Exactly What I Wanted

After reading this post, you will know that this is exactly what I wanted!

Talia's Fairy Playmat / Messenger Bag

Similar to Alex's, this one has a bunch of little villages, a Rapunzel tower, a waterfall, castle, mushroom patch, koi pond, mermaids, beach, forest and more. I haven't finished it so I better hurry up!

Talia's Yoga Birthday Party

Talia's yoga birthday party at Blackbird Family Yoga was a great success! The yoga class was fantastic-- the kids really enjoyed it and Amanda, the owner, kept their attention perfectly! I brought a picture frame (I spray painted it pink - and the garage floor, oooops!) and a few props and the kids really hammed it up. The homemade cupcakes were a total hit. I used this recipe for the cupcake and this one for the buttercream frosting. It really isn't that hard to make cupcakes if you send the kids away and they are not climbing all over you. And if you have a Kitchen-Aid mixer. I'm glad this birthday extravaganza is over. I have two months until Alex's 4th birthday and then we are done for a while. Now getting Talia to write her thank you notes will be another story... We've set a goal of three per day. It should be easier than last year, right?

One thing to note-- this past summer I was watching a video of my own birthday party, I'm not sure if I was 6 or 7, but I recall watching myself reading the birthday cards out loud and I noticed that I read them as well as if I were reading them now, at age 37. I was a bit mortified thinking that Talia's reading skills were not up to par. Lo and behold, she read her birthday cards with the same ease I read mine. What a difference a half a year can make! I'm so proud of her!

Look who's turning 7 tomorrow!

We have a packed weekend! Talia turns SEVEN tomorrow! She is performing in the talent show at school and having a yoga birthday party this weekend. Anyone have any suggestions for egg free treats I can bring into school tomorrow?

Legible

Some belated first day of school pictures. As I mentioned in an earlier post, all of my photos are on our dead computer. As soon as we get a new one up and running I should have them back. Luckily I sent a bunch of recent photos out to my family via email and was able to retrieve these there. I've also included a note that Talia wrote the other day when she answered the phone (which is a miracle in and of itself). It says, "Dear Mommy and Daddy. Cory kld! He wtid to tok to you." So cute.

What a difference 9 months can make...

My almost first grader! Talia has grown up so much this year. Well, in most ways...! Today is a very special day for her class. Not only is it the last day of school, it is also her teacher's last day. Everyone seemed to be weepy-- especially the teacher-- when I dropped her off. I'm so proud of Talia and all her accomplishments this year. The skill I was most excited for her to acquire was learning to read and she totally did. I love reading with her each night and watching her brain work it all out. Congratulations Talia!

Belated Party Post

Talia's 6th birthday party was at Beansprouts, a hip little kids' cafe in our neighborhood. It was a "pj party" (all the kids came in their pajamas and it was held in the evening) and a cooking class. The kids seemed to have a good time and, more importantly, it was relatively stress free for me. All I had to do was get some goody bags together. I went with the pajama party theme and bought washcloths and pillowcases onto which I appliqued the kids' initial and a rocketship or flowers, respectively. I also gave out toothbrushes and toothpaste, a glow stick, a deck of cards, silly putty lip gloss for the girls and one page of junior mad libs. After way too much begging, I finally got Talia to draw a "Thank You" sign so I could take a photo of her with it and get thank you cards printed up. I recently got a new point and shoot camera (long story) and I hate it (none of the pictures from her party came out) and need to return it and find another. It takes decent pictures outside though.

SIX

This is what 6 looks like! Talia turned 6 yesterday. I wish I had more time to reflect-- but with a new baby I haven't had time to reflect on ANYTHING!

Cute kids

Haven't posted any pictures of my kids in forever. I figured I would post some of them before this blog gets taken over by new baby pictures (any day now...) These were both taken over a month ago in California. Talia is almost 6 and Alex is 2 3/4.

First Day of Kindergarten!

I was definitely stressed about getting the kids up, clean, fed and all of us out the door. I guess I'm going to get a lot of practice. Talia has a "staggered start" meaning she only goes Tues and Thurs this week and then starts full time after Labor Day. I think that's good for us! Today I'm still going to wake her up but at 7:30 instead of 7. Mostly just so she will go to bed early. Interestingly enough it was Alex who was melting down yesterday morning. A fly was in the kitchen and he was in tears! He was so offended-- it landed on his placemat! He really doesn't like bugs-- I wonder who he gets that from?! (me!)

