Halloween

As I write, Bridget is going through her Halloween candy, trying to choose her ration for the day. It's a tough choice because she has a ton of candy. We trick or treated through our subdivision last night and the girls made out like bandits. Add to that the fact that they were still working on eating all the candy the received at our church's "trunk or treat" party on Saturday, and it's apparent that I'll be doling out candy rations for days and days to come -- yippee.

Tessa dressed as a kitty cat this year and Bridget was a bunny rabbit. Here are some photos:





Once again, Dwayne outdid himself carving our jack 'o lanterns. This one is a "mad doctor":



This one is a "conjurer" with his crystal ball:



The girls are being very thoughtful about giving me Butterfingers and Reese's from their candy, since they know they are my favorites. What a couple of sweeties!

The Sunflower Patch

After we left Hayden's party, we traveled a few miles north on old Hwy. 411 to see two very large sunflower patches. Several cars were pulled to the side of the road and people were wandering through the fields and taking photos. That's what we did, too.

Here are Bridget and Tessa in the patch:



Here's Dwayne with a sunflower:



It was really cool!

Hayden's First Birthday

We attended a birthday party for my great-newphew Hayden on Oct. 13. He turned one year old on Oct. 10. He is the cutest thing!! He reminds me so much of his dad, Matthew, and his auntie Miranda when they were little. The party was held outdoors and it was a lovely day. Hayden was given a small chocolate cake all his own to dig into. The results were predicatably adorable.

Here he's still nice and clean and just looking at his cake:



Here he is getting very chocolatey:





Here's the "official" Elmo party cake, made by his granny (my sister Sandy):



Hayden cleans up well. Here he is after getting the chocolate scrubbed off him:



He seemed puzzled by getting lots of gifts, but I'm sure he'll have it figured out by birthday number two.

Abney Elementary Fall Festival

We attended the fall festival at Bridget's school on Saturday, Oct. 6. The weather was fine and the girls had a great time. There were lots of activities including face painting, temporary hair color, pony rides, large inflatable "jumpy things" (Bridget's term), and sand art.

Here are the girls "before" the festival:



Here they are "after" getting their faces and hair done:



Here's Bridget on a small pony:



Here's Tessa on a rather large pony:



Not sure why tiny little Tessa was placed on the big horse. She was a bit scared she'd fall off, so I held her hand as she rode.

Anyway, we all had a fun time at the festival -- it was pretty cool for an elementary school shindig.

Bridget's 6th Birthday

Bridget celebrated her 6th birthday on Thursday, Sept. 13. It was a school day, so Tessa and I took cupcakes for Bridget and her classmates. We got to hang out in the classroom for snack time -- it was lots of fun. Bridget got a little bit embarrassed when the kids all sang Happy Birthday to her. I picked her up from school that afternoon and we went to get her ears pierced. She was nervous about it because a classmate had told her she cried when she got hers pierced. Bridget, brave as ever, shed nary a tear, even though we had a long wait in the doctor's office (which gave her lots of time to get nervous) and the doctor had two "false starts" on one ear (the "gun" wasn't working right, so she wound up switching guns). That evening, she opened gifts from me and Papa and we had more birthday cupcakes.

This make-up kit was Bridget's favorite gift from us:



Here's Bridget with her birthday cupcake:



She celebrated with a house party on Saturday, Sept. 15. Her friends Hannah, Olivia, Alyssa, Hayden and Lily attended with their moms. Aunts Sandy and Martha also came. We played Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Tessa was the winner, pinning the tail almost exactly where it should have gone. Olivia was the winner of the Hot Potato game. The girls also played with Bridget's new Dance Mat. It's a simplified version of Dance Dance Revolution and allows for head-on competition. It's pretty fun. After the games, we had cake and ice cream. She had a Hello Kitty cake shaped like a purse. Here's the cake:



Here are Bridget and Lily and the cake:



Here's Bridget opening a present. Shown are (l-r) Hannah, Tessa, Bridget and Hayden:



After gifts were opened, we headed outdoors to the pinata hanging from a tree in the front yard. Here's Bridget getting ready to hit the pinata:



Here are the younger kids watching Hannah hit the pinata. Shown are (l-r) Alyssa, Olivia, Lily, Hayden, Tessa and Bridget:



If we ever have a pinata again, I will make sure to "soften it up" first so that the kids can easily break into it. Those things are hard to bust open. Hannah was able to knock it down, but the candy didn't fall out. That didn't bother the kids, though. Once it was on the ground, they all rushed for it and ripped it open. So, our pinata activity didn't go exactly according to plan, but it was funny watching them tear into the thing.

