Fancy Dinner

Mid-week dinners are not fancy affairs. On Tuesdays I have Yoga and skip out on dinner to go stretch and sweat and on Wednesdays Chris has softball and usually the kids and I make do with a quick, easy dinner. Tonight's dinner was following that pattern, except when I asked the girls to help me set the table, Athena dug out my favorite 70's crochet tablecloth from Yiayia.
"Fancy!' I said.

Suddenly matching white ceramic plates and mugs were in order and pink napkins. Zoe suggested we get fresh roses from the garden and helped me pick them. Athena dug out some old Christmas ribbons and tied them around the chairs. I added the candles.

Athena put on a fancy dress, hat and jewelry. Zoe put a flower in her hair.

They requested that the Dude wear a suit jacket, but he refused.

Zoe lingered at dinner long past the time her siblings were finished

because, she informed me, she does not like square carrots or those kinds of beans.

The Triple Tickle

And I used to think this was impressive.
Daddy's got skillz.

A Morning with the Dude *

7:55 am - After waving "Bah-Bay!" to Athena and Daddy, our little Dude begins his day with a breakfast of milk, apples, bananas and vanilla yogurt. The milk is devoured, bananas appreciated and apples thrown on the floor. He drops his spoon and the yogurt becomes finger food.

8:44 am - Wiped down (but still slightly sticky) he tears apart the pantry. Ripping the straws off his sister's juice boxes is the most fun. Proof that third babies do get away with murder.

9:01 am - Spent some time digging through a toy box.

9:22 am - Dressed for the day, the Dude plays with his Lil' People bus in the hallway while I start some laundry and make beds.

9:32 am - Gravity is fun.

9:37 am - However its much more fun to play on the bed that has just been made.

9:42 am - When playing on the bed, head bonks are inevitable and par for the course. Big sister, Zoe offers some comfort.

9:43 am - Head bonk is quickly forgotten and he's off to bang his bicycle against the door frame.

9:59 am - The Dude is found putting his sisters' headbands under water after I made the mistake of leaving him alone for a few minutes.

10:42 am - At his 18 month old well baby visit, Jack is unfazed by the poking and prodding. He takes two vaccinations without a peep. He weighs in at 30 pounds 4 ounces and is exactly 36 inches. That puts him off the charts in height - as tall as an average three year old, yet only five pounds more than a typical 18 month old - yep, tall and skinny. The Doctor confirms him to be "perfect in every way."

11:37 am - Crashed out and drooling, he will not wake up again until after 2 pm.

* Our little Dude in now 18 months old. That's incredibly big. I spent part of yesterday looking at pictures of him as a teeny tiny babe and wondering where the time went. This is an attempt to mark time, to say this is where it went, this is what he was doing everyday when he was just a wee little Dude, because before you know it...

Picture Day

I have a mental block about School Picture Days - it is my own personal waterloo. I mark it on calendars and remind myself not to forget and tell the children to remind me not to forget and put notes in the car so I won't forget, but still I find myself walking into school holding the hand of a kid wearing a Hello Kitty t-shirt and bicycle shorts on Picture Day.

It's particularly ironic because my Mom often forgot Picture Day and there are multiple class photos of my sister and I in Mickey Mouse t-shirts and stretched out sundresses with crazy hair looking very surprised to be having our pictures taken. We've mocked her endlessly over those photos so this is totally karma coming back to haunt me. I just cannot seem to keep it in my head, I've forgotten three out of four preschool picture days for the girls - but who remembers preschool, right?

This year, on Picture Day for Athena, the children were allowed to "free dress" for their individual photos, but I forgot and she went to school in her uniform. Now, I don't really mind having a school picture in uniform, but her best friend wore a pink taffeta rhinestone encrusted party dress with Shirley Temple ringlets down her back. You can imagine the rest. Tears. Guilt. Resolution to never let that happen again. Until...

One week later (one week!) I find myself walking Zoe to school with said Hello Kitty t-shirt and wouldn't you know it? Picture Day! (G'ah *face palm*).

But I was not having it again. We spun right around, zipped back home (with Jack in tow), put on the prettiest of party dresses we could find in her closet, re-fixed her hair and even finished with a pink flower on top. We walked back in just as they were lining the kids up in front of the photographer (just in time - phew).

