Fashion, as defined by my 7 year old

Easter Saturday

In our house, holidays are all 2 days long, due to the fact that we have to spend it with my family one day and hubs family the next.  They don't live close enough for us to do it all in one day. And besides...mixing families doesn't always bode well.

I picked out these 4 coordinating Joel Dewberry fabrics from the Modern Meadow line.  I bought quite a bit of fabric to play with and I had in mind a cute, full twirly skirt with lots of panels. But my Gracie Girl had a different idea. And that girl has a mind of her own and I knew if I didn't make what she wanted, she would never wear it again.

{sigh}

So I made a simple 4 panel LONG skirt. No fun ribbon on the bottom. No flowers adorning the lower side panel (I made them. She wouldn't let me pin them on).  Wassup with the length?  Its so... modest.  And add the leggings to that. That's her new thing. Its so she doesn't have to sit like a lady. Or worry about those pesky undie sightings on the monkey bars.

I made a coordinating necklace top with the fabrics.
Which, of course, did not turn out as planned. Perhaps because I could only find vneck shirts at Old Navy. Or maybe it was because I was doing this 20 minutes before we left on Saturday. 

At least my boys don't groan when I dress them alike!

We had a very delightful Easter weekend, despite a few hiccups. Lots of egg hunts, food up to our eyeballs, too much candy (can one OD on malted milk balls?), and family, family, family.

So In Love

You know those times where you can just lay there and stare at them and just revel in their perfectness and your love for them??  This is one of those times.  She and I... we're a team. And I love her so very very much. And I hope that we always have the relationship we do now.  She is content to snuggle with me at any time. She loves sleeping with me. She loves to give me love. When I have a headache, she wants to make me feel better. 
And now she's laying here, asleep, next to me. And I just keep staring at those beautiful long eyelashes and that perfect skin and her sweaty hair, plastered against the side of her face. And the way she clutches her lovey ("Green D"). And my heart aches because I love her So. Darn. Much.
How did we create this little human?

Beaming with mama pride

Once in awhile, its nice to get a sign that we really are doing *something* right. That we're not totally screwing them up, right?

 two sweet letters from Aidan that he typed up and printed recently

 

Norah's letter to Aidan that she tucked into his backpack after he went to bed tonight

A letter we received from Norah's teacher today

(i feel bad not representing E, because he's equally awesome. i just didn't have anything photographed)

Ready? OK!

Miss N, striking a pose

Woah. Seven?

Its really hard to believe. Seven? Seven years have passed since these babies were trying their hardest to get out of my big ole' belly? Yep, sho nuff.

3am-ish this morning, Elliott came into our room, breathing heavy, waiting for me to acknowledge him, and then said, "I hafta puke." Well by all means!! In the midst of him emptying his dinner, he said, "I...I fink.....I don't fink I can go to school to-mow-woah." Poor pumpkin.

They blew out candles in their requested birthday breakfast of cinnamon rolls (poor Ellie hasn't had his) and then Norah got ready for school.

Its funny...just in the past 6 months or so, they sure have their own style. Elliott with his mohawk....


Norah with her accessories du jour (bracelets, headbands worn 80's style, crazy knee socks, non-matching shirts and bottoms, funky shoes)...


And her recent disdain for him :( Although if they are separated for the day, she misses him like crazy and can't wait to see "Ellie". Go figure.

can you see her leaning away from him? the "don't touch me!" look in her face? ugh.

Esprit Petites-Jump from Glee!

Norah got to perform her first pom routine for us last night :) It was awesome. Its very blurry b/c Chris was zoomed in too much, but she's in the back row w/ pigtails.

Wanna Skate?

