Sunday, June 19, 2011
Ch-ch-changes...
So, without further adieu... here's a link to my new bloggy home:
http://musingsofamommyatlaw.wordpress.com
Please visit me there and bookmark me and maybe even leave me a note to let me know you found me. Perhaps I'll even be better about updating if Wordpress lives up to my expectation of being much. less. frustrating....
In fact, there is a new post there already with some pictures from our Memorial Day weekend at the lake.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
"Mommy, I think this may be our lucky day."
Oh, I kid. I never contemplated leaving them alone.
But, let me tell you. The lines were really short. We walked onto many, many of the rides without waiting at all. Before lunch we had ridden the Mindbender, Monster Mansion, Wiley Coyote Canyon Blaster, several kiddie rides in Bugs Bunny World, and Splash Mountain Falls. Oh, and Evan had ridden the swings.
Pressley cried, and cried, and cried, and cried some more while Evan was riding the swings. (There were some other swings in the kid's section that she could ride and did ride - picture to follow - but she would not be consoled.) It was so unfair that Evan was tall enough to ride and Pressley was not. I tried (really hard) to empathize with the kind of understanding that only a fellow little sister can have. But, dang was it frustrating that we were less than 2 hours in and she was having a giant melt-down. So, I had to shift from empathetic-fellow-little-sister to mean-counting-to-five-and-you-better-be-done-with-this-tantrum-mommy.
Once we found the next ride that she could ride, all was right with the world again. Thank the Lord.
Until we rode Splash Water Falls. Perhaps you might refer me to Kali River Rapids Debacle of Spring Break and ask me if I have learned nothing. Well. I thought I had. I took the child's bathing suit in a ziplock baggie in my purse. And I took her to the restroom to change into it before we rode the water ride. I asked 17 times if she was sure she was ok getting wet since she was in her bathing suit. She said yes.
Then, the 16 year old girl working the ride said she couldn't ride in nothing but her bathing suit and did she have some pants she could put on over her suit.
Seriously?
"Young woman (who clearly has no children): I had a plan. It involved being able to make my water-ride-lovin' son happy without having my baby-girl-drama-queen have the epic melt down of the century. And you've ruined it."
So, Pressley put her skirt back on over her bathing suit. And the questioning began again. Are you sure you are ok getting wet in your bathing suit and your skirt? We will try to keep your skirt as dry as possible, but I can't make any promises.
Yes. Yes. And yes. I'll be fine, silly woman. Why do you patronize me?
Alrighty then. So we went. And, she cried the minute she noticed there were drops of water dripping from her very wet hair and bathing suit onto her otherwise dry skirt.
For the LOVE!
Back to mean-countdown-mommy. I will leave this park and go home!! But, we took off the wet skirt, ate lunch, and all was right - once again - with the world when the skirt was dry by the end of lunch and we could change her back into her dry clothes.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. But pleasant. On our way to ride the All American Scream Machine (how many times will I say never again after that ride only to ride it again the next time?), Evan looks at me and says, "Mommy, I think this must be our lucky day. We haven't hardly had to wait in any lines. And I've never seen the Scream Machine line this short." Our lucky day indeed.
We did wait in one line. Evan wanted to ride the new Dare Devil Dive coaster and it is new and it was closed most of the morning. So by the time they opened it, there was a 45 minute wait. And at the beginning of the wait, Evan told me he was pretty sure he wouldn't like it. I asked him why on earth we were standing in a 45 minute line to ride it if he didn't think he'd like it. And he informed me (basically) that he has a policy that he likes to try all new roller coasters before he rules them out. Very practical.
All in all, it was a great day. I think I earned (and retained) a few fun parent points. (I often earn them and then blow it by getting all mean-mommy on them before it is over, but this time I managed to maintain my fun parent status all day.) And now, I'm letting them watch Scooby Doo and skip dinner because we had too much pizza for lunch and treats (nasty Icee things that they insisted they wanted) way too late in the afternoon. I may try to sneak some fruit in them later, but for now, I'm just relishing being the fun parent.
I'm certain that when it comes time to brush teeth, I'll fall decidedly out of the fun parent role once again...
Pressley's Pre-K Graduation
So, I was prepared for a tear jerker. But, since I had heard the poem several times before graduation, and since I was blown away by Pressley and her classmates and all they've learned this year, I managed not to cry. But it was just one big display of cuteness right across the board.
The class sang many of their letter songs (they learned a song for every letter of the alphabet - mercifully, they didn't sing them all), they counted to thirty in English and French, they recited poems, and even did a little interpretive movement (which Pressley was chosen to do on-stage, because if there is anything Pressley is good at, it is expressing herself).
Here is one of the poems Pressley recited on stage: (Sadly, she wasn't on-stage for the one about her little feet.)
Aaaannnnnd, here is the interpretive movement: (Because I know I can't just say she did interpretive movement without showing you...)
Pressley took her role very seriously. I mean, it just doesn't get any cuter than that, does it?
Clearly, we were very proud. With good reason.
And, now my baby is off to kindergarten. But wait, first...the rest of summer!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Photo Updates
Swimming highlights so far
But, Pressley has made the most progress. When we started practice in early May, she couldn't swim the whole length of the pool without stopping to hold on to the lane lines. By the first meet, she was easily swimming 25 yards in freestyle and was able to make it 25 yards in backstroke as well. Granted, it took her almost 2 whole minutes (1:58 to be exact) to do it since she was almost completely vertical in the water. She got lots of attention from the crowd and grinned ear to ear when she heard people cheering for her as she inched slowly toward the finish.