Take that Picture Day!

Skyping

We're all Skyped up. I know it took me like four years to get on that bandwagon. But it really is the only way we can talk to Stu and Mimi in Greece so we just had to make it happen. We chatted with them this morning and Stu walked me through a few technical difficulties and then the Dude kept trying to eat the external microphone and we had to go.

Calistogahhhhh

Have you ever laughed until your face hurt? And then been so relaxed you were just on the conscious side of sleep? All the while being with friends who know you better than yourself and love you anyway? If so, then you know the indescribably feeling of being totally refreshed and deeply soul satisfied from all the love and laughter and blissed-out peace.

Oh what a weekend! We soaked in mud and mineral water and a pool-sized hot tub and we steamed in the steam room and napped in the nap room and got massages and facial masks and drank wine in the sun by the pool. But mostly we laughed, and we laughed, and then we laughed at how much we were laughing.

Alaine, Mariana and Miranda -we've known each other for more than 20 years and when we're together it feels like we're 19 again except that we don't drink as much and can't stay awake past 10 p.m. I love that we put family and boyfriends and work and responsibilities on the back burner for a couple of days and made time for ourselves and each other. I love how we balance each other: air, water, fire and earth and how we don't need the back story and just get each other (even though you all think I'm stubborn! ) It was a magical weekend on so many levels. There's a reason why you three have always been in my life and always will be.

Can't wait until next year because this is now an annual event.

Refueling

Life with three kids is not all Teddy Bear Picnics and parties, it's an endless stream of chores and errands and activities and breaking up fights and cleaning up messes and a constant busyness sandwiched by a brief few minutes in the morning and hour or so at night of quiet child-free time, usually used to fold laundry. So every now and again, in order to not burn out, the grown ups in this family need to get away to just be grown ups. Sometimes we get to go away together and sometimes alone.

This weekend it's my alone time get away. We've been planning it for over a year and finally my three wonderful friends and I are escaping to Calistoga, the land of mud baths and whirlpool mineral springs and California wine.

So if you see Chris, be kind, lend a hand or just give him an understanding look, because he is earning huge husband points and will have the kids all to himself until Sunday evening. He's played up the "Daddy Weekend" and has Chuck-E-Cheese plans and high expectations of what he will accomplish, but the girls are a little less than understanding.

My explanation of "Mommy's going on a sleepover with my friends!" didn't sit well with them, because now they want to go to, and they are most definitely not invited.

Teddy Bear Picnic

A furry guest came home with Athena yesterday, her Kindergarten take-home-friend, Buddy Bear. He arrived with instructions, the family is suppose to take Buddy on an adventure and return him to the school in three days. Included in his overnight bag was a journal and photo album that we're suppose to chronicle his time spent with us and fill with pictures. Cute idea, right?

Well, let's think about this. Buddy came home Monday, without warning, and we certainly had no adventures in the works (a trip to the supermarket just didn't seem that note worthy), Chris' Wednesday night softball game would have been the perfect adventure, but as Buddy was due back the very next morning it didn't leave much time to chronicle and print photographs, so we absolutely had to find something to do to entertain our friend on Tuesday after school.

We opted for an afternoon picnic in the park with chocolate milk and raspberry mini-muffins.

Not quite as idyllic as it sounds, it was 95 degrees in the shade, but its all about the photo op.

The Dude downed five muffins, stood still for a few pictures and quickly tired of our game.

He kept running away from our little spot in the shade and when anyone followed he would laugh and run further. And that was the end of our random Tuesday afternoon Teddy Bear Picnic.

Kindergarten is seriously alot of work!

Dreams do come true

Ever since Josh and Heidi's wedding last summer, Athena has dreamed of being a flower girl. She practices by pulling the petals off my roses and scattering them about the backyard, seriously...
I have pictures...(picture taken in April 2010)

So when Chris' cousin Stephanie said she had something to ask the girls at her engagement party over the weekend, we were so excited! Stephanie gave the girls lovely little flower necklaces, adorable flower girl tote bags and books and very sweetly asked if they would be a part of her wedding - and Athena's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

She is now at school, wearing her flower necklace, and telling everyone who'll listen that she is going to be a flower girl!!! Zoe is quite pleased as well and as we were leaving the party just yelled into the night air "I'm going to be a flower girl, I'm so excited!"

