It Starts

My sweet sweet Marlee June had her feelings hurt. And it hurt me. Like physically hurt me.

She was quiet in the car the other day. She is rarely quiet in the car. Suddenly she says, fighting back tears, "Nobody ever picks me for napkins."

"What, Baby?"

"On birthdays. Nobody ever picks me."

Turns out that when a child in her class is having a birthday celebration, he or she chooses a friend to pass out the napkins to go with the birthday muffins. And no one ever picks Marlee. Heartbreak.

I told her that they probably didn't know how much she wanted to do the napkins. This apparently sparked a conversation with her friend Maya, whose birthday is this week.

"I asked Maya that may I pass out her napkins because we are favorite friends and she said I could."

Oh, Maya, please remember your promise and choose Marlee on Thursday.

**UPDATE: It was Tuesday, not Thursday, and Maya chose Campbell. Tears at carpool :(

Chatter

THINGS MARLEE JUNE SAYS

"I see perfectly fine, thank you." -when told that eating carrots would help her see better

In a conversation about Chinese New Year

Me: You know where China is!

MJ: Yes, Asia.

Me: And where is Asia?

MJ: It's just it's own place.

Me: In which hemisphere?

MJ: It's in two hemispheres.

Me: (Racking my brain to think if east Asia crosses into the Western Hemi. I later found that it in fact does, but that's irrelevant.) No, sweetie. Is it in the East or West?

MJ: I know, Mommy, East! But you forgot Northern Hemisphere, silly!

Touche.

I am weaning Eloise, and was trying to distract her when she was wanting to nurse.

"Don't say that to her mom! If she is thirsty, you give her milk!"

THINGS ELOISE SAYS

"I want snack."

"That's mine phone!"

"I want juice, please."

"This mine chair."

"I call Papa."

"Giggy's here!"

"Daddy's in shower."

"Where's Marlee?"

"It's my turn!"

"I LOVE YOU!"

Well That's Sad

I just received a notice that my blog background has been retired. I have to pick a new one, or I'll be sporting an error message February 1. I really like the look of this blog...so much that I designed the girls' bedroom after it. But alas, nothing lasts forever. Here's to a new year, a new look.

A Fancy Day

Last Saturday, I took Marlee to see Beauty and the Beast at the Fox Theatre. We began our day with brunch at Livingston restaurant at The Georgian Terrace Hotel. Marlee could not believe all the food and that she could have whatever she wanted. And seconds! Our server was very nice and treated Marlee like royalty. She ate that up too, of course.

Brunch

Before the Show

Mrs. Potts Facepaint

Loving the beautiful theater!

Unfortunately, we had to leave a short while into the second act...Marlee said she wasn't feeling well. Before we even made it home, she had started vomiting in the car. Despite the sad end, we still had a fun and memorable day!

Pitching In

In an effort to keep our home neat and running smoothly--an effort that is so far failing, but an effort none the less--and to teach our kids responsibility, independence, and citizenship, each has her own chores.

Eloise's are pretty simple...

-diapers in the diaper pail

-dirty clothes in hamper

-put away silverware from the dishwasher

-brush teeth

-clear her dishes from the table

Marlee's are a bit more involved...

-self-care (dressing, teeth, hair, etc)

-setting table

-clearing her dishes

-feeding and watering George

-picking up toys (she's not very good at this, unfortunately. i get to distracted to always enforce. :()

-folding the dishtowels and rags we use in place of paper towels

Both girls love to help me when I clean...dusting, sweeping, washing baseboards, etc. Marlee loves to cook and is my designated sous chef.

I'm hoping that everyone's chores will become a habit, and I'll hear less, "Mommy will do it," which is often Marlee's response when Michael asks her to do something :(

What do your kids do to pitch in?

Dare Devil and Sweet Moment

I realized that one of the things that's taking away from my blogging is Facebook. I used to post cute things the kids did here, but now I do it there. In an effort to get back to blogging, here's a bit of cute to brighten your day.

A few weeks ago, Eloise slipped on the wet dining room floor while I was mopping. Rather than crying, she thought it was hilarious. Now, every time I get out the mop, she giggles and comes running. She tiptoes around the room, holding her breath, until she slips and lands on her little tush. Then she cracks up laughing, gets up, and starts over.

This afternoon, the girls were watching a Christmas movie during their quiet time. I overheard Marlee say to Eloise, "This part is a bit scary. We should hug each other." Aw!

Well, Hello There!

I know, I know. It's been forever. I haven't had much access to a computer, and that makes blogging a bit difficult. Today I unhooked the computer in our room that serves as our media center and hauled it into the dining room just so that I could say hello to everyone out there in blogland.

First things first, I uploaded a few new pictures to the Photo Site.
And Here and Here are some pictures from Marlee's class.

Now, for the updates.

E~L~O~I~S~E

Eloise seems to be much better these days. We've got her allergies pretty well in check, and her skin has started to clear up. On a not-so-great note, we recently found out that she has kidney reflux. This basically means that urine backs up into her kidneys. Normally, it's not a problem, but because she has had two urinary tract infections, the infected urine is getting to the kidneys, which could potentially cause kidney problems. It's fairly common and the sort of things kids often outgrow. We're meeting with a pediatric urologist soon to determine course of treatment.

Now that she's feeling better, Eloise is walking and running all over the place. Her vocabulary is growing daily, and this week she put two words together..."Eat Baby!" She said while feeding her doll, not as a command, but in telling me what she was doing. She meant "feed baby." So cute.


M~A~R~L~E~E J~U~N~E

Marlee has become quite the sassy silly little thing. She cracks me up on a daily basis. I usually post her witty comments on facebook, so if you're a friend there, you know what I mean. In the past couple of months, she started reading short words and can write her name beautifully without help. She wants to write lots of words and is always asking how to spell things. Her art has also undergone a metamorphosis, from fun abstracts to detailed drawings.

**Cute anecdote: When Marlee draws balloons, they always have a little red square at the bottom of the string. This is because our favorite Mexican restaurant ties on a bag of Teddy Gr@hams to weigh them down.**


R~E~N~E~E and M~I~C~H~A~E~L

We are going to see Harry Potter tonight. So excited :)

I continue to be ridiculously busy, but I recently crossed my breaking point and will be cutting back a bit. There are only so many hours in the day, and I only have one me. I'm looking forward to a few weeks of playing, crafting, baking, and snuggling with my girls. They are, after all, my number one priority!

Michael started running about a year or so ago, but he's been doing really well recently, and has beaten his previous best time in the last two races he ran. He's training for a marathon now. I'm so proud of him...I can't even run to the end of the driveway!

That's all for now, but I hope to be back soon!