Virtual Coffee

Good morning!!! I've got the coffee brewing, I have fabulous creamers for you to choose from and I have a list of things to do a mile long. So, if I randomly break from our conversation to frantically write down yet another thing I need to get done before Thursday, please forgive me.

If we were really having coffee today...I'd tell you that both girls had recitals this week at the church they attend on Wednesday nights. They go to Pioneer Club, which is kind of like a church-y scouts program. Even Julia gets to go. They both love it and look forward to Wednesdays. Julia did a fantastic job in hers. It was on Wednesday night for 2-5 year olds and she sang and did all the hand movements and didn't come running over to me like I thought she would. She's getting so big.

Elisabeth's recital was done in front of the whole church on Sunday morning. Do you see her? she's in the second row from the top. Peter's right below her and Mabel's two people to Elisabeth's left. Henry is up there somewhere, but I don't think I got him in the shot. Elisabeth loves to sing in front of people, so I knew she'd do a fabulous job.
As we sat and chitchatted over our lovely coffee...you'd probably notice our Hanukkah things.
Last year, Elisabeth asked a million questions about Hanukkah. She loved hearing the story behind it and wanted to know if we could celebrate it this year. Of course, I said yes. So, I've been doing a lot of homework on Hanukkah and why/how it's celebrated. I actually knew very little about it. I found some fabulous children's books to read to the girls and then headed out to Target to get a menorah, driedel and the candles. I have a couple of Jewish friends that I've talked to Hanukkah about and what they do to celebrate. I have a recipe for latkes and we made homemade applesauce on my fabulous canning weekend that we'll be eating as well. What I love is that Elisabeth is so excited. I love that she's interested in other's beliefs and wants to explore them and incorporate them into our beliefs. I think it's wonderful and I'm proud of her.

If we were sitting at my house drinking coffee...we'd be talking about how the high for Thanksgiving is 28 degrees. I would then tell you that last Thursday, we were playing at the park waiting for Elisabeth to get out of school and the temperatures were in the high 60s!! While Julia played in the sand pit, Elisabeth was having her second recess on her school's playground in the background.
I'd tell you how I'm insane about capturing pictures of the mountains.
I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm going to miss them when we move this summer. They've become such a part of my every day. I completely understand why pioneers stopped here on their journey west, took one look at this unbelievable mountain range and said, "Yep. This is it. This is home." I feel the same way.
As we were wrapping up our coffee date...I'd ask what you're doing for Thanksgiving. You'd tell me about your plans and who's visiting you or who you're visiting.
I'd tell you how we're skipping the shopping on Friday because my in-laws are coming and we're heading to Boulder for a day of fun and exploring. I'm so excited. I've never been to Boulder.

Before you go, I'd show you Julia jumping. It's one of my favoritest things she does right now.

Please head over to Ms. Amy at Lucky Number 13 for more coffee chit chat and fun!!! See you next week!!

Good morning!

Friday morning, Evan woke me up around 6:ooAM.

"Virginia. Hey, you need to wake up and see this."

I opened one eye and saw that our bedroom was bathed in a beautiful pink. Evan was peeking out the blinds of our window. He turned to smile at me and said, "You're going to want your camera."

I walked outside to see this:

He knows me so well.

Oops.

Apparently, I did not post yesterday. Evan pointed it out to me today when I finally emerged from the world I was in.

I was reading.

I've been reading for 2 days. I couldn't stop. When I did stop, I was still thinking about the book, wanting to know what happened next, replaying the parts I'd already read over and over because it was so well written and I was so enamored by the story and the characters.

What was I reading? This:

No, I haven't seen the movie yet. I hear it's not near as good as the book. They never are. But, I did put it on my Netflix queue.

What completely hooked me was the writing. It's told from Henry and Clare's perspectives of the same experiences. As you can tell from the title, there are lots of different dates and places that are visited by Henry. I was entranced the entire time and ignored everyone around me (just ask poor, neglected Evan).

So, I do apologize for skipping a day in this National Blog Posting Month...but it is a damn good book. Go read it.

Whining amongst a lovely sunset.

I hate it when I don't sleep well because of sinus/allergy issues. It makes me groggy and headache prone the next day. Today is one of those days.

My house smells like onions. I hate the smell of onions. I chopped 2 onions for the Thanksgiving meal at Evan's work today. My reward for contributing to the Mexican food meal? An oniony house.
How many times in one day can my children say my name? I've counted 4,582 so far today. I'm changing my name. I will only respond to Francesca from now on. Please don't tell my kids what my new name is; I plan on making them guess.
I strongly dislike cleaning. I super wish it wasn't part of my job requirement as the stay-at-home parent. I wish I had a housekeeper like Alice from the Brady Bunch. I'd totally make her wear a uniform and have her call me Mrs. B.
My perfect day would include waking up from a perfect night's sleep on a pillow that I actually like. I'd have coffee already made for me and my breakfast would be warm and ready to eat. I'd read and lounge in my pajamas for as long as I wanted. I'd watch crap tv and movies that make me happy while I crocheted with an endless supply of yarn and hooks at my disposal. Then I would take a long walk in perfect weather and I would feel healthy and refreshed. I'd bake and cook a fabulous dinner and dessert for everyone I love and I wouldn't have to clean the kitchen because my housekeeper, Alice, would take care of that. I'd be in bed by 10:00PM on the dot and I'd instantly fall into a deep slumber. Sigh. It sounds so magical.
Please note, in the above scenario, there was no potty training, cleaning, laundrying, refereeing, or anything of that sort in my perfect day. Oh, and everyone called me Francesca and it was lovely.

