A boy with many faces

Michael finally got Emily's Barbie and the 3 musketeers mask away from her and really enjoyed trying it on.

But then the garbage men came this afternoon. If we are outside and he hears their truck, he has to run to see them. Today the driver came down and GAVE HIM THIS HAT! I thought he would wet his pants right there...Michael, not the driver. The driver told him, "Here your go dude, this is what the big boys wear!" He wore it the rest of the day, then put it right back on after his bath.

Terry explained to him what camoflauge was, so now he has taken to walking in with it on, and asking if anyone can see him. Gotta embrace your inner redneck.....

Gingerbread Houses and more

December has been a very fun month, how could it not be with all the festivites associated with Christmas? Last week the girls and I went to see The Nutcracker with Pam. A big thanks to her for a wonderful time! I haven't been in years and really enjoyed it. It was Sophie and Emily's first time and they loved it as well. Emily got a little antsy during the 2nd act, but overall did very well. It was such fun to dress up and go to the "big city", reminded me of all our treks into NYC when we were growing up.


And here are my two little angels at their preschool Christmas program. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them dressed up as angels, they won't be able to do that once they hit Kindergarten.

Check out their class, they are a very sweet bunch of kids. Their friends Alex and Sam (also twins) are standing to the left of Emily. Even though Alex is yawning in this picture, he actually did a great job singing. Michael and Emily had their moments as well.

Today Terry and the kids, or should I say Terry, decorated our gingerbread house. I have to give him kudos, it came out great despite all the help they wanted to give him.

No glue gun needed this year, it was already a full house, but he did do a great job with the icing bag. Notice the kids are nowhere to be seen...they called me to come find them in the living room.....

they decided to nap until Dad was ready for them to "help", which was much later on.

All the hard work paid off, now we will see how long it lasts' Emily is dying to get at that candy.

Camp Pine Valley

A few weeks ago Sophie's Brownie troop went Mother/Daughter camping. "Camping" would be a loose term, as we bunked in a cabin, complete with a kitchen and indoor plumbing. But for eight 7-8 year olds and their mothers, it was perfect.

The weather could not have been nicer, sunny and about 65 during the day, and in the 40's at night. We arrived Friday night, and on Saturday morning we went on a "Color Hike" where the girls were paired off and given a color. They had to find items on the hike that were their color.

The foliage was at it's peak, and it was so nice to be outside. For me, it was a pleasure to spend the time with Sophie, to see her interact with her troop and the leaders. Just a joy to have the one on one time with her.

Here they are examining some mushrooms they had found. One was very tiny, the named him Fred and carried him around in half of a nut shell they they also found. But Fred was lost when the girl carrying him took off running. There was much trauma over Fred's fate, and a search party was even convened, with no success. Sophie still talks about him 3 weeks later.

The girls had their own bunk room. There were enough bunks for the mothers to sleep in there as well, but we decided a better idea was to pull our mattresses out to the common room and sleep in front of the indoor fireplace. ( My 6 foot frame would never have fit on those bunks!) This worked out well; we were able to stay up and chat after the girls had gone to bed. This troop is from 3 different elementary schools, so it was a nice chance for me to get to know the other mothers.

Here we are relaxing after our hike and lunch. All the moms had brought books and cell phones to keep up with the kids left at home. (Can you ever truly get away?) We decided to start the outdoor campfire early, so we could do smore's right after dinner. This also gave us an excuse to have to watch said fire vigillantly. During this time the girls played games and explored, it was very relaxing.

Sophie decided to make up a new Try It: Beginning texting for Brownies. Note the sit upons on the bench, I made the exact same kind when I was a Brownie, although they had crib bumper padding in theirs, ours were filled with folded newspaper.

Another one of their Try It activites was on Fire Safety. They learned about this by making an edible fire ring. As you can imagine, that was a big hit.

And of course, no camping trip is complete without s'mores. Just as yummy now as when I made them as a Brownie 30 plus years ago!

Birthday Central

Not to be outdone by big sister, Michael and Emily had some birthday fun of their own. Who knew that 4 years could go by so quickly, and so slowly, all at the same time??

They brought cupcakes to school for the big day, and making them was the best part as I let them lick the batter beaters. Something I was always careful to never let Sophie do...raw eggs, you know. What the heck, I licked MANY a beater in my day, and look how well I turned out.

No kid party this year, but we did have a family party which was a lot of fun. My sister Peg and nephew Brendan were in town, so that made it more special.

My curly haired girl. She is so independent, and really blossoming both socially and "academically"....if there is such a thing for a 4 year old. She can already write her name, and her favorite things to do at school are the writing center, and to play with the other girls. I am always hearing about who her latest friend is. Very into the friend thing these days.

And here's The Mayor. That is what Michael's teacher has nicknamed him, and it is SUCH an apt description of my little guy. He wants to meet everyone, wants to kiss every baby he passes, and wants to tell you all about himself. I will never be able to teach this child "stranger danger" and that's ok, I would rather he see the world with his characteristic optimism that everyone is as excited to see him as he is to see them. He will get that message down the road a bit, for now I enjoy his innocence and enthusiasm for new people and situations.

