State Fair

I haven't been to the California State Fair in forever. I have avoided it mostly because of the cost but I had a free weekend and wanted to take the girls up there. I called Au Bob and we left in the afternoon for a trek to the fair. I bought our tickets online earlier in the day and explained to Diana that if anyone asked her how old she was, she was to tell them that she was 4. I wasn't trying to pay $8 for a 5-year-old to attend the state fair...that's insane. She was free if she was 4, so she was 4 for the day.

Diana rode some rides, Amy stayed in the comfort of her stroller for most of the day, we participated in crafts and ate some great food. It was a fun day and though no one can possibly do that fair in one day, I would definitely go back next year!

Happy Birthday, Amy

I can't believe that Amy is one. We had a great birthday party for her a few days before her actual birthday and she was surrounded by family and friends on a not-so-hot day. It was still hot, don't get me wrong, but no one melted.
We set up the water table in the backyard, protected with a pop-up tent and ate cake. Matt made burgers from the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives cookbook and also a potato salad that was to die for. Everyone had a great time, including the birthday girl!



Diana opened Amy's presents and Amy played with the wrapping paper.



Amy proudly ate her birthday cake and then wondered what that fantastic stuff was!

Well, hello there

Amy loves to play. She can play in her playroom all day if it was up to her. She does get a little lonely if she looks up after a while and we aren't around. She will crawl to wherever we are (living room, breakfast nook) and want to join the party.
I decided to take some pictures of her one afternoon after work playing with herself in the mirror. I took a ton, and they all turned out fantastic, but this one was one of the favorites.



We also got out the water table since the temps here have been in the upper 90s and 100s. It was about time! This was Amy's second time playing on the water table. She loves it and did a very good job sharing with Diana.



I truly believe that everyone should own a water table - especially those with kids. :)

Diana is five...OMG

Diana's fifth birthday was so much fun. It was hectic and a little crazy around our house the week leading up to the party because of the type of party we were throwing her, but it was all worth it. Looking back, I will never do that again until Amy turns five, but I think every girl is entitled to a big bday bash at 5...but not again until they are 16. Here are some photos from the event. There were nine kids total, including five from Diana's class and a couple family friends. She had an absolute blast!





Big ups to Au Bob for assisting with the cake the morning of the party. With her help, it only took two hours. I think it turned out pretty good.

A summary of events

Just a few photos to recap our weekend activities over the last month or so.

Diana, Amy, Au Bob and I took a trip to San Francisco for the North Beach Festival over Father's Day weekend. It was quite fun to ride the ferry and walk from the ferry building to North Beach. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time. I took lots of photos, but these are my favorites.
The girls waiting to get on the ferry in vallejo.



Diana enjoying a rather large cool beverage.



The next day we had breakfast with the family at the golf course. Matt gave the girls a golf lesson.



Here are the girls on the Fourth of July. It was a busy day but a great festive day with the family!

What you say?

Amy is just growing so fast. She is moving along developmentally so great and it's fun to see her go from this little teeny tiny to a big ole 18-pounder now.
The other day, Matt and Diana were playing with her and Amy scooted right along, grabbed onto the chair where Diana was sitting and pulled herself up onto her feet. We have been doing lots of exercises to strengthen her legs and they seem to be working because over the last few days, she's been pulling herself to stand a lot. So exciting. It's funny though because when you watch her from afar, she has this long torso and this little short, chubby legs. We won't mention where that gene came from. :)
I was in the kitchen the other day and all of a sudden from the living room I hear this "ba ba ba ba." I run into the room and look at Amy. I say "ba ba ba" and she says it right back at me. The rest of the night, I don't think any of us spoke English. Even Diana got a kick out of it.
Today, the whole drive home had Diana and me speaking baby language and Amy talking right back to us.
So fun!

