giving thanks

We spent a great few days celebrating Thanksgiving with my family last week.  It was lots of fun with lots of family and lots of food.

Rachel and Rebecca had the best time playing with their cousins and grandparents.

Unfortunately I don't have much in the way of pictures.  We were too busy enjoying ourselves to take them, I guess.  Here we are during Thanksgiving dinner:

My husband and I got to see a movie and do a little Christmas shopping, and I even got to shop with my mom and aunt, something we used to do every year on Black Friday, but hadn't happened in years, so that was fun. 

Rebecca and Grandpa playing dominos:

I can't believe that with Thanksgiving over, we're already in the throes of Christmas preparations.  It seems like it's SO early this year.  I have a huge chunk of my shopping done, which is a good feeling.

Monday night we had our Girl Scout meeting at the community center so that the girls could climb the climbing wall there.  Rachel was pretty afraid, and there were tears involved at first, but I was really proud of her for continuing to try and each time she got a little bit better.  She still couldn't climb up near the top like a few of the other girls (she told me, through tears, that it was because she doesn't eat enough meat, so she's not strong enough!), but she stuck with it, improved, and she ended up having a great time, which is progress for Rachel, who is fearful of new things. 

Here she is:

tidbits

There's not been a lot of exciting news around here, so I feel like the blog has been a little lean lately.  Life is full and busy and good, though...just not that exciting to write about!  But I thought I'd share some little bits and pieces of life around here.

*Rebecca is the little social butterfly of the bus stop.  Every adult knows her, since she engages them all in conversation each morning.  Now the bigger kids know who she is, too, and several of them (mostly girls, but sometimes a couple of boys, too), talk to her.  At the end of the day there aren't many other adults at the bus stop (I guess parents think it's okay to let their elementary students walk home alone?!), but there's always one other mom there waiting, and she and Rebecca carry on conversations each afternoon.  Yesterday the woman's older daughter was there waiting instead (she's college-aged).  Rebecca went right up to her and started talking to her.  What did they talk about?  "This is my foot," Rebecca would tell her.  "Yes, it is!" the girl would respond.  "There's a diaper on my bottom," Rebecca declared.  After laughing the girl said, "Oh, okay!"  And on and on, one statement after another--mostly about body parts.  Oh, that girl....

*Rachel lost another tooth this week--her seventh.  When I was her age I hadn't lost my first tooth yet!  Crazy! 

*We decided not to let Rachel sleep over at the party I wrote about last week.  She's going to the party and staying until close to bedtime.  She is pretty okay with the whole thing, so I'm thankful.  I expected a much bigger reaction when I told her she couldn't stay, but she was pretty nervous about sleeping somewhere else.

*Rachel and Rebecca fight like cats and dogs.   Whatever one has, the other one wants.  Rebecca's in the non-sharing phase of being two years old, so I expect it, but Rachel?  She's supposed to be past that stage.  But she's also in this really frustrating tattle tale stage, though, so even if sharing isn't the issue with her, she's constantly telling on Rebecca who's not sharing.  It's constant, and so annoying to listen to!  They play well together for short periods of time, and those moments are heavenly, but sadly, they don't last very long most of the time.

Tomorrow we head north for Thanksgiving with my family.  Usually we'd be there by now, but because my husband started a new job last spring, he doesn't have much vacation time built up yet, so he has to work today.  Thankfully he was able to take Friday off--we originally thought he was only going to get Thursday off.  So that means we can spend a few days there, which is much better than I was expecting.  But I wish I was there today! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

best night of her life

Rachel declared last night, "The best night of my LIFE!"  In 6.5 years, that means it ranked first out of approximately 2,372 nights.  Wow!

So aren't you dying to know what made it the best night of her life?

We went to the tree lighting ceremony at a local shopping center.

I know, it doesn't sound very exciting, but we had heard from quite a few people that it was really neat, so we decided to give it a try, since it wasn't too terribly cold and it was a weekend, and it started at 6:00, which wasn't too late for our girls.

We had to wait outside for about a half hour to save our space on the parade route (there's a Christmas parade beforehand--Santa comes in at the end of the parade on a horse drawn carriage and goes up to the tree to do the lighting, and then he's there for the rest of the Christmas season to allow thousands of children to sit on his knee and tell him what they want for Christmas.

Here we are waiting for it to get dark and for the parade to start.

I didn't get many pictures of the whole event.  I only took my little camera, and the battery was practically dead, and the pictures were taking VERY slowly.  I was lucky to get anything.

