Halloween

Wow, Halloween used to be just one night.  But now, as the kids get older, it seems as if there are a million activities that actually lead up to the real Halloween.  I think I had to dress Sydney up like 4 or 5 times....crazy!!  She had a schoolwide halloween roller skating party at Bonaventure where she wore her Belle princess dress.  Then, the next day, she wore her Cinderella dress (the one she bought at Disney World because they were sold out of Belle, but obviously we eventually HAD to get her Belle too) to the Enchanted Hike at  her school.  Then, that weekend we had a party at Samantha and Addison's house (Addison is currently in Lizzy's class and Samantha was in Sydney's class last year, but they rock....so we keep in touch).  Sydney wore her Little Mermaid costume and Lizzy wore Strawberry Shortcake.  Fortunately Lizzy only had two Halloween events and she was Strawberry Shortcake for both, so we didn't have all of the costume changes!! Anyway,  It was a lot of fun to have all of the kids together.  They had a blast painting pumpkins and doing other crafts. Well, Lizzy had fun painting the pumpkins, but then she got antsy and decided to play with all of their toys...I wasn't surprised....she loves other people's toys!

And then finally....Halloween night (as if the kids needed MORE candy).  Lily came over to trick-or-treat with us and my mom passed out the candy.  The kids really don't understand the concept of "WALK" as they ran from house to house.  Fortunately, there were  no incidents this year.  Although, Sydney did make a comment which left me completely mortified.  We went to this one house and I didn't go right up to the door with the kids.  So, I was standing close to the street and yelled out to Sydney to make sure she said "thank you" becasue I didn't hear her say it.  And she yells out, "I can't, this house STINKS" (as she running away).  The people who live in this house happen to be Indian so what she was smelling was Indian food.  But, I told her that she can't say stuff like that (but couldn't really get in a huge lecture and she was running to the next house).  Her response was, "but it DID".  So, we'll have to have a bigger chat about how to keep some things inside sometimes.  Fortunately I don't know these people and it was dark outside so they won't remember us, but how embarrassing!!!  And one quick Lizzy story.  We went up to a house and Lizzy said, "trick or treat, I'm thirsty, can I have a drink?"  This was like two houses down from the one Sydney said smelled.  I was like, what the heck is wrong with my kids?  I told the nice lady that she didn't have to get her a drink, but she insisted and came back with a juice box!

Although we had a lot of fun this Halloween...I'm glad it's over!!  Next up....Thanksgiving....yum!  And on the menu....Halloween candy!  We have enough for an army including the 30 pack of full size candy bars that Jerry stopped by with for the kids!

Down on the Farm

Sydney's class went on a field trip to The Real Life Farm in Canton.  FINALLY, now that she's in kindergarten, parents don't have to chaperone.  They can if they want, but it's not mandatory that every child has a parent in attendance.  So, we signed Sydney up and figured she was good to go.  But my girly girl was a little hesitant about going to a farm.  Last year, our trip to the Bowers Farm was not successful at all, as Sydney stood there with her fingers over her nose the entire time...literally.


So, not only was she not excited to go on this trip, but she was even less excited about the fact that one of us wasn't going.  But alas, Grandpa Eliot came to the rescue.  Sydney begged and begged and finally got her way.  So, I had to call the teacher the day before the trip and make arrangements for my dad to go on the trip.  And what do you know...she LOVED the Real Life Farm.  From what I hear, it is pretty amazing.  They got to ride horses, which Sydney apparently loved (they must not have smelled).  They also had a fantastic playground and went on a hayride.  My dad even said that he had fun...despite the fact that I forgot to pack him a lunch...ooops.  The whole trip, he kept sending me text messages saying, "I'm losing strength, I need food.  Oh, but don't worry about me."  Obviously he was kidding, but yes, I did forget to pack him some food.

But all in all, Sydney had a wonderful time (and I got some pictures out of the deal...thanks Dad!).  Maybe next time she will be adventurous and attempt a field trip without one of us.  But then again, I guess I kind of like the fact that she still needs and wants to be with us.  It's only a matter of time before that changes...and from what I hear, it happens pretty quickly!

