Happy 5th Birthday GGirl

 
Dear GGirl,
Today was your birthday.  You were very adamant last night that you wanted to help decorate and make your cake, so you helped make the cake with me.  I'm glad you weren't too upset that Mommy and Daddy wanted to surprise you with the decorations or with the cake decorations.

You have watched your friends at school celebrate their birthdays and I know you were very excited to be the Birthday Girl today.  The hat that you received at school this morning has not left your head.  (Except for the brief moment when MMan swiped it and things got a little sketchy for a few minutes!)  MMan, Daddy and I all went to school to share a special snack with your class this afternoon - grapes, pears, strawberries, dip and donuts were you're snack of choice.

After homework, it was fun gifts from family and friends near and far, and your birthday dinner.  A few days ago, you found a recipe in my cookbook for MahiMahi with Mango sauce.  MahiMahi ended up on my shopping list.  For the first time in, well ever, I cooked fish.  You didn't like the sauce.  Daddy won big, being the only one in the house remotely interested in the Mahimahi.  The rest of us feasted on mac and cheese, hot dogs and green beans.  And a pink and purple cake with ice-cream too of course!  We shared that moment with Granny and Granddad on skype, and missed getting pictures - but that's ok.  It's more important to share the moments!

The biggest birthday surprise came part-way through dinner when you announced to us that you had a wiggly tooth!  Nobody was more shocked than me!  My baby's losing her teeth already!

GGirl, you are kind and gracious to your friends.  You are, mostly, loving to your brother.  You love to learn and your independence is fierce.  I love to listen to you sing songs you make up and watch you dance to the music of your mind.  Your creativity and imagination know no bounds.  I love you and can't wait to see what comes in this next year of our life.  I love you GGirl!

Bedtime Reading?

GGirl's birthday is coming up and like many families we let her choose for meal for her birthday.  When I discussed her birthday with her, the menu ideas were macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, pears and cataup that wasn't spicy.  Imagine my surprise when this was on the grocery list when I got home on Saturday night.

So I asked her if she knew what mahi-mahi was.  "No" she replied.  No surprise there.

A few minutes later she came running in and says "it's fish with a yummy sauce!"

I think HandyMan and GGirl must have been using the cookbooks for bedtime reading again. 

Deep Freeze Day

I have friends across the spectrum of mom-hood, children of all ages and I can usually identify with most of them some of the time.  I see traits I admire and could strive for.  I know that we are all in a different place, no two children are the same, no two households are the same, no judging each other, just laughing (and sometimes crying) together.

Today local schools were cancelled due to extreme wind chills.  Last night as school districts began making cancelation announcements my Facebook mom-friends started weighing in.  One friend looked forward to the day with her kids.  Yesterday was the first day back to school from a 2 week break.  There is truth for me in there adage "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and I hadn't quite had enough "absence" to be looking forward to a school cancelation.  There are days I look forward to spending with the children.   Today, that was not my plan.  My plan for today included alone time and a nap.  That didn't happen.  I'm sipping Liquid Nap as I write to keep the Tired Mommy Monster at bay.

This morning another friend commented about how her kids were climbing the walls, another how the kids were un-doing all of her organizing and cleaning from the day before.  These were hitting a lot closer to home as GGirl is running laps through the house and the toys that were put away yesterday, have again exploded across the living room. 

I'm reminding myself (constantly), that the Mom-Job comes first and all the other jobs, somewhere lower on the list.  Everything will get done, eventually.   Someday they will love to sleep until noon, and then I can sleep again too.  Until then, time to brew some more Liquid Sleep, take a deep breath and go switch laundry play "race" across the kitchen with a fairy princess and snuggle with a super cuddly MMan.

Monday with MMan

Happy New Year!  It was back to work for me last Wednesday and I'm finally catching a breather today.  GGirl happily returned to school this morning and MMan is quite the chatterbox now that he has me to himself!  So many noises, so few words.  I'm sure it will come.

With the New Year comes new routines, new boundaries, new experiences, and new opportunities.   I'm excited about about what this year will bring.  And I'm enjoying today!