Not again

Apparently, we may get yet another ice storm tomorrow. For some reason this winter weather has been happening on Fridays a lot, which means S misses her dance class. She's missed two already, and she gets so disappointed. Hubby and I aren't thrilled, partly because we don't like to see her sad, but partly because we paid an arm and a leg for these classes! We want our money's worth!

Sisterly Love

My two oldest daughters are only 3 and 5, and they have already had their first fight over clothing! It was partly my fault. Back before Christmas, their grandmother gave me some clothes to give the girls for Christmas. One of the items was a fancy looking skirt. I thought it would fit K, so I wrapped it up for her. I was wrong; too large. She wore it once, and it kept falling down. So yesterday before church, S needs something to wear, and I pulled out K's skirt and asked her if S could wear it. That was my mistake - I should have never had such a crazy idea involving love and sharing. K had a fit, shrieking that it was hers. S, wanting to wear it, starts wailing because K doesn't want her to. In the end, I got K to give in, and everyone was mostly happy.

Even though I have five sisters, I never had to share clothing, since we were so rich my parents bought us more clothes than we could wear. Oh wait, that was just my fantasy. Really, my next youngest sister is six years younger than me, so I was out of the house before she caught up to me in size.

Baby Blue Jean Blues

Grumble! Once again, I have a child who is changing sizes mid-winter. And of course, the stores have all switched to spring clothing. In February. She needs long sleeves and pants! And the size that I need is 12 months, and apparently that is more scarce than say, 3T or 3 months. Like at Target, they have infant clothing that goes from 0-9 mths, and then they have toddler clothing that goes from 24 mths - 5T. There's not much in that mystery land of 12-18 months. Why not?! So I am having great difficulty finding anything for her to wear. At Target last week, I literally saw a father put two pairs of 12 m pants in his cart. The last two in the store! Wal-mart has two tables of boys winter clothes marked down to $1, but nothing for girls in 12 months. If only I had had the foresight last month to get her some stuff when I caught the fabulous Jan. clearance sale at Old Navy. But she's a slow grower, and I didn't think ahead . . .

So last night, after a hospital visit, J and I rushed in to Old Navy in Charlottesville before they closed. They did have a few winter things left, and even a few spring things in long sleeve. The prices weren't quite what I would have liked, but beggars can't be choosers. And now back to the title of this post - they mostly had just shirts. I found one pair of sweats that don't match that well with the shirts, and there were racks and racks of adorable baby blue jeans. WARNING to new parents: blue jeans might look fetching on the rack, but they are usually a poor choice for babies. Fat, chubby babies need soft, elastic waist, easy-on, leggings or stretchy pants. Jeans end up looking funny, are hard to get on, and are stiff and uncomfortable. But I bought a pair anyway, out of desperation. Tried them on this morning, and I could barely get them over her fat roly-poly thighs. Then I could hardly get them snapped. The length was just right, so going a size up wouldn't work. Back to the store they go.

Maybe we'll have an early spring.

Valentine Cake

No need for a heart pan. Instead of baking two round layers, bake one round and square cake. Cut the round in half, and place the halves on the sides of the square, and you have a heart shape. I had to trim it up a bit, but that meant there were scraps for snacking.

The pink sugar kind of hides the lettering, but it gave my little helper K something to do.

Matching Food

Here's what I fixed the girls for lunch today:
leftover pork loin roast
buttered whole wheat bread (homemade)
apple slices
fresh blueberries

Not a bad spread in my opinion, even if it is a little different. It covers the food groups. And I rarely buy blueberries, so that was a treat. But S informed me that "it doesn't match" and would only eat the fruit!

Valentines and Lollipops

At story time today, the libarian asked the children what Valentine's Day was all about. "Lollipops!" shouts out my three year old. Ah, the simple life of a child.

During all of my single years, I think that I was dating someone only once on Valentine's Day, and by that point I was dying to break up with him. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until I was getting ready to go out with him for the evening, and I noticed that I was dreading seeing him! I didn't have the heart (haha) to dump him on V-day - how cruel would that be. So I suffered through the date. We went to a lovely, expensive, little French restaurant in Georgetown. It would have been so wonderful if I had just been with someone else! How terrible of me to say that, I know. I really don't miss those single years of disappointment much.

I'm so special.

I must be a very important person. Cindy McCain called me twice last night (different topics each time), and John McCain called me today. Of course, I had already cast my vote for him by the time he called, but still it was kind of him to think of me.

Voting for a Boat

Today was Virginia's Primary, and so I bundled up the girls and we walked to our polling station (local church) to do our civic duty. Just like last time, after I'm done, and we're leaving, K wants to know where the boat is. "Next week, let's go to see a boat on water," she says in such a sweet, polite voice. I had explained before we even left the house that there would be no boat, but I guess she didn't believe me. S had the same disappointment when she was three years old too. But now she's old enough to start to understand what it's all about - not boats, but picking the person you think will do the best job. It's cool to see her start to see things outside of her own little world.

Let's Have Some More Meetings!

I got to go to a Relief Society Board meeting after church today! Yes, that's right, I was excited to go. I've been looking forward to it ever since I received notice of it a few weeks ago. Why? Well, by staying at church, I got to miss that whole take three tired, cranky, hungry children home from church thing. I hate that hour after church. Everyone's shrieking for food (myself included) and usually I don't have the foresight to have anything decent prepared ahead. Coats, shoes, and tights are strewn everywhere. The kitchen is still a mess from breakfast. The baby is always desperate to be nursed. It's all a real joy. For the past few years, Jeryl has had monthly after-church meetings, and sometimes been in the choir, and so I have had to do it all by myself.

But not today! My husband had to take the kids home by himself this time, while I got to stay and have a lunch meeting. I must say that I ate better than my family did, for there really was nothing much to eat (other than our food storage, of course). But Jeryl did really well. When I got home, everyone had been fed, and he had even done all of the dishes, which I usually don't get done so quickly.

How come I keep losing my links and stuff on the side? Very annoying.