so here's the thing.

i just can't quit you, blog. i just can't quit you.

perhaps i should get my facebook time under control. i seem to find time for THAT. if i can facebook, i can eek out a few pictures on here and a little dittie every now and then.

we are alive. we are more than that; we are both employed and fairly certain that in these crappy times, it will not be either of us who loses our job. chips around us are falling, but-- god willing-- we will be okay. never have i have felt so fortunate to be a non-profit employee married to an educator. there's some job security there....

so georgia was moved into a first grade reading group today. i'm very proud and i think she liked it very much. of course, she didn't like it enough that she wanted to tell me about it. i read it in her agenda and had to force her to tell me about it. that sucks all the excitement away from me. but, she did attend a daddy-daughter dance last friday evening and had the best time. she learned the words to 'single ladies' which i find especially awesome for a kindergartner.

juliet turned five last week. being five means no more booster seats at restaurants (this makes her sad), getting your own library card (she loved that!), and having to let the pregnant neighbor borrow your double stroller because your mother is convinced that she will not have any more babies. this caused a meltdown of the largest kind. poor thing. life is rough.

kevin is happily in new york city this week, and i'm here. as luck would have it, his car-- not my car, which is sitting nicely at the airport in charlotte!!-- pretty much broke down this afternoon. i heard a noise, told juliet to look in the sky for a helicopter, but alas it was no helicopter. that became evident when the car started shaking uncontrollably. after i got it home, i smelled something burning and, good friend that i am, had a neighbor come over and drive it around the neighborhood just to prove that i am not a complete moron. as it turns out, i'm not. seems like we have a little issue with the brakes, coming on the heels of having our heat fixed last week at a cost of seven hundred dollars. the timing is impeccable, especially whilst playing single parent for the week.

uh oh. i hear footsteps. never a good sign at eleven pm.

slackin' on pictures

nobody checks this blog anymore, do they? at any rate: here are pictures i'm posting of the pre-season and the actual christmassy stuff. thank you to juliet, who so nicely dropped my ONLY CAMERA on its lens and now it's completely unusable. i appreciate it very much!

the messes i make

are starting to catch up with me. if only i could be more careful.

why is it that i cannot seem to remember which christmas gifts came from santa, versus the ones that i wrapped up and said 'love, momma and daddy?' because i cannot. and my kids are figuring it out already. juliet told me the other day that she didn't love her new mittens, that she was wearing the old gloves instead, and i immediately tried to guilt her by saying that i had picked them out JUSTFORHER in target and she should wear them. she cocked her little head to the side and said: 'didn't santa bring me these?' OOPS.

here's another one. sometime over the last week or so, the 'what did you guys get for christmas?' question came up again from someone, despite the fact that the holidays seem like an eternity ago. they told this person, the dental hygienist i believe, how not only did they get three gifts this year like baby jesus, but that their mother convinced them to leave three of their least favorite toys under the tree for santa to take to kids that have nothing. (so smart i thought i was with this little idea. there wasn't a whole lot of follow-through in my thinking, but it seemed like such a good idea at the time. that is, until juliet emerged with three toys that i wish she'd kept and georgia emerged with three of JULIET'S toys and permission from juliet to get rid of them!). after we left the dentist's office, georgia asked me how bad kids had to be in order to just get the used toys we left. GOOD THINKING, MOMMA.

today i meant to send a very smart-ass reply email to one person and i hit 'reply all' by mistake. OOPS.

i agreed to teach sunday school for the entire month of january, knowing full well that my four year old knows plenty more bible stories than do i. this is evident in each lesson i attempt to teach. SMART MOVE.


all i do is create messes.

it was bound to happen...

...that keeping up a blog would be more trouble than it seems to be worth. i think i'm shutting it down for a while. my job, my family, and my unfinished projects (not to mention my wii fit!) are going to keep me from sitting in front of this computer trying to think of something brilliant to say.

i'm posting pictures on facebook and will post them here from time to time. i have a broken camera (thank you, juliet....)and so that is prohibiting me from doing much in the way of pictures right now.

happy new year (can i still say that??) to all!!

mamas like me.

okay. this is for all the other nagging mamas i know. this is hilarious.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMhuAtyFCrw



(why i can't figure out how to post videos, i do not know...but copy and paste the link!)

we now interrupt your facebook time to bring you this important message.

i have got to get my obsession with facebook under control. is there a facebook anonymous yet? because i seem to be completely compelled to find every single person from my past and present. i look at their pictures, their families, their lives-- and i'm just addicted to knowing how they are.

i love that there are people who at one time or another were very, very dear to me......and that time and distance and perhaps a minor squabble or two drew us apart over the years. but my friend facebook has put us back together again, and i love that.

i love that the first boy who really and truly broke my heart, and who i swore (as well he did, i'm sure) that we'd never lay eyes on each other again........i love that he is my facebook friend. i love that he gets to see that i turned out way better than he anticipated i would, which is probably why he dumped me to date one of my best friends in college. i love that i get to create closure never possible in the 90s, because as a rejected reject back in the day-- i had a million things to say to him that were never said. and now, i don't need to. score one for me.

i love that there are people from high school and even junior high who were absolutely the coolest people in the(ir) world, and that they have had their shares of struggles and strife and --gasp!!-- acne like the rest of us have had. their kids aren't as perfect as we all assumed they'd be. and they, amazingly, aren't the style icons they were back in the day, either. there are people who weren't really my real-life friends twenty years ago who have become facebook friends through commonalities. the playing field is even now. i don't know why i love that, but i do. maybe being the dorkus of millbrook high school worked in my favor.

i love that there is a group of people who have reconnected on facebook....a group of people who found acceptance and peace and self-worth, and who learned to live on their own without mom and dad at a special place during the summers when they were in high school and college. there were deep friendships formed between people who had otherwise nothing in common with one another except that their parents all 'suggested' that they come to this place for the summer to work. perhaps every bad thing they ever did was learned at this place, but many, many good life lessons were learned there too. fifteen years later, there are close to a hundred of us who have found each other again on facebook. i love that. we are all okay, except for one or two who are in a better place.

i love that i can upload a picture directly from my cell phone to my facebook. idiot-proof.

i love that 'friend' is a verb widely recognized by people.

i love that my husband and i can fight through facebook and never speak of it in person. i love that we challenge each other to brainy games through facebook so that we can keep our healthy spirit of competition for bragging rights going.

i love that, as a person who typically detests the idea of IM, people pop in to my world at all times of the day and night (for facebook is my homepage now!) just to say hello.

i love that i can share my mood by posting something witty on my status. i had dozens of people looking for my (stupid) dog last week, and it touched me beyond words.

so i'm thinking that i love facebook just a little too much. it really shouldn't count as one's main hobby, but in the plue house it does.

so friend me. http://www.facebook.com/

not a word about today's election from me.

because, at this point, i almost (almost...) don't. care. anymore.

so let's talk about the really important things.

like how cute are my kids on halloween? how much did i spend on costumes, you ask? NOTHING! we borrowed costumes this year. how fantabulous an idea that was. everyone should pick friends with same-sex children born a year or two ahead of them. it really pays off sometimes.

juliet got called pocahontas a lot, and georgia was called the sheriff a few times, but really they were just the cowgirl and the indian.











in other news: fleas. can we talk about fleas? i have had dogs up in my house for many a year now. not once-- not ONCE!-- have i seen a flea. well, i'm infested with them now. this new dog of ours scratches all day, every day, and it's driving me nuts. whose idea was it to get a new dog? first, worms. now fleas. i feel dirty and gross and itchy just thinking about it.

but, look how cute these little dogs are. guess that makes those nasty fleas all worth it. delilah is a NEW DOG since getting a brother. she's not nearly as skittish and jumpy and terrified of the world as she was before. she's even been seen RUNNING around the yard in an almost-playful fashion.




kevin and i actually got to go out the other night alone, meaning that for the small price of a babysitter (which is no joke anymore!), we got to put on our fanciest clothes (you'll see from the picture that there is clearly work to be done on this area....) and go to a grown-ups-only, no value meal kind of dinner. here's a picture of us from the gala, as we high society people like to call it:




and, last but not least, here are pictures from my office fall festival, where we host a few dozen of our area group home residents for an afternoon of, well, fall festival-ing.









and jake of course.





georgia has lost tooth number two, and the tooth fairy actually remembered to come this time. said tooth fairy scored MAJOR points by figuring out a way to affix pixie dust onto a dollar bill. now i suppose that the tooth fairy will have to keep this plan up for many years to come.


georgia transferred over to her kindergarten after-school program, and she's much happier. perhaps a reason for her irritability over her two-week school break was the fact that she was hanging out with three and four year olds all day long. i remember well what that feels like, and we moved her on up to the after-school program at benton heights.


juliet learned to whistle and almost all-the-way tie her shoelaces. big stuff now. she's reading, too. kevin and i have to be really careful what we spell in front of the kids now......they both are halfway to figuring us out.

it's nine pm.

and, like a good mid-30s parent-- i'm totally ready for bed. kids are down, my husband has Assumed the Position (sprawled out on bed, laptop keys clicking away, and pardon the interruption on in the background), and i've got two furry beasts at my feet just waiting for someone to love on them. i'm resisting-- quite well!!-- the urge to catch up on worky stuff tonight. because there is a blog which needs updating badly and by golly, i don't really have time to do this stuff while i'm (supposed to be) working any more!

