Torn

A couple weeks ago (and yes, I've been very lazy with updating this blog) Mooka came home from school with a big packet of information stating that she had qualified for the gifted program.

I think most parents would be excited to get that sort of news, but I was more like, well, duh. I have actually been worried that she is not getting enough out of school as she and her brother seem to be covering the same type of lessons while he is still in pre-school.

Less than 5% of the kindergarten and 1st grade students combined are invited into the program and she is the only one in her class who was selected. This is another thing that bothers me. I don't want her to feel like she is different. I don't want her to feel pressure to have to perform a certain way in school. I remember being a junior in high school and nearly giving my self a aneurysm when I thought I wasn't going to make it into National Honor Society. And guess what, my grades have never impacted me one bit in my adult life. It's not like I've ever gone into a job interview and been asked "What were your grades like in high school English?" It just really doesn't make a whole lot of difference.

So, I actually struggled with the decision to let her be a part of the program. When we talked about it, I asked her if she knew why she was being asked to go to a different class or if she knew what they would do. She was told it was a special reading class so that she could read more books. Which is fine with me. I would prefer for her to NOT hear that it is a "gifted" class because of the stigma that is associated with that word.

The good thing is that we can take her out of the class at any time. They also wrap up the testing to get into the program with the regular standardized testing that the school does each year. And if she doesn't get in next year, that it A-OK by me.

Dog for sale - real cheap.

It has been a rough week at our house, thus the lack of posts. The kids have both been sick at separate times, this was A.'s long week for working overnights, the dogs are on my last nerve and work is work.

The straw that broke my back this week just happened this afternoon when a small congested four year old boy let out a shriek that a dog had attacked his tiggie.


I may have at one point said to the dog "I will CUT you!"
Please don't call PETA.

For those of you who have spent anytime with Baby Bear, you understand how much he adores his Tiggie. He does not go to sleep with out him. He takes him to school and keeps him in his cubbie all day long, everyday. This is actually Tiggie #2 as the first one had to be retired several months ago because he had made one too many trips through the washing machine. And Tiggie is always laying within reach of one of the three dogs. Why they decided today was the day Tiggie was going down is beyond me.

In case you were wondering, Tiggie #3 has already been ordered. And I will gladly ship you dog #3 in the container once it arrives.

No need to call Dallas just yet

As part of Mooka's birthday presents, I let her go to this cheerleader camp offered by one of the local high schools. The way day worked was 3 hours of camp in the morning, then a break for lunch, then come back and perform during the second quarter of the football game.

When I came to get her from camp, I walked up to see her squatting and twirling her hair.

We went to lunch and talked about how her morning had gone. She said that cheering made her tired and hurt her legs. She then asked if she could take swimming lessons again.

She had a great time once we went back for the actual game. She just did her own little thing and looked adorable doing it. There was a storm that had been brewing all morning but had held off, until the last four minutes of the quarter.

Then.it.poured.



She was pretty bummed that they didn't get to finish the quarter, but she's excited about starting swimming lessons again.

The birthday cake

I was actually pretty impressed with the way this one turned out. Unlike some of my other attempts to be creative in the kitchen, this one actually resembled the picture in the book.





I got the idea from this great book called "Hello Cupcake." It has a ton of great pictures and provides step-by-step instructions.

And most important, the birthday girl LOVED it!

Happy Birthday baby girl!

Dear Mooka,

I cannot believe how quickly this past year flew by. It literally feels like yesterday that I was sad because you were turning five. And now you are six! Six! We now have to use two hands to count your age.

The things I will remember most about you being five...

You LOVE your brother and you do everything with him.



You LOVE to read and you read everything to us.
You eat like a bird, unless we are having fondue or sloppy joes.
You hate to have your hair combed.
Your favorite girl singer is Taylor Swift.
Your favorite band is Skillet (and you can sing most anything by them).
You save every single note I write and stick in your lunch box (even if it's on a napkin).
You flip out at the thought or mention of the squirrel from the movie Ice Age.
If kids were allowed to compete on American Gladiator, you would be first in line for try-outs.
You still suck your thumb and twirl your hair.
You still crawl into bed with us most nights.
You are absolutely the sweetest little girl as long as things are done your way.
You love to make us laugh.


The biggest difference I have noticed in this past year is that you have gone from being a baby girl to a little girl. So much about you has changed. I wish I could just stop time and keep you this size forever.

But, no matter how big you get, Daddy and I will always think of you as our little baby girl.

We love you so very much. We thank God each and every day for blessing us with such a wonderful gift!

Love - Mommy and Daddy

Llamas, Boas and Babies O, My!

