Good Heavens She's Seven

Alternate Title: It's been a literal age since I blogged

The sweet sissy had a birthday (also, hello - did you miss me?).

We have a tradition to ask 20 questions of the birthday child (see Penny's past answers here) and while posting them 3+ weeks post birthday, I did actually ask them on the morning of her birthday. Here are her answers:

1. What is your favorite color?   Green

2. What is your favorite toy?  Diana (her "new" American Girl doll... this cracks me up because she plays with this doll *maybe* twice a month).
3. What is your favorite fruit? Still tomatoes (as she reads last year's answers over my shoulder)
4. What is your favorite tv show?   Star Verses the Forces of Evil (this show is weird. Well, all kids shows are weird, but this one is extra odd).

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?   Grapes (which is a  lie. It's peanut butter & jelly, same as last year. We buy grapes a handful of times each year, and while she does enjoy grapes, she has a PB&J every day during the week. No lie. Child eats PB&J like it's going out of style).

6. What is your favorite outfit?   My new Christmas dress (which she had, at the time, not yet worn).

7. What is your favorite game? Tag
8. What is your favorite snack? Goldfish (year 2 of this answer, I would have guessed an apple, since the house is littered with her discarded apple cores).
9. What is your favorite animal?  Parrot (ok, I'm recording this because she did say it, but I don't think it's true [note: I may be sad that giraffes aren't her favorite anymore]. We don't have any parrot things, she doesn't request parrot themed clothes or toys or anything. I have no idea when she started liking parrots).
10. What is your favorite song? Bad Blood (Taylor Swift). This is totally true - although now, 3 weeks after her birthday it may have changed to Hello by Adele or Exs & Ohs by whats-her-face.
11. What is your favorite book?   Harry Potter (2nd year in a row, which makes my geek heart happy but I don't really think it's true. She's been glued to her Star Wars Encyclopedia for the last month).

12. Who is your best friend?  Astarta
13. What is your favorite cereal? Cheerios (note: Honey Nut Cheerios)  

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?   Jump on the trampoline

15. What is your favorite drink? Lemonade
16. What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?   Stuffed animals (we've reached the point where there's barely any room for her on her bed with all the stuffed animals).

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Didn't you already ask me that? (It's Cheerios, ftr)

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Spaghetti (she didn't get it, I can't remember what we had but it wasn't a spaghetti night)

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?   An scientist (score!) side note: she's really interested in being a zoologist lately.

Here's her favorite thing to wear:

The girls with Santa. The boy child did NOT want to meet the man in red. #xmas

A photo posted by Jessica Black Rodgers (@1981sinatra) on Dec 12, 2015 at 8:43pm PST

The G-Man is 5

It's that time again! Birthday questions! Here are G's 4th birthday questions, and his 3rd.

Without further ado, here are his 5th birthday questions:

1. What is your favorite color? Blue

2. What is your favorite toy? Um... my Mashables (he got them from my parents for his birthday, they're pretty awesome)

3. What is your favorite fruit? Bananas

4. What is your favorite TV show? Gravity Falls

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Cheese and mustard sandwich

6. What is your favorite outfit? A long sleeved shirt and pants

7. What is your favorite game? Lego Batman 3 (pretty much the same as last year, just a new version of the game)

8. What is your favorite snack? Oatmeal bar (same as last year) 

9. What is your favorite animal? Lions (same as last year, interestingly enough)

10. What is your favorite song? The Imperial March from Star Wars (he actually said "like Darth Vader")

He's a Sith Lord

11. What is your favorite book? My 5-minute Marvel (a book with a collection of Marvel character stories)

12. Who is your best friend? Brandon, Rafa, and Dylan

13. What is your favorite cereal? Fruit Loops (same as last year)

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Jump on the trampoline

15. What is your favorite drink? Gatorade (which he was introduced to when he was sick earlier this year, he's now become slightly obsessed with it).

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My A's Monkey

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Um, fruit loops?! Why did we do breakfast again?

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Pizza!

