I Am From Family, Laughing and Coffee

Yesterday I joined Kate in her class for an Author's Tea. The students are studying poetry and the teacher hosted a time when parents and family could come in and hear the kids work. There were also notebooks on each students desk where you could write "critiques" of the author's work. 

I took a video of Kate reading her poem, since Dad couldn't be there. I love that you can hear all the students reading their own poems out loud in the background. 

Kate likes to write. She likes to write short stories, poems, thank you notes....pretty much any opportunity to put her vocabulary to the test. Remember last years impromptu Thanksgiving poem? I am not sure what I was expecting of this poem thing, but I can definitely say I was caught off guard. It really did make me tear up. 

The students were given a template to follow, almost like a Mad Libs. You know, "The (adj) (noun) walked in a (noun) and (verb)." But it was done in a way that what they were able to verbalize what they hear and do and love. My tears were because I love what Kate loves. It makes my heart happy. Listen closely, you may hear something about what you love, too!

I like collections of things, like books in a series, pens in a set, paint from the same brand, and the entire line of My Little Pony miniatures. I hate having just one of something. The Randomness, it disturbs me for some reason. I like things in chronological order. I like to make lists and mark things off. And yes, if I do something not on the list, I write it down just to mark it off. 

Can you hear my sharpie marking "August blog post" off the list?

T, big ball, big belly.

Aunt Nancy, Mo & Kate. Who doesn't love a 3 in 1 celebration!?

The combined age of the celebrated ones. Kate turned 8. I will not disclose the remaining subtrahends.

Nancy Rose pretending to be shy, cuddling up with Uncle Charlie, who welcomed his first grandbaby in August as well! We are efficient, if nothing else.

The Birthday Girls opening presents.

Birthday donuts.

Nan took this one. Not a bad angle, and it's actually a cute photo. Especially considering Kate nor myself are wearing any makeup.

Getting the bags of stuffed animals, pillows and clothes down after 16 days in the attic. Hoping the lice were melted in the August heat.

The girl wanted a pile of donuts for her birthday "cake". Done.

Our wonderful and memorable trip to the American Girl Store in Alpharetta, GA

My surprise Happy 10th Anniversary arrangement from RMB. 

Third Grade!!

'Maters. After 3 years of trying, a triumph for me!

Goodbye, Osborns!! We love you!!

T, Everett and CK. Not Calvin Klein. Eatin' dawgs, hangin' out.

Nancy said she was crying because she was going to miss Belle and Lucy so so so so much. I wish I could give her the benefit of the doubt, but unfortunately am privy to her track record.

K4!!

Big boy. Happiest when misbehaving.

Baseball game. Nancy just got the news that since she didn't eat her supper, she doesn't get dessert. Our eldest, the Rule Follower, kinda looks like she's reveling in the justice of her sister's consequence.

Taking in the game with yet another hot dog.

The Best Birthday Ever

She told me, as we were leaving the American Girl Store in Atlanta. "And I mean it this time, mom." Kate was born on our 2nd anniversary. We exchanged anniversary gifts at 1 AM, before leaving for the hospital. While walking around the house timing contractions that were 5-6 minutes apart, my husband surprised me with a 20 degree mummy sleeping bag, I passed along a long-coveted walking pole-slash-monopod camera mount. We thought we'd take our children camping. It was not long after this picture was taken....

 ....that I realized our expectations for our family were to completely change. The kind of parents we wanted to be versus the kind of parents we were actually going to be, well, the disconnect was huge then. You couldn't have convinced me that roughly 8 years later this tiny baby would be 8, going into 3rd grade and hopping in our minivan to join me on a day trip to the American Girl Store. 

 A pile of Dunkin Donuts was her "cake"

 We have arrived!

 Posing by the new dolls coming out later in the month. and holding the price list for both....

 There may not have been a place to hang my pocketbook, but there was certainly a special spot for any American Doll that accompanied her friend to the restroom.

 Grace, hanging out by the toilet seat covers.

 A very pink bathroom

Grace had her own seat, crown and....

...teacup and saucer.

 mini hot dog and hamburger. 

 our new addition, Chocolate Chip.

 Grace headed out from a long but satisfying day of shopping.

 Asleep

Not asleep. And present. Kate did not go by herself.