I couldn't predict if Talia was going to come home from Kindergarten happy or crying. The first thing she said was "I love Kindergarten!" so we'll see how it goes tomorrow!

A lost front tooth!

"I No Love Mommy"

We have a new form of communcation around here. Talia can write me notes. Previous to now she could only write "I love Mommy" but her genius has kicked in and now she can add "no" to the sentence and really communicate. Ron thinks I shouldn't "let" her say that to me but I'm thrilled. I'm so proud of her for coming up with the idea in the first place. I also want her to be able to identify her feelings and say what she feels. There are too many women who don't know how to express that they are mad at someone. Of course she's allowed to be mad at me! We're not going to always get along and to deny that is false. If she isn't allowed to tell me she doesn't like me, what on earth will we talk about when she is a teenager? I think on this day she wanted something from me and I said no. I was watering the garden and she kept running out with these little notes. Inside I could hear her asking me, "How do you spell FEEL? How do you spell SAD?" I thought it was adorable and very smart. Within 20 minutes the notes turned back into love notes... just the way I like 'em.

My kid just pulled out her own tooth

It was only super wiggly for about 2 days. Tonight she asked for a piece of gauze so she could pull it out. Thinking she would give up in about 1 second, I obliged her. Well... she tugged on it until it came out. I can say only this. The tooth fairy is NOT prepared.

I made that skirt!

Talia's 5th birthday outfit. The skirt is the Bo Peep skirt from Anna Maria Horner's book, "Seams to Me". The pattern is pretty involved for me, I must say. I mistakenly cut two of the panels an inch short and then decided that the whole thing wasn't going to be long enough so I added the bottom hem (and to the top also, and added a drawstring bow). She LOVES it and I LOVE it and we received many compliments. I have to see how it held up after the wash. I hope it doesn't need ironing.

Five

Today is the day! We made cupcakes together (from scratch with buttercream frosting) and brought them into school. Talia made the cupcake toppers herself. The teachers and classmates really went out of their way to make Talia feel special. I read a story (Pinkalicious) and Alex was so happy to be part of the class for once. Ron had to go into work early today so T will open her gifts tonight with the whole family together.

My baby is turning 5 tomorrow

Talia's New Haircut!

Have I mentioned she also lost her second tooth? With Kindergarten registration coming up and her 5th birthday next week I feel shell-shocked by how quickly this is all happening.

Trapeze Artist

One of the major attractions at our resort in the Dominican Republic was a circus school. There was a trampoline, tightrope, juggling and a trapeze. I quietly hoped against hope that Talia would be up for it. After a few days of watching she gave it a try. She now says the scariest part was a long long ladder she had to climb up. In the middle of the ladder she had to climb around to the other side. For someone who cries when Mommy goes to the grocery store and leaves her home I really thought she was going to chicken out. She did a great job, although she looked really scared the whole time. Afterward she said she "liked it a little and hated it a lot." A week later she is speaking of the experience fondly. There was opportunity for adults to try it but we never got around to it-- it was during Alex's nap time when we were all relaxing in the villa.

The end of an era...

911... What's your emergency?

Talia had her first ballet recital. I am happy to report that while she is not the most graceful student in the class she seems to hold her own for the most part. Alex was a total menace during the "performance." Everytime I took my camera out he was whining and stamping his feet because he wanted to hold it.

At one point there was a little break and I let him run around in the parent waiting room. There I discovered that one of the grandparents who had come to watch the show was feeling faint. He drank some water and took some slow deep breaths. His pulse was normal and his color looked ok. A few moments later he was unresponsive but still breathing. I tried to call 911 but my phone doesn't work well at ballet (it's in the basement). I had to leave the room-- with Alex-- and walk until I had better reception. I answered the dispatcher's questions but I wanted to get back and see how he was doing. The dispatcher didn't want me to get off the phone but he kept asking how the patient was now. I kept trying to explain that I wasn't with the patient because I had no reception there. Finally I hung up on him so I could get back to the man. He came to and seemed disoriented, very pale and diaphoretic. Paramedics came after a few minutes and they took over from there. I missed a major part of the ballet performance but I felt like I had done my good deed for the day.