What's up with us and getting sick at Christmastime?

First of all, we did have a wonderful Christmas. My parents, aka Nana & PopPop were here, and we had a nice relaxing week. The festivities started on the 23rd for Rene's birthday. I made a rib roast and at Rene's request, yorkshire pudding, which I never had before. I admit, I was skeptical, because the recipe looks like pancake batter cooked in the grease from the roast. But it was surprisingly good. Even the girls liked it! Score one for the birthday boy!

Christmas morning was fun and exciting, and although Lauren seemed a bit overwhelmed at times, we had a nice relaxing day. The gift the girls liked the most? The wooden cd box they got to paint as a doll house. I got the idea from this post from Amy Carol's blog Angry Chicken. I also bought some wooden figures the girls painted as dolls. I'll update this post with a picture soon. Erin also enjoyed the "art set" Santa brought, and lots of arts and crafts activities were done on Christmas day. And eating, too.

So here's the health update.

Dec 17th: Both girls have ear infections (left ear for both).
Dec 24th: Erin complains that her ear still hurts, so we get new antibiotics prescription.
Dec 26th: Lauren complains that her ear still hurts, so we get new antibiotics prescription.
Dec 27th (today): Erin complains that her ear still hurts, and Lauren has a rash. Doctor says Erin's ears look great (and thinks her pain might be due to 6 year molars coming in), but Lauren's is still healing. Lauren has a yeast infection. That was this afternoon, and now Erin seems to be in a lot of pain and says her right ear is hurting a lot.

Sigh. Hoping they both feel better tomorrow.

Sigh.

Happy Winter!

Lauren has been learning about the seasons at preschool and for the past two months every day she asks, "What season is it?" and "What season is tomorow?" I think she was getting frustrated that my answer was always fall. Today I was happy to report it was winter! Hooray!

The ear infections seem much better. My parents flew in on Tuesday, and yesterday was Erin's last day of school. Today is Rene's last day of work until the new year. So it feels like Christmas. It's remarkably calm here, which is good. I need to work hard at not getting the girls over excited and keeping to a good sleeping schedule. I want them to remember this is a time to enjoy your family, not a time of getting presents. I'm inspired by this post and this post to keep the season simple, sweet and special.

Two children, two ear infections

One tired mom.

Look at our lovely gingerbread house!

Or what's left of it.





Saturday was a rainy day. Hooray! Hallelujiah!! We desperately need rain here in Georgia. So it was a good time to whip out the gingerbread house that got at IKEA in Atlanta. The girls put the frosting and candies on the pieces, and Rene and I assembled them. I needed to get dinner ready so I put the house on the dining room table. At some point during the evening I walked past the dining room table and I realize that half the gingerbread house was gone, and bits of frosting were on the tablecloth and rug. I took the above picture, and I pushed the house to the center of the table and the next morning the WHOLE THING was gone. The girls were not too upset, which was good.

Either Jake or Daisy got to it. I suspect Daisy. Although Jake has a long history of eating things off of tables (a steak, and entire quiche, a stick of butter, turkey cheese enchiladas), I don't think he easily can jump up to the table these days. I inspected the doggie mouths for evidence of frosting, but it was a clean crime. We sent them outside for a good portion of the day to avoid any reappearance of the gingerbread house on our rugs and floors.

Erin complained that her ear hurt last night, so I'm waiting to see how she is this morning. I fear we may have a doctor's visit in the near future.

Mice have overtaken the house!

I joke. But not really. I decided to make the felt Christmas candy cane mice that I found on the Family Fun website here. While I thought it was a good idea at the time, I must admit I'm a bit tired of cutting out enough green and red felt to make mice for 2 ballet class parties and 2 class parties. Might also make some for the neighborhood Christmas carolling event I'm helping to organizing. I hope Santa notices how good I've been!

Turkey in the sun

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I didn't write a thing about it. It was nice, quiet, just the four of us but lots of neighborhood kids around, so we were not lonely. We ate a lot of turkey and the other fixings.

Here's some art by Erin to commemorate the occasion.

The tooth is out!

A gentle tug by Rene with some dental floss, and Erin has officially lost the first tooth. She was quite happy.

So tooth fairy, we're expecting you tonight!

Made in China - NOT!