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A police officer

My big 5 year old, just lounging

And here he was at 5 minutes old:

Penelope had a birthday party

And I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I wanted to.

But that's ok, because it was fun. And I have these, which are fun too.

The table set up with the photo shoot area in the back.

We found tea cups, saucers, and tea pots at various thrift stores, along with doilies, lace things, and a pink-ish lacy curtain that was our photo shoot backdrop. I made the cupcakes look like flowers (which was crazy easy, thanks youtube!). They also had mason jars as glasses for lemonade.

All the tea was fruit tea (peach, blueberry, etc) and they actually drank it.

The food table: fruit, rice krispy treats, lemonade, cheese & crackers, candy dipped pretzels.

I briefly thought about making scones and mini cheese sandwiches and then had to reign myself in. She's 6, I'm pregnant. This was just fine. I liked the fancy punch bowl, provided by a friend. It was a nice touch.

Table + wall and ceiling decorations

The wall garland was super cute, I wish I had gotten a better shot of it. I do still have it, but I'm not about to drag it out of the kid's room just for a picture. The pom-poms hanging from the ceiling are still up in the house. We'll see how long it is before someone finally gets annoyed with them and takes them down. They're just tissue paper, and easy (but time consuming) to make. My dad & Bryan made half of them while mom and I prepped food the night before. Proof that my dad and husband are pretty freaking awesome.

The hat decorating station

So THIS is where I went overboard budget-wise. The girls each got a hat and a feather boa. They could add ribbons & flowers to their hats to make them super-fancy and tea-party ready. I had to ship the damn hats express to get them here on time because I suck at planning (well, I just got busy), so they were much pricier than I had originally planned. BUT they turned out insanely cute, see:

Birthday Girl in her fancy hat, boa, and party dress.

And then there's these:

My mom, who is awesome.

Penelope, blowing out her candles

I have more, mostly of Sissy and her friends or of her friends posing with the background, but since I don't have permission to post those I think I'll hold off. I'll print them for each girl though and we can include them in her Thank You cards.

I was pretty exhausted by the end of the party, and it was only a 2 hour gig.

Now to start planning Bubby's 5th. I think he wants a Robot theme. Hello Pinterest!

20 Questions for the Birthday Girl - Age 6

Here are the answers for age 4, and age 5

1. What is your favorite color?   Pink

2. What is your favorite toy?  Frosty, my American Girl doll
3. What is your favorite fruit? Are tomatoes fruit? (me: I think they are)
4. What is your favorite tv show?   Dora and Friends: Into the City

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?   Peanut butter and jelly

6. What is your favorite outfit?   My birthday party outfit (note: she hasn't actually worn this for a day yet, it's for her tea party themed birthday tomorrow)

7. What is your favorite game? Sorry
8. What is your favorite snack? Goldfish I guess
9. What is your favorite animal?  Giraffes and owls (note: giraffes have been on the list for 3 years in a row now)
10. What is your favorite song? The More We Get Together, it's a nice song
11. What is your favorite book?   Harry Potter

12. Who is your best friend?  Lila
13. What is your favorite cereal? Cheerios (note: Honey Nut Cheerios)  

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?   Go on the trampoline

15. What is your favorite drink? Water
16. What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas! (said without hesitation)
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?   My white tiger

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  I already answered that question (note: cereal, Cheerios)

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  That soft bread, and we could have some chicken with it (note: she means sweet French bread)

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?   An actor (note: she's recently really gotten into plays and musicals).

Below, Sissy at approximately 10 months. 

Tax Day Ramblings

I haven't written in a long while because forces outside of my control (ok, not really) have conspired to keep me so busy I don't have time to vacuum my floors (unfortunately true) let alone blog.

But it is spring break, I've filed my taxes (ouch), and have had a celebratory glass of wine. My youngest child turns 4 tomorrow (cue tears) and I absolutely REFUSE to do any work (not true, I'm e-mailing people in between writing sentences for this post).

