Pumpkin Patch

This is my front porch, and yes those pumpkins are ALL ours.  I never meant to have this many.  Here's how it happened.  


I bought the first pumpkin (the one in the middle) almost a month ago, when the pumpkins first came out in the grocery store.  I couldn't help it.  It was the most perfectly round shaped brilliantly orange colored pumpkin I had ever seen.  I had to get it, especially since it was only five bucks.  It was the only pumpkin I had for the past few weeks.  Then over the weekend I decided to buy a few more pumpkins at the grocery store, before there were only rejects left.  So I got two big ones and three little ones for everyone in the family.  That was in addition to the big one I already had.  I thought maybe I shouldn't have gotten that many at the time, but they were a good price and this way we all had one to carve.  Little did I know that Lana would come home from school with one more to add to the collection yesterday.  Then we went to story time at the Library this morning, where Lana and GG each got to take home yet ANOTHER pumpkin.  Now we're up to NINE.  NINE PUMPKINS! The best part about all this, Sonya's school has "pumpkin patch day" today. All the kids get to pick out a pumpkin to bring home.  That will make ten.  TEN!!


Melinda, I don't think you need to pick up a pumpkin to carve for Saturday night.  


By the way-can anyone tell me how to go about making pumpkin bread using fresh pumpkin?  I think I may have a couple to use...

A Haunted Dinner

Last night at dinner Andy and I came up with another creative way to get Lana to eat.  I've mentioned a few times here and here on this blog about Lana and her eating habits, or lack thereof.  Most dinner time meals are a struggle to get her to even taste anything, and last night was no exception.  So when an opportunity presented itself with a way to get Lana to finish her dinner, or at least start it, we took it.  This time-fear of ghosts!


While we were in the middle of dinner, the ice maker in the freezer dumped out the recent ice it had made, making a bit of a noise. Andy and I recognized the sound immediately, but the girls all asked,


"What was that?!"


I'm not sure why I started it.  I guess because it's close to Halloween and we have all the decorations up.  Plus sometimes it's fun to scare your kids.  So  I said,


"Oh I don't know what that could have been.  Maybe the ghost?"


Andy took this and added to it.  "Oh yeah, it's the ghost.  You better eat your dinner Lana before the ghost comes out."


Right on cue another sound came from the freezer.  Lana's eye's got really big. Then Andy pierced a piece of Lana's chicken with her fork and encouraged her to eat it.  She immediately did.  Then I suggested it was a food eating ghost that was going to come eat her food if she didn't.  


At this point all the girls were questioning whether we were joking or not.  We told them we were quite serious and Andy even started to look around nervously like the ghost was going to come get us at any minute.  I was having a harder time not breaking character and let a giggle go a couple times.  Lana wasn't paying attention to me though.  She  was taking it all seriously and eating every bite of her dinner. 


Sonya, who tends to get the most scared of just about everything, started to get really nervous.  I quietly whispered to her that we were just joking, so she wouldn't flip out.  She of course took that information and announced it to the rest of the table after a couple of minutes.  No matter though, Lana had finished her meal.  No ghosts were coming to get her food!  


So the latest getting Lana to eat tactic worked!  Eventually, she did realize we weren't serious and there were no ghosts.  Okay so maybe we connected being scared and eating for Lana, which may be harmful to her psyche later, but whatever, we got her to eat.  Besides, it's nothing a therapist can't fix in a few years.  We'll just add it to the list.  

Taking Her Turn As "The Favorite"

Okay I feel kinda bad, because I realized it's been a while since I featured little Georgia in a post.  It's not because I don't care about her as much or she doesn't do things to write about.  In fact if anything, she does or says things on a daily basis that are too adorable for words and, if I'm being honest, she's my favorite right now. Wait! Let me explain, before you deem me a terrible mother.  I love all three of my girls equally.  I really do.  I would never be able to choose one over another a la Sophie's Choice.  HOWEVER, there are times where I may LIKE one more than the others.  This is constantly changing according to the day, week, what's going on with them, what's going on with me, how old they are, etc.  There are times when I've liked each of them a bit better than the other, but lately Georgia has been in the lead.


