The Show Must Go On

It was a crazy week. We had lots going on, and nothing we could reschedule. And after adding my wisdom teeth removal, I really wasn't sure if we would actually be functional by the end of the week.

The Tumbleweed's dance recital was tough, but a cute ending to the week. Yesterday, the dress rehearsal, confirmed my decision that we will not do dance class again next year. At least not one with a recital.

For starters, the report time for the Tumbleweed was 4:00 --- which is right in the middle of her nap. Since I would have to spend at least 1 hour getting her ready and allowing a half hour to get the Dandilion dropped off at a friend's house (no siblings allowed), we needed to start getting ready at 2:30. So I decided it would be a no nap day...

But, the Tumbleweed didn't care what I had planned and fell asleep in the car at 1:45. I carried her in, and she slept on the bathroom floor while I ran a bath to try to wake her (she is a very sound sleeper!). By 3:00, I had her awake but I was running behind schedule. I managed to get her hair all done, and started getting her into her tights, and that is where things really fell apart.

After promising me that she did not have to go potty (why I listened, I do not know) --- she peed in her tights! The tights that she was required to wear. So, with her in tears and myself nearly in tears, I ran down and washed the tights and threw them in the dryer hoping 15 minutes would be enough.

It wasn't. We left in a separate set of clothes. When we got there, she had to put her damp tights on. She rallied better than I expected, and went on with the show. I was able to video the routines and take a few pictures, since we weren't allowed to at the actual recital.

The recital was cute --- I think she did a little better than at the rehearsal. After the intermission her routines were done, so she came to "sit" with us. Once the music started, she was up in the aisle dancing to every song! Some routines she did pretty well. Several people sitting behind us commented that she was the best part of the show :) I imagine others were annoyed, but I think she would have been a lot more annoying if I tried to make her sit.

Phew - I am glad it's over. *Note to self -- read this before thinking of signing a child up for dance class again!

Statue

The Dandilion has figured out how to stand up in the middle of the room - even while holding something - but still no steps. They are coming soon I am sure.

Little Graduate

The Tumbleweed "Graduated" today. It was a cute little celebration where the kids sang several songs out in the field behind the school. The kids all cooperated and did what they were supposed to do. At the end they each got a "diploma" and said what their favorite part of preschool was, the Tumbleweed's was "Playing in the Gym"

Daddy, Nana and Papa were all able to come and she was quite excited about that. She had helped Mommy make little scrapbooks for her teachers, and they loved them. The teachers had made a scrapbook for her too. She also got a tie-dyed t-shirt with her class photo on it.

We are so proud.

Strange Sight

I saw the strangest thing on the way to drop the Tumbleweed off at her last day of preschool--- a white Navigator Stretch Limo pulling a U-haul trailer. Totally random.

Overload

I know I take on a lot, and I like to be busy, but today was a bit much. Between my recovery from my wisdom teeth being removed and preparing for the Tumbleweed's Preschool Graduation and Dance Recital and all of our usual activities, I felt like I was run over by a truck by the time "naptime" came around today. Now naptime is not something the Dandilion takes very seriously, so it isn't really a downtime. Today I did my best to get some rest, but of course this was one of the days he chose not to sleep. Of course.

On the upside, I was able to eat some real food for dinner.

The Cheese Stands Alone

The Dandilion was able to stand up from sitting in the middle of a room today. Now he has been pretty good at pulling up on furniture for a while, and has shown us that he can let go and stand unsupported, but this was the first time he stood up alone. I fear walking is not far off --- watch out world!

A Little Less Wise

Well I broke down and did it, I had my wisdom teeth removed. Actually it was my tooth that broke, requiring a panicked call to make an appointment. But now they are out. I must admit it is a relief. Hopefully they heal quickly as I have a lot of things going on this week and I would rather not look like a chipmunk!

Backbreaking work

Well, we took the plunge and headed to Home Depot to buy things to landscape the yard aroung the deck. The Eagle ripped out all of the dead grass and we started laying a path and planting a garden. I want the project to be finished, but it is pretty tiring work, so I think it might take another weekend. It is very hard to keep the two kids happy so we can both work - so far my attempts have maxed out at 20 minutes. Ugh.

Forgetful

OK - I can't blame this on pregnancy brain or lack of sleep anymore, I must be getting old :)

Two weeks ago I went to CVS and bought face wash and conditioner. When I got home, I didn't have enough hands to carry it, so I left it there. The next morning, as I stood in the shower, I remembered it. Note to self "Bring up bag from CVS". Apparently my notes to self aren't sticky enough, because for two weeks I have been using the Tumbleweed's conditioner.

Today, I finally cleaned out the car and broght them up --- my hair and face are very excited!

