Halloween picture

Here's Sheriff Woody escorting Princess Aurora. It was gorgeous weather here for Halloween, so we ended up going without coats (WOOHOO!) and spent a good 1 1/2 hours trick or treating. They both had a blast and I just loved watching them!

Sleeping with The Polar Express

As you all know, Nicholas has a "thing" for The Polar Express. Yes, the book. Yes, the movie. We even have two copies of the movie as his godmother gave him a copy last year for Christmas. Well, Nicholas has recently took to sleeping with the book.

No, that's not having the book read to him before he goes to sleep.

Yes, that's sleeping with the book.

We are still trying to get him to sleep in his own bed at night. And he does go to HIS bed and sleep in HIS bed. But we still hear footsteps around 11 pm/midnight and it's a little boy making his way out of his room and into Mommy and Daddy's bedroom.

And now there's a little boy in the bed -- with The Polar Express book. So, Chris van Allsburg, please know that your book has turned into a lovie for an almost-3-year-old little boy. (Thankfully we have the hardcover edition!)

I. Need. Break.

Filling in loose ends...

Last week was madness -- we had at least 3 events running simultaneously on Wednesday night so I told DH I Cannot Do Any. Natalie ended up in bed -- asleep -- by 6:45 pm. She really needs her rest and this transition to Kindergarten -- combined with her listening ear "issues" -- I think are complicated by not enough sleep. So going with the sleep begets more sleep philosophy, we are making conscious efforts to get dinner done earlier and the kids in bed earlier.

On Friday, DH was a chaperone on Natalie's first field trip -- to a local pumpkin patch. He had a great time and I tried not to look green with envy as he was going on the field trip and I wasn't. *sigh* I'm glad that one of us got to go.

Saturday was more wackiness as Natalie had a soccer game and a birthday party scheduled simultaneously. We opted out of soccer (after her dance class) and instead went to the birthday party. She couldn't even stay for cake :-( as she had to get to her soccer team photo. Did that and then she was tired so we headed home so she could take a "cat nap". Three hours later, when she woke up, we headed out to dinner.

Sunday we went out to West Virginia to go to Camp Rim Rock's open house. It was a gorgeous day and a pretty drive -- and really, a gorgeous camp. VERY rustic accommodations. The best quote I can recall from Natalie was, as we were heading down Rt 259 -- "Mommy, where's the mall?" (!!!) The city girl may have some "issues" with the camp!

Monday was back to work and school. DH took Nicholas to the pediatric cardiologist. Nicholas ended up having an echocardiogram done. The doctor says that he has an "innocent heart murmur" and that he does not need to be seen again. I'm not sure if that means his VSD has closed up or not -- the price I pay for not going to the doctor's appointment with DH. *sigh* I just cannot keep going to all these doctor's appointments and missing work.

Next "big thing" up is the related fall festival/pre-Halloween festivities this weekend. DH is covering some with the kids and I'm covering the others.

I'll be honest -- I really think I'm on the losing end of this time/family management battle. I'm doing my best not to take any time off from work until 2007. But I honestly do not know if I'll be able to make it. I'm lucky to get 6 hours sleep a night, and my mind is racing when I try to sleep. But if I took a day off, I'd likely clean my house.

Oh, for DH to get back to work again...

Pretty bus

"Pretty bus." Yes, this is Nicholas' latest "thing". He just loves looking for a "pretty bus". The pretty bus is a WMATA compressed natural gas fueled bus -- see the photo taken by DC Metroblogger.

Let's see -- to even start to fill you in. Nicholas had a raging fever in the middle of the night on Thursday of last week, less than 24 hours after his hearing test. Of course his ears are now infected by Thursday morning, so back on another round of Omnicef. His pediatrician seems pretty set on Nicholas getting tubes. DH was quite kind in telling her that the ENT doc and I didn't really hit it off. Let's just say that I like my most despised member of the US Senate more than I liked that doc. So we have an appointment with Nicholas' cardiologist for next week and then an appointment with a second opinion ENT just after Election Day and then the appointment with The Doc I Have Disdain For the week after Election Day.

Oh, did I mention that Natalie got sick?

Yes, she got sick, too. So she missed her first day of elementary school on Friday. This was the day after I got an email from her teacher saying that Natalie has terrible trouble listening in class, etc., and she's the only one that won't pay attention, etc. Shades of familiarity with soccer and dance, anyone? How about pre-school? So we had LOTS of time to talk about that over the weekend.

Thankfully with the holiday there was no soccer. Natalie had several bouts of bloody noses over the weekend, as did Nicholas. On Sunday Natalie was tired and went to sleep at 4:30 pm. She slept straight through until 8:15 am Monday morning! She felt well enough to go to Cox Farms, so we did manage that.

Today she went back to school and apologized to her teacher. Her teacher emailed me back that Natalie had an excellent listening day. Here's hoping it stays that way!

It's October...

Can you tell that we are all running ragged? :-)

Let's see -- Nicholas went to see the "ear specialist" last week and (no shock here) the doctor recommended ear tubes. It was like DH and the doc had this neat little "pact" that involved getting Nicholas signed up for surgery immediately. I was so unbelievably peeved that I just nodded along, la-de-da-de-da, until DH asked me if I was all set. And I said "I'm absolutely opposed to surgery."

So -- Nicholas will have a hearing test this week (Wednesday) and we go back to see the ear specialist in mid-November.

Natalie went through her Worst Soccer Game Ever on Saturday -- she barely was on the right side of the field for about half the game. I gave up at that point and left with Nicholas. DH stayed to try to get her focused.

Of course this is the day after she walked into a fire extinguisher at school.

How can she walk into a fire extinguisher? By not paying attention to where she is walking and turning around -- straight into a fire extinguisher.

Let's see -- Sunday we planted some bulbs in the garden, with the hopes that the squirrels would not dig them out. We also tossed the plants from the window box and put in winter pansies. That process took a good 3 hours, with assistance from my two helpers. (And please don't say "child labor" -- Nicholas spent most of the time watering the grass and Natalie spent most of the time saying she liked placing bulbs in the "holes" that I dug out.

On my agenda? A haircut and a PTA meeting for me tomorrow and more after-hours work trying to help DH locate some job opportunities. I'm afraid that he's going to be out until well-past Election Day. But we'll get through it. We've been through FAR worse. Next month will be 24 years since we met on an election campaign. *shudder* I'm getting old!

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. :-)