Video

Just in case you didn't know, the picture of Emily below is actually a video. Just hit the arrow button to see it play. At least one of my loyal viewers wasn't aware of that so I assume others might fall into that category!

We had a quiet weekend, no soccer (it was Olivia's bye week)...what does bye stand for anyway? We did go sailing for a few hours on Saturday - not a ton of wind but a nice day and the kids enjoyed being out on the water.

I am busy working on a website (not a blog) for my Dad to show his artwork so I have fallen off a bit. I will add the link when I finish. Rebecca and Tiffany have been busy updating their sites and I am developing blog envy so I might have to play around with my look soon too. Who needs to sleep right?

I'm Liana!

Remember the Barbie Diamond Castle post a while back? Well, as predicted Emily and I have watched it numerous times and have every word and especially every song committed to memory. We have spent 90% of our time in the past weeks as follows:

Em: "Let's pretend we are the Diamond Castle Girls, I'll be the pink one, you be the blue one ok?"

Me: "Ok Em"

Em: "I'm not Emily, I'm Liana."

Me: "Right...sorry."

Then we reenact some scene (usually the one where they find stones shaped like hearts and make necklaces out of them...which we have done with beads) and then sing "connected" with all the same moves as the movie. Somewhere in the course of this my head starts to spin and I lose focus and tend to more pressing things like categorizing the old VHS tapes in alphabetical order but Liana pulls me back.

Em: "Alexa, remember you are supposed to say...best friends today, tomorrow and always"

Me: "Oh right, sorry Em. I was just busy....

Em: "I'm not Emily, I'm Liana...you're Alexa remember?"

Me: "Got it."

Em: "Let's start over."

Me: "Waaaaaaaa!"

Calling all teachers...

OK, I know that my blog has a pretty small readership probably including lets see...no teachers...but just in case I have a message for you. If you don't want to be a teacher and hate kids...quit!

Seriously. Because the ones who do love their jobs totally rock.

I met Olivia's new teacher last night (back to school night) and I nearly kissed her. Dramatic yes but I really loved her. She was everything you would want your child's teacher to be and very much the person you want her spending 7 hours a day with. I won't bore you with every character trait but suffice it to say my slightly brilliant, sometimes spacey, but always interesting little girl is in VERY good hands.

Em story of the day: (and yes, it's only 9:15 am)...she locked me out of the house when I walked Olivia outside to catch the bus. She kept looking out the window cracking up at me who was very calmly (OK yelling) "this is NOT funny young lady...let me in!!"

She did - looked right at me and said "It was funny though."

Ha ha

Olivia

My Dad gently reminded me today that I haven't mentioned much about Olivia's new school and how it's going. I guess that it's only fair to bring you down gently from me whining on an hourly basis for an entire year to this - cold turkey is harsh.

We are extremely pleased so far with school and Olivia seems very comfortable. Homework is on a much more manageable scale (like 2-3 times a week) and it is always something she can do on her own instead of me having to do it with (or often for) her. She is very proud that she is a straight "A" student so far this year and her self confidence has definitely gone back up.

I think even though the curriculum is a bit on the slow side, it is giving her the chance to really learn vs. learn only long enough to spit back out on the test and forget again in a day. It also gives her the chance to be more than a student...she is unfortunately but inevitably learning about 9 yr. old girl drama and God knows that takes up time and energy!!

Bottom line, we are at a very normal pace and level this year - about what I would expect from 4th grade. Some days are better than others but all are manageable. Normal, what a nice place to be for a change :)

Of course I always have an Emily story to throw in. Her teacher asked me today if she could wear shorts under her dresses (Lord help me...she will NEVER agree to that) because she is aparantly fond of climbing the rock wall and as the teacher put it "there she is with all her business showing". Is anyone really looking? Don't worry...I didn't say that, just thought it. But really, little girls DO wear dresses and you just HAD to have a climbing wall and a two story slide right? I'm just sayin - that's all.

Old Favorites!

Not to be outdone...Rebecca posted some photos on her blog of Meilin performing some high diving acts off a sit and spin that she caught on her new fancy SLR camera. It reminded me of these old photos of Olivia back in April of '03 (age 4) jumping off my bed. I don't remember it being so dramatic in real time but my trusty little old 4 MP camera captured some good shots. SLR indeed :)

Mama and Emily Day

A few shots on our special day...trying to get the shot with the self timer on the camera :)

Quote of the day

Emily's school is sadly "peanut free" due to a child with allergies. I say sadly because anyone who knows Em knows that peanut butter sandwiches are the ONLY food she will eat consistently and are basically the reason for her survival up to this point. We have been racking our brains to come up with alternate lunch food that doesn't need to be hot (she also likes soup and mac n cheese). Yesterday she ate a slice of turkey. One slice, none of the cheese or oranges I packed. Today on the drive into school I asked her if she could think of anything else she might like to try and she said
"how about peanut butter and fluff?"
"No Em, no peanuts remember?"
"Oh, then how bout just fluff?"
"No Em, that isn't healthy food."
"That's OK, I want to be short like you."
She's getting turkey :)

Woo Hoo

And then there was ONE!!! Just me, alone in my house, no cartoons in the background, no one slipping dress up shoes on my feet and necklaces on me to play princess, no one whining about how hungry they are...just me!

