Not like the old days

We have been loving this weather lately, even though it plummeted in the last few days.  The girls had off their birthday week and we spent a lot of it outside with some of their new presents.  They wanted roller skates and I wanted to get them new bicycles.

Their grandparents came over their actual birthday-day and we opened presents from them that night and as promised, my mom got them the much longed for roller skates.  They are just like the kind I had when I was little - they expand to fit around your sneakers.  Except these are cute friendly, pink plastic princess ones and mine were hard, unforgiving metal that would probably have given me tetanus if I fell on them the wrong way.  But hey - we all survived.  And what's with the helmet and knee pads, Katie?  It's no fun unless you're risking life and limb.

Maddie, who has never been adventurous as Katie, saw her sister wobbling around and decided that bubbles would do her just fine, thank you very much.  Which was fine with me, too, - because as much as Maddie doesn't like the athletics, I don't like it when she falls and had bloody scabs for days either.  Hey - she has other gifts - the kid was reading when she was two - she'll be just fine.

Her goal was to blow a BIG bubble and she just couldn't get it - and not for lack of trying.  So I jumped in "Mommy will show you how!" and darn it if I couldn't do it either.  I blew into the wand reaaalllll sllooooowww and it just wasn't happening.  Skates and bubbles.  They just don't make them like they used to.

A-Z on Mondays: M is for Maddie! AND .... Happy Birthday to My Girls!!!

Lots of business today!


FIRST ... Happy Birthday to my little girls!!! Katie and Maddie are three years old today! It is a crappy rainy day here - but we are celebrating inside. We had a kiddie party Saturday night with their cousins and I'll post all about it tomorrow!


SECOND ... We are at M in our A-Z journey - and of course today is all about Maddie.

Today was Maddie's first day of school. I always knew that I would separate the girls once they started school - and I even went so far as to find different schools for them. Their needs are so different and I wanted to make sure that they would each be in the best environment for them.

Maddie likes small groups. She really gets absorbed in her tasks and doesn't flit from one activity to the next. Her memory is amazing - she can recite whole books from beginning to end after only reading them once or twice!

So I found a school for her that has a very small student/teacher ratio - in fact there are only 5 other kids in her class. Perfect for Maddie! They take the kids for preschool when they turn three (not just in September - Katie won't start until then) and she didn't have to be potty trained - BONUS! I'll do a more detailed post later this week - but she LOVED it today. Her smiles do not lie! :)

My heart was breaking when I left her at school today - but I am so excited to see her blossom. I have always said that Katie is my "big girl" and Maddie is my "baby" - and my baby is growing up. I am totally crying again.

From birth to today ... Maddie ...

This last picture was taken this just this afternoon as she was getting off the bus!

I love you forever, baby.


(For more A-Z on Mondays, visit Jen over at Unglazed!)

My babies are almost three - when did that happen?

Most of you know that after Andy and I were married we were unable to get pregnant for two years. I now know that two years is not that long of a time. I have read incredible stories from many blog friends who have been trying for much longer. But at the time I had no other perspective - none of my friends had any problems - so two years were an eternity. We finally were able to have our baby girls through IVF and are so thankful everyday.

The girls are turning three in less than a month and it blows my mind! Where did my little babies go? Katie, especially, is growing bigger and bigger everytime I look at her. She is close to two inches taller than Maddie at this point. (Maddie is destined to have her mother's body type - poor thing!)

We are celebrating with their cousins (second cousins, really - they have no first cousins, yet) in a few weeks and I decided to make their invitation Check it out ...

I am a digiscrapper now and I thought, "I can do this" - and do this I did. I used a kit called "Birthday Bash" by Nikki Scott. You can find her products at Elemental Scraps, an online Digiscrap store I spend a good chunk of time browsing.

The theme is "The Wonder Pets" - and I am so excited. We all love the show - Andy and I can sit through them and crack up the whole time. That little Ming Ming is just adorable. I found a picture on the web and copied and pasted it. The colors of the kit match it perfectly.

I have lots of planning to do!!!!!

Crazy Birthday

Yesterday was a day of craziness. First I wake up super early to shower because the contractors are coming to work in the living room and I want to look like a human being.

Then, I start to do my hair and pick up my hot air curling brush - it looks like this ...