SCHOOL!!!!

So, both kids are in school this year, where has the time gone?  Sydney seems to be loving kindergarten!  Her favorite part is the bus, but I'm not quite sure that counts!  So, her second favorite part is gym.  Sometimes she comes home and says, "today wasn't very much fun at all", and the only reason she says that is because she has to go to art.  She's not a very big fan of art; perhaps she takes after me.  I can barely draw a stick figure, so maybe she should just aspire to be a little better than me and she'll be good!  But all in all, she is very happy.  She loves her teacher, since it's the one she really wanted.  They have small homework assignments which she is eager to do, so hopefully this will keep up!

As for Lizzy, we had a small hiccup along the way.  I had signed Lizzy up for a MWF class thinking it would be the same set up as Sydney's class last year at Alameda where the teacher had a MWF class and a completely separate T TH class.  So it was perfect, she would go all day MWF and I would leave work early on those days to pick her up and meet Sydney off of the bus and Sydney would go to Y Care on        T TH.  It was perfect until two weeks into the year, I realized that Lizzy and another kid were the ONLY one's going MWF and everyone else went every single day.  I realized this when the teacher kept planning big activities on Tuesday's and Thursday's and Lizzy was missing out and although I addressed my concern, nothing was changed.  There was no kid that only went on T TH, so there was no reason not to plan big events on MWF which would benefit everyone.  Also, a month into the school year and I didn't even know the teacher's email address...so that's not a good sign. But anyway, needless to say, I put Lizzy in a different class.

The class Lizzy is in now only meets on Tuesday's and Thursday's all day.  I figured since she just turned 3, that is enough!  Sydney only went for 2 1/2 hours two days per week when she was three, so I figured it would be a good fit.  The teacher is awesome and emails me pictures of Lizzy and responds almost immediately when you send an email.  Also, this class only had 8 kids, where the previous class had 17, so the teacher/student ratio is much smaller.  Even better, I had to change my work schedule to leave early on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday ( I kept Friday since I still have to get Sydney off of the bus).  This would mean I would work late on Mon. and Wed. and need someone to watch Sydney on those days.  But since our nextdoor neighbor doesn't work on those two days, she offered to get Sydney off of the bus on those days so that Sydney doesn't have to go to Y Care, and thus saving me $130 per month.  So, I think this was a good move....MAYBE.

The maybe comes into play because Lizzy is TOTALLY breaking my heart.  It's been two weeks and she still talks about her friends in the other class.  She keeps saying that her best friend is Claire and that her old teachers still love her and that she misses all of them.  She sees them on the playground which in a way makes things harder because she will NEVER forget about them.  I'm trying to think on the positive side in that, now she just has more friends, but you should hear her when she talks about them, it really brings a tear to my eye and makes me think that I made the wrong decision.  I know kids are resilient, so hopefully this will all work out in the end.  Afterall, I figured that the kids who are going every day this year will naturally go every day next year so they would be in a different class next year anyway.  And there is NO WAY that Lizzy is not going to get Mrs. Bruder next year (the best teacher EVER), so I already know she will be going MWF next year.

So...here's to a good year without anymore glitches!!!

Lizzy's Birthday (and mine too...)

September 9th is both mine and Lizzy's birthday.  But since I'm old now, we try to focus on Lizzy!!  It wasn't the most exciting day, but we made the most of it.

First, Lizzy had her pre-school orientation, so I took the day off of work to spend with Lizzy since the orientation was in the middle of the day anyway. She bolted immediately to the toys...of course!  She had fun, and they even sang happy birthday to her!  Then, we met my mom for lunch, but all of a sudden she had a terrible pain in her leg and could barely walk...so we ended up at Urgent Care....fun!  Turns out it was a pinched  nerve!  We were supposed to go shopping, but as you can imagine...that didn't happen.  So, we went home to catch Sydney off of the bus!