school's out for two weeks. that means that poor little georgia plue is forced to return to daycare. it's killing her and most likely, the other children in her class aren't too thrilled with her day-long return, either. there's somethin' about this little kindergarten attitude i don't quite like. no matter how hard i've tried to squelch this thing, my adoring and loving and easy-to-please child has become So Blasted Dramatic. And Grouchy. i don't like it; not one little bit. her hands are permanently made into fists, and she has a scowl. and, i have to say, she's a tad bit resistant to constructive criticism on adjusting said attitude. what's up with that? have i reached the end of the road with my ability to completely manipulate everything my children think? *sigh*

but soon enough, kindergarten will be back in session. and all will be right with the world, unless someone interrupts georgia (a big no-no) or, heaven forbid, someone perhaps puts food on her plate that touches something else.

the beauty of having georgia become increasingly difficult to manage (read: manipulate) is that her (much wiser) little sister is eating it up. she takes every opportunity to kiss up, brown nose, and generally try to be the It Child for the duration of the dramatic episode. this generally works in her favor and the smaller episodes juliet has always been prone to have are quickly disappearing.

no pictures tonight, you say? why no. my picture-taking habits have completely slacked off this fall, for anyone who is expecting a house of plues calendar this year for christmas. the pickins are slim! i'll get better soon. there's pumpkin patch opportunities coming quickly!

and, with that, i'm off to join the husband.

happy birthday, georgia plue!

my first baby girl turned six on tuesday, and this is an off-birthday-party year. georgia got a brand-new bike since she's outgrown the old one. juliet bought her a barbie with a convertible and they have really gotten into the whole barbie-pretend thing. she asked for a lamp for her bed so she could read at night after juliet fell asleep. and, the birthday fairy that my children still believes comes to visit on the night of their birthday brought her something her own mama would never approve of: glittery nail polish. if she was doubting before, she's a believer now!

oh yeah!

i forgot. in case we didn't have enough on the old plate, we have a new addition.

meet samson.

did you miss me?

i'm around. i spent a large amount of time today in uploading pictures from the camera, because they have been held captive inside it for quite a while...

we have adjusted well to the new routine. kevin is going in to work later than he did last year, which means the new EARLY morning routine is a little more bearable. georgia loves her some kindergarten and hasn't had any trouble adjusting to the new schedule. juliet has gotten over the disappointment at being separated (for the first time ever) from her big sister, and is already counting down to her own school experience next fall.


the school year started for kevin too, as of last week. i'm ever-so-slowly trying to come out of my work funk and get excited about the changes i'm capable of making at the arc. so all is well.

at oak island for a full 36 hours ....


















jules and delilah, my 'special' dog


in chocowinity visiting the grandparents


celebrating georgia's birthday just a little bit early, with uncle jake

toofless wonder

could i possibly have another reason to get emotional this week?

and, by the way, picture day is TOMORROW. perfect timing!

kindergarten: take two

not so bad after all! again, minimal tears from me and there was more than a hint of "would you please leave now" from my child.



the teacher is mrs. brown. we know we are going to love her. the first day went very well and georgia came home with a superstar stamp as well as a story of The Difficult Child in the classroom. that's my girl: the tattletale. she clearly gets it honest!



pictures follow. i will say that today seemed to be more difficult. juliet and i took her in this morning, and the routine was different because french toast sticks were on the menu for breakfast and she wasn't about to let that go! but waiting in a cafeteria line for the first time proved to be nerve-wracking for all of us. we found a teacher who assured her that she'd be escorted to class, and we were all set. juliet pouted the whole way home because she wasn't offerend any french toast sticks. win some, lose some!

kindergarten 1.0

...because this is only the teaser day. kindergarten kids get brought in for one day out of the first week of school and then are forced to go back to their old routines for the rest of the week. so today was georgia's day. she was ready to go, uniformed up, and excited beyond belief despite the crying kid who was pried from his mother's clutches and ran screaming from the poor teacher assistant like some kind of wildebeast. i shed a couple of tears but it was less painful than i thought. i was way more sad sitting at work wondering what she was doing at different moments in the day. perhaps i should be upset that her bus ride back to daycare was two hours long, but it was a good opportunity for a nap! georgia was simply too tired this evening to tell us all about her day. we coerced a few small snippets from her in the end, but we really know nothing except about the kid who screamed (all day long) and the boy with the bleedynose on the school bus. oh, and that she should have chosen taco salad for lunch and not the chicken sandwich.

next monday will be the real test. this one was easy to pass. here are a couple of pictures. little bit was most out of sorts this morning, having to arrive at daycare much earlier than usual and not getting to hang with the big sister until the end of the day!





daycare graduation





first day. first dawn. too early for this!!!

it's tomorrow.

and we are super-excited, and slightly weepy. okay- georgia is super-excited. i'm slightly weepy.

today was daycare graduation at the baptist church. at the risk of offending all of my eight readers: i was totally out of my element and hope it wasn't obvious to those sitting near us. it was a wonderful morning though, and there was a slideshow of the daycare kids who were moving on to kindergarten plus a little awards ceremony. very sweet. will download pictures tomorrow from work. the minute the first song was sung -- a peppy little number, so NOT what we are used to in our church!!-- juliet whispers to me: this is WAY more fun than our church. i whispered back: church is not supposed to be fun. it's church. then i felt a little guilty as i clapped and sang loudly and more off-key than usual to the rest of the song.

then we went to lunch to celebrate this milestone, to a friend's pool so that mama could have an excuse NOT to be home doing laundry, and now it's time to settle in.

my big girl. sniff, sniff.

t minus eight days (i think...)

until i have a kid in school. real school, not daycare. kindergarten awaits us! we have had so many changes lately-- not a surprise to anyone who knows us!-- and have had to evaluate the WHERE in kindergarten placement. we solved the WHEN problem last year and decided to keep georgia in daycare one more year due to her early september birthday. i think it was a smart move and we initially decided to put georgia at the elementary school where kevin was the principal last year (before moving up to the middle school). it's a longer drive than her home school but kevin felt strongly about it, and it was done.

then, this new job thingy has happened and i feel a bit isolated in the support system i have with the kids, outside of kevin of course-- whose school is twenty minutes from here and it isn't always easy to break away!! long story short, we made a quick decision over the weekend to send georgia (and then, juliet) to the elementary school here in town. it will make my life easier, and we all know it's usually all about me anyway. :) since she has to be in an after-school program anyway, the school bus can drop her off at the daycare where juliet is, and then i'll have them both at the same place every afternoon. that's a huge relief.

the problem is: it's a year-round school, which means that it starts next week! i have so many things to get ready. uniforms, for one. i'm loving that this school has a strict dress code. backpack, school supply lists.

it's going to be a busy week. the tears-- they are a-comin'!!! soon!

you can go home again!

we're back! we just had the best week ever. the timing was perfect: i accepted a new position at work and then immediately took off on vacation with no access to cell phone at all!

kanuga is such a wonderful place. there are beach people and then there are mountain people, and i just think i am a mountain person. it's cooler, prettier scenery, and where we were (hendersonville, nc) was a family's ideal vacation spot. no cooking. no cleaning or chores whatsoever. six hours of uninterrupted, quality children's programs each day. no tv (and when you have a dvr at home, you REALLY don't miss anything!!), no alarm clocks, no telephones. a beautiful waterfront that doesn't make you feel like you are swimming in a lake. meeting other families from all over the country and by the end of the week, you've made lifetime friends. at this place, you can really get away and feel gone.

there is not much else to say! i have a bajillion pictures and they are on my facebook too, but here are a few to enjoy.

oh. my. goodness.

isn't summer great? you and the kids get to sleep till 8 or 8:30. you make a delicious, hot breakfast every morning that the kids devour. you put on bathing suits and hop on over to the pool, where you spend the rest of the day basking in the sun and tossing pennies into the baby pool. you get a great tan, meet up with the other pool moms with nothing to do, and talk about recipes and tennis camps for your children. and that's just the weekdays. weekends are for family trips to educational places where the children sit in their booster seats and play 'i spy' while you have deep and meaningful conversations with your husbands.

i hope you're enjoying it.

because in plueworld, it's a zoo. there's a daddy who works just as hard when kids aren't in the building as he does when they're there. something about scheduling and getting them into the classes they want. pi-shaw. there's a mama who's looking at a possible large change in job status....at the same time she starts graduate school, too. there are two little girls who need swimming lessons in the worst way and are finally getting them this week. the same two little girls are tired and cranky and don't stay in their beds at night, despite the fact that they PROMISED they would if only their parents put the bunk beds back together. there's a freezer full of food but a family not getting to it until close to seven pm, and by then it's almost too late, so children eat nuked chicken nuggets and mama feels guilty later. there is a growing list of people who are due a visit from the plues, but few to none of them will receive it because it cannot be fit in. there's a dog who hasn't been groomed since christmas. there's a project list SOMEWHERE. and dust bunnies EVERYWHERE.

but we stop everything and go to the pool every saturday to feel normal. and this saturday, it'll be even better because g and j will put their faces in the water. big deal around here.

and, soon soon soon, we have a week OFF. a week at my favorite place in the world (http://www.kanuga.org/) --perhaps because i'm not well-travelled, and perhaps because it's just so peaceful and stress-free-- where we will take the time to reconnect with one another, push the pause button on our lives, and remember why it is that we work so hard during all the other times of the year. because we have to, and because we kind of like it.

free at last.

oh yeah...doing the happy dance. it's done. a few months off with no ballet! i'm gearing up to be Best (Rebel) Ballet Parent next year, but for now i'll relish the fact that i survived the year and NOW i just might know what i've gotten myself into.

i have reminded a few old-timer ballet parents that they should have taken me under their wing if i was expected to play by all the rules, but since i was the rogue who made it up as she went along, noone really thought i'd do any better than i did. so--success, all around.

to the mom who thought she was doing me a favor by reminding me that my youngest child's bob was not all the way in a bun, according to regulation: "_________." (insert phrase that i don't want my children to think i say out loud).

