Anybody got any ideas on how to get that “puke” smell OUT of a mattress and blankets? We are on wash #2 and it still kind of stinks.
Another question…how in the world does such an inordinate amount of puke come from a preschooler who has barely eaten anything in weeks?
Blech.
Ah…hi? Wow, so here it is Tuesday again. And, um…honestly? I have been running around in preparation for my upcoming (hopefully!) very crafty weekend and completely forgot to even post last night.
I did, however, manage to clean up the house so it is at least respectably cluttered; finished and sent off final versions of three projects and the first version for review of the “big one.” The huge project that nearly put me over the edge, but is going to be so appreciated next month when I want to shop for Christmas! And, also, did a little grocery shop so my babies will have something to eat when I am gone this weekend.
Did I mention I will be gone? All. Weekend. With no children? Just some friends. Some scrapbooking. And more than likely…snow? Yeah, we are meeting in Chicago, so I can’t vouch that the weather is going to be great, but the un-Mommy time? That, I can promise will be great!
So send J. some good thoughts on doing the “single parent” thing all weekend. I know they will all have a fantastic time and I’m anxious to get back and find out that it all went so smoothly…I should do it more often!
Hee. Well, “anxious” might not be the right word, but you know what I mean.
Please tell me somebody out there has some crafty stuff to show and inspire us all into getting our holiday crafts done. Ok….ok! Started.
…and never a moment too soon! After traveling last week he returned home and we got to spend the weekend with our favorite man. Nothing makes us all happier.
Don’t forget to check out what is making everyone else so happy today over at Tracey’s.
Addie got a fishy tank from Nana and Papa for her birthday. She wanted one so she could be “just like Emma,” of course. I found this really cool Ariel one that I thought she would flip over. And she did, but it is about half the size of Emma’s and for some reason requires about four times the amount of cleaning. Emma has had her tank for 7 or 8 months and I have cleaned it…once. Addie has had hers since September, so what? Three months or so? And it has been cleaned probably four times already.
But she does love having the tank, so that makes it worth it, right?
Anyhow, for the past week every time I walk by her tank I can smell the fishy-ness and tell Addie “we have to clean your tank tomorrow!”
Yesterday was the day. Addie decided she was going to help me and use the net to “caught my fish!”
She did really well getting the fish out of the tank, scooped it up on the first try. (Note: A little foreshadowing here…)
Here she is safe and sound with not too much trouble, although it looks like Addie may have scared a little something out of her there…
Clean tank, time to go back home…
And, she makes a break for it…or she got dumped, I was too busy taking photos to see what happened.
I did however bare-hand poor little fishy back into nice clean tank…and she seems just fine.
No fish were harmed in the filming of this blog entry.
Addie however has told Emma several times today, “and then Mama scooped the fishy back into the tank. Next time I think Mama should use the net to caught my fish!”
The fish may not have been harmed, but Ad. may be a tiny bit traumatized by the whole ordeal.
When J. and I got married we could count on one hand the number of homes we had grown up in…combined.
Since we have been married? We have lived in Ann Arbor, went out to San Francisco, back to Ann Arbor, including a little stint in the lovely Ypsilanti. Then it was back to the Bay area, and off to Miami for a year or so, and back to San Francisco. Then we had a brilliant idea, “hey, let’s try out the midwest again, see if that snow is any more tolerable?” and headed to Chicago, and greater Chicago-land, for a bit. And I think we all know the answer to that question, since we hightailed it back out to the west coast pretty quickly and live, once again, in sunny California.
My point to all of this, besides the fact that we seem to be a bit nomadic (or part gypsy, I’m not sure which?) – we have had many, many, many apartments and houses. But I am a pretty firm believer in “home is where you make it.”
And my home is wherever my little family is.
It is where, if you listen closely, you will hear shrieks and squeals bouncing off of the thick, photo-covered walls. You will see little underwear-clad, tutu-wearing ballerinas slide across the hardwood floors. You will smell the mingling scents of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and a crackling fire burning in the fireplace. And, if you look hard enough, you can always find some arms that are willing to wrap you up in a big, love-filled hug and whisper “I love you’s” in your ear.
I do love to travel and visit new places, but I also really do love to come home. It is the one place we can all just sit back, relax and watch the world go buzzing by around us.
Find out where everyone else’s home (or heart) is over at Stacy’s.
Mmmm…it might be hard to be wordless for this one. Addie came into the living room a few days ago and said, “Look, Mama! Am I so fancy? Just like Fancy Nancy?”
We checked out a Fancy Nancy book from the library, the first real one she has read. And now she is completely enamored with being fancy, especially since Fancy Nancy has a posh puppy, too! For the record, she would now like to be addressed as Fancy Nancy, not Addie.
Little did I know, but after I took the photos and started taking the bows and barrettes out, she had managed to get eight of them on her head. That is pretty fancy!
I have found a place to corral a tiny bit of Addie’s energy and give her a safe place to “hang” as she so dearly loves to do. We found a fun little gymnastics class.
