Oh Hoppy Day

If you could imagine a happy day when you are a little girl, would there be candy involved?  Hanging out with your pals and running around?  Cupcakes?  Nail painting?  A freaky looking bunny?  YES to all of these.  And so began our Saturday.

The rain from overnight cleared out to a really pretty morning, where we hopped over to the other side of the 'hood for the annual Easter Egg hunt.  The kids were broken into age groups and searched their respective areas for goodie filled eggs. 

One kid from each age group found the golden egg.... we have a winner!  Of a yummy golden chocolate bunny.

After the hunt was over, the girls went out to freshen up our nails just in time for Spring and Easter.  Claire had her first mani/pedi last year, but this was Chloe's first experience. 

 They chose orange and purple alternating colors - to make Daddy happy!

And what made me happy?  My new camera that I need to learn how to use now.  :)

Ode to a Wish Bone

Upon this bone I make my wish

For toys or clothes or food delish.

For this is the time, I'll be victor

Not my sister, that's for sure

Thrice before she has pulled to glee

She is smaller, weaker and younger than me!

I grab a hold, my victory clear

And close my eyes, a snap to hear

I pull with might and bone does split

We fall apart; I check my bit

Oh no!  Not fair!  Again, it is she!

"This bone," I say, "it can not be!"

Alas once more, I suffer defeat.

Until the next chicken that we eat.

Seeing Green

With the warmest winter I've experienced here in South Carolina coming to a close this week, Spring is in full bloom around here.  Last year's garden was a raging success, so now armed with more knowledge and ambition I am working toward harvesting almost year round.  I'm now in the cool spring vegetable planting season and the garden has been filled with lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and collards.  To me the most exciting part is my carrot seeds which have germinated into little green sprigs.  Claire has taken to eating the romaine lettuce right off the plant - no ranch dressing needed for her!

Here are our strawberry plants - now in their 2nd year starting to bloom.  Supposedly strawberries get sweeter after the first couple of years.

 And our new addition is the herb box.  Last year I grew herbs on my porch in small pots, where they drank water like fish and needed to be watered twice per day.  I'm hoping that the box will give them a little more soil to drink from, and I've expanded to basil, oregano, rosemary and parsley.

More Shower to Ya

It started on Friday last week.  Claire started asking if she could start showering before school.  That answer was easy: NO, because it would disrupt the perfectly timed and executed morning routine that we are already in.  And me giving up 20 minutes of sleep to blow dry Claire’s hair was NOT going to happen.  I felt like we were already in a pretty good place with the morning routine:

5:42 – my alarm goes off.  I hit snooze, and continue to snooze every 7 minutes until

6:03 – alarm again, for the 4^th time.  I get up and get in the shower, get dressed, hair, make-up, yadda yadda…

6:40 – I start cooking breakfast (yes, usually there is cooking involved.)

6:50 – Claire and Chloe come downstairs

Last year, for her 5^th birthday, Claire got an alarm clock for her birthday – a nice Hello Kitty clock radio that would look nice and collect dust on her nightstand.  Soon after, Claire asked us to set it so she could wake up to the radio.  I gave her list of things to accomplish in the morning once the alarm goes off: Get up.  Bathroom.  Get Dressed (clothes laid out the night before.)  Make Bed.  Brush Teeth.  Come Downstairs.  And it has worked like a champ since day one.  She meets me in the kitchen at 6:50 ready for breakfast.  A few months ago, Chloe and Claire hatched a plan that they were going to start sleeping together, and as long as they are in bed and quiet once 8pm rolled around, I was ok with it.  (I realize this will come back to haunt me sometime in the future… Claire surely will get sick of having a little sister sleep with her.)  So now that Chloe is sleeping with Claire, I have two kids that come downstairs at 6:50 every morning – dressed and brushed.  Pretty awesome, if you ask me.

6:50 – 7:15 – eat breakfast and I do their hair.

7:20 – out the door

The morning shower bugging continued through the weekend, and we caved on Sunday night and Jason set the alarm for 6:05.  The plan was for Claire to shower while Chloe stayed in bed… ya know, like Daddy does while Mommy is in the shower?  2 minutes into my Monday morning shower, my water pressure changes.  Oh my gosh, she got out of bed and is in the shower.  At 7:40 Claire is showered, dressed, teeth brushed, bed made and standing in my bathroom wrestling my brush through her wet hair.  Amazed, I head for the kitchen as she is cranking up the hair dryer to blow dry her own hair.  Wow, quite a nice start to a Monday morning.

Wednesday night, I get another request for a morning shower, and this time it is from Chloe.  Chloe and Claire always shower together, and if everyone is in the right mood Claire does a great job helping Chloe wash up properly with no drama.  When everyone is not in a good mood, there is a TON of drama, but that is best saved for another blog post…   At 6:05, I am still lying in bed and I hear the alarm go off upstairs.  2 seconds later (how does she jump out of bed like that??  No snoozing???) Claire is demanding asking that Chloe get out of bed to get in the shower.  I think the drama is about the kick into high gear, but decide to head to my shower anyways.  Right as I finish out, Chloe walks in my room, soaking wet and wrapped in a towel. 

