School is in session...

...and so are the germs. First victim? BabyGirl, who has a very nasty cold, undoubtedly picked up from a slightly more immune school aged kid.

Let the games begin. Who's next? I'm thinking Curly, who was a bit wacky yesterday and had a terrible time getting out of bed this morning.

The downside of late August through early June is the germs. They roam at school without hall passes and attach themselves to my kids. Blah.

Banana Fresh

StinkyMan and I were driving back from the dentist today when we passed a "Baja Fresh." Reading it quickly as we passed he said "Why is that place called Banana Fresh? I don't understand what's going on in there. Do they only sell bananas? That's weird. I don't understand that at all. How come they would only sell bananas?"

I just didn't have the heart to tell him it was "Baja Fresh" so I just said "I don't know, Bub."

He shook his head "That's just weird."

Well yes, I guess it would be.

Bargain HIGH

I went to Kohl's. This is what I bought:

A la En Vogue, "And now it's time for a break down" (breakdown at 3:05ish):

2 pairs of shorts for Husband

2 pairs of cropped leggings for Curly

5 pairs of kid sunglasses

3 pairs of kid flip flops

1 pair of capris for me

1 pkg of undies for Curly

1 pkg of undies for Peanut (not pictured. She wanted to open and wear them immediately)

1 pair of shoes for BabyGirl

1 shirt for Curly

3 pair undies for me (not pictured, because quite frankly, you don't need to see my underwear)

According to the good people at Kohl's I saved $319.40

I spent a grand total of $33.02. Actually, I had a gift to return (a duplicate of something we already had) and got a merchandise credit of $24.98, so what I really spent OOP (out of pocket) was a whopping $8.04.

I love Kohl's clearance racks, I love coupons and I love my husband, who let me go out ALONE to bargain shop my brains out.

The Christmas stockings are already starting to look full.

CSI Miami...

... and David Caruso have nothing on my Peanut.

She put my sunglasses on and admired herself in the mirror. Then she turned to me and said "Do you like them, Mommy?"

"Oh, Peanut, you're so cool!" I answered, smiling at the big glasses on the tiny face.

"I'm not cool." She said, seriously.

"You're not?"

"No!" And she smiled a smile bright enough to rival the sun. "I'm fabulous!"

School is uncool

Said indignantly:

I don't like Kindergarten because there isn't as much outside time as preschool. Outside time in kindergarten is 99 minutes long and the game I like to play is 100 minutes, and so I never get to finish my game.
~StinkyMan, age 5

Baby No More

Tonight I put my last baby to bed for her last night as a baby. When she wakes up in the morning, she will be a two year old.

I feel weird. Not sad, necessarily, because I'm one of those freaks who thinks the age of two is a whole lot of fun, but more...I don't know...wistful, maybe.

When Curly turned 2 I was 7 months pregnant with StinkyMan. When StinkyMan turned 2, Peanut was a 1 month old. When Peanut turned 2, BabyGirl was 6 months old. I have had a baby in the house for 7.5 years running, more or less.

But not anymore.

2 years ago I was in the hospital, being induced for high blood pressure. Husband just kept saying "Didn't we just do this? I can't believe we are doing this again!"

She was gorgeous and definitively my last. I knew, even as I pushed to bring her into this world, that I would never do that again. I remember thinking to myself that I needed to savor it, all of it, because I wouldn't be back to labor and delivery.

And then they took her from me and moved her to the NICU in another hospital 40 minutes away and I had to stay where I was. I will forever be grateful to the nurse who came on duty the night BabyGirl and I were separated. She walked into my room, flipped open my chart, read it, looked at me and said "Oh, Honey. You want a big ol' strong sleeping pill?" With thankful tears I nodded. I didn't see getting through the long night any other way. Even now I get watery eyed just thinking about her kindness on that miserable night.

I was discharged the next day and went to see my baby.

