Jackpot, Honey

Chuck-E-Cheese prize glasses in my bed at 6:45 a.m. Saturday

Friday night Casey went to a friend's birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese's.  Emily was awake most of the night before and that meant I was too.  I decided to just drop Casey off at the party and go home and take a quick nap because I was sooo exhausted and this party wasn't over until 9:30 (that's getting a little too close to my bedtime some nights).  I knew she was safe and looked out for at the party because the moms I knew were staying there.  As I arrived to pick her up, I made eye contact with a couple of the moms who were smiling at me and shaking their heads.  I know this look.  I used to see it almost every time I picked Casey up from religion class this year.  Casey had been her entertaining self and had said something that some adult thought was amusing.  Apparently Casey had been quite lucky at the arcade games there and had gathered a large number of tickets that she got to trade for junk prizes.  At one particular game, as a burst of tickets came spitting out of the machine, I guess she started to flap her hands in front of her and gasp/laugh/exclaim something to the effect of, "Oh my gosh!  Oh my gosh!  I hit the jackpot!  My mom is going to be soooo proud of me!"  Over and over.  Our dear, funny, dramatic Casey...

My big (funny) girl

Emily at the pool

It was a pretty low-key weekend here.  The girls and I went to the pool Saturday and Sunday for a little while and then I managed to catch Emily's cold.  So I think I'll try to get to bed early tonight.  Tom left today for New Jersey today for training.  He'll be gone almost 2 weeks and my mom has come to hang out with me and the girls here this week.  If I can get over this cold, there will be shopping this week.  And if I can't get over this cold, there will still be shopping this week :)  After the girls go to bed mom and I sit up and watch Food Network or House Hunters on HGTV and talk until we both start nodding off sitting up on the couch when she's here.  I like these times with mom.  A lot of times I wished we lived closer but I know if we did, we probably wouldn't get as much of this quality one-on-one time; it would probably be more quick visits and would be more every-day ordinary.  So we spend many nice relaxing evenings catching up on family gossip when we do visit each other for days in a row ....

Casey's first day of Girl Scout day camp was today.  This is the first time she's gone and she looked so little and yet so big with her backpack of gear stuff this morning.  Camp is from 8:30 to 3:30 each day and if the rest of the week is as much fun as today was, she'll be looking forward to camp next year already this weekend!



Before first day of camp

After first day of camp

Emily's vocabulary continues to expand.  Now she does not hesitate to tell me, "I know!" when I ask her to do something and she is currently calling everyone, "Honey."  It is completely adorable.  What is not adorable are the fits lately.  Ugh!  We are coming to a crossroads of communication with Emily.  She is understanding more, yet does not have the vocabulary to express herself entirely.  And when sister does not feel she is understood or does not agree with a request (like holding my hand in a parking lot or coming to get her hair brushed), she begins to cry and have a fit.  Ugh!  (have I said that yet?)  Ugh!  It's a phase.  I know that.  But it is frustrating sometimes.  I tell myself to be patient with her and it is times like these that I come to a crossroads.  We try very hard to not treat Emily differently and we have the same expectations for her as we do for Casey, but there are times when we need a different approach with Emily.  We only have 2 kids, so maybe every parent manages situations on a kid-by-kid basis; I don't know.  Or maybe it's just part of our special family dynamic.  Either way, it's a phase Casey didn't spend long in, if ever, so we are working through it.  The tantrums never last long at all (I'm not trying to portray a scene from Super Nanny or anything),  and before we know it she's distracted and moved on to asking someone to read her a book...."Please, Honey".

Playing office on the girs' ironing board

"Honey, come here!" on the register's mike

Sweet Nothings

It is Thursday morning and we have nothing planned for the day.  Not a thing.  I have planned not planning anything today so my kids do not start to expect an outing every day this summer.  We're almost 1 week into summer vacation and we've gone somewhere or seen friends every day so far.  I need to lower the bar some now.  They need to just be with each other and their collective imaginations and the endless amount of crap toys we have here.  I'll report on this first day of summer nothing-ness tonight.

Well after I wrote my intent for the day, I sat with my cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee and decided to browse through some websites on my favorites bar.  The girls were exiled to the toy room for mandatory playtime as I lazily surfed the web.  I happened upon a blog of a sorority sister and she had recounted her accomplishment of cleaning windows recently.  And I was suddenly inspired to get some stuff done today while my kids were sequestered to the confines of our house and yard.  And so I checked this big task off of my to-do list today!!  Outside, inside and screens scrubbed and sprayed and Windex'd.  Surprisingly, the girls managed to keep themselves fairly entertained.  I all but threatened them to not touch the windows or I would cut off their fingers.  Okay, I didn't really say that, but I'm pretty sure they knew it was implied.  I need to be able to look out through perfectly clean windows for at least one day and appreciate my hard work before they are smudged up again.  I may actually get to look out my clean windows all night, too, because I'm pretty sure my Dunkin Decaf was not, in fact, decaf.  - (I can't metabolize caffeine for some reason after I had Emily and add the diet coke I had with lunch and I don't think I'll have trouble staying up finishing my book tonight.) 

Cleaning the slide while I was cleaning windows

By the time we came indoors this afternoon, I had some momentum going and decided to mop and vacuum the floors and drag the girls to the grocery.  The groceries were still being put away when they once again ran outside to swing and ride and run.  Of course there was some complaining about being bored and sisters not cooperating from both girls, and Emily nearly bit through her lip when she fell in the driveway, but all-in-all I think they enjoyed just having each other's company today.  They wanted to help clean anything with soapy water and we even found time to make some Father's Day things for Tom.  But the highlight of the day for me was after Emily woke up from her nap and I was cleaning bathrooms upstairs and I happened upon my girls quietly rocking in the glider in Emily's room.  Casey had Emily snuggled on her lap for some wake-up cuddles.  They stayed like that long enough for me to run and grab the camera and for even longer after I got the shot.  Be still my heart. 

I couldn't believe I walked in on this sweet moment

Smiling Sisters