Spa Night

Brynn is a total girly girl right now.  She loves make-up, getting her nails done and anything that sparkles (I don't know where she gets it from). This weekend I was hanging out with the kiddies while Dan attended a well deserved boys night.  Brynn said, "Mama can we have a girls night out soon?".  Girls night out usually means that she and I go get a pedicure (yes she is a bit spolied) and then we go somewhere fun for dinner. Sometimes it also includes a movie and snack in my bed.  I immeidately started to file through the upcoming weekends which are jam packed with birthday parties and a pageant (be sure to get your tickets for Miss Delaware's Outstanding Teen...couldn't resist the plug) and couldn't figure out when we could fit it in.  I couldn't come up with a time that it would work in the next month so I suggested that we put Colton to bed and then she and I have a spa night at home.  "Yes, yes, yes", she said and then "What's a Spa night?".

Our spa night turned out fantastic.  We ate oreos in my bed while watching a movie. I painted our nails and toes with purple sparkle polish.  We had mud mask facials.  Brynn loved the mud mask but got a little concerned because, "my face is getting hard".  We also put our hair in curlers so that we could have curls for church on Sunday.

Brynn loved every single minute of it...and so did I.  I pray with all of my heart that we have spa nights for years and years!

Rocking our Chocolate Raspberry Mud masks

My girl

Time is Flying!

People always say that time never flies faster than when you have children.  It’s so true!!  My babies are getting so big and it has really hit me this week!

A couple of weeks ago at music class someone asked me how old Colton was.  I replied “21 months” and didn’t think another thing about it.  It wasn’t until the next day that I looked at the calendar and realized that Colton was going to be 2 years old in exactly one month.  How did that happen?  Where did the time go?  Obviously I had missed a couple of months somewhere. The past two years have gone by in a blink.  I find myself completely shocked to actually be planning his birthday party.  There are moments when he is such a big boy but he is still my sweet little cuddly baby too.

And if that was shocking enough…Brynn has kindergarten registration next month?!  Gulp…it can’t be true!  It can not possibly be time for her to start this next chapter in her life.  It’s a huge-giant step because it is a step towards independence. 

I can’t even talk about his right now…it’s just too much for this Mama to take in today!

Gymnastics

This Saturday we celebrated Sophia's Birthday at Gymstarz Gymnastics Academy.  Sophia is one of my dance students but more importantly the daughter of one of my very best friends.

Happy 4th Birthday Sophia!!!

 This party was so much fun.  The kids had some structured playtime, pizza, cake, face painting and some free time to do whatever they wanted on all of the equipment.

Ava, Brynn and Sophia waiting for their coach to give instructions.



Brynn loved every single minute of it.  I honestly have never seen her so animated in my life.  She has talked of little else since then.  We had so much fun that she decided that this is where she wants to have her birthday party (which is a step up from the bowling alley where she was campaigning for her party to be prior to this).

In the ball pit

on the zip line



So now Brynn is begging for gymnastics lessons.  To be fair she wants to do everything!  She is currently enrolled in ballet, swimming and soccer (the season hasn't started just yet) but has gymnastics, piano lessons and horseback riding on her radar.  We had a talk on the way home about how we just couldn't do everything and that we were going to have to start making choices about what activities she wants to do.  She told me that she was willing to quit both soccer and ballet in order to take gymnastics.  She was very serious about it right up until I told her that she couldn't be in Nutcracker if she wasn't in ballet.  Once she realized that, she told me that she really wants to do ballet AND gymnastics.  Sigh...this is going to be tough!  Dan and I both love soccer but realize that it's probably not going to be her thing.  I like for her to dance because...well, it's free.  But...we both want her to find her own path and discover what it is that she truly loves.  This has all been really stressing me out!

Take a deep breath Mama!  The child is only 4 (almost 5) and may not end up doing any of these things!!!  Lol...Sorry, I needed a little reality check:-)

Making Mischief

Yesterday when I went to pick up the kids, I caught Colton's teacher at a quiet moment so I asked her how he was doing in school.  She said that he was doing well and seemed to enjoy everything especially singing, circle time and lunch.  She then went on to say that he had gotten into a little bit of trouble today at school. 

It turns out that Colton has discovered the water fountain in his classroom.  This water fountain is appropriately at the perfect height for 2-4 year olds. The only problem with the fountain is that something is wrong with it and it shoots water a couple of feet in the air (thereby splashing the wall, floor, and counter) whenever you press the button.

