Heptadecagon

Melina has declared today Pink Day. Only she and I are participating, considering she made the request after the kids had left for school. I found a pink hoodie, put on my pink vest over it, and managed to scrounge up pink underwear and pink/white socks. Thankfully, in my opinion, I do not own pink pants. That fact did not go over well with Melina, however. As I slid my pink/white clad feet into my navy blue slippers, Melina leaned over and whispered, "Mommy. I don't want you to wear your slippers. I cannot see your pink feet then." Yikes. I put the slippers on anyway. I'll wear my gray/pink sneakers to the store a little later, and that should appease the little princess.

So wasn't I just complaining about Melina being too dependent upon me? Yep, I sure was. Well last night, she displayed a most convincing act of independence, I am still astounded by it. After dinner, Melina and Aaron were watching a Batman show, in the family room, while Tim was using the computer in the same room. I was reading a book to Zoe and Talia two rooms over, in the study area. All of a sudden, I hear the pitter patter of feet that can only be from one person: Melina. I asked if she was okay. She said yes, but since she was in the kitchen, I thought I'd see if she needed anything. I excused myself from Zoe and Talia, and went to investigate. Melina had taken the kitchen towel and was wiping her face. This is not out of the ordinary, as she often swipes the towel to wipe her nose when it is running, and it hasn't stopped running since February 1st. Don't worry, I am aware of this habit and make sure to change towels often in the kitchen, plus hide the o

Did that title intrigue you? If you don't know what French letters are, go look them up. But don't worry, this is not a post about anything indecent. Some of you may not know this, but I was a French major in college. I haven't used the degree since, but to be honest, I never planned to. Instead, I was planing on going to medical school, so I balanced out the science workload with French. Upon graduation, I could speak pretty well, although not well enough in my opinion. However, I was a fluent reader and writer. I still love the French language and have thought about going back and brushing up on it. A couple of weeks ago, the school sent home a notice that they would be offering French lessons to 4th and 5th grade students. We signed them up, and last night, there was a meeting for parents and students. I wasn't sure what to expect, and so I was flabbergasted by what happened. The meeting, in a word, was phenomenal! The energy of the instructors, both under

It has been a while since I've posted some of the funny things that the kids say. Since the kids are getting older, I find fewer silly things come out of their mouths on a daily basis. Even from Melina. However, we had a few good ones from the little princess as of late. Item #1: Mom! My nose is melting! She meant that there was mucus running down her face. Item #2: I am going to bust my bum right out! Yep, she was on the toilet, and I made this the second item for a reason, if you get my drift. But where she got that one? No idea.

I posted yesterday that I needed a job. The college called me today and said they needed me. No one there reads this blog, so I guess I just got lucky. Or unlucky, as the class is an evening course.

I haven't worked outside of the home now since the end of November. Which means Melina and I have spent quite a bit of quality (and non-quality) time together. Whether or not I am going crazy from not working is another post for another day. What I am talking about today is Melina's dependence upon me. I thought, when we got rid of the nursing, that I'd see a bit of independence flare up from her. And I think I did. But then, two months later, I took a hiatus from work. Brooke has been over from time to time, when I need to get things done, or I'd just like to volunteer without a mini-me by my side. Usually, Melina does well. And, she does go to school two times a week. Last week and today, though, Melina has decided that she doesn't want to go to school. Why? Because she wants to stay with mommy. I tried to tell her that really, I am not all that appealing. But in her head, I am her favorite person. I tried to tell her that I have things to do that are

The kids' preschool relies on making something homemade each year as a parent gift at Christmas. In the past, Tim and I have received ornaments of various shapes and sizes from the kids. Of course, we have loved (and kept) them all. This year, when Melina said she had a surprise for me, I expected to see yet another popsicle stick-ed something. But oh, was I surprised! Melina had me close my eyes, she counted to five, and pulled, with a flourish, something much larger from behind her back. I literally squealed with glee, gave her a huge hug and kiss, and found the perfect spot for it above the stove. When the kids asked if I'd be putting it away with the other Christmas decorations, I nodded my head no. This decoration is up here for the long haul. *** You might wonder why I am just now posting about this little tidbit that occurred back in December. That is just how far behind I am. If you don't like it, then why don't you come on out and visit? I can certainl

I likely won't forget this Wednesday for a while. It started out like any other: I got the kids ready for school, went for a run, and started on my day of errands. Melina and I saw the cat to the vet, went to Trader Joe's, and had a meeting with a teacher. I helped with homework, and unloaded the dishwasher. I didn't get my house clean, but then again, on a usual day, I don't. Therefore, it was a busy, yet completely ordinary, day. Until after dinner, when it started to rain in the kitchen. I heard the drops before I saw them. They dropped from the recessed lighting and hit the stool and the floor beneath. The kids bath is above the kitchen, so I ran up the stairs. What did I expect to see? Perhaps a leaking toilet or a spilled bowl of water that the cats use for drinking. Maybe, but probably not, the kids had plugged the sink and left the water running. A whole number of things must have gone through my head as I skidded to halt in front of the bathroom. The

Happy Valentine's Day to you all. While I normally wear green on this day -- in an effort to protest the abundance of red -- I do have a pink shirt on today. I am headed in to school to help with class parties, and thought maybe I should be festive. To be honest, I don't think anyone will care. We don't do too much around here for this day, but Tim did get the kids a small box of chocolates, one for each. The boxes are small hearts, inside of which are about 5-6 pieces of chocolate. I told the kids that they could open them this morning, but they couldn't eat any. It was just 7:30 am, after all. Once Zoe, Talia, and Aaron had gotten on the bus, I was putting things away, and stacked all the heart boxes on the table. I opened Melina's and found (surprise?!?) that she had already eaten one. In my head, I remembered seeing her hiding in the corner of the family room and I put 2 and 2 together. The other kids would never have tried this at the age of 3

