Three

We had Bridget's birthday party on Saturday at a place called Adventure Kids.  I had never been there before, but I bought one of those online coupon deals and figured we would give it a shot.  Luckily, it was a lot of fun!  The place had a couple of jumpy houses, some little bikes, a Wii Rock Band station, a trampoline and a huge indoor sandbox/playground.  We got there a little early to welcome guests and Bridget made a bee line to the sandbox.

One of her buddies from her old daycare came and after her friend warmed up to everyone, the two were attached at the hip - it was so cute! This is the two of them having a snack.

I forgot to get a picture of the Batman cake, but you can see it here.

Afterwards, the family all came to the house to watch Bridget open gifts.  The poor thing was so tired by the time everyone left but she had a great day!  Here is a link to the rest of the photos.
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For her birthday dinner yesterday, she requested "mac 'n cheese and chickens," so Andy brought KFC home.  What a fancy dinner!  After I put the girls to bed, I heard Bridget crying.  I went back to Audrey's room (where they sleep nowadays) and asked her what was wrong.  She is kind of hard to understand normally, but especially so when she is sobbing.  I asked Audrey if she could understand her.  In a sweet voice, she said "Bridgie, we can't understand you.  Your voice is too cute."  :)  (The crying fit was because I forgot to ask her what her best part of her day was. Bad Mommy!)

Last Week in Pictures

We have been busy lately.  First, here is a picture of Audrey from last Friday.  Last week was "Community Helpers" week and on Friday, they had a couple of firemen come with a fire truck.  The kids each got a Junior Firefighter helmet and got to sit in the truck!

We were not home much over the weekend.  On Saturday, we had to go straight from ballet to Chuck E. Cheese for the twins 6th birthday party.  That place is a mad house and the girls weren't too fond of old Chuck, but they had fun getting tickets and purchased some candy at the prize counter.  From there, we went to Tina's to watch the boys open presents, then Audrey and I had to leave for a hair appointment.  Her hair is so pretty but it was getting too long to manage.  She said that she wanted her hair short like mine, but I thought that would be too drastic of a change for her, so we kept it below the shoulders.

On Sunday, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for Grandma's birthday lunch.  After eating, the girls wanted to watch a movie.  Bridget climbed up into Grandma's chair and Audrey snuggled up next to her - they were so cute!

We had to get home that evening so Audrey could finish writing out her Valentine's for her class party on Tuesday.  On Monday, Audrey came home with her pre-K graduation proofs

and her teacher did her hair in a heart!  I need to learn to do stuff like this!

The girls and I stopped at the store to get Valentine's dinner after work on Tuesday.  When we got back to the car, it wouldn't start.  We ended up waiting almost an hour for Andy to rescue us and then neither of us had jumper cables.  At this point, it was getting late, so we went home to eat dinner really quick so we could then grab the jumper cables and go get my car from the Kroger parking lot.  The girls and I had planned on decorating the table for dinner, so we had Andy help make dinner so we could decorate.

The rest of the week has been spent getting ready for Bridget's birthday party this weekend.  I ordered her a Batman cake per her request, and when the party place called today to see what color tableware I wanted, I told them to make it blue, yellow and silver to go with the Batman theme - who would have thought I would be planning a Batman party?? :)

Catch Up Post

The most important update is that Audrey lost her first tooth today!  When I picked her up from school, she walked up with tears in her eyes and said "I swallowed my tooth.  Is Daddy going to be mad?  Is the tooth fairy going to be sad?  Now she won't bring me any coins!"  I didn't realize her tooth was that loose, but it came out while she was eating lunch and she swallowed it.  She was so upset!  I assured her that this happens all the time and we will stick a note under her pillow for the tooth fairy.  Transcript of the note that she dictated: "Dear Tooth Fairy, I lost my tooth on accident.  And I lost it on the bottom.  Could you please read my note?  Are you going to give me money while I am asleep?  Is my tooth going to grow?  Is my cousin Jack going to be upset?"  Jack really wants to lose a tooth too but does not have any loose teeth.  Apparently Audrey was concerned about his feelings!

