Picture Time!

I took Anaya to get her pictures taken this weekend. She hasn’t had her picture taken professionally since she was 2. Since then, whenever we stepped into a studio, she’s had a complete melt-down. I think it was the pressure of being told what to do and where to sit and how to smile and all that. She’s very obstinate. This time, she made it through the shoot, and her picture actually came out really cute. I hate to be biased, but Anaya is probably the prettiest of my kids. When you catch her in the right mood, she can be really photogenic.

Drama Mama

My oldest is a complete drama mama. Everything she does is a production; either it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to her or the absolute worst. This morning there was a huge amount of drama over her school clothes. Now, she’s in 1st grade in a public school. But, luckily (or so I thought) it’s a uniform dress-code school, so getting dressed should be pretty easy. We even take the guess work out of it by keeping her “school clothes” separate from her other clothes. Also, this is the same school she went to last year, and she’s been in school now for almost two months this year. Today though, she wanted to wear some non-uniform clothes to school. She cried and whined and basically dragged her feet for 15 minutes while getting a shirt on. All of her uniform shirts (i.e. collared polo-type shirts in light blue, white or navy) were suddenly “too big” or “too itchy.” So I told her to put on an undershirt, and that was deemed “too hot.” It didn’t help much that her sister, Anaya, who goes to pre-school daily, was flaunting the fact that she got to wear her new shirt to school today. A fabulous costume type t-shirt that made it look like she was a cowgirl. All the getting dressed drama made her miss the bus, and pretty much put a icky spin on my day.

In other thoughts, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Obama proposal to lengthen the school year and school day. Personally, I think it’s a fantastic plan, but this is a whole ‘nother blog all on it’s own, soon to come.

Good Old Granola Bar, but Better, the Larabar

I am one of those people who skips breakfast almost every weekday. Then, by lunchtime, I’m so hungry I make bad lunch decisions. So, in order to spot this behavior, I’ve started stashing granola bars in my desk at work. These are my breakfast at my desk. I eat them first thing in the morning when I’m checking my email (really looking at Facebook, don’t judge me), and planning my day (still looking at Facebook, probably playing Mafia Wars or Bejeweled). So I’ve gone through a pretty wide variety of granola bars. Some I don’t like because they’re too sweet, others are too crunchy, and others just don’t taste right. I’ve been working my way through the natural foods section of my local Fry’s store, and a few weeks ago, found the amazing Larabars (folks, they aren’t paying me to say this). I am in love. These are so tasty and packed full of good stuff. My favorite right now is the Ginger Snap. It’s like the best tasting Gingerbread Man ever, but soft and chewy rather than tooth-breakingly crispy, it has a good heat to it, due to the real ginger. The Lemon Bar is also delicious. It’s tart and has a real lemon flavor, rather than the faux lemon taste that some bars have. I would love to try Apple Pie, Key Lime Pie and Cinnamon Roll, but my Fry’s doesn’t carry those. Perhaps I’ll check out Whole Foods and see if they have any in stock.

Robbery at our Home

Our home was broken into yesterday, 09/18/2009, between 4:30 and 5:00 PM. The front door was kicked open and a 52" Mitsubishi TV was taken from the back family room. The police were called, we have a police report. We also had all of the paperwork for the TV, so we were able to provide them with the serial number for the TV. We know the exact time, because my husband, had been home all day sick. The only time he left was to go pick our daughter up at Desert Meadow's after-school program and to get the mail. The door frame was completely shattered. Poor construction quality at our front door showed that the door frame in our house, at least on the lock side, wasn't screwed into anything. We expect there was more than one person who came into the house, because you would have needed two men to move the TV. I expect our home had been under watch for a few days now, and that they were only after the TV, because a laptop and a gaming system in the same roomwere not even touched.

Driving Like a Monkey

There was an article in the Arizona newspaper today that got picked up by Fox News, and has gone nationwide. In Arizona, we have these traffic cameras that catch speeding vehicles. They are the tools of the Devil. Yes, I've been caught. It's a $180 fine. In my defense, I was over by the airport, and the camera is very tricky over there. In that section of the highway, the speed drops from 65 MPH to 55 MPH. The camera is set up right beyond the sign. You guessed it, I'm driving along at my normal driving speed, and I get bagged for going 72 in a 55. Goodbye $180! And apparently, I'm not the only one who gets caught there. A man in Arizona is trying to beat the system by wearing a Monkey Mask when he drives. This way he can't be identified as the driver of the car. Check it out for yourself. You tell me, is this man an unappreciated genius? Is he a performance artist of the highest caliber? Or, is he just a man cheating they system?

Is She a Vampire?