This blog has been a bit whiny lately, and I apologize. But thank you for hanging in there! There are many things that I can do. Unfortunately, sewing is not one of them. To be quite frank, I am not even that good when it comes to just sewing buttons back on. So, when the girls asked about making a skirt for the sock hop, I knew that I needed to find a no-sew version. Well, I found one . And I am proud to say that I was able to make Melina's skirt with minimal effort. I decided that I would make hers as the test case. I plan on having the girls help make their own skirts. Melina and I made the trek to the craft store, practically bought out the store, and then made our way back home. The best purchase of the day, in my opinion, was my very own hot glue gun, in a nice shade of hot pink! After we took everything out of the bags, I followed the directions. I took the next picture when I had already cut the circle for the skirt and the poodle out of felt. Notice the straight

This has not been my best week. While I seem to be saying that a lot lately, I am not too worried. It is winter, after all. Anyway, this week, I packed in far too many activities, most of which were not for my benefit. Of course, that statement is going to sound selfish to some people. But if you are going to have a crazy week, don't you think that there should be some fun involved? Well, I do! I realized the other day, in what was my fourth trip to the kids' school within that day alone (so four trips back means eight total...gotta keep up on my math), that I was feeling as though I couldn't tell the difference between my life and the circus we went to the previous Sunday. Usually, my life is better compared to being at the zoo: full of exotic animals and rife with weird smells. But this week, I have felt as though I was literally in the center ring of a three ring circus. If I looked to the left, I saw the juggling act, struggling, I might add, to keep all the bal

Many of you have seen this posted on Facebook, but I have some readers who have not joined, and likely never will. And they are important readers, i.e. the grandparents. So, I am posting a picture of Melina and the chalkboard, on which she wrote her name. She is pretty good about writing the letter M, and the letter A. (Hmmm, I can't imagine why.) She needed a reminder of what the other letters looked like although she can recognize and partially form them all by herself. Furthermore, I held her wrist for some of the letters. So, while Melina did do a pretty good job of writing her own name, I can be honest and say she had a little help. But, we are moving in the proper direction. She was especially proud of herself after accomplishing this task, and I think she had every right to be.

A couple of weeks back, the Shriners called us and asked if we'd support them by buying tickets to the annual circus. I asked them to call back the next night, and then I went and asked Tim. Tim is not a fan of clowns, and I certainly didn't want to buy tickets to something he wouldn't attend. And, I had no plans to bring 4 kids to a circus by myself. Well, Tim works with a Shriner, so at work the next day, he spoke to the Shriner, and bought some tickets to the Sunday afternoon show. Melina was especially excited for the circus. She asked every day this past week if that particular day was the day we were planning to go. When she came down with a cold, I told her that she'd need to be better, and without fever, before she could go to the circus. Thankfully, a fever never manifested, and her symptoms abated by yesterday. So to the circus we went. And let me say that we all enjoyed the show. First off, we didn't have to pay to park. That seemed a little odd

I was woken up this morning by Melina's voice over the monitor. We still need to use one of those, because she stays in bed until someone gets her. And, it is actually quite difficult to hear her when she calls out to us. In fact, she usually whispers. This morning, however, was a bit different. The first thing I heard was her own version of Funny Bones , the book by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Melina was talking about the big skeleton, little skeleton, and dog skeleton, and as I listened, she launched into singing about how the bones were connected. It was a little early for a Sunday morning, but her mirth gave me a good chuckle. I reluctantly got out of bed, and now, here we are. *** Apparently, the teachers at the kids' school waver about the homework debate. Remember how I said that I went in to the principal's office to mourn the lack of homework? He pointed out the debate and said that I could request homework for my kids; the teachers should comply with my requ

The mirror has never been my favorite thing. I don't remember at what age I started to become especially critical of the way I looked, but at some point, it happened. My eyes weren't right, my nose was too large, my teeth could have been better. I tried reflecting (horrible pun there) on the good things, but you know how it is sometimes. Despite all the blessings you have, you see everything that you don't. I find it fascinating, then, that Melina loves the mirror. I know -- that really shouldn't surprise me. Or you, for that matter, if you know anything about Melina. A kid who loves pink, princesses, fashion, and hair bows will probably like the mirror. But what I think is most fascinating to me is what I imagine goes through Melina's brain when she looks in the mirror. Sometimes, I find Melina standing in front of the mirror, clothed in old pajamas and slippers, a big smile on her face. Other times, she stands there all decked out in fancy accoutrements,

February 2, 2011: Ice everywhere, no power, Aaron sick, everyone else on the verge of being sick. February 2, 2012: Sun galore, 50ish degree weather, Melina has a cold, but smiles all around. Need I say more?

I made bean soup, the girls' favorite meal, for their birthday yesterday. Only Aaron isn't a fan of the soup. Melina usually eats it happily. Yesterday evening, when Melina came to the table to eat dinner, she looked at the meal that I had set at her place. Her lip started to quiver, and she put her head down. I saw a few tear drops hit the floor, and I had no idea what the problem was. Me: Melina, what is wrong? Melina: I didn't want bean soup. I wanted pasta. Me: But you love bean soup. What's wrong with the bean soup? Melina: If I drop the bean soup on my dress, it will stain. Apparently, Melina is more concerned with fashion than with food. God help me.