Rebecca watching the parade

One of the characters in the parade

Rachel jumped and squealed with glee.  She LOVED it all.  Rebecca didn't quite know what was going on, but she liked it.

When Santa lit the big tree there were fireworks.  I couldn't get any good pictures of it because of the timing issue with my camera, but here's what I got.  You can kind of see the fireworks on the left, just starting to go up into the sky.

Rachel was squealing with excitement during the fireworks.  It was worth the hassle (and it wasn't a huge hassle, but a little one, fighting traffic, waiting out in the cold, dealing with Rebecca's fussiness because she wanted out of her stroller the whole night....) just to see Rachel so excited.

On the way out to our car she declared it the best night of her life.  Guess we didn't have to take her to Disney World a few years ago and see the fireworks there over Cinderella's castle.  We'll just take her down the street to the shopping center every year from now on!

another look-alike

We've always thought Rachel looked just like me.

But here's proof that Rebecca's definitely mine, too....

to sleepover or not to sleepover...

Rachel just got her first invitation to a sleepover.  It's a birthday party for twin girls she's friends with (who I watched this summer for a couple of weeks) and who are in Girl Scouts with her.  She's thrilled.

I'm not.

I just think six (well, the twins are turning seven...but Rachel and many of the girls are still six) is too young for a sleepover.  But maybe I'm a stick in the mud.  I don't want to be the only mom who makes her daughter come home early and not sleep over.  I haven't decided yet what to do.

I don't remember how old I was when I first slept over somewhere else.  Rachel's done it before at Grandma's house, but that's it.  I don't know how she'd do--whether she'd be scared or sad or homesick, or maybe she'd be perfectly fine and I'm just afraid to let go.  I don't know.  I remember the slumber parties I went to in elementary school for a girl who had them every year, and I really didn't like them much, once late night came and there were no longer organized activities.  But that's because I never quite fit in and wasn't comfortable.   Rachel doesn't have that problem yet. 

It's right down the street from our house, so I tell myself that if she needs to come home, it's not a big deal to go get her, but do I really want her to have to go through that yet?

I don't know what to do.  What would you do if it was your six year old?     

true love

Oh, Rachel...my little drama queen.  I'm always a little nervous to go pick her up from the bus stop at the end of the day because I never know what to expect.  Sometimes she gets off the bus crying, sometimes she comes running to me and tells me something shocking she said or did at school, but it's always dramatic, no matter what it is.  So though I'm always happy to see her, I'm always a little scared of what I'll find out when she comes home.

So yesterday she came off smiling--always a good sign--and came running to me.  First she told me that M, a friend of hers from down the street, was a car rider this morning, and that's why she hadn't been on the bus, and then, out of nowhere, she declared, "Mommy, I found my true love!"  After my initial shock, I said, "WHAT???"  and she repeated herself.  I asked her a few questions, though I didn't want to make a big deal out of it.  I found out she doesn't know his name, he's older than she is, he has black hair, and he's really funny.  He rides her bus and is at her bus stop.  I told her she could show him to me sometime.  "Only, he doesn't know he's my true love, Mommy," she told me.  I told her it would be better if he didn't know.  That boys didn't like to hear things like that. 

And then I dropped it, because I really don't want to encourage that sort of thing by making it into a big deal, but I couldn't stop laughing about it to myself.  I couldn't wait for my husband to come home so I could tell him.  That girl is hilarious.  My sister in law commented on facebook, "She's a living Disney Princess!"  That she is.  She reminds me of Giselle, the main character in that movie, Enchanted.  A real, live Disney Princess.  She hasn't seen that movie yet, but I'm sure that when she does, she'll have found a kindred spirit.

In other news, I found a Doc McStuffins doll!  They were in stock on the Toys R Us website today (I've looked every day for a week, since I first found out that this was the hottest toy of the season).  I'll feel better when it's actually in my hands, but I'm thrilled to have found one.  Yay!

time for your checkup

I mentioned a week or two ago that Rebecca's newest obsession is playing doctor because she loves watching Doc McStuffins on Disney Jr.  Our toy stethoscope is the most played with toy in our house right now. 

About a month ago I saw a toy while browsing at the store that I knew would be PERFECT for her for Christmas.  I told Rachel about it and she said she wanted to give it to Rebecca for Christmas.  Well, I didn't buy it, because I wanted to wait until a time when Rachel and I could go together to buy it, since she would be giving it to her.

Today I was looking for it online and realized that it's sold out everywhere online.  Then I read that it's now the #1 toy for girls for this Christmas and it's going to be very hard to find.  I'm so mad at myself--why didn't I buy it when I saw it last month??????  I know....I didn't know it was going to be the hottest toy of the season, but still, I'm so mad.

