Dinner, Lunch, Supper

I'm sure that not many of you have this particular challenge (though there are probably other things you say that make them wonder), but my children are always correcting me. Calling lunch "dinner" is so ingrained in me from growing up in Southern Alberta, and frankly I'm getting weary of hearing "It's not dinner Mommy; it's lunch." Maybe we should just start calling it dinnerlunch because that's what I end up sputtering out to avoid being corrected. My Canadianism has been pretty stifled after living in the United States of America for about twenty years, though I do still say "sorry" with a long o sound quite often, and produce (the groceries we buy) with a short o. (Produce doesn't make its way into conversation that often mind you.) I just can't get past calling it dinner.

Christmas Lights

We were driving home from the library last night around 5:15. Sadly it was already getting dark. We drove past our friend's house and they had Christmas lights up on their fence and house. My girls loved it. Misha's comments was hilarious, "Sweet Mama! That's awesome."

I love this time of year. I just try and contain myself from getting too much into the spirit of the season too early. Even in November, Chris still says to me, "Christmas music?" I think anytime is a good time for Christmas music.

Misha

I was reading in bed last night while Amy read a bedtime story to Kristen. Misha climbed under the covers and snuggled up beside me. After a minute or so she said, "If I am tired, can I fall asleep beside you and then you can move me to my bed later?" I assured her that she could. Less than two minutes later she was fast asleep.

Misha is my one child who will go to bed when she is tired. Even when she can stay up a little later on the weekend, if she's tired, she'll come and ASK me if she can go to bed. I ALWAYS answer, "You sure can."

Amy

Amy said to me last night. "Daddy needs to run for President so I can be the president's daughter!" Yeah, we'll work on that.

Beware Flu Shots & Tootsie Rolls

Ahhh, flu shots. A rather sneaky time around my house. I thought I had it all planned out this time. Misha doesn't make a big deal about shots and Kristen isn't old enough to know better, but Amy FREAKS OUT if she knows she is getting one. So I didn't mention it to her until we turned in to the parking lot of the clinic. My first inclination that things might not go exactly as planned was in seeing the full parking lot. I had planned for 25 minutes to go in, fill out paperwork, get registered, get a shot and then deliver Amy and Lexi to a party with their piano teacher.

Because I only have the element of surprise once, and most importantly I don't want Amy literally worrying herself sick over a shot, I am disappointed when I walk into the clinic and the line snakes down and around the lobby. My plan is foiled as the minutes tick away until party time and the line doesn't move.

Amy thinks she has won a major achievement when we leave the clinic and she doesn't have to have a shot. Shoot! Now she's going to worry. Alas, there's not much I can do about it. I drop her off at her party and head back to the clinic to start standing in line all over again. Kristen is happy, "I get to have a shot." she sings. Just keep on singing baby.

And why is Chris not with me? Blame it on the Tootsie Roll. He was chewing away on the sticky creation after rummaging through the girls' treats and suddenly I hear, "Oh crap." This was one of those moments when such an expression was warranted. "It just pulled my crown off!" He called our dentist's on-call number and though we missed a 9:15 pm phone call on Halloween night saying come to my office, he was able to schedule something for Saturday morning. Beware the Tootsie Roll.



The crown doesn't look much different than maybe a marshmallow, but a crown it is.

Lucky for Chris, we had only moved a short distance in the long line by the time he made it back to the clinic for his flu shot.

As for Amy, I'll make an appointment tomorrow to get her in. I even asked about the nasal mist for her which they will do. Little stinker doesn't want either. There certainly will be more weeping and wailing to come.

Halloween Night

It was a new experience for my girls to be able to wear a costume to school this year. It hadn't been allowed at the charter school, except for Amy in kindergarten when she could dress up as a Pilgrim or an Indian.

Halloween Day dawned bright and wonderful. The temperature rose to the 70s, a delightful change over previous years of blizzards, snow, rain, wind and cold temperatures. Perhaps that is why their candy stash was so huge this year--it was warm enough to actually make it through the neighborhood. (And yes, they like to sort.)





But back to dressing up for school. Amy was once again a witch this year and Misha a cowgirl. You gotta love not having to create new costumes. Both girls wore their costumes to school and Chris, Kristen and I headed over for the Halloween Parade at 3 pm. My first glimpse of the parade was of Mr. Liddle dressed up as the Tin Man and his staff as other characters from the Wizard of Oz. How cool is that?



