First day of school

This school year might be a little tricky. The girls are going to different schools that start and end at the same time. They can't ride the bus to school because we're either out of district (Belle) or the bus comes at the crack of dawn at a far away pick up spot (Ava), which makes no sense to me.

Belle started first grade. She had a blast in the spanish immersion program last year and will stick with it at least through fifth grade. So far, Ava's loving fourth grade. I'm really excited about the program she's in (an accelerated one) and the school she's attending.

Luke will be going to the same preschool he went to last year - a coop that we love. I'm in charge of all the parent clean up days and am on the board of directors this year.

Add the school stuff to life, work and roller derby and I anticipate being one tired momma.

Drum roll please...here are the first day of school pictures. Thankfully the making funny faces in pictures gene skipped one of my kids .

Belle has a birthday

Since Belle's birthday is Christmas Eve, a concerted effort is made to keep it separate from Christmas. It usually turns into a month long event. This year we decided to change it up a bit and celebrated on her birthday.

After thinking about it for .005 seconds, she decided on Hananoki for her birthday lunch. The place was deserted, so no diners were annoyed by all the picture taking.

Luke ponders his options.

The onion volcano was a dud. Luckily the food was delicioso.

After lunch, we went to Aunt May's for more presents.

And cake. We learned our lesson with that huge Cold Stone cake of 2008. This year, we got a very normal sized red velvet cake with sweet cream ice cream mixed with oreos and a ganache frosting. Super yummy, if a bit rich.

Success!

I feel refreshed

After a much needed blogging break (I mean, that once or twice a month posting was a bit overwhelming), I'm back.

Our summer was simultaneously eventful and uneventful. We had too much fun with our west coast (and fellow nonblogging) friends. My parents crossed the country and landed at our house for a few days. And somehow, I'm pretty sure the Newport Aquarium, King's Island and the Louisville Zoo won't be the same after our visits. In between all the fun, there were way too many days that weren't pool worthy, way too many fights that needed reffing and insanity to be had by all.

The girls started school this past Wednesday. So far, Belle has only caused one fight between boys vying for her attention. Soon she'll be able to woo and be wooed en español, as she's in the spanish immersion program. Ava hit the ground running and can't wait for her first homework packet.

Here are the obligatory first day of school pictures. Check out how much Ava has grown since first grade!

Luke starts preschool on the 31st. In preparation for preschool, he had to ditch his nasty habit of diaper wearing. He'll be going two days a week, giving each parent a couple hours of alone time. As sad as it is, I haven't had two and a half hours of scheduled alone time in years. With that, I'm looking forward to reacquainting myself with some higher level of sanity than I've known over the past few months.

Rainy Day

It's no secret that I'm anti-umbrella. Because of that, I've put Belle's multiple requests for an umbrella on the super way back burner. Fortunately for her, we happened upon a 50% off sale - that included fun kid umbrellas - at Lands End. The kid knows a sale when she sees one. She also knows that mom has a tough time saying no to a sale. Even if an umbrella is involved.

The umbrellas found their way to our home on Friday and Saturday (after a trip back to grab one for Ava). Saturday was one of the most glorious days of 2009. The goofballs refused to come out and play, thus making it possible for me to get some much needed yard work done (if you look at the right side of the photo you'll see how far two bags of mulch made it - not very) in a relatively short period of time.

Along came Sunday. And with it, lots and lots of rain and fifty five measly degrees. The girls cheered when they saw the rain. Cheered! They were outside faster than I could pour my first cup of coffee.

Meanwhile, Luke spent some quality time with his second favorite play thing. Play dough. He's been known to play with the dough for three hours at a time. He goes through so much that it's easier to make a fresh batch each time. I'm a fan of this recipe.

Easter 2009

Dying eggs was a success. Only one broken egg that Ava promptly ate. Luke didn't get to participate because he decided to go to bed at 6:45pm.

The Easter Bunny left a bit of candy, some plastic animals and plants for the girls.

Luke got tons of bubble making accessories. The kid loves his bubbles.

Hunting for eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's. The wind was a bit chilly, but it was still warm enough for short sleeves. Belle's choice of clothes is never a good indicator of the temp. She wore that outfit during the ice storm.

Ava checking out the contents of her eggs.

Silly goose.

Torturing the kids by having them sit directly in the sun.

Found a better spot to sit. Wade had to work all day, so he didn't get to participate in the fun. He did get a plate of leftovers, so that kinda sorta makes up for it.

Future PETA Activist

It was around Belle's second birthday that I knew we had a future animal rights activist on our hands. The kid treats strays better than humans most days.

