Muffins With Mom

Just take a close look at the photo above... have you ever seen such a hilarious character study? Each of the children have such incredibly unique and lovable personality!

Today was Muffins with Mom Day at Josie's preschool. It was a fantastic event! All the Moms had name cards at their seats. I happily sat between 'Michael's Mom' and 'Megan's Mom'. The 3 & 4 year olds performed a number of songs about Moms and Love. Here is my Josie belting out a tune:



After the performance, the Moms had a chance to dance to two songs with the children. The students then served their Moms a delicious plate of strawberry shortcake. Josie even took my fork out of it's beautiful handmade daisy napkin ring and placed the napkin on my lap! And since no good deed goes unrewarded, the kids then stood in line again for their own serving of ice cream with chocolate syrup! Yummy!

Josie and her classmates made beautiful flower pots with cards attached - each signed in their own hand. Josie did such a great job writing her name - I'm sure I was the proudest Mom in the room! We finished off our lovely luncheon with each Mom being presented a beautiful red petunia plant and having a photo taken. I wish all my days were this fun-filled! I never tire of hugs, kisses, songs and dances....

Happy St.Patrick's Day!!

Here's a few photos of the Posse this morning - celebrating St. Patricks Day!!

Josie's tiara says "Irish Princess", and that she is! The other lovelies are Roma, Megan, Riley and Nicholas. I was actually a bit early for drop-off this morning, so I didn't get to see all the kids in their 'green'. I should have a few more to share once Sharon gets me her photos... Sharon was the 'Good Mom' today - she made it to the Leprechaun Hunt to take photos. Other slacker Moms (like me!) got to the school at regular pick-up time.

March Madness

No, this is not a post about college basketball ... March Madness has a whole different meaning in our household. March is the month in which both our girls celebrate their birthdays. Maddie is at the end of the month, Josie in the middle. But, once the month begins, all talk is birthday related... Josie: "Mom, how many sleeps 'till my princess party at Grandmom's house?" Maddie: "I seriously need a new wardrobe for my birthday, Mom..."

March is also the month that my darling husband is reminded of how expensive daughters can be! James cringes when he sees the price tags at J. Crew, American Eagle, and Banana Republic. I don't blame him...

We visited my parent's place this past weekend to get an early start on the celebrations.

My Mom ordered this beautiful cake from a local baker:





Josie received wonderful gifts - befitting a princess. My Mom & I shopped all day on Friday at the outlets in Rehobeth. Josie caught on quickly - she was a size 4T. So, she searched the racks and pulled out every size 4T dress that she found. She then told us, "I like this one, we should buy it." The outcome was that Josie walked out of Gymboree, The Children's Place and J. Crew with a total of 4 bags of clothes. Needless to say, she is fully outfitted for the the spring and a majority of the summer!






Maddie and James joined us at the shore late on Friday night. Maddie had her first soccer game, which began at 5:30PM. It was snowing for most of the day... not the kind of snow that lays on the ground, but more of a snow shower. Either way, she froze her butt off! It was 31 degrees at game time. Maddie's team lost the game 2-0. However, James said they looked pretty darn good for a team that had only been practicing together for two weeks. Most of the girls on the opposing team had played together for years. The only disadvantage to being at a newly opened school is that it takes the teams a bit longer to find their 'groove'. We have complete confidence that in the coming years, this team will be one to reckon with!



In other news, we've been having a tough time adjusting to the crazy weather here in Virginia. March came in like a lion with 8 inches of snow falling overnight on March 1st. James actually insisted on going to work that morning, so I was out at 4:45am - documenting the snowfall:


This is our street - notice the steep hill...


Here's the house, looking lovely with all the snow falling.


Here's the backyard, photo taken from the deck.


And, here is Carson, our snow dog! You can tell he was born in Michigan... he loves the snow!


Here is our 'poser' daughter, Maddie. Snow is just another 'photo-op' for her!



And, finally, here is me wiping Josie's nose while shoveling the driveway. Note the red minivan behind us: it went back and forth for over an hour... the hill in front of the house was too steep for the van to negotiate. In the end, she had to be towed out. I'm still trying to figure out why she just didn't slide back down the hill and go home... Oh well!