I'm so sick of these toy recalls, aagh!  I'm done with buying crap.  We'd gotten into a bad habit of giving the kids a dollar or two and taking them to the dollar store, basically, to buy crap.  Crap that breaks.  Crap that contains who knows what kind of chemicals.  Crap, crap, crap.

My secret pastime for a while now has been reading craft / sewing blogs.  I'm inspired every day! (More on that later).  Some of these bloggers have posted great alternatives to buying crap.  

Soulemama just wrote a great post about this great wood shop that has fun wooden fruit,  doll like shapes you can paint, even wooden acorns!   And Amy Karol over at Angry Chicken (great name, eh?) posted a lot of alternatives to buying crap here.  I especially like the idea for this simple dollhouse.

Get the CD box for the dollhouse, some wooden dolls from Casey's wood, some paint, fabric, a few decorative items, and some lucky kid can decorate their own dollhouse and dolls!

I think that will be one (or two) Christmas gifts down.

Tooth fairy: please be on alert

Dear tooth fairy,

I wanted to inform you that Erin will likely be losing her front bottom tooth within a week or too, and I wanted you to be prepared.

Erin has been waiting to lose a tooth for over a year now, so she's excited for your arrival.  By the time this tooth falls out, the permanent tooth behind it will be almost fully in.  Our consultations with our neighbor the dentist, cousin Paul the dentist, and even our pediatric dentist assured us that all would be well.

Despite these assurances, Erin came home from school very sad one day a few weeks ago.  She claimed, you see, that she was the only one in her class who has not lost a tooth.  (A claim I later found out was not true!)  Her dear friend Chandler from across the street decided to help Erin out by tying a string to Erin's tooth and the other end of the string to a doorknob and then slammed the door!  Well that loosened the tooth a  bit, but here we are, tooth fairy, still waiting for your first visit to our home.  (I told Erin that it was a good thing she didn't tell Chandler that her leg hurt, as Chandler might have cut it off to be a helpful friend!)

So, tooth fairy, when the tooth falls out we'll be sure to let you know, and we hope you'll visit Erin that night with something special. 

Halloween

Halloween was fun, many opportunities to dress up and get all sugared up. Note that Erin was Sleeping Beauty on Halloween, but for other Halloween events, she was Tinker Bell. Erin was consistently a black cat. Annual neighborhood halloween photo shoot featured here, as well.  Last but not least, Daisy the wonder frisbee dog.  (Click on pics to see larger version, use the browser back button to return to this page.)

Heavy stuff

I joined Weight Watchers again three weeks ago, and I'm happy to say I've lost 7.4 pounds. I have a ways to go, but I feel good about eating healthier and trying to exercise. Made small steps in the exercise department this week, but hope to keep adding on. The pleasant weather we're having helps to want to be outside.

Migraines

Yesterday I got a migraine headache. I get them infrequently, these days, one or two a year. Some years I've gotten more, some years less. For me they are triggered by hormones, caffeine, alcohol and just stress. The last time I got a migraine was the Friday before Masters week, the day before we were leaving on vacation and had to leave our house spotless and ready for renters. It was also the day that Erin had two ballet performances.

If I get a migraine, it is usually first thing in the morning and I know that it's coming. I should check into the migraine medications that are out, but I don't get the headaches so often that I make this a priority. For me, they only last a few hours. I get sick, need to be in a dark room. If I can sleep for a few hours, by noon I am usually OK, but tired.

I think I started getting migraines when I was 13 years old, but we didn't realize that's what they were. When I was an adult, I read this essay by Joan Didion in The White Album that I realized what I suffered with was migraines.

For a few hours, I am helpless. I get sick. Can't make the lunches, can't walk Erin to the bus. I do managed to call the piano teacher and tell her we won't make it. Rene stays home a bit and learns the details of who gets what snack and lunch and which water bottle. He gets to look up the school lunch menu on the computer. I get a day of forced rest.

Almost fall

This is the first week that it's cool outside in the early morning. Hooray! It's actually pleasant to be outside. We've started talking about what we want to be for Halloween (current plans: Erin, black cat; Lauren, Tinkerbell or Barbie Fairytopia). Luckily we have most of what's needed for these costumes.

