Cloud Nine

[Before I "begin" and if you haven't already been blasted out, unsuspecting of the music blaring from your speakers, I'll forewarn all readers that I did add a music playlist that automatically turns on, the volume level of which I cannot control.  While they are some of my favorite songs and so I'm keeping them at least this round, you can turn it off or down by scrolling to the bottom.  Let me know yay or nay as far as keeping the music goes in the comments.  Grazie.]

Wow, do we have some catching up to do!  Not that that's unusual around here.  I think we'll go backwards, however, as today's big news won't seem so grand in two weeks when we'll still have photos and great memories of Grammy's visit and blueberry picking with Daddy.  We'll get to all that, eventually.  But first things first.

Abby has had quite the week, to be sure.  Above all, she would have everybody know that she turned 5!  A couple of her friends, Lisa and Jane, joined Abby for a Rainbow Princess celebration, complete with a lunch of shrimp (her favorite) at a "fancy" restaurant and rainbow cupcakes with rainbow sherbet at home in her princess castle.  What fun.  The local geriatric community loved watching the princesses parade into... and run around... Red Lobster, and the girls loved holding a real live (well, it was then) lobster!  Thankfully, I was able to talk Abby out of her firm decision to have a three-tiered rainbow cake (she graciously offered to wait until she turns 7) and she settled instead for tiers upon which we placed princess rainbow cupcakes.  All in all it was a regal, magnificent day.  And now, as I surf the sea of Barbies that overtook the toy room that afternoon,  I'm left trying to accept that my baby girl is really 5.

Then, as if a birthday wasn't enough of a milestone to be reached this week,  Abby decided to kick growing up into 6th gear and lose her first tooth!  Apparently the plums I grabbed for breakfast on the way to church were a tad unripe and, well... I'd like to say that Abby's losing her tooth during Sacrament Meeting actually helped calm things a bit and gave her something to think about, but her excitement was not easily contained and I'm pretty sure everyone sitting in the 5 rows in front and back of us knew by the end of the meeting that Abby LOST A TOOTH!!!

Of course, in spite of mine and Adam's best efforts to keep the tooth safe so that it would in fact make it underneath Abby's pillow, Abby did request to hold the tooth when we got home and it was lost forever in under a minute.  She asked Adam to help her write a note (which he drafted and had her sign, and which read something like:  Dear Tooth Fairy,  I disobeyed my Mommy and Daddy and therefore lost my tooth.  Please accept my sincerest apologies,  Abby) and placed it under her 5-foot-long body pillow, in hopes that the Tooth Fairy would understand.  Apparently she did, as Abby woke me up this morning, shouting "Mom! The TF took the note and left 4 coins under my pillow!"

And THEN, as if all of that wasn't enough, Abby got a call from the local library yesterday informing her that she was the summer bicycle raffle winner!  I guess all late fines considered, we came out on top, so our Monday morning book check-outs were worth it in the end.  (We did read some pretty great books too.)  Abby consented to keeping the new, bigger bike for next year only after we realized the back tire has no air (I'm hoping they just didn't fill it up to discourage library patrons from riding it off the book shelves??)  And with this cherry on top of the last week's sundae of events, Abby is off floating somewhere in the sky on cloud 9.


Ellie is alive and well.  When not sleeping and snuggled up to her twin, she can be found snorting Nesquick.  And that's pretty much all there is to be said about that.  (Many more Ellie updates to follow...)

So, that's the very latest, freshest Ashley news.  Until next time...

QFTD

Ellie, handing Adam some gummy-vites:  "Daddy - you need to eat your vitamins or you won't grow up!  And you need to grow up!"

Ellie: "This sucker is the tastiest, suckiest sucker in my whole white world!"

Abby:  "Oh my GOSH!  Where is that stinkiness coming from??"

Abby, as I turned down the volume of a CD I'd burned: "Thanks, Mom, for making me another copy."

Abby:  "Mom, your belly is big.  Your shirt is coming up and showing your belly because it is so big." = (

Ellie:  "All the millions are coming to get us from outer space!"

I informed Ellie we couldn't go to Target because we were driving in the wrong direction.  Ellie: "But there's another Target 3 miles up ahead!"

Abby gave Ellie a little kick.  Ellie: "YOU are being betentious!"  Abby, snickering: "Betentious??  You mean CONtentious!"  E, scowling:  "You're being self-ful."

