Mom for the Win!

Every once in awhile I have a genius mom moment.  I was inspired by this post on Oh Hello Friend, and then tweaked it to fit what I wanted it for...

I pitched the idea to the girls - and miracle of miracles - they didn't shoot it down.

They made end of year gifts for their 5th Grade friends!  I walked them through Danielle's directions and then they had at it...I made a sample and they made the rest.  Instead of the bags (they had to make almost 60 of these) it was cheaper to just washi tape them to cardstock and save the time stamping the bags...if we were just doing a few of them, I think the bags are absolutely fabulous.  For the cards, I just set up a table in a word doc to give the girls cutting and folding lines. 

Admittedly, I am not the crafty mom when it comes to school things.  Store bought is just fine with me.  BUT, I do love a good (glitter free) craft that the girls can make on their own and this one was just screaming to be made in our house. 

Chandler's Craft Space

In the fall, Chandler started lobbying for a craft room.  Seriously. 

So we compromised and Santa brought her a craft station. 

The desk and chair are both from IKEA.  We live about an hour or so away from one, so getting there was no easy feat.  Chris started putting it together two weeks before Christmas and realized that a shelf was missing.  So then he had to drive back to IKEA to get the shelf that had been left out of the box.  Ugh.

Chan is a crazy good crocheter!  She uses the top cubbies for yarn storage and the bottom cubbies to keep projects, and jars of supplies (hooks, buttons, stitch markers, etc).

She made the circle garland at her sewing class.  The wild and crazy flower art was made by my mother in the 70's (when she could have gone to the Art Institute in Chicago, but my grandparents told her no - that's where all the hippies were...um, yeah.  It was the 70's.)

Hanging on the wall?  Clipboards for her ideas, project and plans (so far she has plans for a sweater for Quinn - measurements and a sketch), fabulous art from Pen & Paint and something wonderful and true by Chrissie Grace Art. 

Even though it's not a craft room  I think she loves it.  I mean, I know I love it.  :)

Pen and Paint {and a story about big ugly faces}

I must admit, I got some pretty sweet swag at the Blue Ridge Craft Weekend (which I still need to tell you all about... I haven't forgotten, I'm just searching for the right words).  Sweet. Swag.  One of my favorite things was this print from Pen and Paint...

I have loved so many things in Lindsay's shop for so long now and have been so indecisive...so it was a wonderful thing for her to choose something for me - a fabulous gift!  And it looks perfect in my living room where I get to look at it all the time!

{and just in case you were wondering, I got the frame at Hobby Lobby.  Molly - stop cringing.  I think they're on sale this week...and thank you CB for that great find!}

**********************

On a completely unrelated side note....  The girls were fighting last night.  It happens sometimes.  Big sigh.  They were in their room yelling at each other and Chris was listening in the hallway.  One of them said to the other, "Shut your big ugly face.".  Not really an awesome thing to say to your sister, but my question is...Do they not realize that their faces are identical?????  Just sayin.

Race Day {and some extras}

So Chan talked us into taking her to a race this morning.  (When I say "us" I mean Chris in this case.)  This made for her 4th 5K.  

Here she is (with her sweet friend, Katie Grace) pre race....

And here she is coming into the finish line...

And here she is when she stopped running to pose for the camera (what the what???  who stops running at the end of a race to pose for the camera???  Um, yeah, Chan.  That's who.)

After the race...

She's so awesome.  Really.  She finished in 36 minutes...which would have been 35 if not for the posing.  Sheesh.

In other news....

This room has.got.to.get.cleaned this weekend.  Today.  Seriously.  It's beyond ridiculous.  (That's why I am blogging though, to procrastinate.)

Gah!  Such a terrible state of a craft room.

I took this picture yesterday after a class left the library.  I hate it when this happens...

I am all for book browsing.  I am not for book browsing and then leaving them on the floor.  Just not for that.  *shakes head*

And this baby is about to be introduced to the world...

I am so in love with it!  Bracelet?  Yep.  Opera length necklace?  Yep.  Double strand necklace?  Yep, it can do that too!  I've wore mine a billion times since I made it a couple of weeks ago.  So in love.  {I'm thinking it will be posted...tomorrow?  Monday?...we'll see!}

Lap Blankets

The girls came home with these lap blankets from Pop Pop last weekend...

 

...and they are so excited about them!