She was in good hands and in better condition than many of the other babies there. In fact, she looked like a beast compared to some. Even with all the wires and machines she was breath taking.

She came home with us about a week later. It seemed endlessly long that she was in that NICU.

Now it seems like I blinked once and 2 years went by.

And I have no more babies in the house.

Happy Birthday to my 2 year old; my beautiful, sunshiney, stubborn, sweet, happy, smart, funny BabyGirl. You may not be a baby, but you will always be MY baby. I love you.

Highs and Lows

We like to sit around the dinner table as a family and talk about our day. We ask for one high, one low and anything in between that anyone wants to talk about. Curly, in particular, loves this part of dinner and likes to go last, I'm guessing in an effort to have her high top all other daily highs.

"My turn!" She crows.

"OK, what was your high?"

"M has a crush on me."

"He does? How do you know?"

"Well, R told me. She said that he said that I'm hot."

"Oh really?" I'm a bit flustered. "You're hot?"

"Mmm hmmm." She smiles "And that was my high."

Here I was thinking she was 7. Apparently, she's 17.

Baby Blackmail

BabyGirl has a new trick. It's baby blackmail. If I don't get her out of bed fast enough when she wakes up, she takes her diaper off for amusement and then pees all over her bed.

I'm being bullied by an almost two year old.

Bully

I've noticed up around the big kids' school they have "Bully Free Zone" posters. Bullies are something I worry about. It seems you hear an awful lot about them these days.

Yesterday Curly told me that they talked about bullies in class, did some role playing and had some discussion about how to handle bullies. She seemed to know all about how to handle a bully, but I wondered if she knew what a bully actually was.

"What does a bully do? Can you give me an example of what a bully would say?"

She thought for a moment. "Well," she said slowly "I'm not exactly sure, because I am not a bully. I think it's mean words, though and mean actions. Like, they make people feel bad with stuff they say and stuff they do, like calling people 'stupid' or making fun of somebody."

"That's good, Baby" I said. "You don't have to put up with that. If anyone is trying to make you feel bad or is being mean to you, no matter what they say, that is NOT okay and you need to tell a teacher right away."

"I will." She said cheerfully "But mostly I will just be their friend. Maybe they are grumpy and like a bully because they really just need a friend and then I will be their friend and then they will stop."

I just smiled and gave her a hug.

If only the world were so simple.

And so it begins

I dropped Curly off for her first day of second grade yesterday. Despite her nerves, she kept her composure. Her teacher is very sweet and soft spoken and I think she is just the perfect teacher for my oldest child. At the end of the day, the teacher said she had had a great day and was a wonderful student. That's my girl!

StinkyMan was my wild card for the day. I just didn't know how he would do. Husband and I took him in. The first thing the teacher had them do was a scavenger hunt. They had to find their cubby, find the rug, find the bathrooms, etc. It was a great way to familiarize them with the room and he was totally into it. Then they read a story and encouraged the kids to say goodbye to their parents. He could barely be bothered to see us off. There wasn't a tear in sight. All right, maybe one, from me, but even I did pretty well. He seems eager to go back.

3 kids in school. Next year it will be 4. I managed to hold it together this year. When my baby goes, though, all bets are off. If you live in my town, you may want to take out some flood insurance now to prepare.

My Peanut is a Preschooler

At 6:20 this Tuesday morning a tiny little girl stood next to my bed and said brightly "Mommy, it's time for school!" I stumbled downstairs with her, fed her breakfast and tried to wake up.

At 6:40 she said "Don't forget my backpack, Mommy. Let's go!"

She was very upset to discover that Mommy thinks that 6:40 is a bit on the early side for school.

By 7:30 she was fully fed, fully dressed, piggy tailed, packed up and beyond impatient to leave.

By 7:50 she had received a goodbye hug from StinkyMan, though we were nowhere near ready to go.

At 8:05 Grammy arrived to stay with the other kids so that Mommy could give her full first day of school attention to Peanut.

