Olivia's Dance Recital

Well I say this every year-By the end of the school year I am pretty fed up with all the running around and have-to be here and there's. In the end I get to doll her all up and prepare for the dance recital. This makes it all worth it. The costume was cute and not too difficult.
This year she chose Hip-hop instead of traditional dance and it was definitely more what she is into. They danced to Carwash by Christina Aguilera. It was a great dance with a lot of sass. Fit her perfectly.
I was happy that she had a big family turn out to watch her and cheer for her. I hope she was proud of herself because we definitely were.

Post School - Week 1

They may be out of school but I just don't feel like Summer vacation starts until July 3rd when my schedule changes. I did take the last day of school off and this above it how we spent it. I picked up Olivia with her bathing suit and our beach gear loaded in the car and we went straight to Woodneck Beach. The snails almost came home with us. Olivia also got the guts to climb the rocks and jump into the water like the big kids do. It was a great last day of school.
Olivia had 3 days of Sports Camp which was a cool way to spend the morning playing Capture the Flag and Soccer. If it rained they were going to bowl in the hallway at school. Doesn't that sound cool? It is like breaking the law playing in the school after they are closed. It was allowed so no arrests were made.
We started off this week on a bad foot due to a few things we had to get wrapped up. Bedtime has been 9ish and that can't continue.

Olivia has her dance recital Sunday so one night needed to be a shopping trip to tie up all the loose ends we needed for her costumes.While we were out Ava got this awesome new helmet. We require a helmet if you are bike riding and she just didn't have one that fit right.  This of course is the one she picked. I don't think it shows in the picture but besides the teeth it has a fin on the top. She is a weirdo!
Olivia got to tackle one of her birthday gifts which was a make your own clock. My Mom gave me a hand painted clock years ago and the girls love it, unfortunately it is the only non-digital clock in the house. You just don't see a regular clock anymore so I thought she could make her own. After painting it now we just need to put the clock works on and hang it in their room.

Ava wanted to be  involved so I got her all set up with paint and paper. After some cool art she eventually moved on to painting her body. You may not be able to see it above but those toes are blue.Why does that always happen with her?
So far so good although it doesn't feel like Summer yet. I needed pants and a sweatshirt to leave the house this morning.
I am not sure why but I seem to feel like I will have a ton more free time with the new schedule. It does involve 2 evenings and 2 midweek days off so I plan on DOING STUFF! It just seems like the day shift does not give me any free time. I need to get my bike rack on my car so we can jet off on our bikes without much work.
I am so ready to have some fun! Come back for the dance recital post. I took a few pics at practice today as the lights were up and photos were allowed. I am so proud of her. I am especially happy the lights will be low tomorrow so no one can see the tears in my eyes. I am such a sap.
Night folks.

Ava's Preschool Graduation

Why didn't I ever notice that my kid is a dwarf? She is the 2nd from the right in the top row. If you squint you can see her between the other kids heads. She was also so short we couldn't see all the sign language and hand movement that went with the songs.
But it didn't matter. She was awesome and so grown up. She knew her songs, she looked beautiful and happy. I am so proud of her!

Last night her glasses were ready so we went down to pick them up. She refused to wear them at first but after she found just the right pair she was so excited she didn't want to wait the week for them to be made. I'm glad she got them because they seemed to hold her hat from falling in her eyes.

Here she is with her teacher Mrs.Wessling.

I love this kid to death. She was so proud of herself and she should be. She learned to write her name and all her letters. She loves books, drawing and playing outside. She went to preschool everyday and then rode the bus to daycare all by herself. That's a lot of travel for a little girl and she did excellent only missing a couple of days this year. She deserves all the Summer plans we have to see Butterflies, Dinosaurs and movies under the stars.

FML!

If you are looking for a sure way to take a day from Wheeee to Wah-wah-wah, just pay some bills and plan out your finances for the next month. That is what I just did and I am short about  $211 to make everything fly by 6/24.
Don't you just love that? Maybe we can eat PB&J and cash in our cans? Yeah that's the ticket.
FML as I put my name on ANOTHER double shift.

Birthday Cash-in

Only she can make Walmart this beautiful.
Yesterday we headed to Walmart with her birthday gift cards in hand. She was super excited. She was able to get a new red hot bike, helmet and game for her DS. She even managed to leave with a few gift cards left.
It must have been a success as I could only get her in the house because the pizza delivery guy arrived and when I left for work this morning she had her pj's on with sneaker because she was going back out on her bike as soon as she had her breakfast.
I guess I better get my bike rack back on the car because she wants to hit the bike path. I have my fingers crossed it doesn't rain all weekend.

