Words of Wisdom from Maura...

"Maura, I got you these new Hello Kitty Underwear. Do you like them?"
"Well, I like underwear."
"Oh, would you rather have the Barbie? They had them too."
"It's underwear Mom, who cares what's on them? Nobody sees them."
"Let's have this same conversation in 10 years Sweetie!"
"Sure."

so true

As we were getting Maura's stuffed animal that is receiving the sacraments at Sunday school ready for tomorrow, I asked Maura if she was excited to receive them next year. "No" she says. "Why not?" "You know mom I just am not ready to grow up, and I think I am growing up too fast."
I couldn't agree more.

It's a Wonderful Life

Yes it is. We had a great holiday. The girls fully enjoyed every minute of their time off from school. And you know what, I did too. Sometimes having everyone home for days and days and days, well, it can be overwhelming. But this time around, I really enjoyed not having a schedule, not having to be anywhere at any particular time. It was easy, and fun, and well, did I say this already, easy.

Christmas Eve we went to the Smiths. It is a nice tradition we have. We really had a great time this year. We went before church, had a little cocktail hour and present exchange. We then headed back to their house for a delicious dinner. It was easy to get the girls to get in the car and come home, after all, there was a special visitor coming that night!

We got home and did a quick snack for Santa, threw out the reindeer food, wrote a note to Santa and the tooth fairy (Maura lost her tooth again this year!) and went to bed. The girls woke up around 7:00 on Christmas morning and peered over the balcony to see that Santa did indeed come. They were thrilled. It was a lazy but fun and exciting day just staying at the house doing puzzles, performing magic shows and driving around our new (toy) minivan. B also did this with hair extensions in. These were her two favorite gifts of the year. Mags got an American girl Doll and lots of clothes. Maura got membership into the peep of the month club! And Kerri adored her Dora pillow pet. Both sets of grandparents came and spent the day with us. My dad made the girls Jewelry boxes... very sweet. Their names and his are engraved. I hope they will treasure it always,

We did the train and the light show the next day and exchanged gifts with the O'Reillys on Monday. The kids had a ball and loved all their gifts, and trip to the Please Touch Museum rounded off a great visit with the Arlington O'Reillys.

The rest of the week was spent doing some simple but fun things with the girls. NYE was even fun. We went for a hike at VF park and had a fabulous dinner at home in the dining room... table set by Mags. Roasted marshmallows, read my book. A great way to kick out the old and bring in the new. Oh, and we booked a trip to Mexico for our 10th anniversary with the Shorts! SO excited. All in all a great holiday. So sad it is over, so sad that another year has gone by and my girls are getting older and older. I wish I could bottle this time and keep it forever.

KJ is 3!

Wow, our little Care Bear, Our Krazy J-Z, Our Kerri Jean, is 3 years old. And she is going on 6. Tonight at dinner Sean asked her to ask politely for some more chili (she loves chili). She said, very clearly, I do not want to say that. I will not say that. And that is our Kerri. She knows what she wants and knows what she does not want. And you are sure to know it too. With all her stubbornness, she is still a cutie.

She loves to snuggle and will rub your face, hair, back, etc if you lie down beside her. She loves her sisters and especially loves playing with Bridget when they are home alone. I love hearing her call to her sisters and ask them to play with her. The other day, she was at my parents' house; when we called to say goodnight she first asked how I was doing (really the first time I had a coherent two way conversation with her on the phone) then asked about each of her sisters. It melts my heart when they love on their sisters. It breaks my heart when they fight (which is often!).

Kerri loves Dora; she loves to color; she is always ready to go somewhere. She loves going to school, but still clings to my legs when drop her off. She LOVES her pacifier (I know, she is three!). Kerri is not easy to make smile or laugh, but when she does laugh, it is a great belly laugh, and you can't help but smile when you hear it. She will ask for waffles, then say "Actually mom, I'll have pancakes." She loves the word actually and I think sometimes says the wrong thing first just so she can say "actually." She takes her time and really seems very unaware of any sense of urgency in anyone else. It takes her especially long to get in her carseat. I think the more of a hurry I am in, the longer she takes! She picks out her own clothes the night before and notices if I make any changes at night (trying to match or make weather appropriate) and insist that I change it back to what she put it out. It is usually pretty comical!

