Back to School Night

Last night was Back to School Night at Natalie's elementary school. DH and I decided that he would stay home with Natalie and Nicholas while I went to the school. He picked up Natalie to take some of the load off me.

It literally takes me 20-25 minutes to pick Nicholas up now that he is potty training with underwear. That's after making the close to 10 minute drive around 2 blocks to get to the school. Then add in the 25 minute ride to get to Natalie's school, plus another 10 minutes to get her out of there (which is usually spent keeping Nicholas away from the toys at her after care program) and then 5 minutes to get home. From leaving my office door to walking in at home, that's roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes, on a good day.

So if I need to be at Back to School Night at 6:30 pm, and somehow manage to eat something for dinner -- I need a whole lot of help and good fortune.

With DH's help, I was home by 5:55 pm. I quickly changed and eat very fast plus made Natalie's bed. (Her comforter cover was blue from The Marker Incident the previous evening, so DH washed it during the day, but he doesn't know how to make beds, never mind put on a comforter cover, so I had to do that before leaving for Back to School Night.) I left the house at 6:24 pm.

I got to Back to School Night and found a parking place. I ran into the PTA President and she told me that there was a "pile" of completed Family Directory forms in her mailbox. I'm a newbie to this PTA stuff and didn't know where the mailboxes were -- she marched me through the office and showed me the mailboxes. At this point I'm pretty thrilled with the "stack" -- yes, I have taken on the Family Directory for a school that does not have a Family Directory now, so I'm starting "at the ground floor".

I went to the cafeteria for the pre-Back-to-School-Night PTA meeting. I sorted through the Family Directory forms -- roughly 2/3 of them have email addresses! WOOHOO! Based on all the "but not everyone has an email address" talk I had heard from the PTA members, I figured we would be lucky with 10% of the folks having email addresses. And we have roughly 150 completed forms so far which did not include the forms distributed at Back to School night! I'm pretty psyched.

The PTA meeting is fast -- elect the PTA officers and approve the budget. And at 7:10 pm we're off to meet the classroom teacher. Natalie's teacher is a first-year teacher at the school but spent 10 years teaching half-day Kindergarten at another school in Fairfax County. She had a very well-run Parents Night presentation. Lots of great handouts, information, etc. But it is very short -- just 25 minutes. Then it's time to move to Session 2 -- primarily for families that have children in different classes in the school. For Session 2 I went to the front of the school and filled out my membership for PTA and wrote my check out for dues. I also spent some time talking to the principal and one of the members of the civic association board.

All in all, it was a good night. The logistics of this stuff are maddening, though. I honestly do not know how working families do this.

Little Boy Blue

Getting Nicholas to go to bed and go to sleep has become the bane to our (plural) existence over the past several weeks. I am absolutely determined to NOT have him in our bed, and thus, the battle of wills.

Tonight I let DH handle Nicholas and his bedtime. I went downstairs to the playroom to catch a DVR of The Colbert Report and Project Runway. Then I hear...

"Oh My Gawd. WHAT have YOU done?!"

Then silence.

Then a yell -- "Mommy -- you must come up here."

So I went up to see what devastation may have occured.

Nicholas had acquired one of Natalie's blue (washable) markers and had colored both of his arms -- in their entirety -- blue.

Guess who got to take a shower tonight?

H, if you are reading this, we must make plans for Aruba. Or Miami Beach. Or Key West.

Comings and goings and comings

DH had a "so long" party to go to for one of his friends on Capitol Hill, so I had "soccer duty". Or so I thought.

I left work early to go pick up Nicholas (takes 20 minutes with a potty training 2 year-old) and then drove to Natalie's elementary school to pick her up from after-care so we could go home to get her changed for soccer. DH was home (thank goodness) so he could help with getting Natalie into shin guards, cleats, etc. and get Nicholas into the potty (again) before we left the house. Natalie needed a snack before soccer so got that onto the table at 5:15 pm so she could make soccer practice at 5:30 pm.

We get out of the house at 5:20 pm, with the full knowledge that we would be late for soccer practice.

I drive down the road and turn off to what I then realize is the road to go to the school for soccer games, not soccer practice.

Turn around, get back on to the road that is loaded with commute time cars, to get to the right turn off for the road to go to the school for soccer practice.

We arrive at 5:45 pm. There are hardly any cars.

The only soccer players there are boys.

I call DH's cell phone. Voicemail.

I find the coach's cell phone number and call him.

"There is no practice today. It's back to school night so we cancelled practice."

I find this out after my 2 hour journey around northern Virginia.

I took the kids to Silver Diner for dinner.

The PTA

I went to the first PTA meeting of the year. Yes, this is not my first PTA meeting -- I have actually been attending meetings on and off for about a year. But it was the first meeting where I could introduce myself as "Mom to a Kindergartener".

It was heartening to see other Kindergarten parents at the meeting. The PTA President ran a very efficient meeting -- we were in and out in a little over an hour. But I think some of the Kindergarten parents hoped to learn a little more. Thankfully we have Back to School Night next week, and the principal (whom I truly adore -- she really is a GREAT principal!) is having a Parent Coffee the last Wednesday of September, specifically for Kindergarten parents. I already told DH he has to go with me. :-)

Dance day and soccer day

We have made it through the first week of Kindergarten. *whew*

Today is the first day of pre-ballet class for Natalie and the first day of soccer for Nicholas. Both are at the same time so DH is taking Nicholas to soccer and I'm taking Natalie to pre-ballet. Natalie is excited because not only is this pre-ballet, where the big girls gom but she will also get to see her friend M from pre-school. M goes to a different Kindergarten (she does not live in our neighborhood) so I'm guessing the girls will compare notes. :-) After pre-ballet, Natalie has to scoot to soccer because her game time (for this week and the next two weeks) are immediately after dance. So we'll definitely be late to the games, but what are you going to do? I let the coach know already, and it's all I can do. At least she'll be warmed up from dance class!

Tomorrow we have a playdate with friends from her pre-school class. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, so I'm glad the kids will have a chnace to see each other and play outside, too. It should be fun.

Kindergarten Day has arrived!

It's pretty early in the morning right now. The dining room table is set for breakfast. Lunches have been made. Bags are packed -- backpack for Natalie with about half the school supplies (the rest will be brought in tomorrow), and tote bag for Nicholas. Natalie has already picked out her clothes for today -- although she might change her mind on an outfit once she sees how hard it is raining today. I'm glad we picked up rain boots this weekend!

She was in bed at 8:15 pm but I know she did not fall asleep until after 10 pm. She was simply too excited to sleep. Hopefully she'll wake up at 7 am like she "normally" does.

DH is going to pick her up from school age child care about an hour after she arrives, just so she gets to see what it's like there. I think soccer practice will be cancelled due to the weather. That works out for the best, anyway -- it's too much to expect on the first day of Kindergarten.

I'll post more later...

9/10/06: ETA: Here's Natalie with her backpack plus fully packed lunchbox:


And here she is getting a hug from her brother before we head out into the pouring rain to head to school:

Here comes Kindergarten

Yes, the week has finally come -- it's time to start Kindergarten!

We all went to Open House at our elementary school on Thursday. Natalie learned about her teacher (Mrs. D) and assistant (Mrs. W) and then got to meet them. Mrs. D is new to the elementary school and she is teamed up with one of the veteran IAs -- I have heard nothing but absolutely glowing reports about her, so I'm thrilled. Natalie is a little scared and a little excited. She saw all the "big kids" at the Open House and that worried her a little, but once she got into the classroom, she was great. She will also attend school age child care (SACC) at the school, and she got to see the classrooms and the teachers there, too.

We walked to the school today so Natalie and Nicholas could play on the playground. She's pretty excited even today.

9/10/06 ETA: Here are a few pictures from Open House:

First one is Natalie in her classroom. Her teacher asked her to find her name at the table and draw a picture of herself.



And here is Natalie admiring her finished picture -- it's actualy a picture of her and her best friend from pre-school J. (J doesn't live in our school district so Natalie is particularly missing her right now.)



Nicholas just couldn't wait for all the "visiting the classroom stuff" to be done so he could visit the playground:

Back from vacation

Yes, we are back from vacation. One day early.

We left on Wednesday after Natalie's 5 year-old doctor's appointment. She did great at the appointment (43 1/2" tall, 42 pounds) and had three shots :-( which she (understandably) did not like at all. Then we headed north. It took us 2 hours to get to Baltimore. :-( So we pulled in to my parents' house at 3:15 am Thursday morning.

Thursday we went to the Whaling Museum and to Seamen's Bethel. Apparently some sort of "police incident" occured either Wednesday or Thursday as the volunteers were talking about it and lots of police cruisers/officers were right outside the Whaling Museum. Thankfully we saw nothing else about it.

I have to say that I am glad that we no longer live in New Bedford. The city has taken a dramatic downturn.

Later that afternoon we celebrated DH's mom's birthday (age 21 -- because Kenny Curtis says that all moms are 21 years old) at Uncle D's house.