That night my Dad and Gail came over for dinner.  The kids were both tired and cranky by this point, so we just got a carry out and stayed in (but we did go out to Dairy Queen for dessert...somehow ice cream all of a sudden puts kids in a good mood).  I don't think I have any pictures, but my Dad and Gail got me Uggs for my birthday...it was completely unexpected, but they are sooooooooooo comfortable.  I've been missing out all of this time with my cheap knock-offs.  Jason did exceptionally well this year too.  He made me a mouse pad for work with the girl's picture on it.  I also got a really cute Detroit Tigers shirt and gift certificate to Victoria's Secret.  I really wanted new  underwear....too much information, I know, but it was time for an update.  I also got a cute pair of pj's from Pink (part of Victoria Secret), and I learned that I love that store...they have tons of MSU gear...I'll be visiting that store again in the near future!!  And due to the fact that I've been slacking on this here blog, I can't remember what we got Lizzy for her birthday...that's probably because it wasn't too exciting....oh wait, that's right....Jason bought her Finding Nemo.  So, Lizzy got a DVD and Sydney got a Nintendo DS...seems fair!  We'll make it up to Lizzy when she turns 5 and can appreciate the finer things.  But my Dad and Gail got Lizzy some super cute clothes from Gymboree for the school year.  The only time Lizzy doesn't wear hand me downs, is when someone else purchases the clothes...poor Lizzy...mommy is a cheapskate, hence the old knock-off boots I've been wearing!  But I was happy with the way the day turned out despite the little mishap at the beginning of the day!  But I'm glad she's okay, that's the most important.

Paaaaaartttttyyyyyy!

Just like last year, we combined the girl's birthday party since Sydney's is in August and Lizzy's is in September!  What this means for us is: one party, one set of goodie bags, one party fee, one food order, and most importantly....ONE set of thank you notes to be written (it's now been a month and I have not written them quite yet...it's not my favorite thing to do, but it needs to be done)!

This year the party was at Farmington Gymnastics.  All of the kids had a blast and I like that the party room is huge and that the gym is spacious; that way the party didn't seem like mass chaos.  There were two coaches and one coach took the younger kids and the other one took the older kids and it actually worked our perfectly!  So, another successful party in the books!  As we did last year, we gave out CD's as part of the party favors.  We have the kids sit down and tell us their favorite songs.  It always seems to be a big hit.  And although I put the kid's names next to the songs that they picked, it was very clear which songs were Sydney's and which one's were Lizzy's.  Sydney's songs were all Glee, Selena Gomez, etc. (all grown up).  I wonder what will end up on next year's list.  Every year, Sydney just seems SO much older, yet she's only in Kindergarten....well, at the time of the party she was not in Kindergarten yet...I'm still trying to catch up on this darn blog.  I knew I created a monster when I started.  But the kids will enjoy reading it when they are
older!





Anyway...great party...and now I have another year to figure out the next party!  Now I can sit back, relax, and be the guest at everyone else's parties (that way THEY have to write the thank you notes).

Sydney's Birthday

This year, Sydney turned the BIG 5!  Since we were  having the "kids" party over Labor Day weekend, we wanted to at least take her out!  We ended up going to Jeepers...because if I have to go to Chuckie Cheese ONE more time...

Anyway, the kids loved Jeepers.  That being said...I'm not so sure that I loved it, but it was a change, so I can't complain.  The part I didn't like was that Lizzy was too small to ride alone so Jason and I had to go with her and they had these crazy spinny, jerky rides that I wasn't a fan of going on over and over again!  The kids had a blast though, so that's all that counts!

Then, we headed over to Rain Forest Cafe for lunch!  Sydney thought it was a pretty cool atmosphere and I actually enjoyed it, but for some reason the whole concept freaked Lizzy out and she just couldn't wait to get out of there!  She had more fun in the little store area in the front of the restaurant playing with the toys and looking at the fish...I'm not surprised.  My Dad and Gail joined us for lunch and the staff at the restaurant came to the table to sing to Sydney....she was totally embarrassed, but that's the point!!



Finally....it was time to ship the kids off for the week!!!  Sydney was tired of going to daycare all Summer long so she asked Grandma Polly and Grandpa Joe if she could stay with them for a week.  And of course Lizzy wanted to go too...I wasn't going to put up a fight...a week off seemed quite nice and nice it was indeed!  Jason and I went to a Tiger's game, we went out for Sushi, and since I'm still a kid at heart, we went and played putt-putt, air hockey, and video games!  Even though we had to work all week, it seemed like a nice break from all of the action!!

