Just chill-axin' in the pool

Megan spent 5+ hours in the pool today. Not a bad start to summer break.

Whistle while you work...

Megan mastered the whistle a few months back. Since then she's taken to whistling all the time. Getting ready for school, homework, doing chores, riding her scooter, in the car, drawing...you name it, she's probably whistling. Sometimes Emily gets a little tired of it and asks her to stop. Personally, I love how it has become regular background noise in our life. It's like having a grandpa in the house...or living in a Disney animated film.

First grade smiles

I don't know about you but I rate first grade smiles as some of the all time best smiles...

Beautiful girls

When you see your children every single day, you don't always see how much they are growing up. There are the monumental things that they do, like Emily running into the store to buy an item, while I wait in the car. Or spending a week away at overnight camp. Or Megan walking down the sidewalk at her school with her loaded down backpack headed into her first grade classroom. But how much their features are changing isn't as noticeable day to day.

So it is often when I look at a still shot photograph that I catch my breath. Recognizing how quickly the time is going and how beautiful these two girls of ours are, both inside and out. This picture of Megan taken this summer is one that did just that.



Megan, age 6

The tooth fairy came, the tooth fairy came!

We've been anxiously awaiting Megan to have her first loose tooth. Being almost 6 1/2 and the dentist confirming it wouldn't be long, we'd occasionally do a check. It'd go something like,

Mom: "Let's check those teeth Meg."
Megan: "Any wiggle yet?"
Mom: "Nope, not yet."
Megan: "~heavy sigh~"

Finally a couple weeks ago we felt movement! She was so excited you'd think the tooth fairy was coming that night. She proceeded to diligently wiggle it. And wiggle and wiggle it. Until after a quick week, it came out while she was brushing her teeth. She couldn't wait to go to school to tell Mrs "E" and get her name put on the "tooth board" (apparently the "tooth board" is the kindergarten equivalent of having a Hollywood Star on Sunset Boulevard).



She then had lots of questions for Emily including, "Do you feel the tooth fairy under your pillow?" and "How much is a tooth worth?" and "Will I have a hole in my mouth forever?" Based on her own personal experience the answers are "no", "a dollar" (which was really a $2 bill but since there was only one of them and it was dark...like 1 in the morning dark...) and "to be determined."

Six plus years of being a big sister...

And what an amazing big sister you are. You hear stories about the older sibling that asks mom and dad to take the baby back. After having us all to yourself for three and a half years, you didn't, even for a second, question the addition to our family. You've been looking out for her ever since and she adores you for it.

"The Nited States of the Merica"

Megan has been learning and growing up so much since she started kindergarten in August. She's mastering everything from reading sight words to buying lunch. But I was especially proud of the mouthful of words she memorized in her first month at school...

Now We Are Six

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six,
I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

~ by A.A. Milne

Networking Techniques 101

Megan: Mommy, I've made a new friend three times.

Me: You've made three new friends? That's great!

Megan: No, it's the same friend.

Me: Oh, you've made the same friend three times? What is their name?

Megan: I don't remember.

Day two

This is what two days of all-day kindergarten looks like at 7:50 pm.

Over, under, pull it tight...

I recently came to the realization that my almost-kindergartner does not know how to tie her shoes. Certainly an important part of this childhood development would be to own a pair of shoes that tie, right? Flip flops, sandals, mary-janes, velcro...this girl has everything but ties. But still the fashionista, a standard pair of white tennis shoes would never do. They'd certainly sit in the closet, being passed up for colorful sandals, flowery flip flops or glittery velcro tennies. So what pair will she be learning to tie on?



A darling pair of size 13 Converse. She is tickled pink (of course).

Flabulous Fashion - Part Deux

Megan is still all about "flabulous-ness". It's about accessories and bling...as you can see from her Saturday outfit selection...



...still working on fabulous color matching.

Rolling into five in style

Our baby girl is turning five on Tuesday. She hasn't had a birthday party with friends from school...ever. Not to say she's a poor deprived child. Last year we surprised the girls and took them to Disneyland. The year before we were in San Jose for my high school reunion and celebrated with our San Jose family. Both of those years we had a Halloween party for the girls in lieu of her birthday party. Before that, she was one and two and let's face it, after the first child we learned that simple and intimate is best at that age...so we had small celebrations with just family. But this year she's turning five...and it's the last year with this group of girls from preschool...and she's our sweet, amazing, funny and beautiful Megan. So we celebrated in style with seven of her classmates at a GirlyGirlz princess birthday party. Here's a few pictures from the festivities.










