What Comes Home in the Folder.....

The dreaded noted came home yesterday from Cassie's class - "a student in your class has lice."  Personally, it was like a total freak out moment for me.  I've heard all of the horror stories.  The painstaking process of getting rid of every nit, of cleaning every sheet, blanket, pillow case and article of clothing; the bagging of every stuffed item your children own..... and then the hair - oh dear, the hair.  Brooklyn's hair is so long, it would put me into orbit to have to comb the solution through it.  The sheer though of this freaks me out!

No worries - we have defense - a special leave in conditioner that repels Lice. The girls need to keep their hair in pony tails or braids for school and sprayed before they walk out the door for the bus.  No problem, right??? Well, sure, as long as Mommy is around.  As Cassie begins to storm upstairs to wake me up at 7:30am (the day after I had the radio frequency ablation done on my back) to get her hair done, Mama stopped her "Cassie, don't wake Mommy! I can put your hair into a ponytail."  Cassie looked at her for a second, processing what she had just said, and then took a couple more steps towards my room, she was clearly in disbelief.  Mama stated "Cassie, please don't wake her, watch, I can do this!" as she proceeded to grab Brooklyn's hair and form a disorganized ponytail in the back of her head.  "See, no problem."  Well, it may not have been the neatest or the most organized ponytail, but it was in fact a ponytail, and for all intensive purposes, it would do.  Cassie gave in; handed Mama the pony holder and held her breath.  Mama was even good enough to remember that all three kids needed to get sprayed with Lice Repelling Leave In Conditioner, crisis averted, and Mommy was still sleeping in, recovering from her back procedure.

It does sort of crack me up how the kids know which one of us is better at certain things.  Math homework goes to Dawn.  Art projects come to me.  Sporting issues, Dawn.  Drama on the bus, Me.  (Personally I'd like to give that one up).  Either way, they have found our strong suits, more or less, on their own, which is pretty darn impressive.   Both of us completely agree that they are growing up way too fast, especially as we have had the opportunity now to revisit what I had posted in the beginning years.  The reminder of what happened almost daily, it seems like forever ago, yet it was only a few years ago. We truly have seen every bit of the quote:

"The days go by slowly but the years go by quickly"

Hey, it's a ponytail, no one said it had to be neat!!!

Welcome to 2014.....

It's really 2014?

2014.... I just logged into the blog to find my last post.  Yup, February, 2010.  The twins were 2.  Cassie was 4.  That seems like light years ago.

Enough has changed in my life to make me realize even more that I don't want to miss a moment.  I don't want to forget the little things.  I always want to remember those funny times, the instances when words came out wrong, when new memories were made, when a triumph happened.  But, we already are.  I have already missed 4 years of writing down random things that I know that I won't remember.  Not because I don't want to, not because they aren't important enough, but simply because there just isn't enough room in this old brain of mine.

Old brain.... yup.... that's where some of this is headed.  Not that 40 is 'old.'  (Well, that depends on what generation you talk to).  I remember the year I turned 30 - Dawn took me to New Orleans for the women's final four.  I couldn't wait to turn 30!  It was like the right of passage, I was finally an adult (kinda), I was the last one of the crew to be in my 30's, I was excited, it was awesome!  And, amazingly, 10 years has gone by rather quickly, and left me feeling, well, old(er).

I am sure that as the next couple of months unfold, I will start to post more and more about what has brought me back to the blog (its more than just remembering the little things), I don't want this first post to be 15 pages long.  But the painful events of 2013 have lead me to understand that it is time for me to look at the beauty that I have in my four walls and to build on that strength every day and use that strength to put my physical self and mental self back together again.  2014 can be great if I want it to be.

Someday I want to be able to look back and read this blog and remember all of those moments that I can't, all of those amazing times, the laughter and the tears, and feel like I am reliving it all over again.

Here is to the new beginning..... welcome to 2014.

Happy Valentine's Day 2010

I just wanted to say Happy Valentines Day to everyone! Here are a few photos from the party we went to on Friday....

Austin is such a little ham!

Lollipop sword fighting???

oh my! Austin was VERY upset that Brooklyn wanted to sit next to him....

Anyone for a mellon on a stick?

....and yes, Cassie was there, but FAR too busy playing dress-up with the other kids to come out and have a few pictures taken!

there are lots more photos here:Feb 2010

Gosh darn it - WHERE IS SPRING???

I know, I know.... February has only just begun and here I am complaining about the weather in New England. But, do any of you know how hard it is to pack three little ones up and take them out to play in what feels like sub-zero temperatures? Or the price of not taking them out at all only to have them pig-piled in my living room fighting over some random McDonald's toy from 5 years ago? So, yes, I am a little cranky that the weather is a little chilly (or just down right FREEZING!). I am even more cranky that the cold weather makes my kids cranky, whiney, clingy, and absolutely nasty to each other.... ahh, the joys of mommy-hood in the winter!

In the mean time, we are gearing up for Valentine's day, and Cassie has been enjoying some fun card making craft activities (hell, anything that involves scissors and glue sticks will keep her occupied for hours), and although the twins would like to join in and help out, we have found that all they really want to do is eat the glue stick and write on each other with the markers.

Other than craft activities, we basically spend the remainder of the day peeling the twins off of one another, be it from hitting, pulling, tugging, pushing, hair pulling, screaming, and any other physical motion that allows someone to take a toy from someone else. We really are surprised at how physical the two of them are and hope that it is something that will tone itself down as they increase in their language skills (to at least scream what they want rather than just some high pitched screech) or until one of them realizes the power of biting (seriously, thank GOODNESS neither of them has figured out or used biting during the heat of an argument).

So .... we will continue to hope that the warmer weather moves in sooner than later, and that I can find duplicates of some of the toys that we have here to mellow out the fighting! In the mean time, we hope that everyone is staying VERY warm!!!

From jan 2010

From jan 2010

From jan 2010