The Big Room & First Race!

Andrew has enjoyed (sometimes!) preschool sports at ACAC on Thursday evenings. This fall consisted of a 4-week session of soccer, then lacrosse, then basketball.  This spring, he is doing just T-ball. Sadly, there is little documentation of his first organized sport appearances as my role is to play defense for Margaret and ensure she doesn't take a flying ball to the head!

After practice, the kids are granted access to ACAC deemed, "Big Room!", filled with moonbounces, huge slides, climbing walls, gymnastic mats, air hockey tables, you name it!  They are in Heaven.  Margaret now thinks she owns the place, so bounces between the pint-sized slide and bouncing on the gynmnastic mats.

As any good gym would do, the Easter Egg Hunt at ACAC was more than just a mad-dash for eggs that, of course, were not filled with candy.  Each child had to work out, first!   Racers ready???

Babes through 2 had a simple 0.1 race course. Margaret, escorted by Daddy and big brother, crossed the finish line in remarkable time and my baby was awarded her first gold medal.

Note that there not any post-race gold medal pictures of Andrew because he decided with the blow of the horn that his 4-5 year old race was the scariest thing in the world and panicked.  One would think that the egg hunt that followed would be more enticing, but no.  Another meltdown.  Oh, my word how one does bang one's head up against the wall during child-rearing! 

Margaret's Sunglasses

Margaret is simply beside herself to have her own sunglasses now. She was proud to model them in the shots below...walking out the door for the day, posing on the basketball court with Andrew, or helping me mulch while pushing around her new rider (i.e. bubble bottle storage).

 

 The pigtails and VT sleepwear are thrown in for good measure:)

March Round-Up

• In the last 6 months or so, we have been trimmed.  Sadly, I don't mean that we have successfully eliminated any body fat, only our identities.  "Mommy and Daddy" are more often simply "Mom and Dad"...except when a tantrum ensues.  Evidently, ear-piercing decibals  of "DAAAADDDDYYY" feels more effective than a mere 3-lettered "Dad".  But just as soon as I commented to Michael that "Mom and Dad" seemed to be the new norm, "Michael and Elizabeth" crept in.  I'm folding laundry and Andrew bolts into the room inquiring, "Where's Michael?" as matter of factly as he has said anything in his entire life. 

• To neighbors Lily and Gracie (in their driveway) from Andrew's window, my recent 4-yr-old announces: "Elizabeth wishes she could be here (at the window to talk to you), but she’s changing Margaret’s diaper right now.”  Classic.

• Walking out the door to school one day, seemingly out of the blue, "Are there toys in Heaven?"  Heaven has been a topic too many times in the last few months.  With Daisy passing December 23 and his buddy Luke's Mom passing January 11 as well as another neighbor January 28, there's been more talk of Heaven than I would have wished to do at this tender age.  "In a way, Andrew. I think Heaven is sort of like one big playground on THE most beautiful day.  I think you are as happy there as you could possibly be with all of the toys in the whole world."

• "Do you get tired in Heaven?"  Fairly intuitive for his age, I would think.  I wonder if he's referring to being tired from playing so hard, or if he's really wondering if there's just never bedtime in Heaven:)  "Why do I only have one grandfather?"    "Daddy's Dad, David, is petting Daisy in Heaven.  I wish he could be here to play with you, but isn't he lucky to be in Heaven with Daisy?" 

• Much happier comments make my heart smile:  "Margaret you’re the best Margaret I’ve ever seen!"

• "Look, Mom!  She looks like a pink Santa Clause!"...to Margaret, after strawberry yogurt ALL over her head:)  A brilliant comment in March.  Clearly Santa sunk in this year.

Andrew FINALLY tried shrimp the other night off of our plates.  His reaction, "Mmmm!  I LOVE shrimp!"  Mommy had to sip some wine to tame the tongue from blurting, "I told you so!  I knew you would!  Why have you waited all this time to try it?"  This is after several of months of him saying he wanted to try shrimp the next time we had it.  Naturally, every time we had shrimp, he would casually say, "No, thank you (quite politely). I think I'll try it the next time.". 

