Spelling tests

My oldest daughter has recently started taking weekly spelling tests at school. She's only in kindergarten, but she's in a K/1 classroom so the teacher is having her take the tests with the 1st graders because . . . well . . . she can.

Most of the lists have been rhyming words: sick, stick, pick, etc. which work well with that age. However, last week a substitute teacher gave them a spelling list of the major colors. I immediately guessed that this list would be too hard. Audrey didn't know how to spell "orange" for instance. And "white" with the silent "h" and "e?" How could she remember all of that? I started making up silly games and cheers for each word -- which was actually helping quite a bit. We get the list on Monday and the test is on Friday so we have all week to practice.

My daughter aced the spelling test last week! I was so proud.

For a moment.

And then she quite honestly told me that she just looked up on the wall at the color words that were written there. She was very happy with herself and said, "Nobody saw me do it." What is a mom to do? I guess it's not really cheating per se, since the words are right there. It's not her fault that no one bothered to take them down or cover them up. So . . . I treated it pretty lightly. The words were pretty difficult anyway.

So, today is Friday and it's spelling test day. The list is much more appropriate: you, will, see, have, look -- nothing crazy. Audrey knows them. She'll be fine. And then this morning as we're putting her coat on for school, she refers to the spelling list on the table and asks, "Mommy, can I take that piece of paper with me to school and put it in my desk so I won't forget the words?" ACK!

Date Night!

My husband and I are going to try a date night tonight. I say "try" because this is the date we were supposed to go on last Friday night. And boy were we pumped to go on this date! My husband had it all planned out and we were both looking forward to it.

And then the weather hit.

And it snowed and snowed and snowed. It took hubby forever to get home from work. I was already home since it was Good Friday. I called the sitter and called it off. So sad. Hubby made up for it by bringing sushi home for dinner. That was nice!

So, here we are a week later and a little deja vu has set in. We're doing the exact same date that we planned and hired the same sitter. But why aren't we as excited? Are we expecting something to go wrong again? I mean, because it has to right? We're not entitled to a grown-up, dressed up evening together, are we?

I DO hope our attitudes get an adjustment when we're sipping drinks in the mojito bar we plan to hit first.

Easter

Okay, I'm going to do it. I'm going to jump right in there and start a blog. I'm nervous. I probably won't be able to keep this going but if I never I try, I'll never know.

This blog is mostly to store the funny, sad, crazy memories of my little girls: Audrey and Vivian. They're a whacky pair and they bring us so much enjoyment. Oh . . . and pain and frustration, too.

We had a ball at Easter time . . . one of my favorite holidays. Vivian, who also turned two Easter weekend, didn't quite get it but she loves chockwet (translation: chocolate) so she was good to go. Audrey started hiding eggs around the house a week early. I guess she was just practicing for the real deal.

We visted the Easter Bunny at the mall a few days before. It's one of those traditional things I like to do. I have a stockpile of photos with Santa and the Easter Bunney and my girls. I nearly forgot to do it this year, but I managed to squeeze it in. In this photo, you can see that Vivian definitely was not impressed by this huge beast. Audrey, on the other hand, was laughing her arse off.

Typical.