Eggs anyone?

Michael and Emily attended 4 egg hunts in a row last week: at school, at Holly's, in our neighborhood, and finally, in our backyard on Easter afternoon. Each time they did a little bit better, although the allure of sitting down with the first egg they found and opening it was too much to pass up. That was fine with me, how many plastic eggs does a 2 year old need?

My friend Holly started having an Easter Party on Good Friday when Sophie and her crew were 3. Now they are all in Kindergarten and had to miss it. It was all the 4 year old siblings and my little guys. Holly has it down to a science: it is all outside, the kids play, we dye eggs, pizza is for lunch, then the egg hunt begins. The weather cooperated again this year. It was Michael and Emily's first time attending, and they hung right in there with the big kids.

Strolling in Holly's driveway


Checking out the first egg found

Terry and Sophie went early to our neighborhood Egg Hunt to help set up. Sophie found the egg with the grand prize ticket for her age group, so she was able to pick out a HUGE stuffed bunny to take home. Later on, she told me that she and Dad had hidden those eggs during set up, and realized which one had the grand prize in it. Terry told her to make sure she found that one first. I did admonish both of them that actually, that was cheating. But hey, if you come early to set up, I guess you may be entitled to a little advantage.

Not too sure about this large bunny....but I guess I'll check him out.

Sophie sprinting to what I now know was her "self-hidden" grand prize egg.

Our Easter Day at home was very nice. Mass went well, we got there in time to secure a seat, and that was a feat in itself! All the grands came for dinner at our house later on. Pam's son Paul was in town with his son Robbie. They flew down from IL so Robbie could spend the week at Grandma's for his Spring Break. He is 9, and Sophie was worried he wouldn't want to play with her as she is only 6. As I predicted, they got along famously. He is a really nice little guy, and listening to their dinner conversation was a riot. We introduced the kids to the concept of a kid's table, and that really made for a much more pleasant dinner for all. I can see that this will be the way to go at any holiday from now on.

Are we Green?

I didn't know St Patrick's Day would be such a big deal at Sophie's school. At first I thought it strange, being a public school they are not allowed to celebrate Christmas, Halloween, etc. Then I realized that the emphasis wasn't on the Saint part of the holiday, but rather the Irish, green and leprechaun part. I did tell Sophie the story of St Patrick, and she said to me, "No way, Mom, there really was someone who did all that?" Sigh, guess I am falling down on the job. Anyway, the day was fun and here are some of the highlights.

They had an event called the "Eating of the Green" with their 5th grade buddy class. Each child had to bring in a green food. We made green cupcakes and decorated them with green icing, sprinkles and gum drops. Note my hand restraining Emily, what she would have given to dive right in.

Each child was also asked make and bring in a leprechaun trap. This was one I passed right along to Terry. Just a sign of bigger projects to come.

The leprechaun costume she made in class. The mustache is the best part, it fits right up into their nose. That spawned lots of discussion about other people's germs, not sharing with them, etc.
And to cap off the day we had green pancakes for dinner, along with green grapes.

I'm not really sure how Irish we are, but it was fun pretending for a day!

Beware the Ides of March

It's been a busy week or so. The sale was a great experience. I enjoyed meeting the other women that I only know from their emails. It was a lot of work, we had to set up the entire gym with racks and display tables, then as sellers brought their stuff, set it all out. I was in charge of the girl's clothing section, which is right up my alley. The weather impacted us adversely, and I only have Mary to blame for that. She decided earlier that week she would fly down for the weekend, arriving Sat night and staying until Tues. By Friday night we had tornado warnings, and on Saturday it snowed. After spending hours in Newark airport, she finally packed it in when they told her the flight might leave at 10pm. I don't know for sure how many times this has happened to her when she tries to come to Atlanta in Feb or March, but we now know she is officially jinxed.

My net sales were $489.00. I will definitely be selling again in August. Come on down then, Mare, I doubt it will snow...but maybe a hurricane?

Speaking of weather, we have had our share of it lately. Last night a tornado ripped through downtown, and caused widespread damage. The CNN center, Georgia Dome and other buildings were affected. Lots of glass and debris flying about, and the SEC tournament had to be moved to GA Tech, which holds about 20 thousand less people than the Dome. I heard on the news that the damage to homes and businesses is at the 200 million dollar mark. Today we were under a tornado watch for most of the day. We had really strong rain and wind, and about 4 pm a hailstorm came through. I really did think the windows were going to break, it was coming down sideways and the noise was deafening. Michael and Emily slept thru it, and Sophie was at Noah's, where they didn't even get any hail, just lost power for 3 hours. Here are some pictures:

Oddly enough, as soon as the storm passed, the sun immediately came out, and it was calm and beautiful. It even smelled nice, from all the broken pine branches.
I would say the hail was between penny and nickel size.