And we are busy! Erin seems to be much more confident in first grade than she was at the start of kindergarten. We got our first progress report / report card already and Erin is doing great. Last year, she didn't seem to really bond with any particular school friend, so this year I decided to have a few Friday playdates with some classmates (one at a time) and that has worked out really well.

And as for our other activities, we are busy. When I list them all, I'm embarassed that I'm one of those moms guilty of overscheduling her kids. But these are all things that Erin is interested in, and enjoys, and for now it seems to be working. Erin has always needed to be on the move. For starters, Erin is now a Brownie scout, and I am a Brownie leader or co-leader, as my friend Paula is the real leader. But I do what I can. Paula made Audrey and Lauren their own special "vests" to wear during out meetings. They are too cute. Erin will be selling cookies this year, so if you're craving some thin mints, let me know.

Erin continues with ballet, but after attending the Arts in the Heart festival this weekend, she expressed an interest in Irish Dancing. Hmmmm, maybe next year. She has been taking piano lessons for a month, and really loves it. Saturday mornings we're taking swim lessons again.

And of course, it wouldn't be the start of school without strep throat. Erin got strep throat last week, but luckily we caught it quickly (thanks to Mommy's intuition) and she only missed a day of school, which was a half day anyway.

But Erin's big news is she's getting a new tooth! Unfortunately the baby tooth it's replacing is still there, and the dentist told me to encourage her to wiggle it, but it doesn't seem to be moving too much. I'm making tooth fairy plans for the big moment.

Lauren is really loving preschool this year. It's a little more structured this year. I dropped her off late one day, and saw her friends come to great her in the yard. They shared a hug that lasted a few minutes! She's excited to go to school each day, which is a change from last year when she was more clingy with me. And finally, finally, she's taking ballet! Which she loves, loves, loves.

When we're not busy with school and other activities, we're playing in the yard or neighbor's yards, riding our bikes, taking walks (at our usual Savannah Rapids Pavillion route along the river and canal), painting, making things, reading books (which Erin can now do on her own!) and Erin is obsessed with documenting everything in her life in her new diary (actually a dollar address book from target).

Summer recap: final edition

Whoa, I'm way behind on my summer recap. Need to start writing about current events, so I'm hoping for a few posts here. Oh well. Let's see, what did I forget?

Swim team. Swim team ran from the end of May through June, and while it seems a long time ago, it really consumed our time. When Erin started, she couldn't swim very far (certainly not across the pool!) and wouldn't put her head in the water. By the end of the season, she swam in six meets, participating in freestyle, backstroke and sometimes relay. Her times vastly improved over those six weeks. And she had fun! She was hesitant sometimes, but she always did it, and I am proud of her for that. She enjoyed the concessions too! Parents need to volunteer, so I worked the concession a number of times which was fun and crazy busy! Best selling concession candy: Sweet Tart Squeeze, which is basically a toothpaste-like tube full of sugar gel. I ultimately convinced Erin that the candy was disgusting and would rot her teeth. Our concession was one of the few concessions to sell fruit, which always went quickly too. Of course there's nothing like a swim team burger on the grill.

She even participated in the championships at the Augusta Aquatic Center, which was very crowded and a little overwhelming.

The best part of swim team for Erin was getting ribbons, and finally, at the awards banquet, a trophy! She is proud of her trophy and ribbon. Oh, and being on the number one undefeated team! Go Crocs!

Art classes: Erin took some art classes through the Gertrude Herbert museum. Her weeklong class was a sculpture class. I need to photograph her artwork, but, this was right up her alley.

4th of July: Our neighborhood had an all day 4th of July cookout, which was quite lovely. Lots of food, kids, dogs, did I say food? Thanks, Miss Molly, for hosting!

6th Birthday! Erin turned six, and requested a small party with a few friends. We had the option to "share" our birthday with a friend and have a big party, but Erin wanted a few friends to go to Art's a Way and paint pottery and come home for a tea party lunch. So that's what we did.



Beach! The girls and I went to LBI while Rene had to take a training class in Orlando. Rene missed a fun week. We flew a day early and stayed at Carolyn and Paul's house. Then we headed to the beach. After our annual family meetup at The Chicken or the Egg, we got an early beach start before we could get into the houses. Most of the family was staying in a nice big old Victorian house, and my parents, the girls and and I stayed in a smaller house just behind it. The setup worked great. Thanks to Carolyn and Aunt Joan for planning and organizing the houses.

