Things I've Heard

Some gems from this past week....


-While waiting in the pickup line to get Jillian, Adrienne suddenly bestows some new-to-her knowledge upon me, "Mom! Zero is the same as nothing!"

-I walked through the living room to get my laptop out of the cabinet last night while the girls were watching a show. Adrienne casually says, "Sorry about the smell, Mom. I just tooted."

-After picking Adrienne up from her classroom on Tuesday, we went to the bathroom before getting in the car to go and wait in the ever-dreaded, far-too-long pick up line to get Jillian. As we were both doing our business in separate stalls (this is how I know I have big kids--they go in their own stalls!), Adrienne begins a pressing conversation, "Mom. If you had the best piece of cake ever, would you keep it for yourself or give it to someone else?" I paused, unsure if she really had just asked me that question. And then I asked her to repeat it, and she did. "Ummmmm.....well, Adrienne, what would you do if you?" Without hesitation, "I'd give it to someone else. We are supposed to give people things. I learned that in school today." (And just in case you are wondering, I told her I'd give her my piece of cake.)

-Jillian has a storybook about each Disney princess and it includes pages of questions for the reader to fill out--Questions such as, "How am I like Cinderella?" and so on. Jillian takes this type of thing seriously, so it's taken her a long time to fill each page out. She brought the book to me the other day and showed me her progress, and then flipped to the page that asks questions about 'her prince'. "Mom, I don't know how to fill this out. I guess I'm just going to have to take this to school and ask Nathan to answer these questions!"

-Yesterday morning as we were driving to school I was scrolling through the radio ad nauseam as per usual and "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" came on. I reminded them that this is one of my favorite songs from my childhood and suggested that maybe it should be our theme song for when Matt is working late or traveling. They laughed and agreed, and the song played on. Suddenly Jillian pipes up, "You know, Mom, the song is right. That's all that girls really do want."

Dad and Me

This is a year of  preschool "lasts" for our family (tear). Adrienne and Matt attended Dad and Me Sports Night on Tuesday. It never fails that Matt gets put on a late rotation on this particular night, so as usual he was scrambling to get to school. He made it just in time and we completed the kid hand off in the parking lot.

Despite getting to attend this event three years herself, Jillian was forlorn that she was not invited and was stuck with me for the night. I decided we'd high tail it to Hobby Lobby so she could look at scrapbooking supplies. Last week she asked me what scrapbooking is (I do NOT do this), and as I told her about it I realized that this is right up her creative little alley. We took the Hobby Lobby fieldtrip so I could show her just how vast and endless the options are. Now she knows what to save her chore money for. And then, we went to Flapdoodles to grab some ice cream and have a chat. I'm such a drag, right? After dropping her sundae upside down on the floor (she did manage to eat all the whipped cream and hot fudge off of it first), I had to pony up and buy her another scoop. Pretty sure dropping your ice cream and having your parent replace it is a rite of passage.

Adrienne came home all hyped up on popcorn, bounce houses, and candy and tried to scare us with her new teeth from the treat bag. These babies are the constant source of entertainment and giggles around here. She's trying to keep track of them so she can wear them with her Halloween costume! We shall see.

First Days

Jillian was ready to roll on Tuesday morning. We took our obligatory first day pictures before loading up to head to school. 

 A little word about her outfit choice. She is obsessed with the new Disney Channel movie "The Descendants". It's a musical about the kids of some of Disney's famous villains who try to steal the fairy godmother's wand and release their parents. It's all she can talk about. Matt let her get this shirt when they were in the Dells. And she wears it constantly. It was the natural choice for the first day of school in her eyes.

 Had to get a pic with little sister....not sure what they are laughing about here.

 Jillian had a fabulous first day, and in her words, the day was "AMAZING"!



Next up--Adrienne's full day preschool debut was Thursday. She chose a lovely little cat dress number and a bow that belongs to some costume we have in the dress up box.

Now, if you know Adrienne (and you can read the sign she is holding) you might wonder how she plans to be a vegetarian when she grows up since she already is one. I dutifully wrote down her chosen profession when she told me, and then I asked her to clarify for me. What does a vegetarian do, Adrienne? "It's someone who doesn't eat meat and does surgery on people's teeth to make them feel better".  It's now clear to me that she got our conversations about her being a vegetarian and things she can do in the dental field (since she has maintained for a long time she wants to be a dentist). At one conversation Matt told her about oral and maxillofacial surgeons. 

She looks so big to me here. Be still my heart.

Adrienne had a fun first day. She says they made candy eyeballs in JAM for a snack (but couldn't tell me the relevance) and read The Kissing Hand (and made their own kissing hand art) in Miss Madden's class. I do think she misunderstood the plan for the year, however. Despite knowing she was going to be at school for a morning class, lunch buddies, and an afternoon class, she commented upon pickup, "You left me at school for a long time, Mom!" Thank goodness she had fun.

