The arrival of Little Bill

For those who don't read my brother Mike's blog....his wife Katharine gave birth to their second son yesterday. William Burnet joins big brother James Dalton, 2 years and 2 weeks after
James arrival. Think what great playmates they will be!

We are thrilled to hear the good news, and look forward to seeing them all this Fall. In the meantime, these pictures I swiped from their blog will have to suffice.

Super Stool

I was half joking when I mentioned to my father that it would be nice to have a stool for the bathroom that is twice as long, so both Michael and Emily could stand on it together. A few days later he called and asked me for measurements, and tonight, he brought this over.


Not only practical, but a well made work of art as well. And signed and dated by the craftsman to boot.

Here they are giving it a test run. They loved being able to get to the sink. I have tried to use the stool we have, but neither one wants to wait their turn, so I gave up. This stool solves that problem. Right after these pictures were taken, they brushed their teeth together. This will definitely help in our quest to be out the door at 9am on school mornings.

Thanks Dad, I know the kids will enjoy this for years to come. And thanks to Mom as well, the creamed chicken was delicious. As we were eating, she reminded me that creamed chicken was the dish Michael always chose for his birthday dinner. Bill's was Shrimp Cantonese and mine was Chicken Continental when I was younger, but now is Mom's pork roast with sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and gravy. Yum, makes my bday in 2 months almost something to look forward to! Anyone else remember their birthday dinner?

Battle Royale

That is what I feel like Sophie and I had this morning. She cannot fathom that she is allowed to wear sandals to school, in her mind she MUST WEAR SNEAKERS. Yes, that was the rule at preschool, but in Kindergarten, you do not have to wear sneakers except on PE days. You might consider wearing sandals, they do look cute with a skort. Today was picture day, and I gave her 2 choices of what she could wear. Nope, none of them looked good with sneakers. After her whining about it, and me trying to compromise with other outfits, which for various reasons she wouldn't wear, I gave up. By this time is was 6:15, and we still had to eat breakfast, get dressed and leave for the bus in the next 30 minutes. So, I channeled some of what my mother would have told me:

"This is what you are wearing, stop the whining and let's go eat breakfast."

"But Mommy, I don't like it!"

"I didn't say you had to like it, I just said you had to wear it."

Wow, she did not like that at all. Slammed her bedroom door and shot down the stairs, muttering, "my mother is such a pain, she never lets me do what I want!"

She sort of turned a corner at breakfast, and we joked some and things got better. But then, we went upstairs to get dressed. Again, the whole sneaker debate. I refused to argue, just repeated that you can wear sandals, and we can pack your sneakers for the playground. Then, I pulled out a red bow for her hair. That was the final straw.

"I am not wearing a bow, no way, I hate that bow!"

Mind you, it is a small bow, attached to a barrette that she would be wearing anyway.

"You can take the bow off and put it in your backpack after you have your picture taken, but for the picture, I want the bow on."

We had a pretty silent walk to the bus stop, and when we arrived the first thing Lily's mother Karin said to her was, "Sophie I love your outfit and your bow, you are going to look great for your picture."

Very begrudgingly she said, "Thank you. I didn't want to wear the bow, but my mother made me" All the while frowning at me.

Then her friend Bella showed up, in a dress, a dress God forbid, how can you play in that?? (Bella and Lily wear dresses every day, except when they have PE, Sophie is amazed by this.) Not only a bow in her hair, but a bow that her mother had made to match her dress. See Sophie, you could have it worse, you really could.

The Big Wide World

Michael and Emily took on a whole new world today, one that their sister left behind as she entered her new world of Kindergarten. Today was their first day of Mother's Morning Out. Being the sign queen, I of course, had to make them for one just like I did for Soph 4 years ago:
We started with the most important meal of the day:

Michael was willing to pose with the sign; Emily just wanted to get her hands on the camera. Then she found Michael's discarded cup to play with, and she was done with the posing.

Michael is really becoming a ham, and will even say "geez" when you take his photo.

This next is really just to show you how crappy our lawn has become, thanks to the drought, and the recent 100 degree temps. Even running the sprinkler system right now is an exercise in futility, and a waste of money. If God wants my lawn green, He can send some rain!