The title is the summary of our weekend.

We spent Friday just watching the neighbors grazing and enjoying the rare cool summer evening.

Saturday, we got to go to my Chicago BFF's baby shower. I seriously don't think I've ever seen a cuter pregnant lady!

Before we headed out for the shower, I was on a mad dash to find a coloring book. Story telling tangent - Jenny (from over here) had this great idea at her baby shower. All of the guests colored sheets from the Charlie Harper coloring book while they were waiting for the actual shower to begin. I thought it was a fantastic idea and tried to replicate for this weekend's shower. However, my attempt was a complete failure that left me scrambling hours before the big event trying to find something that would work. Note to self, don't buy something off of the interwebs and count on having it when you need it.

Back to the other story...so when we drove up to the store, there was this guy walking down the street carrying a giant yellow boa constrictor. Like any responsible mom would do, I drove up and asked if he would take a picture with my kid. I expected her to just stand off to the side, but no, she asked if she could hold it!

Busy, busy, busy

I probably could have posted more this week, but it would have looked something like this...

Sunday - Yelled at dogs, kids, and husband.
Monday - Yelled at kids and husband.
Tuesday - Yelled at husband.
Wednesday - Yelled at kids and husband.
Thursday - Cried.

So, I'm hoping for a better weekend.

The reason I broke down on Thursday is because my baby graduated from pre-school.



Seriously! I cannot believe how quickly these kids are growing up!



The school had a very nice program. Then afterward they had a BBQ and playtime for the kids.





I will post later this weekend about my Baby Bear discovery that happened during the BBQ.

Her new talent

She is really proud of herself for this one! She has been working on it for about 2 weeks.

Fairy visits

This past weekend, we planted fairy gardens on our front porch. I think all of the fairy power must have summonsed the Tooth Fairy, because last night we lost another tooth.



P.S. - I'm in love with the collage feature on Picasa.

Ginormica

These pants fit just fine in December.

And this morning...

Another first

Last night after Mooka had already brushed her teeth, I noticed that she had hijacked a package of Skittles into her room for her midnight snack. There she stood, chugging them as fast as she could.

Me: You aren't supposed to have those and you are going to need to get in here to brush your teeth again.

*Insert door slam here*

Moo (from behind the door): When is daddy coming home?

I won't continue with the rest of our discussion as positive reinforcement was NOT a technique that I opted for. Let's just say 5 has been a tough year for my parenting tolerance level.

I am including this photo because this is the look she had on her face when I opened the fore mentioned slammed door...

Less and more

Today's lesson will be about opposites.

MORE



and LESS



Dear Time,

Please slow down.

K?

Thanks!

Weary Mommy

Why one of us will be moving out when she enters highschool

Over the past few months, my daughter (yes, it's during these times that she becomes daughter) has these week long episodes where she is a holy terror.

You may recall the oranges episode.

If this is foreshadowing of what's to come, one of us will not make it through her teen years.

Last night I came home to one of her overly sensitive hormonal attacks.

Each of the following instances resulted in full.blown.crying.

Crying because she couldn't have doritos before dinner...

then it was crying because she didn't want THOSE doritos...

then it was crying because she wanted to do crafts and eat the approved doritos...

then it was because she didn't want to finish dinner because she was cold...

then it was because she wanted ice cream...

then it was because she didn't want to take a bath, she wanted a shower...

then it was because she missed the end of American Idol...

then it was because her pajamas were too hot...

And right about that time, Animal Control showed up and shot it with a tranquilizer and it went to sleep.

Thank GOD we didn't have 2 girls.

Kinda like a cup of soup...

Tonight we enjoyed dinner with my dad and step-mom. While we were waiting for the food to be brought out, the kids were the main source of entertainment. We showed off that each one of them now knows their birth dates.

Grandpa: Do you know where you were born?

Mooka: No, Mommy - where was I born?

Me: Minnesota

Mooka: In a cup of soda.

I really need to work on my lazy southern mumble.

What's in a name?

In my family, nearly all of my grandma's did not go by the traditional title of Grandma. I have a Nanny, a Granny and a MeMe. Since my Granny and MeMe passed away long before I had kids, I really haven't had conversations with the kids about my grandparents. I think they are too young to really understand death right now, so I just haven't gone there.

But recently, Mooka has started calling me MeMe. We aren't really sure where it came from, but she has taken to just using that name to refer to me.

An interesting side note, is that the name MeMe for my grandma was the result of my mom calling her mom a "meanie" in her late teen years and my young cousin interpreting the name in his own way. So...MeMe just stuck.

