Traditions

I love traditions. It's what makes every family and every relationship unique. So far, for Alexis's 2nd, 3rd, and now 4th birthdays, my mom has taken her to a tea party (of course I get to go to by default). It is quite adorable and they have clothes to dress up in and hats to wear. The place is called Tea Leaves and Thyme. She thinks it is pretty awesome! I just think it's awfully fun and really exciting for her to look forward to something every year. And each year, we have had Alexis take a picture in the same hat to see how she has grown.

So here is Alexis at 2 years old:

At 3 years old:And now at 4 years old:

So hopefully they never get rid of this hat!!!! Because then our tradition (of the picture) will be over! She actually really enjoyed the little bite size sandwiches this time and especially the peanut butter cupcakes for dessert!

Home Sweet.....Get Me Outta Here

I'm soooooooo tired of our house being on the market. I mean how fun is it to make your house spotless every single time you leave it. And I've now been doing it since June 2009 ----- that's 7, going on 8 months. Through puking and nausea, through children making disasters, and now moving on to the difficulty of bending down to pick up all those little toys as my stomach grows (which is has seriously done in the the last two weeks). I'm soooooooooo ready to be out of here. All I dream about is leaving to take Alexis to school in the morning and not worrying if I picked up that wrapped up diaper or poured the bowl of cereal down the drain. We have not had a visitor since probably October. Finally, last weekend, someone calls at 9am on Sunday to say they will be here to see the house at 10am. Really, folks? Only an hours notice on a Sunday morning. We were still in bed. I don't think I've ever showered in under 5 minutes like I did, busted my @$$ to clean up, get children ready, and pull out of the driveway by 9:59am. After a few days, we get some feedback. They came to our house by mistake....they were really looking for 4 bedrooms. COME ON PEOPLE! Isn't that the first thing you look at when you pull up a listing? So we busted our you know whats for nothing. And spent all week hoping that someone would come this weekend. So far.....not good. Unless, of course, we get another 9am phone call tomorrow.

The Meaning of Forever

What exactly does "forever" mean? How does a 4 year old interpret the word "forever"? Alexis asks questions all the time about my dad, but this one seemed to really be meaningful. Alexis was reading a book about Mickey Mouse at the beach in the car to herself. Then she says, "I want to go back to the beach." I said, "me too, I love the beach". But that wasn't quite what she meant and she elaborated, "No, I want to go back to the beach with Opa". Now, that was exactly a year and a half ago, which made her 2 1/2 at the time. But she has very clear memories of being there. I asked her what she liked about being at the beach. She said, "building sand castle birthday cakes with Opa and then the waves washed them away and floating in the ocean and tasting the salty water". I told her that we can go back to the beach and think of Opa when we are there, but he cannot come with us. Then through tightly gritted teeth, she says quite angrily, "why does he have to be with God forever?" What a question for a 4 year old. Does she understand what forever means? I didn't think she did up to this moment. She would ask often, "when is he coming back from God" or "when he's done with God, I'll see him" or various things like that, but never indicated that she knew it was forever. She used to accept my answers so easily that I envied her ability to be "okay" with the facts and not have the ability to analyze and obsess, but as she is getting older, it isn't pacifying her anymore. After a few back and forth comments, she didn't want to talk about it anymore and the conversation was over, but a very enlightening and difficult conversation for the 9am drive to school.

Crazy Max

Max man is a mischievous little monster!!! I went to get him out of his crib, and when I walk into his room, this is what I see on the floor.
Max had a great little Shema pillow that he made. But for some reason, even though it's been in his crib for months, on this particular morning, he decided it would be cool to take all the stuffing out. And he was quite proud of himself.

Proud

Alexis's 4th birthday was Sunday, which is unbelievable. It is so crazy to me that 4 years can go by so quickly. 4 years ago I was overcome with the joy, stress, and worry that came along with my baby girl. I never imagined it would be this amazing. This past year, I have enjoyed watching her begin ballet and tap, make her own friends, and be the most loving big sister.

For her birthday, she wanted a rainbow cake. So, of course, a rainbow cake was what she was getting. But not just any rainbow cake. A rainbow cake made by her mama. I know, I know....those of you who know me well can stop laughing at the fact that I was actually going to bake something. I decided that not only was I going to make it, but I was going to go ALL out. 6 layers of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple caky goodness. 6 streaks of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple smooth as a baby's tushie sweet icing. And it tasted freakin' good too.Of course it was adorned with footballs since it was a football and cheerleading party. And, when it was cut into.....just perfectly gorgeous!!!!Ok, ok, enough about the cake. Yes, she wanted a cheerleading party, but we had to expand to include football for the boys. So we used our resources and hired 4 students from Ben's school to come and perform and teach the kids about football and cheerleading and have them participate in various moves and cheers. Alexis's favorite part was the two cheers they made up specifically for her using her name. Here are a few highlights:

Alexis dressed up for the day.
Max with the dudes.

