in case

I'm posting this in case there's someone who reads this blog who I didn't already send this to, and who is interested in following my story....

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/wendymcfarland

end of an era

There are no more preschoolers in my house.  :(

At the end of this week I will be the proud mother of a kindergartner and a Fourth Grader!  How in the world did that happen?

And Rebecca turns five next week.  Impossible!

And it's the end of an era for my minivan, too, which caused me a lot of stress, because of its unreliability.  There was always something wrong with it.  Last week we decided we'd thrown enough money into it and had to get something else.  So here's my new one, which I love!

I can't believe summer vacation is going to be here in three days.  It's not a summer I'm looking forward to, for obvious reasons, but we'll make it through, and hopefully find some joy along the way.

happy mother's day to me.....

It wasn't the mother's day I expected.  

We went to my parents' house yesterday to spend Mother's Day with my mom.  Last night we watched a movie and went to bed, but at 12:30 I still hadn't fallen asleep (more on my insomnia later....).  I heard the door open and Rebecca came in crying because an ant was on her arm.  This has happened before--she has nightmares about ants crawling on her and thinks they're real.  But as I was telling her it was just a dream, I smelled something.  She had thrown up.  I took her in the bathroom and oh, my goodness, had she ever thrown up.  It was the nastiest clean up job I've ever had to do.  And to top it off, she and Rachel had shared a bed for the first time at Grandma's house, so we had to wake Rachel up, too to change the sheets.

Two baths later, she was cleaned up (though I still couldn't get the smell out of her hair) and laying on the floor in our room, in case it happened again.  I was in adrenaline mode and couldn't go to sleep, wondering if and when it would happen again.  Finalły, somewhere around 3:30, I fell asleep.  And at 5:00 she threw up again.  Lots tamer the second time, but still....  So I got a whole 1 1/2 hours of sleep.  Way to start off Mother's Day!

It improved a little after that.  She has been feeling okay most of the day, so that's good.  My mom and I went for a walk, we all had a nice lunch and then we drove back home this afternoon.  

We ordered pizzas for dinner so I had a whole day off of cooking, so that's always a good day.  

So the day was redeemed a little.  But I'm still tired.  Insomnia seems to come and go with me.  But right now I just have way too many thoughts running through my head at night.  Just over a week ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  (I didn't know whether I should write about this on my blog, but since most people who I know read this blog already know, I guess it doesn't matter too much.  If I haven't told you personally, I'm sorry for the shocker on the blog).  So my mind is racing every night with what ifs and questions.  This week I meet with the surgical oncologist and will hopefully know more then about the next step in this process.  Maybe after I know what's going to happen with all of this, I'll be able to sleep a little better.

birthday fun

Rachel had a great birthday.  She took iced cut out cookies to school for her birthday treat, and said everyone thought they were great.  She loved hearing her name on the announcements, going down to get her birthday pencil, having everyone sing to her at school, and wearing a birthday sticker.  When she got off the bus, Grandma and Grandpa were here waiting for her.  She finished her homework while waiting for Daddy to get home.

As soon as he got home we left to pick up her best friend, Taylor, who was joining our birthday festivities.  Rachel decided she wanted to go to dinner at "the place where you throw peanut shells on the floor!"  So we headed there and she ate peanuts, her french fries, and ab t two or three bites of Mac and cheese.  Not a healthy dinner at all, but I guess your birthday only comes once a year!  Then we headed back home for presents.  She was so excited and ripped right through them, quite literally! But she was excited about everything (except the box of summer clothes I got her.....boring!).  

Next came cake and ice cream (and party hats--she really wanted party hats!  And here's her pink cake with the little girl on top holding the number 9 that I mentioned in the last post).

They started putting together one of her new Minecraft Lego sets, but then Taylor had to go home.  But the two of them had a great time and kept us all laughing.  She's a great girl, that Taylor, and I'm so thankful she and Rachel are such good friends.

She said she had a great birthday and it was everything she hoped it would be.

Love this birthday girl!!

Oh, and just because I didn't post this picture from Easter, and I like it, here are my girls and me.

nine!

