unidentified angel

There's no documentation here so you'll just have to take my word on this.

I grabbed the church bulletin this Sunday (after singing the 7:00 am Mass . . . NOT my favorite time to sing) and found this lovely photo of the recent Nativity Story production we did.

I happen to know one of those angels!

Audrey couldn't keep her eyes off of the Holy family the entire time she was sitting there.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

O Holy Night

I just wanted to quickly comment that Audrey and I took part in my church's Nativity Story a couple of weekends ago. I haven't posted in awhile and I just got these photos up . . . so there you have it.

I tried to get Audrey to sing in the children's choir, but she was much more interested in wearing an angel costume. In the end, I'm glad she made that choice. She was an adorable angel and got to sit near the baby Jesus in the manger. She was ecstatic!!

I sang a solo and dressed like a shepherd.

The strangest thing happened during the production. There was a loud CRASH during the singing of "O Holy Night." I was backstage so I didn't know what happened, but I thought perhaps one of the trees fell down. However, they kept singing so I figured everything must be fine.

I later discovered that the sanctuary candle had fallen and exploded! How very bizarre.

Jesus had left the building.

I turned to the mom who was holding our baby Jesus for the show and said, "I guess he's in charge now."

Cookies be damned!

I've been baking and eating too many cookies lately. I spent a good portion of my day on Sunday baking and decorating Christmas cookies with the girls. I only got three of the six things done that I wanted to make but I plan to squeeze the rest in this weekend.

But why?

Why do I tempt myself with this stuff?

In addition to baking, I've been cooking healthy meals at home lately. This is both an attempt to eat better and to save a little bit of money. Mostly to eat better.

And then I make cookies. Huh?

On Monday night, I made a scrumptious black bean soup filled with spices, veggies and lots of flavors. Last night was Moroccan chicken and lentils. BOTH nights I topped off my clean-eating dinners with cookies!!

And just now, I finished off my healthy lunch at work . . . I walked to the kitchen area to get some hot water for my sugar-free chai tea. And BAM! There were some gooey chocolate chip cookies sitting there calling out my name.

I can't win.

And I also can't resist.

My religious daughter

Audrey goes to religion class on Monday nights. In addition to making a stained glass ornament of the nativity scene last Monday, they also talked about different religions.

That discussion inspired this piece of artwork from Audrey.

Translation:

Hanukkah!
even though I don't celebrate Hanukkah
that one doesn't count (with an arrow pointing to the middle candle)

You better watch out . . .

I always knew that Curt would make a great Santa Claus!

It turns out I was right.

And I got to witness it first hand right beside him as Mrs. Claus (mind you, I have never had the remotest thoughts about portraying Mrs. Claus . . . I'm far too young for that, you know.)

But when Lucy Ann from CTN asked us about pretending to be the jolly old couple for their annual "Santa Live" broadcast, how could we resist?

We spent several hours in the studio last Thursday night taking calls (with the help of an extremely precocious 12-yr old Elf Graeme) from children in the greater Ann Arbor area.

Our first hour was a little tough due to some technical trouble in the control room. We never knew exactly WHO we were talking to since calls kept getting cut off. One of my favorite moments was when Curt asked "Caleb" if he had been a "good little boy this year" to which the caller sternly announced, "I'm a GIRL!" Oops. Santa put himself on the naughty list after that one.

Another memorable call came from twin girls who only wished their mother's cancer would go away for Christmas.

Sniff.

I wasn't prepared for that but Curt very eloquently handled it. That's why HE'S Santa!

In case you missed us, the CTN network will be replaying SANTA LIVE all day on Christmas Day.

I'll just have to keep my girls away from the television . . . or Channel 17 in any case. They have no idea just how special their Daddy is!!

A budding artist

Vivian was in the game room as usual when I picked her up from daycare yesterday. She was sprawled on the floor with a piece of paper and a purple crayon.

She jumped up when she saw me (as she usually does) and very loudly said, "Mommy, I made a face!"

And by George, she did!

This is a picture of Vivian's first-ever face. [A little scary, perhaps, but it IS a face.]

She proudly carried it downstairs and out to the car. She kept staring at it and making comments. She finally stated that it needed "some hair. We'll have to find a purple crayon."

I dug up a purple crayon so she could finish the hair when we arrived home. That's when Audrey added her little note to Vivian (in first-grade-teacher-style).

Good job, indeed!!

My little ham

We attended Audrey's 1st grade holiday concert last night. It was adorable.

I picked her up from after-care a little earlier than usual since I had to feed the family, clean up, get dressed up for the concert AND be back at the school before 6:40. These events are just not kind to working moms. Sigh.

I was extremely encouraged when she showed me the exact spot on the risers where she would be standing. Front and center! Whoo hoo! my pipsqueak will be easily spotted, I thought. She would also be playing the bells in the front row on stage right. [She told me she couldn't sing the song because it was a Hanukkah song . . . that's why she was playing the bells.] Okay, now I know EXACTLY where I'm going to sit when I get to school at 6:30. I knew I needed to get there early to get that seat.

Oiy.

If only it were that easy.

Long story short (and without blaming anyone, cough, Curt), we barely made it by the obligatory 6:40 and even then it was just Audrey and I. The rest of the family showed up minutes before the concert began. I didn't get my primo seat choice but I got in the 4th row so it wasn't a total loss. [The place was PACKED!]

Audrey was in the front row of the risers but somehow she managed to get behind a girl who was standing on the floor in front of her and wearing a big reindeer-antler-hat. WTF? Really? This girl was the only kid wearing a tall hat (they were all wearing elfin-type hats but I'm just sayin.)

