What Game Was That Again?

Today I created an E-vite for our family's New Year's Eve party. J decided she was going to help me with the invitation and be the babysitter at the party. (A great idea except for the fact that she is only five)

As I was writing out the invite, she was reading over my shoulder. At one point I invited all the guest to spend the night by saying any space in the house was "fair game". After reading this she immediately sat down at the table and started furiously writing on a piece of paper. I didn't think anything of it, but R asked her what she was doing. J looked at R and said."Dad, if I am going to be the babysitter for all the kids, I have to start working on all the fair games for them!"

Winter Wonderland

I found a surprise when my garage door opened up this morning..... It had snowed! A beautiful, branch and grass covering, fluffy winter snow. The first snow of the season.

I am now officially feeling the holiday vibe. I have been faking it for a couple of weeks, for the sake of the kiddos, but now bring on the wreath, trees, and tinsel. I'm ready!

When A woke up and saw the snow she said to me, "I've always wanted it to snow on my window!" Apparently she has forgotten the last three winters it has snowed "on her window", but who is counting. S just stared and pointed yelling, "Ahh, ahh!" I'll translate for those of you who don't speak Sean, "Holy crap! What is that stuff?! It looks like fun!" J just looked at me and in a very serious voice said, "Finally!"

The only person in our household who didn't revel in the beauty of the snow fall was R, he is the one who had to shovel the beauty off our driveway....

Big Boy Bed

As I type this my little baby is upstairs asleep in his big boy bed. I know that this might not seem like a big deal but he is only 18 months and my last child. It makes me so sad to think that he is growing up.

Just recently S has seemed to be taking giant leaps into big boydom. He has started running, is great at communicating his needs and wants, and has in general just started looking like a kid instead of a baby. The big boy bed just seems like the last straw. The logical part of me knows he has to change and develop but the sentimental part of me just wants to keep him a little baby forever. As much as I try to remember what it was like to hold him as a new born, I really can't. Most likely will never hold a newborn child of mine again.

I guess I'm just throwing a pity party for one. I'm not the mom of a baby any more, I'm a mom of two girls and a toddler. My kids are well on their way to becoming people and I just need to catch up.

How Big is Your Crown?

Today A had a play date with a new friend from preschool, T. For first play dates I normally try to put forth some sort of an effort and plan a craft. After the initial play date the kids are generally on their own to create mayhem, but I at least need to put up a good showing as a "fun house" for first impressions.

This morning's craft was princess crowns. I bought plain soft foam hats and glitter foam princess stickers. Let me tell you put three girls at a table with hats and glitter stickers and good times will ensue! A and T made "beautiful" princess crowns covered in glitter and also proceeded to cover their faces in glitter stickers. J has decided that her new dream is to be a tennis player. To help her achieve he goal she made a visor covered in glitter. She now calls this her tennis princess hat and assured me it will help her with her game. She has never played tennis before so at this point any little bit helps. Besides it always pays to look good when you are doing something, especially something that you might not be the best at!

Making the crowns led to a long discussion between A and T about what princess they were going to be. T decided she would be Cinderella and A could be Sleeping Beauty. This did not sit well with A. Apparently she feels Sleeping Beauty does not have a big enough crown. A definitely subscribes to the old adage "Go big or go home". After a while A decided she could be Ariel. I found this interesting because I don't think Ariel even has a crown. When I asked A about the lack of crown she looked at me like I was a complete idiot and said, "Mom, she has a huge crown but she can't wear it when she swims!" Oh right, I can't believe I didn't know that.......

The moral to this little story is either "the bigger the crown the better the princess" or "no swimming with accessories", you can choose.

Election Day

R and I feel very strongly that it is important to vote. We have been talking to the kids about the presidential election to get them involved in the entire process. Our hope is that they will learn the importance of voting at an early age and continue to appreciate the right throughout their lives.

The only hitch in our whole plan comes when we discuss individual candidates. You see R and I are part of a "mixed" marriage, we come from different sides of the aisle and have very different views as to what we want out of our elected officials. This always makes for interesting dinner conversation when the kids ask who we are voting for and why. Being the parents that we are, we told the kids it is important that they make their own decisions and not let anyone sway them. I have definitely tried to not sway them, but I can't say that for R! Here is how the voting shakes down for the under eighteen set at our house. I'm sorry in advance to my family, this will probably hurt them as much as it hurts me!

S - of course S is too young to have a real opinion, but I definitely feel that if he could talk he would say Obama was his man.

A - is for McCain. Her entire reasoning for her pick is that daddy likes McCain and she and daddy have the same hair. Logical, no? Unfortunately I think her system for choosing a candidate might be better then some Americans considering some individuals voted for the last president because they thought he would be a fun guy to have a beer with. That kind of thinking got our country pretty far!

J - being the oldest she is the only child who will actually be participating in a kids vote. From the beginning J has stated her candidate is McCain. I'm not sure of her reasoning, but I told R I would help her vote by making sure she knew McCain was spelled O-B-A-M-A.

All kidding aside, no matter what your stand on politics is, please take a minute to vote today. It is a very important right that not enough Americans exercise. In this day and age it is extremely important that we make sure our voices are heard. If you can, bring your kids to the polls and let them see democracy in action!