So I served it up last night again in hopes of getting us on a roll.  A hungry silence occupied him for several minutes.  Then Andrew looked up and declared, “Miss Elizabeth, your shrimp is delicious”…. Seriously?!?

Then the explanation follwed…

“Mommy, I’m going to copy what Lily said when she tasted your quiche. Ok? ‘Miss Elizabeth, your shrimp is delicious.”    And indeed, that's precisely what Lily (6) had commented several months ago when having quiche at our house (Andrew's quiche, which he had specifically asked for and then denied on the spot.).  Mommy LOVES it when Lily comes to dinner:)

• Petting sheep at Maymont's farm in Richmond during a quick visit to Dody & Grandaddy's.

                                              

Dody also drove us past THE Eagle's Nest, surely the most famous bird's nest in VA.  Can you see it in the distance, way up high in the tree?  We have been watching this nest all spring, via VCU's brilliant webcam.  We watched as the eggs were laid, hatched, and as the babies are now fed fish daily from the river that flows behind this property.  It's simply been fascinating. 

 

And finally, “Daisy the pig” visited Explorations Play Studio in town.  She was supposed to inspire the kids to read.  I guess the Farmer’s cute stories were entertaining for a while, but I didn’t quite get the whole thing. Perhaps it would have made more sense if we’d stayed the whole time, but Margaret was having none of that.  Oh well.  Check the box for doing something “stay-at-home-momish” today. 

Hair Donation #2

February 28, 2009, I donated 8" of hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths Program. They make real hair wigs and give them---free of charge---to children with cancer.  My understanding is that it costs around $4,000 to manufacture each wig and that it requires 6 donations to make just one.  After Andrew was born, I was busy (or so I thought!) and managed to find myself months overdue on a hair cut.  Since it was already much longer than I preferred, I thought I may as well go for it! 

Done!

There you go!

Not the most flattering picture here, but this shot in Vegas about 3-4 weeks later is the only one I can put my fingers on at the moment.  Not sure what happened to any pics the night of the big chop!  Maybe it was THAT bad and I deleted them! 

Too bad you can't do something about a gummy smile like you can hair that's too long!  Vegas didn't care:)

I can't recall exactly when, but sometime after Margaret was born, I decided to go for it again.  After all, my hair becomes a disaster after child birth, so why not make it even crazier?!? It falls out for years, but then grows back erratically---in different directions, different textures, corkscrew wavy, and grey. It's nothing pleasant - only unpredictable.  Plus, donating is something I can do to contribute and give back when life is otherwise too hectic for much else.  It doesn't require childcare or a check...just lots of patience. 

March 16, 2012, I decided to go for 10". Whoa! It was LOOONG!

Happy to get Andrew's stamp of approval over dinner when I got home:) 

The best mail I've received all year - about 6 weeks after, I received confirmation that my 10" locks were successfully received and accepted for use in a real-hair wig for a cancer patient. I love how they phrase it....“Thank you for giving so selflessly to women who are faced with hair loss from cancer treatment. Your healthy ponytail will help give self confidence back to a special woman who is battling cancer so that she can fight the disease with a little more dignity….your donation will be joined with five others and transformed into a high quality, real-hair wig…”

Margaret's PRECIOUS St. Patty's Day dress from Steve and Clare is thrown in because it was just TOO cute!

 

 

4th Birthday Eve...Guitar Night!

Andrew's big birthday present was "My First Trampoline". Only because his good buddy, Cohen, has had it so long did I feel comfortable with the investment. The irony is, our previous home owners had a trampoline they were willing to leave us.  But that one was the killer kind you think of that we all grew up with...12' wide, dozens of exposed & rusty coils, 4' off the ground without netting---you remember!  This one is great - perfect for a couple of small kiddos.  It felt like Christmas Eve putting it all together, but we managed late night Friday so that we could test it before Sunday's party. 

The big trampoline reveal!

The first jump

On the eve of his birthday, Andrew FINALLY showed interest in his Christmas present...his first guitar!  He started practicing during naptime and decided to grant us a concert....

"Cover your ears a little bit because here comes the biggest music of all!"

Daddy's Show

Look at those dance moves!

Our budding rock star

Don't laugh at Mommy