1.  Because they are beautiful and they love them.
2.  Because Pop Pop told them the story of these lap blankets.  His mother made them and used to put them on the pews at church for people to use if they were cold.  Pop Pop wanted the girls to have these two because he wanted to pass them down in the family.

They are taking this task very seriously and have already talked about how they can't wait to give them to their children.

First Day of School

I left before everyone was ready for school this morning, so Chris had to take the pictures....

There was this cute one...

{first day of 5th grade, first day of pre-k}

When they got to school, Chris realized that he hadn't taken any pictures of them with the backpacks on (something I always do) so he did that on their way in the building...

Um, yeah.

And apparently, he had the attitude to match (or at least he did by the time I got there to pick them up).

I asked the three of them to wait while I filled out some after school program paperwork.  He said no.

The principal told him to sit.

He said no and then sat on the floor the middle of the lobby kicking his feet.

Then he bolted out the front door and I had to chase him to bring him back in.

Then once it was time to leave, he took off again...and tried to run from the principal when he squatted down to talk to him.

He moaned almost the whole way home and would not talk about his day.  At all.

He told us two things...

1.  There was a boy a girl that weren't very nice on the playground.

2.  He ate carrots.

Big sigh.

{Mrs. Spry, we miss you!}

Camp Pick Up

Our summer came to a screeching halt last week.  Chris went into work to take care of a few little things and came out knowing that he was booked for preplanning days and had massive amounts to prepare and so ended our summer with Chris home.  This also meant me+kids+end of summer=many fights.  Just sayin.

And a lot of it came down to missing Chan.  We were all missing Chan.

She is kind of our swing state.  She can hang out with Casey, she can play with Quinn and mostly she is just really, really good at her middle child position - she helps to keep the peace between the other two.

We received letters from her throughout the week - mainly about port-a-potties and caribbean bacon - and we were chomping at the bit to pick her up on Friday.

Here's Casey at the Closing Celebration at camp...she looks like she's chomping at the bit, doesn't she?  But I promise you, she was.

Finally re-united!  {Do you see how tired she is???  And did you notice that she is wearing her shirt backwards?  She liked the tie dye on the back of the shirt better than what happened on the front and now she is insistent that it is ok to wear the shirt backwards.}

We asked her if there was anything that she wanted to show us at camp...this was first on the list...

...there was a litter of kittens behind the dining hall that she visited everyday and couldn't wait to share them with Casey and Quinn.

We also went to the chapel (where, according to Chan, they had two hours of Jesus everyday).   When you leave the chapel, there is this sign...

...and I am pretty sure that it sums up everything that Camp Glisson is about.

Chan had an amazing week!  She made great friends, tried all sorts of new and awesome things (zip line, archery, kayaking) and a fabulous camp counselor....  She wants to go back again and again and again and one day be a camp counselor there.  (Which was exactly what we were hoping for - that this might become her thing.)

I loved the conversations that night over dinner...they would go a little something like this...

Me:  So what was the worst thing about camp?
Chan: Um, probably having to use the bathroom at the camp out.  Either pee in the woods or use the port-a-potty.
Quinn:  Well if I went to camp I would love to use the bathroom at the camp out.  I love to pee outside. (pause) Is that cool?

It is good to have all of us back together again.

And I won't have to go through that again until next summer.

Youth Art Month Exhibit

The girls were bouncing off the walls last week when they brought home invitations to the Youth Art Month exhibit at the Lamar Dodd Art Building at UGA...where their work would be on display with other students' art from the district.  They were having a special reception for the artists over the weekend and so, well, being the good, supportive, (and PROUD) parents that we are, we went. 

As a special surprise, I invited Aunt Molly, without them knowing, to join us.  Molly and I went out to lunch first and then met Chris and the kids in the parking lot at the art building.  We could hear the girls (and Q) screaming when they saw her get out of the car.  If Molly didn't already know how much all three of my children love her I think she figured it out in that moment. 

Casey's artwork was a landscape design...

...clearly the work of a genius.

Chandler's was an abstract art self portrait...

...clearly the next Picasso.  She was SUPER excited about the third eye.

{Molly, Casey and Chandler}

Chandler...how I love this child...part 2

This child.  Oh how she cracks me up.  This was part of our conversation on the way home this afternoon:

Chandler:  Mama, when you were a little girl did you go to a one room school?

Me:  Chan, how old do you think I am?

