New Cars!

Neither one of us has never had a new car right off the lot. After hanging on to my 1994 Toyota Celica purchased when I was in high school and our 1998 Honda Accord that we bought in 2002, we decided it was time to ditch them both in New York. It probably had something to do with the fact that the mechanic declared them something near death traps. So after much delibertation here's what we came up with.

The Man's 40 mpg commuter 2012 Honda Civic in very manly grey. Nice, huh? I like driving this little guy.

And my really dark blue (I really wanted white but they weren't out yet) 2012 Hyundai Sonata. Deciding on this one was a real pain from the year, make, and model right down to the color. I drove a lot of cars before getting to this one. I think we are both very satisfied, though. *sighs*

She's One!

And I wish I could have made a really big deal out of this like I did with the Boy, but with moving and all, there was just no time. She did, however, get to celebrate twice. Once in Arkansas (pictures to come later) and then once with just our little family here in St. Louis.

The Boy always gets a birthday crown on his day. The Girl will be sporting a birthday sash. I felt the tiara was just too much for my diva radar to manage. Aunt Jo Jo made her this one.

I got these cute cupcakes from Walmart of all places. The one here is "upscale" if there is such a thing as an upscale Walmart. The red one with the candle is supposed to be Elmo, but the 10 pounds of icing caused his face to slide off.

More, please. All in all, a very good and messy first birthday for my little girl. She has so much personality. She loves to make her brother laugh and she gives the best loves. Sweet and boisterous. We love you so much, Midge!

New House

Here we are. New city, new house. One floor, which means no stairs for little crawlers, no creepy basements, and same floor laundry! Also no garage, but in exchange I get an extra room where I have shoved all the kids toys. I can shut the door and not have to look at it. It was a little hard cramming 1500 square feet and a basement into 1100 square feet, but we purged and made it. I think we'll be very happy here for a year.

She's Mobile

Of course she learned to stand and crawl just a few days before we had to take a plane ride.

One More Sob Story

Every night when I put the Boy to bed we talk about his favorite part of the day and his sad part of the day. Sometimes he asks me mine, too. Last night he said,

"My favorite part of the day was playing with all my friends and my sad part of the day was having to leave."

So then he asked me mine. And I said,

"It's the same as yours. My favorite part was seeing my friends and my sad part was leaving them."

And then, of course, I cried because I knew we didn't really mean the same thing.

What I Won't Miss...

As promised after a tearful blog post or two. Here is what I will not miss after I move.

7 Months of Winter. 'Nuff said.

My house. Yes I realize it's also one of the things I'll miss, but sometimes I wonder why anyone buys a house...ever. What a pain in the arse. And I won't miss the office, a.k.a The Man Cave. I always felt like there should be a deer head mounted on the wall in there. I once tried to get the Oprah show to come make it over for me.

The wind. And along with that, my vote for the Rochester City motto, "This would be a nice day if it weren't for the wind."

The taxes. Ohhhhh the taxes.

$10.50 for a movie. It's probably as expensive where we're going, but I just wanted to vent that frustration.

Paying the plow guy who tore our lawn up every year.

The high electric bill that comes along with the cold.

Not being near a Sonic, Chick-Fil-A, or Long John's. Five Guys just can't make up for all three.

Roxy. Because we're selling her with the house.

Potholes. Am I right, people that live here? In 9 years I've popped two tired on potholes. Do you KNOW how big a pothole has to be to pop a tire? If you're driving down the narrow lanes of Mt. Hope avenue on a busy day, you can't go around them either.

Not being able to buy caffeine free regular Dr. Pepper.

Residency. Can I get an amen from the doctor's wives?

And finally a quick rant about the NY State gun laws. Don't read this part if you're not a fan of the NRA. I fully support my constitutional right to own a gun. When I moved here with my .22, I complied with NY state law to turn it in until I received a permit. The ridiculous amount of time, money, and effort I had to go through to get said permit was insane. I refused to do it on principle. I just called the Sheriff's Office to find out how to retrieve it now that I'm moving. I was informed they destroyed it. They did it without my permission. They mailed ONE letter to the WRONG address. It was returned to them and they still destroyed it. They encroached on my right by setting up the absurd process by which to obtain a permit, then they destroyed a $500 piece of my property, and I have absolutely no recourse. For this reason alone, I'd like to give the government of New York the proverbial middle finger.