On Friday the weather was quite rainy and we decided to go on the Cape Cod Railroad -- what a great time we had! Really, it was far better than I expected and the two Thomas fans in our household really loved it. HIGHLY recommended!

On Saturday was The Wedding -- so we got the kids all cleaned up and lookng nice for that. Nicholas managed to walk 20 feet down the aisle before running to me. :-) Natalie did great, though -- she was the "leader" and had great listening ears.

Sunday we spent a good part of the day at Uncle D's house and then went out to dinner to celebrate my mother's 21st (ahem!) birthday.

On Monday we left Massachusetts at 6:15 am -- we did a stopover in Philadelphia so we could visit the Please Touch Museum, our favorite museum anywhere. Thanks to traffic and a requisite stop to Campo's Deli for a cheesesteak, we decided to visit the museum on Tuesday morning. This was a great idea as we spent close to 3 hours at the museum instead of their suggested" allow" time of 90 minutes.

So we got back home to Virginia yesterday around 4 p.m., which let us get the car unpacked in time for Natalie's soccer practice at 5:30 pm.

Oh, the one day early part? DH has a 2nd interview for a job this afternoon. "Hire Him" vibes are most appreciated.

Will post pictures soon -- we're off to the dr's for Natalie to get a TB test and then we are off to Train Day at a local toy store.

9/10/2006 ETA: Here's the one picture from H's wedding where Natalie is not frowning and Nicholas is actually in the picture:

Police helicopters

Yes, the fascination of the weekend was police helicopters.

We went to the local police station open house on Saturday and the "coolest" thing, per Natalie and Nicholas, was the police helicopter. They got to see inside and -- while we were waiting in line for a pony ride -- they got to see it take off, with siren blaring. "Very very cool", said Nicholas.

We spent three hours at the open house. Compared to last year's open house (where we spent a short time AND had an injury on the moon bouce) it was amazing. Both kids had a ball. Thank you, Fairfax County Police Department!

Graduation party

Today we had a party for all the soon-to-be-Kindergarteners at Natalie's pre-school. Natalie had a great time. I left early so I could pick up Nicholas and get out of there. This week has been "challenging" and I was just tired and bordering on a migraine.

So it's done. How bad is it that I went to my daughter's graduation party and all I feel is that it's great to have something checked off the To Do list?

I need a vacation. And some sleep. And a day of nothing to do with no watches and clocks to live by.

*sigh*

Getting ready for Kindergarten

We are slowly but surely getting ready for Kindergarten.

We have all the school supplies. The school supply lists for the school say that it is expected to last half the year. So we bought more than double of everything -- just in case. (And how a Kindergartener can go though 18 glue sticks in half a year is beyond me!)

We have two backpacks -- because Mom wasn't happy with the size of the "junior backpack" recommended by the online retailers, especially when other parents said the backpacks have to hold all the "winter gear" inside. So now we have two monogrammed lime green backpacks -- one junior size and one regular size. And a lunch box to match.

We have clothes. Oh, do we have clothes! All have been "approved" by Natalie. And none look "trashy". (Have you SEEN some of the clothes they have for FIVE year olds? Sheesh!)

We have four pairs of shoes -- one pair of dress shoes, one pair of tennis shoes, and two pair of "every day" shoes.

We have been to the dentist. Great teeth, no cavities, and Natalie did a great job at the cleaning appointment. And so did Nicholas, since he went at the same time for his first dentist visit. He even had his teeth flossed!

Next up is the "good-bye to pre-school" party on Friday. I'm helping with that. Natalie's official last day in Tuesday, one week from today.

Then next week is the five-year-old check-up at the doctor (and shots! :-( ) and getting the form filled out for school.

I can't believe she is going to Kindergarten!

Happy 5th Birthday, my angel!

Happy birthday Natalie!

5 years ago today you turned my entire world upside down. Thank you for being here, my angel!

We survived the 5th birthday party

Yes, we survived! 20 children and 20 adults in the heat at Lake Accotink.

I managed to get there early enough (10:15 am) to get a "close" parking spot and got most everything setup by myself while watching two children. In the meantime, DH picked up the balloon order and the cake. The pizzas arrived on time (12:15 pm) , the candles would not light with the matches (or the slight breeze) but we sang Happy Birthday anyway. Then it was time for some miniature golf and a ride on the carousel. The kids loved the pinata (a pull-type pinata -- no "whacking" Curious George!) and I tossed a lot of candy around for the little ones who don't like the "squish effect" of kids diving for candy from the pinata. At 2 pm it was time for our boat ride on Lake Accotink, where Natalie got to drive the boat! It was really hot (95+ degrees) so we shortened the boat ride to 30 minutes and head back to our picnic spot (under tents) to give out goody bags and say "thanks for coming".

DH and I cleaned up quickly and we were all home by 3:45 pm. Nicholas fell asleep on the (short) ride home and napped until 5:15 pm. Natalie had no nap and was a wreck by the early evening -- she was SO tired and just outright wired.

As she said early on in the party, "No more outside birthday parties for me!"

9/10/06 ETA: Proof that Nicholas got into the cake early on in the party:

Wisdom at bed time

Natalie hurt her toe as we left preschool today. Her teacher did a great job of washing it off, bandaging it up, etc., but Natalie thought a medivac was in order ;-) yet we managed to get home okay. So I spent some time cuddling with her tonight before she drfited off to sleep.

She is very excited about her birthday party, and there are so many changes happening so soon, especially with Kindergarten. So we are talking about her birthday party, and naming all the children that will be coming , and then talking about Kindergarten a bit.

She says, "But I will be so far away from you, not close to you like I am now."

And I say, "Yes, I will be at my office. But you will be near E (neighborhood friend) and Miss S (neighbor that teaches at the school) and many other people that you haven't even met yet. And you'll have a library at school, and art class, and music class, and gym, and a cafeteria..."

She says, "I just have so many questions and so much to talk about. I can't sleep with so many questions."

And I say, "That's because you are so smart."

And she says, "I know I'm smart. But if I wasn't so smart I could sleep."

:-)

Summer madness

And people say summer is the time to relax...

We are readying for Natalie's birthday party, and, of course, this is the last of the "big parties" as she'll be in Kindergarten in September so we will "downsize" the party next year as we won't invite "the entire class". This year's party will be big but not huge, and we are having it at a local park and NOT at our house ("rain rain go away").

DH is still in the job market but he's been busy taking care of things around the house. He's also been handling many of the birthday party planning duties, which are indeed time consuming.

DH's mom is finally out of the nursing home (after many, many months) and staying with DH's brother. Not sure how that is really going as I have not seen things first-hand. We'll know more when we visit in August.

And speaking of visits in August, we literally have "places to be and people to see" for every day of our upcoming week-long stay in Massachusetts. I guess we can look at it and say at least no one will be bored!


That's about all I have time to post about -- and yes, I still have the unfinished Disney trip reports to finish. AFTER the birthday party. :-)

No, I haven't fallen off the Earth...

I'm still here and sorely needing some time to hide and write.

I haven't finished my trip report from Disney, and then Father's Day weekend we all went to Strasburg, Pennsylvania for A Day Out With Thomas. So I want to write about that, too. And then last weekend was Natalie's "parent observation day" at dance class, and I want to write about that, too.

Then, I've been helping My Better Half job hunt, and I would LOVE to vent a little about that, but I can't, because "the world is small and is round", to quote the late Joe Moakley. So I'll leave that stuff aside. Suffice it to say that everyone knows what payback is...

DH has been home catching up on the infamous Honey, Do list -- and I sent him an addition to the existing list in Excel format. Then, of course, it rained. And rained. And rained. So after dealing with the broken shut off valves for the sink in his bathroom (yes, the "master bathroom" that is the size of a teeny closet and all his cooties so I won't even go in there) which resulted in us having to replace a sink and a faucet and a vanity -- he now has an insurance claim to deal with for our water logged wall-to-wall in our downstairs playroom. And that was AFTER dealing with the accident to my mini-van -- no, it was not my fault that someone backed into me while I was exiting my parking garage at work!

So, he's been busy. And he's been doing laundry. And decluttering.

And job hunting.

As for me -- work is busy, life is busy, and I adore my children.

Our civic association testified before the County Planning Commission last week. I drafted the statement and -- and yes, I think I did a pretty good job with it. Just trying to keep the "public policy" side of me alive.

And I almost forgot -- I got to see my dear friends Katherine and Jessica two weeks ago! We had a study group when we were all Ph.D. students and I just loved them. Very hard working and the most loving and caring people you'd ever meet. No one would have guessed that I would be one of the folks that didn't "go the distance". But they got to meet Natalie and Nicholas and everyone understands why I did what I did.

So why don't I cut myself some slack already?

Karen, meet your own worst enemy. ;-)


Anyway, I'm going to try to fill in all the holes that I mentioned, a little at a time. But there are other things taking over my time. Like sleep. And DH's job hunting. And World Cup (GO PORTUGAL). And summertime with children.

ZZZZzzzzzzzz....

We're back....

We're back and I'm trying to catch up.

We did a whirlwind tour of Walt Disney World. We flew to Orlando on May 25 and got back late on Thursday but then there was unpacking to do, dance class to get to, a soccer game to get to, a birthday party to get to, etc.

