American Girl

On Saturday Caroline and I took a trip to the American Girl Bistro and Boutique in Dallas. We went with friends and had a lovely time. I called for dining reservations about 5 or 6 weeks ago- none available until after Christmas. Well, they had a few at very odd times that simply would never work for our schedule. We heard rumors that they would accept walk-in's if you were willing to wait- and here's just a little food for thought- if you are willing to pay someone to do the hair of your daughter's doll, I am guessing you are willing to wait for lunch, right? Suffice it to say, we were willing- on both counts- but no dice. They were so overbooked that they would accept no walk-ins whatsoever.

The girls were slightly dissapointed but that didn't last long. How could it? We were in little girl heaven. To be able to see in person all those dolls and outfits and accessories and books, oh my! To touch them and hold them! Heaven, I tell you!

Caroline had saved her allowance diligently, as she has been anticipating this trip for months. She threw all caution to the wind after seeing everything in person, though and chose different things than she had thought she would. She thought she wanted the Julie doll. She's the "historical" doll from the 70's. Caroline likes her alot. I like her little toy Barbie styling head alot. I had that toy, and I did so love it. I also had the same record player as Julie only mine was a different color. Man, Julie has cool stuff.

Caroline chose outfits and "camis and panties". And a cast and a set of crutches, I didn't really understand that but she really wanted it. Her friend chose a hairstyling chair and a darling little ballet outfit with yoga pants. Cute, tiny little things.

Most of the girls were just in awe in the wonder of it all. And of course, we saw a fair share of overindulgence. Here's a hint Mom, when the boxes stack up taller than your ten year old maybe you've gone too far. It's possible they don't need all of those things today. You know? It was fun to let her spend money and chose her own things. She spent $100 of her own and I paid $20 for her doll's hair style at the "salon". For you inexperienced American Girl Mom's, I am not kidding. I do admit, Nikki's (that's the doll) hair looks much better. Caroline could easily have spent several hundred more, for that matter I could have easily done it too. There's a whole lot of really cute stuff there. But there was really some relief on everyone's part that there were limits, and that we would return another day to buy more. I mean how special is one doll outfit ($26 outfit, I might add for you inexperienced Mamas) if you bought 12 of them? If you only got one or two they are pretty dang special.

Angel League

Angel League wrapped up the fall season this week and here are some highlights.

When Duncan first began playing several seasons ago, I didn't know what to feel. There's still a very real part of me that doesn't want to join this club. I am not "one of those" parents. I am not in that place, and quite frankly, I don't want to be. I am not ready to go there. And I don't know if I ever will be.

Some of the parents don't even come, I don't know their personal reasons but I can guess. Though I don't live their story, my own is similar enough to have some understanding of theirs. It's painful to watch other people pity your child. It is difficult to put the "not-so-normal" one on display. You can view your child anyway you choose but somewhere deep inside you know what other people see when they see him. You want them to see what you see.

The intelligent part of you knows that isn't even possible. And the selfish part wants it anyway. I want it anyway.

But as I get older I learn things. Not quickly, and sometimes it seems, not much. But I pick a few things up along the way. I have learned that if I will trust God's plan and let go of my own, the blessings will be abundant.

So I learned, that if I take my son to play baseball on the "special needs" baseball team he will be blessed. And so will I. More importantly, others will too.

We humans lose track sometimes that life isn't all about what we want. Sometimes taking Duncan to Angel League is still painful for me. I sit at home and have intelligent conversations with him about science and math and forget that he isn't "normal". Luckily, he never forgets that I am not.

Angel League has helped me to see the blessing he can be to this community. The hope he gives other people, the satisfaction he gives to those who give their time, and the love he gives to those he lets get close to him. God teaches people through Duncan. That's huge. And it's worth making me uncomfortable.

Sell This House

I can't believe I haven't written a post all week. Hmmm, doesn't seem that long. Time is flying by right now, which scares me to death.

Time flying by means that the 2 short months until I own (and the bank expects me to pay for...) 2 homes will be over before I know it. Prayers for selling our house would be much appreciated right now. It's not that we can't pay two mortgages, and we in fact always knew that was a possibility, it's the fact that it's gonna pretty much stink to do that. I know we can do it, I would just rather not prove it, KWIM?