Dentist.

Yesterday Elisabeth went to the dentist.

Elisabeth LOVES the dentist. She's been begging me to see one ever since we moved here. She loves to get her teeth cleaned and to see the x-rays of her teeth and ask the dentist a lot of questions.

I, personally, do not like going to the dentist. I never have. I don't like anyone touching my teeth. I hate the flouride treatments, the scraping, the smell of those stupid latex gloves they wear.

Ok. I have to stop. I'm giving myself the heebie-jeebies.

Julia had never been to a dentist's office before. She was so very excited. This is how she watched Elisabeth get her teeth cleaned.
Elisabeth had zero cavities. She is also going to be getting sealants in 6 months to further prevent any cavities from ever showing up.

Julia had me ask if she could have her teeth cleaned too. She has to wait till she's 3. She was okay with that, though, because they gave her 3 stickers and a giant bouncy ball for being such a good little sister and waiting so patiently.
Don't worry. I've made an appointment. I'm going to see the dentist too.
I guarantee you I won't be as happy as the girls were.

Mommy Radar

Elisabeth and Julia at about a month old. Ebeth is on the left and Julia's the one on the right. So hard to believe that they were ever so small.

The other night, I was sleeping soundly in my bed, when my Mommy Radar went off. Do you know this Mommy Radar I speak of? Do you other moms have this? It's when one of your children call out or make a noise that indicates "I need you!" and you are woken from a sound sleep, ready to go! When my Mommy Radar goes off it's like a snap in my brain and I get a tingling sensation that one of my kids needs me. Seriously, do you know what i'm talking about or am I just crazy? Is this a programmed instinct in all mommies from the dawn of man?

It was much stronger when they were infants. Sometimes I'd wake up right before they started stirring. As they've gotten older, it only goes off when they are upset. Or, like Julia did 2 nights ago, when they are awake at 4 and giggling and talking loud enough for me to hear over the monitor we still are using. (Hey, they are both upstairs and we are downstairs and Julia will SCREAM in the morning if you don't get her out of bed after her first two attempts to call your name and it wakes up Elisabeth who sometimes gets frustrated and will start crying because, "I never get to sleep because all Julia does is cry and I can hear it through the walls!!!").

One of the things I find humorous about being a parent with older kiddos, is that they can tell you about their dreams.

The other morning, Julia woke up crying for Evan. When Evan went to get her, she was obviously upset about something. He asked her if she had a bad dream. She told him, "Mommy take my toothbrush. I want my toothbrush back." I had to apologize when I saw her. She was not very happy with me.

One night, when Elisabeth was around 4 years old, she called me into her room. She hadn't been in bed very long, maybe 30 minutes or so, and I figured she'd forgotten a stuffed animal or needed to use the bathroom. I walked in and see her sleepily rubbing her eyes. I asked what she needed. "Mommy, will you go look in my closet for me. I think there's a lady in there watching me."

I will not lie to you, that completely freaked me out. No, I will not check to see if there is some creepy woman watching you sleep from your closet. Do I look like an idiot?! And what in the world is in there that you think some lady is in there.

Don't worry. I was a grown up. I walked to her closet and opened the doors, but not after saying a quick prayer and grabbing a hard object to beat the scary lady in the face with in case I did find her. No one was there, thankfully.

Ah...the joys of parenting children during the night.

Virtual Coffee

Hi! It's totally okay for you to come into our house for some coffee today. We have been plague free for 2 days now. We've cleaned and disinfected and we're now normal people again.

Well, as normal as we ever are, at least.

If you were really at my house for coffee today...of course I'd start talking a mile a minute about finding out that our next station will be in San Antonio, Texas--in case I hadn't already told you. But, I probably already have since I've told the whole universe. I'd show you all the things I found yesterday about the new city we'll be calling home next summer. They have a zoo!!! and museums and water parks and a thousand libraries and a zoo!!! and Sea World and Six Flags and The Riverwalk and a zoo!!! And the best part is that my sister and her husband are stationed in San Antonio right now and will still be there when we're there! That's 2-3 years of the girls having my sister around all the time to hang out with and get to know again! My sister and I haven't lived in the same state in 6 years. She moved to Colorado when we moved to DeKalb so Evan could go to law school. Then, when she married her husband (who's also in the Air Force) they were stationed in California and now are in Texas.

The girls are so excited. Julia will probably tell you a few times, "We move to Texas for my birfday." Then she'll tell you, "Aunt Tarta [aka: Terra] live in Texas. We see her soon."

So, now we're focusing on living in the now in Colorado as much as possible. 7 months is not a long time. It'll be time to move before we know it and that is just too sad to think about for too long.

As we sipped our coffee and ate some yummy zucchini bread (whose recipe I will be sharing on my cooking blog later today!)...we'd chit chat about the upcoming holidays. Julia plans on asking Santa for a pink ball. How fabulous is that?! Ebeth is going to ask for a pillow pet! Santa is making out like a bandit this year, I say!
One of my favorite things about having coffee with friends is that the conversation just flows. There's no awkward pauses (where I always feel the need to make people laugh) or wondering about what you're going to say next. With friends, the topics are serious, odd, funny, sad and even mundane, but they're real. And I love a good, real conversation.

Please make sure and visit Amy at Lucky Number 13 for some more great coffee dates!!