Friday, August 30, 2013
Unicorns
Amanda's latest obsession is unicorns. She doesn't just likes them a little, she LOVES them. She talks about them all the time. About how they can magically fly and they poop Skittles and how they love rainbows. Every morning she asks Charlie if she can be his baby unicorn and tells him her name is Rainbow Sparkles Cupcake Baby Glitter, or something similarly ridiculous that you can never remember. She has three different unicorn dresses that she wants to wear everyday with her rainbow light up Sketchers (unicorn shoes) and she has four stuffed unicorns and says she won't stop buying them until she has ALL of them.
In the mornings after we drop the big kids off at school there is a small hill from the school down to the bus circle. She stands at the top and runs down to the sidewalk yelling "UNICORN" at the top of her lungs. The last couple of days she has been insistent that I run down the hill with her and race, and I am also required to throw my hands up in the air as if we were going down a giant roller coaster and yell unicorn as we race down. It's a great conversation starter with the other parents dropping off their kids.
She also keeps asking us how unicorns talk and just neighs and makes horse noises, which is the closest we can agree upon. Yesterday I asked her if she wanted me to tie her shoes and she responded, "unicorn", which I took for yes because unicorn would only be used as a positive word. At dinner last night I told her that unicorns eat baby rabbits which caused her to recoil in horror and it was pretty funny until Charlie made me take it back and tell her I was kidding.
It never gets dull with this kid.
In the mornings after we drop the big kids off at school there is a small hill from the school down to the bus circle. She stands at the top and runs down to the sidewalk yelling "UNICORN" at the top of her lungs. The last couple of days she has been insistent that I run down the hill with her and race, and I am also required to throw my hands up in the air as if we were going down a giant roller coaster and yell unicorn as we race down. It's a great conversation starter with the other parents dropping off their kids.
She also keeps asking us how unicorns talk and just neighs and makes horse noises, which is the closest we can agree upon. Yesterday I asked her if she wanted me to tie her shoes and she responded, "unicorn", which I took for yes because unicorn would only be used as a positive word. At dinner last night I told her that unicorns eat baby rabbits which caused her to recoil in horror and it was pretty funny until Charlie made me take it back and tell her I was kidding.
It never gets dull with this kid.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
Me: Amanda, show Andy your new soccer ball!
Amanda (not showing, just telling): It's pink and sparkly and shaped like a unicorn!
Umm, not quite. She got the pink part right.
Amanda (not showing, just telling): It's pink and sparkly and shaped like a unicorn!
Umm, not quite. She got the pink part right.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Rain, Rain, Go Away A.K.A. Cub Scout Family Camp Out
Over the weekend the whole family went on a Cub Scout family camp out. In the past when the Scouts had camp outs, I let Charlie (or twice my dad when Charlie and I were out of town) take Andy, using the excuse that the girls were too small or would be bored or it would be too difficult. Well, that worked fine in the past, but this Pack is very family oriented and emphasized that this was a FAMILY camp out and since everybody is potty trained and sleeps through the night and I had no other excuses to get out of it we all went.
The girls love to be outside, so they were really excited about the trip. Andy was relatively excited because he was going to hang out with his scouting friends. It was just Charlie and me that weren't very excited. Okay, maybe just me. I will admit that I was not very helpful in getting all the gear together and getting the car packed, although once we got there I wished that I had been more involved because I didn't know where anything was packed in the car.
The original plan was for us to pick Charlie up and work and leave his car in the parking garage for the weekend and drive from there to the mountains. Unbelievably for the first time since he started working there they sent out a note Friday morning telling everyone they could not park in the garage that particular weekend because they were repainting the stripes. Seriously? THIS weekend? So he came home and we packed a few more things into the car and headed out. Fortunately and unfortunately we ended up getting to the campground a few hours after we had planned. It was fortunate because you could see the rain and lightning right where we were supposed to be as we drove up, unfortunately because although the rain had stopped by the time we got there the sun had already gone down and we had to pitch the tent in the dark. Well, except for the headlights on the van and my built-in flashlight on my phone (which I was using illegally because they had banned all electronic devices for the weekend). Since Charlie hadn't set up the tent since the last Scout camp out and I never had, it took us way too long to get it up and get the car unpacked.
