catching up

i got back from chicago last sunday and wanted to sit and type up some blog entries i've been thinking about, recounting my trip to chicago and start uploading some pictures from boston. and then i realized that i still need to go back and finsih our disney trip. wow. i have a lot of typing ahead of me. but sometime during the week my computer crashed, got a virus, something went very wrong. so i'm still looking for more time to do all this typing i've been wanting to do. so over the next week or so, if you see a long post and want to skip over it, i won't be offended. i'm hoping to get a lot of information out of this head of mine and down where i can look back over it and remember all that i did the summer of 2008. you know this blog is more for me than anyone else! got to catch up so i don't forget anything.

cassidy at 2

i've been thinking about doing this post for a while, listing all things that has been cassidy the last 4-6 months. she has done so much changing, so much more talking, but her little personality emerged early and looks like it is here to stay.
* independent
* loves to sing - asks for "twinkle twinkle little star", sings along to hannah montana w/ xander
* dances to almost anything
* (as of 8/04) sings complete "abc's" song
* enjoys disney princesses and tinker bell, has a few plastic dolls she walks around with and puts to sleep by laying a wet wipe over them
* so far doesn't act prissy or girlie, but loves shoes
* can match shoes, find the mates in the closet
* throws temper tantrums, although we have never knowingly given into one, she still does it
* loves to read and be read to, babbles to read a story to herself
* asks to write and color - "colors, pwease"
* "s d s d" - when she says that she wants me to write for her. she'll say her name, todd's name, xander's name, and mommy and want me to write them for her. then she says "my turn" and take the crayon and "writes" herself.
* each time i write her name i spell it as i'm writing, msot times she copies me and says the letters as i do
* loves, loves, loves xander, but doesn't often let him cuddle with her
* likes playdough and will typically get the cookie sheet out by herself, that i let her work on and then get the playdough from the baskets in the hallway
* puts everything in her mouth and opens everything with her teeth
*adores her dad
*calls out for me at least once every night
if you ask her to smile she blinks her eyes. if you want her to smile you have to ask her to show you her teeth. she's got a great toothy grin.
*loves strollers and going for walks in strollers (she got a stroller for her dolls for her birthday)
* being outside calms her down
* counts " 1 2 1" and if she's standing on something (ie: coffee table, toy box, or edge of the pool) get ready to catch her, cause that is her clue that she's going to jump
*does not sit for movies or tv shows
* started potty training herself 4 months ago, and is just now starting out in pull-ups (we're not pushing it, just helping her along, but thrilled that she started by herself)
* loves my friends and when they are around she'll choose them over me (no hard feelings kami, joanna and melissa!)
* loves nursery at church, and having michelle as her teacher, and that is convenient cause she loves maggie, katie and elizabeth too!
* has a candy radar and asks at least 5 times a day if she can have candy. although if the pantry door is open she doesn't bother asking, she'll just help herself
* i may be biased by i think my daughter is incredibly smart. just like her brother she in extremely observant and has an incredible memory.
* she's my baby girl....

her day

today was cassidy's day. her birthday. she loved it! loved the cake todd made her (tinker bell). loved hearing "happy birthday" and asked for it over and over. loved the presents wrapped in princess wrapping paper. loved opening them and finding a stroller and coloring activities and a braves dress, and playdough. loved telling everyone that she was two....
it was a great day for this cute little girl.

p.s. she did not love the animal books with "touch me" textures, monkey slippers and birthday card with a kitty on the front from her grandparents. she said they scared her. she wouldn't even touch them. in fact she scooted herself back away from them and even let out a little scream at the mention of her looking at one of the books. it is a good thing that grandma and grandad have a good sense of humor and don't offend easily. they thought it was hysterical, as did i. she'll come around, and soon she'll be asking for those books as bedtime stories as she wears her fuzzy monkey slippers. silly girl. but i wish i had that camera on her or had caught it on video. but for those who know me and remember my story about a little black lamb i got a present when i was a year old....we can definitely say "like mother, like daughter".

he says...

