Youngest turned 5

My baby turned 5 last week. I find this so difficult to believe because that means I am five years older (40, here I come), it means I haven't been a classroom teacher for five years, it means that we have been in Pennsylvania for more than four years, it means my baby will never remember living in Virginia Beach.

Youngest had some major issues with turning five. She liked the number four. She thought that turning five meant that she automatically went to kindergarden, and she doesn't want to leave Mrs. B's class. She doesn't want to be the youngest - she says she wants to be before Middle and Oldest. HA! Don't know how to change that since Middle is 2.5 years older and Oldest is 9.5 years older.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY sweetheart!!! Just embrace five - just as Mama will try to embrace 4-0 this winter. (UGH....)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Feeling kinda Sixteen Candles - ish. DH hasn't said a thing about my BD - which is very, highly, extremely unusual. Let's see what happens when he finally gets home tonight.

Catching Up - Past

OK - pinky swear aside - I did mean to catch up the other day. Life, it got in the way again.

December:
Christmas was fantastic. Oldest loved the cell phone and was blown away that she got one. So far, so good with it.

Mom and Dad were able to make the drive up to visit. They stayed for a few days - we hit up Target and both outlets (Tanger and Rockvale.) Mom did pretty well with the shopping especially since she hates to go.

January:
1st - Middle and I ran in the New Year together. Yes, my 6 year old made it to midnight and actually even later. She realized that it was AM and thought she should just stay up. Yeah, that didn't happen.

3rd - made a road trip with Youngest to Timonium, Maryland to hit up the Recollections Scrapbook store since it was closing. We had a good time, and she was a huge help with picking out new supplies. She was great for throwing Memory Makers paint in my basket - everyone had to have their own color.

5th - Middle's first basketball game, and Daddy is the coach. She did OK - a little 'tude, but it worked out overall. The I had a date with J to Panera Bread that night. Oldest watched the younger two so we could go out for an hour. It was sooooo nice to eat by ourselves and just talk. We went over to the Kirkland Outlet and the Restoration Hardward Outlet, but didn't buy a thing.

6th - the sickness came....Middle was throwing up in the bathroom @ 1 AM. Oh, my gracious - NASTY!!! I don't know what she picked up, but it was B-A-D.

7th - Youngest failed her second hearing test. We now have the referral to the ENT doctor. Make an appt. with Dr. Tom of CHoP. He is suppose to be very good.

11th - Oldest has a tooth pulled to make the braces work this time. They better for 4 freakin' thousand dollars.

12th - went to Julia's crop in Maryland for the day. Oh, how nice to have a little time for myself. J is fantastic about that.

14th - Oldest gets the rest of the braces on. She picks pink - who knew? Last year she despised pink. Teenagers.

19th - Middle scores her first basket in basketball. Way to go, girl!! She was so proud of herself.

20th - decide it might be time to move since the new house next too us is in our front yard. Yeah - that SUCKS!!!! We are so very pissed off at our builder. Talks with him are ongoing to try to rectify this situation. We went to look at a few new houses today - but we were not blown away by any.

21st - took Oldest to see 27 Dresses and out to dinner at Macaroni Grill for a Girls' Day Out. She seemed to have a great time hanging out with Mom. The movie was good - it is a total Chix Flix.

22nd - Middle to the peds because enough is enough with this mess. I am tired of her being so sick. Not much to do but let it run its course.

23rd - took Middle out to breakfast since the "issue" seems to be subsiding. Just to be safe, she sticks with the BRAT diet. We went over to see J at school. Middle took a picture to him that she had colored at breakfast. Went to look at a house tonight in a neighborhood with tons of kids, but it was a no go. The backyard was not workable since it was straight down. The basement; however, was clean enough to eat off of.

24th - Youngest sick again

25th - Youngest too sick to sing in Winterfest.

26th - Middle - peds again. HIVES. Ugh... a side effect of the virus she has been fighting for three weeks

28th - meet with the real estate agents about selling the house. We might lose 3 - 4% due to the placement of the house next door. We are PISSED OFF to say the least. Oh, and I do NOT want to pay them $20,000 as their commission to sell my house. Ridiculous. I've never paid anyone that amount to sell my house - won't start now.

29th - take Youngest to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries and stuff for Oldest's BD Party - find a big ol' nail in the tire. The tire is going "SSSSSSSS" and going down. High tail it back in the car and go over to H&F to get it fixed. Of course, it is also raining and freaking cold. Figures.

31st - Youngest's first appt. with Dr. Tom. Tests with the audiologist. Nothing conclusive except that she has a conductive middle ear hearing loss. At the point the cause is unknown. CT Scan is the next step. Schedule that for February 6th in King of Prussia.