Once we finally got everything into the tent we took the kids to the bathroom two campsites over and brushed their teeth. It was starting to thunder and lightening and within five minutes of getting back to the tent it started to rain. Hard. So hard that Andy came to sleep between Charlie and me on the air mattress because the thunder and lightening was making him nervous. So incredibly hard that Sarah woke up in the middle of the night and had to change her clothes because they, and her sleeping bag and her pillow, were all wet and then had to climb in bed with me to keep warm. It was nice to have a hot little body next to me, but a little cramped (luckily by this time Andy had gone back to his spot on the floor). By the time we woke up the next morning everything in the tent was wet. Since we were up in the mountains and there was lots of cloud cover on Saturday nothing really got that dry either. Pair that with the fact that it rained on and off all day and we did not have the best night's sleep as well as the fact that the high was only 70 and the low was in the 40s and it make for a pretty lousy camp out.
The one highlight was that there were wild raspberries growing on the side of the mountain so Charlie and the girls and I picked raspberries on Saturday afternoon and ate them as we were picking. But that does not make up for the fact that about an hour later as we were standing in line for dinner it started pouring rain and the chairs that we had just set up were full of puddles by the time we got our food. Sigh.
When we first arrived, even though we were putting the tent up in the dark, I had hopes that we would have a really good weekend and would want to do this again. Now I'm not so sure. When I was a kid we used to camp every year and I'm not sure how my parents did it. In fact I didn't even really think about how everything magically worked out until I was doing it myself this weekend. I know that my mom hated preparing for those camping trips and I never understood why. I do now. You have to bring everything under the sun just in case you need it, but you probably don't. The things you really needed to bring you forget or they stop working or you know you brought but you can't find. There are things you should have brought but never anticipated that you would need - like a second pair of shoes or in Charlie's case a ground cloth for inside the tent (I know if I had just asked you Mom you would have told me to bring that one).
Once you get home, there is more work to do than before you left. You have to wash all the clothes and the dishes and everything else you used. On weekends like ours you have to wash everything - sleeping bags, pillows, blankets - because it all got wet. Then you have to air everything out and brush everything off and put the tent up again in the front yard to air out and brush off. Ugh. Again, some of this we would not have had to do if it hadn't rained. Luckily it is so hot and dry here that everything dried out rather quickly when we got home and we had everything put away within two hours. Except all the laundry, I'm still doing that, but at least I'm down to just needing to wash the clothes. Everything else is clean.
To sum it up we had a very memorable weekend. Whether we want to try to that again is another question, but I think the girls are game. They had a blast, even when we were playing in the tent in the middle of the day because it was raining yet again. Maybe next time we'll rent a camper with a toilet and a little stove and live the life of luxury.
The girls love to be outside, so they were really excited about the trip. Andy was relatively excited because he was going to hang out with his scouting friends. It was just Charlie and me that weren't very excited. Okay, maybe just me. I will admit that I was not very helpful in getting all the gear together and getting the car packed, although once we got there I wished that I had been more involved because I didn't know where anything was packed in the car.
The original plan was for us to pick Charlie up and work and leave his car in the parking garage for the weekend and drive from there to the mountains. Unbelievably for the first time since he started working there they sent out a note Friday morning telling everyone they could not park in the garage that particular weekend because they were repainting the stripes. Seriously? THIS weekend? So he came home and we packed a few more things into the car and headed out. Fortunately and unfortunately we ended up getting to the campground a few hours after we had planned. It was fortunate because you could see the rain and lightning right where we were supposed to be as we drove up, unfortunately because although the rain had stopped by the time we got there the sun had already gone down and we had to pitch the tent in the dark. Well, except for the headlights on the van and my built-in flashlight on my phone (which I was using illegally because they had banned all electronic devices for the weekend). Since Charlie hadn't set up the tent since the last Scout camp out and I never had, it took us way too long to get it up and get the car unpacked.
