Litte E is the Winner!!

She pulled out her wiggly tooth this morning. She is so excited!! And she won the loose tooth contest that I posted about a while back.

So, what the going rate for a tooth these days?

The KK Khronicles, Part Deux

Kids says the darnedest things and Super K is no exception.  If you missed my first installment, click here .

On politics...

While playing with her doll, a political ad was on TV.

KK: "Here Daddy, Barack Obamaca makes my baby cry."

While scratching her bottom and listening to news coverage on the election...

Daddy: "KK, what are you doing?"

KK: "John McCain makes my butt itch and he makes me tired."

On losing her mermaid doll...

KK: "Where's my stinkin' mermaid doll??"

On potty training...

KK: "What a big girl am I.  High 5 Girlfriend!" 

Little e also makes us laugh...  

While I was getting ready, she came into the bathroom to use the potty.  I told her about our plans for her day off which included a trip to Build-A-Bear and going to see High School Musical 3.  The news made her "toot".

e: "(laughing) I was so excited, I blew!!"

Pierre Von Gobble

Seriously, that's his name.

When I dropped little e off at school yesterday, the school nurse who got her out of the car (they have curbside service there) asked if we had seen the turkey.  It turns out, Pierre is one of the teachers' pets (heehee... teachers pet) and she brought it to school so the kids could see a turkey up close and personal.

KK and I decided to investigate.

I have never seen a turkey that close and he was really friendly.  We were able to pet his head and touch his feathers.  The head of a turkey is strangely soft and fuzzy and squishy.

KK was intrigued by his wiggle belly button... uhm, nose thing.

After school, we stopped by to see Pierre one last time and get a picture of little e with her newest friend.

Don't you wish your kids' school had a pet turkey too?

Wanna Bet??

We have two loose and wiggly teeth in our household.

One of little e's baby teeth is loose. She is so excited. When we went to the dentist in April, the dentist told her that she was going to lose a tooth soon. She took that literally and has been telling everyone since then that she is going to lose a tooth. When one actually started wiggling, she was beside herself. The loose one is on the bottom, left of center.

If you remember, KK did battle with the cement last year and chipped one of her front teeth. When I took her to the dentist in April when it started to discolor, they took x-rays and said that she would probably lose it by the summer since the roots were dying.

So, the question is, who is going to lose the first tooth? We're taking bets... which girl will be the first to lose a tooth and when??

I pray that it is little e, because man, how can a little sister beat you to that accomplishment??

Adventures in Potty Training Part 4 & The KK Khronicles

Ahhh, potty training. One of my most hated parts about child rearing. We have decided to take a rather lax approach with KK since it was so frustrating with little e. The second time around has been interesting and definitely much more enjoyable. If you need to catch up, read all the other potty training posts here .

So, head strong KK has moved into big girl panties but is very opinionated about which panties she will be wearing. She does have accidents every now and then, but I have not bought diapers or pull-ups since the end of July. Yippee!!

We have also had some very interesting conversations with her while potty training. Hence, The KK Khronicles.

Before heading out to Tae Kwon Do...
me: 'Do you need to go potty?'

KK: 'NO THANK YOU!!!' (at least she has manners)

Me: 'You need to go potty before we leave'

KK: 'Sure, whatever'


After an accident...
KK: 'I absolutely peed in my panties... my lemonade made me do it'


Picking out princess pull-ups...
KK: 'I found Jasmine!! Those, I want those!'

me: 'You like Princess Jasmine?'

KK: 'Yeah... I wish we could go at A Taste of Monterey and see Jasmine... I miss her.'

me: 'Me too'

KK: 'Did she used to be your friend?'

me: 'She still is my friend'

KK: 'Is she my friend too?'

me: 'yes'

(Side note: to all my ATOM friends... miss you all and hope all is well.)

Have a great Wednesday!

Sweet Serenity Tuesday

Yes, I know it's Wednesday and I should probably be cleaning, or doing laundry, or figuring out something for dinner, or... well, you get the picture. But I thought I would take this rare moment of quiet to let you know about my great day yesterday.