Hayden trying out the gear!

Erika catching a ball!Amanda kicking a field goal!
And cheer time!Bess trying on a uniform and posing with a real cheerleader!

And of course a special guest.....Corky the Longhorn!!!! You'll never guess who was inside :)And a group shot, minus a few kids!

We had our tailgate at the tables with a sack lunch. Then, of course, the cake. I think we heard enough about the cake, but Alexis was so happy with her cake, that this picture says it all.....

Sweet, Sweet Things

My babies are just about the sweetest kids around! If I don't say so myself, they are pretty darn cute too! Here they are giving the baby a hug! How much sweeter can you get!I guess Riley didn't want in on the action!!! But at least she's in the background! Poor Riley. It only gets worse and worse for her :)

Tolls Suck

While Max and Lexi were at school yesterday, I had to drive downtown for a bris. Now, I plug the address into the GPS and off I go following the directions. I'm making great time and get right on the highway. FYI, there is exactly one toll road here. And of course that is the road I happen to need to be on. As I'm driving, I realize......CRAP, I don't have 50 cents. Yup, that's all the toll is....50 cents. I don't have a dollar, I don't have $5, I don't have a quarter! NOTHING! Well, actually I had three pennies. So I begin to think of my dad. My dad was a cash kind of guy. Me, not so much. Debit cards do it for me. He always used to harrass me about not having money. It has come back to bite me in the @$$ maybe once or twice or eight times. Like when I used to ride the train to grad school and would show up there with no money, parking in a parking deck and then having no cash to leave it, etc. So as I'm laughing at myself driving down the highway thinking my dad was surely laughing at me, I come back into reality to think of what the heck I'm going to do. Well, I get off the highway at the next exit and search the car for some change. I come up with 20 cents, but that's not gonna do it. I plug "Wachovia" into the GPS and thankfully there is one less than a mile away (in the wrong directions of course). I get $20 out. Phew.....situation diverted. Well, I get to the toll plaza and hand her my $20. The ever so friendly toll taker said, "You got anything else". "No", I say. She responds, "You don't got a dollar or nothin' smaller?" Trust me, lady, I don't. She says, "well, I only have $17 in change". I say fine, keep the $1.50 and let 3 more cars go behind me. "Oh, well, I guess I could give you the rest in quarters", she says. Fine! I guess you don't have to be a rocket scientist to be a toll taker. Did I mention that I hate tolls?????

Big Man on Campus

It's official. I have two kids in preschool. Yup, today was Max's first day of school. And, yes, I cried last night. I don't know why. I didn't cry on Alexis's first day of school. But for some reason Max just seems littlier. Is that a word? Well, it is now.

Alexis was so excited to have Max be at school with her. Here are some photos from the morning before we left. It's amazing....we actually had a few extra minutes to take some pictures.
They are so cute, I could eat them. Max really wanted to wear his backpack. I say that it is "his" backpack, but really it is Ben's. Of course, Alexis had her very own special backpack on her first day of school, but somehow I ran out of time to get one for Max. I guess that's a second child for you. So he borrowed Ben's. It was about as big as him. And don't worry, I ordered him his very own today because gosh forbid you could find a backpack in a store in January. He is just so sweet. I can't believe he is actually big enough to go to school. The interesting thing is the 30 minute conversation I had the night before with his teacher. It went something like this: "Hi, Michelle, I'm Mrs. W., Max's new teacher. I just wanted to call and say hello and see if there were any questions you had or anything you wanted to discuss before tomorrow". Me: "Oh, well, Max does this thing where he holds his breath, turns blue, and passes out, usually once a day, but I'm sure you'll have a great time with him. Bye!". No, actually, it didn't quite end there. It's always interesting explaining this feature of Max's. Especially to anyone who is responsible for his care. You don't want to totally freak them out, but just enough so that they are careful and watch him closely and know how to care for him during and afterward so that he remains safe. Luckily, I feel quite confident in his teacher and the school. So off he goes!
We got to school and Alexis wanted to walk him to his classroom. Once we got there, she helped him hang up his backpack and coat. Then she played with him. But soon it was time to take her to her room. I told Max we were going and with big eyes, he said, "come". Nope, sorry, baby, you are staying. He said wearily, "stay?". Yes, baby, I'll be back. And off he went to play. Wow! When I picked them up, it was so adorable. Max was sleeping!!!!! They said he fell asleep during lunch. But my favorite part is that they said during morning sing (where all the classes are together), Max sat on Alexis's lap the whole time. How sweet! I love them :)