Balls in the Air

I am always talking about not having a handle on things.
Feeling overwhelmed.
Too many things on my plate.
I am not sure I want to say this out loud.
I feel like I have all these balls in the air and things are going pretty good. I found an eye doctor Ava and I love and have the glasses on order. I found a tutor to work with Olivia for the Summer and she is a special ed teacher so she will be perfect to deal with the things Liv needs. I have an evaluation with our favorite pediatrician in 2 weeks to try to get to the root of the attention problems she is having. I also found a psychologist for her who I like. He and I met last week and she will met him this week. He says he hopes to make progress in the next few months instead of us battling for the next few years. Now that gives me hope. My one big objective is to build her confidence and he says he will set up a plan where she will keep track of her goals and that will build her confidence and belief that she can do it.
I will be changing schedules in a few weeks and I will be working a few nights and a few days. This will be a little crazy at first but I am hoping it will afford me the time to work on these things and spend some fun time with them. I have just about reached my limit with the hustle and bustle of school, dance, homework, spelling, work......blah.
Can't I just sit on the beach with a pb&j and an ice coffee?
For the last week and next week I had to take 1 hr of vacation time as I have sort of lost my morning help to a cushy new day job. Trust me I am happy about it. It gives us Auntie back to a normal schedule and home for dinner with us. No more yelling Shhhhh all day while she tries to sleep for the midnight shift. Another perk I didn't expect was I sleep another 30 minutes but it feels like I have a ton more time. There is no yelling hurry up all morning while I try to get them all ready by 7:30 so I can leave for work. I get to put them both on the bus with a hug and kiss then I dash off to work. Isn't that how it is supposed to be?
I am not sure how I am going to be doing it next October when I may be going back to days full time again. I am not going to worry about that now. Let's just go with the flow and get our beach chairs ready.

Brown Eyed Girl

Tuesday was the day that Ava and I met her new eye doctor, Doctor Carolyn Wu. I cannot say enough about how happy I am that we changed Doctors. She is with Children's Hospital in Boston but has hours in Sandwich 1 day a week. This means we can get Boston care close to home.
Ava was a little nervous but extremely tough about it as usual. We did have to hogtie her a little to get the eye drops in but this photo was taken in the waiting room while we let them do their work. She bounces back fast.

An assistant did a few tests before the drops and asked her some questions for basic info. After the drops another woman, who I thought was another assistant, comes and gets us and puts her on a machine to do some eye stuff ( I have no idea) and then we are in the room about 5 minutes before I realize. THIS IS THE DOCTOR! She was so real and friendly and not-doctor like.
More good news: She decided to put off the patch for now and just try out glasses for the new 2 months. We have been talking about patches and letting her try on glasses a few times to ease her into the idea as she has said numerous times that she isn't doing it.
These are the "tiger" glasses that she chose. She is doing so well that she was actually mad that we couldn't leave with the glasses right away. I needed to explain that we needed them to put special glass in just for her to make her eye muscles super strong.
My fingers are crossed that she stays this interested in wearing them.

Look who's 8!!!

8 years ago I was blessed with the greatest thing to ever happen to me. As the kids would say-That was the day Olivia Rose came out of my tummy! She was in a rush, too. She came in time for me to have a room full of guests by lunchtime. She was a sweet baby and we were very lucky.
She is a very different girl now, still sweet but now a Superstar. She loves to sing and dance and not just dance but Hip-hop dance. She once told me she wanted to be a school bus driver during the day and a singer at night. Not a bad dream I guess.

8

The weather was perfect for cake, ice cream and presents out on the deck as the sun was going down for the day. See the smirk? Yeah, that's cash. Thanks Gramma. She also got gift cards for toys, jewelry and a new bike. See when you reach 8 years old you don't want people to buy you stuff, you want to pick out your stuff. I prefer presents and wrapping paper and bows but if you don't get the right stuff Oh, My!

I wanted to share this card from Nana to Olivia. I think it shares what we both want for her. I have been working behind the scenes to help her get back on track after a few set backs this past year. More on that another time.  I think she can do anything she wants in life-I just need her to know it.

I forgot to mention that the girl shown above in the center of the trampoline madness as well as above in a pink chiffone party dress with lipstick was too sick to go to school. Whenever she was called out on it she would hack and cough into her shoulder.

It's all good. We will continue one of my favorite traditions with a slight name change-Fooseberry Holiday. Foose Holidays were days when my Mom let us stay home just to spend some extra time with her.