Once we finally got everything into the tent we took the kids to the bathroom two campsites over and brushed their teeth. It was starting to thunder and lightening and within five minutes of getting back to the tent it started to rain. Hard. So hard that Andy came to sleep between Charlie and me on the air mattress because the thunder and lightening was making him nervous. So incredibly hard that Sarah woke up in the middle of the night and had to change her clothes because they, and her sleeping bag and her pillow, were all wet and then had to climb in bed with me to keep warm. It was nice to have a hot little body next to me, but a little cramped (luckily by this time Andy had gone back to his spot on the floor). By the time we woke up the next morning everything in the tent was wet. Since we were up in the mountains and there was lots of cloud cover on Saturday nothing really got that dry either. Pair that with the fact that it rained on and off all day and we did not have the best night's sleep as well as the fact that the high was only 70 and the low was in the 40s and it make for a pretty lousy camp out.
The one highlight was that there were wild raspberries growing on the side of the mountain so Charlie and the girls and I picked raspberries on Saturday afternoon and ate them as we were picking. But that does not make up for the fact that about an hour later as we were standing in line for dinner it started pouring rain and the chairs that we had just set up were full of puddles by the time we got our food. Sigh.
When we first arrived, even though we were putting the tent up in the dark, I had hopes that we would have a really good weekend and would want to do this again. Now I'm not so sure. When I was a kid we used to camp every year and I'm not sure how my parents did it. In fact I didn't even really think about how everything magically worked out until I was doing it myself this weekend. I know that my mom hated preparing for those camping trips and I never understood why. I do now. You have to bring everything under the sun just in case you need it, but you probably don't. The things you really needed to bring you forget or they stop working or you know you brought but you can't find. There are things you should have brought but never anticipated that you would need - like a second pair of shoes or in Charlie's case a ground cloth for inside the tent (I know if I had just asked you Mom you would have told me to bring that one).
Once you get home, there is more work to do than before you left. You have to wash all the clothes and the dishes and everything else you used. On weekends like ours you have to wash everything - sleeping bags, pillows, blankets - because it all got wet. Then you have to air everything out and brush everything off and put the tent up again in the front yard to air out and brush off. Ugh. Again, some of this we would not have had to do if it hadn't rained. Luckily it is so hot and dry here that everything dried out rather quickly when we got home and we had everything put away within two hours. Except all the laundry, I'm still doing that, but at least I'm down to just needing to wash the clothes. Everything else is clean.
To sum it up we had a very memorable weekend. Whether we want to try to that again is another question, but I think the girls are game. They had a blast, even when we were playing in the tent in the middle of the day because it was raining yet again. Maybe next time we'll rent a camper with a toilet and a little stove and live the life of luxury.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
Amanda: I love Daddy so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, much!
Me: Do you love me?
Amanda: Just a little bit.
Me: Do you love me?
Amanda: Just a little bit.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
The First Week of School
Today marked one week that the kids have been in school. So far everything has been great. Amanda no longer cries when I drop her off at school, she just clings to my leg and makes a very sad face. That is way better than Sarah did at this age. She did, however, refuse to come home with me when school was over yesterday, so I think she secretly likes it but doesn't want to admit it to me. She doesn't start her Spanish school until after Labor Day, so we still have a couple weeks of her home with me most of the time. It's going well, but I think we both look forward to her going back.
Andy's teacher is really young, he's 24, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. He's not jaded, worn down, or regurgitating the same lesson plan he created 20 years ago. He's fun and energetic and Andy loves him. Really, the first day of school he ran out and told me he loved him. I have no idea what kind of teacher he is or if he knows anything about anything, but if Andy is excited to go to school I'm good with it. He's starting to get to that point where he doesn't like school very much, so anything that keeps him happy and engaged is great. Today he had a sub and was given an assignment where he had to color a monster. He was highly offended that he was asked to color in fifth grade, and pretty much refused to do it. After the sub asked him to color it twice he complied by coloring the tuft of hair at the top of the monster, but that was it. Unfortunately my passive aggressive son takes after his father and needs a little reminder to respect adults and people of authority. Otherwise, he's great.
