The Wannabe

The other morning Michael brought me Sophie's guitar and put on a show. I was wondering where he got his moves until I showed the video to Terry and he burst out laughing. He and Michael had been watching old Who videos on YouTube. I guess this is Michael's rendition of Pete Townsend. Although Pete did not have to contend with the pesky strap like Michael did...

March Madness

March is almost over, and I am really ready for Spring. I've never minded winter, especially since moving South, but am tired of being cooped up. We have had a few days where we've been able to be outside all day, and what a difference that has made. I'm hoping the change in the weather will mean a reduction in the germs we have endured this winter.

So here's some March photos, a hodgepodge of what's been going on.......

Michael and Emily helped each other dress up this morning, Michael was the tooth fairy with two skirts no less, and Emily was Princess Corinne of Barbie and the Three Musketeers fame. They also set up Emily's room for a show, complete with chairs for the stuffed animal audience, and a special pillow for me, their only live guest.


They started swim lessons (which they call swim school, as opposed to land school) about a month ago. This is their first time in lessons and they are doing well. With naptime gone, our pool time will increase this summer in a big way, and I wanted them both to be more secure and independent in the water before that happened.





Sunday afternoon we dyed Easter Eggs, and after the first 12, we hard boiled 6 more since we couldn't bear to waste all that perfectly good dye.....



My brother Bill was in town last week and was able to spend some time with us. It was a shame my kids were so shy and reticent with him though.....

Emily's invention, when the eggs are all done, why not dye toothpicks? Then let them dry and cut out little squares to attach to each one to make flags. This one project kept her occupied the rest of the day.

Strep in the Magic Tree House

This winter has really knocked us out with illness. Nothing major or life threatening, but bad enough to receive the "your child has missed 10 days of school and we may have a social worker contact you" letter. Since Christmas there have been only a few weeks where I haven't had someone home sick. Strep has been the major culprit. I try to roll with it, and adjust my plans to whatever the morning brings, but sometimes it just pisses me off. (my apologies to my mother) I had my entire week planned last week, each day with a list of chores to complete, a couple of days volunteering at both schools. All canceled. Sophie was home on Mon and Tues with allergies. Wed they were all at school, but it was early release. Thurs and Friday both girls were home with strep. Big sigh. Big pity party for me.

It finally hit me....I can't control this so I may as well enjoy it. So what if I have loads of laundry to do, the house is a disaster, I have no idea what is for dinner, and I can write my name in the dust in the bedrooms? My kids won't be sick (or young) forever, so I should enjoy them while I can. Living in the moment is so much better than planning your life away anyway, right? So on Thursday when the test came back positive for both Sophie and Emily, I told them we could have a "spa day" in the morning while Michael was at school. They loved it, and I loved seeing them having fun, even though neither was feeling well. It was a much more enjoyable morning than if I had tried to get a bunch of stuff done, all the while trying to keep them busy and away from me.




One of the plans that we had made was to go to a book signing on Friday night. Mary Pope Osborne was signing (well, really stamping since her hand and wrist surgery) her latest book in The Magic Treehouse series. Sophie discovered them last year and loves the series. The books are about a brother and sister, Jack and Annie, who travel back in time to help historical characters with their dilemmas. I was hesitant about her going, but she really had her heart set on it, so we went. (She had taken two days of antibiotics by this point, so she wasn't contagious anymore...or so I told myself...) I wasn't jazzed about going either, all I wanted to do was get the kids to bed and have some time to unwind. Again, just go with it...we went with friends and saw even more friends there. It was great to see 200+ kids all excited about reading and meeting an author. I enjoyed the message she gave to the children, which was that she had 7 drafts for her first book rejected before it was finally published. On the way home I tried not to hammer that into Sophie, but couldn't resist commenting on how glad I was that she kept trying, or we wouldn't have 43 Magic Treehouse books to read.



The girls are both much better today....and I am hopeful for this coming week, although the nurse did joke with me as we were leaving the pediatrician on Thursday afternoon. His parting shot was, "Bye Mrs. Gould, we'll see you next week with Michael." That is just wrong on so many levels....

You just can't make this stuff up

Today was a school holiday, and we had plans to visit the dentist this morning for Michael and Emily's 6 month checkup. I was also hopeful that Emily could get her teeth "fixed" as she fell in early January and now both of her front teeth are gray. Vain, I know, but they will not fall out for at least another 2 years, and I just can't bear seeing those gray teeth instead of her pearly whites. Even the dentist agreed that her front teeth are unusually large and that bonding them would be a good idea.

So Sophie tells me she is sick, doesn't feel good, can't go with us. I take her temp and it's normal. She does look tired, but has no other symptoms. I tell her she can go, read in the waiting room while I go back with them. The tears and whining ensue, there are no neighbors available to watch her, so I break down and call Terry to see if he can come home to stay with her. He can, and is home in 30 minutes. Right after he arrives home Sophie asks if we will still have our friends over when I get home for our planned playdate. "Um, no, you are sick." "Weeeellllll," she says, "I'm really not that sick. I mean, I'm sick b/c I am grumpy and tired, but I know I will feel better later and Elizabeth should still come over." At this I give her a look that says she had better come up with something better than what I just heard. To which she replies, "OK, OK, maybe I am not that sick, but I don't want to have to wait in the dentist's office for you, but I do still want E to come over...."

This did not sit well with me, as you can imagine. So, no TV, Wii or other screen time for the rest of the day, which trust me, was more painful for me than for her. And a lecture about telling the truth, taking responsibility, etc.

Meanwhile, at the dentist, Michael, who has been worrying the entire morning about the visit, does fabulously, while Emily clams up and has to be bribed every which way to open her mouth. I end up having to sit in the chair, with her on my lap, while the overly sweet hygenist does her best to get her to cooperate. This lady has an alligator puppet with a freakishly large set of adult teeth that she is using to demonstrate to Emily how the "tickle machine" will not hurt" "See, Mr Alligator is fine, you don't hear him crying, do you, it doesn't hurt at all!" To which Emily opens up her mouth enough to respond, "It didn't hurt him because he's not REAL!" I had to keep myself from laughing out loud, and in my head I am thinking, "Well, she's got a point..."

Saturday Snow

We woke up to very bright rooms this morning from all the snow outside. I remembered all the times as a kid when I would go to the window hoping and praying it had snowed the night before. How many times will my children actually have any hope of that?? So it was really neat watching their reactions when they looked outside this morning, and saw that it was all still there.

Terry was out by 9 taking pictures of the house and yard:






Here's a view looking down our street, it was very icy this morning, but is now almost all melted.


The kids were thrilled that the snowman survived, it was the first thing they asked about.

I need to measure that before it melts, but I would say 3 inches most likely.

Sophie had been out for an hour by the time I got myself together and went out to join her. By then she was cold and wanted to come in, but I convinced her to go for walk in the woods behind our house. This is her "ok mom, enough pictures!" look. Michael and Emily had no interest this morning in going outside, and frankly I was glad not to have to dress them only to have them in tears after 30 minutes.


We have a bit of woods behind us that cuts through to another street in our neighborhood. I showed Sophie how to pull down the branches to get all the snow off, we had fun getting each other covered with snow.




Sophie was done after I took this shot, so for now we are all inside again. I'm hoping to get out once more for a walk before it all melts.