Three days after the record snowfall, we had record warm temperatures. In the following pictures you can see that Josie was in shorts as she and her Dad visited the Smithsonian Castle's carousel and the newly re-opened Museum of American History:





That's really all for now. There's a whole lot more going on in the coming weeks: We have Josie's birthday celebration with her classmates on Thursday, a 'playdate' party with her friends next week and then we'll get into Maddie's birthday celebrations. I will be happy when March is over!!!

Donuts with Dad

Today, Josie's preschool has their annual 'Donuts with Dad' breakfast. From 8:30-9:00 AM they will share breakfast with all the other kids and their Dads (or Grandparents, Mom, etc). Josie was very excited. Last night she practiced introducing her Dad to her friends... "Emma, this is my Dad. His name is James." She also practiced shaking hands and saying "It's very nice to meet you."

Josie will soon be 4 years old. It is amazing to see the changes in her over the past year. She totally cracks us up. She sits at the dinner table and starts off with "So, Dad, how was your day?" She talks with her hands, which is incredibly funny to watch. Her two favorite things to say are "I'm just kidding!" and "Are you joking me?!"

The other night, James tripped over a pair of Josie's shoes (which are EVERYWHERE!) and yelled, "Josephine, pick up your shoes!" She responded, "Dad, I'm just a little kid, you don't have to yell!" Looks like I have a handful with that one!

Maddie is in her third day of conditioning in preparation for soccer try-outs next week. She has come home each night with bruises and muscle aches. She does her homework, takes a hot bath with epsom salt and goes to bed. At least she's not on the computer all night...! She is happy though. Quite a few of her girlfriends are trying out for the team, so she's really looking forward to playing. I'm pretty confident she'll make the team. She's been playing soccer since she was 5 years old. Maddie has a March birthday, like Josie. So, she'll be turning 15. I have no idea where the time has gone. She now towers over me, constantly calls me 'shawty' and when she's aggravated with me she says "yes, Mother". Arggggg! I feel old!



Until next time...

Seasons Greetings

I haven't posted since before Thanksgiving- it's been a hectic season. We've been having a lot of fun, so I'll give a rundown of what's been going on...

Back in early December, Maddie got a phone call from one of her middle school classmates. Jeri was responsible for finding 'elves' to help out with a Christmas luncheon being held for underprivileged children and their families. Two elves were unable to meet their commitment, so Maddie was asked to fill in. She departed at 8 AM the following morning in her elf suit. (of course, I grabbed the camera before she left!) Maddie had a wonderful time. She reported that the kids were just adorable and the families were so appreciative. I'm thankful to Jeri and her mom, Donna, for giving Maddie the opportunity to start off the season in proper fashion - it put things in perspective for her... We are so blessed with warm clothes, a comfortable home and loving family around us.

Moving on, last Friday Josie's pre-school enjoyed 'Breakfast with Santa Claus'. The children sang Christmas songs, had a light breakfast and then waited patiently to sit on Santa's lap.

Here's Josie and her classmates singing:





Here's Meghan improvising a dance to go along with the songs:



Santa caused a mob scene when he appeared on the balcony. By the time he made it downstairs to the party, everyone was so excited! Josie was literally jumping for joy!



Here's Josie sitting on Santa's lap. Have to give Santa his props - there were over 100 children present (all 3 and 4 year olds) and he managed to get time to speak with each and every one of them. Josie told Santa she wanted a Barbie. She's still a bit 'iffy' about the big guy, so when she sat on his lap- I was thrilled.



The following two days were filled with shopping and attending friend's Christmas parties. On Saturday, we joined Dave and Lisa and received a wonderful gift (I'll share a photo later) and on Sunday, we attended Ed & Martys annual Christmas gathering.

This week, we had Josie's class performance of the Nativity. Not many photos from that one, as I arrived only 15 minutes early and was only able to get a back row seat. Apparently, you have to stake your claim on seats at least an hour in advance. Also, Josie was not on her best behavior - I'll explain in the next post....