"mom, i wish you were an octopus. and then you'd have eight hands. but they would be really long. and then people would be scared of you."

this coming after a weekend of "xander, i only have two hands. i can't do what you want, what cassidy wants and what i'm doing all at the same time".

i guess he found a solution, but watch out, cause i'm gonna be scary.

my baby girl is two

can you believe it? i sure can't. time has gone by so quickly. i vividly remembering discovering i was pregnant, and now here we are, two years and nine months later. it is the end of the day and i'm reluctant to let her go to sleep. i want to keep her up to see what she's going to come up with next. unfortunately it could turn ugly quickly, as the tiredness really sets in. but tomorrow is another day, and then she'll be two years old and one day.
happy birthday baby girl. as you blow out your candles i hope that all your wishes come true!

i'm off again...

heading to chicago this time. yes, i did just get back from boston. i told todd that we should have met at the airport, i would have handed him the kids and jumped on another flight. but this way i get to come home, re-pack the suitcase, sleep in my own bed for one night and then leave tomorrow.
i'll be gone for 4 days, staying at the chicago marriott suites o'hare. (just in case anyone needs to find me). i'll be working as a demonstrator for tombow at CHA. i'm pretty impressed with my idea, not that it is the trendiest or the cutest...but i managed to get 5 products in one 3" circle embellishment.
so, here i go. i'll get on with disney day 4 when i return.

back from boston

yup. i went home. well, actually, boston isn't home...but it is easier to say and have people understand.
so really i'm back from maynard.
the little town where i grew up. it felt like home. so familiar. and yet, i don't have a place there now. i've known that for years. something about marrying a southern boy and becoming a yankee in the south. i would love to move back there someday. unfortunately my taste seems to be the 1/2 to 1 million dollar homes, but i could go for less.
but the visit went well. the kids really enjoyed their grandma & grandpa d. i think they were a bit whiner and maybe a tad more impatient than usual, but they seemed sad to go. so i hope that indicates that they had a good time.
we did all the important "maynard & massachusetts" things - papa ginos pizza, erikson's ice cream, went to skaket beach on cape cod, collected hermit crabs, buried each other in the sand, went candlepin bowling, and even spent an afternoon in the city, ate seafood (i did, not the kids), and rode the T home. and we got to see some really good friends that are still there - all of it adding up to HOME.
thanks mom & dad for having us. thanks ben for being so good with the kids. they are still talking about how much fun it was to play with you and if you are coming to visit. and kami, it was great to see you, even though we had to travel a collective 4000 miles to be in the same place at the same time!
we'll be back.
(pictures to be posted as soon as i upload them!)

gone fishing at the aquarium

while in disney's epcot we went to the "living seas" exhibit/rides where we spent an hour looking at fish and sea creatures. they were mesmerized.

when we got home i talked joanna into going to the aquarium (it wasn't too hard to do) and we made plans to go that friday. two moms with six kids. people looked at us like we had lost our minds. joanna carried her baby in a carrier, we pushed cassidy and lorali in a double stroller and we had the three boys, xander, ethan and ___ hold hands as we made our ways through the crowds.
the excitement that my kids showed at disney was brought back to life by the huge tanks, bright colors and interactive/kid friendly attractions.

we had so much fun and didn't even get to see the whole thing - so i bought seasons passes. todd just shook his head at me, but i saw the look in the kids eyes. they won't have any problems going back again and again. definitely enough to get our monies worth.

even mommies make mistakes

i know i make mistakes. probably more than i even realize. but this time i had to admit it to xander. the older kids at school were having a water day. i was one of those parents that doesn't read the sign completely, so as i left school on tuesday i scanned the sign, saw "water day - thursday 7/3" and made a mental note to pack up bathing suits and towels for my kids to bring.

so we get to school that morning, after talking about it for two days with xander, only to read the signs again and realize that it was for the schoolage kids and not for the 4 years olds.

i admitted my mistake to xander. he was a little down, but then asked if we could have our own water day at home.

so saturday we got out some water guns and water balloons and got a little wet in the backyard. because there is still a water ban in effect due to drought conditions i couldn't turn on the sprinkler or fill up the kiddie pool. but i "watered the grass" for five minutes and let the kids run through it. i think it was a first for cassidy. so we wasted a little more water than was necessary. so i'll take one less shower this week.

