everything nicole

Tough Girls?

Randy took the girls to soccer yesterday & Gracie wanted to get something out of the car.  Randy told her to wait, so that he could go with her.  When she protested, he explained that it is his job to keep her safe, etc.  She replied, "Don't worry, Daddy.  If someone tried to take me, I'd kick 'em, bite 'em and lick 'em!"  Then Bridgie chimed in, "Yeah, and kick them in the nuts!"  Where do they come up with this stuff?  xoxo

The Results

Gracie was the only child in her class with crazy hair.
Dun-dun-dun.
But she is so awesome, that she didn't care! She doesn't hate me!!! Yay! There were kids in other classes who participated, just no one in her apathetic class. She is such an independent confident kid, that she rocked her rocker hair with class. I'm so proud of that crazy kid. Xoxo

Crazy in the Head

Today at GracieGirl's school was Crazy Hair Day.  Or so I was told.  It was mentioned at a PTO meeting and then I overheard someone talking about it at Girl Scouts.  So I immediately began scouring Pinterest for ideas.  We finally settled on a pink Rhianna-esque fauxhawk with pink, purple and blue stripes.  She looked fantastic when we left for school this morning.  On the way to school Gracie did ask me, "Mama, are you sure it's Crazy Hair Day?  (She has read the book)."  "Yes honey, I'm sure."  Pretty sure.  Although when I thought about it, I can't remember seeing anything on paper.  

We drove up to the playground and really had a hard time seeing any crazy hair.  I think there were a total of 7 kids in the entire school with crazy hair, and only three as crazy as my rock star daughter.  

As she walked into school, I could tell she was looking around just as frantically for more crazy haired kids as I was.  There weren't many.  As a result, I have been worrying all day.  She is going to hate me forever, if she's the only one in her class with beautiful rock-star hair.   And really could I blame her?  Randy says he would have rocked a mohawk every day of elementary school, if he could have.  I'm in total limbo right now.  In ten minutes I'll go pick her up and learn my fate.  Either way, she looks damn cute!  I'll  give an update and post a better pic soon, if she still loves me.  xoxo

Lullabies

Although I do not have much of a singing voice, a favorite part of bedtime around here is singing a song for each girl.  At least one if it's late and I'm tired, more if bedtime went smoothly.  I love this ritual because it's something my parents and grandparents did for me when I was little.  Songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Rock-a-Bye Baby, and You are my Sunshine are directly linked to my parents.  And Bye Bye Blackbird, Gonna Dance with the Dolly, and Mares Eat Oats contain some of my favorite memories of sleepovers at my Grandma's house.  

Like their stuffed animals, GracieGirl has her favorite song, while Bridgie chooses whichever suits her for the evening. Gracie usually requests Love You Forever and Lullaby.   In the past, I think I've done any combination of the above for Bridgie, but in the last 5 months she has narrowed it down to twofavorites: You are my Sunshine (because she is my sunshine) and Silent Night.  I guess I have never thought of Silent Night as a lullaby, but it is fitting!  xoxo 

 

Making this Easy

The girls must know that I need good material to help ease me back into the world of blogging:

Bridgie, while holding her dolphin necklace vertically: "Mama, the dolphins go up and down on the water. You know, like Jesus."

Gracie, while looking at one of our black and white wedding pictures: "Wow, so that was right before they made photos in color."

I May Be Setting a Poor Example

While helping Randy rotate tires:
R: See, Gracie now you can change the tires on your car when you get older.
Grace: No, daddy. That's what my husband will do.
R: Well, what if you don't have a husband?
G: (like, well duh) Then I won't have a car.
Xoxo
Ps - so many other things to blog about, I'll try and do this more than once a year!

Science Fail

It turns out my kid is smart.  GracieGirl is kind of rocking this whole kindergarten thing.  She can read or sound out most simple words and is loving math.  So when word of the Science Fair came around school, she wanted to do it.  And how could I do anything BUT encourage my budding little genius?  Apparently, Mama is the one who has a lot to learn about this whole kindergarten business.  We got the Science Fair Project Guidelines three weeks before it was due. It was three pages long single spaced.  (Don't believe me?  I even took pictures).  It even included a two-sided "Research Paper Form" for the student (who is SIX) to fill out.  Since it took about an hour for my super-genius kindergartner to fill out the title with a pencil, I decided to have her type the research paper.  I wasn't sure how much she would learn from a project requiring 3 full pages of instructions, so I decided some computer skills would be a good lesson. 