In two days (Saturday the 20th) we will be celebrating an early Christmas with my family at my sister Claudine's house in Maryland. My older sister, Sue, BIL Greg and our two nephews, Zack & Liam, will be driving down from Philly. My brother's family and ours will be driving up from Virginia and Mom & Dad will be coming in from Delaware. Should be a lot of fun. Josie is so excited to see her cousins! She asked if her other cousins, Alex, Brandon, Alicia and Zoe would be there. She was terribly disappointed when we explained that they lived in California and wouldn't be making the trip. So, for our family in CA - please know that we miss you and are thinking of you everyday.

Special shout out to my darling Mother in Law, Shirley, who broke her shoulder this past week. We've been checking in daily to ensure that she and Dad are doing okay. Please keep a good thought for her speedy recovery.

I'll have some time tomorrow to share more news and photos. Maddie has been on half days all this week because of finals. She has only 1 tomorrow - so she'll be around to lend a hand with Josie. This will give me a chance upload more photos and spend a bit of time on line. I hope that all of you are enjoying the holiday season. See you soon!

Birthday Cake Belly

On Friday we celebrated James' 47th birthday. It was a quiet affair... just the four of us, a pizza and red velvet cupcakes. Every year I try to make James a red velvet cake, and every year I mess it up. This year, I decided to play it safe. I ordered half a dozen cupcakes from our favorite cake shoppe. Everyone was happy, but Josie was thrilled. Cupcakes are her favorite thing in the world! (at least this week they are...) Here, she shows off her "Cupcake Belly":



We have all been incredibly sick for the majority of this month. It started with Maddie, she let herself get run down by not getting enough sleep, and the rest of us followed in short order. I thought I had dodged the 'crud' but this was not the case. Even James, who normally stays healthy, was down for a few days. It's been just terrible.

Worse of all is watching Josie suffer with a horrible stuffy nose and wicked cough. Her sleeping pattern has been disrupted- so I'm up most nights around 2:30 AM comforting her. When I get up, the dogs get up. So, in the middle of the night our house is lit up like a Christmas tree, the dogs are running around in the yard and I'm stumbling around, looking for the most promising option for temporary relief of coughing spells.

During this time, we also had painters in the house. We decided to lighten up the kitchen and family room areas - as I've stated many times, these areas are in the rear of the house. The yard is heavily forested so the house gets only filtered light for most of the year. Now that all the leaves are gone, we get a bit more natural light, but it's still not enough to brighten my rooms or my mood.

We will be celebrating Thanksgiving at my brother's home in the Richmond area. It's not a long drive from here and it's the first time in while that I don't have to worry about cooking. Josie had her Thanksgiving celebration at school last Thursday and the kids were just adorable. All dressed like pilgrims.

Thats about all from here right now. I would like to wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm thankful that you all take the time to visit us here.

Halloween 08

We had a wonderful Halloween! We started out on Thursday,with a trip to the Pumpkin Patch with Josie's preschool class. We learned about bees and how honey is made; we learned about how pumpkins grow and we learned about all different kind of farm animals. Goats, Sheep, Pigs, Roosters and Cows.

I also learned to double check my camera before packing it - as I neglected to put the battery back in my camera after I charged it . Thus, no photos of the pumpkin patch. I don't think the kids would have stood still long enough for a photo, though. It was VERY COLD for our morning outing - when we arrived at 9:20 it was 48 degrees with a 15-20 MPH wind!! We dressed properly, but that wind cut through us.

Here's Josie just after carving her pumpkin:



And here is Josie's 'scary face':



On Friday Morning we celebrated the Fall Festival at Josie's Preschool. And it was a hoot! The kids were just adorable and there was so much to do! They had game booths, a parade and then a party. James and I had a ball with Josie. It was great to see how much the other parents used their creativity in the kids costumes and how much they really got into the whole Halloween spirit:

Here's Josie with part of her Preschool posse: Megan, Roma, Josie and Riley:



Here's Josie in her costume:



And here are a few of the other costumes we just loved:











Here are Josie and her friends enjoying the festivities:











We thought that the best costume by far was worn by Josie's teacher, Mrs. J. She looked just awesome as Madeline! And in a nod to the wonderful books, Sr. Mary Vincent posed as Mrs. Clavell for my photos. Just loved the spirit of these two wonderful ladies!!:






I will post a few more photos of our actual Halloween night. Very subdued this year, which was a surprise because it was a Friday night and it wasn't really too cold. Anyway, next post will have some of Maddie and Josie in costume...