Now, no other child in the classroom had yet to make this discovery (since September when school started).  Of course Colton and his...ahem, curiosity would discover this within a month of entering the classroom.  His teacher said that several times she has caught him over pressing the fountain button.  She would scold him and he would go away.  Of course that would not be the end of it.  The next time he went to the water fountain he stuck his head in the water and thought that was hilarious.  That happened two more times (requiring a complete change of clothes) and both times he was scolded and sent along his way.

A little while latter his teacher observes him standing near the fountain but not touching it.  She then watched Colton call his friend over and show him the fountain.  At this point his teacher is just quietly watching because she wants to see what happens next.  I'm not sure how exactly the following transpired but somehow Colton convinced his friend to push the fountain button a couple of times and then stick his head in the water (never touching it himself because he knew he would get in trouble).  When the other little boy stuck his head in the water and got all wet (requiring a change of clothes), Colton burst out in a huge belly laugh.  His teacher said that you could just tell that he thought it was hilarious.

The teacher is having the fountain disabled...

I am looking forward 10 years and praying a lot...

My little mischief maker enjoying a valentine.

It's Valentines Day

Wishing a very happy Valentine's Day for the loves of my life...

And a very Happy Birthday to the best Mom in the world:-)

Butterfly

My Aunt Cheryl has been on my mind a lot lately.  This Thursday would have been her birthday but sadly this Saturday also marks two years since she lost her battle with ovarian cancer.  So on my way to work today, I was thinking about her.  For some reason I was thinking about how whenever I would spend the night at her house she would make cheese toast for me and my cousins in the morning (at my request).  As far as I can remember cheese toast is just toasted bread with a piece of cheese on top but I thought it was the greatest thing in the world.  I am so going to make it for my kids this week.

Anyway, she was on my mind this morning. I came into work and realized a bit later that I had left my Cherry Coke Zero in the car (and everyone knows I can not live without my morning Cherry Coke Zero).  I ran back to my car and grabbed my coke and on the way back into my building a butterfly flew right in front of me. 

After my Aunt passed away my cousin started to see butterflies everywhere.  They will sometimes land on her or her kids but they just seem to be present a lot.  We have come to believe that they are a sign from my Aunt that she is with us.

It is absolutely FREEZING today and has been for a few days.  There is no reason in the world that a butterfly should be out and about today.  I immediately started crying and I'm pretty sure that the lady at the front desk must have thought I lost my mind (this is the same lady who caught me busting a move in my office one day).  What an amazing gift from my Aunt.  I know she is still with us.

Valentine's Day

Dan and I celebrated Valentine's Day a little early this year.  Because it falls on a Tuesday (which is dance night) we knew things would be a little hectic and the night would really be all about the kids.  Fortunately, Dan's mom was missing the kids and offered to come spend some time with them on Saturday so that we could head out for some adult time.

Dan's mom arrived at our house at nap time and Dan and I were off.  I have been literally craving Rehoboth for a couple of months now but can never seem to fit in time to get there.  So my husband, who is such a good sport sometimes, took me to the beach...that's right we went to the beach in the freezing cold, snow and rain.  Our first stop was to a little coffee shop to get something warm to walk around with.  I ordered Peanut Butter Cup Hot Chocolate...AMAZING!  We then spent some time checking out the shops and walking around.  We were really surprised at how many people were out and about on such a yucky weather day.  We then made a stop at the Green Turtle and had some drinks and my favorite appetizer in the world...Crab pretzel.  So yummy!  The Green Turtle has the most amazing view of the beach. We enjoyed checking out the view and just catching up with each other.

Rehoboth.  I always feel such a sense of peace here:-)

Dan had told me that we had dinner plans and to bring a nicer shirt to change into for dinner (because I was wearing a hoodie and turtleneck in the hopes of staying warm).  So once we hopped back in the car I was expecting to head to a nearby restaurant but Dan said that he thought we would head back inland for dinner.  I was surprised but happy to be along for the ride.  At this point I say, "I know where we are going."  I was all smug because I thought I had guessed. So smug in fact that I looked up the specials for the evening and read them to Dan.  Dan would not either confirm or deny but my guess was the The Brick in Georgetown.  It's a beautiful little restaurant in a historical building and I just love it's charm.

Once we get to Georgetown Dan tells me that he thought we would stop at his office and change our clothes.  Very smugly I say, "I know" because in my head I have figured this out already.  When we get to Dan's office I notice that my teal cocktail dress is hanging from his door.  "What's my dress doing here?", I say.  Dan laughs and says he thought that we could get dressed up for dinner.  At this point I have a moment of panic because...well who wouldn't panic if your husband was dressing you up for the night and you were going to a really nice restaurant.  I shouldn't have worried because he actually did really well.  He brought my teal cocktail dress (strapless, short and a little summery but not too bad because it is a cocktail dress after all).  He also remembered to bring a strapless bra and a variety of other undergarments including Spanx (definite bonus points).  He also brought me two pairs of heels two choose from.  Both were open toe:-)  He even remembered my long dress coat which was fabulous because it was snowing outside and my outfit was just outside of seasonably appropriate.