It was a great day and a good time was had by all.

Tessa's 1st Day of Preschool

Tessa started preschool on Wednesday, Sept. 5. I was a little bit worried about how she'd do; she is more of a homebody and a mama's girl than Bridget. I was nervous when I took her in. Her teacher, Ms. Heather, is the same teacher Bridget had last year, so she knows Tessa. I think that helped. She showed Tessa where to hang her book bag, then I asked if she'd pose with Tessa for this photo:



Right after the photo was taken, Tessa said, "Mama, are you going to go bye-bye?" "Yes," I warily replied, wondering if this was a good thing or a bad thing to her. "Go ahead and go, then," she said. I was so relieved!!

When I picked her up after the first day of school, she didn't look too happy. When we got home she said, "Nobody talked to me or played with me." I felt so bad for her, because I've been there myself plenty of times. I tried to sound upbeat and said, "I bet you will make some friends very soon." When I picked her up on Friday, she was all excited about her two new friends, Cassidy and Audrey. Things have gone smoothly ever since. She is happy and excited every day when I pick her up.

Yesterday, she had her first day of ballet class. She was at school till 2:00. That's a long day for a little one. I really missed her -- it was weird being home with no kids for most of the day. She looked so cute when I went to pick her up -- she was still wearing her ballet clothes. She wore them for a few hours after we got home, too. She was so excited about what she'd learned, she had to show me as soon as we got home. She really is a graceful little girl and looked just beautiful showing me her steps. Here she is in her ballet outfit:

Bridget's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Yesterday, August 6, was Bridget's first day of kindergarten. She was very excited the night before and didn't go to sleep till about 10:30. Despite that fact, she got up bright-eyed and bushy tailed at 6:45 Monday, very excited about her first day of school.

Here's a photo of her before we left home:



Dwayne, Tessa and I took Bridget to school and went into her room with her. She settled in just fine and started playing with some Play Doh:



Tessa enjoyed being at school with her sis. Here they are at Bridget's desk. The lady behind Bridget wearing white pants is her teacher Mrs. Hurst. The little girl sitting across from her is Alyssa. She just lost her two bottom front teeth, so she and Bridget have matching smiles. The little boy to the right is Garrett. He is quite the character. He made a play doh snake that spans the width of his desk. You can see if in the photo. When Bridget came home yesterday, I asked her if he was nice. She said, "Yeah, he talks a lot." I said, "You like to talk, too, so you two will probably be good friends." She agreed that he is nice.



She rode the school bus home. I had a minor freak-out when I saw a bus come through the subdivision at 2:40 and turn around and go back out without letting my daughter off! I nervously waited and hoped another bus was coming through, but I really didn't think there was more than one bus that came through that early. I was planning to call the school if she wasn't home by 3:00. I had brought my camera outside to take a picture of her coming home, but I left it in the house when I went back in to see what time it was. At 2:50, the bus arrived and she came running up the driveway, and I realized I didn't have my camera . . . She was supposed to get off the bus at our next-door neighbor's house, to save the bus making an extra stop, but I guess there was a mix-up. I could have gotten a really good photo of her coming up our driveway if I hadn't been worried about her and forgotten my camera. Oh, well, I don't need a photo to remember her big smile and excited run up the driveway.

She had a great day and was very excited that she would get to go back today.

The Great Outdoors

We spent July 14 through 17 "living outside" (as Bridget called it) at Enota Mountain Resort in North Georgia. It's about a 2-1/2 hour drive from our house, but feels like another world. The girls had been asking us to take them camping for quite some time. It all started when they saw the Brady Bunch episode where they go camping, then they saw Hannah Montana and Zack and Cody camping on their favorite TV shows, so the "Let's go camping" onslaught continued.