A special thanks to Michelle for capturing so many fabulous pictures that I was too busy to catch. It was hard to pick a sampling.

Another reason I love 4 year olds...

Who else can I have an exchange like this with?

Megan: "Mommy, do you want to see how I do my mean face?"

Me: "Sure babe."

Megan : "Want to meet my little friend?"

Me: "Have you been watching Al Pacino movies?"

Megan: "What is an Apple Cheese movie?"

A stallion, baby!

Megan, the one that won't go near a dog half this size, was feeling very brave this evening. Not only did she want to pet the pony that was making an appearance at the nearby Chick-Fil-A...she wanted to ride her. She mentioned something about a princess and her trusty steed.

Prince charming

Last night Megan announced that Wyatt, a boy from school, is her boyfriend. That is because he is her friend and he is a boy. So he is a boyfriend (logical). And because he plays with her. And dances (definitely a plus). But she also informed me that she is going to marry Wyatt when they are bigger. And how does she know he's the one? Apparently it is because he's taller than her (a criteria I am afraid I cannot argue with) and because she'll get $5 (I'll need to coach her on the finer skills of negotiating).

I really can't make this stuff up.

Flabulous Flashion

I guess with two daughters the odds were pretty good that we'd have at least one fashion hound. I just didn’t expect it so soon.

Emily has never been overly concerned about what she wears. When she was younger, she would simply wear whatever I picked out. There was a short period of time that she didn’t like anything with buttons, but other than that, I can’t think of any fashion cunumdrums for Em. Now that she’s older, she just pulls out whatever is at the top of the drawer and she’s off.

But Megan. Oh, Megan. She’s a totally different creature. Since she could talk, she’s been much more particular about what she wears. Last winter…it was her Dora Crocs with everything. Once the weather cooled down and we convinced her to wear Princess sneakers, they could only be worn without socks. Then there was the period that only short-sleeved shirts would do.

These days it’s more about her self-declared desire to look “flabulous” (That's how she says fabulous...it has nothing to do with annoying cellulite). She picked out her own pretty red dress for Christmas. If we’d let her, she’d have worn it every day of December. As far as pants…jeans are her favorite. Or as she calls them, “blue pants”. One particularly grumpy afternoon I asked what had caused her bad mood. She responded with, “Because I don’t look flabulous”. “Really? You look fabulous to me,” I respond. “But my pants are not blue Mama.” Oh. Well how could I argue with that?

I have even been subjected to the flabulous test. One morning she declares, “Mama..you look flabulous today!”. Why thanks Megs. As she directs a critical gaze to my pants she says, “What color are your pants?” “They are brown,” I respond. “Oh, well your pants aren’t flabulous, but your shirt is." Well then. Perhaps I can bring that up with the dress code policy writers at work.

She isn't a complete diva about it. After all, she will settle for wearing other colored pants…but they just aren’t as flabulous as good ol’ blue denim. And so it begins. She is four going on fourteen.

Here are a couple shots of her in her favorite “flabulous” outfit…making some “flabulous” poses.

MegPie in the Sky

The other day I got a call from Steve after he had dropped Megs off at preschool. He wanted to tell me that he had seen her school pictures and they were her best ever. My husband does not get very excited about formal portrait photos...so the fact that he called to tell me about them meant they had to be something special. Seldom are school pictures worth writing home about but you tell me, is she cute or what?!

Don't worry Grandmas and Aunt...your picture will be on its way soon.

No more three for me.

My baby is turning four in just over a week and she's taking being four very seriously. She is insisting on doing everything for herself and everything she does is because she is, "a big girl now." There is something very liberating to us as parents that our youngest is almost four and is growing more independent. And we do look forward to the convenience that will come when Meg is five and attending the same school as Emily. At the same time I am very sentimental over my babies growing up so fast. So today I'll share this picture of baby Meg that hangs on the bulletin board above our desk. It was a Father's Day gift for Steve that was taken at preschool and framed in a Popsicle stick frame that reads, "Love You Daddy" and it makes me smile every time I see it. It captures her personality so well.

Let sleeping babes lie

Something I have wondered is if people that spend a lifetime together always see the face they originally met? Does a wife of 50 years still look in the face of her husband and look past the wrinkles and the age spots to see the man she married a half a century before? Perhaps it is the romantic in me that imagines that will be the case.

And does a mother look into the face of her grown child and always see the infant or toddler they were years ago? Based on my short experience so far, I can't help but think that it is especially true when you watch that child asleep.