So what am I going to do? Clean the house, grocery shop, pay bills, do laundry, go to the gym? NOPE. Not today. Today I am going to listen to the quiet, fool around on my computer (guilt free), and did I mention listen to the quiet?

Em was excited - no tears today but she thought about it. I bribed her with the start up of "Mommy and Emily Day" again (like every day isn't). If she goes to school without crying then on Friday we have our special day which usually includes breakfast at IHOP and the library.

I tried my hand at digital scrapbooking today which is below. Not too good at it yet but it was fun to try. These are a few of the same photos but without all the junk around them!

Shhhhhh :)

My First Digital Scrapbook

Redeemed!

Sunday school started up again last week and after our first class I was seriously doubting my ability to positively influence that group...ugg teens! Well, today was MUCH better- seems we needed a week to get back in the swing of things so for now I am keeping them :) I forgot to get a shot of the whole class before we dismissed, I chased a few of them down for a picture that I promised to blog. The future of America...aren't they cute?

Go Grasshoppers!

I'm not sure how we ended up as the pink Grasshoppers but none the less we finally had a game today that wasn't rained out. Of course it was a happy 92 degrees and about 98% humidity so the girls were absolutely melting out there! Liv played great (better defender it's turning out due to her size). Who ever thought David and I would have the biggest kid on the team!! They won, 6-4!

Hmmmm, what should the caption for this be:

1. Just pretend you don't hear them...works every time

2. I told you we should have split up

3. Yeah mom, I was just telling him that it was time to turn back!

This is Nolan who is the 3rd child of a couple that we knew WAY back when on our first ship (INGERSOLL) in Hawaii. We lost touch with them until the first soccer practice when I noticed them talking to their 9 yr. old daughter Olivia and I said "oh, you have an Olivia too" and she said "yes, you look really familiar"! Back then neither of us even had kids so it's pretty funny that our Olivia's are the same age! Small world.

Cute shot of Miss Em

Busy Day

Emily had her open house at school today - you wouldn't believe this place. I guess it has been an active church here in the area since 92 and they finally built their own facility...what a budget! David and I have NEVER seen such a place - church or other. I can't even begin to describe the size, amenities etc but Emily is one lucky girl to be going to school here. Lord help us when she has to attend...public school!

This and the photo above are taken in the indoor playground which is complete with gaming stations, a 2 story twisty slide, climbing wall, 2 individual trampolines and whatever this thing is!

This is a shot of half of the outdoor playground, the covered side and below is the unshaded area - perhaps for the naughty kids :)

Oh, after spending an hour at school meeting her teachers and dragging her off the playground we went sailing since David had the day off. Pretty good day out there, I need some lessons though!!

Now it's time to make dinner, do homework and head out to my book club at 8:00! Long day for Mommy.

The Diamond Castle!!!

It's finally here - we have been waiting for what seems like weeks - the new movie "Barbie and the Diamond Castle." It's choc full of all good things, Princesses, puppies, horses, heroines and of course a bad lady and her dragon. Everyone (except the evil folks) sparkles in some way, wears only pinks and purples and in the end a castle made of diamonds appears and all evil is defeated.

Ahhhh life is good. Except for the phone call I got from the school...a courtesy call as they put it...to tell me Olivia bumped her head on a pole and has a quarter sized lump on it. Oh well, better than the broken arm this time last year! I will get the details later.

Other than that school is still getting 2 thumbs up and we are down to one week before Emily goes. I'm sure we will have watched this movie over 3 million times by then!

Mothering

To answer my friend Rebecca's question "how can other Mothers compete with me"...you can't. My skills as a Mom are just too perfect, don't even try. Perhaps I should start an advice column - send me your questions and I will do my best to impart my wisdom to the masses. Like just this morning when dressing my sweet Emily in one of her brand new outfits that only yesterday she tried on in the store and promised to love, honor and wear said "I don't really like this, I don't want to wear it." I took a deep breath, pictured in my mind seeing her for the first time after giving birth and the love I felt for her, and then looked her straight in the eye and said "tough! You wear this or go naked and everyone will laugh at you." Brings a tear to your eye doesn't it? It's all smoke and mirrors my friend, hanging on by my toes just like everyone else. A few glasses of wine helps too. I can't believe John McCain didn't pick me???

Fun without Olivia

Now that big sister is in school all day and little sister hasn't started yet, Mom is busy trying to find fun things to do (other than play baby and tea party...again). The first day we had our neighbors over for a princess dress-up nail and toe painting day, day two was board game day and today we went on a shopping spree for Emily. After unpacking all of Olivia's old clothes I realized they have very different styles at this age. Emily is much more of a girly girl and jeans and sweats are not going to cut it! Any guesses as to her favorite color? She even agreed to buy a few pants but "only if the tops are super girly with sparkles." I am over the clothes fight we have each day so whatever works - sparkly it is!

Update:

"AWESOME!" were her first words off the bus. Made lots of friends, had fun, loved her teacher...I know it's only day one but if you could have seen us this time last year! Hope everyone else's day one was just as good :)

4th Grade

I can't believe Olivia is starting 4th grade today! Those first few years seem to take forever and then once they hit school - zoom!! She was very excited, what a brave kid. I can't wait for her to get home and tell me all about it. Thank God I have a girl so I don't have to hear "good." "nothin."

Like my new countdown ticker? :) I will have to remove that - too depressing since even the stores are putting out Christmas items already but I have to torture my kids with it for a bit!

And She's Off