I have the start of a trip report up on the DISBoards. I have managed to transfer some of the pictures. One of my favorites is this one -- it's of a family of ducks that we watched throughout the resort. Made life with two little ones look so easy compared to handling seven babies!

Like mother, like son

Nicholas has a cold.

I took him to the pediatrician yesterday morning because the night prior was a very restkess night for him. I instantly thought ear infection, especially because he went for his ear check on Friday and the dr. saw fluid in his ears.

Well, as of yesterday morning, he still had fluid in there but no infection. The doctor saud I could give him Dimetapp if I wanted to, as that would help sedate him a tiny bit.

I got The Call at 3 pm that his fever was over 100. So I stayed home from work today with the kids. I got out the Dimetapp.

You would think I gave him a espresso drink.

Note to self -- no Dimetapp for Nicholas. :-)

And a special HAPPY BIRTHDAY wish to my brother Bob. He's celebrating his -- um, let's do the math -- 57th -- um, I mean 35th -- birthday today. *hee hee hee*

Robocalls

A little bit of a rant...

Yesterday afternoon I called our home answering machine to see if we had any messages and was a little shocked when I heard we had 13 new messages. This was even more shocking because I had called to check the answering machine at lunchtime and there were no new messages at 1 pm.

So I began to scroll through the new messages:

"This is delegate so-and-so and I'm calling to urge your support of James Webb for Senate on Tuesday, June 13..."

"This is Harris Miller, candidate for Senate, and I need your support on Tuesday, June 13..."

"Hi, my name is so-and-so and I am asking for your support of Harris Miller on Tuesday, June 13th..."

etc.

Thirteen of these messages. All of these left on our home answering machine, sometime between 1 pm and 5 pm on Wednesday, May 17. And the election is WHEN?

*sigh*

And yes, we will be voting in the primary on Tuesday, June 13th. But I probably should not say we are undecided on who we will be voting for. Then they'll leave more messages!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day a day early. :-)

Today we have run into one of those "scheduling conflicts" where a soccer game is at the same time as a dance class. Natalie chose dance class today. Of course I hear the rain on our roof right now, so perhaps it is a moot point as the game may be rained out.

Nicholas received his first invitation to a friend's birthday party -- J is turning 3 next month. Nicholas was absolutely thrilled that this invitation was for HIM and NOT for Natalie. He's finally going to something that does not involve his big sister, and he seems pretty excited about it.

The newest fascination for him is Little Einsteins. His sister likes the show and we record it to watch later, but now Nicholas talks about the "rocket ship" all the time. Hearing the two of them singing the theme song is just SO much fun!

Still a little hectic around here so I'm sorry for the light posting. The madness will get better, I'm sure.

And on an entertainment front -- have you seen the Evolution of Dance video? Absolutely classic! VERY much worth the 6 minutes to view.

Schedule madness

Over the weekend we went to Natalie's soccer game, skipped dance class because she was too tired from soccer, I went to the elementary school social/fundraiser -- yes, the school that she has not even started at yet -- went to our new church, made it to soccer team photos in time, played on the playground with the soccer team, went to our first playdate with the preschool class, and went grocery shopping. And somehow managed to get 7 loads of laundry done.

Of course the house is still a disaster with toys strewn in just about every room.

I read a post on the DC Urban Moms listserv today about selling one's house and moving to an apartment because the monthly expenses were too much to bear. I wonder if we were in a smaller house if things would be easier to manage. Or do the layers of strewn about toys just get thicker? See Elizabeth's post about the subject.

Light posting

Sorry for the light posting. Some stuff (which I can't post about) has hit the household and we're doing our best to deal with it. I'm so fortunate to have two wonderful children. They help keep me sane. In spite of the myriad of toys strewn about the living room.

Happy 15th Wedding Anniversary

DH and I celebrated 15 years of wedded bliss on Thursday (the 27th). We attempted to go out to dinner, but Nicholas was loaded for bear, so our dinner at Silverado was -- well, it was abbreviated. So we'll celebrate instead during our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World.

Natalie did play soccer on Saturday as well as go to dance class. Sunday we went to the American Dance Institute to their Open House and to meet Angela Ballerina. Both Natalie and Nicholas took a "ballet class" where they learned five ballet positions. They both had fun. Natalie loved seeing Angelina Ballerina. Nicholas saw Angelina Ballerina and then prompt got down on all fours to "be a puppy" and barked at her.

And we got a call today that he won the door prize of the Angelina On Stage book!

Anyway, if you are in the Rockville, MD, area, near Congressional Plaza, please check out their dance school. Natalie goes to Arlington Center for Dance and we are very happy there, but I was pretty impressed with the facilities and the students at American Dance Institute.


Finally -- DH brought Natalie to Kindergarten registration today. I REALLY wanted to go, but our annual "big event" at work was today and I could not go to the registration. Yes, I'm bummed and I was thinking about Natalie ALL DAY today. Shows me that I should plan on taking the day off when Natalie starts Kindergarten this fall. :-)

Stop the Mommy Wars petition

MomsRising has a petition up to sign:

"We are calling for a ceasefire in the so-called "Mommy Wars." All moms are in the same boat. We all need better family-friendly policies. It's time to focus on real problems in need of real solutions."

MomsRising is partnered with Mothers Ought to Have Equal Rights (MOTHERS).

Pass it on.

The cows were in the meadow, eating buttercups

...ashes, ashes, we all stand UP!

Well, not really. Natalie went to soccer practice and spent at least 75% of her time picking buttercups "for my Mommy for her birthday". And all I could do was watch her across the field.

I think her soccer career is over, at least for this year. Photo Day is May 6 and the league has registration for the Fall season at the same time. I asked Natalie if she wanted to do soccer or dance in the Fall. Without question it was dance.

Happy Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. For my birthday Nicholas sang Happy Birthday to me at 6:15 am. Natalie then told me that she only loves me on my birthday (and she later clarified herself that she loves me on every day that someone has a birthday).

Later in the morning we went to the local garden center to pick out some plants and buy some mulch. While both children were napping, I planted four butterfly bushes and laid down 29 bags of mulch. I need at least another 20 bags of mulch to finish the yard. Thank goodness we have a wheelbarrow or my back would be toast this morning!

But we did go out to dinner and had cupcakes (with Ben & Jerry's) at home.

Movie meme

Following on Elizabeth's post, which is following a movie meme from The Republic of Heaven. The list is Ebert's 101 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Bold the ones you've seen.

"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) Stanley Kubrick
"The 400 Blows" (1959) Francois Truffaut
"8 1/2" (1963) Federico Fellini
"Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972) Werner Herzog
"Alien" (1979) Ridley Scott.
"All About Eve" (1950) Joseph L. Mankiewicz
"Annie Hall" (1977) Woody Allen
"Bambi" (1942) Disney
"Battleship Potemkin" (1925) Sergei Eisenstein
"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) William Wyler
"The Big Red One" (1980) Samuel Fuller
"The Bicycle Thief" (1949) Vittorio De Sica
"The Big Sleep" (1946) Howard Hawks
"Blade Runner" (1982) Ridley Scott
"Blowup" (1966) Michelangelo Antonioni
"Blue Velvet" (1986) David Lynch
"Bonnie and Clyde"(1967) Arthur Penn
"Breathless" (1959) Jean-Luc Godard
"Bringing Up Baby" (1938) Howard Hawks
"Carrie" (1975) Brian DePalma
"Casablanca"(1942) Michael Curtiz
"Un Chien Andalou" (1928) Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali
"Children of Paradise"/ "Les Enfants du Paradis" (1945) Marcel Carne
"Chinatown"(1974) Roman Polanski
"Citizen Kane" (1941) Orson Welles
"A Clockwork Orange"(1971) Stanley Kubrick
"The Crying Game" (1992) Neil Jordan
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) Robert Wise
"Days of Heaven" (1978) Terence Malick
"Dirty Harry" (1971) Don Siegel
"The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" (1972) Luis Bunuel
"Do the Right Thing" (1989) Spike Lee
"La Dolce Vita" (1960) Federico Fellini
"Double Indemnity" (1944) Billy Wilder
"Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying andLove the Bomb" (1964) Stanley Kubrick
"Duck Soup" (1933) Leo McCarey
"E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) StevenSpielberg
"Easy Rider" (1969) Dennis Hopper
"The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) Irvin Kershner
"The Exorcist" (1973) William Friedkin
"Fargo"(1995) Joel & Ethan Coen
"Fight Club" (1999) David Fincher
"Frankenstein" (1931) James Whale
"The General" (1927) Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman
"The Godfather," "The Godfather, PartII" (1972, 1974) Francis Ford Coppola
"Gone With the Wind" (1939) Victor Fleming
"GoodFellas" (1990) Martin Scorsese
"The Graduate" (1967) Mike Nichols
"Halloween" (1978) John Carpenter
"A Hard Day's Night" (1964) Richard Lester
"Intolerance" (1916) D.W. Griffith
"It's A Gift" (1934) Norman Z. McLeod
"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) Frank Capra
"Jaws" (1975) Steven Spielberg
"The Lady Eve" (1941) PrestonSturges
"Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) David Lean
"M" (1931) Fritz Lang
"Mad Max 2" / "The Road Warrior" (1981) George Miller
"The Maltese Falcon" (1941) John Huston
"The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) JohnFrankenheimer
"Metropolis" (1926) Fritz Lang
"Modern Times" (1936) Charles Chaplin
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam
"Nashville"(1975) Robert Altman
"The Night of the Hunter" (1955) Charles Laughton
"Night of the Living Dead" (1968) George Romero
"North by Northwest" (1959) Alfred Hitchcock
"Nosferatu" (1922) F.W. Murnau
"On the Waterfront" (1954) Elia Kazan
"Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968) Sergio Leone
"Out of the Past" (1947) Jacques Tournier
"Persona" (1966) Ingmar Bergman
"Pink Flamingos" (1972) John Waters
"Psycho" (1960) Alfred Hitchcock
"Pulp Fiction" (1994) Quentin Tarantino
"Rashomon" (1950) Akira Kurosawa
"Rear Window" (1954) Alfred Hitchcock
"Rebel Without a Cause" (1955) Nicholas Ray
"Red River" (1948) Howard Hawks
"Repulsion" (1965) Roman Polanski
"Rules of the Game" (1939) Jean Renoir
"Scarface" (1932) Howard Hawks
"The Scarlet Empress" (1934) Josef von Sternberg
"Schindler's List" (1993) Steven Spielberg
"The Searchers" (1956) John Ford
"The Seven Samurai" (1954) Akira Kurosawa
"Singin' in the Rain" (1952) Stanley Donen &Gene Kelly
"Some Like It Hot" (1959) Billy Wilder
"A Star Is Born" (1954) George Cukor
"A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) Elia Kazan
"Sunset Boulevard" (1950) Billy Wilder
"Taxi Driver" (1976) Martin Scorsese
"The Third Man" (1949) Carol Reed
"Tokyo Story" (1953) Yasujiro Ozu
"Touch of Evil" (1958) Orson Welles
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) John Huston
"Trouble in Paradise" (1932) Ernst Lubitsch
"Vertigo" (1958) Alfred Hitchcock
"West Side Story" (1961) Jerome Robbins/Robert Wise
"The Wild Bunch" (1969) Sam Peckinpah
"The Wizard of Oz" (1939) Victor Fleming