The best sticker ever

I try to be a good role model. As a mom of two girls, I feel that my role is very important in their lives. Diana and Amy see and hear everything that I do so I make sure to eat right, exercise, have a clean mouth (lol), practice what I preach and generally make good decisions.
I think I do a pretty good job of doing all those things. Sure, sometimes I slip up. But trust me, Diana is right there to catch me when I do.
The last few elections Diana has come with me to vote. Even when she was a baby and a toddler and had no idea what was going on, I still thought it was important for her to go. She went with me yesterday when I voted in the primary election. She asked me questions in the morning during breakfast while I was reading my booklet about the candidates. I tried to answer the best I could. She asked me questions on the way to the precinct. But once we got to the polling place, she knew that it was silence. I barely had to remind her. She did a great job. I showed her my ballot and how I made my choices. She asked why I was standing in the booth and I explained privacy to her...just like a bathroom!
As we were leaving, I made sure to pick up my "I voted" sticker and the volunteer said that I could take one for Diana. I said thank you (I had planned to take one anyway) and we headed out. Diana proudly wore her sticker as we drove to school.
When we got there, she stuck it on her cubbie right alongside the stickers she gets for her math class.
I was so glad that she had some pride in her sticker and hope that she realizes the importance of her right to vote.

Check me out!

I have mentioned before that I have been experimenting in the kitchen with different dinner ideas. I find a recipe online somewhere and try it out. I am not too bad. I try to stay away from recipes with too many ingredients because if I can't find it in the store or if Matt doesn't know what it is, that's a bad sign.
I found this cake online a while back and thought that I would give it a try. I figured it couldn't be that hard. I wanted to make Diana's 5th birthday cake instead of buying it at the store. Matt, and several people at work, just raised their eyebrows and expressed some concern. I had never played with fondant before and didn't find anyone at work that could give me any advice. I found some hints on the Wilton website that got my confidence going a little and when I made a trip to the cake-baking store to get my supplies last weekend with my sister, well, I was ready to go. It really wasn't as hard as it looks. The biggest obstacle to overcome was patience which I have a ton of in the kitchen. It's the only thing I have going for me. I follow recipes by the book and work slowly. That's what I did on this cake. It took forever. I baked the cakes Saturday night, left them out to cool and worked on the cake for 3 1/2 hours on Sunday morning.

Voila...The finished creation.



I learned a lot so that when I prepare the actual cake for Diana's birthday next month, I don't think it will take me that long and I think I will have the kinks worked out.
I brought the cake to work and everyone loved it - even though it was lookin' real ghetto because it was drying out.

(Praise and congratulations are always welcome!)

Is it Girl Scout time?

I took Diana to an introductory Girl Scout meeting last night. Turns out, it was more of a "How to become a troop leader" meeting that involved the girls doing a craft. I am a busy woman. Between being a working mother of two, being heavily involved in Matt's basketball team and helping keep an orderly house and spending time with my family, I don't have a spare minute to run a Girl Scout troop. Don't get me wrong...I would LOVE to. I think Girl Scout leaders are great role models for young girls and come up with great activities, field trips and crafts for the troops to do. I plan on being as active as possible without having to go through hours of training and certification that's required of a troop leader.
I wasn't the only one in that boat last night. There was another mom who works and goes to school and wants to be involved, but not as a leader. There were two stay at home moms, one who was gung-ho about being the leader and the other who wanted to be a co-leader. The Girl Scout organizers were pumped - a troop was formed!
Here's the thing.
This troop is in Vacaville. Matt and I work in Fairfield - about 25 minutes away. We aren't totally sure where Diana is going to be going to kindergarten in the fall - Vacaville or Fairfield. We started the process of an interdistrict transfer but who knows what the status of that is at this point.
These troop leaders think the most convenient time to have their troop meetings is after school. Uh, sorry. Not for me. I should've chimed in, but I didn't. There is a HUGE, massive waiting list in Vacaville for Girl Scouts. Who knows if that's the same situation in Fairfield. Too many girls, not enough moms wanting to be leaders. So sad.
I feel like I need to make it work for Diana in this troop - whether it's getting off work early and getting Diana to this meeting a couple times a month or getting the grandparents or the aunt involved. Girl Scouts is crucial...to me, almost as crucial as college. Is that crazy? Am I talkin' crazy talk? I don't want her to be on a waiting list when I have the chance to get in a troop now.
These are the tough decisions and the sacrifices we make as mommas. Bust your butt, bring your kid all over the county to do what they want to do. Diana had a lot of fun last night singing the girl scout song, dancing around, doing the craft. She even got her first badge, which she proudly showed off to Matt when she got home.
I would love to be involved with Girl Scouts with her. I guess my decision is made.