I knew the moment was coming. It was just a matter of time before Belle decided to go veg. And it finally happened a couple nights ago over a dinner of incredibly delish grilled burgers. While chowing down on a plate of fries and potato chips (what can I say? we love our fried potatoes), she announced that she was no longer eating meat. Honestly, it could've happened sooner. Answering the, "Are we eating this chicken because it was bad?" questions as I gnawed a chicken leg wasn't exactly appetizing.

After the big announcement, the following convo took place.

Ava: Hey, Belle. Bacon is meat.
Belle: Oh. (ponders a moment)
Ava: And sausage.
Belle: What animal is that again?
Ava: Pig.
Belle: I'm okay with that.

If we were really mean, we could show her this commercial. But, we're not and we like bacon too.

Off to see if this shirt comes in a 5T.

Christmas 2008

It doesn't matter how much we cut back, presents - much like rabbits - tend to multiply when kids are involved. We're at a really, uh, let's call it fun place with the kids and the whole anticipation thing. Even so, Ava managed to fall asleep in record time on Christmas Eve. (Think Belle's huge birthday cake had something to do with that. Mega sugar rush turned into mega sugar low pretty fast.)

We spent the morning at home. In the pm we went south to the in-laws where we ate (a very late) brunch, opened gifts and shot some hoops.

The ultimate bed head. Belle's dino roars and walks. It's not annoying at all.

This is Ava being so excited that she can't contain herself. Guitar wasn't such a hit. The Wedgits were.

Belle encourages Luke to open his gifts by threatening to open them.

Luke demonstrates not sticking out his tongue - his latest obsession.

Wade and Lou (brother-in-law) helped Steve (father-in-law) hang his basketball hoop. Here they are burning off some of those Christmasy calories.

Belle turned 5!

We did the low key birthday thing for Belle's fifth. For her birthday lunch she chose Hananoki - our favorite hibachi place around. (They have killer Fire Scallops. By killer I mean they'll burn off every last taste bud on that tongue of yours.) And at the last minute she decided to go with a Cold Stone cake. It was a good thing she switched gears because I was having a heckuva time winning a Mario cake pan on ebay. The only request she had for her party? A pee-yaw-taw.

Blowing out the candle. See that cake? It weighed 7.5 pounds. Red velvet cake + sweet cream ice cream = way too yummy.

She finally got the princess gown she's always wanted. Thanks Aunt May& Uncle Lou!

The pee-yaw-taw.

Scooting back for 1/10 of a second to show off her take. You may notice that Ava is fiercely protecting her pile.

Two down

Belle is officially a school goer. She goes to the coolest school ever. We went for a visit last year and tried to get in, but it's so cool that nobody quit. Her schedule isn't too bad - three hours a day three days per week.

Wade's schedule, on the other hand, is kind of crazy on Belle's school days. Ava has to be picked up around 2:30, or whenever the teachers get them out, and Belle's pick up time is 3:00 several miles away through serious traffic. Next year the girls will be going to the same school, so I think we can deal for one school year.

Like the photo? That's Belle saying, "Here's your freakin' smile. Now get the heck outta dodge chumps."

Belle's Birthday

You're not going crazy. Belle's birthday isn't until Christmas Eve. But she's been planning her fifth birthday party since two days after her fourth birthday. It would've been the day after, but since that was Christmas Day, she was occupied for a few hours.

She'd like it to be known that she's having a Mario Party. I've been stalking some Mario pans on ebay (since they're from 1989!) and came across this uber cute Super Mario Mushroom Cookie that I'll have to make. Looks like Wilton has taken down all their old shaped pan instructions. Surely they didn't trash all that info and it's just buried deep in their site.

In case you missed last year's party, it was a royal event involving Princess Ariel. Due to the unfortunate date of her birth, we try to party at least twice (we've even done half birthday parties, which opened a can of worms I wasn't quite prepared to deal with and landed Belle with a seriously infected ear lobe) in an effort to prolong her realization that she's going to be screwed.

Blowing out the candles. Note the placement of the candles. Not my idea.

The game called Poop

Last weekend the girls were getting restless. It was way too hot to play outside. We had played our homemade match game a few times and a few of our other trusty boredom busters. But that wasn't enough. No, they demanded more.

In a moment of pure genius, Wade decided that we should teach them bullsh*t. Fine by me, but we had to give it a more kid friendly name. Wade thought bull would suffice. But then I reminded him that they are kids. Kids think that think the word poop is the funniest thing since Spongebob.

We played a few rounds of poop and discovered that our girls are fabulous poop players. (Imagine that.) They seemed to have an unending tolerance for that game, but Wade and I finally got pooped out and had to call it a day.

