Halloween

Happy Halloween!

We are going to trick or treat and then get up super early and head to Girl Scout Camp on Saturday morning and stay over night. Even Dave is coming along to cook and stay in the "kitchen-help" cabin....man, I love that guy!

Amelia is Hannah Montana and Mikayla is "a cooker!" Aunt Chellie made Amelia's costume and she was so fashion! Nana made Mikayla's costume. Both girls chose what they wanted to be...so different from each other...I love it!

Order in the House

"Mom, is it tomorrow yet today?"

Mikayla is always keeping track of everything (like the days of the week). She doesn't lose stuff and is tidy! I always find things put in patterns...like in this photo it was tomatoes and soda can tabs!

"Mom I'm sure cotton is made from clouds, not from t-shirts."

And for you Aunt D (and anyone else who cares): Amelia got to wear jeans to school yesterday for her field trip, but had to wear a dress code shirt. She totally spiced it up with the scarf you made her a few years ago and the snazzy boots and belt. I told her that it said "WEAR SNEAKERS" but she didn't care and I didn't have the energy to fight it.

"But it's still night time!"

And finally, here is a shout out to all of my friends who get their kids off to day care and school before 7:00 in the morning. IT IS SO HARD! We leave the house at 6:55, and it just seems cruel to pull kids out of bed at 6, especially when it's freezing. Dave has started going to the gym in the morning instead of the night so he helps with ponytails and shoes...yes, that is service...Mik is laying down watching "Arthur" while Daddy put on her shoes.

A Tribute to D

D, You asked for it...here is just a sample of Amelia's outfit yesterday after school and this morning before school:

Amelia is sporting last year's white cheer shoes, knee high socks, plaid shorts in all shades of blue, a red and black striped tank top with a navy blue t underneath and a turquoise head band. She is SO FASHION!!!!

And in case you were worried..wearing a uniform hasn't cramped her fashion sense much...she figures out a way around it. I'm bummed you can't see the belt...it was hilarious. It's actually a scarf.

Ballet

It's a long story how this whole ballet teaching thing came about, but the HOA had contacted me about teaching lessons. My kids were NOT HAPPY at the studio I found here and so I decided to pull them out if I could get ten girls to take lessons. I ended up getting 16 girls, so I split them up into two classes and got it running. I got a call the day of our first class saying that the clubhouse was no longer available for use...long story. I couldn't cancel...moms had been buying ballet shoes and were totally planning on it, so after vacuuming the house that day, I thought, "Hey, I think there is room in here for eight girls. I had to call my mom a million times and take pictures with my phone to see if I was crazy, but I decided to run with it...

And guess what?

I love it!

It is seriously so much fun teaching these little girls. The age difference is crazy (3-7 in one class) but no one seems to mind. We do ballet for about 15 minutes and then spend 45 minutes doing the chicken dance, twirling like princesses, dancing with kleenex to snowflake songs and doing "'cross the floors to Hannah Montana."

Tonight Mikayla said to me, "Mom, your ballet is WAY BETTER than that other ballet." I'm not sure about that, but we have a lot more fun and I feel like I'm back in my element. I've missed dancing. I find myself pirouetting (or trying to) while stirring, kicking while doing dishes and getting on itunes every hour to upload some fun song that I had just thought of. It's great! It's good exercise; it's extra money, and my kids aren't sitting for two hours a week for $200 a month in a place that they don't love.

The Joys of Facebook...

My mom is the one who introduced me to Facebook, and I'm loving it. I have been able to re-connect with over 50 high school friends and two college roommates. I love to see pictures of their families and hear what has happened in their lives in the last 15 years! I have 20 cousins on one side, and it's hard to stay in touch with everyone, and it's fabulous for that reason too. I also have my Georgia friends that I like to keep up to date on. It's faster than blogging and is fun! So, for all of my friends not on Facebook, please join! You can set your profile to private and only the people that you confirm as friends can see your profile.

Happy Facebook Posting! Let me know if you join so we can connect!

Jessi's Tag

FIVE JOYS
Having a clean, tidy house.

