Summer fun, part one

Well, hello there. I guess it's time for another post. Just when you think I've fallen off the face of the earth - here I am! Ta-da!

It's been a busy and fun filled summer and we're loving every minute of it. (Well, okay, maybe not these ridiculous 100+ degree days we're currently having, but at least we're surviving with the AC on - until we get the bill, that is.)

The girls have been out of school since the end of May and we have yet to run out of things to do. Both girls have spent a week by themselves with Grandpa and Grandma Beachie. Besides our family activities, C and M have also had a week of gymnastics camp, a week of soccer camp, and M had a round of swimming lessons. Since I was at work while they were "camping", I'm afraid I don't have any photos of that to share.

In related news, I have survived the second round of layoffs this year within my little (and now littler by more than half) department at work - which means I have had to shuffle my work schedule around for the third time this year to better meet the ever changing needs of the company. Luckily I have been able to stay part time even though I'm not keen on my new hours, and as of today it looks like I'll have to start picking up some additional hours as well. Nonetheless, I'm counting my blessings to still be employed in these uncertain times. Right? Um, right. Definitely.

I have nearly given up on the photo loader for blogger - it's so slow and tedious, so I've decided to simply post a link to my summer photo album on Facebook. What's that you say? I'm getting lazy? Why yes, yes I am!

Even if you don't have a Facebook account, you should still be able to view the album. These are photos from the end of May to July 15th, which finally brings me current - or at least current enough. Whew. Enjoy!

Click here for the photos.

Signs of Spring

I actually wrote this entry a month ago, but didn't get around to publishing it since I didn't have the time to upload the photos. ~ M Mod 6/14

I realize that I've already posted about our Spring Break, which should count as a sign of spring - but in these parts, it really is not! Ditto for Easter. However, since I have yet to post Easter photos, I'm going to count it. At least it's a sign that spring should be coming.

At our house we have two Easter celebrations; Easter Saturday is when we go to Easter egg hunts and the Easter Bunny visits our home, and Easter Sunday is when the girls first don their new seasonal dresses for church and we try to focus on the religious significance of the holiday.




This year we went to the egg hunt hosted by the church where the girls go to school. M was pleased to meet up with her best friend there, and we also brought one of our cousins. (Who wants to go to their sister's lacrosse game when there are eggs and treasures to be found?) A fun time was had by all. Their cousin won several prizes, many of which were too girlie for him, so the girls benefited too.

In C's age category there was a differently-abled boy who really struggled to make it to an egg before it was picked up by another child. Noting that his basket was practically empty as the hunt was wrapping up, I asked C if she would mind giving him some eggs. She enthusiastically handed him an egg, but then she hid several around a nearby shrub so he could find some of his own. Most of the kids had left the area, but those that came by we shooed away. It was so much fun watching his excitement. I was so proud of C for her willingness to give her candy away to help someone else; she would have emptied the contents of her whole basket had I let her.





One of the great things I love about being a mom is that now I have a good reason to do things I wouldn't have made time for before. One example is the annual tulip festival. I have long wanted to see the fields of blooming tulips, but when I worked full time it just never made it high enough on my priority list to make it a reality. From what I understand, traffic around the farm on the weekends is horrendous. It's bad enough to battle gridlock Monday thru Friday, who wants to do it on a Saturday too?

I went with the girls and my parents two years ago on a weekday, and we practically had the farm to ourselves. This year I'd totally forgotten about the festival until I heard that it was being extended because the flowers had been so late to bloom this year, so once again I made plans to take the girls during the week. As luck would have it, we were blessed with a beautiful day! The sun was shining and the temperature was slightly coolish, but still quite comfortable. I took a ton of picures, and while the girls got tired of trying to smile for the camera, they had a great time looking at all the flowers!







Last week was M's Mother's Day luncheon. Guess what? I got a mug with her handprint on it! What a surprise! Although, oddly enough, that day was the only day she whispered to me that she had a surprise, but didn't tell me what it was. What a funny girl.



That day was also P's birthday. We had a very low key celebration since P decided Wednesday afternoon that he was going to fly out Wednesday evening to go to an auction in California. If he came home as scheduled, it wouldn't have been until after the girls had gone to bed - so we wouldn't have been celebrating on his actual birthday anyway. As it turned out, he finished early and was able to get on an earlier flight home. We picked him up at the airport, went out to eat, and then came home for presents and a hastily made cake.



