New Step

Madie finally had that expander removed last week and this week she got her retainer! Things have improved since I was a kid, because she got to pick what color she wanted. She got like a grey, glitter kind. :-) Really cute .... well, cute for a retainer anyway. She's growin' up!

MY Open House

I titled this blog "MY Open House", because we're going to have two this week and I wanted to clarify which one I'm discussing today. :-) As many of you know, I'm going back to work next week after a 10 stint as a stay-at-home mom. Now, granted, it's only one day a week, but I'm very, very excited about it! I'm going to be lead teacher for the 2 yr old parent/child class. I'll have two classes on Friday mornings with a total of around 13-14 kids. Audrey, my co-teacher, and I set the classroom up yesterday morning to get it ready for all our students. We got to meet them and their parents last night. It was great!




Because I never seem to want to do anything the simple way, I decided that I wanted to draw their coloring sheets, so they had characters they recognized with welcome greetings on them. :-) So, I did some Ni Hao Kai-lan characters, Yo Gabba Gabba, Wonder Pets, and Wow Wow Wubbzy. They kids seemed to like them. :-)

We will have stations each week, set up with stuff to follow our theme for the day. Last night we set up a coloring page section (obviously) and this was the playdough section. This was the most popular site of the night! I'll put the homemade playdough recipe at the bottom of this blog. So easy to make and really fun for the kids! The gal in the foreground is my co-teacher, Mrs. Garkey.

We had this water table set up and a matching game on the small table. The water table was another hit. And, amazingly, even with all those 2 yr olds in the room, not a whole lot of water got on the floor!

One of the great things about our class is that the child will get to learn and experience new things with their parents by their side. Here, Bailey's mom is reading her a story.

Looks like we're going to have a bunch of great kids! The only incident of the night was after everyone had left and we were getting ready to clean-up, one of the dads came back to alert us to the fact that he thinks he just saw a bat flying around. Now, if you know me, you know that I loathe bats. Not just hate them. LOATHE. Peggy, the director went out in the hallway to check and I closed the door behind her. Yes, I admit, I am a coward and willing to sacrifice my friends to protect myself. Even as I heard her screaming, I did not offer her refuge in our room. She came in a few moments later and said she just saw it and we huddled inside trying to figure out a way to escape without being attacked by the flying devil bird. Long story short, we made it out alive, without an further bat incident, but definitely not what I was wanting to see after a fun evening with my students!! Nor, did I want the first impression given to the parents of me to be me running down the hall, screaming, while I run over their children in an attempt to escape. Thankfully, it didn't come to that, but I told Audrey and Peggy last night, I make no apologies for what happens when a bat and I come face-to-face. It ain't gonna be pretty, let me tell you!

Anyway, looking forward to GREAT year with those adorable kids!!! I'm so lucky to be given this opportunity and to work with such a fantastic gal like Audrey! Can't wait for the 9th!

Playdough Recipe:

1 c water

1 c flour

2 tsp Creme of Tarter

1 Tb cooking oil

1/2 c salt

food coloring

Mix all of the ingredients, except for the food coloring. Microwave it for 1 min and stir. Cook for another 30 sec, stir. Keep repeating until the playdough is dough-ish. It will usually take 3 x 30 sec to make the perfect combination. Knead the playdough and then knead in the food coloring.

What a Surprise!

I got home late last night from my time out with my friends, so I didn't see the kids before they went to bed. When I woke up this morning, Pete told me Livie had something to tell me. I tried to get him to tell me, since I'm not the most patient person, but he said he promised Livie she could tell me. Just a short while later, she woke up and comes in my room crying. I noticed through those tears there's a gap in her smile!! She had a fiver in her hand, her tooth in a baggy in the other, and I said, "You lost a tooth!!"

Now, I had NO idea she even HAD a loose tooth! She had told me that she had a loose tooth, but I just figured she was trying to be like her brother and sister and gave no consideration at all that it actually might be loose. I mean, if you know my kids, none of them ever lose their teeth in Kindergarten! Well, she eventually calmed down after Madie told her she was cute without her tooth, but told me that she wasn't going to smile at all today, because she didn't want anyone to know. We'll see if that actually happens or not. I'm sure once her teacher sees the missing tooth, she'll be quite proud of herself. It was just such a surprise!!

Girls Night with a Twist

Last night was our monthly Girls Night, but this time we got to do a little something special! We got to celebrate the impending arrival of our first Girls Night baby!! Our friend Shawn is due with her first in just 5 weeks. She doesn't know what she's having, so we're all making our guesses. :-)



Two of our "committee" members have moved this summer, but before Gwen moved in July, she got us all together to get her the Baby Bullet. Shawn is very health conscience (that's why she looks so great!), so Gwen thought she would love to have the ability to make her own baby food.