On the 10 minute drive to school Peanut talked about how fun school was going to be. She talked about friends and playing outside and teachers. She said it was StinkyMan's school and I reminded her that now it was her school. That piece of information was processed with a BIG smile.

She entered the school with confidence, stopping to hug a familiar teacher and sauntered into her room. The only blip was when she whispered to me "Mommy, I want to play outside!"

"In a little while" I promised. "Can I have a kiss?"

And she kissed me and found a place to play. With a wave over her shoulder, I was dismissed.

I held myself together pretty well. It probably helps that I have one more baby at home. But what nearly reduced me to tears was not watching her leave me with ease, or leaving my tiny girl for 3 hours.

No, it was a note I found in her backpack from her big sister.

"Hi Peanut! Have a fun day at school! Love, Curly"

Just like the notes I slip into Curly's lunchbox, so had big sister done for little sister.

It's days like these and things like that that let me know that somehow I'm doing this Mommy thing right.

Technologically advanced

Today StinkyMan took our new dvd player upstairs and installed it himself. I think that officially means my son is more savvy than I am when it comes to technology.

Don't be wasteful

Peanut found me in the bathroom this morning, blowing my nose into toilet paper because we are out of tissue.

"Mommy, don't use all the toilet paper. I need that" she cautioned as she got on the toilet.

Eyeing the nearly full roll I said "I don't think I will use it all. There is a lot there."

In her most impatient voice she said "Mommy! My vajay-jay is going to need it tomorrow too! You need to save it. My vajay-jay is more important than your nose."

No kissing allowed

I am no longer allowed to kiss StinkyMan.

This started a few weeks back, but I am starting to realize the kid means business.

Last week he told me I could kiss him "in three days" and, true to his word and without my prompting he told me 3 days later "It's your night. You can kiss me tonight." So I did, and I thanked him.

But tonight I asked if I could kiss him goodnight and he said "No. You can kiss me on August 17th."

"August 17th? I can live with that. That's in 4 days."

"Four days?!" He reconsidered. "You can kiss me at Christmas time. But that's it."

"That's a really long time from now. I don't think I like that."

"Well, that's the rule."

I think it's a rule I will break, even if I steal my kisses while he sleeps.

A little story

Let me tell you a little tale. A tale of two couches, two cakes and a whole lot in between.

Back in Spring my friend Melisa saved me from my ugly couches. She had a lovely couch set she was looking to get rid of and I happened to really want some new furniture for my family room. So I offered her a trade. Her girls have summer birthdays so I offered two custom made cakes in exchange for her couches. A deal was struck and the couches were moved to my living room (and they look and feel fabulous. I'm sitting on one as I type this all out.)

So the first cake order was for a Toy Story cake. It came together easily and Melisa, and more importantly the birthday girl, absolutely loved it.

So, yeah, ignore the stuff on the counter. When cakes are being made, all else falls apart.

The second birthday girl requested a chocolate cake with pink frosting and Disney Princesses. Easy enough, right?

Wrong!

And here is where the story really begins.

I headed out the Friday before the party to scout out Princess stuff and try to figure out exactly how I was going to do this cake. Stop number one, The Dollar Tree, yielded no real results. Usually full of Disney Princess items, they had nothing I could use. Undaunted, I headed to Michael's, stop number 2. And at Michael's I also found nothing but a sense of panic and a kind clerk who suggested Party City.

Party City, stop number 3 had a few options but nothing I loved. My stress level was starting to hit the roof when another kind clerk saved the day with an idea: "I wonder if a store bakery would sell you their cake toppers?"

Ding, ding, ding! Knowing the regular grocery store bakeries would be closed I headed to Walmart, stop number 4.

It was 9:05pm. Apparently the bakery closes at 9:00 because the gal behind the counter would not acknowledge my existence. Then she finally relented and informed me that yes, they would sell me the cake toppers, but I would have to come back in the morning because they were closed. Nothing I said would convince her. It was a bakery item and the bakery was closed.

