the "tornado driller"

the national weather service mandated a statewide tornado drill for late february. however, the day that it was to take place the weather moving in consisted of severe thunder storms that could actually turn into tornadoes, so the higher powers decided to put off the drill for a clearer day.
xander overheard me talking about the tornado drill and thought that there might be an actual tornado. so the next day he was particularly vocal about not wanting to go to school. this is a common battle in the morning, but this particular morning he seemed a little more disturbed. in talking to him he said he didn't want there to be a tornado at school. i'm not even sure he knows what a tornado is or what it can do, but there was a definitely a sense of fear at the mention of it. i did my best to explain that it was just a practice, so we would know what to do if there ever was a real tornado. that didn't do much to help him. when i got him to school i walked him to his class and discreetly told his teacher that he was very concerned about the drill. she said she would find a way to help him stay calm.
later that day, after the drill had happened, xander came to my room with his teacher to show me his cool hat. he had a very special job - he was the "tornado driller"! he wore his had proudly and helped his teachers get all the other students into the hallway, sit criss-cross applesauce and put their heads in their laps. he practiced himself and the made sure everyone else was doing it correctly.
thank you to wonderful teachers that truly love my child(ren). they turned a potentially traumatic situation into a positive experience.
when the tornadoes came through atlanta two weekends ago, xander was a little nervous, but reminded us all where we needed to go and how we needed to sit if a tornado came close to us. he even had us in the down stairs hallway of todd's parent's basement practicing.
he is my superhero - the "TORNADO DRILLER"! (no capes)

bad mood

xander's mood this morning was anything but pleasant. he yelled, we yelled. he threw tantrums, and i'm sure it looked as though we were having a tantrum too. we left for school with the poor kid in tears. nothing was going his way this morning and he must have felt pretty crummy. i tried to calmly explain that when he treats his family the was he was it really upset us, and we were sad. i explained that only he could make the choice to be happy, to figure out how to get out of the bad mood he was in and have a good day at school. he was quiet in the back of the car for another minute and then i heard him sing "had a bad day, ______, sing a sad song just to turn it around, had a bad day". and then he was quiet again.
and i had to laugh, maybe he was figuring it out.

march 17th, 2006 - "what-is-it" day

so two years ago we had the ultrasound that let us know we would be adding a baby girl to our family. immediately we started listing off names. when we got home that night we looked up online irish names, because it was st. patrick's day, we thought it was appropriate. we found many names we liked including cassidy. though all the lists and changes we made cassidy stuck around - and it is perfect for our little girl!
cassidy's personality is loud, funny, and stubborn. she knows what she wants and if she doesn't get it, well, you can just cover your ears cause you know you're going to hear about it. she is starting to talk and "use her words" so much more. she mimics anything you ask her to say - such as "where is it?", "where are you?", naming the colors, and amen. she does have a sweet voice, and you can often hear her reading books, just jabbering on about whatever she wants, and when she says "gank ew mama". you can tell she is really thinking about putting those words together. she loves her brother and likes to copy the silly things he does, even somersaults. she loves music - to dance and to sing. i think she was even trying to sing a hannah montana song tonight (xander was singing it at dinner and she joined it) "another side, another side, another side of me". she is trying to jump and can almost get both feet off the ground. And she loves wearing glasses and sunglasses.
so today, two years later, it is amazing to see what that little blip on the ultrasound turned into - a beautiful girl, with so much spark and personality, she truly glows!

rite of passage

on march 11th xander had his first dentist appointment. i had been meaning to set one up, but because of the lapse in insurance i had been a slacker about getting the ball rolling. then the first week of march xander started telling everyone that he had a dentist appointment for the next day at 9:00. the next day would come and go, i'd try telling him that he didn't have an appointment, but he was adamant and said that is must be for the next day.
i took the hint and i called up a local kids dentist. i was able to set up an appointment for a week and a half later.
xander was so excited. i took him out of his class and just the two of us drove to the office. walking in i felt like i was stepping into another realm of the mommy world that i hadn't been in before. xander was practically bouncing. he was excited by the toys and video games in the waiting room. when they called him back he held my hand seemed a little apprehensive, but did not hesitate when the nurse asked him to get up in the chair.
the room was large and open, with several dentist chairs around the middle of the room and benches/couches set up around the perimeter so parents could be there with their child. xander went for x-rays, sat incredibly still for the cleaning, answered all the questions they asked him and just kept on smiling. the dentist said that even though he has spaces between his teeth, and they didn't look so pretty now, it was going to work out extremely well when his mature teeth come in, as they'll have lots of room. and most importantly for the guilty-mom-syndrome - NO CAVITIES! yeah. not feeling bad about all the juice i've let him drink since he was out of a bottle. the nurses agreed that he was the best patient they had seen all day.
now he wants to know when he can go back...

he says

just in talking one day in early february, i don't remember about what, but xander's comment to me was "mom, i already know, cause i'm a smarty pants."

kiss me, i'm irish

i am, and i love it!
i don't know much about my irish heritage, but it is the one nationality(not sure if that is the word i'm looking for....) that i truly feel pride in, a part of. (sorry to the german and russian sides of me.) but when st. patrick's day comes around i make sure i'm wearing green. i don't, however, go to the pub and drink a pint, but i'll drink green milk and eat green pancakes. i wear my claddaugh ring every day and i love that it reminds me of my heritage and my trip to ireland so many years ago. so here is my family on one of my favorite holidays

easter at our house

easter at our house was not quiet, not peaceful, and not a time of reflection. unfortunately there was a whole lot of drama. by the time we were ready to go to church i don't think any one of us wanted to be there.
but the easter bunny did visit our house, bringing easter baskets with candy and little trinkets and hid some easter eggs for xander and cassidy to find.
after church we tried to get pictures of the kids together - nope, not happening this year.
here's what we got...

all is well

for anyone concerned about our safety let me assure you that we are sound and safe at home. it was a wild day with storms rolling in one right after another across the state of georgia. most of them heading straight for downtown atlanta. if you hadn't heard tornadoes were spotted all over north georgia today, one hitting downtown atlanta last night leaving behind it lots of damage to some major buildings - cnn center, omni hotel, westin hotel, phillips arena, georgia world congress center and the georgia dome. somehow, through all the storms today, we were missed... only recieving a few rain drops in the morning and another few in the afternoon. about noon we heard news reports that funnel clouds were spotted less than five miles from our house at lake lanier. and at the same time there were sightings on georgia 400. within another half hour another storm was rolling in, headed straight for buford/sugar hill. so we drove to todd's parent's house to get ahead of the one coming our way and i do believe we drove right into it. the sky was black, almost a blue tint to the clouds. and yet, there was not a drop of water, not a gust of wind. just utter calm. we camped out in the basement with popcorn, yoo hoo, apples, raisins and oranges and watched the weathermen practically jumping up and down with excitement at all the storms there were able to be tracking. never had they seen such a thing. never had i seen such a thing. when we arrived reports of tornadoes were being called into the stations from friendship road (where my school is located), spout springs and oakwood (where many of the kids in my class live and where todd's grandmother is living in an assisted living home). as we watched two more severe storms appeared on the screen heading our way, but in the end one went just north of us and the other just south.
so all in all, i don't know how many tornadoes touched down today, or how many people have been displaced from their homes, or are doing without electricity, but i do know that we were watched over and protected. now my two babies are in bed and i'm about to head that way myself. tonight, i am grateful and mindful that someone is watching over us all.

this is a reminder to me to come back and fill in the last month -
*xander as tornado driller at school
*my trip to california
*"he says" "she says"
*pictures from the snow day back in january