jack o lanterns

This year we decided to carve our pumpkins. We got one of those design books and let the girls each pick out their own. Lucy picked out a level 2 fire face and Audrey picked out a mummy that seemed like a level 99. Lucy digging in

not so enthusiastic about the pumpkin guts Seriously...who's kid is this???

Lucy posing with her pumpkin while Trav was sweating over the level 99 mummy even though Audrey had already lost interest and gone upstairs only to yell down every once in a while "are you finished yet?" he he he

Here are the girls showing off "their" finished products

public service announcement

I now know why people get their baby's ears pierced. It's not that I was ever against it. I just thought it would be fun to wait until the girls wanted it done. You know, like a special treat.Lucy picking her studs out...

...Audrey in awe of the thousands of earrings that could soon be her very own
Oh and we've been down this road before. Audrey has sat in the piercing chair on more than one occasion only to chicken out. "I think I'll wait 'til I'm 5" turned into "I really should wait until I'm 6". The thought was never far from her mind. One more part of her body that could sport a fashion accessory - seriously what could be better? The problem was that I wasn't willing to lie about the fact that it hurt. Because it does. And because it wasn't a necessity like a immunization I thought it was only fair for her to make the decision on her own. She'd talk about it sometimes like "maybe tomorrow" and I'd always tell her that I'd take her whenever she wanted and move on knowing that tomorrow would be a different story but never letting on that I doubted her plans. Then something happened. Lucy started talking about her earrings too. "Where's my earrings mama?" she'd say, or "look - Dora has earrings". You think peer pressure is hard well little sister pressure is like 10 times worse. At least.

One evening we were sitting in the rocking chair about a week after the dreaded flu shot. The "but the nurse said my kindergarten shots were the last shots I'd have to get" flu shot. Agggh. Audrey turns to me out of the blue and says "does getting my ears pierced feel like that flu shot?" and I said "yes it sure does Audrey, it hurts pretty bad but then it's all over" and to that she replied "oh, I can do that, let's go tomorrow". As usual, I agreed and went about like normal. Then the next morning she woke up and said "guess what today is?!?!?!!!" uh? oh, you mean we're really doing this? Well, ok, let's go then.

Then we walk in the door and she says "Lucy can go first".

Nice.

Trav pulls Audrey aside and tells her "If you make your little sister go first then I'm telling you right now that there will be NO chickening out"

"ok, whatever Dad"

Has no clue what is about to happen"wow, she's so calm" the lady kept saying.......and this would be me dropping the camera because they just pierced my baby's ear wrong when she jumped...
...and this would be Audrey FLIPPING OUT because she just witnessed her sister get pierced, picked apart, and re pierced again...
...and this would be me accepting my mother of the year award when I still made Audrey go through with her promise while she was screaming and I was holding her head so she didn't jump too...
...and this would be Audrey's face 3.25 seconds after it was over......and Lucy still not quite sure what the heck just happened in there.Seriously, like the longest 15 minutes of my life in there. All is well now. Audrey, that's just pretty much how she is. I'm pretty confident that she would have screamed just as loud if she would have waited until she was 12. Maybe louder. I think the right thing to do was to just get it over with. She is anxiously counting the days until she can get her hands some hot pink cheetah sequin feather earrings (or any other hideous combination that she can think of). And Lucy, well, let's just hope that she's young enough to not remember. Some special treat huh? :)

pre halloween art

"pumpkins, oval and round, Halloween is fun when you are around"

"monsters"

forever a girl scout

Tonight was Audrey's Investiture Ceremony for Girl Scouts. The leader had put together a beautiful script explaining to the girls what the promise means and the history of Girl Scouts. Audrey invited all 4 of her Grandparents for this special occasion along with her parents...

and Lucy.

Yes that would be lil' sis rolling on the floor during the ceremony.

The girls each lit a candle while they repeated a line from the Girl Scout law.
Getting their pin.