Miss N asked for a rollerskating party for her 7th birthday. What a blast from the past!!! I tried hard, but I could not find rollerskate or 80's themed party goods. So I went a different direction and did Tiffany & Co. Although the party favors included a coloring book that included 80's themed cartoon coloring pages --boy ones for the boys (like He-Man, Dukes of Hazzard, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Fraggle Rock, etc) and girl ones for the girls (like Rainbow Brite, Fraggle Rock, Smurfette, etc). You'll notice the picture on the coloring book cover page. My initial thought was, "oh! I will find smelly stickers!..." Yeah. Not so much. They are like, $1.75 or more per sticker. And they no longer make them. Why?? Why discontinue such a good thing?? Can we start a movement to bring them back? Why deprive our kids of these cool things!! Anyone? Heather, I know you you have to be with me on this....
Anyway....the party was fun. I think the girls all had fun, despite all the falling down!

laughing while skating

Does anyone remember that scratch-and-sniff sticker? I think it smelled like leather!

Girls Trip!

whistling at pigeons on State Street

On Saturday, Norah and I took a day trip to Chicago to enjoy a few hours at American Girl. She's been looking forward to this for a year now. She carefully chose her girl*, her cat she wanted to get with her gift card, and all the accessories she wanted. We also had her photo taken with her girl and cat in the photo studio and ended the day with a 4pm tea time. What a splendid girly day!!!!

*When she first expressed interest in an AG, she wanted Kirsten. However, Kirsten was retired in 2009. Then she chose Josephina, but after reading 2 books, she decided that perhaps, that wasn't her first choice. She chose Lanie, who is the girl of the year and a lover of the outdoors and animals, because Norah loves animals.

My girl and her girl at tea

My girl

Last night when I was tucking Norah in, she said, "Mama? Sometime can you and me go on a vacation, just girls? Can we go on a scrapbooking vacation?"

That was just so freakin' awesome to hear her ask that. I'd take her on any 'just girls' vacation. Ok, well almost any.

A Daisy For My Little Daisy

On January 7th, Norah had her Daisy investiture ceremony. She is officially official :) And now she's selling cookies!!

She was so happy to partake in the ceremony with her fellow Daisies, although she did clam up when it was her turn to "light" her candle and say her line. It was fun to see her running and playing with the girls. Naturally, leading a game of kitty/meow-meow (oh if you could see my eyes).

Perfection...

What a fun weekend....lots of swimming, waterpark fun, and friends.

Saturday morning we woke up and looked out the patio doors of our condo to see 3 deer.

What a fun weekend....lots of swimming, waterpark fun, and friends.

Saturday morning we woke up and looked out the patio doors of our condo to see 3 deer.


Not even 5 minutes later, the kids spotted the hot air balloon. Norah commented, "daddy, there are some cool things in this world."

Sure are, baby girl.

And now....a little Sunday Swimming Fun :)

We've got a fun-filled week coming up! We're going to go pick up our worms and start our worm farm (vermicomposting bin), which the kids are very excited about. Norah's got her dance recital on Wednesday. We find out if Aidan advanced to the next belt in taekwondo (he tested on Saturday, but they left early with permission because he and dad had already trekked back to MKE for the testing and we didn't want him to miss out on too much of the waterpark!). He broke his board during testing. Go Aidan! Hopefully we'll get some photos from some other parents. And we have our school's annual Sock Hop on Thursday! Fun fun fun!

Edited to say... ok, guess I won't link to Flickr photos. They're off center and not all there. Grrr.

Why I love you...

Norah & Elliott.... This is one of the many, many reasons that I love you.

When you rang the doorbell today and then charged in, carrying these in your hands, faces beaming, declaring, "mommy, we picked these for you. aren't they bootiful?", I loved nothing more than being your mom.

xoxo

The Addition of Ike

Ike and Norah
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

We bribed Norah. We've actually been bribing her for 2 years now. And she finally followed through. So we had to hold up our end of the deal and get her a cat. After seeing many cats, she picked Ike - a 1.5 year old boy stray. Ike's a great cat - - he loves the kids, loves attention, lets them manhandle him while continuing to purr, and never uses his claws (he's not declawed). Quinn doesn't love him, but that's another story.
Ike also likes the basement rec room, which is fine by me, because that keeps his hair out of the rest of the house. He's a serious shedder.