Kerri is a funny kid and she makes me laugh everyday. She loves to read books and line things up. She loves blocks and building things. She loves her friends Gappy and Jimmy and gets along great with them.

We love you Kerri and hope you strong personality serves you well in life. Keep walking to your own beat and enjoy the view!

Maggie Mae

Thank you Maggie, my sweet darling 6 year old Maggie. Thank you for being you. feel very lucky to have you in my life. You are my little partner in crime. I love spending time with you; I love shopping with you; I love decorating the house with you, setting the table with... really, just about everything with you! I am amazed by all the style you have. I am amazed by your fashion sense and by the way you see things. I can remember when you were so shy and bashful, not anymore! You are full of spirit and full of life. You have friends that you really love being with, and they love being with you. And I so happy to see you playing with your friends and love seeing how happy your friends are to see you and be with you. I love that your truly care about your sisters and try your best to make them happy.

You are starting to read, and that is so fun to see. I love having you read to me at night. You love reading too.

You are playing soccer, and are pretty good too! You scored a few goals this season and will start your indoor soccer season soon.

You are still dancing. You are doing great in class too. You are always so excited to go and really so excited to do anything.

You skip off to school every morning. You love it and your teacher said you are doing great. She said if there was one thing to change (and there was only one thing) it would be for you to slow down a bit! It runs in the family!

You help me set the table and do the centerpieces all the time... and you are really good.

You are very emotional. Lately you have returned to having full blown tantrums again. We are trying to figure out the cause, but not sure yet.

You are great on the playground... climbing especially!

I am sad to see my little fashionista growing up, but so excited to see what is in store for you!

Maura is seven... how did this happen?

I have resigned myself to the fact that at every birthday of every girl, I will ask, "How did that happen?" I now know what those crazy "old" people were talking about when they said, enjoy it, it goes so fast (and I scoffed in their faces). Holy moly. It DOES go by so fast. And I am honestly tired just thinking about it let alone living it. The good news is, it is all good news right now, so for that I am grateful. Everyone is loving their lot in life right now. Everyone is basically happy and content, dare I say, even thriving!

Sean is busy at work, which is a good thing, but is still able to coach two of his daughters' soccer teams, make it to Donuts for Dads, go to Back to School Nights, and sign up to be a mystery reader here and there. Yeah for him. The other night I emailed KJ's teacher to tell her what fun Sean had and the Donuts for Dads and how excited Kerri was when Sean came in the door after work "still" wearing the tie she made him at school earlier that day. Her email reply, really made me stop and fall in love with Sean a little bit more (I know, sappy). She said: "Well, your family truly is special! When a daddy knows how to make his daughter's day that is something to be revered!" And you know what. She is right. Now, if only Sean read this blog so her could enjoy the compliment.

Maura's birthday party was a carnival theme. We had a clown do balloon animals and a magic show, we had carnival games (in the basement due to rain) and a homemade pinada. Lots of prizes. lots of candy. lots of fun. lots of relief when it was all over... oh, and one of Maura's favorite things... lots of presents.

We are knee deep in soccer season with Maura and Maggie both playing. Maggie is really loving it. She loves having all her girlfriends on the team with her. She even scored a goal at the last game. Maura is still in love with soccer too. We are now working on modesty with her. She seems to really excel at it (last game she scored 17 goals!). She is not at all bragging to her team or the other team, but wants a "prize" or a "treat" from me. Not sure how to handle that one. Really, I do not know what to do. When she only scored a goal or two, or sometimes did not really touch the ball, we would say, you can get something from the snack bar (or something small like that) if you score or block a goal (even if she did not we still gave it to her). This year at her first game, Sean said he would give her a dime for every goal she scored. I think she scored four. The next game she scored 7... now 17. I know a dime is not much, but it is probably not a good lesson. Really, again, I am torn.

Mags and B are doing dance again this year. They love it because it is with their friends Eva and Marin. It is nice because KJ goes to babysitting and I get to work out during it.

Daisy meetings start this week. I am Maggie's leader this year, so that will be pretty neat. It will be interesting to see how she acts with me around.

Again, all is good, and that is good!

GOAL!

Just a little bragging... Maura scored 7 goals at her soccer game today! Way to go Maura. The best part... she had a smile on her face the whole time!