We got to meet baby Natalie, and as Lauren still says often, "baby Natalie is so, so cute!" It was fun to see Lauren, Lara and Samantha play together. We spent some nice hours at the beach. Erin ventured into the ocean, and loved it! Finally, on the last day, Lauren ventured in for a minute. The kids got to take turns on the kayak at the bay one day. Erin saw a boy selling shells he had colored with crayon, so she stole his idea. She set up shop every day at the end of our driveway. "Shells for sale, dollar or a quarter!" I thought the smaller shells were a quarter, and the larger ones were a dollar. It wasn't until the end of the trip that she told me that people could choose how much they paid, either a dollar or a quarter. She ended up making $10! And not all of that was from family either.



As always, we loved our week at the beach, and seeing our family. We loved the waterpark, the bay, the few nightly walks to the ice cream shop, the outdoor concert at the park across the street, the dolphins, the Beach House dinner (thanks, Nana and PopPop for watching the girls!), the cool evening breezes, good NJ pizza (no cool evening breezes or good NJ pizza in Georgia), playing with chalk, sand castles, shell collecting, the kiddie pool at the beach, Yahtzee, and so much more.

At this point, summer was moving along pretty quickly. School started for Erin on August 13th, and we hosted a neighborhood ice cream social on the Saturday before school. A good time was had by all.

And then, school started. I'll post school updates later. For now, here's a picture of Erin and Lauren as we waited for the bus. The hazy effect? The steamy hot outdoor sauna that fogged up the camera lens.




Summer updates now officially over. Phew!

First day of school

Today is the first day of school in our area. Never mind that the temps around here last week were over 103 just about every day. Ah, well while the schools are roasting, I mean teaching the children, I'll be hosting a back to school moms brunch for a few friends. The little ones will still be with us.

We ended the summer break with a neighborhood ice cream social in our front yard on Saturday night. Lots of fun, lots of sugar, lots of kids running around all sugared up.

Happy first day of first grade, Erin!

Summer recap: Barbie ballet

Next up on our summer recap is our week at Barbie ballet. Erin's been taking ballet since she was 3, and Lauren has watched Erin take dance class since she was 1. Tired of waiting in the front room, Lauren finally had her chance to take ballet class for one week! The girls were in two different classes. Audrey, Maya and Lauren were in the 3 year old class and Erin and Emily were in the 5 year old class.

Erin had fun, but Lauren loved, loved the class. She dances just about every day for us. Both girls will continue weekly lessons when school starts. Erin had made some noise that she might not continue in the future, which is fine. Lauren, for now, is dedicated to dance!

Barbie ballet
Originally uploaded by bloggerjeanne

Barbie Ballet
Originally uploaded by bloggerjeanne

more ballet

Summer recap: pony rides

At the beginning of the summer (May, around here) we went on a Mom's Club outing to the stables at Fort Gordon. It was our first trip to Fort Gordon, and my first trip to a military base, for that matter. I didn't realize they had so many things for civilians! The pony rides were great, and there was a great play / picnic area that we visited afterwards. The play area had three different playset areas, and a shaded picnic area. We also found this biggest pine cones ever! Keep in mind for Christmas crafts.

pony rides
Originally uploaded by bloggerjeanne

Pony rides
Originally uploaded by bloggerjeanne

Pony rides
Originally uploaded by bloggerjeanne

Summer almost over

On Monday, Erin starts school. Crazy I know! So in our world, summer is almost over. At least school is starting two weeks later than last year. I've done a pitiful job of blogging this summer, so my plan for the next few days is to post a recap of some of the highlights of our summer.

Too much night in my head

This morning Lauren said, "C'mon Mr. Sun wake up." And I said, "You wake up too early. You wake up before the sun." And then she said, "That's because I have too much night in my head."

So much I need to post, but for now, I'll leave you with that.

Thinking of our friends Josh & PJ...

in California, as they await their twin baby girls, who may arrive today! We're thinking of you guys, and can't wait to see pics of the babies!