Cake baked by Grandma Maier and decorated by Grandpa Maier; it was as good as it looks.

The singing of the birthday song, with three seperate areas on the cake for each of their candles.

After the party was over, I stayed up to make these with Emily's new Lego set. I figure this redeems me from all the "towers" and "diving boards" I made when I was a kid.....

Perspective

It's days like yesterday that make it all worth it. Perfect fall weather. Happy, healthly husband and kids enjoying the leaf raking/blowing/jumping/throwing. Counting my blessings.....

Oh, was this a kid's bday party??

Sophie wanted to be able to celebrate her birthay with her three favorite boy friends as well, and since they weren't invited on Friday to the AG store, they came over yesterday after school for ice cream cake. Of course, that meant that Sylvia and Kathleen would have to come too. It had a been a crazy day for me, I was running all over with the twins to get things done, including taking them to lunch at Sophie's school. Have you been in an elementary school lunchroom lately? How they hear anything in there is beyond me, the noise is deafening. It was fun seeing all her friends, and watching her pass out the Rice Krispy treats I had made for them. Of course, Michael loved the social aspect of it, he was sitting with the 5th grade boys by the time lunch was over. Then we had to go to the gym, the Art room and the Music room so Sophie could give each of those teachers a birthday RK treat. In the gym, Coach D put Michael and Emily on a scooter and taught them how to play Sharks and Surfers. In the Music room Mr. Savage had the class sing Happy Birthday to Sophie while he played it on his recorder. Oh, and Michael got to play the bongo drums. By the time they start Kindergarden there, they will know their way around just fine.


So when Kathleen called to check what time to come, and we discussed how the preschool had been on lockdown for the car jacking a few miles away, I told her to bring wine. I was having a crazy day, but she had been locked in her classroom for 90 minutes with 13 three year olds...not enough wine in the world for that! So here's how the party started...I sent all the kids to the basement while I "got things ready". Here's what that looked like:

Yes, apparently I have a thing for redheaded girlfriends........

We finally released the hounds from the basement and they had a fun time singing Happy Birthday to Sophie and opening presents. Everyone left at 5:20, and my husband walked in the door at 5:40 with Sophie's requested birthday pizza. Nicest birthday party ever!

September, October.....birthdays again

I have had this blog since January 2006 and this is the first time I let an entire month pass without one single post. I could say Facebook is to blame, and while that might be somewhat true, it is not the only reason. I do think that FB has made me more complacent...who needs to write paragraphs when you can just post a pithy sentence or two? I knew I was really slacking off when my sister in law got a FB account just to see updated pictures of my kids, and to hear about what we were up to. I like FB, that I will admit. It has allowed me to reconnect with dozens of people from all aspects of my life: High School, College, Work and Singlehood. And it's nice to stay connected to relatives and siblings you don't get to see or talk with on a regular basis. But, it also fuels the "instant gratification" fix that people today seem to crave. I started this blog as a way to keep family informed of how the twins were doing. They were only 4 ms. old then and my free time was non existent. As I got into it, I realized how I enjoyed the writing aspect, and soon was blogging to have a creative outlet for myself, and one that provided tangible results. Truth be told, I do miss that outlet, and vow to post more here, and maybe less on FB......

And the trouble with not blogging regularly is that when you do post, what the heck do you say? So instead of trying to recreate the past month, here is what we did last night. I took Sophie and two of her friends to the American Girl doll store. Sophie was allowed to pick out a doll for herself, and each of her friends brought a bit of money to get something for their dolls. We then went to IHOP for dinner, where one child per adult eats free, plus Sophie ate free since it was her bday, plus they got a huge free desert. So...even though the doll was pricey, the whole evening was still less than a regular birthday party would have been. (and a whole lot simpler...no invitations to create and mail, no goodie bags, etc.) The two friends spent the night and this morning they had a lovely time playing till 10am.

We were accosted by the ladies at the "fake hair" booth on our way to the AG store. Before anyone knew what was happening she has clips in Sophie's hair and a fake hairpiece in Sarah's. Can you say "Tears and Tiaras"??

Sophie had been talking about getting Kit for weeks, she is from the 1930's, and we knew her story from the movie of last year. Here's Sarah with her Kit and Sophie with hers....

Until she thought about it some more and decided on Julie, who is from 1974 and lives in San Francisco. I believe the deciding factor was that Julie has long hair, and anyone knows you can do a lot more with that than with a pageboy like Kit's.

Sophie, Sarah and Sarah Kate with Julie, Kit and Julie. Finally done at the store, it's off to IHOP for dinner.

But first a quick stop at the playground so they can run around and get really hungry. There was a big discussion in the car about whether or not to bring the dolls on the playground. I encouraged leaving them in the car, because I knew who would get stuck holding all three of them....

Me and my girl at IHOP. I still can't believe my little bean is turning 8, it just doesn't seem possible. The wait staff came out clapping and singing to her with a huge sundae for all of them, it was one of the few times I have ever seen Sophie embarrassed. Further proof she is growing up.

Who else remembers making these kinds of potholders?

Of course, no sleepover is complete without a manicure. They wanted me to do their toes, but I passed on that.