It's mostly her age.  This is my favorite age. It was for the other two as well.  They are a  more self sufficient than a baby you have to do everything for, yet they are still baby like.  It's also the age, where they aren't  talking back and when they say silly things.  Sure they may have a temper tantrum, but you're quicker to forgive it.  Partially because they still don't quite understand everything yet.  Most of the time Georgia is her worst when her sisters are around.  When she's alone with me she is a peach.  A very sweet, Georgia peach.  (Sorry, had to.) We went to Target yesterday, while her sisters were in school, and she sat in the back of the shopping cart, munching on popcorn as I shopped for almost an hour.  I barely heard a peep out of her.


She is always saying things that are so cute and come from nowhere.  Her new favorite phrase is "is you say so!"  She hardly uses is in the right context, but she loves to say it to me.  I laugh every time.  She loves to sing. I hear her when she's alone singing songs she's learned from her class.  Then there is the funny thing she does after she's performed or gotten a big laugh for something she said.  I won't tell you what it is, because she does it at the end of the video I posted here.  I have no idea where she even learned that.  She is also very lovey, which is more her personality and not really her age.  Sometimes I will be sitting on the couch or doing the dishes and she'll walk up to me, kiss my leg and say,


"I wuv you mommy."


She does that to Andy to.  She'll randomly kiss his arm or a finger.   Two days ago, our friend Jamie was here visiting from Boston.  Toward the end of her visit, Georgia walked over to her and kissed her leg.  I thought Jamie was going to melt into a puddle right there on the floor.  It is really does take you by surprise and melt your heart when she does it.


Plus she's just so damn cute right now!  Her smiles and this one little look she gives me, which I can't even explain, just kill me.   This morning when I got her up I kept telling her I was going to eat her up with a spoon.  I say this often and usually she responds with


"Nooo! I not want you to eat me up!"


But today she told me,


"Go get a poon mommy!"


See!  It's things like that.  Put all that together and it's easy to see why I like her just a teensy bit better than the other two right now.  Especially, when I'm having to fight Lana on just about everything this week, and Sonya and I seemed to have a progressed our relationship to a state I wasn't expecting until she was a teenager.  Already I know nothing.  At least as far as she's concerned.  Don't get me wrong, Georgia has her moments and even her days when she's being the big pain in the ass.  Usually Sonya or Lana is being better at that point, moving them to a more favorite position.  But GG is just the one who seems to be the easiest, cutest, and most lovable these days.  Like I said I LOVE them all the same, but I'm sure all you parents out there know what I'm talking about.  Sometimes we just don't LIKE them all the same.  I would have never understood this four years ago, but now, now it makes perfect sense and you know what?  It's completely OK.


I mean how could I not favor all this cuteness right now??


*For whatever reason, blogger would not let me upload my video.  If you go to youtube here you can view the video.  Enjoy!

Bedtime

This is what Friday night at my house looks like.  Three sippy cups of water for the girls, a glass (plus extra) of wine for me.  While it's not Irony, like the name of the wine, I thought it was a bit ironic that I did not set this picture up.  I got all the drinks ready then turned around saw this.  Truthfully this picture has less to do with irony and more to do with sanity.  Mine.  

A Window in Her Mouth

It finally happened!  Friday afternoon Sonya lost her first tooth.  You know, the one that's been lose for A MONTH AND A HALF now.  I had no idea teeth could take so long to come out from the first wiggle, but apparently they do.  It actually hadn't gotten much more lose since she discovered it until Thursday.  


After dinner, Sonya decided to eat a pear.  About half way through she came to me and told me her tooth felt more lose.  I tested it for myself and found that it was indeed moving more freely, and probably less than a day from coming out.  I grabbed a "magic tissue" (something my mom has used to get loose teeth out for us when we were kids, and for her first grade students now.)  Alas, the magic tissue wasn't ready to cast it's spell just yet.  Since we knew it would be soon, Sonya decided to get her note to the tooth fairy all prepared and ready to go.  This was her first draft.  