Proud Mama

The Tumbleweed had her end of the year gymnastics show today. Now that she takes gymnastics in a class without me, it was fun to get a chance to see what she can do! I got her a new leotard and made her special hair ribbons for the special day. She looked so cute and performed so well (much better listening and following the group than last year). At the end she got a "medal winner" --- it is so cute when she says that (from the Medal Winner poem in her Elympics book)

She certainly shined brightest in my eyes.

We are "those people"

I guess we are officially bad neighbors. We let our grass (what there is of it) get so long the neighbor decided to mow the whole yard! Yup, he spent over an hour. It looked pretty good when he was done. Maybe if we could get the whole yard to actually grow grass we would be more interested in mowing it.

Pantsed

The Dandilion must already be a prankster. He so innocently pulled up at my leg while I was cooking in the kitchen. He stood there whining for a while and since my hands were dirty I let him. I guess he got sick of waiting for me, so he sat down --- while still holding my pants. Good one buddy!

The Magic Chair - Part 2

The Dandilion has decided that moving the green chairs around the house is pretty cool. He is not using them for the same purpose as the Tumbleweed though - he uses them for walking support. He has gotten pretty proficient and can race across the kitchen or the family room. The only problem comes when he runs into something. Boy does he get mad! He stands there and cries until we redirect the chair. Not long now, and he will be a real walker!

Lobster

How is it that I can remember to put sunscreen on the kids and neglect to put any on myself? Well that is exactly what I did while we were out at the Eagle's race this morning. Now I have an interesting sunburn, since I clearly touched my skin while I was applying the kids' sunscreen. Hopefully it will look better in the morning. I can't believe I did that.

Cop on my Tail

I hate when a police car is behind me. I get all nervous that I am going to do something I shouldn't and get pulled over. Something like not using my directional. Instead, I sit at an interection where I always go right on red or I wait until there are absolutely no cars coming before I pull into traffic. I constantly check my speed and go less than the speed limit. I hope that the car will eventually turn. And when it finally does, I can breathe again. Phew.

My Lastest Distraction

The Tumbleweed got a Webkinz Tree Frog for Christmas. I knew it had a little code with it, but I decided to wait to activate it, and last week we finally did. The Tumbleweed thought it was really cool to see her frog - KikiWix - jumping on a trampoline on the computer screen. She is very excited to check in everyday. Seemed pretty neat to me, too.

Then I found out it needed to be fed, and for that I would need KinzCash. So after the Tumbleweed went to bed one night I found out how to get KinzCash... you play games to earn it. So I started playing. And playing. And playing. Now I know why we don't have a video game system. I get started and I can't stop.

For the last few days, I have spent a chunk of time each night trying to feed the frog by playing games, and each day I seem to find a new one that I like better than the one I played the day before. Argh. Just what I needed - another thing to do.

CSA

We are joining a CSA - Community Supported Agriculture. We are getting a small share of the vegetables harvested by local farms every week for the whole summer. Hopefully this will help us eat healthier. Hopefully we will be able to use all of the food and not waste it. It will be a summer of adventurous cooking as we learn to prepare some of the vegetables that are less familiar to us. Not only that, but we will be reducing the distance some of our food travels to get to our house. Good for everyone!

The grass is always greener...

in someone else's yard. Literally. Our grass is not green. It is mostly dead in the back yard. I am starting to think they used special "annual" grass seed that only grows one year. Ugh. I really wish we could go out in the back yard and play in thick green grass, but that is not the case. I really hope we can fix it.

On a positive note, I transplanted all of my gift plants - Easter Lily and two Mother's Day seedlings. The Tumbleweed and I also transferred a few of the seedlings that grew from her seeds. One planter done... lots more gardening to do!

Dancing with the Stars

The Tumbleweed is really enjoying watching Dancing with the Stars with me. She likes to dance around the room (sometimes in a princess dress) while they dance. In the fall she called the couples "mommies & daddies," but now she says "partners." She makes up some really funny dances - sometimes copying the TV, but mostly doing her own "tricks." So cute.

Sleep Success

For now. The Dandilion seems to have learned to sleep through the night, and even sometimes takes naps! We were able to leave him at Nana & Papa's while we went out of town for a wedding. It was a significant improvement over the last time I left him, two months ago, when he had everyone up all night. Maybe now we/I can plan to leave him more often :)

Chomper

The Dandilion has 4 teeth. That's a good thing when he tries eat Cheerios, but not so good when he is nursing. The past few weeks have involved way too much biting for me. He doesn't seem to be getting the message, because when I remove him after he has bitten me he looks so completely offended. And you would think that he would have figured out by now that biting Mommy equals no more food... but he hasn't. He had better learn soon or he won't be getting any more from me!

Little Sponge

The Tumbleweed loves to learn. It is so fun to watch her when she really gets into something. Her preschool had a special event today where they had a guest bring some unusual animals for the kids to learn about in person. She sat herself right in the front row and was ready for anything! I was only able to stay for part of it, but got to see her touch a Bearded Dragon, pet a ferret and get a pitcure of her holding a tree frog. But I think her favorite part of the day was learning the word "Chinchilla" She was so proud that she could say it. I don't think she even remembered holding the frog until I showed her the picture... and I thought that would have been the highlight!