Nine years ago today I was the happiest person on earth!  For years I had longed to be a mother, for months I had anticipated your arrival, and all night long we knew you were on your way, but you took your sweet old time in coming.  Finally, on a gorgeous, sunny Palm Sunday morning, you made your appearance, you were healthy, and you were ours!  The first words out of my mouth: "Is she really a girl?"  And you were, of course!  What a happy day!

And in the nine years since then you've continued to fill our lives with happiness.  You live life with enthusiasm and "sparkle."  Even at nine years old you still jump up and down in excitement when you talk about something you can't wait to tell us.  You run off the bus to tell me the latest news, you love parties, celebrations, and anything deemed "special" or out of the ordinary.  I love this about you, and know that as you get older it will probably fade, but I hope that deep down, you will never lose your enthusiasm and zest for life.

Every day when you get off the bus, I ask you how school was that day and your answer is always, "Great!"  Although you march to the beat of your own drum a bit, and still prefer to play by yourself many days, you get along with everyone in your class and like everyone, and everyone seems to like you.  But you are your own person, aren't really swayed by what other people want or like, and while sometimes it worries me, I know that in the long run, it's good that you're confident in who you are and don't go along with the crowd.  I'll be thankful for that when you get older!  

You are passionate about the things that interest you.  Those things change from time to time, but right now they are minecraft (though that interest seems to be fading a bit), American Girl, science and social studies (you've been so excited about every topic you've studied this year--local government, Japanese culture, geography, energy, geology.....you name it, and you've poured yourself into it!), and the app flavor of the day (you go through phases with the apps that you enjoy playing--right now it's Subway Surfers and Bear Valley).  You still have a very vivid imagination and love to play outside and pretend all sorts of things with your sister.  You still love the monkey bars, swings, and riding your bike (without training wheels now--woo hoo!).  You love to get muddy and explore outside, too, as the laundry will attest, since I'm constantly scrubbing mud out of your pants after you've come inside!  

You had trouble choosing your birthday cake this year--there was no clear cut favorite for a theme like in the past, and this bothered you a bit, but you had also decided long ago that you wanted this little girl figurine on your cake when you turned nine, just like it was on my cake when I turned nine.  

You've seen it on my dresser for years and dreamed of the day you turned nine and could have it.  So now it's yours, sweet girl.  I can hardly believe that you're really nine.  I'm sure the time has crawled by for you, but for me they have gone by in the blink of the eye.  

Oh, sweet Rachel, how I love you.  I love watching you grow and develop into your own person.  It's scary and unsettling a lot of the time, but so exciting, too, to watch you grow up and change and think and question and have opinions about things.  I love watching you unfold into whoever Rachel Anne is going to be.

Happy, happy birthday, sweetie.  

Love, Mommy

Happy Easter!

March?!

What happened to March?  I can't believe it's nearly April.  I've hardly written a thing.  I'll try and summarize the last month.

We had our Girl Scout overnight at the science museum.  It was an experience, that's for sure.  The girls had fun, so that's great.  The sleeping arrangements were not what we were expecting:

On the floor, in the hallway, under this giant skeleton!

(thanks for the picture, Emily)

I had my birthday.  My husband arranged, without my knowledge, to have my best friend from Indiana come in for a couple of days.  She just showed up on my doorstep--the greatest birthday surprised EVER!

We had a great time shopping, eating out, and catching up, picking up just where we left off, like we always do.  So thankful for such a friend, but oh, how I wish she didn't live so far away.

My parents came, too, and my mom and I spent the afternoon on our favorite shared pastime--shopping together.  And she made me whatever I wanted for dinner (steak and gluten free cheesecake--the gluten free thing is relatively new, too).  Yum!!

Yeah, so I'm currently eating gluten free, after experience the worst headache I've ever had back in February, and a bad sinus infection.  I've read that being free from gluten can help both conditions, so I decided to try.  It's been a bit of a challenge, but is going okay.  I haven't had a sinus infection (even though I did have a cold, which always turns into a sinus infection for me) and though I've still had headaches, they aren't the migraine types that it was that day.  So I'm going to keep going for awhile to see if it keeps helping.

Rebecca got her preschool pictures back--love it!  Love HER!!