Griffin's birthday makes me sad because he is my baby and I have to face that there really is no baby left in him. He's a big kid. A very big kid... and I desperately miss the chubby cheeked baby stage where they actually FIT on your abdomen when they snuggle (G tries to fit... he does not). There are things from the baby stage I don't miss (say, teething... or the half a dozen wake ups from Sir Griff) but I genuniely like babies and I do miss the baby wearing (which really means I miss having complete control over their whereabouts).

Has anyone else noticed my propensity to use parenthesis as my inner monologue? Have I always done that?

Anyway. Kids.

Are big. LE SIGH.

Penelope is reading. READING. Like, all by herself! She reads everything you put in front of her and delights in reading to herself and to anyone willing to listen. It is, I noticed, mostly whole words with a generous sprinkling of phonics. I had assumed that early reading would be more phonics - but I'm not a reading teacher so what the heck do I know? All I know is that she is reading and enjoying it. Her "report card" was very positive this trimester and she still loves school... which is good.

Griffin loves to pretend to read and while he's warmed up to school, he still doesn't quite love it with the same enthusiams as his sister. His new obsession is Lego Batman (don't get me started, not my idea).

When discussing his obsession at lunch today he asked what "obsession" meant. My mom asked him "what do you think it means?" and he said:

"When you really want to do something and nothing else."

Yup. Sums it up quite nicely.

The positive is that since he can only play for a limited amount of time each day and he has to clean up in order to earn video game time, that the house has remained remarkably picked up over the last few weeks. So that's a plus.

Oh, softball! Penelope started softball and she loves it. Bryan is coaching and I'm the manager and I love it less than she does, to be honest. It's not the playing, it's the actual managing that is pretty much awful. I won't do it again. I'll chaperone, I'll even coach, but I will NOT manage.

I'm glad she likes it though, she's made some friends and her coordination is improving, so that's good. I think we'll sign Griffin up for T-Ball next year and keep her in softball... who knows. I guess it all depends on what they like and how much time Bryan and I have to shuttle them to various practices and games.

The rest of our lives are work, which is boring to talk about. I'm so thankful it's Spring Break because I needed it. My students did too. All work and no play makes us all a little loopy, so I'm looking forward to having some (hopefully) reenvigorated students next week. We really only have 5 weeks of school left before summer, which is practically nothing. I have to finish Romeo & Juliet, go through the Greek gods, and teach Oedipus Rex in 5 weeks. Eep! We'll get it done, I have some pretty awesome students this year.

Ok, time to sleep. Maybe I'll have the time and/or energy for a blog post before the school year ends (doubtful) but since I've already said I'm not teaching summer school I may actually get time this summer to blog (or, better yet, to finish the damn novel I started over a year ago).

Happy Jackie Robinson Day!

4th Birthday Questions with the Bubs

It's that time again - birthday questions! Here are Griffin's answers from last year.

1. What is your favorite color? Green and Blue

2. What is your favorite toy? Spiderman (his large Spidey figurine)

3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples

4. What is your favorite TV show? Ninjago

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Chips... and a jelly sandwich

6. What is your favorite outfit? (he points to the one he's wearing now, his Star Wars shirt that is graffitied to say "A Jedi Was Here") Pictured below:




7. What is your favorite game? Lego Batman (Of course. Le sigh)

8. What is your favorite snack? Oatmeal Bar

9. What is your favorite animal? Lions! (said with gusto)

10. What is your favorite song? Frozen. The Let It Go Song (again, sigh)

11. What is your favorite book? Go Dogs Go (we haven't read that book in weeks. The one he asks me to read all the time is Paper Bag Princess and The Marvel Origins book, which is a compilation of all the origin stories of the Marvel characters)

12. Who is your best friend? Dash (from preschool)

13. What is your favorite cereal? Fruit Loops

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? The scooters

15. What is your favorite drink? Milk (same as last year)

16. What is your favorite holiday? New Years (his first response? Snow. When I gave him a list, he chose New Years... when I asked him if he liked New Years more than Christmas, he said yes.)

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Octopus, because I love my pet octopus. (Which, for the record, is a stuffed animal that my parents bought him today at the aquarium).




18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? I already said Fruit Loops (obviously annoyed with my question)

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? I can't think... chicken nuggets!