Erin joins swim team

Erin joined swim team at our pool. Erin's never been a real risk taker in the pool, and up until recently didn't
want to put her face in the water. Swim team started almost 3 weeks ago. They meet for 1/2 hour Monday through Thursday. One of her friends quit in tears after the first day. Erin was doing well and jumping in the water, but wasn't always putting her face in the water for freestyle and backstroke was nonexistent. Tuesday night was time trials night, which is really a practice swim meet. (They're a lot of fun. You eat a lot and cheer a lot.) That day she said she didn't
want to to the race, and I said, this isn't a race, it's just practice. Then her friend Sam said she wasn't going to swim and Erin
said she wasn't either. Finally somehow they got swept up in the crowd.

Erin's first race was freestyle. It was just Erin and Sam in their "heat", which was great. (We're learning all the swim meet
terminology and routines. Like I have to write Erin's name on her back with a Sharpie pen and the codes for her events on her arm).

Erin did great! Face in the water, big arms! She might have grabbed the rope here or there but for the most part she did great! Then later was her backstroke event. A boy who raced in the heat just before Erin got stuck trying to swim but went nowhere. He was flailing about, so one of the coaches jumped in and flipped him around and had him swim freestyle. Rene and I looked at each other and we guessed that Erin might suffer a similar fate. But when the race came, Erin backstroked fine, head up, big arms, going straight, and didn'tgrab on to the rope once! We were shocked and amazed!

Erin had a great time, so I guess we're continuing to do swim team! It runs through the month of June.

Next week, in the mornings we start our one week of Barbie Ballet Camp. Both Erin and Lauren are going, in different classes. Lauren has wanted to do ballet since she was one, and insisted on wearing a ballet outfit to sit in the waiting room while Erin took ballet. (And continued to do that through this year, too.) So finally Lauren gets to take ballet. Erin is going to take some morning art classes later in June sponsored by the local art museum.

Summer is here.

Kindergarten graduation

Today Erin graduated from kindergarten. Yesterday her class had a party that a few moms organized, and Lauren and I went and helped. It was a fiesta theme and a good time was had by all.

This morning Lauren and I went to see Erin's kindergarten presentation. (Rene was stuck in a meeting, so couldn't go). The kids sang a song about first grade (to the tune of New York, New York). They then peformed the ABC's of kindergarten. Erin's line: "J is for good jobs and praises we have earned." Then her teacher awarded each child a "candy award". Each child got a different candy bar as she told everyone why that candy was appropriate. Erin got sweet tarts for being sweet and nice. Each child also got their graduation certificate. Then there was a slideshow presentation with pictures of the kids, and if that didn't get you teary enough, a video where each kid said what they liked about kindergarten. The finale was the kids singing "The Greatest Love of All" (Whitney Houston song) that really got me crying.

After that, the kids could stay or go. Erin wanted to go, so we met Rene at McDonalds. Now I'm sitting in the front yard watching the girls play. Summer is here.

Plague seems to be gone!

Yeah! No fever today! Hooray! So business as usual for a rainy Saturday. Swimming lessons for Erin in the am, followed by a trip to Target and the library, and then Indian food. Yum! The afternoon was lazy. We had planned to go to the Pops Under the Stars concert tonight with our friends, but the rain cancelled that for us. So mellow evening is planned. A good night sleep for all is in store, so plague be gone!

I've been home with sick children from Thursday, April 26th through Friday May 4th. Do I get some kind of mommy badge for that? It could have been worse, for sure.

Plague continues

Lauren still has a mild fever, congested, coughing, now sleeping on the couch. Could this be the fever / virus thingy a few friends had before Masters week? That lasted 8 days for them. Blah.

Diagnosis

Doctor says Lauren does not have plague. Or strep (anymore). Just a cold virus coughy thingy with a fever. That's it? Why did she nap at 10:30am? Why did she ask to nap again at 1:45? Surely there is something seriously wrong with this child.

Mom is getting stir crazy.

Still plagued

Erin went back to school yesterday, but Lauren still has a fever, so we're off to the doctor, AGAIN. Blah.

Almost done with the plague

Kept Erin home on Tuesday too, as she had a slight fever and said her throat still hurt. But yesterday afternoon and this morning were fever and pain free! So off to school she went. Lauren did not go to school today as she still has a fever. :( She's not complaining of anything, so that's good. Come on antibiotics, kick in!

