We made it!

It's Friday night and the kids are in bed! Another week done! Whew!

Truth be told, we are all supposed to be over at the elementary school for kindergarten family fun night right now, but a couple of things happened between 5 pm and now. First, Rob wanted to stay home to watch various baseball and football games, so he was going to keep Bobby at home and I was going to take the girls. Then, at 6:20, as I'm about to put dinner on the table, Caitlin shows up from somewhere in the house with a purple face (family fun night began at 7). She found some purple lip gloss (why must they make children's play make-up such revolting colors?) and decided to work it into her eyebrows and her forehead--while making sure to blend it into her hairline. I tried scrubbing her forehead while she was in the shower, but she's still a little purple. I do wish I had taken a picture. It was a sight.

Too much TV?

More like "not enough recording space." TV has returned from summer vacation. I'm excited--it's like getting to visit with old friends again and make some new ones. I'm having trouble establishing a reliable schedule, though. This may finally be the year that I have dedicated night of watching recorded shows. Only I'm running out of space on the DVR. Let's do a quick review of the week so far:

Sunday: Nothing going on. Maybe a little 60 Minutes. Now that Tony and the gang are done, we'll probably watch Rescue Me on DVD until we're caught up. I gave up on the ladies of Wisteria Lane back in Season 2.

Monday: At 8:00, I'm all about How I Met Your Mother. I found this show last year, and I just think it's so funny. I'm also slightly aware of being about five years too old for this show, but it's hilarious nonetheless. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recorded Chuck. I still haven't watched it, although I saw the last ten minutes live that night. Then at 9:00, I watched Heroes, and I really enjoyed it. I think this will be a permanent addition for me, and I was tickled to see that one of the new characters had a small role on The Office last season as Jan's assistant, Hunter. At 10:00, Journeyman came on, and I went to bed. I have recorded it, but haven't found the time to watch. I'm interested in this one because it reminds me of the book The Time Traveler's Wife (which I loved), and because it has the actor from Rome.

Tuesdays: I got nothing! I suppose I should dedicate this night to Chuck and Journeyman, or I'm going to get hopelessly behind and give up on them. I do miss those Gilmore Girls...Doesn't House air on Tuesdays? I wanted to give that show a try as well. Time to clear out the DVR.

Wednesdays: A couple of weeks ago, I watched the pilot of Back to You. It was pretty funny, and I think it has potential. Of course, I promptly forgot about it and don't know if it has aired since. See, it takes a couple of weeks to get into a routine with watching shows. I also had forgotten until 9:50 that Private Practice was on. I caught the last ten minutes. I wasn't that thrilled. I didn't really care for the "pilot" last season--it just didn't flow well. I really liked Addison on Gray's Anatomy, I loved the way she could just stare holes in Karev. Do I care enough to start watching another "quirky" medical drama? Not sure--it feels like a David E. Kelley show (if that makes any sense). At 10:00, I caught the first few minutes of Dirty Sexy Money. Then I went to bed. It looked fairly interesting, and I read a good review of it over at TVSquad. But do I care enough to add yet another series recording to the old DVR? Not sure. That brings us to the Granddaddy of all TV nights, Thursdays!

Yay, it's Thursday! This is when my DVR skills are really going to be put to the test. The Office's first few episodes are going to be hour-long. And they're up against Gray's now. (I'm not all that pumped about Gray's--there weren't any huge cliff-hangers that I'm dying to see resolved. It just seemed like everyone was having a really bad time.) And now that I've decided to watch 30 Rock (it grew on me during re-runs this summer), I'm pretty much committed to NBC until 10. If ABC would replay Gray's on Friday nights, I'd be in good shape.

Fridays: This is usually when I re-watch The Office. It's just something I do. I don't even check the listings for anything to watch.

Saturdays: It's football season. I don't get the remote back until Monday!

So, there you have it--entirely too much information about my viewing habits. I'll be sure to post tomorrow with my thoughts on The Office (and probably Earl, too. I do just love that show.). Am I missing any shows? Is there something I should check out?

Run and run

I hate that it's Wednesday--I have all these great things to write about and ponder, but I have no time today. I have 45 minutes to feed three people, get one dressed for dance lessons, load up the car with dance shoes, clothes to go to Goodwill, and children, and leave the house (with two kids in tow). Then, it's back and forth until 5:30, then time for dinner (no idea what I'm serving) and bedtime madness.

Ah, maybe on Thursday afternoon...oooh, and The Office premieres tomorrow night! Excitement!

And the antics continue

Caroline came home from school--with no more complaints about her tummy--with some hair missing. Apparently they did some activity with scissors today, and she decided to give herself a trim. Like I wouldn't notice! We're having a bad day...I just fired off a long email to the teacher. Breathe.

