Yes, I can dress myself.

The shirt tucked into the underwear gets me every time.

Camp "Mom"

I sent Caroline and Ben to Vacation Bible School this week with our next-door neighbor's children.  My neighbor had been raving about how great this camp was, and we decided to give it a try and split the driving duties.  Wow!  I am so very glad she shared this camp with me.  All four kids loved loved loved it from the very start.  The camp directors struck an amazing balance among crafts, play, games, songs, and some age-appropriate, lessons about God, like "God loves you no matter what."  Fantastically simple but important lessons.  We attended the camp concert last night and you could obviously tell how much fun all the 100's of kids were having.  Many of the 5th and 6th graders talked about how they can't wait to be counselors next year.  In short, we have all caught PandaMania (the camp theme) here, and will definitely be attending again next year.

While Ben and Caroline were at VBS, Abby stayed home with me.  Aside from one sick day last year, she has not been at home alone with me since probably 2005 when Caroline was born.  What a delightful treat for both of us!  We shared a special activity every day -- walking to the library (Monday), biking on the Chester Valley Trail (Tues), a little shopping at King of Prussia mall (Wed), un-rushed browsing at the Girl Scout store (Thursday), and the grand finale, getting Abby's ears pierced today for her practically half-birthday.

Abby has been begging me for over a year to get her ears pierced, and finally I told her the more she asked, the longer it would take (although I was secretly plotting this excursion for a while).  I really, really hate to be nagged.  Don't you? She wisely listened and dropped the subject a few months ago.  On Monday, I told her that we would be doing something "special" today, and I didn't give her any clues all week.  So, when I told her this morning that today was the day, I didn't even get to see the reaction, she just turned away from me and started crying tears of joy.  How precious!

We got her ears pierced at a store for girls called Sweet & Sassy, which came highly recommended from my Brownie Co-Leader who took her own daughter there. Abby was able to get both ears pierced simultaneously by two associates, and they don't use a "piercing gun" anymore -- they use a nifty contraption that pierces with actual earrings she is wearing.  After marking the dots, the piercing took all of 2 seconds.  No blood.  No tears.  Just adorable aquamarine crystal daisies.  Abby was grinning during the whole process.  And, the blue crystals make her eyes sparkle even more. 

So, Camp Mom was a smashing success.  Abby and I got some wonderful time together-- some lovely chats and giggles.  Abby was so excited about the ear piercing, she didn't even mind that I dragged her to Becker's afterwards to pick out a summer math workbook and some multiplication flash cards.  And, Caroline and Ben simultaneously had a great experience at their camp too.  All in all, a wonderful start to the summer.   

(Note to any grandparents that might be reading this -- Abby has to wear this particular pair of earrings for the next 3 months while the holes heal, so please don't rush out and purchase any new earrings just yet.)

Overheard

1) Caroline, Abby, and I were at Wegmans celebrating the end of school with a girls' lunch out.  I was picking up some napkins on the far side of the lunchroom when there was an announcement over the loudspeaker about something.  I was only half-listening.  After I got back to our table....

Caroline (breathless):  "Mom, Guess WHAT?!"
Mom:  "What?"
Caroline:  "There is going to be a party! A PARTY! Can we go?"
Mom:  "Where's the party?"
Caroline:  "Here.  At Wegmans.  There's going to be a party! Right now!!"
Mom:  "What kind of a party?"
Caroline:  "I don't know.  They just said, "Meet your party at the Customer Service Desk.  I want to go!"
Mom:  "Oh.....that kind of party." 
(insert long explanation about various definitions of word "party")
Caroline:  "I still want to go.  It sounds like fun!"


2) Mom: "Ben, it's going to be 88 degrees today.  I don't think you need the long-sleeve shirt or fleece pants."
Ben:  "It's ok Mom."
Mom: "No, buddy, you're really going to be too hot."
Ben (exasperated):   "It's OK Mom.  I love to be cozy, and I love to be loved."
Mom:  "What about the socks?  How about we take off the socks?"
Ben:  "My feet are cozy inside them."
Mom:  "How about the boots?  Could we trade the rain boots for something else?"
Ben (screaming): "MOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!  I'm fine."

One minute later, possibly less.
Ben:  "Mom, I'm really hot."
Mom (banging head against the wall):  "Gee.  I can't imagine why."

3) This morning while I was getting dressed.  Naturally, all three kids are in my room wanting to have a conversation. Ben picked up a quarter and started flipping it.