Having a messy house for a good reason...like a bunch of kids running around while the girls are having fun.

Snuggling with my girls and playing with their hair.

Hearing Dave laugh really loudly.

Talking on the phone to D or my mom.

FIVE FEARS
The economy.

Our savings.

Our investments.

Our retirement.

The girls' college funds.

FIVE OBSESSIONS
Towels being clean and hung straight.

Checking off everything on my to-do list.

Saving money.

Picking the skin off my thumbs (gross, I know).

Staying caught up on everything.

FIVE SURPRISING FACTS
I think lifting weights is better for the body than anything cardio.

I am starting my own dance school after not dancing for ten years.

I try to wear cute shoes, but I usually just think about it and then put on my flip flops.

I would rather have a box of Dots than pretty much any other food on the planet.

I guess the one I had on before wasn't about me...anyway, I like to stay up really late and have to wake up early so I don't like the afternoons and I'm always tired from 2-5.

FIVE PEOPLE TO TAG
Jamie

Nan

Robin

Christy

Jenny

Tagged

I was tagged by Jenn D., so here I go (and Jessi, I'm doing your next!):



Six Quirky Things About Me:



1. I like piles. There can be clutter as long as the clutter is in piles and I know what each pile is.



2. I can drink Diet Coke all day long and have to try hard to only have four a day. I love to drink it in bed too.



3. I hate to be patted. I love to be rubbed and hugged, but I hate to be patted.



4. I absolutely hate when people "clink" silverware on their teeth when they eat. It will drive me so crazy that I can't even concentrate on anything else.



5. I hate silence, but I like things quiet. When I'm home during the day I almost always have Fox News on just for the noise.



6. I have to delete things immediately...if I've read an email and answered it, it is deleted. If I have listened to the message on the machine, I delete it.

I tag Robin, Nan, Jamie, Christy, Jessi, Kate, and everyone else who wants to play!

Southern Sisters

I ran in with my camera this morning to take a photo of the girls all snuggled together....so sweet how much they love each other.

On another note....Mikayla had picked out a darling book called "Pinkalicious" at the book fair yesterday. We were reading it and it had this phrase in it: "You get what you get and you don't get upset." My girls looked at me and with disgust said, "MOM, IT'S NOT LIKE THAT, IT'S 'YOU GIT WHAT YOU GIT AND YOU DON'T PITCH A FIT!'" Only in the South does "get" rhyme with "fit." And if you're not in the South, you may not even understand this, but it was hilarious! They may have been born in Utah, but they were definitely raised in Georgia!

Health and Shared Bedrooms...

Today I am grateful for good health. The girls were able to honor someone who has survived Breast Cancer and they were very excited to put Grandma's name up in the hallway of their school. They also got to wear jeans that day (I'm not sure what the connection was...something about Lee Denim Day for Cancer, but they were very happy not to wear their uniforms!)

We also took a moment to reflect on our dear little friend Kristen who still has chemo every few months but is doing GREAT!!!

Now for those bedrooms that we so painstakingly decorated and chose paint colors and bedspreads and everything...it lasted until last week. Now they sleep together every night. AND...you may notice the trundles under each of their beds...does one of them sleep on it each night next to the sister???? NO! They sleep together in the same twin bed. It warms my heart though, so I can't get mad.

Home Depot Adventure

Yesterday we took a family trip to the local Home Depot to find a wood dowel for me to make "spirit sticks" for cheer. I was down one aisle and had found them with the girls. Meanwhile, Dave had wandered over to the adjacent aisle and was looking for them there. The next thing I know, Dave had put on this HUGE tool belt and is dancing in it. I can see that there is a guy in the same aisle about 20 feet from Dave walking toward him...but Dave didn't see him. So I am just dying laughing and he thinks we are laughing at his "funniness" so he keeps dancing and swirling his hips and this guy is watching now and laughing too. By this time, I'm laughing so hard I couldn't talk so I just start pointing at the guy who is now right behind him. Dave turns his head and quietly takes off the belt and puts it back in its place where it never should have left. The guy who observed it all quickly and quietly walked away, but I saw him snickering.