Boooring

Sorry to say it but January was pretty much a dud as far as months go. I slept too much, exercised not much at all, ate very very much, and did nothing of great importance. I'm going to go right ahead and blame January instead of taking any responsibilty for my actions because, well, this is my blog and I can do what I want. *snap, snap, snap for added sassiness*
A few good things were sprinkled into the mix. I did start a walking routine with some friends. I think we burnt more calories laughing than walking and there was the day that I convinced everyone to go "just one more time around" only to get us caught in a huge rainstorm. But it was fun.
Hayley cheered in her first basketball game, she was surprisingly good. I was surprised because I have never in all the 10 years I've known him see Andy even attempt a dance move and I dance often and enthusiastically but not well at all. So I was a little taken aback to see that our eldest has some smooth moves. But then again, I am often surprised by how great my kids are, it is one of the joys of my life.
And of course, there was JuJu's birthday which was terrific. And a girls' night out with some friends.
(as a sidenote I hate the term "Girls' night out". It is so cheesy and I feel like a dork anytime I use it but I can't think of a better term). And we went to a Tarheel basketball game. That was awesome.
Okay, so maybe January wasn't such a dud. But I'm still not sorry to see it end. I'm ready to start fresh in February.

Because I am chronically late for everything, I waited till a week into the year before deciding what my resolutions are. I don't really have many but the ones I have are important to me so here they are:
**By the way, I'm sorry that my return to blogging has startedwith a bunch of lists that are not important to anyone but me. I'm rethinking what I'll blog about since Ace and Hayley are getting older. My main purpose in keeping a blog is so at some point the kids can go back and read it and now that they are older I feel like they should be the ones to decide what stories to tell. I'm trying to work out a way to still share my memories and moments without stealing theirs, if that makes sense. So, for now, my writing is pretty blah. Sorry.

1. Travel. I want to see at least 3 new places this year or revisit old places that the kids haven't seen or don't remember. (Washington DC and Savannah are the top of my list). Since Andy is focusing more on home improvement projects, this may be tricky but I'm determined to make it happen. It may include some camping which is so out of my comfort zone.

2. Embrace my homebody-ness. Besides the traveling, I'd like to stop wasting my time on errands and pointless activities just to fill time and instead, enjoy time at home. It is the last year that Julia will be home most days with me and I don't want to spend it shuttling her to the the grocery store three times a week. I've found that my favorite moments with the kids are the unscheduled times. Like doing a puzzle with Ace, watching the girls create a city with their figurines, reading with Hayley on one side of the couch and me on the other. I love those times and want more of them.

3. Grow our own vegetables. More Andy's goal than mine, we are trying our hand at gardening and hoping that it leads to healthier eating. I'll update that in the Spring.

4. Give Hayley more respect/responsiblity. She will be 10 in March and she is capable of so much, sometimes I feel like I hold her back by my parenting (smothering?) style.  For example, if I'm going to bug her about getting dressed on time, I need to respect her enough to let her pick out her own outfits. Some things I'm still on the fence about whether she is ready. Fixing her own snacks in the microwave? Choosing her own bedtime? Walking the dog?  I feel like I missed the chart where it tells you when it's time to let go and let your kids do these things. I tend to "baby" my kids a wee bit (I did spoon feed Julia her soup for a half hour yesterday which may have been bit extreme even for me) and I know Hayley is responsible and mature so, I've got to let go at least a little.

2011

Before I throw out last year's calender, here are some memorable times from 2011 (note that I didn't actually buy a calender until mid February so I may be forgetting some from January and early Feb, that's what I get for procrastinating)
January: Julia turns 4, we take her out to the movies and her favorite resturaunt to celebrate. Ace starts Ice skating lessons, Hayley starts basketball.

February: Ace turns 6, we go to Friendly's for dinner and he later has a small party with his buddies.

March: Andy turns 39, Hayley marches in the St. Patrick's day parade, we celebrate her 9th birthday a week early with a trip to Boston to go the the American girl doll store and the cheesecake factory. We spend a week in E. City, househunting. Our first offer on a house is turned down but our second is accepted and we begin the process of buying our second home. Hayley has another small party to celebrate her birthday.