Have to wonder where Brazil is on this list, but hey, it's Roger Ebert. :-)

Mommy Wars

I posted about Leslie Morgan Steiner's blog last month. No, I have not had a chance to read her book yet, but came across a review at The New Republic. They just made a magazine sale. :-)

And no, Night 2 did not work well. We'll see how this weekend goes. I may be moving to the guest room come Sunday.

Sleep in the Big Boy Bed, Night 1

I have a confession to make. Our son Nicholas has been co-sleeping with us. Yes, he's 2 years 4 months old -- but who is counting? -- and he has not made it out of our bed yet.

Things are changing tonight.

DH is asleep next to him right now -- DH on the floor, Nicholas in his Big Boy Bed -- and let's hope that Nicholas stays put in his bed for a while. I doubt he'll make it through the night, but at least he has started there.

This is DH's doing as I said MANY months ago that Nicholas had to move out, but DH has been the resistant one.

So we are trying it tonight. And I don't have to do jack. (Snoopy dancing)

Belated Happy Easter!

Yikes, it's been absolutely hectic here!

Saturday was the neighborhood Egg Hunt. It went really well and we had a great time. About 25 children showed up and they all had fun. It was glorious weather here -- perfectly clear blue sky, and quite warm. Note to self -- fill the eggs with something other than Hershey Kisses next year. ;-)

Sunday was Easter (of course) and Natalie woke at 6:15 am (*yawn*) to announce that she saw candy all over the living room floor and eggs all over the front yawn. Nicholas got up 45 minutes later, and off they went with candy and eggs and toys. Natalie and I left the house at 9 am to go to Mass and we got there with two minutes to spare. The priest invited all the children and any parents to sit behind the altar in order to make room for adults to sit in the pews. Good thing Nicholas wasn't there!

After Mass was over, we headed back home and took some "all dressed up" pictures. I could only manage candids with Nicholas because he did not want to take pictures. Oh well -- at least he kept his sweater vest on.

Belated Happy Easter!

Soccer practice, take two

Natalie actually stayed on the field this week!

There was soccer practice tonight despite this being Spring Break week here in Virginia. Practice was very good as there were four children and two coaches (the coach and the asst. coach). I think it was the best practice that Natalie has ever had - not that she has had that many practices! Nicholas kept me running all over -- I have to come up with some fun ways to occupy his time while we watch Natalie at soccer.

I'm the new coordinator for the family directory at our elementary school -- yes, the elementary school that Natalie starts at in September. Nothing like getting involved with the PTA too early!

The weather here is just beautiful. Now to take some time to attack my Chia Pet-like weeds in the lawn!

Visit to the Easter Bunny

We visited the Easter Bunny today while we were shopping at the Fair Oaks Mall.

More on Jack Bauer

We have DVR in our house and I faithfully record 24 each week for DH, who has seen I think 2 hours of "the day". He asks me to explain to him the plot for this day/season and I can never sum it up well. So, if you are confused by the plotline, go check out DC Media Girl's post and the excellent comment by Anonymous Reader Guy -- sums it up all in one concise paragraph.

Ear checks

I took Nicholas to the pediatrician yesterday for an "ear check". This "ear check" visit was requested by our pediatrician back in December when we took Nicholas in for his 2 year well-visit. He (yet again) had fluid in his ears, so she asked that if by some "miracle of miracles" (my phrasing, not hers) we were not in to see her over the winter for a cold or something, that we should come in around early to mid-April to have an ear check.

So we did. And of course he had fluid in his ears. But it was clear and his eardrums were pink, which apparently means it is "fresher".

We go back in another month for an ear check. HOPEFULLY his ears will be clear then.

Soccer practice -- involves walking off the field?!

Sometimes I turn to Daddy to step in on parenting dilemmas.

I picked up Natalie for soccer practice and was thrilled to hear that she had "excellent listening ears" all day. I thought that this would bode well for soccer practice, combined with her excitement about Saturday's game, and the pictures she was showing her friends, etc. Got her all dressed in many layers, got her shin guards on, the long socks, the cleats -- and she was showing her friends her "soccer outfit", and she seemed very excited to be going to practice.

We get to practice a little early (5 minutes) and we sat on the bleachers waiting for her coach. At practice I have to amuse Nicholas -- not an easy thing to do. Coach shows up and Natalie heads out with her team. About 10 minutes into the practice, Nicholas is tired of sitting and asks to "walk around". So I take him for a walk away from the field. We start to head up some stairs, and I see Natalie following us, calling "Mommy, I want to go to the playground" -- a good 50 yards away from her coach, team, and practice field! So Nicholas and I turn around to go back down the stairs, and I tell Natalie to go back to her team. She says, "I want to go home." I tell her that she cannot go home, that she has to stay at practice, that she just can't walk off the field like that, and she says she doesn't want to play soccer.

Now I am admittedly starting to see red. I send DH an email saying that she just walked off the practice field. By now we are near her practice field, and I send her back on to the field. She stands there and won't go back to her team. So I tell her we are going home and she can tell her coach that she is quitting soccer. She refuses to move.

I tell her we are going home and we head towards the car and I tell her I really don't like that she is a quitter. She says she is not a quitter and she wants to go back to soccer.

We turn back around to head towards practice and she manages to get back on the field. 10 minutes of hardly participating, and then she says she needs to go potty.

Like there is a bathroom next to the field. (!)

So off we go again -- back to the car -- and I told her she could wear one of Nicholas' diapers to do her thing. I did not think that this would go over well, and no, it did not.

We managed to get her back on the field again. She is standing around looking at her teammates practice.

I am seeing red again so I call DH on the phone and tell him to talk to her.

We went round and round with her for about 10 minutes. No, you can't go to the game on Saturday if you don't go to practice today. No, it is not fair to your teammates if you just walk off the field. No, you can't just walk away from your coach. Etc., etc.

She gets back on the field again and this time she practices. A little. For about 15 minutes total.

I didn't know what to do at this point so I tried the "positive reinforcement" approach and took her and her brother out to dinner at their favorite restaurant, Silverado. I told Natalie that we were going out to dinner to celebrate that she was not a quitter and she went back to practice and listened to her coach. I have no idea if this was the "right" thing to do, but I was running out of ideas. And we discussed at dinner that she would NOT walk off the field and she would NOT walk away from her coach and she would NOT let her teammates down.

Heaven knows if all of this will make any sort of an impression.

Spring Soccer - week 1

The day we all have been waiting for -- the First Soccer Game!

Here are pictures from today.

We are in the Braddock Road Youth Club Soccer league, and, believe it or not, there are 12 teams in the Under 5 (U5) division. Each team plays a "no scoring" game each Saturday, where the teams are divided up so that there are two games of 3 on 3 going on at the same time. This was the children get lots of time touching/kicking the ball, and there is not a lot of "bench warmng".