Our second family

I didn't take pictures because that would have been super nerdy, but Matt was honored, along with several of his peers, at Solano today for being at the school for 10 years.
I can't believe it's been 10 years already. I still remember when he got to Solano and I met him on campus to interview to be his assistant coach. It seems like that was yesterday. Having attended and played basketball at Solano, the place was always a huge part of my life. When I returned as an assistant coach and then as a coach's wife, everyone there became our second family. There were a ton of Solano people at our wedding.
Solano is a great place to be. The diversity in the student body and the outstanding faculty and staff is unmatched.
It's not easy for a lot of people in the California community college system to say they are happy with their community college right now. Budget cuts have put a major scare into not only the athletic departments but the academics at colleges too. Matt has seen that first hand. We know though that things can only get better and that it's important to stick by family in rough times. That's why we are still here. That's why a lot of Solano people are still here.
We turn to them for support and advice. We attend birthday parties and community functions together. We go to one another's games and wish the best for each other.
Matt has known a lot of people who have left Solano for bigger and better things and they have all advised him to never leave Solano. Though they are happy where they are now and have made great life and career moves, they know that there is no better place and there are no better people than what is at Solano.
I am a very lucky person that my husband is happy in his career here and that it also happens to be in the same city where I was raised and where my family still lives.
Go Falcons!

All about Amy

Matt and I felt really bad on Tuesday night when the entire family came over to celebrate Gramma V's birthday and I put Amy down to play so I could eat. I sat her down in the living room on her behind and she sat up and played.
"Amy! When did you start sitting up?" Au Bob asked.
Oh, oops, I thought. "Did I not mention that she was sitting up?" I said.
The family didn't even hear me, they were so excited about Amy's new trick.

Yes, Amy is sitting up. News flash! Stop the presses!

In the last couple weeks, she has been sitting up really well and also goes from tummy time to sitting up and from sitting up to tummy time. She's also got a little Army crawl going on. She's all over the place. It's so fun. I know that this might not be a huge step for most nine month olds, but since Amy was a preemie, I am fascinated by everything she does. She's getting so big and doing such great things. She's also sleeping on her tummy at night (no more swaddling) which means that Mommy and Daddy are sleeping better and are finally getting to talk to one another at night uninterrupted.

These are all tricks that I am super excited to talk to her physical therapist about in another week and a half.

Amy also sprouted a tooth and the second one is on its way. It's funny to see her with teeth. I am going to have to change car seats in my car for her soon because the Peg Perego that I have is way too narrow. I am going to have to bust out that big ole car seat for the back of the car....you know, the one that I can't remove when I have to run into the grocery store real quick? Sucks, but it's all good.

I love a growing baby!

Loop the Lagoon

It's been two years since I ran the Loop the Lagoon 5K with my sister. I was pregnant last year and not really in the mood to run 3.1 miles so I opted out. Even though I was not in the greatest of shape this year, it's a great fundraiser, the weather was beautiful and it's a great excuse to get out of the house first thing in the morning and get some exercise.
I signed us up a while back and got Diana into the kids 1/2 mile run as well. Being competitive people, of course Matt and I were talking about which one of us would beat the other. Of course, I am in better shape than he is right now, but thanks to course mis-management, he ended up finishing ahead of me. I did, however, run farther than him, if it's any consolation.
I must send a huge shout out to my dad and Rosemarie for keeping Diana and Amy occupied while Matt and I ran. Amy slept the whole time and Diana was more than happy to hang out and take part in the festivites around the race.
When it was finally time for her to run, she did great! I was so proud of her, she ran the whole way (at a great pace, according to Daddy) and had a big smile on her face the whole time. I have said it before and I will say it again, she is a natural runner and loves it. I gotta get this girl into track.

