Spider-Man Strikes Again!

Last weekend we celebrated Georgia's 5th birthday.  As I said in my last post, her birthday isn't until the 28th, but since we will be gone, we celebrated early.  When we talked about what kind of cake and theme she wanted for her birthday this year, I got the same response as I have the past two years,

"Sthpider-Man."

STILL?  Yup, still.  Since we haven't had a big birthday party for her in a while and we were this year, I decided to really Spider-Man it up.  Cake, cupcakes, decorations, invitation, paper goods, the works.  The guests contributed by buying every Spider-Man toy in a 50 mile radius.  Anybody who has a boy come over here to play and thinks he's going to a house full of girl toys would be happily mistaken.

Thank you to everyone for the toys.  She loved them!

Since it was a big party, I had so much to do the night before.  I was making and decorating cupcakes when Sonya asked to help.  I'll be honest.  I have a hard time giving up control over some things and decorating the cake and cupcakes is one of them.  Then I looked around at everything I had left to get done and realized that if I was ever going to get to bed before 1am, I would have to give in.  So I did.  And  you know what-Sonya did a fabulous job.  I forget I have a little artist on my hands, and she did just as good if not better a job than I would have.  She saved me at least an hour of sleep!

Sonya helps out

Proud of her creation

Webbed cupcakes

Here's the guy who kept me up until Midnight.

So yes, we Spider-Maned it up for my Georgia.  The important part is she had a great time and LOVED all the Spiderman everywhere.  I thought perhaps this would be it.  She would see all the decorations and toys she received and think, "Okay-too much.  Maybe I'm done with this Spiderman thing. Back to princesses!"  Nope.  Last week we went to Toys R Us so she could spend her $3 coupon she got from them for her birthday and here is what she pick out:

Yeah-we're not done by a long shot.  Which is fine with me, because we have too many princess things anyway.  Thanks for being our "boy" Georgia.  Happy (early) Birthday!

Face painting also by Sonya

 On a completely different note-I will be taking a break from writing for a of couple weeks.  You might remember me mentioning a cruise?  We leave tomorrow and everyone in my house couldn't be more excited.  I promise to come back with more cruise stories than you will know what to do with.  Bon Voyage!

Having Three Kids Is Finally Paying Off

Yesterday we had Georgia's birthday party, which I will tell you more about next post.  Let's just say it was a very Spidey birthday.  Even though she won't officially turn 5 until the end of this month,  we are going to be gone on a Disney Cruise then.  We decided to have her big 5 year old birthday party before we left.  Oh you didn't know we were going on a Disney Cruise?  Yes we are and we all can't wait! Well the girls and I can't.  Andy goes back and forth between being happy for vacation and having anxiety that the huge ship we will be sailing on will meet some kind of untimely demise.  To which I say-who cares!  At least I won't be cooking and cleaning beforehand.  Not only are we going on an amazing seven day cruise, but we are not paying for it.  My parents celebrate their 40th anniversary later this month and they have been saving for this cruise since before any of us had kids.  This is their gift to themselves and to us.  Yes, they ARE super awesome and you should be very jealous.  I will tell you all about it when we get back, but I digress.  This post wasn't supposed to be about making you jealous.  Well maybe it was, because what I will tell you is just as awesome.

Anyway-birthday party-right.  So we have to clean  the house before the party, of course.  I am Type A must have everything perfect for guests kind of person.  For years I did everything myself for these parties, with the help of my husband, while we propped the girls in the living room to stay out of the way with a DVD or some other form of television babysitting.  NO MORE!  They are ALL old enough now to help out.  Sonya has been helping more the past couple years, but now along with the other two they can do more.  So yesterday morning I made a list for them which included:

Clean the bathrooms
vacuum the living room
make your beds
switch over the laundry

HOLY CRAP!  I am my mother!  I remember my parents leaving us these lists on Saturday mornings while they went out to run errands.  We were older than my girls are now, when they would leave us, but I remember always having these lists and here I am passing them on to my kids.  I HATED it.  I used to complain that my parents only had us so they had someone to do their chores.  I didn't realize , of course, that we were the ones creating more mess to be cleaned up.  I get that now (Sorry mom)  and dammit, there is no reason for me to be doing everything when I have three Cinderellas helpful children running around.  So they did their list, and guess what? They didn't even hate it, and I didn't get any complaining.  Of course the idea of pizza and cake at the party probably fueled them but you  know, whatever works.   Don't worry I'm sure the complaints will come in time.  But wow was it great this time!  I got more done so much faster.  I wasn't as stressed and down to the wire as I usually am before a party.  I was able to delegate work that got done and even got done well.  Who knew!

vacuuming the living room

while Georgia did the kitchen

Lana insisted she do so vacuuming too...  OK!!

