"Thank you for this booty day."

"Thank you for this booty day....and for you, and you, and you, and you!"  If you were here at our dinner table, that's what you would hear.  That's the sound of my sweet K saying the blessing before dinner. 

The tradition started with G being the one that said, "Amen" at the close of the blessing.  As she got older and was able to add her own thoughts of what she was thankful for, then K became the one that would close with "Amen".  Well, now the time has come and my sweet K has started saying the blessing. I love this girl!

First day of 3 year-old preschool.

My girl and her favorite band-The Fresh Beat Band!

15 Month Stats

I took Baby M for her 15 month checkup and she is currently at 20 lbs 14 oz and 31" tall.  That's just about a pound more than at her 12 month checkup and still three pounds less than K was at the same age.

She is still a very picky eater and I'm finding myself becoming the short-order cook mother that I swore I would never be.  I'm constantly trying to mix in vegetables and fruits with the few things that she likes.  The pediatrician calls it "chaining" when you mix in a food with something that the child likes.  When we were kids, it was just called "sneaking" in the veggies. 

She has seven teeth (4 on top and 3 on the bottom) so I've been reluctant to give her a lot of meat, but just recently added chicken to her diet.  Currently, her favorites include:  macaroni and cheese, carrots, chicken, cheese, spaghetti,  ice cream, and milk.  The dairy products are high on her list, while the veggies and fruits continue to lag behind.

She is one smart cookie!  Her language skills are far beyond what G and K were doing at 15 months.  Of course in their defense, they didn't have two older siblings who were constantly talking to them :-) 

Baby M can say:  mama, dada, gay-cie, bobo, mimi, bad pop pop, momo (for Elmo), grover, tea, juice, no, stop, up, down, baby, bubble, sissy, mammy (for Grammy), night-night, nack (for snack), and the other day she put a hat on her head and said, "look, hat".  I expect that she'll be fully conversational by the time she turns two and when that happens, then there will be three of them that never stop talking :-)

And yes, I still carry her in our Baby Bjorn :-)  This was taken just last week when we made a trip to the State Fair.  Unfortunately, she didn't get to ride any of the amusement rides but she did get to ride around in her big, cushy stroller or either in the pack with me.  And of course, when she was with me, she got to sample all the fair foods! 

Cheekster or Kneester????

Okay, I've let myself slip a little and have gained a few pounds over the past year but I'm back on the wagon and making an honest effort to get back in shape.  Which brings me to the question-cheekster or kneester?

What are those you ask?  For anyone that doesn't want to talk about underwear, now is the time to close your browser :-)

As I was out for a brisk walk, I happened to take note that our local Victoria Secret store was giving away a free pair of cheeksters with the purchase of a bra.  This was of course advertised with a picture of a young, firm, no-cellulite backside, modeling a pair of said cheeksters. 

What happens to use oldsters?  what kind of underwear are we supposed to buy?  I for one am not a cheekster kind of girl (not sure that I ever was).  With middle-age and my professed lack of exercise, I'm more in line with a pair of kneesters--you know, when your cheeks have started to slide towards your knees--LOL!!  See, I told you to close your browser!

All joking aside, when was the last time you saw a pair of full-coverage underwear in a Victoria Secret ad?  I don't mean the "granny panties", just something that provides a bit more coverage on the backside.  When they start marketing underwear for real women, modeled by real women, maybe I'll start shopping there.

Best Vacation Ever

We'd been promising G that we would do a trip to the beach for the past two years and so this summer was our time.  In January I booked a beach house in the Outer Banks.  And I'm sure you're thinking, "why did you book so early?"  In my mind, the key to the perfect beach vacation was to find a house that was actually right on the beach--I didn't want to have to cross over the dunes to reach the water, nor did I want to lug three kids and all their beach stuff across the dunes to reach the water.  Hence the reason for booking so early :-)

Location, location, location--that was what it was all about and we found the perfect house.  I initially worried that maybe I had booked a house that was too large--4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths--but by the time I invited favorite friends, favorite photographer, and favorite aunt, I need not have worried about that :-)

It was a great week!  The weather was perfect!  The house was great! and we made quite a few memories that we'll look back on favorably.  Enjoy the pics!

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And I'm back up and running......at least for the moment

And the winner was.........a sinus infection.  It took about 5 days worth of antibiotics to start to feel "normal" again.   As always, when it starts out, I want to believe that it's just seasonal allergies and not the dreaded sinus infection but one would think after several years of this, that I would come to expect it in the fall and in the spring.  I would never let something like that go with my kids so I don't know why I do it to myself :-(

Anyway, trying to catch-up on my posts and so I have to regress to August when  G and her best friends had a day at the American Girl store.

We arrived at the store early in the morning and caught a bus to the American Museum of History where we got a private tour (before they opened to the public) and then back to the cafe for lunch and some shopping time.  G had been debating for well over a month on purchasing Julie's new car and in fact had made several lists of buying possibilities, but in the end she purchased the dining room table, some food, and the new Halloween outfit.  She would have been more than happy to expand her list had I been open to making some purchases, but we had agreed beforehand that this trip was all about her spending her own money.

Also in August, G started cheerleading.  She and her BFF M are on the Seahawks cheer squad.  The girls practice outside at a local school and so I have K and Baby M with me when we go.  I'm not sure what I expected but K has been pretty interested in hanging out with the big girls while they practice.  So much in fact that she has learned a few of the cheers.  She's not technically old enough to join the squad and so she wouldn't feel left out, I picked her up a cheer uniform supporting what I hope will be the girl's college of choice :-)

BFF's M and G

Cutest little VT cheerleader ever!

In this pic, the girls are making a big "S" with their poms to represent their squad name, "Seahawks".

Baby M struttin' her stuff on the ball field.