Shenanigans

We'll get to the shenanigans in a minute, first there's some kiddie cuteness to report (sigh). We were walking to school this morning. We'd already said goodbye to Caroline at her door, and Bobby, Caitlin and I were walking around to her door. Caitlin saw a classmate and ran ahead. Bobby and I followed behind. As she approached the door, Bobby called out, "Have a good day, Caitie." So cute! Then I called out, "Bye, Caitlin!" She didn't even look back as she went through the door with her classmate. Then Bobby turned to me and said, "She blew ya off, Mommy."

Cut to an hour and half later. Bobby and I are getting in the car to drive home from the gym when I see a voice mail on my cell phone. It's the nurse's office at school. Caroline has come in complaining that she doesn't feel good. I call the nurse--apparently Caroline told them that she threw up at home (not true), and that she told me about the throwing up (also not true). She has no fever, but can cough and make it sound like she's gagging at the end of the cough (And the Oscar goes to...). Would I like to speak to her? Oh, hell yes!

Now, at times like this, I feel torn. I mean, my kid doesn't feel good, but she's also told some whoppers to an adult. Do I give sympathy or cold bust her on the lies? I went for the cold bust, as usual. I love that she reported vomiting as a symptom, because after repeated visits to the nurse's office last year, I told her that she could only go if she was bleeding or throwing up. At least she remembered what would get her in the door. I told her that she didn't feel good because she had stayed up too late last night, and that she had to go back to class. I also told the nurse that I'm a tough love mom with a child who loves to go to the nurse for a hangnail. She laughed and sent her back to class. I wonder if she'll go for the fever next--I swear last year she made her body temp go up to 100.0 just so she could come home.

Sunday morning

I'm waiting for Rob to wake up so I can start breakfast, only I'm starving and the kids are hungry too. But I only want to cook once this morning...maybe it's time to roust him!

Of course, the kids are quiet right now and this is my only time to go online and post. The weekdays are so crazy with the constant dropping off and picking up. It's nice to be able to just sit. I do need to go to the store today to replenish the snacks--these kids would live on snacks. I know the Eagles play today at one, so hopefully if I go then, the line at the deli won't be too bad. Last week I went to take a number at the deli--I pulled number 30, they were now serving number 2. No cold cuts last week.

This week, television starts back up again! I'm very excited. I just have to work out what I'm going to record and what I'm going to watch live. I never watched Heroes last year, but I'm interested in Journeyman and Chuck, so I may start just because it's in between those two shows. Only Chuck is up against How I Met Your Mother--maybe tape Chuck and start watching it at 8:30. I don't think there's anything I'm excited about for Tuesdays--maybe I'll tape Journeyman and watch it on Tuesdays since it starts at my bedtime. I'm really the most excited about Thursdays. I just love The Office. And Jim asked Pam out on a date during the finale! This is very exciting for all the JAM fans out there. Grey's Anatomy is going to have to be taped and watched at a later date...too bad for them. I wish they'd stayed on Sundays.

So, that's enough rambling for one morning. Clearly I'm still uncaffeinated! Time to get the coffee maker going.

September Stress

Now some you of, dear readers, may scratch your heads as you read this post. It reveals a side of me that doesn't get out much--not many people I interact with on a daily basis want to discuss this topic (mostly because I interact with moms in "mom mode" and children), but I am a baseball fan.

And it's September. And for the last few years, I've been without a team. Not completely without, more like in limbo. I was a die-hard Braves fan, but since we moved from Atlanta eight years ago, it's been hard to remain die-hard (especially now that TBS doesn't show any games and we don't get SportSouth--are they even on that channel anymore?). Plus, I was ready to give up on them once Glavine left. So for our six years in New Jersey, I kinda rooted for the Mets, because that was Rob's team when he was growing up, and because I think that the Yankees are just plain evil.

Now we're in the Philly suburbs, but I just can't get excited about the Phillies, even though they are doing well. Maybe it goes back to when they beat out the Braves in the NLCS that year (was it 1993?) with that long-haired freak of a pitcher (what was his name again? Mitch something?). The Phillies just don't do it for me.

As a fan of the game in general, I've always had a soft spot for the Boston Red Sox (how could you not?), and of course we rooted for them in 2004. That was a lot of late nights--those games against the Yankees were so long! I was thrilled for them when they won the Series. Since then, I've kinda followed them here and there. And then last year, we went to Boston for the weekend before going on to Martha's Vineyard, and we took the whole family on the tour of Fenway Park. (We couldn't get tickets to a game--Rob and I even tried sneaking in during the late innings one night, but no dice.) The Fenway tour was the high point of our Boston trip for me.

So last night, we're watching the scores on the crawler, and I see that the Red Sox have lost. And the Yankees are winning. My stomach just tied itself into knots, and I said to Rob, "I don't think I'm emotionally equipped to be a Red Sox fan!" They're killing me (as they've killed generations of Sox fans before me, I know)! The Yankees are only a game and a half out! The Sox have lost their last four games! There are nine games left! We were down to magic number time, people--what are you doing! Aaaaaggghhh!