So yes, not only can you be jealous of me that I get to go on a free awesome vacation, but you can be jealous that I now have three free housekeepers living with me.  Don't worry though, I'm sure next time getting them to help won't go as well, and I will have to resort to bribing them with ponies again.  Good thing we will be able to afford it though since we aren't paying for this cruise.  (Thank you to my parents who are super fantastically awesome!  I can NOT wait until next week!!)  

Monkeying Around

Okay, maybe your kids were doing this at two years old, but I'm pretty impressed that mine are doing it by themselves at 6 and not even 5.  I think Sonya was about 6 when she first went across by herself.  Georgia is definitely the youngest though.  You might have a slight heart attack, as I did, when you watch her though, but I promise it all turns out okay.  

It IS So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday

So this happened today...

But you probably already know that because you heard that weird sobbing noise coming from the Burbank area.  Actually, I was doing okay for while.  They walked in to Pomp and Circumstance, and I was fine.  They sang their little preschool songs, I smiled.  Then, THEN!  The school decided to so something special.  A surprise for everyone.  They showed pictures of three little preschool kids who had already graduated from Westminster.  Just last week, they graduated from the high school down the street.  That's when I lost it.  Those three teenagers had been part of the awesome Glee Club at the high school and proceeded to sing a song for us.  I sobbed almost uncontrollably.  My babies are really not babies anymore.  I mean they are compared to those now ex-high school students, but not compared to where we were five years ago, when we first walked into this preschool.  

I will always be grateful for this fantastic place that I left my girls for three hours a couple days a week to learn, play and make friends in the first years of their life.  I will remember how Sonya cried every time I dropped her off for the first two months and how great her teachers were to get her through.  I will remember Lana not shedding one tear when I dropped her off, but hearing she was a little sad in the middle of the day at the beginning and Georgia, who never cried once.  She was so used to going when it was her turn, she couldn't wait.  I remember feeling relieved when Sonya first went, so I  only had two to focus on, if even for a few hours.  Then I remember how sad I was at the beginning of this school year when I dropped Georgia off and was left alone three days a week for three hours.  I cried a bit that first week.  Then I realized how much faster grocery shopping could get done, and I managed. 

I will always cherish the pictures that were made for Andy and me at school along with our Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts and cards.  I will always think about the ice cream social at the beginning of the year and the pot luck at the end.  Westminster Preschool has been such a huge part of our life for so long that it's going to be so hard for us, okay mostly me, to let go.  Not just because of the school, but the community around it, the friends we have all made and because it's the place where my babies grew into kids.  As I sat there today watching those teenagers sing, all I could think of was, "Mine are going to be that age in the blink of an eye.  How the hell do I slow this down?"  I guess I will just have to make sure I have a lot of pictures so I can always look back and remember when they were this little. 

Congratulations GG!  We are so proud of you!

Georgia with her besties from R-L
Jenna, Sienna, Kennedy, and Georgia-her hat kept falling

My camera crew.  Sonya had video, Lana took phone camera pics.

With Teacher Suzanne-she had Lana last year

With Teacher Carol-Georgia had her both years

The fam

The graduate and the Alumni

A Family Adventure

Whenever we have a long holiday weekend, I always feel pressured to do something fun as a family.  Not that we don't do fun things together every weekend, but you know, mostly our weekends consist of getting things done around the yard or house.  Add in any birthday parties or baseball games we have to attend and that's pretty much two days.  However, when you have that extra third day with the husband and the kids home, you feel like you should spend at least ONE day doing fun things together as a family.  The problem is-what to do?

Sure-we live in Southern California, so there are a ton of things to do here; the beach, Disneyland, Universal-the Studios or just the City Walk, Knotts Berry Farm, The Zoo, The Long Beach Aquarium, The Getty, Santa Monica Pier...the list is endless.  However most of those things need to be planned in advanced.  At least for me.  I'm not so good with waking up on a Sunday morning and deciding at 8:30am that we should head over to Disneyland.  No, no.  I need time to prepare, mentally, as well as getting together everything we need for said outing. Turns out I'm not a very spontaneous person.  Then again, show me a mom who is and I'll show you a mom who never has anything she needs.  Either way, I'm a planner.  Always have been.  So this past Sunday when we were faced with a day of nothing to do, we started to go down that list of fun things we could do.  Without planning ahead of time, the list shortened up quite a bit.  

