Shhh, I have a secret

*Spoiler alert - Amber, if you're reading this, and Molly is a better secret keeper than M, you might want to skip this post.*

Every year the preschool holds a Mother's Day luncheon for the students and their moms - no siblings allowed. They make a craft and prepare a program, and the kids are told to not tell their parents because it's a surprise. When C was in preschool, I had no idea what was going to transpire at the luncheon.

For at least the last month, M has been bursting at the seams! She whispers, "Mom, I have a surprise, but I can't tell you. I made us (note the plural) a cup, but I can't tell you. I painted my hand purple and put my handprint on the cup. Shhh, it's a secret!"

I think I've also heard all the songs they'll be singing. She makes me do the hand motions with her.

I love that she is so excited to do something special for me, and I can't believe she's maintained the same level of enthusiasm for this long. Every day I get a chuckle as she jumps on my lap, pushes my hair behind my ear and cups her hands together to whisper her secret to me once again.

Young Love

Lately M has been consumed with the idea of getting married. We've had many discussions on when is an appropriate time to get married (preferrably after college), and also criteria to rule out who she cannot marry (ie someone already married or family members). The main thing that has stuck in her head is that she can't marry her cousins. However, differentiating her cousins from her other friends is a little challenging for her since she has so many cousins living in close proximity that are also her friends.

So last Thursday, when she got out of preschool, she ran to her favorite swivel chair that's in the hallway as you near the exit. While spinning around and around, she asked for clarification as to whether her classmate Kaden is a cousin or friend. I confirmed that he was a friend. A moment after, Kaden walked past and M yelled at him to stop. After he stopped and turned, M proceeded to earnestly ask him if he would marry her when they grew up. Being a boy, he just grimaced and ran off.

I don't know why Kaden was the lucky recipient of her first proposal. Especially when at home she talks all the time about how she wants to marry Zachery, and his favorite color is green. C was about the same age when she first made the object of her affection aware of her feelings. It was two years ago when we were leaving the preschool parking lot that C rolled down her window and yelled for all to hear (and there were quite a few) "I love you Zachery Polzel!"

The same day as the proposal, we decided to stay at the school to play at the playground after we picked C up from school. There were two other boys on the play structure that I didn't recognize. After a short time, M asked one of the boys how old he was. He replied that he was seven. In follow up, M asked "so, are you married?"

I believe that I've mentioned a time or two before how very boy crazy C is. I fear for what the future brings with her! If we're not careful, we find her stalking the 12 year old boys in the hall at church. She also has a HUGE crush on two brothers - Darius and Omar (around 13 and 11). She's wide eyed and calling for them any time they are in her line of sight. I feel so bad for those poor pestered boys. At school we frequently get reports that she chases the boys (yes, multiples) and tries to kiss them. After one such report, P asked the teacher. "Well, I just don't know what else to do. You guys have more experience with this than I do, what should we do?" Her teacher responded that she didn't know. In 20 years of teaching, she'd never seen a girl so boy crazy before! These days, I consider the report that C was merely blowing kisses to boys to be a good day.

Last week, the mother of one of the boys in C's class stopped me on my way to the car to ask if my daughter was named C. She said that her son must have a crush on her, because he talks non stop about her at home and he often draws her in his pictures. Oddly enough, this is practically the only boy that I don't hear her talking about trying to kiss. The next day the same mom stopped me again. She'd told the boy's father that she'd finally met C, and she was a tall blonde, to which dad proudly replied "that's my boy!"

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!

Avon calling

When I was little, I thought there was no job more glamorous than that of an Avon lady. Although I don't ever remember seeing ours personally, I DO remember spending a ton of time browsing the catalogs and thinking how great it would be to wear the makeup, jewelry and perfume. I was certain that Avon ladies were as beautiful as the women in the catalogs, and that wearing their wares would make one just as gorgeous.

That's why I get such a kick out of my girls and their fascination with makeup. For their birthdays, Grandma Mod gave each of them a large case of makeup. Heaven! Well, at least for them. M in particular talks of very little else but her makeup. Here's the results of one makeup session.


The other day the girls slipped next door to their cousins' house. They love to have their older cousins do their hair. Tay used her new wave iron on C. I thought it turned out beautiful - and this picture was even after her bath took out a bit of the curl.