She's into drawing pictures lately.  This is her superhero picture.

They were both excited to dress up for St Patrick's Day.

Now it's spring break and we are home, and I'm sick (stomach bug and fever.....yuck).  But I guess if I have to get sick, now is the best time.  I don't have to worry about missing school, plus Rachel is home to entertain her sister and fetch me my water, etc.  She's being a good helper.  I just hope no one else gets it.  I don't wish a stomach bug on anyone.  Ugh.

So there's our month in a nutshell.  Now we have Easter and Rachel's birthday in the next week and a half, so I'm sure there will be a couple of posts for that.

hinamatsuri

Here they are together!

Today was hinamatsuri, or Girls' Day.  Rachel loved it.  They had a tea party and told about their dolls.  There were three Saige dolls!  But Rachel's was the only one in a matching kimono!  ;)

twice!

I'm writing twice in one week!  It's another record!

I'm writing to show off what I did today.  Tuesday is a Japanese holiday called Girls Day, which the girls in Rachel's class are celebrating with a tea party with their favorite dolls.  So I took the leftover fabric from the kimono we had made for Rachel earlier this year (she wore it for her Japanese car race a few posts back, in case you want to see it.....), got online to look for doll patterns, couldn't find any, so I made up my own based on a couple of drawings I found, and sewed this for her American Girl doll, Saige.

I had a hard time sewing on this slippery fabric, especially when they were such tiny seams, but I'm still pretty happy with how it turned out.  Rachel is thrilled and can't wait to take her to school on Tuesday.

I wish I could take a picture of the two of them together, but Rachel's kimono is at school.  She leaves it there so she'll have it for the various events they use it for at school.  I think I'll make her bring it home on Tuesday just so I can take a picture of them together!

Now Rebecca is asking for a kimono for Bitty Baby.  :(   I told her I would make something else for Bitty Baby sometime, but not a kimono (it was hard!) and not today!  One sewing project is enough for today!!

no news to speak of

I just realized that it has been almost a month since I've written anything.  I think that's probably a record for the eight years I've had this blog.  But I don't feel like you've missed much if this blog is the only way you know what is going on in my life!  There really hasn't been a lot of news, but I'll give you a brief update in case you're really dying to know what's going on in our thrill-a-minute life.

Rachel is working on a project for school about Wind Energy.  As a result, we've borrowed a couple of sets of tinker toys and kind-of-like tinker toys from some friends in order for her to make a wind mill.  But instead the girls have been playing with them like crazy, designing "wind-bots" and playing with them.  These are wind bots, in case you were wondering:  (I know....looks nothing like a windmill or a robot.....But they're enjoying them.)

(Rachel STILL can't look at the camera on command.....ugh!)

Rachel also has gotten really into power point, as a result of making a power point presentation at school.  So just for fun she's been working on a power point presentation here at home about minecraft.  Only my sweet, funny girl would make power point presentations for fun.  

Rebecca is her usual, funny self.  The other day we were grocery shopping at Kroger.  She said something about being at Walmart.  I said, "no, this is Kroger, not Walmart."  She replied, "But Walmart has lower prices across the store!"  Funny girl...She remembers everything she hears (obviously from a commercial.)  and usually uses it in the correct context, which is what makes it so funny.

We had her parent teacher conference last week.  I had no idea what we'd hear about her, but it was mostly all good, so that was a relief!  They said she is ready for kindergarten, which was good to know.  They also said (only because I asked!) that she's bossy, but that didn't really come as any surprise.  She's used to Rachel bossing her around, so I'm sure she revels in trying to boss the kids at school around.  But they said she knows when to back off, and she's not the bossiest in the room, so that's good, I guess!

I've been busy with school, PTA (which keeps sucking me in more and more--everywhere is in such desperate need for volunteers, and I feel like if I don't do it, who will?) Girl Scouts, and just daily life.  I don't know what will happen next year when the girls are at two different schools, so two different PTA groups, Rebecca will be able to be in Girl Scouts, so there will be two different troops to worry about....l don't know how it will all work.  I may have to choose one troop over the other, which I don't want to do, but I don't know how I will do both. 

