Heard around the house this weekend…

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(Addie running through the upstairs with Daddy’s keys…)

D: Hey, Swiper! Give me back my keys.
A: NO! Not Swiper, Daddy. I’m Dora!
E: No, Addie is Boots the monkey!

Then all of us fell out laughing.

I think that Addie’s little role-playing and just her knowledge of all things “kid,” has definitely been enhanced by her big sister. She walks around nearly all day dressed up in the “rella” (Cinderella) blue gown and one shoe. It is always one shoe…I think she is taking the “lost one glass slipper thing” a little bit far…but she never puts them both on! It is crazy how much she has picked up from Em. Emma didn’t know anyone if they didn’t live on Sesame Street or in Blue’s neighborhood until she was three or so. But little A. has been catapulted into Em’s world and she can, and will, tell you the difference between Little Einsteins and The Wonder Pets.

Now really, who needs to watch reality TV when we have our own little cast of fairy tale and cartoon characters right here?

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Don’t know any of the characters mentioned up there? Really?! Um, ok. Then you clearly have not yet been acquainted with the bonita chica, Dora the Explorer. She has a sidekick monkey, named Boots presumably from the large snowboot-like apparel on his monkey toes. And they are always on little missions when “Swiper” the fox manages to foil their plans by swiping something – hence his name. It is a favorite in our house right now, but Em is learning a whole lot of espanol from it, so I am not complaining too loudly.

First Day of School…

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Well, she did it. The earth did not open up and swallow any of us today. We all lived to tell about it – me included. My big girl made it through her first day of school.

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J. had some dental appointment stuff, so he was actually home and took her to school with us, which was great. (Look how “big” she looks!)

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I got a little choked up when I saw her name on the list telling her which room was hers. But I managed to keep it together. Again, so happy J. was there, I think I would have been a much bigger, weepy mess if he wasn’t cracking jokes and making me smile.

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We found her classroom. Her teacher is an older, sweet and very gentle lady who I really like a lot. Em made a beeline for the books as soon as we got her checked in, and barely even noticed when we left.

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(SO excited!) I got a little (ok, a lot) teary as we walked out. But I was ok, I knew that she was in the right place.

Addie, on the other hand, was just trying to figure it all out. Everytime we got in the car she would ask, “Emma? Mama! Emma?” And they had quite the lovefest this afternoon, so happy to be reunited. I think A. really missed her big sister.

A. and I snuck back a little early so we could peek in the windows. E. was laughing and having a great time. She looked like she was an old pro and had been doing the “school thing” for years. And of course she did not stop talking the minute we got back into the car.

“Mom! Didyouknowwedidcraftshadsnackswentoutforrecessandthenthebellrangandthen
wehadtolineupandwereadstoriesandhad SO. MUCH. FUN!”

Yeah, I think it was a success.

tomorrow. tomorrow.

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I will not break into a rendition of the Annie song, “Tomorrow” because I most definitely do not “love ya, tomorrow.”

Tomorrow is the day my sweet, little, first, baby girl goes to school.

*sigh*

Oh, sorry. I mean…

“Yeah! School is going to be so much fun (it will be) and you are going to have a great time (she definitely will) and make so many friends and learn so many cool things (the possibilities are endless).”

We went shopping for her first day of school today. She got to pick out a new outfit. She picked out a new dress. Naturally. And she told everyone in Target that she is going to wear it tomorrow.

“For my first day of school!” – she practically sang it.

I know she is going to be amazing and it is part of her growing up (and away from me). And I can sit here all afternoon, teary-eyed and tell myself that it will give me much needed alone time with Addie. Em needs a new challenge, to stretch her wings out. To grow. It is so necessary. And it is good.

But why does it have to break my heart so?

Happy Birthday, Meesh!

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I purposely didn’t post this morning because I wanted to find this awesome photo of my beautiful sister and I that someone snapped outside the theater went we went to see Wicked last month. We were looking all hotty and dressed up, and sans children.

But in our craziness and trying to get all our photos on the new drive I cannot find this particular pic. It was on J’s camera, and I’m hoping that it is still around. I’ll post it someday for all of you to see.

Anywho…

My baby sister turned 29 today. No, really! She really is 29. I hope you are having a fantastic day, Meesh. Here is to many more years of 29…

We love you. Happy Birthday.

Happy 4th of July!

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Well, it is better late than never. Hope you all had a beautiful 4th of July. We had a great day. But since it is late and I’m madly trying to finish up a project, I’ll just give you a synopsis with pics. (A sort of Wordless Wednesday, with more pics and a few words…)

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Daddy’s girls – waiting for the parade to start. (That little family of mine leaves me breathless, they are all so beautiful!)

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The South Pasadena parade. The girls were there to walk with Miss Claire’s dance classes. J and I walked…Em rode in the decked-out wagon, and Ad got carried through most of the parade. Then we stopped, sat down and watched the rest of the parade!