In other news Sophie had her long awaited Kindergarden/1st grade Music Performance the night before the set up of the sale. I was impressed with their music teacher, he kept 280 six and seven year olds focused and singing for about 20 minutes. Here she is with her buddies Michelle and Matthew.


Michael and Emily continue to amuse. Yesterday they both needed the bathroom at the same time, and of course, neither one wants the little potty, they both want the "big doilet" as Emily calls it. I compromised by dragging the little potty into the bathroom, Emily sat on that while Michael got the primo seat. I can't quite bring myself to make a video of the fun that ensues and the conversation between them as they sit there. This is what they were doing as I cleaned up the bathroom, and myself, afterwards.

Tangible Results

I think one of the reasons I am so psyched about the upcoming Consignment Sale is that it gives me tangible results of my efforts. Anyone who stays home with little ones knows that there really aren't many of these at the end of the day. Well, for me there's the satisfaction of 3 children happily snoring away by 7:30...but there are still chores to be done, the dishwasher to be loaded or emptied, laundry to be folded or put away, it never ends. I am not complaining, I am very happy in my choice to have children and be home with them. Very happy to be able to enjoy their toddlerhood and childhood because I realize that it is over in the blink of an eye. But, in the words of my favorite mother of multiples Kate, I feel like some days are spent making a meal, serving a meal, cleaning up a meal....start all over. I think that's why working on a project like the sale is satisfying: it has a beginning and an end. Not to mention getting rid of so much STUFF. This is what is in my closet at the moment. I also have another two full racks in the guestroom. Not shown are the larger items, stroller, saucer, bouncy seats, pool floats. If it all sells, I stand to make over $600.00. Not bad for leftovers and hand me downs.




After running to Target this morning, Michael and Emily were playing in the garage while I made lunch. I heard talk about "let's go potty" and when I went out to investigate, here is what I found. Nice usage of the garden; I'll have to remember to clean it really well before I sell it!

I'm So Dizzy.....

That's what Mary started singing to me tonight when I told her I had yet another episode of vertigo last night. She has suffered with it as well, so I thought I would get some sympathy....well, we Maiers aren't known for that! It really does stink, because it comes on without warning. Most episodes end with vomiting, then a 3 or 4 hour nap, until I can stand without swaying. Not good when you are mostly home alone with two 2 year olds. I saw the doctor for it last week, he said it was brought on by an undiagnosed middle ear infection, gave me a steroid pack and medication to take as needed for the dizziness. I completed the steriod pack, and did take the medication last night when I first started feeling dizzy. It only made it much worse, not only was I still dizzy, but I was out of it. Dottie came over about 11 this morning to give the kids their lunch and put them down for nap, she was able to stay until Terry got off work. By 3pm I was much better. So now I am looking for an adult ENT to try and get to the bottom of it. There has to be more that can be done, I cannot function like this...what if I was out with the kids and it happened? Any Atlanta area readers that know of a good ENT?

I took this video this morning ( a little vertigo isn't going to get in the way of recording funny stuff!) while we were all in the family room. I had Sophie bring everyone's clothes down so I wouldn't have to go up and down the stairs again. When I came in to start getting the little ones dressed, Michael and Emily were reading together, and Emily was "helping" Michael count.

In this one, she has been feeding him bananas, and is trying to give him more, even though he has "too much" and has to give me the excess. It is funny how she takes care of him, she really does mother him.

In other news, I have been busy getting all my items entered, ironed, packaged and tagged for our consignment sale. It is next weekend and if you are local and are expecting or have little ones, please come and check us out. There are TONS of clothes, toys, games, baby equipment, etc. all in great condition and at a fraction of the regular price. Several people have asked me if you have to buy in duplicates, I guess the twins thing throws them off. No, you can buy whatever you like, if someone is selling matching highchairs and you need both, go for it, but you are not required to purchase both. And not all clothes are matching either, that is another question I get asked a lot. There will be a handful of matching outfits, but the majority is just regular stuff. I shopped the sale for the first time last August and was impressed at the variety and quality of the merchandise. Since I am a seller, I get to shop right after we finish setting up on Friday night, even before the other members. From what I hear, some of these ladies can get pretty competitive when they see something they have to have, it should be interesting.