Looks like she liked it!! We're so excited to get to meet this sweet little guy or gal she's carrying. :-)

Destruction!

One thing that I've heard over and over again about Labs are their need to chew. Thankfully, he's only chewed on one piece of furniture in the house and has since stopped that. But, boy, can that dog chew through his toys! When we got him in March, we had a whole slew of new toys for him. All kinds of cute things from rope toys to little stuffed animals with squeekers inside. There was a sweet little polar bear that he once had that became his favorite.... until it's total and utter annihilation! When Tater loves his toys, he loves them to pieces!







See these three toys? The rope is barely attached to the ball now. It has been chewed through nearly completely. Poor little hedgehog now is nearly earless and has large, gaping wounds all over him. Not to mention his soft fur is now crusted from puppy drool! The thing on the right used to have a blue and green doggy shell with tassles. Now all that's left is, well, something I'd rather the neighbors not see. The polar bear I mentioned earlier was systematically de-stuffed and it's head and legs ripped apart. The carcass left over was stuff of nightmares! If he finds a ball, he will chew on it until the outer binding is ripped off and he can get to the meaty inside.

This is his second toy box. The first one was a cloth bin that he literally ate! It had to be thrown away. I got this heavy-duty plastic one, thinking he wouldn't chew that up, because it was so thick. He apparently took this on as a challenge and has nearly eaten half of one whole side, not to mention all the corners. It's given him lots of hours of entertainment and keeping him quite busy and, honestly, much rather him chew on his toys than on the furniture, but the boy is rapidly leaving shells of toys around this place as destroys each and every one of them! So, guess what they say is true! Labs are chewers! :-)

Ice Cream Social

Today we went to an ice cream social at Reddick Mansion. I'll be honest, it wasn't really what I was expecting, but we still had fun. :-)






I expected homemade ice cream in old-fashioned ice cream makers, but it was just a tub of store-bought ice cream. But, hey, ice cream is ice cream, right?! We all liked it!

Reddick Mansion is right in the middle of town and has been around since the mid-1800s. In fact, when Lincoln and Douglas had their very first debate in what is now Washington Park (not Lincoln-Douglas Park, surprisingly), people covered the stairs and stood on the balconies of this house to watch! Very cool! After our ice cream, we watched as the kids played in the backyard of the mansion. Of course, I made the kids stand still and take a couple pictures of them, which they were not thrilled about, but they humored me.

Getting Noah to stand still for pictures is nearly impossible, but I managed it a couple times.

Mostly they ran around and looked for bugs. They said on the website that they were going to have old-fashioned games for the kids to play, but unfortunately I didn't see any of that going on there. The kids improvised instead. :-)

This is the garden on the side of the building.

We decided to take a tour of the inside. It's really beautiful in there. They've done a good job restoring it. When Mr. Reddick died, he gave the house to the city to use as a library and it was used as a library until 1974 when it was given back to the city to restore. There are differences, because of the things the library did to it all those years ago, but there is a lot that is either been restored or is still original. This is the second floor or the first floor, if you enter from the street. She told us to imagine the horse and buggies driving up and having the guests come up the stairs and come into these rooms. So cool to think about for a history buff like myself!

All these gorgeous marble fireplaces are in every room in the house and all original!

All the furniture has been brought it, but is of the right era. Makes for some beautiful living spaces.

That's a picture of Mr. Reddick on the left there.

This is the master bedroom on the 3rd floor. We weren't able to go on the upper floor, because the only way to get up there is to take the very narrow servants' staircase and we're not allowed to due to firecodes, but it's amazing how different the servant's staircase is from the rest of the house, so I can imagine the servants' quarters are very modest.

They had this part on the bottom floor to advertise the upcoming gingerbread house contest in Nov. Livie LOVED Mr. Gingerbread Man!

Here is that very tall staircase leading to the second floor for their guests. Imagine climbing all those after a long trip to see the Reddicks! It's a neat house and we had a nice time there on this gorgeous day!

Bathroom Update

Now that the kids are all in school, I needed a project and the kids' bathroom has been on my mind for a while now. This room was the second in our house to be painted 9 yrs ago when we first bought it. I used the leftover yellow from what was Madie's bedroom (now both girls' bedroom) to paint it. I've done a couple things to update it in the past couple of years, adding big green polka dots to the wall, painting the cabinet white, and adding a medicine cabinet, but with the paint peeling in a few spots and me just generally sick of the yellow, I decided on Friday to do something about it!