Home Again

It's 7 am on a Saturday morning.  The other Ashleys still sleep and so, I write.  The girls are back from Bah-jinya, where they've spent the last two weeks running Nana and Grandad into the ground while Adam and I escaped to our new very favorite place -VERMONT.  Oh, wow.  I pine for thee, Vermont.

So, we decided it was time for a get-away since our first and last one was taken when I was 7 months along with Ellie.  (Early March isn't exactly ideal beach-going time in New Jersey either.)  I suppose Adam might consider our "honeymoon" to be the first (and only other) time spent devoted to enjoying each other's company, except that, oh yeah - he started work in Manhattan 36 hours after we were married and within those hours we squeezed in a move to the East Coast.  That meant I got to meander around NYC until 6 pm every day for a week...alone.  So, 6+ years later, it was high time for a true escape.

And boy, did we find it.  Have I mentioned yet how much I loved VT?  Green, luscious mountains.  Lakes and streams.  Perfect for camping, which we attempted for a couple of days.  Wonderful back roads with centuries-old farmhouses and quaint little villages.  Perfect for Inns and B&Bs, which we also tried for a couple of days - 200 yards over the border into New Hampshire, to be exact.

As would be expected, the food was definitely a highlight - raw cow's milk at the road side stand, fresh ice cream, fresh artisan cheeses and breads, and wonderful meals at Ye Old Tavern (serving food since 1792!) and our own Chesterfield Inn.  Other high points were peddle boating around Emerald Lake, walking the marble sidewalks of Dorset, meandering through centuries-old cemeteries (including the one where Robert Frost and many Revolutionary War soldiers are buried), crossing one-lane covered bridges,  wandering eclectic towns like Brattleboro, VT and Keene, NH, visiting a working potter's mill, and just soaking in the beauty of New England.  (Oh, and getting stuck in small-town 4th of July parade traffic...and hunting down every Dunkin' Donuts in southern VT so Adam could have WiFi...and chasing raccoons from our campsite.)

 More photos of our lovely trip can be seen HERE

So, many many thanks to Nana and Granddad, who braved raucous days and nights deprived of decent slumber while Abby and Ellie visited.  Apparently while in VA, Abby decided she's in to older boys and took particular interest in 12-yr-old Sam who came to visit.  Upon seeing him, she disappeared to put make-up on, reappeared - asking Nana to put bows in her hair, and then wrote on a paper airplane MAS lov ABBY.  Great.  Ellie asked another visitor who held her 3-month-old baby boy, "Why did you have that?"  "Why did I have a baby?  Well, because we wanted a baby boy."  "But why did you have it?" Never a dull moment - even in VA.

[A couple weeks have now passed since I started this entry.  And that's as much as needs to be said for how life's been since the girls returned.  Oh, the madness.  I'll play catch-up, once again, in the next entry... Ah, Vermont.  How I pine for thee.]

QFTD

Abby stopped playing and ran to the bathroom.  She got situated and shouted, "Fire in the hole!"  

Abby woke up and asked if I'd like to learn how to make a paper airplane, per her instruction.  After attempting to fly my creation (which flopped to the ground) Abby said:  "No, Mom.  You're supposed to make a cool paper airplane."

Abby: "I'm not going to be a mommy when I grow up.  I'm going to be an animal doctor."  Me:  "You can be a mommy and an animal doctor."  A:  "No.  I'll just be an animal doctor.  I'll take care of crocodiles, pigs and chickens."

While we three girls walked the aisles of Target, a little toot eeked from Abby's bum.  Abby turned to Ellie: "Sorry boss."

Ellie was complaining that her belly hurt.  Me: "I don't think you should have chicken and noodles, then.  How about some toast?"  E:  "But my belly loves to be sick with noodles."  Abby:  "I think I'm going to vomit tomorrow."

Me: "Ellie, have you been spraying the cleaner??" Abby: "Yes!  She has.  Heavenly Father told me."

Calm

Since sitting down to write tends to be an outlet and a time I come to soothe my weary soul, I figured changing the blog background to something more rejuvenating and serene was in order.  The green of nature always seems to do it for me and I hope you feel the summer breeze wafting across your brow as it furrows the further on you read, thinking "what is her deal?  why can't she get it together?  should I intercept and take them all to the funny farm?  where's the advil?..."  


