still 4

Sydney asked me today "mom, am I still 4?". Apparently the birthday party wasn't a dead give away.
Then: "when I wake up tomorrow, will I be 5?" No, but it will feel like it to me.

baby grows up

My little girl turned 4 today. I only cried a little. I can't believe how fast the last year went. When I told her she wasn't my baby anymore, she said "mom, stop saying that, I'm a big girl, I don't wear diapers anymore". She is just so cute and I did almost lose it when Coop got up this morning and went right to Syd and gave her a hug and kiss and said "Happy birthday Sydney, I love you" (with no prompting from me).

Then there was the party...I don't like little kid parties, I'm just going to put that out there. I don't like giving them or actually going to them. It WAS supposed to be a waterslide/slip n slide/water theme party but wouldn't you know it, it was 60 and cold and rainy. I had to call everyone I knew to give me ideas for alternative party suggestions. Not easy since I had around 14 4 year olds. Yuck! 2hours can be such an eternity, don't you think? Oh, Oh...AND my favors didn't arrive in time. Eric said "I guess $15 doesn't seem like too much to pay for expedited shipping NOW, does it?" I"m sure they'll arrive tomorrow, just in time to be sent right back.
I kind of felt sorry for the Fed Ex guy today when he brought another shipment (we get them daily for Eric's work) and it wasn't the favors...I apologized to him ok?!

The cutest part of the day was when Sydney's friend from preschool, Alex came and she ran right to him and then just held his hand. I didn't have a camera at that moment but I swear it happened.

bedtime

rant begin:
Do you think the kids can sense that I want them to hurry up and go to sleep so I can do my own stuff?!!
Bedtime is becoming ridiculous. I know they are tired, I know they should be in bed by 8 but there is just too much yelling and tears involved (mostly mine, the kids are too busy trying to sneak another angle on how to stay up 5 MORE MINUTES).
There has to be a better way. I don't want to sit in Syd's room until she falls asleep... that is bad for so many reasons, mainly that I don't know how long it will take and if I have something that I really need to do, that is the night when she is up for an hour or longer. Plus, that's not allowing her to put herself to sleep, PLUS when she wakes up in the middle of the night she freaks out because I'm still not right next to her PLUS PLUS I don't have the patience.

Part of the problem is that Eric puts them to bed several nights a week when I'm working. Of course he says that he NEVER has any problems with them, they go to bed fine for him. GRRRRR
I am so damn frustrated and I lose it on them which doesn't help my chances for another child, I know but I can't help it.
JUST. GO.TO.BED.AND.STAY. THERE.

rant finished

bartering

overheard 1 minute ago:
Cooper: Sydney, if you give me one diaper, I'll give you 2 quarters
Sydney: ok
Cooper: if you give me 2 diapers, I'll give you one penny and 2 quarters

seems fair, right?!

my little mouse

Syd has seen Ratatouille one too many times. Today she only wanted cheese for lunch saying that "mice only eat cheese". When I told her that I don't think they are really picky and I'm sure mice would eat turkey too, she had a fit. Then she said "mom, why are you calling me Sydney, my name is mouse".

soccer

so I believe that I should expose my kids to as many different opportunities and sports as possible so they can make the decision which one they really like. Apparently, soccer is not for Coop. Luckily, the season is only 5 weeks but MAN, those were 5 tremendously painful, long and grueling 5 weeks. I'm pretty sure he cried in every game. They had 7 games and only scored one goal TOTAL... one lowly goal for the entire season. I would be so frustrated but the funny thing is that they actually didn't seem to mind. When the ball DID come their way, they weren't quite sure what to do with it so they just kind of looked at it until the other team came and swooped it away.

I think my absolute favorite moment was when a player on Coop's team was put in to be goalie (they switch around) and as the ball came to him he did this thing with his fingers, like waving toward the ball...he was trying to put a spell on the ball or catch it with his Spiderman net I later found out. It was fricking hilarious. By the way, it didn't work.

hello worm

My mother is a great gardener ( and I didn't inherit the gene apparently). While she is on vaca this week, we have been put in charge of keeping her 30 worms alive (for those of you who don't know...worm poop is GREAt fertilizer...duh!). It seems an easy task...keep them fed, in their bucket and covered so they don't get sunlight. I could do without this assignment but mom and dad took the kids for 5 days last week while Eric and I vacationed our asses off in Mexico (please no more swine comments...yes I ate prosciutto AND bacon AND I mixed with the locals and no flu symptoms yet) so I guess this is the least I could do.

I have been surprised (ok, maybe not really) to find that Syd loves them and wants to play with them. She gets a few out in the morning and puts them on the newspaper and plays with them and talks to them. They have conversations and when I walk up to her she says "touch them mom!...JUST TOUCH THEM...look, they're pooping!" I have to persuade her to put them back in the bucket so we can repeat this in another few hours. Eric said that when he came downstairs this morning, she asked him to take the lid off. He came back about 20 minutes later and she was having a little show with them. It is so funny!