to the person out there in computerland who has two girls, sizes five and four, who want to be cotton candy girls with hot pink costumes for halloween this year: call me. let's talk. if i never have to look at these costumes again, it'll be too soon. they are yours.

to the person who invented cheap plastic trophies: you rock because my kids think that their 'i survived year one' trophies are the cat's meow, and getting called on stage to get one is like the best thing ever.

lots of pictures, and i'm even going to try my hand at uploading a video of rehearsal. actually the pictures are from rehearsal too-- no cameras allowed. rules, you know.

recital week.

who knew?

i'm a first-year ballet mom. someone should have warned me.

the week of a recital is BRUTAL. and it's only halfway over. the end result will be cute and frilly and wonderful, but the schedule is insane for two little girls who have a 2 minute dance at the beginning of a long recital.

someone told me to make sure i purchased flowers so that i could present each of the girls with one after their performance is over.

are you kidding me? i think the parents should be the ones getting the flowers.

pictures to come. recital is saturday afternoon. thank goodness monday is a holiday. need the vacation!

a little country in our cityworld

here's the garden kevin and the girls are planting! the pictures make it look like we have this huge space for a garden, but the reality is that it's just a spot next to our driveway. the beans are in, the tomato plants are in, and maybe peppers?? i don't know. i eat it, but i have nothing to do with the planting. kevin bought eggplant also. start sending me recipes. i like the color eggplant very much, but can't tell you if i've ever eaten it. guess i better learn.

threw in a couple of other weekend pictures as well. baby dylan is my friend karen's little one. he's precious and my girls love him. happy first birthday!!

these were in the middle of the night when i heard stirring-- it was well after midnight and the kiddies were rarin' to go....

first time bowlers

had we known this would be such a big hit, we would have done this before now.

side note: when did bowling get to cost fifty bucks for a family to bowl two games???






love this: just waiting, waiting for the ball to get down the alley....

may resolution:

no more writing about my sick children. if it's old for me, it's old for everyone.

i enjoyed my mother's day with a Day of Me. i need more of those. my Day of Me included not making any meals or doing any laundry. meals were handled by my wonderful husband who took us to brunch after church and made steaks for dinner. the laundry thing was just a simple weekend boycott-- so i've got plenty to catch up on this weekend! the girls always make sweet cards at school, and i loved those.

when queried what mother's day actually was, my children decided that it meant that i was not allowed to yell or make anyone sit in the uncooperative chair all day long. so i didn't.

i know. i'm the mother of the year when the bar is set so high!

hold your applause

...i'd like to publicly thank the parent of the year who so thoughtfully brought his obviously-infected-with-a-stomach-bug child to a certain birthday party on saturday night.

i'm completely overflowing with things i'd like to say to you. but i can't: i've got a sick kid on my hands.

karma, baby.

i'm totally my mother...

...which, to be perfectly honest, is not a goal i wanted to achieve had you asked me twenty years ago. but the story has a happy ending, so for my mom who will undoubtedly read this: don't panic.

i was not a person my parents liked. to them i was sour and negative. i was argumentative and stubborn. (all true.) i still struggle with that, because i was a good kid. i mean REALLY good. i never once, not my entire life, had to stay after school for detention. i was never tardy. i never smoked or had friends who did. i never snuck (yes, i know it's not a word, but i like it!) out of the house. i never even considered it. my parents had a good-sized bar in our house, and i was not tempted even one time to have a little sip and refill with water. i could not tell you what marijuana smelled like, and to this day if you're smoking a pipe (not the crack kind silly, the tobacco kind) :) the two smells are completely the same to me.

people trusted me to keep their children when i was in the sixth grade. i had a regular babysitting job with a nice family every single saturday night, from the time i was a freshman through my senior year in high school. **no snickering. a looker i was not, and they were certainly not lined up. okay, so i did have a date to the prom one year. it was monumental.

i was the one in class that everyone talked to, had no enemies, yet was never invited to the cool kid parties. people copied my homework every single day, and i let them because i was a genuinely nice person and from my perspective, it wasn't cheating. i brought teachers suck-up gifts every chance i got. they loved me.

i had a couple of close girlfriends and i was content. but not really.

my family was SO nuclear. my mom literally baked four googillion cookies during my junior high and high school days. my dad worked for the same organization his entire working life. they were always financially and emotionally stable. my sisters were stars in their own ways; i had a cute, bubbly, fun little sister whom everyone adored, and of whom i was immensely jealous for many years. my ultra-intelligent older sister was a musical prodigy and had clear direction and purpose and no time for any deviation of that plan.

i always felt i was born into the wrong family. i seriously had (have) no talents or gifts to offer other than my wonderful self. my parents, by my own perception, treated me far differently than my sisters. i truly believe that birth order is everything, and that middle child syndrome exists, and that parents--without intending to-- can and do choose favorites. (now you know the real reason why i only have two children. no middles!) i felt the standards were different for me and i would never measure up. i was a good kid elsewhere, but i spent my whole life in trouble at home. i was so stubborn. (still am.) i didn't GET my parents, and they didn't get me. my ideas of the world and how it should work were unformulated at that time, yet i felt i needed to be argumentative just to show i had gumption. i would not give respect unless it was shown to me, which turned out to be the precise attitude i struggled to overcome with my own high schoolers once i became a teacher. i knew everything, yet nothing. we were a strange combination, my family and me, always.

and, my senior year, i was desperate to leave. i honestly didn't care where i went to college, so long as i was far, far away from The House. i hung a homemade paper calendar on my door with a countdown to how many days till i left the house. my mother didn't make me take it down because she wanted me to go as badly as i did. how terrible on both our parts.

and i went away. and i stayed away. and, to everyone's surprise, i flourished and grew my own ideas this time, and i did okay. i made mistakes, not terrible ones, but enough to learn how i wanted my life to work. i knew how to do it because somewhere in those long weekends of being on lockdown in my room for refusing to do SOMETHING, i had to make a decision whether or not to take my pent-up anger and use it for something good or something not-so-good.

and i got married. i married someone my parents didn't initially think was so good for me. i didn't care; i knew they would change their minds, and they did.

and then, i had kids. and boy oh boy, does that change things. i am literally my mother done over again. i have the same ideas on child-rearing. the words that come out of my mouth are precisely the words she barraged me with forEVER and yet they seem so appropriate to say now. i have different views than most people i know on how i want my children raised, and all of that comes from her. she was there at every critical moment and i never even noticed. she never let me want for anything (except trying out for cheerleading; something i'll never forget!) and i bet i never thanked her. i don't remember a time us telling each other that we loved one another until i was an adult. how wrong of me to be so selfish.

and, turning the corner to another mother's day, my sixth one and my mother's 36th, i am so grateful that she raised me to be who i am today. had it been easy for me then, no doubt i'd be having a hard time now.

and i'm not. i'm okay. i'm more than okay. i'm perfect.

and, for that, i'm thankful.

happy mother's day to mine, and to you and yours.

little girls acting like little girls....

...and not big girls is a task that proves more difficult by the day.

last week, a very good friend invited my kids to a party at a place called SWEET AND SASSY. sassy is not a word i would want used to describe my girls' tone, demeanor, appearance, or anything else. ever. apparently this is a place where little girls go, get all dolled up-- and i don't mean in their mother's old lingerie and high heels from a dress-up box, either. they are DECKED out in jewels and sparkles and heels that FIT THEM. they get fully made up and walk down a catwalk in a fashion show. i envision hips jutting out, hand on one of them, chins up, and a pouty look on their made up face. NO THANK YOU. i declined, which was no surprise to my friend, and the kids are none the wiser. but then...

monday was picture day for the ballet studio and georgia and jules had to wear their recital costumes for the class picture.

now, normally i am the one mom rushing to daycare from work to pick up her children to have them change in the car. juliet is pretty easy. then when we get there, i park and slap georgia's hair up in the most mangled hairnet contraption you can imagine so that she is presentable for class. georgia's bun ALWAYS falls out during class and another mom has to help fix it sometimes; otherwise, TOO BAD but she is the one little girl with a sweaty ponytail. i always am the last one into the studio and all of the other calm, cool mothers who homeschool their children and have had ALL DAY to shove bobby pins in a bun look at me funny.

but this particular day i left my office an EXTRA fifteen minutes early to ensure i'd have a good looking bun and NOT be the last one there. plus, i was told that juliet and her little bob had to have a bun too. come on, are you serious!!?? apparently so. panic ensued when i opened the door to the studio. the aqua-net cloud was billowing. moms were standing there, each one with a mascara wand and lipstick tube in their hand.

georgia says: you didn't tell me i could wear MAKEUP.

i say: you're right. because you can't.

juliet says: abby is four and she's getting makeup on.

i say: look over there-- abby's crying because the hair spray got in her eyes. that mascara was a mistake.

they want hair spray too, which i didn't bring. i tell them to stand over by sarah and see if any hairspray hits her head. (it did.)

am i mean for not allowing my children to wear makeup, even if for a picture? are they any less cute by being kids and not baby teenagers? i guess it doesn't matter what the answer is. i don't want them to have a taste for what life is like 10 years from now. i want them to feel beautiful just the way they are and not be itching to grow up too fast. let those mothers judge me. they can add 'doesn't allow makeup' to their growing list. while they are at home creating organic, homemade dinners, their kids are watching hannah montana and DYING to be in high school. mine still think the backyardigans are what cool kids watch.

here are my children, au naturel and camera-ready. sorry if their eyelashes don't pop out visually. i think they look fine the way they are!! :)

house of strep throat

GOOD LORD IN HEAVEN. why on earth do i send my children to daycare and work outside of the home???? is it worth it? two more sets of antibiotics for two children who just HAD this thing back in february. when i was at home, they almost never got sick. never had antibiotics, either one, until the last year or so.

it is wednesday and i'm happily back at work. now that i've just spent two days playing nursemaid to two Pitiful Pearls, i'm ready to tackle the mountain on my desk.

tips i learned from being at home this week:

1. mixing that nasty white medicine in orange juice will make it palatable for kids who hate medicine!
2. avoid orange juice if your child says their stomach hurts.
3. buying coloring books and activities for your kids to do while you get *extra* things done around the house is a waste of money. all they want is for you to hold them and breathe on you while you watch the same episode of the little einsteins over and over again.
4. i cook pretty well when i have the time to prepare a real meal. problem is, noone wants to eat it when they're sick, and i'm too tired and grouchy to care how it tastes anyway.
5. even if the tylenol kicks in at just the right moment that you convince yourself that the kids are feeling better and they should go on to ballet class because, by golly, you're paying $68 dollars a month for it, think again.

oh, happy day! everyone is back at daycare this morning and they can recycle germs again.