I turned it on and nothing - not a sound. Broken. Grrrr ... so I had to use a brush and my regular blowdryer, with which I am not coordinated at all. But, if I don't put some sort of curl/body into my hair, it looks like this ...


So I get dressed, go downstairs and proceed to break apart two little girls who have reached the wrestling stage of their lives. I say, "It's Mommy's birthday!" to which Katie replies, "Id's not Mommy birday - nooooo ... id's Daddy's birday" all sullen-like. Then I tickle her and she cracks up.

Not only did I have two men working in my living room all day (who are doing a fantabulous job, by the way ... a whole post on that is coming soon) - but the Water Meter Reader guy was coming by, too, to install some thing-a-ma-job that lets them read water from the street. And he smelled soooo badly like cigars I could have sworn he was smoking one in my basement. I actually went down and checked a couple of times to be sure he wasn't chewing on one.

Maddie wasn't in the mood - so Katie and I made cupcakes just before lunch. She did such a great job! She emptied the bag of cake mix, she poured the water and the oil, (I did the eggs), and she stirred it all up - even held the mixer (with Mommy's help). She held the tray as I poured the mix into each little cupcake paper, which she layed out herself. I could totally see the pride all over her face - it was awesome.

(Aargh - I have no picture of this!)

They ate, had a nice long nap - and my mom and brothers came over for Chinese food - and Andy managed an early night from work, too. I haven't seen my brother Jeffery in years - YEARS! We talked on the phone all the time - but it's not the same. He hadn't seen the girls since they were about 3 months old. He just recently moved back from Vermont and I am so excited that the girls can get to know their granola-crunchy uncle better!

After my brothers left, my mom stayed so Andy and I could make a run to CVS to buy me a new hot air curling brush. I was in sweats, he was in these LL Bean nylon rain pants - and he all of the sudden is in the mood for "a pint" - you know, because we live in the middle of London and all. I look at him and can tell he is totally into it - but all I can think of is how it's 9:30 on a Friday night - how the bars and restaurants are hoppin' - and how much I DO NOT want to walk into a place with no make up on and sweats that are too long on me. Thankfully, he came to that conclusion, too - so we booked my mom for next Friday night so we can go out for a nice dinner. In clothes.

(pic from our honeymoon in WDW)

We went to bed at a nice reasonable hour (for us) and were woken to the sounds of Maddie crying at about 12:30am. Maddie NEVER cries at night - not even when she was a baby. Only is she's sick. She started sleeping through the night very early on and has been a great sleeper ever since. I think it has to do with the fact that she sucks her thumb - very soothing. So ... Maddie woke up and I always go right to her - in case she's about to heave up the contents of her stomach or something. Then Katie heard me and popped straight up in her crib, too - so now I have two screaming girls to calm down. Andy is still dead asleep. He finally wakes up and goes to get them some milk. We plopped them on our bed - gave them the milk - and put them back down. They blissfully fell back to sleep.

This morning I had to wake up early to shower again because we had a birthday party. I get ready to open up my brandy new hair appliance and decide to take ONE LAST LOOK at the old one. I click it on and off - nothing. Then it dawns on me. I look at the plug and push in the reset button. It's all fixed now.

My turn!

Hey everyone! It's my birthday! I've never been shy about my birthday - I love it!

OK - so - my goal for this year is to look like this again ...

This was at our rehearsal a week before our wedding in July 2003. I was not super skinny by any means, but I was at a nice size where I didn't have to starve myself! So ... off to make a plan!

Have a great day everyone!

Happy Birthday, Andy!

Dear Andy,

Happy Birthday, oh husband of mine! Today you are 35!

Sorry the girls wouldn't sing to you this morning. But since you feed them breakfast every morning you know how cranky they are when they wake up.
Sorry you had to do the mundane tasks of going to the dry cleaners and getting your car's oil changed.

Sorry we spent all our money on a soon-to-be finished living room so there's none left for presents.

Sorry you have to work past 9pm every night until April ... auditing companies who don't know how to keep their data organized.

But I am glad that you are my hubby and that we get to celebrate our birthdays together every year!

Love, Your darling wife

(PS - Today we are both 35, my dear - I don't turn 36 for one more day!)