On Saturday we got lots of snow and we took the girls sledding for the first time in several years.  It was lots of fun and the girls loved it.  It was fun to just go do something fun with all four of us--it feels like that doesn't get to happen very often because we're too busy--and it's harder in the winter, too, I think.  I'm sad, though, that we didn't take any pictures.  :(

And that's a snapshot of our lives right now.  I know....it's thrilling, isn't it??

Grand Prix

Rachel does a program at our church called AWANA.  When you're in third grade and up, you get to participate in the Grand Prix, which is basically a Pinewood Derby race like the Boy Scouts have.  So for the last month, she and her dad have been working on putting her car together.

I don't know if I've mentioned that her new school is a World Cultures school, and the third grade studies Japan.  So all year she has been learning about Japan.  She has her own kimono now to wear to school events, which she is particularly excited about.

So when it came time to design her car for the Grand Prix, she decided she wanted it to look like the Japanese flag.  Very plain and simple.  My husband tried talking her into something a little more exciting, but she was adamant that that's what she wanted.  

So today was the Grand Prix.  Yesterday I jokingly told her she should wear her kimono when she raced her car, to go with her car.  She thought it was a great idea and went with it.  I wasn't sure it would go over very well, but my husband said it was fine (I'm still sick, and it was during nap time, so I wasn't there).

She had fun.  Her car came in second in three heats and third in another heat.  She was happy with how she did, but I'm just happy that she enjoyed it.

So here are some pictures.....hers is the plain one that looks like the Japanese flag!

an update

Rebecca and I finally went back to school.  All is fine there.  This weekend I went to a preschool teacher's conference with some of my fellow teachers (the last of my trainings this year!  Hooray!) and learned a little bit about how to teach preschoolers about science.  The girls were jealous because it was at our local science museum, which they love (and where we haven't visited in at least a year because we are no longer members).  Rachel and I will actually be there Ina little over a month for a Girl Scout sleepover.  Rachel's first sleepover.  At a big, huge museum.  I'm not really looking forward to sleeping on the floor in a big giant room of girls, but the girls are looking forward to it.  I AM looking forward to visiting the new planetarium, though, which has just reopened.  I went there years ago when it first opened, but it closed soon after, due to lack of funding.  Now it's open again and we get to go.

We've had our first sickness sweep its way through the family.  First it was Rebecca, who had a horrible sore throat and fever, and I thought we were heading toward the flu, but it turned out to just be a cold, and she's almost over it.  Next came my husband, and he is still fighting his off.  Then came Rachel, though hers has been pretty mild, and just a little stuffiness.  And today I woke up with a sore throat, and all day I've been feeling it coming on.  While I still felt okay this morning I made some chicken broth and chopped vegetables while the girls played outside in the snow (today was another snow day).  I'm glad I did it this morning, because this afternoon when it was time to put the soup together, I felt considerably worse.  All I had to do was put it all together, which was much less work.  So now I have chicken noodle soup to nurse me through this cold.

I also upped my daily intake of elderberry, which I've been taking since the fall (it's supposed to boost your immune system) and started using the essential oils I got for Christmas, in hopes to shorten the life of this virus.  We'll see how it goes!  I figured it can't hurt me, and it might possibly help.

The girls have spent their snow day playing nicely together (unlike a couple of weeks ago when they spent it fighting!).  They played with their American Girl dolls, played in the snow, played school, and now they're playing Legos, which they've been doing a lot of since Christmas.  It's nice to have entertainment for Rebecca, who usually begs me all day to play with her while her sister is at school.  

