Saturday, November 27, 2010

Annual Tree Getting

Our annual trek down the road to the Christmas Tree farm!
My girls!

Looking cute

Aubrey was deemed old enough to help saw.

Here she is finishing it off.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Tales From The Bus Part 1

I am thinking this might be a new series. Aubrey rides the bus to school in the morning. Kindergarteners have to sit in the first 2 rows. Somehow Aubrey has made friends with "older" girls... girls that might be in 3rd or 4th or even 5th grade.

Aubrey came home on Friday and told me that she learned a "Mommy Secret" from her friend Mae Mae. Mae Mae is her nickname and we have to call her that because there is a different Megan who is even older so she can be Megan and the little Megan can only be Mae Mae.

Apparently, Mae Mae told Aubrey that Mommy's know when their children are lying because when the child tells a lie, the child's face turns their favorite color (the childs). I acted SHOCKED that someone would give away such a powerful secret. Molly comes by and is doing something that I ask her about, and she lies and her face happens to be pink from exertion.

Aubrey's eyes get HUGE, she looks at me and says, "I must am going to be a mommy, 'cause I SAW that!"

I think I hurt an internal organ by holding in that laughter and walking away.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Just for you Dad!

GOAL!
Butterflies
Mermaid 1
Mermaid 2
Mermaids Together

Friday, September 24, 2010

Somehow

We went from this:






To This:


No one told me that this would happen and I never even remember blinking.

No one told me how much it would hurt or how proud I would be or how wonderful it is to watch.

Or how much I would need a slow motion button.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Daily Life

Today I made up a batch of Pomodoro Sauce - love that! I also made some Cheese and Sausage biscuits with leftover sausage from the weekend, they are in the freezer for quick breakfasts in the morning.

This very short week had us:
1) At our first Back to School Night! Exciting.
2) Practicing new routines with the bus and daycare
3) cleaning out junk drawers, garage, tupperware drawer, etc
4) Laundry - how is it possible to do 2 loads of laundry a day? I WISH I KNEW!
5) Trying to put together a plan of attack for the kids with a boys weekend coming up and a new job starting.

Boring, but our life.

This is Aubrey last Friday, LOVE this picture, don't know why!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Foggy River

On our way back from dropping Molly off at school, I asked Doug to stop so I could grab shots of the river near our house. I love the FOG!



Friday, September 3, 2010

The Bus

Aubrey road the bus for her first full day of Kindergarten. Is it wrong that I want to call the school and make sure she got there? With her lunch box? And her smile still in tact?

Headed down the driveway.
The girls!

I love that Aubrey turned back here - since she didn't once she got on the bus!
The bus driver told Aubrey to turn so I could take a picture :)

I cried.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Maryland State Fair 2010 Edition

Different visit this year as the girls were older, we went with friends, we went later in the evening than past years. We didn't hit the Cow Palace, see the horses, see the Scales, or any other building. We did see the petting area, and eat in the Maryland area (my favorite). And we rode rides. And we made our kids cry because the games people would pretend to hand the kids a beanbag or dart and then pull it away when we wouldn't hand over our life savings.

And of course the ice cream. ICE CREAM that is so good, so good you can't describe. From milk, from cows, that we SAW get milked (or so I like to believe).

Notable fact, first year at the fair WITHOUT A STROLLER!

Pics from my phone cause I left my camera in the car...


Molly and Aubrey
The crew.
Molly and Sarah
Aubrey and Sydney
Sydney and Aubrey

Monday, August 30, 2010

First Day - Kind Of

Aubrey and I went to kindergarten today. In our district we have gradual entry - so today 1/2 the kids and their parents came to school to get supplies sorted, cubbies set up, see the classroom, do activities, etc. Tomorrow, no school, half days Wed and Thurs and THEN on Friday, I am apparently supposed to put my child on a bus - without a car seat or adult - and let her go off on a 45 minute bus ride, WITHOUT ME, to school. Where she will apparently find her way to her class and have a full day of school.

I am pretty sure THAT is when I will loose it.

Also, SERIOUSLY? Haven't I spent the last 5+ years making sure my daughter doesn't
  1. go into the street
  2. talk to strangers much less GET IN A MOVING VEHICLE with one and
  3. go anywhere without her carseat, a helmet, MY HAND?
OK, I need to take a deep breath and go lay down. Ok, back. Sorry about that.



In her classroom.
Right before we left.
I told her not to do her fake smile and this is the face she gave me.
We met Daddy for lunch.
And then we got her nails and toes done.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Hot Shrimp Dip Recipe

I was looking for a shrimp dip to take to a party yesterday - but didn't want to have to go buy any ingredients.

Here is what I put together:
1 bag of frozen shrimp, defrosted, tails removed, chopped up
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
some minced garlic
some old bay

Toss all of that in a pan on the stove to soften the pepper/onion

1 cup of softened cream cheese
1/2 cup of sour cream
a bunch more old bay

Mix together in large bowl

Once the mix on the stove looks softened, use a slatted spoon to move it into the bowl with the cream cheese mixture (I tried to leave out as much of the "water" as possible).

