my girls' poor blog...

I am such a slacker blogger, I blame Facebook!  LOL
This will be a quick catch-up and then I am hoping to do better and post a little more regularly :)

Since I lost my job in February, I have really enjoyed spending this time with the girls.  And I know they are getting so much from it as well.  I am making the most of this time with them and hope to find a job close to home.

Ava is in the last 6 weeks of Kindergarten!  How can that be??  She is doing pretty well.  She is reading and is finally "getting it".  She loves to read to us and is so proud of herself.  I am so proud of her as well.  I loved reading from a young age and hoped she would get the bug too :)  She had a school program last week and did so great!  I wanted to cry watching her on that stage - all dramatic and into her singing!  I remembered her first program at Parents Day Out...she cried through the entire program LOL!  She also started riding the bus home and loves it.  One of her friends rides and as we found out, only lives one street over from us.  What a great surprise :)  That firstborn child of mine is at once incredible and exhausting!  She is tempermental, sensitive, mischievous, kind, witty...we are so much alike, we butt heads constantly - and she is just 5!!  Oh how I am scared of the teen years!!!

Zoe is loving her time with me..I mean, like "clinging to me 24/7 and telling me she loves me every 2 minutes" loving it!  LOL  We have been having some good one-on-one time, taking her to activities during the day (we try not to mention it in front of Ava).  I like having the time to really hear Zoe tell me what she wants to tell me.  A lot of times, she tends to get overshadowed by what Ava wants or what Ava does.  So I am enjoying this so much.  I love listening to her talk when we are driving - telling me stories or singing songs.  She is so funny and imaginative.  I never know what she will come up with next.

They both seem to be dealing with the separate households pretty well.  While school is in session, I still have them the majority of the time, with Bridget getting them every other weekend and visiting on Wednesday evenings.  They like Amy (and her two dogs) and she treats them very well and is caring and kind to them.  Although we haven't fully discussed the situation, my smart girls know a lot and seem to be okay with how everything is right now.

This month, I am looking at some summer options for both girls - want to find some fun activities to keep them busy and active.  We also have a birthday party to plan!  Ava is already making out the guest list LOL

hoping the sickies are gone...

so again with the jinxing, Zoe came down with something as well last week. It seemed like allergies but worse, so maybe just a bad cold. But as of tonight, both girls seem better and I am hopeful for the coming week. (fingers crossed, knock on wood, whatever!)


Ava was picked as Star of the Week for her class for next week. And with that honor, you get to bring home Dani the Dog for the weekend. Ava was so cute with that dog! It comes in a backpack with clothes and accessories. You are supposed to take her with you and then write a little story about what you did. We took Dani with us to IHOP, the grocery store and Chili's on Saturday.

Anyway, I can't believe it is a new month tomorrow. Time is passing so quickly - it just takes my breath away. Happy February to you :)

I jinxed myself...

I was bragging to someone last week that the girls and I haven't been sick this season - just some sinus and allergy stuff but nothing major. Apparently Ava caught a bug at the sleepover this weekend :(

She stayed home from school yesterday. She probably could have gone today but I wanted her to rest up a bit more. Thankfully she was sad about missing school - not like me growing up, I loved to miss! LOL

So far, Zoe and I are fine and I hope it stays that way...just need to pump us all full of vitamin C and keep the hands clean :)

P.S. anyone have tips for taking medicine that tastes and smells horrendous?? Seriously, it takes Ava at least 1/2 an hour to get 1 teaspoon down!!

first sleepover...

oh my goodness, how did this happen? how did my first born angel turn into a 5 year old going to her first sleepover??

This is actually the 2nd sleepover that Ava has been invited to this first year of school. 5 seems young to me but I guess not. She missed the first one because it was Mama's weekend with the girls. This one was too but she really wanted to go. So I made concessions for my kid-free night so that she could go. She told me up front that she was not spending the night and I could pick her up at 10. So that was the plan.

However, when I got there to pick her up, she told me she wanted to stay the whole night. So she did :) and we both survived - a little stronger, a little more independent and a little sad, but so very proud of both of us.

Raffle for Haiti Donations

A group of my very talented and generous friends have put together a raffle to help raise funds for Haiti.

www.dfwforhaiti.com

This is a worthy cause and you could win some great prizes!

a mini vacation...

We had a 4 day weekend due to the MLK holiday. I could do this every week LOL.

We didn't really make any plans, just decided to hang out and decide as we go. And it was fun :)

Friday, we took my parents to lunch. It never fails, I try to give my folks a break and they beg to see the girls anyway. I am very grateful to have them in my life and that they adore those girls so much.

Saturday, we met up with Brandie and D for lunch at Aparicio's. We sat on the patio and enjoyed the koi pond and the DART train running by every 15 minutes or so. No - it was a good thing LOL...the kids loved being so close to the train! But sorry, B - I did NOT like the food there!
We then met up with Tracey and Z at Ikea - yes, on a Saturday afternoon! YIKES! But it really wasn't so bad and I love me some Ikea!! We spent 3 hours there and I left with some stuff I "needed" and a few more things added to my must have list. We decided to stop at Cici's for dinner and then headed home. The girls were wiped out (and so was Mommy!)

Sunday, we met the group again at the Dallas Zoo. It was a beautiful day! We only had a couple of hours until closing so it was a little rushed but we had a good time. My friends were so kind to share their membership benefits - I am determined to get us a membership as well to pass on the kindness ;) Dinner at The Black Eyed Pea and then home for movie night - Enchanted, I love that movie!

We will hit up a park today and get things ready for a short work/school week (YAY)

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have a great week!

some of my 2010 goals...

~Self care and to not feel selfish or guilty about it. That has always been a struggle for me. But I need to be a "better" me in order to be a better mom, friend, daughter. So my spiritual list includes: therapy, al-anon, yoga/meditation, journaling, reading, volunteering. My goal is to find my focus again and to gain balance in my life.

~The old standby of losing weight (LOL), but with more of an aspect of getting healthy. My family history includes high blood pressure, heart disease and obesity. I have an uphill battle that I need to win. So I am going to really work on being active this year. I am planning on at least 2 Half Marathons in May and September, with a few 5K/10Ks sprinkled throughout as well. I would like to lose about 50 lbs but as long as I am on the right track, I won't sweat the numbers on the scale.

~Make our house a home. No more unfinished projects, no more unpainted walls, no more hesitation on picking a design or style or piece of furniture. I don't want to spend years unpacking and still not feeling like we are here to stay. I have a long list of things to do around the house and I plan to start this month.

~As I mentioned in the prior post, I am going to live in the moment. I am trying to convey this to my girls as well, especially Ava. She has come to me a few times lately talking about not wanting to grow up or for me to grow old. We have been talking about treating life as an adventure, every day. We both love the movie Up, so we relate it to the movie. I told her that we could help each other. So maybe that will work for both of us.

I have a few more on my list, but I also don't want to tempt failure. I will pick my main priorities and work those well.

Good luck to you on your goals for 2010! :)