Trying to stay busy

Spring time has hit Northern California and when Mr. Golden Sun graces us with his presence, I am outta the house with the girls.
During Masters weekend, we did all kinds of fun stuff - shopping, parties and more shopping. It's fun to spend time with my girls on the weekend because weekdays are so focused on dinner and bedtime.
This past weekend, Diana concluded her DanceGym class with a performace at the Vacaville Recreation Department's Expo. She got up on stage and did her little performance that they practiced during class. It was fun to see her on stage and do her thing. I was so proud of her.
Right after that, we piled back in the mini-van, picked up Au Bob and went to the block party in Dixon. It's been going on for 15 years and is a chance for the community to learn more about what's going on in their hometown. There were some performances, vendors, food for sale, etc. The library was even giving out a free book to kids. That was pretty cool.
We went out to lunch and then headed home for naps. Matt and Diana had a date later that night and attended a dance performance at Solano. I have a picture of them all fancied up. Diana saw what Matt was wearing and asked him why he was wearing basketball clothes (I guess he's only allowed to wear Dockers and a polo when he's coaching). They looked really cute.
I had to make a trip to Target on Sunday because Diana needed a white t-shirt to bring to cheerleading which starts on Tuesday. :)
I guess they are going to decorate a t-shirt on Tuesday. They also have these cute little cotton "cheerleading" shorts so I got her a couple pair of those...they were $5, a steal in my book. Plus, Matt wanted Amy to have some white socks because sometimes her socks don't match her outfit (we can't have that!!). There were some other things that randomly found their way into our basket and I left thinking I should've just gone to Wal-Mart where there are less influences. I have no idea where anything is at Wal-Mart and I don't take the time to look for the "dangerous" stuff. I know where all the "dangerous" stuff is at Target.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing. I went to Au Bob's softball game (sans kids) on Sunday afternoon and when Gramma V got there she said I looked different. I knew exactly what she was talking about. A momma looks different without a preschooler and infant by her side.

On the news front: Amy got her first tooth! It's on the bottom and she's a little fussy, but mostly has a loss of appetite. She's being pretty tough about it though and Diana is learning about parenting every step of the way!

This weekend is Loop the Lagoon in Vacaville...a little exercise for the Borcherts!

If they're happy, that's all that matters

We've signed Diana up for many activities. She obliges and tries it out, but sometimes, she just doesn't want to do it anymore. This is what happened last time with soccer. She got burned out or something and completely lost interest. (money down the drain).
She's always loved ballet and tap though. She loves to dance. She dances in her room in the morning while she's getting ready for school, she dances in the car on the way home, she dances all over the house. But I am done with ballet and tap (for now). I need a break.
So, I signed Miss D up for Dance/Gym where the kids mix gymnastics techniques with fun, upbeat music. That's what the description says so we'll see tomorrow night if that rings true. She's looking forward to it and frankly so am I.
The class is four weeks long and after that it's on to...are you ready? Cheer. Beginning Cheer.
Diana loves cheerleaders. She wants to know why there are no cheerleaders at Daddy's games and it's the first thing she notices when we watch games on TV. "They're so pretty, Mommy!"
We went to Arco Arena on Saturday to see the NCAA Elite Eight women's basketball tournament - Stanford was playing - and of course, Diana wanted to know where the cheerleaders were and where the Stanford Tree was. Once we found both, she was OK. She couldn't take her eyes off any of the cheerleaders all night.
She didn't really show any interest in taking a picture with any of the Stanford or Xavier cheerleaders but she did want to take a picture with the Stanford Tree (we tried to chase him down after the game but with no success).
During the Stanford game, though, the Gonzaga cheerleaders arrived at the arena and sat in the section next to us. Diana was in awe. I asked her if she wanted to take a picture at halftime and she said "Yes."
So, once halftime came, I got my camera out, asked the cheerleaders if she could take a picture and they said "Of course." I apologized for her Stanford gear but they said it was OK and laughed.
I am OK with my kid being a cheerleader because as long as she is happy and active, that's all that matters. Those Division I cheerleaders are no joke. We watched the Gonzaga cheerleaders run all over the court during timeouts and at halftime of the game and they were working so hard. I was in shock. You don't see that stuff on television. I have a whole new respect for them. I always knew that at that level, they were athletes, but to see how hard they were working in such a short amount of time during timeouts, was a trip.
So, here's to a whole new adventure in cheerleading. Who knows...maybe in a couple months, Diana will be over it and we will be back to soccer.