Toss in a handful of grated cheese (I used cheddar, mont/jack would have been good as well).

Mix.

Place into pie dish or 8X8 baking dish. Sprinkle top with more cheese and old bay on top of that.

Place in 350 oven for 30 minutes.

I served with Sea Salt Bagel Chips --> Tostitos worked too!


Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Working Mom Again

After a fabulous summer I will be heading back to work. We had a once in a lifetime summer! Now, back to reality - a brand new reality for all of us. Aubrey in kindergarten. Molly in "school" without her sister. Mommy in a new job. Daddy juggling the schedules.

In trying to get organized for the school year I put together a multi-week meal plan, a big list of to do's and worked to get well "baby" check ups scheduled, dentist appointments scheduled, everyone signed up for the appropriate activities, etc. I was shocked to see the county school schedule and realize how many days Aubrey has off between the first day of school and Christmas (10 for those counting). (NOTE: I took the school year county from the website, copied it into Excel, posted it on Google Documents and shared with my husband).

Tonight for dinner we had Chicken Strips, Maryland Corn, and Edamame. I made a 1/2 batch at lunch and wouldn't share with the girls, so at dinner they asked me to make some for them to try and they DEVOURED what I made. Aubrey even asked if she would be lucky enough to get something like that in her lunch box. Um, SURE!

We had a friend over for a few hours today, I gotta say, FOUR YEAR OLDS ARE HARD WORK -well worth all the fun, but HARD WORK!

WOW, how boring is this post?

Monday, August 23, 2010

Back in the Swing

Aubrey had her first soccer practice tonight. We needed a quick turnaround dinner to get there by 6 so I made Bow Tie Lasagna and to celebrate we had Sprinkle Cookies after practice.


Yeah, I don't know this is either.

And Molly has to pose too.
The Blue Turtles (the kids picked the name)

Aubrey was "so very sweaty" so she took off her team shirt :)


Friday, August 20, 2010

And We're Back

This week I:
  • unpacked from being away for a month
  • grocery shopped
  • back to school list shopping - 16 glue sticks? REALLY?!?!
  • Suit shopping - with girls in tow
  • 3 phone interviews
  • 2 in person interviews
  • 2 trips to Severna Park (for babysitters)
  • full day with girls friends at the house
  • pool
  • collected all the girls clothes (summer and fall), plus the clothes packed for our trip, loaded into the guest room, sorted, folded and put away
  • collected 6 bags of toys hidden away and the kids haven't noticed.
  • went to a chiropractor
  • stressed about and dreamed about providing healthy lunches, daily, for Aubrey
This week I did NOT:
  • Bake
  • Cook
  • Read
  • Take pictures
  • blog
  • exercise (see above chiropractor - back pain!)
  • sew
  • craft
  • deal with medical forms for kindergarten
See how this is totally not as blog worthy as Maine?

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Our Last Day

We packed a lot into our last day in Maine.
We kayaked.
The boys fished and then napped.
Girls were turned into Sea Turtles.
There was tubing.

A family portrait, a lovely dinner, presents, dance party, and lots of beach!

A full day, to end a full month.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Funtown USA

Things We Learned at Funtown
  • Aubrey is tall enough for all but 2 things at FunTown - including Excaliber.
  • Molly will do any ride she is tall enough for and a couple she isn't. Including riding the Tilt A Whirl 3 times in a row without getting off.
  • Aubrey can apparently drive the bumper cars and bumper boats, and do well.
  • Funtown is fun
  • Cousins = more energy, more fun, more noise, more jumping, and the need, the need for speed.
  • My kids are fearless, and that scares me.
  • Doug learned that he should never ride a Tilt A Whirl 2 times in a row or with Caleb.
  • Royal learned to never awkwardly turn the steering wheel on bumper cars near your little girl cousins or you hurt your shoulder.
  • Grandy learned the whole family can have such fun together and that her grandkids are VERY courageous.
  • Granddad learned why he has such good memories of the trips he took as kids seeing these kids play.
  • Anna learned that my new favorite ride is Excaliber.
  • Aubrey learned to stay close and hands (she already knew that but that is how she answered the question).
  • Uncle Mark learned that dragon's descent rocks
  • Caleb learned that his favorite rides are Excaliber and Astrophere!
  • Aunt Stacie learned that she gets sick riding the Tilt a Whirl 3 times in one night.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Guess Who's Riding a Two-Wheeler




8 Days Past Her 4th Birthday!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Glimpse of Future and Fairy House

The picture below? Scares me as I see this as a glimpse into 10 years from now, when as teenagers, they sit and talk about boys, school, their futures (which don't include being kitty cat princesses anymore). Do you see it?
Aubrey 5 and 5/6. Anna 8.
Fairy House
Still working on the fairy house!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Museum and Ferry Beach

Today we went to the Children's Museum, Ferry Beach, made soft pretzels, red sauce, and I just want a nap.



Dressing up and singing
Running the diner.
Major low tide at Ferry Beach.
Live Clams!
Off to chase the birds.
family
Molly and Royal