(i forgot to post pictures last time so here are some pre-strep shots).

'pigs in the park' celebration last week....sounds hokey but it was fun!


peace, homies.


georgia on the monkey bars.


i loved this shot of juliet on the swings.


look who can do the dishes!

house of coveters

i picked up the girls from daycare the other day with a surprise. sears-- a place i never go unless kevin is dragging us there to look at a tool or something!!-- has amazing kid clothing sales, i discovered. PLUS, they had a large selection of spring clothes DIRT CHEAP with no characters, glitter, embroidery, logos-- perfect for my mix-and-match children. so i picked up a couple of things for each one and true to form, had no sooner gotten them buckled in their booster seats when i whipped out the new duds. (we all know i hate surprises....).

a few minutes later, i see jules in the rearview mirror with her arms crossed, a massively unattractive scowl, and a lip curled upward. "what's your issue?" i so nicely ask. "you'll never have any friends if you look at them the way you're looking at me right now!" she proceeds to whine about how georgia got three things and she only got two. it. is. not. fair. hmmph. she crossed her arms tighter, just for effect.

i was all set to pull over and was already preparing the lecture at the same time -- the one about saying thank you whether you wanted to or not, and how fortunate she was that i had enough funds in the checking account to make a surprise purchase (really fortunate, let me tell you!!) and how i was taking all her stuff back since she was so incredibly bratty. i can't stand brats, and she was a big one at that moment.

but georgia saved the day. she turns to her sister and says: "you. you. you. you coveter!" not clearly hearing what she said, i ask her to repeat it. she asks me if i remember the ten commandments and what god says about wanting things other people have.

oh yeah! i knew i made the right choice of daycares (disregarding the spitting incident)!! that ten-week ten commandment summer program did the trick. now i don't even NEED my lecture because juliet is upset that she broke a commandment.

problem solved. bratty kid moment averted.

until the next time. hope georgia is around then to dispense biblical advice.

back in the saddle again....

that was a long stretch. i admit it. i quickly fell into a rut of not feeling well/kevin not feeling well/going on a couple of weekend jaunts/and general slack-off mode with regard to my blog. i'll try to do better.

spring has almost sprung here, which is a good thing. this is the time of year where, in my house, we're desperate for warmer air, something--anything!!--growing outside, so that our winter spirits may be lifted. it is at the end of march every year when i get a small taste of spring, only to be extremely disappointed the next day when another cold snap hits us smack in the face. that happened last week, and this week it's cold and rainy so far.

we took a day off about a month ago--all of us!!--after the fog of sickness had lifted from our house. it wasn't a real day off for kevin, who had a job fair in wilmington to recruit teachers. but it was a great opportunity to drive to the beach for one day, see my sister, and get away from it all! it was a gorgeous day and we got some great pictures of the girls.

kevin had a birthday in march. then came my annual self-advocacy convention in winston-salem, one of the highlights of my year. self-advocates are individuals with developmental disabilities who choose where and with whom they want to work, live, socialize, worship--whatever. self-advocacy is a growing movement in the world of developmental disabilities and my agency sends a group every year to this convention. they learn about health and safety issues, current public policy issues facing this population, accessing affordable housing, finding a job they want to have....things like that. it's also a great time and reaffirms for me always that i work in a field that i love. my job may stink sometimes. i think everyone's does. but i come home so incredibly proud of what my self-advocates accomplish, and so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to teach my children what it means to be accepting, tolerant, and kind to people who have developmental disabilities. it is a source of great pride that they can and do choose to socialize with people who are quite different cognitively, emotionally, behaviorally, than they. we've taught them to ask questions and be patient and show others that this is not something to fear. with permission, i'm showing some of the pictures from my weekend in winston below.

we spent easter with my parents. wonder of all wonders, the easter bunny found the town of chocowinity, north carolina. we all had our doubts based on its remote location, but it did happen! i have pictures of that weekend also. georgia finally found her bike balance, and she's now an official bike rider. one more step towards big girl-hood. juliet can't keep up, and i have a feeling she won't be that far behind her sister.

happy april first to all!



jules and georgia testing out the *chilly* waters of wrightsville beach.






another birthday; another cake i did not make.

our group in winston-salem. such a great weekend.

here's jake, pimped out and ready to hit the club.

home again. just in time for our neighborhood easter egg hunt. does my house look crooked or what??? like it could break right in half!


how did this deer find his way to chocowinity?? santa must be looking for him.


a friend from church let the girls come play farmer franny for an afternoon while daddy swiped about 5 truckloads of mulch. the girls are convinced--as is daddy-- that country life may be the way to go for the plues. lord help me.



though, i must admit, the girls are CUTE little farmhands!


how cute is this face? who would think she went off the deep end of the river normal when i told her to get off the swing and get in the car!

hack. sniffle. snort. repeat.

last week it was strep for the kids. good mother that i am, the only reason i know it was strep was because i happened to have to take juliet to the doctor for a WELL visit. both tested positive at that time. TWO co-pays later, two antibiotics later at $15.00 apiece, i am thinking to myself that i should have NEVER taken her for a check-up! i was directed to take both home and that they must stay home from daycare for a whole 24 hours. you know, daycare: that place where they picked up the germs in the first place. forget that! i only planned to take 2 hours off work for a quick check-up. they were acting FINE. i shoved medicine into their little mouths in the parking lot of the pharmacy, both of them wailing the whole time (told you i'm a good mother) and high-tailed it back to daycare. noone was any the wiser.

then kevin got it. he won't take medicine because, as he so eloquently put it, when he's old and sickly he doesn't want to be immune to antibiotics. that makes So Much Sense, dear. i think the amount of sympathy you get from being sick is directly proportional to how much you're willing to do to fix the situation. and i'm sick too. however, i do take medicine when it's appropriate and i think that should get me extra sympathy points. maybe i should try harder. :)

but being sick does have its perks at work. my boss is way less likely to yell for me to come into her office, and people kind of leave you alone when they think you might be germy. when i answer the phone people immediately get it that i'm sick, so they don't keep me on the phone for an hour. so i've had quite a bit of time to stalk blogs this week. i might just have to create an anonymous blog for my rants and REALLY funny stories. you know, the ones that i don't want my husband or family to read. i have some doozies. i need to totally work on that.

but, for now, i'm off to find cough drops.

OH YEAH. i registered georgia for kindergarten this morning. without. any. tears. that is a huge step for me. of course, all the paperwork was previously filled out, and i didn't have her with me-- all i did was simply drop it off at the school. but i didn't cry or even have that swelling in my throat like i COULD have cried. (maybe i was too busy coughing.) see, there are perks to being sick: you don't look like that ridiculously dramatic parent that i used to make fun of when i was teaching public school! i have been using The Kindergarten Card for a long time with my children, in order to get them to do what i want them to do. that sounds like a post for another time. it has been a lifesaver!

i do have a real job, you know...

besides keeping my blog up. thanks for everyone's concern, though! you can always tell when my boss is out of the office. you'll see i have WAY more frequent posts. it's been a bit of a busy time in my working world. as for today, it's a friday afternoon and i should be packing it all in for another weekend but if i don't give out some kind of update, i'll be starting a trend of not following through on things i am supposed to keep up with-- kind of like my new years resolution and my lenten discipline!!

i'm a year older. nobody cares, myself included, but i'm officially middle-aged according to my own self-reflection. (nobody else's, so don't whine about how young i REALLY am.) my girls brought me flowers and we had a nice dinner and noone went to a lot of trouble and it was all very nice-- that's the way i like it.

now, my baby is a year older too. juliet turned four last sunday. sniff, sniff. as everyone in my world knows, we only do birthday parties when it is absolutely necessary. this was juliet's first celebration of her birth. georgia had one at four years also, and now i'm in the clear until at least--the very least-- georgia turns seven. or eight. or maybe even nine. i just hate the birthday party thing. but this year, it was fabulous. i broke out my old-school tricks and we had a mcdonald's birthday party. for less...way, way less... than i would spend for a party at home, eighteen of our close personal friends had 2 hours of crazy play time, a happy meal, birthday cake, a goody bag, decent decorations, and i didn't have to set up or clean up. this was awesome! i highly recommend it. however, the key was going to a swanky part of charlotte for the mcdonalds because the children refer to our local one as the 'dirty mcdonalds'. pictures are below, but i have a friend sending hers to me because my camera battery died. i'll post those when they arrive. we brought the loot home to open, so i have pictures of party #1 and party #2.

juliet got a bike from the birthday fairy. while kevin had the wrench out putting it together, he took off the training wheels on georgia's bike. we've practiced a few times and she's getting the hang of it. in the grass. without using the brake. on a completely flat surface. only time will tell how dramatic this endeavor becomes, and i'll keep you posted.