Okay I'll step off that box. I did mention the winter, right?

Adios, Rochester.

Going Away Party

These were her future friends.

These will always be my friends.

What I'll Miss...

We're leaving soon. In a week actually.

I wanted to write down some of the things I will and won't miss about this place that we've lived in for the past 9 years. I'll start with the teary, weepy What I'll Miss post and follow it up another day with the negative, buzzkill What I Won't Miss post to stop the tears from flowing. So...what I'll miss:

My house. The secret attic room, both my bedroom and the nursery that I got to decorate from scratch exactly the way I wanted them, the windows in the living room, the dogwood tree in the spring.

My street. Where I started to love running. It's perfect for it: almost exactly a five mile run to the end and back and almost completely flat. Lots of pleasant "alone time" was spent on this road.

Book Club. For getting me to enjoy something I never did but always wanted to: reading.

Strong Museum. How I spent many a Friday or Saturday night entertaining my oldest and getting 1/2 priced milk shakes from Bill Gray's for dinner.

My OBGYN. Is that weird? My friends get it. He hugged me at our last appointment. I almost cried. So did our pediatrician. He was great.


Highland Park. Especially in May.

Wegman's. I didn't shop there often, but if I needed something amazing or amazingly odd, I knew Wegman's would have it.

Being this close to NYC.

My neighbors. And the free slurpies he would give us. And for never complaining about our rotten dog.

Knowing with near certainty at which friend's house I would spend each holiday and which would be celebrated here. Who will be in charge of the Superbowl and pumpkin carving now?

The libraries. So many branches within driving distance.

Being in a decent sized city that didn't feel big at all.


The Boy's friend's. The thought of putting him into a regular pre-school somewhere else terrifies me.

And of course, my friends. Like Nicole, who is one of the strongest people I know. Here are the ones I have pictures of, but there are more that I will miss, too. In their life, everyone should have someone who:

...is an example

... is a calming influence

...let's you be yourself, flaws and all


...you can count on for anything

... is a life line
...gives unconditional love

I love you women so much. Thank you for being my friend and teaching me how to be one in return. Because of you, I am better.

Easter

...all these pictures, an egg hunt inside, church, and dinner with close friends. We had a good Easter.

New Jammies and Standing

I think she looks like an Easter egg.


She's inching toward mobility.

Song

On this very rainy day, this quirky song I found last night made me smile. Thought I'd share it with you.

Look What I Can Do

The Boy wanted to show you all that he has learned to cross his eyes.

This cracks me up every time he does it.

Make a Wish

I just took the Boy to the mall to get him a new hat and an Easter shirt.  While we were there he wanted to throw a penny into the fountain – so I gave him a penny.  He was about to toss it in when I reminded him that he needed to make a wish.   And here it was…

”I wish I could throw this penny into the water.”

What do you know? It came true.

Updates on the Girl

It's over. Finished. Through. Ended. No more breastfeeding for me, ever. Once the girl grew in her top teeth, it became impossible to nurse. So as of today, she is on the sippy cup. I am not the least bit sad about it. She also learned to do this... The mohawk continues to get taller and taller. When we are in public people often comment on it. Most are surprised to hear that it is au naturel.

I love those baby blues.

Quotes from the Boy

A few days ago the Boy came up and hugged me and said, “Don’t worry mom, I’m getting enough attention”. 

Today he was in the bathroom but awfully quiet for longer than normal.  I asked, “Boy, what are you doing?” He replied, “I needed a pit stop”.

What Would You Do?

I bought the Boy a Buzz Lightyear today. It was on clearance so why not? When we got home, he realized it was not the kind that had moving wings.  He started to whine and cry that he didn’t want it.  So I told him throw it away or I’ll give it to someone else , but he was not getting a new one.  He pitched a fit all the way to the trash can and chucked it in. 

Now I know there is a teaching moment in here, but I cannot see past the annoyance and disappointment to find it.  What would you do?