So... Where were we?  Honestly - the more days that pass by without logging our pandemonium, the bigger the blur becomes.  But I'll try to recall some of the truly stand-out moments from the last couple of weeks.


#1 would have to be Abby's Pre-K graduation.  Oh yes.  It's official.  I now have a soon-to-be-kindergartner!  Abby and her class put on a darling production, singing songs about numbers and letters and dinosaurs.  Of course Abby got put on the far end of the 25 children seated across the 'stage', which made for ease in daydreaming and generally being 4-5 counts/words behind the rest of her class during the songs.  


You know that feeling that comes with completing a particularly challenging task - more than relief, that sense of "wow! I did it! I actually made it to the end and seeing it all behind me now feels great!"?  That's pretty much the emotion her sweet teacher Mrs. Sue communicated as I hugged and thanked her afterward for her work with Abby.  "You should be proud," she said.  "Abby's come a long way." (ie - that was one long year I spent trying to help Abby realize I am the teacher...)  She did follow that up with "This girl's gonna go places."  We just hope those places take her on a path more toward competing in the 2024 Olympics than becoming, say, a defending Women's Ultimate Fighting Champion.  We'll just have to wait and see. 

(Abby and her best friend Lisa, whose skin Abby covets since 'it has no holes where hairs come out')

Beyond that major event, we've just enjoyed the usual goings-on around here.  Abby successfully turned a long hair ribbon into hand-cuffs, rendering me bound and at her complete mercy.  It was wound and knotted so well, I had to guide her through cutting it -and not my hands - off.  Then there was the day Abby ran in, excitedly shouting "Mommy!  Come see! I made the United State of America for Family Night!" (aka my just-purchased loaf of bread broken into a thousand pieces which later morphed into "the United States of America crowned with water grenades"). Ellie, for a few nights, took to cuddling with those same water grenades (filled with air) instead of her stuffed animals.

 

 

Then there was the day I deep-cleaned the bathroom, only to find, upon finishing, that Abby and Ellie had created a new abode in their trampoline (yes, we are so classy that we keep a trampoline in our living room) complete with every clothing item brought down from their closets and drawers.  


My cheeses - crumbled goat, pecorino, shredded mozzarella - keep disappearing from the fridge.  Of course I rarely notice until I go to use the cheese for a particular recipe.  The first time, I found my precious goat cheese in a toy bin, days after we ate the salad it was to go in.  When I needed the missing pecorino, I asked Ellie (who has been known to indulge herself in hiding) if she knew of its whereabouts.  "In the toy room."  Sure enough - same toy box. 


A few days ago Abby found Uncle Michael's wallet that quite inconveniently went missing at the end of his visit, an hour before he had to get on the airplane to return home (the loss of which caused him to miss his flight, necessitate 4 runs to/from the airport and a visit from the local police, as a police report declaring the wallet stolen was the only way they would let him onto a plane).  Apparently Abby had put it inside her make-up box to give to Uncle Michael for a present to take home.  She forgot.


I, myself, had a few winner moments/days.  Like the one where the best dinner I could come up with was frozen tortellini in Campbell's tomato soup.  Abby's dramatic response left me wondering why I try any other day: "Mom, this is delicious.  It is soooo awesome.  I love it."  Then there was the night my friend Shannon asked me to make some lemon-meringue souffles baked inside of lemons for a baby shower she hosted.  Everything in the 2-hour process went fine until I filled the lemons, made the call for her to pre-heat the oven and put the pan of lemons on top of the Jeep so I could open the door (rushing, of course, since I was late).  I opened the door and DOWN they went - cascading off, spewing meringue filling across the driveway and all over the passenger seat.  The "uh, no need to preheat the oven anymore" call quickly followed.  So much for that endeavor. 


I really could go on and on.  I think, though, that I'll sum it all up by recounting an episode from our drive through Ohio Amish country yesterday (while on our way to Kirtland to meet Nana and Granddad who have so graciously offered to take the girls and give Adam and me a few days of much-needed repose).  While passing horse-drawn buggy after horse-drawn buggy, Abby asked "why do they drive those?"  I explained, while seriously considering joining the Amish community, that they want to live a simple way of life.  "What does simple mean?"  "Slow and calm..." "Why do they want to be calm?"


QFTD

Me: "Girls, what would you like for breakfast?  Eggs or french toast?"  Ellie:  "French toes. Toes are fun to eat."