Kristen was excited to spy her sisters but often hid behind me because of the "scary" costumes walking by.





I think my favorite costumes of the day were two boys dressed up as whoopee cushions. I wish I had thought to snap a picture of them!

Kristen was excited to finally get dressed and have whiskers. I think she must have remembered whiskers from last year because that was the first thing she asked about when I showed her the kitty costume.



Halloween Night was crazy running from one activity to another and trying to fit dinner in there somewhere. Halloween is right up there with Easter and Christmas for my kids. Even Kristen got into the spirit of dressing up and could "frick or freat" with the best of them. We started with the Trunk of Treat at the church at 5 pm. From there, my girls and the neighbor girls canvassed the neighborhood. I stayed home to dole out treats. I think we might have hit 15 kids for the evening. My favorite of the evening said as I opened the door, "You look beautiful tonight!" I didn't even know her but thought, "You can ask for candy at my house any time."

Amy and Misha went with Lexi and Morgan to their church party in Longmont. They came home with more stuff and were excited that Lexi was spending the night. Misha never stayed awake past 10 pm and Amy and Lexi trudged through until about midnight. They all had good intentions. In fact, when Amy walked downstairs Saturday morning she bragged to Misha, "We stayed awake until 2 pm." I felt the need to correct her however as I turned off the light in her bedroom just after midnight.

Witches Party

Brigit comes up with the greatest ideas for a Girls' Night Out! Mind you I am not a big fan of dressing up, but with a little from Amy's costume, and a little from the Halloween box, I was able to pull a costume together. Twenty of the cutest, strangest, coolest witches headed to Chili's for dinner. It was so funny to see the reaction of people as they walked by our table. A few asked to have their picture taken with us and one little boy was simply mesmerized.

I copied the picture from Kris J's site as I forgot to bring my camera along. Amy did take a picture of me before I left though:

Indiana Jones

Is this cool or what? Becky P captured this photograph of Chris earlier this summer when we were camping in Rocky Mountain National Park. He was putting the girls to bed.

Devious Little Mind

I think Kristen has been devising a plan all morning for how she is going to get her little three-year old body into the bathtub. She didn't want to wait until tonight. So what does she come up with? "I think I'll pee on the floor and then Mommy will see that I have pee all over my bottom and she'll put me in the bathtub." So that's what she did! AAAAGH!

But I wasn't about to start a new trend of running baths every time she wanted one. So, reminiscent of potty training days, I turned on the water in the laundry room utility sink. Used to be that she'd get a cold wash down when she had an accident and she ran away crying, "I don't want a cold bath." Once she got in and realized it was warm, she wanted to play. Not gonna happen. She was in and out in a blink and heartily chastised. Little stinker. "Okay Mommy. I won't do that again. It's not appropret."

Crazy Pumpkins and Costumes

The girls were excited to finally get some pumpkins and decorate them. We opted for the non-carving method so that I have the time and desire to remove, clean and cook all of the seeds they are so gung-ho to eat. I'm not sure what Kristen's is, but Misha painted "Happy halloween" on it for her.



Misha's pumpkin is Zorro.



Amy's pumpkin has ghosts, ghouls and zombies. Oh my!



And for the costumes, well Kristen's isn't so crazy. She's excited to be a kitty. But she'd probably be excited to be a princess, fairy, or Sleeping Beauty. We have a kitty costume.



Amy combined a few pieces to create this:



Kind of freaky looking.

Second Grade

 

Misha is in the second grade. She loves Mondays because on Monday you get a new "job" in the classroom. What she really wants to be is the "Tracks Tracker"--the student who gets to count all the good deeds of the class members. She was hoping for that privilege this week, but sadly will have to wait until next week.

"So what job do you get to do this week?" I ask.

"I'm unemployed." she responds.

"Did you say unemployed?"

"Yep."

Hmmm. Well. That's creative.

Monkey Bars

Did you know that when you are in the 4th Grade, the teachers let you play on top of the monkey bars? Amy was pleased to find that out and might have possibly, maybe enjoyed a slight feeling of superiority. That is, until she fell off the top of the monkey bars and landed flat on her back. The fall knocked the wind out of her, and she found the inability to breathe quite disconcerting. And her back was in a lot of pain.