I think I'm back...

I am not going to make any excuses about why I haven't blogged in forever - I'm busy. I am just going to blog when I can and when there is something truly worthy of shouting about.
Lately, after we get home from work and school, I have been taking Diana and Amy for a bike/walk. Diana rides her Princess bike and I put Amy in the jogger and we do three laps around the block. Mostly, it's two, but there was one day it was three laps and I was super fired up for the exercise (something else I am not doing these days).
I decided that I wanted to give Diana some variety in her workouts so I asked her yesterday if she wanted to go for a run with me after school. She said "oh yea!" I knew she would because she knows I run on the treadmill, has seen me run on the treadmill and in person and loves to run.
When we got home, we got changed, got back in the car and headed over to the track across the street for a little jog. (Matt was at home so I left Amy at home. It was too windy for her to be out).
We got to the track and did some stretches. I thought Diana would see how big the track was and immediately turn and run the other way, but it didn't happen. I asked her how many laps we should do and she said "12." I don't know where that number came up, but I thought it was funny that 12 laps equals three miles on a track. Strange and very ambitious.
"I think that's great,D. But let's just do a couple and see what happens," I replied.
She said OK and we started out. We ran the first two laps and as she slowed down on Lap 2, we decided to walk Lap 3. I told her that we would do one more lap and head home. As we approached the start of Lap 4, she wanted to keep walking but I wasn't having it. "C'mon D! Let's Go!" I cheered. I started skipping sideways for a little bit and she followed.
We eventually got back to running and she finished the lap with a big smile on her face. She ran a mile!
When we got home, I told her to tell Daddy how many laps we did and he was shocked. He said, "She really ran the whole four laps." "Well, she ran two for sure and a large portion of the fourth." He was beaming with pride.
The girl loves to run. She does pretty good on her bike too...loves to go over speed bumps. We just have to get her back in the pool and we will be secretly training her for a triathlon!

My blog says "Stop ignoring me!"