Sarah also loves her teacher and is really excited about second grade. She was a little unsure before school started because she hadn't heard much about her teacher, but now that we've had a chance to see some old friends we have realized that she has a fantastic teacher that many people hoped to get. Hopefully her exuberance will continue and we will have another smooth year.
I'm still trying to get used to our new schedule and get everything done around the house. You would think that having the kids at school most of the day I would have plenty of time, but it never works that way. I've been trying to go to the gym and exercise and run errands and everything else and so far I'm still a little discombobulated. On top of that Amanda is getting tired of me dragging her around town, so I'm trying to maybe think about doing some fun stuff for/with her. In three years when she is in first grade I am going to rock this mom stuff, but right now I'm still a work in progress.
And so another school year begins.
Andy's teacher is really young, he's 24, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. He's not jaded, worn down, or regurgitating the same lesson plan he created 20 years ago. He's fun and energetic and Andy loves him. Really, the first day of school he ran out and told me he loved him. I have no idea what kind of teacher he is or if he knows anything about anything, but if Andy is excited to go to school I'm good with it. He's starting to get to that point where he doesn't like school very much, so anything that keeps him happy and engaged is great. Today he had a sub and was given an assignment where he had to color a monster. He was highly offended that he was asked to color in fifth grade, and pretty much refused to do it. After the sub asked him to color it twice he complied by coloring the tuft of hair at the top of the monster, but that was it. Unfortunately my passive aggressive son takes after his father and needs a little reminder to respect adults and people of authority. Otherwise, he's great.
Sarah also loves her teacher and is really excited about second grade. She was a little unsure before school started because she hadn't heard much about her teacher, but now that we've had a chance to see some old friends we have realized that she has a fantastic teacher that many people hoped to get. Hopefully her exuberance will continue and we will have another smooth year.
I'm still trying to get used to our new schedule and get everything done around the house. You would think that having the kids at school most of the day I would have plenty of time, but it never works that way. I've been trying to go to the gym and exercise and run errands and everything else and so far I'm still a little discombobulated. On top of that Amanda is getting tired of me dragging her around town, so I'm trying to maybe think about doing some fun stuff for/with her. In three years when she is in first grade I am going to rock this mom stuff, but right now I'm still a work in progress.
And so another school year begins.
Kid Quote of the Day
"Are you going to make champagne out of those champagne grapes during lunch? Because you're sneaky that way."
-Sarah to Andy
-Sarah to Andy
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Amanda FINALLY Turns 4
Last Friday was Amanda's birthday. Yes, I'm a little late with the post. Won't be the last time. We got home from Destin super late on Saturday and were total wastes on Sunday. On Monday, Charlie headed back to work and the first thing Amanda asked was, "Is today my birthday?". She knew it was coming, she just didn't know when. When you tell a 4 yr old it's on Friday, that could be six months from now for all she knows. So, every day until Friday she asked me if it was her birthday. She also talked incessantly about her birthday party, for which we had extremely low rsvps for but she didn't care. When I was telling her that there wouldn't be many people there because they were out of town or whatnot she just looked at Sarah and said, "that's okay, that's more candy (from the pinata) for us", and smiled. Nothing was going to ruin her day.
On Friday morning she called me into her room just before 7a. I was half asleep but was able to ask her what she needed and all she said was, "I'm so excited!". I wanted to be excited too but was too exhausted. So I went to lie down for a little bit longer. About 15-20 minutes later she came into the room and asked me for a birthday hug. I love that kid. Once we got up we went to the grocery store and I let her pick out a birthday cake for dinner. We had cupcakes ordered for the party, which was on Saturday, but wanted to do some celebrating on Friday since it was her actually birthday. Plus our friends, the Povedas, were in town from Dallas so it was going to be an extra special dinner.