Adam took the girls to the park and Ellie steered the pirate ship.  Ellie:  "I'm going to my other mommy's house."  A: "Why are you going to your other mommy's house?"  E: "Because she lets me eat m&ms and the house is made of cookies and she lets us eat the house."

Abby finished her bbq chicken and gave a big swipe of her hands down the front of her dress.  Me: "Abigail, is that how we wipe our hands off?"  "Mom - this is a staining dress, remember?  It's just for staining!"

We had tuna melts for dinner, grilled on the panini press.  After finishing her first half, Ellie asked: "Mom, can I have another girl sandwich?"

I asked the girls what fun things they want to do this summer.  Abby: "I know! I know!  This is your very most favorite thing that you love.  Clean the house!"

The girls dumped out a basket full of My Little Ponies.  Ellie: "Are the sweeties okay?? Are the sweeties okay?"  Abby: "The children are fine."

Ellie sat up to the table for breakfast.  E: "So, Mom.  What do you want to do today?"  Me: "Well, would you like to go to BJ's and get some gummy vitamins?"  E:  "That's exactly what I want do !"

I took the (freshly cleaned) blender out from the cupboard.  Abby:  "You haven't washed that in months.

I told the girls we needed to go to the library.  Abby: "Oh, we don't want to go.  You can just go.  We can take care of ourselves, right Ellie?" E: "Yeah."  A: "Go ahead, Mom.  We'll stay here and clean up the house after we watch Diego."

30 minutes after the above quote, I walked back into the room where Abby and Ellie were playing.  Abby, puzzled: "I thought you went to the library."

Abby, playing: "She said I am impossible because I made the best cake ever."

Abby: "Mom! I washed off the marker on the new paint."  Me:  "Oh...yeah?  How?"  A: "I licked my hand with my germs and wiped it on the marker.  And it came off."

The girls were playing with My Little Ponies:  Abby: "I have to go to the forest."  Ellie:  "I'll come too, so you don't get lost."  A: "I won't get lost.  I have good eyesight and paddy feet."  E: "But I have to help you find the Pygmy Marmoset in the prickly farm!"

Chocolate Kisses

I suppose I'll work backwards in my recounting of this week's main events, as our Father's Day dinner just now eaten proved to be the highlight.  I'm a grilling maniac these days, thanks to our $15, 3rd-generation grill that was, upon acquisition, a study in rust and corroded metals.  One can of black hi-heat spray paint, lighting directions re-written in silver Sharpie, and a new porcelain grate later - we can't get enough!

Steak, corn, and asparagus - all grilled - and my friend Amy's scrumptious rice salad was the fare.  Each girl had multiple servings of the rice salad, and Abby declared: "Mom!  I didn't know you could make the most delicious, coolest food in the whole world!"  Ellie took a bite of tender steak, and with pink juices streaming down her chin, exclaimed: "I like beef!"  So, when dinners lately have tended toward being left poked at and even downright refuted, the nods at my culinary prowess felt...great.

Especially given the rigamaroo that was the rest of Father's Day.  Oh, we had Ellie running relays throughout the Primary sing-to-the-dads time.  Back and forth she went - from front pew to the podium - through and in front of all of the short Sunbeams during the songs.  Abby's Primary substitute made the comment as I picked her up from class, "Abby sure is a wiggly thing, isn't she?" and explained how Abby had kept trying to hide under her chair.  While passing Ellie's nursery leader in the hall, she said (in jest): "Ellie, tell your mommy how many chocolate kisses you had today in nursery!  Or...not."  AND Adam went MIA for 40 minutes after church and I seriously considered going to see if he'd checked himself in to the psych ward at the hospital next door...it had been one of those days leading up to and through church.  (He was 'talking shop' with a friend, turned out.)

Later, when Adam's dad asked over the phone what the girls were up to, I decided it wise to actually check on them.  This followed: Me: "Abby, why are you cutting your hair ribbon into little pieces?" A: "I just am." Me, as Ellie runs by with a shimmering object in hand: "Eleanore, give me that light bulb!" Later, I happened upon Abby cutting up our new 'United States of America' flags.

And this is just what I remember of today.  (I think I'll continue the rest of this last week's story later.)  So, one might imagine how sweet Abby's dinner prayer, "bless us to listen to our Daddy and do what he says...and even Mommy too, and follow their plan" was to my ears.  Of course, this means now I have to 'get a plan.' 