We got dressed and off we went.  He pulls up outside of the Brick and we go in and he heads towards the bar.  I gave him a funny look as he pulls me towards the bar.  Ummm...I'm in a cocktail dress, I feel like a table would be a little more appropriate for this outfit but I play along and head to the bar.  Dan orders us some drinks and the bartender asks if we will be dining with them this evening.  At this point Dan says "No, we are just having a couple of drinks".  Ummmm...What?!  Apparently this is not where our dinner reservations are.  Dan still wouldn't tell me where we were heading and began to joke that McDonalds was our final destination (I do love a quarter pounder with cheese).

We have a couple of drinks and then Dan tells me that we need to leave in order to make our dinner reservation.  I was really confused at this point because I couldn't figure out where we could be heading that I would need to be in cocktail dress.  As he starts to head toward Seaford I finally realize that A:  we really are going to McDonalds or B:  he is taking me to this really charming place in Seaford called Bon Appetite.  I was very relieved when we pulled up to Option B.  We have only been to Bon Appetite once prior to this.  It's pretty fancy shmancy so it's outside of our usual dinner-out norm.  There may also be a no kids rule at this place but that is pure speculation on my part.  You also have to have reservations and who really thinks to plan ahead like that?!

We had a wonderful dinner and really just enjoyed each other...and some delicious food.  It was a wonderful Valentine's Day and I feel totally spoiled.  Thanks Dan for a perfect evening and all of the fun gifts and surprises that lead up to our date.  I can't wait to see what you come up with for next year;-)  I love you!!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Mama said there would be days like this...

My Morning Disc Jokey

Colton's "thing" right now is music.  He is constantly singing, dancing or just listening to music.  Whenever we get into the car he immediately asks for "music please" and sometimes even asks for a specific song.  He has pretty much taken over the radio in the morning on the way to school (Fortunately Brynn is okay with this so far).  He knows my playlists on my iPhone and will tell me which songs he likes by saying "yes", "this one", "no like it","no want it", or by screaming (also means: "no like it").  There are also a couple that he will ask for by name.  I have been wanting to write down his morning playlist for days now (I think that someday he will think it's pretty funny) but today is the first time I actually remembered before we were two minutes from school because he asked for "6" pretty early into the trip.  So here it is...DJ Colton's morning radio show:

-Like a G6 (Far East Movement)-Or as he calls it "6".
-Mickey's Countdown (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)
-A Mouse Like Me (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)
-Moves Like Jaggar (Maroon 5)
-Poker Face (Lady Gaga)-  We only listened to half of this one before he said "no want it"
-Wiggle, Wiggle, Wiggle (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)
-Dynamite (Taio Cruz)-  We had to listen to this one twice.
-Boom Boom Pow (Black Eyed Peas)
-Elmo's Song (The Best of Elmo)-We also had to listen to this twice
-Good Morning Beautiful (Steve Holy)- Or "morning" as Colti calls it
-Happy Tappin' with Elmo (Sesame Street Favorites)
-Kryptonite (3 Doors Down)
-A Mouse Like Me (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)-This is his favorite so we had to come back to it again.

The play list does vary from day to day.  He absolutely hates Jessica Simpson and will scream if any of her songs come on.  He usually prefers more country in his line-up but it seemed to be a hip hop/Mickey day today:-)

Watching a little Elmo before his morning DJ gig.

Flower Girls

You may remember that Dan's sister Patty is getting married this year.  As soon as Patty got engaged she asked Brynn to be one of her Flower Girls.  Brynn, who is a flower girl expert (having served the role once before), is super excited about this for two reasons:  Reason 1--She will get a new princess dress to wear and Reason 2-She will get to dance in her new princess dress (aka:  twirl).

As soon as Brynn was asked to be a flower girl she began thinking about "The dress".  In fact while I was on the phone with Patty we had the following conversation:
        Brynn:  Mama, can you ask Aunt Patty if I can wear a purple and red flower girl dress?
        Me:  (laughing) Aunt Patty, Brynn wants to know if she can wear a read and purple dress
        Patty:  Sure
        Me (to Brynn):  I'm sorry Brynnie...Aunt Patty says no.