I think she had planned to straight iron M's hair, but I suspect she had a hard time of even running a comb thru her hair, much less straighten it. Nonetheless, M was thrilled with the braids Tay sent her home with.

Happy Birthdayssssss!

I really like that the girls' birthdays are just five days apart. They're so competitive that it's nice to be able to do much of the celebrating together. Plus, they enjoy the same things, so they often get the same things, which is much easier to deal with when they are getting their gifts at the same time.

C kicked off the birthday season when she turned six. We had a quiet celebration at home with just us and the Mod grandparents. C picked out a menu of pepperoni pizza and a chocolate heart shaped birthday cake. Since her birthday follows closely on the heels of Valentine's Day, I'm sure that's why she was so adamant about the shape of the cake. The week before I ran across a recipe for chocolate ganache in the paper. I'm no cook, but I do love ganache, so I thought I'd give it a try. As luck would have it, not even I could screw it up! Yum!!

The birthday girl sampled the ganache and agreed it was fit for her cake.

The next day the girls each brought a friend for their annual visit with Chuck E Cheese. C and her friend had a great time. M's friend wasn't too sure what to make of it. Like any good hostess, M ditched her friend to pursue her own fun activities. Meanwhile, I tried to talk her friend into various activities, but the only one that piqued her interest was feeding the tickets you earn from games into the automatic ticket counter that made munching noises.





We tried to get a picture of all the girls together looking happy, but our suggestions to smile were met with resistance from one little party goer. So we resorted to turning it into a game - which seemed to work, as long as we didn't tell her to smile.

Roar like a lion!

Look silly!

Go to sleep!

Grandma and Grandpa Beachy made a trip in to town to take us all out to eat, and the girls got to open presents from them the next morning.


Then later that day we met C's birthfamily at McDonalds for another celebration. Although C wasn't shy about eventually requesting her presents, I was surprised at how reserved she was with the adults. She's normally quite outgoing with children and adults alike. Our shy one, M, was the one that snuggled up with C's birthmother when we attended her other daughter's basketball game after lunch.

I couldn't stop pondering the situation, and came up with my own theory as to why C was standoffish and M was perfectly comfortable with C's birthfamily. The next night I asked her why she seemed so shy. Without any prompting from me, she confirmed my theory that she was worried they might try to take her away. I assured her that while they like to be able to see her, and they love her too, they are happy that she is a member of our family. They don't want to take her away from us. I also explained that although foster children have been a part of our family and then gone away, neither of them were adopted by us. Both she and M are adopted, which means that they will be in our family forever and ever! She seemed to understand, but it remains to be seen whether she will be more relaxed at the next visit.




For M's fourth birthday, she requested chicken noodle soup and quesadillas for dinner, with popsicles for dessert. Go figure. I had to talk her into an additional dessert just so we would have something to put candles in. I have to say though, that with all the cakes and cupcakes we have had between our parties, and bringing birthday treats to their respective church and school classes, I was really ready to have something besides cake!



After six days of celebration, we wrapped up with the combined birthday party for all the locals in the Mod family to attend. It is by far the biggest party since P's family is so large and the girls have so many cousins. As giddy as I was for the birthday season to begin, it was a huge relief for it to come to an end!


A few days after things quieted down, we took the girls in for their annual birthday pictures, and decided to do a few of the family too - so be sure to check out the slide show at the top of the right column.

If it's not a happy meal, then ...

Today we had lunch at McDonalds. We don't usually get the boxed kid meals anymore because my girls rarely eat the sides, and I don't need any more little toys to pick up around the house.

Ahead of us in line were some girls we know from church. After we had both picked up our orders, I asked the little girls with exaggerated excitement if they had gotten happy meals. They nodded cheerily in agreement and then we walked off.

C looked at our tray of wrapped burgers and drinks and quietly asked, "Mom, did we get the sad meals?"

One, two, free

The other day M was mauling poor little Jinx, again. He never ceases to amaze me - how a feral cat that initially wouldn't let P even touch him, can adapt to become a very well loved and much handled family cat.

Anyway, back to my little story. As I do numerous times a day, I pleaded with my daughter. "M, please put Jinx down. He just wants to be free!"

"No, mommy! He wants to be four!"

Can you tell who's got her fourth birthday on her mind?

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!!!