I can’t believe they both did it!  Chloe explains that Claire is stuck in the shower because there is a black ant on the floor just outside the shower, and Chloe had been nominated to leave the shower, survive the ant and summon a parent who could dispose of the ant.  I found the microscopic ant and sent him down the toilet, and the routine continued.  10 minutes later, 2 clean and dressed kids appeared in the kitchen.  I was actually a little tingly.

I don’t have expectations for the near future – surely they will grow tired (pun intended) of getting up 30 minutes earlier.  But with daylight savings time in full swing, longer outside play time in the evening will be tempting for them to keep it up.  No complaints here!

Little Reedy River Runner

Back in January Claire brought home some information for the Reedy River Run, an annual Greenville downtown run that has a great turn out year after year. Area schools are encouraged to participate in the 1 mile run, the 5k or 10k and have participants sign up on behalf of the school. The middle and elementary schools with the highest number of participants scores $1000 for their PTA from the race. Elementary kids were encouraged to participate in the mile run, and Claire couldn't wait to sign up ... so we signed her up, and the training program began. Jason wanted to do the training, so he started taking her on Sunday's and Wednesday's and jog a mile loop in our neighborhood to get her prepared. The first 2 training runs went well, she ran/walked the first, and ran the 2nd run in it's entirety. Things were looking good! When Jason's knee started hurting from a Crossfit injury, I decided to take over the training runs, which ended up like this:

Feb. 15th - Awesome! Ran the whole thing. No watch, but it was likely just under a 10:00 per mile pace. She tells me, "Mom, we are NOT walking!"
Feb. 19th - Rain Out
Feb. 22nd - Rain Out
Feb. 26th - Not long after a big lunch, and Claire complains of tired legs, sloshing stomach and stops to walk several times. I see the drama factor coming into play. 10:41 time
Feb. 29th - Strong start leads to lots of chitter chatter during the run. I warn Claire not to talk while running but it's too late... a side cramp hits, and it is a whine fest for the next 7 minutes. 11:20 time. Ugh.

March 2nd, Race day:
We get up to Friday's day of school to pouring rain. The forecast isn't looking good, and I talk to Claire about the possibility of running in the rain, or having the event cancelled all together due to lightning. She's cool with running in the rain.

5pm: Pick her up from after school and get her changed and head downtown. 5 minutes before we get into downtown, the sky opens up and it is pouring like crazy. Ugh.

5:20pm: Traffic is nuts, but at least the rain has lightened. Claire and I jump out at a stop light to find packet pick up and the start line. We discuss all the million ways that it will be impossible for her to get lost on the course. Follow the bikes, the police officers, the orange cones, and the hundreds of kids that will surely be in front of her.

5:40pm: We find the start line, get Claire's number and shirt and watch the start of the 1/4 mile kiddie run. Claire's feeling like a big kid since she is doing the MILE, not the kiddie run.

5:50pm: Claire and 450 kids line up at the start. I am REALLY nervous about her getting trampled by the huge boys that are all around her. They look like this is pretty serious business.

6:00pm: And they're off! Jason, Chloe and I run a block away to catch the back side of the rectangle route. I say a silent prayer that she doesn't have a dramatic meltdown and sit down on the course somewhere and pout.

6:04pm: The speedy 10-12 year old boys are coming at us, full speed. This point is about 3/4 way into the race, and their faces show it. I am proud of these kids that I don't even know, and their sheer determination. Kids stream by - a few girls, and even fewer Claire-size kids.

6:06ish: I see her! She's flying down the road right against the shoulder where I am standing! Big kids are all around her, and she looks so... young. I am SO SO SO proud of her for giving it all she had. I snap a picture, and we sprint back down the side street to the finish line.

Beat those boys! Atta girl!

6:09: She's in the finisher's shoot!


I turn and snap a picture as she crosses the finish line. Nine oh.. WHAT? Her clock time is 9:08????

We collect Claire and her new shiny medal in the madness of kids and parents and she is overcome with emotion. Tears flow, she says she hurts ... yet so excited at her accomplishment. She gets a "runner's only" bottle of water and cinnamon bread and we head over to the emcee table where we wait around for the awards ceremony. Finally they start announcing, and give away awards to the top three boy and girl finishers and the top Elementary School and Middle School participants. Finally, they start the age group awards with the 5-6 year old girls. 3rd place ran an 8:58 chip time, which was only 5 seconds faster than Claire's chip time of 9:03. She was a little bummed about missing a trophy award for the age group place, but still pumped over her 4th place finish.

The celebration went on at Pizza Inn, Claire's favorite place (ugh), and she told her friends all about her race today at the birthday party we had. But the best part was when she said "I can't wait to do it again next year!"

