An update

I think I haven't posted a "real" update in a very long time, and my coffee is ready, so I'll do my update now, while eating brkfst and drinking coffee. That is, of course if little Sprite BD2 doesn't get herself into major trouble first!

First, my December Babe, BD1- Her mother has not changed her middle name yet, and she has a passport already, so it will not be changed anytime soon, I think.

Nearly 8 (wow), BD1 is a Brownie/Girl Scout, still weighs less than 60 lbs, but is 52" tall. She's in second grade, in public school, and is at the top of her class in nearly all subjects. She's in the top 4 for math. She reads all the time, loves Bratz and Polly Pockets, her girl scout troop, Spy Girls, Groovy Girls, Kim Possible, Fairly Odd Parents and the Simpsons. She plays Halo2 with her dad,even though I don't approve, but I am trying to look at it as father/daughter bonding time. I'm amazed, but with her new teacher, she practices piano without being nagged. She does her homework first thing, then piano practice and then plays. She's a good kid, even though I joke about her; she gets easily frustrated (understandably so) when BD2 gets into her things. Then, she'll surprise me and play with her sister rather than against her. Go figure. Or, she'll want to buy something for BD2, and I am unable to determine her ulterior motives, so I guess there must not be any. What a positive-thinking mom, eh?

Her tennis coach says she's a natural, but she needs more practice (bad mom again), her 2nd grade teacher has nothing but great things to say about her, and her dance teacher loves her. I think we may not continue dance--neither one of us seems able to get there every week with all the other things she does. With tennis and piano, the dance is too much, and with soccer practice 2 nights each week plus Saturday games, we missed a lot of dance classes, not to mention the brownie meetings two Mondays each month. Her dance classes are on Mondays. So, something had to drop, and we decided it was dance. I'm very happy she took classes this long--4 years. I never felt it important that she be a potential pro dancer girl, but I did want her to learn how to carry herself, and she's done that--no stooped shoulders for this one!

Soccer finished the season on November 18th. BD1 is a good goalie. She prevented over 20 goals from other teams all season, and only allowed 3 in every time she played. She nearly got 3 goals; and her team even won one game in the season. This is the age (u8) that no one really keeps score but the parents. She loves soccer, and wants to play all the time.

Last night we hosted the Brownie troop after they went caroling throughout the neighborhood. It truly was fun, getting to know other moms, having 20 little 2nd - 4th graders in the house, having hot cocoa, apple cider, cookies and brownies and playing. I'm looking forward to the next group event. Who'd a thunk I would be a Brownie Mom? Or even a Soccer Mom for that matter!?

BD2--the sprite, Destructo Babe, never-to-be-fully potty trained 3-1/2 year old, BD2 is certainly different in many ways from BD1. She is so joyous when she breaks the rules we set. She absolutely does not listen to us, and short of beating her, we've tried just about everything to get her to comply with the simplest of rules. Examples are: Emily you need to go potty. Let's go...we can go right now and I'll help you. "NO! I DON'T HAVE TO GO POTTY!!" not 5 minutes later, "MOMMMMYY--I had a aksizent!!!" "Emily--ok, let's go change your clothes." 'NO!!!" I either give up or drag her, kicking and screaming into her room to change her clothes. I need to buy her some more undies since she goes through about 4 pair a day. What is very odd, though, is that there are no night-time accidents, no school-time accidents, just at home accidents. Maybe it's another instance of my "Bad-Mommy-ness." Other than this issue, and sometimes her behavior when she's tired/hungry/make up symptom here, she's wondrous, beautiful, cute, and oh, so funny. She makes up jokes, makes funny faces when I am sad/mad/whatever, does whatever she can to make us laugh at any given time. She loves a little boy in preschool named Kyle. He is so cute. He's the one who was Peter Pan at Halloween (she was tinkerbell). I am very patient with her, but she tries my patience at
least 4-6 times each day. It's so odd to me to love someone so very deeply who can frustrate me so very deeply simultaneously. But then, damn, she's cute! And then, too, she'll be at a store with me, and out of the blue, she sees something BD1 would like and asks, "Mommy, can we buy this for my sisser?" awwww...

