I realize it is only Thursday for another 90 minutes. On the west coast. But I’m going to just squeak a little post in here under the wire.

I feel like I need to just write a few things that are making me happy because I am fighting a very bad mood today. Two girls who have not had their listening ears on.  A newsletter that keeps getting pushed into my crafting time due to other people not getting their stuff to me on time. Driving. Kids. EVERYWHERE.  Grrr….

So let’s just remember those things that really make me happy, shall we?

• Chili Night on chilly nights.
• Being productive and crafty while watching good Thursday TV shows.
• GOOD Thursday TV shows.
• Naughty monkeys who stop right in front of you when you are about to lose it and say, “Ah…I love you Mommy.”
• A nice, hot cup of coffee and two hours of peace and quiet mid-afternoon.
• A house that smells amazingly clean and doesn’t need the walk through clean-up in each room.
• The promise of Friday…

I know.

I have been a horrible blogger and practically non-existent as a photographer. And I have been even worse at visiting and seeing what all my bloggy friends are up to. I am trying very hard to get back into some sort of routine but instead of getting easier, it seems more and more impossible. Maybe our routine, that “normal,” just doesn’t exist any more.

Anyhow, this week we are back to bullet points because despite my attempt to carve out some time for this, I have about five minutes to try to document everything from the past week. So bullets it is…

• All of our October commitments are finally finished. The Pumpkin Patch at Addie’s school – The Fall Carnival at Em’s school. The past few weeks have been crazy with obligations (mostly mine because I cannot say no) for both of them. But they are done. Bring on November, I say.



• And I have a very good start on Halloween costumes. What? I have nearly 24 hours before Em needs hers for school! Plenty of time. We are having a little Halloween party for Addie and a few of her friends because they do not get to dress up at school. So I have at least 30-ish hours for hers. I’m mostly re-purposing old costumes for them, so really it should be easy.
• Despite all of my complaining about craziness, we have been able to have a little fun this past week. J’s mom and friend are here and have afforded us cheap babysitters for two different evenings out in the past four days. (Thanks, Debby & Barb!)
• First up, gotta give props to U2 and Sunday night’s concert. Incredible. They are one band who can pull off a huge stadium crammed with 95,000+ fans and still put on a great show. And the Black Eyed Peas opened for them and I didn’t realize how much I liked them until after I saw them either. Great show!
• And we got to be totally spontaneous this week, too! J. called me (very) last minute on Tuesday because he had scored tix to the Lakers season opener. That was pretty fun, too. I liked people watching (trying to spy celebrities) and um…watching the Lakers win too, of course.
• Addie has decided she is going to be a veterinarian when she grows up. But she doesn’t want to help snakes. When we asked her if she wanted to work with small animals like cats and dogs (knowing full well this was probably the case) or big animals, like elephants and other animals at the zoo, she said, “only little animals like bunnies, kitties and baby elephants!”

• We have pumpkins to carve still. Blech. I hate the pumpkin guts.
• 55 days til Christmas, just in case you were unaware and haven’t visited the Hallomas (or Christoween) decorations at Target.  Addie was very concerned when we were in Target one day and she thought she had missed Halloween. “Mama? Did Halloween already go by? Is it Christmas now?” I had to stop and reassure myself that it was indeed a few weeks BEFORE Halloween, and yes, there are Christmas decorations out already. Poor Thanksgiving. It really does get the shaft.
• I have, however, started Christmas shopping and craft planning for gifts. So I feel a little smug and cocky.
• Ah, don’t worry. I’ll be behind again by the time next week rolls around.

Happy Thursday, everyone.

Limping, crawling, dragging…

…but, hey! We are here. Sheeeweeew. It has been a really long week.

Let’s kick off This & That with our crazy Addie expression for the week:

I know it isn’t really in focus, but trying to capture all of her crazy faces, while she is moving at the speed of light, is a feat all unto itself.

My happiest moment this week? Monday night around 7:30pm when Addie’s mouth finally stopped moving. I know, I know…someday I’m going to miss this. But! Oh.My.Peas. Seriously?