It started out a little hectic since Big E and I both ran 3 miles in the morning... he went first and then I went with the dog (ugh!). Sophie is not the fastest or most focused runner, but she hangs in there so she can take a dip in the bay half way through.

Anyway, Big E and little e are now carpool buddies since her bus stop is on the base and he drops her off on his way to work... great daddy and daughter bonding time. After sending them on their way, I hopped into the shower and got myself and KK ready and dropped her off at her school. Well, it's not really school. More of a kids day out/mommys morning out program that she goes to once a week from 9-3:30 (hallelujah). I know it sounds awful, but to be kid free for 6 hours is just what the doctor ordered.

I had a little time to spare before I had to be at little e's school to volunteer in her classroom. (I know, a free day... and how do I spend it?). I figured it was the least I could do and she was really excited for me to be there. I was in charge of the art station where the kids made their faces on paper plates and added yarn hair. I have to say, there are quite a few abstract artists in the class. After stations were over, I joined e for lunch in the cafeteria. It was quite a different atmosphere than at her previous school (S, you can vouch for that). Smaller school/classes make for way less chaos.

So stomach grumbling, I said my goodbyes and stopped to get lunch at my favorite fast food addiction joint, McDonalds. At least I was by myself... Big E will be happy with that. He HATES fast food and the fact that the girls even know what McDonalds is. I have vices, what can I say?

Then, it was off to get my watch battery replaced, roam through JoAnn Fabrics for a while, a trip to BJ's to get some bulk Crystal Light, then to Old Navy for some returns and browsing, more browsing at Ross and then back home. Whilst at home, I organized the girls closet and hung up hooks in the toy room for their dress up outfits. Then I headed to the commissary for one more stop of sans free kid shopping. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes and got everything I needed... and nothing that I didn't. After, I picked up KK at school and went to get e at the bus stop.

When we got home, I brought the girls upstairs to see the new enhancements made to the toy room. They stayed up there playing for a good hour and a half... no screaming or fighting or tattle tale-ing. I was able to unload all of the groceries and organize them, thaw something for dinner and cut up loads of vegetables for dinner and snacking.

After dinner, we headed to a local ice cream place to celebrate little e's first full week of school. e decided she wanted a quart or pint of double chocolate chunk ice cream, but we got her a small bowl instead. KK got an ice cream cone bigger than her but enjoyed it.

We ended the night with a bubble tub (my turn), where no one got yelled at, stories, and both of the girls willingly going to bed with neither of them exiting the room once.

So, there you have it. It may not sound like much, but it was a great button reset day. I feel like a whole different person. I was much more patient with them yesterday and today and am definitely looking forward to next week. It may make me look like a bad mom to be so thrilled with a day away from my kids... But, there really is something to be said for being able to stop several places and not have to buckle and unbuckle kids, hold their hands so they don't get run over in a parking lot, scoping out the nearest bathroom for the accident prone one who's potty training, not constantly saying 'hands off, don't touch' and worry about lunch and nap time, yadda yadda yadda.

Here's to days of feeling non-mom like and not feeling guilty for it!! Hope you all are able to enjoy those few and far between zen-like moments.

Kindergarten, Part 2

Today was little e's first day of Kindergarten... again. If you remember, she started Kindergarten when we were in California since she met the age cut-off there. We debated and went back and forth over the decision to re-start her and after today, we are so at ease with our decision.

Although there is an elementary school, literally in our backyard, we put little e's name into the lottery for the new charter school in the area and were lucky enough to get a spot. The waiting list for the school is huge. They follow all of the state education guidelines, but are free to create their own curriculum. The focus is on community, development of self, creativity through arts and music... they even do organic gardening.

And the best part... uniforms!!!

...although one is able to express their self through their Hanna Montana bookbag.

She wore her necklace that her CA boyfriend gave her for good luck.

Little sisters are so much fun!

Dad took time out of his busy day to join us for a treasure hunt through the school to get us all acquainted with the layout.

At the end of the treasure hunt, one of the teachers read the kids the book, "The Kissing Hand", which is a great story about a raccoon that is scared to go to school.