QFTD

Abby insisted Adam lie down with her so she could fall asleep.  After a few minutes, I hear Abby:  "Daddy, can you please stop snoring??"

Ellie ran out of the room, shouting:  "I found it, Abby-gale Charlotte!  I found it!"

On our way home with a new 10-ft slide for a play set we're building for the girls, Abby complained about not getting a prize at the store.  Ellie:  "Abby, we have a new slide.  Just wait a second."

Me, in attempts to hurry along bathtime: "Come on Abby, it's time to wash your hair."  Abby:  "I am 5. Don't disobey me."

Abby brushed against my shins:  "Mom, feel this.  You're so spikey."

I called Adam and the girls for lunch.  Abby started walking backwards down the stairs.  Adam: "Abby - you are going to fall down the stairs."  Abby:  "No, Dad. This is the way (turning around to crawl headfirst) you fall down the stairs."  (She should know - she fell from the top twice in one day last week.)

It's Time

The innocent honesty of children amuses and astounds me.  I love hearing my daughters' interpretation of the world around them (except, of course, when the mommy doll puts the child doll in time out for 100 hours or says "I'm so disappointed in you" as part of casual mommy-daughter-doll conversation).  Sometimes I sit beside my girls wondering what their lives are like - what they process of everything surrounding them.  I think back to when I was 4 and would hide in my mom's closet and try on her boots and high heels and look at the sparkly "gems" on her necklaces and think about how glamourous she was.  And since I have no gems and wear less make-up than my girls, I wonder how they perceive me.

Or, I did.  You know, one of the greatest aspects of watching Abby develop is seeing how her creative expression takes flight.  And now that she has mastered the basic stick figure, we have a whole new medium through which to see her world.  Meet the Ashleys, as drawn by Abigail during Primary:

                                                                                                             Not your average stick figure family!  Oh no.  We have bellies.  Nice, rotund circles.  And eyes that happen to be just about as big.  

So, I think it's time.  Time for us to open those big eyes.  Time to accept that our four year-old's basic artistic rendering of our not-so-little-in-girth family includes circles protruding from our otherwise tall, slender frames.  Time to let the truth sting.   Time for those vegetables in the garden to get growing.  Time to turn on the treadmill to make sure the engine hasn't blown out while sitting idle for 2 years.   Ohhhhh..... it is..... beyond...... time.  

QFTD

The first thing Ellie said upon waking up and through sleepy eyes:  "Mom.  You twicked us."  Me: "I tricked you?" E: "Yes.  You fogot to give us a pwize undoh ow pillows. You need to.  But you twicked us."

Abby's prayer: "...Please bless that we can have fun in our castle.  And bless our magical telescope and...our magical slide.  And, bless we can have a normal door.  But our castle is magical." Ellie: "And bless the telescope!" A: "Hush! All prayers are different!  Please bless we can get a magical slide and magical curtains.  And a normal door..."

I told Abby it was time to go to her Kindergarten registration.  Abby: "Is it my first try at kindergarten??  I'm going to sit up so so straight in my chair and not slaunch so I can be like a kindergartn...er - like a kindergarten kid."

The girls got some 70's revival karaoke CD in a kids meal that Abby insisted we listen to while leaving VA.  When "Shake Your Groove Thing" came on, Ellie called out "Shake your body!" So, I started to shimmy and shake in the driver's seat. Ellie: "No! Not you, Mom!  Just Abby."

I told Abby we have a fun run on Saturday morning and that Bruce, her friend, will be there.  Abby: "But, Bruce has Sketchers.  He'll run faster than me."

Ellie: "Mom!  It's time to get this fiesta started!  Everyone will bring their violins and play them all around."

Ellie was pretending to be an authority figure to a stuffed animal while Abby sat nearby. Ellie: "You knock it off!"  Abby: "I am NOT a knock off!"

Abby: "You never knew a girl like me. I just can do big things and I can just do real cool things!"

Abby:  "My brain just reminds me when girls have scissors and other dangerous things.  Ellie has your scissors!  My brain reminded me."

I came into my room to find Ellie pulling books off of the bookshelf.  Ellie:  "I'm really just librarying at the library store."