Ben: "If I flip this quarter and it lands like this, I have to be good all day."
(flips coin)
Ben: "OOOOOHHH MAAAAAAN."
Mom: "What happened?"
Ben:  "I have to be good ALL DAY now.  I can't do that."
Mom:  "What would have happened if the other side of the coin landed?"
Ben ran out of the room giggling.....

Ballet Recital Weekend

This past weekend was the big ballet recital weekend for our studio, Turning Pointe Dance.  After the dry run on Wednesday night and the dress rehearsal on Thursday night, the girls were more than ready for the "real thing" on Friday and Saturday nights.  Both Abby and Caroline LOVED dancing on the big high school stage.  It was so such joy to watch Abby run (there's probably a ballet word for that) across the stage at the beginning of her first dance with a giant grin on her face.  It was one of those huge, silly grins that told me she was having the time of her life.

Pre-Recital Pose

Caroline also spent a lot of time grinning on Friday night, except for the part where she was supposed to stare at the audience as part of the dance.  On Saturday, though, I thought Caroline looked more intense. Her partner for the dance didn't show up for the second performance.  So, instead of being #2 in all the lines, she was the "line leader." I could actually see her (most of the time, more on that later) thinking about what to do next while seated in the audience.  I have to give her credit though, she filled in pretty well!

Look at my curls!

It really was a wonderful recital.  This is our third year at the studio and I continued to be impressed with the joy on the faces of the kids dancing, the costumes, the variety of dances, and the fun music.  And the final pointe number.  WOW!  I never danced "en pointe" so I find the senior girls very impressive to watch. At the Thursday dress rehearsal the director has all the little girls sit close to the stage and watch the big girls dance the pointe number at the very beginning of the evening (otherwise they would never see it since they are backstage).  It is the highlight of the whole dancing season for them.  I wish I had a picture of their faces while they were watching -- hundreds of little girls completely rapt with attention.  A total ballet high!      

Abby spent the ride home on Saturday night alternating between saying how sad she was that dance was over for the summer with figuring out how many dances she would get to do next year as a Junior II (final verdict is 4, if she is in the ballet ensemble again).

I spent the ride how wondering how the person sitting in front of me for the recital could really be so completely rude or completely oblivious of standard performance etiquette.  Theoretically, everyone in the audience has a child/friend/relative that dances at Turning Pointe, so one would think we'd all be considerate of one another.  After all, we will cross paths again.  This woman was having a detailed conversations with the people sitting next to her for a good percentage of the show -- in full voice and with giant hand motions.  And, every time she talked, she leaned her big head over with her big puffy hair that I couldn't see through.  Boo to you, super-loud, puffy-haired lady.  Didn't your parents teach you any manners??!! I thought about whopping her on the head with my program, but decided to take the high road, albeit the road with less visibility.  Next year:  Aisle seats.

Avalanches

Toss me a life preserver.  I am drowning in paper. 

The school year ends on Thursday for Abby and Caroline.  Consequently, the typical mild flood of papers and things that come home in their bookbags has changed from its typical steady stream into a deluge.  Holy. Moley. 

I've started to write several different posts on the amount of stuff (I'm thinking of a more descriptive word here, but my daughter does read this) that comes home on a weekly basis.  It's a lot of paper.  A LOT lot. Today, however, set a new record for the amount of stuff that arrived at 3:52pm.  Two desks worth, plus a year's worth of kindergarten art, a year's worth of writing papers, and a just a hot mess of other stuff.  I'd be lying if I said I'm looking forward to going through all of these papers.  I'm tempted to just recycle the lot of it, but then I'd wonder about the potential treasures I'd be missing, like Abby's precious little poem about clouds called "Cotton Candy."

One Day's Worth of Stuff:




Also, totally off-topic, I just took some Benadryl because my allergies kicked back in hard this morning.  I only took a children's dose, and WOW, am I out of it now.  So, if this post is riddled with typos, missing words, or just seems spacey, it's because I feel like I'm typing from inside a foggy bubble.  Spacey is sure a funny looking word.    

Returning to undesirable piles, Ben got mad at me and trashed his room.  I'm going to give that boy some credit. When he decides to make a mess, he really puts his heart into it.  The pile on the floor contains EVERY toy and EVERY book and EVERY stuffed animal in his room.  Every last one. And, aside from the thoroughness, he did it silently.  So, I had no warning of what exactly what was awaiting me in his room when I opened the door.  Nicely done.  Now, go clean your room. 

(I'll be wading through paper downstairs.)

Ben's Impressive Pile

(after I told Ben I wasn't going to help him clean this up)

See?  He really emptied his bookshelf.

