Milestones

1. Vivian finally went to kindergarten. At first glance, it's seen as a relief. Upon further inspection, I have discovered that my life is a little bit boring without that kid around. The fun part has been figuring out who I am without a kid stuck to my side. And by fun, I mean not fun. 
2. Patricia got her learner's permit, and I got more gray hairs. Seriously. I'm not even joking. This is not an exaggeration. I have more gray hairs. Everywhere. Even in places that I never thought would get gray hairs. Yeah. THERE. Although, I am pretty sure those ones have nothing to do with my 16 year old daughter. 
3. Trystan is taller than me. He weighs more than me too. And he has a manly voice. Where did my sweet little boy go?
4. Mimi's isn't much of a milestone, rather a brag. That girl is the most empathetic person I know. She is the kid who plays with the unpopular kids who have no one to play with at recess. She is the one who takes time to help the kid who can't read well to find a book in the school library that he is interested in. I see this every time I go to her school. Her teachers tell me whenever they get a chance. Most importantly, Mimi lets me know. At least once a week. Hey- It's a good thing to know what you're good at. 
5. Mel retired after 20 years in the Army. And now for the brag: In November, he had a retirement ceremony where I got to hear about all of the amazing things he has done over the past six years in his job. That was cool. I learned some things I didn't know before. What the best part for me was standing in the receiving line  and getting to talk to all of the people who he had touched, both professionally and personally. I have always known how great he is. To learn that I'm not the only person to feel that way about him was priceless. I'm looking forward to the next chapter in our lives. 
6. Isn't it ironic that I saved myself for last? I got my first REAL brazilian wax. Remember this? Or part deux? Or part the third? It took just over two years for me to muster the courage to get it professionally done. It took 45 minutes. It hurt. My pussy was out of commission for two days. I'm going back on Wednesday for maintenance. (god help me)

Did you have any milestones in your life? If so, I hope it wasn't as painful as mine. 

She's 10

I now have three kids in double digits. Mimi, my sweet girl, is 10 today. Let me give you just one example of how special this kid is:

She has a child in her class who has autism. He is on a strict gluten/dairy/soy free diet. Whenever we volunteer to bring a snack for any classroom function, she always considers him. Today, instead of cupcakes, she chose to bring in a treat to celebrate her birthday that he can have also. She didn't want him to feel left out. 

She's always doing such thoughtful things for other people. I love her. 

She can do ANYTHING!!!

Today, while running errands with my mother, I mentioned that my new bracelet is too big. So, she took a look at it and decided to make it shorter for me. She just took it apart, took two discs out, and put it back together. I thought about doing that, but I didn't want to mess up my $44 bracelet. I guess my small investment didn't mean that much to her because she did it without a second thought. Oh yeah, she didn't mess it up either. I don't think she said it, but the idea and attitude behind it was 'Hmmph, easy peasy.'

Then, while we were looking at aprons, I mentioned that I had to throw my favorite apron away a little while ago because it was so old and funky and threadbare that I couldn't even wash the funk out. (I had the apron for over 10 years) So, she decided that rather than buy another apron that I didn't really love, she would make one for me instead. But she didn't just make one for me. She made one for Mimi and one for Vivian too. Oh, and it's REVERSIBLE!!!!!!! She only finished Vivian's tonight, but as soon as all three are done, you'd better believe there will be some pictures of us all in our cute little aprons.

My mom is so cool. She is crafty. And whenever she comes to visit, I can't wait to see what cool projects she comes up with for us (her) to do. Sad that she leaves tomorrow. Can't wait to see her again!!

Let the Games Begin!!

Mimi and Trystan had ball games this morning. Mimi did a great job! She scored the first and last points of the game. That girl is such an athlete. She ran like crazy. Talk about hustle! She was so excited to play today and it really showed.

Trystan plays baseball this season. He scored two runs this morning. He really enjoys baseball. He said the cool thing about his team is that they don't have a lot of players, so everyone on the team gets lots of chances to play. I have pictures of Trystan, but they won't load. Bummer. I'll keep trying.


Speaking of Trystan, remember my ranting a couple of posts ago? I mentioned that both he and Patricia had big projects due. Trystan's was a science fair project. The title was 'Human Weight Changes'. He wanted to know if people weigh differently in the morning versus at night. If you get a chance, ask him to tell you what he found out. Oh yeah, he won third place. This is the second year in a row that he placed third out of all of his grade. He's already planning on what he's going to do for next year so he can take first place. Another cool thing is that all of the winners from the fourth grade came from his class. Isn't that cool? He really has a great teacher.