note the birthday cake. made from scratch-- my favorite, coconut!!! it was so good. i've convinced at least one of my kids that this, too, is HER favorite cake and she now requests it on her birthday. MASTER brainwasher that i am.... but no, of COURSE i didn't make it. this was my mom's contribution.

party #3 involved a cake at preschool. another sugar-infused afternoon of fun. by the end of the weekend, i was birthday-ed out.

on february 14th, my little valentines woke up with new t-shirts on their beds. they looked sweet for about four seconds yesterday morning, so i took their picture. sweet babies. they worked so hard writing their names on their valentines, and it's fun to see how excited they get when their friends give them valentines back. reminds me of when i was a kid....

that's it! pictures finally made it up here. it's president's day and noone told me until the last minute that my office is actually closed today, so here i sit. i guess i'll use my time wisely and clean up the mounting pile on my desk. happy monday.

t-r-o-u-b-l-e

so yesterday, i was coming out of a school meeting for one of my clients when i picked up a voicemail. i hadn't had a signal the whole two hours during the meeting so when i realized it came from the kids' daycare, i got a bit panicky. the message was:

"this is carolyn from the daycare. please call me as soon as you get this message."

two thoughts race through my head. one, she's sick. CRAP. DAMMIT. (a few other choice words).

the other: she's hurt. not so much cussing there; a tad more concern is exhibited.

i call back immediately, which is now more than two hours since the first call.

the assistant director was on the line. she greets me, and i say: "what's going on???"... she tells me:

georgia spit in another child's face at breakfast this morning.

come again? say WHAT?

i say in a very soft, low voice: put her on the phone. right now. blood pressure sky-high.

she's sobbing and incomprehensible by the time she gets to the phone. i told her how disappointed i was in her and that it was not going to be a pleasant evening for her. she sputtered out that she was sorry. i rambled on and on about an apology letter she'd have to write (draw) and that there was no movie night on friday. i hang up.

i call kevin. i tell him: can you BELIEVE what our child has done??? we need to have a plan for this. my child SPITTING at anything has not ever entered my mind. not polly prissy-pants.

kevin decides to leave work and pay the daycare a visit to express his disappointment in our child. when grownups tell me my child has misbehaved, i believe them. (it's the way i was raised!)

she is sad and crying and apologetic but offers no explanation. the assistant director happened to mention to kevin when asked that-- well, no, an adult didn't actually SEE this happen, but the kids all said she did it, and georgia herself admitted it too. so there. end of story.

hmm. that's the cluephone ringing. PICK IT UP, melinda.

when i picked up the children in the afternoon, we went straight home. the little einsteins went on the television for juliet while i had a talk with georgia. i tell her: please no crying! i cannot understand you through the dramatics. suck it up, wipe them dry, and tell me exactly what happened.

she says: i was just trying to say the word for that THING.

what thing?

pie ranger.

heh? what's a pie ranger?

it's that thing that austin was for happyhalloween. you know, boys like them. not girls.

(POWER ranger. got it!)

i was trying to say it and my P got stuck, and one little tiny poke came out of my mouth and it hit savannah on the cheek.

oh.

now i feel like a dog. a big one. but my first thought is: I HAVE TO SAVE FACE HERE. i am The Parent, after all.

so i say: why in the world did you not tell your teacher that? she says: all she asked me was if i spit on savannah, and i told her yes. you say i have to tell the truth, and that was the truth.

now i really feel bad. but i quickly rally and give this long and drawn-out explanation that if, indeed, your school or another parent calls me to tell me you are in trouble, You Are SO In Trouble. period. you better get used to that now because this is not up for discussion. i tell her: it's up to you to defend yourself if you don't think what you did was wrong. you better find your voice and use it. you would argue with me at home if you felt you were wrongly accused; you better do it at school too!-- and with good manners and a good tone. you spent all day long feeling miserable about being in trouble at home when all you had to do was tell your teacher that you didn't mean to do it. Let This Be A Lesson To You.

now, go and draw that apology picture just for the heck of it.

and she did.

was i too harsh? i don't know. i'm mildly amused today and mildly irritated at a daycare that jumped to conclusions (as if i didn't do the same thing myself!). but i find myself struggling in that gray space of howmyparentsdidit versus howeverybodyelsedoesit. i have a feeling this internal battle will go on forever!

the blizzard upon us...

it starting snowing here in the charlotte area LONG after i went to sleep. snow where i live is a rare occurence and cause for panic attacks at walmarts and grocery stores everywhere!!!.... this was evident when i stopped at food lion with the girls on the way home from work. there was a cashier at each and every line. each register had 8-10 people waiting to check out. THERE WAS NO MILK. THERE WERE NO EGGS. it is laughable how we act in the south when there's even a THREAT of a flurry. this was around 4:30 yesterday afternoon.

so, when we woke up this morning, there now sits about 3/4 of ONE INCH of snow. and the world is pretty much shut down. our school system had only a 2 hour delay, but everything else around us is closed today. it's pouring down rain and the snow is melting. maybe it will freeze; who knows? the girls couldn't believe that there was snow, and then they were so disappointed to learn that they couldn't build a snowman. i told them we'd have to gather up all the snow in monroe to build a snowman and georgia says: "okay. i'll go get a bucket."

as i'm sitting at my desk at work, my boss calls me on my cell phone to tell me it's okay if i stay home this morning, to just come in around lunchtime. THANKS A LOT. i'm lonely in this big building all by my lonesome!

i guess i can cruise around the internet now, searching for something to make for dinner that doesn't involve frozen potatoes of some sort or spaghetti-o's. i'll take any suggestions!!! i fact, i am in need of some easy weeknight supper ideas. send them my way!!! just remember my stance on anything with mushrooms-- keep it to yourself!

happy almost weekend!

weekend pictures...

because i got a little heavy there on friday! we had a great weekend.

the girls went to an indoor carnival and had a blast. any time you throw a jumpy-jump in a room and offer cotton candy afterwards, it's a winner!

that was friday night.

i caught them playing school in my bathroom, for some reason. don't ask me but it kept them occupied for quite a while yesterday afternoon!

raising helen...

is a movie i saw for the first time this week. with this writer's strike, we all know there's nothing good on television and so i'm trying to catch up on *good* movies that i've never seen. the list is endless because if it's not a disney movie, little einsteins, or a really bad movie called 'candy land', i haven't seen it.

raising helen is not really a great movie, after all is said and done. but, that said, i managed to watch the whole thing. it focused on a cute, rich, thin, bubbly woman who is asked to raise her sister's kids after she suddenly dies. it hit me--not for the first time, either-- after i was done watching it that the 'who gets 'em' discussion needs to be revisited in my house again.


i just don't have any good solution here. i have a family. kevin has a family. we have friends. but there's not a single person i know (or am related to...) ... (or i can even fathom) ... that would fit the bill for us. in the movie, during the tearjerker moment when the two living sisters are talking about WHY kate hudson's character was chosen, one of them said something that stuck with me: we shouldn't choose the person who would be the most obvious choice-- the responsible sibling with 4 kids already....the across-town grandparent who raised us: we want--need-- our children to be raised by someone who would most closely match the way kevin and i would do it, no matter how far they are or the upheaval in that person's life. i don't know anyone who could or would do that for us. i don't know anyone who could come close.


and-- i really do want my kids to be raised here, if possible. i wouldn't want their lives interrupted any more than they already would be. i'd like them to have the support of the people they already know--their friends, their school, their church. i'd like them to have younger-ish folks raising them, people at least CLOSE to the age of their own parents. no grandparent should have to raise their children's children. it's too much. kevin's sibling is obviously out of the question. my sisters, and there are two, are the next most obvious choice. but they both are single, focused on careers, and they're great aunts but they would have no idea how to raise kids. especially mine! i say that with love, if they are reading. :) i have a couple of friends who i think MIGHT fit the bill, but those people have kids already. how do you even begin to burden someone who's not related to you (or someone who is...) by having them become parents twice over to someone else's kids?


i used to pray that god would take kevin and me together, at the same time, so that we wouldn't have to live life without the other. i still hope for that--i just hope that it's when our girls are grown!

so i guess i'm taking applications. who out there (this is rhetorical, people) knows how i do things? who will ensure that my girls never find out that mamas really DON'T have magic eyes? who will make them believe that they really DON'T let you into kindergarten if you can't put your face under water? who will remind them that they're not too good to share a sock and underwear drawer with their sister for all of eternity (or until i have more space!)? who will tell them each and every day that they are so blessed and fortunate that they have a place to live, food to eat, a car to ride in, and that every time they get a new toy, they must give up an older one to a less fortunate person? who will make them socialize with all sorts of people, even those with disabilities, so that they understand how to interact with anyone who crosses their path? who else will not be mad in the morning when they wake up with juliet's feet in their face and georgia's pallet at the foot of the bed while the grownups are hanging on for dear life at the edge of the bed?

i know the answer. nobody can do that and love them like we do. but i have to keep looking until i find the person who would come closest. until then, i'm driving Extra Careful and i'm going to stop watching some of these cathartic movies!!!

ballet for little juliet

oh boy. you have never seen such an excited little thing as monday when i picked up the girls for the first day of ballet class for the semester. the girls are now in the same class and juliet used some of her christmas money (i swear it was not my idea!) for ballet slippers and a leotard (i hate that word!). she's been practicing over the holidays but today was the big debut. miss bonita told the class about the spring recital-- a circus theme-- and that their class will be performing as cotton candy. i don't really get it-- i'm a pretty in-the-box thinker and so telling children they'll have to be living, breathing, spun sugar set to music is a bit out of my realm of thinking. but my kids DO get it, and they're super excited. here are a couple of pictures from the studio from monday---

you know what i really love?