Recently in preparation for the Flower Girl dress shopping trip we have done some on-line shopping to try to get an idea of what styles Patty likes.  Brynn found a particular dress that she loved because "it looks like a fairy dress" and "we could even wear fairy wings with it".  Lol...because of this it occurred to me that Brynn had very specific ideas as to what her flower girl dress should look like. So a week prior to our actual shopping trip we started preparing Brynn.  We told her over and over again that we were going to find a flower girl dress and what is really important is that we find a dress that Aunt Patty loves because it is Aunt Patty's very special day.  We warned her that we may not buy the dress that she loves and that we really just want Aunt Patty to be very happy.

So Saturday was the big shopping trip.  We met Patty and the other two Flower Girls (her best friend/cousin Abby and a soon-to-be cousin Lexi) and their Mamas at David's Bridal in MD.  I would be an understatement to say that all three girls were super excited.  They all greeted each other with hugs and squeals and off we went in search of the perfect dress.  The grown-ups spent some time pulling dresses off the rack to try on while the girls checked out the headpieces.

Lexi, Abby and Brynn modeling various flower girl headpieces.

 We quickly assembled a selection of dresses and herded the girls (much like herding cats) to the dressing room to start trying on...chaos ensued.  Let me set the scene.  Of course everyone wanted to be together so they assigned us to one dressing room.  So we had one bride, 3 flower girls, 3 mamas and about 15 little dresses crammed into our little room.  Everyone just grabbed a dress and threw it over the head of whichever flower girl happened to be nearby at the moment.  It was hysterical.  The most important part of the process was to go out of the dressing room and give it the twirl test.  In order to be a possibility (in the eyes of the girls) it had to twirl well.  There were a couple of dress that all of the girls loved so then they would each have to try it on and give it the twirl test.

Modeling 3 options.  The baseball hat says FG on the front and flower girl on the back. Brynn loved it so she modeled it with all of the dresses.

It took about an hour but in the end everyone agreed on one dress (well...it did take some minor convincing of Abby).  It is so sweet, all of the girls claimed it was comfy (which was second in importance only to the twirl factor) and it is fairy-esque.

The only hitch in the day was that Brynn and Lexi were both under the impression that Aunt Patty's wedding was going to be that day.  That took a bit of explaining and a promise that we could all go to lunch together when we left the store but it ended well.  Shew...

Love is in the Air

I love family traditions and I love holidays. With that said, we traditionally don't do much with Valentine's Day.  Dan and I have always exchanged small gifts and we usually try to fit in a nice dinner but that's about it. 

Last year after Valentine's Day a friend of mine posted pictures on facebook of this fabulous Valentine's Dinner she made for her husband and three boys.  It was so adorable and she had also made this Martha Stewartish valentine for each one of them telling them 10 things she loved about them.  I commented on the pictures telling her how adorable it all was and she responded saying "I know that the years are limited when I get to be their Valentine and they actually want to spend time with their Mom so I am trying to make it special."  Something about that really tugged at my heartstrings.  It's just so true!!!  Right now Mama and Daddy are the center of their universe but the days are all too quickly coming when Valentine's Day will be about some little hoochie/hoodlum:-)

So...I have been looking for a way to make Valentine's more memorable and meaningful for the kids.  The fancy dinner is not really an option because Valentine's falls on ballet night this year (which automatically makes it chicken nugget night at the String household).  The Martha Stewart Valentine's just won't work for me because...well let's face it, there is very little Martha in me.  Fortunately, I stumbled across another friends post on facebook wall this year which sparked a sort of combined idea.

I found foam mailboxes at Walmart for $2.50.  The kids decorated them with little sticky foam pieces and we placed them on the table.  Every night Dan and I cut a heart out of construction paper (this is as Martha Stewart as I was able to go) and on the heart we each write something we love about the kids.  We then put the heart and a little piece of candy or some other kind of trinket in their mailbox.  When the kids wake up, they go to there mailbox each morning and check to see if they have mail. 

Decorating the mailboxes

We are going to keep doing this up until valentine's day when they will each get a toy in their mailbox.  We are only on day 2 of this but it has been a lot of fun for the kids so far.  Colton is all about the treat in his mailbox but Brynn just adores the heart.  She loves to hear the things that Mama and Daddy love about her.  I wonder if they will still love this when the are 30?

The other bonus is that this little project seems to have inspired Dan too:-)  On Tuesday while Brynn and I were in ballet he left a flower in each of our seats in the car, yesterday he surprised me with a picnic lunch, and today when I woke up he had written me a message on our bathroom mirror.  Major brownie points have been earned:-)