Neither Dwayne nor I are big on the whole hunting/camping/fishing thing, but we do both enjoy getting away to the woods and mountains. We'd prefer to be staying in a comfy cabin while we're doing it, but we didn't really have money for that kind of vacation and what the girls really wanted to do was tent camp, so we decided to try it out. We all had a good time, especially the girls.

There were lots of things for them to do. There is a working farm on the premises and kids can help feed the animals, gather eggs from the chickens and milk the cow!! The girls loved this because they both love animals of all kinds.

Here's Bridget milking the cow:



Now it's Tessa's turn:



Here they are with the eggs they gathered:



They also got to ride a pony. Here's Bridget on the pony:



Ride 'em Tessa:



There was a playground just across from our campsite. They had three in-ground trampolines; two set into the ground and one set into a deck. The girls loved jumping on them and we loved that we didn't have to worry about them falling off and getting hurt. Here are the girls with a couple of teenagers they befriended. The older girls were teaching them to do flips on the trampolines. They were so nice.



Pops played on the trampoline with the girls, too:



On our last morning there, the ducks swam by our campsite. We were feeding them bread, so they hung around for a while. They even left the water at one point to scarf down more bread. Here are Bridget and Pops feeding them:



Camping got the thumbs-up from everyone, so I'm sure we'll be going again. I'd like to go back this fall -- the mountains are so pretty when the leaves are turning. Yes, we survived, even thrived, in the great outdoors, but I gotta admit I was very happy to hit the hay in my big, comfy bed when we got home.

Another Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Bridget lost another loose tooth on Friday, July 13. Once again, she pulled it out with my tweezers. Here she is posing with the tooth and showing off her new smile:



The tooth fairy didn't bring her quite so much money this time (see previous tooth fairy entry), but she didn't seem to notice. We were leaving to go camping that morning, so she was focused on that excitement rather than the tooth fairy. Whew!

July 4, 2007

We went to see fireworks in Acworth. The fireworks were shot over Lake Acworth and were really pretty. I didn't get any good pictures, but here's a kids-eye view of a firework taken by Bridget:



Yes, we should have sat on the other side of the fence. We had what we thought was a good seat until they started shooting the fireworks and realized that our view was being blocked by a huge tree. We had to move to the best available spot quickly. I had never been to Cauble Park. It's a nice facility, and not too far from our house. They have two playgrounds, lots of picnic tables, and a "beach" area on the lake. We'll have to go back there again sometime.

A Visit From the Tooth Fairy

I was so glad that Sandy brought the girls home a day early because the evening they came home, June 28, Bridget lost her first baby tooth! She had previously lost a few teeth that had to be pulled by the dentist, but this was the first one to come out naturally. It was one of her middle teeth on the bottom. She was so scared it would come out while she was eating and she'd swallow it and wouldn't be able to leave it for the tooth fairy. I assured her that she shouldn't worry about swallowing it, and that even if she did swallow or lose it, the tooth fairy would still leave something for her. She was still worried, though.

She was doing all kinds of stuff to try and get it out on her own. She didn't want anyone else to pull it. Dwayne was teasing her with some pliers and she asked him to borrow them. She tried to use them to pull the tooth out, but they kept slipping off the tiny tooth. I gave her a pair of my tweezers and she eventually used them to pull it out. She was so excited!

Bridget shows off her new smile:



Then, disaster struck! She lost the tooth. We were all looking for it. Crisis was averted when Dwayne finally found it. It was really hard to get her to sleep that night. I think she was excited both about being home and the tooth fairy's imminent visit. I kept telling her that she needed to go to sleep so the tooth fairy would come. She finally nodded off and so did I. It was after midnight when I woke up in her bed. I skipped my usual evening chores and slunk into my own bed. Before I went to sleep, I made sure Dwayne was going to play tooth fairy.