Our observance of Mother's Day is kind of hit and miss, kind of like Valentine's Day. Some years are great, and other years the day is just like any other but with the obligatory card. This is only the second Mother's Day that P hasn't had to work all day - so already it's shaping up pretty good. This year there was no pampering, but I did get a great gift! At breakfast there was a gift bag sitting on the table. The girls hadn't had a chance to spill the beans because the gift had just been purchased the evening before while I was at a girl's night out. As I approached the table, C started bursting with excitement so P told her not to give me any hints. Still, unable to contain herself, she exclaimed that my present started with a K - to which I added that it could also be a C. (In practicing her spelling, she usually guesses words that start with a hard c as starting with a k.)

So anyway, I got a new camera - a Canon Powershot SX200 IS. So far I am loving it, and taking boatloads of photos, so I'll save those to share with you at a later date.

Below is a little video of M's Mother's Day program.

Spring Break

Now that C is in school five days a week, Spring Break actually has some significance in our family - although I guess we have been observing it somewhat since she started preschool. In what is becoming tradition, the girls and I headed off to the beach on Tuesday to visit Grandma and Grandpa.

We had a fun trip. Not so much because we had such spectacular weather, because we didn't, but because the girls kept their squabbling to a minimum. Luckily, we did have enough sunbreaks to spend a little time on the beach too, and the girls went on several hikes/walks with grandpa.

Naturally, it being something of a holiday, we had to visit the cheese factory too. Cheese tasting? Check. Buy some curds and pepperoni sticks? Check. Waffle cones with your choice of ice cream? Check. (Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for the treat!) It just doesn't get much better than this! It's funny, because I can buy the same exact brand and flavor of ice cream at the grocery store, but it never tastes quite as good as when you indulge in a cone of the good stuff right there at the factory.

On Friday, the girls and I headed north to meet up with P at another beach. Last year at a fundraiser auction we had purchased a weekend at a beach house with his parents and his sister's family (the one that lives next door to us). I was a little concerned about sharing a beach house with 11 of us, but my fears were unfounded. The house was huge, with comfortable accomodations for all of us - plus it was a block off the beach, a breakfast restaurant across the street, and a very short walk from town.

Luckily we all headed down to the beach our first night there, because it poured the rest of our stay! Despite the crummy weather, we still had all the makings for a fun stay - good company, books, movies, eating out, junk food, a foosball table and outlet shopping. It was a great Spring Break!

Stalked by the tooth fairy

C finally lost her first tooth. She wiggled it for weeks. It was hanging on by a thread. The permanent tooth behind it was pushing it up so far that she was looking snaggle toothed. And yet, she wouldn't let me pull it. Sure, she gave it half hearted attempts herself. She said she wanted the Tooth Fairy (TF) to bring her money. Her expert tooth pulling teacher and Grandma Beachie all offered, but to no avail. Deep down she was petrified of how it would hurt when it came out. I begged and cajoled, but when it came right down to it, it turned out to be a two man job. P had to hold her and tickle her (to take her attention off of what I was doing) while I risked losing a finger while reaching in and grabbing the tooth. It was over lickety split, but I can still see her look of terror as she realized the tooth was coming out.

She said that it didn't really hurt that much after all. Then she was concerned about what would become of her tooth after the TF's visit.

The next morning she found her money and all thoughts of where the tooth went were gone. P thought the TF was too generous, and wanted to see if C would trade him bills since they're all the same to her. (She calls paper money tickets, probably because the Chuck E Cheese tickets are as valuable a commodity to her as money is to us.)

I'm hopeful that the next tooth won't be such a battle, because I'm sure that it will be coming in soon too. We'll be seeing plenty of the TF for the next little while. Hope she's got some good investments going, or maybe a money tree somewhere. All I know is that C is going to be our go to girl if we need a quick cash loan.

Is it too late to post holiday photos?

I seriously considered backdating this entry so that it would appear I had created it in a timely fashion. But that would be cheating, and for those of you who check in semi-regularly, I know I wouldn't be fooling you for a second. So here's my brief post of the holidays, in February.