And last, but not least, there is a new "K" in our life... here on out referred to as BFFK. Not more than 5 minutes of being in the classroom, little e and BFFK were holding hands. I think they had met previously at one of my friends houses. Her teacher told me that they were inseparable today which is great since they will be riding the bus together next week. What a perfect way to alleviate her bus fears.

When I picked little e up, she was all smiles and said that she loved her new school. Nothing better than that...

Ketchup, Part 1

When I was in school we used to have "catch-up" days and I always thought it was so funny to have "ketchup" days... and apparently, I still do. Silly.

Anyway, since I have been so lax about blogging for a while, we are going to need to go way back to May. That is when little e tested for her yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Here she is focusing and getting ready to recite the 10 rules of Tae Kwon Do... such concentration.
Warming up with punches.
Master Shim...
who is apparently rolling in the dough judging by the sheer numbers of people that come through the doors of the academy... and the brand new studio that is nicer than many houses I have seen. (Check out the look on the little boy's face who is next to him... priceless).

Little e tested on a Saturday, but had to wait until Monday to see if she had passed.

Drum roll please...




Was there any doubt?

I love how proud she is when she reaches a new level.
And of course, the congratulatory hand shakes from the black belts.
Congratulations big girl!!

Conversations with Kids

I have to admit, one of my favorite things about being a parent is getting to see the world through our kids eyes. Sometimes I have no idea where they come up with some of the stuff they say.

This morning while getting the kids ready, the conversation went like this:

Me: 'KK, come here, be a good listener and let's get you dressed.'...she actually listened for once and came over to me.

KK: 'I'm so proud of you Mommy.'

Me: (confused look)

e: 'Congratulations on being a grown-up!'

Me: (still confused look) 'Huh??'

e: 'Well, you've been alive for a really long time. I mean, they didn't even have cars when you were born.'

Me: (laughing) 'I'm not that old.'

e: 'Oh yeah, Grandma & Grandpa are pretty old... they definitely didn't have cars back then.'

After thinking a little more...

e: 'Were Grandma & Grandpa in the war?'

Me: 'What war?'

e: 'You know the one that happened a million years ago?'

---------------------------------------

On the way home today, e noticed that a lot of people were mowing our neighbors lawn.

e: 'How come a lot of people have people mowing their yards?'

Me: 'Well, some people have a lawn service to do it for them.'

e: 'How come we don't have one? Oh! We do... it's Daddy!'

----------------------------------------

We had a storm here last night with lots of wind, rain and according to KK...

'Lighbening and Blunder'. 'Can you save me from the blunder Mommy?'

----------------------------------------

Now, if I ever get any of this on video, that would be so much better. On the old note, is it still even called video anymore??

Ticki Ticki Tembo-...

...no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo. An interesting book, Tikki Tikki Tembo, retold by Arlene Mosel... try reading that to your kids after a glass of wine.

Where was I? Oh yeah, ticks.

Starting in late April, early May, Southern Maryland is riddled with ticks... and living on an acre and a half, a majority of which is woodsy, does not help.

The current tick count is: little e - 2, with 1 tick head embedded in her head; super K - 2; big K - 2, plus 2 more found crawling on me; and leading with a big goose egg - super big E. Way to go Superman!

Whilst enjoying ice cream with the girls tonight, I mistakenly thought KK got a glob of chocolate on her head... which is by no means unusual. Instead, I found this...
Yuck, ewww... definitely something to make your skin crawl.

With the help of my trusty assistant...

...I employed this technique:

'To Remove the entire TICK safely..........

Tick Removal Please forward to anyone with children .... or hunters, etc!! thanks! A School Nurse has written the info below -- good enough to share -- And it really works!! I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the best way to remove a tick. This is great, because it works in those places where it's sometimes difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc. Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and let it stay on the repulsive insect for a few seconds (15-20), after which the tick will come out on it's own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time I've used it (and that was frequently), and it's much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me. Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can't see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor's wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she couldn't reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately called me back to say, "It worked!"'

...provided to me by my good friend Amy's mom, Doris, when she originally heard about e's tick head-head problem.