April: Hayley is in the robotics club at school, she "graduates" to being a Junior girl scout, Ace performs in the ice skating "Night of a Thousand Stars"

May: My last Mother's day tea at Julia (previously Ace's) preschool, we start to prepare for our move and finalize our house.

June: My mom, dad, Julia, and I travel to upstate NY for a wedding, we close on our house, Ace finishes kindergarten, Hayley graduates from 3rd grade (her previous school was k-3). We say goodbye to dear friends over dinner at our favorite pizza place, pack up our essentials, our family of 6 and 2 dogs and head down south to our new home.

July: We move into our new home, celebrate the fourth of July with a trip to the Outer Banks, I turn 33, we buy a small pool and spend the rest of the month in it to adjust to the heat. My sister visits and we get to meet my nephew for the first time, the kids and I spend a week at my parents house.

August: More adjusting to our new home, Andy starts his new job, my sister and niece visit and we go to the beach again, Hayley starts 4th grade, Ace starts 1st.

September: Julia and Lucy start preschool, Lucy turns 3 and we have a party with lots of new friends and (not new) family.

October: Julia goes on her first field trip to a fire safety show, we go to the pumpkin patch with their preschool, Ace stays overnight at an aquarium with his Cub scout troop, we go to the state fair with my sister, niece, and parents. We go trick or treating in our neighborhood with friends.

November: Hayley, Julia, and I go see a local theater group perform "Annie", We go to my parents' house for Thanksgiving and while there, we go to my 15 year high school reunion, my Aunt and uncle visit.

December: Ace is in the Christmas parade on a float with the boyscouts, Julia and Lucy are in a Christmas program at preschool, Hayley is in a concert at her school, Ace gets his bobcat badge at Cubscouts, my parents visit to see the concerts and boy scout ceremony. My sister and niece visit for Christmas, we throw a Christmas Eve open house, my parents come for Christmas dinner. We have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Five

Julia is FIVE today. She is excited because five year olds take showers, not baths. Five year olds ride in the backseat of the van. Five year olds use phrases like "Seriously, guys?" and "Okay, okay, this is getting crazy".
Five year olds even, ready for this? Go...to... KINDERGARTEN!
She is excited about presents, she keeps asking me if there are any wuggle pets in the wrapped packages by the couch. I say I don't know, we'll have to wait and see and be surprised. She says let's open them now and be surprised now. But we are patient because five year olds and their mommies are well known for their patience.
I catch her eyes and she curls up next to me in the morning (because one thing five year olds do not do quite yet is sleep all night in their own beds) and I remember one morning when she had a stomach bug. I was very pregnant with Lucy and I knew this would be one of the last mornings that Julia would be my smallest baby so, even though I was sad to see her sick, I was savoring this moment of cuddling her close and rocking her. I felt that way again this morning. I know soon she will be sleeping all night in her bed and we won't have that many more mornings of cuddling up while Lucy sleeps and the big kids are already in school. Soon she will be at school too. But this morning, I got a few precious minutes.
She still has never had a big big birthday party. I thought about it this year but at our Christmas Eve party I watched her sit at the snack table, a little nervous and overwhelmed by all the people. And on New Years at a friend's house she sat on the couch with her other quiet, introvert friend and they put on headphones and watched the DS together, silently but happily. I thought, no, not this year. I want to honor who she is and acknowledge what makes her comfortable and what does not. I want to make her happy. So we had a family party, with a pink cake made by my mom. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sara, and cousin Naomi were our guests. It was a perfect day.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Julia. I love you just as you are and I always will.

Well, this is awkward.