Then I remembered something I've been wanting to do with the girls for a while.  Something, that until recently, I didn't think they would be able to handle.  Well, at least not without a lot of whining, complaining and Andy or I carrying one of them eventually.  The nice thing about where we live is that here in Burbank there are hills.  And in those hills are quite a few hiking trails, not more than a five minute car ride away.  So when I suggested that we should go on a hike, it was met with much enthusiasm from everyone.  Fantastic!  These was an easy outing.  All I had to do was pack up some snacks, water and sunblock, and we were off.  

At the base of the trail that we were hiking is a nature center.  We walked around there for a few minutes and looked at the tarantula and King snake they have there, before we headed up the mountain.  As we walked, we chatted about the plants around us, what we would do if we came across a rattlesnake or bobcat, and how far we think we would hike.  We hiked for a bit, stopping at various points to see how high up we were.  It was a gorgeous day with perfect weather.  Sunny, 75, breezy.  Yes, our weather here does rock.  I might have heard one comment (complaint) about it being hot from someone (Lana), but the comments didn't go any further than that.  

One of our stops along the way.  I wouldn't let Sonya get any closer to the edge.

The man of the mountain and his girls.

There were some markings on the trail that pointed us in the direction of a lookout point.  It took us about half an hour to get up there and when we did it was awesome.  We could see the entire city of Burbank, into Los Angeles, all the way to downtown.  If the day would have been a bit more clear, I'm certain we would have been able to see the ocean.  But this is Los Angeles, so yes we do contend with some smog most days.  Still not as bad as it used to be!  

We stopped at the lookout point and ate our snacks while chatting with another family who had made their way up there.  They had three kids as well, but their three consisted of a 5 year old little girl and a set of 9 month old twin boys who the parents backpacked up there.  Yeah, that's why I waited  until all mine could walk on their own.  

After eating and spending some time admiring the view, we headed back down.  We debated going further up and along in the trail, but it was getting later in the afternoon and we wanted to get home to cook a big Sunday night dinner.  I think Andy and I could have kept going, but I know the girls were starting to poop out.  I have to say though, they were great.  Other than the few "it's hot" comments, we didn't really get any complaining or whining.  They all really enjoyed it.  The way down was of course easier in some ways than going up.  Except for the part when Georgia was running down the hill and fell.  She just skinned her knee, but it was enough for her to work up a couple quick tears and garnish some sympathy from me.  

All in all we had a fantastic time doing something together as a family that required no money and was more or less in our backyard.  As an added bonus, it didn't take up our entire day and I could do it spontaneously.  Any of you who live here in SoCal and haven't taken a hike with your kids, I highly recommend it.  There are so many places to do it around here and the best part about it, besides being with your family, is that you're all getting exercise too.  Another way to teach our children healthy habits!  Something I am always looking to add into our lives more.  

I did take a few pictures I took along the way.  I bought a fancy new camera for my birthday and I am still trying to figure out how to use it.  No, I am not the best photographer, but I try!  Enjoy!

Checking out the view.

Snacks!

My camera has a timer on it-hence the only picture I'm in.  

A Permanent Mark

Sunday night I was in the shower with Georgia when she pointed to my tattoo and asked,

"Did it hurt when you got dat stamp?"

Oh wait-you didn't know I had a tattoo?  Yes, yes I do.  I got it when I was 23 and yes I still do like it, even it my husband does not.  It's a dolphin-I know cliche, but they are my favorite animal.  It is on my left butt/hip area.  Contrary to what my mother thought, it did not get bigger and stretched out when I was pregnant and still looks good.  Although it could probably use a color touch up.  Not many people see it though, so whatever.  There's the back story.

"My tattoo you mean?  Yes, it did hurt when I got it," I told Georgia.  So many people have tattoos now, and with me having one, I don't want my kids to run out and get one at 15.  So yes girls, it hurt.  It hurt a lot.  And I got it in a fleshy area.  I can't even imagine the girls who get one on their ankle.  

"Oh, it does?" She asked me with a pained look on her face.

"Yes," I told her again.

Then she said to me, "I wonder what kind I will get?"

"Wait-what kind of tattoo?"  I asked.  She nodded yes.

"You don't have to get a tattoo if you don't want one," I told her.

"I don't?" 

"No, silly," I said.   "Daddy doesn't have one."

"Oh he doesn't.  Did he want one?" She asked.

"Well, he thought about getting one, but decided not to."  I said.  "So you don't have to get one when you get older either."

"Ok," this seemed to make her happy that she didn't have to get a "stamp" that hurt.   