Ad didn’t have school, but Em did, so Addie just followed me around and talked. Non-stop. We were in JoAnn Fabrics right when they opened, so we were the only ones in the store. And I kid you not, when we got up to the checkout the salesperson was cracking up when she said, “Wow, did she have some coffee this morning or what? It is only 9:30am and she is good to go!” She did not stop talking the entire time.

And then we went over to do our bi-monthly Costco run, and the running commentary just continued. There was a brief respite when Em got home, but…CHATTERBOX! Wow.

And then Wednesday was Em’s day with no school due to Parent/Teacher conferences. There was much less chattiness with Em, and she was just thrilled to pieces when her two friends got to come over and relieve her from spending time with her MOM!

Or maybe she just still traumatized by me taking her on California Screamin’ at Disneyland last weekend. Hee. It is a very fun rollercoaster and Em asked me while we were in line, “Does this go upside down, Mama?” I told her I didn’t think so, but I had never been on it before.

It does. Of course. After we did the upside-down loop she said to me, “Mama?! Did we go upside-down?” I said, “Yeah! Did you miss it?”

“I think I had my eyes closed. It was scary. I don’t like the upside-down, but I do like the fast up and down parts.”

That’s my girl.

The past two days have been awesome, very atypical, fall-like weather for Southern California. We had some storms! It was really nice to have a few days of chilly, rainy weather and it was satisfying to pull out the ‘ol sweaters.

Of course, all I really wanted to do was curl up in front of the fire and finish reading my books. I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series – it is even better the second third time around. I keep trying to assess whether they are too dark to start reading to Em. I can’t wait to read them with her! Although we have been reading Little House on the Prairie, and there are some pretty serious parts in there. Like Indian attacks, massacres, etc. I had forgotten about most of that (it was at least 25 years ago when I last read them!) and I cannot just skip over things anymore, either. “Eagle-eyed” Emma will correct me if I dare try to “trim” off any words.

And if I can just brag for a moment? She is reading at a 3rd grade reading level. And is plowing through her timed math tests. And will be in the group that gets a specialized spelling test each week – because the normal one is too easy. Miss Smartypants. Her teacher basically said in her conference today, “Um, I don’t really have anything I need you to work on with her. Just keep doing what you are doing.”

That is validating, for sure. And I’m very proud of her. My friend Jamie said, “She is like a mushroom. She can be shut in a dark place given a little water and she will still thrive.”

So very true. Only it is Addie we need to shut in a dark place for bit. My ears are still ringing. Or maybe it is Harry Potter calling to me. Or maybe I’m just very, very tired.

Happy Thursday to you all…

Mmmmwwwaaahh!

Hello?

Hi there. Just climbing out of the vortex over here. Oh, Mama…it has been some crazy days and wasted nights. I’m not really even sure where to start. Is it really Thursday? Is the weekend really only a mere day away? Heavens. If any post should be a This & That, this one definitely should be. I’ll just start the complete randomness dump of our past week now.

First month of school. First Pride assembly. And yep, the first round of Super Cougars included our Emma again. This is something I hope she does make a habit of. And it was even cooler that her BFF, Audrey, was a fellow Super Cougar as well. How very cute (and proud) are they?

So that was last week Friday morning. And in the afternoon? We visited the dentist. Where it was determined that Em’s front, teeny, tiny, little baby tooth that has been wiggly for months, (which was sitting in front of the adult teeth that are nearly grown in already) had to come out. Thankfully Daddy volunteered (or rather, did as he was strongly suggested to do) to take her in. She was amazing. Very brave. She got some nitrous gas, a shot, and they yanked the tooth out. It looks so much better and we are all a lot happier now that it is out. I have some fun photos and a little Tooth Fairy story…I’ll have to try to get that up tomorrow. She is one funny kid!