Audrey didn't seem to care, though. She sang and danced her heart out in spite of the obstructed view we had. Curt and I kept switching seats so that he could get the best angle with the video camera. I think we were working as hard as Audrey was. Well, perhaps not. She was a total ham in between songs. Taking bows and making faces and doing that big-mouth-talking-thing that people do when they're trying to talk to you without actually being able to talk to you. She kept mouthing words to us. Things like "T E L L V I V I A N T O L O O K A T M E" or whatever.

I have to hand it to the music teacher at Estabrook. She put on a fantastic show with all of the 1st grade classes. I was very entertained and impressed with all of the kids.

Now if I can just teach Audrey to work her way downstage like a real diva we'll be all set.

Oh, what a not-so-beautiful mornin'!

Vivian has been a bit of a challenge lately. She's flexing her two-year old muscles and taking us on a great ride. Absolutely everything is about her, you know. We even get the pleasure of living in "Vivian's house."

She also has this thing about fighting sleep (which Curt says comes from me . . . but whatever.) Last night we got the girls tucked in a little later than usual but not ungodly late so we were cool. We sat down on the couch with our DVR and I was very surprised to hear Vivian's door open about an hour later. Actually, Curt heard it, I was in disbelief. She was still very much awake.

I tried soothing her to sleep but to no avail. Finally, I grabbed her blanket and brought her down to the couch. She can watch "Survivor" with us. (Yes, we're one of the few people in the world that still watch that show.)

She was still wide awake when the show was over around 11:00. I decided to go to bed with her until she fell asleep. I used to do that with Audrey all of the time at that age. Alas, Audrey is a MUCH different sleeper. She can fall asleep in the middle of a loud dance floor, I swear.

So, an hour later (it's midnight now) I finally emerge from Vivian's room successful. Whew. I'm tired and promptly go to bed with Curt (who managed to pry himself from the couch.)

I have no idea what time it was but I'm guessing it was 2 or 3 am when I hear wailing coming from Viv's room. She's been having lots of nightmares lately. Audrey did the same thing at this age. I guess their minds are working so hard and so fast all day long that it just explodes on them in their dreams. Once again, Vivian is dreaming about the Blue Boohbah. It's a recurring dream. Audrey used to dream about bees.

Vivian wanted "to go downstairs." Nope. We're sleeping. I choose to lie down with her (again) to try to soothe her back to sleep.

Vivian is a TERRIBLE co-sleeper! I hate sleeping with her, actually. She pokes and pinches and hugs and pulls my hair . . . whatever. She thinks it's a big game. I feel so sorry for her future husband. Even Audrey hates sleeping in the same room with her.

She sneezed and I had to get up to blow her nose. She sneezed again. I'm up again. I put Saline drops in her nose. "Where's my water?" "No, the blanket goes THIS way." "We're sleeping, mommy." (Excuse me? Uh. No. We're not.) Poke, poke, "I love you mommy." And so it continues.

I finally scuffle back to my bedroom at 5:00 am. My alarm is due to go off in 30 minutes for my work out. "F__ that" I say to myself and turn it off. I flop into bed (but not too hard cuz I have to be careful not to wake Curt up. It's true.)

I don't know what time it is but perhaps an hour goes by when Viv is wailing again. This time Curt gets up. I discover later that he never heard the earlier event. He had no idea that I was gone for hours last night. He actually made a joke about me not working out. ACK!!

All of this makes for a very grumpy Mommy this morning. I apologized to Audrey when I dropped her off at school. Her response, "Why were you so grumpy?" Was it that obvious? I texted Curt and apologized to him.

Vivian is damn lucky she's so cute.

Together in our hearts

Some close friends of ours recently informed us that they were getting divorced. My heart has been heavy with this news ever since.

And since their daughter is a good friend of Audrey's, we decided to talk about it with her. Unfortunately, this sort of thing is quite commonplace in Audrey's world. She knows lots of kids whose parents live in different houses. However, when she learned the news of our friends, she was definitely saddened.

But it also prompted her to say a very sweet thing. She started out by saying that she didn't ever want us to live in separate houses. (Which prompted a very tight hug from her Daddy.)

Then she said, "Even if we did live in separate houses, I'd still be able to see you. You know how? I could see you in my heart."

Can't top that!

Thanksgiving Recipe #4 - THE ROLLS!

And now for the coup de grâce. I'm finally getting around to posting this roll recipe. These rolls have been a staple at my family's Thanksgiving since before I can remember. My sister has made them for YEARS.

Last year, I decided to give them a try for the Waugh Thanksgiving. I also made them again this year. Much to my complete delight, my nephew said that these rolls must make an appearance every year. Zak just loves them. He has no idea how happy that made me.

They're really dough-y . . . so they're awesome if you're into that sort of thing.

Parker House Rolls

6 to 61/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

2 pkgs active dry yeast

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 egg

[Begin at least 3-1/2 hours before serving]

In large bowl combine 2-1/4 cups flour, sugar, salt, and yeast; add 1/2 cup butter or margarine with mixer at low speed, gradually pour 2 cups hot tap water (120 to 130 degrees) into dry ingredients. Add egg, increase speed to medium; beat 2 minutes occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat in 3/4 cup flour or enough to make a thick batter, continue beating 2 minutes occasionally scraping bowl.

With spoon, stir in enough additional flour (about 2-1/2 cups) to make soft dough. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Shape dough into a ball and place in a large buttered bowl, turning over so that top of dough is greased. Cover with towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled about 1-1/2 hours.

Punch down dough by pushing down center of dough with fist then pushing edges of dough into center. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead lightly to make a smooth ball. Cover with bowl for 15 minutes and let rest.

In 13 x 9 inch roasting pan, melt remaining 1/2 cup butter, tilt pan to grease bottom.