short hair

i had enough to donate to pantene's beautiful lengths, so i did it. i'm not totally loving it yet. need to get used to it and figure out how to style it. but right now i'm just proud of myself for doing it and not chickening out!
(i cut it monday, 6/23)

happy 4th

yes, i know! it is the 6th now, but i didn't get a chance to sit down on the 4th, or the 3rd for that matter to write anything.

our little town of sugar hill has a celebration the night before, on the 3rd. they hold it at the town park, with food vendors, blow-up jumping slides, a live band, fireworks (a must!) followed by a movie.

rachel went ahead of us to get a spot (thanks rach!). when i got off work we picked up food and headed over. we ate, jumped and slid on the slides (okay, only xander did that. although cassidy was charging to get in there and try it for herself!) threw the frisbee and the football. we saw lots of friends from churchand even convinced some of them to sit with us for a few mintues.

the fireworks were great. a large variety, lots of color, some new ones i'd never seen before. they were able to last for a whole 30 minutes. not bad for a little town. and all the while patriotic music played in the background. of course, they had lee greenwood's "proud to be an american". that one is a must and i may have protested if it wasn't included in their play list.

the highlight of the night was xander. todd brought him "brave sprite" (as this was the place that "brave sprite" came to be last year). before they even started the fireworks xander has his fingers in his ears. todd convinced him that he was holding him, they weren't that loud and that he was okay taking his fingers out. slowly he put his hands in his lap and before i knew it i was hearing him laugh and yell "bang" as each one went off. when they were over he came to me and said "i don't have to call it brave sprite anymore. i can just call it regular sprite".

cassidy stayed awake the whole time and watched most of the fireworks while sitting on my lap or various postitions as she wiggled and crawled all over me. her comments as she watched, "aww cute" and "wow".

todd had to work on the 4th, so rachel and i headed to the pancake breakfast with the kids. bringing along xander's scooter decorated fo the parade. i had wanted to decorate and bring the wagon for cassidy, but it wouldn't fit in rachel's car. thankfully, my dear friend michelle noticed cassidy was sitting with me at the start of the parade and quickly put her in a wagon with her daughter. they didn't look very excited at being pulled around in a circle, that is until they got "pop pops" at the end. michelle's husband pulled them around the park for another 15 mintues and they were perfectly content to be chauffeured around.
after the breakfast we took some much needed downtime (as i don't think we had stopped since sometime two days earlier what with a busy day off wednesday, spending the night at grandma & grandad's, putting in a full day at school, "sparks in the park" celebration and then pancake breakfast) -

so after resting a bit we went to the pool(s). first we hit the pool in george and pam's neighborhood. (the in-laws) rachel and a friend of hers came with us (or technically i went with rachel since she was the one with the car) and we swam there. xander got to play with a new friend and enjoyed being thrown into the pool (by an adult, not by the new friend). then we pool hopped and went to my friend melissa's parent's pool. well okay, her parents are my friends too, but melissa invited us. we were there for several hours. we got to hang with some of our good friends, the galts, bowmans, coopers and cheeks, and xander got to spend hours in the pool playing "divers" with makayla. cassidy loved the swing hung under the porch and spent a good bit of time in there, yelling for me whenever she slowed down and needed another push.
we ended the night back at george & pam's for dinner and a movie. george had set up an outdoor theatre, but at the threat of a thunder storm we moved it inside. settling into a dark room on comfy couches is dangerous when you are tired. needless to say we all slept pretty well that night.

all in all a good fourth! (just wish xander hadn't decided that he'd had enough fireworks the night before cause i totally would have searched out another showing. i love fireworks!)

disney day 3

it is taking me too long to do this. i'm likely to forget something. shame on me!
well here goes, disney day 3....

we started off the morning with cereal in the room and headed back out to magic kingdom. the buses were still a thrill for the kids, so we anxiously awaited one to take us to see mickey! once in the park we headed to adventure land and frontier land.

we flew the magic carpets, rode the jungle cruise - where we almost got eaten by an alligator and taken captive by natives. we climbed through the swiss family robinson tree house and spotted captain hook, smeed and jack sparrow! (you know, for a child who claims to like pirates xander is very apprehensive about meeting them. he wanted nothing to do with any of "those kinds of characters" and demanded that we get away from them so he wouldn't have to see them. weird!)

