It was on the radio yesterday on the way home from school. In the far back of the van, I heard Ethan tell Blythe, "Blythe....the cheese stick song is on!". Hilarious.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Feelin so fly like a...
I think we've all heard this song (well, maybe not my dad...not his thing)
It was on the radio yesterday on the way home from school. In the far back of the van, I heard Ethan tell Blythe, "Blythe....the cheese stick song is on!". Hilarious.
It was on the radio yesterday on the way home from school. In the far back of the van, I heard Ethan tell Blythe, "Blythe....the cheese stick song is on!". Hilarious.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
It's official...
Blythe is registered for kindergarten. And now I feel just a little bit older (as I pulled away from the Elementary school in my mom-mobile, aka minivan). Next up...dance practice, swim practice, school dances, boys, graduation, college...
Sunday, March 27, 2011
First sleepover (at our house)
Blythe had her first ever sleep over at our house on Friday night. Ashley spent the night on Friday night. Yes, it wasn't Blythe's first time participating in a sleepover, just the first at our house.
It went quite well. The girls played dress up and put on a little makeup (note that Ethan destroyed Blythe's makeup kit today putting lipstick on himself while he was supposed to be napping. Now said makeup kit is in the trash...don't tell Blythe).
And what's a sleepover without a nail painting activity? I had gotten some new bright pink nail polish at Walmart that day just for the occasion.
Ashley brought over suckers for after dinner. Guess who had blue and who had red?
Before long, it was bedtime (well, bedtime for Ethan). I put a movie on in Blythe's room for the girls and hoped they'd fall asleep to it. No dice. Blythe came downstairs at 10:15 and asked me to put in another movie. The answer, of course, was "No, time to go to sleep". Both girls were barely functioning by then, so there was no argument.
They were SO tired, they slept late. NOT. Up by 6:30 giggling and talking. The next day they built a fort, watched another movie, and played inside all day because of our crappy weather. Oh well. They had a great time!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Make the days go faster
I'm kind of having writers block and don't know what to write about. All that's on the mind recently is VACATION and DISNEY, DISNEY, DISNEY!
We're all getting so pumped up to go! There's about a million things that need to be done before we head out (and drive 12 LOOONNNGG hours to Orlando), but hopefully that time will go quickly! One thing I'd like to get done before we go is to sell the Envoy. Have someone coming today to take a look, so fingers crossed! Got another more promising call last night, but she said if it was 4 wheel drive she'd definitely buy it. Oh well. We'll find the right owner.
Anyway, I've been reading through our Disney book, making lists of things we need to bring or buy, working on my "pre-tan" (okay, so not really since it's 40 degrees out...brrr), and getting the kids all pumped to go. Hurry up and get here vacation!!!
We're all getting so pumped up to go! There's about a million things that need to be done before we head out (and drive 12 LOOONNNGG hours to Orlando), but hopefully that time will go quickly! One thing I'd like to get done before we go is to sell the Envoy. Have someone coming today to take a look, so fingers crossed! Got another more promising call last night, but she said if it was 4 wheel drive she'd definitely buy it. Oh well. We'll find the right owner.
Anyway, I've been reading through our Disney book, making lists of things we need to bring or buy, working on my "pre-tan" (okay, so not really since it's 40 degrees out...brrr), and getting the kids all pumped to go. Hurry up and get here vacation!!!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Another new ride
Found this on clearance a couple months ago at Wal-Mart. Was going to save it for Brynn's first birthday, but had a feeling I'd put it together early, as soon as the weather got nice. It's still her birthday present....like she knows the difference. 
Anyway, I LOVE this bike! The red "cage" around her is removable, along with the harness, the foot stand, and even the handle in the back. So it's a 3-stager (can't even hold on, can hold on but not coordinated enough to pedal, and then full on regular tricycle).
We have so many freakin toys with wheels - 2 tricycles, a 12" bike, a 16"bike, 2 scooters, a tractor (actually 2 tractors right now), a wagon, a jeep, and a few strollers. Thus the reason we only park one car in the garage in all non-winter months. And the reason our basement doubles as a garage for wheeled toys during winter months.
But anyway, I'm loving this new addition and so is Brynn! And yes, Blythe is dressed up as Ariel.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Friends
It's amazing how quickly kids can make friends. Blythe could be at a McDonalds playland and meet someone who, 10 minutes later, might as well be her best friend. My kids changed day cares and each instantly had a classroom full of new friends. When I was young, my best friend lived next door to me until we moved when I was 5. 2 months after we moved, I started kindergarten and met my new best friend on our first day of kindergarten. We moved to North Carolina when I was 10. Through swim team and school, I had lots and lots of friends. After I graduated from high school, I went to college, recruited to be on the swim team. On that first day of college (actually 2 days before the first day), I met the 50 people I would be friends with for the next 4 years. There was no effort involved in making friends. It just happened.