In 'n' Out

Over the last couple of weeks, my house got so messy that I just couldn't face it anymore.  Consequently, in my refusal to deal with the disarray, I became addicted to the TV show LOST (via HULU on the computer, since we 'gave up' TV).  Watched an entire season and almost a half in less than a week.  Also, in spite of seeing myself in a photo and wondering how my friend Shannon had access to pictures of me while pregnant, only to realize she took it of me on my birthday 2 months ago and I only look like I'm pregnant (which I am not), I ate a lot of really bad-for-me food.  Like, oversized s'mores made with oversized shmarshmallows, Abby's birthday gift to Ellie, that I used to bribe the girls with as "dessert" if they'd eat chicken and brown rice devan for the fourth night in a row.

 

Stated simply, I was not in a good place.  And so, having become rather overwhelmed by the state of my inner house, I decided to focus my efforts on the outside.  Remember my washer/dryer-turned-nursery from, oh, March?  Well, I decided to live on the wild side and plant the seedlings that actually survived to plant-hood a whole 2 weeks early.  Tradition holds that in Buffalo, one doesn't plant before Memorial Day, as the risk of frost extends until then.  But...hey.  Everything went fine until a doe rabbit decided to hop the chicken wire and...miscarry? in my cucumber section.  Seriously???  Nonetheless, I plugged on, the gardens were planted, Abby and Ellie collected an entire "worm family" as new pets, and I then decided to pull weeds in the flower beds in order to further avoid cleaning my house.

Now, I suppose one could look at the state of my flower beds in various ways. For one, they show what great potential for growth Buffalo offers its flora and fauna - weeds included. Another...well...they suggest pretty plainly that I have one serious dandelion problem.

Yes, those are dandelions.  So, I weeded.  For hours.  With my $7 dandelion trowel.  However, continuing to face the monstrosity of the weeds that have overtaken my flower beds became just too daunting.  So, instead of facing them again, I decided to clean house.  The inside.  

We're not ready for the home show, but I got a good three rooms in this morning.  I've put the brakes on LOST.  AND, inspired by what I hope will flourish into many many vegetables in those garden beds (okay, and seeing that blasted photo), I've started a healthful eating plan that has been deliciously satisfying.  Recipes shared upon request.

 You know, you just can't underestimate the value of falling off the wagon and hopping back on.  (Over and over and over, in my case.)  For now all that really matters is that I've re-found myself - in a pretty good place.

QFTD

Abby: "Everyone else's houses are not messy.  Just ours."

Abby: "I found Ariel, Mom!  The Little Wormaid!"

Me: "Oh no! That bird is in our garden."  Ellie: "We need to make a stop sign for the birds."

Abby handed me a drawing. "Here you go, Mom.  It's an agenda."

Ellie: "I'm not nevuh nevuh going to bed."

Me, stroking Abby's hair as she drifts off to sleep: "Abby, I love you.  I know sometimes I get grumpy and it might not seem like I do, but I love you."  A: "I know.  And I make you calm."

Abby: "I don't know how to say rediclius. I try and try and try and try and I never can say rediclius."

Abby: "Today at school we had a dentist hygenal come!" 

Ellie, running in from the backyard after Abby: "Hey Ab!  Wait up, Ab!"

Abby, trying to get Ellie's attention in the car: "Ellie!! (x8)" Me: "Abby, she's not responding, so give her a minute." Abby: "Ellllllie!" Ellie, stoically looking out her window: "Abby, I'm not e-sponding.  I nevuh nevuh nevuh am sponding."

Celebrating 3

So, aside from the general craziness of the last week or so...        

 Abby making an "obstacle course" in front of the staircase and front door

Ellie depleting my make-up supply

And Kitty reappearing from the dead - i.e. whoever "found" her at Disney read Abby's name on the (new) tag, washed her "in a special washer" to get her softer and cleaner than ever, put a heart-shaped beanie babies tag on her ear and sent her wrapped in a special box back home to Abby.  Talk about a joyous reunion. (What would we do without grandmothers?)

... we were extra crazy since Ellie turned THREE!!!

The celebrating started a day early, when packages started showing up addressed to Miss Eleanore.

                                                                        

(Again, what would we do without grandmothers... who send fake hair and shot glass necklaces? ;)  )

The party continued on Friday - her real birthday - with a feast fit for a princess at Cheeburger Cheeburger (aka-the "fancy milkshake restaurant").

Since Abby wasn't quite as cheery at dinner as Adam and Ellie and fell asleep on the way home (thank heavens), we waited until morning to open presents and sing.