Chan:  Um, 33.

Me:  Right.  And when did they have one room school houses?

Casey:  The 1800's.

Chan:  Oh, yeah.  I forgot about that part.

And then as I was telling my mom about this conversation I told her that if I was old enough in Chan's mind for the one room school house, then that means that she (who grew up in downtown Chicago) must have not gone to school because she was too busy milking Mrs. O'Leary's cow.

 She also said this on the way home....

Chan:  So there's this girl at school, Gwen, and she's half Ireland.
Me:  Irish?
Chan:  Oh, yeah, Irish.  Not Ireland.  That's the place.
Me:  So it would be kind of funny of she was half Ireland.

And then there was this last night...

Me:  So do you think you're going to be happy at your new school?
Chan:  Yeah.  As long as my underwear isn't wet.
Me:  Um.  I just said, so do you think you are going to like your new school?
Chan:  Yes, and I said, as long as my underwear isn't wet.
Me:  I don't understand what you're talking about.
Chan:  Wet underwear.
Me:  I'm really confused.
Chan:  I just sat in something wet in the kitchen and now my underwear is wet and wet underwear is really uncomfortable and so as long as my underwear isn't wet, then, yeah, I'll like my new school just fine.

Sewing 101

The girls asked for a sewing machine for Christmas.  Seriously. 

I had brought out my mom's old sewing machine (like a 1982 Kenmore that weighed 100lbs and made this God awful clunk-clunk noise) back in the spring and we made pillows together.  And then they started begging for their own machine. 

But, I had no idea what a good sewing machine really was, or what would work well to teach kids to sew on, what would last, etc.  I didn't want something junky, but I also didn't have $400 or $500 to spend on a machine.

And then Elizabeth posted this with a link to this and I felt like I had hit the jackpot.  {And if you don't already read E Tells Tales, then you should.  Girl is funny, I tell you!}

So Santa hooked them up with the sewing machine and and all the trimmings, and the plan was for Meme and Great Gram to help get us started on our way.  Because I had never sewed anything (start to finish) from a pattern before and really had no idea what I was doing.  I am also highly aware that I get irritated when I don't know how to do something and I didn't want to ruin Christmas that way.  But Mem's and Gram left before the sewing could commence.  (Aaaaagggghhhhhhh!  That was me freaking out in my head.)

So I talked Chris into making a skirt with me when the kids went to bed.  That way we could figure this whole pattern thing out between the two of us and I could cuss and not scare my children.  And then I would know what I was doing and could walk them through it.  (Have I told you lately that Chris is the best husband/father ever???) 

So we did, and then I did, and now two little girls are very happy to have their own handmade skirts!

 

**As I am typing this, Chan is pinning together squares of fabric and sewing them together...just for practice.  I think I might have a seamstress on my hands!**

Conversations Overheard

This was the conversation that these crazy two had on the way home today...

Chandler:  Don't you think that we should open a shop together when we grow up?
Casey:  Yes!  Pendley's Closet?
Chandler:  No.  Sparkle Star.
Casey:  Um, why Sparkle Star?
Chandler:  Because when we grow up we're going to be glowing.

And that could really mean a whole lot of different things, now couldn't it?

I love overhearing kids' conversations, don't you?

ps - I made a haircut appointment for Monday.  Hooray!

The Spelling Bee

The girls have been hard at work, quizzing each other THE WHOLE WAY home with spelling bee words.  {shoot me now}

This was what happened today:

Casey:  Solve.
Chandler:  What?
Casey:  The word is:  solve.
Chandler: s-u-l-v-e
Casey:  Egh.  Wrong!  Try again...solve.
Chandler: n-o-c-h-o
Casey:  WHAT?????  What word is that????  That doesn't sound anything like solve!!!
Chandler:  I know.  I'm not spelling solve.  I'm spelling nacho. 
Casey:  Whaaaattttt????  But your word isn't nacho!!!!
Chandler:  It's three words down on the list.  And I'd rather spell nacho.
Casey:  *disgusted, big sigh*  Well, you spelled nacho wrong too. 

Humph.  Something tells me that we won't be going to the National Spelling Bee this year.

Chandler...how I love this child.

When my mother arrived on Saturday, I told her that her main job was to ensure that I didn't kill any of the children. 

Seriously.

I am not kidding.