I did not work quite as promised, but did stun the nasty bugger enough for me to get it completely out.

As for me, one of the two little f*%@ers that bit me a month ago, must have had it out for me. For the past week I have been extremely tired and have had horrible knee pain. So, I loaded up the crew, including one 2 year old, sans nap, and headed to Naval Medical. After speaking with the doctor and providing three viles of my precious blood, I received a 21 day course of antibiotics to treat Lyme Disease. My results will not come back for a week, but hey... definitely better safe than sorry, right?

Darn, military housing or model home are sounding really good right now!

Reasons Why Not...

...to leave a 2 year old unattended for a minute.

Example 1:
Mom's bright idea to give her a plate of crackers and easy cheese for dipping.



Example 2:
Dad's bright idea to set up a paint station in the garage.

Incredible Hulk Jr.


Punk rock highlights.

These two events happened a day apart from each other.

Will we ever learn?

Board Breaking and White Striping

Little e has moved on to board breaking in the world of Tae Kwon Do.

Here she is holding her board prior to class. Hard to believe that this sweet little thing could have enough power to break a board with her hand.

She actually broke one while waiting for class to start, so my initial fears were put to rest.

Ready, set, ACTION!

That was called, 'Palm heal strike'.

Since that picture was taken, she has broken several more boards using her feet and elbows. I am not looking forward to the day that she does it with her head... ugh!

She also earned a new belt a few weeks back... it's called 'white stripe'...

...why, I am not sure, since it clearly has a yellow stripe on it. But who am I to question years of tradition?

After each achievement, we can clearly see a sense of pride of accomplishment in her.

I cannot get over how old she looks here. Time is definitely flying by.

Congratulations!!

Look What I Made!

Jacinda over at Creative Legs has been taunting me with her insane amount of creativity and talent which prompted me to dust off my crochet hook. OK, I actually had to go buy one, but lets not split hairs, shall we?

My Grandma taught me how to crochet when I was a kid and I basically got really really good at doing one long chain and I think maybe I could go back and forth a little, but I don't believe I ever really made anything.

Little e saw a poncho that the neighbor lady had made and has wanted one ever since, so when I went to this website and found a free pattern that said, 'easy', I was hooked... no pun intended. Because if it says 'easy', it must be, right??

Well, if you have never crocheted or looked at a pattern, you've got a surprise coming... because they are written in hieroglyphics. Here the first line of my 'easy' pattern...

'Ch 3, make 2 more dc in same space, [skip next ch, 3 dc in next ch] 17 times, skip next ch; join with slip st in top of beg ch - 18 Blocks.'

What the ???

I promptly emailed Jacinda and then later picked up the phone to ask her what any of that meant. She got me started by trying as hard as she could to dumb down the lingo for me. I started crocheting and making up whatever stitch I thought would work, because I was making a poncho after all... no one would ever know if there was something wrong with it. That's the beauty of things that you just throw over your head... no accuracy required. I am making scarves next!!

And I got this done just in time for summer. Thankfully, I made it plenty big enough that it will fit for years to come. Princess M, one is on its way for you too... perfect for those chilly days in CA.

Spring in the East

Ahhh, Spring has officially arrived on the east coast. The cherry blossoms are everywhere and are beautiful!!

Last weekend, we headed up to Washington D.C. to play tourist. We parked our car at the closest Metro station and jumped on the train... 'Bullet train, bullet train, yeah' (parents of young children: name it)... and headed to The Mall.

We did all of the touristy things... we went to the monuments, The Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (one museum was one too many with the girls), had street vendor hot dogs for lunch and looked at the thousands of beautiful blossoms.

We also enjoyed the many, many kites that were flying.

Turns out that last Saturday was the first day of the Cherry Blossom Festival, complete with a kite flying competition. Had we have known, we would have never gone... the amount of people on The Mall was insane. We are so glad that we went though. One more adventure under our belts.

These cool pictures were edited with Photoshop, which is one of my new favorite things. I can't wait to see what more I can do with it... stay tuned!

Happy Valentine's Day!