That's A Wrap

My little sweeties are tucked in bed tonight, and this marks the official end of summer for us. Jillian will wake up tomorrow and head off into her first grade glory. Adrienne is stuck with me for two more days, then gets to make her debut on Thursday. Outside of my birthday festivities and meeting the teachers, here's how we wrapped up our last week of summer. ....

-Snap bead adventures. Highly entertaining to see if one can make a chain long enough to touch the floor from the catwalk.

-Helping in the kitchen. Jillian helped me portion out 16 healthy lunches for Matt to stock in the freezer.

-Writing music--Jillian wanted to make a "cd" of piano music. So she sat in at the piano writing and playing this little tune.

-Country Clubbin it at the pool. Shockingly not busy on a super hot Friday the last weekend of summer.

-Doing Chores. We're working a new system over here (yes, again). The girls have daily chores that they do just because they are a part of the family (we call them 'Team Chores'). Once those are done, they may ask me for some extra chores for commission. These will vary depending on what I need help with, and they can earn money for them. They were eating this up on Saturday morning. I had help folding laundry, cleaning out the car, wiping down dining room furniture, and vacuuming. Wahoo!

-Having our first lemonade stand. Matt said the girls were asking lots of questions about how to make money (after they saw him sell our old end tables to someone who came by to pick them up. Gotta love the Mayo Classifieds), and Matt told them some kids do lemonade stands. Jillian was immediately on it. I got home from the Farmer's Market/Grocery Store to two excited kids planning a lemonade stand. We of course had no lemonade (and no one thought to text me to ask me to pick some up), but luckily I had gobs of lemons, plenty of sugar, and some cranberry juice, and so we made some homemade pink lemonade that was mighty tasty! Jillian insisted that the price should be $5/glass. Matt finally got her to compromise at 50 cents.

Saturday night we set up the outdoor movie screen and decided to show the girls an "old" movie. We watched Jumanji and they were totally into it. It was a perfect night for enjoying the outdoors and lots of popcorn!

-Hauling around a new sidekick. Adrienne found my old ('vintage') Strawberry Shortcake doll and cannot do anything without it. She even asked me to give her the same hairstyle (what we call 'Shrek ears')

-Sorting bins and bins and bins of kid clothes. I now have 7 bins of 2-4T clothes to pass off to a friend with two little girls, and another 6 for donation. I can't even bear to start the baby sizes. The scent of Dreft wafted out of a baby bin I opened and I had to shut it fast before I had the urge to cry or find myself another baby.

Enjoying a morning at the park. We had no plans on today, this Monday holiday, so we took the girls to Essex park to play a bit. All they do is climb and do dangerous things now. Thanks, American Ninja Warrior.

-First day of school prep. Jillian created her 'all about me' page to take for her class book.

And then she packed her lunch. She decided to make some kabobs with grapes, bread, and cheese to go along with some yogurt and a handful of mini-marshmallows for a treat.

Backpack packed. Outfit selected. Nails trimmed and polished to match her shirt. Anxieties discussed. Prayers said. My big first grader is sleeping soundly and ready to begin the school year tomorrow. Adios, summer. It's been a fun, looooong ride. My mini-me is ready for the resumption of more routine and structure!

Meeting Teachers

We finally got to meet our teachers on Thursday! Both girls were really excited to attend this long-awaited event. Matt was off for comp days, so he got to come along, too! Jillian kept asking why I needed to also go if Daddy could go....thanks a lot, kid.

First up: Adrienne's meet the teacher. Adrienne's plan for the school year is all day school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She will have an enrichment class in the morning, lunch buddies, and then attend the 4/5 year old class in the afternoon. I will drop her off right after Jillian, and then pick her up about 30 minutes before Jillian gets out, which is perfect because that is the time I would go wait in the dreaded school pickup line anyway. I am personally stoked to have such lovely coordinating drop offs, and to have my running reduced by cutting out a middle of the day pickup. Adrienne will benefit from this all day schedule as a preparation for going to all day, everyday kindergarten next year (tear!).  We stopped by to meet her enrichment teachers--Mrs. Maijala for Discovering God's World (science) and Mrs. Batterson for JAM (Jesus and Me--Jillian's favorite enrichment class ever...lots of drama, cooking, art). We knew both of these teachers from Jillian's days, so it was just a formality to help A see exactly where to go and where her hook for her backpack will be, etc. For her 4/5 year old class, Adrienne has Miss Madden. Miss Madden is new to Kingdom Kids and seems to be very nice. When we arrived in the classroom, Adrienne had a job--decorate her apple, and then get her picture taken for the board.  She was excited to find that her friend Oliver (from the RAC and Bible Study) is in her class.