I'm sure we've all had similar experiences.
Then we graduate and enter the working world. In my case, I moved to a state and city I had never been to. I was lucky enough to move with my best friend, my partner, to the new and scary place. But making NEW friends? Hits you like a damn sledgehammer that making friends is hard. We lived in a city of 8 million people and met very few friends in that time we lived in Chicago (though I do have to say that the few we met are keepers).
After a brief stint in Tennessee, we moved here to Blacksburg. I've worked from home for the past 8 years, so meeting new people wasn't so easy. I relied on Braden to meet people I could also hang with. We had fun times, but I didn't share a lot in common with most of the people we hung out with. Then we had Blythe and I REALLY didn't have much in common with the people we were hanging with.
3 and a half years ago Blythe met Ashley at her day care. Almost instantly, they were best friends. Through that relationship I met Amy, Ashley's mom. We talked some at pickup or dropoff and on field trips. She had just had Luke when we met and I was pregnant with Ethan. Eventually we arranged for some playdates. It was nice to have another woman I could have adult conversation with, someone I had something in common with, a friend.
After a while we started walking together at lunch time, then added some Zumba classes. Because I work from home and don't talk to many people during the day, the hour walk/social time for me was great! A huge mid-day stress reliever.
Over the past 3 and a half years, Amy has become my best friend here in Blacksburg (well, best female friend since Braden is my true best friend). Ashley and Blythe are inseparable and now even Luke and Ethan are best buds. Amy keeps me stable. Brings over dinner when Braden is out of town and I've had a rough week of work and kids. Gives me advice about what to expect as my kids grow older (she has 2 other boys that are 10 and 8). Let's me drop off my kids at her house so I can do a trip to Wal-mart by myself. Made me stay in shape when I was pregnant with Brynn. Even walked with me, slowly (like snails pace), when I was 8 months pregnant. Brought a peach milkshake to the hospital after I had Brynn.
A little over a month ago, Amy took a job in Indiana and she started 2 weeks ago. So she has moved away. Her family is still here while the house is on the market, the kids are finishing school, and her husband looks for a job in Indiana. I'm dreading when Ashley and Luke move away and they all finally understand what, "we're moving to Indiana and it's far, far away" really means. But for now Blythe and Ethan's best friends are still here.
Doesn't seem very fair that it takes so long to make a great friend and then things change. But we'll still be friends forever. I'm sure we'll take trips together as families. So we'll never lose touch, but we just won't see each other everyday.
We both have found we need each other's motivation to keep on walking at lunch time. So we're keeping the walk and talk method going. Just by phone instead. We schedule a time we can both walk and then we chat the whole time. If I didn't have that, I'd sit in my work chair all day long. So far it's working for us!
Miss you Amy!
I'm sure we've all had similar experiences.
Then we graduate and enter the working world. In my case, I moved to a state and city I had never been to. I was lucky enough to move with my best friend, my partner, to the new and scary place. But making NEW friends? Hits you like a damn sledgehammer that making friends is hard. We lived in a city of 8 million people and met very few friends in that time we lived in Chicago (though I do have to say that the few we met are keepers).
After a brief stint in Tennessee, we moved here to Blacksburg. I've worked from home for the past 8 years, so meeting new people wasn't so easy. I relied on Braden to meet people I could also hang with. We had fun times, but I didn't share a lot in common with most of the people we hung out with. Then we had Blythe and I REALLY didn't have much in common with the people we were hanging with.
3 and a half years ago Blythe met Ashley at her day care. Almost instantly, they were best friends. Through that relationship I met Amy, Ashley's mom. We talked some at pickup or dropoff and on field trips. She had just had Luke when we met and I was pregnant with Ethan. Eventually we arranged for some playdates. It was nice to have another woman I could have adult conversation with, someone I had something in common with, a friend.
After a while we started walking together at lunch time, then added some Zumba classes. Because I work from home and don't talk to many people during the day, the hour walk/social time for me was great! A huge mid-day stress reliever.
