Pick Up Time

This is what happens... after three hours apart. Every day.

Costumes.

When I went to the parents orientation night, they talked about how they have spirit Fridays where you wear school colors, and participating classrooms can win a prize. So I decided to get some school spirit and support the PTA by buying a school shirt. Brought it home and showed it to Ellie, who refused to put it on and SOBBED about how it was NOT PRETTY and she was NEVER going to wear it. I tried a few weeks in a row to get her to try it on and no dice. I showed her other kids who were wearing their shirts on Fridays, but she did not care. So I asked how we could fix it up to make it prettier, and she decided that cutting the sleeves off and applying some ribbon, and using some puffy paint might make it better. Wednesday night I busted out my scissors and my sewing machine and went to town.

AND LO, SHE LOVED IT. I was pleased with being able to get my sewing machine threaded and functioning for the first time, even if the sleeves could have been done better. Ellie loved all of the gold puffy paint - on the back I outlined the lion paw and put a heart in the middle of the palm.

Not to be outdone, here is our little bunny man. He initially cried about being offered Ellie's old bunny vest, but then once she tried it on, he wanted to wear it. Hopped around the bedroom for awhile, but it's so hot and sweaty out (and probably will be all year) that we decided to send it to Olivia, who will probably get more wears out of it. And sharing is caring! Plus he still wants to be the big truck man for Halloween.

Things Ellie Says.

Ellie: Mommy, since you don't have to give anyone mommy milk anymore, are you going to get your boobs trimmed?
Me: Nope, wasn't planning on it.
Ellie: Or you could give them to me, when I have a baby, so that I can give my baby mommy milk.
Me: That's not how it works. You'll get your own boobs someday.
Ellie: Yeah, but right now I have little boobs. I think they weigh zero pounds.

Me: You need to start wiping your own butt. You're almost five.
Ellie: I don't want to! It's not fun!
Me: Trust me, it's not fun for me either.

More Big Trucks!

I know it's hard to believe, but for once, we had a weekend that was even too busy for me. I don't usually mind things being booked solid, because nothing to do and all day to do it in is murderous when it comes to small children. They do not know how to have a good lie in (though we've taught Ellie that she's not allowed to be up before 7, and on certain weekend days, we'll tell her she's not allowed out until 8. Like this Sunday morning, when she went to bed at 10:30pm.)

Friday night we had a fun last night with Lisa and Greg and Mike and Patty, and then Saturday morning our first party of the day was at Waste Management. You heard me. Turns out, you can host a party there, with a room for balloons and cake and snacks, and then take a tour of the facility, for zero dollars. And for the five and under set, the garbage trucks are INSANELY popular. The kids loved it, once we got over the hump of forcing them to wear safety gear. While I was trying to put on Ellie's hat and vest she was weeping about how "IT DOESN'T LOOK PRETTY!" Tough crap, it's not pretty to get run over by a dump truck.

Came home, put them down for naps (which Ellie did not take) and then we headed out to Pari's house for Rahim's first birthday party. It was such a fun night. Mila and Ellie are thick as thieves, probably because they are basically the same little girl, only two and a half years apart. And Pari's family is so wonderful and welcoming - they're like my extended family. We ended up staying until after 9pm because the kids were having so much fun together (except for Rahim, he had to go to bed an hour before. But he loved his cake while it lasted!) Highlights included getting to pick fresh oranges and squeeze some orange juice, doing play doh, and running around like loons in their jammies.

And then neither kid slept on the way home. So yesterday was a bit rough. We had friends over for a little bit of football time, and were supposed to go as a family to Nina and Thalia's birthday, but Adam was so wiped that instead Tim took Ellie by himself, and I enjoyed a little bit of quiet time in the house, because I also needed a nap. Tim and Sara hung out with the kids so I could go to the gym, and then we had dinner and watched the Packer game and were in bed early.

Gigi and Grizz's flights got delayed and messed up, so they will stay in Chicago over night as a special treat to Lisa, and then be home before lunch tomorrow. This vacation hasn't been so bad, because we've all been so busy and had nice visitors in town. The word is that it's been a great trip. Dad says Prague and Budapest are some of the most beautiful cities they've been to, so maybe next year Tim and I will go for two weeks! (what! A girl can dream!)

Big Truck!

This year I'm on the leadership team for our MOPS group, in charge of fellowship. Which basically means planning play dates every other Friday, with the help of the rest of the team. I missed the summer retreat, but the group decided it would be fun to go tour a firehouse. A thing I did not know: you can just email the OC Fire Department's PR person and set up a time to tour a local firehouse for free! It was so fun, and the fire fighters were so great. We had about fifteen small kids (four and under) who were just in love with the fire truck, and seeing the fire fighter get in his gear. Adam was initially a little scared of it, and then LOVED getting a chance to drive the truck.

Tomorrow his mind is going to be totally blown by a friend's birthday party at WASTE MANAGEMENT! I am thinking about dressing him as the garbage man for Halloween because he loves them so.

Lisa and Greg and Mike and Patty are in town, staying at mom and dad's house, which has been really nice. So fun to see them and hang out with them, for me and especially for Sara, and then Mike has been doing a bunch of work taking care of the pool, and Lisa has swept everywhere (except for the one time that Adam helpfully dumped out the dust bin.) Definitely takes a load off of my shoulders, and makes us all miss Gigi and Grizz less. Hooray for Gigi Lisa!