i'll tell you. it's NOT new year's. resolutions are stupid (having made and broken every one EVER!!) and i resolve to not make any more. it's not fridays, or at least this one. this has been a bad week for me and i hate keeping things inside when i'm dying to share them. it's not my dog, who can't stop running away and it's ticking me off. it's not even this package of peppermint oreos that someone (foolishly) left on my desk because they didn't want the temptation of eating them.

it's my new DENTAL HYGIENIST. (did i spell that right??). i absolutely detest going to the dentist and have been a dental nomad (switching every time it was time for an appointment because i found something wrong with the previous person) for years. but i have found one here, within walking distance from both home and work, and when i trudged in this morning for a cleaning, after it was all done, my new best friend amy never once mentioned how little i floss. she says: your teeth, your gums-- they look great!!! that made my day. now-- when i have to get that one little cavity filled in two weeks, it may be a different story, but for now, i'm smiling through my (sore) teeth.

new year's eve

i'm not really sure that commentary is necessary here, but many people know we went to a 70s par-tay for new year's eve-- our first new year's eve OUT without the kids. it would have been nice to find a cute little mini dress and go-go boots, or perhaps even a charlie's angel outfit, but when you are as tall as i am (notice i didn't say BIG), sometimes those outfits are not cute! so, without trying, we ended up looking like bear bryant and helen roper from three's company.

on this day...

seven years ago-- at this moment, in fact-- i was getting married. i was yipping at my sister about being late to the church and temporarily misplacing the ring. i was irritated that noone was helping me get in my dress and i was anxious for the whole shebang to be done with, truthfully. i was so, so cold and wondering why in the world i chose a december wedding date. there was no question as to if i'd have someone waiting for me at the other end of the aisle, but there were certainly fleeting moments of wondering if he really knew what he was getting himself into!! i had no idea where the path of wedlock would take me--us-- but it was worth the risk!

so, seven years later, we have:

*moved from georgia to nc, and then from one end of union county to the other
*bought a semi-new house, and one that is 105 years old after that
*changed jobs a total of 5 times for me and 4 times for kevin (we're not flaky; these include promotions and/or school changes!)
*created two healthy, happy, non-argumentative (yeah, right) little girls
*created a new world for k's younger brother jake
*finished a master's degree (not me, kevin) and getting ready to start a doctorate, we think
*only had one major family member's death (my gran), which is quite amazing
*discovered that we are about as boring as you can get on any given day
*found a church home and have gotten WAY more involved than we ever thought we could get in church
*had two dogs live happy lives and then be put down for different reasons, and now have a third who drives us batty but knows she's loved
*found, lost, and rediscovered several pounds along the way

it's been a good ride, all things considered, and it actually seems like more than seven years. instead of celebrating another year when we've statistically beaten the odds, we're taking down christmas decorations, eating eggs and bacon for dinner, letting georgia watch 'high school musical' and juliet watch 'the little einsteins' in separate rooms (for the sake of sanity), and calling it a night.

happy almost new year, one and all.

when we fin-a-lly say 'good night'....

or, in my case, GOOD BYE to the chaos that inhabited our house during the month of december, i'll be pleased! what a whirlwind it's been for us. our christmas season is nothing if not lively.

thank you to all of my friends, young, old, distant, and close, for your cards this year. that is my favorite part of christmas....opening up the mailbox every day to see if there are any pictures or cards to add to our pile! i love to see how people have grown over the year-- your kids, not YOU! (remember that when looking at my christmas card picture).

the week began with a great production of the christmas story presented by every single kid in our church. my girls OBVIOUSLY are angels :) and so that was the most appropriate costume for them, but i know georgia is gunning for that 'mary' role next year, while juliet wanted to be the baby jesus and stuff herself into the fake manger. the overzealous dad sitting in the front pew of church snagged all the good pictures, leaving bad ones for the rest of us, so i'll be sending him an email to send me some good shots at a later date.



my sister melanie came, sick as a dog i might add, from wilmington to be with us for christmas. she made it in time for church, which was a must because the girls were singing in the choir just before the start of the service. juliet fell asleep while waiting, so she missed her big moment, but i got a shot of them practicing. never mind juliet's super-greasy hair. i spilled baby oil in their bath water and her hair soaked up every bit of it! i didn't think it would be a big deal until her hair was dry and yet still wet!


christmas morning was great....the kids got up and were thrilled with the gifts that ho-ho left for them. three gifts apiece-- because that's what baby jesus got. (it does keep things simple in our house!) they each got a scooterwithtwowheels (which is how they say it) for their big present. jules got dora hopscotch squares and a mickey mouse clubhouse, two things that go against all i believe-- i don't like things with characters on them!!-- but i am giving up some of my nutty ideas as i get older, and as people continue to make fun of me. georgia got a leap pad game and her favorite gift was the iron/ironing board she requested. she never knew what an iron was (i know, i know) until my mother came and helped me make those blasted napkins for my dinner party this fall. since then, she's been entranced with that marvelous appliance and asked for one for christmas.

the girls got many things they loved--evidently my mother and sister and i should communicate more because all three of us got bathrobes for the girls, so they are All Set in the winter warmth department!....there were wrapped-up socks and panties which still excites my children, and a few choice toys-- the soccer goal from pawpaw and nanny and the (barbie! a character!) digital camera from nini, the jacks and Perfection! game....so from grandparents to aunts and uncles and friends, there were so many great gifts and all of it was wonderfully generous, and in lieu of a gazillion thank you notes that i am not confident would ever reach your homes: a big, huge, THANK YOU from kevin and me.

it all fell apart in the afternoon. jake, who got a stomach bug for christmas, was happy to share it and he passed it along to juliet in the afternoon and that did me in for the rest of the day. anyone who knows even a little bit about me knows i have panic attacks at the thought of my kids getting sick. it's like armageddon or something; i need therapy in a big way. anyway, that happened as dinner was about to be served, and that did my appetite in for quite a while. when i'm ready (still a bit queasy myself!) i'll enjoy the deep-fried turkey that was so beautiful that i cannot believe i didn't get a picture of it when kevin presented it to me, as well as the 3 desserts that i made and all the little things that go into making a good christmas dinner. oh, well.

all is well now. sleep (for juliet, certainly not for me that night!) yesterday seemed to do the trick and as of this morning, everyone was well enough to go to their respective corners. i am at work (clearly NOT WORKING!) and kevin is golfing: you just don't turn down a free round of golf, i am told!!! jake is at work and the kids were more than happy to return to daycare for two days this week. everything is put away nicely in its place, three large bags of to-be-donated toys and clothes are safely at goodwill, and we're movin' on to the next thing.

so, another christmas down the hatch. all of the build-up-- the last-minute shopping for stocking stuffers, the all-night wrapping session on sunday night, the 14 trips to the grocery store to make items that still sit in the fridge because i made way too much, the MESS and disorganization of christmas morning....all of it, looking back, is fine. more than fine. i have to admit that it is much more fun to look BACK at christmas than look towards it. another strange thing about me....

here are some pictures from christmas day and from last night when both kids felt like eating leftovers! i did have lots of cute pics and will post the shutterfly link http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcNnLZs1aNG4t&notag=1 so you can see for yourselves.

happy new year to all!

UPDATE: that very productive morning at work didn't last long. now i'm home with georgia, who has the same bug. pray for me. is this what immersion therapy is?

it's beginning to feel a lot like i've procrastinated...

...or, has christmas just come Way Too Fast this year? (that idea is much more pleasing and then i don't have to take responsibility for being ill-prepared...) --usually i'm so good at getting the cards out and off the to-do list, yet here they sit upon my desk waiting for that final look-through to make sure i've not forgotten to put on a stamp, or a return address. plus there are 35 cards out there in walmart.com land waiting to get to my doorstep so that i can actually get the rest done. i completely underestimated the number of cards on my list this year. i thought i had done a good job of weeding out some no-longer-necessary recipients and adding the new friends, but clearly i was off. never fear; i intend for them to go in today's mail and i hope you like them. i take such terrible pictures at this point that i may be vowing to only send out kid pictures from now on. we'll see.

i purchased just about everything for anyone online this year. except for one trip to tj maxx for some things for the girls, and perhaps one last dollar general or drug store stop on christmas eve for stocking stuffers, everything was purchased from this office chair (yeah, i know i am supposed to be working!) or from kevin's laptop late at night when everyone is asleep. it's how i roll this year! i am all about simplifying my life and if it gets the job done, i'm not losing any sleep over it.

now, i'm on to a week filled with activities-- a fundraiser at work (not my bright idea but i'm a team player!), daycare party for the kids, party at our house for kevin's office staff, and the last-minute things that go into a holiday. like-- what the heck i'll make for christmas supper. it'll just be our family plus jake and melanie, so i don't have to go overboard. deep-fried turkey, here we come. it's kevin's specialty and it keeps my oven free for other things!

the girls have seen santa...well, one of his helpers. they totally get it that there's no earthly WAY santa can be at the mall every weekend AND boss the elves around up at the north pole. yesterday's santa seemed a bit frail and there was no lap-sitting, only a little leaning in for a picture. (it's hard to see in the picture but there was no option of getting up on his lap!)... santa must have hit the eggnog too hard on saturday night and was a bit under the weather!

here are the girls with ho-ho yesterday (note new haircut....we're done growing the hair out!! we get too many compliments on the short haircut!):

i also took the girls to see our local production of 'the nutcracker' on friday night. it was a fabulous evening and jules was even more entranced with it than georgia. i know what that will mean-- ballet for two starting next semester. she's already asked kevin about it, and though we were going to be pennypinchers and tell her she had to wait until she's five like georgia did, it's hard not to give in. during the ballet class on monday, jules sits at the door and shadows everything the class does. i think we'll let her go ahead and start when the new semester begins in january. here's juliet and georgia with sydni, the sugar plum fairy who is also the 'helper' in georgia's class.