Today is as good a time as any to revive the blog - Amy had her six-month checkup today. Yes, six months. I can hardly believe it myself. Time really does fly when you're having fun. Amy is a great baby. She's super happy, very independent and just loves life. We are very lucky and blessed.
Her six-month appointment today was followed up by a physical therapy appointment last week. Her physical therapist is very happy with Amy's progress (she's rolling over both ways, grabbing toys, making raspberries and has pretty good balance) and says she's right where she's supposed to be for a 4 1/2 month old. She's even doing some six month things.
Today's doctor appointment went well. I always like to go see the girls' pediatrician because he's a great guy. Matt and I love him. He spends the first 15 minutes talking about Matt's basketball season (more on that in a little bit) and then he gets into the kids. I like the small talk personally. It shows that he cares about our family.
Amy weighs a little more than 14 pounds and is a little more than 25 inches. Right where she should be. The doctor was very impressed with her balance as well and that she's making raspberries, grabbing toys, and doing all the other six month baby things. We started Amy on rice cereal a couple weeks ago and she loves it so the doc said we can start to incorporate other foods. I would really like to puree our own fresh veggies rather than buy the jarred baby food so I am going to look into that in the next couple days before we start her on everything this weekend. Matt and I were trying to remember how it works...do we still give Amy rice cereal? Do we give her the whole bottle? We were giving her six of the 8 oz of formula and using the last two to make the rice cereal. I will be emailing the doctor once I finish my novel here. :)
All in all, Amy is doing great and we just love how much joy she brings to our family. She's sleeping really well and she loves going to Matt's games. She even likes watching sports on television, which is great when I have to sit with Diana to do homework or fix dinner on nights when Matt isn't home. I know that sounds terrible, but hey...she's quiet and happy!
I am very lucky to have two little girls who love one another as well. Both of them bring a smile to each other's face every day and I love to watch them interact with one another.
On to Miss D! Diana is doing great in Pre-K. I was super proud of her the other day when a girl in her class told Diana that she wasn't her friend (this wasn't the first time this has happened). Diana immediately responded with "We're all friends!" I almost cried, I was so happy! My little girl is growing up right before my eyes. She's toned down the tantrums and I think she's done with them...or so I hope. She loves to play with Amy but when she's done it's "Mommy, I don't want to play with Amy anymore." There's a little sass in her tone too as if Amy did something to offend her. It's pretty funny.
Diana has also gotten the courage to sit behind Matt's bench at his games and hand the girls their towels when they come out of the game. We have been trying to get her to do this for a couple years and all of a sudden she decided she wanted to. She just does it in the second half so I can sit on the baseline and take pictures of the team and keep an eye on her, but she loves it and she's great at it.
I try to make sure that Matt watches his language or goes away from where Diana is sitting when he just can't resist, but she hears it enough at home, so I guess it's no big deal.
When Matt was watching film the other night, Diana was looking for herself on the television. She asked Matt "Daddy, where's my helper?" We didn't quite know what to say because SHE'S the helper. After a couple minutes of blankly staring at each other, Matt says "OOooh, you mean Victor (the team's student trainer who hands the girls water)?" Diana says "Yes." We started laughing so hard because to Diana, he's HER helper.
Matt's season is going really well. You can follow the team on the team's blog www.solanowbb.wordpress.com. The blog is the reason I haven't been here much. I update the blog, do game notes and a variety of other assistant coach/wife duties that I absolutely love doing. I never stop going these days, but it's so much fun for me to be involved.
And it's even more fun when the team is winning. We are really looking forward to an exciting conclusion to the season and hope that only good things come our way.
I haven't been working out as much because of all the extra work I am doing. I try to fit in a session on the Wii we got for Christmas, but it's been hard lately. Once basketball season is over, it'll be easier. I love doing yoga, boxing, step aerobics and running on the Wii Fit Plus. It's a great workout...shocking even to me. I love it and Diana has actually gotten into it as well. She's quite the bowler and I challenge anyone to come over to the house and take her on!
Hopefully I won't be absent much from the blog as our basketball season winds down. I love talking about my family so it's been killing me to ignore this blog for as long as I have.

A very Borchert holiday season

I intended to post photos here from our holiday season, but never got around the taking the photos out of my camera until this past weekend. The photos have escaped and they can be found here. Please enjoy looking at the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!

There aren't any descriptions on the photos unfortunately because I didn't have time to go through them all. You can be creative and make your own! :)

So busy

It's a busy time of year and with me helping out Matt's basketball team as the team's unofficial sports information director, I have been going non-stop for a while now. I enjoy it though. I don't think I remember what being bored is and I am pretty sure I wouldn't like it.
I don't have any pictures to share but I wanted to let everyone know of the Christmas present that Matt bought us ... a new mini-van! He bought it last Friday, a Toyota Sienna. It's burgandy (though I am sure that the official color is something much fancier) and has a DVD player in it. Diana loves it because she has her own princess seat.
Our driveway is much smaller now, but everyone has room now to stretch their legs out in both our cars! :)