First fire, then flood, now plague?*

Well not too long ago we had the dishwasher fire, soon followed by the washer hose coming loose and flooding the laundry room. Now we've been hit with the plague.

Long story short, Erin was diagnosed with strep throat on Thursday evening. Got antibiotics. Antibiotics didn't work, so we had a miserable weekend. After calling nurse helpline twice ("give it a few days"), we all trekked backdown to the after hours clinic. Erin didn't seem to be responding to the antibiotics and Lauren had strep too. Oh Joy! So we're on sick day number 4. Throw some vomiting and lots of coughing and me playing musical beds last night between the hacking children, and we've been having a barrel of fun.

Good news: no fevers today, and Erin reports her throat is much better.

*Title for this post provided by Rene. Thank you, Rene!

Erinisms

I started this post back in April. Here are some Erinisms:

"Dashing through the snow, in a one horse sloping sleigh." (Yes, we're still singing Christmas carols in the summer!)

"You're a grand old flag, you're a high fiving flag, and forever a piece may you wave!"

Ready or not...

We're renting our house out for the masters, Erin has two performances in the Roar of Love ballet tomorow (in addition to a an Easter egg hunt and party at school), Lauren also has an Easter Egg hunt, and we have to be packed up and ready to go by 5:30 am on Saturday.

Disneyland, odd as it may sound, is starting to sound relaxing.

First fire, now flood

Was doing laundry yesterday afternoon. I was in the kitchen, and something didn't sound right in the laundry room. Opened the door, water everywhere! The water hose had come off the washer. :( "Big leak! Get big towels!" We all helped and quickly mopped up the water. Rene reattached the hose. Now I'm washing lots of towels. :(

You may remember we had a small electrical fire in our dishwasher weeks ago.

Glad that these happened before Masters week. Praying nothing else breaks!

Got pollen?

We do. All over the place. A greenish yellow powder covers our world. Sniffle, sniffle.

Erin the firefly

Remember Erin the Angel year? Well this year she is Erin the Firefly. Click on photo to see larger copy. Use browser back button to return here.

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Today Lauren is 3! Hooray! (Although we're celebrating tomorrow, so we're not making a big deal out of today).

Happy Birthday Lauren! We love you.

Masters!

Yes, we've been rented for the Masters! We enjoyed our windfall for a few minutes. Had to write check to realtor. Will pay for maid service. Then I had to start shopping! White sheets, white towels, some new pillows, new cushions for outside chairs. The list goes on and on. Like everyone else in Augusta, we are cleaning, sprucing up, getting ready to show the best of Augusta. The azaleas are starting to bloom.

We're going to visit Rene's dad during Masters week, and then we'll meet our friends Mark, June, Nathan & Lauren at Disneyland. We fly back to Atlanta, but need to kill a little time in Atlanta before we can get back into our house. Luckily, we won tickets to the Atlanta Zoo and The World of Coca Cola at Erin's school auction, so that's what we'll be doing. In the meantime, I clean.

Set clocks ahead, check smoke alarms

This is a good time to check your smoke alarms. Our smoke alarm worked for us this week. I had set my dishwasher to delay start and run during the night. After we went to bed, the kitchen smoke alarm went off. Rene and I ran downstairs and could smell something burning. We quickly realized it was the dishwasher. Long story short, there was an electrical fire starting in the wires of the dishwasher door. I don't want to think about what would have happened if our smoke alarm was not working!

Happy daylight savings!

What's up?

"What's up, bloggerjeanne?", you say? Well, let's see...

We went to Charleston for the weekend, which was very nice. On the way there, saw an armadillo on the side of the road. Whoo hoo! Went to the very nice aquarium, and then the IMAX movie next door. It was very funny watching Erin and Lauren wearing their 3D glasses, and Erin reaching out trying to touch the wild animals of Africa that seemed so close! We then had ice cream, and returned to the aquarium for a bit more. Had dinner and went to hotel.

The next day, we went to the very nice Childrens' Museum, the Lowcountry Museum. Then walked a bit and had lunch at Jestine's Kitchen, for some good lowcountry food. We walked around the market for a bit and then took an hour horse-drawn carriage ride tour. Lauren was a little restless, then slept. Erin was a little bored, but she was impressed when we passed a house that our driver told us had been visited by Maria Von Trapp and her family. (Erin likes the Sound of Music). We went to some outlets (new shoes!) returned to the hotel, went in the hot tub (highlight of trip for Erin), and then dinner.