It reads: "Dear tooth fairy                                   I don't now
               hi I am wateing                                    yar name please put name
               for my tooth to come out. ps. I want
               makeup for my prize.
               From Sonya To tooth Fairy


Then we had the discussion AGAIN about how the tooth fairy does not bring prizes and toys, but money.  That's it.  Only money.  And not a ton of money, but maybe a dollar or so.  Then she told me about her friend Kimberly who got $20 when she lost two of her teeth from the tooth fairy.  TWENTY DOLLARS!!  I covered saying that if she lost two teeth at once she most likely had to have them pulled at the dentist office.  Since that hurts a lot, the tooth fairy probably gave her extra money for the pain.  Although it might have been cheaper to just give the kid a Vicodin, but whatever.  


I'm sorry, but I just can not justify giving this much money for a TOOTH!  I have three kids who will be all losing teeth around the same time.  What am I supposed to say to them when they have no money for college?

"Sorry we couldn't save for your college, honey.  We spent it all when you lost your teeth!"  

I'd love to get other opinions on this.  Anyone?

End of angry tangent.

Friday morning she woke up and we tried to pull it again, but it was still not coming out easily.  I didn't want to have to really pull hard.  I figured when it was time it would be an easy pull.  Sonya's not one for pain, so I wanted to go slow.  Later that day, when I picked her up from school, she came running to me,


"Mommy, Mommy!  Feel how loose my tooth is NOW!"

The little guy was hanging by a thread.  It was time.  


We got home and I grabbed one more magic tissue. Third time's a charm!  Sure enough, with one little pull out came by first baby's first baby tooth.  It was so tiny sitting there in the tissue.  It's funny how teeth look so much bigger in our mouths.  


"It's out!" I yelled.


She did a little squeal and then got a funny look on her face because she tasted the blood.  I told her not to worry, just rinse out her mouth a little and the bleeding would stop.  Then she ran to the mirror to see her new reflection.  Both Lana and Georgia were interested to see her mouth and little tooth too, so she showed everything off to them, with a big smile the whole time.  


We talked about where to put the tooth for the tooth fairy so it wouldn't get lost, and Sonya decided to write her a new note.  I told her I liked her note she wrote, but she insisted she needed a new one since she had asked for makeup in the other one and tooth fairy doesn't leave make up. So here is the second note that was left:

It read: "Dear tooth fairy hi I was 
            wateing for my tooth 
            to come out. From Sonya
            to tooth Fairy
  
                                                           can you pleas put your name"


First of all somewhere between the first and second note she figured out the correct spelling of "your".  That was pretty impressive.  The pictures are of the tooth fairy and teeth on rings, for some reason.  Not really sure what the tooth fairy is standing next to.  My friend Melinda suggested it looked like a Diaper Genie, but I don't really think the tooth fairy needs one of those, so who knows.  


That night Sonya was so excited to leave her tooth and the note out.  Andy and I were excited to find a name for the tooth fairy and leave some money behind.  After much discussion, we decided to give her two dollars, for her first tooth only, and a dollar afterward.  The tooth fairy explained this in the note she left for Sonya.  Tooth Fairy's name?  Well, Andy went on line to some kind of fairy name finder.  The kind where you put your name in and it it comes up with your fairy name.  After trying a few, we decided on:


Cerylia RainbowShimmer


Feel free to use it for your kids if they ask.  


The next morning when she woke up she came running out of her room waving the note and the money.  She was thrilled with her two dollars, and could have cared less that it wasn't twenty. 




Well, like I said, in the end Sonya didn't care what she got.  She was happy that the tooth fairy paid her a visit and that she got something. Andy also pointed out to her that even better than money, she made a friend.  Cerylia was so happy to have someone ask her name and she wrote a very nice note to Sonya. She seemed to take quite a liking to her.  Okay, okay I know she's a MADE UP friend, but Sonya doesn't know that...yet.  Hopefully, we have a least a year or two before she does.  Then she can be mad at us for making her tooth fairy cheap.  

Little Miss Smarty Pants

A few weeks ago, I got a letter in the mail from Sonya's school informing us that she would, once again, be receiving an award.  I talked about the award she received last January in Kindergarten on this blog and how proud we were of her for being a "Peace Builder".  This time she would be receiving an award for Academic Achievement.  Yes, I will brag and say we have a very smart daughter.  It appears we are raising a bit of a nerd in fact. As it turns out, that's good when you're on the parent side of life.  I know it's not so great when you're the smart kid being called the nerd, but she is still only a first grader.  I don't think kids start labeling until a little further on in school, but she's certainly headed in that direction.  That's fine by me!  Better than being the troublemaker.  I may end up with one of those too, though.  We'll see.  