The school nurse called me around 2:30 and explained the situation. Aagh! I had just put Kristen in the bath tub and had rolls more than ready to stick into the oven. Plus you might as well know that because I was sick, I was not looking pretty! Oh well, I'll try not to embarrass her on another day. She probably didn't care too much. The nurse brought her out to the front lobby, and Amy simply fell into my arms crying.

I loaded Amy's bike into the back of the van, making sure all cargo, living and not, was secure and drove a half block home.

The funny part? Amy said to me, "I was trying to make it a whole year without going to the School Nurse." Well, she has had to visit the nurse a lot in the past--it was a worthy goal. One we'll just have to work on next year.

Being Sick

Chris returned from Portland last week, and I was so happy he was home. I muddled around the whole time he was gone in a sick my-head-hurts stupor. I laid on the couch most of the week which is so out of character for me. Amy caught a cold midweek and stayed home as well. Hard to act as the mom when you just want someone to take care of you.



Kristen was so stir crazy by the end of the week of being cooped up and would fall into a fit of crying over the smallest things. So good to have Daddy home. While I took Amy out last night, Misha was at a birthday party and Kristen got to spend time with Daddy. She was thrilled to tell me that Daddy even made her mac n' cheese. There are so many reasons for all of us to love her Daddy.

Date with Amy

Amy and I went on a much anticipated date to see "High School Musical 3" last night. It was about as good as the first two, probably not so great to be in theatres, but Amy loved it. What really got her excited were all of the movies being released in the next month or so. Looks as though there are some funny ones--I thought the new Adam Sandler one might be good. After the movie, we dined at Johnny Carino's. Gotta love the garlic, olive oil and bread (but not so much when your husband asks, "Did you have garlic?" I tried not to breathe on him too much.)

It was fun to spend time with Amy and try to explain that boys in high school aren't always that cool, nice, or ....musical.

Handwriting

Misha's love of reading has taken over so thoroughly, there are days when I have to ask her to put her book down. Like me, she has more than one book being read at a time. So now I have decided that it is time to tackle her handwriting. Her new assignment is to write out her spelling words as carefully as possible and then write a sentence using the spelling word. As I was sitting with her yesterday, I mentioned to her that there once was a prophet who had horrible handwriting--everybody said it looked like chicken scratch... "Do you mean Heber J. Grant?" She asked. "Why yes. Yes I do. What do you know about him?"

Misha proceeded to tell me that he practiced and practiced his handwriting until it was perfect and no one made fun of him anymore. I told her that he became so good at it, he taught at the local university. She then told me that he did the same with practicing baseball. He pitched a ball against a barn wall over and over again until he improved.

I was impressed. Misha has a brilliant mind and is able to recall so much information. Amy will often ask me a question and Misha answers before I have a chance. Of course, this ticks Amy off and Amy has to ask me again. I usually say, "Misha was right." Like Misha's teacher said in Parent Teacher Conferences, sometimes kids who excel in math and science never get their handwriting to be legible. I think that if I keep working with her, she'll excel as well--just like Heber J. Grant.

High Expectations

I want a babysitter that...

...leaves my house as clean as I left it.

...puts food in the fridge after dinner.

...puts dishes in the dishwasher (really, how hard is that?).

...puts my children to bed when I specify (not too early for my youngest because she is bugging you and not too late-or not at all-for my oldest two because you 'lost track of time').

...thinks twice about letting my children get away with eating chocolate chips by the cup.

...ensures my children are safe by making sure doors are locked and the garage door isn't wide open to the world when you come in from playing.

Is that too much to ask?

Missionaries and Alcohol

The missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joined our family for dinner last night. We've had a few sniffles at our house lately; after a filling meal, a quick lesson, and a round of shaking hands with everyone, the missionaries prepared to leave. Chris said to them, "Here let me get you some alcohol on your way out?"

You can just imagine the astonished look that came over their faces. Alcohol? And from Brother Kline no less! Seeing their confusion, I quickly said, "For your hands." Understanding finally dawned on them as Chris presented each with a squirt of hand sanitizer. Hmmm, that was awkward.