Yesterday, when I got my youngest from daycare, there was a note on her daily report- “Avery bit another child and left a mark.” But the teacher didn’t mention it, so I didn’t even notice it until we got to the car. When I did see it, I asked Avery who she bit (Avery is 2, in case you were wondering). She looks at me, puts her hands on her hips and says “Bitey Shawn” which I suppose translates to I bit Shawn. Then, in what I can only imagine is the re-enactment of the post biting lecture, she gets a bit agitated and starts pointing and saying “No, no bitey Shawn. In time out.” And then it trails off into 2 year old babble that I can’t even begin to translate.

Now, I know Avery bites. But, it’s gone down considerably in frequency, especially as she got more verbal. I spoke with her teacher, and they were pretty sure that yesterday’s bite wasn’t a huge issue. That Avery just got overwhelmed by the other kids, and took it out on someone smaller than her. It’s really the first time in about 4 months that she’s bitten anyone who isn’t named Anaya or Adeline, so that’s a relief.

Next year, when she’s potty trained, I’m hoping to move her into a pre-school program, in a center. Something I can’t do now because of the cost, and because she’d get kicked out for biting. As much as I love her current daycare, I think being with more kids will be better for her. More kids her age. This kid is too smart for her own good. She’s devilishly smart. Knows how to problem solve. For example, Mommy’s candy is hidden high in a cabinet. Neither of the other kids have ever attempted to get in there. Avery gets a chair, pushes the chair to the counter. Climbs onto the counter, pulls the chair up onto the counter, to get to the candy. I come into the kitchen, and find her covered with chocolate, sitting on the chair, on the counter. She’s also the kid who will get into the pantry, rip open a box of cereal, and then use scissors to cut into the bag. Need I remind you, she’s only 2!

I turned 31 yesterday. A year ago, I started this blog, with the intentions of doing daily entries. That didn’t happen. But, many things have happened over the last calendar year (besides me getting a year older).
First off, my baby, Avery, is no longer a baby, but a toddler. She turned 2 on August 1. She is my last baby. We indulge her a little, and she’s kind of bossy, but in an adorable way. Over the past year she started walking and then running. Climbing, jumping, talking and became her own person instead of a lump. The baby stage isn’t my favorite, I’m a much bigger fan of the toddler stage, even if it is more work. Avery is also in her own bed, a twin size bed, in her own room. She knows the letters A and Y.

Then there’s Anaya. She’s the sensitive one in the middle. She’s much quieter than either of her two sisters, more passive, and prone to irrational fears. While the irrational fears have gotten slightly better, she still has some quirks. She has a fear of dogs, especially little dogs. She hates when it rains, and takes a windy day as a personal attack. She gets carsick, and therefore can’t sit in the very back row of the van. Anaya is also my typhoid Mary. If there is something going on, Anaya will get it, and be sicker than the rest of the family put together. She’s susceptible to lung infections, and gets bronchitis at least twice a year. She’ll be 5 in November, and started pre-school this school year. The teacher tells me that she doesn’t participate a lot, and hangs back to watch everyone else do the activities. Not a big surprise, because in her other daycare, it took almost a year before she’d talk in circle time. When Adeline and Avery get too rough for her, she goes and hides out in the quiet of the upstairs playroom.

Adeline, my oldest is a social butterfly. She’s my clone looks-wise, but far more outgoing than I ever was. We call her the mayor of her school, since everyone seems to know her name. It’s interesting when we pick her up after school. Everyone, even the older kids say goodbye to her by name. Adeline is the benevolent dictator of the playroom. It mostly runs on what she wants to do and what TV shows she wants to watch, but she occasionally lets Anaya do some choosing. She’s in First Grade now. School work isn’t her strong point, but socialization is. Recently mastered counting to 100, and basic and primer sight word lists.

Frank and I have been together now for almost 14 years, and will be celebrating our 9 year wedding anniversary this October. We’ve hit some rough patches, but worked through them. I called him out on his expectations that I would just sit back and let him go globe trotting while leaving me home with the kids. He’s also trying to be around more, which is difficult due to his work situation. He’s trying to take the two days off a week that are due to him, but it doesn’t always happen. I’m more vocal in what I expect from him now. If I need him to get up and help me with the kids in the morning, I wake him up, and can’t expect him to be able to read my mind. I’m trying to be less passive aggressive.

My goals for the upcoming year-
1. Gain control of my closet. Do a major clean-up job and get rid of a lot of items, or put them in storage in the garage.
2. Get to a more healthy weight. Lose 20-40 pounds. 20 would put me at pre-baby weight, 40 would be pre-wedding weight.
3. Attain number 2 by eating better, incorporate more vegetables into my daily diet, whole grains, etc.
4. Spend less money. Stop impulse purchases. I have tons of clothes, there is no reason to go out and buy any at all this year. Stop buying magazines. Use the library for books.