pirates of the caribbean was closed for renovation, so even though todd had talked xander into going this time xander managed to escape the dreaded ride one more year. we shopped in the store next to the pirate ride where xander found his pirate telescope and pirate sword. he was thrilled! and so was i, because we had them sent back to the room at our hotel and we didn't have to carry them around all day. i bought an anklet that had a tiny mickey charm, to which i am going to add other charms that i have been collecting from our two visits so far.

while we were in the gift shop we spotted wendy and peter pan. so we head outside, there is no one waiting there so we get to talk with them for a minute. cassidy didn't really want to do a photo with them, but she couldn't take her eyes off of them. she stood close by eating from a bag of gold fish. peter pan's comment to her was "ariel won't be too happy that you're eating her friends." as she eats another one.

we also had the chance to see woody and jessie. we had a to wait a little while for them to come back from a break, but xander was determined. cassidy warmed up to them a little more and interacted with jessie as they signed our autograph book.

after visiting just two "lands" we started back towards the front of the park. the day before i had caught the end of the performance on the palace steps, so despite xander's grumpiness and the heat we parked ourselves in front of the castle on a bench to wait for the next show to begin. it turns out that xander's grumpy mood was turned around when he saw his favorite characters dancing and singing on stage. he even thanked me when it was over for making him stay to see it. yeah! score for mom! i loved it to. it was full of disney cheesiness and charm.

well, we didn't want to overdo it, so we hopped the bus back to the hotel. we took our naps and woke to find that it was storming. thick sheets of rain fell, so much that we could hardly see the river that ran behind the hotel. thunder, lightning and according to the news, chance of tornados. we stuck it out in the room by watching tv and playing with playdough that mickey & minnie had left as a gift for xander and cassidy.

when we were pretty sure the storm had passed we gathered our stuff and headed out to hollywood studios. we didn't have much time there, but we knew one thing we wanted to do - or xander wanted to do - eat dinner at pizza planet. many of the rides had lines that were too long to wait in, so we headed to pizza planet first. we ate and played a few games. a huge deal for xander. he loved it. leaving from there we caught the ariel show. as we walked in one of the employees approached xander and asked if he wanted to introduce the show. he waited anxiously and when it was his turn he announced " ". he was nervous, but spoke into the mic and got a round of applause. the show was very entertaining and cassidy enjoyed seeing live ariel.

we hadn't planned on what we were going to do that night, but since we were there we decided that seeing "fantasmic", the light show at hollywood studios, that night would end it off perfectly. the stadium seating was pretty full by the time we got into the theater area. we found some seats in front of a family sitting in the wheelchair section. they were very kind and let us squeeze in with them. before i knew it they were feeding cassidy and xander popcorn and cotton candy. todd ran to the vendors to buy a "brave sprite" to help xander be brave as he watched the fireworks, and returned only minutes before the show started, only to find the kids full from all the treats handed to them.

the show was great! i loved the beginning, as mickey "orchestrates" the fountains of water in time to the music. it isn't something that you can video or catch with a picture very well. but it leaves lasting memories. xander did very well, his brave sprite did the trick. we got back late that night, ready to fall into bed with visions of apprentice mickey dancing in our heads.

our day off all together

it hasn't happened very often recently that we all get to take a day off together. so we made the most of it. we went and saw "kungfu panda" (i think this was cassidy's first time going to a movie theater to watch a movie). both kids seemed to enjoy it. cassidy had to make two trips to the potty, walked up and down the aisle, wiggled around and eventually fell asleep 15 minutes from the end of it. xander showed me his best kungfu move before we went into the theater.
















after the movie we tried going blueberry picking. we know a little piece of land one town over that has blueberry bushes and it is free for the picking. each year we've tried right around the 4th of july. the bushes were full of berries, but they were mostly white and pink. so we'll need to take another trip over there this week. todd found the most, as they were the ones that were high up in the trees that no one else could reach. cassidy ate every blueberry that was placed in her bucket and then begged for more.