Yesterday we read the books and looked at dresses on line (their taste seems to lean towards the long flowing dress-with-veil-mini-bride flower girl ensembles rather than the cute-tulle-and-colored sash look I was talking up). It's going to be so much fun to have the girls (and the Dude, too) be a part of Stephanie and Kevin's wedding next year.

Now we just have to wait a whole year!

Flower girls extraordinaire and the ring bearer, Jack, practicing his pose.

Is that "blue steel" or "magnum" (or "ferrari") ?

Becoming a Boy

The Dude had his first wee haircut today.

Gone are his wispy blonde hairs that curled up around the ears.

He did really well and hardly squirmed at all.

I brought in a baby and went home with a little boy.

Baseball Recon

We finally made it down to our local A-ball baseball stadium last night. The kids were a little bit too wiggly to sit through the whole game so we only stayed until the fourth inning. And we knew that would happen, we just wanted to see what it was like and what to be prepared for the next time.

The minor league is just our speed, $7 tickets and children three and under are free, plus ample parking and not at all crowded. There was even a bounce house for kids who got bored with the game. The girls enjoyed it, especially seeing "real live Baseball players," and the Dude showed definite signs of interest, clapping for the home runs, waving at the mascot and dancing to the music.

I'm glad they liked it because I have a feeling there's going to be many more baseball games in our future.

The snacks were delicious. Popcorn, hot dogs, churros and slurpees -oh my!

Love from all sides

These minis are so blessed with love. Besides us - our parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins all lavish love on these little ones and we could not be more grateful. What child ever gets too much love, right?

This week they got a little love from Grandaddio and Grandma Andree who stopped by for a visit on their way to the Napa Valley. We kept Zoe out of school on Friday and took the littlest ones to see Curious George for storytime at the bookstore.


Zoe was terrified of getting too close and needed Grandaddio to step in for the requisite picture, whereas the Dude jumped out of his stroller to dance with the large monkey onstage.

Afterwards, John Patrick (and Grandma Andree) went down for nap and Zoe, Granddaddio and I went to "Fun Friday" at Athena's school. "Fun Friday" afternoons are the Kindergarten's weekly open house - there are tables with different activities and all the kids go from class to class doing whichever they prefer. Some parents volunteer to work in each of the three Kindergarten rooms but any other parent can just join in the fun. I haven't been able to attend before because the 1:15-2:45 time frame is smack dab in the middle of John Patrick's very necessary afternoon nap.


Athena loved having us stop by and introduced us to all her friends. Grandaddio and Zoe jumped right into the activities, like building a corral for dinosaurs...

and playing dress up.

Once Athena's buddies saw Grandaddio helping Zoe, he had a whole bevy of little girls all needing dresses zipped or shoes fitted.

My brilliant Zoe fit right in with this Kindergarten crowd. I can't believe its still going to be another two years before she can start here.

All in all, we had a really great visit and look forward to seeing the Grands again when they swing back around for a Labor Day BBQ!

Homework

Yes, we have homework. Quite a bit of it actually. And when I say "we" I mean "we, " in Kindergarten and Preschool, homework is a group activity. Athena has about one page of homework per night which takes her just a few minutes. The teacher hands out the packet in the beginning of the week and we need to return it completed by Friday. So we could do it all at once, but her interest wanes quickly, instead we do a little bit each day and try to establish good practices.

Usually I have to find some "work" for Zoe too during afternoon homework time, but this week she had her own project, she is "Star of the Week" and was asked to complete a poster all about herself for the wall of honor.

And I've had my homework too. Let's see there's the family album page I have to complete for Friday, the reading logs we need to keep and turn in, share days I've got to remind Athena about, and of course the photo box we need to personalize and return to the school for her reading books.

Walmart only had white, green or yellow, but Athena insisted on pink. I really should have put my foot down and made her choose between the available colors, but instead I opted to paint it pink. Seriously. Who am I trying to impress here?

Kindergarten is alot of work.