I had to go to work the next morning, and didn't think to talk about the tooth fairy visit with Sandy before I left. Sandy told me Bridget woke up and started looking for her gift from the tooth fairy and didn't find anything. Bridget said the tooth fairy didn't even take her tooth -- it was still wrapped up in the handkerchief Sandy had given her. She said Bridget had big ole tears that were about to fall out of her eyes -- she was devastated. I had told Sandy about falling asleep in Bridget's bed and being so tired the night before. She thought Dwayne and I had forgotten to play tooth fairy. So, Sandy snuck $2 under Bridget's pillow without her seeing it. Bridget found the money and was happy. Then, Sandy asked her if she had opened up the handkerchief and looked inside. Bridget said no. Sandy said, "Maybe you should open it." There was the golden dollar coin Dwayne had left for her. So, she got $3 for one measly tooth!!! Hope she doesn't expect that every time.

Well, if she does, Sandy suggested I tell her this tooth was especially valuable because it was her first lost tooth. I hope this story works because she has another very loose tooth and has borrowed my tweezers again . . .

Time Tripping

Ever wanted to go back in time? For two weeks in June, I felt like I had done just that. I was offered some work with my former full-time employer. I do lots of work for them from home, but this work required me to be in the office for 10 days. I don't have any family or trusted babysitters near to my home, so the girls spent the weekdays and weeknights with their aunts in North Georgia. This meant that I was going to work and coming home to a childless house again. It really did feel like time tripping.

It was nice to see everyone again and catch up on all the happenings in their lives. Pek Suan is going to be a first-time aunt soon and will be travelling back to Malaysia to visit her family and meet her niece or nephew. She is very excited! Kim, her mom and her sister are selling their triplex home. Kim's mom will be moving into an assisted living facility run by her church. Her best friend lives there already, and the accomodations and services sound really great, so I know she will adjust to it and enjoy it in no time. Kim will be living with her cousin for a while, while she saves money for her dream home. She is very excited about getting a fresh start! Susie's "little" daughters are now 10 and 14. Yikes!! How did that happen? She is attending church now. Psych! She and I were very much alike in thinking we'd never be "church-goers", but like me she has found a church that supports her beliefs. In the "news of the weird" department, Carol's husband-to-be, who also works at SP, is the father of one of the "Barbie Bandits"! And, Mack is still Mack. Bless his soul! I think I miss him most of all.

The first two or three days were fun. It was nice to dress up again and "have somewhere to go." It was nice to talk with adults. It was nice to do my work in a quiet room without being interrupted by a kid every couple of minutes. It was nice to go to a movie with Dwayne in the evening.

But, I was over it by day 4. I was missing my kids so bad!! I was so tired at the end of the day, even though sitting in an office was nowhere near as mentally exhausting as dealing with two kids all day. I think the constant sitting caused my fatigue. Sitting at a desk virtually all day, prefaced by sitting in a car for 45 minutes, followed by sitting in a car for another 45 - 60 minutes. All day spent inside with only a few moments outside at lunchtime. I truly believe this is an unnatural state for humans. I remembered quickly why I had become so tired of devoting most of my life to my job. I know I would not be happy going back to that lifestyle. When you're raising kids, there are many times you don't get to do what you want to do when you want to do it, but it is still nowhere near as constraining as being tied to a desk all day.

By the second week of being away from my kids, my heart was aching for them. My sister Sandy was kind enough to bring them home a night early and spend the night with us. I was so happy to see them!!

I had the unusual privilege of taking a trip back in time. It made me appreciate how lucky I am to be home with my girls. On those days when I'm at the end of my rope, I can look back on those two weeks and smile. Life is good. : )

Father's Day

We celebrated Father's Day by going out to dinner at Macaroni Grill. The girls had a great time -- they love going out to restaurants. The food was delish!! I bought Dwayne a DVD of the movie "Ghost Rider." For the girls' gifts, we decided to try a cute DYI gift idea I saw on the internet. I dressed them up in one of his shirts and had them do a couple of his favorite things for some "Just Like Dad" photos. We framed the photos and decorated the frames with the words "Just Like Papa."