She offered to clean the bathrooms and mop the kitchen floor.  I took a pass on those things and again gave her her weekend job description...Protector of Children.

Although, it would be difficult to kill this one...she's just too cute...and slightly awkward...which makes her even cuter if you ask me.

This is Chan being sad.

Why is she wearing that outfit?  I have no idea.  She spent two hours in her room cleaning and this is how she came downstairs.  Purple jeggings, yellow tutu, penguin shirt and a winner of a hat.

This is Chan being happy.  Aw, yeah, boyzzzzzz....

And here is a close up picture of the creation on her head.  Just in case you need one.  I know I did.

She crocheted it completely by herself.  I think it kind of looks like the hat (not the colors, of course, but the style) on the singing telegram girl in the movie Clue.  And that kind of creeps me out.  Her stitches though, are tremendous.  Like, really, really good (in her mother's opinion) for a nine year old and I am totally encouraging this craft....I could use a new sweater and I think she's just the girl to make it for me. 

Of course, my sweater might have three arms and have to be tied together with yarn in the back.  Just sayin.

I hope you like it.  You might be getting one from her as a Christmas present this year.

It was a confusing morning.

I woke the girls up at 5:55 this morning.  Casey had been up in the middle of the night and went ahead and got dressed for school and then went back to sleep.  (Not really sure why.  I try not to question things like there.  There is typically no answer.)

I then went downstairs to start the coffee.  At 6:00am there was screaming upstairs.  Like, screaming at each other type screaming, upstairs.  I moved a little slower, not really wanting to deal with whatever was going on upstairs, because really...what is there to scream about at 6:00am?  When you are 9 years old...nothing.  There is no good reason to scream at your sister at that time of day.

When I dragged myself back upstairs, Chan was waiting at the top, sobbing hysterically that she had laid out a skirt and tights for today and now they.were.gone.  And then she kept starting things with the phrase, "And it seems to me...", like, "And it seems to me that there are now only one pair of tights!"  (Which Casey had on.)  Weeping.  The child was weeping.  And stomping her feet and was generally out of control.

I followed her into their bedroom to search for the tights and skirt.  She apparently had searched by dumping out the entire contents of her dresser into a big pile in the middle of her floor.  Awesome.  She flopped on the bed, wailing, "Whhhhhhhhyyyyyyy??????  Why is this happening?  It seems to me that something (directed at Casey) has happened to my tiiiiiiiiigggghhhhhttttsssss!"  *more flopping and sobbing*

I walked into her closet *gasp, the mess* and went directly to her cubby where she lays out her clothes for each day.  Humph.  Low and behold, the tights and skirt were in TUESDAY'S box, people.  TUESDAY. 

"Um, Chan?  Your skirt and tights are right.here.....in Tuesday's box."

Sobbing..."This morning is just sooooooooo *hiccup* connnnnnnnnffffffusssssing."

Yes, yes indeed, it was a most confusing morning.

They really are blond.

The girls and I watched Soul Surfer together last night.  I read the book (and loved it!) years ago when it first came out and meant to take the girls to see the movie over the summer and just never got around to it.  Soooooo...we rented it off Amazon, streamed it and viola! a fun, girl, Saturday night.  (Chris and Quinn played upstairs during the movie .)

Prior to watching the movie, we prepped the girls for it...young teenage surfer girl, shark attack, loses an arm, strong faith, bravery, courageous, gets back in the water...and talked about how it had a PG rating so the shark attack scene couldn't be too, too, too terrible.

They were ready.  I was ready.  We were all ready.  When that particular scene happened, the girls hid under the blanket until things were less bloody.  All was well.

Then I realized that perhaps, all was not well when Chan said {and I am not kidding}, "Why is she trying so hard to surf right now?  Why doesn't she just wait until her arm grows back?"

Thud.

{That was me hitting my head against the wall.}

Later in the movie, the shark is killed and they call the father to bring down her surf board from the attack so that they can see if the teeth match.  It does and the father leaves the scene on the brink of tears.  As he was walking away, Casey said {and I am not kidding}, "Really?  Really?  He's just gonna leave and not get her arm back???"

Thud.

{That was me hitting my head against the wall...again.}

And the end of the movie, after the girls declared that it was just "-ish" Chandler said {and I am not kidding}, "I don't care how much they paid me, I would not want to be the actress in that movie, because I would NOT want to get my arm cut off for a movie."