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? An astronaut!

Birthday Girl Questions - Age 5

Last year I started asking the kids a series of 20 questions on their birthday and will attempt to keep the tradition alive every year.

It was amusing to see what had changed and, perhaps more remarkably, what stayed the same.

Here are Sissy's anwers.

1. What is your favorite color?  Pink (no change)
2. What is your favorite toy?   A doll... my Rapunzel doll, the little one (no change)
3. What is your favorite fruit?   Those cutie things (last year: melon)
4. What is your favorite tv show?   Olivia (last year: My Little Pony)
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?   Turkey and cheese sandwich (last year: macaroni and cheese)
6. What is your favorite outfit?   The cupcake shirt and the long skirt with my leggings (last year: owl shirt. Note: the long skirt I actually made her and she would wear it every day if we let her).
7. What is your favorite game?   Twister and the Olivia LeapPad game (last year: Tangled LeapPad game)
8. What is your favorite snack?  Tortilla chips (last year: apple)
9. What is your favorite animal?  Giraffe (laughs hysterically - no change from last year, she even laughed hysterically last year).
10. What is your favorite song?   The Peter Pan song (the one where they're marching, it's the Lost Boys' song, last year it was A Part of Your World)
11. What is your favorite book?  Green Eggs and Ham (last year: The Little Mermaid)
12. Who is your best friend?  Audrey (the only girl in her class, last year it was Hailey from daycare)
13. What is your favorite cereal?   Cheerios (last year: Life cereal)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?   Playing on the plasma cars (I assume that's something from school, last year it was riding bikes)
15. What is your favorite drink?   Milk (no change)
16. What is your favorite holiday?   Christmas (last year: Spring)
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?   My pillow (last year: dolls - all the dolls... she really doesn't sleep with anything anymore unless she's sick)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?   Cheerios (last year: cereal)
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?   A sandwich (same as last year, which is weird)
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  An artist Princess (last year: Astronaut or Alice from Alice in Wonderland)

We had a nice birthday celebration. Dinner out and then a trip to Starbucks. She had fun.

5 thus far has been rougher than 4. She's much more moody that she was before. I'm not used to a weepy girl-child, that's usually the boy. So we'll all be adjusting... She's still usually very happy and sweet and easy going, she's just starting to assert herself and she's she's entering this new stage where she'd rather play by herself than with her brother (which I totally get because he's rowdy and I have a little bother brother as well.) But even though they do quarrel more often than they used to, they still get along well the vast majority of the time, so we're still very lucky.

So happy birthday to our sweet Amazonian child. We love you!

Then:

Now:

Everything since August 6th...

No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

School started. Was good. Took a 6th period. Am going crazy.

Took up running, sorta (been 5 times). Can run 1.25 miles and have now run more in the last 3 weeks than I ever did in high school PE.

Kids love school, especially Penelope. She has 16 boys and 3 girls in her class. Makes me thankful that I teach high school.

Griffin goes on his first field trip in a few weeks. I get to go (hooray for fortuitous scheduling and random Mondays off!).

Penelope went to my 1.5 hour yoga class with me and did everything except for Triangle pose. Everyone loved her and she's been invited back for other classes. She adores this. She is also surprisingly inflexible, I blame Bryan.

Griffin is now 90% night time potty trained. Huzzah!

I got a full back tattoo (well, the outline is done). It is made of awesome and I will post many pics as color is added.

I'm co-advising the Mock Trail team this year. It's fantastic, but also means Tuesdays I'm on campus from 7am until 7pm. No joke. See note re: "crazy" above.

We've been to a wedding and a birthday party with an Elvis impersonator (those things did not happen in the same weekend).

Bryan's job is going well, he loves it.

His hockey team plays tomorrow for the championship.

I turned 32 and didn't freak out (actually, it was fun. And so far 32 is infinitely better than 22 & 12 combined. Although at 2 I was in New York, so we'll see if 32 makes it to the top of my "years ending in a 2").