this is the last time i know i'll post before the holidays, so i hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful holiday. i hope everyone makes it to their destination safely and enjoys the time with family and friends, as we will. we are thankful for another year gone by with healthy and happy children and, really, very little drama compared to what the rest of the world goes through on a daily basis. for many reasons-- we are probably the luckiest and most fortunate people we know. merry christmas and a happy new year from all of the plues:

(not our christmas picture but one of the runners-up!)

hello, end of november

wow, what a difference a week makes. last week i had on short sleeves, it was the peak of great leaf colors outside, and my pumpkin sat nicely rotting on my front steps. now it is cold, rainy (well, it cleared up today but yesterday was pretty gross...), my awesome faux tree is up (minus the star which broke and has yet to be replaced...), and it's instant christmastime! thanksgiving is but a memory!

we traveled ALL NIGHT LONG on tuesday-- we got into traffic troubles somewhere around spartanburg, sc, and it stayed that way until we got through atlanta. at 2:30am when we finally made it to our destination in alabama, we were OVER each other and the car. we had a thanksgiving celebration with kevin's dad and faye on wednesday, and then another one with kevin's mom and her side of the family on thursday. we left on friday morning heavier and happier than when we arrived. and, luckily for EVERYONE subjected to another car ride with my complainin' self, the ride was much shorter this time: 8 hours.

hope everyone else had a great thanksgiving also. i'm overloaded on work and need to get back to it! here are some pictures from our trip:

kevin and georgia at wacky bear (it's like build-a-bear)

for cousin lilly's 3rd birthday party....

juliet's first game of twister....guess what she's asking ho-ho to bring????

all of the grandkids between kevin's dad and faye....

cousins averi, haili, and katelyn are worshipped by my girls!

happy trails...

to us as we load up in the newly-fixed volvo wagon and head off for alabama. say a prayer for me that as we embark on an eight-hour trip each way, i will not lose any of the few remaining marbles i have left-- i will be giving up my shotgun seat for jake and will be sitting between the girls in the back seat. i'm sure that by tonight at midnight (our ETA!) everyone will be pretty sick of me and of each other, and we'll all go to our corners to forget the long drive!

georgia and jules will be staying at nini's, kevin's mom's house, and jake says he's staying with his grandmother across town. kevin and i will be staying at a hotel. this is actually the first time the girls will be spending the night without either one of us, i think. (if not, it's been so long that i cannot remember a night alone!!!)...we just never get a chance to get away and we don't have family nearby.

hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving and safe travels. i'll post turkey pictures when we get back. here's a picture from church last weekend. both my girls are in the children's choir this year and they had their first performance of the season. oh, what was that hymn???...i have had it stuck in my head for weeks. i will remember while we're in the car this evening!!!

happy halloween! ... and more pics added....

wow, it's already the first of november! we had a great time trick-or-treating last night. i'm behind in my work this week so i've got to get back to it, but here are georgia and jules campbell. -- presenting: the trans-fat collection.....

learning the art of 'trading out'.....

corn maze, pumpkin patch, and early halloween pictures

no commentary today. too tired!!! hope you enjoy these pictures.

LOOK AT MY BABY!!

...my third (fourth?) baby, that is.

on my way out of town yesterday afternoon, i got in a little wreck. i was hit from behind and i then hit the car in front of me. what a pain. i was on my way to the mountains for a weekend getaway (even if it was a conference, i still had no kids with me!!) .... two of my clients were with me and we had no sooner gotten on the road when this DENT in our plans happened.

one bright spot-- the guy who hit me was SUPER CUTE. turns out he is a grad assistant/football coach at wingate university, and he felt so bad that he offered up his football team to come volunteer with our agency and do some mentoring with our special-needs kids and adults. don't think i won't hold him to it, either.

so, i shipped off my clients with another person who was attending the same conference, and here i sit at my office in the pouring-down rain (which we desperately need...) on a friday, instead of picking apples and halfway listening to speakers up in asheville. boo-hoo.

first dinner party

...well, maybe not the very first one, but it certainly seemed that way. it was my turn to host our neighborhood dinner club last saturday, and it tends to be more formal than i ever could be. there are themes assigned and i have known for a whole year that i was to host in october. (it caused me to stress out from the moment i was assigned as a host!) ...the theme was supposed to be food tv and hosts were to choose their favorite personality and go with that. in the spirit of trying to make my evening as low-key as possible, i chose giada because i figured i could make italian cooking very casual and not have to get out the fine china. here's what i learned i DIDN'T have (and needed) for a dinner party:

cloth napkins. sounds like a simple thing but lo and behold, i don't own any. at my house it's paper napkins or a folded-up paper towel when we actually all sit down together and have a meal. i don't have any real napkins, nor do i think about needing to buy them, but when i discovered this fact the day before my party, i discovered they were EIGHT DOLLARS for two white napkins at wal-mart. forget that. my friend tara suggested making my own (we'll get to that) so i bought two yards of fabric from the salvage shop here in town and waited for my mother to pull into town so i could give her a project.

which brings me to the next thing i don't own: an iron. or ironing board. my mother came and agreed to tackle this project. she asked for my iron and i was not able to produce one!! she insisted on purchasing me one at walmart so i am now the proud owner of both items. i have never needed to iron and it's a ton easier for me to pay 99 cents for dry cleaning (or, in an emergency, throw a wrinkly shirt in the dryer with a damp towel) than spend an evening standing over an ironing board, burning holes into clothes and probably my hands too. do people really do that anymore? people with a full-time job and two kids and a dog and a dinner club to host????

i also don't own any tablecloths. i have a beautiful table that kevin stained black for me last year. why in the world would i want to cover it up with a tablecloth? i was reminded by more than one person that i am clueless when it comes to entertaining. clearly, i am. so i had to buy a tablecloth but i still say my table would be just as attractive without it!

chairs!!!!!!!!! i've been putting off buying them because there have been more important projects to take care of...like, new tires on BOTH cars, a toilet that rocks uncontrollably because as the house settles, it pushes the pipe up from under the house!!.....and all the little things that come up every month. i have two chairs for grown-ups and two painted restaurant high chairs for the kids. so i have to borrow a neighbor's dining room chairs to make room for ten.

the list is endless, really, but i put it all together at the last minute (of course) and it turned out okay. napkins got made, a few plates from target were purchased, and i was in business. my 'giada' recipe really wasn't and noone noticed. it was italian but i refused to try out a new recipe on 9 innocent victims. thank you mom for the recipe (really good baked ziti!) and for staying up half the night sewing napkins WITHOUT A SEWING MACHINE (i am going to use fusion tape on EVERYTHING from now on...).

the bottom line is that NOBODY REALLY CARES. you get all worried but, in the end, it's no big deal. here's a picture of the final product because i want it on record that i actually have these necessities now!

This came across my email today

...and i think i've seen it before, but it still makes me smile to read it. oh, the memories!

For Those of us Born 1930-1979

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate bleu cheese dressing, tuna from a can, Oscar Mayer lunch meat, and they didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our bellies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets--not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats , booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were OK.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

...weekend in atlanta....

well, it turned out to be a girls-only weekend. kevin had a massive amount of work to do over the weekend, and my friend clarissa's husband was working as well-- so it was just the three of us riding down I-85 for FIVE HOURS. the travel-to time seemed to fly by: the anticipation of seeing friends, etc., kept everyone lively, but the travel-from time crept by sooooo sloooowwwwlllyyy. we had a great time! we stayed with my friend clarissa and her family. she has three little ones and it's always fun to have low-key friends who don't necessarily want to do STUFF all the time. we just hung out, let the kids play, caught up on gossip-- all the important things! if journey, luke, and levi are reading this, then thank you again for having us! here are some pictures of you guys (sorry that levi didn't make it into any pictures...).

georgia, journey, jules campbell, and luke create dora stories.

never too old for group bathing!

saturday night is movie night, no matter where you are!

playing school-- i just noticed what is written on the papers!!

we spent saturday with one of my oldest (not in age!) friends, kevin, and the kids had a blast at piedmont park playing all morning. no pictures because i forgot the camera. too bad for you. kevin is a hottie! on our way out of town on sunday, we stopped in flowery branch to spend some time with another long-ago teaching friend, jackie, and her brood.

georgia and pete (jackie's little boy)

thanks, everybody! every time we go to georgia it is a reminder of how much fun it was to live there and we always come home a bit sad. but-- we're always up for a road trip so keep on inviting us over.