Unfortunately I forgot to take a "Before" picture until I had taken everything off the walls and put the tape up. Just imagine a polka dot shower curtain with blues, grey, and greens and big green polka dots all over the walls. That's basically what the "Before" was.

Here is the "After"! Yay! I LOVE the chocolate brown. I was a little worried about painting such a dark color on the walls, because the space is so small, but I love how it looks against the white.

Granted, now the kids' towels don't match, but we'll find them new ones that do eventually. Took a white frame and added a piece of blue scrapbook paper to add a little more blue to the walls.

I also repainted the cabinet white. The kids beat the heck out of that cabinet! I'm really pleased with the changes and so are the kids. Nice to get rid of that yellow and peeling paint!

First Day of School

Today is the day! The first day of school for all THREE of my kids. I now realize that if I'm going to get them showered, dressed, and fed before school, then I'm going to have to get up at like 6am. Probably earlier on the day where I have to get ready myself! Definitely a busy morning, but I love the first day of school. So, I welcome that busyness. :-)



Madie was up first today and got herself looking spiffy for her first day of 5th grade. I always buy the kids new first-day-of-school outfits and this is the one I picked for her. She said if she was wearing her boots, she'd feel like a cowgirl! I loved the matching shoes and the fact that it was a really thin, light material, so when it gets really hot in there today (we have no a/c in our schools!), she wouldn't be too uncomfortable. :-) She was pretty excited to start school today, especially now that she knows some of her best friends are in her class.

Noah wasn't "excited" about school this morning. He was more resigned about going to school. As he told me, "No boy in the world is ever excited about going to school!". But, hey at least he smiled for the camera. Livie LOVES his bigfoot/yeti shirt. She barely let him leave the house with it on. It glows in the dark too, so if he finds himself in the janitor's closet today, he'll at least be able to see himself. ;-)

Livie was without a doubt the most excited kindergartner ever! I think she is more excited than the other two, because she's seen them go to school since she was little and never got to go herself and now finally, after all these years of staying at home, she gets to go too!! She got this outfit at The Children's Place like Madie did. She's my fashionista, so this was right up her alley. I sent her a clippy, so if she gets hot, she can pull her hair up. I was going to pull it up for her, but I couldn't let her go to school on her first day without having her beautiful, long hair down for pictures. She's learning to suffer for beauty at 5. ;-)

They were all packed up, lunchboxes and school supplies in hand, ready for their first day!!!

Pete always tries to go in late on their first day of school, so we can walk them in. It's even more important, because it's Livie's first day of school ever, so he had to be there! Madie is old enough now that she didn't like that we were walking her. She's a 5th grader now, as she reminded me several times. Didn't even get a goodbye hug this time from her. She's growing up (and learning to be embarrassed by her mom). I do think Madie felt a little overshadowed by Livie, because we were so excited for her, but we told her we're excited for everyone when they start kindergarten and excited every year as we see them start a new grade. Hopefully both 5th grade for her and 3rd grade for Noah is filled with great adventures and wonderful friendships! And, of course, for Livie too. :-)

So, off they went, down to the red door and inside the school. Can't wait to see what great days they have today as we go out tonight to celebrate! Good luck today, kiddos! Love you to pieces - all of you!!

It's Almost Time!

We're almost there! Just a few more hours until all three of my kids are in full-time elementary school!!!! Livie is beyond excited right now. She had her kindergarten open house tonight, where they take in all their supplies and drop them off and get a short tour of the school. Well, more of a piece of paper that says "Find these places" and check them off as we go. The kids were more than happy to show her around, IF they could keep up with her. She wanted to run to every place in there!

When she got there, she found the teacher (the gal there in the back, Miss Pleasant) had left her and all the other students an apple. Livie liked her already!

She found her cubby and put her new PE shoes and PE tshirt where it belonged.

She got to unload her backpack and fill up her school box. Well, actually, she made her daddy do it. She was still too busy eating her apple. ;-)

She took all the rest of her supplies and put them in the "community bins". They share everything there.

Look at my super-happy girl! She can't wait until tomorrow!!!!

Before leaving, she had to wave goodbye to her teacher. Are you noticing that her backpack is literally like twice her size?! I noticed that tonight. If it lasts, she could be carrying that for years!

She has the yellow door classroom just like Madie and Noah had. The teacher is different, because their kindergarten teacher now teaches 2nd grade, but I love that they all had the same room. :-)

When the kids arrive at school, they all go straight to the mulitpurpose room, not their classrooms. They get their announcements here and then head off to the classrooms in lines lead by their teachers. I honestly am not a fan of this approach, because with a K-8th grade school it's very loud and chaotic in there and can be pretty intimidating on a kindergarteners first days of school, but that's the way it's done. Madie and Noah showed her where she would be sitting each morning as she waited for all the kids to arrive. Madie and Noah will be in the bleachers right above her, so she'll be able to see them and hopefully feel comforted by that. Though, as excited as she is, she may not need any comforting at all!