Tattoos have become so normal these days, now kids just assume they will get one.  Don't misjudge, if my girls want to get a tattoo someday I certainly won't stop them.  That would just be hypocritical.  Well, as long as it's not on their face.  I might try and stop that.  They will, however, have to wait until they are at least 18.  I would encourage them to wait even longer.  That was why I waited until 23.  I wanted to make sure that the fun tattooing all my friends were doing on spring break that I thought about doing then, was something I really wanted to do  and not just an in the moment thing.  I have plenty of friends who regret some of the early tatts they have.  Although, by they time the girls are old enough, tattoos will probably not be the thing to do anymore.  In fact, at that point it will probably be cooler NOT to have one.  I'm fairly certain that is what my husband is hoping for.   

And Time Marches On

Some of you may be aware that this is Georgia's last year of preschool.  Which means this is the last time I will have a preschool kid, which means that next year I have ALL THREE kids in elementary school.  Now, two years ago I would have been celebrating this day to be here.  In fact I may have a countdown calendar around here somewhere.   Turns out though, I'm not as excited as I thought.  In fact, thinking about the fact that all three of my girls are getting so big has pushed all my emotions to the surface and I find myself crying very easily right now.  I teared up at a coffee commercial the other day.  Yes, I'm losing it a bit.  

This past Tuesday was our last Mommy and Me class.  This is a class I started taking Georgia to before preschool.  It's been a big part of our lives, but I never took the other two, so I didn't ever feel as much a connection as I do with the girls' preschool. This past Tuesday the class did a little graduation ceremony for all the kids.  It wasn't really a big deal in my mind.  She is going to have her preschool graduation at the end of this month and that's the one Andy will be there for. The cap and gown one. The big deal one.  This one was kinda just for fun as far, as I was concerned.  

They encouraged us to go up with our child and say a few words to them-how proud we are-you know, the usual.  So when it was Georgia's turn I walked up next to her and immediately started crying. I don't think I got two words out.  This made every other mom in the room cry, which only made me cry more.  I really thought I was going to keep it together, but I did not.  No, I looked like this instead:

How pretty am I with crying puffy eyes?  GG looks cute though.  I could barely get through what I wanted to say to her. Since I was this upset at a place I thought I didn't care that much about, I can't imagine how I'm going to be when she graduates from the preschool that we've been attached to for five years.  

I've always been sad when my girls have reached a milestone like this and moved on.  It's natural and I know that.  It's just harder with Georgia, because she is my last one.  It makes it hard, partially because she is growing up and getting bigger, but also because it is forcing me to move on past the baby/little kid phase of life.  For so many years I wanted to have babies and then I got to.  A little too much at once actually, but I handled it.   Then I blinked,  8 years went by and they are all in elementary school.  As it turns out I'm not dealing with it so well.  I'm not so sure Georgia is on board with moving on either, or it could be that she sees how upset I have been.  Tuesday evening she was acting kind of cranky and I sent her sisters off to the shower so I could talk to her alone and see what was up.  She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, 

"I don't want to leave you and go to Kindergarten."

Then my heart fell out of my body and onto the floor, I promised she never had to leave the house again and I would even by her a pony.  Okay, maybe I handled it better than that, but that's what I wanted to say.

I know eventually I will get better, and get used to this.  I will admit, there were talks about wanting  and possibly having another one, but we are so far from that stage now.  Still, it was a discussion Andy and I would have on and off.   Then a few weeks ago I was talking to my sister, Beth, about it and she put it into perspective for me.  

"You are only thinking about the next five years.  You're not thinking about the fact that having another one now would mean you are almost 60 before everyone leaves the house.  Do you really want that?"

I do not.  And she's right.  It is those first five years I crave.  I'm sure that even if I did have another one, in five years I'd feel like this again.  I just have to accept the fact that I have (almost) all school age kids and work with that.  I still have friends who will have babies and even though it's not the same as your own, sometimes it's better.  Because I can give them back and not get up at 2am and 4am and 6am.  THAT I do not miss.  

So I will take the time to grieve for the end of this chapter in my life.  The one that I was most looking forward to.  I'm sure there will be a lot of great things to come from my girls.  I can't wait to see what activities they really end up loving and how it will shape them into adulthood.  I am still not looking forward to the teen years, but I have some time left.  Not much, but some.  I will hold on to them liking me for as long as I can!  In the meantime, I will do my best to enjoy them now and in the moment.  In the grand scheme of things, they are all still little.  That won't stop me from going through a box of Kleenex at preschool graduation in two weeks though.  

My littlest big girl