All last week while I was traveling and called home, she would greet me with a loud "MEME!" She did it again last night when they all picked me up at the airport.

I'm completely fascinated with how she has come up with this name. It makes me want to learn more about genetics.

Or maybe it has nothing to do with genetics and maybe it's my MeMe's way of checking in to let me know she's watching :)

Here we go again

As everyone was exiting the bus this morning, Mooka had the following commentary on my attempt to do my hair today:

Mooka: Remember when you asked me if you should do something with your hair a long time ago?

Me: Yes.

Mooka: Well, I think you should do something with it.

Me: I did do something with it today.

Mooka: Well, it looks crazy.

Please feel free to donate to my get hair extensions club before my child completely wrecks my self esteem.

Girl time

Mooka and I began our bonding rituals at the nail salon before she was even out of the womb.

I was about 7 months into my pregnancy when I decided it would be fun to go get a mani pedi at a nail salon in the mall. It was a Saturday, so A. was able to go with me. And off we went.

There was a small wait because it was a Saturday, at the mall.

When it came time for me to get into the chair, A. helped me remove my shoes and climb up into the pedi chair.

And then it happened.

As I sat down…

RIP

That’s right, the back of my maternity shorts blew out, gave up, cried uncle.

Entire.butt.exposure.

The kind nail technicians scrambled to give me one of their aprons to cover up my backside; however, their aprons were small enough to fit their 4’11” frames and not my 5’9” 7 month pregnant Montezuma butt.

Did I mention that it was Saturday at the mall?

A. made a quick run to a store to pick up replacement pants and the chaos settled.

The next encounter we had together at a nail salon happened a couple years ago (Mooka would have been 3.5) when some very sweet co-workers gave me a gift card to again have a mani pedi. I thought it would be fun to take Mooka for a girls’ afternoon out.

Things seemed to start out okay but then crash and burn.

While I was sitting in the pedi chair, she sat nicely on my lap. Then she wanted to stick her foot in the water. Okay, no big deal. Then she started splashing her foot in the water. Then she kicked the technician in the face.

Not cool.

They moved us over to get my nails done. Mooka was sitting nicely in one of the nearby chairs until she discovered that it would spin. So she began spinning and ended up tipping the chair over. And I know I should have been the concerned mommy, but I really just wanted to lock her in a closet until the whole process was over. She again, sat on my lap for the remainder of the manicure but not without first knocking the technician in the head with the table lamp.

We’ve not ever returned to that salon.

Last night, I had promised Mooka that she could get her nails done for Christmas. So we loaded up with Baby Bear, who by the way has excellent salon manners and sat nicely on my lap the entire time though it may have something to do with the looming threat of getting his nails painted if he misbehaved.

Anyway,

She was excellent last night and no one got kicked or hit during the entire process. Her nails turned out super cute and they even put little snowmen on each of her thumbnails. I’m excited to have found a salon that actually invited us back!

Her acting debut

Mooka and I signed up to be in an interactive play at our church called Journey to Bethlehem. She and I are shop keepers in the village.



Last night was our first real walk through and she had a hard time wrapping her little brain around it. I explained that we are all playing pretend and that her goal is to try to sell the baskets from our shop. She did an amazing job with walking around shouting "Baskets for sale" and "Have you seen the Messiah". However, she was quite upset when no one would actually buy her baskets.




During one of the breaks, one of the other shop keepers came over to "buy" some from Mooka. When the lady asked her how much it would be, Mooka replied "Two freckles." She had heard people around us quoting prices in "shekels", so she came up with her own version. It was pretty funny.

(Another Brick Breaker fan...)

When your mind is made up...

Last weekend during a trip to Libby Lu, Mooka announced that she was ready to get her ears pierced. Once again, we did the lets-wait-until-next-weekend trick. We have been through this before and I was hoping it would just pass.

First thing Saturday morning, she started asking about it. So we gave in.

She was so funny and determined the entire time. As soon as she sat down in the chair, she put on her game face and stuck to it. I'm pretty sure the first time I went to get mine done, I chickened out.

But not Mooka...she was ALL business.



Thinking it over...



Game on...



All she said when it was done, was "Mommy hold me."



She was back to normal within about 10 minutes. She has been so excited about them all weekend and cannot wait to change into some of her new earrings.

I feel like Baby Bear has not gotten a lot of press as of late, so here are a couple of pics of him enjoying Yankee Candle Company. I am pretty sure I won't be getting any calls for him to be their new spokesman.

Moo Gabba Gabba

A long lost twin?





Mean? Maybe.

Did that stop me? Nope.