Wrap ups

June. The time of year where everything comes to an end. Not really, it's a mixture of both - finishing up completed activities, and moving on to new ones! We've been a blur while jumping from one thing to another.

First thing to wrap up was Claire's gymnastics season. We filed in for the parent's observation and watcher her perform all her skills that she mastered during the semester. Gymnastics is Claire's love right now, and she practices nearly every day - even if it is just in the back yard.


Next to wrap was Kindergarten!! How exciting to see Claire graduate from kindergarten and now has become a rising First Grader. She's in summer camp with her friends, and having a great time with lots of activities and fun. But a week before Claire's final kindergarten walk was her class field trip to the Happy Cow Creamery that I chaperoned. Such a fun trip to see how Happy Cows make the best milk. And we sampled the ice cream just to prove it!

Author's Chair - Claire reading a story she wrote about a Clemson Football Game

Kindergarten Graduation

Chloe also wrapped up her first gymnastics season by finishing out her mommy and me class with a final performance. Now she is moving up to an independent class at the same gym that Claire trains in and is SO excited that her gal pal Lilly will be in her class. And to double the fun, Claire's pal - Lilly's older sister Ava - will be in Claire's class! I do feel a little sorry for the teachers having to manage the silliness that will be in these two classes.

Another catch up

Well... here I am again. Back to another 4 month catch up post since I have neglected the blog. Again. I can't say that I haven't blogged because we are boring and there isn't anything to write about. No, it is just because there HAS been plenty of stuff going on and I just haven't made time for it. Excuses behind us, and here we go.....

February:
OK, February really was boring and there was nothing to blog about. Let's move on.

March:
Spring soccer is back in full swing. Claire is now a seasoned veteran of the Under 6 league, but we still chase that elusive goal. This season got away from us without a score - unless you count the one where everyone kind of paused to let her have her shot at the end of the last game of the season. Oh, and that was in a game that Claire's team was winning about 15-0 and the coaches started "helping" the losing team by selectively diverting balls. That was all in good sportsmanship until the losing team coach took the ball away from Claire when she had an open goal in front of her during a breakaway. Here was the chance to break the whole season's scoring drought and the other coach strips the ball from her. I. Went. Nuts. Sorry to be the psycho parent, but that was just wrong. So, another chance came and she *kinda* managed to kick the ball in the goal, with help from a team mate after Claire stood there, open goal and all, frozen in place. Here's to next season!

April:
Finally! Winter was behind us and I was ready to plant my beloved new garden. The Clemson agricultural expert website recommended planting summer vegetables in this region during the month of April or early May. So on April 2nd, I was on my knees digging and planting and created the most perfect little garden: strawberries, 2 varieties of tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cantaloupe, squash, green pepper, jalapeno pepper and cucumber. I proudly snapped pictures and texted them to my mom.

48 hours later, a freak April frost strikes and slaughters my cucumber sprouts and stuns my squash and cantaloupe. In world record time, I managed to fail at my gardening attempt. I ended up having to replace the cucumber and my cantaloupe still today remains stunned. Everything else made a full recovery. I am almost ashamed to admit that the first thing I do each evening is run outside and say high to my crops. We've had several strawberry harvest and one large broccoli event. Everything else is really coming along.. except for the stunned cantaloupe and the cauliflower that never yielded anything but huge leaves. We are having so, so, so much fun with the garden!

Chloe turned 3 in the middle of April and had a ball at her gymnastics themed birthday party. As of her birthday, she is 36" tall and 30.1 lbs. She speaks very well, sleeps great, eats everything in sight and only is slightly getting into that "must exert my independence" stage. She is such a sweetie!

Another April event that I wish I had better results to share was on my half marathon that I trained and trained and trained for. Everything went perfect, except for race day itself. For whatever reason, probably the higher temps than I was used to training in, I ended up throwing up halfway through the race after taking one of those sugar/caffeine energy gels. Needless to say, the 2nd half of the race was slower than I would have liked. I did end up finishing (I had my doubts that I would make it after that!) and am proud that I did, but couldn't shake the disappointment. To ease my mind, I ended up doing a repeat of the 13.1 miles the following Sunday exactly as I wanted to during my race. Race number or not, the race was won. :)

Easter 2011

May:
We haven't been up to much in May so far, mostly because Jason has been out of town a lot and I have a significant work event going on. But we were able to spend the weekend down at the lake with my parents and soak up a little sun. We blew up Chloe's birthday present yesterday: one of those giant, inflatable water trampolines. The girls love it, and I love laying on it to get some sun. I can see that they will enjoy this for years to come!

This past week, Claire came home from school and decided she wanted to learn how to ride her bike with no training wheels. Jason popped them off, and in no time she was whizzing around on her bike with no assistance! She is really excited and loves how fast she can now go. How fast they grow up!