So if any of my local friends happen to see one, will you call me???? 

It's called the Doc McStuffins Time for Your Checkup doll--it's a full sized doll and it comes with a plush Lambie (Doc's stuffed animal).  Doc has a stethoscope around her neck and you push it and it talks and plays music from the show. 

Target carries them, as do Meijer and Toys R Us.  I haven't seen them anywhere else (except Amazon and ebay for a MUCH higher price).  Keep your eyes peeled for me!

Here's what it looks like:
http://www.target.com/p/doc-mcstuffins-time-for-your-check-up/-/A-14107287#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=time for your checkup

trick or treat!

Rachel came up with the idea for her costume all on her own this year.  She decided she wanted to be an artist, we looked online for ideas, and together we pieced ours together.  My mom made her hat, she painted the shirt, I made the palatte, and she painted it.  She was so thrilled with the result.  It's perfect for her--she wants to be an artist when she grows up and draws and colors non-stop.  So here's my little artist.

It was a rainy, COLD night for trick or treating, but they had a great time.

I asked Rebecca if she liked trick or treating.  "Yes!  It's my favwit!" she answered.

Rachel also had a great time at her class parade and party today.

Happy Halloween!

pumpkin carving with Daddy

legos and doctors

Rachel didn't have school yesterday or today (parent-teacher conferences) and I promised to take her to our science museum while she was off of school because there's a visiting Lego Castle exhibit that she's been waiting and waiting for, so today was the day.

They both loved it and could've spent hours here at this Lego table.  I think we were here at least 30 minutes.

A few other scenes from the Lego exhibit:

We went up to the little kid area next, but now that Rachel's in first grade, she's no longer allowed to play there.  They have a special area inside for bigger kids, and she was thrilled to get to try it out for the first time.  She colored and painted most of the time she was in there, and said she had a great time.

Meanwhile, Rebecca and I were playing in the little kid area.  It didn't take long for her to find the pretend doctor's office.  I haven't mentioned that her new favorite show is Doc McStuffins, and she's obsessed with playing doctor at home with her Fisher Price doctor kit.  So to get to put on a doctor's coat, real stethescope, and carry a doctor's bag was like heaven to her. 

We must've spent another 30 minutes just in the play doctor's office, where she pretended to give me shots, listen to my heart, wrapped me in bandages, and turned the x ray machine on and off over and over.

Even when she decided she'd had enough in the doctor's area, she wouldn't give up the costume, and lugged the doctor's bag all around the rest of the little kids space.  It was hilarious.

I finally got her to put it back, and she had fun doing a few other things before we left the little kids space.

We spent a little bit of time in a few other exhibits and then came home for naptime.  It was a fun morning, and I was happy to have survived--it was my first time taking them all by myself without my husband or a friend there with me.  Everyone had fun, there were no tears, and Rebecca didn't fall asleep on the way home, which is always a bonus (so she'd take a good nap at home).  It was a good morning.

down memory lane

The girls and I spent a long weekend at my parents' house this past weekend.  While we were there, Rachel wanted to see where her great-grandma was buried (she's asked about it several times in the last few months--I'm not sure why).  So my mom and I took her out to the cemetery.  The cemetery is just down the road from my old house where I grew up (the house is no longer there because it burned down, but the lot is still there, you can see where the house and pool were, and the garage is still standing), so we took her there, too.  I've told her lots of stories about that pool--we lived in that pool in the summers--and about playing back in the woods behind our house (which look much, much closer to the house than they ever were when I was a little girl!), so it was fun to actually show her. 

After that we went to my old elementary school, which isn't far from there.  We got the girls out and let them play on the playground.  Several pieces of the playground equipment are still there from when I was a kid--and a couple of them were even there when my mom went to school there!

So here are my girls playing on the same playground where their mom and grandma played as girls.

I have lots of memories on these monkey bars!

And this slide....

And also this thing (whatever it's called!).

This piece is newer.

After I took these pictures Rachel fell down and cut her chin.  We talked about the possibility of taking her to get stitches, beacuse it was pretty deep and wouldn't stop bleeding, but in the end we decided not to.  It was a not so happy ending to my trip down memory lane.  :(

like mother, like daughter

Most of you probably saw this already on facebook, but for those of you who didn't....

Weed--first grade (left), Rachel--first grade (right)

If her mouth wasn't open you could see the resemblance a little better, but still....

deja vu

I think we've been down this road before.