Over the past 3 and a half years, Amy has become my best friend here in Blacksburg (well, best female friend since Braden is my true best friend). Ashley and Blythe are inseparable and now even Luke and Ethan are best buds. Amy keeps me stable. Brings over dinner when Braden is out of town and I've had a rough week of work and kids. Gives me advice about what to expect as my kids grow older (she has 2 other boys that are 10 and 8). Let's me drop off my kids at her house so I can do a trip to Wal-mart by myself. Made me stay in shape when I was pregnant with Brynn. Even walked with me, slowly (like snails pace), when I was 8 months pregnant. Brought a peach milkshake to the hospital after I had Brynn.
A little over a month ago, Amy took a job in Indiana and she started 2 weeks ago. So she has moved away. Her family is still here while the house is on the market, the kids are finishing school, and her husband looks for a job in Indiana. I'm dreading when Ashley and Luke move away and they all finally understand what, "we're moving to Indiana and it's far, far away" really means. But for now Blythe and Ethan's best friends are still here.
Doesn't seem very fair that it takes so long to make a great friend and then things change. But we'll still be friends forever. I'm sure we'll take trips together as families. So we'll never lose touch, but we just won't see each other everyday.
We both have found we need each other's motivation to keep on walking at lunch time. So we're keeping the walk and talk method going. Just by phone instead. We schedule a time we can both walk and then we chat the whole time. If I didn't have that, I'd sit in my work chair all day long. So far it's working for us!
Miss you Amy!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
A new ride
We've always loved Braden's Envoy, but once we had Brynn, we couldn't fit 3 car seats in the backseat (okay, once we actually did, but it took like 25 minutes to maneuver them in there and buckle kids in). Especially now that the day care is further away (and only 2 minutes from Braden's work) and we've started doing some carpools, we've found it would be very beneficial for Braden to be able to fit more than 2 kids in his car. So we started looking at crossovers with a 3rd row. Problem is our garage is so freakin small that we needed a car that was just about the same size as the Envoy. So that limited our options. We finally decided on the Hyundai Veracruz because of its size and its price.
A week ago we went to test drive it here at the dealership near us. They didn't have the EXACT one we wanted, but were able to find one close at another dealership they could work with. Of course, when we test drove it, they didn't want us to walk out the door, but we certainly weren't going to buy that day. Instead, I came home and researched. Ahh...the power of the internet these days. I found some pretty darn good deals. One especially at a dealership in Fayetteville, NC. Another at a dealership in Maryland. So I printed that stuff off and we headed back to our dealership on Friday hoping they would match them and we wouldn't have to drive to either Maryland or NC.
But they didn't. Basically they said they had no idea how those dealerships were offering those prices. They couldn't come down on price and the salesguy said, "If it were me, I'd drive to Fayetteville". So that's what we did.
Fayetteville had the price we wanted, the style we wanted, and even the color we wanted. And I had already worked out the price through email before ever going there, so there was no negotiating to be done. Only problem - it's 4 hours away and it's closed on Sunday.
Blythe and Ashley were supposed to have their first ever sleepover at our house on Friday night. The girls were SO excited about it, so instead of cancelling, Ashley's dad offered to have it at their house. And offered for Ethan to come over the next morning so we could drive the 4 hours there and 4 hours back with just Brynn. It was quite the offer of Mike considering he's single parenting 4 kids right now while Amy is out of town. And they had 2 showings on their house on Saturday (it's on the market), which meant keeping it clean all day with 6 kids (i.e. tornados) leaving nothing but destruction in their paths. It was quite the day for him.
Brynn did super-well with us. The drive was about 30 minutes too long for her, as she got fussy both ways the last 30 minutes, but we had mission accomplished. How does that Fayetteville dealership offer such good prices? They deal in volume. They were selling like you wouldn't believe! Most people trade their cars in too, so they have a good used-car business going. Customer service was excellend and we had a really good experience. We love the car!
Very roomy! This is Blythe and Ethan in the 3rd row.
Now we just need to sell the Envoy. Let me know if you want to buy a car!
A week ago we went to test drive it here at the dealership near us. They didn't have the EXACT one we wanted, but were able to find one close at another dealership they could work with. Of course, when we test drove it, they didn't want us to walk out the door, but we certainly weren't going to buy that day. Instead, I came home and researched. Ahh...the power of the internet these days. I found some pretty darn good deals. One especially at a dealership in Fayetteville, NC. Another at a dealership in Maryland. So I printed that stuff off and we headed back to our dealership on Friday hoping they would match them and we wouldn't have to drive to either Maryland or NC.
But they didn't. Basically they said they had no idea how those dealerships were offering those prices. They couldn't come down on price and the salesguy said, "If it were me, I'd drive to Fayetteville". So that's what we did.