Ellie had requested a "giant pink princess cake" so, we did the best we could with Sleeping Beauty Bathtime Barbie and Polly Pocket Prince Navine.  Abby invited the other princesses (and their wardrobes) to celebrate as well.   

      

After 3 days of partying for our 3 year-old girl, Mom, Dad and both princesses were wiped out.

QFTD

Me: "What would you like for lunch?" Abby: "Some South American food.  See, Minnie here (her spinning Minnie Mouse from Disney) is from South America." Me: "Really?  Does she speak Spanish or Portugese?" A: "Spanish and Portalese."

Abby: "Mom, this Diet Coke is all dried out. Can I drink it?"

Abby: "Okay. I'm goin' out there (to the car) to get all the money.  All by myself.  Because I'm brave and no one will take me.  I'm serious."

While lining up her coins, Abby: "George Washington sure is a good, cool president."

Abby: "Spending time with money is a lot easier than playing toys."

I asked Ellie to go help Abby look for a toy. Ellie: "I can't because...I'm old."

Abby: "Mom, did you know some bikes can even go in the grass??"  "Really?" "Yes! Wherever they don't have a sidewalk.  Like in South America.  They only have buckets and wagons down there."

Great Expectations

Why is it that I still hope...yes, even expect...4 1/2 years into being a mom... that Mother's Day somehow entitles me to respite from my duties as Mom, Mommy, Mama etc?  Even just like an hour? Even as I try to make this very blog entry at this very moment (with Ellie climbing over the back of the chair to get to my lap)?

I should have known.  I should have sensed when I went grocery shopping yesterday and was surrounded by witchy women who decided they were entitled to first pick of all the produce, and frazzled dads who were obviously not used to picking out foodstuff for Mom's big dinner with children in tow to "help," that the storm clouds were only gathering.  I should have accepted when I saw the large fluffy snowflakes falling this morning, that today wasn't to be sunshine and roses.

So why is it that on Mother's Day, the children are extra argumentative, demanding and temperamental? Why is it that one child finds the single, hidden special yogurt Mom bought for a special breakfast treat and helps herself to it, becoming enraged when Mom tries to sneak at least one bite?  Why is it that the nursery child insists on coming up with Mom to lead the Primary children in singing "Mother Dear" only to play steam roller back and forth the entire time across the front pew?

Why is it that on this day, Daddy doesn't feel well and Mom has to bring lunch upstairs to have a picnic that only ends up in smeared PBJ and spilled milk on the bed?  Why is it that 20 min into Snow White (aka Mom's attempt at a nap), it turns out to be scratched and Mom, cross-eyed, grumpy and incoherent has to pull herself out of what might have been sweet slumber to debate not only that Snow White is in fact unwatchable, but that it will be replaced with Sleeping Beauty (aka the first dvd she sees)?  Why is it that when Mom decides that laying in her child's bed, since Daddy is snoring too loudly to try to go back to sleep next to him, isn't doing anything for her as far as napping goes, she 'awakens' only to find chocolate cupcake smeared into the carpet?


I guess it's because life is life and Mom is still Mom - even today.  And somehow I've got to accept that expectations just really can't come with this job - even on Mother's Day.  Funny enough, aside from being shaken from my sleep this morning by Abby - far too eager to bestow her gift of hand grenade water balloons and four mini squirt guns, I will have one especially sweet memory of this Mother's Day; Ellie snuggling up to an ailing Adam and, while tenderly stroking his hair, saying "Daddy, I love you."

QFTD


At dinner, Adam asked the girls to say one thing about me for which they're grateful.


Abby: "I'm grateful for Mommy to make my bed (I never make her bed) and when she lets me help her... when things break and Mommy and Daddy don't know how to fix it so she asks me to do it."


Ellie: "I'm grateful when she makes the food soggy."

So good to know I'm making an impact in their young lives.

Wishing Upon a Star

We're back.   It's over - even if I refuse to allow myself to accept the fact.  5 days home and the suitcases are still at the back door where we sat them when we walked in, albeit exploded all over the place.  (As justification, I offer that our new washer was supposed to be delivered last Wed and I refuse to use our leaky one ever again. Chances are everything will stay there until tomorrow, when they say the washer will come.)

