Ballet and Bling

Last weekend, Junie went with John to the first kids' ballet of the season, The Steadfast Tin Soldier.  She enjoyed it and loved wearing the fancy dress she'd chosen for the shows this year.  Next month, all four of us are going.  It will be Cosette's first time at a performance in a theater.  We're going to see the Christmas ballet just after Thanksgiving.  Should be fun to see how she reacts! 

The girls have chosen their Halloween costumes.  I hoped to sew them cute costumes this year, but due to my pain I haven't been able to sit at my sewing table long enough to create anything, so we bought their costumes.  Junie is going to be a witch, which she decided upon the day after Halloween last year.  Cosette is going to be a ladybug and we found the cutest, cozy fleece costume for her.  They both tried their costumes on the other day and John and I couldn't believe how cute they looked!  The costumes really suited them.  It was a struggle to find Junie a witch costume that wasn't prostitute-y.  I cannot believe the costumes they market to little girls.  Yikes.  John found one at Target that was appropriate and Junie liked it.  When she tried it on, I realized it was way too low-cut, so I found her a cute Halloween shirt to wear under the costume.  She's very happy that she gets to wear a witch hat to school on Halloween! 

Cosette originally asked me to make her a "Happy Cupcake Witch" costume.  Apparently, she wanted to wear a sparkly dress with cupcakes on it, and a sparkly witch hat with cupcakes on it, but she'd be a HAPPY witch.  I assume this means she didn't want to steal cupcakes, but rather cast spells to MAKE cupcakes for people.  I LOVED this idea, and found an adorable pattern for the dress, but then she changed her mind, which was good because I don't think I feel well enough to sew it anyway.  So she's going to be a ladybug instead, and she loves that her costume has a hood on it! 

Cosette continues to love wearing "jewels," and it's not uncommon for her to wear eight necklaces out in public.  The other day when we dropped off Junie at preschool, Cosette wore a sparkly pumpkin mask she decorated with glitter glue the day before.  One day, John and I were joking about how much Cosette likes "bling."  Now, when she wants to find jewelry to wear, she'll say, "Where's my bling?"  It always cracks us up!  Here she is right before bedtime.  She gets mad that we won't let her sleep in her bling!

My surgery is scheduled for November 7, and Nana (John's s mom) will be coming for a week to help us out.  I'm looking forward to getting the surgery and recovery over with so life can return to a better normal for us. 

Unhappy Firsts

Junie is suffering from her first ear infection of the season.  It's a pretty bad one and she woke up miserable this morning with horribly painful and enlarged glands in her neck.  She keeps saying, "Mama.  It even hurts to walk.  My throat hurts when I walk."  She made the big girl decision all on her own today to stay home from preschool.  She had so many ear infections last year yet she never missed a day of school since she was never contagious.  Same situation with this infection, but she realized she was just too sick to go to school.  So she's dealing with her FIRST ear infection of the season, and her FIRST time ever missing a day of school.  She's not happy about either.  She dictated a cute email to her teacher:

Dear Miss Jill,

I am sick. Dr. Taylor says I have ear infection. My throat hurts when I walk and talk. I got a flu shot and I was brave. I don't want to go to preschool today because I am so sick.

I miss you.

Love,
Junie

Both girls got their flu shots yesterday, and contrary to what Junie says in her note, she was not so brave.  Oddly, they were both hysterical over having to get a shot and I had to chase Junie around the room and pull her out from behind a chair so the nurse could give her the shot.  This has never happened to them before.  Usually, they like getting shots because it's the only time they get lollipops.  I assume their behavior was a combination of sickness/tiredness. 

Also, who looks this good when they're so sick?? 

Hey...did you know you can leave comments on this blog?  You can, and I love getting them so I know someone was here.  You can click on the Name/URL option, but you don't need a URL to enter a comment.  Just your name is fine! 

End of Summer

Junie's back in school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and she loves it.  She takes her role as one of the "big kids" very seriously.  In the days leading up to the start of school, she talked each day about how she was a big kid, so now she could take care of the "babies" (the three-year olds) who were scared about preschool.  She said that she wanted to hold their hands and tell them not to be scared because their mommies would be back to pick them up at lunchtime. 

Last year, Cosette knew Junie went to school, but it didn't bother her.  This year is a whole different story.  She sobbed on the morning of the first day of school because she wanted to go to school, too.  She also kept crying that she'd miss Junie.  Each day now, she fusses when we're getting our shoes on to leave for drop-off.  She says, "I wanna go school too, Mama.  When Junie goes Kindergarten, I go preschool, right?"  Poor kiddo.  During the three hours that Junie is gone, she'll ask me repeatedly, "I miss Junie...where is Junie?"  The way they greet each other at pick-up is so sweet...they run and give long hugs and sweet kisses. 

The girls and I check out so many library books each week...we're up to two huge bags of books at each visit.  Sometimes we do twice a week.  The librarians always laugh when they see how many books we have.  I was ready to do what my mom used to do and bring a huge laundry basket to fill...but then they'll just get even more to fill it up, so that idea is out.  When we stand there checking out our books each visit, they sing "We are book nerds!  We are book nerds!"  And if you mention reading to Junie she says, "I'm a book nerd!"  Cosette uses the statement in all situations.  Each night after she finishes dinner she asks us if she ate well.  When we tell her she did, she throws her arms in the air and says, "Yay!  I eat well!  And we're book nerds!!!!" 

Cosette had her hand surgery on August 9th.  She did great!  We had no issues getting her to keep her bandage on.  She was very protective of her hand, and I just changed the outer wrap once or twice a day (depending on how filthy it got) and the inner bandage once a day.  She had her post-op visit near the end of August, and doctor cleared her to resume life as normal...we went to play in a huge sandbox the very next day!  Now that she has full range of motion in her thumb, she has been LOVING peeling stickers off of sticker sheets and sticking the stickers everywhere.  She couldn't do this with her right hand before, so now that she can do it, it's the first thing she thinks of when she wakes up: "I wanna color and do stickers!!" 

Recent memorable moments from the girls:

Junie:  Cosette, what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?
Cosette:  Dirt!!!  [long pause]  And rocks.  I love rocks and dirt.

***

Mom:  Juniper, why are you naked in the kitchen?
Junie: I had to go potty.
Mom:  Ok, but why are you naked?  In the kitchen?
Junie: I'm a monster and I'm chasing Cosette. 
Mom:  So you have to be naked to be a monster?
Junie:  No.  It's fun to be naked.  Don't worry about it.  Settle down, Mommy.

New Digs

Welcome to the new blog!  We used Totsites for over four years, and decided it was time to move on.  The old Totsites page is no longer available for viewing (or will be removed shortly).  Please follow our family on this new site!  I will link to photo albums on other photo-sharing sites from this point forward.  Please let me know if you have any problems viewing anything.  I welcome any and all suggestions!