Little Drummer... Girl?

Whoever said the drummer had to be a boy? Maybe it was just a girl with short hair and they were confused.

We've come a long way, Baby!

First of all, let me say, the swine flu really DOES suck. At least for me it did. I'm happy to report that after 3 weeks of sickness, my nasty cough is reduced to a mere tickle and my daily Jus drinkers have shown no signs of succumbing to the swine!

On another note, yesterday was Halloween! Our long time good friends came over with their children for some group trick-or-treating. When we were taking pictures of the kids before they headed out, we realized that just two years earlier we took a similar picture in the same location. See for yourself:

Halloween 2007

Halloween 2009

For those of you lacking imagination, the costumes this year are Ethan as Batman, Halle as Gabriella (from HS Musical), Sydney as the lion, Avalee as Cinderella, Annabel as Ariel (yes, that's her own crazy mop of hair sprayed red) and Andrew as Optimus Prime. It was great to have the addition of our 2 youngest members in the trick-or-treating festivities this year. Now to hide the candy from these animals. . .

Missing something

Do you ever feel like life is just getting away from you? Like somewhere along the line you missed a very important memo that everyone else got...except you?! That's kind of how I feel right now. Out of the loop.

For instance, today I dropped Andrew off at preschool. It's picture day. Could my son have looked any more terrible than he did today?! I doubt it! He was in a grubby old t-shirt and unmatching sweatpants, with pizza sauce and churro sugar collected in the corners of his mouth from lunch. The bad part was that I DID get the picture order form and I even wrote it down on my calendar!!

But it's actually a much deeper feeling than just wondering what I don't know that everyone else does. It's terribly hard to explain, so I'm just going to change the subject now!

Lately I've decided to get on board with a most wonderful blogger known as The Krazy Coupon Lady (http://thekrazycouponlady.com/). I've been spending time clipping and printing coupons, sorting and collecting. But today I was thinking... is it really worth all the time and printer paper and ink just to get granola bars for 50 cents instead of 2 bucks?

I was actually going to get on here and post about Wall-E... how we have survived so far (most importantly, how HE has survived thus far), and how he's really becoming a great dog. Then as I was tap tapping away I heard some noises coming from upstairs. Upon further investigation I found him digging through the bathroom trash and ripping up toilet paper (the clean roll) and tissues, with q-tips and paper shreds covering my bathroom floor. Baaaaaaad dog.


I like this picture of him because it captures the true nature of how dumb he really is!!

Yummmmm

I love a good banana bread. But I'm really picky out what I like. It can't be too wet and sticky. It can't be too dry. It can't be too sweet. It can't be too blah. Get the idea?

I made this banana bread yesterday and I am loving it. I would offer for you to try some, but I've pretty much already devoured the whole loaf by myself. So, here's the link for the recipe.

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/02/chocolate-swirled-banana-bread-and.html

Andrew's First Day of Preschool

Andrew started preschool! He is so happy to be going to school, but a little mad ("I'm MAD!") that he doesn't get to go everyday. I guess I'm a little mad about that, too, little guy! Next year!

He had a short day on Tuesday and then his first FULL day, a whopping 2.5 hours, on Thursday. He found a gold coin in the sandbox and was in charge of providing treats for everyone, so it was a good day!

Here are some pictures from his first day of school.

Annabel's First Second Day of School

I'm a bad mother, I confess!!! I was so distraught and distracted yesterday that I didn't even think to take a picture of Annabel going to her first day of school. Well, that's not entirely true. I remembered as she was walking at the front of the line toward her classroom and out of my day. With blurry eyes and a lump in my throat there was no way I was going to pull out my camera phone to snap a shot of her walking away from me. Looking back, that shot would have summed up my feelings for the day.

But today is a new day! It's her very first SECOND day of school. And I did think to take a few pictures of her before I sent her off!

Annabel had such a wonderful time at school yesterday. When I picked her up she went on and on and on about all the good things that happened. She was using words like wonderful and fantastic and amazing. There was NO way that she was not going to return to school today.

As far as the academics go, it's kind of funny. Anna has learned to doodle already. During a Phonogram test (what letter makes what sound) she decided to make all her letters block letters. Bored, maybe? And her math lesson of the day was counting from 0 to 10. Yes, we will be doing supplementation at home to keep those skills she's already learned from homeschooling fresh in her mind!

But fun! Oh what fun it is to go to school! At least in the first grade...

My other sneaky stinker.

His name is Andrew. These children are making me realize more and more everyday that I just might not be up to this challenge. They've raised the bar and I'm not sure I will be able to keep up with their potential. After all, if they're already outsmarting me at the ages of 4 and 6, what WILL I do when they are teenagers?!?

So it all started with Andrew and his pull-ups. I HATE paying 50 cents a night for Andrew to use a pull-up and I am really excited about putting that extra money toward something more beneficial than a peed in diaper! We have to buy the expensive ones because the kid can pee! He was waking up in the morning a sopping mess and I was having to wash his bedding every morning. Okay, TMI, back to the point.

Anyway, to nix the use of pull-ups I decided to offer Andrew an incentive. About mid-summer I made up a little chart with 10 little boxes to fill with stickers. I told him that he would get a sticker every morning his pull-up was dry, and that after he covered every number we would take him to.... ROARING SPRINGS!!!! (Which in his mind is as great as Disneyland since we've never been.)

Well, it turned out to be mostly disappointing for Andrew. He would wake up wet nearly every day and would come to me with the most pathetic expression of defeat. Which of course made me realize that he's probably just too deep of a sleeper instead of too lazy to get out of bed to use the toilet. But I was already committed to offering the reward so the promotion continued.

Summer went on. His chart remained less than half-filled. He would earn a sticker about once a week. The pressure intensified for him to have dry pull-ups in the morning, as his sister would constantly remind him that Roaring Springs closed when school started.

Then magic started to happen at the beginning of last week. Andrew had 6 spots left to fill. In the mornings he would come into my bedroom with the most ecstatic expression. "My pull-up is dry!!!" he would boast. Then down would come his pants to show me the proof. And, sure enough, they were!

He quickly went from 4 stickers to 10 stickers. He had finally earned his beloved trip to Roaring Springs!

Of course, that's not the end of the story. Far from it! Yesterday I was rooting in Andrew's closet for empty hangers (usually I leave that task to the kids, but after a long day of dealing with my monsters it was just easier to do it myself) when I smelled a not so pleasant odor emanating from the back. I got down on my hands and knees and peeked under his clothes and spotted nothing less than a pile of peed in pull-ups. 6 of them.

Hmmmm.

"ANNNNNDDDDREEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" (Done as Dave would yell to Simon the Chipmunk.)

At least he was honest. He admitted to not really having dry pull-ups. He admitted to changing into a dry pull-up every morning so that he could seal the deal.

Needless to say, we will NOT be going to Roaring Springs. But now they've both got me thinking. No more naive, trusting Mommy at this house. My little sneaky children are NOT to be taken at face value any longer! And that's going to make for a LONG road of parenting.