But I digress. I wasn't sure how they would do this first morning, but I needn't have worried. While waiting for the doors to open (yes, we were one of the first to arrive, along with my friend Sharon, also a mother of twins, go figure) Emily stood on her tip-toes and tried to open it herself. Once the secretary unlocked and opened it, Emily bolted in and took off down the hall. Michael preferred to check out each classroom along the way. When we got to their room, Miss Marsha bent down to greet them. Emily walked past her to see what was in the room, but Michael gave her a hug, which was unexpected. Once in the room he realized I was leaving, and started to back out the door, but Miss Marie distracted him with a "cuck" (truck) and that was all it took. By this time Emily was sitting at the table playing with a puzzle. Marsha looked at me and said "ok, scoot" which I did. Pretty painless. I think being the first kids to arrive helped, there was no one else clinging or crying, which is contagious.

I arrived about 2 minutes early to pick them up, and they were the only ones left in the classroom. Marsha told me all the other moms got there about 15 minutes early, and that set off most of the kids, but M and Em didn't cry at all. I was pretty impressed by that. So, it looks like we are off to a great start.

After a well deserved nap, the fun continued: And not to be left out, here is Sophie last Friday checking out her Sally Foster catalog. She is wearing her "spirit wear" which she was excited about, and her cheeks are rosy from the hot bus ride and walk home. She is still struggling with getting up in the mornings, still very tired, and still very disagreeable and prone to falling apart when she gets home. But, she is doing fine in the classroom, and that is what is important right now. As long as she is holding it together at school, learning to hold it together at home will come in time. I hope.

I've arrived

I have officially arrived as the mother of a school age child: Today Sophie brought home the Sally Foster packet. Or as she told me, "Mom, we are selling Harry Foster, and you can get prizes and stuff. They have wrapping paper, chocolate, and even toys. Can we buy some Mom, can we??" This was said with the most excitement I have heard all week.

All the neighbors that we have bought from for the last 10 years, watch out. Sophie will be paying you a vist VERY soon!

Kindergarten Chaos

I am glad I waited till today to post about Sophie's first week of Kindergarten. If you had asked me how it went Monday, I would have said "Great!". She wasn't thrilled to get up at 6:05am, but then again, neither was I. She was very excited about the bus, but didn't want me bringing my camera to the bus stop. So, here are the photos in front of the house, with the necessary signage.



It felt wierd walking back into the house at 7:05, Sophie gone until 2:45, and the twins still asleep. What to do? How about enjoy breakfast and read the paper for a few minutes? Very nice. The girls arrived about 8:30. I had invited them over for muffins and coffee, so we could swap stories of how our kids did that morning, and celebrate this milestone. Holly showed up with a bottle of champagne, so we had mimosas to boot.

Not so sad moms Kathleen and Holly.

Looking less and less sad: Me and Paula

Looking downright ecstatic: Rebekah and Paula

The rest of the day was uneventful. Michael and Emily had a great time playing with the 3 and 4 year olds that morning, and took a good nap. I did some laundry, bills, stuff like that, all the while keeping an eye on the clock. At 2:30 I walked up to the bus stop and there was Sophie, happily getting off the bus.
Here she is with (from left) Lily and Bella, who have also started Kindergarten this year. Lily is Sophie's assigned seat mate on the bus, and both of them live up the street from us. Sophie has already asked when she can have them over to play. Their moms are nice, I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship. I made "indoor smores" for after school snack, it was a hit.

So all went fine until I was tucking her in. Then the floodgates opened, and she sobbed for 30 minutes. I was taken aback to say the least. I knew she was tired, but she let loose with "Please don't make me go back, I don't like it, it's boring (new favorite all purpose word), I just want to go back to Mt. Zion and see my friends!" When I reminded her that her friends were all in Kindergarten too she responded, "No, Mommy, that is not what I want you to tell me!" I did manage to calm her down and she told me that 3 girls in her class were reading together, and went she approached them to ask if she could read too, they covered up the book so she couldn't see it, and turned away from her. I knew she wasn't making this up b/c I had observed this happening last week at Meet and Greet. At the time I thought that they must be friends from outside school, but still thought it pretty crappy for them to exclude another child like that. I know your child can't be friends with everyone, but Kindergarten cliques, come on! I finally got her to focus on some of the more postive aspects of her day, the ones she had been telling me about up until bedtime, and that seemed to make her feel better.