Luck of the Non-Irish

I own this shirt. I wore it today.  It totally saved me from a ticket.  I was definitely speeding. So was the guy in front of me.  The officer knew it.  He turned his lights on, and I pulled off into a parking lot. He started to follow me, but stopped mid-turn.  I could see him trying to decide whether to turn and get me or get the guy in front of me who had kept going straight.  A pedestrian crossing the parking lot entry at that very moment made him decide to go after the other guy.  Lucky me!!! I may never take this shirt off again.

Civics Lesson

In the drive thru at McDonalds last night the Boy saw our Tax and Total on the screen. So he asked me what tax is.  I explained in some detail about the role of government in our lives and how we have a president to “make rules” and have taxes to help pay for things like schools and firefighters.  After my 3 or so minute discourse, I got in return a very monotone response of, “Wow. That’s amazing.” 

This is what he gets for having a mother with a Political Science degree.

Here Goes Something

The house goes on the market this week.  We’re both stressed about it. I offered everyone in my Primary class the chance to buy it for $1.  They all declined.  Four-year-olds are pretty stingy with their money it seems.

Wish us luck!

Repeat…Repeat…Repeat

I may have stumbled upon something wonderful.  The Boy found the digital voice recorded a few days ago.  He’s been playing with it almost constantly since.  Today, I decided to put it to use in a way only a nagging mother could.  After the Boy comes down from quiet/nap time, it can be a struggle to get him to get back into his pants.   Okay, honestly, it’s always a struggle to get into his pants.  Here’s where the recorder comes in.

I recorded me saying, “Boy, put your underwear and your pants back on”.  I said it to him one time after he came down today.  When he didn’t comply, I hit PLAY.  The great thing abut the digital recorder is that you don’t have to rewind. It cues up to the beginning of the last recording all by itself.  So I hit PLAY again.  All the while, I’m enjoying chips and salsa.  He got dressed, I spared myself the agony of having to repeat and repeat and repeat.  Victory!

PJs

Kids in PJs are to die for, aren’t they?  And aside from their semi-outrageous price, Gap PJs are so, so cute. I love it when they love each other – especially in coordinating star jammies.

Our Sweet Little Boy

Oh sorry….this is our sweet little girl.  You just can’t tell because I put her in an old sleep sack.  She doesn’t mind.  We’re progressive in this house.  Anyhow, this is her first encounter with finger food.  I love Baby Mum Mum and she took to it pretty darn well.

Just a Quick Rant

…about the English language.  As I read with my four-year-old, it becomes more and more apparent to me that the English language is, in a word, ridiculous.   Here are four of the MANY  examples.  Pronounce these words to yourself.

Now          Cow          Mow
Rough      Tough      Though
Later         Hater       Water
Go              So              Do

See what I mean? Don’t even get me started on the silent K.  I wouldn’t be too incredibly sad if Spanish ever takes over as the official language of the United States and spelling bees became a thing of the past.

A Sunbeam

The Boy gave his first talk in Primary today.

He was most excited to sit in the special seat, which comes with the added bonus of being able to draw on the board.


When it was his turn, he got up there and performed like a pro. I was so proud of him.

It Takes Focus

The Boy was in the bathroom the other day and was awfully quiet for some time. So I decided to check:

Me: Boy, are you okay in there?
Boy: Mom?
Me: Yes?
Boy: I'm concentrating.

Right. Of course.

He's 4!!

Since the weather predicted a massive snow in, we celebrated the Boy's birthday a day early. He wanted to do it all himself this year. So he picked out his own...


...breakfast and dinner...


...presents...


...balloons (a Roxy favorite)...


...and cake. Make a wish!

They're Here

...and making our lives a little bit sad from time to time.

The More the Merrier

This was the Boy's attempt at making the Girl happy.

That's What I Like to Hear

Hear's one of my new favorite things to hear:

"Mom, I'm not ready to come out of quiet time yet."

It leaves me with deep sighs of great satisfaction.

I'm a Believer

The Man bought these BOB books for the Boy when he was two and worked with him most every night on them. He has been a pretty good reader for about a year now. I continue to be impressed with him, though. Today I was watching a news show, which said at the bottom of the screen that it was being broadcast from D.C. Without prompt or any help (and I'm pretty sure no exposure to the word before) he read outloud, "Washington".

Not bad, huh?