Happy Burns Day 2011 to Us!

Momma's in the Kitchen

The smell of freshly baked cookies should elicit sighs of contentment and squeals of delight from little ones in the house. Right? I imagine in someone else's house they do, but in my house, this is the response when I bake cookies:

"Mom, what is that smell??!?"

"Well, darlin'. It's Kate's giant pizza cookie cake thing for her birthday party that Mommy made too big and it overflowed in the oven and burnt on the bottom of the rack. Aren't you excited about eating it?!?!"

At 3:40, the cookie burning happened, then a bottle of red wine was spilled in the fridge and a giant blow out of a diaper happened, plus Kate and I were trying to get ready for meet the teacher. I'm running through a smoky haze in the house without my shirt on, trying not to get poop on me while getting it out of my son's hair, and also closing all the hall doors and opening all doors and windows to the 98 degree heat outside to let the smoke out to avoid setting off the fire alarm. I opened the door to the garage, opened the garage door to allow the smoke to go out, and the dog runs inside, then out, then I forget about the dog for a few minutes until I remember I forgot about the dog and start hollering for her to come, she's taken off on a joy walk around the neighborhood. When my mom arrived at 4:00, all was well and besides the fragrance of burnt marshmallows burning our noses, she never would have known the chaos that was happening just seconds before she came inside. Too bad that wine was spilled. Coulda used some before meet the teacher.

Happy Birthday, Kate!

Tiny Tidbits, Part 7

Nancy stopped saying funny things this week. I don't know if it was because I stopped paying attention, couldn't remember, or got very annoyed at her constant talking and jabbering (counted her saying "MOM? Mom?" 20 times in 15 minutes.) But Kate took the cake this week with this one:

"Is today 'International I-Don't-Know Day'? Because that's the answer I'm getting for all of my questions."

"The Best Day of My Whole Life"

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who called to check in on me on Meet the Teacher night and the First Day of School! I feel very loved and supported! Kate did great! And I did too.

Her teacher's name is Mrs. Birckbichler (Burke-bickler) but she tells the students to call her Mrs. B. The night before school started, Kate was putting on her pjs and dancing around in her room and I heard her say "The first day of first grade is going to be the best day of my life! I can't wait for second grade!!" Aren't we always looking forward to the next best thing?

I was up around 5:30 this morning, fixed some muffins, drank some coffee so I'd be pleasant to Mrs. B, got a quick shower and dressed, and heard Kate up at 6:45. She went ahead and got dressed and ready, and we ate breakfast together (Nancy too), we packed her lunch together, took some photos, and we were off at 7:35! Kelly, you were right. Goodbye lazy mornings!

First Grade! Mrs. Birckbichler's class.

Julia was gracious enough to coach me through the drop off this morning. We met at a friends house that lives across the street from the school, parked and all walked in together. Julia has a 2nd grader and Kindergartener. I love this shot of the kids walking in together!

Kate at her desk! She sits in the front of the room - I'm wondering when she'll begin to need glasses? Totally anticipating that at some point. She walked right into the class, said good morning to the teacher, hung her backpack up, put on her badge, and sat at her desk and waited for the day to begin! We hugged her and said "Have a great day!" She didn't even get up from the desk to hug us, and said "See ya later!"

Can you see her way in the background? Behind the green box on the desk in the back? I took this from the classroom door. She looked so small to me, and alone. But she doesn't ever consider herself alone I don't think. I don't either, and when I am alone, I relish it. This is the point of the morning where I felt obligated to shed a maternal tear or two; I have a feeling that will come later, after she's gone day after day, and I begin to miss her. Today, I just got TONS of stuff done and had fun with Nancy!

After I picked her up, we went to Sonic for half price slushies and she showed me her worksheets. On the way home, here is our conversation:

K: "Mrs. B isn't like I thought she would be."

M: "What did you think she would be like?"

K: "You know how ladies have short hair? She has long hair. And sometimes even puts it up in a ponytail!"

M: "Is that all?"

K: "Um, she's kind. I thought she'd be, um, I don't know how to say it."

M: "Mean?"

K: "No...."

M: "Like a mom?"

K: silence.....

Nancy's concerned face. Her chair was wobbly.

