Little Scamps

Talk about slacking...anyway here's all the news that's fit to print. 

Kendra is growing quite the personality.  Tonight she got to have cereal and grapes for dinner instead of the roast, potatoes and spinach the rest of us were having.  Why?  Because three different times within a two minute period she told me "no" to a request (helping unload the dishwasher, turning off the tv, and helping set the table) and was quite rude in her tone.  I wasn't sure what the appropriate response was.  I'm still not sure I did the right thing, but that is the curse of a parent, isn't it?

Darian is also being quite the scamp. He cut tooth #7 today (yesterday?  I just noticed it) and has been extremely fussy.  I'm currently hiding out in the office because every time he sees me he immediately crawls over to me while screaming.  If I'm not around, he's happy as a clam.  So much for family time.

School ends in a few more weeks, and I'm looking forward to summer.  Long days at the beach with friends, park hoping and outdoor art projects (hello body painting. shaving cream drawing and sidewalk chalk) are on our agenda.   It's been a rough year at preschool (for me, not her).  I'm on the board and we've had so much to deal with - including the teaching quitting in April.  We've hired a new teacher that seems wonderful, and next fall is shaping up quite nicely.

I am on track to have my surgery in August, I hope.  All the preliminary work is done, and I'm waiting on the doctor to receive his copies from all the other docs.  Once that's done (and I'm calling daily to check) we can schedule the surgery and see about having Caroline come to kidsit.  Wish me luck that it all falls into place.

Weekend Wrap Up

Another crazy busy weekend here.  Saturday we helped a friend move into a new house in the morning.  Actually, we provided the comedic entertainment courtesy of the kids and made the lunch run.  Otherwise I suspect we were there for emotional support more than muscle.

Saturday night was the annual preschool auction, which is the main fundraiser for the school.  It was a crazy, loud, boisterous, fun time.  The kids had a ball running around, and dancing to Recess Monkey.  The parents do most of the work, including providing desserts.  I made some (if I do say so myself) fabulous vanilla cupcakes and decorated them to look like flowers.  I almost caused a riot as people fought over who got the cupcakes.  They were a total hit.  Those not lucky enough to snag a cupcake had a pretty awesome consolation prize in Dan's amazing Fluffy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies.

We spent too much money, but got some great deals.  I got Darian a cute "chubby" remote control car designed for babies for his first birthday present (I can't believe I'm already thinking of that!!).  Kendra got an adorable raincoat decorated with ballet stuff, and 12 weeks of ballet lessons at a nearby dance studio.  Dan and I scooped up a couple of local restaurant gift certificates. 

Today was church, then doing some householdy stuff.  I finished our taxes and did some cleaning, including shampooing all the carpets in the house.  My carpets are clean, but the house now smells vaguely of wet dog.

Dan has been at work most of the day, and will hopefully be home before morning...but no guarantees.  They are working on some big, huge, massive project/deployment of something or another.  He says the next few weeks will be brutal for him.  Guess it's a good thing the kids and I are headed to dad's. 

Perhaps Someday

If you aren't familiar with the app "Pinterest," you should check it out.  Be warned, it is full of fabulous ideas and can be a real time suck.

One of the ideas I saw was photographing your little girl in mama's wedding dress.  Guess what we did yesterday :)  The pictures turned out amazing.  I knew there was a benefit to procrastinating so long on getting my dress cleaned and stored!

Update in Pictures

The kids are growing like crazy! 

Darian is crawling, pulling up on furniture and chattering up a storm.

Kendra continues to grow and change from my baby into a wonderful young girl.

And who knew doggie doors weren't just for dogs?!?

Problems I Don't Want to Explain

Kendra has a classmate at school this year who has been...challenging.  The parents are very lackadaisical in their parenting and communication of any issues that might be going on.  Today the child was sent to school, again, with no lunch.  What 4 year old can go from 10 - 2 with no lunch?  The school serves snack, but even with that most of the kids are starved by the time they leave.

We scrounged some food for this child, but when Kendra went to share some of the crackers we set out, I had to tell her no.  Since our preschool, and our home, are big on sharing I was put in the position of explaining why she couldn't share this time.  How some kids don't have enough food and some mommies aren't as good at being a mommy as others. No one is a perfect mommy; we just do our best and this mommy was struggling.

Mom has a new baby at home, but even before that she seemed overwhelmed and...disinterested.  I almost wonder if she truly dislikes her child.  :(  My heart breaks for this little one.

"I Hate You"

Words I expected to hear at some point, but not from my 3 1/2 year old.  They were directed at Dan, but still...

Kendra was sent to her room for the rest of the evening.  We talked about it, and how some words are just so hurtful to hear that a simple "I'm sorry" isn't enough to make it better.  She apologized to Dan, but still had to spend the last 45 minutes before bed in her room.  Here's hoping the lesson hit home.

Tomorrow I'll do a wrap of all the time I've been slacking from the computer!

Holiday Wrap Up

I hope your Christmas was a wonderful time spent with everyone most important to you.  Our day was filled with tears (even a few of joy), whine (and wine), coffee, love and friends.  After opening gifts with Papa watching via Skype, we spent some time playing with the new toys and then cleaning up the aftermath.  By mid-afternoon we had a half-dozen people over to play games and eat yummy foods. 

The hit game of the night was a new (to us) game called Munchkin, specifically the Zombie version of the game.  We had a good time playing.  Kendra suckered Kai into playing a few games of Uno with her.  That kid is vicious!  She is a take no prisoners player.  We are in trouble when she learns poker!

Santa was good to both kids this year, bringing Kendra a guitar and game and Darian some toy cars and a dragon pillow pet.   Dan gave me wonderful electronic keyboard.  With luck, I'll find time to practice and regain some skills I used to have.

All in all it was a good Christmas, and I'm thankful I was able to celebrate the blessed holiday with my wonderful family.