Yes, I broke up with my blog for while. I was drawn away by the flash and glamour of Facebook and Pinterest and blogging just seemed to have lost it's spark. So I left to pursue my dreams of making every nutella recipe Pinterest had to offer and reconnecting with my third grade music teacher over witty status updates and shared "likes". Since I'm the only one who reads my own babbling it didn't seem important to keep up here but I missed the old blog, and here I am, seeing the error of my ways and crawling back. I was reading through the archives to find a Christmas quote I like and found myself reading my entries from the fall/winter of 2008. Ace was in his unpredictable, tantrum-y stage, I was still counting Lucy's age in weeks, Julia was in diapers, and Hayley had just begun school. I have pictures and memories from those days but seeing in words what our days were like is something worth keeping up with. Because the time, it flies.
We are getting the house ready for my sister's visit and for our other Christmas activities. Lucy is going bonkers. Sara is her "dinosaur mommy" and all around favorite person. One of her favorite games is to have me pretend to be Sara so she can live out her dream of having Sara as a mommy. The rejection stings a little but Sara is pretty awesome so I get it.
Julia is going about twice as nuts as the other kids because she is also excited about her birthday after Christmas. Last year she called us out on the lack of presents on her birthday (we ended up giving her some of her b-day presents on Christmas because we are awful about waiting) so she only had one gift from us. This year I'm doing my shopping for her after Christmas so I'm not tempted to do the same this year.
She will be 5, which is unbelievable to me. One more semester at preschool and we will be sending her off to kindergarten. Un. Believable.
I hope everyone is feeling the peace, joy and love of the season. If you have a little bit of all of those things in your life, you can stop shopping, you have the only gifts you'll ever need.

October

I was worried that when we moved to a small town we would have fewer opportunities to do fun things with the kids but October has set out to prove me very wrong. Every week our calender is full of great Fall activities and each of the kids (except our poor perpetually Left Out Lucy) has a special activity just for them. I love it, Andy is exhasted, and the kids are now going to expect every month to be as jam packed as this one.
Here's a peek at what we've done and what we have planned.

Last week Julia went to a fire safety program put on by the local firefighters. It would have been perfect for Ace but his class didn't have a bus so they had to cancel their trip. That turned out okay because it was Julia's first field trip so it got to be all about her. Also, I got a glimpse into her preschool world and was happy to see that she has made a lot of sweet friends and her teachers are as awesome as I've heard they are.

Saturday we went to a birthday party at a small hands-on science museum downtown. Everyone had fun (even if Hayley refused to smile the entire time)

Sunday was military appreciation day at the zoo so we got to go for free. With a family of 6 to pay admission for, we will happily battle the crowds if it means saving all that money so we were there bright and early (which means 10:30 for us). We spent 5 hours seeing every animal, keeping all the kids happy with snacks and drinks and lifting up child after child so they could get a better view of the animals. Then we missed the last train ride of the day because we had to go get tokens and were not in line in time. That means that the previous 5 hours were instantly forgotten and all they will remember from our trip to the zoo is that we missed the train. But, I have pictures. See, they were happy, it was fun!

Hayley had a field trip today to learn about the Civil War. I'm not sure what she learned but I did hear every detail about the bus ride, the picnic lunch, and that she learned how to play MASH on the way home.

Ace is going to "sleep with the sharks" at the aquarium with his scout troop and his dad on Friday and Saturday we are packing up and heading to my hometown for the State Fair. I've been looking forward to that for the entire month so I hope the kids love it as much as I did!

Lucy Claire, 3

I thought today would be hard. I thought I would feel sad and lost because my baby is not a baby anymore. She is the Big 3. The age of wonder and discovery and (let's hope) potty training. But instead of feeling sad I have worn a smile all day. Because if there is anything at all that could be better than knowing Lucy, the baby, it is knowing Lucy, the big girl. She is something to behold, let me tell you. Clever and silly. Stubborn and bold. Funny and thoughtful. Even as the youngest of four children, she finds her own way in the world. She has her own unique personality and the strongest will of any three year old I know.

She is our baby, our wild card and she is so, so loved. Today on her birthday and EVERY day.