Andy and I went to the school yesterday for the assembly to watch Sonya receive her award.  She was so proud of herself and happy to get it.  What she was even more excited about, was when her friend Gwen's name was called up for an award as well.  Sonya became so thrilled for Gwen I thought she was going to fall head first off the bleachers.  I think I may have been more proud about her enthusiasm for her friend, than I was for her to actually get her own award.  I love how she is so happy for others good fortune.  That's a rare thing to find in most people, let alone kids.  


Later on, after school, she was sitting at the kitchen counter getting ready to do her homework.  We were talking again about her award and how proud of her I was.  I told her that she had received that award because she does such hard work and that it's important to keep it up.  Then she said to me, 


"You know mom, the principal is just like Santa."


I couldn't wait to hear this one.  So I asked, "Why's that Sonya?"


"Well, because Principal Taylor sees all the students and watches them and gives you an award if you do a good job." She told me.  "Santa does the same thing.  Except he give you presents."


"I guess that's true," I agreed.  


It's a pretty smart comparison, if you ask me.  Then again, I guess that's why she got the Academic Achievement award.  

Working On Her Resume For PETA

Yesterday was mine and Andy's ninth anniversary.  Nine years!  Damn!  How did that happen?  What happened to time?  I mean when I was seven it seemed like Christmas took nine years to come every year.  Now every time I turn around we're celebrating the holidays.  I'm not liking this time moving so quickly thing.  Okay, that's not what I came here to talk about today, though.  Back to the anniversary.  


Andy and I decided to buy a couple of lobsters for our anniversary dinner instead of spending the money going out to dinner.  No, they are not the Maine Lobsters you get in Rhode Island in the middle of the summer, but they're actually pretty good.   A wee bit more expensive than the ones from the other coast, but eh, it was our anniversary.  


After I picked up Sonya from Girls Scouts yesterday, I stopped at the grocery store to buy the lobsters.  Every time we go to the grocery shopping the girls want to go over to the tank and see the lobsters, so the fact that we were actually going to take a couple out and bring them home was exciting for them.  Only, they didn't quite get what they were coming home for.  


We stood at the tank and picked out which ones we would get.  Then the Ralph's employee came over to wrangle them out of the tank and into a bag.  They were not so happy to go and each of them flipped their tail as the exited the water.  Lana and Sonya looked on a little frightened, but Georgia giggled and wanted to take more out.  After they were weighed and safely tucked in the going home bag, we went to the front to pay.  Then we headed out to the car to go home.  As I was buckling them in their seats, Lana asked me,


"What da yobsters for?"


"Well, they're for mommy and daddy to have for dinner.  For our anniversary." I told her as honestly as I could.  


"NO, but you not going to EAT DEM!  You get sick!" She insisted.


"Yes we are going to eat them, Lana.  They're yummy," I tried to tell her again.  


"No!  You just joking, mommy.  You get sick if you eat dem."  This went on for a bit.


 Then she said, "But they're for your ANNIVERSARY!"  I'm not really sure what that was supposed to mean.  I think she thought I bought them to keep them as pets or something.  A little present for Andy and I.  Perhaps they could be the new little dog.  Oh look she has a lobster in her purse!  How cute!!  Who knows what she thought?  I kept trying to tell her I was going to cook them for dinner,  she kept brushing me off saying, 


"No, you just joking!"  


I suppose I can see why she thought this, since Andy jokes about things quite often with the girls.  I mean why on earth would we want to eat giant bug looking things that came out of the water?  This is definitely something Andy would try to sell  them.  Then I realized that maybe she couldn't really put together the whole killing a live thing and eating it concept, even though we do eat meat and chicken in our family.  However, if she knew where those things came from, she might not anymore.  So I let it go and I finally said, 


"Okay, Lana, you're right.  We're just going to keep the lobsters."


Then she said, "So you gonna EAT DEM?"  


I can not win with that kid.  








P.S. They were delicious!