LOVE My Live

Dear Family, Mostly Aunt Banana & Grandma & Grandpa! :)



Your thoughtfulness and generosity know no limits. I regret that in our holiday haste, we have lost track mostly of who gave what, but I do know a certain favorite few. Ok, so Daddy scored each of their favorites - Phoebe's DSIXL, and Christopher's Angry Birds board game and t-shirts, those are far and away their favorites. They both love Christopher's Bilibo chair. Phoebe absolutely adores her Spectra doll from NB, as well as the Liv Doll hairstyle head thing from Janet & Brooke. Christopher's second favorite is the train table - thank you NB! He enjoyed it as a table for a simple oval track for a few days, but I did get the city center installed by Thursday, and he does love it.

The "packages" they offer for school portraits are absurdly expensive, and they want us to order them in advance, which we are reluctant to do - what if the kids don't cooperate and the photos come out hinky? So we sent them both to school on picture day with no pre-paid package order, knowing we'd be able to buy them online after-the-fact.



Christopher's photo came out adorable!

And Phoebe's photo is the absolute epitome of Phoebe! Phoebe and I have a deal - she pics out her Fall outfit, but I get to pick her Spring portraits outfit. So she chose her clothes and accessories, and I didn't even require she brush her hair if she didn't want to (which she usually doesn't). I love it! And look at that skin - she's so beautiful!

Phoebe had been discouraged because Christopher didn't return her silly/gruff "I Love You" as readily as he had returned mine, but I told her that it took me three days (a slight exaggeration), and that seemed to bolster her determination. Finally last night Christopher did tell Phoebe "I Yuv U 2" and it put a big smile on her face. I long for genuine Phoebe/Christopher sibling interaction almost as much as I longed to hear Christopher's sweet little voice, it warms my heart to see the early signs of that developing relationship. :)

I typically discard the Scholastic Book Club flyers that Phoebe brings home, but I thought maybe I'd share Phoebe's reading interests in case anyone would prefer to buy books instead of toys for future gift-giving occassions. Sign up at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs and click "Register" in the "First Time Here?" section. Register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time class activation code "DVVD6" to ensure orders are sent to Phoebe's teacher. Every online order (except eBooks) earns a free book for the classroom.

She brought home both "Lucky" (Grades 2 & 3) and "Arrow" (Grades 4, 5, & 6) flyers, in which she circled the "Dork Diaries" series, "Scratch It! Jewels", an "Owls Stationery Box", the "Rainbow Magic Night Fairies Boxed Set" and a matching "Paint Your Own Night Fairies Kit". I told her I preferred that she circle actual books, but that others might be willing to buy the crafty/toy-type items, but I would not. September's orders are due by the 23rd.

The party Saturday was a raging success! We had eleven little guests, we started with an impromptu Wii Fit Plus Obstacle Course Challenge, we played Pin the Bow on the Skull (it was a "Monster High" party), we were going to bob for apples (but it was too chilly, the kids snacked up a third of the apples, Christopher bit into each of another third, and we didn't have a suitable bobbing tub), we had a spaghetti dinner, the kids played outside for a few minutes, we opened gifts, we sang happy birthday and had a grocery store sheet cake upon which I had iced a Monster High skull, and then the grande finale - the kids THOROUGHLY enjoyed strawberries and Dianne's chocolate fountain!

Then six of the eleven spent the night, we had a second round of spaghetti dinner, played with all the birthday presents, played Wii Just Dance 2, probably did hundreds of cartwheels, rough-housed a bit (wait til you see the blurred action shots!), negotiated the sleeping arrangements, setup the sleeping area, and put on the Disney Channel. The younger girls were asleep by 0045, and the older ones probably feel asleep after I set the TV timer to go off at 0130. The younger girls were awake by 0730, played by themselves until they woke me at 0830, the remaining girls woke at 0930, we had a chocolate chip pancake and sausage breakfast, and played more Wii Just Dance until parents picked everybody up at noon. Except Rachel whom we took with us to Aunt Banana's for another cake and another Orbeez present (Yay!), we had to make the girls stop watching TV to play with AJ, had a yummy cheeseburger and tater-tot dinner, and headed home at 1900.  Phoebe showered, Christopher bathed, then we slept. It was an awesome all-Phoebe weekend. :)

My baby girl has been invited to a concert! :) Rachel's Mom Susan is taking the girls to Hershey Park this weekend. She is so excited! My first concert was not until my 21st birthday, James Taylor at King's Dominion. I'm so glad that Phoebe is getting this opportunity early in life. This will be her first out-of-town trip without Mom or Dad, but it's only over one night, and she'll be with her little bff and "Mom#2" so I know she's going to be fine.

She did it! I arrived home yesterday to find Phoebe's friend Samara graciously pushing Phoebe all around on her two-wheel bike - doing all the balancing and propulsion - poor Samara looked exhausted! So I (despite no food and no energy) relieved Samara of her duties and took Phoebe to a small grassy hill in our courtyard. She whined and pleaded and wanted to chicken out, but I told her it was either ride it or put it away. She reluctantly got on. She begged me to not let go. I assured her I wouldn't (I was lying). I ran along with her holding the seat for a split second, and when I saw that she was in fact balancing herself, I gave a little shove for momentum and off she went! She was so excited and proud of herself! The first words out of her mouth were "That was fun!" and her little gaggle of neighborhood friends confirmed for her that it gets even more and more fun with practice. We spent another hour walking up and fearlessly riding down the little hill. She's still working on steering, and stopping, and momentum (hard to do in grass), but with the balance part down, she'll be zipping and zooming around in no time.



I continue to be amazed at how very very much I enjoy such moments with my children. I was all sweaty, still in my work clothes, exhausted and weak, and delighted to my core. :)

Phoebe showed us this, we got it from her school website. :)



http://www.wvec.com/marketplace/microsite-content/eagle-cam.html

We almost missed the bus this morning due to a manicure meltdown. Phoebe & Samara had done one another's nails yesterday, and as one might expect with child-applied polish, they needed some touch up work, which we did not have time for this morning! With the promise of an afternoon manicure, we got her settled down and off to school, not crying. And now, she's fallen asleep during her afternoon manicure! Maybe it'll get to set before she wakes up! But this Daddy-mani is bound to last longer than the Samara-mani did. :)