So far, so good

School started last Thursday (for those keeping track, that is 2 days after the earthquake and 2 days before the hurricane, sheesh). I spent the week before wringing my hands and losing sleep over all the What-Ifs. What if they encounter a bully? What if they are scared? What if they miss their old school? If you've ever read Wemberly Worried, that is an accurate description of me the days before school started. The best description of Ace before school started was a friend's comment on my facebook: "Ace is all in, baby, all in!" He left the orientation giving complete strangers high fives and practically leaping into the car on the first day. Hayley was not so enthusiastic but she was happy to be going back and optimistic about making new friends. I asked them after the first day if it was a one thumb up day, a two thumb up day, or a thumbs down day and Hayley said "I wish I had three thumbs!" so I think it's safe to say they still have a positive attitude about school.
Next week Lucy and Julia start preschool and I will have 2 mornings a week all to myself. Whatever will I do with my freedom? Start a bookclub? Plant a garden? Plan and prepare elaborate meals? Watch marathons of My Redneck Wedding while eating handfuls of cereal straight out of the box? The possibilities are endless.
The girls are as ready for school as the big kids were. The day before school started we had a back to school party with cupcakes and candles and we went around the table telling what we wished most for the new school year. Lucy wished that she would "Not be mean all the time" and Julia pondered the question for a while before shrugging and saying "Just that it will be great and also awesome". My girls, they aim high.

Two weeks ago when I looked at the calender and realized that the kids would be starting school about two weeks earlier than usual, I told Andy I would not be ready when it was time for them to go back. We still had so much Summer to do. I was wrong. This past week has felt like an endless loop of whining, tantrums, complaining, and arguing. It was the first week that we weren't unpacking or traveling or babysitting and I thought I would appreciate the lull in activitiy. Again, I was wrong. With no plans, our living room quickly began to resemble the commercial for Planet of the Apes. You know, where the apes (my kids) are throwing cars and bellowing and the humans (me) are running scared.
So, yes, I am ready for school to begin. I think the big kids are too. But we also still have a lot of Summer. The brief moments when no one is losing their mind have been precious. We swim in our little backyard pool every afternoon. Lucy and Julia are getting braver and braver in the water everyday (which makes me more and more nervous). The pool is very shallow but it is wide enough that they can actually swim across it and float around. Lucy says we are mermaids together.
We also have daily concerts put on by Julia and Hayley, they dance and sing and I'm supposed to vote on who wins. They are surprised everytime by the two way tie.
Ace puts on Fire prevention presentations. He lists the important safety rules: 1. Don't swim in a storm. 2.If you want to set something on fire, call him, Firefighter Ace. 3. Don't smoke in bed. (he read this one in a children's book on fire prevention that was published in the early 70's and he wasn't quite sure how you would know if you were smoking in bed or not, we had to explain that one).

33

We are beginning our fourth week in our new house in a new state and I'd say we are finally beginning to feel settled here and beginning a normal routine (well, normal for summertime, which allows for 10 pm bedtimes for the kids and popsicle lunches). I think the transition was so easy for me because NC was my home for 22 years, so coming back meant returning to the familiar. For the kids, it was a bit more of a shock. We did our best to make things as easy as possible for them and giving them what we felt was the right amount of information at the right times. They have known for months that we would be moving, they came with us househunting in March so they could see the area, we tried to find a lot of time to spend with thier friends in the days and weeks before we left Ma. It was hard to say goodbye to their home and they are still a little rattled by all the big changes but we have been so lucky to meet wonderful new friends already and they love the house so they have adjusted really well.
My sisters came to visit me last week and then we traveled together to my hometown for some more family time. It was so great to have all 7 cousins together and see how they all loved each other. Moving closer to family is definitely at the top of the list of the best things about moving to NC. It was the best birthday present ever!
Speaking of birthdays, I feel like I should have some reflections on turning 33. Not that it is a milestone birthday (although my dad did point out to me that I am now exactly half his age). 33 is significant for me because 23 was a very significant age for me. On my 23rd birthday my parents gave me a card that said "On your birthday if life surprises you...Let it." A few days later I found out I was expecting Hayley. Before my 24th birthday I had a new husband, and new home, and a new baby girl. 23 was a year of the sweetest surprises. So my wish for my 33rd is that life continues to surprise me, and I continue to let it.