Laps

"But I'm having trouble sleeeeeeeeeeping!" Mabes whined.

"That's because you are running laps around your room. You were exhausted this afternoon. If you would lie still for 5 minutes, you'd fall asleep," I pointed out.

I really had to fight the laughter on that one. There's something about hearing weird noises in your kid's room, peeking in to see what's going on, and seeing her running in circles around her room while her stuffed cats watch from the small table she's moved to the center. She had a very serious, matter-of-fact expression on her face. You know, because it's perfectly normal to do that an hour after bedtime.

GO TO SLEEP! She was up late last night because she was excited about starting to ride the bus. She's up late tonight because apparently she didn't burn off all her energy. This is why I'm in no rush to move Annabelle out of the crib. Then again, she actually likes sleeping--or at least she did until about 3 days ago. What's gotten into my kids?

It's been an eat-nutella-out-of-the-jar kind of day.

Boo. But I kind of wish I had a picture of the running.

Party animals

As mentioned earlier, Mabes has decided she loves kittens. You might call it a bit of an obsession. She decided she wanted a cat party, and immediately started planning. Awesome, less work for me. I wanted to make a pinata again, but that kind of took a lot of time. Plus, they recently chopped down a bunch of our trees, so we had nowhere to hang it--it was a convenient excuse.
I decided to do cat ears and collars in addition to Mabes' well-planned games. The kids colored shrinky dinks with their names on them, we baked them, then put them on their beaded collars. Dave was surprised how long the beading took them--I've worked with several of these kids in our preschool co-op, so I was banking on it taking them a while to do that while I made lunch!
When they finished, they played games. At Mabes' request, Dave made a "pin the tail on the cat" game, but took it a step farther and had it be "pin everything on the cat." And then instead of Duck Duck Goose, they played Cat Cat Mouse. And Cat Cat Bird. Mabes was disappointed that we didn't have time for Dog Dog Cat. (Creativity was limited.)

Picasso's cat

I used Sarah's recipe to make strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing. It uses real strawberries in both the cupcakes and icing, so it's practically health food! And I had made the candy cats (boo, the whiskers were messy, but I stopped caring after the first one) in advance, so the cupcakes were super easy to throw together the day-of.
It was a fun, easy party and I had a lot of fun planning it with Mabes. Of course, despite games and activities, the kids enjoyed running around playing cats the most. Mabes has decided she wants to be a cat for Halloween--with the ears and collar, I think her costume is pretty much done. I just can't let her change her mind.

I think she enjoyed her ice cream.

Six already?!?!

Dear Mabes,

Happy birthday, little girl. Six years ago tonight, I held you and wondered who you'd be. I wanted to call everyone I knew to tell them we had you--it was like the best birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. Before you were born, Daddy and I worried that you'd be overshadowed by your cousins. We worried that you would be the boring, quiet child in the corner at family events.

We didn't need to worry.

I can think of lots of words to describe you, but not boring and quiet. You are fun and crazy and say the most hilarious things. (Daddy thinks I should have a Mabes-isms twitter account--I don't think I could keep up with you.) You are a great big sister; Annabelle adores you. Your energy is unparallelled. You are so strong-willed, outgoing, and extroverted that your dad and I often wonder where you came from.

We've had a long, great weekend. You were tired tonight, and I know that was part of the reason you were a little emotional. We sat in your room and you told me you were nervous about growing up. You're excited about 1st grade, but also scared. You told me that you think about all the challenges, and how there are more challenges in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, and that scares you. You're worried that 1st grade will be more work than you can handle. You're worried you'll do something wrong. You're worried it will be hard.

This is a side of you I don't see often. While I don't know where the crazy extrovert came from, I can clearly see that the worrier in you is all me. I didn't know what to tell you tonight, so I told you it would all be okay, you might be nervous, but you'll love 1st grade just like you loved kindergarten. I told you not to worry about 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, and just think about the fun things we'll do this week.

I don't know how to make the worrying go away. I don't know how to make "the challenges" easier. You are a brilliant little girl and I never want you to doubt yourself. You will make mistakes, and you'll even fail sometimes. You have so much potential, and I worry (see?) that something I do will stifle that. You will do great things in your life, but honestly? The challenges are part of it. It's how you'll learn. It's how you'll grow. I wish you didn't have to worry, and I wish I could tell you it won't be hard. I can't.