February:
1st - Oldest's BD Sleepover. She seems to have a good time, and they were asleep by 11 PM. What is up with that? They are 14!! It's OK - I'll take it.

2nd - Oldest's 14th Birthday. How the hell did that happen? I was just taking her to her first day of kindergarten the other day. Crazy, crazy, crazy how time is flying.
We went rollerskating as a family. This was a first and tons of fun!! Willow Street sponsored it. Youngest did a better job than Middle - and then Youngest promptly threw a fit when it was time to leave. I had a fantastic time - I haven't skated in years, but picked it up again easily. I even went BACKWARDS!!!

4th - started my One in 48 class with Hillary Heidelberg's NYCScraps. Great sketches to work with and color schemes.

5th - Middle's 100 Days of School Celebration. She had to dress as a 100 year old woman. Yeah, she wasn't too into it, but some of the other kids were. Very original costumes.
Oldest had High School pre-registration. OMG! Stop growing up so damn fast.

That is it for the PAST. Now onto the Present....

Happy 6th Birthday,Middle Child!

Happy Birthday, Middle Child! How incredible that six years have passed so very quickly. You are getting ready to start first grade. I am not ready for you to be gone all day. Who will I yell, "Stop running," to? Who will Youngest argue with about riding in the blue carseat? Whose lunch will Charlie eat? Lots of things to ponder.

Today was a lot of fun. The day started at 7:30 when Uncle Eric gave you a BD wake-up call. Then Grandpop and Barbara called. What a popular birthday girl. Next you decided that eating eleven mini-pancakes for breakfast was a perfect treat. Yum - your favorite. Moving on to running errands and ordering your red velvet birthday cake from Simmon's Bakery for your Dinner and a Movie party on Saturday night. Lunch at Isaac's Deli proved fun for the four of us (poor Daddy missed out - but somebody's gotta work. ) Nana called this afternoon to sing to you. Daddy cut class to be home for you and dinner (secretly though I believe he was plotting that after dinner trip to Rita's for gelato and water ice.) Sneaky Daddy!! Now you are snoozing away in the playroom since you really wanted to sleep in there tonight for a treat. Pleasant dreams, my sweetheart. You are almost official 6! Just a few more minutes.

Tomorrow we will continue on our mission to reclaim the house. Organizing and purging have been my favorite jobs this week. Oldest cleaned out her bedroom and all of the middle school stuff that had accumulated. J cleaned out his closet. I have been working on the office and playroom. My scraproom area is next. I can see the light. Organization is going great - especially since I stole an idea from Aby Garvey http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/. She has really cool ideas that I have enjoyed gleaming.

Daddy's appointment with the neurosurgeon went well today. He has a total of 12 screws in his neck.. The recovery time is still going to be v.e.r.y. long. No rides in the car until his next appointment in four weeks. Gracious. I know he is going out of his mind just staying home, but until that bone grows and the paralysis and weakness in the arms is gone...home he stays. I think the muscle spasms are still going strong which isn't always alleviated by the drugs. Hopefully a visit from three rowdy granddaughters will take his mind off of the pain and boredom.

OK - I guess this is the end for tongiht. I still need to catch this baby up to speed. I have missed:
Christmas, New Year's, Oldest's 13th BD, my 38th BD, my new job, Middle's soccer season, my trip to meet Amy & Eric in Atlantic City (and J & I trying to break into the wrong beach house), my trip to Central New York, etc..... I will work on this. PROMISE.

Happy 65th Birthday, Dad!!!

Happy 65th, Dad! Love ya, lots!!! I hope this will be the beginning of new dreams and adventures for you. The girls just sent you a birthday video message. I hope you enjoy it. (Actually they sent you five of them.)

Today was MOPS day. We had our annual Christmas Brunch which is always yummy! Martha, one of our fabulous mentors, taught everyone how to take Christmas cards and turn them into little gift boxes. As soon as she showed us how to construct the boxes, I immediately knew Ashley would love this project so I brought the directions home along with some extra cards.

Christmas shopping is going very well - so well that it is SCARY! There isn't a great deal left to purchase and that makes me happy because it leaves time for wrapping and baking without the chaos and rushing. Maybe this will be the "Rockwell" Christmas I have been waiting for....

Abbey is currently in her room playing with the BRATZ dolls that Ashley passed down to her. She needs this time away from the dog as she will not leave Charlie alone today. I am not sure what the attraction is to taking the dogs bone and running with it is, but she seems to derive great pleasure from having the poor dog chase her to get his bone back.

The office renovation / make-over is almost finished. The new bookcase should be here today or tomorrow. Jason and I will find a chair and ottoman over the holiday, and the new paint job will follow. I am really excited about the new look of this room. It will be a great environment for my new job since I will be in here so much more.

Time to go get the desk cleaned off of today's mail then dinner....

Later!