Spring Break

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by.  Spring break already.  In fact, it's the second week of spring break.  In this household that is the week of recovery.  Last week we spent five glorious days in Riviera Maya, Mexico, at a wonderful all-inclusive resort.  Even better, my brother and sister-in-law and nieces and nephew spent three of those days with us so we got in lots of good family time.  It was nice because most of the family was sick over Christmas and didn't make it to the family gathering so we still got to see them, only a few months late and it much better surroundings.

We got home Sunday night and about an hour after we got to the house Charlie left again for a week-long conference in California.  So I'm here trying to do load and loads of laundry (even the clean stuff we brought home had that moldy humid hotel smell so had to be washed) and keep the littles occupied.  Luckily it was a beautiful day today and the girls got to spend some time riding their bikes outside before the (shh!) snow hits on Thursday and Friday morning.

Then next week it's back to school for two months and summer once again.  I can't decide if I'm looking forward to summer or not.  Of course I'm looking forward to all the travel, but whenever the kids are home for multiple days I question whether I will be able to live through the next break, and the next one is a doozy.

For now I'm just going to get the house ready for guests this weekend (yippee!) and the arrival of the Easter Bunny.  We've got a few more things to do before I can think about summer break.

Not So Different After All

I am constantly saying how I have a hard time connecting with Sarah because we are so different.  She is so dramatic and I am not (except thinking about it now my mom will probably tell you I was a pretty dramatic teenager).  She is so closed and unwilling to share or tell us what is wrong or bothering her and I'll tell the grocery cashier what's driving me crazy today.  She is very artsy and I am more mathematical.  There's so much more I can't explain or put my finger on.  However, this weekend my perspective changed a little bit.

Charlie was out of town so I took the kids to the movies to see Cinderella.  It was wonderfully done, and is the same basic story that we know and love, but has a few very sad parts.  I sat in my seat silently wiping the tears from my cheeks.  Amanda sat next to me and Sarah was on the other side of her, bawling.  Not just crying a little bit, sobbing.  So much so that the lady in front of her kept turning around to see if she was okay.  At one point I leaned over and said, "you know how this story ends, why are you crying?", to which she replied, "it's so sad".

It was sad, and it warranted a cry.  Maybe not a sobbing, blubbering cry, but a cry nonetheless.  And that's when I looked at her and thought maybe we aren't so different after all.  We may show our anger or frustrations a little differently and may express ourselves in unique ways, but deep down we are both sentimental softies.  I see it in Andy sometimes too.

Of all the qualities I have, I'm glad that's one of the ones they got from me.  Not the anger or the craziness or the horrible sense of direction, but the ability to empathize and show some compassion for another human being who is hurting.

She may just turn out okay.

Kid Quote of the Day

Amanda:  Mommy, what should I be when I grow up?

Me:  You can be whatever want.  You should be something that makes you happy.

Amanda:  A unicorn!

The Four Day Cake

A day or two before Andy's birthday he asked me if he could help make his cake this year.  I though that would be cool and fun.  How many kids want to do that with their moms?  I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he said white cake with white frosting and a jelly filling.  Yeah, he's kind of boring and doesn't really like chocolate cake or frosting, but the jelly filling was a nice touch.  Except I've never made jelly filling before.  So, in my procrastinating, lazy kind of way I waited until the morning of his birthday to find a recipe for jelly filling.  I very un-carefully read the directions and realized that once we made the filling we would have to chill it for eight hours.  That did not leave time for us to make it together.

I went to the grocery store and got all the ingredients but also picked up a little cake.  A delicious strawberry shortcake to be exact.  When I picked him up from school I explained that we would have to chill the filling for too long to be able to eat it that day, his birthday, but that we could finish it the next day and have it with Charlie, who was out of town.  Plus he would get cake two days in a row because I had bought the other one.  He was actually cool with it and thought it was a great solution.  Whew!

Remember when I told you that I didn't read the directions very carefully?  Well the next day we went to finish making the cake and found that after you put the jelly between the layers you had to chill the cake for another several hours.  Not enough hours in the day to do that.  So, no cake on day two.  He was still good with it.  On day three we were supposed to frost the cake and then chill it for another two hours.  I kid you not.  We got busy and forgot to frost the cake and therefore did not chill it and so one more day went by and we did not eat his cake.

Fear not!  On day four I finally got my shit together and frosted and chilled the cake on time for dinner.  It was fabulous, everyone was happy, and Andy even thought it was cool that we celebrated his birthday for four days.  The benefit of having a (mostly) laid back twelve year old.  As it turned out, the cake was delicious and we had a ton of filling left over and have been using it on pancakes and waffles for the last two weeks.  I see that as a major win win for everybody!


The finished cake before we cut into it:

What it looked like inside:

The First But Not The Last

A few days ago Amanda showed me that she had a loose tooth.  She was so excited.  She has seen Sarah and Andy go through the process of finding out their teeth were loose, wiggling them for weeks or just days, losing them and being rewarded by the tooth fairy for them.  She has been waiting and waiting for her turn.

On Saturday morning I went off to do something with a couple of friends and Charlie took her to soccer and then took both girls to swimming.  When we are reconvened at the house she had lost a tooth!  But it wasn't even the one she had told me about, it was the one next to it.  That means she has a second one close behind and will be visited by the tooth fairy again very soon.

She wanted to leave the tooth under her pillow by itself, but we finally convinced her to put it in the little tooth pillow that I had made for her (Sarah has one too, but by the time I found out about them and had them made Andy was a little old for one).  That makes it much easier for the tooth fairy.

Here's a picture of the happy girl.  Ignore the crazy hair, it was post swimming craziness.

And Then He Turned 12

Andy's twelfth birthday was this week.  I cannot believe that I am going to have a teenager next year!  Not that things will change much, he already acts like a teenager.  But I must say that although he does have his moments, he is an incredible kid.  Yes, he does play too many video games, I was reprimanded of this while at the pediatrician for his well visit, but he is turning into an amazing human being.  He might even be able to function in society.  One day last week I brought the groceries in from the car and needed to rush out again, and he put everything away.  In the correct place.  He is paying attention and the things we are trying to teach him are finally sinking in.

What they say is true - the days are long but the years are short.  I remember when the cutest baby ever came home with us from the hospital and the years have flown by.  Now we only have six more years with him until he goes to college.  Six years is nothing.  Hopefully those are the best years yet to come.