On lightly floured surface with floured rolling pin, roll dough 1/2 in. thick. With floured 2-3/4 inch round cutter, cut dough into circles. Holding dough circle by edge, dip both sides in melted butter in pan and fold in half. Arrange folded dough in rows in pan, each nearly touching the other. Knead trimmings together, reroll and cut more rolls.

Let dough rise in warm place until doubled in size - about 40 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Bake rolls 18 to 20 minutes until browned. Makes about 3-1/2 doz.

Thanksgiving Recipes #3

This year, I decided to make an appetizer for the Waugh gathering. We're leaving in 10 minutes so I have no idea how this appetizer will go over, but I know it's one of my favorites. Wish me luck!

It's a little labor intensive . . . however, I was already up early working on the homemade dinner rolls (which I'll post about soon) so I had some time to kill while the dough was rising and the rest of the family was sleeping. I did the prep early and baked them about an hour before go time.


Bacon-wrapped water chestnuts

1 8 oz. can water chestnuts, whole, cut in half
1 lb. bacon slices, cut in half (I ended up using 1.5 lbs. )

Wrap bacon around water chestnuts and secure with toothpicks. Bake on foil-lined 13x9 pan at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Pour off grease.

Dip bacon wrapped chestnuts in sauce (below) and bake again at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Sauce
Blend in blender or processor (I doubled since I made extra above):
1/3 c ketchup
1/3 c sugar
1 tsp. soy sauce

Thanksgiving Recipes #2

Since we seem to eat the same thing every year at our Thanksgiving feasts and I struggle every year trying to locate the "exact" same recipe that I used last year . . . I figured I should try to document it here for safe-keeping.

We have two Thanksgiving potlucks. One on the actual day with my family in Ohio and the second one on Saturday with Curt's family in Michigan.

I already posted the Strawberry Nut Salad that I made for the Ohio gathering. I also make a roasted vegetable dish that's gaining in popularity there. I couldn't find the one I made last year so I made something up that was similar. Here's what I did this year.

Roasted Vegetables

• 1 small butternut squash, cubed
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced (I substituted a blend of porcini, morels, portabellas, shiitake and oyster mushrooms. YUM!)
  
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 3 Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
• 1 red onion, quartered
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine the squash, red bell peppers, sweet potato, and Yukon Gold potatoes. Separate the red onion quarters into pieces, and add them to the mixture.
3. In a small bowl, stir together thyme, rosemary, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Toss with vegetables until they are coated. Spread evenly on a large roasting pan.
4. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring every 10 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked through and browned.

A Tribute to my Mom (however small)

My mom always made something called "Strawberry Nut Salad" during the holidays - most notably at Thanksgiving. Our family only ate it once or twice a year but it was such a tradition that we always looked forward to it.

Mom is no longer able to do any cooking on her own so it was time for me to carry on her tradition. My sister is already loaded with the turkey and major stuff so this is the least I can do. I actually forgot to make it last Thanksgiving and we really missed not having it there. Silly. It's nothing extravagant . . . as a matter of fact, it's incredibly easy to make. But it's just SO Thanksgiving to me!

Strawberry Nut Salad

1 lg. box strawberry Jell-O dissolved in one cup of bowling water.

Fold in:
- 16 oz frozen (thawed) strawberries - juice and all
- 3 medium bananas, mashed
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1 lg can crushed pineapple (drained)

Spread 1/2 of Jell-O mixture in 13 x 9 inch pan. Chill to set.
Spread 16 oz. sour cream on top.
Spoon on rest of Jell-O mixture.

Serve chilled.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Our family bonding weekend

I was expecting some quality time with my family this weekend. I did get it . . . but it in ways I never expected.

I'm always telling Curt that I need to spend more time with Vivian. I do my best to share equal time with both girls but it seems like Audrey gets the lion's share. This is due in large part to the number activities she's involved in and the fact that she's easy to take places now that she's older. She actually likes going to shows with me and she can attend church and sit by herself when I have to solo. Vivi will get there someday too, and I'm excited about that. But for now, we're relegated to outings that Viv can handle. One of the things that we do best together is grocery shopping. Not quite the same as the theater, but Vivian just loves to go shopping with Mommy. In any case, I'm always looking for more one-on-one moments with Vivian.

Our weekend began on Friday afternoon when the girls and I hung out at the doctor's office with Curt while he underwent a very brief (ahem) procedure. From there ensued a very quiet Friday night at home. We had take-out dinner and caught up on some of the shows on our DVR. It was nice. For me anyway . . . I'm sure next weekend will be much nicer for Curt. He's pretty sick of frozen peas.

The only outing I had planned for Saturday was Audrey's dance class. Curt assured me that he would be okay with Vivian at home, especially after I let him sleep in. The rest of the day was so boring that I don't even remember what we did. All I know is that I decided that I should probably get Vivian out of the house for a bit. I also needed to get some groceries for Thanksgiving . . . and voila! an outing with Vivian was born. The plan was that Audrey would entertain herself while Viv and I made a quick trip to the store. When we returned, we would all head to the Chinese Buffet for dinner since Audrey was craving it for some reason.

I should have known things were going to be bad when I got flipped off in the Kroger parking lot by a woman who apparently wanted the parking spot that I snagged. Not a good way to start the trip. THEN I got ripped off at the bottle return when the receipt for bottles didn't print out. Argh! What ELSE could go wrong, I thought. Nevermind. Vivi is having a great time. She found the bananas for me, she bagged all of the fruits and vegetables we bought, she was thrilled to see "Vivian's ketchup" and she very happily plucked things off of the shelf and into the cart for me.