Thanksgiving at the beach

Christmas Eve with my brother's family.

Christmas Day

I love that they love books!

Grandma & Grandpa's first MP3 player.

Gettin' current

I should have made a New Year’s resolution to do better at updating my blog. But I didn’t, so you’re just going to have to suffer through my sporadic updates and accompanying apologies. I actually still intend to write an entry with photos of our holidays, and maybe even post an end of year newsletter since I didn’t get around to Christmas cards this year. (Sorry!) However, for now I’m just going to fill you in on more current events.

Between vacation, snow days and Christmas break, C only went to school 2 ½ days in December. Since she had such a long break from the school routine, I was a little worried that we’d have behavior issues at school again. I am quite pleased to report that we haven’t had any problems brought to our attention this month – everything seems to fall within the realm of “normal” kindergarten antics. C does stay the whole day (we only had her on reduced days for a couple of weeks at the beginning of the school year) so by the end of the school day she is worn out! We found that letting her nap after school wasn’t a good option, she’d still wake up cranky, but then it would take her a few hours to fall asleep after going to bed. While I’m extremely thankful that C is on her best behavior at school, the last four hours of her day at home can be rather challenging as she is too worn out to regulate her behavior and emotions.

Schoolwork is also becoming more challenging. They are working on addition and telling time, both of which she seems to be doing quite well. They are also starting reading and spelling. She had her first spelling test last week. This is much harder for her to grasp. She is very easily frustrated when she has a hard time doing something, so it has been really difficult to even work with her on this at home. I need to come up with a way to make spelling and writing her words more fun so it will be an easier pill for her to swallow. If any of you have any great ideas, please let me know!

A couple weeks ago the girls were playing on the school playground after class, and C and a little boy collided on the slide. One of her top teeth started bleeding and became looser than normal. (Her top teeth are normally a little loose since she still sucks two fingers when she sleeps or is extremely tired and not otherwise engaged.) I told her to be very careful because I didn’t want her to lose any teeth before her birthday pictures next month. A few days later I noticed a permanent bottom tooth broke through her gum behind her baby tooth, so I guess it is inevitable that she’ll be a little gap toothed come picture time. Since there is already a tooth in place to replace it, now I’m a little excited for her baby tooth to come out. We’ve been working on wiggling it and it is now just barely hanging on. However, C is quite scared about it hurting when it comes out, so who knows how long it will take before it either falls out on it’s own or she can pull it out herself with minimal effort and trauma. For good measure, I am packing an apple in her lunch box every couple of days.

Last Saturday morning we woke up bright and early (too early for a weekend), but I stayed in bed for as long as I could. M was in bed with me so we played and talked and tickled. P had to work, so he headed downstairs with C close on his heels. After awhile, C called us down for breakfast – which I had assumed had been made by P. I was surprised to find that P had already left, and C stood beaming at the kitchen counter, eager to show off the breakfast she had made for the three of us. I was so proud of her creativity and thoughtfulness. What a great girl!



This morning I called home from work. At first I thought I’d misdialed when a child answered the phone “ Hello? Hola?” It wasn’t until I’d started talking to her and she asked “Is this M?” (yes, she called me by my first name) that I knew for sure it was my little M. She isn’t supposed to answer the phone yet, but daddy was in the shower and thus unable to supervise who answers.

Lately M has developed a new defense that is both entertaining and sometimes effective. To her credit, she doesn’t pull it out all the time, but it does get used once or twice a week. Say for instance, I’m getting on her case because she’s trashed her room again … for the third time … today. OK, of course that NEVER happens because the perfect angel that she is, she folds up all sixteen articles of clothing that she has tried on in an hour and puts them all neatly back in the drawers or on the hangers. But just for the sake of argument, pretend that this is an issue I might deal with on a regular basis. As I demand of her why she has to make a mess of her room all the time, she might reply “But mom, that just what kids do. I’m a little kid. It’s what we do.” And if it’s just a minor issue, that’s the end of the argument right there. But turnaround is fair play. You can bet that when she’s a teenager and complaining about me, it’ll be my line of defense too.

Snowmageddon

My friend Laura used this term on Facebook when describing our weather, so I'm stealing it since it seemed to so aptly describe my feelings regarding the snow.