We also had to make an emergency trip to the dentist for Rachel.  She had this really weird thing going on with one of her teeth that we needed to have looked at, and we didn't notice it until last night.  Turns out it was a baby tooth that needed to come out, but she hadn't wiggled it, and the tissue behind it started pushing down through it.  So strange, but the dentist said it's actually really common in kids who don't like to wiggle their teeth (which Rachel doesn't.)    Rachel was terrified, so it required laughing gas, which calmed her down really well, then a shot, which she handled well (because of the laughing gas) and then pulling the tooth out, which was quick.  She did great, after the initial tears and panic.  I'm happy to have it over with.

a new year

There's not a lot to report on in our little world right now, but since I haven't posted anything in awhile, I thought I'd write something.  School started back up last week, only it didn't....at least not for Rebecca and me!  We only go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and both of those days were snow days!  So I have yet to go back to work after the holidays.  Tomorrow is my first day back, and I know I'll be up late tonight watching the big game (Go Bucks!) so it's bound to be a long day....but I'm also anxious to get back into the swing of things.  And Rebecca is looking forward to seeing her friends at school.  She cried last week when she found out she couldn't go to school.  

Rachel did have school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of last week.  She's happy to be back and is enjoying herself.  The days she was home for snow days were just one long argument between her and her sister.  Ugh.....I couldn't decide which I would rather be doing--teaching three year olds or dealing with their squabbles.  

Rebecca and I have been working on her writing her name.  She's never shown an interest in drawing, coloring, writing, or any pencil and paper activity, like Rachel always did, so she's not as far along as I would like for her to be before kindergarten next year.  But yesterday at Sunday School she did this paper and wrote her name by herself.  It shows progress, so I was happy to see it.  We keep working on writing her name with lower case instead of all capital letters, but if I'm not there to remind her, then this is how she writes it.

She'll get there.....

more Christmas

On the way to visit with my husband's side of the family on Christmas Day, we saw this Eagle!

We spent the day with his family, then went to my parents' house, where the girls fell into bed.

The next day they waited and waited and waited for their cousins to come, so they could open more presents!  They finally arrived and the present opening began.  

All season long I heard about a Frozen Fantasy castle, which Rebecca really wanted.  It was a huge plastic monstrosity, which I really didn't want in the house.  Not only did we not have room for it, but it was expensive and didn't do much.  My mom found this smaller version, and we were worried she would be disappointed that it wasn't what she wanted, but she loved it, and I haven't heard about the other castle since.  

She has played with this and her Bitty baby the most.

We took some family pictures.....first the immediate family.....

And then extended family with my uncle, aunt, and cousins.

We hadn't all been together in a few years, so it was a lot of fun.  We ate too much great food and played games, and had a wonderful day.

(See the girls' matching doll dresses?  They opened them that day--made by my talented mom!)

Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve before church, in their dresses, lovingly made by Grandma....

After church, in their new matching PJs

Christmas morning.....the Bitty Baby she's been asking for for a year!  She was so excited!

Wonder Woman nightgown!

Another nightgown....Elsa....with an Elsa braid falling out of her hair, and a matching Elsa gown for her doll

Daddy made a bed for her new doll.    It's not quite finished, but close.

Bitty Baby got a matching nightgown, too!

Rachel was thrilled!  Minecraft Legos!

After present opening, she got right to work!

Saige, Rachel's doll, also got a matching nightgown, so here are all four of them together.

It was a fun morning and they were excited.  I'll add more in another post from the rest of our celebrating.

house for a mouse?

Tonight we read a christmas story called Mortimer's Christmas Manger, where a mouse tries to live in a nativity set at the house where he lives, but then learns that it belongs to baby Jesus, so he moves out, and into a gingerbread house that the family had made.  Rachel and I were wondering if the gingerbread house the girls decorated today would become a house for a mouse.  I sure hope not!  We've had enough trouble in previous years with mice.....none this year, please!!

But anyway, here's the gingerbread house the girls and I decorated today.

One of the sides caved in while we were working on it, but they had fun anyway, and at this angle you can't tell!

While we were waiting for parts of it to dry, they made their own graham cracker gingerbread houses.

new ornaments

Christmas festivities have begun around here....Rudy, our elf, made his yearly trek, much to the girls' delight, our advent calendar is in use each day, and the girls got their new ornaments for the Christmas tree.  Every year I try to get them one that reflects their current interests.  The problem this year was that Rachel's biggest interest, Minecraft, doesn't have a Christmas ornament available to purchase, and Wonder Woman, Rebecca's favorite thing, is equally hard to find (old ones are available on eBay, but that's the only place I found any).  As I was searching online for minecraft ornaments, which don't exist, I came across a few etsy shops where people make them.  Several were made out of perler beads.  Well, Rachel has a mosnterous sized jar of perler beads, and it looked easy enough that I could figure it out, so that's what I did!  I made my own!