So I went back the next morning, stop number 5, where a very sweet little old man handed me a pack of Disney Princess cake toppers and told me I could pay for them in the front after I did the rest of my shopping.

"I don't have to buy them here?"

"No ma'am. They have a barcode, so they'll scan at any register."

I officially now hate the bakery clerk from the night before.

Angry yet happy, I headed home, cake toppers in hand, and began to design the cake by stacking the pans when I realize the toppers won't fit on the cake layers as they are. They are too wide.

Plan B. A bigger cake pan on the bottom would solve that problem.

I start to mix up the batter for the first layer when I realize I am out of the stuff to spray in the pans to help the cakes come out of the pans.

No worries. I called Husband, who was out, and he said he would pick some up for me. No stop for me, but all in all, stop number 6.

Perfect.

Except he was gone a REALLY long time and I was SUPER behind schedule by the time he got home. And when I poured the first pan full of batter I realized that I didn't have enough batter and I didn't have the ingredients to make more.

Husband went back out for stop number 7. I decided to make the little icing flowers I was planning to put all over the cake.

I threw them in the freezer so they would harden in a few hours and be easy to apply to the cake.

Husband arrived with ingredients and I continued making batter. The baking proceeded well for a bit and I started to think I was in the clear.

You should never, ever think you are in the clear. Ever.

Because I ran out of frosting.

And those flowers? Yeah, they didn't freeze. I was going to have to do them all again directly onto the cake.

At this point I was on the edge of losing it. I took a walk around the block and pondered what would happen if I showed up at the party with a sheet cake from Walmart.

When I came home, my wonderful husband had frosted a good portion of the cake for me (he's the best, though at the time I was too distraught to properly appreciate him) and he happily went out to grab us both dinner and some more frosting stuff (stop number 8) while I stuck the kids in bed and finished up frosting and began piping.

I finished after midnight. There were moments, lots of moments, where I wondered if it would come together like I wanted. I think that, for the most part, it did.

The birthday girl and her mama were happy. And I love my couches.

But I never, ever want see pink frosting, Disney Princess cake toppers or that mean Walmart bakery employee ever again.

Hide and Seek

Peanut: Mommy! Don't see me, OK?

Mommy: Are you hiding?

Peanut: Yes! I'm playing Hide and Go Seek with you. Don't look in the closet, though, because then you will see me and I will be sad because I losed.

Mommy: So I have to find you but I can't look in the closet where you are?

Peanut: No, because you will find me there.

Mommy: Fun game. I'm going to go look in the laundry room now. Are you there?

Peanut: No, you can look there. I'm in the closet, not the laundry room.

Somehow I don't think she quite has a handle on this game, do you?

Aw

Me: Are you guys getting excited about school starting?

Curly: Yes. I'm excited to see my friends.

StinkyMan: I wish there was no such thing as school.

Perplexed because he LOVED his preschool I asked: "Why?"

StinkyMan: Because then you would never hafta go anywhere without your mom.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

We're baaaack

And we had a great time. Curly LOVED the lake. She's such a little fish and was perfectly at home in the mountains. Peanut declared "There is sand at the beach and the beach and the mountains and the trees are all perfect!" StinkyMan had a good time, but I think he is my "city boy" because while he enjoyed his time there I don't think he adored it the way his sisters did. When we all fed a mama deer and her babies off the back porch, he quickly lost interest and went back inside.

As for me, I enjoyed myself. It was nice to just focus on 3/4 of my kids. No phone calls, no computer (although I did steal Husband's phone to check Facebook. I can't live totally without my internet life) and no interruptions. I missed my BabyGirl, though and she was very happy to see us all return, despite having a wonderful time with Grammy.

Tomorrow a return to real life, but for now, 3 of my kids are sound asleep, dreaming of their days at the lake, while my baby sleeps knowing her mama is home with her.