---

Let's just kick this one off by saying I'm at least a week behind plus I want to catch up on the DC trip before the beach trip so there is some blogging to be done. Also, I am reading Graced and Gifted… It is fantastic




--- 2 ---

Triple cart? 



Yes please. 
--- 3 ---

We have been fattening up the squirrel population in the backyard. It is so funny because it seems around 6 every night, one squirrel pokes his nose near the door as if he's waiting for us to toss him some stale chips or moldy bread.




We usually do because the girls get a kick out of watching them eat. However, the are some turkey buzzards hanging around a few house down so the squirrels better have their game face on.


--- 4 ---

The cure for a thumb sucker...

Bandaid sadness

Bandaids on the thumb that they usually like to gnaw on through the night.

Mean? Cold? Heartless?

I think not!

Our girls suck their thumb only at night or when they have their NiNis. The dentist thought it would be a good idea to just take the Ninis away at night. Dude, horrible idea. That is cruel. So, I came up with (as I am sure hundreds of other mothers have) putting a Bandaid on the preferred thumb. Actually I only was pushing it with E because I think she could handle it but R saw the Hello Kitty and Princess Bandaids and HAD TO HAVE ONE TOO.

Except she didn't realize I was not going to take it off. If she elects to have one, she's got live with it. She can choose to have it but once it is on it's on for the evening. The first few nights she excited got her Bandaid out with E and wailed in her room once she realized she could not suck her thumb. Now, after about a week we've been tear-free

--- 5 ---
On to happy topics… Like Oreos for babies!







See I told you I was not a mean mama. Even though M only got the cookie side of the Oreo I definitely think I could be in the running for mom-of-the-year.

--- 6 ---

Why give a 10 month a massive Thermo cup? 



Because they are the least leakiest cups around and most in destructible. In fact last night M through her cup to the floor in her impatience and the lid broke off - which was the first time a lid has ever done that in 13 months of using these cups (but Papa just popped it back on so it was fine). Plus the cups are insulated so the milk stays cold in case the cups happens to not make it into the fridge a school 

--- 7 ---

On a final note, let's talk about crazy drivers. 

A. Pretty sure I see someone who blatantly runs a red light AT LEAST ones a day. Seriously the RMT PD should give me a side job

B. Construction workers ZOOMING through the neighborhood when there were (30 minutes before) kids on bikes… This brought Mama Bear Kibbe to her feet and she MARCHED right down to the house they were at and had some words with the guys who cannot spare a FEW EXTRA SECONDS for the kids of our neighborhood. SERIOUSLY, I don't care if her just had a guy walk off the job and he's having a bad day. It'll be a MUCH WORSE day if a kid gets plowed over. K thanks...

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Friday, September 5, 2014

R's First Day of Preschool… EVER

As promised here in the non-jumbled up with big sister's first day of pre-K post… Just for my sweet little 2 yr old


Now after the INSANELY messy house I left on Wednesday, Thursday was much better for a number of reasons - I was up super early (for some reason) and Papa cooked bacon and eggs - so I was off breakfast duty (always a good day)


Also, M was going to work with me and E had already had her first day of school fun-ness so it was all R. She really did not have a say in her outfit though she was more than agreeable. I let her pick her bow  color so that counts for something!


When we hit up Target Tuesday the school stuff was not quite on sale yet so Papa - being his loving Papa self - went to Target and got the girls new cups (33% off) on Wednesday after work. Both E and R were super happy to have new cups. Sidenote - these cups are the best-est, non-leak-est cups EVER. I promise they are worth the $15 (or $10 on sale at Target). Seriously. Seriously. I cannot stand a leaky cup. 


Oh the book bags. R has been talking about her book bag since she turned 2 in February. If you recall Papa was not overly excited with the 'plain pink book bag' but it was the one R always went back to (plus the print one was out of stock). Bookbags complete with keychains from Pascha baskets at Grammy's house. (Only slightly obsessed with their monograms - slightly : ) 




And the shoes…. R could not wait to slip on her new shoes after morning prayer. Oh my goodness. She was sitting there ever so happy and excited and that's when it hit me. I felt a little tears in my eyes. Maybe it was the realization that R is now so stinking big or maybe it was seeing the pure joy on her face. I don't know. But fortunately I snapped out of it - I mean come on now. If I had been pregnant -man, it would have been waterworks. 


Then the obligatory first day pics…. Which went so much better than yesterday - and I didn't even drop the camera this time.


Then on the way to school we went over things… We were going to drop E off her her room so she could 'show R how to get dropped off' {without crying}. So we did drop E off and R, who notoriously peaked into the 3 yr old room last year and HAD to give E a squeeze, was no where near the pre-K door. We took the long walk down the red carpet hall and turned to the 2 yr old room. A few friends from MMO were there. R plopped off her book bag and then she was good. {A far cry from the week before at the open house when she was in cling-on-child mode.}


So M and I drove off to work that day with 2 kids in preschool and none in Mother Morning Out (did I mention working for your mother-in-law twice a week has it's perks especially when there is a bebe involved?)

It was a strange thought.

It makes me feel a bit on the older side of the life spectrum.

If makes me wonder how September 2015 is going to look like.


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