On the way home we stopped at a plantation, but it was a bit to cold to enjoy walking around. Then home.

Since then:

We heard that we had renters for the masters, then not, then we did, now it appears not.
Lauren got pinkeye. :(
I cooked green eggs and ham for Erin's class. :)
Girl scout cookies arrived!
We discovered we'd left Erin's camera at the children's museum in Charleston. :( I called and they are mailing back. :)
Daisy got shaved and now she looks like freak dog again. But a cute freak dog.
The dishwasher set off our fire alarm. I've been washing dishes by hand until repairman comes. :)
We're planning Lauren's 3rd birthday party, princess theme.

That's all! I promise to update more after my dishpan hands recover.

Charleston

We're heading out to Charleston tomorrow. Haven't done too much planning, but things we may do are visit the aquarium, children's museum, see a beach or two, ride in a horse drawn carriage and eat some good low country food.

Our kitchen and family room floors will be revarnished while we're gone. We're hoping to avoid the stink.

Introducing the book

Funny, funny video. Especially if you've ever called tech support with a problem or helped a computer novice with an issue.

Condolences from a 5 year old

My uncle Tom (dad's brother) passed away last week. He was 81. He had been in bad health for a while. My dad got to visit his brother a few months ago and they had a nice visit.

I told Erin that PopPop's brother died. She asked if PopPop was sad, and I said yes, but he knew that his brother was in heaven and that made him feel better.

The next day Erin said, "I want to make PopPop a card to make him feel better." She was drawing and occassionally asking me to spell words for her so she could put them in the card. I wasn't concentrating on it too much, and then finally I said, "what does your card say?"

"When someone is old, they must die."

Hmmm. "Erin, where do you get to the part where you write something to make PopPop feel better?"

"I'm working on it."

She then wrote, "I am sorry." She also insisted on taping a stuffed hedgehog to the envelope. Nothing says I'm sorry for your loss like a stuffed hedgehog. She then asked me to mail it. I smiled and said certainly, and hid it away.

Who are you?

This morning I was talking on the phone with my mother and I must have accidentally hit the "voice changing button" on our phone. Why this feature exists, I don't know, unless you like to make prank phone calls. I thought I had hit the "off" button, so I said, "Hello, are you there?" No response. The following is the rest of our conversation:

Me: Mom are you there? Hello?
Mom: My line must have crossed with someone else, I'm hearing another conversation. (I now realize I've hit the voice changing button.)
Me: Mom, can you hear me? Mom it's me!
Mom: Who's you? What's your name? (She's thinking I'm some man now.)
Me (laughing): Mom, it's me, Jeanne!
Mom: What?
Me: I pressed a button on my phone and it makes my voice sound different.
Mom: What?
Me: Hang up the phone, I'll call you back.

Lost in McDonalds

Yesterday we went to McDonald's for lunch (after a major Erin meltdown, temper tantrum, followed by a nap--halleluia!

While we were there, the girls went into the playstructure which looks like it was made for very large gerbils, lots of tunnels. Erin doesn't like to climb too high, but immediately Lauren crawled up to the top tubes. After about 10 minutes she did not reaappear. We'd periodically see her crawl through one of the tubes, but she wouldn't respond to our calling. (Note there were about 1000 other children, more or less, also in the playstructure.)

Finally I found two girls who were 7 or 8, and asked them to go find a blonde little girl named Lauren wearing a pink jacket. If they weren't up to the job, I'd have to find a skinny McDonalds' employee The girls reported back that they found Lauren, but Lauren did not want to go down the slide. I told them to walk her down through the structure. They reported back that she did not want to go. Finally, I told them to tell her that her mommy and daddy would take her to the dollar store. Shortly they emerged with Lauren.

Next time we'll do pizza.

Y is for yucky

Got a call from Erin's teacher that Erin was complaining of a sore throat and she didn't touch her lunch. So I picked her up, picked Lauren up, and took Erin to the doctor. Diagnosis: strep throat. So the three of us are home today having a sick day. It's raining outside (forecast was for icy rain), and generally a good day to stay inside. Crossing my fingers that no one else gets it. Yucky!