Did I mention that I love September? Go Sox!

Just checking in

It's Monday, and that means back to the rugrat race! We've already walked to school twice, been to the gym and showered. In about ten minutes, I have to get the little ones out the door to drop off Bobby at school. Then Caitlin and I get to play for about two hours before starting the pick-up process.

Over the weekend (I'll explain one week why I laugh as I type those words), we planted 80 daffodil bulbs, put together our new end table and sofa table, moved our entertainment center/wall unit about 2 feet, and learned that our garage door opener is pretty much broken!

I had more to write, but time constraints prevent more rumination. I even had a new recipe to write about--I love it so much that I'll tell you go to CookingLight.com and search for Chicken Taquitos. You won't be disappointed.

Here's one I forgot

Speaking of Caitlin, here's a funny episode from yesterday: She has started reading, so she's constantly spelling out words and trying to pronounce words, etc. She also looks for rhyming words. Yesterday, she started with "truck" and "duck." "Mommy, do those words rhyme?" "Yes, they do." And in my head, I'm thinking, "oh, please don't continue down this road--I know what's coming." Of course, she then reels off a list of four words that end in -uck, and you know what that first one was!

The really sad and/or funny part about this story is that I have had to discuss with her before that the -uck word beginning with f- is not a word that little children (or their extremely frustrated mothers) should use. And she nodded her head knowingly and that was the end of that. Sigh.

A Day Off

already! I'm not going to complain, though, for a couple of reasons. First, Caroline needed to sleep in, and second, after today, they go straight through until Thanksgiving.

Yesterday the girls had their first dance lessons of the year. They both loved it. On Tuesday, we had our first note home from the teacher for Caitlin. She was refusing to color something. Could you imagine? I would have loved to have been able to watch that. Like was she starting to grit her teeth and get angry? Or was she just calmly refusing, like, "no thanks, don't feel like it." The teacher said Caitlin was much improved yesterday. Thank goodness. I was kicking into worry overdrive, thinking "she's not cut out for traditional school and maybe I should be looking into Montessori for her..."

This whole incident has me thinking about the differences in my children, and I feel strongly that it's birth-order related. I feel like Caitlin is so much more of a free spirit than I ever was or Caroline is, for that matter, that just sitting down and following the teacher's directions doesn't come as easily to her as it does to me or her sister. Caroline and I are first-born, eager-to-please-by-following-the-rules people, so we do what we're told (and hope to get praised for doing so), whereas Caitlin sees the teacher's instructions as merely suggestions--just one item on the menu, and there are other more appetizing things out there. It makes for interesting parenting challenges. I know what will motivate Caroline; I have no idea what will motivate Caitlin. Maybe I need to talk to my brother and other second- or later- born children to see what drives them.

And of course, there's Bobby. I haven't really mentioned him in this post, but he hasn't really giving me any trouble! His first day of school was Monday--they love to coddle the kids at this preschool. He went for one hour with me on Monday, yesterday he was supposed to go for an hour by himself (but it conflicted with Caitlin's dance, so he missed it), and Friday is his first "real" day of school. He'll be fine. He is like a small animal--the boy needs to run and play for hours every day!

So today, we'll be starting at the gym, continuing on to the library, where I hope I don't offend too many people (since we'll be there after I'm good and sweaty), and then at some point we'll need to go to the grocery store. Terribly exciting stuff.

Whew!

I feel like I need a weekend to recover from the weekend! We had our party on Saturday, and it went very well. I finally pulled it together menu-wise. We served kabobs--steak with peppers, onions and pineapple, and chicken with a soy-mirin marinade. Yesterday we did nothing.

Bobby started school today, and I can see that this year is going to be a long one--drop kids off, run to the gym, pick up Caitlin, eat lunch, drop off Bobby, run more errands, pick up Bobby, pick up Caroline, snack, homework, dinner, bath, bed. Catch breath and repeat! I think we'll be fine once we get into the routine. It hasn't even been a week yet.

It's the First Day of School!

It's official. I have a second-grader and a kindergartner! The girls were so excited. Caitlin wanted to sleep in her dress last night, and I thought they were never going to fall asleep. It felt like Christmas Eve around our house!

After a yummy pancake breakfast and a last-minute check of the lunchboxes and backpacks, we walked to school. Caroline was the first in her class to arrive, and I got to meet her teacher. She's a Red Sox fan, so I think it's going to be a good year. Caitlin had been really talkative up until I dropped her off at her room. All the kindergarten classes were lining up in the hallway. I guess they were going to all walk into their rooms together. Anyway, she was really quiet when I said goodbye, but she didn't seem upset or scared. I'm sure she'll have lots to report on when she comes home.