..hello...september? are you there? ....

is it really october? wow. i detect a lot less heat when i step outside lately, and even though it is not even CLOSE to feeling like fall, it does feel a lot LESS like august, and for that i am thankful. things are going well for all of us.

georgia loves being five and has really started getting into the whole 'chores' thing. she finally figured out how to make her bed without help and has even shown her sister how to do it. both girls are doing great in the morning with their checklist of things to do before we leave the house. they both stand there wanting 'the checks'. get dressed? check! brush your teeth? check! get your hair done? check! get the newspaper? check! make the bed? check! feed the dog? check. does anyone else besides me give out a dum-dum at 7:30 in the morning? i had my moment of guilt but it quickly passed.

georgia is counting the days till kindergarten -- eleven months to go!-- and has 4 ballet classes under her belt, and she (just like her mother before her) has already learned the art of brown-nosing. she brings miss bonita, her teacher, flowers before class, or shows her a special book she's been reading on ballet....you name it. if she can kiss up to earn brownie points, she'll do it. like mother, like daughter. i rode that train my whole school career!

juliet has decided she's sick of her short haircut so we're in that awkward grow-it-out stage. too bad; it took a lot for me to decide to get it cut but i've grown to like the look on her. but she feels adamant that she needs to have braids like georgia and she has concerns that when SHE starts ballet next year (heaven help me), she'll have to put it in a bun and it must be long enough. so-- grow, grow, grow. her little attitude is coming out, and while she never lets it show to her teachers, she's a pretty feisty little thing now...WAAAY more fiesty than georgia, who will crumble into a heap on the bed if you look at her with a scowl on your face. jules has the scowls and pouts and looks of disgust that most of us hold off on showing our parents until the pre-teen years. she flat-out refused to take a shower the other night and went to bed a soaking wet mess-- but a clean mess!! when will she figure out, i wonder, that she's been given a mama who has mastered the art of stubborn-try (is that a word? if not, i like it!) and i have spent my whole life perfecting the art of being hard-headed? poor thing. she doesn't stand a chance. luckily, her moments of toddler-hood don't come out very much.

my own workload is ever-increasing but i'm trying to be better about having to attend so many work things at night and on weekends. it seems like whenever i turn around, there's a different convention i MUST attend or a meeting that has to occur when the rest of the world is off work. it gets old fast so i'm trying to adjust other people's schedules to fit mine. i hope they don't figure out my plan. :) i'm headed to the mountains to a place called lake junaluska in three weeks. -- a conference! of course!! -- and so everyone will need to call and check in on kevin. that will be stressful with me being gone overnight AND during the work week.

kevin stays busy and i'd like to personally thank whomever invented the wireless internet system and laptops. without them, i'd really wonder if i had a husband. he works a 70 hour week and retreats to our bedroom after the kids go down with computer in hand. it's a good excuse for me to turn in early as well, so it's win-win (most nights!)

we're off to atlanta this weekend. it's been over a year since we've been back (i think much longer for kevin) so i'm excited to go visit. i'm sure i'll have cute pictures when we return but i'm hoping for a weekend of hanging out and catching up.

here are some pictures from last night:

...ballerina girl....

though the birthday fairy did indeed find georgia this year, her present from mama and daddy was getting to take ballet classes this year. today was the first day of class. this girl loves some ballet.....here are pictures from the first day of class. too cute!

...things i've learned about cooking....

this weekend. first of all, just because it is an easy recipe doesn't mean it looks anything like the picture in the magazine. since i don't believe in annual birthday parties for my girls, i feel like the LEAST i can do is make a homemade (for real homemade, not just made by me from a box which i still say is homemade) birthday cake AND frosting for my child. here's the picture from the magazine that georgia, with a little guidance, chose:



and it looked like a simple, lovely cake.

it literally took me all afternoon to get it done. how my mother can stand to be in a kitchen all day long and put together three hot meals seven days a week is WAY beyond me. nothing else got done on saturday afternoon. of course, i had two little helpers with me wanting to taste every four seconds!


then, i discovered that (probably because i only make real cakes every so often) i certainly didn't have THREE cake pans to make a three-layer cake. so i decided that it would look just as good with two layers (nope).

another lesson learned is that i lack the skills to look into a mixing bowl and tell which ingredients are lacking to make the cake more moist. had i those skills, the cake wouldn't have tasted like an unsweetened pound cake left out on the counter for a few days.

here was my version of the cake, which the children (most importantly!) found beautiful:



last lesson-- i need to invest in a cake pedestal! i think that must make a world of difference.



here are some birthday pictures from yesterday. we are all on the mend for the most part and were able to have a nice, low-key afternoon celebrating the big 0-5.









at the end of the day, happy girls, tired mama and daddy, and lots of magazine-worthy cake left. delilah is going to get a real treat tonight with her dog food!

i have the flu....

and it stinks! some little bug has been buzzing all around our house in the last week or so, and i thought i was going to escape it. hopefully it will be short-lived and by tomorrow i'll be feeling better.

georgia has a birthday on sunday so i'm still taking suggestions for what to get a five-year-old! anyone who knows me knows i am the WORST present-picker in america. seriously. it's pretty bad. she believes in the birthday fairy (all my fault) and has spoken to her twice in the last week. she found a quiet spot in the aisle at target or wherever and said: 'hey birthday fairy, i hope you see me and you are listening. i think i'd like a SURPRISE this year instead of me giving you an idea.' GREAT. the birthday fairy just LOVES having to come up with ideas!

how much longer till the weekend? in my feverish state, i seem to be losing all track of time. i must be hallucinating because my computer clock says 9:34 and i am CERTAIN i've been here six hours at least!

happy labor day weekend!

last time we can wear bathing suits and head to the pool. we intend to do just that tomorrow-- it will be our last chance to see if georgia will actually put her face in the water.

special note: bathing suits are on close-out at target. each of these was $4.48 last weekend. do what you will with that information! my intent was to buy suits for next year but clearly i did a bad job. they both fit now!

the girls loved them so much we have been literally bathing in them this week.

see for yourself:





have a great long weekend....

monkey joe's has moved into town!

nope, not overstimulating AT ALL.

rainbow row

we had three goals this summer for home projects. i am happy to say that we've completed two of them. (for us, that's really good, so we'll just write off the third project until we are re-energized!) ....

we have just finished painting two more rooms. the living room is now bright parsley-ish green. (see how good i am with colors? everything has to be '-ish'!) we think it's fabulous. the girls' room was lavender and baby lime green with three -- yes, three-- layers of wallpaper borders. it took forever to get that bad boy off the wall. wallpaper is not my friend and i was more than happy to see it go. now, we've got a nicer shade of purple going on in there.

it's finally starting to come together! after all, it's been a whole year. it's time we had the house in the colors we like. here are some pictures since today it's actually clean.

...it's gettin' hot in here...

so it is probably idiotic that we are choosing to paint rooms in the house when there's not even enough air flow to dry the paint! but we've spent the last week painting the last two rooms of the house that needed a major color overhaul. i may not have lots of good stuff on the walls, but hopefully the bright colors will offset that fact and noone will notice! i'll post some pictures as soon as the furniture is back in place.

jake

thank you to those people who are always asking how jake is doing. it's been close to two years ago that he moved to north carolina and became a permanent part of our family. we have tremendous support from his mom and dad in our efforts to get him working and living independently. jake moved into a group home fifteen minutes from our house about five months ago. he adjusted beautifully and is happy there, and in our new house we are close enough to him to see him on a regular basis. we are in the process of finding competitive employment in monroe for him. he's been working full-time at a sheltered workshop since he arrived here, but is ready for a bigger challenge. here's a picture of jake and his nieces around his birthday in april.

...to keep me inspired today...

i ran across this passage this morning, written by mother theresa, and i thought it was lovely.

ANYWAY

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;

forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

be kind anyway.

If you are successful you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

build it anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

do good anyway.

Give the world your best, and it may never be enough;

give the world your best anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;

it was never between you and them anyway.

our favorite knucklehead

we rescued delilah exactly a year ago today. she is still terrified of most noises, quick movements, and anything that resembles a man! she's finally stopped running away and mostly follows me around when she's otherwise unoccupied. happy gotcha day, knucklehead!

last ones for today: i promise!

another lakefront view...they call this part
the biddy pool....


juliet: you didn't see me do that,
did you?????

georgia: turn your attention to me
and forget what you just saw!


i ain't afraid of no lake!!!!


i'm staying where i don't have
to get my hair or face (or bathing
suit) wet!

...and here are some more...

the 'fun run' -- or the 'fun carry-me-on-your-
shoulders'....they looked cute, at least!


...trying to pick up lilypads. who knew
they were stuck to the water?? :)


helping daddy get on the boat. note Brown Bear,
who needed help too....


saying the blessing before supper for all the
guests at kanuga. georgia was loving
all the microphone time she could get!


...the beautiful waterfront at kanuga....

vacation pictures

daddy's girls...


yeah, so we're a little dressy for hanging out in
a creek, but who cares?....


carnival night and juliet has instructed this poor
girl EXACTLY how to paint her face....


...happy fourth of july! we are in
pretty happy moods, all of us!....


isn't it beautiful here????

semi-homemade cookies, a la plue

it must be PERFECT...
it must be a MESS to be perfect!

first time (sorta) at the beach...

georgia was loving the ocean! she's usually such a fraidy-cat in the water so i was pleasantly pleased.












...and here's jules campbell, as she likes to
be called now.

so, we visited my parents this past weekend and drove down to atlantic beach on saturday morning. georgia and juliet have seen the beach from afar or in the winter, but this was the first time they got to play-- even if for only a very short time!

...sign me up!!!

if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. i am new to blogworld but think this must be my way of finally getting organized. i hope it's not like when i was eleven and i started on my diary kick. i have several cute little diaries filled with about four pages of juicy entries. the rest of it is completely blank. (probably a sign of how dull my life was back then...)

anyway, news on us is not too spectacular. kevin has a new job as principal of east union middle school. it will certainly be a challenge but we know he'll be successful here. . you can see his school at http://eums.ucps.k12.nc.us/. he's so busy this summer, hiring and diving headfirst into the world of middle schoolers, but i think he's remembering how much fun it can be to work with older kids.

i'm back working full-time again, for the arc of union county (advocacy/supports for people with developmental disabilities). it's been a long road of doing odd jobs and working from a home office in order to avoid sending my kids to daycare. it has been an enjoyable time but there is no question that mama is a happier person now when she's working away from home. georgia and juliet really love 'school' and the adjustment has been quite painless. it's nice to see that i'm bringing home more money than i'm shelling out these days. just ask kevin!! :)

we took our first family vacation in july (yes, i did say FIRST). we went to kanuga, which is located in hendersonville, nc. a true vacation for me is: no cooking-cleaning-planning activities and lots of reading-napping-QT with my family. kanuga was perfect for us. if i could figure out the picture inserting part of this thingy, it would be no problem to post some pics! check back later.