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I am Frankie Heck

One of our favorite TV shows this season is The Middle on ABC. It stars Patricia Heaton as a working mom (she's a car saleswoman) in Indiana. Her family is a little crazy.
Last week's episode saw Frankie earn a solo in the church choir. Because of all the rehearsing that was necessary, she passed the duties of Christmas on to her husband. Frankie is a list maker (so am I) and at Christmas she makes lists of everything that needs to get done and everything that needs to be purchased.
Christmas, she claims, is very stressful and she had a hard time convincing her husband of this. She passed her list on to him and he handled all the duties that Frankie always took care of. Long story short, though he was OK at first, he got a little flustered at the end and realized that, yes, Christmas is a crazy time of year.
I never believed that Christmas was stressful. I am a planner. I do my Christmas shopping online and weeks before Christmas. I didn't bake cookies or anything because Matt enjoys that and that's his thing. We only travel every other year a great distance so that was no biggie. There was always plenty of time to take care of everything.
Until we became a family of four.
Now there's all kinds of stuff to do. I want to bake cookies, take Diana to Candy Cane and Lolly Pop lanes to see the awesome Christmas lights, write (and send) our annual Christmas letter, decorate the tree, buy and wrap Christmas presents for the family under my roof, my immediate family and my extended family and all while being a working mom and a Coach's wife.
Last night, I got off work, rushed home to pick up Diana (who was eating dinner in her ballet outfit)and we headed off to her final ballet class of the season. After, I wanted to take her to Candy Cane Lane. It was 6:30 by the time we left ballet and it's always a gamble to keep Miss D up after her bedtime on a school night. I knew that taking her to Candy Cane Lane was worth it though. It was...she loved the lights and had a great time. I was beaming at my awesome parenting decision!
She went to bed a little later that night and with no tantrum. Score!
I finally had something for dinner at around 8 p.m. and I am hoping that the Christmas presents that I purchased on my lunch break yesterday get wrapped eventually. They are in the trunk of my car right now and if I forget about them a week from now, God help me!
I admit, there's a lot going on this time of year. I am not complaining by any stretch of the imagination. I have embraced the chaos that is now my life. I can relate though to Frankie Heck and appreciate her every day!

Our brave girls

Diana hasn't visited Santa since she was six months old. I don't know how she knew that Santa was a "scary" guy then, but she screamed the entire time. I, of course, purchased the two-keychain set of the picture of Diana screaming while sitting on Santa's lap and showed them off to everyone. Most people thought I was wrong for making that purchase, but it's memories. I am going to have to find that keychain because I know it's in the house somewhere.
For the past three Christmases Diana has taken a pass on visiting Santa. She wanted nothing to do with the Jolly Man. But this year, she was all about it. So on Wednesday, we headed to the mall after work with the little gals in tow and hoped that she didn't have second thoughts.
While waiting for the kids in front of her to finish, Diana kept saying "Hi Santa! Hi!" Cute.
When the kids went away and I told Diana to go up, she got a little nervous. I told her it was her turn and to go up and sit on the bench with Santa. Still nothing. Now, this wasn't a total refusal. She was thinking about it, but just needed some convincing.
"Mommy, I want Amy to go first," she said.
Sure, Diana, sacrifice the baby! In her mind, Diana's thinking, this guy might eat me, take me back to the North Pole and I will never see Mommy, Daddy and Amy again or worse! So, let's put the baby up there and see what happens.
I put Amy on Santa's lap and sure enough, he did not eat her or run as fast as he could out of the mall with her.
So, Diana jumped up on the bench with Santa and told him all the things she wanted for Christmas. It helped that Santa knew that a little girl wearing pink is probably a princess lover. Diana rattled on for 3 minutes about all the princess stuff she wanted. I was so proud of her!
The girls took the picture and it was time to get down. I collected the baby - with no teeth marks on her - and turned around to leave. Only, there was no 4-year-old with me.
"Oh, I want a princess castle too," I hear Diana say. She's STILL talking to Santa!
"D, time to go, hun!"
She got her Candy Cane and we headed out. She was beaming and I am sure that her teacher at school is hearing all about it today!
Later that night, day two of Christmas tree decorating took place. We are doing it in segments this year. Sunday was Day One: Tree Purchase and put the lights on. Oh the life of a family of four!