Six years ago, I had no idea the challenge in store in becoming a parent. It's been hard. I've cried a lot. I'm pretty sure it's only going to get harder. But that challenge has also been the most rewarding aspect of my life.

Kind of a random picture. But it goes along with the theme.
Also, Mabes seems so big here!

Mabes, we are so blessed to have you. You are a sweet girl with a big heart and bigger hugs. While I wish you didn't have to worry, I know it's part of life. If anyone is up for a challenge, it's you. I can't wait to see the things you'll do and the person you'll become. And like I told you tonight, Daddy and I will always love you. Just do your best, and everything always works out. Happy birthday, Mabes.

Love,
Mommy

4th of July

Mabes was really excited for the 4th of July. Partly because she gets excited for any holiday or birthday, but particularly for 4th of July because it's starting to make more sense. She's been watching Liberty's Kids on Netflix streaming and while I don't know how much of the history she's retaining, she's got a better idea of what happened and the significance of the Declaration of Independence. She'll tell you all about the Redcoats and why she likes to call the British "the Brattish." (I have made sure she knows we like Britain now--I mean, they gave us Cadbury, Colin Firth, and Harry Potter!)

I like that everyone is smiling, and that the Redcoat forgot his
red coat and is wearing a top hat.

In preparation for the 4th, Mabes had been coloring flags for decorations and drawing pictures and writing sentences. So I decided to make a red, white, and blue breakfast beyond our typical Belgian waffles with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream (because let's face it, if I'm going to make waffles, I'd rather put spekuloos on them!). And this is why I'm not a food blogger. Well, this and the fact that I can't blog regularly to save my life. And because anyone outside my family would get bored with pictures of ice cream and popcorn. Okay, so there are lots of reasons why I'm not a food blogger, and here is one of them:


Blueberry & Strawberry Baked French Toast. I overwhipped the cream. I *almost* called my mom and asked her how she makes hers so good, but I didn't think she'd appreciate a call at 5:30 am on a holiday. And also, what kind of idiot needs directions on whipping cream? Me, apparently. But despite the overwhipped cream and the patriotic colors baking into a purpley mess, it was good. And since I usually dislike baked fruit, that's quite high praise.

One of these days, we'll work on spelling. The Kindergarten
teachers were big on letting them sound out words and spell them
how they want to. I think I'll do the same, starting with "colonel."

And judging by this picture, I'm thinking Mabes may be preparing to declare her own independence. She's got the crown and the pledge of allegiance worked out already:

If only she had a little confidence...

Dancing Queen

I still need to post about our trip to California, but for now, I'm just going to post pictures from Mabes' first dance recital. Our California trip was cut short so we could make it back in time and while I was sad to be the first to leave, I'm glad we didn't miss this. As the year went along, she didn't love dance class as much as I thought she would. I think she thought dance lessons would be freestylin' for 45 minutes. Repeated shuffle ball changes really cramp her style. But she went each week, and even though we missed the last 2 classes, she did a great job.

Before the recital, in her tap costume

With Miss Lynn, her teacher

With flowers from Grandma Jackie and Aunt Amber-Rae

I was ridiculously proud of her. She did great, and while she missed a few steps, she totally made up for it in sass. She really enjoyed it and loved that I let her wear mascara, but she's not sure if she wants to take lessons again. We're looking at swim lessons for the summer, and we'll see what she does this fall!

Conversations with Mabes

"Hey Mabes, guess what? Last night, when I was running on the greenway, I saw three deer and a beaver!"

"Wow, what did the beaver look like?"

"Uhhhh, a beaver. Sitting in the water."

"Did it look like Justin Beaver? I bet it did. I like Justin Beaver. Cadence likes Justin Beaver. We bof do. We heard a Justin Beaver song at school and got really excited and said, 'it's Justin Beaver! I love Justin Beaver songs!' It was crazy."