She was a little unsure of Coach Doris at first. She is a little…um, shall we say…brusque? Just put it this way, she doesn’t have a lot of mat-side manner. But now that Addie is over the initial shyness, she is ready to try just about anything with Coach Doris’ help.
What she really loves is the rosin, chalk-like stuff to use on her hands…
More hangin’….
A little bit of tumblin’…
And astoundingly good balance!
It is fun exploring with the girls and trying to figure out what their “thing” might be. For Addie, gymnastics seems to fit for right now.
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I just realized that I don’t have anything for Crafty Tuesday. I don’t have my work done for Work Project Wednesday next week either, so until after my Girl’s weekend, I may not have much to show. I’m positive Stacy has a thing or two, though…
This is as cherub-like as she is gonna get. Her first day in the robe – the Gospel Cherubs sang during mass at church. It was impossibly adorable. And I am happy to report she was focused, and sang her little heart out. A proud day indeed for her tone-deaf Momma.
Check out what is making other hearts sing this fine Monday morning over at Tracey’s.
Yes, it is Saturday. I don’t usually post anything on the weekends, but it has been a strange week and I haven’t managed to find two consecutive minutes to post anything since Tuesday night, so you get a Chaos week wrap-up, special weekend edition.
So, yeah…what happened this week? The time change, which all-in-all has been a very good adjustment for our happy home. It is dark while the girls are eating, which sets the stage for an early bath and both of them have been in bed and asleep by 7:30. It isn’t that much earlier than before, since they were usually in bed by 8 or 8:15, but it seems so much earlier. And since it is dark, there is no monkey business. Heads hit the pillows, eyes close, see you in the morning.
They have been getting up a little earlier, like 20-30 minutes earlier, so I guess in the end it is all about equal. But daylight at 6am means that Mommy can get a run in before the day starts without fear of falling down and cracking my head open. (Do I say, “cracking my/your head open” a lot by the way? The other day Addie said to me, “Oh be careful Mommy you don’t want your head to crack up!”)
But generally, the time change has been good for everyone’s attitude (especially Miss Addie-tude!) and the girls have been really, really good. They even endured a very long wait at the hospital with me this week – it was nothing life-threatening but definitely had to be taken care of, and my doctor couldn’t get me in in a timely fashion. Mommy in her infinite wisdom grabbed the girls from school and headed over there. Didn’t have any diversions, snacks, not even pen and paper in my purse. Nice. But we found some pretzels, crackers, juice and entertained ourselves as best we could. I was so very thankful that they were so awesome.
That was Monday, and our week just kind of got carried away with running around and doing the usual stuff.
We had parent-teacher conferences this week for Em. Of course she got a glowing review, she is doing well and Mrs. S. said “I think Emma is going to have a great year. In fact, I don’t think there will ever be a year in her school career that is not good!” It is always fun to hear good things about your kids. I was a little thrown off when she started talking about how the report cards look. I don’t know why but just hearing that she was getting an actual report card this year – it kind of hit me. “Wow. I have a school-aged child. A kid in real school!” So we’ll look for that report in December, but I have a feeling it will be on target.
Emma has added yet another social obligation to her busy calendar. She and her friend Avery decided they wanted to become Gospel Cherubs, part of the children’s choir at church. (Don’t worry my dear family, I think she may have Daddy’s musical genes, or at least part of them, she sounds better than I do any day of the week.) So they have practice during the week and before Sunday school and this Sunday they get to sing at church. They have little choir robes, even, so cute! I think the church would frown upon me taking photos during mass, but I’ll have to sneak one or two of them before and after. Eeee!
Speaking of photos, the girls got their school pics back. Emma’s you have to buy before you see them, and since I know we need a few photos to document her first official year in school (Ahhh!!) I just bought the little package (which was still crazy expensive – do you know how many prints of photos I could make for that amount??). But it turned out pretty well, even if she forgot to put her sweater back on.
(It looks a little washed out here – I fear my scanner has just about had it, but for reals, it looks pretty good.)
And then Addie’s. Yes. Well, they just take a bunch and you come in and view them and see if you would like to purchase them. When she came home after picture day she had a little brush with her name on it. Uh oh. “Um, Addie, did they brush your hair today before your picture?”
“Yes, Mama! Look like, this…”
And then she proceeded to “brush” her curls. Which only makes them frizz and look all…well, like this –
Gah. Doesn’t even look like her without the curls (not to mention the angelic little hands on the knees!), she just looks so, I don’t know? Old?!
Em also got her soccer photos back, which thankfully were included in her soccer registration fee. Why didn’t somebody warn me that having kids is so expensive?!
Cute. The team photo is cute, too – if you leave off the Assistant Coach on the left side.
Speaking of which, we need to go get ready for Em’s game. I’ll continue the update later. Well, on J. and my end I guess all you need to know is that we are working. J. is working hard and traveling next week, and I have turned in three projects this week and have a HUGE one due the week after next. So to sum it up…just work!
I plan on taking some time to go out and hang around with the girls tomorrow. I haven’t picked up my camera all week, so we’ll see you hopefully with something good on Monday!
(I lied…ONE more Halloween photo. But this is it..I promise!)