And now, goodnight. It is time to sleep. So I will sleep with my pet Zeep. Today was good, today was fun. Tomorrow is another one. Everyday from here to there, funny things are everywhere.

(P.S. if you don't get my two allusions, then I'm not sure we can be friends anymore).

The party!

This past weekend was Bubby's birthday party. I know I've discussed party prep, but I figured pictures and a narrative were warranted.

Bryan and I spent the night before the party cutting capes. Which were time consuming, but not difficult. In the grand scheme of things, party prep wasn't too complicated, it just took up more time than I had originally anticipated. And we made too many capes, so I could have saved us at least an hour of labor if I'd made fewer adult sized capes. I had enough for all the adults, but not everyone was into cape decorating (which is totally fine, because pretending to be a superhero isn't for everyone).

But the end product was pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Here we all are in our caped splendor:

I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted of people actually decorating capes, but people seemed to be having fun.

Like Tyler

 And my parents certainly had fun posing in the capes

After we decorated capes, it was time for the scavenger hunt to find our Avenger friends. Bryan did an excellent job making the clues look like they came from Shield - and I wish I had taken a picture. The older kids loved it, but the younger ones had fun too. Here are some pictures of the kids on the hunt...

The clues were inside the house, the garage, the driveway, the YMCA, & the Library. It was a blast.

Once we had assembled all the Avenger figurines, it was time to get back to the party and defeat Red Skull! Some of my friends took better pictures, but I haven't gotten around to saving them onto my computer. Regardless, here's one of Bubs:

My Dad actually made the pinata himself. It looked great. None of the kids could bust it open (it actually fell off its hook, so my brother and I took a turn. Nic actually broke it open, but skinned his knuckled in the process.

Then there was cake!

Spiderman, old school X-Men, and The Hulk!

Griffin had a great time - and I think the rest of the kids did too. It was great. I'm so happy with how things turned out. :)

The next day was a trip up to the Boardwalk with my parents, my brother, his girlfriend, and her 5 year old son. Much fun was had by all. Here's a pic of Sissy & me.

So happy 3rd birthday Bubby!

3rd Birthday Questions - the Bubs

In Decemeber I asked the Penelo-potamous these 20 questions on her birthday.

And because I was mostly on the ball with Bubby's birthday this year, here are the answers to his 20 questions.

1. What is your favorite color? Blue

2. What is your favorite toy? Buzz

3. What is your favorite fruit? Craisins

4. What is your favorite TV show? Diego

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? A cheese sandwhich with mustard

6. What is your favorite outfit? Baseball shirt (totally not true, it was just what he was wearing at the time. His favorite thing to wear is actually his Superman shirt with the cape).

7. What is your favorite game? Pixar Pals (something he randomly chose from a pile of LeapPad cartridges).

8. What is your favorite snack? Wheat Thins

9. What is your favorite animal? Hippos (I had no idea and would have guessed whales)

10. What is your favorite song? Year 3,000 (Jonas Brothers, this one required prompting. I have a feeling it's actually Michael Jackson's "Bad").

11. What is your favorite book? The Best Nest

12. Who is your best friend? Joe (from Daycare)

13. What is your favorite cereal? Life

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my scooter

15. What is your favorite drink? Milk

16. What is your favorite holiday? 4th of July (total lie, I listed a bunch and he chose this one... it's probably Halloween or Christmas)

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My whale (very true, and that's why I would have guessed a whale as his favorite animal).

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal (that's IF he eats breakfast at home)

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Chicken nuggets

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? I wanna be Peter Pan (ha!)

The post where I describe party prep and you all tell me I'm crazy

Bubby's party is Saturday. It's Superhero themed.

We were originally planning on Thomas the Train, but he asked for Superheros and so we switched. And then I went slightly overboard for a 3 year old's party.

There will be three cakes. They're made but not decorated yet. One chocolate, one lemon, and one funfetti-style. All made from scratch (because my cakes are better than box cakes. Full disclosure: I made box cupcakes for Griffin's daycare party, because "'ain't nobody got time for that").