No, I haven't completely lost my mind. I DO know it's St. Patrick's Day, but I'm not Irish, and I have really no idea why there is a St. Patrick's Day. I mean, I know it has something to do with St. Patrick, but this holiday has never really spoken to me... well, maybe it did in college with the green beer and all.

OK, I just read up on the history of St. Patrick's Day here, so now I'm not a complete ninny. Does anyone even use that word anymore? I'm not sure if I ever have save for just right now.

Anyway....

I never got around to posting our Valentine's Day fun, so I figured that I would go ahead and take the opportunity to do so today.

We started our morning with pink heart shaped pancakes.

My heart cookie cutter that my mom gave to me has gotten sooo much use over the years... it's great for sandwiches too.

MD had a dusting of snow, so school was canceled. e was pretty upset because she was going to miss her Valentine's Day party, but her mood quickly changed when she realized that she could do this with the neighbors...



KK had a great time too and

even made a new friend.

Friday's weather was back to normal and e was able to have her school party. They made these really cute boxes to collect their valentines in.

Every time I glanced towards the box, I wanted to yell, 'Get off the counter!'

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day and have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

Fate?

I'm not really sure what to call it... so I am going with fate.

The day after we had to put Isis down, I was speaking with a parent at e's school... which I guess I never told you how we solved our dilemma. OK, quick sidetrack...

We found a part-day private Kindergarten for e. It's at one of the church's here and is from 9-12 everyday. It's perfect. She gets to go for the morning, learn something and hang out with friends and then in the afternoon, her and I get to hang out while KK sleeps. In the fall, we are going to re-start her in Kindergarten, either at the school in our backyard, or the charter school. Not sure about that one yet, but we have plenty of time to decide.

Alright, back to fate...

I was speaking with a parent at e's school and told her that we had to put Isis down. The next day, she told me that she had heard from a friend of a friend, that a man was moving to England and had a 2 year old lab that he was looking for a family for and wanted to tell me about it first because of our situation.

I mentioned it to E, but neither of us thought much of it at the time. Then we started talking more, and you all know what happens when we start talking and thinking...

So, we decided to email the guy and just get a feel for him and the dog. We emailed back and forth and he told us that she was a really sweet dog, was house and invisible fence trained. He told us that he works 10-12 hours a day and it's not fair to her to be left alone. He also might be moving back to England where there is a 6 month pet quarantine. And he sent us this picture...
Obviously, a puppy picture, but look at that face.

After more emails and questions, we were informed that it would be an adoption, not a sale, and she would come with everything. Oh yeah, she's spayed too. Now, with our history of all things strange, we didn't think twice. 'Cuz why start now??

We arranged to drive 2 hours north of us to meet them. They were outside waiting for us. We talked outside for awhile and then proceeded inside... first to the garage where all of her supplies were waiting (toys, food, bowls, etc.) and he told us that he didn't remember the name of the food because his girlfriend buys it. We then went inside, he put the dog downstairs and we went into the family room where we were introduced to two girls, older than ours, and told one was upstairs. His girlfriend also poked her head down at one point to say, 'Hi.'

Hmmm, OK, so I was sort of under the impression that this guy was single. But while sitting on the couch in a really awkward conversation, I looked around at the pictures where there was one with him and his girlfriend and the three girls. Back to this in a minute.

So, we decided that she was the one and we were going to become dog owners once again, much sooner than expected.

Meet Sophie
a 2 year old, REALLY black lab, in need of a couple of work-outs but has the cutest face ever.

When loading her into the car, the guy was tearing up because it is SO extremely hard to let a pet go. But no one else came out of the house, no one else said good-bye. This is one part of the whole thing that I cannot wrap my brain around and I don't think I ever will, no matter how much I obsess about it. I mean, is the dog always alone at home? What about the kids and the girlfriend? Did they recently become involved? I will never know.

Anyway... she LOVES to play tug of war, and her and e have become fast friends. Sophie will drag e all around the house with e laughing the whole time.

She does have some bad habits, not her fault, so we will be doing some re-training over the next... well however long it takes to undo and redo. It should be a fun challenge.

And she also came with this on her collar. Fate or something else??