Y is for y'all

When I was helping out in Erin's class this week, they were working on the letter 'Y'. The teacher asked the children to tell her words that begin with 'Y'. One of the children said, "y'all". And since we are in the south, that was a correct answer!

Sniffle, sniffle

Erin's been complaining of headaches. I took her to the doctor yesterday. Theory #1 is that allergies are causing her headaches. Yes, it's January and the pollen is out in Georgia. We're both sniffing. So now Erin is taking allergy medication. Theory #2 is that Erin's six-year molars are coming in and that may be bothering her. (This might be the case as she complains sometimes when she is chewing food.) So we're going to wait and see how she feels with the allergy medication and if the headaches continue, take her to the dentist.

And speaking of health issues, I never wrote about the Christmas illnesses. Wouldn't be Christmas without them, now wouldn't it? Two days before Christmas, Erin got an ear infection. A few days after Christmas, Lauren got a tummy virus, stomach flu or some similar crud. Once Lauren recovered, Rene got some kind of flu, coughing, fever, aching. I escaped the holidays healthy.

Mickey Mouse Crocs

Lauren likes to say "How cute" when seeing pictures of puppies or babies. I had the same reaction when I saw these! We're gearing up for Disneyland, so I had to get them:



Mickey Mouse Crocs

Feeling down today?

You are not alone! See this article.

Maybe that's why I feel like a really need a nap. Of course on the one day Lauren doesn't seem to want to nap.

Top 10 things moms (and some dads) do in the carpool line

1. Go sit in a friend's SUV or minivan and chat.
2. Sit in your SUV or minivan and chat on the cellphone.
3. Sit in your SUV or minivan and read.
4. Sit in your SUV or minivan and sleep.
5. Sit in your SUV or minivan and eat.
6. Get out of the SUV or minivan and take a walk.
7. Get out of the SUV or minivan and go into the school. (What were they doing in there?)
8. Back your SUV or minivan into the front of the carpool line, saving yourself lots of time while incurring the wrath of the moms in the front of the line who've been sitting there for 30 minutes.
9. Get enraged at the mom who backs into the front of the carpool line. Give her a good talking to. Go get the principal. Shake your head in disgust and let any moms in the front who where sleeping, chatting, or reading know what transgression just occurred.
10. Sit in your SUV or minivan and watch the drama of the other moms fighting.

I've been a bad blogger

No posts. Bad me.

Quick updates from this week:

100 days of school celebration!
Found out my part time tech writing job won't continue after January. :(
Will now have time to organize the suitcase of photos my mother brought at Christmas!
Will now have time to help with the girl scouts "Thinking Day" project. Our troop's country: Bolivia!
We decided to rent our house out for masters week. But since it ends on Easter Sunday, attendance might be down this year.
Lauren got her big girl bed today! Had no nap so groggily went into bed just fine.
It's a movie night and we're watching The Sound of Music (or "Maria" as Erin calls it.

That's all. I promise to blog more in the future. :)

cool things I've found on the internet

The Inventor or Ramen noodles dies.
Place the state on the map, see how you do!
Yahoo Answers. Ask a question, any question!
Martha Stewart on crack! (Amy Sedaris, very funny.)

The bus has brought my baby home!

Hooray. Erin is a bus rider!

My baby on the bus!

At approximately 4pm today I will be nervously awaiting Erin's arrival on her first trip on the dog bus. Of course I had dreams of bus crashes, etc which kept me awake.

I had been avoiding the bus because A) I had been misinformed that we would be first pickup in the morning and last dropoff in the afternoon even though we live pretty close to the school; B) I had gotten used to spending all that time in the carpool line reading; and C) my baby is too young to ride the bus!

But after six months of Erin's pleading with me and me getting information on the route, I gave in. I hear the driver is wonderful, and they will attempt to drop off and pick up right in front of our house. But this morning my friend (whose son is a veteran bus rider) informed me that the driver told her there would be a substitute driver this afternoon! AAAGGGH! Luckily she talked to him about Erin and he told her Erin was on the route and all would be well. Plus I gave Erin a note for the bus driver which I've only told her 50 times to give him.

It'll be a long afternoon!

More on Christmas in another post!