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We grilled and had a little picnic, and then…a little sugar rush. 4th of July cupcakes. (We ate one for your birthday too, Aunt Meesh!)

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Our own little fireworks display. Em really liked the sparklers this year. We did them last night, tonight and I’m sure we have some for tomorrow night, too.

As always visit flickr for all of the photos and outtakes! I shall return, maybe tomorrow if all settles down…

More on our Picasso

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This is how Em and I spent part of the day…

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Trying to pare down some of the wall ‘o artwork in the air-conditioned, very cool playroom. In retrospect, this should be done without the budding artist standing in the same room.

“Oh, we have to keep that! That was for you!”
“We can’t throw that away, I worked on that with Denise!”
“But I neeeeed that one, too!”

And on and on it went.

We did finally come to some concessions and put away some of her (and addie’s) artwork and recycled the rest. Now we have a clean, blank wall to fill up again!

Our little fishy

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This was taken one moment after she bravely went underwater to “stand” on the bottom! (It was a quick little toe touch, but she was definitely under.)

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I’m so surprised and pleased with how well Em is doing in the lessons. They are super cheap (through the city of San Gabriel) and the instructors are really great. Em is jumping off the side and swimming to the instructors after only 5 lessons. In the deep pool! Very cool. I only wish we could take more sessions, but they kind of interfere with the summer camp, (No, it isn’t school…just camp, remember?) that starts on FRIDAY!

Just Me and Bear – Best Shot Monday

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Taken again in my favorite spot where the sunshine streams through one of our windows in the late afternoon. Addie reminds me of a cat. Sometimes she’ll see a sunny spot and just plop down in it. This time Bear was underneath her when she did. Of course she didn’t actually take a catnap, but it was a brief pause in her usual constant motion.

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(Click for larger image, as always.) I know I’ve been pretty “focused” on Addie lately, I think subconsciously I am gearing up for what is going to be a BIG week of Em. Five days and counting til she goes to “school.”

I keep telling myself that it is just summer camp, it is not really school. (Yes, I’m pretending she is not really going to school, yet!) But to her it is preschool, and it is the school she will be attending in the fall. So I know we’ll have plenty ‘o pics of Em this week, so soak Addie up while you can.

Big Weekend Happenings…

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Actually that title is not very accurate. There was not a lot really happening around here this weekend, except cleaning both the house and our computers.

Actually that really isn’t accurate either. Friday counts as the weekend, and we had a terrific Friday. So I guess we did have some “big” happenings.

Ok, so let’s just start over. We had a very fun-filled, productive weekend. How was yours?

Friday J. and I met up with our friends, Michelle and Eric, and had a fantastic picnic (sans kids!) outside of the Greek Theater while we were waiting for our concert to start. We had not very kid-friendly food like wine, brie, french bread, steak and salad. It was delicious.

And then we got to sit out under the stars, in a gorgeous California summer evening and listen to some mighty fine music. (It was quite a musical week for me last week!) We saw Alison Krauss and Union Station, she is a favorite of J’s. I know some of her music and like it alright. But after seeing her Friday, I think I can seriously call myself a fan. It was a great night – and did I mention, we were without kids?

Saturday we took the girls to see Ratatouille. Very cute movie – and amazingly enough, I got to see the entire movie. Addie sat through just about all of it, and since we were on an aisle, just stood for a little bit of it when she got bored. I’m going to call it her “first” real movie since we didn’t spend any of it roaming the hallway outside the theater.

Then we did a lot of the not so “big” stuff. Cleaned. Worked. Cleaned a little more. J. got me an external drive to consolidate all of my pictures, and my new back-up drive also has a back-up! Just. In. Case.

Huge thank you to him for that. Guess how many photos I have between the desktop we have and my laptop where I have been downloading most of my photos since January. Go on…guess!

Go on, guess. I’ll wait.

Ok, ready? I know we have a lot of photos, but even I was a bit surprised by the sheer volume of pictures we have. And remember we have only had a good digital camera since Em was about 6 months old (October 2003), up until that point I took mostly film. (Which also means I have boxes and boxes of photos, too.)

26,309 photos on the pc, just over 7,000 on my laptop.

Now tell me how sick I would have been if I lost them. We have occasionally backed them up to CDs and DVDs, but we have always been sort of half-hearted about it, thinking we would do a better job. I just feel so relieved now that I know every little step, milestone, and smile that has been recorded of my girls has been backed up. And backed up again.

AH! Speaking of photos. Here is one more “big” happening of the weekend.

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Yup. Big discussion this morning as she was dry again for the third morning in the bathroom between E., A., and I. (She isn’t dry during naps or at night yet…but I can deal with diapers/pull-ups for that!) We agreed that A. is ready for some big girl underwear. So she and I went and picked some out this afternoon. She kept them dry all afternoon and evening.

*Sigh.* It is so fantastic and I know it just means the girls are growing up. But a little piece of me is so sad. It is her last little vestige of baby-ness, floating away.