We were nearly finished with our shopping when I stepped away from the shopping cart for a moment to return something I decided we didn't really need. (Wasabi mayonnaise to be precise. It's true we didn't need it.) Vivian toddled after me. Then she turned and ran back toward our cart. She lost control and tripped. I watched her head go flying back as her face made contact with the metal at the base of the shopping cart. She took the entire weight and force of her fall on her FACE! Immediately, she started crying (which I found out later was a GOOD thing!) I ran to her and saw her eye swell up and turn all shades of blue. I came close to a total freak out. Thankfully some SANE shoppers in the store talked to me for a bit and one woman just started dialing 911. She didn't wait for me to respond, just told me she was doing it. I loved this woman immediately. I wish I could thank her now. I think I managed to thank her at the time but I don't really know.

We abandoned the cart and headed toward the front of the store. I must have looked crazy sitting on the floor cuddling my crying baby. Someone got us some ice. Another person brought a chair and shuffled us off to the side a bit. The paramedics arrived and were insanely nice and calming to me. We had a nice ride in the ambulance to St. Joe's.

My favorite part [can there BE a favorite part??] is when everyone kept asking Vivian where her pain was (trying to rule everything out). "Does your nose hurt, does your neck hurt, etc?" "IT'S RIGHT HERE!" she kept saying pointing to her temple. As if to say "duh, people, can't you see my eye hurts!?"


Thankfully, it was nothing serious. She's pretty banged up but it could have been so much worse. They gave her some Tylenol and a Popsicle and suggested that we let her sleep with us that night so we could keep tabs on her through the night (I had horror thoughts of her kicking Curt so I chose to sleep in Viv's bed with her).

Meanwhile, poor Curt (who's supposed to be convalescing himself) had to get Audrey some dinner while we were gone and listen to my updates on the phone. Finally, he had to put on some pants and come pick us up at the hospital.

He later laughed how this was supposed to be HIS weekend.

Vivian's doing okay now but she's got quite a shiner on her eye. Today's version of it is even worse than this photo. She's wearing a "magic" Elmo band-aid so she says it's all better.

She and I even went back to the store the next day. She didn't seem the least bit phased by it.

So, I had some special one-on-one time with Vivian this weekend. I hope we don't repeat it anytime soon.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I'm in the holiday spirit so early this year!

I'm not sure what's bringing it on . . . except that perhaps I've actually had some downtime to enjoy my family and friends lately. It gets me all mushy and stuff. The snow on the ground helps, too.

[Spoiler alert for Curt] I recently purchased monogrammed Christmas stockings that I found in an INCREDIBLE on-line sale at TheCompanyStore. I bought them in October! Poor Vivian just couldn't go another year with the mis-matched pink, baby-themed holiday stocking. Anyway, they're tucked in a box under my bed. I've even started making lists of things that I want to buy the girls and I'm thinking about (gasp!) actually doing some on-line shopping!!

And then today BAM! out comes the new Holiday Guide from one of my favorite blogs. Now I don't have to spend hours on the web trying to find unique gifts . . . they've done all of the work for me.

They'll do the work for you, too . . . since I'm sharing this link with all of you, my beautiful friends.

And Curt, if you're still reading, how 'bout picking up the cool gift from the Holiday Guide: The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own and buying me like 90 or so of them?

Love you. [wink]

Eight years and counting

Dear Curt,

Exactly 10 days ago we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary.

There was no lavish party, fireworks or large gifts. There was no fanfare at all, actually. Unless you count the absolutely insane weekend of activities we had and the globally-celebrated election day that occured on November 4 -- our anniversary date.

I think I snapped at you more than once that weekend due to my ever-increasing stress level. In the midst of all of the hoopla, it could have been easy to just let this particular anniversary go by.

But we didn't. You didn't.

This anniversary was noteworthy in my mind. Not only has the past year been full of challenges and lots of work, but both of our first marriages ended at seven years. We really know how to bring meaning to the seven-year-itch.

However, all of our hard work has paid off. We are connecting in ways we never have. Our love for each other is growing and our bond is stronger than ever.

As I looked at you sitting next to our girls in the front pew of church when we renewed our wedding vows on Sunday, I was filled with intense love and pride. I felt like the Grinch and my heart grew "three sizes that day." You looked so handsome and I was so proud. My eyes filled with tears as we held hands and renewed our vows in front of the congregation.

Again, there was nothing flashy about this day. We didn't even take a single picture -- although that could have something to do with the fact that I broke my camera at the party the day before. But the picture is indelibly etched in my brain forever.

You get me better than anyone ever has. I love that. [Well, sometimes I don't actually, but you know what I mean.]

These past 8 years have been the best of times and they've been the worst of times. But we're doing them together and I can't imagine my life without you.

Love,
Kathy

To everything there is a season

There are still remnants of the first snow on the ground outside my window at work. It snowed yesterday and on Sunday! Nothing major but it was there.

I get such a kick out of the first snowfall. Thank goodness I have little kids to share that with. I took the girls out shopping with me on Sunday night when the biggest of the flakes started coming down. That was quite a treat. Not really the shopping part . . . but the being out in the snow part.

I was motivated to go shopping because I received a coupon from the new Whole Foods store that opened in town. We needed food, I hadn't been there yet and there was a whole $5 to be saved just by going shopping.

I had planned on going with Vivian so I could have a little bonding time with her - since Audrey went to church with me that morning. Vivian is actually fun to take to the grocery store. She loves to help pick out the items and put them in the basket.

Well, Audrey got wind that I was going to the store and she quickly responded that she wanted to go too! She counted up all of her allowance money and knew that she had enough to purchase the Mymeebas that were on sale at Target. [She learned about Mymeebas from www.everythinggirl.com and she learned about the sale from the Target flier that came in our Sunday paper. And this is from a six-year old!]

So . . . both girls went shopping with me.

