Happy NERD New Year!

My friend Elizabeth calls today Nerd New Year.

September 1st.  And I agree.

I always remembered years by school years, not dates. This is probably spurred on by the fact that my birthday is in September. Add that to the start of school and a brand spankin' new television season and you've got a New Year party for sure.

I am celebrating by sharpening pencils, reading a good book and putting a thin layer of Elmer's white glue onto my palm, letting it dry and peeling it off in one piece.

How will you celebrate?

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Ugh/Yay!

Day 3 of South Beach Diet phase 1.

The first two days were brutal.

Brutal.

However, stepping on the scale was not.

Soldiering on.

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a rosy blog post explained

Well, I almost committed a blog crime.

At least one in my book.

Yesterday's post about the first day of school left out a detail or two.

Detail #1 - When I came upon Bianca in the morning she had shredded the top of her diaper and covered herself with urine soaked gel beads.  And when I say covered I mean rubbed in her hair, inside her ears, all over her crib. Covered.  I had to run a full bath and get her completely cleaned up during the midst of our brand new morning routine.

Detail #2 - I was all ready to follow the bus to school, snapping 100 photos of Ella entering her classroom, sitting at her desk, etc. BUT, my camera battery died after just 3 pictures. And the battery charger could not be found.

Detail #3 - Ella missed the bus. There was no one at our stop and there are usually like 7 other kids there so I panicked and drove her to school, only to find out we were there at the right place/time. So no pics of getting onto the bus.

Detail #4 - I awoke with a terrible, no good, awful Summer cold.  My nose is literally like a faucett poring water out and the cough and head congestion are dire.

Now...at the end of the last post I said "A Perfect 1st Day". And based on my details above that may have been blogging through rose-colored glasses. And blogs like that irk me.  However, it really was perfect.

Part of what made it the perfect day was my ability to "let it go". Trust me. This is very hard for me and has been a learning process for the past 10 years (or maybe lifetime). When things don't go exactly as planned, I always struggle with pronouncing the entire day "ruined". And nothing can save it. Nothing.

But yesterday was truly perfect because I kept my cool. And I did not let a changed expectation destroy the entire day. I calmly drove Ella to school.  Then found the battery charger while Ella was at school, charged the battery and took additional photos after school. No, her hair wasn't still perfect. And she was tired and hot from her bus ride. But I was happy anyway and that shows real progress.

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1st Day of 1st Grade

We were up early. Bags packed. Hair braided. Clothes on.

Upon seeing herself in the mirror in her new clothes Ella exclaimed with a squeal,

"I look like a TEEN-AGER!!!"

And she did.

Off to the school, where I parked in the lot and let her walk the crosswalk by herself. She never looked back once. Just moved forward to a new year and a new experience. 

My eyes stayed on her until she was safely inside the school and on her way.

I love that independence.

But I still got teary twice today.

She arrived home triumphant, thrilled and ready for tomorrow!

She sat next to me on the couch and told me every single detail of her day while I soaked it up and ooed and ahhed at the appropriate times.  She finished her homework and we chatted over a snack.

A perfect first day.

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getting ready

first grade starts tomorrow.

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Blog Suicide

I'm not feeling the instamatic photo craze.

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I just don't understand why people want to replicate the grainy,

faded and miscolored photos of the 70's?

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I don't find Johnny Depp attractive.
I think he looks perpetually unshowered.
And I think his "I'm Deep" persona is an act.

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I hate Lady Gaga's music.
And I think she steals 80% of her songs from other artists.

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If she dressed normally,
she would have fizzled out ages ago.

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I will not be reading the Twilight books.

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The mustache-on-a-stick-held-up-to-your-face craze is killing me.

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And I really love infomercials.

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view of a tooth

Don't think you're going to get edgy and exciting posts like this ALL the time.

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1st Grade Orientation

Yesterday evening we went to Ella's 1st grade Orientation. It was held at her new school (since she attended the Kindergarten Center last year).   We did a super-fun scavenger hunt of the school, visited the Media Center where Ella got to check out a book and had cookies and juice in the cafeteria.

First we met with her teacher, Mrs. Bair. She is AMAZING! I am so thrilled! She was so sweet and had all of her ducks in a row as far as the class and information she gave the parents. It's gunna be a good year.  Here is Mrs Bair chatting with Ella...

School starts this Monday and we are all excited for this new adventure.

Here's Ella chosen face after I said, "C'mon! Look excited for first grade!"

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of sleep and forks

My kids are the World's Best Teethers.

Seriously, you should be jealous to the point that you hate me...just a little bit. Despite liking me so much.  (Ummm...I can assume you like me. You're reading my boring mommy blog...right?)

Anyways...let's discuss.

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Ella:

Didn't get her first teeth until she was 13 months old. Yep. I even asked the Pediatrician if it was possible that my kid was some "freak of nature" who may never actually get teeth. She assured me they would come. And they did.

( Ella at 13 months )

And when they did. All that happened was that Ella slept. And slept. And slept. All day for three days straight. The end. But wait...get ready to hate me even more.

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Evangeline:

Was so laid back that we didn't even know she was teething at all. Until one day (when she was 8 months old) I glanced in her mouth and 4 teeth were there.  

( Evangeline at 8 months)

We never knew.  No fever. No fussing, No slobbering. Nothing.