And on a separate note --- she can write her name! I don't think she remembers all of the letters and their order yet, but she can write all of the letters. I think she has secretly been working on perfecting this, because until I asked her to write her name on Mother's Day cards she would tell me "I don't know how" and I couldn't even get her to make the first letter.

Mini Me

The Tumbleweed loves art projects, so it wasn't a surprise that she wanted to make a scrapbook page just like Mommy. She had seen me working on a page for our Page Swap group, and wanted to make one just like it. And I mean just like it. When I finally convinced her that she could use some of the leftover paper, but that I didn't have enough left of other things, she went to work.

I let her pick some pictures and paper, and she got out a glue stick and went to work. With very little guidance she got the pictures glued down where she wanted them, and asked for some letters. It took me a little while to figure out that she wanted the same kind of letters that I had used on my page, but when I did she and I worked together to put them where she wanted them - vertically, like I had done.

She had a little space left so I pulled out some extra flowers and ribbon, and she went to town! She cut the ribbon and positioned it, and I helped her staple it. Then she put ALL of the flowers on, abundantly, but carefully.

It came out very cute! And boy was she proud of it. She told me "Now, we have to do another and another, and then we can put them in a book and read it!"

The Mountain Grows

Somehow kids have a way of making a mountain out of a molehill... especially when the molehill is made of laundry. I feel like we are always drowning in clothes - dirty and clean; old and new.

Now I know kids get their clothes dirty, but between poop, spit up, food spills, paint, potty training accidents, dirt, and stickers my pile of clothes requiring stain removal or "special care" is bigger than the pile that doesn't need it. So now rather than dividing the kids laundry into his & hers or light & dark, we have "stained" and "not stained". And as if having to inspect every piece of clothing before washing it wasn't enough, I have to check each item between the washer and dryer to see if the stain came out. Therefore, I always do stained laundry first, so if I have to re-treat the stain, it can get washed again with the "non-stained" clothes. And now that Tumbleweed has decided that everything is more fun than using the potty, I have to do at least 1 extra load of underwear mid-week eventhough she has over 30 pairs!

Now, I barely have enough time in a week to get downstairs to pretreat all of the clothes, and that is while the kids are sleeping. The one thing I can't do with the laundry while the kids are sleeping is put it in their drawers. That has lead to my current problem. I have all of their clothes bins full of clean & folded laundry. Every morning I am searching through these bins hoping that we have at least one complete outfit clean.

What is the big deal about putting the clothes in the drawers... well, there isn't room right now, because I have to take out all of the clothes they have outgrown or is out of season. But, alas, where will the time to do that come from!

Topic for another day... If I continue to save all of the outgrown clothes that I loved, where will I keep them all?

Crying and Cooking

I guess I have become pretty oblivious to crying... afterall, I hear it all day long. I hadn't realized quite how oblivious until the Dandilion and I spent the morning at the Tumbleweed's pre-school class.

I volunteered to help out with cooking week by making Fruit Dip at the Tumbleweed's school. Of course this meant bringing the Dandilion with me. And on top of that, it was during his "naptime" (aka - he fell asleep on the way there).

I got myself all set up and started the kids off with our first task (squeezing honey out of a bottle), when he noticed I wasn't paying attention to him... and from then on, he cried. I just kept on doing my thing, but all of the teachers (and a few kids) kept trying to entertain him. They kept asking me what they could do... I didn't really have an answer other than, "I think we'll just have to let him cry."

That's pretty normal for us... I guess not for other people. I would never get anything done if I didn't let him cry.

Going, Going, Gone!

We had our big garage sale and we got rid of mostly everything! Well, not all of the little things, but all of the big stuff is gone. We had Early Birds outside the house at 7am, and by 7:30 we had made $150. I could never have imagined such a successful day.

Now I just have to find people to take the clothes and other little stuff. Not as much as I thought!

What was I thinking?

I hate wearing a bathing suit. I find shaving annoying. I am not a fan of going swimming. But I signed the Dandilion up for Mommy & Me swimming lessons anyway. He did a great job - even when he went underwater.

Just another crazy thing I do out of love!

The Report is in

The Tumbleweed got her first "Report Card" --- well, they call it an assessment. In this day of political correctness, there are no grades, scales, boxes to check, etc. Maybe it is just that she is in pre-school. Anyway, the teachers write comments about their observations in 5 areas --- stating all of the things that she can do, no mention of anything she needs to improve. I have to wait until the parent/teacher conference to find that out, I guess.

I know, it doesn't matter how she does in pre-school, but I like to analyze things. I know what she can do. I don't know what she is supposed to do.