Cheerleader Mania

So not only is Amy moving to 4th grade, but she also wants to be a cheerleader now. The local High School came up with a brilliant fund-raising idea. Offer a cheerleading camp to students (girls) at the Elementary School, teach them cheers and some cool moves, provide them with a t-shirt to match the High School's colors, and then invite the parents to come and watch their daughters cheer at a football game. How many parents are going to miss the opportunity of watching their daughters cheer--and pay admission for the whole family to get in to the game? Brilliant! Oh, and buy treats from the concession stand.

Amy

Amy has a momentous day tomorrow. She transfers from Mrs. Dufour's third grade class to Mrs. Colton's fourth grade class. When we first started discussing the change with Amy, she was somewhat nervous. Yet even she realized that third grade wasn't challenging her.

I attended Parent-Teacher Conferences a couple of weeks ago with the intent to find more ways to challenge Amy; after considering our options, Chris and I chose to move Amy ahead. Ultimately the final decision lay with Mr. Liddle, the Principal, but he was totally supportive of our decision and did much to facilitate the quick transition. We figured the sooner the better.

We explained to Amy that moving ahead would have a few drawbacks later such as not being able to date as soon as her classmates, not being able to drive as soon as her classmates, not being able to wear make up as soon as her classmates... She's okay with that now, but I'm sure we'll have discussions later on that begin with, "But Mom, all my friends get to ...."

When Mr. Liddle called to say that Amy would be jumping to 4th grade within days, I must admit I wondered, "Are we doing the right thing? What if this is too much for her?" I think Amy felt a little anxious as well. All worries were alleviated as we met with Mrs. Colton yesterday. Amy came home excited wishing for Monday to already be here. Mrs. Colton had great rapport with Amy from the start and placed Amy's desk with friends that she knows from church. I'm confident that Amy will be up to speed in no time.

Happy Birthday Christopher

According to my daughters, we must do all of the "usual" birthday rites for adults and children alike--birthday cake, candles, presents, singing, all of it. I suppose it is a good thing because it keeps us from getting lazy in our important celebrations. Happy Birthday Sweetheart! Let me list a few more great things about you:

1. You thoughtfully make special arrangements for me.
2. You read to your daughters most nights--and sing on occasion.
3. You laugh at my jokes sometimes.
4. You know how to light a pilot light.
5. You put up with my furniture moving.
6. You stop to help people in need.
7. You are generous.
8. You don't often swear.
9. You make great efforts to have the greenest grass in the neighborhood.
10. You put up with me falling asleep during most movies we watch--except I sometimes stay awake for the inane and stupid ones. Go figure!

Life is the grandest adventure with you Christopher. I love you!

Dragonflies

Misha was explaining to me the life cycle of dragonflies at dinner tonight. Once she finished she asked, "Did you already know that?" I shook my head "no". She must not have been too convinced, "Are you just saying that to try and make me happy?"

Hilarious

Check out my sister-in-law Lori's blog. Hilarious! But, like she said, in a bad sort of way.

It's The Little Things

Chris returned from a week of training in San Francisco this past Friday evening. I was so thrilled to have him home for many reasons. I had volunteered to help with the set-up of the Firestone Centennial Honey Festival on Saturday morning and was pleasantly impressed when I returned home to find the girls happily doing their chores, the house was peaceful, the pilot light in the fireplace had been lit, the dishes were done and in a now-running dishwasher, and life was good. I miss him when he is gone--I just love to have Chris around. There is just so much he does for our family and adds to our home.

I Statements

We were kneeling down to pray this afternoon. I don't even know what the girls were having a difference of opinion about, but Misha said to Amy, "Could you repeat that to me using an I statement after the prayer?" Amy looked at Misha with a gaze of disbelief, rolled her eyeballs, and bowed her head.

Jog-a-thon

I'm not much of a fan of selling this and that for school kids, so I'll just put this out there and if you are interested in sponsoring either or both girls, let me know.

"The students of Centennial school will be participating in a Jog-a-thon on October 17th. This is a 'fun-raiser' where all grades K-5 will participate in a monitored running event. Each student will have 20-30 minutes to jog or walk as many laps as possible. The average student completes 15-20 laps, so pledge accordingly. If you prefer, you may donate a flat rate. Students will collect funds after running the Jog-a-thon."