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Bianca:

Slept in yesterday morning until 10AM. When she woke up she only wanted to be held by me and hold a fork she found on the basement floor (don't worry, it was clean). If I tried to take the fork away...mayhem! She lay against me, holding her fork for an hour (until 11AM) and then she fell asleep. I put her back to bed, slipped the fork from her hand and she slept until Matt got home from work at 8:00PM.

(Bianca at 10 months)

When she awoke she was not happy until she was holding her beloved fork once again. She sat with me and Matt for about an hour and then started rubbing her eyes. We put her back to bed. And she slept through the night.

Yep. Best. Teethers. Ever.

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Summer Vacation 2011: part 2

Day 5: An evening on the Beach

We had some stops along the way to getting to Hilton Head. So when we finally arrived it was evening and low tide.

This was perfect for a fun evening. we saw lots of seashells and got to play in the sand without the sun beating down to hard.

Afterwards we had dinner with Jenny's parents and it was a great evening.

Day 6: A morning at the Beach

Today we were up early to hit the beach in the morning. The weather was quite hot, but perfect for swimming.  And the girls fell in love with Boogie Boarding.

We left around 2pm and it was the greatest day ever. I was so blissfully happy.  I will remember this day at the beach forever.  On the way home Ella said, "What could be better than surfing?"

Day 7: Beach Recovery Program

This was a day of relaxing.  Matt and I watched all of the kids so Jenny and Josh could have a date.  We got ate at What-A-Burger where I had this funny communication blunder.

After putting the kids to bed we let the men watch a football game while the women sewed.  Jenny helped me finish a quilt 2 years in the making.  I also got Ella's skirt almost finished.

And did I mention that my crazy-hot hubby is growing a beard?  I'm not sure if it's the little girl inside of me who watched the Faith video over and over again and thought about how hot/manly George Michael was, but I am loving this scruffy beard.  Wait, George Michael...manly? 

Day 8: Heading Home

We were packed and ready to head out early (early for us is like 8 AM).  As we drove away Ella commented that when she grows up she wants to live in North Carolina.    We pulled over in Virginia to eat at a restaurant touting this disgusting looking edible...

...a Southern thing perhaps?  And we noticed a slightly deflated tire on our car.  No problem. We went to a gas station and filled it with air and headed on our way.  0.8 miles later...BAM!  It blew on the highway.

It's moment like these when I love being married.  I would NOT want to sweat it out changing a tire (although I do know how) when I could take pictures of someone else doing it and hold lug-nuts like a good little wifey.

We drove to the next exit and headed to a Super Wal*Mart where we had to have not one, but TWO tires replaced.  We waited 90 minutes and used that time to grab a new toy for Bianca for the rest of the ride home.  A really cool mini key chain with working buttons that played music and lit up.  She chose to play with Eva's dirty flip-flop for the rest of the journey.

After dinner at the Waffle House we were back on the road again with more stories of This American Life and our bellies filled with bacon grease and maple syrup. 

This sign never looked so good...

Home.

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Summer Vacation 2011: part 1

Day 1 :
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, N. Carolina

The drive to NC from our home is 8 hours. We packed brand new DVD's the girls had never seen, art kits, snacks and an MP3 loaded with episodes of This American Life. And away we go!

In Virginia we stopped for gas and to let the girls run around.  We spotted this Tiger statue outside of the gas station. Random?  Yes. But also a serious photo op...

When we finally arrived in North Carolina we drove into the cutest town ever...Mooresville.  Seriously, I could have taken photographs there for years and never run out of cool locations.  Weathered brick, quirky wall murals, parks, and character galore!



This wall mural is in Loving Memory of Margaret Towell King.
Please tell me that's her in the coffee cup. Seriously cool.



Day 2: Photo Shoot & S'mores

Time for the Photo Shoot!  Oh, I adore this family!

Then we lazed the afternoon away with movies and great food!

I had okra for the first time.  Deep fried of course.  And delicious!

Lots of playing in the backyard. Oh, and s'mores for dessert.  Heaven!

Day 3: Sewing & Delicious Dinner

Jenny and I headed to JoAnns for a fabric fix.  Matt watched the kids so we just had Baby Alice.  I grabbed some AMAZING fabric for a future quilt.  I also got a zipper for the pleated skirt I was going to start sewing for Ella's Back2School wardrobe.  The we headed home for a crazy-good pot roast dinner and sewing!

Later that evening, inspiration struck as the sun was going down. I grabbed a kitchen chair and baby Alice and headed to the Backyard.  I love how these shots turned out!

Day 4: Lunch Date and Football Practice

Jenny watched our kids while Matt and I headed out for a lunch date and a movie.  We asked the locals and found out the restaurant to go to for lunch was called Lancaster's BBQ. And, oh sin, was it ever good!

Matt and I then went to see Crazy, Stupid, Love.  Which was not that great.  Sorry.

We headed back at dinner time (but I did not eat any dinner at all...that just how good the Brisket was at Lancaster's).  And headed to Todd's football practice. 

I had made this a part of the photo shoot and it was so fun snapping pictures of these little boys on the field.  And the rest of the kids got to enjoy the setting sun and lots of room to run.

Details on part 2 of our great vacation coming tomorrow!

 

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