Also, to get some crappy news out of the way, we got Avalanche's blood work back last week and he has cancer with a poor prognosis.  The vet called while I was at the beach, which put a damper on my weekend, so Andy texted me this photo to show me that the kitty was getting lots of love while I was gone.

I had an awesome time at Girls Getaway Weekend!  We started out Thursday night with a catered dinner at Jan's house followed by a concert by some Nashville songwriters. We went back to Jan's for cocktails afterwards and at about midnight, I told Tina that I was not going to go to bed without seeing the ocean first, so we went down to the beach and got our toes in the sand! (All of my beach pictures are from my phone, so excuse the quality!)

I was awoken at 7:30 on Friday by a call from the vet, which put a damper on my day.  Since I was the only one up, I took advantage of my alone time and sat on the balcony off of my bedroom and read for 2 hours until the other girls got up.

Now that I am writing this, I can't remember what we did on Friday! It involved brunch, shopping, walking the beach and then dinner at the square.  After dinner, Jan had them set up a bonfire on the beach.  That is the first time I have ever done that and it was awesome!

 On Saturday, we had breakfast at Jan's and then walked the beach for a while and then went to a painting class.  At the last class I went to, the instructor walked us through how to paint the picture.  At this one, she put up a picture of Van Gogh's Starry Nights and said "The paint dries fast, so keep the brush moving in swirly strokes."  That was about it.  I finished mine way before every else, but I kind of liked it simple and didn't want to keep going and ruin it.

Saturday night was a delicious catered dinner followed by another concert by some Nashville songwriters.  The couple that was there that night came and hung out with us afterwards - they were really cool!  We had even more catered food for breakfast and then it was time for the long journey home.  As much as I enjoyed my mommy time, it was nice to come home to hugs (mostly from Amos) and to know that I was missed!

I have a lot more pictures to share, but I must get the girls to bed.  I hear that the Tooth Fairy can't stay up very late anymore. ;)

Girls Weekend

I am getting ready to leave for a long weekend at the beach with Tina and some of her friends, but I thought I'd pop in and post real quick.  This is the first time I've left Bridget (2nd time for Audrey) and the first time Andy has been in charge by himself!  He gets to see what it's like to get everyone up, dressed, fed, off to school (don't forget the pets), then pick everyone up, fed, bathed and ready for bed.  Plus Audrey has ballet on Saturday.  I got him out of going to a birthday party on Sunday, mostly because it was at a roller rink and I think it would be hard to help Audrey skate while holding B.  Good luck Andy!

The girls continue to do well at school.  One of Bridget's little friends started on Monday.  She was already there, playing by herself, when we got there.  She looked up, got the biggest grin and yelled "HI BRIDGET!!" and ran over to her.  Bridget loved seeing her too - that night when I asked her what the best part of her day was, she said "Playing with Olive."  When I asked her what she was going to dream about, she said "I going to dream about Olive.  I love Olive!"  :)

I finally took Avalanche to the vet this morning.  The vet said that he was borderline emaciated and he was so anemic that his gums and third eyelid were white instead of pink.  :(  She said that she could tell how big he used to be because there was a lot of extra skin when she was feeling his belly, and she told me not to feel bad because it was probably hard to tell just how skinny he had gotten because he's so fluffy.  His belly and lymph nodes felt OK, so they took him back to get some blood and urine and will send those off for a full panel.  They will call me by noon tomorrow to let me know what they find.

Bridget has been obsessed with Batman ever since Andy stuck a ski mask on her head and told her she was Batman a couple of weeks ago.

She runs around the house saying that she's Batman and Daddy's the Joker and they play fight.  One day, Audrey asked me "What do you want to be when you grow up, Mommy?  A teacher?"

Me: "No, not really."