We got some comp tickets to see Snow White at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood over the weekend. (Thanks J & J!) I couldn’t believe when J. told me that he didn’t think he had ever seen the movie. But as I was watching it, there were huge chunks of it I don’t think I remember ever seeing either. It was a nice refresher at any rate, and the girls loved it. They had 3-D glasses for the one preview, and Addie decided she didn’t want to take hers off. I’m not sure how Snow White looked to her through these, but she didn’t seem to mind.

Addie also got moved up to a different class this week. It is an afternoon class, which is good for my so-not-a-morning-monkey. And it is a true pre-K class, which is good for my Addikins-who-is-going-to-be-a-real-kindergartner-next-year! And it is everyday, which is very good for my please-can-I-go-to-school-on-this-day-little-socialite.

I had to talk myself into switching her over to this class. It really kind of broke my heart – just a crack. Does she really need to go everyday? Probably not. Does she really want to go everyday? Oh. Yes! And I sat in her class for a few minutes on Monday, and honestly? I want to go to her class everyday. Her new teacher is like Mary Poppins (accent and all!). Yeah, she rocks. I get it now. And I know Ad has only had two and a half days in the new class, but I’m already noticing subtle differences. She went from paint blobs (so last week) to drawing honest-to-goodness butterflies in the past few days. I will take photos – they are most definitely discernible butterflies, you don’t even need to be told that is what they are! And pages and pages of recognizable, written Bs, their letter of the week. I’m kind of astounded and pleased with the development.

The extra two days, really only buys me an extra hour a week. I had 9 hours of alone time to fill before, and now I have 10 since Em gets out of school an hour before Addie now. But that extra “alone” time with Em has also been really, really nice. Sometimes you don’t even realize that something is missing. We get a little time to ourselves, and I can watch Em literally change back into a sweet, helpful girl. Who knew she just needed a little Mommy time, sans Addie?

I edited, laid out, and turned over my first newsletter for the PTA today, which ate up far more time than I could have ever imagined over the past two weeks. What I volunteered for was to “help with the newsletter,” since I have those kind of skills and all. What I GOT was the entire editorship of the newsletter for the year. Still not quite sure how I managed that one. But the first one is under my belt, and I expect the next ones will go a little more smoothly.

We also had our first non-official, informational meeting for our new Daisy Scout troop at our house last night. You remember the troop where we were going to “try it out” with maybe 5-6 girls? We had 12 – I think pretty interested – moms and at least 3 others who couldn’t make it. So 5 girls has turned into 15. Again, not sure how that all happened, but I expect we are going to have a very interesting year!

And I know a million other little things have happened that I’m sure would make riveting blog fodder, but I just can’t think anymore. I need to get some sleep while I can. Tomorrow is another day and more of the same. I was bummed to have missed Crafty Tuesday this week, but then I saw this quote on In My Shoes today…

The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I was off creating a harmonious home, family memories and flowing laughter. So I was being creative and crafty! And, there is always next week!

Happy Thursday!

• This is our first official week with everyone in school and all of the activities starting. And I’m already…tired. But I think we are in for a very fun year.

• Emma is incredibly psyched that she has moved up and she is now in the 6-7 year old ballet class. And they get to wear black leotards. Just like the BIG girl ballerinas. It was the highlight of her week I think when we walked into the studio, she was beaming, grinning from ear-to-ear. The en pointe class is after Em’s and she walks out ever so slowly, gawking in obvious awe of the big girls putting their pointe shoes on. She is determined to get to dance on her toes one day.

