According to Nina, she learns nothing in school. She also does nothing all day long. The only important highlights to mention are:

1. what was for snack

2. who got in trouble, and the punishment received.

3. who kissed whom and where it happened (kissing is big, for some reason, right now)

She also does not feel the need to know the entire alphabet, just the letters that are in her name (God help us when she has to learn algebra).

Soooo....imagine my surprise when I heard her singing the alphabet song to Asher, in French no less. The only thing that she has ever mentioned about her French teacher, is that her name is Madame Buck, but the children call her Madame Bucket when she's not listening (she's usually in hysterics by this point in the story).

Enjoy the performance.

Things that keep me up at night......

Religion and Politics are two topics that I’ve always tried to steer clear. So when Nina asked me the other day, “What is Heaven?”, I cringed. “Well, Nina, some people believe that Heaven is a beautiful place that you go to after you die”. I wasn’t even getting into the whole soul idea because I knew that she was going to ask about Lily, our cat who died last year. It was like a slow motion picture going on inside my head because the one question I didn’t want her to ask, she did. “What do you believe, Mommy”? Oh, man. I’ve been trying to avoid this conversion with everyone my entire adult life and now my five year old is looking for me to tell her the truth and guide her in the right direction. Its bad enough we introduced her to Santa, leprechauns, the tooth fairy and all that other crap, but now I have to come up with an explanation for something that people wage wars over. Blake and I always thought that we’d introduce both of our religions to her and let her formulate her own ideas, and then she could choose her own path. Great plan for when she’s 18, but I’m painfully unprepared for this. Add our parents “help” into the mix and we’re totally screwed.

After she asked the question, I just looked at her for a few minutes, will all these thoughts running though my head, and different scenarios being played out. She’ll remember your answer for a long time, Rebecca, so don’t screw it up. So, in conclusion Nina, “I think so. I hope so.”….but I just don’t know.

Tracking Santa on Norad

What are your Christmas traditions? Making cookies? Setting up the tree? Tracking Santa on the internet on Christmas Eve???? Ah, the evolution of technology. "Nina - look....Santa's in Greenland"! She could give a rip. And Blake and I totally bought into the Google marketing of clicking on each destination to learn interesting facts about the region. Again, Nina had Christmas shows to watch and was making a last ditch, futile effort at being good. Here are a few pictures from our holiday. Hope yours was as enjoyable as ours. My favorite picture is of Nina's cat, Kit, waiting for Santa.

Asher's Antics

Asher is quickly becoming a funny little man, much like his father (LOL!!!). Here are a few pictures from his busy, busy days. He received two walking toys for the Holidays, but he still prefers to climb up my jeans and hang on while I walk around the kitchen. He's like a tick. Enjoy!

It's a major award!!!!

I entered Nina's Mary Poppins dress in the Simplicity Pattern Halloween Costume Contest.....and I WON!!!! I had to send them the dress last week, just to be sure that I made the entire thing, and didn't alter a commercial costume. I made the dress for Nina as a surprise when we went to Disney World this past September. For the past couple of years, she's been asking for the white Mary Poppins dress, "not the ugly Nanny one, Mommy", so I put one together "loosely" based on a Simplicity flower girl dress pattern. It look a lot of altering and adding on, but I guess they liked it. They will let me know in the next couple of weeks if I won the Grand Prize, or if I got something smaller. Either way, it won't be a leg lamp!!! (at least I hope not). Now, if they'd only give me a job, paying lots of money, where I can work from home, my own little delusional world would be complete.

New Year in Vermont

I took the kids to Vermont for a few days between Christmas and New Years....and we got stuck there an extra 4 days. The weather was so bad that I didn't dare drive home, with both kids, by myself, at night, until the forecast was clear all the way home. It was a nice break. My mom got up with the kids, so I could sleep in (unheard of at home), and I got to spend some time with my dad, extended family and my good friend Nicol, whom I miss desperately on a regular basis. And the added bonus was that Nina got to play in A LOT of snow for a few days. Asher wanted nothing to do with it. When we left PA on Christmas night, he was only standing, and after three days at my Mom's, he was cruising all around the living room at lightening speed. He also helped himself to cat food, cat water, all nick-nacks not nailed down and anything that Nina happened to be playing with. In other words - t-r-o-u-b-l-e. We finally made it home on January 2nd, much to the delight of the old dog, Riley, whom barely ate while we were gone.....oh yeah, Blake was happy to see us also! A few pictures of Nina in the snow, and Asher eating chocolate pudding.

Ummmm-That's all ME!!!

“Wait a minute, Mommy; I’ve got to get my damn shoes out of my closet”. Doh. Oops. That’s all me. I can’t even deny that she heard that from someone else. I used-to relish the art of profanity, even tried to string as many all offensive words together to achieve vulgar perfection. I can’t do that anymore because “mini me” will not only hear, and copy, but will use the words appropriately, usually in front of someone, or worse yet, at school. While I marvel at how she seamlessly inserts them into conversation, I also know that good parents everywhere would disapprove. It’s like yelling at your child in front of Kindergarten. We all do it, but we pretend not to when grouped together in the land of Mommyville. We try to blend in and not call attention to ourselves for fear of being judged. It’s the exact behavior I’m trying to avoid in raising my own children. Be an individual! Stand apart from the crowd! Who cares what other people think?! Oh yeah, I do.

I’ve resorted to proper name cursing –“Oh, for Pete’s sake”! (even though we don’t know a Pete), or “Geeze Louise”, again, no one even close to that name. She also repeats these, with funny results, and she sounds like something out of the movie Pleasantville. I know that she will get picked on for this in a few years, but it sure beats hearing a little girl say, “Get your ass over hear and pick up all this damn shit off the floor” (ok, so I’d be more likely to say that, but you get the idea). A friend of mine started to swear with food after her son was born, but isn’t saying “Ah, cheese doodles” just the same as using the naughty word? And wouldn’t it be better just to say what you mean and get it over with? Before I was a parent, this type of thing really got on my nerves, but now I rehearse and sensor every word that comes out of my mouth. CBS should hire me at this point because it’s become so routine.

So while I’d like to think that I’m still that same old me, in track pants with a non-descript Mommy haircut, I’m really not. I’m the proper speaking, non-offensive lady who has perfected the dreaded “Oooh, you’re gonna get it stare” standing outside of school talking to all the other parents who sit around and think about this crap. Ah, crimminy, I guess I can’t say that word either.