Last night though, everyone else (including Tim) had dinner plans, and I have grown weary of fighting with the kids about their table manners, or the fact that they have to eat some dinner so that they don't starve to death and get me thrown in the clink, so instead I went and picked up some sandwiches and we had PICNIC DINNER, aka: go run around the park and eat a sandwich while you do it, and feel free to act like a wild animal, because I'm hoping a pack of wild dogs will either adopt you or eat you, beloved children of mine. But they had a good time, and I got to sit on a park bench and relax, and then it was a quick shower and a lot of stories before bed. It's like I like them!

Everyone Vacations! (except Tim.)

Today's Tuesday, but it feels like Monday. Gigi and Grizz are safely in Vienna, and we got to skype with them and take a tour of their hotel, so fun! Sara got back from camp this weekend, tired and happy, after having an amazing time. And she even survived work yesterday, though today is taking it easy, aside from having to clean the house.

And I spent the weekend in Chicago, celebrating Becca and her upcoming baby. Her friends are so great - there were five of us handling the shower, and also five pregnant girls wandering around in varying degrees of beautiful fatness. It was a nice little get away, even if we spent most of our time at Target, picking up maternity and post partum supplies, along with all of the other garbage that simply must be purchased at Target. It was also SO NICE to be someplace where the weather is actually cool and crisp, because despite the rain we got last night, it's going back to 90 degrees later this week (kill me.)

Shower hostesses and our guest of honor

A bump train!

And this week Lisa and Greg and Mike and Patty arrive. It's nice to have so many distractions while Gigi and Grizz are away. Except for poor Tim, who gets stuck with taking care of everything while all of the other adults are gone. Good thing he's the kindest and the most patient!

Just a few photos.

This week is so hot that I want to die. And I want to do so by sitting on the couch and eating ice cream while the AC blasts on me until I just go into some sort of diabetic coma and drift off to heaven. It's miserable. I mean, our house is fine because our AC works great, and being in a single story house means that all of the rooms stay almost equally cool.

Plus Gigi and Grizz abandoned us to go gallivant around the Continent, and today we had to drop Sara off for camp, so it's hot AND lonely. As we were pulling away from dropping off Sara, Ellie says "what are we going to do without Sara or Grizz or Gigi?" Even she knows that I'm not a fit parent when left to my own devices!

To beat the heat today, we went to Petsmart and looked at all of the animals and then went to Barnes and Noble. Read some books, bought some books, built some great towers. It was so nice to be in the air conditioning, having fun.

We also baked some cookies, because the first meeting of MOPS is tomorrow!

Did you know that alligators love to go jogging? (thanks Uncle Bennett!)

Ellie doing some tree climbing on the way into school this morning. She's still loving it!

Old Man Grizzer.

We had an early birthday party for Grizz tonight, since he and Gigi leave on their grand tour of the continent the day he turns sixty. AKA, the worst case scenario. For those who haven't heard the joke, on Grizz's 50th birthday he was bitching and moaning about his age and how old he was, and frustrated, Gigi goes "dammit Jeff, you still have ten years left, best case scenario." She meant worst case, obviously, but we have drawn the joke out for ten solid years. Enjoy your birthday with Grizz, he's only got seven years left, BEST CASE SCENARIO. Last birthday with Grizz, BEST CASE SCENARIO.

But here he is, on his almost sixtieth birthday celebration, hanging out with his Itty Bitty, who was even more in love with him tonight than she usually is. We made him a lemon poppyseed cake in a 9x13 pan and then put sixty candles on it.

Thankfully he had two helpers, because that cake was engulfed in flames. Then Adam went back to his evening activity of crying and refusing to eat, until he finally had a few bites of cake and ice cream.

The best part was when Dad was opening cards, and he opened the one from the kids that said something like "do you know who's an awesome grandpa?" As he was reading it aloud Sara goes "you're not it," and we laaaaaaaughed. We laughed until we cried. Grizz promised Ellie he'd take the card along with him to look at in Europe. To be reminded that he's not the best Grandpa.

Good news, speaking of Grandpas, I think I could easily get 70 candles on the 9x13 cake. How nice that'll be come December, for Poppy. BURN DOWN ALL OF THE HOUSES!

Ellie did a great job during her first week of school. She loves it - loves her teacher, is making friends, is doing lots of good work. The worst part has been that we have to get up and fed and out of the house by 7:30 in order to get her to school with more than sixty seconds to spare (one morning we were running late and I had to serious hustle her to get her to the door in time.) Most mornings, we're not up and going before 8:30ish. I know this is going to be the reality of their school-going years, but it's tiring! I am trying to encourage the kids that Saturdays and Sundays are for sleeping in, but they don't appear to be getting the memo. The good news is that they've both been taking long naps, so I at least have a few minutes during the day to get my crap together. Plus I don't have to pack her a lunch. I'm looking forward to the coming weeks when MOPS starts back up and Mimi takes Adam for a bit on Tuesdays, so that I can have some real quiet time.

Goodbye Big Blue.

Day two of school also went well! We got there on time (though we had to hustle a little - trying to figure out what time to leave to get parked and walk over to the school versus being there too early with nothing to do and two kids to mind is going to be an art form, I think) and Ellie had a good day. She wore her sequined skirt over her pants, letting everyone know that it's day two, time to show her crazy.

The other big development now that Ellie's in school every day, is that I gave away our double stroller. I know! Seems like crazy talk, but the truth is that we rarely take it out in public because it's so big and unwieldy and at the mall or wandering around, both kids usually want to walk. And walking's good for them! The park is close enough that Ellie could walk most of the way (and ride on the foot rest of the single stroller if she needs to) and if we really go out to make a big day of something (like if I ever decide I hate myself and want to go to Disneyland) we could always borrow from a friend.

You've been a good friend, double stroller. Thanks for hundreds of good miles!