Audrey: "Yes, you want to be a teacher."

Me: "OK then.  What do you want to be?"

Audrey : "A cheerleader.  What about you Bridget?"

Bridget: "I want to be Batman!"

Audrey; "You can't be Batman unless you are an actress."  Smart girl!

Bridget also picked out Batman Valentines at the store and now wants a Batman birthday cake.  Whatever she wants!

Andy taught the girls how to eat shelled peanuts the other night.  It was messy but they enjoyed it!

Well, it's almost time to go.  It's supposed to be kind of rainy at the beach, but I'd rather be at the beach in the rain then at home!  Time for some Mommy time - I get to sleep as long as I want, eat whenever I want and not have to worry about anything for 4 days! :)

Great Week!

The girls continued to have a great week!  Bridget said a couple of words to her teachers on Wednesday and on Thursday her teacher reported that she had spoken a few words to some other kids - baby steps!  I found out that 2 of her little buddies from the "little school" (as B calls the old place) are coming to the "big school" on Monday.  Hopefully that will help her open up even more.

I really wish I had started Audrey here for pre-K.  On Friday, I got a weekly newsletter with what the kids had been doing and what the theme for next week will be.  The kids earn pennies for doing certain things in class and every Friday they get to spend them in the Pre-K Store.  The teacher gives them a bag with their total amount of money on it and as they pick stuff out, she writes it on the bag so they can figure out how much money they have left.  Audrey came home with some Smarties and Play Doh.  Although the other school was good, I think she will get more from this one.

In other big news, Audrey has her first loose tooth!  She was eating breakfast on Wednesday morning and started crying hysterically.  I asked her if she bit her tongue and she said "No, my tooth!"  I said "Did you bite your lip?" and she said "No, my tooth.  I think I cracked my tooth!!"  I told her to hurry and swallow so I could take a look and I didn't see a crack, but one of her bottom teeth was a little loose.  I hadn't really explained to her about loosing teeth and the Tooth Fairy because I thought we were a ways off from that, but, here we are with a loose tooth!

New School

Yesterday morning, I dropped the girls off for their first day at the new preschool.  Audrey didn't protest her uniform, although she asked why she couldn't wear a dress.

They walked in just fine but Bridget had to be pried from my arms by the director, but she stayed with her and didn't cry.  The director was sweet enough to call me at about 10 and let me know that no tears were shed after I left and that Audrey jumped right in to the class activities.  When her teacher called the kids to go to class at 8 am, Audrey was the first in line!

When I picked up the girls, they were excited to show me their new classrooms.  Bridget thought it was neat that there was an Ava in her new class since she had one in her old class.  Audrey's assistant teacher was in the room when we went to get her backpack.  She also said that Audrey acted like she had been in class the whole  year and participated in all of the activities.  She said at one point, Audrey told her "I like this place better than my old school.  You have more stuff."  I guess Audrey can be won over with material things!  Audrey was also excited that they had a class guinea pig just like her last class, and there was a bunny in the after school class.

She was eager to decorate her school issued tote bag when we got home.  I have some stamps that I've had forever but paint was all dried out.  I ran to Walmart to get some fabric paint and knew that B would want to paint something too, so I picked up a tote bag for her.

Here is Audrey's new bag:

And here is Bridget's.  Out of all of the cute stamps, she picks the dump truck and the train!

Last night, when I asked Audrey what her favorite part of her day was, she said "No more going to the old school!"

This morning, I thought I would test the uniform code and stick some cute tights on Audrey, and apparently it's ok to personalize your uniform with tights because no one said anything to me.

Bridget wanted me to take her picture this morning too.

Today, they told me that Bridget interacted with the kids more but she still hasn't said a word.  I expected that because she is pretty shy around people she doesn't know.  When I went to get Audrey, she was out on the playground playing house with a couple of other little girls.  The after school teacher asked me if it was ok to bring Audrey a special treat tomorrow - she said she was stacking chairs in the room and hadn't asked anyone for help.  She turned around and Audrey was stacking chairs too!  She thought she was so sweet and wanted to bring her a lollipop tomorrow!  Audrey's exciting discovery today was that the after school room has a Wii with Just Dance Kids.