Here is Tessa wearing Pop's reading glasses and "reading" a Harry Potter book:



Here is Bridget wearing Pop's reading glasses and "paying bills" at his desk. Yes, you read right, paying bills is one of his favorite things -- go figure:



It is really hard to find a Father's Day card that doesn't say to Dad or Daddy. In Russia, parents are called Mama and Papa, so the girls have always called him different variations of Papa. I typeset the word "Popsy" in a matching color and glued it onto his card so that it would read appropriately. Popsy is the current fave Papa nickname around here. The girls got it from an episode of "The Little Mermaid" cartoon, where the character of "Little Evil" refers to his father as Popsy. I really can't see myself running around calling Dwayne "Daddy" but I love calling him Pops or Poppy or Popsy or Popo. One day I was watching the reality series "Gene Simmons' Family Jewels" and heard Gene's son Nick calling him Popo more than once. I thought that was a Bridget-and-Tessa original, but I guess not . . . Maybe someday, they'll bow to peer pressure and start calling their Pops "Daddy" like all the other kids, but I hope not.

Madison's Birthday Party

Saturday, June 9, Tessa, Bridget and I attended a birthday party for Bridget's friend Madison. It was held at the local gymnastics center and a very good time was had by all the kids. The center had a huge "pit" filled with large foam cubes. The kids could jump into the pit from a springboard. Bridget and Tessa loved it!

Here's a pic of the birthday girl in the pit:



There was also a huge ball on a rope that swung out over the pit. The kids were given took turns swinging on the ball (assisted by a staff member) and could jump off the ball into the pit if they wished. Bridget and Madison both wanted to jump into the pit, but just couldn't get up the nerve. They were the only girls who even wanted to try. Two of the boys in attendance were the only ones who actually jumped off the ball. I know I wouldn't have had the nerve to do it -- it was really high in the air and swinging pretty forcefully. Here's a pic of Bridget on the ball swing:



Of course, there was cake and ice cream. Here's a shot of the festivities (Tessa's at the front left of the photo):



Here's another group shot. The lady in the yellow shirt is Madison's mom. Bridget is sitting to her left:



Bridget loved getting to see her friends from preschool again. She has really missed school this summer. I don't think anyone from her class will be attending kindergarten with her. That makes her sad. I've tried to explain to her that the friends she makes in kindergarten will go to school with her for years to come, but I don't think she really understands. Anyway, on this day she and Tessa had a blast!!

Jennifer's Slumber Party

My niece Jennifer hosted a slumber party Friday, June 1. In attendance were my niece Stephanie and her kids, Brock, Ashlyn and Allie; my niece Tina; my sister Martha and her niece (on her husband's side) Hannah; and a very special guest, my great-nephew Bryant. He's the son of my late nephew Jeff. We don't get to see him very often, so it was really a treat to have him there. I hadn't seen him in a few years and he had changed a lot since then. He is 17 now and looks so much like his dad -- it's really amazing. He is a very cool kid, but not "too cool" to play with all the little kids like Bridget, who quickly developed a major crush on him. Here's a picture of Bridget and Tessa chasing Bryant:



Here's a close-up of Bryant:



Jennifer had lots of activities to keep the kids (and adults) busy. We made melty-plastic art (I'm sure that's not the technical name for it), which involved placing tiny multicolored plastic circles inside stencils and then ironing the shapes to melt them together into one piece. The kids showed more patience than I expected with this painstaking process. Tessa in particular seemed to love it.

In the evening, we played various games outside, including badminton, frisbee, kickball and dodgeball. There was a difference of opinion as to how dodgeball should be played. Now, I'm old school when it comes to dodgeball. You know, two teams -- one team makes a circle and the other team gets inside the circle; the team on the outside tries to hit the people on the inside; last one standing is the winner. Nowadays, they play it more like the game we called battleball, where the two side stand in lines facing each other and the object seems to be more about catching the ball when it's thrown towards you than dodging the ball. We settled our debate peaceably, and played it both ways.

Here's a cute photo of Bridget and Brock. Looks like it was a deep conversation:



In the evening, we made earrings. it was so much fun and we came up with some pretty cool creations. Jennifer bought some clip-on earring backs so that Bridget and Tessa could make earrings, too. Bridget especially loved this craft and was really good at choosing beads that went well together. Here she is modeling some of her earrings (that's Tina in the background):



Here's Tessa modeling some of her earrings:



The next morning, Jennifer made pancakes for all of us -- yummy!! Thanks Jennifer, for hosting the party. The girls and I had a blast!!

Note: I stole all the photos for this blog entry from Jennifer's blog. Thanks again, Jennifer! : )