Thud.


{That was me hitting my head against the wall...yet again.}

Roller Skating 101

You may be wondering where Casey is at the beginning of the video.  Just hold tight, you'll see her and her skating prowess approx 12 seconds in.  Trust me.  You'll want to stick around for that.

Dance Class

Really super pictures, right?  :)  I had PTO Thursday night at my school so Chris and Quinn had to take the girls to dance class.  Without me.  The first one of the year.  It made me kinda sad to miss it.  This year they are taking class at the Hamilton Mill Studio (whew!  yet another drive to make!) because with all of the changes in our lives, I wanted somethings for the girls to stay consistent.  Miss Bethany is that consistency.  Can I tell you how much the girls (Casey especially) adore her?  A.Dore.Her.  I am really excited about this year.  Chan has decided to go back to dance after taking a few years off.  She's in ballet and jazz.  And Casey has moved up another level for her ballet and tap.  I can't wait to see what this year holds for them.

Chandler

This child is a gem.  Seriously.  She makes me laugh every.single.day of my life.  Without fail.

We have had about a billion conversations about bodies these days - developing and periods and sex and babies.  They have lots of questions.  And I am trying my best to answer them.

Last night, while on the way home from the 3 of us running errands, Casey made a comment about how it seems like all the men in our family get cancer, so she's glad to be a girl.  I had to break the news that there have been some women with cancer too.  Like my Grandma Fondriest, who had breast cancer.  

Chandler:  What?  Breast Cancer?  What is that?
Me:  Its cancer in your boob.
Chandler:  WHAT????  I thought that you mostly couldn't get cancer in your boob or your butt.

Oh, dear, sweet child.  I have a feeling the questions and crazy comments are just beginning.  I think it is going to be a wild ride.

You Never Know When You're Going to Have to Bust a Move

I cleaned out the girls' dressers this weekend.  It is a terrible job.  But someone has to do it.  And somehow that someone is always me.  Although, I roped Chris into being my folding sidekick, so that was helpful.

I noticed that Casey had about 50 pairs of underwear and Chandler had, oh, um, maybe 5.  Five pairs of underwear.  That's all.

Me:  Chandler, what happened to all of your underwear?  Why does Sister have all of the underwear?
Chan:  Oh, I've pretty much stopped wearing them.

*and then my jaw hit the floor*

Me:  Why?  Why would you do that?
Chan:  Oh.  Casey told me that you dance better if you're not wearing any underwear.  So I don't wear them all the time.  Because you just never know when you're going to have to bust a move.

*Yes, folks, that's right.  You just never know when you're going to have to bust a move.*

Me:  Ok, Chan.  From now on, you have to always wear underwear.   God forbid you and daddy were in an accident on the way to school and the paramedics had to cut your pants off you for some reason and you weren't wearing underwear.  You would be completely embarrassed, wouldn't you?

*I realize if paramedics were cutting her pants off of her that we would have bigger problems than a naked hiney.  But it made a point to her.  And Chris also interjected that if she ripped her pants on the playground it would be really embarrassing if everyone saw her bare behind.*

So she promised that she would wear underwear from now on.

After Casey got out of the shower, I questioned her about the underwear situation.

Me:  Case, are you wearing underwear everyday?
Casey:  *puzzled look on her face* Yes.
Me:  Because Sister said that you told her that not wearing underwear makes you dance better.
Casey:  I told her that I don't wear underwear to dance class because I have on the tights and leotard and I dance better in them.  You told me not to wear underwear.

*Which is true, because she's at the age now where its not cute to have your underwear down around your thighs at the end of class.  And the tights are meant to be worn without underwear.*

Chandler:  Oh.  I think I might have misunderstood.

*Gee, ya think????*

I Just Looked Up

I just looked up and saw Chandler trying to lick her armpit through her sweater.  Yes, you read that right.  Trying to LICK her armpit.  So I watched her and she continued trying to lick her armpit for several minutes.  When she stopped she looked right at me...and said nothing.  Nothing.

Me:  Um, Chan, what were you just doing?
Chan:  Trying to lick my armpit.  (And she says this like its a normal thing.)
Me:  Whyyyyyyyyyy?
Chan:  To answer a science question.
Me:  Um.....  *eyebrows raised*
Chan:  Can a human lick their own armpits?
Me:  And?
Chan:  Yes.  Yes, they can.