It started Monday morning, when Rebecca woke up with the runniest of noses.  Then Rachel got up and was coughing and stuffy. 

Tuesday night I was up with a crying, stuffed up Rebecca every 20-40 minutes from 9 PM until about 2:30, when she finally seemed to sleep deeply enough to get a few hours of sleep.  So I slept from 2:30 until 5:30, when I heard her again. 

Last night Rachel complained of a headache before bed, so I took her temp, and sure enough, 101.2. 

I braced myself for another long night last night, and although it took me a LONG time to go to sleep (because my ears were cocked, listening for one of them), we all slept all night!  I couldn't believe it.

Rachel got up fever-free, but in the almost 2 hours since she got up, it's gone back up.  Hopefully the advil I just gave her will kick in soon and she'll be feeling better.  Since she has to miss school (she's really sad about missing it), at least she should be able to play and enjoy being at home. 

And so begins the fall.  Last October it was the same way--the two of them passing germs back and forth over and over.  October and November were awful last year, since one of them was sick almost every week (and I was sick too during that time--hopefully we'll skip that part this year!).

Such is life with little ones, I suppose.  But knowing that doesn't make it any more fun to go through.

a milestone

This morning was the Walkathon at Rachel's school.  They do a Walkathon as a fundraiser each year and parents are invited to come walk with their children, so Rebecca and I went to join her this morning.  They walk around a path at a park behind their school, and then on the second time around they go to different stations.  One of the stations today was a hula hoop station.  Rachel's always wanted to be able to hula hoop and gets really frustrated that she can't do it. 

But today, after a few tries, she finally got it!  You should've seen the look on her face when she realized that she was actually keeping it going.  She looked at me with wide eyes and exclaimed, "Mommy!  I'm doing it!" 

She did it several more times after that.....so thrilled with herself! (With her friend, Taylor, looking on, counting for her--they took turns)

 

 

Waiting for the directions with Taylor

Here are some other pictures from the morning.

Jumping over the cones

Jumping Rope

Rebecca watching her sister jump rope (I love these pictures but didn't like the colors or the stroller in the background, which is why I made it black and white)

 

 

Doing the "Cha Cha Slide" when the Walkathon was done

weekend pictures

Fooled you....there are actually no pictures here today.  But there were so many times this weekend that I WISHED I had had my camera.  So I thought I'd tell you what you would've seen, had I remembered the camera....

1) You would've seen me and a bunch of other first grade moms on Friday night having a box top cutting party.  Yeah, we're just wild and crazy, aren't we?  See, my friend Emily, who is in PTA with me, volunteered to be in charge of the Box Tops for Education and Campbell Soup Labels for Education this year.  So she asked a bunch of us who are already friends and all just happen to have first grade girls at the same school (and one with a kindergartener, but we're friends with her, too!), to help her cut and sort--so she got us all together for a party.  In about 2 1/2 hours we cut and sorted over 10,000 box tops!  And I don't remember how many soup labels, but a lot of those, too.  And it was fun to do it together and talk, rather than any one person having to do it all alone at home.  Emily actually did take pictures of this, but I didn't.

2)  You would've seen my husband and girls having a dance party at home while I was gone.  As I was getting ready to go, they were doing the hokey pokey, macarena, and limbo.  The girls LOVED it.

3) You would've seen our family on a two mile hike on Saturday morning.  It was a beautiful, chilly fall morning, and my husband asked if I wanted to go hiking instead of him taking his regular Saturday morning trip to the gym.  Rebecca rode in the backpack on his back and Rachel walked the whole two miles with only a tiny bit of complaining at the end about being tired.  Afterward the girls played on the playground and then had a picnic.  It was fun.

4) You would've seen Rachel at her first children's choir practice.  She was really nervous beforehand, and I was worried that she would change her mind about wanting to be in it.  I was really happy to hear after it was over that she loved it.  She's listening to her practice CD over and over, so I'm already hearing Christmas songs daily, but I'm glad she's excited.

5) You would've seen Rachel and the rest of our Girl Scout troop singing songs at our council's annual "Songfest."  It was another beautiful day yesterday and we were camped out on blankets and situpons in the grass in front of the woods (with the just-changing-colors-trees) at the same park where we had Day Camp this summer.  It did go a little long, and was a little unorganized, but for the most part the girls seemed to enjoy it, and it was nice to be outside on such a pretty day.

It was a nice weekend, and I really wish I had some pictures to prove it....

little artists

There's not a lot of news to write about.  Things have calmed down at school.  Rachel's doing fine and enjoying it.  She especially likes art and music class, and on the days she has those classes, I hear all kinds of details about what they did.