The chocolate cake will be decorated Spidey-style. Red frosting (also homemade, because why not), spider, webbing. I do guarantee it will look good. Lemon cake is Iron Man (he's the sour one), decorated as his mask. The funfetti cake is Captain America, mostly because that will be the easiest one to decorate.

I have blank masks, foam stars, planets, & paint. I'll get felt squares and fabric glue. Large pieces of felt will be cut into cape-shapes and we'll decorate our Superhero capes & masks. Ribbon will be used to tie capes on.

While the capes dry, we'll go on a scavenger hunt to find the Avengers. Because Red Skull is threatening to crash the party and we have to have the Avenger's help to defeat the bay guy. My dad is making a Red Skull pinata, so that when we come back from our neighborhood search, we'll defeat the enemy.

I also have a cardboard cutout of Captain America for pictures. Industrial strength bubbles to test our superpowers, and chalk - because who doesn't like chalk?

Normal hot dog/hamburger party fare. I'm not getting fancy on food. I may just buy a giant tub of macaroni salad because, again, make macaroni salad from scratch? 'aint nobody got time for that.

The party in my head is awesome. I just hope the party that actually happens is just as awesome. Or at least that everyone has fun.

The Bubs is THREE

You guys.

YOU GUYS.

Our baby is three. THREE. That's, like, 2 more than 1. TWO. Or one more than two. ONE. Or three more than zero. THREE.

We are all now collectively breathing a sigh of relief that I don't teach math.

It was three years ago today that my sweet, snuggly, loud, dirty, rambunctious, smelly, beautiful, adorable, happy baby boy was born.

Here he was then:

And here he is now:

20 Questions for the Birthday Girl

This is idea I stole from many other mommies. The object is to ask your child the same series of 20 questions on their birthdays and see how things change (or stay the same!). I meant to do it last year, but never got around to it. So here's the 1st one for Penelope... hopefully I'm on the ball and get Griffin's started in 2013 for his 3rd birthday.

 

1. What is your favorite color?   ummmmm.... pink

2. What is your favorite toy?   Rapunzel doll
3. What is your favorite fruit?   melon
4. What is your favorite tv show?   My Little Pony

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?   macaroni and cheese

6. What is your favorite outfit?   my owl shirt

7. What is your favorite game?   Tangeled (it's a LeapPad game)
8. What is your favorite snack?   apple
9. What is your favorite animal?   giraffe (laughs) giraffes are so funny
10. What is your favorite song?   The Little Mermaid song (A Part of Your World for those not in the know).
11. What is your favorite book?   The Little Mermaid

12. Who is your best friend?   Hailey (a girl from daycare)
13. What is your favorite cereal?   Life cereal

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?   riding bicycles

15. What is your favorite drink?   milk
16. What is your favorite holiday?   ummm....hmmm... Spring
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?   dolls (and by dolls, she does mean multiple objects... like all of them)

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?   Cheerios

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?   a sandwich
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?   an Astronaut... or Alice (from Alice in Wonderland).

It was actually a lot of fun to sit and do these with her. She gave them a lot of thought and was very proud of the completed sheet. I'll have to place it in her "yearbook" or start some sort of scrapbook for them. 

Happy Birthday Baby

Today Penelope is 4. My sweet and silly sissy is now so grown up, that she often talks about things that "happened when I was a little kid" - things like our family pictures last year, or when we lived in Sacramento, or even things that happened last week. Nearly everything in the past is described as an event that happened when she was "little" which is both charming and hilarious.

It's also a sign that she has rather clear grasp of a linear timeline. She can also articulate things that will happen in the future using appropriate (albeit) amusing vocabulary. Example: "Mommy, when I'm a bigger kid I'll go to Kindergarten and teach my students."


I've already talked about how tall she is for her age - but she's also advanced in other ways. She can identify and draw parallel lines (she does call them parallel lines), horizontal, and vertical lines. She talks about organic shapes.  She can tell you what primary colors are and how to make other colors from primary colors (thank you Mr. Pencil Saves Doodleberg).

She can do some basic math (2 people plus 1 person = 3 people... she can do this with concrete objects, not yet with abstract numbers).