I think it's safe to say that she is very happy there!  I had been debating switching them to a nicer daycare and although I will miss their old teachers and friends, I am kind of glad that had this push to move them!

I just found this photo by Bridget on my phone while downloading the others to post.  Was she being artistic or was she  trying to tell me that she was almost out of cereal?

Crazy Weekend

The week started off normal enough, then went quickly downhill.  One of my co-workers has a daughter in Bridget's class at the daycare.  He called me on Thursday afternoon and said that his wife told him that the daycare was closing down at the end of the month, which is just a week and a half away.  I knew I would find out for sure when I picked the girls up, but I went ahead and started looking online for daycares with the Georgia Pre-K program.  People sign up the January before to get their kids into pre-K, so I was freaking out that I wouldn't be able to move Audrey to another class (besides freaking out that I had a week and a half to find a new daycare).

The rumor was confirmed when I picked the girls up.  The daycare had found another place that had openings in their Pre-K program and would match our current rates.  Unfortunately, I had heard some negative things about that place.  That evening, I emailed a preschool nearby that I have heard good things about and the director called me about a half hour later.  They had 5 spots in their pre-K program and 2 in their 3 year old class.

I went over to tour the place at lunch time on Friday and went ahead and signed the girls up.  It is going to be quite a transition.  For starters, Audrey has to wear a uniform to Pre-K.  Anyone that know Audrey knows that she is my little fashion girl, so it's going to be fun trying to get her to wear a polo shirt and khaki's every day.  Also, Bridget's class is an actual preschool class, so she has to go full time.  No more staying home and playing with Grandpa Pete or the Grandma's.  There is also all sorts of rules that we aren't used to.  Audrey has a certain bookbag that she has to use, we have weekly tuition that is due whether you are present or not (if we take a week off for vacation, we still have to pay a half week to keep our spots), etc.

It's also not very easy to find school uniforms in the middle of the school year.  I ran around to a few places yesterday and found 1 polo shirt and some pants. Luckily, Grandma Mary came to the rescue and found some more polos and some khaki skirts, so Audrey is all ready to go next week!

I think in the long run, it will be a good thing.  While I hate taking the girls out of their comfort zone, this new place focuses much more on education rather than just letting the kids play all day.  In the mean time, I am a nervous wreck about dropping them off tomorrow at a new place with new people.  I will let you know how it goes!

We discovered that poor Avalanche was losing weight - it turns out that he is missing a tooth and was having a hard time eating.  We bought him some soft food and he seems to have perked up some but I still think he needs to go to the vet to make sure nothing else is wrong.  He spends most of his time in Bridget's room.  Audrey made B's bed for her and placed all of her babies on the bed like this - Avalanche seemed to like it!

One or both of the girls usually ends up in our bed in the middle of the night.  The other morning, I got out of the shower to find Amos snuggling Audrey.

A few mintutes later I saw this - I don't know how that didn't wake her up!

Side note : I had to refill out the Pre-K paperwork at the new place on Friday.  One of the sheets asked for personal info about the child and asked for pet types and names.  It had ONE LINE.  I had to squeeze in the dogs and cats and turtles - unfortunately I forgot about poor Rainbow Unicorn.  I think we have too many pets! :)

Here is a picture of Bridget in a ball pit at a birthday party we were at today.

And on a teeny tiny exercise bike

Audrey loves this mermaid shirt from the Gwen Stefani line at Target.  She modeled it off for Daddy tonight and he pointed out the the mermaids arms look like saggy boobs.  Now that's all I'm going to see when she wears this.  As Andy said "It's a good thing her new school has a dress code so she won't be wearing that boob shirt!"