As I said, we had a pretty low turnout to the party, but she didn't care. Because she wanted to have her friends from school as well as the bigger kids from the cul-de-sac come, we decided to have two parties. I didn't want the big kids to take over the bounce house and any of the little kids to be scared or get hurt. So, the little kids were invited to come at 11a and the bigger kids at 4p. Two of the four kids we invited came to the morning party, as well as our three kids and the three Poveda kids, so it actually was just fine. She's only 4, she didn't need a ton of guests. They played in the bounce house (can I tell you how happy we were to find out that it did in fact fit comfortably in our backyard), which now the girls want to buy one, had pizza and cupcakes and hit the pinata. What more could you ask for?
Unfortunately we only got one rsvp for the afternoon party from our next door neighbors and they showed up about 20 minutes before the bounce house got picked up because they were a little late, but again Amanda didn't care. It was actually nice just to hang out with their family for a few hours and Charlie made his awesome burgers and the kids (and the Dads) played some Wii Rock band. All in all a good, manageable day.
She's already started to talk about the bounce house she's getting next year, so who knows how soon full fledged birthday talk will begin again. Hopefully she will wait until after Christmas. I do know that next year I will wait about a month to have her party, after school has started, nobody is on vacation and she can invite a few more people. She probably won't care either way, as long as it's here birthday.
On Friday morning she called me into her room just before 7a. I was half asleep but was able to ask her what she needed and all she said was, "I'm so excited!". I wanted to be excited too but was too exhausted. So I went to lie down for a little bit longer. About 15-20 minutes later she came into the room and asked me for a birthday hug. I love that kid. Once we got up we went to the grocery store and I let her pick out a birthday cake for dinner. We had cupcakes ordered for the party, which was on Saturday, but wanted to do some celebrating on Friday since it was her actually birthday. Plus our friends, the Povedas, were in town from Dallas so it was going to be an extra special dinner.
As I said, we had a pretty low turnout to the party, but she didn't care. Because she wanted to have her friends from school as well as the bigger kids from the cul-de-sac come, we decided to have two parties. I didn't want the big kids to take over the bounce house and any of the little kids to be scared or get hurt. So, the little kids were invited to come at 11a and the bigger kids at 4p. Two of the four kids we invited came to the morning party, as well as our three kids and the three Poveda kids, so it actually was just fine. She's only 4, she didn't need a ton of guests. They played in the bounce house (can I tell you how happy we were to find out that it did in fact fit comfortably in our backyard), which now the girls want to buy one, had pizza and cupcakes and hit the pinata. What more could you ask for?
Unfortunately we only got one rsvp for the afternoon party from our next door neighbors and they showed up about 20 minutes before the bounce house got picked up because they were a little late, but again Amanda didn't care. It was actually nice just to hang out with their family for a few hours and Charlie made his awesome burgers and the kids (and the Dads) played some Wii Rock band. All in all a good, manageable day.
She's already started to talk about the bounce house she's getting next year, so who knows how soon full fledged birthday talk will begin again. Hopefully she will wait until after Christmas. I do know that next year I will wait about a month to have her party, after school has started, nobody is on vacation and she can invite a few more people. She probably won't care either way, as long as it's here birthday.
Kid Quote of the Day
Sarah: Daddy will love anything you draw.
Amanda: Why?!?
Sarah: Because YOU made it.
Amanda: Why?!?
Sarah: Because YOU made it.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Going, Going, Gone
Today was our official "Last Day of Summer". Tomorrow isn't a real day of school (except for Amanda who starts pre-school tomorrow) because the kids are only doing assessments and school pictures (pictures, yeah I don't know why they are doing them this early either), but they have to be in the school for a few hours so I don't really consider that part of summer anymore. Their first full day starts on Wednesday.