I spent too much at Whole Foods (also known as "Whole Paycheck") and the Mymeebas were sold out at Target. Not the best outing for us. But at least we were out in the snow! And WNIC is already playing Christmas songs on the radio. Can you believe that?

I just LOVE the change of seasons and this is the best one of all for me. Perhaps I was also inspired by talking to a woman at church who had just moved here from Houston. She was completely overwhelmed by the beauty of our fall in Michigan. She loves it and is so happy to be here. She's even looking forward to winter. That made me feel all good inside.

And since it won't be long before I'm posting pictures of snow shoveling, sledding and the like . . . here are a few shots of the girls playing in the leaves a week ago on my birthday.

I don't even know where to start!

SO many things have happened in the past 24 hours! It's mind boggling. Where do I begin? I'm also crazy busy at work . . . but I can't let these moments go by without mentioning them.

First of all, I stayed up late watching election results last night. And OH . . . what a night it was! I wasn't sure exactly how long I would last but it turns out, I didn't have to wait too long. And then once it was official that Barack Obama would be our next president (shortly after 11:00 pm), I knew I needed to stay up to hear the speeches. History was being made and I wanted to see it in real time . . . not just on youtube or tonight's "The Daily Show."

Unfortunately, Vivian was also sick last night. I snuggled with her for most of the evening while she slept. Although my heart was breaking for her, I was secretly happy to have someone to share the moment with. I didn't get much sleep last night between these two events. I don't even care. I'm happy as hell right now. And I'm not the only one.

AND THEN the girls had their own monumental events this morning! I can't forget about them!

We were running behind in our morning routine . . . due in large part to the lack of sleep that Vivian and I had . . . and somehow Audrey was already in the car with her coat on when it became apparent that Vivian had to go poopy. She has never gone poopy on the toilet, mind you. However, by all appearances, it seemed like today was going to be the day!

And since Vivian usually lingers on the toilet for awhile, Curt decided to see if Audrey was interested in walking to school all by herself. He went outside to where she was sitting in the car and posed the question. Audrey said nothing -- she just lit up and jumped out of the car! He then asked her if she knew how to go. She described one of the back routes that she likes to take (when we follow along in the car, that is) But, for the sake of safety, Curt explained a more prominent route (with crossing guards and such) and she was off. He stood on the sidewalk and watched her walk away until she made her turn.

Meanwhile, I'm upstairs with the little, stinky one. She did indeed poop in her toilet for the first time! Usually, she's quite pleased with what she finds in her training potty when she stands up. However, this morning, she scrunched up her nose and instructed me to "throw it away." It was way more exciting for Mommy and Daddy than it was for her.

We all quickly got into our respective cars since Curt and I were hoping to catch a glimpse of Audrey walking along the sidewalk near the school.

I yelled out the window as I drove by and Audrey waved and smiled. She looked so little out there in that big, big world of our neighborhood.

I guess they're not as little as I want them to be.

Learning to breathe again

We did it! We got through this weekend!

I'm not sure how much I'll be able to blog about it but rest assured, it was quite a whirlwind and it's now behind us. We had Halloween events (three of them), a visit from my parents, a wonderful 50th wedding anniversary party for Curt's parents, my birthday and a lovely ceremony on Sunday morning where Curt and I renewed our wedding vows.

The weekend was so emotional for me that I found myself crying several times without really knowing why.

I did manage to nab a few photos before I dropped my camera and broke it on Saturday night so hopefully I'll get some of those posted here.

Here's one little incident we didn't plan on that also occurred this weekend.

Thank the LORD for washable markers!!!!

Time sure does fly . . . am I having fun?

I just took a call from a co-worker. He called to congratulate me on my anniversary. I was confused for a sec since my wedding anniversary is less than a week away. I wondered to myself, "Gee, how nice of him to remember that."

And then it dawned on me! Yesterday was the official anniversary of my tenure at my company. Yup. I started working at Black & Veatch on October 29, 1990. 18 years ago.

EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO.

How can that be, you say? I must have been 12 when I started!

I hired in as a contract employee that summer of 1990 and never left. So, actually I've been here 18 years and four months. Whew. I never would have dreamed in a million years when I walked through those doors over 18 years ago that I would still be here today. Crazy.

And yes, my wedding anniversary and birthday are coming up in just a few days. I'm just hitting all the milestones this week.

Prepare youselves for a post on the crazy weekend I'm about to have. It's a doozy, I tell ya'!

(THANK YOU Janelle for the beautiful card!!!! Love you.)

The Song That Goes Like This . . .

Curt and I co-produced and co-hosted a fundraiser event for the Ann Arbor Civic Theater last week. We had a ton of fun putting it together and even more fun at the event itself. I was walking on a cloud for days afterwards.

The event was a singing competition between 10 men and 10 women called the Civic Open -- there were two top winners in each category -- so four winners in total. We had some fantastic judges (who became even more fantastic over their manhattens and martinis). Actually, the entire crowd was fired up all over the place. A bunch of us closed the club and continued the festivities at a friend's house.

SO much fun! Too bad it was a Wednesday night.

In addition to the competitors, Curt and I sang a duet - "The Song That Goes Like This" from Spamalot.

The girls watched us practice the number a few times (well, perhaps more than a few times) and somehow during our final dress (which literally took place in our dining room the night before the event) they decided to get into the act themselves.

Here are two versions of the song. The first one shows Audrey stepping in for my part of the duet. You'll see at the end of the video that Viv wants a turn. So she got one in the second video. Although Audrey couldn't stop correcting her in the background.

Too cute!

Audrey's video

Vivian's video

The family that sings together, stays together!

Fall Farm Trip

Last weekend a bunch of us nutty parents went to the Real Life Farm for a few hours. We had an absolutely gorgeous day for our trip -- which was a real bonus.