Natalie got hit in the nose by a soccer ball BUT SHE WAS A TROOPER and took a short break, got some water, and went back into the game.

The trick is to get the children to score into the right goal, and to keep them on the field -- after a while they don't see the lines and just keep going after the ball!

The coaches and assistants do a tremendous job with the kids. I am VERY impressed with the league and how everyone is there for the kids.

We ALL had a blast today!

Uniform night

We went to "uniform night" to pick up Natalie's soccer uniform. Two shirts (royal blue and silver/gray), two pairs of socks, and a pair of black shorts -- size XS. There were only two other "packages" there in size XS , so I'm glad we got there rather early (6:15 pm) as otherwise she might have been without a uniform. (That just would not do for her! :-) )

And about churches -- I sent out an email to a couple of email lists that I am on -- I asked about family-friendly churches:

I am looking for a toddler/pre-schooler friendly church community in
northern Virginia. I really do not know what denomination, but I'm
guessing it would be along the more "liberal" side of things (i.e.,
our beliefs center on evolution vs. creationism; we are supporters of
social justice). I'm looking for church communities that people really
LOVE and are family-centric.

Well, that was a good thing to do! It seems that there are many families in a similar predicament, and many of the families are either Catholic or former Catholics. So, for all those that emailed me -- thank you! And here's the list of most-often-recommended family-friendly churches in the northern Virginia/DC area (listed in order of "number of mentions" by email):

1. Our Lady Queen of Peace, Arlington VA
2. Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Arlington VA
   
3. St. Aloysius Church, Washington DC
4. Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Washington DC
5. St. Francis of Assissi, Triangle VA (about 30 miles south of Washington DC near Quantico)
6. Falls Church Presbyterian Church, Falls Church VA
7. St. Peters Episcopal Church, Arlington VA
8. St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Annandale VA
   

Also, two Intentional Eucharistic Communities were recommended -- these communities do not meet at a formal "church":

1. NOVA Intentional Eucharistic Community, meets at Kenmore Middle School, Arlington VA on Sundays at 10:15 am during the school year
2. PAX Community, McLean VA

I think we are going to give Our Lady Queen of Peace a try. Just have to see which has a good "fit".

Totally fed up

Based on where I live, my ordered-to-be-there parish is St. Michael's Church. If it is possible to despise a church I do. There is no "family friendliness" about the place. As the mom of a 4 year-old and a 2 year-old, I cannot take my children to Mass there because there is no place to take the children when one or more of them "fusses". I have been known to drive to Alexandria to attend Mass at Blessed Sacrament that has more of a family-friendly setup re: Mass. But I have enrolled and paid for my 4 year-old to attend CCD on Sunday mornings.

Now this (see below) is in the Bulletin at St. Michael's.

I am taking this opportunity as your Pastor to write to you, my parishioners, about a recent event that has happened in our Diocese. On March 25th, our Bishop gave permission for the use of girls and women to serve Mass in the parishes of the Diocese. When the Holy See allowed girls and women to serve Mass in 1994, it also reminded the bishops and priests of the Church through the world of the noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar. Our Holy Father of blessed memory, Pope John Paul II (in his Holy Thursday letter to priests in 2004), even remarked how altar boys "“represent a kind of garden"” of priestly "“vocations,"” and that their service at the altar can be an invaluable experience of education in our Christian faith that becomes a sort of "“preseminary."” Here at St. Michael'’s we have been blessed over the years with many young men who served at the altar and have been ordained as priests, including Deacon Phillip Cozzi, the latest of the many of our parish'’s "“priests sons"” who will offer his first Mass of Thanksgiving here in June.

Because of the noble tradition already set in place here at St. Michael'’s, and the many vocations to the priesthood that have been fostered through this practice, we will continue to allow only boys to serve at the altar. In doing this, I ask all parishioners to pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood, and that the Lord of the harvest will shape and form those men He calls to follow Him in the Sacrament of the Holy Orders to be priests after His own Sacred Heart. St. Michael the Archangel, pray for us!

I am so unbelievably mad that I'm ready to just leave the Catholic church altogether. NEVER have I seen such an attitude!!!!!!! This is so VERY FAR from what I experienced while growing up/living in Massachusetts!

I have already posted to the DC Urban Moms list begging for advice on what church I might be able to join. The overall consensus there was to drive to DC and join a parish there. IS THIS MY ONLY OPTION??? I am so very, very upset. I am hanging on to my Catholic upbringing with a slenderest of threads now, and I'm so tempted to toss it all away and go to the Unitarian Church (or something like that) starting this weekend.

After dinner sweet talk

I just snuck upstairs to our loft bedroom -- where the "office"/guest room is -- and I'm listening to/overhearing DH talk with the children downstairs. Both children -- one at a time -- requested "cuddles with Daddy". Nicholas said, "I would like cuddles, please -- I'll lie on your arm" and Natalie said, "Make room for me, please." So the three of them are all snuggled together on the floor.

Listening to the love of those sweet little voices -- it's magical!

Pot luck dinner

Friday we went to the pot luck dinner and family music night -- here are two quick pics (unedited) trying to give you a sense of the fun we had. Here's Nicholas sneaking some water to drink and here's Natalie with DH having fun with the table decorations.

Schedules

I admit that I'm somewhat of a geek when it comes to "technology stuff". Add that trait to my tendency to plan and, well, I end up using electronic calendars a lot. As in a whole lot.

I think I may have crossed the proverbial line now as I'm scheduling appointments in my electronic calendar -- and adding DH to the schedule list, too.

It probably sounds very weird -- but with all that we have going on, it's the only way to anticipate what is coming up for "the next few days".

Between dance class and soccer and swim class and the civic association and the PTA and the parents group at pre-school and community things -- life "after work" is downright dizzying! And that doesn't include other "family things" like birthdays and weddings and such.

Sorry, DH -- more email appointments are soon to come!

Diocese of Arlington changes policy on altar girls

The Diocese of Arlington has awakened to Vatican II -- um, I mean changed its policy on altar girls. Well, it can't be said that the Diocese doesn't take their time in deliberating.

As Call to Action of Northern Virginia suggests, read the policy statement on the Diocesan web site for specifics:

"...Since 1994, our diocese has permitted girls and women to serve at the altar in several settings: university and college campuses, convents, nursing homes, retreat houses, hospitals, and home Masses. In desiring to make available those legitimate options endorsed by our Church, I am expanding our previous permission to include our parish and high school communities.

Some parishes have actively requested the liberty to allow female altar servers; others have not. The Church’s permission in this arena, accordingly, allows for a legitimate diversity of options. The decision to allow female altar servers lies at the discretion of the local pastor, in consultation with his parochial vicar(s), deacon(s), and parish pastoral council.

The Church – which has allowed the use of female servers for over a decade – has stated that girls and women, like their male counterparts, are allowed this opportunity to serve at the altar and thereby deepen their faith, an experience which can facilitate a young woman’s discernment of the Lord’s call to religious life or a young man’s discernment of the Lord’s call to the priesthood or religious life."

As DH said to me, time to shake the apple tree a bit at our mandated-based-on-real-estate "parish church".

Dare I post this -- feeling better!

Yes, the Scourge appears to have left the house.

Natalie has been feeling great since Sunday with no signs of pneumonia or whatever was in her. She took her last dose of Zithromax on Monday and (*knock on wood*) has been normal, as normal can be with seasonal allergies.

I have been battling The Fevers: Version III since last week but FINALLY feel better today. I also got a couple of hours of work done at 1 AM, so most everyone would say that I'm much more normal now.

Natalie's first soccer practice was cancelled yesterday. Evidently the county decided to close all the fields for some unknown reason, so her first soccer practice will be next Tuesday instead. It was pretty cold out anyway, so it's probably for the best.

Have to share a True Story from my dad -- he's been working on getting rid of cable TV where he lives (Massachusetts) to switch to satellite. He had to switch internet providers first, and he waited until the satellite people could come by to get the install done today. I get this message in my inbox:

Direct tv CANNOT BE PUT IN BECAUSE OF THE TREES. Going back to all comcast.They will be here on April 6 to do that. Still on verizon till then. I spent 45 minutes with comcast to get all this all going.They will call verizon onthis. WHAT AMESS TO DO.

Nice customer service on the satellite provider's part, don't you think???

On that happy note -- check out today's Washington Post article on the supposed joys of buying a "bundle" of services from telecommunications providers.

Another visit to the Pediatrician

Yes, another visit to the pediatrician today -- another (great!) doctor in the practice. (Have I mentioned that I love our pediatric practice? If you are in northern Virginia and want a great pediatric practice, drop me a note and I'll tell you all about them.) We went to the pediatrician after Natalie had a 103 (!) fever. Of course I was not in the office but on the way to a meeting on Capitol Hill, and DH could not go pick her up because today is The Final Day for Appropriations (and he worked until some insane hour last night trying to get everything done), and my friend at my office who is my backup was at a dental appointment -- so I recruited another friend in my office who is a single guy, no "kids experience", etc. -- and he was AWESOME! I owe him so big.