Then, I thought, why can't I just make my own Wonder Woman ornament too?  So that's exactly what I did.

I felt kind of silly during nap time, sitting at the kitchen table all by myself doing perler beads, but I was pretty happy with the results, and the girls were really excited about them.

Happy December!

happy thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving dinner at our house was a success.  

We missed those who couldn't come this year (my sister in law, my brother, Jack, his wife, and my aunt and uncle) and also, especially, my grandpa, but it was a nice day.  It was nice not having to drive and to get to do some Black Friday shopping here in town with my mom (last night) and my husband (this morning).  

Now it's hard to believe that it is time to start thinking about Christmas!

room switch finale

Well, the room switch is finally complete (except for putting stuff up on the wall in Rebecca's room).  The toys have been removed from the dining room/play room, and it's been transformed into a dining room.

We need chairs....these are the only two remaining of the original set, and my parents have three chairs they're bringing for us, but maybe someday we'll get some new ones and refinish the table, but for now, it's nice just to have a dining room, and I'm sure my grandparents would be happy to know that their furniture is going to be loved and enjoyed in our house.

The leaves come out and make the table longer, but this is how it looks with them pushed in.

I don't know if we'll keep the bookshelf there and put stuff on it or if we'll move it somewhere else.  

The girls play upstairs a lot more now (of course, they also bring toys downstairs to play, too....but they're learning that they then have to carry them back upstairs when they're done, so I don't know how long they'll do that.  It makes it quieter downstairs sometimes, which is nice, though I know there will come a day when I MISS all of the noise!  

Now the room is ready to host its first Thanksgiving on Thursday!

great room switch--revisited

Earlier in the year we embarked on the "Great Room Switch," where we took Rebecca out of the pink nursery, painted it tan, made it into the office/guest room, and moved her into the former office, which we painted purple (at her request).  Her new room is bigger.  She's been in that room for a few months now, and enjoys it, but we still haven't finished putting it all together.

Well, this past weekend, we embarked on phase two of the "Great Room Switch," which was an unexpected addition to the original plan.  While cleaning out my grandpa's house/attic, my mom found my grandparents' old dining room table, which she thought had been gone for years.  I've never had a dining room table, and no one else wanted it, so my mom asked me if I wanted it.  Our dining room has been our play room ever since Rachel was little, but we've been talking about eventually turning it into a real dining room at some point.  Now that we had the dining room table, we decided to get to work.

This means that all of the toys have to go in the girls' rooms.  Rebecca had quite a bit of room, since we still hadn't really finished with her room.  We're still trying to figure out Rachel's room--she has SO much stuff and is a big pack rat who doesn't want to get rid of anything, so her room is a little more challenging.

But anyway, today I worked on Rebecca's room.  The toys are almost all out of the dining room now.  Once it's looking like a real dining room, I'll take some pictures.  But here's a glimpse at Rebecca's close-to-finished room.  (Ignore the fan....it's her white noise during nap time--and notice the Hello Kitty poster, which I FINALLY just put up after she received it LAST Christmas!!!  I kept thinking we'd be changing her room, so I didn't want to put it up in her old room, but I never dreamed it would take almost a whole year to get to this point!)

We haven't had the trains out in a couple of years.  She never seemed very interested in them, so we just put them away and used the train table to house other toys, like castles, lalaloopsy houses, etc.--it was just a play table.  But she has been asking for trains lately, so we decided to give it a try.  It's kind of in the middle of her room, but the room is big enough that it works for now, as long as she plays with them.  That blank space behind it, we're trying to decide whether to put our toy kitchen there or a bookshelf that's currently in the dining room, and it'll house more toys.  We'll see.

And totally off topic, but a week or two ago my mom took Rachel to see The Lion King Broadway show, which was touring in Columbus.  Rachel loved it.  She begged to wear this Christmas dress from two or three years ago--it still fits her, which is a little sad (the sleeves are too short, but otherwise, it fits her fine!).