I also sent her teacher an email, asking if she had been ok during the day, and letting her know what had happened at bedtime. Sophie has lucked out with a great teacher, she not only emailed me right back, at 10:30pm, but called me the next morning when I got back from the bus stop to make sure I had received her email. Sophie had a great first day, she told me, she was fine at school. She assured me that falling apart at home was quite normal, and that it really took until December for the children to adjust to being so busy for a full day. She also thanked me for letting her know about the "mean girls" and said she would nip that in the bud. Sophie came home on Tuesday and happily told me that they had let her play with them. That night at bedtime, she only sobbed for about 10 minutes. Each day has gotten better and I have not heard the "don't make me go back" mantra since Tuesday night. But boy, she is TIRED. Tonight at 5:45 she told me she wanted to take a nap. No nap, just in the tub at 6pm, and asleep at 6:30. With no complaints, that is how I know she is really tired.

And Michael and Emily? They are fighting a stomach bug. Yesterday after nap Emily woke up lethargic and burning up. Her temp was 102 and after 10 minutes of laying on me in the rocking chair, she threw up all over both of us. No Meet and Greet for her this morning at Mt Zion. And my blogging was just interrupted for about 30 minutes. Michael woke up with the cry that let's you know something is wrong, he is now burning up, and after sitting with him for about 10 minutes, he threw up all over both of us as well. So, a quick bath for him, and he fell sound asleep while I was getting his clean pj's on. Don't think the three of us will be going to my Media Center (why can't they just call it the library?) orientation tomorrow at Soph's school, which is just as well. We could use a quiet day at home, this Kindergarten stuff is exhausting!

Finally, NJ pics

Who knew that Sophie's first week of Kindergarten would leave me so tired?? I have been meaning to get these pics up for awhile now, but with all the nightly paperwork, tantrums and early mornings, I haven't had the energy. Will delve into Kindergarten in tomorrow's post. Yes, I am posting a TON of pics, and these don't even include the ones that Peg and Mary sent me, will have to add those in later. Without further ado....

Sophie on cousin Tom's shoulders

Brad and Kelly show Sophie how it's done in High School Musical

Brad posing for his Heisman with Tom.

Kel missed her appnt to have her sutures removed. Not a problem, Aunt Mary is up to the job.
The girls making brownies.
Who needs waffles and bananas when you can have Froot Loops??
Rad Brad and Sophie.

Kelly is amazed at Emily's tenacity with the bucket full of water.


Can two babies fit in this bucket??
My stud nephews, Tom and Alex show their stuff in Tom's daily Boot Camp session.
Connect 4, our new favorite game.
Leslie entertaining the troops, it's so nice to have an older cousin who can read!
Jack, Brendan, me, Michael and Brad sharing a special moment.......

More to come.....just in case this isn't enough!

A Post from lovely Jackson, NJ

Our trip to NJ could not be going better! We had a great flight up, I am happy to report that flying non-rev was easy as pie with two toddlers, a 5.5 yr old, one stressed mother, and Aunt Pat, the professional. We were able to get our own row, I had Michael in his car seat next to me, and Sophie and Emily, in her car seat, sat with Pat across the aisle. Michael played contentedly with his new cars the entire trip, while Emily gave Aunt Pat a run for her money. She is the fiesty one, as it is turning out. They each did have a dirty diaper, and as the plane had no facilities for changing, they allowed me to change them in our own row, a rarity as Pat explained.

Since arriving last Thursday, it has been non stop visiting and action, so much fun. We have been to the beach, played with Brad's skateboard, had "baby in a bucket" in the backyard. The girls had a night out to dinner on Saturday, Aunts Mary and Peg slept over. Kelly and Brad introduced Sophie to High School Musical, we took a trip to the outlets. Uncle Tom has taken walks with Emily and Michael up and down the street. Emily LOVES Uncle Tom and Aunt Pat, and will drop me in a heartbeat for either of them or her cousins. Even Michael is coming out of his shell, he is having a blast with his Tonka truck that Uncle Tom got down from the attic, and likes going on Brad's skateboard as well.

Monday we went to the water park. Aunt Ann, Leslie and Jack made the trip down, which was so nice of them. Sophie and Leslie had a very detailed discussion around Polly Pockets, which was hilarious. Also, Peg and Brendan joined us. It was a lot of fun to see all the kids having fun together. Once back at the ranch, we enjoyed a pizza dinner....just nothing like it in the South. I have to say, I have enjoyed having Taylor Ham, bagels and REAL pizza. I have a lot of pictures, but will post them once we arrive home. We have a flight tomorrow morning, have to be back for Sophie's Kindergarten Meet and Great on Thursday morning. Otherwise, we might stay another week. As Sophie told me last night, "Mom, can we move to NJ, it's so much fun here". And to think leaving for me took the trail of tears....

Oh, and one more thing, guess who can now climb out of their pack and play......that made for an interesting night for me last night.....more on that later as well.