Belle's a winner!

I'm not saying that to boost her self esteem or to make fun of her, she really did win! At the beginning of the summer the girls signed up for the library's summer reading program. Belle had to listen to/read/but mostly listen to 25 books in order to be eligible for a prize. She entered to win two prizes - a Build-A-Bear gift certificate and what I thought was a Blue's Clues game.

The phone call came on a lazy Saturday while Ava was with grandma. Belle won! She really, really won! What she won, I wasn't sure. We jumped in the van and drove as fast as possible (around 45 mph with traffic and lights) to claim her prize. The excitement was unbearable as we pulled into the parking lot. Belle ran ahead, obeyed traffic rules, and pushed the handicapped button to automatically open the unnecessarily heavy door. In the process, she was almost crushed between the quickly opening mass of a door and the rail. She escaped without injury and hopped inside to claim her prize.

The lovely librarian presented Belle with her Blue's Clues Song Game book. Clearly, I missed the song and book part of the prize description. Had I noticed, I would've encouraged her to try for the Ipod Shuffle. Upon laying eyes on the prize, the librarian noticed my look of disgust and told me that I was free to stick my tongue out at her as soon as she turned her back. I was thinking more along the lines of chucking the book at her. But seriously, the person that invented these song books had to be a childless uncle or aunt that utterly loathed the parents of his/her nieces and nephews. There is simply no other explanation for such a horrid, horrid idea.

Anyway, Belle is very excited and enjoys playing with her book in her room. With the door shut.

Hey Ava, your tongue didn't make it into the picture!!

Haircut marathon

We let ourselves go over the summer. Why bother with haircuts on a regular schedule when the hair is drenched with pool water and/or sweat? And since the kids (okay, they probably don't really care, but I do) don't want to look like they got their hair cut for the first day of school on purpose, we have to do it a little early. This was the week.

I'm pretty good with a pair of clippers. I can buzz the heck out of any head you throw at me. I can even make a pretty straight line. And I make a darn good fro-hawk. But scissors are a completely different animal. One time Wade and I decided that it'd be a good idea to save a few bucks and trim Ava's bangs ourselves. Fifteen minutes and no bangs later, we decided that the 6 pack we drank prior to was a bad idea. (No, we didn't get drunk and cut her hair. But it would've explained the outcome.) The worst part was that I knew better.

Growing up, my mom did most my grooming. Considering what a brat I was, it must've taken all her patience to cut my hair and not my throat. When I was around 7, I decided that I wanted my hair just like hers. She got me positioned just right, grabbed the nasty junk drawer scissors and got going. My bangs progressively got shorter and shorter and shorter. When there wasn't much bang left and I still wanted them shorter she was confused and finally thought to ask what I envisioned as the final product. "Your bangs." She didn't stop laughing for a year. See, she had long hair and a pony tail.

And so, we pay someone to cut their wild little manes.

Here's the before.

My kids think that "smile" means make the weirdest face possible. The front of Luke's hair wasn't too bad, but he was thisclose to rockin a mullet. Belle's hair was actually growing out super cute and looked great pulled back in a clip. Ava pretty much needs a buzz a la Britney to avoid the scream fest that ensues after I grab the brush.

And the after.

Again, I said "smile." When will I learn? Luke's bangs look like I got my grubby little fingers on them. That's the only thing I don't like about his cut. The lady does a great job on the rest of his head and even whispers sweet nothings into his ear the entire time she's got him in the chair. Ava decided on a slightly stacked bob. Belle went back to uber short. The first time she got that cut it was an accident, but it fits her sassy personality perfectly.

Here's to all those bad mom hair cuts!

Intentional Injuries

What is it with band aids? My kids will do anything to get one of those stinky pieces of sticky plastic on their bodies. That becomes a problem when we actually need a band aid and have wasted them all on non injuries. We've been out for a while and I finally remembered to buy some yesterday because I've gotten tired of raiding the first aid kit in the van every time there's a band aid emergency.

The kids were so excited. I didn't give into the Sponge Bob band aids or anything fancy. Though, I might've if they had a little absorbant pad that actually sucked up blood and they didn't leave nasty film behind that takes forever to come off.

Belle managed to get a scratch a few minutes after we got home. She picked a blue band aid. About five seconds later she told me that a bee stung her. While we were in the house. With all the doors and windows shut. Hmmm. Five seconds later she "fell." Five minutes later she'd had enough. She asks, "Actually, mommy, can you just hurt me?" WHAT?! At that point I gave in and let her have a band aid for her non injury.