Next, we high tailed it over to Gibbs. The drama and suspense was at an all-time high. The students do not find out until that moment which class they are in. You can imagine how many times Jillian has asked about this all summer. Thanks, RPS, for creating anxiety for the whole family all.summer.long.  Jillian was very insistent that Matt and I not tell her which class is in if we saw her name first. She wanted to read the lists herself and find out her placement.

Jillian scored a fabulous teacher--Mrs Davidson. We have heard many wonderful things about her from friends, and she was delightful upon meeting her. Jillian found her desk, locker, mailbox, and sorted out her school supplies while I filled out some information and then we explored the room. She is excited that her classroom is the closest one to the library. Jillian will have a chance to meet lots of new friends, as she only has one other child from her kindergarten class with her this year. She was pretty bummed to discover that her two favorite kindergarten friends (Lizzy and Nathan) are in the same class together. I tried to give her my nicest speech of empathy that conveyed the basic message of "that's life" and "get used to it"...I'm sure we will need to revisit this often in the early days of school as she misses classroom interactions with those kids.

Tuesday is go-time for Jillian, and Adrienne starts on Thursday. Giddy up!

This is 37

I turned 37 on Monday. I lamented most of the summer about heading into my "late 30's", which are super close to the big 4-0, but now that I'm here? I'm happy. I like 37. I was thinking about what my mother in law said about this late 30's time being her favorite time of life, and I think I agree. I am done having babies, and my babies are at the stage where they are so enjoyable and fun and little sponges of curiosity and knowledge-seeking....yet their problems aren't big enough to cause crazy parental stress (teen years, I see you and I am already praying about you). The fact that they are older means that I now have a bit more time to take care of myself. I am more committed to personal fitness and nutrition than I've probably ever been (funny how your body sort of 'requires' that after 35), and while I sometimes feel selfish about it, I see the positive effects it has on my entire family (that whole bit about a mom's attitude and well-being being the barometer for the family mood turns out to be true). Also, I know myself pretty well at this point. Even in comparison to when I turned 30--my grasp on my own opinions, tendencies, preferences, strengths, weaknesses, what have you, is far stronger, as is my ability to be honest about it. Going along with this (and I think this is the key) is that I have accepted all of those things I just listed out. Yep, self acceptance and transparency levels feel pretty high at 37, now that I've spent the time and done the internal work to get here. The word 'grace' has a depth of meaning that it never had before, and I think the timing is right for that. As I am raising these little ladies I feel strongly about modeling grace and self-acceptance for myself. Eyes and ears are on me all the time.

So, just how did I spend my special day? I started it with a 5:30 boot camp, which is my favorite way to start the day if Matt's schedule allows. The girls and I had a lazy morning at home after that and then met Jenni and the kids for Pi pizza (and some Daube's cupcakes!). The girls went to play at their house for a large chunk of the afternoon (not planned, but a lovely surprise that made everyone happy) and I came home for a piano lesson. Our piano teacher is one of my very favorite people. She is an amazing woman, and brings so much joy to me via her love of music and encouraging spirit. She prayed a beautiful prayer over me for the coming year. After I retrieved the girls, we came home for a 'rest' and then headed downtown to meet Matt at Chester's for dinner. I had a mission--Banana Cream Pie. Theirs is my favorite Rochester restaurant dessert.

Jillian took a couple of photos from across the table. By the way, the kids always sit across from us at restaurants now....kind of weird to not have to sit next to one of them and police/manage all the chaos.

This way they can keep their crazy to themselves....

Happy Birthday to me. Banana Cream Pie (at Chester's only), I heart you. And with all my raging self-acceptance and grace I'm not gonna say a word about my crows feet. Sigh. Nope. Not one word.

I like to set some goals on my birthday each year. Last year, one of the things I wanted to do was read 36 books as a way to push myself to put the screens down and get back into reading more. It was really great, and I actually ended up reading 40. You can see the list on the food blog, if you need some recommendations. This year I intend to read at least 37, and I also am trying to keep an actual paper journal for prayer and gratitude. This will be a big challenge for me to slow down, think/process/pray, and then actually write with a pen...not just frantically type away on the computer after 2 cups of coffee while I'm also doing seven other things. We'll see.  Back to the books--the 39th book I read this year was by Jen Hatmaker--her newest, "For The Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards". In it she laid out her life goals for her kids in 3 simple phrases--"Be Kind. Be You. Love Jesus".  Is there really anything else that's necessary? It all boils down nicely to this, I think. I'm officially stealing it as my mantra from this day forward (Thanks for the words, Jen). If I can model and teach my girls to live out these 3 things, then I'll be doing a bang up job as a mom. So, here we go--Be Kind. Be You. Love Jesus. Cheers to 37!