It occurred to me that while I'm trying to protect her from the tween madness that is Disney pop stars and the Biebs as long as possible, I'm keeping her in the Nick Jr. phase maybe a little too long. And I'm totally alright with that. But because of that, she's probably picturing Justin Beaver as a large, CGI singing beaver. I bet if I came home tomorrow and told her I saw a moose and a kangaroo, she'd ask if they looked like Tyrone and Austin.

Man, now I hope I see a kangaroo tomorrow. Or a uniqua.

Goals, games, and milkshakes

We had been wanting to catch a Braves game for a long time, and decided that April was the time to do it. Because a mid-afternoon game in Atlanta in July didn't sound like fun. However, I had set a goal to be able to run 10k by my birthday, and I was running out of time. While I just wanted to be able to run the distance, Dave suggested I find an actual 10k to run. So once we decided to go to Atlanta for the weekend, I found three 10Ks that were also that day. I narrowed it down to the one that seemed like the prettiest run and had a staggered start for the 5k and 10k (so we could alternate running and watching the girls). So on Saturday morning, Dave and I got to run along the Chattahoochee River. Even if it wasn't as flat as the website had claimed, it was still a beautiful day and a great run.

When I started running 8 weeks ago, my goal was to finish the 10k without walking. And then I started thinking I could run it in under an hour. Then I hurt my foot. Then I got better. Then I looked up my family's times when they ran a 10k together in 2009 (I was 36 weeks pregnant and having contractions every 4 minutes, so I didn't) and started pushing myself to be in their range (between 56:11 and 1:00:00; no, David, I'm not counting your time). Then Dave told me about the hills. And I was back to the "finish without walking" goal.

Dave on the left, me in a "Where's Waldo" pink and gray tank top on the right.

I finished. I didn't walk. I felt great (a little bored and frustrated at one point; I had wanted to update my playlist but I think Annabelle may have thrown away my shuffle's cord--boo!), and I loved seeing my girls clapping for me as I approached the finish line. I finished in 56:10, averaging 9:02/mile. I'm very happy with it.

There were a lot of dogs at the race, so Annabelle loved pointed them out and waving to them. There was one that she really seemed to like, and we just happened to be going out to our cars at the same time. They ended up being parked next to us, and as we were trying to get the girls loaded up in the van, we heard one of the owners call the dog over for water. Dave and I looked at each other, and he asked, "I'm sorry, but what's you're dog's name?" The owner looked up, "This is Annabelle!" We introduced our Annabelle, and explained that her nickname was Puppy. They seemed amused (or at least politely feigned amusement) and let us take a picture:

Two puppies named Annabelle

We headed back to the hotel, showered, Annabelle took a nap, and then we went to lunch at the Varsity. I didn't get my post-run chocolate milk, but a post-run chocolate shake is even better.

Then we went to the game. Mabes was totally excited and just took everything in.

We need to work on her hand-eye coordination.

Puppy's first corndog

Runnin' the bases

"For it's root, root root for the home team..."

We couldn't have asked for better weather--high 60s with a light breeze. There had been a huge storm the night before and that game had been cancelled, so we could have stayed for Saturday's double header. The girls were pretty tired by the time game 1 ended, so we hung out for a little bit, watching them get the field ready and see the players warm up (or stay warm, since they had just played). Mabes kept thanking us for such a great day, and was so happy that she got to see Chipper, Brian McCann, and Jason Heyward. The Braves won, Chipper hit a home run, and Mabes got to dance and cheer do the tomahawk chop. It was a great day.

Mabes' worldview

I noticed this on the fridge today:

Her name is vertical/backwards because "it's more fun that way." And while she learned how to end sentences with periods, she never does; "exclamation points mean you're excited, so that's how I always end my sentences."

And the speech bubbles? "It's because all I like to fink about is me!" Reminds me of the Malcolm in the Middle episode where you get glimpse into Dewey's mind and his mom is only saying, "Dewey Dewey Dewey Dewey Dewey..." That would explain why she hasn't heard a word I've said this afternoon.

There's a first time for everything

A couple of days ago, I was driving Mabes home from school and she was complaining about how cold she was. (I'm not complaining--it's been much nicer than last winter, in that it's been above 40 degrees several times already!) "Hey Mabes, you think it's cold here? Where Ainsleigh and Dono live, it was so much colder yesterday."