They showed her the cafeteria and the Pride Store. If the kids do good things and are good listeners, they get pride tickets, which they can use in the Pride Store for prizes. She was already picking out what she wanted.

While we were there, we took a gander at Noah and Madie's lockers to see who was in their class. Madie has the class bully in her class, so she's nervous about that, but she also has lots of great friends in there too. So does Noah. Hoping for a good 5th, 3rd, and K year for everyone!!!

My Bike

I recently decided that I needed to be realistic about my height. I've always accepted that I am short. I mean, there's really no denying that when you're only one inch away from needing a booster seat by law. But, when you're short, you don't really realize HOW short you are. I mean, I've lived in this body my whole life and am just used to seeing things from this perspective, but even though I've accepted it and love that it makes me the unique person I am, there are a few things that I've had to embrace for the first time ever. I've embraced the fact that heels really aren't doing anything to bridge the 1 1/2 foot gap between me and my husband and, frankly, my feet hurt like heck after I wear them. So I am officially a heel-free, shoe-wearin' gal! The second realization was in regards to my bike. I naturally have ridden adult bikes since I was a teenager. You know, when I was "full-grown". However, it occured to me just this summer (yes, it took me 36 yrs to reach this conclusion) that I'm not the average size of an adult. Why would I be riding an adult-sized bike? I'm generally the average height of a 5th or 6th grader and should be riding a bike for THAT size instead. So, I went to the store and looked at the smaller bikes. Trying to find one that kind of resembled something an adult would use. When I found none, I decided to once again embrace the shortness and go for it! I bought a bike with tassles, glitter butterflies, and matching backpack! And, you know what? I love it!! Now, I realized with my bike that I though I am the average height of a 6th grader, I do not have a 6th grade butt, so I went with a larger, memory foam-filled seat and I gave the tassles to Livie and Madie got the backpack. But, it's still very recognizably a kids bike. So, here is my bike in all its glory!




I replaced the backpack with a basket, since I need a place to put the first aid kit and stuff. I made the mistake of NOT bringing a first aid kit on a bike ride and had to walk a hobbled Noah home 2 blocks with skinned knees. Trying not to make THAT mistake again! But, isn't it fantastic?? Just my size!

It has this lovely foam accent piece on the front of the handlebars. Rock on, my friends, rock on!

And, look at those glittered decals! Jealous, aren't you?

Compared to Pete's bike, it seems a teeny bit small, but that's all part of me embracing me. Like I told Madie, who's going to be a shorty herself, it's part of our family's legacy! My great-grandma Sbaraglia was 4'10", just like me, according to geneology records. My grandma? 4'11". Her sister? 4'9". It's in our genes to be short and I love that I can carry on that legacy. If it means giving up heels or riding a bike with butterflies on it, that's ok. I like that I'm uniquely me!

Gettin' Ready!

School starts on Thursday, so I thought it was important that the girls and I do something special to prepare for the big day! We got our toenails painted! I would've gone for the pedis, but don't think 5 and 10 yr olds need $30 pedis yet. ;-)



One of their favorite things is picking out the color. Livie seems to always go for something really glittery. Madie likes bright, bold colors. I like anything that's going to be dark and stand out. I'm not a red fan. More of a blue/black fan.

Livie went with a blue and silver glitter color and Madie went with this bright blue. The girls picked mine out and I got a aquamarine with some sparkle to it.

I only recently found this place. A friend of mine posted pics of her girls there and I thought it looked so cute with the little chairs for them, so we tried it out last month and will probably make this our summer fun time. Livie picked the kitty chair this time and was ready for her toes to get done!

Madie loves the panda chair and was very excited (though you can't tell from this picture) to get hers done too. She wanted me to sit by her, but someone had just finished in the seat next to her, so I took the empty one by Livie. I told her next time I'll sit by her.

These are our finished toes. And, yes, Noah joined us with his naked toes - but, no, neither Noah nor Livie are naked. They're just bare-legged because they have their pjs on. Noah wanted in on the action, even though he doesn't get his toes done. I offered to let him, but yeah, not really into that kind of thing. He'd rather go down to gamestop and get a video game. The girls are pushing me to take them back and get their nails done before school starts too, so we'll see. I mean, what goes better with new school outfits than painted toes and fingers?! .... or in Noah's case, a new outfit and a new DS game?? ;-) First on my to-do list when they're all in school? A nice long pedi for myself. Ahhhh.... Time to enjoy a little mommy pampering, perhaps?