Now this is going to seem really strange to hear from me - but I have been sooo sick of snow! I know, there's just no pleasing me, huh? I pratter on and on about how much I love the snow, and I was so bummed that we didn't have a snow event our last winter season. Now here we get a lot of snow, and all I do is complain.

So when we last left off, it was bitterly cold and we'd gotten a few inches of sticking snow, thus cancelling church on Dec 14th. Thankfully work was NOT cancelled, so I was able to go in Monday and Tuesday, although driving conditions were not great. School, on the other hand, was cancelled - for the entire week before Christmas break! While I appreciate the safety issues that have to be considered, I really feel that school should have been held on a couple of the days that were cancelled. We did drive in to school that Thursday and Friday anyway since the teachers called to say they'd be in the classroom for a few hours for the students that could make it in to pick up their Christmas presents and crafts.

During that week it continued to be exceptionally cold, so the snow remained in our yard and residential streets - but the predicted waves of snow and ice storms never did seriously materialize. At this point I was becoming a little snow weary. Although we weren't completely homebound, our excursions were few and far between. After all, who wants to risk a car accident for petty little errands (that's the insurance adjuster in me speaking)? Since we were having a small Christmas this year, all my shopping was already done, so other than work or fresh milk and eggs, I didn't have much need to get out.

Then on Saturday the 20th, Mother Nature began her shock and awe campaign. With temps in the high teens, nine inches of snow dumped on us. I can't ever recall a snowfall around here like that before! It was beautiful, and we had a great time sledding down our street. Then we had even more fun four wheeling with my brother in law's ATV.











That night, and throughout Sunday we enjoyed some freezing rain. Needless to say, church was cancelled again. I do enjoy a freezing rain storm when you have nowhere to go. Nothing is more beautiful!





Luckily for me, the office closed on Monday - I was really worried about how I'd be able to safely get in, and beyond that day I was home free as I was already scheduled off for the rest of the week.

That Monday and Tuesday we continued to be amazed at how much more snow fell. We had nearly two feet of snow! I truly felt astounded every time I looked out the window. We even decided we should shovel our deck lest it collapse from the weight.




One of the best things about the snow was the fact that P remained home with us for four full days. His phone hardly rang so we really had his undivided attention - even more so than when we were in Maui. We had so much fun those days just hanging out, playing in the snow, watching movies and enjoying the company of our family. I wouldn't trade that for anything. It was probably the best Christmas gift of the season.

Another great feature of the snow was how beautiful the valley was, particularly at night. We loved looking out the windows at our neighbors Christmas lights, and how bright the nights were.





By Christmas Eve day our temperatures finally lifted above freezing, and the melting began. I had mixed emotions about this. While I was ready to get back to our normal routines, I did have a little part of me that wished we'd have some fresh snow accumulations for Christmas before it started melting. Nonetheless, we did still have a white Christmas, with plenty of snow - but it was now too wet for playing in, and by Christmas Day night the streets were just a deep mush (which made it even harder to drive in).

I don't ever recall a time here when we've had our yard covered in snow for two plus weeks. Hopefully the girls will have fond memories of this winter, because who knows when they'll see another one like it again.

And at long last, after a whopping three weeks of no service, our final day of rejoicing came when our garbage and recycling was FINALLY picked up!!!

Snow & Maui

Today we had our first snow day! While we usually seem to see snow flurries every year, it's not often that we actually see sticking snow. Maybe once or twice a year - if we're very lucky. Today we saw accumulations of 3-4 inches by the time it was done, and since temps aren't expected to rise above freezing this week, it'll be sticking around longer than usual. We already know that C won't have school tomorrow. I'm actually hopeful that my office won't close because I'm really ready to have a break - you know, a little time with just adults around.

What a contrast: last Sunday we wore short sleeves and sandals to church, and this week church was cancelled on account of snow. I was a little reluctant to send the girls out to play during the day since it was also rather windy, but the wind seemed to die down as the sun went down, which is when we headed out to romp in the snow. Even Jasper jumped and ran around like a young pup. I hope he doesn't pay for it tomorrow.

Since I've already written the narrative for our trip, I won't bore you with a lot of details. Here's some of my favorite pics of our vacation.