Catching Up

It's been a busy week! Trying to soak up the last precious moments of summer, readying our daughter for her first day of second grade! (Tomorrow!) Enjoying one last summer bbq with friends, possibly our first and last sail of the season on Grandpa's boat, enjoying our pool a few more times before it is closed, and tearing apart our living room and kitchen to paint just a few days before Labor Day and a bbq at our house! Good times! ;)

But all is well now -- the furniture is back in place, the curtains are hung (that happened 45 mins before our company arrived on Saturday -- talk about last minute!), my girl's first day of school outfit is hanging in her closet (although if left up to her, it would be hanging on the knob of her dresser, with half of it lying on the floor, waiting for the cat to curl up on it!), her bookbag is packed with all of her new school supplies inside. Everyone's lunch is made and waiting in the fridge, and her father, grandfather, sister and I are all ready to walk her down to the bus tomorrow morning for a big send-off! She's been quite emotional lately, feeling sad about the end of summer and nervous about the start of school. She told me tonight she's not sure that she wants to be in the second grade! (Sorry Charlie -- no turning back now!) I foolishly decided not to take the day off today, to spend her last vacation day with her -- trying to conserve time off, I guess... But almost as soon as I got to work I called and left my boss (who was off) a message saying that I was leaving after lunch! Good thing too -- I thought I was so prepared for her to start school, but realized that the kitchen was not stocked for school lunches (her school does not have a cafeteria). A quick trip to the grocery store rectified that, and I also bought a little cookie cake and had her name written on it -- a sweet treat for our "First Day of School" dinner tomorrow night.

I got home a few hours early and she and I packed her lunch together (although I JUST remembered that I have to do a lunchbox note for her!!), and then I took out some magazines and photos and a large piece of posterboard and set her to work on our annual "End of Summer Collage" which was fun for her and for us to get to reminisce about what a great, busy summer we had this year! I also helped her with putting a collage together for her new school 3-ring binder. I had talked her out of the $8 (or whatever outrageous price) for a "Hannah Montana" 3-ring binder, and talked her into a less expensive "view-binder" that we could decorate ourselves. I did a lot of the hands-on work on this project and she supervised and acted as a creative consultant. Overall we were very happy with the end result! And with the pictures of family and friends (and Webkinz...) that we put in there (and of course, the Jonas Brothers...) hopefully it will lift her spirits everytime she sees it during the day!

So, that's what we've been up to at our house -- what have you been doing to get ready for the new school year?

Pure Joy!

What could bring a little girl more joy than to sneak into her big sister's room undetected and help herself to all of the jewels?

New Life for an Old Dresser

As I was looking for an outfit for my littlest girlie to wear today, I was once again admiring her sweet little dresser and thought I would share it with you! This dresser was such a find for us -- literally! Before we met, my husband found the dresser on the side of the road near his downtown apartment. Coincidentally in need of a dresser, he picked it up and carried it home. (I need to remind him of that fact the next time we see some great treasure on the side of the road that I want to pick up -- he always says, "No way!") I believe he painted it once for his apartment, and then it came with us to our first apartment and then first house together. Finally, when we were able to purchase "grown up" furniture, it was relegated to the basement.

When I was pregnant with our first daughter, I painted the dresser (wearing a face mask, of course!) to match her nursery -- we didn't know that she was a "she" at that point, so it was a seafoam green and ivory nursery. I saved a bunch of the cute wrapping paper and the sweet little baby gift bags that the presents from her baby shower came in, and I cut them up and used them to line the inside of the drawers. I thought this was just about the sweetest little dresser ever -- perfect for a little baby!

When she turned 3, we bought her a "big girl" bed for her room and I believe my mother bought her a new dresser that year. Still, we saved the sweet little dresser, and 3 years later it moved into our new nursery for her little sister. My littlest one's room is a totally different color palette from the seafoam green and ivory dresser and I still have every intention of repainting it to match her room. But, I did save the paper and gift bags from gifts that she received when she was born, and I replaced the "drawer liners." I also bought some precious little bars of baby soap that are rose scented and I have those in the drawers, so her clothes smell beautiful when you open the drawers.

This definitely fits into the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" category, but it is such an adorable little dresser and with a little bit of love and care it is just perfect!

Do you have any special projects that you have done in preparation for your new arrival? Or any tips for decorating a child's room? Please share your great ideas!

Hmmm... Where Did She Get That From?

Ok, so apparently we need to watch what we say around our little one... The other day, on our way home from a visit with my grandmother, I told the girls that we needed to stop at the grocery store to do our shopping. My older daughter was NOT in the mood, to say the least. My littlest one was excited to ride in the carts. As her sister continued to complain about going to the store, my 2-yearl-old turned to her sister and clear as a bell said, "Stop-a whining, Lulu!" OK! I could not stifle a laugh and "Lulu" tried to put forth a fake cry, but even she could not help laughing!

My girls and I went out swimming on this hot day, and on our way out, my eldest grabbed the sunblock stick for her face and her sister's. In our rush outside it got placed within my little one's reach and she found just a little while ago and was putting it on her toothbrush! I saw that and I said, "Oh! You didn't put that in your mouth did you?" And she said, "No, my beep!" and pointed to her nose. I wasn't sure that I heard her correctly, so I pointed to my nose and I said, "What is this?" And she said, "Beep!" We all enjoy playing this little game where we touch her nose and say, "Beep!" and then she'll touch, say, Grandpa or Daddy's nose and they'll say, "HONK!" Well, apparently she thinks that her nose is called a "beep!" We'll have to work on that before she starts school... Another one of those things that sounds so darn cute until your child gets to school and the other kids look at them like they are from Mars!

Yin & Yang

As an only child myself, I have always been fascinated to see how siblings with the same parents, growing up in the same house, can turn out so different! People always comment on how much my girls look alike, but I have been able to tell from early on that they have totally different personalities.

One recent illustration of this came up on Friday during our trip to the zoo. Our littlest girl was in the creek, walking along having fun, when all of a sudden she tripped and fell knee first onto the concrete "creekbed." My husband and I both grabbed for her and we both immediately thought this was the end of our fun day because that HAD to hurt! We picked her up and sure enough she had cuts all over both knees. But you would only know that from looking -- she did not cry at all, and it did not slow her down at all either! She was ready to go play on the playground! And not only that, but she was climbing up to go down the slide and kept crawling around the top of the jungle gym on her injured knees! Even when we cleaned her up with wipes, she did not make a peep -- you would not know she had ever been hurt.

Her older sister on the other hand... Earlier that morning they were sitting together at the table coloring with markers. My older daughter looks at me, panic-stricken, and points to a little red dot on her finger. She says (very dramatically), "Mommy, is this marker or am I BLEEDING???" I said, "Honey, I'm sure it's just marker." It wiped right off and all was well!