• She has decided against playing soccer this year, which is actually a-ok with me. I would like her to try out some sports and find a team sport that she enjoys, but there is plenty of time for that. She asked if she could try gymnastics class with Addie and they are both in the same class on Saturday mornings…combined activities, yes! Only one trip and one hour to the gym, that is a-ok with me, too.
• Today Em starts choir again, too. Addie is still too young – although I think she is going to be the one with some musical ability – but Em is very excited to start up. Miss Suzanne swears she can *teach* anyone some rhythm and pitch, but she clearly has never heard me sing. Ah, poor Em. Let’s hope Daddy’s musical awesomeness wears off on her, and not Mama’s tone deafness.
• And tomorrow another mom and I are meeting with the Girl Scouts so we can get a Daisy troop started for our first grade class. I was a Girl Scout and still think it is a fantastic activity for girls. Plus if I can get one started maybe we will be ahead of the game when Addie is old enough. I foresee more combined activities! Double yes! And just think, pretty soon you will all have a direct line to GS cookies! Mmmm…somoas, thin mints, peanut butter patties. You are drooling at the mere mention of them, aren’t you?
• Well, no wonder we are all a little tired this week. But it is already Thursday. And GOOD TV is starting up again! Survivor starts tonight. Every year I say I’m not going to watch it any more, and every year I get sucked back in. It is a guilty pleasure, though. And vegging on the sofa with J., watching TV is something I’m not giving up any time soon.
• Addie and her little friend, who is over for a playdate, are finishing up their painting masterpieces, so I better go survey the mess and figure out if I have enough time for a clean-up before we pick up Em.

Hope you are all having a fantastic Thursday.

Wow. It is already Thursday.

We are finally getting into the swing of summer, just in time for it to get all shaken up again next week.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating – SWIMMING ROCKS! And it also makes the girls sleep like little rocks.

Case in point: Yesterday morning I got up to a quiet house. So J. and I tag-teamed, he went for a bike ride, came back, I went out for a run. After I came back, we had breakfast, J. showered, and then left for work.

I went up and checked on Addie…

…she was still out. So I did two loads of laundry, called the insurance company, then called and made two doctor appointments.

Still, no Addie. Em was up and lounging around, but not a peep from our sleeping beauty.

So I checked email, read a few blogs, cleaned up the kitchen and started the dishwasher. Then I decided I couldn’t stall any longer. It was time for a shower since Em had to be to swim lessons in a half hour, and I started upstairs. I peeked in on Addie and she was lying in bed – awake – but just stretching and leisurely chatting with her stuffed animals.

M: Good morning, Monkey! I thought you were going to sleep the day away.
A: I’m just waking up in my time, Mama.
M: Oh, in your time. I see. (As I laid down beside her in bed.)
A: (Eyeing me warily) Are we gonna go to run?
M: Nope. I already went this morning.
A: Oh. So you are getting sweating all over? All on my bed?

Sweet sassy molassy.

I have also been kicked out of my little nook. Emma and I fight for “nook time.” My sewing projects are calling to me, but PBSkids.org is Emma’s siren call. Thankfully, Daddy got her hooked up on the little laptop so I can get my office back. Now I just need to institute some timer guidelines, otherwise she’d play all day on the computer.

And Addie has found the computer intriguing as well.

So we have been trying – rather I have been trying – to get everyone a little more active. It is hard when it is really hot, so the swimming and the pool have been really useful in that respect. But when it cools off at night, Em has been riding her bike, while Ad and I run alongside of her. It seems to be working for everyone and probably contributes to the vastly improved sleeping habits around here, too. Plus we joined the YMCA as a family. They have open swim at their pool (good!), kids’ fitness classes (very good!) and even better classes for Mommys like the torturous Pilates classes that completely kicks my butt (very, very good!).

Although it is not advisable to try to go for a run, catch kids for 2 hours in the deep end of the pool while treading water, and then take a Pilates class. All in one day. It is a bit much, that is all I’m saying.

And as a reward for all of our good fitness decisions lately? J. found a great dessert place that has…I think…(dare I say it?) replaced the Cold Stone Creamery in our house.

I know, I KNOW! You would think that it simply cannot be done. And get this…it is not even another ice cream place, it is a frozen yogurt shop! And I don’t typically even like frozen yogurt! But, mmm…I love this place. It is so incredibly good.

And even better, (can it really get better?) tonight we all got our own little dish, I think everyone had at least two types of yogurt or more, and we each had at least two or more toppings (picture a do-it-yourself sundae bar with ALL the fixings!), and it was under $10 for all four of our treats! No more $25 ice cream trips.

Yogurtland. Go. Try it. You’ll like it. Take it from a non-believer, and two very satisfied monkeys.

Happy Thursday!