The new house is quickly becoming a home. There are now granite counter tops- an obscene amount of granite, I might add- and they are gorgeous. Actually, right now they are not gorgeous at all. They are filthy. But once they are clean they will be fantastic- I love them. Now that I think of it, they might even make paying 2 mortgages worth it. But only for like 1 month. Or maybe 2.

They are putting the tile in right now- it's also very nice. I am a little afraid the color in the kitchen is too light- I hope it doesn't look dirty all the time. In reality, it probably will be dirty a lot of the time, I would just prefer it didn't look it. I have talked with God and I am quite sure that my purpose here on Earth has little to do with house cleaning. He would have made me much better at it had He intended me to do it all that often. There are approximately 5 billion things I am better at than cleaning house.

Light fixtures arrive this week and that has me quite excited. I think it will begin to really look like home once those are in. Also, I am ordering the wood blinds for all the windows this week. Ummm, and can I say hello expensive! I really had no clue they would be this much money. But after extensive discussions which leave us both feeling like we don't even care what is on the window, we have decided they are the best option. A lot of the windows are visible from the front of the house and because I am neurotic and have too much time to think about things I have some serious issues with windows that do not look uniform from the front of the house.

Oh, the fireplace is done. And even though it's probably completely snotty of me, I don't care because it was a lot of work, it is magnificent. I will try for pictures in a couple days. It's exactly what I wanted.

So, have a good week and pray we sell our house.

Positive Thinking

Let's see- I promised a positive, happy tone right? So let me see what I can do with that.

I am positive we are all sick. I am positive we are sharing germs back and forth and giving each other the same junk over and over again. I am positive that this is putting me in a bad mood.

How bout that?

Seriously, I got it. Now Caroline has it and I do too. I think Duncan's getting it. Probably the only reason Casey doesn't have it is because he has been at the new house for the last two days. Aparently, it's going around town. Yucky stuff. Load up on Vitamin C. See you tomorrow.

Just Say No

When we were in school, the big "Just Say No" to drugs campaign began. I remember them giving us t-shirts with a big chicken on them to wear to a Just Say No rally. As an aside that has absolutely nothing at all to do with this post, they burned Marijuana in school in front of us in the fifth grade as part of the Just Say No campaign- am I alone in thinking that's weird?

The point of this post is that I should have listened more closely. No, I don't have a drug problem. No, I am not making light of those that do. I have a "saying the word No" problem.

The evidence-

That's what 42 homemade treat bags and 94 homemade cupcakes look like. Or as I like to call it "domestic insanity".

Apparently, I'm a trendsetter. Who knew, right? Last year for the first time, I said "No, I wouldn't like to be the room mom. I'll send anything you need, anytime. But I don't want to be in charge." It was a beautiful year. I made more than my fair share of cupcakes and sent in plenty of treats. I even treated the third graders to breakfast one day in the spring. But there were no tedious details like filling treat bags full of junk. I didn't have to go over the checklist five times to see who paid for pizza and who didn't. And when it came to the last day of school party for the first graders? I- gasp- just wrote out a check to pay for my portion and did -bigger gasp- nothing else. Last year was a beautiful year. Until everyone else caught on.

This year rolls around and guess what? Nobody wants to be Room Mom anymore. Both of my kids teachers approached me about doing it. Good ole Mommy Guilt will get you every time. I have never been Duncan's Room Mom and he really wanted me too so I said sure, I'd love to be your Room Mom. So when Caroline's teacher approached me about the same subject, in front of Caroline no less, how could I say no? No really, I am asking, how would it have been possible to say no? Because apparently I am physically incapable of doing it.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy parts of it. I have to admit it felt great to hear kids in Duncan's class say " I want to be in your class every year, Duncan" after they saw their treats. And life doesn't get much easier than making cupcakes. Caroline was thrilled with her treat bags as well, especially because they weren't "babyish". And the parents sent in most of the "junk" that filled the bags. See below.

It's the exhaustion, financial expense, and time away from my family that I worry about. I mean, do kids really need a bag full of crap to celebrate a holiday? And why is it that parents think they do? And what is up with people griping because I didn't plan Pass the Pumpkin or Pumpkin relays for the pizza lunch on Wednesday? Pizza, Coke, Cupcakes and Mom & Dad suddenly aren't enough for lunch at school?

My biggest gripe, by far, is that parents feel the right to criticize the job another mom does when they, themselves are not willing to do it. Sure, they'll talk all day about what you are doing wrong but will they pick up the slack and do it themselves next year? No way Jose.