July Fun

Oh my gosh, I'm SUCH a slacker!  I have no excuse for not writing more often!  Actually, I kind of do have an excuse, but it's not a good one and I probably shouldn't admit it, but what the heck!  The truth is, I love reality tv, and I've been watching WAY too much of it.  Right now, my current favorite is Big Brother.  Not only is it on 3 times per week, but it's on every single night on Showtime 2 from 12-3am where they show uncensored and live footage.  I don't stay up until 3 am, but I come home and watch it the next day.  That's A LOT of Big Brother...but I love it and I'm obsessed.  Okay, now that I'm done with my confessions...about the kids...

Let's see, at the end of July, we decided to take the kids somewhere for a mini get away.  We took them to Michigan Adventures and Grand Haven.  My favorite part was the water park at Michigan Adventures, probably because it was SO hot that day.  The kids enjoyed all of the rides, but I started to get a little woozy from the heat, so the water felt great and they had tons of wave pools and fun activities for the kids.  I'm a kid at heart, so I loved the water slides and just enjoyed watching the kids have fun!  My least favorite part (only because I looked like a fool), was the paddle boats.  It looked so easy when everyone else was doing it!  I thought once you went in, it would be on a track and you just paddle around the circle....WRONG!  I paddled right into the wall and couldn't figure out how to get it going in the right direction.  It was quite embarrassing with everyone in line just staring!  Somehow we eventually made it, but I will NOT be paddle boating in front of others ever again...at least not when you have to follow a course and can't just paddle aimlessly!
 
The beach at Grand Haven was so amazing!  It was crystal clear with no rocks or seaweed and it didn't even feel like we were in Michigan.  Sydney made a friend with a little girl and played with her the whole time.  Sydney is becoming much more outgoing these days and surprisingly, Lizzy is becoming a little more timid...but not too bad!  She's still a complete goofball and continues to make us laugh!  This is totally unrelated to anything else, but yesterday when I put her in her car seat, she says to me, "easy boy, easy boy".  She didn't want me to hurt her shoulders, it was just funny (it was to me, at least).  Anyway, it was an awesome mini vacation and the kids had a blast!
 
A couple weeks later, I took the kids and went with my dad and Gail to Traverse City for Mia's 5th birthday!  Jason decided to stay home...LOSER!  We ended up having a great time!  There was a street fair the night we got there and all of the cousins had fun running around and got to go on a cool fire truck ride!  The next day my Grandpa came for a visit!  For some reason, Lizzy is absolutely petrified of him and cries every time he looks at her and she refuses to be in the same room with him.  That night when we were eating dinner, everyone was in one room and Lizzy sat out in another room all by herself! Fortunately cousin Baille felt bad for her and went out with her.  It made taking a family photo very difficult, but we had to create this whole elaborate plan where Lizzy didn't know that he was sitting in a chair, and we had to bring Lizzy in at the last second to stand in the back!  It doesn't matter what we do or say, she is SO scared of him.  It's the only time that Lizzy ever just bursts out crying!  But all in all, we had an awesome time.  Every one got along great, and we got to meet Emily's new baby, Noa.  The only bad part of the trip was the drive home!  The kids would not sleep...like at all!  There was also a lot of traffic...not to mention that I went the wrong way (not really the wrong way, I just went a longer way), and the kids were so wrestless and we had to stop a million times for them to go to the bathroom!  But we made it!!

That's it for July...I know I fogot something...like July 4th, but we didn't do anything too exciting this year other let off some of our own fireworks in the front yard.  There were also a ton that we could see from our house, so it was actually quite nice.  But really, that's July in a nutshell.  Oh wait...crap...one more thing....our sixth anniversary was July 9th...we had a night out without the kids and went to the casino and out for dinner...and I should mention that I NEVER win.  I guess I'm not lucky!  Maybe one day I'll make it on to Big Brother and win there....