Friendship Garden Potluck and Graduation

It appears I have been too busy and now I have so much to tell you!
If I have never said this before, Ava goes to daycare/preschool after regular preschool everyday at Friendship Garden Nursery School. If you are ever in need for childcare or preschool for kids over 2.9 yrs I would highly recommend this school. Ava goes to morning preschool at Teaticket were she will be attending Kindergarten so she misses out on the actual school program there but I still love it.
The yard is huge, natural and full of toys. They have bunnies and chickens that the kids see and learn about. They recently hatched butterflies and got 4 baby chicks which the kids saw grow under lamps and now live with the rest of the chickens in a shed/coop. It is a terrific school.

 Last Thursday they held a pot luck dinner and sort of graduation where all the kids got diplomas and I got to meet all her friends. She is a busy lady.

Wait, Are those horns? Apparently she shows them her real persona! 

What to do?

OK.
Kids are in the company of Dad until Sunday and he promises they won't be home too early so I can sleep in Sunday.
If I do the math I think that means 44 hours minus a quick 8 hour shift of work.
So why do I feel like I am dodging some responsibility and I should be doing something? I only really don't have them if I am at work or have an appointment they can't some to. Which means they are always with me so being without them for no reason seems like I am doing something wrong.
Why is free time feeling like a bad thing I don't deserve?
I need to go upstairs and put on this shirt and get out.
Of course I did the dishes, a load of laundry and will pick up before I do. I can't shake all of the responsibility.

Show me some Oreo's Please

It is getting slick around here.
Food is scarce. Noodles and wheat bread are the only things left.
I have had a tuna sandwich 2 times. Dun, dun, dun.....
Last night I was at a Pot Luck Dinner for Ava's preschool graduation and I did put 2 oreos in my mouth.
I know, I know.
I still have not had any type of candy in ....I don't know I will have to go back and look. It looks like 2 and a half weeks (Good, good!) but it all starts with a cookie and some macaroni.
I am making the statement here not because I think you give a rat's butt but I want to stake a claim to my status.
Watch out Foosie you are going to be in deep if you don't straighten out.
Tonight might include a movie so I will be plotting a snack to sneak in to keep me straight. Why don't they sell carrots and hummus at the movies? I bet they would make a killing at $11 a pack.

What the .......Horror-scope

LIBRA:
Foods that are foreign to your usual diet, or those that are exotic in some way, could have a negative effect on your health today, Libra. It's also important that you put more emphasis on your professional image than on having a good time; you could be a little too sensitive to food, drink or other substances to be able to maintain your composure in unfamiliar circumstances; this could do some damage to your reputation today. Admit you don't have all the answers; focus on self-discipline today.

 1st of all, it is a free night for me so of course I am thinking about having a good time so now I am all freaked out.
And what is up with the foreign and exotic food? All I can picture is Indian Food and explosive diarrhea neither of which I plan on having.
Crap (not literally) I just might stay home in my flannel pajamas and worry about my professional reputation.

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

What a great weekend! I really needed it after last weekend of work, work, cocktails and more work. I am definitely getting old when it takes about 4 days to catch up on the 24 hrs marathon day called Monday.
Saturday I had my sister and her family over for a cookout and some smores. It was a lot of fun. As you can see the girls terrorized the neighborhood in the Escalade. I think Olivia was driving OUS-Operating under the Influence of Smores. Lily hung out and made bracelets for the girls which they loved.
Sunday was an ordinary day for the girls including sprinkler fun, bikes, trampoline, ect but for me it was a bucket list kind of day. I got my room and closet cleaned and ready for Summer. I also dredged thru the toys and cleaned the kids room as you can read in the post below It was a great day for crossing some stuff off the list. Wasn't I just bitching about that list being long? Oh and the garage!!! I got that picked up too but then the girls decided to make it into a car wash and brought the hose in there. Yes, that was the end of the playtime and they were put to work.
Monday was my day to relax and fulfill my promise for the beach. That ended up being more fun than I expected as we kidnapped Kylie and again Kate plus 5 joined us. The only problem is Olivia and I returned home with this killer sunburn. I was OK with it but I felt like a total ass when I saw her in the tub. Advil and Aloe was used in excess! Next time I will be more beach prepared. See all the crabs they caught. I was the babysitter while they caught about 100 more. So yes people I am sorry to say I have crabs!

 

Have I mentioned 100 times how I can't wait for Summer? Yeah I want to say that again and again!

It was just the weekend I needed. I hope your was just as fun, relaxing and successful.