Honestly the majority of the time it seemed like the girls didn't really know what was happening. I didn't let it bother me I just kept reminding myself that they are in Kindergarten. Afterwards, I expressed to my mom that if might have gone a little smoother if we had practiced beforehand. And that's when she tells me "the girls might not have seemed like they were processing everything per say, but as they look back and remember later on in life they will be appreciative that they were made to feel special and so very important". And that's when it hit me, Audrey had not invited everyone to witness her sitting under the table and talking through the song and whining about not getting the right patches. Audrey had invited the most important people in her life so that they would be a part of her memory.

tap tap tap

This is Audrey's 1st year in tap. She has been so excited to get in those shoes ever since she started dancing.

Watching herself in the mirror...
I love this picture.

The day before at Lucy's watch week I got up and danced with her at the end of class. So when that time came in Audrey's class I looked over at Trav and said "today's your turn"...and he got up! What a great girl Daddy he is!!!

watch week *revised edition

Ok. This week is watch week at dance. Parents are invited to come into the studio for the last 15 min of class. (normally the door is closed and the girls focus better that way) so here I am taking advantage of my “flexible work environment” and planning to take a long/early lunch to see Lucy. You know, trying to be the involved parent in the middle of the day even though I’m a working parent…and everything parent related is at least 40 min away from me…

So I think it's supposed to go a little like this: Wake up a little early to be sure to have enough time to get myself and my camera ready. I float into work at 7am, avoid chatting to make sure that I get a solid start on my day before I slip out for a bit to watch my little ballerina. Take some pictures to capture the milestone, join Lucy and my mom for lunch at McD's, then get back to work telling myself that all of my SAHM dreams are unnecessary because I've got this juggling act perfectly under control.

But here's how it really went: (copied and pasted from an actual email to Nickie)

1st - wake up late, get to work at 8:30 – the entire way in I’m thinking I should have just stayed home until dance, why did I even bother to make the drive this late.
2nd – leave work at 9:50, need to get gas in order to drive more than 5 miles, get back on the road and grab my purse.
3rd – can’t find my little camera/video, remember that it’s in the pocket of the coat I wore yesterday and left in my mom’s van.
4th – call my mom to ask her to unlock the van so I can grab my camera on the way in…a) I can hear the class and she tells me that they get to watch the whole hour and b) she took the coat (and camera) out of her van and it’s sitting on her kitchen table so that Trav can take it home tonight
5th – now I’m speeding, missing the whole flipping thing, deciding if I should stop by mom’s house and miss even more to get my camera.
6th – I remember that Trav has the day off…I call him to ask him to run the big camera up to me at dance…he tells me he’s not home…at 10AM...already out and about.
7th – pull into dance at 10:40…have to walk across the entire studio to find a place to sit, Lucy see’s me and stops dancing. Just stood there the whole time with her fist in her mouth.
8th – I took a few pictures…….with my PHONE!!!
9th – was back in the car by 10:55…drove 40 min back to work.
10th – now I get to stay until at least 5 to make up for my sleeping mishap and my super mom attempt.

WORTH EVERY SECOND!!!

the princess and the queen

all fancied up

I came home Friday from work to the girls all ready to go out for a nice dinner...in their own creative way of course!It's the litle moments like these that I cherish the most. As important as the milestones and traditions are, sometimes the expectations for a picture perfect memory overpower my ability to step back and just live in the moment. I have really enjoyed unloading the pictures from my "purse camera" and the unexpected opportunities that I have had to capture snippets of our everyday chaos.

frozen pumpkins

Remember that one time when I was complaining that it just didn't feel like fall because we were wearing shorts to the pumpkin patch? Well, be careful what you wish for!!!

The weekend before was beautiful. 70s. Perfect. Good thing we waited for the Girl Scout outing :)
Lucy did get to ride her first ponyWe all rode the hayride down to the pumpkin patch...neither of those pumpkins actually came home with us.