Her eyes got big, "Like, as cold as when it snowed here?"

"Colder. Remember how cold it was when it snowed? It's like that, only 30 degrees colder."

Mabes' jaw dropped. "What? That's...I...uh...I don't even know what to say!" She was quiet, presumably deep in thought, for the remainder of the trip.

I'm going to have to record this in her baby book: February 2, 2011--the day Mabes was rendered speechless.

"Wanna hear something gross?"

Sarah, you may want to skip this one.

Somehow, despite talking all afternoon (since she can't talk in class, she has all this crazy pent up talking energy when she gets home), she managed to save one gem as her third bedtime stall tactic:

"Hey, Daddy, wanna hear somefing gross dat happened at recess today?"

Dave was drawn in, "Sure."

"Dere was a dead bird on da ground and everyone fought it was so gross, so I picked it up by its beak and frew it over da fence. It was O'Shaun's bird because he found it, but I frew it over da fence and we all laughed."

"Um, Mabes, you probably shouldn't pick up dead birds because there could be bugs or germs on it."

"It's okay, Daddy, dere were no bugs on it. Only feaders. And den I went into da class and washed my hands wif soap, and went back to playing."

Even though it was hours after the fact, I went in and made Mabes use a bunch of hand sanitizer. I tried to hide my face so she couldn't see how horrified I was by the dead bird story, or how much I was trying not to laugh. Gross.

"I look like a grandma!"

What does that make you think of? Bifocals? Canes? Macrame shawls?

The above statement was made once she got her helmet and sunglasses on and hopped on her bike. We were heading out for a walk on the greenway--evenings are gorgeous now that the humidity is pretty much gone. And I was just giggling as Mabes rode her bike, proudly waving at others and tooting her horn (literally). Sure, in her mind, grandmas sew, quilt, crochet, and provide comfy laps in which to read stories, but they also wear helmets and sunglasses and ride bikes ridiculous distances.

*Some* talking

Mabes is absolutely loving school. She loves learning, she loves her teacher, she loves the kids, and to my huge relief, she is behaving! She's a sweet girl and I love her more than anything, but she is a ball of energy that can be difficult to contain, so I worried about how she'd do. Each day, she'd bring home her folder, I'd initial by the "excellent" stamp, we'd talk about her day, and she'd tell me about the trouble makers. Last week, on our way home, I asked how she did. She said she did well, but that everyone was pretty crazy and they were distracting her. We got home, I looked in her folder, smiled a little, and said, "Uh oh Mabes...it says 'some talking.'"

I thought it was funny, especially since she had already said that everyone was chatty. Kids have off days, right? Only "some talking" from Mabes is practically a miracle. Mabes was pretty upset about it, though, and did not want to tell Dave. I assured her it was okay, it wasn't a big deal, and that she'd do better the next day. I don't want a doctor telling her she's pre-ulcer when she's 9, though my parents never put pressure on me, so maybe some things can't be prevented. Since then, she's gotten all "terrific" and "great" stamps.

She does have some interesting stories about school. On the second day, I sent her with a juice box and she spilled a little at lunch. A kid laughed at her, and she has since referred to him as "the boy who laughed at me when I spilled my juice at lunch." She's very matter-of-fact about it and doesn't seem upset, she just wants to make sure we know. A couple of days later, she was a bit smug when she told us how the boy who laughed at her when she spilled her juice at lunch got his name on the board. He's kind of crazy, she said.

Though her favorite friends are Maria and Autumn (even though she referred to her as Fall the first week), she proudly told me that at lunch, she was nice to the boy who laughed at her when she spilled her juice at lunch and she told him funny jokes and now they were friends. "Now dat he sees dat I'm funny and nice, maybe he won't laugh at me if I spill my juice at lunch." Way to go, Mabes.

I didn't cry!

Let's go ahead and get that out of the way right now. Dave accused me of having a heart of stone, but honestly, I think it was a combination of being frazzled due to running late this morning and having my emotional breakdown ahead of time. Which was nice, because Mabes didn't see it. I was doing fine until last night when Dave said, "You know, she can be crazy sometimes, but I really hope school doesn't change her one bit. She's pretty awesome." And I lost it.