We had a crazy fun time at Disney - perhaps more crazy than fun at times, with my two "princesses" who didn't think they should have to be subjected to wait times in line, nor any rule for that matter while on Disney property.  In fact, it seemed oddly as if Melificent and Ursula and all the wicked step-mothers beckoned Abby and Ellie to them even before we entered the gates some days.  But, even considering the lines and crowds and heat and altered sleep patterns (none of which the girls do very well with singly, to say nothing of all factors put together) we managed to have a very fun trip.  Thank heavens Nana and Granddad and Aunt Vicki and Granny and Uncles Dave and Brad and Aunt Jen and Cousin Cole were all there to help us have so much fun.

Here's a little peek at some of our favorite memories:

Aunt Vicki saved us all by patiently toting Abby around Disney on her scooter.  We cannot thank her enough for that!

Our waiting spot for the shuttle outside the "ho and tell" in the mornings.

Little bathing beauty would have spent every day at the pool if we'd have let her.  This photo just after a yummy lunch.

Keeping the girls out of fountains was worse than trying to get them to smile for pictures.  Of course Abby was usually fishing out all of the money... This particular fountain (not the "lost and fountain" where Ellie was determined we could find Abby's lost kitty) was in Morocco in "Apricot" (aka Epcot).

One of the more exciting meet and greets, with Belle and "Beauty and the Beast," as Ellie refers to the Beast. (She would have nothing to do with him, though, and only consented to stand in the photo on the far side of Belle.)

 Thankfully Daddy was able to join us for the last few days.  We got one last shot before bidding Disney a final farewell.















So, it is now all a memory.  Hard to believe it has come and gone.  And perhaps my subconscious refusal to accept it being over has something to do with the mayhem that seemed to pick up as soon as we walked back into this home.

One morning Ellie decided to check out my aged balsamic, which spilled down each shelf, the cupboard door and splattered all over the wheat grinder.  I admit to being slightly amused by Ellie's attempts to cover up the mess - the pudding box and nail polish almost doing the trick.

While replenishing the groceries, I was lured into buying Nilla Wafers with the free bunch of bananas that came with.  Neither lasted long.  I found Abby's spread atop her bed later that day.






And so, here we are.  Plugging away with dreams of another get-away.  Any suggestions?

QFTD

Abby's prayer: "...Thank thee for all the things.  Please bless me so I can give Mom sweet hugs and be her helper and give her all the things she needs...Amen.  Oh, one more thing - Please bless when Ellie is doing bad things and she says all the stupid words and she calls me a tattle-tale and she will go to time out...Amen"

Bracing myself for a moment of truth, I asked the girls if I am a nice mom.  Abby: "Yes.  Especially when you burp." 

Abby: "I want a milkshake tonight." Adam: "Okay, how do you earn a milkshake?" Abby: "By being very respectrubble of you parents and saying nice things.  Really, I don't want to earn one.  I just want it."

On our way home from dinner tonight, Abby: "Mom! Ellie's eating money!" Adam: "Ellie, spit it out - 1,2,3" (She spits out some small black object.) Abby: "What is that?"  Ellie: "I don't know. I found it on the road."

Heading in the door with their milkshakes, Abby raced to be first into the kitchen. "I get the tallest chair...I mean, I get the cleanest chair!"

Ellie, sobbing in her bed: "Daddy hurted my feelings." Me, "What happened? E: "I don't know."

The girls and I pulled up to Chipotle for some lunch and I could see the line almost out the door.  As we walked in, I gave them a stern talking to: "Girls, the line is super long.  You stay by Mommy, no funny business, no getting out of line, no shenanigans. Do you hear me?" Abby: "Oh yes Mom. We NEVER do those things."

Abby: "Do you like my cool drawing?"  Me: "Yeah - what is it?"  "It's a fish container mix."

Nana called while we were eating dinner and asked what we were having. Abby: "Noodles." Nana: "You always eat noodles!" A: "No. Just sometimes." N: "What else do you eat besides noodles?" A: "Macaroni and Cheese."

Abby decided it was her turn (surprise) to say the prayer this morning.  After the requisite "thank thee for this day" and "please bless the food" I interjected "please help us to love each other." She took the bait, pausing at first.  Then I tried "please bless Daddy at work."  Abby, in a forceful whisper: "Everybody's prayers are different!!"

In attempts to reprimand Ellie for being aggressive in word and deed, I put her in her room.  Abby, sitting right at Ellie's door as I shut it, looked up and with a smile said: "Good work Mom."