Okay. Now I feel better. Sorry about the complete negative tone of this post. I promise to post something "feel good and happy" in the next day or two. I just really needed to get that off my chest.

Boo To You!

I like Halloween, I really do, but I sure am glad it's over. It's been a looooooong week. We started with Trunk or Treat at church on Sunday. For this event, Casey had to work. I have handled all major holidays on my own, at least once, except for Halloween. Because of the demands of Casey's career we have had to make adjustments to our schedule and sometimes, even though we don't want to, we have to go on without him. But since Caroline was born it has been my policy that I do not do Halloween on my own. I have sat at home with my kiddos and watched TV on Mother's Day, I have sang carols and wrapped gifts with the kids by myself on Christmas Eve, but Trick or Treating, I do NOT do alone.

I really can't say why I don't want to do Halloween alone but I don't. I simply do not want to- it's confusing with all these kids everywhere dressed in costumes so you can't tell who is who. And strangers giving out candy and trying to decipher who is an okay stranger and who isn't. And then the kids coming off a sugar high and getting cranky fast. Then there's the weather, sometimes it's like 90 degrees and others it's 50. Who the hell came up with this holiday anyway?

Getting to the point of my story- this year I did Halloween alone. Twice. See why I'm glad it's over?

Caroline also decided to change her costume about 30 mintues before we went out Trick or Treating. On Sunday, Duncan was Mario from the Super Mario Bros. and Caroline was Princess Peach from the same game. No one knew who Caroline was supposed to be. Duncan won the costume contest. I'm sure you can guess how well that went over. So on Wednesday, instead of Princess Peach she went as a Chili's waitress. It was cute but not as cute as she hoped it would be, I think.

We have enough candy for a small nation of people now. And a slightly used Princess Peach costume. And 2 Mario hats- don't ask.

Back to the Future

Words that come from my kids mouths, that would never have come from mine at their age.......


"I didn't hear you my Ipod is on"

"Can I check who's calling?"

"Give me your phone and I'll call Dad and see if he is almost home"

"I'll just Google it"

"Can we rent a game for the Wii?"

"Did you feed my Webkinz?"

"Did a new movie come in the mail today?"

"Let's watch something that's Tivoed"

"Mom, did you burn the pictures to a disc yet?"

And the list goes on and on. Weird how much has changed in what seems like an incredibly short period of time. While my children ride in our car they can watch a DVD, talk on the phone, chat with each other over the wireless connection between their Nintendo's (this I can't even understand), listen to music on the Ipod which isn't any bigger than their pointer finger and it has all the music they need already on it or play with any number of small electronic devices.

Hmmm, let's see when I was a kid I once got carsick because I rode all the way to San Antonio on the floor of our suburban laying on a sleeping bag. I thought it was pretty cool. I had no games, entertainment systems or connection to the outside world. I did have my super cool yellow Sony sport Walkman. That thing was awesome, well it is awesome. I still have it. I don't use it now. I have a 30 GB Ipod I listen to now. When I remember to charge it. Ugh, the hassles of technology.

I also thought my green Canon 35 mm camera was awesome. Someone in New York now thinks of it as awesome. Probably a cab driver as that's where the love of my life left it. He brought me a green Polo sweater home from that trip. I wanted my camera. Now, I have a Canon Digital Rebel XT. I love it. It's amazing. I want a bigger, badder Canon camera, though. Maybe another guilt trip about my lost camera from 12 years ago would help speed that process along? My green Canon camera took film. Film that would hold 24 pictures at a time. My children have no concept of what any of the last two sentences mean. They speak "memory card".

Back in the day if you had a "car phone" you were loaded. I am pretty sure I saw a three year old with her own phone this week. My ten year is pretty convinced she's being neglected since we haven't yet purchased her her very own cell phone. Big news Miss Prissy Pants- ain't happenin'.

Once when I was home sick from school I was watching Wheel of Fortune with my grandmother and that was back when instead of just getting the money, when you won a round you "shopped" a specific room with your winnings. Well, this lady used her money to buy a VCR. This was when no one had a VCR. So, I believed that it was a machine that you hooked to your TV, typed in what you wanted to watch, and that appeared on your TV. I believed that I could get one of those and watch Facts of Life to my hearts content. That would have made a very, very happy girl. See, I sort-of invented Tivo. I love Tivo. I believe that Tivo may be the greatest invention of our generation. I do not ever want to watch television again without Tivo. Tivo is awesome, always awesome.