She's really into her art these days.  She's always liked to draw and color, but lately she's drawing more and more.  She told me yesterday she wants to be an artist when she grows up.  And she's decided she wants to be an artist for Halloween. 

Yesterday she opened an "Art Stoodeo" in her bedroom (that's how she spelled it).  She spent all afternoon up in her room cleaning it, and when she came down she invited me to come up to her art studio (sometimes she calls it a museum, but she also calls it her studio).  She had taped all kinds of drawings all around her room.

Today she decided she wants to sing in the children's choir at our church for their Christmas performance.  I'm thrilled, though really surprised, because she's never had any interest in it in the past.  She's always said she's too scared to sing on stage.  So I'm excited that she brought it up all on her own and wants to do it.  Yay!

Rebecca has a new "Handy Dandy Notebook," (a different little notebook that used to belong to Rachel, and now Rebecca has claimed it).  But today she brought it to me and said, "See my iPad, Mommy?"  How she knows what an iPad is, I'm not sure, since I don't have one.  My mom just got one, and had it here the last time she came to visit, so maybe that's why she knows, but still....a two year old talking about an iPad?   She keeps telling me that she's drawing a zig zag line in her handy dandy notebook.  That was one of the clues once on Blue's Clues, so I guess that's where she got that, but she really doesn't know what a zig zag line is. 

caterpillars and such

Today I went outside with Rebecca, and while inspecting my tomato plants for any new ripe tomatoes, I came across these obnoxious, ugly things attached to my plants:

Later I came inside and looked them up.  They're called Hornworms, and they eat tomato plants.  They also attract a certain kind of wasps, who lay their eggs inside them.  Yuck.  The white things on the outside are the larve of the wasps.  Gross.

Yesterday was our church picnic.  It was a fun time, but right at the end, the kids were thrilled to see this rising above the trees. 

It wasn't a part of our picnic.  It just happened to be nearby, and it's the closest I've ever been to a hot air balloon.  Rachel was thrilled because she had never seen one before.

And while I was taking picture of the ugly caterpillars, Rebecca wanted me to take her picture. 

There's my sweet little stinker!

Dandy Dandy

Rebecca's really started loving Blue's Clues in the last few weeks.  She asks for it now almost as much as she asks for the Wiggles, though I think she still likes the Wiggles better.  The problem is, finding Blue's Clues stuff is pretty much just as hard as it is to find Wiggles stuff, since Blue's Clue's isn't made anymore, so they don't make anymore Blue's Clues books, clothes, toys, coloring books, etc.  The only way to find them is used.

I was excited to find a $1 Blue's Clues DVD at the baby sale this past weekend where I sold my stuff, but that was all I found.  I have a couple of Blue's Clues puzzles from when Rachel was little, but they're too hard for Rebecca (and she's not really into puzzles, while Rachel really was).  I did find a pair of Blue's Clues PJs in my stash of clothes (someone gave them to me as hand-me-downs for Rachel, but they were too small for her when we got them, so she never got to wear them), so Rebecca got to wear them the other night for the first time when it got chilly (since they're long sleeved).  She was thrilled!! 

She carries around her "Dandy Dandy Notebook" (it's actually Rachel's princess coloring pad, but she took it over as her own and calls it her dandy dandy notebook (instead of a "Handy Dandy Notebook," which is what it's called in the show, for those of you who aren't familiar with Blue's Clues!) and a crayon for much of the day, and periodically sits down and says to me, "Wet's Fink."  (Let's Think)  Sometimes she'll bring the notebook up to me and say, "Mommy, we have all free cwoos!"  (all three clues)

She greets me by saying, "Oh, hi!"  (Because that's what Steve says on the show.) 

Whenever she sees a picture of a paw print she yells, "A Cwoo!  A Cwoo!" (A clue, A clue!)  Every week Rachel brings home a class newsletter, and since her school's mascot is the Cougars, there's always a cougar paw print on the newsletter.  Rebecca always wants it because it's, "A cwoo!  A cwoo!" but I need it because it has Rachel's spelling words for the week on it.  So I've started saving the old one and letting Rebecca have it after the spelling test is done rather than giving her the new one.

That girl cracks me up.

toothless

The other one came out!

Daddy wanted to wiggle it, just to see how loose it was, and it came out!  No tears, no drama this time.  Yay!

It'll be a toothless school picture in a couple of weeks....

School seems to be going better.  I hesitate to say that, because as soon as I do, something else will happen, but she's had several good days in a row, so we're all happier.