DH appears to be doing well. He still works at the Mickey Mouse Outfit, is a Technical Director on a project called "A day in the life of Wilbur," written by William Joyce (no relation to James, I think). He is loving his work life. His home life may be a different matter, since his wife of 12 years seems to have quit her job. Not the one that pays money--she quit that one 8 years ago. This is the job where she's supposed to take care of the home, the kids, the dog, and the husband, always has meals done on time, never lets a fleck of dust fall on a surface in the home, and does the bills and budget, the shopping, the secretarial, event planning, calendaring, social, and community jobs for the family (and smiles all the time she does these things.)

We are still cluttered from my parents' things, some of our joint things from when we were first married (3 houses of furniture: mine, his, and his mom's), and now kids' things exploding/growing/multiplying/mutating by order of magnitude. However, it's getting better. After the Christmas wrapping is done, we will have a fully functioning Play Room!! Tah-Dah!! Can't wait for that! I want a lock on the outside of the door (to lock the girls in), but Scott won't let me (small joke--weak grin).

I'm still here, not quite as stressed as I ought to be, writing this update instead of going through paperwork because I'm frankly sick of looking at the paperwork, especially after it took me nearly 6 hours this morning just to organize and pay our bills. They were pretty organized to start, but I managed to not comprehend some of them and sat there staring at them trying to figure out from what turnip I would pull blood to pay them. I managed
to finish, and we'll even be able to pay the mortage! (yay)

My dad has good and bad days...fortunately, lately he has had a few more good days than bad ones. The girls and I are supposed to go over to his apartment in a few minutes to help him with his television and a few other things, then come back home and get dinner ready for Scott. Dad lost and found his new glasses, lost and did not find his $3,000 hearing aid (which
probably won't be replaced), and loses his small amounts of cash repeatedly. He loses track of what day it is, when we will see him, etc. But he's always happy to see us, give me a hug, and watch the girls do their antics.

Our dog is a cutey, seems happy to be with us, even though BD2 has pulled nearly every limb so hard I thought it would come off. He's small, gray, and very energetic. He runs so fast his feet don't touch the ground--I truly believe this. When he jumps he looks like a very small dear--so graceful and not even a second's hesitation to jumping as high as he needs.

My next step now, is to start tearing into the playroom and the gifts--not too many left to wrap, a few things that need to get moved, and voila! the house is ready for the party! YIPPEE! whoops--I forgot the back patio. Yes, well, it's nearly dark so that may not happen to the extent I had desired. What I'd really like to do is knock it down. Story for another time.

The house looks livable (and lived in) again. The bedroom for intents and purposes is finished, the master bathroom, too; the laundry room is beautiful, even though the painter and my husband don't think the walls match the floor. I do, so it stays the colors I chose. I'm the one that is always in there, after all. We have about 4 more phases on the house and
then' I'll be happy for about ten years. Of course it will take ten years to accomplish all the items on my list, but so what. We'll just start over after that. The phases are, if any interest is out there: (phase 1 and 2 are done)

3: painting the rest of the inside of the house (family room, dining room and living room), scraping/retexturing the ceilings, adding some electrical in preparation for Phase 6..., adding some cool ceiling fans to the family room.

4: re-finishing the outside of the house, tearing down the siding, changing colors ever so slightly getting a new garage door;

5: re-landscaping the back yard,

6: tearing down the patio, remodeling the kitchen, changing the layout of kitchen, dining room and family room areas.

7. selling. (just a joke--but isn't that what usually happens when you get your house just the way you like it?)

That's pretty much a full update for the six of us...with all that said, it's time now to get ready for our bigger than we had planned Christmas party tomorrow night. Off to see dad, then buy a few things, then finish wrapping, decorating and emptying the play room. I will be very, very happy on Sunday! Saturday, of course will be grand fun, too. Anyone want to join us? 8^)