Last week (the third meet) was quite a difference from the first meet. Due to a clerical error, she was entered in the meet late and ended up swimming in the first heat of both of her races (as opposed to the 4th heat in the first two meets). I was worried sick. I didn't mind her coming in last, but I was so afraid that she'd be scarred by finishing so much slower than the other girls. But, my baby rose to the occasion. She came in last in the free style race, but only by a nose. And, she managed a 5th place finish in her backstroke, beating one other little girl. Her times were personal bests by a long shot. I was SO proud!!
Fast forward to last night: I had been noticing Pressley holding on to the lane lines a lot in practice the last couple of days, so we did a lot of talking about the importance of keeping on keeping on - even if your arm brushes against the lane line or your goggles fill with water. She said she was going to do just that.
First up was her relay. Unfortunately, she jumped into the water without putting her goggles down over her eyes, so she stopped about 4 times to put them on and then adjust them repeatedly. Still, her relay team finished second, so... no harm no foul.
Next up was her freestyle race. She dove in and looked poised for a second or third place finish in the second heat. Then, she disappeared from the surface of the water. I was puzzled, but continued to cheer her on to the finish. When she surfaced and climbed out of the pool, she held out her hand and proudly announced, "Look what I found!" and showed us the bracelet she had retrieved from the bottom of the pool during the middle of her race. Hilarious. What else could we do but laugh. I mean, she's five. What five year old girl wouldn't do the same...?
Then came Evan's freestyle race. Corin and I were poised to cheer him on. The whistle blew...and he jumped into the pool...backwards. He appeared to be headed back toward the block when he noticed he was being left behind by the other swimmers. So, he rolled onto his back and took off. Doing the backstroke. While all the other swimmers swam freestyle.
Amazingly, he managed to come in 4th or 5th, despite the fact that he was doing a harder stroke, but I'm pretty sure they must've disqualified him, so I'm guessing there will be no ribbon for that one.
All in all - not the best race for the McCarthy kids. It is a good thing that our attitude about swim team is that we're just thrilled to have them learning to swim and becoming strong swimmers. We don't place a whole lot of emphasis on winning, because I'm guessing that this won't be something they choose to compete in long term. So, we'll just chalk up last night as a learning experience. And chuckle.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Not much of a swimming party
I had seen the forecast earlier in the week predicting thunderstorms, but I resolved not to get all worked up about it. Then, apparently I went into denial mode. Until Corin called this morning when we were walking home from swim team and said that the front page of the paper was screaming about severe storms rolling in.
Still, I resolved not to panic, but began talking to Evan about what we would do if we couldn't go to the pool. Not rock climbing. Maybe bowling. We'd see.
Then, as the sun continued to shine, I felt silly for having called the bowling alley in Midtown to check availabilty. It was going to be just fine.
Ahem. Until we stepped outside at 4:40 to grab towels and head up the street for the 5:00 party. That is when I notice the ominous clouds. And that was when the phone started ringing.
One of the moms up the street (between our house and the pool) had just stepped out and heard the thunder and was wondering what the plan was. And then the phone rang again. And again.
What happened after that is a little blurry. It was all a flurry of making phone calls to the Decatur bowling alley, parents of boys who were coming to the party, etc.
Ultimately, we made the decision to have the parents bring the kids to our house and have my parents and my sister help us ferry them over to the bowling alley. It was a little tricky to get the word out, and Corin ended up going to the pool to hang out to wait for the two kids whose parents we couldn't reach. But all in all, the party was a huge success. Who knew 7 year old boys were such big fans of bowling?
I'm choosing to block the part that happened after the goody bags containing the beyblades were handed out and the beyblade trading had begun and one of the trades went horribly wrong. I could tell you that there was literally much wailing and gnashing of teeth, leaving the birthday boy and one of his sweetest friends in tears... but, I'm choosing to block that part. (I had just finished patting myself on the back for giving out such awesome party favors when it all began to unravel.)
Otherwise, the boys (and Pressley and Abby) had a fantastic time.
Now, if you'll excuse me... I need a glass of wine.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Birthdays and Bunnies and Burnout - OH MY!
It is enough to make a grown woman cry.
But, in the midst of all that, we’ve managed to have a pretty rockin’ 5th birthday party and a very nice Easter.
Pressley’s birthday coincided with the very late Easter this year. Which meant a very busy Easter weekend. We kicked it off on Saturday with Evan’s baseball game and the annual Easter egg hunt at Briarlake. We were planning to then go to Pressley’s soccer game (which started 10 minutes after the egg hunt; 20 minutes away…), but I don’t know what we were thinkin’. Something had to give.
When we got home from the Easter egg hunt, we got busy preparing for Pressley’s party. She wanted a Rock Star theme, so we rolled out a red carpet down the front stairs, put up a stage and a back drop in the sitting room, hired teenagers to do hair and make-up, and bought a Wii Just Dance Kids game for the girls to jam with after they got all dolled up. It turned out super cute. Boring old mommy had wanted to do the party at the gymnastics gym where all we’d have to do was show up with a cake. But, Pressley was insistent on the Rock Star theme, and I will now admit that it was worth the extra trouble, because it was memorable. And because she loved every minute of it.
I feel we have made up for having her birthday party at Monkey Joe’s last year, where we had to keep herding her away from the Monkey before she saw him and flipped out.
Glam cousins
Sunday was a lovely Easter, but not at all laid back. We went to early church (after the Easter Bunny had made an appearance) and out for a quick lunch, and then came back home to get ready to host the family for Easter dinner and another egg hunt with the cousins. I told the family that I would be happy to host, but that they should not expect that I would have cleaned up much of the party aftermath, and that would just have to be ok. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to care. If they did, they hid it well, because, hey…at least they didn’t have to clean up their houses.