Here's a snippet of our afternoon (in the wrong order, of course. It's Friday afternoon and I'm lazy today.)

The kids clamoring around the bunny pen while we waited for the hay ride to start.

Vivian in line to ride the horses.

My littlest kid on the littlest horse!

Audrey rode the biggest horse -- "Tank"

My girly-girls posing for a picture.

Dueling cameras with January.

Listening to Farmer Tom (or Bob or whats-his-name) giving us the lay of the land.

Vivian, Daddy and a cow

Where's Owen going?

The kids loved feeding the goats!

Natalie in the goat pen!

Molly is pretty happy with that duck.

Anthony's NOT looking so happy.

Vivian's loving it, though.

Audrey and her boyfriend, Nicolas.

What's in a name?

Audrey told us that she "voted" for Barack Obama at school today because she likes his name. She thinks it's cool.

That's SO awesome!!!

Just because

I just ran across this photo comparison on my computer while I was looking for some other file. That's me on the left in (gulp) 1966 and Vivian on the right taken a few months ago.

Cups of Poopy

Curt and I went with some friends to see the University of Michigan's musical theater production of RENT last night. (Thanks to Rachel for hooking us up!)

I was impressed with the show. The two men playing Collins and Angel were crazy good. It was fun to relive my past a bit since I hadn't seen the show or even played the CD in years.

And then completely out of the blue this morning, Vivian started singing Seasons of Love while eating her pancakes. I looked at Audrey with bewilderment. "What made her start singing this?" Now you might recall that Seasons of Love was one of the songs from Audrey's show over the summer. Vivian learned all of the songs since she was also around during the rehearsal process. She sings a lot of the songs from the show -- her favorite being Hit the Road Jack. But why that song this morning?

Kids are funny creatures.

And lest you think my child is some sort of genius or something (which she is, of course) here's Vivian's version of the lyrics:

Five hunded tenty-five thousan six hunded minutes

Five hunded tenty-five thousan moments so dear

Five hunded tenty-five thousan six hunded minutes

How do you measure, measure a yea

In daylits, in sunsits

in midnits, in cups of poopy

in inches, in mals in la-la an sha

Five hunded tenty-five thousan six hunded minutes

How do you measure, a year in la laf

Super Trouper

Oh . . . the appeal of ABBA.

Our little songfest over dinner the other day had quite the impact. Audrey is now a huge ABBA fan.

At this very moment, I'm typing this at my dining room table while Audrey is performing a dance concert to ABBA Gold in the living room. Her favorite songs are "Money, Money" and "Super Trouper." (Both of which I've now heard ad nauseum)

Hmmmm . . . I guess I really didn't need to pick her up early from school today because her stomach hurt, eh?

Random musings and the weather . . .

We have had unseasonably warm weather over the past couple of days. Last weekend was down-right gorgeous and sunny. It was nice to squeeze in some outdoor time doing yard-work in-between being stuck in a dark theater for a good portion of my weekend.

Sunday afternoon was particularly painful to head to the theater. It was SO beautiful outside. Curt had dreams of playing disc golf but that couldn't happen.

The show is going quite well, though. I've enjoyed hanging out with my "other" family but I'm also ready to get my life back. We close this weekend and I'm sure I will miss it. What I won't miss is trying to catch up on my life during those precious moments when I'm not at work or at the theater.

I managed to get some productive things done around the house on Saturday - which included cleaning Audrey's room (also called "throwing a bunch of minutia away while she's not looking") and switching our bed over to its "winter" coverings.

And then I roasted while sleeping on Saturday night. Woke up in a full-out sweat. Leave it to me to fix up our cozy, winter bed when it's 80 degrees outside.

I hear normal fall weather is coming back later this week. Me and my down comforter will be happy to see it.

It seems much scarier than it is . . .

I have a feeling that Halloween is going to be a tough-one this year. Not only are we squeezing it in between a million other events in our lives (performances, a fund-raiser, my birthday and our wedding anniversary to name a few -- thank GOODNESS my two business trips this month were postponed!!) but I'm getting the sneaking suspician from Vivian that she's not going to enjoy this holiday very much.

Vivian told her daycare teachers that she wanted to be Cinderella. I don't think she actually knows what that means, though. She loves Cinderella so somehow she latched onto that thought one afternoon. But when I showed her a couple of Cinderella costumes on-line, she just said, "no." I tried Teletubbies too, since she's currently a huge fan. How funny is this??? But she said, "no."

Because of my nutty schedule lately, my Halloween decorations are still sitting in boxes on my living room floor (hey! At least I pulled them from storage!) so I don't know how Viv will react to those just yet. However, she's deathly afraid of the Bath and Body pumpkin soap dispenser we have in the bathroom. And the other day when I was purchasing mums and a cornstalk with the girls, she would . . . not . . . go . . . near . . . a giant blow-up of Frankenstein. He wasn't even a scary version of Frankenstein. But he was huge and depicted all-things-Halloween.

This is very odd behavior from a girl who normally appears to be fearless about everything.

I can't imagine what she's going to be like at her preschool Halloween party . . . let alone the crazy beggars night we have in our neighborhood . . . complete with flaming torches and a suit of armor with a pumpkin head in our front yard.

Needless to say, I will not be spending much money on Vivian's costume this year.

She DOES like candy corn, I've discovered.

All is not lost.

A night of relaxation after a weekend of drama

Not bad drama . . . I'm talking about real drama . . . as in theater.

I'm very happy to report that I had my first evening OFF since sometime in September (other than the "fake" night off I had last Monday) . . . . and I enjoyed myself!! I made dinner for my family (actually cut up things and seasoned them and cooked them and stuff!!) and we all hung around the dinner table for a very long time.