Anyway...

The doctor checked her over. She has an ear infection now (as compared to Tuesday) but the doctor said that was not the cause of her fever. He listened to her heart several times and said that her heart rate is very fast for "just a fever". Based on her heart rate and her look (no arabesques) that he is concerned about pneumonia. However, she has no difficulty breathing.

She is starting on Zithromax today for her ear infection. DH will be home with her tomorrow. She's watching Cinderella right now and enjoying a fudgsicle.

She is such a trooper.

The Pediatrician

Yes, we visited the Pediatrician. I made the call first thing in the morning and got an appointment for 1 P.M. Of course I got a call around 11:15 A.M. from the preschool teacher that her temp was already at 100. (!)

So we saw the doctor at 1 P.M. The doctor asked Natalie how she was, and, as she did her best Angelina Ballerina-like arabesques in the exam room, she said "I'm good". Both the doctor and one of the Inova Fairfax residents smiled at her -- and I think the resident was holding back some giggles.

Short version: ears, nose, throat, chest are all fine. Doctor's recommendation: if she is her normal self (doing ballet moves) and she has a fever, don't give her anything (Tylenol, Motrin). If she has a fever and is lethargic, then call and have her seen by one of the doctors.

And yes, keep her on Claritin if she has a history of seasonal allergies, as the allergy season will be 2 months + this year thanks to the early "bloom" of the trees.

The doctor asked if anyone else in the household is now sick. I said, "No, we are all doing great." Silly woman I am -- talk about tempting the fates. Yes, I think I've got it now, too. (cough cough hack hack)

Home Today

I'm home with my daughter today.

Yesterday afternoon her temperature shot up like a rocket -- easily over 102 -- and I gave her some Motrin to bring her temp down. She pleaded to go see Curious George and her temp was down, so I brought her and Nicholas to the movies. After the movie, we all went home and her temp seemed to be going back up again, so I did the "alternate with Tylenol" approach that her pediatrician had told me to do ever since she had a febrile seizure as a baby. Well, her temp continued to rise. Even DH (who got home at 7:30 P.M. from working all day on a Sunday) agreed that she was HOT. So we opted to get her into a bath, and she was so very uncomfortable. Alternated with Motrin a bit later, and her temp continued to climb. She was well over 103 and I didn't bother taking her temp because I knew it was really high. I had her sleep with me so I could watch over her. It was 73 degrees in the house thanks to the warm weather on the East Coast yesterday, and she had winter pajamas with a comforter pulled up to her nose and she was shivering.

I seriously thought we were going to have a trip to the ER last night.

This morning she was up at 6:30 A.M. and she was her chipper self! She said "I feel much better, but my sniffling is still there and my cough is there, too." Seasonal allergies I think, but I'm not sure.

I have a call in to the pediatrician about the allergies. I'm just glad she is BETTER. I was pretty worried last night.

Sleeping angels

It's 2 PM and both children are sleeping. I sneak peeks into their rooms every so often -- they are so beautiful!

DH is working today -- yes, Sunday -- as this week is his appropriations deadline week and he has some huge number of letters to get onto some huge number of forms. I called to check in on him about a half hour ago -- he had about a third of them done, and that's from working on them since 10 A.M. today.

The kids and I went to swim class. Somehow I managed to get all three of us changed into swim gear and get Natalie off to her class with the right teacher and get Nicholas and I off to the other class. Who needs DH, right??? ;-)

We came home for lunch and I told them the only way we could go see Curious George at the movies is if they napped. So far, so good -- of course it's only been an hour.

I haven't spoken with my parents yet this weekend -- they went to the New England Spring Flower Show in Boston yesterday and today they are at a band (US Army Band? US Marine Corps Band? Not sure) concert this afternoon. I want to know what the flower show was like, particularly on opening day.

Yesterday we tried to go kits flying in the afternoon but we had pretty variable winds. Maybe we'll try again later today, if the thunderstorms stay away.

DH said he would be home by 6 P.M. so we could all have dinner and we could get baths done. We've got dueling priorities for Sunday night TV now with The Sopranos back for this season. Thank goodness for DVR!

Breakfast with Buzz Lightyear -- another year

My son has a fixation on Buzz Lightyear. Yes, the Tim Allen-voiced character from Toy Story/Toy Story2. Nicholas is so cute about it -- "To Finny and Yond." (Translation: To Infinity and Beyond -- and what in the world is that supposed to mean, anyways? Pixar? Disney? Anyone?)

Well, we -- um, I -- have been planting myself over at the DisBoards to get on the latest rumor mill about a BOYS character meal at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida, knowing that a casting call went out for "Sarge", for this new character meal. All sorts of rumors started, including who would be part of the meal (Breakfast and Beyond was the name, including Buzz and Woody), when it might be possible to make reservations (ADRs) for this meal. Then February 28 came and went, as did March 1 -- and no ADRs and no official word from Disney.

The latest rumor is that there has been a delay in the meal and now it will not be until sometime in June -- after our trip to Disney. :-( I'm so bummed. Still holding out a little hope, but definitely not counting on it any more.

On Balance - Juggling Work and Family

Leslie Morgan Steiner has launched a new blog over at washingtonpost.com. She also has a new book out (an anthology) titled Mommy Wars: Stay-at-Home and Career Moms Face Off on Their Choices, Their Lives, Their Families. I am a little frustrated with the title because it sounds like it focuses solely on moms again vs. including dads, but I will withhold judgement until I actually read the book. I heard a little bit of her appearance on today's Diane Rehm Show and, from what I heard, I will surely read the book. I just wish that a little more attention was paid to dads -- especially as working dads.

Spring is almost here

Yes, the robins have taken over our front yard so Spring must be near!

I'm feeling much better -- finally. DH is in the midst of his "crazy season" with appropriations. This year they have compressed the schedule so he is only crazy for 2 weeks instead of 2 months like last year. His final deadline is on Friday March 17, so he'll be "normal" again the following day.

As an example of his schedule -- he had to be at a fundraiser last night until 7 pm so he got home at 7:30 pm. I had a civic association board meeting at 8 pm and wasn't home until 10 pm. He had a briefing first thing this morning so he had to leave the house at 7 am.

Nicholas started in the 2's classroom last Thursday so he is in his "big boy" classroom now. He is very excited! Both of them start swimming classes again this coming weekend.

We got Natalie a baseball (tee ball) glove and bat this past weekend. Also have the tee stand. Her glove and batting gloves are PINK! Have to get her a helmet, too.

We are planning on going kite flying this weekend. DH has to work one of the afternoons so if the forecast holds, we'll go kite flying Saturday afternoon and I'll take the kids somewhere (???) Sunday afternoon. I might take them to the movies to see Curious George.

Now let's just have the weather forecast hold...

Green Eggs and Ham...and bacon, and cleaning, and working

Natalie was in tears while I read Green Eggs and Ham. Why? Because her friends were sharing her Mommy.

I did get quite a welcoming -- 8 little faces shrieking "SHE'S HERE!!!!" as I walked towards the classroom door. And the kids were all great. Except for Natalie. She went into TOTAL meltdown. And when I was done reading the story, she didn't want me to leave.

*sigh* Not a fun way to return to the office.

And speaking of offices...looks like Mr. Tierney has done it again in his NY Times piece. Amanda posted about it a few days ago and I read about it on Elizabeth's site. And Bitch PhD summed it up -- we are just darn tired. And are working dads equally tired?

And, for the record, I'm happily married. I'd appreciate it a little if DH could be home earlier so I didn't have to listen to "I'm hungry" calls at 6:10 pm until 7 pm, but, like he told me tonight last night, he has to be in the office from 9 am until 6 pm. No options.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

March 2 is Dr. Seuss' birthday and I'm going to my daughter's pre-school in the morning to read Green Eggs and Ham. I'm not sure who is more excited about it -- my daughter or all her friends that she told at pre-school today!

My Little Man is getting ready to move into the 2's class in mid-March. He's been 2 since December, but he has no spot to move to -- until one of Natalie's classmates left the program because Mom is switching jobs. So a spot opened up in pre-school, which started the whole "domino effect" thing. So Nicholas doesn't have to wait until June to move like we had first thought.

DH is staying home on Friday as the kids have an in-service day. We try to swap off as much as we can, so I covered the January in-service and DH will cover this one. They should all have fun together. In the meantime, I am meeting the literacy coordinator at our local elementary school that day to get a sense of how they handle varying pre-reading/reading issues in the classroom. The decision between public and private Kindergarten is maddening, I tell you. Just what does one really get for $17K a year? Or, as someone suggested to me today, is it what you get or what you are avoiding for $17K a year?


DH is in work madness until Saint Patrick's Day. I kiddingly told him, "I'll talk to you in 2 weeks" -- but that really isn't so far from the truth. Looks like I will have exclusive parenting duty for the next two weekends.

PLEASE let there be nice weather this weekend!!! *grin*

Light posting

Yes, I know -- very light posting recently because I have been sick. As in REALLY sick. As in Fevers: The Sequel. Blech.