We've had an amazing summer. In some ways I think that the kids had no summer at all because we were barely home and when we were here I was recovering from where we had just been and running errands and trying to go to the gym and not doing much with them. I didn't take them to the pool once. I suck that way. If Charlie was home with them all day they would go everywhere. Me? I have intentions of going fun places but then we eat a late breakfast and never get out of our pajamas and before you know it it's too late to go anywhere. In other ways we had the best summer ever. The kids are so much easier to travel with now that everybody is potty trained and I don't have to bring a diaper bag and they can somewhat entertain themselves (thanks to too many electrical devices in their possession). Plus, they had the best time ever on every trip we went on this summer and truly enjoyed spending time with their friends and family that the off days at home were probably just what they needed to regroup.
Our last trip of the summer was to Destin with the group that we've been vacationing with since 2001. I think that make this our 13th year together. It was by far the best trip we've ever had, but I think we say that every year (except the year that the house tried to kill us and everybody got sick). The kids were so independent that I was able to sleep in a few mornings and Andy and the older girls helped the younger kids get breakfast. I wouldn't say the kids were exactly quiet in the mornings, but they weren't that loud. The guys got to golf, the girls got to spend an entire day at the spa and shopping and everybody was happy. The older the kids get the more fun we can have and the less we have to worry about naps and all that stuff that made it hard when they were babies. Every year we figure out one more secret to making the trip better.
We got home really late that Saturday night and then were blobs the next day and I carried it into the beginning of the next week before our friends from Dallas popped in on the way to Estes Park and stopped again on their way home. Our best friends, it was so wonderful to see them. They left on Saturday and I miss them already.
So, back to school. I would be lying if I said that I was sad. The only thing I'm sad about is that I have to wake up earlier so I can get the kids to school on time. I am ready for them to go and for everybody to be back on a schedule. Back to the gym, back to losing weight, back to less fighting (hopefully) and more after school activities. This year I have resolved that I am going to stop being a hermit and become more active in finding friends and getting the kids involved in sports and other activities. I might go crazy, but at least I'm going to meet people doing it.
Another summer in the books.
We've had an amazing summer. In some ways I think that the kids had no summer at all because we were barely home and when we were here I was recovering from where we had just been and running errands and trying to go to the gym and not doing much with them. I didn't take them to the pool once. I suck that way. If Charlie was home with them all day they would go everywhere. Me? I have intentions of going fun places but then we eat a late breakfast and never get out of our pajamas and before you know it it's too late to go anywhere. In other ways we had the best summer ever. The kids are so much easier to travel with now that everybody is potty trained and I don't have to bring a diaper bag and they can somewhat entertain themselves (thanks to too many electrical devices in their possession). Plus, they had the best time ever on every trip we went on this summer and truly enjoyed spending time with their friends and family that the off days at home were probably just what they needed to regroup.
Our last trip of the summer was to Destin with the group that we've been vacationing with since 2001. I think that make this our 13th year together. It was by far the best trip we've ever had, but I think we say that every year (except the year that the house tried to kill us and everybody got sick). The kids were so independent that I was able to sleep in a few mornings and Andy and the older girls helped the younger kids get breakfast. I wouldn't say the kids were exactly quiet in the mornings, but they weren't that loud. The guys got to golf, the girls got to spend an entire day at the spa and shopping and everybody was happy. The older the kids get the more fun we can have and the less we have to worry about naps and all that stuff that made it hard when they were babies. Every year we figure out one more secret to making the trip better.
We got home really late that Saturday night and then were blobs the next day and I carried it into the beginning of the next week before our friends from Dallas popped in on the way to Estes Park and stopped again on their way home. Our best friends, it was so wonderful to see them. They left on Saturday and I miss them already.
So, back to school. I would be lying if I said that I was sad. The only thing I'm sad about is that I have to wake up earlier so I can get the kids to school on time. I am ready for them to go and for everybody to be back on a schedule. Back to the gym, back to losing weight, back to less fighting (hopefully) and more after school activities. This year I have resolved that I am going to stop being a hermit and become more active in finding friends and getting the kids involved in sports and other activities. I might go crazy, but at least I'm going to meet people doing it.
Another summer in the books.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
Me: I love you more than ice cream!
Amanda: I love ice cream more than you!
Not a surprise, but now I have it in writing.
Amanda: I love ice cream more than you!
Not a surprise, but now I have it in writing.
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