Another School Year Ends

Amelia loved Sonshine School, mostly because her favorite babysitter, Miss Callie, was also her teacher. She was able to remain on Miss Callie's hip throughout most of the school year, thus securing her place as "most spoiled third baby--ever".




For the first time ever, Arden loved school this year. She made sweet friends and had wonderful teachers. She never had to sit in time out and was a big fan of quoting her teacher's mantra "If you hit, you sit". She asked to stay late every day and got mad if I picked her up early. We couldn't have asked for a better year!



Claire has declared her first grade year "The best year ever!!!!", although that kid loves school so much, I suspect she'll be saying that every year. She especially loved Science, Reading, and socializing with her girl friends.

After a great school year, we are ready for a fun summer. Thanks to all the snow days we had this winter, it will be a shorter than normal summer, but we plan to make the most of it!

So, it snowed this week.

I wish my sweet old neighbor still lived next door so he could put out his sign again this year. If 4-5 inches of snow prompted him to call out Al Gore and his global warming theory, imagine what he would think of 20 inches.

We spent the day playing the matching game and watching old Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movies on Netflix. We ventured out in the snow for a little while but the girls quickly discovered that 20 inches of snow is taller than their boots and thus creates a situation involving wet pants. My children do not enjoy wet pants, or really any form of discomfort in general.

No Boys Allowed

I think this must be posted somewhere in my uterus, because baby #3 is a GIRL!!!!

Three girls. That's going to take some time to sink in. But who wouldn't be excited about the thought of all those sweet sisters and a houseful of hot pink tutus and ribbons and barbie dolls?

Jason, of course, is already fretting over financing three weddings, but not to worry--we've arranged their marriages to the Bowman boys.

Claire is disappointed that she won't be getting a brother after all. She said she has enough sisters already.

And Arden is too busy wreaking havoc to care too much about the baby in my tummy.

Three girls. Sounds just about perfect to me.

Whatever Happened to Plain Ol' Barbie?

I just got back from Target, where the girls picked out a birthday present for one of their friends. I was pleased with how quickly Claire picked the toy, as she usually spends twenty minutes showing me everything she'd like to have before finally remembering that she's there to buy something for someone else. She showed me the Barbie and pet dogs that she picked and I agreed that it was a great choice.

Once we got in the car, Claire announced, "These dogs pee."

What?? I snatched the box away from her, and sure enough, it said right there on the packaging "Puppy is thirsty...Then makes a puddle!"

The dogs pee. I don't know what disturbs me more: that there are actually toys that pee, or that I just bought one.

What Really Goes On

I used to have a job. I mean, a job that paid. But after Claire was born, I quit my job to stay home with her. When Claire was a couple of months old, I remember one of my close friends asking if I was able to get a lot of projects done now that I wasn't working anymore. Unless taking a shower and brushing my teeth everyday counted as projects, the answer was no.

Now that I've got three and a half years of stay-at-home mom experience under my belt, things are much easier and basic hygiene is no longer a luxury. While I'm still not getting around to any big projects, we do manage to have a lot of fun. So I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what really goes on around here...

Here is what happens when Claire is allowed to dress herself. Please note that this picture was taken last week, and it definitely was not St. Patrick's Day. Also, those shorts are a size 24 months. Claire wears a size 3T. Don't ask about the goggles.

This is Arden caught in the act. One of her favorite activities is to unload my kitchen drawers. It is especially helpful when she takes all the pots and pans out and leaves them in the floor.

Claire loves craft time because it means she gets to use glue and scissors. This is actually not a fair representation of craft time because it appears that she has completed a craft, when usually, she just smears glue sticks all over the construction paper and then cuts slits in it.

I've mentioned Arden's love affair with toilet paper before. I was not exaggerating. Given the chance, she can unravel an entire roll in 30 seconds. That's got to be some kind of record.

This is by far Claire's favorite activity, and one I'm sure we'll be doing a lot this summer. Again, with the goggles.

Staying at home isn't exactly what I imagined it would be (before I started doing it). My house isn't as organized as I thought it would be. It's never quiet. I don't get the sit down and watch Oprah or the Price is Right. I haven't gotten around to cleaning out the attic. There is a never-ending pile of laundry to be done. The girls' baby books aren't up to date. The list could go on and on...

But who else, besides a stay-at-home mom, gets to dance with their kids in the middle of the afternoon? Or eat Popsicles on the patio before nap time? Or play Candyland at 8:00 in the morning (OK, that one is actually not a highlight and if you've ever attempted to play a board game with Claire, you know what I'm talking about). I may not get very many projects accomplished, but I wouldn't trade this for anything. Well, if you catch me on a bad day, I might say I would, but I wouldn't mean it.

Triathlon Wife

This weekend, Jason and I went to Memphis for a triathlon. We left the girls with their grandparents--Arden went to my mom's and Claire went to Jason's mom's (we have a divide and conquer approach to watching the girls).
We usually don't tell Claire she's spending the night somewhere until about thirty minutes before she goes, otherwise she'll be asking about it all day. When the time does come, she can't wait to go, and literally runs out the door yelling "Bye, Mom!" over her shoulder, as some kind of afterthought. Arden started waving bye-bye before we even got out of the car at my mom's.
It's great that both of my girls love their grandparents and don't mind being away from us, but seriously, a little emotion would be OK.
We had a great weekend, but apparently, not as great as Claire. She usually goes through some withdrawal when she gets back from a night away, and this time was no different. The meltdown that ensued Sunday night was probably one of her best performances. There was lots of crying, a few "I don't want to go homes," a couple of arched backs, and an "I'm not taking off my band-aids". On the upside, her "detox" only lasted that night, instead of the usual two to three days.
As for Jason and I, we had a great time getting away. We managed to go to dinner, hang out at Barnes and Noble and see a movie--all pre-baby date staples. The triathlon was fun and Jason did well and pretty much met his time goal. I camped out in a lawn chair, read a new book (19 Minutes by Jodi Piccoult--highly recommend this one), and did some people watching.

Based on the people watching, I have a few observations I want to share.
First, there were lots of women competing in this race. You would think anyone who can swim over a mile, ride 26 miles on a bike, then run 6.2 miles would be in top-body shape, right? Well, you would be wrong. I think this must be one of the cruelest ironies of life...
Second, when the National Anthem was sung, not everyone stood up and only a handful of people put their hand over their heart. Am I the only one who still does this? Regardless of what you think of the current administration, or the ones preceding it, we're all still Americans. It's our common denominator (in addition to pooping--thanks, Oprah, for that gem). If we can't take the time to pause and remember that, what does it say about us?
Third, Memphis is the home to Graceland, Elvis' home and final resting place. With all the Elvis impersonators out there, don't you think that Memphis would have some pretty good ones? Well, you would be wrong again. There were better Elvises (Elvi?) running in the Las Vegas marathon. Come on, Memphis, represent!