We did go see Clifford The Big Red Dog at the Warner Theatre this weekend. It was fun and both kids were wide eyed through most of it. I just love bringing them to live theater -- even if it is Clifford -- because it is an important "arts" element for them to learn to appreciate.

More tomorrow.

The citizen outreach meeting

Yes, I went to the citizen outreach meeting tonight. I am so very sick right now but went just the same. I have actually been sick since Thursday, but spiked a fever Friday, through the entire weekend, and now I'm down to 100 degrees.

But I went to the meeting. To learn that this process is so VERY long.

This weekend I was buried with stuff for work but I managed to take some time Saturday to not only take Natalie to dance class but for all of us to go to the MCI Center to see Disney on Ice: Princess Classics. We all had a great time! Nicholas had just enough right after the intermission, and DH took him back to the car (inside the MCI Center parking garage) where Little Man fell asleep after about two minutes. Natalie, on the other hand, was enraptured throughout. And the second half of the show was all about Cinderella. My Little Princess was SO happy!

Sunday was me stuck working as well as Monday. Except I went to the doctors on Monday. Yes, I have a fever. Who would have guessed?? (sarcasm off)

Next up -- a few of us are planning a neighborhood egg hunt. If you have any tips on organizing an egg hunt, please send them my way!

Civic Association

We had an "emergency meeting" of our civic association board tonight. (I have some sort of title -- "Director of Communications" or something like that. Of course we can't even locate our by-laws, so we are in a little bit of disrepair. *giggle*) There's a proposal to tear down a small strip mall and replace it with 75% residential housing units (rental apartments) and a new shopping center. Of course we just happened to hear about this, and it was AFTER the public hearing last November. So next Tuesday there is a "public outreach meeting" to communicate what in the world is about to be festooned onto us. And we are going to be very vocal with our District Supervisor to let her know we are none too happy about how she begged and pleaded that the civic association be re-established so citizens would know what is going on the in the District, but then she does not even communicate anything to the civic association!

More later...

The birthday party -- and first time skating

Natalie skipped dance class this morning so we would have an easier time making it to C's birthday party at the skating rink. Natalie has been talking about this birthday party for weeks. She was ready with her new Cinderella bicycle helmet, too.

I'll have to figure out a way to get the video I captured on the Treo onto the blog -- it was VERY fun. She did great -- mostly falling down, but she was LAUGHING through it all. Then she resorted to licking snow off her gloves! She was very proud of herself -- as well as she should be.

Next weekend we're going to see Disney on Ice with the princesses. I think she'll have a new-found appreciation for skating.

We are under a "heavy snow warning" until tomorrow morning. I had wanted to bring Nicholas to the train show, but I think we'll skip that and play in the snow instead. It's not like we have had a great deal of snow this winter. Actually, the last time we had snow was early December, which technically wasn't even winter!

Maybe Natalie will start skating lessons in the fall -- we'll see!

Kindergarten Information Night - Bailey's Elementary

Tonight I went to "information night" at Bailey's Elementary. Bailey's is "the magnet school" that everyone talks about in Fairfax County. So DH got home at 6:25 pm tonight so I could be out the door at 6:30 pm to attend the information session.

The school principal did a brief presentation and then said "anyone interested in full immersion Kindergarten, go over that way" into the corner. There must have been 70 people that were herded towards one of the Kindergarten classes. But they never made it clear that two of the Kindergarten classes are full immersion, and there are another SIX classes that are "plain ol'" Kindergarten classrooms. I think this confused lots of parents. It wasn't clear to me until over two hours later after Q&A with the principal!

We visited the various "labs" of the school. I am particularly interested in science education, as I think science education is getting shortened up right now thanks to Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOL) and other "mandatory testing" requirements. The science teacher is amazing at Bailey's! What a fortunate school to have someone like her there! But she focuses on older children. So if we were to send Natalie there, I am honestly not sure how much she would gain from the school. Plus she would have to be out of her neighborhood (which is something I absolutely hated about going to a "gifted & talented" program when I was in 4th through 6th grade) and, since we are a household with two working parents, any playdates would be relegated to the weekends. And that is just not fair to Nicholas, either.

I think we are going with our neighborhood elementary school. Our Kindergarten orientation is in April. I think we'll just have to figure out ways to augment science education into "after school" stuff.

2 AM musings

Around 2 am this morning, my daughter was at the side of my bed.

"Mommy? Are you awake?"

"Yes, sweetheart, what's the matter?" I mumbled.

"Mommy, I only want to wear dresses at Walt Disney World and not shorts. Boys can't wear dresses so I want to wear dresses."

"Okay Natalie," I replied.

"Thanks, Mommy. I love you." And she kissed my cheek.

"I love you, too, angel. Go back to bed."

"I will Mommy. I love you." And back to bed she went.

Sparklers

We went to a belated "family-oriented" New Year's Eve party last night -- it was rescheduled from New Year's Eve due to the hostess having a pretty bad cold/flu thing going on for the beginning of 2006. We took Natalie and Nicholas out for a long ride before the party so they would sleep. (Little Man is a nap refuser on the weekend.) We all had a great time.

Natalie had her first experience with sparklers. Initially she was afraid of "fire" but after 10 minutes or so of all the children (including some 2 year-olds) holding sparklers with their parents, Natalie really liked it and was holding two sparklers at a time (with Dad nearby). Nicholas was not really interested in the sparklers -- much more into Thomas the Tank Engine. (No shock there.)

Nick was starting to get a little cranky, so we left around 7:30 pm, and then headed home to watch Herbie Fully Loaded. It was a much better movie then I thought it would be! I was a little hesitant to add it to our queue in NetFlix, but I'm glad we did. Even Nick was laughing hard in parts of it. Jeff Gordon was actually quite good in his cameo, too.

More on Jacob Robida

Thank goodness he has been stopped.

Jacob Robida

Wow -- the whole Jacob Robida thing is way too freaky.

1. His mother is the sister of someone I went to middle school/high school with. (I saw her when visiting my parents a couple of years ago -- I had brought my daughter to the local park and "S" was there with a little girl 2 months older than my daughter -- except it was her GRANDCHILD.)
2. DH went to middle school with a "J" Robida (back in the early 70s), who "got into trouble" because he had a Nazi flag on the end of his pencil. DH thinks that "J" is the dad.

This whole thing is frightening. Doesn't help that the parents are clueless idiots.

All Thomas or cars, all the time

Nicholas is big into Thomas the Tank Engine right now. He sleeps with one train in his right hand and one in his left hand. When he wakes up, he wants to know where Thomas is. If it is not Thomas, he wants to know where his cars are. (He has roughly ten of the small 64 scale cars.) It's all Thomas or cars, all the time.

He's in the toddler classroom and has not moved up into the 2's room yet because there is no spot to go to yet. (The plague of a December birthday.) But today, one of the children in the 2's classroom was out, so Nick could go "visit". He spent the morning all the way through lunch there. He got to serve himself his lunch. He played with all sorts of new toys. He set out his own cups and plates. At nap time, he went back to his classroom for a rest. He told his teacher all about the things he did -- playing with fire trucks, and puzzles, and books, etc. He was all excited!

My little guy is such a big boy now!

Decluttering, continued

On weekends we declutter. We have been trying to do a little bit at a time. It's to the point now where Natalie knows that it's "clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere" time on Sunday afternoons and she gets a trash bag to start wading through stuff.

Elizabeth posted about the "excesses" of it all at Half Changed World today. We are living proof of it, especially post-Christmas. With Nicholas' birthday just 12 days before, the toy explosion turned into a true mountain. We have finally unburied ourselves from the toys in the living room and in Natalie's bedroom, so now we only have one bedroom and the dreaded playroom to tackle.

All this decluttering forced me to make some changes in birthday-gift buying -- out of sympathy for friends that are also parents of young children.

Natalie has been invited to a skating party for C's birthday in a couple of weeks. I just LOVE the idea of a skating party -- physical activity is always a great balance to cake and juice. But I was facing the "what do we get for a gift?" dilemma.

Then I decluttered this weekend.

The gift will be books. Two books. Not four. And no, not one. But two.

And I get to put my "we really like these books" list to good use at the same time.

Drop-off madness

Nicholas, my little guy (AKA Mommy's sugarplum), wailed for 20 solid minutes on the ride in today. He kept repeating "No see (insert name of someone in his classroom)" over and over again. When I dropped him off, he was glued to my leg. Much like he has been glued to me at home for the past three days -- no, daddy is not an option -- "Walk away, Daddy" is the order from Mr. Nicholas. He was crying so much that Mommy Guilt set in and I was tearing up.

Thankfully "this too shall pass" and he was fine within a minute of my leaving. But wow -- talk about an emotional start to a Monday.

I'm on several "moms' lists" including a great "working moms" list for the DC area -- DC Working Moms. It seems like everyone that has a 2 year-old is riding this "mommy-centric" wave or has ridden it recently. Oh, just to get to June when he'll be 2.5 years.