Fayetteville had the price we wanted, the style we wanted, and even the color we wanted. And I had already worked out the price through email before ever going there, so there was no negotiating to be done. Only problem - it's 4 hours away and it's closed on Sunday.
Blythe and Ashley were supposed to have their first ever sleepover at our house on Friday night. The girls were SO excited about it, so instead of cancelling, Ashley's dad offered to have it at their house. And offered for Ethan to come over the next morning so we could drive the 4 hours there and 4 hours back with just Brynn. It was quite the offer of Mike considering he's single parenting 4 kids right now while Amy is out of town. And they had 2 showings on their house on Saturday (it's on the market), which meant keeping it clean all day with 6 kids (i.e. tornados) leaving nothing but destruction in their paths. It was quite the day for him.
Brynn did super-well with us. The drive was about 30 minutes too long for her, as she got fussy both ways the last 30 minutes, but we had mission accomplished. How does that Fayetteville dealership offer such good prices? They deal in volume. They were selling like you wouldn't believe! Most people trade their cars in too, so they have a good used-car business going. Customer service was excellend and we had a really good experience. We love the car!
Very roomy! This is Blythe and Ethan in the 3rd row.
Now we just need to sell the Envoy. Let me know if you want to buy a car!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Ethan's birthday party
My little man turns 3 tomorrow. To celebrate, we had a little birthday party yesterday with a few of his friends and their families. The birthday theme this year - Firetrucks. I mean, what's more exciting than firetrucks? In preparation, I made a firetruck cake.
Pretty sure I spent more on the cake pan, the cake mix, the icing, and the food coloring than I would have to just buy a cool cake from Kroger (and let's not forget the 2.5 hours it took me to make it). However, buying a cake from Kroger would have required me to think ahead and order a cake more than 18 hours before the party was supposed to start.
So we took a field trip for the first part of the party to the firestation. Fireman Wayne, who I think normally does the tours for schools and day cares, doesn't work Saturdays. So we had Fireman Billy. Pretty sure Fireman Billy has never actually spoken to a 3 year old before. So we got the tour, dumbed down to maybe a high school junior level. Oh well. All the kids really wanted to do was see the fire trucks, go inside and hear the siren. They got to do all that and even see the firetruck shoot water really far (on Gommy and Poppa's car).
Here's Ethan, recapping to his girlfriend Madeleine, Fireman Billy's explanation of the air tanks and the safety mechanisms built into them to alert you when your air is halfway out so that you can plan your escape as it is time to get out! Except Ethan's explanation was, "You gotta be in a firetruck so you can get out". He was very matter-of-fact about it.
Ethan and Soren on the firetruck-gator-thing
And Ethan inside the firetruck.
After the field trip, we all headed to our house for lunch and cake and presents. Good thing we planned an indoor party since we had a monsoon here this weekend!
It was fun and I think Ethan liked having all his friends here, but five 3 year olds (and siblings) can be exhausting! Just ask Braden who somehow got stuck in the basement with all of them by himself.
Anyway, fun times, but glad it is over!
Pretty sure I spent more on the cake pan, the cake mix, the icing, and the food coloring than I would have to just buy a cool cake from Kroger (and let's not forget the 2.5 hours it took me to make it). However, buying a cake from Kroger would have required me to think ahead and order a cake more than 18 hours before the party was supposed to start.
So we took a field trip for the first part of the party to the firestation. Fireman Wayne, who I think normally does the tours for schools and day cares, doesn't work Saturdays. So we had Fireman Billy. Pretty sure Fireman Billy has never actually spoken to a 3 year old before. So we got the tour, dumbed down to maybe a high school junior level. Oh well. All the kids really wanted to do was see the fire trucks, go inside and hear the siren. They got to do all that and even see the firetruck shoot water really far (on Gommy and Poppa's car).
Here's Ethan, recapping to his girlfriend Madeleine, Fireman Billy's explanation of the air tanks and the safety mechanisms built into them to alert you when your air is halfway out so that you can plan your escape as it is time to get out! Except Ethan's explanation was, "You gotta be in a firetruck so you can get out". He was very matter-of-fact about it.
Ethan and Soren on the firetruck-gator-thing
And Ethan inside the firetruck.
After the field trip, we all headed to our house for lunch and cake and presents. Good thing we planned an indoor party since we had a monsoon here this weekend!
It was fun and I think Ethan liked having all his friends here, but five 3 year olds (and siblings) can be exhausting! Just ask Braden who somehow got stuck in the basement with all of them by himself.
Anyway, fun times, but glad it is over!
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