She's becoming quite the artist and can draw a multitude of objects, most of which actually resemble the things she's drawing.

She's got her name down, and can copy anything we write.

She can put together complex puzzles (think 48+ pieces). She knows we live on the planet Earth and can pick it out on a map of the solar system. She can also identify the Sun, Mars, the Moon, and Jupiter. She wants to become an astronaut after she graduates from Kindergarten (yes, she really said that).

She has a dozen or so sight words but isn't quite reading independently. She has almost 80% of our book collection memorized. And we have A LOT of books.

Once she hears a song, she can remember a significant chunk of the song/lyrics, even after hearing it just once. With songs she already knows well, she'll make up new words to the song.

She loves ballet and actually pays attention for a full 45 minute class - which is amazing because I have 15 or so highs school students who can't pay attention for that long.




She is super sweet and sensitive. The other day, in a rare moment of defiance, she told me she wasn't going to take a bath. When I gently but firmly escorted her into her room to get ready for said bath, she turned to me, and with big tears in her eyes said "Mommy, I'm sorry I talked back to you." Then she gave me a huge hug.

When she didn't want to sit on my lap during the holiday parade in downtown, I made an exaggerated frowny face and she scrunched up her face, came over to me, gave me a hug, and said "I'm so sorry I made you sad Mommy." To which I replied "Oh my sweet Sissy, you didn't make Mommy sad, I love you." And she replied, "I love you too Mommy, you're the best Mommy I ever had. The best Mommy in the whole world."

She loves her brother even though he exasperates her (and lets be real, who doesn't that child exasperate?)


She always uses her manners. She is thoughtful, welcoming, loving, goofy, and warm. She is amazing and we are so very lucky to be her parents.

So happy birthday baby girl. You came into this world quietly with your eyes wide open and changed our lives. You give 100% of yourself every day to whatever it is you're doing - you love almost everyone and you love them without reservations. We love you with all our hearts, and you inspire love in others as well.

Here are some of my favorite past posts about Pen. Enjoy!
Penelope's birth story
Penelope's birth slideshows (actual pictures of birth and breastfeeding).
Peanut Penny
Bats for snack

Getting to Three

I was planning on a picture montage of Penelope from birth to 3... but it was about 30 pictures. So instead I'll TRY and choose just one from birth, 1, 2, & 3. Try.













Happy Third Birthday my Love.

Griffin's 1st birthday

I don't know which is more exhausting, birthing a 9lb 1oz 22.5 inch baby boy or throwing a 1st birthday party for said baby boy.

All I know is that I'm exhausted. And happy. Today's party went well and the kids had a BLAST. Penelope loves the park, her friends, and cake so today was pretty much the perfect day for her. Griffin loves to eat, so today was also the perfect day for him.

So here are some pictures - and some video of our now toddler (yep, he's walking!) at the end.


Artwork courtesy of Uncle O-Nic


Birthday Boy!


Mommy & a sorta sleepy birthday boy


Griffin and his Aunty Liz


Mmmmm... cake


Granny K & Penelope


Walking around with Uncle O-Nic

And.... he walks!

A poem

I haven't written poetry in years. I used to write semi-regularly being a geek an all, and most of my poems were tolerable with a few good ones and a few not-so-good ones. But I haven't had the time to do much writing... and the longer in between poems the less I feel like writing.

Until NPR. For the last two days they had some poets on during one of the shows. Maybe it's "Talk of the Nation", but I'm not sure.

Anyway, they have inspired me to take up my pen. So in honor of Griffin's 1st birthday I give you my very first poem in over 5 years.

Be kind.