Dentist update

Natalie went to the dentist on Wednesday. She had her teeth cleaned, another fluoride treatment (like she had 6 months ago), and she also had x-rays done. (!!!) The dentist looked at her teeth and Natalie was proud to say that she had stopped sucking her thumb during the day -- the only time she sucks her thumb now is at naptime and at night to go to sleep. The dentist gave her a big High Five! The dentist told me that there was no problem with her sucking her thumb now, especially since she had stopped during the day, and that her teeth alignment looked perfect. (YEAH!)

The next day, one of the teachers told me about this cute exchange at naptime. Natalie was lying down on her cot sucking her thumb and then jumped back -- "no" she said. The teacher asked her what was wrong. She said, "The dentist said I can't suck my thumb." So the teacher suggested that she snuggle her blanket way up high so she wouldn't suck her thumb. Natalie tried that and said, "But now I have two hands! Normally I have one hand to twist my hair and the other hand to suck my thumb." So the teacher suggested that Natalie twist her hair as she always does and the teacher would rub her thumb until she fell asleep. So Natalie tried that for a few minutes but that wasn't working either. She started to get a little upset, but the teacher said, "Natalie, I'm sure your dentist would say that you could suck your thumb now because you really tried not to suck it today." So Natalie sucked her thumb and was asleep in 2 minutes.

Update on Mom

Mom went to see the new doctor today -- a neurologist who specializes in dementia/Alzheimer's patients. She's been pretty uneasy about seeing the new doctor, but once she got there, she really liked him. He's trying a new "recipe" of meds with her, small changes/tinkering at a time. When I talked with her today she seemed MUCH more relaxed about things, and I think she is sleeping better, too. I think my dad is also sleeping better. There is NOTHING better than one night of good sleep -- other than several nights in a row of good sleep.

Proof that email advocacy works

Check out today's Washington Post story about the "Home Serenity and Tranquility Act" introduced in the Virginia General Assembly. One of the folks at the Virginia Youth Soccer Association heard about the bill on Thursday and, according to the Post story, over 1,000 emails have already flooded in to the bill's sponsor's office.

And where is the bill now? According to the story:

The bill was assigned to the House Courts of Justice Committee, whose chairman, also a Fairfax delegate, said he plans to kill it first thing Monday.

Nice eadvocacy work, folks!!!

Added to the NetFlix queue: The Smartest Guys in the Room

I just added "the Enron movie" to our NetFlix queue.

No, I did not get to see the movie when it made its way to theaters -- the last time I saw a movie in a theater where the movie did not have animation was in 2001. So I have been waiting for this to come out on DVD. I read a review of it over at The Moderate Voice and it looks great. I loved the Frontline piece that aired before everything collapsed at Enron, so I'm anxious to see Jeff Skilling again. *evil grin*

More on Great Wolf Lodge

Great Wolf Lodge has this deal where you borrow a waterproof digital camera for the length of your stay and they sell you a CD with all your photos in a slide show for $25. Sure beats risking your own digital camera in a water park!

Here is a sampling of some of the photos:

• Natalie on the raft in the wave pool -- if she could have, she would have spent the entire weekend in the wave pool

• Natalie on the raft leaning way back to get her hair wet

• Another picture of her on the raft

• Dad with Nicholas in the wave pool

• Nicholas smooching Mom

• Natalie swimming in the toddler pool -- this is with life vest on; she swam for a good 15 yards!
  

• Natalie sliding down the toddler water slide
  

• Brother and sister enjoying lollipops

Jack Bauer

Yes, we are back to normalcy -- Jack Bauer has returned.

Ran across The World According to Jack Bauer in my travels -- VERY funny stuff!!!

Oh -- and for those with little ones -- Great Wolf Lodge is wonderful! Just be sure to do your own grocery run as the food is -- well, it's not great.

Delurking week

I learned from Half Changed World that this week is Delurking Week (created by Paper Napkin). So please say hi and let me know if you share disdain for how some toy companies wrap their toys in what seems like miles of twist-tie wraps. (Or just say hi.)

Field trip day

Today was field trip day -- we went to the Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaurs and see their mammal exhibit. We had a GREAT time! We took the Metro from Virginia to the Smithsonian stop. All of the children were very well behaved with their listening ears on. We arrived a little early so the teachers gave out snacks to the children before we went in to the museum. Then when the museum opened, we went through security ("bag check") and first saw the elephant in the rotunda, then spent time touring the dinosaurs. We made our way over to the mammals after that.

With all the transportation time and the need to be back for lunch, we still managed to hit the highlights. And it was great to be with Natalie as I could add emphasis in areas that I think are important. For example, there was someone working in the Fossil Lab and I could mention what that person was doing and why it was detailed work and such.

The parenting dance

I'm on a couple of parenting lists that recently have had lots of discussion about two "working outside the home" parents managing home life with one or more children. I have to say all the posts have been great to read because I have been fretting a bit about how in the world we are going to manage in the fall when Natalie starts Kindergarten.

Currently I handle both drop-off and pick-up, which does make a little bit of sense since my office is a block away and DH's office is the absolute other way in DC. It doesn't make it easy, though. It's still an additional 40 minutes of "on-the-job duty" of fastening car seats, controlling arms so that a toy doesn't go airborne, keeping peace in the car while we drive, getting children out of the car and keeping them safe until we get into the lobby, get them in classrooms and coats hung up, talk to teachers about the night, etc. Then add a similar 40 minutes at pick-up time. Times 5 days a week. Yes, that's an additional 6 2/3 hours -- or almost an additional WORK DAY -- each week.

DH gets it easy.

Dance class...redux

Dance classes have started again and today is our first class for the winter and spring session. This time the class is for the four and five year-olds. Natalie is THRILLED to be in something for the five year-olds. She keeps asking when her birthday is (August) so she can be five.

I know she will have two friends from pre-school in her dance class, and maybe even three friends. As I type, she is "practicing like Angelina (Ballerina)" by spinning around the floor and trying to do leaps. It is very cute!

I wish parents could stay outside the door to "watch". I'll just have to hear all the great details when her class is done. Thankfully she has the same teacher as her last class -- that way she will be more comfortable in the class.

Stroller wars

The stroller wars have started.

On Tuesday, Nicholas (the oldest child in his toddler room) found two new doll strollers that were brought into his classroom. He spent all day pushing the stroller around! His friend G spent her day pushing the other stroller around. They had such a great time!

Yesterday, Natalie went with me to pick up Nicholas -- and she got to see the new strollers in the classroom. Now SHE wanted to push the stroller around. She tells me, "Mommy, you know the pink stroller that is up in the attic?" (The attic, where we circulate out toys so we don't look like a toy store annex.) "Mommy, I'd like to play with that when we get home."

My mistake was saying "yes". Because I only have one "pink stroller in the attic".

So I brought down the pink stroller from the attic. Natalie ended up watching the clock to see just how long her "turn" would be with the stroller. Nicholas, in the meantime, is nearly hysterical. HE wants the stroller.

So I go down into the playroom and bring up the pink plastic stroller.

Now we have the pink stroller and the pink plastic stroller. The war shifts into who has what baby. Natalie has her Bitty Baby in the pink stroller. Nicholas has the Not Identifiable Baby in the pink plastic stroller. He wants Bitty Baby.

Natalie knows that Bitty Baby has to be taken care of "extra special".

Nicholas tugs at Natalie's dress.

Natalie screams.

I'm ready to move BOTH strollers back to the attic. Instead, I get Red Shopping Cart from the playroom. And two more babies.

This bought me 10 more minutes -- until bathtime. While DH handles baths, all strollers, carts, and babies were put away in the playroom. Except Bitty Baby, who went back to the cradle in Natalie's bedroom.

We'll see what happens from the Stroller Front tonight when we get home.

Happy 2006!

Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year have not hit on all cylinders on the "healthy" part -- I've been down with a cold all weekend. (And no, it is NOT the flu!)

We were supposed to go to a friend's house for a family-friendly New Year's Eve party, but she had to cancel on Friday because -- you guessed it -- she's down with a whopper of a cold, sore throat, laryngitis, etc. Both of her daughters made it through okay -- it's the moms that are left flat on their backs.

Anyway, we put together a small "just for us" party for home, with lots of munchies and such. I had a fever and just felt yucky. So we welcomed in the New Year (Natalie was asleep by 10 pm and Nicholas was asleep by 11:15 pm -- I followed closely behind at 12:30 am) and got some rest, too.

On Monday, we took down the Christmas decorations (on the 9th day of Christmas -- so much for the 12 Days of Christmas, but out tree was really starting to drop needles) and put everything away. We did some laundry and organized some toys. And we had lots of fun playing with the kids and trying to let me get some rest.

I'm feeling a lot better today than I did on Saturday, but not at 100% yet. I'm not even at 75% yet. But I'm hoping I am better tomorrow -- especially so I can go to work. I have so little paid time off that I need to save every day I can for the inevitable coughs/colds of the children and for the litany of school days off for the County. Yes, my baby girl is going to start Kindergarten this year! *sniff sniff* Have to start planning on hoarding paid time off.

Anyway, happy and healthy New Year's wishes to you!