While I wait for the credit card fraud department to call me back...

I thought I'd update the blog! And yes, I am waiting for my bank to call me back. Apparently, some suspicious charges have been made "at a school" with my card. And while I do give LOTS of my money to my daughters' schools, this money I did not give. Should be fun! Anyways.... time to do some catching up. These pictures are a little Celia heavy, but that is because she is typically the one doing crazy stuff. Like dumping cereal on the floor this morning, on purpose, or biting everyone just because she can. You know, fun stuff. Here you can see she is riding on Maia's back during dance class. She is also going to be a war correspondant when she grows up, because she likes to carry a pen and paper wherever she goes suddenly, because that's just what you do. She draws teeny tiny circles on the paper, and it looks a great deal like cursive. Maybe she'll be an early writer! And we also have the classic, "Look,Maia filled my playhouse up with toys while I sat here and now I can't get out!" shot. I did toss on in of Sophia and her friend at school today during recess. For months now she has guilt tripped me about not having lunch with her at school. I have tried to explain, "It's not that I don't want to, but I don't want to take Maia, who I know would be good but super slow, and Celia, who I know would be horrid and humilate me in front of people I'm going to know for at least the next 12 years of my life." So, today my cousin watched Mo and C and I had lunch with Miss Sophia. She was so jazzed about it. After lunch was recess, so I watched that for a bit. They have started a walking club, where the kids walk, skip or run for a few minutes every day, to be sure they are exercising. They are promising if they do it for a certain amount of time, they get a charm for their backpack. Which is good, because lots of girls just sit and talk during recess. I know I did. Unfortunately, it's not mandatory. A little girl that lives down the street who just loves me for some reason did it today for the first time while I was there, and was worn out by it. I told her I was proud of her, and if she kept it up, she would get better and better and healthier too. Her reply, "and I'm fat, so I need to do it to get skinny." I was horrified! She is a bit pudgy, but that is just sad. So I told her she was beautiful, and that the whole point of exercising is to get healthy, and being skinny is just a side effect. It just broke my heart that at 6 she is already labeling herself as fat. The saddest part is that Sophia doesn't care for her too much, probally because she's pretty needy for love and attention, and so I don't get to have her at my home to encourage her to look at herself differently. I hate that. So while I had fun being with Sophia today, I left really sad for this girl. That's the part of parenting that I hate, seeing something like that you can't fix. I can only hope I give my girls the right tools to be healthy, both physically and emotionally, so they won't ever view themselves like that. So far, I think they are pretty happy with themselves, and they should be!

Falling asleep at parties

It's actually quite a gift to do this. I wish I could sleep when it was this loud! Note the pizza still in her hand!

Happy Birthday C! (a month late!)

Parenting is always full of suprises, and the best one I have ever had is Celia. I know this post is a month late, but she keeps me so busy, I can hardly have time to sit, much less sort though photos and post! She was a BIG suprise, and I am so glad she decided it was time for her to come into this world. There is not a day that goes by that she doesn't make me laugh so hard I nearly cry, and want to cry because of something she has done! Anyone who has been around her for more than 5 minutes can attest to the fact that the girl has Personality and Determination, which could be super overwhelming if it were not for the fact that she also is wickedly funny. So thank you Miss C, for being so determined that you paved your own path into this world, and continue to do so every day. And thanks for making every day awsome. I love you!

Happy Birthday Mo!

Every kid brings with them a basketfull of lessons and characteristics when they come into this world. Some are very serious (Sophia), some are downright dangers to themselves (Celia), and others are such a delightful rainbow of characteristics you can't put them into any one category. Four years ago today I got a basket of sunshine when Maia was born. She is quite the enigma. She can talk about things well beyond her years, but then will speak in her made up language. She can take a kid down that is twice her size, but loves to dress fancy. She has taught me how to laugh and not take myself too seriously, and how to sometimes just be, which is very hard to do in this house. She has shown me that even cleaning up puke in a number of pubic places isn't that hard, and that there are (almost) always friendly people to give you a hand when that happens! She gives great face too. I've never seen anyone make such fantastic faces. So thank you Maia, for coming into my life, and for warming the lives of all who know you. Just don't forget us when you are a famous stand up comic, or dictator of a small nation. We love you!

Now that's just wrong....

Girl Scout cookies have arrived, and all the girls have enjoyed eating them. Sophia's favorite are the Tagalongs, and as she was munching away, Celia begged to have one. This is what she did to it. If it's not clear in the picture, she not only somehow sucked off the chocolate, she scooped the fitting out of that little indention in the middle. Yum!

Ears to you!

Sweet Maia had to have tubes in her ears this week. She has has a ton of ear infections in the last few months, and I was really worried that she was developing hearing problems. It's always hard to say if they CAN'T hear you, or just don't WANT to hear you, so you know, tricky to tell. She went to a fantastic ENT, who did tests on her, and she is still in normal hearing ranges, but that is if she doesn't have fluid buildup. Once the fluid began, things were getting muffled. She frequently was covering her ears and saying we were hurting them, so enough was enough. She was so happy to get it done, as you can tell. She refused to put on her hat, even though I had the whole gear on to go into the room w/ her, and they were fine with that. The whole procedure was about 10 minutes, and when she woke up, one of the first things she said was "that didn't hurt at all!" Two days later, and she is already hearing better. Her mood has improved a lot. It's always so hard to know when you have kids what is serious and needs attention, and what they are making a big deal about that is not. I'm glad I went with my gut on this and got her tubes. Instead of being fussy, she can go back to changing her outfit three times a day and being a sweet little girl again. Thank you modern medicine!

6 is a big number

Well, tomorrow is it. Sophia will be 6, and that makes me feel old. She is officially a BIG KID. I know starting kindergarten got a lot of that whole becoming a big kid ickyness feeling out, but something about being six seems so much older than being 5. She has really come into her own this last year, and I must say I am so proud of her. She has won most respectful in her school, one of 20 to do so out of a few hundred. She also was voted kindest or the like, and didn't even tell me. I only knew it after seeing her picture in the cafeteria by chance. She is typically super patient with Celia, acting like the mommy all the time. Note I didn't say she was patient with Maia. We all have our limits, after all. For her birthday, I took her to get her ears pierced. Anyone who has ever met Sophia will vouch for her fanciness, so this was something I knew she would enjoy. She was absolutely terrified of the pain, but she did great. Just a funny face when they did it, and that was it. Of course, she picked out the biggest fake diamond earrings they had as starter earrings. So blinging. So far since Saturday, when she got them pierced, she has not stopped talking about them. She thinks she is so cool now. She woke up on Sunday and the first words out of her mouth were "mommy, thank you for taking me to get my ears pierced". I have overheard her telling Maia "You can't touch my hair now that my ears are pierced" and "you know I'm special now because I'm the only one who has pierced ears in the house" and she is really pressuring Maia to get her's pierced now, which is met with fierce resistance. She even painted a picture of her earrings. So I think this year I offically got her the coolest present ever, which really makes me feel good, knowing I know her well enough to force her through the pain and enjoy the final product. She looks a little worse for the wear in the after shot, but I promise, the second she looked in the mirror, she wouldn't stop smiling! So, everyone enjoy my personal favorite picture of Sophia from the last year, her piercing!