She was so excited, but was pretty patient while we took pictures. Schools here do a staggered start for kindergarten, so even though school started last Wednesday, because of where we fall in the alphabet, Mabes started today with only a couple of other students. Tomorrow, her whole class will be there. She met her teacher and saw the classroom last week at an open house, so she felt pretty confident strolling in. She greeted her teacher, sat down, and was ready for the day.

We left, and Annabelle and I had a pretty busy day of errand-running and cleaning. And of course I had to make cookies for Mabes to come home to for her first day. We went to pick her up, and as I saw the teachers bringing the kindergartners out for pick-up, Mabes looked awesome. Not crazy, not shy--just comfortable and very grown-up. As soon as she saw me, she had a huge smile on her face and said, "Mommy, I LOVE kindergarten!"

We got home, ate cookies, talked about her day, and called the grandparents. I can't remember who she told what, but here's pretty much her answer to "how was your first day of kindergarten?":

"It was awesome! We played wif puzzles and we made a raccoon puppet because we read Dah Kissing Hand and we learned about raccoons and how dey go to school but dey go to school at night because raccoons are awake at night and sleep during dah day and den we played wif musical instruments and I took a test on dah computer about letters and rhyming and maf and I was dah best, well, dah lady helping me said I was perfect and I know I did great and we went outside to play and a boy in an orange stripe shirt chased me and a girl in a pink shirt around and I didn't like it so I ran fast like a cheetah and hid in a hole and tried be camouflaged and yelled 'you can't find me!' but den he found me so I had to run fast like a cheetah again and den for lunch we went to dah cafeteria and I could get whatever I wanted and I got cereal with marshmallows and raisins, macaroni and cheese, pear, chocolate milk, and CANDY! It was a really fun day."

Aaaaaand breathe. So yes, she enjoyed her day. Everyone promised me she'd be exhausted after a long school day, but that hasn't hit yet. Maybe tomorrow? When she told me about her lunch, I was a little nervous about what she may have purchased. I put money in her account and then she can pretty much buy what she wants with her number. I realized later I didn't go over menu options and talk about limiting what she got. Fortunately, with the system the school uses, I can check her purchases online. Turns out she bought the standard lunch and the "cereal with marshmallows" was trail mix, and she didn't buy any extra desserts or rounds of chocolate milk for her entire class.

She can't wait to go back tomorrow.

Five years ago today...

I walked to the hospital and four hours later was holding this:

Little did I know then how much this little girl would keep me on my toes. In the last five years, I've read more child sleep books than I knew existed and I've learned that you can cry tears of joy and frustration at the same time. I've had my patience tried, my logic questioned, and my authority challenged. I've laughed and hugged more than I ever thought possible. And last night, as I hugged a half-sleeping Mabes at 1 am and she whispered, "I really love you, Mommy," I realized this is all going too fast. Happy birthday, Mabes.

For Mabes' birthday party, we decided last week to just do a simple party, invite a few friends from school/church, have cake, play, and call it a day. Easy! And then Mabes decided she wanted a Mario theme. Okay, I'll make a cute cake. And then I started googling. And that's when I decided I needed to make a pinata. It was a long process, but pretty fun. Plus, it was a nice distraction to keep me from warbling "Sunrise, Sunset" before breaking down in sobs that my little girl is growing up. So I made the pinata, and while a little lopsided, I'm happy with it. I have a feeling that I'll be finding dried paper maché bits (like Tobias' blue handprints) scattered around the house for months to come.

We had a blast. We played Yoshi games, hunted for gold coins, ate, and of course hit the pinata.

Party guests (minus 2) in their Yoshi hats.

Annabelle thought the pinata was hilarious. She'd laugh every time someone hit it. Each of the kids got 2 times at bat, with several swings each time. They successfully hit off the cheeks, ears, hat, and nose (see picture of Mabes), but Dave had to hit it a bit harder to break the head, which made Annabelle laugh even harder.

(Hats and pinata were not my idea--I'm not creative! I just follow instructions really well, and http://www.coolpartyblog.com/ has great ideas with detailed instructions. Perfect.)