First Grade Eve Dinner

Burns Day 2009

August 11 came and went again! Kate turned 6 and we celebrated 8 years of marriage. Although, I use the word "celebrate" loosely: after Kate's second birthday party of the day, we put on our pjs, drank a glass of wine and looked at our wedding photos. Then we watched Season 8 of Friends for a while.

Kate is now old enough for me to find it hard to believe she was ever a baby; her baby face has been slowly replaced by Nancy's baby face, until I pull out pictures, and countless memories of our days spent just the two of us come flooding back. I love the convenience and quantity that digital cameras give, but nothing beats sitting down with a fat stack of photos to flip through. Even nostalgia seems a luxury to me these days.

Kate decided months ago she wanted her 6th birthday to be a fairy house building party. She has a favorite book from the library about a little girl who goes on vacation with her family, and in the woods near the cottage they stay at is an area where people can build fairy houses to try and attract fairies. The "houses" actually just attract bugs and animals, and that determines whether you are graced with the fairies' presence.

The "rules" of the woods are twofold: All materials must be natural (no man-made products) and no materials can be made of living things (like a wad of hosta leaves picked to be a fan for the fairies - I am very appreciative to the author for this rule). I read the book, then the girls divided in to teams, collected their materials, and built! There was a very special guest, Puck the Garden Fairy House Engineer, that showed up to judge the houses, and prizes went out to the teams with the brownest, greenest, biggest, and shortest fairy homes. It really was a fun party, and the girls seemed to enjoy it; so much so, they ditched the video I put in to cool them off (it was over 90 before noon) to go out and build more houses. Great idea, Kate! She's already talking about her next 4 birthday parties....I'm not sure she'll be really interested in Dora when she's 9. At least I hope she won't be!

Kate at 9 months old at Isle of Palms. This is one of my all-time favorite Kate pictures!

Kate's cake. She helped me make and frost it, and the flower she did all by herself! We added Fern, her special woodland fairy, to "fairy it up" a bit.

The big 6!

Me reading to the girls. It was so fun to have Brandy and Sarala come to the party! I know there won't be many more opportunities to celebrate things like this together since they will be moving overseas soon. These pictures are priceless to me!

Brandy got a great shot of the big girls teaming up and beginning their search for the perfect fairy house spot, with Nancy in the background wanting to keep up with them.

Team Dayleah and Harper. They got the prize for the shortest fairy house.

Team Clara and Hannah. They received the greenest fairy house award.

Team Abi/Abby, receiving the brownest fairy house award.

Team Sarala and Kate, who got the biggest fairy house award (they had their own ideas of what they wanted their house to look like, so they did all of them.)

Puck, the Garden Fairy House Engineer, in his garden home.

Puck examining the houses.

The girls just followed him around the yard! It was so funny!!

Puck and the Fairy House building winners.

Clara & Ashley Mozingo gave Kate another dress to match Clara. They did the same thing last year, and I love it!

Nancy and Spencer at Kate's party at Fuddruckers. Since we have family in town, we get the fun of celebrating all day!

Even the McGowans got to come to the party, which was so fun! It's rare all of us are all together! Emily, Chris and Cort were there, but Cohen sat beside me and I couldn't help posting this pic!

Most of you may know, but for those who don't, Ryan and I have known each other since we were 13, and began dating in high school. I am older (that will be a rare admission from here on out in our marriage), so it was my senior year, his junior, in 1996. We were married just shy of 5 years later, August 11, 2001. My dad and mom and I were talking on the phone the other day, and we all agree (admittedly biased) that our wedding was still the most fun party we've ever been to. Here are a few pics to take advantage of our scanner now working: and Elizabeth, I am not embarrassed about these, either. Well, maybe for Ryan....

About 2 weeks after we started dating, it was my homecoming, which I was in charge of putting on and running, so Ryan sat in the auditorium of the school and ate while I ran around making sure everything was going like it should. I think we danced once or twice. And no, it's not the angle, Ryan really was half my size. Not that I was big...he was just that skinny!

Our Wedding Day! See why I love your painting so much, Emily!?!

Our 8th Anniversary, taken by the Birthday Girl after a long day of partying. Eight years ago, it was hard to imagine loving Ryan more that I did then, but he is truly one of the most amazing men I know, and I am so proud to be his wife. I love you, Burns!