Curt had his laptop sitting on the dining table and we started performing computer karaoke during dinner. We're producing a karaoke contest/show in a couple of weeks (yes, that other one . . . more on that later) so we've been researching songs and getting organized. In any case, it was a lot of fun eating, drinking and singing ABBA songs at the dinner table (not that ABBA has anything to do with the show we're producing. Just humor me.)

The girls showed their enjoyment by dancing along to all the songs.

I don't think they ate very much.

[Perhaps THAT'S why Vivian gobbled up all of her breakfast this morning so quickly!]

My show officially opened this past weekend. We have been stressing about this beast of a script for weeks. One cast member even spoke of anxiety attacks during the day just thinking about it. We often joked to each other about "just WHY do we do this to ourselves????" Anyway, we finally opened and had FUN!! What a relief!! Our Friday night crowd was fantastic. All the stars aligned and everyone was on their game. We couldn't have asked for a better night to kick things off. The only thing that seemed to go awry was that I forgot a piece of my costume at home. I spend most of the first act in boxer shorts . . . which I discovered (too late) were at home in my laundry basket. Thankfully, Laurie wore capri-style sweats to the theater that night so I promptly asked her if I could borrow them for the show. Those same pants made another appearance later in the show when Dan realized that he didn't have his scrubs, either. Anyhoo . . .

We had a wonderful review that you can read about here.

Now I get to enjoy being a wife and mother again for a few days until we perform again this weekend.

I'm reveling in it!

All in a day's work

I'm still in survival mode.

I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but still. On Saturday, for instance, I left the house at 11:00 am and returned home around 1:30 am. Yes, I was gone for 13.5 hours. That day consisted of (in this order) tap class, ballet class (with a trip to Starbucks, of course!), auditions for a show Curt and I producing, a friend's 40th birthday party and finally a little thing like a performance in front of a LIVE audience that evening . . . followed by a debrief of our preview weekend over drinks. I'm tired just writing about it.

I was pretty worthless on Sunday. I still managed to get my lazy ass to church with my girls (and yawned through most of it). I went home and promptly took a nap on the couch next to Vivian who was hanging out on pbskids.org on my laptop. Damn. Elmo's voice is annoying. We also had more auditions on Sunday and then began the agonizing task of casting our show over dinner at Grizzly Peak.

So Monday was my first official evening OFF in weeks!!! And boy was I looking forward to it! Only, it wasn't really a day off. I have this knack for filling every idle second of my life with something.

I've been feeling guilty that Curt has hung out at home so much by himself. I told him days ago that he should go out for drinks on Monday night. Unfortunately, his best buddy is usually not available until later in the evening and by that time of the night, Curt turns into a frog or something because he hates to get started that late. So . . . drinks turned into just a happy hour after work. But then there was Monday night football so he had to go watch the 1st Qtr at least. But I digress . . . he was home around 9:30ish. Not too shabby.

I had the extreme pleasure of taking Audrey to the first religion class of the season AND her first Girl Scout meeting of the year. That meant I had to leave work and drive back to our neighborhood to pick Audrey up, then drive back downtown to our church. We sat through a parent meeting before Audrey went to her classroom. That allowed me only enough time to go pick up Vivian from daycare. We shuttled back to church to pick up Audrey when I realized I should probably FEED my children before we head to the next thing.

Quick trip to Wendy's.

Vivian was devastated when I packed up her food before she was finished because we had to GO! Nevermind that she spent what seemed like an eternity peeling the paper from her straw and then playing with her milk. [Mind you, the ONLY reason we didn't just eat in the car in the first place was because Audrey had to go POTTY!! Of COURSE! Also nevermind that I had asked her to go before we left religion class. Oiy!]

We get to Girl Scouts and it's totally mentally taxing for me. I had to sit through yet another meeting and then fill out paperwork and write them a check. Paperwork? Really? Do you really need to have my insurance information and my work phone number? I did meet some nice moms there so I guess it wasn't a total bust. They also had some great snacks.

We finally get home shortly before 8:00 pm and I cracked open Audrey's backpack (being Monday and all -- that's when all the good stuff comes home.) Yikes! This is her first week of real homework. Shit.

Audrey has to practice spelling words, read for 15 min., complete a math worksheet and write a book report. WTF??? A book report???

Now, I have the dilemma of WHEN we're going to squeeze this in . . . before or after her bath. I decided to go for before since she was still pretty pumped about Girl Scouts. We got right into it.

Needless to say, everything was backed up a bit last night (Why oh why did I say Curt could go out for a drink??) We finally got the homework done, baths complete, teeth brushed and everyone in jammies (including myself). This would also be a good time to mention that I also cleaned the kitchen, emptied the dishwasher AND threw a load of laundry in.

So . . . I'm ready to sit down . . . otherwise known as collapse . . . on the couch and watch a little bit of "Dancing with the Stars." Vivian likes to "watch dancing" with me so I figured it would be good to cuddle on the couch for a bit. It's late, but what the hell. Audrey was at least tucked in and all set.

We watch literally 5 minutes when guess who comes home?

His first words to me were, "What is she doing up? You know, she never stays up this late when you're not here."

ARGGGHHHH!!!!!

Curt was all smiles and happy, but still.

A little joy today

A few milestones need to be mentioned.

************************

Audrey walked to school almost by herself today. She has been begging to do it and we've been talking about the route she needs to take and she seems confident that she can handle it.

However, I was still surprised this morning when Curt asked Audrey if she wanted to walk to school today while he road alongside her in the car. Of course she said YES!!!

So, I watched my little girl with her pink backpack literally skip down the sidewalk while my husband drove very slowly along the curb. Too cute! [Although, I must admit I was nervous. I called Curt twice on his cell phone.] I guess she reached the "hole" in the fence area near the school and waved him off as if to say, "I've got it now. You can go."