He threw in all the puzzles too, just to make it extra challenging.

 

(yes, I know the furniture doesn't match).

"But your mother will come.

She will find this big mess!

And this mess is so big

And so deep and so tall,

We can not pick it up.

There is no way at all!"

                                --Cat in the Hat

Riding Low and High

One thing I (usually) love about Caroline is that once she decides to do something, she puts her entire self into it.  100% commitment.  100% focus.  100% energy.  >100% intensity. She can be quite a force, when she chooses to be.  Trust me.

So yesterday after dinner, Caroline finally realized that almost every single piece of Memorial Parade candy she had collected had food dye in it, and she would not be able to eat it.  And, she was upset.  Really upset. In fact she was crying so hard and so loudly with her head tilted back so far that I don't think it could be called crying anymore.  It was keening, a full-bodied lament for lost candy.  Although I did have some sympathy for her, I certainly did not have sufficient patience to handle the volume or level of sadness that the 17 pieces of stale sugar had caused. 

However, in my most recent attempt to yell less, I looked into my parenting playbook and called the oldest trick in the book:  Redirection.  I picked Caroline up, carried her like a little child and said, let's go outside and look at the pretty flowers. She actually went along with this approach since she had exhausted herself.  We looked at all the pretty flowers, and talked about the flower names and the colors.  She calmed herself down.  And, THEN, I had my best parenting idea ever.  I told Caroline we were going to go practice riding her two-wheeler, just her and me.  Her face immediately brightened and we took her bike up to the little dead-end street near our house. 

After doing the whole run/walk hunched over beside her holding the handle bars and seat, she seemed to be getting more stable.  I (mercifully) switched to a more upright stance holding just the seat.  "Are you still holding on, Mom?" she kept asking.  "Yes, of course I am!" I answered.

Then after just one or two more passes, I wasn't holding on anymore.  She took off giggling down the street all alone.   

Since all she still needed with was getting started (one-two-three PUSH), we ran back home to get the rest of the family to show off her new skill.  We waited and waited "forever" (actual time, 2 minutes), for everyone to arrive, but Caroline didn't want to wait for Dad anymore, so she kicked off all by herself and zipped off.

And, that's how Caroline learned how to ride a two-wheeler in all of 15 minutes.  In flip-flips and a yellow skirt, naturally.

Oh, and 5 minutes later, Abby taught her how to corner on rails.

Maybe it won't be such a bad summer after all.

Happy Birthday Ben!

We've spent the last week celebrating Ben's 4th birthday x 3.  The first party was at Grandma and Grandad O's house on Memorial Day.  The second party was on Saturday, just the immediate family with donuts and Legos (what more could a 4-year old need, right?)  The third party was a parade, more Legos, Spiderman decorations, and cake.  Since Ben is only 4, I took credit for throwing the Malvern Memorial Day parade just for his birthday. Yes, I did lie to my child.  I also cleaned his room and the rest of the house for his birthday too, but he seemed a lot less impressed by the cleaning than by the parade.  Happy Birthday Ben!  You have brought us more joy and smiles that I can express.

Ben is always saying things that crack me up.  My favorite Ben quote from last week came unexpectedly while he was getting ready for school on Friday morning.  He is going to school "camp" right now, which entails wearing his bathing suit to school for the week since there are wading pools to play in during the day.  However, I only have one bathing suit sun shirt and one set of swim trunks that fit Ben right now.  So, on Friday, he was wearing the same outfit for the 4th day in a row.  After we put it on (again), Ben said, "Dammit, not this again."   Definitely not what I was expecting!  

Ice Cream Cake!

A little birthday "book browsing"

Legos were kind of a hit

Philadelphia Mummers

Bagpipes too!

Make a Wish

Abby rode her bike in the parade this year (kid's with decorated bikes lead off the parade).  She had a blast!

The Sweet Life of a Kindergartener

Caroline's Updated Smile

In addition to her new smile, Caroline is having a fairly enjoyable week (gross understatement).

Sunday:  Swimming AND a Surprise Birthday Party
Monday:  Visit from the Tooth Fairy AND a Memorial Day Party
Tuesday: Just a regular school day
Wednesday:  Kindergarten Concert (two performances)
Thursday:  Kindergarten Field Trip to Milky Way Farms (with tasty homemade ice cream!)
Friday:  Kindergarten Reader's Theater  AND the Daisy Bowling Party
Sunday: Malvern Memorial Parade AND a Birthday Party.

What a life!