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!