Happy Birthday Griffin

A year today my life began
In earnest, at least
And full overran
But the levies held, thank goodness

I never knew how much joy
Or frustration
Two sets of "mama" would bring
But I learned quickly

Life changes in an instant
Or nine months, or a year
And you find yourself in places unexpected
Yet exciting... or maybe terrifying is more apropos

But good
Oh so good, and wonderful, and perfect
When baby smiles turn into toddler toothy grins
And sibling laughter fills the house
And you learn to appreciate your own parents
For not selling you to Gypsies
When you threw that tantrum over vacuuming the stairs...
When you were ten

Here's to 365 days of
Life in technicolor
Where everything is vivid and bright
And you're surrounded by little people

To borrow from Dickinson -

My life grew twice before its close
It yet remains to see
If Providence unveil and third event to me

Although Providence can wait for potty training.

Please

It feels nice to write again.

In a few days...

The beast-child will be one. ONE.

As in an entire YEAR OLD. People, where has the time gone?????

I read once that in parenting, the days are long but the years are short. Which is the most perfect description of anything ever.

This year has flown by, although I will admit that there have been a fair number of days that have felt as though they lasted for eons and nights that were longer than some ice ages. I am happy to see though, that we have all survived a year with two babies 16 months apart. It was touch and go for awhile (and I'm only half joking). But we're all here, Bryan and I are still married, and we plan on staying that way for the foreseeable future. :)

I have 1,876,093 things to do to get ready for G's party. The ONLY thing I have done is reserve the space and send out invites. So yeah, I'm way behind. But I work every day this week (granted, they're only 2 hour shifts) and I have an interview Thursday at the Zoo for a summer teaching position, so it's not like I have TIME or anything.

Thursday I will attempt to get some shopping done (for the food) before or after the interview and Friday the kids and I may hit the 99cent store or Party City for party favors. Friday night after work Bonnie is coming over to help me make macaroni salad and cake (thank you Bonnie!) and my parents will have the kids, so hopefully we can get it all done. There will be wine involved. Lots of wine.

Then Saturday is the big day!

AND Sunday I graduate - which reminds me that I need to get my mom the gown & hood so she can iron it. I haven't told her I need this done. So... Mommy? Can you please iron my gown & hood for me? Pretty please? We don't own an ironing board and you know and I know (and the world now) that you are 1 BILLION times better at I am at ironing. A billion.

Happy Birthday Penelopotamous

Two years ago, at this very moment, I was in labor.

In a few short hours, Penelope will be two! So, to make myself even more weepy than normal, I decided to revisit her birth story and slideshow. Only watch the slideshow if you want to see actual pictures of a birth and breastfeeding photos.

Anyway, I read/watched and cried. Of course.

My baby is 2. TWO. Two YEARS OLD.

I love her more each day (which is technically impossible since I have loved her infinitely since the moment I saw her).

So Happy Birthday baby. Mama and Daddy love you SO MUCH that there are not enough words in the English language to adequately express how much we love you. And Bubba loves you too. LOTS. So does Harley. And Granny and Papa... and OiNic. And Nana, Rick, Grandpa Dave, Grandma Debb, Uncle Steve, Aunt Tree, Gadge, Ari, JJ... whew! Too many to list!

We all love you bunches.

1,001

I have 1,001 things to do and 1,001 things I want to blog about.

Blogging wins for now.

This weekend is Poe's birthday weekend, I can't believe she's going to be two already! We have the location, invites out, and drinks and crayons purchased. We still need butcher paper, plates, random decorations, and a party dress for Pen. "What?" you say, "a party dress? What is this, 1940?" Well to you I say :P

The theme is crayons since she loves to color, and so the kids will be able to doodle to their hearts content. I should probably bring some other toys or games as well since not all of the kids will be as excited to color.

If I get my act together, I will be making her a gluten and dairy free cake in the shape of a crayon. If I don't get my act together she'll get a gluten and dairy free cake shaped like a rectangle.

I promise to take pictures.

On the G front, the poor bubs is sick. He has it coming out of both ends and it is.not.pretty. We think it might be a formula issue, it seemed to start with the opening of this latest can of formula - but that could be purely coincidental.

The advise nurse wants us to call in the morning and get him an appointment, she and I were both concerned about dehydration. So it looks like we'll be seeing the doctor in the morning. Hopefully I can arrange the appointment for after school, it's a short day anyway.

Ok, I really should do something more productive. I have SO MUCH TO DO.