One of the girls' Christmas presents was a Butterfly kit, and I thought, "Cool, I can order the caterpillars for the project." The website even had ideas on how to use your caterpillars for a Science project. We decided to find out how sunlight affects a caterpillar’s growth.  We were shipped two jars of caterpillars and put one in a windowsill and one in a shady spot in Gracie's room.  Then every day for a week I would draw a line as long as one of the caterpillars & Gracie would measure it.  (Learning about measurement = another thing learned!)

As a former teacher I really wanted GracieGirl to do her own work.  I'm pretty sure I could do a pretty bitchen elementry school Science Fair Project, but I want her to l.e.a.r.n.  So tonight we painstackenly put together my girl's project.  After way too much time spent on schoolwork, I was asking her questions about the project.  I could ask her any question about the chart that she had filled in or which caterpilars grew bigger & she knew the answer.  I was pretty proud of my girl.  Then I asked her to summarize (I didn't want there to be any question as to who did this elaborate project.  This was HER work),

"Do caterpillars grow better in the shade or dark?" 

"In the dark," she answered, which was the exact opposite of the heavily padded information we'd collected.  

You could see gaskets blowing outta my ears.  It was getting late (almost 6:30pm). I was tired.  She was done.  And yet I pressed on, "Are you sure?  Which ones grew bigger?"

That's when she pulled the whole, "Well, I thought this was my project, not yours." 

Oh no she di-n't.  

I may have stomped off with the project.  I may have said something about fine, if it's mine, then I'm keeping it.  I may have apologized profusely later.  I may have gone in her room just now to pet & kiss her pretty sleeping head. 

But, damn, how did she know my biggest fear?  And what am I going to do when she's a teenager and discovers my biggest fears of her repeating all of the same mistakes I made?  Hopefully I'll handle it with a little more grace than I did tonight.  And if those times turn out half as good as her science project did, then it's all gonna be okay. 

xoxo

Gracie Says

"Daddy, Bridgie listens to pretty much everything I tell her to do and nothing her parents tell her to do.  So maybe you should just tell me what you want her to do."  xoxo

Perfect Logic

GracieGirl:  I don't wanna take a bath.  Why do I have to take a bath?

N:  Because if you don't wash your body it will rot off of you. 

MOTYxoxo

Pink Attacks

Five years ago today GracieGirl emerged into my world and rocked it like crazy.  What people don't usually realize about a child's birthday is that it is also a celebration for the mother.  Today, I not only celebrated the fact that I've had five fantastic years of Grace, but I am also enjoying the anniversary of my induction into motherhood.  Five years ago today, I looked childbirth in the eye and came out on the other side - alive.  I know women do it all the time without the help of modern medicine, but it is still something that I'm pretty proud of, that whole baby baking thing that I did. 

Since she is my daughter, she will be partying properly.  It started this morning with pancakes and a candle, followed by cupcakes with another candle at school (which was coincidentally her day to share and Pajama Day, it was kinda a big deal).  For dinner we had a feast of Spaghetti O's with princess cake (and another candle) for dessert.  Gracie is a little fuzzy on when she actually turns five.  Her birthday is today, but to extend the festivus we're having the party tomorrow.  It also helps that Randy will be home tomorrow to help me corral the 20-plus kids that will be coming over to wish my little five year old well. 
It's a Pinkalicious Party and it has gone way over the top.  There's pink cupcakes and pink streamers and pink flowers and a pink princess chair and pink balloons and pink party favors (except for the three boys who are coming, they get a few yellow favors).  Just the sheer quantity of children running through my house makes my skin crawl a little. 
But there is some reason behind this madness.  We've decided not to throw a party for the girls every year.  We'll do some kind of party for the 1st, 5th, 10th, 13th, 16th and 18th birthday and be done with it.  (Yes, I've thought this through that far.  Why do you ask?) (No.  Me?  Crazy? I don't think I'm being a little crazy, need I remind you of how I celebrate my birthday?) 
Also, what five year old's birthday party would be complete without a shrine to said child? 

Excuse me while I go puke my pinkalicious brains out.  Although, it has been worth it every time she's told me "this is the best birthday ever."  I think she said that last year too.  Kids are so easy.  xoxo