My Delicate Little Ballerina

Miss N
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

yeah. ha ha ha ha.

one giant step for a little girl!!

Tonight after books were read, I went to put Norah in her crib and she said, "no! I go big girl bed, mommy!" I explained to her that if I put her in her big girl bed, she had to stay in there and if she got up, she'd go in her crib. Well low and behold....Miss Princess went right to sleep!!!!

Holy shit!

Her mommy's daughter; his daddy's son...

We set up Miss Norah's big girl bed this weekend. Once the cool new bedding was on it, I called Norah in to show it to her and her reaction? "No, dat not Norah bed. DAT [pointing to her crib] Norah bed!" Uh oh.
Yep - she's her mama's girl. She's strong willed, stubborn, and feisty. She is *not* a morning person. She wakes up and needs time to acclimate herself to the world before she comes out of her crib. If you go get her prematurely, hell hath no fury like Norah.
Norah loves her fruit and could likely live on fruit and the occasionally piece of chocolate. She shuns all meat.
Her mama's girl? You betcha!

And Aidan....he may look like his mama and her family, but he's his daddy's boy through and through. He's a morning person...up early, in a good mood, and ready to play. He loooooves carbs. If I gave him a warm baguette loaf, I would venture to guess he'd eat the whole thing. And watch out! If this boy naps, there is nothing more ornery than Aidan (or his father) when they wake up. Its best to stay at bay for a good 30 minutes post-nap. They are real grumpalumpaguses.

Little Sponges

Friday morning, Aidan greeted me in bed.
A: "Mommy! Quinn [our cat] puked on the living room carpet! I saw it and I said 'geez!' and daddy said, 'jesus christ'!"
From the other room, I hear "I DID NOT SAY THAT!!!"
Well, whether he did or didn't, I am guessing Aidan picked that expression up, in its correct context, somewhere!

I guess I've called Norah a big girl enough times for her to decide that is what she is. So now if I see her climbing on something and I make an offhand comment like, "are you my little monkey?" she will say, "No. I a big girl." Or if she is purring and meowing (like she was in the car yesterday for about 15 minutes) and I ask her if she was a cat in a past life, she responds with, "No, I a big girl." If she's being goofy and I say, "you're so silly!" I bet you can guess her response! Yup.... "No, I a big girl!"

Yesterday we were driving home and the radio was on, but I could hear Norah singing something to herself. I turned it down and yup.... she was singing the ABC's. It was quite cute. Of course, she stopped once she caught me sneaking a peek.

Aidan's line of questioning seems to be neverending. Man. I thought maybe we skipped the "why" stage. No such luck. And the worst part is that I have no answer for some of the questions, like "why does red mean stop and green mean go?" But then there are the other questions. Questions like, "why do trucks and buses have big engines?" and "why do babies say mama and dada and why do they cry?" and "why do old people drive slow?" and my personal favorite, "daddy, why did you drive the wrong way that one time?" (he wont let him forget about it! ha ha!). Or this weekend it was, "daddy, why do you keep doing things wrong?" (not sure where that one came from!).
And there is nothing worse than getting scolded by your 4 year old. We were bickering in the car and he said, "would you two just stop it!" errrrr. oops.

Thankfully his kindergarten teacher will absorb some of his whys in 22 days. Whew.

And just a little misc. to end this entry: One of Aidan's favorite things to do right now is to re-enact the 'Hot Chocolate' scene from Polar Express. Its quite funny. He also likes to sing and dance a number from Jungle Book. But the boy has no rhythym. He's white through and through.

Potty Talk

Stop the Press!!
Norah asked to go potty!

I think my heart almost stopped. Normally, when asked oh-so-casually if she wants to use the potty, she will shake her head and heartily say, "no!" But not tonight. Nope. I didn't even have to ask her. She demanded that she go potty! Then when she was sitting there, she said, "I hear it!". Too funny, girlie. Too bad she was hearing things, because she didn't produce a thing.

I am just happy that she's actually sitting on the damn thing. Its a start.