I can't wait to ask her about it after school today.

************************

Vivian's favorite night-time stories these days are a collection of mini-Disney books that have been around since Audrey was her age (thanks to a birthday or Christmas gift from her diaper buddy, Nicolas).

Curt captured Vivian reading 101 Dalmations (her current favorite).

Here are Curt's notes on his Youtube account, so you can follow along:

1) Pong and Perdita are dalmations

2) Their pupplies like to watch television (Vivian adds, "Do you like to watch television? OK")

3) Cruella de Vil steals the puppies.

4) Pongo and Perdita ask the colonel for help.

5) Tibs and some friends rescue the puppies.

************************

We have been hard-hit with illnesses among family members and friends this past week, so life has been a bit rocky lately. It's these little but joyous moments that keep us going.

Thank God for them.

Bad girl

There are three women in our household and one lone man. One of the girls had an attitude this weekend and was a beeATCH. Can you guess which one?

Since the two littlest girls were at a sleepover for most of the weekend . . . I'm going to go with . . . ME.

Oops.

Sorry, honey.

Ahhh . . . School Fundraisers!

Audrey has brought home her first-time-this-year school fundraiser. Do kids ever do these things on their own? I guess they do since I'm suckered by more than one book order or popcorn box or gift wrapping paper fundraiser that comes knocking at my door.

The PTO is planning to purchase new playground equipment for the school and I think that's a lofty goal. Her school has a newly renovated pool, flat screen computers in every room, new flooring, a HUGE media center -- the works -- but the playground equipment is a pretty sad sight. Broken swings and a few climby things.

My coworkers have already been tormented by me so now the two people that read this blog get the same treatment.

If you want to help out, you can view the fundraiser on-line. Orders must be completed by September 23rd.

If you could be so kind as to keep in mind the following so Audrey can get the Nintendo DS she's dreaming for, she'll be ever so happy. I'm kidding . . . she'll love the Hannah Montana pencil that all participating students receive. There's something about a Pig Race in there. I guess top-selling classrooms take part in a pig race? Can anyone tell me what that's about??

Anyhoo . . . .

School code/ID: 3024-
Child's name: Audrey Waugh
Teacher: Ms. Miller
Grade: 1

http://frankenmuthfundraising.com/

Thanks for even considering it!!

Take care and goodnight.

How the Other Half Loves

So . . . uh . . . yeah. I've been a little busy lately.

I decided to get involved in a show. It sort of came to me, actually, I didn't go looking for it.

I was flattered when the director asked me to read for a part and then told me that he didn't really have anyone else in mind and would I take it? Oh really?? How could I refuse? Couple that with the fact that I absolutely ADORE the other cast members and the rehearsal period was just three weeks long . . . well, it seemed like an easy decision.

However, things haven't always been so easy throughout the process.

I need to remember that it really sucks being involved in a show at the start of the school year. I did manage to spend a lot of time with Audrey . . . going to her 1st grade orientation and walking her into the building the first full week of school . . . but I still feel like I'm missing out on something. Not sure what, but there must be something.

But kids are resilient. They haven't complained one bit. I think the person who has been hardest hit is Curt.

He's been Mr. Mom these past couple of weeks and he's been great about it. I know he's bored out of his mind and his patience is thinner than the thinnest thread at the moment . . . but he deserves a ton of praise.

The other night Vivian bawled for over 30 minutes straight. About something stupid. I wasn't there but it had something to do with washing her hands. I'm sure she wanted to do it "by myself." [Awww . . . remember when she used to say "me do it?" I do.] I even heard her cries over the phone when I called on my break. Curt decided to just let her go until she could get over herself. She's a tenacious one, though. She can hang with the best of them. I guess she managed to pull herself together eventually and take a bath. Thank goodness Audrey was a relative angel that night.

Although the next morning, Audrey gave us a good showing. She was in TEARS because the school lunch for the day was ravioli. And didn't we realize that she DOESN'T . . . LIKE . . . RAVIOLI??!!! This of course happened at the precise time we were loading into cars to head out (already about 10 min. behind mind you). I threw a granola bar in her backpack and told her to eat that along with the roll, green beans and milk that came with the ravioli and she would be fine. No go.

I won't go into detail but the next few moments involved more tantrum-like activity, some raised voices, a brief time-out and Mommy throwing together a packed lunch while Daddy stood there perplexed that I was giving in to her tantrum. I didn't give in, you see. She promised she would eat the hot lunch tomorrow, she apologized for her behavior and she lost her allowance for this week (unless she can figure out a way to earn it back). My goal was to try to keep the peace so that we could all get out of the house and go on with our day.

But I digress.

My point of all this is that Curt and I have totally different styles. And usually, I'm around to be the buffer. I can't help but think that the girls are getting an incredible service done to them by spending this much time with their Daddy. I know it's WAY more one-on-one time than I ever got with my own Dad. It's a beautiful thing. And Curt is a GREAT Dad. So . . . I'm doing them a favor giving them this time together without my influence. Right? RIGHT??? [Please say I'm right . . . please. Shut up.]

So, I'm doing this show and it's a real hoot. The cast is terrific and I get to take out all of my frustrations of the world on my show husband. I literally attack him with a soup ladle and stick his head in a sink full of water . . . among other things. Just like a typical evening in the Waugh household. Ha.

I will be happy when the rehearsals are over and I get my weeknight evenings back again. I DO miss them.

And how did Audrey's lunch go, you ask?? Well, it turns out that after seeing the hot lunch that day, Audrey DOES like Ravioli. "I was thinking about something else," was her remark to me.

Oiy!