Patricia's history project was AWESOME!!! Of course, I don't have a picture to show you. (I suck!) A group of people, I don't know if they were students or professors, from the Naval Academy came to her school to judge the proects. She got first place!!! She was so proud of her accomplishment.


I am so proud of my kids. What makes me feel good is that these ideas came from them. Mel and I just bought the materials. They really did all the work.

The Countdown

Everyone in my house is counting down the days until our Hawaii trip. The kids are all so excited about getting to spend a week with their friends. SLEEPING OVER!!!

Mimi and her 'sister', Isabel are the most excited. If we didn't have a general rule against sleepovers in my family, I know without a doubt that those two would have sleepovers every week. That's why I am so glad that Suzan agreed to let her stay while we are on vacation. But, she didn't only agree to take Mimi, she also is keeping Vivian. Isn't she great??

Trystan is spending the week with his other 'brother', Chase. I know they have already planned to stay up way too late playing video games. I am so thankful that Misty is letting Trystan stay with them. She is a great next door neighbor and friend.

And Patricia gets to go to Kylee's house! They have been friends since they were 2 years old. The cool thing about her going to Kylee's house is that she is missing a week from school to stay with Kylee. Well, I guess she's not really missing school since she's homeschooled. Brie has agreed to boss her around and make her do all her work just like I would. Truth be told, she'll probably do a better job than I normally do. She's so organized.

You know what's the weirdest thing about all of it? Each one of my friends who have taken on this task are doing it without husbands. All of their husbands are going to be out of town the whole time my kids are at their houses. Do I have great friends or what?

Oh yeah, and I'm counting down too. I think I've been mostly packed since Saturday night. I'm just a little excited. YA THINK?

When the husband's away...

...the kids eat junk food for dinner.

I mean, what's my motivation to cook? Ok, maybe healthy kids-but besides that? The great thing about cooking dinner when Mel is home is that he cleans up. Or at least his presence in the home motivates me to clean up. But when it's only the kids and I, there's no motivation to do much of anything least of all dishes. They don't care that the sink is piled high with dirty dishes and cups. I think they make a sport of seeing who can pile dishes the highest. What's that game...Topple?

What's more, they don't even eat what I cook. Patricia does because she likes lots of different foods, and she will even eat something that she doesn't like just to be nice. But the other three!?!? Forget it! In her cute little elf voice Vivian says,"I don't like this dinner mommy. It's not very good." Mimi whines,"Do I have to eat the broccoli? tortellini? chicken?" And Trystan just pushes his food around his plate and sneaks away from the table while I am busy yelling at Vivian for throwing her food to the dog.

So that's why I just feed them junk food for dinner. Because they'll eat it. And I can serve it on paper plates. And they don't need forks. And I don't have to wash pots and pans. I usually eat a giant salad and if I tell them that they can't have any, they they'll want some too. So at least they are getting something green.

I know it's taking the easy route, but it helps them not miss their dad while he's away. Mel's gone for the week, and we've planned at least two dinners out. Oh, and I have also planned to make cookies and cupcakes. We still have to eat breakfast, you know.

The newest Covergirls

A couple of weeks ago, I went away for the annual scrapbook weekend with a bunch of girlfriends. Technically, it was called a 'scrapbook weekend', but since I don't scrapbook it was just a get away from the kids weekend for me. As you might expect, we shared some pretty deep secrets about ourselves like, 'I have bought outfits to match my scrapbook paper' and 'I haven't touched a scrapbook since last year'. Since I don't scrapbook, I didn't understand why they would go through such pains to get the perfect pictures for the perfect layout.

That is, until I started this blog. I haven't gone so far as coordinating outfits (yet), but I did take advantage of a great photo opportunity and I even *gasp* staged some pictures just so I could post them today. Is that normal? Do you bloggers do that? I mean, after I wrote my entry yesterday, I was already planning what I was going to write about today. I think I need help.

Now for the picture: I used to be so anti-makeup on little kids. Until Vivian came along. I have realized that some things just aren't worth taking a stand for if they occupy your kids so you can get some quiet time. Makeup is one of those things. I gave Mimi and Vivian the cheapo eye shadow I bought for Halloween and here is what they came up with! Pretty good, huh? Not really, but who cares? It was a 'fun mommy' moment. Watch out Drew Barrymore, we're the newest CoverGirls!